Among the heroes at the front lines taking hits from the Slime Emperor, there were those who had newly joined the fray.
"Uh? Uhm?! Cough! Eeek!"
Elize gripped the tonfas she had drawn from her Sword Coffin in both hands, making strange noises that she would normally never utter as she barely managed to repel the tentacles.
Although she had frequently dealt with humans to the point of growing weary of them, she had never had the chance to face off against such alien monstrosities.
Especially not ones as massive as this.
'This is much harder than I thought...?'
The monster's attacks were completely different from those of humans.
Humans had limitations in height, range of joint movement, and the length of their arms and weapons.
Monsters had none of that.
Their tentacles seemed to stretch out endlessly, and their attacks followed bizarre trajectories. On top of that, their force was,
Wham!
Comparable to being hit by a trebuchet.
Grimacing, Elize was pushed back. Her arms were starting to go numb from repeatedly blocking the attacks.
'Is this what it's like? These kinds of monsters keep coming, and we have to keep holding them off...?'
Elize had taken her position atop the fortress walls to gain a more accurate understanding of the situation on the front lines.
And her conclusion was as follows:
'What kind of insane situation is this?!'
Bam!
A flying tentacle destroyed one of Elize's tonfas. Tentacles continuously rained down in front of a flustered Elize.
'I'm done for?!'
Just then, Kuilan rushed in front of Elize.
Pop! Pop! Boom!
Kuilan swung fists and kicked, sending the tentacles flying. They were repelled with sounds like air bursting.
"Rough day, huh, Miss Swordsman? You seem like a newbie when it comes to big monster fights!"
With a swift flick of his red dreadlocks, Kuilan grinned at Elize.
"Do you really have to fight so hard? Why not take it easy~"
"..."
Elize's deep blue eyes narrowed.
In this battlefield where everyone was fighting for their lives, Kuilan and his party stood out for their lackadaisical approach.
From a distance, it might appear as if they were fighting monsters just as intensely as everyone else, but up close, it was clear.
Kuilan's party feigned defense by holding up their shields against the tentacles. They rolled around dramatically on the ground, but there was no substance to their actions. They were merely pretending to fight.
"Thanks for saving me, but why are you guys fighting so half-heartedly?"
"Haha! What changes if you fight hard? Are they going to give you a medal for patriotically defending the empire?"
Kuilan casually kicked the tentacles while speaking.
"We're part of the Penal Squad, serving our sentences in lieu of imprisonment. We're not even proper citizens—just a group of criminals."
"..."
"Whether we work a little or a lot, we get the same pay. Why risk our lives to defend someone else's territory? Just going along is good enough."
Although it was irritating, Elize thought it was a response she should have expected.
To begin with, they weren't regular troops, not even mercenaries fighting for money.
They were bandits who had once survived by robbing others.
Prince Ash had clearly recruited them based on their combat abilities alone, a judgment that turned out to be rather hasty.
Though he might not have expected loyalty or pride from them in the first place, what they fundamentally lacked was a 'reason'.
A reason to fully commit to the battle at this monstrous front line.
"Why are you fighting so hard? You don't seem to belong here either. Why not just take it easy like the rest of us?"
Kuilan chuckled and lazily swung his leg.
After all, the two knights at the forefront were blocking the strongest attacks. Kuilan and his party members planned to just half-heartedly go through the motions.
Time slipped away ineffectually, and the attacks aimed at Kuilan and his party members gradually diminished.
The party's energy began to wane.
And then,
Huh?
In the great battle against monsters, 'complacency' could lead straight to—
Death.
Whoosh!
Caught off guard, one tentacle wrapped around Kuilan's left ankle as he stood on his right foot, preparing a kick.
"What? Wh-what?"
Then— it pulled.
Thud! Crash!
Kuilan, who had fallen clumsily, screamed. His hefty body was being dragged relentlessly toward the main body of the slime monster.
"Boss?!"
"Damn it, save the Boss!"
Kuilan's lackadaisical party members, who had been mockingly swinging their weapons, rushed to save him.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Ahhh?! Let go!"
"Cut it! Cut it off now!"
But tentacles wrapped around them too, and they were dragged in alongside Kuilan.
Elize, clearly flustered, tried to sever the tentacles with her sword, but more tentacles quickly entangled her as well. She was powerless.
Squish.
A massive hole appeared at the center of the Slime Emperor's body, almost like a mouth.
The tentacles were dragging Kuilan's party directly into that hole.
And finally,
"Ahhhhh...!"
"Please, no...!"
Their screams echoed as they were all swallowed by the Slime Emperor.
"..."
"..."
The remaining heroes and soldiers, covered in filth and blood, could only watch the scene in disbelief.
***
"Ugh…"
I was clutching my aching head, lost in thought.
I had managed to mollify the regular bandits from the Penal Squad and reintroduce them to the front line, but they were still a mess. Their morale looked low.
- I don't want to die to monsters in someone else's country!
