Chapter 306: Perfect Score

After intense competition, our second round competition has already produced three qualifiers who passed the first group drill.

They are the commanders of the White Eagle Faction, Royal Faction, and Donghuang Faction; they will regroup as a team to vie for the victory in the second round of the competition.

Here, I will announce the scoring situation of several judges from the first round.

This time the host is no longer Zhang Men, but Biyu, who is most skilled at hosting from the Sakura Empire.

In the first round, the nine commanders responded to strategy and tactics under the nine major factions' judges; the first place was Commander Qin Ge from Donghuang, whose final score was 10 points.

Immediately after him was James from the White Eagle Faction, with a final score of 8.3 points; and in third place was Feng Cilang from the Sakura Empire, with a final score of 8.2 points.

The remaining commanders all scored 8 points.

Upon hearing this score, the other commanders all looked at Qin Ge in surprise. They knew this test was out of 10, meaning 10 is the highest score.

But Qin Ge's score is exactly 10, meaning he got a perfect score, yet a perfect score here is almost impossible.

Because some of the major factions dislike each other, a perfect score is fundamentally impossible.

But now, the senior leaders of the major factions appear indifferent to this score, indicating that this result is indeed what they arrived at after discussion.

What kind of answer could simultaneously gain approval from all nine major factions? They couldn't guess, but one can imagine how stringent it must be to achieve.

However, for James and the two of them, it's not yet time to be surprised, because that person is standing right beside them, and they are about to engage in a drill confrontation with her.

Looking at his oppressive number of shipgirls, James and Hepburn couldn't help but feel somewhat desperate.

Because Qin Ge alone has six carrier shipgirls, while the one with the most shipgirls between the two of them, Hepburn, has only a total of six shipgirls when combined.

This gap is visible to the naked eye, especially Qin Ge: besides six aircraft carriers, he also has five battleship shipgirls. That is, Qin Ge alone has eleven main shipgirls, almost occupying half of his entire fleet.

But just as they were pondering, Biyu's voice came from nearby again.

"Awakened, the Donghuang Faction's love song commander, and James, commander of the White Eagle Faction, get ready; the next round of the competition is about to begin."

Getting ready means the drill will start imminently. But facing such overwhelming strength, does he really have a chance to win? This is James's truest thought.

However, when he turned his head and saw several spirited shipgirls, the lost confidence was found again.

The drill match is conducted by the shipgirls facing each other directly; as girls, they are all so spirited, yet I, as a commander directing from the shore, why am I timid now?

James's mind instantly cleared; he nodded at his shipgirls, then strode head‑high, chest out toward the opposite pier.

And Qin Ge also walked to the opposite pier; for him, this one‑on‑one drill match is as easy as reaching out and taking it.

Therefore, just as in the previous matches, his current order to his shipgirls is to defend, then the carrier shipgirls will launch carrier‑aircraft attacks.

The reason he does not deploy battleship shipgirls or light shipgirls is mainly to preserve his strength, keeping others from figuring it out.

Because after these two matches comes the third round, a free‑for‑all of nine people; having shown such sharpness, he believes the other eight are very likely to band together against him.

That would be an attack by roughly forty shipgirls, and at this moment his numerical advantage would vanish. Therefore, being able to preserve strength and conceal tactical intent is what these drills should do.

Thus, with the help of the Sakura Empire shipgirls, each shipgirl readied the needed equipment, then one by one launched from the pier and headed toward the drill‑designated area.

Likewise on the other side, James's shipgirls having received the required equipment, leapt off the pier and glided toward another designated area.

When both sides reached the designated positions, the referee Zuikaku confirmed whether they were ready, and the match began at her voice.

At the very start, Qin Ge's six carrier shipgirls simultaneously launched their carrier aircraft. The aircraft group then began to gather in the air, forming a formation, and swooped toward James's shipgirls with lightning speed.

Perhaps drawing on the experience of several previous defeats, James's shipgirls instantly scattered in all directions. Seeing this, the senior officials on the stands furrowed their brows.

"Self‑wise," Washington said expressionlessly.

"Hehe, I think James too was forced by Qin Ge to have no alternative.

"If the shipgirls are all scattered, perhaps they can buy some time, but if they gather together, thirty carrier aircraft will come at them; even if Montpellier's training is fairly high and they could shoot down a few planes, there would still be over twenty left." North Carolina said with a smile.

"Hmph, so he can only be a commander and cannot advance further." Washington said, "If in area combat one issues such a foolish order, it merely creates an opportunity for the enemy, allowing their group advantage to be maximized, chipping away at our manpower bit by bit."

"Indeed, in area combat one must concentrate one's anti‑aircraft strength, having them form a ring to shield the main force as much as possible, to destroy as many incoming enemy aircraft as possible.

"Rather than fleeing chaotically and being chased to death by the enemy's air superiority." North Carolina nodded.

At this moment, the situation on the field indeed matched what North Carolina said.

Although James's dispersal tactic indeed bought his shipgirls some survival time, it also cut off their final escape route.

When facing a single shipgirl, the fleet's group power becomes even more ferocious; hardly needing torpedo strikes, just bombers and fighters alone can already completely settle the battle.

But now, when point‑by‑point attacks begin, the defenseless shipgirls make James realize his decision was wrong; however, Qin Ge's shipgirls' assault has arrived, and any attempt to recover is already too late.

Thus, under the onslaught of the carrier aircraft, the scattered shipgirls became perfect sitting ducks, soundly thrashed into the water by Qin Ge's carrier shipgirls' aircraft.

Here, the first round ended quickly, ending in an extremely dramatic manner.