Chapter 9: 9

Chapter 9: [STAGE 0] The Decisive Battle (4)

“Lily.”

I tried to approach Lily, but Lily reached out her hand and stopped me.

“I can’t hold on for long. I can block the entrance for a little bit longer, but the Spider Demolishers will soon break through the walls.”

“……”

“There’s not much time left. You must hurry.”

As her slender back blocked dozens of black spiders behind her, Lily replied with a strong smile.

“Please, do not let our deaths be in vain.”

I clenched my teeth as I stood up on my feet.

“Artillerists, what are you doing?!”

The artillerists were still unable to properly stand their bodies due to the impact. But I shouted harshly.

“Load the last shot!”

“But, Your Highness—”

Seemingly having his ankle broken from the fall, the artillerist captain reported back with his hoarse voice.

“I’ve already told you. The durability of the barrel has long surpassed its limit.”

“……”

“The mana core is also at its limit. Once we fire, the entire cannon will explode.

“At this rate, we will all die to the spiders’ claws anyway.”

I stepped toward the mana cannon that was lying on the floor.

The stand of the cannon was completely destroyed, but thankfully, the cannon itself wasn’t.

“ Don’t you think it’d be better for us to at least gamble one last time? Even if we burn to death, the dice must be thrown.”

“……”

The artillerist captain stayed silent for a moment and looked upwards.

“How do you plan on aiming it?”

I looked up together with him.

The battery collapsed down to the first floor of the building. The remnants of the collapsed battery formed a wall and surrounded us.

It felt like being trapped in a well. A round sky could be seen over the wall, but there was no way to even estimate the location of the Black Spider Queen.

“We can’t even see the target. There’s not even an angle to aim for the queen. The stand to support the cannon was destroyed, as well.”

“The cannon will be held by hand.”

If there are no teeth left, then I will have to chew with my gums.

“There’s no need to aim. Demian just has to fire the cannon.”

I don’t exactly know how the [Thousand-Mile Eyes] work, but its effect will activate as long as Demian fires the shot.

I have to believe that’s the case.

“Load the last shot. This is an order.”

“…Understood.”

The artillerist captain didn’t say anything else and quietly began to put the last cannonball into the cannon.

I walked toward Demian. Demian was sitting on the floor, exhaling a thin breath.

“Demian.”

“……”

Closing his eyes, Demian turned his head toward me.

The complexion of his face was a mess, there was blood streaming down his eyes. Demian inhaled painfully.

“This will be the last time. All you have to do is fire one more time.”

“……”

“Lend me your strength, just one more time.”

“…Your Imperial Highness.”

Demian shook his head helplessly.

“Is there any meaning in doing all of this? No matter what I do… Nothing will ever change.”

“If you land your shot one more time, that monster will die.”

“No. I’m not talking about that.”

Cough! Cough!

Demian coughed harshly and mumbled in a hollow voice.

“Even if I pull the trigger, and kill that Spider Queen. Will anything change after that…?”

A disappointed smile hung on Demian’s slender lips.

“I’ve finally realized. My friend, Van, is already dead. No matter how hard I try to take vengeance, he won’t return.”

“……”

“It’s always like this. No matter how hard I try. Even if I exert myself to death, the world just keeps taking everything from me. It never changes, not even a little.”

“Demian.”

“I want to stop now. I don’t want to live like this anymore. I will go to where Van is…”

“Demian!”

I cut his talk and asked him.

“Do you think this world is absurdly unfair?! 

Demian was silent for a moment, then he nodded his head.

“Yes.”

“Do you think that life keeps on being painful, no matter how many ordeals you overcome?!”

“…Yes.

I gave a fresh smile to Demian, then—

“ Don’t go barking obvious things like that, you stupid bastard!!”

“Urgh?!”

I grabbed Demian by the collar and pulled him up to my nose.

I shouted at Demian, who was gasping for breath.

“If there was a difficulty in this world, then it’d be Hell! Obviously in Ironman mode, since saving  & loading doesn’t work here!”

It wasn’t the game that was in Hell difficulty and Ironman mode.

From the beginning, this world was Hell and Ironman.

“It’s absurdly unfair, nonsensical, and nothing ever works how you want it to! That’s what the world actually is! And who doesn’t know that?”

We continue to live in this miserable landscape.

Even in that case,

“So what? Are you just going to give up and die?!”

Am I just going to give up the conquest?

“No!”

The conquest must go on.

Until the very moment that my life ends.

“I will fight on! I will devise and struggle until the very last moment!”

Whoosh!

I threw Demian on the floor.

Demian was thrown to the floor helplessly. I pulled out a sword that was tied around my waist and had never drawn before.

“If you want to give up and die so much!”

I pointed the drawn sword in front of Demian. Demian’s body froze.

“Then pierce your throat with this blade right now!”

“……”

“However, if you’re a coward that can’t even summon the courage to do so, Demian.”

Clank-

I threw my sword aside without care and sat in front of him, meeting eye level.

