I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 294

The Deathloop Kill Zone sounds grand, but when you break it down, it’s nothing special. It exploits the monsters’ tendency to attack the closest human. We lure them to a point on the wall that’s relatively close in a straight line. From that point to the wall, we set up a zigzag of wooden fences, forcing the monsters to waste as much movement as possible. Then, we either blast them with firepower or trap them as they waste time circling around.

‘But making this maze is the fun part of a defense game.’ I prefer a simple zigzag maze. Some users make a swirling maze, and others make a really complex maze. Isn’t it one of the best parts of a defense game to watch those dumb monsters struggle through the maze, getting picked off by our firepower?

Squelch! Squelch!

The floor of the narrow path between the wooden fences was a muddy quagmire. I don’t know how the skeletons manage to balance and move, but one thing is certain: their leg strength isn’t that great. They had no choice but to move slowly through the winding path, making them easy targets for our archers. The skeletons were hit by arrows, fell over, got tangled up, and then were swept away by our magic and artifacts. They still managed to push through, piling up bones, but…

Thump! Thump!

Too bad. That’s a trap. The skeleton warriors tumbled into a deep pit trap. The cannons, which had their angles pre-aligned, fired a barrage of shells into the pit.

Boom! Kaboom!

The skeleton warriors in the pit were literally burned to a crisp. Nice and toasty. Realizing they couldn’t advance through the pit trap, the skeletons moved to the side path.

Clunk! Clank! Whirr!

Ah, too bad. That’s also a trap. A spinning iron mace device popped out from between the wooden fences and smashed the skeletons’ shin bones. The skeletons fell over in unison with the sound of bones breaking. It’s an incredibly crude device, but it’s still an artifact. It’s N-grade [a low-quality grade], low durability, and it stopped after breaking a few skeletons, but… The iron mace artifact, tangled up with the shattered skeleton bones, became a barricade. That’s the advantage of low-grade artifacts. You can just use them once and throw them away.

Bang! Crash! Crack!

In addition, jars of acid, iron ball artifacts, and direct ballista fire welcomed the skeleton legion. The skeleton legion was smashed and broken as they struggled through the Deathloop Kill Zone. By the time they finally reached the wall, having passed through this fun theme park of traps, arrows, and cannons, their numbers had dwindled to about fifty. The skeleton marshal, scorched and broken, who had led the charge through the kill zone, glared fiercely. The remaining skeletons also brandished their weapons, exuding a terrifying bloodlust. The forward base’s walls weren’t properly repaired. There were gaps everywhere, enough for them to break through.

“You’ve come a long way, so you must want to get past the empty walls and slice up some humans, you monsters.”

I grinned.

“Even if there aren’t walls here, we have something similar.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than…

Shing…!

Lukas drew his longsword from its scabbard.

Clank, clatter!

Evangeline stepped forward, equipping her bone lance and bone shield on both arms. My two strongest vanguards stood at the front, acting as the wall, while Damian and Junior prepared their ranged attacks. I also stood with the Maestro Staff and the Agate Pistol in each hand. Behind our main party, the Punishment Squad and the Shadow Squad waited in turn. If the Punishment Squad stopped the skeletons that passed us, the Shadow Squad would take them down with firepower. And behind them, the reserve party and soldiers were waiting, but I didn’t think they would break through that far.

《……!》

The skeleton marshal opened its mouth wide and let out a silent scream. Thud thud thud-! I couldn’t hear it, but there must have been some kind of command being transmitted among the skeletons. The fifty or so skeletons all kicked off the ground and charged at us.

“Don’t let a single one of them into the forward base that we worked so hard to repair! Take them down!”

As I shouted, Lukas and Evangeline charged forward, and Damian’s snipes and Junior’s magic rained down on the monsters’ heads.

***

The battle ended quickly. The skeletons’ power was greatly reduced after being scattered and picked off, while our heroes were in top condition. The skeletons were torn to shreds by Damian’s snipes, Junior’s magic, and the Shadow Squad’s firepower. Then, Lukas, Evangeline, and the Punishment Squad charged in and finished them off.

“Heh heh, heh heh heh…”

…Evangeline was particularly outstanding. For some reason, Evangeline was furiously angry and showed terrifying combat power. Normally, Lukas and Evangeline would be the melee vanguards, with Lukas taking the offensive role and Evangeline taking the defensive role. But today, it was the opposite. Lukas focused on protecting our allies, and Evangeline was dropped into the enemy lines like a bomb. Evangeline pierced the skeletons with her bone lance, smashed them with her bone shield, headbutted them with her bone helmet, and even engaged in hand-to-hand combat with her bone armor’s gauntlets and greaves. Finally, Evangeline grabbed the skeleton marshal by the collar and crushed its jaw with her fist, muttering fiercely.

“I… hate bones…”

“…”

“I said… I hate bones!”

It seems she still doesn’t like the bone equipment set I forced her to wear. Ahem. Evangeline’s emerald eyes flashed as she looked at me. I quickly turned my head to the side. B-but the bone set equipment is good, isn’t it? You look really strong!

Clank, clank…

Finally, the skeleton marshal tried to attack, twisting its body,

“Be quiet!”

Whack!

Evangeline smashed its skull with her bone shield, and it quietly crumpled to the floor.

“Hoo…”

Evangeline, having casually thrown the completely silent skeleton marshal to the floor, chuckled hollowly.

