Is this really a Game?!

"What are these creatures?" Dain asked as he looked at the more than 2 000 strong army that had finally revealed themselves in front of the fortification. Contrary to what they believed this army didn't really belong to any of the four kingdoms of the coalition, they had been summoned here by them in a similar fashion to how Reign was summoned.

To actually summon so many troops that were led by a powerful person that was currently undergoing a challenge in order to evolve took an astronomical amount of resources, more than what the kingdom of Riplas had used when summoning Reign.

It was possible for the four kingdoms to actually use so many resources, but it would strain them a bit to actually do something like that right now, they weren't like the kingdom of Riplas which was the richest kingdom in the area, the fertile soil and huge crop yields allowed them to amass a large number of resources in the last couple of decades. Raigon and the others immediately thought of the other two large kingdoms in the area as they were certain that at least one of them had a part in summoning this troop.

Of course, there was also the possibility of the coalition becoming a bit desperate, even though they had initiated the war against Riplas and attacked first, they didn't really manage to capitalize on it and so far the war was quite equal, with Riplas losing more top combatants compared to them. The people of the kingdoms were all furious as they could barely sustain themselves during these times, to actually initiate a war without any real reason was simply ridiculous to them.

As such the kingdoms were under great pressure from their own people, not only had they started a war but they also had nothing to show for it, they gained no new territory and they only lost people. Even though the situation was still a bit in their favor, the people didn't truly care, all they knew was that more and more people were getting conscripted into the army while the tax had become higher, if things continued this way simply surviving would become hard.

The troop that was now standing in front of the fortification might have been the desperate attempt of the coalition to finally deal some damage to Riplas, with such a powerful troop they could potentially even do so. Not only was each of the soldiers in the troop well equipped, but they also had a high level as even the weakest amongst them was level 38.

A pitch-black armor that shone menacingly under the sun covered their dark blue, rocky skin. They wore no helmet on their heads as multiple blue bones grew on top of it. Each of them was over 2 meters tall and they had an imposing presence to them, a thick killing intent permeated through the gorge as the small army stood still and simply stared at the fortification and the soldiers.

The soldiers held a thick sword in one hand while a big black shield was held in another, each of them also had a different weapon on their back. As Reign and the others simply stood and watched the army, three figures slowly started walking toward the fortification.

The person at the very front was about 1.9 meters tall, his muscular body was barely contained in the armor as he dragged a giant sword with him. Two men walked a step behind him, one on his left and one on the right side. The three were a problem as Reign was immediately able to feel the thick mana that they possessed. The person walking at the very front was the most powerful one, his presence was similar to Lico's and Reign was certain that his strength wouldn't be too far off from Lico as well. His skin was a tad darker compared to the other soldiers and his horns were black.

The two on each of his sides were also quite powerful, each one was as strong as Lieara and they could be considered to be top combatants in any kingdom of the area. To summon a powerful troop that was led by such powerful people was definitely not an easy task, one could only guess just how many resources the coalition had spent in order to do something like this.

The powerful army was something that nobody expected to see, the over 2 000 men strong army had a slight advantage when it came to numbers but the main issue was that each one was more powerful compared to the soldiers that were stationed on the fortification and they could be considered to be elites in any kingdom in the area.

The leader of the soldiers simply walked toward the fortification with a serious look on his face before stopping right before the traps that were laid out in front of him. He looked right at Reign and the others and smiled ferociously, that continued for a couple of seconds before he simply turned around and the army started marching toward the fortification.

There weren't only soldiers in the army as a carriage could be seen in the middle of it, multiple devices as well could be seen in the army but nobody knew what they were for, one thing was certain, however, it wasn't good news for them.

Elite troops of the coalition were under constant watch, similarly to the top combatants and it was a hard task for them to go anywhere unnoticed. For such a powerful army to actually arrive at the fortification was something that nobody expected and even Raigon had a serious expression on his face, it wasn't as if they couldn't defeat them, but they would have to use a large amount of stuff that he had prepared if they didn't want to have any heavy casualties.

The top combatants were also a problem, Lieara could deal with one of them and Reign could take on the leader, but they simply didn't have anyone else that was capable of fighting against the third one as even though Dain was powerful, he wasn't powerful enough to be called a top combatant in the kingdom and the best he could do was stall the opponent for some time.

As the army approached the many traps the carriage started vibrating as a defensive dome suddenly appeared over the whole army, Raigon's eyes widened as he knew what array this was. One of the four kingdoms that belonged to the coalition was called Irtil, even though they were a small kingdom and didn't have much power, they had managed to stay safe thanks to the incredible defensive arrays they created. Many years ago when the kingdom was first founded their king managed to save an old man that turned out to be an array master, to thank the king he stayed in the kingdom for some time and taught them how to make defensive arrays while personally creating an array that could defend the whole capital against the attacks of first evolution fighters.

Many years later there was still nobody that could create that kind of an array, but the other arrays that they had managed to learn and create were enough to make fighting them a headache as each of their forces had multiple ways of activating different kinds of defensive arrays, whatever was in the carriage was without a doubt a kind of device that they had now used to activate the array.

As the army starts walking over the traps they, of course, activate, explosions, poisonous gas, a hail of swords and arrows… nothing worked as the defensive array was able to shield the army perfectly. As Raigon and the others watched the army approach they had a grave look on their faces, this battle would be even harder than they expected.

Reign, however, was still calm as he looked down on the army, he was just an outsider after all and whatever happened to the many kingdoms here had nothing to do with him, of course, he wasn't going to slack off and he would do his best to help them out. The king and the others had faith in Reign not because they thought he was a nice guy or anything.

It was because generally, the people that were summoned by the system would be coming here because they had taken a mission from the system to help them out, thanks to that it was almost impossible for them to actually betray the kingdom as the penalty was a large one and nobody wanted to face it.

Reign, however, didn't have such a mission or limitation, he was summoned here because of his evolution trial and even if he betrayed the kingdom of Riplas he wouldn't face any kind of penalty. Of course, the wouldn't do such a dumb thing, not only did he have a place to stay and allies to fight together within Riplas, but if he betrayed them then he would not only be alone in this world, but it would also be incredibly hard to finish the hidden quest.