Chapter 885: Bombing

Michael and Zeroa didn't waste time and resources to repeat the plan to attack the next half-empty settlement. And again, the Lord of the Blaze household was a Tier-5 powerhouse with an incredibly weak foundation. This time, however, the Lord was an old man. Michael remembered him from Olivia's memories as the failure of the Blaze household.

He took three years to reach Tier-2 and almost ten years to advance to Tier-3. But now he was suddenly a Tier-5 powerhouse. That was surprising, yet it wasn't a reason to spare the Lord. The Elemental Empress' fireball crashed heavily onto his settlement, only to cause no harm. The old Lord blocked the attack, consuming the fireball by using his Soultrait, Pyro Consuma. It wasn't difficult for the Lord to do so, and he even gained energy by converting the fiery flames into origin energy. However, devouring the fireball wasn't a slow process. He was defenseless, creating an opening for Michael. He appeared next to the man and studied him before ending his life with a serpent fang through his wildly beating heart.

Michael saw regret and guilt in the old man's eyes, but he didn't care. He proceeded to kill the remaining Awakened in the settlement and store their lives. After that, Michael looted the settlement before disappearing again.

**

Michael wasn't having as much fun fighting the Lords of the Blaze household as his subjects. The Untamed Army clashing with the two Blaze armies was probably the highlight of the day. For the Blaze armies, it was the most terrifying day of their lives - their last day - and for the Untamed Army, it was as brutal carnage. The Blaze armies' Summons were quickly dealt with. There might have been 200,000 of them, but the strongest were only at the 2nd Tier. They hadn't even progressed far in the 2nd Tier either. That was the downside of creating a large army of Summons when you didn't have the resources to train and nourish them properly. Thousands of Tier-2 Summons had been trained and equipped within a few months, but there were still tens of thousands of Tier-1 Summons with ordinary equipment. Not even the mightiest shields at the 1st Tier were strong enough to block the destructive power of a Peak Tier-2 Elemental's projectiles or the arrows of the Forest Elves. The elemental mages, all Elementals, and Awakened, such as Frederik, focused on the Blaze armies' Summons. They didn't unleash their strongest attacks but focused on the masses instead.

That was how 40,000 Elementals, none weaker than the Low rank of the 2nd Tier, a few dozen Awakened, and the Forest Elves - both Summons and Awakened - transformed the battlefield into a zone of death and destruction. The Awakened of the Blaze armies were already busy enough protecting their own lives. They couldn't afford to protect their Lords' subjects simultaneously. Thus, all they could do was watch their allies die and charge the Untamed Army to eliminate them before the Blaze armies' Summons were dead.

But that didn't work as well as intended either. While the Blaze armies had many Higher Lifeforms, most had only one weak Soultrait. Their strongest Soultrait was a 4-Star fire-attributed Soultrait and belonged to one of the Blaze household's disciples. They had been taken under the Blaze household's wings after manifesting their Soultrait and received great treatment from them. To their misery, that treatment wasn't enough to overpower the Aqueous Domain, the fire resistance granted from the Elementals' elemental might and the other Soultraits used to weaken fire-based attacks. The Untamed Awakened might not have as many members as the Blaze armies' Awakened, but they could simultaneously fight many enemies at their rank. EVERY member of the Untamed Awakened could do that fairly easily. But the Untamed Awakened didn't fight alone. Members like Lokai used their Soultraits to empower their entire army, fairly increasing their overall combat prowess. It was more than enough to strengthen the military might drastically and reduce the potential casualties on their side by a large margin.

The strongest High Awakened were stalled by Hiraku, Mekhaz, Thaor, Jason Kleora, and others, while the remaining forces, both Awakened and Summons, combined their forces to storm the Blaze Awakened.

The Awakened's morale plummeted once the Summons of the Blaze armies were dead. The opposite was the case for the Untamed Army. Their power seemed to skyrocket as their inevitable victory inched closer.

(760)

There had been some surprises, such as the use of explosives and suicidal Artifacts. Before the Lords controlling the Blaze armies died, some Awakened, and Summons were focused on sacrificing their lives. Their energy and lifeforce erupted, channeled into explosives and exploded in the masses of the Untamed Army, killing themselves and dozens of members of the Untamed Army at once.

The tricks with the suicidal attacks and explosives worked at first, but it wasn't long until Starheaven Pharaoh, Siegfried Dracoon, and the others devised several countermeasures. They weren't perfect because it was quite difficult to pinpoint the suicidal Awakened and Summons among the batch of enemies. Still, the situation improved gradually once most Summons of the Blaze armies were dead and when the Links of Loyaty holding the Blaze army together dispersed. Their Lords had been killed, releasing the Awakened and Summons from the commands they had been given to follow in the case of emergency.

They didn't have to sacrifice themselves against their will anymore, which was enough for the Untamed Army to charge in again and kill them all. Some Awakened tried to flee now that the Links of Loyalty removed their shackles, but the Untamed Army didn't grace them with such luxury. They killed everyone.

Several hours passed in the blink of an eye. The bloody battlefield had been cleared, and all corpses and equipment had been collected and stored properly.

Michael and Zeroa had returned with loot from the two settlements. They were welcomed with big smiles.

"Are we going to offer the residents of the other settlements the same, My Lord?" Siegfried Dracoon inquired, smiling at the success of their campaign.

"No. We will leave," Michael shook his head. His order to retreat came as a surprise. Everyone was certain Michael would continue attacking the Lords of the Blaze household now that they'd conquered the first half. Only five territories were left. Destroying them shouldn't be an issue.

"You don't have to worry about us. We're still full of energy!" One of the Berserkers standing next to Thaor declared. He flexed his muscles while gracing Michael with a toothy smile.

"That's not the point," Michael responded simply, "By now, the Blaze Patriarch and the remaining Lords must have heard about the death of the five Lords. They will rally their forces and come for us together..."

"We can defeat them," the same Berserker exclaimed confidently.

"Maybe, but the majority of my forces would die. That is not necessary," Michael said in a serious tone. He noticed the Berserker had more to say but lifted his hand to stop him, "You will get your fight. Stop thinking like a fool, and trust me. I have a plan.

Michael glanced at the Starheaven Pharaoh with a smile.

"A good plan."