Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Even Third Grade powerhouses didn't dare to get involved in a battle between Fourth Grades, much less ordinary elves. The terrifying Wail of the Banshee at the start of the fight had easily covered an area of one and a half kilometers. All First and Second Grade elves within this territory had already died, their souls having been ripped to pieces.

  Even the Third Grade elf that had barely managed to escape had been inflicted with great soul injuries. He had to be sent back to Greenwater City to recover immediately.

  That was why the commander of the fleet and the leader of the Windrunners pulled the fleet six nautical miles away from Echo Isles due to safety concerns. They would silently wait here for news from the frontlines.

  Yet, while no news arrived, a horrifying natural disaster did!

  No one knew if it was a phenomenon caused by the witches' magic or the intensity of the fight itself, but the Echo Isles in the distance had been tightly locked down with a dense black mist. Violent lightning blasts and fearsome elementium tremors erupted inside the opaque fog, stunning every elf to their very core.

  While the elves anxiously waited, a piercing voice, due to its owner's nervousness, rang out from the bow of the ship.

  "Quickly erect a shield. Hurry up and have them erect a Natural Ward."

  The elves all turned back in surprise and were shocked to find the owner of the scream to be a Second Grade elven diviner. This diviner belonged to the Temple of Luck and was a female elf with pretty looks and elegant movements.

  At this moment, all the color had faded from her face, seemingly because of some vision from the future. Two thin streaks of bloody tears were crawling down from her tightly shut eyes. Still, she seemed ignorant of this fact and continued to yell and scream wildly.

  Even though the profession of a diviner didn't have any combat power, no one in the elven kingdom dared gloss over their opinions.

  The fleet commander immediately had the signal troops order all ships to activate their Natural Wards.

  As standard ships of the navy, all these vessels had been specially carved with an elven array in a secret room at the bottom of the boat. This array could activate a massive Natural Ward. To save energy, these barriers weren't usually opened. Now, though the commander sensed no incoming danger, he still decided to lean on the side of caution and listen to the warnings of the elven diviner.

  As expected, just as the elven ships erected the green Natural Wards that shielded their hulls, a massive wave of water several meters tall silently surged toward them from the horizon.

  Even before the wave had arrived, a suddenly advancing hurricane stormed through the area above the sea.

  The ships protected by the Natural Wards were relatively untouched. They had not sustained any damage other than being tossed around a little too intensely. However, the aerial forces responsible for scouting the seas and the skies met an unfortunate fate.

  The savage hurricane was like a wall of wind that smashed at them, instantly dragging the hippogryphs, chimeras, and silver pegasi into its vortex. The poor flying creatures were like tops being wickedly whipped by children, tumbling and falling from the sky without any chance to resist. The elven archers and knights upon their backs also fell into the sea like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

  The wall of wind had just passed by, and the wave arrived soon after!

  The two dozen ships were dragged along by the rising wave and smashed into one another. If it wasn't for the Natural Wards, this single wave alone could have capsized nearly half of the elven ships.

  For a moment, the elves were thrown into complete disarray.

  Yet this still wasn't the end of it.

  Once the wind wall and the wave had passed, a pattering black rain poured down from above.

  This black rain carried with it a thick and pungent odor of corrosion and landed on the Natural Wards. Wisps of black smoke rose into the air as the rain neutralized the nature power.

  The entire elven fleet was in a state of chaos.

  All of the First Grade elves were hurriedly hiding in the cabins to prevent the hostile environment from wounding them. The only ones that could move around on the deck had to be Second Grade at least.

  The Third Grades gathered at the bow of the ships. They didn't seem to care about the damage of this phenomenon to the fleet, choosing instead to focus on the black mist in the distance.

  These were, after all, only the shockwaves of the Fourth Grades' fight. The true 'disaster' was still locked within that layer of mist.

  There, the Echo Isles that had been preserved for over a thousand years was facing an unprecedented calamity!

