Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Only one of his two knight companions was still flying in the air alongside him. The other blood knight had been hit in the wing by the Flame Fiend's flame whip and was grounded entirely now.

  This was the battlefield of two powerful adepts. Without wings, one didn't even have the qualification to participate in it. Soros cautiously protected his wings as he weaved in and out of the battlefield, launching powerful midrange attacks at the Flame Fiend by throwing crimson spears at him.

  Inside the fiery battlefield, Greem remained towering on the back of the wind dragon. He was trying his best to maintain the Ring of Fire to continuously damage Mary while shooting out Scalding Rays from his eyes. Greem was closely chasing after the agile vampire.

  The thirty minutes of battle had inflicted relatively severe wounds on both Greem and Mary.

  The incredibly agile Mary dodged and weaved in a small area; she was an annoying assassin. There was no point in casting any spell that required more than three seconds of chanting.

  Trying to cast a large-scale spell was a suicidal act unless you were sure that your defenses could hold out that long!

  On the other hand, those powerful single-target spells weren't practical either. The chances of these spells hitting Mary were just too low. Even if Greem managed to lock on to her position using his Spirit, his spell would only manage to destroy the realistic afterimage she had left behind.

  When necessary, Mary even used her strange blood magic to swap positions with one of her knights. It might temporarily cripple one of her subordinates, but it ensured that her personal safety was guaranteed and that her combat ability was not compromised.

  Still, despite all her advantages, Mary had been injured.

  The most alarming thing was still that accursed Ring of Fire. As long as she was in this zone of fire, her body had to endure the continuous burning of the destructive flames.

  Mary would not have taken much damage with her elite-level resistances if this were common fire. However, what currently engulfed her was an elementium fire that was sixty points in power. Moreover, the flames themselves seemed to possess a trace of soul-burning effect.

  That forced Mary to continuously protect her wings with her blood energies as she flitted around within the sea of fire. However, the depths of her soul would occasionally sting, regardless of how tight her defenses were. It was as if someone were constantly stabbing her soul with an invisible needle.

  It wasn't a very powerful or crippling attack, but it was extremely annoying!

  Mary's wings were in tatters now, covered with burn marks and punctures. Signs of being burned had also appeared all over her slim and slender body. There were gaping wounds on her shoulders and legs where the Scalding Rays had pierced through.

  It was no longer the start of the battle. Mary could no longer afford to use her blood energy to recover her wounds continuously. For the sake of better preserving her strength, Mary couldn't waste her blood energy on the recovery of these insignificant wounds.

  She would only indulge herself when struck in a crucial part of her body.

  After all, she couldn't find any blood treats here that could help her regenerate blood energy. Without the nourishment of blood, a vampire would not be able to employ their signature suicidal combat style.

  This substantially limited Mary's abilities in the fight!

  Of course, as her loyal servant, old fox Vanlier had already gone hunting in the surroundings. He had brought back a goat. Sadly, he couldn't even send these spoils into the sea of fire. The moment Vanlier returned, an Explosive Fireball shot out from within the battlefield and blasted the goat into smithereens.

  Greem had perfectly controlled the strength of the fireball; it hadn't hurt Vanlier at all.

  Thus, the battle reached a stalemate!

  In truth, the pressure Greem had been facing was no less than Mary all this time.

  The extended period of maintaining the Ring of Fire had caused Greem's fire energy to continuously dwindling. If it weren't for the sporadic surges of fire energy sent out from the Flame Fiend's Heart, Greem would probably have had to shrink his defensive line and fully commit to defending.

  He was hiding deep in the sea of fire and relied on the wind dragon's Wind Barriers to defend against Mary's ambushes. His defenses had all been taken apart in the battle up until now. Currently, only a single battered Lava Shield and an energy barrier remained.

  Three large and visible wounds were visible on Greem's massive body. Traces of blood energy could be observed fighting and clashing with the fire energy inside these wounds. They would not heal before the blood energy was neutralized.

