I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 315

[Ash(EX)]

– Level: 50

– Titles: Lord of Crossroads/Third Prince the Executioner

– Class: Tyrant of the Battlefield

– Strength 13, Agility 22, Intelligence 50, Stamina 20, Magic Power 35

As a result of the third job advancement, my designated class is [Tyrant of the Battlefield].

‘The name’s cool! But let’s skip that for now!’

I’ll also turn a blind eye to my terrible stats, except for Intelligence!

I scrolled down and opened the skill window.

I gritted my teeth and examined the contents. Oh, SSR God!

– Acquired Skills

> Passive: Indomitable Commander

> Skill 1: Eye of Command

> Skill 2: Become Mine!

> Ultimate: Imperial Territory Declaration

“Ultimate, Imperial Territory Declaration…?”

I stammered as I read the name of my ultimate skill.

It’s only natural, but it’s a skill I’ve never seen before. This ‘Commander’ class itself was a job not in the game.

Anyway, I opened the description of the ultimate skill.

[Imperial Territory Declaration]

– Declares a designated area as the territory of the user’s faction and exercises dominion.

– To allies within the territory: Applies all beneficial effects possessed by the user.

– To enemies within the territory: Applies all harmful effects possessed by the user.

– The limit on the number of summons disappears within the territory.

– If the declared territory is an enemy area, the area enters a [Siege Battle] state, and upon victory, the user can seize control of the area.

“What is this…”

I opened my mouth slightly.

Certainly, the Commander class had abilities that were completely different from other classes.

I’ve never seen or heard of an ultimate skill that works like this.

‘Let’s examine it calmly, one by one.’

First, the prerequisite option.

A special equipment – a flag is required.

‘A flag… what is that? Am I supposed to carry an imperial flag around?’

So, am I going to fight with a flag from now on?

I briefly imagined myself swinging a flagpole to bash enemies. Hmm.

‘It might look cool, I guess.’

But it looks heavy!

I’m the type who finds even the commander’s exclusive longsword cumbersome, so I only carry a pistol and a staff.

Can I handle a large, fluttering flag?

‘Come to think of it, my exclusive equipment was also a flag.’

I’m collecting [Fragments of the Great Commander’s Flag]. They said that if I collect them all, it will become [Great Commander’s Flag(EX)].

‘Am I literally becoming a standard-bearer…’

I should visit the blacksmith and ask if I can add special abilities to the flag. If it’s Kellyber, he might have a way.

Let’s put the flag issue aside for now. Next.

– Declares a designated area as the territory of the user’s faction and exercises dominion.

This is a simple explanation of the skill.

So, it’s like… drawing a line on the ground and saying, ‘This is mine from here on out’?

I think I’ll understand more clearly if I break down the detailed effects.

– To allies within the territory: Applies all beneficial effects possessed by the user.

Applies my beneficial effects to allies?

When I touched the system window, a list of ‘beneficial effects’ popped up. Let’s see.

> Passive Skill [Indomitable Commander]

> Traits [Attack Totem], [Defense Totem], [Super Buffer], [Main Order]

“Ah, I see.”

So, within the space I declare as my territory with this [Imperial Territory Declaration]. All my allies can receive all the effects of those skills and traits.

Immunity to mental abnormality, attack power buff, defense power buff….

‘That’s awesome.’

Moreover, this isn’t the end. If I acquire more ally buff-related traits in the future, I can apply them additionally.

‘I need to collect all the ally buff traits.’

I clenched my fist and made a new resolution. I’ll become the ultimate buff shuttle!

Next, let’s see.

– To enemies within the territory: Applies all harmful effects possessed by the user.

Again, when I touched the system window, a list of harmful effects I possessed popped up.

> Skill 1 [Eye of Command] success rate increased, Skill 2 [Become Mine!] effect added and adjusted

“It’s something like this.”

I nodded.

I declare the surroundings as my territory, and within it, I give buffs to allies and debuffs to enemies, all within the skills and traits I possess.

Traits can be acquired infinitely, but only 3 can be equipped.

So, the process of selecting and acquiring only the necessary ones is called ‘trait farming,’ but I have to go the opposite way.

Within this space, all the effects of the traits I possess can be applied. So, I have to get everything I can!

While thinking about the list of useful buff & debuff traits, I read the next explanation.

– The limit on the number of summons disappears within the territory.

“…Wow.”

Did I read that wrong?

This is kind of crazy.

Summon magic.

In the game, it was a player-exclusive skill, one of the few ways players who always entrust battles to game characters could directly intervene in the game.

Even after possessing this body, I’ve been using it well.

The types of ‘summons’ I can use are two.

One is ‘boss monsters’ that can be summoned with one-time summon scrolls that are dropped by luck.

The other is ‘defense towers’ that can be constructed after obtaining blueprints, researching them in the alchemy workshop, and paying with magic cores.

Both of these are considered summons, and until now, I could only summon one at a time.

Since each one is a powerful strategic weapon, I’ve been summoning them at the right time to assist in battles.

But the limit on the number of summons disappears?

‘Of course, the value of summons decreases after the mid-game.’

Summons are an invaluable help in the early game when heroes are weak and soldiers are lacking.

But after the heroes have finished growing and the quality and quantity of soldiers have been replenished, the power of summons relatively decreases.

In the early game, you can just build an automatic defense turret and grind low-level monsters, but after the mid-game, that level of role can be done with high-level artifacts, and above all, heroes and soldiers take care of everything, so the meaning of such firepower support gradually fades. Monsters also get stronger over time.

