The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 23

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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 23

A brief silence settled over the hall.
No one dared to raise an objection to the Dark Mage from the Magic Tower.
They could only stare with fearful eyes, waiting for what she would say next.

“But judging by the flow of this ominous mana, it doesn’t seem like a spell meant to protect anyone… It’s closer to a curse that runs on sacrifice, feeding on living beings.”
“….”
“Perhaps the magic the Great Mage created for protection has, after a thousand years, been corrupted into something else.”

The moment Rian finished, a deep groan burst from the lips of the Imperial Knights.

“The Guardian Magic the Great Mage devised is now leading the Empire toward ruin? N-no way… that can’t be true!”
“Answer us, Ailander! Who do you think you are, spreading such nonsense…! Wh-what? Let go of me—!”

Thud!

The Empire’s knights lunged at Rian, so I grabbed a fistful of collars and shoved them apart.

To put it in a single sentence…

‘That red erosion phenomenon that spread across the continent in the original work and ultimately brought the world to its end.’

It wasn’t the doing of the Ailanders, who were supposed to be the villains.
It was the magic circle the Empire’s Great Mage laid down a thousand years ago, is that it?

“Haa…”

In pursuit of the best outcome, it had reset over and over again.
Until at some point it broke down, dyeing the land red and repeating nothing but ruin and reset, endlessly.
It’s like a cancer cell…

Honestly, something was off about the original work from the start.
I had rolled around and tried everything I could think of, working myself to the bone, yet the ending was always bleak and shattered, a Doom Ending.

‘So I’ve been bashing against the wrong targets the whole time, never solving the root cause, and that’s why the True Ending never showed up.’

Now, at last, I can see a thread that might solve this world’s problem at its root.
…But how?

‘That Guardian Magic that has been corrupted over a thousand years and now blankets the world. How on earth do I dispel it?’

I was pondering it deeply, my chin resting on my hand, when it happened.

“Ah…! If that bastard is right, then this world is finished! Finished, I tell you!”
“Has the god truly abandoned us, the people of the Empire…!”

With their heads overheated by the new information, the people of the Empire’s minds began to crack, all at once.

[James’s mental state is deteriorating.]
[…’s mental state is deteriorating.]
…
[Warning! – If combat continues while the Hero’s mental state is deteriorating, combat efficiency will drop sharply.]

And even the rat Charles, who had been listening quietly from inside the Storage Pouch, was no exception.

“What is this nonsense, Setanta-aaaaah!”

Zzzzt-!
He threw quite the tantrum.

『That vile Red Erosion curse that swept across the land of the previous life and destroyed the world……!』
『……You’re telling me it wasn’t the Ailander scum’s doing?! That can’t be! It’s impossible!』
『Then what about me and my comrades in the previous life……! What in the world did we fight those bastards for——.』

“Why bother asking what you fought for? You all just wasted your time, that’s all.”

Bbiiing! Zwiik!
Charles looked ready to wriggle right out of my pocket, so I shoved him back in.

Thankfully, Rian and Ailin seemed to take it relatively calmly. They had already glimpsed rock bottom through the worst experience of all, the ruin of the Underground City.
The small world they had built had already been destroyed.
So maybe one more world ending didn’t really register with them anymore.

‘……Anyway. For now, I need to plan the boss strategy. I wasted way too much time in front of the boss room.’

The final boss of each chapter appears at random from within a fixed pool.
And judging by the grunt I took down earlier,
the boss waiting beyond this point is most likely a spider-type Demonic Monster.

‘Setting aside how hard it is to land a hit on something that quick, its regeneration is absurd. It can regrow a severed leg right away.’

On top of that, it keeps laying webs across every corner of the map, and those are infuriatingly annoying.
Step on a web and your mobility drops, and if you get tangled up, that’s a guaranteed death.

‘So is it hard?’

No.
It’s the easiest boss of the lot.
Because there’s a truly reliable way to counter it.

‘Spiders are cold-blooded. Cold-blooded creatures can’t move for a while once their body temperature rises.’

In other words, once its body heats up, it stops.
And at that point, the boss’s self-regeneration shuts off completely too.
That means effective hits become possible.

So the widely shared low-spec strategy went like this.

1. Put several Expendable Heroes up front and let the spider boss go wild on them.
2. By the time the Expendable Heroes are nearly torn apart, the spider’s body temperature will have climbed, and the boss falls into Self-Groggy State.
3. Then the Main Heroes focus-fire the fallen spider, and that’s it!

Following this, you could clear it easily by sacrificing a few N-Rank fodder heroes.

The catch was that the closer the Main Heroes’ disposition leaned toward good, the more they’d disobey Standby Command and dash out to save their N-Rank party members in danger, or…
and their mental state would deteriorate while they waited. Those were the drawbacks, anyway.

「P-please, s-save me-!」
「……!」

[The Hero believes he must go save his party member.]
[Cancel Standby Command? Y/N]

▶ [NO]

[……is bleeding out.]
[The target’s left leg has been severed.]
[The target’s movement speed is permanently reduced.]
.
.
.
[……has returned to the Goddess’s embrace.]
[The Hero is deeply grieved.]

The next day, we held a memorial service, fed everyone something good, and tucked them in properly, so things mostly settled down.

‘Honestly, it’s inhumane. It only worked because it’s a game.’

I know that well enough. Do that in real life and you’d be a full-blown psychopath.

