Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 54
The only thing Lannor found even faintly praiseworthy in man-eaters was this, they were vicious enough.
It seemed they knew well enough themselves that their crimes would be counted unforgivable in any civilized land.
So whenever man-eaters were forced into a direct fight, they came with killing intent raised to the point of frenzy.
The look on their faces was no different from the armed fanatics of the Eternal Fire.
They did not fear death, because in their own reckoning, death was far from the worst end awaiting them.
Even the wretched state of their weapons could not make them shrink back.
If the weapon failed, they still had hands. They still had teeth.
Ever since they had begun eating human flesh, they had long since stopped caring whether they killed like beasts or monsters.
We’ve eaten men, so we are monsters.
With that warped kind of morale, even though man-eaters were worse equipped than the lowest soldiers under Vserad, if the two sides were made to charge each other head-on, those soldiers who at most doubled as brigands would likely end up stripped to the bone and gnawed clean.
“Die!”
Shouting, the man-eaters came rushing in with a formation they had only just barely adjusted.
The one in front wielded a wooden club wrapped in cord and studded with nails.
The savagery in his stance made it seem as though, even if it shattered every bone in his hand, he meant to pry open the heavy armor and bite Lannor to death inside it.
His blood was up, his eyes webbed with excited red veins.
Even as he charged, weapon swinging, his mouth gaped wide enough to make a man uneasy, and a violent battle cry tore out of him.
But if savagery alone were enough ... what use would technique be?
The young man’s cat eyes reflected the vicious attacker, without the slightest ripple.
Even while moving, Lannor kept his feet in a T-stance that allowed nimble movement while still giving him a stable base at any moment.
It was a fundamental step in swordsmanship.
The wooden club, still hung with scraps of flesh from the nails, came smashing down at his head.
Lannor did not shift the weight on his lead foot. His rear foot only touched lightly against the ground, and his whole body turned ninety degrees.
His broad frontal silhouette became a narrow side profile in an instant.
He only needed to lift his chin slightly, and the club swept past his face.
“It ... it missed!”
The face of the leading man-eater changed in an instant from savagery to terror.
In a good pair of eyes, that change of expression was almost funny enough to laugh at.
“You didn’t brush your teeth, filth.”
Shing!
A cold gleam flashed upward from below.
The point of the School of the Bear steel sword had been angled down all along, waiting on the path of the man’s swinging arm.
If he had possessed the skill to rein in his force even after missing, he would never have been skulking in a place like this.
His arm, having missed its mark, seemed to throw itself onto the blade.
Which meant that Lannor needed only an ordinary upward cut, and after a crisp crack.
The man’s entire arm flew away.
That crack had been the sound of steel cleaving bone.
Dark blood blasted from the severed end like spray from a pressure hose.
The flow was so fierce it formed a mist of blood in the air.
“You’re too tense, idiot.”
The more frightened a man was, the faster his heart beat, and the faster his blood ran.
Lannor turned slightly aside to avoid letting that filthy creature collapse against him.
The second man-eater was already upon him.
Just as Lannor had judged, this rabble could not even manage to charge and arrive together, much less strike in unison.
Eating human flesh had rotted their wits.
The second man-eater held a Velen longsword in both hands, braced before his chest as he thrust for Lannor’s torso.