I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 227

Damian was thrown backward.

The recoil from the magic bullet he fired was too strong.

The power was so intense that the barrel of the Black Queen shattered into pieces, scattering everywhere, and Damian, the shooter, was flung backward with both arms charred black.

Lukas and Evangeline, who had rushed over, caught Damian’s body before he crashed to the ground.

Thud, thud!

“Ugh!”

“Gah!”

They barely managed to catch Damian, but all three of them ended up rolling on the ground.

The three of them were sprawled out, stacked on top of each other like a sandwich.

Lukas was at the bottom, Evangeline in the middle, and Damian on top.

Evangeline, sprawled out in the middle, let out a weak voice.

“If you had such an amazing attack technique… why didn’t you use it sooner, Damian, oppa [older brother/term of endearment]…”

Lukas, at the very bottom, chuckled.

“Still, thanks to that, we survived… I really thought it was the end.”

Damian, who was still dazed, raised his charred black hands.

“It was a combination of luck, the situation, and most of all, I don’t think it’s a technique I can use often… Ouch, my arms…”

Lukas and Evangeline each took out a potion and poured it on Damian’s arms.

Damian also used healing magic to heal his arms.

They weren’t completely healed, but with his arms somewhat recovered, Damian grabbed the handle of the Black Queen, whose barrel had been blown away.

Click, click!

Then, the barrel of the Black Queen, which had been scattered into fragments, reassembled itself.

It was in its normal long rifle form before the transformation.

However, it had lost its luster and turned into a dull gray, as if it had used up all its power.

Lukas and Evangeline supported Damian. The three of them slowly headed towards Jormungandr.

***

Moo-myung and I stood in front of Jormungandr’s head.

I swallowed hard, examining the motionless giant head.

“…Is it dead?”

“No.”

Moo-myung ran his fingertips over the giant snake’s shiny gray scales.

“It took a big hit, but it’s recovering.”

“What?”

“This snake’s vitality is immense. More importantly, its brain wasn’t damaged.”

We had only destroyed the neural centers that protruded like protrusions, and Damian’s magic bullet had pierced through the snake from the back of its neck to its tail. The brain was intact.

“It sustained near-fatal damage, but it will recover someday.”

Just then, a long breath escaped from the snake’s huge nostrils and mouth. Oh my, that scared me!

I exclaimed urgently, startled.

“Then we should kill it before it recovers…!”

“…Ash.”

Moo-myung continued calmly.

“Jormungandr isn’t just a simple monster. It’s a divine creature with the divine status of the mythological era. The only thing that can kill a being with such divine status is another being with equal divine status.”

“…”

“We, the mortals, cannot kill it.”

So this one is also marked as ‘unkillable’.

Is that why, in the game, we only repelled it instead of raiding it?

“Anyway, it’s injured this badly, so it’ll have to stay holed up in its lair for hundreds of years to recover.”

Moo-myung took his hand off Jormungandr and turned to me.

“How about we send it back?”

“Hmm…”

Originally, the goal wasn’t to kill it but to repel it…

“What the hell are you talking about!”

Just then, Kellybay jumped out from behind us.

“We HAVE to kill it!”

The dwarf elder’s glass-like eyes gleamed with a terrifying desire for material possessions.

“Can’t you see the outrageous materials that will come from dismantling this snake’s body, kid?! Your city won’t be short of materials for the next six months!”

“…”

“We can make weapons! Armor! Just plastering the scales on the city walls will make them so strong! And give me some of the leftovers!”

That’s a very honest and practical reason.

“You need divine power to kill it?! We won’t know until we try! Just get me a few big hammers! I’ll crack open this guy’s skull! I’ll become a dwarf god!”

“Ummm.”

Anyway, Kellybay’s words made sense.

The material items that would come from this giant snake’s body. How useful they would be if we could use them.

It looks like a kill angle… Can’t we try to beat it up a bit more?

As I was pondering, I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned around, Damian was walking towards us, supported by Lukas and Evangeline.

“Your Highness.”

“Damian.”

I smiled and patted Damian on the shoulder.

“Good job.”

I decided to give him a longer praise later and gave him a simple commendation. Damian smiled shyly.

“Alright, Damian. Since you caught this monster, I’ll give you the right to decide.”

I pointed to Jormungandr, who was breathing shallowly.

“Whether to try to kill Jormungandr here or just send it back.”

Damian rolled his big brown eyes, looking around.

“But I didn’t catch it? I just… put the finishing touch on the part destruction that you all worked so hard to achieve…”

“That’s what we call a war achievement.”

Originally, getting the last hit is the skill of a ranged dealer.

Damian hesitated and came to stand in front of Jormungandr.

That’s when it happened.

《I… to the end of the world…》

A clear thought flowed out from the giant snake in the form of a voice.

《North… I must go…》

Everyone was startled and jumped back, but Damian stood still.

Damian, who was staring at Jormungandr’s closed eyes with wide eyes, murmured softly.

“You’re also trying to go to the end of the world?”

Then, the snake’s huge eyes slowly opened.

Jormungandr opened its yellowish eyes and looked at the boy standing in front of it. The adversary who had pierced its body with a bullet.

《…》

“I see, you too…”

Damian nodded and turned to me.

“…Let’s send it back.”

Kellybay screamed and tore at his non-existent hair. Oh dear.

“I shot the strongest magic bullet I could use, aiming to pierce all the spirit cores I could see, with the determination to kill this snake. But it didn’t die.”

