Elder brother's garrison

While it's somewhat regrettable for Veneto, it's clear that the four ship girls of the Iowa-class are still more powerful than those of the Veneto-class...

The watching ship girls have gradually come to determine the winner of this exercise.

……

On the water, Wisconsin watched the fireworks explode on the surface, and she couldn't help but grit her teeth, clench her fist, and throw a punch forward.

"Alright, we've got it!!!" Wisconsin shouted.

“Wisconsin, you look very happy,” Iowa said with a smile from behind Wisconsin.

"Ha, of course! Defeating Veneto proves that I can move up the rankings in the naval base!" Wisconsin said excitedly as she turned to Iowa. "Becoming the number one ship girl in the entire naval base is just around the corner!"

“First…” Iowa murmured the words about Wisconsin, her gaze somewhat unreadable, as if she were pondering something, turning to the side, “Hmm… that’s a really good target… but…”

Just as Iowa's tense mind began to relax because he was thinking about something.

Boom! ! !

Suddenly, a huge cannon roar echoed across the training ground.

Immediately afterward, before Iowa could fully react, a blazing red-hot shell shot through the water from an unknown direction and arrived right in front of her.

The timing of this shell's appearance was exceptionally bizarre.

Although the Iowa-class ship girls had been a little lax in their defenses, they were still alert as top-tier battleships. Therefore, whether they were talking or doing something else, they kept an eye on the Empire and Littorio's actions out of the corner of their eyes.

The Empire and Littorio just made no move to attack.

So who fired that shell?

Iowa looked at the shell that was already approaching her in surprise. At such a distance, she had lost her best chance to dodge due to her distraction, and it was only a matter of time before she was hit by the shell.

In a flash, Iowa retreated as far as possible while moving the ship's equipment behind her to the front, trying to use the heavy deck to withstand the shelling.

Boom! ! !

A tremendous impact emanated from Iowa's ship's rigging, and the violent shockwaves transmitted to Iowa, causing her entire body to tremble visibly, her chest shaking violently like ocean waves.

pang!

The shell was ultimately withstood by the Iowa's sturdy rigging, but the rigging also developed crack-like marks from the shell, with sparks and electrical discharges crackling and flashing.

Iowa, the center is broken!

Iowa stumbled back several steps, gritting her teeth as she regained her balance.

However, the shocking events did not end there.

Just as the Iowa-class ship girls managed to withstand the sudden shell at the cost of moderate damage, another deafening roar was heard, and an even hotter meteor shell arrived in front of them with tremendous force.

Having regained his balance, Iowa made a move to dodge, but the shell passed right by him.

The next moment, in the instant Iowa was stunned.

Boom! ! !

New Jersey was hit hard by the shell. Even with the protection of the ship's equipment, her body was forced back more than ten steps by the violent impact. In the end, she lost her balance and was overturned by the huge impact, falling directly onto the water. Her long hair touched the water, and her two long legs flipped into the air before naturally bending down.

Tiny pieces of ship equipment fell with a clatter.

A pale green protective film began to appear on the surface of the skin in New Jersey.

Seeing this, Iowa and Wisconsin slightly opened their mouths.

New Jersey is in complete disarray!

"New Jersey!" Wisconsin shouted immediately.

“…Sigh…” New Jersey remained upside down on the water, shaking her head at Wisconsin and Iowa, her face full of exhaustion. “I can’t go on…”

"They took New Jersey with a single shot. With that kind of firepower, could it be..." Wisconsin turned around and quickly turned her gaze to the smoke-filled water.

As the smoke dissipated.

The view of the water where Veneto had been standing was once again brought into view.

When the situation on the water came into view again, everyone present, as well as the ship girls watching, stared wide-eyed, their faces clearly showing astonishment.

"what???"

"Veneto???"

"How...how is she still here?"

really!

Just where everyone's eyes met, a delicate and petite battleship girl stood safely on the water. Her white, shoulder-length hair fluttered in the wind, and her red eyes calmly and majestically gazed at the Iowa-class battleship.

Veneto...she stood perfectly intact on the water!

