Chapter 427 - Great Astley Empire: Start
"Yeah, I know where's the capital as I'm living there before," Lydia said as she shrugged her shoulder. She then drew a map in front of everyone's eyes. The map was the map of the land of the Astley. She circled the important landscape of the empire and pointed at the capital.
Everyone just listened to her explanation. She was the only one among them who knew the land of the empire so no one interrupted her.
The elite team who was going to land on the planet was Souta, Torkez, Franklin, Dragon, and dozens of powerful C-rank. Their number was small but Souta thought that it was enough.
Invading the planet and capturing the royal family was the core of their plan. But Souta was contemplating about his special quest. The true leader of the empire wasn't the emperor. He guessed that once he captured the royal family, the shadow leader of the empire would appear.
They had to make it quick and capture the royal family before the Liberation White Army got defeated. Everyone understood that their total forces didn't stand a chance to the empire that's why they devise this plan.
"Lydia, Jamine, I'll leave the army to you," Souta said and the two nodded at him with a serious expression. He then glanced at Isabella and Yenxa. "Join the battle. This battle will give you experience and you better use the skills that you learned in our training."
"Yes, my lord." Yenxa nodded at him.
"Y-Yes..." Isabella nodded nervously. Even though her strength increased greatly, she was still nervous when she thought about going into a war.
"Okay, you can go now and prepare," Souta said as he dismissed everyone. He then went back to his room and took out the transmission talisman.
He poured his energy and called Alice. Alice immediately answered his call once she received it.
"Alice, where are you? We're already near the Planet Astley, the homeworld of the Great Astley Empire." Souta said through the talisman.
"Oh? Souta, I'm on my way. I think that it will take one week before I arrived there. I also brought some forces that could help you in the battle." Alice said in response to his question. She knew what's happening as Souta's name already spread on different planets.
The name Souta Ieshi, the leader of the Liberation White Army, was known throughout hundreds of planets. So she naturally heard his feat on her journey.
"Your army is powerful but even I think that it's still not enough to fight the empire," Alice said.
"You think so. Well, I know that my army is too weak compare to the empire but I have a plan. I will go directly to their planet with some capable people and capture the royal family. With my current strength, I don't think that there's a person among the empire that could defeat in a one-on-one battle. The same could be said to you." Souta paused before he continued, "I want you to come here as soon as possible. I want you to help my people in defending against the onslaught of the empire. With your strength, I don't think that it will be a problem."
"I understand but what will you do if you failed?" Alice asked him. She just stayed silent and waited for his reply. After a while, she heard Souta's voice.
"I guess you'll never know." Souta smiled as he stared at the talisman in his hand. "Lose? I will not let myself lose easily as I have a lot of aces in my sleeve."
He then hung up the call and glanced at his system. The increase in his power in this training was little but he was satisfied with it. He still had a few cards that he hasn't use so he wouldn't go down easily.
...
The Liberation White Army and finally arrived near Planet Astley. Everyone saw tens of millions of mother ships orbiting around the planet. Following the mother ships, there were also assault-type ships and their numbers were twice as many as the mother ships.
It was an overwhelming army and everyone who saw it couldn't up but become nervous.
This battle will decide their fate and future. They will fight the unstoppable army of the Great Astley Empire. No one could imagine that they will have this chance at all. A chance to defeat the empire was in their hands. The only problem was that their chances were too low.
It's up to the elite team to declare the outcome of the war whether they will win or lose. The elite team was the focal point of their army.
Souta and the rest of the team that will go to the planet were inside the ship in the front of the army. Lydia, Jamine, Yuko, and the rest who will fight the empire were in the other ships.
"Everyone stay in formation!"
Jamine's voice sounded in every ship of the Liberation White Army as they were going to start the battle any time.
"I want to join the battle too but it seems that joining this team could give me more fun."
Franklin said as he licked his lips. He couldn't hide his excitement as it was paste all over his face.
Torkez ignored him as he turned to Souta and said, "We had forty assault-type ships inside this mother ship. We could use it anytime once we enter the atmosphere of the Planet Astley."
"I don't have a problem. I have a skill that will let me survive the pressure of outer space." Souta said to him without taking his eyes off the empire's enormous army.
"Me too. I have a parasitic essence eater and it let me handle the pressure of outer space." Torkez said as he glanced at the other people in this ship, "But they needed it. Dragon's body is tough so I don't think that he will have a problem when we burst through the formation."
He was talking about the dragon in their group. The dragon that was with him in the lowest level of the catastrophe rank prison back in Prison World.
"Just don't hold back. We're gonna fight our way towards the planet." Souta said as he slightly narrowed his eyes. He had confidence in his strength and his comrades' strength. He glanced at them and said, "Stay inside the ship. I'm going out to clean some enemy."
Souta went out of the ship. A gravity field was around him protecting him from the extreme pressure of outer space. He was observing the countless ships of the enemy before his eyes. Then, his eyes landed on the huge planet behind the enormous army.
His instinct was telling him that there's something important in this world.
He shook his head and turned to look behind him. He saw a huge figure behind. The figure was a three-meter tall man with sharp claws and teeth. It was muscular and armor-like spikes were protruding on its back, elbow, and knees. Also, its head feels like it was covered by some sort of exoskeleton.
This figure was Torkez when he used the full-body transformation of the parasitic essence eater.
"I came here to help," Torkez said before Souta could even ask a question.
Souta turned back to the empire and said, "Suit yourself."
"Our army is going to attack now. We can't wait for the empire to attack as it will put us in a disadvantageous position." Torkez said as he glanced at the empire.
After a few moments, the Liberation White Army fired their cannons at the same time while moving forward to intercept the empire's army. Souta's ship accelerated at full speed while firing their cannons.
Beams of white light shoots in every direction of the dark space. The hundreds of thousands of white beams illuminated the empty dark space around them. It was like fireworks in the middle of the dark.
It was beautiful yet terrifying because these white beams contained power that could easily kill ordinary people.
The battle started just like that and it easily took the lives of thousands of people. The empire fired beams of light that overwhelmed the Liberation Army. Despite their overwhelming number, the Liberation Army didn't give up as they used various tactics to hold their enemies.
The two armies collided and it became a dog fight. Explosions were erupting in every direction sending shockwaves to every ship in the area.
Souta was destroying the ships that got in his way. The ships that were blocking his path towards the planet were met with destruction. He kept firing [Dark Shooting Ray] which was powered up by his best feram. It was several times stronger when he used it when he was still a second evolution monster.
The enemy ships kept appearing in front of their ships as if they had endless numbers. No matter how many he destroyed, the enemy will still send out an enormous number of ships to his doorstep.