Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Fortunately, Greem had a powerful bodyguard at his side that didn't fear low-intensity physical damage.

  Seeing the danger of the situation, Tigule drove his Goblin Shredder in front of Greem with a Mechanical Charge and used his large, robust body to block the enemy's attacks.

  All of the Goblin Shredder's attacks were instant-cast and wouldn't be interrupted by the intense explosions. When the Goblin Shredder brandished its four metal mechanical arms and wildly fired energy shots at its surroundings, the rain of magical explosive arrows were all detonated by the energy shockwaves before they could land.

  Meanwhile, the metal shell behind the Goblin Shredder's back split apart. From within, as many as twelve goblin rockets took to the skies. Ci, ci, ci! These cigar-long goblin rockets shot out orange energy flames from their rear and lunged at the six elven deadshots like fish in water.

  Long-ranged attacks like these were child's play to elven deadshots. It wasn't that much harder than shooting fixed targets at the range. The six elven deadshots waved their slender hands. Their bowstrings trembled, the explosive arrows shooting down all of the goblin rockets whistling toward them.

  However, in doing so, their firepower suppression against the two Flame Fiends had become minimal.

  Greem and the Flame Fiend were finally able to turn their efforts away from defense. They roared and once again worked in unison to summon a large-scale Firestorm to engulf the area where the elves were.

  They had learned their lesson. They no longer cast those spells that required continuous channeling or that were easily intercepted, instead choosing to use fire spells that covered a large area. A Firestorm like this that only had one hundred and eighty points of power might not be sufficient to deal with the druids, but it was more than enough to deal with the frail and weak elven deadshots!

  The elves couldn't do anything about a massive fire spell like this that couldn't be intercepted or destroyed. They had no choice but to dodge out of its way to avoid the area where the Firestorm's power was most concentrated.

  The formation of the elven deadshots had unknowingly become much looser.

  Greem looked for the perfect opportunity and waved his large hand without hesitation. A dozen or so magma hounds with red flames spilling out of their bodies climbed out from the pool of lava below. They were all the size of lions and tigers, and their bodies were forged entirely of hardened magma and half-molten lava.

  One couldn't judge them for the fact that most of their body was made of sturdy and hard magma. They didn't seem slow or clumsy at all. The magma hounds stepped upon the metal deck and rapidly pounced from the top of one cabin to another. They quickly closed in on the scattered elves.

  Under ordinary circumstances, summoned magma hounds would only have the strength of pseudo-adepts. However, since Greem had opted for flame specialization, he possessed overwhelming power that far surpassed any ordinary adept when it came to fire spells.

  These magma hounds, surprisingly, all had the power level of an adept!

  Unfortunately, even adept-level creatures couldn't change anything on the battlefield today. They could only be used as cannon fodder to restrain the enemy's attack.

  The fifteen magma hounds were cut to pieces and exterminated by the elves within a mere forty-nine seconds.

  Yet, at this moment, the other large-scale fire spell that Greem and the Flame Fiend had been preparing had formed.

  Flamegate!

  As a Flamegate formed from pure blazing fires assembled in front of the two Flame Fiends, a horde of fire elementium creatures emerged from the scarlet door of light. These creatures then charged at the elves.

  Fire boys, fire birds, fire crows, fire snakes, fire lizards, and fire spirits.

  All sorts of strange fire creatures swarmed out of the gate with no end in sight. However, the most numerous of them all was the two-meter tall, vaguely humanoid low-grade fire elemental. Their numbers were plentiful, but their basic power was at or below intermediate apprentice level. Only a few of them were at the advanced apprentice level.

  To stop the advance of the elves, Greem had used a fire talisman to open a small passage to the fire elementium plane directly. He then summoned a large number of fire elementium creatures from the plane.

  After some rapid healing, the two Druid Masters had essentially regained their combat ability. Most of the wounds on their bodies had also healed. When they saw the swarm of attacking fire elementals, they let out a furious roar and once again transformed. They turned into terrifying and ferocious magical beasts, charging into the horde as they roared.

  The two Second Grade magical beasts went against a horde of fire elementals whose average power level didn't even exceed intermediate level. It was like bulls charging into a field of watermelons. The reckless stomping, ferocious charges, and destructive and unstoppable momentum; low-grade fire elementals couldn't pose any threat to them whatsoever. Instead, many elementals had been stomped to pieces by the magical beasts they had transformed into.

  If it weren't for the Flamegate swelling and spitting out a hundred more fire elementals as reinforcements every dozen seconds, these small fellows wouldn't even be enough for the two magical beasts to crush.

  Once the battle had completely blown up, the elves behind the druids also started stirring.

  The two weapons masters laughed chillingly. They pulled out their elven sabers and charged into the ranks of the magical machines that had just gotten into formation once more. Their formerly amazingly sharp sabers became unstoppable under the support of their impressive inner power. Even the thick, pillar-like arms of the magical machines couldn't take a single casual strike from the weapons masters.

  It didn't matter how hard the magical machines fought back. They simply couldn't push back against the reckless slaughter of the two weapons masters.

