Once Michael unleashed Extraction on top of his other Soultraits, he felt like his head would split apart as a searing pain shot through him. However, by using Extraction to extract the origin energy in the surroundings, he could solve the problem of his dried-out energy storage to a certain degree.
Using too many Soultraits simultaneously was not easy, but it worked – more or less – thanks to the external pressure Tiara and the Forest Elves put on him. Michael was also growing more excited when he felt that Extraction’s potency was strong enough to annex the energy in the surroundings without being fully unleashed.
At this point, Michael didn’t even have to focus on Extraction to unleash it. A simple thought was all it took.
The annexed energy was enough to empower Eagle Eyes reinforced with four layers of Enhancement, and his other Soultraits such as Reinforced Sword Qi, Glacicle, and three Spirit Whips without an Enhancement.
Michael would have loved to utilize Enhancement to put several layers of Enhancement on each of his Soultraits, but given that he was already using six Soultraits, he didn’t deem that necessary, in the first place.
Michael had a lot of things to test out. It was the first time he used all of his combat Soultraits simultaneously, after all. He was exhilarated despite the numbing headache!
Pheli, Liopham, and Tiara were still pushing toward him, only retreating to rush toward Opars, who would use Energy Imprint to refill their energy storage while Lilica and Mika distracted Michael with a downpour of arrows.
Michael decided to change his tactic the moment Tiara and Liopham retreated. Liopham was extremely fast and Tiara’s attack pattern was unpredictable. Thus, the combination of those two was the most annoying, followed by Mika’s Arrow Duplication and Pierce combination.
Once the melee fighters retreated, Michael received a few seconds to change his tactic. He manifested dozens of Glacicles which he released toward Lilica and the group around Tiara before kicking his feet from the ground to charge toward Mika.
After he failed to hit Michael several times, Mika grew impatient. Being the youngest Forest Elf in the group, Mika had always been known as the least patient. He wanted to see the results of his attack immediately and was mildly annoyed that none of his attacks affected Michael.
In the first place, Michael didn’t seem to pay too much attention to him. Michael merely released a few Glacicles to block most of his attacks, infuriating the youngest Forest Elf on the battlefield.
He knew that Michael grew stronger at a much faster rate than anyone else, but he thought that his contribution in a battle against Michael would be somewhat notable. But that was not the case. His contribution was close to nil. At least, that was how Mika felt.
Michael thought the opposite because Mika’s well-timed attacks had restricted him more than once. He was often unable to charge toward Lilica, or Opars to deal with them because of the downpour of Mika’s arrows.
They might not be strong enough to pierce through his human-sized Glacicle, but the duplicated arrows with Pierce were too dangerous to ignore.𝗇𝗈𝑣𝖊𝐥𝑛𝖾xt.𝗇𝓔t
Thus, Michael blasted in Mika’s direction the moment the opportunity appeared. His Glacicles ought to restrain the others long enough, especially after they had retreated to refill their energy yet again.
Michael released two Qi Swords toward Mika before moving to the side. Mika was just about to release another arrow with Arrow Duplication and Pierce when he noticed that the Qi Swords shot toward him from ahead while Michael moved to the side.
The moment he released his bowstring to destroy the Qi Swords, Michael would appear next to him, ending him with the Wyverntooth Spear. But he couldn’t ignore the Qi Swords either. They were too fast and deadly to ignore. Mika’s instincts screamed at him as his survival instincts kicked in. They overwhelmed his rational thinking and forced him to let go of the bowstring, releasing the arrow that duplicated before colliding with the Qi Swords.
The Qi Swords burst after several duplicated arrows with Pierce impacted. However, just as Mika visualized earlier, Michael appeared next to him, the Wyverntooth Spear heading straight toward his neck.
Michael’s attack stopped merely an inch away from Mika’s neck, and a faint smile formed on his lips as he said, “You’re dead.”
Mika broke into a sweat at that. His legs caved in and he slumped to the ground, his eyes lingering on Michael, whose expression changed.
“You were really annoying to fight. I would hate facing someone like you in a life-and-death battle,” Michael murmured, all while thick droplets of sweat poured down his cheeks.
At this point, Michael was extremely exhausted and unable to hide how worn out he was. His clothes were drenched in sweat and his short hair was plastered to his temples.
Even if he had yet to be hit with an attack, Michael felt like he wouldn’t be able to fight much longer. The only advantage he held over the others was that Mika had been defeated, causing cracks in their defense.
