I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 483

Dark Clouds

‘The Gorgon Triplets, seriously?!’

I ground my teeth at the urgent report from Crossroads.

‘That’s a boss-level threat! And this kind of monster attacked Crossroads when I’m not there?!’

No… Looking back, the Black Lake always spewed out the worst monsters at the worst possible times.

It might be natural that it sends out enemies that are difficult to deal with given the current troop composition of the monster front, especially when I’m not there…!

‘It would be nice if the system window worked properly.’

I nervously brought up the system window in front of me, then closed it.

The enemy information on the system window, which should have been updated a long time ago, wasn’t showing up on my end. That’s why my response is delayed.

‘Aider, you bastard…! Are you slacking off? What are you doing?! Are you busy? You and Muyeong haven’t been around lately, what are you plotting?’

Blaming the unresponsive director, I summoned all my subordinates.

I’d like to take the entire World Protection Front with me, but that would take weeks.

I need to load only the elite troops onto the airship, the fastest means of transportation, and descend quickly.

‘It takes three days by airship from the Imperial Capital to Crossroads.’

We have to land periodically to check the airship and recharge the magic reactor, so no matter how fast we go, three days is the limit.

‘This is too slow!’

The messenger bird already took several days to reach the Imperial Capital.

If I spend three more days getting back, anything could happen to Crossroads.

I need to cut down the time. Is there any way…?

“…There’s no other way.”

I clicked my tongue, having come up with one idea.

“Looks like the cute youngest son has to act cute to his beloved father again.”

It was time to transform into a fiery filial son once more.

***

Bang!

I kicked open the door to the palace where the Emperor was using as a temporary office.

The Thorn Palace was completely destroyed, so the Emperor was currently staying in a small detached palace in the south of New Terra.

“Father! Where are you!”

The knights guarding the entrance couldn’t stop me and were sweating profusely.

“Y-Your Highness!”

“It’s difficult for you to come here suddenly like this!”

“You have to go through the proper procedures first-”

I ignored what they were saying and entered, shouting continuously.

“Your youngest son is here, Father! It’s an urgent matter!”

The Emperor was sitting in his office.

The Emperor, who was wearing reading glasses and dealing with a mountain of documents, glanced at me with tired eyes.

“…Ash? As you can see, I’m busy. If you have something to say, tell the officials outside.”

“I came because I have an urgent request to make directly to you, Father.”

“To me? Directly?”

“Yes. It’s a very important matter. Much more important than national affairs!”

“I’m already scared. What kind of request is it?”

Thump!

I walked up to the Emperor and placed both hands on his desk, stating my business.

“Let’s go for a drive, Father!”

“…?”

The Emperor frowned and took off his glasses.

“A drive?”

“Isn’t a drive the best way to increase the intimacy between a father and son who have been estranged for so long?”

“Are you suggesting we take a carriage to the outskirts? Well, it’s not a bad idea, but…”

The Emperor pondered, resting his chin on his hand as if he was seriously considering it. But I waved my hand dismissively.

“Hey~ Father, you’re too much. We’re the Emperor and Prince of the Everblack Empire, what’s with a carriage drive? It’s not cool.”

“Then what are we going to drive… Wait. Don’t tell me.”

The Emperor looked at me in disbelief.

“You’re not suggesting we go out in an airship, are you?”

“Now you’re getting it. Let’s fly away in an airship!”

The Emperor chuckled in disbelief,

“Where to?”

Instead of getting angry, he asked about the destination first. This guy is really funny.

I grinned back and shrugged.

“I know a place with good scenery and weather. There’s a place called Crossroads at the southern end of the continent…”

Only then did the Emperor realize my intention and let out a hollow sigh.

“…So, you’re saying that on your way back to your front, you want me, your father and the leader of this empire… to be your airship driver?”

Not just a driver.

Normally, an airship has to land every certain flight time to recharge the magic reactor and check the airship, but if the Emperor drives the airship himself?

He can inject his own magic power during flight, and there’s no need for checks.

The Emperor uses a method of synchronizing his consciousness with Alcatraz to drive it.

‘So, you’re asking me to be not only a driver, but also a mechanic and a biological battery!’

Do it!

Give me more! No, give me everything!

