Ch.75Strike First for Victory, But the End Won’t Be Pretty (2)

Pierre’s fleet advanced through Icarus’s territory with unstoppable momentum, truly embodying the phrase “sweeping victory.”

“Resource zone! Attack the resource zone first!”

“Yes, Commander!”

Although Pierre called himself a newbie, he wasn’t exactly a complete beginner.

To be precise, unlike Icarus who had quit and returned to the game, Pierre had been actively playing Astral Lagrange (which some called a crappy game) before being transported into this world.

So he had at least some understanding of the most efficient battle strategies in the game.

Following this knowledge, he detached part of his fleet from the main force to launch a surprise attack on the resource zone, aiming to cut off Icarus’s supply line first.

However, his timing couldn’t have been worse—Berial, who was retreating with the resource fleet under Icarus’s orders, intercepted them.

The reconnaissance fleet that had attempted to ambush the resource zone was reduced to cosmic dust.

As a result, Pierre’s mental state began to waver like a loose baby tooth, having suffered defeat right from the start.

But immediately after…

“Commander, enemy fleet detected ahead.”

“What?”

“There are no cruisers, just 5 destroyers and 20 escort ships.”

Seeing a fleet so much smaller than his main force at the command center, Pierre judged it to be reinforcements sent to support the resource zone.

*Beep-beep-beep-beep!*

“Warning signal detected from the enemy fleet. They’re entering attack formation.”

“Are they planning to face us here since they can’t escape?”

“What are your orders, Commander?”

Simultaneously, as the fleet activated its tracking radar and turned its turrets toward his main force, Pierre ordered an attack without a moment’s hesitation.

———-

After just a few minutes of battle, Pierre successfully destroyed more than half of the enemy fleet.

Once half were sunk, he ordered his forces to pursue the retreating enemy ships, then opened the gallery to check the current situation.

Naturally, if his actions caused users affiliated with the “Monster Faction” to rise up collectively, the Earth Federation—with its many below-average users despite their numerical advantage—might choose to sacrifice Pierre himself to escape the crisis.

If the high-ranked Icarus was posting angry messages in the gallery and stirring things up because of the current situation, Pierre was fully prepared to immediately withdraw his fleet, bow deeply in apology on the gallery, and even offer minerals to Icarus as compensation.

But when he actually entered the gallery, Pierre realized that he might not be as noticeable in the current situation as he had thought.

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-[Wtf are those Xenovia-haters really launching surprise attacks?] (15)

-[Thought they were Earth Federation but turns out they’re Human Federation smh] (4)

-[Go home you Earth Federation bastards] (6)

-[Die♡ you losers who simp for pathetic Space Monsters♡] (34)

-[URGENT) Sporadic battles breaking out between Earth Federation and Space Monster factions] (561)

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Title: URGENT) Sporadic battles breaking out between Earth Federation and Space Monster factions

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Images of user fleets attacking each other]

For about an hour or two, Earth Federation users have been attacking Space Monster users’ bases and resource zones with their fleets

Resistance and retaliation seem to be following

It doesn’t appear to be happening across the entire border region, but anyone passing between Earth Federation and Space Monster territories should be careful

Comments:

-[What the hell, they’re already at war?]

-[Is this for real?]

-[LOLOLOLOL]

-[Does anyone know why they suddenly started fighting?]

-[AAAHHH! Queen Monster! Xenovia! Pirates! Help us!]

-[Why are they trying to start a war with opponents who don’t even have 500 ships lol]

-[These idiots with their war mentality lolololol]

… … … … … …

—————————————-

Although the incidents were sporadic and not particularly large in scale, they were occurring throughout the border region.

Pierre judged that his current battle with Icarus wouldn’t attract much attention from others.

He immediately used his main force to pursue the resource fleet that had escaped after destroying his reconnaissance fleet that had attempted to raid the resource zone.

His plan was to cut off Icarus’s resource line and then collapse the opponent’s forces through a decisive fleet battle.

And after about 30 minutes…

“Commander, we’ve detected the enemy commander’s resource fleet ahead.”

“Finally.”

Upon discovering Icarus’s resource fleet that had been desperately fleeing, Pierre immediately began pursuit.

As he chased them, he systematically destroyed the transport ships that were being left behind one by one.

After advancing diligently forward for some time, Pierre’s fleet eventually…

“Oh… the main force has finally arrived.”

“The distance makes it difficult to confirm, but they seem to have deployed at least 20 cruiser-class ships.”

Upon seeing what appeared to be Icarus’s “main force,” Pierre immediately halted his mindlessly charging fleet.

Of course, Pierre’s response was the sensible one.

Unlike his own formation, which was arranged for pursuing the thoroughly retreating resource fleet, Icarus’s fleet was clearly positioned in a formation suitable for fleet combat.

If he charged in recklessly, despite his superior numbers, his fleet would likely suffer considerable damage.

Pierre positioned his fleet well behind the maximum range of his longest-range “Balthazar-class” railguns, and began reorganizing his formation for a proper power struggle.

While reorganizing the formation, he also checked the fleet’s morale:

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<Current Fleet Morale: Excellent>

<Fleet Attack Power: +10%>

<Forced Retreat Probability in Battle: 5%>

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Apart from destroying a few more reconnaissance ships, there hadn’t been any significant combat.

Perhaps because they had only been one-sidedly hunting until now, Pierre felt truly satisfied with the buff gained from maxed-out morale.

He was about to launch an attack as soon as the fleet formation reorganization was complete, but at that moment…

“Strong energy reaction detected ahead!”

“Huh?”

“Battleship-class main gun fire! Evade! Evade!”

Just as he heard the urgent communication…

*BWAAAANG!*

*ZIIING!*

Beam streams similar to—or perhaps even more powerful than—the “battleship” fire he had seen months ago through gallery and chat videos came flying toward them.

In an instant, they completely destroyed three of his precious cruisers—not just damaged, but completely sunk.

“NOOOOOOO!!!”

“C-Commander? Please calm yourself!”

Pierre’s mental state, which had been as solid as a tooth, shattered instantly like one that had been wiggling and finally fell out.

———-

After destroying three of Pierre’s cruisers in the opening salvo, Icarus…

“How do you like thaaaat? Commander.”

“Oh…”

“This is the fruit of the love between you and me, Commander♡”

“Overseer main guns will take 50 seconds to recharge, Commander.”

Icarus was amazed by the display of firepower from the Overseer-class’s main guns, which demonstrated battleship-class power with just a “normal shot” rather than an overcharged one.

Thanks to consistent leveling, Griyanar’s totem support, and various one-time enhancement equipment, Pashtra had demonstrated firepower beyond battleship level—reaching the level of a “Dreadnought-class” main gun.