Every second Alice stayed within the planar hall meant that Gazlowe had to stay by her. The giant brain didn't dare to leave for a single second.
When both of them sensed the intense spatial flux from the planar halls and the massive attack from the dragonborn, they immediately realized that the enemy's reinforcements had arrived.
Giant Brain Gazlowe instantly drew out colossal amounts of magic energy from the space furnace and directed it into the underground tunnel without a second word. With the furious magic energy as a cover, the outsider's would not be able to extend their spiritual senses into the room.
Moreover, the magic energy was completely extracted from the space beyond the plane. It hadn't been adjusted or treated. Consequently, it was not suited for direct absorption by planar creatures; Gazlowe didn't need to worry about his actions indirectly benefitting the enemy!
One hour later, Dragonborn Zacha arrived at the underground hall with his scouts in tow.
The three parties involved in the conflict stood off in a triangle formation inside the hall.
As the host and owner of this place, Gazlowe the giant brain floated above the space furnace. The entire hall was filled with goblin magical machines. Over sixty percent of the space in the room had been taken up by the goblins.
The six adepts of Greem's factions kept to a corner of the hall, protecting Alice at the center and always alert for a possible assault from the giant brain.
The late-arriving dragonborn party, on the other hand, had arrived at the hall after decisively crushing all goblin defenses.
In all honesty, the adepts had been extraordinarily ruthless and heartless in their fights with the dragonborn. No survivors had been left to tell the tale in every one of their encounters. As such, the dragonborn had only just discovered the existence of the adepts upon arriving at the underground hall.
The leading Second Grade Dragonborn Zacha couldn't help but feel anxious when he saw the adepts from the World of Adepts.
The strength of the Goblin Plane was apparent for all to see. They were no match for them, the invaders. However, it was hard to predict how things would turn out if they were made to deal with the infamous evil adepts at the same time as they were exterminating the local forces.
The three factions gathered in the same place. Their furious and wicked gazes swept from one camp to the other. For a moment, no one knew how to deal with the situation at hand.
Zacha had initially planned to use pure martial strength to force the old goblin into supplying power to the planar door. However, he was shocked to find competitors upon arriving here. The old goblin had also vanished, replaced by this giant brain monster.
Moreover, Zacha could sense from the radiating aura that the old goblin was no longer a weakling he could bully at will. Instead, the goblin had turned into an odd Third Grade lifeform.
The dragonborn might have Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms as their trump card, but even Zacha couldn't be sure his lord would necessarily win against this mysterious Third Grade monster. Greem and Gazlowe's factions were also cautious of each other. At the same time, they couldn't find a point of agreement or cooperation.
Consequently, all three parties simply stared at each other. No one dared to start the conflict for fear of being the first to be targeted. The atmosphere within the room quickly turned tense and heavy.
At this awkward moment, a strange fourth party appeared in the hall. It was the magical machine army directly subordinate to the Royal Family. This army of a thousand magical machines immediately charged toward the adepts under the lead of the rescued Princess Vanessa.
Their reckless actions caused the other two parties to stir as well.
Greem was thoroughly infuriated. He had no choice but to send his subordinates forward to hold the enemy back.
He had no choice. As the Second Grade fire adept of the party, he had to remain still before the other two factions struck. A three-way melee would probably break out immediately if he personally entered the battlefield.
The Royal Family's army was nothing in the eyes of these three factions!
Chapter 533 The Might of Adepts
There were only six adepts in Greem's faction.
Apart from the non-combatant Alice, and Greem, who couldn't easily engage in the battle, only four adepts could participate in the fight.
Bug Adept Billis, Vampire Adept Mary, Berserk Witch Sofia, Poison Witch Endor.
Of these four people, the only one that could act as a meat shield was Berserk Witch Sofia.
Sofia strode forward with her muscular body in the face of the cannon barrage. She carried her thick wooden staff on her shoulder, roaring and increasing in size as she advanced forward.
As a berserk witch, Sofia had not learned many long-ranged spells. Even if she had mastery of such spells, all of her magic powers would automatically be converted into ferocious physical prowess upon transforming into a berserk witch. As such, what appeared before everyone after her transformation was a naked and muscular five-meter tall giantess.
The transformed Sofia appeared to be much larger than her transformed state from the past.
The massive muscles all over her body were as hard as steel. Fearsome and explosive strength hid within them. The piece of animal hide that had been draped over her body had now fallen to her waist and was barely covering that one last part of her body that wasn't exposed.
However, the two pieces of flesh in front of her chest were exposed for all to see. They quivered in an extremely eye-catching manner as she walked forward.
Any other witch would probably have been incapable of tolerating this feeling of being nude. However, Sofia had always been much rougher when it comes to these things. She didn't seem to care about her situation at all. Sofia had zero awareness of her identity as a female. She simply raised the thick, pillar-like staff and smashed it upon the two magical machines in front of her.
These magical machines were both First Grade. An explosive creak rang from the machines when Sofia's staff struck them in the waists. A terrifying dent immediately appeared in the metal plates before the goblin mechanics. One could vaguely hear the sound of the mechanics coughing up blood from inside the machines.
