Michael could sense everything he’d devoured with Swallow Domain and found a batch of Awakened and Summons inside the Major Seal’s storage. It would have already been bad if the Awakened and Summons were some of his subordinates, but that was not the case. They had been on the outskirts of Swallow Domain’s area of effect.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Michael cursed the World Serpent. He didn’t expect it to answer, but the World Serpent surprised him again.
[Do what? I provided your intent with more power. I granted you some of my power to remove everything the Untamed Jungle considered a pest and harmful.]
Michael cursed the World Serpent, but the creature remained calm and composed.
[Don’t you think it’s interesting how extensive your connection to the Untamed Jungle is to know what it considers a threat? I didn’t notice it at first because you’re trying to block me and that other bastard inside you, but your connection to the Untamed Jungle is…weird. It’s almost as intense as our forced connection even though you and the heart of the Untamed Jungle were never near each other.] f𝐫ewen𝐨𝘃el.
Michael didn’t have anything to respond. In the first place, he had to react fast to avoid more problems. Starting a war with another Lord in the Untamed Jungle would be a problem – a fairly big one, at that. Michael would much rather avoid more wars for the time being.
‘Knowing my luck, I will have to fight a few more Alliances from all sides soon.’ Michael teased himself but cursed quietly upon recalling his bad luck.
He didn’t feel like fighting with a Lord whose Awakened and Summons survived this deep into the Untamed Jungle. Michael was already forced to travel deep into the Untamed Jungle to unleash his fury, but the Awakened and Summons were even deeper inside. They were already more than ten kilometers into the mainlands of the Untamed Jungle. Even the weakest monster nearby was at the Peak of Tier-2. Most were Tier-3 and close to their evolution to a High Beast.
“The Untamed Jungle might consider them a pest, but that doesn’t mean I want to devour them just yet,” Michael grumbled.
It might be important to note that the Untamed Jungle had been on his side for a while now and didn’t consider him a pest, whereas the Awakened and Summons he’d swallowed were labeled as such. But then again, it was also important to know that Michael had no idea whether the Untamed Jungle considered the Gogi a pest. Michael was fairly sure even the Kitsun were considered a pest.
[Or your connection to the Untamed Jungle was too faint to understand what it tried to tell you about the Kitsun. I doubt the Untamed Jungle would accept beings like the Kitsun.]
Michael nodded. He couldn’t sense the Untamed Jungle’s intent for a long time. The High Ascension elevated his perception and senses to a new level, which allowed him to grow even closer to the Untamed Jungle.
“Either way, stop distracting me. I need to solve the problems you’re trying to pull me in!” Michael said, sealing his mind from the World Serpent before it respond.
He ended up using True Extraction with the rest of his curse power, every bit of soul power – fused with lifeforce – and the remaining energy in a radius of more than 50 kilometers on Swallow Domain’s storage to spit the Awakened and Summons out in one piece.
They weren’t dead just yet, which was weird knowing that he could have used Permute on them to transform them into curse power or anything he liked while they were still alive, but that might be for the better. He teleported to the Awakened and Summons and found them on the verge of death.
“As long as you’re not dead, I can heal anything,” Michael murmured while using River of Vigor. Stream of healing serum oozed from his fingertips. The streams swirled around the unmoving bodies and stabilized their state, ensuring they would survive and return to their senses soon.
Once he was sure the group of Awakened and Summons would survive, Michael inspected them.
Michael thought the Awakened and Summons were Valyr when he saw them, but Spirit Eyes confirmed they were different. Most of them looked different, but Michael didn’t know if the Valyr had split up like the Elves, thus evolving differently.
The Awakened and Summons lying before him had short tails with a Morningstar at the end. They had large, leathery wings and were covered in fiery red scales. The scales were so hot that Michael was surprised they didn’t burn the Untamed Jungle.
It made sense why the Untamed Jungle disliked them. The Untamed Jungle was probably forced to expend tremendous energy to ensure its safety against these Awakened and Summons. All of them radiated a tremendous heat, and Spirit Eyes confirmed that they had a fire burning inside them. It was almost like the fire was their lifeforce and power. It was mixed into their energy pillar…No, it replaced their energy pillar.
Their heads looked somewhat human, but they had elongated jaws, and the back of their heads were also deformed. Their skulls were shaped differently, yet they had human-like facial features, horns jutting from the back of their head, which looked weird as some horns were curved and twisted in all directions.
Still, it felt a little weird looking at them. They looked like lizards, humans, and serpents – once Michael opened their mouths out of curiosity. What he saw were fangs and a split tongue.
‘Very interesting.’
“Are those Dragonkins?” Michael asked, connecting to the World Serpent again. However, the World Serpent remained silent.
‘Do you act like a petty lil snake just because I locked you out of my mind?’ Michael asked, but the World Serpent didn’t respond.
He groaned but kept his opinion of the World Serpent’s behavior to himself. He focused on the Dragonkins – after deciding to call them that until he learned more – instead.
Learning more about them was preferably simple. Michael used Mind Reader on their strongest Awakened, a Higher Lifeform at the Peak of Tier-4. Michael didn’t realize it until then, but the World Serpent empowered Swallow Domain much more than expected. To devour several Higher Lifeforms that easily – while they were still conscious and full of life – was far from easy for Michael. At least, it was supposed to be.
The Dragonkins’ mental barrier wasn’t too powerful. Of course, there was considerable resistance – more than he faced when using Mind Reader on Humans, Elves, Berserkers, and others, but less than the Hyuman. Either way, once inside their minds, Michael had an easy time procuring information about the Dragys, a decently powerful race who was known for their bloodline. They were closely related to the Red Dragon God according to their beliefs.
How much of that was true, Michael didn’t know, but he could fully understand why the Untamed Jungle viewed them a pest. The Dragys didn’t fit into the Untamed Jungle. They weren’t supposed to be here.
But they were here and had already spread through the mainlands of the Untamed Jungle – farther than Michael predicted.
All Michael wanted to know about the Dragys was their numbers, the location of their headquarters and other settlements, the size of the territory, more intel about the race, their usual behavior, their relationship to other Lords and territories, possibly the location of more Lords in the mainlands of the Untamed Jungle, and other information like that.
Knowledge was power. At least, that was what Michael learned in his short time as a Lord.
Unfortunately, knowledge was sometimes depressive as well.
Everything he learned was bad, except that the Lord didn’t seem to care about the outer parts of the Untamed Jungle. She wanted to expand deeper inside the Untamed Jungle and burn the Untamed Jungle to cinder…starting from its heart.