The Guards and Awakened were already prepared for Michael's arrival when they reached the third border settlement.

"Will they invite us inside or do we take that honor to ourselves?" Tiara snickered lightly.

While satiating her thirst for blood almost constantly during the last two days, Tiara's personality changed slightly. Usually, she was stiff and task-minded, acting like the future of her race depended on her alone. However, right now, Tiara felt more like a playful girl. That was a welcome change though Michael was not sure if it was appropriate in this situation.

A total of 4,000 Guards and close to a hundred Awakened were eagerly waiting for them. That was a little bit different from the earlier attacks.

Obliterating the Beast Ranches had been quite easy. Meanwhile, the border settlements required more work and finesse to make the most use of their powers. If a single member of their small team had been missing, the invasion of the border settlements would have been useless.

The Greater Eagles easily transported them across the Kitsun Lord's territory, and both the Golden Stinger Wasp and the Elemental Empress made use of their elemental powers to aid the main fighting force of their team. Without their support, none of Michael's plans would have worked out.

That was also why Michael was grateful for everyone, who continued to fight by his side. They complained not even once to Michael and fought without large resting breaks for a long time.

Everyone other than Michael was a little tired mentally and physically , but none of them wanted to stop after coming this far. Now that they made it this far, they wanted to deliver one more big blow to the Kitsun Lord before watching how the domino effect would lead to the end of the Kitsun Lord's territory, toppling everything down.

"How about we show our presence a little bit more, and watch how they're going to react? Maybe they will actually invite us inside," Mika asked with a tinge of excitement. He chuckled lightly and watched the responses of his colleagues with a gleeful expression.

Meanwhile, his Bow Artifact was already resting in his hand, waiting to be used once again.

"Hmm why not? Since they know that we're coming to kill them, we might as well greet them properly," Michael responded by manifesting Zark.

The bow rested nicely in his palm, and an energy arrow condensed on its bowstring. Michael pulled the bowstring backward smoothly. His back arched, the arrow tip tilted higher, and a golden glint manifested in his eyes.

Three seconds was all it took to condense an arrow, pull the bowstring back, aim, and shoot.

The arrow was released with great momentum. It cut through the air in a high arch over a distance of several hundred meters. The arrow descended after reaching its climax, and it rained down, piercing the designated target's throat accurately.

The target fell over the wall, crashed down, and remained lying on the ground, unmoving.

One shot. One kill.

Lilica glanced at Michael, one eyebrow raised, but she didn't say a word. That was not necessary.

Instead, Lilica retrieved her Bow Artifact and an arrow. The other members of the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team followed their leader's action and manifested their weapons and projectiles as well. The EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team moved in unison, nocking an arrow on their bowstring, pulling back, aiming, and shooting in a beautiful arc.

With enough energy channeled into their Bow Artifacts, the EmeraldLeaf Adventurer team's arrows could cover a distance of several hundred meters with their bows. Their range was nearly as high as Michael's. The only issue was their eyesight. Forest Elves had good eyes, but they couldn't compare to the power of a 5-Star Soultrait that enhanced one's vision.

Nonetheless, years of experience played a major factor as well. The Forest Elves' arrows hit most of their targets, killing two Guards on the spot. They followed with a second barrage of arrows right after, which killed two more Guards.

Tiara, the Elemental Empress, and the three monsters didn't do anything other than crane their necks while observing the arrows fly through the air until they impacted.

They stood in the wide-open Savannah with their heads held high and simply watched as chaos ensued on the settlement's walls.

After six barrages of arrows the chaos in the settlement died down. Silence enveloped the entire settlement all of a sudden, and the Guards stationed on the walls disappeared.

Following that, Michael returned Zark inside the War Rune. He moved over to Icarus and got on the Greater Eagle's back.

"I need to see what is going on in the settlement. Fly up," He ordered Icarus, who shot high into the air.

Using both Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze, Michael's eyesight was amplified to its peak. He ignored the cold wind splashing in his face and stared intently at the settlement.

'Huh?' Michael nearly blurted aloud, his eyes wavering for a moment at the sight that unfolded in front of him.

