I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 61

There’s a golden rule when tackling games of this kind.

Don’t rely on luck, because eventually, your strategy will fail.

Let’s take an example.

Suppose there’s a magic spell with a 50 percent hit rate that can one-shot an enemy.

If you rely solely on that spell’s power to progress, can you really make it to the end?

For a while, you might get lucky and keep hitting, making the game easy.

But eventually, you’re bound to slip up. And at that moment, the game could be over.

Whether it’s a 1 percent chance or 99 percent, probability will always betray you.

Those aiming for a clear shouldn’t rely on luck. A clear should be achieved through certainty.

Even though I knew this well, I kept swinging for lucky strikes.

Because I thought it was best to use all the cards I had opened up in advance.

And… this is the result.

0, 0, 0!

[You Are Doomed……Rest In Peace.]

[▶◀FUMBLE▶◀]

I knew it would come up eventually, and it finally did.

000.

The worst outcome. A fumble.

Crack!

Right after the slot stopped, my left hand was crushed.

“…Ugh!”

I gritted my teeth and endured the pain.

My entire left arm was literally wrecked. Shattered bones pierced through the flesh, spraying blood.

The pain was so intense that I felt like I was seeing sparks.

This is the price of a fumble.

The attacker, me, receives massive damage instead.

Evangeline, sensing something was wrong, pushed away the golem she was blocking and looked at me.

Her face turned pale.

“S-Senior! Your left hand!”

“Don’t make a fuss. I was prepared for this.”

I took out a high-grade recovery potion with my right hand, tore off the cap with my teeth, and poured it over my left arm.

Sizzle-

“Kuh… !”

Steam rose from my left arm. The wound closed, and the bones snapped back into place, accompanied by excruciating pain. It freaking hurts, seriously.

The emergency treatment worked, but I won’t be able to use my left arm for a while. Catching my breath, I gestured to Evangeline.

“Buy me some time. Just 10 seconds.”

“Will 10 seconds be enough?! You need more rest… !”

“We’re fighting for our lives, we don’t have time for rest with just this much injury. They’re coming!”

Guooooh-!

The five golems that were chasing us charged at us.

“Damn it! Give it a rest, you rock heads-!”

Evangeline gritted her teeth and stood in front of me, blocking all their attacks.

Evangeline is struggling, but there’s no other way. Just buy me a little time.

I reached behind me with my right hand and grabbed the long package I had been carrying on my back.

If you rely on luck, you’ll eventually fail. I know that well.

Even so, the reason I kept swinging for lucky strikes is simple.

‘I had insurance in case luck failed!’

Flap-!

I unwrapped the package.

-A long, thin, beautiful black rifle was revealed.

‘There’s a reason why I, a right-hander, used a lucky strike with my left hand.’

I supported the barrel with my broken left hand and gripped the magic rifle’s handle with my right hand.

I pressed the buttstock tightly against my right shoulder, aligned the sights, crouched down, took a breath, and then.

Pulled the trigger.

Thwack-!

With a tremendous blast, I was thrown backward.

Flames burst from the muzzle like fireworks, and the magic bullet fired from within obliterated the golem in front, leaving no trace.

The magic bullet didn’t stop there; it pierced the torso of the one behind it, then blew through the chest and head of the one behind that.

One shot, three kills.

It was because they were lined up luckily, but thanks to that, a rare scene unfolded.

“…”

Evangeline, not understanding what had happened, gaped.

Even the remaining golems seemed unable to comprehend the situation and paused for a moment.

“W-What is that?!”

Evangeline shouted a few seconds later. I answered nonchalantly.

“A lottery ticket I scratched. The second one.”

A magic rifle of SSR grade [Super Super Rare], forged with the magic core of the Black Spider Queen.

The Black Queen.

It belongs to Damian, but I brought it in a hurry. I need to use all the cheats I can at this point.

‘Use the variables of the lucky strike as much as possible with my broken left hand, and if luck runs out, finish them off with this rifle.’

That was my strategy.

A magic rifle is a difficult weapon to handle. It’s sensitive and hard to aim, so its accuracy drops sharply as the distance from the target increases.

But if you shoot at point-blank range.

And if the target is a bulky thing like a golem.

Even a character with my pathetic stats and no aptitude for shooting can hit it, of course.

‘It’s helpful that I served in the military back on Earth.’

I wondered when I’d ever use what I learned about shooting, but thanks to that, even with this frail prince’s body, I can shoot reasonably well.

Thwack-!

I regained my posture and fired another shot. This time, only one hit.

It was slightly off, but it didn’t matter since half of its body was blown away anyway.

‘The recoil is like a cannon.’

Not only my injured left arm but my whole body is creaking. If I keep using this weapon, my whole body will be bruised.

‘I’m sorry, Damian…!’

The last golem tried to charge at me, but Evangeline, who had slipped in between, stabbed it with her spear and struck it with her shield.

Thud!

As the last one fell, I took a long breath.

“Hoo…”

My whole body ached from absorbing the rifle’s recoil. My left arm was numb, and I couldn’t feel anything but pain.

“I have a mountain of questions, but I’ll ask just one.”

Evangeline, who had approached me, asked with an exhausted face.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I told you. I’m going to kill them all.”

I gestured with my chin toward their main force.

“We’re going back to the villa. There are a few other ‘insurances’ I can use there.”

“To that ruined villa…?”

