Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Clearly, her harvest was plentiful as well!

  "Go collect the corpses of those elves. I want to examine them again."

  Having said that, Mary proudly returned to her temporary base.

  The aura and dominance of the Bloody Queen were no more obvious than at this very moment!

  A short moment later, twenty-three elf corpses were spread out in a row on the empty field where the base was located. A few of the vampire higher-ups were moving around and examining them.

  Finally, after hearing the feedback of some of the blood elves, Old Fox Vanlier returned to Mary's side and delivered his report by her ear.

  The Undermoon Assassins.

  What the heck is that?

  Mary waved the blood elves over and delved into more thorough questioning. It was only now that she figured out what this strange elven force was.

  Of course, this was a force belonging to the Moonlight Temple.

  The elven kingdom chose elven rangers with exceptional abilities and sent them to the Moonlight Temple. They then became loyal believers of the Moonlight Goddess and were blessed with powers, thus giving birth to this very different elven combat force– the Undermoon Assassins!

  This operation compensated for the elven kingdom's awkward lack of powerful assassins!

  The Undermoon Assassins possessed exceptional individual technique. Every single elf was the very best at traditional archery techniques and close range fighting. Add to that the abilities bestowed upon them by the Moonlight Goddess, such as Moonstalking Stealth, Moonshade Clone, and many others, and the Undermoon Assassins possessed the fundamentals to become top assassins of the Faen Plane.

  The only thing they lacked was likely practical combat experience and the grinding of their fighting will!

  The debut of the Undermoon Assassins this time had undoubtedly been a disaster.

  That was because they chose for themselves a hellish opponent for their very first operation– Bloody Queen Mary.

  Though the Second Grade leader of the Undermoon Assassins was of the same grade as Mary, she was utterly inferior to the vampire, be it in terms of personal technique or god-given abilities.

  Mary had practically crushed this proud Second Grade elf without any resistance!

  Chapter 682 Crimson Assaul

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  In the end, the World of Adepts was one of the few large-sized planes in the multiverse.

  Adepts that came out of the World of Adepts were that much stronger compared to powerhouses of the same grade in terms of fundamental ability and combat techniques.

  Mary and the Undermoon Assassin leader were both Second Grade. Yet, when they started fighting, Mary was able to obtain an overwhelming advantage. If the leader had chosen to fight to the death, Mary would only have needed to pay the price of some light wounds to murder her easily.

  After this battle, the leaders behind the scene would probably understand that an entire squad of Second Grades was needed to suppress Mary. Perhaps they even needed to send a Third Grade powerhouse.

  The elven kingdom at present only had a handful of Fourth Grade powers. These individuals were the pillars of the kingdom and were to be kept safe at all costs. They wouldn't easily be alerted unless it was an emergency.

  The Third Grade elves that moved around Garan were the actual core and fundamental strength of the elven kingdom. If any random witch that popped up required the mobilization of a Third Grade, then given the current Third Grade reserves of the elven kingdom, they would not be capable of dealing with this drawn out Calamity of the Witches!

  Disregarding everything else, even Skywater City, the closest one to Mary, had no Fourth Grades. The strongest combat forces were five Third Grade elves. Spear of Vengeance Eijae had also been drawn away to Greenwater City's surroundings by Bug Adept Billis.

  That meant the number of Third Grade elves inside Skywater had been reduced to four individuals!

  The fact that they were willing to commit a Third Grade druid elder to hunt Mary was proof of the elven higher-up's resolution against these vampires. They could no longer tolerate them and were determined to exterminate every last one of them.

  As for the unexpected appearance of the Undermoon Assassins, that might just have been the personal and impulsive decision of their leader. Of course, it was more likely that this was the leader's test of the Undermoon Assassins' ability.

  In truth, the Undermoon Assassins would probably have put on an excellent performance had their opponent not been Mary.

  Even the blood knights were at a disadvantage against them, despite their power. That was more than enough to demonstrate the immense hiding abilities of their Moonstalking Stealth.

  At this point, Old Fox Vanlier couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "Master, how exactly did you manage to find those Undermoon Assassins?"

  Mary's expressions turned cold upon hearing this, "Hmph! Despite having followed me for so long, you people are still unable to cast away your human habits. We are now bloodkin, a noble and long-living species. We clearly have such excellent blood sensing capabilities. Why is it that you people do not know how to utilize them?

  "The cape that these elves wear can only provide them with basic environmental disguising abilities, while their innate talent of Moonstalking Stealth relies most on the refraction of Moonlight to hide. These two abilities might be able to cheat the eye and hide their body heat, but it cannot cut away the smell and aura of blood.

  "You people have put too much focus upon the blood energy's effects on combat strength all this while. You have ignored the power of blood energy itself. Who amongst you here has specially researched and tried to improve upon the niche ability of Blood Sense? The present you might not think much of the insignificant utility effect of Blood Sense. However, you must know that improved Blood Sense leads to a racial ability that all high-grade bloodkin must master– Blood Manipulation.

  "With the enemy's blood, break the enemy's body. You lot will never become high-grade bloodkin without mastery of Blood Manipulation!"

