The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 19

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

Chapter 19

* * *

“Horse thief! Horse thief-!”

A distant cry claiming ownership rang out behind me, but I kept my eyes fixed forward and pushed on.
Stopping here would get me nothing but a dead end.
Die, and it’s over.
And this damned roguelike game doesn’t even have a save-load!

“Krrrrrk-!”

Schak!
Still gripping the reins, I swung the longsword and cut down the demonic monsters clawing their way toward me.
The motion threw me off balance.
I nearly lost my seat altogether.

Hiiing, hihiiing…

The white horse seemed to be struggling under our weight, its smaller frame straining beneath us.
Its breath came ragged, and foam bubbled at its mouth.

‘Just a little longer, hold on…!’

The city gate was getting closer.
If we just keep going like this a little more!

“You ungrateful bastards!”
“…?!”

Dagak, dagak!
Somehow she had already caught up on another horse.
Hecate pulled up right beside us, her black hair whipping in the wind, and flipped me the middle finger.
Achilles was slung over the back of her saddle, looking like he was barely clinging to life.

“Get down right now, you horse thieves!”
“It was an emergency! I’ll pay you back properly later!”
“Do you really think you can sell your own friend for money, you son of a bitch!”
“My good fellow, I understand this horse is a dear companion to you! But given the circumstances right now…!”
“Fuck you!”

Hecate then rattled off a string of curses too vile to repeat.
Strangely enough, not a single one of them was an insult aimed at Ailand.

“Hey, you ×××-spawned ×××××s, get the hell off my Jorangi right now! You ××-ass ×××s who repay kindness with betrayal, I’ll—aaargh!”
“Once we’re clear of the capital, I’ll return the horse to you! The gate is almost—…!”

Afraid she might attack us mid-gallop, I kept trying to soothe her with words as we raced on for several dozen seconds.

‘Please!’

And then, at last.
…Ding!

[Hidden Route progress increased!]

We had made it out of the capital!

[Hidden Route Progress: 6.4%]
-『Escape from the Capital Under the Imperial Army’s Pursuit』 (Complete)

And then.

‘…Huh?’

Something was wrong.

“Got you, you horse-thieving bastard!”
“….”
“Damn it… wait. Wait, what’s that? What’s that red stuff piled up in front of us…?”

The moment we crossed the city gate.
An endless expanse of red earth greeted us.

Creeeak!
…It even throbbed, swelling up and down like a heartbeat.
It was as if every district surrounding the Imperial Capital had become part of the Red Labyrinth’s domain.

‘I’ve played this game all this time, and I’ve never seen anything like this?’

Erosion had spread this far?
Then where exactly am I supposed to run-?

But before I could think any further.

“Uh… wait, what is that…?”
“….”
“Hey… hey, horse thief. That thing… do you see it too?”

Gurgle!

Like a wave of blood surging high overhead, the maw of hell came crashing down on us.
Gulp!
In an instant, it swallowed us whole.

.
.
.

[Entering the Labyrinth.]

[Warning! – The dungeon’s environment is far harsher than your current level warrants.]

[Calculating disparity…]
….
….
[Special Judgment: High-Difficulty Dungeon]
[Estimated Survival Rate: 12.73%]

[TIP – In High-Difficulty Dungeons, final rewards are greatly increased!]

* * *

I had been devoured by the Labyrinth.
Not that I had any intention of entering it to clear it.

[Special Adjustment – The chance of obtaining rare rewards has greatly increased!]

“Haa…”

‘So the difficulty’s insane, but the rewards are guaranteed to match, huh?’

Well, since I’m here anyway, might as well clear it.
I cradled my throbbing head and pushed myself upright.
Red floor, red walls, red ceiling. The space before my eyes was a blood-red expanse that made my head spin.

[Warning! If your Resistance falls below a certain value, Mutation will begin!]

“S-Setanta-nim… where on earth is this…?”
“It’s some kind of underground dungeon. We’ll have to find a way out.”

I gathered up the others, who were glancing around in shock.
Thankfully, they were all top-tier Heroes, so their base Resistance held, and Mutation didn’t seem to be setting in.

‘So that’s why they handed out SSRs that normally only join in the mid-game this early. It’s because the difficulty is this outrageous.’

As the headache stabbed through me again, I pressed a hand to my forehead for a moment.

“J-Jo, Jo, Jojojo… Jorangi…”

A tearful voice came from beside me.
When I turned to look, two horses were collapsed on the floor.

‘One is already dead, and the white one is still alive, but…’

The little white pony that had carried the three of us was convulsing, spewing bloody foam again and again.
Judging by the ribcage that had begun to jut out in an unnatural way, Monsterization was already well underway.

“Hic… hnnk…”

Hecate pulled a Curse Resistance Potion from her robes and poured it into the horse’s mouth.
But it had no real effect.
She sniffled for a little while, then drew a slender dagger and ended the horse’s suffering.

‘…So that’s why the setting was that, unless it’s a Divine Beast, most animals couldn’t be brought along when clearing a Labyrinth.’

Throwing in a horde of low-ranking soldiers was out of the question too.
Why?
Because their Resistance was too low, and they’d all turn into Demonic Monsters inside the Labyrinth.

That’s why, even in the original work, Labyrinth expeditions were always made by a small, elite Party led by the Hero.

『W-w-w-Setanta-aaah…! What in the world is going on!』

Zzzt-crackle!
Just then, Hero Rat jolted upright, glanced around, and poked its head out with a squeak.

“Charles? Hm? You want down?”

The moment I set the squirming creature down,
Charles planted his feet on the red floor and sniffed the air, snuffling away.
Thankfully, being a Hero at heart, he seemed to be completely immune to Mutation.

