I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 558

Standing on the ramparts, Ash looked down with cold eyes.

He saw the enemy commander rushing towards the wall alone.

“…….”

A faint sigh escaped from Ash’s lips as he crossed his arms.

In truth, Ash hadn’t chosen a delaying tactic.

‘There was no other option but a delaying tactic.’

No matter what other method he chose, the damage would have been greater than with a delaying tactic.

The Fallen Knights, like the vampire legion they encountered in the first year, were a monster army that benefited from battle.

When a battle occurred, the human side suffered casualties, while the Fallen Knights replenished their supplies.

The same was true in the game. When a battle broke out, it only served to fill the Fallen Knights’ hunger gauge.

In the game, there was no way to avoid battle, so they had to fight a short, decisive battle out of necessity.

Even with such a short, decisive battle, the damage snowballed.

But this was reality.

As soon as Ash encountered the Fallen Knights, he switched his tactics to a delaying strategy.

‘If we just stall for time without fighting, they’ll destroy themselves due to the curse of hunger.’

Avoiding a fight was the best option.

In the end, the battle against the Fallen Knights came down to ‘how long they could stall without engaging in combat’.

And, as a result.

All the Fallen Knights, except for the legion commander Pendragon, ended up devouring each other and were annihilated.

Clatter, clatter, clatter-!

And now, the last Fallen Knight was rushing towards the ramparts.

Ash’s eyes, staring at the enemy commander, shone coldly.

***

Clatter, clatter, clatter-!

Pendragon galloped, leading the corpse horse.

Towards the enemy’s ramparts, standing firm before him.

He didn’t know his chances of victory. He didn’t have the mind to calculate how many enemies there were, or how much longer he could fight.

He was just hungry.

He felt like he was going crazy from hunger.

‘……No.’

Was this really, truly hunger?

What exactly was he feeling hunger for?

What was it that he had lost, that he had been searching for by rummaging through the corpses of others?

《……Ha.》

A hollow laugh escaped Pendragon’s lips.

He had already come too far to look back and ponder such things.

He just wanted to eat, chew, and tear apart. He just wanted to fight, die, and kill.

How long had he been galloping while repeating those thoughts?

Now that the ramparts were quite close.

《Hmm?》

A familiar sense of déjà vu washed over Pendragon. He looked ahead, his eyes wide with confusion.

From the ramparts, there was no interception.

Just like at the forward base on the first day of the advance… they weren’t attacking.

《……What is this.》

Pendragon muttered in a daze, bewildered.

At that time, there were no enemy forces at the forward base. They had all fled and escaped long ago. So, it was natural that there was no interception.

But now, there was definitely an enemy city—the Inse—beyond this point.

Soldiers, fully armed, were standing densely on the ramparts.

Yet, the air was eerily silent.

It was as if they didn’t care whether Pendragon charged in or not, utterly silent.

《Why aren’t you intercepting me?》

The Fallen King gritted his teeth.

《Why aren’t you trying to kill me!》

Even as the monster shouted, the humans did not answer.

They just stared coldly.

Pendragon was genuinely perplexed.

He was used to fearful gazes. The curses and insults of those who were about to die were like seasoning on meat. And resentful gazes were even sweet, like dessert.

But what about the gazes the humans on the ramparts were sending now?

They were indifferent.

As if he was not a threat at all, or rather…

As if he wasn’t even worth their time.

《Why-!》

Pendragon roared.

He was already within the range of the artillery on the ramparts.

But the human soldiers just stared at Pendragon, without any reaction.

《Hurry up and fire cannons at me, shoot arrows and bullets! Struggle to stop me!》

“…….”

《Give me war! Give me a battlefield! Give me life! To me! Hurry-!》

Pendragon shouted and charged towards the ramparts.

《I’ll let you kill me, so let me kill you too-!》

And then.

“No.”

A cold reply came from the ramparts.

“I will not fight you.”

Pendragon looked up sharply and saw Ash standing there expressionlessly.

“I will not exchange even a single blow with you.”

《What…….》

Anger flashed in Pendragon’s eyes, which had been bewildered.

《Fine, then I’ll just bite you apart by force!》

The ramparts were already within reach.

Pendragon was ready to kick off from his horse. He planned to leap up, plunge the man-eating sword Excarnival into the ramparts, and climb up in one go.

However.

“That’s far enough.”

Ash lightly waved his hand, and,

Crack-!

The sound of magic activation was heard.

A halo appeared in the air, and the space shattered—and the magic power in Pendragon’s entire body evaporated.

《This is……!》

[Elemental Disassembly].

It was the ultimate skill used by the mage, Junior, who was standing next to Ash.

Thud, thud, thud!

The corpse horse, which had been moving by forcibly stitching together corpses with magic power, shattered into pieces. Pendragon, who had fallen off his horse, quickly regained his balance and continued to charge towards the ramparts without any concern.

“If you had subordinates, it might be different, but if it’s just you alone.”

Ash looked down at Pendragon as if he were an insect and spat out coldly.

“There’s no need to fight.”

《……?!》

“Fallen King Pendragon.”

Ash smirked and asked.

“Are you hungry?”

《What?》

“Of course, you’re hungry. You Fallen Knights are always hungry, no, craving human flesh, you brain-damaged bastards.”

Kiiing-

Making eye contact with Pendragon, Ash prepared [Commanding Eye].

“Then eat the meat that’s there.”

