Ch.146[Chapter 146] Tank Union

“So, who’s the one who messed with someone our Tanker Union has their eye on?”

The female knight in rusty armor drew a corroded greatsword dripping with viscous fluid.

“Guardian. Precious. Must protect.”

A distorted voice came from the speaker attached to a walking coffin.

The female knight stepped forward, rolling her shoulders.

Behind her, the steel coffin aimed the barrels of its medium machine guns forward.

Ready to fire if necessary.

In the narrow alley, even random shots would have nearly 100% accuracy.

The members of the Tier 1 Alliance knew this, so they created as many barriers and obstacles as possible to hide behind, or concealed themselves on rooftops or inside buildings.

“I don’t know who you are, but I thank you for your help.”

Sir Dominic bowed to the two newcomers.

Without their help, Sir Dominic would have already been subdued and banished.

“It’s nothing. Though we did arrive a bit late…”

“Tanker. Low mobility. Unavoidable.”

The female knight made an embarrassed expression at Sir Dominic’s thanks.

Sir Dominic could now see her face clearly—half covered by a mask dripping with fluid, while the other half revealed the features of a quite beautiful woman.

Her armor was full-body plate mail, rusted and warped in various places, looking like it might cause tetanus with the slightest mistake.

Finally, Sir Dominic looked at the sword she carried.

The massive two-meter claymore was dripping with disgusting green fluid, and like her armor, didn’t look particularly healthy to be around.

Just then.

A loud explosion sounded from far away, followed by a large blast in front of Sir Dominic.

“Haha! Even dust becomes powerful when gathered!”

“I-is this right?”

“At least we hit those guys!”

“Uh… really?”

A group of rat beastkin appeared on the rooftop.

Next to them was a crude cannon made of scrap metal, so poorly constructed that one of the rat beastkin nearby had his hand blown off and was in a state of shock.

The rat beastkin who had suddenly started attacking wore proud expressions.

“Um… is everyone alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll admit it. I let my guard down.”

“Damage report. None.”

As the dust from the bombardment settled, the rat beastkin wore expressions of disbelief.

All three were standing there unharmed, without a scratch.

“I-impossible!”

“One more time! One more time!”

“Where’s the ramrod?”

The battlefield had become chaotic with the ragtag group of rat beastkin handling an already shoddy cannon.

This was a perfect example of why they were Tier 1.

But these rat beastkin were still the best artillery force the Tier 1 Alliance had.

The Tier 1 Alliance began forming a battle formation centered around the rat beastkin.

“Prepare to fire!”

A skinny pirate with one prosthetic leg shouted.

Windows in the alley opened all at once, and pirates with matchlock guns emerged, lighting their fuses.

Bullets rained down from all directions toward Sir Dominic’s group with popping sounds.

“Danger!”

Sir Dominic stepped forward with his shield raised.

The system, recognizing the assistance as party play, had already changed the tooltip for Sir Dominic’s special skill.

A shield covering 10% of maximum health was applied to all three tanks, along with an 11.25% damage reduction.

Naturally, the Tier 1 Alliance’s barrage only managed to deplete about half of their shields.

“Not really that dangerous, though.”

The female knight said.

“Agreed. Understood. Sympathized.”

An eerie mechanical sound echoed from the steel coffin.

Both of them maintained relaxed postures, as if there was no need to defend at all.

Why were they so at ease?

In Gacha Land, there was something called synergy.

Additional benefits gained by people who share common traits.

These gathered individuals had one thing in common.

They were all tanks.

Yes.

The 3-Tank synergy had activated, producing additional effects.

[Tank(2/3/4): Defense and resistance increased by 20/30/40%. When taking damage, generates a shield equal to 20/30/40% of health lost for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 30 seconds)]

The synergy window that appeared before Sir Dominic’s eyes.

An effect that anyone would recognize as extremely powerful.

Gacha Land, being a game-based world, was constantly updated.

Synergies didn’t always stay the same.

In particular, the Tank synergy had been given minor buffs to compensate for the shortage of tanks, resulting in this incredible synergy.

Though lengthy to explain, the conclusion was simple.

With the Tier 1 Alliance’s firepower, they could never defeat these three tanks.

“Damn it.”

Park Chun-bae gritted his teeth and glared at the two tanks who had suddenly intervened.

The rat beastkin’s cannon fired once more, but this time it was neutralized by a missile fired from the steel coffin.

