I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 663

The ‘Great Bridge,’ the sole passage connecting the 10th and 9th districts of the Lake Kingdom, loomed before us.

A long and massive bridge, it spanned an abyss so deep that its bottom was lost to sight. An ancient bridge, it felt like a relic of a forgotten age.

Having secured the 9th district, we established our lines before this bridge, awaiting the Black Dragon. This was the only path he could take to reach the human realm.

How long had we waited, preparing for this battle?

Thump… Thump… Thump…

Finally—the Black Dragon appeared.

From the opposite side of the Great Bridge, from the deep darkness of the 10th district, the evil dragon announced its presence with heavy, thumping footsteps.

Whoosh…

The lights lining the massive bridge flickered erratically, then plunged into complete darkness.

In the oppressive gloom, the monster moved with an unnatural grace, like a whale gliding through the deep sea.

Its size dwarfed any dragon species we had encountered before. Its black body, swallowed by the darkness, was so monstrously large that it was difficult to discern its beginning or end.

The massive scales covering its entire body seemed to soar towards the sky, and beneath the two huge wings on its back, countless smaller wings, their number unknown, sprouted.

Above the long neck that rose proudly towards the sky, its main head flashed with golden eyes. And at the junction of its neck and torso, six dead heads were attached in a row, like a macabre necklace.

Our heroes all swallowed hard, their courage tested by this terrifying sight.

The 1st in the hierarchy of the Nightmare Legion Commanders.

The Black Dragon Lord. The True Black Dragon.

The master of midnight. The first midnight.

The one darker than the deepest night. The one who blots out the sun. The one who devours the moon. The world ender—

“Night Bringer…”

Clank-!

As I spat out the name, my subordinate heroes all aimed their weapons at him, their resolve hardening.

《…….》

Night Bringer slowly, as if observing, scanned us with his golden eyes.

《To call you the last desperate force of the human realm…》

And then, he uttered his characteristic, listless, and blunt voice.

《You are too insignificant.》

The next moment.

Zzzzzing!

As if a machine was powering on, the six dead heads that hung like a necklace below his neck opened their eyes all at once—and golden gazes flashed.

The six heads formed a circle, spinning around and floating into the air. They scattered their evil light while circling around the center head.

Controlling his six subordinate heads at will, Night Bringer stared at me, his gaze piercing.

《You seem far too inadequate for my final amusement.》

“Save your unnecessary worries, guest.”

Trying to appear relaxed, to ease the tension of my subordinates… I skillfully threw out nonsense as usual.

“Once you try us, you’ll burst from overeating… !”

《Haha.》

Then Night Bringer opened his massive mouth and laughed, a sound that sent shivers down the spine.

《Your bluster is also enjoyable to watch, but the sight of you crying after losing everything is what I look forward to the most.》

“Guest, please resolve your perversions alone. This isn’t that kind of establishment.”

《Let’s see. How long can you keep spouting such nonsense so leisurely…》

The next moment, the Black Dragon closed his eyes.

The six heads that had been rotating around his center head also closed their eyes at the same time.

The moment his golden eyes, which had been illuminating the surroundings, closed, the area around his head was instantly submerged in pitch-black darkness.

The next moment,

Flash-!

Seven pairs of eyes opened simultaneously, staring at us with malevolent intent.

‘The strongest pattern from the start?’

I gritted my teeth. This cheap bastard is foul from the get-go!

The fourteen [Dark Eyes] focused their output, and an invisible, intangible force… no, ‘night’ surged.

It was the same strike that had instantly annihilated the Fly King—White Night before. By refining the overlapping darkness with Night Bringer’s own hatred, or hostility… to destroy the opponent.

I don’t know how he used this attack in human form back then, but what’s important isn’t that!

‘I know this is your strongest attack!’

It was a pattern I used in the game after all.

And the fact that it was a pattern used in the game means that there is a way to break it!

“[Shining Dark] activation ready! And!”

After ordering the activation of the artifact made with Ipian’s magic core, I called for the defender who would be in charge of marking this attack.

“Skaerian! It’s your turn—!”

