I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 695

Alcatraz exploded.

And before anyone on La Mancha could react, a figure emerged from the shattered wreckage, trailing a long plume of smoke behind him, and landed on the deck of La Mancha.

It was the Imperial Emperor, Traha ‘Peacemaker’ Everblack.

“Hmph!”

Traha immediately raised his right hand, and his palm glowed brightly… then, the control of La Mancha shifted to him.

“Huh?”

Kellybay, suddenly stripped of his control, let out a bewildered sound.

The Emperor stared at the front of the airship and shouted,

“Don’t lose your way just because there’s no light! Our destination was set from the beginning!”

The rear thrusters of La Mancha overloaded in an instant, spewing out terrifying flames. The Emperor accelerated the airship roughly and shouted,

“To the darkest place!”

“… !”

Everyone on the bridge snapped to their senses.

“To the most dreaded, the most despairing place! That is the direction we must go!”

Various hideous tentacles, claws, and talons followed La Mancha from behind.

The Emperor’s airship piloting skills were so great that even Kellybay was amazed. La Mancha dodged and weaved through all the attacks by a hair’s breadth, advancing forward.

A massive curtain-like darkness appeared in front of La Mancha, which was advancing fiercely.

“Clear the path, heroes!”

At the same time as the Emperor shouted,

Thwack-!

Lukas, who had leaped from the bridge to the deck like lightning, swung his twin swords.

A large X-shaped hole was instantly created in the massive curtain,

Pwhoosh…!

As if a wound had been inflicted on a giant creature’s body, darkness gushed out like blood through the X-shaped hole.

La Mancha charged into the gushing blood.

The entire airship, and all the heroes who had jumped onto the deck, were dyed pitch black as if they had fallen into ink.

And-

***

“Huh?”

Kellybay made a dumb sound.

Suddenly, the surrounding scenery had completely changed. He was not on the deck of La Mancha, but standing in a large, brightly lit mine tunnel.

As he stood there blankly, not understanding the change in situation, he heard a young boy’s puzzled voice in his ear.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

Surprised, he looked down and saw a young dwarf boy with wide, sparkling eyes.

Kellybay blankly called out the boy’s name.

“Kellyson?”

Then, young Kellyson frowned and lightly tapped Kellybay’s leg.

“What’s with you, calling me by my name? That’s weird.”

What did he usually call him?

From his old, worn-out memories, as if digging through mud, his son’s childhood nickname slowly surfaced. Kellybay smiled awkwardly.

“…My pebble.”

Kellyson grinned back and gestured forward.

“Okay, hurry up and open it, quick!”

“Huh? Open what…”

He turned his head forward and saw a door leading to a small dugout.

And when Kellybay looked down at his hand, he was holding a key.

‘Ah, right.’

Today was the day he would give his youngest son his first dugout.

A very early coming-of-age ceremony, so to speak, when all dwarves begin to solidify their identity as miners.

Kellyson’s face was full of anticipation, his eyes sparkling, and Kellybay slowly opened the door to the dugout with trembling hands.

Click-

The small door opened, and Kellyson excitedly ran into the dugout. Kellybay, who had been hesitating, followed him into the dugout.

The dugout was small and narrow. It was packed with two dwarves, an adult and a child.

And it was cozy.

The comfortable smell of earth, the warmth of the magic lights, and the young father and son…

Kellyson, after looking around the small dugout, patted the dirt wall with his hand and asked with a flushed face.

“Dad, are you going to play with me here today?”

“…Yes.”

Kellybay’s trembling lips slowly curled upwards.

“For you, I’ll do anything.”

Kellyson giggled and ran deeper into the dugout.

Slowly following behind him, Kellybay closed the door to the dugout.

Click…

***

“You can’t go, sister?”

Berndandi, startled by the tug on her sleeve, turned around.

There, young Skuld stood with tears welling up in her eyes. Skuld shook her head.

“I don’t need the Holy Grail… I just need my sisters.”

“…”

“Don’t go, Berndandi… please…”

“…Skuld.”

Berndandi tried to explain the necessity of the Holy Grail.

She tried to explain that this was the only way to save the Fairy Kingdom, which was already clearly losing in the race war.

But for some reason, her voice wouldn’t come out.

As if she already knew that this Holy Grail quest would have nothing to do with the outcome of the war.

