I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 350

《That was quite a spectacle.》

The real Kali-Alexandre looked embarrassed. I shrugged.

“It’s okay. I’ve seen worse spectacles from your Nightmare Legion commanders.”

《Hahaha! They all have terrible personalities, don’t they?》

“Are you saying you’re not like that?”

《At least I seem more normal than those guys, right? It’s funny for a goblin to say this, though.》

It was funny, but honestly, it felt somewhat true.

Compared to the bizarre and vicious behavior of the Nightmare Legion commanders I had met so far, Kali-Alexandre was a somewhat mannered enemy commander.

“If you like poetry so much, why don’t you write some yourself?”

I asked, suddenly curious.

He used quite a variety of sophisticated vocabulary. Even if writing a famous poem was difficult, wouldn’t it be worth developing his skills? I thought.

《We who have been resurrected here cannot create anything new.》

Kali-Alexandre replied in a bitter voice.

《Because we are merely ‘shadows’ of nightmares, extracted from past memories.》

“Extracted from memories? Shadows of nightmares?”

When I asked, puzzled, Kali-Alexandre slowly nodded.

《Since I have shared beautiful poetry with you, though it’s hardly a repayment, I will explain about us ‘monsters’.》

The Goblin God-King slowly explained.

The monsters were past memories extracted from the nightmares of the residents of this Lake Kingdom.

They were all failures who once threatened the existence of humanity but were ultimately defeated.

The Overlord—that is, the Demon King—had resurrected them through a special process, and the resurrected nightmares had sworn absolute loyalty to the Demon King.

《In the process of resurrecting us, it seems the Overlord interfered with our minds. We instinctively became obedient to the Overlord, and at the same time…》

Kali-Alexandre’s gaze briefly flickered towards me.

《We developed hostility towards humanity. Several times stronger than when we were alive.》

I frowned.

The hatred for humans that I had felt from the depths of their souls whenever I faced the monsters.

‘Was that hatred… amplified intentionally by the Demon King?’

The hatred I faced was not from each individual monster… but the will of the Demon King.

“Your Overlord seems to hate humans very much.”

《Indeed. He wishes to eradicate the human world, without fail. That’s why he must have interfered with our minds.》

“For someone like that, you’re quite friendly towards humans?”

《Haha… I didn’t hate humans when I was alive either. No, I actually liked them.》

Since he didn’t harbor much hatred in the first place, there was nothing to amplify?

Kali-Alexandre let out a soft sigh and slowly raised his head to look at the dark sky.

《Anyway, that’s how it is. We are forever frozen in our forms from hundreds of years ago, wandering in the darkness here… merely servants waiting for the Overlord’s orders.》

“…”

《We are beings who can only dwell on the past forever. It is impossible to create anything new. For someone like me to write poetry? It’s absurd.》

“Did you even try?”

When I threw the question out, Kali-Alexandre seemed a little flustered.

《…To be honest, I never even tried to write poetry when I was alive. I was only good at destroying and burning, I had no talent for creating or nurturing anything.》

“Then try it later.”

He hadn’t even tried once and was already concluding that he couldn’t do it?

I chuckled, feeling dumbfounded, and gestured with my chin.

“Who knows? Maybe a decent line will come out?”

《…….》

Kali-Alexandre, who had been stunned as if struck on the head, burst into a hearty laugh.

《I will try it once. And I’m sorry for constantly asking, but could you perhaps… tell me how the outside world has changed in the meantime?》

I frowned for a moment but then opened my mouth.

After all, the meeting had to last for 30 minutes. It was a topic that wouldn’t disadvantage me, so there was no reason not to talk about it.

For the remaining time, I told him about the history of the outside world. I only knew bits and pieces, but I knew the general outline.

《…I see. So, the human race eventually became the rulers of the world.》

After listening to my amateur history lecture, Kali-Alexandre nodded.

《That young race, which didn’t even have a single Guardian Tree, became the final victor. Amazing.》

“Guardian Tree?”

《Also called a Guardian Tree. The tree that protects each race… the tree of grace bestowed by the god of that race. A spiritual passage connecting the gods of the spirit realm and the races of the lower realm.》

I blinked in confusion.

No, humans have one, don’t they? Everblack, a black thorn tree. There’s one in the imperial capital…

‘That was originally… something they didn’t have?’

Come to think of it, when I was exploring the [Laboratory] dungeon in District 6 recently, I found a branch of Everblack there.

A branch of Everblack found in the Lake Kingdom, which was destroyed 500 years ago.

And the Everblack Empire, which declared itself an empire 500 years ago and began to grow from a small kingdom.

If all of this is related to something…?

《We goblins also did not have a Guardian Tree.》

Kali-Alexandre’s words continued to reach my ears as I was lost in thought.

《Humans and goblins alike were not blessed by the gods, yet humans came to dominate the world, while goblins lick the darkness here.》

I asked, a little puzzled.

“You’re the god of the goblins, aren’t you? Can’t you just give your race a blessing?”

《…I am not a god.》

The Goblin God-King shook his head.

《My people just arbitrarily revered me. They put ‘Kali-‘ in front of my name and worshiped me as a god… Eventually, an opportunity arose to gain divinity, but I refused.》

“What? Why?”

《The moment I gained divinity, I would no longer be able to be the leader of our race. My race still needed me.》

Kali-Alexandre smiled bitterly.

《I wanted to achieve something solely with the power of my race, without borrowing the power of a god. In the end, I failed miserably.》

“…”

《So, I am not a god but a mere failure. Just a goblin who happened to sit on the throne.》

His self-deprecating mutterings were the last words before the conversation paused.

I wanted to ask something more, but Kali-Alexandre slowly began to adjust his attire.