But. Even so.

If the number becomes unlimited, the story changes completely.

‘What if I build dozens of automatic defense turrets at the same time?’

I couldn’t help but shudder as I imagined dozens of turrets firing heavy magic bullets simultaneously. Just imagining it is awesome…!

‘Of course, it’ll consume a lot of magic cores.’

Each defense tower requires one magic core to summon.

The types of towers I have obtained so far are three.

‘Automatic Defense Turret’ that automatically fires magic bullets, ‘Shield Turret’ which is a tank unit that provokes enemies in a wide area, and ‘Magic Turret’ which I recently obtained, specializing in wide-area CC [crowd control] and slow.

Each requires magic cores of R-grade or higher, N-grade or higher, and SR-grade or higher.

It’s an enormous material cost for a one-time summon.

Even though I’ve become quite wealthy, magic cores are not strategic resources that can be easily consumed.

Still, if I can pour magic cores and build as many towers as possible in an emergency…

‘The game genre changes.’

From character defense to tower defense.

This skill can literally act as a Game Changer.

The more means of creating variables, the better. I looked at the last line with satisfaction.

– If the declared territory is an enemy area, the area enters a [Siege Battle] state, and upon victory, the user can seize control of the area.

“…”

I rubbed my eyes because I didn’t understand it well. What exactly does this mean? So…

‘If I go into a dungeon, plant a flag, declare it my territory, start a [Siege Battle], and win… does that mean I can take over that dungeon?’

Beyond completing dungeon exploration and opening safe zones, can I claim the dungeon area as my own?

No, really?

‘If that’s really possible…’

The way we explore dungeons will change in the future.

I can nibble away at that nightmare-tainted land…!

‘I’ll have to go and use it to verify the actual effects.’

After reading and confirming the skill description several more times, I leaned back in my chair with a long sigh.

‘Not bad. No, it’s quite good.’

What I wanted wasn’t powerful firepower or massive tanking ability. My party members are more skilled and capable in those areas.

What I wanted was the ability to support those allies more efficiently.

And the unexpectedness to create variables.

In that respect, this ultimate skill [Imperial Territory Declaration] came out exactly as I wanted.

‘…No, is it the opposite?’

The ultimate skill is the culmination of the character.

In other words, it can be said to be a ‘conclusion’ that the character has reached after living and growing.

I wanted to obtain such a skill. Therefore, my ultimate skill was realized in this form.

It might be reasonable to see it that way.

‘…I should go order a flag as soon as it gets light.’

I don’t know how long I can carry a flag with a legendary strength stat of 13 at level 50.

Should I start doing push-ups from tomorrow…?

***

The next day.

As soon as I woke up in a good mood, I was about to head to the blacksmith, but an unexpected guest came in the morning.

“Your Highness.”

It was God Hand who came.

He was having fun with his girlfriend yesterday, even doing love shots, so why did he come to me? Couldn’t he have spent more good time? Huh?

I was about to ask this with a mix of half-joking (half-anger), but I stopped. God Hand’s expression was more serious than ever.

“I have something urgent to tell you.”

“What’s wrong?”

God Hand, who had entered the mansion, quickly looked around, then leaned close to me and lowered his voice.

“Crossroads is currently allowing free entry to outsiders, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

I’m accepting guests without discrimination. As long as they’re not monsters, I had no intention of turning away people who came all the way to this remote southern region.

God Hand carefully looked around again and whispered to me.

“…Just yesterday, spies dispatched from the Imperial Family infiltrated this city.”

I gasped in surprise.

“Spies from the Imperial Family? Then…”

“Yes. They are agents of the Aegis Special Task Force sent by His Highness Fernandez.”

I frowned.

They should be busy fighting Lark right now. Does this mean they’re still trying to keep me in check even in this situation?

“They didn’t come to carry out any specific plots. However, they said they came to reinforce the intelligence line, which they deemed to have become thin.”

It feels like quite a long time ago now.

There was a time when I exposed spies in this monster front.

The ones who were caught at that time were Margherita and God Hand. Both of them were reporting the situation here to the Imperial Family under Fernandez’s orders.

Margherita gave up her spy activities and only worked as a priest afterward. I turned a blind eye to it.

And, God Hand became my double agent.

He still acts as if he’s under Fernandez’s command and has been reporting all the information exchanged with the Imperial Family to me without fail.

It’s the same this time. As soon as additional spies were dispatched from the center, he came to inform me right away.

“It’s helpful that I didn’t remove the fishing line.”

It meant that using God Hand as a double agent without cutting the line was quite useful.

When I smiled, God Hand also smiled wryly.

“The ones who came this time disguised themselves as refugees and infiltrated various parts of the city. It seems they plan to grasp the city’s movements and report them to the Imperial Family.”

“Let them do as they please. I don’t intend to stop them one by one as long as they don’t cause trouble.”

If they’re determined to send spies to grasp the city’s movements, it’s impossible to stop them in the first place.

I don’t intend to be hostile to Fernandez right now, and I have nothing to hide, so I plan to leave them alone. If I’m lucky, I might be able to use them in reverse.

“However, Your Highness. There’s one thing I feel I must report, so I came to tell you directly.”

“Huh?”

“The leader of the spies dispatched this time, is now…”

God Hand hesitated for a moment, but eventually spoke.

“…went to meet Sir Lucas.”

“…What?”

The unexpectedness of the words made it hard for me to understand right away.

‘What is this about?’

The spy sent by Fernandez…

…Why would they meet Lucas?