Slowly but steadily the area separating Michael from the settlement was being filled with Kitsun Guards and Awakened. There were thousands of Kitsun, all equipped with armor sets and weapons of good quality. The Kitsun didn't charge at Michael straight-up. Instead, they moved slowly and spread out to surround their enemies once the command to attack had been issued.
Rather than commanding their army to attack in a rush, the Kitsun finished their thorough preparations to go all-out against Michael and the rest in a quick manner. Archers moved up to the top of the settlement walls, and various siege weapons were installed.
Big wooden catapults with silver metal covering the siege weapon's joints appeared on the walls, followed by large ballistae, and three large-scale weapons that looked eerily similar to cannons.
It took the Kitsun a while to install the siege weapons, but that didn't mean Michael and the others could calm down. On the contrary, the sudden appearance of a dozen siege weapons was quite unexpected. Usually, siege weapons were not used against a small group of enemies.
In the first place, Michael was certain that the projectiles of these siege weapons would inflict more damage to the Kitsun than they could do to Michael, Tiara, and the Forest Elves.
But even if that was the case, Michael didn't want his people to face the full force of a cannonball, a ballista bolt, or huge catapult rocks. It would be almost impossible to evade those projectiles while surrounded by a bunch of Kitsun. The Kitsun would most-definitely die getting hit by these projectiles as well, but that was not something the Kitsun Lord was concerned about. If he could kill one of ten enemies by sacrificing a few hundred Kitsun Guards, Haro Ki would definitely do that.
"Can you deal with the siege weapons, or is your family heirloom something that can only be used against the living?" Michael asked Mika, who had already begun to channel origin energy into the heirloom arrow.
Mika slowed down channeling energy into the heirloom arrow and looked over to Michael with a thin smile, "My dad said that the arrow can be used as a weapon of mass eradication, or mass destruction. Sooo….I guess it works against the living and inanimate things with the same efficiency."
"In that case, bring down the settlement walls while killing as many Kitsun as possible," Michael ordered right after he heard Mika's answer, "Good luck. You can do it!"
Hearing the words of affirmation, a foolish grin plastered itself on Mika's face. In the next moment, Opars released an Energy Imprint to fuel Mika's body with energy. The flood of energy pulled Mika back to his senses. The young Forest Elf turned more serious and he returned his focus to the heirloom arrow again.
The entire charge of Energy Imprint was used to fill the heirloom arrow. Opars released another Energy Imprint, which Mika used once again to fuel the heirloom arrow with even more energy.
The heirloom arrow responded to the infusion of energy with vigorous humming that felt like a request; a request to be charged with even more energy.
Following that request, Mika didn't hesitate to continue to fill the heirloom arrow with five more fully empowered Energy Imprint charges. At this point, Opars was having a hard time standing on his feet. He swayed left and right, and his sight turned hazy. Nonetheless, the Forest Elf stayed behind Mika. He released three additional fully empowered Energy Imprints to fill Mika's body with energy to the brim.
Then Opars staggered backward. His legs couldn't carry him anymore and the world all around him began to spin at a terrific speed. Opars legs caved in and he slumped to the ground a second later.
However, instead of groaning in discomfort, or saying anything else, Opars used his remaining focus to watch what Mika would do next. He wanted to see the power of Mika's heirloom arrow.
Mika used the energy provided by Opars' last three Energy Imprints to apply a fully empowered Pierce on the heirloom arrow, and to use Duplicate Arrows as often as possible.
As the first use of Duplicate Arrows applied on the heirloom arrow, its humming grew louder and more vigorous. A vibrant white sheen enveloped the heirloom arrow, and it didn't take long before the entire heirloom arrow was fully coated in dense layers of vibrant white. This process was repeated several times, leaving Mika with little to no energy left inside his body.
The last bits of energy inside him were used to course through his body and the Bow Artifact. The Bow Artifact was strengthened enough to endure the power of the heirloom arrow in its current state.
Then Mika began to pull back the bowstring, an expression of complete seriousness plastered on his otherwise childish, playful face.
