I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 773

We retreated and joined the previously withdrawn soldiers at the Crossroads main fortress.

Only two of the three mobile fortresses that had been deployed as forward bases returned, but we placed those two in front of Crossroads and formed a new defensive line.

“The Apocalypse Knights are composed of four units, and they advance separately, each collecting ‘materials,'” I explained calmly.

“They extract the essence of pestilence, war, famine, and death from the humans they defeat. And based on this collected essence, the ones who rejoin…”

A sigh escaped me during the explanation.

“They combine again.”

It was the final phase combination gimmick that was starting to get tiresome. Enough already, you monsters!

“If there is one knight from each unit, they combine into one Doomsday Knight. An entity that has successfully combined like this becomes a complete being capable of wielding pestilence, war, famine, and death all by itself, and they become incredibly powerful.”

So, theoretically, if they didn’t lose a single knight during the advance, it would be possible for 444 Apocalypse Knights to combine into 111 complete entities.

If this happened, the combined abilities and numbers would create a synergy that would make them incredibly strong. The 111 Apocalypse Knights would be comparable to the Black Dragon in terms of specs.

But that’s just theoretically speaking.

“But we’ve already blunted their advance. Their numbers have been greatly reduced.”

The leaders of each unit survived, but their subordinates were almost completely annihilated.

The subordinates who didn’t fall at the forward bases are still being taken down by Damian’s aerial snipes.

“The last survivors, most likely the leaders of each unit, will desperately try to advance and eventually reach the walls of Crossroads.”

The battle situation during the advance isn’t their main concern.

Their goal is for all four units to meet in front of the main fortress where the real war will take place, no matter how they detour. That’s why they fought moderately and then retreated.

It’s also why they didn’t care much about their subordinates dying.

Their main objective is to create one Doomsday Knight by combining the four leader-class knights who have collected essence on the battlefield.

“We need to show them that this judgment was wrong.”

As planned, we blunted their advance.

Especially with Lucas’s performance, the fourth unit, the Blue Knights, was almost completely annihilated except for their leader.

Now, if we stop the combination of those leaders, the game is practically over, and we have several means to do so.

I commanded the heroes and soldiers who were preparing for the defense.

“Alright, this defense battle is almost over! Let’s all do our best!”

***

Thud thud thud-!

Centaur are galloping.

The four units of the Apocalypse Knights, having split into four and collected the necessary essence from each battlefield.

They were now heading towards the southern plains in front of Crossroads.

《…….》

《…….》

The leaders of each unit, having confirmed each other’s presence from afar, nodded.

Their numbers had decreased significantly, but the leaders of each unit were safe.

That was enough. The essence of the dead subordinates was attributed to the leaders, so if only the leaders could survive and combine into a Doomsday Knight, the siege would be possible.

Ending this world would be possible…!

Taat!

The four units, having broken through valleys and forests via different routes, entered the southern plains simultaneously.

They slowly changed their course towards the center of the plains and set a rendezvous point. That point was exactly in front of the walls of Crossroads.

《Assemble!》

The Blue Knight leader roared, raising a huge ice scythe.

His plan was to absorb the other three unit leaders as soon as they all met in front of the wall and become one entity.

《To bring destruction to this world! The hammer of repentance!》

The speed of the cavalry and centaur units on the plains was tremendous. In an instant, the walls of Crossroads were right in front of them.

Saaaah!

As they came within a certain distance of each other, white, red, black, and blue auras rose from the bodies of the four knights and connected.

The Blue Knight leader shouted fiercely.

《Come!》

The bodies of the White Knight, Red Knight, and Black Knight leaders began to melt and scatter into poison, fire, and water in an instant.

The Blue Knight leader commanded, trying to absorb them through the connected magical pathways.

《With sword and famine and death and the beasts of the earth, kill the whole world-》

And the next moment.

Click-!

An unknown operating sound echoed from above the Crossroads wall,

Whoosh…!

A strange sensation, as if time and space were being compressed, enveloped the Blue Knight leader’s entire body.

