I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 493

That night. The temple.

Torkel stood at the chaotic main gate entrance, a broom in his hand.

As Torkel carefully began to clean around the collapsed main gate, High Priestess Janice rushed out from inside.

‘Oh, Torkel!’

Torkel blinked, looking at Janice. Janice, standing in front of Torkel, gestured as if she couldn’t believe it.

‘I couldn’t find you in the sickroom, so I came looking, and what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on absolute rest today!’

‘……Well, I got a little restless just staying still.’

‘A patient should stay still, what are you talking about? Get back inside right now!’

Both Torkel and Janice were covered in bandages, and their petrification aftereffects hadn’t fully healed.

Janice, despite not being in perfect condition herself, had rushed out, worried about Torkel.

Feeling grateful to Janice, Torkel awkwardly shook his head.

‘I’m sorry. But somehow today… I feel good.’

Torkel slowly looked up at the sky. Janice followed his gaze.

‘The breeze is cool, the sky is clear…’

‘……’

‘And the stars are shining like this.’

The dark clouds that had covered Crossroads had cleared away, revealing a bright sky.

Clean starlight, scattered like salt across the black sky, shone down brightly.

Janice forgot what she was about to say to Torkel and, without realizing it, looked up at the sky with him.

Torkel, feeling embarrassed, bowed his head to Janice.

‘I’ll clean up a little more and then go inside.’

‘Oh, for goodness sake.’

Janice scratched the back of her head and then urged him.

‘Alright. But don’t overdo it, and get back to the sickroom within 30 minutes. Got it?’

‘Yes. I will.’

Torkel, bowing deeply, began sweeping again.

Janice watched Torkel quietly, then chuckled and returned to her room.

‘I guess I don’t have to listen to any more confessions…’

Torkel’s sweeping, having cleaned the main gate entrance, continued along the corridor.

The broom, pushing aside broken stone walls, pillars, and various pieces of furniture, suddenly stopped.

Torkel realized he was standing in the central hall corridor inside the temple.

It was the very place where Margherita had died.

‘……’

Looking down at the spot where the saint had fallen and died, Torkel slowly raised his head.

There, as always, stood the statue of the goddess.

It was a statue he hadn’t dared to face since that day, but today, for some reason, he felt a surge of courage.

Torkel looked up and met the goddess’s face.

‘……Ah.’

Was it a delusion?

The goddess’s face, which had clearly looked down with a pitiful and sad expression back then…

Now, just a little, but definitely.

It seemed to be smiling at Torkel.

‘……’

Inside his helmet, Torkel also smiled faintly.

Torkel began sweeping again. The light sound of his sweeping, contrasting with his heavy footsteps, slowly moved away from the central hall corridor.

The goddess statue remained silently standing there.

It was a clear and quiet winter night.

***

[STAGE 23 – CLEAR!]

[STAGE MVP – Lucas(SSR), Evangeline(SSR)]

[Level Up Characters]

– Ash(EX) and 30 others

[Deceased Characters]

> Sub Party ‘Blacklist’

– Buckler(SSR)

– Smart Idiot(SSR)

– And 19 others

[Injured Characters]

– Lucas(SSR) and 20 others

[Acquired Items]

– Gorgon Sisters’ Magic Core(SSR) : 3

[Stage clear rewards have been distributed. Please check your inventory.]

– SSR Grade Reward Box : 3

>> Get Ready For The Next STAGE

>> [Next STAGE : White Night]

***

About a week had passed since then.

Crossroads was in the midst of reconstruction. Not only the production union members but also most of the citizens who had evacuated had returned and joined the reconstruction efforts.

I was reviewing the names of those who would be buried in the newly created graves, ahead of the official funeral.

‘……’

Among them, the names of those who had been newly hired and sent to the front lines caught my eye.

‘Blacklist.’

The reason I originally built a casino in this city was to lure in high-grade heroes.

And these guys, Blacklist, were a typical high-grade hero party that was drawn to this casino.

Especially two of them that I wanted to recruit.

