Tiara ran through the densely grown forest as fast as she could. Her feet carried her quickly past the thick undergrowth while her eyes moved left and right to keep track of the surroundings.
She utilized her Soultrait to keep changing her trajectory without losing her momentum. Because of the sudden changes in her movement pattern, nobody could tell where exactly she was headed to.
This forced the pursuers behind her to keep following Tiara, unable to reach her.
Not even a full hour had passed since Michael decided that it was time to hunt the Lord groups in the Lord Rift when Tiara ended up being hunted by a large group of more than ten Lords!
It was difficult to catch her, but some of the Lords managed to inch closer to her.
It was only a matter of time before they would arrive next to Tiara and catch her.
When Tiara noticed that her movement speed wasn't enough anymore, her pupils changed color and shape. Fur began to grow out of her body, and Tiara's presence became wilder and more ferocious. Her movement speed accelerated again, allowing Tiara to increase the distance between her and the hunting Lords.
A few projectiles whizzed through the air with a terrifying velocity, but Tiara evaded them using her Soultrait to change her movement pattern instantaneously. Even after more than ten projectiles came flying toward her at the same time, Tiara was not scared. She used her Soultrait repetitively, nimbly evading the projectiles.
After a pursuit of more than five minutes, Tiara reached the small plains bordering the densely grown forest. She didn't hesitate to push through the foliage and emerge in the small plain where she continued to run with all her might.
The hunting Lords continued to pursue her, being unable to go against the order they had been given by the Zentika Empire's council. Their mission was to hunt down all outsiders, and Tiara from the Silverfang Tigerfolk was most definitely not part of the Zentika Empire.
They pushed their bodies through the densely grown forest and finally escaped the forest, ready to accelerate to catch and kill Tiara at any moment.
Their focus was on Tiaras o they were unable to detect the gradual rise in temperature around them. By now, the Lord Rift's dimension was extremely hot. It felt like they were in a desert in the late afternoon. Yet, the surrounding area of the hunting Lords felt much more comfortable than anywhere else. It felt like a cold gust kept brushing past them, refreshing the men and women from the Zentika Empire.
To their misery, the cold gust was not a good omen. On the contrary, it was the Grim Reaper's sign, a clue that their lives were hanging on a silky thread.
It didn't take long before the last Lord and his subordinates found their way out of the dense forest, and it was only at this point that the situation all around the hunting Lords changed drastically.
The faint cold gust was cut through by a freezing cold that swept through the surroundings, encompassing all hunting Lords simultaneously. Their subordinates were also affected, causing some of the more cautious Lords to look around them.
However, it was too late when they finally looked up at the sky.
A hail of more than a hundred Glacicles was already pouring down on the Lords and their subordinates.
Some screamed out in terror, understanding that they wouldn't be able to react fast enough to block all attacks. Meanwhile, others lifted their shields, triggered the protection enchantments of their Artifacts, or erupted with their Soultraits instinctively in an attempt to protect themselves.
But no matter what they did, nobody was fast enough to block all Glacicles. Their velocity was extremely fast. Not even Taros could react fast enough to block them even though he had more time to react than the hunting Lord on the small plain.
The Glacicles poured down with great velocity and burst into countless ice shards when they impacted. Upon shattering, the Glacicles exuded a freezing chill that spread rapidly on their target's surface. The frost affected the utility of enchantments and engravings and froze the skin and flesh of the beings it came in contact with.
The hunting Lords didn't even realize what happened to them before they were already under attack.
Michael didn't have a high mastery of the Glacicle Soultrait yet, but it was a 4-Star Soultrait that didn't require much origin energy or focus for ordinary attacks. The only issues in terms of energy consumption and required focus only arose when too many Glacicles had been manifested.
The downpour of 125 Glacicles was already Michael's limit with his current mastery. Even then, it was only possible to manifest 125 Glacicles because he'd used Enhancement three times on the Symbol of Glacicle, enhancing the power of all Glacicles while simultaneously reducing the focus required to keep the Glacicles in one place before they were released.
