Chapter 9

"Lilly."

I attempted to move towards Lilly, but she raised her hand to halt me.

"I can't hold out much longer. I may be able to barricade the entrance a bit more, but the spiders from the Black Spider Legion will soon break through."

"....."

"Our time is running out. Hurry."

While holding off scores of black spiders with her delicate back, Lilly offered a brave smile.

"Do not let our deaths be for nothing."

Clenching my teeth, I rose and hollered.

"What are you doing, artillery!"

The artillerymen were still struggling to recover from the shock of the fall. Regardless, I scolded them harshly.

"Load the final shell!"

"But, Your Highness."

The artillery captain, who had taken a fall and likely sprained his ankle, made his report in a grating voice. He was unable to stand or walk properly.

"As I informed you earlier, the cannon has already exceeded its durability limit."

"..."

"The magic core is also at its limit. If we fire, the cannon will explode."

"We're all going to die anyway, impaled by the spiders' fangs."

I moved towards the mana cannon lying toppled on the ground.

The stand was fragmented, but luckily, the body of the cannon was whole.

"Isn't it better to go down fighting? Even if we perish in the flames, we should at least roll the dice."

"..."

The silent artillery captain looked up at me.

"How will you aim?"

I also looked up.

The cannon was decimated to the first floor, with the rubble forming walls around us.

It felt like being trapped in a well. We could see the circular sky above the walls, but we couldn't even catch a glimpse of the Black Spider Queen's location.

"We can't see. We don't even have a firing angle for the queen. The stand is destroyed."

"Hold the cannon with your hands."

If we had no teeth, we had to chew with our gums.

"We don't need to aim. Just let Damien pull the trigger."

I wasn't entirely certain how the far-sight trait functioned, but if Damien, who possessed it, pulled the trigger, there would be adjustments.

I had no choice but to trust that.

"Load the final shell. That's an order."

"...Understood."

The artillery captain ceased arguing and dutifully began loading the last shell into the cannon.

I walked over to Damien. Damien was sitting on the ground, breathing thinly.

"Damien."

"..."

Damien, eyes closed, turned his head towards me.

Blood seeped from beneath his eyes, and his pallor was terrible. He gasped for breath in pain.

"This is the last time. You just have to fire one more time."

"..."

"Just one more time. Gather your strength one more time."

"...Your Highness."

Damien dropped his head feebly.

"What's the purpose of all this? Regardless of what I do... nothing changes."

"One more shot, and that beast is done for."

"No, that's not what I'm getting at."

-Cough! Cough!

Damien, who was now coughing harshly, muttered in a vacant tone.

"Let's suppose I pull the trigger one more time. Let's suppose I take down that spider queen. What will change?"

A look of hopelessness stretched across Damien's gaunt lips.

"I finally understand. Half of my comrades are already gone. No amount of retribution I seek will bring them back."

"..."

"It's always like this. No matter how hard I toil, how much I battle, the world just takes from me. Nothing changes."

"Damien."

"I've had enough. I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to be with my friends..."

"Damien!"

I interrupted him, and posed a question.

"Do you think this world is unjust?"

Stunned momentarily, Damien nodded.

"Yes."

"Do you feel that life remains painful even after surmounting a challenging hurdle?"

"...Yes."

In reply to Damien, I smirked and retorted,

"Quit spouting such glaringly obvious drivel, you idiot!"

"What?!"

Brusquely grabbing Damien by the collar, I yanked him towards me.

I bellowed at Damien, who was wheezing for breath.

"Of course, life's difficulty is set to Hell! It's only natural that there are no saves or loads in Ironman mode!"

It wasn't the game that was on Hell's Ironman mode.

From the very beginning, this world was like that.

"It's unfair, irrational, nothing ever goes our way! That's life! Who doesn't know that?"

We exist amidst this harsh reality.

Even so...

"So what? Are you just going to surrender and accept a gentle death?"

Are you going to abandon the strategy?

"No!"

The strategy must persist.

Until the moment life ceases.

"I will fight! I will plan and flounder until the very end!"

With that, I tossed Damien to the ground.

Damien sprawled limp on the floor. I drew the sword that had always been at my side, never before unsheathed.

"If you desire death so fervently!"

I brandished the drawn sword at Damien. He stiffened.

"Thrust this sword through your own neck."

"..."

"But if you're a coward lacking the guts to do that, Damien."

-Clang

Nonchalantly, I discarded the sword and sat down before Damien, aligning our gazes.

"Then be my trigger."

"...What?"

"Cease your grieving for your fallen comrades. All you need to function is your lord, me."

I placed my hands on Damien's shoulders and tightened my grip.

"Do not seek unnecessary justifications to live. You are my pawn! My key! My trigger! That's all you need to be!"

