At the foot of the World Wall in eastern Source Continent lay an utterly unremarkable little place.
Crackle, crackle.
By evening, the blazing town rang without pause with maniacal laughter, screams of agony, pleas for mercy, women's shrieks, and children's sobs.
A group of burly men dressed like fellow townsfolk carried hunting rifles, firewood knives, and ropes as they broke into homes one after another, violently seizing the residents' food, valuables, furs, and everything else of value.
They also cruelly inflicted upon them every atrocity imaginable within the limits of human imagination.
Although "raiding" occurred in this world almost constantly, even raiding residents living in the same settlement was not especially difficult to understand.
Yet what was exceedingly bizarre was that every one of those thugs wore the exact same excited expression. Even the curve at the corners of their mouths was practically identical.
Beyond the strangeness, it was inexplicably terrifying.
"Didn't you always love showing off in front of everyone? Hand it all over! Haha!"
"James, I've disliked you for a long time. Go repent in hell!"
"No, no, no! Spare me!"
Amid this horrific scene, a "knight" riding a towering warhorse strolled leisurely through the burning streets.
This was not a human!
He had a lion's face, golden armor, crimson skin, and a body gleaming with golden light. Beneath him was a gigantic warhorse wreathed in flames, its every breath rumbling like thunder.
He slowly rode to the center of town and spread his shield-sized hands.
He seemed able to draw some sort of benefit from the air. As the atrocities continued, the golden glow around the knight grew ever more brilliant.
"Power, power. Sentient creatures like humans truly are the most delicious rations, oh~"
Several minutes later, the lion-faced knight, immersed in the rapid growth of his