He ran through the giant ship’s hallways until he reached the opening in the hull which served as the path to the outside. Stepping on Zancorix’s sandy ground, he couldn’t see any troops in the distance. As expected, after many months of constant siege, not seeing anyone flying through the sky and shooting Aura waves felt odd.

As his armor covered his body from head to toe, Liam sat on the ground, cross-legged, and started meditating. He was simply waiting for the Empire’s final verdict as to whether they would help him or not. With Arimiar still fighting the enemy commander, the decision wouldn’t be made easily, but they should have people they could contact in such cases. He took this opportunity to be lost in his thoughts.

‘If I don’t receive any backup, this mission’s difficulty will increase many times over. Still, there’s no way to say it will be easy even if the entire army supports me.’

His plan was, simply put, suicidal. If he didn’t know that he could regenerate from nothingness, he wouldn’t have even considered this and would have settled for slowly growing by assassinating the enemy’s Elite Captains. Now, however, he felt that he needed to put his faith in his regeneration ability. More accurately, he needed to have faith in his own strength.

‘The voices said it themselves. If my body’s destruction won’t kill me, I need to destroy it as many times as it takes.’

He needed to struggle on the very edge of death if he wanted to succeed. He didn’t doubt for a second what he’d heard from the beings beyond his imagination. If he had to sacrifice a limb for every enemy he killed, he would gladly do so. Of course, he still felt pain and suffering from having his body damaged. It was only that his resolve was that much greater.

Liam awoke from his musings as he felt his Communicator’s aura change. He picked up the call, hearing One’s sigh from the other side.

“…It’s been decided. We are going to help you, but with a few conditions.”

Liam grinned and replied.

“What conditions?”

“First, all of our soldiers will remain a safe distance away from the battlefield, supporting you with long-range attacks exclusively. Second, if you happen to be defeated and perish, you will not be avenged; our troops will immediately retreat to our ship. Third, you will take any and all responsibility for this endeavor; in case of questioning by the higher-ups or, if even a single soldier dies, you will bear all of the consequences. And lastly, if you happen to return alive, you must report how many troops you defeated.”

Liam scratched at his chin. He expected the first three conditions, but what was this last one? He thought for a bit, but he couldn’t figure out why they would care about that. No matter how many he killed, it was unlikely for his actions to even put a dent in Cinzolia’s forces. In simple terms, the Empire was humoring his desire to fight. So why would they worry about how many he killed?

“…I accept those conditions, but I’d like to know more about the last one.”

One clearly hesitated for a bit before answering.

“In fact, it is the most important condition out of all of those. It came directly from above, no questions asked.”

A single name flashed through Liam’s mind.

Varlian.

‘What is he planning?’

A frown made its way to his face.

“…Fine. I understand. Please gather everyone. I’m planning to depart as soon as possible.”

“…Alright. You and I are going to have a talk once this is all over.”

The connection was cut off, but not by Liam. The youth glanced at his Communicator before storing it back into his Inventory. He patiently waited, staring at the fortress in the distance as if he were looking at his life’s nemesis. Soon, he began to hear the distinct sound of thousands of troops marching at the same time. Turning around, he watched them leave through the hull’s opening and start making a formation around him. He took to the skies, letting them move as they pleased. Soldiers continued to pour endlessly out of the hole as a few more holes were opened. It took many minutes for it all to end. Once they were in formation, Liam analyzed his reinforcements.

‘A bit over 4,000 Elite Captains, 500,000 Elite Squad members, and… Around 20 million troops?’

It was a bit lacking, but it couldn’t be helped. These soldiers were putting their lives on the line for his crazy plan, after all. He could only hope they were going to be enough. Feeling a burning gaze, he soon spotted One in the crowd. The Drakkhan’s expression was dead serious as his eyes seemed to be screaming at Liam to reveal his secrets. The young man nodded at the Lizardman before turning around and looking at the fortress in the distance. His Aura-imbued voice resounded.

“All troops, charge.”

Then, without waiting for anyone else, he simply flew ahead at his top speed. Tens of sonic booms echoed in an instant. Seconds later, his surprised supporting troops had been completely left behind. Even so, Liam did not slow down or stop. He knew the clock was ticking. He had become the embodiment of his desperation.

‘I need to experience fighting against the fortress alone at least for a bit.’

For his own development, he felt the need to be facing a tremendously disadvantageous fight once more. Only then would he truly develop as he did in the past. His growth lately had been so slow it nearly drove him insane. That wasn’t what he needed. It wasn’t what he wanted. If the way for him to develop was to dance amidst a hurricane of blades, then so be it.

Soon, he was noticed. It wasn’t surprising; he had been heading to Cinzolia in a straight line without bothering to mask his presence. Aura started to gather in the atmosphere as hundreds of troops moved in unison. While some might consider it overkill to use up the energy of hundreds against a single enemy, Liam knew that the truth was that it was a rather underwhelming response. After noticing he was alone, they decided to use the least amount of energy to take care of him, estimating his strength by the amount of energy they could feel from him.

‘When they notice it’s me, at least a few million will immediately jump into action.’

Ever since he destroyed the forcefield, he had become Cinzolia Fortress’ arch-nemesis. They would stop at nothing to destroy him, even if it meant using the entirety of their forces against him.

However, he didn’t retreat. The thought of doing so never crossed his mind for even a second. This wasn’t confidence due to his strength or faith in his regenerative abilities.

‘I can’t fail.’

It was desperation in its rawest form. It was only then that Liam realized how deeply the discovery of his remaining lifespan had affected him. He had mistakenly perceived it to be his resolve, when in fact it was not anywhere as noble. He was simply afraid. Afraid that he would die and that humanity would be exterminated afterwards. Afraid that he would lose his loved ones.

His despair had culminated in this plan.

In the meantime, the attack the enemy troops were pouring their effort into was now almost done and had become an enormous Aura sphere. At that moment, Liam’s Aura erupted from his body. Due to his unstable emotions, it was even more chaotic than usual. The black energy gathered around the tip of his spear, as the traces of golden lightning converged on the tip.

‘Drought.’

The Aura beam shot out of the weapon, cutting through the atmosphere at a speed much faster than Liam could move. However, its target was not the soldiers on the wall or even the wall itself. Instead, it was a specific point on the sphere’s surface. While seemingly ordinary, it was in truth the very core of the attack the enemy troops were preparing. From the beginning, the technique of combining various individuals’ Auras into one blow was one that required intense concentration and a strict training regime. It was tremendously effective in large-scale battles and when many weak troops needed to face a stronger enemy, but it also had its weaknesses, as Liam had discovered over the time he’d spent fighting against them. One of them was the fact that if anything managed to disturb the Aura storm while it was being created in just the right way, it would collapse completely.

As the beam of golden light shot through its target, as Liam expected, the humongous Aura sphere started falling apart. The enemy soldiers quickly remedied the flaw in their formation, but only after almost half of the sphere had already dispersed. Liam had bought himself nothing but a few seconds, but it was a window of time that was incredibly precious. He had now truly entered his attack range.

500 kilometers. That was the current distance between Liam and Cinzolia Fortress.