I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 605

Following the feast of roasted eggs and honey water, the highly anticipated training camp began.

“Today, you will be participating in various events as parties!” I looked around at the heroes gathered in their respective parties and explained the rules. “Each event will be scored, and after completing several events, the scores will be tallied. The party with the highest score will receive… a truly magnificent prize! You can look forward to it!”

“Ooooh…!”

Of course, the prizes given at training camps are usually insignificant. But I had to inflate the hype a little. The naive heroes, unaware of this, exclaimed in excitement. I chuckled with my arms crossed.

It’s part of the charm of a training camp to see such high expectations eventually deflate into disappointment.

“Alright, first up is…” I pointed to a long rope prepared on the platform and shouted, “Group jump rope!”

Everyone blinked in confusion.

“Group?”

“Jump rope…?”

“What is that, Your Highness?”

“You’ll understand once you see it. Let’s go! Demonstration team! Volunteers! Step forward!” But no one came forward…

I clicked my tongue and added, “The demonstration team will receive 100 points.”

“Me, me!”

“We’ll do it!”

“Get lost! We’ll do it!” As soon as points were on the line, volunteers rushed forward. Ultimately, the Penal Corps was chosen as the demonstration team. The Penal Corps members chattered excitedly as they stepped forward, but Quillan just trailed behind with a dark look on his face.

“…” Quillan kept glancing worriedly at Yoon, who was lying among the female priests. Ignoring him, I grabbed one end of the rope. Aider grabbed the other end.

“Jump rope is a simple event. You rotate the rope like this, and when the rope comes under your feet… you jump over it at the same time!” Whack!

As Aider and I rotated the rope, the rest of the Penal Corps members jumped over it simultaneously… but Quillan was a beat late and got whacked on the ankle by the rope.

“Kyaaak!” Quillan hopped on his other foot in pain, and then the rope, after rotating another half turn, wrapped around Quillan’s face. It was because Quillan was too tall. Whack!

“Gyaaaak!” Quillan clutched his ankle and face with both hands and collapsed to the ground with a thud. He’s clearly in his beast form right now, so why is he so fragile?

“Tsk, tsk, Beast King! Can’t you focus on the jump rope!”

“Ugh, I’m too distraught to focus on such games…”

“Hey! This jump rope will help in the Black Dragon subjugation battle later! Don’t regret it later and get your act together!” Quillan made a face that looked like a wolf’s version of being wronged. He seemed unable to understand how this game could help in the Black Dragon subjugation battle.

Anyway, since jump rope is such an intuitive event, everyone quickly grasped the rules. But understanding the intuitive rules… and executing them simultaneously with multiple people was another matter.

“Uweeek!”

“Ouch!” As the main event began, the parties that had boasted and underestimated the group jump rope were instantly wiped out and collapsed. Everyone was getting caught on their ankles, wrists, and necks. It was a mess. It was an event where you would get knocked out quickly if five people didn’t jump in unison. That was group jump rope.

Since it was a new game, I applied the rules somewhat loosely, giving each party three lives. Even so, everyone fell like autumn leaves. Of course, it wasn’t like everyone was just failing and falling. There were some parties that did quite well.

“Ahahaha!”

“It’s fun!” Hannibal and the spirit summoner children squealed like children and jumped up and down in the air, and everyone watched them with warm smiles. And ultimately, the party that lasted the longest was the Holy Grail Expedition. They endured nearly 100 counts.

“Hehehe…” Berndandi, who had been depressed all this time, had a rare smile on her face. “It’s a game we often played in our hometown. Especially when we were young, Urd unnie [older sister], Skuld, and I used to play it a lot…” Oops. Berndandi smacked her forehead against the wall mid-sentence. I thought I had finally pulled her out of the abyss, but she’s crawled back in…

Anyway, the Holy Grail Expedition won the group jump rope, and I declared, “Holy Grail Expedition, 1000 points!”

“Waaah!” The elves, except for Berndandi, raised their hands in joy. The Penal Corps, who had been quietly listening to the scoring, muttered in dismay.

“What? 1000 points…?”

“Then the 100 points we earned as the demonstration team…” Ignoring their complaints, I gestured to Aider. “Alright, next!” Next, Aider brought in… three artifacts that shot out water. I had them urgently brought from Crossroads.

“It’s water cannon dodging!” I set up the three artifacts on the platform and explained the rules. “Three water cannons will fire alternately! You have to stand on this platform and dodge the water for as long as possible!”

“What, that’s super easy?” Evangeline scoffed, but a moment later, “Kueeeek!” She let out a terrifying scream as she was hit by a water cannon and rolled off the platform. The shield knights who were in a party with Evangeline also screamed and were swept away.

It was an event where you had to identify the safe space among the three firing lanes and keep dodging the water. It wasn’t easy!

“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!”

“Ugh! I just washed up and I’m wet again!”

“You can just wash again, it’s a hot spring anyway.” While everyone was getting soaked by the water bombs without properly reacting, surprisingly, the party that came in first was Kellybay and the dwarf party. They nimbly rolled around with their round bodies, dodging the water bombs skillfully. After taking first place, Kellybay muttered gloomily. “Now that I think about it, I haven’t even played in the water with Kellyson…”

“Oh, he’s doing it again.” Except for Kellybay, who was still gloomy despite rolling around well, the other dwarves cheered and clapped. I announced the score. “Kellybay’s party, 5000 points!”

“Woohoo!”

