Sura's Growth

While the events in the Southern and Northern walls were taking place, a small party was making their way through Cebu.

"Lord Luna and Lady Sura sure are amazing. We struggled so much and almost lost our lives trying to travel for even a mile, and now it feels like we're just taking a casual stroll." Astrid still couldn't help but admire the two, especially Sura who saved their lives.

"It's only to be expected. The <Sovereign Nation> might have a huge army, but they didn't start out with that." Ricardo replied. After joining, he managed to walk around the town by the Eastern walls. It almost felt like it was never affected by the apocalypse.

"Bro, you noticed it too, right? Every single person in that town, even the children, they were all strong." Alfred, Ricardo's brother was aware of it as well. Out of their group, only his brother was on even levels with the Sovereign Nation's weakest member.

"I did. I think that in time, Lord Luna will conquer all of the Philippines. Joining his nation was definitely the best choice."

The other three couldn't help but nod in agreement. Little did they know that every word they said could be heard by both Luna and Sura. These two weren't normal, after all. In addition to the fact that they were far more evolved, they also had endowments that gave them even more of an advantage.

They kept journeying for most of the day, hoping to find more survivors, without much luck. They were currently in Toledo City on the Western shores of Cebu. They had to journey all the way through to Mactan island in Lapu-Lapu City where the bridge connecting to Bohol was located.

"Luna, it's weird, don't you think? It's been over a month and the zombies don't seem to have evolved further. At this rate it's going to take months to even get level 51." Sura asked.

"According to Elder Aran, the EHZs and ETZs weren't supposed to appear this early. Apparently our rapid conquests of small, medium, and large territories are what triggered it. If the rest of the world knew we were responsible, they'd probably use that as an excuse to fight against us." Luna recalled Elder Aran's words. These EHZs and ETZs were like slightly larger ants to him. This wasn't just because he was currently level 50, a regular level 50 would still be at risk of getting overwhelmed. They would also tire much easily due to expending more energy.

Mayari and Apolaki's blessing made it so the two had unnatural advantages when compared to a regular person. Their bodies were refined by the sunlight and moonlight essence, making them even stronger. The more their body's capability increased the more it the essences could give them. If it had given it all to them too early, even Sura's body would have exploded.

Luna also had the Draconic armor as well, but besides that, the rest of his growth was much like regular humans.

Sura however, was different, while her advantages didn't show much in the beginning, the more levels she got, the more it showed why the Asura, as a race, were considered as the strongest. True to her description, every 10 levels she would learn a skill. The preceding skills also got a boost.

Her innate potential had doubled since the beginning, giving her 20% more of Luna's stats. This advantage was only going to get more and more obvious the higher level she got.

Her 3-head and 6-arms mode, made it so she had no blind spot, and had enough arms to cover all her weaknesses. Albeit, she didn't like using this mode too much unless she had to get serious. She personally didn't like the aesthetic of it too much.

She had also picked up a skill when she hit level 40, although she didn't face a situation where she had to use it yet. It was called "Asura's Wrath."

-------------------------------

Active Skill: Asura's Wrath

An Asura and their blade count as one. Imbue your weapons with the wrath of the Asura, igniting it to deliver a more potent attack, that not only has increased physical damage, but additionally sends out a mental and a soul attack. Opponents that have weaker willpower and untrained souls will be more affected by this skill.

-------------------------------

She remembered this skill. Against weak-willed individuals, she wouldn't even need to physically hit them. As long as this skill was activated, the moment her blades touched theirs, a mental attack would pass through the blades and into the wielder's body, straight to their mind.

Her passive skill <Sword Mastery> was stronger as well.

-------------------------------

Passive Skill: Sword Mastery

Increases attack damage(only applies to total weapon damage) by 15% per sword equipped and increases attack speed by 15% per sword equipped. Maximum of 90% more when using <6-Armed Asura Mode>

This bonus only applies to <System> recognized equipment.

-------------------------------

It was much stronger than before, highlighted even further when she used her 3-heads and 6-arms mode. Her skill, <Armor Break> could whittle down even the most resilient of foes.

-------------------------------

Passive Skill: Armor Break

Attacking a target, weakens it's defense by 5% per hit, stacking up to a maximum of 25%

-------------------------------

Furthermore, besides her most recently learned skill <Steel Body> which, coupled with Mayari and Apolaki's blessing, truly made her a force to be reckoned with.

Lastly, another passive skill of hers was <Berserk>.

-------------------------------

Passive Skill: Berserk

Staying in combat increases attack speed by 2% per second, capping out at 10%. Bonuses fall off when out of combat for more than 5 seconds.

-------------------------------

This proved that Sura was truly an anomaly in this world and that the title of "The Strongest Race" was not just for show.

