Both of them were the same grade, while Sinvathee herself had the help of a mighty Second Grade green dragon. Based on her understanding, it should have been a simple enough matter to deal with this evil fire adept.
Yet, when they exchanged blows, Sinvathee was shocked to find that the elders' fear of the adepts was not without reason. The difference between their understanding of combat and experience of slaughter was as vast as the earth and sky!
Most elves believed that combat techniques were the same as murderous techniques. Excessive pursuit of combat techniques meant deviating from the nature of elves as pacifists and protectors of nature; it meant losing their soul to the way of bloodbath and slaughter.
That was why most elves, despite possessing excellent skill in archery, were not willing to spend too much time on refining their combat skills. That also caused the lethality of their superb archery skills to be far less practical and brutal compared to the spells of the adepts, forged in blood and battle!
She was a 'chosen one' favored by God of Archery Marco, and she owned a pseudo-artifact longbow envied by all of her tribespeople. However, she could only fight this evil fire adept to a standstill.
This…this fact annoyed and frustrated the proud Sinvathee to no end!
Both parties had been fighting for a dozen rounds upon this plain!
Greem still had not found an effective way to kill the opponent.
Fire poison. That elf was wearing a Ring of Grasswood. She could utilize the power of nature to neutralize most poison.
Coldflame. With the green dragon's protection, the brief instances of freezing that Greem could inflict upon the elf wouldn't be of much use. He would have trouble making it past the green dragon to kill the elf.
Fire. In all honesty, this was the ability that Greem had put the most research into and the talent that best manifested his might. Unfortunately, with the selfless defense of the green dragon, few fire spells could even threaten the female elf.
As for the Stitch Ghost Golem and the Voodoo Doll, they were barely capable of distracting and limiting the female elf's power. If they were to act as the primary offensive force, they would probably be torn apart by the green dragon in a matter of minutes.
It seemed the aid that they could provide Greem with was ultimately minimal, at least before they advanced to Second Grade!
After a series of confrontations, the female elf was still unharmed, but visible wounds had already started to appear on Greem and the green dragon. That said, the ones who suffered the most significant losses were the herds of wild horse across the plains!
They had no natural predator, no harsh environments, no drought, and no famine. These wild horses had always lived a peaceful life of leisure upon the plains where they had succeeded for generations.
However, on this day, all of that was shattered by a group of outsiders!
It didn't matter whether it was Greem's fire spells or the green dragon's acid breath; these were all terrifying attacks with immense might and radius. Any wild horses swept up in the shockwaves of their battle had no hope of surviving.
For a moment, the plains were scorched and turned into dead earth. Black and withered bones covered in acid were littered all over the place, leaving only a tragic sight to behold.
Without the existence of the green dragon, Greem would have only required fifteen minutes to deal with this prideful young elf. He'd have ensured that she was crisp on the outside and raw on the inside!
Sadly, in his current circumstances, he could only run across the plains and endure the pain of arrows piercing his body without any end in sight.
Greem was having a fierce battle, but Mary's fight wasn't much easier either.
In the face of multiple powerful enemies, Mary was still being turned into a pincushion, even with her speed and agility. If it weren't for her exceptional regeneration abilities, her flesh would have been thoroughly picked apart by the arrows.
Fortunately, both of them had accomplished their goal. They had mostly intercepted the first reinforcements from the elven army. The reinforcements that made it into the magic spring area were no more than one-third of their original number.
Greem and Mary were relieved when they finally received news of the sealing's completion. They no longer bothered with the enemy and turned to flee back to where they came from.
Naturally, the infuriated elves couldn't just let this slide. They pursued the adepts and sent a barrage at them all the way back.
When Greem and Mary 'successfully' returned to the Pegasus Magic Spring, they realized that the entire magic spring had turned blood red. The corpses of countless elves and pegasi floated in the average-sized lake.
The adepts guarding the spring had all retreated onto the flying ship. The vessel immediately climbed up into the sky once Greem teleported onto the deck with Mary by his side.
At the same time, several dozen cannon barrels extended out of the bottom of the ship as a horrifying assault stopped the army of elves from pursuing any further.
Even as strong as Sinvathee and her green dragon were, they could only dodge in the face of the explosive magical blasts.
The elven aerial knights behind them that failed to dodge were blasted into pieces by the magical purple blasts, their broken limbs falling to the ground like a bloody rain.
Countless aerial knights drove their pegasi and hippogryphs upward in their fit of fury, intending to lay down their lives to slay these evildoers. Sadly, flying magical beasts were only magical beasts after all. They could comfortably cruise at an altitude of a thousand meters, but anything above that and their wings would not be able to catch up to the flying ship.
In the end, this trivial pursuit ended with the elves' loss as the flying ship hid within the cloud layer!
The elves arrived at the Pegasus Magic Spring and silently looked upon the missing stone statue. Their faces were filled with downcast expressions. The surviving pegasi were furious, but there was nothing they could do.
The loss of the stone pegasus statue meant the loss of the endless magic spring water.
