I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 745

For a while, the battle unfolded favorably in this manner.

Beyond the three ‘Party Halls’ lay the crossfire zone, followed by ballista and archer units, and finally, the very prickly new ramparts.

The zombie monsters that rushed in first were tenacious, but after passing through this long defense line, they eventually collapsed and died.

Thus, the early stages of the battle went well, but…

“……!”

The monsters wouldn’t just meekly accept their fate.

Groooaaan…

Ahhhhhhh!

With screams that seemed to be scraped from the very bottom of the zombie monsters’ souls,

Thud…! Thud…! Thud…!

Enormous zombie monsters poured out from the front.

While other zombie monsters were also huge compared to humans, these were particularly tall and robust.

I gritted my teeth as I observed them.

“Flame Giants…!”

One of the most powerful legions among the giant races, with strength similar to Frost Giants… a typical ‘overwhelming with stats’ type of monster.

And these stat-based monsters are the ones that fully benefit from zombification.

Because they fight only with physical abilities, without any special powers or skills, they actually gain more than they lose when they become zombies.

‘Moreover, these bastards…’

As ‘Flame Giants,’ they are immune to explosions and flames!

Boom! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Amidst the exploding mines and the flames of the pouring artillery, the Flame Giants were unscathed.

The ones at the front easily withstood the barrage of artillery fire. In an instant, the entire zombie monster legion following behind them rapidly approached Crossroads.

The crossfire zone was breached.

Unease spread among the soldiers. However, this was part of the pre-planned strategy!

“Then, shall we move on to the next phase!”

I raised my hand in the air and then swung my fist in a circle.

Then,

Whirrrrr-!

A flying ship soared up from the Crossroads.

La Mancha.

And Mikhail and the griffons escorting it!

“Go-!”

Whoosh!

The air force of the World Tree Defense Line, having launched, quickly closed the distance and flew over the monsters’ heads.

I stretched out my hand and shouted.

“Pour it down-!”

As if my words were heard, the lower hatch of La Mancha opened at the perfect moment…

Swoooooosh!

They literally ‘poured’ the cure.

It was similar to how airplanes spray pesticides over large farms on Earth.

The cure, raining down like a downpour, poured over the heads of the zombie monsters. The zombie monsters writhed in agony.

In preparation for the possibility that they might develop resistance to the cure, we had been gradually reducing the dilution and increasing the concentration of the cure.

Now, at this decisive moment, we were not holding back on using the undiluted cure!

Groooaaan…

Ahhhhhhh…!

A vast number of zombies, having been showered with the undiluted cure, were all forcibly ‘cured,’ and the parasites fell out, releasing them from their zombie state.

I clenched my fist as I watched this scene.

This was the tactic we had devised.

Deploy as many layers of defense as possible to weaken them with general firepower, and then drop the cure on the elite monsters that break through these lines in large numbers!

And, these cured elite monsters, for a short time before they return to being corpses after being released from their zombie state…

Graaaaaah!

Kyaaaaaaaa-!

Become a wall of monsters.

The monsters, who had not been hostile to each other as hosts of the same zombifying parasite, began to attack the monsters that had been released from their zombie state.

The Flame Giants, who had been walking sturdily at the front, were now being attacked, and even as they fell and died, released from their zombie state, they swung their fists backward, turning other zombies into mincemeat.

In an instant, the monsters caused infighting and created a bottleneck. I nodded in satisfaction.

This defense game, ‘Game of Extinction,’ is so difficult that the game is practically over if even two monster legions appear.

However, in this stage, dozens of monster legions appeared simultaneously, even if they were zombified.

At this rate, it wouldn’t even qualify as a ‘stage.’ That is something neither the Demon King nor the Observer would allow.

Therefore, there must be a ‘gimmick’ to clear it… and the path I chose was this cure.

And, so far, it’s working very well.

Not only does it forcibly release them from their zombie state, neutralizing them, but it also makes them fight each other, reducing their numbers.

With this, we can safely get through this…!

「Cure deployment complete. Will retreat temporarily and then return.」

The pilot of La Mancha communicated, and the massive airship circled in the air and returned towards Crossroads. It had deployed all the cure it had carried in one go.

Now, it would return to the hangar to refill the cure and then re-enter the battlefield to deploy it again… this process would be repeated.

We would not hold back on using all the cure we had been storing up, pouring it all out.

Thus, a new zone was created on the battlefield. It was now divided into four main zones.

The three layers of Party Halls, where the installed traps were concentrated.

The crossfire zone formed by the Crossroads artillery.

The infighting wall of flesh where the monsters released from zombification and the zombies fought each other.

The sniping zone of the ballista and archers.

The Party Halls seemed to have used up most of the mines and installed traps, but the newly formed infighting wall of flesh became a new and effective defense line.

The corpses of the monsters that killed each other literally formed a wall of flesh. The monsters were constantly bottlenecked and slowed down.

The enemies trapped in this path were melted down by our ballista and archer units, and the airship La Mancha, newly filled with the cure, flew over their heads and deployed the cure.

As I observed the battle situation, which was starting to turn in our favor again, everyone remained tense.

Because everyone now knew that the ‘real’ thing had not yet begun.

And…

Thud-!

That ‘real’ thing appeared.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud-!

A giant, even larger than the Flame Giants that had preceded it, stepped forward.

While the bodies of the Flame Giants had been burning red, this giant’s body was already charred black.

Above its head was a halo made of flames…

I recognized the opponent’s identity and gritted my teeth.

“Flame Giant King…!”

That’s right.

This zombie monster legion was the result of most of the monster legions gathered in the 10th district being zombified and pouring out all at once.

Naturally, the legion commander individuals of each legion were also zombified and were advancing together…!

