The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 13

Kiiiiing—
Along with a ringing that echoed in my ears.
The sight of the Underground City crumbling came into view.

“Not a single one of them is to be left alive! Take them all out!”
“Imperial 7th Knights, we will carry out your orders!”

Knights in gleaming armor surged toward us, their blue cloaks snapping behind them.
Perhaps from the blast, chunks of rock were raining down from every direction.

[Warning! The stronghold is collapsing!]
[Shake off the pursuing Hostile Hero and evacuate the area immediately!]

“What the hell……!”

I immediately turned toward Ailin.

“Ailin, we have to evacuate right now! The Empire’s knights will be here any moment!”
“The child, here…… here it is……”

Ailin had sunk to the floor, clawing through the pile of rubble with trembling hands.
Then, all at once, she found a small hand buried within it.

“Ah……”

She clutched the tiny, blood-soaked hand tightly.
But Perdi appeared from somewhere, shouting that they had to evacuate now, and yanked her roughly to her feet, and she lost her grip.

“Hey, you, Setanta! Head that way and you’ll find a secret passage leading to the surface!”

Perdi jabbed a thick finger toward a gap between the collapsed pillars far ahead, bellowing as he did.

“I’ll hold off the Empire’s bastards as long as I can, so you go that way and get out while you still can!”

With a roar, he charged headlong into the Imperial Knights.

My head was spinning.
What the hell was going on?

‘I thought we’d finally found a safe stronghold, and now this damn event pops up out of nowhere……?’

……Dammit.
For now, I’d better grab the SSR units I pulled and run!
I immediately grabbed Ailin by the shoulders and shook her.

“Ailin, pull yourself together!”
“The child…… my kin……”
“We have to evacuate, damn it!”
“……Our home……”

[The target Hero is under severe stress.]

Before long, a string of uneasy-sounding System messages came flooding in.

Ding!

[Ailin’s mental state is deteriorating.]
[Status Ailment – Mental Collapse!]

Out of nowhere, Mental Collapse popped up.

‘I should be running away with my wits intact, and now Mental Collapse?’

And on top of that.

[The Hero is on the verge of death!]
[Death’s shadow looms over the Hero.]

Adding insult to injury.
There was even a message saying the Hero was about to die.

‘Right, the Hero…!’

If that bastard dies, the world is doomed.
I have to go save him right now!

“W-what on earth is going on…!”

Rian came dashing toward me, having bolted out of bed in a panic.
His eyes flicked between the pile of bloodied rubble and Ailin’s dazed face, and he seemed to grasp the situation at once.

…Fine, I’ll leave this to him.

“Rian, I’m going to save my friend!”
“What? That Charles fellow from the Empire?!”
“There’s supposed to be a secret passage. I’ll meet you there later, so please look after Ailin!”
“Wait a moment, Setanta…!”

Leaving him behind with a bewildered expression as he tried to stop me.
I ran at full speed toward the isolation cell where the Hero was being held.

* * *

Avoiding combat as much as possible, I ran for a long while and reached the vicinity of the isolation cell.
But it seemed someone had gotten there first.

“Hey, someone’s locked up in here!”
“They look like they’re barely clinging to life… Could it be an Imperial citizen? If so, we absolutely have to save them!”
“Are they even Imperial? Didn’t they lock themselves in?”

Three knights in Blue Cloaks were loitering in front of the isolation cell.

“Shouldn’t we save them first? Turning our backs on an Imperial citizen in trouble isn’t something a knight should do.”
“I fully agree. This is a matter of honor for us Imperial Knights.”
“Hah… Fine. Let’s just save them. These damned Ailand folk all look the same, so I can’t tell them apart….”

…Estimated rank: N-Rank.
Three low-ranking knights, then.

‘Just now, an innocent child was crushed to death because of these guys.’

They came here to slaughter people who were living peacefully, and yet they had the nerve to talk about knightly honor. It made me sick.

Ding!

[TIP – If there is a relatively legitimate reason for the injury or killing, the Hero’s Good-Evil Value will not decrease.]

Just in time for legitimate self-defense.
I’ve decided to make these knights ‘good’ from now on.

“Huh? I think someone’s over th-”
“……?!”

Shnk!

I thrust my spear straight forward and drove it deep into the back of one Imperial Knight’s skull.
Crunch!
I twisted the spear and yanked it free.

“Hans… Hans is…!”
“Someone cut that butcher down, now!”

