I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 359

I explained the traps I had prepared to the heroes.

Traps that, if they worked well, could wipe out the goblin army in one fell swoop.

When the explanation was over, all the heroes were listening with dumbfounded expressions. I chuckled.

‘I’ve decided to stand above the rules of the game.’

So, I’ll use everything I can. I’ll squeeze out every trick.

If one doesn’t work, then two, if two don’t work, then three, and so on until it works…!

“But, we shouldn’t neglect our defense preparations just because we’re relying on these traps.”

The battlefield is unpredictable.

That’s why the most important thing is the standard tactics honed through training and experience.

“My role is to create variables with unexpected traps. And your role is to carry out the defense battle in a standard way if these traps don’t work.”

I specified in detail the roles that each hero party had to play in this defense battle.

This defense battle is likely to be long.

From the forward base in front of the lake, to the three days it takes for them to reach Crossroads, and then the defense battle at the Crossroads main fortress.

We might have to fight a long, messy, and terrible battle.

In this situation, what the soldiers need are clear and essential principles of action.

To not forget what they have to do even in the midst of a chaotic battle situation.

I tried to instill this in each party.

“Next is information about the goblin army.”

I briefed them on the enemies we would be facing.

The Goblin God-King, Kali-Alexandre.

And the goblin Amir, who can be said to be the field commander who conveys the voice of that God-King.

The elite guard that moves like the God-King’s limbs, the Goblin Janissaries [elite soldiers of the Ottoman Empire].

And the ordinary goblin soldiers…

A total of 50,000, a huge wave of monsters unlike anything we’ve ever faced. No, it would be more accurate to call it a tsunami than a wave.

“Don’t think of them as ordinary goblins. They are a proper ‘army’ with good equipment and under the command of a brilliant commander.”

I told them about the equipment the guys used in the game.

They were goblins, but they operated cavalry units, had professional archer units, and even had tank units.

“It would be great if we could deal a critical blow with the traps I’ve prepared… but we need to prepare for the possibility that we can’t.”

Now it was time to tell them about the standard strategy we should take in this battle.

I pointed to the forward base on the map hanging on the wall of the reception room and said,

“First, we abandon the forward base.”

Perhaps it was because I said we would give up the forward base too easily. The heroes were startled again this time.

But I can say this with certainty. If we face the goblin army, we cannot defend the forward base. It will be captured no matter what.

The forward base is located right in front of the Black Lake. If the goblin army attacks with all its strength, we have no way to withstand their numbers.

No matter how well we fight, the forward base will be captured.

“But we can’t give up the forward base for free. It’s a place we worked so hard to rebuild.”

Thinking about the money and manpower that went into rebuilding the forward base made me feel like I was crying tears of blood.

Not only that, but there are more than a few artifacts installed in the forward base. Moreover, everyone worked so hard to build the additional stone walls this time.

We can’t just give this place away.

“So, first, we defend the forward base and inflict as much damage on them as possible, then-”

Tap!

I flicked my fingers at the three swirling drawings on the forward base.

“We retreat. Through the teleport gate.”

Originally, in the game, if the forward base was captured, the troops defending it were mercilessly annihilated.

But here in reality, we can build a cheat-like structure called a teleport gate.

Thanks to that, a safe retreat is guaranteed. So, we can fight to the end.

‘……I remember what Old Lady Coco of the Severance told me when she made the teleport gate.’

At that time, Old Lady Coco said this:

– Entering another world itself is not difficult. The problem is returning to reality.

– You must have a clear light of the ‘self’ as a lighthouse to be able to resurface back to this reality.

– So, sometimes those who are not sure who they are often disappear during teleportation magic. They lose the light of the lighthouse and drift away.

– For this reason, creatures born from nightmares cannot use teleportation magic. If they enter the teleport gate, they will all be swept away to the other side.

Well, I don’t know the complicated reasons, but anyway, monsters can’t use the teleport gate. But they can destroy the gate.

A safe passage that the enemies can’t use!

We must efficiently use this cheat-like facility to the end.

“We have expanded the teleport gates at the forward base to three. A small elite force will eliminate as many of them as possible with the artifacts and defensive weapons prepared at the forward base, and then escape through the teleport gate.”

The forward base is a pity, but it’s not more precious than the lives of the soldiers.

“After that, while they are moving north, we will continuously pour guerrilla attacks with small hero parties.”

This road from the Black Lake to Crossroads, which usually takes three days.

There are also teleport gates installed in various places here.

Using these gates, we will continuously pour firepower and retreat, inflicting as much damage as possible.

“After that, when they reach the front of Crossroads… we will defeat the remaining ones, to the best of our ability, using all the know-how we have accumulated so far.”

Kill zone.

Death loop.

Crossfire.

The walls and artifacts.

My heroes and soldiers.

Against their dog-like numbers, we will also go all out. Total War. We will use everything we can.

‘The real fun of a defense game is to grind down an absurd number of enemies with our placement and tactics.’

……If the traps I’ve prepared work well, we won’t even have to go this far.

Anyway, we’ll load all the bullets we can. Preparation can never be too much.

With that, my lecture on the traps I had dug and the standard tactics to take if the traps didn’t work was over.

After that, discussions and meetings on detailed tactics with each party leader followed.

***

The long meeting ended almost at dusk.

As I dismissed the heroes and came outside, I saw a red-haired mage sitting blankly on a chair in front of the reception room.

It was Lily. I waved my hand at her and approached.

“Lily! I was going to stop by the alchemy workshop because I had something to discuss with you anyway. You came first?”

“……”

“Oh, by the way, you’re not going to be in this battle. Focus on managing the artifacts on the wall.”

