Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  His voice was low and thick. It was a male’s voice.

  Just then, the man took a step forward and a sliver of moonlight pierced through the canopy. It fell upon the man, illuminating his true appearance.

  This was a powerful body-refining adept wearing crimson metal armor. Crimson ripples surged in the air around him. He carried a gigantic two-handed greatsword on his back. His face was wicked and distorted beneath the moonlight. Several horrendous scars wriggled across his face like centipedes crawling about.

  He wore crimson gauntlets as well. Every time he balled his fingers into a fist, Greem could see sharp blades sticking out of the knuckles. Just the sight of such a thing was enough to send chills into the heart of an ordinary man.

  "Bloodhand Butcher?" Greem probingly asked.

  The opponent's appearance was fairly unique, after all. He was quickly able to recall some of the more infamous characters from these areas.

  "Knowing my nickname won't help you. You must die here today!" The Bloodhand Butcher said as a wicked 'smile' was splayed across his face.

  His firm and threatening voice hadn't even dissipated on the wind when a red shadow shot towards Greem. His monstrous metal fist punched through the air. Violent winds blew in every direction, scattering a pungent odor of blood into the air. It was directed at Greem's heart.

  A black and red Magma Shield suddenly appeared between the two.

  The flames didn't even have time to spread across the surface of the shield before a crimson fist smashed right into the center of it.

  Boom! The Magma Shield exploded.

  For the first time, Greem's Magma Shield had been shattered into sparks and rubble before it could finish materializing.

  The wind howled. The metal fist broke through his defensive barrier, the fire still blazing on it, and continued on its path towards Greem. The swift and powerful strike had been partially obstructed by the Magma Shield, but it could still deal as much as sixty points of elementium damage.

  Most elementium attacks tended to be unconcentrated. However, the enemy's iron fist was a vigorous and concentrated blow. All of its strength had been gathered into a single fist. Its offensive ability was beyond that of an elementium attack.

  Greem was caught by surprise. He hit himself on the chest and a brilliant 'Flame Halo of Repulsion' activated.

  The Flame Halo of Repulsion was nothing more than a scorching flame shockwave that spread out it a halo. Everything within its range had to endure damage from the flames, as well as a certain level of physical impact.

  This was why the spell was often used by fire adepts to create distance from their enemies!

  That said, this last minute Flame Halo activation was not going to do much against a body-refining adept. Greem stumbled backward. The punch’s air pressure struck his chest and sent him flying.

  Greem heard his ribs cracking from the impact while he was still sailing through the air. He spat out black blood at the same time.

  The crimson silhouette roared. The blood-colored aura shrouding his body blasted away the fearsome flames reaching towards him. A single stomp and the opponent charged towards Greem's falling body. Two iron fists sent a barrage of punches, and a curtain of furious crimson shadows flew at Greem.

  Boom.

  Flames appeared in the dark forest.

  Greem's tall body instantly disappeared in the pillar of fire that had erupted out of nowhere.

  Flames burst apart in an empty space a hundred meters away as Greem stumbled out of the fire.

  The crimson attacker roared once more. His body twisted in midair and once again sped towards Greem like an arrow fired from a bow.

  "Die!" Greem growled and lifted his hand. Three Explosive Fireballs exploded towards the enemy in a triangle formation. Greem lifted his right palm again, right after the Explosive Fireballs were launched. A Magma Fireball quickly formed in his hand.

  The crimson silhouette did not choose to avoid the fireballs shooting towards him.

  Bloodhand Butcher was an experienced body-refining adept. He knew very well what would happen if he dodged. If he stopped for even a moment, a storm of elementium spells would drown him before he could get close. The terror of a fire adept was fully demonstrated when they were able to put distance between themselves and the enemy.

  Without any hesitation, the Butcher raised his arms up to cover his face. A powerful crimson forcefield trembled around him. He chose to endure the attack.

  Bang. Bang. Bang...

  Three consecutive explosions. The dark forest was painted a bright red.

  The violent elementium flames dragged everything within a twenty-meter radius into a realm of fire and ash.

  The tall, straight, and thick trees were instantly ignited, turning into towering torches in the night. Wood splinters were set on fire by the ocean of flames. The intense fire was blinding.

  The Butcher fearlessly crashed through the center of the explosion. He had just reached the edge of the sea of flames when a speeding Magma Fireball entered his sight.

  Dammit! The speed at which the Flame Demon fired spells was terrifying indeed!

  He cursed internally as he drew the sword from his back. He slashed forward, a desolate crimson light streaking through the air, and slashed the fireball in half.

  He tried once again to charge through the explosion, but a massive flame fist was waiting right behind the Magma Fireball. It smashed him directly in the face, knocking him right back into the flames he had attempted to escape from.

  The scarlet lava from the shattered Magma Fireball fell upon the green grass, instantly scorching the earth. An oppressive figure, shrouded in dancing flames, silently stood before the Butcher. It cut off all routes of attack available to the enemy.

  Greem finally saw a chance to counter-attack with the Infernal Tyrant covering him. He grabbed three potions from his belt and drank everything at once.

