Ch.322[Chapter 322] The Value of 4 Stars

As soon as the battle began, Captain Elang swept his hand through the air with practiced ease, promptly deploying three girls in the grid spaces before him.

The three girls burned with enthusiasm as they positioned themselves in front of their commander, as if to protect him.

“I won’t betray the commander’s trust!”

“Commander. Get behind me.”

“Hmm.”

Each girl confidently uttered a phrase, asking for his trust.

However, Captain Elang began nervously biting his nails, as if something was troubling him.

Sir Dominic noticed this and tried to say something to Captain Elang, but for some reason, he couldn’t speak to him.

“…? I don’t understand why my voice can’t be heard.”

“Perhaps it’s because you haven’t been deployed yet.”

“Deployment, huh.”

Sir Dominic looked once more at the three girls standing in front of the commander.

Clearly, those girls had been placed on the grid in response to some action by the commander.

So this is why a commander is necessary, thought Sir Dominic, beginning to understand the current situation.

“By the way, instead of deploying us first, he deployed those three first.”

“He said he’s experienced this situation 1113 times. With that much experience, his body probably remembers what to do.”

Sir Dominica offered her own answer to Sir Dominic’s question.

And her answer was correct.

Having experienced the bug 1113 times, Captain Elang had reached a level where he could complete deployments almost unconsciously, with an optimized sequence.

Of course, it also helped that only those three character slots were available in the tutorial stage, and that Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s cost of 6 was a bit heavy for the early stage.

With 6 cost, he could summon all three girls standing before him with a little extra to spare.

“Anyway, things seem to be going quite smoothly.”

Sir Dominic stroked his chin as he observed the battle proceeding smoothly, just as he had said.

Captain Elang’s party, consisting of Suzuki, Lily, and Li, was overwhelming the wolf girl and scientist girl by using their skills appropriately.

However, Captain Elang was still sweating nervously and biting his nails, anxious about something.

Captain Elang frantically waved his fingers in the air.

He intended to deploy either Sir Dominic or Sir Dominica as soon as the 6 cost recovered.

Although Captain Elang didn’t know exactly what Sir Dominic or Sir Dominica’s abilities were, he knew that five was better than four, and six better than five.

[Captain Elang wishes to summon you to the battlefield through a provisional contract.]

[Do you accept? [Y/N]]

Sir Dominic looked at the system window that suddenly appeared before him.

So this is how it works. Sir Dominic suddenly remembered the gimmick from Area 3.

Though smaller in scale, he thought it might feel something like that.

With such trivial thoughts, Sir Dominic immediately pressed Y to accept the summon.

Suddenly his view changed, and he found himself inside a grid.

“Expensive.”

Captain Elang stopped biting his nails, seemingly relieved upon seeing Sir Dominic.

“6 cost. Sir Dominic must have really good stats.”

“Well, I suppose you could say that.”

Sir Dominic casually agreed with Captain Elang’s comment.

In truth, Captain Elang wasn’t really expecting a response.

He just needed some reassurance, hoping that the bug wouldn’t occur this time.

“Sir Dominic-! I’ve heard a lot about you. Aren’t you the legendary Casanova who seduced Princess Unryu Hime?”

“…Suzuki! No matter what, you shouldn’t taunt someone on your own team!”

“Huh? Isn’t Casanova a compliment?”

Sir Dominic stood behind Suzuki and Lily, to the right of Captain Elang.

“Internal conflict again?”

“I’ll bite you!”

As the wolf and scientist duo began to lose their advantage, they started bluffing as much as possible.

“Bite me? Hmph! I’ll just cut you down before that happens!”

Suzuki gripped her large Japanese sword with both hands and set the blade on fire.

“I’ll finish you with my technique-!”

It was clearly intended as a final strike.

As soon as Suzuki took her stance to use her technique, the wolf and scientist duo exchanged glances, signaling each other.

They had been waiting for this moment.

Suzuki’s special technique [Demon Slayer] was activated.

The world began to burn once more, and flames following the sword’s trajectory engulfed the wolf and scientist.

“Now’s our chance!”

At that moment, the wolf girl grabbed the scientist and kicked off the ground.

And in that state, she turned around and began to advance forward.

In common terms, it was a retreat.

“Haha! I’ll let you off with just this much this time!”

“W-wait! Running away? That’s cowardly! How could you-?”