What this meant to the pegasi was evident and certain!
Perhaps it wouldn't even take a hundred years for the once famous pegasi to go extinct from the Continent of Garan.
…………
In contrast to the anguish of the elves, the flying ship was filled with an atmosphere of joy and celebration.
Dark Witch Uzzah's was in a pleased mood after completing all the missions her leader had assigned to her. Even when she once again saw Greem, it was a gentle smile that appeared on her usually cold and sinister face.
"Kid, you did well this time! Regardless of what grudges or disagreements we Dark Witches might have with you and your people, from today onward, I can speak for the Dark Witches and let all that be bygones. If you are willing to come to develop in the Northern Lands, I can speak for our leader and extend a very warm welcome!"
The fact that Uzzah was able to publicly utter such words despite her typical disdain for male adepts was more than enough proof that Greem had won the respects of this Third Grade Dark Witch. These words from her was also an acknowledgment and praise for his power and the faction he led.
The unexpected release from captivity after the underground trip and the fully-committed help with the magic spring this time had indirectly caused Dark Witch Uzzah to owe two major favors to Greem and Alice.
If they had been so willing to help, then they had an excellent reason to do so!
Uzzah pondered the mystery and decided that the key lay within the mysterious actions of the Fate Witches this time.
The Fate Witch branch had only been revived for less than a hundred years. Rationality dictated that any training of their witches should merely involve the less dangerous small-sized planes. Yet, this time, they had committed all their forces to venture to this dangerous plane of Faen.
Dark Witch Uzzah would never believe it if someone told her that there was no secret lying behind
this!
Perhaps something that they desperately needed resided on Faen, or maybe the Fate Witches wanted to gather the powers of Fate in Faen. Neither option was something that the Fate Witches could accomplish alone with their currently meager strength.
A request always followed immense courtesy. Now, it was just a matter of seeing what the Fate Witches would ask of her.
Chapter 701 Negotiations
When Greem brought Mary inside the metal hall, Uzzah was sitting alone inside and carefully fiddling with a palm-sized pegasus statue in her hands.
It was probably the form of the Pegasus Magic Spring after having been sealed!
Even though it had been completely sealed, Greem could still sense the stone statue's vast magical aura through the sparks of light emanating from it.
The Pegasus Magic Spring could transform ordinary wild horses into flying magical beasts. It was inevitable that there was some research value to it. If it were wholly dissected and understood, it would have incredible benefits for the Dark Witches' taming and rearing of flying magical beasts.
As such, it was only natural that Uzzah's mood had become unprecedentedly pleasant after successfully obtaining the stone statue!
"Tell me," A rare smile appeared on Uzzah's cold and sinister face, "What exactly is it that you people want me to do for you? Let me say this beforehand; I won't participate in anything that's excessively dangerous. At the very worst, I will compensate you for your contributions after we return to the World of Adepts."
Greem slightly smiled when he heard this.
"Don't you worry, Lady Uzzah. What we want you to do will in no way exceed the limits of your abilities!"
"That is not a certainty!" Uzzah couldn't help but grunt, "Now that the entirety you've thrown the entirety of Garan into chaos, the old fogeys hiding behind the scenes should be stirring soon. Trying to start up even more trouble in the heartland of the elven kingdom at this time is far too risky. The chance of running into Fourth Grade powerhouses is too high."
Now that both of her missions had been accomplished, Uzzah wasn't too keen on taking up any new adventures. After all, Garan was currently swarming with elven god messengers and elites. Even with her powers, Uzzah had no confidence in successfully escaping, especially if she ran into those Fourth Grade powerhouses with abilities that countered her own.
In all honesty, the Dark Witches might not be afraid of those great combat professions, but they were fearful of high-grade god messengers. Even if they were to fall in combat against strong combat profession users, the Dark Witches would be able to revive on Shadow Island with the soul energy pool. That was why they behaved in such a fearless manner, recklessly charging into enemy ranks and fighting in such a barbaric way.
However, if they were to die at the hands of high-grade god messengers, their chances of being revived were no more than forty-five percent. That also caused the Dark Witches to be extremely careful and cautious wherever there was a god messenger, losing all of their usual barbaric streaks.
Moreover, now that the heartland of Garan itself had been thrown into chaos by a horde of undead, the various gods of the elven pantheon would no longer be able to stand by silently. They had all started sending their god messengers, or even their personal clones, to aid the elven army in battle.
Revealing themselves at the center of the continent under such circumstances was very likely to invite the retaliation of the most powerful elven forces!
Not to mention the fact that they had just poked at a massive hornet's nest and tore the entirety of the Pegasus Magic Spring from the elven kingdom. For the forest elves–who already lacked flying mounts–this was like hacking away one of their limbs.
It would have been weird if the elves hadn't completely taken up arms!
That was why even Uzzah couldn't help but be somewhat cowardly compared to before.
That said, fear was fear, and Uzzah still had a bit of curiosity about Greem and Alice's real target.
