Chapter 44: Ironblood Escort Fleet
Just as Zhao Rui and Sun Dewang were in despair, waiting for death to strike, a deafening explosion came from behind the Leviathan.
From the Leviathan's grotesque maw came an indescribable low, mournful wail that seemed to pierce their eardrums.
The Leviathan, previously unaffected by Zhao Rui's shipgirls' main cannon and aircraft attacks, suddenly recoiled its tentacles in obvious pain.
It wasn't until then that distant cannon fire was heard.
Before they could react, a series of intense explosions followed. A golden beam of light, like a curtain of light, rained down on the Leviathan, tearing its massive body apart.
Green blood and chunks of flesh splattered from the monster, turning the ocean a faint green.
The Leviathan's enormous body slowly turned, trying to use its tentacles to block the incoming shells, but what met it were a squadron of bombers diving from the sky.
The Leviathan's mournful cries were drowned out by the overlapping explosions. The dense, saturated bombing created smoke that enveloped the beast entirely.
Several tentacles flail wildly in the air, but thanks to the skilled maneuvering of the aircraft, none of them were hit.
After a round of bombing, the Leviathan, now with no intact surface left, did something no one expected.
It withdrew all its tentacles into the sea and—its body quickly sank, disappearing beneath the waves in just a few seconds.
It was like a beaten wild dog fleeing with its tail between its legs.
"This… Is this the power of your Navy's shipgirls? How much strength does your Navy really have? This is so impressive!"
Sun Dewang watched as the Leviathan disappeared beneath the sea, and then turned to see the black bomber squadron flying away into the distance.
He realized he had narrowly escaped death, only to find that his pants were soaked.
Zhao Rui, however, just stared at him with a confused and bewildered expression, mouthing words but making no sound.
Sun Dewang suddenly realized that both of them had been temporarily deafened by the intense barrage of cannon fire and explosions they had just experienced.
"Ugh, the torpedo squad hadn't even reached the optimal drop point, and that filthy creature fled. If the wolf pack were here, it wouldn't have gotten away so easily."
About thirty kilometers from where the Leviathan disappeared, three black Ironblood mass-produced transport ships were slowly advancing on the sea.
Standing on the deck of the leading transport ship, Lin Lan sighed in relief as he watched the Leviathan's silhouette slowly vanish through binoculars.
In the waters ahead of him, three shipgirls, with their rigging deployed, were finishing the battle.
The one who had just spoken was none other than the tall, white-haired, famous Ironblood aircraft carrier—Graf Zeppelin.
(Graf Zeppelin)
Her massive mechanical dragon rigging was retrieving the returning bombers, one by one.
"Killing a monster of that size with just bombers is still a bit difficult, Graf Zeppelin. There's no need to blame yourself," said a short-haired red shipgirl in a black and white military uniform and black boots, also retrieving her bombers.
This was Weser, originally the fourth ship of the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, later converted into a light aircraft carrier.
(Weser)
Standing on the water, Ulrich gently stroked her main gun's rigging dragon, watching where the Leviathan had vanished, lost in thought.
Graf Zeppelin wore a displeased expression. In her opinion, they should have completely obliterated the monster.
She had wanted to keep its hideous head as a trophy for her future dorm room.
Just as Lin Lan lowered the binoculars, a proud voice of an Ironblood girl spoke beside him:
"Hey, servant, don't just look for yourself. Let me see through the binoculars too!"
Lin Lan looked helplessly at the girl speaking.
She wore a military cap, black trench coat, high-heeled military boots, and had long black hair with a streak of red and a streak of white.
The short girl with blue eyes, seeing him lost in thought, snatched the binoculars from his hand.
With a wild, battle-hungry grin on her face, she looked through the binoculars in the direction of the bombardment:
"Not bad, I'd say. I bet that sea monster will never dare to appear in Ironblood waters again."
Lin Lan was surprised that Deutschland had come along as well.
Deutschland was the first ship of the Deutschland-class armored ships, given this special name for being the first armored ship of Ironblood.
In the game, both she and her sister, Admiral Graf Spee, were classified as heavy cruisers.
However, despite having the frame of a heavy cruiser, they were equipped with main guns beyond that class, earning them the unique nickname "pocket battleships."
