I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 673

One day prior.

After the hero expedition, defeated by Night Bringer, retreated.

Immediately after the meeting between Night Bringer, who had polymorphed into a human form, and Ash.

Thud…!

Night Bringer’s royal sword pierced Ash’s chest for the second time.

If the first strike was simply to inflict physical pain, this second blow pierced Ash’s spirit core, shattering his soul.

“Ah…!”

Ash trembled all over as he died.

Night Bringer reached out and gently grasped Ash’s neck. He leisurely savored the moment the small flame of life was extinguished.

It was then. A faint smile flickered across Ash’s lips as he was dying.

《Hmm?》

Just as Night Bringer was puzzled by the meaning of that smile,

《……?!》

Suddenly, a murderous aura enveloped him from behind.

Night Bringer turned sharply. He saw a rain of arrows and magic pouring down on him.

Night Bringer easily erected a magical barrier, blocking all the attacks. Then, he examined the newly appeared forces.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Appearing in an orderly fashion, these were the ones aiming their weapons at Night Bringer…

《Oh, it’s the court jester and his circus troupe.》

Crown.

And his subordinates, the Eternals—the Night Crawler unit.

All wearing white smiling masks, they calmly surrounded Night Bringer.

Standing with his back to the cliff, Night Bringer chuckled softly.

《Do you dare to betray me, clown?》

“Betrayal? That’s a strange way to put it.”

Crown tilted his head.

“You were never my king.”

《But the royal scepter of your kingdom is in my hand.》

“That’s why I’ve come to take it back.”

Crown scoffed and waved his flute, signaling his subordinates to prepare for an attack.

“What’s the point of talking between us… Prepare to die, Black Dragon.”

《I don’t understand, clown. You should know you can’t stand against me.》

“And you should know that we are cursed with eternal life, right? If we have nothing to lose, we can at least swing a sword to reclaim the throne.”

The Night Crawler unit finished their attack preparations, and Night Bringer prepared to fight back.

In any case, Night Bringer was not one to avoid a life-or-death battle, and he was also one to show at least minimal courtesy when fighting against all who opposed him.

“Take him down!”

As Crown raised his flute and commanded, the Night Crawler unit members simultaneously flashed their white masks and charged forward.

Night Bringer scattered darkness, crushing them one by one. The Eternals were annihilated in an instant, yet they desperately rushed to reach Night Bringer.

It was at this moment.

“…….”

“…….”

Two old men were silently crawling up from the cliff side.

The Sword Demon and the Spear Demon.

Each with a chipped sword and a broken spear in their mouths, the two old men silently charged at Night Bringer.

“Hey, dragon head! Listen up! This bridge—”

“Is our turf, you hear!”

Night Bringer never expected a surprise attack from the cliff side without any warning, so he was caught off guard.

The two monsters were powerful beings, not at all inferior to any heroes on the ground. Once they had managed to surprise and approach him, the two monsters’ sword and spear tore Night Bringer’s polymorphed human body to shreds.

Of course, Night Bringer immediately regenerated from such wounds—

But in that instant, his arm was severed, and Ash, who was held in that arm, was flung into the air.

《……!》

Night Bringer immediately regenerated his arm and reached out to grab Ash.

His hand grasped the flag attached to the flagpole Ash was holding,

Crack…!

His grip was so strong that the flag was torn off, ripped from his hand.

Ash’s body, thrown into the air, fell straight down the cliff, disappearing into the darkness.

《…….》

Night Bringer looked down at the cliff where Ash had fallen and disappeared, then let out a hollow laugh.

《How annoying, these undying insects…》

“We’ll stop annoying you, so please just kill us!”

“We’ll just revive anyway, you son of a bitch!”

The Sword Demon and the Spear Demon, shouting as they charged, were unable to avoid the torrent of magical power that followed and were blown to pieces.

The remaining Night Crawler unit was also swept away by the darkness Night Bringer unleashed, annihilated in an instant.

“Seriously, what’s so good about this old, run-down country…”

Even Crown, who was still breathing until the very end, was crushed to death.

“Everyone… making such a fuss to become king…”

Crack-!

Crown was shattered into pieces by the darkness Night Bringer unleashed.

The blood and corpses of the Sword Demon, the Spear Demon, and the Night Crawler unit members all turned into black mist and disappeared. The Eternals of this country, cursed with eternal life, always disappeared in this way.

Confirming that no more obstacles remained, Night Bringer once again looked down at the bottomless cliff.

《……Hmm.》

He had already shattered the soul.

Ash was dead. There was no way he could come back to life.

But Night Bringer was not one to be careless.

《Still, just in case…》

Snap!

Night Bringer lightly snapped his fingers, and two of the heads that assisted him appeared in the air to his left and right…

Kaaaaaa-!

