I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 530

Clank! Clatter, clunk!

The magic rifle [Black Queen] began to transform on its own, shifting into its usual long railgun form.

Seven magic bullets combined into one, then loaded into the ammunition slot.

“Sniping-!”

Flash-!

With Damian’s shout, the shot was fired with a flash of light.

It was a deadly strike from Damian, our side’s strongest sniper.

The magic bullet, flying like a beam of light, tore through the deep forest and successfully pierced the core of the Elder Tree, which was spreading its curse from the deepest part.

Keeik… Keeeeeik…

The Elder Tree collapsed with a sound of air escaping, and immediately after, the trees that had been fiercely swinging their branches and roots towards the forward base also slowly stopped moving, as if by a lie.

Having lost the commander’s orders, the trees one by one planted their roots into the ground and stood still in place.

Like ordinary trees. Just standing still.

Swoosh…

As the wind blew from afar, the burnt leaves scattered on the ground like fallen leaves.

Everyone looked bewildered at the burnt forest that had suddenly been erected densely in front of the forward base.

“Good work, Damian!”

At my praise, Damian, who had rolled backward from firing such a powerful shot, just raised his thumb from over there.

I’d like to help him up and take care of him, but… I don’t have time for that right now!

“Those who can move, follow me!”

I shouted, quickly mounting my horse.

“We have to save the Sky Knights! Hurry!”

***

Forest. Center.

Mikhail, who had been rescued, was in a terrible state.

His whole body was torn and bloody from the tree vines, and his magical rapier, which was said to be a national treasure, was shattered.

It was because he had overloaded his magic power to reveal his location with a magical light at the end, causing his weapon to break on its own.

However, Mikhail was not concerned about his physical injuries or the destruction of his weapon.

“…Ughhhhh.”

The Sky Knights.

The knights who were like his brothers, and the griffons, had all met their deaths here without exception.

Because of his own mistake.

“Ughhhhh! Ughhhhhhhhh!”

In front of the horribly lined-up corpses, Mikhail let out a scream, his whole body covered in blood.

It was a terrible scream, as if scraping the bottom of hell.

“……”

For the past three months, Mikhail had been walking a tightrope in the sky.

Despite having the negative traits of ‘recklessness’ and ‘being full of mistakes,’ and despite his young age where his skills had not yet fully blossomed, he had fought admirably.

But today, he slipped on that tightrope.

And this was the price.

“Mikhail……”

“Ughhhhh! Ughhhhhhhhh!”

I didn’t know how to comfort Mikhail, who was collapsed on the ground and shedding tears of blood, so I just watched him silently, then bit my lip and turned my head.

“…Collect the bodies. And heal Mikhail’s injuries.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Lukas answered with a bitter face and then walked towards the bodies of the Sky Knights who had fallen all over the forest.

The strongest knights in the northwest of the continent and the rulers of the sky had been annihilated here, and their commander, Mikhail, had suffered severe injuries to his body and his heart had been shattered.

In fact, it would be difficult for him to fight any further on this front.

‘It’s painful.’

I closed my eyes tightly as I watched the bodies of the knights being carried away wrapped in white cloth.

‘It hurts……’

***

We barely won, but the damage was enormous.

The strongest aerial cavalry, the 20 Sky Knights, four parties, were completely annihilated.

This is an irreparable loss. Even if we operate an air fleet in the future, the monster front will never be able to secure this much air superiority again.

The problem was that the damage didn’t end there.

“The temple facilities are insufficient, Your Highness.”

Priest Zenith reported with a face stained with sweat and blood. This priest hadn’t shaved for a long time, and his beard was thick.

“The number of injured is exploding. The temple facilities have already reached their limit.”

“…Didn’t we expand the hospital beds recently?”

“It’s nowhere near enough. The temple cannot keep up with the rate at which the injured are increasing. Today’s battle has completely sealed the deal.”

