They tried to contact their allies in this world but they've found that the empire didn't only launch the mana convergent bomb in this place instead, they've also dropped it down in eight different places. It means that a quarter part of the living land was destroyed.
The empire was really intending to destroy this land. At this rate, this living land will become dead like the desolate land. No ordinary people would be able to live on this planet anymore.
"Sir, the transportational gate is ready." Someone reported to Souta.
"Good. Then, activate it right away. Let the people from other ships come here. Those ships have just used the transportational gate so they couldn't use it anymore. Only this ship could go back." Souta commanded as he narrowed his eyes.
The transportational gate would take a few minutes before it could transfer them to Prison World so they had to be on guard in case the empire chased after them.
He had no problem protecting this ship for that small amount of time. He still had energy in his body and he could use it but it wouldn't last for a long battle.
This was harder than he thought. Luckily, he still had Yuko and the other dragons on different worlds to lessened his burdens. He was sure that they would complete their mission as the empire was strangely focused on him.
That man or that elf must be related to the higher-ups of the Great Astley Empire.
Souta leaned on his chair and looked at the ceiling. He slowly opened his mouth and said, "Isabella, the health potion and mana potion that you're brewing isn't enough. Its quality is too low."
Now that he reached the third evolution, a low-grade healing potion could hardly do anything to him. What he needed were higher-grade potions.
"Then, what should I do Souta? If I want to increase the potency of the potion then it will take a lot of trial and error before I succeeded." Isabella said as she lowered her head. She thought that the potion that she brewed was enough but Souta just said that its quality wasn't passable.
"Don't worry about it, I'll just ask Lumilia about it. Mid-grade isn't a problem in Imperium. Most of the potioneer knew about the recipe." Souta said as he closed his eyes. He felt the gravity field that he set up was being attacked. It seems that the empire has begun its attack once again.
He was correct as someone approached him and reported that the ship was being attacked. Souta just waved his hand like nothing saying that it wasn't a problem as long as they don't launch that bomb again.
After a few minutes, the transportational gate was activated and they've returned to the Prison World. They've abandoned everything in Greia as no one among them had the power to stop the empire's onslaught.
Souta stood up and said, "Don't bother me for a while. I'm going to rest. Just remind me if the empire attacked us once again." He then left and went to his room.
He wanted to rest to recover his health, energy, and stamina. He needed to be at his peak once the empire launched an all-out attack in this world.
He didn't doubt that the empire would stop. The empire would surely attack them once again. This world will become a battlefield and once it happened Souta needed his full strength.
Souta closed his door and lied down on his bed. He closed his eyes while thinking about his next move.
...
While Souta was asleep, the rebels informed everyone that the empire would attack them so they had to prepare.
They set up various weapons and charged their cannons with energy. The rebel army gathered in one place as they needed their power to be concentrated.
Some of the rebels that stayed in this world asked about what happened in Greia. The answer that they've got shocked them to the core.
Everything was annihilated and nothing was left behind when that bomb exploded. It was pure destruction.
Isabella decided to help too. She gathered everyone who had knowledge in potioneering. She was going to need everyone's help in producing health potions that could recover the wounds of their injured comrades.
Producing it in a large batch was her target.
While everyone was busy, Jamine stood in her position and simply observed them. She sighed and muttered, "Souta is strong and he's the heart of the rebel army. Without him, the rebel army is simply a shell without any capabilities. Still, I don't know how large the forces that they've sent in other four worlds."
She didn't believe that this army could fight the Great Astley Empire nor could defeat them. This army didn't have any power except for Souta. From her point of view, Souta was the one who did everything. She was right. Everything was mostly Souta's work. Nothing could be credited to these people.
"The strength of the empire is much deeper than we thought."
She said as she looked at the blue sky. If they've survived and successfully gathered allies from those four worlds then they would have a chance to fight the empire.
"Just focus on gathering allies. There are countless forces in other worlds that are lurking in the dark. Most of them wanted to fight the empire but none of them didn't have the power so they could only swallow their thoughts and hide themselves."
If she could make Souta a symbol of power and spread it among the worlds that were under the rule of the empire then those secret forces would surely hear his name. It was just a matter of will if they wanted to follow their cause in eradicating the empire.
That's it... They should send five to ten people to every world to spread out their cause. It's a good plan.
"I'll tell him about it, later."
...
An alarm sounded in the whole base and it woke Souta.
"Hmm...?"
Souta slowly opened his eyes as he stared at the ceiling of the room. "Saya, how long did I sleep?" He asked.
'Almost three hours...' Saya replied to him.
Souta sighed as he pushed himself out of the bed. Soon, he heard a knocked on his door. He could guess what they were going to report. It's not that surprising if it was about the attack of the empire since everyone expected it but, isn't it too soon?
"Come in."
He said as he turned his attention to the door. A person went inside the room and it confirmed Souta's thought. The alarm was about the empire's forces. They've already arrived in the Prison World.
He shook his head as he stood up and exited his room. He would go all out and kill as many as he could then he would rest and repeat the same thing.
Souta arrived in the control room and dozens of people were waiting for him. He sat on his seat and asked, "Numbers of the empire?"
"Six thousand seven hundred mother ships and fifty thousand one hundred seventy assault-type ships. Also, they had three million ground troops." One of the people reported to Souta.
Everyone turned gloomy when they heard the number of the enemies. The pressure it brought mentally was greater than they've imagined. Fighting millions of soldiers while their numbers were only five digits was something that they couldn't imagine. It was practically a suicide.
Everyone turned to Souta and waiting for his orders. He was the leader of the rebel army and he was also the strongest person here so everyone will wait for his answer. He was the one who will decide if they had a chance or not.
Souta rubbed his chin as he looked at the fifteen people in the room one by one. Isabella and Jamine were staying quiet at the corner. Yenxa, the little goblin, was standing beside him with a plain expression.
He forgot about Yenxa after he took her with him. He was too busy with empire's matter that he didn't have a time to train her. Well, this war will be a good experience for her to improve her combat ability. She was just a first evolution monster and the soldiers of the empire could pose a problem to her.
"Their location?" Souta asked after contemplating.
One of the rebels explained to him the location of the empire's forces.
The army of the empire was scattered around the world. Souta's rebel army was situated in the territory of the Thirteen Warden and the empire was scattered in different territory.
The closest to them was the batch of one hundred mother ships along with three hundred thousand foot soldiers. The number was still huge compared to them but they could somehow handle it.
"Good. Then, we'll attack that army. I don't want to wait for them to attack us." Souta paused as he looked at them before he added, "I'll personally make an appearance and annihilate them."