Ch.201[Chapter 201] Sanctus Dominicus

“This is not the time.”

Arkus spoke to Ogreson with a voice more trembling than ever before.

“We need to climb that hill right now. I must confirm if it’s Sir Dominic.”

Arkus moved as if entranced.

It was quite a distance from the edge of the forest to the hill, but Arkus was focusing all his attention solely on the hill—more precisely, on the Feralant flag planted on the hill.

Seeing Arkus acting as if possessed, Ogreson heaved a great sigh.

Everyone from Feralant loved stories about Sir Dominic, but Arkus was particularly obsessed.

“…Let’s go together!”

Ogreson ran after Arkus, who had already dashed far ahead.

…

The hill occupied by Sir Dominic could now appropriately be called a crater.

The concentrated firepower from below the hill had created numerous deep indentations everywhere.

“Shells don’t fall twice in the same place, comrade.”

Jugashvili repeated a battlefield rumor.

Jugashvili’s words were half true.

When firing from below to the top of the hill, due to accuracy and various variables, shells rarely landed in exactly the same spot.

However, the damage was still fully inflicted on the three of them because the blast radius of the shells was large enough to cover the entire hill.

Fortunately, Sir Dominic’s special ability reduced the damage, and Gregory’s sinister magic healed whatever injuries they sustained.

[One party is leading with 500 points.]

[A random misfortune will befall your party…]

“Ah.”

Gregory started to snicker as if sensing something.

“We’re doomed.”

[Possible outcomes are as follows: 1. Increased damage taken 2. Decreased damage dealt 3. Teleportation to a random location 4. Position swap with a random party]

[The wheel of misfortune is spinning…]

As Gregory calmly lamented, the roulette began to spin again.

This time, there was no suspense.

It was clear it would stop between ‘Teleportation to a random location’ and ‘Position swap with a random party.’

“Well, this could have been worse.”

Gregory said to Sir Dominic.

“Make sure you win. And never trust Jugashvili—”

With a bang! Jugashvili’s [Purge] activated once again.

The roulette had stopped at ‘Position swap with a random party,’ and seeing this, Jugashvili activated his purge without a moment’s hesitation.

[Jugashvili’s special ability, [Purge], has been activated.]

[One person has taken responsibility for what happened and been purged. ‘Nothing happened.’]

The message appeared again.

Sir Dominic calmly looked at the message and then asked Jugashvili.

“Couldn’t we have just retreated and come back again?”

Sir Dominic’s question was reasonable.

Given this stage’s characteristic of not allowing resurrection within the stage, it would have been better to keep the party alive as much as possible.

However, Jugashvili seemed desperate to hold this position, sacrificing perfectly healthy allies as if being chased by something.

Sir Dominic didn’t think Jugashvili’s strategy was bad, but he certainly didn’t understand it.

“It’s nothing, comrade.”

Jugashvili hid in a crater formed by a fallen shell.

“I’ll tell you everything later. I can’t tell you yet.”

With those words, Jugashvili’s lips sealed tightly.

Sir Dominic glared at Jugashvili, but there was no sign that he would open his mouth.

Finally giving up on getting an answer, Sir Dominic said to Jugashvili instead:

“I’ll let it go since you said you’ll tell me later. Just tell me when exactly.”

“After this stage ends.”

Jugashvili replied to Sir Dominic’s words.

“More precisely, I’ll tell you after we win this stage.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Jugashvili’s words.

He thought he could wait that long.

“Then for now, I’ll focus on defending this position.”

Sir Dominic raised his shield and deflected bullets fired from below.

For some reason, the firepower had noticeably decreased compared to earlier.

Sir Dominic wondered why the firepower had decreased so much, but he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

For now, Sir Dominic just needed to defend this hill.

Then time would be on his side.

…

The reason Sir Dominic felt the firepower had decreased was simple.

It was because something had actually happened below the hill to reduce the firepower.

To be precise, it was due to a conflict between the Dragon Clan and Serpent Clan parties gathered at the bottom of the hill and newly joined parties.

Or should this even be called a conflict?

“So, if we join forces—”

“?”

“…How frustrating. Isn’t there an interpreter? Anyone with translation skills?”

At the bottom of the hill, a ronin from the Serpent Clan burst out in anger.

