I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 574

The two versions of Baekya were both dead.

The Magic Tower Lord Baekya died when the Magic Tower collapsed, and the Jiangshi Baekya [a reanimated corpse] died during the party operation.

They died physically in that way. That’s how I was able to acquire the twin magic cores.

However, the consciousness of the Magic Tower Lord Baekya was transferred to this device when the Magic Tower collapsed, and later, it was forcibly swapped with the consciousness of the Jiangshi Baekya.

It’s confusing… Anyway, what’s contained in this device now is the duplicated and confined consciousness of Baekya.

I had considered destroying the device itself, but I kept it just in case… I never thought the situation would come where I’d actually need to use it.

‘How is your purgatory life, can you endure it?’

As I asked mockingly, Baekya trembled and looked around.

《How long has it been since you imprisoned me here?》

‘Well, about half a year?’

《What?! D-Don’t be ridiculous, only half a year…?! My consciousness has been trapped for almost countless eons…!》

Does time flow slowly in the darkness of that switched-off device? Or does time even flow at all?

There was no way I could understand the experience of a data consciousness inside the device, but anyway, it seemed that living in there wasn’t very pleasant. This was good information for me.

Because I needed to threaten this data mass lich from now on.

‘Baekya. I’ll get straight to the point.’

I spoke coldly, clasping my hands together.

‘Do you want to stay trapped there, or… do you want to get a new body?’

《…….》

‘I won’t ask twice. Decide now.’

I could feel the skull-shaped data mass being bewildered. The stammering lich barely managed to ask back.

《If I refuse?》

‘I’ll turn the switch off again. You can continue your contemplation in that darkness, just like you’ve been doing.’

Baekya, who was trembling, eventually muttered softly.

《…Give it to me.》

‘Huh?’

《Give me a body…! Please, I beg you… Don’t keep me trapped in this nothingness…!》

Facing the begging Baekya, I grinned.

‘Good. You’ve agreed?’

I took the device containing Baekya and left my office.

‘Then, shall we go see your new body?’

The place we headed to was the backyard of the lord’s mansion.

Here, I had prepared Baekya’s new ‘body’.

I took Baekya’s device to the front of the ‘body’ that was lying neatly on a white blanket in the backyard, then turned the screen to show it to Baekya.

‘Here it is.’

《…What?》

Baekya was visibly flustered, then asked me urgently.

《Wait, are you kidding me?》

‘No. I’m not kidding.’

《D-Don’t be ridiculous. You’re telling me to…》

Baekya let out a scream filled with rage.

《To go into a fly’s body?!》

That’s right.

What was in front of me now was the most intact of the enemy corpses I had collected during the battles.

A fly about the size of a large dog.

‘Why? It’s possible, isn’t it?’

I sneered.

‘You’re a Jiangshi master. A lich. A mage who can transfer consciousness into an undead body. This fly is also a corpse, and all you have to do is turn it into a Jiangshi with your magic and then transfer your consciousness.’

《It’s not a matter of whether it’s possible or not!》

Baekya was trembling.

《Don’t be ridiculous, don’t be ridiculous…! I’m Baekya. The Great Magic Emperor! How can I… in this… filthy insect’s body…》

‘Then go back into that abyss of darkness.’

As I placed my hand on the switch of the device, Baekya shouted urgently.

《W-Wait! Just wait a moment! Please, not that!》

I clicked my tongue and glared at Baekya.

‘Listen, Baekya. Don’t try to negotiate with me. You’re in a position where you can’t choose options in the first place.’

《…….》

‘Choose. Do you want to be in reality, even in a fly’s body? Or do you want to continue to be… stuck in that darkness?’

Baekya, who was shuddering, stammered and asked me.

《Explain… What do you want me to do, that you’re trying to put me in this fly’s body?》

I smiled. He’s completely fallen for it.

I could say that the first stage of my plan was achieved.

***

To put Baekya’s consciousness into the fly’s body, I started the process of turning the fly’s corpse into a Jiangshi. [a reanimated corpse]

While our mages were preparing according to Baekya’s instructions, Diarmuid, who had belatedly joined as the leader of the mages, called me with a pale face.

‘Prince Ash. There’s something you need to see right away.’

‘Yes?’

‘Enough talk, this way. Quickly.’

Diarmuid took the lead and ran to the teleport gate, then quickly threw himself inside. I followed him.

The place we arrived at was the Scout Tower.

It was a spire built on a mountain far from the monster invasion route, and it was being constructed to grasp the overall state of the enemy invasion.

The original reconnaissance base had collapsed during the previous defense battle, so we were moving to this one… but it wasn’t fully completed yet, so it wasn’t functioning properly.

Anyway, why here?

‘I wanted to see the Fly King from even a little closer, so I observed from here…’

Diarmuid handed me a telescope.

‘See for yourself.’

‘……?’

I put my eye to the telescope.

Far away in the distant sky, the Fly King was stationary. In a posture like a meditating Buddha, with his legs crossed, he was floating above the mountains and fields where the dark night was approaching.

‘I see the Fly King, but what…’

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

Blink.

From the side of the Fly King’s large abdomen, a faint magical light suddenly flickered.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

Yellow, light green, and blue.

The three colors of magical light were flashing at regular intervals.

Am I seeing things?

I rubbed my eyes and looked through the telescope again.

But it wasn’t an illusion. It was definitely a real, shining magical light.

‘That light… could it be, a signal?’

It was clearly an artificial signal, no matter how you looked at it.

Diarmuid explained to me, who was bewildered.

