Chaos ensued the moment the Tekur made their move.
Four Tekur appeared next to the healers who had been tending to the wounded. With their claw-like hands raised high into the air, they were ready to strike at once and remove the most annoying members of their enemies in one go. As long as the healers were taken care of, the Tekur would have much fewer issues killing the remaining enemies.
But before the Tekur could behead the healers something happened. Quinn Karta used his Soultrait to jump through space. He appeared next to one of the Tekur, his entire body covered in radiant marks. His strength increased significantly, and he received an additional boost as his team members amplified his combat prowess using his Soultrait. Thereafter, Zeke used Eye of Illusion to create an illusion to distract the Tekur, granting Quinn just enough time to push the healer aside. The Tekur's claw cleaved down and narrowly missed the healer.
The next moment vines shot out of the ground. The fifth member of Quinn's team used his crowd control Soultrait, Vine Domain, to shoot vines out of the ground. He intended to pin the Tekur to the ground to ensure that Quinn Karta could kill the Tekur swiftly.
Meanwhile, Lincoln used Stone Giant's lesser earth affinity to shift the earth all over the battlefield. He moved the healers and injured people away from the frontlines, while Quinn, Zeke, and the two other members of their team faced one of the Tekur.
The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs made their move as well. Lokai and Thaor appeared next to another Tekur.. The Awakened with Support Soultraits used them to empower their allies before hastily giving out orders to reorganize their groups. Everything was a mess, but they couldn't run away to escape the Tekur before reorganizing and attacking again.
The speed of the four Tekur who decided to jump into the crowd of enemies was too high. Their combat prowess was not to be underestimated either. The Tekur facing Quinn was affected by Zeke's Eye of Illusion and the vines coiling around him, yet he could easily evade Quinn's attack. No matter where Quinn tried to attack the slightly restricted Tekur, his attacks were blocked.
The Tekur loudly snapped his mandibles at some point. Thereafter the remaining eight Tekur made their move as well. Their Soultraits had already been unleashed and they were only waiting for permission to join the battle as well.
The moment the sound of clattering mandibles rang out from the side of the Dimensional Pillar, the situation turned even worse. The combat prowess of the melee-fighting Tekur improved drastically, and the minor scratches that covered their carapaces commenced to heal as well.
There was at least one Tekur with a Healing Soultrait and another one with a Soultrait that strengthened the Tekur physically. Both were strong Soultraits. However, nobody could tell for sure how strong they were exactly because the Tekur race was known for focusing on reinforcing the power of their Soultraits to the peak. Each of them ought to have a technique that was customized to fit their Soultrait perfectly, yet Michael couldn't tell if they were already using these custom techniques, or if they were simply playing with their opponents.
Another meteorite appeared in the sky high above the battlefield. However, this time nobody believed that it was an allies' creation. Marie Wang utilized her Blazing Sun, amplified by the War Flag Soultrait of her comrades. A highly compressed fireball manifested atop Marie Wang's staff. A rich and vibrant azure-blue flame erupted and shot toward the Meteorite that shattered as it collided with the azure-blue fireball.
As the meteorite shattered, a mysterious force shrouded the thousands of pieces of the meteorite. The shards stopped moving mid-air and pointed downward.
One of the Tekur was controlling the shards with his Soultrait and was just about to shower the Tritan Alliance members in a downpour of meteorite shards when Sera Kani created her move. She combined her Soultrait with the power of other Descendants and unleashed a typhoon out of nowhere.
The typhoon was about to destabilize the meteorite shards when something silvery passed through it. The energy used to maintain and control the typhoon was corrupted. Sera lost control of it – and of the meteorite shards alongside.
But that was fine. Zelda Norman reached the group of 8 Tekur with a group of close to 50 allies. He unleashed his 6-Star Soultrait, Dome of Weakness, and targeted the eight Tekur simultaneously. An ominous dome covered Zelda and the eight Tekur alongside her allies. The dome weakened the Soultraits of the designated targets, therefore lowering the effectiveness of the Support, and Healing Soultraits that gave the melee Tekur an upper hand over Quinn and others.
Even the Telepathy Soultrait that was supposed to control the meteorite shards was weakened considerably.
The biggest downside of the Dome of Weakness was that it lost potency the stronger the target's Soultrait. A 3-Star Soultrait's power would be weakened by 50%, but a 5-Star Soultrait would barely sustain a drop of power equal to 10%.
