I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 195

“It’s been a while, Nameless. How have you been?”

I managed to calm down the raging Kellybay somehow.

I approached Nameless, pretending to be friendly.

‘This guy is the dungeon merchant NPC who sells all sorts of items in the dungeon!’

Last time, she gave me two SSR-grade [Super Super Rare] equipment for free. I’m internally judging her to be an incredibly good person.

If I stick close, maybe some more goodies will fall my way!

Nameless shrugged at my greeting.

“Life here in the Lake Kingdom is always the same. Killing monsters, lighting lamps, and… praying.”

Her disheveled white hair and the hood obscured her expression, but I could tell she was wearing a bitter smile.

“I’ve come to repair my equipment today.”

“Equipment?”

“My sword.”

Nameless gestured towards Kellybay’s smithy.

“Kellybay is the only one here who can fix my sword.”

Looking over there, Kellybay was hammering away at an old sword with a grumpy expression.

It was the same old longsword that Nameless always carried on her back.

Clang-! Clang-!

Every time the hammer struck the blade, a dazzling light shone out. It seemed like some kind of magical process was taking place.

“Since it’s been a while, let me give you some advice, Ash.”

Nameless, turning her gaze from the sword being repaired, slowly spoke as she looked at me.

“Some of the Nightmare Legion Commanders are targeting you.”

“Nightmare Legion Commanders?”

“You know that this Lake Kingdom is occupied by monsters, right?”

Of course, I do. It’s a monster field everywhere. If those guys fill this place and overflow, they’ll invade Crossroad.

“There are countless types of monsters in the Lake Kingdom. And each monster legion has a leader—an individual called a Legion Commander.”

Nameless glanced at the path leading away from the base camp.

The path beyond was covered in pitch-black darkness, and nothing could be seen.

“Among those monster legions, the ten most powerful upper forces. The legion commanders up to the 10th rank are called ‘Nightmare Legion Commanders.'”

So, she’s talking about the ten strongest bosses.

I shrugged nonchalantly.

“Those guys are targeting me, you say? Isn’t it natural for monsters to target humans?”

“Yes, it is natural. But Ash, they are specifically trying to kill ‘you.'”

Nameless looked at my party members standing over there.

“You and your companions have already defeated two of the Nightmare Legion Commanders. It’s only natural that they’ve started to be wary of you.”

“…”

“Even if we disregard Oloop, the fact that you defeated Selendion means you’ve become a target in the eyes of the monsters.”

In short, the monster bastards have put a mark on my head. Like a ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’ bounty has been issued.

“The deeper you go into the Lake Kingdom, the easier it will be for them to find your trail, and they’ll send pursuers. In the worst case, a Legion Commander might appear to kill you directly.”

I scoffed and crossed my arms.

“They’re guys I have to kill outside anyway, so isn’t it okay to meet and fight them in advance?”

“This is their home base.”

Nameless shook her head slightly.

“Outside the Lake Kingdom, monsters are restricted in their abilities. But here, they can exert their full power without any restrictions.”

…If they appear as bosses in a defense stage, they get stat debuffs, so they’re manageable, but if we meet them in a dungeon, there’s no such thing?

“I highly value your potential and that of your companions, Ash. More than anything, you’ve done well just by not giving up so far.”

Nameless warned in a gentle but stern voice.

“But with your party’s current level, if you encounter a Nightmare Legion Commander in the darkness here… it will be difficult to guarantee your lives.”

“…”

Suddenly, I remembered when we faced Selendion in the ‘Path of the Defeated’ in this dungeon.

Our party was almost wiped out by Selendion back then.

He was a weirdo who wanted to die himself, so he let us live, but there won’t be such luck next time.

If we encounter a Legion Commander in the dungeon again, we’ll have to fight for our lives.

And the Legion Commanders without stage debuffs will unleash truly nightmarish power.

“The exploration ahead will become even more difficult.”

Of course, it will. From dungeon depth 6, it’s nicknamed the Demon Realm for a reason. Each dungeon is ridiculously difficult.

In this situation, I also have to worry about the movements of the enemy Legion Commanders…

The difficulty level is rising endlessly, like adding toppings to a hamburger. Patty, lettuce, cheese, sauce…

I’m going to burst!

Nameless stared at me intently.

“I won’t laugh if you don’t go any further here and retreat. There have been very few who have come this far.”

“That won’t happen.”

I grinned.

“As long as there’s a path, I’ll never give up on the conquest.”

It’s difficult and terrible, but there’s definitely a way forward.

So, I’ll walk. One step at a time. One step at a time. That’s all there is to it.

“…”

Nameless also gave a faint smile.

“I hope your words are true, and may good fortune be with you and your companions on your path.”

Then, Kellybay shouted from over there.

“Nameless! The repair is done, take it!”

Nameless went over there, took the sword, and then nodded, putting the longsword on her back.

“Good. Thank you always, Kellybay.”

Nameless tried to pay, but Kellybay waved his hand, refusing. Nameless bowed her head slightly.

“And, Ash.”

Nameless, who was about to walk into the darkness beyond the base camp, stopped and said.

“Don’t go this way today.”

I blinked, as I was planning to resume the next dungeon’s conquest from today.

“Huh? Why?”

“I’m going to do a little… cleaning. It’s better not to come this way today. Then.”

Nameless gave a faint smile and disappeared into the darkness. Soon, even the sound of her footsteps faded away.

“…”

Looking at that direction, I turned to Kellybay and asked.

“What exactly is that person’s identity?”

“Huh? You’re being friendly without even knowing that?”

I don’t know her identity, but she gives me directions, hands out items, and gives advice.