‘Buckler’, an SSR-grade tank who could freely deploy a barrier.

‘Smart Idiot’, an SSR-grade dealer who was a specialist in both magic bullets and magic.

They were promising characters with the potential to be active in the first team until the end of the third year, but… they died in this battle.

‘Make sure they are treated with the utmost respect.’

It was their first time participating in the monster front, but I ordered that their funeral arrangements be the same as those who had served for a long time.

They too had given their lives for the greater good.

After giving the instructions, I handed the remaining documents to Lucas next to me and said.

‘And try to persuade the other three survivors to stay. To remain on the monster front.’

SR-grade black mage. ‘Chain’.

SR-grade golemancer. ‘Candler’.

SR-grade swordsman. ‘Nobody’.

The three of them were recuperating at the temple. According to the report, they seemed to have fought quite hard, so I wanted to keep them on the team if possible.

‘Especially Chain and Nobody, you fought with them in your party, right? How were they?’

Lucas had lost all the wandering knights who had been in his original party in this battle.

He had formed a temporary party with the remaining heroes when facing Medusa at the end, and it seemed to have worked out well.

‘Lucas, Janice, Torkel, Chain, Nobody.’

A versatile knight, a battle priest, a pure tank, a magic dealer, and a physical dealer.

Looking at the combination, it wasn’t bad. It was an all-around party composition that could be deployed anywhere.

‘The dealers are a bit unstable compared to the solid front line…’

Chain is a black mage who fights by converting life force into magic power.

When not in combat, if her life force is fully restored, she remains in the form of a child.

But in combat, as she consumes this life force, she gradually ages, and if her life force runs out, she becomes an old woman.

The problem is that while black magic is powerful with each hit, it consumes an enormous amount of magic power.

She is a difficult character to manage, requiring careful timing when using magic.

‘And Nobody, he is…’

A blind swordsman.

Instead of sight, he fights by sensing his surroundings with his ki [life force/energy].

His defense and evasion stats are almost non-existent.

And no matter how sensitive his ki is, since he is basically blind, his accuracy is terrible. Even his normal attacks often miss.

But there is one move that makes up for all these shortcomings… his special skill ‘Slash’.

This sword strike, which can be used once every three turns, or 10 minutes, ignores the opponent’s defense and deals critical damage.

‘If it hits, that is, if it hits…’

In the game, he was a luck-based character even more so than a fighter.

If the lottery hits, he can slice off the boss’s head, but if it misses, he has no defensive or movement skills, so he gets instantly killed.

Anyway, although they are unstable dealers, their high potential is certain, and above all, the other three are very solid heroes, so there was a possibility that they could work well together.

When I asked for his thoughts on the party members, Lucas rested his chin on his hand and made an ‘hmm’ sound.

‘They were certainly not bad… but.’

‘But?’

‘If we were to form a party like this, I would like to change the party name…’

‘Huh? Party name?’

What was the party name of these five that made him say that? As I blinked in confusion, Lucas waved his hand.

‘No, it’s nothing… Anyway, I will do as you say, my lord. I will try my best to recruit them.’

‘Okay, and…’

I turned the page and scanned the report written about Torkel.

‘Torkel has now become a fully-fledged elite first-team member and can do his part.’

At the end of the battle with Medusa, Torkel had awakened his ultimate skill. He used this to buy time against Medusa single-handedly.

Ultimate skill, [But man is not made for defeat].

A very cool sentence-type skill, like a quote from Hemingway, but… on the broadcast, it was shortened because it was too long.

They called it ‘Inpaewitae’ by taking the first letters… I even remember some malicious viewers calling it BMI by taking the first letters in English.

Anyway, the effect is simple and powerful.

Invincibility for 3 turns, or 10 minutes.

For 10 minutes, he takes no damage, is immune to all kinds of status ailments, and resists most CC [crowd control] skills.

For 10 minutes, Torkel can withstand being beaten by the entire universe.

It’s a broken ultimate skill that completes Torkel, whose skill set is focused solely on defense, as a top-tier tank.