  Despite the difficulty of the battle, Greem didn't make the wind dragon unleash its aura of might. He didn't complete his second phase transformation either.

  Greem had a feeling that Mary was hiding some of her powers and trump cards while looking for a chance to flip the tables on him. To avoid being caught by surprise, Greem had to keep his own trump cards tightly in his grasp. He waited silently for the moment she would strike.

  Two of the three blood knights had been grounded. They weren't dead, but they had lost the ability to participate in the ensuing fight. The only remaining knight seemed to be reasonably intelligent. He wasn't as 'straightforward' as the others. As a result, every time Greem tried to cripple him, Greem would fail.

  Moreover, this blood knight had a perfect grasp of the timing of his attacks. There were several times where his knight battle-techniques didn't connect, but they created the perfect opportunity for Mary to attack. One time, Greem even had to exhaust half of his Scroll of Voodoo's instant-cast spells to force Mary away.

  Powerful area-of-effect spells couldn't be launched against an agile and difficult to target assassin. Single target spells, on the other hand, were easily dodged. Consequently, Greem couldn't hurt Mary at all, apart from his Ring of Fire and the multitude of small instant-cast fire spells he had on hand.

  Not to mention there was still a blood knight looking in from the edges of the sea of fire, waiting for a chance to push. If Greem showed any weakness, this fearless and reckless man would definitely use his own life to tear open a path of attack for Mary.

  That was why Greem couldn't focus all of his Spirit on Mary.

  That said, while the battle was intense and unpredictable, the chances of Greem winning were still steadily rising.

  The main reason for that was the Chip completing its data collection on Bloody Mary. She was no longer a cloud of blood mist whose actions he couldn't predict. Her true form and abilities had been exposed to him.

  Mary.

  Vampire. First Grade Bloodline Adept.

  Bodily attributes: Strength 7 | Agility 16 | Physique 11 | Spirit 7.

  Combat magic: Blood Arrow, Rapid Advance, Shackles of Blood, Life Drain, Vampiric Touch, Blood Mist, Blood Frenzy, Rending Bloodclaw, Transfusion, Crimson Pact.

  Greem's head hurt when he saw all of Mary's combat magic projected in his mind. Mary had already repeatedly cast dozens of blood spells from the start of the battle until now. It was a clear demonstration of Mary's talent for battle. It was so impressive that Greem was at a loss for words.

  Melee adepts were not the same as elementium adepts.

  Elementium adepts often functioned as glass cannons, firing off powerful spells while remaining fixed on the same location. While they did have mobility spells, most of their combat consisted of long-range elementium attacks. While melee adepts also possessed a lot of spells, most of these were auxiliary and enhancement spells meant to boost their strength at a close range. They were rarely intended to be long-ranged attacks.

  Therefore, Greem had to use quick and consecutive instant spells to force back an agile assassin like Mary, who was continuously striking from every direction. That was especially the case after he lost his Lava Shields that provided him with physical protection.

  When the battle finally reached a standstill, Mary gave up on her strategy of harassing and dodging.
She finally revealed her ace, the Shackles of Blood.

  She let out a strange screech, and several shackles of blood immediately connected her with her four blood servants. She then stormed at Greem with no regard for her own body.

  Even though Greem had prepared himself for this, he was still shocked by Mary's ferociousness and determination.

  The next second, a storm of fire spells crashed towards Mary. The wind dragon started beating its wings as well. The dragon threw a massive tornado at Mary, obstructing her path forward.

  The climax of this battle for dominance had broken out just like that!

  Chapter 456 Who is Surrendering to Whom

  Shackles of Blood!

  As the name implied, this was a spell that superior vampires used to control their direct blood kin and blood servants.

  It needed to be used in conjunction with Crimson Pact and would allow damage sharing and energy-siphoning. Mary, being the master of the Crimson Pact, would never die as long as she still had blood servants alive.

