Chapter 585: All-In Cyber Muscle

Author's Preface

Iceborne is fun (Dying words) [*1]

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Teraton-Class battleships. Even though they have "battleship" in the name, there are ships specialized entirely as production plants and ships customized to look like luxury cruise liners just to farm favorable disposition with NPCs. Ultimately, the "super-massive spaceships that also come equipped with combat capabilities" are what define the Teraton-Class in this game.

Recently in another game, I saw an ultra-super-super dreadnought-class interstellar spaceship the size of a region that vastly exceeded the Teraton-Class, so this feels a little lacking, but...... no, what's more important right now is the specific type of Teraton-Class battleship.

The route to construct these super dreadnought-class spaceships basically changes depending on the "type" of the Teraton-Class.

For example, the 3rd Ship "Great Wall" that functioned as a cannon battery when Cutting Board-shi unleashed it right out of the gate is categorized as the Armament Type, a Teraton-Class that was basically built as a bombardment system operating on the premise of firing that Big Crunch Laser rather than functioning as a standard ship. It has a ton of restrictions like holding a very low number of NPCs and being completely unable to carry fighter jets, but in exchange, its instantaneous destructive power is exactly as demonstrated on the first day of the war.

Now then, onto the main topic: exactly what "type" does the 2nd Ship "Hexagon Palace" owned by Deer Horn-shi, which we are currently conquering, fall under.........

The answer is pretty much exactly as it looks, a type called the Linked-Type that attaches multiple Gigaton-Class parts together. Instead of combining giant screws and armor plating to complete a single ship, it's defined as a Teraton-Class only when you connect a minimum of five and a maximum of thirty pre-completed battleships together. Naturally, the Hexagon Palace consists of thirty links, making it the maximum-scale Teraton-Class battleship for this type.

『This type of Teraton-Class can distribute its roles across the number of Gigaton-Class ships used in the connection. It costs a lot to build, but it comes with the merit of reducing the total number of Teraton-Class ships you actually need to own...』

"Meaning?"

『For convenience, we'll call it the "Main Body", but the Main Body is always located at the center. And the system is designed so that the gates connecting the ships to one another are the only ones a Teraton-Class cannot close.』

"I got the map data. Sorry it took me so long just to get my hands on a single piece of paper, okay?"

"Which means........."

"If we take the shortest route, there are only 2 blocks left, and that'll bring us straight to the core of this Hexagon Palace."

"Nice! It's a boss fight, things are finally heatin' up!"

At the tail-end of the second day of the war, perhaps thanks to the muscle-droid that became a reassuring ally after we seized the initiative......... a battle-droid we all consulted on and decided to name "Machoga-mine-kun"... we had advanced with unstoppable momentum and were finally about to call checkmate on this Hexagon Palace. And no, it is absolutely not Machoke-mine-kun. [*2]

You could say the conquest became significantly easier thanks to him, after all, simply adding the option to "smash through it with brute force" causes the time and effort required to simultaneously decrease and increase......... W-Well, looking at the big picture, you could definitely say it got easier, probably.

"So? Do we just make him self-destruct or somethin'?"

『No, if we were fighting this thing on its own, that might be fine, but this time we are going to execute two operations the moment you reach the core.』

An operation?

He entered the conversation way too naturally, but Cutting Board—who probably has the heaviest workload out of all of us here—began explaining the operation's details in a tone of voice that didn't show a single hint of that pressure.

『Listen well, Teraton-Class battleships come with their own slew of restrictions. For example, if a single player operates multiple Teraton-Class ships, the 1st Ship and all subsequent ships must be connected by teleportation gates, and if an alliance is formed by multiple players, each player's 1st Ship must have a direct line to the 1st Ships of the other players.』

Initially, everyone thought this was just a demerit meant for NPC strikes, but looking at the current situation, anyone could tell the implications had become something entirely different.

The presence of Parasites within the Lion's BodyEnemy Players boarding the ship turned what used to be a simple mechanic for helping NPCs act up into a highly dangerous gimmick that could bring about the end of the entire fleet.

