"How about we go to their camp after hunting the remaining two armies?" Mika asked in an excited voice.
His eyes were filled with greed as he activated his new Soultrait. The flood of information that had entered his mind was enough to give him a basic understanding of his new Soultrait, which shocked Mika and the other Forest Elves deeply.
The other Forest Elves stared at Michael like starving beasts with an expression on their faces identical to Mika's.
The entire EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team wanted to continue hunting, and their minds were overflowing with determination.
Michael gave each of them one Soultrait Symbol to fuse with. Their War Rune bound it to the white pillar in the deepest parts of their consciousness, granting them their second Soultrait.
It was something they never thought would be possible, but Michael made it happen. But that was not all.
Not only had they received a 1-Star Soultrait from Michael, but he even gave each of them 300 SoulStar Fragments, which was enough to upgrade their new Soultrait to a 4-Star Soultrait.
They even had some extra left and used it on their first Soultrait to strengthen it.
Some Soultraits were more expensive to upgrade while others were easier. Fortunately, the five Soultraits Michael handed over were on the cheaper side.
The remaining 1714 SoulStar Fragments were stored inside Michael's War Rune. He wanted to keep them there and use them to upgrade his Soultraits in combat – to unleash a burst of power when he needed it the most.
"Since everyone is willing to continue fighting, let's go," Michael said with a faint smile on his lips.
He split his army and the Demon Monkeys into two groups to attack the two armies simultaneously.
It wouldn't be long before the darkness of the night would descend. They had to hurry up if they wanted to deliver a heavy blow to the Jungle Expedition before they reorganized their groups according to the information they'd collected today.
Lilica and Liopham were in Michael's group, while the remaining members of the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team went with Sun Demos.
Since Michael was Sun Demos' master, he could control the Demon Monkeys as well. This made it much easier to split up the group of Demon Monkeys.
They split up evenly and one group followed Michael without any complaints.
Even if some of them were still confused, unsure how a tiny, hairless being could become the master of their king, they were satisfied with the results of today's battle. Their enemies within the Untamed Jungle had suffered heavy losses, while their group had learned new tactics to apply in combat.
They didn't make any losses by being Michael's subordinates.
After they split up, Michael and Sun Demos made their moves.
Michael sent the Demon Monkeys out to gather intel. Over 400 Demon Monkeys were more than enough to search through the right side of the Untamed Jungle's outer ring in an hour. The information they collected was detailed enough to come up with a quick plan.
"Gather in groups of ten and attack them from all sides. Once you kill the group closest to you, disperse in all directions and gather further away from the battlefield. Then change your position and search for an opportunity to strike again," Michael ordered using the information he had been given.
"Make sure that nobody dies. This tactic heavily relies on short collisions where we'll use the surprise effect to kill a few opponents before retreating. We're at a numerical disadvantage but the Untamed Jungle is our territory. Let's make use of that!"
Since Michael was at an advantage in terms of combat power and knowledge about the Untamed Jungle, he figured that Guerilla Warfare was one of the best battle strategies. They had unique combat units but were at a gross numerical disadvantage.
Fortunately, all of that was something they could make use of – which was exactly what they did.
The Demon Monkeys split into 40 groups before they disappeared in the Untamed Jungle. Meanwhile, Michael's small army was divided into five groups.
First, Lilica and Liopham gathered the Forest Elf Summons around them. The two Forest Elves said that they had some special tactics among Forest Elves, and that it was too difficult to teach them to others.
Michael was curious about the tactic they wanted to use, but he didn't force them to tell him more about it. Instead, he gave them his approval before he picked up the Berserkers, Knights, Vanguards, and other close combat units. They weren't the fastest in the Untamed Jungle, but they were strong and overflowing with the desire to kill the invaders.
Michael couldn't leave them behind, so he took things into his own hand and became their leader for today's battle.
Meanwhile, the remaining long-range units gathered next to the two Elemental Mages, and the Summoner. The Summoner didn't require a lot of focus to control an ordinary Tier-1 Summon. Thus, he could pay attention to just one of the long-range combat units to give them precise orders.
