Since Michael had completely digested the Memory Orbs of the five Lords and their subordinates, he was fully aware who Tac Lec was fighting.
However, he couldn't quite grasp how Tac Lec could be facing so much pressure fighting someone else – especially after Tac Lec had activated his Unique Racial Ability. Even his Epic Tier-2 Artifacts' enchantments had been triggered.
"So that is Taros? The guy who dealt with the issue in Xiltra to obtain a Lord Rift entrance ticket from the council. That's quite interesting," Michael said, his Eagle Eyes unleashed to see more details about the fight ahead of them.
Michael would have loved to know more about Taros, but sadly, he hadn't obtained many useful memories about Taros from the Memory Orbs.
The only information Michael had about Taros was that he was a Demi-Human Lord. His ancestry was rumored to trace thousands of years back and was marred by a taboo. A member of a superior race had given birth to the child of a Divine Beast.
Taros was said to be a descendant of that child, and rumors were ripe that he had awoken the fading bloodline of the Divine Beast coursing through him.
But all of those were just rumors.
On the other hand, it was a fact that Taros had single-handedly cleansed Xiltra from the spreading Chaos Essence that had infiltrated the Border City.
It had been a while since Michael learned about the happenings in the Border City. Earlier, he had considered helping the innocent people in Xiltra, but he concluded that it was too dangerous.
It was more likely that he would have been attacked and killed the moment he approached the Border City. Hence, it was better to invoke fear in his enemies – even if innocent people had to suffer because of that.
Michael didn't feel proud of himself at that time, but there was nothing he could do about it. He wanted to ensure that the Zentika Empire would think twice before initiating an attack and the incidents in Xiltra had been terrifying enough to sow the seeds of doubts and instill fear at the mere thought of entering the Untamed Jungle.
"Should we join the battle when both are at their weakest?" Masked Saber asked, tightly clutching the black saber's handle.
Tiara was also ready to fight and kill both Tac Lec and Taros. Michael was likely to obtain at least one Soultrait Symbol if they would kill and extract Tac Lec and Taros. That meant, Michael could obtain one more powerful Soultrait and one or more Epic Tier-2 Artifacts.
It was definitely worth waiting for the golden opportunity and strike the two fighting powerhouses when they were at their lowest.
"No, I'm fine," Michael shook his head.
"Tac Lec didn't kill me when he had the opportunity earlier. I don't want to acknowledge it, but a life-and-death battle with Tac Lec would have killed at least one of us. The others would have been severely injured as well," He added, not really feeling like killing Tac Lec.
It was fine to slap him a little bit for flinging him through the air, but Michael didn't desire to kill Tac Lec. Not right now, at least.
"What about Taros then? If we knock Tac Lec out and kill Taros, you will get his Artifacts, and you might even obtain his Soultrait. He seems quite powerful given that he can deal with Tac Lec alone!" Tiara asked, but Michael shook his head again.
"Taros' territory lies in the Southern Ice Mountains. That's on the other side of the Zentika Empire. He should survive to stir some trouble for the Zentika Empire in the future. That way, the Untamed Jungle will have more time to prepare for an all-out war against the Zentika Empire – once it's time for that," Michael explained, causing Tiara to issue a quiet "Ooh."
Even if Michael wanted to kill Taros, the Lord of the Southern Ice Mountains was too valuable outside the Lord Rift. Michael hoped that Taros would grow much stronger with the gains he made in the Lord Rift and that he would stir a lot more trouble in the Zentika Empire upon returning.
"For now, we should watch the battle. I want to see how strong they're when they go all out," Michael said to silence Tiara and ensure that both Tiara and Masked Saber were ready to intervene.
They took a few strides forward, reducing the distance from more than a kilometer to approximately 300 meters away from the core area of the battlefield.
The battlefield of the two Tier-2 Lords didn't affect a radius of more than two hundred meters around the area of collision. In fact, even 200 meters were quite a lot. It was unlikely that astray elemental attacks would land 200 meters away from their designated position.
Nonetheless, Michael made sure that he and his team kept a safe distance from the two fighting Lords.
"Oh? Why is Taros always retrieving something from his War Rune? Is he eating something?" Masked Saber asked quietly when he saw what Taros was doing.
It was a little bit weird watching the Demi-Human fight. His fighting style was brutal and could hardly be considered a 'style', in the first place. However, his powerful punches and kicks were strong enough to burst through the earthen walls and crush the earth spikes, water jets, and wind blades that kept crashing into him.
The wind blades could barely scratch Taros' skin, and the ordinary fireballs didn't inflict any damage upon exploding on his body. The fireballs weren't even strong enough to make his skin itch.
