Instead of burning down everything inside the Beast Ranch, Michael, Tiara, and Lilica made sure to gather as much information as possible.
They stored everything of value in his storage space before they allowed the Elemental Empress to burn everything down to a cinder.
As the Elemental Empress vented her emotions, using her sadness and anger as fuel to strengthen her flames, Michael started to retrieve a bunch of files.
He used Extraction on the files to extract the Knowledge Wisps which he consumed without any hesitation. The knowledge entered his mind, where Michael digested everything rapidly.
Since Michael didn't know much about the other Lords and territories, he had to use the information provided by the Kitsun to find out more about the other Lords. A plan was slowly forming in his mind, but he didn't want to provide the other Lords an opportunity to expand their territory and grow stronger if they were not good people. Or, at the very least, they shouldn't be worse than the Kitsun Lord.
If they were worse – which should hardly be possible – Michael would exclude them from the plan that formed in his mind.
Even though the memories of the Kitsun bothered Michael quite a lot, he continued to consume a few more Memory Orbs from the Awakened they'd killed in the second Beast Ranch. While using Extraction with full focus on extracting memories related to the other Lords and their territories, Michael obtained Memory Orbs related to those topics . Of course, there were also other memories stored in the Memory Orbs, but Michael learned a lot about the other Lords.
It was more than enough to move forward with his plan.
Michael gave the Golden Stinger Wasp a small note before he sent it to the closest settlement of the Lord living adjacent to the Kitsun Lord's territory. The first settlement Michael sent the Golden Stinger Wasp wasn't too far away. The Golden Stinger Wasp was fast and wouldn't have to travel too long to reach the destination.
It would release an energy stinger with the note once it reached the settlement and hit one of the stronger Awakened in the settlement so that the Awakened can notiy the Lord about the plan Michael came up with. Afterward, the Golden Stinger Wasp would travel to the two other territories and do exactly the same.
Sending notes to all three Lords living adjacent to the Kitsun Lord's territory might take a while, but Michael wasn't in a hurry. He returned to Icarus' back and they began to travel to the 3rd Beast Ranch. The memories of the Kitsun kept bothering Michael but he tried to hold back the anger and disgust he felt until he encountered the starving, bloodthirsty beasts in the third Beast Ranch.
And the moment he reached the destination, Michael unleashed his fury, channeling his anger and disgust into power. He wreaked havoc in the third Beast Ranch while the Elemental Empress created a circle of fire, ensuring that nobody could escape. Tiara and Lilica killed the Kitsun again, while Michael spent merely five minutes killing close to 500 bloodthirsty beasts.
The 3rd Beast Ranch fell much faster than expected. It allowed them to take a short break in which Michael focused on his Link of Loyalty with the Golden Stinger Wasp and his bond with Sun Demos.
During a few instances, the Golden Stinger Wasp had been in danger. The Link of Loyalty forwarded a strong pull to Michael, indicating him to help the Golden Stinger Wasp. However, he was too far away to help his loyal subordinates. It was the Golden Stinger Wasp's great fortune, rapid speed and nimble movements that allowed the monster to survive and finish the tasks it had been given.
The Golden Stinger Wasp successfully sent notes to the three border settlements of the Lords fighting the Kitsun Lord. It was uncertain whether the Awakened of the border settlement would take the note seriously, or if they would consider it a trap of the Kitsun Lord, but none of that mattered. Michael merely wanted to attract the other Lords' curiosity with the notes.
Once curiosity germinated in their hearts, the Lords would send scouts to the border to investigate. The scouts were unlikely to find anything near the border after Michael completed his plan. Thus, the scouts would invade the Kitsun Lord's territory, hopefully to see burned down settlements and a lack of defenders.
Michael hoped that the other Lords would then try to claim the territory as their own and grow stronger. All Michael had to do was to create an opportunity for the other Lords to attack and kill the Kitsun Lord's forces. Afterward, Michael could retreat and watch the other Lords compete with each other for the Kitsun Lord's territory. This would – most likely – stir problems between the Lords, which would distract the Lords from the source of this chaos. Distracted, the Lords would forget about the anonymous individual, who created the opportunities for the Lords to strike and eliminate the Kitsun Lord – or so Michael wished.
