Ch.304[Chapter 304] First Clan War

[Chingwon Clan has declared war, activating a Clan War.]

[Victory Condition: Destroy the opponent’s Clan Core.]

[Upon Victory: Right to dispose of everything belonging to the defeated clan.]

[Chingwon Clan’s proposal is as follow-]

[Clan War has begun.]

Sir Dominic was startled by the system message that suddenly appeared before his eyes and immediately drew his sword and shield.

Surprised by the mention of a clan war, he had instinctively assumed a combat stance.

Sir Dominica did the same.

She felt proud that she had thoroughly cleaned her gun that morning and was ready to use her special skill [Shock and Awe] at any moment.

“Damn it. Where the hell is Chingwon Clan? Who are they to ruin our party?”

“I don’t know. But one thing’s for sure. They’re absolute cowards!”

The Tank Union clan members acted with experience.

While casually conversing, they flipped over the long dining table prepared for the party and dragged furniture to create barricades.

One might think tanks wouldn’t need barricades, but surprisingly, it was an action that greatly helped their survivability.

“Chingwon Clan? What could they possibly want that they’re attacking us like this?”

Pandemonium muttered, slightly hunched behind Sir Dominic’s shield-bearing back, poking her head out cautiously.

For some reason, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were both receiving cover status together.

They weren’t the only ones; this phenomenon occurred frequently among the tanks.

“What on earth is happening?”

Sir Dominic asked Pandemonium about the current situation.

“Oh, this is synergy. Our Tank Union’s synergy. When two or more gather, allied tanks receive cover status-“

“No, I mean why are they attacking us?”

Sir Dominic corrected Pandemonium’s misunderstanding and asked about the situation again.

“And what’s with that message?”

Sir Dominic pointed to part of the system message that had appeared earlier.

[Chingwon Clan’s proposal is as follow-]

The system message that was unnaturally cut off.

Sir Dominic focused on the word “proposal.”

“Ah, that.”

Pandemonium spoke as if familiar with it.

“It’s a clan war trick, how should I put it… a method used for one-sided declarations of war.”

“A trick?”

“Yes. A trick.”

Pandemonium continued speaking without taking her eyes off the Chingwon Clan members battering at the windows.

“Normally, clan wars begin after a declaration of war and discussion of victory conditions and rewards. But if someone attacks before that, one of the two proposals is randomly selected. They’re exploiting that to force one-sided terms and rewards.”

It’s useful but so underhanded that it’s implicitly forbidden, Pandemonium muttered.

“They seem to have come well-prepared. The clan core is the heart of each clan, and saying they’ll destroy it means they intend to dismantle the clan itself. They set those conditions and immediately launched an attack as soon as the clan war started. What do you think that means?”

“Indeed.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Pandemonium’s words.

In summary, they were skillfully walking the line between legal and illegal.

A cracking sound was heard.

Sir Dominic glanced toward the source of the noise.

It was the sound of glass cracking.

It was absurd that the glass had held up so well against the Chingwon Clan members’ attacks, but glass was still glass, and it had begun to break under the continuous assault.

It seemed like the window would completely shatter after a couple more attacks.

Sir Dominic calmly observed the endless crowd visible through the cracked window, his lips twitching slightly.

“What should we do now?”

Another attack was directed at the window.

The glass was now on the verge of breaking.

“Well.”

Yet another attack was swung toward the window.

But the glass, though seemingly about to break, held for one more time.

“I’ve never really thought about it.”

Another attack followed.

CRASH! Finally, the window shattered.

As if on cue, windows all around began breaking one after another like dominoes.

“We usually just fight and end up winning.”

WHIRRRRR! A sound like an electric saw revving up echoed through the air.

Then, a shower of 20 shock rounds per second rained down on the Chingwon Clan members.

Those trying to climb through the windows were hit by at least 5, and up to dozens of shock rounds, immediately disappearing into light.

They were probably respawning at their base, the clan building.

Sir Dominic glanced behind him.

There stood a metal coffin walking on two legs, Pandemonium’s nanny and maid L-003 Look.

Smoke billowed from the barrels of the machine guns on both sides.

…

Are tanks really weak at dealing damage?

In truth, looking at Sir Dominic or Sir Dominica, it did seem like tanks had weak damage output.

