I Got a Monster Spaceship from the Tutorial Tower - Chapter 53

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 53
53
Yeon-u had no idea where or how it had appeared, but in any case, he gestured to Urelka.
“The situation’s urgent, so let’s take this call. Just scramble my face and voice for me.”
“Of course, Ship Captain.”
Soon the faces of Yu Hyun-su, Jeong Gwan-u, and Jang Chae-bin appeared before Yeon-u in turn.
To them, Yeon-u’s form would look pitch-black, and his voice would sound strange and distorted.
Regardless, Yu Hyun-su and Jang Chae-bin threw their fists up in jubilation.
— As expected, the Thrice-Sought Council truly shows its brilliance!
— You are indeed our leader!
‘The Thrice-Sought Council?’
Wasn’t this only the second time?
Yeon-u found himself trying to recall when he’d ever met them before.
— Brother, come now—this is only the second time, I’m telling you.
Jeong Gwan-u shook his head side to side as he spoke.
‘That doesn’t seem right.’
Fortunately, Yeon-u’s memory appeared to be intact.
“What’s going on? Since last time?”
As Yeon-u asked, Hyun-su suddenly came to his senses and answered.
— Master Zhuge!
‘Who’s Master Zhuge…….’
— The situation is grave indeed! Your aid is desperately needed!
“Then that’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”
Anyone who didn’t know better would think they’d come directly to Yeon-u’s home.
Next was Jang Chae-bin.
— We shall aid you! Surely you intend to intercept that Brave Hammer?
“……?”
Surprisingly, he’d said something that actually made sense, and Yeon-u tilted his head in puzzlement for a moment.
‘Were they not mad after all?’
It was a question that would sadden the Yuguan Zhang Trio considerably, given that they were high-tier prospects in their own right.
In any case, it seemed to align with Yeon-u’s own thoughts, so there was no real reason to refuse.
There was no point in dragging things out.
“All right. Then…….”
Yeon-u paused, studying the tactical display for a moment.
Soon the Fierce Tiger Clan and the Brave Hammer would clash.
It seemed wise to organize things beforehand.
After briefly putting the Yuguan Zhang Trio on hold, Yeon-u opened a channel to Jin Yong and Ha-yun.
— Pilot! You really came!
The screen connected immediately, and Jin Yong’s delight was plain to see.
Yeon-u nodded seriously.
“Yes, it’s important to me too. But what’s your plan for the Elite Squadron ahead?”
— We’ve been debating that as well. In truth, the Hades is our only force capable of taking them on…….
It matched Yeon-u’s own assessment.
The other pilots would be stretched thin just facing multiple Ork fighters.
‘If they’re thinking the same way, this makes things simpler.’
Yeon-u spoke to Jin Yong and Ha-yun.
“Have the Hades join us here. We’ll handle the Brave Hammer.”
— The Hades? Roger, enemy ahead!
They were reaching the distance where contact with the enemy would begin.
Decisions had to be made fast.
— Understood.
Ha-yun answered in Jin Yong’s stead.
Jin Yong shrugged helplessly in response.
— From what I can see, that’s the best option. We’ll leave the Brave Hammer to you. We’ll focus on keeping the standard fighters from breaking through our lines.
“I’m counting on you.”
On the tactical display, the Hades began gradually falling back.
It seemed designed to link up naturally once the Carrier Fighters entered the fight proper.
Yeon-u switched the channel back to the Yuguan Zhang Trio.
“Our Carrier Fighters are moving in with the Hades.”
— Finally!
— After all, you truly are the real deal! Even Zhuge Liang has become one of us now!
Hyun-su and Chae-bin beamed, tears streaming down their faces.
Yeon-u, however, gently corrected their misunderstanding.
“I’ll handle the command myself, though.”
— Well, that’s a bit…….
Chae-bin’s expression turned awkward, as though he hadn’t thought that far ahead.
— What do you mean, Chae-bin? A commanding general handles such matters as a matter of course. Your job is to fight with all your might, nothing more.
— Ah, yes, of course!
At Hyun-su’s words, Chae-bin accepted the explanation readily enough.
Yeon-u watched them for a moment before adding one more thing.
“If you demonstrate real results in this battle, I’ll see that you’re properly rewarded.”
— Rewarded? What sort of reward?
“I can’t say just yet. Trust has to be earned first, wouldn’t you agree?”
If they were speaking face to face, it might have felt different, but knowing his appearance and voice were masked gave him a comfortable sense of distance.
— Trust! Now that’s a fine word!
The fire of determination blazed in the eyes of the Yuguan Zhang Trio—the proposal had caught them off guard.
That left only one thing: annihilating the enemies before them.
Yeon-u had the Yuguan Zhang Trio’s fighters withdraw, then—
“Launch the Combat Flight Squadron.”
He dispatched the squadron, reorganized with Torca at its core.
As fate would have it, the Named Portal had become the first proving ground for testing the Combat Flight Squadron’s effectiveness.
