Even though the trace of Extraction invaded the Tekur's body without any difficulties, it was not that easy to kill them. Michael was forced to nourish the trace of Extraction slowly, ensuring that the Tekur wouldn't realize anything until it was too late.
Therefore, Michael willed the trace of Extraction to devour minuscule portions of the Tekur's lifeforce and origin energy. Even if the Tekur felt something, since he was not injured in any way, he was likely to presume that one of his 200 enemies possessed a Soultrait with the power to drain lifeforce and energy of designated targets. He hadn't been injured nor did he sense that anything entered his body. Therefore, the option that something foreign took root inside his body didn't even cross the Tekur's mind.
Michael released a few more Glacicle arrows to distract the Tekur while Thaor, Lokai and a few more Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs entered close combat. The Berserkers understood that it was not feasible for tens of them to face a Tekur simultaneously. They created a tactic to fight the Tekur with a rotation system. The Berserkers would face the Tekur, three at a time, to inflict some damage and then rotate smoothly. A new batch of Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs would face the Tekur with a different combat style and varying approaches to attack and kill the Tekur, wearing him down.
The Tekur, who'd been daring enough to enter close combat knew what they were doing. They altered the trajectory of the Berserkers' attacks with fluid motions and counterattacked rapidly. Their means of defense were exceptional, and even if they failed to evade or block the enemies' attacks, their carapace would save them.
Despite having a great numerical advantage on their side, the Alliance members weren't able to overpower the Tekur easily. If anything, it looked like the dozen Tekur could easily fight with the 200 Descendants for a while. The only ways the Alliance could hold their fort against the Tekur was the Alliance's training and the fact that their Soultraits ended up being much more useful than expected.
Adding the Alliance's teamwork – which was much better than ever – some of the Tekur were pushed back. Thaor managed to crack the carapace of the Tekur he fought, whereas Quinn Karta's daggers pierced into the thighs of another Tekur.
Meanwhile, the Dome of Weakness decreased the support the Tekur in the back could provide to their comrades near the frontlines.
Michael moved through the battlefield as quickly as he could. He inserted a few layers of Enhancement onto the Awakened who seemed to have the biggest advantage against the Tekur to further increase the slight upper hand his people had gained in the fight. Simultaneously, he continued to release Glacicle arrows inserted with traces of Extraction.
Michael managed to insert more of Extraction's power inside the group of Tekur. A total of eight Tekur were infected by Extraction before Michael decided to will the traces of Extraction to devour the insides of his enemies. He focused on their lifeforce and origin energy to weaken them, but Michael didn't hesitate to break through their mental defenses and devour their blood and flesh as well – at least, he was trying to.
The Tekur's mental defense was much stronger than anything he'd ever seen before. It was already a wonder that the traces of Extraction managed to devour bits of origin energy and lifeforce inside them. Fortunately, the traces of Extraction took root in the Tekur before they spread out. Ordinary mental defenses, no matter how sturdy, couldn't block the traces of Extraction. If the Tekur desired to remove the traces of Extraction, they would have to use their energy to isolate the power of Extraction and expel it. That required time and full concentration. Right now, the Tekur had neither to spare.
One of the Tekur possessed a Soultrait that blocked the trace of Extraction subconsciously. It couldn't find a place to take root inside his body and was naturally expelled. Therefore, Michael didn't even try to infect the remaining Tekur. Instead, he focused on weakening the eight infected Tekur to kill them. Applying some layers of Enhancement on Extraction was enough to reinforce the extraction efficiency.
Michael's vigor was overflowing, and his energy storage never dried out. He created a compressed Glacicle Sword, coated it in a layer of Reinforced Sword Qi, and added several layers of Enhancement on top. The Glacicle Sword glimmered above Michael as he lifted his hand. His hand cut down in a straight line and the Glacicle Sword burst forth.
["Throw yourself to the ground if you like your head!"] Michael shouted at Thaor and Lokair with Whispering Energy.
A quarter of a second later, the two Berserkers reacted. They stopped focusing on the Tekur in front of them and dived to the ground. The Tekur's attack missed the Berserkers by a hair's breadth. He didn't expect the Berserkers to jump to the ground just like that. But their sudden change in tactic made sense as a glacier-blue glittering sword whizzed past the Berserkers, impaling the Tekur.
