Tower Defense Mode

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The rusty alarm bell of Buena Village let out a shrill ring in the cold wind, loud enough to tear eardrums apart.

The sound was like a rusty saw, viciously sawing at the heart of every villager. The villagers, who had been reinforcing their fences in their yards or packing their valuables indoors, now all looked toward the village entrance with pale faces, as if their souls had been drained away.

The ground was shaking.

At first, it was just a slight tremor, like muffled thunder rolling in the distance. But soon, this vibration turned into a continuous roar. In the water cups placed on the tables, the water surface rippled violently; the thick snow accumulated on the roofs slid down with a crash, shattering into pieces.

"They're here... they're really here..."

On the simple watchtower at the village entrance, Er Gou, who was in charge of keeping watch, was so frightened that his calves cramped, and he almost dropped the copper gong in his hand.

At the end of his line of sight, the withered yellow forest connecting to the Black Rock Mountain Range seemed to be violently stirred by a giant, invisible hand.

Countless birds rushed into the sky in terror, letting out desperate cries.

Immediately after, a black "tide," accompanied by a nauseating bloody wind and furious roars, surged out from the edge of the forest.

It was a beast tide.

Charging at the very front were dozens of massive Wind Wolves. Each of them was the size of a calf, their cyan-gray fur particularly glaring in the snow, and their scarlet eyes flashing with bloodthirsty light. They opened their bloody maws, viscous saliva dripping down their fangs, as if they had already smelled the aroma of human flesh and blood ahead.

And behind the pack of Wind Wolves, there were a dozen Iron-hide Demon Pigs rampaging like tanks, as well as countless low-tier demonized wild dogs and mutant rat swarms.

At a glance, there were at least a hundred magical beasts!

For Shattered Gold Town, which had towering walls and a regular army legion, this might just be a trivial harassment. But for Buena Village, which only had a circle of wooden fences and a few dozen militiamen holding pitchforks and hunting bows—

This was an apocalyptic disaster.

"It's over... it's all over..."

The old village chief stood at the village entrance leaning on his cane, looking at the overwhelming black tide, and closed his eyes in despair.

"This scale... even if Captain Rhodes were here with the entire guard squad, they wouldn't be able to stop it!"

"Is the heavens trying to destroy our Buena Village?!"

The villagers were in a mess. The cries of women and children, and the desperate roars of men, intertwined into a miserable movement in the wind and snow.

"Don't panic!"

Right at this moment, a shout that wasn't particularly loud but exceptionally steady pierced through all the clamor, ringing clearly in everyone's ears.

The villagers subconsciously turned their heads.

They saw Lynch standing under that strange tall tower that had just "grown" out of nowhere last night.

He wasn't wearing heavy leather armor, and hadn't even drawn his sword. He was just wearing ordinary domestic padded clothes, his hands in his pockets, even holding a piece of dried grass he got from who knows where in his mouth, looking calmly at the galloping beast tide in the distance.

That leisurely appearance didn't look like he was facing a life-and-death crisis, but rather like he had just finished a meal and come out to enjoy the scenery.

"Mr. Lynch!"

Da Zhuang gripped the spear in his hand, his voice trembling, "Run! We can't stop them! Those Wind Wolves are too fast! They're going to charge over any second!"

"Run? Why should we run?"

Lynch spat out the dry grass in his mouth, a faint smile curving the corners of his lips.

He raised his head and glanced at the towering Magic Energy Sentry Tower beside him. The giant transparent crystal at the top of the tower seemed to have sensed the enemy's malice at this moment, beginning to slowly accelerate its rotation, while a faint purple light lit up inside.

"Since the guests are so enthusiastically delivering themselves to our door..."

Lynch stretched out his right hand and gently snapped his fingers at the distant beast herd.

"Then we have to entertain them properly, don't we?"

"System, activate the Magic Energy Sentry Tower."

"Initiate... auto-annihilation mode."

