I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 191

5 vs 5. A party PVP [Player versus Player].

Like any team game, the composition of the teams greatly affects the outcome in this kind of setup.

The bandits’ team has one grappler, two warriors, and two archer rogues.

Our team has one commander, two knights, one sniper, and one mage.

The biggest difference between us?

Whoosh!

Obviously, it’s whether or not we have a mage!

The giant wave that Junior summoned swept over the bandits. In fact, that was already game over.

The bandits, caught in the torrent, couldn’t even put up a fight and just floundered and fell.

“Ugh, I’m getting dizzy…”

Junior grabbed his forehead and staggered as soon as he used his magic. What was the point of all those health foods he’s been eating if he’s going to be like that?

Tadat, tadat, tadat!

Just then, the sound of light footsteps rang out, and Kuilan was seen narrowly escaping the wave’s attack range.

Kuilan looked back at his subordinates, who were being swept away by the wave, and burst out in frustration.

“Damn it! Mages are cheating!”

What’s cheating? How much money did I spend to hire Junior? Isn’t it also a skill to recruit and operate strategic weapons?

Anyway, Kuilan, befitting his reputation as the Bandit King, broke through the magic and jumped out. I reached out my hand.

“We need to capture that guy alive. Be gentle.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Damian took aim with his magic rifle.

Uh… Damian? Didn’t I say we need to capture him alive?

“…Slow.”

With Damian’s short but pretentious words, a magic bullet was fired.

Thwack-!

The fired magic bullet was aimed at Kuilan’s feet. If the idea was to injure his legs to subdue him, it wasn’t a bad idea, but…

Kiiing!

The problem is, the opponent is a grappler class.

Kuilan wrapped magic power around both hands and drew a large, round circle.

The magic bullet, sucked into his magic-wrapped hands, drew a strange trajectory, spun around in Kuilan’s hands, and then spun out again.

Kuilan’s passive skill, [Maple Leaf Deflection]!

Grapplers all have parrying skills that nullify enemy attacks.

But this guy Kuilan’s passive skill goes one step further.

It ‘counters’ the enemy’s attack!

“Whoa?!”

Damian was horrified to see the magic bullet returning along the same trajectory it was fired.

It not only nullifies all kinds of attacks, regardless of their power, but also returns them to the enemy, making it a truly broken skill.

‘I guess a job that relies on punches wouldn’t be able to stand on the battlefield without a broken skill like this!’

Although the skill cooldown is quite long, so continuous use is impossible!

Still, to reflect the Black Queen’s magic bullet!

Damian hurriedly fired another shot from the Black Queen at the returning magic bullet.

Thwack-!

The returned magic bullet and the newly fired magic bullet collided in mid-air and exploded.

“Kuh! Calm down, Oloop…! Don’t go wild!”

Perhaps due to the aftereffects of firing two shots in a row, the Black Queen trembled, emitting a black aura from its barrel.

Damian was struggling to calm his magic rifle.

In the meantime, Evangeline rushed forward. Evangeline grinned, her green eyes narrowed like a mischievous child.

“You might get a little hurt, you know? Mr. Bandit!”

“I’ll return those words right back to you, Sir Knight.”

Kuilan chuckled lowly, spread his legs, lowered his stance, and then reached out his hand and beckoned.

“You might get hurt? More than anything, I’m feeling-”

Below the X-shaped scar on his forehead, Kuilan’s tiger-like eyes gleamed.

“Incredibly lucky today!”

Kuilan’s fist shot out like a flash of light towards the charging Evangeline. Evangeline naturally brought up her shield to meet the attack.

That’s when it happened. A red aura wrapped around Kuilan’s two fists. I held my breath.

“Hmm.”

I already knew Kuilan’s skill set, but I didn’t bother advising my party members.

I thought that our party’s current level was high enough to win even if they fought without knowing. Facing an unknown enemy is also a learning experience.

But I thought I should tell them about that skill. I shouted to Evangeline.

“Don’t block that attack, Evangeline! You have to dodge it!”

“Huh? What do you mean-”

But Kuilan’s gauntlet-clad fist had already hit Evangeline’s shield.

Thwack-!

A loud sound rang out, and while Evangeline’s shield remained unchanged, the armor on Evangeline’s left arm, which was holding the shield, was shattered to pieces.

Evangeline’s big eyes widened.

“Wha, wha-what?!”

It’s Kuilan’s first skill, [Maple Leaf Shatter].

The moment his fist makes contact, magic power penetrates inside the opponent’s armor, bypassing the armor and dealing damage directly.

It’s like the penetrating force of the internal martial arts (內家拳) principle in martial arts novels.

In this world where plate armor and defensive magic are rampant, it’s an invaluable skill for a crazy job like a grappler who goes to the battlefield relying on just two fists.

Kuilan leaped to Evangeline’s side as she was flustered.

His movements were so delicate and smooth that it was hard to believe he was a giant over 2 meters tall.

Whoosh-!

Kuilan’s two fists, which had penetrated Evangeline’s gap in an instant, were thrust forward simultaneously.

The red aura was blazing like fire from the two fists that had already activated [Maple Leaf Shatter].

Not knowing what to do, Evangeline blocked with her shield again,

Bang-!

[Maple Leaf Shatter] passed through the shield and struck Evangeline’s body.

Shockwaves spread in all directions, and Kuilan’s long ponytail whipped back.

“Uweeek!”

Evangeline let out a strange scream and was thrown back like a kite with a broken string.

