Chapter 370: Beast Ranch
Blazing flames burned everything in the proximity. The flickering flames spread rapidly, sweeping through the guard settlement like an inferno.
The attack on the northern guard settlement was a great success. The raid had been completed, everything valuable plundered, and no Kitsun had been spared. One moment the guard settlement stood strong in the outer ring of the Untamed Jungle and the next moment the settlement turned into a burning ghost town - void of life, and slowly being reduced to ash with the passing of time.
40,000 Summons had been killed which included 4000 combatants. Other than the Summons, there had also been 80 Awakened. They died first without a chance of survival.
Everyone had been slaughtered mercilessly and the raging fire was still burning brightly when Michael and the rest disappeared. Michael, Tiara and the Forest Elves traveled on the two Greater Eagles' backs while Sun Demos and his Monkey Troupe moved rapidly through the Untamed Jungle.
"Notify me if something goes wrong. I'll start extracting the Awakened corpses now," Michael told Tiara before sending a message to Sun Demos through their telepathic communication.
["Split into smaller groups and spread out a little. Observe the surroundings and inform me once you find the Beast Ranch, or more Kitsun."]
Their next target was not another settlement. No, Michael figured that it might be better to get rid of the beast ranches across the Kitsun Lord's territory first. The threat of starving, bloodthirsty beasts coming at them was a lot higher than some Guards, or Tier-2 Kitsun Awakened. The Awakened of the Kitsun race didn't have a great physical build, but that was not the sole reason why Michael was so calm and composed.
His biggest reason to feel that the Kitsun Awakened were not much of a threat was the fact that the Awakened who fell victim to the Kitsun Lord's scheme never had strong Soultraits. Those with somewhat decent Soultraits came from poor backgrounds and were desperate for quick money due to various reasons. One way or another, Awakened with 4-Star or 5-Star Soultraits were usually trained to become Lords. They were the pillars of support to the society and could protect themselves if necessary.
'Why am I even doing this?!' Michael asked himself a little bit frustrated as he looked at the Memory Orbs hovering in his palm five minutes into the Extraction session. He finished Extracting 81 Awakened corpses, rewarding him with a bunch of loot - including the Memory Orbs from two Peak Tier-2 Kitsun.
They had been old and stronger than the first Kitsun Michael had interrogated. That was also why Michael ended up swallowing the Memory Orbs, digesting the grotesque memories of the most devilish race he had ever heard about.
Only a few minutes passed after he began digesting the Memory Orbs before he began to curse loudly.
"These fucking bastards! How is it even possible to be that evil? Why, in the name of the Origin Expanse, is this race even alive? How is that even possible...like for real?!?"
Tiara and Lilica, who were both seated behind him on Icarus' back, looked at him with concern. They didn't know why Michael was torturing himself by digesting the Kitsun's Memory Orbs. It was not necessary for him to continue to suffer. Both women had had enough of the Kitsun's Memory Orbs after digesting just one of them, yet Michael had already digested close to 10 in total.
"Ahhhh....I really want to kill them all...Annihilating them should be considered a good deed and a huge favor to the whole Origin Expanse, maybe even the Universe..." Michael continued to curse and he didn't stop shouting insults at the Kitsun race for the next half an hour until they finally closed in to their destination.
However, before they arrived, Michael decided to reward Tiara with the SoulStar Fragments he had extracted from the 81 Awakened.
"Since most of the Awakened were Tier-2, but without any great Soultraits, I could only extract roughly 1600 SoulStar Fragments. I didn't crush the Soultrait Symbols yet though. The Awakened rewarded five Soultrait Symbols, but I want to put them aside for now. Maybe we can use them later," Michael said, still agitated and fuming in anger.
Tiara stared at the SoulStar Fragments Michael gave her with slight surprise. She didn't expect Michael to give her anything else after obtaining his Spirit Whip Soultrait. But from the looks of it, Michael wanted her to upgrade Spirit Whip to a 5-Star Soultrait quickly.
Michael didn't want to reveal his feelings after the death of his army, but Tiara could tell that her Master was worried about her well-being. He knew that he couldn't order her to stay back and return to the territory because he needed her, but he wanted to provide her with as many benefits as possible to ensure her survival.
"Thank you..." Tiara mumbled softly as tentacle-like streams of energy shot out of the back of her hand.
The streams of energy coiled around the SoulStar Fragments before retracting back into the War Rune. Tiara used the SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Spirit Whip as much as possible. It was not enough to form a complete star, but the outlines and a small portion of the inner area had already been filled with energy. Tiara wouldn't have to wait too long before upgrading Spirit Whip.
