Boom!
A flash of fire erupted from the turret beside Wilhelmina, firing directly at Glowworm.
Off to the side, Masaki explained, "Shipgirl shells are closer to energy-based projectiles. And at three kilometers, this is already considered extremely close range for a gunnery battle—so Wilhelmina is skipping ranging shots and going straight for a flat-trajectory barrage."
Glowworm easily dodged the shot. The three auxiliary armor plates floating before her shifted into streamlined formations and followed her as she tore across the waves like an arrow, charging straight at Wilhelmina.
"Wilhelmina has slightly higher speed than Glowworm, and Glowworm lacks long-range firepower. If Wilhelmina pulls back and plays hit-and-run…"Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, her gaze sharp as a hawk. "—No, she's charging straight in instead. Understandable. With a destroyer's high evasion, long-range bombardment is easy to dodge. And she has nothing to fear—her capabilities are superior in every way."
Masaki added smugly, "Looks like your Glowworm specializes in close combat. That might work in a drill, but in real combat you have to conceal your intentions—circle around, gradually close the gap. Don't just charge in blindly. Got it?"
Hikaru wasn't even listening. After her initial probing shot, Wilhelmina seemed to realize that Glowworm wasn't so easy to handle, and immediately went all out—her turrets roaring in a continuous storm of fire, drawing blazing lines across the sea.
Masaki raised two fingers. "Purple rarity—U.S. Navy twin 5-inch dual-purpose guns. Normally two mounted, +2 firepower and +5 anti-air each. Historically, flat trajectory range of 15 kilometers, shell velocity around 800 meters per second, and thanks to automated loading, 22 rounds per minute. In Wilhelmina's hands, these fire at 60 rounds per minute—four barrels at once. It's basically a storm of autocannon fire. That's the power of high-level training."
Hikaru nodded. He'd studied the shipgirl compendium well—this famous historical naval gun was no stranger to him.
Five inches might not sound like much, but the caliber was 127mm—each gun cost as much as two P-40B fighter planes, and its barrel outclassed all tank cannons of its time. The barrels alone were several meters long—joined end to end, they'd be the length of two or three adults. The shipgirl version was miniaturized, the turrets only pillow-sized, but despite their scale, the power they produced exceeded any historical naval gun. These were half-energy projectiles, after all.
If loaded with HE shells, a single barrage could devastate a kilometer-wide area. But since shipgirls usually fought other shipgirls, the favored ammo was the golden Type 91 AP shell.
Now Wilhelmina had replaced one turret with blank shells, but the firepower remained terrifying. Hikaru was on edge—could Glowworm handle this?
As it turned out, he had underestimated her.
The volley of shells filled the space ahead of Glowworm like a solid wall of death, the aftermath kicking up furious waves—but just as it seemed she'd be caught, Glowworm blurred and flickered like a mirage, slipping through the overlapping barrages and slicing across the water toward Wilhelmina.
Her sudden burst of speed far exceeded the 36 knots listed in her data—faster even than the speed of sound—yet no sonic boom followed. Hikaru was stunned.
Normally, when an object moves too fast for air to get out of the way, the result is a sonic boom. But what Glowworm had done defied physics—it was practically magic.
Elizabeth was unsurprised. She nodded slightly. "Very high evasion—definitely over 70 points."
Masaki was floored. "Seventy? Glowworm starts with, what, 40 evasion at best? And she's lugging around all that armor? Wait—she can equip three auxiliary armor plates?"
Even Wilhelmina could only use two pieces of gear at a time. What the hell was going on in this world?
The battle, of course, didn't stop for their shock. Within just a few breaths, Glowworm had closed to within 500 meters of Wilhelmina. The latter was beginning to realize something was wrong. Her turrets were overloading from continuous fire, and she'd halted forward momentum—maybe even trying to backpedal.
Takao, who had just been shooed away by his own shipgirl, came back only to gape at the sight. "No way—Wilhelmina's backing off? But she's max level!"
Sensing hesitation in her enemy, Glowworm's eyes lit up. Her speed increased again. She started shrugging off the thinner parts of the barrage with her armor, and in the blink of an eye, she had closed to within 100 meters.
Now, close-range was where destroyers thrived—especially with their torpedoes. The closer the launch, the harder they were to dodge.
But now Wilhelmina was starting to panic. If she fired a torpedo now, Glowworm's fist would likely hit her before the torpedo hit its mark.
Retreat? No! She was the fully maxed-out Wilhelmina (USS William D. Porter)! If she backed down from a newly born Glowworm, her pride would be in tatters.
Fueled by a burst of stubborn competitiveness, she clenched her teeth and took a gamble.
She quickly dismissed her main guns, activating her internal torpedo gear. As soon as she had a clear line of sight to Glowworm's face, she fired five torpedoes in a fan spread!
And the instant they launched—Wilhelmina knew she had messed up. She'd fired live rounds.
Even a fully-leveled destroyer would likely sink if hit at this range by a real torpedo—let alone a new ship like Glowworm.
"Get out of the way!" Wilhelmina shouted, face contorted.
Her voice was drowned out by the detonation.
Glowworm triggered the smoke generator strapped to her side, and in an instant, a dense gray fog rolled out, covering a hundred meters in all directions. Wilhelmina was swallowed in the haze—she couldn't even see her own hand.
It's over… Glowworm can't see either. Wilhelmina could only pray that luck was on the girl's side.
But she knew that was foolish hope. The torpedoes she'd fired were semi-guided—they had autonomous tracking. At under 100 meters, unless Glowworm could fly, she'd definitely be hit.
I killed her… Did I just kill a comrade? Will I fall to the Abyss?
Wilhelmina's mind spiraled in panic, tears welling in her eyes.
The moment the real torpedoes launched, Elizabeth had sensed something was wrong. She kicked off from the ground and rocketed forward—
Too late.
An earth-shaking explosion erupted from the mist, followed by crashing waves and the faint clang of armor on armor.
Something's not right.
White spray splashed against Elizabeth's face. She flicked her hair back and squinted at the fog.
Her senses told her: no one had sunk.
Unfortunately, she couldn't see inside. If it were just normal fog, she could clear it with a wave—but shipgirl-deployed smoke was another matter entirely.