Chapter 552: No Jam

The battlefield north to the Laprix Lord's territory was flooded with the Council of Xylon's army. The long-distance fighters such as their Archers, Mages, and Healers built a small camp at a hillside that bordered the flatlands inside the Laprix's territory.

They used the advantage of their altitude and the lack of hiding spots spread throughout the battlefield to hunt the defenders. The Trilance's forces were not necessarily weaker than the Council of Xylon. If anything, they could only survive this long because they were stronger than the average combatant of the Council's army.

The Valkyria, the elite force of the Valyrians, posed the biggest threat to the Council's army. Their racial trait granted them a minor fire affinity, allowing them to use a wide variety of techniques to overpower their enemies. Even the Valyr Summons were stronger than the average Summon. Their racial advantage was similar to the physical advantage of the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs. It provided them an edge in fights against beings without racial advantages.

"I want to fight them," Thaor announced, his eyes locked onto the Valyrians.

"They're your allies," Lokai slapped her brother on the back of the head with great force, "Your enemies are over there. They might seem weaker but look at their numbers. This will be a fun fight."

Lokai seemed excited just like the other Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs. Zira stared at them in disbelief but Michael could only smile. He was well aware of the Berserkers' and Warlock Centaurs' desire to fight and how much they loved to wage war, however, it was something new for Zira. "They're fine. Don't think too much about them," Michael said, "Do you want to join us, or will you join the Valyrians?" "How about you join me to fight alongside the Valyrians? Since almost everyone in your group is at the 2nd Tier or above, we should have a good chance to break through their defenses. It shouldn't be impossible to destroy their camp."

Once their camp was destroyed, the Council of Xylon would be pushed back and forced to retreat to set up a new camp further in the back.

"Did you already cut their supply chains, or did you fail in destroying their supply convoys?" Michael asked, his eyes fixed on the campsite on the hill.

"Their supply chains are well protected. Our cavalry tried to take them by surprise and attack at night, but they must have Orbs of Hostility, or similar devices installed into their caravans. We were detected and blocked long before we could reach their supplies," Zira answered begrudgingly.

Michael nodded sharply and gathered his people around.

"I've got a plan," He said, waking up Stinger, the Golden Stinger Wasp, who had been sleeping soundly in his coat until now. Zeroa kept the little Golden Stinger Wasp warm. Stinger hummed happily as he saw Michael, who smiled back at the little monster.

Little Stinger was not as tiny as before. The Golden Stinger Wasp grew up well and some Tamers suspected that he was going to evolve pretty soon. Michael was looking forward to that. After all, Stinger was a valuable asset to his combat force.

"If you won't join us, you might as well return to the Valyrians," Michael advised Zira, who happened to be listening to Michael's plan, "We will take care of the rest."

"Eh. I might as well join you. I'm curious to find out how your plan will work out."

"Suit yourself," Michael said with a nod before he proceeded to tell everyone about his plan. It was simple but certain to work out. After all, the Trilance had yet to try something like that. They didn't have the means.

Once Michael was done sharing the plan, Stinger stung everyone one by one. He disappeared in the next moment, a spatial portal teleporting the Stinger to the peak of the hill. A quarter of a second later, Michael, Lokai, Thaor, Lilcia, and Tiara disappeared. The Golden Stinger Wasp reappeared in their spot. In the meantime, the five Awakened appeared on the peak of the hill, in the center of the enemy's camp.

They appeared in a large tent, on top of a large wooden table where the map of the Savannah Region had been spread out. The army's general and commanders were in a meeting, their bodies leaned over the map when a spatial portal suddenly manifested above them. A tiny wasp had emerged from the small spatial portal, only to be replaced by five large figures.

Lokai and Thaor crashed on top of two commanders. They reacted instinctively and executed their strongest techniques to take their enemies by surprise and end them with one swoop. Michael, Lilica, and Tiara weren't any slower. Tiara's body transformed as she exerted Silvarean Tiger, and her body lunged forward. A three-fold intertwined Spirit Whip lashed out at the closest enemy, her spear thrusting forward, piercing through the enemy's chest in one go.