This was reflected in the game by their skills, allowing them to deal extra damage to all destroyers and cruisers.
What troubled Lin Lan the most was Deutschland's self-proclaimed title as Ironblood's princess due to her special name.
Even though she was renamed Lützow after the outbreak of the war and later served under the Northern Union after being salvaged, she still called herself Deutschland.
In the game's personal storyline, with Lin Lan's help, she came to terms with her past service in the Northern Union.
Lin Lan had long known about Deutschland's haughty nature, but facing her in person was another matter altogether.
Oh well, she can call me her servant, and I'll just call her my wife. We'll both go by our own names—no harm done.
"Don't take the commander's things, sister," said a silver-haired girl with a streak of red, dressed in a red Gothic dress, her face half-hidden by a black and red scarf.
She had giant red iron claws on her hands, identifying her as Deutschland's sister, Admiral Graf Spee.
(Admiral Graf Spee)
Watching Deutschland snatch the binoculars from Lin Lan, Graf Spee gently chided her sister.
Lin Lan, who had been helpless against Deutschland, suddenly felt soothed. Graf Spee really was a little angel.
He couldn't help but wonder why, despite being from the same class, Deutschland and her sister had such different personalities.
"Hahaha, what's wrong with a master taking something from her servant?" Deutschland laughed arrogantly, turning to Lin Lan:
"Wasting oil and ammunition to save those lowly creatures—what are you plotting? Tell me your scheme!"
Lin Lan sighed deeply, rubbing his temples.
After waking up that morning, he had joined the accompanying fleet at the Ironblood fortress port under Z23's guidance.
The accompanying shipgirls included:
The battleship Ulrich, the regular carrier Graf Zeppelin, the large cruiser (super cruiser, CB for short) Ägir, the heavy cruiser Deutschland, and the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee.
Also, the light cruiser Emden, the light cruiser Mainz, the destroyer Z23, and the destroyer Z46.
If he didn't know he was just going to take up his post, Lin Lan might have thought they were preparing to raid a port.
Although they were all familiar faces, Lin Lan hugged each of them goodbye after saying farewell to Bismarck and Friedrich.
Once the port area was settled, the other Ironblood shipgirls would move in batches, so the farewell wasn't overly solemn.
The three mass-produced transport ships mainly carried oil and ammunition.
The way they left the Ironblood fortress was shocking.
What he had thought were just decorative sea sculptures actually had the ability to open ship transport within the mirror sea.
Thanks to those sculptures, they reached the edge of the Ironblood mirror sea and left the fortress area in just a few seconds.
Looking at Deutschland, who was expectantly watching him, Lin Lan reached out and gave the Ironblood princess a signature head pat.
"I have my reasons, Deutschland. Don't worry. If you're bored, you can go back to the cabin and ask Mainz or Emden to make you a cup of coffee."
Though he said that, Lin Lan couldn't stop thinking about why a Leviathan appeared in the United Republic of Orlan's waters.
He had learned in the Red Leaf Naval Academy's marine biology class that these deep-sea monsters didn't exist on Blue Star.
These evil creatures, straight out of fantasy novels, were real in this world.
However, they lived in the deepest parts of the ocean, within the territorial waters of the Holy Rosoren Principality, across the sea from the United Republic of Orlan's eastern continent.
In the world's history, there had never been a case of a Leviathan appearing in the United Republic's territorial waters.
Was this just a coincidence, or...?
Before Lin Lan could finish his thought, Deutschland bit his hand.
Head pat failed.
"Hey, why did you bite me? Do you realize your teeth are sharp?"
Seeing the neat row of bite marks on his hand, it wasn't bleeding, but it hurt enough for him to shake his hand.
"Mainz's coffee is terrible! She doesn't even put sugar in it. You're trying to poison your master by sending me to drink that?" Deutschland pouted, glaring at Lin Lan when she heard him suggest going to Mainz for coffee.
Everyone knew Mainz only drank the most authentic black coffee, never compromising with even a single sugar cube or drop of milk.
For the sweet-toothed Deutschland, that bitter, pure black coffee was undrinkable.
At that moment, Lin Lan's phone, which he hadn't used in days, rang with an incoming communication.
Forgetting about scolding Deutschland, he looked at the screen, a smile creeping onto his face.
His guess had been right—the fish had taken the bait.