Chapter 639

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Chapter 639: Tehen (4)

—Ramming… you mean over there, sir?

Mantero pointed at the Ashki fleet on the radar.

At this, Yeongwoo calmly nodded.

“Even if those are all large fleets, there aren’t dozens of them, right? I think we can push through before we get turned into a beehive…?”

—That’s…

In theory, it was a plausible story.

However, by orthodox tactical standards, it was also a bizarre tactic one would avoid if possible.

Because it was a tactic whose effectiveness had never been proven.

But the reason ship-ramming had never been “proven by orthodoxy” was simply because no one had ever experimented with it using a Planet Ship, wasn’t it?

—…….

After pursing his lips for a moment, Mantero soon steadied his expression.

Grimly.

Then he looked at Yeongwoo and answered.

—Understood. If it’s possible in theory, it should be possible in practice as well.

“Good. That’s the right attitude on the Earth Ship. So what if the shield gets a few holes? Once we wipe those guys out, there won’t be any reinforcements for a while anyway.”

—It’s true the main force of the Salzeo family is on its way to capture the Planet Ship… but it’ll take at least half a day.

The reason Salzeo had given them a full day before destroying Tehen was probably for the same reason.

According to the original plan, what the Earth Ship should have encountered upon arriving here would have been the vanguard they saw earlier, Ashki’s fleet, and the Salzeo main force boasting an enormous scale, all united as a single body.

—Mobility… is certainly a tremendous weapon. If we clean this place up before the main force arrives and leave, it should work.

“Then let’s move right away. Let’s ram them and shove them aside!”

As Yeongwoo stabbed a finger toward the radar, Mantero spun the controls widely and pulled down the large lever at the captain’s seat.

Clunk!

—I’ll try a ‘ramming’ maneuver with the Star Collision Scar positioned as far forward as possible.

Immediately after that, the Earth Ship suddenly accelerated backward, and Ashki on the screen gave a sharp grin.

「You’ve completely lost your mind.」

Then he made some sort of gesture toward somewhere off-screen, and Mantero urgently shouted.

—Energy reaction! Firing in 2, 1…!

“I-Is now the shield timing?”

However, Mantero did not press the shield device even when blue light flashed from the Ashki fleet on the other side.

The moment he deployed the shield was—

“…Huh?”

—Now!

Boom-boom-boom!

The cannons that had already been fired were hammering the Earth Ship, and heavy vibrations echoed from beyond the ceiling as the Selulite Shield expanded belatedly.

Piaaaat!

And almost at the same time—

KWA-AAAAAANG!

A thunderous roar of an entirely different scale from before burst forth from outside.

Whatever it was, they had just blocked one massive attack with the Selulite Shield.

“What was that?”

—A high-output main cannon. The earlier volley was probably a smokescreen. From the start, it was strange to so blatantly fire a two-second charge cannon at a Planet Ship.

“Ah.”

In other words, they fired a medium-output cannon first to draw attention, and simultaneously charged and fired a high-output cannon.

That way, the shield reinforcement would be consumed blocking the first volley, and the following high-output cannon wouldn’t be stopped.

“No, what the….”

Fleet battles weren’t just about activating shields at the right timing, you also had to predict the enemy’s strategy.

—For a vanguard fleet commander of Salzeo’s level, tactics like this are second nature. We’d better push them aside quickly before they try something else.

In reality, the Earth Ship was still racing toward the enemy at high speed without stopping, and as the distance shrank far more than before, Ashki, sensing something, cut the transmission.

Flash!

Then he split the fleet in two and began rapidly moving left and right.

—It seems they’ve realized we’re trying to ram them. I thought they’d be extremely conservative… but as expected, a vanguard fleet commander is different.

“Isn’t it obvious we’re coming to ram them? Is noticing that really such a big deal?”

—In ordinary fleet warfare, ramming is not a tactic. Especially for large fleets, a single ship costs at minimum tens of billions, and often exceeds a hundred billion.

That was Mantero’s explanation, tactics had developed in a direction that preserved expensive ships as much as possible.

In other words, the very idea of smashing into the enemy with a high-priced vessel was never an easy one.

“Ah… so in that kind of atmosphere, a Planet Ship can’t help but be a complete rule-breaker. Forget price, its base durability is so high it can ram things.”

At that, Mantero made a strange expression and said:

—Isn’t that the real reason Planet Ships are considered wonders of the universe…? To someone like me who’s studied fleet tactics his entire life, this is shocking in itself.

Then he manipulated the lever again, raising the output even further.

—So the tactical effect will be shocking as well.

Mantero’s voice trembled faintly.

—Even if they know, they can’t stop this.

Indeed, outside the window there were still numerous ships caught within the helmsman’s field of view.