Lilica, on the other hand, pulled back her bowstring and manifested an energy-condensed arrow to shoot at the Guards who were trying to run away to warn the others. Michael used Insert to apply Enhancement onto Lilica's bow and insert several layers of Enhancement onto Tiara. Simultaneously, Lokai's Burning Fury was unleashed, her Soultrait empowering her allies gradually.

Michael used his Soul Energy to empower Heavenly Beast Physique with several layers of Enhancement to overpower the general-in-command. He manifested the Aethyr Longsword and cleaved down on the General, whose eyes were widened in shock and disbelief.

The General was an Awakened at the Peak of Tier-3, and he was experienced enough to respond quickly. However, he was taken by surprise. He, just like everyone else, didn't expect enemy forces to appear in the commando tent, especially not at this moment.

Under normal circumstances, the entire camp should have received a warning if foreign energy fluctuations invaded their territory. The energy fluctuations would have been weakened, or completely dispersed. However, the minute spatial fluctuations of Zeroa's tiny spatial portal passed through the defensive mechanism by utilizing the tiny gap of overlapping energies in the center of the campsite. The overlapping energies in the campsite couldn't be sensed by ordinary beings. The interferences were minuscule and they didn't affect the efficiency of the devices that had been installed in the center of the camp to safeguard the campsite from invaders and long-distance attacks of all kinds.

In fact, even Zeroa could not sense the overlapping energies in the center of the campsite. Only Michael had been able to see the overlapping energies by channeling energy into his Spirit Eyes. His eyesight improved significantly and the energy fluctuations in his field of vision grew more vibrant. He noticed several dome-like structures that were invisible to the eyes of ordinary beings. The domes existed to warn the camp if an enemy invaded them from all sides, if foreign entities utilized energy within their ranks, and various other means to determine the extent of breach of their defenses by the enemies.

These means of defense and safeguard weren't uncommon. They were ordinary structures used by the majority of Lords since they were the most useful to prevent enemy forces from invading your territory. They were almost perfect. Almost.

The instruments utilized to create the domes and other structures that protected the campsite were installed in the center of the camp. However, some of these instruments were placed too close to each other, therefore, canceling out each other's effects, rendering the spatial interference useless in a tiny space. This speck of space was inconspicuous and it was way too small to allow the manifestation of an ordinary spatial portal.

However, it was big enough to create a miniature spatial portal that could battle a small entity, a Golden Stinger Wasp. And that was more than enough to initiate Michael's plan.

After Stinger grew stronger, its stinger effect lasted much longer. A single use of its racial trait could transport five entities simultaneously. Michael had been worried that the spatial interference would trouble Stinger's racial trait, but it was different from an ordinary spatial affinity. Stinger's racial trait was unique. It was not registered by the alarms and spatial interference, letting him do his job undetected!

Michael utilized his overwhelming strength and momentum to take leverage of the General's shock and disbelief. He beheaded the General after rendering him incapable of defending himself by utilizing a 6-layered Spiritual Domination. Michael used Prognosis to determine the General's path of retreat and cut cleanly through his head.

The others existed also quite fast. Nobody could escape their surprise attack. One of the generals and two commanders had been eliminated with their initial attack, and more would follow soon. But before that, they had to remove the camp's protective mechanisms. Those were a hassle.

To tackle that issue, Michael transformed The Aethyr Longsword into a Warhammer. Next, he moved to the instruments that had been installed next to the table with the Savannah Region's map and lifted the Aethyr Warhammer. He pulled the Warhammer high above his head and smashed down the heavy tool of destruction, crushing one device after another.

In less than half a minute, Michael had destroyed all devices. He retracted the Aethyr Warhammer into his body and waited for Zira and his subordinates to arrive. ["That was a bit fun. Not much, but a little bit."] Zeroa spoke into Michael's mind, and he agreed.

"The Tekur existed stronger."

That made sense. The battlefield north of the Laprix Lord's territory was smaller. Their General was strong, but he was not as strong as the Lords of the Council of Xylon. Michael doubted that anyone in the Savannah Region owned a Soul Technique either. Even if someone did, he was quite sure that their Soultrait was too weak to make full use of a Soul Technique. Otherwise, the Savannah Region would already be ruled by a single entity.

"But I think this is going to be quite fun. This is just one of the many battles that await us!"