Chapter 638

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 638: Tehen (3)

“What… w-what, save a planet?”

Yeongwoo’s pupils, blinking in surprise, were also dyed gold.

It was probably because the Golden Nebula Command had activated.

And sure enough, the Earth, which had been staring into his eyes, opened its mouth wide.

『What the hell, what’s wrong with your eyes?』

“It’s because of the Nebula Command. I just figured out how to make a Golden Sphere on a non-qualified planet.”

『…What?』

Of course, that hadn’t been Yeongwoo’s intention.

Until the phrase emitted by the Nebula Command appeared, he hadn’t connected Tehen and the Golden Ratio at all.

「A golden pathway has opened on Tehen. Save the planet and obtain the Golden Sphere.」

“So making a sphere on a non-qualified planet… I guess it didn’t mean something simple.”

『What do you mean by that?』

“It seems like you can only get a sphere when you save a planet that’s been completely screwed over. Like Tehen right now.”

Swish.

As Yeongwoo pointed toward Tehen visible in the distance and said that, the Earth’s eyes widened into circles.

『If you save a planet in crisis, you get a Golden Sphere? This is totally…….』

Good deeds itself.

Well, the Golden Ratio route had been aligned with good deeds from the start.

『Then from now on we’re supposed to make robbery our family business while going around saving planets in danger?』

“Well… something like that. For now it’s the only way to bring the Golden Ratio down upon Earth.”

『No, what the hell is that? Not villains, but not heroes either.』

“They call that ‘balance’ in the universe.”

The moment Yeongwoo said this, the cockpit window flashed red and Mantero delivered a report.

—Fighters from the Salzeo side are approaching.

Then one of the windows turned into a radar screen, and small dots could be seen rapidly approaching the Earth Ship’s direction.

And through the remaining windows that showed outer space, the actual appearance of the fighters began to come into view.

“Uh… we can deal with those, right? There are quite a lot of them.”

The instant Yeongwoo voiced his doubt, Mantero pulled some lever backward and spoke briefly.

—Nemua, fire. Total 314 times.

Then, short straight lines dropped one by one over the fighter positions on the radar, and soon, in reality as well.

Papapapapap……!

Thin lasers cut across space, weaving a dense net of fire, and pierced through the oncoming fighters without leaving a single one behind.

“Uwah?”

This was the first moment the effectiveness of equipment that had cost tens of billions was revealed.

“Fighters aren’t cheap either, but they’re getting erased in an instant.”

In the space outside the window, the fighters pierced by Nemua were exploding like fireworks, and soon after, streamlined lumps of metal came flying in at high speed from behind them.

“What are those?”

—Medium-class ships. We don’t know how many more troops are behind them, so we’ll just take the first attack with our bodies.

“You’re just going to get hit?”

Yeongwoo asked back in shock, but Mantero, as if he had no time to explain each detail, continued with the next report.

—Forward thrust. Maximum acceleration.

With those words from Mantero, the Earth Ship began accelerating rapidly toward the center of the enemy fleet.

Kwaaaaaaah!

In order to avoid colliding with the Earth Ship, most of Salzeo’s medium fleet performed evasive maneuvers, and only a few that had already positioned themselves on the flanks fired their cannons early.

Toward the surface of the Earth Ship’s shield!

Kuuuuuuung……!

An ominous vibration rang out from beyond the cockpit ceiling.

As everyone inside looked up at the ceiling with anxious expressions, Mantero smiled faintly.

—The cannons loaded on medium-class ships won’t be able to pierce our shield in a single strike.

“…But if they fire several times, it’s possible, right?”

—We can allow up to three shots on the same point.

With those words, Mantero brought up the shield status on another cockpit window.

Paat!

The shield model, densely subdivided into countless hexagonal tiles, displayed current durability by location through colors.

And the six spots that had just been hit by cannon fire had turned yellow.

“If we can get hit three times per point, then if the opponent has hundreds of medium ships, that could get troublesome.”

—There aren’t many families with that level of force… but that’s correct. If there are hundreds of medium ships, they could open dozens of small holes in our shield within seconds.

“So that’s why having more cannons is advantageous.”

—The opposite is true as well. If we have many cannons, we could erase hundreds of medium ships at once.

Of course, the number of cannons the Earth Ship currently possessed for shooting down medium ships was only five Homjil cannons.

「Hemstitch」 – Legendary Cannon

【Output : 750】

【Maximum Ammo : 22】

【Firing Time : 3 seconds】

【Required Energy : 320】

【Manufacturer : Toma】

<Luck won’t keep favoring your enemy forever.>

That was why Mantero had said he would take the first attack with the hull and observe the situation.

And above all, wasn’t the Earth Ship’s greatest strength its massive size and durability?

—We’ll just take the ships in front with our bodies and keep going. The ammunition is wasteful.

Mantero, for the first time, executed the head-on ramming Yeongwoo always talked about as a habit.

Kwaaaaaaaa!

As the Earth Ship surged forward with another burst of acceleration, the Salzeo medium ships that had been reconstructing their encirclement began scattering in all directions.

And among them, the ships already in positions where escape was impossible—

Kwa-ja-jak!

With a violent vibration beyond the cockpit ceiling, they collided with the Earth Ship and shattered to pieces.

It was the moment high-priced goods worth tens of billions per vessel turned into cosmic dust.

“Isn’t this just a bulldozer……? Do we even need to fire cannons?”

