I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 218

Crossroads was peaceful.

Ash, the lord and commander, had ordered an evacuation, and a shelter was set up in the northeast of the city.

Citizens were packing their belongings and evacuating to the shelter, which was well-equipped with clean water, food, and various facilities.

Despite the situation being an evacuation, there was no worry or fear on the faces of the citizens.

That was because, in the past six months since Ash’s appointment, Crossroads had not allowed any external invasions.

There had been eight defensive battles in Crossroads, and nine if you included the battles against the black spider legion at the forward base.

Under Ash’s command, the monsters had been cleanly repelled, and even though soldiers were killed or injured, the city itself had not suffered any damage.

Therefore, the citizens did not feel the increasing threat of the monsters.

They were accepting this evacuation order as an extension of the safety-first policy that had been in place.

The summer sun was warm, and a relaxed atmosphere permeated the city.

The same was true at the temple.

The priests had relaxed expressions as they carried bandages, holy water, and potions to the temporary medical facilities set up at the shelter.

Only the Saintess Margherita had a dark expression.

“Damian…”

In front of Margherita, Damian was squatting with a blank face.

On the day Ash left with his group, he had ordered the handcuffs to be removed, but Damian was living as if he were still wearing them.

He was holed up in his room, not moving at all.

“Damian, we’re moving all the patients here to the shelter. You have to go too.”

“…”

Damian, who had been silent, opened his mouth for the first time today.

“What about the front lines?”

“Huh?”

“They’re forming the final defense line on the walls, right? Can’t I go there?”

“His Highness told me to check if your condition is improving and then decide.”

In the meantime, Damian had aimed his gun at his allies twice.

Ash judged that the risk of Damian shooting at allies was greater than his advantage as a sniper.

So, he had excluded him from this defense battle altogether.

Margherita glanced at Damian.

“And from what I see, you still don’t look well.”

“…”

“Let’s go to the shelter together, Damian.”

Damian remained silent. Margherita sighed softly.

“If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to drag you to the shelter. Is that what you want?”

“…I’ll go. To the shelter.”

A look of relief flashed across Margherita’s face.

But the next words from Damian made her frown immediately.

“So, give me back my magic rifle… Black Queen.”

Even though the Black Queen was the cause of this mess, Damian wanted to hold that magic rifle again.

Because then, he could see the dream of his lost loved one… the face of the other half again.

But Margherita coldly shook her head.

“His Highness ordered me not to return that gun no matter what.”

“…”

“Damian, this is a decision His Highness made for your sake. You know that, right?”

Damian curled up on the bed.

“…I’ll just stay here.”

“Huh?”

“The monsters will be defeated by His Highness… and the others anyway, right? Is there really a need to evacuate?”

In fact, most of the citizens of the city thought so. Margherita also secretly thought so.

Ash would pull it off this time too. Just like he always had.

‘But, it’s a leader’s job to prepare for the worst.’

As the head priest, Margherita intended to faithfully follow Ash’s orders.

And while everyone else was leaving for the shelter, only Damian was being uncooperative.

‘How should I persuade him…’

If he kept resisting, she would have no choice but to call people to move him by force. As Margherita was thinking,

“Is something the matter, Saintess?”

Someone peeked into Damian’s room.

It was Kureha, Kuilan’s older brother, who was using the next room. He was moving luggage, leaning on a crutch with his thin left leg.

Thanks to his volunteering to continue helping with the temple’s work, Kureha was now being treated as a clerical assistant at the temple. Margherita smiled wryly.

“Mr. Kureha. Well…”

“…Ah.”

Kureha, having roughly guessed the situation from the sight of Damian curled up and not moving and Margherita sitting in front of him, limped into the room.

“It’s about the evacuation, right? I’ll try to persuade Damian. Saintess, you go take care of other tasks.”

“Huh? But…”

“The evacuation is supposed to be completed by tomorrow anyway, right? I’ll try to persuade him by tomorrow.”

Margherita, who had been hesitating, nodded and got up. She had a lot of other things to do anyway.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to me.”

After Margherita left, Kureha limped over to Damian and sat on a chair.

“This is the first time we’re properly introducing ourselves, right, Damian?”

Kureha smiled gently. Damian glanced up at Kureha.

A beastman with red braided hair, a body emaciated from illness, and a particularly thin left leg.

He was an irrelevant person. He didn’t know why he was suddenly acting friendly. Damian lowered his gaze.

“…No matter what you say, I’m just going to stay here. If the front lines are pushed back by the monsters, I’ll just let them crush me…”

“What a coincidence. I was actually planning to do the same.”

“…?”

Confused by what he was saying, Damian looked at Kureha blankly. Kureha shrugged.

“I didn’t want to go to the shelter either. Instead, I wanted to stand on the front lines and help, but my leg is like this. So, I’ll just stay here with you.”

“Why… why?”

“My younger brother is out there fighting the monsters right now. My brother is risking his life, and his older brother is running away because he might fail? That’s not right, is it? I’m just going to stay here too.”

Kureha looked around left and right, then put his hand next to his mouth and whispered in a low voice.

“Let’s stay in this city together!”

Damian stared at Kureha with bewildered eyes.

***

Whoosh!

Jormungandr crossed the river.

It was a fairly wide river with fierce rapids, but Jormungandr crossed it without any concern, cutting through the water.

The penal troops, who were working on Jormungandr’s body, paused for a moment and enjoyed the cool spray of water.

