Ch.197[Chapter 197] Gacha Land 4-1

“…seems like we’ve missed each other somewhere.”

Sir Dominic continued walking along the main road.

And only after reaching the border between Gacha Land and the wasteland did he realize something was wrong.

Sir Dominic sighed.

Was Sir Dominica right?

Was it too much to try finding guests in this vast Gacha Land?

With a bitter expression on his face, Sir Dominic turned around and started walking back.

He thought that whatever decision he would make, it was right to return to the beginning first.

Fortunately, there was a public transportation gate nearby, so Sir Dominic was able to return to the center of Gacha Land in an instant.

“Now what should I do…”

Sir Dominic pondered for a while.

He had already spent enough time looking for people from Feralant.

Yet the only information about the guests from Feralant was fragmentary details about their appearance.

Would anything change if he kept searching?

Sir Dominic shook his head.

No way. That’s what Sir Dominic thought.

Once things start going wrong, they tend to keep going wrong until the end.

And the way to fix something that’s gone wrong was… to do something else in between.

This was a superstition Sir Dominic held, but it was a surprisingly effective one.

“…Alright. Let’s stop searching for a while and do something else.”

Sir Dominic muttered to himself as if giving himself a suggestion.

But here, Sir Dominic fell into another dilemma.

What exactly should he do then?

Fortunately, Sir Dominic’s worry didn’t last very long.

That’s because the path to Story Mode came into his view.

“…It’s been a while.”

Sir Dominic looked at the entrance to Story Mode.

A place he had forgotten about due to the recent series of events.

For some reason, Sir Dominic moved toward it as if entranced.

[4-1 King of the Hill I ☆☆☆]

☆ Complete the game once

☆ Victory

☆ Clear while surviving

It had been a very long time since he’d seen the Story Mode window.

Right. Maybe I should run through some stages after so long.

Sir Dominic casually pressed the system window.

[4-1 King of the Hill I ☆☆☆][Connecting…(55/64)]

A connection notification appeared showing the number of people already inside.

And soon Sir Dominic disappeared from the Story Mode lobby in a flash of bright light.

…

A few seconds after Sir Dominic disappeared.

“It should be this direction…”

“No, why did you wander off in the middle and get us lost like this?”

Arkus pointed in a direction with a troubled expression.

Ogreson scolded Arkus, and from Ogreson’s words, it seemed Arkus had wandered off somewhere in the middle and gotten them lost.

“Well now. How could I not follow when the Holy Spirit was guiding me?”

“You fell for a sweet temptation, didn’t you?”

Ogreson glared at the waffle in Arkus’s hand.

It was a simple crispy waffle filled with whipped cream and apple jam, and Arkus was captivated by its sweetness—something he could never taste in Feralant.

Arkus, who was about to take another bite of the waffle, sheepishly hid it when he noticed Ogreson’s gaze.

“Ahem. Didn’t the Holy Spirit guide us here to inform people about everything in the Hall of Warriors? It is my duty to learn about this thing called a waffle and inform people about it!”

Arkus made an awkward excuse while feigning anger.

“I’m sure that’s it. Yes. Of course that’s it.”

Ogreson looked at Arkus with eyes that showed not a hint of respect.

“Ahem. Anyway…”

Arkus changed the subject under Ogreson’s gaze.

Looking around, Arkus’s gaze eventually stopped at one spot.

There were all kinds of characters floating in the sky—hieroglyphs representing stars, numbers, and swirls that seemed to pull you in.

“What in the world is that?”

“Where? …Hmm.”

Ogreson turned his head following Arkus’s gaze.

Ogreson felt something strange as he looked at those mysterious constellations of characters.

“For some reason… I feel like we need to go there.”

“I feel the same. It’s as if the Holy Spirit is guiding me there.”

“Looking at you, it’s probably not the Holy Spirit but some ghost, but if this is the guidance of the Holy Spirit… I feel it too.”

Arkus and Ogreson stared blankly at the constellation of characters.

