At the same time, out on the Black Sea.
"Do you think we'll surprise them? We brought so many special goods! We don't even let ourselves eat these most of the time!"
A little girl in a maid outfit—Deutschland—was dragging along a sack bigger than herself as she sailed beside Alaska, chattering nonstop until she made Saint George's head ache.
"Quiet! We're in Abyssal waters!"
Saint George snapped, her gaze turning southeast.
There, towering banks of black storm clouds piled high, thunder and lightning splitting the sky. The oppressive sight chilled even Saint George, who had once hung around the frontline base at the Hawaiian Islands.
A massive host of Abyssal flagships was gathering there, and their target was obvious.
Blücher noticed Saint George's worried look. She thumped her chest and boasted loudly.
"What's there to be afraid of? If Abyssal flagships come, I'll cut their heads off myself! I'm not exaggerating, you know—everyone calls me Lü Bu! Maybe you don't know, but in the ancient culture of the East Continent, Lü Bu was a war god with peerless courage, feared even by gods!"
"Shut up!"
Saint George's harsh rebuke cut her off. She turned to Alaska. "Are your subordinates always this unreliable?"
"They're not my subordinates—they're my family!"
Alaska corrected firmly, but soon her expression turned grim as well.
"I haven't even asked yet: what's going on with this Abyssal army? That wasn't in the intel reports!"
"How should I know? I got the rough location of the Naval District and came to find you," Saint George deflected, narrowing her eyes at Alaska. "What's wrong? You're not thinking of running away, are you?"
"It's not running—it's retreating." Alaska glanced at the two small girls. "They don't have the strength to survive against Abyssals."
If she had known a great host of Abyssal flagships was massing to strike Hikaru's Naval District, Alaska would never have brought two little girls out to sea.
Now she regretted it bitterly.
"It's too late. You know once we enter the Black Sea, Abyssals from every direction can sense us." Saint George's tone was flat, but Alaska could hear the trace of schadenfreude beneath it.
"Besides, when the Abyssal army mobilizes, their call to arms covers the entire sea. For all we know, a host of Abyssals is already marching behind us. If we turn back, we might walk straight into their encirclement."
Of course Alaska knew that. If not, the moment she first spotted signs of the storm, she would have already turned back.
But they were so deep into the Black Sea now—almost at the equator. Turning back now was nearly impossible.
Better to press on toward Hikaru's Naval District.
But Blücher and Deutschland were simply too weak.
After brooding over it, Alaska finally said, "We need to change course—swing southwest in an arc."
"No." Saint George flatly refused. "All we've got is Yamato's sailing report. Even following it exactly, there's a chance we'll veer off course. If we start making detours, we'll definitely get lost."
Navigation at sea was a massive challenge. Saint George had no confidence in searching thousands of square miles of ocean for one tiny Naval District. And this was the Abyssals' Black Sea—enemy-occupied waters.
Alaska was not the type to bow to pressure. Saint George showed her attitude, so she didn't hold back either.
"Fine then, if you want to go straight, go by yourself! I won't guide you. The Abyssal army's advance is pointed straight at Hikaru's Naval District—go ask them to lead you!"
Saint George ground her teeth in fury.
From the scale of the southeast storm, the Abyssal force had to be at least a million strong. And that million wasn't moving as one clump, but spread across a vast swath of ocean.
From afar, you could only tell they were heading south—you couldn't know their exact destination.
From too close… did she think Abyssal flagships wouldn't kill them? Right now those flagships had probably already noticed these few "little bugs," and were just too lazy to bother. But if they blundered under their noses, they'd have only themselves to blame when the Abyssals struck.
The safe distance from such an army was at least three hundred nautical miles. Any closer, and they'd enter the main patrol zone of the Abyssal carriers' planes.
So to find Hikaru's Naval District, Saint George had no choice but to rely on Alaska's knowledge of the East Continent's seas.
Grinding her teeth, she swallowed her temper. "Fine. How do we circle around?"
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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