  After quickly treating the wounds he had sustained, Greem lifted his head. Two bright sparks lit up within his ebony eyes.

  A massive amount of wild, blazing flame energy started to gather around him!

  Chapter 300

  The fight deep in the woods wasn't the only battle.

  A massive elementium explosion erupted in the camp as well.

  The sudden tide of elementium ravaged everything around it. The temporary camp was destroyed and turned into an expanse of elementium. Even Greem felt the destructive aura from a distance.

  Through the soul contract, he ascertained that Alice and Snorlax were still alive. They were frantically running away from the destruction. However, were there people chasing after them? Would they be able to escape the pursuit of an adept?

  He had no answers to these questions!

  If he wanted to rescue them, he first needed to defeat the accursed adept before him– Bloodhand Butcher.

  In the time that Greem hesitated, the Infernal Tyrant had already clashed with the Butcher.

  The Tyrant's massive body of flames had been slashed several times while in the sea of fire. The ferocious flames that ravaged everywhere had also burned the Butcher. He screamed in pain as the longsword in his hand started to heat up from the flames. Soon, the sword had turned into a bright red piece of iron.

  Even more crimson energies emanated from the Butcher's resilient body. They enveloped him and prevented him from being reduced to ashes by the flames. However, this protection wouldn't last for long. He had to crush this elementium being as soon as possible, or the crude crimson barrier he had just erected would eventually be breached.

  The crimson energies extended towards his sword, giving it powerful corrosive powers. Every slash of the sword delivered tremendous damage to the Tyrant.

  Often, the Butcher had to rely on his swift footsteps to move about and dodge the violent fire spells launched in his direction. He felt a stinging pain whenever one of those terrifying elementium fireballs exploded nearby.

  Was it 130 points, or 140 points?

 
Without an accurate measurement, the Butcher had no idea how powerful the attacks were. He didn't want to know either. The only thing he needed to know was that he had to dodge whenever the flame humanoid directed its palms at him. He wasn’t confident that his Physique could endure that sort of explosion if he was ever hit by the fireballs!

  He had already found out about the target's fearsome elementium golem through the information provided to him, but the strength of the golem had clearly gone beyond his expectations.

  As a body-refining adept with 17 points in Physique, the Bloodhand Butcher had a shocking amount of physical and magical resistance. He even rivaled some of the beefier and defensive magical creatures in the wild. He easily took on attacks below 60 points of damage even without the crimson armor he wore.

  This meant that a group of apprentice adepts had absolutely no way chance of harming him, even if he was completely unarmed. In fact, he could endure all of their blows, charge at them, and use his massive sword to crush them like bugs.

  Even so, the Bloodhand Butcher didn't dare take a fireball from the golem head on. He had a feeling. If he was hit by the fireballs, it would definitely do serious damage.

  His instincts were fairly accurate.

  The data displayed in Greem's mind. Every single spell the Tyrant cast reached a shocking 150 points. This was far above the highest limits that ordinary adepts could reach!

  The human body was undoubtedly the weakest among all creatures that had access to supernatural powers. Consequently, the concentration of elementium that could be stored and accumulated within a fixed area of their flesh and blood was significantly lower than magical creatures.

  This was reflected in their spells. The strength of an adept’s elementium attacks was limited by the strength of their bodies and several other factors. It was virtually impossible for their spells and attacks to be as concentrated and savage as a magical creature’s.

  This was why Greem's attack was no stronger than 115 points, despite having undergone elementiumization of his body, as well as having chosen flame mastery. The Infernal Tyrant was a powerful elementium golem indeed. Its Second Grade summoning core was above its own personal Grade. While it might not have the body to fully exhibit the power of such a core, the spells that it cast were unbelievably terrifying.

  150 points!

  This was enough to kill some ordinary adepts in a single shot!

  Greem endured the throbbing pain from his chest and straightened his body. He tried to sense the commotion in the distance.

  Alice was completely out of breath from running, but she still took what time she had to send a warning to Greem. It wasn't an adept that attacked the camp, but two.

  If Greem included the body-refining adept with him, the number of adepts after his life had reached a total of three!

  And he was no more than a newly advanced adept!

  Greem had a clear idea of the opponent's strategy.

  The body-refining adept would stall him, while the other two adepts would kill his servants. The three of them would then surround Greem and exterminate him!

  It seemed that the opponent had no intention of letting any news of the incident escape to the outside world. This was why they were willing to let go of their dignity as adepts and chase after his servants.

  If that was the case, there was no longer a need to hesitate. Killing this body-refining adept before the other two arrived was his only way out of this predicament.

  Greem lifted his head and looked at the crimson man dashing around the Tyrant. He uttered several arcane syllables as he pointed at the enemy. The flames around the crimson silhouette quickly gathered together. All of a sudden, a strange chain of flames materialized and wrapped around the Butcher's body.

  This chain only dealt 15 points of physical damage and 5 points of elementium fire damage. It was completely insignificant to a body-refining adept with 17 points of Physique and 14 points of Strength. He only needed to exert a little force to shatter the chains. However, a towering pillar of flame had exploded beneath the Bloodhand Butcher in the short moment it took him to break free.

