I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 501

The next day.

I went to the dungeon with the main party after a long time… but.

“……”

My mood wasn’t great.

As I pouted, the rest of the party members—Lucas, Evangeline, Damian, and Junior—hesitantly watched me.

“Um… Senior. Is something wrong?” Evangeline cautiously asked first, but I waved my hand.

“No, it’s nothing… Don’t worry. Nothing’s wrong.”

“You say that, but your expression is terrible. It’s like…”

“Like what?”

“Like a pufferfish that’s been slapped in the face.”

“……”

When I turned my head, genuinely heated, Evangeline made a sound like ‘Pufferfish is gonna explode-‘ and quickly ran away.

“Hoo.”

I took a breath and composed myself. Okay, my bad mood is my bad mood, and I shouldn’t worry the party members.

The reason for my bad mood… was because of last night’s box opening.

I opened all the reward boxes I had collected at once last night, and a major disaster occurred where not a single complete item came out.

‘Especially since there were several SSR-grade boxes among them, how can not a single complete item come out?’

Instead, a lot of SSR-grade magic cores poured out.

Of course, this is also a valuable item, but still, you know how people feel, right? If possible, a legendary item should shine brightly and fall into your hand with a thud, right? Then you’d feel proud, like, ‘Ah, it was worth working hard!’

‘It’s true that I’ve been lucky so far…’

It’s also true that I’ve gotten a lot of good items from low-grade boxes and had frequent lucky encounters and loot.

Still, when I fail like this with high-grade boxes, I naturally become an Ash Pufferfish and turn red like this.

Anyway, as I grumbled and entered the dungeon, the base camp appeared.

Clang-! Clang-!

The familiar sound of a hammer made me feel a little better. Kellybay was hammering away diligently at the base camp’s smithy.

“Kellybay!”

“Oh, it’s the bratty prince. You’ve arrived.”

Kellybay smiled at me, then immediately changed his words.

“No, no. I shouldn’t call you the bratty prince anymore. You’re the leader of the worldwide pan-national alliance, after all.”

“That’s too grand. I’m just a proxy war commander who receives troops and blocks monsters, that’s all.”

“Look at you, being all humble. You’ve become a politician.”

Kellybay clicked his tongue, then tilted his head.

“But why the long face? Did something bad happen? You look like a pufferfish that’s been punched a couple of times.”

“……”

The box opening failure must have been a bigger wound to my heart than I thought. I composed myself again. Ahem! At this rate, I’m far from becoming a real politician.

“First, here’s a New Year’s congratulatory meal. Take it.”

“Oh ho… New Year’s stew, huh? I’ll eat well.”

I handed out food not only to Kellybay but to everyone in the base camp.

Even the NPCs who weren’t close to me now accepted it naturally. I guess I can say that a certain level of inner intimacy has developed from constantly giving them things. As expected, there’s nothing like gifts to build rapport.

“Kuh~! The broth is good.”

I stopped Kellybay, who had tasted the stew broth and was about to open a bottle of alcohol. Stop!

“Drink later, and please take my equipment request.”

“You give me something this delicious, and then tell me not to eat it right away and make equipment? Where’s your conscience?”

Instead of answering, I took out the equipment materials I had brought.

It was none other than the three Gorgon sisters’ magic cores. All three emitted a brilliant light worthy of SSR-grade magic cores.

As soon as Kellybay saw the magic cores, he hurriedly put away the stew pot and stuck to the magic cores.

“No, take back what I just said. This is more delicious!”

Kellybay, who had immediately switched to blacksmith mode, gulped and turned his fierce eyes to me.

“I can make something really amazing with this. What should I make for you?”

“Hmm…”

I pondered for a moment.

Equipment made with the magic cores of the highest-ranking monsters, the three Gorgon sisters. The result would surely be top-tier equipment.

‘Given the Gorgon sisters’ characteristics, it’s better to make armor.’

As rock monsters who lived with petrification, their defense was incredible. In fact, I had already decided to make armor without hesitation.

The problem is.

‘Whose armor?’

First of all, Lucas urgently needs armor.

When I glanced at Lucas, he was, as expected, desperately appealing that he didn’t have armor.

With a pitiful face, he hugged his bare upper body tightly with both arms and gave me a pleading look.

“What are you doing?” Evangeline asked with a dumbfounded expression, but Lucas’s ‘Give me the equipment’ appeal continued. I broke out in a cold sweat. Hmm.

Lucas’s black armor set, [Midnight] and [Twilight], which he wore before, had been shattered.

It seems that he had been wearing spare equipment in this battle, but even those armors were all shattered.

Armor for a front-line character is equipment directly related to life. I need to get it for him quickly.

‘But the Gorgon sisters’ equipment is too heavy.’

I’ve made armor a few times in the game with this very good material, and because it comes out as a solid rock armor, it’s terribly heavy.

Regardless of whether you can wear it, you can’t prevent the movement from slowing down.

Lucas is a nimble damage-tank knight who boasts dramatic mobility. This overly heavy Gorgon armor is not compatible with him.

Then the Gorgon armor should be for…

‘I should give it to Torkel.’

Torkel, who awakened his ultimate skill this time and rose to the rank of elite first-tier tank. This guy is also in a situation where he doesn’t have proper armor right now.

It seems that his shield was also badly damaged in this battle.

Since he’s not a character with agile movements in the first place. It would be perfect to have him wear this and use him as a sturdy mobile fortress.

So, I ordered a full-body heavy armor and a large shield. Two magic cores were assigned to the armor, and one to the shield.

Kellybay nodded with a satisfied face.

“You really know your stuff! Good! I’ll start making it right away!”

Kellybay happily took the magic cores and ran into the workshop.

