Actually, They Got Nerfed (1)
Attack Power+20%
Evasion−5%
Accuracy−5%
Oh for fuck's sake. This is ridiculous.
The Kraken had just one-shotted a patrol ship with a lucky shot — and now these bastards were getting a Berserk buff on top of everything else. Their already insane multiplicative stacking had just gained another multiplicative layer. It wasn't even a joke anymore: one solid hit and my Kraken was liable to eat a lucky-shot crit of its own.
This was supposed to be a small-scale engagement to test a newly built ship. Instead I was getting screwed over by bullshit RNG stacked on top of more bullshit RNG. Between the statistically absurd situation and the fact that our ships had now entered their weapons range, I abandoned the plan to drag out the fight against these RNG-blessed pirates for leveling purposes. I decided to push the Kraken forward and use its absurdly abundant tentacle clusters to smash their ships to pieces outright.
But the moment I advanced the Kraken—
"Commander, the enemy fleet is splitting into three groups and closing in."
"Ah, these bastards — no way?"
Those insane pirates centered their formation on light cruisers and escorts — including what looked like their flagship — then formed light cruisers and destroyers on both flanks and charged straight at the Kraken. My understrength escort fleet couldn't stop a pirate force screaming in with afterburners blazing, and they punched straight through.
When I saw the pirates who'd slipped past the Kraken's abundant tentacles and swung around to the flanks—
Ah shit. We're fucked.
At this rate, the light torpedoes and beam cannons they were packing would hammer the Kraken's soft side armor without mercy and shred my small, precious hull like filleting a fish. I was already lamenting that my not-even-a-day-old Kraken was about to get a long-term stay at the monster HQ hospital on its very first real battle — and at the same time, not just the others nearby but Princess Luka, about to let out a shrill scream at the Kraken's humiliating rather than majestic appearance — right at that moment—
"See ya, you goddamn battleship bastard!"
"...?"
Along with the pirates' sudden curses blasting over the open comm channel, instead of attacking they fired up even more afterburners right there — and without firing a shot, blasted out of the battlefield at top speed. Though in the process the Kraken's tentacles smashed about two more ships as a minor fuck-up.
"Those pirates are impressive."
"..."
"They deliberately pretended to charge mindlessly, writing off a few sacrifices to save the majority."
Incredibly, they'd sacrificed just three destroyers and one escort, and despite taking some damage, managed to get away alive. Feeling my sanity leave my body at this absurd battle result, I shook my head — and yet thought, Alright, I'll give them that much — and was about to head back to base with no other choice...
Right then—
BOOOOM!!
"?!"
"Commander! Mines have been scattered around the Kraken!"
Amazingly, those Blue Fang bastards — while brushing past the Kraken's sides — had ghost-dropped mines and bolted, so that even the slightest movement would set them off and deal damage.
Haha. These motherfuckers.
Realizing my precious Kraken couldn't return to base until every last one of those goddamn mines was cleared, I snapped:
"Launch the Kraken's fighters again. Chase those bastards down and smash them."
"Understood — but with the Kraken's fighters in their current state, won't it be hard to deal effective damage?"
"No — call in the nearby fleets too, and tell Pashtura to sortie the base fleet as well."
"Yes♡"
To wreck the pirates who'd dared screw me over and run, I decided to throw every resource I had at them.
After hunting down every last one of those Blue-Blue-Fang-guy uncles for slaughter — tracking them, capturing them alive, then using the TS potions Griyanaar had made—
"NOOOOOOO!!!"
"Hey now, I said make as many as you shot, not as many as you killed."
"How the hell am I supposed to know that!"
"That's exactly why this works out."
"G/AAAAAAAH!!!"
"Ah, just hold on a little longer and the pain will turn into pleasure, you know. Can't even wait that long."
...While giving them a new life as excellent producers, I looked at the Kraken that had finally made it home sweet home after we'd barely cleared the minefield they'd scattered — and a strange feeling kept welling up that something was off.
Even if the Kraken's fighters are low-level, the enemy's own AA defenses weren't that great either...
Sure, their multiplicative stacking plus layer after layer of bullshit RNG had produced absurd performance. But even accounting for that, having over a thousand fighters per strike group and still getting shredded was not normal.
What the hell? Did I fall for some pranksters' scheme?
Belial was with them, so the fleet buffs should have been applying normally. Even with command buffs and accounting for the low levels, this was way too weird.
"Commander, is something bothering you?"
"Hm? Ah... uhhh."
At Jessica's words — she couldn't stand watching me like this any longer — I thought for a moment, then decided to voice the concerns I'd been mulling over. Regarding my doubts, Jessica thought for a moment, then said:
"Commander, if you're really curious, why not just check the community?"
"...Now that you mention it, that option was always there."
Hearing Jessica mention the community — that is, the Gallery — I agreed that was absolutely right, and immediately logged in...
[Mod, report link here]
[Do your job, mod]
[This place is full of shit!!!]
Yep. The usual familiar bastards.
...The familiar report posts greeting me the moment I logged in, and the subsequent deletions.
You son of a bitch.
Deleting the post from the guy who'd faked a report and seamlessly transitioned into disgusting-image terrorism, I simultaneously—
> Ban this user from the community for (15 days)?
> They will be blocked from all community functions including the Gallery, trade window, and chat.
> (Y) / N
Through a process that flowed as naturally as water, I finished my duties as a mod. Then, as originally planned, I started digging through the Gallery trying to figure out what the hell was wrong.