I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 461

“In my entire life, the only person who has ever slapped my cheek was your mother…”The Emperor touched his cheek as if dumbfounded.”To resemble Dustia in this way of all things. It’s absurd. And to dare to command me…””So, what are you going to do about it?”As I asked with a sly grin, the Emperor let out a soft sigh.”What else can I do? It was certainly me who gave birth to you, and me who entrusted you with the proxy authority.”The rulers of the world are twisted in strange ways, and cool in strange ways.The Emperor, who coolly acknowledged the current situation, listened to my explanation of the war situation and immediately grasped what he had to do.He commanded the soldiers looking at him.”Imperial Guard, follow me!””Yes, sir!””There is a secret passage of the Imperial Family that leads to the underground. We will approach the underground magic circle through that path.”The Emperor would take charge of destroying and stopping the shutdown protocol.As he quickly gathered the Imperial Guard and left, the Emperor gave me a look.”Ash.””Yes, Your Majesty.””Since you dared to use me as a chess piece, you must win this game.”The Emperor bared his fangs and smiled fiercely.”My worth is more expensive than anyone else in the world. If you fail to win, you will struggle to bear the price charged.””…”I smiled back silently.After all, every match is a game that risks the fate of the world.If we lose, we lose everything, and if we win, we gain everything. As it has always been.”I will win.””I expect that. And… what about your second brother’s fate?”The Emperor turned away abruptly, then,”…I’ll leave it to you.”He left those heavy words and went to find the underground passage with the Imperial Guard.Watching their departing figures, I gestured to my side.”Junior.”Immediately, a mage under my command rushed over. I nodded to her.”Assist Father. You will be needed to dismantle the shutdown protocol.””…Yes, Your Highness. I will obey.””Junior.”To this young mage in a pointed hat, who was biting her lip with a tense face, I smiled gently.”Go and come back safely.””…”Junior looked dazed for a moment, and then.”Yes. I will go and come back safely.”She gave a faint smile, bowed deeply, and then.She kicked off the ground and scurried after the Emperor, disappearing into the underground passage.”…Well then, we…”I now stared at the central entrance of the Thorn Tree Palace, which was slowly ceasing its growth.”Shall we go do what we have to do?”***The proliferation of the thorn tree, which seemed like it would grow forever, had stopped. Of course, it was only a temporary stop. If the shutdown protocol was activated and all the humans in the city were sacrificed as fuel, it would grow endlessly again.”Planting trees is a good hobby, but using human lives as fertilizer is not right.”I climbed the stairs covered in thorn trees, leading to the main building of the Imperial Palace, and muttered unnecessarily.”Of course, true environmentalism can only be achieved by eliminating humanity. But even so, I cannot agree to the act of taking the lives of innocent people.””…”A line of soldiers stood at the entrance of the main building.They were Fernandes’s direct unit, his true hands and feet.The Dark Unit. The Aegis Special Forces.”Hello, my tiresome friends.”I waved to the Special Forces members.”It seems we can finally settle things with you.””…Prince Ash.”The middle-aged female Special Forces member, who seemed to be the leader, recited in an emotionless voice.”You cannot proceed beyond this point.””You didn’t say that thinking I’d turn around and say, ‘Okay, I understand,’ did you?””Of course not.”She drew her sword from her waist and recited.”But I must give a final warning to Emperor Fernandes’s only younger brother.”Swish! Swish!The Special Forces members at the entrance drew their weapons in unison. At the same time, my companions also drew their weapons.”I’ll give you a final warning too. Get out of the way.”I growled fiercely.”You are also those who fight for this country, even if your direction is twisted. I don’t want to kill you. If you get out of the way, I will spare your lives.””If we valued our lives, would we be doing this?”She muttered calmly as she prepared for battle.”We are just a single bullet. From the moment we joined the Special Forces, we have given up our lives.””You’re just disposable pawns, yet you have such great loyalty to our brother?””Among the lives used by the high-ranking, is there anyone who isn’t a disposable pawn?”She scoffed.”No matter how much you deceive with sweet words, that is the truth. In any organization, people are parts, used and discarded until they are replaced.””…””Rather, Emperor Fernandes is honest. He told us from the beginning that we would be used and discarded.””So, it’s okay to be discarded honestly?”I asked, dumbfounded, and she stared at me intently.”Are you any different, Your Highness?””…””Can you carry all those who stand behind you, without abandoning them, as you move forward?”Those who stand behind me.Not only the subordinates who followed me.But all the forces gathered under my banner. And the countless people belonging to those forces…In an instant, I felt as if I had put on a very heavy and thick cloak on my shoulders.The huge cloak, large enough to cover the earth, wrapped around my shoulders and neck, and I couldn’t move.The name of that cloak was the world.By now, a burden of that weight was on my shoulders and back.”…I’m not confident.”I spoke honestly.”I can’t promise.”How many comrades have I lost on the way here?And how many more comrades will I lose on the road ahead?How many more lives will die in the shadows that I have not yet seen?I could not say that I could save them all, that I would move forward without leaving anyone behind.”But, at least… I will not give up before I even try.”I opened my eyes, which I had closed for a moment, and looked ahead.”I won’t do something like assuming it’s impossible from the start. I will struggle to move forward without abandoning any of my subordinates, the people who follow me.”That the effort towards an ideal is greater than the ideal itself.Because I believe it.At least, unlike Fernandes… I won’t give up before even fighting.”