The mysterious winged serpent circled high above the battlefield, casting a shadow all over the Untamed Jungle's middle area. The Heart of the Blazing Lion armies ran for their lives. The intense feeling of instant death and the sudden darkness shrouding the surroundings was enough to evolve into a mass panic.
The remaining Commanders didn't want to retreat and run away from the fight. They knew what awaited them back in the Zentika Empire if they returned without any gains. The Heart of the Blazing Lion army might have burned down the northern part of the Untamed Jungle's outer rings, but they didn't claim anything yet. The Zentika Empire's scarcity of food had yet to be solved.
As the Heart of the Blazing Lion army retreated the huge shadow shrouding the middle area dispersed. The heavy pressure evaporated, allowing Michael, his people, and the High Beast Horde to relax for the first time in hours.
The mysterious winged serpent left after revealing its presence to the Zentika Empire's forces.
Was that good, or would it have been better if the serpent had released its ferocious flames to burn the remaining members of the Heart of the Blazing Lion army? Michael and the High Beasts managed to kill one Commander, but the others survived. Would he be fine with that?
Michael was not sure. He couldn't tell whether he was lucky, or if he would have managed to kill the two Commanders with the Crysalis Deer's help. Michael had sensed that the remaining two Lionheart Commanders had been rather weak. The fight against the High Beast Horde weakened them. The Crysalis Deer might have been strong enough to eliminate them.
"What a mess," Michael chuckled bitterly. His legs caved in as the last bits of energy left his body.
The High Beast Horde split up and separated. It looked like the war against the Heart of the Blazing Lion army was over for them.
However, the same couldn't be said for Michael and his people.
The following events were the most important, however, their success didn't depend on Michael. Instead, it all depended on whether Tiara managed to complete her mission, or if she failed.
It was a risky mission, but Michael deployed Tiara to invade the Zentika Empire's military camp before the battle started. He gave her several Artifacts that helped hide her scent, distort the vibrations she made from stepping, and an Artifact that shroud the sounds she made in silence. Tiara was camouflaged in another high-ranked magical device. She was camouflaged perfectly and managed to infiltrate the Zentika Empire's military camp without getting noticed by the Orbs of Hostility and other magical devices that were supposed to detect invaders.
The greatest advantage about Tiara was that she had yet to advance to Tier-3. Her energy fluctuations were weak enough to cover and distort them with the right Artifacts and magical devices.
It was a good thing that the Heart of the Blazing Lion army didn't expect anyone to be foolish enough to invade their military camp while they invaded the Untamed Jungle. Their security was lackluster and the few hundred Lionheart that had been left behind in the camp to guard it were weak and not very perceptive.
A single High Lionheart had been deployed to watch the military camp in the absence of the Commanders. However, the High Lionheart was already old. He was a Lowest Rank Tier-4 Native who managed to ascend to a Higher Lifeform as a 3-Star Native.
Tiara didn't intend to fight the High Lionheart, but a Higher Lifeform's perception made it difficult for her to complete Michael's plan successfully.
Fortunately, the Scouts with technqiues that allowed them to pry into the Military Camp from a distance managed to discover the High Lionheart's weakness: He was always intoxicated.
She stalked through the Military Camp and killed a few low-ranked Lionhearts by utilizing her camouflaged presence and the fact that nobody expected her to be in the military camp to her advantage. Several Tier-2 and Tier-3 Lionhearts fell victim to Tiara's power. An intertwined Spirit Whip followed up by a spear thrust to the enemies' hearts and throats was enough to eliminate potential threats easily.
The High Lionheart was bored and angry. He didn't work tirelessly on his Foundation for almost 60 years just to be deployed as a watchdog. That was not what he wanted. He was a Higher Lifeform. He was supposed to be at the frontlines!!
The old High Lionheart had been drinking since the Heart of the Blazing Lion army left the camp and he was dead drunk when Tiara arrived at the camp center - just like they'd expected.
Tiara considered piercing his neck with her spear, but she quickly recalled that neither her strength nor her weapon was good enough to injure Higher Lifeforms properly. As a Tier-2 Awakened, it was already near-impossible to pierce the tempered hide or skin of Peak Tier-3 powerhouses. Tiara had some gruesome experiences with that.