In preparation for this defense battle, almost all the artifacts that Crossroads possessed were installed on the wall.

Lily, who was in charge of overseeing the use of these artifacts, was realistically unable to participate in the battle.

And there was also a bit of consideration.

‘Lily was attacked by goblins when she was young.’

She said that her village was attacked by goblins. She lost her entire family at that time, and in order to avoid being hurt by the goblins’ spears and swords, Lily awakened the trait [Flame Skin].

A trait that deflects all physical attacks instead of consuming magic power. It was very useful when clearing Stage 0.

……Anyway, it’s too cruel to order Lily, who is like this, to fight goblins. So, from the beginning, I had no intention of deploying her in this defense battle.

‘Come to think of it, wasn’t it the elf slave that Lily’s family was taking care of who opened the village’s defenses so that the village could be attacked…?’

It was a story I heard a long time ago, but I vaguely remembered it.

It was a story Lily told me when she first met Godhand. That’s why Lily came to hate elves.

But now the two of them are dating.

It seems like they fought again this morning…

“……”

As I subtly turned my gaze away from Lily, who was sitting with a dark face, I saw Godhand, who had approached and was standing in front of her with a stern face.

“……”

A dark and awkward atmosphere was swirling between the two of them.

I felt awkward for no reason, so I quickly coughed and stepped back. Ahem.

‘This is why I don’t date……’

Really. It’s not that I can’t. It’s just that I don’t because it’s so complicated, there’s so much to worry about, and there are so many things that can hurt your feelings.

Really.

No, really!

“……Lily.”

Godhand, who seemed to have made up his mind, stepped forward.

“Let’s talk more……”

“Let’s do it later, Godhand.”

Lily, who gave a bitter smile, avoided Godhand’s eyes.

“I need to discuss the artifact installation with His Majesty, so.”

“……”

Godhand closed his mouth and stepped back, and Lily gestured to me.

“Let’s go, Your Majesty. Time is running out, so we need to finish the installation quickly.”

“Y-yes……”

Lily pushed her wheelchair wheels with her own hands and went ahead.

Godhand stood there as if nailed to the spot, looking at her back.

In the meantime, I didn’t know what to do, so I quickly followed behind Lily.

‘This is why workplace romance… no, frontline romance is a problem!’

My heroes who are dating on my front lines, please! If you’re going to date, get married and live happily ever after! If you break up for no reason, the atmosphere becomes terrible!

***

Forward base.

When I arrived here with Lily, I saw workers diligently building stone walls even though it was just before sunset. Alchemists were also working hard to install artifacts.

Lily was exhausted, but she did her job thoroughly.

We checked the artifacts installed at the forward base and discussed the order of operation and combination efficiency.

When the artifact check at the forward base was about to end, Lily sighed and said,

“Your Majesty is really amazing.”

“Huh?”

I was flustered. Why are you praising me all of a sudden?

“……Ever since we encountered the Black Spider Legion here before. Your Majesty has never given up, no matter how difficult the situation, and you have always managed to achieve victory.”

“……”

“If it were me… I would have given up a long time ago.”

Lily shook her head.

“Isn’t that right? Usually, when an insurmountable wall appears in front of you, you get frustrated and give up.”

Her hand dug into her immobile legs.

“A person who thinks about how to overcome that wall, like Your Majesty, and then puts it into practice and manages to overcome it… would be a great hero who changes the world. I don’t have the courage or will to do that.”

“Lily.”

“I’m… just an ordinary human. So…”

“Lily!”

I interrupted Lily and smiled brightly.

“Did it look like I was overcoming the walls all at once?”

“……Yes. You actually did. You never failed…”

“No.”

I stood in front of Lily and smiled.

“I failed 741 times to overcome that one wall.”

“……What?”

“No, actually, it was much more than that. I was completely crushed.”

It was 741 times just in the game playthroughs.

In reality, how many defeats did I experience in those playthroughs?

How many defeats did I have to endure to get used to this game?

“You don’t know how many battles I’ve lost and how many subordinates I’ve lost to get here.”

“……”

Lily had an expression that she couldn’t understand well, but I continued to speak.

What’s important is not how many times I failed. It’s the one failure that might be in front of her.

It’s the fear of that failure.

“I’m an ordinary human like you, Lily. I’m afraid of failure, and even now, I want to give up and run away.”

“……”

“But there’s something I’m proud of myself for. Yes, I didn’t give up.”

742nd playthrough.

I finally reached the end of the game.

And believing in the memory of that victory, I am now challenging again.

“There are no great people in this world, Lily. There are only great challenges that ordinary people rise up to face.”

……It’s not a sentence I made up, but a quote from a famous soldier on Earth.

It’s a phrase I like.

Because I also truly believe that.

“Everyone faces walls in their own lives. And whether that wall is high or low, the act of challenging to overcome it itself, I think, is great.”

Whether it’s the monsters in front of us,

Prejudice against disabilities,

Marriage with a different race, whatever it is-

Every challenge against a wall is great.

“Lily. You’ve already overcome great challenges. You fought the Black Spider Queen with me, and even with a body that can’t use its legs, you’re working as the senior mage of this monster front without any shortcomings.”

I went back behind Lily and grabbed the handle of her wheelchair.

“Even if you give up now without overcoming one more wall. Everyone will understand you.”

“……”

“But if you say you’re going to overcome that wall in front of you again… I’ll do my best to help you. As one of the ordinary people next to you.”

“……”

“What do you want to do?”

Lily, who had her head down, uttered in a tearful voice after a long time.

“……I like Godhand.”

I chuckled.

Lily clenched her fist and said as if making a resolution.

“I want to be with that person for the rest of my life……”