Now that the alley was cleared, Michael and the others had a much easier time moving through the settlement.
But instead of randomly moving through the settlement without a goal, Michael channeled more energy into the Elemental Empress' taming bond. He replenished her energy while continuing to extract the energy from the surroundings via the Dome of Extraction.
In the meantime, the Golden Stinger Wasp marked the Elemental Empress once again. After the Empress was marked, the Golden Stinger Wasp shot higher into the air to fly above the buildings.
The Golden Stinger Wasp flew through the settlement and swapped places with the Elemental Empress wherever it found old and dry wooden constructions. Once teleported to such structures, the Elemental Empress would set everything on fire. The Golden Stinger Wasp continued to swap places more than a dozen times until the mark on the Elemental Empress wore off. In those dozen swaps, the Elemental Empress burned down several smithies, two barracks, three old watchtowers, and an entire district constructed with study, yet inflammable wood.
As the Golden Stinger Wasp and the Elemental Empress worked together to burn down the border settlement, Liopham used his Swiftness Soultrait to reach the center of the settlement in the blink of an eye.
He unleashed his other Soultrait, Rage of the Primal, at its full power, creating a two-meter-tall totem that lured every Kitsun to the center of the settlement. An interesting thing about Rage of the Primal was that it enraged its targets, forcing them into a Berserk-like state that enhanced their strength. The stronger the target the stronger the effect of the Berserk-like state, and the more intense the rage surging through their entire being.
Therefore, the strongest Kitsun quickly gathered near the totem of the Rage of the Primal Soultrait. They charged at the totem and destroyed it in less than a minute. During this minute several hundred Guards and two dozen Awakened had gathered in the plaza at the center of the settlement, attracted by the commotion and the totem.
Mika and Opars made use of this vast space to go all out. They didn't want Liopham's preparation to go to waste. Mika retrieved a Piecker from his War Rune's storage. He put it lightly on the bowstring and used the entire energy stored inside him to use Duplicate Arrows.
The Piecker began to glimmer brightly in response. However, the preparations for the attack were not yet done. Opars released his Soultrait, Energy Imprint, several times on Mika. Filled with energy once again, Mika used his energy to activate Duplicate Arrow at its full power a few more times. He then used the last burst of energy provided by Energy Imprint to activate his other Soultrait, Pierce.
The Piecker shone bright like a shooting star as Mika released the bowstring, unleashing the strongest attack the young Forest Elf had ever created.
The tension all over the plaza skyrocketed as the Kitsun realized that they had been lured to the wide-open area through Liopham's Rage of the Primal Soultrait. A trace of confusion and fear enveloped the air like a heavy shroud as surges of energy pulled their attention to the two Forest Elves.
One of the Forest Elves released a brightly shining arrow from his bow as the Kitsun's gaze began to linger on them. The shining arrow cut through the air with great velocity. It pulsated brightly as if it was a living, breathing being and began to twinkle as it reached the highest point of its journey through the air.
The moment the arrow reached the highest point, the vibrant shimmer engulfing the arrow dispersed. The Piecker split into two, then four, then eight, then sixteen. Not even a full second passed before the glimmering Piecker evolved into a hail of shooting stars. A hail consisting of 1,024 arrows descended from the sky.
At first, there was a distant, haunting whistle, like the mournful cry of a ghost that reached the ears of the Kitsun. The haunting whistle quickly evolved into a cacophony of harrowing sounds that drowned every other noise. The hail of arrows blocked out the sun for a moment, casting ominous shadows across the plaza.
Then they fell down like relentless rain that blurred the line between the sky and the earth. Each arrow was like a deadly missile that sought the blood of their enemies.
The Guards and Awakened in the plaza scrambled for cover, seeking refuge behind their shields and Soultraits' powers, or even the bodies of their living brethren as the arrows reached them.
Then the sound of arrows piercing deep into the flesh of the targets reverberated through the surroundings followed by screams of pain and commands. The metal armors were ripped apart by the tremendous penetrative force of the Pierce-enhanced Pieckers. The Pieckers didn't even slow down as they continued to tear deep wounds into the flesh of the unprotected Kitsun.
