I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 395

Whirr-

A dry wind blows across the bridge.

Plague Legion Commander Raven, Crown and his underlings, and two highway bandits.

These three forces are all aiming for us, and we’re caught in the middle.

While keeping an eye on the three forces pointing their weapons at each other, I cautiously and slowly opened my mouth.

“We can’t stay like this forever, so let’s sort out the situation… First, Crown. You guys just need to take Mason, right?”

I turned to look at Raven, who was standing behind me.

“And Raven, you just need to take Salome, right? If you each take the ones you want and leave, wouldn’t that be a happy ending for everyone?”

Me?

I’ll just go my own way now.

Salome was horrified by my words.

《Wait a minute! Ash! Are you planning to abandon me?!》

“Yeah.”

《You’re going to hand over your precious comrade to the enemies, and you’re going to slip away like a lizard cutting off its tail?!》

“Yeah.”

Since when were we soulmates? Let’s split up here and go our separate ways. Of course, your destination will be the grave.

I thought it was a reasonable proposal, but Crown replied in a cold tone.

“No, Ash. We’re taking you too.”

“Huh…”

“The reason we’ve been letting you roam around in the darkness here is because there were no orders from the King of Kings. But we can’t ignore the fact that you’ve come all the way to the deepest part of this place. You will be taken to the King of Kings immediately.”

Raven’s reaction was no different.

《Do you think I’d just stand by and watch the king of the opposing side fall right in front of me? Ash, I’ll turn you into a puddle of blood. I’ll bury you in my farm with Salome…!》

Then, Crown and Raven started bickering about who would take me.

“My authority as the King of Kings’ inspector takes precedence! I’ll take Ash!”

《Nonsense! I am also the King of Kings’ direct vassal and his ally! My authority is higher! That one is mine!》

No, I keep saying I don’t need this kind of popularity.

“You’re all so greedy…”

There seems to be no room for negotiation with these two forces. Eventually, I sighed and looked at my last negotiation partner.

It was the two highway bandits.

“Esteemed heroes.”

I said, bowing politely.

“I actually have a lot of money.”

“Huh?”

“Even though I look like this, I have some power on the surface. I don’t know if you know the country called Everblack, but I’m a prince of that country.”

To the two who were looking at me as if I was talking nonsense, I presented the main point.

“If you help me escape to the surface, I’ll give you half of my assets.”

“……!”

Just as these bandits demanded.

Half of my entire fortune, I’ll give it.

What’s so important about a few gold coins? If they just help me return to the surface from this hell…!

Two pairs of mad eyes shining through messy white hair looked at each other. The two old men glared at me again.

“How can we believe that?”

“The Nightmare Legion Commander and the last unit of the Lake Kingdom are this obsessed with me. Doesn’t that prove my importance?”

Salome nodded enthusiastically behind me. Ah, she’s also a Nightmare Legion Commander.

I looked around and shrugged.

“It seems like your business isn’t doing so well anyway… How about making a big score and retiring to a comfortable old age?”

“……”

“……”

The two old men whispered to each other, then took out a piece of old, yellowed parchment from their pockets and handed it to me.

“Write a contract.”

“Excuse me?”

“Put your thumbprint on it.”

“……”

“Write another one here, and let’s each take one. That’s right, like that.”

No, they don’t look like it, but they’re surprisingly thorough.

A cooperation agreement was quickly drawn up. The general content was ‘The Stranded Wanderers will help Ash escape the dungeon. Ash will pay half of his assets to the Stranded Wanderers if he escapes the dungeon’.

Well, anyway, we’ve formed a team.

“A five-person party is complete.”

Human Commander, Ash.

Nightmare Legion Commander, Salome.

Half-human, half-beast Special Agent, Mason.

Two highway bandits from the Stranded Wanderers, Sword Demon and Spear Demon.

A dream team of chaos, a miraculous five-person party was formed.

