I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 367

Suicide Squad (2)

Before the rescue squad entered the forward base, Kali-Alexandros had already discovered the emergency teleport gate within the fortress.

He often surveyed the occupied territory from the highest point, so he had climbed onto the fortress and discovered it by chance. The magic stones of the teleport gate were cleverly mixed among the bricks that made up the fortress.

He originally intended to destroy it immediately, but the goblin god-king’s intuition, honed through countless battles, stopped him. He had a feeling that this gate could be used to his advantage.

He deliberately left the fortress empty and surrounded it with troops, ordering them to monitor the use of this gate. He thought it would take at least a day, but he didn’t expect the humans to return in just a few tens of minutes.

《The human soldiers move in groups of five.》

The decoy unit was making a loud battle in the north of the forward base, while the rescue squad was escaping from inside the forward base.

Standing on the ramparts, looking down at them, Kali-Alexandros muttered calmly, 《We killed two stragglers. It’s reasonable to assume that there are more members of the same group left.》

It was as Kali-Alexandros had predicted. There were more stragglers hiding, and the humans were carrying out a reckless rescue operation to save them.

《We lost 2,000 here, and they only lost two. The exchange ratio is too unfair.》

Kali-Alexandros waved his hand. The goblin amirs [a high-ranking military officer], understanding his command, saluted in unison.

The human heroes were running towards the fortress, and the goblin legions were surrounding them like a whirlwind. Watching this, Kali-Alexandros lightly flicked his fingers.

《Shall we adjust the troop exchange ratio a little more reasonably?》

***

The Holy Grail Expedition, the Shadow Squad, and Lily rushed towards the fortress. In the meantime, goblins were densely packed around them.

The decoy unit outside had lured away a considerable number of goblins, but there were still a staggering number inside the forward base.

“Even so…”

Verdandi’s green eyes, at the head of the group, emitted a clear magical light. “They’re just goblins!”

Scattering a light green afterimage, Verdandi dashed forward at a terrifying speed. Behind her trail, moving like a flash of light, goblins fell, spraying blood from their necks. As an SSR-grade assassin [Super Super Rare, a high ranking in-game character] and a combatant from the fairy royal family, her combat power was terrifying.

However,

“Haa, haa, haa!”

The goblins kept swarming, and as the battle dragged on, Verdandi quickly became exhausted. The inherent weakness of the assassin class: they are powerful in one-on-one situations and short battles, but vulnerable in one-to-many situations and long battles.

The conditions were also unfavorable, and it was a burden for her, a pure damage dealer, to be at the forefront. The remaining members of the Holy Grail Expedition, who were clearing the way ahead, were also quickly being depleted.

Therefore,

“Haaaap-!”

Lily was suitable for this situation. Whoosh-! Lily’s 2nd skill, [Fire Wall], exploded. A huge wall of flames rose on the right flank of the group, and all the goblins rushing towards it were burned to a crisp. The true value of a wide-area fire mage, the nemesis of a mass-attack army, was fully demonstrated.

As the goblins were burned to death with unbelievable efficiency, Verdandi whistled without realizing it. “Your girlfriend is amazing?!”

“She’s too good for me!”

“Don’t say that in front of me, haa! Haa! It’s embarrassing!”

Hugging Godhand, Lily kept pouring mana potions into her mouth as they moved. As a fire mage with terrible fuel efficiency, she just had to keep drinking them in situations like this.

The group finally arrived at the fortress. At the entrance of the fortress, a hill of goblin corpses was piled up. And Torkel, covered in goblin and his own blood, was seen smashing a final group of goblins to death with his shield and greatsword.

“Torkel!”

“Go up, quickly…!”

After letting the Holy Grail Expedition, the Shadow Squad, and Lily all inside the fortress, Torkel followed, blocking the goblins from the rear. On top of the fortress, the remaining leper extermination squad warriors and the goblins who had climbed up were fighting fiercely. Whether they had been attacked by a large-scale assault in the meantime, the top of the fortress was also a mess.

But relief swept across everyone’s faces. Now, all they had to do was escape through the teleport gate.

“To succeed in such an absurd operation, really…”

Verdandi stopped speaking, about to say something. Peeing- An ominous sound rang out, then, Whoosh! Boom! The entire fortress vibrated with the explosion.

The goblins had started firing the cannons they had captured at the fortress. The cannons left in the base were mostly severely damaged by the human soldiers who had set them on fire themselves, so they often didn’t fire properly and exploded on the spot. But the goblins didn’t care. They kept firing shells mindlessly.

The fortress shook continuously, and the flames of the shells soared right next to them. Verdandi shouted, “Activate the gate! Escape immediately…!”

It was then. Thud- A heavy vibration rose from the bottom of the fortress, then, Boom-! A huge explosion occurred with a tremendous roar. After waiting for the entire rescue squad to enter the fortress, the goblin suicide bombers who had been on standby were deployed all at once.

The power of each explosion was terrible, but the number of goblin suicide bombers that Kali-Alexandros had deployed to destroy the fortress exceeded one hundred. The fortress, which had been weakened by the previous shelling, could not withstand it. The lower part of the fortress melted, and the entire fortress collapsed. The entire rescue squad, who had been standing on the top floor of the fortress, also fell helplessly below.

***

“Umm…”

Lily blinked blankly. Barely holding onto her flickering consciousness, she raised her upper body, and a familiar scene came into view. The fortress had collapsed all the way to the first floor. The remains of the collapsed fortress formed a wall around them, making it feel like they were trapped in a well.

‘This is…’

One year ago. It was just like the fortress when they were fighting the Black Spider Legion here, when they were loading the last bullet…

“They’re coming from the east!”