As I called out his name, Skaerian tore through the subspace and appeared. This guy had also already transformed into his original form—a massive Eastern-style dragon.

《Huuuup-!》

Skaerian spun his long, snake-like body in the air, and darkness poured out like mist from his entire body. Then, Skaerian took a defensive stance with his body wrapped in that darkness.

The darkness poured out like a wave and collided with the darkness.

The counter-darkness emitted by the artifact [Shining Dark] primarily received Night Bringer’s darkness, and Skaerian directly received the attack that pierced through that darkness and entered.

Clang-!

As Night Bringer’s attack hit, the scales covering Skaerian’s entire body shattered into pieces and rained down in all directions…

Swish!

New scales immediately sprouted from underneath.

Shaking his body, Skaerian spat out.

《Ugh, this is the first time I’ve been hit by my father…!》

“Sorry for leading you into a domestic violence scene!”

This guy’s ability, the Black Dragon’s scales—or rather, ‘scales’—is specialized in defense, especially against supernatural powers and magic.

Moreover, Skaerian himself is a member of the Black Dragon Legion. In other words, he has dark attributes, so he was able to withstand Night Bringer’s outrageous blow safely.

In the game, I used to block that attack by using the artifact made with Ipian’s magic core and the artifact made with Skaerian’s magic core at the same time.

《Skaerian?》

Night Bringer called out the name in bewilderment when one of his legion members appeared on the human side. Skaerian said sheepishly.

《I’m sorry, Father. But, there’s something I really wanted to see.》

《Hoo… Very well, then. I don’t know what it is, but go and see it.》

Night Bringer spoke in an unexpectedly gentle tone.

《If you survive in front of me, that is.》

A tremendous amount of magic power surged from within him.

Before the start of the full-scale battle, I waved the flag and shouted.

“[Goddess Blessing], activate!”

To mark Stage 40, the Goddess’s Blessing—[Goddess Blessing]—was activated!

The activation effect is ‘warm starlight’. All heroes belonging to the front lines will have resistance to dark attributes throughout this Stage 40, and they will manifest their inner light, creating a weak self-illuminating effect.

Like real ‘fireflies’, they will emit light on their own, albeit faintly…!

I waved the flag greatly. A magic wall rose, and all the various buffs I had were poured down upon the heroes’ heads.

“I declare!”

With their respective Dragon Slayers and Nightmare Slayers drawn, the heroes prepared their honed ultimate techniques.

“This is a battle for the fate of the world…”

Shouting with a blood-boiling voice, I thrust the flag forward.

“Let’s go forth and fight, my people—!”

As if responding to my cry, all the subordinate heroes shouted with all their might and rushed forward—

And upon them, Night Bringer’s breath and magic, dragon roars and darkness descended.

***

…Forgetting the passage of time, the battle continued.

It was truly a bloody fight. We, and Night Bringer, fought fiercely without taking a single step back.

I and my heroes fought our best, as we had trained, according to tactics, and by using improvisation and our honed senses.

However—the Black Dragon was too powerful.

Even while being wounded by our attacks, even while scattering blood from our attacks, he endured.

Even after struggling to take down his six heads, concentrating light on his main body to create a weak point, and pouring firepower—he did not fall in the end.

‘In the game, I could defeat him by repeating this difficult task four or five times…’

I gritted my teeth and looked around.

If it were a game, I could have repeated this kind of thing over and over again. I only had to worry about skill cooldowns and consumable items. I could have patched up the lost HP with recovery magic and potions, and given orders to the heroes while ignoring injuries.

But this is reality.

Just being grazed by his breath caused burns, and the mages who received magic were overloaded and collapsed. After a dragon roar swept through, they lost their sense of balance, and if they were caught in his massive feet or tail, their bones would break.

“Haa, haa…”

“Hoo! Hoo…!”

“Still, haa… I can still fight more…!”

The heroes, covered in blood after several hours of fierce fighting, breathed roughly.

They were all extremely skilled heroes, but the battle with the Black Dragon forced inevitable attrition. The number of casualties poured out like an avalanche, and each time, they were replaced with reserve heroes to continue the battle, but…

Eventually, everything from the reserve forces to the captured monster corps was exhausted, and although they had been fighting while administering healing magic and potions on the spot, this was the end. The heroes’ combat power had drastically decreased due to the long battle.