I don’t know what kind of rootless, 막장 [makjang – a Korean term for a situation that is chaotic and absurd], 날빌 [nalbil – a Korean term for a cheap or cheesy tactic], 구데기 [gudegi – a Korean term for something worthless or trashy] combination this is, but in conclusion, we have the numbers…!

And while we were forming our five-person party, Raven and Crown’s negotiations over my whereabouts ended.

《I’ll kill you, Crown!》

“Ha, didn’t you say that last time too, Plague Lord?”

It seems they didn’t reach a positive conclusion.

《The reason I haven’t released my power until now was to use Salome as a seedbed for my new plague… to avoid contaminating her.》

Raven muttered in a ghastly voice as if clearing his throat and spread his hand wide.

《But I won’t hold back anymore! All of you, be swept away by the tide of disease demons-!》

The Plague Legion Commander’s coat fluttered, and a terrible energy poured out from within.

Whoosh!

It’s different from before.

Before, I met a clone of Raven, not his real body, and what the clone emitted was not real plague but a phantom pain, a fake plague.

But this guy is the real Raven himself.

And what he’s spreading is the real plague!

‘Damn it! He’s just as terrible here as he is in the game!’

Green mist gathered around Raven’s body, emitting a foul odor, and then spread in all directions.

Spreading that poisonous mist that deals damage over time is his first pattern.

No matter what plague pattern he develops later, he always starts by laying down this poison field.

We have to fight him on this field where our health is slowly being chipped away.

I clicked my tongue and thought about the number of patterns he would develop next in my head…

Whoosh!

That’s when it happened.

The green mist that covered the bridge, for some reason, stopped and couldn’t approach me.

“……?”

Huh? What is it?

Raven’s poison mist couldn’t penetrate within a radius of about 5 meters around me. I blinked and examined this strange phenomenon. Did I have this kind of special ability?

《You…?》

Raven was just as bewildered. Raven deployed the next plague again.

《I’ll rot you-!》

Swish!

This time, a swarm of flying insects, bats, and crows poured out of his cloak like a waterfall and swept across the bridge.

But those vectors of the plague also couldn’t approach within a radius of about 5 meters around me and passed by.

“……?”

What is it?

Why?

People slowly gathered around me, not knowing what was going on.

Our hastily formed five-person party, as well as Crown and the Nightcrawler troops, stood behind me, feeling awkward.

“Excuse me…”

“Um, I’ll just take shelter for a moment…”

I could hear hushed conversations like people sharing an umbrella with a stranger when it suddenly starts raining while waiting for the bus.

The entire wide bridge was seething with plague, but only my surroundings were peaceful. What kind of magic is this?

《Could it be, you…?》

Then Raven shuddered and stammered.

《Did you eat it? The Peaches of Immortality…?》

“Peaches of Immortality? What’s that?”

《The supreme peach that was stolen from my farm!》

“Ah. That one that tasted a bit better than the canned peaches?”

So that’s what it’s called, Peaches of Immortality. Is it a peach variety name like white peach or yellow peach?

“Oh, I ate them all… They were pretty good.”

I, who don’t really like fruit, ate them all on the spot, so they must have been quite good.

Like the peaches that come out as a fruit platter at a pub? I wouldn’t order them if I had to pay for them, but I actually enjoy the fruit platters that someone else orders. It was that kind of subtly delicious.

《You fool! How dare you eat that peach, that peach…!》

Raven trembled.

No, even if it’s a precious fruit, it’s a bit… pathetic to see a Legion Commander trembling like this over a single fruit…

Then, Crown, who was listening to the conversation, burst out laughing.

“Ash, the peach you ate is a treasure that was carefully cultivated with massive magical power in the royal family’s farm here.”

“Ah, really? Is it expensive?”

“It’s priceless… Do you know that the people of the Lake Kingdom researched immortality?”

A bitter smile appeared on Crown’s lips.

