Chapter 663: Next

Once the warehouses and treasure vaults were looted, and the Awakened and Combat Summons slain it was time to leave and move on.

Michael considered visiting the other settlements, but he decided against it because time played against them. Instead, Michael gathered his people and traveled to the Huglaiv Lord's main settlement.

They didn't invade the Huglaiv Lord's main settlement upon arriving and waited until Zeroa's group arrived at their meeting spot instead.

The Elemental Empress dashed to Michael and bombarded him with various thoughts and memories, revealing the events of the last few hours. Michael learned about everything the Valyrs did in the small settlement of the Huglaiv Lord and scrunched his nose. He glanced at the Valyrs, tilted his head slightly, and watched them approach him.

"What is your plan?" Zira asked lightly, not even thinking about telling Michael about the happenings of the last few hours.

He shrugged inwardly and moved onward.

"It's pretty simple," Michael said, "We destroy the wall and charge inside. Once inside, we split up and slaughter the Awakened and everyone who blocks our path. It's pretty simple. There is no need for mindless slaughter either. That's just a waste of time and energy."

Zira raised an eyebrow, her eyes drifting to Zeroa who looked away. Zira was pretty sure that she heard a 'hmpf!' from the Elemental Empress, but she didn't pay much attention to Zeroa. Her attention returned to Michael.

"That's it?" Zira asked, only for Frederik to join their conversation.

"I don't want to interrupt you guys, but I think your plan won't work out as intended," He said lightly, gesturing toward the gates of the main settlement.

Michael channeled energy into Spirit Eyes to see what was unfolding in the main settlement and its gates. Their current location was three kilometers away from the settlement. They were on a slight elevation, but that shouldn't have been enough to expose them.

'Even Advanced Orbs of Hostility cannot differentiate between monsters and Awakened well. Is there a Superior Orb of Hostility, or something with equal power in the main settlement?' Michael wondered, only for his attention to drift to Zira and the Valyrs once again, 'Or they received a report about the destruction of their small settlement.'

One way or another, an army headed their way. They didn't travel toward them in a straight line, but it was only a matter of minutes before Michael and the others would be discovered.

But that was fine. It was perfect.

The spatial restrictions were weaker at the borders of the spatial lock dome. There would be no issue with jumping a short distance through space, especially with a Superior 5-Star Soultrait that could be further amplified and enhanced via Soul Tears and Enhancement.

Michael was confident that he could break through the low-quality spatial lock with brute force as long as he fused with Zeroa, used spatial energy, and had enough layers of Enhancement to reinforce Cosmic Stride. However, that didn't seem to be necessary since his targets served themselves on a silver platter.

The Huglaiv's army moved in a disciplined manner through the Savannah's grassland. Their cavalry rode on the outer ring of the formation while their infantry acted as the second layer of defense.

Dozens of Healers and hundreds of Sorcerers formed the core of the army. They were surrounded by more than a thousand Archers, who were protected by even more Warriors, Knights, Vanguards, Berserkers, and so forth.

The formation displayed by the army of 10,000+ Soldiers was a little bit odd. It looked like they expected to get attacked, yet at the same time, that didn't seem to be the case. Michael's eyes were sharp enough to pinpoint the lax attitude of the cavalry. The cavalrymen were gossiping rather than paying attention to the surroundings.

It was almost as if they could never anticipate that someone would attack them.

"Maybe, they were deployed to find out what happened in the small settlement," Michael mumbled.

"Let's attack them then!" Thaor exclaimed, his eyes burning fiercely.

The passion in the Berserker's eyes was hard to ignore. A smug smile appeared on Michael's face.

"We will strike once they leave the dome of the settlement's spatial lock."

"But won't that expose us?" Lilica asked, gesturing to the settlement, "Won't it be much harder to reach the main settlement then?"

Michael's smug smile widened.

"Yeah, they will notice us," He nodded, "But they won't be able to do anything against us. I have a plan."

Lilica, like everyone else, trusted Michael. The Valyrs scoffed, feeling that Michael was too arrogant and that he ought to fall hard on his nose in the near future, but they didn't say anything. Instead, they waited patiently until the command to assault reached them.

The army left the range of the spatial lock dome. They passed by Michael and the others with a gap of no more than 500 meters. That distance could be crossed in no time in a full sprint.

"Charge," Michael commanded, watching the Berserkers dash forward instantaneously.

