He only had a few minutes to free the remaining Lesser Elementals on the battlefield before his subjects would be crushed by the Kitsun Summons and Awakened.
However, a few minutes was all he needed. As a matter of fact, it was more time than Michael required to take care of the subdued Lesser Elementals that ranged in the thousands.
There were roughly 3000 Lesser Elementals still under the control of the Summons and fighting against close to 500 freed Lesser Elementals.
The Lesser Elementals that broke free of their slavery ties thanks to Michael focused on shattering the chokers that forced their brethren into submission. That way, they were not that easily overwhelmed even though they had a huge numerical disadvantage.
Michael intensified the shroud of Glacicles around his body as he charged into the battlefield. He didn't mind the severe heat and the blazing flames in the most crowded parts of the battlefield. Instead, he charged right at them.
Michael didn't even think about holding back his strength as he conjured six enhanced Qi Swords around him. The Qi Swords revolved around his head and cut through the air with great velocity when Michael released them with a burst of energy. The Qi Swords cut through the air, piercing precisely through the crystal chokers around the Lesser Elementals' necks before they continued their path, blasting through the Elementals' necks.
Michael didn't hold back since there was no need to. Elementals could only be killed by crushing their cores. Thus, bursting their heads alongside their chokers was not a major problem. On the contrary, Michael could crush several chokers with each enhanced Qi Blade before they dissolved. They could simply regenerate their heads, either way.
For every broken choker, Michael and the freed Lesser Elementals gained one more ally. Precisely controlled and conjured in batches of six, Michael spent half a minute breaking close to 200 crystal chokers. That was extremely fast, but it was not fast enough for Michael. The enemies' numbers were too high, and he could feel the heavy pressure weighing down on his subjects.
Their Links of Loyalty were filled with a burning passion to bring glory to their territory and Lord – to fight for their survival and the expansion of their territory. But, at the same time, Michael could also sense a tinge of worry in their hearts and Links of Loyalty through their shared connection. The enemy was not that easy to defeat without Tiara, the Forest Elven Adventurers, and Michael by their side. They had to injure their enemies by themselves and deal the finishing blow on their own as well. There was no powerhouse aiding them throughout the whole battle.
Michael sensed that his army was not yet in its prime state, but that was only obvious. He had yet to train vice captains and team leaders among his military force's Summons. The Summons followed his orders right now, but Michael wasn't by their side to boost their morale and calm them with precise commands in the middle of the battle.
Therefore, Michael continued to release enhanced Qi Blades while simultaneously releasing a thick golden thread of Extraction from his palm. The thread advanced toward the closest crystal choker in his vicinity, extracting the components within the choker one by one.
After the first choker burst into thousands of shards, Michael raised his eyebrow when he noticed something. He changed his focus to the next target, extracting a particular component of the choker – the part that held everything together. The choker fell apart the moment a tiny red grain had been extracted. That was more than enough for Michael to change his tactic.
He stopped conjuring enhanced Qi Swords. Instead, Michael released his Dome of Extraction with full focus on two tasks; one- extracting the origin energy in the air and the second extracting the red grain concealed within the crystal chokers.
Michael expanded the Dome of Extraction as much as possible without consuming more energy than he extracted from the surroundings. He then charged straight ahead into the army of Lesser Elementals to let the Dome of Extraction work its wonders. Dozens of chokers crumbled and fell to the ground in countless pieces after Michael passed by. He released several layers of Enhancement on his lower body and kicked the ground to turn into a flash amid the blazing infernos erupting around him.
Hundreds of Lesser Elementals were freed within the first minute, and the number easily crossed 1500 after three minutes. Post that, the freed Lesser Elementals overwhelmed their subdued brethren, breaking most chokers to regain their freedom. Michael broke the last few chokers with the Dome of Extraction before he decreased the size of the dome. He refilled his Origin energy storage by extracting the energy in the air before he unleashed the Legendary Ring Artifact's full dragon might once again.
His eyes glowed golden as he turned to the Lesser Elementals all around him before he shouted aloud, "CHARGE!"
The Lesser Elementals felt the pressure of a dragon sweep past them as Michael burst toward the enemies who had tortured them for as long as they could remember. Rage and the desire to take revenge filled their entire being and they charged, following their Savior onto the next battlefield.