  As the Bloody Queen, Mary very rarely admonished her subordinates in such a solemn manner.

  This thoughtful advice of hers was the most crucial understanding she had obtained upon advancing to Second Grade.

  Bloodkin. Bloodkin; what was most important?

  In the end, the most important thing was the vampires' control over blood!

  Without such control, then they would become a bunch of monsters and beasts that lusted blindly after blood. They would no longer be the noble bloodkin that reigned supreme over all beings!

  The surrounding vampire spawn could only nod mindlessly at Mary's stern admonishment. Only high-grade vampires like the blood knights and the blood elves could think with their own minds and carve this lesson into their hearts.

  "Go! Enjoy your banquet of blood! You have only fifteen minutes. We will be setting out after that. Our trajectory is the north!"

  Having advised her subordinates, Mary raised both of her arms and gave her vampires the declaration to feast.

  The entire swarm of vampires erupted with commotion!

  All the First Grade vampires charged toward the elf corpses at the center of the camp and crouched over their bodies, wildly sucking the blood that had yet to solidify. Meanwhile, the low-grade vampire spawn had no right to enjoy such privilege. They could only take to the skies, turn into crimson bats, and fly into the surrounding forest as a crimson cloud.

  There were countless forest creatures in there for them to chase and hunt. Though the blood of beasts was inferior and more pungent compared to that of intelligent life, it was more than enough to replenish their exhausted stamina and energy.

  Meanwhile, the three blood knights, three blood elves, and Old Fox Vanlier were naturally presented with warm, fresh blood extracted from the bodies by their servants. They didn't need to feed like wild creatures as the ordinary vampires did.

  As for Bloody Queen Mary herself? She couldn't even be bothered with sweet
-tasting blood. Now she only enjoyed blood crystals, a sort of strange crystal that formed from the extraction and purification of large quantities of blood.

  These blood crystals weren't very large; they were typically the size of a thumb.

  However, even a thumb-sized blood crystal required the complete extraction of three young elves' blood to be produced. Moreover, to improve the taste and energy saturation level of the crystals, Mary would try her best to choose fighters as targets of her consumption.

  Twelve clear and crystalline blood crystals sat in Mary's pouch after her sweeping raid across the west coast.

  If her power was greatly exhausted on the battlefield at any moment, and she was left with no way of regenerating her strength, then any single one of these blood crystals would allow her to recover to her best state rapidly.

  It was the most important strategic resource that she had prepared for herself!

  …………

  As the forest was humid and heavy with moisture, daylight often arrived late in the Fantasy Forest.

  When the sun in the distance cast down its first strand of light through the hazy mist, a large group of druids and elves had descended upon this vampire camp.

  Of course, they found the corpses of their companions thrown into a pile.

  The equipment and clothes of every single elf had all been taken away, leaving not a single shred of cloth on their bodies. Moreover, their twisted bodies were splayed in all sorts of odd poses, with bloody bite marks all over them.

  Teeth marks of various sizes covered their withered, shriveled, and naked bodies!

  Aside from the corpses of the elves, plenty of large animal corpses had been abandoned around the camp. All of them also had their blood sucked dry without exception. The dry and wrinkled skin was a horrifying sight to behold.

  "These damned evildoers."

  "We must exterminate these witches."

  "We have to avenge them."

  All the elves turned their gazes, unwilling to look at the tragic sight of their companions any longer. The sounds of cursing and swearing intertwined with choked weeping that echoed out in the forest.

  "That's enough. The evil of the witches has always been known to us. We will mourn our unfortunate countrymen later. The most important matter now is to continue tracking the enemy. Master Kimbell, we will have to trouble you!" The elven commander walked out with a mournful expression and gave a simple consolation to his subordinates. He then invited the respected elven diviner behind him to step forth.

  One had to admit that the profession of elven diviner was the most difficult to advance to, even in Faen Plane.

  This female diviner was Master Kimbell. Even though she was only at First Grade, her body was hunched so severely that it was almost at a right angle. The wrinkles on her face were so dense that even mosquitoes had trouble finding a spot to stand on.

  In all honesty, the marks of age and ugliness on this elven diviner were utterly horrendous in this group of young and handsome elves!

  Meanwhile, the Second Grade female elf standing at the elven diviner's side was wearing a delicate magical beast leather armor with a dark green elven cape upon her back. Several gleaming short daggers and throwing knives hung by the belt on her left, while a delicate dagger of ornate design hung by the right.

  Her body was extraordinarily tall and slender, but a terrifying claw mark on the right side of her pretty face had nearly wholly ruined her looks. Fortunately, with the help of life potions and nature magic, this claw mark was already started to close, scab, and heal.

  It would probably be healed entirely within another thirty minutes!

  As the leader of the Undermoon Assassins, Natasha's sorrow and agony could not be understood by outsiders. She was looking at her former companions and friends who had now been reduced to such a horrifying and tragic state.

  Due to the reckless assault last night that inflicted tremendous casualties to the Undermoon Assassins, Natasha had now been relieved of her duty as the leader of the Assassins. She could only temporarily fill in as the bodyguard of Elven Diviner Master Kimbell.

