Chapter 572 Xylon's Invaders

572 Xylon's Invaders

Michael could easily tell that the invading forces belonged to the Council of Xylon. He didn't know any other alliance with this many different races. Other than the Council of Xylon, of course.

There were more than a hundred Awakened from more than 50 races, and it didn't take Michael long before he realized that the number of invaders was higher than indicated on the Pillar of Territorial Awareness. More Awakened must have entered the Greater Nature Spirit's domain on his way to the border.

'200? No. There are almost 300 Awakened. Every single one of them is at the 3rd Tier as well,' Michael was perched high up on a treetop near the invading forces with Spirit Eyes fully unleashed.

Spirit Eyes allowed him to see a lot. That included the threads that connected the Awakened with their Artifacts. Michael could easily pinpoint Awakened through the special threads of Artifacts. Summons didn't have those threads even if they were wield an Artifact. It was just an ordinary Armament in their hands.

The connection between the Artifacts and the Awakened allowed the wielder to retract the Artifacts at will and to benefit from the advantages of the Artifacts' external enhancement.

Michael had a great advantage by being able to pinpoint Awakened easily. Most would have to look out for their War Rune, or wait until an Awakened used their Soultrait to determine whether they were Summons or Awakened, but Michael could identify them easily.

Spirit Eyes was also how Michael distinguished the combat prowess of his enemies. Awakened were usually stronger than Summons at the same rank. There were exceptions like the Immortal Knight, obviously, but Artifacts and Soultraits made up for a big chunk of an Awakened's combat prowess.

'It's still a surprise to see close to 300 Awakened attack the Trilance from behind. They're rather strong as well. Is that the Council of Xylon's Elite Unit?' Michael wondered, only to recall something he had heard quite often in the past few days.

If the Trilance could request support from their Clans and higher-ups outside the Origin Expanse, the Lords from the Council of Xylon could do the same.

'So some Lords from the Council of Xylon asked for help, and they sent over a bunch of Elite Awakened? Or are those forces the Elite Awakened that had been held back until now, like a trump card to be used at the right opportunity?'

Either way, Michael had to intervene. The border settlement of the Zynur Lord was protected by some guards, but the majority of the Trilance's military power had been called to the battlefield.

"Are we the last in line? I could swear that someone had been behind us," He mumbled, only to give it a shrug. Maybe, he was mistaken, or maybe, the group next to them had moved ahead with fast strides. Whatever it was, he couldn't care less.

It was not until a faint rustling sound behind the Awakened triggered his alarm. His danger senses went haywire and he jumped around, raised his weapon, and attacked. His eyes glimmered as he triggered his Soultrait, but it was already too late. The Grim Reaper with golden eyes had already appeared in front of him.

A long silver blade pierced forward and the Awakened's sight turned hazy as a bad headache impacted him. He could barely open his mouth to utter a single word before the world around him turned dark.

"Run..."

His voice was silent, but following the squishing of the Aethyr blade piercing via the Awakened's neck, the danger senses within the other Awakened next to their colleague were triggered. They turned around, their Soultraits activated instinctively. However, as their heads turned around, all they could see were hundreds of Icicles covered with a silver membrane.

The icicles were manifested from Glacicle and heightened with Reinforced Sword Qi. They shot forward as Michael unleashed them with a burst of energy, impacting heavily onto the Awakened and their Artifacts. The freezing perk of Glacicle came to full effect as they froze the Awakened's Armor, skin, and the flesh underneath in the instance the glacicle shattered. One of the Awakened reacted just in time to conjure a shield using his Soultrait in front of himself, but Michael was even faster to react.

He noticed that the Awakened would respond fast enough to survive and utilized his physical superiority to appear behind the Awakened correct after the glacicles shattered the Awakened's shield. The Awakened tried to conjure a second shield and move around to face Michael head-on, but Michael's physical strength, speed, and his reaction time were much higher than the Awakened due to Enhancement, Spirit Eyes, and Superior Constitution being in full use.

The Aethyr Blade pierced via the Awakened's chest, cleanly cutting through the armor's seams. Michael twisted the blade in the wound before blasting a layer of Reinforced Sword Qi inside his body to turn a severe injury into a mortal wound.

Michael transformed the Aethyr Blade into a small dagger instead of retracting the weapon. He didn't waste any momentum and issued a second attack, slicing the Aethyr dagger via the Awakened's throat. Following that, a fountain of blood gushed out of the Awakened's throat. His eyes widened, terror and disbelief glimmering inside them until the traces of life dispersed.

The Awakened's eyes turned hollow and cold. He was dead.

Michael, however, was not yet done. The other Awakened were half frozen, but not yet dead. He transformed the Aethyr Dagger into a huge Warhammer and spun around his axis, using the momentum to crush one of the half-frozen Awakened. The other Awakened released a bullet conjured from air to attack Michael but he didn't even try to evade him.

The air bullet was aimed at the Spirit Armor Set and it didn't even put a dent into it. Even if it would have destroyed the Spirit Armor Set, it wouldn't have enough power remaining to harm Michael. Thus, instead of evading the attack, Michael took it head-on to finish the final Awakened of the second small group and end the battle a bit faster.

"7 Awakened down. 290ish left to kill."