“No, why are the scores increasing so rapidly…?” Evangeline was puzzled, but this is the unwritten rule of training camps! The scores will cause a devastating inflation as you go further! It’s always advantageous to earn points later!

“Then what’s the point of the earlier events?”

“From my perspective as the host, my goal is to make you focus on the current event, so it doesn’t matter! It’s not like I’m going to get the prize!”

“What kind of hosting is this!” But since there were more parties that hadn’t earned points than those that had, most of them were actually happy about this inflation. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go to hyperinflation~

Various events followed. Jousting, three-legged race, relay race, balloon popping… The heroes, despite having washed up earlier, were sweating profusely as they diligently competed in their respective parties, and the scores increased exponentially, reaching the hundreds of millions.

“Hee, hee! It’s, it’s fun, Your Highness.” After winning the balloon popping with [Clairvoyance], Damian, the representative of the sniper party, cautiously asked me. “Among all the games, is there a special reason why you’re only making us do things that require us to move simultaneously as parties?”

“Good point, Damian.” I grinned and told him the answer. “The events we did today are exactly the movements needed to defeat the ‘Black Dragon Legion’.”

“…!” A flash of realization crossed the heroes’ faces. That’s right. The events we did at today’s training camp weren’t just chosen for fun.

‘The battle against the Black Dragon Legion is similar to a classic dragon raid in an old-school MMORPG [Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game].’

Floor patterns on the ground! Breath attacks sweeping the area! Activation of defense gimmicks placed on each map! Part destruction within a limited time! I was giving them a taste of these through various games.

‘You must respond to the indiscriminate attacks of the dragon species, armed with wide-area map weapons, with practiced tactics without a single error. A single mistake means death.’ In an MMORPG, even if the raid party is wiped out, you can revive, regroup, and retry. But this is reality. If an individual makes a mistake, the party is wiped out, and if the party makes a mistake, the raid is annihilated.

Acquiring attack equipment like Dragon Slayer is something that comes after this training and establishing defensive tactics first. So, I started with a light training camp format, so everyone could laugh and start lightly…

“Five people must move as one.” Today’s training camp was not just a game. It was also a rehearsal of tactics that needed to be seriously mastered to subjugate the Black Dragon Legion. The expressions of those who had been half-heartedly participating in the events with dark faces changed. They quickly straightened their postures and perked up their ears as if waiting for the next event I would present.

I grinned. Well, there was that purpose, but my priority was to have fun with you guys…

“Alright! Then, for the grand finale! It’s… building sandcastles!” This has nothing to do with the Black Dragon subjugation! But the heroes, unaware of my true intentions, looked at the sand that Aider was bringing in with serious faces. Aider brought a cart full of sand and piled it up in a corner of the common hall. There was plenty of sand since the sand bath was inside the hot spring facility.

“Alright then, the party that builds the most impressive sandcastle will get… 1 trillion points!”

“Hey, stop inflating the scores so much-!” Even while shouting, Evangeline was running, and the other party members also screamed and rushed towards the mountain of sand. While discussing what to build, the heroes were sweating profusely and diligently started building their respective sandcastles. Even the heroes who had been depressed were now all very focused and enthusiastic.

I watched this scene with my arms behind my back and a smile. Yeah. Just run, sweat, think, and live. That’s all that matters. That…

***

After the sandcastle contest. After looking at each of the sandcastles that everyone had worked hard to build, giving evaluations and praise, I finally announced the scores. “Everyone who enjoyed today is a winner… 1000 trillion points for all teams!”

Waaah!

Clap, clap, clap, clap! Everyone clapped with moved expressions. Except for Evangeline.

“No, are you all accepting this?! Something’s wrong! The standards and scores are weird!”

“Ah, by the way, the prize will be given to everyone. Go to the lord’s mansion when you return to Crossroads to receive it.”

Waaaaaah! Everyone jumped up from their seats and cheered. Evangeline now looked like she didn’t care anymore and raised both hands.

‘It seems like this hastily arranged training camp is coming to an end.’ I carefully observed Podong, who was running around on the sandcastles like an attraction, and the heroes who were cheering for Podong.

‘……Originally, I was going to have a time to light candles and think about our families.’ I was also planning to use the K-training camp’s K-melodramatic emotional stimulation method to instantly destroy the tear ducts of the weak who had no resistance. But it seemed like the heroes who were already depressed would really start wailing, so I decided to skip it. It’s a shame… this is the real highlight of the training camp…

“Alright, before we return. I have one last announcement.” I made eye contact with everyone and slowly opened my mouth. It was about the schedule for the future.

“In three weeks. A martial arts tournament will be held at the Crossroads Autumn Festival. This tournament will be a party-based competition, and it will be a tournament to properly gauge each party’s combat power and… the teamwork we tested in the previous events.”

Then I made a bombshell announcement. “And based on the results of this martial arts tournament, the parties that will participate in the Black Dragon subjugation battle will be selected.”

“…?”

“For the three weeks leading up to the martial arts tournament, I will give you all free time. Each party can rest or train as they see fit.” I curled up the corners of my mouth into a grin. “It’s your freedom. If you’re afraid of the Night Bringer, you can be lazy in preparing for the martial arts tournament. You don’t even have to participate. But if you want to land a solid blow on that evil dragon’s jaw.” I scanned the heroes. “You’ll have to do your best to prepare for this tournament, which will determine the strongest among the monster front hero parties, right?”