“They’re fleeing!”
Michael’s memories of the battle were hazy. He didn’t know how much time had passed since he returned to the battlefield to aid his subjects, but the news of the Jungle Expedition’s retreat woke his mind.
He regained his senses, allowing him to clearly assess the current situation.
“They still have 15,000 members left, but their mental strength has been crushed. The Invaders don’t even know how many enemies they’ve killed and how many are left behind to jump upon them at every corner. They’ve been scared witless, and the seeds of fear and terror have blossomed,” Lilica murmured next to him.
Michael nodded his head faintly. Ever since he returned to the battlefield after his short break, Michael could only remember to have been constantly running around and shooting hundreds of energy arrows. Despite that, he could tell that his subjects did an amazing job utilizing the guerilla warfare tactics to the peak.
Not many of Michael’s subjects died after he returned to the battlefield. He was not sure whether that was because of his presence, or because he had already been late, and that the invaders had already been forced to retreat.
Either way, the invaders fled, and Michael could tell that the vast majority of his subordinates rushed behind them in an attempt to kill all of them.
“Let’s follow them as well,” Mika shouted loudly. His clothes were drenched in sweat, his wet hair stuck to his temples, and his breathing was rough.
Despite being clearly exhausted, Mika desired to pursue their opponents, “They’ve witnessed our power. Let’s crush them to make sure that they enter a state of horror whenever they think of the Untamed Jungle again!”
The more frightening the Untamed Jungle was to the outsiders the better. It would ensure that fewer people desired to enter the Untamed Jungle ever again as tales of this battle spread across the empire.
Michael felt like pursuing the remaining survivors of the Jungle Expedition as well. Their willpower and strength had been crushed entirely, decreasing their combat prowess drastically.
However, he also knew that pursuing the Jungle Expedition’s survivors for too long would create problems. Desperation could be used as fuel to attain unpredictable power – even if it was just temporarily – and Michael was certain that some of the survivors would go ballistic and end up killing his subjects so as to take down as many as possible with themselves if death was the only outcome.
If not for that, the Guards within Xiltra might take note of their pursuit once the distance to Xiltra grew closer. Thus, Michael decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to pursue the desperate survivors of the Jungle Expedition for long.
Of course, that didn’t mean Michael would allow them to leave without giving them another slap on the back of their heads.
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Mika and the others stopped in their tracks almost instantly. They’d planned to pursue their fleeing enemies as well, but upon hearing what Michael said they slowed down.
“I will catch up with our people at the border. Don’t worry about them. No more of our brave warriors will die today!” Lilica said to which Opars and the other Forest Elves responded with a confident nod.
“Alright then. Take care of everyone. I will tend to the wounded,” Michael instructed and the Forest Elves disappeared a moment later.
Seconds after they left, a loud horn echoed through the outer ring of the Untamed Jungle. Afterward, the Heavy Armored Elephant, the Cavalry Riders, Spearmen riding on Bilrox, Iglisis, and Icarus attacked the fleeing survivors of the Jungle Expedition.
They slaughtered the fleeing survivors and deepened the terror in the hearts of those who were fast enough to escape the pursuit.
Meanwhile, Michael helped his injured subordinates back to the territory.
The remaining Starless Summons within the territory rushed over to help as well, collecting the corpses of their friends, and comrades, as well as the corpses of their opponents, knowing that Michael will be able to use them to the territory’s advantage.
Hours passed in the blink of an eye and the Heavy Armored Elephant, the Cavalry Riders, and everyone else returned to the territory. A large feast was prepared to celebrate the victory against the Jungle Expedition’s attack and to honor the bravery of the deceased, who died to protect the territory and its citizens.
The vast majority of the Demon Monkeys died, in addition to half of Michael’s army. The number of their casualties was actually quite low compared to the tens of thousands they killed, but that didn’t decrease the pain and agony sweeping through the hearts of those who lost their comrades, friends, or even lovers.
“Do you think it’s over now?” Lilica asked late at night. She was tired, just like everyone else. Yet, Lilica didn’t even think of going to sleep before having a talk with Michael.
The past few days had been tiring, they fought a lot, and they experienced both joy and agony. Despite that, something about the Jungle Expedition felt off.
Lilica couldn’t really put it in words, but defeating the Jungle Expedition seemed much easier than they first presumed.
“You’re probably worried about the Tier-3 Adventurers, who never arrived, right?” Michael responded with a question rather than answering Lilica’s doubt.