"..."

"That's enough, Damien."

That was the turning point.

[Ash (EX) has activated a skill!]

[Passive Skill - Unyielding Commander]

A system notification partially obstructed my view, but I paid it no mind. I held onto the shoulders of my last beacon of hope.

"It's an order, my trigger."

A subtle glow seeped from my fingertips. It appeared that the passive skill I'd just unlocked was in effect.

I was unsure of its implications, but Damien's trembling shoulders... slowly stilled.

I nodded gravely.

"Blast that damn creature's face off."

"..."

Damien was unmoving, akin to a time-worn statue, no response emanating from him.

After enduring a few seconds of profound silence, finally...

"...Yes, Your Highness."

Damien's head began to nod ever so slowly.

A countenance on the brink of tears, yet resiliently holding them back bore into me.

"If it's your decree."

***

"We have no means to cool the barrel."

The artillery captain uttered, having loaded the final round.

"There's no cooling spell, no water to serve as a coolant. In this state...."

"Step aside."

I positioned myself next to the mana cannon resting on the ground.

"I'll handle it."

"Your, Your Highness?!"

The astonished artillery captain tried to deter me.

"It's unbearably hot! If you touch it now, it will be far worse than a mere burn!"

"Better to be seared alive than to perish in hell."

The sweltering heat was palpable even from my position near the cannon.

Taking a deep breath, I spun around.

"Are you ready, Damien?"

Damien sat on the ground with his eyes closed, his hand tentatively resting on the cannon's trigger.

"Your Highness. I can't see what's before me."

"That's fine."

"I can't feel my hand."

"That's fine."

I managed to steady my voice.

"It's fine."

"..."

Damien lightly bit his pale lips.

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

-Whoosh!

In an instant, my gloves were incinerated, and my palms began to sizzle underneath.

"Uh, uh..."

The scent of scorched flesh wafted amidst the stench of burning cloth.

But I gritted through it.

Because, at present, this was the only thing within my capability.

"Ugh-ahhhhh!"

I shrieked, hauling the barrel over my shoulder.

My shoulder was on fire.

Under the horrendous heat and enormous weight, my body was on the brink of collapse. I felt as if I could disintegrate into a pile of ashes at any second.

Then.

"Assist His Highness!"

The remaining artillerymen dashed over and seized the barrel from my side.

The aroma of burning flesh also emanated from the hands of the artillerymen gripping the barrel. United in our cries, we managed to point the muzzle skyward.

-Boom! Boom!

Immediately following that, the Black Spider Legion's Siege Soldier breached the wall en masse.

Hundreds of spiders surged toward us over the wreckage of the wall.

I pivoted on my heel, bellowing at the top of my voice.

"Damien!"

In that instant, Damien's eyes snapped open.

Within his wide, brown eyes that were riveted on the sky, a dazzling white light pulsed.

"Fire-!"

Mustering all his strength, Damien yanked the trigger.

-Click!

The mana from the rogue magic core ascended through the cannon, sparking like a live wire.

Despite the monumental mana piercing my entire body, I somehow remained on my feet.

In the very next moment...

-Boom-!

With an earth-shattering blast, the final shot was discharged.

'Find your mark.'

My gaze traced the sky-blue mana bullet rocketing towards the heavens, amidst the onslaught of spiders closing in from all directions...

'Please hit...'

Consciousness slipped from my grasp.

***

The bullet soared.

The final discharge from the crumbling front-line base ascended like a firework, puncturing the sky.

Then, it commenced its descent.

Drawing a sharp parabolic path, it plummeted like a falling star.

-Screeeaach-!

As the Black Spider Queen detected the incoming magic bullet, she let out a piercing shriek, and the Black Spiders guarding her began to mound atop one another, erecting a wall.

It was a futile endeavor from the onset.

A bullet discharged from the heart of the decimated artillery site, aimed at an unseen adversary.

With no precise aim, and even if the mana cannon was operating at its maximum capacity, it had no hope of surmounting that distance and height differential.

-Squeeaach-!

Yet, against all odds,

The bullet struck the Spider Queen with surgical precision.

Height difference.

Dismissed.

Distance.

Dismissed.

The hundreds, thousands of beasts that obstructed its path.

Dismissed.

The sky-blue bullet, tracing a trajectory that defied the laws of this world, shattered the layered defenses.

It pierced through all barriers and reached the queen.

As if merely acting out a predetermined outcome.

-Screeeeeech-!

Whether out of fury or fear, the screaming Spider Queen was hit squarely in the forehead by the bullet,

-Thud-!

Without a hair's breadth of deviation.

-Boom-!

The bullet obliterated the monstrous queen's head in a clean sweep.