I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 737

Leaving their husband, Mikhail, happily chatting with Ash, the commander of this front line.

The five Vermillion Queens went out onto the deck of the airship. They wanted to get some fresh air to clear their stuffy minds.

“Wow, did you all see Mikhail’s face?”

“Yeah. He was beaming, wasn’t he?”

“So, the boys’ talk is that fun…?”

The young new king of Vermillion, along with the Crown Prince of the Everblack Empire and the Master of the Ivory Tower, were chatting with bright smiles and relaxed faces.

A faint jealousy flickered in the eyes of the five queens as they grumbled, thinking about that scene.

“He never shows us that face.”

“Hmph, really. I’m going to kill him tonight…”

“I’ll torment him all night until he confesses what he did wrong.”

Just as the five queens were starting to plan Mikhail’s grand execution ceremony(?) for tonight.

Squeak….

Along the side of the airship La Mancha, where strong winds were raging.

A figure was slowly, but surely, crawling up.

It was a bloodied hunting dog, its body mangled.

Despite the severe injuries, the hunting dog’s green eyes flashed as it crawled up the side of the airship… and finally made it onto the deck.

《Krrr!》

The hunting dog that reached the deck shook its body.

“Huh?”

One of the five queens, who was a beat late in noticing the dog, pointed her finger.

“Isn’t that… a monster?”

“What?”

All five queens turned around in surprise and were startled.

It was a monster belonging to the Hell Hounds legion that Ash had discovered earlier.

“Oh my god, it must have boarded the airship during the contact earlier!”

It was a small monster, and it was able to climb up here, avoiding La Mancha’s sensors.

The queens were about to take out their weapons to subdue the monster, but then they realized.

They had left their weapons tied to the griffon saddles.

They thought this airship was safe…!

“We need to retreat inside the airship…!”

But before the five queens could return inside the airship in time,

《Kaaaaa!》

The zombie hunting dog, scattering blood all over its body, charged faster.

***

“How’s the situation?”

I asked Macmillan as I returned to the bridge.

Mikhail had returned, and the Sky Knights, a powerful force, had joined us.

Thanks to that, the atmosphere had briefly become bright with laughter, but the situation was not very optimistic.

As soon as I returned, Macmillan reported as if he had been waiting for me.

“You’ve come at the right time, Your Highness! The zombies have begun their march!”

“……!”

“And… at an incredible speed!”

After La Mancha increased its altitude, the zombies gave up chasing La Mancha.

Instead, they seemed to have decided to hurry towards their destination, the north—the path to the human realm.

The situation on the ground was projected onto the magic panel on the bridge. Everyone gathered there sighed.

Krrrrrrrr!

It was like a river of corpses flowing.

The zombie monsters, as if their slow movements until now had been a lie, tangled with each other, repeatedly tripping and falling… but they began to rush north at a terrifying speed.

“What’s the estimated time to reach the Crossroads?”

“At this speed, it’s two days and twelve hours from now!”

What kind of zombie is faster than a horse?

Mikhail, who had followed me into the bridge and was watching this scene with a pale face, asked me cautiously.

“There must be a way to defeat these guys, Prince Ash?”

“…….”

Everyone’s gaze, as they glanced at me, was full of trust.

They felt confident that I would solve this problem as I had defeated countless monster legions before.

Yes. Of course, there is a way.

But.

“…….”

I was lost in thought.

The standard method is as always.

Before reaching the Crossroads, we would nibble away at this zombie monster legion using all means possible, and then, in front of the Crossroads, we would mobilize our forces to eliminate the remaining stragglers.

This is the standard method for dealing with monsters, and I plan to use this method again this time. The only problem is.

‘Our incomplete forces.’

Do we have enough defensive power at the current Crossroads to crush the main force of the enemy that remains after nibbling away at them?

And.

‘The abnormally high power of the enemy monster legion….’

The rule of this ‘Game of Destruction’ was that even deploying two monster legions simultaneously would incur a penalty.

The penalty from the Fly King battle, where imps and flies were deployed, was so severe that we didn’t even proceed with four subsequent defense battles.

But look at what’s in front of us now.

Even though their combat power has drastically decreased due to their zombie state, dozens of monster legions are united and moving north.

‘This defense game’s difficulty has already gone crazy, but this is too different.’

Considering the previous insane difficulty, it’s a bit strange to say this.

The previous stages were subtly, or rather blatantly, concerned with the establishment of a ‘game.’

It meant that the balance as a match was maintained. Especially when the Demon King himself was setting the stage.

The Fly King, or the Night Bringer, who tried to destroy the world without looking back, was different from the Demon King.

The Demon King’s goal was, how should I put it… he wanted me to suffer as much as possible, but he didn’t want me to be completely broken.

Although I’ve never met him face to face, I’ve shared the stage with the Demon King dozens of times… no, if you include the countless repetitions and experiences in the game, it’s been countless times.

I know his style.

‘Seeing that the King’s Scepter authority has been revoked, the Demon King’s return itself is certain.’

Only the Demon King could revive the already dead Cromwell.

My opponent right now is definitely that Demon King.