Interestingly enough, the Tekurs' Soultraits were all weakened considerably. By at least 10%, whereas the telepathy Soultrait's power dropped by close to 50%.
That meant the Tekur's Soultraits were not as high-ranked as suspected in various detailed reports. It…also meant that the tremendous power of their Soultraits either stemmed from the Tekur race's Unique Racial abilities, their extremely high mastery of their Soultraits, or their techniques.
Or…the number of their subjects with a firm Link of Loyalty was tens of times higher than the Links of Loyalty most Humans, Berserkers, and Warlock Centaurs possessed.
Michael frowned deeply as he analyzed the battle all around him. Everyone tried to join the battle in some way, but it was way too chaotic. The 200 members of the Tritan Alliance hadn't been taught to fight together like this. They were trained to fight in their own small team. Fighting one member of the Tekur race with five to ten members was the most efficient way to deal with the Tekur.
However, the Tekur didn't fight alone. They'd teamed up as well, which was obvious. Not every single Tekur had a powerful combat-affine Soultrait. Some were Healers and Supporters just like it was the case with the others.
Michael grabbed a deep breath and activated Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze. He summoned Aethyr in its spearform and coated the blade with a layer of Sword Qi. Michael user Insert to insert a trace of Extraction into Reinforced Sword Qi, resulting in a subtle change within the Sword Qi. Veins, golden in color, spread through the silver Sword Qi that shrouded Aethyr Spear's blade.
Origin energy coursed through Michael's body. He weaved the energy into his movements and applied several layers of Enhancement onto his body. Once ready, Michael licked his lip, lowered his body and kicked the ground with great force.
His physical strength at the Peak of the 2nd Tier came to full display. Utilizing Leviathan Diffusion at full power and with Enhancement added to the play, Michael's physical strength easily surpassed an ordinary Tier-3 Awakened. He was not an ordinary Awakened to begin with. Michael was a Lord- A lord with combat prowess exceeding the norms of a Mythical Existence!
He flashed through the battlefield and passed by Lokai and Thaor, who'd been fully focused on the battle ahead.
"Give me Burning Fury," Michael ordered Lokai right before jumping into the air. He utilized Thaor as a launchpad to propel himself higher into the air. As he kicked Thaor, Michael used Insert on the Berserker, granting him two layers of Enhancement. The effect would wear off in five to ten minutes but that was more than enough time for Thaor, Lokai, and Michael to deal with a Tekur or two.
Aethyr transformed into a bow mid-air. He manifested a Glacicle Arrow inserted with a trace of Extraction, pulled the bowstring back, and shot at once. The Tekur noticed the Glacicle arrow but he quickly dismissed it as the power behind the Glacicle arrow was not that great.
He rather focused on the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs around it.
Michael didn't use his entire strength when he attacked with the Aethyr Bow. Instead, he utilized his understanding of Glacicle to his advantage.
The Glacicle arrow burst apart even before it collided with the ground or the Tekur. The compressed freezing mist within was unleashed at once. It spread around and engulfed the Tekur and the two Warlock Centaurs he had been facing.
Michael ignored the Warlock Centaurs and how they might be affected by the freezing mist. He willed the freezing mist and transformed it into a hundred tiny icicles. Their pointed ends were directed at the Tekur and they shot toward him. Their impact didn't cause any serious harm to the Tekur, but it distracted the Tekur from his signature move – utilizing the trace of Extraction.
The trace of Extraction didn't disperse as the Glacicle arrow turned into freezing mist. It hung into the air and was shrouded as the freezing mist turned into icicles. The icicles were too weak to burst through the Tekur's carapace but the Power of Insert was still effective five seconds after Michael utilized it.
The ice needle didn't even have to break through the Tekur's defense for the trace of Extraction to invade his body. All that was needed for the trace of Extraction to invade the Tekur's body was to get close enough while the Power of Insert was still active.
And that was exactly what happened.
The ice needles were repelled, their freezing effect barely affecting the Tekur.
But that was not important.
All that mattered was that Extraction grabbed root in the Tekur's body. It was only a matter of time before the Tekur would die.
Realizing that, a sly grin appeared on Michael's lips.
'How nice it is to have such a great skill set.'
