I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 650

Iphian’s sole remaining middle head.

Crack-

In the center of its forehead, a new golden eye slowly opened.

Facing that opening, I twisted my lips bitterly.

‘Finally, the last phase…!’

When two of Iphian’s three heads are defeated, the hidden ‘eye’ appears on the last head like that.

Lukas, who was watching, swallowed hard.

‘That eye is…?’

‘Yes. It’s the same eye as his father… Night Bringer’s.’

The reason for his epithet, ‘Black Dragon’s Eye.’

In mythology, it’s said that Night Bringer plucked out one of his eyes and threw it into the Milky Way, and Iphian was born from there.

The eye Night Bringer plucked out back then is exactly that.

‘It’s the ‘Dark Magic Eye’…!’

Then Damian, flustered, touched his forehead and lowered his voice.

‘Kuh, kukuku… My eyes can see the darkness well too…’

‘……Y-Yeah, of course. Uh-huh.’

Let’s leave Damian, who’s still doing his cute chuunibyou [a Japanese term for someone who acts like a melodramatic teenager] act even at his age (Damian is twenty now!), for a moment.

The ‘Dark Magic Eye’ is a powerful magic eye that can generate ‘darkness’ simply by concentrating its sight.

We’ll have to deal with it a lot when we go into the Night Bringer subjugation later, so this battle can also be considered a practice run.

‘Dealing with that magic eye is important… but more important than that is, of course, that.’

His new eye finished opening.

At the same time, the scales surrounding the ‘eye’ emitted a white light. I pointed to the scales and said.

‘The scales surrounding that eye are Iphian’s reverse scale.’

‘……!’

The heroes tensed up, staring at Iphian’s brightly shining reverse scale.

That’s right. Until now, Iphian didn’t have a reverse scale at all. It’s structured so that Iphian’s reverse scale only appears when he opens his last eye.

1. Remove two of the three heads.

2. Find the reverse scale that appears when the last head opens its ‘eye.’

3. Destroy that reverse scale to defeat him.

This is ‘Black Dragon’s Eye’ Iphian. This raid process is really inconvenient and complicated…!

‘Anyway, we’re here!’

Iphian, while unleashing his strongest attack method, also exposed his weakest point, which could cost him his life.

It’s time to decide the outcome of this raid!

Saaaaaaah…!

From where his left and right heads used to be, thick darkness was now pouring out instead of blood.

《Now I understand. Now I see.》

Covering the surroundings with a thick fog-like darkness, now without even a face visible in that darkness…

Only three dazzling golden eyes flashed like car headlights. Iphian growled.

《I finally understand what path my father tried to walk, why he tried to walk that path… Now that I’ve opened this eye, I finally understand.》

‘Oh, really? I’m curious too. Tell me. Why the heck is your dad like that?’

As I asked mockingly, Iphian’s three eyes in the darkness moved slightly left and right. It seemed like he was shaking his head.

《…You lowly beings will never understand.》

His middle eye closed tightly, and the next moment.

Thwack-!

The eye opened wide, and his magic eye engulfed us.

Whoosh…!

All the lights went out at once.

The darkness, flowing like thick ink, covered us, and all the lights held by our heroes lost their light at once.

The wall of fire surrounding this battlefield was the black flames he emitted. This magical fire, burning black, only had heat and no light.

Therefore, in an instant, the whole world was plunged into darkness.

It was that alien darkness that covered Lake Kingdom. The sound of insects gnawing and rustling filled my ears.

And soon, those voices, which were now familiar, began to be heard.

Die.

Perish.

Explode.

Dieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplode…

‘……’

I don’t know why the curses are always the same repertoire.

But suddenly, I had a thought.

What words is this darkness whispering to my other companions, not me?

What wounds in the hearts of other heroes is this darkness stirring up…

Whoosh-!

The next moment, the darkness receded.

The cursed words disappeared at once, and the cold sweat that had formed on my back evaporated and disappeared.

Someone was emitting light from the center of our camp. I turned my head and looked at the person.

It was Nameless.

From the old iron sword she held up, a dazzling light was emitted, pushing all the darkness back.

‘Fire.’

Nameless, who smiled softly, raised the iron sword in her hand even higher.

‘Turn the fire back on, and light the way!’

The heroes, regaining their senses at those words, turned on and set up the auxiliary lights they had prepared.

The area became bright, and then we saw it.

Through the thick darkness, Iphian’s figure, which had already approached us, was walking closer.

Was it an illusion caused by the intensified darkness?

His body seemed to have become even larger.

《Until now, I was merely an appendage of my father.》

His low voice echoed through the area, and the approaching figure used the ‘Dark Magic Eye’ again.

《Now that I understand my father’s great work, I have finally become his true heir.》

Thwack-!

Once again, the sticky darkness covered us, and all the lights we had were shattered and broken, losing their light.

‘Hoo…’!

But only Nameless.

The pillar of light she emitted did not go out, continuing to push back the darkness.

‘Fire-!’

This time, I shouted.

‘Turn on the fire! Light the way!’

I focused my consciousness on the [Light] part of my banner – [Light and Shadow], the ceremonial longsword part.

Then, a dazzling light began to emanate from the upper part of the banner I held up.

Lukas used [Divine Descent] and emitted a golden aura, and Evangeline summoned a fire spirit and wrapped it around her spear. In succession, one after another, the heroes under my command emitted light in their own ways, resisting the darkness.

Whoosh-!

A warm sunset light also joined the ranks of the light.

It was Dusk Bringer, emitting the magic power of a red dragon from her whole body. She stood next to Nameless and pushed back the darkness with the sunset light pouring out through her greatsword.

