I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 508

A few days later.

In the Great Theater of Dungeon Area 8.

I sat across from the Legion Commander White Night—whom the monster front had decided to call ‘Blackya’—the lich, and immediately made my demands.

‘Thinking about it, it seems like the sincerity you’ve shown is a bit lacking.’

《…What?》

Blackya sounded dumbfounded. But I nonchalantly picked at my ear with my pinky finger.

‘No, we’re about to risk the lives of almost our entire army to take down the other you holed up in that magic tower over there, and you’re just going to brag about taking down a single flock of monster birds and then back off? Hmm? I’d say that’s a bit of a bad deal for us…’

《A bad deal…? I told you, if you get rid of the other me, then I and my subordinates will become your allies…》

‘Hey, hold on a minute, Mr. Magic Emperor!’

Bang!

I slammed my hand on the table in front of me, and Blackya flinched, startled.

I’m probably the first person to treat the strongest mage among the monsters under the Demon King, the great Magic Emperor, so casually. It’s understandable that she’s not used to it.

I furrowed my brow and, with a scratchy voice, pointed a finger at her.

‘Let’s be real, we’re not exactly in a close enough relationship to trust in future promises like that, are we? Honestly! We don’t have that kind of trust yet. Right? Huh?’

《T-Then what is it? What are you asking for?》

‘I’m saying, show me a little more sincerity.’

I smiled brightly and spread my hands out in front of me.

‘So that we can trust you more, and risk our lives for you.’

《…》

‘We’re going to be allies later anyway, right? No, not allies, a coalition! No, no! Not even a coalition. We’re going to be blood brothers who can risk our lives for each other! Aren’t we?’

I naturally moved to Blackya’s side, put my arm around her shoulder, and gave her a friendly hug.

Blackya was completely out of it due to my sudden change in attitude. I kept pushing.

‘We’re going to be like family, so let’s just go through a few more verification steps before that.’

《…Stop beating around the bush and tell me. What exactly are you asking for?》

‘There’s that hornet swarm that’s nested between Area 7 and Area 8, right?’

The hornet swarm, one of the monster groups that hadn’t yet invaded the monster front, but would be troublesome to deal with later.

I grinned as I mentioned them.

‘Get rid of them too.’

《What? Look, I’ve already done enough to draw attention by getting rid of the monster bird legion. If I move any more, the Demon King might start watching me…》

‘Well, that’s your problem~’

I let go of her shoulder as if I’d never hugged her, stepped back, and nonchalantly picked at my ear again.

‘You were talking about rebelling against the Demon King, but you’re worried about something like this? Monsters are always killing each other anyway, aren’t they?’

《I’m the third in command! My actions are bound to attract attention! The Demon King has been busy with his own affairs lately, so he hasn’t been paying much attention to the outside, but if I keep moving like this…》

‘Ah~ I get it, I get it. You can’t do it, right?’

I cut Blackya off and waved my hand.

‘Then there’s nothing we can do. Okay. Let’s forget about it.’

《Forget about it…? Are you saying you’re going to cancel our deal?》

‘No, when did I say that? I’m just saying let’s forget about my proposal from just now. Well, I guess we should also rethink our deal while we’re at it…’

I trailed off and got up from my seat.

Thump!

Blackya urgently grabbed my sleeve.

《Wait!》

‘Hey, let go. I’m a busy person. If you’re not going to show me more sincerity, then let me go. I have a lot to think about.’

Blackya gritted her teeth, then reluctantly spat out.

《…I’ll do it. I’ll do it for you. The hornet swarm, right?》

‘Now you’re talking.’

I smiled. Blackya’s face above her nose was hidden by her mask, but she seemed quite heated.

But, so what if she’s heated?

Is she going to disobey me? Huh?

‘First the monster birds, now the pests. Blackya is being used so thoroughly.’

As I was internally cheering, Blackya slowly spat out.

《I hope you properly carry out the task of killing the other me. …If you fail, you’ll pay a much more terrible price for using me like this.》

‘Oh, come on. Don’t you trust me? I’m the one who took down all the Nightmare Legion commanders from tenth to fourth! Trust me. I’ll take responsibility and take down the other you!’