  The blood energy within her four subordinates surged towards Mary through the Shackles of Blood. It allowed her to successfully break through the multiple walls of elementium fire and reach within ten meters of Greem.

  Under normal circumstances, the Scalding Ray and streams of fire would work together with the Ring of Fire to inflict tremendous fire damage on Mary; it could reach up to a hundred and forty points. Even with Mary's resistances, she couldn't linger for more than two seconds inside the center of such extreme attacks. Otherwise, her life forcefield would be damaged and her body would receive grievous wounds.

  That was why Mary had previously relied on her agility and speed to avoid all the attacks. Many times, she even had to give up on her advances. However, right now, Mary seemed like she had just been injected with a powerful stimulant. Not only did she not avoid the fire, she even folded her wings and dove right into the center of it like a moth to the flame.

  The next second, a cloud of crimson mist exploded in front of Greem.

  The dense mist quickly engulfed Greem like a wild beast devouring its meal. Mary's aura vanished instantly as well. She melded into the mist itself.

  It was as if there was a savage and destructive storm brewing within the center of the crimson mist.

  The entire crimson cloud was caught in the storm and continued to expand outwards. The mist roiled, spun, and churned as it encompassed an increasingly larger area.

  The mist was thick and red as blood.

  It was impossible to see Greem and Mary's silhouettes from the outside now. One could only indirectly measure the intensity of the battle based on the shockwaves spreading out from the bloody mist.

  The explosions had never stopped since the mist spread out. Wave after wave of flame shockwaves leaked out from within. However, it didn't matter how wild and brutal the battle was; the terrifying blood mist didn't seem like it would disperse any time soon.

  It wasn't possible to see what was happening within, but the changes outside were already surprising enough.

  Soros, Vanlier, and the other two knights suddenly let out cries of agony. Their skin started to peel off, and their flesh began to burn. Their entire bodies were withering at a rate visible to the naked eye. Vanlier was the weakest of them all. When the blood energy within his body started to surge towards his bloodline origin due to the power of the pact, he immediately crumbled to the ground. His life force became extremely weak.

  On the other hand, Soros was indeed Mary's strongest blood knight. Despite this sudden incident, he was still able to remain on one knee. He leaned against his longsword and tried his best to endure the bloodline origin drawing upon his strength.

  As strength left his body, waves of searing fire energy transferred into his body through the intangible Shackles of Blood. It made him feel as if a hot oven had been lit in inside him and was continuously spewing out terrifying streams of fire that ate away at his body.

  Wherever the streams of fire flowed, Soros' blood vessels burst apart. His nerves and bones burned and his flesh carbonized. Not a single drop of blood flowed from his body, even when his skin started peeling off.

  The overbearing heat vaporized the blood that the vampires relied on as their life-thread. If it weren't for the supernatural lifeforce granted them by their Physique, they would have turned to ashes the moment the fire energy entered their bodies.

  Even so, someone as powerful as Soros still had to grit his teeth and hang on, praying that his master would quickly obtain victory.

  However, at that moment, the berserk Bloody Mary was also dealing with an unexpectedly powerful 'enemy'!

  She severely lacked information when it came to Greem.

  The last time she had made contact with Greem, he could only complete the first phase Flame Fiend transformation. He was powerful then, but most of his dominance in battle was still thanks to his elementium golems.

  When Bloody Mary drew upon her subordinates' blood energy, she only needed to endure one-fourth of the damage from Greem's attacks (Vanlier's way too weak. He can't help Mary endure that much damage). This damage reduction allowed her to transform from a sinister assassin into a berserk warrior instantly.

  The blood energy was attached to her curved and sharp claws, allowing her hands to become terrifying magical gear of their own. Every scratch, stab, and strike was threatening and effective.

  Even the eighty-points of power that the Fire Shield had was not a match for Mary's terrifying claws. She would pierce straight through them with a single stab, reducing them into sparks of fire.

