Those incoming missiles, whether launched by destroyers or carrier-based aircraft, many were intercepted as they just approached this mycelium network. The mycelium array would riot, with tendrils like long whips either snapping incoming missiles or directly blocking them, causing the missiles to crash head-on. Within three kilometers centered around the Yuan Shou, the dense explosion of missiles created a continuous display of fire, coupled with a rain of close-in defense cannon fire, and the auxiliary air defense from three Devourer-class Deep Diving Cruisers. Out of the hundreds of missiles launched, the number that could break through the Yuan Shou’s air defense network and strike the Yuan Shou was near zero. "Mike, you damned bastard, I want you to pay!" Beautiful Country squadron leader Edison was red-eyed, having watched his best wingman partner get blown apart mid-air by a Biological Plasma Bomb, the intense pain causing his heart to clench sharply. He saw once again, dozens of kilometers away, the undamaged, unflustered Yuan Shou continually belching cannon fire. The Biological Plasma Cannons it fired exploded continuously, and the Beautiful Country warplanes soaring through the Sky Dome fell into the throbbing ocean like eagles with broken wings. In an instant, a gigantic fury swept through his mind and body. "Fake, I refuse to believe I can’t hit you." Edison pushed the control stick with a fierce motion. As an ace pilot of the Beautiful Country, he had once achieved the dazzling feat of shooting down ten enemy aircraft. Now, someone must step up to break the deadlock; if that battleship continued its rampage, the defeat of Beautiful Country in this battle would be inevitable. With the F-35 fighter beneath him boosting, the engine vibrated intensely, and Edison piloted the fighter like a diving eagle hawk toward the Yuan Shou Battlecruiser. "Squadron leader, cover the squadron leader!" Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn Novᴇl_Fire(.)net "Fight this monster battleship!" "Squadron leader, you must win!" Nearby Beautiful Country carrier aircraft noticed Edison’s bold move, their spirit infected by his audacity. Many threw themselves into protecting him, resulting in their own mid-air disintegration. Under the sacrificial cover by his teammates, Edison fortuitously avoided being affected by the explosions of Biological Plasma amid the plasma fire. Upon approaching the mycelium protection circle, he deftly maneuvered the aircraft up and down, transforming into a nimble swift, dodging the densely lashing layers of mycelium. The aircraft successfully penetrated from a close-in defense cannon’s air defense gap, simultaneously deploying two anti-ship missiles, successfully hitting the Yuan Shou Battlecruiser. Two consecutive explosions were heard, one anti-ship missile struck the Yuan Shou Battlecruiser’s 600mm triple-mounted gun turret. The protection here was second only to the command tower and energy storage ammunition area, with the gun turret’s alloy Biological Composite Armor thickness exceeding 700mm. When the anti-ship missile landed, it didn’t budge the turret at all. As the explosion smoke was blown away by the sea breeze, the gun turret was merely blackened, the explosion area showed small sunken white marks, and no other damage was done. The entire turret continued to fire furiously, shelling the Sky Dome, shooting down the carrier aircraft flying about like flies. Another anti-ship missile landed on the Yuan Shou deck, the deck’s horizontal armor being 380mm thick. When the anti-ship missile with hundreds of kilograms of explosives detonated, the deck vibrated violently, the shockwave and explosive kinetic energy absorbed layer by layer, only blasting a small hole less than two meters wide. This wound was of little consequence to the Yuan Shou, which was 541.1 meters long and 79.5 meters wide. Even at the missile-made gap, the stacked layers of meat tumors wriggled rapidly, absorbing most of the blast force and swiftly filling the gap, with the missile fragments being pushed out by the meat tumor like a living warship with its own Life Force. Edison’s excited look of success froze on his face. He considered that even if his two anti-ship missiles couldn’t heavily damage the Yuan Shou, they should at least weaken some of its firepower output. Yet the Yuan Shou remained utterly unaffected. "How can this be, is this battleship made of steel or biological?" Edison was visibly agitated, unable to accept that the opportunity gained at the cost of several fighter sacrifices had no impact on the Yuan Shou. The countless meat tumors hidden beneath the Yuan Shou deck, filling the explosion-created gaps, seemed to be mocking his inadequacy. But Edison no longer had a chance to launch a new attack because a 250mm Biological