I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 142

“Do you often have nightmares, Ash?” As the battlefield quieted down, Selendion suddenly asked.

I turned to look at him. He was still smiling nonchalantly, even as all his subordinates were dying.

“…”

I didn’t like it.

However, my role was to stall Selendion as much as possible, preventing him from joining the battle while his subordinates were being wiped out.

I decided to pretend to listen attentively. I had no idea what kind of nonsense he was going to spout this time.

“Nightmares?”

“Yes. Nightmares.”

“Are there people who don’t have nightmares?”

Selendion’s smile deepened.

This bastard, when I first met him, he pretended to be expressionless and aloof. But the closer he gets to the battlefield, the more his face loosens up.

As if he loves war and death too much.

It seemed to show the true nature of these monsters, and honestly, it scared me a little.

“Nightmares reveal the deepest fears within a person. They materialize and show you what you fear most.”

I frowned.

He’s suddenly muttering about dream-related psychology.

I wish I could give him a book by Freud or Jung from Earth.

“But imagine for a moment. What if those nightmares didn’t end in dreams but came into reality?”

“…?”

“If they crawled out from the other side as living, breathing monsters with clear forms. If that monster stood before you and looked at you.”

Selendion stared intently at the wine glass in his hand.

“How would that feel?”

“What… nonsense are you talking about?”

“Nightmares are not just simple dreams. They are connected to a deeper source.”

Selendion downed his wine in one gulp.

The bottle was already empty, and that was the last of the wine.

“If you truly intend to eradicate us and save the human world, you should consider this point carefully.”

Was it a vague Zen riddle? Or a hint that would help with the clear? I was puzzled because I couldn’t tell.

Clack!

Selendion, who had placed the empty glass on the table, curved his red eyes like moons.

“Now, young human. Let me ask you again… do you often have nightmares?”

“…”

“What is it that you fear most?”

What I fear most?

I unconsciously fell into thought. It was….

“I hope it’s not something too terrible.”

Selendion slowly turned his gaze towards the ramparts.

“Whatever it is, if you look too deeply into it, it will become reality.”

***

Kiyaaaaaaaak-!

The mid-boss battle with Alpha and Beta. Phase 2.

The two vampires, who had fallen after their cores were destroyed, rose again with Fallen Blood [a vampire’s power source].

They lost their reason, but their combat abilities actually doubled.

Alpha unleashed far more blood magic than before, and Beta’s entire body was covered in muscles, making him twice as large.

Alpha and Beta were squeezing out every last drop of life force remaining in their cores.

Even if the duration was short, their specs were bound to increase.

“Hiiiik! I can’t withstand this?!”

Evangeline screamed, barely dodging the barrage of blood magic.

“…”

Lukas, with a cold, calm gaze, dodged all of Beta’s axe attacks.

He was dodging, but unlike Phase 1, he couldn’t find any chance to counterattack.

“God Hand! Body Bag! Aren’t you ready yet?!”

Evangeline jumped. The rampart she had been standing on was pulverized by blood magic.

“I’m reaching my limit! Hurry up and do something… Uukyaaaaak!”

Thwack-!

In the end, Evangeline, who had reached her limit of evasion, was mercilessly battered by blood magic.

She managed to block it with her shield, but she couldn’t withstand the full impact.

Evangeline, thrown backward, crashed into the rubble of the rampart. Bang!

Lukas was the same. He was at his limit.

Splat-

A long blood line was drawn across Lukas’s cheek. It was the first time Beta’s axe blade had touched his body today.

Splat, splat splat-

Once he allowed one attack, the rest followed in quick succession. Blood lines began to appear all over Lukas’s body.

Thud!

Lukas’s breastplate shattered from the impact of the axe.

Lukas jumped back with all his might, and Beta’s axe, which had followed him, soared upwards.

The next attack was poised to hit his neck, not his armor.

Just as Alpha and Beta each took another step towards Evangeline and Lukas, who were cornered.

“Seriously……”

Evangeline smiled, her face covered in dust and scratches.

“It’s damn hard to lure you guys. You monsters.”

Shhhhhh!

A net made of silver rose from beneath Alpha and Beta’s feet.

It was God Hand who had gathered silver ingots and pulled them out.

Even a metal manipulator who can freely handle metal is far from precise craftsmanship.

He can only create crude shapes.

However, as long as it forms a net, it can function to bind vampires.

Body Bag repositioned the net that God Hand had pulled out, and at the crucial moment, he bound the enemies.

Kiyaaaaa! Kiyaaaak!

Evangeline shrieked as she watched the monsters struggling in the silver net.

“Why were you so late! I almost died!”

God Hand was visible in the distance, sweating profusely and catching his breath.

God Hand gulped down water, looking like he was about to die from exhaustion.

“To convert this much silver ingot… into a net on the spot, instead of preparing it beforehand. Huk. It’s not a small task to expend this much energy……”

If such a large silver net had been prepared in advance, the vampires would have sensed it.

They wouldn’t have come close.

It was a trap that could only be used after all the other monsters were defeated and Alpha and Beta had entered their Fallen Blood state.

Therefore, both the creation and installation of the net had to be done on the spot.

Kiyaaaaaaaak-!

Alpha and Beta roared and twisted their bodies, caught in the net.

Alpha tried to use magic even while caught in the net, and Beta tried to tear the net apart with brute force.

Flash!

Poof poof-!

But before that, Junior, who had approached, dispelled Alpha’s magic and plunged his elemental magic into Alpha’s core.

