I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 586

The Fly King’s massive body, having lost its wings and lift, began to plummet.

In an instant, its altitude decreased. Even so, new flies poured out from its back, frantically forming a new infinity symbol.

Bang! Bang-!

Demian fired shots at the flies, shouting,

“Over there! New flies are coming out from there!”

Several small passages were visible on the Fly King’s back, and new flies were emerging from them.

The layer with those passages must be the source of the new flies.

‘We need to eliminate them to completely smash the Fly King into the ground!’

I reached forward and shouted,

“Charge! Ram it-!”

Thud-!

At my command, Geronimo accelerated further, flying towards the Fly King’s main body.

Still halfway out of the hatch, Diermuid and Demian prepared for another attack.

“Make a path…!”

“I will-!”

Diermuid unleashed another torrent of fire magic towards where Geronimo’s bow was headed, and Demian relentlessly fired mana bullets, not holding back his power.

The mana bullets punched holes in the magic-battered outer wall, and Geronimo’s bow collided directly with the weakened wall.

Crack-!

About half of Geronimo’s long body successfully pierced through the Fly King’s back and entered its interior.

“After all that trouble to escape, we’re re-entering, and at a much higher level, damn it…!”

Kellyson grumbled while starting to repair the damaged devices on Geronimo from the impact.

Red lights flickered on various parts of the airship’s heavily damaged devices due to the violent movements.

I quickly gestured to my subordinates.

“Demian, stay behind and take care of the monsters attacking the airship!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“Kellybay and Kellyson, the maintenance team and crew stay behind to repair Geronimo and protect the ship. The rest of you, disembark! Let’s go!”

The first to jump out was Bodybag.

Bodybag was the first to step out to set up the armor plates for our allies to use as cover.

However,

“Bodybag! Get out of the way!”

“Huh? Ack…?!”

He apparently hadn’t expected a monster to be right in front of the hatch.

A mutated fly, waiting right in front of the hatch, swung its foreleg wildly, and Bodybag couldn’t dodge it.

Instead, Burnout grabbed Bodybag and rolled to the side.

Thud-!

Blood splattered. Burnout’s side was deeply cut.

“…!”

“Burnout?!”

Burnout, unable to speak, bit down hard on his gag in pain.

Pale-faced, Bodybag quickly pressed his hand on the wound to stop the bleeding, and then Janice, who had rushed down, cast healing magic for first aid.

“You bug bastard!”

I used [Commanding Eye] on the mutated fly that was still flailing its arms. [Commanding Eye is a skill that allows the user to control the target’s movements for a short period.]

“Stay still, you bug-like thing-!”

Crack!

[Commanding Eye] worked, and the other heroes unleashed an attack on the momentarily frozen monster, eliminating it.

“Hoo, hoo….”

I turned around. Janice was bandaging the wound where the healing magic had been applied, but blood was still seeping from Burnout’s abdomen. It was clearly not a minor injury.

“I’m sorry, Burnout. I’m sorry. I….”

Bodybag kept apologizing, not knowing what to do.

I gritted my teeth. We had a casualty as soon as we broke through, and it was Burnout, our firepower. Ugh…….

“……There’s no time. The rest of us advance.”

“Yes, my lord.”

We cautiously surveyed the interior.

The interior of the layer we had entered was a wide passage leading to a massive door.

And in front of the massive door, mutated fly monsters were lined up in a row, preparing to block us.

“Damn it, it really never ends…!”

“My lord!”

Lucas looked at me and nodded, and I had no choice but to take Excarnival from my inventory and throw it to Lucas. [Excarnival is the name of the protagonist’s magic sword.]

Lucas smoothly drew the magic sword in his left hand and the light sword in his right.

Swish-!

Lucas, once again transformed into a dual swordsman, ran ahead with a fierce blue gaze. The rest of the group followed behind.

The mutated flies put up a strong resistance, but Lucas’s violence was several levels higher.

“Haaah-!”

The trajectory of the dark red magic sword tore through the barrier, and the following light slash split the bugs in two.

Since there was no time to spare, Lucas pushed the monsters even more aggressively than before, quickly clearing a path to the door.

While the rest of the party members took down the remaining monsters with a combined attack, I pointed at the firmly closed black door and ordered,

“Nobody! Break it-!”

“Why do you always make me cut things like this-?!”

Even while saying that, Nobody faithfully followed my command. The blind swordsman’s long sword was drawn from his waist, sparking.

Tsukaak!

The long sword drew a long, zigzagging trajectory, and the thick door shattered, opening inward.

We rushed inside. And everyone was speechless.

Bubbling, bubbling…….

How should I describe this place?

Should I say it was similar to a spawning pool from some classic game?

Inside the dark body of the Fly King, unidentified jellies were seething in green. Growth accelerators? Evolution accelerators? What is this?

It was too large to simply call it a hatchery, and it seemed to be a culmination of this life form’s unique technology that I didn’t know about.

This alien facility was almost artistic in a way.

Even though we had destroyed quite a few eggs, there were still a tremendous number of eggs piled up here…….

And most of all, the pupae.

Adult flies that had almost completed their metamorphosis were wriggling inside the pupae, raising their bodies.

There were a huge number of them at a glance, and they looked ready to burst out.

If all of those were mutated flies, or even higher-level entities.