“……”

But on the contrary, Lucas drooped his arms and made a dissatisfied expression. It seems he realized that what was being made was Torkel’s equipment.

“Oh my, there’s another pufferfish!” Damian, who had finished handing out stew to the other NPCs, was surprised and shouted when he saw Lucas’s face. Junior covered his mouth and giggled from behind. Hmm…

“Hey, Lucas?”

“It’s okay, my lord… I’m invincible even without armor. I might get a little hurt… feel pain… shed tears… but… it’s your choice… it’s okay.”

No, it’s not okay at all! More than that, you’re super sulky!

Clank! Clank!

At that moment, Evangeline suddenly fully deployed her armor, [Snow White], from behind.

Evangeline, who was instantly dressed in dazzling white armor, covered her mouth and laughed.

“Oh my? My mistake~ I accidentally made a mistake in the operation and ended up wearing the strongest magic armor of the Lake Kingdom, S.n.o.w. W.h.i.t.e? Oh dear~ I guess I’m still full of mistakes~”

“……”

Then Lucas’s face swelled up.

A pufferfish! A huge pufferfish! A blonde-haired, blue-eyed protagonist pufferfish! And it’s about to explode!

“C-calm down, Lucas. I’m preparing your armor separately!” When I shouted urgently, the Lucas pufferfish shrank at once.

As if he had never been angry, Lucas had his usual golden retriever-like face and smiled innocently.

“Hehe. That’s right. I always believed in you, my lord.”

“R-really?”

“Of course. I always believed without a doubt that you would prepare the best armor for me, one that can’t even be compared to Evangeline’s antique armor.”

No, that’s impossible?! It’s impossible even if you pressure me openly?!

Of course, I have Lucas’s final armor in mind, but farming it right now is impossible.

I was just going to get him some armor that he could wear for now.

“…I have no choice.”

There are no reward boxes to open right now. And there isn’t a dungeon to farm armor materials either.

“Is it time to use this.”

I took out an item I had been keeping from my pocket.

It was a blue glowing magic key. The party members, especially Junior, lit up their eyes.

“What is that?”

“It’s a magic key that opens an event dungeon.”

[Magic Goblin Room Key].

It’s a key item I received as an all-clear bonus when I cleared the magic tower in Area 8 before.

I had been putting it off because there hadn’t been a good opportunity for free exploration since then, but I should use it today.

Damian clapped his hands.

“Ah! Are we going to a place similar to the golden goblin room we went to before?”

“That’s right. You remember, Damian.”

We had gone into the golden goblin room before and farmed items. Damian had sniped all the fast golden goblins.

If the rewards of the golden goblin room were mainly wealth, the magic goblin room is a place that gives magic items.

It’s mainly consumable items, but it sometimes drops equipment. Let’s raid this place today.

“Coco Granny!”

When I approached Coco Granny’s magic workshop, I saw Coco pouring the stew we had given her today into a magic pot.

No… why are you mixing that? Just eat it… Coco winked at me as I broke out in a cold sweat.

“Oh, isn’t it the young prince. What brings you here today?”

“Please open the door with this.”

Coco, who received the key I handed over, smiled silently.

“You’ve picked up something rare again… Now, I’ll open the door, so stand back.”

Coco Granny held the magic key and inserted it into the empty space next to her, then turned it forcefully. Then.

Whirr-!

A gap opened in the empty space, and soon a long oval magic door was formed. Blue magic particles scattered in all directions.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s go get some loot!” I jumped into the door first.

Flash-!

***

The magic goblin room was similar in appearance and rules to the previous golden goblin room.

In this event dungeon in the form of a wide circular dome, defeating magic goblins drops items.

The difference was that only three golden goblins appeared, and they were so fast that it was difficult to catch them without Damian.

Magic goblins appeared in dozens, and they were much slower than golden goblins, making them easier to catch.

But there was another difference.

Kkyaek?!

Whirr-!

These blue-glowing goblins didn’t give very high-quality items individually.

Most of them scattered a lot of junk items like potions and scrolls. The dungeon room quickly became a mountain of junk items.

Still, because there were so many, complete equipment items also started to drop one by one. We hunted the magic goblins diligently with our eyes burning.

Flash!

The first piece of equipment we got was an SR-grade, purple-shining rosario. It’s a priest-only item that increases divine power output.

“Oh, I can give this to Priestess Zenith.”

I gratefully took the rosario.

The next equipment we got was an R-grade orb and an SR-grade single-edged longsword.

The orb had an option to increase total magic power, and the longsword had a special ability that increased cutting power when it absorbed the user’s blood.

“Oh, I can give this to Chain and Nobody who just joined.”

I quickly stored them in my inventory.

The next equipment we got was various miscellaneous accessories. They were decorations such as rings, necklaces, and dice that didn’t have great abilities but slightly increased stats.

“Oh… I can give these to the Gamble Club kids…”

I haven’t given them any equipment since I recruited them… Let’s take care of the Gamble Club kids too…

After that, equipment kept dropping like rain.

A tomahawk that Dusk Bringer would like, a longbow and arrows that the Holy Grail Expedition would like, and melee weapons and leather armor that the Punishment Unit would like…

“Oh…”

As I swept up all the items that were pouring out, I glanced around.

“……”

I could see Lucas swelling up.

All the magic goblins left in the dungeon were being defeated, but armor that Lucas could wear still hadn’t appeared.

To make matters worse, every time Evangeline picked up new equipment,

“Oh?! Mr. Lucas! It’s armor!”

“Really?!”

“Ah… no, it’s not armor. I was wrong. Sorry~” She was teasing Lucas.

Shudder. Shudder.

Lucas is swelling up more and more…

‘No! Stop the pufferfish! Don’t explode! Stop it!’