《…?》

With a dizzying flash, he felt as if his entire body was being thrown to the other side of the world, and the next moment.

The Blue Knight leader was teleported alone to the end of the southern plains.

《What…?》

The Blue Knight leader, in shock, hurriedly looked around.

Just a moment ago, he was definitely right in front of the wall of the mortal realm, but suddenly he was forcibly moved to a place far away… to the end of the field far south of the wall of the mortal realm.

This was the effect of the mortal realm’s top-tier defensive artifact, [Start Over!], but.

The Blue Knight leader had no way of knowing its true nature.

And the effect caused by this simple artifact returned with a huge impact.

In front of the Crossroads wall, where the Blue Knight leader had temporarily disappeared.

The White Knight, Red Knight, and Black Knight leaders, who had entered a state of waiting to combine, lost their target to transfer power to and were momentarily left defenseless…

“Aim.”

The commander of the mortal realm was not one to miss such an opening.

“Fire!”

Bang! Fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh-!

The crossfire that rained down tore the three knight leaders to shreds.

If they had been at full strength, they could have easily withstood this level of bombardment and even counterattacked.

But they were all in the process of gathering their power to send to their comrade. Naturally, they were not in a state to fight properly.

《Aaaargh…!》

《Kuaaa!》

《How could this be…?》

The three knights fell miserably, spewing poison, fire, and water.

Their subordinates were no exception. They hadn’t survived in large numbers in the first place, but the remaining ones also fell helplessly under the bombardment of Crossroads and died.

***

“As expected.”

I grinned, looking down at the annihilated enemy lines.

“It’s the rule to attack the enemy while they’re combining…!”

It feels like I’m on the villain’s side, but who cares!

The best way to deal with combining enemies is to beat them up while they’re combining.

“Good job, Lily! And the alchemist team!”

When I gave a thumbs up to praise them, Lily and the alchemists, who had brilliantly created [Start Over!], smiled awkwardly.

“Okay, that’s that! Lily, we need to prepare for the next one, right?”

“Yes, yes. Please use me as much as you want…”

Lily sighed and pulled her wheelchair forward.

Then, she joined Diarmuidin, who was preparing a joint aerial magic circle over there.

“Huuuuh…!”

Diarmuidin was sweating as he prepared his magic.

Lily also took a deep breath and began casting her magic.

After confirming that the magic formation was ready, I looked south again.

Thud thud thud-!

I could see the Blue Knight leader, who had been forcibly teleported to the end of the southern plains, running alone.

His subordinates and comrades were already annihilated, but he still seemed full of fighting spirit.

He was still in the form of a huge ice knight. In fact, he was incredibly strong even in that state.

But.

“If you make it so obvious what your attribute is, it’s the rule to poke you with your weakness attribute.”

After all, if it’s an ice attribute.

We can just counter it with fire, right?

“I’ll go first!”

Junior used [Elemental Disassembly], which he had memorized in advance in [Lord of Crimson], directly on the Blue Knight leader.

Clang-!

[Elemental Disassembly] hit accurately, and the Blue Knight leader’s magic defense was shattered.

“Casting complete!”

Following that, Lily, who had been gathering her magic power, opened her eyes wide.

Various magic support artifacts were connected to Lily, and Junior and Bodybag assisted Lily’s magic.

“Here I go-!”

Lily is not a combatant by nature.

It’s been quite some time since she retired from the field. Her main job is artifact management.

But she has consistently helped in battles in some way, and she has been trained on the battlefield while managing artifacts.

And at the end of those many battle experiences, she finally succeeded in awakening.

She learned an ultimate skill.

And today is the debut day of that ultimate skill!

Whoosh!

A wall of flames appeared in front of the charging Blue Knight leader.

Thwack-!

The Blue Knight leader easily broke through the wall.

And.

《…!》

He discovered a new wall that unfolded behind it.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack-!

He broke through three walls in a row, but

《…?》

Behind that, the wall of flames stretched endlessly.