Once Spirit Whip was upgraded, Tiara would be in possession of three 5-Star Soultraits with great synergy. Her combat prowess was bound to skyrocket, yet Tiara was fully aware that all of this was merely the beginning. She knew Michael well enough to know that he would love to give everyone as many Soultraits as possible - if that meant that his people could overcome all kinds of ordeals.
Unfortunately, Summons couldn't use Soultraits. They couldn't fuse with them, turning the Soultrait Symbols into useless objects for the Summons.
Lilica's gaze moved between Tiara and Michael. She didn't say anything but a small seed of envy germinated in her heart.
Even though she knew that Michael would treat her the same if she signed a Soul Pact to ensure her loyalty to him and that she and her team wouldn't disappear at the first sign of looming danger after obtaining a few more Soultraits, Lilica wasn't satisfied.
Tiara wasn't forced to sign a Soul Pact either. Michael treated them differently, yet not.
Tiara didn't have a home to return to anymore. Michael's territory was actually her home. It was only obvious, but she would give her utmost to protect her new home. Meanwhile, Lilica and the rest of the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team could leave the Origin Expanse at the first sign of danger. That was the difference between them, and the reason why Michael gave Tiara the Soultraits she desired without batting an eye.
From a rational point of view, it made sense. Nonetheless, Lilica didn't like it and felt that Michael was playing favorites. It irked her.
"Let's get ready," Michael said loud enough for his voice to reach the back of the green-feathered Greater Eagle near them as well.
Liopham lifted his arm and gestured to Michael that they heard him and they changed their position.
Not wanting to wait until Sun Demos and his Monkey Troupe arrived, Michael ordered the Elemental Empress to get moving. Icarus lowered his altitude until they were less than 50 meters away from the Beast ranch.
The Beast Ranch was a ginormous structure. It was surrounded by humongous stone walls with the interior looking like an arena used by Gladiators in ancient times. Coarse sand covered in dried blood entered Michael's sight almost immediately. However, he didn't pay much attention to that.
Instead, he focused on the Elemental Empress and Opars. Opars released his Soultrait, Energy Imprint, to fill every strand of fire within the Elemental Empress' body with tremendous strength as she unleashed her blazing flames.
The Elemental Empress might only be a Tierless being for now, but she was on the highest level of a Superior Existence. Her existence was bordering the threshold of a Mythical Existence. This factor was the reason she could release blazing flames from the female Greater Eagle's back for several minutes, creating a circle of blazing flames around the Beast Ranch.
At the same time, Michael, Tiara, and Lilica waited until the Golden Stinger Wasp stung them with its energy stinger before they jumped down from Icarus' back.
They bypassed the stone walls and jumped straight through the open ceiling, entering the bloodthirsty Beast Ranch without hesitation. Michael and the others knew that the subdued bloodthirsty beasts were stronger, restless, and starving. That meant they would not hesitate to attack anyone around them once released, but that was no reason to be afraid of them.
On the contrary, Michael and the others felt much more comfortable dealing with enemies, who confronted them head-on. Nobody liked crafty, scheming enemies such as the Kitsun Lord. That was also why Michael decided to fight the combat forces of the Kitsun Lord head-on and force him to come out of his hiding to deal with him and his people.
'I hope you are even greedier and more obsessed with the Elemental Empress than these fucking memories in my head suggest.'
Michael jumped down to the ground, ignoring the Kitsun workers all around him. He heard their screams and shouts as Tiara and Lilica appeared next to him. The two women disappeared the moment they landed next to him. Their weapons cut through the air, drawing blood, and reaping the lives of the Kitsun working in the Beast Ranch.
Lilica and Tiara stored the corpses in their War Runes' storages before they rushed back to him. Involuntarily, their eyes moved to the iron fences located in front of them.
They didn't see anything at first, only for a tinge of surprise to appear on their faces as bloody-red eyes peered at them through the darkness of the huge hall behind the iron fences.
There was only one pair of bloody-red eyes glowing in the darkness in the first moment, but a second, third, and more than a hundred pairs of eyes followed soon after.
The moment the bloody-red eyes locked on the women, they broke into a sweat.
An overwhelming amount of bloodlust impacted heavily on their minds and souls.
Only Michael was able to stay calm facing the heavy bloodlust. In fact, he was not only calm but even smiled lightly.
"Eliminate the Kitsun while I pay attention to these small doggos."
**
[Author Note: Hey Guys, I'm back again. Unfortunately, not everything is as easy as it had been before. I should get back into my zone soon, but I hope that the chapter quality is still the same as before. Please leave some juicy comments and a review to support me.
Remark -- Today only one chapter because I'm busy with the funeral and other stuff.]