The barrage of bullets from the goblins sent sparks flying everywhere when they crashed against Sofia's steel-like body. The projectiles even squashed into flat pieces of metal under the powerful kinetic force and deflected to the side.
Of course, there were occasional bullets that managed to pierce through Sofia's skin and embed themselves in her muscles. However, Sofia would merely let out a furious roar and tense all of her muscles. The strength in her muscle fibers forced the bullets out of her wounds, and they clinked as they fell to the ground.
Sofia only needed to raise her left hand to protect her face!
Even the barrage of magic energy weapons could only wound Sofia on the surface; they failed to damage any of her internal organs. Sofia's ability to fight was not weakened or limited in any manner!
The three adepts behind Sofia had an easy time with the excellent meat shield defending them at the front.
They raised defensive spells to shield themselves from the barrage of bullets and started using their own tricks to slaughter the magical machine army that was rushing at them.
The first to charge at the goblins was naturally Bloody Queen Mary.
Her slender figure was shrouded in a mist of blood as she beat her wings and dashed into the center of the army like a crimson phantom.
The goblin magical machine army mostly consisted of magical machines and chariots, but there were still approximately seven hundred goblin soldiers among them. These soldiers weren't protected with the same thick metal plates as the mechanics in the magical machines were.
Mary's attacks had always been known for their speed and flexibility. The power of her attacks, on the other hand, was often inferior to other adepts. As such, Mary avoided the magical machines and goblin chariots. She flashed through the air, l
eaving afterimages behind her and causing all the goblin firearms to miss their mark.
Mary took the opportunity to charge into the crowd of goblin soldiers, using her crimson longbow to barrage them with scarlet arrows. Every one of her attacks was accompanied by shadow damage and the corrosion of blood energy.
The grunts and howls of the goblin soldiers could be heard everywhere in the army. A fog of blood slowly gathered in the room. Their arcanite rifles continued to fire, sending white smoke into the air. However, the goblins were still unable to catch up with Mary's shadow. In fact, more often than not, the furious goblin soldiers' random attacks resulted in plenty of friendly fire.
Mary continued to weave between the soldiers, intentionally baiting them into firing at her.
In particular, when Mary passed by two goblins with flamethrowers, both of them went completely out of their mind. They tried to use their flamethrowers to burn Mary. As they turned to light the adept on fire, they instantly turned each other into goblin torches with their streams of alchemical fire.
They ran about screaming in agony, trying to get their companions to help them extinguish the fires on their bodies. Sadly, the flamethrower on their backs exploded the moment they ran into the crowd.
The nearby explosions immediately set two dozen goblins on fire, sending another group of goblin torches running through the hall.
With the Berserk Witch dealing with the magical machines and Mary sowing chaos behind enemy lines, Bug Adept Billis couldn't suppress his bloodthirst any longer.
His entire body dispersed and turned into a swarm of black insects. These insects swarmed into the midst of the goblins and started to devour the defenseless creatures. Of course, he would intentionally avoid those goblins with flamethrowers and individually pick on the soldiers with only arcanite rifles to defend themselves.
With his immortal body of bugs, the barrage of bullets couldn't deal too much damage to his scorpion clones anyway. That made Billis grow increasingly reckless.
Princess Vanessa let out a battle cry and reassigned a large group of flamethrowing goblins to exterminate Billis. Just then, a dozen large sting scorpions murdered their way into the goblins. Billis himself might have been vulnerable to extended periods of roasting, but his scorpions were not.
With his sting scorpion squad keeping him safe, Bug Adept Billis turned into a black god of death. A terrifying tide of destruction would appear wherever he descended!
Poison Witch Endor hid behind Sofia but failed to obtain any kills even after several attempts.
The lethal poisons transmitted via air could hardly threaten the lives of the goblins now that they all had gas masks. Endor could only throw shadow balls at the goblins. A one-meter long shadow snake would emerge from these shadow balls and slither towards the goblins.
Sadly, all of the goblins were equipped with magic energy weapons. Arcanite rifles and magic energy cannons were both capable of killing the shadow snakes. Consequently, none of Endor's snakes could even get close to the goblins.
The dragonborn scouts had arrived after the adepts, and they gathered around Zacha, watching the battle unfold from a distance.
They goblin's power might not be worth mentioning, but they needed to be on guard against the evil adepts.
Second Grade Dragonborn Zacha's strange amber eyes were fixated upon the battlefield, constantly calculating the difference in strength between them and the adepts
None of the four adepts on the battlefield were his opponents in a duel.
The witch that transformed into a giantess might possess a magical resistant body and invulnerability to low-level energy damage, but she wasn't a counter to the Dragonborn. The Dragonborn weren't composed solely of individuals who only knew how to rely on their innate magic. Their resounding physical strength wouldn't be that much weaker than the giantess.
In fact, Zacha had the confidence to crush the giantess in less than eight minutes if they were to duel. As for the other adepts, the female adept with the bat wings would be the most trouble to deal with!
