In the old days, because the skill gap between the two sides' pilots was so huge, the "shuttle bombing" tactic ended in tragedy.
That largest carrier duel in history erupted near the Marianas. At one point the aircraft carrier loss ratio hit 1:10—Japan lost more than three hundred carrier planes, while the U.S. lost only twenty-three. U.S. pilots later called the fight a "turkey shoot," it was that easy.
Japan's big carriers Shoukaku and Taihou were both sunk in that battle.
Even so, while the historical record is humiliating, the shipgirl who inherited the name Taihou is absolutely no weakling.
And her "Shuttle Bombing" skill is downright terrifying.
The moment Taihou spread the skill, a rippling surge like water washed over the aircraft circling above. Beside every plane, a "copy" shimmered into being—its skin quivering with watery rings, like a mirror-image.
[Shuttle Bombing: All allied carriers gain +6 Evasion and can make a second attack; the second strike deals 50% damage.]
In reality, that second clause meant every plane now had a "mirror" with half the punch of the original!
It's a brutal multiplier—Taihou just boosted an air group of 280 sorties by fifty percent. That's like adding another 140 planes outright—more than double Ranger's full deck by itself.
Better yet, the mirror planes are almost untouchable. They're like wraiths: they hit you; you don't hit them.
Taihou can single-handedly change how a carrier task force fights.
After casting, she was a little winded—those extra 280 mirror planes all run off her focus and will.
Lexington nodded to her, then said coolly, "Bomber wings—launch!"
Five hundred and sixty color-grade hero bombers surged out: the six-star A-2, the B-25 "Doolittle," and, on Ranger's racks, the six-star custom "High Cabinet" bombs stacked with her [Ordnance Refit]—turning those Doolittles into monsters.
So many six-star hero bombers—and not a single fighter among them.
Yes—this time only Lexington carried an F9F "Panther" as a six-star fighter, and she'd already tossed those out on recon and overwatch.
This strike group is pure bombers—total air-superiority be damned, maximum damage only.
That's reckless on paper—without fighter cover, bombers are easy meat for enemy attack craft.
But Lexington had reasons.
All four carriers are level 110, with the Lexington sisters' twin command auras, plus [Full-Deck Strike] from Changchun and a buffet of special dishes and tactics buffs.
And these are hero-grade bombers. Each feels like a scythe in a wheatfield—one plane, a thousand kills, carving seven charges in and seven out.
What they're about to do should make Abyssal flagships howl.
Abyssal Musashi got the report almost at once.
"Six hundred carrier planes—" Her eyes nearly popped. "They've only got four carriers. You're telling me they have six hundred aircraft? What, did they bring an Airfield Princess over to their side? Or did Abyssal Akagi defect to them?!"
Ordinary carriers don't carry numbers like that. Big fleet carriers top out under a hundred; light carriers barely manage twenty to forty, sometimes less.
Abyssal carriers generally boast higher onboard counts than their human counterparts, and even a light Abyssal carrier might "carry" 108 on paper—but between level, firepower and handling limits, they can usually sortie only a third to a half at once.
All the planes in the world mean nothing if you can't put them into the sky.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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