I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 403

Raven stared at his own body, his movements faltering, and a bewildered voice escaped him.

《What is this? Why? How? Am I the one who stopped moving?》

“Well, it’s because your soul might be rotten enough to be used as fertilizer… but it seems your memories still hold this oath.”

I told him the name of the oath I had just recited the first line of.

“The Oath of the Guardians of Humanity.”

《……!》

Like how doctors on Earth recite the Hippocratic Oath.

This is the oath sworn by doctors in the Lake Kingdom on the day they receive their licenses.

Raven’s smog-like body recoiled as if struck by a surging wave. I grinned.

“So, does it ring a bell now?”

《No, way…》

“Back when you were a decent human being, you obtained your medical license and recited this oath in front of people in the city square!”

In the game, there’s a stone tablet you find while clearing the ‘Hospital’ dungeon.

On that tablet, along with the contents of this ‘Oath of the Guardians of Humanity,’ you can find a memo left by someone – or so it goes.

Later, when you encounter Raven, if you’ve read the contents of this tablet beforehand, you can use a gimmick to recite the contents of the tablet to him.

The effect is only for one turn, but it’s a complete nullification.

In the game, the difficulty of clearing it varied drastically depending on whether you used this gimmick, so I always prioritized clearing the ‘Hospital’ dungeon before facing Raven.

But here in reality?

There’s no need to bother with that dungeon. I’ve recited this oath so many times in the game that I’ve memorized it!

I continued to recite the ‘Oath of the Guardians of Humanity.’

“One, I will abide by all legal systems for the benefit of humanity.”

《Stop…》

“One, I will follow the highest moral standards in any situation.”

《Stop it! I said stop!》

Raven screamed and writhed in agony.

Why is this monster, who has fallen into the abyss of evil, so disturbed by this oath?

I don’t know.

Just as some people remember they were human by looking at gold coins or portraits.

Perhaps some people, when they hear the oath they once recited, remember that they were once human.

But what’s certain is that this functions as a ‘gimmick’ for the strategy. And if that’s the case, I will actively use it to kill the boss…!

“One, from this moment on, I will live for the welfare and happiness of suffering humanity.”

《I told you to stop!》

Raven rushed towards me, scattering a terrifying aura.

Crown, the Nightcrawler unit, and now even the Sword Demon and Spear Demon stepped forward to block Raven with their bodies.

Of course, I didn’t stop.

“One, I will respect all life and never allow any life to be treated carelessly.”

Raven advances, corrupting and burning all life before him.

“One, I will always do my best to use all my knowledge and abilities for the survival of humanity.”

Even while being held back, Raven succeeded in crushing the immortals in front of him, spewing all his malice and curses.

At the moment when Raven, who had flown in with a hot gust of wind, finally reached my eyes.

“One, as a guardian of humanity, I fully understand my responsibilities and duties, and based on this, I will voluntarily carry out all these clauses…”

I was already reading the last line of the oath.

Staring straight ahead, glaring at his blurry form, I uttered the final sentence.

“I solemnly swear.”

Thud.

And then, Raven completely stopped.

Right in front of us, he froze in his smog-like form, unable to move.

The ‘complete nullification’ effect provided by this gimmick lasts for one turn, just 3 minutes.

We have to kill him within these 3 minutes…!

“Everyone!”

I turned to my party members and shouted.

“Finish him off!”

***

While in a state of nullification, Raven was seeing the past.

A distant past, hundreds of years ago, when he was still human.

***

In the Lake Kingdom, doctors were a despised profession.

In this advanced magical city, where the miracles of magic were always present, the royals and citizens had no need to rely on medicine.

Any disease could be cured cleanly with a few spells.

As magic developed, people’s health also became the responsibility of magic. Medicine naturally lost its authority.

However, there were still places where doctors were needed.

It was for the slave class, who were beyond the reach of magic’s benefits – those who were called ‘non-citizens’ within the kingdom.

Those who could not bask in the light of magic needed scalpels, bandages, and medicine.

They were a class despised as non-citizens, but without them, the manpower to handle all the petty chores within the city would disappear.

Doctors were always needed to take responsibility for their survival, and that’s how medicine was able to maintain its existence.

In this era of declining medicine, a boy was born.

The boy was from a high-ranking family among the citizens of the Lake Kingdom – a noble close to the royal family.

As a child, the boy had contracted an unidentified epidemic and suffered from aftereffects that could not be cured by magic. However, he was completely cured after being treated by a doctor in the kingdom.

From that day on, the boy decided to walk the path of medicine.

His parents, family members, and even neighboring nobles all tried to dissuade him, but the boy stubbornly began to study medicine and eventually became an intern at the hospital where the doctor who had treated him worked.

It was at this point that the boy was completely abandoned by his family.

