Elder brother's garrison

Page 418

"Ah!" Baltimore didn't even scream; her breath seemed to stop, and she stared at the barrage of gunfire like a fool.

Then, the next second, Eugen, who was next to Baltimore, quickly stepped forward, summoned her ship equipment, and stood firmly in front of Baltimore.

Baltimore's blank stare froze when she saw Prinz Eugen's ship equipment.

Prinz Eugen's ship rigging lacked numerous gun barrels and enhanced torpedo launchers; her rigging was unique and unlike anything Baltimore had ever seen before.

—Because it was a shield. A very, very big shield.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—" The crisp sounds of impact echoed on Prinz Eugen's ship rigging. Cannon fire exploded on Prinz Eugen's ship rigging, tearing and scratching like wild beasts. However, Prinz Eugen's shield was far stronger than ordinary people could imagine. Even with countless cannon fire exploding on it, Prinz Eugen did not stop for a moment. Instead, it stared at the cannonballs and pushed through the rain of cannon fire, leading Baltimore and Quincy through the rain of cannon fire.

Baltimore, hiding under the Prinz Eugen's ship rig, soon felt the immense heat emanating from beneath it.

She stared at Prince Eugen in shock.

“Ah, this is my skill.” Princess Eugen seemed to still have some strength left. She looked at Baltimore’s shocked expression and said to her, “Although I’m not as powerful as my older sister, I can still withstand some of the enemy’s damage.”

"So domineering!" Baltimore murmured.

"It's time to start the counterattack!" Before Baltimore could even finish being shocked, Prinz Eugen swiftly swung her already red-hot shield to the side. A gust of hot wind swept past, and many deep-sea destroyers that had approached Baltimore were sent flying by her shield.

Baltimore was a beat slow to realize this meant a counterattack, and she quickly raised her turret and aimed it at the enemy outside Prince Eugen's shield.

In that short period of time, the three of them had completely infiltrated the enemy ranks, and suddenly there was a dense mass of Abyssal ships ahead. Baltimore raised its rigging, somewhat bewildered, unsure of which ship to fire at.

Baltimore, being a ship girl, knew that all Abyssal Fleet fleets had leaders. Regardless of the size of the fleet, there was always a flagship. As long as the flagship was not destroyed, the Abyssal Fleet would never fall apart. Rather than firing indiscriminately, it was better to take the enemy general's head amidst a sea of ​​enemies.

However, Prince Eugen gave Baltimore too little time; in such a short time, Baltimore really couldn't find a place for its flagship.

Baltimore anxiously raised the gun emplacement.

However, at that moment, on the other side of the three, Quincy's pupils slowly lit up as if a light had been turned on.

Quincy hadn't moved until now, when he finally raised the turret.

However, she was very fast, extremely fast, as if the action had been completely ingrained in her nerves and become a reflex.

Quincy's eyes gleamed with a wine-red light like shooting stars, and then, with speed surpassing Baltimore's, she raised the turret and fired two shots in one direction with a deafening roar.

"I think that shooting is really impressive!" Quincy shouted.

Then, two dark shells flew through the air in parabolic arcs, one after the other, overcoming numerous obstacles and exploding in a place unseen by Baltimore.

Quincy's shelling damage wasn't as flashy as a battleship might look, but it reached a place where even Baltimore couldn't see it.

Then, under Baltimore's watchful eyes, the small squadron of deep-sea ships in front of them began to scatter in panic, as if they had lost their leader.

“Quincy! You had skills too?!” Baltimore asked in surprise.

“I forgot!” Quincy looked at Baltimore with an air of self-righteousness, but her eyes, which were like burning gems, revealed that she was indeed a ship girl who had mastered miracles.

Baltimore was struck dumb.

In an instant, a subtle sense of grievance filled Baltimore's heart.

Why do you all have skills?! I'm a ship girl too!

Chapter 550 Going Ashore

It was said a long, long time ago that ship girls are not magical beings that can be explained by current human technology.

The reason why modern people tend to call ship girls "spirits of the sea" is not only because of their superhuman looks and innocent and cute personalities.

Rather, it's because, in terms of ability stats, the combat power of ship girls leans more towards an inexplicable, fairytale-like level.

Aside from the ship girls' most basic abilities like cannon fire and torpedo attacks, and slightly more fantastical abilities like walking on water, as embodiments of famous ships from human history, the ship girls also carry the power of legend within their bodies.

