Michael was certain that the lizard charging at the totem pole was stronger than the lizard mother he had lured toward the Gogi Lord territory.
Despite that, the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team demolished the Tier-2 Hard-scale Lizard like it was nothing special.
The Lizard was dead, and the Forest Elves walked over to Michael, confidence plastering their faces.
“The Woodwoven Bow Artifacts and those arrows are a set, aren’t they?” Michael asked when the battle finished.
He had noticed that the Forest Elves channeled a tremendous amount of energy into both the Arrow and the Bow. They put an equal amount of energy into each of the Artifacts before everything was released at once when the arrow was fired.
“You noticed that already?” Lilica asked in slight surprise.
The EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team wanted to show off their Artifacts and power a little, but it looked like Michael found out their secret immediately.
Michael had used his Eagle Eyes to observe the Forest Elves’ archery technique, but he noticed something much better; the synergy between the Artifacts the Forest Elves used.
“The Pieckers are a special type of arrow. They’ve been enchanted with one enchantment- Piercing. It’s a Tier-1 enchantment which has been altered and upgraded. In exchange for the alteration and upgrades, a few restrictions had to be put on the enchantment, otherwise, the energy consumption would have been much higher. Thus, the enchantment of the Pieckers is only activated when their speed reaches a certain threshold,” Lilica explained before one of the other Elves added,
“Furthermore, they’re consumables, which is mostly due to the material used. They’re pretty cost-efficient and as long as you use the Tier-2 Woodwoven Bow’s Force enchantment to increase the arrow’s speed without affecting the pulling force, even Hard-Scale Lizards will have a hard time recovering from the attack!”
The Forest Elves looked smugly at Michael. They were proud of their race’s invention. Pieckers were certainly great arrows. Michael couldn’t agree more.
However, he noticed the downsides as well. It was hard not to notice them.
“But it looks like you won’t be able to use these attacks often. Maybe five…no…seven times in a row until everyone is out of energy,” Michael voiced out his doubts.
Lilica and the other Forest Elves nodded their heads. They weren’t affected by Michael’s comment. On the contrary, they seemed even prouder.
“We can release 7 Pieckers in a row, that’s correct. Our Adventurer team can kill seven Tier-2 Monsters before we have to replenish our energy!” The youngest Forest Elf said proudly.
The only Forest Elf who noticed that something was wrong was Lilica. She noticed that Michael was not completely convinced.
“Are you not satisfied with that, Michael?” She asked.
But, instead of answering immediately, Michael remained silent. He was deep in thought. Thus, Blaire answered on Michael’s behalf.
“Shouldn’t five Tier-2 Adventurers with Soultraits have a much easier time killing a Low Tier-2 Monster? It seems like a waste to use so much energy and consumable Tier-2 Artifacts to kill the Hard-scale Lizard. We cannot sell the scales anymore either as they are not intact, and its inner organs should have burst as well,” Blaire grumbled quietly as she finished her observations of the Lizard’s corpse and stepped back.
“Even if those arrows are cheap, they’ve been thoroughly enchanted. This battle was probably a financial loss. What a disaster…”
Blaire grumbled while looking at Michael, and in a voice quiet enough to feel assured that nobody else could hear her words. However, the Forest Elves had been listening intently and halted in their tracks the moment Blaire’s words reached their ears. As Tier-2 Adventurers with great inborn hearing sense, the Forest Elves could easily hear Blaire’s quiet grumbling.
Unfortunately, they didn’t like her thorough analysis.
They stared at Blaire while their earlier confident expression disappeared slowly.
Michael saw their reaction, but he had nothing encouraging to say.
“If you want to respond to that, please do. I am more than willing to listen. Every bit of communication helps,” Michael said instead.
Lilica’s lips parted but no word came out of her mouth. She pressed her lips together in a thin line after a few seconds and sighed deeply.
Their strategy to show off their great power seemed to have failed miserably.
“Master, did you see the destructive power of those arrows?” Tiara asked loudly as she rushed over to him. Her tail wagged excitedly, and she could barely stand still in front of her master.
“Yes, I saw them,” Michael answered.
“They’re amazing!” She exclaimed, which caused the Forest Elves’ drooped ears to rise once again.
They looked at Tiara with twinkling eyes, thankful that at least one of them was impressed with their hard work.
“Though it was wasteful to use so many of those arrows, I think we could make use of them,” Tiara added, crushing the Forest Elves’ hopes to get praised a little bit more immediately.
What was going on? Was everyone trying to crush their pride?
Michael nodded his head faintly, agreeing with Tiara’s comment.
He turned to Lilica and asked, “Are you guys willing to split up and become the leaders of one Archer Unit each? We would use the Pieckers to create an opening and target the severe injuries inflicted by the Pieckers to wear down Tier-2 Monsters with each Archer Unit.”
It was not a detailed battle strategy yet, but it was something that didn’t require too much teamwork or coordination.
Michael didn’t expect the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team to create miracles. He wanted to add them to his Army, most importantly, to make use of their high combat prowess in the most efficient way.
“You want to split us up?” The youngest Forest Elf asked, shock visible in his eyes.
“If you’re comfortable with that, yes,” Michael responded. However, he could already tell that it wouldn’t work like this.
Thus, he added something after giving it a thought, “Or you guys will have to change your fighting style a little. You’ve been fighting in a small group for years now. I favor using the numbers and abilities of all people in the territory. That way, I can exhibit the highest combat prowess.”
The Forest Elves clearly recalled how Michael’s army fought against more than 40 Adventurers. All of them had years of experience as Adventurers, and they weren’t weak by any means. Despite that, Michael overwhelmed them with Summons of a lower Tier and his battle strategies.
He gathered enough information before the battle and utilized the environment to his advantage to minimize risks. Michael’s strategies might not be perfect, but he was still a young Lord. He was bound to learn a lot, and adapt to every situation. That was what he had been doing the whole time, and he wouldn’t stop now.
“We’ve been fighting together for years. Furthermore, we don’t know how long we’ll be staying in your territory. If possible, we would like to work together,” Lilica said, at last.
She could tell that Michael was a little dissatisfied with their inflexibility, but he acknowledged their discomfort.
“In that case, you all will have to fight a few more times as a group. Only one Pieckers per fight though, and an energy consumption of less than 10%. If a Mid Tier-2 Monster arrives, you can use everything you have, but Low Tier-2 Monsters shouldn’t be a problem for you guys,” Michael ordered, his voice a little sharper than before.
“Meanwhile, you’ll also watch my people fight. If you have any advice, feel free to share. As long as it’s useful, I will implement the advice into our battle strategy.”
Michael realized that they had to postpone rushing inside the lizard cave for the time being. They would still enter it today, but it was more important to keep an eye on the Forest Elves. Michael knew that they wouldn’t become baggage, yet their actions didn’t seem to boost the morale of the entire army.
Everyone fought carefully, but the Forest Elves seemed like barbarians after their first fight. They were not willing to split up, nor did they show any real teamwork with the rest of Michael’s subjects though they were experienced adventurers.
It was quite ironic, considering that Forest Elves were said to be graceful combatants and not barbarians. It raised a few red flags for the rest of his team.