Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  All the elves couldn't help but feel a chill from the depths of their hearts when they looked down from high up.

  How many insects were there here?

  Ci! Ci! Ci!

  Several enchanted explosive arrows flew in beautiful arcs and landed in the areas where the insects were most concentrated.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The sound of consecutive explosions rang out, blasting the swarm of insects and blowing black smoke and insect corpses into the air.

  However, the area cleared out by the explosives were once again covered in insects within a mere two or three seconds. From a distance, it was almost hard to tell if the swarm of bugs was becoming fewer in numbers. In fact, there was an odd feeling that the sea of insects was only growing denser and thicker.

  A chain of elven arrows rained into the sea of insects. Most of them were ordinary arrows, and only a few were enchanted explosive arrows. These arrows that best displayed the accuracy and agility of the elves were practically useless at this moment.

  Apart from the explosive arrows that could deal 'some' damage to the bugs, the ordinary bolts were like pebbles thrown into a roaring river– quickly drowned out and washed away without a trace.

  As for the damage they were doing?

  How many magical arrows could a rural elven village possibly have in their stocks!?

  After the twelve explosive arrows had been let loose, desperation and helplessness appeared on the determined and firm face of the female archery instructor. Her pretty and slender fingers held on tightly to the last explosive arrow, yet she hesitated on the final shot.

  Where to shoot? What to shoot at?

  It was an ocean of squirming insects everywhere below the trees. She wouldn't miss even if she were to close her eyes. However, was it worth it to use such a valuable explosive arrow to delay the advance of the insects by just that bit of time?

  The instructor had never doubted her power and ability before today. She had always believed that she could defeat any enemy and any opponent with the elven longbow and explosive arrow in her hand.

  This confidence of hers was also a conviction that the elves had gained over so many years.

  But now, she hesitated. She was confused. She was lost!

  For the first time, she drew her bow and nocked the arrow, but she had no idea where she was to shoot and whether she was supposed to shoot.

  "Quick, sound the tree whistle."

  At this crucial moment, the war dancer was still the more composed and calm of the two.

  Tree whistle? The tree whistle!

  The eyes of the archery instructor immediately lit up upon hearing the shout. She tossed the bow in her hand to the assistant at her side and rushed to the edge of the tree platform. She took out an odd green tree whistle and placed it at her lips to blow it.

  "Careful!"

  "Dodge!"

  A few hurried shouts rang out from behind her.

  As expected of a fighter that had undergone a strict training regiment, the archery instructor glanced from the corner of her eye and instantly discovered several odd black silhouettes lunging at her.

  The archery instructor leaped upward and dodged two strange green scythes that slashed down in a cross. Her nimble feet quickly stepped upon the side of another pair of scythes and used this tiny point of contact to dodge aside agilely.

  She drew her dagger in the air and went by the third black silhouette pursuing her.

  The archery instructor let out an agonized scream as her right arm was severed along the shoulder. Blood splashed into the air. She barely managed to hang on and parry the enemy's attack before somersaulting onto the center of the platform. She crouched upon the ground and used her only remaining arm to brandish the dagger and protect herself.

  Ci! Ci! Ci!

  A series of elven arrows fired in a barrage. Crisp ringing sounds echoed out as they were slashed down by the terrifying scythe-shaped limbs of the strange creatures before them.

  Mantis!

  The ones that had secretly struck at the archery instructor were three odd mantises.

  The reason these mantises were described as 'odd' was that they were far too big.

  If these mantises were to stand up straight, they would each measure up to one and a half meters tall.

  Such a massive mantis was a rare sight, even in the Fantasy Forest with its dense population of magical creatures!

  These mantises were pitch-black in color, and the surface of their bodies was a weird shell that carried with it a metallic gleam. They had two semi-translucent pairs of wings on their backs– one large and one small. They also had three pairs of exceedingly sharp jointed legs beneath their abdomen. A pair of horrifying scythe-like appendages filled with sharp teeth were brandished in the upright front half of their bodies.

  Earlier, these three odd mantises had relied on their quick speed and fearsome scythe limbs to ambush the archery instructor and defend themselves against the barrage of arrows.

  "Who are your commanders? They dare attack us, and they don't have the courage to show their faces and fight us? Have him come out." The war dancer waved his two blades and stood in front of his injured companions, shouting furiously at the approaching mantises as he did so.

  Sadly, his taunting did not affect these magical mantises.

  The three magical mantises beat their thin wings rapidly as their flat and sharp bodies dashed forward swiftly while leaning close against the ground. Their scary scythe-like limbs even caused odd afterimages to appear and leave behind the sound of air being slashed apart.

  Clang! Clang! Clang!

  A series of metallic impacts rang out in quick succession. The war dancer barely managed to use his agile movements and tight defense to fend off the attacks from the three mantises. However, the difference in strength caused his entire body to tremble every time he parried.

  With no option left to him, the war dancer was slowly forced backward. The area between his thumb and forefinger on the hands in which he held his sabers had already started bleeding.

