"You're wasting our time."
"I'm improving myself."
"By wasting our time!"
One angrily screamed at Liam. The youth pulled his spear out of the twenty meters long scorpion monster at his feet and looked at the Drakkhan.
"You said I'm weak. So I'm getting stronger. What's the problem with that?"
"It will take years for you to level up against that kind of worthless beast! We should be raiding Cinzolia!"
"You said I'm too weak for Cinzolia. If you want to go there so badly, just do it."
One shook a bit, looking as if he were about to blow up. Then, he veritably deflated. Speaking as if he were talking to a child, his words reached Liam.
"As I've already explained, we cannot leave you here alone. As Zero, you are our highest priority. We must protect you and stay with you at all times to ensure your safety."
"Fine, then. Let's go."
One stared at him.
"This was the last one I needed. We should go to Cinzolia now."
Liam started to walk in the direction of the Fortress, now thousands of kilometers away. With a defeated atmosphere, One followed him, shooting his Aura into the sky to warn the others that it was time for them to gather.
BOOM
Liam dashed forward, breaking the sound barrier. One appeared at his side as the rest of the group gradually closed in on them from the positions they'd been placed in.
'I've now reached 1500 in both Strength and Dexterity.'
For the past day, he had been hunting Zancorix's fauna for XP. The desert planet was full of creatures, some of them more powerful than Liam himself. It wasn't difficult to find opponents with One's Aura Sight, which was powerful enough to sink into the sand and perceive the underground. He felt One glance at him and turned to face the Drakkhan, who spoke to him.
"…You're faster."
"I told you I was getting stronger."
One's gaze could be felt from even under the mask.
"For you to level up from a mere day of hunting, your level should be very low. I wouldn't be surprised if you were a Drakkhan, but how did you achieve base stats so much higher than the rest of your species?"
"I see no reason to answer that."
"Hmph. I expected nothing more from a beast."
Turning away his head, the Captain kept looking ahead. Liam chuckled to himself and looked in the direction of their destination, as well. After some time, he managed to see it. The battlefield. Millions of small dots on the horizon flew at one another over an enormous, grey wall.
Cinzolia Fortress was less of a fortress and more of an enormous military base, protected by its multiple-kilometers-tall walls. A square-shaped structure in the middle of the desert and bigger than even the greatest cities back on Earth, it was home to over two billion combatants under the Kingdom of Luweth. Naturally, the Empire had also brought hundreds of millions of soldiers. The goal was to wear down the Fortress over time, instead of taking it in a full frontal assault.
'These numbers are getting ridiculous.'
They were starting to lose meaning in Liam's mind. He'd never heard of, much less participated in a battle of these proportions. He had trouble wrapping his head around how millions of fighters could be on the same battlefield at once, coordinating an attack against their opponents without getting in one another's way. As they got closer and closer, he noticed that it was more organized than he previously assumed. Cinzolia was surrounded by a green forcefield that bounced off any attack thrown at it while still allowing those inside of it to interact with the outside. In short, the Fortress' combatants could attack the ones outside, but not the other way around. It meant that the Empire had to be very careful not to risk annihilation when raiding the base.
As such, the strategy the Drakkhan Empire was using was simple: ceaseless pressure. In order to invade Cinzolia proper, they first needed to get through the forcefield, which formed a sphere around the Fortress, even underground. The forcefield was fed by energy reserves inside the Fortress. Eventually, those reserves would run out. Aiming for that moment, the soldiers of the Empire would keep attacking the forcefield in teams, going back to rest when their energy was depleted and switching out with another team. Each team numbered over ten million warriors and could rest for long enough for them to replenish their energy almost completely. This manner of attack had been going on for a day, ever since their arrival.
On the other hand, the Kingdom of Luweth's soldiers weren't sitting around and waiting for their forcefield to be broken. From the inside of the barrier, they used artillery and long-range attacks, with a few of the soldiers having actually walked out of the forcefield and fought outside of it for some time. Liam wondered why the Empire hadn't used a weapon of mass destruction to deplete the forcefield's energy faster, before remembering that the goal was to take over the Fortress, not destroy it. He clicked his tongue. That truly did make things more difficult.
'Wait, then why aren't they using weapons of mass destruction against us? Surely an advanced alien species would have something even better than nukes?'
He thought for some time but couldn't reach a proper answer. As such, Liam did the next best thing and pulled the Communicator out of his inventory, calling Arimiar, who soon responded.
"Yes? Do you need anything?"
"I just have a question. Two, actually. First, why haven't you attacked the Fortress? Someone of your caliber should be able to easily take out the forcefield."
"No, it isn't that simple. There's a Commander-class fighter in Cinzolia right now and he would do everything in his power to stop me. He was the one I fought when we arrived. That isn't all. Cinzolia is that fucker's Kingdom. We need to force him out of there."
As expected. If the Commander-class opponent fought Arimiar from inside the shield, it would be problematic, even though the Commander had proven himself to be stronger than the one who fought for Luweth during their first clash, in the skies above the ship. Liam's thoughts, however, only briefly passed by this subject before focusing on the latter part of Arimiar's words.
"Why would we need to drag him outside? What are the effects of a Kingdom?"
Arimiar was silent for a while.
"I suppose there is no harm in telling you. A Kingdom is a special zone that can be created by those who have completed the King's Qualifications. It's much easier to do so in the Tutorial, so most Kings are from summoned species. As long as they're inside a Kingdom, the King and his 'subjects' receive a great buff to all of their abilities. There's more to it, but that's the gist of it."
Finally, he'd managed to find out what a Kingdom did, even if only partly. There was also another important piece of information.
"Most Kings are from summoned species? So, is the Commander-class warrior inside Cinzolia from a summoned species as well?"
"Yes. He's been a thorn in the Empire's side for a while now. The Kingdom of Luweth has summoned many species over the years, most of which have either died in the Tutorial or been killed during the Convergence. That guy is the last survivor of one of the first species that Luweth summoned. The reason Cinzolia is so annoying to conquer is that it's his Kingdom."
Luweth had summoned many species over time? Liam remembered that the System message said that the Empire had paid a great price to summon humanity, although he still wasn't aware of what it was. Humanity was also the Empire's first summoned species. Yet, the Kingdom could afford to do it several times? Liam made a mental note to analyze this in depth and discover what the price was in the future. It was unlikely that Varlian would tell him about a potential weakness or difficulty faced by the Empire, so he would need to find out on his own.
"But didn't he leave it once we arrived to fight you in the sky?"
This time, Arimiar took a few seconds to respond. When the Drakkhan's voice came through the Communicator, it sounded impatient.
"…Indeed. My guess is that he wanted to try his luck and end this before it started, but retreated once he realized he still wasn't stronger than me. I might be more powerful, but he's faster. I wouldn't have been able to catch him even if I tried."
Liam's mind raced with discoveries. It helped that Arimiar collaborated and answered him without withholding information, likely because it was common knowledge. He also realized the Commander's sentences were getting shorter. He wished to ask what the plan to kill the Commander-class enemy was since he was faster but judged it to be a not important enough question.
"I understand. The second question, then. Please, it will be quick. Why haven't they used weapons of mass destruction against us?"