Ronan crossed the distance to the two gun-wielding aliens in the blink of an eye. It was clear that these opponents weren't up to his standard. The first managed to fire its weapon, blasting a laser beam that glanced off his upper arm. His skin was slightly burnt, but it only felt as though some boiling water had splashed against him rather than a superheated laser.

He cut down the alien with a single swing of his sword and kept running, wanting to catch up with the other who had fled. While he could have eventually closed the distance, it was easier to pick the bastard off at range. He formed a mana bolt and launched it in just a few seconds, the spell exploding against the alien's back.

It fell to the ground with a screech and Ronan reached it in no time. He was about to finish it off when he realised that would be foolish. Using his foot, he spun the alien onto its back and then pinned it to the ground. "Where are we? Who are you?"

The alien held up its hands to guard itself, ignoring his questions. He knew it could understand him—he had a universal translation skill. "Tell me where this is and who you are," he barked once more.

The alien paused, confusion passing across its face. "You're an invader, how can you speak our language?"

"Don't worry about that. Just answer the questions." Ronan pressed his foot into the alien's chest a little harder.

It grunted. "How would you not know that? You came through the incursion portal, didn't you? What kind of idiot invades a planet without that knowledge!?"

Ronan was getting fed up with the alien's attitude. He raised his foot and stomped on its chest. He heard cracks as something inside its body broke. It squealed, but he wasn't going to let it squirm out of his grasp. "Answer the damn questions!"

The alien coughed and groaned, clutching at its chest. "Fine, you fucking psycho! You might as well kill me already, like you did the others. Fucking dirty invaders. What did we ever do to you?" Ronan glared at him and pushed his foot a little harder. "Shit! Okay, we're part of the United Armed Forces of the Grathen Federation. You're in Kayir, the logistics city on Border World 13. Happy now?"

Ronan released the pressure on the alien's chest. "There, wasn't that easy? You could have just told me all that from the beginning and saved yourself some pain."

The alien started cursing under its breath, but Ronan had already walked off. He briefly debated killing it, but there wasn't much point. He hadn't gained anything from the first five other than a few credits and one weapon drop.

Their levels had been around the 40s, which meant they were far from the challenge he was after. Given that this starting location was medium difficulty, perhaps he could have pushed himself a little more?

Then again, he was only beginning his invasion. Taking stock of his immediate surroundings, Ronan realised he was at the top of a hill. The compound he had broken out of was one of seven identical compounds. Inside a few of the others, he saw movement.

More enemies.

Not for the first time, he wished the system was more informative about the challenges it laid down. If he knew what the conditions of conquest were it would help him know whether he needed to go full on john wick and slaughter everything in sight, or if he could take a smarter approach and kill the high-value targets who kept the planet running.

Sometimes all it took to conquer a city was to slip into the ruler's bedroom and drag a knife across their throat, rather than a siege. That wasn't really his style, though.

Taking out the other compounds would be a good starting point. The army was always privy to more information than other groups and he hoped that by interrogating someone stronger or more powerful than the alien he'd just talked with he would learn more than the basics.

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Ronan suddenly cursed. He turned and saw the alien struggling to its feet, clutching at its chest. He'd wanted to let the poor sod go, but it was too much of a risk. The fucker knew he'd invaded and he couldn't risk that news spreading too far if he wanted to succeed.

He made his way to the first of the other compounds. The gate was in the middle of the first wall he found. He considered how to approach this and eventually decided to throw stealth out of the window. He'd already made a lot of noise killing the first six aliens.

Ten seconds later, he launched a rainbow bomb at a dent in the centre of the gate. It exploded in a vibrant blast that threw him a few steps backwards. Rubble flew in all directions as the gate was torn apart. He began to rush into the compound before the dust even had time to settle.

The first thing he saw was that this compound wasn't empty, unlike the one he'd arrived in. There were four buildings inside. They were plain huts made of the same grey material and there were uniformed aliens hovering around the entrance of each one, staring in Ronan's direction.

A few more aliens in the compound noticed him and they all started yelling at once. A siren went off, but Ronan didn't notice it as he was already launching mana bolts and rushing towards the nearest alien.

It only took him two minutes to kill every single one inside the compound, but he couldn't silence the alarm. Not wanting to waste time, he rushed back out through the hole in the gate and made his way to the next.

By the time he had slaughtered his way through the fourth compound, he heard multiple sirens start blaring at once. He cursed, knowing his time was limited.

The alien cowering in the corner raised its weapon into the air. "I don't want to—" Ronan stabbed it in the chest before it could finish its sentence. It was easier that way.

He knew that he couldn't let any of them live and it made it easier to kill them when they couldn't plead for mercy. Callous and cruel, but the system treated him in the same way. He also had to remind himself that these 'Grathen' were invading his own planet, trying to subjugate his people.

Perhaps not everyone of these aliens was complicit in that, but all of those in the compounds were part of a military force. They had signed up for it and he would ensure his invasion was successful.

He had to fight his way through a larger force of them as he made his way out. With a healthy application of rainbow bombs he managed to wipe out large swathes before they could use their numbers to overwhelm him. Most of them were low-level grunts. He did reach level 62 at one point, but considering he'd killed almost a hundred aliens to do so it wasn't very rewarding.

After cutting his way through most of the alien force, he spotted two in a different coloured uniform standing near the gate of the seventh and final compound. One of them was holding a device of some kind to its face, eyes glazed over. The other was looking around nervously, and when its gaze locked onto Ronan and the dead soldiers around him, it started furiously tapping the other alien on the shoulder.

Fuck! Ronan suspected they'd got word of his invasion outside the compound. That wasn't good. He'd hoped to learn about his surroundings and have more time to work his way up the levels, but it seemed that might not be possible anymore.

Then again, it wasn't over until the fat lady sang. Rushing towards the two senior soldiers, he charged a mana bolt and launched it at the one holding the device. He saw terror and then determination flash through the eyes of the other alien before it threw itself in the path of the bolt.

The explosion sent it flying backwards. It crashed into the other alien and knocked them both into the wall of the compound. The one holding the device screeched something Ronan couldn't make out and stared at him with hate-filled eyes. However, it never once released the device or moved it from its face.

The alien on the ground wasn't yet dead, though it was bleeding from the impact wound. It tried to crawl upright. Ronan launched another mana bolt at the uninjured alien, but the one on the ground shocked him by roaring and jumping up to take a second blast. This time he received a kill notification.

He was a little over ten metres away from the remaining Grathen soldier when the device by its head suddenly glowed bright white. The soldier's eyes rolled into the back of its head as glowing white lines shot across its face, under its skin. Ronan didn't want to let whatever it was doing take hold, so he launched a third mana bolt and quickened his pace.

Instead of being hit, the soldier's hand suddenly glowed white and moved unexpectedly fast, literally shattering the spell mid-flight.

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