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Chapter 7: [STAGE 0] The Decisive Battle (2)




‘Stay calm.’
Briefly flustered, I quickly calmed my head down.
‘There’s no way it’s not here.’
The queen was clearly on the stage enemy list. So it’s surely somewhere on the map.
‘The purpose of this stage is not to kill the boss in the first place. It’s not surprising that the boss monster mark isn’t appearing on the map.’
I recalled the positions of the spiders I looked at earlier and quickly looked at the encirclement of those I saw now.
There will be a reserve force staying in the rear even though they are all-out attacking right now.
A safe spot in the rear. Bodyguarding spiders in cases of danger.
The queen has to be there.
Boom! Crash!
The clash between the spiders and the soldiers had already begun on the front lines of the fortress wall, and the battle cry was resounding.
The sounds of cannons firing, metals clashing, and screams from the people…
‘Where is it?’
Amid this chaos, I desperately searched through the wide map.
‘Where could it be? Where?’
Then immediately after, my eyes stopped at a spot.
Southwest from the forward operating fortress.
I found the red dots far away from the main group, they were clearly marked on the map.
‘Found it!’
Then I shouted out loud immediately.
“Demian!”
“Yes!”
“Over there! Can you see them?”
I pointed my finger in the southwest direction.
Demian frowned and narrowed his eyes, as he looked in the direction I pointed to.
“...Yes, I see something. Spiders just standing still.”
Demian said so using his naked eyes, without even using a telescope.
I can’t believe he can actually see that. All I see is just a bunch of dots. Just how good are his eyes?
“the queen must be among them. Can you find it?”
“......”
Demian glanced over there, then his body twitched a little.
“Is the queen, the monstrous-looking one… that has the upper body of a human and the lower body of a spider?”
Bingo.
“Precisely.”
“Yes, I see it. It looks… A little scary…”
“There’s no need to be scared. We’re going to blast its head off in just a bit.”
Then I commanded the artillerists standing behind me.
“Turn the cannon around! In the southwest direction! Demian and I will do the aiming!”
Drrrr…
The artillerists changed the direction of the cannon itself by rotating the platform the cannon was on.
Then turned its head that was sparking with mana toward the direction of the queen.
“Mana cannon, ready fire!”
“The mana cannon is fully charged. It can be fired whenever!”
“Good!”
I grabbed Demian by his arm and led him in front of the mana cannon's control panel.
The power of the artifact itself was remarkable, but the aiming system was very crude.
It was a method of roughly aiming with your sight and pulling back a large, towered trigger to shoot.
“Grab it.”
I urged Demian, who stood stunned in front of the trigger.
Demian, while sweating profusely, placed his trembling hand on the trigger. But he couldn't pull.
“Uhm… Your Highness.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not confident enough to do this.”
Demian groaned and looked back at me.
“I-I’ve never done anything like this before, so even if you tell me to do it, I…”
“Demian.”
I gently grabbed Demian's shoulder.
“You can miss.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll take full responsibility.”
“......”
“Even if you make a mistake, even if you fail, even if you ruin everything! It’s fine. I’ll take full responsibility.”
The soldiers move as their commander orders them to.
It is up to the commander to take responsibility for the outcome.
“All you have to do is aim at that monster and pull the trigger. That’s all.”
I tried my best to smile as warmly as possible.
“You will avenge your friend, Van.”
“Avenge… Van…”
Demian’s expression changed as soon as he heard that.
After taking a deep breath, Demian grabbed the trigger and aimed far southwest with the sight.
Following Demian's subtle touch, the barrel changed its height and direction.
Fine-tuning the aim only took a few seconds.
Clunk!
And then, Demian pulled the trigger with all his might.
Clunk! Clunk!
The lattice collided, and magical devices that I did not know began to cause a chain reaction one after another.
Spark!
The gathered mana sparked a violent electric current over the barrel,
Boom-!
Then it was shot with unstoppable momentum.
The power of the mana cannon that was unchained was not expected even by the artillerists.
Shocked by the roar and shock wave, the artillerists fell backward all at once, and I covered my ears with my hands and rolled on the floor.
However, with both eyes completely open, I followed the trajectory of the bullet fired.
‘Hit.’
A bright blue flash of mana bullets crossed the sky.
‘Hit!’
Across the southern skies—in the middle of the black dots in the distance.
“Hit-!”
I shouted out without realizing it.
Ka-bam…!
And the shot landed.
The fallen mana bullets caused a large explosion from afar. The rising dust clouds were clearly visible from here as well.
I got up quickly.
“Did we get the queen?!”
The answer was not from Demian, but from the skirmisher who was observing the impact point with a telescope from the other side.
“Hit! Clean hit! It precisely landed in the middle of the formation!”
The soldiers on top of the battery shouted in unison.
Demian, who was rolling on the floor like other soldiers, didn’t seem to get it fully.
The artillerists surrounded Demian and patted him on the back.
“That was amazing, little friend! Are you sure that was your first time?”
“I mean, uh…”
“How did you aim for something that far away? I couldn’t even see it clearly with a telescope!”
“I’m still unsure how I did it…”
Demian looked down at his hands with his eyes wide open.
“I just… the moment His Highness instructed me to grab the trigger, I just learned what to do and my body moved subconsciously.”
