Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  "What has happened?" Uldum roared in an unamused fashion.

  A soldier that had been guarding the entrance came in and reported, "Re…re…reporting. A monster has appeared in the camp and has already bitten two slaves to death."

  Uldum's heart trembled when he heard the word 'monster.' He instantly drew the short goblin pistol at his waist and marched outwards. Old Pa Tok and Mosaldin surged out of the wooden hall behind him.

  The southwest corner of the camp was in chaos right now.

  Two or three dozen trolls were frantically running around as a single strange scorpion the size of a mastiff pursued them. The corpses of three troll slaves lay on the ground even further towards the edge of the camp. Their throats had been gnashed into a bloody mess, and it was clear that they were dead.

  The sounds of guns were exploding out through the camp by the time Uldum and the goblins made it out of their tent. Seven or eight goblin guards stationed at various spots in the campground had already raised their guns and started firing at the strange insect.

  Uldum could very clearly see the metal bullets shoot and hit the body of the strange bug under the propulsion of an explosion. However, something happened that almost made him scream out loud. With no exception, all the metal bullets deflected when they hit the black shell of the strange insect.

  Deep craters or marks might have remained in the spots where the scorpion had been hit, but not one of them had managed to pierce through its shell.

  The deflected bullets had even hit two troll slaves that were escaping frantically.

  A layer of yellow dust appeared around the increasingly enraged scorpion. Its body swiftly vanished in the cloud of smoke. By the time it reappeared, it was already at the side of a goblin guard twenty meters away.

  Kacha!

  A sickening crunch rang out. The frightening scorpion had used its front jaws to snap the goblin guard's right leg in half. Even the thick metal armor on the goblin guard couldn't defend against this sort of terrifying biting ability. The scorpion forcefully swallowed the armor piece after chewing it several times.

  Dammit! Goblin guns didn't work on it!

  "Quick, recall all the shredders."

  Commander Uldum's angry yell rang out in the camp immediately.

  Chapter 496 Inside and Outside the Camp

  Five shredders waved their chainsaws and metal fists under the control of the goblins. They charged towards the strange bugs with their heavy footsteps.

  This scorpion had acted reckless and fearless until this point. Yet, the moment it saw several metal freaks charging towards it with steam blasting everywhere, it turned into a sly fox and started hiding throughout the lumber mill.

  The piles of lumber had now become its best cover.

  Compared to the shredders, the bug was no bigger than their rectangular feet. Regardless of how resilient its life force was, or how hard its shell, being stepped on by such a colossal being would mean an overwhelming weight of forty tons.

  That was why the insect relied on the logs scattered across the camp to rush everywhere. It occasionally launched rapid assaults at the troll slaves and goblin guards who couldn't dodge in time.

  It quickly threw the lumber mill camp into disorder.

  All the troll slaves were lowering their heads and scattering. Some didn't watch where they were going and ran straight into the insect. Naturally, it slaughtered them. Some brought themselves into the path of a shredder's charge, where it would reduce them to meat paste in a short yet tragic scream.

  Uldum and the troop of guards by his side had their formation disrupted by the slaves that were running everywhere. They could not keep up with the insect's agile and lithe body.

  "All goblins, do not panic," Uldum was the camp commander after all. He was calmer than the other goblins, even at this moment. He climbed onto a tall log and shouted from above, "All goblin guards get on top of a log. You, you, and you; don't run about with your shredders. Guard the entrances of the camp. All slaves gather in their rooms. Anyone else who runs about randomly will be beaten to death."

  The previously chaotic camp immediately found its backbone under Uldum's command. All the slaves and goblin guards hurried to their posts according to his instructions. The five shredders no longer chased futilely behind the insect. Instead, they retreated to the entrances between the logs and stared eagerly at the bug, as if they were waiting for it to fall into their trap.

  The sting scorpion stopped between two piles of lumber. It raised its head as if listening to something.

  Soon, it changed its strategy. It charged out of the pile of logs and moved atop the stacks of wooden boxes in the center of the camp.

  Baited by the scorpion, two goblin shredders charged into the pile and cut everything into pieces with their chainsaws. They cut the logs, splinters flying everywhere. The big wooden crates fell all over the place. They crashed to the ground, and their contents scattered everywhere.

  They were strange crystal prisms about half a meter long. The insides of these crystals weren't solid. Instead, they were filled with an odd liquid that radiated a ghostly green light.

  For some reason, even though Billis couldn't sense any elementium aura from these crystals, he felt his heart tremble.

  He had a sudden feeling that the most significant objects in that camp for him might not be the five goblin shredders. It wasn't the fire-spitting sticks in the goblin's hands either. It was these mysterious crystal prisms.

  Under his command, the sting scorpion conjured yet another obscuring cloud of dust. It then dove underground and emerged next to the scattered crate of crystal prisms.

  "Fire! Fire!" Uldum's sharp and severe roar rang out once again, "We can't let the monster get close to the magic energy batteries. Hurry up and fire."

  His shout prompted all the goblin guards standing atop the piles of lumber to raise their guns and fire at the sting scorpion. The rain of metal bullets crashed against the shell of the sting scorpion. However, most of them were deflected.

