Ch.381[Episode 381] Supply Base C – Escape?

The time remaining was 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Sir Dominic’s party couldn’t accept this absurd fact at first.

A bomb suddenly growing legs and running away!

“…Is this a bug?”

Remy was the first to speak up about the situation.

She had immediately concluded that this was a bug.

And for good reason—since when did bombs suddenly grow legs and run away?

However, Sir Dominic, a veteran bug warrior who had overcome dozens of bugs through adversity, saw the situation somewhat differently.

“It’s a gimmick.”

“A gimmick?”

Sir Dominica questioned in response to Sir Dominic’s words.

“Look. The bomb’s movements are natural, there’s no frame drop, and it’s running in accordance with the laws of physics. There’s nothing that suggests it’s a bug.”

“…How do you know about frame drops and laws of physics?”

“I read the wiki.”

Sir Dominic had recently been browsing the wiki before bed to alleviate boredom, randomly searching various terms.

Thanks to that, he had grown somewhat compared to his past self.

Of course, that wasn’t the issue at hand.

While they were talking, the time remaining was only 1 minute.

Sir Dominic felt there was no more time for conversation.

“It seems we need to catch the fleeing bomb. Follow me!”

Sir Dominic and his party, finally realizing that the bomb had fled, began running after it.

Fortunately, the bomb was quite heavy, so despite running at full speed, it was soon caught up to.

“Stop right there!”

Unryu Hime threw a kunai in the bomb’s escape path, but the bomb ignored it.

She wouldn’t throw it properly anyway for fear of detonating the bomb, and the bomb wasn’t fragile enough to explode from a single accidental hit.

The bomb continued its escape.

It had only one purpose.

To prevent them from disarming it.

Sir Dominic’s party continued to chase after the bomb.

Only 30 seconds remained now.

Sir Dominic needed about 10 seconds to disarm the bomb, so they needed to catch and subdue it right now.

However, the bomb was a very clever smart bomb, so it wasn’t easily caught.

20 seconds remained.

“You’re cornered now.”

Sir Dominic muttered toward the bomb.

True to his words, the bomb had nowhere left to go.

Behind the bomb was, for some reason, a cliff that appeared to be over a hundred meters high, with raging rapids swirling below.

The bomb, somehow moving its upper module up and down as if panting, looked at Sir Dominic and his party one by one, then spoke as if it wouldn’t be caught easily.

“I have no choice.”

“…? The bomb is talking—”

10 seconds.

While Sir Dominic’s party was taken aback, the bomb threw itself off the cliff.

Now they can’t disarm me.

They’ve lost.

The bomb thought this as it surrendered to gravity and fell into the rapids.

Fortunately, the bomb was made of metal, so it maintained its form even in the fierce current.

5 seconds.

The bomb activated its smirking module as it was swept away by the rapids.

3 seconds.

[You are moving away from the current operation area. Return to the operation area within 5 seconds.]

The bomb realized something had gone wrong.

1 second.

[You have completely left the operation area. Your team has been defeated.]

Just before detonation, the bomb realized it had completely failed.

The bomb’s body split open, emitting light as if about to explode at any moment.

…

BOOM!

With that sound, an explosion occurred at the bottom of the cliff.

[The bomb has been ‘removed’ from the operation area. Victory for the agents.]

“…?”

Sir Dominic’s party was so surprised by the sudden victory announcement that they could only blink in silence.

What on earth had they done to win this match?

“Ah.”

The one who offered the most plausible opinion about this situation the quickest was Unryu Hime.

“Could this also be a gimmick?”

“A gimmick, you say.”

“Sir Dominic just said it earlier, didn’t he? That the bomb’s escape might be a gimmick.”

Sir Dominic, Sir Dominica, Remy, and Dr. Phantom nodded at her words.

“Above all, look at the time it took us to get here. We had to use exactly all the time. That means…”

“I see. So that’s what the balance patch was for?”

Sir Dominica exclaimed in admiration.

The balance patch from earlier.

At first, they couldn’t understand the suddenly easier difficulty, but if it was patched urgently with this in mind, it made sense.

The difficulty being high and then lowered also made sense.

If it had been the opposite, complaints would have erupted, but since it went from high to low, there wasn’t much emotion beyond curiosity.

“I’d like to meet whoever designed this game.”

Sir Dominica clicked her tongue.

“Someone hiding such planning skills… Morgana sis— I mean, Chairman Black should recruit this talent.”