Evangeline looked toward the villa, following my gaze. It wasn’t far. The problem was the remaining golems swarming over there.

The boss golem I had summoned was already neutralized.

I could see the enemy golems climbing on top of the fallen boss golem.

They were tearing off the remaining armor of the boss golem and destroying the magic cores one by one.

“If we want to go back alive, we have to kill all of them here.”

If they chase us, we’ll die before we reach the Crossroads anyway.

We have to end it here.

As if sensing our gaze, the golems began to turn toward us one by one.

Evangeline shuddered as if she had goosebumps at the sight.

I checked the remaining bullets in the Black Queen. It’s a seven-shot magic rifle, and I’ve used two, so there are five bullets left.

‘Enough.’

Nodding, I began to walk forward, step by step. Toward the Margrave’s villa where they were swarming.

“U-Ugh, ugh, ugh! I don’t know anymore!”

Evangeline, with a tearful face, stuck close to my side.

The golem army slowly began to approach us, leaving the neutralized boss golem behind.

I opened the system window and brought up the skill list of the summoned boss monster.

The skill at the very end.

The function I had been most interested in since I first summoned it.

“Good work, summon.”

I gave the order calmly.

“…Now, self-destruct.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the single eye of the boss golem lying on the ground turned red.

Gooooo…!

The golem army, sensing something was amiss, turned to look at the boss golem, but it was already too late.

Kwakwang-!

Boom! Fwoosh…!

A deafening explosion occurred, and I calmly watched the enormous pillar of fire rise, while Evangeline was too stunned to be surprised.

‘Excellent, Giant Steam Golem. You have fulfilled your role.’

I praised the boss monster’s efforts in my mind. Goodbye.

“I wish they were all dead with that…”

I activated the [Map Creation] trait.

With a sensation of the area being scanned, a map appeared in the corner of my vision, marked with dots. The number of remaining enemies, let’s see.

“Fourteen left.”

Although they were obscured by the smoke, the map didn’t lie.

Quickly counting the remaining ones, I grabbed Evangeline and pulled her along.

“Let’s go, we need to get inside the villa before they come to their senses.”

We started running toward the villa. Both Evangeline and I were near our limits, but the villa was quickly approaching.

That’s when it happened.

Ziiing-

Flash!

A red beam flew through the thick smoke. Evangeline, who was covering me, deflected the attack with her shield. Ping!

“The most troublesome one is still alive!”

“Well, that’s always the case. The annoying ones always live long.”

The magic stone golem emerged from the billowing smoke, its whole body covered in soot, but still functioning perfectly. Truly, it was as strong as a sub-boss.

“But it looks like its friend is dead.”

“That’s good news…!”

The other magic stone golem was shattered and rolling on the ground.

It was the one that killed our horse earlier. It seems it was properly caught in the self-destruction. Serves it right!

Ping! Pibibing!

Kwakwakwang!

We ran toward the villa, enduring the barrage of magic attacks from the magic stone golem. We were almost there!

Crack-

At that moment, with a sound like glass breaking, a large crack appeared on Evangeline’s shield.

It had taken too many attacks, and its durability had worn out. And because she kept defending even in that state… it had shattered.

“Oh no…!”

Following that, a red beam flew in.

Evangeline had no choice but to block it with her cracked shield, and immediately after, the shield shattered, scattering golden particles and fragments.

Clang-!

“Kuh-?!”

Evangeline groaned and shook off the fragments from her left arm, then grabbed her cavalry spear with both hands and raised it above her head.

Red beams poured down on it.

Ping! Pibibing!

Kwakwakwang!

If she didn’t have a shield, she would block with her weapon.

It was a reasonable decision. If she didn’t block, she would die.

The cavalry spear deflected the pouring magic attacks admirably.

But, the cavalry spear is a weapon. Not a piece of defensive equipment.

If she kept taking attacks like this-

Crack.

It would inevitably be damaged.

Clang-!

Eventually, even the cavalry spear shattered.

The beams that followed were all blocked by Evangeline, who covered me with her body.

“Aaaagh…!”

“Evangeline!”

“It’s okay, just get to the villa… !”

The villa building was right in front of us.

Almost carrying Evangeline, who was about to collapse from the attacks, I ran like the wind and threw myself against the back door of the villa. Bang!

We rolled inside the building and immediately pressed ourselves against the wall.

Crash-!

Ping! Pibibing!

The beams continued to pour in, shattering the windows.

The wall was acting as a temporary cover, but we couldn’t hold out like this for long.

“Now… as you said, we’re at the villa…”

Evangeline, pressing her hand on her injured area to stop the bleeding, asked weakly with a pale face.

“There’s a good way to overcome this situation, right, Senior…?”

“Trust me, junior.”

I grinned and reached into my pocket.

“I’m not a prince on a white horse…”

My inner pocket was connected to my inventory, and I pulled out what I was looking for.

“But I’m not a bad con artist.”

What I held in my hand was a magic core.

A standard, high-grade magic core (SR) [Super Rare] that I had obtained during the last free exploration.

I threw it toward the inside of the villa building.

And shouted.

“Summon!”

[Summon Magic: Automatic Defense Turret]

– All necessary materials have been prepared.

– The summon’s level is the same as the summoning character’s level. Also, only one summon can be maintained at a time.

– Please specify the location to summon.

I’ll use everything I can.

I curled up the corners of my mouth and smirked.

Do you think I’m going to fall here, you monster bastards?