If Rin and the others hadn't existed...
Once this person entered the Monster Nation, those weak children would have been cruelly slaughtered by him.
Their limbs would be hacked off, their flesh and blood cut away piece by piece.
They would have been skinned alive, tendons pulled out, yet still left breathing, forced to endure the most excruciating torment imaginable.
None of this was Rimuru's imagination.
It was a possibility Rin had deduced using the power of time.
Rimuru had no doubt about the authenticity of that vision.
Because the heart of the person in front of her was already so vile, so disgusting, it filled her with loathing.
"This time, I won't let you die so easily."
In one possible future, Razen led his soldiers and the three to the Demon Lord's Castle and was received by Rin and the others.
But soon after, they stirred up chaos inside the city.
The kindness of the monsters was seen by them as a sign of weakness.
And then, without warning, a massacre descended upon the ordinary monster residents.
Of course, suppression followed quickly.
The Demon Lord's Castle was filled with elites. Any one of the quasi-Demon Lord Seeds could have wiped out their team completely.
However, the tragic deaths of the innocent residents were a silent rebuke to Rimuru and the others for their naivety.
They shouldn't have died.
"No."
Rimuru flicked her finger, and Kyoya's sword instantly turned to dust. "That's exactly why I'm here. To prevent that future."
"Damn it!"
Kyoya backed off in panic, shocked by the disintegration of his knight's sword, but even more terrified by Rimuru's cryptic words.
"You keep talking nonsense I don't get!"
"What future? What damnation?"
"Who even are you? Do I know you?"
After snapping, Kyoya turned to Razen. "Old man, aren't you going to do something? This guy's not someone we can take lightly!"
"And Kirara, use your ability on her! Hurry!"
"Ah..."
Kirara had already been overwhelmed by Rimuru's killing intent. She tried to respond, "O-okay, I'll do it now..."
But before she could activate Bewilderer, Rimuru's gaze swept over her.
She froze.
'I'll die...'
'I'll definitely die!'
The moment she gave Rimuru a command, she would die instantly.
Kirara didn't know where that terrifying certainty came from.
But she believed it. And even started thinking of running. Her will to fight was already gone.
"Shut up, bitch."
Rimuru didn't have any sympathy for Kirara either.
She was no different from Kyoya.
Bullying the weak, abusing her Bewilderer ability to command innocent people to die.
How twisted did someone have to be to do something like that?
This wasn't just petty cruelty.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
On the other side, Shogo was crawling out of the pit, dry heaving repeatedly.
"Damn woman!!"
That last hit had nearly torn his body apart.
If not for Berserker's body enhancement, he would have died on the spot or been critically wounded.
"Looks like the last lesson didn't stick."
Artoria slowly walked to the edge of the pit and looked down at Shogo.
"But don't worry. I won't let you die so quickly."
She was a knight, once a heroic spirit.
Normally, Artoria wouldn't lower herself to tormenting others.
But could this man really be called human?
When Rimuru received the future memories, Artoria had also gotten information from Rin.
Every single person before her was filth.
It might sound excessive, but it was the truth.
The Kingdom of Falmuth was a feudal aristocracy with an oppressive hierarchy. A commoner offending a noble could be executed at will.
Not everyone even qualified to be a regular soldier.
Just like in Game of Thrones, becoming a knight meant breaking free from the commoner class and gaining social status.
These 500 soldiers, even the worst of them, were knights.
And the so-called knights of the Kingdom of Falmuth were mostly second sons or illegitimate children of noble families with no right to inherit titles.
Adventurers like Youm didn't qualify for knighthood.
As for the virtue of nobles...
You could only imagine how these soldiers acted in private.
Abusing men and women, extorting and terrorizing the local people.
Artoria could see the resentment and curses entangled around these soldiers with just one glance.
When did the word "knight" become like this?
She was the one who once pioneered the concept of chivalry.
But now, what had once been a moral code had turned into just another social class.
Still, that didn't matter.
Rimuru had taken over the judgment of these 500.
Her concern was only Shogo, who had personally insulted her.
Shogo wasn't a noble, nor a knight.
But the number of sins he'd committed in the past two years was uncountable.
"Stand up."
Artoria didn't waste another word.
Following her cold voice, she raised her Avalon sword sheath again.
To be honest, Artoria had never used her sheath to beat someone.
Only this time, she was glad she still had it.
Bang.
"Ah, damn it, you bastard woman!!"
Boom.
"Cough, ugh, wait, wait, don't..."
Crack. Crack.
"Help! Help me! Please, I beg you..."
Unfortunately for him, Artoria paid no attention to his cries.
Expressionless, she crushed his hands, his legs, every bone, one by one.
Yet because of Avalon's power, Shogo's vitality didn't diminish in the slightest.
In other words, as long as Artoria didn't wish for him to die, she could beat him like this for days and nights.
"This can't go on!"
Razen's eyes turned bloodshot as he saw Shogo's wretched condition. He gave an immediate command.
"Send 100 men! Go rescue Shogo!"
Shogo and Kyoya were the vessels Razen had prepared for his reincarnation.
Among them, he favored Shogo the most.
There was a high probability that this guy would awaken a new Unique Skill related to physical enhancement.
(To be continued.)