Chapter 352: Kitsun

After the initial confusion, Lilica summarized the situation once again to make sure that he could think of countermeasures as soon as possible.

"This morning, Blaire and her scouting team discovered a group of Lesser Elementals hunting in the western part of the Untamed Jungle's outer ring. But they were not ordinary Lesser Elementals. We noticed all of them wore chokers made from crystals. They were controlled by a group of beings which Blaire and her scouts determined to be Summons," Lilica began her summary.

However, Michael was a little doubtful. He was not sure how Blaire and her scouts could be certain that the beings controlling the Elementals were Summons, but Lilica gave him a quick explanation.

Blaire attained enlightenment from spending several days with one of the memory crystals Michael had prepared a while ago. She acquired the advanced Intuition of a Master Tracker, allowing her to gauge the strength, danger level and state of existence of most beings in her field of vision instinctively.

That was quite helpful, and Michael could already imagine how useful such a natural ability would become in the future. It would be even better if more scouts would learn from her to ensure that everyone could act more intuitively in the face of potential danger.

"These Summons look like a mix of hideous demonlings and spirits. Their upper body is mostly humanlike except for the monstrosity of their hideous head. Their head looks like that of a fox, just bigger, uglier, and they have one or two horns jutting from their forehead. Either way, their lower body looks like a cloud. It should be a black gas they expel through their torso to levitate in the air and move around," Lilica described the Summons in as much detail as possible. She thought about it for a moment, and carefully added, "They also seem to possess fox-like tails. The stronger their rank the more tails protrude from their rear."

Michael was pretty sure that he had never heard of such a race before, but Lilica's detailed description was more than enough to research the race. It was only a matter of time before he would know what race the other Lord belonged to, and how powerful the race was.

"Good job finding them. But tell me more about the situation for now. You told me about the Elementals wearing chokers, and that Summons controlled them. What about the cave you mentioned earlier? Are you in the other Lord's territory, or can you retreat? Give me some more information!" Michael commanded after throwing a barrage of questions.

"Blaire and her scouting team retreated after encountering the Lesser Elementals. They split up to scout the surroundings and lead the Knights, Warriors, and Sun Demos' Demon Monkey unit to deal with the Lesser Elementals that were about to stumble upon our territory. Meanwhile, Tiara, and we, the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team, decided to find out more about the other Lord and his powers. That's how we found some Awakened working for the other Lord," Lilica explained but was quick to add, "Don't worry, we didn't hunt the Awakened. We decided to hide and, somehow, stumbled upon a cave. The cave I mentioned earlier."

Lilica was not yet done explaining everything, but before the Forest Elf could continue sharing more information about the current situation, Tiara fought valiantly against the Forest Elf to retrieve her communication crystal. Muffled screams and groans rang out from the communication crystal just before Tiara's voice reached his ears once again.

"Don't worry, Master. I will hunt one of these Awakened, and bring him back for you! Can I kill him, or do you want a hostage, master?" Tiara asked, her breathing rough from the excitement flooding through her entire being.

Michael chuckled upon hearing her excitement. He sometimes forgot that Tiara belonged to the Tigerfolk and that her wild instincts overwhelmed her every now and then. It was a nice change, and definitely much better than the scenarios he had imagined when he left Piloq to rush into the Origin Expanse.

Encountering another Lord in the Untamed Jungle might not be what Michael expected, but it might not be that bad either.

"Since we know nothing about the other Lord, we should collect information first. Capture one of the Awakened alive and return without attracting any attention. I don't want an army charging into our territory tomorrow morning!" Michael said, repeating himself a few more times to make sure that Tiara would be vigilant and stealthy.

"Consider it done, master. Just wait for us!" Tiara exclaimed before throwing her communication crystal back to Lilica.

"Ehh...Oof...My Lord, I am not sure if you should trust Tiara right now. She has probably one of 'those' days..." Lilica said carefully and hesitatingly.

