I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 138

I knew it from the start.

That it was a dream beyond my reach.

To become the main character on stage, to monopolize the dazzling spotlight.

For ordinary lives like ours… it was too big of a dream, too difficult to handle.

So, I dreamed a smaller dream.

I didn’t even wish to monopolize the spotlight. I’d be content just to bask in its glow from the sidelines.

Just to be on the stage.

To remain on stage, even as a nameless extra.

That was all I wished for.

***

Splat-!

A fountain of blood sprays everywhere.

Blood droplets scattered from Hessen’s bitten neck. The vampires sucked the life out of Hessen, splattering blood in all directions.

Watching this, Dion suddenly thought.

‘What was that guy’s dream again?’

It was only yesterday that I heard it, but I couldn’t quite remember.

Wasn’t it something about saving money to start a merchant guild?

Thud!

Hessen’s corpse, drained of all blood, fell limply to the ground.

Seeing this carnage unfold in an instant, the other companions cried out.

“Hessen-!”

“You, you damn monsters!”

Dion barely managed to hold back his companions from rushing out, gritting his teeth.

“Calm down! Calm down! We need to be level-headed! Maintain formation!”

“Ugh, ugh…”

“Hessen, Hessen…”

The vampires chuckled, watching the trembling Dion Mercenary Group.

《Your companion’s blood was too rich, it was sickening.》

The vampire, wiping the red from his mouth with his hand, grinned, his smile almost tearing his face.

《My preference is for something more bland… this just ruined my palate. Ptoo!》

The vampire spat blood-mixed saliva onto Hessen’s corpse.

At that sight, the last thread of reason snapped.

“I’ll kill you, you bastards-!”

Thud!

Ayla, the party’s sole female rogue, leaped forward.

“Ayla! No! Damn it!”

Dion, in a panic, finally gave the order to attack.

“No more individual attacks! We’re going in together!”

“I’ve been waiting for those words, Dion!”

“We’ll make you pay for killing Hessen, you mosquito bastards!”

Thud-!

The four members of the Dion Mercenary Group charged forward simultaneously.

But at this point, it was a losing move.

There were three reasons for this.

First, the Dion Mercenary Group mainly trained in defensive tactics.

In a defensive situation, they could handle multiple vampires, but in an offensive situation, even two vampires were too much.

Second, the Dion Mercenary Group had always been a five-person team.

The synergy between three tanks and two dealers allowed them to face even strong enemies. But now, one of the core tanks was missing. A team of five and a team of four are worlds apart.

Third, Ayla, the dealer, was at the front line instead of the rear.

These small factors created a chain reaction.

Thud!

Splat!

Thud…!

In vain. And horribly.

The Dion Mercenary Group was annihilated in an instant.

Ayla, who was at the forefront, stabbed her silver dagger into the stomach of a vampire.

But the vampire laughed, grabbed Ayla’s wrist, and then,

Splat!

Brought down his longsword, slicing off Ayla’s forearm.

“Agh…?!”

As Ayla tried to scream, two other vampires rushed at her from either side.

Their long, blood-slicked claws flew towards Ayla’s neck and chest.

Clang!

Thwack!

In between, the shields of two other mercenaries, Rok and Chey, blocked the attacks.

The problem was, there were two more vampires.

Thud!

Thud…!

As if they had read the movements of the two shield warriors, the attacks of the two vampires, who appeared a beat later, pierced through Rok and Chey’s torsos.

“Kuh…!”

“Ugh?!”

The other two vampires, whose attacks had been blocked by the two’s shields, smiled and raised their claws at the struggling pair.

《Humans are so tiresome, aren’t they? So sensitive to the lives of their companions.》

《As immortals, as long as our Lord is alive, it’s hard for us to understand… it’s hard!》

The vampires’ claws fell towards the necks of the two warriors.

The two shield warriors swung their silver swords one last time, but their counterattack was weak.

Thud! Thwack!

The two silver swords pierced the arms of the two vampires, but the two vampires, unfazed, swung their claws and beheaded the two warriors.

Blood splattered everywhere.

“Rok! Chey! No-!”

Dion, shouting, gritted his teeth and charged forward. It was to rescue Ayla, who was still alive.

The vampires laughed at Dion and blocked his path.

Clang, clang, clang-!

Dion desperately swung the silver daggers in his hands.

The vampires’ claws and daggers intertwined, exchanging blows in an instant. Even as the young leader of a small mercenary group, Dion was the party leader. He fought against the vampires with nimble swordsmanship, but that was it.

The vampires laughed and blocked Dion’s attacks, and Dion was the first to run out of stamina.

“Hah, hah…!”

The vampires, smiling at Dion as he staggered back, grabbed Ayla by the back of her neck and held her out.

《If your companion is so precious, I’ll give her back.》

Thud!

The next moment, the vampire’s longsword pierced Ayla’s back and came out through her abdomen.

《Of course, I didn’t say I’d give her back alive?》

“Ah, kgh…”

The vampire kicked Ayla, who was spitting blood and writhing in pain.

Covered in blood, Ayla rolled across the floor and was thrown in front of Dion.

“Ayla!”

Dion rushed to Ayla’s side.

“I’m sorry… Dion…”

Ayla, blood pouring from her stomach and mouth, looked at Dion with empty eyes.

