Amplified Dome of Extraction conjured with Soul Energy turned into a far more deadly weapon than Michael had expected. Against Lionhearts at the 2nd Tier, who couldn't block the power of Extraction, it was an instant death.
More than 1,500 Lionhearts in the range of Dome of Extractin had been killed instantaneously. Their lifeforce and energy flooded him, occupying every cell in his body. That didn't even include the energy influxes he obtained.
'This is like…an instant drain. Did I accelerate the top speed at which I can extract lifeforce and energy using Soul Energy to activate Extraction? It might have been an increase in the amount of energy I can drain at a time. Maybe Soul Energy increases the capacity of lifeforce and energy I can drain? Or is it both?'
Michael was not sure what it was. However, he knew that his body was overflowing with energy and lifeforce.
It was great to be full of life, but Michael figured that he shouldn't use Extraction with Soul Energy like that again. Not, if he wasn't lethally injured and about to die, at least. His wrists and hands healed rapidly with the overflow of lifeforce aiding Archangel's Grace.
Michael deactivated Archangel's Grace right after he was done tending to his wounds, but he noticed that he was still overflowing.
Thus, he began to use Insert to provide his injured allies with lifeforce while also channeling origin energy into the healers and others who were about to collapse. Many had overdrawn their energy in the battle and they suffered the consequences.
Once he distributed the excessive lifeforce and origin energy equally to the nearby allies, Michael felt much better.
'Having too much lifeforce and energy is just as harmful as having too little,' Michael chuckled inwardly, glad that his hands didn't look like that of an Undead Skeleton anymore.
He was back in his prime and ready to move out again. There was no time to think about what he had to do next. Michael consumed a dozen SoulStar Fragments to replenish the Soul Power Extraction and Heavenly Realm had drained. In the next moment, Michael saw the Holy Knights and Blessed Squires push past him.
They weaved around the corpses and dashed ahead. However, they were not alone. The Holy Knight and Blessed Squires mixed into the masses of the High Beast Horde.
They had been hesitating to fight with the monsters of the Untamed Jungle at first, but once they noticed that the monsters of the High Beast Horde didn't pay attention to them, their hesitation turned into determination. They were determined to defeat the Heart of the Blazing Lion army, determined to grow stronger in today's battle, and determined to survive by all means.
Despite being Knights and future Knights, the Holy Knights and Blessed Squires didn't wear much heavy armor right now. They were covered in tempered armor that had been dyed to suit the colors of the Untamed Jungle. The armor was not as great as hard steel heavy armor sets, but it was perfect to travel quickly through the Untamed Jungle's thicket.
The Holy Knights and Blessed Squires worked in teams and issued small attacks similar to Sun Demos and the Demon Monkey Unit. However, they didn't retreat right after winning their skirmishes. The Holy Knights and Blessed Squires pushed further ahead by following the ferocious monsters of the Untamed Jungle.
Even though the Holy Knights and Blessed Squires fought with the Untamed Jungle's monsters, they used them more as meatshields than actually fighting together. The largest monsters attracted the most attention from the Lionhearts. They were more likely to get attacked, which was what the Holy Knights and Blessed Squires exploited.
Their Holy Formations allowed them to cast a Holy Shield around the ferocious monsters, decreasing the damage that managed to reach them. Immortal Knight and the strongest unit of Holy Knights was doing the same with a Lesser Behemoth. The Lesser Behemoth was a humongous creature with a length surpassing 30 meters and a height of eight meters. It was a High Beast covered in highly resilient scale-like plates. The plates overlapped, leaving no gaps for the Lionhearts to strike.
However, the most important aspects of the Lesser Behemoth were its Elemental Resistance and great regeneration ability. It sustained some wounds from physical attacks, but it healed faster than most Lionhearts could cut the High Beast. The Elemental Resistance was not perfect, but combined with the support of Immortal Knight and his Holy Knights, it was possible to elevate the Behemoth's Elemental Resistance to the next level.
Even a High Lionheart's flames didn't burn the Lesser Behemoth anymore. Only the combined efforts of multiple High Lionhearts, Awakened with high-ranked Soultraits and powerful Artifacts, or their strongest dazzling pyro orbs could damage the High Beast.
