[I can feel that our Empress is still here. Please rescue her by all means – even if you have to massacre the remaining Elementals in the process.]
Michael had been communicating with the Blazing Giant Elemental for a few minutes by now. He got to know a bunch of useful information. However, the most important piece of information was unveiled to him only now; an Elemental Empress was imprisoned in the cave.
He read the blazing letters in the air in front of him and nearly blurted his thoughts aloud as he reached the latter part of the text.
'Woah, calm down bro.'
"I will try to rescue her. Where exactly is she located? I cannot see a cavern tunnel leading deeper into the cave," Michael asked, feeling a little confused.
According to the memories of the very first Kitsun he killed, there was no Elemental Empress, or a way further down into the cave. The Kitsun's memories told him that this was the bottom of the cave.
[I can feel her presence from underneath the pillar.]
The Blazing Giant Elemental pointed toward the security, which was enough reason for Michael to step in the direction of the security post. He heard the steps of his army resounding behind him and stopped.
Turning around, he saw that his summons were still looking forward to keep fighting. They were a little tired but not completely exhausted. Unfortunately, there was no enemy to deal with right now. If not even one of the oldest Awakened working for the Kitsun Lord knew about the Elemental Empress, he doubted that the Kitsun Lord would be willing to share this piece of intel with anyone else. After all, hiding the Elemental Empress' existence was the best way to ensure that nobody could take her away even if the Elementals cave would be raided one day – which was exactly what happened today.
But the Blazing Giant Elementals knew this fact, and Michael as well, now that he received the intel.
'An Elemental Empress…amazing!' Michael exclaimed inwardly.
An Elemental Empress would be extremely valuable. The greatest Elemental societies came into existence because of Elemental Emperors and Elemental Empresses.
It was extremely rare for an Elemental Empress or Emperor to be born as they were in control of all elements. They had one main element at which they excelled, but they could control all elements to a certain degree. Furthermore, Elemental Empresses and Elemental Emperors had the innate power to expand their population rapidly by creating the cores of Elementals using any kind of element as a base.
[The Kitsun bastard caught our Empress when she was born. He forced her into a Soul Pact… We…do not know the clauses of the pact…please rescue her even if you would have to sacrifice all of us…We cannot let her die, no matter what…Even if it costs all of our lives….rescue her]
New words manifested in the air in front of Michael as he looked at his subjects for a moment. The Blazing Giant Elemental was restless and definitely not the patient type. Michael was also not sure why the Elemental had to talk about everyone's death so many times. It was almost as if the Blazing Giant Elemental was trying to manifest everyone's death by mentioning it over and over again.
"I will do what I can," Michael mentioned, his focus returning to his people.
"Instead of following me, how about you use your energy and excitement to harvest the elemental crystals?" He asked his army while retrieving hundreds of silverage pickaxes.
The pickaxes landed in front of him, creating a big pile for the Summons to stare at with a mix of disbelief and uncertainty.
They had rushed after him to fight, not to end up as laborers in the middle of the enemy's territory. But instead of complaining to Michael, they started to move. The Elemental cave was humongous and elemental crystals could be seen everywhere. Harvesting would definitely help the territory to advance. Unfortunately, it would take a while.
Nonetheless, the Summons began to move.
Michael turned to the security post where the Blazing Giant Elemental was already standing, burning down the wooden entrance gate. The Elemental entered the security post, his body flaring up to destroy what the Lesser Elementals had yet to obliterate.
Michael quickly followed behind. He entered the security post with Extraction released to clear the smoke he was about to inhale. Burning everything might not affect the Elementals, but Michael was human. He was still in need of oxygen to survive.
After entering the security post, Michael stepped closer to the Blazing Giant Elemental, who was surrounded by dozens of Lesser Elementals.
The Lesser Elementals released blazing flames at an inconspicuous bookshelf. The bookshelf ought to be turned into ash, yet it remained standing. It didn't even heat up and stayed unscathed throughout the blazing inferno that encompassed it entirely.
Once the Lesser Elementals were out of energy, the flames disappeared as well. Despite the blazing flames and scorching heat, the bookshelf didn't catch fire though it was made of wood.
After the fire died, the Blazing Giant Elemental got started. He began to do the exact same as the Lesser Elementals, releasing blazing flames with the intention to reduce the bookshelf to ash. Yet, not even the Blazing Giant Elemental's searing flames were capable of burning down the bookshelf.
