I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 223

Reina, the commander of the Magic Corps, stood with four members of her direct unit. Their code names were Fox, Rabbit, Kitty, and Piggy.

Fox and Rabbit were seasoned elites who had served Reina for a long time. Kitty and Piggy, on the other hand, were new recruits assigned to Reina’s team for this Crossroads mission.

Despite being new recruits, they were still part of the Magic Corps.

Like magic wands wielded at the whim of the Imperial Family, they had been responsible for large-scale killings without hesitation.

It was their duty.

It was an order given to them by the country.

That was why they were able to set up a human sacrifice magic circle that could annihilate tens of thousands of citizens in this city without any emotional wavering.

“……Huh?”

“……Gasp!”

But now, Kitty and Piggy were flustered, making strange noises.

They had been caught at their work site by civilians.

The sniper, Damian, from the front line, and a red-haired young man with a crutch, limping on one leg.

After confirming the two, Kitty and Piggy quickly exchanged glances.

‘Weren’t we told the evacuation was complete?! There shouldn’t be anyone in the city!’

‘Who cares, it’s always like this during operations anyway!’

Unexpected situations always happened.

And there was only one way to deal with someone who had witnessed this kind of work.

‘Kill them and silence them!’

They had to kill them to shut their mouths.

Whoosh-!

As if they had made a pact, Kitty and Piggy simultaneously fired their respective magic.

Naturally, the target was Damian.

They were aware that Damian was an excellent sniper.

It was more logical to deal with the more dangerous Damian first, leaving the red-haired man who seemed to have a bad leg alone.

“Sorry, sniper!”

“No personal feelings here-!”

The magic fired by the two mages rushed towards Damian.

Damian, until the very end, just stared with wide eyes, making a sound like, ‘Huh?’

***

“If Your Highness cannot make an accurate judgment… I will have to make the decision on my own.”

Reina said this in front of me, placing her finger on the switch in her hand.

“……”

My mouth felt parched.

Accurate judgment? You want me to make an accurate judgment?

Is that accurate judgment the story of killing Crossroads to protect the world?

“It takes about an hour from the preparation of the magic to its activation. If you want to press this switch, you have to press it now.”

“……”

“Is it difficult to make an accurate judgment, Your Highness? If so.”

Reina’s finger pressed down firmly.

I shouted without realizing it.

“Reina, wait-”

But Reina didn’t press the switch. Instead.

Flick.

She threw the switch to me.

“……?”

I caught the switch in a daze and looked at Reina with a bewildered face. What?

Reina gave a bitter smile.

“Then, please force it, Your Highness.”

“What?”

“What I, as a soldier, need is a cold-hearted judgment. But what you, as a leader, need is the force to push through your will.”

“……”

“Even if the path in front of Your Highness is a narrow and steep cliff, even if everyone says it’s a path no one can cross, it is Your Highness’s job to lay a temporary road there and lead people.”

I couldn’t understand this old mage well, but.

“Your Highness. What do you want to do?”

I knew well what she wanted to say.

Whack!

I threw the switch out of Jormungandr’s body.

The switch, flying far away, fell to the ground and shattered.

“This is my conclusion. Lady Reina.”

“……”

“The operation will continue. I will not give up on Crossroads, nor the world. I will protect both.”

I spat out the words.

“From the beginning, this was the only path for me.”

From the moment I came to this world, the path ahead of me was a single road.

There were no other options.

“Thank you, Your Highness. Thanks to you, the confusion in my head has also disappeared.”

Reina clenched and unclenched her empty hand, then smiled and gestured to me with her chin.

“Then, let’s quickly squeeze out the remaining strength and go smash that last nerve nexus!”

I nodded back and turned to walk towards the nerve nexus. I asked Reina, who was following behind me.

“Why did you do that, Lady Reina?”

If Reina had wanted to, she could have safely activated the shutdown protocol and defeated Jormungandr.

Or even if she had decided not to activate it, she didn’t need to tell me about the existence of this magic.

She could have kept it a secret.

But Reina told me about the existence of the magic, transferred the decision-making power to me, and let me discard it.

I’m grateful, but why?

“……Well. I guess I’m getting old too.”

Reina answered vaguely.

“I’m tired of burning innocent people… and using that firepower to warm the Empire.”

Reina’s gaze was on Junior, who was lying down and resting next to the nerve nexus.

Junior, who was sleeping with his head on Evangeline’s lap, was breathing raggedly with a pale face.

Reina stared blankly at the young mage, at the mistakes her past had committed.

“I want to prove that there is another way to protect the Empire.”

“……”

“Let’s go, Your Highness. There is no time. Rest is a luxury now.”

Reina’s words were a hundred times correct.

Tsk-tsk-tsk-!

The last 10 percent of the destruction gauge.

The nerve nexus, buffed with hardening, was repelling all the drill bits.

The Execution Unit was shouting and screaming, and Kellybay was right next to them, fixing the drill with his bloodied hands.

“Lucas, Evangeline, join the front lines.”

As if they had been waiting, Lucas and Evangeline got up.

Reina, who had lifted Junior, who was blinking his eyes with difficulty, to his feet, grinned.

“Come on, get up, Jupiter’s daughter. That head horn was our responsibility from the start, right? Our mage team has to do one last thing.”

“……You’re not seriously telling me to use [Elemental Disassembly] one more time, are you? I’ll die if I do…?”

