Farming the Weak Is the Right Civilization (2)
The moment the firmly sealed bio-structure opened, thousands of Gargoyles — the bio-bombers widely used by the kaiju — poured into view.
They'd launched in such overwhelming numbers all at once that the ejected Gargoyles looked thoroughly disorganized at first.
But that only lasted a moment.
"Form Attack Wings One through Three. Attack Wing One flies straight from here to the enemy fleet and hits them head-on."
"Yes, Commander."
"The moment Attack Wing Two finishes positioning, use the Kraken's teleport system to strike the enemy fleet's flank."
"Understood. Attack Wing One, launch!"
"And finally, hold Attack Wing Three until after Attack Wing One has finished unloading its attack."
"Understood, Commander. Next — Attack Wing Two to position!"
The second I started taking proper control, the bio-bomber Gargoyles snapped into line as if the earlier chaos had never happened. Moving like puppets, crisp and precise, they began a full-scale offensive exactly as ordered.
Unfortunately, the real bullshit was only just beginning.
—BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
"Commander?! The enemy fleet's anti-air capability is far stronger than expected!"
"My carrier craft!!!"
Light cruisers and destroyers as ship classes inherently carried some degree of anti-air bonus, so I'd braced myself for a certain amount of craft losses going in…
But this was just absurd. I had no idea whether the enemy fleet's leader had some kind of anti-air buff, but one of those light cruisers was a dedicated anti-air cruiser, and thanks to the Last Stand trait that had just activated, their already formidable AA got even stronger.
Worse, every last bit of that enhancement stacked multiplicatively. The result: the enemy fleet's desperate anti-air fire intercepted over ninety-five percent of Attack Wing One's frontal assault, and turned more than half of the remainder — everyone except the lucky few who slipped through — into permanent casualties.
Of course, Attack Wing One's desperate sacrifice locked every enemy eye on the front. Seizing that opening, I immediately committed Attack Wing Two, which appeared via teleport exactly as planned.
While their vision and focus were fixed forward, my second attack wing poured a massive volley of torpedoes and missiles into the unguarded enemy fleet.
Caught by Attack Wing Two's surprise assault, the pirates frantically shifted formation — then opened up again with that insane anti-air fire, managing to shred a full ten percent of Attack Wing Two as it tried to break off or re-engage after incomplete attacks.
In the process their precious ships accumulated damage large and small. One destroyer in particular took seven torpedoes from Attack Wing Two all by itself, exploded, and handed the Kraken some free leveling points…
Even so, they held that godawful anti-air formation and thoroughly maintained AA superiority over the fleet. At this rate, the Kraken's babies — no, its carrier craft — would all get ground to dust. I was starting to think it might be better to just push the Kraken forward and tear everything apart with its abundant tentacles…
"Ah, Commander!"
"I see it. They're advancing on us."
Fortunately, rather than camping in place and chewing through every last craft, the pirates — after taking three massive carrier strikes, one of which had come via teleport — must have decided they'd slowly wither and die to the craft if they stayed put. The Blue Fang pirate scum broke their anti-air formation on their own and charged toward us.
I hit the recall button on the craft and decided to proceed with a proper fleet battle test.
"This is strange. Even granting that the enemy has a powerful anti-air formation…"
"Right? How did they shred nearly half of three thousand carrier craft?"
Meanwhile, my loyal superhumans still couldn't accept that a mere privateer fleet of barely ten ships could shred the carrier craft of a kaiju super-capital — no matter how casually I'd sent them in.
"Commander, the enemy might be a far more powerful pirate group than we thought."
"How about deploying us now to stop them?"
Feeling that this Blue Fang or whatever privateer group was much stronger than expected, the kids started fretting at me like that.
"That's only natural. No matter how powerful the ship and craft… they hadn't built up any real experience yet."
"Hmm?"
"Think about it, Belial. The Kraken hasn't even been alive for a full day."
"…Ah."
"Exactly! With no experience and no knowledge, even following Commander Icarus's orders, all it can do is charge in mindlessly!"
When Oxianor and Her Supreme Highness Princess Luca — who'd come running to gawk after hearing a Kraken-class had hatched from the chrysalis they'd brought — offered that interpretation, the superhumans whose faces had been flashing Is the Kraken-class actually an idiot…? expressions, as well as Marianne, who'd been making a face behind Oxianor and Princess Luca that said Was allying with the kaiju a mistake? Should I just crush them now and devour all the kaiju myself?, all nodded in understanding.
And while those friends were bickering among themselves, the pirate friends had already entered our range. Belial, serving as on-site commander and my terminal, measured the distance and opened a comms channel to me again.
"Commander, the enemy fleet has entered the Kraken's range."
"Faster than I expected?"
"Hmm? Looking at it, Oppa, they're using afterburners to charge in so they don't get hit by your craft attacks."
Marianne, the pirate expert(?), immediately answered my question. I nodded. The craft were recharging anyway.
"Then the answer is simple. Belial?"
"Yes, Commander."
"All ships including the Kraken — open fire. Stop their further approach."
"Understood."
At the same time, aboard the Blue Fang Pirates' flagship Valpus, on the bridge…
"Fuck!!"
"Why the hell is an aircraft carrier pouring out gunfire?!"
They might look like grotesque kaiju, but that giant monster scab was clearly the only ship on this battlefield capable of launching thousands of carrier craft. Coltar had overloaded each ship's engines, using afterburners to close the distance fast — planning to avoid further airstrikes from that giant carrier while either sinking the carrier itself, or at least destroying the hangars to help their escape.
The enemy's escorts were just one heavy cruiser and two destroyers, so even excluding the one that had just blown up, with seventeen ships in his pirate group he figured they had enough force to make it work.
But as if to betray Coltar and the pirates' expectations, a powerful concentrated beam cannon fired from the kaiju ship they'd thought was a carrier.
"Aaaaaagh!"
"We're finished! Fuck, it wasn't a carrier — it was a battleship!"
By pirate common sense, realizing the ship they were charging wasn't a carrier with relatively weak armor for its size due to hangars and armories, but a large battleship wrapped in heavy armor all around — and that they, with light cruisers at best and light torpedoes as their strongest firepower, couldn't even scratch it — they fell into pure panic.
"You bastards! Get a grip!"
"Just fucking charge! Charge fast, disrupt them with mobility, and break out of here!"
The pirate officers scrambled across the ship comms channels trying to suppress the panic somehow…
"Fuck off! We're running from here!"
"Wha— hey, you son of a bitch!"
Faced with a terror they simply couldn't fight, some pirate ship captains turned their bows and broke formation. If this continued, the charging pirate fleet would scatter and disintegrate on its own — a total disaster.
This fucking… at this rate we're all dead.
Coltar, captain of the flagship Valpus and leader of the pirate group, thought this was the end of their privateer-pirate band…
But only for a moment.
—WHOOOOOOSH!
—KRAAAANG!
"Ugh?!"
"The Buin has been sunk!"
When one of the escort ships that had broken formation seeking survival was obliterated without a trace by the battleship(?)'s fire, Coltar realized this was the moment to exercise his leadership — to straighten out the wavering pirate group and look for a chance to counterattack.
"Look carefully, you idiot bastards! That's what happens to the ones who try to save only themselves!"
"…!"
"Ooooh!"
"Let's go!"