[Command confirmed.]

[Magic Energy Sentry Tower activated.]

[Search radar initiated... Targets locked... Current number of hostile targets in range: 127.]

[Charging complete. Executing clearing protocol.]

Accompanied by the cold system notification sound in Lynch's mind, the stone tower that had been standing in silence finally revealed its ferocious fangs.

Buzz—!!!

A deep and powerful humming sound suddenly rang out, as if the air itself was being forcibly vibrated by some high-frequency energy.

The crystal at the top of the tower instantly burst with dazzling purple light.

The next second.

Swish—!

A deep purple beam, only as thick as a finger but condensed to the extreme, shot out from the crystal without any warning.

It had no explosive sound of flames, nor the roaring sound of thunder.

It was so fast that it surpassed the limits of human visual capture, like a checkmark casually drawn by the Grim Reaper on a list.

Pfft!

A Wind Wolf charging at the very front still maintained its running and roaring posture, but its head instantly burst open like a watermelon hit by an invisible bullet.

Red and white matter exploded in the snow, blooming like a tragic, beautiful flower.

The Wind Wolf didn't even have time to let out a wail before its massive body rolled forward a few times under the force of inertia, then slammed heavily onto the ground, turning into a headless corpse.

Deathly silence filled the area.

The crying villagers stopped abruptly, like ducks grabbed by the neck.

They stared wide-eyed at the still-twitching wolf corpse, their minds going completely blank.

However, this was merely the beginning.

Swish—!

Three seconds later, a second purple beam shot out.

Another Wind Wolf following closely behind similarly gained a charred, bloody hole right between its brows, collapsing dead without even a grunt.

Swish—!

Swish—!

Swish—!

The Magic Energy Sentry Tower was like an emotionless, cold-blooded killer, beginning a massacre called "roll call" at an extremely stable, extremely precise, and despair-inducing rhythm.

One shot every three seconds.

With every beam shot, a magical beast was bound to fall.

Whether it was the incredibly fast Wind Wolves or the thick-skinned Iron-hide Demon Pigs, they made no difference before that purple death ray imbued with high-tier arcane rules.

All beings were equal.

All of them were headshot.

The originally aggressive beast tide vanguard, which seemed ready to devour everything, was forcibly halted by this invisible defensive line of death.

Those originally bloodthirsty and berserk magical beasts finally felt fear after witnessing their companions' heads blooming open inexplicably one by one.

They began to slow down, began to hesitate, and even started bumping into each other.

But the sentry tower would not hesitate.

It was like a precise harvester, ruthlessly reaping lives.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Blood flowers bloomed one after another on the snow. In just one short minute, over twenty magical beast corpses were already lying on the open ground at the village entrance.

And Lynch still stood beneath the tower.

He hadn't even moved a single finger.

On his retinas, a string of pleasing system notifications was frantically scrolling:

[Killed Tier 1 Magical Beast Wind Wolf, gained +50 EXP, +10 Mana Points]

[Killed Tier 1 Magical Beast Iron-hide Demonic Pig, gained +60 EXP, +15 Mana Points]

[Killed Mutated Wild Dog, gained +20 EXP...]

[Current EXP pool is full. Do you wish to level up?]

"Awesome!"

Lynch secretly clenched his fists in his heart.

How was this a life-and-death struggle? This was clearly a max-level account returning to the beginner village to stomp noobs! This was the purest, most relaxing tower defense game!

Even the defense towers attacked automatically. All he had to do was stand here and count his money (EXP).

"Mr. L-Lynch..."

The old village chief's voice trembled uncontrollably. Looking at the scene before him that resembled a painting of hell yet brimmed with a certain violent aesthetic, his knees gave way, and he actually knelt directly toward the stone tower.

"This... this is divine punishment!"

"This is a god manifesting!"

"What alchemy... this is clearly the miracle of a guardian deity!"

