No bones in Michael's body were broken but the pain spreading through his body was immense.

He could barely catch his breath before Tiara smashed into him, pushing him further into the tree behind him.

Michael's breath was taken away at once and his sight blurred for a second or two. Once his sight cleared he saw a cloaked figure hit by a dragon head and flung toward him with the speed and force of a cannonball.

It was Masked Saber.

Michael frowned and tried to get up, but Tiara's body was still on top of him, restricting his movements.

Masked Saber reacted instinctively when he got a glimpse of Michael's situation. He twisted his body mid-air to change his posture, turn around and pierce downward with his black saber. Masked Saber's entire arm trembled as the saber pierced deep into the ground, slowing him down.

His feet touched the ground and he came to a halt just in front of Michael and Tiara.

"I still got it in me," Masked Saber mumbled, pulling the saber out of the soil.

Tiara moved aside and got up, giving Michael space to jump up as well.

"To think that you forced me to use my Unique Racial ability. I must have underestimated your power and teamwork quite a bit," The Zantur spoke calmly as he took a step forward.

A look of surprise blossomed on the Zantur's face.

"To think that you have so many Soultraits. You're quite powerful. It seems like the report about you hasn't been exaggerated. If anything, the report underestimated your capabilities quite a bit," He mumbled, while the bright shine of his skin dimmed down.

'Report about me? Did the Council collect information about me and share it with the Lords entering the Lord Rift?'

"You have a Unique Racial ability just like me, don't you? Your Artifacts are probably Epic Tier-2 as well. You must be one of the more talented kids of the human race. My name is Tac Lec, and I'm going to warn you just once. Most Lords in here have been ordered to kill outsiders like you and Taros," The Zantur, Tac Lec said, lightly waving his staff around to control the winds, earth, and water in the vicinity.

He controlled the elements easily and smiled lightly while talking to him as if they were discussing the weather. He seemed completely unbothered by the fact that they had been fighting each other seriously just a moment ago.

"If you and the others have been ordered to kill me, why don't you do it then?" Michael asked, unsure where the conversation was going.

They had been fighting, and Michael was even about to kill Tac Lec if the Zantur hadn't blocked his spear thrust by triggering his Unique Racial Ability.

"I don't think that I can escape injuries while fighting you in a life-and-death battle. It would only waste my remaining time in the Lord Rift to fight you. I don't really feel like facing the other Lords while I'm injured either," Tac Lec said with a shrug before he added, "I'll make use of you if someone bothers me instead. Since I know where you are, and how strong you are, I don't have to worry."

Michael nodded his head subconsciously when he heard what the Zantur said. Had they not been inside the Lord Rift, Michael would have loved to continue fighting Tac Lec. But since they were in the Lord Rift, Michael didn't want to keep fighting either.

Their fight could attract other Lords or Monsters with the potential of Superior Existences, and the final result of the battle was uncertain as well.

Michael was confident to survive a life-and-death battle with Tac Lec, but he was not sure if he could win. Even If he could win, Michael was certain that he would lose a lot more than he could potentially gain. Tac Lec was clearly a powerful Lord with high-ranked Artifacts and great control of the four basic elements.

"Let's become friends and mutually benefit each other until we leave the Lord Rift. With your abilities, you'll be of great use, and I think you can say the same about me," Tac Lec proposed nonchalantly.

"Of course, we'll be enemies once all of this is over. Consider it a temporary alliance if you'd like to."

Contrary to before, Tac Lec didn't exude any pressure. It was almost as if the battle between them never happened.

That confused Michael even more. He had been ready to charge at Tac Lec and fight him to death, but Tac Lec seemed to have different plans.

Earthen walls manifested between Michael and Tac Lec before a strong gust of wind shrouded the Zantur.

"I consider your silence as a silent agreement. It has been a while since I saw someone as interesting as you."

Tac Lec's voice hung heavy in the air when the trees around him began to rustle. By now, Michael was thoroughly confused. And before he could speak, he heard the sound of strong gusts blasting through the surroundings, carrying Tac Lec away.

