I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 405

The flag in my hand feels as hot as fire and as heavy as a thousand pounds.

This is my banner.

The price of the lives of those who followed me and died, a burden I must bear.

《So?》

Raven, who had reappeared before me, shouted.

《What can you possibly do with that mere flag in this mental world? If it were a weapon, you could stab me, or at least if it were an umbrella, you could ward off this rain! That flag is completely useless!》

“You don’t understand, Raven.”

I gripped the flagpole with both hands and grinned.

“With this flag, I, and my people… can fight without giving up, forever, anywhere!”

I raised the flag high, then,

“I declare this place as the territory of the Empire… no.”

I shouted with all my might and planted it into the ground.

“I declare it as my territory-!”

My ultimate skill, [Imperial Territory Declaration], was activated within the mental world.

Whoosh-!

In the mental world, no gray walls were created.

Instead, a dazzling sun rose in the black sky, the dark clouds cleared, and the downpour stopped.

Under the clear sky, Raven looked around in confusion.

《What? Why…? Is my mental world being invaded by your mental image?》

The answer came from behind me.

《Looks like you don’t know much about this, Raven?》

Salome, who appeared staggering, smiled with a pale face.

《Invading someone else’s mind is like building a bridge between your mind and theirs.》

《…?》

《Still don’t get it?》

Salome reached out and pointed around.

《Our mental worlds are connected right now. In other words, since you attacked Ash’s mind… Ash can also attack your mind.》

《What?》

《If you tried to kill someone, you should have been prepared to be killed. Isn’t that obvious?》

I tightened my grip on the flagpole.

Whoosh!

Then, my territory expanded, and the surrounding scenery began to change.

Not to my past—but to Raven’s past.

To the memory he suffered the most. To his nightmare.

The image of his human days began to flash around. Raven tried to stop it in panic, but my flag was already planted in this world.

This is my territory.

《No! No! Don’t look, you mustn’t look!》

“Too bad.”

You read my memories, you bastard. You relentlessly picked at my most painful parts.

So—we should exchange once each, wouldn’t that be fair?

《Don’t read my memories!》

Despite his desperate cry, Raven’s human form appeared before our eyes.

His dreams, frustrations, pain, and corruption—were vividly displayed.

《Aaaaaaaah!》

Facing his most painful past, Raven’s form began to tear apart.

***

When I regained consciousness, I was back in reality.

I don’t know how long the battle in the mental world lasted. I gasped for breath and looked around.

The Crown and Nightcrawler forces had already turned into black shadows and were disappearing.

Just like when I faced them before, it seems they respawn at another point once their deaths are confirmed.

And there were others whose entire bodies were turning into black particles.

“Cough!”

“Did you sleep well, guest?”

The Sword Demon and Spear Demon stood in front of me, protecting me.

The two disheveled monsters were covered in blood, and their skin was melting. They seemed to have been hit hard by Raven’s plague.

“…Sword Demon. Spear Demon.”

“Don’t make that face. We’re immortals too….”

“We’ll be revived in the bottom village. If the guest can’t get rid of that plague bastard, we’ll get infected by the plague in the village again and die again….”

“We believe you can do it, guest. Please kill that plague bastard.”

Looking at the two who were dying horribly, I asked.

“Why do you trust me so much?”

The answer was simple.

“You treated us like people.”

“Even before the world became like this, and after, there were hardly any who treated us like people.”

The two monsters grinned with their melted faces.

Then, they stopped breathing and turned into black smoke and disappeared.

I looked at them with a heavy heart and turned my head to the side. I saw a huge beast whose body was half-melted, also protecting me.

“Mason.”

When I called out, a smile crossed his face, which was no longer recognizable as a bear, a lion, or a human.

《This is the end.》

“Do you have anything else to say?”

《I’ve already said everything.》

“To Lucas?”

《…….》

Mason, who had been silent for a moment, burst into a hearty laugh.

《If we could be absolved just by changing our minds at the last moment, how easy would life be?》

“……”

《I am still a traitor to the McGregor family and an enemy of Crossroads. I strayed from the path of humans long ago.》

Mason murmured in a fading voice.

《But… but in the end, I want to die for something beautiful.》

The light of life fading from his eyes turned to me.

《Your flag is beautiful, Your Highness. So.》

Mason’s body slowly fell forward.

《Please, don’t let go of it until the end…….》

Thud-

Mason fell forward and stopped moving.

“……”

He was my enemy.

But he was someone who died for my flag.

So, I decided to remember Mason.

Looking around at the party members who had died protecting me, I suddenly turned my head back. It was because I heard the painful groan of the last party member.

《Haa, ugh…!》

“Salome?”

Salome was collapsed right behind me.

As I approached, Salome smiled, her pale face trembling.

《Haha, you acted all tough on the outside, but why is your real heart so weak… I almost died trying to shield you from the rain….》

Only then did I realize.

While the other three were protecting my body, Salome was protecting my mind.

Raven showed my weakness—the deaths of my comrades—in the form of a nightmare, and Salome showed me the images of other comrades overcoming death and rising up, which continued from the nightmare, so that I could overcome that nightmare.

Thanks to that, I was able to regain my flag.

《Hehe. How was it? I was quite helpful, wasn’t I…?》

“……”

Salome is a mental entity.

When the mind recovers, the body also heals, and when the mind is damaged, the body is also injured. That’s the kind of being she is.

This girl, trying too hard to help me in the mental world… had become a mess.

《More importantly, be careful….》

Salome said urgently.

《Raven isn’t finished yet….》

“…?!”

At the same time, the unique evil energy of the Nightmare Legion Commander surged up. I turned my head sharply in that direction.