After a long internship, on the day the talented boy obtained his medical license. On the day the boy read the ‘Oath of the Guardians of Humanity’ in a clear voice in the square.

“I solemnly swear to dedicate my life to serving humanity.”

Everyone mocked this noble boy who had thrown his life into a lowly field of study that only dealt with non-citizens.

This boy, who had given up the smooth path of a noble family by his own will and headed to a dirty and low place, was a crow born among swans-

He was called by the derogatory nickname ‘Raven.’

However, the boy actually liked the nickname and even started calling himself Raven.

***

Because Raven was from a prestigious noble family, he also had outstanding magical talent.

He combined magic with existing medicine.

This treatment method, which he named ‘Magical Medicine,’ was so effective that it succeeded in curing not only non-citizens but also rare incurable diseases that afflicted citizens and royals.

“If you combine magic and medicine, there is no disease that cannot be cured.”

Young Raven was always confident.

However, there were also many who did not look favorably on his attempts.

The city’s magicians scorned the attempt to combine noble magic with medicine.

Many were also concerned that the secrets of magic would leak out to non-citizens.

Even among fellow medical students, opinions were divided.

Traditional medicine had followed its own independent path, separate from magic, and was able to treat areas that magic could not reach. There was a widespread concern that combining the two would ultimately be consumed by magic.

Raven was ostracized even among medical students. He was openly insulted as a ‘white crow trying to mix with a flock of black crows.’

But Raven didn’t care.

He did not doubt that he was walking the path of truth.

Above all, he was always supported by his teacher – the doctor who had cured him as a child.

“What does it matter what the means are? I know that you are a medical student who strives to save people more than anyone else. Don’t pay attention to what others say, and follow the path you believe in.”

So young Raven continued his research.

His reputation grew day by day, he became accustomed to the envious gazes of other medical students, and around the time the city’s magic tower began to take notice of him.

An epidemic broke out in the Lake Kingdom.

It was a terrible epidemic. The inner part of the Lake Kingdom, where purification magic was always in effect, was peaceful as if nothing had happened, but the outer areas were completely devastated by the epidemic.

The bodies of non-citizens rotted alive.

Corpses piled up in every back alley, and the smoke from burning corpses filled the air.

As soon as Raven encountered this epidemic, he realized that it was a disease that the current medical level of the Lake Kingdom could not handle.

He desperately tried to create a medicine by mobilizing all his knowledge of magical medicine.

However, his knowledge of magical medicine was shallow, and the formula for the epidemic cure could not be derived.

“No, no, this won’t do…”

Raven, trembling, suddenly looked at the entrance of the hospital.

His fellow doctors were wearing black crow masks for protection against poison and were preparing to go back to the non-citizen residential area.

Most of the doctors were already infected with the epidemic.

But they were still coughing and spitting up blood-tinged phlegm, silently packing bandages and medicines.

“Stop it…”

Raven, who had rushed out, said in a trembling voice. But the doctors ignored him and began to go outside one by one.

“I said stop! Please! You’re all going to die!”

Someone stood in front of Raven, who was trying to stop them. It was Raven’s teacher.

“Raven. We are doctors, and there are people suffering from illness outside.”

Even while coughing, his teacher whispered kindly.

“Have you forgotten the oath we took? As guardians of humanity, we have a duty to treat them as much as we can.”

“But, teacher…! There’s no medicine yet! At this rate, it’s just a dog’s death!”

“That’s not true. We are administering the medicine to patients on-site, observing their reactions, and adjusting the medicine. We are seeing meaningful treatment results.”

His teacher’s thin hand rested on Raven’s shoulder.

“Raven. I don’t have the talent for magical medicine like you. I’m just a fool who only focuses on saving the people in front of me, rather than seeking academic truth… I just treat the symptoms based on my experience.”

“No, teacher, you are…”

“But there are answers that can be reached because it is such a simple method.”

It seemed like his teacher’s warm smile could be seen through the crow mask.

“Raven, you stay here. I will make the medicine to deal with this epidemic, and you continue to create a cure using magical medicine.”

And so, the doctors left for the battlefield.

Raven, gritting his teeth, ran to the city’s magic tower.

“Please help me! Please, help me! We need immediate magic infusion! If we don’t act in time, everyone living on the outskirts of the city will suffer a terrible disaster!”

However,

“We refuse.”

The magicians of the magic tower refused.

“Magic requires a just price. Non-citizens do not have the means to pay this price, nor do they have the right to receive magic.”

“If a price is needed, I will give you all my assets! So…”

“Money is not the issue, crow.”

The magician stared at Raven without blinking.

“Magic is a noble discipline for the citizens of the Lake Kingdom. Non-citizens are not included in that scope.”

“People’s lives are at stake, what are you talking about…!”

“All the magicians of the kingdom are well aware of your past actions… We will not cooperate with you, who has insulted magical medicine.”

