Titans were humanity's natural enemies. On average, it took the sacrifice of thirty people to take down a single Titan.
Whether Titans ate humans or not didn't affect their own survival. They didn't need to eat or drink, and despite having vocal organs, they didn't need to breathe. Moreover, they had no digestive system, so they would often regurgitate 'humans' back out.
There was no need for complex data or explanations. Only one thing needed to be understood... Titans saw humans as prey.
Here, the prey wasn't hunted for survival or for fun. It was simply because Titans wanted to 'kill humansʼ.
Faced with the first casualty, the people who had been screaming in terror fled into the crowd of locals.
Of course, everyone was fleeing toward the same destination... Point A, marked in their minds.
"Hey! Run faster! I don't know what those things are, but if they catch us, we're dead!"
"This is from one of the hottest manga series, Attack on– whoa!"
Before a young man could finish his sentence, he was knocked over by some locals...
The chaotic stampede completely ignored him.
The surroundings were filled with shattered houses, human corpses, and numerous Titans approaching in the distance.
In this smoke-filled world, everywhere looked like a scene of human tragedy.
Haruya was currently with Lingchuan and Lianyue. As the only girl among the three, Lianyue looked around in confusion.
This wasn't the time to stand around and stare…
Haruya thought this and decided to lead the two of them in taking action.
"The rules…" Before moving, Lingchuan, who had put away his game console, spoke up.
He looked up at the upper body of a Titan, then at the chaos around them.
"L-Lingchuan, shouldn't we leave here? Point A is over there, right?" Lianyue, who was reminding Lingchuan, pointed to the road ahead.
After passing through that district, they would reach the area where the Military Police and other soldiers were stationed.
At that moment, a massive boulder and countless smaller rocks came crashing down toward them.
"Watch out!!" Haruya pulled the two of them into a nearby building that was already in ruins.
The rocks crushed one of the people who had been standing there.
Looking back at the spot where they had first appeared in this world, the young man who had been pushed to the ground was already motionless, his body covered in trample marks and crushed by rocks.
Their number went down. Now, twenty-eight remained...
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
As time passed, it didn't take long for the Titans to arrive from the streets in the distance.
Haruya was about to flee, but to his surprise, Lingchuan rushed out at that moment, running toward the four people who had been left behind.
Behind those people were two ordinary Titans.
One was three meters tall, and the other was over five meters tall, its mouth covered in blood.
"Lingchuan, what are you doing?!" Lianyue grabbed Lingchuan's arm and shouted, "Those Titans over there will eat humans!"
"I know, but the rules…" Lingchuan said.
Haruya remained silent in thought... He understood now. The rules set by the Supreme Deity From the very beginning, the rules Lingchuan had been muttering about.
"Rule 1: In the game, you cannot abandon someone when you have the ability to help them, thereby indirectly causing harm to others... Rule 2: Those who break the rules will be punished with brain shattering..."
So, as Lingchuan shook off Lianyue's hand and ran out, Haruya also grabbed Lianyue's hand and followed Lingchuan.
"W-what?! What are we doing? I-I don't want to get close to that! Why is this happening?!"
"Miss Lianyue, if you don't want to die so quickly, follow us!"
"But why?!"
"The rules!!"
As Haruya and the other two ran toward the four people who had been left behind, six others also ran over.
'Did they also figure out the rules?'
The rules stated that if you could help someone but chose to flee instead, it would count as indirectly harming others, and the punishment for breaking this rule was death…
Including Haruya and the others, nine people ran over to help the four who had been left behind.
As for the fifteen who continued to flee… they all died.
Their brains shattered, blood splattering everywhere...
"Your name is Haruya, right? There's a Titan on the right. Based on its speed, it'll reach us in ten seconds. I'll help the ones on the left, you help the ones on the right. We'll meet in the middle, and then we won't flee. Over there, I hear artillery fire."
"Isn't fleeing after helping the most important thing?"
"That's not a loophole in the rules."
Lingchuan said this, and soon the three of them reached their destination.
Three of the four people had simply fallen, and Haruya and Lianyue helped them up. The last two were pinned under a boulder.
Looking at the situation, Lingchuan first rescued one of them, then searched for something to pry up the boulder.
"I'll do it!"
One of the six who had arrived later, a man in military uniform, placed his hands into the crevice.
"Hyahhh!!!!"
The boulder was gradually lifted, and the others began dragging the man out from underneath.
*Boom!*
Before he could be fully pulled out, a Titan stepped on the boulder.
*Splat!*
Like ketchup, the man's lower body turned into a bloody mess.
Splattered with blood, Haruya who should have been used to this by now felt his stomach churn. The urge to vomit hit him hard.
"Ahhh!!!" Lianyue let out a scream as the remaining Titans closed in.
"Haruya, we can run now." Lingchuan reminded Haruya, and he was the first to charge toward the Titan on the left.
*Boom!*
An artillery shell hit the Titan, causing it to lose its balance and gave everyone a chance to escape.
Halfway through running, Haruya stumbled and fell to the ground.
The people around him, including Lingchuan and Lianyue, had already run ahead. Of course, the two of them looked back.
Suddenly… a gust of wind blew past Haruya.
'Huh?'
Not understanding what had happened, Haruya stared blankly at the scene before him.
It was different from what he had imagined.
Having grown accustomed to death... no, having accepted his own death by now, the sight before him made the world seem distorted.
It was the Armored Titan, and as it charged past, everything in its path was crushed, including those people…
"This is…"
[Experiment successful… So this is how humans react and look when they see their companions die en masse. Don't worry, those were just NPCs. Still, this experiment was quite interesting.]
"You twisted bastard!!!"
[Good, let's officially begin this mission. Those NPCs have been erased, so even if you save, it won't help.]
The overly twisted turn of events left Haruya at a loss for words.
If there was one thing to say, it would be this line... banish the Supreme Deity from this world...