The advantages these two had, made it so when compared to a similarly leveled human, they were able to last much longer. Besides their endurance, their normal strikes could already be compared to a full force strike from a human of the same level who went hybrid.

Their attack power would be the same as a person who got to level 50 and only put all of his stat points in STR.

In this world, these two were truly Overlords. Neither of them could have expected this. Regardless, they knew the volatility of this new world.

Even when they had such advantages, they would relentlessly seek to grow stronger. Luna was aware that he could not get overconfident either. He would never make the mistake of underestimating his foes.

When people as weak as Ricardo came looking for help, he didn't look at them in disdain, instead he helped them. This was more necessary than what it appeared. While it was true that partially Luna wanted to help, he also knew that this was a way of earning the people's respect.

As the saying goes: People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.

This was even more true for the <Sovereign Nation>. While Luna was not afraid, everyone within the Nation was strong. If he abused them and they rebelled, he could only retreat and defend in Bacolod City, his main base. This was a risk he knew he had to take in the beginning. He was not willing to keep his citizens weak, just so he could easily threaten them.

Instead, he earned their respect. Even if someone were to try and start propaganda against him, the citizens would not believe a single word of it. They might even kill the perpetrator themselves. After all, to the <Sovereign Nation>, Luna might as well be their God.

This was also why Luna and Sura had another nickname among the citizens. Something that they themselves were surprised when they heard of it: God King Luna and God Queen Sura.

This was a double-edged sword and also why they never stopped trying to get stronger. The moment they were defeated by another individual, whether in 1-on-1 combat or through something more covert, the whole Nation's morale would collapse.

"Lord Luna, why don't you expand to all the surrounding islands?" Ricardo and the rest who finally caught up, couldn't help but ask. With his current force, Luna could easily trample over the other Nations.

Luna smiled. He asked something similar to General Leman before during one of his lessons, while he was considered a shot caller during raids in MMORPGs, it was a far cry from actually being a leader of a force this large.

"Ricardo." He acknowledged his inquiry.

"Yes, Lord Luna! I apologize for asking carelessly!" Astrid punched him from behind, signaling that he shouldn't pry.

"Do you know much about World War 2, Ricardo?"

"Not much, sir. I only know that it was a war Germany started, and the alliance they formed with Italy and Japan, the Axis powers were eventually defeated by the Allied forces."

"Indeed. Germany was technologically more advanced when compared to Europe and the USA. When a German Tiger tank went up against an American Sherman tank, operationally, the more advanced Tiger tank would obliterate it's opposition, correct?"

"Indeed, sir."

"With such an advantage, why did the Germans lose?"

"Isn't because they foolishly attacked the Soviet Union?"

"Hitler may have been an disgusting human being, but him and his Generals were no fools."

"Then why did they, sir?" Astrid asked, it seems she was even more intrigued.

"A few things, leading to more things." Luna smiled as he continued. "The Tiger tanks were far more superior, yes, but the Germans only had about 1,300 of them. The USA had 49,000 Sherman tanks. Similarly, we have a lot of very strong individuals. Survivors from the 6 million or so population in the Negros Islands. Do you know how much Luzon to the North has?"

"How much?" Ricardo asked.

"Over 60 million. While they might be more spread out and the numbers have definitely been reduced due to the onset of the new world, but they have one thing over us: The Philippine Government. To the survivors at the beginning of the apocalypse that was the most and only attractive rallying point. They only needed to say that a certain location was safe, and people would flock to it. One can only imagine how much they surpass us in numbers."

"I see. So while we're much stronger in general, but for every person we lose, it hurts us more and it's harder to replace them. Whereas they have so many people, losing one of us for 100 of them would hurt us more, while for them, that's 100 less mouths to feed." Ricardo and the rest finally understood.

"Indeed. Adding on to that, are the supplies. Germany invaded the Soviet Union, not because they were fools. It was because they had no choice. They were low on resources. Most importantly, they were critically low on food. Mutant beasts are abundant for us, yes, but for a regular soldier, hunting them still carries higher risks than even an EHZ or ETZ. While we won't have much issues on food, we still need the proper logistics. Not to mention that it also means we'd be spreading our forces too thin, just like they did."

This was true. While the zombies have remained stagnant for now, the marine life have been constantly evolving, eventually they would become amphibious. They were also more numerous than the humans prior to the apocalypse, even more so now when the human population has dropped so low. Defending on top of the walls was easy, but what about the soldiers who were the middle of expanding? What if they were caught off-guard? The <Sovereign Nation> had no lack of strength, but this was no reason for them to get cocky and be careless. It was only due to the help of the Elves that coastal defense became manageable.

Until their population increased, they could only expand once they were sure they could defend from attacks on all sides from zombies, humans, and mutant beasts from the land, air, and sea.

Fortunately for everyone on land, while the Oceans weren't invaded by the zombies, the marine life were in a civil war of their own.