Ch.378[Episode 378] Supply Base C – Balance Patch

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s combat style wasn’t much different from usual.

A simple routine of leading with shields and delivering sharp attacks to those they encountered.

However, thanks to that simple routine, Unryu Hime, Remi, and Dr. Phantom could exert 200% of their normal power.

Of course, I’m not sure if it was exactly 200%, but psychologically, it felt that way.

“Hup!”

Hime threw five kunai into the air, then caught them as they fell and threw them again.

Those kunai penetrated the terrorists as if they had a guidance function.

As soon as Hime confirmed the terrorists had fallen, she immediately did a somersault and moved beyond the wall.

She was setting up another ambush before other terrorists arrived.

“Take this!”

Remi’s attack method was quite interesting.

She basically inflicted damage through gunfire, but occasionally small flasks would appear at her waist, which she would grab and throw toward Sir Dominic or toward enemies.

Flasks containing red potion would heal damage Sir Dominic had taken, while flasks containing haphazardly mixed purple and green potions would fly toward enemies and cause large explosions.

Sometimes she manipulated something like a watch on her wrist, and each time she did, a beam of light would descend from the sky and obliterate an outpost.

“Have you opened the door?”

“Just a moment! 15 seconds! Just wait 15 seconds!”

Unlike Remi who demonstrated Lumiere’s advanced weapon technology, Dr. Phantom demonstrated Lumiere’s advanced non-combat technology.

Dr. Phantom hacked all the electronic devices in the supply base, blocking communication between them and making it impossible to determine where Sir Dominic’s party was.

Additionally, Dr. Phantom helped Remi subdue terrorists who charged at them.

And as for Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica…

“It seems we’re useless except for lifting our shields.”

“Sir Dominica, at least you can shoot. All I do is lift my shield.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica stood proudly in the middle of enemy territory, holding up their shields.

With one arm hanging limply—the one they weren’t even using—while blocking all incoming bullets, they looked like gods of war descended upon the battlefield, but the individuals themselves weren’t happy with the situation.

It wasn’t the refreshing battle Sir Dominic wanted, but rather a series of one-sided beatings.

“I think once we find our lord, we’ll never come back here again.”

Sir Dominic grumbled while blocking incoming bullets.

“I agree.”

Sir Dominica concurred with Sir Dominic’s words.

But regardless of their complaints, the mission was proceeding properly.

In this situation, who would care about Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s complaints?

…

“W-who would want to play FPS like this?”

The person who cared was right here.

It was Cross Bowman, a senator of the Ranged Dealer Alliance and the current spiritual pillar of the ranged dealer senators.

Senator Bowman was sitting in his senate office watching Sir Dominic’s situation on TV.

Originally, this seat belonged to his older brother, Long Bowman, but Long Bowman had resigned after his collusive relationship with Trom, a former senator of the Melee Dealer Union, was revealed.

“One-sided beating should only be temporary. How frustrating must it be for someone with no means to counter being attacked one-sidedly like that!”

Senator Bowman sympathized with Sir Dominic’s situation as if it were his own.

In truth, Senator Bowman was not happy with the current situation.

The standing of ranged dealers was currently quite awkward.

Melee dealers had a fairly high standing due to the past instigation and fabrication of the Melee Dealer Union, and tanks had naturally risen in popularity due to Sir Dominic’s appearance.

Supporters were so popular that parties were desperate to recruit them.

However, ranged dealers were different.

“Take it or leave it. In a four-person party, it’s better to have another melee dealer than a ranged dealer.”

Gritting his teeth, Senator Bowman recalled those words.

These were words he had heard directly from some parties during his heyday.

In a way, ranged dealers had hit rock bottom in terms of their standing.

In that sense, FPS mode was a way to somewhat improve the standing of ranged dealers.

Basically, in FPS mode, ranged dealers had a slightly more advantageous position than melee dealers, supporters, or tanks.

“But that shouldn’t lead to ranged dealers monopolizing it.”

Senator Bowman’s face grew more troubled.

While it might be enjoyable now that ranged dealers were active, if this continued, other classes would eventually avoid FPS mode, and FPS mode would become a league exclusively for ranged dealers.

And the deteriorated image from FPS would directly translate into disadvantages when forming parties in Gachaland.

Perhaps Senator Bowman was worrying too much.

But Senator Bowman was certain of such a future.

Had ranged dealers ever been mistreated because their specs were lacking?

Senator Bowman anxiously bit his nails.

After watching Sir Dominic’s expression for a long time, Senator Bowman seemed to decide that special measures were needed for this situation and picked up the phone to contact his secretary.

“Yeah, Mr. Lee. Contact the terrorist leadership at Supply Base C right now. As quickly as possible. When you get through, connect them to me. Yeah.”

After briefly stating his business, Senator Bowman once again anxiously examined Sir Dominic’s expression on TV.

Bowman’s complexion was growing darker by the minute.

…

Sir Dominic had already reached the middle of the supply base.

To be precise, it was the path leading to the third supply warehouse.

Going straight from here would lead to the open space with the bomb, while turning right would lead to the container box where the hostage was being held.

This was information that Dr. Phantom had obtained by hacking into the supply base’s data.

“By the way, doesn’t it seem like the bullets have been coming a bit more sparsely since just now?”

Sir Dominica tilted her head at the somewhat quieter offensive.

Sir Dominic briefly gauged the impact force on his shield in response to Sir Dominica’s words.

Indeed, as Sir Dominica said, the offensive had somewhat weakened.

“Aaaah! Die!”

As they were conversing, a terrorist jumped out from the blind spot to the left of Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, precisely from the corner where the path turned left.

Sir Dominic gave the terrorist a convincing blow with his shield, then looked down at the fallen terrorist with an incredulous expression.

“Suddenly charging like this? After perfectly using concealment and cover until just now?”

Sir Dominic blurted out in astonishment.

He was so astonished that he even forgot his chivalric speech pattern.

“What does it matter?”

Sir Dominica said, looking at Sir Dominic who was snorting in disbelief.

“It just means we can finally play an active role too, right?”

Sir Dominica shot and killed another terrorist who was charging like a moth to a flame.

Until just now, it had clearly taken three shots from Sir Dominica’s pistol, but somehow this terrorist was killed with just two shots.

The difficulty level had dropped so drastically that even Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica could feel it.

This was the work of Cross Bowman, senator of the Ranged Dealer Alliance.

Through a secret conversation between Cross Bowman and the terrorist leadership just moments ago, the difficulty had been nerfed in real time.

Of course, a meeting between a senator and terrorists would normally be impossible, but as it happened, one of the terrorist leaders was Senator Cross Bowman’s cousin’s junior from the same middle school who even served under him in the military.

Through a combo of blood ties, regional connections, and school ties, Senator Bowman successfully colluded with the terrorists and achieved real-time difficulty adjustment.

Moreover, Senator Bowman was quite clever.

Worried that other dealers would go wild if he simply lowered the difficulty, he added one gimmick.

He asked the terrorists to ignore Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica and charge at the dealers instead.

It was a very simple gimmick, but with this one change, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s perceived difficulty decreased, while Hime, Remi, and Dr. Phantom’s perceived difficulty remained the same or slightly increased.

Though it was a temporary measure, it was quite an excellent one.

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with the difficulty being lowered.”

But there was no way Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica would know this.

They simply thought the difficulty had suddenly become easier.

Sir Dominic raised his head to look at the fork in the road.

The container box where their lord was being held hostage was not far now.