Michael didn't really want to deal with five Lords and their subordinates simultaneously, but the pressure they exuded was incomparably lower than Tac Lec's. The Elementalist of the Zantur race was much stronger than them.
A single glance was enough for Michael to tell that. His first attack was already enough to inflict considerable damage to the Jeglaw Lord's subordinate. A barrage of four arrows would have never been enough against Tac Lec, but the opponents in front of him were different.
They were forced to team up with other Lords to pose a threat to the stronger Lord in the Lord Rift.
'Their Artifacts are not as unique as Tac Lec's either. They shouldn't possess any Epic Tier-2 Artifacts,' Michael concluded with an intense stare at the Artifacts manifesting in the hands of the Awakened Lords and subordinates.
Michael also switched to wielding the Wyverntooth Spear before he used Enhancement on his body, the Eagle Eyes Soultrait, and each of his Artifacts once.
A one-layer Enhancement didn't consume much energy, yet it strengthened his overall Artifacts overall by a third. Each layer of enhancement increased the targeted Soultrait, Artifact, and bodypart by roughly a third. That was enough to strengthen Michael considerably.
He didn't hesitate and kicked his feet off the ground. The ground beneath him cracked as he burst forth, instantly crossing a distance of more than ten meters.
'No more archers, and no elemental affinity?' Michael mused as he looked at the five Lords and their subordinates.
There was a Lionheart Lord in the group of enemies in front of Michael, but it didn't look like the Lionheart specialized in long-range combat. The Lionheart Lord's mane and saber was set ablaze but that was already it.
Michael chose to ignore the Lionheart Lord. Instead, he focused on the Jeglaw Lord's other subject – a Jeglaw Summon wielding a war-axe –, who charged at him.
The Jeglaw Summon lifted his war-axe high in the air and prepared to cut down at any moment. He was swift and powerful, his physical strength clearly beyond the norms.
However, Michael faced the Jeglaw Summon calmly. He manifested a four-layer enhanced Spirit Whip with which he struck the Jeglaw Summon a moment before they collided. Michael moved to the side and thrust the Wyverntooth Spear deep into the Jeglaw Summon's neck.
The Jeglaw Summon's eyes were completely white and he faltered the moment the Spirit Whip struck him heavily. He didn't have any additional defense against mental attacks, and even his natural defense was not noteworthy against a four-layer enhanced Spirit Whip. The Jeglaw Summon faltered and lost consciousness as he was unable to do anything against the black spear blade that pierced through his neck like a knife through tofu.
Blood gushed out of the Jeglaw Summon's neck like a fountain, spraying all over Michael's face and body as he twisted the blade and pulled it out with brute force.
The razor-sharp blade cut even deeper while it was being pulled out, only for Michael to keep advancing as if nothing happened.
The Jeglaw Lord frowned deeply looking at the scene that unfolded in front of him. He grit his teeth and readied himself for the collision.
The other Lords were also astonished after finding out how strong the Jeglaw Summon was. They moved closer to each other and moved toward Michael simultaneously, ready to face him together.
However, just as Michael was about to face the remaining Lords and their subordinates, Tiara and Masked Saber reappeared.
Masked Saber had been preparing a highly condensed silver energy blade. He used more than half of his stored origin energy to create the compressed silver energy blade which he released from the right side of the Lords and subordinates.
As long as the silver energy blade was strong enough, it would be able to cut through all of them with a single strike. That was exactly what Masked Saber planned to do; releasing a mighty attack that was strong enough to obliterate their opponents at once.
However, Masked Saber was not strong enough to do that. His silver energy blade was powerful, and strong enough to inflict a lethal injury to the injured subordinate of the Jeglaw Lord, cutting him in half. The energy blade continued mercilessly, striking down two more enemies before a yellow barrier condensed in front of the Destors Lord.
He stared at the silver energy blade with a tinge of surprise in his eyes. The silver energy blade caused cracks to appear all over the yellow barrier, forcing the Destors Lord to raise his arms and manifest a few more layers of the yellow barrier.
The silver energy blade merely killed three enemies before it was forcefully halted. Fortunately, it caused enough terror to rampage in the hearts of the Lords' subordinates, distracting them from looking over at the Destors Lord and how he blocked the silver energy blade.
That created a huge gap in their defense, allowing Tiara and Michael to move ahead.
