"Scharn! Scharnhorst!"
Peter shouted over the comms, but Scharnhorst had already been considered "sunk" and was forcibly removed from the mirror sea. She could no longer respond to Peter for the time being.
"On the right side of the harbor... The searchlights only spotted Seydlitz, Prinz Eugen, and Augustus, who no longer has any carrier aircraft. The other shadows are just a small number of mass-produced warships!"
At this moment, Adalbert's voice came through the comms, and Peter felt cold sweat trickle down her forehead.
So, the right side was just a feint, while the real main force was hidden within the mass-produced fleet on the left!
You think it's a diversion, but in reality, it's a complete deception!
At the same time, her fighters flying above the mass-produced fleet also spotted the hidden enemies: Ulrich, Hipper, Blücher, and Gneisenau.
"We've engaged Seydlitz."
Tirpitz's voice came through the comms, accompanied by the sound of gunfire.
She, along with Heinrich and Spee, had already started battling Seydlitz and Prinz Eugen. Trying to retreat back to the harbor now would be too late.
With the overall strength of both sides being fairly equal, the sinking of the battlecruiser Scharnhorst suddenly put immense pressure on the defending side.
Now, to face the enemy on the left side, even if Adalbert joined in, there would only be Peter and Odin—just three of them in total.
If the enemy lands on the harbor, it means they've lost!
"Heh... For such a deceptive strategy to work, the command of Team B must be with Ulrich, not Augustus. We've been outplayed..."
Despite knowing how dire the situation was, Peter wasn't one to give up easily.
"Adalbert! Start laying sea mines along the coastline and activate the coastal defense guns... everyone, go support Tirpitz and the others!"
Peter shouted orders through the communication channel.
"Received... Wait, Peter, why are the coastal defense guns supporting Tirpitz? Isn't the pressure on our side much greater right now?"
Adalbert frowned, not understanding the reasoning behind Peter's command.
"Odin is here. Hipper and the others won't break through easily. If we can help Tirpitz take out Seydlitz and Prinz Eugen, they might still have time to come back and assist us."
As Peter explained through the communication channel, she glanced at the short girl standing next to her.
The right eye of Odin, usually hidden by white bangs under her military cap, was now exposed by the strong wind, with a blue flame flickering in it, as if piercing through the night.
She remained silent, letting the storm lash against her as she stood motionless at the dock.
"Do you have that much faith in Odin? Alright, alright, I'll trust you. But if things really get out of hand, I'll come over."
Adalbert ended the communication.
Peter raised her hand and launched the newly replenished carrier-based aircraft into the sky before walking over to Odin's side.
"I've put all my bets on you, my dear 'King of the Gods' Odin."
"No need for more words, Peter. You are the strategist, and I am the warrior. You give the orders, and I will secure the victory."
The short girl slowly drew her long sword from her waist. As she gazed at her reflection in the blade, a deep longing flickered in Odin's eyes.
That man must be watching the battlefield right now, right?
Soon, he will see that the power she now wields is enough to repay the effort he once invested in her!
The scene shifts to the right side of the harbor.
After the first round of artillery exchanges, Heinrich and Spee had already engaged in a fierce battle with Prinz Eugen.
The clash between the ironclad shipborne dragons erupted in intense sparks over the ocean, and it was clear that Prinz Eugen was struggling to fight two opponents at once.
"Eugen! Like your sister, you mainly rely on ship guns and shields for combat, but in close quarters, you can't match me!"
Heinrich's agile figure moved across the sea, as graceful as a dancer. As she spoke, she and her shipborne dragon "Little Iron" kept circling Prinz Eugen, looking for an angle to fire.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The shells exploded just a few meters away from Eugen, blocked by a faint blue energy shield.
"It seems... that you're right, but it would be even better if you read more books."
Just as Eugen finished speaking, she suddenly spun around, raising her shipborne steel shield in defense. A red claw struck the shield with a resounding impact, leaving a trail of afterimages.
Spee's shipborne dragon couldn't penetrate Eugen's energy shield, so she opted for close-range, direct attacks.
