I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 219

“Whew, I can finally breathe. Thanks, Ash.”

Nameless, having wiped himself down with the towel I gave him and downed a potion, thanked me and offered a handshake.

“What happened, Nameless? Why were you inside Jormungandr’s stomach?”

I asked Nameless, pointedly ignoring his handshake.

How does one end up having a miraculous rendezvous in a monster’s butt? What on earth happened?

Thwack!

Despite my desperate attempts to escape, Nameless grabbed my hand and shook it. Gyaaaaaaak! Soap! Get me soap!

“I was constantly cutting down the monsters that were trying to flood out of the Lake Kingdom.”

Nameless, shaking my hand up and down with gratitude, began to explain. I quickly searched my bag for a handkerchief.

“Of course, my power alone wasn’t enough… It’s impossible to stop them all. Some continue to escape the Lake Kingdom and invade the human realm, and lately, there are far more monsters than before. The number escaping is also increasing.”

I see. I diligently and thoroughly wiped my hand. Is there any perfume around?

“Anyway, so this time, as always, I tried to stop the monster horde.”

Nameless looked down at the scales of Jormungandr, which he was riding on.

“…This time, it was this snake.”

“Ah….”

Could it be, that’s why.

“I haven’t had the experience of stopping Jormungandr head-on either… Anyway, I tried to stop it.”

“And failed and got eaten?”

“No, I succeeded in stopping it at first. I managed to stop Jormungandr.”

…Really? Are you lying?

How did you stop this big snake all by yourself? You’re bluffing, right? Right?

“But, immediately after… the Wolf King intruded.”

At the sudden name, my eyes twitched.

The Wolf King? If it’s the Wolf King…

“The commander of the werewolf legion, that Wolf King ‘Lunared’?”

“That’s right. You know him well.”

Of course, I know him. He’s a named monster that appears as a boss monster in the game.

The werewolf legion. A monster legion composed of werewolves, an elite monster group that only appears in boss stages.

‘…Could it be that the boss legion we have to face in Stage 10 is the werewolf legion?’

There are no meaningless appearances in this crappy game. Everything is a hint for future progress.

If that’s the case, then after the vampires, it’s the werewolves. What a classic sequence.

“I told you before, Ash. Some of the Nightmare Legion commanders are after your life.”

“Yeah. I remember.”

After killing Oloop and Selendion, they all marked my head and were eager to eat me.

Nameless continued his explanation calmly.

“The Wolf King is one of the most fervent in seeking your life. He kept searching for you inside the dungeon….”

I clicked my tongue. He was a hardcore fan who even stalked me.

“…When he couldn’t find you in the dungeon, he planned this. He devised a strategy to hide his personal guard inside Jormungandr’s body.”

My eyes widened.

Wait a minute, then could it be…

“The Wolf King attacked me after I stopped Jormungandr, and in that gap… the Wolf King’s personal guard jumped into Jormungandr’s mouth.”

“……”

“I couldn’t just watch their scheme, so I jumped into Jormungandr’s closing mouth. And for the next few days, I was fighting those wolves inside Jormungandr’s stomach.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“So, you took care of all those wolves?”

“……”

Nameless, who had been silent, pulled out his old, worn-out longsword from his back and held it up.

“Ash. It’s hard for me to say this myself, but I pride myself on being stronger than anyone else within the Lake Kingdom.”

I don’t know if he’s stronger than anyone else, but it’s a fact that Nameless is quite strong.

“But when I come out of the Lake Kingdom, my abilities are limited. Right now, I’m just an ordinary human who can’t use any magic or miracles.”

“…The reason you’re telling me all this is…?”

“The Wolf King’s personal guard who jumped into Jormungandr’s stomach.”

Nameless mumbled, embarrassed.

“I couldn’t take care of them.”

“Huh?”

“Because I became too weak when I came to the surface… I couldn’t finish them all off. And they escaped Jormungandr’s stomach before I did.”

A chill ran down my spine.

No, wait. Just a minute. That means.

“If you haven’t dealt with them yet….”

Nameless raised his head and scanned the surroundings.

“Those wolves are hiding somewhere in this snake’s body, waiting for an opportunity.”

“…!”

I gritted my teeth and looked up at the sky. Even the sunset was fading, and now the sun was setting.

When night falls,

It’s the time for wolves to hunt.

“Damn it! Suddenly, another hostile monster legion is intruding!”

I shouted, trembling. Didn’t they say there wouldn’t be any dark events? What’s the difference between this and a dark event?!

‘No, this is on a different level than a dark event.’

At least dark events only strengthen the monster legion of the current stage, they don’t bring in other legions.

In other words, this is an even more screwed-up difficulty spike!

I quickly pulled out a small pistol-like device from my pocket.

It was a flare launcher that I had made at the blacksmith’s for this operation.

After loading an orange flare, I pulled it up without hesitation.

Phew- Bang!

The orange flare soared into the darkening sky and exploded.

***

“Huh?”

Evangeline, who was using a grappling hook to return from the center of Jormungandr’s body towards the tail, tilted her head.

Bang!

An orange flare exploded near the tail.

Ash had previously assigned different meanings to the colors of the flares.

Red was a request for support.

Yellow was a gathering order.

And orange was, perimeter alert.

