I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game - Chapter 407

◈ 407. [Side Story] Salome

It was a time when I repeatedly used the [Mystic Eye of Command] while vomiting blood.

“Stop it, Ash! Please!”

Salome, who had collapsed behind me, shouted in a voice mixed with tears.

“You have a wish! You have that little wish of giving words of encouragement to that young child!”

“… .”

“Are you going to give up that wish and die here?!”

I chuckled.

“… My wish has changed.”

《What?》

“You said that, Salome. When the essence changes, the purpose also changes. That’s right. My wish has already changed.”

Salome is right.

I came into this world and changed. But my wish can’t be the same as before.

At first, my wish was simple.

to save that one child.

However, as I fought alongside many people in this world, my wish gradually changed.

What I want right now is… … It is to save the people within my reach.

wider and more.

To save all that can be saved. this is my wish

So, in order to save more people, stop that plague here… … Raven must be killed.

“Salome. I doubted you I thought that you, a monster, could never truly be for me.”

I smiled and nodded at Salome.

“But you risked your life to fight for me. I believe in you now.”

“ash… .》

“You are the only one who has seen my past. You are the only one I can entrust my last favor to.”

I calmly asked Salome, who was looking at me with trembling eyes.

“Get out of here through [Escape]. And cooperate with the people of Crossroads.”

Her exclusive escape tool [Escape from Reality] should be able to escape this plague hell.

If she is a spirit body, she should be able to recover from physical injuries in the spirit world.

Since she worked so hard for me, the people of Crossroads can trust her.

“And one day, when the people of Crossroads defeat the Demon King and this world reaches its true ending… .”

It will be a long and difficult road.

If those people who inherit my flag finally do it.

“Make my first wish come true on my behalf. Give that child my support.”

I grinned.

“The words of encouragement I wanted to convey to that child… .”

I couldn’t speak

It was because Salome suddenly rushed in and hugged me from the front.

Her slender arms wrapped around my neck and her fleshy lips drew closer –

my lips met Salome’s.

‘uh?’

therefore.

Salome kissed me.

I was taken aback for a moment by the touch of your warm and soft lips, and then I stiffened up… … .

Whoop whoop!

Salome suddenly sucked my lips.

It was then that I suddenly came to my senses. I glared open my eyes. Could this child be right now?!

‘Essence Drain?!’

The dreamers’ energy absorption skill – [Essence Drain] was suddenly slapped on me pretending to be a kiss! What the hell are you doing in this situation, you damn dreamer?!

However, the skills had already come in, and I was sucked by Salome until the last energy I had left in my body… … crazy… … .

《Puhaha!》

Only after a long kiss did Salome part her lips and look like an old man who had a good drink.

《Kya! Joe! Hey, it’s so delicious. Ash, are you a little sweet? Thanks to you, recovery is complete!》

“This… This rotten dreamer… … .”

All my strength was drained, so I knelt on one knee on the empty floor, shaking my teeth.

“In this situation, regular absorption, what the hell were you thinking… .”

“You sound like an idiot. A succubus always seeks the victim’s lips?”

Salome declared proudly, crossing her arms.

《My purpose from the beginning was only your lips!》

Come to think of it, even when we first met, this guy kissed me first… … !

Unable to control my body properly, I laughed dejectedly.

Should I be angry at being stabbed in the back of the head at the end of the last one or deal with it… … I don’t know if I should be angry at having my first kiss stolen by such a dreamer… … .

Salome smiled bashfully at me.

“ash. You directly convey the words of support to that child.”

“What… ?”

“I don’t know the human heart. Steals hearts, steals hearts, eats hearts, but only knows how to imitate them. I don’t know why it moves like that or why it can move like that.”

Why?

Even though she doesn’t know the human heart, Salome’s face facing me… … He looked more human than anyone else.

“I cannot understand your wish. So I can’t even act as an agent. It’s something too small and pretty for me to move instead.》

“… .”

“You tell me yourself. Carrying your flag and walking to the end, at the end… … Directly.》

Your heart.

tell me your wishes

Saying that, Salome reached out and grabbed me. Immediately after, her horns and tail began to glow white.

“Salome? what are you going to do… … .”

“Even though I got lost and fell into this darkness, I know. That you are a person who will not give up even if you get lost. That he was the first to pave the way.”

I felt my body floating.

When I looked down at my body in bewilderment, my body around Salome’s touch became transparent.

Could this be… … ?!

“Because I realized your wish. Because you got your flag back. You will surely find out who you really are.”

“Salome, wait… !”

“Undoubtedly, in any darkness. You will find your way.”

[Escape from reality].

The other side of the other side – A skill exclusive to dreamers who escape directly to the spirit world.

Salome didn’t do it to herself… … it was used on me

“Darkness is gathering outside. At this rate, even if you defeat Raven, it will be difficult to survive here. That’s why this is the only way.]

Salome’s clear laughter tickled my ears.

“don’t worry. I’ll finish Raven. You focus only on finding yourself there.”

Salome’s index finger rose above my lips as I was about to say something.

Leaning her head close to me, Salome whispered slowly.

《Lastly, I will tell you the ‘secret’ that I learned while examining your soul.》

“… ?”

“Actually, you… .》

I heard all her whispers and widened my eyes.

