Ch.352[Chapter 352] Event: Race (WRATH)

Currently, there are a total of 5 teams remaining.

Of course, the teams that Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica belong to survived, as well as Red Arrow and Iron Shark.

And the last one-

…

“Let’s settle this once and for all.”

“That’s my line.”

With the race effectively suspended and nullified, Hime and Tsuki rapidly lost interest in the race.

Instead, the two decided to determine superiority through the emergency quest they had just received.

They agreed to compete based on the amount of damage dealt to the Kraken after defeating it.

In a situation where team distinctions had become blurred, Sir Dominic was talking with Sir Dominica.

While sharing a cup of coffee.

“How should I put it… I feel somewhat empty.”

“I know what you mean. There’s no burning passion.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica looked at each other and sighed.

Then, without anyone taking the lead, they both turned to look at the Kraken’s main body.

“They call it a rampage, but it doesn’t seem much different.”

“That’s right. Since it was changed to an object that can only be interfered with inside the race, it wouldn’t appear as an error or bug on the outside.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica speculated about the current situation as fluently as any decent coder.

“Sir Dominica. If it were you, how would you go about defeating that Kraken?”

“Well…”

Sir Dominica pondered for a moment before shrugging.

“Since it would be difficult to deal damage with our attack power, I suppose we should focus on drawing aggro so the dealers can deal damage effectively.”

Sir Dominica said this while taking a sip of coffee.

The Kraken was still swinging its enormous tentacles, smashing down on the tracks.

The race tracks were indestructible objects, so they remained intact, but the surrounding ground began to break apart.

Sir Dominic shook his head as he looked at the Kraken, which was larger than most buildings.

“So, while you draw its attention, I’ll deal the damage.”

“What? We’re competing on damage dealt, and you want to be the only one dealing damage?”

Sir Dominic shrugged as he heard Hime and Tsuki still arguing.

It seemed unlikely that they would reach a conclusion easily.

…

While Hime and Tsuki were taking an ambiguous attitude that seemed both cooperative and competitive, there was another person who chose practicality.

“Our Iron Shark will forfeit this Kraken raid.”

King Pin Shark, a hamster beastkin, said while straightening his suit collar.

“B-but boss. Won’t there be disadvantages if we give up?”

One of King Pin Shark’s subordinates asked, filled with fear.

“What choice do we have? Our locomotive was modified for racing in the first place. It wasn’t made to hunt Krakens.”

King Pin Shark growled at his subordinate.

“Above all, we’re too scared. We’ll just run around without fighting properly and end up being a burden to others.”

King Pin Shark said this while pulling down his fedora.

Being eerily aware of his subordinates’ tendencies, King Pin Shark knew that giving up would be more helpful.

“B-but still…”

One of his subordinates smacked his lips regretfully.

It seemed the reward was too good to give up.

Given Gachaland’s characteristic of reviving after death, wouldn’t it be better to at least pretend to participate for the reward?

Noticing this sentiment, King Pin Shark said to his subordinate:

“I’m not saying we’re just giving up. We should still do what we can.”

King Pin Shark took out a mysterious button from the engine room’s cabinet.

“Let’s burn everything we’ve got before we go.”

With that, King Pin Shark firmly pressed the mysterious button with his thumb.

…

With a bang! one of the tentacles was severed.

The base of the tentacle was blown away instantly by the tremendous explosion.

A rabbit beastkin’s ears perked up at this enormous explosion.

“King Pin Shark. Seems like he’s played his hidden card?”

It was Donna Carota, the boss of the Red Arrow Bunny Gang.

The Red Arrow team was currently deliberating over the emergency quest.

Accept or decline?

However, the Red Arrow team’s opinion ultimately leaned toward accepting.

After all, these rabbit beastkin had no concept of fear.

“Just showing courage is profitable enough.”

“Boss! There’s a pickup coming soon, right? Shouldn’t we make a good impression?”

Donna Carota nodded at her subordinates’ words.

The word “retreat” never suited Donna Carota to begin with.

Only forward progress!

Though they now lived as locomotive racers, weren’t they once a gang that lived by evil and brute force?

Donna Carota felt that evil resurging.