  However, piercing through the wind dragon's layers of wind vortices wounded Mary severely.

  Tens of thousands of blade-like whirlwinds combined into a solid barrier around the wind dragon's body. They protected Greem as well. Mary would have to take the risk of going through this barrier if she wanted to attack Greem.

  Consequently, Mary was in shambles by the time she appeared on the wind dragon. She slowly walked towards Greem, her entire body bloodied and wounded.

  It was like Mary had just been rescued from a shredder; not a single piece of unharmed flesh could be found on her body. Gashes and fine cuts covered her skin. Thick purplish blood continuously flowed down to the ground. Blood covered her entirely.

  However, the rapid regeneration of vampires was taking effect as blood energy continued to rush into her.

  It had just been two steps since Mary had started walking towards Greem, yet all her minor cuts had healed. The terrible gashes had also started closing up. The blood that had flowed out of her body didn't just go to waste. It dispersed into a mist of blood and slowly returned to Mary's body.

  Bloody Mary was truly an undefeatable existence when confronted with only physical damage.

  There was now less than three meters between her and Greem!

  That was an incredibly intimate distance for an agile assassin like herself! They could even hear each other's breath!

  The Wind Barrier had broken.

  The Lava Shield had shattered.

  Only a few of the Fire Shields remained.

  Large portions of the magma armor were also missing.

  The energy barrier was practically a piece of paper before an elite-level assassin.

  At this point, one could say that all of Greem's magical defenses had been exhausted. If he wanted to continue fighting, he would personally have to face this frenzied Bloody Mary.

  "Surrender, Greem!" Mary looked at Greem, who stood so close to her. Her blood-red eyes gleamed like a crimson sun, "You can't possibly be my opponent at this distance!"

  "Are you sure?" An odd smile appeared on Greem's face forged of fire, "You should know that I will never surrender!"

  "Why? For your so-called dignity as a man?" Mary pouted in disdain, "You know it as well. I've always quite liked you. As long as you admit that I'm stronger than you, then I can be your only lover. I can even help you fulfill that tiny dream of yours!"

  "Er..." Gre
em was stunned for a moment. He had never expected Mary to say these things when she thought she had the upper hand. However, he shook his head slightly and did away with this unexpected emotional disturbance, "I'm not rejecting you because of some weird male dignity. Rather…

  "…it's because you haven't beaten me."

  Greem's massive Flame Fiend's body started to grow even larger as he grunted out that last sentence. His Ring of Fire began to turn from red to purple-black. A strange unknown fire started to burn Mary.

  While Greem was unsealing his Flame Fiend's Heart and completing his second phase transformation, the wind dragon let out a reverberating roar. An intimidating aura of might rushed towards Mary.

  The vampires were already considered to be higher magical creatures, but their bloodline tier was still below that of the dragons. The dragons were the real king of the food chain. Consequently, Bloody Mary was affected despite her excellent resistance; she was far too close to the dragon itself. Her mind started to haze and fog up. She couldn't move at all for the entire duration of three seconds.

  Greem seized this opportunity. His four-meter body exploded in size and instantly turned into a six-meter monster of flames. He then bent down, extended a large magma hand, and grabbed Mary in a single grip.

  The terrifying Burning Domain immediately scattered the blood mist around Mary. The hand of magma and fire kept a tight hold on her. It didn't tighten to crush her, and no energy flames were intentionally used to burn her.

  "It's my turn to ask you, Mary," An enlarged version of Greem's face formed on the head of the magma giant, "I have defeated you. Now it's you who should be surrendering to me!"

  Mary had now broken free of the dragon's aura of might and was furiously struggling.

  Unfortunately, her advantage lied in her high Agility. Her Strength was only a measly seven points. Greem, on the other hand, possessed twelve points of Strength upon completing his second phase transformation. Even though he still couldn't compare to body-refining adepts who specialized in Strength, it was more than enough for him to restrain an Agility-focused assassin!