She nodded weakly while poking a branch in the embers of the burned-down campfire.
No matter how she looked at it, the situation was weird. It may be an exceptional achievement to defeat a group of 65,000 Adventurers and Mercenaries – something she would have never been able to achieve if she was the Lord of the territory – but Michael told them that they would have to face a dozen Tier-3 Adventurers.
A single Tier-3 Adventurer in the group of 65,000 Adventurers and Mercenaries would have been enough to turn the tides of the battle, yet there had been no sign of them throughout the battle.
“Was your information wrong?” She thus asked at last.
“I don’t think so,” Michael answered after a while.
“I think the Tier-3 Adventurers were still on their way to Xiltra when the Twin Lions chose to attack the Untamed Jungle. They were probably restless because we attacked the adventurers and mercenaries who approached the Untamed Jungle to complete missions,” Michael added with a shrug.
“Actually, I don’t know their reasons, but I doubt that the Twin Lions or the other authorities of the Jungle Expedition expected to see their people die so quickly. Maybe, they wanted to explore the Untamed Jungle and familiarize themselves with the surroundings to strike once the Tier-3 Adventurers arrived…though I am not too sure about that either.”
At the end of the day, Michael could only try to predict their reasoning. The Memory Orbs he had absorbed didn’t give him any clear reason for the Jungle Expedition’s rushed movements.
Michael’s only clue was the bad relationship between Natives and Adventurers. The Native Mercenaries seemed to hate the Adventurers, and the Adventurers didn’t take the Natives seriously. This was clearly evident given the Twin Lions’ arrogance when they faced the Native authorities.
They weren’t even friendly with each other.
If anything, they felt more like hostile arch-enemies.
“The big question now is whether the Tier-3 Adventurers will attack the Untamed Jungle, or if they’ll be called back,” Opars said, joining the conversation between Michael and Lilica.
Michael agreed with a nod.
“Even if they attack, Masked Saber has already returned with the stones. As long as Tiara, Blaire and the others return with their goods, we should be able to face some Tier-3 Adventurers head on…” He said, just for Lilica to add quietly, “…probably…”
“Yeah…probably…” Michael said with a faint smile on his lips, “We never know what will happen. All we can do is give our best to grow stronger and prepare for the worst case.”
“Which means that we will prepare for the attack of a dozen Tier-3 Adventurers,” Opars murmured.
Once again, Michael nodded.
They spoke for a while until everyone was too tired to think straight. They went to bed and slept soundly for the first time in a while.
Michael woke up late the next day. It was already past noon when he groggily opened his eyes.
He was still tired and had the urge to fall back on the warm bed to sleep for a few more days, but he had to get back to work. If a dozen Tier-3 Adventurers were truly about to attack them it was necessary to reinforce the territory, reinstall the traps, and build up everything that had been destroyed.
One of the most important tasks was to extract the corpses of close to 7000 Adventurers, and around 27,000 Mercenaries.
Michael and the others chose to extract the loot of the Origin Expanse’s Will, and everything else that was of value before returning the corpses to the Untamed Jungle. The Untamed Jungle would devour the corpses and use them as a nourishment to grow faster and bring back the flourishing flora and fauna that had been destroyed during the battle of the past few days.
That way, the Untamed Jungle would not sustain heavy losses, and Michael gained even more benefits.
The more densely grown the Untamed Jungle, the easier it would be for him and his people to fight a large number of opponents.
Using Extraction on tens of thousands of bodies was certainly not something that could be rushed.
Fortunately, Michael’s origin energy had been fully replenished.
Extraction was also a 5-Star Soultrait by now, enhancing the power of the Soultrait.
Over the next few hours, countless Artifacts, SoulStar Fragments, Soultrait Symbols, Memory Orbs, Summoning Scrolls and Summoning Scroll Fragments piled up around Michael.
Michael, however, didn’t pay any attention to the loot he had obtained. He focused on Extraction until he finished the last corpse.
Only then did he notice a phenomenon occurring within the mountain of Summoning Scroll Fragments around him.
10,000 Summoning Scroll Fragments burst into the air when Michael’s attention moved to the trembling pile of fragments.
They swirled around each other, forming a small tornado that was compressing itself over and over again, slowly changing shape.
Michael’s eyes shot wide open in surprise, and the people around him reacted similarly.
“Isn’t that…”