Chapter 273 — No Choice
5 min read ·
Cassius’s voice emerged thoughtful and tactical.
"But we can’t handle that many B rank creatures. We’ll be overwhelmed before reaching the controller."
Edrin’s response was immediate, his analytical mind already processing strategy.
"We don’t need to handle all of them."
His voice carried absolute certainty despite the exhaustion visible in his posture.
"We just need to kill the thing controlling them. If it dies, they all become mindless or cease functioning entirely."
He looked across the formation, making eye contact with Imperials and commoners alike.
"We don’t need to slaughter every enemy. We just need to... rush."
The words hung in the air, simple and brutal.
Understanding dawned across multiple faces.
No need to fight.
Just... Rush!
Sprint through the horde, accept casualties, sacrifice everything to reach the target.
One desperate charge toward the only thing that mattered.
Crack!
The sound echoed from ahead, sharp and clear in the humid air.
Then more.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
More followed, dozens of eggs breaking simultaneously, shells splitting, something emerging.
"Form up!" Edrin’s voice carried command. "Prepare for–"
THUD THUD THUD
Footsteps.... Heavier than before!
Coming from all directions – ahead, behind and from passages in the walls they hadn’t noticed.
Then they appeared.
Larger creatures.
The same dark flesh and white eyes and knife-claws.
But these stood three meters tall, their frames massively muscular, natural armor plating covering vital areas in overlapping layers.
B rank.
And there were hundreds.
"SHIELDS UP!"
The formation contracted, defensive positions forming automatically.
"HOLD THE LINE AND PUSH FORWARD!"
Edrin’s roar carried command as the first wave hit.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The impacts sent shield bearers skidding backward through the fleshy floor, their defensive skills barely holding against overwhelming physical force.
A Noble boy’s shield shattered completely, the creature’s claws finding his chest, tearing through enhanced flesh like it was nothing.
RIP
"AHHH–"
His scream cut off as the creature’s jaws closed around his head.
CRUNCH!
But before it could finish consuming him, before it could take more than one bite–
BOOM!
The boy detonated his core, taking the creature and two others with him into death, his final act buying his teammates seconds to adjust formation.
"PUSH! KEEP PUSHING!"
Damian led the charge from the front, his axe a blur of crimson-wrapped death.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
His Slaughter Intent made each strike devastating, the translucent flames cutting through B rank armor like it was paper.
His body control at C rank made his movements perfect – no wasted motion, every strike finding maximum efficiency, his enhanced physique from the Devourer Art giving him strength that shouldn’t exist at his rank.
A creature lunged from his left.
His axe caught it mid-leap, bisecting it from shoulder to hip.
Another from the right.
His boot lashed out, the kick crushing its knee backward, the joint exploding, the creature collapsing.
As it fell, his axe removed its head.
He was killing them, but not fast enough and not efficiently enough.
Soon... exhaustion crept in, his reserves depleting, his movements becoming fractionally slower.
Pant... pant...
His breathing became labored, sweat mixing with blood on his face.
’Do I really have no other choice?’
The thought emerged with terrible clarity as he bisected another creature.
He kept killing, using his C rank Body Control to slip between attacks, to position strikes perfectly, to make every movement count.
But he was only human.
And they were surrounded.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
More core detonations echoed through the passage, students choosing meaningful deaths, their final words carrying across the chaos.
"TELL MY FAMILY I DIED LIKE A HERO!"
BOOM!
"FOR HUMANITY!"
BOOM!
"REMEMBER MY NAME!"
BOOM!
Edrin’s voice never stopped, directing the formation, calling out positions, keeping everyone coordinated despite the carnage.
"KEEP RUSHING! DON’T STOP! WE NEED TO REACH THE END!"
"Don’t let me die for nothing! PUSH!"
A commoner girl’s scream as she detonated, clearing a path, buying her teammates precious meters.
The Imperials fought with everything they had.
Ben’s Inferno Dominion blazing despite depleted reserves, his body wreathed in flames, creatures burning where they touched him.
Jonathan’s Divine Aegis creating barriers of light that slowed the horde, his golden wings carrying him overhead to strike from angles they couldn’t defend.
Cassius’s Shadow Legion splitting into eight copies, each one killing with dark-flame precision.
But even they were flagging with their reserves running dry.
Bodies pushed past sustainable limits.
Damian’s eyes found his Mafia members.
Zavier’s spear was a blur of fire, his Inferno Piercer killing efficiently, but exhaustion showed in his movements.
Ronan’s Titan’s Wrath made his fists devastating, but B rank creatures shrugged off impacts that would have killed C ranks.
Edrin’s Tempest Edge created wind barriers, but they were collapsing faster than he could reform them.
Lysa’s arrows found targets with perfect precision, but her Aura was burning too fast to sustain.
They were all struggling.
All on the edge of breaking.
’I guess I have no choice...’
Damian’s axe disappeared as he waved his hand, the weapon vanishing into his spatial ring.
Students nearby saw it, confusion breaking through fear.
’Has he given up?’
The thought spread like poison.
’Is he out of strength? Out of options? Is this the end?’
Then Damian grabbed a creature.
His hand shot out, fingers closing around its throat, yanking it close despite its struggles.
And he bit it.
RIP!
His teeth tore through dark flesh, ripping a chunk free, swallowing it without hesitation.
And he started eating it.
"..."
Silence spread through the students who witnessed it, their minds struggling to process what they were seeing.
The creatures who’d been eating them...
Were being eaten back.
Damian activated the Devourer Body Art, his Aura shifting internally, his body beginning to process the consumed flesh.
The dark meat dissolved in his stomach faster than should be possible, breaking down into component elements, converting directly to attributes.
He felt the changes immediately – strength increasing incrementally, stamina increasing slightly, his body absorbing the nutrients.
But along with the power came the warning, text flashing across his mental status screen in urgent red.
[WARNING: Usage of the Devourer Body Art will result in temporary degradation of mental attributes and Aura control. Excessive use may lead to permanent mental instability and potential loss of human consciousness.]