Shalltear - Meat Grinder 2

Having witnessed that overwhelming—that monstrous power, they knew it was neither an empty threat nor a joke. It was hard to believe, but they had no choice: Only ten thousand of their sixty thousand people would be allowed to live.

***

There was no chance that the soldiers would suffer a mental break and flee. Riyuro’s battle cry turned his subordinates into fearless warriors. Similar to a Berserker’s Berserk skill, it boosted attack power in exchange for lowering defense. And most importantly, it granted perfect resistance to all types of fear. The fact that those affected would follow the clan king’s orders no matter how risky could be considered both a pro and a con.

As the soldiers continued their charge without so much as looking back, it took almost no time for the large force’s numbers to dwindle.

By then, no one had the wherewithal to open their mouths.

There was no one who wasn’t completely discouraged by this massive disaster, even more so because it was being committed by a single person.

***

The king raised his voice to see if he could rouse them even a little bit. “You all are our most powerful weapons! Our opponent has killed many of us, so it must be incredibly exhausted! If anyone can show this thing some pain, it’s you lot!”

He said it was incredibly exhausted, but there was no sign of that. The figure in red armor was still sending dismembered kuagoa attackers flying as if it didn’t feel even the slightest fatigue, swinging its strange spear-like weapon unhindered.

***

Then he instructed the other soldiers to let them through to charge the enemy in red armor. Then the heroes attacked it and…

Riyuro slowly closed his eyes.

“Oh, my king. My great king…”

When his aide spoke, he opened his eyes.

“You…you don’t have to say anything. I know. I…I saw it, too.”

Nothing—not a single thing—had changed.

Just like the rank-and-file soldiers, the chosen heroes were sent flying as chunks of meat. And it had taken only an instant. The heroes met the same end as all the others.

***

Volume 11, Chapter 5.4