With the power of this legend, they can use superpowers that are completely inexplicable from a scientific perspective.

For example, Tirpitz's Queen Aura, Bismarck's damage reduction ability, and Akagi's ability to lead carrier-based aircraft, etc. These abilities are the miracles of ship girls, that is, the so-called ship girl skills.

However, despite this, the actual number of ship girls who have mastered miracles in this world is quite small. It seems that even skills follow the law that powerful things are rare. It is no exaggeration to say that there are only one in a hundred miracle ship girls.

For example, in the naval base where Baltimore previously served, there were thirty or forty ship girls, none of whom possessed any skills. Baltimore even asked Yamashiro, the strongest ship girl in the base, if she had ever experienced the mysterious and elusive nature of skills.

Yamashiro replied with a helpless expression: "Not a single hair."

Therefore, Baltimore always thought that skills were just something that people talked about, a unique feature of top-tier ship girls, and far removed from someone like herself who was a complete weakling.

--However.

Baltimore looked at Quincy on the left, whose eyes seemed to be burning, and at Prince Eugen standing in the middle holding a shield. He felt waves of grievance rising in his heart.

Why do you all have skills?

What happened to the agreement that everyone's skills were roughly equal?

Baltimore peered through the layers of deep-sea ships toward Aoba.

People couldn't see it, but Baltimore could hear the booming sounds of artillery fire coming from the direction of Aoba.

Baltimore almost burst into tears.

You can't believe a single word the ship girls from the world's number one naval base say. They're all liars, all liars!

"Baltimore, fire!" Prince Eugen's soft, gentle voice woke Baltimore from his reverie.

Now is not the time for self-pity. There are deep-sea ships all around us. Even Prinz Eugen's protection is not absolute. If we continue to daydream, Prinz Eugen might just be brought down by Baltimore.

Baltimore quickly raised his ship's rigging and took a deep breath.

She looked at the deep-sea ships facing her not far away, and her chest heaved twice.

"I'll fight you to the death!!!" Baltimore shouted as he fired several shells with a thunderous roar.

Some shells struck the deep-sea amphibious ship, igniting bright red flames, while others landed on the water, splashing several meters high.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Baltimore was so engrossed in the fight that he forgot about time.

She even forgot that she was on the battlefield. After confirming that everyone present was a pro and she was the only slacker, she completely let loose and started a rampage in the enemy camp with the help of Eugen and Quincy and the bombardment from the distant carrier ship girls.

The whole morning passed like this.

Before they knew it, the sun was high in the sky, and it was noon. The ship girls in the newbie naval base were fiercely beating up the Abyssal Fleet just a second ago, but the next second they stopped at Lexington's words, "Sisters, it's time to call it a day," and then, like clocking out of get off work, they quickly retreated to the beach.

On the beach of the main battlefield.

"Oh cough cough cough cough—" Baltimore knelt on the ground, gently stroking the sand, coughing incessantly.

"Baltimore, how are you feeling?" Prince Eugen asked with concern, holding a wet towel in one hand and a bottle of mineral water in the other.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, just a bit of a stitch, oh cough cough..." Baltimore said, tears welling up in her eyes, her whole body trembling.

"Baltimore, you did a great job just now! Keep it up next time!" Prince Eugen encouraged Baltimore.

"Ha, ha, ha..." Baltimore chuckled dryly again, then thought for a moment, his expression darkening. "Um... does everyone at the naval base have skills?"

“Hmm… there aren’t many people like that.” Prince Eugen thought for a moment, then opened the mineral water bottle and handed it to Baltimore.

“Not much…” Baltimore felt a little better after hearing Prince Eugen’s words.

Baltimore took a sip of mineral water.

"There are probably only a little over a hundred ship girls."

"Pfft—" Baltimore sprayed water everywhere, then looked at Prince Eugen in shock, "How many?"

“More than a hundred, I’m really sorry, I haven’t counted them either… so I’m not entirely sure how many of my sisters have the skill.” Prince Eugen said apologetically to Baltimore.

“Over a hundred?” Balmore’s face stiffened. “This number…”

“Yes, not many,” Prince Eugen said. “There are several hundred sisters in the naval base, but less than a third of them have skills.”

