Chapter 602: May The War Begin

The Teleporters writhed in pain as the Extraction Aura impacted heavily.

They tried using their Soultraits to escape Michael's grasp but their energy storages were drained and their energy paths had been blocked. Even their Runic Gate access had been blocked with the poison. There was not a single path of escape left.

Their eyes landed on the Lord of the Untamed Jungle. The monstrosity. The devil.

He went all out to obliterate Kivan and the last Teleporter, extracting their Soultraits while they were still alive. The shock of losing a part of their being and the tremendous pain inflicted alongside ended their lives in one of the most miserable ways possible.

Michael didn't have to go that far, but he wasn't willing to give them an easier death. They didn't deserve to die easily.

He stored their Soultraits away and consumed the large SoulStar Fragments he'd extracted.

"Is revenge satisfactory or not? Why don't I feel better?" Michael grit his teeth.

Taking revenge for Liopham and Pheli was good. It was great that the Teleporters were dead and that they wouldn't harm anyone ever again. However, killing them didn't bring Liopham and Pheli back. They were dead. Even revenge didn't change that fact.

"These weak bastards managed..."

Michael cursed under his breath.

He knew that the Teleporters hadn't been weak. They were Peak Tier-3 Awakened with useful Soultraits, great Artifacts and lots of experience. It was just their misfortune to encounter someone like Michael. Michael had 10 Soultraits. Extraction was 7-Star, and both Spirit Eyes and Superior Constitution were 6-Star. His remaining Soultraits were all 5-Star Soultraits.

Each of his Soultraits was quite powerful in its way, and he could use two Soultraits to strengthen his other Soultraits temporarily. Last but not least, Michael had the Cursed Seals that released a portion of Extraction's limit once he unleashed them.

If that was not enough to demonstrate Michael's superiority, he had Soul Techniques as well. The Council of Xylon didn't possess any Soul Techniques. The Teleporters might have been highly experienced, but they couldn't do anything against Michael. He was on a whole different level!

"Fuck this shit..." Michael cursed, kicking the dead bodies once he extracted their War Runes' storages. He left them for the Untamed Jungle to consume and returned to the massacre he had left behind when he killed the 500 Summons and Awakened.

He released the Dome of Extraction and controlled hundreds of Extraction tendrils to loot the bodies. He absorbed as many Summoning Scrolls, Scroll Fragments, SoulStar Fragments, Soultraits, Artifacts, and so on as possible and stored them away.

Afterward, he continued to curse before leaving the corpses to the Untamed Jungle once again. He destroyed a part of the Untamed Jungle when he went wild with True Extraction. The invaders' bodies were a tribute to the Untamed Jungle to fix the mess he had created.

Michael didn't know when he started leaving tributes to the Untamed Jungle, but since the High Beast horde didn't attack him, he felt like he should be a bit nicer to the Untamed Jungle.

The Untamed Jungle had their own issues but the inhabitants of the Untamed Jungle seemed to combine their forces to deal with pesky invaders. That was something Michael supported.

"Should I attack the Council of Xylon?" Michael murmured, itching to travel across the Savannah Region and obliterate some settlements. It wouldn't matter if he lost himself in rage and anger in the Council of Xylon's territory either. As long as he went alone Michael could unleash his Cursed Seals and empower True Extraction as much as he wanted. No one close to him would get harmed.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to turn the Savannah Region upside down. Frederik called him from the Pillar of Territorial Awareness.

"The Heart of the Blazing Lion army crossed the borders...The High Beast Horde is on the move!"

Michael frowned deeply. His head flicked to the corpses around him.

"Did they know about the attack? They shouldn't have any connections though..."

He had no clue and there was no time to rake his brain either. Michael retracted Extraction and his other Soultraits and rushed through the Untamed Jungle straight back to the Greater Nature Spirit.

There was no time to clean his body either. Frederik's eyes widened when he saw Michael covered in blood, but he regained his senses quickly.

"I've deployed your attendants to tell everyone about the Zentika Empire's attack," He said, before staring back at the map of the Pillar of Territorial Awareness, "But to think that the Untamed Jungle's monsters have been ignoring our territory to prepare for the Heart of the Blazing Lion army's attack. Is the Untamed Jungle a hive-mind, or something like that? Is there an Overlord controlling everything precisely?"

Michael raised an eyebrow, "You're oddly composed given that we're going to battle 150,000 seasoned Soldiers soon. Don't act too cocky. I don't want to tell Jacqueline that you died because you were too assured in your new powers."

"I'm...not overconfident. But have you seen how many High Beasts attack the Heart of the Blazing Lion army?" Frederik pointed at the Pillar of Territorial Awareness.

Michael turned to the map and smiled lightly. At least two dozen huge red dots were charging out of the Untamed Jungle's middle area. 30 High Beasts and close to 20,000 ordinary monsters attacked the forces of the Zentika Empire.

"If we don't support them soon they'll be killed either way. Do you think the Zentika Empire is not prepared against the High Beasts? They've already suffered a feisty defeat after underestimating the Untamed Jungle once. They'll eradicate the High Beast Horde quicker than you may think," Michael uttered also pointing at one particular red dot.

It was a large red dot from one of the Untamed Jungle's High Beasts. The red dot charged into the huge mass of red dots from the Zentika Empire...and disappeared after a few seconds.

"Oh...fuck..." Frederik cursed, and Michael just nodded.

"Gather with the Untamed Awakened if you want to battle with them. You can also shift with the Forest Elves and focus on ranged attacks. Aeroan is the most suitable for large-scale attacks. Use the Untamed Jungle's environment to your advantage and take the most annoying Summons out. I cannot get a good measurement of their strength from the mass of red dots but most enemies seem to be at the 2nd Tier, Late, or Peak rank. Take them by surprise and overwhelm them with your Soultraits!" Michael advised his friend.

He looked deep into Frederik's azure eyes and repeated the most important aspect.

"Don't die." Michael ordered, "Otherwise, I will find and kill you myself!"

Frederik grinned brightly at Michael, who could only shake his head. There was no time to smile.

"Go."

Frederik didn't wait a single second longer. He continued to smile but turned around on his heels and controlled the winds around him. He kicked the ground and turned into a flash the moment his feet left the ground.

Michael took a deep breath, his eyes lingering on the Pillar of Territorial Awareness' map.

"So, it has finally started..." He mumbled, the cogs in his mind turning.

The corner of his lip curled upward.

The long-awaited prey finally came to him on its own.

"Took you long enough."