--Half an hour earlier--
"Commander Fiss, we're about to reach Ilan City."
A soldier clad in lightweight black armor that covered his entire body jumped onto the large mobile command vehicle. Amid the rumbling sounds rising and falling in the distance, he strode quickly toward the blond middle-aged man seated in the center of the command vehicle, reading documents.
The armor covering his head swiftly retracted to either side, revealing a young face beneath it.
At this moment, the officers seated on either side of the blond man also heard the sound and turned their attention toward him.
"Mm."
The blond man set down the document in his hand and looked at the soldier. "How far away are we?"
"About one hundred and twenty kilometers."
The soldier looked at the blond man, raised his wristband, and swept it across a sensor inside the command vehicle. An image filled with flames and troops was projected inside. "This was captured by a long-range reconnaissance drone. The Ives Space System's Mercenary Group is attacking the city."
"Looks like quite a lot happened after we left Kaya City."
Fiss watched the projected image before him. Looking at the Sky Behemoth and the supersonic fighters within it, he raised his head and looked at a brown-haired officer in front of him. "How is our marching speed?"
"The southern region of Ilan City is mountainous. Since we have to escort the food trade caravan, we've been taking relatively flat and safe roads, which means a longer route."
The brown-haired officer stood up, raised his hand, and displayed a marching map before everyone. "At our current speed, even if we move at full speed, the earliest we can reach Ilan City is in over two hours."
"We don't have enough time."
Fiss glanced at the image of