I sidestepped the Imperial Knight who came charging at me with a roar, easily avoiding his attack with a backward step.
Shing-
I drew my sword as I slipped past him, and a slanted line appeared across his waist.

…Splat!

The man split in two spilled his insides, staining the path in front of the isolation room like a red carpet.

“Ahh… ahhh… AAAAARGH!”

The last one left lunged at me, completely unhinged.
I switched back to the spear and, using its reach, buried it right in the center of his body.
Kudeuk!
The knight’s chest, impaled on the spear, heaved upward.

“Gh, gu, uh….”

No sooner had I slashed the spear free through the empty air than
his torso, which had been skewered like a skewer, was half-severed along with his armor, and he rolled across the cold stone floor a couple of times.

“……”

Thump-thump-.
My heart pounds violently.
I just killed three people. And I slaughtered them one-sidedly.
……Just like Setanta, who massacred every ally in the Final Chapter with overwhelming power.

Have I really become Setanta…?

“……”

I wiped my face with a blood-soaked hand.
……No.
This isn’t the time to be standing around like this.
I have to find the Hero.

The moment I checked inside the isolation room, I saw the Hero pinned beneath a heap of rubble from the collapsed ceiling.

WRENCH!
I tore off the isolation room’s iron bars and rushed in.

“Hey, Charles! Snap out of it!”

I dashed over, cleared away the stones, and gathered the Hero into my arms.
But his condition was not good.
His neck hung limp, and his chest and the corners of his mouth were smeared with blood.

Pop!
I yanked the cork off a potion and frantically poured it over every wound that was bleeding.
But there was no improvement.
His heartbeat kept fading, and his body only grew colder.

[The target’s regenerative nervous system is overloaded.]
[Status Ailment – Potion Poisoning!]

‘…Is it because I healed his serious injuries from the Tutorial with potions not long ago?’

Even as I thought this, the sound of the Underground City crumbling moment by moment rang out around us. *Creak… crash.*
For now, I hoisted the Hero onto my back and got out of the isolation room.

Boom!
The pillars of the Underground City, rising irregularly all the way to the ceiling, were collapsing one by one, slowly.
Now there really was no time left.

I ran and ran toward the spot where the secret passage was supposed to be.
Along the way, I locked eyes with an old man with graying hair who looked like the knight captain.

“….”

He glared at me for a moment, and that was all.
He showed no sign of wanting to fight, so luckily he just let me pass.

‘Where is the secret passage Perdi mentioned? It should be around here…!’

Huff, haah…
Gasping for breath, I was searching for the entrance when—

“Over here! Setanta, over here!”
“…!”

A familiar voice called out to me.

“I’ve laid a Perception-Lowering Magic Circle along this passage, so we shouldn’t be found for a while!”

Rian seemed to have been waiting for me all this time.
Beside him stood Ailin, her eyes unfocused, looking like she had lost her wits.
No matter how I called to her, she didn’t answer.

“What about Perdi? Where is that massive brute?”
“Perdi… he’s sturdy, he’ll be fine! For now, let’s escape on our own…!”

Rian pointed to the secret passage, his face drained white.

‘Sturdy, so he’ll be fine, huh…’

【Iron Hide (+)】
-Hardened skin is not easily pierced, even against a keen blade.

Perdi probably has a defensive trait like this.
In the original work, he was a stubborn bastard who kept walking out alive even after being hacked up with all sorts of blades, so I decided to trust him.

We ran through the secret passage for a long while before reaching the surface.
How long did we run, I wonder.
Soon the stale air lifted, and the cold night air filled my lungs deeply.

“…….”

I lifted my head and looked at the sky.
Even though there was no moon in the middle of the night, the sky was burning with a dark crimson glow that could only be called ominous.

* * *

For now, we decided to hide out in an abandoned house nearby.

“I’ve cast Perception-Lowering Magic on this place. Unless someone stumbles in by accident, they shouldn’t find us….”

Rian said, his eyes bloodshot.
He looked like he’d reached the limit of his stamina.

Sshk.
I pressed two fingers to the throat of the Hero, whose body was growing cold, and checked his pulse.
The Potion Poisoning status had appeared, so potions wouldn’t work at all. And of course, there was no healer.
…At this rate, the Hero would surely die.

“Rian, I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor…?”
“Please move Charles’s soul. Keep this idiot from dying.”

I asked Rian to transfer the soul.

In the original game, this Dark Mage would often use magic to transfer a person’s soul into an object or a small animal.
Perhaps by adapting that method, I could anchor the Hero in place so that he wouldn’t die.

“Ah….”