“Phew!”

“So refreshing!”

“We can take a shower, and the snake’s back is quite comfortable too?!”

The penal troops, who were joking and giggling, then turned to look to the side one by one.

Clang… clang… clang…

The figures of Lucas and Kuilan, swaying and swinging their pickaxes, came into view.

The duel between the two, which had started last night, had continued through the night and until the sun was high in the sky.

Like zombies, they swayed and swung their pickaxes in turns.

“…”

“…”

They should be stopped soon, but they didn’t even pretend to listen no matter what was said.

It was then, as the penal troops were looking at each other, at a loss for words.

Swish-

Thud!

With the sound of a hook absorbing silver thread, Evangeline flew in using a grappling hook launcher.

It was a swift movement like a flying squirrel.

“Is everyone doing well? My senior said that the destruction speed around the center has slowed down, so he told me to come and see what’s going on… but…”

Evangeline clicked her tongue as she saw Lucas and Kuilan, who were swinging their pickaxes slowly with exhausted looks.

“Ah~ I see. I see. It’s a pride battle, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Knight. They’ve been like that all night…”

“There’s a good solution for this.”

Evangeline quickly ran behind Lucas and Kuilan, then,

Whack! Whack!

She smacked the back of their heads with her shield. It was a merciless blow, without any mercy or consideration.

“Keuheek…?!”

“E, Evangeline, what… are you doing…”

Thud.

The two giants collapsed to the ground.

They fell as if they had fainted, and then they lost consciousness and fell into a dead sleep.

“It’s a crisis where the world might end, and they’re having a pride battle, how foolish…”

Evangeline, who had retrieved her shield, snorted and turned to the penal troops.

“Okay~ that’s a draw. Right?”

“Yes, yes… that’s right…!”

The penal troops answered in fear.

Evangeline, who had subdued those two scary people with a murderous force, was too terrifying.

“Let them sleep for three hours and then wake them up to resume work. Oh, and this is a new work tool. I’ll explain how to use it now, so listen carefully.”

Evangeline handed out new drills to the penal troops and explained how to use them.

The penal troops listened to Evangeline’s lecture in an attention stance.

“Now, we have less than half the time left. Stay focused, and if those two try to do anything weird again, you guys stop them. Got it?”

“Yes!”

“Good! Let’s resume work!”

The penal troops awkwardly grabbed the drills and started destroying the parts, and Evangeline corrected their postures one by one.

***

The second day passed even faster, and it was already evening.

I looked up and surveyed my surroundings.

Jormungandr, having crossed the river, had entered a forest area.

Tall trees fell down in droves along the snake’s path.

It was annoying that broken trees were constantly falling overhead, but it was much better than the rock bombardment of the first day.

I was roughly clearing away the large branches that fell from time to time with a swing of my magic blade, and I was looking at the system window.

[Jormungandr – Part Destruction Progress]

– First Center: 86%

– Second Center: 42%

– Third Center: 67%

‘The two mages on the head side are doing well on their own…’

Looking at the head of Jormungandr in the distance, magical light was flashing. The progress was the fastest there, so I didn’t think I needed to worry about that side.

‘The tail here is fine, and if I just increase the speed of part destruction in the center, I should be able to finish within the time limit without any major problems…?’

The gimmick was unique, but this defense battle seemed like it would end without any major issues.

I was thinking this to myself when,

“Hey~! Ash!”

I heard Kellybay calling. I turned around.

Swish- Thud!

Kellybay, who had hooked onto the tail end and climbed up, shouted excitedly.

“Listen, listen! I was wandering around here and there to see if there was anything else to mine?!”

Well, you’ve been doing that since yesterday.

“Did you find something new?”

“I sure did! When I went down there, I found Jormungandr’s huge anus!”

“An… what?”

I thought I had misheard for a moment, but Kellybay explained it again.

“I said there was a butthole, a butthole! Can’t you hear me?!”

“…Ah, yes. No. I can hear you.”

“Hey, don’t make that disgusted face! Jormungandr is basically a magical creature! How else would such a huge body maintain itself by eating? This guy doesn’t absorb nutrients through meals! It’s not the kind of digestive system you’re thinking of!”

If it’s not a digestive system, why are you calling it a butthole…?

“It absorbs mana from the atmosphere through its mouth, and it gathers the non-mana stuff and excretes it out the back!”

“I… I understand, so just tell me the point. What did you find?”

“Anyway, isn’t it a dwarf’s nature to go into a cave if they see one? So I quickly went inside!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, why did you go in there!”

I couldn’t help but swear. But Kellybay didn’t care and grinned.

“And then, look! Look what I picked up!”

Kellybay put something he had been carrying on his back on the ground. I recoiled in horror.

“Don’t come near me! It’s going to smell!”

“It doesn’t smell! More importantly, look at this!”

What Kellybay had taken out of Jormungandr’s anus and placed on the ground in front of me was…

“It’s our friend, Nameless!”

A familiar dungeon merchant NPC with long white hair and wearing tattered robes.

“…?”

Nameless, who had been limp and lifeless, raised his trembling face and looked at me, then weakly waved his hand.

“Long time no see, Ash.”

“…Huh?”

I was blank for a moment, not understanding the situation.

Then I yelled.

“Why are you coming out from there?!”

So… that… thing…

…

Why are you coming out from ‘there’-?!