I Became a Commander in a Crappy SF Game.

Ch.577Icarus is a Strong User. (1)

by fnovelpia

Naturally, from the Mei Clan’s perspective, they couldn’t help but feel bewildered by the fact that Icarus, the overlord of the Central Zone, was suddenly invading them.

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<Notice: Let’s Stop This Madness>

-[???]

-[What the hell, Icarus is invading us?]

-[Oh, the message just came through]

-[How the hell is that guy even getting here?]

—————————————–

It made sense to be confused. Where was Icarus located, after all?

He was literally at the center of the world, positioned at the perfect center of the Central Zone, with the level 9 stronghold “Daedalus Research Fortress” as his base.

In contrast, they were in a completely different zone within the territory of the Xenovia Empire, and not even in a border region but slightly further inside.

To be precise, they were somewhere between the border region and the territories of the Magellan Clan and Justice Clan—a truly ambiguous location.

When they heard that Icarus was invading them, it was perfectly natural that their first reaction was to have question marks floating above their heads.

But that wasn’t what was important right now.

—————————————–

<Notice: Let’s Stop This Madness>

-[Everyone who can move, come back immediately]

-[Damn, an invasion at the end of my service?]

-[Are these Magellan bastards trying to crush us with mercenary users?]

-[Damn, we offer peace and this is how they screw us over?]

—————————————–

What did it mean that Icarus had accepted a mercenary request to invade them?

It certainly didn’t mean that a hikikomori who had been holed up in the Central Zone was suddenly kicking down his door and launching a conquest war.

If a zone other than the Central Zone was being invaded, the four major clans ruling that zone wouldn’t sit idly by.

Even if Icarus had over 10,000 users under his command in his territory, he would be thoroughly crushed if the four major clans, each with at least 30,000 users, came after him.

Moreover, Icarus’s weakness—”inability to maintain long-term military power”—was already common knowledge among decent clans.

So for Icarus to invade them, located not at a border region but fairly deep within another power’s territory…

—————————————–

<Notice: Let’s Stop This Madness>

-[What’s going on?]

-[Just saw the message, what happened?]

-[Icarus, that guy from the Central Zone, is invading our clan!]

-[Isn’t he just one user?]

-[Are you crazy? Would we be this scared of a fleet with just one user?]

-[There’s an unlimited mercenary army of 1 million troops coming]

-[Actually it’s over 1 million ships. This is 100% the Magellan Clan supporting Icarus!!!]

-[Wow, we’re screwed]

—————————————–

Anyone could see this was clearly the work of the Magellan Clan, who must have gotten fed up with the Mei Clan’s constant opposition and interference.

Consequently, the Mei Clan had no choice but to rise up defiantly against the Magellan Clan’s attempt to deal with them.

Of course, even as they responded, most Mei Clan members couldn’t help but secretly underestimate Icarus’s invasion.

But in a way, this attitude from the Mei Clan could be considered normal.

—————————————–

<Notice: EMERGENCY!! Those Magellan bastards are trying to finish us!>

-[But no matter how many unlimited mercenaries Icarus has, aren’t they all just normal grade?]

-[Yeah]

-[Even if there are over 1 million ships, most of them are just normal-grade patrol ships or escort vessels]

-[So they have numbers but lack actual combat power?]

-[Yeah, and since we have strongholds, worst case we can just hold out with our defensive fleet and turn this into a war of attrition]

-[For real lol]

-[That makes sense]

—————————————–

It was already widely known through galleries and other sources.

After all, Icarus’s boasted (though he himself never boasted about it) unlimited mercenary fleet consisted only of normal-grade ships that were practically obsolete by current standards.

In contrast, most users in the Mei Clan had average luck, meaning they were appropriately equipped with ships and superhumans ranging from A to SS grade.

So while Icarus’s fleet mindlessly pushing in with only normal-grade ships was concerning, it wasn’t something to worry too much about.

==========

Unfortunately for the Mei Clan, once the war actually began…

The information about Icarus’s unlimited mercenary corps hadn’t been updated at all since the “Humanity Revolution War” over a year ago.

And perhaps Icarus’s own command abilities had improved somewhat as well.

Icarus’s invasion swept through the clan’s territory with overwhelming force, far beyond what the Mei Clan had anticipated.

And among various reasons, what shocked the Mei Clan the most was…

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Title: Wow, what the hell is that unlimited mercenary corps?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of approximately 800,000 ships crushing the Mei Clan’s stronghold defense fleet and user fleets with sheer numbers.jpg]

[Image of 300,000 ships rushing like crazy toward about 300 Mei Clan battleships trying to block their advance with bombardment in space.jpg]

What the hell is this?

Wasn’t he supposed to have at most 1 million ships?

[Image of 400,000 mercenary ships launching an offensive via a flanking maneuver, separate from the two fleets above.jpg]

Why the hell are there suddenly over 1.5 million ships?

Is this guy cheating?

Comments:

-[Wow holy shit]

-[What the hell, 1.5 million ships?]

-[He could deploy that many?]

-[Why are you guys getting beaten up? lol]

-˪[I heard Icarus made a contract with some clan as a mercenary]

-˪[Wow, really?]

-[1.5 million ships is insane, how did he do it?]

—————————————–

It was an insane quantity of mercenaries—at least 1.5 million ships—far exceeding the numbers shown during the Humanity Revolution War.

Naturally, both the Mei Clan being pummeled in real-time and the users residing in Xenovia Empire territory who were watching the situation couldn’t hide their surprise.

Of course, as always, some users made their own cool-headed analysis of Icarus’s 1.5 million-strong army.

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Title: How Icarus can easily field a 1.5 million-strong army

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of a toad dressed as a detective with a subtle smile]

During the Humanity Revolution War, Icarus’s resource storage barely exceeded 30 million.

But now he’s captured more strongholds and even moved his docked stronghold?

That means his resource storage capacity must have increased by at least 10 million.

In other words, if he does what he did during the Humanity Revolution—pulling resources from the clan that hired him and using those to buy mercenaries—it’s entirely possible.

Of course, if he does that, Icarus will only be able to maintain that massive force for exactly one day before losing it all.

By my rough calculations, the resources consumed daily by Icarus’s current mercenary corps total around 15-17 million, maybe 18 million.

That’s because the proportion of small ships to large ships is enormously high.

Anyway, it’s highly likely that Icarus isn’t bearing this resource cost alone, but that the clan that hired him is pouring in massive resources from behind to cover it.

Plus, unlike during the Revolution War, this time Icarus jumped through the gate of the friendly Magellan Clan.

So there’s no waiting time either.

Comments:

-[Oh]

-[Now that you mention it, that makes sense]

-[Wow, so it’s been 2 days since the invasion of the Mei Clan began, and he’s already burned through 60 million resources?]

-˪[More like 80 million, since it would take a day just to hire and move the mercenary corps]

-˪[That’s insane]

-[Anyway, that’s incredibly impressive]

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Accordingly, most users decided to quietly pay their respects to the Mei Clan as they watched them being ravaged by Icarus, who had struck with the force of a natural disaster.

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