On the other hand, the Elemental Mages might have a harder time giving out orders. However, their advantage was their exceptional focus and great spatial awareness. They knew when to retreat and when to attack.
Once they reached the range of the small army on the right side of the Untamed Jungle's outer ring, everyone turned silent. Only the sounds of the Untamed Jungle and the rustling of leaves caused by their opponents resounded in the vicinity.
Michael summoned Seron Voulge and the Onyx Dragon Armor Set as he passed through the dense thicket, silent like a ghost.
A commotion broke out farther away, attracting the attention of the small Jungle Expedition's army.
The Demon Monkey had initiated their first attack.
After activating Lesser Enhancement on his eyes and the Symbol of Eagle Eyes that was also utilized, Michael's eyesight improved drastically. He could see subtle movements through the gaps in the dense bushes in front of him and accelerated his steps.
He activated Lesser Enhancement on his Artifacts as well, increasing their external enhancement by 35% respectively. As a result, Michael's strength increased as well.
Michael burst through the bushes, followed by his loyal subjects, who roared out loudly at the sight of their opponents.
A group of more than 30 Adventurers and Mercenaries appeared not too far away from them.
The group was focused on something to their left, giving Michael and his people the opportunity, they'd sought.
Thus, Michael accelerated rapidly. He crossed more than 20 meters in the blink of an eye and struck out with Seron Voulge.
His opponent was a Late Tier-1 Lionheart. The Lionheart unleashed blazing fires all around him, ready to attack Michael. Yet, just as Michael's attack burst forth, a Spirit Whip manifested above the Lionheart's head. The whip lashed out, impacting heavily.
The Lionheart's eyes turned white for a moment and he struggled to stay conscious and fight the mental attack. His concentration was broken as a result so the blazing flames around him dispersed. Meanwhile, Seron Voulge never stopped. The lengthy blade pierced through the unprotected neck of the Lionheart without any resistance.
Blood gushed out of the Lionheart's neck and a groan of pain escaped his lips. However, Michael didn't show any mercy. He twisted the blade in his opponent's neck before he pulled Seron Voulge downward to inflict more damage while pulling his weapon back.
Michael then used Spirit Whip on the opponents all around him to aid his allies in defeating their opponents as well.
He retracted Seron Voulge and shot forward to eliminate the remaining survivors of the small group. His energy was quickly drained but Michael didn't pay too much attention to his energy consumption. Instead of saving his energy, Michael rather preferred utilizing it in large amounts to ensure that his opponents died as quickly as possible.
Thus, in the next two minutes of the battle, a total of 30 opponents died. Their corpses were collected in seconds before Michael's team moved to their next target.
They didn't suffer a single casualty but managed to decrease the number of their opponents by 30 with a single attack.
Michael had begun to use the Sun Soldier's Breathing technique subconsciously at this point. He had finished practicing the second stage, which meant that his breathing had changed fundamentally. That way, Michael could ensure that his stamina didn't decrease quickly and that his origin energy replenished at a faster rate naturally.
Adding a semi-active utility of Pandemonium's Requiem, Michael could replenish most of his energy before they found their second target.
In the next two hours, they decimated the army of 3000 Adventurers and Mercenaries. A few might have escaped, but Michael didn't stress about that at this point.
He knew that some Adventurers and Mercenaries were bound to escape and that they would report their finds to others.
They would report that a bunch of Forest Elves, and another race – humans – existed in the Untamed Jungle, and that they worked together with the monsters of the Untamed Jungle to defeat them.
Michael was not sure whether the Adventurers and Mercenaries thought that there had to be a Lord in the outer ring of the Untamed Jungle, or if the Untamed Jungle was actively involved in the happenings today. However, he knew that his hidden existence as a Lord in the Untamed Jungle had been exposed.
While that was a little bit annoying, it was not something he could change. He didn't have the luxury to keep his existence a secret since a mid-scale expedition was knocking at his door, wanting to break in.
After the battle, Michael and his people collected the corpses of the Awakened, while storing some of the other corpses. The rest were left behind for the Untamed Jungle to devour.