I’m not sure whether that was a correction made by the skill itself since we’re inside the game world or if it was just the talent Demian was born with.
I didn’t have any time to think deeply about it, because the skirmisher that was observing the impact point looked at me again with his face completely pale.
“...Uhm, Your Highness.”
The skirmisher’s voice was trembling. I could feel the bad feeling riding down my spine.
“What is it?”
“It’s moving.”
“What is?”
“The spider swarm over there… Is starting to move.”
I ran toward the skirmisher, took his telescope, and took a look myself.
“......!”
Completely organized.
The spiders from afar started to form a formation in perfect unison. Is that… A phalanx?
‘Dammit!’
I clenched my teeth.
The Black Spider Army ceases all of its activities the moment the queen is killed. That’s because it’s the same as getting their brains destroyed.
But the spiders were moving completely fine.
Not only those who were hit by the cannon but even the spiders attacking the forward base did not lose momentum at all.
‘This has to mean…!”
* * *
[Translator: Dawn ]
[Proofreader: Alissa ]
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* * *
A moment later,
Shhh…
An evil cry echoed across the battlefield.
Kyeaaaaargh-!
A terrible scream from the Spider Queen filled the battlefield.
Even though we were so far away, it was hard to breathe for a moment because of the spurt of its evil presence.
Confused soldiers clasped their heads and screamed.
“What the?! What is happening?!”
“I thought the queen was shot down?”
“Then why does she sound completely fine?!”
The mana cannon hit the target precisely.
The problem was that it did not deal enough damage.
“Everyone, get yourselves together! Calm down! We will continue to shoot at that monster!”
As I shouted, the trembling soldiers all looked at me. I shouted louder.
“Load the next shot! Hurry!”
“Ah, yes…”
The artillerists trembled and clung to the mana cannon. The overheated barrel was cooled and the next bullet was prepared.
It was at that moment.
Kyeeeeaaah!
The Spider Queen let out another horrendous scream, and shortly thereafter, the movement of the entire Black Spider Army changed.
Keehg…
Kyeeegh!
The eyes of the spiders that surrounded the forward operating base turned all at once. Directly toward the battery where we were at.
The red compound eyes of the monsters flashed fiercely. I shivered and broke out in a cold sweat.
How quick of an order, Her Majesty!
Du-Du-Du-Du-Du!
The spiders that had been beating the entire outpost evenly turned around and started pushing toward this battery. The skirmisher screamed.
“They’re rushing to the battery!”
“Defense is taken care of by the soldiers below! You reload the next cannonball! Quick!”
I hurried the artillerists.
“We have to kill the queen before they reach the battery! Reload-!”
The artillerists desperately sprayed cooling magic on the mana cannon and loaded it with ammunition. Before long, the artillerist captain who was drenched in sweat shouted.
“Reload complete!”
“Demian! Fire!”
Demian—narrowing his eyes and searching for the location of the Black Spider Queen—pulled the trigger as soon as I ordered. Clank!
Ptssss!
Boom-!
The mana sparked like electric currents, and the mana cannon was fired. I looked at the trajectory of the shot through the telescope.
The bullet that cut through the sky while drawing a beautiful arc fell directly on the Spider Queen's head.
Ka-bam-!
Shot landed.
With terrifying precision, it hit the monster queen's head directly.
“Hit! It's a hit! Precise hit!”
The excited skirmishers jumped up. But I wasn't excited at all.
Kyeeeegh-!
It was because the movement of the spiders was unchanged.
‘It’s not enough!’
Although only a silhouette can be seen in the distance, one could tell that the Spider Queen was still standing strong.
I ground my teeth.
In the game, the queen of the Black Spider Army that you encounter for the first time in the middle of the second year can be shredded in one or two hits with the damage of this artifact.
The Black Spider Army has strong combat units, but the Spider Queen itself isn’t strong at all.
But what about the queen of this tutorial stage?
There was no information about it.
What if its stats are different? What if there’s a special gimmick? No, what if it is ‘invincible’?
‘Then what should I do…’
All kinds of bad thoughts crossed my mind. I hurriedly shook my head.
I just do what I can. I’ll hang on to clear the stage until the very last moment.
“Your Highness!”
The artillery captain, who was maintaining the mana cannon for the next shot, quickly reported to me.
“Due to the mana cannon’s core being unchanged, it is quickly reaching its limit! The damage to the barrel itself is quite huge! Plus, it seems that the actual amount of shots that we can fire is less than what we expected!”
“You’re talking too much! How many shots do we have left?”
“Five in total… We’ve fired two so far, so we have three more!”
Three more shots.
All I can do is hope that the Spider Queen dies in three shots.
‘No, in the first place…’
I took a look around the defense line around the battery.
‘I’m not even sure I could use the remaining three shots.’
Boom! Crash!
The defense line was starting to get demolished.
The spiders gathered at one point and ferociously used their teeth and claws to tear down the walls and start penetrating.
“Stop them! Stop them at all costs!”
Lucas, now soaked in the monsters’ blood, swung his sword as he shouted out loud. However, the defense line was on the verge of destruction.
“Aargh!”
“Gaaah!”
The soldiers began to collapse helplessly as they cried out.
The black spiders’ hazy eyes were flashing while they penetrated deep into the wall.
I clenched my fists, looking down at the death rushing in front of me.