Together with a few Leopardkin soldiers, we headed for the left flank.

And on the way to the place where the messenger said he saw that

[Ahh..]

The messenger stopped in his tracks.

[ ! ]

Seeing what was in the distance, the female Leopardkin beside me gasped.

Covering her own mouth with both hands, she stopped in her tracks.

The gasp she took in wasnt able to make out of her mouth because of the shock she must be feeling now.

[Ahh No- Eh, ahh.. What is that]

[N- No way Dont tell me]

[Leopard King-sama That is That is What is that]

Flies

Bzzzzz, bzzzzzzzzz

buzzing..

Bzzzzz, bzzzzzzzzz

around.

[..]

Effective.

This sure is effective.

Yes, its effective.

Seriously.

..

Whether its fear

Or anger

If fear can make us lose our will to fight, thats good for them.

If anger can make us lose our composure thats good for them too.

Either of the results is fine for them.

Well, I see.

Thats right.

This is possible.

They can certainly do this.

As long as theyre willing to do this

As long as they can make this possible

As long as theyre aiming for such results

And so, they did this.

They would go this far huh.

They would even do something like this

[NIKO-SAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!]

[Quick.]

[ ! ]

I turned towards the soldier whos in charge of emergency treatment.

Then, I held out my hand towards him.

[Scissors.]

[Y- Yes]

[Everyone!]

Snapping them out of their trance, I called out to them.

[Quickly cut them loose!]

They were walking in groups of dozens or so.

The Dragon Light Army.

Leading their group, Niko, had a board hanging from her neck by a string.

It was as if it was a message board.

Her hands were tied, and her feet had weights chained in them.

They were dragging them along with them.

Some of them even had arrows stuck in their bodies.

Others even had daggers.

However- what was even more horrible than those

were those things that had been stitched on their bodies.

Hands

Arms

Tails-

Perhaps

Those body parts

They were from dead Dragonewt soldiers.

Those body parts were dismembered from the corpses.

And those body parts, towards the survivors

To their arms

To their legs

Inside their mouth

Somewhere on their body

With thick threads or perhaps, with strings

They were firmly stitched on their bodies.

Some have had their eyeballs gouged out

Some of them even had their eyelids sewn, making them unable to close their eyes.

They were probably aiming for such a state.

That they would go towards the central flank, where Gio and the others were.

Snip!

Making sure that it would affect their wounds, we use our scissors to cut the strings loose.

As we cut them loose, I ascertained something.

[Pigimaru, any presence in the surroundings?]

[Piggiiii!]

It seems like Pigimaru doesnt sense anyone nearby.

If thats the case, the enemy probably isnt nearby.

Distract them with Niko and the others, and then attack us when an opening appears

It seemed like- there was no need for me to worry about that for the moment.

[Pii Piigiiiiiiiiiiiii]

Pigimaru was shaking with anger.

As they cut them loose from the strings, some of the Leopardkin soldiers were sobbing.

There were some who were vomiting to the side.

Kachin!

[-Bel ze gia]

Niko had been biting on the tail of one of her kins tails.

It was like it was used as a mouth gag.

Now, that tail had just been cut loose from her mouth.

With a situation like this, I dont care whatever name she calls me with.

[What happened?]

[We went after it.]

Kachin!

[The Divine Beast?]

[Some of the Dragon Light Army said If we can just catch him, we can end this war Ignoring when I stopped them, they went after the Divine Beast. I just couldnt let them go through with their decisions alone. And thus, this result is because of my negligence in failing to ensure that your prior warning was followed There shouldnt have been any reason for us to chase after them.]

Kachin!

She couldnt abandon them huh.

Looking at her closely, Niko was trembling.

Fear seems to have taken over her body and consciousness.

However, she firmly tried to convey all the information she acquired.

[Fly King Can you please not condemn them? They just didnt want for more deaths to occur anymore. They just wanted everything to end here! Thats also why, I had also been part of this too After all after all]

From the clear, unclouded eyes of her dragonic eyes.

Tears began spilling out

Four Warlights Kokoroniko Doran.

The way she spoke was that of a warrior.

She has an uncouth temperament.

She is a woman of herculean strength, wielding a greatsword as large as her stature.

But, even if thats so

Kachiiiin!

She is still a gentle, vulnerable young woman.

I felt like I had just been made very aware of this.

[It is my decision that exposed all my companions in the left flank to danger Fuguu uuu I had managed to make the monster corps evacuate, but the Dragon Light Army Sniff became tattered Uuuugggh.]

