“Do you remember, Setanta?”
“…….”
“I’m talking about the moment you drove your spear through my heart…….”
The Hero’s bloodshot eyes fixed on me.
For an instant, a chilling sensation crawled up my spine.
‘Does the Hero remember my first Hell Mode playthrough?’
And I was Setanta?
That damned bastard who betrayed the Empire at the very end and slaughtered every single one of his allies……
……That was me?
“Back then, you were grinning from ear to ear. As if you’d been waiting for that very moment all along.”
The Hero took a step toward me and adjusted his grip on his longsword.
Come to think of it, right before the game is over……
I vaguely remembered Setanta’s pixelated character staring out of the screen with a spine-chilling grin…….
“When did you start planning it? When did you decide to betray us for that pathetic Ailant independence movement?”
“Wait, I’m not Setanta……!”
“Yes…… God must have given me another chance.”
The Hero charged straight at me and swung his gleaming blade.
“To save this world! To save the Empire from you, the man destined to destroy it!”
“Urgh……!”
I instinctively twisted aside and avoided the Hero’s sword.
The blade stirred the air as it passed, sending a cool breeze across my cheek.
“Hero, calm down! I’m not that guy!”
“Shut up!”
WHOOSH-!
Before I could even begin to process the situation, the blade came at me again.
“Because of you, Setanta! The Empire, this entire world, was destroyed once already!”
Every time the Hero swung his sword, the blade flashed as it reflected the light.
Sunlight scattered chaotically along the sword’s trajectory.
“Hero, let’s talk first…… Let’s talk! I’m a completely separate person from the bastard who killed your companions!”
“Do you think I’ll fall for that garbage?!”
GRIND!
The Hero ground his teeth and brought his sword down with even greater ferocity.
“You! How could you slaughter the companions who ate from the same pot as you so mercilessly?!”
“I’m telling you, I really wasn’t the one who did it!”
“You destroyed the world! You destroyed my companions, me, and everything we built together!”
‘This bastard won’t listen to a word I say.’
[Additional Bonus - Bonds with heroes from the previous playthrough are carried over!]
Could the bond that had been carried over……
……have been the terrible grudge between me and a Hero determined to kill me?
This did not seem like something I could resolve through conversation.
‘……Then I’ll have to beat some sense into him.’
I retreated slightly and watched for an opening.
“Setanta! You son of a bitch!”
“…….”
I continued backing away while dodging the Hero’s relentless sword strikes.
Then, at the brief instant when his footing became tangled-
TAP!
I quickly closed the distance and drove my fist toward his face with all my strength.
But then.
[The target is currently invincible.]
THOOONG-!
The Hero’s body suddenly shone with golden light, and my fist was repelled instead.
“……It is the Goddess’s Blessing that protected me in my previous life as well.”
“…….”
“Unfortunately for you, Setanta, it seems you have no such protection.”
The Hero curled his lips into a mocking smile.
“I will not repeat the same mistake in this life! Die quietly, you traitorous bastard!”
Once he realized there was nothing I could do to harm him, the Hero began rampaging even more wildly.
‘Of all times, the tutorial’s invincibility period had to still be active now……!’
Change of plans.
If my calculations were right, there were about five minutes left before his invincibility wore off.
Until then, I had to avoid him.
“Setanta! It was because of filthy Ailant remnants like you!”
WHOOSH-!
“Because of reactionaries like you who unleashed the crimson vapor attack on the Imperial Capital! That’s why the world ended up like that!”
SWISH-!
Every strike of the Hero’s sword came crashing down with his explosive rage concentrated at its tip.
But perhaps because his emotions were running so high, every attack contained far more force than necessary.
BOOOOM-!
‘……Now!’
The instant the Hero’s stance broke, I turned and sprinted in the opposite direction.
“Setan…… Setanta! Stop right there-!”
I darted through one alley after another, throwing in feints until I finally shook off the pursuing Hero.
I had played through this map so many times that its layout naturally unfolded inside my head.
* * *
After confirming that the Hero was no longer nearby, I jumped onto the roof of a nearby building.
The streets were already crawling with monsters.
“M-Monsters? Why are there monsters in the middle of the capital……!”
“Move! Get out of the way, damn it! Stop blocking the road!”
“Ah……! Aah, aaaaaagh!”
The ground below had already been devastated.
Crushed lumps of flesh and streaks of blood littered the streets.
‘It looks like hell…….’
I sat on the edge of the roof and looked down over the streets of the Empire.
Crimson vapor was slowly spreading throughout the capital.
……Crimson vapor.
Any human who came into contact with it would mutate into a monster and lose their reason.
“Grrrk, grrk…….”
“Why…… Why is this happening?! N-No…… Nooooo-!”
Their bodies grotesquely distorted and their minds gone, these monsters had once been human.
And at the end of every chase came another blood-soaked scene and another horrific scream…….
I had played through this tutorial hundreds, perhaps thousands of times.
And yet seeing it through a game screen had felt completely different.
‘Have I really repeated a tutorial like this over and over again?’
A sudden chill ran through me.
‘What if I die in this world?’
…….
……Then what happens?
‘No. Instead of wasting time worrying, I should prepare.’
I placed a hand over my chest and took a deep breath.