'Someone else's country, huh…'
The heroes I had recruited so far had all been part of the Empire. But these people were different.
They were outsiders who harbored resentment against the Empire. And this was the Empire's southern front.
There's no way they could not feel resistance to risking their lives and fighting here.
For people like them, a simple salary or exemption from punishment would not bring about true loyalty.
Something more was needed.
A deeper understanding and incentive. This realization finally dawned on me.
'I was naïve.'
Going forward, I planned to rally many others who have been marginalized by the Empire.
And all of them would not be integrated into this army by material rewards alone.
For true loyalty to sprout from the heart, active inclusion is necessary.
'It's complicated, this commander role.'
I realized anew and rubbed my forehead.
'In the game, everyone was all about loyalty if you just gave them some gold and occasional rare items!'
Reality was much more complex than the game.
So how should I truly inspire loyalty in these bandits on the front lines? That was the question on my mind when—
"Waaah?!"
I heard Kuilan's scream.
Panicked, I looked ahead to see Kuilan and his party of five being dragged by the tentacles of the Slime Emperor. What the heck?
'A grab pattern from a boss-level slime?'
Grab & Swallow.
It was a common pattern among boss-level slimes.
If a character doesn't display any distinct attacks or defense within the slime's close range for more than 3 turns, the slime considers them as preparing some threat and prioritizes engulfing them.
'But I sent melee characters armed with maces and shields to block! There shouldn't be a reason for that pattern to trigger! All they have to do is defend diligently!'
In the game, 3 turns are equivalent to 10 minutes in reality. One would need to neither attack nor defend for 10 minutes to become a target of that grab pattern.
'Could it be, these bastards...'
Were they merely pretending to fight while actually goofing off in front of the Slime Emperor?
Thwack! Thwack!
Damien frantically tried to snipe the tentacles and stop them, but other tentacles quickly intervened and continued to pull Kuilan's party.
Ultimately,
"Waaah...!"
"Save us...!"
Gulp!
All five were swallowed...
"...This is driving me insane," I muttered, putting my hand to my forehead. What am I supposed to do with them?
The Slime Emperor, having swallowed Kuilan's party, retracted all its tentacles.
Simultaneously, its gelatinous, water droplet-like form began to harden.
It was preparing to switch to 'Digestion Mode.'
Digestion would also take 3 turns.
In 10 minutes, Kuilan and his party would be completely dissolved, becoming nutrients for the Slime Emperor.
"Junior! How much longer until [Elemental Disassembly] is ready?"
I shouted, and Junior, who was surrounded by mages preparing her ultimate skill, responded.
"Ten more minutes, Your Highness!"
...Coincidentally, Junior's ultimate skill would also be available in 10 minutes.
"My Lord."
Lucas ran up to me and said bluntly,
"Leave them."
"What?"
"Let those bandit bastards be digested by the slime."
Lucas glanced at the hardening Slime Emperor.
"I've heard slimes don't attack while digesting their prey. It seems to be the case now."
"..."
"We have at least 10 minutes for digestion. We can use Junior and Reina's magic to cleanly wipe out the boss monster at that time."
"There are people trapped inside it, Lucas."
"People without the will to fight properly, a bunch of bandits."
Lucas showed me the injuries all over his body. There wasn't a spot untouched by acid.
"While everyone else was vomiting blood in combat, those jokers were just going through the motions. Even if we save them now, do you think they'll change? They'll continue to be a burden if we keep them on the front lines."
"..."
"My Lord said we should give them one last chance, right? In my view, they've already wasted that chance themselves."
There was no counter-argument to be made.
Had they even just put up a decent defense, that grab pattern wouldn't have happened.
The ones who drove themselves to death were Kuilan's party.
"If we let those five die, we can smoothly finish this defense battle without incurring additional casualties."
"..."
"My Lord."
I looked at the soldiers standing on the defensive line.
Not a single one of them was uninjured after blocking the gigantic slimes with their bodies.
Even Evangeline, who had the best defense among us, was panting, hunched over from exhaustion.
If we left Kuilan's party to die as they were, the other soldiers could finish without dying or getting injured.
Five bandits who failed to fight properly despite the chance, who harbored resentment towards this frontline, and dug their own graves.
"..."
I turned my head to look at the regular bandits of the Penal Squad.
Their faces were as pale as death, frozen as they stared at me.
The dregs who ran away first, while all the other soldiers bravely took the front lines.
If anyone deserved to be abandoned, it was them.
The weight of life on the front lines is not equal. As the frontline commander, I had to meticulously weigh and judge that balance.
I knew this from past gaming experience.
"...Fine."
I didn't hesitate for long. I opened my mouth.
"We're saving them."
A bright sigh of relief crossed the bandits' faces. Lucas's face twisted in dismay.
"Why, my Lord? That's an irrational decision."
After sighing deeply,
I reluctantly answered.
"That bastard Kuilan swallowed two premium items..."