Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  After furiously venting her anger, Alice took a moment to ponder her weakness.

  Indeed, her Spatial Spells were mysterious and powerful, but they were all single target offensive skills, with the exception of her last ditch space crack ability, she had no large area of effect spells to speak of. Although she was nigh invincible when in 1-on-1 battles with Apprentice Adepts of a similar level, but when she was met with her current situation, her ability fell short of her wishes.

  If she had mastered a Magma Fireball spell, she would be able to turn this stinking pool into a huge pot of boiling water in a few seconds, cooking all the foul demons that were hiding inside. But, because of her passion toward, and confidence in, her Spatial Spells, she refused to study or research any of those ‘simple’ Elementium Spells.

  As the result, there was nothing she could do in her current situation. She actually felt helpless about how she would handle that evil Ghost Nanny Leader, who refused to get out of her way.

  If her muscular partner was here, perhaps with the advantage of his bulky and strong body, he would be able to brutally break into the nest of this Ghost Nanny Leader. But Alice was a long-range Apprentice Adept with a weak Physique. Once she was trapped in a close fight with a multitude of Ghost Nannies, she had no confidence that she would be able to escape from this place in one piece.

  However, she had decided that she was going to capture or kill the weird beginner apprentice who could see through her spells today. After a short moment of hesitation, she unleashed her spatial Protection Barrier. Then, like a shooting star, she simply threw herself into the muddy water.

  Apparently, Sinbad never expected this little human Lolita who had lost one of her eyes would be so courageous. She quickly controlled the Giant Lizard and dived deeper into the water, letting out a weird and ultra high-frequency sound from her mouth, and calling all her subordinates to help.

  The muddy water started to roll, as the stinking water began flowing violently. The calm swamp pond immediately started boiling like hot water.

  Numerous moving object could be seen swimming crazily toward Alice. Those objects were actually Giant Lizards kept by Ghost Nanny. They were over 5 meters long and covered in a layer of tough scales. Aside from their sharp claws, they could shoot out a Petrification Beam at a target within 5 to 10 meters. Also, one after another, Ghost Nannies could be seen swimming down into in the stinking water, restlessly attacking this valiant intruder who attacked their home.

  Under the surface of this stinking pond, where human vision was reduced to nothing, Alice was fully covered in an indestructible Protection Barrier. Her remaining eye was flashing with hatred as she used her unique spell to slaughter every single approaching enemy she could sense.

  There were plenty of spells that would allow her to regenerate her eye that the scorpions had torn out, but she just couldn’t swallow her anger from receiving such a wound in the first place. Although it was that hateful bug man who did this to her, the real culprit was this weird low-grade Apprentice who had led her to this accursed stinking pond.

  No matter whether it was some innate ability of his, or some kind of magical spell that allowed him to sense the spatial energy, there was no way that Alice could let this leak out to the public. If her enemies learned of this, the reputation Alice had made for herself would be at risk.

  Following the eruption of a bloody and chaotic war under the muddy pond, the entire swampy area had turned into a fierce battlefield. Yet, the culprit of all this, Beginner Apprentice Greem, was currently having his petrified body being dragged into the nest of the Ghost Nannies.

  After the fight began, the four Ghost Nannies had dragged the completely petrified Greem to the bottom of the pond. Then they dug a hole in the stinking and filthy mud, revealing an underwater tunnel. With Greem dragging behind them, they squeezed into the hole. The tunnel was filled with a sticky, pungent mud, but that didn’t slow down their speed at all.

  They swam straight for a couple of meters, then upward. Soon, they burst to the surface of the water, revealing themselves to be in a damp tunnel under the swamp. Right when these demons started crawling forward, dragging Greem through this dark, damp tunnel, they heard the dulled and hoarse roar of Sinbad from the swamp above them.

  The intense battle had caused Sinbad to start roaring furiously, calling all the Ghost Nannies in the entire area to aid her. Her voice was so loud it even made the tunnel walls vibrate violently.