All Michael had to do was to kill as many Awakened as possible, plunder the Kitsun Lord's territory a bit more, and eliminate the Kitsun Lord to open and destroy his Summoning Gate.
Michael didn't want other Lords to obtain the Summoning Cores installed in the Kitsun Lord's Summoning Gate after all. He was the mastermind so it should be Michael who obtains all Summoning Cores.
At least, that was the ultimate goal of Michael's plan.
His plan also included the Guerilla Warfare in the Untamed Jungle. Sun Demos and his subordinates had to succeed in eliminating the threats within the Untamed Jungle, restraining the Kitsun Lord from considering attacking Michael's territory in the Untamed Jungle. Sun Demos ought to instill fear and chaos in the hearts of the Kitsun within the Untamed Jungle, all while reports of Michael and the others wreaking havoc reached the Kitsun Lord and his strongest subordinates.
The Kitsun Lord would likely have a tough choice to make between eradicating the threat looming in the Untamed Jungle, and sending his reinforcement to eliminate Michael once and for all.
And while the Kitsun Lord was in a tight spot, unable to decide what to do, Michael would create openings for the other Lords by destroying the Kitsun settlements close to the borders. The border settlements required strong defenses to endure the attacks of their enemies. This was very important for the Kitsun race since their physical capabilities were lower than that of other races.
Comparing the Kitsun race with Berserkers, Michael was pretty sure that a single Berserker could deal with a handful of Kitsun simultaneously. The Kitsun were a sly and crafty race that focused on expanding businesses, and using overwhelming numbers to defeat their enemies – if they hadn't already formed a separate combat force by creating Monster Ranches, or by suppressing other lifeforms such as Elementals.
Each border settlement had roughly 100 Awakened, and 5,000 combat Summons. The number was similar to the northern guard settlement, with the sole difference being the equipment and vigilance of the guards.
Skirmishes at the borderline to the other Lords happened every now and then. Thus, the Kitsun in the Savannah were more prepared and experienced to fight other Awakened. The same couldn't be said about the northern guard settlement that had been turned to a pile of ash.
"Is everyone ready to depart?" Michael asked, receiving nods from everyone around.
They spent the next ten minutes flying through the Savannah region at a high speed until they reached the closest border settlement.
However, before they could even think about attacking, Michael received a worrying message.
["We're under attack!"] Sun Demos reported to Michael all of a sudden.
Michael halted before he could initiate the attack, his eyes narrowing at the message.
["What do you mean? Did the Kitsun attack you and some other smaller units, or–..."] Michael asked, only for Sun Demos' voice to ring out in his head once again.
["They trapped my people. These foolish monkeys were tricked. They ran straight into a hail…I need to save them!"]
Sun Demos sounded both desperate and calm, something that ought to be hardly possible, in the first place.
A strong pulling force spread through Michael's entire body as Taming was triggered. The 5-Star Soultrait activated without the need for Michael to command it. A second later, a strong presence spread out within Michael's consciousness, tapping into the powers fused to his War Rune.
For the first time since Michael obtained Taming, he was able to feel Sun Demos' presence inside his consciousness. The taming bond expanded, strengthening their connection to new heights.
In the next moment, Michael felt a surge of strength surging through his body. Simultaneously, Sun Demos grasped the Power of his Soultraits.
The Blood Oath Demon Monkey King's superior physical strength began to enhance Michael. In exchange, Sun Demos gained access to Michael's Soultraits.
Taming's full power was unraveled for the first time, burning through Michael's and Sun Demos' stored energy like cinder through flame.
However, neither Michael nor Sun Demos cared about the energy consumption at this moment. A weird feeling spread through their beings. It affected them and made their hearts skip a beat at the same time.
The new feeling was something neither had ever felt before. It was magical.
Their earlier plan seemed to have failed, and it looked like Sun Demos' subordinates were on the brink of death after they failed to discover the traps that had been laid out in front of them. Unfortunately, Michael couldn't travel through the Savannah in the blink of an eye to help Sun Demos.
But there was something he could do now that Taming's full power was unleashed.
He could give Sun Demos free reign of his Soultriats!