‘It’s the type of light that mages leave in their workshops. They leave a mark with their main magic element.’

‘……!’

‘And those three colors… there’s only one mage on this front line who handles all three attributes of lightning, wind, and water.’

I lowered the telescope and looked sharply at Diarmuid.

‘…Junior.’

Diarmuid nodded calmly. I couldn’t believe it, so I mumbled blankly.

‘Are you saying that Junior is alive?’

***

‘Hmm~’

Junior stretched out languidly in her swimsuit.

It was an afternoon in a southern resort with good sunlight.

She was lying on a sunbed next to a swimming pool filled with cold water, reading a magic book she had been researching.

The water droplets that had formed on the surface of the ice-filled drink glass slid down.

Junior sucked on the straw of the drink and took a sip.

‘Ah, this is nice.’

Junior, who had slightly pulled up the sunglasses she was wearing, looked up at the sun beyond the parasol and muttered.

‘Everything is perfect… now all I need is a handsome lover…’

No sooner had she spoken than someone approached from the side, making footsteps.

‘Huh? Really?’

Junior was slightly excited and slowly turned her head in that direction.

‘Who could it be?’

And, standing against the dazzling sun was…

‘Get up.’

…a short, bald old man.

A dirty, bearded dwarf old man with a face covered in blood, sweat, tension, and fatigue.

‘Huh?’

Junior made a dumb sound, unable to adapt to the sudden change in the situation.

No, she wasn’t sure about her own tastes yet, but still. Even so, this didn’t seem right…?

Then, the bald, bearded dwarf gritted his teeth and swung his hand.

‘Snap out of it! I said get up!’

Clap-!

Her cheek turned sharply, and stars flashed before her eyes.

Only then did Junior wake up completely. She sprang up from her lying position, her upper body bouncing like a spring.

‘Hah… hah…?’

Junior, who was breathing roughly, finally looked around and realized where she was.

It was inside a huge, black, shiny structure.

What filled the surroundings were huge fly eggs.

And mountains of various animals and plants…

‘This is, inside the Fly King’s belly… a hatchery…’

Junior, who was trembling, suddenly looked to the side. On the body of a large, paralyzed goat, huge maggots were swarming and rushing at it.

Junior was about to scream reflexively, but the dwarf’s wide hand covered her mouth. Junior barely managed to hold back her scream.

‘Shhh!’

The dwarf whispered desperately, holding his breath.

‘Calm down. Calm down! If you scream, we’ll all die. So shhh…!’

Junior, who had finally calmed down, realized who the other person was. Junior, who had caught her breath, whispered.

‘…Kellybay? You’re alive…!’

‘Of course, I’m alive. Do you think the last survivor of the Golden Branch Expedition would die in a place like this?’

Kellybay, who grumbled, lowered his posture as much as possible, almost squatting, then gestured and took the lead. Junior crawled clumsily behind him.

Squirm, squirm…

Right next to the spot where she had left, maggots were feasting on the goat’s meat.

Junior felt nauseous when she realized that if she had slept a little longer, she would have ended up like that too.

She diligently followed Kellybay, crawling through the tunnel.

It wasn’t long before a wide room appeared. All the survivors belonging to the World Guardian Front were gathered here. Kellyson and Chain were also visible.

‘Everyone’s safe…!’

Junior was delighted, but Kellyson smiled bitterly and his lips trembled.

‘…It seems too early to say that.’

‘Yes?’

‘Shhh! Everyone, lie down!’

As soon as Kellybay spoke, everyone lay flat on the floor as if they had made a promise.

Junior was flustered, but when Kellybay, who had already laid down, gestured urgently, she followed suit and fell to the floor.

Thud thud thud…

Soon, hundreds of adult flies appeared from the passage next to the room.

They each brought paralyzed deer, antelope, and bison, piled them up in the next room, and then rushed out again.

‘…This is literally inside their belly.’

Kellybay whispered as all the adult flies disappeared.

‘We were caught as food. If the paralysis wears off, we’ll become food for the maggots.’

‘How did you break the paralysis…?’

‘Our dwarves have thick skin. Paralysis needles don’t work on us in the first place.’

The dwarf race itself has a high resistance to physical status ailments. It seemed that he had benefited from that.

However, there were still many among the fallen crew who had not yet woken up. Kellybay clicked his tongue.

‘…We were lucky. Some of our friends who were severely paralyzed are still unconscious.’

When Junior looked, Chain was still unconscious.

It seemed that Kellybay had been going around this hatchery, rescuing survivors and bringing them here.

‘So… what do we do now?’

Another wave of adult flies rushed in. Junior, who was lying flat on the floor pretending to be dead, whispered to Kellybay.

‘We can’t just lie here like this forever!’

‘We have to escape.’

‘Escape? How?’

At that moment, Kellyson, who had crawled clumsily to the side, smiled and took the words.

‘With the dwarves’ specialty.’

Clack! Clack! Clack!

As soon as he finished speaking, the dwarves, smiling fiercely, each took out tools from their pockets.

‘We have to dig a tunnel.’

Junior was speechless and opened her mouth wide, but Kellyson took out his hammer preciously and winked at Kellybay.

‘My father put me in a cave and raised me since I was very young, all for a day like today. Isn’t that right?’

‘Of course, of course. Our race has been practicing for a day like today…!’

The dwarf father and son chuckled evilly and placed their respective tools on the floor of the hatchery.

‘Let’s make a mine shaft in the monster’s belly…!’

‘A very, very big one!’