I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 4

‘First, the mage, Lily.’ After quickly flipping through the ordinary stat window, I opened Lily’s trait tab. [Lily(R)] – Equipped Traits (1/3) > Flame Skin There it is! Just like in the game. Flame Skin. [Flame Skin] – A trait born from an extreme fear of blades. It turns the body into flames to evade physical attacks. Consumes MP with each evasion. It’s a good tanking trait. A good trait, but the problem is that Lily is the main damage dealer of this party. And a fire mage with very high mana consumption. In the first place, if Lily is taking physical attacks, it means the party is on the verge of annihilation. And in that situation, rather than activating this trait, she should squeeze out the remaining mana to use attack magic. That would be the case in a normal game. But the current situation is very special. I was planning to actively utilize this trait. ‘Next is the shield knight, Ken.’ I opened the trait tab in Ken’s stat window. [Ken(N)] – Equipped Traits (1/3) > Thief’s Survival Method There it is. Thief’s Survival Method. [Thief’s Survival Method] – A habit ingrained from his days as a thief. When sensing danger, he drastically reduces his presence to escape the attention of those around him. Consumes a large amount of HP each time it is used. It’s a good trait as well. If only Ken wasn’t a shield knight. Ken is a shield knight who draws the aggro of enemies at the front line. He uses area taunts to draw the enemy’s attention and takes attacks with his body. But an stealth trait? Moreover, it consumes a large amount of HP. It might be suitable for a melee dealer like a rogue class, but it’s a completely unsuitable combination for a shield knight like Ken. However, I have to use this now too. Since a conventional approach is impossible, I have to use all the variables I can. ‘And finally… Damian.’ I swallowed hard and opened Damian’s stat window. Please, be there, please! The traits of the other characters are just side dishes. They are just leftovers that can be utilized. But Damian’s trait was the most broken thing in the entire game. It was absolutely necessary for the strategy! And, [Damian(N)] – Equipped Traits (1/3) > Clairvoyance There it is! This insane, broken trait was here in reality, just like in the game. [Clairvoyance] – A trait possessed by a mistake of God from birth. Sees what he wants to see, and hits what he wants to hit. It’s truly insane. It sounds vague in the description, but in the game, it was a crazy trait with a personal vision range of +50 tiles and a hit score of +999. In the game’s official system, if the hit score exceeds 100, anything you shoot will hit. But 999? It just means you’ll hit no matter what. It’s at the level of accurately hitting a needle hole even if you shoot an arrow from one end of the stage map to the other. But the problem is… Damian, who has this, is a healing priest. In the game, the system restricted equipment by class. Damian, as a healing priest, could only wield a staff. And his skills were just ordinary healing magic, typical of an N-grade healer. In the first place, healing skills are guaranteed to hit, so what’s the point of having a hit score of 999? It was a trait that had no way to be utilized in the game, a mere pie in the sky. Just a cruel joke by the developers. ‘But this is reality.’ I can use it. And in an incredibly useful way! ‘Games exist to be cleared.’ The cards I had in my head were being organized, and the only winning hand was starting to form. ‘You threw me into an impossible stage?’ Heh. The corners of my mouth curled up without me realizing it. It was the same smirk I always had when I found a way to break through a seemingly hopeless stage, the one that made viewers on my streams beg me to turn off my camera. ‘Then I have no choice but to use cheats…!’ Just you wait, you bastard who threw me in here. I will definitely clear this crappy game. And I will grab you by the collar and slam you down…! *** Back to the present. I glanced over Lily, Ken, and Damian. “Lily. You were cut by a blade when you were young, weren’t you?” Lily’s eyes widened. “H-how did you know that?” “It was a wound you got from the goblin horde that attacked the village. After that, you developed a fear of blades, and you can’t even use a kitchen knife at home, right?” “……” “But you also gained something in return.” I suddenly took out a dagger from my pocket and stabbed it into the back of Lily’s hand. “Eek?!” Everyone was surprised and couldn’t react in time, and Lily froze in terror. Thwack! The dagger passed through Lily’s hand and stuck into the desk. The back of Lily’s hand, where the dagger passed through, was rippling like flames. “After that incident, you gained this trait, Flame Skin.” “……” “As long as you have enough mana, you can evade all physical attacks. Am I wrong?” Lily, who was trembling, slowly nodded. I pulled the dagger out again and put it back in my pocket. “Sorry for proving it