The Dragonborn were all brute beasts with large bodies. It was easy for them to become exhausted when fighting against an agile enemy like this.
In contrast, the bug adept wasn't too much of a concern for Zacha.
Strange fellows like that often possessed inferior offensive abilities. He might be able to resist the attacks of the dragonborn for a very long time, but if the dragonborn were to just ignore him, there wasn't much that Bug Adept Billis could do either.
Finally, the hag that used poison didn't seem to have any particularly extraordinary toxins. There was no need to pay too much attention to her.
A weak mental flux suddenly rang in Zacha's mind as he was silently assessing this group of adepts that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Lord Zacha, why don't we join forces?"
The voice sounded like that of the former old goblin Gazlowe.
"Join forces? How so?" Zacha might look like a rough brute on the surface, but he was a sly fellow as well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent as the leader of the vanguards.
"We work together to kill these adepts, and then we sit down to discuss the other matters."
"Haha! Who knew you would still act like a lowly creature after advancing to a Third Grade lifeform!?" Zacha didn't betray any emotion on his face, but he was laughing out loud internally, "Those adepts are also here for the plane, aren't they? We Dragonborn only want to rob this place. We have no intention of staying here for extended periods of time. That's why our conflict of interests might be resolved through cooperation. Why should I help you deal with them under such circumstances? I don't get anything extra out of it."
Giant Brain Gazlowe fell silent for a moment before sneering coldly, "These lies of yours might work against some lowly lizards, but they're not at useful against a great brain like me. Since the master behind you has arrived, it is a certainty that he has ordered you to find an energy source! If you help me deal with the adepts, I will provide you with energy once more and allow your reinforcements to teleport over!"
Dragonborn Zacha's eyes gleamed with a cold light.
"Why do you keep provoking us to go deal with the adepts? Why don't you go yourself? Moreover, where are you supposed to go once we have taken over this plane? You would be foolish enough to give us a source of energy just like that?"
Gazlowe sighed softly.
"It's virtually impossible for me to stop the invasion of this plane now that both you and the adepts have set your sights upon it. It doesn't matter how strong I might be. That's why I have already made up my mind. I will leave the Goblin Plane in the Steel Capital and find a new world to reside in once I have killed these adepts. How about that? Do you believe me now?"
Zacha frowned. He lowered his head and fell into deep thought.
Chapter 534 Clash of Words
While Gazlowe and Zacha secretly negotiated, Alice and Greem also privately talked to each other in the corner of the hall.
"Greem, you had best prepare yourself!" Alice's voice suddenly rang out in Greem's mind, "We might be facing the joint attack of the dragonborn and the goblins."
Greem was slightly surprised. He immediately asked, "Haven't we already reach an agreement with that giant brain? What reason does he have to go against his word suddenly?"
"Because I currently hold the means to threaten his life in my hands," Alice replied in a tone of helplessness, "A selfish lifeform like him would never allow his life to be held in the grasp of someone apart from itself."
Greem lowered his head and thought for a moment before asking another question out of curiosity, "Alice, tell me the truth. Do we have a chance of winning this war?"
If the dragonborn hadn't appeared, Greem would never lose hope for victory regardless of how savage the goblins were or how harsh the battle became. However, the appearance of the dragonborn had caused a delicate change to the nature of the war. The actions of the adepts in the past had always been a straightforwar
d invasion of a foreign plane. All they had to deal with were merely a group of laughable monkeys that had put on the clothes of humans!
The adepts had always regarded the natives of lower planes with disdain.
Any plane that the adepts had set their sights upon could never escape the fate of being enslaved and conquered. Their struggling would only delay the eventuality and bring even more suffering for the native citizens. The conclusion would never change.
That was due to the massive disparity of power between the two planes!
However, the appearance of the dragonborn had turned the planar invasion into a contest of strength between two invaders. The World of Adepts that Greem and his subordinates represented might be infinitely stronger than the plane the dragonborn came from, but that didn't mean that Greem and the others could defeat them.
"A Third Grade has appeared on the side of the enemy. It is currently guarding the planar door and slowly getting used to the planar laws here. Giant Brain Gazlowe's control over the Steel Capital is also slowly increasing. If his mental consciousness can completely assimilate with the Steel Capital, it is very likely that he will ascend to Fourth Grade, becoming a unique and never-before-seen alchemical lifeform." Alice was still smiling as she revealed the information she had gotten through her powers of Fate as if this wouldn't terrify or shock Greem at all.
Greem fell silent for a second and insisted, "I don't care how severe the situation has become. All I want to know is if we have a chance of victory! Sabrina's death has already caused us to lose an adept. I do not wish to launch me and my subordinates into a battle that we are destined to lose."
It was now Alice's turn to fall silent.
A short moment later, she spoke firmly.
"There is. We do have a chance of victory! You can leave the rest to me as long as you can bait the giant brain away from the space furnace for a short moment!"
Two clusters of fire ignited in Greem's calm eyes when he heard Alice's reply. He turned and cast his gaze upon the giant brain floating high above the space furnace.
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