“Reinforcements from the south!”

“We need more cover!”

“Damn it, get down-!”

The heroes of the rescue squad were fighting desperately here. They had all taken considerable damage from falling from the top floor of the fortress to the first floor, but they had to grit their teeth and fight because the goblins were attacking from all sides.

“Lily! You’ve come to your senses!”

Godhand, covered in blood, ran over and smiled foolishly. Lily struggled to raise her body. “Why… is everyone fighting? If we escape through the gate…”

“That’s…”

Godhand trailed off and looked to the side. Lily also looked in that direction. The magic stones that made up the teleport gate were shattered. Godhand muttered bitterly to the bewildered Lily, “It seems the gate was damaged when we fell. It’s not working.”

“…”

“Everyone is fighting, but at this rate…”

The goblins’ relentless attacks continued from all sides. Hope was quickly draining from the heroes’ faces. Lily felt suffocated. Is this the price of a futile challenge?

“…No.”

Lily clenched her hand, which had been blankly still. She was one of the eight survivors of the battle with the Black Spider Legion. She remembered when she and Ash had defeated the Black Spider Queen in the same situation. At that time, Ash had said this: – Even if we burn to death, we have to roll the dice.

That’s right. She was an ordinary human, but even ordinary humans… have rights. The right not to give up on a challenge. It was not yet time to give up.

“I’ll fix it!”

Lily deliberately raised her voice. The heroes around her turned to look at her. “I’m a senior mage at Crossroads, and I’m in charge of artifacts at the alchemy workshop. I was also involved in the installation of the gate.”

Tying her hair back, Lily gathered the scattered magic stone fragments in front of her. “Just buy me some time, just a little…!”

The heroes, who had paused for a moment, looked at each other. And they nodded. Thud thud thud…! A terrifying number of arrows flew from all sides. The fortress was in the center of the forward base. In other words, it was the place where all the goblins around could see, and the best place to attack. The goblins surrounding them fired arrows all at once. It was literally a rain of arrows.

“Take cover!”

“Clear them-!”

Godhand created a shield on the spot, and Bodybag cleared them once with telekinesis, but it was not enough. The rain of arrows poured down like a shower. The goblins’ arrows were crude and not fatal, but the problem was the number. The heroes’ bodies were soon pierced by several arrows.

But the arrows were rather cute. The type of goblins rushing over the collapsed fortress wall was changing from regular infantry to cavalry. The mobility and power of the goblins riding on mountain goats were several times that of infantry. The heroes of the leper extermination squad, who had been at the front, blocking the goblins’ charge, collapsed one by one, unable to withstand the accumulated injuries.

The Holy Grail Expedition also struggled to fight back with their already depleted stamina, and one by one, they knelt down. Arrows, potions, and even the barricades they used for cover were all gone. Everyone felt the shadow of death looming.

It was then. Kiiiing! With a clear activation sound, the collapsed magic stones rose up, spinning around, and created a magical door in the air.

“I’ve finished repairing it!”

Everyone, surprised, looked in that direction. Lily was smiling bashfully. “The connection with the mana core was broken, so the power supply wasn’t working. I temporarily connected my mana core.”

“Lily…!”

“Everyone, escape! Quickly!”

Lily urged them. In fact, everyone had no more strength to hold on. Verdandi, who had come to the gate, supporting the injured party members, asked urgently, “Then what about Lily?”

“I have to maintain the gate, so I’ll escape last.”

For a moment, Lily and Verdandi’s eyes met. Verdandi, biting her lip, bowed her head and smiled. “…Okay. See you later?”

The heroes retreated through the gate one by one. Now, only Torkel, Godhand, and Lily were left. Torkel, who had been blocking the arrows pouring down until the end with his shield and body, gestured to the two of them. “I’m the last one…! Go in quickly!”

“I told you, I’m last because I have to maintain the gate. I’ll follow soon, Torkel.”

“I can’t go until you go first. I don’t want to leave anyone behind me anymore…”

Whack! Godhand pushed Torkel’s back as he was saying that. Torkel’s eyes widened as he was sucked into the teleport gate. Flash-!

“…”

“…”

Now, only the two of them were left. For a moment, silence flowed. Lily said in a trembling voice, “Go, Godhand. I’ll follow right after.”

“…”

“I said go! Can’t you see how hard I’m trying?!”

“Lily. Do you know?”

Godhand, who had slowly crouched down in front of Lily, smiled. “You’re bad at lying.”

This teleport gate, with its damaged mana core, was now operating with Lily’s mana. The moment Lily let go of her hand, the gate would also close. So… Lily couldn’t escape from the beginning. Godhand had already noticed this fact.

Lily closed her eyes tightly and blurted out, “I’m doing this to save you, Godhand. Please, go…”

“…”

“It’s my last request, so…”

“No.”

Godhand, who had answered easily, slowly placed his hand on top of Lily’s hand. It was the hand that was operating the mana core of the teleport gate.

“Curse me for being selfish. Curse me for being a fool who trampled on your dedication and consideration. But, I, in front of you… I don’t want to lie to myself.”

“Godhand…!”

“Rather than surviving alone, leaving you behind, and regretting it for an eternity…”

Godhand held Lily’s hand tightly and slowly removed it from the gate’s mana core. Whirr… The magic stones that had made up the gate collapsed as if it were a lie.

Godhand held Lily’s hand tightly, who had lost her words. “Even if it’s just for a moment, I want to be with you.”

“…”

“Lily.”

In this place where monsters were swarming from all sides, covered in blood and ash. Looking calmly into the trembling eyes of his lover, Godhand asked shyly, “Will you marry me?”