Ch.43[Chapter 43] Battle of Annihilation

The Giant of Hundread Hands gazed beyond the horizon.

The Tentacle Explorer was frantically surveying the battlefield, trying to stop the major offensive.

The battle was clearly tilting in favor of the Giant of Hundread Hands.

However, due to The Tentacle Explorer’s excellent battlefield assessment abilities, the advance was slower than expected.

The Giant of Hundread Hands recalled each card in his possession.

All were useful hands in the current situation, but since The Tentacle Explorer’s cards were also formidable, they were merely advantageous rather than truly effective.

Finally, after examining all the cards he could use now, the Giant of Hundread Hands instinctively realized that extraordinary measures were needed.

The Giant of Hundread Hands pulled out his hidden final card.

Hidden cards weren’t the exclusive property of The Tentacle Explorer.

Everyone has at least one secret move up their sleeve.

…

War. War never changes.

It only changes things.

It’s the same now. On this horrific battlefield, beasts consumed by madness bite and tear at each other—

“Sir Strelch, I understand it’s difficult, but could you please focus on the fight? Your defensive line is being breached!”

Such an unromantic fellow. Strelch grumbled, thinking he’d missed an opportunity for a cool scene because of Sir Dominic’s shout.

The battlefield was changing moment by moment.

The plains that had been intact just moments ago had become wild trenches due to explosions.

Giant robots fired lasers from their eyes, severing tentacles that emerged from the ground, while ghost sailors jumped out of wrecked pirate ships, laughing merrily before being swept away by the flame breath of an allied dragon.

Chaos within chaos.

Amidst it all, Sir Dominic was heading toward the hill, holding a flag in one hand and pointing his shield forward.

“That knight is trying to plant a flag on the hill! Stop him!”

“What can he do with just a flag? Besides, he seems to be low-tier and under-farmed.”

The Intelligence Chief trembled as he watched Sir Dominic approach.

To others, Sir Dominic might have appeared to be an inadequately developed, awkward individual, but the Intelligence Chief, who had witnessed Sir Dominic’s remarkable performance from the beginning, shouted nervously.

“That man is a tank! He can easily chew through one tier! And just a flag? How many top-tier duelists use flags!”

The Intelligence Chief immediately recalled prominent high-rankers like the Divine Spokesperson and the Heretic Pope.

Above all, this was a battlefield. Not a place dominated by artificial intelligence, but filled with real people who think and move.

If what they called a “buff” occurred, whatever the effect of that flag, it could create a placebo effect two or three times stronger.

Meanwhile, Sir Dominic had reached the bottom of the hill.

In a situation where friend and foe were mixed and difficult to distinguish, Sir Dominic burrowed through the spaces that formed between them.

It feels different from the beginning, Sir Dominic thought, not letting his guard down.

No, he couldn’t let his guard down.

While it was true that Sir Dominic’s performance was excellent for his current cost and tier, the battlefield was now overflowing with those who had higher stats and tiers.

Even now.

An elf in forest patrol attire came flying toward Sir Dominic with a side kick.

Sir Dominic struck the most exposed part beside the elf’s leg with his blade, but had to be satisfied with merely deflecting the trajectory rather than inflicting a wound.

The advantage of a tank was continuous damage and battlefield control, but the disadvantage was that damage was almost non-existent if not sustained, and they became ineffective if battlefield control was impossible.

Sir Dominic was happy with the increasingly difficult battlefield situation, but also somewhat dissatisfied with the situation that made it harder to rampage.

Sir Dominic was a warrior before he was a knight.

Desiring an exciting fight was like an acquired instinct engraved in his soul.

And Sir Dominic was a knight.

Valuing honor, glory, and victory over fighting was also an acquired instinct.

On this battlefield where the instincts of knight and warrior collided, Sir Dominic found himself in a strange situation of being both happy and unhappy.

But Sir Dominic was forgetting something.

“The enemy is too tough!”

“Did you equip critical set instead of penetration set?”

“No! I’m using penetration set with full charge, maximum health damage at 100%, but they won’t die!”

A high-ranking sniper from The Tentacle Explorer’s side cried out in despair.

The high-ranking sniper’s special skill had damage that could instantly kill most people, but the situation kept playing out where targets survived with a sliver of health.

This was happening because of Sir Dominic’s special ability, [Standard Bearer], which applied a 4% damage reduction to all personnel on the Giant of Hundread Hands’ side.

Those who would fall after one hit now died after two, and those who would die after two hits now died after three.

The damage waste created by that one-hit difference was not negligible.

“Damn that knight. He’s a tank so he won’t die, and he even has an area damage reduction skill?”

“Is it passive or active? It seems too ordinary to be active, but too powerful to be passive.”