The Blazing Giant Elemental's flames were several times hotter than the Lesser Elemental's flames, yet they were useless against the bookshelf.
Michael stepped forward, lifting his hand to gesture to the Blazing Giant Elemental to stop. He pressed his palm against the bookshelf and released Extraction. His entire energy storage was drained in the blink of an eye, but it was worth it.
The bookshelf was extracted and disappeared inside his War Rune where Michael would keep it for research.
Once the bookshelf disappeared from their view, a small door appeared in front of them. This time the Blazing Giant Elemental stepped forward and ripped the door out of its frame, revealing a staircase that moved deeper underground. It was a narrow staircase that was almost too small for Michael, let alone the huge Blazing Giant Elemental.
He would never fit into the staircase.
"Looks like I will have to enter alone. Don't worry, I will free her!" Michael said, not even looking at the Blazing Giant Elemental anymore as he approached the staircase.
He released the Dome of Extraction to extract anything that could act as a trigger for traps before he squeezed himself through the narrow staircase that moved downward like a spiral. Michael saw some blazing letters from the corner of his eyes, but he didn't pay attention to them.
Michael's full focus was on the Dome of Extraction. After all, a single mishap would be his death. He couldn't evade anything in this kind of narrow and uncomfortable space.
He was not sure how much time he spent climbing down the stairs, but he reached the end of the staircase at some point. The bottom of the staircase led to a small room made out of black material. Michael was not sure what the material was but it looked quite old.
It was not of great importance either way. The only important thing that was located in the small room was a small and fragile Elemental pinned to the wall through dozens of crystal chains.
Michael's mind blanked out for a second staring at the little Elemental. She looked human, if not for her body made of compressed flames. Only a few dozen strands of her hair weren't blazing flames. The dozen strands of hair were in different colors, with every strand having a distinct shade of the color spectrum.
Michael was not a pro at sensing altered origin energy, but he could tell that the Elemental Empress' main attribute was fire and that the few dozen strands of hair indicated her minor affinity toward the other elements.
After staring blankly at the Elemental Empress for a second or two, Michael regained his senses. He approached the Elemental Empress and began to use Extraction to destroy the first crystal chain.
The crystal chain was thinner than the chain that had pinned the Giant Blazing Elemental to the wall, but it was a lot more complex. Michael spent half an hour destroying the first chain.
At some point, the Elemental Empress noticed Michael's presence. However, nobody said a word. The Elemental Empress stared at Michael in silence and let him work until the first crystal chain crumbled.
Once the first chain crumbled, the tremendous force pinning the Elemental Empress to the chain loosened by a fraction. But that fraction was enough to change the Empress' expression.
An expression full of terror appeared on her face.
"NOOOO!!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs – if she had something like that, in the first place.
Michael's ears rang loudly as her scream reached him, and he stepped back subconsciously.
"What's the issue? Do you not want to regain freedom?" Michael asked, not quite sure what was happening.
All he could tell was that the Elemental Empress was in pain, which shouldn't have been the case.
"I doubt you like it here."
"The…Soul Pact…" The Elemental Empress said weakly as if her scream from earlier drained her entire remaining energy.
"Ah. There was that. I forgot the pact for a moment," Michael mumbled, scratching the back of his bald head.
A Soul Pact was a special Soul Contract. It had a lot more restrictions than a Soul Contract – which was already more binding than an ordinary Link of Loyalty.
Only a True Link of Loyalty could be compared to the binding force of a Soul Pact. Even then, Michael was not sure if a Soul Pact might not be even more binding.
"Can you tell me more about your Soul Pact? Maybe we can find a loophole to get rid of the Soul Pact somehow," Michael offered.
If he was already standing in front of the Elemental Empress, he might as well try to help her properly. The Kitsun Lord and his Awakened might notice that something was wrong inside the Elementals cave, but Michael wasn't too worried. His army and the Lesser Elementals were above them, making sure that nobody could bother him.
Furthermore, it would leave a sour aftertaste to abandon the Elemental Empress now that he had gotten this far.
While he waited for a response, the Elemental Empress hesitated for a moment. She stared straight at Michael, whose eyes were clear and filled with determination. In the next moment, the Elemental Empress made her decision and began to tell Michael about her Soul Pact's clauses.
Ten minutes passed in which Michael listened intently before he spoke again.
"Fuck this Soul Pact"
**
[A/N: Sad News. I might not upload too regularly in the next 3-5 days. My grandma died, and I have to take care of a few things. Sorry for that.]
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