I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 82

◈ 083. [STAGE 4] Operation Instructions

In the meantime, Aider had been monitoring the five members of the Aegis Special Forces, just in case.

With Lily’s situation and my own concerns, I couldn’t help but be a little worried.

However, nothing particularly strange was discovered. They were just giggling among themselves like kids their age.

“Regardless of what they might be thinking, it’s also true that we need their strength. Let’s deploy them in this defense battle.”

Lucas agreed, and Lily, in any case, was convinced about this defense battle.

It was now confirmed that they would be deployed as a sub-party in this defense battle.

Thus, on the afternoon of the day three days before the defense battle.

The room where the 8th team of the Aegis Special Forces was staying.

“Bring it in, Lucas.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As I commanded, Lucas brought in five new sets of clothes and placed them in the room.

“Your Highness, what is this…?”

I nodded to the bewildered special forces members.

“The five of you will wear these clothes from now on.”

God Hand carefully picked up the clothes.

A coat, a jacket, a shirt, pants, a tie, and leather boots.

It was a typical Imperial military uniform, but the design was different.

The Imperial military uniform was made entirely of black, but this uniform had flamboyant red accents throughout.

“Clothes!”

“Are you really taking care of our food, clothing, and shelter?”

The other members, except for God Hand, immediately put on the coats with sparkling eyes.

God Hand was hesitating whether to stop his subordinates or put it on himself right away.

I chuckled and explained.

“This is a prototype of the military uniform to be distributed to the soldiers of this monster frontline.”

What is a way to give a sense of belonging to the members of a group?

There are many ways, but the easiest is to wear the same clothes.

‘When hiring various mercenaries, the reason these guys can’t easily become one organization is… because they lack a unified sense of belonging.’

The situation is the same here on the monster frontline.

Basically, since they use all the mercenaries gathered from all over the world, everyone is unruly and they don’t easily merge into one organization.

So, in the game, one of the ways to increase this sense of belonging was ‘making military uniforms.’

It costs a bit since it has to be distributed to the entire army, but the effect is quite good.

Anyway, that’s why I was making separate military uniforms to be worn by the soldiers who would belong to this monster frontline.

And above all, this is my personal belief.

‘Military uniforms must be cool.’

It has to be a very awesome fashion item. It has to be stylish enough to wear proudly anywhere.

That way, everyone will be proud to wear it, and they’ll even join the military just to wear it.

The Imperial military uniform has a good design, but it felt a bit old.

But this newly made military uniform for the monster frontline is quite stylish and cool.

I think so, Aider admitted it, and even Evangeline, who has some taste, praised it as pretty.

It should be fine even by the standards here.

“I made it as a prototype, but the size came out a bit small. I thought it would be suitable for you to wear, so I brought it.”

I pointed to the cloth attached to the coat.

“And since you guys need to hide your identities even more… I’ve attached hoods and veils.”

The members all put on their hoods and covered their faces below their eyes with the veils.

Flap-

God Hand also put on the coat and covered his face with the hood and veil.

“From now on, you are not the 8th team of the Aegis Special Forces. That team of you is all dead.”

I nodded to the five members standing in front of me.

“From this time today, you are the direct special forces of the 3rd Prince Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack. The ‘Shadow Unit’.”

They are death row inmates.

Officially, they are the ones who will be executed here on the monster frontline.

Since they will be going through identity laundering anyway, it would be difficult to keep treating them as the Aegis Special Forces.

It’s like covering your eyes and saying ‘ah’, but let’s change their names for now.

“Now, members of the Shadow Unit.”

The five members who received their new names looked at me with shining eyes.

I smiled at them.

“Let’s go hunt monsters.”

***

“I will explain the basic strategy for this defense battle.”

The drawing room of the mansion.

Lucas, Evangeline, Damian, and Lily. The main party members gathered in one place.

“…Before introducing the strategy, first.”

I gestured towards the door.

“Let me introduce the newly formed sub-party.”

The five sub-party members who were waiting entered the drawing room in an orderly manner.

Lucas and Evangeline were calm because they already knew, and Lily glared at them with a complicated gaze.

Only Damian was clueless and widened his eyes.

“These friends have been incorporated under my command this time. There are circumstances that require them to cover their faces. They are called the ‘Shadow Unit’.”

Thud!

