I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 85

The tactic is simple.

Lukas and Evangeline would stall at the front lines, while Damian and I would take care of them.

The overwhelming specs of two SSR-grade knights, and Damian’s insane attack power.

This was the defensive tactic devised with that in mind.

However, I wasn’t relying solely on that.

There was also the variable that is me.

In preparation for any unforeseen circumstances, just like in the previous Stage 3, I planned to unleash all my hidden tricks and carry the team myself.

But.

“…Good heavens.”

There was no need for that.

The three party members I had buffed were rampaging like monsters.

Taat-!

First, Lukas.

Using his 2nd skill, [Tenacious Step], he was practically flying across the battlefield.

It’s a skill that consumes a fair amount of MP [Mana Points] in exchange for overwhelming mobility.

But with the MP reduction buff, he was using it like he was breathing.

He’d be on one side of the ramparts, and then, in the blink of an eye, he’d be at the other end. Then, in another blink, he’d be back on the other side. He was literally moving like lightning.

With his agile movements, he was drawing the monsters’ attention, effectively herding them.

Watching him, he really looked like an evasion tank.

“Huuup!”

Evangeline was the same.

She was already sturdy, but with the defense buff, she became almost as tough as a tank.

“Hey, you half-baked statue freaks! Look at me!”

The approaching gargoyles all swarmed towards Evangeline at her taunting shout.

They wildly swung the vicious weapons in their hands, but Evangeline didn’t even flinch, blocking them all with her shield.

And while those two were drawing the gargoyles in,

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack-!

The rain of magic bullets poured down.

Damian had received a 3-minute unlimited stamina buff.

And he was proving with his whole body why this buff was top-tier.

The magic rifle is powerful, but each shot requires the body to absorb the recoil, making rapid fire impossible.

This is why, even though Damian’s sniping is powerful, it’s difficult for him to deal with many enemies.

But for these 3 minutes,

Thwack-!

Thwack-!

Using his unlimited stamina, he was able to handle the massive recoil and fire rapidly without any strain.

The ‘Black Queen’ spat fire, and using the recoil, he spun his body halfway around, picking up the ‘Hunter’s Retribution’ that was lying on the ground.

Then he fired again. Body spins. Repeat.

The two long rifles fired non-stop.

The gargoyles had their heads blown off, their necks pierced, and their upper bodies torn apart.

‘Damian’s weak constitution is being offset by the buff, so this kind of monstrous human weapon is born.’

Watching Damian fire his guns as if dancing, I broke out in a cold sweat.

I should start working out every day. He’s become a different character.

‘But is this actually much better than I thought?’

I looked down at the Maestro in my hand with a dubious expression.

In the game, no matter how good a buff was, it only lasted for one turn and was random, so it didn’t feel like a cheat item.

Even in this reality, I thought it was just a 3-minute buff item.

But if those 3 minutes are the turning point, it can have a much greater effect than I thought.

As expected, you only know the true effect of something when you use it in practice.

That’s when it happened.

Click. Click.

“Huh?”

Damian, who had been firing bullets like crazy, made a dumbfounded sound.

I wondered what was wrong, and then, oh no. Both of his long rifles were out of ammo.

He had never fired so many bullets in such a short time, and Damian himself was in a kind of trance.

He hadn’t been keeping track of his remaining ammo.

But the number of gargoyles he had wiped out was enormous.

With just the ammo from two long rifles, over 30 gargoyles had been killed.

If we just take care of the remaining ones, their third wave will be finished.

“Lily!”

While Damian put down his two long rifles and counted the remaining ammo in his next magic rifle, I called for Lily.

“It’s time to get back to your main job!”

Lily looked reluctant, but she responded faithfully.

She raised both hands above her head and began casting a spell.

I looked towards the end of the ramparts. Lukas was running around like a matador, leading about a dozen gargoyles.

“Lukas! Lead them this way!”

“Yes, my lord!”

Hearing my shout, Lukas immediately started running towards us, dragging the monsters with him.

I created and sent just one magic sword towards the path Lukas was taking.

Thwack!

The magic blade spun and landed on the ground.

In short, it was a designated coordinate.

“Lily, shoot there!”

“Hwaaaah-!”

Instead of answering, Lily raised a huge ball of fire above her head.

The way it was blazing was hot just to look at.

“Because of you monsters- I can’t retire!”

With Lily’s hysterical chant(?), the giant fireball was launched.

It was Lily’s 1st skill that she had learned last time, [Fire Cannon]!

Lukas, who had been running in a straight line, used [Tenacious Step] to move away from the spot.

And right above the heads of the gargoyles who were foolishly chasing after Lukas- the ball of fire fell accurately.

Kwaaa-kwa-kwang-!

With a fiery explosion, a shockwave spread out.

As expected of creatures with low magic resistance, the dozen or so gargoyles that were directly hit by the fire magic all melted and died, oozing molten metal.

“Hee… Hee…”

Lily was also about to die from exhaustion. She was a fire mage with poor mana efficiency.

No, but even so, is all her mana depleted with just one 1st skill? The power was amazing though.

“Hey! You remaining stragglers! Come here, let’s play with your big sister!”

Evangeline gathered the last remaining gargoyles with her taunt skill.

By the way, big sister, you…?

The moment the swarming gargoyles raised their weapons towards Evangeline, Damian shouted.

“Miss Evangeline! Please raise your shield upwards!”

In Damian’s hand was the N-grade magic rifle, the Woodpecker.