‘Alert? Why all of a sudden?’

Because we entered the forest area? Or because it’s night now? Why did he shoot a perimeter alert flare?

While puzzled, Evangeline quickly shot and pulled her grappling hook.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to get to Ash’s side as soon as possible and protect him.

Swish- Thud!

Thinking that, she quickly moved across Jormungandr’s body, when,

“…?”

She saw something strange.

The shadows under the snake’s body.

There, a dozen beasts with gleaming red eyes… were crouching.

Evangeline blinked her large green eyes in confusion.

“…Wolves?”

At the same time as Evangeline muttered in confusion,

Thud!

A beast leaped out of the shadows.

It was a monster that was half wolf and half human.

It walked on two legs like a human, but its whole body was covered in thick wolf fur, and it had a long tail.

With a wolf’s head with large teeth and gleaming red eyes.

A monster.

Flash!

The monster’s claws suddenly slashed through the air. Evangeline twisted her body in horror,

“Whoa?!”

Clack!

The monster’s claws severed the silver thread connecting Evangeline and Jormungandr.

“…Huh?”

At the same time as Evangeline muttered in a daze.

Whoosh-

Evangeline was thrown off Jormungandr’s body like a kite with a broken string.

***

Jormungandr. Central area.

Phew- Bang!

At the sound of the flare exploding, Lucas and Kuilan, who had been unconscious, opened their eyes wide.

Thump!

The knight and the bandit king rose at the same time. The two men looked at the flare in the air, and then made eye contact.

“Oh! Sir Knight! Boss! Did you sleep well?”

A member of the punishment squad, who was happily drilling into their nerve centers next to them, giggled and held up the drill.

“Look at this. It’s called a drill, and it’s amazing, you know? We can do in no time with this tool what you two have been digging all night….”

“Put that away and get your weapons.”

“Huh?”

“Get your weapons, now! If you don’t want to die!”

At Kuilan’s harsh mutter, the bewildered punishment squad member blinked.

Swoosh!

Lucas silently drew his longsword. The knight’s blue eyes sharply scanned the surroundings.

Kuilan, who had quickly put on his gauntlets, grinned.

“Looks like you felt it too, Sir Knight.”

“…I couldn’t help but feel it.”

Even though it was a hot summer night, white breath escaped from Lucas’s mouth.

“The smell of our kind is overwhelming.”

As soon as the punishment squad members hurriedly took out their weapons and prepared for battle,

Swoosh! Swish!

The werewolves that had been clinging to the side of the snake’s belly began to crawl up and appear one by one.

Gray-furred werewolves and brown-furred werewolves. There were two types.

The fur color was different, but the red flickering eyes were the same for both types.

The monsters, standing on two feet like humans, quietly groomed their claws and prepared for battle.

There were about a dozen of them.

“I always sang about wanting to be a beast man, but now that I’ve met the real thing, it’s not so great.”

Kuilan, who threw out a silly joke, raised his fist forward.

“You guys should shave a bit, seniors!”

Immediately after that,

Arwoo-

The leading werewolf raised its head and made a sound.

Arwoooo-

Arwoooooo-

Following that, the same sound burst out from the mouths of the werewolves that surrounded the punishment squad.

Howling.

The howling spread like an echo, and all the werewolves on Jormungandr’s back let out eerie cries.

For an ordinary wolf, it would simply be a cry to call its companions, but a werewolf’s howling is different.

A combat power buff through collective resonance.

It is also a legion technique that establishes the identity of a wolf ‘pack’ and facilitates group combat.

Thud!

Following that, the werewolves stepped on the ground with all four feet.

In the eyes of the monsters, who had awakened their wildness through howling, murderous intent flickered.

Saliva dripped between the bared fangs, eager to bite and taste the flesh of their prey.

“Get out of the way, you bastards.”

Lucas muttered fiercely, concentrating magic power at the tip of his sword.

“I need to go check if my lord is safe.”

A menacing glint, as if it was unclear which side was the wolf, was in the knight’s eyes.

***

Jormungandr. Head area.

“Haa, haa….”

Junior, covered in blood, sat down, gasping for breath.

His shoulder to his side was slashed by wolf claws.

Junior, shocked by the sudden attack, trembled quietly.

Reina, standing in front of him as if blocking him, curled up her wrinkled lips and smiled bitterly.

“…This isn’t good.”

The number of werewolves surrounding the two mages was about twenty.

Nearly twice as many troops as elsewhere had attacked. It seems they noticed that they were the most important force, the mages, and concentrated their attack.

On the other hand, there were only two mages here.

Is it possible to fight with only two mages without a vanguard?

‘Of course, it’s possible.’

Reina chuckled.

She had dedicated her life to the military. There was no form of combat she hadn’t experienced. Land, sea, air combat… it’s pointless to even mention them.

Reina was confident that she could tear these pathetic werewolves to pieces and survive.

However.

“……”

She wasn’t sure if she could protect the young mage behind her.

There was no combat style more awkward for Reina than fighting while protecting someone.

‘If I fight without worrying about the kid behind me, the chances of winning are 100 percent. But if I have to protect this kid….’

Reina’s old eyes glowed dimly.

‘…Can I even survive?’

Thud-!

Over the head of the worried old mage, dozens of werewolves pounced at once.