  Meanwhile, the Silver Pegasus Knight was even more terrifying. He turned into the incarnation of a swift god of death. He rode upon his silver pegasus and circled high above the deck. The moment any witch showed a sign of weakness, he would instantly turn into a beam of silver light and dive down from above.

  Witches that had he had locked onto would not be able to escape the sword of the Silver Pegasus Knight if they didn't have a powerful means of saving themselves. It hadn't been thirty minutes since the start of the battle, yet already two Dark Witches had fallen at his hands; one was dead, and the other was badly injured. It angered the Second Grade Dark Witch hiding in the shadows.

  The moonlight dimmed, and the whole flying deck turned dark and sinister.

  When the Silver Pegasus Knight dove down once again to execute yet another Dark Witch, the shadow the pegasus projected upon the deck abruptly swelled in size. A dozen black tentacles the width of bowls reached out from within the shadow.

  All of these black tentacles had terrifying suction cups on them. They easily swept around the silver pegasus' hooves and wings and entangled the beast. They then tightened and shrunk, seemingly intending to drag the pegasus and its rider into the shadow.

  For the Dark Witches, the Shadow World was their true home field!

  Fortunately, the Shadow Plane was a planeworld utterly open to all creatures. It never denied foreign beings that sought to enter, and it didn't reject most material planes. That was why the Dark Witches were able to open entrances to the Shadow Plane from Faen so easily.

  However, the Second Grade Silver Pegasus Knight wasn't a weakling either. He had been ambushed, but he showed no signs of panic. The elven longsword in his hand flashed brilliantly as it severed the tentacles binding the silver pegasus.

  The severed tentacles fell to the deck and started to twist and contort like living creatures.

  Without the support of shadow substance, they were soon incapable of maintaining their stable form. As the severed tentacles quickly dissolved, the dispersed, dense shadow substance corroded the alloy deck beneath it. A large crater appeared on the bridge.

  Having broken free of the res
traints of the black tentacles, the silver pegasus whinnied and beat its wings in an attempt to return to the skies.

  The Dark Witch hiding in the shadows could no longer stand by. She revealed herself from within the shadows and gestured at the silver pegasus that was flapping its wings.

  "Get down here."

  With her shout, a strange ebony chain clattered and once again wrapped around the silver pegasus. It tightened and started pulling it down from the skies, along with the elven knight on its back.

  A large cluster of black mist spread out and engulfed the elven knight and silver pegasus within it. The next moment, the angered grunt of the elven knight rang out from within the mist, along with a loud explosion of inner power. Even though the mist still obscured the battle, there was no hiding the brilliant elementium light of exploding inner power.

  Two silhouettes of different sizes revolved around within the darkness, charging left and right and often mixing into an indistinguishable mess as they tangled with each other.

  Fearing something might befall the silver pegasus knight, a weapons master waved his saber and charged into the black mist.

  The energy pulses in the depths of the black mist turned increasingly wild!

  Second Grade powerhouses could be seen fighting everywhere at the center of the deck. The energy aftershocks that they released into the environment reached above one or two hundred points. It was already a hazardous level for those First Grade witches and elves!

  If the energy aftershocks of the battle even scratched their shields or defenses, they would lose all of those defenses even if they managed to survive. If they also happened to be targeted by an opponent of the same grade at that moment, then they would most certainly face death.

  That was why the First Grade witches and elves avoided the center of the deck, choosing to fight at the edges of the flying ship.

  Poison, curses, arrows, longswords, sabers, nature magic, wind magic…

  They utilized every skill that could be of use. Everything was for the sole purpose of rapid slaughter. Both sides had committed all their efforts, swearing to defeat and crush their opponent.

  As all this unfolded within the chaotic tide of battle, Greem was putting his all into the struggle against his opponent while also silently observing the skies above.

  After all, there were still two Third Grade powerhouses there.

  Their victory or defeat was the real and only determining factor of this battle's outcome of this battle!

  As for the efforts and deaths on the deck? Those were no more than the irrelevant frills and background to the actual conflict.

  Chapter 647 Otherworld Summoning

  There were no signs of battle in the skies, and it was hard to see anything happening either.

  However, every dozen seconds, a deafening explosion or roar would ring out from the cloud layers high above. It was also quickly followed by a strange climate phenomenon in the form of swirling clouds or shifting winds.

  Nobody knew when, but the moon in the sky also started turning a sinister crimson red. Billowing, inky clouds gathered around the moon, almost as if trying to devour it in a single bite.

  Greem furrowed his brows and took a closer look. All sorts of feelings of impending danger arose in his heart.

  Inside his mind, the Chip was also working at full capacity to keep close surveillance on any abnormality from the skies. Two pillars of light, one green and one black, steadily ebbed and flowed. They represented the abnormal concentration and activity of magical elementium in the skies.

  The two pillars of light were maintaining some semblance of balance, but they would occasionally change and tilt in favor of one or the other significantly. Every time the green pillar of light obtained an overwhelming advantage, the moon in the sky would turn chilling and austere, its light radiating for tens of thousands of meters. Every time the black light obtained the advantage, the round moon would grow dim and turn hazy.

