Liam’s figure disappeared. Confidently, he leaped off the wall for the first time. His perception accurately grasped the millions of troops flying up to fight him. His leg muscles tensed up before he extended his legs abruptly, stepping on the air as if it were solid ground. The attacks coming his way missed due to the sudden burst of speed, hitting the wall instead and damaging it even further. Supported by Aerial Movement’s control and acceleration, Liam arrived within a kilometer of the first enemy. His spear pointed towards their forehead.

“Drought.”

The enemy’s upper body was destroyed, just like those of the tens behind them. Liam rotated his body, shooting out Crescent Moon Waves and either killing or pushing away all the enemies that had begun to surround him.

‘Drizzle Drought.’

The river of Aura composed of millions of small spears cut through the troops as the spears’ golden tips pierced through their armor.

Two minutes. That was how long the battle had been going on. Liam had survived for two minutes against millions upon millions of enemies. It was a combination of luck, his physical capabilities and speed, technique, and Skills. His Aura stat was now far higher than it had been. Even though the battle was growing more and more difficult, he was still managing to survive.

‘I can’t fail.’

The weight of Liam’s existence came crashing down upon the enemies as he continued to fight. The support of the Drakkhan troops proved invaluable, shaving off just enough pressure to allow Liam to fight and survive.

Another minute passed.

A hundred Elite Captains shimmered in and out of view as they attacked. Glancing at one another and seemingly coming to a decision, fifty of them backed off, flying into the distance and moving over a thousand kilometers away from Liam, before stopping and concentrating their Auras into a single blow. Liam frowned as the other fifty continued to pressure him. The number of Elite Captain-class figures surrounding him also consistently increased. Liam gritted his teeth, tied down by the Captains once again.

‘I can only regenerate completely two more times.’

If he was hit by the united attack of the fifty Captains, his body would collapse. After that, he would only have one regeneration remaining. The desperation in the depths of his eyes increased. With a crazed look, he gauged the distance between him and the Aura storm’s weak point.

‘1,200 kilometers.’

Uncaring of anything else, he moved in the direction of the target, trying to get into range. The Elite Captains surrounding him didn’t miss this chance. Waves upon waves of Aura fell on him, pushing him back and down towards the ground. Aura blades pierced his limbs, his head was cut off and his lungs and heart were destroyed. With wide eyes, Liam’s severed head watched the attack he was trying to prevent fly in his direction and explode right in front of his face.

Every single cell in his body was turned to nothingness.

In his Inner World, Liam’s soul’s anxious eyes were obvious. He only had one more regeneration left in him, but that was only if he maintained his current level of energy. It meant that he couldn’t use his Active Skills as freely as he had been using them so far.

Liam’s body regenerated in a hurricane of flesh and blood with a roar. It was a primal scream, filled with the unwillingness to die on that battlefield. He could not perish. Not yet. If he died, humanity would be hopeless. Forcing himself to move his broken body, Liam flew through the skies, avoiding the chasing Captains to the best of his ability and killing as many ordinary soldiers as he could. As his Aura constantly increased, his physical capabilities also grew accordingly. It meant that he was now faster than all of the enemy Elite Captains. Still, he wouldn’t be able to survive the group of over two thousand that was now chasing him.

Taking deep breaths and inhaling Zancorix’s toxic air, Liam mercilessly cut down every living being around him. He had long since passed the point of considering the morality of this battle. His skin was torn, his limbs ripped off, but he didn’t stop. After thirty of the most frightening seconds of his life, two System notifications filled Liam’s view.

[Your Aura statistic has reached the value of 10,000. It can no longer be increased due to your genetic limitations. To increase it further, heavy changes to your genetic makeup will be required.]

[A newborn Dragon’s Aura courses through your soul!]

Liam didn’t bother paying any attention to the second one, focusing completely on the first one instead. A wild grin was plastered on his face. Finally, his first stat had reached its current limits. Over this one battle, his Aura had grown from 3,890 to 10,000, while his enemies were still endless.

‘I won’t fail!’

Liam liberated the full force of his Aura. The atmosphere shook. Event Horizon, which had been steadily growing, now encompassed everything within a five-kilometer radius. All of Liam’s Active Skills had grown more powerful, empowered by his increased stats. Crescent Moon Wave managed to tear through more enemies before fizzling out, while Drought could kill Elite Captains outright.

Liam’s Aura cloak now protected him from ordinary attacks completely, only falling apart as hundreds upon hundreds were piled on top of each other. Even though he was surrounded by millions of enemies, he was still only fighting a few thousand at a time. It was due to spatial limitations.

Given Liam’s size and the size of his enemies, even if they were to surround him from every angle and attack from afar from even further away, only a few thousand could fight Liam at a time. As such, it wasn’t as if he were truly fighting millions simultaneously. More and more Elite Captains moved towards him, but his spear cut through them as if they were made of paper.

Although there was no individual capable of threatening him on this battlefield any longer, he wasn’t fighting an enemy at a time. He was fighting thousands upon thousands. A great blade of Aura flashed, before shooting towards him at hypersonic speed. It was an attack created by the unison of over 1,000 Elite Captains. Liam’s eyes widened. He perceived the attack coming his way, but his body couldn’t react fast enough. His brain was disintegrated.

His soul clenched its fists. He now had no regenerations left, while his energy reserves had hit rock bottom because of the constant usage of his regeneration abilities.

As Liam’s naked body came into view once more, instead of his previous roaring figure, all that could be seen was the frame of a man who knew he was doomed. Not wasting any more energy with unnecessary actions, Liam considered retreating for the first time. He looked around, only then realizing where exactly he was. He was floating above the very heart of the enemy territory, thousands of kilometers away from the walls. The support provided by the Drakkhan was useless at this point, as hundreds of millions of troops surrounded him. Liam heaved, his remaining Aura being unable to keep his vital functions. For the first time in a long while, he breathed because he was forced to.

The battlefield entered a lull. The enemies had realized it as he had. He would die. There was no longer anything else he could do. As such, the previously unceasing attacks suddenly stopped coming. The enemies simply stared at him.

Lifting his head as sweat dripped off his body, Liam identified several mixed emotions among the gazes of the Kingdom of Luweth’s soldiers. Rage, awe, fear, and even respect. He opened his mouth, making millions of living beings focus on the words he was about to say.

“…All into Recovery.”

[Your Recovery statistic has reached the value of 10,000. It can no longer be increased due to your genetic limitations. To increase it further, heavy changes to your genetic makeup will be required.]

[You have stepped into the true range of immortality!]

Liam read the notifications, anxiety pooling within his chest. He waited almost five more seconds, but that was all. There was no third notification. His eyes noticeably dimmed. He had hoped, deep down, that after reaching 10,000 in Recovery he would at least recover part of his energy as a reward. Reality was cruel, however. He had received nothing.

“Human.”

Liam raised his tired and hopeless gaze. The strongest Elite Captain Liam had ever seen addressed him directly. It was a beastman, just like many of the other ordinary soldiers. Nevertheless, this one was clearly different. In the shape of a humanoid bear with blue fur and yellow eyes, this beastman was much taller than his other, more ordinary counterparts, being almost as tall as a large Drakkhan.

“I will admit it. Even though you charged in here alone, you have survived for this long. It is admirable. I hate you, for you have murdered my brothers and sisters, but I acknowledge your strength.”

The ice-cold anger within the bear beastman’s eyes made it clear that his words weren’t a lie.

“Nevertheless, because of this hatred… I will kill you myself.”

The Captain disappeared. A moment later, Liam’s body exploded in a mist of blood. Yellow Aura wrapped around the mist, burning it to nothingness.