98: Fighting! So exhilarating!

(An Zai QWQ, a big shot, gave a huge amount of gifts at once)

(Including but not limited to mass updates, big swords, character summons, etc.)

(Now I owe 11+3 = 14 chapters, damn it)

(National Day is going to be insanely busy)

...

(The detailed combat is only for these few chapters; I won't describe Boarding Actions or similar things in detail later)

(Two-in-one)

The flesh Warship seemed to notice the lucky it had just collided with,

so a thick, fleshy tentacle lashed out violently at the lucky's bow torpedo launcher—

In the collective consciousness's impression, that was the component that posed the greatest threat to the large individuals of the Swarm.

In an instant, the immense force slammed the fragile torpedo bay into a massive indentation, twisting the delicate launcher into a mangled mess.

The crew on the Bridge, who had just steadied themselves, were sent spinning again.

And before they could react, something even worse happened—

On the lucky's torpedo deck, there was still an unfused heavy anti-ship torpedo!

Out of cognitive inertia, Gulac assumed that either the torpedo bay crew or the maintenance personnel would take the initiative to reset the tube containing the torpedo;

but the torpedo bay staff were waiting for orders, fearing arrest for insubordination if they handled it themselves,

while the maintenance crew simply ignored it, treating the torpedo launcher as a part ready for installation.

This resulted in the torpedo, only secured simply, lying quietly on the torpedo deck, untouchable and unquestioned.

Until now—

The violent shaking caused the barely-there securing mechanism to fail. The multi-meter wide heavy torpedo slid out, its warhead slamming into the hull,

the pressure-sensitive fuse was instantly triggered, igniting the primer, which quickly spread to the warhead—

"BOOM!!!!!!"

The roar of the explosion and the screech of twisting metal resonated through every space of the Warship.

From the outside, the lucky's bow had turned into a massive fireball, with debris and human figures flying out. Cracks spread rapidly across the entire Warship.

The ship didn't snap in half because the explosion occurred at the bow.

The people on the Bridge were stunned, bleeding from their ears and noses, seeing stars before they could even process what happened.

Gulac forced himself up from the floor, enduring the discomfort. He felt as if all sound around him had vanished.

The crowd around him was covered in red liquid, some crouching, some lying down.

Feeling the incessant vibration of the Warship beneath his feet, alarm bells rang in his mind—

"The Warship is breaking apart!"

"Quick! Get to the other escape Shuttle as fast as possible!"

Gulac shouted with all his might, but to everyone else, it looked like a comedic silent film.

Fortunately, most still had the instinct to survive.

Before Gulac finished his frantic gesturing, they scrambled up and stumbled toward the escape pods in the corridor.

...

...

"What on earth?"

Xi Hai stood on the "storm". He had been watching the two torpedoes about to hit their target, but suddenly another Warship appeared, pushing the battered target aside and blocking the torpedoes.

He thought it was an ally,

but the intercepting Warship suddenly sprouted a tentacle and blasted the ship of the guy claiming to be the son of a Lieutenant General into fireworks.

Looking at the wreckage, it was clear that ship had received the same treatment as Miss Hood—secondary explosion.

But tentacles?

Warships growing tentacles?

What new trick have those slime molds cooked up now?

The enemy gave him no time to think.

In an instant, a second, a third... a massive number of targets appeared.

"Enemy reinforcements inbound!"

"47 cruiser-class targets! 129 destroyer/frigate-class targets! 320 frigate-class targets!"

"Detected abnormal graviton fluctuations! Their movement method is Gravity Conduit!"

The Radar Operator reported loudly.

Watching the red dots on the radar screen rapidly increasing, Xi Hai ordered loudly:

"All Warships, fire at will!"

"Prioritize large targets! Watch out for enemy long-range fire!"

"The enemy might be Void Creatures! Use armor-piercing neutron rounds!"

...

"All fleet, open fire!"

Upon receiving the order, the shipboard ai responded coldly.

Almost simultaneously, over a thousand Warships let out a silent roar.

Ion beams, pulse beams, torpedoes, missiles, and shells rushed toward their targets.

The ion beam from the eternal storm's bow main battery plunged straight into the enemy fleet, like a lightsaber, cleaving through everything in its path;

the torpedoes and missiles exploded into fireballs, with large amounts of debris scattering, and the hit enemy ships exploded into gorgeous, silent fireworks in space.

"Enemy ships are still increasing!"

Although Xi Hai's fleet was highly efficient in damaging those tentacle Warships,

it was clear that the tentacle Warships were emerging even faster.

"Damn it! How are these things endless?"