What was it that Alice so desperately needed that she would be willing personally travel and risk the lives of her Fate Witches?
"The target of our attack this time is a Second Grade green dragon. That is because he has in his hoard a pseudo-artifact that we desperately need." Greem slowly explained, clearly enunciating each and every word.
"Pseudo-artifact?" Uzzah's eyes suddenly lit up.
In the World of Adepts, only adepts of Fourth Grade and above had a chance of mastering the planar laws. The high-grade magical equipment that they forged also often possessed tremendous law powers. However, creating magical equipment like this not only demanded a shocking number of resources, but also exhausted the law powers that the adepts had personally understood.
That was why high-grade adepts would never forge excessively powerful magical equipment for outsiders under ordinary circumstances.
It had been a long time since Uzzah became a Third Grade Dark Witch, yet she only had a piece of Third Grade support magical equipment on her– the Orb of Darkness. It allowed her to maintain a connection with the shadow plane regardless of what planar space she was in.
It was the difficulty of finding and crafting powerful magical equipment that forced most adepts to continue using conventional gear that was one grade beneath themselves, almost as if they were paupers. Any adept that came to possess powerful magical equipment compatible with their origin power would instantly rise to become an elite among their peers. They would become the targets of envy of all adepts.
However, in the Faen Plane, the existence of the gods allowed for the presence of many magical items. These individuals that had mastery over immense divine power and divine authorities could easily forge mysterious objects that possessed divine attributes of their own. Moreover, these strange items all possessed powerful strength that did not match their grade.
Some adepts that had come into contact with divine items had found, upon research, that the so-called divine attributes of the weapons were the planar laws that the adepts obsessed over. The creation of artifacts and pseudo-artifacts wasn't as difficult for the gods as it was for high-grade adepts.
That was why even mortals in worlds ruled by gods could own weapons, armor, accessories, and other pseudo-artifacts that possessed the powers of laws. The adepts were accustomed to referring to these items as divine items.
Unfortunately, the Faen Plane had no dark gods. Otherwise, the Dark Witches would have formed raid parties to slaughter the followers of the dark gods in hopes of obtaining these wondrous divine items.
"Of the divination attribute, of course!" Greem reminded Uzzah with a smile in case the Dark Witch had any thoughts of greed in her mind.
"Of course it's of the divination attribute. Why else would Alice be able to put herself at so much risk," Uzzah said disdainfully, before shooting a glance at Greem, "What price, exactly, did Alice pay to make you work so diligently for her? If you were willing to ally with us Dark Witches with your talent and power, I could guarantee you even higher status than you currently have. Of course, if you want women, I have some pretty good collections back home."
Mary, who was listening at the side, couldn't help but start chuckling when she heard the offer.
"Since you two are bringing up this topic, I had best shy away for the moment! Otherwise, it may be awkward for you to make your choice."
Mary laughed and left.
Even Uzzah couldn't help but lick her lips when she saw Mary's seductive figure.
"This female companion of yours is an excellent good, but her identity is a little awkward!" Uzzah stared lustfully at Mary's back for a few seconds before turning and speaking to Greem with a serious tone, "I'm warning you; you had best have your female companion rein herself in a little. No one cares what she does in another world, but if she were to infect other adepts in the World of Adepts, the Punishers would come for her. You won't be able to save her if she catches the eyes of the Punishers, even if you were a Fourth Grade adept!"
"The Punishe
rs?"
"Don't think too highly of yourself because you are a Second Grade adept and a famous figure even amongst the adept clans of Central. As long as you are not a member of the three major adept organizations, you will never come into contact with the true higher classes of the World of Adepts.
"The three major adept organizations are located at the three edges of the World of Adepts, without any joining borders between them. As such, the Zhentarim area in the central area became the best buffer.
"The reason Zhentarim can remain outside of the three adept organizations and lay claim to the widest and richest piece of land of the continent isn't due to their own power. It is because of a silent agreement between the three major organizations.
"It has already been ten thousand years, yet not a single major adept clan that can compare to the three major forces has risen from the central area, rich in both resource and talent. Don't you find that odd?"
"You mean to say that the three major forces are secretly suppressing the central adept clans?" Even Greem didn't expect Uzzah to secretly reveal so many of the secrets of the World of Adepts to him today.
"This was no secret to begin with!" Uzzah cackled coldly, "All three major forces have raised proxies of their own in Zhentarim, but no one family can gain the absolute upper hand due to their conflicts and disagreements. You think the old fogeys of Central can't tell, but it's just them not wanting things icing over between them and the three major forces."
"The Punishers you mentioned?"
"The Punishers do not belong to any one of the three adept organizations. Instead, they are a secret organization comprised of elite adepts from the central area. The purpose of their existence is to punish the scum amongst the adepts that refuse to abide by the Adept's Code of Conduct along with the black adepts that have committed atrocious sins."
"An independent body that doesn't belong to any of the three major adept organizations?" Greem asked, confused, "Could they be an underground organization the old folks came up with to deal with you guys?"
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