Mekhaz charged past Hiraku even before the young Blaze died. He and his unit of Warlock Centaurs accelerated, their Soultraits used to the fullest.
Mekhaz was covered in his Living Armor, which evenly distributed the force of the impacting attacks. His Living Armor would have been a living hell if there hadn’t been two Elementals, one Aqueous, and one Pyro Elemental, paying attention to the heat distribution of the incoming fireballs.
Even though three Blaze members had already been killed, it was a fact that the Blaze household nourished many Awakened with fire-attributed Soultraits. Therefore, it was no surprise when the defenders unleashed barrages of fireballs and other fire-based projectiles. Most attacks were either evaded, or blocked, but Mekhaz didn’t bother evading anymore projectiles when he noticed that Energy Absorption, and Repel worked well with the Elementals’ powers.
First, Mekhaz could apply Energy Absorption all over his body to absorb the energy within the impacting projectiles and melee attacks. The absorbed energy would be stored in the Living Armor, strengthening it. The surplus energy would then be channeled into the Repel Runes, which Mekhaz had engraved all over his body. Repel was a powerful Soultrait, but it required enough accumulated force to unleash a powerful attack.
Accumulating enough force to unleash powerful counter-attacks wasn’t particularly difficult. Most attacks came Mekhaz’s way because he was the closest to the settlement. He urged the Elementals linked to him to distribute the heat of the fireballs all over his body and channel water-infused energy – as cold as possible – into his armor.
The Living Armor wasn’t created to endure sudden temperature changes, but the majority of the heat was absorbed by Energy Absorption. That left only a small portion of heat, distributed evenly and cooled.
Filling the first Repel Runes to the brim didn’t even take a full minute. Mekhaz unleashed the first charges of Repel as he appeared before a High Awakened. His glaive flashed through the air with significant momentum while a beam of pure force smashed into the target’s chest.
The High Awakened was not that easy to deal with. He twisted his body to evade the attack but found his body shifting in ways he didn’t intend. The pure force smashed into his chest even though the High Awakened had twisted his body.
One of the Warlock Centaurs charging with Mekhaz chuckled.
“To think that Shift would become useful one day,” He laughed after focusing Shift on the ground. The High Awakened didn’t sense anything, but the ground underneath him had shifted. It was only a minuscule shift, but that was enough to be struck by Mekhaz’s pure force.
Following the impact, the High Awakened screamed aloud. Something in his chest cracked, probably one or multiple ribs breaking, but that wasn’t important. The pure force was only one of the charging Warlock Centaurs’ attacks. It was just the beginning.
As Mekhaz put more pressure on the High Awakened, the other Warlock Centaurs didn’t remain idle either. They charged with their leader, used their Soultrait Symbols, and smashed heavily into their targets. There were more than enough Awakened to fight. They weren’t weak, either. However, one massive difference existed between the Untamed Awakened and the Blaze’s Subordinates.
The Untamed Awakened weren’t fighting alone. They combined their powers, aided one another with their Soultrait Symbols, and switched targets mid-fight. Their teamwork was seamless, granting them the power to overwhelm their enemies.
Last but not least, the Elementals linked to the Untamed Awakened, their Armaments, and the quality and quantity of their Soultrait Symbols were on a whole different level. Even if some Warlock Centaurs were weaker than their enemies according to their War Rune’s Tier, their combined prowess greatly exceeded the Blaze’s Subordinates.
And that did not only apply to Mekhaz, his people, and Hiraku. That fact applied to all Untamed Awakened!
Frederik went to hunt the weakest Awakened and Summons. The Minor Typhoon Roc appeared next to Frederik Kolbenheim and combined its power with him. The Minor Typhoon Roc created the frame of a massive typhoon, whereas Frederik provided an enormous amount of wind. However, using Aeroan strengthened by Enhanced Wind wasn’t enough. Frederik tapped into Wind Mastery, claimed the typhoon from the Minor Typhoon Roc, and split it into smaller typhoons that obeyed him like appendages he’d been born with. It was almost like the smaller typhoons were supposed to be part of his body, yet Frederik controlled and fed them to unleash their power to the outside world.
The typhoons smashed into the masses of a thousand Awakened, hurling some through the air while others were struck by the rubble and sharp projectiles the typhoon carried around.
It didn’t take long to destroy the typhoons, but by the time they were no more, Frederik and the Forest Elves had already completed all preparations for the next series of attacks.
Frederik’s Enhanced Wind of Aeroan shrouded the Forest Elves’ arrows. The energy within Aeroan was suppressed and sealed. But not for long. The Forest Elves were ready to attack.
The arrows were tightly secured on the bowstring, which was pulled back and ready to release a deadly volley of arrows.
However, the Forest Elves didn’t release the bowstring. Lilica used Weakness Detection to determine the weakest link in the chaotic group of the Blaze’s Subordinates. She shared her findings using whispering energy before unleashing Bullseye and Invisible Projectile. The arrow nocked on her bow, Silent Reaper, disappeared, triggering Silent Reaper’s effect.
Once activated, Silent Reaper would shroud the sounds and vibrations of all arrows it released into the wild. With an Invisible Projectile, Bullseye, and Weakness Detection, Lilica could be sure to hit her target.
She was ready and would have released her arrow immediately if not for Mika and Opars. Opars used Energy Imprint on himself to unleash the full fury of his Herculean Strength Soultrait and the Dryadwoven Bow Artifact. As he infused energy into the Dryadwoven Bow, Opars discovered the perfect amount of pulling force. He’d grown stronger over the last few months and found new ways to unleash the full potential of Herculean Strength.
Thus, the Dryadwoven Bow Artifact creaked and groaned as its pulling force increased.
In the meantime, Mika applied Arrow Duplication and Pierce on his arrow several times. He added the draconic power sealed within the Wyvernwood Bow into the arrow and exerted Rapid Fire.
He raised the bow, took aim, and waited for Frederik’s nod before releasing his first arrows alongside his comrades.
Lilica’s bow was deadly silent even as she released the bowstring. She released an arrow and hit her target, killing a Tier-3 Awakened by piercing his chest with her deadly, invisible projectile. The corner of her lips curling upward was the only hint of the success of her first attack.
That was different for Mika and Opars. Frederik’s winds pushed their arrows, allowing them to reach top speed and break past the limit right before they impacted.
Opars’ arrow struck Awakened’s forehead and shattered alongside the Awakened’s skull. The Awakened died before he collapsed to the ground.
Opars nodded satisfactorily, nocked the second arrow, and pulled back again.
Mika glanced at Opars, hoping his friend would use Energy Imprint on him to use Arrow Duplication and Pierce more openly. But Opars didn’t do that. He focused on his targets instead.
‘Fine. I can handle that myself!’ He said, switching his focus to Pierce and Rapid Fire once a few bushels of silver and white emerged in the masses of enemies. It would be wrong if he’d hit them by accident.
The Silverfangs were hunting again.