It was a magic rifle that had become a rapid-fire type due to a manufacturing error.

Evangeline lowered her stance and raised her shield upwards, and Damian fired the magic rifle at the shield.

Tu-ta-ta-ta-ta-!

Dozens of magic bullets poured out of the magic rifle in an instant.

Evangeline blocked them with her shield, and the ricocheted magic bullets bounced off the shield’s slope and flew wildly in all directions.

Thud! Thud-thud-thud-thud…!

And those magic bullets all accurately hit the gargoyles’ eyes and foreheads. My mouth dropped open.

‘Wait, did he calculate the trajectory of the bullets bouncing off the shield? All dozens of them?’

It sounded like crazy nonsense, but Damian was a [Clairvoyance] user.

Considering the miraculous aiming skills he had shown so far, it wasn’t an exaggeration, he really must have aimed for all of them.

Krrrk?!

Kra-ra-ra…!

Amidst the screams of the monsters, the light gathered on Evangeline’s shield moved to her lance.

Evangeline’s [Damage Save] stores the damage she receives.

In short, if she receives physical damage, she stores physical damage, and if she receives magic damage, she stores magic damage.

In other words, the damage stored after receiving dozens of magic bullets was all magic attribute.

Thwack-!

The lance soared upwards, and the [Damage Payback], which had stored magic damage, exploded.

The formless energy that burst from the tip of Evangeline’s lance shattered the last gargoyles.

Amidst the gargoyle fragments flying around like fireworks, Evangeline laughed heartily, “Puhahaha!”

“Wow, that was awesome, Sniper! Let’s do it again later!”

“Haha, it consumes too much ammo to do it often…”

It seems that not only ammo consumption but also stamina consumption is immense.

Perhaps it was because he had performed that feat after the buff I had given him had ended, but Damian’s complexion was noticeably pale.

Evangeline also fought with her defense buff off at the end, and she couldn’t hide her disappointment, feeling the difference.

“Your… that, love tap? The effect is good, but the duration is too short. Can’t it be longer?”

“Unfortunately, it’s only once a day, for a short time. Even if the stimulation feels good, it gets dull if it’s repeated.”

“It’s cumbersome and perverted…”

I looked to see what Lukas was doing, and he was cutting off the necks of the gargoyles that were still crawling around.

“You’re amazing for cutting through steel monsters, you know.”

“It’s not so much cutting as it is severing, and even when using skills, the weapon wears down.”

Lukas showed me his longsword.

It was the R-grade longsword ‘Rat Cutter’ that I had given him before. The serrated blade was all damaged.

“They are definitely tough. If they weren’t weakened, the sword wouldn’t even pierce them.”

“Anyway, we annihilated the third wave much more easily than I thought.”

I smiled at my party members.

“As expected of my elites. Well done!”

At my praise, all the party members smiled awkwardly.

At the same time,

“Artifact cooldown complete! Ready to activate!”

Lily’s shout was heard.

Perhaps it was because she had unleashed a big magic attack, but her voice was weak. Still, the content was hopeful.

“Activate the artifact!”

“Activating!”

Kwaaaa-!

The gale began to rage again in the center of the ramparts.

The fourth wave of gargoyles that were flying in after the third wave were swept away by the gale, and like the previous ones, they began to fall.

It’s a relief that we dealt with the third wave more easily than expected. But there were still losses.

“Now, I’m almost out of ammo, Your Highness.”

Damian said cautiously.

Damian’s two long rifles, ‘Black Queen’ and ‘Hunter’s Retribution,’ were completely empty, and the single-shot rifle ‘Woodpecker’ was almost out too.

All that was left were the three pistols, ‘Cerberus.’ But their damage was low, and their effective range was much shorter.

I checked the condition of the other party members.

Lukas’s sword was also worn out, and Evangeline’s shield was tattered.

Lily was still panting, exhausted.

‘I still have some reserves.’

The main party has done enough for now. It’s time to regroup.

I turned around and shouted.

“Shadow Unit!”

As if they had been waiting, the five members of the Shadow Unit came forward and bowed to me.

“Give us your orders.”

“We’re switching out. Hold them off like our main party did. I’ll join in if necessary.”

“Rest easy, Your Highness.”

The leader of the Shadow Unit, Godhand, said confidently in a calm voice.

“We will make sure you don’t need to join in.”

The young elf boys and girls, wearing hoods and covering their faces with scarves.

The five members of the Shadow Unit stood at the front line of the ramparts with agile movements.

The gazes of the main party members watching the sub-party were different.

“Are they really going to be okay…”

Lukas had a worried expression.

“Finally, I’ll be able to see the skills of the Aegis Special Forces with my own eyes.”

Evangeline had an expectant look on her face.

“…”

Lily was glaring at Godhand’s back with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Uh… um, something…”

Finally, Damian, who didn’t know what was going on, was just blinking in confusion at the undercurrents between the main party and the sub-party.

“I don’t need to know, right?”

“Of course.”

I patted the head of the innocent sniper.

“It’s a sight you’ll be seeing often in the future.”

New sub-parties will continue to be recruited in the future.

It’s only natural that there would be some tension between the existing members and the new members.

Wouldn’t it be stranger if they became friends and integrated immediately without this process?

‘Make us acknowledge you, Shadow Unit! Show us your skills!’

Thud! Thud! Ku-gu-gung!

The fourth wave of gargoyles that had broken through the wind wall began to land at the end of the ramparts.

And in front of them, the five elf boy soldiers, fluttering their uniform coats- drew their respective weapons.