It can only be used once a day, and there is a minor drawback of a debuff that weakens Torkel after the ultimate skill ends… but it is useful enough to ignore all of that.

‘So, I’ve secured another top-tier tank.’

Torkel must have had a hard time, but I’m glad he seems to have overcome it well. I should praise him later.

And… lastly. I carefully clicked my tongue as I looked at the next report.

‘How is High Priestess Janice?’

‘……As per your instructions, I have carefully investigated whether she might have other intentions…’

Lucas trailed off.

‘In my opinion, she was just a priestess working hard.’

Before I left for the Imperial Capital Conquest, there were two people who were suspected of being spies for Fernandez.

Metallic, from the 1st Legion of the Imperial Army, and the new High Priestess Janice.

In the end, Metallic was confirmed as a spy, and we used it to our advantage…

But no clues came up about Janice. It seemed that this guy was really being punished by the church and was being transferred to various places as a disciplinary measure.

After reading the report on Janice one more time, I placed the document on the desk.

‘……I think it’s about time we can trust her.’

Now that Fernandez, the head of the secret service who was running the spies, has disappeared, I wonder if there is any point in being wary anymore.

But he’s still an inscrutable guy. It wouldn’t hurt to be a little more cautious.

‘I’ve asked Serenade to have the Winter Silver Merchant Guild investigate Janice again. Let’s make a final decision after seeing the results.’

‘Understood, my lord.’

I entrusted the funeral preparations and other matters to Lucas. Lucas bowed respectfully to me and then hurried out.

I was about to take out the file to handle other tasks when…

‘Your Highness!’

Serenade burst into the room, panting.

Serenade and the rest of the main personnel had arrived two days later than us on the airship Geronimo.

Since then, Serenade had been working hard to help with the reconstruction of Crossroads.

I smiled brightly at Serenade.

‘Serenade. What’s wrong?’

‘Ah… well, that is…’

Serenade, who had been staring blankly at my smiling face for a moment, snapped out of it with a ‘Huh?!’ and slapped her cheeks to regain her senses.

Then, she said to me with a serious face.

‘Please show me your smile every morning from now on… No! That’s not it?!’

Serenade, who had blurted out some honest desire, waved her hands wildly with a flushed face.

I covered my mouth and laughed. A smile isn’t expensive, so I can give it out freely.

‘I’m sorry, Your Highness. I was out of it and misspoke.’

Serenade cleared her throat and looked at me with a serious face.

‘A little while ago, all the leaders who joined the World Protection Front gathered at the hotel.’

‘Oh, so everyone has finally arrived.’

Originally, the World Protection Front was only a gathering of some fallen kings and border kings.

But while I was in the Imperial Capital, many envoys had approached me, expressing their intention to join. And I accepted them all without discrimination.

The crisis that the world is about to face is an unprecedented evil. All living beings should join forces.

It was decided that a meeting would be held in Crossroads, including these newly joined kings, and it seemed that the airships dispatched to various parts of the world had arrived here today, bringing the kings.

‘Yes, and… those kings… as soon as they gathered in the hotel lobby…’

Serenade rolled her bright silver eyes left and right in confusion, then hesitated and said.

‘They started a fistfight.’

‘……?’

Wait, my thoughts stopped.

‘What?’

‘Exactly as I said. The gathered kings… regardless of gender or age…’

Serenade looked like she didn’t know what she was saying, but she delivered the message anyway.

‘They have started a free-for-all! The hotel is in chaos!’

‘What a crazy world.’

I jumped up from my seat in a hurry.

‘Let’s go right now!’

‘Yes, we have to stop them-‘

‘Bring popcorn and drinks too!’

‘Yes! I’ll bring the popcorn and drinks… Huh?’

Serenade stumbled and stopped, blinking blankly.

As I quickly put on my coat and left the office, I shouted to Serenade.

‘Are you just going to watch this awesome event?!’

A battle royale of crowns from all over the world!

Isn’t it the rule to watch such a once-in-a-lifetime event with 3D glasses and popcorn!