What Ash pointed to with his hand was,

“Isn’t it there? The human flesh you enjoy eating.”

It was Pendragon himself.

《……?!》

As Pendragon slowly realized the meaning of those words, Ash mercilessly used [Commanding Eye],

“Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack commands you-”

He commanded.

“-Eat yourself, monster.”

Kiiing!

A blue flash flickered, and [Commanding Eye] succeeded in its judgment.

[Elemental Disassembly] reduced the opponent’s magic power to a negative value, and then he linked it with [Commanding Eye], a type of mind control.

This combination had never failed before, and it worked perfectly this time as well.

And Pendragon, who was the target, had no choice but to obey the command Ash had given.

Thud!

Right in front of the ramparts, Pendragon stopped,

《Ugh, krrk……?!》

He raised his trembling hand.

And,

Crunch!

He opened his mouth wide and bit into his own hand.

From the Fallen King’s fingers to the back of his hand, it was swallowed in one go.

Blood and flesh splattered, creating a grotesque scene. The soldiers couldn’t bear to watch any longer and turned their eyes away, but Ash stared at the scene without blinking.

《Krr, kkeueuk, kkeueuk…….》

While feeling terrible pain, Pendragon also realized at the same time.

It’s delicious.

It’s delicious.

How could something so delicious have been so close…….

The curse of hunger, which he had suppressed for so long after being left alone, instantly dominated Pendragon’s thoughts. Pendragon began to devour his own body as if he were possessed.

Crunch, crunch, crunch…….

“…….”

Looking down at the gruesome sight, Ash suddenly thought.

There was a story in Greek mythology about a man named Erysichthon. [A king punished by the gods with insatiable hunger.]

Punished for insulting a god, he was afflicted with a hunger disease, and after squandering all his wealth eating and eating…….

In the end, he even chewed up his own body, leaving only his clicking teeth. Such an old tale.

[Commanding Eye] quickly lost its effect, and [Elemental Disassembly] also evaporated and disappeared.

At this point, if Pendragon had stopped self-harm, he would have only suffered minor injuries to his arm.

But Pendragon, already driven mad by his craving for human flesh, continued to tear apart his own body.

“If you craved the flesh of others, you should have been prepared to lose your own flesh as well.”

Ash quietly muttered.

“I hope you enjoy your last supper, monster.”

How much time had passed?

Pendragon stopped only after eating all the flesh within reach of his teeth. He was no longer able to maintain even a human form.

《……So this is how it felt.》

Lying on the field in front of the ramparts.

Pendragon laughed hollowly, his mouth stained red with blood, whether it was swallowed or spat out.

《So this is how those who were torn apart by me felt.》

“…….”

《It’s strange, it’s strange, it’s truly strange…….》

Pendragon murmured in a daze in the sea of blood he had swallowed and spilled.

《No matter how much I’m torn apart, it keeps hurting… no matter how much I eat, I’m still hungry…….》

“…….”

《Come here, all of you. Together…….》

The Fallen King’s tainted voice slowly faded away.

《Let’s all sit down together… and have dinner…….》

Pendragon could no longer make a sound.

The end of the monsters who had loudly proclaimed that they would destroy the world was all futile and pathetic, and Pendragon was no exception.

“……Hoo.”

Ash, who had been looking down at the dead enemy commander for a long time, raised his hand and waved it.

“Situation over. Dismiss the soldiers.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Dispose of the enemy’s corpses according to the monster disposal manual. Burn them without leaving a single speck, and recover anything useful. ……And.”

Ash’s hand on the ramparts tightened.

“Dispatch a party to the 8th District Chapel of the Lake Kingdom.”

“…….”

“To recover the bodies of the six who died first. So that we can hold a funeral.”

“Understood.”

Lukas bowed his head.

“I will follow your command, my lord.”

***

《…….》

Imp Legion Commander Low was reading the report of this attack.

《To think that they defeated the Fallen Knights without even fighting once.》

The little devil’s eyes were more serious than ever.

《No, rather the opposite. Because it would be disadvantageous if a battle occurred, they avoided battle by all means…….》

Thud.

Low closed the report and stroked his chin with his small hand.

《……And they knew the fatal weakness of the Fallen Knights in advance.》

The fact that the Fallen Knights suffered from this curse of hunger was a fact that even the other monsters in this Lake Kingdom did not know.

But Ash acted as if he naturally knew this weakness… and formulated his tactics based on the curse the Fallen Knights possessed.

If he hadn’t known about this curse, Ash would have set up a defensive line at the forward base as he had done before, and then the Fallen Knights would have been able to move north without any problems with supplies.

The most important element of war. Information.

In this information, Ash was overwhelmingly ahead.

Looking at the battle records so far, it was clear that he had grasped all the strengths and weaknesses of every monster legion.

‘At this rate, it doesn’t matter which legion we send next.’

The guardian of Inse would break down the strengths of the monsters and amplify their weaknesses, and would surely defeat them no matter what.

So far, the guardian of Inse had never allowed a monster to pass beyond that front line.

Continuing in the same way would only lead to repeated failures. Low realized that fact after three attempts.

《So, what are you going to do next?》

The adjutant, who had been peeking from the side, tilted his head and asked. Low took a breath and exhaled.

《We just need to hide our weaknesses and amplify our strengths.》

《How?》

《It’s simple.》

Low snatched the royal scepter that was next to his desk. And, he grinned.

《We’ll send out two legions at once!》