She cleared her throat and added, "Either way...where was I? The cave is filled with Elementals, right? There are many Elementals in the cave, with the Lesser Elementals wearing these crystal chokers, and stronger Elementals, who have been chained to the wall using crystal chains. They're fully restricted, and cannot move an inch."

Lilica's voice cracked after she said the last bits. She quietly revealed that they couldn't enter the deeper parts of the cave because of the high security in the cave and that something was amiss.

"It feels...abnormal, and weird. Their existence in the cave is already against the laws of nature, but the cave feels unnatural as well... Something is very wrong here..."

As Forest Elves, Lilica and her team were very close to nature. They were quite familiar with the flora and fauna of all the forests. That also meant the unfamiliarity and weird feeling Lilica mentioned was quite concerning.

"There is no need to go deeper. Just return home. I will send Blaire and the others to scout the Untamed Jungle's western outer ring and parts of the middle area to find out more about the other Lord, his territory's size, and whatnot. Once I know more about the Lord, his race, and his attitude toward other Lords, we can initiate countermeasures. For now, make sure that you guys come back safely...including Tiara."

"We will return safely," Lilica said in all seriousness, "I don't know the Lord's race, but the Elders might know. You can ask the Elder. He will probably help him."

Michael nodded his head subconsciously. He had been talking to one of the Forest Elves Elders every now and then about old languages and future business prospects between him and the Forest Elven Tribe. The discussions had been quite pleasant, which was also why Michael retrieved another communication crystal from his War Rune.

He ended his call with Lilica and infused energy in the dark blue crystal he'd just retrieved. Putting one communication crystal back into the War Rune's storage space, Michael called the Forest Elven Elder.

"Good evening, Lord Michael. It has been a while since we chatted. How can I help you today? Do you want to talk about old languages with this old man again?" A sonorous voice filled with wisdom swept out from the communication crystal less than a minute after Michael infused energy into it.

"Hello Elder Silram. I hope you're doing well as always. Unfortunately, I'm not calling you to discuss more about old languages. We encountered a small problem ..." Michael greeted the Elder before jumping straight to the point.

He explained the predicament with as many detailed pieces of information as he had - which was not exactly a lot. The Elder of the Forest Elven Tribe listened intently and did not answer immediately.

Several minutes of silence passed before a heavy sigh escaped Elder Silram's lips.

"It looks like misfortune pursues you like a possessive lover, young Lord," Elder Silram said, trying to lighten the tension in his body with a little joke. However, the seriousness of the situation didn't allow any jokes.

Michael furrowed his brow in response to the Elder's comment, "I take that as a bad sign."

"A bad sign? That's for sure. I know the race you described just now much better than I want to. In fact, I fought them twice in the Origin Expanse, and it always ended disastrously even though I emerged victorious," Elder Silram's voice was devoid of his usual cheerfulness. Everything around Michael seemed to turn silent as he listened intently.

"You will have to fight them, the sooner the better. They're called Seven-tail Spirits, also called Kitsun. Kitsun are known for being a cruel, treacherous race, who cannot be trusted. In fact, they don't even trust each other if no Soul Contract has been established between them. Even then, the Kitsun will search for loopholes in the Soul Contract to take advantage of their brethren," The Elder told Michael everything he knew.

He spoke for more than ten minutes, making unease crawl up Michael's spine.

"They don't know mercy, and their strength cannot be underestimated either. Don't take them lightly!"

Michael could only curse his luck the longer he listened to the Elder's description of the Kitsun race. He already guessed that it would be pretty difficult to talk with the other Lord and that it was highly unlikely that they would end up on good terms, but the information he obtained was even more unpleasant than the worst he had imagined.

"I guess that leaves out the option for peace, and a friendly, business-related relationship. That is quite unfortunate," Michael mumbled, mostly to himself instead of Elder Silram.

However, Elder Silram heard what Michael said, and he couldn't help but frown on his side of the communication channel.

"You don't seem to be displeased about the change of events," He pointed out.

"Am I not displeased? How come you think I'm in a good mood?" Michael asked curiously.

"You're excited, aren't you?"