A thousand guns was no small number. Two to three hundred Abyssal battleship shipgirls focusing their fire was terrifying—but considering that Prince of Wales was, every second, dodging and counterattacking amidst nearly ten thousand shells of various calibers, her words weren't entirely wrong.
After a pause, Prince of Wales added with relish, "You weakling!"
Yamato: ???
For this six-member squad, holding back the three hundred thousand–strong Abyssal army was still far too much.
Under heavy pressure, Prince of Wales was forced to retreat step by step, barely keeping from being routed.
She was not like Bismarck. Bismarck's skill let her cut through legions as if through no one at all.
Prince of Wales didn't have that luxury. The Abyssal vanguard numbered nearly a hundred thousand, every one of them elite. Level 80–90 Abyssal battleships were everywhere.
A few more direct hits from their cannons, and even Prince of Wales would suffer grievous damage.
Already, she was lightly damaged.
She could only fight while retreating, relying on "Critical Strike" to pick off core commanders among the Abyssal vanguard. That way, the army—lacking strong flagship leadership—would fall into some disarray.
"What's going on up ahead? I can't hold much longer!" Yamato cried urgently.
Prince of Wales was merely lightly damaged, but Yamato was already on the verge of heavy damage, with only a single cannon still operational.
During those earlier hours of bombing, Yamato had already been battered to near heavy damage. Now clashing head-on with the Abyssal army, even if she was among the strongest of the Eastern Branch shipgirls, she couldn't endure forever.
"We have to prepare to retreat, or Yamato might sink," Saratoga frowned deeply after one look at Yamato's state.
Once a shipgirl reached moderate damage, her combat power typically dropped by 20–30%. If heavily damaged, she would be lucky to retain even 20% of her strength.
And that was just raw power—psychology made it worse.
Once close to heavy damage, a shipgirl's mind inevitably wavered, just like how modern people rush to charge their phones when the battery dips under 20%.
That mental pressure would throw off her combat performance—moves became unstable, execution sloppy. Usually, the longer the fight dragged on, the worse it got.
Given Yamato's state, Saratoga knew they simply could not afford to keep fighting.
"It's definitely time to retreat," Ranger opened her eyes. "I have eleven B-25s left. Saratoga, how many do you still have?"
"I have eighteen." Saratoga gritted her teeth. "That Abyssal Yamato is shameless, using carrier groups as her meat shield."
When they had dropped depth charges on the submerged Abyssal Yamato earlier, they likely hadn't hurt her much. Instead, they sank several small islands and killed countless sea creatures.
The resulting tsunami could probably rage for thousands of nautical miles—maybe even batter Hikaru's naval district.
Ranger made a snap decision.
"Then we retreat now. Our remaining aircraft must be used to cover us. Let's check what's happened with Bismarck."
Before they could carry out the withdrawal plan, a black figure tore through the Abyssal vanguard from behind, like a whirlwind, and rejoined the squad.
It was Bismarck. From her condition—disheveled and clearly battered—she must have already taken moderate damage.
Once moderately damaged, Bismarck's "Unsinkable Battleship" skill no longer functioned.
Saratoga immediately pressed her, "Where's Helena?"
Bismarck said nothing, her side-mounted cannon blasting a shot that opened a gap in the Abyssal vanguard's formation.
From that gap burst a drenched Helena.
Prince of Wales moved up beside Bismarck, voice cold. "What were you doing all this time?"
Bismarck had claimed she was pursuing Abyssal Yamato. Saratoga and Ranger said Yamato had fled, and yet Bismarck had lingered up front for an hour. What had she really been doing?
"We fought a major battle with the Abyssal center," Helena quickly cut in. "Bismarck even sank another Abyssal flagship—the Torpedo Cruiser Kitakami."
Another flagship?
Prince of Wales's mouth went dry.
Ranger asked tensely, "Was it level 100?"
An Abyssal flagship at level 100 was a completely different species from those below.
The former could fight on even terms with a level 110 Bismarck. The latter, Bismarck could usually crush with ease.
The Abyssal Akagi Bismarck had sniped, and the Abyssal Kaga sunk by Saratoga and Ranger together, were both under level 100. That was why they went down so "easily."
But Ranger's question wasn't really out of concern for Bismarck. It was about battle credit.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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