Chapter 356: Cave Attack
After careful consideration, Michael decided to enter the elemental cave alongside his army. The information in his possession determined the cave system to be humongous with numerous intersections spreading out further as they went deeper.
Lilica and Tiara mentioned that the cavern entrance was already huge, and Michael could see it for himself now that he stood in front of the entrance hall. The hall was more than ten meters high, over a hundred meters in width, and even longer than that. It provided enough space for his army to infiltrate.
Only a few hundred had been left in the territory to protect his subjects from unpredicted attacks, whether they came from monsters or the Kitsun.
The remaining 1,500 combatants moved slowly inside the cavern entrance hall where they split up into five groups of 300 combatants to enter each of the five tunnels that spread out at the end of the entrance hall. The five cavern tunnels led deep underground where more intersections waited for them.
He split up his group evenly to ensure that everyone had enough vanguards, archers, and mages by their sides. Furthermore, every unit was given a scouting team to move deeper into the cavern tunnels to easily locate the enemies, determine their numbers, and alter their combat formations.
If the enemies were determined to be too difficult to deal with by a single team, Michael would rush back to the last intersection to join their forces as reinforcement. However, he hoped that wouldn't be the case too often. The security team of the Elementals cave had asked a third of their forces to leave their current spot and support the guards in the main settlement. Therefore the security team had to readjust their positioning in the elemental cave to cover every major intersection of the Elemental cave to some extent.
Despite the fact that they had to face fewer enemies at once, Michael was a little worried about his army. He might have allowed them to follow him inside the Elementals cave, but he felt bad. In fact, the members of his military force had openly expressed their desire to join the battle against the Kitsun Lord. They were displeased at how little Michael thought about their prowess or strength when he came up with the plan to deal with the Kitsun Lord.
Michael understood their point of view, but he couldn't send them to the main settlement because the attack there was supposed to be a decoy. He couldn't deploy more than a thousand combatants as decoys - not if he didn't want anyone to die right there.
Thus, he reluctantly accepted the military force of his territory to join his mission in the Elementals cave. This decision played out much better than expected when Michael's unit approached the first security post. The 300 Summons readied their weapons while Michael merged into his group, retrieving the Spirit Armor Set and Zark.
With Eagle Eyes utilized, Michael's eyesight improved drastically. The dimly lit cavern tunnel didn't pose any hindrance to Michael anymore as he saw the manned security post where less than 100 Kitsun Summons, a dozen Kitsun Adventurers, and more than a hundred Lesser Elementals had been deployed.
The Lesser Elementals were mostly Fire Elementals, their bodies entirely made of blazing flames. They attracted quite some attention due to their blazing flames that lit up the entire security post, but Fire Elementals were also among the strongest types of Elementals when it came to destructive power.
"Aim at the chokers," Michael ordered just loud enough for every archer in his Unit to hear.
The faint rustling of a few dozen Archers, retrieving an arrow and nocking it on their bowstring reached his ears. In the next moment, Michael's voice rang out once again.
"Ready...set...shoot!" Michael ordered, moving alongside his archers, pulling Zark's bowstring back after he condensed an energy arrow, aiming for a second before he released the energy arrow as his last uttered word rang through the cavern tunnel.
A thundering twang echoed through the entire tunnel reaching the unaware security post a second after the arrows were released near-simultaneously.
Some Awakened reacted fast. Their danger senses tingled and they manifested their Artifacts without any hesitation. Their reaction was rapid, but they could only protect themselves with that. The Kitsun Awakened were too slow to warn the rest of the security team. All they saw was a volley of more than 50 arrows emerge from one of the cavern tunnels in front of them.
Most Awakened utilized their Soultraits and Artifacts powers instinctively. However, what they realized way too late was that none of the arrows had been aimed at them. The realization struck them only after a second barrage of arrows followed. A white energy arrow cut through the stale air of the cavern tunnel four times simultaneously as the two barrages of arrows shot out of the cavern tunnel, each of them precisely aimed at the Fire Elementals - their chokers to be precise.
