I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 509

‘Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?’

‘Father, can’t you see the Devil King?’

‘Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?’

‘The Devil King with a crown and cloak?’

***

White Night’s first memory was of the world burning.

Adrift in a small boat, cradled in her father’s arms.

White Night watched from afar as her homeland—once called the Eastern Continent—was engulfed in flames.

It was a terrible inferno. The world was completely burned black, turning everything to ash without leaving a trace.

Not just the land, but even the sky.

Everything was covered in black smoke, as if the sky itself had turned to ash.

Staring blankly at this scene, White Night whispered softly.

‘Why is our homeland burning?’

Hugging his daughter tightly, her father answered gently.

‘Our Emperor made a wish.’

‘To whom?’

‘To the ‘wish-granting demon.’ He was completely bewitched by it…’

A faint black figure floated in the sky above the Eastern Continent.

《The wish has been granted.》

The being, which looked like a human shadow, stretched its mouth, made of white emptiness, into a long, chilling smile.

《This is the result of that wish!》

White Night stared blankly at the being.

That was the wish-granting demon.

The source of evil that had destroyed her homeland.

The survivors on the boat pointed at the demon and whispered another name for it.

-The Devil King.

‘What wish did our country’s Emperor make?’

‘I don’t know that. But this is the result.’

What kind of wish could cause an entire continent to burn?

And why would the ‘wish-granting demon’ commit such a cruel act?

Young White Night couldn’t understand at all.

Staring blankly at the burning crimson sky, White Night’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘Father, eyes…! There are so many eyes in the sky.’

It was as she said.

Thousands of giant eyes were open in the sky, watching the continent’s destruction silently.

As if observing something very amusing, with focused gazes.

‘Why are those eyes watching our homeland burn?’

‘Because that is their… the great Outer Gods’ game,’ her father answered in a trembling voice to his innocent child’s question.

‘A game of destruction played with the ruin of a world… they enjoy watching this game.’

‘Like pouring water on an ant hill and watching?’

‘Yes, that’s probably how they feel, watching from a higher dimension than us…’

Her father stroked his daughter’s head, holding back tears.

Flames poured from the sky. The boat right next to them was engulfed in flames and shattered into pieces.

Fragments of what were once people, pieces of the boat, and sea foam flew up. Loud noises and screams filled the surroundings.

Her father screamed and hugged White Night, but even in his arms, White Night was still looking up at the sky.

At the thousands of pairs of eyes etched into the burning sky.

And at the existence of the ‘wish-granting demon’—the Devil King—who seemed to have prepared this feast for those eyes.

‘……I won’t forgive them.’

In the midst of the hell that had arrived, White Night murmured with a clear determination.

‘I will never, ever forgive them.’

Her father looked down at White Night in surprise. White Night clenched her small fists tightly.

‘I will punish those evil beings who make a game out of our pain and tears.’

‘Don’t talk nonsense, child! They are beings from another dimension. We can’t even touch them…’

‘There will be a way. Just as they burned our world, there will be a way for us to reach them.’

The boat made a thudding sound as it moved forward.

Everything that touched the boat was a corpse. Burned corpses were lined up beneath the surface of the water.

In the center of this hellscape, White Night faced her father and declared.

‘No matter how long it takes, I will definitely reach them.’

‘……’

When the rain of fire stopped.

The group that had initially been a fleet was reduced to just a few small boats that barely remained.

The homeland had burned and collapsed into the sea. Now, even the fact that there had once been land here felt like a lie.

All that remained was the fire on the sea.

‘I will help you too, child.’

And then, her father spoke to his daughter.

‘Our clan… and I have been researching how to reach them. I will pass that research on to you.’

‘……’

‘Fulfill our clan’s long-cherished wish. So that such a tragedy never happens again in the world.’

In her father’s arms, as he rowed the boat forward, White Night continued to look up at the sky.

The thousands of eyes floating in the sky.

That cruel gaze, as if looking down at an amusing toy.

She vowed that she would never again be the target of those gazes. That she would never again be in a position to be looked down upon.

White Night, the last successor of the destroyed Eastern Continent’s sorcerers, made a vow at that moment.