Those watching from the rear of The Tentacle Explorer’s side exchanged opinions.

Sir Dominic might not have been particularly noticeable on this battlefield, and even upon closer inspection, apart from his one eye, eyepatch, sword, shield, and flag, his appearance was so ordinary that he seemed like he belonged in the lower ranks.

However, those with keen eyes knew that Sir Dominic had enough potential to soar through this battlefield opportunity.

While Sir Dominic was accumulating honor, glory, and even fame without realizing it, in addition to enjoying the fight, he was currently only focused on the situation before him and didn’t know this fact.

“Hmph.”

He simply advanced, feeling this unpleasant yet happy, strange sensation.

…

“Hmm. Quite remarkable performance, isn’t it?”

The commander of The Tentacle Explorer’s side, the Recorder of Stars, was watching various parts of the battlefield through screens set up at the base.

Numerous heroic tales were visible on the many screens, but her eyes were fixed on Sir Dominic.

Opening a book and recording every detail about Sir Dominic with a quill pen, she put down the pen as soon as the screen for Hill 8 switched to another person.

“I was curious about what kind of person would interest a genius scientist and intrigue a corporate chairman.”

Decent performance, and not bad star quality either, the Recorder of Stars muttered.

In fact, she was a person who had no more business in Region 3, but she had volunteered for Region 3 after a long time at the request of Chairman Black to observe Sir Dominic.

Due to her high tier and cost, she became the commander of Stage 6, but she had no intention of commanding.

Of course, she pretended to be diligent on the surface, but with the already tilting battle and her mission to investigate Sir Dominic, she no longer felt the need to command.

“Performance as a tank is adequate. A tank that endures with orthodox health and defense rather than an evasion tank. Has damage reduction effect. However, the lack of crowd control skills is regrettable…”

The Recorder of Stars reread the information about Sir Dominic that she had just recorded.

“Almost no records after completing Stage 2. Tends to neglect training, relying on tank characteristics…?”

She inserted information sent by her informants between her own notes.

Among them were notes that presented uncertainties as facts, but the Recorder of Stars tucked the uncertain ones at the back of the book.

This was to decide later whether to place them among the confirmed information or discard them and cut ties with the informant, once the facts were verified.

“Those who were ‘invited’ to Gachaland recently have basic special abilities, so he may have hidden special abilities.”

She placed this information at the forefront among the possible information.

Even to her, Sir Dominic seemed too ‘simple’.

He was too ordinary, even considering his ignorance about Gachaland.

“Ah.”

The Recorder of Stars suddenly checked the time.

“It will end soon.”

The Recorder of Stars closed the book.

There was no more time to record here.

The end was approaching.

…

Sir Dominic passed the middle of the hill and finally reached the summit.

Once he was knocked back down by the foot of a giant robot, but Sir Dominic barely endured and climbed back up to conquer the summit.

Of course, enemies were still rushing toward Sir Dominic at the summit.

Sir Dominic mustered his last strength and planted the flag on the hill.

It wasn’t an intentional action.

It was merely a habit from his time in Feralant, where planting a flag meant conquering a hill.

However, that small action became quite a spectacular scene.

[(ALL) Bow your heads and pay respect. Star Giant of Hundread Hands controls the battlefield through the divine power [Knowledge of the Titan].]

At the moment Sir Dominic planted the flag, those on the opposite side of the hill were looking up at him.

When the flag was planted and Sir Dominic raised his head with a bright smile of happiness.

[(ALL) Worship! The Titan-class flagship ‘Uranos’ jumps dimensions through Titan Uranus’s sky path!]

With a siren sound so loud it could deafen ears, a massive space battleship that covered the entire sky appeared, tearing through the heavens.

All the turrets attached to the bottom of the enormous battleship began spinning, identifying friend and foe, and the hangar doors opened, dropping barricades and military supplies.

Darkness and silence descended upon the chaotic battlefield.

Only the flashing red warning lights and siren sounds indicated that Hill 8 still existed.

Sir Dominic’s happy smile as he planted the flag atop Hill 8 sometimes appeared eerie in the flashing red light.

Though Sir Dominic probably didn’t intend it, the timing was amazing.

“…Tanks are seriously overpowered.”

That statement, accompanied by a sigh, flowed among the people.

Everyone had already seen the phrase “divine power.”

They knew it wasn’t Sir Dominic’s skill, but that didn’t matter.

Instead of cursing the Star with this unreasonable divine power, they cursed the most vulnerable tank.

The personnel on The Tentacle Explorer’s side had now completely lost their will to fight.

In the distance, The Tentacle Explorer could be seen striking the air with reddened tentacles.