The temple, which had been barely maintained, had finally reached its end point due to the hundreds of casualties in today’s battle.

“Not only the hospital beds, but also the medical equipment, and the number of priests, are all depleted. We cannot hold out like this.”

“……”

More is needed.

Supplies are being transported from all over the world, so it’s possible to make some adjustments, but in the end, the absolute number of medical personnel – more priests – is needed.

Even injuries that can be healed, and lives that can be saved, are in a precarious situation due to the lack of medical personnel.

“Priests are voluntarily coming from all over the world, but it’s not enough. We need more systematic and trained professional healing priests.”

Zenith’s words were clear. I nodded.

“I already applied for the dispatch of priests to the central order of the Imperial Capital.”

I had applied several months ago.

The problem was that they also had their own procedures, so the dispatch was taking longer than expected. The distance from the Imperial Capital to Crossroads was quite far as well.

‘Even so, the Emperor is my backer……’

Why is there no news? My lips were parched with anxiety.

The monster front was in a more precarious state than I had thought.

The monsters were becoming more terrifying and powerful, and above all, the frequency of attacks was increasing.

The soldiers’ fatigue was skyrocketing, and the injured were pouring in.

If the temple cannot properly heal the injured in this situation, the return to the front lines will be delayed, and as the return of the injured soldiers is delayed, the burden on the front-line troops will increase.

The vicious cycle had already begun. If we make one more mistake here, it’s only a matter of time before the tower we’ve painstakingly built collapses.

‘We need to somehow secure more medical personnel……’

Where can I get them from?

As I rubbed my aching forehead with my hand,

“Senior!”

Evangeline, who had rushed over, reported urgently.

“Priests have come from the Imperial Capital!”

“What?”

“They have a lot of luggage and there are a lot of them! Come out quickly!”

Zenith and I looked at each other with surprised faces.

Speak of the devil, and here they are! I couldn’t believe that additional priests would arrive right now!

When we ran to the north gate, we saw a group of priests entering Crossroads.

They were all priests wearing black uniforms with ascetic designs, and their bodies inside the clothes were all muscular, clearly showing that they were very well-trained.

It was like seeing a well-honed blade in a good sheath.

There were no decorations on the black priest’s robes. They each only had a rosary wrapped around their hands and arms……

I was taken aback by their appearance, which was quite different from the priests I had seen so far, when the one who seemed to be the representative of the priests came and stood in front of me and greeted me calmly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Prince Ash.”

She was a middle-aged woman with faded blonde hair that was turning white in places. Her round glasses had silver frames, which added an even colder light to her already cold face.

She had an intellectual face, as if she had worked in an office her whole life, but for some reason.

It felt like I could smell blood from her.

She made the sign of the cross and introduced herself.

“I am Rosetta, an Inquisitor of the 1st Holy Knight Order of the Central Order of the Goddess Church.”

Inquisitor?

She had an intellectual impression, so I didn’t think she was a shoulder of the order. I crossed my arms in front of her.

“You’re a little late from the date I requested the dispatch of priests to the order, Rosetta.”

“We had some internal matters to deal with in our order, so it turned out like this.”

“If it’s a request from Fernandes, you immediately carry out espionage, but is it okay to answer my request this late?”

For the past few years, the order had been loyal to Fernandes, acting as the eyes and ears of the dark side and reporting information from all over the continent.

But the answer to my request for the dispatch of priests had taken this long.

I was being deliberately difficult, but Rosetta let out a low sigh.

“It was because of that very Fernandes… Your Highness, that we were late.”

“What?”

“It took time to purge the cancerous forces within our order that he had planted.”

A faint smile, as if a drop of blood would fall, formed on Rosetta’s lips.

“Our clergy, who should be the purest before God, are cooperating and taking the lead in the power struggles and squabbles of the outside world. How impure is this.”

“……So?”

“In time with the fall of Fernandes, a wind of self-purification blew within our order.”

Rosetta tapped her waist.