He had not even gotten the chance to ask the Zantur the questions that tormented his mind and he had already disappeared.

'Did he really leave?' Michael wondered.

He made a big detour around the earthen walls and realized that the Zantur had, in fact, left.

Their battle ended just like that, leaving a sour taste in Michael's mouth.

"He really left?" Tiara asked as she appeared next to Michael.

She gripped her silver spear tightly, angry that the Zantur had been able to easily fling her through the air.

Tiara didn't like that Michael had to rescue her either. She had made things difficult for Michael, putting him in a tough spot. The whole situation could have ended much worse if the Lord of the four basic elements didn't choose to end the fight right there.

If the battle had continued after Tac Lec used his Unique Racial Ability, everything would have gotten a lot tougher, especially for Michael since he had used a considerable amount of his Origin Energy already.

"Yep. He's not here anymore," Michael said with a grimace on his face.

"But that doesn't mean our situation has gotten better. On the contrary, if the Lords in here are after outsiders, we'll have a bunch of problems to face soon enough," Masked Saber pointed out, "Furthermore, it's quite obvious that we will have some issues dealing with the other Lords if they're on par with this Tac Lec."

"But it's good that we know more about our enemies now. At least we can respond accordingly," Michael said, still a bit sour that Tac Lec disappeared into thin air.

After his encounter with the Zantur, Michael didn't feel that it was necessary to fight the other Lords. If all of them were as powerful and well-equipped as Zantur, not sustaining injuries in a battle with them was impossible.

But that didn't mean Michael would avoid fighting the other Lords. On the contrary, he would fight them soon once he had a few plans and tricks up his sleeve.

He could collect SoulStar Fragments and a wide variety of other loot from the Lord Rift. Using the loot to grow stronger before facing the Lords was the easiest way to kill some of them even if they were as strong as Tac Lec.

The only issue was the big question; how much the other Lords knew about him?

Tac Lec mentioned a report about him, and that the report was a gross underestimation of his power. That was something Michael considered an advantage.

There was an old saying that knowledge was power. However, with enough brute force even knowledge wouldn't be enough to clash against someone especially if the knowledge wasn't up to date.

"How about we continue searching for rare materials first? We were on our way to the large Trixata tree before the Zantur attacked. Are we still going?" Masked Saber asked, changing the topic smoothly.

He could tell that Tiara and Michael were deep in thought and dissatisfied with the result of the battle with Tac Lec. However, there was nothing they could do about it. Tac Lec left, and it was questionable if they would see each other anytime soon.

Michael noticed what Masked Saber was doing and agreed without a second thought. The fight with Tac Lec was over. The only thing they could do now was to learn from their mistakes and move on.

"Let's go to the Trixata tree. I've never seen one that big. There might be some treasures near the tree, stimulating its growth." He said.

For the next half an hour, Michael and his team were mostly focused on paving a path to the 60-meter-large Trixata tree. It looked similar to a bonsai, but it was tens of times larger and wider.

A few monsters entered Michael's view when they reached the Trixata tree. However, the monsters didn't pay any attention to Michael and his team. They were mostly focused on the center of the Trixata tree. Three Horned Werewolves were busy clawing the tree's bark, trying to dig a hole into it.

Michael and the others were not sure why they were doing that, but they knew that they should deal with the monsters before they noticed them. Easy prey was the most favored by any hunter, after all.

He retrieved Zark, used Enhancement several times on the Bow Artifact, and condensed the strongest energy arrow. He used Eagle Eyes to aim accurately before releasing the energy arrow at once. The arrow cut through the air beautifully and fiercely, piercing through the back of the furthest Horned Werewolves' head.

The Werewolf couldn't even scream out when it collapsed on the ground and went rigid.

Not even the other Werewolves were able to do something when they sensed danger approaching rapidly.

Several energy arrows whizzed through the air, piercing deep into the Werewolves' necks and chests, ending their lives.