Ch.171[Chapter 171] The Wasteland and Gacha World

Sir Dominica was dealing with zombies at the same time Sir Dominic met with the Governor of the Wasteland.

Unlike Sir Dominic, she was able to handle them more easily since she was riding a spider tank, but right now, Sir Dominica was frantically trying to avoid incoming projectiles.

“This is too much!”

Sir Dominica exclaimed as she deflected an incoming explosive with her shield.

The bomb that nearly entered the cockpit was blocked by the shield and began rolling down the ramp of the spider tank.

The bomb then bounced at the end of the ramp and tumbled among the zombies before exploding.

Though the explosion wasn’t particularly large, the zombies were densely packed, causing five or six of them to vanish without a trace.

“I need to do something about that.”

Sir Dominica sighed with relief as she looked at the distant explosive launcher emplacement.

Sir Dominica was positioned at the entrance facing toward Gacha Land.

It was where the pursuers had arrived first and established their position.

While zombies were merely gathering at the opposite entrance which was too far away, this location troubled Sir Dominica with more diverse and annoying methods due to the pursuers’ fortifications.

One of these was that explosive launcher emplacement.

An irritatingly outdated fixed catapult loaded with timed explosives—a messy combination of past and present.

Surprisingly, explosives attempting to cross over Gacha World’s walls were bounced back, causing significant damage to the zombies, but new zombies quickly filled their places.

The zombies advanced as literal meat shields while the explosive emplacement threatened Sir Dominica.

But that wasn’t all.

Sir Dominica moved the spider tank one step to the side.

A strong wind began blowing from beside her, followed by an ear-splitting—no, air-splitting sound.

Naturally, this was a sniper shot aimed at Sir Dominica.

Snipers were positioned on every hill with even the slightest elevation, including the hill with the explosive emplacement.

More precisely, there were snipers positioned wherever Sir Dominica was visible through the gaps in the entrance.

Snipers with large-caliber rifles capable of anti-tank missions would immediately fire at Sir Dominica through the narrow gaps of the entrance whenever an opportunity arose.

With no proper way to counter the snipers, Sir Dominica could only glare at them and grind her teeth.

“…I wish this would end quickly.”

Sir Dominica fired her musket at the zombies rushing toward the entrance, seemingly out of irritation.

The zombies within range collectively became stunned, forming a temporary wall that blocked those coming from behind.

Whenever zombies that had narrowly escaped the stun effect entered through the entrance, the spider tank’s massive legs welcomed them like stomping on ants.

Sir Dominica thought she had made the right decision bringing the spider tank as she once again blocked an incoming explosive with her shield.

A sniper’s penetrating bullet narrowly grazed her arm.

…

“We would like to help Sir Dominic as well.”

The Governor said.

“I’m quite a renowned pioneer in this wasteland, so I can be of considerable help.”

At the Governor’s words, androids lined up in formation behind him.

Most were androids carrying various unfamiliar firearms, but among them were unusual ones like a bartender with a cocktail shaker or ones with shields like Sir Dominic.

Their number was roughly in the hundreds.

Sir Dominic thought they were far too few compared to the number of zombies from earlier, but then nodded as he recalled what this small force had just accomplished.

“Fortunately, this area is now almost under control thanks to your help. We probably just need to deal with the zombies that continue to trickle in.”

“I suppose so. Ah, my adjutant just reported that they’ve removed the zombie lure beacon.”

The Governor brought good news.

“Then I can consider this area resolved. In that case, I’m concerned about the other side.”

“The other side?”

The Governor’s eyes lit up.

A look that suggested he’d found an opportunity.

“Yes. Sir Dominica is guarding that location.”

“Sir Dominica is here too-!”

The Governor began expressing his joy with a strange posture that didn’t match his current appearance.

I was right to come when I heard about these anomalies. To think I’d get to see the originals of Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica!

The Governor couldn’t hide his excitement.

In fact, the Governor was one of Sir Dominic’s fans.

More precisely, the Governor had tried to draw Sir Dominic’s card to fill his collection, and coincidentally because of its good performance.

However, the Governor had scraped together all available and unavailable resources to draw Sir Dominic.

