I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 752

The height of the Crossroad’s main castle walls was lower than the newly installed Black Dragon Wall on the outskirts. Because of this, most of the artifacts installed on the main castle walls couldn’t be used in the previous battle because they couldn’t secure a clear field of vision. But this time, the situation was completely reversed. Artifacts were in a better position than cannons or ballistae to deal with the monsters that had entered the main castle.

The alchemists and mages aligned the artifacts towards the monsters, their minds set on one thing.

‘We can’t keep losing to the artillery forever!’

Unbeknownst to many, there was a silent pride battle between the different troop types of the Crossroad soldiers. Among them, the artillery unit was the most arrogant. They were also showered with Ash’s favoritism, and in reality, they were the elite unit that recorded the most kills. But that was only in terms of general monster kill counts. When it came to boss monsters and playing a decisive role in clearing stages, it was always the artifact team, wasn’t it?

The artifact team worked hard, determined to make their presence known in the remaining battles today. Among them was the artifact team’s sore spot: the highest-grade defense artifact, [Start Over From the Beginning!]. This equipment could forcibly teleport an opponent whose entire body was captured within the metal plate to the end of the southern field of Crossroad. It could only be used once per stage. It was a high-grade, expensive piece of equipment that devoured money and time like a hippo for maintenance, but its performance in actual combat was always ambiguous.

Still, in the recent battle against the Fly King, it managed to eliminate part of the Fly King’s wings, finding a clue for the strategy. And in the Black Dragon battle, it teleported the allied suicide squad right in front of the Black Dragon, so it had accumulated some achievements. However, its original function—to forcibly break the enemy’s core forces at the forefront—had not been properly fulfilled until now.

‘This time for sure!’

The alchemists swallowed hard as they aimed the metal plate at the enemy monsters. Currently, there were still many monsters around the enemy commander, Cromwell, who was being charged by the allied heroes. If they could ‘photograph’ the monsters other than Cromwell and forcibly move them to the end of the southern field, it would be a great help to the allied heroes charging in.

“Get ready, get ready-!”

Besides [Start Over From the Beginning!], all sorts of other artifacts had finished their activation preparations. And after waiting for the optimal timing—

***

Whoosh!

Led by Lucas, the melee heroes slid down the castle walls. They didn’t slide straight down the vertical walls. Instead, I connected a magic wall to the ground like a slide, and they nimbly rode down it.

“There’s no clear information about the state of that guy right now!” I shouted, charging alongside them from one row behind. “You have to fight by improvising according to the situation! Don’t let your guard down for even a second, and always stay alert!”

“Yes!” Everyone shouted in unison. My heroes were already veterans among veterans. There was no need to give such instructions. The important thing was my role. No matter what state Cromwell was in, or what form he changed into, I had to give the most appropriate instructions at that moment.

The heroes who had finished descending the castle walls naturally formed a charging formation and ran forward. All sorts of grotesque monsters that had poured out from Cromwell’s main body were filling our path.

《Aaaah, aaaaaah-!》

《Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh!》

《It hurts, aaaaaah!》

Most of the flesh monsters had spread into the city, but there were still a considerable number of monsters around Cromwell, gnashing their teeth. I gritted my teeth. Before fighting Cromwell, it seemed like we would have to struggle quite a bit to break through these many guys…?!

Whirr!

Right then, the sound of an artifact activating was heard.

Click-!

Along with a sound like a camera shutter going off, the hundreds of huge flesh monsters that had been blocking our path disappeared in an instant.

“Huh?”

“What…”

“What is this?!”

The heroes who were running at the front widened their eyes in surprise. I was the same.

‘This is… forced teleportation!’

I turned around. Then, I saw the alchemists and mages on the castle walls, holding onto each other and jumping up and down with a metal plate-shaped artifact between them.

“Hooray-!”

“We finally did it!”

“See! We can do it, you tin can artifact!”

Only then did I clearly understand the situation. After that long period of humiliation… [Start Over From the Beginning!] had finally succeeded in fulfilling its original role! Of course, the forcibly moved monsters weren’t dead; they were just thrown far out of the city. But this was still something!

“The enemy monster’s front defense is open!” I shouted, waving the magic flag forward. “Now is the time! Let’s go-!”

At the same time as my shout, other artifacts on the castle walls also activated in succession.

Flash! Flash…!

Flashes of light occurred, and various beneficial magic effects were poured on us, while harmful magic effects were poured on the enemies. Our suicide squad heroes dashed forward without hesitation, as if they had caught the wind in their sails, not wanting to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And…

“……!”

[Start Over From the Beginning!] had cleared away most of the monsters, and around the corpse of the reindeer monster, in the now much emptier monster base, only a few flesh monsters remained, lurking around Cromwell. Right next to Cromwell—especially the huge flesh monsters. There were flesh monsters that were similar in size and shape to the giant, mantis, dog, and snail-like monsters that Cromwell had eaten earlier, lurking around. It seemed that these guys were too huge to be fully captured by [Start Over From the Beginning!], which was why they hadn’t been removed.

Whoosh!

Whoooosh!

From these monsters’ bodies, a terrifying number of tentacles and a dreadful evil energy surged out.

《Aaaaaaaah-!》

《Giggiggiggiggiggig.》

《We’re hungry too, let us eat!》

The huge flesh monsters rushed forward, their countless teeth gleaming.

