Ch.598Tournament Round 10, But the Terrain is Absolute Garbage! (1)

Despite the massive surrender rush of superhumans and the revelation of those with abnormal sexual desires leading to impromptu execution ceremonies throughout the gallery…

The event was still ongoing regardless.

Most users quickly extinguished their anger toward those with abnormal desires and naturally focused on the event again.

And I was no different.

After handing over the surrendered superhumans to other users residing in my territory and discarding all those strange thoughts I had…

I diligently progressed through the event day after day, and several days later…

“Finally, the 10th round is right before us.”

“Yes, time really flies.”

I had already reached the final match of the tournament, the 10th round.

Of course, there was still plenty of time before the 10th round would begin, so I decided to mentally review the 7th through 9th rounds I had experienced so far.

‘Ah, the 8th round was definitely the toughest.’

Among the three matches, I could feel that the middle one—the 8th round—particularly stood out in my memory.

And for good reason, because while the 7th and 9th rounds were challenging in their own right…

“Looking back, the 8th round was truly remarkable.”

“Indeed.”

“I never expected someone would bring two Super Dreadnoughts.”

“Well, there were many other problems too.”

That crazy user brought not just one but two SS-class Super Dreadnoughts.

And unlike all the users I had faced before, they uniquely brought “base mercenaries” along with them, just like in the 9th round.

Despite having more fleet points and greater numbers on our side…

We had to experience the strange phenomenon of being pushed back in a head-on power struggle due to the overwhelming class advantage of the Super Dreadnoughts.

Of course, as always, there was the ultimate answer to all problems: the “Kraken-Hresvelgr Teleport Death Spear,” and…

-“Now if we gently adjust the propulsion system here—”

-KWAAANG!!

-“…that’s how energy backflows and causes an explosion, Commander.”

“Oh.”

Having stripped countless ship propulsion systems over the years, had she reached some kind of enlightenment through mastery?

I don’t know exactly how she did it, but Neranja (and her captain) could now inflict effective damage to the hull just by destroying the engine nozzles.

With so many different solutions available, we were only pushed back in direct confrontations.

By launching comprehensive and multidimensional offensives in all other areas and having the fleet launch an all-out attack that crushed both the mercenaries and the “base mercenaries”…

The 8th round opponent, perhaps fearing their precious Super Dreadnoughts would be destroyed, surrendered.

Well, that was all in the past now.

I decided to wrap up this strange reminiscing and focus properly on preparing for the final battle of this event.

Of course, while I was lost in my memories, most of the preparations had already been handled by Jessica, the superhumans, and the mercenary commanders.

All that remained for me was essentially just the final inspection.

However, unlike the previous nine rounds, additional forces would be deployed for this 10th round…

“Commander, the modifications to the two Overseer-class ships are complete as requested.”

“Oh, already?”

“Y-yes… unlike before, n-now I’m here… and we h-have ship modification facilities…”

—————————————–

<Overseer-class Artillery Cruisers x2 Modification Complete>

<Enhanced Items: Power Source Output Increased, Firepower Strengthened>

<Reduced Items Due to Modification: Maneuverability>

—————————————–

Unable to participate in rounds 7, 8, and 9 due to repair work and subsequent modifications…

The two Overseer-class ships had now completed all modifications and could proudly join the fleet as full members.

“First, we successfully increased the firepower from battleship-class to dreadnought-class as you requested.”

“Hmm.”

“In th-that process, the power source output became insufficient, s-so we reduced the rate of fire and enhanced the p-power source output, so n-now it can fire s-stably unlike before…”

“Oh, that’s good news.”

“But the maneuverability has decreased significantly. Originally it was fast for a cruiser, but now it’s similar to or slightly lower than an armored cruiser.”

“I see.”

After listening to the precautions from Griyanar and Nero, who had done the modifications…

I decided to slightly change the internal formation while incorporating the two Overseer-class ships into the main force.

“Pashtra and Dornia, both of you move to the Overseer-class ships.”

-“Yes♡”

-“I’ll do so immediately.”

“And Jessica? Make sure to load the Overseer-class ship that Dornia is on with minerals and rare resources to maximum capacity in the cargo hold.”

“The cargo hold? Ah… yes. I’ll do that right away.”

Additionally, since there would be many problems with Dornia’s ability-based artillery due to the “cruiser” class…

To somehow resolve this, I loaded a large amount of separate resources for Dornia to freely transform and use.

After checking the condition of the other superhumans and the strength of each mercenary unit…

“Everything is in order, Commander.”

“Excellent, then all fleets launch!”

-“Yes, Commander!”

-“This is the Commander’s order, all fleets launch immediately! I repeat! All fleets launch immediately!”

As Jessica gave the all-clear sign with her characteristic black rabbit ears and coat tails fluttering, I nodded.

Then I ordered all fleets to advance gallantly toward the subspace gate leading to the event map for the 10th round.

==========

Anyway, when I finally entered the much-anticipated event map for the 10th round, the first thing that caught my eye…

Strangely, this time there were no broadcast screens densely arranged along the “boundary line” like before.

And apart from that, the terrain was quite peculiar and absolutely terrible.

-“Confirmed activation of a super-massive supernova in the lower left front.”

-“Ion turbulence and neutron storms are spreading everywhere.”

“Ah damn, this is too disgusting a place to deploy a large fleet.”

“Wow.”

Bluish ion turbulence with lightning bolts as thick as the width of North America or Russia’s east-west length flashing crazily…

And on another side, insane-output neutron storms that scattered even beam particles fired from a dreadnought’s main guns were slinking around at their own whim.

“Commander, there’s a black hole below the gas layer surrounded by ion turbulence.”

“…”

“So if we descend below a certain altitude, we’ll be caught by the event horizon and dragged in.”

“I can’t believe this damn game would implement altitude differences under gravity.”

At the bottom of the event map, under the setting that a black hole exists faaaaar away, they made it so ships would be captured by the black hole’s gravity and be destroyed if they descended below a certain altitude.

And it’s not like the upper part of the battlefield was any better.

“Above is…”

-“Commander, the upper part of the battlefield is filled with various asteroids pushed around by ion turbulence and neutron storms.”

“Holy moly.”

Just looking at it, large ships…

Especially my small (not) and precious Hresvelgr and Ouroboros would probably turn into crushed soda cans within about 5 minutes if they entered that mass of asteroids.

Seeing such a terrible terrain layout that would make anyone exasperated, I could feel all kinds of irritation slowly overflowing in my mind.

And in the midst of this, Decarabia contacted me with a worried face.

-“Just in case I should mention, if you send large ships in there, they’ll definitely explode.”

“No… no matter what, I wouldn’t send large ships in there.”

-“But according to previous battle records, there was an instance where you made Hresvelgr charge into an asteroid field and self-destruct?”

“That was possible because it could be 100% restored even if destroyed, but not here.”

“I see.”

Seeing her talk as if I were some blood-crazed berserker who would just recklessly charge in…

I immediately drew the line, saying “That will absolutely not happen” to reassure her.