“That’s right. Now I am a bone hater… a Bone Hater.”

“…What?”

“Oh? Come to think of it, your middle name is also Bone Hater…? You hate bones too…?”

“W-what are you talking about?!”

For the record, my middle name is ‘Born Hater.’ It means something like ‘a natural hater,’ ‘one born to hate’…

I don’t know what kind of parent would give their son a name like that, but anyway! My middle name has nothing to do with bones!

“Heh heh. Senior.”

Evangeline approached me, smiling dangerously through her bone helmet.

“From now on, will you call me Evangeline ‘Bone Hater’ Cross…?”

“S-stop joking around! You’re kind of scary!”

“Heh heh, a joke? Does this look like a joke…?”

Eek! I forced her to wear bone armor, wield bone weapons, and even fight bone monsters, and she’s gone crazy!

Then, Lukas approached and sighed, stepping between Evangeline and me.

“In the Everblack Empire, middle names are only allowed for royalty, Evangeline. Stop joking around.”

“Tch. I just wanted to have the same title as Senior.”

Evangeline grumbled and went off to finish off the remaining skeletons, humming a strange tune, ‘Bone Hater, Bone Hater~ I’m a Bone Hater~’. Watching Evangeline’s retreating figure, Lukas cleared his throat and said to me.

“It seems that because the enemies this time were skeletons, Evangeline is worried that her bone armor makes her look like those skeleton monsters.”

“Ah, that’s how it is…”

Well, she’s wearing bone armor, a bone helmet, bone weapons, and a bone shield, and then she’s facing a horde of skeletons. It’s understandable that she’d have strange feelings.

“…It would have been better if you had switched my armor with Evangeline’s.”

“U-uhm.”

I gave the more suitable armor to Lukas, the damage dealer, and Evangeline, the pure tank. I didn’t know Evangeline hated bone equipment this much. Maybe I should have given Evangeline Lukas’s cooler armor, as Lukas said.

“Do you want to switch now? The blacksmith can adjust the size.”

“No? I don’t want to. This is mine.”

Lukas refused immediately and hugged his armor tightly. No, then why did you bring it up, you jerk! You pretended to be understanding, but you’re ruthless!

“It’s equipment that my lord has bestowed upon me. I won’t give it to anyone. And…”

Lukas narrowed his eyes and muttered.

“Isn’t it fun to watch Evangeline suffer?”

“…Somehow, you two are starting to seem like real siblings.”

Anyway, putting the armor issue aside. We were able to defeat half of the skeleton legion, the ones that came to the forward base.

“I didn’t know the kill zone was such an effective tactic.”

Lukas muttered, looking at the monsters that had died in the Deathloop. I shrugged.

“It only worked because the monsters were small in number.”

This time, several conditions happened to align favorably.

“And it’s hard to set up traps like this in front of Crossroads.”

The area in front of the south wall of Crossroads is wide and vast. The area in front of this forward base is narrow and confined, so we could densely deploy a small-scale kill zone, but it’s impossible to set up something like this at Crossroads. That’s why we haven’t done it before.

“…Indeed, there must be strategic tactics that can only be used at this forward base.”

“That’s right. If we can properly manage this place, future defense battles will be much easier.”

When I’m absent, Lukas has to act as the acting commander. I hope he uses the kill zone tactics well. Lukas, who had been looking at the kill zone in thought, turned to me with an ‘ah’ sound.

“By the way, my lord. What about the other half that has already gone north? Will we face them at the walls of Crossroads?”

I grinned.

“There’s another way.”

During the past few weeks of repairing the forward base. I had continuously commissioned Grandma Coco to make teleport gates, and we were able to install two more teleport gates.

“Do you remember where I installed those two gates?”

“Of course. You installed them both on the way from here to Crossroads, didn’t you?”

I had installed one additional gate at the 1/3 point and another at the 2/3 point on the way from the Black Lake to Crossroads. Well hidden in the mountains, quite far from the road. Since it takes the monsters about three days to travel this road, I installed them at points that would take them about one and two days, respectively, at their marching speed.

“Ah, could it be…!”

A look of realization crossed Lukas’s face. I nodded.

“While they’re honestly crawling north, we’ll move through the teleport gates and conduct guerrilla warfare.”

We’ll use the teleport gates to get north before them and ambush them. When they arrive, we’ll attack them and then escape through the teleport gates.

“We don’t need to annihilate them in this process. Just damage them and get out.”

“Indeed, this method…”

“The teleport gates are temporarily installed now, but later, we’ll install them in units of dozens. At every key point.”

We’ll gnaw away at the monsters that emerge from the Black Lake and travel north for three days. So that they can’t use their full strength when they reach Crossroads. So that we can safely protect the city.

‘We’ll use tricks.’ In a cowardly, despicable way. Using any means necessary. Using paths that couldn’t be used in the game. We’ll kill the monsters. We’ll protect the people.

“Of course, there will be monster legions that this method won’t work on. And there will be allies who get into danger during the guerrilla attacks.”

I nodded.

“But we’ll optimize it somehow. If an enemy appears that it doesn’t work on, we’ll find another workaround.”

“…”

“From now on, we’ll face monsters with this approach. If you have any good ideas, tell me, Lukas. Okay?”

Lukas was looking at me with a subtle expression as I spoke with a smile. A mix of admiration and… A bit of worry. That was the expression.