Annihilation

The fifty frigates of the Second Fleet scattered in as they came toward the fortress.

“Switch targets to frigates.”
“Understood”

On Setsu’s orders, the aim of the main guns was changed from the battle line ships to the frigates.

The situation of the enemy ships being scattered was not a big problem for the fortress. It wasn’t like Mitsuki to be confused by that, as her aim was scattered.

Frigates are smaller, more maneuverable, and have weaker defensive shields when compared to battlecruisers.

In response to the characteristics of the frigates, the fortresses did not concentrate their fire in a single point, but rather in a way to fill the area where they would take evasive maneuvers.

The frigate was immediately shot down and shredded.

Still, many of the ships were able to get through the main gun fire.

The frigate’s beam cannons will be arriving soon.

“Five minutes to effective range.”

Gilead, the captain of the frigate Rashees, was in a desperate state of mind. The spherical embodiment of hell was firing at intervals of approximately one shot per minute.

In other words, you have to dodge the attack four times to get into effective range.

Do we shoot them in the distance?

Gilead thought about it.

For beam cannons, the effective range is set uniformly for tactical reasons.

It is only set up for the reason that if energy is used for bombardment, less energy will be used for the defensive shield, and if the beam is too attenuated, the effect on the enemy’s defensive shield will be less than the energy invested.

“We will open fire in two minutes. Prepare to fire!”
“Copy that, I’m filling up on energy!”

Gilead had decided.

It was a decision based on the importance of hitting the target with even a single blow.

A beam from the fortress grazed the space near the Rathys.

Even though they hadn’t been hit, their defensive shields were being cut down. A direct hit would render the frigate’s thin defense shield useless.

If I can avoid one more shot, I can shoot.

At this moment, the crew of the RACIES were all united in thought.

At least one shot.

Hoping that this would be the case, the Rassies and their colleagues dodged the gunfire.

It’s almost time for the next bombardment.

The crew prayed and continued their evasive maneuvers.

They don’t know yet.

The frigate fleet had been in range of the fortress sub turret group just moments ago.

In addition to the main guns, the secondary guns also set their sights on the frigate fleet.

The bombardment was more dense than ever.

It was as if all of space had been dyed white. The impact shook the ship.

“Defense shield is gone!”
“There’s damage to the ship!”
“Antimatter reactor is clear!”
“Turret three is heavily damaged, but we can use the remaining two!”

The damage done to Laciesse is becoming clearer. It’s still at a fightable level. Gilead clenched his fists.

We can shoot.

“Do you have a ship?”
“Checking. …… not responding. All ships appear to have been destroyed.”

Something cold took over the bridge.

Fifty frigates in the Second Fleet of the Mars Camino. Now the Rathys was the last ship.

Gilead slowly opened his clenched fist and weakly grabbed the armrest of the captain’s seat.

“Open all guns. Open fire at once.”

His voice was grave.

We have to shoot them.

No one should be wiped out without a single blow.

It probably wouldn’t do more than a scratch of damage, but still.

“All guns open. Targeting good. It’s too big to miss. It’s many times bigger than the target in the exercise.”

The artillery officer interjected with as much humor as he could muster. Gilead smiled.

“Right. All right, shoot.”
“I’ll shoot.”

The beam cannon of the RACIES opened fire on the fortress. The beam turned into a thin strand of light and headed for the fortress, only to disappear in the space in front of it, blocked by the defensive shield.

The fortress returned the favor with a bombardment of secondary guns.

The main guns were once again pointed at the battle line ships.

The Rashees, which had lost even the strength to take evasive maneuvers, was bombarded and scattered.

In the end, this bombardment by the Rashees was the only counterattack that the Mars Camino fleet made.

Seeing that the frigate fleet had been wiped out, some of the battlecruisers of the Second Fleet, which had been advancing, began to turn around.

It’s not a controlled movement.

Admiral de Nard was still shouting for a charge, but the captains of the battleships made their own decisions and decided to turn around, and the hesitant battleships followed suit when they saw their colleagues turn around.

All the battleships began to turn around.

The flagship of the Second Fleet, the Regalia, continued to move forward even in the midst of all this.

All the battleships in front of us reversed and slowed down, and the main fortress guns finally caught the Regalia.

The regalia was gone in a single blow.

No one knows what Admiral de Nalle shouted at the end.

On the bridge of the Therion, there was no one left to speak.

Even the word “overwhelming” is lukewarm.

It was hopeless.

No one in the fleet would obey orders, even if the king shouted for defiance.

Fighting that thing is insane. If we were to fight it, we would still be better off taking on the entire Imperial army. At the very least, our attacks would reach the Imperial Army. We can die fighting.

“Can you connect me to Lord Azna?”

After a while, Vetsia opened his mouth.

“Probably because I’ll have to mediate after the war.”

The majority, who had been trying to deal with Settsu, would have to shut up if they saw this result. However, Vetsia knew that they would not be able to ask him to leave quietly and politely, as the minority had been hoping.

Sett’s demands of the Kingdom of Mars-Camino were as follows.

Allow free resource extraction in the Ossicle system for one year as compensation.Do not engage in hostile acts in the future.Allow the use of the spaceport and its facilities, but pay appropriate compensation.

Some ministers in the kingdom reacted hostilely, saying that the army had initiated the battle on its own in the first place.

However, since Vetsia and Raydon were of the opinion that the entire kingdom would be burnt to ashes even if the fortress’s fighting strength was underestimated, they concluded that they had no choice but to be friendly.

The kingdom accepted Settsu’s request as it was.

This gave Set free access to the resources needed to restore the fortress.

Although there were occasional visits to the fortress by pirates who were old acquaintances of the Black Silver Glory, six months passed without any major incidents.

The Varauskirv fortress is now focused on recovery, and has regained roughly all of its functions.

But Settsu had no way of knowing.

For the past six months, the universe had not just been sitting idly by and doing nothing.

TN: Decided to focus on one story at a time for a bit. There are a total of 60 episodes/chapters for this one before I catch up to the author. Hoping to get caught up sometime over the weekend.