  Outside the Isles, the reef formations that had endured hundreds of years of tidal corrosion were slowly being chipped away by the violent gales, inch by inch. Apart from the parts covered by the adept tower's energy shields, all of the Echo Isles' reefs that were exposed above water were non-existent now!

  Be it the nature magic of the god messengers that was mixed with divine power, or the immensely powerful spells that the Pale Witches were unleashing through the tower's strength; everything was dealing tremendous and irreparable damage to the environment.

  Compared to the child's play of Second and Third Grade powerhouses, every single ability of Fourth Grade fighters was a calamitous finishing move that could destroy the world around them. The area covered by their spells and magic was also exceedingly large, often extending up to ranges of two kilometers.

  There was no apparent disparity of energy intensity in the area enveloped by their spells either. That fully demonstrated the fact that the understanding and mastery that Fourth Grade fighters had of their magical powers were at a shockingly unbelievable level!

  The fight between the Pale Witches and god messengers had also finally provoked another large faction.

  The surface of the sea around the Echo Isles started to bubble as if the water itself was boiling. A gigantic sea monster that measured six meters in height rose from the water.

  It had a large and muscular body as well as humanoid arms and a torso covered in dark, green-gray scales. A spindle-shaped head grew above its neck, and a wicked face sat upon it. Two especially sharp and long fangs protruded out of its lower lips as two fleshy extensions hung from its chin.

  The lower half of the sea monster's body was a flat, long snake's tail covered in fine indigo scales.

  This siren that had emerged from the sea was also a Fourth Grade powerhouse.

  Its green webbed hand held a rusty trident as it floated above the surface of the water. The siren raised its trident and shot a towering pillar of water at the few individuals engaged in their messy fight.

  The Pale Witch and the god messengers immediately split up after witnessing the intervention of a foreign force. They each took up a spot and glanced coldly at this new challenger.

  "Elves, witches; I don't care what reason you have. None of you are allowed to fight within the territory of us seafolk!" The siren roared.

  The seafolk of Faen used a unique mariner creature language. Fortunately, all the individuals present were important characters of their respective factions, and all had a particular understanding of the seafolk's language. Thus, there was no concern about incomprehension.

  The arrogant and proud seafolk had always been at odds with the land species, even since the ancient times.

  Even the elven kingdom, with all their might, had to offer large numbers of offerings to these seafolk if they wanted their elven ships to sail across the boundless deep sea freely. Otherwise, becoming wreckage was the only fate that awaited them!

  That was why the two god messengers had no choice but to suppress their fury and argue in the face of this unreasonable Fourth Grade siren, "We didn't start this fight. As a member of Faen, I trust you, sir, to also have an obligation and responsibility to keep the peace of the plane! Why don't you join us and help us exile these otherworldly invaders from our world?"

  “Kehkehkeh…you lot might not like these w
itches, but we have taken quite the liking to them. They have offered us quite a lot of good things."

  Rage appeared on the faces of both god messengers when they heard the siren's words. Zyvere even lashed out furiously, "How could you trade with a bunch of otherworldly invaders? Can you still call yourselves a member of Faen now?"

  The wicked siren simply betrayed a mocking expression in response to the elf's reprimand.

  "No more than a group of witches. You fear them, but I don't. If they truly found the courage to find trouble with us seafolk, we would crush them to bits and mince them to pieces. Not a single shred of their corpses would be left." The siren narrowed his murderous eyes and looked up and down Zyvere's curvaceous and bountiful body. He then revealed a lecherous look.

  "Girl, if you are willing to come shag at my coral sea for a few days, I can decide to chase this witch away from the island for you. How about that?!"

  The two elves' expression changed utterly upon hearing this.

  Zyvere's body was even trembling from anger. Her eyes were practically spitting fire.

  "Mind your words, seafolk. You are insulting a god messenger of a great deity! You…do you intend to provoke a war between two great pantheons?" Ursol hastily stood in front of the berserking Zyvere and coldly spat out his words.

