I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 209

Upon passing through the magic door, I found myself immediately in the event dungeon—a slime room.

[Event Dungeon – Slime Room]

– Fight and survive against the swarming slimes!

– A horde of slimes is approaching!

– Lv.15 Normal Slime: 30

The dungeon room was a wide-open plain, and slimes began pouring in from all directions, one by one.

“……”

“……”

“……”

However, my party members, who had entered before me, didn’t even glance at the slimes.

Lukas, Evangeline, and Junior were all surrounding Damian, weapons drawn.

Swoosh…….

All the darkness within the event dungeon room gathered, swirling around Damian like a thick fog.

It was similar to Damian’s sleepwalking rampage from yesterday morning, but the amount of darkness swirling around him was incomparably greater.

“What’s going on!”

Lukas calmly reported to me as I urgently shouted.

“As soon as we entered, the darkness inside the dungeon rushed towards Damian. Damian seems to have lost consciousness and isn’t responding at all.”

“Damn it……”

If it were a mental status ailment, my passive skill [Unyielding Commander] would have healed him just by being nearby.

Seeing him still in that state, it seems to be a different kind of affliction altogether.

‘I shouldn’t have brought him to the dungeon when he’s in such bad shape!’

I wanted to keep him within my sight as much as possible, but it seems I misjudged the situation.

This Lake Kingdom dungeon is a stronghold of darkness and nightmares.

It would only worsen Damian’s condition, not improve it……!

Glug, glug…….

A darker and more voluminous black aura than usual poured out from [Black Queen] on Damian’s back, completely enveloping his body.

Damian’s eyes, which were always bright and sparkling, were now dull and unfocused, as if he had lost consciousness.

“Damian! It’s me, Ash! Can’t you recognize me?”

I shouted as I approached, hoping that Damian would regain consciousness even a little.

Roll.

Then, Damian’s unfocused eyes rolled to the side, looking at me, and then,

Smirk.

A wicked sneer, more sinister than ever before, appeared on Damian’s thin lips.

《Damian is having a happy dream right now.》

“……!”

《Do not disturb this child’s happiness, human.》

I knew it instinctively.

‘That’s not’ Damian.

“Damn it……!”

As I muttered involuntarily,

Click!

Damian’s arms, completely consumed by the black aura, grabbed the pistol-type magic gun, [Cerberus], from his waist.

In the blink of an eye, the gun was aimed at me, and,

Bang! Bang-!

It spat out flames.

***

Thud, thud, thud!

The next moment, sparks flew from Evangeline’s shield that was covering me.

Evangeline, who had deflected all the magic bullets with a swing of her shield, gritted her teeth and pointed her magic lance forward.

“Oh my god, he’s completely lost it, hasn’t he? Did Damian just shoot at you, Senior?”

Indeed. We need to re-rank our party’s ‘lost it’ order.

Crunch!

At that moment, Lukas’s loud teeth-grinding echoed through the dungeon room. He looked furious.

“I acknowledge his past contributions, but daring to point a gun at our lord… Damian needs some serious re-education.”

“Damian is unconscious due to the influence of that magic gun.”

I gritted my teeth and pulled out my staff from my cloak.

“We need to subdue him without hurting him.”

I shouted to Junior, who was casting a spell.

“Junior! You handle the slime wave by yourself. Can you do it?”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Junior’s magic is powerful, but too powerful. Damian could get seriously hurt.

While Junior holds back the swarming slimes with his area-of-effect magic, Lukas, Evangeline, and I will subdue Damian with physical attacks. That was my plan.

“Subdue him without hurting him… I don’t know if that’s even possible, Senior.”

Evangeline looked down at her shield, which was dented from deflecting the magic bullets, and smiled bitterly.

“Damian is the strongest spear in our party, you know?”

“And you are the strongest shield I have.”

At my words, Evangeline let out a strange “Eheheh?” laugh.

Then, Lukas glared fiercely.

“What about me, my lord?”

“……The strongest sword I have.”