Opening their mouths, they unleashed black flames on the cliff below.

The enormous black flames incinerated everything below the bridge. Only after pouring out the black flames for a while did Night Bringer, satisfied, withdraw the flames.

At this point, the flames should have reached the bottom. The corpse would not even leave ashes behind.

Turning around, Night Bringer suddenly realized that Ash’s flag remained in his hand.

《It would be better to burn this on the ground.》

There would be no better declaration of war than burning the enemy’s standard.

He grasped the flag and strode towards the main gate of the Lake Kingdom. It was time to invade the human realm.

After Night Bringer left, a long time passed.

From below the cliff, still smoldering with black flames—

Crack!

A soot-covered hand reached up.

“Haa, haa…!”

The one who climbed up was… King Poseidon, the merman king.

Even though he had drawn upon all of his race god’s power to create a water barrier, his entire body was horribly burned.

However, he had protected Ash in his arms.

‘Prince Ash…’

King Poseidon examined Ash. His soul was shattered, but his body was in a state of suspended animation, still clinging to life. Of course, this was only temporarily halted by magic, and it wouldn’t last long.

‘I must hurry.’

Excarnival, who had fallen off the cliff with Ash in the chaos, was already in his hand.

King Poseidon infused the demonic sword with his race god’s power, causing the sword to regurgitate what it had just swallowed.

Thud, thud….

The contents that Excarnival could not immediately digest gathered on the blade and scattered on the ground.

Dragon blood.

Moreover, it was blood drawn directly from Night Bringer’s chest—his heart. Even though Night Bringer was polymorphed at the time the demonic sword pierced him, this blood was real.

“Haa! Haa!”

After extracting all the dragon blood from Excarnival, he carelessly stuck the demonic sword into the ground.

King Poseidon planted his trident on the ground. Then, the dragon blood drawn directly from Night Bringer’s chest transformed into a round water droplet and floated into the air.

King Poseidon placed this dragon blood directly into the wound on Ash’s chest.

Thump!

Ash’s body, which had been frozen like a statue with his eyes closed, convulsed once.

“Not yet…!”

King Poseidon gritted his teeth and continued the next step. He struck the ground with his trident again.

Following that, a vast amount of blood scattered across the entire battlefield—Night Bringer’s other blood that the hero expedition had spilled—also gathered into a single, massive water droplet and floated into the air.

King Poseidon placed Ash’s body inside this massive droplet of dragon blood.

“…….”

His work here was done.

But he couldn’t finish the remaining surgery here. If the Black Dragon returned, or if another monster came, everything would be in vain.

The remaining time was short, and in the end, there was only one option.

King Poseidon stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down. He could see the darkness below, still smoldering with black flames.

“Hoo.”

As always in life, it was either die or faint.

Taking a deep breath, he once again summoned a water barrier with his race god’s power, then fell down with Ash.

***

Present.

Below the cliff. The bottom village.

In this place, unknown to any monster, King Poseidon continued Ash’s surgery.

The resurrected Sword Demon and Spear Demon were busy extinguishing the black flames that had spread throughout the village, and only after Crown joined them did they finally manage to put out all the fires.

And they were now in a position to wait together for the surgery to end.

“By the way, we’re cooperating like this because we have a promise with that prince.”

The Sword Demon asked, looking at Crown.

“What are you helping for?”

Before the hero expedition set out.

Ash had come to the Lake Kingdom with King Poseidon in advance and asked for their help.

The bottom village was connected to the dried-up drainage of the 1st district dungeon, but the waterways were so complex that they had not been able to find their way. However, as the Great Flood approached, the waterways filled with water, and King Poseidon, who could read the flow of water, found the way.

When Ash visited the bottom village again, he did not pay the promised gold. Instead, he proposed something completely different.

They could not refuse the proposal, so the Sword Demon, the Spear Demon, and the bottom village agreed to cooperate with Ash again.

But what about Crown?

Why was he helping Ash?

Crown replied curtly.

“…It’s none of your business, bandit.”

The Spear Demon bristled at the title of bandit.

“Hey, even though we’re citizens of the country your father ruled, isn’t it too much to call us bandits, Prince? Sure, we did a little bit of banditry!”

“…….”

“Of course, we weren’t citizens, but non-citizens who were under them. But now that the world is like this, shouldn’t we, who remember the time when the kingdom was fine, be friendly with each other?”

The Sword Demon and the Spear Demon grinned and put their arms around Crown’s shoulders from both sides. Crown shuddered and pushed them both away.

“…I only made a promise to Ash as well.”

But surprisingly, he answered calmly.

Crown himself didn’t know why he had answered. Perhaps, he was moved by the title of prince, which he had heard after a long time.

The Sword Demon and the Spear Demon tilted their heads.

“A promise?”

“Yes.”

Crown’s gaze was complicated behind his mask.