A gunner had just confirmed the destruction of a target when two new ones appeared in their field of fire,

and as they recalibrated on the console, even more new targets appeared.

Xi Hai stood on the Bridge of the "storm", watching the endless tentacle Warships emerging, and the flesh tentacles that hadn't completely lost vital signs even after being destroyed,

he felt his sanity plummet.

"Must destroy that Gravity Conduit generator!"

Xi Hai remembered hearing that to open a Gravity Conduit, unless using two massive celestial bodies, one needed at least one generator to provide coordinates and gravitons.

But where was it?

He only knew such a thing existed; he had no idea what it looked like or how it worked.

How was he supposed to find it?

"night lamp! Can you connect to that generator?"

night lamp: "I can connect, but I cannot pinpoint the location or remotely shut it down. Currently, it is presumed to be controlled by a mechanical switch."

"Then can you open the Warship's information collection system?"

night lamp: "It requires one Warship to remain stationary in non-combat mode for one minute."

One minute?

Fine!

Then hold for one minute!

"kalilein number 999! Withdraw from combat immediately, retreat to the rear of the fleet, and activate information collection to scan for the Gravity Conduit generator!"

"Share the results immediately upon completion!"

As soon as the order was given, a kalilein on the edge of the battlefield shut down its weapon systems and withdrew.

The surrounding fleet immediately shielded it.

"Attention!"

"Missile incoming!"

Suddenly, on the shipboard radar, countless rapidly approaching small dots appeared.

Close-in weapon systems and pulse battery groups immediately turned their muzzles and began intercepting the white-flashing torpedoes.

Sparks exploded in mid-air,

but there were still leaks. Several kalileins were hit, and immediately—

More and more tentacle Warships arrived via the Gravity Conduit,

and on some of the later Warships, the tentacles extending from the hull began carrying large clusters of small bugs.

Less than two seconds later, more Warships with large individuals attached appeared—

Large numbers of Shelling Bugs clung to the tentacles extending from the Warships, their long, straight bodies pressed directly against the hull;

there was also a new type of large individual never seen before—they had a massive head, covered in small tentacles, wriggling frantically like tongue coating,

the scene was extremely bizarre.

"Prioritize attacking Shelling Bugs! Watch out for plasma ball attacks!"

"Deploy Shield drones!"

Suddenly, the warning from the Radar Operator sounded again,

"The enemy has deployed a large number of biological units!"

"Intercept!"

"Prepare for counter-assault!"

It wasn't clear if these bugs had learned from the lesson of being devastated by armor-piercing neutron rounds,

but their airdrop units this time seemed to be equipped with an independent capsule.

After the fragmentation warhead exploded, thousands of steel balls hit the capsule and were embedded inside,

so when the neutron stream hit, it only swept away the capsule, while the Void Creatures mimicked as bugs inside remained almost unscathed.

"Watch out for landings!"

There was no choice. Seeing that neutron torpedoes were ineffective, the Warships immediately switched to physical interception,

pouring massive firepower onto the capsules, blowing them up one by one in mid-air,

but they were still getting closer to the fleet—these bugs seemed endless, constantly emerging from the exit of the Gravity Conduit.

First, the unmanned Warships in the front were hit. When Xi Hai saw those FG300s starting to grow tentacles, he decisively ordered them to self-destruct via night lamp.

"How much longer for information collection?"

"27 seconds!"

"kalilein number 777 has been hit by a landing capsule!"

"The Swarm is pouring in!"

"Airtight compartments closed! Requesting support!"

The public channel was chaotic,

and Xi Hai heard the emergency calls for help from several manned Warships hit by landing capsules. Xi Hai thought for a moment,

although a certain empire had a famous saying—no sacrifice is too great,

Xi Hai didn't think his subordinates were that fanatic yet.

If he ordered those Warships that had just publicly requested help to self-destruct, it would undoubtedly be a devastating blow to his own morale and reputation.

Then—let's try to provide support first!

He happened to have a candidate who could execute this, didn't he?

If those Warships were truly beyond saving, he would still issue the order for them to self-destruct without hesitation.

...

Meanwhile,

on the CAS066 - Ship 13, where Gunnar and his Ultramarines Legion (a parody by the author, don't take it seriously) were stationed,

733 veterans who had fought alongside Gunnar, and 5122 new recruits he had just pulled in, were all equipped with full blue powered armor and combat gear.

The powered armor provided by night lamp was already very similar to a certain 40K tin can.

After this paint job, other than the height, they looked even more alike.