And as if she already knew that she would regret this farewell for a long time to come.

“…Okay.”

After much deliberation, Berndandi nodded. Skuld blinked.

“What?”

“I won’t go. I’ll stop the Holy Grail quest. Instead, I’ll stay here.”

Skuld’s face brightened instantly, and she hugged Berndandi tightly.

“I love you, Berndandi! Thank you!”

“Oh, you…”

Berndandi, who was feeling awkward, raised her head.

Behind Skuld, the Fairy Queen – her eldest sister, Urd – was standing, looking at her with complicated eyes. Berndandi spoke in a trembling voice.

“Your Majesty.”

“…”

Urd, who had been silent, eventually smiled softly.

“Yes. Our three sisters shouldn’t be separated. We should always be together.”

“Your Majesty…!”

“No matter what wars rage outside… let’s not care.”

Urd, who had come closer, gently embraced Berndandi and Skuld.

“Let’s be happy here, Berndandi.”

With tears welling up in her eyes, Berndandi smiled brightly.

“Yes…!”

Berndandi reached behind her.

The door of the oak palace, which had been open, slowly closed.

***

“Torkel!”

Torkel, who was sweeping in front of the temple gate, snapped to his senses.

“Torkel, can’t you hear me? Torkel!”

The voice he thought he would never hear again called out to him. Torkel slowly looked inside the temple.

“…Saintess?”

Margherita was walking towards him with her usual indifferent expression.

Margherita, who had noticed Torkel’s expression, frowned as if puzzled.

“Is something wrong? You look scary.”

“Yes? Can you see my expression?”

“Of course, I can see it? Look in the mirror over there. Did you sleep wrong or something?”

A mirror was installed at the entrance of the temple. It was intended for people to tidy their clothes before praying to the goddess.

And in that mirror, instead of a scarred face covered by a helmet… there was a man with an ordinary face, not wearing a helmet.

Torkel couldn’t believe it, so he touched his face and his whole body.

It was gone.

The cursed leprosy that had tormented him his entire life was gone without a trace.

Just as he had prayed and wished for thousands and tens of thousands of times, he had become an ordinary human being.

Not the kind of person who was pointed at just for breathing and walking, but someone who no one cared about, someone who no one despised or hated for no reason…

Such an ordinary human being.

“This can’t be… I…”

“You were organizing the warehouse until late yesterday, are you tired? Or are you sick somewhere?”

Margherita, who had come closer, casually reached out and touched Torkel’s forehead. Torkel felt his heart drop at the rough and warm touch of her hand.

“You don’t have a fever? Don’t pretend to be sick, come on, let’s go.”

“Yes? Where… are we going?”

“The next task after morning cleaning is set, isn’t it?”

Margherita smiled as she led the way.

“Prayer.”

“…”

“Come on, come here. I’ll pray with you. Just like we do every morning.”

The saintess, who was walking into the temple, gestured as if to tell him to come quickly.

Torkel, who had been staring blankly in that direction, slowly put down his broom.

And he closed the temple gate, which he had finished cleaning.

***

“Professor! I don’t understand this formula!”

“Grandpa! I don’t know this!”

“I don’t even know the basic principles of this?!”

Young, chick-like mages chirped and chattered all at once.

Deermudine, who had been covering his ears in front of the children who had gathered in the Ivory Tower’s headmaster’s office, yelled.

“Hey! Do you think I’m that free? Study on your own!”

“But~ Grandpa teaches the easiest to understand.”

“You were the one who told us to ask even the smallest questions, Professor!”

“Grandpa, can I eat this snack?”

“Grandpa, I’m going to lie down on the sofa!”

“Grandpa, can I braid your beard?”

Deermudine was in agony among the young mages surrounding him.

“Kuaaak! My precious research time…!”

Even as he said that, a faint smile was on the old mage’s lips.

The young mages he had met and taught at Crossroads.

And the disciples of the Ivory Tower he had parted with in the past.

The seekers of truth who had been dispatched to the wars around the world and had died, never to return…

All of them were alive and by his side. They had not died in place of the old him, and were alive and breathing like this.

“You are too young to go out into the world. Too stupid. Too… green.”

Deermudine declared sternly, shaking his artistically braided beard.

“You can’t go out until you learn everything I teach you here!”

“Eeeh~”

The children jeered and giggled.

