I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game

Boom-!

A hammer, swung by the Gargoyle Chieftain with Lilly in its sights, went right through Lilly’s body, as if a sword cut through water.

It was Lilly’s trait, [Flame Skin]. She had evaded the physical attack by consuming MP.

The Gargoyle Chieftain was taken aback for a moment, but quickly raised the other hammer in its hand.

This time, a crimson, magical energy gathered around the hammer. Lilly couldn’t dodge this, no matter what!

In desperation, I yelled out.

"Bodybag! Lilly!"

"Yes, yes!"

The telekinetic, Bodybag, stretched out her hand and pulled Lilly to the side using telekinesis.

The Gargoyle Chieftain’s hammer barely brushed past Lilly, embedding itself into the ground.

However, the wheelchair attached to the end of the hammer was flattened upon impact.

"Yeeeaaaargh-!"

Lilly screamed in terror, falling a few beats late. I yelled again.

"Godhand! Catch her!"

"Yep!"

Godhand, sprinting towards the falling Lilly, caught her.

"Argh! Are you okay, Lilly?"

"Uh, uh, wow..."

Lilly, who had been staggering and out of sorts, was shocked to see Godhand’s face in front of her.

"Let, let go! I’m okay."

"But, your leg is..."

"I said I’m fine! Let me go!"

Leaving the two of them to their awkward exchange, I ordered Bodybag again.

"Bodybag! Rescue your team members!"

"Oh, okay!"

Bodybag quickly used her telekinesis to lift three archers, scattered in different parts of the castle wall.

I looked at my party members.

"Main party, rejoin the battle! Prepare for combat!"

The two Gargoyle Chieftains, now aware that we were their enemies, started walking towards us, emanating a menacing aura.

The behavior logic of boss monsters is different from that of ordinary monsters. They’re more intelligent and more malicious.

’They kill the more important enemy first.’

That’s why they attacked the archers and the artifact first.

Even now, having descended the castle wall, they will probably try to kill the dealers before the tanks.

’And me.’

They will try to kill me first - the lowest level and the most important commander.

Then, Lucas, standing anxiously beside me, frowned and said.

"Your Highness. The two boss monsters are a problem, but so are the remaining gargoyles."

Lucas was right. I glanced across the castle wall.

Squawk-

The last six waves.

The sixth wave of the Gargoyle army was flying towards the castle wall.

The wind artifacts blocking the center had been utterly destroyed, so their bloodless invasion was inevitable. Damn it...

’I didn’t expect the two bosses to approach through the air!’

Of course, there was no such gimmick in the game.

They were not an airborne unit. They weren’t HALO dropping down, executing a hero landing right on the castle wall.

’We were ill-prepared.’

He reproached himself for not considering the deployment more broadly and creatively.

However.

’There is still a way to confront them.’

He had prepared a tactic to defeat the boss, and it was still valid.

"We have a way to face the Gargoyle Legion Six. Leave it to me."

"Yes, my lord."

Despite a hundred gargoyle enemies closing in, Lucas seemed to accept my words without an iota of doubt.

He must trust me that much.

Just then, Godhand brought Lilly to us, carrying her as she squirmed.

Lilly writhed free from Godhand, collapsing on the ground and panting.

"Haah, haah, saved by an elf..."

"Lilly. You must be disoriented, but there’s work to do."

I asked Lilly.

"What about the other artifacts? Can we activate them right away?"

"Ah, yes! Since we placed the rest somewhere else, except for the Whirlwind Artifact, as you ordered, we can use them."

We had installed the other artifacts elsewhere from the start in case the enemy attacked the Whirlwind Artifact first.

The alchemists were also operating them remotely. Thanks to this, they were unharmed in the disaster.

"Go activate them immediately. Magic Amplifier Artifact. The target is me."

"Understood, but my legs are like this... How should I go...?"

Lilly looked down at her own troubled legs and hesitated.

I nodded to Godhand standing next to me.

"Godhand, I need you to help Lilly. Get her to the artifact."

"Eeek! Again with this guy?"

Lilly protested, but I set my face in a stern expression.

"Now is not the time to be picky, Lilly. We are in the midst of a battle. Get a grip and move."

"Ah, I’m sorry..."

"Get going now. We’re out of time!"

Godhand lifted Lilly abruptly.

There was a spark as their eyes met, but neither of them said anything more and quickly dashed towards the artifact.

"Lucas, Evangeline."

I commanded the two front-line knights.

"Buy us some time until the artifact activates."

"Yes, my lord."

"Eating cake while lying down!"

I cautioned the overconfident pair.

"The Gargoyle Chieftain is not an easy monster. It’s different from the gargoyles we’ve fought before. Don’t let your guard down, just focus on defense. Understand?"

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

"Good, go!"

With that, the two knights rushed forward. I turned my gaze to Damien.

"Damien, what’s the ammo situation for the magic cannon?"

"Three Cerberus rounds. Six shots per round. A total of eighteen shots."

"Do you think it will take them down?"

"..."

Damien squinted at the Gargoyle Chieftain before shaking his head.