『The devs sure love to roll out updates with a bit of a twist to them... The enemy has likely beefed up their security too, so this will be a race against time.』

"...Let's hear the operation, Employer-dono."

『I assume you're already aware of the gentlemen's agreement in place for this war, but there's a single loophole in it.』

"The ban on offensive actions against enemy ships and enemy players... Ah, so that's how it is."

"What do ya mean, Gazelle?"

Wait a sec, does that mean... Eh, you can actually pull something like that off in this game?!

『You are the key, Python-kun. Ten minutes before today's war period ends, I will use three of my ships to launch a massive hacking attack on the Hexagon Palace from my end. My ships are specialized for space combat, but even I can manage to completely pin down all the security resources of a single Linked-Type Teraton-Class.』

"Ah... So basicallyyy, we'll launch a hacking attack from both the outside and the inside to hijack this ship... is that ittt?"

"Wait, you can do that?!"

Wolf's shock makes perfect sense. Strictly speaking, it's a bit different, but generally, the size of a spaceship is directly proportional to its security strength. No matter how top-tier the hacking items they handed out were, it's practically impossible for a single player to hack a Teraton-Class... for a Teraton-Class, that is.

『In theory, it's possible. It wouldn't work on a Single-Type Teraton-Class, but for a Linked-Type which is merely an amalgamation of Gigaton-Class ships, if I strip away the resources of all the connecting Gigaton-Class ships excluding the Main Body, then the security resources Python-kun will have to handle will equal that of a single Gigaton-Class ship.』

"Isn't that still impossible? Hacking a Gigaton-Class in ten minutes..."

『No, there's no need to seize the initiative. What I want you to hack is the issuance of the command codes that the Main Body transmits to the other constituent Gigaton-Class ships.』

...

......

.........

Day two, the fierce battle unfolding in the Moscow Mule Sector would end in exactly ten minutes... While we were still on guard, the very moment a slight sense of relaxation began to set in, the trap was sprung.

『Electronic attack commencing. Operation time is ten minutes... Nine times out of ten, there should be a Guardian at the deepest part of the Hexagon Palace... the final bastion protecting the ship.』

"Just so we're clear, don't go expecting me to dodge or handle myself, okay?! I basically play the rearguard in other games, too, ya know!"

"Don't sweat it, just sit back and act like you've boarded a massive ship, Python."

"Hey Gazelle, we're literally already on a massive ship."

"...It's opening. Boss fight time."

"We're counting on you, Machogamine-kun..."

Now then, what's gonna pop out?

◇

"Fufufu... It seems some ill-mannered pests have wandered into my beehive... But this is where their luck runs out! They'll be turned to dust within the beehive by the area-suppression of my three 'XX-H Yamata-Hydras', the final defense line of the Hexagon Palace...!"

『Ooh, deploying three of those things at once? Not bad at all, Deer Horn-san.』

"Hahaha! Oh please, this is mere pocket change."

『Hmm, considering this is quite literally pocket change for us, flexing about it doesn't really make me feel anything though...』

『Hmm? But will that really be alright, Rokkaku-san?』

"What do you mean?"

『If I recall correctly, the Yamata-Hydras require a wired connection, so it might be one thing against an NPC charging straight at it, but against actual players, its weak points are practically completely exposed...』

"..................Whewーーーーーーーー"

『Deer Horn-san, don't tell me you didn't know.........!?』

『All hands, prepare to attack the Hexagon Palace.』

"Wait! Wait!!! It's still not certain! We don't know for sure yet, Breast Meat-san?!!"

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Author's Afterword

A common trope in Galaxy Traveler post-update

Discrepancies between catalog specs and actual performance, like slaughter-weapons that shut down completely if you just unplug their power cord.

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Translator's Notes

• [1] Iceborne is fun: A reference to the expansion for Monster Hunter: World.
• [2] Machoga-mine-kun vs Machoke-mine-kun: A Japanese language joke regarding the character ヶ, which is typically a smaller version of the Katakana 'ke' but is often pronounced as 'ga' when used as a possessive or connective particle in names (e.g., Kasumigaseki or Sekigahara). And it's Machoke.