22 Combined Forces
With enough resources extracted and tools created with the sturdiest materials Michael could extract at this moment, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem with the construction of the treehouse complex.
The rainforest provided all raw materials, and Extraction enhanced them by extracting the sturdiest and most potent resources. Thus, Michael was not too worried. He was sure that his subjects could create a treehouse complex until nightfall.
Even if they weren’t done by then, the wooden manor had enough space to fit everyone.
‘One 1-Star Architect Apprentice and a 3-Star Tracker with exceptional agility. None of them has any combat powers…but it’s not that I expected something big,’ Michael thought as he strode through the clearing. He left the clearing and found himself near the protection barrier a few minutes later, looking for Tiara.
It hadn’t been long since Tiara left to hunt but she had already killed a monster. The energy influx passing through their Link of Loyalty was unmistakable evidence of that, and it calmed his nerves much more than expected.
After he killed Fenrir, Michael’s biggest worry was that none of his subjects would be able to kill Low Tier-1 Monsters. It was great that he was wrong with his guess.
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Michael was already strong for a new Lord, but he was not at the 1st Tier yet. Not even the enhancement provided by a Tierless Epic Artifact was high enough to make up for the gap of strength between a Low Tierless and a Tier-1 entity.
“Master, you’ve arrived!” Tiara exclaimed with a vibrant smile before she bowed politely the moment she saw him.
A pack of Tier-1 Monsters was currently trying to drag Fenrir’s corpse farther away from the protection barrier. They were hovering around the protection barrier cautiously and backed off the moment Tiara moved.
One monster had already experienced the fury of the Battle Maid from the Silverfang Tigerfolk, and the others didn’t want to experience the same fate as that poor soul.
Michael watched their face-off with little interest. He approached the protection barrier and pressed his palm against it.
‘There is almost no resistance,’ He noticed with a bemused look before he shot out.
Michael took a single stride forward to reach the monster corpse, which he grasped with his left hand to store inside his War Rune. His War Rune was large enough to store a single monster corpse. That was more than enough in the current situation.
The monster corpse disappeared, shocking the remaining monsters outside the protection barrier. They hadn’t expected their dead brethren to disappear just like that. It took most of them a second to realize what had happened. Only then did they move.
There was only one Monster that reacted faster than the others. It shot forward and pounced at Michael.
Michael was not yet inside the protection barrier, but his movements were calm and composed. His Eagle Eyes Soultrait was already activated, and he detected the sudden acceleration of the Gem Jaguar ahead of him.
He could jump backward, and easily get inside the protection barrier, but Michael did something else. He pushed his feet away from the ground and pushed them to the side. Simultaneously, he manifested Tigerfang from the War Rune and tilted it.
Tigerfang’s razor-sharp edge pointed at the Gem Jaguar while his body moved to the right. Michael could change his trajectory and initiate a counterattack, knowing that the Monster’s sudden acceleration would make it harder to change its direction in an instant. However, Michael didn’t risk it.
He summoned Tigerfang to keep the Gem Jaguar at a safe distance and distract it. The Gem Jaguar’s entire focus was on Michael as expected. It slowed down at once to change its trajectory and attacked Michael. As a result, it was attacked viciously from the side as searing pain spread out from its chest.
The Gem Jaguar forgot about Tiara, and that she had been standing right behind the protection barrier. Tiara burst forward when Michael pushed to the right side, noticing that the Gem Jaguar was focused only on her Master. Making use of that, she used her full strength, reached the Gem Jaguar in an instant, and lashed out with all her might.
The silver spear penetrated the Gem Jaguar’s chest before it was viciously twisted and yanked out in a smooth motion. A moment later, Tiara had already retreated behind the protection barrier where Michael arrived a fraction of a second later.
He gave her a small smile before retrieving the corpse he had collected before.
“I have enough space. We can continue.” He said nonchalantly, though his eyes quivered as he looked at the miserably dying Gem Jaguar.
Even if he was fine with being around dead bodies, and extracting them with his Soultrait, the sight of someone dying, forget about killing someone, was still a little hard on his stomach.
However, he knew that he had to become stronger to be a good and powerful Lord. This didn’t only involve his physical strength, but also his mental strength.
‘I need to get stronger!’ He told himself, gritting his teeth while watching the death of the Gem Jaguar.
Tiara’s lips parted and she wanted to say something about his reckless actions, but she shut her mouth only a moment later. It was not as if Michael’s tactic had been bad. He clearly calculated the Gem Jaguar’s movements and acted accordingly. Even without her interference, Michael would have made it safely inside the protection barrier before the Gem Jaguar reached him.
