Ch.40[Chapter 40] Local Conflict?

Yekaterina looked at Hill No. 5.

And she saw Sir Dominic fighting like a beast.

“So it’s him.”

Yekaterina stared at the knight who had thwarted her efforts.

The knight who had interfered when she was trying to snipe Strelch.

She silently fixed her gaze on Sir Dominic.

And aimed her sniper rifle, slung over her shoulder, at Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic’s smile filled the scope of her sniper rifle.

Yekaterina took a moment to steady her breath and pulled the trigger.

The sound of gunpowder exploding was silenced, buried beneath the sound of the wind.

And Yekaterina had no doubt that Sir Dominic would fall silent just like that sound.

Sir Dominic cut down another neck.

How many had he fended off so far?

Sir Dominic had forgotten to count at some point.

“Hmm.”

But what did it matter if he forgot? This was such happiness.

Sir Dominic lifted his shield again as it grew heavier and began to drop.

“You monster. Can’t you at least pretend to be tired?”

The intelligence chief looked at Sir Dominic with weary eyes.

He knew that those with tank characteristics received absurdly high buffs, but Sir Dominic was beyond even that.

[(ALL) Star Giant of Hundread Hands and Star The Tentacle Explorer have simultaneously completed war expansion!]

[(ALL) The battlefield expands further! Two additional hills and additional terrain will be connected.]

The personnel in Stage 1 were generally considered expendable.

Not to treat people like objects, but the people of Stage 1 self-deprecatingly referred to themselves that way.

The fact that Sir Dominic, a Stage 1 personnel, had survived and was still standing proudly even after the second war expansion was remarkable in itself.

The intelligence chief liked Sir Dominic.

In his view, Sir Dominic was more than qualified to become a specter of Area 3, and he believed Sir Dominic would definitely return to Area 3 again.

Though they met as enemies now, who knows? The next time they meet, they might be allies.

The intelligence chief decided to familiarize himself with Sir Dominic in preparation for that possibility.

“Hey, Sir Knight. You seem like a decent fellow, how about we introduce—”

At that moment, a large explosion erupted from the Giant of Hundread Hands’ garrison, accompanied by a loud blast.

The explosion was so massive that it reached Sir Dominic’s ears despite the howling wind.

Sir Dominic and the intelligence chief instinctively turned their heads toward the direction of the explosion.

And a bullet from somewhere struck Sir Dominic directly in the forehead.

Unable to react in time, Sir Dominic watched as the scenery slowly tilted.

In the distance, smoke was dispersing.

As his field of vision widened, he faintly saw a sniper smiling through the smoke.

“Hmm.”

Sir Dominic looked at that smile and smiled back.

Truly, this is such a joyful and happy place.

That was Sir Dominic’s last thought before his vision went dark.

“Huh.”

Sir Dominic staggered as soon as his vision returned.

Then he examined his surroundings.

A familiar place.

Sir Dominic wondered where he had seen this place before, then suddenly realized it was the Story Mode lobby.

He had forgotten this obvious fact because he had been so immersed in the battlefield.

Clearly, he had been fighting on the battlefield and then got shot—

Ah.

Sir Dominic had definitely died once.

‘If you have enough energy, you can re-enter after a certain amount of time even if you die.’

Strelch’s words came to mind.

Sir Dominic immediately checked his remaining energy.

He had enough energy to try again.

Sir Dominic rushed to the entrance of Area 3.

Many people were already standing in line.

The line was shrinking quickly, but in the meantime, people who had died were joining the line again, making it grow faster than it was shrinking.

Sir Dominic anxiously took his place at the end of the line.

Right now, Sir Dominic was filled with happiness, and he didn’t want this happiness to slip away.

In some ways, it might seem like addiction or PTSD symptoms, but for Sir Dominic, this was something he simply couldn’t give up.

However, the line was still long, and Sir Dominic gradually regained his senses.

“Huh.”

As the sensation of happiness drained away, Sir Dominic became increasingly dejected.

The more one becomes immersed in something, the more powerless one feels when that immersion breaks.

Sir Dominic sighed as he stood in line.

Yet he still held a glimmer of hope.

If he returned to the battlefield, he could feel that sensation again.

With such expectations, he waited for the line to shorten.

As Sir Dominic was thinking this, the person standing in front of him seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Haah.”

Sir Dominic looked at the small officer girl in front of him who had let out a sigh deep enough to sink the ground.

She had fiery red hair and pale skin.

“Of all things, a suicide bomber. They really have no sense of fair play.”

“Why do such people even enter the battlefield? You should be honorable in the front and cunning from behind, not use such underhanded methods right to someone’s face!”