“You won’t die, you won’t die.”

While holding Junior’s shoulders, Reina muttered as if making a promise to herself.

“Absolutely, I won’t let you die.”

***

Crossroads Central Square.

Kitty and Piggy were subdued.

With clear fist marks on their cheeks and jaws, their bodies were tied with ropes. They were kneeling on the ground.

“How dare you shoot magic at a friend, magic!”

Kureha was standing in front of them, scolding them.

“Is it okay to shoot magic at each other and try to kill each other like that?”

“……”

“Is it? Isn’t it? Answer?”

“Ah, it’s not okay……”

“We’re sorry……”

Damian was sweating as he watched this scene from the side. Kureha nodded and continued.

“I’m saying this because you guys are like my younger siblings. You should get along with each other. Right?”

“……”

When the two mages remained silent, Kureha raised his fist with a flick.

“Right?!”

“Y-Yes, that’s right!”

“Get along! Because you’re friends!”

“Good. Now, apologize to each other and make up.”

“S-Sorry, sniper!”

“We’re sorry for shooting magic!”

The two mages kept bowing their heads and apologizing.

‘I didn’t see him like that……’

Damian looked at Kureha with hazy eyes.

This guy, he seemed normal, but no, he was just another crazy person like everyone else in this city……

“It makes me feel bad to see these kids launching dangerous attacks. They’re all like my younger siblings.”

“If you’re talking about Kureha’s younger siblings… are you talking about the bandit king Kuilan…?”

“Yeah. He’s a cute little kid like you guys.”

No, your brother is 2 meters tall and has muscles like that……

‘Does his brother look cute to him because he’s his brother……?’

Damian, who was sweating, suddenly looked at Kureha’s right arm.

The dried-up fingers were twitching.

A moment ago, when the two mages shot magic at Damian.

Kureha had jumped in between, shattered the two magics with just his right fist, and instantly knocked out the two mages by hitting their jaws.

Immediately after that.

Crack. Crack, crack.

Cracks like old rocks spread across Kureha’s right arm, and flesh and muscle crumbled like dust.

After the dust settled, only a withered right arm remained inside. Just like his emaciated left leg.

“……Ah. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Kureha, noticing Damian’s gaze, calmly lowered his sleeve to cover his right arm.

“I’m ‘cursed.’ This body.”

“A curse…?”

“When I use my power, parts of my body turn into mummies one by one. It’s a silly curse like that.”

It wasn’t silly at all, but Kureha smiled and put his index finger on his lips.

“It’s a secret to everyone else that I used my power today. My brother will scold me.”

“……”

“Anyway, I think I need to ask these mage friends what they were trying to do here.”

When Kureha turned around with a fierce glint in his eyes, the two mages were startled.

“W-We were just preparing for a possible emergency……!”

“We were only acting for the sake of the Empire and the Imperial Family!”

Damian frowned.

“A possible emergency?”

“In case the expeditionary force that has been dispatched fails to stop Jormungandr……!”

“So we returned through the teleport gate and were preparing Plan B… but you, you two, stopped us! Now there’s no Plan B!”

It was then.

Rumble, rumble……

The ground began to shake faintly.

Damian and Kureha shuddered, and Kitty and Piggy started jumping up and down.

“Whoa, Jormungandr is coming!”

“The ground is shaking! It must be very close?!”

“What if the operation fails?! What if the operation fails!”

“We’re all gonna get our heads chopped off-!”

Ignoring Kitty and Piggy’s noisy chatter, Damian turned to Kureha.

“Let’s go to the top of the wall. We need to check the situation.”

***

When the four of them went to the top of the wall, they saw the soldiers forming the final defense line.

Cannons, ballistae, and various artifacts were loaded and ready to be fired.

But the soldiers’ expressions were not bright.

They already knew that all of this would not be able to inflict any significant damage on the giant monster approaching from afar.

Rumble, rumble……!

From the end of the southern plains, a giant snake was advancing. Dust and roars rose in all directions.

“I-It’s close……”

Damian muttered involuntarily. Kitty and Piggy hugged each other and screamed.

“Look at that! That giant snake is still not stopping! We needed our magic after all!”

“It’s all over, it’s over! We’re all going to die!”

Kureha raised his fist at the two who were chattering noisily. The two mages immediately shut their mouths.

“Damian!”

At that moment, Lily hurriedly pulled her wheelchair from the artifact launchpad.

“Do you know how much the Saintess was looking for you? What are you doing here!”

“Lily.”

Damian faced Lily with a stiff face.

“……Please bring me my gun.”

“What?”

“If I have [Black Queen], I can stop that snake!”

Lily stammered in confusion.

“His Highness the Prince and the expeditionary force are still carrying out the operation. They can stop it. When it comes within range, we’ll fire the cannons too……”

“You know that’s not enough, Lily!”

“……”

“If I have my gun, it will be enough insurance. You know my skills!”

“……”

“Lily!”

If Damian were given [Black Queen], he could shoot at his allies.

In the worst case, he could single-handedly devastate the top of the wall.

That’s why she had been ordered never to give it back to him.

Rumble, rumble, rumble-!

The overwhelming pressure of the giant Jormungandr, which had come right in front of them, was greater than the threat of friendly fire.

Lily shouted to the alchemist team.

“Bring Damian’s magic gun! Now!”