Baltimore stared, mouth agape, looking like he didn't know what to say.

Baltimore turned his head to look at his side.

Quincy was squatting on the ground, poking a small crab in the sand with her finger. She felt Baltimore's gaze, turned her head, and looked at Baltimore with an innocent expression.

—That makes sense. Even Quincy has skills, so it's really unreasonable for others not to have any.

—Is this the strength of the naval base? That's really discouraging.

Baltimore, having experienced the power of the naval base, felt a deep sense of uncertainty about his future.

"Ah! My dear sister!" Just then, Princess Eugen, who was squatting quietly beside Baltimore, suddenly blushed. Like a girl chasing after a star, she suddenly clenched her hands and looked longingly towards the beach.

Baltimore followed Prinz Eugen's gaze and saw a white-haired ship girl dressed in black walking towards them.

She's not a ship girl from the manga group, but Baltimore knows her.

She is one of the senior ship girls in the naval base, and seems to be Tirpitz's older sister, I think her name is Bismarck.

Baltimore looked at Bismarck and nervously swallowed.

On the battlefield, Bismarck's demeanor of leading a group of ship girls deep into enemy territory and unleashing her full power deeply impressed Baltimore.

That incomparably brave appearance is really quite cool, no wonder even a well-behaved girl like Eugen would look at Bismarck with stars in her eyes and call her "Big Sister".

Chapter 551 Hiss! ! !

"Eugen." Bismarck walked to Eugen's side and nodded to Prince Eugen. "How is it?"

“Yes! Miss Baal is very capable!” Prince Eugen said to Bismarck.

“Hmm.” Bismarck nodded, then stared at Baltimore’s face for a moment.

"Huh?" Bismarck's gaze was quite aggressive. Being stared at by her, Baltimore felt as if he were being watched by a wild beast, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

"Not bad." Bismarck nodded slightly after scrutinizing Baltimore's face.

Baltimore gave a wry smile.

“Yes, Miss Baal is indeed very skilled. Her shooting fundamentals are solid, and her positioning is excellent. She's also very brave in battle!” Prince Eugen looked at Bismarck with admiration. “As expected of my elder sister, she recognized me at a glance!”

"Keep up the good work." Bismarck nodded to Baltimore, then waved to Prince Eugen and left.

As Baltimore watched Bismarck's figure gradually disappear into the distance, the anxiety that had been hanging in the air slowly subsided.

“Prince Eugen, is she your sister?” Baltimore asked cautiously.

"Hmm? My elder sister?" Prinz Eugen paused, "No, my elder sister is not Eugen's sister ship. My elder sister is Admiral Hipper."

"Hipper—Navy—"

“My sister didn’t come to conquer the seas; she’s at the naval base,” Eugen smiled at Baltimore.

“Oh…” Baltimore paused, “Eugen…”

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"How did you master the skills of the ship girls?" Baltimore asked.

“Me?” Prince Eugen pointed to himself.

"Ah."

Prince Eugen thought for a moment, then laughed: "I learned this skill when I saw my sister about to be hit by enemy artillery fire during a battle. I don't know why, but I rushed up to help my sister block the shell."

Baltimore thought about it.

Was the emergence of the skill a coincidence?

Baltimore turned to Quincy, who was standing beside him: "Quincy, how did you learn your skills?"

"Eat! Sleep!" Quincy said to Baltimore, his eyes wide and bright.

Baltimore was surprised by Quincy's answer, yet not entirely surprised, after all, Quincy's skill was "always feeling like he's a great shooter," wasn't it?

Baltimore looked dejected.

Baltimore couldn't find anything useful to refer to in Prince Eugen and Quincy's answers.

"I really want to learn skills too..." Baltimore lay on the ground, talking to himself.

"Do you want to learn a skill?" Just then, Aoba's voice came from the other side.

Aoba, who was wiping the fine sweat from her face with a white towel, was carrying a bottle of mineral water and walking towards Baltimore. She plopped down next to Baltimore, her body still radiating a faint warmth.

"Ah~ that feels so good." Aoba groaned comfortably, then stretched.

"Aoba, are you back to normal?" Baltimore asked.

"What's normal?" Aoba asked, puzzled.

“Uh…” Baltimore then remembered what Eugen had said about Aoba not knowing about his state after activating his skill. “Never mind… never mind.”