‘You don’t have to emphasize that you’re boss-level so much!’ I clicked my tongue. Thud thud thud! Among them, a huge centipede-shaped flesh monster rushed out to meet us, extending tentacles instead of legs in all directions.

‘It might be different in a defensive battle where we avoid close combat as much as possible, but since we’ve decided to handle it anyway, I’ll use everything!’ Having made my decision, I shouted, “Kraken! Jormungandr!” I activated the [Kraken’s Ring] and simultaneously opened the captured monster subspace. “Come out, all of you-!”

Whoooosh!

Then, magic circles intertwined in the air, and the huge cephalopod monster—the Kraken—burst out with a terrifying roar. At the same time, Jormungandr, who had been in the form of a small snake, activated [Shed Skin of the Old God] and regained his prime ‘World Serpent’ form.

Thump!

The two colossal monsters instantly crushed the centipede flesh monster and fell to the ground. The centipede flesh monster also twisted its huge body in resistance, but this side had the Kraken, who could be called the master of tentacles, and Jormungandr, who had the power to destroy the world for just 10 minutes. Crack! Crunch…! The Kraken and Jormungandr, as if they had been cooperating for a long time, instantly coordinated their breathing, each wrapping around the centipede flesh monster’s entire body… and crushed it in an instant.

Crack! Craaaack!

With a gruesome sound of flesh tearing, the centipede flesh monster was crushed and slowly collapsed.

《Whoooosh!》

《Hiss, hiss, north, hiss.》

The victorious octopus and snake slowly raised their bodies, and in the next moment,

《Chirp! Chirp!》

《Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat…!》

At this scene of the great monster battle, a mantis-shaped flesh monster and a giant-shaped flesh monster also roared and joined the fray. Crash! Crash…! The giant monsters collided with each other, turning the surroundings into a wasteland. A cloud of dust rose in the area. It was fortunate that it was the southern open space with few buildings, but please, don’t make such a mess! I’m sick of damage restoration!

At that moment, two huge dog-shaped flesh monsters rushed towards us. They had the forms of a three-headed dog and a two-headed dog. No matter how you looked at them, they were Cerberus and Orthrus, whom Cromwell had eaten earlier.

“Looking like chewed-up gum that’s been spat out… !” Looking at the guys who were wriggling their tentacles and gnashing their teeth, I decided to think simply. “These guys are zombies too! As long as we’re careful of their tentacles and teeth, they’re just lumps of meat monsters that can’t use other abilities!” Of course, the tentacles and teeth were a bit scary! But if you think about it calmly, that’s just physical ability, far from their abilities when they were alive. It hadn’t been a long time, but it was the conclusion I had reached while observing the monsters’ behavior from the castle walls, and as I said, the two flesh dogs didn’t use any of their hellhound abilities at all.

《Krah, aah, aah!》

Still, their terrifying physical abilities were intact, and they rushed towards us in an instant, opening their huge mouths wide— Thud! Thud-! Each of their chests was pierced by two magic spears that fell like missiles from the sky, and they were pinned to the ground along with the spears, unable to move any further. Looking up, I saw Mikhail, riding his griffin, descending like a shooting star. He had thrown the spears while descending on his griffin. Whoosh! Mikhail, who had descended from the sky to the ground in the blink of an eye, grabbed the twin spears he had thrown, and with a burst of crimson magic, pulled them out in an instant. Whoosh…! The two hellhound-shaped flesh monsters that had been struggling were cut in half. Mikhail, lightly spinning his spears, smiled and lightly kicked the sides of his griffin, soaring back into the sky. “Let’s go. I’ll provide cover from above.”

The youngest married man of the Vermillion Kingdom… no, the youngest king, soared back into the sky in an instant, and at the same time, my heroes also shouted and rushed forward, colliding with the monsters. While Torkel raised his huge shield and blocked all the tentacles pouring in from all directions, Kuilhan scattered his red aura-infused kicks like a storm, smashing the monsters. When Verdandi swung her green magic-infused dagger once, ranged slashes poured out, bisecting all the flesh monsters that came within range. When Kellybay placed her chisel on the huge, high flesh wall and swung her hammer, the wall was split open in an instant, creating a path. Zenith and Rosetta, who had finished clearing their assigned areas, each activated [Oath of Healing] and [Oath of Protection], pouring divine power like rain in all directions… burning away all the small flesh monsters that were still wriggling and trying to sprout tentacles even in their fragmented state.

《Kieeeeeeeeeee!》

Finally, a huge slug-shaped flesh monster blocked our path, letting out a hideous scream. “…Get out of the way, you abomination.” Thud-! Lucas, who had run forward, slashed fiercely with his sword, splitting it open and setting its entire body on fire at the same time. [Excalibur] and [Bestowed Sword] emitted light simultaneously, blasting the monster. Lucas lightly shook the twin swords on the ground and then bowed politely to me. “My lord.” “Mm.” I walked along the path my heroes had made. The path had never stopped. Thud! Tap…! Other heroes who had finished clearing their assigned areas in various parts of the city joined us one after another, following behind me. In the end, our main force was able to break through all resistance and reach the enemy commander. 《…….》 Standing still amidst the corpses and flesh hides, the boss monster of this stage— Cromwell was there.