Even though the tanks hadn’t even moved yet, the situation was turning increasingly unfavorable for the Tier 1 Alliance.

Park Chun-bae glanced at Hines.

Hines was still holding his syringe, but in the current situation, using it was nearly impossible.

After briefly calculating the costs and benefits, Park Chun-bae shouted loud enough for everyone in the alley to hear.

“Retreat! Fall back!”

Those who heard these words momentarily looked at Park Chun-bae.

“Fall back! Now!”

With those final words, Park Chun-bae gave Hines one last look, then opened a sewer lid and disappeared inside.

With their leader having fled, the Tier 1 Alliance just stood there in a daze, looking at each other.

Then one by one they began to leave their positions, soon flowing out like the ebbing tide.

“Huh? What?”

The female knight swung her greatsword in apparent confusion.

“Hey! How can you do this! Come back right now, you honor-less bastards!”

“Incomprehensible. Our victory. Unnecessary fighting.”

When the female knight expressed her anger with a huff, the steel coffin voiced its confusion.

Sir Dominic was equally surprised by this sudden victory, but he was more interested in the two tanks before him.

“Let me thank you again. You saved my life.”

While life wasn’t particularly important in Gacha Land, Sir Dominic, who had nearly been banished, offered sincere thanks.

“It’s nothing, just helping each other out.”

The female knight scratched her long hair, which was matted with pus.

“By the way, I haven’t even asked the names of my saviors. May I know your names?”

“What, Senator Muscleman didn’t introduce us to you? …I guess that makes sense.”

The female knight had thought Senator Muscleman would have told Sir Dominic about the Tanker Union, but then realized that Sir Dominic wasn’t yet a member of the Tanker Union.

It wasn’t strange that he didn’t know them.

“Well, I’ll introduce us briefly. I’m Pandemonia. That tin can is L-00K. L-zero-zero-K. You can just call him Look.”

“Me. Look. Nickname.”

The two tanks each stated their names.

“I am Sir Dominic.”

Sir Dominic introduced himself while committing their names to memory.

“We know. We’ve been watching you.”

Pandemonia sheepishly explained that they had been waiting for the perfect moment to make a cool entrance, but hadn’t had the chance until now.

Just how many members did the Tier 1 Alliance have?

Even as they introduced themselves, people continued to flee around them.

Actually, those fleeing at least had their wits about them.

“Fire! Fire!”

“The barrel is bent, sir!”

“Then flip it over and fire!”

Some fools were still in a panic, like the rat beastkin randomly firing shells—

Thunk.

“Haha! Finally…?”

Or idiots like Hines, who was swinging his syringe at the tanks, praying it would hit anyone.

The contents of the syringe flowed somewhere.

When all the terrible liquid disappeared, Hines smiled in victory, but then looked puzzled at the three people who showed no signs of being affected.

Hines didn’t understand what was happening.

Quickly rolling his eyes, he finally checked the state of his syringe.

“Oh.”

The syringe was indeed stuck in a tank.

“Damn it.”

However, it was stuck in Look’s steel body, meaninglessly leaking onto the ground.

“…Hacking tool. Meaningless.”

“Right. That’s been blocked for ages.”

“What…?”

Hines wore a blank expression at the two tanks’ conversation.

“What do you mean by blocked?”

Sir Dominic, also curious about what they meant, asked.

“Ah, right. This was recent news, wasn’t it?”

“Hacking tool abuse cases discovered. Central system. Hacking tools neutralized.”

“Yeah. Recently, there were so many hacking tool abuse cases that the central system deployed an auto-ban system. I heard a Star filed a petition… what was the name… ah… ah…”

“I’m Not Little.”

“Right. I’m Not Little.”

Pandemonia nodded at Look’s words.

Sir Dominic blinked.

It was a familiar name.

But soon he lowered his shield with a hollow expression and shook his head.

Now that he knew the hacking tool was harmless, there was no need to remain on guard.

“By the way…”

Instead, Sir Dominic looked at Hines, who still hadn’t fully grasped the situation.

“What shall we do with him?”

“Well…”

Pandemonia stroked her chin.

“He’ll probably be sent to trial.”

Behind Hines, the rat beastkin could be seen exploding along with their cannon with a bang.

As if illustrating what was happening in his mind.

Hines might not have understood the situation, but he grasped one thing clearly.

That he was now ruined.