◈ 003. [STAGE 0] Even if the sky falls,
the forward base of the fortress city Crossroads.
Accommodation for commanders only.
“… .”
I stared into the mirror.
In the mirror stood a handsome man with black hair and dark black eyes that seemed to be drawn in a painting.
The 3rd Prince of the Everblack Empire. Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack.
It will be the name of this flower doll that I possessed (?).
“driving me crazy… .”
I had to admit it.
I entered the world of the game, became an extra who died in the tutorial, and that the tutorial starts tomorrow when the sun rises.
“All in all, why are you asking me this bastard!”
I moaned and wiped my face with both hands.
A transparent system window floated in front of me, and a description of Ash was written on it.
[List of characters – Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack]
It’s almost the length of a short story, but roughly summarized as follows.
Third Prince Ash, the youngest son of the Everblack Imperial family.
Ash suffered from madness since childhood. His temper was ferocious and cruel.
Ever since I was young, I always had what I liked and got rid of what I didn’t like.
In Ash’s palace, all sorts of incidents and accidents continued.
When he came of age, he flirted with the women of the aristocrats every day and spent the treasury by living a dissolute life.
He looked down on the bureaucrats and knights and acted carelessly.
As the tyranny escalated and many complaints rose from within the capital, the emperor took extraordinary measures.
‘I appoint Ashner as the lord and commander of the fortress city of Crossroads.
Stop the monster there and contribute to keeping the peace of the empire.’
To put it mildly, it was an appointment as a lord and commander, but in fact it was exile and demoted.
The fortress city of Crossroads is located at the southern end of the world.
And the monsters that sprung up from the huge lake in the south continued to flock here.
The world’s worst monster frontline with average annual casualties in the thousands.
To stop the monster in this place was no different from telling them not to come back forever while fighting an endless battle.
And Ash was a complete madman.
First day in office. He scraped off most of the imperial troops and mercenaries stationed in the fortress city that had followed him from the capital and marched south.
‘Isn’t it all over if I destroy the source from which the monsters pour out!’
In a way, Ash was right.
Destroying that source is the journey of this game, Defend the Empire.
The problem was timing. It was because the day Ash led his forces on the march was the day when the quiet monsters of the past ten years began to move in earnest.
As soon as Ash and the soldiers arrived at the outpost, they were besieged by the suddenly appearing army of black spiders, and they fought bloodily for three days and nights.
And on the fourth day, the outpost fell.
The deployed troops are annihilated.
Ash’s escort knight, Lucas, escapes with Ash, but Ash dies in the process.
In the end, Lucas survives alone and returns to Crossroads.
And Lucas protects the crossroads as a deputy commander and at the same time attacks the dungeon, the source of the monsters… … .
… is the introductory story of the game < Defend the Empire >.
No, but the problem now is not what the intro story is!
‘It’s X.’
I wiped my cold sweaty face with my hand.
‘Ash you stupid bastard! Why did you stick out in the fortified city? why!’
Even if I dropped it at any point in this game, I had the confidence to find a way out.
Because I was the only human to beat this game on the most terrible difficulty.
only now! Except at this tutorial point!
‘Never wake up. It’s a stage made so you don’t break it.’
In the game, this tutorial has made it impossible to win at all costs.
There were even more monsters with overwhelming levels and specs than the soldiers.
In this game, which lasted for a total of three years, the Black Spider Corps were monsters that could only be hunted in the middle of the second year.
You meet hundreds of them as soon as you start, and there’s no way you can beat them.
In the end, even at the end of the tutorial, it ends with Lucas escaping alone.
‘… No, wake up, you’re a classics fan.’
I tried to keep my cool. He patted his own cheek with his hand.
‘The game exists to be cleared. If the current situation is an ordeal imposed on me, there must be a solution.’
Yes.
This place is obviously real, but it is the same as the game I cleared.
I know more about this game < defend an empire > than anyone in the world.
If I mobilize all my knowledge and experience, I will be able to find a hole that will rise even under a collapsing sky.
‘First, arrange the cards I have and the cards the enemy has.’
I calmly summarized what I had and what the enemy had.
What the enemy has first.
I was able to view enemy information in the system window. You are very kind too.
“Let’s see… .”
[Enemy Information – STAGE 0]
– Lv.?? Black Spider Queen: 1
– Lv.60 Black Spider Siege Troopers: 196
– Lv.55 Black Spider Assault: 912
Queens. Due to the nature of the Black Spider Corps, which live in groups, it has no combat ability even though it follows one. The queen is not the problem.
The real problem was just the level and number of these spiders. what? 55 lvl? lvl 60? What is the number of objects again? Is it over 1,000? Are you over the line?
“Aigoo, dooya… .”
I wrapped my head again and despaired.
It’s ruined. No matter how you think about it, it’s ruined. How can you beat this?
‘no. keep calm let’s stay calm I have to count what this side has.’
I also opened the ally information window. All sorts of information came to mind.
“Where is the durability of the castle walls… It’s the floor.”
Arrows and shells are also on the floor. Food is also low. Medicines are also on the bottom. Morale is also low. No, what kind of bottom is there?
‘The only thing worth using is this mana cannon.’
[Artifact – Ancient Mana Cannon (SR)]
A huge cannon installed at the highest point of the outpost.
It is the most powerful weapon in this advance base, which uses ancient technology to condense mana and shoot it.
‘In the original tutorial, I used this mana cannon to escape.’
When the soldiers were annihilated and the capture of the forward base became certain.
After shooting a cannon at the thinnest part of the Black Spider Corps’ encirclement, Lucas lifts Ash on his back and escapes there.
