The SSR Spearman (Doesn’t) Hide His One-Shot Damage - Chapter 41

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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 41

* * *

James had become a jelly doll.

[Emergency Quest, “An Eye for an Eye,” has been completed.]
[You have acquired 1 Player Point!]

Ding!

[Current Player Points: 3p]

The quest wrapped up without a hitch.
The Privilege Points came in as well, bringing the total to 3p.

“Having more dolls for magic is reassuring!”
“….”
“Hm? Setanta, are you unwell? You look troubled.”
“No, it’s nothing.”

I shook my head with a faint, uneasy feeling.

‘Not even killing him on the spot, but turning him into a cursed doll…’

I’d witnessed plenty of violence since coming to this world.
Yet this time, it struck me afresh.

[TIP – If injury or murder has a relatively legitimate reason, a Hero’s Good-Evil Value will not decrease.]

Of course, a notice confirming Legitimate Self-Defense had popped up as well.
My Good-Evil Value hadn’t dropped, and I’d even recycled James into a jelly doll right before his death, so the disposal of the body was flawless.
Still, what was this lingering, unsettling feeling?

“….”

Could it be that moral sense is a little different from the modern world…?
No, it’s not the modern world. This place is.

I folded my arms and fell into thought for a moment.

In a world where your life is threatened at every turn, where you must live as a persecuted Ailander immigrant, this place…
is in many ways nothing like the modern world.
There’s no need to be bound by the morality of the old world.

Now that I’ve crossed over here, I am Setanta, an Ailander.

‘…Ah, maybe it’s because I talked with that guy too much this time?’

Now I understood.
It was simply because I’d spent far too long around James that this uneasy feeling crept in.

‘Fine, from now on I won’t exchange a single word with those who’d make me good!’

Just as I was unfolding my arms, feeling refreshed again, it happened.

“Y-you villains!”

Zzzip!
Charles, stuffed inside the pouch of the Storage Bag, began to tremble and protest.

『You turned an Imperial Knight into a doll! How could you commit such an outrageous act…!』
『Even if Sir James was a piece of garbage, he should have been given a proper trial, and his crimes weighed in a court of law!』

Zzzip! Chirp-chirp, zzzt-!

『Pass sentence on your own whim without even a trial, and what do you think you’re doing!』
『This is nothing short of treason against the Empire! Harming an Imperial Knight of the great Empire is a grave crime that calls for summary execution!』

The Hero flopped about, voicing his discontent.
Still, on one point the Hero seemed in complete agreement: that James was garbage.

“Charles, a proper trial is only for the people of the Empire, isn’t it?”

Tap-tap.
I drummed my fingers against the pouch.

『……!』

“Saying we should handle it by the book is something only a citizen of the Empire can say.”

Ping!
I gave my thumb a light flick, and the Hero Rat yelped and dove straight into the pouch.
As always, it was an exit as swift as light.

‘Such an insolent, pitiful thing…’

I shut my eyes tight, feeling a little less refreshed than before.
Well, if I’d been born an Empire citizen… I might have said something similar.
People always see the world from the position they stand in.

“…It’s chilly here. Shall we light a fire? You said light doesn’t leak out from inside the barrier, right?”

Looking at Hecate, who still hadn’t woken, and the two men from the Rom Federation, I suggested to the party that we secure an additional heat source.
We’d applied potions to all three of them, so they were at least treated.
Still, their condition was far from good, and I was worried about hypothermia.

‘Besides, though she’s only SSR-rated, Hecate’s body is terribly frail.’

Precisely because she’s so fragile, even a small shift in temperature could send her condition plummeting.
Once she wakes, she needs to be put straight to work as my party’s Labyrinth guide, and her top-grade Doom Detection sensor can’t be allowed to go bad.

Rustle-.

‘Hm?’

But somehow… it seemed Hecate had just moved?

Unsure, I studied Hecate more closely.
Her face was pale.
But she lay there as though even her breath had stopped, not a single twitch in her body.

‘…Did I see wrong?’

Just then, Ailin came over to me.

“Setanta, we have nothing much here that would serve as firewood for a bonfire. Is there anything nearby that could be burned?”
“Ah, you can use this.”

I had moved the Steel Scorpion Stinger I’d been carrying to the center of the barrier.
It came from a plump, tail-heavy scorpion of the pet tail variety, so this part actually stores quite a bit of fat, believe it or not.

“Try lighting the cut end here. Steel scorpions concentrate and store fat, so it’ll burn for quite a while.”
“Is that another bit of information from the Great Mage? Very useful.”

Whoosh!
No sooner had golden flames burst from Ailin’s fingertips than the cut surface of the Steel Scorpion Stinger caught fire.
Before long it was burning with a strange orange glow, which gradually shifted into an ordinary red flame.

“Oh, the golden fire is slowly turning red?”
“Well, my mana has dispersed by now. All I did was push it past its ignition point so it would catch.”
“I see.”

Ailin went on to explain the principles of mana discharge and ignition.
Everyone’s mana has its own distinct quality, and hers had an overflowing capacity and a tendency to spread like a blaze.

‘It’s strange hearing directly what I only knew from the settings…’

Crackle, crackle!
From the Steel Scorpion Stinger lying on the stone floor came a peculiar smell, like chicken roasting.
It was the kind of smell that made you want to take a bite.

