I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 264

Thud! Thwack! Thud-!

The two intertwined monsters swung their fists as if trying to kill each other.

The way their fists and feet cut through the air was eerily similar.

Even in their twisted monster forms, they were using the same martial arts.

Clang!

They deflected each other’s attacks with counter-moves,

Thwack!

Their fists, imbued with red energy, crossed paths,

Crack-!

They spread red energy throughout their bodies, then focused it.

“……”

Kuilan watched, mouth agape, as the two monsters displayed martial arts far beyond his own level.

《What are you, you? Even with your limbs in that state, you’re quite something?》

Lunared laughed with satisfaction.

It was the first time he had seen a descendant use the martial arts he had created to such a high level. Lunared was genuinely pleased.

Then, the wolf monster—Kureha—uttered in a clumsy voice.

《Head, because.》

《What?》

《I am, the forty-third, head of the Maple Fist.》

Thump.

Kureha placed his fists together and bowed briefly.

《It is an honor, to meet, a grandmaster.》

He added immediately after.

《Though… I didn’t know you were such, trash-like, monster.》

《……》

Lunared, who had been stunned, burst into laughter and charged forward.

《Why don’t you look in a mirror before you speak, forty-third!》

The two wolf monsters exchanged punches and kicks wildly, then, as if by agreement, they simultaneously created distance.

And—they took the same stance.

They planted their feet firmly on the ground, lowered their bodies, extended their left hand forward in a knife-hand strike, and held their right fist in front of their chest.

With an aura that seemed ready to strike at any moment, the two monsters glared at each other.

Kuilan, who was watching, easily realized that this was a killing stance.

It was then. The wolf monster—Kureha—glanced back at Kuilan.

Then, he nodded gently.

As if to say, watch and learn…

Thwack-!

The next moment.

The two wolf monsters, stepping forward and stomping hard, disappeared in an instant.

The speed at which they charged at each other was so fast that they seemed to have vanished from the world.

The two wolf monsters, who had charged through space, extended their fists towards each other.

Lunared’s fist aimed for the center of Kureha’s chest,

Kureha’s fist aimed for Lunared’s left chest.

Secret Technique.

Heart-Severing Wind Wolf.

Thwack…!

Neither of them dodged, and they plunged their killing fists into each other’s chests.

Blood spurted from the mouths of both wolf monsters at the same time.

However, unlike Kureha, who was grimacing in pain, Lunared laughed triumphantly.

《You fool! You learned the secret technique wrong! Heart-Severing Wind Wolf is a technique that strikes the opponent’s spirit core, not their body! Aiming for the heart instead of the spirit core!》

《……》

《Besides, I’ve already lost that heart! The other heart is on the opposite side! Your fist was aimed wrong from the start!》

Kureha’s body, which had been staggering in pain, collapsed onto Lunared as if overlapping him.

Lunared was sure of his victory and laughed,

《…No. I aimed, correctly.》

Crunch!

Kureha opened his mouth wide and bit Lunared’s neck.

Black blood gushed out. Kureha desperately clung on, swallowing Lunared’s blood.

《What is this bastard doing?!》

Lunared, annoyed, tore Kureha off and threw him away. Kureha fell awkwardly.

《I thought we were going to have a high-level martial arts battle, but you resort to such low tactics…》

Lunared clicked his tongue, displeased, looking at the black blood trail that stretched from his neck to Kureha’s mouth.

To think that his last struggle would be something so pathetic…

《…?》

Immediately after, Lunared saw an incomprehensible sight.

Black clots of blood were continuously escaping from the wound on Lunared’s neck.

Lunared, flustered, tried to grab the escaping blood droplets, but the blood continued to gush out between his fingers, flying through the air and—

Being sucked into Kureha’s mouth.

《What is this…?!》

《After becoming a werewolf, I understood.》

Even as his spirit core was half-destroyed and he was dying, Kureha smiled, twisting the corners of his mouth.

《As my organs twisted and rearranged, my human heart was pushed to the opposite side, and a new wolf heart, was created.》

《…?!》

《The left is the wolf’s. The right is the human’s.》

Kureha pointed to Lunared’s left chest.