“When I get back, who should I hit first? I’ve already lost my commander position…”

The small lady in front continued to grumble and vent her frustrations without pause.

“Haah. I just hope it’s not a full-scale war or total annihilation yet. At least let it be the tail end of a local conflict—”

Sir Dominic found her words strange.

Looking up to check how quickly the line was moving, Sir Dominic estimated that his turn would come in about 10 minutes, 15 at most.

Hadn’t it taken several dozen minutes for the war expansion to occur on the battlefield?

Since a new expansion had happened just before he died, he thought there wouldn’t be another expansion yet even if he entered now.

However, the woman in front seemed to know Area 3 better than he did, so perhaps she was right.

Sir Dominic sighed and thought.

If you don’t know, just ask.

And he immediately put it into action.

“Excuse me, I apologize for eavesdropping. But there’s something I don’t understand and would like to ask about.”

Sir Dominic addressed the red-haired officer lady.

The officer lady turned her head with an irritated expression and glared at Sir Dominic.

“I’m already annoyed to death and you’re talking to m— Wait. Sir Dominic?”

The officer lady knew Sir Dominic’s name. Sir Dominic searched his memory but couldn’t recall ever meeting this lady.

“You know me? No matter how much I think about it, I don’t believe I’ve met you before…”

“Of course I know you. I’m Dick Stacy. I was the commander of Stage 2. You must have heard me speak in the all-chat, right?”

Sir Dominic rolled his eyes, trying to remember. Come to think of it, he might have seen the name Stacy in the system messages.

“So you were a commander. But if you’re here, does that mean you died too?”

“That’s right. I died from a suicide bomb attack. Ugh, it’s really infuriating.”

Sir Dominic remembered the explosion he had heard just before he died.

It seemed this lady had died in that explosion.

“Without a commander, the battlefield becomes unstable. I just hope nothing happens before the next war expansion.”

“The war expansion happened right after the explosion, so it should be fine.”

“Really? Then I can relax.”

Stacy, who had been irritated, instantly regained her composure.

The change in her emotions was so sudden that Sir Dominic was rather taken aback.

“By the way, didn’t you say you had something to ask earlier?”

Stacy took a step forward as the line shortened.

“Ah, yes. The waiting time seems to be only about 10 to 15 minutes, but from what I heard inside, it takes about the time of one war expansion. I’m confused about which is true.”

Sir Dominic politely expressed his curiosity.

“Both are correct. But there’s one premise.”

Stacy looked at Sir Dominic as she took another step forward, then bumped into the back of the person who had stopped in front of her.

Stacy briefly apologized to the person she had bumped into and then continued speaking to Sir Dominic.

“Have you heard of the term ‘speed multiplier’?”

“Speed multiplier?”

It was a term Sir Dominic had never heard before.

“It’s similar to time acceleration. The time inside the stage flows differently from the time outside. Think about it. Does Stage 3 seem like it would end that quickly?”

Sir Dominic shook his head. He felt like he had fought for about half a day. Yet there had been only two war expansions.

“Depending on the nature of the Stars fighting, Stage 3 has records of battles lasting from a minimum of 4 hours to a maximum of 12 days and 3 hours. What would happen if that much time passed in reality? What about all those other contents? Or people with jobs? Daily life would be in chaos. And yet, the battlefield is too enjoyable and exciting to simply take your own life and return to daily life.”

Stacy shrugged her shoulders.

The epaulet on her shoulder folded slightly with her shrug, then straightened again.

“So basically, it’s set at 3x speed, and depending on the passage of time, it can go up to 12x speed. That’s why it takes a long time to resurrect once you die. And because of this speed multiplier, only Stars can open wars.”

Sir Dominic began a simple calculation. If he generously estimated the waiting time as 15 minutes and it was at 3x speed, then adding 15 minutes and another 15 minutes would make it 45 minutes.

45 minutes, based on his recent experience, was about the length of time from the start until the first war expansion occurred.

Sir Dominic could now understand part of the battlefield’s mechanism.

“Ah. As we’ve been talking, it’s already time for re-entry.”

Sir Dominic looked up at those words.

Now there were only two people ahead of Sir Dominic and Stacy before it would be their turn.

As those two people quickly re-entered the stage, Stacy turned around, looked up at Sir Dominic, and smiled.

“Well then, see you on the battlefield, Sir Knight.”

And she pressed the stage entry button, disappearing before his eyes.

Sir Dominic took a step toward where she had vanished.

“See you on the battlefield, Officer Lady.”

Sir Dominic pressed the stage entry button.

Now Sir Dominic returns to the battlefield once more.