Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Greem's flame projection and Sanazar herself were only watching the battle with playful gazes. They silently waited for Alice's life to be threatened before they descended as saviors.

  However, the moment they waited for didn't arrive even after a long wait. Instead, the tides of the battle seemed to have mysteriously turned.

  And all of this was because of the Decayer's unique ability– Splitting Multiplication!

  The damaged Decayer was finally unable to endure the tremendous damage from all three individuals. Its body had exploded! It was like jelly that had been blown up. Tons of acidic substance splashed in every direction, before turning into a pool of liquid on the ground.

  Alice was finally exposed to the enemy.

  Every party involved in the battle was thrilled. The terrible performance today had finally come to an end. At this very moment, however, the green liquid suddenly started to gather under the guidance of an unknown force.

  Just like that, two Decayers appeared under everyone's surprised gazes, be they hiding in the shadows or fighting in the light.

  The two new Decayers appeared to be half as tall as the previous one. They were also significantly smaller. However, their firepower was still as ferocious as before!

  The Splitting Multiplication significantly reduced the defense of the new Decayers. That said, this wasn't a significant problem for an aggressive and offensive elementium golem like the Decayer. The two Decayers took up positions on the left and the right respectively. Two bright green acid arrows shot at the sky every time their short and stubby bodies trembled.

  These acid arrows exploded at first contact, sending acid splashing over an area. The area covered by the acid wasn't extensive. It was only seven or eight meters in diameter. However, when the two acid balls fired together, they significantly limited the space in the air.

  Moreover, the acidic liquid was misty and could disperse in the air. Thus, the retention rate of acid in midair was extremely long.

  The two Decayers continued to attack, and the skies above the castle quickly saturated with an acidic green mist. A pungent odor was present as well.

  Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

  The female illusionist cursed repeatedly. For the first time since the battle started, she directed her hatred towards the strange elementium golem.

  She misdirected all of the opponent's attacks to the spaces around her. However, the hybrid dragon's body was enormous. It was unavoidably hurt by the annoying green mist when it flew in the sky.

  It would have been fine if it was its torso that was being corroded. After all, grey scales protected that spot. A little acid wasn't enough to kill an adept-level hybrid dragon. Unfortunately, if it were its wings that were corroded by the acidic liquid, there would be no way to protect them. There were no scales there.

  Thus, thick white smoke started to rise from the dragon's wings as it circled in the air. The fearsome acid sizzled as it ate its way into the dragon's leathery wings. Small punctures were already appearing on the wings, and even these quickly expanded and turned into more severe wounds.

  The hybrid dragon's ability to maneuver about had been profoundly affected. Its wings, riddled with holes, were also no longer able to keep it in the air for much longer.

  However, the illusionist's powerful attacks had also destroyed the two Decayers as the dragon finally started faltering.

  But four even smaller Decayers appeared in the castle ruins under her furious gaze.

  Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

  The female illusionist didn't know what words to use to express her anger and frustration at this moment.

  Who freaking made this disgusting golem? How many times could it split?

  If the basic damage of the original Decayer were at 50 points, the Decayers that had undergone a single split would have their output reduced to 40 points. The Decayers that underwent two divisions then had their damage cut to 30 points.

  However…

  Those were four extraordinarily green and extremely 'cute' Decayers! Four!

  The total damage they dealt reached unbelievable heights when stacked together.

  Every time the female illusionist tried to launch a charge with the hybrid dragon, four acid arrows would greet her right in the face. The attacks might miss from being misdirected, but the acid splash still made it difficult for her to dodge.

  The four mini Decayers had turned into a dyeing machine. Their diligent shots quickly dyed the skies a sickly green. The pungent odor of acid was nauseating!

  The acid was extremely sticky. It was blown about by the wind. It was tough to get rid of the acid when it landed on the dragon. The acid had finally severely damaged the massive wings. They were no longer able to maintain flight.

  The hybrid dragon's movements became increasingly clumsy!

  The female illusionist could tell what was going to happen. She let out a battle cry and leaped off the dragon, successfully landing on another side of the castle as the dragon crashed into the ground. The earth trembled from the impact.

  Rumble!

  Another side of the castle collapsed from the impact. Tons of sand and debris tumbled to the ground like a landslide. Two massive claws gleaming with a metallic sheen clanged as they grabbed onto the crumbling walls.

  The dragon's ugly mouse-like face appeared in front of everyone. Then, its scaled and skinny body, as well as its broken wings, were revealed as well.

  The dragon wasn't going to be flying any time soon, judging from the state of the dragon's wings!

  Runes were already glowing around Alice. She had taken the opportunity to use Spirit enhancing arrays to break free of the illusionist's control. She felt intense pain from every part of her body when she woke up.

  She had received plenty of damage from the battle earlier. Alice wasn't in any mortal danger, but the number of wounds she had accumulated was too large to count. She had not been able to feel pain while her Spirit was under the enemy's control. The only thing Alice had cared to do was relentlessly attack. However, now that she had finally managed to wrestle control of her body from the enemy, the sudden surge of agony from all her wounds was enough to cripple her in an instant.

