I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 774

The battle was over.

While the damage elsewhere was minor, the forces that fought the Blue Knights at the 3rd Forward Base suffered significant losses. They were caught in the enemy’s attack before they could even retreat during the front line collapse.

I came directly with soldiers and workers to manage the 3rd Forward Base.

There were corpses everywhere, frozen to death by the Blue Knights’ cold attacks.

“…May they rest in peace.”

One nameless soldier was frozen to death, still in the posture of charging at the enemy with his sword raised.

I collected his body and closed his eyes.

Fortunately, the Blue Pearl that had crashed during the battle at the 3rd Forward Base managed to make an emergency landing and, after repairing its airship on its own, rejoined us.

The two pirate kings, the Rompeller siblings, who piloted the Blue Pearl, were amazed.

“Wow… I’ve heard a lot about the monster front, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”

“This is considered light damage? They looked like they were trying to end the world! And this is considered an easy defense?”

We all smiled wryly and placed the bodies of the fallen into the prepared transport coffins.

The two pirate kings, after a brief moment of grief, also joined in collecting the fallen.

The Blue Pearl, having completed its emergency repairs, collected all the bodies of the fallen and flew away.

Following behind, the airship La Mancha returned to Crossroads, carrying three damaged mobile walls from the 3rd Forward Base.

“…”

Sitting in the bridge of the returning La Mancha, I leaned my forehead against the glass window and took a breath.

Soon, Crossroads began to appear.

Crossroads was bustling, finishing the forty-eighth defense battle and simultaneously preparing for the forty-ninth.

Watching the city move on its own without my specific instructions, I thought.

‘The next defense battle, Stage 49, is essentially the final stage we need to clear.’

In the game, the defense battles that Crossroads can withstand end at Stage 49.

The final defense battle that follows, Stage 50, is in the ‘unconquerable’ realm.

When Stage 50 begins, the final boss, the ‘Sleepless Lake Princess,’ will emerge from the Black Lake, leading an endless horde of monsters.

There is no possibility of victory against an endless enemy army led by the strongest monster.

Therefore, the method presented in the game is for a suicide squad to enter the dungeon before Stage 50 begins and defeat the ‘Sleepless Lake Princess.’

To kill the monsterized Muyeong, who has become the embodiment of nightmares, with our own hands.

If we succeed, we will reach the ending we saw in the game.

That final scene where Lucas stood alone on a field of corpses, both enemy and ally…

…But now I know.

Going to that ending is not the proper strategy.

‘The ending I desire, and the strategy I have in mind… lies elsewhere.’

The ‘true ending’ that Aither and I wanted to reach together cannot be achieved by following the existing route.

If we want to break free from being actors manipulated on a stage and become the true masters of our own destiny.

We must change our perspective on the world.

We must go outside the rules, break the rules, dominate the rules, and create the rules.

The puzzle pieces for that are already all in my hands, and I have decided to embark on a new path that has never been attempted in this endlessly repeated game of destruction.

But, to be really honest.

‘I’m scared.’

It would be a lie to say I’m not anxious.

Is the path I’ve chosen, the strategy I’ve found, really correct?

Will we really reach the true ending we desire if we go this way?

What if, due to my mistakes, my wrong decisions, everyone who followed my banner meets a painful end…

‘…How pathetic.’

I pushed aside the complicated thoughts and ran a hand over my forehead.

Looking back, my battles have always been a tightrope walk. Always a last stand. Always a life-or-death situation, always the final showdown.

The fact that this anxiety is now creeping in must mean that the end is truly near.

‘Let’s focus on the immediate defense battle.’

To reach the final battle, Stage 50, we must clear Stage 49.

And in this Stage 49, there is a high probability that the current Demon King’s proxy – Crown – will make a move.

He is hoping for salvation for his younger sister, Muyeong, but currently, due to the Demon King’s restrictions on him, he has clearly turned into an enemy commander.

And as an enemy commander, he would have tried to find his own way to attack us during the past Stages 46, 47, and 48.

Whether he has truly found our weaknesses, or whether he has not achieved any significant results and will use other methods, we do not know at this time.

But one thing is certain: Stage 49 will be incomparably more difficult than the previous three stages.

‘Let’s continue to conduct reconnaissance… and prepare thoroughly.’

I looked at the magic cores I had stored in my inventory, recovered from the previous three stages.

Five magic cores recovered from the Great Rat God. Three magic cores recovered from Tamjinchi. Four magic cores recovered from the Apocalypse Knights.

‘The Great Rat God’s magic cores are very unstable. Let’s use them to make relatively simple missiles. Tamjinchi and the four Apocalypse Knights’ magic cores are too high-grade materials… It’s better to make equipment with these, even if the schedule is tight.’

And I also need to open the accumulated boxes, accelerate the process of modifying La Mancha into a dimensional transfer ship, and urgently repair the three damaged mobile walls…

While organizing the tight, breathless schedule between battles in my head, the airship landed.

As I was about to disembark and give instructions to my subordinates, the atmosphere around me was a little strange.

“Huh?”

Everyone was gathered around a space in front of the hangar, covering their mouths with shocked faces, pulling at their hair, staring wide-eyed, or even shedding tears.

“Kyaaaaa!”

“Oh my god, oh my god, how could this… !”

“I, I can’t stop trembling…”

“This day has come… Aaaah!”