In the process of escaping, Lucas tries to protect Ash until the end, but in the end Ash is caught and torn to pieces by black spiders.
The final scene of the tutorial is Lucas leaving behind Ash’s screams and running away while shedding bloody tears… … .
‘I can’t die like that.’
Imagining the scene of being caught and eaten alive by giant spiders made me feel sick.
‘Another way to escape?’
I tried to think of a plan to escape at once by mobilizing the whole army under the cover of night, but I gave up soon.
Spiders are just reluctant to be active at sunset, but not impossible. They will immediately close the siege and attack.
On plains, the speed of the Black Spider Corps rivals that of warhorses. Leaving the fort itself was an act of suicide.
‘It’s not impossible to live, but it’s too low. I need to find a way with a higher probability.’
Dozens of methods popped into my head one after another. The confusion in my head gradually calmed down.
I calmly checked the number I had.
If you play the game in iron man mode, you will not be able to save load, so the moment you make a mistake, the entire game will be ruined.
Therefore, every moment is a process of searching for the best number.
With the past half year of training, I knew it well. In any situation, there is a trick and there is a way to live.
any higher probability.
any way that’s more certain.
find
“… !”
I remembered something and quickly manipulated the system window. Soon, the screen I was looking for appeared.
right at the party.
[Main Party (5/5)]
– Lv.1 Ash (EX)
– Lv.25 Lucas (SSR)
– Lv.15 Lily (R)
– Lv.15 Ken (N)
– Lv.10 Damian (N)
Mok The dry saliva went down in a gulp.
‘This is it.’
< Defend the Empire > is a game in which hundreds of heroes are fostered and sent to the battlefield.
Heroes are grouped and managed in a party, and one party consists of 5 people. The same goes for the party given in the tutorial. 5 people.
‘Even if I forget the story, I won’t forget the tutorial party members.’
Poor friends who die one by one after telling me how to play anyway, but I, who pushed the game to the limit, was also quick about these characters.
‘Of these five, four excluding Lucas will surely die.’
Perhaps because these characters die unconditionally, the developers played a little ‘prank’ on these four characters.
Just fun pranks that you would never use in a game.
‘If this is really a game world… … That ‘prank’ will remain.’
And if you can take advantage of that prank then… Possibilities arise.
A subtle but sure strategy.
“Lucas!”
I opened the door and peeked out. Lucas, who was dozing outside and standing guard, looked at me in surprise.
“Yes, Your Highness! What are you doing?”
“Call a party under my direct control right now!”
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
“If it’s a party… Are you talking about the members of Her Highness’ direct escort? You haven’t called me in the meantime, but why suddenly… … .”
“Oh, don’t talk! Call me quickly!”
I thrust my index finger at Lucas and smiled confidently.
“Because I thought of a way out of this situation!”
***
After a while.
All five members of the tutorial party gathered in the hallway in front of my room.
me lucas
And three new faces.
‘Is that Lily Ken Damien… … .’
I glanced at their familiar faces.
Well, you just have to get used to it. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen these death events.
Lily is a red long-haired woman in a wizard’s robe.
Ken is a tall man with a shaved head wearing a shield.
And Damian… … .
“… Why is he so grumpy?”
It was a boy with curly brown hair, glasses, and a priestly robe.
It looks fine, but it’s alone in the corner of the room, whimpering. why are you like that
“Damian is like this because he lost a colleague today. Please understand.”
Lily smiled bitterly and begged me for my understanding.
Damian was one of the few healers left in the unit, and it seemed that he had been taking care of wounded soldiers a while ago.
Just a moment ago, a close colleague died of injuries.
“Black… Hehe… … .”
Damian’s white priestly clothes, unable to stop crying, were stained with the blood of his allies.
Lily, sitting next to Damian, gently rubbed Damian’s back.
‘Come to think of it, it was definitely like that during the game’s tutorial.’
Damian was the first member to die because he was affected by abnormal conditions such as ‘fear’ or ‘confusion’ from the beginning.
I remember being unable to use it even though it was an important healer.
“Jaja, I understand your sadness, but wake up Damian! It’s sad to lose a comrade, but you don’t have to live!”
I patted Damian on the shoulder and said, but Damian continued to whimper.
The huge knight Ken, who had been looking at me dissatisfiedly, growled.
“’You’re not supposed to live’? Are you serious right now, Your Highness the Prince?”
“huh?”
As I looked at Ken, he said in a high-spirited voice.
“Your Highness has led us all to death by misguided command, and are you seriously saying that!”
“… .”
“I have to live, what do I have to live for? Everyone is going to die because of you anyway, damn it!”
no i’m sorry Ash just came into this body after an accident.
The excuse of ” was filled to the top of my throat, but I barely endured it. Who would believe this nonsense?
More than anything, I could fully understand Ken’s feelings.
Suddenly, the parachute commander who came down from the capital led the entire army and drove them into the enemy camp. it’s just annoying
… Yes, it’s annoying, but
“Ken.”
However, I can’t be bothered here.
“Did you rebel against me, the son of the emperor and the commander-in-chief of the front here?”
When I lowered my voice, Ken startled. It was only then that he seemed to realize that the prince in front of him was a lunatic.
I raised the corners of my mouth and smiled dangerously.
If you lose the initiative anyway, that’s the end. The strategy I’m going to instruct from now on is absurd and reckless.
There was a need to make them follow me silently.
“Lucas!”
So I said,
“Immediately decapitate this rude bastard who insulted the imperial family and the commander-in-chief!”
Since he had entered the body of a madman, he decided to pretend to be a bit more crazy.