“Become my trigger.”

“…Pardon?”

“Stop looking for your dead friend. The only thing that you need to function, will be me, your master.”

I placed my hands on Demian’s shoulders and squeezed them tightly.

“Do not try to come up with useless reasons to continue your life. You are my pawn! My key! My trigger! And that is enough reason!”

“……”

“Enough I say, Demian.”

It was at that moment.

[ Ash (EX) has awakened a skill!]

[Passive Skill – Indomitable Commander]

The system window obscured a corner of my view, but I paid no attention to that. I grabbed the shoulder of the only hope I had.

“And I order you, my trigger.”

A faint light emanated from my fingertips. It seems that the passive skill I just awakened has been activated.

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I don’t know what the effect is, but Demian’s trembling shoulders… calmed down slowly.

I nodded heavily.

“Blast that goddamned monster’s face off.”

“……”

Demian stood still, without any reaction, like a weathered stone statue.

A few seconds that felt like an eon passed,

Finally.

“…Yes. Your Imperial Highness.”

Demian slowly nodded his head.

With a face that looked like he was about to cry without tears.

“As you wish.”

* * *

Mid credit:

[Translator: Dawn]

[Proofreader: Alissa]

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* * *

“There is no way to cool the barrel.”

Said the artillerist captain who finished loading the last shot.

“There is neither cooling magic nor water to use as a coolant. At this rate…”

“Move aside.”

I went and stood next to the mana cannon lying on the floor.

“I’ll hold it.”

“Y-Your Highness?!”

The terrified artillerist captain stopped me.

“It is extremely hot! If you touch it with your bare hand, it won’t stop with just a normal burn!”

“I’d rather have burns on my skin and stay alive than burn in an eternal hell after death.”

I could feel the blazing heat just by standing near the cannon.

I took a deep breath and looked back.

“Are you ready, Demian?”

Demian was still crouching on the floor with his eyes closed, and his hand resting on the trigger of the cannon.

“Your Imperial Highness, I can’t see anything in front of me.”

“That’s okay.”

“I can’t feel my hands.”

“That’s okay.”

I said with great effort, in a voice that did not waver.

“It’s okay, Demian.”

“……”

Demian bit his pale lips.

I grabbed the barrel of the mana cannon with both hands.

Fwoosh!

In an instant, the gloves burned along with the palms inside.

“Uugh…”

I can smell the burning flesh behind the burning clothes.

But I’ll endure it.

Because the only thing I can do right now is this.

“Aaaargh!”

I screamed and put the barrel over my shoulder.

My shoulders are on fire.

From the terrifying heat and enormous weight, it felt like my whole body was about to collapse. I felt like I was going to be reduced to ashes at any moment.

But at that moment.

“Assist His Highness!”

The surviving artillerists ran and grabbed the barrel by my side.

The smell of burning was also emanating from the hands of the artillerists holding the barrel. We all screamed and pointed the barrel to the sky.

Thud! Rumble!

Immediately after, the Black Spider Demolishers broke down the wall and entered.

Behind the Demolishers, hundreds of spiders jumped over the collapsed wall and rushed toward us.

I looked back and shouted.

“Demian!”

At that moment, Demian opened his eyes.

A pure white light flashed in his large brown eyes that were looking up at the sky.

“Fire-!”

Demian pulled the trigger with all his might.

Clunk!

Ptssss-!

The mana that flowed out of the unchained magic core jumped like an electric current on the barrel.

Enormous mana pierced my body, but I did not collapse.

And the next moment,

Boom-!

With a deafening roar, the last shot was fired.

‘Reach.’

Looking up at the blue mana bullets soaring into the sky, between the claws of spiders swarming in all directions…

‘Reach—”

I lost consciousness.

* * *

The bullet soared through.

The final bullet shot from the collapsed forward operating base rose like a firecracker and pierced the sky.

And then it started descending.

Drawing a sharp parabola, it fell like a shooting star.

Kyaaaaargh-!

When the Black Spider Queen, who noticed the presence of the magic bullet, shouted out loud, the black spiders protecting the queen began to build up a wall at once.

It was impossible, to begin with.

A shot fired toward an invisible enemy, under a collapsed citadel.

Not only was it impossible to aim from that angle, but no matter how much the output of the mana cannon was forcefully boosted, it is impossible to land the shot beyond this height difference and distance.

Whoosh-!

However.

The shot rushed precisely to the Spider Queen.

The difference in altitude.

Disregarded.

The distance.

Disregarded.

Hundreds and thousands of monsters in between.

Disregarded.

As if dancing, the blue bullet drew a trajectory that cannot exist in this world, breaking through the layered barriers.

After passing through all obstacles, it reached the queen.

As if it was a simple reproduction of predestined results.

On the crown of the Spider Queen, who roared in either anger or fear,

Crush-!

The shot landed without an inch of error.

Ka-boom…!

The shot blasted the head of the Spider Queen cleanly.

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