It’s like a game veteran helping a newbie, so I’m just gratefully accepting it.

“I don’t know exactly either. Her name is Nameless, after all. And she always looks like that, so I don’t know her face. Her origin and background are all shrouded in mystery.”

Kellybay shrugged.

“She’s always killing monsters and lighting fires at safe points. I heard she’s been doing that long before I came here.”

Right after, Kellybay exclaimed, “Ah!” and added.

“But once, I heard another Lake Kingdom survivor call that woman by a strange title.”

“What did they call her?”

“What was it… Deposed Princess, I think?”

My eyes widened.

Deposed Princess?

Could it be, does that mean she’s the princess of this Lake Kingdom?

‘Wait a minute…’

I suddenly remembered the final stage of the game.

742nd playthrough. Hell difficulty ironman mode.

The scene where Lucas, the only survivor among all the characters I had raised, launched the final attack on the final boss in the final dungeon, ‘Lake Kingdom Royal Castle,’ was vivid in my mind.

And the name of that final boss was, clearly…

‘The Sleepless Lake Princess.’

I suddenly looked at the path where Nameless had disappeared. The darkness was silent, and the back of Nameless, who had disappeared, was no longer visible.

‘…No way, could it be?’

I swallowed hard.

Then, Kellybay slapped my back with his palm. Ouch! Why did you hit me!

“This is for making fun of my bald head, and this is!”

Slap!

Kellybay lightly hit me once more and held out a long staff.

“It’s a penalty for leaving your equipment crafting order and making me keep refining it.”

It was a luxuriously crafted staff, with a blood-red gem embedded at the top. It looked incredibly good at first glance.

As I just kept making sounds like ‘Wow-‘ with my mouth open, Kellybay, acting grumpy, shoved the staff into my arms.

“Ah, don’t make an old man’s arm hurt! Take it quickly!”

A magic staff made from Selendion’s magic core.

I checked the stats. Did I get a cheat item?!

[Lord of Crimson (SSR) Lv.55]

– Category: Magic Staff

– Attack Power: 149-151

– Durability: 10/10

– Intelligence +15, Magic Power +15

– Absorbs essence each time you kill an enemy, storing up to 10.

– You can consume the stored essence to recover HP or MP. (10 percent per essence)

– If you consume 10 essences at once, you can use a random blood magic once.

– ??? (Unlocked based on the number of enemies killed with this weapon)

– ??? (Unlocked based on the number of enemies killed with this weapon)

The base damage is decent, and the stat bonuses are also substantial. It’s very good equipment.

Moreover, as a weapon made from the magic core of a vampire lord, it has an option to absorb essence when killing enemies and use it as a resource.

‘It allows for flexible responses depending on the situation, this is also a cheat if used well…’

I don’t know what kind of blood magic I can use, but Junior will make good use of it.

The problem is that, like [Black Queen], this equipment is also a Nightmare Slayer, so it has a ‘???’ option that unlocks based on the kill count.

I glanced at Damian. Damian was slowly sinking into the darkness of [Black Queen] on his back.

Damian and I made eye contact. Damian hesitated for a moment, then gave me a grin.

“Kukuku…”

“…”

Look at how our innocent Damian’s bright smile has turned into that pretentious, chuunibyou [a Japanese term for someone who acts like a teenager with delusions of grandeur] smile. It’s all because of that weapon.

‘Can he really overcome that and make it his own power…?’

I should stop using this weapon if Junior’s kill count gets too high.

Anyway, it’s extremely useful right now, so I should give it to him.

I called Junior and handed him the staff.

Junior’s eyes widened as he received the staff. The young mage’s mouth dropped open.

“T-This is… really amazing equipment, Your Highness? This amount of magic power is… I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

“You’d recognize it, but it’s equipment made from Selendion’s magic core.”

Junior’s shoulders trembled. His two hands gripping the staff tightened.

“Such a precious thing to me…?”

“It’s a powerful but dangerous piece of equipment. Be careful when handling it.”

Junior, who had been slightly out of it lately from chewing on spinach and tomatoes, had a serious expression for the first time in a while in front of this staff.

Junior nodded deeply.

“Your Highness is the first person to recognize my worth this much… Thank you so much. I will do my best to not let Your Highness regret this… with all my heart and soul!”

“No, stop with the ‘all my heart and soul’.”

He’s not even in good health, what’s with the ‘all my heart and soul’? Don’t do that. Just keep healing your HP with that staff and deal damage from behind comfortably.

Besides that, I placed a new equipment crafting order with Kellybay.

It was equipment to be made with the two vampire general magic cores I got from stage 5. It’s also SSR grade, so powerful equipment will come out.

With the equipment mostly taken care of, the things to do at the base camp were roughly settled.

“Hmm.”

I looked at the darkness where Nameless had disappeared—towards the next depth of the dungeon—and then turned to the opposite side.

It was the direction of the dungeon we had cleared before.

I’ll heed Nameless’s advice, but it’s not good to just go back like this, so I was thinking of lightly going through the dungeon we cleared before for reconnaissance.

I need to know what kind of monster legions will attack in the next defense battle.

I shouted to the main party members who had already finished preparing.

“Alright, everyone, let’s… loosen up a bit after a long time?”

Lucas, Evangeline, Damian, and Junior all raised their torches and lanterns.

And so, we entered the 3rd area dungeon we had cleared before. Entering the dungeon room, I shouted.

“What kind of monsters will be in this season~?”

Then,

Squelch! Squelch!

Something… squishy… jelly-like monsters started rolling towards us from the dungeon entrance.

I involuntarily screamed in terror.

“No, what the hell is this again?!”