  Still, several columns of purple and black blood leaked out of the scorpion. Many of the compound eyes at its head had been blinded.

  A sharp and sorrowful scream rang out in the camp. The goblins all clasped their ears and rolled around in agony wherever the terrifying soundwave echoed. Even the goblin mechanics in the shredders were no exception!

  Billis, who had been watching from a distance, was slightly stunned. He then seemed to have understood something.

  In all honesty, Billis was utterly shaken when he first saw those five goblin shredders.

  The sensitivity of his Spirit allowed him to sense that each of these goblin shredders was as powerful as an advanced apprentice. However, this place only seemed to be a comparatively rural town of the Goblin Empire.

  The cylinder stick that fired metal bullets, in the hands of the goblin guards, had a basic damage that reached thirty points of power. Such strength might not be much to adepts, but if every single low-level goblin of the Empire had access to such a convenient and rapid method of attack, Billis had no choice but to reevaluate the overall strength of the Goblin Empire.

  If even this place could easily pull five advanced apprentices together, and if every single goblin had the offensive power of a beginner apprentice, this would be bad news for the upcoming invasion of the adepts.

  However, good news always accompanied bad, regardless of the matter!

  Even though the combat training and offensive strength of these goblins surprised him, the sting scorpion's scream of agony had also exposed the weakness of these goblins.

  The goblins' strength and power all came from this strange equipment, and their inherent power was so insignificant that it wasn't even worth mentioning.

  The soundwave that the sting scorpion had let out in agony was no more than fifteen points in strength, but the goblins were already collapsing left and right. It clearly demonstrated that the strength of their bodies was even weaker than a beginner apprentice. The basic sta
tistics of their Physique and Spirit had to be extremely low.

  The injured scorpion conjured another cloud of dust while the goblins were dazed. It dove underground and didn't appear again.

  The dizzy goblins took a long while to recover. They immediately organized their manpower to search the entire camp. However, they found no tracks or signs of the insect. With no choice left to them, they gave up on their search and started to restore the order of the lumber mill camp.

  The entire camp had turned into a muddy mess. The charging shredders had broken many logs, and numerous crates had split into pieces. Consequently, as they were cleaning up everything, no goblin realized that two of the crystal prisms had gone missing.

  …………

  While the goblins were pouring out of the camp to search the forest, Billis had already returned to the depths of the woods, only leaving behind one or two insects to spy around the camp.

  Billis found a hidden cave in the forest and immediately started researching the two strange items he had just obtained.

  Magic energy batteries?

  These two odd little things were called magic energy batteries?

  Judging by their names, they seemed to be strange energy crystals that could provide certain facilities with mysterious non-elementium energy. Billis was already shocked beyond belief when he had seen a weak goblin easily manipulating a metallic golem twenty times its size as if it was its own body.

  What shocked him the most at that moment was the energy that had been used to power those hulking monstrosities. After all, he hadn't sensed any elementium energy on those machines.

  But now, after obtaining the two magic energy batteries, and sensing the strange energy frequency within them, Billis had a vague feeling that these so-called magical energy batteries had powered those shredders.

  However, he lacked an alchemical lab here. He also possessed minimal knowledge about alchemy as well. That was why trying to expose the unique system of the goblins through these two magic energy batteries was beyond the limits of Billis' abilities.

  Billis had no choice but to cast his attention to the goblin camp and attempt to find more comprehensive information there.

  However, what Billis didn't know was that a goblin helicopter had suddenly taken to the skies while he hid in the cave to research the batteries. The helicopter raced into the distance under cover of night.

  The battle during the day had caught Commander Uldum by total surprise and left him with no valuable information or clues. However, when combined with the information brought back by Old Pa Tok, Uldum had more than enough reason to suspect that the insect that had attacked today was most likely the fangs of an otherworldly intruder.

  That was why Uldum personally wrote a letter requesting reinforcements after having more guards stationed at the lumber mill camp. He then had Old Pa Tok send the message to General Buzzek of the Seventh Goblin Land Corps.

  In the letter, Uldum used skin-crawling language to describe in detail the horror of the otherworldly intruder. He once again mentioned how weak the defenses of Beta Town were.

  As Old Tok left the camp with Flying Apprentice Mosaldin, Commander Uldum stood by a wooden window of the second floor, gazing into the deathly silence of the nighttime forest. Indescribable terror and worry filled his heart.

  A forest like this one could not possibly be ordinary!

  Under normal circumstances, large numbers of wild beasts and monsters would appear around the camp once night fell. Even after the goblin guards placed plenty of torches around the camp, they still couldn't stop these creatures from circling outside the camp.

  However, today, the forest in the night betrayed a silence like death.

  It was almost as if countless terrifying demons hid in the darkness where their vision couldn't reach, and these demons were the ones who slaughtered or scared away the forest beasts.

  That meant the insect from earlier hadn't gone too far away. It was still spying on them from outside. If the goblin guards relaxed, or an opening in the camp's perimeter appeared, then the insect was sure to visit again, wreaking havoc upon the camp.

