650. Forces Are Not Just Decoration! (2)
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The various desperate updates on the battle situation that followed only served to increase the stress levels of the officers and Antares exponentially.
But what exactly were these “desperate updates”?
—————————————–
<Humanity Officer Chatroom>
<Notice: Everyone, Be Careful>
-[Monster Force total strength confirmed, approximately 30 million ships currently mobilized]
-[Phew, at least it’s not equal to ours, so that’s a relief]
-[Agreed]
-[However, with the monsters launching a full-frontal assault, even the Justice fleets holed up in their bases are emerging to join the fight]
-[Ughhhh]
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It turned out that the Justice Clan, which had been entrenched in their bases conducting siege warfare, was now emerging to launch fluid offensives thanks to the space monsters’ all-out attack.
Of course, if the Justice Clan had truly been surrounded and cornered into a last stand, they would have had no remaining strength left by now.
The Humanity side might have heard such stories and simply thought, “Ah, I see,” dismissing them casually—but unfortunately, as already proven in previous incidents, the Justice Clan had from the start received assurances that the monsters would aid them.
As a result, while Humanity pressed its offensive, the Justice Clan merely conducted delaying tactics, preserving their forces entirely. Consequently,
—————————————–
<Humanity Official Chatroom>
<Notice: Justice Counterattack Incoming>
-[What the heck? Why does Justice have so much power left?]
-[The Justice bastards are breaking out from the encircled bases in the rear]
-[Here come the Typhon group, we’re pulling back]
-[Wait, wait, d*mn it, we’re trapped]
-[(Specific coordinates)](Antares)
-[People located down-left from here, initiate an emergency warp to your base immediately](Antares)
-[If caught in the encirclement, you’ll be annihilated by Typhon and Armageddon, so move as fast as possible](Antares)
-[d*mn, we’ve come this far and still need to use an emergency warp]
-[It’s better than having our fleet split and needing repairs, so let’s go]
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Immediately after Humanity shifted from offense to defense due to the monster faction’s intervention, groups like Armageddon and Typhon broke through their defensive lines. Meanwhile, the Justice Fleet managed to shatter the encirclement from the rear bases and emerged.
The carefully constructed defensive line collapsed, leaving Humanity’s 10,000-user fleet suddenly outnumbered and trapped inside a “jar” created by the Justice Clan.
As Armageddon and Typhon pushed further into the jar’s mouth, the trapped fleets were forced to perform emergency warps back to Humanity’s main base, scattered across great distances.
The initial aggressive momentum displayed during the invasion was nowhere to be seen, and instead, Humanity was shown floundering in chaos.
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Naturally, these events were quickly uploaded to galleries by users like “News Boy” and other leechers without any filtering.
And subsequently, users who were suspiciously over-critical of Humanity while excessively praising other clans spread and even edited these clips.
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Title: Humanity Sucks So Hard lol 😂😂
Author: Anonymous
Content: [GIF of 10,000 user fleets warping back to their bases from the “Laoluria Pocket” encirclement]
Did they really bring thousands of ships only to lose millions in one big encirclement battle? Is this real life?
My chest feels so proud rn 😂
Comments:
-[Wow, Justice is actually putting up a fight]
-[Armageddon is huge, legit]
-[They put us in a jar and tried to blend us but we escaped 😂]
-[But didn’t those who escaped just warp back to their bases, so there’s no loss of strength?]
-[[Minimum two gateway transfers required, plus travel time]]
-[[Even if nothing else, they’ll be out of action for at least a week 😂]]
-[[Yeah, hearing it that way makes it sound impressive]]
-[How can hundreds of millions disappear when there are only 10,000 people?]
-[[Clearly exaggerated, keep your eyes peeled]]
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In the galleries, public opinion about Humanity’s “skills” rapidly deteriorated, while praise for Justice as genuine powerhouses surged.
Of course, separate from the mainstream opinions, there were also voices arguing that Humanity had indeed gained significant advantages in combat.
—————————————–
Title: Humanity Made the Right Choice in Laoluria Pocket
Author: Anonymous
Content: [Image of Armageddon charging towards a ship]
Honestly, until recently, most people didn’t fully grasp the firepower of battleships and direct fleets, so it might not have been easy to comprehend.
Remember how in the Icarus region, Leviathan and its fleet destroyed over 2 million invading ships all by themselves?
Facing Armageddon (a battleship equivalent to Leviathan) and the Typhon group (Leviathan’s fleet), with no escape routes or room for maneuvering, the 800,000-strong force (main user fleet + mercenaries) wouldn’t just be excluded from combat for a week—they’d be annihilated on the spot.
Especially important here is the fact that Humanity didn’t try to break through the encirclement recklessly but instead performed an emergency warp back to their base safely.
[Image of the fortress main g*n at the ‘Laoluria Supply Relay Station’ (Level 7)]
Had they attempted a reckless breakout, they would have suffered catastrophic damage from the Laoluria Fortress Main g*n.
Comments:
-[Where’s the three-line summary?]
-[[The title is the summary, gg]](Author)
-[I get the mercenary corps and expeditionary forces being wiped out, but losing the main user fleet would be a pain to rebuild]
-[They did pretty well, considering]
-[So they weren’t completely useless then?]
-[[In conclusion, yes. Though, ideally, they should’ve retreated further back to Terra once Typhon appeared]](Author)
-[[That’s too much to ask. With over 100,000 users spread across the front lines, attempting to form a defensive line was impressive enough]]
-[[True dat]]
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Summarizing all these varied discussions, the general takeaway was that Humanity wasn’t entirely incompetent.
For most regular gallery users, the absurd all-out war in the Central Zone, which erupted just two days after the initial invasion involving three of the four major clans, was already overwhelming.
Then, within another day or two, two more factions got involved, escalating the conflict even further.
—————————————–
Title: Every Day Feels Like a Dopamine Rush
Author: Anonymous
Content: [List of gallery external events over the past week]
Watching the massive invasion unfold felt amazing.
Now, we’re seeing things like 800,000 ships being excluded from combat happen almost instantly.
I wake up every morning wondering what insane event will greet me next. Too excited to sleep!
Comments:
-[No joke, this feels like dopamine addiction]
-[Bro, that’s heart attack symptoms, gg]
-[Every day is pure gold fun, innit]
—————————————–
Most ordinary gallery users found immense satisfaction in simply observing these intense conflicts, feeling their excitement peak.
Still, despite pro-Humanity users’ arguments, public sentiment toward Humanity remained largely negative. Perhaps because Humanity had initiated the conflict and then seemingly wasted their 800,000-strong force by retreating to their bases.
For some reason, many concluded that this war was essentially a victory for Justice and speculated on how humiliating Humanity’s downfall would look.
The sheer number of users thrilled by the prospect of watching Humanity—the overwhelmingly dominant first place—fall was considerable.
However, contrary to these users’ expectations, about three days later—precisely one week after the invasion began—Humanity launched a proper counteroffensive, dramatically reversing the situation.
The previously confident users were thrown into utter confusion upon realizing they had been wrong.