And slowly began to walk toward it.

As they approached the constellation of characters, they realized there was a problem.

“This is… mysterious, but I have no idea what it is.”

Ogreson frowned as he looked around.

He could read numbers like 1-4, 4-3, 5-3, 2-3, 5-5, and words like “King of the Hill,” “Basic Training,” and “Exploration Battle.”

Each individual part made sense, but together they formed strange sentences.

“Well. Perhaps these are the writings of the gods?”

Arkus reached out and touched one of the characters.

New windows appeared.

[Warning: You must complete the previous areas before accessing 4-1.]

[Collab event confirmed. You can experience some events through the ‘Preview’ of the collaboration target.]

[Do you want to run the 4-1 Preview? [Y/N]]

Startled by the sudden appearance of new text, Arkus flailed his arms wildly.

“H-how do I get rid of this?”

Arkus tried desperately to remove these characters blocking his view.

But Arkus’s efforts were rewarded with an unexpected situation.

Due to his flailing, he accidentally pressed [Y].

“Wh-what?”

“Bishop Arkus!”

Arkus disappeared, enveloped in light.

Ogreson reached out in surprise, but Arkus was already gone.

“…What is this.”

Ogreson stared at the spot where Arkus had disappeared with a bewildered expression.

What in the world was happening? Where had Arkus disappeared to?

Even in his confusion, Ogreson tried to derive some information.

But Ogreson soon realized that such attempts were futile.

Ogreson sighed.

“…To save Bishop Arkus, I suppose I should do the same thing.”

Don’t worry about what comes after. Ogreson muttered to himself as if giving himself a suggestion.

Ogreson pressed the part labeled 4-1, just as Arkus had done.

“And did he do this?”

Ogreson flailed his arms just as Arkus had done.

Ogreson’s arms were thick enough that both Y and N were pressed simultaneously, but fortunately, Y seemed to have been entered first, and Ogreson disappeared from that spot just like Arkus.

…

Sir Dominic felt quite unfamiliar with the stage he had entered after such a long time.

But regardless of Sir Dominic’s feelings, the system inside the stage was beginning its explanation.

[Welcome to 4-1 King of the Hill.]

[King of the Hill is a deathmatch map where you cannot respawn once you die in the stage.]

[Of course, you can still spectate to cheer on your remaining party members.]

[King of the Hill accommodates up to 16 parties of 4 players each.]

[The victory conditions for King of the Hill are as follows:]

[1. Accumulate 1000 hill occupation points.]

[2. Have the most occupation points when the game ends.]

[3. Eliminate all other parties.]

[A party wins immediately upon completing one or more of the above conditions.]

[Hill occupation points are calculated as follows:]

[You earn points equal to the number of party members on the hill every second.]

[Theoretically, you could win in 250 seconds.]

[Correction. Special collab event participants have joined this time.]

[Collab event participants can be recruited as additional members to existing parties.]

[There are no limits to additional recruitment, but it is not mandatory.]

[This concludes the rule explanation.]

Sir Dominic nodded at the system’s explanation but then tilted his head in confusion.

The rules themselves were extremely simple, but the suddenly added rule about additional personnel was somewhat difficult to understand.

“Well, I’ll figure it out as I go.”

Sir Dominic raised his sword and shield.

[You currently have no other party members. Would you like to join another party?]

Sir Dominic nodded.

He already knew that in Gacha Land, it was better to move in groups rather than alone.

[Searching for a party…]

[Search time 0:01 / Estimated time 0:30]

After a brief search time, with a “thunk” sound, three people appeared opposite Sir Dominic.

Or perhaps Sir Dominic had appeared in front of them.

Sir Dominic greeted the three people who appeared before him, raising his sword and shield.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Sir Dominic of Feralant.”

“Welcome, Comrade Dominic.”

Sir Dominic looked at the three people.

“Welcome to our ‘party,’ comrade.”

There stood three men with various styles of beards.

Three men wearing bear fur hats and fur ceremonial robes.