Meaning of 命も惜しまない in this sentence


The context is people are being attacked by an army of monster rats. One of
the people (named 光風) started using magic to control half of the rats, and
cause them to attack the other half of the rats. Then 光風 said:

> うひひひ。相手は浮き足立ってるし、 **こっちは命も惜しまない**
> 。こんな横着な操作でも、けっこう勝負になっちゃうか。でも、こんな程度が、この光風の技の限界かと思われても癪の種。どれ、もうちょっとだけ、尻を叩いてあげましょう

My question is what does こっち refer to, the man, or the rats he's controlling?
And what does 命も惜しまない mean. I think it means something like "without sparing
the life (of someone or something)" but I don't know who is sparing whose
life.




From context, it seems 光風 would be referring to the rats he is controlling,
whom he described as 命も惜しまない, which means "not valuing [their own] lives",
basically willing to die, probably as a result of being brainwashed by his
magic.




> My question is what does こっち refer to, the man, or the rats he's
> controlling?

From the context it probably seems to mean the rats he's controlling.

> And what does 命も惜しまない mean. I think it means something like "without sparing
> the life (of someone or something)" but I don't know who is sparing whose
> life.

It means sparing their own lives, in other words the rats are prepared to die
in the battle. The meaning of 命を惜しまない can be found in dictionaries:

<https://ejje.weblio.jp/sentence/content/%22%E5%91%BD%E3%82%92%E6%83%9C%E3%81%97%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9A%22>

The も instead of を emphasises the strength of the preparedness.