All of a sudden, Pheli utilized her second Soultrait, Battle Cry, on Mika. A surge of vigor passed through his body, allowing the young Forest Elf to pull the bowstring back in one smooth move. He adjusted the bow and tilted the arrow upward, ignoring his trembling arms and the fact that his sight was starting to blur.
As the bowstring was fully drawn back, the heirloom arrow's humming changed. The humming slowly turned into silent roars; the roars of a predator that was out on a hunt.
The roars grew in intensity. They overlapped and continued to grow louder until they filled the entire surroundings. Even the Kitsun, who slowly approached Michael and his people while impatiently waiting for the command to attack, could clearly hear the roars.
The roars filled their ears, and they forced them to stop moving for a few seconds. An ominous sensation overcame them all of a sudden.
Mika released the bowstring as the ominous sensation reached its climax. The heirloom arrow was released and its tremendous power unleashed. The roar of a fierce and bloodthirsty dragon reverberated through the surroundings. The humming intensified, almost sounding like the dragon took flight as the arrow gained altitude, and was the loudest when it reached the highest possible position.
Everyone's attention was drawn to the vibrant white sheen of the heirloom arrow as it reached the zenith. A loud noise that resembled something getting ripped apart rang through the surroundings as the heirloom arrow split in two. The heirloom arrow duplicated. First two, then four, then eight. After a while, the number of arrows whizzing through the air reached 2048, then 4096, and finally 8192.
The vigorous white sheen of 8192 duplicated heirloom arrows dyed the entire sky white. The bright light dazzled everyone, forcing even Michael to shut his eyes tightly for a second.
The hail of 8192 arrows began to pour down on the enemies, but almost no one was there to see it. Everyone's eyes were tightly shut, and all one could hear was the arrows whizzing through the air before they impacted heavily.
Upon impacting, screens of pain filled the air for a second until the true horror of the heirloom arrows was unleashed.
The duplicated heirloom arrows exploded upon impact!
The entire settlement and the surrounding area of the Savannah region were filled with the thunderous sound of explosions. The explosions overlapped and turned into a cacophony of destruction and terror, drowning the pitiful screams of the Kitsun.
'What the hell' Michael nearly blurted out aloud as he watched the chaos unfold in front of him.
Since he had activated Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze simultaneously, Michael could adjust his sensitivity toward light greatly. He could see nearly perfectly at night, and he was only a little affected from flash grenades and the like. The dazzling light of the heirloom arrows had been intense, but Michael could still see something without having to fear becoming blind.
However, what he saw amid the dazzling lights as the duplicated heirloom arrows exploded was terrifying.
More than half of the duplicated heirloom arrows reaped one – if not multiple – souls upon exploding. If the heirloom arrows didn't kill the enemy, they either inflicted severe damage to their enemy, forced the strongest Kitsun to use their Soultraits, or the special effects of their Artifacts to protect their bodies, while simultaneously inflicting tremendous damage to the surrounding area.
The duplicated heirloom arrows wreaked havoc, destroying almost everything in their sight. The thick towering walls of the settlement and the gates had been torn apart, and more than 5,000 Kitsun had been killed. Roughly the same number of Kitsun had been injured, whether it was through the explosions of the duplicated heirloom arrows, or the rubble that shot through the air due to the explosions.
As the dazzling light of the duplicated heirloom arrows dispersed the true extent of its destruction was unraveled. The entire southern wall of the settlement had collapsed. The siege weapons were either destroyed, or had fallen over. The ones that were toppled had to be re-installed to be used against Michael and his people.
However, the most terrifying thing was the death count.
Mika felt the energy influx of more than 5,000 Kitsun, with most coming from Tier-2 Kitsun Guards. The simultaneous influx of energy from thousands of kills impacted heavily on Mika's mind and body. He was already weak and barely able to stand on his own legs as the impact reached him.
Mika was still wearing a vibrant smile on his face when all one could see in his eyes was white. He swayed a little and iIn the next moment, he collapsed on the ground.
Lilica was the first to respond to Mika's fall. She rushed over to him with several potions in her hand.
Lilica hastily took off the lids and fed Mika the potions to make sure that they wouldn't lose him today. Not even a second later, she began to smile as she looked at the youngest of her adventurer team.
"Good job, Mika. I'm so proud of you!"