『It’s absurd that such an evil aura would overflow like this! The first Labyrinth has only just appeared!』

“Right? I’m just as rattled. Anyway, it’s dangerous, so get back in, Charles.”

I shoved the Hero into the pouch beside the Storage Bag.
Then I started to rise from my seat.

“…?”

Hecate was staring at me, utterly dumbfounded.

“Wait, were you just talking to that rat…?”

Her eyes brimmed with tears as she spoke, her tone thick with disbelief.

“You killed someone’s horse, and instead of apologizing, you’ve gone and lost your mind…?”
“Ah, Charles is a special magic rat, so he can talk to me.”
“….”
“He was human to begin with. Look, my party members can vouch for me-”
“Ha… what a mess this is, all because of some ungrateful, lowlife thief. And now he’s gone mad, too…”

[Hecate’s Trust Level toward you has plummeted!]

‘Huh?’

The Trust Level drop message that appeared before my eyes left me a little flustered.

‘Aside from the citizens of the Empire, this is the first time I’ve tanked someone’s Trust Level this badly…’

Hecate no longer spared me a glance. She turned away, swiped at her tears, and then—
crept up to Achilles, who lay face-down and motionless, and poured a Potion over his ruined ankle.
But he was already suffering from Potion Poisoning, so it barely made a difference.

“We’ve fallen into some bizarre place, you know. Wake up, you son of a bitch, already….”
“Ugh, my head’s ringing. Stop talking, Hecate.”
“Sob, hic…”

A trash-tier SSR with a shattered ankle, and one guy who hates my guts more than anything.
Add a would-be lunatic teetering on the edge of madness, and a mage who can’t cast magic for the time being…
The party was practically five minutes from total collapse.

‘Hah, I have to take down the Boss inside this Labyrinth before I can get back to the surface.’

Should I try to clear it on my own?
But the Labyrinth’s condition is far too suspicious for that.
One wrong move and I’m as good as dead.

‘Above all, there are too many variables.’

The Labyrinth’s layout is completely random, like a Roguelike.
So if a low-spec party wants to clear a High-Difficulty Dungeon, what then?
Control matters, sure.
But first…
‘I need a disposable piece.’

For disarming traps, detecting danger, pulling Boss Aggro, and so on… A disposable piece with endless uses.

But I can’t simply turn a living person into mincemeat.
…Unless it’s some scumbag who’s done something deserving of death.

[Warning! – Multiple Heroes who may be hostile toward you are approaching!]

‘Hm?’

At that moment, the floor of the labyrinth began to rumble.
From the corridor ahead came a tremor, like a group of people running together.

“Kiiiyyit!”

Then the shriek of a demonic monster pierced my ears and echoed through the passage.
Among the Imperial soldiers charging toward us, a thick, spider-shaped monster came into view.

“A person! There’s a person…!”
“Hey, move aside now! Don’t block the way!”
“….”

So the first monster is right here?
Whirr.
I immediately drew my spear
and leveled its tip at the head of the spider lunging toward me.

“It’s useless! No matter how many times you slash it with a blade, it won’t leave a single scratch…!”

Crunch!
My spear, thrust straight forward in a single line, pierced clean through the spider’s head.

“Wh-what…?”
“Whaaaaat?!”

The Imperial soldiers, frozen in place with their mouths hanging open, turned their gazes toward me all at once.

“Kiyit, kiiyit!”

‘Its head is pierced through, and it’s still moving?’

Kwaang!

I hurled the spider still skewered on my spear down onto the floor.
Ppuduk!
The sound of its exoskeleton cracking rang out once.

“Kiik, kiiiiiii…”

‘It’s still alive?’

Bwuung!
I lifted the spear, with the spider still impaled on it, high into the air again.

Kwaaaang!

I brought it crashing down onto the floor once more.

Kwang! Kwang!
…Kwaaang!

After I slammed it down several more times in rapid succession, green blood finally splattered in spurts.

“Kiiyit, kiiiiiiiii…”

The spider monster trembled for a moment, then let its eight legs go limp and fell still.

“D-dead. It’s dead.”
“The spider’s dead…”

With a wet, sticky rattle, I flicked the spider’s bodily fluids off my spear.
Then I glanced over the Imperial soldiers slumped on the floor, gasping for breath, and ran a scan.
The inside of the Labyrinth was so dim that it was hard to make out anything at a glance.

‘…Quite a few of them are undergoing Mutation. Estimated rank is almost N-Rank.’

I narrowed my eyes and studied each one, checking whether any of them had a grudge against Setanta from the Previous Loop.

‘Huh? That outfit is…’

My gaze snagged on one spot and stopped.

Far behind the Imperial soldiers.
…On a group of knights in silver armor, cloaks of deep blue draped over their shoulders.

Ding!

[Emergency Quest triggered!]

“Thank you…! I am Imperial Royal Knight James!”

A man with a kindly face dropped to one knee before me.
His dark blue cloak spilled over his shoulder as he bowed.

“…”

I stared blankly at the Quest Window that had popped up before my eyes.

◈Emergency Quest◈
【An Eye for an Eye】
– Find whoever took part in the raid on the Underground City and take your revenge!
◆ On Quest Success: Gain 1 Player Point

…A revenge quest?
Find whoever took part in the raid on the Underground City, and take revenge on them?

“We will certainly repay the debt of your kindness! May I ask your name, noble one?”
“…”
“I am James! By the honor of the Imperial Royal Knights, I swear I will repay this kindness!”

[TIP – Once the Labyrinth vanishes, no trace of any crime will remain.]

…Ding!

[Find the butcher who violated your countrymen, and deliver hell upon him!]

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