Satisfied, Lukas also made a “Hmm~” sound and nodded. No, this isn’t the time for this kind of banter.

“We need to take the magic gun off Damian’s back… Let’s go!”

Thwack!

As soon as I finished speaking, Evangeline and Lukas dashed forward.

“I learned anti-sniper tactics to the point of exhaustion at the academy-!”

Damian fired both Cerberuses in rapid succession at Evangeline, who was charging forward with her shield raised. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang-!

Ping! Ping! Ping-!

But Evangeline was a specialist in shield techniques.

She easily deflected all of Cerberus’s weak magic bullets and quickly closed the distance to Damian.

Damian threw the two empty Cerberuses to the ground and drew a third Cerberus and a submachine gun-type magic gun, [Woodpecker], one in each hand.

Then, he fired not at Evangeline, but at the ground where she had stepped.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

The magic bullets that rained down on the ground ricocheted wildly.

Evangeline, who had only been wary of direct shots, couldn’t block or dodge them, and the ricocheting bullets all hit Evangeline’s shins and thighs.

‘He calculated all the ricochet angles from the ground?!’

That crazy clairvoyance! That broken ability! I love it, but it’s a bit much when he’s the enemy!

“Uwaaaah?!”

She wasn’t fatally wounded because she had armor on her legs, but the damage was significant.

Evangeline fell to the ground, blood spurting from her legs. Oh my god, Evangeline!

“Hup!”

Right behind her, Lukas, running like the wind, charged straight at Damian.

“Let’s settle the party hierarchy once and for all, Damian!”

Lukas, activating his 2nd skill [Tenacious Step], was closing the distance by several meters with each step.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

Damian poured all the remaining magic bullets from the Woodpecker, but Lukas took them all head-on and reached Damian’s face. He was already within sword range.

Whoosh-!

Lukas swung his longsword powerfully, still in its scabbard.

It wouldn’t kill him if it hit, but it was a terrifying swing that could easily break a few bones.

But.

Bang!

Damian fired Cerberus, hitting the tip of the swinging sword accurately.

The sword’s trajectory, hit by the magic bullet, was forced to veer sideways, and Lukas’s strike narrowly missed Damian, cutting through the air.

“What……”

Lukas, dumbfounded, swung his longsword again, still in its scabbard, but,

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three more times in a row.

Damian accurately hit the tip of Lukas’s sword, causing its trajectory to veer each time, and each time, Lukas’s strike cut through the air. It was a truly insane feat.

But Cerberus’s magazine was empty.

Without hesitation, Damian threw the magic guns in both hands to the ground and, with a smooth motion, pulled out a long rifle-type magic gun, [Hunter’s Retribution], from his back.

Damian immediately fired the magic gun at Lukas. The muzzle was aimed directly at Lukas’s heart.

Bang-!

Clang!

Evangeline, who had rushed in, extended her shield and deflected the magic bullet.

Immediately after, Lukas swung his longsword down again. Damian, without batting an eye, fired Hunter’s Retribution again, hitting the tip of Lukas’s sword.

Bang! Bang! Bang-!

Clang! Clink! Ping!

Attacks and defenses went back and forth in rapid succession.

Watching this surreal close-quarters duel between two knights and a sniper, I gritted my teeth.

I wasn’t just standing idly by. I was continuously trying to use my 1st skill [Commanding Eye] on Damian to subdue him with mind control.

The problem was that [Commanding Eye] only activates when eye contact is made.

But Damian’s eyes—[Clairvoyance]—seemed to be aware of my intentions, and he kept avoiding my gaze, never making eye contact with me.

If he made eye contact with me even for a split second, the skill would activate, but that damn clairvoyance seemed to be an expert at avoiding my gaze. Damn it!

I thought about throwing the stun dagger [Spirit Crasher] that I received from Elysee yesterday, but even Lukas’s sword strikes were being deflected, so it didn’t seem likely that my dagger throw would hit.

‘At this rate, someone is really going to get seriously hurt……!’

