I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 186

The south gate of the Imperial City.

Standing beside a carriage loaded with luggage, I looked back at the massive city.

“Well, goodbye to this city too.”

Since being possessed by this body, my world had been entirely Crossroads.

It was a simple setup of monsters, dungeons, and a village. But coming here changed that perception.

This world is vast.

It’s wider than I can fathom.

And the monster front is the place that protects all of this world.

‘Shall I return to the days of conquest?’

A brief outing was enjoyable, but I shouldn’t forget my duty.

Thinking of my subordinates waiting for me at the southernmost tip of the continent, I climbed into the carriage.

My ten escort soldiers, two knights, and Elise also mounted their horses and carriages.

“Alright, let’s depart…”

Just as I was about to say ‘let’s depart,’ it happened.

Clatter! Clatter!

A woman came galloping out of the Imperial City gate, looking flustered. I was a little surprised to see her, then chuckled softly.

It was Serenade.

“Haa! Haa…!”

Serenade, who stopped beside the carriage, bent over, panting for breath. Beads of sweat clung to her slender chin. How urgently did she come?

Opening the carriage door, I leaned out and looked at Serenade, who was also bent over.

“Serenade. Did you come to say goodbye?”

“Haa, haa… Your Highness, Prince.”

Serenade muttered, catching her breath.

“I am Your Highness’s business partner, am I not?”

It was an unexpected remark, but I immediately played along.

“And a dance partner too.”

“I was also your fiancée.”

“And a comrade who fought together at the party.”

“…Then, I’m qualified enough, right?”

With a somehow refreshed face, Serenade smiled.

“I won’t give up on Your Highness.”

Her smile was so lovely that I gazed at her face.

“I was always anxious that Your Highness might abandon me. But, yes. Now that I’ve already been abandoned, there’s nothing more to worry about. No matter what I do from now on, I can only get closer to Your Highness.”

Serenade took a step towards me. Her silver gaze, looking up at me, was unwavering.

“No matter how many times Your Highness rejects me, I will keep approaching you. And I will become an incredibly amazing person so that Your Highness has no choice but to look back at me.”

“…”

“If Your Highness goes to the end of the world, I will follow you to the end of the world. I will always follow behind you, with my heart full of dark intentions.”

Her bold declaration was so cute that I smiled.

Where did her confident demeanor go? As soon as she finished speaking, Serenade’s face turned bright red, and she bowed her head deeply.

“I… I wanted to tell you that…”

I covered my mouth and chuckled, then took Serenade’s hand and lightly kissed the back of it.

I showed a smile to Serenade, who was startled and trembled.

“I’ll be waiting. At the end of the world.”

“…”

“See you again, Serenade.”

After squeezing her slender hand once more, I turned and got into the carriage.

‘…Holy moly.’

How did such cheesy actions and lines come out automatically? Is it a habit ingrained in this body of Kim Ash?

The carriage started. Serenade stood demurely at the south gate of the Imperial City, waving her hand continuously.

I also waved back from the window.

We’ll meet again anyway. There’s a lot of work to do with the Winter Silver Merchant Guild in the future.

The road quickly grew distant. When Serenade was no longer visible, Elise, who was riding her horse right next to my carriage, muttered.

“But weren’t you two broken up?”

“We’re just starting over from the beginning.”

“Do womanizers use that kind of line when they dump someone…?”

“That’s not it. His Highness is sincere.”

Elise let out a soft sigh.

“I just… hope that Miss Serenade will be happy.”

“Me too.”

Truly. I hope she’s happy.

That’s why I’m going back to protect the world again.

***

“It will take about three weeks by carriage to reach Crossroads.”

After riding for a few hours, the group stopped at the first post station for a short break.

The knight in charge of my escort told me the approximate schedule. I clicked my tongue.

“That’s freaking far, really.”

“The roads aren’t properly paved as you go south. At least until the central part of the continent, we can change horses at post stations like this and travel south, but once we enter the borderlands, we won’t have such luxuries.”

So, the group is currently moving at a fairly fast pace.

We need to go as fast as possible where the roads are well-paved and post stations are available.

‘It’s already been more than ten days since I left Crossroads. And now, another three weeks on top of that?’

That means I’ll be away from the front for over a month.

I believe Lucas will do well, and the support party, including Reina, is also there.

I think there won’t be any major problems with the front line operations themselves, but…

‘Still… I can’t help but feel uneasy…’

I opened the system window after a long time and turned on the enemy information window for the next stage.

The enemy information was displayed, probably because the party members had gone on autonomous explorations.

[Enemy Information – STAGE 7]

– Lv.32 Giant Salamander: 10

– Lv.24 Salamander: 410

– Time until start: 10 days

The next stage is a salamander legion.

Fire-breathing newts.

They burn down wooden fences, so the kill zone strategy can’t be used, making them not very easy opponents, but they are much easier compared to the gargoyle-vampire-wyvern guys we fought recently.

‘Ten days from now.’

It’s confirmed that the defense battle will be fought without me.

I let out a big sigh.

My guys, they can do it, right?

***

Ten days later.

Crossroads, the southern front. On the ramparts.

“…”

Lucas swallowed hard, looking at the field outside the ramparts, which was ablaze with fire.

Thump- Thump- Thump-

The monsters that attacked this time were a salamander legion.

The giant fire newts, the Giant Salamanders, which acted as boss monsters, were each as big as a large house.