in such a rough way.” “N-no, Your Highness. But how did you know about this…” “That’s not important right now.” I brushed it off and turned my head to Ken. “Ken.” “Y-yes, y-yes?!” Ken flinched, thinking I was going to throw a dagger at him too. I chuckled and gestured to him with my chin. “You were a thief when you were young, right?” “……?!” “You were from the slums, and you had quite a few family members to support. It must have been hard to feed your whole family by thieving.” Ken was stiff and couldn’t answer, but that was enough of an answer. I nodded. “You made a living by thieving, and as soon as you became an adult, you volunteered for the military. After that, you worked hard to earn merits and rose to the position of a knight… You’ve been through a lot.” “H-h-how, how…” “I said it’s not important how I know. What’s important is what you can do.” I met Ken’s trembling eyes. “If you set your mind to it, you can go into stealth, right? You can hide from the eyes of those around you, can’t you?” “……” “Answer me. Or should I prove it again here?” “N-no… Yes. I can, I can do it.” “Good. Then you can do what I tell you to do.” I turned my eyes away from the stiff Ken and headed towards Damian, who was huddled in the corner. “Damian.” “……” “You have good eyes, right? ‘Too good’.” Damian glanced at me with vacant eyes. I crouched down in front of Damian. “So you remember your friend dying clearly, right?” “……” “It’s still so vivid in your eyes that you can’t forget it, right? That’s why you keep crying.” Damian didn’t answer and remained silent for a while. I waited for him. “…He, he was a childhood friend. From the same orphanage.” It was a few minutes later that Damian opened his mouth. His voice was parched. “That orphanage was a terrible place… When we turned fifteen, half of us escaped the orphanage with me.” It seems that the name of the dead friend is Ban. I listened quietly. “Ban had an outstanding talent as a swordsman… and I was lucky enough to have an aptitude for healing priesthood. We made a living as mercenaries.” “……” “Ban, who had already become a first-rate mercenary, led me, a third-rate mercenary who was afraid of monsters and terrified every time I saw blood… We worked hard together, and we even made a promise to support the younger ones in the orphanage.” Damian covered his face with both hands. “But, he died. He died.” The other party members looked at the weeping Damian with heavy hearts. “He wasn’t the kind of guy who would die in a place like this. Ban had a dream and the ability to achieve it. But in a place like this, in a place like this…” “……” “Why… Why did you bring us here, Your Highness? Why? Did you have some noble purpose? Or is it just that cheap lives like ours are just entertainment for the high-ranking people?” Tears streamed down Damian’s dry eyes again. “Give me back Ban. Give me back my friend…” I listened to all of Damian’s words silently, then nodded briefly. “Resent me, Damian. Hate me if you need to.” I placed my hand on Damian’s trembling shoulder. “But your friend Ban threw his life away to save you.” “……” “And yet, are you just going to sit here huddled up and wait for death?” Damian’s shoulder trembling gradually subsided. I put strength into my voice. “Just because you’re facing death because of a trash commander, are you going to give up on the life your friend saved and just let go?” “I…” “You have to struggle.” I gripped Damian’s shoulder tightly. “You have to take revenge!” “……” “Kill the spider, get out of this place! And get back at me too.” Heh. I twisted the corners of my mouth up and asked in a soft tone. “Damian. Do you want to kill those spider bastards?” In the blood-stained glasses, Damian’s large eyes were still uneasy, but they no longer wavered. “Yes.” “Do you want to kill me too?” The other party members were startled by my question. Damian’s hesitation was short, and his answer was honest. “…Yes.” “Good.” I took my hand off Damian’s shoulder and pointed at myself with my thumb. “I promise you. If we get out of this place alive, I will definitely let you kill me, no matter when it is.” “Your Highness?!” Lucas, who was shocked, tried to say something, but I quickly reached out and stopped Lucas from speaking. “If the plan fails, we’ll all die anyway. But even then, I’ll let you kill me in the end. This is a promise on the honor of the royal family.” “……” “So… just for tomorrow, please follow my orders.” Damian’s eyes, which were looking up at me, gradually cooled down. I smiled with satisfaction. If necessary, I have to use even hatred as fuel. Even if that hatred is directed at me, I will gladly accept it. Damian staggered and got up from his seat, then stood up straight. I looked around at the four party members looking at me with a smile. Finally, my hand was complete. “Alright, everyone.” Whether this hand is a bust or a royal straight flush. Now, all that’s left is to go all in. “Then, from now on, I will give you the orders for the operation!”