Led by the old village chief, the surrounding villagers who had previously been scared out of their wits now looked at Lynch with eyes that no longer saw just a "formidable apothecary."

They were looking at a god walking among men!

"A miracle! A miracle!"

"Long live Lord Lynch!"

"Boohoo... we're saved!"

The villagers knelt in droves. Some wept bitterly, while others kowtowed madly. The ecstasy of finding a way out of certain death and their awe of an unknown power left them unable to do anything but worship.

Lynch felt a bit awkward looking at this impassioned scene.

"Ahem... everyone, get up, get up."

Lynch waved his hand. "I told you it's alchemy... Science and technology are the primary productive forces, after all. Let's not engage in feudal superstition."

Although he said this, he was still feeling incredibly smug inside.

After all, what man could refuse the thrill of destroying the enemy's fleet while chatting and laughing, followed by being worshipped by the masses?

...

Meanwhile.

By the bedroom window on the second floor of Lynch's house.

Felsy was holding a cup of black tea, standing there elegantly, looking down at the entire battlefield from above.

Kuma leaned on the windowsill, clutching a handful of sunflower seeds, watching the show with great relish.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... how tragic."

Kuma commented while cracking seeds. "Although this sentry tower's fire rate is a bit slow, its penetrating power is truly undeniable. Those Wind Wolves have really hard skulls, but they were pierced through as if made of paper."

"This is the characteristic of arcane magic."

Felsy took a sip of her black tea, her tone flat, as if the slaughter before her was just a boring puppet show.

"Highly compressing pure magic power and then endowing it with the rule attributes of disintegration and penetration. Although its power is a hundred thousand miles inferior to my Abyssal Extinction Light, and it doesn't even count as a Tier 3 spell..."

Felsy put down her teacup, her purple eyes narrowing slightly. Her gaze passed over the sentry tower and landed on the man standing beneath it with a straight back.

"However..."

"For a toy that only took ten minutes to build, this is already quite good."

Her gaze softened, even carrying a trace of imperceptible pride.

In that moment just now, when the alarm bell rang and everyone fell into despair.

Only that man rushed out without hesitation.

He didn't panic like the other humans, nor did he hide in the house like a coward.

He just stood there confidently, using a single tower to block an army of thousands.

Although in the eyes of her, a world-destroying witch, this level of combat was simply like children playing house.

But for some reason.

Looking at that not-so-broad yet firm back shielding her, Felsy felt...

"He's actually quite handsome."

Felsy murmured softly, a playful curve rising at the corner of her mouth.

"My Lord, what did you say?" Kuma spat out a seed shell and turned back to ask.

"I said..."

Felsy restrained her smile, restoring her noble and coldly glamorous posture. "I said this tower's fire rate is too slow. If it were a true large-scale beast tide, this kind of single-target attack wouldn't be enough at all."

"Kuma, get ready."

"Ah? Ready for what?"

"Ready to strike at any moment."

Felsy looked at the black shadows still pouring out of the distant woods, her eyes turning sharp. "This is just the vanguard. The real big guy... is still in the back."

...

At the village entrance, the battle continued.

As time passed, the Mana Sentry Tower had killed nearly fifty magical beasts.

The originally vast white snow had now been dyed a glaring dark red with blood. The air was filled with a strong smell of blood and burning.

The beast tide's offensive was finally suppressed.

The surviving magical beasts began to linger at the edge of the range, not daring to lightly cross that invisible red line of death.

"Phew..."

Lynch let out a long breath and glanced at the system panel.

[Current Mana Sentry Tower remaining energy: 65%]

"The consumption is faster than I imagined."

Lynch frowned. "It is just a basic sentry tower, after all, using a charged crystal instead of a perpetual motion core. If it keeps firing at this high intensity, the magic core probably won't hold up."

However, fortunately, the first wave was considered weathered.

The villagers' morale was now incredibly high. Even a few bold militiamen were rubbing their hands together, wanting to rush out to finish off enemies and pick up loot.