Suzuki and her companions were furious as they watched the two flee.

They were so close to winning! That thought wouldn’t leave their minds.

“Commander. Pursue them.”

Even the calm Li was so frustrated that she clenched her fist and asked the commander to order a pursuit.

“Nothing special happened.”

Sir Dominic thought the whole situation had ended with the wolf and scientist duo’s escape.

“Now, let’s proceed. This time-“

“…This is exactly the same situation as with the 900-series accounts.”

However, Elang still hadn’t relaxed his expression.

Though somewhat calmer, he was still trembling with anxiety.

“Ah, I hate this. If this pattern continues-“

Elang took off his hat and covered his eyes.

It was a strong will not to see what was about to happen.

“-surely, an invisible pillar-“

That’s when it happened.

Before Captain Elang could finish speaking, Sir Dominic felt an enormous impact and his body being pushed backward.

Sir Dominic was thrown back a full 3 meters, and the sound of something colliding with him was only heard then.

“-Good heavens.”

Captain Elang flinched when he heard the loud crash.

Surely someone had been shattered to pieces.

Thinking that…

“…Is that a person?”

“Can’t be considered human-“

“My goodness.”

Look.

Due to the tremendous impact, a person had become something that couldn’t be considered human, in a state where words couldn’t even come out.

Judging from the android girl’s words, the victim was probably Sir Dominic.

Thinking this, Captain Elang hung his head low.

Even Sir Dominic, who had seemed so strong, couldn’t prevent this situation.

In other words, perhaps Captain Elang would have to quit this game-

“Hmm. This is quite terrifying.”

-have to… Huh?

Captain Elang thought he heard a voice that shouldn’t be there.

Well, hearing it wasn’t strange, but the owner of this voice was surely…

With that thought, Captain Elang raised his head and turned toward the source of the voice.

“…? Why are you looking at me like that?”

And there stood Sir Dominic, completely unharmed.

Sir Dominic, with even the angles of his clothes perfectly intact, without taking even 1 point of damage.

Captain Elang stared at Sir Dominic as if he were seeing a ghost.

It was the first time he had seen someone survive such an impact.

In fact, toward the end of the 900 series, four people had tried to block this phenomenon together, but all had been reduced to dust.

And such an impact, just one person?

As Captain Elang stared blankly at Sir Dominic, Sir Dominic said somewhat awkwardly:

“I survived because I’m a tank. Mediocre dealers might not have survived. Your words were correct.”

“Because you’re… a tank?”

Captain Elang was dumbfounded by Sir Dominic’s words.

Does that mean Lily isn’t a tank, but some kind of dealer?

“Because he’s 4-tier.”

Sir Dominica’s voice was heard from behind Captain Elang.

After the recent impact, the battle situation must have been resolved.

“There’s a huge difference between 1-tier and 4-tier. If 1-tier is a shield, 4-tier would be a fortress.”

Sir Dominica compared the difference between 1-tier and 4-tier as she spoke to Captain Elang.

“Especially Sir Dominic, being 4-tier with naturally high defense and resistance, plus damage reduction from his tank characteristics, and an additional 13.5% damage reduction from his special skill [Knight]. In such a situation, regular attacks without penetration damage just… Saying it like this makes it sound like a Mountain Bridge Marsh advertisement.”

Sir Dominica frowned as she was explaining to Captain Elang how Sir Dominic had survived the impact.

Somehow, the explanation about Sir Dominic sounded like an advertisement for Mountain Bridge Marsh.

Sir Dominica thought this because the trinity of Sir Dominic’s stats, characteristics, and special skills was perfect.

“Why are you embarrassing me by explaining such things?”

Sir Dominic scolded Sir Dominica, feeling shy about the praise.

“Sir Dominica is also-“

“Ah, enough, enough. Let’s forget the past and make up, okay?”

Sir Dominic opened his mouth to talk about Sir Dominica’s strengths, as if he couldn’t die alone.

If Sir Dominica hadn’t stopped Sir Dominic’s mouth, perhaps Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica would have fallen into a swamp of embarrassment through mutual assured destruction of compliments.

People who could joke with each other even after experiencing such an incident.

“This is… 4-tier.”

It’s unclear who among the commander and the three girls said it, but they developed an admiration for 4-tier from this brief situation.

“I need to draw one right away…”

Especially the commander, Captain Elang.