  However, what concerned Greem was the fact that the green light was slowly crushing the black light after thirty minutes of conflict and battle. It showed signs of growing stronger and stronger.

  At this moment, Greem lifted his gaze and looked into the distance. The large round disc of the moon was right before his eyes, the traces and threads of brilliant moonlight falling upon him, causing the circulation of his Spirit and magic power to stall and slow down.

  An unusual feeling of hatred entered his mind from the moon. That instantly caused him to understand what was happening.

  The land, the skies, and the entire world seemed to loathe and reject him!

  It wasn't just him. All Dark Witches, Fate Witches, and Crimson adepts were despised and rejected by the land and skies. This sort of rejection gradually turned from a faint and vague feeling to a strangely clear spiritual brand. It firmly locked onto the adepts, making it hard for them to focus on the battle at hand.

  It seemed the Goddess of Moonlight had already projected part of her spiritual consciousness into this world, and in doing so, triggered the planar law's backlash and rejection of the foreign invaders.

  That would further shatter the power balance between the elves and the witch factions!

  It seemed that today's plan of baiting the enemy would turn into suicide if he still refused to use that ace he had hidden up his sleeve.

  Greem turned back without any hesitation and fled the frontlines of the battle.

  "You guys cover for me. I want to…" Greem whispered some instructions to Alice before taking out a strange blue scale the size of a palm. He gripped it in his magma hand and started to chant a complicated, profound and drawn-out incantation loudly.

  The strange syllables of the chant were insignificant on the battlefield where explosions were continually going off. Yet, for some reason, from the very first word of the chant that came out of Greem's mouth, all the Second Grade elves turned their heads to look at his position. A trace of shock appeared on their faces.

  It didn't seem like a potent offensive spell. Instead, it appeared to be a type of otherworld summoning spell.

  Only otherworld summoning spells of this nature could trigger the planar powers of Faen, causing all the elves present to sense the rage and tremors from the planar consciousness.

  "Interrupt him."

  "We can't let him continue."

  "Let's attack together."

  Eleven consciousnesses quickly communicated in their minds and promptly came to a unanimous decision.

  The next second, the six elven deadshots gave up on dodging and intercepting the goblin rockets that the Goblin Shredder was constantly firing at them. Instead, they stood on the spot, exhaled, and sent out a raging flood of explosive arrows toward the Flame Fiend that Greem had turned into.

  The Giant Raging Ape and Earth Mauler that the two Druid Masters of the Claw had turned into once again roared and charged forward. One of them went after the Flame Fiend of Terror and desperately stalled it with his very life on the line. The other crashed ahead with rumbling steps and lunged at the Goblin Shredder.

  The Silver Pegasus Knight and one of the weapons masters were trapped in the shadows and mist by the Second Grade Dark Witch and couldn't free themselves. The only remaining weapons master stepped forth with agile and lithe steps. He dodged past one magical machine after another that roared and stepped forward to stop him. He pressed onward toward Greem at a tremendously fast pace that only appeared slow to the untrained eye.

  Tigule piloted his Goblin Shredder and desperately intercepted the explosive arrows shot out by the elven deadshots. At the same time, he had to try his best to deal with that annoying Giant Raging Ape; he had no time or attention to spare for the weapons master.

  Greem, on the other hand, was silently standing still, utterly focused on chanting the profound magical spell. A string of syllables of the chant rang out and rippled through the air, forming into a strange rippling wormhole in front of the Flame Fiend.

  The spatial tremors created by th
e wormhole became increasingly frequent and indirectly started tearing at the protection of the plane barrier. One could already vaguely see the obscure and bizarre scene of another plane through the slowly opening wormhole.

  However, the otherworldly creature that Greem wanted to summon was clearly a large monster. This tiny wormhole was entirely insufficient for it to pass through successfully. That was why it was squeezing its way into Faen through the wormhole while loudly and angrily roaring at Greem in Dragontongue.

  Dragontongue? Dragon?

  All the elves present in the place couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

  The massive form in the wormhole couldn't be clearly seen, as it had yet to descend upon this plane. However, the loud dragon roars and the overwhelming dragon's aura of might had more than exposed its identity.

  A dragon.

  The one that wanted to enter this world through the wormhole was a dragon!

  Moreover, judging from the strength of the spiritual pressure of the dragon's aura, this was a horrifying dragon of Third Grade and above!

  The high-grade elves could no longer neglect the situation. They increased the intensity of their attacks, swearing to slay Greem before he could complete this otherworld summon.

  Without the summoner, the dragon would quickly be bounced back to his original plane by the planar suppression the moment he appeared. It was the fundamental principle with which material planes functioned. All the elves present here knew very well how it worked.

  The unchecked weapons master destroyed the two magical machines with five consecutive slashes. With a single flash, he charged toward Greem, who was mere feet away from him.

  Sadly, at this moment, an indescribably charged web of electricity silently appeared before him. A ferocious and towering figure then stepped in front of the weapons master.

  Dragonborn. It was that grievously injured Second Grade dragonborn!

  Even at this moment, the weapons master could very clearly see the wound-covered body of the towering dragonborn, as well as that distressing injury on his abdomen.