Elder brother's garrison

Page 417

“Oh.” Aoba glanced at Baltimore, then slowly nodded. “Thank you.”

I wasn't feeling quite right today, so I didn't write much. I apologize for the short writing.

Chapter 548 Now, you've all become Kun.

Quincy returned quickly after that, and it seems that Lexington did not suspect that Quincy was able to write a complete letter of apology.

Baltimore looked at Lexington, who was standing on the other side of the yard, smiling at him through the ship girls, and felt a shiver run down her spine.

—Well, maybe they just don't want to care at all.

Baltimore, contemplating the possibility, cast a grateful glance at Lexington.

After that, the ship girls slowly gathered together, and Shiro was pushed out of the room by Abyssal Yamato, who was wearing pajamas and yawning.

After greeting their beloved admiral in every sense of the word, the ship girls of the naval base once again headed towards the main battlefield.

Baltimore, a ship girl who had just joined the naval base, was among them.

Baltimore covered her hands with her own, feeling the powerful auras of the older women emanating from all directions, and her heart pounded with panic.

Baltimore actually feels that his luck is rather unpredictable.

Although he had joined the admiral's naval base that he had longed for, the timing of his joining was unexpectedly awkward. His presence seemed to be completely overshadowed by the little notebook, causing him to miss the best opportunity to introduce himself.

If it weren't for the fact that she was part of her own comic book group and had some interaction with most of the ship girls, Baltimore really thought she would be subconsciously isolated by the unfamiliar ship girls.

However, Baltimore now feels that his situation is only slightly better than being isolated.

Baltimore sighed, glanced at Shiro standing at the front of the line through the ship girls, and then lowered her head dejectedly.

"Baltimore?" Aoba walked beside Baltimore, noticing that Baltimore still looked somewhat reserved, and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

“…The ship girls in the naval base are all so amazing,” Baltimore said to Aoba.

“Yes, of course, we are the world’s number one naval base.” Aoba seemed quite proud of this, and nodded to Baltimore with her hands on her hips.

“Ah…the world’s number one…” Baltimore thought for a moment, then gave a wry smile.

Baltimore still feels quite surreal about joining the world's number one naval base; it doesn't feel real at all.

Baltimore reached out and shook hands gently.

The world's number one naval base isn't as miraculous as the rumors suggest. The ship girls here aren't the stereotypical muscular, high-powered warriors with seven stars etched on their chests, always wearing a solemn, poker-faced expression, and then making "ooh ooh ooh ooh" noises when they fire their cannons.

From Baltimore's perspective, aside from the difference in combat strength, this naval base is just an ordinary, very ordinary naval base.

When Yamashiro delivered his daily necessities, she mentioned that it seemed her former admiral had never known Shiro's identity, only regarding him as a relatively powerful naval commander. Even during the exercises, because he was preoccupied with Baltimore, he hadn't paid attention to Shiro's naval commander's name until the exercises ended and he returned to his own courtyard, when he finally discovered that the naval commander he had been exercising with was actually called the Rookie Naval Commander.

This is probably a consequence of outsiders having too many wild ideas about the newbie naval base...

—According to Sister Yamashiro, after the admiral learned that he had won against the world's number one naval base, his legs went weak with fear, and he was so scared that he didn't dare to come back when he was moving daily necessities.

"Baltimore, you'll be the ship girl of the world's number one naval base from now on," Aoba said with a smile to Baltimore.

"I, I will do my best!" Baltimore nodded quickly, thinking this.

"That's right!" Aoba gave Baltimore a thumbs up. "Even though it's called the world's number one naval base, the strength of us ordinary ship girls is only average. Don't feel bad about it, Baltimore!"

"Ah, um!" Baltimore looked at Aoba with emotion.

Aoba is right. The world's number one naval base is called the world's number one, so it must have its merits. But we can't demonize them because of that, right? There are still quite a few ship girls in the world's number one naval base whose strength is not that terrifying. For example, am I a ship girl in the world's number one naval base now?

—Keep a calm mind, keep a calm mind.

Looking at Aoba's encouraging smile, Baltimore felt his confidence soar.

"The naval base's objective is the main battlefield. We're all heavy cruisers, so Baltimore, just keep up with us." Aoba smiled and gave Baltimore a simple task.

Baltimore accepted the offer with great confidence.

Baltimore didn't have much work in her original naval base. In the past, after Baltimore's training level reached a certain point, the former admiral stopped assigning her much work. Baltimore usually just sat on the sidelines and did things like "sunset red" (a euphemism for retirement or leisure activities).

If Baltimore hadn't been so bored that she found an excuse to become an instructor at the ship girl training academy for a few years, where she was constantly bullied by the ship girls who challenged her, forcing her to undergo high-intensity training every day, her skills would probably have declined significantly.

Well, she might not be much different from that rookie ship girl named Missouri who's always complaining about being too weak and unable to keep up with everyone else and is stuck on the beach.

