The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 38

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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 38

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‘What…?’

A torso comes into view, a head of black hair still attached.
No arms, no legs, just a thing that was once a person, lying right there in front of me.
It sits alone on the cold floor of the Labyrinth.

‘Don’t tell me that’s… Hecate?’

I froze.
A bead of sweat trickled down my face without my noticing, the instant a chill ran through me.

Thud!

Ailin bolted forward.
Straight toward the black-haired torso.

She dropped to one knee in front of it and carefully lifted it for a closer look.
Silence settled over the room for a moment.

“…It isn’t Hecate.”
“…!”
“See for yourselves. The hair may match, but the features are nothing alike, are they?”

Ailin’s silver prosthetic arm grabbed the creature by the scruff of its neck and thrust it toward us.
A strange, fishy stench rolled over us at the same moment.

“Kkeuk, kkeuruk…”

Its glossy eyes fixed on me.
Clack! Clack! It snapped its jaws at the empty air again and again, every bit the lowly mutant.

“Setanta, Rian. What do you two think? Even allowing for the mutation changing its appearance, this is practically a different person.”
“I suppose it does look that way.”
“Ah, now that I look closer, its eye color is different too. The eyes do cloud after death, but I don’t think blue eyes would turn this black.”
“Hmm.”

I studied the face of the mutant, its limbs all severed.
Its eyes, nose, and mouth were coarse and heavy-set. It really did look like a different person.

‘…Huh?’

Wait, now that I look properly, it has scraggly stubble, too.
And it wasn’t a female character after all. It was a male.

“It isn’t Hecate. Even I can tell.”
“Good. Thank the stars for that.”

Crack!
Ailin wrung the mutant’s neck without a hint of mercy.
Only moments ago she had lifted it so carefully, but now she twisted its neck savagely and flung it to the floor, looking like an entirely different person.

“Let’s hurry. If mutants start roaming around here, the kidnapped people could be in danger…”
“…Yes. Let’s go.”

We picked up the pace again and started walking briskly.
Honestly, I wanted to run, but if we startled the Labyrinth and it shifted the paths on us, all our effort would be wasted.
We advanced with the utmost caution.

Pingeu-reu-!

‘Another darkest path, huh…’

How much longer did we walk down that dim passage, checking the direction of the Poison Needle every so often?

‘Oh?’

In the distance.
Before a cage of bars that looked as though they had been hardened from some organic material…

“Kreurk, kruk!”
“Gureuk… Geuuuh…”

Dozens upon dozens of lesser Mutants were gathered there.

“Setanta-nim…! Could this be it?”
“That’s right. Looks like we’ve arrived at the right place.”

Sseurung-.
I drew the Longsword.

[The durability of the item currently in your possession, the Hero’s Sword, is low.]

“……”

The edge has chipped a little and the blade’s condition is somewhat unsettling, but it should hold for now.

“Ailin, Rian. That’s the nest entrance the Steel Scorpion built by secreting its own venom.”

I pointed at the cloudy, grayish-white bars.

“It’s also a prison, with those bars keeping the humans it abducted from escaping. Thankfully, it seems the bars have blocked outside intruders as well.”
“Krrk!”
“Otherwise, the people inside the nest would’ve been torn apart by the Mutants swarming in by now… Ah, one of them is coming this way.”

Seogeok!
The moment I took its head, the lesser Mutant’s skull bounced once, twice, three times before rolling across the floor.

“Hm……”

Judging by its clothes, it was an Imperial soldier.
Even for a unit with low Resistance, it should have held out for roughly half a day.
Since there was quite a gap between that and when we entered the Labyrinth, it must have mutated in the meantime.

“Let’s finish them off quickly for now.”
“……Understood.”

At my signal, Ailin shot forward like a hunting hound.
Ppeok! Ppeok!
Soon, dull yet crisp sounds of the Iron Wood Sword rang out in quick succession.

‘She fights pretty well even on her own, doesn’t she?’

Her dodges and strikes were sharp and precisely timed.
Her footwork, left foot and right, was precise as well.

“Krrk!”

Crack!
With each graceful movement, Clau Solas at Ailin’s waist gleamed with a lustrous, shimmering light.
…Even though she couldn’t draw that sword, and its performance had been completely sealed away.
Her battle sense and base stats are excellent, so even among SSR units, she’s probably at least top-tier.

‘It’s like watching auto-hunt run on its own.’

Rustle, rustle-.
Meanwhile, Rian was pulling something out from inside his outer robe and checking it over.
A water flask and a Traveler’s Cleansing Scroll.
It seems he means to tend to the people we’re about to rescue.

Thwack!

And at last.

“That’s the last of them. We’ve taken care of everything. None of the mutants were anyone we knew.”

Ailin swung her Iron Wood Sword, flinging off the chunks of flesh and blood that clung to it in thick clumps.
Just like that, the cleanup of the small fry was complete.

“They’re definitely strangers to me.”

I glanced down at the corpses of the lesser mutants, their skulls burst open.
Most of them seem to be Imperial soldiers.
…There must have been quite a few people abducted by the Labyrinth all this time, so no wonder it’s been so quiet.
So they were all gathered right here.

“But Setanta, these bars are awfully solid. The captives should be on the other side, but I can’t break through them on my own.”

Clang! Kang!
Ailin swung her Iron Wood Sword at the bars a couple of times, then stepped back.
The sound rang out louder than she’d expected, and she seemed worried it might provoke the Labyrinth.

“Let me take a look.”

I cracked my neck with a low snap and walked up to the off-white bars.

