Ch.379[Episode 379] Supply Base C – Balance Patch

“This is the last area now.”

“Yeah. Somehow the kids seem to have become useless.”

After the balance patch ended, Sir Dominic’s advance was unstoppable.

Sir Dominic approached the container box where the hostages were being held, shield at the ready.

Once they opened the container box, the hostages would appear, and among them would be Lady Alice.

Sir Dominic reached for the entrance of the container box.

Sir Dominic opened the door of the container box without hesitation.

“Th-thank you!”

“We’re saved! We’re finally saved!”

People who somehow looked similar to each other and somewhat awkward began pouring out of the container box.

Sir Dominic examined each of their faces one by one, checking to see where Lady Alice might be.

“…?”

However, even after the last person passed before Sir Dominic’s eyes, he hadn’t seen Lady Alice or even a hostage who resembled her.

“Wh-what is this…”

Sir Dominic was uncharacteristically flustered.

He then entered the container box himself to check if Lady Alice was inside.

The interior of the container box was dark, but Sir Dominic’s shining armor was enough to illuminate this darkness.

And… sure enough, there was no one left inside the container box.

Sir Dominic turned his head with a bewildered expression to look at Sir Dominica standing at the entrance.

Lady Alice had disappeared.

…

Just a few minutes before Sir Dominic’s arrival.

“What? Cut the number of hostages in half?”

“Yes. Orders from above for difficulty adjustment. They said there were too many hostages and to cut the number by half.”

Inside the container box where the hostages were being held.

An argument was in full swing.

“But what happens to our payment?”

“Probably only half will be paid. It’s a cancellation due to sudden circumstances.”

The hostages looked at each other nervously.

Half the money wasn’t something to ignore, but it was certainly less appealing than getting the full amount.

“First, I’ll take volunteers to reduce the numbers, and if there are still too many people, we’ll randomly select some to take away. So keep that in mind. Now, any volunteers?”

The person who appeared to be the supervisor asked for volunteers for hostage reduction.

“No one?”

But no one readily raised their hand.

After all, the people here were those who struggled financially day to day, and even though they would receive half the payment, considering the cost of coming here, they would barely break even.

“Hmm. No one, I see. Then I’ll choose a few people—”

“Here! I’m here!”

The supervisor looked at the woman who had urgently raised her hand.

Unlike the other hostages, she was remarkably beautiful and clean in appearance, so beautiful that it was hard to understand why she was playing the role of a hostage.

“Name.”

“Alice. Alice de Feralante.”

The supervisor stared at Lady Alice for a moment, then began to enter Alice’s name on the roster.

Since she was the first to volunteer, he thought about giving her an extra 20,000 Credits on the way back.

“Well, that’s one. Now we need about four? Five? More. Any other volunteers?”

Despite the supervisor’s call, no more hostages came forward.

The supervisor checked his watch briefly, then realized it was just a few tens of seconds before Sir Dominic and his party would arrive.

“No choice then. You! You! And you! Yes, you! And you next to him too! Follow me!”

The supervisor pushed the hostages toward the dark part of the container box.

A small portal appeared there, and a total of six people, including the supervisor and Alice, disappeared through the portal.

And as they vanished through the portal, the door to the container box opened.

It was truly an unfortunate miss.

…

Sir Dominic was surprised by the fact that Lady Alice wasn’t there, but soon regained his composure.

“It seems she escaped on her own.”

Sir Dominic began a sharp deduction about Alice.

“She was held hostage, but undoubtedly escaped from here when she found an opportunity.”

Sir Dominic believed in Lady Alice’s strength and wisdom.

“Then, do we need to do anything more here?”

Sir Dominica sighed as if deflated.

“If the Lady has escaped, our objective is gone.”

“On the contrary.”

“The contrary?”

Sir Dominic persuaded Sir Dominica why they should continue this mission.

“If I know my lady, she would have attempted to escape during the confusion. And the most confusing time would have been when we were preparing for this mission.”