But what is this heterogeneous enemy composition in this stage….

‘If it were the usual Demon King….’

It’s ridiculous to say this to the enemy.

He would have planted a ‘breakthrough’ or a ‘weakness’ that we could overcome. No, it would be more accurate to say that he knew about it and left it alone.

‘The enemy’s weakness….’

I rested my chin on my hand and pondered.

‘Let’s think about it. The characteristics of zombies, the characteristics of demon species, the characteristics of Cromwell….’

Inside the airship, which was hurrying back to the Crossroads ahead of the advancing zombie legion, I was lost in thought for a while.

Everyone on the bridge maintained a quiet atmosphere as if not to disturb my thoughts.

How long had this quiet flight continued?

Thump…! Thump…! Thump…!

The outside of the bridge began to become noisy.

At first, everyone didn’t pay much attention, but soon the noise grew louder and louder.

No, it wasn’t just noise. Screams and roars began to mix. People inside the bridge, sensing something was wrong, exchanged glances.

“Hey, what’s going on….”

Just as Diermuidin opened the bridge door and was about to ask outside,

“Uwaaaaaa!”

One of my soldiers outside screamed horribly and tried to jump into the bridge.

Diermuidin, terrified, froze, but Mikhail moved forward with blinding speed and delivered a back kick.

Thwack-!

“Kuh-heok!”

The soldier was thrown back outside with the same speed he had been running. Immediately after, Mikhail apologized with a startled face.

“S-sorry. I was so surprised that he suddenly rushed at me. Are you okay?”

“Uwaaa! Aaaaaaa!”

But the soldier continued to scream and tried to enter the bridge.

Flustered, Mikhail slammed the bridge door shut, and the soldier pounded on the bridge door with his fists, screaming.

“What’s wrong with this guy?”

“Get out of the way!”

Pushing Mikhail aside, I stood in front of the bridge door and examined the soldier’s condition through the transparent glass part of the door.

“Aaa! Aaaaaa…!”

His bloodshot eyes had completely lost their reason, and his mouth was trying to bite through the glass to get to us inside the bridge.

And, on his forearm….

There was a clear bite mark, as if someone else had bitten him.

I broke out in a cold sweat.

“This, could it be.”

“Your Highness! P-please look at this…!”

After locking the bridge door, I turned around. Macmillan was operating the magic panel with a pale face.

“This is the current situation inside La Mancha.”

Macmillan operated the optical devices installed inside the airship to show the inside of the airship.

Everyone was screaming with a similar appearance to the soldier outside, and they were running to catch the people who were still okay.

A scene was shown on the screen where a soldier was caught and bitten.

「Aaa, it hurts, uwaaaaa…!」

The soldier, who was bleeding from the bite wound, was in pain, and then, he transformed into the same appearance as the others and began to roar.

“……Infected.”

I said, sweating profusely.

“Someone was bitten by a zombie monster, and the infection spread.”

“That can’t be! When we conducted the bombing operation with La Mancha, there was no possibility of infection, and the Sky Knights also underwent quarantine after the battle! No one was injured!”

Macmillan strongly refuted, but what could we do? This was reality.

Through a small gap that we didn’t catch, the infection had spread as a result.

‘The zombies in this world are a kind of ‘state.’

If you get bitten, you get ‘infected,’ but this alone doesn’t make you a zombie. Only when you die in the infected state does the corpse rise and move, attacking the living.

In other words, the people outside are not zombies yet.

It would be more appropriate to call them ‘infected’ in a state that has become more ferocious due to the influence of the infection.

“They don’t seem just a little ferocious?!”

“……I’ve never actually seen someone bitten before either.”

Usually, people get eaten and die right when they get bitten by a zombie.

Anyway, it would be easier to think that people turn into infected, and then if they die in that state, they turn into zombies. It’s a three-stage transformation: people → infected → zombies.

And there’s another characteristic… they don’t attack other infected people.

This is the secret to how the zombie legion maintains its numbers. It seems that a kind of same-species signal is emitted between them.

“So, they’re not monsters yet. They’re just patients infected with the zombie plague.”

Diermuidin calmly refuted my conclusion.

“That’s just the symptom of a generally known zombification plague, Prince Ash. We don’t know what kind of mutation has occurred as the infection spread to the monsters below.”

“…….”

“And if there are any deaths among the infected outside, and if we return like this, even the Crossroads….”

Diermuidin didn’t bother to finish his sentence, but the implication was clear enough.

This airship was already contaminated.

All the crew members inside the ship, except for the bridge, were infected. And they are currently ‘infected,’ but they could turn into ‘zombies’ at any time.

We must not return to the Crossroads in this state.

It could lead to a result that endangers not only the Crossroads but also the entire human realm.

Then….

Beep. Beep.

At that moment, a communication came in.

Macmillan, who had checked the location of the communication, shouted.

“A communication has come in through the communication network installed in the warehouse near the hangar!”

“Connect it.”

The communication was connected.

After a moment, a trembling voice was heard along with sobbing.

「Mikhail, are you there…?」

It was the voice of one of Mikhail’s five queens.