We…… no, Crossroads has no chance of winning. [Crossroads is the name of the city the protagonist is trying to protect.]

“We must destroy everything in this place…….”

As I spoke and turned around, I belatedly realized our situation.

We don’t have the strength.

The mages had already run out of mana.

Burnout, who was following behind, supported by Bodybag and Janice, was not only seriously injured, but also had run out of arrows long ago.

The other heroes were also extremely exhausted, and we didn’t have a suitable way to destroy this entire vast hatchery.

“The explosives left on Geronimo…….”

At my words, Junior shook his head.

When chasing the Fly King, we had used up all the ammunition to shoot down the monsters attacking us, so there were almost no explosives left on Geronimo.

More than anything, destroying this entire vast hatchery was impossible.

Crack, crackle…….

The sound of pupae shells tearing echoed throughout the hatchery.

The flies, having sensed the intruders, hastily finished their metamorphosis and began to poke their heads out one by one.

At the same time, the eggs also cracked, and swarms of maggots began to crawl out towards us.

There is no time. If we don’t do something right now, the mutated flies will complete their metamorphosis, we will be annihilated here, and Crossroads…… and even the world will be destroyed.

But there is no way.

In that fleeting moment when I was frozen, not knowing what to do, Diermuid stepped forward.

“Heh heh, I guess it’s time for the elder to step up.”

“Diermuid-nim?”

“Everyone, get out of here. If it’s a flame that sacrifices my life, it might somehow….”

Diermuid was about to say something cool with a determined expression. That’s when it happened.

Click. Clatter.

The sound of something being released was heard from the side, followed by.

“Haa…….”

The sound of a long breath being taken was heard.

“……Step back, old man. Your firepower isn’t enough.”

When everyone looked, it was Burnout.

With one hand holding his bleeding side, and with the other hand, he had removed the gag from his mouth with his own hand.

Burnout looked around at us with a blank stare, then suddenly opened his mouth.

“I knew this day would come someday.”

Everyone was taken aback by the first time they heard his voice. It was unexpectedly thin and delicate, a tone that sounded like a soprano at first listen.

I blinked.

“Burnout? Uh, so, you can…… talk well?”

“My mouth has always been itching. Every time I saw you guys doing stupid things, I wanted to say something, and my insides were boiling.”

With a pale face from blood loss, Burnout chuckled.

“I hated all of you.”

“……”

“You’re naive and too kind. It was always frustrating. Why do you all live like that, always taking losses…… It was annoying.”

Chiiiik…….

The sound of a fuse being lit somewhere echoed.

“Good people always live at a loss. That’s why I hated this city.”

“……Burnout.”

“You’re all too kind. It’s annoying…….”

Flames ignited from Burnout’s fingertips and toes.

Like a flame traveling along a fuse, the fire was slowly moving from the ends of Burnout’s body towards his heart.

“I’ve already activated the mana overload. Once it’s activated, it can’t be stopped. In one minute, I’ll explode.”

“……!”

“If you don’t want to get caught in it and die, get out of here quickly.”

Then, Burnout started walking towards the center of the hatchery on his own.

“There’s no need to feel guilty. I’m already badly injured anyway. If you’re born with this kind of attribute magic, your end is just to explode and die. I’m just trying to be at peace a little earlier.”

“No, Burnout, please……!”

Bodybag tried to stop him with a trembling voice, but Burnout shook off his arm and continued walking.

“45 seconds left. Aren’t you leaving? Do you want to die with me?”

Burnout, whose elbows and calves were already burned gray, muttered irritably.

“…….”

Is this the only way?

Is this really the only way?

It’s because I’m not good enough…….

I clenched my fist tightly and swallowed hard, barely managing to say,

“……Burnout.”

“What.”

“So, we…… liked you too.”

“…….”

Burnout didn’t answer.

I gritted my teeth and waved my hand. Everyone bowed or saluted Burnout one last time, then turned and started running.

“Ah…….”

Diermuid raised his hand once towards the receding Burnout, then clenched his fist and lowered his arm.

And then he turned and ran.

Finally, Bodybag.

He stood in place, looking at Burnout with tearful eyes, then tried to take a step towards Burnout without leaving.

“Burnout, I’ll go with you…….”

“Bodybag.”

As if he had expected it, Burnout spoke without turning around.

“Live. Until the end.”

“…….”

“Prove that the Shadow Squad existed on this front.”

Burnout whispered, flames flickering from his mouth.

“I’m counting on you.”

“…….”

Tears streamed down Bodybag’s face. I gently gripped Bodybag’s shoulder.

We turned and ran.

We couldn’t let Burnout’s sacrifice be in vain because of our hesitation.

To live, we ran desperately.

Geronimo was in tatters, dealing with the monsters attacking from the outside.

The crew members, who were shooting with the magic guns that Demian had distributed, shouted when they saw me.

“Your Highness has arrived!”

As soon as I got into the hatch with Bodybag, I slammed the switch on the wall to close the hatch, then shouted towards the cockpit.

“Deploy the barrier!”

“What?!”

“Now! Deploy the barrier-!”

Kellybay, realizing the emergency, gritted his teeth and slammed his fist on the barrier activation button.

Ziiing!

In the next moment, after the barrier was hastily raised,

Kwaaaang-!

A massive explosion erupted from inside the Fly King’s body.