The magazine capacity of [Hunter’s Retribution] is 12 bullets. It will be empty soon.

Then Damian will pull out his last magic gun, [Black Queen]… and someone will definitely get hurt by its immense power.

‘Is there no way to end this situation smoothly……?!’

As I looked around, something caught my eye.

Slimes.

Those jelly-like monsters that Junior was cleaning up with magic.

“……!”

At that moment, an idea struck me like lightning. I snapped my fingers and shouted involuntarily.

“That’s it!”

I immediately shouted to Junior, who was cleaning up the slimes over there.

“Junior! Stop killing the slimes!”

“Huh?”

I urgently ordered Junior, who was looking at me with a puzzled expression.

“Gather them all in one place!”

***

Bang-!

The last bullet from [Hunter’s Retribution] was fired.

“Agh!”

Evangeline’s gauntlet shattered, unable to withstand the continuous impacts, even though she had blocked it with her shield. Evangeline screamed in pain.

“Tch, damn it……”

Lukas also gritted his teeth and groaned.

Lukas and Evangeline’s attacks were limited to subduing, while Damian was firing attacks meant to kill.

The difference in combat power was inevitable. Lukas gritted his teeth and gripped the handle of his longsword.

Did this situation really have to end with bloodshed?

Thud!

Damian, without hesitation, threw the empty [Hunter’s Retribution] to the ground and pulled out the last long rifle he had on his back.

[Black Queen].

The Nightmare Slayer, the most powerful equipment from the Southern Front, and the main culprit of this situation.

Whoosh-!

As Damian pulled out Black Queen and held it in his hand, the black aura that had been surging around his body became even darker.

Gooooooo……!

A sinister energy that made it hard to breathe emanated from the magic gun.

Shing!

Lukas gritted his teeth and drew his longsword from its scabbard.

If he fired that gun, they could no longer swing their swords just to subdue him. They had no choice but to fight with the determination that one of them would die.

Damian, with a smooth motion, raised Black Queen and aimed it directly at Lukas’s forehead.

Lukas stared intently, ready to face the incoming shot.

At that moment, when the sniper and the knight were glaring at each other, preparing their magic bullet and sword strike.

That was when it happened.

Woosh!

Suddenly, dozens of slimes rolled and poured out from behind Damian. The squishy, colorful slimes looked like a landslide.

《……?!》

Startled, Damian immediately turned around and fired Black Queen. Thwack-!

Six slimes were annihilated with a single shot, their cores pierced at once. But there were still plenty of slimes left.

Splatter! Splatter!

The jelly-like slimes stuck to each other and poured down on Damian.

“Go, my slimes-!”

Behind the swarm of slimes stood Ash.

He had used his 1st skill [Dominating Eye] to simultaneously mind-control dozens of slimes and make them attack Damian.

His nose was bleeding from excessive magic use, and he had stuffed tissues up his nostrils, but the Third Prince of the Empire looked rather excited.

“The one slime that survives and subdues Damian, I will make it our permanent ally!”

Splatter! Splatter-!

Woosh!

Whether they understood Ash’s words or not, the slimes surged like a wave.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack-!

Damian frantically fired Black Queen, annihilating dozens of slimes, core and all, but he was eventually overwhelmed by the surviving slimes and…

Splatter-!

《Cough……?!》

He was trapped inside the squishy jelly.

《Are you going to forcibly take away this child’s happy dream……?!》

Damian shouted, his face contorted.

《It would be happier for this child to live in a dream of the past than in this hellish reality……!》

“If you’re sleeping when you shouldn’t be, of course, I have to wake you up, what are you talking about?”

Ash approached Damian, who was struggling to break free, and snatched Black Queen from his hand.

“I’ll confiscate this, so you can come get it after class.”

The darkness that had been surging from the magic gun disappeared as if it were a lie when Ash grabbed it.

Ash finished with a stern face.

“Until then, you’re going to be punished. Damian… stay in there, kneeling with your hands up!”

The remaining slimes poured down on Damian’s struggling body.