I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 202

Among the hero characters at the forefront, enduring the Slime Emperor’s attacks, were some who had newly joined the front lines.

“Huh? Ugh?! Krrgh! Eek!”

Elise gripped the tonfas [a type of martial arts weapon] she had taken from her sword case in both hands, making strange noises that were unlike her usual self, barely managing to fend off the tentacles.

She had faced humans countless times, but she had never had the opportunity to fight such a monstrous being.

Especially not one this huge.

‘It’s much harder than I thought…?!’

The monster’s attacks were completely different from those of humans.

Humans have limits to their height, limits to the range of motion of their joints, and limits to the length of their arms and weapons.

But the monster had none of that.

The tentacles stretched out as if they were infinite, and the paths of their attacks drew bizarre trajectories. Moreover, the power was,

Bang!

It was like throwing a siege ram.

Elise, gritting her teeth, was pushed back. After blocking a series of attacks, her arms were going numb.

‘Are these kinds of monsters constantly attacking, and they’re holding them back…?’

Elise stood directly on the ramparts to get a more accurate grasp of the situation on the front lines.

And the conclusion she came to was as follows:

‘What kind of crazy shit is this…?!’

Bang-!

A tentacle that flew in shattered one of Elise’s tonfas. As Elise panicked, tentacles poured down on her in succession.

‘I’m done for-?!’

At that moment, Quillan rushed in front of Elise.

Whack! Whack! Wham!

Quillan swung his fists and feet, striking the tentacles. With the sound of air bursting, the tentacles bounced away.

“You’re having a hard time, swordswoman! Just by looking, it seems like you’re a newbie when it comes to fighting giant monsters!”

Quillan shook his red ponytail and smiled at Elise.

“Is there a need to work so hard and risk your life? Just do it more casually~”

“……”

Elise narrowed her dark blue eyes.

In this battlefield where everyone was risking their lives, Quillan and his party members were noticeably half-hearted.

From a distance, it might seem like they were all working hard to block the monsters, but up close, it was clear.

Quillan’s party pretended to block the tentacles with their shields and rolled around on the ground dramatically, but they were only pretending to fight without any real effort.

“I appreciate you saving me, but… is there a reason why you’re fighting so half-heartedly?”

“Haha! What changes if we fight hard? Are they going to give us medals for being patriots who diligently defended the empire?”

Quillan scoffed, casually kicking away a tentacle.

“We’re a penal unit that’s substituting our sentences with service. We’re not proper imperial citizens, just a bunch of criminal bandits.”

“……”

“We get the same pay whether we do it properly or not, so why risk our lives to defend another country’s territory? It’s enough to just tag along.”

It was annoying, but Elise thought it was a predictable reaction.

In the first place, they weren’t regular soldiers, and not even mercenaries who were paid to fight.

They were bandits who had been preying on others to survive.

It seemed that Prince Ash had hired them based solely on their combat abilities, but that was a hasty judgment.

Even if he didn’t expect pride or loyalty from them, more crucially, they lacked a ‘reason’.

A reason to fight with all their might on this monster front.

“You don’t seem to be affiliated with this place either. There’s no reason for you to fight so hard, right? Let’s just do it half-heartedly together~!”

Quillan chuckled and casually waved his leg.

Since the strongest attacks were being blocked by the two knights at the forefront, he planned to just pretend to fight and let time pass.

Indeed, time passed by, and the attacks directed at Quillan and his party members gradually decreased.

Quillan’s party became more and more lax.

And.

In a battle against giant monsters, a careless mindset like ‘just enough’ or ‘half-hearted’ is, in other words, negligence,

“Huh?”

Leads directly to death.

Whirr!

Because he had kicked with his right foot, Quillan was standing with only his left foot on the ground.

But a tentacle that had approached stealthily wrapped around his left ankle.

“Huh? Uh, uh, uh?”

And then—it pulled him.

Whack! Thump, thump!

“Uwaaaah?!”

Quillan screamed as he fell over dramatically. His large body, caught by the tentacle, was being helplessly dragged towards the slime’s main body.

“Boss?!”

“This is crazy, save the boss-“

Quillan’s party members, who had also been pretending to swing their blunt weapons half-heartedly, were horrified and tried to save Quillan, but,

Whirr! Whirr!

“Hiiiik?! L-let go of me!”

“Cut it! Cut it! Hurry!”

The party members who had rushed to Quillan’s side were also entangled by other tentacles and dragged in together.

Elise, in a panic, tried to swing her tonfas to save them, but the tentacles wrapped around her in succession, and she was helpless.

Crack.

A huge hole opened in the center of the Slime Emperor’s body. It was like a mouth.

The tentacles were pulling Quillan’s party towards that hole.

In the end,

“Uwaaaah…!”

“Save me…!”

Leaving behind only echoing screams, the five members of Quillan’s party were dragged into the Slime Emperor and—

Glurp!

They were swallowed.

“……”

“……”

The remaining heroes and soldiers, who were fighting covered in blood, could only stare blankly at this scene.

***

“Hoo……”

I held my aching head and was lost in thought.

I had managed to persuade the ordinary bandits of the penal unit to return to the front lines, but they were still fighting terribly. Their morale also seemed low.