Though it did mean they could demonstrate its capabilities with perfect clarity.
After the necessary preparations, the communications network now linked the Carrier Fighters, the Hades, and the Yuguan Zhang Trio.
Of course, the Yuguan Zhang Trio received only voice transmission.
Torca, commanding the newly acquired Cruiser, streaked skyward with tremendous force and introduced himself to all.
— This battle will be commanded from this Cruiser. The Silver Edge deploys as a separate unit. The Hades joins the main force. The newly arrived Dreadnought, Phantom, and Phalanx will provide flank support.
— A most reassuring voice indeed!
The Hades, which would handle primary firepower, anchored the main formation.
The Yuguan Zhang Trio, whose coordination with this force had yet to be proven, was placed in an entirely separate squadron—a prudent decision.
‘That should be more stable.’
Chae-bin turned to Torca with a question.
— I’ll follow your command, certainly, but do we have a plan against them? Even if we are a Space Battleship, this is our first time facing them. The Brave Hammer has a fearsome reputation.
Even with the Yuguan Zhang Trio joining the Hades, their total strength amounted to only eight units.
Against the Brave Hammer’s roughly twenty craft, they faced an undeniable numerical disadvantage.
Moreover, against an Elite Squadron, neither unit class nor pilot quality could bridge that gap.
It was a blunt question, perhaps, but one that needed to be confirmed beforehand.
Yet Torca responded as though he’d heard the most preposterous thing imaginable.
— Why would you think I’ve never fought the Brave Hammer before?
— ……?
Stunned silence across the board.
At this bombshell revelation, Yeon-u could see the pilots of the Carrier Fighters stiffening and Ha-yun’s face go pale.
The Yuguan Zhang Trio reacted much the same way.
‘He’s fought the Brave Hammer before?’
‘When?’
They couldn’t have imagined it, but that would have been roughly a thousand years ago.
Torca, unfazed, smiled with the ease of someone finally about to play a proper game.
— Just follow my command. I’ll show you exactly how to handle my Brave Hammer.
— ???
Urelka leaned toward Yeon-u and spoke in a low voice.
“In fact, the Iron Blood Assault Squad and the Brave Hammer conduct joint training exercises fairly regularly.”
This was news to Yeon-u as well.
Which meant that Torca, the Clan Leader of the Iron Blood Assault Squad a thousand years ago, was—
“So when he says he’ll show us how to handle the Brave Hammer……?”
“Yes, sir. That’s no bluff whatsoever.”
Against the Brave Hammer, he might well possess deeper tactical knowledge than anyone else.
Screeeee!
At that same moment, Torca cranked the Cruiser’s output to maximum and surged forward.
The other fighters scrambled to keep pace.
“Ten seconds to engagement with the Brave Hammer. Nine seconds out…….”
Urelka’s countdown began.
The distance to the Brave Hammer closed in the blink of an eye.
Crack-crack-crack!
‘Is this real?’
Yeon-u’s eyes widened further with each passing second.
* * *
Lasers tearing through empty space, detonations erupting at his very side.
Torca thought through the violent, urgent chaos.
‘Flying in the Bloody Hawk feels like just yesterday—and yet you’re saying it was a thousand years ago?’
In truth, he retained no memory of death.
His trade had always been firing weapons at barely-visible enemies in the void of space, dodging their fire, waging battle in the depths of that featureless expanse.
If he actually remembered any of it clearly, that would have been the strange thing.
And yet the days when he led the Iron Blood Assault Squad felt as though they were only yesterday.
The Brave Hammer was the same.
A familiar unit—composed of the elite goblin and orc forces—they had trained and fought alongside one another for years.
But now they stood as enemies.
A pathetic reality: nothing more than fakes simulated in the Empire’s hands.
‘Then what am I? Real or fake?’
Torca gritted his teeth and spoke to his pilots.
“Listen carefully—I’m about to tell you the enemy’s weak points. The Brave Hammer appears to specialize in close combat, but their true vulnerability lies within that very strength.”
A secret the old Clan Leader of the Brave Hammer had shared with him directly, back when Torca held that rank himself.
When Torca had questioned whether he should even be told such things, the man had bared his fangs in a grin and answered,
“It means your life isn’t worthless to me, Torca. And besides, sharing our weak points is how we look after each other properly, isn’t it?”
“You’re a fool. I’m not telling you ours.”
Back then, Torca had thought the man a strange one indeed.
But now, facing him in actual combat, his feelings were different.
Had he calculated even this scenario?
‘No. The man had nothing but muscles between his ears.’
Torca let out a soft laugh and spoke.
“Then let battle commence. Everyone, fight with honor.”
— Yes, Commander!
— We’ll give it our all.
— Hehe, same to you, friend.
The pilots, having absorbed every detail of Torca’s instructions, scattered to their positions.
The fatal weak point the Brave Hammer possessed.
Even so, only a handful of pilots would be brave enough to charge through that opening.