  Though Master Kimbell was an elven diviner, she couldn't predict the location of the vampires out of thin air. As such, she needed to rely upon these 'leftovers'of the vampires!

  The hunchback Master Kimbell leaned against a nature staff twice her height and slowly walked in front of the terrifying corpse pile in view of the eyes of the elves and druids.

  Just as she softly started chanting a strange spell that outsiders were not capable of understanding, a surge of violently savage blood energy erupted from within the corpse pile.

  The next second, limbs flew everywhere and a blood mist engulfed the area.

  A crimson and phantom-like silhouette rushed to the side of the elven diviner and unleashed a ferocious attack upon her.

  Chapter 683 Bloody Battle in the Woods

  One had to admit that when it came to the techniques of murder and scheming, these elves were as pure as rabbits that had never seen the true face of the world.

  Despite how wicked and sly they had already imagined the enemy to be, they were still continually falling into the many tricks and traps of the otherworldly witches when they fought them.

  Of the two parties engaged in the pursuit, the elves undoubtedly had the advantage in numbers and power; there was no question that they were the hunters. Meanwhile, the vampires numbered only one to two hundred. They should be the prey. They should be thinking about how to escape the elves. They couldn't and shouldn't have the courage to turn back and bite at the elves.

  However, these vampires insisted on going against that logic. They hid most of their elites within the pile of elf corpses and waited for the fish to bite the hook.

  This 'fish' was the 'loudmouth' that could bring disaster to the vampire horde– the Second Grade Elven Diviner Master Kimbell.

  As the corpse pile exploded, a large cloud of blood mist instantly enveloped the place, engulfing an area of several dozens of meters in utter darkness. The screeching bats flew about like headless flies, madly attacking every elf around them.

  Strangely enough, not one bat tried to get near the elven diviner!

  If the enemy had planned this attack, how could they possibly have forgotten about a character as important as the elven diviner?

  Master Kimbell knew she was in danger. She quickly retreated, shaking the nature's staff in her hand as she did so.

  Several brilliant green halos shone around her body as dense layers of Bramblethorn Armor, Natural Ward, Bark Skin, Nature's Vigil, and other defensive spells quickly shrouded her body. The eye-catching radiance of magic was so bright that it made it difficult for others to even look at her.

  As an elven diviner, Master Kimbell might have lost most of her casting abilities. However, with the use of an instant-casting staff, magical items, magic scrolls, and magic potions, Master Kimbell was still able to enhance herself with the maximum number of magical defenses in the shortest amount of time.

  Master Kimbell was slightly more relieved once such a tight layer of defenses protected her. She reached toward her waist and took out a seemingly ancient magic scroll of immense power. She then narrowed her eyes and carefully awaited the enemy's assault.

  She knew very well her own abilities. There was no way she could escape the range of the enemy's attacks with her six points of Agility. As such, she decided to keep a tight defense and await the aid of her allies.

  There were as many as twenty-seven Second Grade fighters among the elves here and even one Third Grade druid elder. All she needed to do…

  Master Kimbell's mind was still turning when a phantom-like silhouette inside the crimson mist pressed against the outermost Bramblethorn Armor. Green waves rippled across the defenses, and both the assailant and the diviner grunted in unison.

  As a Second Grade vampire adept, Mary's basic attacks combined the power of blood energy and shadow energy. With her ability to launch five strikes in a single
second, she could deal a terrifying amount of damage in the shortest time possible.

  In particular, blood energy possessed extreme corrosive power and excelled at destroying magical defenses. On the other hand, shadow energy possessed the magic trait of ignoring defenses and was one of the fundamental abilities that magical assassins had to master.

  Consequently, Mary managed to break through sixty percent of Master Kimbell's magical defenses with her compound attack in a matter of two to three seconds. At the same time, the shadow energy that pierced through impacted the elven diviner and caused her to cough up blood.

  However, the Bramblethorn Armor that Kimbell had cast on herself also possessed the ability to reflect thirty percent of all physical damage. As a result, Mary's body also received damage, even as she rapidly attacked the enemy.

  These few short seconds were enough for those elves and druid to react.

  Shua! Shua! Shua!

  Large areas of Nature's Light erupted within the field.

  These elves and druids were creatures of nature and naturally wouldn't be damaged by such a spell. The only things here that were not of the nature attribute were Mary and her bloodsucking bats. Thus, the transformed vampire spawn all let out agonized screams as the green auras that erupted in such density instantly purified them.

  The elves were still near the perimeter and couldn't get over there just yet.

  However, their Rejuvenation, Protection from Evil, Cure Damage, and other healing spells quickly washed over Master Kimbell's body, immediately negating the tiny bit of damage she had previously endured. Her status recovered to her peak.

  Several druids roared and charged forward. Some turned into ferocious bears and rumbled across the ground, while others transformed into massive hawks, calling as they soared into the skies. There were even some that turned into lithe jaguars and disappeared into the air with a single leap.

  Even the Third Grade druid elder never thought that a mere Second Grade witch had the guts to attempt to assassinate the elven diviner in front of him. At the moment, he was so frustrated that his dark green face had turned a bright red. He furiously waved the oaken staff in his hand as he strode forward.