In front of the ronin was a Demon Lord riding a three-headed Chihuahua, and it seemed the ronin was creating this frustrating situation because he couldn’t communicate with the Demon Lord.

“So, why are you blocking our way, human?”

“Ah, finally someone who understands. So if we form an alliance—”

“Refused.”

The Chief of Staff intervened in the conversation, but he was equally unable to communicate.

From the beginning, the Demon Lord and the Chief of Staff had planned to occupy the hill as a single party, so there was no need to consider alliances with others.

“…This is a different kind of communication breakdown.”

The ronin sighed deeply.

“Let’s just step aside and let them through.”

A samurai from the Dragon Clan joined the conversation.

“What are you saying! We barely have enough strength even if we combine forces!”

The ronin grew angry again.

But the samurai simply stared silently at the ronin, as if he had something in mind.

“…Fine. It can’t be helped.”

Perhaps sensing something in the samurai’s gaze?

The ronin made way for the Demon Lord and the Chief of Staff.

“Hmph. To create such a fuss when you were going to yield anyway.”

The Chief of Staff muttered, clearly displeased.

“Then let’s go, Demon Lord.”

“?”

The Demon Lord interrupted the Chief of Staff’s words.

And as if having something to say, the Demon Lord flapped their soft arm toward the Chief of Staff.

“What…”

The Chief of Staff approached the Demon Lord as commanded.

“…”

The Demon Lord then began explaining something to the Chief of Staff at length.

Though expressed in a higher-dimensional language that was concise, dozens of sentences were actually conveyed.

“…I see.”

After hearing those words, the Chief of Staff looked at the ronin and samurai with cold eyes.

“So, you dared to try to use our Demon Lord.”

At the Chief of Staff’s words, the samurai’s eyes widened.

His expression asked: how did you know?

In truth, from the moment the Demon Lord rejected the alliance proposal, the samurai had been planning to use the Demon Lord as bait.

The samurai’s plan was to swoop in and clean up the remaining forces regardless of whether the Demon Lord defeated Sir Dominic or lost to him—essentially fishing in troubled waters.

The samurai never imagined his scheme would be discovered so easily.

He prided himself on not showing any signs or leaving any clues.

“…How did you know?”

The samurai met the Chief of Staff’s gaze.

“Why should I tell you? If you tried to use us, you should have known you’d pay the price.”

With those final words, the Chief of Staff leaped into the air and invaded the allied parties.

Taking advantage of the confusion caused by the sudden situation, he began a massacre.

It had no particular meaning.

He was simply rampaging as a warning to those who tried to use the Demon Lord.

Of course, he didn’t intend to kill everyone.

To demonstrate the Demon Lord’s mercy, he planned to kill only about half.

He was a demon, and the Demon Lord’s loyal servant.

At this moment, no one would dispute that he was indeed a demon.

This was why the firepower directed at Sir Dominic’s party had decreased.

…

[One party is leading with 750 points.]

[A random misfortune will befall your party…]

“Now the final roulette is spinning.”

Sir Dominic said to Jugashvili.

Currently, Sir Dominic’s party consisted of only himself and Jugashvili, and the [Empire and Federation] synergy was turned off.

Naturally, the situation kept getting worse, but fortunately, they were somehow able to endure.

“I can see it’s getting slower.”

Sir Dominic said, looking at the point bar that had now exceeded 75%.

It took just over 1 minute to earn the first 250 points.

For the second 250 points, it took about 1 minute and 30 seconds with three people.

Now with only 2 people remaining, it took over 2 minutes to earn 250 points.

Sir Dominic looked at the roulette that had begun spinning in the sky.

If only one person remained, it would take 250 seconds—over 4 minutes—to defend this area.

But if Jugashvili had a plan, he wouldn’t execute Sir Dominic, who was essential for defending the hill.

So either the roulette would turn out well, or they would be moved somewhere else, or their positions would be swapped and they would have to recapture the hill, or…

No, that’s impossible. Sir Dominic shook his head to clear his stray thoughts.

[Possible outcomes are as follows: 1. Increased damage taken 2. Decreased damage dealt 3. Teleportation to a random location 4. Position swap with a random party 5. Leave the battlefield for 3 minutes then return]

The system window showed an even stronger penalty roulette.

Sir Dominic silently watched the roulette begin to spin.

And at the moment the roulette reached one particular slot—

Bang!

A single gunshot rang out on the battlefield.