At the end of that gaze was Ash, buried in the swirling dragon blood.

“A promise to… save my younger sister.”

“The prince’s younger sister? Then you mean our princess?”

“Yes.”

Crown chuckled hollowly.

“He said he knew. A way to save my younger sister.”

“…….”

“I think it’s an obvious lie… but I thought, maybe, just maybe, that guy could do it. Even now, when everything is at its end… no, because it’s at its end, since there’s nothing more to lose.”

Even if it was a vain hope, it didn’t matter.

Whether the world was destroyed by the Black Dragon or not.

Everything would end soon anyway.

He just hoped that his younger sister would have a small salvation before that.

“That’s why I decided to help. That’s all.”

“Hoo…”

The Sword Demon and the Spear Demon, who had let out a strange exclamation, turned their heads. Crown also looked in that direction, and someone staggered out of the Sword Demon and Spear Demon’s shabby house.

“Ugh… where am I…?”

With white hair dragging on the floor and an old iron sword on her back…

It was the merchant and deposed princess of the Lake Kingdom, Nameless.

“I was definitely attacked by Night Bringer and fell off the cliff…”

“Oh my, our princess is awake!”

The Sword Demon and the Spear Demon rushed to Nameless, bowing deeply. Nameless looked at them, bewildered.

“It’s been a while, Princess! How have you been?”

“Sword Demon? Spear Demon? Ah, then this is…”

“Yes, yes! This is the bottom village where we live!”

“We finally kept our promise to serve the princess one day! Though we never expected you to fall from above!”

They were all survivors of the Lake Kingdom, living in this hell below the lake. Having been entangled for hundreds of years, they were bound to know each other.

After thanking the Sword Demon and the Spear Demon who had saved her after she had fallen from above, Nameless looked at Crown standing behind them with surprised eyes.

“Brother… no, Crown?”

“You’ve come to your senses, Nameless.”

“Why is Crown here…?”

“Because that guy gathered us.”

Crown gestured with his chin towards the direction where Ash was, and Nameless’s turquoise eyes widened as she looked in that direction.

“Ash? This forbidden art is… turning into a dragon…?!”

“It’s something Ash cooked up. And it seems like it’s almost over.”

As soon as he finished speaking.

Swoosh…!

The sphere of black blood that Ash was submerged in lost its shape and poured onto the floor. King Poseidon, who had performed the surgery, collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

And from within the dragon blood that had poured out, staining the floor black…

Thud.

Ash, his entire body soaked in black blood, stepped onto the ground.

“…….”

The surroundings were silent.

Nameless and Crown, as well as the Sword Demon and the Spear Demon, were all tense and silent.

And at the end of the ominous silence…

“Haaa…”

Ash, letting out a long breath, swept his black blood-soaked hair back.

The eyes that slowly opened from between his soaked and tangled black hair were—undoubtedly a perfect gold.

Moreover, they were dragon eyes, with the vertically elongated pupils characteristic of the dragon race…

“…What is it.”

Looking around with tired eyes, Ash looked down at his body, then slowly clenched and unclenched his fist, and then let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded.

“I must have been really cornered, huh? To do something like this.”

“…?”

“Even so, I stole the Black Dragon’s blood? Why would I do something so reckless… Ah, no? If I inherited the Red Dragon, then Dragon Lady would… Aha. I see.”

As if he was evaluating something someone else had done, not something he had done himself.

Ash, muttering to himself as he grasped the situation, staggered and sat down on the floor next to him, leaning his back against the collapsed stone wall.

Then, with a more decadent and haggard look than ever before, he looked around and gestured.

“Cigarette.”

Among those who were stunned, the Sword Demon asked, bewildered.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I said cigarette. Bandit old man. Do you have a cigarette?”

“I… I do have one.”

“Then bring it, quickly… I feel like I’m going to die. Hurry.”

The Sword Demon was bewildered, but he went into his house and brought a cigarette. It was one of the things that had been washed into this bottom village.

“What is this, it’s all rotten… Damn it. It looks just like me.”

Ash calmly put the cigarette in his mouth and skillfully created black flames at his fingertips to light the cigarette.

“Hoo…”

The old, rotten cigarette somehow burned and produced smoke. Only after exhaling a long stream of smoke with his parched lips did Ash look somewhat at peace.

“I feel a little better… No, damn it. I’m still so tired I could die…”

For some reason, overwhelmed.

Nameless, watching Ash who was the same yet completely different from before, asked hesitantly.

“Who… are you?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re not Ash. Who are you?”

“I am Ash?”

Slightly twisting one side of his mouth, with a precarious smile. Narrowing his golden eyes…

“I am the undeniable me, ‘Bonehater’.”

The ‘real’ Ash, who had fought through countless regressions, a save slot that had been worn down to the bone, said that.