‘…Didn’t someone say scorpion venom breaks down and vanishes when heated?’

For reference, in this game, if your resistance stat is high enough, you can eat demonic monsters.
Eating them doesn’t cause mutation, which means you can savor their flesh to your heart’s content.

◈Geas◈
[Oath of Cú Chulainn]
-You must not eat dog meat. Other canine-family animals (such as hyenas) and demonic monsters are permitted.
◆ Geas effect: 30% bonus to Stamina, Strength, and Agility.

‘Even Setanta, who can’t stomach dog meat, could eat a monster in dog form.’

…Demonic monster cuisine, huh.
I wonder what it tastes like.

Without meaning to, I swallowed hard.

“Ah, ahh…”
“…!”

Hecate let out a faint groan.
It seemed she had finally woken from her deep sleep.

“That… no, don’t…”

Her hair was a tangled mess as she wriggled and pushed herself upright.
Then her trembling blue eyes flicked back and forth between me and my party before settling.

“If you eat that… you absolutely mustn’t eat it.”
“Huh?”
“If you eat it now, you’ll die…!”

The moment she was up.
She began hurling a torrent of curses at the scorpion’s stinger.

* * *

“This damn, goddamn scorpion—!”
“Ms. Hecate, please calm down first. Your comrades from the Rom Federation are all alive. We’ve already taken care of their wounds.”
“But their arm and leg were torn off…! It’s all because of that crazy scorpion! Where is it? I want it chopped into pieces and killed!”
“I’ve already killed it.”
“…Oh, I see? I thought so. Right, but did you happen to see Patroclus’s arm or Achilles’s ankle on the way here? If we wake Patroclus and reattach them… I think that would work.”
“Ah, those body parts have already rotted beyond saving. Instead, Magitech Engineering prosthetic arms and legs have been coming out quite well these days, so—”
“Rotted? Rotted…? Aaaaagh! Gyaaaaaah!”

Hecate raged for a good while, and only after a long stretch did she calm down and express her gratitude to us.
She seemed to have accepted, if somewhat bitterly, the body losses her friends had suffered.

“Seriously, thank you…! I really thought I was going to die, you know? Thank you so much for saving me and my friends like this, really, thank you… *sniff*.”
“If you’re grateful, then please actively cooperate in clearing the Labyrinth. We badly need your help, Ms. Hecate.”
“Eh…? Um, well, as long as these two wake up…?”

Her expression had stiffened oddly, and she seemed strangely terrified of something without any clear reason.
Most likely it was the PTSD from being trapped in the Nest, along with the aftereffects of the scorpion’s venom.

‘But she does seem somewhat afraid of us…?’

Hecate oddly kept her distance from Ailin as she sat down.
Earlier she had been clinging to Ailin as a fellow female Hero, but now there was an unsettling sense of distance between them.

‘Is that just my imagination?’

We remained in that state and waited for the other two members of the Rom Federation to wake up.
Yet even after waiting a long while more, Patroclus and Achilles did not stir.

“….”

Both lay unconscious, their faces pale, not even the slightest twitch of movement.

‘…Maybe the Steel Scorpion injected more paralytic venom into these two alone.’

Steel Scorpions tend to inject more venom into those they judge to be powerful before dragging them away.
Both of these two are SSR Birth Rank, so perhaps they won’t wake until the Labyrinth is cleared, due to the effects of the nerve poison.

‘Hecate was frail to begin with, so the scorpion must have injected only a weak dose into her from the start.’

Thanks to that, Hecate had already come to, which was a real stroke of luck.
In a Labyrinth where no one knows what dangers lie ahead, this Hero’s abilities are practically a cheat.

‘Still, I’d have liked Patroclus to wake up, since he’s a healer.’

Well, it can’t be helped.
Dragging things out would only be bad, so we decided to set out as we are.

“Let’s go. I’ll carry the two unconscious men for now.”

I hoisted Patroclus and Achilles onto my left shoulder, one stacked over the other.
It was a rather cumbersome load, but since my basic physical capabilities far surpassed others’, they didn’t feel heavy in the slightest.

“Ailin, please look after Ms. Hecate and Rian.”
“Fine. I’ll take full responsibility and protect them.”

[The Party’s Behavior Pattern has been reset.]

Behavior Pattern has also been newly reset.

I’ll lead the way with the two wounded in my arms.
Ailin takes the rear, protecting the frail Hecate and Rian as they follow.

‘Thank God there’s another close-combat type besides me.’

What if I’d had to cover all these people alone?
I’d have been shackled even when moving on my own, and landing my specialty, the single-target burst damage, would’ve been nearly impossible.
Which means the party’s efficiency would have plummeted.

‘Surprisingly, the party balance is pretty good, right?’

Now, if only we had someone with a top-grade danger-sensing sensor…
Another cheat-level guide, and we’d be perfect.

Just as my gaze drifted toward Hecate without thinking, it happened.

Ding!

[Hecate suspects you and your entire party.]

‘…Huh?’

[TIP – Some heroes possess Keen Intuition.]

“….”

Biting her lower lip hard, Hecate stood beside Ailin, her anxious eyes trembling.

She was desperately trying to pretend otherwise.
But her face was plainly stricken with fear.

—————
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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