Ch.353[Chapter 353] Event: Race (WRATH)

The sudden Kraken raid had some communication issues, but somehow it was going quite well.

Red Arrow distracted the Kraken’s attention, Hime disrupted its concentration, and Iron Shark’s underhanded tactics confused the Kraken.

The Kraken couldn’t get its bearings in this chaotic situation and repeatedly took massive damage from giant shells while disoriented.

Sometimes the Kraken would regain its senses and swing its tentacles toward Yukionna, but each time it was blocked by Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s defense.

The Kraken’s tentacles, originally eight, were now reduced to just five.

One was blown away by Iron Shark’s hidden improvised explosives, another was burned after Red Arrow’s flashy driving maneuver tricked it into attacking an oil tank.

And another was successfully severed by a shell fired from Yukionna.

Thus, the Kraken raid had gone without major issues so far.

But the real problem was just beginning.

…

The problem started with Red Arrow.

“Boss! We’re running out of coal!”

“What? How much is left?”

“If we maintain this speed, only about 5 minutes!”

Red Arrow was starting to run out of coal.

The problem was that they had only brought exactly what they needed to keep the train light for the race.

“At this rate, we won’t be able to dodge attacks anymore! What should we do?”

“…Damn it.”

Donna Carota pulled her bread-shaped hat down and cursed at this tragic news.

Then, as if there was no other choice, she told her subordinates to tear off the wooden parts of the cargo car.

“Tear off the wooden parts of the cargo car and use them as fuel!”

“That’ll only give us 5 more minutes!”

“That’s enough!”

Donna Carota reassured her subordinates with groundless confidence.

This amazing guts was exactly why she could be their boss.

“Start right now! It’ll be too late if you wait until the coal runs out! Begin dismantling now!”

“…Got it!”

Red Arrow continued to charge forward fiercely.

It performed amazing acrobatic driving, occasionally making U-turns at intersections or moving in zigzags, continuously bewildering the Kraken.

Donna Carota, controlling Red Arrow, gritted her teeth as she watched tentacles narrowly brush past.

Ten minutes left.

She hoped the battle would be decided within that time.

…

There was yet another problem.

It was also related to supplies.

Yukionna’s shells were starting to run out.

“…Only 10 shells left!”

Ten shells.

It seemed like plenty, but considering it had taken about 5 shells to sever a single tentacle, it was woefully inadequate.

It might be different if all shells hit the Kraken’s main body, but it was uncertain whether these 10 shells would be enough to subdue the Kraken.

At some point, Koume had brought out the shuriken cannon to join the attack, but the situation was that it couldn’t properly damage the Kraken’s thick armor.

Someone might think of the stun from Sir Dominic’s shield bash, but the Kraken, as a super-sized creature, was immune to status effects.

More precisely, it had a mechanic where it would be temporarily incapacitated when its groggy gauge was filled, but Sir Dominic, who didn’t normally participate in raids, simply thought stuns didn’t work on it.

“It seems stuns don’t work on it.”

Nevertheless, Sir Dominic continued to move the spider tank, preparing for possible tentacle attacks.

“…I’ll prioritize attacking the main body for now.”

Tsuki said this and ordered the samurai to aim the cannon at the main body.

Until now, the tentacles had made it difficult to attack the main body, but thanks to three tentacles being gone, an attack path to the main body had opened up.

So the first of the 10 shells was fired.

The shell that lodged in the Kraken’s main body immediately erupted with a thunderous sound and red flames.

Yet the Kraken only hesitated momentarily, not appearing to have taken significant damage.

Tsuki needed to focus on each shot from now on.

If even one missed, they would lose their means of landing effective hits.

Of course, there was no guarantee the Kraken would be subdued within 10 shells, but they had to do what they could now.

All 10 shells fired this way miraculously lodged in the Kraken’s main body.

…But the Kraken still hadn’t fallen.

…

“Hmph.”

Sir Dominic grinned at the sight of the still vigorous Kraken.

It was Sir Dominic’s characteristic to become happier when facing difficulties.

However, there was a huge difference between previous difficulties and this one.

Previous difficulties were ones Sir Dominic could somehow solve, but this one was something even he couldn’t guarantee resolving.

But Sir Dominic smiled.

For now, he smiled.

Isn’t it better to smile and be happy than to whine about not being able to do something?

Sir Dominic stomped the ground with the front legs of the spider tank.

Now that the shells were gone, all that remained was close combat.

Sir Dominic’s attacks would be blocked by the Kraken’s thick skin and wouldn’t cause any damage, but he still intended to fight.

Of course, that was if there was no other plan.

Toot-toot-.

Sir Dominic suddenly heard a horn sound from behind their direction of travel.

It was one of the five… no, three teams still remaining.

Iron Shark had given up fighting, and Hime had gotten off her train to fight directly.

Sir Dominic turned his head toward the sound of the horn.

And there were…

“Oh my, why am I still here suffering instead of enjoying wealth and glory?”

“Stop whining. You’re the one who suggested backstabbing the remaining guys to get the reward for yourself… Sir Dominic?”

Surprisingly, Park Chun-bae and Malay were there.

Riding the cheapest steam locomotive.

…

Park Chun-bae was currently in a volunteer service period, but that didn’t mean he had no leisure time.

The area 3 hard mode still couldn’t be cleared by anyone, so it was quite quiet.

Therefore, Park Chun-bae surprisingly participated in this race hoping for a windfall, for no particular reason.

Thinking he might get the first-place prize money if he was lucky.