—We can’t ‘ram’ ships that have positioned themselves near Tehen. In the end, fleet battles are cannon battles.

“Then if this weren’t a hostage situation like now and it were a full-scale battle in open space, we could solve almost everything with body-slamming, right?”

At Yeongwoo’s crude question, Mantero wore a slightly flustered expression for a moment.

—Umm… if we’re prepared to accept actual damage to the Earth Ship, it should be possible.

“Actual damage?”

—A shield that’s been punctured during battle won’t be able to block the next bombardment and will take it directly.

“You mean the shells would fly straight down onto the land?”

—That’s correct. During the engagement, numerous cities would probably be destroyed……

“Alright, alright. We’ll just have to make a lot of money and install more cannons.”

While Yeongwoo reluctantly nodded, Mantero, who had finally discovered Salzeo’s vanguard flagship, prepared his trump card.

—That looks like the flagship. I will fire Volcano.

「Volcano」 — Legendary Cannon

【Output: 2000】

【Maximum Load: 1】

【Firing Time: 2 seconds】

【Required Energy: 2300】

【Special: Explosive Shell】

【Manufacturer: Toma】

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Then, without even waiting for Yeongwoo’s approval, he simultaneously pulled the cannon levers on both sides of the captain’s seat and executed the firing.

Clank!

A sound like a latch unlocking came from inside the pulled levers, and soon the metal pedestal supporting the captain’s seat glowed red for an instant.

Kiiiiiiiiing……!

A sharp sound of energy compression rang out, and through the cockpit window, a crimson laser shot out.

Toward the very center of Salzeo’s fleet visible in the distance.

“They won’t dodge that, right?”

As Yeongwoo clenched his teeth and widened his eyes, Mantero spoke quietly.

—They will dodge.

“What?”

—I was aiming at the ship behind the flagship from the start. But the one attempting to evade will be the flagship.

No sooner had Mantero finished speaking than the vanguard flagship, positioned among seven support ships, created a blue afterimage for an instant.

It had attempted an instant evasive maneuver.

And the crimson laser of Volcano that rushed in right after—

Piiit!

Passed through the flagship that had turned into a blue afterimage and struck the support ship docked directly behind it.

—…Got it!

Mantero, unconsciously clenching his fist, rose from his seat.

And the reason soon became clear through the window.

“…Huh?”

The support ship hit by Volcano’s explosive shell triggered a massive explosion, indirectly striking the flagship right in front of it.

Although the flagship wasn’t completely destroyed, the scattering debris from its rear flank was clearly visible to the naked eye.

—It will be difficult for them to perform evasive maneuvers now. I will launch additional bombardment and take out the flagship first.

Mantero reported with a far more murderous momentum than before.

Seeing this, Yeongwoo realized that unlike royal navigation, Mantero was finding considerable enjoyment in operating the Earth Ship, which was pure wilderness and violence.

‘No, maybe this actually suits him……?’

Meanwhile, the medium ships that had scattered to the sides of the Earth Ship fired in unison, but Mantero ignored them and fired “Assaulter” forward.

「Raider」 – Legendary Cannon

【Output : 1800】

【Maximum Ammo : 2】

【Firing Time : 1.5 seconds】

【Required Energy : 1200】

【Manufacturer : Toma】

<If you fail to evade it, death is assured.>

Its firepower was slightly lower than Volcano, but the firing time was faster.

Moreover, after the chain explosion just now, 1.5 seconds was far too short a time for the flagship to respond.

Kwaaaaaaah!

In the end, Salzeo’s vanguard flagship failed to attempt an evasive maneuver and took the full 1800 output of Assaulter head-on, soon erupting in a blue explosion and spewing countless fragments.

—Look closely at that. That blue explosion is also the sign that a large ship has been shot down.

As Mantero pointed a finger at the place where the flagship had been, everyone stared blankly in that direction.

Then Jiseon cautiously asked.

—But why is it blue?

—The material most commonly used as the power source for large ships is called Cizera. When an explosive reaction occurs, it is characterized by emitting blue light.

—Ah. Then when large ships fight each other, it must be blue light everywhere.

—Yes. Fortunately, there are no large ships here at the moment……

Just as Mantero was about to continue briefing the remaining Salzeo forces, his eyes suddenly widened and he shouted.

—Rear ambush!

Then, reflexively, he slammed his fist onto the shield deployment device of the captain’s seat.

Bang!

For the first time in this engagement, the Selulite shield was activated.

And almost simultaneously—

Teeeeoong!

A tremendous roar, like striking a gigantic iron plate, echoed from beyond the sky.

It was also at this moment that a communication screen appeared on the front cockpit window.

Paaaat!

What appeared on the screen was none other than—

「There is no need to repeat my greeting, is there?」

Salzeo’s vanguard fleet commander, Ashki Salzeo.

While they were fighting the advance force, Ashki had barged into the battlefield with the rear force.

And judging by the size of the newly appeared dots on the radar……

—It’s a special-grade fleet composed entirely of large ships. It seems that force was originally meant to receive us.

As Mantero said this with a heavily tense voice, Yeongwoo leaned his face so close to the radar that it was almost touching it.

“But the direction… isn’t it the opposite?”

—That’s right. They must have used a super-high-speed relay route. But how did they pinpoint our rear so precisely…….

“No, no. Not that.”

—……?

“Ramming. Let’s just do it again. Since it’s the opposite direction from Tehen, it should be possible, right……?”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]