Having said that, Sir Dominic recalled the aerial view of Supply Base C that he had just seen.

“This base is quite large. We were fortunate to arrive via the experimental cannon, but it’s several kilometers in each direction.”

“That’s… true.”

Sir Dominica thought about the strangely large Supply Base C.

Their current location was the 3rd Supply Warehouse, which meant there were at least two more warehouses of this size in the supply base.

Naturally, that meant the supply base itself was that much larger.

“She wouldn’t have left boldly when escaping, but would have hidden here and there, so there’s a high probability she’s still in this base. Which means—”

“We draw attention to help her escape. Is that it?”

Unryu Hime interrupted Sir Dominic’s words.

“That’s right.”

Sir Dominic affirmed Hime’s statement.

“So let’s continue to create a scene. Not focusing on a single objective like before, but thinking about drawing as much attention as possible in a flashy way.”

Everyone nodded at Sir Dominic’s words.

There was nothing better than something flashy to draw attention.

Sir Dominic thought about Lady Alice who might still be somewhere in the base.

Of course, he never dreamed that the Lady had been safely guided outside by the supervisor.

…

In the dark night

The full moon shines brightly

Looking down upon us

Unryu Hime was sitting on top of a utility pole with the full moon in the dark night as her backdrop.

She was reciting poetry while looking over the entire supply base, then leaped high with the full moon behind her and landed lightly on the ground.

“Ten out of ten, a hundred out of a hundred.”

Sir Dominica sang a response poem watching that scene.

A haiku in Renka style, 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables, and a response of 7 syllables, 7 syllables.

Sir Dominic had no idea what they were talking about, but he called Hime to assess the current situation.

“Lady Hime. How is it around the bomb?”

“There are quite a few people. The resistance will likely be fierce.”

Sir Dominic nodded at Hime’s words.

Sir Dominic thought that the battle around the bomb would be the most difficult.

After all, the most eye-catching thing was the existence of the bomb.

“That’s strange.”

Dr. Phantom said, looking at the bomb visible in the distance.

“The position is a bit different.”

Doremi looked at the bomb after Dr. Phantom’s comment, then nodded with a hardened expression.

“You’re right. From the current position, defusing the bomb puts you in a location where you can be attacked from three directions.”

The bomb had been moved by a very subtle difference, but the result of that position change was not subtle at all.

Originally during the bomb defusal operation, the surrounding cover objects perfectly shielded the defuser so that only one or two spots needed to be defended.

However, because the bomb had moved slightly, not only were one or two spots exposed, but the defuser was now exposed to concentrated fire from the widest area.

“Looks like they adjusted the difficulty this way.”

Sir Dominica nodded, thinking about how incredibly easy the difficulty had been until just now.

“Well, what is there to worry about? We have two shield bearers. So Sir Dominica and I can surround the defuser.”

Sir Dominic immediately came up with a plan.

“Let’s do that.”

Sir Dominica accepted Sir Dominic’s proposal.

If they had more time, a better plan might have emerged, but now there was no time.

[04:30]

With barely 5 minutes left.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica turned their heads to look at Unryu Hime, Doremi, and Dr. Phantom.

These five silently nodded to each other and took their positions.

At the very front stood Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica in a majestic manner, with Doremi and Dr. Phantom supporting from behind.

And Unryu Hime would circle around this four-person unit to divert attention or deal with terrorists who were separated from the main group.

“Let’s go.”

Sir Dominica gave the signal.

“Very well.”

With those words as the signal, the five warriors began to advance.

Sir Dominic walking majestically with his shield raised and his platinum laurel wreath shining.

Sir Dominica matching steps with Sir Dominic, also with shield raised and a gleaming pistol in hand.

Unryu Hime lightly jumping between container boxes while drawing her kunai.

Doremi and Dr. Phantom beginning to transport a medium machine gun from who knows where.

Sir Dominic suddenly felt as if he heard the sound of a horn from somewhere.

Of course, it was the effect of Sir Dominic’s special skill [Cinematic(FPS)].