  Blood dripped upon the floor. It was a frightening sight.

  With his cover, the injured archery instructor was finally able to find the time to blow that jade-green tree whistle.

  A strange soundwave undetectable by ordinary people started to echo in the woods and ripple outward into the distance.

  Chapter 658 The Fall of Rut'theran

  There was a strange soundwave that was undetectable to ordinary people.

  As it echoed around the surrounding forest, two ancient trees at the edge of Rut'theran Village trembled.

  Aaaaaah…

  An odd and aged voice reverberated throughout the forest. Those two massive trees measuring up to seven or eight meters suddenly shook their bodies, and a humanoid face appeared on their wrinkled and dry trunk.

  "Who is it…who…woke me…from…slumber…again? You elves, can't you let me sleep just a little longer?" An ancient tree shook his body and uprooted himself with much difficulty as it grumbled.

  The speed of his speech was extremely slow. It seemed he had not wholly awakened from his deep slumber. However, once he straightened his body, he started to speak normally.

  "Hmm, where did these tiny insects come from? Why are there so many of them?"

  The faces that appeared in the trunks looked around for a bit, and the two tiny treants finally realized something was off.

  These weren't just some pesky bugs. It was a terrifying plague of insects!

  The two towering tiny treants shook their forms and cast the black insects climbing all over their bodies to the ground. They then lifted their wooden legs made of countless branches and roots and stomped the ground forcefully.

  Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!

  The sound of four muffled wooden pillars smashing the ground rang out. These thick legs filled with the patterns of wood had forcefully crushed numerous insects to death. When the two tiny treants once again lifted their legs, their large flat feet had been stained wit
h purple-black blood and pungent yellow insect juice.

  "Enemy. Enemy, exterminate the enemy!"

  The two tiny treants roared furiously. They attacked the swarm with all their strength as they strode forward.

  The direction they were moving toward was precisely where the tree whistle had been blown!

  Bug Adept Billis hid silently in a corner of the battlefield and used his strange compound eyes to observe everything happening from a distance. Take into consideration those eye bugs circling the forest, everything within two and a half kilometers of Rut'theran was under his close monitoring.

  As a bug adept, he had none of the poor taste of other adepts to personally descend upon the battlefield and experience the crude pleasure of exchanging blows. For Billis, everything before him was no more than the final struggle of prey before they were served on the dining table.

  He was enjoying a sumptuous feast, and these were only his blood treats!

  He did not need to match strength against a bunch of food destined to be devoured just to show his courage and bravery. All he needed to do was wait. Once the food had been roasted to perfection, he would swallow it all in a single bite.

  No trace of concern or heartbreak was on Billis' face, hidden in the shadows of the trees, even as he watched the two towering treants stomp a path of blood and carnage through the swarm of bugs. His purple compound eyes were glowing and flashing in the darkness as he used the unique methods of an insect person to control and command the tide of bugs.

  He had destroyed two elven villages as well as countless animals and magical creatures of Fantasy Forest on the way here. It was through the nourishment of their flesh that Billis had managed to raise this shockingly large army of insects.

  Even at this moment, with a terrifying army of bugs numbering one hundred and fifty thousand, he had yet to reach his limit. With his current power, he would be able to perfectly control the bug army even if it was to be increased to twice its current size.

  Where did the path of evolution lie for a bug adept?

  No one knew.

  Strengthening the self might be one of them. It could transform Billis into a fearsome and ferocious insect of war, having the ability to dominate the battlefield and enjoy the pleasure of the slaughter. However, if he were to do so, he would continuously place himself in the most dangerous scenarios. Billis didn't like showing himself in public. He didn't care for personal glory either.

  Thus, he unhesitatingly chose the evolutionary path of strengthening the insect swarm!

  This way, he would be able to control more insects and imbue some insects with strange combat abilities. With the slaughter and evolution of the swarm, he, the leader of the hive, would unknowingly become even stronger. More importantly, due to the countless clones he would have, he would become practically immortal.

  He would never die as long as the swarm still existed.

  This particular factor was what attracted Billis the most!

  An evolution path like this undoubtedly suited his personality the most.

  As the lord of the swarm, these low-grade insects could never cause him to frown, regardless of how heavy their losses. The only things that could concern him were those combat insects that possessed unique combat power.

  The combat insects evolved from their initial form as black beetles, to sting scorpions, and finally developed from the sting scorpions to the current magical mantises. Their offensive power was increasing by leaps and bounds. The three magical mantises on the tree platform in the distance had formed a fighting squad. It was only the three of them, but they were already chasing the two high-grade elves around and beating them within an inch of their lives.

  Seeing that the two tiny treants intended to enter the fray to save the elves, Billis secretly sent an order.

  High up in the canopy, several flashes of black lightning surrounded the two tiny treants at various angles, leaving a trail of afterimages behind them.

  The vast tide of insects was indeed a massive threat for the frail elves. However, when faced with the tall, towering, and sturdy treants, the wild biting of the swarm could not deal lethal damage in the short term.

