Their vast bodies moved lightly, and the five Dark Young began sprinting as they charged into the Kingdom’s army.
『Ah, right, there’s three — no, four people you can’t kill. I absolutely forbid you to harm them. 』
As he recalled the three people that Demiurge wished to be spared, Ainz sent out a mental command to the Dark Young.
“Is this a dream?”
The Kingdom’s soldiers muttered to each other, some distance from the inhuman demons. Of course, nobody could answer them. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the scene unfolding before them, and they had lost the power of speech. It was as if their souls had been snatched away.
“Hey, this is a dream, right? I must be dreaming, right?”
“Ahh. This is a fucking nightmare.”
The second time the question was asked, some people managed to answer. But their responses carried a hint of wanting to run away from reality.
It was impossible.
They didn’t want to believe it.
Thoughts like these spread through the infantry. Even as the lumbering shapes grew steadily larger, even as the inhuman beings approached them, they still did not want to accept that this was reality.
If they were simple monsters, perhaps they might have gathered the courage to raise their weapons.
However, the things that had appeared after an army of 70'000 had been slaughtered in an instant could not possibly be simple monsters. It was like watching an advancing hurricane, and nobody could muster up the courage to brave the storm.
The gigantic, yet unnaturally swift beings galloped on their thick stubby legs, charging at incredible speeds.
“Get your spears up!”
A voice rang out.
It came from the mouth of a noble, a shrill, high-pitched scream that was a falsetto born of desperation. His eyes were bloodshot and foam flecked the corners of his mouth.
“Spears up! Get your spears up!! Get your spears up if you want to live!!! ”
Although he had already lost his mind from fear and it was hard to understand what he was saying, he was still able to clearly utter the command “Spears up”. In retrospect, that was probably the best command he could have given.
Acting on reflex, the soldiers raised and set their spears, forming a braced spear line.
They planted the butts firmly on the ground, so their opponents’ speed would only harm themselves when they charged into the hedge of points.
Although this formation was nigh-unbreakable by Imperial knights, the Kingdom soldiers wondered
— in some small, detached corner of their minds which still held onto lucidity— what good they could possibly do with the tiny spears they were grasping. Perhaps they thought this was their only chance of salvation.
It was impossible to flee from under the hooves of the creatures that approached with unnatural speed. Even if they ran with all their strength, they would still be trampled into red mush.
Wishing as one that the monsters would not come for them, the soldiers braced their spears and awaited the charge.
The monsters — which should have been very small in the distance— closed the gap with
unbelievable speed.
As they grew larger, and the earth began shaking under their thunderous hoofbeats, the soldiers’
hearts began pounding madly.
Then, as their hearts felt like they would burst in their chests, the enormous silhouettes appeared before their eyes.
It was like a dumptruck smashing into a swarm of rats.
The soldiers of the Kingdom’s army raised their spears with trembling hands. But what use were they against the massive, solid bodies of the Dark Young? The spears snapped like toothpicks without so much as scratching their monstrous hides.
The Dark Young trampled the bodies of the Kingdom’s soldiers underfoot.
Countless splinters from a multitude of shattered spears flew through the air.
Although they crushed the resistance that did not even count as resistance, the Dark Young of the Black Goat were merciful in their own way.
There was no pain.
There was no time for their victims to suffer before they were squashed flat under the titanic weight of the Dark Young.
The spear-wielding soldiers didn’t even have time to realize that the pikes they were holding had been pulverized into splinters. All they saw were black shadows appearing before them.
They screamed and they screamed and they screamed.
Gobbets of meat flew through the air. They had not come from just one or two people, but tens, hundreds of victims. They were trampled by the enormous hooves, and thrown— no, flung away by the waving tentacles.
Be they patricians or plebeians, now they were all the same chunks of bloody flesh.
Some of them had family in their villages. Some had friends left behind. Some had people waiting for them. Once their unrecognizable corpses were ground into the mud, none of that mattered any more.
To everyone, the Dark Young gave the same, equal treatment — death.
They crushed countless humans underfoot with their hooves until they were satisfied by the bloodshed, but even then they had no intention of stopping.
The Dark Young of the Black Goat began to run.
They ran on. They would not stop while in the middle of the Kingdom’s forces.
“Iyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Abbaaaaaaahhhhhh!!”
“Stoooooooooooooop!”
“Save meeeeeeeeeee!’
“Noooooooooooooooo!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!”
The screams rose up every time the hooves came down. It mixed with the wet pulping sound of the bodies mangled under the mighty hooves of the Dark Young, and their thick, meaty tentacles flailed around in a wild, playful manner that sent human bodies flying with sickening crack s.
A sound never heard before went on and on without end.
Trampled.
What better word was there to describe this scene?
Several people desperately thrust their pikes forward. The Dark Young, whose bodies were massive and who had no intention to evade the attacks, were hit solidly by the points. However, the pikes could not pierce deeply enough to cause harm to their slab-like bodies. It was as though iron-hard muscles had been sheathed by thick, rubbery skin.
Without mocking their futile resistance, the Dark Young advanced single-mindedly.
Before the soldiers realized that their fatal resolve was meaningless, the Dark Young had already reached the centermost portion of the Kingdom’s army.
“Run away! Run away!”
They heard the shouts from the distance. In response, all the soldiers began to flee. It was exactly like a swarm of spiders scattering in all directions.
But of course, the Dark Young were much faster than human beings.
Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.