The Story of an Ace Pilot Who Is the Only Man in an Alien Army Where Chastity Has Been Reversed - CH 261

War of Attrition

The Empress was fuming but after what happened she cooled down a bit. If she tries to leave the canyon right now she will only cause unnecessary damage to her ship. Shaking her head in frustration, the Empress snatched the folding fan that her servant had picked up for her.

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“……we were lucky that we weren’t shot by the [Valizer]. Good thing that I promptly ordered a rapid descent right?.”

“Y, Yes ma’am.”

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The staff vaguely replied. It was the Empress who ordered them to ascend in the first place. Besides, even though they were lucky that the [Valizer] didn’t fire at them, they still got bombarded by enemy battleships. However, the damage the [Odelcrois] received was little.

That is a given since the [Odelcrois] is boasting its heavy armor so it can keep flying with no problem even if the enemy got a few hits in. That said, since they were hit by armor-piercing shells from a relatively close range, the number of casualties was not few. Regardless, it doesn’t change the fact that their situation is already pretty bad.

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“Anyway, we need to find a way to escape from this hell hole first.”

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The Empress looked around while gritting her teeth in a sour mood. Crimson battleships and cruisers are flying tightly in the canyon with ice cliffs sandwiching them on both sides. The cliffs also seem like they can collapse at any given moment and every time the enemy explosives hit, chunks of ice and small fragments are raining down on them.

With the armor and thrust power of their battleships and cruisers, they would still be able to get out even if the entire canyon collapsed on them but they certainly want to avoid such a situation.

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“As I thought, the most troublesome part is how to deal with the [Valizer] huh. Aside from that thing, we can easily deal with the enemy with what we already have here……”

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The [Valizer] packed enough firepower to sink a battleship in a single blow. As long as the enemy has that kind of firepower on their side, the Empress’s fleet can not leave this canyon carelessly.

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“Can we destroy it if we use our cruisers as a shield and rush in?”

“I, I would not recommend that, You Majesty…….”

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Even one of her Yesman(woman) advised against the idea because it was too terrible. They are not dealing with the [Valizer] alone here. Using an entire fleet worth of cruisers as a sacrifice to take down one mobile fortress is just beyond the scope of acceptable damage.

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“I know that already! Our enemy is just Diaroze and a poor backwater country. It’s not worth it for my superior fleet to be sacrificed just to crush those insects.”

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Originally, the [Valizer] was a powerful but terribly difficult to utilize weapon so it was considered an extra in the Noredian army. When Diaroze asked for reinforcements, she had sent it over with the intention of getting rid of it from the armory but she never imagined that it would be used against her like this.

If she had sent a few battleships over then they would be able to handle that easily enough. The Empress regrets sending the mobile fortress over but right now is no time for her to mull over it.

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“Then we have no choice but to send our strikers in. I don’t really want to resort to this though…….”

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In the first place, the mobile fortress is a weapon designed to combat fleets and fortifications. Naturally, it has its way to fight off smaller foes but smaller crafts like a striker stand a better chance at winning here.

Even so, she still needs to prepare to accept some losses. The Empress was the type of person who couldn’t care less about the death of her subordinates but she would still feel that it was wasteful for her to lose her highly trained elites that whom she poured a lot of resources into bringing up.

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“But there’s no avoiding some losses huh. Tell the Imperial Guards to prepare to sortie. After the finished resupplying, half of them will be sent out to attack the [Valizer].”

“My apology…….Your Majesty, the Imperial Guards were already deployed with anti-ship weapons. They still haven’t been able to use those against the enemy fleet yet so would it not be faster if we direct them toward the [Valizer] instead?”

Her chief of staff proposed. Her complexion looked terribly pale.

The Calencians are still raining them with explosives. The sounds of explosions and the impact of the shells are loudly echoing on the bridge.

Being one-sidedly attacked while unable to do anything is mentally exhausting. If they have time to resupply then they would rather use that time to quickly defeat the [Valizer] and launch a counteroffensive. Several of the staff members also share this opinion and raised their voices.

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“Even if they still have all their ammunition, those pilots have been engaging with the enemy strikers until just a while ago! We should equip the anti-ship weapons to our reserve unit and have them sortie instead, Your Majesty.”

The staff in charge of handling striker-related matters voiced a protest. It is true that the Imperial Guards have suffered considerable damage from fighting Kisei and the others. It would be dangerous to direct them right at the enemy immediately.

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“The unit we have on the reserve is only 30% of our total strikers right! We can not take down the [Valizer] with only that many strikers. If we use the unit we have on the field right now not only do we have the numerical advantage, it will be faster for us to launch a counterattack as well!”

“But……!”

“EEEIH, Shut up! There’s no time to discuss this! We will adopt the chief of staff’s suggestion, inform the Imperial Guards on the field!”

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The Empress shouted in a frustrated tone. She also wants to get out of this situation as soon as possible. If they can launch an attack faster then that’s obviously better.