"Veneto??? How come you're not hurt?!" Wisconsin stared in Veneto's direction, shouting in disbelief, "I'm absolutely sure I hit you!!!"

Wisconsin's shouts reached Veneto's side.

Veneto's expression remained unchanged. She glanced down at her hands briefly before raising her arms and resting them on the ship's rigging behind her.

"You really hit the nail on the head."

"So now... you didn't use damage control, did you, you bastard!"

“Even I wouldn’t be so extravagant. Besides, using damage control during an exercise is a pointless act of cheating.” Veneto sighed softly, looking in the direction of the Iowa-class aircraft, her voice calm. “I was indeed hit, but I was also unharmed.”

The Iowa-class ship girls read Veneto's narration and spoke slightly, about to ask further questions.

Suddenly.

A flash of inspiration struck me.

Even Veneto couldn't possibly withstand the firepower of an Iowa-class bombardment unscathed with his bare body!

Only defensive ship equipment skills could protect Veneto in that situation!

The Holy Shield of Cornetto has already been used!

So... the user of this defensive skill is...

The Iowa-class women instantly understood. They shifted their gaze from Veneto to the Empire and Littorio—or more accurately, to Littorio.

Littorio remained the same harmless and adorable little girl, clutching a cat doll and gazing at the battlefield with her bright green eyes.

Even when stared at by the Iowa-class ship girls, she did not show any signs of stage fright.

"Littorio, is that you?!" Wisconsin shouted.

"Ahhh..." Littorio looked away, avoiding eye contact with the Iowa-class ship girls. She sighed softly, a troubled expression on her face. "As expected, at times like this, what can't be hidden can't be hidden anymore."

The ship girls present instantly understood as they watched Littorio's transformation.

really!

It was all Littorio's doing!

“Littorio, it really was you just now…” Veneto said to Littorio with a somewhat peculiar expression.

"Hmm." Littorio nodded, holding the cat plushie. She raised her emerald green eyes and addressed the crowd, "My skill is to support my companions and sisters."

Only then, as Littorio opened his eyes wide, could everyone finally see that deep within Littorio's eyes gleamed a faint emerald green light.

After the concealment was removed, a faint turquoise light curtain rose from Littorio and the Empire, while around Veneto's body appeared a completely shattered turquoise light curtain, resembling an eggshell.

"My skill can protect my sisters from harm, although it can only be used once."

Littorio spoke up.

"To protect my sisters from even one harm... Ah, could it be..."

As Iowa listened to Littorio's words, she suddenly raised an eyebrow, as if she had realized something.

Sure enough, a lush green figure rose from behind Littorio and the Empire amidst the shattered emerald light curtain.

Chapter 3493 Littorio is on a godlike streak

The ship girls on the sea, as well as the ship girls watching, all turned their gazes toward Littorio and the Empire behind them.

Sure enough, behind Littorio and the Empire, the unscathed Rome and its ship equipment rose slowly like a mountain.

"Wow!" As soon as Rome appeared, she looked at the shattered emerald green light screen around her with amazement, then shouted excitedly in Veneto's direction, "Big Sister! What are these? How am I still alive! Look, look, Big Sister, I'm perfectly fine!! And I feel like I'm full of power!"

"..." Veneto looked at Rome, her gaze lingering for a moment on the fragments of light floating around Rome, then at the fragments floating beside her. She raised her hand and pinched a small fragment, and the light immediately turned into specks of light at her fingertips and dissipated. "These things... are the holy shields that Littorio gave us?"

“It’s already been used,” Littorio said, holding the cat plushie.

“No wonder.” Veneto lowered her hand and looked at the Iowa-class ship girls.

Immediately after being hit, Veneto realized that he was not injured.

At that time, Veneto did not know why she was unharmed, but years of combat experience and instinct made Veneto's body act automatically. Taking advantage of this opportunity to be unharmed, she launched a fatal bombardment on the Iowa-class ship girls while they were vulnerable.

Who would care about an attack launched by a "dead man"?

This shell is guaranteed to hit.

Veneto's shell almost instantly took down New Jersey. This time, the feel of launching the shell was significantly better than usual, and the effect was outstanding. The shelling power increased by at least 20%. Looking back now, Veneto thinks that this was probably one of the enhancements that Littorio had given him.