She recalled clearly how her spear blade had been repelled from her enemy's body.
The only areas Tiara could damage were the soft spots in the defense of stronger enemies.
'If I can reach his head, I can pierce his eyes or mouth. In the worst case, I go after his butt!' Tiara told herself, readying her weapon only to hesitate.
Michael trusted that she would manage to deal with this issue. He would be disappointed if she failed.
'Would he be sad if I die here?' She wondered at this moment but shook her head.
Maybe, it was important whether Michael would be said if she died here, but Tiara knew very well that she couldn't afford to die. Tiara was fully aware that she had to survive, otherwise, her people would never be able to return to her side.
The return of six Silverfangs motivated Tiara. Their return demonstrated that her hard work had been rewarded. However, she was feeling guilty as well. Michael had been in need of powerhouses to fight the Heart of the Blazing Lion army and the Council of Xylon.
Too many enemies approached them right now, yet the six Legendary Scrolls he'd used in the hope of summoning something useful…turned out to be six Silverfangs. Only Legion was somewhat powerful, but even his power required time to be nourished. He didn't gain the same benefits as other Legendary Summons and had to improve his War Rune's rank and Tier slowly because of certain restrictions.
Tiara calmed down and approached the High Lionheart. The drunken, old Lionheart had fallen asleep in his wooden chair. His head had rested calmly on the wooden table, and he snored loud enough to keep everyone in a radius of dozens of meters wide awake.
It was not yet late at night, but the drunken Lionheart didn't bother to stay awake. He was furious at the turn of events. Tiara could make use of that. However, she didn't attack him.
She retrieved three silver pills upon reaching the drunken Lionheart. The High Lionheart sensed something, but he was too drunk to understand what was happening. He didn't sense any threats…until it was too late.
Something entered his wide-open mouth.
Tiara channeled a tremendous amount of energy into the drunken Lionheart's mouth, pushing the silver pills deeper into his throat.
The High Lionheart swallowed the pills.
His eyes shot wide open, and he sobered up instantaneously. A fierce roar escaped his lips and blazing flames erupted in all directions.
Tiara groaned as the searing-hot flames reached her and retreated. The High Lionheart spun around and roared at Tiara, whose body expanded.
Tiara used her Silvarean Tiger Soultrait to the fullest. She was covered in silver-striped fur, claws grew from her fingers and her body expanded ever so slightly.
Her eyes turned into yellowish-golden slits, and she readied herself for a fierce fight. Though, she hoped that it wouldn't be necessary.
'A few seconds should be enough…right?'
A few seconds ought to be more than enough for the full effect of the silver pills to be triggered.
The High Lionheart didn't know that yet, but Tiara shoved Chaos Pills down his throat. She'd activated them to unleash their might as she pushed the Chaos Pills deeper down. It was only a matter of seconds before they would erupt within the High Lionheart.
Maybe, the High Lionheart would survive the explosion of the Chaos Pills, but they would occur inside him.
He should sustain heavy injuries and end up getting crippled. At least, that was what Tiara was hoping for.
The Lionheart was a Higher Lifeform and the Chaos pills had been concocted from the impure chaos of a Lesser Lifeform's blood. To the intoxicated Lionheart's misfortune, the Chaos Pills were about to explode within him.
The old Lionheart charged ahead in anger. He crossed the distance to Tiara in the blink of an eye, his entire body shrouded in blazing flames. However, all of a sudden, the flames around him died down. The blazing flames transformed into lightly flickering flames.
The Lionheart also lost control of the energy within him, and his legs caved in. The old Native of the Zentika Empire collapsed in front of Tiara.
Tiara wanted to attack the Lionheart, but she backed off instinctively. Loud crackling noises followed by thunderous explosions occurred in front of her…the Chaos Pills inside the High Lionheart exploded.
She retreated as fast as possible while her eyes lingered on the Lionheart. The old Lionheart's body turned black, the skin all over his body ruptured and black-silverish blood spurted out of him.
His eyeballs splattered all of a sudden and the Lionheart's fur turned silverish-black. Even the weakly flickering flames around the Lionheart turned black…and they began to burn the Lionheart as well.
It was almost as if the chaos itself was not in control of the flames.
Tiara was shocked to the core at the sight that unfolded in front of her. Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard.
'O fuck.'
