Solo Conquest of Avalon Fortress
"Their center's been breached!"
"Push through! Keep the pressure on!"
"Waaaaaah!"
Driven by the mercenary corps forcing their way forward, the defensive formation split clean down the middle like the parting of the Red Sea, reduced to little more than scattered remnants waiting to be hunted down.
And into that emptied center poured the capital ships—everything from the Kraken down to standard-grade heavy cruisers—locking into bombardment formation.
"All fleets, open fire!"
"Fire!"
They began hammering the defenseless fortress without mercy, and I got a front-row seat to a spectacular live artillery show. Every so often Pashtura would gather her full power and slam a beam straight into the fortress, and the sheer satisfaction of those hits was almost too much.
We'd been watching that one-sided bombardment for less than thirty minutes when—
The moment the event message confirmed that the fortress's air-defense grid had been completely wiped out, I left just enough force to finish off the guard fleet being slaughtered outside and committed every remaining ship I had.
Tens of thousands—hundreds of thousands—of assault pods poured in, carrying the mercenary corps, the monster-side troops, our own massed superhuman forces, and even Griyanaar's chimera units.
Roughly five hours later…
You are the first among all Commanders to successfully capture a Level 5 stronghold alone.
Rewards
You will receive additional weekly rewards from Avalon Fortress.
└ Minerals 100,000 · Rare Resources 20,000 · Gold 3,000
└ Docking system lock between Avalon Fortress and your base has been unlocked!
"Oh."
"You did it, Commander!"
Through the mercenary corps' "sacrifice," I had finally—among hundreds of thousands of players—claimed the title of the first person to successfully siege a Level 5 stronghold solo. I could feel the dopamine flooding my brain at full charge.
The conqueror of the fortress.
And at the very moment Icarus was celebrating his successful stronghold siege with a full dopamine rush, the reactions of the players who'd been watching "Icarus's Heart-Pounding Siege Disaster Cam" through a thousand stealth ships—not to mention everyone who'd put Gold on the line betting for or against his odds of success—were nothing short of absolute chaos.
[Image of a toad laughing its ass off against a background flooded with "lol"]
lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
What was the correct pick?
Believe in the ranker lmaoooooooo
If you trusted the proven safe asset, upvote lmaooooooo
[Screenshot of a destroyed spaceport gate]
Why the hell did that just explode out of nowhere
Did he infiltrate special ops into the fortress ahead of time or what?
It just starts going boom boom boom all of a sudden—what kind of bullshit is this
Just as they say life and death are the C between B and D—choice—the gallery was a riot of joy and despair as countless players who'd tried to ride Icarus as the favorite or the underdog saw their fortunes flip. If Icarus himself had been watching, he would have found the whole thing deliciously unhinged, as always.
And separate from the gambling addicts whose moods rose and fell with every bet…
Most players were replaying Icarus's past battle footage in their heads and arriving at the same conclusion: that in every fight against other users, Icarus had been holding back. The collective reaction was a long, drawn-out "hoeee."
[gif of a 50,000-ship fleet advancing]
"As if I'd ever go all-out against mere players."
[jpg of old posts praising him for winning 1-to-5]
He only called in the pirates at the end because they crossed the line by beating on his base
And while the community was collectively channeling the spirit of fangirling high schoolers, there were also those who—worried about future PvP against Icarus—tried to analyze his actual combat power in earnest.
Of course, the real motive simmering under that analysis was…
"Hey, what if we quietly start checking Icarus?"
"How?"
"The guy's too strong on his own. We poke the players around him and get them fighting each other."
"Oh."
In a different sense from second-ranked Raksha, Icarus was a powerhouse as a single player—and so they moved to check him. No, to try and take him out entirely. But—