I Don't Want a Pyrrhic Victory (1)
"The Commander has ordered a retreat! Push those bastards out of here however you can!"
"Kyahahahaha! An S-grade dares challenge me?!"
His two remaining light carriers had allowed Icarus's superhumans to force their way aboard. With boarding actions erupting across the ships, retreat was no longer an option even if he wanted one.
At least the light carrier serving as his flagship managed better…
"Don't you dare try to steal our Commander's ship, nya!"
"Nngh—!"
"Smeragi! We're here too!"
"Ohhh, perfect timing, nya!"
His sole SSS-grade superhuman, Smeragi, joined forces with the S-grade Lion and Banshee, who had rushed over from other ships. Together they managed to drive Partia and her boarding party off the flagship and reclaim control.
The other light carrier, however, was a completely different story.
"Kyahahahaha!"
"Aaaagh— she's insane!"
"Commander! We have to scuttle the ship!"
Unlike the flagship, where Partia had been forced to fight alone against multiple defenders simply because no one else was available for deployment, this second light carrier had been hit by a joint assault from Griyanaar—now transformed into her giant-beast mode—and Ignis.
The superhumans defending it were Aura and Marfaga, both SS-grade, a full rank below their attackers. Marshmallow, for all that his mental state was crumbling, was still a top-500 ranker—firmly within the top one percent of all players. He could see plain as day that holding out would only get his precious superhumans killed. So, tears welling in his eyes, he made the call to abandon the light carrier.
He ordered the two superhumans locked in combat with Griyanaar and Ignis to fall back, and they scrambled off the ship as fast as they could.
Of course, he wasn't about to just hand it over. He tried ramming the light carrier into a neighboring ship to scuttle it—but fortune was not on Marshmallow's side.
And for Icarus, fortune was very much smiling. Belial, who had been busy capturing nearby vessels, received the situation report and immediately launched her own boarding action. While the mismatched duo of Griyanaar—whose massive, beautiful body still somehow managed a flat chest—and the simply flat-chested Ignis smashed their way through the hangar bay by raw force, Belial slammed a boarding pod straight into the engine room. She cut off any mindless suicide charge before it could start, and the light carrier was successfully seized.
In short, Icarus's fleet had scored a spectacular result against the three enemy light carriers—sinking one and capturing another—while Marshmallow, desperate to force a full fleet retreat, realized that far too many of his ships were locked in boarding actions. A forced withdrawal to base was impossible.
So he gathered every remaining ship and threw everything into protecting that last light carrier.
Not that it would matter. The scale of the fight and the sheer numerical disparity meant that, left alone, that final carrier would either join its sister on a one-way trip to the ocean floor—or get NTR'd by Golden Sun Icarus, leaving Marshmallow to hear his own light carrier confess, "I'm sorry… he's just… bigger (in ranking) than you… I like him better…!"
Marshmallow's psyche was starting to crack. He seriously considered going full Imperial German Navy and scuttling the whole fleet in a grand, tragic gesture—
And then, right as that thought crossed his mind—
While Marshmallow's ships were being ground down trying to hold the line, RamuRamu of the Unity Clan—having received the distress call—came charging in at full speed with his entire fleet.
Like a cavalry charge straight out of a medieval fantasy film, they slammed into the flank with guns blazing.
"Commander, the enemy fleet is falling back!"
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOH—!!!!"
Icarus's fleet had already taken losses of its own. Even after the "massacre," RamuRamu still had enough firepower left that fighting two-to-one was a losing proposition. So Icarus called off the offensive entirely and withdrew to base.
Marshmallow, deeply grateful for the reinforcements that had arrived at the most critical possible moment, set about regrouping his shattered fleet—
Unfortunately, in the chaos of the brawl, every last one of Marshmallow's repair ships had been obliterated as well.
And so the Unity Clan, having mounted an expedition all the way into Icarus's distant territory, found themselves completely unable to perform any repairs whatsoever.
Meanwhile, at that same moment—
"Behold that light!!"
"…"
"Gondor calls for aid!!"
Whether the enemy had called for backup through the chat or something else, the clan's reinforcements arrived faster than expected. I figured that pushing any further would rack up losses so severe I'd be unable to fight their main force later. So I sent the retreat signal to the superhumans still mid-boarding action and booked it back to base faster than anyone.
The enemy's mobile force was annihilated and their main fleet was pinned in place—that much was confirmed. I planned to cruise home at a leisurely pace and take my time repairing the fleet…
"Commander, the Kraken's condition seems a little… off."
"Huh?"
This was the same ship that had casually chomped a destroyer mid-ramming charge and shrugged off a full-speed charge into a light carrier. Why was it acting up all of a sudden?
Maybe it was like those people who don't feel a thing mid-fight because the adrenaline is pumping, only to collapse with a concussion once it wears off.
Worried, I quickly docked the two battlecruisers and the rest of the main force, then went to check on our Kraken first.
The good news was that the Kraken wasn't groaning because of serious damage.
The bad news was that the reason it was groaning was something far weirder.