"Little Spee, the way you and your partner coordinate will surely make the commander happy."
Eugen still smiled, but the sweat on her forehead betrayed her growing difficulty.
"But, you're underestimating me."
Eugen's shipborne steel dragon swung its tail towards Spee, but she blocked it with her claw.
Using the momentum, Spee's body flew out of Eugen's shield range, landing back on the sea surface alongside her shipborne dragon.
"Spee! Watch out!"
Just as Spee regained her footing on the water, she heard Heinrich's warning.
"Boom!"
A large-caliber armor-piercing shell struck Spee's shipborne dragon, the explosion sending the small silver-haired girl flying.
"Pre-loaded, Seydlitz!"
Heinrich vividly remembered that during the first round of battleship main gun exchanges, Seydlitz and Tirpitz fired simultaneously.
But she suddenly recalled that Seydlitz had the skill "Iron Blood Grand Admiral," which allowed her main gun reloading speed to increase when fighting alongside Iron Blood allies, especially when her health was high!
As a result, Seydlitz's second round of main gun reloads was faster than Tirpitz's!
I should've read more books; how could I forget something this important?
Heinrich tossed a set of torpedoes to distract Eugen while rushing to Spee's side, helping her up from the sea.
"Spee, are you okay?"
"I'm... fine! I can still fight!"
Holding Spee in her arms, Heinrich dodged another round of attacks from Seydlitz's main guns.
Spee managed to stand back on the sea surface.
Spee's shipborne dragon caught up, and fortunately, it was only 40% damaged, still able to continue fighting.
Just then, a series of intense cannon blasts echoed from the harbor, like a rolling thunder.
"Eugen, apologies!"
Tirpitz's voice echoed across the battlefield as her second round of main guns finished loading.
As the coastal defense guns fired, her shipborne main guns also unleashed a barrage.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!"
In an instant, Prinz Eugen was bombarded by a dense wave of shells.
Even though she immediately activated her skill "Unbreakable Shield" to generate a protective barrier, this skill was never meant to withstand battleship-grade, large-caliber main gunfire.
"Eugen's done for, taking a full barrage from both the coastal defense and battleship main guns..."
Heinrich shielded herself from the incoming shockwave as she commented. Spee, however, remained silent, watching the massive water spray from the explosions with a grave expression.
When the explosions finally subsided, most of the equipment on Eugen's shipborne dragon had been shattered to pieces.
She gasped for breath, her body swaying as if she could collapse at any moment.
However, she still stood on the sea.
The usual lazy expression was gone, and in her brown eyes now glowed an unyielding determination, as if this moment revealed her true self, hidden beneath her usual carefree facade.
"She took an entire battleship's main gun salvo and all those coastal defense hits without sinking? That's just cheating!"
Heinrich and Spee stared at the transformed Eugen in shock, momentarily forgetting to attack.
"Heh, heh, it's... it's not over yet, for the commander..."
A gentle light flashed in Eugen's eyes before it was replaced by steely resolve.
Despite her severe injuries, Eugen mustered all her remaining strength to aim her surviving shipborne main gun at Heinrich and fired.
Unfortunately, the shot was blocked by Heinrich's energy shield—she, too, was an Iron Blood armored ship with a shield skill.
"Stop daydreaming and sink Eugen quickly. We need to get back to the harbor."
Tirpitz's voice over the communicator snapped Heinrich and Spee back to reality. They both aimed their main guns and torpedo tubes at Eugen.
In an exercise, giving it your all is the greatest respect for your comrades.
Just as Heinrich and Spee prepared to finish off Eugen, a firm female voice rang out.
"Eugen, you've done your best. Rest now."
A fierce, broad shipborne dragon emerged from beneath the sea, shielding Eugen.
A tall woman in black, with pink hair and a drawn military sword, walked towards them, cutting through the stormy waves with an aura like an unbreakable mountain, standing between Heinrich, Spee, and their target.
"Now, it's my turn to be your opponent. I am Seydlitz, battlecruiser of the Iron Blood High Seas Fleet. Prepare yourselves."