One holy arrow each pierced Beta’s head, neck, and chest. Damian, who had approached, neatly finished off Beta with a triple shot.

There was no way to withstand the barrage of attacks on their exposed cores while they were bound. The two vampires fell completely silent.

“Whew~!”

Evangeline, who had risen from the rubble of the rampart, brushed the dust off her body.

“Was there a reason to catch them so painstakingly……?”

Lukas, who was tidying his disheveled hair on the opposite rampart, replied in a slightly hoarse voice.

“We need to prevent their next form change.”

Alpha and Beta originally had a third phase.

If their health was reduced to less than half in their Fallen Blood state, they would ‘combine’.

And they would become a monster that unleashed both Beta’s physical attacks and Alpha’s magic attacks.

To borrow Ash’s expression, they were a ‘damn annoying duo to the end’.

However, if they were completely bound and killed with silver like this, the third phase itself could be skipped.

‘But seriously, how does Senior know the behavior patterns of the monsters in such detail?’

Evangeline glanced below the rampart.

Ash, the human commander, and Selendion, the monster lord, were still chatting away.

……It didn’t feel real.

The sight of Ash calmly conversing with the vampire king, who was stronger than any monster she had ever met, while drinking wine. It didn’t feel real.

‘If that monster just flicked his hand, Senior would be dead……’

He must have some basis for believing in something, but even so, his courage was far beyond the understanding of ordinary people.

Looking back, Ash had always been like that. He didn’t seem to have a strong desire for self-preservation that humans should have.

Was it because he was a cold-blooded commander?

Or was it…….

“Okay, everyone, it’s going to be tough, but let’s prepare for the final battle.”

Evangeline snapped back to her senses at Lukas’s words.

Lukas, who had tidied his hair and adjusted his armor, had returned to his usual neat and tidy self.

With a slightly haggard face, Lukas looked at his party members.

“……Now, it’s the final showdown.”

***

The battle on the ramparts was completely over.

“Alpha and Beta have fallen as well.”

Selendion, who had been comfortably watching his two subordinates die miserably while caught in the silver net, even clapped his hands lightly.

Clap, clap, clap.

“Well done, humans.”

“…”

I stared silently at the vampire king.

I didn’t like it.

The face of this monster bastard, who didn’t lose his composure even after all 999 of his subordinates had been wiped out. It was extremely irritating.

“Well, the introduction was long enough.”

Selendion, who turned to me with a coy smile, suddenly reached out his hand.

“Shall we begin the real war?”

Thwack!

“Kuh?!”

“Now, let’s go to the stage.”

An intangible force gripped my neck. I gasped for breath as my body was lifted into the air.

“May I escort you, little lamb?”

With those words, Selendion kicked off the ground and soared upwards.

Thud-!

I felt as if the sky and the ground were turning upside down. I couldn’t help but scream.

“What kind of escort is this, you crazy bastard!”

While Selendion lightly stepped on the path of ice and corpses as if he were going for a stroll, I was dragged through the air with my neck caught in his magic.

It only took a few seconds for him and me to reach the ramparts.

The faces of my party members, who were looking at me, were frozen in shock.

“What?!”

“When did he……!”

“My lord! Are you alrigh-”

As soon as Selendion reached the ramparts, he threw me away.

Thump thump!

I rolled awkwardly on the ground, thrown towards the three archers. Ugh!

“Your Highness!”

“Prince! Are you hurt?”

Damian, Skull, and Old Girl quickly caught me. Ouch, my back…….

“You have no manners… cough, more than I thought! Vampire King!”

I forced a nonchalant smile and looked up at Selendion.

“Our meeting was still in progress, wasn’t it?”

“What use is conversation between humans and monsters? It’s all just futile debate. Didn’t you think so too?”

The vampire king’s boyish face revealed long fangs that gleamed sharply.

“I’ve been patient for a long time. Now… can I eat?”

“…”

“I’m so hungry that I can’t stand it anymore.”

Whoooosh-!

The surrounding air fluctuated, and a suffocating scent of blood began to vibrate.

Stage 5 boss.

The lord of the bloodline. Lord of Crimson.

No Life King. Nosferatu. Dracula-

The named monster with dozens of aliases, the vampire king Selendion’s bright red eyes emitted a terrifying blood glow.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

My party members all stepped in front of Selendion at once. A long sneer formed on the vampire king’s lips.

“As I watched your fight, I kept thinking. Which of you is the most threatening enemy?”

The young vampire’s slender finger pointed at each of my party members one by one.

“A sniper? A mage? A knight? You all have potential. But.”

Finally, his fingertip pointed at me.

“The most dangerous one is you, Ash.”

“……!”

“Not only have you led the front line here, but you’ve also maintained your sanity even after facing me alone.”

It was natural, but if a normal human was exposed to the evil energy emitted by a boss monster for a long time, they would go insane. Especially in a one-on-one situation.

But I was only unaffected because of my passive skill [Unyielding Commander].

“You resemble the great humans I faced long ago…… I admit it. You are dangerous on my king’s path.”

“I appreciate the overestimation…… So, what are you going to do?”

“Therefore, I will take your life first.”

With his two eyes flickering ominously, Selendion took a step straight towards me.

“Consider it an honor. To be the first meal of the vampire king’s expedition.”

The next moment.

Thud-!

Selendion leaped towards me, and in response, all of my party members gripped their weapons and charged towards Selendion.

Stage 5, which could be called the final stage of the early part.

It was the final showdown.