Michael had hoped that his people could last more than three minutes against the Kitsun Summons and Awakened, but that wasn't the case. His army killed many enemies by using various potions and the Pieckers to their advantage. Nonetheless, Michael's army was not as powerful as Awakened who had received several years of experience and time to refine their War Runes, or the Kitsun Summons who'd been in the Kitsun Lord's territory for years, if not a full decade.
Only two enemies might be at the 3rd Tier, but that was more than enough to charge ahead and kill a few dozen Warriors and Knights in the first few minutes of the battle.
Of course, they were not overly powerful with their rather fragile constitution as a Kitsun, and mere 1-Star and 2-Star Soultraits. Nonetheless, their high Tier, high-ranked Artifacts, and their experience made up for their weak points. At least, they could deal with a bunch of Summons at the 1st and 2nd Tier – or so they thought at first.
Michael's army was a lot more resilient than the Kitsun Summons and Awakened assumed. They lost far more people on their side as the Warriors, Knights, Vanguards and Mages made sure that the Archers were well protected as they released one barrage of Pieckers after another.
The Berserkers and Knights at the highest Tier focused on stalling the Tier-3 Awakened. They trusted that Michael would come soon to help them out and they would survive. Unfortunately, some of them still died.
Michael felt more than 300 energy shares fill his body, but that didn't fill him with happiness. After all, he could also feel that more than 50 Links of Loyalty had been severed.
He couldn't remember having lost that many combatants in any battle. Even the fight with the Minotaur had fewer casualties. But Michael knew that this was the essence of war. He had already prepared himself mentally to lose subjects in the future.
Michael might have told himself that he would protect everyone, but was that even possible? The stronger he grew the more his territory would expand – the more Summons and combatants Michael would obtain. The dangers of the battles in the Origin Expanse would only increase, and the time would come when he would lose thousands of subjects in a large-scale war. That was bound to happen even if Michael didn't like the thought.
In fact, he hated the thought of leading his people in a dangerous battle. He would rather fight a single war with a certain victory than dozens of battles with pyrrhic victories. Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking and something that would never happen in the reality. The reality was cruel, and Michael knew that he had to be prepared for the worst case at any time.
However, now that Michael negated the worst enemy – the unknown threat the subdued Lesser Elementals could have posed to his army – he appeared next to the first Tier-3 Awakened. He was already restricted and covered in several cuts, allowing Michael to react swiftly.
He manifested a huge Glacicle, shaped it in the form of a sword, and used Reinforced Sword Qi and Enhancement to cover the Glacicle Sword. Reinforced Sword Qi's full potential was unleashed for the first time in a while. It increased the sharpness and durability of the Glacicle Sword, while also creating a silver layer that could be released into the enemy's body with a burst. And that was exactly what Michael did.
The Glacicle Sword burst forth with great velocity. It cut through the Kitsun Awakened's half-broken armor and pierced deep into his side before the layer of Reinforced Sword Qi was released inside the Kitsun's body. Too late to react because he had been restrained, the Kitsun Awakened hastily released his 2-Star Soultrait. His eyes glowed silver for a moment, stunning Michael for a moment as he felt an ominous presence staring deep into his Soul.
However, the effect of the Kitsun Awakened's Soultrait didn't last long. Michael was barely affected as he pierced the Wyverntooth Spear deep into the Glacicle Sword that burst into the freezing mist as Sword Qi shrouding it had been released.
The Kitsun in front of him was not yet dead, but Michael didn't have to be a medic to know that the Awakened was on the verge of dying. The Kitsun Awakened's condition worsened as one of Michael's Berserkers cleaved down with his humongous war axe. The war axe's blade sliced cleanly into the Kitsun's shoulder, severing the shoulder from the Awakened's body.
As Michael saw this, he turned away, understanding that the battle against the Tier-3 Awakened was over. The Knights and Berserker surrounding the Kitsun struck with all their might. They cleaved, stabbed and thrust their weapons, ending him. There was no need for him to interfere.
Instead, Michael could move ahead. He continued to enhance his lower body to move faster through the surroundings. Five Spirit Whips manifested around him and he began charging forward as he struck one powerful Awakened after another with the Spirit Whip whenever he passed by them. He sliced through their vital points whenever his position didn't allow him to slice their throat before invading their bodies with a trace of Extraction.
Michael extracted their origin energy and life force as the Kitsun began to fight desperately for their survival. There was no trace of their earlier overconfidence or ridicule left.
All they felt was terror and despair.
They didn't want to die.
But the same could be said about their victims. The Elementals had never asked to be killed and tortured.