Even though she knew in her head that she had to dodge, her body, which was skilled in shield techniques, reacted. The fate of a shield knight…

“Hoo-.”

Kuilan, having adjusted his posture with a breath, turned his body, taking a martial arts stance. The muscles that clung to the Bandit King’s body like chainmail rippled.

“Next?”

Lucas was already charging like a beast towards Kuilan.

Lucas, who had charged violently, swung his longsword down in a rough manner.

There was no trace of his usual clean swordsmanship, only beast-like movements as if he was trying to bite and kill his opponent. It seems that the beastification state is still lingering.

Clang!

But the power was certain.

The longsword shattered Kuilan’s gauntlet, sending red sparks flying. Kuilan clicked his tongue and shook off the shattered gauntlet.

“This one isn’t a knight, but more like a berserker from the West?”

“Shut your mouth, bandit.”

Flames rose from the longsword in Lucas’s hand. It was the sword aura of [Karma Eater].

“For the crime of daring to kidnap my lord, you deserve to be executed a hundred times!”

No, I said capture him alive. Don’t execute him.

“If he’s so precious, you should have protected him properly…”

Kuilan, who had been dodging Lucas’s sword strikes with nimble movements, kicked out with a flashy kick.

“You left him on the road, so he got taken by a villain like me!”

A red aura surged from the tip of his metal boot. Lucas pulled back his body, tilting his upper body back to narrowly avoid the kick.

In that gap, Kuilan quickly distanced himself, catching his breath, and a red aura began to surge all over his body.

Kuilan’s second skill, [Maple Leaf Infusion].

It’s a self-buff skill that increases the speed of all movements and adds additional damage.

“Shall we play, Sir Knight!”

Kuilan shouted cheerfully and charged at Lucas. Lucas growled lowly like a beast and charged back.

Lucas’s sword strikes, which had been beastified, were powerful but lacked precision.

Kuilan, whose movements had been sped up by his self-buff, dodged all of those sword strikes by a hair’s breadth, and with his bare hands, he continuously struck Lucas’s armor.

Bang! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

It sounded like fireworks exploding.

Kuilan had lost his weapon, the gauntlet, so his attack power was greatly reduced. But grapplers can still inflict damage on their opponents with their bare hands.

As the damage accumulated beyond the armor, Lucas’s face gradually contorted.

“…”

Hmm.

Everyone’s in bad shape, so they’re struggling more than I thought. I guess I have no choice. Should I stop watching and step in?

That’s when it happened. Someone rushed in behind the two men who were closely exchanging swords and fists.

It was Evangeline.

“Mr. Lucas!”

Evangeline yelled.

“Grab him!”

“…!”

Lucas threw the longsword in his hand to the side, lowered his stance, and tackled Kuilan, who was about to kick.

“Cough?!”

Kuilan was caught, perhaps not expecting Lucas to throw away his sword and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Kuilan stammered with a flustered face.

“W-wait, wait, wait a minute-!”

Evangeline swung what she was holding in her hand towards the back of Kuilan’s head.

“Uryaah!”

It was a shield.

Thwack!

“…”

Kuilan’s nose bled profusely after being hit squarely on the back of the head with the shield.

“That’s strange… I wasn’t, unlucky today…”

Kuilan muttered that and then his eyes glazed over, and he collapsed to the floor with a thud.

“Uh…?”

Evangeline, looking down at Kuilan who had been knocked out in one hit, was rather flustered.

“What, what is it? This bandit guy is really… weak.”

I nodded. Yeah. You finally noticed.

He’s a muscular giant over 2 meters tall, so it’s easy to be fooled by his appearance. Kuilan is actually a grappler who has invested all his stats into agility.

He’s so nimble and deals decent damage, but if he also had good durability, it wouldn’t make sense. His stamina stat is at rock bottom.

He’ll fall with one decent hit. It’s hard to hit him because he’s all in on agility, though.

‘Because of how he looks, everyone gets fooled at first…’

A muscular giant who’s a glass cannon. And a grappler, a melee class, at that. He’s one of the few extreme characters in the game.

‘The grappler class itself is a high-risk job, so it was rarely used in the game, but Kuilan is especially unbalanced among them.’

Still, if you equip him well and set his growth direction well, he’ll be useful.

I shouted to the knights who were tying up the Bandit King and his guards with ropes.

“Tie them up gently! Don’t hurt them. If they get hurt, we won’t be able to use them properly later.”

That sounds like something an evil slave trader would say.

Well, we’re capturing wild bandit monsters, so I guess it’s similar…?

The dawn began to break in the distance. As the refugee village was bathed in the morning sunlight, a swordswoman in a maid outfit was seen running towards us.

“Your Highness!”

It was Elise.

I wondered where she had gone, and behind her, the rest of the bandits were being dragged along, tied up. It seems she had subdued the rest of them by herself. Excellent.

The knights and soldiers who had been captured with me were all released and helped to arrest the bandits and refugees in the village.

And so, by the time the morning sun had fully risen, the village had been subdued.

The bandits and refugees were all tied up like dried fish, sitting with blank faces.

Just yesterday, when I was dragged here, I was the one tied up and they were dragging me, but in just one night, the situation had completely reversed.

“Alright, shall we go back!”

I smiled as I got on my horse with my party members.

“To the fortress city of dreams and hope, Crossroads!”

We began to return to Crossroads, dragging the bandits, whose faces were full of frustration and despair, behind us.