Resisting the darkness pouring down like a waterfall by emitting light, I commanded.

‘Nameless, and Grand Duke!’

I raised the banner forward.

‘Please open the way!’

Now that the darkness was too thick, Iphian was not even visible.

His third eye, his reverse scale… the figure of the guy we had to kill, nothing was visible. He must be hiding in the darkness, preparing for his next attack.

That’s why we have to find him. The heroes who emit light, by rushing directly into the darkness…!

Taat-!

Nameless and Dusk Bringer, who were named by me, stood in front of the darkness as if they had been waiting, raising their respective weapons.

‘I’ll break through!’

Dusk Bringer swung her greatsword first, and the sunset light exploded, splitting the darkness blocking the way like a curtain being drawn aside.

‘Huu!’

Through the opened path, Nameless shone her old sword, shooting a beam of light. Darkness could not encroach on this path where the pillar of light was being shot.

And at the end of the illuminated path… a dark shape moving slowly was visible.

‘Assemble! Temporary party name, Night Dancer!’

I called out the name of the elite vanguard party that I had instructed in advance to break through and run in the final phase.

‘Go-!’

Then, five heroes rushed along the path illuminated by Nameless and Dusk Bringer.

Lukas, Evangeline, Quillan… and the vanguard priestess Janice, and finally, the blind swordsman Nobody.

‘To be summoned among such prominent people, it’s an honor!’

The one leading the way was none other than Nobody.

In this thick darkness, other heroes’ vision is restricted, severely limiting their movement.

But Nobody is blind from the start, so that restriction is less of a problem!

‘Since I can’t see anyway, it’s the same whether I’m in the dark or out-!’

Nobody, lowering his posture, dashed like he was flying, and the other four heroes followed behind him.

The light emitted by Dusk Bringer and Nameless was making a path, but the amount of light decreased as they moved further away from us. The amount of darkness pouring in from all directions increased as the five heroes moved forward.

But the heroes cleared the way by emitting light in their own ways. And they located Iphian’s whereabouts in the thick darkness.

‘This way-!’

Nobody, who had maximized his senses in the darkness, pinpointed Iphian’s location in an instant, and when the heroes who rushed towards him shone their lights… Iphian’s figure, half-melted into the darkness, was revealed.

He looked grotesque.

A huge magic circle was formed on his right neck, which had been torn off, and black winds were gathering on his left neck, which was burned and crushed. And the middle head was gathering its breath with its three eyes tightly closed.

The left neck, which was burned and crushed, shot out the black wind it had been gathering at the five heroes who had approached.

It had no head, but it was definitely a dragon roar.

Kwaaaaah…!

A roar of tremendous power combined with darkness poured out.

The situation at the other end was not clearly visible due to the wind pressure sweeping through the area. But soon I found it.

Evangeline, who had activated [The Last Fortress], was holding up her shield at the very front, receiving the dragon roar.

‘Ueeeek!’

Evangeline, letting out her unique bizarre scream, was eventually thrown back. But thanks to Evangeline’s shield and ultimate skill effect, the other heroes had safely endured.

‘Go!’

Janice put on divine power armor for the remaining three, and the three ran like they were flying, approaching Iphian.

Chiiik…!

The heroes were damaged just by approaching the aura, or poison, or darkness… whatever it was, that Iphian was emitting. The divine power armor was boiling and taking the damage instead, but it wouldn’t last long.

It’s okay.

From the start, the purpose of dispatching these heroes was not to defeat Iphian, but for reconnaissance purposes to confirm his location and condition.

‘Huu!’

Lukas raised his sword of light and struck with [Willpower Strike].

Then, the light exploded, revealing the magic circle formed on the torn-off right head.

Junior, who was analyzing the shape of the magic circle from this side, screamed.

‘D-Dark magic…? It’s not fire or wind attribute! And, m-my goodness! It’s 10th tier…!’

‘Damn it. This is beyond the level we can offset.’

Diarmuid sweated profusely.

It doesn’t seem like a situation to joke around like ‘What are you weebs talking about’ [a reference to a subculture],… Roughly, it’s a magic system that we don’t know how to use, but it seems to be incredibly powerful.

‘Then just forcibly lower the tier, Junior!’

‘Y-Yes?!’

‘What do you mean yes! You know! Use [Elemental Disassembly] on that magic circle!’

‘But, you know since we’ve already tried it! Iphian’s magic power is too high! He’ll respond by increasing his output…’

‘Even so, you can at least rank down a 10th tier to a 9th tier, right!’

Then Junior was startled, then nodded his head greatly and raised [Lord of Crimson].

‘Indeed, certainly…! With that, by forcibly interfering with that magic circle with elemental disassembly, I can overwrite that magic circle with my own…!’

I don’t know what he’s saying, but anyway, it means it’s possible, right, staff!

‘But, even so, ‘offsetting’ is impossible, Prince Ash! We do have dark magic users on our side, but…’

Diarmuid glanced over, and Chain cried out with a tearful face.

‘9th tier my foot! I can barely use 5th tier, and even that is incomplete! Dark magic itself is ancient, so the entire system has been lost!’

‘We don’t need to offset it anymore anyway!’

It’s the final stage of the raid. What’s important now is to block and endure their attacks.

‘It doesn’t have to be the same attribute. Use the strongest attack magic we can use to counter their magic!’

I turned around.

‘The magic side just needs to endure. Then our sniper…’

Damian, who had deployed [Black Queen] in railgun form, was aiming at Iphian with his brown eyes flashing white.

I smiled.

‘Will land the finishing blow.’