The Flame Giant King opened its mouth wide and spewed out a huge burst of flames instead of a sound. Then, it began to dash forward, exhaling black smoke from its mouth.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

It had the power of a steam locomotive exhaling smoke.

Thwack-!

The Flame Giant King, having rushed in, approached its own legion that had been released from zombification—the Flame Giants—and extended a huge fist engulfed in flames…

Fwoooosh!

It blew away the upper bodies of those who had once been its subordinates.

The wall of flesh was instantly destroyed by the Flame Giant King’s two arms, which were swung with great force. The monsters released from zombification did not last long and were annihilated.

Whoosh…

The Flame Giant King, exhaling flames from its mouth, turned its blazing eyes towards us. As if to indicate its zombified state, the flames in its eyes were tainted green.

And,

Thud-!

It began to stride towards us.

“Shoot, shoot!”

“Stop its approach-!”

The horrified ballista unit and archers concentrated their attacks on the Flame Giant King.

Thud thud thud…!

However.

The Flame Giant King silently advanced, enduring the rain of arrows. Its body was so huge that it continued to walk forward as if it didn’t even notice, despite being hit by every single arrow.

An absurd, transcendentally hard body.

The archers, realizing that normal sniping was not working, lowered their bows with pale faces.

This was a legion commander.

The majesty of a boss-level entity.

Moreover…

This one wasn’t the end.

Thud…! Thud…! Thud…!

Shaking the ground, huge zombie monsters appeared one after another behind the Flame Giant King.

Upon confirming the appearance of named monsters, observers from all directions shouted out reports like screams.

“Reporting! Legion commander-level entities appearing in succession-!”

“It’s not just the ‘Flame Giant King’! ‘Cerberus’ and ‘Orthrus’ of the Hellhound Legion, appearing!”

“The commander of the Tentacle Snail Legion, codename ‘Vortex,’ confirmed!”

“The ‘Wingless Cicada Lord,’ at the head of the swarm…!”

“Following them, ‘Ten Horns,’ ‘Groom Devourer,’ ‘Thousand Legs’… they keep appearing-!”

The last ones were the monster legion commanders of the rhinoceros, mantis, and centipede legions, respectively.

After the ordinary zombie monsters were thinned out by being burned, blown up, and killed at the front defense line, the various legion commanders finally emerged and took the lead of the formation.

‘It’s like an all-star lineup.’

I clicked my tongue as I observed the splendid faces.

Anyone would think this was the final stage, huh?

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The procession of legion commander-level entities, crushing everything in their path, including the Party Halls and the crossfire zone.

Even though they were zombified, they all possessed boss-level stats. It was difficult to inflict significant damage with ordinary artillery or ballista. Moreover, their numbers were not small.

At least ten, maybe more…

Whirrrrr!

La Mancha, having flown in again, poured the cure over their heads, but.

Even though we poured the undiluted cure, perhaps due to the legion commander buff, or perhaps the parasites in their heads had become boss-level parasites, they continued to advance without being released from their zombie state.

The soldiers turned pale as the distance between them and the monsters rapidly closed.

“Just follow the plan!”

I encouraged the soldiers.

“Leave the legion commander-level zombies alone! Focus on thinning out the rest behind them!”

“Ye, yes…!”

“Shoot, shoot! Pour down the fire-!”

As my orders were given, the soldiers skillfully adjusted their aim, intentionally avoiding the legion commander-level monsters and pouring in artillery fire.

One of the advantages of artillery fire is splash damage, isn’t it? It inflicts area-of-effect damage at the point of impact.

The remaining zombies, hiding behind the sturdy legion commanders, were blown up one after another. The ordinary zombie monsters began to be thinned out again.

The problem was the enormous number of legion commanders pushing in.

To unleash this many legion commander-level entities at once, whether it’s a lack of mercy or a lack of balance.

“It’s unreasonable and shitty, but what can we do…”

I grinned and turned to the side.

“Life is always like this, isn’t it? Don’t you think so, Damian?”

“Indeed, Your Highness.”

Damian, who smiled back, sat in the modified ballista gunner’s seat assigned to him.

“And overcoming those obstacles is also what life is about.”

Well said, my sniper!

Click! Click! Click!

As Damian prepared the ballista for firing, the priests and alchemists who were on standby loaded ‘special bullets’ into the modified ballista.

The special bullets… were arrows with large warheads attached, filled with an unknown liquid that sloshed around.

‘First, we sprayed diluted cure, and then we administered undiluted cure.’

Then what’s next?

“It’s a special concentrated cure, you monsters-!”

This is the highest-grade special concentrated cure bullet, of which there are only a few on this front, created by overworking our temple priests, alchemists, spiritists, and even King Poseidon!

“Treat them with care, Damian!”

“Yes!”

Damian carefully adjusted the firing angle of the modified ballista.

And he infused his magic power into the bullet. Because I knew Damian’s skills, I could see all the techniques Damian was using on the bullet.

On the outside of the bullet, [Magic Bullet of Annihilation].

On the inside of the bullet, [Magic Bullet of Healing].

He had simultaneously contained two magic bullets in one bullet.

The [Magic Bullet of Annihilation] would increase the bullet’s penetration power, and the [Magic Bullet of Healing] would enhance the effect of the cure.

And Damian, with his large brown eyes gleaming, placed his hand on the trigger.

“Sniping-!”

Thud-!

With a short, sharp reverberation, the modified ballista fired the special bullet…

Whoosh!

The flying bullet headed straight for the Flame Giant King’s crown.

The Flame Giant King tried to block the special bullet by swinging its huge hand,

《…?!》

We have a [Clairvoyance] user here.

The special bullet, strangely swirling and changing its trajectory, narrowly slipped through the Giant King’s fingers and-

Thwack…!

Pierced the Flame Giant King’s eye and embedded itself in its head.