  As for the opponent's goal? Commander Uldum had absolutely no idea, even after mulling over it for half a day.

  Chapter 497 Goblin Land Corps

  Reinforcements for the lumber mill camp arrived by dawn.

  Three hundred and seventy-eight goblin warriors sat on tamed mounts known as hawkstriders. They traversed a distance of fifty kilometers at surprising speed and quickly arrived at the lumber mill camp. What came with them was a Goblin Zeppelin, three Goblin Tanks, and twelve Magic Mechas that were larger and more powerful than the goblin shredders.

  The goblin zeppelin looked just like a wooden sailboat flying in the blue sky, only with copper plates placed all over the body of the ship itself. The reason the zeppelin could float wasn't due to some supernatural power. Rather, it was because of a giant leather balloon filled with some mysterious gas.

  The goblins had drawn a colorful shark on the floating balloon to make the zeppelin look cooler. They used metal chains to tie the balloon to the ship itself. This way, the goblin zeppelin was able to use the lift from the balloons to fly freely in the sky.

  Moreover, apart from transporting things, the blimp also had four or five powerful magic cannons. Consequently, it also possessed air-to-ground offense.

  Goblin tanks, on the other hand, were no more than metallic chariots that had been outfitted with magic cannons. The four wide metallic wheels were two meters tall, but the insides of the thick and heavy chariot had limited space. Only three goblins could fit in it at any one time.

  A goblin tank captain, a cannoneer, and a watchman.

  It might not have been able to fit many goblins in it, but its tough metal shell and powerful cannons still made it a terrifying magical construct that was not to be underestimated.

  However, the core power of the goblin land corps was still the twelve magic mechas.

  The magic mechas looked like metallic golems that were six meters tall. They possessed a head, a torso, and four limbs, just like humans did. Unlike the goblin shredder, magic mechas were complete-cover combat constructs. The goblin mechanics that operated them were hidden within the thick, wide bodies. The logging robots were only semi-cover construction machines. To make it easier for the goblins to see their surroundings, they did not have an upper body as the magic mechas did. Only an open operating platform remained atop the chest of the machine.

  That was why goblins that operated the logging robots were easily subjected to long-range enemy attacks, while no such problem existed for the magic mechas.

  Such a large goblin land corps suddenly flooded the small lumber mill camp, instantly turning the place into a lively and noisy place.

  The incidents happening in this location naturally couldn't escape the eyes of Billis' flying scouts. That was why Billis once again snuck close to the goblin camp fifteen minutes later. He spied on the commotion from a distance.

  He didn't wait long. An hour later, a group of goblins with extremely recognizable outfits boarded the goblin zeppelin floating above the canopy. The camp that had gone quiet started to bustle once more.

  With the zeppelin at the center, the three tanks and twelve mechas arranged themselves in a line and charged into the forest like an unstoppable steel chariot.

  The goblin tanks continuously fired as they advanced. Magic fireballs consistently shot out of the mouths of the magic cannons. The magic fireballs caused tremendous explosions wherever they landed. A violent flame shockwave would also follow.

  Even the massive trees couldn't endure the explosion of a magic fireball at close range.

  As the goblin tanks fired while advancing, the forest in front of the land corps was set ablaze. Splinters flew everywhere. One after another, the ancient trees toppled amid the sound of agonizing creaking. They were then shoved to a side by the logging robots.

  Squads of goblin warriors on hawkstriders followed behind t
he tanks, the shredders, and the mechas. They rode on the tall back of the hawkstriders and held goblin guns in their hands. If they discovered any commotion in the forest, they would immediately shower the location with a rain of bullets without a second word.

  The wild chickens, jaguars, and goats that lived in the bushes became the most tragic victims of their actions. They were shocked into running by the deafening report of the magic cannons. However, they were shredded to pieces by the metal bullets the moment they emerged from the forest.

  Their blood and flesh soaked the black soil of the woods. Before the blood could even seep into the ground, large metallic feet stomped into the earth. When the feet lifted up, pools of sticky and disgusting meat paste had appeared in between the field and the bottom of their feet.

  What were the goblins intending on doing?

  Could they… could they actually be thinking of razing the entire forest?

  Billis' gaze fell upon the army of steel through the trees. Even though they were just a group of weak goblins, the murderous aura they possessed when hidden inside those massive and hardy machines made even Billis concerned about the difficulty.

  The offensive power of the guns in the hands of the goblins was only thirty points, which was approximately the same as an attack from a beginner apprentice in the World of Adepts. On the other hand, those randomly bombarding magic cannons had energy attacks up to seventy points. This strength reached the levels of pseudo-adepts.

  Such attacks would usually not be able to threaten a bug adept like Billis. However, regardless of how minor the damage was, there was no resisting their sizeable numbers. If Billis appeared within range of the land corps' attacks, their focus fire could severely wound his immortal body of bugs.

  His immortal body of bugs didn't truly make him immortal. Billis was merely relying on the separation of his bug body to split the damage he would have to take indirectly. That was why every wound he suffered meant that part of his body of bugs would fall apart and disintegrate, taking the damage dealt along with it.