The result of Mika's attack was devastating. If the arrows didn't kill the targets, the Kitsun either ended up severely injured, or barely evaded the full onslaught of the duplicated arrows. But those who could evade the arrows were few. They either used their own brethren as meat shields, or they were Awakened with Artifacts, or Soultraits that allowed them to protect their bodies with the use of a considerable amount of energy.
Most Summons ended up with several arrows in their chests, each of them having easily pierced through their armor. The destructive force and penetrative power of Pieckers after they'd been strengthened with Pierce was simply not something a Summon or their ordinary armor could compete with.
Those who survived the hail of duplicated arrows were shocked, but also relieved. They had survived against all odds, and could retreat now – or so they hoped.
As long as they didn't have to face the invaders anymore, the Kitsun were fine with everything else. At this point, even the cruelty of the Kitsun Lord's punishments and the fear of his fury didn't seem that bad.
At least they had managed to survive and could escape the enemy now.
But just as the Guards and Awakened in the plaza thought that the worst was over, Pheli and Lilica arrived at the plaza. They appeared next to Mika and Opars, only for Liopham to arrive next to them as well.
"We should clean up this mess. Michael wants some more Awakened to extract," Lilica said, her eyes shining in excitement.
After witnessing the tremendous firepower of the Elemental Empress, her worries about the future of their territory were set ablaze. They burned down and the ash dispersed in all directions just like the surroundings. If she had been sad and worried about the growth of their army earlier, the bloodthirsty beast corpses and Kitsun corpses in their spatial storages were enough to resolve them.
The Elemental Empress would also add to their economic power gradually. Lilica's only worry had been Michael and the dangers of facing the Kitsun Lord. Elder Silram messaged Lilica via the communication crystal after Michael's chat with him. He informed Lilica about the dangers of the Kitsun race, and what they should pay attention to.
Unfortunately, Lilica received the message a little too late. Michael and the army he brought along to the Elementals Cave had already been outwitted. The army had been decimated, leaving Michael in an irrational and emotional state.
It was great that Michael could overcome the loss of so many trusted subordinates to make sure that he wouldn't endanger even more subordinates. Despite that, Lilica felt that Michael's actions were too risky. She initially didn't like that Michael was hellbent on charging into the Savannah region to fight the Kitsun Lord's forces there. She thought he was being rash and it was not the best move.
That is why Lilica was relieved to see the Elemental Empress' great prowess and that Michael could make use of her properly. He didn't hold a prejudice against her even though his subordinates died because of the Lesser Elementals' self-destruction. This allowed them to progress that far into the Kitsun Lord's territory, and to destroy a big portion of the border settlement 15 minutes into their invasion.
"EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team. Get ready to strike!" Lilica shouted while using her Soultraits, Weakness Detection, and Precise Aim. With her longbow tightly grasped in her left hand, she nocked a Piecker on the bowstring, pulled back, and fired after a second.
The arrow whizzed through the air and claimed the life of a Tier-2 Awakened, whose energy barrier was lifted a quarter of a second before her arrow impacted.
The four remaining members of the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team prepared themselves for battle as well. They readied their bows and began to reap one life after another, using their eerily accurate aim and the fear they'd instilled in the hearts of the Kitsun to their advantage.
As the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team killed everyone in the plaza, Michael and Tiara split up as well.
They began to hunt down the remaining Awakened stationed in the settlement. The corpses of Summons were not that useful to Michael anymore since his storage was already quite full at this point. But the same couldn't be said about Awakened corpses. Michael could always make space for Awakened in his storage space.
Their value was a hundredfold higher than Kitsun corpses, and Michael wouldn't leave behind any if he was given enough time to clean up the settlements properly. But time was a luxury he could not afford.
Thus, he moved through the border settlement with Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze fully unleashed. Michael used Spirit Disturbance on his enemies, and he even applied several layers of Enhancement onto Spirit Gaze to further strengthen the lethality of Spirit Disturbance. That way, harvesting the lives of the Awakened Kitsun became even easier.
Barely an hour passed before Michael left the border settlement with Tiara, the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team, the Elemental Empress, and the Golden Stinger Wasp by his side.
Icarus and his mate were already waiting outside for them, ready to bring them to the next destination.
Concurrently, the settlement behind them was set ablaze and in utter chaos.
