I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 7

Kieeeeeeek-!

Monsters swarmed relentlessly around the mana cannon as it was being loaded for the third shot.

Lukas’s defense line was still holding, but it wouldn’t last much longer.

‘Loading complete!’

‘Damian!’

The artillery captain announced the loading was complete. I immediately shouted to Damian.

‘Fire!’

Damian’s eyes were bloodshot, the veins having burst. It might have been a side effect of using his Clairvoyance trait. But there was no time to consider such things now.

Click!

Damian, already having aimed, pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation.

*Fzzzt, fzzzzzt…!*

*Thwack!*

The third shot.

The fired mana bullet pierced through the vast distance and flew,

*Thud!*

landing precisely where the spider queen was.

It was aiming and firing that could only be called a divine skill.

Whether it was a mistake by the gods or a prank by the developers, Damian’s eyes were a miracle in reality.

The problem was,

Kiyaaaaaaaaak-!

Despite that, the spider queen did not fall.

The queen wasn’t stupid. After being hit twice, she realized she was being targeted and was taking countermeasures.

And that countermeasure was simple and effective: using her subordinates’ bodies as shields.

The escort spiders took the mana bullets, which fell in an arc, with their bodies.

The mana bullets pierced through all that resistance, but by the time they reached the queen, their power had weakened.

‘Black Spider Queen, hit confirmed. But she’s still alive…!’

The scout, pretending to look through his telescope, reported in a trembling voice. I tried to sound calm and shouted,

‘What are you all doing! Is this situation relaxed? Load the next shot! Hurry!’

The artillerymen were sweating profusely as they cooled the cannon barrel and loaded the bullet. But their faces were filled with despair.

‘Euryahap-!’

First floor of the forward base. Around the battery.

Lukas was desperately swinging his sword, commanding the defense line that had shrunk to this point.

‘We must protect the battery! We must protect His Highness!’

Lukas, the strongest knight among the troops here, was fighting brilliantly.

Even though his level was half that of the black spider individuals, he skillfully parried the attacks and deflected the claws, fighting fiercely.

Where Lukas was, the front line was not being pushed back at all.

However, the other soldiers were.

‘Cough!’

‘Aaaah…’

‘S, save me! Send me home…’

Casualties were mounting.

The number of allies on the ally information window was dropping at an alarming rate. I couldn’t bear to look at the window any longer and turned it off.

I didn’t know.

When I played the game, I didn’t know.

That this was a place where people lived.

That death wasn’t just a simple number, but was accompanied by such terrible screams and smells.

The front line shrank in an instant. At this rate, it seemed like the defense line would completely collapse before we could even fire four shots, let alone five.

‘Hey- you monster bastards!’

It was then.

Someone shouted hoarsely from outside the defense line. I quickly looked in that direction.

The one shouting in the middle of the monsters was Ken.

‘Over here, over here! Look at me!’

In the meantime, Ken had been drawing the enemies’ attention and hiding outside the walls, succeeding in luring some of the spiders away.

But when the spider queen changed her orders and all the spiders rushed towards the battery, he was left alone outside.

He could have run away. He had so many family members to feed.

‘You damn spider bastards! I am Sir Ken, a knight of the Empire!’

But Ken remained faithful to his duty until the end.

Even while trembling with fear of the spiders, he loudly drew the enemy’s attention.

Was it because of my threats? Or…

Kieeeeeeek-!

When dozens of spiders that had been breaking down the defense line turned to look at Ken, I knew instinctively.

That I wouldn’t be able to ask why he came back.

Dozens of black spiders stopped their attack on our side and rushed towards Ken.

Ken led them away, trying to activate his stealth trait by hiding behind a collapsed stone wall, but.

‘Ah.’

His stamina was already depleted, and he couldn’t activate [Thief’s Survival].

Dozens of spiders rushed at him. Ken looked towards me on the battery, then smiled bitterly with a tearful face.

‘Damn it, I knew this would happen…’

*Thud! Thwack! Thwack!*

The gruesome sounds of flesh tearing were clearly audible even from afar.

I didn’t look away and watched his death clearly.

It wasn’t just Ken. Everywhere, humans were being slaughtered by monsters.

I bit my lip so hard that blood flowed.

In the meantime, while playing this game, I had willingly thrown away allies when necessary.

This damn game was designed that way. To get to the next stage, someone had to die.

To save someone, to get that item, to achieve that side quest, to break that achievement…

Someone had to die, and I willingly killed them.

For the efficient clearing of the entire game, I threw countless subordinates to their deaths without any remorse. I never questioned that action.

‘Stop.’

But now I realized.

‘Stop…’

The meaning of what I had been doing.

‘Stop it, you damn monster bastards!’

That all those deaths were so painful.

Watching people fall, spraying blood before my eyes, I screamed without realizing it.

‘Stooooooop-!’

But, they don’t stop.

Screams don’t stop monsters. There’s only ever one way to stop monsters.

We have to kill them.

Before we die.

‘Your Highness!’

I turned my head sharply at the artillery captain’s voice.

‘The fourth shot is loaded! But the cannon barrel won’t hold up with the repeated overloading and cooling…’

‘Damian!’

I ignored the artillery captain’s words and shouted to Damian.

‘Fire-!’

