Among the "Leaders" of each faction, Prince of Wales was by far the weakest.
She must be under immense pressure right now!
Bismarck gave a cold smile.
So what if Prince of Wales was weaker? So what if the pressure was crushing?
If you can't take it—step down. To earn the highest honors, you must bear the heaviest burdens.
I, Bismarck, will not hand over the MVP to anyone else!
As the banner of the G-fleet, defender of the Iron Cross spirit, Bismarck burst forward at full speed, cutting through the waves like a bullet, the first to charge straight for the Abyssal Yamato.
Earlier, they hadn't targeted the Abyssal Yamato because the Commander had suggested setting up a proper encirclement and capture plan.
But now? This achievement—I'll claim it with my own hands!
From afar, Bismarck's booming voice thundered across the sea, so powerful it scattered the persistent rainclouds overhead.
"Abyssals ahead, hear me! I am the Super Battleship Bismarck, under the Commander's banner! You are surrounded!"
Yamato was stunned. "That's crazy... she's alone!"
"I have to catch up and cover Bismarck, in case there are Abyssal submarines lying in wait," Helena said to Prince of Wales, and then unleashed her full speed to pursue Bismarck's retreating figure.
Saratoga and Ranger exchanged a glance. The former said, "We'll settle who gets the credit after the battle."
Ranger snorted, "You can take the Abyssal carrier group. I'm going for Abyssal Yamato."
"Over my dead body!"
That big-boobed tramp!
Saratoga was fuming. With Abyssal Akagi and Abyssal Kaga dead, the enemy carrier group was now in total disarray. They were hardly a "hard bone" to crack anymore. Bombing them wouldn't even be satisfying.
Capturing Abyssal Yamato alive and dragging her before the Commander? That was true glory!
"Then let's see who's got the skills!" Ranger snapped.
The two carrier shipgirls glared at each other and commanded their bombers to reverse course and dive straight toward Abyssal Yamato.
Hikaru had originally intended for a more elegant approach: baiting Abyssal Yamato into a large trap, grinding her down through attrition, then seizing an opportunity to capture her alive.
And if they couldn't catch her? No big deal. The collectible quest wasn't time-sensitive—there were plenty of other Abyssal Yamatos in the world. If not this one, then the next.
The real priority was the safety of the shipgirls.
But Bismarck and Saratoga didn't think that way.
All they knew was: The Commander wants Abyssal Yamato taken alive.
And they were willing to give their all to make it happen—With their own hands.
Abyssal Yamato was panicking.
Just moments ago, she'd been chatting and smiling with her comrade—and in the blink of an eye, that comrade had been blasted to pieces. The shock of that kind of death sent a chill through her entire body.
If that shot had hit her instead...
Yamato didn't dare finish the thought.
Even so, things weren't hopeless yet. Her 300,000-strong Abyssal army had suffered almost no losses. They could still surround and overwhelm the enemy.
Ants could kill an elephant. With 300,000 Abyssal shipgirls, surely they could pile on and crush the opposition?
But the beheading of the Abyssal carrier fleet's flagship made her hair stand on end.
This battle was already unwinnable.
Four Abyssal flagships had joined the fight, and in an instant, half of them were dead. Air support had collapsed into chaos. Even someone as arrogant as Yamato had to admit: this was a lost cause.
She had to retreat immediately.
She raised her arm and commanded, "All Abyssals—advance! Surround and eliminate those shipgirls!"
Under the pressure of her flagship aura, the Abyssal army surged forward, stirring the waves with thunderous momentum.
The torpedo cruiser Abyssal Kitakami rushed up to the main formation.
She looked like a middle-school girl, and as a torpedo cruiser, her main firepower came from her torpedoes—a cruiser with a focus on heavy ordinance.
She shouted at Abyssal Yamato:
"Why are we still pushing forward? The carrier group is in complete chaos. There's no air-sea coordination anymore! Charging blindly is just suicide!"
"We've lost this fight," Abyssal Yamato said, grabbing Kitakami's hand. "We have to get out of here. Now!"
"…Huh?"
Abyssal Kitakami stared at her flagship as if she'd seen a ghost.
Abyssal Yamato's arrogance was as legendary as her tireless work ethic. It was carved into her very bones.
Kitakami had clawed her way up from a low-level Abyssal to a fully-leveled 100. Over the years, she'd met hundreds of Abyssal Yamatos...
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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