Once all corpses were taken care of, Michael and Sun Demos' party reunited.
Sun Demos gave him a detailed briefing of the situation and happenings on their side of the battlefield, while Michael extracted the SoulStar Fragments and Soultrait Symbols from more than 500 Adventurers.
Instead of binding the Soultrait Symbols, Michael used Extraction on them once again. He tore the Soultrait Symbols apart to gather more SoulStar Fragments.
That way, Michael collected a total of 2591 SoulStar Fragments from 500 Adventurers. The gains were comforting, but Michael was not yet satisfied with the result of today's warfare. He knew that the next few days would be much harder, which meant that today may be the only day in their favor.
With that in mind, he allowed his War Rune to devour the SoulStar Fragments before he took a good look at the condition of his people.
'The majority is tired by now. Telling them to follow me outside the Untamed Jungle won't be helpful,' Michael concluded with a simple glance.
He was also tired, but he wanted to ensure that the Jungle Expedition's camp wouldn't be able to rest tonight either. Michael wanted them to be too afraid to fall asleep.
'Since they're daring enough to sleep less than a kilometer away from the Untamed Jungle, we might as well welcome them properly!'
Preparing for the next steps in battle was not further difficult.
First, he chose to send back those who had sustained injuries or were too tired from the last battles. This included the Demon Monkeys as well.
Then he gave everyone the chance to avoid tonight's battle outside the Untamed Jungle if they wished to rest. The possibility of death was much higher outside the Untamed Jungle because there were hardly any trees and other obstacles to hide behind. It would be dangerous as the darkness of the night was their only ally.
Interestingly enough, many chose to accept the dangers of tonight's battle and join Michael. They realized that killing 15,000 members of the Jungle Expedition was not enough. There were still roughly 50,000 enemies left, and they now knew about the tactics Michael's army had utilized over the course of the day. So, finishing them off before they came up with counter strategies was the best move.
Michael was glad that many chose to follow him onto the battlefield. He split up the Demon Monkeys and his people equally to attack from various positions before he pinpointed the most important task for tonight's surprise attack.
"Our focus will be Tier-2 Adventurers. Tier-1 Adventurers are not too important because we can still deal with them, but Tier-2 Adventurers are a nuisance. If they have good Soultraits and compatible Artifacts, we won't be able to deal with them easily even in the Untamed Jungle," Michael cautioned before lightly adding, "We can ignore the unawakened Mercenaries altogether. They don't have Soultraits nor Artifacts to increase their combat prowess. Dealing with them inside the Untamed Jungle will be more efficient!"
Killing the Awakened first had several advantages. First of all, Awakened were stronger than ordinary people and monsters. They possessed Artifacts and Soultraits to strengthen them, after all. But there was also the importance of their corpse.
Michael could use Extraction on them to collect their Soultrait Symbols and SoulStar Fragments. Enhancing his Soultraits, and the Soultraits of his people increased their combat prowess, and thus the chance of survival in the later battles.
Taking that into consideration, Michael chose to adjust his earlier plan a little.
He used 3041 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Extraction to a 5-Star Soultrait. Then, he used 256 and 301 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Eagle Eyes and Lesser Enhancement respectively.
At last, Michael was in possession of three 4-Star Soultraits, two 5-Star Soultraits, and 707 remaining SoulStar Fragments.
Information flooded his mind once the upgrade of his Soultraits was completed, creating a sense of familiarity between Michael and his Soultraits.
Soon, a smile full of confidence blossomed on his lips.
He was ready to continue the battle!
[A/N: Hello everyone. I hope you guys enjoy the first big fighting arc in Supreme Lord. Since I'm currently writing (and stockpiling), I started to wonder what my readers think about these 'longer' fighting arcs.
Since Supreme Lord is a kingdom-building novel(to a certain extent) the bigger fights against other Lords, Kingdoms, and Empires won't be small. Thus, I was wondering if you guys enjoy these long battles (as long as there is some variety), or what you guys think about the current chapters - and the way I construct my warfare arcs. Please share your insights.
Thanks, y'all!
Remark: Weird comments will receive some bonkers!]