By then, the Gem Jaguar would have been an easy target that was unable to deal with any attacks while faced with Tigerfang’s razor-sharp blade.
“As you wish, Master. Let’s continue!” She responded after a moment, getting into combat stance to continue the fight against the remaining Tier-1 Monsters.
Michael charged out of the protection barrier to collect the Gem Jaguar’s corpse and become the remaining monsters’ bait. His perception was higher than others thanks to Tigerfang, and the Eagle Eyes Soultrait. He could react fast enough to the actions of a Tier-1 Monster even if he was not strong enough to fight it head-on. He could evade the attacks and tire the monsters out.
Meanwhile, Tiara moved rapidly, attacking the monsters whenever she found an opening. Her movements were fast and her attacks deadly. Being a trained member of the Silverfang Tigerfolk, her agility and flexibility was bound to be exceptional. However, that didn’t mean Tiara could fight in sync with just anyone.
Whether it was their firm Link of Loyalty, or their natural compatibility, Tiara and Michael were able to deal with the remaining monsters within ten minutes and gain an upper hand.
They killed seven monsters in twenty minutes, and they were not yet done with today’s hunt.
Several hours later, they returned to the clearing. Tiara retrieved a total of 30 corpses from her War Rune while Michael retrieved two monster corpses. The storage space of his War Rune expanded a lot after he actively participated in the hunt of nearly three dozen Low Tier-1 Monsters.
This was helpful for the fourth step of the plan he came up with a while ago.
‘It is much more beneficial to go out hunting with multiple people. I wonder how efficient we would have been with Fenrir,’ Michael wondered, just to shake his head and discard that thought. ‘I killed him, so what does it matter? Thinking about it doesn’t change anything!’
It was already late and less than one hour was left before nightfall. However, Michael had yet to loot the monster corpses, forgetting about extracting them to dissect their bodies properly and preserve the necessary body parts.
Michael sat down a few meters away from the campfire which Tiara used to prepare dinner for everyone, and he began the extraction of thirty-two monster corpses.
Even by the time dinner was ready, he was not done yet, but Michael got up and walked over to the campfire. He ate with the others and tried to get to know his subjects more. His second day in the Origin Expanse had been far more taxing than the first day, however, Michael felt more comfortable now.
On the first day, he had a bad feeling, which proved to be correct. Now that Fenrir was no more, he felt much better. The thought of going to sleep soundly without bothering about the possible dangers inside his territory was not foreign anymore. He was looking forward to it so that he could gauge others’ actions better and prevent future mishaps.
“My Lord, we haven’t finished the first treehouse yet, but I think the rainforest trees in this area are big and sturdy. The biggest trees can hold three treehouse complexes as long as we construct them with the same sturdy materials you’ve provided. Will that be alright, or should we spread the treehouse complexes at first?” Williams Heart asked after he gathered all his courage to reveal what he had on his mind.
Everyone had slowly warmed up to Michael as their Lord. They were still hesitant to speak their mind because Michael and his personal maid were powerful given the huge pile of Tier-1 monster corpses lying not too far from the campfire. If they said something wrong, nobody would be able to help them. They would have to face their Lord’s wrath and might even be tortured. That was something they wanted to prevent.
However, they could also tell that Michael was not an ordinary or regular Lord either. Every summon recalled parts of their lives before they’d been summoned, and some memories were bound to be about Lords, whether it was rumors or something they witnessed first-hand.
“How about you create two single treehouse complexes and test a triple treehouse complex afterward? I will summon more subjects tomorrow. You can easily finish two single treehouse complexes by then,” Michael suggested, and Williams nodded his head, without saying anything further.
He patted his chest to calm his wildly palpitating heart while praising himself inwardly. It took a great deal of courage to speak up to their Lord, but he had not only done it but the Lord had even accepted his proposal!
After dinner, everyone was exhausted. However, nobody went to sleep before the Lord did. They watched their Lord as he continued to dissect the monster corpses one after another using his miraculous Soultrait. Everyone wanted to help, which Tiara took as an opportunity to command them.
Tiara instructed the summons about where they should keep the dissected body parts, what to do with the blood-filled flasks, and so on.
In less than two hours, Michael finished dissecting the last corpse. He was dead-tired, but a satisfactory smile blossomed on his face that reached his eyes.
The drop rate of items generated by the Will of the Origin Expanse was much higher than he expected after Extraction had been enhanced, and he impatiently awaited the arrival of the next morning.
The third day was about to start, and the preparations for his first trip back home were made.
It was about time to show the true value of his territory and Soultrait!