  An expression of fear appeared on his wicked face. The ferocious crimson energies exploded, instantly shattering what was left of his restraints while dispersing the fire pillar. He kicked the ground and barely escaped before the flames gathered together once more. Deep imprints of his feet had been baked into the scorched earth.

  He didn't even have any time to take a breath. Fireballs from both the Tyrant and Greem flew towards him, one from the left and the other from the right.

  The Bloodhand Butcher's face fell. He quickly sped up and dashed across the field of fire. Only a faint crimson afterimage was left where he had just been. The fireballs continuously exploded behind him as he ran. A few trees creaked and collapsed in each of the explosions.

  Dirt was even raining down on him after being sent flying by the explosions!

  Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

  The Bloodhand Butcher cursed again and again. He was so mad he could feel his lungs burning with rage.

  The accursed target was standing twenty meters away from his golem. The two of them unceasingly launched their fire spells at him. Every time he tried close the distance, he would be greeted by a barrage of Explosive and Magma Fireballs.

  Moreover, the two Rings of Fire they activated had overlapped. Consequently, the Butcher had to deal with 30 points of fire damage every second, even while he dodged at high speeds. The damage might not have been much to his tough body, but the heat could still ignite the clothes he had on.

  If it wasn't for his crimson armor, he would practically have been running nude at this point!

  He was a body-refining adept after all. Speed was not his proficiency. His main method of attack was through the use of his two-handed longsword imbued with corrosive blood energies. If the opponent kept him at a distance, the only thing he could do was passively endure their blows.

  Wuuuu. He heard a sharp whistling.

  A broken tree trunk sailed through the air towards Greem.

  t was blown to bits by a Magma Fireball while it was still in the air, exploding into debris and sparks.

  The next second, a one-meter-wide stone flew at Greem again.

  That was also reduced to pebbles by the fireballs in the air.

  Greem pivoted and lifted his hands. A Magma Fireball he had been charging up shot out like a bullet.

  The flickering sea of flames was suddenly blown apart as the Bloodhand Butcher charged out of the fire with his sword in hand. A crimson slash chopped the enhanced Magma Fireball top pieces before it could explode. The roiling lava within it was blasted away as well.

  The Butcher let out a yell that shook the ground and the skies. The blood energies circulating around his body increased in intensity as the sword in his hand became a curtain of slashes slicing at Greem.

  In ordinary circumstances, Greem would probably have leaped away with a Fire Teleportation.

  His Physique was decent as well, but entering a melee with a professional body-refining adept was a suicidal act.

  However, the battle today was a dangerous one. If this dragged on any longer, he would be surrounded by three adepts. That would be the end of him. Greem didn't run when faced with the menacing sword array flying towards him. He made a circle with his arms and a terrifying stream of flame composed of extremely concentrated fire elementium surged towards the enemy.

  Pu!

  The rain of cuts that spun like a top didn't stop at all. They clashed against the stream of fire and forced their way upstream. Bit by bit, they were pressing towards Greem's body. The red flame stream was split into two before the spinning sword, flowing harmlessly to either side.

  There were less than ten meters between the two now. Not a single obstacle stood between them besides the flood of fire.

  Both of them were gritting their teeth and hanging on!

  The Butcher was trying to break through this last barrier and use his swif
t slashes to cut the target to pieces. Greem was using every fiber of strength he had to increase the intensity and strength of the flame stream to buy time for the Infernal Tyrant. He needed five precious seconds for it to launch a powerful attack.

  Szzzzzz.

  The edge of the blade had come within half a meter of Greem's fingertips amid the odd sizzling sound of fire clashing against steel.

  Finally, after five seconds of channeling, the Infernal Tyrant's spell landed on the Butcher's body!

  Chapter 301

  A burning pain.

  A simple fire spell!

  The only uniqueness of this spell was its ability to convert part of the fire damage to harm the Spirit rather than the physical body.

  In fact, this spell could be considered mutated.

  When the Infernal Tyrant launched this simple mutated spell from its hands, it possessed 160 points of dual-attribute elementium damage.

  Bloodhand Butcher let out a surprised scream, and his spinning body completely froze. The stunned Butcher was then instantly flooded by sizzling red flames.

  Even Greem couldn't get an accurate reading of the center of the torrent of flame's precise temperature.

  All he could see was a bright red patch in his elementium sight.

  The extreme heat had even caused distortions in the air. The twisting shadows and blinding red lights made it hard to so much as look at the fire. Not even Greem's Spiritual sense could probe into the center of the fire, where the red light glowed the brightest.

  Aaaaaah!

  An anguished cry, like that of a beast, rang out in the woods. A towering figure charged out of the torrent of fire.

  Red flames still burned around him, but the temperature was much lower. Greem was finally able to see through the fire with his Spirit and witness the Butcher's wretched state.

  He was in a terrible state indeed!

  The fearsome heat had already eaten away half of the flesh on his body. Finding even a single untouched area was hard.

  The flames had carbonized a half-centimeter-thick layer of flesh and blood on the Butcher's body.

  The black remains cracked as he walked forward, revealing the smoking flesh and strong muscles beneath. His stomach had a massive and shocking hole burned through it.