A golden swirl that looked just like the Elemental Empress' spatial portal had formed in the center of the settlement. It was the size of a small house and allowed hundreds no, thousands of Guards and Awakened to emerge in the settlement.

'He is bringing everyone over but why only now? Why didn't he do that earlier?' Michael wondered, his eyes fixated on the center of the settlement.

2,000

5,000

10,000

The number of Kitsun emerging from the portal continued to increase rapidly. It looked like the portal would never stop spitting out more Kitsun.

"It must be an expensive item that can only be used once. Is he getting serious now? After sacrificing thousands of subjects, and losing most of your fortune you decided to finally take me seriously?" Michael was both amused and confused by his enemy.

It was about time that the Kitsun Lord took him seriously. He was already bored to death with creating new speedrun records. If the third border settlement attack would have been even easier than the second, Michael would have eliminated the Kitsun Lord and his subjects in no time.

'How many are there now in total? 25,000? That isquite a lot to deal withwith our small gr....' Michael couldn't finish his train of thought as he saw something from the corner of his eyes. Something that shot straight toward them with terrific velocity.

"Fuck!"

Just as Michael's curse rang out, something impacted heavily. Icarus screeched loudly and blood spurted through the air.

In the next moment, Icarus began hurtling down from the sky, one of his wings burning like a black sun.

It was odd that Michael couldn't see what exactly had hit them, but there was no time to think about that. He and Icarus were falling down at a terrific speed, and they would die upon impact.

Michael's mind was rattling, but he couldn't think of a perfect solution in an instant. All he could think of was to conjure Glacicles around Icarus' burning wing in an attempt to extinguish the fire. The Glacicles burst apart, releasing its freezing mist. Facing the black flames that coated Icarus' right wing, the freezing mist melted quickly. However, it was their fortune that Glacicles' freezing mist was the Soultrait's strongest property. It was extremely cold and had a freezing effect that affected even the black flames.

The black flames flickered vigorously as they fought against Glacicle's freezing effect. The flames grew weaker, but it was not enough for Icarus to stabilize his mind. It was not as if the pain disappeared all of a sudden. On the contrary, Icarus felt like the pain grew much more intense with every passing moment.

Michael closed his eyes and released the Dome of Extraction upon sensing Icarus' pain. His target was the black flames, which he tried to extract with a burst of 5-layer enhanced Extraction.

The flames dimmed slightly, but they weren't extinguished immediately.

Michael continued to curse in his mind as he thought of various solutions to rescue Icarus and himself. He could use Icarus' body to protect himself and decrease the intensity of the impact, and he could abandon Icarus by jumping from Icarus' back before creating a Qi Sword below himself.

He could also try to rescue both Icarus and himself with an enhanced Qi Sword, but Michael knew that he couldn't keep them in the air since they were too heavy. The Greater Eagle was not a lightweight, after all.

Gritting his teeth, Michael was just about to do something suicidal when he felt a heavy impact from below.

A green flash entered Michael's sight, and it was at this moment that he realized Icarus' mate had propelled herself high into the air.

She ignored her own safety and clawed Icarus tightly while using every bit of strength inside her body to ascend higher into the air. She fought against the gravity that tried to pull her, and Icarus downward, but it was a helpless fight.

The green-feathered Greater Eagle was not strong enough to stop Icarus' fall. She slowed the fall a little bit, but that was already everything she could achieve with her burst strength. Afterward, she was being dragged down to the ground as well.

She struggled to flap her mighty wings in a desperate attempt to rescue everyone and never let go of Icarus. But that was her downfall.

Dragged to the ground and unable to change the inevitable, the female Greater Eagle screeched loudly and desperately.

Michael looked over to the green-feathered Greater Eagle, a smile full of warmth forming on his face.

'I should think about a name for you once all of this is over.'

As the thought flashed through his mind, their distance to the ground decreased drastically. However, not even a trace of worry could be found on Michael's face. Instead, he glanced over to the Elemental Empress with a knowing smile.

["Now!"]

In the next moment, a portal appeared beneath Icarus and the rest.