Immortal Knight used this to their advantage, and many ferocious monsters of the Untamed Jungle did the same. Thousands of Michael's Summons, Warriors, Berserkers, Warlock Centaurs, Holy Knights, Holy Squires, Knights, Vanguards, Assassins, and many more followed Immortal Knight onto the battlefield.
The long-range troops inflicted as much damage as they could by exploiting the weakest spots in the enemy's army whereas the melee fighters followed the ferocious monsters onto the battlefield.
The Untamed Jungle united against the invaders. Everyone was afraid of death, but nobody dared to back off. They knew how much was on the line. If the Zentika Empire's forces managed to invade the Untamed Jungle successfully everything would be over. The monster's habitats would be raided and destroyed and Michael's territory would suffer greatly.
The forces of the Untamed Jungle couldn't afford to lose. Their predicament didn't allow them to give the Zentika Empire even one inch of their land. If they allowed the Zentika Empire to claim one inch in today's battle, what would happen the next time they came? Would the Untamed Jungle give up another inch of their precious land, or two…or maybe even more?
Once they started with concession it would be too late.
Therefore, they charged ahead even though their adversaries were powerful and had a numerical advantage.
The Heart of the Blazing Lion army was mighty. Even the natives possessed a fire affinity which they unleashed to burn down the Untamed Jungle's outer ring. They inflicted chaos and destruction and managed to overwhelm a handful of High Beasts with the sheer mass and power of their numbers.
However, they didn't expect to run into this much resilience. Their knowledge about the Lord of the Untamed Jungle was outdated, but they knew that Michael had been a Tier-1 Lord less than a year ago. It wasn't supposed to be possible for him and his subordinates to be strong enough to deal with High Lionhearts.
The retaliation of the Untamed Jungle's High Beasts and the monster horde was unexpected as well. The Commanders of the Heart of the Blazing Lion army had calculated with a few dozen High Beasts and tens of thousands of ordinary ferocious monsters of the Untamed Jungle. However, it didn't make sense that the High Beasts were so strong. Three High Beasts were as strong as the Commanders, and given Michael's Enhancement, they managed to push the Commanders back.
It was only due to the involvement of dozens of High Lionheart Awakened that the Commanders didn't meet an early end on the battlefield. It was shocking.
But the worst forces were still two particular enemies. The biggest threat was the Lord of the Untamed Jungle. He was only a Lord at the Low rank of the 3rd Tier, but his combat prowess was unpredictable. His Soultraits were otherworldly powerful and he had the means to jump through space.
The spatial portals weren't great, but they were enough to appear near the weakest spots in the Heart of the Blazing Lion army. A single use of his strongest Soultrait was enough to obliterate close to 2,000 Tier-2 Lionheart. He disappeared soon after, his body replaced with a Golden Stigner Wasp, which whizzed through the battlefield to cause even more chaos and destruction.
However, the Golden Stinger Wasp wasn't the second most annoying force on the battlefield. It was not Hirak, the Immortal Knight, or the High Beasts either.
No, the second most annoying force on the battlefield remained unseen.
All the Commanders and High Lionhearts managed to sense were raging gales that burst into their faces right before dozens of Ashen Knights, Pyromancers, and Healing Flames were killed. The Tier-2 natives didn't even know what happened before their throats were cut, their chests gaped open, or their heads flung through the air.
The culprits were highly compressed wind blades with a width surpassing one meter. The wind blades were invisible, just like Lilica's arrows, but there was something different about them. The wind blades were controlled precisely. They curved around the bushes, branches, and trees with ease before striking the adversaries in the back or sides.
The wind blades didn't even stop in their tracks after beheading their enemies. They consumed the winds in the surroundings and continued moving until they were stopped, or Frederik stopped controlling them.
Frederik was merely a Tier-2 Awakened. He was not supposed to turn into the second most annoying force on the battlefield. However, his Body, Mind, and Soul had been altered to suit Aeroan perfectly. Wind Mastery and Enhanced Wind amplified 5-Star Aeroan even further, granting Frederik exact control of the only Legacy Arts technique he'd learned until now; Invisible Blades.
He managed to kill more than 2,000 Soldiers in the backrows before the adversaries tried to retaliate. However, they couldn't see his unseen wind blades or Frederik anywhere.
Frederik hated hiding, but he knew that he was not strong enough to deal with Tier-3 Lionhearts, let alone the Higher Lifeforms.
That was not his mission, in the first place. He was supposed to annihilate the masses of Tier-2 Lionhearts.