《Ash…》

Raven was there.

He was in a much more shrunken state than before, as if he had taken a hit, but he was still scattering a terrible plague aura. He was gathering his strength.

《You… only you… I will definitely kill you….》

I chuckled and stood up in front of him.

“We’ve shared some embarrassing memories, Raven.”

《Don’t talk nonsense…!》

Raven seemed to be terribly humiliated that his past had been exposed. His smog-like form was trembling.

But I wasn’t.

After reading his past… I felt pity for him.

“You and I are alike, Raven.”

《…What?》

Raven spoke in a dumbfounded voice, but I was serious.

He and I are very similar.

Trying to protect people, hitting the wall of reality, and choosing to become a monster to change this reality.

Trying to give up being human,

Weak, pathetic cowards.

The only difference between him and me is one thing.

Was there a hand to stop him before he became a monster?

At that moment, I had good people who kept me human. I had comrades who stopped me from crossing the line.

But Raven lost all of those comrades.

So, I remained human, and Raven became a monster.

“If I didn’t have my comrades, I would have become a monster like you.”

Living as a human is difficult.

It’s like climbing an endless staircase of oaths, morals, and laws, gasping for breath while holding onto aching legs.

So, the weak give up on that difficult path and become monsters.

They fall down the easy downhill path where they no longer have to worry… on their own.

I was also weak.

That’s why I tried to break the flag. I tried to become a monster instead of a human.

But now, I realized again, and I decided again.

I will never… let go of this flag again.

《Don’t act so high and mighty, human…!》

Seeing me look at him with pity, Raven boiled with humiliation.

《I’ll rot you. I’ll definitely rot you… even the last piece of your flag! I’ll make you all rot like me-!》

Raven charged at me again.

But after the clash in the mental world, I had already grasped how to deal with him.

Although his body and soul are gone.

Raven still has a ‘mind’… a ‘heart’ left.

I just need to target that.

I closed my eyes and opened them wide.

Kiiiiing!

With a blue flash, [Commanding Eye] was activated, and my will penetrated to dominate his mind.

But.

Thump!

It failed.

With the system window down, the success rate of [Commanding Eye] is not displayed.

I had just recklessly attempted an attack, ignoring the unknown probability.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Wiping the blood from my nose, I grinned.

“I’ll keep doing it until it works.”

This is the only means I have to attack him right now.

Then, until it succeeds.

I will just keep attacking, without stopping…!

《Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch, you fool!》

Raven’s black mist swept over my body.

His plague was definitely beyond the norm. My mental barrier was melting, and my body, which had been holding up with the invincibility effect, was also starting to take damage.

But, it’s bearable.

From the start, my mental defense and poison defense were almost invincible. Although I was gradually being eaten away and collapsing from his plague, it was still bearable.

“Raven. You have evolved into the plague itself.”

Preparing for the next [Commanding Eye], I grinned.

“In other words, your only means of attack right now is the plague, right?”

《…!》

Raven abandoned everything and transformed into a transcendent plague. In the process, he lost all of his other existing means of attack.

In other words… he has no other pattern than making his opponent rot.

“Will my body and mind rot faster, or will you be pierced by my eye faster?”

It’s that simple of a fight.

Kiiiiing!

Once again, a blue flash appeared before my eyes. And just as he had penetrated my mind, I tried to penetrate his mind.

Thump!

Failed.

Blood gushed from inside. It doesn’t matter. I’ll endure it.

Another flash, the next attempt.

Kiiiiing!

Crack…!

Failed.

I’ll endure it.

My head is throbbing. It feels like my insides are burning. Is this pain the backlash of failure? Or is it his plague?

It doesn’t matter.

If this is the only move I have, I’ll just keep swinging it until it works.

Crack….

Crackle…!

Raven’s mental barrier was also not intact due to the situation earlier. I clearly sensed cracks forming in his mental strength as he blocked my attacks.

One more time.

One more time.

One more time…!

“Cough, cough!”

I spat out a mouthful of blood.

Seeing me staggering while holding the flagpole, Raven sneered.

《You fool! You’re hastening your death. If you stayed still, you could have lasted longer, are you planning to commit suicide by wasting your strength?》

“Yeah.”

《What?》

“I don’t care if I die.”

Taking a deep breath, I prepared the next [Commanding Eye].

I’m serious. I’m prepared to die right now.

Trying to kill the monster and protect people, holding that flag,

It wasn’t just me alone.

Even though it might have been a flag I raised alone at first, countless people had gathered under that flag….

And all of them joined hands and raised the flag together.

To protect their own precious worlds.

‘My flag already belongs to everyone.’

So, even if I tried to break it alone, I couldn’t, and.

Even if I disappear, it will surely be passed on to everyone.

Because I clearly saw everyone rising up with their own flags.

Just as I inherited the wills of the dead. Even if I die here, our flag and will—will be passed on.

My death is not game over.

The game continues. As long as those who inherit my flag do not give up.

As I recalled the faces of my trustworthy comrades, a smile formed on my lips without me realizing it.

My lovely people.

I can’t let this filthy plague spread to those people.

“Raven. I can’t let a dangerous plague like you be released into the world.”

You must die here.

If the only thing I can do by sacrificing my life is to perish with you, then so be it.

I will gladly do it.

Kiiiiing!

I used the next [Commanding Eye], and

Crackle…!

Finally, a large crack appeared in Raven’s mental barrier.

《Kuh…?!》

He flinched back as if he was terrified.

I wiped the blood from my lips with the back of my hand and grinned, raising one corner of my mouth.

“Let’s die together, in this hell…!”