Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Bug Adept Billis stood up straight again after enduring the impact of the natural power. He couldn't care less about the arrows on his body. Instead, he opened his wicked compound eyes wide and locked his gaze upon the lithe forms that had revealed themselves and were advancing toward the flying ship by stepping from branch to branch.

  Greem and Billis were not severely wounded, but it was a different matter for the two witches.

  They were rookies that hadn't advanced too long ago. Naturally, they had no great life-saving skills similar to what Billis had. One had died in the dense barrage of arrows earlier, while the other was severely wounded. It was truly tragic.

  The surviving witch might have been turned into a porcupine, but none of the arrows had hit a vital spot. That was why she was only severely wounded instead of dead. The other witch was not as fortunate. Apart from the arrows all across her body, the most lethal shot was the one that had found its way right into the middle of her forehead.

  "Dammit, dammit, dammit..."

  Greem couldn't help but roar in anger when he sensed the quickly draining life force of the witch.

  Just then, the second wave of enemy arrows descended upon them!

  "Kill them…kill them for me!" Greem roared furiously.

  Bug Adept Billis cackled chillingly and exploded during Greem's roar. He turned into a wave of countless black bugs and charged toward the closest enemies.

  Greem also wanted to rush forward and crush a few enemies to sate his fury. However, he had no choice but to force himself to calm down. He pointed at the dying witch and cast a Fire Shield around her.

  One had already died. This one couldn't die, or the losses today would be too heavy to bear!

  To be honest, the tremendous damage from the first wave of the elves' arrows was caused mainly by the lack of preparation on the part of the adepts.

  At their very core, the adepts were no more than humans who had obtained powerful abilities!

  An arrow that hit a vital spot could instantly rob the life of an adept without their magical protection.

  However, now that the adepts were on guard and had wrapped themselves within numerous layers of defensive spells, it wouldn't be an easy matter for the elves to hurt them with long-ranged attacks. At the very least, these elves didn't possess the strength to kill an actual adept with a single arrow.

  The second wave of arrows finally arrived.

  This time, they were fated to achieve nothing.

  The three Fire Shields revolving about the severely wounded witch trembled against the arrows imbued with nature power, but they didn't shatter. On the other hand, the bolts that shot toward Greem rapidly softened upon entering the Ring of Fire. They then crashed against his suddenly expanded body and broke into pieces.

  The raging Greem instantly transformed into the Flame Fiend. He strode to the witch's side and covered her with his body.

  The transformed Billis had already clashed with the first wave of enemies now. They were engaged in a furious and brutal battle.

  These enemies were elven warriors with naked torsos and skin-tight leather shorts, their bodies covered in strange magical runes– Blade Dancers.

  Blade Dancer was a special profession of the elven warriors.

  They could not wear metal armor– only leather or cloth armor. Thus, they were warriors who wore light armor or none at all. They held two long and sharp elven longswords in their hands. Their bodies were drawn full of the battle tattoos unique to blade dancers. Some of these tattoos could enhance their agility, while others could increase their reaction speed. Still, the majority of the symbols possessed a strange ability to confuse the enemy's senses.

  When the blade dancers charged into the ranks of enemies, their rapidly moving bodies worked together with the elven tattoos to deceive the enemy's vision. It would cause the enemies to be incapable of figuring out the specific locations and movements of the blade dancers.

  Blade dancers had almost no defensive abilities. They relied purely on their high agility and graceful movements to avoid the enemy's assault while raining down a storm of attack within inches of hostile blades.

  The lowest requirement for advancing to blade dancer was to stay within a dark room with ten swinging spiked pendulums for fifteen minutes.

  As such, the most potent ability of the blade dancers was their ability to dodge and avoid attacks!

  Sadly, this ability was utterly useless against Bug Adept Billis. Their unprotected bodies had absolutely no way of stopping the jaws of tens of thousands of bugs.