But Torca didn’t mind if his own pilots fell short of his expectations.
‘The Iron Blood Assault Squad’s leader always charges ahead.’
Even if he alone remained, he would still bring down every last enemy.
Screeeee!
The Silver Edge, which none could match for speed, surged far ahead.
A silly, raucous harpy—and yet in skill and talent, she far surpassed even Torca.
The enemy did not sit idle.
Three Strikers and one Crawler formed a basic squadron.
The Brave Hammer, comprised of five such squads, readied themselves for a wedge-shaped charge.
One squad at the point, four others directly behind, occupying the upper, lower, left, and right flanks.
The Void Sphere remained at the rear, holding position to observe the situation.
‘I had my doubts, but they copied even this.’
Torca’s brow furrowed.
Yet if they’d copied even such tactics, that was almost a relief.
Their close-range assault—devastating force that crushed enemies like a hammer blow.
What Torca was targeting was the joint sections of that hammer.
Screeeee!
— Kyoukyo!
The Silver Edge, rushing in first, dove at the vanguard squadron with near-collision force.
To the Brave Hammer, it seemed a reckless charge.
But just before impact—
Whoooosh!
Markos activated the White Fang, shrouding the enemy’s front with white mist.
Like a smoke screen, it obscured their vision and the Silver Edge vanished within it.
Where the mist touched, everything froze solid.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Brave Hammer responded swiftly.
The lead squadron came to a halt.
The four squadrons covering the rear simultaneously accelerated, bursting through the smoke screen.
With sufficient speed alone, they could melt through a thin layer of ice with ease.
At the same time, the four squadrons spread out in all directions, searching for the vanished Silver Edge.
But even for them, detecting the Silver Edge’s stealth was beyond their reach.
— Brother! I’m going in!
— All right, Chae-bin!
From below at an angle, the Yuguan Zhang Trio burst out unexpectedly.
Chae-bin’s Phalanx knifed through the space between the Crawler and Striker.
Boom!
Simultaneously, the Phalanx’s signature technique—the Area Barrier—deployed.
It was utterly different from the squadron barrier that other defensive fighters possessed.
Within the Area Barrier, enemy fighters lost maneuverability, and their weapons failed to deliver full power.
Of course, for Brave Hammer, which made ramming its foundation, such constraints were hardly limiting.
Screech! Screech! Screech!
In an instant, the Striker shifted direction, attempting to ram the Phalanx that had fearlessly wedged itself into their formation.
Sparks scattered as the barrier collided with the strike.
A three-to-one fight was not favorable.
Tss tss tss……!
To make matters worse, the Crawler began charging its grappling hook.
— Brothers!
— Let’s go, little brother!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Guan Yu’s Phantom unleashed fire at the Strikers in the nick of time.
The Phantom’s laser gun was not of conventional design.
Like the blade energy in martial arts novels, it fired a long vertical beam of laser proportionate to its shape from an elongated muzzle.
When struck by the Phantom’s laser, as if a ghost had clawed through, the hull would be torn clean in two—or so it should have been.
Bang! Crack! Crack!
Surprisingly, the Striker’s heavy armor withstood Guan Yu’s attack.
Though it left deep marks, the damage posed no immediate threat to combat effectiveness.
Zing!
But struck repeatedly at the same point by the relentless laser barrage, one Striker finally could not hold and plummeted.
Hyun-su’s Dreadnought.
Its attack—not a simple volley but a sustained beam carving through a single point—was more than a damaged Striker’s armor could endure.
Following the Silver Edge’s jamming and the ambush that followed, the Yuguan Zhang Trio had turned a three-to-four fight into an even match.
At this pace, they had every reason to press their momentum.
But then.
“Trio, excellent work. Now, fall back.”
— We remember the tactics you taught us perfectly!
At Torca’s command, the Yuguan Zhang Trio immediately broke off combat and withdrew from the area.
Right after.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Two squadrons of Brave Hammer adjacent to where the Yuguan Zhang Trio had been launched a devastating assault.
Had they been even slightly slower, they would have been battered by the Striker’s head-on ram.
Even for a B-class defensive fighter like the Phalanx, withstanding the accelerated Striker’s ram-attack would have been difficult.
Brave Hammer’s composition and organization emphasized organic movements—when one unit was attacked, those nearby would instantly retaliate in turn.
Thus, those facing them had to accept heavy losses no matter which target they struck first.
‘Conversely, that means there’s a gap to exploit at those joints.’
Torca had no intention of giving them time.
If the enemy’s strength lay in organic coordination, he would simply surpass it.
Torca had the tactical knowledge, skill, and subordinates to make it possible.
The moment Torca confirmed the Yuguan Zhang Trio’s withdrawal, he shouted.
“Hades, attack!”
— Engaging now.
This time, from the opposite side of the Yuguan Zhang Trio, diving down at an angle.
Rat-a-tat-tat! Boom!
Ha-yun’s Hades descended while unleashing antimatter cannon fire.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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