The Giant Salamanders, moving their heavy legs, approached the center of the field, lowered their posture, and shot out crimson fireballs from the three holes on their backs.

Bang! Whoosh! Whoosh!

It was like a giant biological cannon.

There were a total of ten of these guys. The volley of fireballs they fired simultaneously fell onto the ramparts.

If they hit directly, the ramparts would be completely burned, but fortunately, there were defensive measures on this side as well.

“Haa!”

The support troops dispatched from the Imperial City. A five-person magic corps officer party.

Reina, the leader, created a huge tornado, and her party members assisted.

Thwack! Thwack-!

The fireballs blocked by the huge tornado scattered in the air.

Soldiers screamed as fireballs and wind collided overhead, scattering flames everywhere.

Reina, who kept summoning tornadoes, became annoyed.

“Hey, acting commander! How long are you going to just keep blocking! We don’t have infinite magic power either!”

“…”

Lucas clenched his mouth and glared at the Giant Salamanders.

During the defense battles here, almost all the monsters had engaged in melee combat.

Even if there were individuals that projected firepower from a distance, they were all within our range. We could respond with counter-fire.

But the Giant Salamanders had a much longer range.

They were unilaterally bombarding us with fireballs from outside the range of the cannons on the ramparts.

There were only three means of attack that could reach those guys from these ramparts.

Bang-!

The first was Damian’s sniping.

Damian fired two shots from his magic rifle [Black Queen], knocking down two Giant Salamanders.

Ash had told him to fire only three shots before he left, so he saved the last one and continued sniping with other weapons, but the Giant Salamanders’ durability was stronger than expected.

They didn’t fall easily with other magic rifles.

Whoosh!

The second was Junior’s magic.

The magic attributes that Junior could handle were three: lightning, wind, and water.

Among them, Junior shot out water attribute magic, which was the opposite of fire.

A strong stream of water repeatedly slammed into the Giant Salamanders’ bodies, and the Giant Salamanders, unable to withstand it for long, fell with heavy screams.

That’s how three Giant Salamanders were defeated.

“Haa, haa! Cough, cough!”

However.

It was naturally strenuous to cast long-range magic at an opponent that was far away, out of reach of the cannons. Junior coughed up blood violently.

“…”

Reina looked at him with displeasure.

The last, third means was Reina. But Reina was in charge of defense in this defense battle, blocking the enemy’s fireballs.

It wasn’t just the Giant Salamanders that were spewing fireballs.

Regular salamanders were also approaching and continuously spitting fire. Regular soldiers were catching them as they appeared, but the attacks were relentless.

The moment Reina was mobilized for attack, the ramparts would become a sea of fire.

In the end, there were only two possible means of attack. Damian was running out of ammunition for his magic rifle, and Junior’s condition was at its worst.

“…No choice.”

Lucas gritted his teeth and pressed his helmet onto his head.

“I’ll go out and deal with the remaining five Giant Salamanders. Evangeline!”

“I’ve been waiting, old man!”

Evangeline grinned and readjusted her spear and shield. Evangeline was wearing her usual thick golem armor.

“Are you saying you’re going out there alone, acting commander? Are you out of your mind?”

Reina asked, dumbfounded.

The outside of the ramparts was a sea of fire. Moreover, there were still over a hundred regular salamanders left.

Are two knights going to rush out into such a place? Are they out of their minds?

“Do you have any other good means, Lady Reina?”

Lucas, drawing the large sword he had newly received from Ash—Karma Eater—stared at Reina with cold, calm eyes.

“Then, since our means of attack are exhausted, are we just going to keep getting bombarded like this?”

“…”

“If the cannons can’t reach them, then we have to intercept them with our bodies. What else can we do?”

Reina clicked her tongue, thinking it was a typical muscle-brain knight approach.

But Lucas’s words made sense.

We couldn’t just sit here and keep blocking fireballs forever.

‘Still, going out with just two people…’

Reina shook her head, watching the two knights go down to the first floor and mount their horses.

Whether it was an expression of confidence or the recklessness of youth, it would soon be revealed.

Lucas and Evangeline, who had mounted their horses, exchanged glances while waiting for the gate to open. Evangeline grinned playfully.

“It would be nice to have a few more sturdy melee warrior comrades.”

“I agree. It would be nice to have just three more.”

Five people make a party.

If we could form a melee party made up of strong warriors, their usefulness would be greatly increased in the future.

Suddenly, the faces of those who had fallen in the last vampire defense battle flashed before his eyes.

If only a few more had survived then…

“…”

Lucas closed his eyes tightly, then opened them to shake off the distracting thoughts, and shouted to the ramparts.

“Damian! I’m counting on you for cover!”

“Leave it to me!”

“Lily! Put all the artifacts you can on us!”

“Activating!”

“Margherita! Shield magic, please!”

“Blessings of light… !”

“And, Junior!”

Lucas pointed his finger at Junior, who was wiping the blood from his mouth.

“Rest!”

“…”

Junior’s expression soured. Reina, who was watching this scene, chuckled without realizing it.

Thump-thump-

The gate opened, and

“Giddy up! Let’s go!”

“Yahoo-! It’s salamander hunting-!”

Lucas and Evangeline spurred their horses and dashed out of the gate like arrows.

Towards the two knights, hundreds of monsters simultaneously spewed flames.