The Glacicle Sword pierced the damaged area of the carapace and pierced through the Tekur in one go. The Tekur's eyes widened, and his mandibles snapped viciously. Energy burst forth from the Tekur, whose size expanded. His silver carapace darkened and the presence around the Tekur intensified. Michael ignored the Tekur's presence as much as possible. He released the Reinforced Sword Qi shrouding the Glacicle Sword explosively into the Tekur. The Tekur's insides were shredded, his intestines damaged, and some internal organs obliterated in one go.
It was only after the Reinforced Sword Qi was unleashed that the Glacicle Sword's freezing took effect. The area around the sword wound froze and the strong freezing effect expanded. The Tekur crushed the Glacicle Sword with his tremendous physical strength – or tried to. The moment Michael noticed what the Tekur was trying to do, he willed the Glacicle Sword to burst into freezing mist that would block the Tekur's vision and invade the insides of the Tekur.
The Tekur screamed aloud, his mandibles clattering uncontrollably. This was a sign for the other Tekur to pay more attention to the wounded Tekur, who couldn't even continue screaming as several blades pierced into him from all sides. That was not even all. A heavy mace smashed down on the Tekur's head. Not once. Not twice, and not thrice either. Three Berserkers at the Peak of the 3rd Tier took turns smashing a heavy, several hundred kilograms, mace to crush the Tekur's head and kill the monstrosity.
But the Tekur twitched and continued releasing a burst of energy. He continued to move and managed to injure one of the attackers severely before his legs were pinned to the ground. The assault continued until the energy influx of the Tekur reached one of them. The Tekur stopped moving after his head was mashed entirely.
Everyone but Michael turned away from the dead Tekur. They had to help the others fight the remaining 11 Tekur. Michael waved his hand to retrieve the trace of Extraction and the freezing mist. Simultaneously, he stored the corpse of the dead Tekur in his storage. Some Awakened observed that but they were too busy supporting their comrades to ask Michael what he was doing or why. That was something they could do later as well.
Once the corpse was stored in his storage, Michael made his move. He enhanced his body again and manifested a dozen Glacicle Swords around his body. Michael weaved energy into his body to enhance his strength and perception before inserting traces of Extraction into each of the Glacicle Swords. The Glacicle Swords shot in all directions, one to each enemy.
The Glacicle Swords were under his precise control. He shattered them right before they impacted and willed the freezing mist that burst forth from the Glacicle Swords to shroud the Tekurs' heads. The freezing mist then transformed into hundreds of Glacicle needles that tried to pierce through the Tekur's carapace. However, the only thing that could harm the Tekur was the trace of Extraction that managed to invade the Tekur – every single one of them.
Michael didn't even consider slowly devouring the energy and lifeforce of the Tekur at this point. He used the vast majority of his energy to increase the power of Extraction, which was how Michael succeeded to weaken the remaining Tekur enough to create opportunities for his comrades.
Zeke continued to use Eye of Illusion to cast a life-like illusion onto three Tekur, whereas the Awakened with Vine Domain focused on restraining the Tekur. The other Alliance members, on the other hand, were either focused on weakening the Tekur, strengthening their allies, or inducing small injuries.
Some of the Alliance members gained confidence watching one Tekur die after another. They were infused with the much-needed confidence to deliver the final blow against one of the Tekur. Unfortunately, their confidence resulted in an aggressive fighting style. Since they wanted to deal the final blow, the Awakened didn't withdraw when the Tekur changed their targets. They were assaulted and ripped into shreds. In addition to that, several tiny meteorites formed in the air. Some concentrated on destroying them, but there were some Awakened whose entire focus was fixated on the Tekur. They were hit by the tiny meteorites and suffered heavy injuries, resulting in deaths for some of them.
Nonetheless, the Tritan Alliance gained a major advantage. The Tekur were slowly overwhelmed by the number of enemies and Soultraits they had to face simultaneously. All they could do was attempt to run away to reorganize and lead more Tekur toward the Tritan Alliance or die while taking as many enemies as possible with them.
Confident in their superior combat prowess, the Tekur continued to fight. Despite the numerous disadvantages they faced, the Tekur were extremely sturdy and didn't die that easily.
The dozen Tekur died at the end of the battle, but they succeeded to kill a total of 15 Alliance Members while facing close to 200 of the Tritan Alliance's stronger prodigies.
They were still at an advantage…and there were still hundreds of Tekur waiting to fight them.
