Chapter 932: To the Rescue

Michael felt a little different in his body: Shedding his mortal vessel was a completely different sensation from upgrading Sacred Constellation or refining his physique. It was more than that. It was so much more.

Michael stretched a little for a good minute before channeling enough energy into Cosmic Stride to escape the sealed cave. Since he was now formally acknowledged as the Lord of the Untamed Jungle, Michael could easily escape the containment seals that had been etched all over the cave. They didn't affect him.

He appeared several kilometers above the surface and closed his eyes. The first thing he did was to stir the monsters of the Untamed Jungle awake. Some monsters had been hibernating for years, decades even. Their deep slumber had to end. [Attack the Dragonkin. Act as you please to protect the Untamed Jungle, but kill them!] Michael commanded via Whispering Energy, his voice reverberating through the heads of the Untamed Jungle's monsters. This included the sentient plants spread across the Untamed Jungle's central area.

Once his order reached the jungle monsters and Michael received a response through their Links of Loyalty, he made his move.

He could instinctively tell where the Dragys were, how strong each was, and every little detail about their emotions and physical condition. The jungle's plant life told him everything Michael had to know, including their numbers, positioning, and course of action.

Everything flashed through Michael's mind: millions of pieces of information, some of them repeated hundreds of times. Michael's head rattled, but he dispersed the information influx in the Nature Heart once he knew where to go first.

He accessed Cosmic Stride again and appeared next to a large three where three Dragys, all Higher Lifeforms at the 6th Tier, attacked Hiraku valiantly. Hiraku wasn't even close to becoming a Tier-6 powerhouse, but he defended well. His Artifacts, three Legendary High Artifacts, drastically increased his physical prowess in the Titan form. But there was more to it. Hiraku's massive figure was coated in the Dragys' flames, but the veins covering him weren't burning. Instead, they consumed the flames and nourished Hiraku's prowess.

"To think a war with Divine Lifeforms was required to push you to pick a bunch of new Soultraits," Michael snorted, but the corners of his lips curled upward, "How about I help you a little?" The Dragys turned around in surprise. They hadn't heard a sound, only to find a young human levitating beside them. The Dragys were war veterans and reacted quickly. Flames jumped to life in their hands, and they lobbed them at Michael. The flames engulfed Michael within seconds and threatened to burn him to a cinder. It was supposed to be like that, at least.

Michael smiled and used one of Zeroa's favorite flames, the violet-azure flame, to shroud his body while mixing traces of True Extraction Essence into it. The violet-azure flames devoured the Dragys' flames and expanded. They transformed into tiny, highly compressed needles, which Michael released with a burst of energy.

But instead of attacking the 6th Tier Dragys with the violet needles, they whistled through the Untamed Jungle at a shocking velocity. A few screams echoed through the surroundings, but Michael noticed only the energy influxes and Death Call empowering him.

'This is better than expected. At least four times more energy than a single energy influx...and there is more.'

Michael nodded slowly while manifesting all Serpent Seals simultaneously. He used Heavenly Beast Physique in its perfect form and added Foundation Break. His body was overflowing with power and cracking in several spots. His skin and flesh tore apart wherever the Serpent Seals manifested, but Michael didn't pay it any attention. River of Vigor healed him as fast as his body burst apart.

"I will have to solve that issue soon. A Divine Shell is too much for a Tier-6 Lord to handle," He smiled, kicking the air to propel his body toward the Dragys. They slashed and thrust at him with their weapons, but Michael manifested his Aethyr with great familiarity. Two finger-tip-sized shields appeared on two spots on his chest and left shoulder, perfectly blocking the incoming attacks. He smiled at the perfect execution of the Aethyr Scales and transformed his Aethyr into small daggers.

The Dragys wanted to move and leave, but vines and roots kept them in place. Hiraku was helping Michael, but that wasn't necessary. The Nature Heart controlled all plant life, especially the flora and fauna of the Untamed Jungle, to perfection. The vines and roots heed his command and restrain the nemesis of the Untamed Jungle until Michael arrives before them. Once he reached them, not even their Epic Artifacts and Soultraits were of any help. The Aethyr Daggers slit across their throats with deadly precision before a tiny Qi blade impaled them, penetrating their chests and hearts in one go.

More energy influxes and power of the Death entered his body, urging the Energy Vortex to improve his War Rune and push him to great heights. Michael eyed Hiraku for a moment but focused on the Dragys corpses instead. He teleported the corpses within Cosmic Stride's range to him, forming a smiling pile of Dragys corpses to his left. A moment later, a massive golden wolf head conjured around him. [There is no time. Let me give you a taste of what you could be doing instead of wasting my precious power like you do EVERY SINGLE TIME!] Fenrir declared his last words, a war declaration, to Michael.

Michael snorted inwardly but let Fenrir act as he pleased. The massive wolf head shot down on the pile of corpses and moved through them. It looked like Fenrir swallowed them all, yet not a single corpse disappeared even after the golden wolf head dispersed. In fact, the Dragys corpses didn't move an inch...yet more than 100,000 SoulStar Fragments and dozens of Soultrait Symbols entered the War Rune storage.

Michael smiled and walked up to Hiraku. He retrieved a few tens of thousands of SoulStar Fragments, applied Insert, and smashed the pile into Hiraku's chest.

"I forgot to wish you a happy birthday," Michael teased his friend before he added in a more serious tone, "You are the best right hand I could have wished for. If not for you, my territory in the Untamed Jungle would be no more. This is only a small reward. Use it well, and promise me to survive!" [Don't let my brother fool you. I am strong as well. Let me show you something cool!] Hel declared emotionlessly. Her voice made it sound like she wasn't excited, but the content of her words revealed the opposite.

The Death Seals blossomed on his right side without Michael's doing. He sensed Hel was doing something but didn't block her. Michael allowed her to move.

Death energy, missed with a dreary all-consuming darkness, burst out of Michael's ride side. It shot forward and engulfed the pile of Dragys corpses.

[Do you need their corpses?]

Michael thought about it for a moment, and while there might be many things he could extract from them once this mess was over, he shook his head. Hel was doing something big.

The all-consuming darkness swallowed the corpses and retracted, filling Michael's Energy Vortex with a torrent of perfectly purified energy and his Soul Grimoire with...Undead Souls?

Michael wasn't quite sure what the Undead Souls in his Soul Grimoire were, but he was about to find out.

He summoned the Soul Grimoire and unleashed Hel's abominations into the Untamed Jungle.