With a sneer, the door of the magic tower closed.

“Try to deal with it with your precious ‘magical medicine’.”

Bang!

Raven went to countless magic towers lined up in the kingdom, but the answers were all similar.

Finally, Raven visited the government office and warned them that if things continued like this, the people outside would die en masse, but he had to hear an absurd answer.

“If non-citizens die, we can just replenish them from outside the kingdom.”

“What…?”

“They were already making the city messy and causing headaches, so why not just change all the city’s chores to magic automation? Oh, this is something we should formally request from the royal family…”

“Shut your bullshit, you crazy bastard!”

After punching the official in the face for spouting such nonsense and being kicked out of the government office, Raven walked out, trudging along.

“…”

Raven returned to the hospital and put on the last remaining crow mask in the hospital. It was a white crow mask that had not yet been colored.

And Raven stepped into the epidemic site.

Three days later, when he found his teacher and colleagues.

Inside the tent set up at the makeshift treatment center, all the doctors wearing black crow masks were dead, cold.

They had been researching the composition of the medicine until the last moment, and they had died slumped over on the desks where the scattered reagents and flasks were placed.

In the innermost part of that tent, his teacher was still breathing.

“Ray, ven… You’ve come…”

“Teacher!”

“Here, is the recipe for the medicine… If you prepare it as it is, you can immunize against this epidemic and alleviate the symptoms…”

As Raven took the paper with the recipe for the medicine with trembling hands, his teacher’s hand gripped his wrist.

“Do you understand, Raven? Do not hate.”

“Yes?”

“Pass this wisdom on to the next generation.”

Inside the black crow mask, his teacher’s red, bloodshot eyes flashed.

“Make the medicine, and continue the next step of humanity with our sacrifice… We fought for that…”

“…”

“Do not hate or resent… Never forget the oath we took…”

Thud.

His teacher’s arm fell to the floor.

Raven suppressed his sobs and took the recipe into his arms.

And with a determined expression, he rose from his seat.

***

Raven tested the completed medicine on his own body, verified its effectiveness through various patients, and then visited the government office to request the mass production and distribution of the medicine.

“This medicine was created by everyone in the hospital sacrificing their lives. If you provide the facilities to mass-produce it, we can overcome the epidemic…!”

However, the official, with a nonchalant face, examined the medicine Raven handed him, and then,

Clang-!

He threw it on the floor. The bottle filled with the medicine shattered into pieces.

Raven’s eyes widened as if they would burst.

“Wh… What are you doing, you crazy bastard! Do you know what this medicine is, what this medicine is!”

Other employees held back Raven, who was about to rush at him. The official opened his mouth with a sneer.

“Haven’t you heard the news, Raven? This kind of medicine is no longer needed.”

“What?”

“The benevolent king of the Lake Kingdom has issued a mobilization order to all the magic towers. The magicians are already going to the non-citizen residential area and spreading purification magic… The epidemic will be suppressed soon.”

Raven’s face went blank.

Looking down at Raven, the official burst into laughter.

“Praise the king’s benevolence for bestowing magic upon non-citizens as well. And, I hope you realize how inferior your lowly ‘medicine’ is compared to magic! Hahaha!”

It was as he said.

The epidemic that had devoured the lives of countless non-citizens and numerous doctors was easily cleaned up when the magicians stepped in.

Looking at the back alleys of the Lake Kingdom, where all the diseases had disappeared in less than a day, Raven sat down blankly.

Magicians passed by, mocking Raven.

“…Why, with this power.”

Raven muttered quietly.

“Why didn’t you use it…? Why did you just watch while we died?”

Raven looked down at his own hands. His body, which had already been infected with the disease, had rotted halfway and was barely recovering.

Only then did Raven realize.

They don’t know. The pain that disease brings.

They have always been surrounded by the blessings of magic and have never been sick, so they wouldn’t know.

The pain of status.

The pain of discrimination.

They have never experienced it, so they can’t know.

“Then I will make you know.”

He put the crow mask he had thrown on the floor back on,

“The pain of rotting flesh, the powerlessness of not being able to do anything while patients, colleagues, and teachers die before your eyes, the despair that spreads without any way to stop it…”

All the deaths he had to endure because he was not human.

“You too… I will make sure you know…!”

Raven resolved to create an epidemic so powerful that it would surpass even the magic of the Lake Kingdom… no.

All the contradictions of this world.

His teacher’s last words, the oath he had taken as a doctor.

His childhood determination to save people.

They had all already been corroded and disappeared in the face of hatred.

Raven headed to the wards of the patients who were still hospitalized and had not fully recovered from the epidemic.

Bang!

Raven roughly opened the door to the ward.

The patients who had been cured by Raven’s medicine greeted him happily as he entered.

“Hello, doctor!”