I swung my arms exaggeratedly and thumped my chest. Blackya watched me with a sullen expression.

***

Next, I went to the magic tower in Dungeon Area 8.

I met the master of the magic tower, White Night—whom the monster front had decided to call ‘Soyya’—the robot lich, who had transferred his consciousness into a machine, and made additional demands, just like I did with Blackya.

《Clean up the dungeons in Area 8…? What are you talking about?》

The skull in the magic panel monitor looked bewildered. The shiny, round head was starting to look like a well-cooked sausage.

I gestured with my chin.

‘I know you’ve taken control of all the dungeons in the area. You infiltrated the control system of this magic tower, right?’

《How did you know that…? No, even if you know, that’s an unreasonable request.》

Soyya shook his head slightly on the screen.

《In case the other me attacks, the current power of this magic tower is being used to defend the tower. If I extend my influence to other places, the defense of this tower will weaken.》

‘So? You can’t do it?’

《It’s not that I can’t do it, but after you get rid of the other me, I won’t need to focus on defending the tower, so I’ll naturally exert my influence on the surrounding area…》

‘But I need your influence right now… Tsk. Okay.’

I waved my hand and got up from my seat.

‘Then there’s nothing we can do. Okay. Let’s forget about it.’

《Forget about it…? Are you saying you’re going to cancel our deal?》

‘No, when did I say that? I’m just saying let’s forget about my proposal from just now. Well, I guess we should also rethink our deal while we’re at it…’

I repeated the same words I had said to Blackya, word for word, and Soyya reacted the same way.

《Wait! …Okay. I’ll do as you say. I’ll clear three of the surrounding dungeons and hand them over to you.》

‘Now you’re talking.’

The skull on the screen stared at me as I openly cheered.

《But don’t forget about killing the other me. I’ve already cooperated with you enough. Don’t forget that either.》

‘Of course, of course. How could I forget? We’re already blood brothers, blood brothers!’

I went to Soyya’s machine and thumped its main body. Soyya was horrified, but I didn’t really care.

When I came out of the magic tower, my party members were waiting at the entrance.

As I walked out with a bright smile and a swagger, Evangeline covered her mouth and asked.

‘So, how did it go?’

‘It was a success, of course!’

When I shrugged my shoulders and answered, the rest of the party members opened their mouths in disbelief.

‘Wow, he’s extorting monsters…’

‘Which one is the real monster…’

‘Hey, it’s not extortion. Call it the art of negotiation.’

Both Blackya and Soyya need me to kill each other.

The time limit is until the next defense battle, Stage 25, which is about a month away.

By then, either I will attack Soyya’s magic tower, or I will defeat Blackya on the day of the defense battle. One of the two will be decided.

In other words, until then, both of them have to grovel before me.

The first principle of negotiation.

The more desperate side has no choice but to bow down. The more anxious side has no choice but to back down. So I decided to go all out and act like a madman.

Acting like a crazy person on purpose, it could be called a kind of ‘Madman Theory’.

‘This is just the beginning.’

I smirked wickedly, raising the corners of my mouth, and glared at the two dungeon areas where the two liches were located.

‘Watch closely. See how much I’m going to suck them dry.’

***

They’ve shown enough sincerity, so I’ll repay them with even more chaos.

That chaos is—demanding even more sincerity!

Asking for one thing and then asking for another!

It’s a voice phishing method that was prevalent in 21st century Korea.

– Yes, customer. You contacted us after seeing the product page. That’s right. It’s a product that’s normally priced at 1 million won, but we’re selling it for 800,000 won because we need to clear out our company warehouse.

– There are only two of these products left in the headquarters warehouse. If you deposit 100,000 won as a reservation fee into this account, we can confirm your reservation.

– Yes, customer, your reservation fee payment has been confirmed, and your product has been secured. Would you like to deposit the remaining 700,000 won? Yes, of course. We will ship it the next day as soon as the payment is confirmed.

– Oh, I’m very sorry, customer. We checked the warehouse again, and it turns out that the product we thought we had is already out of stock. We will refund you immediately.