Seeing that Tiara, Liopham, and Pheli stood in front of Opars who continued to use Energy Imprint to refill their energy storages, Michael’s eyes moved over to Lilica. She had evaded the Glacicles Michael shot in her direction earlier and was now about to release another arrow. Lilica had pinpointed Michael’s weakness and unleashed one arrow after another in quick succession.
However, Michael’s Glacicles were conjured at a breakneck speed, and released at once with great precision to smash into Lilica’s arrows at once.
Even though Glacicle was only a 4-Star Soultrait, it was extremely useful against other projectiles – especially projectiles made out of wood and energy. The Glacicles clashed with the arrows and burst apart, releasing a chilly mist that froze the arrows. Energy-condensed arrows were likely to condense further until they would destabilize and burst apart while wooden arrows would freeze and fall to the ground due to the sudden change in their momentum.
Of course, multiple different factors played a role as well, but Michael could conjure and release dozens of Glacicles while Lilica released two to three arrows. She might be able to pinpoint his weakness and aim at him with great precision, but her arrows were still made out of wood. She didn’t want to use the Pieckers or her other expensive arrows in a spar, after all!
Michael knew that Lilica wouldn’t use her expensive arrows in a spar. He and Tiara scolded the Forest Elves way too often for wasting money by using consumable items, and breaking expensive arrows in spars and situations that didn’t actually require the usage of costly items that would be better put to use in a real battle.
Thus, Lilica refrained from using Pieckers and more expensive arrows in a spar. However, they were losing despite having a numerical advantage. Lilica realized her mistake too late. Michael released several Qi Swords amid his next batch of Glacicles, which forced her to retreat and change her position. By the time she blocked the Qi Swords, several Glacicles had impacted all around her joints and vital points. The freezing mist of the Glacicles was unleashed upon impact, affecting Lilica’s combat prowess and movements.
She couldn’t even do anything against Michael as he appeared in front of her without potentially breaking off her limbs.
Michael lightly tapped Lilica with the Wyverntooth Spear before he muttered in a low but confident voice, “Dead.”
He then retracted the Wyverntooth Spear and turned around to face the remaining four enemies head-on. Even Opars changed his tactic to join the others in close combat.
Michael ended up with four blades moving in his direction with ridiculous speed. Opars circulated a tremendous amount of energy through his body to enhance his strength and speed while Tiara moved unpredictably, thrusting out with the spear just to change the targeted area several times.
Liopham moved rapidly with Swiftness fully unleashed, and Pheli released her Repelling Shield to protect everyone’s vital spots. Pheli’s energy reserves were used up instantaneously as more than ten Repelling Shields manifested all around her allies. They restricted Michael’s attack enough to allow Pheli and the rest to strike Michael first.
Unfortunately, Michael didn’t accept that. He intertwined three Spirit Whips with each other to elevate their strength as high as possible before he applied a few layers of Enhancement. Then Michael struck Pheli with the enhanced 3-fold Spirit Whip. The moment the Spirit Whip impacted, Pheli screamed out. Only the white in her eyes was visible, and the repelling shields destabilized. They disintegrated as Pheli collapsed on the ground, allowing Michael to manifest Glacicles all around his body.
He turned into a hedgehog covered in icicle needles and released them in all directions at once.
Following that, Michael observed the response of his opponents before he reacted as well, using his Eagle Eyes’ exceptional eyesight to move in the direction Liopham moved.
Michael moved rapidly, slashing toward Liopham all while manifesting a few Qi Swords to restrict his paths. Liopham could move rapidly, but he required a path to make full use of his speed.
Michael’s Wyverntooth Spear was just about to drive deep into Liopham’s chest when Michael stopped in his tracks.
“Dead,” He said in-between two heavy breaths, throwing his body around just to detect that Tiara’s spear was about to impact his abdomen.
Michael lashed out with the enhanced 3-fold Spirit Whip, hitting Tiara hard enough to make her falter. He also had six Qi Swords, and dozens of Glacicles at the ready. That was enough to put Tiara in her place and kill her – if Michael desired to do so.
Maybe Tiara would have been able to escape the danger of the Qi Blades and Glacicles, lowering the lethal damage by allowing the attacks to impact in specific areas. However, she would end up severely injured, one way or another, and they were merely sparring right now.
Thus, Michael let the Qi Swords and Glacicles hover mid-air instead of striking Tiara. He had never planned on killing her. He merely smiled at her and dealt with Opars attack, blocking it just in time before overwhelming him with the power of six Soultraits.