  The swarms of bugs were like wolves in a herd of sheep. They ignored the rapidly dancing swords in the hands of the blade dancers and quickly latched upon their bodies. In less than three seconds, when the swarm of bugs flared their wings and flew over, only a green corpse chewed up beyond recognition was left on the spot.

  Billis' efficiency at murder wasn't very high, but it still did the job. In the blink of an eye, he had felled seven of the three dozen blade dancers that had boarded the ship. The tragic blade dancers couldn't stop the advance of the black bugs no matter how quickly they waved their blades.

  "These damned adepts. Blade dancers; spread out. Leave this fellow to the druids. You guys go kill the flame human and the witch."

  An agile female elf leaped onto the bow of the ship. She took a look at the entire battlefield and called out orders. At the same time, she quickly took out her bow and notched an arrow. Two arrows snapped in the direction of the bugs.

  Unlike the previous ones, these two arrows were fast as shooting stars and exploded into giant fireballs the moment they came into contact with the black beetles.

  The explosion instantly scorched a large number of the black bugs. The ground rustled with the sound of bug corpses crashing to the ground, and a sharp screech rang out from the swarm of bugs. They instantly escaped a dozen meters away and reformed into Billis' appearance.

  Unlike before, his body appeared one size smaller and was no longer as round as before.

  Billis hissed and roared furiously at the female elf. Fourteen strange sting scorpions then emerged from his body. These sting scorpions were only the size of a fingernail at first, but they quickly swelled to the size of a bull when they left Billis' body. They swiftly crawled toward the female elf on the metal deck.

  Before Billis could exact his revenge upon the elf, a few dozen elves in strange clothes jumped aboard the ship. They yelled and stormed toward the bug adept.

  The oaken staves in the hands of these strange elves flashed with a green light as they charged. Their bodies transformed into Earth Maulers and Fire Wolves within a mist explosion. The beasts then attacked Billis in a pincer formation.

  The fourteen sting scorpions immediately clashed with the large group of druids upon the large metal deck.

  The blade dancers and the druids had already taken the stage. The most numerous members of the elves–the flower fairies–were naturally not going to fall behind.

  They were a group of creatures only the size of two palms, with thin cicada-like wings upon their backs. They looked like miniature elves, but their petite and curvaceous bodies were not dressed in any clothes. Only some tangling vines helped cover their most private spots.

  Their skin was green, as was their hair, but their eyes were an odd black color.

  These flower fairies were a type of nature monster. Their method of attack was their rapid flight speed paired with their sharp and fearsome claws. Moreover, their nails undoubtedly contained poison!

  The bug adept that could transform into insects didn't seem too easy to deal with. Thus, these cautious fairies set their sights on the dying witch on the ground. Sadly, a towering Flame Fiend spewing hot flames stood right there. All flower fairies that came within fifty meters of him would combust in a series of agonizing cries.

  That immediately frightened the fairies, causing them to scatter like a nest of hornets that had their home disturbed. They circled the giant Flame Fiend but never dared to ch
arge into the thin Ring of Fire.

  "That Flame Fiend is a Second Grade adept! I will deal with him! You think of a way to kill this giant bug." Aizac shouted at the female elf captain and charged at Greem with seven or eight druids in tow.

  The female elf captain looked at the giant Flame Fiend that Greem had transformed into. Her heart was exceptionally heavy.

  They had killed a witch and badly wounded the other. The results of this battle appeared to be quite glorious, but the surviving adepts were each more difficult to deal with than the previous. If a few more individuals of the same level stepped out of the cabin, today's battle would probably…

  While she was reflecting on the state of the battle, the ten magical machines had already moved into formation. They started to charge at the elves.

  For a moment, the barrage of metal bullets covered the air and shot toward the elves!

  Chapter 621 Oppressive Power

  One had to admit that certain military forces countered others.

  Strange nature creatures like the flower fairies might not be large in size, but they had speed beyond what a human eye could follow and sharp poison claws.