However, just as people have different personalities and appearances, tanks also had different tendencies and characteristics.

Some tanks, like Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, focused on status effects through crowd control, while others, like Pandemonium, relied purely on health and health regeneration.

Some wore multiple layers of thick armor to excel in defense, while others reduced incoming damage to last longer.

For tanks, enduring damage was a basic requirement, but there was another fundamental skill.

That was the basic skill of aggro.

Taking Sir Dominic as an example, normally there would be no reason for opponents to target him. In other words, no reason to be drawn to his aggro.

However, Sir Dominic had the special skill [Standard Bearer] that provided an area-of-effect damage reduction buff.

From an opponent’s perspective, this skill was very troublesome, making them want to deal with Sir Dominic first.

This was one way of drawing aggro.

L-003 Look was a pure stat-based tank without crowd control skills or area buffs/debuffs.

Such tanks typically had difficulty drawing aggro, but L-003 had found a very simple way to do so.

That was to pour out undeniable damage, making opponents pay attention.

In other words, a damage-dealing tank.

With L-003’s attack unleashed once, it was natural for average damage dealers to struggle between life and death.

“So that’s another approach.”

Sir Dominic clicked his tongue in admiration at L-003’s attack.

His admiration continued.

“I, I Rathart, think you guys are nothing!”

The skinny rat beastkin who called himself Rathart shouted with all his might, pointing between the enemies’ legs.

The perfect taunt!

Naturally, those provoked by his words rushed to harm Rathart.

But their attacks never reached him.

With a tremendous impact and vibration, most of the Chingwon Clan members fell over.

Of course, the lightweight Rathart fell too.

“Uh-, sorry-.”

A muscular giant with a contradictory face—simple but fierce-looking—scratched his head as he spoke.

He lifted the hammer that had been slammed into the ground, rested it on his shoulder, and helped Rathart up.

“Th-thanks. I thought I was going to die!”

Rathart exaggerated, gasping for breath.

Of course, as a tank, he wouldn’t have died, but this was actually Rathart’s acting to appear vulnerable and increase his taunt success rate.

“No-problem-.”

The muscular man smiled like an innocent child and high-fived Rathart.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica quickly surveyed the battlefield and grinned.

The situation… the situation was unfolding in such an entertaining way.

“Excuse me for a moment!”

Pandemonium swung her plague-soaked greatsword, applying debuffs to nearby enemies.

In the distance, Senator Muscleman, who had somehow joined the battle, had thrown off his upper garments and was engaging enemies with submissions, while someone else was digging trenches and firing mortars from within.

It was truly a battlefield where “the best defense is a good offense” was most fitting.

Though that might not have been the original meaning, Sir Dominic thought the saying was most appropriate here and now.

“Heh.”

“Heh.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica simultaneously let out unpleasant laughs.

As everyone knew, this was the sound they made when they were happy.

“This is going to be quite fun.”

Sir Dominic stepped forward and swung his shield.

The person directly in front of the shield was stunned, blocking the path of those behind.

“That’s wrong, Sir Dominic.”

Sir Dominica contradicted Sir Dominic’s words as she fired her musket.

The [Shock and Awe] effect triggered, causing those trying to climb through the window to become stuck in the frame, stunned.

Sir Dominica blew away the gunpowder smoke rising from the barrel and smiled even more broadly.

“It’s already fun.”

Sir Dominic stared blankly at Sir Dominica’s words for a moment, then burst into maniacal laughter.

“You’re right. Indeed. It was already fun.”

Sir Dominic stabbed the neck of someone who had just recovered from the stun with his sword.

Their health must not have been very high, as they died even from Sir Dominic’s low attack power.

Before they disappeared into light, a Feralant flag fell from the sky.

And that flag pierced through the falling corpse and stuck into the ground.

As if passing judgment on the enemy.

“Well then, let’s enjoy this more.”

Sir Dominic raised his shield again and looked at Sir Dominica with a bright smile.

“It would be a shame to miss something this fun, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. Right. Indeed.”

Sir Dominica agreed with Sir Dominic’s words and smiled back.

And without any signal, they began to dance on the battlefield with perfect movements.

Perhaps a waltz. Perhaps an étude. Perhaps a sarabande.