Michael had to use his entire willpower to control himself.
Seeing the Adventurers standing around the weakest Minotaur made his blood boil. He instinctively knew that they were on the same side as the Minotaur.
The Monster collapsed on the ground the moment it saw the six Adventurers as if finally relieved to be with them..
Michael wanted to retrieve the Siltang Bow and shoot them all, but he knew that he shouldn't do that, not yet at least. He didn't know if the six Adventurers were the only perpetrators, or if there were more of them somewhere else.
Additionally, Michael had yet to find out why the Adventurers used the Minotaur to invade the Untamed Jungle, in the first place. The Minotaur massacred the Tier-2 Monster habitats, but it never paid attention to their corpses.
Plundering the Untamed Jungle didn't seem to be their final goal. In that case, what did they want?
Michael's head was buzzing as Icarus circled above the tents. He shook his head and Michael closed his eyes to concentrate. Next, he circulated origin energy through his ears and used Lesser Enhancement in an attempt to increase his hearing sense as well.
"Didn't you say that the Minotaur would be strong enough to finish the mission? Why to Kanekul's beard is the Minotaur in such a state then?!" One of the six Adventurers, a Destors, asked loudly.
Destors were a very emotional race. They were driven by their emotions and couldn't control themselves properly. They were purple-skinned and had scales on their bodies which they could control at their will. Destors were born with great physical strength and two pairs of arms. They were larger than humans but had a similar physique.
"Calm down, will you? Control your energy barrier, and keep your mouth shut while I stop the Minotaur's internal bleeding," The only Zantur in the group of six Adventurers said sharply.
He broke into a sweat while utilizing his Soultrait to tend to the weakened Minotaur's internal wounds.
Fortunately, the Destors didn't say anything else. He kept his mouth shut as told even if his eyes seemed to be shooting lasers at the Zantur.
"It lost its Battle-axe and the Armor Set as well. Looks like it encountered something much stronger than we researched," A woman added. She was the only female in the group, and also a Destors.
The group of Adventurers consisted of six people- two Destors, one Zantur, one Jeglaw, and two more Lionhearts.
However, there was a distinct difference between the two Lionhearts and the rest. They didn't say anything about the Minotaur's condition. Instead, one of them looked impatiently at the group of four Adventurers, while the other one glanced at his brethren every few seconds.
It looked like some silent communication had occurred between them through their gazes.
"What are we even doing here? We're just wasting our time and resources…" The Jeglaw suddenly said out loud. He looked at the Minotaur and shook his head in denial.
It hadn't been easy to raise the Minotaur, forget about the training and equipment.
"Shut up, and do what you've been paid for!" One of the Lionhearts growled.
'They don't seem like a team. Are the Lionhearts their clients? No, the Lionheart on the left is being subjected to glares by the others even though it was the Lionheart on the right who's acting aloof!' Michael comprehended, his eyes now open and staring intently at the group.
He had activated Eagle Eyes to get a good look at the six adventurers on the ground, and he grew quite interested.
According to his understanding, the male Destors was in charge of the invisibility barrier. It was probably related to his Soultrait. On the other hand the Zantur possessed a healing Soultrait. The female Destors was more concerned about the lost armaments, and there wasn't much to figure out about the Jeglaw.
The Jeglaw wielded a wand and was probably some sort of a Mage with a related Soultrait.
Only the timid Lionheart seemed to care about the Minotaur's well-being.
'Is he a Tamer? He is timid, but his War Rune has the highest degree of refinement. His War Rune is being refined right now as well. Did he obtain a large influx of energy recently? But there are no monsters near–....' Michael was deep in thought when he recalled something Heran, the Lesser Tamer, told him a while ago.
[Some Tamers are extremely powerful because of the bond they can create with their tamed monsters. It is said that they receive a small portion of their tamed monster's energy influx when it kills a monster!]
Heran's words kept echoing through his mind repetitively. At first, the words didn't seem to be related to the current situation, and Michael was about to disperse them. But the realization struck him before he could disperse these thoughts.
His expression worsened drastically, and pure hatred emerged in them. He was on the verge of bursting apart.
'That bastard is using the energy share left behind by my subjects to refine his War Rune!!!'
Ordinary Monsters weren't able to absorb the energy influx released by the lifeforms they killed of the Origin Expanse. They had a Monster Core in which they could absorb the raw origin energy in their surroundings. The energy influx was too pure for the vast majority of monsters. However, tamed Monsters were slightly different.
Michael had noticed that to be the case with the Heavy Armored Elephant and Icarus. Whenever Icarus killed a monster, Icarus's Monster Core received a small portion of the energy influx. Simultaneously, Michael received his energy share through their Link of Loyalty.
The same seemed to apply to the timid Lionheart and the Blood-eyed Minotaur. The Minotaur grew stronger by massacring the Tier-2 Monster habitats, and the Lionheart received a small energy share through their link as its Tamer.
That also meant the Lionheart used the energy share the Minotaur had procured from killing Michael's subjects. That thought made him lose his mind. He wanted to jump down to the ground and beat the shit out of the Lionheart.
However, he held back knowing that he had to gather more information first.
'The aggressive Lionheart mentioned 'pay'. Did he hire them to attack the Tier-2 Monster habitats? If so, why would he do that?"
None of the five Adventurers dared to say anything after their pay was mentioned, and the information Michael could gather was negligible.
He found out that the five Adventurers were a team that had formed only recently. They weren't strong by any means, yet their Soultriats complemented each other. All they needed was a powerful force amidst them to tie them all together. This core turned out to be the Blood-eyed Minotaur, who was now in a weakened state.
'If you guys are unwilling to provide more information…I won't be able to hold back anymore…' Michael told himself, holding onto the last strands of willpower to restrict himself.
However, his entire being was filled with pain and agony. When two more Links of Loyalty tore apart – indicating the death of two more loyal subjects – Michael finally snapped.
He couldn't control his rage anymore.
Michael retrieved a bunch of potions, which he consumed at once. He then manifested the Siltang Bow Artifact in his hand and condensed an energy arrow. Afterward, Lesser Enhancement came into effect, enhancing his Artifacts considerably.
Michael didn't have much energy left in his body, but he couldn't care less about that at this point. The only thought that permeated his mind was the desire to kill the Minotaur and the other perpetrators to quell his anger and avenge his subjects.
By now, the reasons why they attacked the Untamed Jungle didn't matter anymore. His people died because of those jerks, and they didn't deserve to stay alive even for a minute.
Their fate was sealed, and he was going to deliver it to them, once and for all.
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