  The dragon was also using the ruins of the castle to creep towards the Decayers.

  It might not have long ranged attacks, but it still had tremendous strength.

  It leaned against the wall and dodged as it moved forward. It even picked up broken furniture and other heavy things to throw at Alice and the Decayers.

  The Decayers had powerful long-ranged attacks, but their defenses were far inferior to the Roaring Monster. They had no better way to cover for Alice than to intercept the projectiles with their acid arrows.

  The illusionist, on the other hand, had utterly vanished!

  …………

  Back in the shadows in the distance, the Third Grade female adept Sanazar couldn't help but turn and ask Greem.

  "Hey, brat. What do you think? Will Alice die if we choose not to act and save her?"

  "Er……"

  An expression of deep thought appeared on Greem's blazing face.

  Indeed. Would Alice die?

  The reason Alice was so calm was that fate had told her that she wouldn't die. Which is to say, fate's calculations should have included her two reinforcements.

  Sanazar and Greem both had a clear view of the situation with their personal methods of spying on the battle. The female illusionist had already snuck to Alice's side while the dragon had been attracting the attacks of the Decayer. She now closed the distance after applying Invisibility to herself.

  The illusionist could easily kill Alice at this distance as long as she was willing to endure a round of attacks from the Decayers.

  If Lady Sanazar wanted to act, she would have to move now.

  However, even Greem himself still hesitated.

  He wanted Sanazar to act and save Greem, thereby ending this stupid show. He also wanted to wait and see if this most powerful force known a
s fate had other means of protecting Alice.

  Greem surveyed the surroundings. Almost everyone around the castle was dead. Where could Alice's savior come from, if she still had one?

  Alice was undoubtedly one of Greem's most treasured subordinates that he had invested most of his resources into. Letting her die here like this would be a massive waste. But Greem seriously wanted to know. Was fate really that powerful and mysterious?

  The two thoughts competed in his mind. He couldn't help but feel unnerved.

  "Chip, could you calculate the possibility of Alice surviving if we refuse to act?"

  "Zero. Disregarding unknown variables that exist outside of our control, the chance of Alice surviving is zero!"

  Damn it! If Alice couldn't survive without help, then they had to act.

  Greem wasn't willing to use the life of a vital subordinate to test the limits of fate.

  However, an unexpected change happened on the battlefield just as Greem was about to request Sanazar to help.

  Dammit! How did it come to this!

  Chapter 314 Witch

  Aaaaaah!

  A deafening shriek filled the entire battlefield!

  All of a sudden, a gale blew over the top of the castle. Soon, it turned into a powerful tornado that rose towards the sky. A girl with a small figure raised her hands and lifted her head towards the sky as she stood within the eye of the storm. Alice balled her fists and let out a sharp, ear-piercing shriek of anger.

  As the sound waves spread outward, ripples started to appear in the air and slowly began to make their way outwards as well.

  These ripples might not have caught the eye in any manner at all. However, it didn't matter what they touched; the moment they made physical contact, everything was ripped and reduced to shreds, leaving only dust behind. Dust that couldn't even be seen with the naked eye.

  Everything around the castle–the crumbled ruins, the broken furniture, the laboratory equipment protected with magic arrays–started to hover in the sky when the rippled touched them, almost as if gravity didn't work on them. They slowly disintegrated and turned into a massive cloud of grey dust.

  The powerful shockwaves trembled when they had traveled five meters away from the young girl. The ripples outlined the silhouette of a tall female figure.

  It was the illusionist!

  She didn't seem to have expected a pseudo-adept to be able to launch such a powerful spatial attack. She stumbled backward while ceaselessly drawing upon her magical energies to strengthen her body.

  She could feel what was happening to her body very clearly.

  These spatial ripples didn't seem like much, but they had a fearsome lethality that outmatched most spells. Energy barriers were able to deflect and neutralize elementium spells, but they were helpless against spatial magic.

  The spatial ripples appeared to be a single complete entity, but they were composed of hundreds to thousands of different layers of space. When the ripples hit the illusionist's body, all of her skin, flesh, organ, bones, and tendons simultaneously separated into entirely different layers of space.

  Any minor change in her location at this moment would cause distortion and dislocation between the different layers. Thus, under the dominating natural tendency of space to mend itself, your flesh, organs, and every fragile part of your body would be exposed to the thousands of forces applied in thousands of different directions.

  Moreover, you couldn't defend against this spatial energy with just an energy barrier!

  The illusionist had already been running away from Alice the moment she realized something was wrong. At the same time, she continuously strengthened the resistance and toughness of her body using what magic spells she knew.

  If she had been a body refining adept and had trained her organs to be as resilient as steel, she might have been able to use her physical body to endure this attack.

  Unfortunately, she was not!

  The illusionist quickly retreated as she coughed intensely.

  Purple and black blood, as well as shattered organ fragments, came out from between her red lips.