  "Pantheon war?" This siren seemed to be a brazen thug as well. He simply curled his lips in disdain and said, "Those weak beansprout gods of yours? You think they even qualify as a challenge to the great Atri? Hmph."

  The two elven god messengers almost went insane from the provocation, but instantly realized something from the siren's words.

  "You…you are the god messenger of Atri?"

  It was only at this moment that the two god messengers could sense a vaguely familiar aura from the siren's sinister and obscure energy flux. The opponent was actually also a god messenger. In fact, he was the messenger of the most brutal and savage god of the sea– Atri, God of the Sea Beasts.

  The discovery was both shocking and enlightening!

  Chapter 673 Siege of the Underground Prison

  As natives of Faen, the god messengers naturally knew who Atri, the God of Sea Beasts was.

  If the majority of gods were higher lifeforms that transcended worldly creatures and possessed superior power and intelligence, then Atri, the God of Sea Beasts would be a special exception!

  It was slow, and its mind was little more than chaos embodied. Even its mind and intelligence couldn't be considered as complete.

  However, there was no denying that Atri possessed overbearing strength and physical power that far surpassed an ordinary god. Even without fancy techniques or skills, Atri could easily defeat half of the elven pantheon with its physical strength alone.

  It couldn't be helped. After all, over half of the gods in the elven pantheon were not proficient in combat!

  Moreover, Atri possessed the divine authorities of savagery, cruelty, and regeneration. It was especially worshipped and respected by all the powerful sea beasts in Faen. If one were to weigh the size of the Faen Plane's oceans and the number of lifeforms within them, there was no doubt that the number of powerful sea beasts outnumbered even the total number of forest elves.

  With such incredible faith power backing it, the God of Sea Beasts forcefully pushed itself upon the ranks of the most powerful gods of Faen, even if it was highly unqualified. It became the second most powerful god of Faen, only second to the God of the Sea– Dions.

  If the battlefield were set in the sea, Atri alone would be enough to destroy the entire elven pantheon. Of course, if Atri was able to do this, then so could the Sea God Dions, who held the title of 'Lord of the Berserk'!

  All seafolk powerhouses that followed Atri, the Sea Beast God became mindless savages under its teachings. Still, a Fourth Grade 'fool' was still not an existence that an ordinary person could afford to anger!

  Ursol and Zyvere had no choice but to swallow their pride and retreat from the battle.

  Once the two god messengers vanished into the horizon, the Fourth Grade siren turned to look at Pale Witch Rimura.

  "Hey, ugly hag from the World of Adepts, when can you send over the Blood of the Sea you promised? If I find out you were lying to me, I will bring my men with me and smash that garbage Shadow Island of yours."

  Blood of the Sea was merely a euphemism. The substance was no more than the blood of powerful sea beasts from the World of Adepts. The blood of sea beasts of a higher world was undoubtedly an extremely rare and invigorating substance for the seafolk of Faen.

  The Blood of the Sea that this siren needed was naturally origin blood of a siren that it shared an ancestor with.

  Rare resources like these weren't kept in stock by the Northern Witches, even with their great might and influence. They had no choice but to send men into the depths of the World of Adepts' oceans to search for it. Moreover, they had to organize manpower to surround and hunt the target upon finding it. The difficulty of obtaining this Blood of the Sea was truly enormous!

  Pale Witch Rimura was surprised by this Fourth Grade siren's wild and rude words, but she didn't resort to hostilities over this. Here in Faen, the Pale Witches dared to provoke the elven pantheon and could hold their own against the human pantheon. Still, the only thing they didn't dare do was provoke these savage seafolk.

  The total volume of the ocean in Faen was nearly a hundred times larger than the total area of the landmass. Resources were also bountiful and readily available. Naturally, the number of seafolk powerhouses was shockingly high!

  This seafolk messenger casually spoke of destroying Shadow Island. These weren't wholly lies and threats.