  Because of their hot tempers and low intelligence, the two Ghost Nannies following behind Greem became restlessness and let out a few short cries, quickly turning around and diving back into the mud. Obviously, both of them were answering the call of their leader and going out to fight the enemy. As for the other two Ghost Nannies, they too let out angry cries, but could only hold back their desire for the fight and continue their task of dragging Greem along the tunnel.

  This muddy swamp pond was a home for the Ghost Nannies. They could soak themselves in the stinking mud and water, year in and year out, waiting for their prey to come. But, undeniably, they too needed a place to store the things they considered as treasures. Rotten and stinking dried meat, worn-out leather armor, weapons that showed a lack of maintenance and were full of rust, and the stinking roots of plants that they had harvested…

  If these items were placed left in the fetid swamp water they lived in, they would quickly rot away into nothingness, so Sinbad dug out a horizontal tunnel beneath the bottom of her swamp, drilling out to place far from the wet swamp and making a relatively drier cave to store things in.

  And now, the petrified Greem was being escorted to this cave.

  Although his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose were covered by sticky mud, and his body was as hard as a stone statue, Greem’s mind was still functioning as it did before. He was still able to sense everything that was happening around him.

  It seemed that those two monsters had finally started to fight!

  Through the indistinct vibrations and roars coming from above, Greem could imagine how intense and bloody the fight was. Although the army led by Sinbad far outnumbered her enemy, and they were fighting in their own territory, Greem still didn’t think they could defeat that frightening little Lolita.

  Having mastered no Elementium Spells and only fighting with their tough bodies, when facing with Alice’s nigh invincible Protection Barrier, their fighting ability was a joke. As long as they couldn’t find the hidden ‘back door’ of the Protection Barrier, even if they kept attacking until their heart and lungs gave out, they could never break through that Protection Barrier.

  Unless they could force Alice to use up all her Spirit Points, they would surely lose the battle. Hence, while they were busy fighting amongst each other, Greem should do his best to escape from the place.

  Although Greem’s body had become petrified and couldn’t move the slightest bit, he was still capable of manipulating his Spirit Energy. Reaching out with his spirit energy, he undid the stopper on the little bottle hiding in his mouth, disgorging a spicy and strong potion, which quickly flowed down his throat and arrived at his stomach.

  After many years of inspection trips around the Tower’s perimeter, Greem knew the in’s and out’s of the abilities of the swamp demons. Would he really go on inspection trips without preparing himself for the possibility of being inflicted with a strange status? This ‘Freedom of Movement’ potion was an item he paid a high price for and bought from another Apprentice Adept of the Tower. It was effective in removing Petrification and Paralysis of any type.

  After the potion starting to take effect, a tickling sensation gradually spread across Greem’s rigid body, and his body slowly returned to his control.

  After being dragged for nearly a hundred meters, they finally arrived at a rather dry cave with a good bit of flat ground. A moldy smell filled the narrow cave and nearly made Greem suffocate.

  After throwing Greem into a pile of messily placed objects, the two Ghost Nannies started to yell and
roar at each other. It seems like they were arguing about whether they should go and help in the battle or stayed here to guard their ‘food’. But, right when both of them were busy arguing, two crackling noises sparked up behind them. It was the sound of two fist-size Elementium Fireballs coming to life.

  The two Ghost Nannies were startled for a moment. Then they noticed the petrified human had stood up, and there were two small fireballs dancing in his palms.

  Possessing only basic intelligence, these Ghost Nannies had no idea what was going on, but when they sensed the fresh smell of flesh and blood, they immediately let out aggressive roars and leaped toward Greem.

  In the next instant, the two small fireballs exploded and turned into two blazing flames, burning their way toward two Ghost Nannies. Both parties brushed past each other, with Greem soon falling on the floor, panting for breath. His shirt was torn, a four frighteningly deep wounds could be found on his chest.

