I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 6

“Stay calm.”

Panic was fleeting; I quickly cooled my head.

‘It can’t be gone.’

The Queen was definitely on the stage’s enemy list. So, she must be somewhere on the map.

‘From the start, the goal of this stage isn’t a boss kill. It’s not surprising that a boss monster mark isn’t showing up separately.’

I recalled the spider formations I had just observed and quickly scanned the encirclement of the ones I could see now.

Even in the midst of a full-scale attack, there would be reserves remaining in the rear.

A safe rear. Escort units for emergencies.

The Queen had to be there.

*Thud! Thwack!*

Already, at the front lines of the fortress wall, the clash between spiders and soldiers had begun, and the sounds of battle echoed.

The sounds of explosions, metal clashing, and screams…

‘Where is she?’

Amidst the chaos, I desperately scanned the wide map.

‘Where is she? Where?’

Then, my eyes stopped.

Southwest from the forward base fortress.

Red dots, distinctly separated from the main group, were clearly marked on the map.

‘Found her!’

I immediately shouted,

“Damian!”

“Yes!”

“It’s over there! Can you see it?”

I stretched my hand out towards the southwest.

Damian frowned, narrowed his eyes, and looked in the direction I was pointing.

I tried to get a telescope from a scout to give to Damian, but,

“…Yes. I see some spiders that are just standing still.”

Damian said that without a telescope, with his bare eyes.

He can actually see it. All I can see are squirming dots. Just how good are his eyes?

“The Queen will be among them. Can you find her?”

“…”

Damian, who was scanning that area, shuddered.

“Is the Queen… a monster with a spider’s lower body and a human-like upper body?”

Bingo.

“That’s correct.”

“Yes, I see her. She looks a bit… scary…”

“No need to be scared. She’ll be flattened by our cannon soon.”

Following that, I ordered the artillerymen,

“Turn the battery! The direction is south-southwest! Damian and I will do the fine aiming!”

*Kugugugung!*

The artillerymen rotated the devices on the floor, changing the direction of the entire battery.

The mana-charged cannon barrel turned its head towards the distant location of the Queen.

“Mana cannon, prepare to fire!”

“Mana charging is complete. We can fire at any time!”

“Good!”

I grabbed Damian’s arm and led him to the control panel of the mana cannon.

It was a powerful artifact, but the aiming device was crude.

You roughly aimed with the sights and pulled the large trigger that protruded upwards to fire.

“Grab it.”

I urged Damian, who was standing awkwardly in front of the trigger.

Damian, who was sweating profusely, placed his trembling hand on the trigger. But he couldn’t pull it.

“Um… Your, Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not confident.”

Damian looked back at me with a tearful face.

“I, I’ve never done anything like this before. Even if you suddenly entrust it to me…”

“Damian.”

I gently grasped Damian’s shoulder.

“It’s okay if you miss.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll take all the responsibility.”

“…”

“Even if you make a mistake, even if you fail, even if you mess everything up! It’s okay. I’ll take all the responsibility.”

A soldier only moves as the commander orders.

The consequences of the result are the commander’s responsibility.

“You just need to aim at that monster and pull the trigger. That’s all you have to do.”

I tried to smile as warmly as possible.

“You’re avenging your friend, Ban.”

“Ban’s… enemy…”

Upon hearing those words, Damian’s eyes changed.

Damian took a deep breath, gripped the trigger tightly, and aimed at the distant southwest through the sights.

Following Damian’s subtle movements, the cannon barrel changed its height and direction.

The fine adjustments took only a few seconds.

*Click!*

And then, Damian’s hand pulled the trigger with all his might.

*Clunk! Clunk!*

The gears clashed, and magical devices I didn’t understand began to trigger a chain reaction.

*Pachichichik!*

The gathered mana sparked intense currents beyond the cannon barrel, and then,

*Thwack-!*

It was fired with tremendous force.

The power of the overloaded mana cannon was something the artillerymen hadn’t properly anticipated.

The artillerymen, startled by the roar and shockwave, fell backward in unison, and I also covered my ears with my hands and rolled on the floor.

But my eyes remained wide open, following the trajectory of the fired mana bullet.

‘Hit it.’

The bright blue mana bullet cut across the sky.

‘Hit it!’

Across the southern sky—towards the center of the distant black dots swarming.

“Hit it-!”

I shouted without realizing it.

*Thud…!*

And, impact.

The mana bullet that landed caused a large explosion in the distance. The dust cloud that rose was clearly visible even from here.

I quickly got up.

“Did it hit?!!”

The answer came not from Damian, but from a scout who was observing the impact point with a telescope.

“Direct hit! Direct hit! It hit the center of the monsters accurately!”

The soldiers on the battery all cheered.

Damian, who had been rolling on the floor like the other soldiers, had a bewildered look on his face.

The artillerymen surrounded Damian and patted him on the back.

“You’re really amazing, young man! Is this really your first time?”

“No, that’s…”

“How did you aim at something so far away? It’s hard to see even with a telescope!”

“I don’t know how I did it either…”

Damian looked down at his own hands with wide eyes.