  120 points!

  How could a young girl with the power of a pseudo-adept launch such a powerful spatial ripple?

  This…this was beyond her expectations!

  120 points.

  110 points.

  100 points.

  ……

  80 points.

  60 points.

  ……

  The strength of the spatial ripples quickly fell off the further they drifted from Alice. The illusionist finally stopped moving. She was seventy meters away from Alice now.

  The spatial ripples here could only deal 20 points of damage. This damage was low enough for the illusionist to bear.

  The illusionist stopped retreating when she reached here. She endured the waves of ripples and silently prepared a spell. She had wanted to torture and humiliate Alice before she killed her, but judging from what had just occurred, it was probably safer to get rid of this brat.

  The girl couldn't possibly sustain such a large-scale spell for an extended period of time with her power alone. She would instantly exterminate her with a violent wind vortex the moment Alice stopped!

  "Let's see how long you can keep going!" The illusionist mused in anger. A wicked smile appeared on her face.

  The four Decayers also tried desperately to escape Alice's Spatial Storm.

  Sadly, the terrifying and universal tearing of space within the Spatial Storm was far too effective against these creatures with weak defenses. The four Decayers were shredded once more before they could even retreat to a safer area.

  A short moment later, eight even smaller mini Decayers that had undergone their third splitting appeared before the combatants. They frantically ran towards away the moment their bodies had gathered together.

  Only six mini Decayers managed to escape from the Spatial Storm's area of effect. Two had been destroyed and died within the invisible spatial ripples.

  The hybrid dragon also reconsidered its previous thought of lunging at Alice. It stopped at the edge of the storm. It sensed the destructive nature of these ripples. It hesitated and patrolled around the outside of the phenomenon.

  "You have a good eye for picking subordinates. If I'm not mistaken, she's on the verge of advancement. Tsk tsk. A little witch with spatial talent. If you properly cultivate her, she would probably end up being a great aid to you." Sanazar started praising Greem in the shadows.

  After all, Alice had been able to let out a fearsome attack of 120 points, even though she was only a pseudo-adept. While there was the factor of her stimulating and exhausting her life force and potential in it, there was no denying that Alice had tremendous talent!

  Greem smiled bitterly.

  Only he understood what was happening. There was no way Alice would be able to summon such a horrifying Spatial Storm on her own. She must have drawn upon the powers of the spacestone sealed within herself!

  She channeled the spatial energy contained within the spacestone and released it in such a wild and reckless manner. This undoubtedly placed a heavy burden on Alice's weak body.

  Greem couldn't help but start worrying!

  One minute had passed.

  The ferocious storm raged on, as powerful as it had been earlier.

  The illusionist barely kept up her smile.

  Three minutes passed.

  The Spatial Storm still persisted, and there were no signs of it weakening.

  The illusionist's smile gave way to a severe expression.

  Five minutes.

  The Spatial Storm was still going strong.

  The corners of the illusionist's mouth started twitching heavily. An expression of utter shock betrayed her eyes.

  "How is this possible?"

  "How is this possible?"

  Amazingly, two people had just said the same thing in two different parts of the castle ruins.

  "No. We can wait no longer. " Sanazar was a Thi
rd Grade adept and had a better eye for things when compared to Greem, "Get ready to save Alice. I'll go and capture that illusionist. Be careful. Your little maid actually might advance soon. You can't let her waste her powers like this."

  Sanazar's body started to swell and expand once she said that.

  In a couple of seconds, she had transformed into a fearsome Flying Venom Dragon twelve meters long. Her strong hind legs kicked against the ground. Her body, covered with green viscous liquid, took to the skies with the help of her giant wings.

  Her massive and eye-catching body circled in the sky and quickly landed on the castle ruins where the fight was taking place. The dragons' aura of might fell upon the land, causing the hybrid dragon to be scared out of its wits. It immediately crouched on the ground and shivered in fear.

  The brand of the dragons had been carved into the genetic bloodlines of the hybrid dragons. When they faced a true dragon, the bloodline chains of absolute hierarchy would do their work, and these faux-dragons would behave even worse than some of the weakest creatures alive.

  The illusionist hadn't expected an 'ordinary' little pseudo-adept to have the capacity and ability to have a Third Grade adept as her bodyguard. She immediately turned tail when she caught sight of Sanazar's trademark green body.

  Countless silhouette and mirror images of herself appeared in the castle ruins. Each one of them used a unique method of their own to escape into the distance.

  Some called upon wind elementium to cover their bodies and fly into the distance, while others threw out magical tools and summoned a wind bat to take them away from the place, while some others applied wings of wind to themselves to soar as high as they could. There were even some images that quickly obscured their forms using Invisibility spells and ran into the ruins of the castle.

  Sanazar only paused for a moment when faced with the countless swarm of illusionists. A massive glob of green 'spit' was launched from her throat and instantly exterminated eight of the mirror images that weren't able to escape.

  It was apparent that the Flying Venom Dragon was mighty but could not see through these illusions on her own.