This was a game, and I was a gamer.
More specifically, I was the first gamer in the world to unlock this game’s Hell Mode.
So if this world truly was a game, then I would clear it.
‘First, the System…… Does it activate just by thinking about it?’
I formed the image in my mind.
……DING!
[Welcome, Possessor!]
[Opening your character information.]
A holographic window that was both unfamiliar and strangely familiar appeared before my eyes.
[Setanta (SSR) Lv. 1]
[Class : Spear Knight]
[Vitality : 8/8]
[Strength : 15/15]
[Agility : 7/7]
[Intelligence : 6/6]
[Wisdom : 7/7]
[Charisma : 9/9]
[Traits : 【Herculean Strength(+)】, 【Extreme Picky Eating(-)】]
[Passive Skills : 【Lesser Spearmanship】, 【Lesser Swordsmanship】, 【Basic Mana Control】]
‘Good. Everything up to here is exactly as I remember.’
◈Geas◈
【Cú Chulainn’s Oath】
-You must not eat dog meat. Other canid animals (hyenas, etc.) and monster species are permitted.
◆ Geas Bonus : 30% bonus to Vitality, Strength, and Agility.
It even had that absurd restriction where dog meat was forbidden but eating monster meat was somehow perfectly acceptable.
It was exactly the same information Setanta had possessed in the game.
‘Still, I got lucky. SSR…… And I possessed a top-tier broken character at that.’
SSR was the highest Hero Grade and stood in an entirely different league from heroes ranked SR or below.
Its greatest distinguishing feature was that every SSR hero possessed a Unique Myth.
Setanta - 【Cú Chulainn】
Setanta’s Unique Myth was Cú Chulainn, the greatest hero of Celtic mythology.
His standing was comparable even to Heracles.
Naturally, his performance was just as absurd.
▶ 【Strength : 15/15】
As anyone could see, his starting stat alone was completely insane.
‘No wonder I could rip iron chains apart with my bare hands at Level 1.’
On top of that, under this game’s system, no amount of leveling up would actually change themselves.
Leveling only affected the multipliers applied to them.
The base stats could only be increased afterward by completing achievements or triggering special events.
In other words, having absurdly high base stats from birth meant one thing.
He was a monster from the moment he sprouted.
An untouchable burst-damage dealer.
‘Come to think of it, the Hero’s invincibility should be wearing off soon.’
Sure enough.
SCRAPE, SCRAAAAAPE…….
The spine-chilling sound of metal grinding against the ground rose from somewhere below.
I immediately poked my head over the edge and looked down from the roof.
The Hero stood below, drenched in monster blood, staring up at me with crazed eyes.
“……Setanta.”
BOOM!
The Hero immediately leapt onto the rooftop where I stood.
“Finally found you……. You little rat.”
“……You got here faster than I expected.”
“Have you forgotten that we bound our souls and became brothers? No matter where you hide, I can find you…….”
The Hero slowly approached me.
A blood-soaked longsword hung from his hand, dripping steadily onto the rooftop.
“……Setanta. Before you die by my hand, will you answer just one question?”
“What is it?”
“Why…… did you cut her down first back then?”
For an instant, a strange emotion flickered through the Hero’s eyes.
“She…… trusted and loved you more than anyone else.”
“……?”
He was probably talking about the allied healer Setanta had killed first, just before the final chapter.
‘What am I supposed to say to that?’
I was being asked to explain why I had killed someone I had never even killed.
‘Hmm…….’
After thinking for a moment, I decided to answer according to what Setanta himself would probably have been thinking at the time.
“Because it was efficient? That’s probably why he killed her first.”
“……What?”
Of course you killed the healer first.
That was the easiest way to make the entire battle line collapse.
“Efficient? You’re saying…… it was efficient?”
The Hero stared at me in silence for some time, looking utterly stunned.
Then his trembling lips clenched hard beneath his teeth.
CRUNCH.
A thin stream of blood ran down his chin.
……Ah.
His invincibility must have ended.
“Setanta…… you piece of trash……! I’ll…… I’ll kill you right now!”
The Hero charged at me with a scream-like roar.
But the attack was full of openings.
WHOOSH-!
I casually sidestepped the Hero’s sword as it came down in a needlessly wide arc.
Then I swung my palm with all my strength and slammed it straight down onto his head.
KABOOOOM-!
With a thunderous crash, the Hero was driven headfirst into the rooftop.
“Guh……! Cough…….”
He suddenly spat out a mouthful of bright red blood.
‘……Huh?’
[The shadow of death looms over the Hero.]
W-Wait.
I was not actually trying to kill him that badly……?
“Hero, are you alive?”
“Urgh……! Cough, cough…….”
I bent down to check his condition.
Hmm.
He looked pretty terrible, but fortunately, he still seemed to be breathing.
“Phew…….”
The moment I let out a sigh of relief, another thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘Should I really let the Hero live?’
The Hero harbored a deep hatred for me.
If I spared him, he could come after me again at any time.
For the sake of the future, perhaps I really should……
[Recommendation - It is advisable to eliminate hostile heroes who may become future threats in advance.]
……Hm?
At that moment, a crimson System message appeared before my eyes.
[Kill the Hero and secure your safety!]