Deermudine took out a snack from the cupboard next to the headmaster’s office door and slammed the door shut.

At the same time, the marble door of the Ivory Tower also closed.

***

“…”

Young Lukas stood in front of the Second Empress’s detached palace, where he had spent his childhood.

In the sunny summer garden of his youth, Serenada in a beautiful dress and Ash in a cute tailcoat were dancing with flushed cheeks.

Empress Dustia was clapping and laughing, and Chief Steward Alberto was crying so much that his beard was wet.

It was the scene of that beautiful engagement day.

“…”

Lukas turned around.

The inside of the garden was a summer afternoon, but outside the garden was a pitch-black night, and a winter snowstorm was raging.

And outside the closed back door of the garden, assassins wearing black masks were waiting with blades in their hands.

It was an assassination squad dispatched to kill Ash.

The leader of the assassination squad, who was at the front, made eye contact with Lukas.

‘Open it.’

The leader of the assassination squad whispered with his lips.

“…”

Lukas slowly turned his head and looked back towards the center of the garden.

“Lukas!”

Ash, who had lost his balance and fallen after stepping on Serenada’s skirt while dancing, was visible.

Ash, who was laughing while holding his stomach with Serenada, gestured.

“Come here, let’s play together!”

Everyone smiled brightly at Lukas.

Serenada, Dustia, Alberto.

And, his lord from his childhood…

“…”

Lukas closed his eyes once and opened them again.

There was no reason to hesitate.

He took a step forward.

***

“Why are these humans suddenly losing their minds and spacing out?!”

The airship La Mancha. On the deck.

After breaking through one layer of the barrier, the attacks of tentacles, claws, and talons pouring in from all directions became even more intense.

And the heroes who were supposed to withstand these attacks had all lost consciousness and collapsed.

From the elite heroes led by Lukas himself to the reserve heroes belonging to the special task force, almost all of them were lying on the deck.

The only ones who remained conscious were the Emperor, who was piloting the airship, Nobody, and finally, Lunared.

“Shaking them, slapping them, they don’t wake up, the tentacles are getting stronger from all sides, I’m going crazy for real…!”

Nobody groaned and kept swinging his sword.

Perhaps because he had been blind since birth, or perhaps because he was skilled at blocking out his senses. He had not lost consciousness despite being directly hit by the darkness.

The Emperor had endured with superhuman willpower, and Lunared was…

《Do you find this nightmare bitter? I’m like water, just flowing.》

Perhaps because he was a shadow of the Nightmare Legion Commander, he was holding up fine.

《You guys just grew up smoothly without any hardships… After experiencing a lot of hardships, it’s just like a sweet drink.》

Immediately after, darkness scattered like ink from all directions.

And Lunared, who had been hit by all of this, crouched on the floor and began to cry sadly.

《Huuuuh, I don’t want to be defeated…》

“Someone get rid of this useless wolf cub-!”

Of course, there was no one who fit that ‘someone’. Now, the only ones who remained conscious were Nobody and Traha.

Emperor Traha, with his divine piloting skills, steered the airship, firing machine guns and guided missiles in all directions to fend off the tentacles. But the limit was quickly reached.

“Hehehe… let’s go home, home…”

“You don’t have to kill anymore. Come on, jump off and be at peace…”

The reserve heroes belonging to the special task force could not hold on any longer and fell into mental contamination one by one.

Those who had been sitting still, unconscious, suddenly staggered to their feet, and then, with strange, creaking postures, ran and fell off the deck, or offered their bodies to the tentacles that were wrapping around them.

The tentacles, palms, and talons gladly snatched up the fallen heroes and the heroes who offered their bodies.

And.

Crack! Crunch! Pwhoosh…!

The reserve heroes died miserably.

One was torn apart in mid-air, one was crushed between giant palms and then pulverized. One was dismembered by talons.

Blood splattered everywhere. The reserve heroes were annihilated in vain.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it! At this rate…!’

Nobody desperately swung his sword, but his black sword could not properly cut through the tentacles of darkness. Like cutting through a stream of water, the darkness maintained its shape.

Thud, thud…

The tentacles landed on the deck with the sound of ink splattering.

And they aimed the ends of their long, hideous feelers at the special task force heroes who were still unconscious.

“No-!”

Nobody screamed.

Whoosh!

The next moment, a swarm of tentacles poured down like rain on everyone who was still alive.