Plasma Cannon had aimed at him. The distance between them was only a few kilometers, allowing Edison no time to react. A flash from the cannon muzzle was seen, and the Biological Plasma Cannon shattered Edison along with his aircraft into countless pieces at several times the speed of sound. In the face of a dense assault of aircraft and missile rain, the Yuan Shou’s defenses were not airtight, yet the Yuan Shou relied on its robust construction and powerful guns, thick armor, and self-healing ability to withstand all damages. Simultaneously high in resilience and stunning in endurance, its combat strength was minimally diminished. Dozens of carrier-based aircraft and over a hundred fighters launched from the Ryukyu Islands were unable to take on the thick hide of the Yuan Shou and were shot down like targets by the Biological Plasma Cannons on the spot. Standard air defense missiles travel at multiple speeds of sound, while the Biological Plasma Cannons travel at several tens of speeds of sound, along with specialized anti-air shrapnel with an incredible range of damage per shot, making it extremely difficult for fighters to withstand. The visible number of aircraft in the sky was reducing, becoming even less of a threat to the Yuan Shou. "All main guns aim at 2—1—0, target, Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier." Xia Jinyi, seeing no further threat from the aircraft, chose to set his sights on the Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier. "Number one turret aimed." "Number two turret aimed." "Number three turret aimed." Quickly, as the Yuan Shou Battlecruiser turned and aimed its side toward the Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier, nine 600mm main guns fired simultaneously, the fierce recoil stirring the sea as the Yuan Shou shifted several meters sideways. This was the Yuan Shou’s first full salvo, targeting nearly two hundred kilometers away at the Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier. In less than ten seconds, several hundred-meter-high steam plumes suddenly rose around the Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier, the seawater evaporating into white steam from the Biological Plasma Cannon’s high heat. The Roosevelt Carrier was simultaneously hit by five Biological Plasma Cannons. The immense force rendered the Roosevelt Carrier on the verge of disintegration on the spot. Even though this was a hundred-thousand-ton nuclear-powered carrier, it couldn’t withstand the direct shots of 600mm Biological Plasma Cannons. A Biological Plasma Cannon exploded on the Roosevelt’s deck, the high temperature melting the carrier’s deck and the hangar below it. The dripping molten steel formed a rainwork, as many Beautiful Country ground crew soldiers working there got splashed with the high-temperature molten steel, emitting the smell of barbecue, causing ground crew members to collapse and roll in agony. A Biological Plasma Cannon struck below the Roosevelt’s waterline, penetrating the vessel, causing seawater to pour in immediately. However, modern carriers use numerous watertight compartments, autonomously controlled by computers, and have excellent anti-sinking capabilities against seawater inflow. The Roosevelt Carrier merely slowed down, without any threat of sinking from water ingress. The real fatal blow to the Roosevelt was three Biological Plasma Bombs landing near its aft bridge. The three bombs struck so close that the Roosevelt Carrier was torn apart, its hull split open, and the entire rear of the carrier burned and broke, lifting its bow high out of the water and rendering it utterly combat ineffective. To add insult to injury, the heat from the Biological Plasma Cannons melted the thick steel plates of the aircraft carrier’s ammunition depot, rendering fire doors ineffective as they twisted. The molten steel and high heat swept into the ammunition depot, detonating thousands of tons of munitions supplied for carrier aircraft. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The Roosevelt Carrier erupted with brilliant flames, dense smoke billowing thousands of meters high, and the massive hull completely disintegrated. No warship can withstand the detonation of an ammunition depot, and carriers are no exception. In just a few minutes, the Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier completely sank into the sea, with only 43 survivors from the 3102 crew members, 2825 aviation personnel, and 72 Marines. Multiple Advanced military officers, including fleet commander Sigmund, all perished. This nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, built in 1986, now lay buried at sea, marking the Yuan Shou Battlecruiser’s first sunk carrier. At the same time, it signified a shift in the Blue Star World’s structure, with a new marine hegemon emerging.