The five members of the Shadow Unit bowed in unison with sharp movements.

“Ooh.”

Compared to the main party, which had a rather casual and friendly atmosphere, they looked much more disciplined, so Damian was slightly impressed.

“The main party and the sub-party will cooperate, but it’s impossible to properly coordinate at this point, with only three days left until the defense battle. We will assign each of you tasks and move separately.”

After everyone was seated, I raised my voice.

“First, I will explain the big tactics of this defense battle.”

I brought the briefing materials that Aider had prepared in advance. It was an outline of the defense battle written on the blackboard with chalk.

Standing in front of the blackboard, I wrote ‘Kill Zone’ with chalk.

“What we have to do is the same as always. We set up a kill zone.”

Lucas looked puzzled.

“But, Your Highness. Aren’t the enemies this time a gargoyle legion? Then they will come flying through the sky.”

“That’s right.”

“Then, isn’t it impossible to use a kill zone… in other words, a tactic to limit their approach with walls and barricades?”

I nodded.

“Lucas is right. Walls and barricades can’t even reach them. We can’t form a kill zone on the ground.”

Immediately after, I chuckled and tapped the blackboard.

“So, we’re going to form a kill zone… in the sky.”

The blackboard showed the number of cannons and ballistas that Crossroads possessed, and the number of bullets that would be consumed if they continued to fire during the defense battle was calculated.

“We will continuously fire cannons and ballistas to form a fire net, creating a ‘wall’ of cannonballs and arrows.”

“…?!”

I continued to explain to the horrified party members.

“Of course, gargoyles are magical creatures made of rock or steel. Naturally, they boast ridiculous physical defense.”

They have high physical defense and low magic defense.

This is similar to the Living Armor from Stage 1.

“No matter how much we deploy a fire net, it will be difficult to kill them with this. But we can force their path.”

I pointed to the center of the defense line map drawn on the blackboard.

“The center of the defense line. Here, we will ‘intentionally’ spread the fire net thinly.”

“Intentionally?”

“Yes. Gargoyles are monsters that engage in close-quarters melee combat using their high defense. If we open a path, they will flock here.”

I drew a line with chalk along the top of the wall drawn on the blackboard.

“And we will make this place a graveyard of their corpses… a kill zone.”

If the basic kill zone strategy is to force a path with obstacles and then unleash crossfire on the enemies gathered in a narrow space.

For the gargoyle legion, it’s the opposite.

We will force their path by pouring fire and then eliminate the enemies gathered in a narrow space by other means.

“I understand that you will intentionally lure them here.”

Lucas asked cautiously.

“But, how will you eliminate them after luring them? Sir Jupiter won’t be able to participate this time… Do you have a way to eliminate the gathered enemies, Your Highness?”

That’s right.

The biggest problem with this tactic is the lack of a way to eliminate the gathered enemies.

With the electro-mage Jupiter out of the stage due to injury, is there a way to kill them all at once?

“There is a way.”

Of course, there is, that’s why I’m pushing this tactic!

“However, it’s incomplete.”

But it’s not as easy and convenient as Jupiter.

“Wait a minute. Everyone, do you know how gargoyles fly in the sky?”

Everyone was confused when I suddenly changed the topic. Among them, Damian answered cautiously.

“Don’t they fly using their wings?”

“There’s no way that heavy body can float just by the power of its wings.”

“Then… is it magic?”

“That’s right, Damian. Here.”

I took out a candy from my pocket and threw it to Damian.

Damian, who awkwardly received it, didn’t know what to do, then unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth. Good.

“That’s right. Their wings are enchanted with wind magic. Now, here’s the next question.”

The eyes of the Shadow Unit members, who realized that they would get candy if they answered correctly, shone fiercely. Their appetite is a bit scary.

“If two magics of the same attribute collide, what happens?”

Lily and God Hand raised their hands at the same time. They had a brief staring contest. I pointed at Lily with my hand.

“Senior mage. Tell me.”

“The one with the higher level swallows the one with the lower level.”

“That’s exactly it. Here, take a candy.”

I took out a new candy from my pocket and threw it to Lily.

Lily, who received it, put the candy in her pocket, feeling embarrassed.

I smiled at the Shadow Unit members.

“Last question. Then, if we shoot a higher level of wind magic at the gargoyles, what will happen?”

The Shadow Unit members all raised their hands and shouted.