“We have brought down the hammer of justice on the foolish leaders who pursued power rather than the goddess, and bundles of banknotes rather than the scriptures.”

There, was a steel whip.

A long piece of iron, undoubtedly well-tamed with human blood and oil, was neatly folded and held.

I swallowed hard.

Wait a minute, come to think of it, what was the affiliation of these priests……?

The 1st Holy Knight Order?

‘Holy shit… They’re the biggest hardliners in the Goddess Church!’

They were fanatics who devoted their entire lives to upholding the words of God, and martyrs who fought directly on the front lines. They were extremely pure individuals who lived only according to the principles and rules of the order.

Goddess Church fundamentalists – that was the 1st Holy Knight Order.

“There has been a major internal reshuffle and reorganization of the order’s leadership. Therefore, we were late in responding to various requests, but I hope you understand that we did not consider political importance.”

“…May I ask how the reorganization ended?”

“All the corrupt clergy have been expelled. They received appropriate punishment according to their sins.”

Rosetta put her hands together in front of her chest.

“Now, the central order, and the Goddess Church, will be able to live for the sake of the world, as befits their original purpose.”

“…So, to put it simply, you guys took over the central order?”

Rosetta looked at me intently, and then nodded.

“I have no intention of being polite. That’s exactly what it is.”

Originally, the central order of the Goddess Church was tightly controlled by the clergy who had connections with Fernandes.

However, these fundamentalists and inquisitors of the Holy Knight Order had been constantly dissatisfied with their pursuit of power and money.

And when Fernandes disappeared after his showdown with me, and his forces collapsed.

The existing leaders of the order, who had become like kites with broken strings… were attacked by the Holy Knight Order.

Whether the method was a rational procedure through the doctrines of the order, or the barbaric violence that they were best at.

The Holy Knight Order was the final victor in the internal political battle of the order.

And the leader of this new power is the woman in front of me. Rosetta.

‘The first thing she does after becoming the top power in the Goddess Church is to be dispatched directly to the front lines?’

What kind of crazy person is this……!

‘I did want even one more priest to be dispatched as quickly as possible, but why did these psycho, violent fanatics have to come!’

Above all, there’s no way that a group that so extremely reveres the Goddess Church can get along well with other forces.

The Goddess Church basically stands for humans, especially the people of the Empire.

I don’t know what the original text was like, but the currently established form is like that.

Even so, the existing leaders of the order were quite lenient in this regard, as they were greedy for money and power, so they had spread throughout the world by implementing a conciliatory policy.

But these Holy Knight Order are the most hardline of the hardliners. It was obvious that there would be conflicts with other races, as well as with people from other countries who believed in other gods.

I was screaming inwardly as I could clearly see the future, when Rosetta slightly bowed her head to me.

“Then, I’ll excuse myself. I heard there are many injured in the temple, so I will go and perform healing duties right away.”

“Ah, yes. You must be tired from the long journey, but please do.”

“Yes. We will talk again.”

Rosetta and the new priests disappeared towards the temple with disciplined steps.

“Aigoo……”

I didn’t know whether to be worried about the addition of a troublemaker, or to be happy that they would be helpful in dealing with the rapidly increasing number of injured, so I grabbed my head in confusion.

“……?”

I saw Zenith, who had run away at some point, crouching and hiding in the shadows of the alley over there.

“Zenith? What are you doing there?”

This old man was crouching and trembling, which didn’t suit him. What’s wrong with him?

Then, Zenith quickly turned his head to look around, and only after confirming that Rosetta and the Holy Knight Order had disappeared, he muttered in a voice that could barely be heard.

“…She’s my sister.”

“Huh?”

“Rosetta! She’s my stepsister! And, and!”

Zenith pointed to his neck with a pale face.

“She wants to kill me!”

“……”

I grabbed my forehead, which was hurting even more.

Hey, Mr. Zenith! Stop talking nonsense and go eat… no, go to work! It’s already tough enough, right now!