Come to think of it, almost 30 minutes had passed.

《Thank you for indulging my request today. Thank you for sharing the beautiful poetry and for telling me about the past history.》

“You’re welcome.”

I’m going to kill you now, though. Thirty minutes of chatting as a send-off gift is a cheap price to pay.

《It’s awkward to call it a reward, but I’ll tell you one thing.》

Kali-Alexandre, who had risen from his seat, whispered.

《The ‘grace’ that the Overlord has bestowed upon our race this time… is ‘reproduction’.》

“…?!”

The word was different, so I was confused for a moment, but I understood easily.

The dark event of this stage.

Its content is… reproduction?

《However, as I said before, we are merely shadows that have replicated past nightmares. Something like reproduction is impossible.》

Kali-Alexandre slowly looked around at his army.

《So, the Overlord is ‘replicating’ my army… The army that will invade the human world this time will be much larger than usual.》

“…”

《Guardian of the human world, if you can prepare, please do so. Before the tide of my race washes over your walls.》

I rose from my seat, grinding my teeth.

“Why are you giving me this information?”

Is it okay to tell me this much? Or is it that even if I know, I can’t respond?

But the answer that came back was unexpected.

《Because I don’t want to attack you.》

“What?”

《However, a leader cannot lead their race according to their personal wishes, nor should they.》

Kali-Alexandre, who had turned away, muttered quietly.

《…I wanted to be born as a human. If not that, I would have preferred to be born as a line of poetry, a bar of song, or a paragraph of a play. But I am a goblin. An unavoidable monster.》

“…”

《Our goblins are monsters whose purpose is to invade, plunder, and pillage. If this is the nature of our race, and if I am their leader, then I have a duty to lead them.》

Kali-Alexandre, who glanced back at me, muttered bitterly.

《I refused divinity, and I did not sit on the throne of my own volition. However… if my people treat me as their god and king, then I also have a duty not to abandon that responsibility.》

“…”

《Oh, you who know the beauty of poetry.》

Kali-Alexandre, who had gone to his goat, grabbed the reins.

《Return to the human world. And enjoy the beauty of the brilliant culture you have created until the very end.》

“…”

《I will go to kill and burn, according to the innate instincts of my race.》

I grinned, grinding my teeth, and raised my hand.

“You think I’m going to let you go quietly, goblin?”

Immediately, Damian and Junior on the walls prepared long-range area attacks, and my warriors were ready to rush out through the open gates.

Kali-Alexandre is completely immune to long-range fire and magic. But he is vulnerable in close combat.

As planned, while Junior and Damian poured firepower into the goblin army, the vanguard classes would rush in and kill that Goblin God-King…!

But without even looking back, Kali-Alexandre muttered quietly.

《You are mistaken about something, human.》

And then, he lightly waved his hand.

《The one who will let you go quietly is me.》

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Suddenly, the ground all around us shook.

Surprised, I looked around, and only then could I see it.

A vast number of goblin hordes, advancing from afar, surrounding the Colosseum.

I thought the thousand or so goblins waiting in front were a lot, but I was wrong.

The number of goblins densely surrounding the Colosseum, raising their bows, and slowly closing the distance… seemed to be ten times that.

They wore well-tanned leather armor, held bows made of buffalo horns, and had short curved swords at their waists.

A fully armed goblin army.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Every time they stomped their feet in unison, I felt breathless.

I didn’t know it until now.

Numbers. This was the first time I truly felt how powerful numbers could be as a weapon.

“What, what is this quantity?!”

“There are too… many…!”

The shouts of my panicked party members reached my ears.

I gritted my teeth and glared at Kali-Alexandre’s back. The Goblin God-King was just mounting his goat.

Should I strike him down now?

Kill him quickly and escape using teleportation or something?

But if the battle is delayed even a little, we will be surrounded by over ten thousand goblins. Then there will be no way to escape safely…

Whoosh!

As Kali-Alexandre mounted his goat and waved his arm, the advancing goblin army stopped as if by magic.

And when Kali-Alexandre waved his arm horizontally once more, the goblins slowly began to retreat.

Still aiming thousands of arrows at us.

《It was a pleasant conversation. Thank you for your generosity, Ash.》

As he rode his goat back to his army, Kali-Alexandre left his last words.

《But there is a different kind of conversation that is appropriate for the commanders of opposing armies.》

“…”

《We will meet again on the battlefield soon.》

Clop, clop-

The goat carrying the Goblin God-King moved away.

At the same time, the goblin army retreated from around the Colosseum like a receding tide.

In less than 10 minutes, they had completely disappeared into the darkness of the Lake Kingdom.

Ding!

A system notification appeared before my eyes, announcing that the first wave of the siege monster had been defeated.

I irritably pushed it aside. Defeated my ass.

‘We didn’t inflict any damage on each other…’

In other words, we didn’t inflict any damage on them.

The enemy commander had come right up to us, and we missed the kill chance like this…!

‘…No, he was even called a God-King.’

He must have been meticulously concerned about his own safety.

In addition to the goblin army’s encirclement, he must have secured a means to protect himself before applying for a meeting with me.

I ran my hand through my hair and flipped through the system windows. Still, I got a lot of information, and above all, I encountered the goblin army.

This means that the next stage’s enemy information will be displayed…

“…?”

I blinked as I opened the stage enemy information window.

“…What is this?”

There, it read:

[Enemy Information – STAGE 15]

– Lv.?? Goblin God-King: 1

– Lv.?? Goblin Amir: 10

– Lv.35 Goblin Janissary: 2,500

– Lv.15 Goblin: 22,940

– Time until start: 21 days

An unbelievable number was densely written there.