Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  These questions disturbed it deeply. According to its estimations, even if Greem and his party had managed to make it here, it should have at least taken seven or eight hours to do so. This buffer of time would have been enough for it to hatch its ideal mutated spiders successfully.

  After all, this was the first time it had managed to obtain a magical creature leader as prey!

  However, Greem had succeeded in navigating the safest and shortest route to rush straight into his quarters. Of course, this came as a shock to Tula!

  "I don't seem to have any obligation to answer your doubts, do I?!" Greem's mouth twisted in disdain before coldly speaking, "Everyone knows the villains die by monologue. You had best die with your doubts still in your heart."

  Greem's mental flux seemed to act as a signal. The Roaring Monster's stone spikes, Unguja's tri-elementium spells, the Decayer's acid balls, and his own Fire Core Explosion all launched at the same instant. The fierce magic thundered across the hall like a typhoon, crashing towards Tula.

  The entire party prepared the second wave of spells in tandem right after they had released the first one.

  At the same moment the spells consumed Tula's body, many spiderites climbed out from everywhere. The webs, the stalagmites, the pillars, the cracks in the walls. These spiderites swarmed towards the party from every direction.

  At the same time, a shadow loomed from above. A large form crashed down toward the group from the ceiling overhead. Eight sharp limbs were like eight horrifying spears, whistling through the air as they stabbed at the party.

  Enemy assault…

  Chapter 422 Unexpected Ambush

  How terrifying was an elite-level magical creature with the territorial advantage?

  Greem might not have known the answer to this question before this moment, but now he no longer needed one!

  The massive demon-hunting spider skittered about the hall with the agility of a monkey. It easily avoided the spells hurled at it by taking cover behind the pillars. It then scaled the walls and hung from the ceiling with the use of its webbing and spider legs. Tula remained as speedy as ever even when it walked on the roof of the cave.

  Every time Tula struck at Greem, its sharp limbs threw the adept into a panic as he scrambled to avoid the attacks. However, any misstep in this environment would cause Greem to land in a spider web trap! What came next was the horrible fate of being consumed by tens of thousands of spiders.

  Fortunately, Greem was a destructive fire adept that brought his territorial advantage along with him wherever he went. Once he transformed into the Flame Fiend, every place enveloped by his Ring of Fire would turn into his home field.

  The Ring of Fire sizzled when it came into contact with the spiderwebs, like water poured onto boiling magma.

  The flames burned intensely, scorching the webs until they turned black and charred before finally turning into dust. And Tula's method of countering the Ring of Fire was to have the magical spiders detonate themselves!

  Tens of thousands of fist-sized spiders climbed out of every shadowy corner, leaping and jumping towards the Ring of Fire where they ferociously detonated themselves before they wholly burned.

  These spiderites were small magical creatures that had magical energy. Their self-detonation wasn't all that powerful, but it was at least as strong as a magical fireball with twenty points of power. Once their numbers reached a certain threshold, there would be several spiders simultaneously detonating themselves within the Ring of Fire. The stacked energy shockwaves from the explosions caused some of the energy to dissipate. Still, the combined force of their explosions had also reached a threatening extent.

  Ten small spiders grouped could deal a hundred and thirty points of damage. That was as much as Greem's all-out attacks!

  Not to mention there were far more than ten spiderites standing in front of them. Spiderites covered the ceiling, floor, walls, pillars, and every other open space. Their numbers had likely exceeded the thousands.

  The shockwave vortex created by the lurching magical energies severely damaged the Ring of Fire's stability, causing its radius to shrink quickly. Once the Ring of Fire completely fell apart, Greem and his party would have to face the full force of those spiderites.

  The Roaring Monster, the Decayer, and Unguja all retreated to Greem's side, where they used their concentrated firepower to weaken Tula's relentless strikes. Greem then freed himself from the battle for a moment and immediately drew upon four of the massive fire spells he had stored in the Scroll of Voodoo.