However, Taros continued eating something that he kept retrieving from his War Rune's storage space. Michael could detect what it was, but it didn't really make sense.
'Meat? Why would he be eating meat mid-battle?' Michael wondered, not too sure if his Eagle Eyes were fooling him.
But that was not the case. After observing Taros for several minutes, Michael realized why Taros was always eating.
"His Soultrait. He receives bursts of strength from eating," Michael said, concluding that the meat originated from a powerful monster with high nutritional value.
'If his Soultrait converts nutrients into temporary gains of power, he must be eating the meat of a Tier-3, or Tier-4 Monster right now. He burst the blazing dragon head into pieces with his bare hands. How is that even possible without sustaining any injuries?!'
Michael could tell that Taros' physical strength was extremely high even without the bursts of strength. He was only at the Low-stage of the 2nd Tier, but his physical strength was much higher than a Mid-stage Tier-2 Superior Existence. The additional bursts of strength allowed him to gain even more strength for a short moment.
It was actually quite weird that Taros' physical strength was that high. However, he simply thought that his awakened Divine Beast bloodline must have increased his physical strength, turning him into a Lord with superior strength, tougher hide, and faster reflexes.
Taros' head looked like a cross between a human and a bird. But he didn't seem to be the descendant of a Divine Bird. His hide was black and covered by small darkish-brown scales, and his feet were thick like the legs of an elephant or tortoise.
Overall, Taros' body-frame was ginormous. He was only 2.5 meters tall, but his body was quite broad and packed with muscles. Despite the massive mass of muscles covering every inch of his body, Taros wasn't slow.
He might not be flexible but he was horrifying fast, forcing Tac Lec to retreat every now and then.
Tac Lec tried to trick Taros into moving according to his will, slowly pushing him into a disadvantageous position. But Taros didn't allow Tac Lec to force him into doing anything. His brute force crushed every single plan of Tac Lec.
At one point in the battle, Tac Lec conjured three blazing dragon heads and two aqueous dragon heads. They seemed to roar loudly before they were hurled through the air.
They flew through the air and devoured the origin energy on their way in order to expand in size and grow into even more terrifying attacks. By the time the attacks reached Taros, each of the dragon heads was half of Taros' size.
Taros intended to move to the side but his legs were covered in several thick layers of a concrete-like substance that had been created by combining the power of the four basic elements.
Unable to free his legs in an instant, Taros retrieved a large chunk of purple-shining meat alongside manifesting two war axes.
He devoured the chunk of meat at once, causing his body to bulk up almost instantly.
From Michael's perspective, it looked like Taros' body expanded in all directions. His muscles coiled and his veins popped out.
Clouds of steam oozed out of Taros' arms and a thunderous explosion rang through the surroundings as he slashed the war axe in his right hand toward the first dragon head.
He cut the dragon head in two parts with a mighty slash that seemed to cut through the fabric of reality.
Even Michael couldn't help but stare in astonishment when he saw space twisting where the dragon head had been cut in two parts.
Taros issued two more slashes, destroying two out of the remaining three dragon heads. The dragon heads didn't even explode upon getting cut apart. They simply disappeared as if they'd never existed in the first place.
"What the hell is going on here?" Michael blurted out, only for his confusion to grow further as he saw a glimpse of something to the left side of the battlefield.
Taros was about to slash at the last dragon head when a fist-sized glacier-blue needle shot through the air, fast enough to create a soundwave.
It shot past Tac Lec, and the last dragon head before crashing into Taros even before he could react.
Taros was not injured, but greatly surprised. He could see the glacier-blue icicle, yet he wasn't fast enough to block it.
It didn't inflict any damage on his skin, however, the icicle burst apart, spreading its chilling air. The chilling air froze everything in its path, including Taros' skin.
Taros was a moment too late to block the incoming dragon head.
It crashed into Taros' arm with the intention to devour him in his entirety. Yet, a burst of energy released by Taros was enough to destroy the dragon head.
Taros grit his teeth while looking down at his bleeding arm. He had been injured by the dragon head. However, there was also discomfort caused by the partially frozen skin on his chest.
He lifted his head after a moment and looked behind Tac Lec, where a few beings emerged out of nowhere.
They had been invisible before and had approached the battlefield unnoticed by anyone.
Not even Michael with enhanced Eagle Eyes had been able to detect them.
"Seems like you need some help, Tac. We will gladly help you defeat this gross bastard!" A hoarse voice rang through the surrounding.
A group consisting of more than a dozen Lords had arrived at last.
