Many airships were being prepared at the dock. The space bugs would take a few days to arrive. Fortunately, the space station had been completed, although the poor workers had to work non-stop and are now exhausted. However, I have been put in charge of an entire unit. My job is to essentially lead hit-and-run attacks and harass the enemy.
The ships are being loaded up, and I get on one. We then quickly make our way into space and unload everyone onto the space station. The space station is the strategic ground for this mission. It is a heavily defended city which will operate as a temporary base. Some of the demon generals are already assigning temporary accommodations at the base. A massive amount of food is being stored in the warehouses, along with various magical tools and weapons.
The space bugs are unable to reach us immediately as they are on the edge of the solar system, so at least we have some time to prepare. The day finally comes, and I can see countless swarms of space bugs. As the commander, I'm on one of many airships. I decide to yell very loudly, as my voice can travel through space, to divide the unit into two teams. The first team will be those with the life support bracelet or those who can cast the spell themselves. Their job is to charge into enemy ranks and cause as much chaos as possible. The second team will stay on the airship and use long-range assaults to harass the enemy with hit-and-run tactics. Once the ship is mana run low, we will fall back to the base. If you die I'll bring you back to life so I can kill you myself.
A few days earlier, I wondered why I had been summoned to the Demon Lord's castle. I entered the throne room where the Demon Lord was sitting on the throne. She smiled and said, "You'll be very important in the upcoming war. Your ability to survive in a vacuum makes you well-suited to be a commander." She continued, "You'll be leading the harassment and hit-and-run squad. Your job will be to cause chaos through the use of hit-and-run tactics or any other means. The majority of our fighters will be focused on the space station. The barrier around the space station is designed not to stop any attacks that are too strong. It also won't stop enemies that are too strong. Normally, a barrier would intentionally try to stop an attack that was too powerful and would break. This barrier has been modified to literally ignore any attacks that are too powerful. It's designed to keep the small fries out. These bugs might not be highly intelligent, but they're still smart enough to use basic tactics, so it's important to cause as much chaos early on. While their instincts will take over, their already lacking intelligence will drop to an even lower level."
Back to the present.
"Okay, I want the airships to basically scatter and use hit-and-run tactics. Engage from a distance; don't get too close to the enemy. Keep a safe and healthy distance, using ranged attacks. Those with the bracelets or those that can cast the life support barrier spells themselves. If you want to engage in close combat, you're welcome to do so. Remember, our goal is to harass the enemy and reduce their numbers,"
Stolen novel; please report.
"As such, we should target those space centipedes. They look like small fries, but they're super ugly. They look like regular centipedes but the size of a truck, and they can move around in space. We should definitely target those fucking disgusting things. It looks like the more powerful ones are hanging back," I continue. "Don't get cocky. Space dungeons are very unique. Not only can you not enter them like regular dungeons, but regular dungeons use dungeon magic to create valuable treasures, resources, and monsters, and then control those monsters. They can't control sentient monsters, which means monsters are never sentient. The idea is to bait sentient life in so the dungeon can feed on the corpses after the monsters kill them. The dungeon's favorite food is sentients being corpses after all.
"Dungeons also have some kind of unique spatial magic that lets them occupy their own personal dimension, which you can only enter through the dungeon gate. The teleportation circle that forms after you conquer the dungeon is the dungeon's way of incentivizing you to leave so its core isn't exposed and it doesn't die. Space dungeons, on the other hand, just shit out monsters exclusively. Additionally, they can also produce sentient monsters, so be on guard because there's definitely going to be some commander-level bug things."
The airships scatter in formation, and the crew on board begin bombarding from a distance. Those wishing to engage in close-quarters combat, or those who can cast life support barriers or have bracelets, decide to cause chaos by appearing randomly throughout the battlefield.
"Sophie, start us off with a bang!" She creates a sword made of shadow darkness and then slashes the air with it. With her space magic, distance becomes irrelevant; these slashes cut numerous centipede bugs into an uncountable number of pieces. She then disappears, reappearing from another shadow. Her teleportation abilities are truly terrifying; normally, you need to perform complex calculations to teleport. However, with shadow magic, you can enter your own shadow and exit from any other shadow. When you mix in dark magic on top any dark area, is considered a shadow, allowing her to instantly teleport anywhere within space, as long as she has enough mana.
Sophie’s weapon changes from a sword to an axe to a spear, incorporating curses. Shadow magic involves manipulating shadows, while dark magic involves manipulating darkness. Dark magic also includes curse and ritual elements, similar to how light magic includes healing. Powerful curses and rituals often take a lot of preparation, which is why Sophie hasn't shown off these aspects of dark magic.
Some of the centipedes turn black and begin attacking other centipedes, creating a large amount of chaos. Sophie disappears and reappears as she slaughters the space centipedes. Finally, she stops moving and opens the Gate of Babylon. An endless number of swords and spears made of shadowy darkness pour out of the gate, all cursed with very nasty effects: a bleeding curse that causes all wounds to constantly bleed, an anti-regeneration curse, an instant death curse, and an old age curse. Even if you fend off the instant death, you'll still rapidly age because of the old age curse. Getting hit by these spears is incredibly dangerous and ensures it won't be a fun time.