***

The survivors of the Eastern Continent who reached the Western Continent headed to the Lake Kingdom.

The most powerful magic kingdom of the time, where a huge city floated entirely in the air above a clear turquoise lake. The Lake Kingdom.

The mages there gladly welcomed them. The sorcery passed down only in the East had enough research value.

White Night, who had set up her own magic tower laboratory in a corner of the Lake Kingdom, devoted herself to inheriting her clan’s research.

The research that her clan’s sorcerers had done to reach the Outer Gods had led to one clue.

The origin of magic.

Originally, humans could not use magic. But someone had brought the flame of magic from another dimension and handed it to humanity.

And the Outer Gods were beings from another dimension……

The process by which magic was first transmitted from another dimension to humanity. If this could be revealed, it would lead to a clue to reach those beings above the constellations.

White Night dedicated her life to research.

……

But before her lifelong research could reach a conclusion, White Night’s lifespan quickly dwindled and disappeared.

She was an excellent sorcerer and mage, but she was born with a weak body. And this was no different for others in her clan.

Before she even reached forty, all of her fellow escapees, including her father, had died, and she was left alone, suffering from various illnesses.

‘Cough!’

White Night coughed up blood and realized that her death was near.

‘Don’t be ridiculous…’

With her dying body, White Night trembled.

‘Can I close my eyes like this…!’

She hadn’t even reached the final stage of her research, let alone reached the Outer Gods. She couldn’t die like this, even if it meant being resentful.

So, White Night decided to touch the forbidden.

‘Lich.’

She decided to become an undead herself.

She would complete her research even as a dead being.

Definitely—someday, definitely. She would uncover the origin of magic and reach the evil of the other dimension.

The magic to resurrect as an undead was difficult to obtain even in the Lake Kingdom.

After casting the Lich resurrection magic that she had barely managed to obtain, White Night swallowed hard.

To use this magic, she had to die once, and she had to die now while she still had the strength to use magic.

In other words… she had to commit suicide.

‘It’s to save this world.’

White Night trembled and placed the tip of her staff, loaded with attack magic, against her temple.

‘To prevent the tragedy of my homeland from repeating, to punish those demonic Outer Gods…!’

White Night closed her eyes tightly and used the loaded magic.

Bang-!

Blood splattered everywhere, and the mage’s body fell forward.

And so, White Night died.

***

A half-rotten skull, with its half-gone eyelids, opened its eyes.

‘Cough…!’

After taking a rough breath and raising her body, White Night realized.

That she no longer needed to breathe.

‘Did I… succeed?’

White Night, barely raising her creaking body, faced a mirror covered in dust.

She saw her own half-rotten corpse.

The Lich resurrection magic took time to resurrect. Even though she had applied anti-decay magic to her body in advance, it seemed to have rotted anyway.

‘How much… time has passed…?’

White Night, checking the hourglass magic she had set up in advance to check the time that had passed after her resurrection, gasped.

‘Ten years have passed…?’

It had taken much longer than she had calculated, but she had managed to escape death.

Clutching her tattered, rotten body, White Night stood at the window of the magic tower and looked down. To see how the streets had changed over the past ten years.

‘……?’

And, she found something strange.

Thud. Thud, thud.

It was raining.

But the color of the rain falling on the windowpane… was strange.

‘What is this?’

White Night looked up at the sky, puzzled.

‘Black… rain?’

No. It wasn’t rain.

White Night’s eyes widened in shock as she looked around.

Swoosh!

From outside the Lake Kingdom, a black wave was pouring in like a tidal wave. The overflowing lake water was engulfing the city.

The day White Night succeeded in resurrecting as a Lich was, coincidentally, the moment the Lake Kingdom was destroyed.

***

Bang! Crash!

The levitation magic that kept the Lake Kingdom floating above the lake stopped all at once.

Immediately after, the entire city-kingdom that had been floating above the lake plunged into the lake. The huge city slowly began to sink.

The barrier surrounding the outskirts of the Lake Kingdom activated, pushing back the overflowing lake water, but it didn’t last long either.