"Nobody move!"

Lynch shouted to stop the restless villagers. "Retreat behind the fence! The battle isn't over yet!"

Although it seemed they had won, the sense of unease in his heart had not disappeared.

The red dots on the system panel not only didn't decrease, but a huge, dark red warning mark appeared.

[Warning! High-energy biological reaction detected approaching!]

[Energy level evaluation: Tier 3 (Lord Class)!]

"Tier 3?"

Lynch's heart suddenly tightened.

In this remote little mountain village, even Tier 2 magical beasts were rarely seen on a normal day. How could a Tier 3 Lord-class monster suddenly pop up?

Could it be that an overlord deep in the Black Rock Mountain Range had been disturbed?

Just then.

Roar!!!

A terrifying roar, enough to shatter glass, came from deep within the distant woods.

The sound was like a muffled thunderclap, shaking even that sturdy Mana Sentry Tower slightly.

Immediately after.

Under everyone's horrified gaze, several thick trees that would take a person to hug were easily snapped like matchsticks.

A massive shadow, as huge as a small hill, slowly walked out from the shadows of the woods.

It was a giant bear.

A Bloodthirsty Demonic Bear standing a full five meters tall, covered in heavy fur as black as iron, with blood-red flames burning in its eyes!

There were a few broken spears stuck in its body, left behind by the desperate counterattacks of the Black Rock Village hunters. But this did not cause it any substantial harm; instead, it completely enraged this fierce beast.

"Roar!!!"

The demonic bear stood up on its hind legs, its two giant bear paws slamming fiercely onto the ground.

Boom!

The earth trembled violently as a visible shockwave spread outward, directly sending the nearest Wind Wolves flying.

"A... a Tier 3 magical beast..."

The old village chief's face, which had just regained a bit of color, instantly turned whiter than snow.

"It is over... That is the legendary Bloodthirsty Demon Bear! A monster that even the town's knight order cannot handle!"

An atmosphere of despair enveloped them once more, even heavier than before.

The joy of the miracle descending from moments ago seemed so pale and powerless before this true overlord.

The magic sentry tower seemed to sense the threat as well.

Swoosh!

A purple arcane ray shot out, striking the demon bear squarely in the chest.

However.

That deadly beam of light, which could easily pierce a Wind Wolf's skull, struck the bear's thick, black-glistening fur and only let out a soft sizzle, leaving behind a shallow scorch mark.

It did not even break the skin!

"Roar?"

The demon bear looked down at the scorch mark on its chest, seemingly a bit confused, which was immediately followed by sheer rage.

It raised its head, its blood-red eyes locking dead onto the sentry tower and Lynch, who stood beneath it.

It could sense that the annoying mosquito was the work of this human before it.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The demon bear took heavy strides and began its charge.

With every step, the ground felt like it was experiencing a minor earthquake. Ignoring all obstacles in its path, it barreled straight toward the village entrance with an earth-shattering momentum.

"Lynch, run!"

"Forget the tower! Save your life!"

The villagers cried out, begging him to retreat.

But Lynch did not move.

He stared fixedly at the rapidly approaching behemoth, his hand gripping tightly onto the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Run?

Where to?

Behind him was the village, his home.

In that home was the silver-haired woman who had just accepted his gift and said she really liked it.

If he ran, this tower would be torn down, the village would be razed to the ground, and that woman... even though she was very strong, he did not want to make her fight again.

That was his promise.

"Early Tier 3... thick hide..."

Lynch took a deep breath. The panic in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by an unprecedented mix of calmness and madness.

"Perfect."

"I was just worrying about having nowhere to test out my newly learned move."

Instead of retreating, Lynch took a step forward, walking out of the sentry tower's protective range.

He drew his fine steel longsword.

The blade let out a crisp ring in the freezing wind.

"Come on, big guy."

"Let me see which is tougher, your hide or my sword."