I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 670

Hotel Crossroads. Temporary conference room.

“The subjugation force… is annihilated?”

The kings were in shock.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t anticipated losses. They had even considered total annihilation as the worst-case scenario.

But they never imagined they would be massacred so one-sidedly. They had hoped they could at least inflict a fatal wound on the Black Dragon.

Just a few scratches, a single scale—

That was the sum total of their achievements. It was a meager result for the lives of 30,000 elite soldiers gathered from various nations.

The Hero Expedition was defeated. Commander Ash was missing.

The airship fleet and the 30,000-strong main force were annihilated.

And the darkness was still creeping north…

“Urgent report-!”

But the Black Dragon didn’t give the kings any time to dwell on their shock. The next report came immediately after.

“Urgent report! Report from the observation team! The Black Dragon is preparing its third breath! The target is here, Crossroads!”

“… !”

The kings, who had been frozen in shock, snapped back to reality. And they fell into even greater chaos.

They didn’t know how to stop the approaching doom, and the kings screamed.

Meaningless shouts and yells filled the hall. In the chaotic conference room, only Emperor Traha remained calm, his cold eyes lowered as he pondered.

“What are our defenses?”

The Emperor asked, and his adjutant, standing behind him, replied.

“A barrier covering the entire city has been prepared, but we don’t know if it will hold.”

“What about the Dragon Lady?”

“She is also preparing, but her injuries are too severe.”

“…And the ‘method’ my son left behind?”

“It is not cooperating.”

“Hmm.”

Traha, clasping his hands in front of his chest, sighed as if exhausted.

“I’ve always been prepared for the end, but… it’s closer than I thought.”

The chaos in the hall deepened. Traha simply closed his eyes.

All the dice that could be thrown had already been thrown.

From now on, it was up to the heavens, and…

…to the people on the battlefield.

***

The Night Bringer’s breath charging was almost complete.

This full-power breath was not an attack that the Night Bringer could use frequently. Its cycle was roughly once every 12 hours.

Once to the north immediately after landing on the mortal realm, once towards the forward base 12 hours later, and now, 24 hours later, once again to the north.

Even without using the breath, the fortress city would collapse once the main body reached Crossroads.

But there was no reason not to use this breath. At the very least, this battle had proven that it could force those hiding behind the walls to come out.

Kuaaaaah…!

The Night Bringer’s thick neck pulsed as it raised the gathered breath to its chin. Now, all it had to do was unleash this accumulated breath, and the fortress city would be finished—

That’s when it happened.

Whoosh-!

Something was diving towards the Night Bringer from above.

《…?》

The Night Bringer curiously rolled its eyes and looked up, and finally saw it.

Thud-!

An airship was plummeting vertically from the sky.

Clank, clank, clatter-!

The fully deployed gun barrels on the front of the airship glowed red, and then fired all of its ammunition.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-!

While pouring down a rain of ammunition, the airship simultaneously launched a suicide attack.

《How valiant.》

The Night Bringer snorted and moved only its eyes to conjure magic.

It couldn’t move its seven heads or its entire body because it was right before firing its breath. But it wasn’t without means of defense.

Numerous magic circles appeared around the Night Bringer’s head, and dark magic bullets generated from those circles shot up into the sky.

Bang! Bang! Fwoosh!

The ammunition fired by the airship and the magic fired by the Night Bringer intersected in the air, then struck their respective targets.

The airship’s ammunition sparked against the Night Bringer’s scales but didn’t inflict any real damage. Conversely, the Night Bringer’s magic tore the airship to shreds.

The airship, battered by magic in the air, caught fire in various places on its hull, and ultimately failed to reach the Night Bringer—

Kwang…!

It exploded right above the Night Bringer’s head.

After indifferently blocking this valiant but meaningless interference, the Night Bringer was about to open its mouth and unleash its breath to the north when—

《…?!》

Kiiiiiiing!

From above, piercing through the smoke of the explosion, another airship appeared.

《Hooh…!》

The Night Bringer was slightly impressed.

From the beginning, two airships had been descending in a tight, aligned formation.

Using the lead airship as bait, and the real one was in the rear…!

The newly appeared airship was charging forward with its barrier fully raised. The Night Bringer chuckled.