  On the other side, the two Ghost Nannies continued on their way and slammed into the dirt wall behind Greem. Smoothly controlled by Greem, the two burning flames traveled through their huge mouth, and burned off anything that contained in their heads. As a result, both of Ghost Nannies died.

  The air was thin in this cave, and it was only made thinner after being burned off by the Fire that had just happened. Greem was gasping for breath for quite some time.

  Stars were dancing in front of Greem’s eyes, and he felt really unwell. He didn’t felt any pain coming from the wounds caused by the Ghost Nannies, but instead felt a strange tickling sensation. This made Greem’s heart sink. Damn it, he had been poisoned by the Ghost Nannies attack!

  He searched around on his person, found a bottle of antidote, and poured it into his mouth. Only now did Greem let himself calm down.

  He held his breath in deep concentration and listened to the violent vibrations coming from the tunnel. This was a sign that the battle wasn’t over yet, and he still had a chance to escape, so Greem set his mind to rest and gathered his courage. Then he began examining the nest of the Ghost Nannies.

  Chapter 23

  There was a saying, no thief left empty handed!

  He only arrived in this place after much risk to his own life. If he just turned around and left, wouldn’t that be a waste of Sinbad’s ‘wonderful hospitality’?

  Greem initiated his Elementium Vision and started to scan the cave.

  Within the odds and ends that were piled up like a mountain, Greem only found a few items he thought were useful. For these Ghost Nannies, who were trapped in the swampy area, there weren’t that many opportunities for them to find any good loot, hence, although it seems like there were quite a lot of ‘treasure’ gathered here, only a handful of it was valuable.

  Seven to eight high-grade blood sacks, which looked like red beads; a broken piece of magical equipment, which had degraded so much that no one could tell what it originally was; a fist-sized metallic ore that glowed an odd blue; a strange egg-sized white stone… without thinking twice, he took all of it and tucked it into his waist pocket.

  All of them were accurately picked up by Greem, as he could sense indistinct Elementium ripples they gave up. As for the other dirty and messy items, he simply ignored them. After all, he was in the middle of running for his life. If he carried too many things, the chances of him escaping would become much slimmer.

  As the hidden nest of the Ghost Nannies, there was more than one tunnel that led to this cave. Clearly their leader, Sinbad, knew the saying ‘a cunning rabbit has three holes into its burrow’. However, this clever arrangement benefited Greem, the part-time thief, greatly today. He took a brief second to orient himself, then squeezed into a wet tunnel that led away from the muddy pond.

  Quite a while later, a weird looking human-head emerged from a small muddy pond in the swamp. As the slimy mud slowly slid off his head, Greem only exposed the upper part of his head, silently watching for movement in the distance.

  Originally, there should have been some Ghost Nannies living in this muddy pond, but, obviously, they had been drawn to the massive battle happening in the distance, answering the furious and angry calls of Sinbad and joining the fight. Hence, Greem could freely move around and no one was around to put up a resistance. He took a breath and started making his way to get out of the pond.

  As the battle in the distance was happening underneath the thick and slimy mud pond, the only signs were the roars and cries of Ghost Nannies and the bubbles exploding to the surface. Greem never wanted to see that frightening Little Lolita ever again. He turned away from the battle and swam toward the banks of the muddy pond.

  He bet the Ghost Nannies were suffering under Alice’s bizarre and unpredictable Spatial Attacks!

  But, just as he had almost reached the edge of the pond, and was getting ready to climb out, an explosion occurred in the muddy water behind him, revealing a Giant Alligator with its mouth wide open, biting down at Greem. Everything happened so suddenly, and the harsh environment was the best cover for the Giant Alligator, thus, until the very moment before it struck, the only warning Greem received was a sudden beeping from the Chip.

  After performing a series of flailing rolls and twists, Greem barely managed to avoid the deadly bite of Giant Alligator by a matter of millimeters. The massive mouth, filled with sharp teeth, slammed forcefully together beside his waist, creating a small breeze that sent forth a rotten smell which made Greem’s hair stand on end.