"The armor and helmet that Gargoyle is wearing is the problem. It appears to have high magical defense."

"Accurate observation, well done."

The Gargoyle Chieftain was donned in armor with high magical resistance, but its body underneath boasted high physical defense.

’It’s like a living armor turned inside out.’

Eventually, the strategy was to use physical attacks to strip off the armor, then magic attacks to damage the body underneath.

Easy to say, but quite time-consuming. And it’s not as if that brute would stand still and let us.

"I’ll try to find and target the weak points without armor as much as I can. But as you know, this mage-gun is for close combat..."

As Cerberus was a mage-gun shaped like a pistol, its damage effective range was shorter than other mage-guns.

I couldn’t send Damien to engage in close combat either.

"We need to restore the firepower team first."

We needed long-range support to remove the armor. I looked up at Bodybag, who was floating beside me.

"Bodybag. What’s the status of your squad?"

Bodybag bowed her round face, with baby fat still on it, again and again.

"Er, everyone has more or less sustained injuries... The weapons are damaged too..."

"Damien. Perform emergency treatment for the shadow squad members."

At the suggestion of healing duty, Damien’s face brightened up. Such a simple-minded guy.

I nodded at Bodybag.

"While Damien is treating, salvage any usable equipment. We urgently need your firepower."

"Y-Yes...!"

As Bodybag and Damien rushed over to the groaning sub-party members,

Patter. Plunk. Plop.

A drizzle began to fall from the sky.

Swooosh...!

Soon, the drizzle turned into a downpour. It had been cloudy all day, and of all times, it chose now to rain.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the pouring rain.

The sight of the twin Gargoyle bosses advancing in large strides over the castle walls was quite terrifying.

I glanced at the sun, which was barely visible through the thick clouds. Damn, it could give some help at times like these. So merciless.

Grrr...

From the Gargoyle Chieftain’s mouth came a low, raspy sound, like metal scraping,

Craaaah!

Which soon turned into a ferocious roar.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The two Gargoyle Chieftains began to charge at the same time.

With every step they took, the bricks forming the castle wall shook and sprang up. They were obviously quite heavy.

"Huuu...!"

"Come on, come in!"

Lucas and Evangeline, who were out on the front line, raised their weapons and shields.

The next moment, the two Gargoyles and two knights collided forcefully-

Wham!

Crack-!

And were flung away.

The two SSR-ranked knights.

"Cough?!"

"Woah-!"

The iron hammers swung by the Gargoyle Chieftains held immense force.

Lucas, who barely dodged the attack, skidded backward, while Evangeline flew a considerable distance while maintaining her shielded posture, and finally stopped after planting both feet on the ground.

"Heavy...!"

"Damn, the shield’s cracked?!"

The twin Gargoyle Chieftains charged once more, causing the two knights to recoil in horror.

Thud! Thud! Crash!

Eight massive hammers, four in the hands of each monster, battered the ramparts.

Lucas and Evangeline were forced back by the sheer power of the onslaught. It was only natural. Instead of facing one boss, which would have been a fair challenge, they were up against two cloned beasts.

But, they could hold out.

Both Lucas and Evangeline were top-tier tanks in this game. They could buy some time.

And then,

"Your Highness!"

The awaited moment arrived.

"The Artifact, the Magic Amplifier! It’s ready!"

"Good."

I nodded vigorously in response to Lilly’s shout from the other side.

"Activate it right away!"

"Yes! Activating the Magic Amplifier!"

Lilly and the alchemists triggered the magic engineering device.

It would enhance the magic effects of a single targeted character by 100%. Only once.

The target was me. Ash!

Vroooom!

A pale blue light wrapped around my body. I could feel magic power boiling within me.

’So this is what it feels like.’

A sense of invincibility welled up inside me.

With an involuntary smirk, I activated my first skill.

[Activating Gaze of Command.]

[Please establish eye contact with your target.]

Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down.

The pale blue interface unique to skill use spread out over the world. Within it, I stared fiercely.

My target was the boss monster, the Gargoyle Chieftain. The one that first stormed the ramparts!

Our eyes met. Now was the time!

[Target detected: 1 entity.]

[Please issue a command.]

"You,"

I stretched out my hand and commanded,

"Kill your comrade!"

Flash!

All at once, the magic power drained from my body.

My heart throbbed painfully. A trickle of blood dripped from my nose. I wiped it with the back of my hand.

[Command difficulty: Hard]

[Comparing the user’s Intelligence stat with the target’s Magic Power stat.]

[Determining success rate. Rolling for resistance...]

Gargoyles as a species have low magic defense.

What does that imply?

They’re vulnerable to all types of magic resistance. In other words, their resistance to mind control is weak.

So, if I pushed a little harder.

And if I used the Magic Amplifier, which doubles all magic effects for one time.

’I can control even a boss!’

Ding!

A flash of blue light burst in front of my eyes with a sound effect signaling the completion of the judgment.

I gritted my teeth. Success or failure!

[Judgment complete!]

>Success: 1 entity

[Executing forced command.]

Unconsciously, I clenched my fist.

"Yes!"

This is the game, you monster bastards!

--TL Notes--

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