The Evolution of a Goblin to the Peak

One month had passed in the blink of an eye, and Souta and the other three came out of their seclusion. Their battle power had increased several times, and their fighting style had been honed to suit their abilities.

Isabella has reached peak C-rank. Her combat power has greatly increased as Souta has taught her the perfect style for her. He didn't invent it; he just taught her the fighting style of Isabella in the game. This way, he could see her path towards godhood. He couldn't help but smile when he thought about her becoming a god.

If she had enough time, then she would perfectly reach B-rank. She had the talent to become a god, and she had the legacy of the god of hunt in her body. Just by integrating it, her power level would increase by several times.

In one or two more weeks, Isabella will step inside the realm of B-rank experts.

From a normal girl without any power to a girl that was close to B-rank. It was hard to imagine that in just a few months, she would have this level of power.

Yenxa got close to becoming a second evolution monster. They devised a style that suited her toxins to make her utilize the full potential of the toxins in her body.

One hour in the real world was equal to five hours in Saya's inner consciousness. That's why everyone grew stronger, especially at low levels. It was easy to increase their power level when they were at the bottom, but for Souta, who was a third evolution monster, five months in inner consciousness only increased his strength by a little margin.

It was understandable. In these five months inside the inner consciousness, Souta was focused on learning Saya's skill set, not on improving his stats. Improving his stats, he could leave those things to his universal grade earring. Also, his base stats were already much higher than a monster who had just reached the third evolution. It was thanks to the millions of souls that he gathered.

He also leveled up by one this month. He gained the exp from the members of the legion that had completed a quest. The battles on the Planet Lie, Planet Green River, and Planet Red Pump earned him enough exp so when the legion members completed a few dozen quests, he leveled up.

Yuko's development was different from Souta's, who was focused on skill. She was focused on her physical abilities. Making her body strong was the path she wanted. Weapon? She didn't want it. She will make her body her strongest weapon.

It was understandable, as most of the items used in creating artifacts, weapons, potions, and armors came from monsters.

In short, the four of them grew stronger. They were ready for the final battle that will happen on Planet Astley, the homeworld of the empire. If not for this battle, Souta wouldn't stop himself from mastering Saya's skill set. He was close to mastering it, but unfortunately, he didn't have enough time.

The [Archetype: Vajra Extremity] was a powerful skill. It came from the ancient era, and it was one of the powerful skills that Souta knew. Five months in inner consciousness wasn't enough for him. Also, he was trying to learn this skill set when he was still in the Imperium.

Just a little bit more time, and he would be able to learn this skill set.

The four came out of their seclusion and saw that everyone was preparing themselves.

Souta sat on his seat as he looked at the projection. He saw that they were getting close to the homeworld of the empire. So that's the reason why everyone was tense.

"What's the status?" He asked as he rested his chin on his palm.

Torkez glanced at Souta, Yuko, Yenxa, and Isabella. Even Franklin was looking at four of them with interest in his eyes. They could feel that they grew stronger in the one month that they were gone.

Lydia was especially surprised at this. Isabella was just an ordinary person before, but now... her strength was getting closer to their realm, the realm of B-rank fighters. Just how? With her strength, she could make a name for herself back in her home world.

Torkez shook his head and answered Souta's question. "Another hundred thousand Mother ships have been added to our rank while you are gone. Our chances of defeating the empire are increasing, but there's a problem."

"Tsk! It's not a problem. Anyone would have done that if they were in the empire's position," Franklin clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"What is it?" Souta glanced at Franklin, then at Torkez.

"The empire set up a barricade outside their planet. Millions of ships are waiting for our army in outer space. It seems that they really don't want their homeworld to become a battlefield." Torkez paused for a moment before continuing, "At this moment we could see the true might of the Great Astley Empire, the overlord of hundreds of planets. Their army is thirty times larger than our current army.

Even though we destroyed most of their forces on other planets, they still have that much in their arsenal. At this rate, landing on the Planet Astley alone would be hard."

The empire wouldn't let them get inside their world easily, and everyone understood it.

"Then, is this everything?" Souta asked. He found something missing in their army. A month had already passed, yet their army had only increased by several hundred thousand ships.

"No, sir. Some people are on their way, but even with that, it will be hard to defeat the empire's army." Torkez said as he glanced at the projection.

"I see..." Souta nodded as he rubbed his chin.

At this time, Jamine opened her mouth and asked, "Do you have confidence in your strength, Leader? Do you have the confidence that no one can defeat you in the ranks of the empire?"

"Yes, I think that no one can defeat me in their ranks." Souta nodded at her. He stabilized his power, and his base form could even fight those A-rank experts. Also, the combat arts and spells that the empire learned were all low-grade, so even if there was a party of A-rank within their ranks, he could handle it.

It means that the A-rank in the Great Astley Empire was weaker than the A-rank in the Great World Imperium.

He was just an early stage third evolution monster, yet a party of B-rank experts couldn't handle him. It was his various skills and spells that boosted his powers to the next level, as well as the added abilities of his class system.

Well, if the empire managed to tame several dragons and those dragons fought him, he wouldn't stand a chance. But it seems that no dragon submitted to their rule, so most of the dragons were either killed or captured for experiments.

"Then, I have a suggestion," Jamine said as she swept her eyes in the room, glancing at every person that was present.

"Okay, what is it?" Souta asked while raising his eyebrows.

"We'll form an elite team with you as the center. The elite team will break through the empire's formation and land on their planet. Of course, everyone in the army will focus on helping you break through their formation. And once the team lands on the Planet Astley, you will head to their capital to capture their emperor.

I think that the army on the planet isn't as huge as the army outside the planet. The empire focused its military power outside their planet to annihilate us.

"Their plan is easy to tell as they set up a barricade outside of their planet. But that doesn't mean the army left to protect their capital is small. It's still large and has a few capable officers beside the royal family to protect them.

"I could already see that we have no way of defeating the empire's full might in a head-on battle. That's why I could only think of this plan: to capture the leader of the empire to prevent further casualties on our side. I hate to admit it, but the empire is really strong, and no matter how many allies we've gathered, we didn't have a hope of defeating them in an all-out war."

Jamine slowly explained this to them with a bitter expression. She planned to use the royal family to stop the whole war. If necessary, she will execute one of them to show everyone that she is serious.

This kind of strategy wasn't her style, but after considering how the empire bribed her generals, leading to the destruction of her country, she couldn't help but become decisive and ruthless when facing the empire.

"You're right, but then how will we find the royal capital on a huge planet in such a short amount of time?" Souta said to her.

"This is Lydia's homeworld, and she knows it better than any of us," Jamine said as she glanced at her friend.