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When Seydlitz appeared in front of Heinrich and Spee, it was clear that this battle wouldn't be decided quickly.
Perhaps Heinrich, Spee, and Tirpitz could sink Seydlitz, but it wouldn't be possible within the remaining hour of the exercise.
Tirpitz gritted her teeth and joined Heinrich and Spee, preparing for close combat. She knew that they wouldn't be able to return to the harbor in time.
"I have to admit, Ulrich's tactics are quite effective. Seydlitz and Prinz Eugen both have remarkable durability, especially Seydlitz's skill, 'Legendary Unsinkable,' which has a blood-lock mechanism. It's impossible to sink her without spending a lot of time."
Lin Lan and Bismarck were watching the battle in real-time through the screen.
When Seydlitz joined the fight, Lin Lan knew that Team B was almost guaranteed to win. Ulrich's strategy was flawless, with every step connecting seamlessly.
"Even Prinz Eugen is giving it her all. Commander, your charm is truly extraordinary," Bismarck remarked as she watched her long-time companion, Prinz Eugen, who had just shown such determination.
No one knew Eugen better than Bismarck. Despite her carefree appearance, she had hidden a heart full of love for Lin Lan.
Lin Lan was also struck by the determination in Eugen's eyes, a look he had never seen before.
After a long silence, he said, "Prinz Eugen has done her best. It looks like Team B has the victory in hand."
"No, there's still a variable," Bismarck suddenly said after a moment of thought. "Odin hasn't made a move yet."
Hearing this name, Lin Lan was puzzled.
"Odin... that's a battlecruiser, right? Even if she's a powerful research ship, I don't think she can turn the tide against Ulrich and the others, who are still in perfect condition."
Bismarck just smiled slightly: "Do you really think that? She's a research ship whose power you personally helped transform. Don't you remember?"
Lin Lan was taken aback. The only thing he did for Odin was level her up, oath her, break her mind, feed her research blueprints to level 30, and then...
Wait a minute.
After reaching research level 30, it seemed like he did one more thing.
Fate Simulation!
Lin Lan suddenly remembered that in the game, after a research ship reached research level 30, a system called Fate Simulation would unlock.
By consuming research blueprints, when a research ship reached Fate Level 5, her skills would upgrade, sometimes even undergoing a fundamental transformation.
And Odin was one of those research ships whose skills underwent a transformation after reaching Fate Level 5.
"After you helped her reach Fate Level 5, you never sent her on a sortie or to an exercise again. So only I, Friedrich der Große, Graf Zeppelin, and Peter know that her skills have fundamentally changed."
Bismarck gave Lin Lan a meaningful look, making him feel guilty.
After all, developing the Fate system required a lot of research blueprints, which meant a lot of time.
Normally, by the time a research ship reached Fate Level 5, their regular level was nearly maxed out.
When they reached Fate Level 5, they had already overflowed with experience and were usually sent to the dock to be storage managers.
Lin Lan, on the other hand, had moved on to developing newer, stronger research ships.
In a way, he was a bit of a fickle man.
"Ahem, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's focus on the exercise," Lin Lan said, blushing and awkwardly coughing to change the subject.
This was a topic that he couldn't keep discussing, or it would only get worse.
On the left side of the harbor, a large fleet of mass-produced ships was approaching the harbor area, with the leading destroyers already beginning to clear mines.
Under the protection of the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower, Hipper and Blücher dodged Peter's relentless carrier-based aircraft attacks, occasionally firing back with anti-aircraft guns.
"Having unlimited ammunition and carrier-based planes is really troublesome."
Gneisenau adjusted her glasses and looked up at the sky, watching wave after wave of carrier-based aircrafts coming through the thick clouds.
She sighed, "But this is as far as Peter can go. Once we reach the harbor, this game will be checkmate."
Ulrich smiled, knowing everything was going according to her plan.
Now, only Peter, Odin, and Adalbert were left on the frontlines. With the sheer number of mass-produced battleships they had, victory seemed inevitable.
