Chapter Nine: Sweeping All Before Them!

All these actions were carried out autonomously by the shipborne optical computer, not by a person.

This did not mean that the shipborne optical computer aboard the Guardian of the Mountains had awakened to true intelligence and was acting on its own.

Rather—

It was an emergency!

"Level One Alert.

This vessel has sustained a critical hit.

Energy shields have collapsed.

Armor resilience has fallen to zero.

Armor in some sections has been severely damaged.

Some compartments have sustained severe damage.

Structural damage to the hull has reached thirty-three percent.

Take immediate action."

The shipborne optical computer's warning was cold and merciless.

Yet its voice was perfectly clear!

As a result, every word was imprinted without a single mistake in the minds of everyone in the command room.

But—

These were all ordinary words, easy enough to understand.

At that moment,

they seemed utterly unreal!

Even the violently shaking hull,

the piercing alarms,

the cold warning voice,

and the scattered red markers indicating severe damage on the automatically displayed hull schematic—

All these objective facts were reminding the senior officers aboard the Guardian of the Mountains

just how serious the situation was.

Yet their emotions, and even part of their reason,

refused to believe the information!

"How is this possible...

From just one shot..."

Someone murmured as if in a dream.

"Am I dreaming?

Damn it, wake me up!"

Someone was furiously slapping himself across the face.

"It's fake, it's fake.

It must be a Mysterious System illusion attack.

Activate the purification module, quick!"

Someone, convinced he'd seen through the "truth," shouted hysterically.

For a moment,

the command room of the Guardian of the Mountains descended into chaos!

It truly was hard to believe.

The Guardian of the Mountains was a Star Destroyer that had focused on developing its