Meanwhile, he showed meticulousness by writing down the first-place candidates in private betting… no, private cheering.

So why were Park Chun-bae and Malay still here?

It was, again, for a chance at a windfall.

Currently, the wreckage of destroyed trains was scattered throughout this race.

Park Chun-bae and Malay were planning to collect these remains and sell them as scrap metal to make a fortune.

Incidentally, since they ended up fighting the Kraken, they also planned to backstab the exhausted fighters and steal their intact trains.

But their plan was shattered from the beginning.

Because they happened to meet Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

“Ugh. Just my luck. Who’d have thought I’d meet my rival here of all places.”

Park Chun-bae waved his hand dismissively with a disgusted expression.

There was an enormous tier difference between Sir Dominic and Park Chun-bae, but Park Chun-bae still seemed to consider Sir Dominic his rival.

“Um, sorry, but we need to go forward. Could you move aside?”

Malay asked Sir Dominic.

“We have the cheapest locomotive, so we can’t reverse,” Park Chun-bae added to Malay’s words.

Sir Dominic turned his head briefly to check the current rail situation.

Matsuri was knocked over from the impact of blocking the Kraken’s attack and was blocking three tracks, Yukionna was blocking one track, and the remaining track was being used by Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s spider tanks.

When Sir Dominic looked at Tsuki, she shook her head.

It meant they had no fuel left.

An enormous amount of energy was needed to operate the cannon, so they had used up even the energy for movement.

“I’m afraid that would be difficult.”

Sir Dominic looked again at the fallen Matsuri.

There was a way to push Matsuri aside, but unfortunately, the platform on top had gotten firmly caught on the rails, making it impossible to move.

“Tsk. Can’t be helped.”

Park Chun-bae looked around at the situation after hearing Sir Dominic’s words, then sighed as if there was no choice.

“I was saving this scrap because it’s valuable…”

Then, he began laying another track next to Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic widened his eyes in surprise at the new track suddenly being laid.

“What on earth is that?”

“Huh? Oh, this? There was a track creation device among the broken parts. I wondered what it was for, but now I’m using it here.”

At Park Chun-bae’s words, a certain thought flashed through Sir Dominic’s mind.

And Sir Dominic got off the spider tank, barged into the engine room where Park Chun-bae was, grabbed Park Chun-bae’s shoulders, shook him vigorously, and said:

“Would you consider selling this locomotive to me? I’ll pay you generously.”

“Wh-what?”

Park Chun-bae was tossed around by Sir Dominic’s tremendous stats.

“O-okay! I get it, just stop shaking me!”

And in his dizzy state, he accepted Sir Dominic’s offer.

“Thank you.”

Sir Dominic thanked Park Chun-bae for his words, then began asking a few things.

“Just tell me how to make rails and how to move forward.”

“Is that all you need?”

“That’s all I need.”

Park Chun-bae tilted his head but diligently explained how to make rails and operate the locomotive since Sir Dominic said he would pay.

Operating a locomotive without a license was illegal, but Sir Dominic didn’t care.

According to Sir Dominic’s plan, this locomotive wouldn’t be classified as a vehicle anyway.

…

A little later, on Red Arrow.

“…Boss. I’m afraid this is as far as we go.”

One of Donna Carota’s subordinates said in a trembling voice.

But as if not wanting to show fear, he grinned while his lips quivered.

“We’re out of fuel. We can’t go any further.”

“…”

Donna Carota remained silent at her subordinate’s words.

She knew there was no more hope.

At some point, the frequency of shells being fired had drastically decreased, and now no more shells were flying.

That meant everyone here had failed the Kraken raid.

Donna Carota covered her eyes with one arm and let the other hang limply.

Her body had no strength left.

The more passionate you are, the stronger the burnout that follows.

Donna Carota was still a passionate woman, but unfortunately, it seemed her passion had reached its limit this time.

“B-boss! Look over there!”

Just then, one of Donna Carota’s subordinates urgently called to her.

“What is it…?”

Donna Carota spoke as if annoyed, but curious about why her subordinate was speaking so urgently, she straightened her posture and looked at him.

“There, there!”

Donna Carota looked in the direction her subordinate was pointing.

And her eyes grew surprisingly large and round.

A ramp was being built in mid-air.

Somehow, although it wasn’t time for sunset yet, the sky suddenly flipped, and the moon appeared in the sky where the sun had been just moments ago.

A ramp made of rails was soaring toward the sky like the Tower of Babel.

As if it would fly to the moon.

…

Sir Dominic had created a makeshift ramp with the rail-making tool.

It looked like it would collapse after one run due to insufficient scrap metal, but that didn’t matter.

According to Sir Dominic’s plan, one run would be enough.

The Kraken did swing its tentacles at this ramp, but thanks to Sir Dominica’s support, the ramp could be built intact.

“Now, time to start the engine.”

Sir Dominic started the cheap locomotive.

More precisely, he shoved all available coal into the engine.

Soon this locomotive would charge toward that ramp with tremendous acceleration.

Sir Dominic’s special skill [Cinematic] had even changed day to night.

The system judged that night would be more spectacular than day for this jump.

So Sir Dominic accelerated instantly and rushed toward the ramp.

And following the slope of the ramp-

Finally, he flew into the sky from the end of the ramp.

From the side, it looked like a galactic railway flying to the moon.

Sir Dominic launched himself for the final plan at the very last moment.

Praying that this attack would be the last.

The final plan.

It was for Sir Dominic himself to become a projectile.