Do you know how this world ends?
Become the hero and take down the 72 Demon Lords. The game that was boasted as the absolute hardest strategy game, 『Dungeon Attack』.
I used to be the ‘hero’ that had accomplished everything in this game, but after answering a suspicious survey, I found myself in the game as the weakest Demon Lord, 「Dantalian」.
With only my eloquent tongue and my memories of conquest as a hero—.
In order to survive as Dantalian. I shall tear this world apart.
Written by Yoo-Heonhwa, Dungeon Defense follows the tale of an unnamed man who is transported to the world of『Dungeon Attack』after answering a suspicious survey from the company that makes the game. He finds himself to the 71st Demon Lord, Dantalian, in the year 1505, 10 years before the start of the original game. Using only his wits, he must prevent the hero, the character he formerly played as, from destroying the world by killing the 72 Demon Lords.
The translation of the series can be found here
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This work contains examples of:
- A House Divided: Dantalian notes that the real reason the Crescent Alliance hasn't destroyed humanity yet is because many of the other Demon Lords realize that without a common enemy, they will destroy themselves and take steps to prevent this outcome.
- Apocalypse How: Should all of the Demon Lords be killed, the massive amounts of magical energy they contain will enter the environment and destroy the environment.
- Bad Boss: Gamigin, who kills servants for the slightest perceived disrespect (or makes them kill themselves via magic). Sometimes for no reason at all.
- Bag of Spilling: After completing the "tutorial" Dantalian loses many of the skills he had earlier, like summoning monsters or viewing everything in his territory.
- Batman Gambit: Dantalian convinces the Keuncuska Firm to lend him 10,000 gold by telling them that he plans on buying by a weed to cure a plague that will decimate the population within months. Assuming he's going crazy as well as tightening the noose of debt around his neck, they give him the money, not expecting him to pay off the debt and have enough spare to become one of the richest people in the world.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Despite being beat up and tortured many times in the story, both Lapis and Farnese have perfect looks.
- Berserk Button: Simply mentioning Dantalian's father tends to put him into a bad mood.
- Big Damn Heroes: Farnese and Dantalian manage to pull this off by conquering a legendary fort in a matter of days, the previous record was 3 months, and hightailing it to save Barbatos and Marbas.
- Blood Knight: Farnese, who enjoys maiming enemy combatants for hours on end, despite being able to end it in an instant.
- Break the Haughty: Dantalian does this to Ivar Lodbrok by mentioning that he know Lodbrok's secret and can kill him at any time.
- The Chessmaster: Anyone worthy of a damn in the story is this. Dantalian, however, takes the cake as he rises from barely the second weakest Demon Lord to someone capable of manipulating the top brass of the Demon Lords through sheer charisma and ingenuity.
- Call-Forward: The series starts off after Dantalian has already conquered the various human nations and is busy subjugating the population.
- The Cavalry: What Dantalian's forces end up being to the rest of the Crescent Alliance.
- Chekhov's Gun: Dantalian reads through the laws describing the situation in which a Demon Lord can attack another Demon Lord early on in volume 1. He proceeds to use this information to set up a situation to kill 72nd Demon Lord without getting into trouble.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Everyone in Dantalian's company has some level of this, from Lapis being beaten up constantly for being a crossbreed, to Farnese being raped by her father constantly.
- The witches are all subjected to this though to some it's taken up to eleven.
- Driven to Suicide: Torukel, upon realizing that Dantalian has set up both Ivar Lodbrok and Paimon to destroy their reputation, commits suicide to take the blame.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first and second volume, Dantalian constantly uses his Aphrodite's Apostle ability in order to tell how he is viewed by other people. In later volumes, it is nowhere to be found. In addition, the prompt for important decisions has disappeared in the later volumes.
- Eldritch Abomination: Barabatos' familiar, the Remorseful Wolf, which was created by cursing 100 pregnant women to undeath and then fusing the shades of the unborn children.
- The Ending Changes Everything: Every volume ends with a chapter which explains the actions of some of the side characters as well as changes the interpretation of earlier events.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Farnese in the original timeline starts off as a former sex slave and in the chaos of her owners death becomes one of the most terrifying enemies in the game with the number of humans killed by her hands easily exceeds the number killed by the Demon Lords.
- High Fantasy: Dungeon Defense is set in a world with many different races, has many characters, and about a massive war between humanity and demons.
- Ironic Echo: Before he gets transported into the Dungeon Attack world, Dantalian tells his father to stay the rest of his life in prison. Later on, in Volume 4 after speaking with Farnese she suggests the very same thing to him.
- Kangaroo Court: Walpurgis Night's council of Demon Lords counts as this as no evidence is ever used, judgement is made based on hearsay, and no public defenders are provided. Unlike most examples though, Dantalian abuses the rules of the court to both overturn his accusations as well as screw over his opposition.
- Keeping the Enemy Close: Almost all of Dantalian's allies count as this as they are only serving him as long as they stand to benefit.
- Leave No Witnesses: Save for a few that were killed by Lapis, Dantalian orders the death of everyone in the slave market in order to hide the circumstances behind Farnese, his acting general.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Any romance between a Demon Lord and a mortal as Demon Lords are essentially immune to aging and natural death.
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Nintendo Hard: The original Dungeon Attack was one of the hardest games ever made. Due to Dantalian's choices when answering the survey, he ends up "playing" in his new world in Lunatic difficulty. - Oblivious to Love: Due to never having been in a relationship nor having yet found someone to fit his twisted tastes, Dantalian doesn't realize that he has fallen in love with Lapis until he has screwed up several times.
- One-Man Army: The Hero of the game, who is able to decimate armies and Demon Lords by himself.
- Psychotic Smirk: Dantalian sports one every time he has found prey or has found a way to screw someone over. Farnese unintentionally has one when she smiles.
- Red Baron: All of the Demon Lords have titles in reference to their skills or nature. For example, Dantalian's is the King of Peasants and Paimon's is the Demon Lord of Benevolence.
- Self-Made Orphan: Lapis and Farnese count as this as they both killed their respective parents.
- The Power of Acting: Dantalian's "Acting" skill, which turns him into a dangerously eloquent and charismatic speaker as it grows stronger. It veers into a bit of Unreliable Narrator territory, as POV chapters from other characters who have been on the receiving end of it hear a completely different speech than what Dantalian actually said (which is usually something far more simpler). So either Dantalian is oblivious to his own silver tongue, or other characters hear what the Acting skill thinks they should hear for Dantalian to succeed.
- Token Good Teammate: Of all of the Demon Lords, Paimon is the only one able to consider a peace between humanity and demons.
- Unholy Matrimony: Lapis and Dantalian together count as one, as they are the only people that can match each other in sheer cruelty and pragmatism.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Dantalian is willing to exterminate the human race if it will prevent the world from being destroyed.Dantalian: If altogether, the arson, the carnage, and the tragedy that I had caused, played the role of saving the world in the end, then dear lord, who could refuse me?