“The royal family of the Lake Kingdom went to great lengths to achieve eternal life. They researched magic to extend their lifespan, developed ways to transfer souls to new bodies… and also developed various elixirs.”

It suddenly came to mind.

The curse placed on all the people of the Lake Kingdom – ‘The Curse of Eternal Life’.

The fundamental reason why they have been suffering at the bottom of this lake for hundreds of years.

Was that curse of eternal life also obtained while pursuing eternal life?

“The peach you ate was created during the development of an elixir for immortality. It didn’t have the effect of immortality, but instead… it made the consumer immune to all diseases.”

“Ah… !”

So, it means it made me resistant to poison attacks?

“…I thought it was just one of the many elixirs developed at that time, but I didn’t know it would have such an outstanding effect that it would block Raven’s plague like this. I didn’t know either.”

At Crown’s words, I admired and looked around. The poison is still not even coming close to me.

It’s letting me ignore the Legion Commander’s pattern like this!

Thank you, Magic-Peach!

《Praise! Praise!》

Salome, who had stolen the peach, gestured urgently as if telling me to praise her, but I ignored her.

I glared at Raven and grinned.

“Plague Lord. This is too bad.”

《……!》

“Your attack patterns are mainly two. First, the real plague that your main body spreads. Second, the phantom pain that your clone spreads.”

I strode towards Raven.

Then, the others who were huddled behind me followed, and Raven hesitated and stepped back.

“But I can ignore the real plague with the peach you cherished, and the phantom pain is a mental status ailment, so I can completely ignore it with my ability.”

《Kuh…?!》

“It seems like I’ve become your living natural enemy?”

Raven, who was trembling, muttered fiercely.

《Don’t be arrogant, human…! My plague is constantly evolving. I will definitely break through that immunity you luckily obtained…!》

Then, he fluttered his cloak and,

《Just you wait…! I will definitely, definitely get you…!》

Swish-!

With those third-rate villain exit lines, he disappeared, turning into a flock of crows or rats, just like when he appeared.

I snorted. Well, it’s true that I countered him with a lucky elixir.

It’s also a fact that I have the plague legion’s strategy that I established in the game.

I could have caught you even if I hadn’t eaten this peach, you idiot!

《Praise! Praise! Hurry!》

“……”

I made an effort to ignore Salome, who was clinging to me, and turned around. Then.

Swish…!

Crown and the Nightcrawler troops, who had already distanced themselves from us, were pointing their weapons at us. I clicked my tongue.

“You bastards… you’ve all avoided the rain, haven’t you?”

“Thanks to you, we were able to easily avoid the Plague Lord’s attack, Ash. But that’s that, and this is this.”

Crown smiled and raised his hand.

“So far, our record is 1 to 1, right? It’s a good time to settle the score for the third time, isn’t it?”

“Bullshit… you guys have infinite life coins. Even if I win this time, you’ll just come back again for the fourth time, right?”

“Haha, that won’t happen. Because…”

That’s when it happened.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

From the other side of the bridge, dozens of new Nightcrawler troops appeared. Crown gestured with his chin.

“The match will end here.”

“……”

I was overwhelmed by the number of them filling the other side of the bridge.

The Plague Legion – Raven is a gimmick-based boss monster.

If you can break through his core patterns, you can somehow clear him even if your level is low and your numbers are small.

But these Nightcrawler bastards are pushing with sheer numbers.

Each one is an NPC with a hero character rating.

Dozens of white smiling masks approached in the dark bridge and drew their weapons. I gritted my teeth and glared at them. How do I break through these guys…?

Tap tap.

Then someone tapped my shoulder.

When I turned my head, it was the two highway bandits who had joined my party this time – Sword Demon and Spear Demon.

They grinned, showing their sparse yellow teeth, and the two madmen said to me.

“Let’s run away!”

“Excuse me? Where to?”

“Where else would we go?”

The two madmen pointed to the dark abyss below the bridge and said confidently.

“To the ‘bottom’!”