“It’s just that, as Your Highness said… the moment I grabbed the trigger, I knew what to do, and my body moved on its own.”

Whether it was because this was a game world and he received skill buffs, or if it was Damian’s innate talent.

There was no time to think about it. It was because the scout, who was observing the impact point with a telescope, was looking at me with a pale face.

“…Um, Your Highness.”

The scout’s voice was trembling. A sense of foreboding also ran down my spine.

“What is it?”

“They’re moving.”

“What is?”

“The spider group over there… they’re starting to move.”

I rushed to the telescope, took the spot from the scout, and put my eye to it.

“…!!”

In perfect unison.

The distant spiders all moved at once and began to form ranks. Is that… a defensive formation?

‘Damn it!’

I gritted my teeth.

The black spider legion stops moving when the Queen dies. It’s no different from having its brain destroyed.

But the spiders were still moving just fine.

Not only the ones that were hit by the cannon, but also the spiders attacking the forward base showed no decrease in momentum.

‘That means…!’

In the very next moment,

*Kieeeeee…*

A wicked cry echoed across the battlefield.

There was no need to say who the owner of that cry was.

*Kyaaaaaaaaak-!*

The terrible scream of the spider queen filled the battlefield.

Even though she was so far away, the evil energy that was emitted made it hard to breathe for a moment.

The soldiers, in confusion, covered their heads and screamed.

“What? What’s going on?!!”

“Didn’t we hit the spider queen?”

“Then why is she still okay?!!”

The mana bullet hit accurately.

The problem was, the damage was insufficient.

“Everyone, get a grip! Stay calm! Keep firing at that monster!”

When I shouted, the trembling soldiers all looked at me. I yelled even louder.

“Reload the next round! Hurry!”

“Yes, yes…”

The artillerymen trembled as they clung to the mana cannon. They cooled the overheated barrel and prepared the next round.

It was then.

*Kyaaaaaaaaak!*

The spider queen let out another terrible scream, and immediately after, the movement of the entire black spider legion changed.

*Kieek…*

*Kieeeek!*

The gazes of the spiders that had been surrounding and attacking the forward base all turned at once. Towards the battery where we were.

The monsters’ red compound eyes gleamed menacingly. I trembled and sweated.

Her orders are awfully fast, Queen!

*Dududududu!*

The spiders, which had been evenly pounding the entire forward base, turned their bodies and began to pour towards our battery. The scout screamed.

“They’re swarming towards the battery!”

“The defense will be handled by the lower units! You guys just reload the next round! Hurry!”

I urged the artillerymen.

“We have to kill the Queen before they reach the battery! Reload-!”

The artillerymen desperately sprayed cooling magic on the mana cannon and loaded the round. It wasn’t long before the sweat-soaked artillery captain shouted.

“Reloading complete!”

“Damian! Fire!”

Damian, who had been narrowing his eyes and observing the location of the black spider queen, pulled the trigger as soon as I finished speaking. *Click!*

*Pachichichik!*

*Thwack-!*

Mana sparked like electricity, and then the mana bullet was fired. I swallowed hard and observed the trajectory of the bullet through the telescope.

The bullet, drawing a beautiful arc across the sky, fell directly above the spider queen’s head,

*Thwack-!*

Impact.

With chilling accuracy, it hit the monster queen’s crown.

“Direct hit! Direct hit! It’s accurate!”

The excited scout jumped up and down. But I wasn’t excited at all.

*Kieeeeeeek-!*

Because there was no change in the movement of the spiders swarming towards us.

‘It’s not enough!’

I could only see her silhouette in the distance, but the Queen was still intact.

I gritted my teeth.

Normally, if it were a Queen from the black spider legion that you would first encounter in the mid-second year, this artifact’s damage would be enough to shatter her in one or two hits.

From the start, the black spider legion’s combat units are strong, but the Queen isn’t.

But what about the Queen in this tutorial stage?

There’s no information at all.

What if her stats are different? What if she has special gimmicks? No, what if, by any chance, she’s deemed ‘unkillable’?

‘Then what should I do…’

All sorts of bad thoughts popped up one after another. I quickly shook my head.

I’ll just do what I can. Until the very last moment, I’ll cling on for the clear…!

“Your Highness!”

The artillery captain, who was preparing the mana cannon for the next shot, urgently reported to me.

“The mana core is reaching its limit due to the forced overload! The barrel is also heavily damaged! We can fire fewer times than initially expected!”

“Stop talking so much! So how many more times can we fire?”

“A total of five shots… we’ve fired two, so three more!”

Three shots.

I could only hope that the spider queen would die within the next three shots.

‘No, from the start…’

I looked around the defense line around the battery.

‘I don’t even know if we’ll be able to fire all three remaining shots.’

*Thud! Kugugung!*

The front line was collapsing.

The spiders, swarming in one spot, used their fangs and claws ferociously, finally breaking through the fortress wall and starting to infiltrate.

“Hold them back! We must hold them back!”

Lukas, already covered in monster blood, shouted and swung his sword. But the defense line was already on the verge of collapse.