《I tried to destroy, your wolf heart. Even if it was already broken, it doesn’t matter. Just in case, I would have, thrown my fist the same way.》

《My wolf heart…? Why…?》

《That way… you will lose, control over the wolf’s blood…》

Thick black blood poured out of Lunared’s neck like water.

Strength drained from his body. Lunared, experiencing this for the first time, was flustered and trembled.

《Wh… What the hell did you do, you?!》

《I’m… taking it on, instead.》

Kureha smiled bitterly.

《Your, curse.》

《What?》

《I am… a vessel that holds the curses of all my clan.》

Kureha slowly closed his eyes.

《Since you are my ancestor, you are also part of my clan, and naturally, I can take on the wolf’s curse that you possess.》

《…?!》

This was the plan that Ash had proposed.

To steal the wolf’s curse from Lunared.

If Kureha, who was a vessel for all the clan’s curses, could theoretically also contain the ancestor’s curse.

Kureha himself was doubtful, but the plan succeeded.

By destroying the wolf’s heart, he caused Lunared to lose control over the wolf’s blood.

And by directly swallowing Lunared’s blood, which would act as a catalyst, he activated the spell.

Swoosh…!

Not only from Lunared, but also from all the werewolves still alive and attacking Crossroads.

The wolf’s curse was forcibly extracted and transferred to Kureha’s body.

From all over Crossroads, tainted black blood flew through the air towards Kureha.

Kureha willingly swallowed the seething black blood.

Just as he had taken all the clan’s curses into his body.

Kureha also took the curses of the resurrected ancestors into his body.

《St, stop it! Stop it!》

Strength was leaving Lunared’s entire body.

He tried to protect his curse, but he had already lost the wolf’s heart that had been concentrating the wolf’s blood and curse.

The moment he lost his heart as punishment from the Demon King.

From that moment on, Lunared’s curse was no longer his own.

《Is this how it ends? For me?》

Lunared, who had been the first to absorb the blood of a different god and take on the wolf’s curse, had no means to counter Kureha’s spell.

This was the last resort found by his descendants who had suffered for hundreds of years.

A secret technique created by the descendants to escape from the wolf’s blood.

Even though it was a twisted path where one person sacrificed themselves for the many, it was the culmination of the wisdom of the descendants’ hundreds of years.

There was no way that he, an ancient being from the distant past, could break it.

《Stop ittt-!》

Lunared desperately tried to kill Kureha completely to stop the spell,

Thwack-!

But Kuilan, who had intervened, swung his fist and blew Lunared’s jaw away.

With his whole body shrunken, Lunared knelt on the ground pathetically.

《No, ah… no…!》

The wolf’s blood, the curse, that had made Lunared a top-tier powerhouse and a Nightmare Legion Commander—was leaving his body.

Soon, all the curses left his body, and the wolf’s power disappeared.

“Ah… Ughhh…!”

In that place, there remained a thin, withered old man with white hair and beard.

***

As I walked towards the North Gate, I was thinking.

‘Look at it from the game’s rules.’

Use all available means.

Bypass, bend, twist—find the weaknesses in the rules.

Werewolves are beings who have become monsters by manifesting a curse.

Then, conversely.

…If we remove the curse, can we return them to humans?

The game’s difficulty, plummets.

Scouts poured in reports from all directions.

“The werewolves that remained outside the south wall are turning into humans!”

“The werewolves who were holding citizens hostage in the city! Suddenly turning into humans…!”

“We’ve subdued the humans who were werewolves in the central square!”

“We’ve captured two more in the back alley of the market!”

“Your Highness! Reporting!”

A scout who had run from the north wall reported, panting.

“The enemy’s legion commander has also turned into a human!”

“……”

“The only monster left in the area is a bizarre wolf monster that suddenly appeared outside the north wall! If we dispose of him, this defense battle will be over…!”

“Your Highness, what should we do now?!”

“Please give us instructions!”

“Your Highness!”

I didn’t answer and headed for the North Gate. The scouts followed me, bewildered.

Outside the north wall.

“…Ah, Senior.”

Evangeline, who was leaning against the open gate with a tired face, turned to look at me. Her complexion was pale, perhaps due to her injuries.

“The old man who was the wolf king… is tied up over there. And…”

Evangeline’s hand, pointing to the tied-up old man, moved to the side.