Tiara and the Valyrs followed right behind whereas Lilica, Opars, and Mika stayed behind to aim the Huglaiv from the little elevation.

"Are you not going?" Mika asked as the Wyvernwood Bow Artifact manifested in his hands. He noticed that Michael hadn't moved yet.

Instead of answering, Michael focused on fusing with the Elemental Empress. A tight blazing armor made from mythical flames coated his body. The armor connected every part of his body, turning into a part of his being.

Michael's mastery of the elements skyrocketed the moment he fused with Zeroa. Their experiences merged and their powers skyrocketed.

It was the first time that Michael used Taming's Fusion with the Elemental Empress after he attained the Spheres of Elements Soultrait. He expected a slightly different experience, but Michael didn't think that the difference would be like this.

All of a sudden, Michael sensed things he never noticed. These subtle differences were not only about the surroundings and the strands of elemental attributed energy that permeated the air but also his body's compatibility with the elements. The reinforced elemental mastery granted Michael enough insights into Cosmic Stride and Spheres of Elements that he managed to jump one kilometer through space with a single thought.

He used Cosmic Stride with spatial energy subconsciously and with a simple command. There was no need for any complicated utilizations. Michael just did it.

Michael appeared in the air above the Huglaiv Healers and Sorcerers. Their heads shot up, only to uncover a stranger levitating in the sky.

Powerful gusts swirled around Michael, keeping him in the air as he proceeded to eliminate everyone in his proximity.

He activated the three Cursed Seals, unleashing their tremendous power and terrifying presence to sweep through every corner of his body. The Cursed Seals manifested in his face and upper body, amplifying his senses, emotions, and Extraction's potency.

Michael manifested the Soul Grimoire to apply one Soul Tear to the Extraction Symbol and the Enhancement Symbol. Following that, he pushed the Soul Grimoire aside, allowing it to absorb the countless tiny wisps that would fill the sky in a few seconds. He applied ten layers of Enhancement on the Extraction Symbol and fused the Dome of Extraction with the Extraction Aura.

True Extraction erupted from Michael's body, coating the surroundings bright golden. The small domain expanded rapidly. It coated the Healers and Sorcerers in an instant and engulfed the Archers around as well.

Screams of fear and terror rang through Michael's ears but he didn't listen to them. His attention was on the True Extraction Domain and the tremendous amounts of origin energy and lifeforce that surged into his body.

He split the origin energy into two portions. One portion was used to maintain the True Extraction Domain and expand it whereas the other portion was used to form an azure fireball above Michael's head.

The surplus lifeforce was used to replenish Michael's mental fatigue. Once that was taken care of, Michael inserted the excessive lifeforce into a small, fragile bullet of light. He shot Lokai with the bullet. Lokai's eyes widened when she sensed that Michael attacked her, but she trusted him enough to understand that Michael wouldn't harm her.

The Light Bullet shattered, and Insert came into play, inserting the lifeforce stored within the bullet into Lokai. Lokai's entire being was overflowing with lifeforce suddenly, taking her by surprise. However, it didn't take long before she understood what happened. She smiled vibrantly and used Life Conversion, allowing her Soultrait to devour the inserted lifeforce in exchange for a burst of raw power.

Her power skyrocketed before she barged into the group of cavalrymen and Vanguards.

Lokai turned into the incarnation of a Warlord Berserker. She wreaked havoc and tore her enemies apart as if they were made of paper.

Michael did something similar. Since everyone in True Extraction Domain's range was an enemy, he didn't have to think about holding back.

The highly destructive power of True Extraction was unleashed, killing all Tier-1 and Tier-2 Summons in its range within seconds.

Their origin energy and lifeforce entered Michael's form where it was recycled and used to expand the True Extraction Domain, nourish the azure fireball overhead, or shoot at Lokai with lifeforce-inserted light bullets.

As the True Extraction Domain expanded, more and more Huglaiv were affected. A single touch of the True Extraction Domain was enough to drain the energy around them and extract their hair and skin. Countless tendrils of Extraction forced their way into the Huglaiv's bodies, draining their origin energy and lifeforce rapidly.

The stronger Summons and Awakened could prevent the Extraction tendrils' invasion, but most were not strong enough to overpower a 7-Star Soultrait that had been enhanced and amplified through diverse means, including three Cursed Seals.

They died miserably.