“Listen up. Even if we go, we’ll land one hit on that octopus before leaving.”

“But as you know, our Red Arrow has weak armaments. Specifically, we can’t land an effective hit on that octopus.”

“So… we become the bait.”

Donna Carota’s subordinates looked puzzled at her words.

“What do you mean, boss?”

“Exactly what I said. Risky driving is our specialty, right? So we sacrifice ourselves for the other teams.”

Just as Donna Carota finished speaking, another bang! echoed.

This time it failed to sever the Kraken’s tentacle, but it was effective enough that the Kraken pulsated in pain.

Seeing that explosion, the subordinates understood Donna Carota’s intention.

“That’s… brilliant, boss!”

“Yeah! Let’s prepare right away! But…”

As the subordinates were about to rush out, someone asked questioningly:

“What if the others don’t realize we’re acting as bait?”

“…Well.”

At the subordinate’s question, Donna Carota pondered for a moment, then shook her head as if it hurt and said:

“We can only hope they’re smart enough to catch our intention.”

…

Sir Dominic saw three columns of smoke rising in the distance.

Two were rising from the front in the direction of travel, and one from behind, but both sides were hidden by hills.

Sir Dominic realized that these three columns of smoke were from the remaining three teams excluding their own.

“It seems they’re sending us signals.”

Sir Dominic carefully observed the movement of the smoke.

One was repeating three long, three short, three long smoke signals; another was emitting more smoke than the other locomotives; and the smoke approaching from behind was no different from that of a normal locomotive.

Judging from this, the strategies of the remaining three teams were…

“One retreating. One advancing. One maintaining position?”

Sir Dominica muttered, standing beside Sir Dominic.

“Retreating. That must have been a difficult decision.”

“Whatever decision they make, who can blame them?”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica respected the decision of the team that chose to retreat.

The Kraken before them seemed impossible to defeat by ordinary means.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica soon confirmed that one smoke trail had disappeared and turned their attention elsewhere.

They looked toward the direction that was fiercely emitting smoke.

It was far ahead of Sir Dominic’s position in the direction of travel, and it was emitting steam so fiercely that the horn sound could be heard all the way to where Sir Dominic was.

If Sir Dominic could see this smoke and hear this sound, wouldn’t the Kraken be able to as well?

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica understood the intention of the team ahead as they saw the Kraken turning its head toward the fiercely steaming direction.

“They intend to be the bait.”

“That must have been a difficult decision.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica offered a moment of silent gratitude to the locomotive that had become bait.

Then they immediately boarded the spider tank and radioed Hime and Tsuki.

In battle, timing was most important.

One must act immediately upon thinking to avoid disadvantage.

“Lady Hime! Someone up ahead is acting as bait for us!”

“Tsuki! Prepare the cannon! Let’s attack as much as possible while they’re distracting it!”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s words echoed through the team’s radios on their respective frequencies.

“…Understood.”

“Confirmed.”

Hime and Tsuki immediately stopped bickering and entered combat mode at Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s words.

Hime abandoned the locomotive and came outside, while Tsuki went inside the locomotive and ordered the cannon to be loaded via radio.

“Sir Dominic, I’ll attack the Kraken’s main body. Please protect Tsuki until then.”

“Understood.”

Hime said this to Sir Dominic and instantly disappeared, stepping on the tentacles.

She had learned ninja secret techniques and through them knew the Kraken’s acupressure points and weaknesses.

Compared to the massive Kraken, Hime’s struggle might be just like a mosquito bite, but that would be enough to buy time for Tsuki to deal damage.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica stood around Tsuki’s locomotive, the Yukionna, in the spider tank.

They would take on the mission of protecting the locomotive while Tsuki attacked with the cannon.

Of course, there was one person who had been forgotten.

“Um… what should I do?”

Koume realized she had been forgotten in this chaotic mess.

And she quietly approached a warrior who was loading the cannon and asked if there was anything she could do.

“…There’s nothing to do. Bring some popcorn if you want.”

“…”

Koume began to think about why she should be here after the warrior’s words.

Of course, from the warrior’s perspective, he probably didn’t mean to ignore her.