“The last remaining monster is over there, and Kuilan is protecting him, saying he’s his brother…”

There, Kuilan was seen embracing a fallen monster, yelling at the soldiers who had surrounded him.

“……”

“Senior. Could it be, really…”

I silently patted Evangeline’s head lightly, then walked forward.

God Hand, who was tightly binding the old man with chains, bowed respectfully to me. I nodded in acknowledgment.

“God Hand.”

“Your Highness.”

God Hand quietly stepped aside.

“We can greet each other later, let’s talk about more important matters first.”

“Thank you.”

I passed God Hand and stood in front of the old man.

He was a thin, withered old man with white hair.

He looked like an ordinary human, but his eerie, bright red eyes were still as savage as a monster’s.

“Are you Lunared?”

I sneered.

“You’ve become pathetic. Wolf King.”

“……”

Lunared, who had been staring up at me with his mouth tightly shut,

“Spare me.”

He suddenly blurted out.

I frowned.

“What?”

“I said, spare me.”

I was so dumbfounded that I glared at him.

Lunared shouted in a voice that was unbelievably loud for his thin body.

“Now that the wolf’s curse is gone, I am a complete human!”

Lunared tapped his skinny chest with his hand.

“The ‘human heart’ beating inside proves it.”

“……”

“If you are the commander of this front line who kills monsters and protects people! You should kill that monster next to you! And protect me, a human!”

Lunared gestured with his chin towards the monster lying over there… Kureha, desperately.

I could see Kuilan clenching his teeth as he held Kureha.

“……”

Lunared continued to speak to me, who was silent.

“I am also a ‘human’ that you should protect! Player! Spare me!”

“…There’s a point.”

Although he was a being who had died and been resurrected in the darkness of Lake Kingdom.

Certainly, this old man, who had lost the wolf’s curse, was biologically a complete human.

However.

“But you are a monster.”

I stated definitively.

“I guarantee it. I’ll tell you with certainty. Lunared. You are not human. You are a perfect monster.”

“Why?”

Lunared yelled.

“What is the standard for distinguishing between humans and monsters on this front line?!”

“There is a very clear standard.”

Slowly lowering my waist, staring into his eyes.

I spat out.

“It’s me.”

“…?!”

“I am the rule of this front line.”

I had pondered for a long time.

I had hesitated for a long time.

But I learned something from this defense battle.

Principle. Rule. Standard. Rule.

I was a kind-hearted player who faithfully followed the already established lines.

It was the same this time. I tried to rationally set principles and standards, and fit myself within those parameters.

How foolish.

Like a naive idiot.

“Thanks to you, Lunared, I realized. Seeing you bypass the rules to attack, I finally understood the essence of this game.”

There’s a famous saying in the card game world.

The reason why games need rules is to use the things that are not defined by the rules.

“I will stand above the rules.”

“What…?”

“I am the principle. I am the rule. I am the standard. I am the law.”

I will no longer be bound by the rules of the game.

I will bypass the rules, twist the rules, establish the rules, and dominate the rules.

“I will change the world according to the rules I create. So, I will decide who is human and who is a monster.”

I muttered coldly.

“You are a monster. Lunared.”

“……”

“You will die.”

Immediately after,

“Puh, Puhahahahaha-!”

Lunared grabbed his stomach and laughed.

He shook his body madly and laughed as if the world would fall apart. The heroes around him flinched and stepped back at his eerie laughter.

I frowned and asked.

“Why are you laughing, monster?”

“Don’t you know, even after saying it yourself, human?”

After finally stopping his laughter,

The old man who had been the Wolf King glared at me and shouted.

“That is the mindset of a tyrant!”

“……”

“You say you will be the standard? You will be the law? Countless rulers have tried to do that! Although the situations and reasons were different, they all had good intentions and tried to rule the world by becoming philosopher kings! Believing that utopia would come!”

“……”

“But the result was tyranny! There was not a single exception! From ancient times until now, not a single one!”

“……”

“Is that what you truly intend to become, human?!”

“Yes.”

I answered immediately.

“If a being who stands above the rules for victory is called a tyrant…”

I took a breath, composed myself,

And I said.

“I will gladly become a tyrant.”