Blood tears were streaming down Damian’s large eyes.

His face was pale, without a trace of blood. It seemed his body couldn’t handle the use of [Clairvoyance].

But Damian gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger.

*Fzzzt, fzzzzzt…!*

*Thwack!*

The fourth shot.

The bright blue mana bullet drew a dizzying arc through the sky and flew again over the queen’s group.

This time, dozens of escort spiders threw themselves forward to block it.

But the mana bullet drew a bizarre trajectory in the air, avoiding most of them,

*Thwack!*

landing.

It struck the queen’s head precisely.

This was Clairvoyance.

The strongest cheat trait, which corrected the hit score to just before overflow, succeeded in hitting the queen, even ignoring the laws of physics.

Kii, iii…

However, however-

Kiyaaaaaaaaak-!

In the midst of the blazing flames and smoke of the explosion, the damn spider queen was still alive.

The artillerymen all collapsed to the ground at the queen’s terrible roar. Damian, who had been standing holding the aiming device, couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed.

Despair was etched on everyone’s faces.

‘It’s not working, our attacks…’

The artillery captain muttered in a weak voice. His hands, blistered from cooling the heated cannon barrel, were covered in blisters.

‘The cannon barrel is at its limit. If we try to fire one more time, the mana cannon itself will explode.’

‘……’

‘It’s over anyway. It’s better to give up…’

The other soldiers seemed to agree, looking up at me with tired faces. I took a rough breath and looked around.

The defense line was already on the verge of annihilation.

Spiders were swarming under the battery.

Lukas was encouraging the last remaining soldiers, maintaining the final defense line.

His body was covered more with his own blood than with spider blood.

I turned my head towards Damian. Damian was groaning, his eyes tightly closed, blood streaming down them.

The cannon was about to break, the defense line had collapsed, and the shooter couldn’t even open his eyes.

We had piled up everyone’s sacrifices to fire at the queen of the monsters, but the queen didn’t even flinch.

Is this the end?

Really, is there no hope left…

‘No!’

It was then.

‘There’s definitely an impact! The queen’s outer shell has been peeled off!’

Someone shouted. Everyone looked in surprise.

A soldier who remained faithful to his role even in this situation. It was the scout. He took his face away from the telescope and shouted.

‘If we shoot just one more time, we can kill her-‘

The next moment.

*Kugugung…*

The entire battery vibrated violently, and then,

*Kuwagwagwang!*

The floor collapsed.

The black spider siege units, which had been slowly approaching, simultaneously slammed their heavy armored bodies into the battery, smashing it.

With a single coordinated charge, the battery was completely shattered. Everyone standing on it fell helplessly.

Amidst the falling people and the wreckage of the shattered cannon.

I closed my eyes as I fell to the ground.

It collapsed.

The whole world, and the hope of clearing it.

Everything.

***

‘Your Highness.’

A clear voice was heard.

I barely opened my eyes amidst the pain that felt like my whole body was being torn apart.

In front of me… was Lukas.

Lukas was lying on top of me, as if covering my body that had fallen to the ground.

And on Lukas’s back, the debris of the collapsed building was pouring down.

He had blocked the debris of the building that had fallen on me with his own body.

‘Lukas?!’

I quickly regained my senses and hurriedly got up.

As I moved away, Lukas groaned and pushed the stones that had fallen on his back to the side.

‘Are you… are you hurt, Your Highness?’

‘That’s what I should be saying, Lukas! Are you okay…’

I stopped talking.

Lukas’s back was covered in blood. The wounds he had sustained while protecting me from the collapsing building were greater than the wounds he had sustained from the spiders.

‘Cough!’

Lukas coughed up blood and muttered with a pale face.

‘Your Highness, do you remember? It’s been almost 20 years since that old day.’

‘……’

I don’t remember.

I am just a game player who has possessed this body, unable to share any memories with you.

‘When you first met me and took me as your escort, you told me.’

‘……What, did I say?’

‘I may not become an emperor, but I will become the coolest man in the world.’

A faint smile flickered on Lukas’s face as he reminisced about his childhood.

‘So, you who will be my escort, make sure you become the coolest knight in the world.’

‘……’

‘It was a time when I was just a naive child, but your words touched my heart so much. I have always held them close to my heart.’

Lukas looked at me with his blood-soaked face.

‘Your Highness. I believe in you.’

‘Even in this situation?’

‘Anytime, anywhere.’

And Lukas collapsed.

I caught Lukas as he fell to the side and carefully laid him on the ground. It was a fatal wound, but thankfully, he wasn’t dead.

‘Hold on, Lukas.’

You are the protagonist, the savior of this world.

You can’t die in a place like this.

I quickly looked around to assess the situation. On the collapsed floor of the battery, there were shattered cannons and injured soldiers.

Why haven’t the spiders killed us yet?

‘Your Highness.’

The question was quickly answered.

On the first floor of the collapsed battery. At the entrance of the narrow passage.

‘It’s not over yet.’

Lily was standing there.

Activating her [Flame Skin] trait, she was taking the attacks of the spiders that were swarming behind her with her bare body. She had been blocking the entrance of the passage all this time.

Lily, with a pale blue face, drank the last mana potion and asked with trembling lips.

‘Right?’