Another Stupid Isekai

The planet S52J, as I learned, was colonized very recently, if we were to compare it to the lifespan of the empire behind the process of colonization. The main city was there roughly for a hundred years. From time to time the overlords would come with a new seed, and a new batch of the population to fill the new agglomeration, enslaving them forever as the workers for the sapling.

Why? The alien had no idea. He was too young to understand anything, and then he became a slave himself.

What he could understand was the fact that this was happening everywhere, as the monstrosity spread around. They had a goal. A mission. What it really was? He couldn't tell.

He actually came to this place from a different planet S27B, which was my second stop on the long journey to the capital of the fifth region.

As a new settlement, S52J had weak forces compared to what was awaiting for us further. We could expect the guardians to be at least twice as powerful if not more, which didn't sound that terribly yet, but if this pattern was going to continue, we would have some serious problems by the time we were to reach S15C. And that was only half of the way to the target.

The most terrible information of them all though was an entirely different piece of knowledge. The overlords.

Five generals, with the general supreme as their head - the sixth person. The alien met a few of them during his lifespan as he was living on S52J. Each time was identical. It didn't matter how much stronger he would become. The feeling of doom was overwhelming. It was so strong, that despite the link to the device, he still could comprehend the fear.

Doesn't sound that bad? Well, I didn't finish yet.

The alien met me too. Although not at my full power, my presence was nowhere near as overwhelming as the presence of even a single general. Not to mention the general supreme, the one to rule everything in the fifth district. The one whom he never met, so he couldn't put him on my scale, but he had a piece of intel that at least was a decent clue on how should I think of that persona.

Each time one of the overlords would speak about their leader, there was fear in their voices. Firmly present, like the basis of how they felt about the one who led them.

I swallowed my spit, as I managed to analyze all fo that, then looked at my friends with probably uneasiness painted all over my face. To the point that they stopped arguing, and focused solely on me.

- Guys... I think we are fucked...

- What? Why? - Wil asked, and the mood spread to him too.

He immediately approached me.

- I think we raised our weapons at a beast we can't defeat - I told him.

- But The Great One... There is no way he would send us here if we didn't have a chance, would he? - he asked, and there was this treacherous single note in his voice that told me more than his words could ever do.

He was scared.

It made me realize that I was the pillar of this group, and if I were to show weakness, they could easily fall apart. Maybe not all, but definitely some. This meant I had to keep my spirits high despite my conclusions about our situation.

- I don't know - I sighed. - According to this guy, we have some tough work ahead of us.

I pointed at the lifeless corpse of the alien who fed me with the intel. All looked at the poor bastard like he was going to answer the questions they desperately wished to ask.

- What do you mean? - Hatta asked.

- This planet maybe was easy, but the next one will be twice as tough. At least. If the pattern continues...

- We will have some tough fights by the third one - Hatta finished for me.

I nodded agreeing with his words.

- But you got stronger with the fruit, didn't you? - Nil asked me.

- I did - I agreed.

- So if you can keep consuming the fruits along the way, you should get stronger. Strong enough to fight those guardians, right? - he continued his thought.

- Yes - I agreed. - I should get stronger. Possibly even strong enough to somehow make it all the way to the capital. Possibly.

I emphasized the last word, so they would understand that it was still uncertain.

- But we won't - Will suddenly added.

I nodded to his words.

- I knew it. We are all going to die here - Hailwic said.

It wasn't like she was trying to point out that the whole idea was stupid from the beginning. It wasn't even like she was angry about this. She merely acknowledged the fact.

- If that's our fate, so be it - Nobuo suddenly joined the conversation. - I warrior doesn't step back from his duties. We fight till the end. We either win, or lose, but we do not retreat.

There was so much conviction in his words, so much power, then nobody even tried to discuss this with him. They simply remind quiet.

- Let's go. We are wasting time - Druoag pointed out. - We already should be on our way to the next planet. As we speak, people are dying.

I glanced for the last time at my friends, then picked us all up using 'Telekinesis', to form a bubble around us all, provide the oxygen, and lunch us back into space, heading where the arrow started to point.

At that time I failed to notice something quite important due to all the chaos with the discovery of what was awaiting us ahead.

Some of the corpses. The ones torn to pieces, had visible crystals sticking out of their bodies. Very similar to what one could find left by ghosts, although their bodies didn't vanish. They remained in their full gory glory.

In such a way we left the S52J, after achieving our first victory.