  If he had not been warned by the Chip, with just one bite, this ferocious Giant Alligator would have easily broken his body in half. If that really happened, all of his great ambitions would have been for nothing.

  Taking the opportunity when his enemy missed its attack, Greem crawled on his hands and knees and rushed to the edge of the pond. He turned around and quickly summoned a Fire Arrow, striking right at the massive mouth that had just opened up for the second time.

  The ‘Fire Arrow’ spell, which had previously been going through a solidification process, was finally ready, thus he was able to smoothly complete his attack.

  The Fire Elementium Spell exploded, swallowing the entire head of this Giant Alligator. The fiery explosion was followed by a heavy downpour of broken teeth and chunks of flesh around the edge of the pond. Suffering from intense pain, the Giant Alligator’s body thrashed around crazily, creating a mud wave that was a few meters tall and turning the surrounding area into even more of a muddy mess.

  The main reason why Greem chose Fire Arrow, and not Fireball, as his first long-range offensive spell was because it also caused physical damage when it hit something. This characteristic was especially significant when he was dealing with wild creatures who had a high-resistant toward Elementium based attacks.

  Of course, Greem would never admit it, but the real reason he gave up learning the Fire Ball spell was the extremely difficult 54 Magical Syllables he would be required to memorize and intone correctly to cast the spell.

  Going back to his current situation, Greem’s attack had, obviously, exposed his current location.

  “Oh. So you were hiding there! Don’t you even think about running away from me again…”

  A jarringly high-pitched female voice suddenly came from the distance. Inside her Protection Barrier, the frightening Alice struggled her way out from the muddy pond and let out a furious roar in Greem’s direction.

  Unfortunately for her, in next second a long whip, made from some native vine shot up from the water and coiled tightly around Alice’s invisible barrier. Thus, the little Lolita only able to show half of her body, and was trapped in the pond, unable to leave the surface of the water.

  Countless Ghost Nannies kept slamming into the Protection Barrier, like wild beasts. However, their sharp claws and aggressive attacks could do nothing to the Protection Carrier, hence, more and more Ghost Nanny simply hung themselves on the barrier, trying to use their body weight and drag this foul human, who had slaughtered many of their sisters, back into the muddy pond.<
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  Like pouring dumplings into a pot of boiling water, one after the other, Ghost Nannies kept swimming around the invisible barrier, stepping on their allies bodies and leaping out from the water, crazily and recklessly knocking at Alice, who was struggling to free herself from the horde. All of this only made Alice become even more furious.

  Not caring anymore, numerous Spatial cracks, which could be seen with the naked eye, appeared, slicing up everything that came closer to the barrier. Whenever a Ghost Nanny touched these Spacial cracks, no matter whether it was their arm or their tough and strong body, whatever encountered these cracks would be cleanly sliced in half, causing sticky, black blood to be thrown all over the place.

  Even so, these Ghost Nannies still rushed in, wave after wave, never showing any signs of stopping.

  Not only that, but even Sinbad’s Giant Lizard rushed forward to attack Alice. Using its massive tail, it slapped down onto the indestructible barrier, forcing most of her body to sink back into the muddy water again. The massive impact transferred to Alice, causing blood to come out from her nose and mouth.

  Thus, a fierce battle once again erupted between Alice and Ghost Nannies, who rushed in like a swarm of hornets. Meanwhile, Greem was trapped in a dangerous fight with the Giant Alligator.

  Although his Fire Arrow just now had severely injured the Giant Alligator’s mouth and caused a bloody mess inside, it was a ferocious demon who possessed a very strong vitality. This kind of damage was far from taking its life. As a result, the furious Giant Alligator channeled all of its pain into fury, and focused all that fury on Greem, pulling its massive body, which was covered with hard scales, from the mud and continually launching attacks at Greem.