Damian looked down at the magic gun in his hand.

“Maybe this outcome was already decided at that moment.”

I nodded.

Well, the goal was to beat it up and send it back anyway. It’s also called Unkillable.

“…But how do we send it back?”

I clicked my tongue, looking at the long, giant snake.

“At this rate, it looks like it’ll be here for a few months to recover?”

We can’t load it onto a truck and send it back, and if we leave it here and it starts thrashing, the city walls will be destroyed. How do we send it back?

“I will.”

Then, Damian raised his magic gun with his injured, trembling arm.

“I’ll heal it enough to go back.”

“What?”

We all widened our eyes.

Is that even possible?

Damian raised his magic gun, which had an empty magazine, and aimed it at Jormungandr.

Whoosh-

The transparent healing magic within Damian’s body gathered and seeped into the magazine.

Damian didn’t hesitate and fired it.

Bang-!

The clear gunshot rang out, and the transparent magic bullet pierced into Jormungandr’s body and disappeared.

Damian lowered his magic gun.

“It’s a healing magic bullet. I hit one of Jormungandr’s destroyed spirit cores, so the spirit core will regenerate.”

Everyone looked at Damian with dumbfounded expressions. I asked, sweating.

“…Is that even possible?”

“Well, I don’t really know either…”

Damian scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“…Suddenly, I instinctively knew that it would work if I used it like this.”

I don’t know if this is a new skill Damian got or what. But the effect was certain.

Shhhhrrr-

Kugugugu…!

As one of the destroyed spirit cores regenerated, Jormungandr slowly raised its massive head, though with difficulty.

Then, it quietly stared at all the humans in this place… and at Damian.

《…I will not forget…》

It made such a sound.

No, uh, um, it means it won’t forget the ‘favor’, right? Not like ‘grudge’, right? Right?

Gurgle-

Then, Jormungandr’s long neck wriggled, its huge mouth opened wide, and it spat out a transparent bead about the size of a human head.

“…”

What is this?

Everyone was bewildered and looked at the bead. A wish-fulfilling jewel? Is that the one we’ve only heard about?

So… it’s repaying the favor?

Kugugugu…

Jormungandr nodded once, then slowly turned its massive body around and began to crawl slowly back south.

Watching the giant monster, which we had struggled to repel for the past three days, return so peacefully, I felt both relieved and a bit empty.

The heroes who had suffered, and the soldiers who had been watching nervously from the city walls, all slumped to the ground one by one.

And they silently watched the back of the giant snake as it returned, bathed in the rising morning sun.

“Jormungandr was a natural law of the mythological era.”

Moo-myung explained in a peaceful tone, as if reading an old folktale.

“When cities were destroyed, fields were overturned, and civilizations were ruined, new forests, new canyons, and new civilizations were born in their place.”

“…”

“Regeneration through destruction. That was the natural law of the mythological era.”

I thought it was like an earthworm when it was digging into the ground, but it was really playing an earthworm-like role.

“…In the distant past, typhoons, droughts, and blizzards were also considered gods. Because they destroyed the foundations of life and took countless lives.”

Moo-myung continued, gazing wistfully at the snake’s scales that were quickly moving away.

“But now, humanity is overcoming typhoons, droughts, and blizzards. The gods who were in charge of destruction and regeneration have now lost their divine status and have been demoted to ordinary weather.”

“…”

“Jormungandr, the world serpent that once traversed the world, destroying and regenerating it, is now blocked by this southern city wall and is returning.”

Moo-myung smiled bitterly.

“In a few hundred years, it might even lose its last divine status and become a monster that is simply defeated.”

I snorted.

“That too is a natural law.”

As I was lost in such strange thoughts,

I turned sharply and shouted.

“Kellybay! Get your hands off that!”

Kellybay, who was secretly examining the wish-fulfilling jewel and was about to hit it with a hammer, was startled and jumped up. I gritted my teeth.

“Hey, you old man! That’s Damian’s! Why are you trying to hit it without permission!”

“What, what! I have to make it into equipment anyway! What’s wrong with touching it first?!”

Damian smiled bitterly and watched us.

The morning sun was rising.

Another defense battle was coming to an end.

***

[STAGE 9 – CLEAR!]

[STAGE MVP – Damian(??)]

[Rank Change Character]

– Damian(??)

[Level Up Characters]

>Main Party

– Ash(EX) Lv.44 (↑3)

– Lukas(SSR) Lv.47 (↑2)

– Evangeline(SSR) Lv.47 (↑2)

– Jupiter Junior(SSR) Lv.56 (↑1)

– Damian(??) Lv.48 (↑5)

>Sub Party 1

– Kuilan(SR) Lv.44 (↑2)

– Tuesday(R) Lv.37 (↑2)

– Wednesday(R) Lv.36 (↑2)

– Becky(R) Lv.36 (↑2)

– Ontherock(R) Lv.32 (↑1)

>Others

– Lily(R) Lv.30 (↑1)

[Deceased and Injured Characters]

– Jupiter Junior(SSR) : Minor Injury

– Damian(??) : Minor Injury

[Acquired Items]

– Jormungandr Wish-Fulfilling Jewel : 1

[Stage Clear Rewards have been distributed. Please check your inventory.]

– SSR Grade Reward Box : 1

>> Get Ready For The Next STAGE

>> [STAGE 10 : Humans and Monsters]