Kachin!

[And the ones who did this was the Sixth The 6th Cavalry huh.]

[Sniff Yeah. They call themselves the 11th Cavalry but the information we received was false. The squad number was unidentifiable However, while they were doing this, they called themselves the Sixth When we realized it before we knew it we were surrounded Before we knew it we were trampled down Before we knew it]

[Niko.]

Kachin!

[What happened to you this time was the worst.]

[]

[It was the worst but-]

Kachin!

I cut off the final string.

[From the bottom of my heart, Im just glad youre alive.]

.

..

..

,

-,

.The 6th Cavalry.

Any parts that had been stitched on their bodies were removed.

The hand restraints and the leg weights were also removed.

Next, we gave them as much first aid as possible.

However, I think it would be better if they get furter treatment from the rear.

We dont have enough people to carry the wounded Dragonewt soldiers though.

Thus, I sent out a messenger to call for assistance.

The Dragonkin soldiers were receiving simple treatment at the moment.

Meanwhile, the Leopardkin soldiers seemed to be in shock.

There were even some of them that had lost their will to fight.

Perhaps, the stimulus was too much for the people of the Faraway Country.

[.]

Alone, I checked the board.

No one was talking to me.

It doesnt seem like they would even approach me.

Not minding them, I turned my attention to this board that was hanging on Nikos neck

One of the things written on it was a message to the rest of the cavalry.

In short

This group is a warning to the enemy, dont touch them.

Even if the other cavalry found them on the way here

That they shouldnt kill Niko and the others while theyre in this state.

In addition, it also included a recommendation of surrender.

A recommendation of surrender to the Faraway Country.

It was written with beautiful handwriting.

Rather than having an official feel to it, it was like a stiff, formal composition.

But halfway through, the writing became blatantly messy.

The stiffness disappeared from the text, and on the contrary, the letters danced wildly.

It was as if they got bored with writing all this stiff composition halfway through.

No matter where you run, we will hunt you down! We will hunt you until you beg me to kill you! No matter where you run! No matter where you hide! Your only path here is to kill all your beloved or just kill yourself! And when that time comes, we will be in youuuuuuur care!

It doesnt sound like this is written by a sane person.

No Perhaps, I might be looking at this differently.

This might have been written in such a way as to make the reader feel repulsed.

To make the reader feel afraid

To make the reader feel angry

It may be said that this is a well thought-out composition that aims for such psychological effects.

[]

This is difficult to understand.

If they just captured Niko and the others alive

They could have used them to lure us in.

If theyre going to spare the lives of their hostages They could have done this.

However, they did not.

They didnt use such a pragmatic tactic.

What is the meaning of their actions?

They simply wanted to do it.

This is just something they wanted to do.

They took priority in doing this.

It would have been more effective to use them as a hostage.

However, the Sixth chose to induce psychological effects on our side instead.

They let them go to incite us.

They chose to satisfy their own sadistic minds first and foremost.

Thats the only way I can see this situation.

In addition

I can feel absolute confidence from them.

I think this is different from pride.

It was as if they were stating an open fact.

As if saying that they dont need to take any clever measures like making use of hostages

No matter what, the Sixth Cavalry will win.

Thats why they went through with this evil hobby that eschews practicality.

They decided to go through this.

And they succeeded.

That psychological effect they are aiming for.

Agitating ones emotions, they certainly make people angry and lose their composure.

Yeah Its working.

Its really working.

In fact, I couldnt conceal the rage emitting from within me as I stood here.

Even the surrounding Leopardkin soldiers can sense it.

I could feel my allies getting nervous and anxious because of this rage.

As the person who should have been bringing everyone together and giving them orders, Im disqualified.

Having a personality like this- makes me disqualified.

However

Even if thats so

From what I see

Theres no way a human wont seethe in anger after seeing what happened here.

Putting aside whether letting myself get angry at this is right or wrong

I just dont like this.

Putting it simply, their means, it made me extremely uncomfortable.

Thats all there is to it.

Ahh, I cant help it

I just dont like this.

[..]

I see, Is that how it is, 6th Cavalry?

Then

I will hunt you down

-until you beg me to kill you.

Gathering my thoughts, I took a deep breath.

Then, I beckoned a Leopardkin soldier with my finger.

[Ahh- Hahh! You called me!?]

[Call my Deputy here.]

Ill make sure that you no longer have any paths left to go to.

[Well destroy the Sixth Cavalry.]