《Not bad, humans-!》

Fwoosh! Bang! Fwoom-!

The Night Bringer’s dark magic bullets were fired again, but the reaction was slightly delayed— and the airship smoothly swerved in the air as if performing acrobatics, dodging most of them.

And, instead of a straight line, it fell in a curve, crashing into the side of the Black Dragon’s head just before it unleashed its breath—

Crack-!

At that moment, the dragon’s head tilted slightly to the side…

Kuaaaaaaaaaa-!

At the same time, the breath unleashed from the Night Bringer’s mouth shot far to the north.

The re-fired dark magic tore the airship to shreds. Having fulfilled its mission, the airship fell, scattering flames and debris.

“Kuh… !”

Macmillan, watching all of this from a distant forest with binoculars, shouted.

“Was it a success?!”

Most of the personnel who had been on the airship were lying prone in the forest, watching this scene.

Except for the two volunteer pilots, everyone else was hiding here, crying and praying for the success of the operation.

And—

***

“The third breath is coming-!”

“Raise the barrier-!”

Crossroads.

The mages and alchemists waiting on the city walls simultaneously overloaded the magic cores of their artifacts and activated the barrier.

And—

Kuaaaaaaa…!

The incoming breath missed.

It narrowly grazed the side of the Crossroads’ walls. And it completely incinerated the empty eastern plains and hills.

The distance from the valley where the Night Bringer was to Crossroads was a two-day march north. The airship’s suicidal charge had slightly shifted the firing angle, causing the breath’s path to be greatly distorted.

Even though it missed, a surge of intense heat rose for a moment, setting fire to the flags of various nations fluttering on the city walls.

But it missed. Crossroads survived.

“The breath, it missed… !”

“Hooray! Hooray! We’re alive!”

The mages and alchemists who were rejoicing immediately froze.

Crack, crackle…

The barrier was completely down.

The barrier that had been surrounding the entire city was torn apart just by the breath narrowly grazing it. It was this bad even though it was just the outer edge that made contact, not a direct hit.

If the next breath hit directly, the barrier wouldn’t hold.

All the humans on the city walls stared at the eastern plains with pale faces.

Under the pitch-black sky, the barren fields were endlessly burning with black flames.

***

“Report! The breath missed!”

“The airship fleet has stopped the Night Bringer’s breath!”

In the temporary conference room set up at Hotel Crossroads, sighs of relief, exclamations, and groans erupted as soon as the report came in.

While everyone was in turmoil, only Emperor Traha was still coldly assessing the situation with his lowered eyes.

“We’ve gained a 12-hour reprieve.”

This was not a situation where they could afford to be relieved. The barrier had been completely destroyed just by a graze.

“Reinforce the barrier further before the next breath, and pour all resources into treating the Dragon Lady.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“And… persuade the ‘method’ Ash left behind.”

Traha growled fiercely.

“Use any means necessary, whatever it takes.”

***

Mansion of the Lord. Guest room.

“U-um, excuse me… Skelian-nim…”

The illusionist Violet twisted her body nervously.

It was the largest and finest of the guest rooms. The furniture was large and luxurious, and the fireplace filled with firewood was burning warmly.

On the soft carpet in front of this fireplace, ‘Black Dragon’s Scale’ Skelian was lying comfortably in human form.

With glasses perched on the tip of his nose, Skelian was reading various rare books collected from around the world, sipping rare liquor from a glass beside him, and eating delicacies from various regions with the hand not holding the book.

《What is it, Violet?》

Skellian asked softly, taking his eyes off the book. Then Violet twisted her body again and asked.

“U-um, could you… p-please… stop the… breath…?”

《…….》

Skellian let out a soft sigh.

The ‘method’ Ash had left behind to stop the Night Bringer’s breath. That was Skellian. But this dragon had not listened to any of the humans’ requests since Ash disappeared.

They had been offering all sorts of tributes, from books to rare liquor and delicacies, to try and change his mind… but it was not working.

So, Violet was mobilized. Violet was the only human that Skellian openly favored.

Violet, who had been promised billions by the Imperial Family, tried to persuade Skellian, but—

《No.》

Skellian refused flatly.