Ashki had hastily ordered lateral evasion upon sensing something was wrong, but they couldn’t escape the predicted impact range.

This wasn’t because the large ships were slow, it was because the Earth Ship was simply too big.

They should have arranged their fleet formation much more widely from the start.

—It’s certain now that Salzeo has never fought a Planet Ship before. But—

Mantero then raised his index finger and pointed at the ships outside the window.

—If someone survives this battle, there will be major changes to Salzeo’s fleet tactics.

“So next time they’ll use different tactics against a Planet Ship, right?”

—Yes. Therefore…

Mantero cleared his throat briefly.

Then he gripped the controls tightly and delivered a terrifying follow-up.

—We must not let anyone live. Especially Vanguard Fleet Commander Ashki.

“…….”

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Since when did Mantero say things like that?

Yeongwoo could only gape with his mouth open.

Around that time, the collision with the Ashki fleet fleeing left and right was imminent.

Some ships that had started their thrust later were already brushing against the Earth Ship’s shield boundary.

And, without exception—

KRA-SHATTER!

With a rupture sound worth at least tens of billions, they erupted into blue explosions in the middle of space.

BOOOOOM…!

“Crazy. You said each of those usually costs a hundred billion?”

As Yeongwoo spoke while watching ships explode in succession along the Earth Ship’s exterior, Mantero nodded.

—We’ve just become even greater enemies of Salzeo.

“Ashki? Where’s the ship he’s on?”

At Yeongwoo’s question, Mantero brought up a separate camera angle on one side of the helm’s window.

Flash!

There, three large ships were leaving the battlefield at high speed, leaving pure white afterimages.

“What? Did they dodge our ram? How?”

—That is hyperspace flight.

“Hyperspace flight…? Like some kind of ultimate move?”

—One of the last resorts. It consumes a significant portion of fuel and places great strain on the power core, but it allows you to instantaneously leap through space like that.

“If they had tech like that, why did the others just explode earlier?”

—It requires extremely expensive equipment, so it can’t be installed on every ship. So the ones escaping there are…

Mantero explained that they were likely the flagship carrying Vanguard Fleet Commander Ashki and its escort ships.

—Originally it’s an emergency escape device used to avoid asteroid belts. But since they used it for tactical evasion, you could say their capability is impressive. They realized that with normal propulsion, death was unavoidable.

While praising Ashki’s judgment, Mantero’s eyes remained sharp.

—They’ll open a relay tunnel soon and escape. We must shoot them down before that, Ship Owner.

“That’s obviously approved. We saved ammunition earlier, so we can chase them enough, right?”

—Of course.

Sure enough, even before Yeongwoo finished speaking, the 32 Nemua cannons were already preparing hundreds of shells.

「Nemua」 – Legendary Cannon

【Output: 160】

【Max Load: 42】

【Firing Time: 0.3 sec】

【Energy Requirement: 50】

【Special: Piercing Rounds】

【Manufacturer: Toma】

Soon, points of light embroidered the pitch-black space as they pursued Ashki’s fleeing ships.

“Nemua? That’s for shooting down fighters.”

—The story changes when hundreds of rounds hit. If we’re lucky and destroy the relay device, we might even stop them from entering the relay tunnel. Of course, before that—

As Mantero spoke, his hand had already pressed the firing button of the “Raider.”

The large-ship-destruction cannon that would fire an energy shot with output 1800 after 1.5 seconds.

—It’s also to conceal the Raider’s energy reaction. They won’t be able to match the timing easily.

The moment Mantero finished his line, a crimson laser shot in beneath the hundreds of Nemua shells.

“…Oh!”

Would Ashki react in time?

Or would he be hindered by the chaotic incoming Nemua rounds and make a mistake?

The result was immediately clear.

As soon as a red flash streaked between the hundreds of shells, the ship positioned in the center of the three, Ashki’s vessel, erupted in a blue explosion.

“Good grief.”

Salzeo’s Vanguard Fleet Commander, Ashki, deceased.

Since he was killed without even crossing blades, Yeongwoo paradoxically felt fear.

No matter how much of a master one was in the universe, a single misstep in fleet warfare could lead to annihilation.

—As expected of Salzeo. To save even the remaining two ships, the vanguard is chasing us.

“Why would the vanguard…? Wouldn’t it be better for them to run while the large ships are being chased?”

—It seems the vanguard’s flagship was destroyed, so there are no more ships carrying relay devices.

“Ah. So they’re saying they’ll fulfill their mission to the end and die.”

As Yeongwoo marveled anew, Mantero prepared the next shot and muttered quietly.

—But no one will complete their mission. We still have plenty of ammunition left.

[Translator - Night]

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