After a moment of hesitation, Rian wore the expression of someone caught in a bind.

“Setanta-nim, it’s possible, but… you want to move your friend because you want to give him a second life, right?”
“That’s right. Make sure Charles doesn’t die. I want this guy to live a long, long time.”
“…It’s impossible.”

With his ash-gray hair hanging down.
Rian lowered his gaze.

“My magic is by no means sacred. These Jelly Dolls have short lifespans. Fundamentally, I’ve embedded them in the form of a curse.”
“….”
“To move your friend’s soul in the form you want, Setanta-nim… we would need a somewhat different method.”
“And what would that be?”
“If we turned your friend’s soul into a Familiar of yours, it might be possible, but…”

Familiar?
Ah, so he means making it a pet?

“But that would require a considerable amount of Holy Power. It would have to be strong enough to cancel out the Mana I’m channeling—”
“Then use this.”

I immediately took a Holy Relic out from the inside of my storage bag and held it out.
Rian hesitated for a moment upon seeing it,
and then his eyes went wide.

“W-where did you get this?”
“Please make good use of it.”
“Understood…! With this, it’s possible!”

The Hero’s breath was on the verge of stopping, so we decided to hurry and begin the work.

“Setanta, first we need a new vessel to hold your friend. Bring me something as close to an organic body as possible.”
“…Let me go look for one.”

‘First, I’ll look for something to hold the Hero.’

After searching the abandoned house quickly.
I found a rotting rat inside a wire cage.

‘Was it a pet rat that whoever lived here used to keep?’

I’d heard that when making a Familiar, it was better to use something organic rather than an object.
I decided to make do with this.

Before long, the Hero, the Holy Relic, and the rotting rat were placed inside the magic circle.
Rian gripped both of my hands and repeated her instructions again and again.

“Until the ritual is over, you must not move at all, Setanta.”
“So does that mean both of us will be left incapacitated during the ritual?”
“…Yes. You must never move, and you must never disrupt the flow of mana.”
“….”
“If the timing goes wrong while we’re binding the two souls into a Familiar, your friend will simply be destroyed.”

She said she’d already cast Perception-Lowering Magic on this abandoned house, didn’t she?
Still, just in case, it would be nice to have someone keeping watch.

“Ailin, if any suspicious people come, could you deal with them for me?”
“….”

I asked Ailin, who was standing by the door, but she gave no answer.
Her eyes were still unfocused.
Looks like her mind has really gone somewhere far away.

“Might as well just finish this quickly. Rian, please, go ahead!”
“Then, Setanta, now focus on the flow of mana…”

Around the Hero, who had been laid down, a purple mana slowly began to swirl.

‘Please… please let this go off without a hitch!’

The Hero’s fading breath.
Seething, then sinking. The strange current of the rippling mana…
As I kept my focus for what felt like a long while,
flesh slowly began to form on the rotting rat’s body.

“Setanta, we’re almost there. Don’t move a muscle…”

Just as we were about to enter the final stage,

“What? There’s a house here too?”
“…!”

A voice came from outside the abandoned house.

Rattle, rattle!

One of the Imperial Knights searching the area must have spotted the house,
because he was trying to open the door.

“Strange. I didn’t even know there was a house until I got close… Could it be something’s off here?”

…Damn it.
Of all the times to have this happen!

‘Ailin…!’

I stared at Ailin, who stood at the door, with a desperate look.
But her eyes were still vacant, unfocused.

‘Oh, for crying out loud…’

Just as I was silently begging for someone to buy us a little time.

Bang.

“…?”

Ailin yanked the door open without warning.

“Huh? Who’s this young lady—”

The knight never got to finish.
Ailin seized him by the collar and hurled him straight to the floor.

Thud!

“G-gah…”

Click.
Keeping her eyes fixed on the knight, she locked the door behind her,
then immediately drew her iron wooden sword and brought it down on the knight’s crown with all her might.

Thwack!

A dull, heavy sound rang out.

“….”

Toward the knight’s skull, now caved in and sunken, she swung the iron wooden sword down once more.

Crack!

The impact sent blood spattering up, and some of it landed on her cheek.

…Clack.
Clack, clack, clack-.

Ailin twisted her hand back and tried to draw Clau Solas.
But when it wouldn’t budge at all, she grabbed her original weapon again.

Thwack, thud!

Again and again, she battered the Imperial Knight’s corpse.

…Thud.
Crack, crunch…

Until it was nothing but minced meat.

[Ailin’s 【Non-Killing (-)】 trait is removed!]

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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