Desperate Struggle Against the Vanguard (1)

And unlike the gallery, which was split roughly half and half on that feeling, the chat window…

In other words, what was the internal public opinion of the Icarus Republic (I hate that name) like?

Maybe it was because so many chronically plundered users had gathered in one place.

They were naturally showing every sign of intending to grow their own strength through plunder themselves — the very picture of model, upstanding, aspiring plunderers.

Desperate Struggle Against the Vanguard (1)

Anyway, while those miscellaneous conversations kept circulating, I spent the remaining time productively finishing the ships' equipment setups and leveling work.

Time flowed on and on, and before I knew it the moment the final countdown began had arrived in a flash.

And the instant the final countdown ended—

The message that the event had properly begun, and that the fleet coming for me would be roughly this size, made me feel at once that it was going to be an excellent fight.

The problem was that while I was thinking that, Jessica suddenly tilted her head as if something felt off and tossed a single question my way.

"By the way, Commander — the fortress vanguard is attacking us here directly, right?"

"Mmm… yeah?"

"But the ones attacking aren't only the ones that have you as their target, are they…?"

"…Huh?"

The moment Jessica raised that doubt, I realized something was wrong—

—BEEEEEEEEEEP!!!

"Eep!"

"Commander, a massive fleet is advancing on this position from the front!"

"Whoa, that's a lot of them."

"…Come to think of it, there are twenty-five hundred users docked here alone, so of course twenty-five hundred vanguards would come swarming in."

I had to shed tears watching the 'vanguard' forces pour in thick enough to paint the base command post's radar net into a solid red tide.

But once I and the other users actually began the fighting in earnest, Stage One ended far more anticlimactically than expected.

And the reason for that was none other than…

—"Fortress main gun at 100% charge! Ready to fire at any time!"

"Yeah, fire~"

—"Firing!!"

—KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

The fortress main gun I had built first and blooded against the Punishment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Fleet — only to suffer a humiliating string of scenes because the enemy had simply been too strong — that same gun, specifically Tannhauser's fortress main gun, was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now dealing devastatingly effective damage to the madly swarming enemy fleets.

If the enemy fleets had been packed with Large Ships, they might have been able to 'reasonably' distribute the main gun's impact among themselves, but…

—"Direct main gun hit confirmed!"

—"Enemy fleet strength reduced by 10%!"

—"Kill count tallied at approximately seven thousand vessels!"

"Oh."

"They're just getting swept away like moths to a flame."

For the pitiful invasion force — no, the vanguard — it was unfortunate that, just as the event notice had already announced once before, there had never been any Large Ships among them capable of tanking the main gun's firepower. Every time we fired, the fleets simply deleted themselves in bulk.

Of course, no matter how strong the fortress main gun was, the vanguard's scale was the combat power of 2,500 Commanders plus Tannhauser's base defense fleets, so wiping them all in one go was still rather a lot to ask…

It wasn't just the fortress main gun. The defensive installations of the base ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and every docked facility were pouring out firepower of their own — and the fleets of the docked users weren't sitting idle either…

And so, exactly six hours, seventeen minutes, and thirty-nine seconds after the message that the vanguard was invading—

"Hmm…"

"Commander, you're wearing an extremely hollow expression right now."

"Hnnnnngh."

"So I was right."

Watching the vanguard that had invaded me get wiped out so early, and seeing the remaining ships get seized left and right by the 'plunder parties' other users had put together, I felt a truly indescribable, thoroughly peculiar emotion.

And it seemed I wasn't the only one feeling that way.