“I was, wrong…”

“…”

“Sorry for rushing out first. No, sorry for encouraging you to become a mercenary…”

“…”

“What’s the point of success, it ended up like this… It’s my fault…”

Dion shook his head slightly and smiled.

“…No.”

Tight.

“You did nothing wrong.”

Holding Ayla’s quickly cooling hand, Dion gritted his teeth.

“We did nothing wrong.”

Was it too much of a dream?

To earn money to start a merchant guild, money for marriage, money to send to parents, money to raise a sibling.

Was it greed to just earn that? Was this humble and simple dream too much?

‘No.’

That couldn’t be.

I gave up on the dream of becoming the main character long ago. I just wanted to remain on stage, even as a nameless extra.

This couldn’t be greed.

“We were born as humans…”

Dion, unable to let go of Ayla’s already limp hand, lowered his head.

“Since we were born, we should be allowed to dream…”

In his childhood, the starlight he looked up at from the mud was beautiful.

But it was too high and too far, so he gave up.

He turned his eyes to a lower, closer light. Towards a nearby flame that seemed within reach.

But are we to be burned to death by even such a small flame?

“We are not moths drawn to a flame. We are humans.”

Dion glared at the vampires approaching him, gritting his teeth.

“Dreaming… is never wrong.”

It was then.

“There’s nothing wrong with dreaming.”

A voice came from behind.

“But look at reality, young man. It’s not dreams that killed your companions, but monsters. And a misguided tactic.”

“…!”

When Dion turned around, three tanks and a mage from the Old Hunters were standing there.

“Get up, young man. The battle is not over yet.”

The old mercenaries began to prepare for battle.

Yenich, the ice mage who pulled Dion up, looked at the vampires with cold, calm eyes.

“Your companions did not die in vain.”

Dion, following the mage’s gaze, soon understood the meaning of those words.

Silver swords were embedded in their bodies.

They were the weapons that Ayla, Rok, and Chey had stabbed into their bodies while resisting before they died.

The vampires were nonchalantly approaching them, as if the silver swords didn’t even itch.

“Three of them have silver swords in them. If we can get them into the other two, the rest is up to the mage.”

“…”

“Can you do the rest?”

Dion gritted his teeth and gripped the silver daggers in his hands in reverse.

“I will.”

“Show us. Don’t let the name of the Dion Mercenary Group remain as just a tombstone for young men who died in vain.”

Ice magic formed in Yenich’s hands. Yenich let out a roar.

“Kill them and leave behind a feat of arms. A mercenary speaks not with his tombstone, but with the heads of his enemies!”

“Uwaaaah-!”

Dion took the lead and started running, followed closely by the three tanks of the Old Hunters.

The vampires sneered and tried to stab Dion to death, but a beat faster, Yenich’s ice magic flew towards them.

《Magic in front of us… how arrogant!》

Two of the five vampires, the ones without silver swords, were blood magic skill users.

The eyes of the two vampires glowed bright red, and the formed blood-red barrier instantly nullified the ice magic.

《Your childish tricks end here, mage!》

The two vampires simultaneously fired blood-red magic at Yenich.

Kugwagwagwang-!

“Kuhuk!”

Yenich, swept away by the blood magic bombardment, spat out blood and fell backward.

But thanks to that, the assault team bought time.

Dion, who had approached to close range, quickly threw the two silver daggers in his hands.

The dagger throw of a level 27 rogue had the power equivalent to that of a bullet.

Clang! Clang!

But the other three vampires stepped forward and easily deflected the attack.

And they brought down their longswords and claws on Dion, whose hands were now empty.

Thud! Thwack!

The attacks were blocked by the tanks of the Old Hunters who had rushed out from behind Dion.

But the vampires’ attack power was not ordinary, and the Old Hunters’ tanks were not unscathed.

Their shoulders were pierced by longswords that broke through their shields, their arms were lost to claws, and their sides were pierced.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Dion’s eyes widened.

Right now, he only focused on what he had to do.

In that instant when three vampires and three humans were entangled with each other’s swords, claws, and shields, Dion nimbly rolled out of the way.

In his hands were two more silver daggers he had drawn from his belt.

And Dion rushed at the two vampires who had not yet been hit by silver swords.

Thud! Splat! Thwack-!

After a moment of combat.

Dion’s silver daggers were definitely embedded in the necks of the two vampires.

But as he smiled at the sight, Dion’s head was already severed and held in the hand of one of the two vampires.

Dion’s headless body staggered a few more steps before falling limply to the ground. Thud…

《Weak.》

The vampire, looking indifferently at Dion’s head in his hand, threw it away carelessly.

Whoosh-

Thud. Roll.

Dion’s head rolled on the ramparts, splattering blood.

《Tasteless too.》

The vampire licked the blood on his hand and grumbled discontentedly.

《Let’s finish off the rest of these guys quickly and kill the humans inside the ramparts.》

《That sounds good. I want to eat until I’m full.》

The five vampires slowly approached to finish off the remaining Old Hunters mercenaries who were still alive.

It was then.

Krrr, krrr…

Suddenly, the sound of thunder was heard.

Dark clouds suddenly gathered in the clear sky, and blue lightning began to flash.