– Customer, in order to process the refund, we need to process it as an automatic transfer refund due to the company system, so we need to reach a total of 1.5 million won. So, if you make an additional deposit, we will refund you at midnight today…

– I’m very sorry, customer. Due to an error on the bank’s side, we now need a total of 3 million won for the automatic transfer refund…

– Increased to 5 million…

– Did you receive the apology call from our CEO? Yes, we are very sorry. If you deposit another 10 million…

– ……

– Thank you for the meal, sucker!

…Well, it’s a voice phishing tactic that proceeds in steps like this.

Are there people who fall for this?

Surprisingly, there are! Just like the Magic Emperors in front of me!

If you take a step back, you can easily notice that the other person is scamming you, but in reality, it’s surprisingly not that easy.

Above all, the complacent thought of ‘There’s no way I’d get scammed’ prevents you from realizing that you’re being scammed.

‘There’s no way I, a Magic Emperor, would be manipulated by a mere human like this, right?’

This unconscious thought slows down the grasp of reality. The reality that they are walking deeper and deeper into the swamp of fraud…!

《What? I already got rid of the hornet swarm as you requested. And now again?》

《Now you’re asking me to get rid of the immortal boar legion?! Hey, player! I’ve already taken down four legions as you requested! And you’re making another demand?!》

《Enough is enough! At this rate, I’ll end up making enemies with all the monster legions before I even rebel against the Demon King! What are you thinking…? No, hey! Sit down! I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it! Don’t go!》

Using Blackya to preemptively intercept troublesome monster legions,

《I’ve cleared ten dungeons in the area as you asked. You just need to go and clean up and take the rewards… What? Other equipment left in the magic tower? Uh… Wait a minute. I’ll look for it.》

《You want more items…? I’ve already taken all the equipment items that were stored in this magic tower. There’s nothing left to give… What? Consumable items stored in the warehouse? Even those?》

《Magic research scrolls? I do have some left, but what are you going to do with them…?》

《Wait, wait a minute! It’s going to be difficult if you take those! It’s going to cause problems with the operation of the magic tower itself! No, I’ll give them to you! I’ll give them to you, but let’s talk first…!》

Using Soyya to clear the dungeons in the area for free. On top of that, I scraped up equipment, items, and all sorts of scrolls.

Do it. Give me more. Give me everything.

Ah, just ‘give’!

《I can’t take it anymore, player!》

Blackya, unable to bear it any longer, summoned her giant eyeball in the air,

《How far are you going to play with me…? If you keep acting like this, I’ll have no choice but to break the contract!》

Soyya activated the magic tower’s defense system and aimed it at my neck, but.

‘Don’t want to? Fine~’

I nonchalantly picked at my ear.

‘What are you doing? Hurry up and kill me. In a few days, I’m going to kill the other you, but if you kill me before that? Then all the things you’ve done so far will be for nothing, you know?’

《Kuh…!》

‘Yeah~ Kill me~ Your wish will be for nothing, and I’ll just die with you~’

Faced with this, both Blackya and Soyya had no choice but to back down.

Because of all the things they had done so far, all the investments they had made. Now there was no choice. They were in a position to be dragged along by me.

‘They’re completely out of it after being tormented by an Earth-style gaslighting scam, huh? Huh?’

Watching the monster legions being cleared one by one, and the dungeons in Area 8 being cleared on their own, and the items piling up, I patted my full stomach even though I hadn’t eaten. Burp.

‘But, my lord.’

Lucas, who was checking the achievements that had been accumulated for free in a few weeks, pointed out sharply.

‘This method is certainly useful… but it doesn’t lead to the elimination of either Blackya or Soyya, does it?’

‘That’s right.’

It’s the ultimate farming, so to speak. It’s just using these two to the limit. And also wearing them down.

In the end, it doesn’t lead to the answer to the fundamental problem of the current situation—how to eliminate these powerful lich archmages.

So, while I was playing with these two and having a good time, I was preparing something else.

‘Summon the Gamble Club.’

I smiled as I called the gambler party after a long time.

‘It’s time to move the joker card.’