The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 17

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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 17

* * *

‘Oh, for crying out loud.’

A new trait…
Madness?

‘I barely got rid of Non-Killing, and now Madness is lining up to take its place?’

Thankfully, it hasn’t manifested yet.
If I act now, I’m not too late!

I reached out quickly and covered Ailin’s eyes.

“…Setanta?”
“Beating that imperial citizen to death here won’t solve anything.”
“…”
“We’re being hunted right now, you know.”

We were smack in the middle of the Imperial Capital, with guards swarming everywhere.
Holding our breath and keeping quiet was the best course of action.

“So, Ailin, take your hand off your weapon right this instant.”
“…?”

Ailin tilted her head at my words,
and only then seemed to realize her hand had drifted to the Iron Wood Sword. Her eyes widened.

“Ah…”
“Lower your hand slowly. Take a deep breath, too.”

Speaking to her softly, the way one would calm a rabid dog, I finally succeeded in settling her down.
Her eyes still held a faintly unhinged glint, but at least, thankfully, the Madness Trait hadn’t manifested.

‘If Madness attaches itself, that’s trouble. That trait is hard to get rid of…’

Memories surfaced of the countless Failed Characters who had lost their footing, failed to keep their minds in check, and sunk into lunacy.
I can’t let my first Triple Pull Hero become one of those poor, broken minds…

“I know you’ve all been through something terrible, but we need to leave the capital as quietly as we can.”
“…”
“There are far too many people here. For now, let’s head toward the outskirts.”

I had led the group about ten more steps when it happened.

Ding!

[Your infamy is spreading far and wide!]

“Is that really true? Some lunatic bombed the Execution Grounds?”
“Yeah, a warrant’s already been issued. They say he’s a man with a face so hideous he could’ve crawled straight out of hell.”

Two knights were walking toward the very path I had meant to take.
Wearing blue cloaks, they were Imperial Court knights.

‘Oh, no…!’

I quickly herded Rian and Ailin into a corner with a spin, then pretended to be browsing the fruit stand’s wares.
I couldn’t afford to hit their trauma switches again.
And above all…

‘Someone might recognize me through Trust Inheritance.’

The best course was to avoid making eye contact as much as possible.

Just keep walking.
Please, just walk past us…
I kept chanting it in my head over and over.

“Setanta-nim, let me cast Perception-Lowering Magic again……!”

Rian shouted, his face hollow and drawn.
Looking closer, dark circles had settled heavily beneath his eyes.
Like someone who was about to drop dead any moment.

“If it’s just once… I think my body can hold out.”

…Is he really alright?

Of course he wasn’t.

[Rian has failed to cast the spell.]

“Cough…!”

Whether his mana had backfired or something, Rian doubled over, coughing up blood and collapsing right where he stood.
Rian doubled over, coughing up blood and collapsing right where he stood.
Even his already poor complexion had turned a sickly bluish shade.

[Due to Mana Backflow, the Hero’s stats temporarily decrease!]

“S-Setanta-nim, I’m sorry…”
“…Hold on tight.”

He swayed and was about to fall, so I hurriedly caught him and pulled him upright.

‘What about the knights who were passing by earlier?’

I checked with a sidelong glance.
Fortunately, despite the small commotion, they seemed to have simply walked on past us.

But the fruit stall owner right in front of us turned out to be an unexpected snag.

“Ugh, what’s this sickly wreck? Is he dying of some disease? Don’t drip your filthy blood on my apples and get lost!”

He glared at Rian with a look of disgust, as if he’d seen something foul, and then—

“Huh? Wait, hold on a moment! He’s not turning into a demonic monster, is he? Hey, you! Pull down that hood and show me your face!”

With a suspicious look, he called out and stopped Rian.

“N-no, it’s nothing like that…! I’m just a bit frail, that’s all…!”
“…Hm? That’s an Ailand accent, isn’t it? You’re an Ailander, aren’t you, you bastard!”

Somehow, in that brief moment, he seemed to have caught Rian’s Ailand accent, and he went straight for a fight.

“You bastards! Are you the ones who spread that Red Steam through the capital in the bombing attack, too?!”
“……!”
“I heard you’d been wiped out at your base, so how did you get out alive?! Guards! Somebody call the guards right now……!”

‘Damn it……!’

Where’s the safe route out from here?
How are the guards positioned?
Just as I was scrambling to work out an escape path.

……Boom!

“Hey, owner! The fruit I bought earlier was rotten inside, wasn’t it!”
“……!”

A booming male voice rang out right beside me.
When I turned my head, a blond man was jabbing a finger at the shop owner, his face flushed with indignation.

‘Wait a second. That face……?’

“One of the fruits I just bought here was rotten! Give me my money back right now!”
“W-what are you talking about all of a sudden? That’s impossible……!”
“I want a refund! Refund me this instant!”

Golden hair. Sharp, bold features.
A sturdy build, as if a Greek statue had walked straight off its pedestal and into flesh.
It was a silhouette I had seen countless times before.

‘……Achilles?’

The Hero of the neutral Rom Federation.
A trap character from the SSR lineup.
And the one who claimed the top spot in the “Characters Most Urgently in Need of Deletion” poll……
The glorious emperor of Trash-Tier.

[……Part of the Hero Trust will be inherited.]

