Yamato suddenly thought of something and blurted, "What skills does Vestal have?"
Prompted by a look from Hikaru, Vestal said, "My skill is Dawn of Hope: passively +30 Evasion, -30% chance to be targeted, and I can instantly restore 40% of a single ally's total HP."
Yamato nearly jumped. "Forty percent HP? Based on total HP, or only the damage taken?"
"Of course it's forty percent of max HP," Vestal pouted. "If it only healed forty percent of the damage, what good would that be?"
She might be a humble repair ship, but Vestal was confident in her repair skill.
Alaska cut in, startled. "What's the cooldown on that heal?"
Vestal closed her eyes to feel it out, then frowned a little. "Jumping straight to level 100 really shortened it. I'm guessing every five to ten minutes."
That left even Alaska speechless.
A god-tier skill—absolutely.
With Vestal on a dueling run, unless the enemy has more than a ten-level advantage, you can basically keep your HP healthy forever.
Fights between shipgirls actually run slow; brawling all day without even reaching moderate damage is normal—like we've said, anything inside ten nautical miles counts as "close combat." With ships the size of people, most shots miss, get deflected, or are parried. A guaranteed-hit cannon skill like Bismarck's is practically cheating.
In that instant, Alaska and Yamato had the same thought: Bismarck.
They'd both seen Bismarck's "cheat" kick in—she flat-out ignores 8 points of every incoming hit. Pair that with Vestal's heal and Bismarck practically becomes perpetual motion.
Top off 40% HP in a snap… even Abyssal Musashi would despair.
Especially since Musashi fights primarily with gunnery—she'd have a hard time touching Vestal at all. Vestal's evasion is sky-high; by the time Musashi finally tags her, Bismarck could have killed Musashi ten times over.
Prince of Wales still frowned. "Once Vestal shows her hand, the Abyssals will throw everything into killing her first—even if it means dumping every last carrier plane."
Unlike Elite Repair Fairies and Quick Repairs—those tools are 'outside' the Abyssals' understanding and they barely register what they are—Vestal's skill is obvious. If she's embedded with the carrier group, then in a war of attrition Team Hikaru's only drain is resources.
Trying to finish off any of Hikaru's shipgirls would be a pipe dream.
"That's exactly why Vestal becomes a must-kill target," Prince of Wales concluded.
Bismarck mulled it over and shook her head. "I still don't quite see what you're aiming for. A level-100 Vestal lets us fight long, yes—but as Prince of Wales says, the Abyssals won't give us a long fight."
Hikaru smiled; of course Bismarck couldn't guess—she was missing one key piece.
He didn't rush to explain. Instead, he asked, "How about Z17's single-target debuff?"
In the old game terms, Z17 is the bane of Abyssal Bosses: as flagship she can massively debuff an enemy flagship's stats, chopping their combat power by well over seventy percent.
"It's nasty," Bismarck said. "As you know—if she locks a fortress, that fortress sinks into the sea."
Missouri laughed. "You used to say: with Z17 around, even torpedoes can go ashore."
Hikaru chuckled, remembering. In the game, DD/SS torpedoes couldn't hit super-heavy targets like Fortress or Airfield Princess; but if Z17 tagged them, even torps could do insane damage.
The smile faded; his tone turned crisp. "So: two fists. Lexington's group for defense. The spearhead for offense. And Z17 will lead the spearhead as flagship."
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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