However, the one thing that worried her was Odin's strength.
Since Odin joined the port later, Ulrich had never seen her in action.
She had only heard from others that Odin, as a research ship, possessed a powerful attack called Gungnir, said to be as mighty as the mythical king of the gods.
Even so, Ulrich wasn't afraid. After all, both sides were using custom exercise equipment, not real combat gear, so the damage shouldn't be too extreme.
She was prepared to take the hit head-on. Since she couldn't avoid it, she decided not to try. She wanted to see just how powerful this legendary strike from Odin truly was.
Half an hour later, as the mass-produced destroyers in the front cleared the mines, they finally entered the harbor.
The dock was right ahead, and all they needed was to step on land for Team B to claim victory.
Adalbert had already deployed her rigging and was standing on the water in front of the dock, with Peter doing the same. In the midst of the thunderstorm, the two sides stared at each other.
"Lady Ulrich, I admit, you've outplayed me," Peter said with a smile, acknowledging her defeat.
But Ulrich stepped out from the mass-produced battleship formation and calmly said, "The game isn't over yet, Peter. You still have a trump card, don't you?"
From behind Adalbert, the petite Odin stepped forward, holding a longsword as her rigging unfolded.
Unlike the others, her rigging dragon wasn't massive but exuded an overwhelming, terrifying aura.
"Final Weapon—Gungnir, charging complete."
The cold voice cut through the storm, clearly reaching Ulrich's ears.
"Everyone, scatter and prepare for the shockwave!" Hipper shouted over the communication channel.
Ulrich felt a suffocating sense of danger gathering in front of her, like being targeted. She quickly directed her rigging to shield herself, aiming her main guns at Odin and firing.
"Pierce through."
"Gungnir."
In the next moment, a massive beam, like an electromagnetic cannon, appeared directly in front of Odin, skimming the sea's surface as it shot towards Ulrich like a thunderbolt.
For a brief moment, the entire night seemed to be dispelled as the dazzling beam's shockwave split the ocean in two!
And what of Ulrich, the target of this destructive energy?
"Ulrich!" "Lady Ulrich!"
Hipper and Blücher tried to check on Ulrich's condition, but the blinding light made it impossible to see.
A few seconds later, the beam dimmed, and the darkness of night returned to the sea.
"I'm... fine, but the mass-produced battleships... probably aren't," Ulrich's broken voice came through their communication channel, easing everyone's tension.
Odin's powerful Gungnir had, with a single blow, sunk 90% of the surrounding mass-produced battleships. The terrifying power left everyone in awe!
Hipper and Gneisenau had both been part of the early port operations with Iron Blood ship girls, so they had fought alongside Odin before.
But in regular exercises, Odin rarely used this move. This was their first time facing Gungnir as an enemy.
The front end of Ulrich's scythe-like rigging had been mostly melted by the enormous energy beam.
Ulrich herself wasn't in great shape either, coughing as she struggled to stand on the water.
"Gungnir certainly lives up to its name. Such terrifying power," Ulrich remarked, noting how her main guns had been blocked by Adalbert's energy shield and rigging armor.
Adalbert had taken the full brunt of Ulrich's artillery fire, leaving her rigging heavily damaged and nearly out of commission. A battleship's artillery wasn't easy to withstand.
"Lady Ulrich, please rest for a moment. We'll take the offensive while you provide cover from behind," Gneisenau suggested.
She knew that after using Gungnir, Odin would need a long cooldown, making this the best time to attack.
Just as Ulrich was about to agree, she glanced at Odin and froze as she saw Odin's next move, her breath catching and her golden eyes widening in shock.
Blue lights gathered in Odin's longsword as the petite girl raised the massive, electromagnetically charged blade high.
Her voice echoed across the battlefield like the judgment of a god!
"Commander, bear witness to this strike!"
"Thunderous Blast of Piercing!"
___
[Mission Progress]
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3. Reach 1k collections. (391/1000)
4. Recruit more believers to (Harem Advocate). (8/20)