“…You are truly arrogant, Ash.”

After I explained the situation in detail.

The Emperor shook his head.

“Even if the Southern Front is in crisis, and you are my only remaining son, how can you try to use the Emperor like this? There’s a limit to how unreasonable you can be…”

“Please, just help me this once, Dad?”

“…What?”

The Emperor looked at me with a horrified expression.

In front of the Emperor, I put my hands together and sparkled my eyes.

“Your cute youngest son is asking you like this, are you really not going to help me, Dad?”

“You son of a bitch.”

The Emperor muttered a curse under his breath. No, is it necessary to curse like that to hurt me?

The Emperor covered his eyes with both hands as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“Don’t do that again, it’s creepy.”

“I’ll keep doing this if you don’t help me, Dad!”

“Let’s go and take care of it quickly. Let’s go right now. So stop it. Please.”

The Emperor didn’t just say it, he immediately got up from his seat.

“Load those who will go with us onto Alcatraz. We’ll depart in an hour.”

I spread my arms and jumped up from my seat.

“Yay! Dad’s the best! I’m so excited! It’s a drive with Dad!”

“I told you not to do that! It’s an imperial order, an imperial order!”

The Emperor, who was shuddering, rubbed his arm as if he was getting goosebumps, then ran out of the office as if fleeing. He must be going to prepare Alcatraz.

Watching the Emperor’s retreating figure, I chuckled. Please be a little more generous. I grew up without love, that’s why I’m like this.

Anyway, with this, I secured the fastest way to return to Crossroads.

‘I’ll be there soon, guys.’

I turned my gaze to the southern sky. Towards my front, which was far away.

‘Hold on a little longer…!’

***

Night fell on Crossroads.

Most of the citizens had evacuated far away, but the essential personnel for city operations, including the priests, were waiting not far from the city.

They returned to help with the repairs now that the battle had subsided.

The injured were healed by the priests, and the damaged equipment was urgently repaired by the blacksmiths. Among the regular soldiers, the veterans volunteered for the decoy unit tomorrow.

A pot was hung in the barracks cafeteria and soup was boiling. The smell of jerky being grilled wafted through the air with the smoke. The exhausted people ate with difficulty.

“…”

Torkel, squatting at the entrance of the temple, looked down at this scene.

Behind Torkel, Zenith was using healing magic with a haggard look.

“It’s a good thing I have the ability to dispel curses. What would you have done otherwise?”

Zenith possessed the ability to dispel curses.

But it was too much of a drain on her divine power, so it was impossible to heal everyone who had been petrified today.

So, she was urgently healing only Torkel’s petrified areas.

“…Thank you.”

Torkel roughly rubbed the areas of his body that had been unpetrified.

His limbs were still stiff, but he slowly felt the blood flowing through the extremities of his body where sensation had been lost.

“This is just a temporary measure. Unless we kill the source of the curse… that monster, the aftereffects of petrification will remain.”

“…If we kill that monster, what will happen?”

“Well, then the petrified areas, as well as all the petrified people, will be released from the curse. Likewise, the aftereffects will be a bit severe, but…”

Zenith, who was sitting next to Torkel, seemed frustrated and put a cigarette in her mouth again, then threw it to the ground after crumpling it with an ‘Eing!’ sound.

She still couldn’t smoke because she had to return to the mother soon.

Torkel, who glanced inside the temple, asked cautiously.

“Is Lily okay?”

“She’s in a dangerous state. She’s lost too much blood, and she’s used up all her energy… She’s been fainting and waking up repeatedly. She’s really worrying me…”

“…”

“But, the end is in sight. Don’t worry. I’ll save both the child and the mother.”

Silence flowed.

Against death, to protect life.

Two men who had fought fiercely on different battlefields sat quietly side by side on the floor for a while. They looked down at the city stained with darkness.

Then Torkel opened his mouth.

“Priest Zenith.”

“Yes. I’m listening.”

“You once called me a lost lamb. You told me to come if I needed a place to confess.”

Zenith, who turned to look at Torkel, chuckled.

“That’s right. Are you finally in the mood to talk?”

“…I thought it was a sin that I was born into this world.”

Torkel touched the helmet that covered his face.