…Anyone can say anything with words.”She took something out with the hand opposite to the one holding the sword.”In the end, the world is a jungle, the strong survive… If you have something you want to achieve, prove it with strength.”It was… a familiar blue serum ampule.A reagent that forcibly pushes the recipient to the boundary between beast and human, greatly increasing combat power.The Beastification Serum.”Inject.”She first stuck the serum into her neck, and then all the Special Forces members stuck it into their bodies.The serum spread through their bodies along their blood vessels,Crack!Crunch! Crack…!Immediately, the bodies of the Special Forces members transformed grotesquely, turning into the chimera forms I had seen before.’Is that Mason’s serum?’Just like the one that man who infiltrated Crossroads and delivered Fernandes’s words to the Demon King… a bizarre form mixed with the shapes of various animals.In just a few tens of seconds, the Special Forces members completed their beastification.The female Special Forces member, who had completed her battle preparations, with a fierce, beast-like gaze, smiled with her wolf-like elongated mouth.”Your Highness is already completely surrounded.”As soon as her words fell,Thud! Thud! Thud!The remaining Special Forces troops, who had been hiding, poured out from behind the walls and pillars all around.They were all aiming at us with magic-glowing crossbows and bows.On both sides and the rear were Special Forces members ready for ranged attacks. In front were the elite agents who had completed their beastification.We were completely surrounded, and their numbers were several times greater than ours.The Special Forces members slowly narrowed the distance towards us. A faint murderous intent lingered on the mechanical faces of the Special Forces members.”This is a bit dangerous…”I muttered and chuckled.”…Did you think I’d say that?”Immediately, I snapped my fingers.”Damian!””Yes, Your Highness!”At my signal, Damian drew his magic guns. To be precise, magic gun’s.Whoosh-!Pistol-type magic gun [Cerberus], submachine gun-type magic gun [Woodpecker], long gun-type magic gun [Hunter’s Retribution], rifle-type magic gun [Venom Fang].Damian threw the magic guns he had drawn into the air, and at the same time,”Take them out-!”The Special Forces members’ attacks poured down.Thud thud thud thud-!Fwoosh! Fwoosh!Arrows and bolts poured down on us from the sides and rear. At the same time, the beastified Special Forces members charged.But,Flash!Our sniper is faster.Damian, with his large brown eyes raised, activated [Clairvoyance], capturing all the enemies on this battlefield. And,Tatatatatang-!He shot.Grabbing the magic guns thrown into the air, he fired in all directions as if dancing.Pistols, submachine guns, long guns, and rifles, he pulled the trigger as he grabbed them, firing in all directions.In an instant, Damian’s magic bullets poured down like rain in all directions.The dozens of magic bullets flew in their own mysterious trajectories, first shattering the arrows and bolts fired at us in mid-air.And without stopping there, after neutralizing the enemy’s fire in mid-air – they flew towards the Special Forces members who had fired bows and crossbows at us.”Guh?!””Kuh-ack!””No way…”It was instantaneous.At the same time as the enemy’s bullets flying towards us were shattered, the Special Forces members who were holding bows and crossbows towards us fell, spraying blood.Even in this situation, Damian’s magic bullets were accurately targeting only the parts that could be sufficiently suppressed, avoiding fatal injuries.Damian’s ultimate skill, [Duel].A wide-area skill that attacks all enemies in sight and heals allies.It’s a crazy, overpowered skill, as expected.”I’m at full health, but well, it feels good to get healed…”I loosened my neck muscles, which had become refreshed by Damian’s healing magic bullets. Ah, so refreshing.”What is this… what…”The Special Forces leader, who had stopped, muttered in a dazed voice.The beastified Special Forces members were also hit by Damian’s magic bullets, but they did not fall in one blow.However, they were momentarily pushed back by the stopping power of the magic bullets.And the rest of the Special Forces members were all suppressed and fell down.Just a moment.Only one exchange of fire, and the match was decided.”My subordinates, you see.”I patted Damian’s shoulder, who was smiling awkwardly, and spoke.”They are the best of the best, who have survived until today, fighting every day in battles where they could die at any moment, entangled with the worst monsters in the world.””…””They are naturally several times stronger than you guys, who have only been worrying about massacring powerless citizens.”I strode forward, and Damian, the Punishment Unit, and the Holy Grail Exploration Team followed neatly behind me.”Come on, Aegis. If you’re a pawn, act like a pawn, if you’re a hunting dog, bark and struggle until the end.””Kuh…?!”Despite being in a beastified state, several times larger than us, the Special Forces members hesitated and stepped back, as if they were intimidated.”If you don’t even have that much spirit, and you’re going to participate in a place like this where the fate of the world is discussed…”I spat out.”Get out of here right now. I’m busy.””Uwaaaaaa-!”The beastified Special Forces members screamed as if making a last-ditch effort and rushed at us-Thwack!Fwoosh-!They rolled helplessly on the floor, hit by Kuilan’s fist, Verdandi’s sword strike, and Damian’s suppression fire.My subordinates cleared the way ahead of me cleanly. I walked calmly through the gap.”Well then…”Finally, standing at the entrance of the main building, which had been cleared of guards.”Shall we have a serious talk with our troublemaker brother?”I forcefully threw open the door.