“Do you see them?”

“Of course.”

On top of a building, hidden by the darkness of the night and covered in a very discreet milky white Aura, nine figures stuck to the floor watched the three Elite Captains far below them. Liam’s eyes zeroed in on the strongest one, while Twelve and One looked at the other ones. One turned to him and asked him a question, which he promptly answered. Of course he could see them. They were the targets of tonight’s assassination. Three Elite Captains dashed through the streets of the Fortress, heading to their next destination at top speed. Liam and the others had less than ten seconds before the targets left their effective range, but none of them moved a muscle.

As the three targets were approaching the point closest to the building they were on top of, One hurriedly whispered.

“Now!”

In an instant, the nine figures leaped off, using their flying Skills to boost their speed. Due to Twelve’s stealth ability, they weren’t immediately noticed. Nevertheless, as they got within 300 meters of the three Captains, the targets lifted their heads. Even from this distance, Liam could see the surprise in their eyes turn into the determination to fight to the death. It did not matter. At his current level of power, 300 meters was a distance that could be crossed in less than a blink of an eye. As the Auras of the three targets were about to burst forth and alert every living being within kilometers of their fight, Liam activated his most effective Skill.

‘Singularity.’

The small black and gold dot accelerated with unprecedented speed, reaching the head of the first target in a mere instant. As it hit the enemy’s body, the body disappeared without a trace. The dot immediately curved, hitting the second enemy and creating the same result. Two XP notifications rang out in his ears as Liam expanded back into himself, looking to the side at the last enemy. He then let out a very faint sigh.

One and Twelve had their weapons sticking out of the enemy’s torso and head, their Aura ravaging the soldier’s insides. The enemy Captain hadn’t even had the chance to scream as two Captain-class warriors caught him in a surprise attack.

The operation had been successful. Without looking at one another, the three of them flew upwards as tens of thousands of Auras surged around them from the nearby buildings. While Twelve’s ability could prevent their Aura from leaking out, it didn’t make them invisible. It was only natural for them to be seen by one or more soldiers while killing the targets, no matter how quick they had been. Liam’s Aura wrapped the ordinary Elite members, as did One and Twelve’s. With tens of sonic booms, the three figures flew towards the nearest of Cinzolia’s four walls. The moonlight above them was cut off as the walls shimmered as if they were made of water and stretched out, creating a ceiling. Cinzolia Fortress’ shape turned from a square into a cube in seconds. As expected, just like during the other operations, the fortress’ defense mechanisms had been activated. Escaping through the skies was no longer an option, but Liam and his Squad weren’t surprised at all.

As if they already had a destination in mind, they flew towards an opening on the wall. It was one of the few entrances to Cinzolia. Of course, it was heavily guarded. Several hundred Auras belonging to Elite Squad Captains flared up as they approached, while thousands upon thousands of Elite Auras were closing in on their position. It was at that moment that Twelve’s Aura surged while Liam spread out his own black Aura, hiding their figures from the enemies’ line of sight while Twelve hid their Auras. For a tenth of a second, the enemies wouldn’t be able to identify their position. It was all that Liam needed. Attaching hundreds of Aura threads to himself and his companions, he activated Singularity once more.

The infinitesimal dot flew past the gate the thousands of soldiers were protecting while dragging eight other people alongside it with blinding speed. A tenth of a second later, the group found themselves outside of Cinzolia’s territory. One punched at the ground, upturning it and creating a sandstorm that hid them from sight as they dove underground. As Twelve’s ability still protected them from Aura Sight, the Squad managed to successfully hide from their pursuers.

This marked the ending and the success of their Squad’s 18th assassination. Ever since they had started, they had already killed several tens of Elite Captains, mostly due to the synergy between Liam’s bursts of speed and Twelve’s stealth ability. One and the other members also contributed in their own ways, distracting their pursuers when needed and fighting.

As the group entered Arimiar’s ship’s forcefield, they finally relaxed. Liam started to speak.

“Their response time is getting faster, while the response itself is turning more intense. I mean, hundreds of Elite Captains? This would have never happened before. They even activated Cinzolia’s defensive mode.”

One nodded.

“Our operations will only get harder and more complex from now on. It doesn’t mean we can stop, however. All of the Elite Squads are doing the same… Although none of them also has a success rate of 100%. Many Elite members were lost in the assassination attempts as well.”

It was only natural. Due to Liam’s presence and One and Twelve’s special circumstances, their Squad was one of the few with three Captain-class soldiers. To the Squads with only a single Captain, every assassination attempt was a much more dangerous endeavor that put the entire Squad at risk. Nevertheless, Liam wasn’t satisfied with just these results. He frowned under his helmet. A few tens of Elite Captains killed wasn’t worth mentioning considering that the enemy had over a hundred thousand of them.

As an idea began to take shape in his mind, the squad walked back to their quarters. One and Twelve entered the meeting room, preparing to relay the news of their success to the other Captains, as well as discuss the subsequent plans. Liam nodded at his squad members and spoke.

“Good job, everyone. Take this time to rest a bit.”

Unknowingly, his words had begun to carry the same weight as One’s and Twelve’s among the squad members. Liam found it slightly unnatural since he had never had much contact with them to begin with, but took it as a matter of course. He chalked it up to his strength.

Leaving the ship and heading to his training room, Liam took his armor off as he entered and sat down on the ground, closing his eyes.

‘This isn’t enough.’

It had been three weeks since he had destroyed the forcefield. During this time, all of the Elite Squads focused on assassinating enemy Captains and strategists, which obviously raised a response from the Kingdom’s army. The soldiers started moving together instead of separately, heading from building to building as quickly as possible, not staying in open space for too long. Cinzolia’s defense mechanism and ceiling were kept active for most of the nights, except for specific moments during which the enemy needed to recharge the fortress’ energy reserves. Of course, it was also during this time that security was the most strict, but it was also the only opportunity to get into Cinzolia and complete the assassination tasks. Most of the Elite Squads from the Empire were caught and chased away or annihilated during this process of entering the fortress. Because of Twelve’s ability, however, Liam’s Squad didn’t have this problem.

Despite their constant success, Liam couldn’t help but think to himself.

‘I need something more. A faster way to develop.’

While he was consistently acquiring XP from killing the Captains, the amount still wasn’t enough to compensate for the difficulty in doing so. It meant that killing a large number of ordinary soldiers would be much more beneficial to him, even though it wouldn’t have much impact on Cinzolia’s forces. Of course, he didn’t know if killing stronger enemies in the future would prove to be more beneficial, but for now, exterminating a group of weaker enemies was the best method.

‘As expected, a frontal assault is my only option.’

His only alternative was to enter Cinzolia through the front door and kill everything in sight, focusing on the common soldiers. He had no choice. His remaining lifespan acted like a noose slowly tightening around his neck. He didn’t have the time to grow slowly. Instead, he absolutely needed to speed up his growth exponentially. Almost a year ago, when One told him that they had five years to conquer Cinzolia, Liam had scoffed and stated that they would only need two years. Now, he realized he didn’t even have that luxury. One more year was far too long. He needed to wrap everything up within the next month or two.

As he opened his eyes, Liam decided on a course of action.

‘I’ll wait for the Chaos beings to contact me at the end of this week and suggest a frontal assault to the other Captains afterwards. If they refuse, I’ll be forced to go alone.’

Steeling his mind, he grasped his spear and got to training. No amount of time should be wasted. If he couldn’t acquire XP, then he should hone his technique. Standing idly wasn’t an option.

The week passed by quickly.

Another successful assassination later, Liam clutched his head inside the training room as the characteristic, unbearable pain hit him.