– I don’t want to die to a monster like that on the front lines of another country!

‘Another country, huh…’

The hero characters I had recruited so far were all affiliated with the empire. But these guys were different.

They were fundamentally outsiders who harbored ill feelings towards the empire. And this was the empire’s southern front.

It was inevitable that they would feel resistance to risking their lives to fight here.

For these people, simply guaranteeing their pay or exempting them from punishment would not be enough to earn their true loyalty.

One step further.

A deeper understanding and encouragement were needed. I realized that only now.

‘I was immature.’

In the future, I plan to gather many more people who have been marginalized by the empire under my command.

And all of them cannot be integrated into the army here with mere material rewards.

To gain loyalty from the heart, a more proactive embrace is needed.

‘It’s difficult, being a commander.’

I rubbed my forehead, realizing it anew.

‘In the game, I could just throw money around and everyone would be loyal! Give them a salary and occasionally throw them some gift items!’

Reality was much more complex than the game.

So, what should I do to make these bandits truly loyal to this front line? As I was pondering this,

“Uwaaaah?!”

Quillan’s scream was heard.

I was startled and looked ahead to see Quillan’s party of five being dragged away by the Slime Emperor’s tentacles. What the heck?!

‘Is that a grab pattern from a boss-level slime?!’

Grab & Swallow.

It was one of the common patterns of boss-level slimes.

If a character does not make a clear attack or defense within the slime’s melee range for more than 3 turns, the slime judges that the character is preparing a threatening means, and it will prioritize grabbing and swallowing them into its body.

‘No, that’s why I sent melee characters with blunt weapons and shields to block! There’s no reason for that pattern to appear! They just need to defend diligently!’

In the game, 3 turns is 10 minutes in reality. They would have to neither attack nor defend properly for 10 minutes to become the target of that grab pattern…

‘Could it be, these bastards…’

They were just pretending to fight and slacking off in front of the Slime Emperor-?!

Bang! Bang-!

Damien urgently fired a sniper shot to try and stop the tentacles, but other tentacles quickly entangled and dragged Quillan’s party away.

In the end,

“Uwaaaah…!”

“Save me…!”

Glurp!

All five were swallowed…

“…I’m going crazy, really.”

I groaned, holding my forehead. What should I do with these bastards…?

The Slime Emperor, having swallowed Quillan’s party, retracted all the tentacles it had been wielding.

At the same time, its body, which had been flowing like a water droplet, began to harden.

It was switching to ‘digestion mode’ after swallowing its victims.

The digestion time was also 3 turns.

In 10 minutes, Quillan and his party would be completely dissolved, not even a bone left, and become nutrients for the Slime Emperor.

“Junior! How much time is left for [Elemental Disassembly]?”

I shouted, and Junior, who was surrounded by mages preparing his ultimate skill, replied immediately.

“10 minutes, Your Highness!”

…Coincidentally, Junior’s ultimate skill would also be ready in 10 minutes.

“My lord.”

Lucas, who had rushed to me, said concisely.

“Let them be.”

“What?”

“I mean, let those bandits be digested by the slime.”

Lucas glanced at the Slime Emperor, whose body was hardening.

“I heard that slimes don’t attack when they’re digesting their prey. It seems like that’s the case now.”

“……”

“It will take at least 10 minutes to digest, so if we use Junior’s and Reina’s magic at that time, we can cleanly defeat the boss monster.”

“There are people trapped inside, Lucas.”

“They are bandits who have no intention of fighting properly.”

Lucas showed me the injuries all over his body. There was no place that wasn’t damaged by the splashed acid.

“They were the ones who only pretended to fight while others around them were fighting and bleeding. Even if we save them, will they change in the future? They will only continue to cause trouble if they stay on this front line.”

“……”

“You said we should give them a last chance, my lord? In my opinion, they have already thrown that chance away themselves.”

I had no rebuttal.

Even if they had just defended diligently, that grab pattern wouldn’t have appeared.

It was Quillan’s party themselves who had driven themselves to death.

“If we let those five be digested, we can end this defense battle easily. We won’t have to suffer any more damage.”

“……”

“My lord.”

I looked at the soldiers on the defense line.

There wasn’t a single soldier who hadn’t been injured while blocking the giant slime with their bodies.

Even Evangelin, who had the best defense among us, was exhausted and panting while sitting down.

If we let Quillan’s party be digested, the other soldiers could end this without dying or getting hurt.

Five bandits who were given a chance but didn’t fight properly, who harbored resentment towards this front line, and who dug their own graves.

“……”

I turned my head and looked at the ordinary bandits of the penal unit.

Their faces were as white as sheets, frozen, and looking at me.

The most disorganized group who were the first to run away when all the other soldiers were bravely fighting at the front.

If we had to use a discardable piece, it would be them.

On the front lines, the weight of life is not equal. As the commander of the front lines, I must strictly weigh and judge that balance.

I knew that from my past gaming experience.

“…Okay.”

My hesitation didn’t last long. I opened my mouth.

“I’ll save them anyway.”

A bright relief swept across the faces of the bandits. Lucas’s face crumpled.

“Why, my lord? That is an irrational decision.”

After letting out a sigh,

I reluctantly replied.

“That bastard Quillan, he got swallowed with two new SSR items……”