As for the shelling that was just fired at Iowa, it wasn't actually launched by Veneto.

That was initiated by Rome.

Like Veneto, Roma was blasted away by a cannon shot, but under Littorio's protection, she was unharmed. Roma naturally cherished this opportunity, and instead of returning to the team immediately, she remained lying in wait, looking for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

Just as Rome had expected, after "sinking" the two admirals of the Veneto-class, even the Iowa-class ship girls finally revealed a barely perceptible weakness. Veneto and Rome seized this opportunity and launched a deadly bombardment that was enough to severely damage the Iowa-class ship girls.

"What! It's a group Aegis?!" On the Wisconsin side, after hearing about Littorio's ability, she was so shocked that she couldn't close her mouth. "No, a single-target Aegis is powerful enough, and now there's a group Aegis? How can you Veneto-class be so cheating!"

“In Wisconsin, Littorio’s skill probably only works on her sisters,” Iowa said with a smile. “It’s reasonable that the effect would be stronger after limiting the range of its effect.”

"Sister Iowa, how can you still laugh at a time like this..." Wisconsin looked at Iowa helplessly.

"Hmm...why aren't you smiling?" Iowa said with a smile.

At this point on the sea, the situation had become overwhelmingly unfavorable for the Iowa-class destroyers.

New Jersey were blasted off the field by Veneto, and Iowa also suffered a mid-game breakdown. The only teams left with full fighting power on the field were Wisconsin and Missouri, but Missouri was currently in a blank state.

Then, in contrast to Iowa, the Veneto-class ship girls, as opponents, were protected by Littorio's abnormal skills and returned to a full-strength four-person team.

Wisconsin really wanted to list out her disadvantages to Iowa, but when she turned to look at the smiling Iowa and then at Missouri, who was also smiling, she didn't know where to begin.

"Sigh... never mind." Wisconsin sighed, then her expression gradually turned cold. "So what if one person is missing and one of my sisters is crippled! We'll still fight them! What's a little difficulty!"

Wisconsin turned around quickly and looked at the Veneto-class ship girls.

"Veneto, your Aegis and Littorio's Aegis are both used up now, aren't they! Next time I hit you, don't pull out some invincibility skill again! Otherwise, I'll really call the police and have you put in a urine test!" Wisconsin raised her ship rigging, her eyes gleaming with fighting spirit. "Let's try again!"

“Very spirited.” Veneto took two steps back and returned to the Veneto-class group. “But I won’t give you another chance.”

"Ha! Let's give it a try!"

Wisconsin's words caused the two ship girls, who had been pulling and maneuvering, to pause for a moment before closing in frantically!

The Empire raised its arms to the sky, and swarms of carrier-based aircraft buzzed and danced, once again dominating the skies.

A barrage of bombs rained down.

Faced with the Empire's aerial bombardment, the remaining three Iowa-class ship girls kept dodging the bombs, and then launched a crossfire, bombarding the Veneto-class ship girls.

The same tactics and methods were used, but the difference was that only three ship girls remained in the Iowa-class, and Iowa's ship equipment status had changed to medium damage. Their bombardment suppression was far less powerful than before, so much so that when the Veneto-class ship girls started dodging the bombardment again, they felt much less pressure.

“At this level, there’s no way they can hit me anymore.” Veneto raised the ship’s massive cannon and unleashed a thunderous barrage at the Iowa-class destroyer.

A fiery red beam of light shot out and sped toward Iowa.

Iowa intended to raise her ship's rigging and use her skills to counterattack, but as soon as she raised it, sparks flew and her movements noticeably slowed down.

Iowa had no choice but to abandon her counterattack and instead dodge.

boom! ! !

Veneto's shell narrowly missed Iowa's body and struck the water behind her.

The impact of the grazed bullet briefly levitated Iowa's body.

Rome seized the opportunity of being airborne and fired its giant cannon at Iowa's body.

However, just before Rome opened fire in pursuit, two loud booms were heard, and two cannonballs flew in succession, heading straight for Rome's face.

Rome quickly abandoned the pursuit and dodged the cannonballs.