Ch.590Icarus The Honey Sucker. (1)

One week later.

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<<<‘Battle Tournament’ Event Start!>>>

<System update complete, new system changes are now in effect!>

<The subspace gate leading to the event map has opened!>

—————————————–

“Oh, my little subspace.”

-Whoooooosh!

Along with the celebratory message announcing the official start of the event, a subspace gate leading to the event map appeared in front of the users’ bases.

Before rushing in, I decided to do one final thorough check.

“Ammunition.”

-“Loaded to maximum capacity, sir! There’s not even room to step!”

“Internal provisions.”

“Since the ships have their own food production facilities, that shouldn’t be a major issue, right?”

“True enough. Equipment check.”

-“As you ordered, all equipment systems have been inspected and confirmed operational.”

-“Radar, all clear!”

-“Forward torpedo tubes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, all clear!”

-“Rear torpedo tubes 7, 8, and VLS system, all clear!”

-“Propulsion system, all clear!”

“Perfect. The armor plating is also without any issues.”

“Excellent.”

After receiving reports confirming absolute perfection without a single problem,

I nodded with satisfaction.

“Alright then, shall we deploy immediately?”

“Are you going personally?”

“Of course. Since this has to be done with a single ship, I should go myself.”

“I see…”

I began my departure aboard the prepared vessel, heading toward the event map where the preliminary “Battle Royale” would take place.

==========

A short while later.

Once all the latecomers, including our Icarus, had entered the event map, the real battle began…

One important point here is that the administrators considered this preliminary round to be literally a struggle of all against all.

At the same time, they viewed it as a kind of test to evaluate users’ ship control skills.

In fact, they were secretly hoping to see something like “Hey, won’t the preliminaries look like those old space battleship animations?” as they watched.

Or at the very least, following the basic principle that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” they expected users to naturally team up.

They thought it would be entertaining to witness the formation of user-created factions during the preliminary round, resulting in magnificent political maneuvering.

And just before the event started, the gallery users seemed to share similar thoughts:

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Title: Honestly, how do you think the preliminaries will play out?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of a toad with an ambiguous, meaningful smile while resting its chin on its hand]

Just like always

Famous users will form the center of power blocs, and everyone will either engage in political games or join forces to pass the preliminaries.

Comments:

-[That makes the most sense lol]

-[I’m just going to join the biggest clan leaders first]

-[Since each user can only bring one ship, sticking with famous users is probably best]

-[For real]

—————————————–

Both the administrators and users(?) expected scenes similar to what they’d seen before.

But unfortunately, especially for those “famous users” mentioned in the post above—particularly unfortunate for them—

What actually unfolded when the preliminaries began far exceeded such expectations.

And what form did it take?…

—————————————–

<Event Chat Room>

-[Kill the rankers first, damn it!]

-[Take down those smug bastards first!]

-[Oh shit]

-[LOLOLOLOL it’s chaos]

-[You assholes!]

-[Get lost!!]

-[No way]

—————————————–

Users gathering around famous and strong rankers was expected.

The problem was that these users weren’t gathering to “follow” those rankers, but to deliver a “group lynching.”

Suddenly finding themselves chased by hundreds or thousands of crazed pursuers wherever they appeared, even rankers or mega-clan leaders had no way to withstand such pressure…

—————————————–

Title: Current status of rankers.jpg

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Astral Lagrange’s logo photoshopped onto an AV cover claiming “Attacked by 100 people”.jpg]

Currently in a game of tag with 1,000 people who will xx you the moment they catch you

[GIF of “Tarantula’s” Bahamut-class medium cruiser being attacked and sunk by over 2,000 ships]

This is for real

And it’s not just individual rankers getting destroyed

[GIF of Betelgeuse’s high-speed light cruiser being hit “simultaneously” by at least 35 heavy torpedoes and 48 artillery shells before sinking]

Even mega-clan leaders are getting wrecked without mercy

Comments:

-[LOLOLOLOL]

-[So when they said “getting xx’d if caught” they meant sinking, not gang rape]

-[Where are their clan members?]

-˪[Betelgeuse’s own clan members attacked her first, saying “When else would we get to beat up our clan leader?”]

-˪[Damn LOL]

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Under the onslaught of users rushing in from all directions, rankers and clan leaders alike were beaten down, earning the honorable position of early elimination from the preliminaries.

Of course, the rankers who got properly served showed their displeasure with pouting expressions.

Some mega-clan leaders even openly expressed their complaints, visibly trembling with anger…

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Title: Rankers crying tears of blood

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Screenshot of Antares’ rage-filled post after being sunk 55 minutes after the event started—the longest survival time among “clan rankers”.jpg]

Crying that this is too much

Saying that even 1 vs 10,000 is going too far

Comments:

-[Were there really that many?]

-[To be precise, it was 1 vs 10,118]

-˪[How did you even count that?]

-˪[You can tell by counting the beam trails]

-[This is what happens when you don’t live a virtuous life]

-˪[Say that and you might disappear without a trace, courtesy of Humanity]

-˪[Not easy, is it]

-[It’s just an event, what’s the big deal lol]

-[It’s not like you’re actually dying, seriously?]

-˪[This guy’s gonna get his head cracked open soon]

—————————————–

Regardless, perhaps because of the special “event” circumstances,

Most users responded to the rankers’ complaints with mockery and humor, enjoying themselves thoroughly.

==========

But while they were happily purging rankers and chatting among themselves,

The users suddenly realized something:

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Title: Hey, why is Icarus the only one missing?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image showing individual rankers 1-10 and clan rankers 1-10 all eliminated except for Icarus.jpg]

Why is this guy the only one missing?

Even Raksha died miserably under concentrated fire from 15,000 people just minutes ago

Where is this guy?

Comments:

-[Maybe he’s cloaked?]

-˪[There are plenty of users who brought electronic warfare cruisers expecting this, no way cloaking would work this long]

-[He’s probably hiding somewhere]

-˪[Even if he’s hiding, he should have been spotted by now]

-˪[Then he must be hiding really well]

—————————————–

Despite all other rankers being destroyed,

Our protagonist, Icarus, was still twinkling brightly on the “living users list,” having avoided being hunted.

Naturally, our crazed common users shouting “TAKE DOWN ALL RANKERS!!!” searched the entire event map with blazing eyes.

Unfortunately, despite over three hours of searching, not a single hair of Icarus’s ship was seen.

Realizing they were just wasting time, and with the preliminary round’s time limit approaching,

The users decided that since they’d eliminated all the troublesome ones, it was time to start the real preliminary round—a proper “Battle Royale.”

Of course, what was our Icarus doing while watching all this?…

“Hmm, this is fun and delicious.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it, sir.”

From the very beginning, he had used the Neranjara-class’s subspace submersion capability.

With just a periscope peeking out from subspace near a suitable asteroid, he was leisurely watching the spectacle.