Glacicle was a pretty simple Soultrait. Its most-used function was the basic function with which Michael could manifest a small glacier-blue icicle. The Icicle was extremely potent, but not deadly. It could only freeze everything in its immediate surrounding upon shattering.
However, that was also the reason Michael picked Glacicle over Spirit Whip. Spirit Whip was hard to use against enemies with great mental defense and high mind power. It was also an attack that could only be used successfully if the enemy didn't expect a mental attack.
That may be great, but it was not as if Michael wanted to rely on the possibility of his enemy being unguarded against mental attacks. After all, Michael knew that he would fight stronger opponents in the future. Most stronger opponents had already experienced mental attacks and guarded themselves against them.
Thus, Michael was quite satisfied with Glacicle. Against opponents of a lower Tier, it would be lethal, while enemies of the same Tier would struggle to counter the rapid speed of the long-range attack.
Even then, Michael could still utilize Spirit Whip. It was a powerful 4-Star Soultrait that could be utilized in great ways.
The more Michael thought about it, the more satisfied he was with the gains he made in the warfare against the Jungle Expedition and by participating in the competition for the Lord Rift's loot.
At the moment he was seated on a thick branch high up in the trees near the border to the small plain and continued observing the hunting Lords for quite a while.
He waved his hand to conjure dozens of Glacicles in the air and released them with a burst of energy to freeze the enemies, who had been able to evade most Glacicles.
Afterward, Michael retrieved Zark. He used Enhancement on Zark three times and pulled the bowstring back. A condensed energy arrow was nocked on the bowstring which he released in the next second.
The arrow whizzed through the air rapidly. Nonetheless, it was much slower than the third batch of Glacicles Michael released after shooting the first energy arrow.
At this point, the hunting Lords and their subordinates had been struck with three or more Glacicles. Most hit their upper bodies, but there were also Glacicles that hit their legs, restricting their movement by freezing their thighs, calves, and joints.
Satisfied with this, Michael chose to start the bombardment of energy arrows, precisely picking the enemies, who had yet to regain their senses, or those who couldn't protect themselves against the tremendous force of Zark's energy arrows.
By the time six enemies had been killed, Tiara had turned around as well. The silver fur growing out of her body had thickened and she radiated the presence of a true predator. Her presence hung thick in the air, causing terror in the hearts of those she attacked with her silver spear.
'This transformation affects your emotions a bit too much,' Michael mused. He could tell that Tiara was much stronger and that her instincts were on a whole different level whenever she began to transform, but it was also obvious that she wouldn't back off to retreat strategically, and that she would charge ahead no matter what happened.
That bothered Michael quite a bit because even if it didn't put her in danger against the hunting Lords, it could become a problem in the future.
Michael took a deep breath and jumped down from the tree branch. He switched Zark with the Wyverntooth Spear before applying five layers of Enhancement on the Wyverntooth Spear. A burst of strength passed through his body and he turned into a blur as he shot forward like a rocket.
He continued creating dozens of Glacicles which he released with a burst of energy. The Glacicles' effect increased in intensity upon shattering at the exact same spot as before. The freezing effect spread deeper into the bodies of the enemies, chilling their bones and further slowing them down. Slowly but steadily, they were worn down even before Michael arrived in front of them.
However, the situation grew much worse once Michael reached his first opponent. First, he manifested a dozen Glacicles all around his body to shoot toward the young Destors before condensing a Spirit Whip that struck heavily on the Destors' mind. Only the white in the Destors' dark eyes was visible as the dozen Glacicles penetrated deep inside him.
Wasting no time, Michael thrust the Wyverntooth Spear deep into his chest, allowing Extraction to infiltrate the Destors' body and drain his lifeforce and origin energy.
Afterward, Michael twisted the blade and pulled it out, leaving a dying and half-frozen Destors behind on the ground.