Achilles.
He suddenly turned his head toward me.

“Hm?”
“…….”
“……I feel like I’ve seen that face somewhere before……”

Despite the Trust Inheritance message appearing, Achilles only stared at me blankly for a moment before losing interest entirely.
He went right back to hounding the shop owner with renewed fervor.

‘……Just as I expected, he’s not showing much interest in me.’

That’s right.
Not every Trust Inheritance leads to hatred toward Setanta.

‘Above all, in the previous Run, that guy never witnessed Setanta’s betrayal.’

So there’s no way he’d hate me to the bone the way the Hero does.
Why?

Because at that point, right before the Final Chapter……
That guy was already dead.

* * *

-Achilles, how do I keep him alive? I’ve been raising him carefully, but every time, a poisoned arrow hits his heel and he dies TTT
└Why would you even try to save a Trash-Tier?
└Even when I outfit him with Supreme Grade boots, his feet keep shattering and he dies TT Please, how do I save him (OP)
└He’s dead no matter what. You can never save him.
└Trash-Tier units aren’t worth raising lol

Achilles is a hero who never makes it past the mid-to-late stage of the game, always dying young.
His cause of death is always the same: sudden death from a heel injury.

‘So in the previous Run, I did pair him with Setanta once, but he died young almost immediately.’

No matter what you do, his heel gets wrecked and he dies. A hero bound to a fate like that.
Because of that, in the previous life he never once clashed with Setanta, a character with no history of conflict.
And that is exactly who the man protesting in front of the fruit stall is.

‘…But he’s not alone? He’s got a companion with him, right?’

Beside Achilles, a black-haired woman had been standing in a cocky pose the whole time.
At her side was a small, compact white horse.
Pfrrrr-!
It was shaking out its platinum-colored mane.

‘Who’s she? I don’t recognize her. Could she be one of those Hidden Route-only new characters, like Finley?’

A woman with a playful air, her wavy, tousled hair falling past her collarbones.
Add Achilles to the mix, and with two Greek-statue beauties standing side by side, they stood out plenty.

“You said the apples were rotten! Hand my money back right now.”
“No, that’s not the point! These Ailand bastards here!”
“And what of it? What does that have to do with me?”
“A-anyone can see they’re suspicious! I was just about to call the guards when you showed up and—!”

Anyway, new character or not.
Right now, I need to make my exit.

‘Thankfully, Achilles has split their attention.’

Should I slip away right now?
No, if I do that, the shopkeeper might start shouting, and that would be a problem.
Better to keep watching for a little longer and find the right moment.
Just as I was lining up the perfect escape route.

‘Hm?’

A strange gaze suddenly prickled at me.

“…Hey, Achilles. Some lunatic supposedly threw a bomb into the Execution Grounds and ran off.”

The black-haired woman beside Achilles narrowed her eyes and stared straight at me.
Achilles was the one she was talking to, yet her attention was oddly fixed on me.

“I heard he looks terrifying. Face like a demon! And they say he tore the Empire’s flag to shreds, too.”
“What? Where’s that coming from all of a sudden, Hecate?”
“….”

Ah, so her name is Hecate?
An SSR new character from the Greek Mythology lineup.

“If it’s Hecate…”

The goddess of the moon and night.
The deity of life and death, of boundaries and crossroads.

‘She could be a rogue-type class, then.’

…Ding!

[New Hero information acquired!]
[Hecate has grown suspicious of you.]

‘Huh?’

A rather strange system message flickered into view before my eyes.

‘What the heck is this?’

A New Character…
is suspicious of me?

“Didn’t they say that terrorist is still on the run? What if he’s headed this way?”

The woman called Hecate stole a glance at me and nudged her companion, Achilles.
Yet her right hand had drifted toward where her dagger was kept, so it was obvious she was on guard against me.

“Whoever he is, he sounds like a real lunatic, doesn’t he? Better not get tangled up with him. For what it’s worth, I hear he’s all muscle. Strength running wild, they say.”
“I’ve already heard that much! But why do you have to say it while staring straight at this man’s face?”
“Hmm…”
“Besides, look at him. Far from looking like a demon, he’s got a clean, handsome face, plain as day. His appearance doesn’t match the terrorist at all.”
“Come on, he could have stolen someone’s clothes and changed into them…”

[TIP – Some heroes possess Keen Intuition.]

With a sour look on her face, she was now staring openly at my chest.

‘What? Why is she looking at my chest?’

Is there something wrong with it?
I lowered my head to check, and—

“…!”

Pushed outward by my overwhelming chest muscles, the buttons looked like they were begging to be put out of their misery.
The fabric stretched tight to either side, and they were barely holding on.

‘…And the top one is completely misbuttoned, too?’

Oh, great. I must have fastened them wrong while dressing in a hurry earlier.
Did she suspect me because of this?

‘Better fix it right away.’

I hurried to fasten the buttons on my chest, which had gapped open to their limit.

Ting-!

‘Huh?’

One button popped clean off and struck the fruit stand owner square in the forehead.

“Y-you… you…!”

The fruit stall owner scrubbed at his forehead with the back of his hand, as if something filthy had touched it.
Thud!
He shot up from his seat, face flushed red.

“Just as I thought! Catch those suspicious Ailand bastards and interrogate them right now!”

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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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