  Even dozens of human warriors would only be worn away if they met such an enemy in the woods, let alone an entire group of them.

  Yet, when the flower fairies and the blade dancers ran into the Archer magical machines, they faced off against their greatest counter ever.

  Who cared if they were fast? Who cared if they had maximum levels in their evasion skill? The Archers simply got into formation and gave them a thorough scrubbing with their storm of metal.

  If it were human heavy-swordsmen who were dealing with the Archers, they might be able to block some of the damage with their massive armor. However, the majority of the elves were agility-focused warriors. Moreover, they were often unarmored or only wearing leather armor to not affect the agility of their limbs and the speed of their movements.

  It was practically suicide to fight against the Archers with a defense like that.

  The dense cluster of metal bullets shot toward them at speed faster than the eye could tell, instantly causing horrific damage to the ranks of the blade dancers and flower fairies. Their slender bodies were shredded into pieces in the violent storm of metal, and green flowers of blood bloomed in the skies.

  "Dammit. What weapon is this?" The female elf captain had almost been driven mad by anger. It was the first time she had seen magic energy rifles. In a mere dozen seconds, almost all the melee forces of the garrison she had brought with her had been decimated.

  The machines immediately turned the barrels of their rifles after exterminating the fairies and blade dancers. The firepower shifted upon the druids.

  As expected of elites that had gone through many trials, the few druids at the front of the ranks immediately roared and swelled up like a balloon at the very first sign of trouble. Short, thick, and heavy black fur quickly grew out of their bodies as they crouched on the ground. Their jaw muscles started to tear and increase in size as they let out agonizing roars. Their bone structure distorted and snapped forward, turning into flat and broad snouts.

  These druids had transformed into fearsome Earth Maulers in less than three seconds.

  They slammed the ground with their thick limbs and roared as they charged toward the Archers against the bullet barrage.

  Meanwhile, the other druids behind them transformed into all sorts of beasts. Some transformed into fire cats, while others transformed into Nightsabers or berserk apes or razor boars. For a moment, the druid squad had turned into a troop of beasts. They utilized the cover of the Earth Maulers and quickly charged toward the magical machines.

  At this moment, the Second Grade druid was already in front of the Flame Fiend and was standing off against the adept from a distance.

  They were both Second Grade, but the druid was clearly inferior to Greem when it came to their aura and composure.

  One was a mediocre and unambitious individual living his life out peacefully while trapped in a mid-sized plane. The other was a killer whose mind had been forged into steel after multiple planar invasions. While the two stood off against each other, it was clear that the Flame Fiend's forcefulness and strong aura was the one that stood out. On the other hand, the light in the druid's eye was flickering, almost as if he was suffocating from the opponent's dominating atmosphere.

  The spirit consciousness of the two individuals was very much linked to personal changes in their mentality.

  Greem had already sensed the disorder and fear in the heart of the Second Grade druid when it arose. He laughed maniacally and vanished in a blast of fire.

  Not good.

  Aizac's heart shook. He could no longer care for using his Spirit to scan and track the enemy's movements. He took two steps backward frantically as his body started to distort and shift wildly.

  Sadly, before he could complete his Wild Transformation, a strong gust of wind swept toward his back. A ten-meter-long fire whip lashed at his back, bringing with it furious winds as it cut through the air.

  Aooooo!

  Aizac reared his head and let out a half-human, half-bestial howl of pain. He rolled to the side and dodged the followup strikes from the flame whip. Aizac had no time to deal with the whip sear that was causing him to wince. He held his oaken staff with both hands and slammed it into the ground.

  The next second, a violent blast of lightning as thick as a stone pillar descended from the skies. It struck right upon the fearsome towering body of the Flame Fiend.

  After the dissipation of the lightning blast, the two Second Grades were back to a tense standoff, though their positions had changed slightly. This time, the left hand that Greem had used to block the lightning had been seared black, while Aizac's vine clothes had been shredded, exposing his bloodied back.

