◈ 009. [STAGE 0] Decisive battle (4)
“Lily.”
I tried to reach Lily, but Lily held out and restrained me.
“I can’t last long. I can block the entrance a little longer, but soon the spider siege entities will be pushing through the walls.”
“… .”
“I don’t have much time. Hurry up.”
Lily smiled toughly as she fended off dozens of black spiders behind her slender back.
“Don’t let our deaths be in vain.”
Grinding my teeth and standing up, I screamed.
“What are you doing, artillery!”
The artillerymen were still unable to brace themselves properly from the impact of falling to the ground. But I shouted harshly.
“Load the last bullet!”
“But Your Highness.”
The artillery commander, who could neither walk nor stand properly, reported in a hoarse voice that he might have broken his ankle during the fall.
“Didn’t I tell you? The durability of the gun barrel has already crossed the critical point.”
“… .”
“The magic core is also a limit. If you shoot it, the entire cannon will explode.”
“If you stay still, you will be stabbed to death by the spiders’ claws.”
I approached the mana cannon that was lying on the floor.
The pedestal was shattered, but fortunately the main body of the cannon was not broken.
“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to throw at least one last gamble? Even if it burns to death, the dice must be thrown.”
“… .”
The silent artillery commander looked up.
“What are you going to do, Aim?”
I also looked up.
The entire building collapsed down to the first floor of the battery. The remains of the collapsed batteries formed a wall around us.
It feels like being trapped in a well. A round sky was visible above the wall, but the Black Spider Queen couldn’t even locate it.
“You can’t even see it. There is no blind spot to aim at the queen. The pedestal was also smashed.”
“The cannon is held by hand.”
If you don’t have teeth, you have to chew with your gums.
“I don’t need to aim. Damien just needs to shoot.”
I don’t know exactly how clairvoyance works, but anyway, as long as Damian, who has clairvoyance, pulls the trigger, the correction will go in.
I have no choice but to believe that
“Load the last bullet. It is an order.”
“… All right.”
The artillery commander didn’t say anything more and quietly began to stuff the last bullet into the cannon.
I walked over to Damian. Damian sat down on the floor, letting out a thin breath.
“Damian.”
“… .”
Damian closed his eyes and turned his head towards me.
The complexion was a mess under the two bloody eyes. Damian inhaled painfully.
“This is the last one. Just one more shot.”
“… .”
“only once. Give me strength one more time.”
“… Prince.”
Damian shook his head helplessly.
“What is the meaning of this? No matter what I do… … Nothing changes.”
“If you hit it one more time, that monster will die.”
“no. That’s not the story.”
Cool! Cool!
Damian coughed violently and muttered in an empty voice.
“Even if I pull the trigger one more time. So let’s say you killed that spider queen. So what changes?”
A mischievous smile crept across Damian’s thin lips.
“Now I understand. Half of my friends are already dead. No matter how hard I try to avenge them, I can’t come back.”
“… .”
“It’s always like this. No matter how hard I try, die. No matter how hard I try, the world takes it away from me. Nothing changes.”
“Damian.”
“I want to stop now. I don’t want to live this hard life anymore. I’m also by Van’s side… … .”
“Damian!”
After I stopped talking, I asked.
“Do you think this world is absurd?”
Damian paused for a moment, then nodded.
“yes.”
“Do you think living is still painful even after struggling through the hurdles in front of you?”
“… yes.”
Having smiled at Damian, I said,
“Don’t say things stupidly, you bastard!”
“Ouch?!”
I roughly grabbed Damian by the collar and pulled him up to my nose.
I yelled at Damian, who was gasping for breath.
“If there is a difficulty in this world, it is the difficulty of hell. It’s obvious that you can’t save or load in Ironman Mode!”
The game wasn’t a hell difficulty iron man mode.
In the first place, this world was hell and there were iron people.
“It’s absurd and ridiculous, and nothing goes my way! that’s the world! Who doesn’t know that?”
We are living in this miserable landscape.
That said,
“So what? Are you going to give up and let go of your hands and then die?”
Are you going to give up the attack?
“no!”
The attack must continue.
Until the moment life stops.
“I will fight! I will devise and struggle until the last moment!”
slap!
I threw Damian to the floor.
Damian collapsed on the floor helplessly. I pulled out a sword that I had never pulled out while it was wrapped around my waist.
“If you want to die without leaving your hands like that!”
I pointed the drawn sword in front of Damian’s eyes. Damian’s body stiffened.
“Put your own throat with this knife right now.”
“… .”
“But if you’re a coward who doesn’t have the courage to do that, Damian.”
Chaeng-
Geurang- I casually threw my sword aside and sat down in front of Damian at eye level.
“It can be my trigger.”
