"The Lili is heavily damaged!"
"The Xibian is heavily damaged!"
"The Suanni is taking on heavy water, speed reduced to 9 knots!"
"The Yingzhao's ammunition magazine has detonated, ship expected to sink in 118 seconds!"
"..."
Nothing but bad news reached her ears.
Looking at the fleet markers displayed on the celestial navigation system... from the moment the Emperor-class Honkai Beast "Wangxiang" charged directly into the heart of the fleet, the Tide-class and Drifter-class beasts it led had inflicted nearly one-third casualties upon the Zhuque fleet in just three short minutes.
While the Tsushima Strait was wide, it was far from wide enough for such a massive fleet to maneuver. The water depth of only about a hundred meters, while restricting the movement and concealment of the aquatic Honkai Beasts, also severely impacted the fleet's use of underwater weaponry, including depth charges. To deal with the aquatic Honkai Beasts that harassed shipping lanes in the Pacific, the depth charges used by the Shenzhou fleet were mostly of exaggerated power, with a typical detonation depth of over 500 meters.
If such a weapon were deployed in the Tsushima Strait, where the water was only a hundred meters deep and in some places as shallow as fifty, it would likely flip the fleet on the surface before it managed to kill any Honkai Beasts.
Furthermore...
The Honkai Beasts encountered this time were using extremely insidious tactics.
Unlike the aquatic beasts they usually faced, which favored guerilla warfare, these charged directly at the decks of various ships at any cost. They didn't sink them but instead used the warships as hostages, forcing nearby friendly units to refrain from attacking with their high-powered main cannons. Shenzhou warships were built in the style of glass cannons—high attack, low defense. Without their shields active (which were difficult to activate once a Honkai Beast got in close), the probability of being sunk by friendly fire was extremely high.
This unprecedentedly dirty tactic left Ayinuer completely unable to respond. It wasn't just her; even if any other commander from Shenzhou, or even the entire world, were here, they wouldn't necessarily have a solution... Of course, a hard-headed one among them would likely choose to cut their losses.
To resolve such a dilemma, she needed a beam weapon that was both powerful and precise...
Shenzhou had such equipment.
The "Kuishao" main cannon, mounted on the "Tianshu"-class floating warships, possessed this capability when converted into a diffusive offensive weapon. This multi-functional main cannon design was originally intended as a countermeasure for encountering mixed forces of Temple-class and Assault-class beasts without sufficient fighter escort (a lesson learned from the Sydney air battle).
However, unleashing the "Kuishao" main cannon meant that the Three Powers Grand Array covering the fleet would cease to function.
The thunderclouds overhead had not yet dispersed.
If...
No, no matter what, she had to try!
If this continued, apart from the three "Tianshu"-class ships, the entire fleet was likely to be annihilated in the Tsushima Strait!
The Zhuque fleet wasn't the only thing on the sea's surface. If the warships were hit by friendly fire, the Honkai Beasts "entangled" with them would also be caught in the blast!
Besides, that sea dragon-type Emperor-class Honkai Beast had already revealed itself—
"Three Beidou ships, switch main cannons!"
"Three Beidou ships, switch main cannons!"
Ayinuer actually had other options: she could form a Two Rites Grand Array with the "Tianshu" and "Tianxuan" to maintain a defensive network, while activating only the "Tianji's" main cannon system.
But she was not that type of conservative commander. Trying to cover all bases carried the risk of failing to cover any of them properly.
The Two Rites Grand Array might not be able to defend against a potential attack.
Relying solely on the "Tianji's" attack... while ensuring enough power to "suppress a Honkai Emperor or heavily damage a Temple-class beast," the "Kuishao" main cannon had a maximum lock-on count of 24. This number was completely insufficient to resolve the fleet's current crisis.
If she was going to fight, then she could not be timid. She had to go all out!
"Switching complete."
"Engine room operating normally, target lock complete. 'Kuishao' is ready. This vessel awaits your command."
The moment the replies came from the three Beidou ships—
"Main cannons, fire!"
"Main cannons—"
"Voom!!"
The energy furnace conversion efficiency of the "Tianshu"-class floating warships was extraordinary. With the three ships combined, the switch from defense to offense took only about two short seconds.
This was the latest achievement from the Tiangong and Shenji Academies, developed after absorbing the combat data from the "Taixu"-class.
Unfortunately, a two-second window of opportunity could hardly be called "fleeting." And for this opening... Sheshe had been waiting for a long time.
"VOOM!!" x5!!
Blinding lightning streaked across the sky.
The attack came not from above, but from the horizon where the sea met the sky!
The plasma waves generated by the super-high-pressure electro-plasma ozonized all the air in their path, leaving a mesmerizing aurora in their wake!
"Superconductive Wave Thunder Cannon!!"
A full five leaping thunder dragons swept across the targets Sheshe had long since locked onto!
The three Beidou ships, the aircraft carrier Qingluan, and the aircraft carrier Guiche (Nine-Headed Demonic Phoenix)—all five of these vessels were targeted!
And among them, the aircraft carrier Guiche was Ayinuer's flagship!
The thunder cannons annihilated everything in their path. In the center of all five capital ships, giant gaping holes, dozens of meters in diameter, appeared—holes that were absolutely impossible to repair, no matter how hard the damage control teams tried.
Arcs of electricity, flickering flames, molten hulls.
The next moment—
"BOOM!!!"
"Splash."
A massive serpentine body glided through the water.
The ripples it created spread out amongst the countless remains of the warships.
Sheshe's attack had not broken the Zhuque fleet's will to fight, but having lost three tiers of command simultaneously, the individual ships were left to fight on their own and could no longer resist the Honkai Beasts' assault.
The "roster" of the Honkai Beast legion led by Wangxiang was mostly intact. Its greatest losses came at the end of the battle when the last two surviving "Xuanming"-class battlecruisers, knowing defeat was certain, deliberately detonated their own ammunition magazines.
The simultaneous explosions took out many of the nearby, weakly defended Drifter-class beasts.
However, for a Tide-class, this level of damage was not lethal unless it was directly caught in the blast.
"Plop!"
Wangxiang was now trotting along obediently behind Sheshe.
The [Superconductive Wave Thunder Cannon] from before... at its level, even if it exhausted all its power, it could at best fire a single shot.
This Emperor-class that had suddenly appeared, beaten it up, and stolen its command... was far more terrifying than it had imagined.
Its temper was a bit foul, but following it... seemed quite promising.
"Hiss."
Sheshe's gliding body slowly came to a halt.
Its slender tongues crackled with the sound of electricity.
The legion's subordinates were clearing the humans who had fallen into the water. The number of surviving soldiers was extremely small, and they were almost impossible to find on the sea's surface. But the Honkai Beasts seemed not to have noticed that less than 300 meters from Sheshe, there was the presence of a human, clutching a corpse.
No.
This wasn't the fault of the lower-ranking Honkai Beasts. If Sheshe hadn't activated [Super Perception], it almost would have overlooked this human's existence as well.
On the deck of a gradually sinking ship, Ayinuer was holding Alai's body. If Alai hadn't thrown herself on top of her at the moment of the explosion, the one lying here now...
...would likely have been her.