Baltimore felt a little more confident after thinking about it this way.

After all, she was a ship girl who had struggled to survive in the ship girl training school. Her training volume should not be lower than that of ordinary ship girls. She was just keeping up with the pace of heavy cruisers, which should not be a problem.

—It should be fine, there shouldn't be any problem.

Baltimore, with these thoughts in mind, followed the ship girls to the main battlefield, stepped onto the sea, and then, full of confidence, stood with the heavy cruiser ship girls, including Aoba Quincy, under Lexington's assignment. After saying goodbye to the admiral and Missouri, she finally charged towards the coastline full of enemies.

A few minutes later.

Red flames soared into the sky, and the deafening roar of cannon fire echoed one after another. The black sea seemed to tremble, like a tattered cloth being torn apart by a tremendous force.

"The enemy will arrive on the battlefield in ten seconds! Crush them!" The melodious shouts of the ship girls rang out. Then, the aircraft carrier ship girls, who had been chatting amiably and standing quietly at the back of the formation like elegant ladies, seemed to have ripped off their masks. Hundreds, even nearly a thousand, of carrier-based aircraft roared into the sky under their combined control, swallowing up the fragile little planes of the deep-sea amphibious ships like a locust swarm, and ruthlessly dominating the sky.

Then, thunder started to rumble.

Strands of white light bombarded the sea surface incessantly, and amidst the lightning, countless deep-sea amphibious ships were blasted to pieces.

The roar of the planes did not subside; they continued to fly, like dragons spreading their wings, with white lightning relentlessly striking the enemy's formation amidst the storm.

Looking over from Baltimore, a blonde ship girl stood with her hands on her hips, one snow-white arm swinging, her hand clenched into a fist, exuding a terrifying aura as if she were determined to wipe out even the enemy's ancestors. She was leading a large number of carrier-based aircraft in a brutal and inhumane cleansing of the sea surface.

In a single encounter, the seemingly impregnable Deepsea Abyss fleet, which had been on high alert, was blasted into pieces.

"Charge!" Then, Baltimore heard Bismarck's voice in his ear.

Several colorful figures broke away from the ranks instantly at Bismarck's soft shout, transforming into several shadows that lined up in a row. They plunged into the enemy formation like a sharp knife, and then the sharp knife flew, sparks flew, and cannon fire rang out. This squad stirred up the enemy formation like firecrackers going off.

The leading black-clad ship girls, undeterred by the enemy's bombardment, charged towards one enemy after another amidst the artillery fire. One punch, two punches, one cannon shot, two cannon shots—if they could dismantle a ship by hand, they would do so; if not, they would blast it away with a cannon shot; and if they still couldn't handle it, they would simply push the enemy into the area where the aircraft carrier was relentlessly bombarding them.

The ship girls were still the same ship girls as before, but when they stepped onto the battlefield, all of them seemed to have become different people.

Cold and decisive, with a chilling glint in his eyes.

Baltimore spotted a familiar figure among the ship girls who charged into the enemy ranks.

Rodney, carrying the cannon, rampaged through the enemy camp with a heroic smile. Red flames spewed from the massive cannon like tongues of fire, and each violent shell accurately took the lives of a large number of enemies.

For a moment, Rodney's familiar "Big Seven" could be heard continuously from within the enemy's formation.

—Was Rodney really that good?

"Ah!" Baltimore quickly realized that she was still on the battlefield, and this was not the time to be dazed. She quickly came to her senses and began to look around for Qingye and Quincy.

"Now! You are all Quincy! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!" Not far from the battlefield, Aoba, whose eyes had turned into vortexes, raised his turret while laughing loudly. One after another, the cannonballs flew out of the ship's rig, and then, as if they had eyes, they turned and drifted from countless impossible angles, and finally hit the enemy's body with each one, exploding with a burst of orange-red sparks.

Baltimore opened his mouth, staring at Aoba in shock.

Just then, Baltimore suddenly felt someone grab him from behind and lurch him to the other side.

Baltimore instinctively turned his head and saw a deep-sea amphibious ship's shell flying straight towards him, whizzing past his ear.

With a splat, Baltimore and the shell whizzed past each other.

"That was close!" Baltimore thought with a start, then looked around.

Quincy, with his blue hair, was hugging his waist and looking at him with an innocent expression.

Chapter 549 I also recharged my account!

It seems that just a moment ago, Quincy noticed that he was spacing out, and then saved him from the bombardment.

Baltimore felt guilty at first, then grateful.

“Thank you, Quincy!” Baltimore said to Quincy.

“0v0!” Quincy nodded, then released his hand.

"Don't stand around in the middle of the battlefield, Baltimore," another ship girl whispered in Baltimore's ear.

Baltimore looked over and saw a ship girl with long blue hair.

This ship girl, Baltimore, is often seen next to the ship girl named Bismarck, and it seems that she is always following Bismarck and calling her "Big Sister" or something like that.