“… yes?”
“Stop looking for dead friends. All you need to operate is me, your master.”
I put my hands on Damian’s shoulders and squeezed them tightly.
“Don’t stick to different reasons for living. you are my chess piece! it’s my key! It’s my trigger! That’s enough!”
“… .”
“That’s enough, Damian.”
It was then.
[Ash (EX) has awakened a skill!]
[Passive skill – Indomitable Commander]
The system window covered a corner of my field of view, but I didn’t care. I clung to the shoulder of the only hope I had.
“Command is my trigger.”
A faint light leaked from my fingertips. It seems that the passive skill that just awakened has been activated.
I don’t know what the effect is, but Damian’s shivering shoulders… … calmed down slowly
I nodded heavily.
“Blow the fucking monster’s face off.”
“… .”
Damian stood still, unresponsive, like a weathered stone statue.
A few seconds passed,
and finally.
“… Your prince.”
Damian’s head nodded slowly.
With a face that looks like it’s about to cry, without even trying to cry.
“If it is your order.”
***
“There is no way to cool the gun barrel.”
After loading the last bullet, the artillery commander said.
“There is no cooling magic or water to use as a coolant. At this rate… … .”
“Move.”
I went and stood next to the mana cannon on the floor.
“I’m taking it.”
“Your Highness, Prince Hua?!”
The terrified artillery commander stopped me.
“It’s insanely hot! If you just touch it, it won’t end with a normal burn!”
“It would be better to burn alive than to die and fall into inferno.”
Just standing close to the cannon felt the searing heat.
Taking a deep breath, I looked back.
“Are you ready, Damian?”
Damian was still sitting on the floor with his eyes closed, his hand resting on the trigger of the cannon.
“Prince. I can’t see in front of me.”
“are you okay.”
“I have no feeling in my hands.”
“are you okay.”
I tried my best to speak in a steady voice.
“are you okay.”
“… .”
Damian bit his pale lips.
I grabbed the barrel of the mana cannon with both hands.
Roaring!
In an instant, the glove caught fire, and the palm inside it also burned.
“Ugh… .”
Between the smell of burning clothes, the smell of cooking flesh.
It holds up though.
Because this is all I can do right now.
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”
I screamed and threw the gun barrel over my shoulder.
The shoulder is hot.
My whole body seemed to collapse from the terrible heat and enormous weight. I felt like I would be reduced to ashes any moment.
at that time.
“Help Her Highness!”
The surviving artillerymen ran over and grabbed the gun barrels by my side.
The smell of burning emanated from the hands of the gunners who were holding the gun barrels. We all screamed and pointed our noses toward the sky.
thud! Kugu Palace!
Immediately after, the heavily armored siege entities of the black spiders broke down the walls and came inside.
Hundreds of spiders jumped over the collapsed wall and rushed at us from behind.
Turning around, I shouted.
“Damian!”
At that moment, Damian opened his eyes.
A pure white light flashed in her large brown eyes looking up at the sky.
“Shoot-!”
Damian pulled the trigger with all his might.
Clap!
Parts Tsutsutsu-!
The mana flowing from the runaway magic core rode the barrel and bounced like an electric current.
A huge amount of mana penetrated my whole body, but I didn’t collapse.
In the next moment,
tukwaaaang-!
The last bullet was fired with a deafening explosion.
‘Touch.’
Looking up at the blue mana bullets soaring into the sky, between the claws of spiders pouring down from all sides… … .
‘Touch… … .’
I lost consciousness.
***
Bullets shoot out.
The last bullet fired from the collapsed outpost rose like a firecracker and pierced the sky.
And then – start descending.
It fell like a meteor, drawing a sharp parabola.
Kyaaaaaaa-!
When the Black Spider Queen noticed the presence of magic bullets, she shouted, and the black spiders who were escorting the queen began to build up a wall all at once.
It is impossible in the first place.
A bullet fired from the bottom of a collapsed battery toward an invisible opponent.
Aiming was aiming as well, and no matter how much the output of the mana cannon exploded, there was no way it could reach beyond this height difference and distance.
Wedge-Ae-Ae-!
however.
The bullets rush right into the spider queen.
elevation difference.
Ignore it.
distance.
Ignore it.
Hundreds of thousands of monsters blocking the way.
Ignore it.
As if dancing, the blue bullets broke through the layers of defenses while drawing trajectories that could not exist in the world.
Passed through all obstacles and reached the Queen.
As if it was just reproducing the already pre-determined result.
Kiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Whether it’s anger or fear, the spider queen emits an unknown roar – a hollow on the top of her head
!
Landed without an inch of error.
Kwakwagua light… … !
The bullet blew the monster queen’s head clean.