The best Archers with the highest accuracy such as Michael and most Elven Archers had a special mission; they were supposed to shoot the chokers that hung around the Lesser Elementals' necks rather than the cores that were barely visible in the center of their bodies.
Instead of killing the Lesser Elementals, Michael wanted to free them. He didn't want to fight the Lesser Elementals to death. Instead, they focused on restraining the movements of the Kitsun Summons and Kitsun Awakened while crushing the chokers with energy arrows and highly penetrative Pieckers.
It was a little bit harder to aim and destroy the Lesser Elementals' chokers, but the difference in difficulty between killing the Elementals and freeing them was not that huge - only the end result was. By breaking their cores, Michael and his team could kill the Elementals. However, by breaking their chokers, they could free them - adding a new ally to their team.
The decision was obvious, and the result was immediate.
Once Michael's arrows reached their targets, the crystal chokers burst apart. The Fire Elementals, who had just regained freedom, flared up in excitement. However, their excitement was short-lived. In the next moment, the Fire Elementals turned to their former masters to take revenge for the misery they had to go through because of them.
More chokers burst apart as Michael's archers continued to release barrages of arrows. They freed more Elementals, who either helped their own brethren by breaking their chokers, or joined the battle to attack the Kitsun Summons and Kitsun Awakened.
In the meantime, a handful of Kitsun Summons and Kitsun Awakened had made their way into the dimly lit cavern tunnel. Unfortunately, dozens of Warriors, a handful of Berserkers, and an Elemental Mage were already waiting for them - other than Michael who enhanced Zark to release a powershot aimed between the closest Kitsun Awakened's brows.
After more than 20 Elementals had been freed, Michael and his Archers could divert their focus to deal with the Awakened and Summons. They determined the power of their enemies rapidly and killed the most annoying enemies on the spot - if possible -, or injured their vitals with a dozen arrows aimed at the same position.
By taking advantage of the surprise attack, Michael and his people turned a head-on battle into a war of attrition. The only downside for Michael's unit was the heavy price they had to pay for every barrage of arrows they'd released. However, that was something Michael could live with since he was forcing his Archers to use the Pieckers - one of the most expensive arrows in the barracks.
If not for the Pieckers lying around in their warehouses, Michael wouldn't have allowed his army to follow him inside the Elementals cave. After all, his army was not yet strong enough to deal with opponents at the 3rd Tier on their own. Even a powerful Tier-2 Awakened could prove troublesome for his people. That was where the highly penetrative Pieckers came into use.
Not even Michael was confident at blocking a barrage of more than 50 Pieckers all alone. He might not have problems evading them, but blocking so many arrows was not even something Thaor could do. He feared that even Mekhaz with his Living Armor couldn't ignore them - such was the might of the Pieckers.
Michael paid millions to have a few thousand Pieckers produced a while ago, but he was fine equipping his Archers with all of them. First of all, the Pieckers could be picked up and repaired for reuse if necessary, and it was always better to be safe and sound - especially with the weird feeling Michael got.
Taking a deep breath, Michael emptied his mind of the negative thoughts as well as possible. He condensed one arrow after another, shooting a Kitsun Warrior in the chest, drilling one energy arrow deep into the eye socket of another Kitsun Summon, and releasing a barrage of three arrows aimed at the wrists and kneecap of a Tier-2 Kitsun Awakened.
Afterward, Michael continued to release powershots with enhanced energy arrows. He killed one Kitsun after another, until the last of them was lying on the ground lifelessly.
Some Kitsun Summons and Awakened made it as far as clashing with his Vanguards, but none of them died in the exchange. The Vanguards used their numerical advantage to switch places and block one attack after another, while leaving enough space for the Berserkers, Warriors and Archers to deal damage.
Their armor and shields broke apart due to the heavy impact of some Kitsun Awakened, but that was a small problem. It was a monetary issue that could be solved easily.
Once the first battle was over, the Fire Elementals deployed at the security post were all freed. Michael stepped forward, releasing his Legendary Ring Artifact's dragon might as his lips parted.
"Free your kind, take revenge, or do whatever you want," He announced, his eyes turning ice-cold as he added, "But touch my people, and I will hunt you down until the end of the Origin Expanse!"