“My name is Prince Eugen, nice to meet you, Baltimore.” Prince Eugen greeted Baltimore with a friendly smile.

"Ah...Prince Eugen...hello..."

“Just call me Eugen. Mrs. Leigh asked me to introduce you, please take care of me.” Prince Eugen took Baltimore’s hand and led her to walk around the sea. “Aoba can be a little strange when she’s fighting, so don’t get too close to her.”

"Huh? Really?" Baltimore was taken aback, then looked in Aoba's direction.

"Hahahaha, all-out attack! Idols? As long as Aoba is in the world, that's enough! Quincy, eat my torpedoes!" Aoba was standing on a stretch of sea, firing wildly and suppressing a large number of deep-sea ships, making it impossible for them to advance an inch. The ferocity of his firepower was even more terrifying than that of some battleships.

“Uh…” Baltimore swallowed hard.

Although it's not nice to say it like this, to be honest, Baltimore does think that Aoba is much scarier now than when she was cute and playful.

“That’s Aoba’s skill. It enhances her lightning strike ability, and… well…” Eugen said to Baltimore with a wry smile, “It will prioritize attacking Quincy.”

"Who should we attack first?!" Baltimore was taken aback.

“Quincy,” Eugen said, pointing to Quincy standing next to Baltimore.

Baltimore glanced at Quincy.

Quincy glanced at Baltimore, looking utterly innocent.

It seems Quincy completely misunderstands the concept of Aoba's skill being a Noble Phantasm against Quincy.

"Why?!" Baltimore was completely baffled.

“Hmm… the skills of ship girls are miracles in themselves, and no one can really explain why.” Eugen shrugged, then smiled at Baltimore. “But don’t worry, Aoba likes Quincy the most.”

"Do you like torpedoes???"

“Hahaha.” Eugen covered her mouth and laughed. She looked at Baltimore. “In short, don’t get close to Aoba for now. In order to enhance her skills, Aoba has gradually gotten used to treating all enemies as Quincy in battle, so she may look a little fierce.”

Being a little bit fierce is okay.

Baltimore is tired and a bit too lazy to complain.

"Aoba told me to keep up with her..."

“Aoba herself doesn’t know what she’ll be like after activating her skill, so please don’t blame her for that.” Eugen nodded slightly to Baltimore, then quickly tugged at Baltimore. “It’s about to begin.”

"Huh? Start what?"

"Boom!!!" Before Baltimore could finish speaking, a shell slammed into Baltimore's side with a loud whistle. Instantly, black seawater splashed everywhere, and a large hole was punched into the sea surface, which took a long time to heal.

This shot didn't look like a shell from a small Abyssal ship; it was at least an attack from a battleship-class Abyssal ship. If Eugen hadn't pulled her back so hard earlier, this shot alone would probably have smashed Baltimore to pieces.

"Let me show you what a battlefield is like!" Prince Eugen smiled and swiftly pulled Baltimore up, then nonchalantly led her and Quincy towards the enemy lines. "Counterattack begins!"

"Hey hey hey hey hey! There are only the three of us here!!!" Baltimore was pulled along by Prince Eugen, looking surprised.

“Three people are enough. Even if it’s just one person, it’s only a matter of time before you take down these enemies!” As Prince Eugen spoke, the three of them broke away from the main force and charged directly into the enemy’s ranks.

This method of fighting has truly exceeded Baltimore's tolerance limit.

What kind of education has Baltimore received since stepping out of the construction facility until now?

As ship girls, especially heavy cruiser ship girls whose firepower is neither particularly strong nor weak, it is their duty to protect large ships as escort ships. Charging into battle and engaging in self-destructive behavior is absolutely unacceptable.

Only those who survive are qualified to contribute. Protecting yourself is always the top priority; attacking the enemy is secondary!

Baltimore is better at engaging in back-and-forth firefights with the main force, resulting in more stable and normal combat.

But what about now?

As Baltimore watched the Abyssal Fleet approaching, its cannons slowly extending and aimed at him, his heart pounded wildly, as if it were about to burst out of his chest and explode in the air.

"Eek!!! Is it going to happen? Is it going to happen?!" Baltimore's mind was in turmoil.

However, the next second, two hands touched Baltimore's arms.

Quincy and Prince Eugen supported her and smiled gently at her.

“Baltimore, entrust your back to me,” Prince Eugen said with a smile to Baltimore.

What a heartwarming smile that was.

Even Baltimore, who was in a state of panic, was moved for a few seconds by Prince Eugen's smile.

Then comes these few seconds.

The sounds of artillery fire, booming and raging, filled the ears of Baltimore.

The crimson flames of gunfire intertwined into a net, leaving no blind spots for Baltimore.

Even for a relatively resilient heavy cruiser, and even if most of these shells are not very powerful, Baltimore would definitely not fare well under such an attack.