[Bonus]
Without the restraint of a flagship, ordinary Abyssal shipgirls were nothing more than beasts—disorganized, even prone to turning on each other.
Could the shipgirls on that island withstand an army of five million?
As things stood, only Tirpitz and Lexington had enough power to be a real threat.
Unfortunately, when three Abyssal flagships besieged Tirpitz the other day, they still failed to gauge her upper limits.
But no matter how strong she was, she had to have a threshold. If three flagships weren't enough, twenty certainly would be. Even Tirpitz couldn't withstand that.
And the remaining two or three dozen flagships could launch a surprise assault on Lexington—who played a long-range role—and easily defeat her.
To be honest, Abyssal flagships were nearly invincible in one-on-one combat within their tier. Dozens of them attacking at once were equivalent to thousands or even tens of thousands of fully-trained shipgirls. Just by sheer numbers, those two would be drowned and overwhelmed.
Not to mention that they would be completely surrounded by five million troops, forming layers upon layers of entrapment—a full-on national-level offensive.
The previous large-scale offensive against East Asia hadn't mustered more force than this.
When a lion hunts a rabbit, it still uses its full strength.
The only real concern was that such a massive army couldn't possibly be assembled all at once.
Even if they could be gathered in one place, they would quickly drain the local Ink Sea of its energy—in other words, they wouldn't be able to sustain themselves.
The options were either to divide the forces and strike from multiple directions or attack in stages.
The red-haired girl relaxed her brow and clasped her hands together.
"Might as well do both," she said. "The first wave will be two million strong. The second phase will be three forces of one million each, converging from separate directions. The flagships won't need to act right away—let them wear the enemy down first."
Meanwhile, Lexington returned looking deeply worried.
"Commander, twelve hundred nautical miles to the north, there's a massive concentration of Abyssal shipgirls forming. More are converging on the area from surrounding waters. I'm afraid they're coming for us."
Her aircraft had a combat radius of several thousand kilometers. With such large-scale movement in the north, there was no way it would escape her notice.
"It's to be expected," Hikaru said, rubbing his chin. "We're establishing a naval base here. It's like throwing a chunk of bloody meat into a swarm of sharks. Unless we clear out the Abyssals lurking nearby, we won't be able to secure a foothold."
This battle was inevitable. Any human or shipgirl movement on the Ink Sea would be quickly detected by the Abyssals. If you wanted to build a naval base, you'd have to fight for it.
And it likely wouldn't be a one-time battle either. The founding battle for a naval base could very well drag on indefinitely.
Hikaru's situation was undeniably high difficulty—on par with those Commanders who dared open up the "Golden Sea Routes" in the depths of the ocean.
His advantage was that the Abyssal shipgirls in this sea weren't as strong as those in deeper zones. The disadvantage was that he was completely alone—no reinforcements, no backup forces.
Other Commanders who failed to establish their bases might at least be rescued by national forces or the central shipgirl headquarters. But if Hikaru lost, it would be the end of everything.
He couldn't afford to lose this base. Who knew if another one could even be materialized? Probably not.
Of course, the most extreme challenge was to build a forward base right in Abyssal territory. That kind of war was a true meat grinder, nailing down your claim with the blood and flesh of countless Admirals and shipgirls.
"This shouldn't be too big a problem," Hikaru said, gently squeezing Lexington's hand to comfort her. "Our base is a small target—just a two-kilometer-square island. At most, we'll attract two or three waves of a hundred thousand Abyssals each. With luck, maybe only one or two flagships among them."
Even without flagships leading them, Abyssal shipgirls would still attack instinctively when they spotted unwanted guests on the sea's surface. And Hikaru welcomed that kind of disorganized assault—it was basically a war of attrition.
His base wasn't some reclaimed Abyssal island. It was just a tiny platform—nothing flashy—so there was little reason for a full Abyssal flagship to be involved.
For all he knew, the Abyssals gathering up north might be fighting among themselves. Abyssal flagships had turf wars too.
Hikaru remained optimistic.
"Not just that," Lexington said, biting her lip. "The Abyssal forces gathered in the north are already over a hundred thousand strong. Countless more are on their way from the surrounding seas. I estimate the final number could exceed eight hundred thousand. That's extremely dangerous for us."
Hikaru's expression turned serious. Eight hundred thousand… that wasn't a small number.
He only had three elite damage control fairies left. Even if they could pull off a miracle, using sacrificial tactics to take down the Abyssal army, one critical problem remained:
They had no resources.
[End of Chapter]
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