“They’ll fall!”

“That’s exactly it. Here, take them all.”

I threw a candy to each of the Shadow Unit members, and also threw one to Lucas and Evangeline.

I nodded as I watched them all munching on the candy.

“If we force their path to gather in one place, and then use a stronger level of wind magic there.”

After gathering the enemies in the center of the wall, if we shoot wind magic there.

“The wind magic imbued in their wings will be swallowed, and their wings will lose their lift.”

In other words – they will fall.

“We’ll make them fall before they set foot on the wall after flying in the sky.”

Only then did the party members, who understood my idea, make a small ‘ah’ sound.

“They are very heavy friends made of rock or steel. They won’t be safe if they fall from the sky to the ground.”

This is the difference between gargoyles and living armor.

Living armor is a wraith dwelling in armor. Even if the armor is somewhat damaged, the wraith is safe, so it continues to move.

In fact, even if they were dropped from the wall, they would climb back up unharmed.

On the other hand, gargoyles have higher body durability, but they die if their bodies are broken.

‘There are always wings to those who fall.’

If there is an enemy above my head, the first step in the strategy is to drop them below my eye level.

The way I, as a player, think is to start by figuring out how to take away their wings.

“But we don’t have a wind magic user among us, do we?”

“That’s why I ordered the repairs in advance. There are wind magic artifacts.”

When I looked at Lily, she nodded.

“Yes, Your Highness. All the artifacts you ordered to be repaired have been repaired.”

“Good. There are a total of three wind blast artifacts to be deployed on the wall this time. However, there is a problem. Lily, what are the operating time and charging time of the artifacts?”

“The operating time for each artifact is 5 minutes. And the charging time is 15 minutes.”

This was the problem.

And it was the incomplete part of this operation.

“Right. There’s a gap in time.”

The artifact is used and then charging begins.

The first artifact blocks the sky for 5 minutes and then needs 15 minutes to charge.

When the other two artifacts block the sky in turn, and the third artifact stops working.

There are 5 minutes left until the first artifact is fully charged.

5 minutes.

For 5 minutes, the sky is empty.

“The enemies will flock in this gap.”

In the end, the enemies that pass through the wind kill zone during these 5 minutes… we have no choice but to fight them head-on.

“It can’t be helped. We have to fight honestly here.”

All the soldiers currently belonging to Crossroads are mobilized to create the fire net.

It is up to the hero character party gathered here to push back the enemies that land on the wall in melee combat.

“Lucas. Evangeline. Damian. Lily. And me. We, the main party, will take the front line on the wall.”

I looked over the familiar main party members.

The trustworthy members who had crossed the line of death with me smiled every time our eyes met. Cute things.

Next, I looked at the Shadow Unit.

“And the enemies that break through us will be taken care of by the sub-party, the Shadow Unit. You will fight while alternating with us in case of emergency.”

The five elves, with serious faces… bowed to me while rolling candy in their mouths.

‘The treatment you receive in the future will be determined by this battle.’

They must be feeling it even if I don’t say it.

It’s time to show their abilities. The Shadow Unit members will do their best.

“Finally, the gargoyles that break through even the Shadow Unit and enter the inside of the wall will be taken care of by the third sub-party.”

I had formed a sub-party with the N-grade heroes I had recruited so far.

I had summoned them in advance and explained the operation to them first.

They will be in charge of the final defense line inside the wall.

In the worst case, they are the last reserve force to evacuate the citizens while blocking the monsters. I gave them candy first too.

“It will be a fierce melee. Unexpected situations will continue to occur.”

I didn’t want to, but I added the following words.

“There will be more casualties than in the previous stages.”

Many will be injured. Maybe even die.

Among the heroes here, we might lose someone.

In Stage 2, we didn’t lose any party members because of the Margrave’s sacrifice, and in Stage 3, no one died due to a combination of miracles and luck. But this time is different.

I will do my best not to lose anyone.

At the same time, I have to be prepared to lose someone.

That’s the monster frontline. And I am the commander of that frontline.

“I wish you all good luck.”

The members of the two parties who stood up from their seats all bowed to me.

Even though I knew it was pathetic, I still uttered the next words.

“Survive. All of you.”

***

Three days later.

The morning of the day of the defense battle dawned.

And, darkening the sky-

The monsters flew in.