The atmosphere was unusual.

I quickly pushed through the people on the outskirts and entered the space.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone…”

I had to stop speaking.

As I pushed my way in, I finally saw it with my own eyes.

…He was walking.

Staggering. Staggering.

Sid.

He had just left the battlefield and was walking on his two feet, staggering towards his mother, Lily, who had returned in her wheelchair, leaving the arms of his nanny!

It was truly a historic moment, Sid’s first steps.

“Oh my god.”

The sight of the small, fair baby shaking his fluffy red hair, his big brown and green eyes sparkling, staggering towards his mother was transcendentally cute, and… somehow, even majestic.

I, like the people around me who were in shock, covered my mouth with my hand and trembled with awe.

‘Come to think of it, he’s already one year old!’

His first birthday was on the day of a defense battle, so we couldn’t celebrate it properly. I heard they had a quiet birthday party, and I sent him a gift.

Anyway, Sid is already one year old. That means he’s old enough to take his first steps…!

I thought he would crawl forever! I thought he would only babble forever! I thought he would forever be our front line’s representative baby!

‘…No, wait a minute.’

If he can walk, then.

Could it be, then…

“Uh…”

Sid, with a surprised and happy face, stretched out his arms and was staggering towards Lily, who was also stretching out her arms and saying, ‘That’s right! That’s right! Slowly!’

Then, he smiled brightly and suddenly.

“Mama!”

…He did it.

The people who were watching this scene, surrounding Lily and Sid, screamed and fell backward in unison. Shouts of sighs, admiration, and joy filled the surroundings.

At the same time as taking his first steps, he had also spoken his first word!

“…”

Tears welled up in Lily’s eyes as she bit her lip silently.

Lily, who quickly wiped her reddened eyes with the back of her hand, smiled brightly and opened her arms.

“Yes, that’s right! It’s Mama! Come here, my baby… !”

Sid, excited, took a hasty step forward…

Stagger!

He fell forward.

Lily, horrified, tried to throw herself forward from her wheelchair, but there was no need.

“Heave-ho!”

“Aja-ja-jat!”

The two pirate kings standing behind me quickly reached out with strange shouts and created a water cushion on the floor to catch Sid.

Everyone in the area, who had collectively sighed in relief, gave the two pirate kings a thumbs up. The Rompeller siblings scratched the back of their heads awkwardly.

Sid, who was lying face down on the fluffy water cushion, giggled, finding the texture of the cushion amusing.

Then, he pushed himself up from the cushion again…

“Mama!”

He staggered towards Lily again.

Lily gently embraced her son, who had finally taken these short but great steps.

“You did well, my son. You did so well…”

Lily wept as she held Sid.

She had been worried that Sid wasn’t starting to walk because she couldn’t show him herself walking.

She wondered if he couldn’t speak because she wasn’t always by his side, busy with work on the front lines.

Or was it because he was a mixed-blood, or a side effect of the difficult birth…

I heard that she had been going to the temple for counseling often because she had been worried, and all those worries were resolved in this one moment.

“Thank you, for growing up so well…”

In Lily’s arms, Sid smiled innocently.

The people around them, who had been watching this scene, could no longer hold back and rushed forward in unison.

“Me, me too! Call me Lucas, brother!”

“Sid! It’s Evangeline, your sister! Sister!”

“Me too! Call me Verdandi, sister! Hurry!”

“If you have any conscience, call me auntie…”

“It’s Uncle Kellybay, baby! Here! Say uncle!”

“Uncle, you’re more like a grandfather!”

Pushing my way through the people who were making a fuss, I shouted too.

“Call me, call me godfather!”

The baby’s clear gaze turned towards me.

I smiled brightly and shouted.

“Call me godfather, Sid!”

Before Stage 49 began.

It was a peaceful and miraculous moment that came to our front line.

And…

***

…

***

…And what happened then?

***

My consciousness…

It’s like there’s noise, it’s not clear.

***

…I am.

***

I am…?

***

“Godfather.”

A young, blunt voice suddenly broke through my hazy thoughts, coming from beside me.

“Godfather. Wake up.”

“Huh…?”

My murky consciousness gradually clears.

I wake up from a dream of a distant past, a happy time, and return to reality.

I regained my senses in the biting cold.

This is the entrance to a cave in the mountains.

I was sitting crouched at the entrance of the cave, wearing an old, dirty, fur-lined winter coat, having fallen asleep and woken up.

Outside the cave, snow was falling endlessly from the sky.

No, no – this is not snow.

This is ash.

In the distance, the white frozen earth was swirling, burning black, splitting, and rising into the sky. The earth that had risen into the sky was turning into ash and falling from the sky.

A black storm burning the cold, frozen earth.

And the rain of ash falling down.

“…”

For a moment, I stared blankly at the destroyed world.

Yes, I lost in the final battle against the Demon King…

The human world was completely destroyed.

And 15 years have passed since then.

“Godfather.”

At the voice calling again, I turned my head towards the inside of the cave.

There, a young boy was standing.

His red hair, like his mother’s, was fluttering in the cold wind, and his green and brown eyes, like his father’s, were staring straight ahead…

The last great mage of humanity.

Sid, with the same clear gaze as 15 years ago, looked at me and said bluntly.

“A little while ago, Mom died.”