In close combat between opponents of similar strength, Abyssal Barbarossa's demon dragon became utterly useless—just dead weight.
Within moments of exchanging blows, Barbarossa was already reeling under Tirpitz's relentless assault. Realizing things were going south, she summoned the demon dragon back. It rapidly shrank and morphed into a two-meter-long polearm: a dragon-headed battle axe.
This axe had a blade, anchor claw, and spear tip—it could slash, stab, hook, parry. A vicious weapon through and through.
But Tirpitz had no interest in playing fair. She swung her rigging-mounted naval guns like blunt weapons, slamming Barbarossa repeatedly. With her poor agility, Barbarossa couldn't create distance. Her long weapon was nearly useless and left her dizzy from the barrage.
Seeing Barbarossa falling behind, Abyssal Tirpitz rose from her dragon-like rigging and cursed as she charged in, joining the fray.
Even when facing both at once, Tirpitz didn't flinch. One cannon in each hand, she smashed them in the face, while her two additional rigging cannons at her sides joined the beatdown—firing at point-blank range, nonstop.
Barbarossa burned with rage. She was equipped with four +32-firepower German twin 533mm turrets—total firepower approaching 300. Her endurance was nearly 2,000. Why should she fear a single Tirpitz? She threw herself in with reckless abandon, willing to trade blows if it meant taking her down.
Abyssal Tirpitz was no pushover either. While her HP wasn't as monstrous as Barbarossa's, she still had 325—more than triple Tirpitz's. Her firepower surpassed Tirpitz's. Her armor exceeded even Barbarossa's by 30 to 40 points. And her evasion was on destroyer level. Even one-on-one, she wouldn't fear Tirpitz.
So the three of them clashed like rotating blades—brawling at close quarters with cannon fire and melee strikes exploding at their faces, yet none of them backed down.
They assumed Tirpitz's ability was some kind of shield with a damage threshold—just break it, and she'd be vulnerable.
Shipgirls from the South Sea Legion began regaining their footing and wanted to assist—but Yamato and Lexington stopped them and explained Barbarossa's passive ability: the more attackers, the stronger she became.
"Then how is your Tirpitz supposed to hold off two Abyssal flagships by herself?"
Hikaru's reply was blunt. "If any of you go in, you'll just drag her down. She has zero chance of winning with you interfering."
Hundreds of battleship-class shipgirls fell silent. Honestly, most of them weren't fond of combat to begin with. In the last assault alone, 20 to 30 of their comrades had fallen. Their morale had long since been shattered.
If Tirpitz was willing to face it alone… they were happy to take the time to recover.
Indiana offered, "If she can't hold, I'll go in. I can at least shave off a bit of Barbarossa's HP."
Yamato muttered, "That 'bit' might just be 1 point."
No one was more shocked—or disheartened—than Yamato. She had sparred with Tirpitz before. But now, watching her fight for real, she realized Tirpitz had been holding back the whole time.
If Tirpitz had gone all-out like this against her, Yamato wouldn't have lasted even a few seconds.
She couldn't help but ask, "Does she have some kind of divine shield skill? Her rigging doesn't even get damaged!"
Hikaru replied vaguely, "Something like that."
On the battlefield, Barbarossa grew increasingly alarmed.
Her focused and furious attacks, when they hit the shipgirl before her, were all absorbed effortlessly. If she had targeted Abyssal Tirpitz with these same hits, that one would've already been heavily damaged.
"What is this ability of yours?!"
Tirpitz glanced at the second damage control fairy she had already activated and snorted. "This is the terror of a damage control warrior!"
Barbarossa didn't know what a "damage control warrior" was—but she knew one thing: this was not going well.
After just a brief clash, her HP had already dropped to 1,800, and this opponent's mysterious "shield" seemed bottomless.
At last, Barbarossa let out a wild roar and summoned Abyssal Bismarck to assist.
Abyssal Bismarck was the last flagship still commanding order over the Abyssal fleet. As she descended on Tirpitz in armor shaped like a giant scorpion, the Abyssal ranks began to show signs of unrest.
But Barbarossa no longer had the capacity to manage them.
Her only focus—her one objective now—was to kill Tirpitz with her own hands.
[End of Chapter]
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