Gunnar was very satisfied with the decorations 8225 made for him. After having his own powered armor maintained and repaired, he put it back on exactly as it was—

including that flashy red cape.

And others, looking at the large patches of flashy gold decorations on Gunnar, all said:

Looks super WAAAAAGH!!!

Want!!!

And listening to the sounds outside, they knew they were definitely fighting a super WAAAAAGH battle!!!

Want!!!

At this moment, a heavily modified norma m470 was parked in the positive pressure bay, surrounded by a large number of modified Shuttles.

Gunnar stood on top of one of the Shuttles, looking at the gathered Legion soldiers.

Originally, they were doing pre-battle warm-ups (wrestling ♦),

when suddenly someone brought out a box of small booklets, saying it was sent by the Commander, and told them to organize the whole army to read it.

He was definitely going to pay attention, so he gathered everyone and prepared to read it,

but when he saw the first sentence—

"To avoid bloated command and low efficiency, each combat unit should be kept under 1000 people."

Gunnar first looked at the six thousand plus people below, then looked at the glaring 1000 on the booklet,

this booklet instantly achieved the status of toilet paper in his mind.

Looking at the six thousand plus people waiting for the Commander to speak, Gunnar decided to skip this sentence, then—

[Each combat unit should have clear responsibilities, subdividing assault, support, firepower, medical, etc., into squads, and each combat unit should consist of multiple squads...]

He thought about the scenes of their fights; this sentence wouldn't work, skipped.

[In a fast-changing battlefield, when the balance of power is unclear, try to adopt a conservative fighting style...]

He thought about their fighting style again; this sentence still wouldn't work, skipped.

[...]

...No, skipped.

...

After skipping who knows how many sentences, Gunnar flipped the page again, disappointed,

instantly, a sentence that perfectly matched his taste caught his eye, making his blood boil—

Damn! This is what I want!!!

With just a glance, he turned on the loudspeaker:

"Listen up!"

"This is the teaching sent to us by the Boss—"

The waiting crowd instantly fell silent.

"Our footsteps are epics, our sacrifices are anthems!"

"Every victory is proof of loyalty, every scar is a medal of honor!"

"We shall be as firm as steel, as scorching as radiation!"

"Advance! Warriors! Until the multitude stars go out, or the song of triumph rings through the sky!"

"the multitude stars forever grant us their blessings!"

"WAAAAAAGH!!!!"

As his war cry rang out,

the emotions of the crowd below were fully stirred—

"WAAAAAAGH!!!!"

Gunnar struck while the iron was hot, shouting:

"Start distributing this thing called Battlefield Guidelines!"

"Remember to tear off the toilet paper at the front before watching!"

The voices below were instantly uniform:

"Yes!!!!"

When that combination of toilet paper and scripture (as Gunnar saw it) was distributed to everyone,

Gunnar's personal communicator rang.

As soon as he answered, Xi Hai's voice came through—

"Bugs have landed on kalilein ships 777, 247, 978 and lancer ships 23 and 72!"

"It's time for you to perform!!!"

"Go! Expel those damn Void Creatures!!!"

Gunnar immediately stood at attention and shouted:

"Yes!!!"

After Xi Hai hung up, Gunnar turned his gaze to his subordinates who were looking forward to it,

and shouted with his loud voice—

"Attention all!"

"The mission is here!"

"The Commander wants us to clear out a group of bugs that have landed on the Warships!"

"Bring your Chainsword and Boarding Shield!"

—Yes, their equipment had been updated. The improved Chainsword had become an optional substitute for combat knives,

—but without a doubt, the vast majority chose the Chainsword, which looked super WAAAGH.

When everyone had checked their weapons,

Gunnar issued the final order,

"Since it is said that scars are medals of honor,"

"then let's set a rule!"

"Everyone can use your favorite little decorations to cover up the battle scars on your powered armor!"

"Now!"

"Board!"

Immediately, thousands of people divided into small groups and orderly entered the modified Shuttles,

while Gunnar, taking those 733 veterans, boarded the heavily modified norma m470 landing ship.

Before walking onto the landing ship, he suddenly remembered something, turned around, and picked up a piece of blue cloth—that was the Legion flag 8225 had designed for him.

He decided to take it with him.

As the positive pressure bay door opened, hundreds of heavily modified Shuttles slowly rose, accelerated,

and then—like moths to a flame, they charged into the fiery battlefield.

...

...

(The following is a cold joke, can be skipped)

First, both are tools born for war,

second, both fight the Swarm,

third, both come from ancient times,

most importantly, both suffer from incurable injuries and use mechs as healing pods,

so, Firefly-chan = dreadnought.