Feeling that he should make the most of it since he’d spent so much money, the Governor had used Sir Dominic in all sorts of situations.

Surprisingly, Sir Dominic not only fulfilled his duties as a patrol, raid, territory support, and tank well, but was also an all-around character who excelled at cooking, laundry, counseling, and supporting other units.

Good at this too? What about that? That as well? And that?

As this continued, the Governor’s affection gradually increased.

And there was an incident that sealed the Governor’s feelings…

Recently, after lending Sir Dominic to his clan leader and receiving money in return, the Governor visited the card pack exchange.

And with that overwhelming capital… he succeeded in collecting not only Sir Dominica, whom he couldn’t draw before, but also all derivative cards of Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

Those cards also proved to be “worth their price,” and the Governor’s affection for Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica grew even more.

A virtuous cycle of fandom!

Since the Governor was a fan of not only Sir Dominic but also Sir Dominica, his heart raced when Sir Dominic mentioned Sir Dominica.

“But the question is whether we have enough time to provide support.”

“According to our observations, it’s an extremely long distance from here to the opposite entrance, Governor.”

Two of the androids behind the Governor spoke alternately.

The Governor heard this and surveyed the interior of Gacha World.

More than half of the rides in this area had started operating, but looking at Gacha World as a whole, only 0.03% had been illuminated.

Because Gacha World was still so full of darkness, it was easy to locate what appeared to be the opposite entrance.

Indeed, there was another area where light was pouring out.

The Governor licked his lips, thinking that it would be quite difficult to get from here to there, as the android had said.

“So what will you do, Sir Dominic?”

“Well.”

Sir Dominic thought for a moment before answering.

“I’d like to ask a favor. Could you guard this place?”

“Then what about you, Sir Dominic?”

“I’m going to support Sir Dominica.”

“But, isn’t it quite far?”

The Governor asked worriedly.

“It’s dark, and it would take a day to go around.”

“Why do you think I’m going around?”

The Governor looked into Sir Dominic’s eyes upon hearing his words.

Sir Dominic was smiling brightly, as if he had everything planned out.

…

At the entrance Sir Dominica was guarding.

“This… this is getting too dangerous.”

Sir Dominica looked at the spider tank, which was approaching a critical durability situation, and broke into a cold sweat.

One or two more bomb hits and its durability would be completely depleted, stopping its operation.

With this in mind, Sir Dominica instinctively moved the spider tank toward the entrance.

Just then, two incoming explosives detonated near the spider tank with perfect timing.

[Spider tank severely damaged! Return and repair!]

With this message, the spider tank collapsed in place.

It was the end of the spider tank that had been ferociously spewing steam and demonstrating its prowess until just moments ago.

However, the spider tank’s end was not in vain.

As we know, the spider tank boasted a massive size several meters tall, and thanks to its bulk blocking the entrance, it bought a little more time.

Sir Dominica jumped out of the now-scrap heap of a spider tank, holding her shield and sword.

She sliced a zombie trying to squeeze through the narrow gap with her sword, then pushed it back with her shield to block the gap.

“I managed to overcome the crisis with improvisation, but now what…”

Indeed, Sir Dominica had instinctively acted to buy time, but now the problem was what to do next.

Sir Dominica had been in a better position than her opponents due to the narrow entrance and the spider tank large enough to cover the entire entrance.

Now that she had lost one of these advantages, the situation would naturally become increasingly unfavorable for her.

“…Still, I’ve held out as long as I could.”

Sir Dominica looked around inside Gacha World.

About half of the rides were now lit up.

In the distance, she could see a large ship rising to a 105-degree angle—a ride called the Viking.

A ship that soared high into the sky, making even onlookers dizzy.

That’s when it happened.

From somewhere came the sound of wind rushing.

A sniper shot? No. It wasn’t the sound of air being torn, but rather something pushing through the air.

And that sound… along with a buzzing noise, began to grow louder in Sir Dominica’s ears.

It was from the sky.

Sir Dominica looked up at the sky while blocking the gap with her shield like plugging a hole in a dam.

“My goodness.”

Sir Dominica smiled brightly.

There, in the dark night sky, blending with the darkness and barely visible by its silhouette against Gacha World’s lights, was an airship.