《The only human who can give me orders is Ash. But he’s missing now.》

“…”

《Frankly, I’m quite satisfied with the current situation. It’s fun to watch the world fall into chaos as it perishes, and it’s interesting to watch the humans try to squeeze out a solution.》

Skellian smiled smoothly.

《So, I won’t stop it. If I stop it, that’s it, and it’s not very fun. It’s much more fun to watch you struggle.》

“B-but, at this rate…”

Violet swallowed hard and raised her hand to point at herself.

“I-I’ll die too?!”

《Ah, you don’t have to worry about that.》

Skellian slowly got up from his seat and approached Violet. Startled, Violet stepped back, hiccuping.

Thud.

“Hic?!”

Violet was terrified when her back hit the wall as she stepped back.

Skellian stood in front of Violet, his golden eyes widening behind his glasses, and reached out, grabbed the end of Violet’s lavender hair… and inhaled.

《Because I’ll save you.》

“U-uwaaa…”

《Even if the world perishes, I’ll protect only you, Violet. So don’t worry.》

“Uwaaaaa…!”

She was overwhelmed, and she didn’t know why he was doing this to her, but she was also strangely happy… Violet didn’t know what to do and trembled.

Thump thump!

A large vibration echoed on the window next to the wall where Violet’s back was touching.

Startled, Violet turned around and saw ‘Black Dragon’s Claw’ Parekian sticking his unique mechanical face through the window. Parekian let out a dissatisfied engine sound, kiiiiing-.

Skellian chuckled and laughed.

《What is it? Are you jealous, Parekian, because Violet and I are having fun?》

Kiiiiing-!

《If you’re jealous, polymorph and come in too. Ah, you can’t, can you?》

Kiiiiiiik-!

Violet, caught in the middle of the two dragons’ war of nerves, swallowed tears inside.

‘I’ve never been popular with human men… how did I suddenly become so popular with dragons…’

Violet thought to herself that this was a scene worthy of the end of the century.

That’s when it happened. A group of people could be seen moving urgently outside the window.

‘Huh?’

Puzzled, Violet looked in that direction, and Skellian and Parekian also moved their heads, following Violet’s gaze.

The people moving along the main street in the center of the city were… the people of the Arian Kingdom.

They were hurrying north, carrying a lot of luggage. Miller Arian, the king, as well as the unconscious Yoon, and the warriors who had been fighting steadily in Crossroads. It was everyone.

They had been detained in the city because the World Protection Front had not allowed their departure, but now, taking advantage of the chaos in the city after the breath had grazed it, they were leaving for the north.

It wasn’t just the people of the Arian Kingdom. Many minor kingdoms, who had been watching and unable to escape, followed the Arian Kingdom’s procession, and the group had grown huge.

《…….》

Skellian, who had been watching this scene with interest, turned his head towards Violet.

《Violet.》

Violet, who had been staring blankly at the scene with her mouth open, looked at Skellian. Then Skellian smiled.

《How about we just run away with them?》

“Huh?”

《There’s no hope for this front anyway. Even if I stop the breath, my father will arrive in two days… and then destruction is certain.》

“…”

《Rather than sitting here and waiting for death to come… how about it? Shall we run away to the north together?》

“B-but, eventually the whole world will be destroyed…”

《I told you, I’ll protect only you even if the world perishes.》

Skellian lowered his head. Violet stared at the dragon’s golden eyes, frozen stiff.

《If necessary, let’s hide and live together in a place where my father can’t find us. So, how about it?》

“…”

《Shall we escape this scary front and run away together?》

After a moment of silence.

“How did you even come up with that idea…”

Violet shook her head in disbelief, then,

“…Are you perhaps a genius, Dragon-nim?”

Violet hurriedly picked up a bag that was in the corner of the room, stuffed it full of food and valuables, and then—

With the bag bulging on her back, she shouted confidently.

“Okay! Let’s run away!”

《…….》

“Ah, hurry! Quickly! Before we get caught!”

Skellian, who had been dazed for a moment, finally burst into laughter.

《That’s why I like you.》

Thus.

A human and two dragons mingled with the crowd leaving the city and began to flee from the front lines.

Early snowflakes were falling from the sky.

It was winter.