  Scarlet Firestorm!

  Meteor Shower!

  Doomsday Volcano!

  World Scorching Firecloud!

  In all honesty, the simultaneous detonation of several spiderites was quite destructive. However, Tula wasn't able to leverage this ability to reign over the Black Forest completely. The main reason for that was the excessively weak magical resistance and physical defenses of the spiderites!

  Perhaps because they had undergone mutations and modifications, most of the spiderites' internal organs were used to store magical energy; it caused their magic and physical defenses to be far inferior to small magical creatures of similar strength.

  Consequently, a single large-area fire spell from Greem instantly annihilated most of the spiderites that had yet to charge into the Ring of Fire. Moreover, their passive ability to self-detonate had also triggered a chain reaction of blasts. Their frail defenses and substantial numbers were the primary causes of the chain explosions!

  The explosive bang of a Scarlet Firestorm with ninety points of power reverberated throughout the hall the moment it was released. Even Tula was effected, along with the spiderites near it. Tula was blasted at least twice, even as it hid in a dark corner of the cave.

  This series of explosions had caused irreversible destruction to the spider hall!

  Most of the pillars supporting the hall had been blasted to fragments. Many cracks had also appeared in the walls around them. Finally, the overburdened ceiling collapsed amid ear-piercing grinding.

  If the Roaring Monster hadn't stood foremost to use its massive stone body to prop up a small barrier, Greem and his group would have become victims of this disaster.

  Yet, by saving the party, the Monster had also exhausted all the elementium energy it had stored within itself. All the stones on its body disintegrated and fell off until it was nothing but a pile of rocks. The Roaring Monster might not have been dead, but there was no chance it could participate in this battle any longer!

  Greem and the others eventually climbed out from the debris with great difficulty when a massive silhouette lunged at them from under the rocks. Its piercing spider legs slashed out as it whistled through the air.

  Greem didn't say anything. He immediately leaped away from the spot through the use of his Fire Teleportation.

  The more massive Unguja was the first to be hit. One of his heads was severed, and a purple-black fountain of blood sputtered out from the wound. Two spider legs had also impaled his body. Tula held the Demon Hound up in the air, causing Ungala to scream in agony.

  The Decayer was also a victim as its defense was the weakest of them all. It had been split in half by Tula's ferocious fangs and had collapsed into a pile of thick acid goo. The beetle shells and broken limbs of corpses that the Decayer had yet to digest scattered everywhere. It was incredibly disgusting to look at.

  With a flash of crimson light, Greem reappeared next to a stalagmite thirty meters away. He then turned and silently looked at Tula, who raised Unguja's body in a show of might.

  A strange creak.

  Tula's two limbs moved slightly and the sharp blades twisted in Unguja's flesh. The pitch of the three-headed demon hound's cries shot up sharply.

  "How dare you break into my den! Now you know my power!" Even though Tula was viciously punishing Unguja, its several compound eyes stared at Greem without so much as a single blink; the adept seemed to be up to something.

  The other enemies in the ro
om were not his opponent. Only this human adept, whose power varied from battle to battle, gave Tula a vague sense of danger; it was a threat of death that frightened the massive spider.

  Greem's massive body was blazing with fire. He remained in the first phase transformation and didn't attempt to unseal the Flame Fiend's Heart. Even though his eyes, flashing with a blue light, fixated on the cautious Tula, Greem was rapidly communicating with someone in his mind.

  A moment ago, an unexpected mental consciousness came out of nowhere and gently poked at his senses, right when Tula was about to attack him. The first message he received was a warning about Tula's sneak attack.

  Without the warning, Greem would not have been able to sense Tula's existence immediately after they had just survived being crushed by falling rocks. If Tula had gotten its way, it would have severely injured Greem!

  "Now you believe me, don't you?" The mysterious consciousness continued to communicate with him, "I helped you, and now you must help me. I don't need you to do much. Just force that damned old spider thirty meters back, and I will do my best to help you kill it."