  If she genuinely forced this siren's hand, it wouldn't be hard for it to gather dozens of Fourth Grade sea beasts from the depths of the sea to break into Shadow Island. Shadow Island might have turned into an impenetrable fortress over the past thousand years of effort by the Pale Witches, but all its defensive towers and energy barriers were little more than a joke before dozens of Fourth Grade creatures. Moreover, these were massive and gigantic sea beasts that were almost always as large as hills.

  "Lord Bestal, the delay can't be completely attributed to us, can it?!" Even Witch Rimura had no choice but to explain with a bitter smile when dealing with an unreasonable siren, "If you could provide us with some of your own blood, we could naturally match it with our knowledge and find suitable prey for you. However, you refuse to provide any of your blood. That is why all three samples we previously provided you with were not compatible with your essence. Trying to find the sirens that match your specifications in the vast and boundless depths of the ocean is a daunting challenge, even for us!"

  "Hmph! I don't care! Don't even think about getting your hands on my blood. You witches love dealing in weird things the best. Who knows what you will do once you get my blood!" This Fourth Grade siren might seem crass, but he had street smarts of his own. He waved the trident in his hand angrily, "I will only give you ten more years. If I don't get the Blood of the Sea you promised me in ten years, then prepare to get kicked out of Faen."

  The Fourth Grade siren turned and disappeared into the sea after roaring these words, vanishing without a trace.

  After letting out a silent sigh, Witch Rimura also silently returned to the island's tower with her accompanying spirit.

  The Echo Isles' reef formation had been utterly shattered after this disaster, turning it into hidden reefs beneath the surface of the sea. That caused the waters around the Isles to become increasingly complicated and difficult to navigate.

  However, Rimura couldn't find any interest in dealing with this matter. Instead, she hid in her room and silently contacted the Fourth Grade Witch stationed on Shadow Island.

  Let the matter of the so-called Blood of the Sea be left to the leaders and elders of the clan headquarters!

  …………

  Garan Continent, Aerie Peak.

  As a notorious den of magical beasts near the south coast, a flock
of Windhawks lived here.

  As wind magical beasts unique to Garan Continent, these windhawks possessed exceptional flight speed and powerful wind magic. Adolescent windhawks had the strength of a beginner First Grade. That didn't sound very impressive, but one had to take into consideration the fact that they were an entire flock of magical beasts.

  A hundred windhawks had built their nests on the sunny side of a tall cliff, resting and reproducing here. As time slowly passed, the number of windhawks here grew in number, and they became tamed magical beasts of the elves. It became a place where druids would come to summon an animal companion.

  Thus, this place became the famous Aerie Peak!

  As flying magical beasts with shocking intelligence, the windhawks had always maintained friendly relations with the elves.

  Furthermore, they had an extreme sense of territory and would unleash the most ferocious of attacks upon any birds or beasts that trespassed in their homes. That was why there were no dangerous creatures that could threaten young windhawks anywhere within two and a half kilometers of Aerie Peak!

  However, these days, Aerie Peak had lost its past serenity, turning into a chaotic and tumultuous place.

  The cause of all this was a swarm of accursed insects!

  Seven days ago, a massive swarm of odd beetles swarmed out of the depths of the forest and rooted themselves underground Aerie Peak, never to show themselves again.

  A sky full of adolescent windhawks immediately stopped the large group of elves led by Spear of Vengeance Eijae after she reached within one and a half kilometers of Aerie Peak. This time of the year happened to be a crucial moment where many young windhawks hatched from their shells. The windhawks would never allow the elves to turn the den into a battlefield, even with their historical relationship.

  Spear of Vengeance Eijae instantly flew into a rage against this flock of short-sighted cawing featherbrains who did not allow for any negotiations. If it weren't for the elven captain leading the troops finding the courage to stop her, Eijae would probably have started a fight with these windhawks before they could even exterminate the swarm.