Tiara moved swiftly and silently. She wasn't noticed by anyone until the end. On the other hand, Michael decided to move loudly enough to pull everyone's attention to him once they were certain that the Destors Lord could block the attack.
Focusing on Michael caused the silent death of an Awakened and a young Summon, yet another grave mistake that further crushed their morale.
Six out of 15 enemies had been killed in no time. Meanwhile, the Lords had yet to land a killing blow on Michael, and his subordinates.
'Their teamwork is bad. They probably never tried working with other Lords. It's their first time!' Michael realized quickly.
It was not difficult to tell that their teamwork was bad and that they obstructed each other instead of helping.
The Lionheart Lord had been ready to attack the silver energy blade and destroy it with force when the Destors manifested the yellow defense barrier to block the attack.
The Lionheart Lord cursed the Destors, who retorted with a scoff.
Not only was their teamwork abysmal but they didn't trust each other either. That was easy to see in the eyes of the Lords and their subordinates.
This worked in Michael's favor as he unleashed Extraction in the next instant. Golden streams as thick as a thigh shot out of his body. They swirled around him, attracting the attention of his enemies. They were not sure whether the golden streams would be used as an attack, or if something else was about to happen.
What they didn't expect was that the treetops of the trees around them would suddenly collapse onto them.
Michael extracted the 'joint' of the thickest branches in the treetops around the Lords to shower them with falling branches and leaves.
Simultaneously, Tiara continued to make her move. She observed the Awakened and Lords precisely to make sure that their Soultraits wouldn't strike her out of nowhere. Tiara's momentum changed as she switched to the next higher gear. She accelerated with a sudden burst to deliver deadly blows to the remaining Summons.
Her movement pattern was unpredictable and so were the changes in her momentum. Tiara was rapid and merciless, delivering deadly blows in areas nobody expected her to strike.
She inflicted severe damage to all living summons just before the treetops collapsed onto them. Injured and buried underneath thick branches, they found themselves lost and helpless.
The Lionhearts unleashed their flames without a care in the world. They were ready to burn down everything, and did not mind letting their comrades burn to a crisp as the treetop caught fire that spread all around after being carried by the winds like wildfire.
The injured Summons screamed at the top of their lungs as the blazing flames reached them, slowly burning them to death.
"You bastards! Are you trying to kill all of us?!" The Destors Lord shouted loudly, releasing a yellow barrier that expanded rapidly, pushing the blazing branches and leaves aside.
The yellow protective barrier couldn't expand further than eight meters, meaning that some Lords and their subordinates were still buried underneath the fiercely burning treetops.
However, the Lords were still capable enough to rescue themselves. The Jeglaw Lord unleashed a black aura that engulfed his entire body, causing the flames around him to extinguish.
After the flames died down, he burst through the treetops, crushing them at once.
He looked around angrily, wanting to kill the Lionheart Lord and his subordinates for putting them in danger. But before he could find the Lionheart Lord, the Jeglaw Lord was faced with Michael, whose black spear blade was coated in vivid golden lights. The golden lights seemed to devour the black aura shrouding the Jeglaw Lord, who could only gasp before it dug deep into his eye.
The Wyverntooth Spear thrust seemed simple, but it was a series of well-planned steps. Michael appeared in front of the Jeglaw Lord, extracted the black aura that protected him, and pierced through his eye, killing the Jeglaw Lord by cutting deep into his brain, all of it in a second.
Michael took the Jeglaw Lord by surprise, extracting his strongest means of defense before killing him in a simple manner.
On the other hand, Tiara and Masked Saber went on a rampage. They gave them all to inflict as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time. Understanding that they had to deal with multiple enemies, whose Soultraits were unknown, it was important to use every single opportunity.
Michael understood that as well. Thus, he didn't waste a lot of time finishing off the Jeglaw Lord. He merely unleashed Extraction to leave golden threads in the corpses all around him, extracting their origin energy to replenish his used-up energy.
Then he exerted Enhancement to strengthen the Wyverntooth Spear, which spun around Michael's body.
Blood splattered through the surroundings, but Michael didn't even notice that. His focus was on the Destors Lord whose yellow barrier crumbled after a flood of golden streams crashed down upon the barrier.
Michael scoffed seeing how easily the yellow barrier crumbled.
"Your Soultrait is way too weak… or maybe…you are just too weak."