  Two hundred and seventy points.

  Greem shook his charred left hand slightly and allowed the carbonized rock layer to fall off, revealing the steaming black and red lava beneath.

  The enemy's destructive attack earlier was truly powerful. Still, an attack of this level was insufficient to take down Greem. Three to five seconds later, once his shielding flames had extended back to his left hand, Greem smiled chillingly and cast Fire Teleportation once more.

  Aizac, who had traded blows with Greem, didn't have his opponent's amazing regeneration. The whip mark on his back might have scarred and stopped bleeding, but the intense pain was not so easily mitigated.

  Aizac frantically motioned with his staff when he saw the enemy disappear once again. A Natural Ward appeared around him, and it was only then that he cautiously started searching for the enemy's new location.

  Sadly, Greem was no longer planning to deal with him with this Fire Teleportation!

  A resounding boom rang out, and Greem appeared amidst the druids who had surrounded Billis as an elementium halo exploded beneath his feet.

  Dammit. The enemy went to find trouble with my subordinates.

  Aizac only seemed to realize what was happening at this moment. He yelled and rapidly transformed into a windhawk. His entire body turned into a ferocious tornado and sped toward the battlefield.

  Unfortunately, it was too late!

  The exploding elementium halo from Greem's appearance rippled outward. All 'magical beasts' caught in its impact were turned into blazing torches amid agonizing screams. The more powerful ones were still able to use their own nature power to shield themselves and run out of the area enveloped by the elementium halo. They were then barely able to extinguish the fires burning on their bodies. On the other hand, the weaker druids were immediately incinerated in the elementium halo that washed across them.

  The giant Flame Fiend that Greem had transformed into moved its thick magma legs and casually strolled inside the burning flames. It occasionally gathered a fireball of lava in its hand and threw it into the area where the druids were most concentrated.

  These one dozen First Grade druids that had sur
rounded Billis were instantly met with a deathly calamity. It didn't matter whether it was the Resist Energy Damage shrouding their bodies or the defensive Stoneskin, or even the usually great Nature's Vigil; nothing could defend against the Magma Fireballs that Greem was haphazardly flinging at them– fireballs with power up to three hundred and twelve points.

  At the moment of the fireballs' explosion, all druids that had been targeted by Greem could only flare up into human-shaped torches as they shrieked in pain. They would then turn into piles of ashes in less than five seconds.

  First Grade druids were far too frail before a Second Grade fire adept from another world.

  Greem had quickly slaughtered seven druids. The remaining druids frantically transformed into different magical beasts and escaped toward the surroundings. It caused the poor Bug Adept Billis to be revealed once again.

  Billis' ability was extraordinary and powerful. Still, he was a First Grade adept after all. Even his superior powers wouldn't allow him to hold off a dozen druids of the same grade as him.

  In less than fifteen minutes, five of Billis' fourteen scorpions had been crushed and flattened. Even the surviving ones carried all sorts of wounds on their bodies. Their appearance was terrible. However, it was these sting scorpions that had allowed Billis to not die at the bear paws of the druids.

  Greem turned back to look at the fleeing Second Grade druids after dispersing the crowd. He grabbed Billis' skinny body of bugs and then vanished in a rising plume of fire.

  Greem stumbled out of the blazing fire pillar after escaping from the siege of the druids with Billis in tow.

  He let go of Billis before turning to pull out the elven arrow that had been deeply embedded in his right shoulder. Greem stood straight and grasped the shaft tightly in his hand. His burning eyes were fixed upon the slender silhouette standing at the bow of the ship.

  The female elf captain!

  It was the female elf that had taken advantage of his momentary pause before the teleportation to shoot him. If it weren't for Greem's alertness that allowed him to lower his head and brace his shoulders in time, this arrow would probably have passed through his brain, inflicting tremendous damage to him.