I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 572

This historical record, which Serenade had gathered from nearby cities, was said to belong to the nomadic tribes of the western desert region.

The cover was tattered to the point where even the title was unreadable, and it was difficult to determine the exact year.

Moreover, when I opened it, there were lines of completely incomprehensible language written all over it… Seriously, how am I supposed to read this?

At that moment, Diermuid stepped forward, clearing his throat.

“I have a knack for deciphering ancient languages. In fact, I read it first. There are definitely mentions of the Fly King.”

As expected of the Ivory Tower Master! He’s incredibly helpful in times like these.

So, the contents of the historical record that Diermuid deciphered were as follows:

『…A giant fly suddenly appeared from beyond the eastern sea and devoured everything, and the people named it the Fly King.

On the eastern coast, the Sea Dragon and the Kings of the Sea joined forces to resist, but they all became food for the Fly King.

Its tyranny was so brutal that even the Black Dragon and the Red Dragon, who were in the midst of a great war, temporarily stopped fighting and responded together.

The Fly King was a being born from the combination of countless flies, and it could be said that it was an empire in itself.

The flies awakened to wisdom and became smarter and stronger with each generation, and the Fly King, a collection of these flies, seemed to be an invincible being that no one in the world could stop.

Lines of refugees formed, and wails filled the sky.

Countless countries were destroyed, and countless races were devoured. Even the Black Dragon and the Red Dragon could not dare to stop the Fly King.

However, not long after, the situation changed drastically, as the Fly King split and began to fight each other.

According to the historian’s guess, the problem was that all the flies had become too intelligent over the generations.

The flies that made up the empire of the Fly King each harbored their own ambitions and revolted, reaching a point where they killed each other to take over the empire.

The flies rebelled against each other, established new forces, and the Fly King’s body and its forces were divided into several parts, fighting and killing each other repeatedly, and soon its power greatly diminished.

In the gap where the fly empire was divided and weakened, the Black Dragon and the Red Dragon struck them and wiped them out. It was on the day exactly one year after the Fly King appeared.

Therefore, the historian argues:

Those who would be emperors must be generous to their vassals and love their people, but if they are too generous, the vassals will surely become arrogant, and if they love them too much, the people will surely harbor other thoughts.

The Fly King shared everything with its vassals and generously bestowed wisdom upon its people, and this was the Fly King’s mistake.

Those who seek to rule an empire must strictly establish hierarchy, be wary of their vassals, and not give the people more wisdom than they need…』

“…The conclusion is a bit strange.”

Let’s ignore the historian’s afterthought, which was like an unnecessary comment.

Anyway, if the contents of this historical record are true, then the Fly King wasn’t defeated by someone because of a specific weakness…

“It’s closer to self-destruction from fighting among themselves.”

“That’s right.”

Diermuid nodded.

“The flies that became too highly intelligent developed self-awareness and rebelled against the existing system, eventually splitting and fighting each other, leading to their weakening and extinction…”

It suddenly occurred to me that they were similar to typhoons.

They suddenly appear, sweep through the world as they please, and then gradually weaken and disappear naturally…

Diermuid stroked his beard and clicked his tongue.

“The irony of history is that the low-intelligence fly monsters that didn’t evolve properly at that time survived and have maintained their lineage until now.”

Seriously, even this old wizard is making his own comments…

‘Anyway, this is very useful information.’

It was information that gave me confidence in the strategy idea I had thought of after hearing the hint from Dusk Bringer.

‘When the world has been divided for a long time, it must unite, and when it has been united for a long time, it must divide (天下大勢 分久必合 合久必分) [a Chinese proverb about the cyclical nature of unity and division].’

Like the famous first sentence of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the reason why most empires collapse is ultimately due to the division caused by those with their own desires.

Just like the Fly King self-destructed in history, if we can divide them like that, we should be able to defeat them.

The problem is, how to execute it…

‘In history, it took a year for them to evolve that intelligently.’

We don’t have the luxury of waiting a year. We have three days left… no, now it’s just a day and a half.

We need to forcibly accelerate their evolution within this short time.

If only there was a way…

‘What about my mind control skills?’

[Commanding Eye] is a skill that forces ‘actions’.

Something like ‘become smarter’ is not only impossible, but even if it were possible, it would be too difficult a command and likely to fail.

[Become Mine!] can only be used on one target per stage, and it would be great if it could be applied to the entire Fly King… but

In the first place, it’s a collection of countless flies. It won’t be easy to control. Even if I could make one fly mine, there’s nothing I could do with it…

“…”

Suddenly, one method came to mind.

A way to not only forcibly evolve them but also achieve the goal of ‘division’ without evolving them to that level.

However, I wasn’t sure if this method would work as I intended. In fact, there was a higher probability that it would deviate from my intentions.

That’s when I was continuing to ponder.

“Your Highness!”

A voice calling me urgently was heard. I quickly looked in that direction.

The soldier who had been delivering only bad news to me since yesterday was running towards me again, panting. Seriously, is it you again?

“What’s wrong!”

“The, the second defense line that was under urgent construction…”

The soldier, who had run breathlessly, barely caught his breath and then blurted out urgently.

“They say the Fly King is approaching at high speed!”

“What?”

I was so flustered that I uttered a dumbfounded sound.

The second defense line was a defense line that was being urgently built two days away from the Black Lake to Crossroads. Is he already reaching there?

“He was supposed to arrive there tomorrow morning…?!!”