  As the two tiny treants made it toward the elves with great difficulty and heavy, bloody footsteps, their bodies chattered from the sound of countless insects gnawing at their tough bark.

  However, the losses of the swarm at the hands of the treants were also extremely severe!

  The two treants that had been striding forward abruptly stopped. They raised their beardy faces and looked anxiously at the quickly approaching silhouettes.

  Unlike the tide of insects around them, these strange combat insects were creatures that could truly damage them. Of course, they were anxious!

  According to the Grade system of the World of Adepts, the treant warriors of the elven kingdom should have the power of advanced First Grades, while the Deadwood Guards had the power of a beginner Second Grade. The tiny treants that had yet to advance would be considered pseudo-adepts.

  However, such absolute distinctions of grade failed to truly reflect the combat power of the strange creatures of a high-magic world.

  Take these tiny treants for example. They were still in their youth and had not crossed the first advancement threshold of their lives. However, if one were to weigh their overall strength, they would realize the treants could easily defeat an entire squad of First Grade war dancers or elven archers.

  That was why Bug Adept Billis did not look down upon these two tiny treants at all. He immediately sent a wave of sixteen magical mantises to deal with them.

  The one and a half meter long bodies of the magical mantises looked like bean sprouts beside potatoes when put by the side of the eight-meter tall treants. They looked minuscule. However, these sixteen bean sprouts had an entire mouth full of sharp teeth and their terrifying scythes.

  The sixteen magical mantises turned into sixteen bolts of black lightning constantly circling the two treants. The moment they found the opportunity, they would lunge at the treants' backs where they had trouble defending, and used their sawtooth scythe limbs to hack at the treants' bark. Tree sap splashed everywhere.

  The two tiny treants grunted. They turned about on the spot and waved the tough vines wrapped around their bodies in an attempt to lash at the black silhouettes.

  Unfortunately, with their slow and clumsy movements, they could not touch the mantises at all, even though these attacks were still crushing the insects in the tide. Their careless attacks only exposed even more of their weaknesses.

  The sixteen magical mantises spun around the two treants like a revolving lantern and occasionally lunged forward to slash. They would then quickly flare their wings and leave the treants' attack range when they saw them lift their vine whips.

  In less than seven minutes, the tough bark armor of the two treants was covered in wounds. Crisscrossing slash marks could be seen everywhere. Many of them had even pierced the bark and damaged the insides of the treants.

  A look of determination appeared on the wrinkled and cracked face of one of the treants. It lifted its thick right leg and stomped it into the ground.

  A muffled boom. The entire ground trembled slightly.

  This treant roared at the sky and its right leg formed of countless roots was embedded into the earth once more. They once again turned into the form of snake-like roots under the power of the treant's tremendous life force and lashed upward in every direction.

  The next second, in a twenty-meter area around the treant, the earth split, and the dirt rumbled. Countless roots emerged from underground and tightly bound all moving creatures above.

  These included countless insects and three magical mantises that couldn't fly away in time.

  "Gar'lua, go, take the elves away; leave this place to me!" The treant roared furiously and urged its companion to leave.

  The other treant glanced sorrowfully at its companion that had chosen to sacrifice himself and finally turned to walk toward th
e elven treehouse.

  Its size was exceedingly large. It only needed to extend its arms and place it upon the tree, and the elves would be able to jump onto its leafy body.

  At this moment, the black swarm of insects had already forced the elves onto the very top of the only remaining ancient tree. They were barely defending this last sanctuary of theirs.

  It had yet to be half an hour since the start of the battle, and only two dozen elves of their original number of six or seven dozen remained.

  The other had either been taken down by the magical mantises and dragged into the tide of insects or had slipped and fallen off the tree to be devoured by the wave. At any rate, their odds were slim!

  Thus, the elves hurriedly jumped into the canopy of the treant when they saw it come to their aid. It was only then that they had escaped this ancient tree that was about to be devoured by the swarm.

  This only surviving treant waved its vine whips to chase away the circling mantises after saving the elves. It then strode away into the depths of the forest, wading through the swarm of bugs.

  Behind his lonely back, the treant that had chosen to stay behind had already fallen wordlessly.

  A path full of shouting and a road full of deadly pursuers gradually extended into the distance.

  Chapter 659 Blood Elf

  The battle was slowly being extinguished.

  The once peaceful Rut'theran village had become a horrifying place of death.

  Not a single living being larger than five centimeters could be found in the entire village or an area of several kilometers around it. In particular, where the battle had been the most intense, it wasn't just the animals that had gone missing. Even the plants had been devoured. The scars of battle left behind were a horrifying sight to behold.

  No one knew when it had appeared, but an eagle had been circling in the blue skies above.

  It circled the area around Rut'theran many times before finally diving down, unable to suppress the feeling of frustration in its heart.

  The male eagle beat its powerful wings and quickly weaved between the trees, occasionally pulling up or diving down to avoid the ancient branches and dense vines coming at its face. Finally, the light appeared before its eyes, and it passed through the dense forest that led to the quiet valley where Rut'theran resided.