“Because of the sins I committed in my past life, I believed that being born into this world was a sin in itself. That’s why I got leprosy. I believed that.”

“…”

“But the former priest… the Saintess, said that there was no such sin. She said that this world is just inherently cruel.”

The image of Margherita came to mind.

The noble face of the Saintess, who was bandaging her own body with blood-stained hands.

“So, she said that all we can do is struggle to the end in this cruel world. That’s what she said.”

“…”

“Priest Zenith… what do you think? Is the Saintess’s words correct?”

Zenith didn’t give a clear answer as to whether it was right or wrong.

Instead, she smiled and winked at Torkel.

“You must have had a hard life because of that disease, Torkel?”

“…Yes.”

Torkel nodded.

“There wasn’t a moment that wasn’t difficult.”

“Was this world just pain for you?”

“…I think it was.”

Torkel affirmed once more.

“I think it was… just pain.”

He had lived because he couldn’t die.

All of his comrades who had the same disease had died, and the Saintess who had prayed for him had also died.

In this city above the grave, he was just struggling as the Saintess had said, but.

But – for what?

How long do I have to struggle like this?

Even when he closed his eyes, he could see the deaths of people. The guilt of surviving alone was clearer than the pain of his festering skin.

In this cruel world, is suffering like this… truly life?

“I was dispatched as a priest of the Goddess Church to various parts of the world. Once, I went to the western end of the world.”

Zenith got up and opened her mouth.

“It was a place with a very terrible climate, and that town was covered with thick dark clouds all year round. There were only three types of weather. Cloudy, rainy, or foggy.”

“…”

“Maybe it was because of the weather, but the people in that town all had gloomy expressions. It was a terrible town that was very difficult to preach in…”

Zenith chuckled.

“Do you know what the natives of that town found more difficult to believe than the existence of the Goddess?”

“…I don’t know. What is it?”

Zenith raised her finger and pointed to the sky.

“The sun.”

“Huh?”

“The people in that town didn’t believe the obvious fact that there was a dazzling sun in the sky that illuminated the entire world. It was inevitable. It was a town that was always covered with dark clouds. It’s hard to believe what you’ve never seen.”

Zenith waved her hand as she strode into the temple.

“In my opinion, Torkel, you seem to be in a similar state to the residents of that village right now.”

“…”

“But, you should know for sure. Even though you haven’t noticed it because it’s always covered by thick dark clouds… the sun is still shining on your life.”

Leaving behind only a cryptic religious question and answer, Zenith disappeared into the temple.

Torkel, who was staring blankly at her retreating figure, turned back to the city and pondered. To reflect on the meaning of Zenith’s words.

“…I thought I would feel lighter after confessing.”

A long sigh escaped from inside his helmet.

“My worries are only getting deeper…”

When he looked up at the sky, dark clouds were gathering.

It was a dark night without a single ray of moonlight.

***

And, under the same moonless sky.

Thud, thud…

Inside the petrified nest of monsters built on one side of the city.

Inside a huge egg made of rock, Medusa was chewing and swallowing the last piece of Euryale.

Crunch, crunch!

Meanwhile, huge wings sprouted from Medusa’s back, and the snakes on her head became even more grotesque.

Medusa’s body had grown even larger. Her whole body was covered with rock-like carapaces like armor.

《…Don’t worry, Euryale, sister.》

Medusa muttered, staring blankly into the air with eyes that had lost their usual clarity.

《Together, we’ll kill them all. Together…》

《…》

Stheno, who was standing behind her, just watched her younger sister silently.

Soon, it would be the second day of the invasion.

More death… was about to overflow in this city.

I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]

I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]

Tyrant of the Tower Defense Game 디펜스 게임의 폭군이 되었다
Status: Completed Author: Native Language: Korean
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[English Translation] In the relentless pursuit of conquering an unbeatable tower defense game, a dedicated gamer finally achieves the impossible—only to awaken within the very world he just mastered. Now inhabiting the body of a noble exiled to a perilous border fortress, he faces relentless waves of monstrous adversaries. Armed with his gaming expertise and strategic prowess, he must rally heroes, fortify defenses, and navigate treacherous politics to protect his newfound reality. Dive into a thrilling saga where virtual tactics become real-world survival in "I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game."

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