The entire city sank into the lake along with the barrier, and cracks appeared in the barrier in various places as it couldn’t withstand the water pressure, and the lake water began to pour into the city like a flood.

‘Aaaah!’

‘What?! What happened?!’

‘E-Everyone calm down! The royal mages will solve the situation soon…!’

The streets were in chaos.

People were screaming, running away, or trying to reassure those around them, still believing in the power of the royal family and the magic kingdom even in this situation.

But the ending that awaited them was all the same.

Crash!

Streams of black lake water poured down like bombs.

The streams of water that broke through the barrier and fell into the city pushed in from the outer areas of the city to the inner areas in turn.

People caught in the water were swept away into the black water without even being able to scream properly.

And those who were still alive were all desperately running towards the inner city.

The inner city area had its own high-performance barrier. Black water was rising from all sides, but the barrier in the inner city area was still holding up well.

People who had run from the outside were banging hard on the inner city gates.

‘Open it! Hurry!’

‘Can’t you see the water coming from behind?! We’re all going to die!’

‘Please save us, please! Save us…!’

But the security forces at the inner city checkpoint did not open the gates even in this situation. The captain of the guard shouted loudly.

‘Even if the entire Lake Kingdom is submerged, no one who is not authorized can enter the inner city!’

‘You crazy bastards…!’

‘Is authorization the problem now?! Are you still following the hierarchy in this situation!’

‘We’re all going to die like this! Open the door!’

The people who had been banging on the gates could no longer wait and began to climb the inner city walls. Then, the captain of the guard fiercely ordered.

‘Punish those who climb the walls! No matter how much of an emergency it is, we must handle it according to the law! It’s all summary judgment! Summary judgment…!’

But the guards did not have a chance to use the weapons in their hands.

Swoosh!

Because the spray of water reached the outside of the wall before that.

The black wave, carrying a terrifying mass, crashed down, and countless people who had been filling the streets were swept away like sand and disappeared under the black water.

The captain of the guard, who had been frozen while watching this scene, let out a hollow laugh.

‘Ha, those non-citizens, serves them right…’

Crack. Crack, crack.

The smile slowly disappeared from the captain of the guard’s mouth.

The barrier surrounding the inner city area was also slowly cracking.

And, just a few seconds later.

Crash! Crash!

The barrier of the inner city shattered, and the walls surrounding the inner city were also swallowed by the waves.

The inner city, where the royal family and nobles of the Lake Kingdom lived, was also engulfed in black spray in an instant.

The guards, the nobles, the water covered everything without discrimination.

The entire Lake Kingdom was being swept away. Once the last remaining barriers of the inner and outer walls were completely extinguished, the city would be completely submerged.

‘……’

White Night, who had been watching all this from the top floor of the magic tower in a daze, suddenly sensed something and looked up.

There they were.

Completely submerged under the lake, in the black surface of the water that could be seen instead of the sky… those thousands of eyes had opened.

The Outer Gods from another dimension that had watched when White Night’s homeland was destroyed.

And below them-

《The wish has been granted.》

Yes, it was there again this time.

《And this is the price.》

The wish-granting demon that had destroyed White Night’s homeland—the Devil King—with a white smile on its shadow-like body.

It was looking down at the destruction of the Lake Kingdom with satisfaction.

Crunch!

White Night ground her teeth with her exposed jawbone.

‘So… it’s you again…!’

The tragedy of the lower world must be a very enjoyable game for those damned Outer Gods.

White Night trembled and used magic with her creaking body that had just been resurrected.

‘I’m the one who survived that hellfire. I will definitely survive this water hell too.’

White Night poured all her magic power into casting a protective magic on the magic tower.

The pouring waves crashed against the magic tower. The tower shook violently, the protective magic was peeled off, bricks were broken, and the glass windows were shattered.

Water poured into the tower. Countless water droplets splashed on the resurrected Lich’s decayed skin.

But White Night gritted her teeth and repaired the magic tower. The magic tower barely held on, as if it would collapse but didn’t.

In the black lake water that was endlessly pouring and filling the surroundings, White Night roared.

‘And I will definitely reach the same height as you…!’