Remy and Phantom also praised the designer of this game.

Sir Dominic nodded silently in agreement with their words.

“Come to think of it, this wasn’t our original purpose.”

While everyone was admiring the game, Unryu Hime suddenly recalled the goal they had almost forgotten.

Hadn’t Sir Dominic come all this way to find Lady Alice?

“…Indeed. I almost forgot because it was quite enjoyable.”

Sir Dominic nodded in agreement with Unryu Hime’s words.

“Let’s go outside now.”

Sir Dominic and his party, having led this game to victory, left Supply Base C.

It was time to find Lady Alice.

…

Outside Supply Base C stood Senator Cross Bowman of the Ranged Dealer Alliance.

Somehow, with Lady Alice.

“So, you’re saying you know Sir Dominic?”

Senator Bowman asked Lady Alice.

“Yes. I’m Sir Dominic’s former… comrade.”

“Hmm…”

Senator Bowman had just arrived at Supply Base C.

His purpose was singular: to meet Sir Dominic and his party directly to discuss whether the video of this game could be used as promotional material.

While waiting for Sir Dominic to come out, Senator Bowman noticed some hostages exiting from inside.

“Since there was a difficulty adjustment, the number of hostages must have been reduced as well.”

Senator Bowman was about to pass by the hostages without much thought, but suddenly noticed the emblem on Lady Alice’s trunk.

Senator Bowman was from the Ranged Dealer class and possessed eagle eyes.

Of course, this wasn’t the trait that let him learn spells used by opponents probabilistically, but rather a thousand-mile vision type trait that simply allowed him to see far.

A white yew tree and a white raven on a brown background.

Senator Bowman thought he had seen that emblem somewhere before and realized it was the emblem of Feralant.

This meant that person was from the same homeland as Sir Dominic, who was famous for his special affection for Feralant.

He was so devoted that he always attached “Feralant” before his name!

Senator Bowman suddenly thought that if he became even slightly friendly with this person, it might be easier to converse with Sir Dominic, and he immediately put that thought into action.

“Excuse me.”

“…?”

…

That’s how Senator Bowman was able to become acquainted with Lady Alice.

And just as he discovered that she had some friendship with Sir Dominic, a small explosion sound was heard, and a message appeared indicating Sir Dominic’s victory.

Ah! Sir Dominic won after all!

Senator Bowman had rushed here without bringing various equipment, so he didn’t know the internal situation well, but he was delighted by the fact that Sir Dominic had won.

“Sir Dominic has won.”

“Sir Dominic?”

Lady Alice looked at Senator Bowman with surprised eyes, as if asking if it was Sir Dominic who was fighting inside.

“Yes. Didn’t you know?”

“Well, someone kidnapped me and brought me here. The battle started while I was in that state, so…”

Lady Alice frowned as if confused.

“Well, I understand. Ah! There’s Sir Dominic coming out! And Sir Dominica too!”

Senator Bowman greeted Sir Dominic’s party with a bright face as they emerged.

“Good work! Everyone did a great job!”

“…?”

Sir Dominic’s party didn’t know who this person was, so they just looked at each other and tilted their heads.

Noticing this, Senator Bowman handed each of them a business card and introduced himself.

“I’m Senator Cross Bowman of the Ranged Dealer Alliance. I was also in charge of balancing today’s game.”

“Ah! The person who made that fun gimmick?”

“So it was this guy…”

Remy and Dr. Phantom looked at Cross Bowman with surprise.

“What business do you have?”

“Well, I do have business, but first I should introduce someone to you.”

Senator Bowman wanted to get straight to his business at Sir Dominic’s question, but he knew it wasn’t the right time yet.

And to drive the final nail, he called Lady Alice to introduce her to Sir Dominic.

“Lady Alice here says she knows Sir Dominic. Since both of you are here…”

Senator Bowman introduced the two with elaborate rhetoric.

But Sir Dominic didn’t hear Senator Bowman’s elaborate rhetoric.

“My lord.”

“Sir Dominic.”

Sir Dominic looked straight at Lady Alice whom he had met again, then knelt before her, making a fist with his right hand and placing it on the ground.

“Welcome back.”

“…I’m back.”

There was much they wanted to say.

Both had much they wanted to say, mountains of words they wanted to express, but what came out was the etiquette between a lord and a knight.

Sir Dominic was overjoyed to see Lady Alice’s return.

But Lady Alice, for some reason, wore a bitter expression.