Ch.535Grand Cross. (3)

Naturally, when such insane results were plainly visible to all users, most couldn’t hide their astonishment.

No, rather than saying they couldn’t hide it, it was more like…

They were so confused that they literally seemed to experience brain freeze.

Of course, the silence caused by that brain freeze didn’t last very long.

About 5 minutes after the Grand Cross’s bombardment had transformed the Fluxus Interstellar Fortress into a golden-brown, crispy-on-both-sides croissant.

—————————————–

Title: LMAOOOOO WTF IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE LOLOL

Author: Anon

Content: [Image of Fluxus turned into a croissant.jpg]

This isn’t even a supply base or research facility

It’s a “fortress” with the highest defense rating at its level

Holy shit this is insane

Comments:

-[Well at least the outer walls and docking bays held up]

-˪[Only the shell remains….]

-˪[We agreed not to call that “holding up”]

-[This is just crazy]

-[WTF how does a level 5 base get penetrated like that]

—————————————–

As soon as they snapped out of their brain freeze, users began expressing very active reactions.

And it wasn’t any different for us.

“…If that had been fired at us, could we have withstood it?”

“I think that would be absolutely impossible.”

After a long silence, Jessica, who was sticking close beside me, immediately expressed her disagreement by shaking her head.

The other superhumans watching the situation through communications also showed various reactions.

-“Commander, no ship could withstand the bombardment from that Grand Cross fortress.”

-“That’s right, even the Kraken would become dried squid!”

-“Just in case you’re thinking it, don’t even consider neutralizing it with Ouroboros’s bombardment, Commander.”

-“Evasion is definitely the only answer.”

-“I think so too, it’s too dangerous.”

“Seems everyone feels the same way.”

Since the common reaction was “We absolutely can’t withstand that if we’re hit!”

I just nodded after briefly observing the superhumans showing such responses.

==========

And quite naturally, such scenes began occurring one by one in other areas, specifically in the territories of other clans.

Meanwhile, the Loki Clan had extended their territory not only to the Pirate Alliance but also to the former Earth Federation and Space Monster territories.

While other clans were suffering just one bombardment at most, they alone experienced being hit twice.

—————————————–

Title: LOLOL Why is Loki Clan getting hit by Grand Cross twice?

Author: Anon

Content: [Image of Level 5 research base ‘New San Diego’ transformed into a slimy puddle.jpg], [Image of repair work on the melted outer armor plates of Level 6 supply base ‘Kansas’.jpg]

They’re so pitiful

Is it because their territory is so wide?

Comments:

-[The funny thing is that the Justice Clan hasn’t been hit even once because of this]

-˪[It’s the territory you chose, endure it with pure grit!]

-[Wow crazy, even a level 6 base can’t withstand it]

-˪[You think it’s just level 6? I heard a level 7 base in Magellan almost got destroyed]

-˪[Holy shit]

-[This is insane, seriously;;]

—————————————–

And besides the Loki Clan’s sorrow, other mega clans as well as smaller clans and various users were all receiving massive blows in many ways.

—————————————–

Title: Wow this is insane

Author: Anon

Content: [Image of some Magellan Clan user fleets charging then retreating.jpg]

After the main cannon fire, Magellan Clan users tried to deal some damage with long-range missile showers

There were about 200 users, but each had dozens of ships so that’s tens of thousands of missiles flying, right?

But not only were they all shot down like dogs

Even though it wasn’t the Grand Cross’s main cannon, there was a fortress cannon planted on the outer planet that almost killed them in return

Comments:

-[So all ships were sunk?]

-˪[Not all, about 70% were destroyed](Author)

-[Tens of thousands of missiles wouldn’t be enough, even when attacking bases we fire at least 100,000 missiles in a single barrage]

-˪[Sorry, typo. I meant hundreds of thousands of missiles](Author)

-˪[Ah, then I agree]

-[Besides that, most of the supposedly strong clans that tried to rush in and deal damage got counterattacked and destroyed]

-[Each one is base-level strong so the damage is intense]

—————————————–

In this way, clans that prided themselves on being strong quietly tried to attack but were beaten back and chased away in countless instances.

Even Humanity, currently the strongest user faction, suffered a massive blow from the Grand Cross’s rampage.

—————————————–

Title: Breaking News) Humanity Border Defense Fleet Retreating

Author: News Boy

Content: [Image of level 8 border defense base ‘New Langley’ turned into a chicken nugget crispy outside, juicy inside.jpg], [Image of a fleet including Jormungand-class ships urgently returning to Earth.jpg]

As you can see, a Grand Cross that emerged from the former Earth Federation territory engaged with the border defense fleet stationed nearby, which included Jormungand-class ships

They got wrecked

Well, more precisely, the unified fire barrage from Jormungand and Ouroboros-class ships did melt some asteroids

But Grand Cross fired its main cannon and screwed the base

After fighting back and forth, the border defense fleet got wrecked and ran away

[Image of the wreckage of a destroyed Jormungand-class Super Dreadnought.jpg]

Proof here

Comments:

-[Holy shit]

-[Wait, our Jormungand died?]

-˪[Not died, but almost destroyed]

-[Wait, Jormungand-class destroyed?]

-[Damn, this is a sight we haven’t seen since Humanity effectively deployed 300,000 users to beat something down;;]

—————————————–

Users were reacting with “So this is the power of the ancient empire!” and making quite a fuss.

But that was understandable, since the ancient empire was treated almost like a MacGuffin in the actual game and rarely appeared.

But who are our users?

They may be bastards who always stab each other in the back and constantly betray and double-cross each other.

But unlike their recognized “factions,” they couldn’t just whine about some unknown boss.

So after losing bases and fleets to the main cannon about two more times, they carefully analyzed its weaknesses.

Then they began to make eeeevery effort they could to use those weaknesses to subdue the Grand Cross.

==========

Additionally, this event line had a hidden event that users hadn’t anticipated.

The Grand Cross’s attack targets weren’t purely directed at “Commanders = Users,” but also mercilessly attacked NPCs.

—————————————–

<Hidden Event Triggered!>

<We Will No Longer Tolerate This.>

<Content>

<The recent outbursts of “Grand Cross” fortresses suddenly released from hibernation are truly terrifying.>

<The problem is that these mobile fortresses’ outbursts aren’t directed solely at you Commanders.>

<They’re showing hostile reactions toward all sentient beings and civilizations in the vicinity, going beyond mere hostility.>

<They’re either openly bombarding or sending fleets to eliminate them.>

<Accordingly, other factions and neutral NPCs have also decided to actively participate in the subjugation of the Grand Cross.>

<Result>

<During the “Grand Cross” event period, all NPCs’ stance will not fall below “Neutral”.>

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According to this setting, NPCs who were basically “hostile neutral” and the “4 major (now 3) factions” would also be hostile toward the Grand Cross fortresses—that was the event.