I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 386

I had been constantly agonizing over it.

What is right and what is wrong? Whether my choices are truly justified.

Because I agonized, hesitated, and struggled… I was still human.

But I won’t anymore.

Agonizing is a luxury. Hesitation is poison in the face of monsters.

My enemies are all wrong for being born into this world. Therefore, I declare them to be eliminated and oppressed. And so, I will kill them with my own hands.

Once I changed my mind, the world became so easy and simple.

Intuitive and straightforward.

“……”

On that simple world, the spring sunlight was falling.

The touch of the cool spring air, the light pink flower buds hanging at the tips of branches, the refreshing scent of new shoots sprouting, the taste of water droplets left in my mouth…….

I turned my eyes away from the world that emitted tens of thousands of colors like a prism.

I repeat what I have to do today.

When the monsters come, I will test the new bait…….

That’s all there is to it.

***

“……”

Several hours had already passed since I started killing time at the forward base.

I took out the pocket watch from my coat, puzzled, and checked the time.

“……What is this?”

It was about time for the monsters to start appearing.

The surface of the black lake was still calm.

I frowned and looked towards the lake.

What’s going on? Did they use some kind of dark event to change the appearance time? But the dark event was skipped in this stage as well…….

Puzzled, I opened the system window and checked the enemy information. And then.

“……?”

I found something strange.

The number of enemies displayed in the system window was much lower than when I first checked, and it was still decreasing even now. At a rapid pace, too…….

“What is this……?”

I was so flustered that I jumped up.

What’s going on?

What is happening under the lake right now?

Flash!

At that moment, the teleport gate installed at the forward base flashed, and a soldier rushed out in a hurry.

“Y-Your Highness! Reporting!”

“What is it? I told you not to send messengers unless it’s very urgent during a defense battle, as it’s dangerous.”

“It’s a breakout!”

I turned to the soldier, doubting my ears. The soldier continued to shout.

“It has been confirmed that Lord Lucas and others who were imprisoned in the central prison… escaped about an hour ago!”

“What?”

“All the prison guards were neutralized, so it took time to report……!”

I was dumbfounded and stood there blankly for a moment.

But the following report was even more absurd.

“It is reported that the Dusk Bringer Grand Duke and Your Highness’s direct party members stormed the prison, took over, and rescued Lord Lucas and the others.”

“……So now they’re all collectively disobeying me.”

I rubbed my throbbing forehead and asked through gritted teeth.

“So, where did the escapees go?”

“That is… after gathering their equipment, they all… disappeared through the teleport gate.”

“…….”

My subordinate hero party all went somewhere through the gate?

Where on earth did they all go…….

“……Wait a minute.”

I quickly turned back to the system window.

The number of enemy monsters was decreasing at a terrifying speed. I opened my mouth slightly.

“Could it be…….”

***

My hunch was right.

Several hours later, after the number of monsters in the stage enemy information window dropped to 0.

Flash!

My subordinate heroes appeared through the teleport gate installed at the forward base.

Lucas, Evangeline, Damian, Junior. Quillan and the Punishment Unit. Dusk Bringer and the Dragon Blood Knights. Verdandi and the Holy Grail Expedition.

They were all bathed in monster blood, with minor injuries all over their bodies. But their faces were confident.

“…….”

I crossed my arms and glared at the heroes lined up in front of me. When the lineup was complete, I asked, dumbfounded.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Lucas, who was standing at the very front, reported.

“I heard that the Nameless of the Lake Kingdom is always single-handedly holding back the monster army. And that the monsters that he fails to stop leak out of the lake and invade the human world.”

“So?”

“So, in cooperation with the Nameless, we killed all the monsters that had flooded this time before they could escape the lake.”

“Why?”

“If monsters don’t invade, there will be no need to use living people as bait.”

Lucas glanced behind me.

At the place where the human bait was locked in iron bars.

“So that Your Grace doesn’t have to use that ‘new method’.”

“……So. Let’s summarize.”

I let out a hollow laugh and rubbed my forehead.

“All of you, just to protect those prisoners, disobeyed my orders, defied me, even escaped, and then voluntarily crawled under the lake, and even got injured like that?”

It’s fortunate that the scale of the monsters in this stage was small.

If there had been a few more, these idiots would have all died under that lake.

“It’s not those prisoners that we were trying to protect.”

Lucas looked around at the other heroes.

“It’s the banner of this monster front, and…….”

Then, he looked straight at me.

“Your Grace’s humanity.”

“…….”

“Even if our bodies are torn to shreds, we will continue to protect it.”

I felt suffocated.

I gritted my teeth.

“Why don’t you understand…? I’m trying to do this because I can’t bear to see you get hurt and die anymore.”

“…….”

“But why don’t you listen to me? Why!”

“Your Grace, why don’t you understand?”

Lucas answered calmly.

“What is it that we truly want to protect, even if we get hurt and die… why don’t you understand?”

I looked around at my heroes, bewildered.

They were all looking at me with unwavering gazes.

Unable to face them, I eventually turned my eyes away.

“Disobedience and even escape, you must have been prepared to receive aggravated punishment for what you did, right?”

“…….”

“Until the new punishment is decided, all of you are confined. Wait in your respective quarters.”