“Setanta, shall I use Corrosion Magic-”
“No, save your mana. I think I can handle this on my own.”

Honestly, this is a piece of cake.
For one, I have the Great Strength trait and an absurd amount of Strength stat…

[Currently applying the Blessing of Ailand (+) trait.]

[There are two Ailand Faction Heroes in the party.]
[Current stat increase rate: 30%]

Thanks to this ridiculously overpowered trait I received as a reward for clearing Chapter 1.
All my stats are currently boosted by 30%.

“Ailin, would you mind holding the Poison Needle for a moment? I have a feeling these bars will keep showing up the whole way to the inner part of the Nest.”
“Very well. Leave it to me.”

I handed the Poison Needle over to Ailin.
The heavy, iron-like needle left my hand, and at last, both of my hands were free.

‘Alright, shall we start dismantling this?’

For reference, these off-white bars are made from Steel Scorpion venom, so if you bring some of its venom and apply it, they’ll melt again.
That’s why in the original work, the standard approach was to bring Steel Scorpion venom in a Magic Bottle, melt these bars with it, and…
Rescue the comrades trapped inside the Nest. That was the textbook Guide, anyway.

‘But someone with strength like mine doesn’t need to bother with that kind of hassle.’

In a nutshell.
If you’ve got the muscle, your head doesn’t have to do the work!

‘Yah!’

Crrk-!
I tore the off-white bar free, just like ripping a sheet of paper.

“…!”

Fibrous, organic fragments scattered into the air, and Ailin and Rian stared at me with wide eyes.
They seemed quite startled that the bars, which hadn’t so much as scratched no matter what they tried, came off so easily.

“This Nest seems pretty big. Let’s hurry.”

.
.
.

Crack, crrk!
Krak-!

Tearing apart the off-white bars that appeared at every turn with sheer brute strength, we pushed forward.
Before we knew it, we had reached the innermost part of the Nest.

Whirrrr-!

The Poison Needle spun in circles, then came to an abrupt halt, pointing up into the air.
That meant this was the Nest’s core.

‘But somehow… it feels too dark here.’

I quickly scanned my surroundings.
Organic bars surrounded us on every side.
Like a birdcage.
Even with the Night Vision Enhancement buff active, everything looked faintly blurred, as if I were being swallowed by the darkness itself.

‘Were Hecate and the Rom Federation’s heroes kept locked up in a place like this all along…?’

According to the setting, the Labyrinth should emit a faint light from its own mana, so it shouldn’t be this completely dark.
A faint sense of danger prickled at me.

“Is anyone there?”

For now, let’s find the rescue targets and get out.
Just as I was scanning the area around me.

“Ma… Ma’am, the horse thief…?”
“…!”

From a corner of the bars far off, a familiar voice drifted toward us.
Then came a sob, a genuinely heartbroken one.

“Hic, hiiic… Waaah, wahhh… I must really be losing it. Now I’m seeing things, too…”
“…Huh?”
“And not even a pretty face. Some damn horse thief is standing right in front of me. Waaaah.”

Her blue eyes trembled, then began to roll slowly, sweeping over our surroundings once more.

“Huh?”

Then she fixed her gaze on Rian, then on Ailin, and froze solid.
Her expression said she couldn’t believe a word of it.

“An illusion… Isn’t it an illusion? There are people here too, not just that horse thief…?”
“…?”

She can see us without a buff?
Ah, could she be a hero with Night Vision built in as a basic skill?

“Hecate, we’ve come to rescue you. Are you all right? Are all your limbs still intact?”
“Huh…? Seriously, for real? You came to save me?”

Ding!

[Hecate’s Trust Level toward you has increased!]
[Hecate’s Trust Level toward your Party has increased dramatically!]

Notification after notification of rising affection flashed up one after another.

“Really…? Can I actually survive this? For real?”

Hecate glanced back and forth between me and my companions, then began to tremble all over.

“Hic, waaah… wahhhh…”

And then, just like that, she—
…Thump!

[The target Hero has fallen into a temporary state of drowsiness as the aftereffect of escaping extreme mental stress.]
[Status Ailment – Sleep!]

She collapsed right where she stood, knocked out cold.

“Huh?”

She’d passed out, sprawled flat on her back.

Well, I suppose the mental anguish she’d endured before we came looking for her must have been enormous.
It’s not that I can’t understand it, though…?

“Setanta! Patroclus and Achilles are over here! They’re unconscious, and one arm and one ankle have been severed, but thankfully they seem to be still breathing!”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”

While Ailin ran over and carefully lifted the collapsed Hecate into her arms, Rian and I checked on the other two.
Fortunately, neither Patroclus nor Achilles appeared to be in any mortal danger.

Good, we’d achieved every objective.
All that remained was to get out of this ominously dark place.

“I’ll carry the two men. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

I hoisted Patroclus and Achilles onto my left shoulder, stacked like hamburger patties.
Everything was going smoothly right then.

“S-s-sa… h-help… Help me.”

At that moment, a hoarse voice reached my ears.
From an entirely different direction.

“Hm?”

I turned my head and looked toward the source of the sound.

Far off, in a corner of the dim expanse.
A man with one arm severed was dragging himself toward me, inch by inch.

“Please, me too… take me too…”
“…?”

A familiar face.
A familiar voice.
And a face twisted into a grimace…

“Sa… Save me, p-please save me…”
“…”
“S-Setanta… it’s me… I, I’m the one you saw back then, back then in the Labyrinth…”

He had come back to his senses relatively well.
It was James.

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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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