“Th, that is… they say the Fly King suddenly increased its speed tremendously and is rushing in…!”

“Damn it!”

The plan for the second defense line was to use Junior’s [Elemental Disassembly] to break down the Fly King’s magic defense, and then all the mages belonging to the World Guardian Front would simultaneously fire magic.

“What’s the current situation?”

“The mages on the scene have all begun casting! They say they will respond soon!”

“This is bad… !”

Thud!

Before I could even move, Diermuid, with his beard flying, rushed out first.

I handed the historical record to Serenade, and after giving her a quick squeeze of the hand without even properly thanking her,

I followed Diermuid and ran to the teleport gate.

***

Temporary second defense line.

Here, where construction was being rushed, a crude outer wall was being built as a cover.

Since it was a matter of life and death, all the workers from Crossroads were mobilized, and of course, the golemancer Candler, who could use golems for large-scale construction, was also building the outer wall.

Thump, thud…

While building the outer wall using golems, Candler glanced inside the wall.

Most of the combat mages from Crossroads were gathered, drawing magic circles and preparing to use magic.

Those who weren’t here had all gone to search for historical records, and they were all scheduled to gather when the Fly King was about to arrive.

‘To think that this many mages have gathered…’

The black mage Chain, who was standing in a corner with a rotten expression, was also visible.

Chain, who was muttering something, made a hand out of dark magic and waved it when he made eye contact with Candler, and Candler chuckled.

“…”

If he hadn’t retired, would he have been standing there as a combatant?

He didn’t know. Candler shook his head to get rid of the pointless delusion and focused on the outer wall construction. There was no time to rest as the outer wall had to be built by tomorrow morning.

That’s when it happened.

Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!

A soldier on horseback came running from the south with a face covered in cold sweat and shouted urgently.

“Alert-! The Fly King is approaching rapidly from the south!”

“Eh…”

“What did you say?”

“No way, it was expected to be dawn tomorrow…”

Among the mages who were panicking and murmuring, Junior quickly cast her magic and asked.

“When will it arrive?!”

“It’s incredibly fast! Probably within 10 minutes…!”

“Tch…”

Junior clicked her tongue and looked around, giving orders.

“All the workers, return to Crossroads! All mages, cast attack magic! Let’s do as we prepared!”

“But, the other mages haven’t all arrived yet…!”

“We still have to stop it here!”

Anyway, Junior, who could be said to be the main force of this operation, was here.

Junior began casting [Elemental Disassembly], and the mages hurriedly stood on the magic circles and began preparing for joint magic.

The workers hesitated about what to do, but soon, one by one, they looked at the southern sky, screamed, and began running towards the teleport gate.

Candler also looked in that direction. And his mouth fell open.

Boooooooom…!

In the distant southern sky.

A black shape seemed to shimmer, and then it approached with terrifying speed, cutting through the clouds every moment.

“…”

Candler stared blankly at the being with trembling eyes.

It resembled a fly, but could it really be called a fly?

It had a huge, infinite-shaped wing made of countless fly monsters, spread out long to the left and right, and hundreds of legs dangling down…

It was spewing out countless flies that made up its body, completely devastating the mountains, rivers, and trees.

The monster was approaching with terrifying speed.

‘I, I have to run… I have to run…’

Candler thought, but his trembling legs wouldn’t listen.

The nightmare of the Gorgon sisters flashed through his mind. The monster that had rushed towards him then – Stheno – and the Fly King overlapped.

“Hee, heee, heeeeeeek!”

Candler couldn’t run to the teleport gate and ended up hiding behind the outer wall. And he curled up, covering his head with his arms, and trembled.

Boooooooom…!

The Fly King’s heavy roar shook the area.

The area was in chaos. Workers were fleeing to Crossroads through the teleport gate, and conversely, mages were running out of the gate from Crossroads…

And the pouring swarm of flies.

An enormous number of flies, darkening the sky, poured down on the second defense line like a rainstorm.

“Hoo… !”

But Junior didn’t waver.

Click, click, clack-!

The [Rod of Crimson] in her hand transformed on its own, scattering crimson magical light in all directions.

“I’ve been waiting for you, you fly bastard.”

Hundreds of meters south of the second defense line.

Junior had drawn a magic circle on the ground in advance.

It was a super-large [Elemental Disassembly] magic circle.

She had taken this magic from the Vampire King and established it as her own, further enhancing its range and effect through the magic circle.

“It’s inferior to the airships in terms of mobility and defense, but…”

The moment the Fly King reached the sky above the magic circle.

Junior shouted and stretched her staff forward.

“Our mages have the strongest firepower in humanity-!”

Crack-!

A dazzling white halo was drawn in the air, and then, in the next moment, cracks appeared in the space, creating fissures.

[Elemental Disassembly] struck the Fly King’s entire body.

At that moment, even the mighty Fly King was taken aback.

The monster’s huge body flinched and quickly reduced its speed. Junior raised her staff towards the Fly King and shouted.

“Everyone, cast joint magic-!”

The mages, who were in circles by attribute, resonated with each other, gathered their magic power, and then raised their staffs together, aiming at the Fly King.

Junior screamed.

“Wipe them out-!”

Kwaaaaaaaah!

Fierce flames that seemed to swallow the world, a high tidal wave with no end in sight, a landslide that seemed to turn the world upside down, a tornado that seemed to tear the sky, and lightning as dazzling as the primordial flash…

All poured down on the Fly King at once.