Lucas bowed his head first and walked towards the gate. After that, all my heroes went back to Crossroads through the gate in turn.

I turned to the soldiers waiting at the forward base and sighed.

“……The human bait test is postponed until the next defense battle.”

There’s no way to test it since there are no monsters to kill.

I waved my hand weakly towards the prisoners locked in iron bars.

“Remove the bombs from those guys and put them back in prison…….”

***

I drank alcohol.

Sitting alone in the empty mercenary guild bar, I poured brandy into a glass and swallowed it.

This place, where an old lightning mage used to sit next to me and drink with me, was now just me alone.

I poured the strong liquor into my stomach without stopping, trying to get drunk.

I don’t know how much I drank or how much time had passed.

When I suddenly came to my senses, Serenade was sitting next to me.

She was wearing a neat suit, her clean, water-colored hair tied back, and she was sitting next to me, listening to my words.

“I’m… just an ordinary game player.”

I rambled.

“I’m not a genius strategist, and I’m definitely not a properly trained military commander. I’m just… a pathetic bastard who used to play games in his room…….”

“…….”

“People are dying because they trust someone like me. I can’t take it anymore. So… I wanted to change the situation somehow.”

I was trying to change.

I was trying to become a monster. But…….

At that moment, Serenade slowly reached out and took my hand.

“Your Grace. The people here love you not because you are a perfect commander.”

“…….”

“It’s because you do your best, take responsibility for the results, and cry with them. Because you were a commander who was more human than anyone else.”

Serenade’s silver gaze gently looked at me.

“But now, Your Grace is trying to kill people in order to save people.”

“…….”

“This is not like you.”

I shook off Serenade’s hand.

“Why don’t even you understand? We have to change.”

“Your Grace.”

“The monsters are getting stronger and stronger, and our losses are getting bigger and bigger……!”

Even if the tutorial stage was a situation I couldn’t do anything about.

After that, as the stages continued, our losses were increasing. I was losing my comrades one by one.

I saw the scar that remained on Serenade’s arm.

The injury she sustained from a goblin’s arrow in the previous battle remained as a permanent scar.

If this situation continues, someday Serenade will also… get more seriously injured or die.

“If I don’t become a monster, in this state, eventually… the monster front will be torn to shreds in the face of their attacks.”

“…….”

“We will all be shattered into pieces…….”

Serenade, who was quietly watching me, took my hand again and smiled.

“If we are torn to shreds, we can live while torn to shreds.”

……What?

“If we are shattered into pieces, we can live while shattered into pieces.”

“What does that… mean?”

“Your Grace. Don’t be afraid of getting hurt.”

I stared blankly at Serenade. She smiled brightly.

“Humans can’t win every battle. The important thing is to overcome the wounds and stand up again, and keep walking without giving up.”

“…….”

“It’s okay even if you’re battered. It’s okay even if you’re shattered into pieces. Whatever form you are in, I love you.”

Serenade reached out and stroked my cheek.

“If you don’t lose your heart, even if you are split into a thousand or ten thousand pieces, you are still you.”

“…….”

“The reason everyone is stopping you now is because you are trying to abandon your own heart.”

Serenade shook her head slightly.

“Please don’t do that.”

As I looked at her silently, speechless,

Serenade whispered softly with a face that seemed to be smiling and crying at the same time.

“Don’t let go of your heart… the flag in your heart, Your Grace.”

***

…….

Memories flickered.

When I became aware of my blurred consciousness, I was walking in the back alleys of Crossroads.

For some reason, I felt like I had to meet the Nameless. I staggered towards the teleport gate installed at the lord’s mansion.

In my head, which was dizzy from the effects of alcohol, people’s words echoed repeatedly.

– This is not Your Grace’s way.

– This is not the path of our senior.

– This is not like Your Grace.

– It’s because Your Grace is trying to abandon your own heart.

My way?

My path?

What is like me?

My heart?

What the hell is ‘me’?

‘I am…….’

A player?

A tyrant?

A monster?

‘I am…….’

A classic enthusiast?

Ash?

Or? What am I?

‘What did I want to do?’

In this world, what was I fighting for…….

– Bro!

……Was I fighting?

The magic stone of the teleport gate was in front of me. I reached out and activated it.

A magical light burst out, and a magical door opened in front of me. I staggered and threw myself into it.

Immediately after,

[The current player’s proof of existence is uncertain.]

[System usage is unavailable.]

Unlike the usual flash, a sticky darkness spread before my eyes.

[Player’s proof of existence is impossible. Retrying…….]

[Player’s proof of existence is impossible. Retrying…….]

[Player’s proof of existence is impossible. Retrying…….]

Looking at the system window that was filling my vision with a bright red color along with beeping warning sounds, I suddenly remembered what Granny Coco had said.

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

– You must have the light of the lighthouse called ‘yourself’ firmly in order to resurface back to this reality.

– Therefore, those who are sometimes unsure of who they are often disappear during teleportation magic. They lose the light of the lighthouse and drift away.

A chuckle escaped my lips.

“Oh, damn it…….”

[Failed to prove existence.]

Those words appeared in front of my eyes for the last time,

Splash……!

With a sensation as if my whole body was being swept away by muddy water.

I sank into the pitch-black darkness……

To the other side of the shore, I sank.