  Greem was speechless.

  However, this mysterious mental consciousness matched a specific individual in the chip's data library. If it was indeed that person, everything that was happening could very well be explained.

  Greem acted without hesitation after quickly establishing an agreement with the other person.

  The Decayer had fallen apart near Tula. Suddenly, a green halo flashed above the Decayer, and two slightly smaller Decayers emerged on the spot. They frantically started spitting acid at Tula.

  Greem held his staff in his left hand and the Scroll of Voodoo in his right. A radiant red light appeared amid the sound of flipping pages as a violent Chain of Fireballs crashed towards Tula. This Chain of Fireballs was a spell stored in the Scroll of Voodoo. With staff in hand, Greem simultaneously conjured an explosive fireball that he hurled at Tula.

  None of these attacks seemed to have considered Unguja's wellbeing!

  Even if Tula intended to use Unguja to block this wave of spells, he would still be damaged by the ensuing shockwave and explosion.

  It already knew that adepts were cold and unfeeling people. Trying to threaten them with their 'subordinates' was a purely suicidal act. That was why Tula's six other limbs swiftly moved and carried its body back away from the spells. At the same time that it retreated, Tula raised its legs and threw the badly wounded Unguja at the explosive fireball flying towards them.

  Usually, Tula would have charged ahead and braved the attacks to engage Greem in a close range fight. That was its terrifying combat style that it had honed after hundreds of years. Suffering a small wound for a chance to murder the enemy was worth the trade.

  However, Tula was deathly afraid of the powerful grimoire Greem had in his hand.

  A grimoire that could instantly discharge so many potent spells was likely a magical item. Before Tula figured out how many spells remained in that book, it would never risk its life!

  Moreover, the sudden active stance that the human adept was taking gave Tula a sense of danger. It had a vague feeling that there was a plot hidden behind the adept's actions.

  As expected, the human adept immediately disappeared in a flash of fire right after he fired that series of attacks.

  Fire Teleportation!

  Dammit, where did he intend to teleport to?

  Would he go to support that elementium golem's attacks, or would he rush over for a melee?

  Tula raised its four front limbs high up as unease and confusion filled its heart. It then slashed at every inch of space around it with the four sharp limbs. At the same time, it used its other legs to retreat and quickly distance itself from its original position.

  At the same moment its massive body was retreating, a pile of rocks at the edge of the cave blew apart. A slender figure dashed out and lunged towards Tula's thick shell.

  More enemies?

  The sudden appearance of this enemy scared Tula out of its wits.

  It shook its body frantically and tried to shake the enemy away. However, the opponent didn't seem to care about the injury. They got all the way up to its back and jumped at Tula's head while ignoring the damage Tula's thick hair was dealing to their tender skin.

  Demon-Hunting Spider Tula was shocked!

  It barely managed to turn its head sideways, yet the first thing it saw was a pair of eyes shining with a frightening glow.

  Chapter 423 Having Medusa Yield

  How terrifying was a Medusa's Petrifying Gaze?

  Most people who had experienced it themselves never had the chance to speak of it.

  However, Greem had the luck to witness the petrification of an elite-class magical creature lord personally.

  Tula only felt the intensity of the light shining into its eyes when it turned its head. It was blinding! Its vision went black, and then it could no longer see anything.

  A quick moment later, Tula started to feel numbness throughout its body. It had lost the senses in its limbs and body. The feeling of numbness even spread toward the inside of its body at a shocking rate!

  However, Dana's Petrification Gaze wasn't going to go all that well. An earth yellow color flashed around Tula's body. The old spider's head was the first to turn into hard stone. The light flickered as it spread through Tula's body, petrifying the upper half of its body to stone.

  However, the spider's counterattack had also descended at this moment.

  Several colorful spiderites climbed out of Tula's fat abdominal sac. These creatures quickly leaped onto the Medusa's body and started biting savagely. Several white pulses of light flashed from within Tula's body, and it swiftly began absorbing the petrification power that Dana had injected into its body.