Because Lily is creating them in real time!

This ultimate skill, which reduces the power and size of the [Fire Wall] that Lily used to use and shoots dozens of them in succession, is called [Fire Wave].

It’s just a simple magic that continuously deploys walls of flames, but.

What is the virtue of a fire mage in the first place?

Simple structure, therefore powerful effect. That’s it.

Chiiiik…!

The ice armor that had been formed on the Blue Knight leader’s body, which seemed like it would never melt, began to slowly melt from the edges.

Whether it’s ice formed by spiritual cold or whatever, there’s no way to deal with the walls of fire that keep crashing into it.

The Blue Knight leader looked around as if trying to find a detour, but the rows of flame walls that Lily had adjusted were already closing in, surrounding the Blue Knight leader.

In the end, he had no choice but to choose to charge.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack…!

After breaking through dozens of layers of flame walls in a row.

The Blue Knight leader was still intact, but his ice armor had gradually melted, and his huge size had shrunk considerably.

“Excellent, Lily!”

It was Diarmuidin who praised Lily’s ultimate skill.

At the tip of Diarmuidin’s hand, who had received the magic power of dozens of people through the joint aerial magic circle, was a huge spear of flames.

“This old man will add a bit to your achievement!”

And Diarmuidin used his robe [Old Phoenix] to fly magnificently into the sky, and using the power of that flight, he unleashed a powerful spear throw.

Zzzzzzzzzzz-!

A huge streak of fire spear shot out like a beam of light and rushed forward, and the next moment, it hit the center of the Blue Knight leader’s body.

Crack….

A sound of something breaking and splitting echoed.

Crack, crack, craaaack!

It was the sound of the ice armor that the Blue Knight leader was wearing on his body breaking apart.

Fwoooooosh!

The spear of flames that had been properly embedded exploded.

And the next moment, cracks spread all over the ice armor, shattering and melting at the same time.

《Aaaaaaaah…!》

While suffering, the Blue Knight leader was still holding onto the great scythe in his hand, not swinging it to the end.

The failure of the Apocalypse Knights was already a foregone conclusion.

So, his intention was to at least deliver a final blow to our defense line with that great scythe imbued with ice and death.

The Blue Knight leader, who had finally reached right in front of the Crossroads wall, pulled the ice scythe back with all his might.

“The fire mages have set the stage.”

Seeing that, I raised my hand and drew a circle in the air.

“Let’s finish it!”

Then, Damian, who was still aboard La Mancha and waiting for my instructions, fired a sniper shot from the sky.

Thwack-!

The magic bullet that fell hit the Blue Knight leader’s great scythe accurately.

《…?》

With just this, the final blow that the Blue Knight leader was preparing was derailed, and its power was drastically reduced.

And in front of that enemy commander-

“Huuup-!”

Evangeline, who deployed her armor [Snow White] and jumped down from the wall as if flying, raised her shield and blocked the attack.

Evangeline’s shield [Cross Family Shield] stores three ice spirits each after being repaired and reinforced.

The spirits swirled and covered the shield with ice,

Craaaack!

She easily absorbed the Blue Knight leader’s ice scythe attack with the same attribute.

Ice shards and snowflakes swirled fiercely in all directions. But Evangeline did not budge and succeeded in completely receiving the enemy commander’s attack.

“Lucas, since he’s the one you were fighting… I’ll leave the finishing blow to you.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Lucas, who had been waiting for my command, lightly kicked the leg he had placed on the edge of the wall, and flew in at an invisible speed, landing in front of the enemy commander.

He drew two swords and spun as if dancing.

Tsuk! Tsuk! Tsukaaaak!

After delivering dozens of sword strikes, brushing past the Blue Knight leader, he stopped spinning and sheathed his two swords again.

Click.

And at the same time as the two swords entered their sheaths,

《…Ah.》

Thwack-!

The Blue Knight’s entire body burst out in all directions with a flash as if exploding from within.

This was the end of the forty-eighth defense battle.