Of course, there was a way to take down the boss quickly without any sacrifices.
That would be…

‘Pour on a lavish amount of Flame Magic and crank up the ambient temperature.’

Roast the spider with fire and its body temperature shoots up in one shot, so there’s no need to use an Expendable Hero at all.

The problem was that early on, you usually couldn’t find a mage with that kind of stats, but…

‘Thanks to a jackpot pull at the start, I happen to have an SSR all-purpose mage right here?’

I stole a glance at Rian.
…Didn’t he say earlier that he could cast at least one spell?
Ah, but in the original work, I think the Flame Magic this guy used was purple.
Somehow, that fire seems like it wouldn’t be hot at all-.

…Crack!

‘Huh?’

Ssschk-chk-chk-crack-

At that very moment, cracks began to spread across the massive Stone Gate of the Boss Room.

* * *

‘…Did the boss fight just start on its own?’

Soon the gate split apart in a radiating pattern, and the whole place shook.

[Boss appears!]

Through the shattered gate, a plump set of eight legs forced its way in.

Two forked feeler-legs jerked restlessly up, down, left, and right.
The boss I had only ever seen inside the game was now moving right before my eyes.

…But wait a moment.

‘Isn’t the spider’s body blue?’

There was one thing I hadn’t expected.
The giant spider’s color was different from the one I knew.

‘Wasn’t it brown originally?’

Why does it have a bluish sheen?
It was as if a chill had wrapped around my entire body…

And sure enough.
A cold gust carrying dust swept in, sharp and sudden.

A bad feeling crept over me at once.
A bad feeling that the Guide I knew might not work one hundred percent.

“Hic, hhuuuk…!”

[James’s mental state is rapidly deteriorating!]

The sobs of Imperial Knight James filled the dungeon.
He rolled his eyes back and let out a shriek that tore through the air, so grotesque that it sounded almost like the howl of a Demonic Monster.

“G-good grief! Everyone, let’s go back the way we came!”
“Y-yes! James! You need to stop screaming and come over here!”

The two Imperial Knights hurriedly grabbed James and tried to retreat along the path they had come from.
But soon, from all around them came a sound like pulleys lowering, a grinding clatter.
Thud!
A massive wall slammed down right in front of the frantically fleeing knights.

Solid walls now blocked every direction.
There was no way out.

“No… no, this can’t be happening…”
“Everyone, quiet down and look over here!”

Bang!
I stamped my foot hard, drawing every eye toward me.

“Kii…”

At the same time, the giant blue spider came toward me, its legs clicking, click-clack, with every step.
Each time it drew closer, the cold seeped deep into my lungs.
I could tell instinctively.

‘This one is far stronger than the Hell Mode I ran in my previous run.’

And on top of that, this cold.
I had a feeling that a half-hearted flame or a simple dash wouldn’t be enough to raise the beast’s body temperature.

‘…Should I start by probing its strength?’

“Kiiieeeeek—!”

The blue giant spider hoisted one of its thick legs high into the air.
I immediately bent my body as if to dodge to the left—

…Whoosh!

Then I twisted at the waist in the opposite direction and stepped one pace to the right.

Thoooom!

In the end, the tip of its massive leg buried itself in the floor to the left, the very spot I had feinted toward.

“Krk?”

The solid stone floor was torn up like tofu crushed under the spider’s single blow.
It seems not only is it wrapped in cold, but its attack power has been greatly enhanced as well.
…If I get hit badly by that, I could be dead in one blow.
Well, if I don’t get hit, it doesn’t matter, right?

“Kiik…! Kiiiiieeeek!”

I dodged the giant spider’s stabbing attacks one after another, showing everyone how it’s done.

“Okay! You all saw that, right! Like this, just before it attacks, you pretend to head in one direction!”

Swish!

“Then you dodge toward the opposite side like this!”

Thud-!

“That’s all it takes to easily evade its attack!”

Since I was only dodging, it got boring, so I swung my spear in the middle and tried slashing at the spider’s legs for a bit.

Sseuk-sseuk-.
Just as I expected, its absurd regeneration made the cut surfaces knit back together the moment I sliced them.
Its regeneration really is a cheat.

‘As expected, I have to raise its body temperature and put it into a groggy state before I can land an effective hit.’

But since this one is an ice spider, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it thrash around for long. This is becoming a real headache.

That was when I had dodged the spider’s attacks again and again in quick succession.

“Kiiik, kiiiiik…”

Chak, chak, chak!
Perhaps it had grown irritated from coming up empty over and over, because the blue spider suddenly twisted its body away from me and switched its target.

“W-wait, wait a second…! It’s coming for me… it’s coming straight for me?!”

One of the Imperial Knights who had been supporting James stumbled back, his face twisted in alarm.
I rolled my neck with a crack where I stood, partly to catch my breath, and shouted at the Imperial Knight.

“You saw what I was doing just now, right? Now you try to dodge the attacks the way I did!”
“H-how, how exactly…”
“When it lifts a leg, you step like this!”
“….”
“Then when it sets that foot down, do the opposite!”

Chak chak.
…Chak, chak, chak!

“Left foot, right foot, then left again, alternating and bending at the waist!”

Just press the WASD keys at the right timing!
No, not like that!
The left foot, then the right foot!
Just match the timing…

“Hu, huuu, HUAAAAAGH!”

…Crack!

Bright red blood sprayed across my vision.

[…… returns to the embrace of the Goddess.]

“No… no.”

Why can’t I do it?

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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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