We had reached the culmination of our offensive.

We no longer had the capacity to repeat this harsh operation.

Goooooo-

On the other hand, Night Bringer was still going strong.

Of course, he was not in perfect condition either.

It was a subjugation operation carried out by the best heroes of the human realm. The floor was so soaked with the blood he had spilled.

But his mighty vitality did not run out. He still held his head high, looking down at us with an arrogant gaze, as if asking if we had anything more to show.

I didn’t want to admit it, but this was reality.

‘This subjugation has failed.’

If it were an MMORPG, methods like a quick wipe and retry would be possible.

But this is reality. So.

“…We retreat.”

We must preserve as many troops as possible and escape.

That way, there will be another chance. A chance to attempt the raid again will come.

“Everyone, prepare to retreat…! We’re returning to the ground!”

“Yes, my lord!”

Lucas nodded heavily.

This guy, who had fought the hardest at the very front, had suffered a severe injury with his left arm burning with black flames, but he didn’t even show any signs of pain.

Instead of his unmoving left arm, Lucas rummaged through his chest with his right arm and asked.

“Shall we use the dungeon escape teleport scroll?”

The teleport scroll was a means of escape that had been given to each party leader at the start of the Black Dragon Legion subjugation. Lucas seemed to have naturally assumed that we would escape with this.

But I shook my head slightly.

“No… that won’t work.”

“Yes?”

In the game, Night Bringer was a monster that was in the final boss line along with the ‘Lake Princess Who Cannot Sleep’. In terms of simple specs, he even had some overwhelming aspects.

He is a final boss-level monster even in this hell. There’s no way such an existence would let us escape so easily.

“Escape using teleportation is impossible within his domain. He’ll forcibly cast dispel.”

It was a gimmick that made all the users who lightly attempted the raid, thinking that they could just escape with a teleport scroll if things went wrong, spit blood in the game.

The same goes for the ‘Lake Princess Who Cannot Sleep’… When fighting final boss-level monsters, you have to fight as if there is no second chance.

Lucas’s face turned pale.

“Th-then how do we retreat…”

“…”

Lucas, who was able to grasp the war situation more calmly than anyone else, even more than me.

He knew that the odds of winning were dwindling, and that’s why he thought that retreating was a reasonable decision. But he probably didn’t expect that the teleport scroll wouldn’t work.

Crack-

Night Bringer opened his massive mouth. And two of the six heads, the ones whose jaws were not crushed, opened their mouths together.

Soon, pitch-black darkness began to swirl with heat from within his open mouth. There was no doubt, it was a breath pattern.

If you were to receive his breath head-on, you would die ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Instead, since the trajectory always drew a straight line, we had been dealing with it by dodging.

This time too, the heroes prepared to dodge, swallowing hard, but I knew.

The majority of the heroes had lost their ability to dodge.

If that breath comes, half of them will die. We, who had been barely holding on, would then collapse like a sandcastle and be annihilated.

Now is our culmination of the offensive, our limit, and—

“Night Bringer!”

It’s the last moment I can pull out this card.

Calling out his name, I staggered forward. I was also in a state where my movements were uncomfortable due to all sorts of minor injuries.

The heroes who had been standing in front of me, as if they were thinking of taking the breath with their bodies if necessary, looked back at me in bewilderment. I patted those heroes on the shoulders and stepped forward.

“…Ash.”

Dusk Bringer, who had transformed [Master of the High Tower] into a shield and was standing at the very front, shook her head.

“No, please…”

After giving her a slight smile,

“Black Dragon!”

I called out the monster’s name once more, then stood at the very front.

To the strongest and worst evil dragon who was looking down at me as if asking why, I brought up the main point.

A special gimmick of the boss stage.

100 percent success rate.

For 30 minutes, the commander characters become inviolable to each other—

“As king to king, I propose a meeting to you!”

A one-on-one conversation with him.

A request for a ‘commander’s meeting’.