  The earth-yellow powers of petrification clashed with the milky white healing radiance in the middle of Tula's body; neither side seemed to have the advantage.

  Dana, who had wanted to assassinate Tula in a single blow, was not in good condition either. Her slender snake tail whipped about frantically and successfully killed many spiderites, but there were still plenty of them biting her body.

  The intense pain in her flesh and her already weakened spirit pushed Dana to her limits.

  "Kill it quick…" Dana screeched at the top of her lungs.

  That explosive attack had obviously been the last bit of her remaining strength.

  When the last traces of petrification energy entered Tula's compound eyes, Dana let go of her grip on the old spider in exhaustion. Her wounded body fell off from Tula's shell.

  Even at this moment, the completely worn out Medusa continued to shout at Greem.

  "Kill it. Help me kill it..."

  The old spider's paralyzed limbs suddenly twitched, and an unstoppable force shook off the shell of stone that had formed over the surface of its body.

  Tula was just about to double its efforts and use its freed limbs to break free of the petrification effect. Yet, at that moment, Greem and the Decayer's violent blows once again landed on Tula. This time, even the severely wounded demon hound standing at death's door forced himself to get up. His two remaining heads spit fireballs and wind blades at the ancient spider with all they had.

  It was the first time Greem had hit Tula square on the body with his Fire Core Explosion!

  The old spider had always used its agility, quick reflexes, and counterattacks to dodge the center of his fire spells' area of effect. Tula easily ignored the remaining magical shockwaves thanks to its excellent magic resistance.

  This time, Tula was hit by Greem's spell while half of its body was petrified and its spirit was corrupted and crippled.

  A Fire Core Explosion of a hundred and thirty points of power… that was a horrifying attack that even magical creatures at the peak of elite-class couldn't endure!

  The Fire Core Explosion generated an elementium vacuum one-meter in diameter. This vacuum carved out a small chunk of Tula's body. This one-mete
r diameter hole at the center of Tula's body was a grievous wound, despite the monster's humongous size.

  All the flesh and organs touched by the flames had been reduced to ashes. However, the intense heat also cauterized the gaping wound. That was why not a single drop of blood was visible. As the pressure on the wounds gradually built up within the body, purple-black blood burst out of Tula's flesh like a volcanic eruption.

  Tula howled and fell to the ground, even as it managed to break free from the petrification!

  At the same time, Unguja and Dana also collapsed.

  The two of them had been supporting their bodies through sheer force of will. Now that they had witnessed their greatest enemy mortally wounded, they too finally collapsed.

  Greem walked up to Unguja and took out five vials of healing potion that he poured right into the beast's mouth. The massive amount of medicine did their work and managed to help the demon hound cling to life.

  Greem then slowly walked towards the collapsed Medusa and waved a vial of healing potion before her.

  "Do you need me to heal you?" The green potion swished and swooshed about as he shook it, "I can ensure you survive as long as you yield to me!"

  Who knew? The Medusa hadn't even spoken when a mental cry for help came from the dying old spider.

  "Save me. Save me…you save me, and I'll listen to everything you say..."

  Hmm, one would suppose that even a magical creature lord could beg like that. Still, this was definitely beyond Greem's expectations!

  However, Dana the Medusa didn't want the old spider to be saved just like that. She opened her pretty eyes and stared unblinkingly at Greem.

  "That bastard Tula has already planted eggs in my body. They will hatch and emerge in half an hour. You don't need to set your sights on me." Dana was the silent type that valued every word she said. Even though she could have pretended to yield to Greem in exchange for the life of Tula, she still spoke the truth.

  Greem smiled and ignored the begging Tula. He sincerely spoke to the Medusa, "Don't worry about that! Just a parasite egg. I have absolute confidence I can extract them from your body! Now, it's just a matter of whether you are willing to yield to me."