“What is that… ?”

I wanted to ask more, but there was no time.

In an instant, my body turned into a spiritual body, and I was sucked into the other side of the other side, just like when I fell from the teleport gate.

“Salome sleep… !”

“hi. My prince.”

The last thing I saw was the succubus queen waving at me.

《I laughed at your small wish, but in fact, I might have fallen for you because of that small wish.》

With an expression that I couldn’t tell if I was laughing or crying.

《… I will support you too.”

He said that.

《Cheer up.》

Followed by the sensation of being swept away by muddy water.

with a plop… !

I’m in the black darkness… …

It sank to the other side of the pian.

***

Ash is gone.

Salome fell helplessly to the floor.

With the use of [Escape from Reality], Salome used up all of her strength to the last.

Not only the energy she absorbed from Ash, but also all the last energy she had stored in her.

Raven slowly approached Salome, who was breathing heavily.

“Actually, I didn’t want to leave,”

Salome muttered weakly.

“I wanted to stay by your side. Even if you get beaten up, even if you hear harsh words, it’s okay, so keep going… … I wanted to be by your side.”

“… .]

《If this was a dream world… … Could I have loved that person?”

Salome squeezed her chest with her hands.

“it hurts. It hurts as if the middle of the chest was cut out.”

“… .]

《Just the fact that I can’t see you anymore… … It hurts.”

Raven sneered.

《Is that pain the only thing you get from giving your life? How foolish.”

“… You don’t know what you do, Raven.”

Salome’s eyes were dimly wet through her disheveled pink hair.

《This pain is what I have been searching for all my life.》

Raven raised the aura of plague as if he no longer needed to be listened to.

“It’s all nonsense, Salome. Neither you nor him will die without overcoming my plague anyway!”

Raven was certain of victory.

The only way to kill himself in this spot was Ash’s Mystic Eye.

However, Salome could not watch Ash die and sent him to the spirit world.

Now, the only thing left here is a dreamer who has exhausted all his strength.

Both Ash and Salome were already infected with the plague. If left alone, they would both die.

“As long as my self, thoughts, and malice remain! My plague does not go away. you couldn’t get rid of me This time, the world will succumb to the plague… … !”

“… Raven forgot?”

Salome smiled at Raven who confidently shouted.

《It’s the dreamer’s job to eat the ‘heart’.》

Slowly, he reached out his hand and touched the shimmering raven’s fog.

The body made of Raven’s mist trembled greatly.

He had the illusion that something cold and eerie was piercing the inside of his chest where there was no way it could exist.

“What is this… ?

” … .]

Salome’s hand gripped the air.

“That means you are my food.”

“… !]

Salome grabbed Raven’s ‘heart’.

Then, with the power of the Dream Demon, he began to absorb it.

Raven was rotten to the very bottom of her ego. It was tainted and corrupt with far-reaching malice.

Upon forcibly absorbing it, Salome’s body reacted immediately.

Blood oozes out of her apricot-colored lips, and her white skin begins to discolor.

“Stop that… … .》

Raven’s voice contained emotions that had never been shown before.

it was horror

Now he has neither body nor soul.

The plague itself, Raven, who supported and bound herself only with pure malice, felt her existence disappear. he screamed.

“Stop it! You die too, Salome! You cannot bear my malice, my corruption!”

《… .》

《I am the essence of the plague itself! If you absorb me, you, the mental body, will be polluted! You will suffer more terrible pain than anything in the world!”

“It’s okay.”

As soon as you absorb it, a sharp pain runs through your body. But Salome smiled calmly.

“Because I loved you.”

Salome did not know what love was.

Even at this moment when I was ready to die, I couldn’t clearly define what it was.

But one thing is certain.

this heartache.

This absence, as if a hole had been dug out.

Because this pain, this emptiness, this sense of loss—the unmistakable proof that love resided in this heart.

This act of dying for someone else… … Because it is proof of true love.

Even in the burning pain of her body, Salome smiled brightly.

It didn’t hurt at all.

Compared to this pain engraved in my heart.

Compared to this first love, which is clearer than anything else.

After a long and desperate scream, Raven’s screams died down.

Absorbing all of Raven’s malice, Salome leaned against the collapsed stone wall.

Staring into empty space, she slowly opened her mouth and recited.

Seen in Ash’s memories… … A line from an old play with the same name as you.

I have kissed your mouth.

I kissed your lips

There was a bitter taste on thy lips.

Your lips tasted bitter.

Was it the taste of blood?

Is this the taste of blood?

Nay; but perchance it was the taste of love.

No, this is the taste of love.

They say that love hath a bitter taste.

People say love tastes bitter.

But what matter? what matter?

But what does it matter? What does it matter?

I have kissed your mouth.

I kissed your lips… … .

《… I can’t be as skillful as you.”

A shy smile hung on Salome’s blood-soaked lips.

“Thank you, Ash.”

Then she slowly closed her eyes.

“to me… For teaching me love… … .]

In her fading consciousness, Salome made one last wish.

if very if.

If after this you have a happy dream instead of a nightmare.

I want to dream of being in love with that man… … .

***

Salome made love.

Heartbreaking and therefore brilliant.

The unmistakable love of my whole life.