Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Uzzah's expression froze on her face for a second. She couldn't help but take another look at Greem, "You're pretty fast. You are right. The Punishers are an underground organization those Fourth Grade old men of Zhentarim created. The purpose of the Punishers is to go beyond the boundaries of clan and family to gather the high-tier forces of the central adepts. Their public motto is to punish the 'black adepts' that do not obey the Code. In actuality, their real targets are still the proxies of the three primary forces that have been stationed in Zhentarim. They will not hesitate to strike at anyone that crosses the line!"

  "We are not of the three major forces."

  "But you are small fry. If that female companion of yours were to lay her hands on an adept of the same grade, then those old folks in the Punishers wouldn't let her off the hook, even if it was just for their appearances!"

  "Very well, I understand!" Greem scratched his head in frustration, "Lady Uzzah, let's get back on topic! Will you be willing to accompany us for this trip?"

  "You think I'm mad? Do you think I'd send myself to die in the den of the dragons?"

  "This green dragon's den isn't located alongside the others. It seems to be a traitor or rebel of the green dragons and has been expelled from the dragons' den by the green and emerald dragons. It now lives in an extremely rural branch mountain of the central mountains."

  "The news is getting better, so much so that I almost can't help but agree! Any more good news?"

  "The green dragon isn't in its den right now. It has hurried off to the Death Scar!"

  "The divination pseudo-artifact is yours. However, I want half of the remaining treasure, and I get first rights in choosing."

  "Deal!"

  Chapter 702 To Each Their Own Scheme

  Seven days later.

  The flying ship slowly descended from the skies into a stretch of continuous mountains near the Central Mountains.

  This place was covered with sharp and dangerous peaks. Even the unbroken sea of the forest had been split into patches of green and scattered around the perilous ridges.

  The green dragons were forest dragons. They liked warm and humid environments, and thus they would never place their dens on the cold and dry mountain peaks. That was why Green Dragon Ohgu's den resided in a silent valley at the foot of these mountains.

  The extended presence of the green dragon had driven away all of the large beasts within a radius of several hundreds of kilometers of the mountain. Even the previous magical wolf lord had no choice but to lead his descendants to another territory following the arrival of the green dragon.

  Green Dragon Ohgu's violent personality and unbearably horrible temper made it such that even the elves didn't dare to enter his territory for no reason.

  That was why this valley had become an unguarded treasury after Ohgu left for the frontlines.

  No. It wasn't wholly unguarded.

  Green Dragon Ohgu had chased a nearby group of kobolds to his den to protect his wealth, recruiting them as his slaves. This way, the group of slaves would care for his dragon den.

  One had to admit, these kobolds weren't much good in combat but they were very proficient at pleasing and serving the dragons.

  That was how Green Dragon Ohgu had lived his carefree life within this silent and isolated valley for as long as a hundred years!

  It was because he had figured out all of the information about this place that Greem had been bold enough to drive the flying ship straight into the valley.

  It was only when the giant hull of the flying ship descended above the valley and blotted out the sun that the kobold guards lazily lying around realized something was off.

  As a piercing alarm rang out, along with a mess of barking and yelping, the enter den was thrown into chaos.

  These cowardly kobolds immediately turned when they saw the intimidating aura of the enemy and hid within the dragon den. They shut the door made of wood and twigs with a resounding slam. Yet, with the size of the entrance to the cave, the two wooden doors weren't even capable of closing it off. They had absolutely no defensive utility apart from making the enemy speechless when looking from afar.

  The magical forest beasts that the green dragon had enslaved to be his guard dogs poked their heads out of the cave to peek and immediately shrunk back when they sensed the ominous aura.

  The enemies this time seemed quite fierce. It was best they didn't go out to die.

  As for the punishment of the green dragon? No penalty could be more terrifying than death, could it?

  Greem saw all this happen as he scanned the surroundings of the den with his powerful Spirit. A light smile appeared on his cold face.

  As he nodded his head lightly, the two dozen magical metal golems waiting by the edge of the ship slid down on ropes with Tigule's Goblin Shredder in the lead.

  Dong! Dong! Dong!

  Several dull thuds later, they pulled out their thick robotic legs from the dirt as black gun barrels emerged from their metallic bodies. These machines then walked toward the dragon den's door with earth-shaking steps.

  For a moment, the clanging metallic sound of the giant golems filled the entire valley!

  Greem stood on the flying ship and coldly looked at the sea of forests. The corners of his mouth turned upward slightly; he couldn't help but betray the traces of a disdainful smile.

  Greem abruptly started chanting a profound magical spell at the top of his lungs.

  As his voice rolled across the landscape, strands of magical power from the forest below started to react. Wisps and traces of invisible magical elementium began to rapidly gather toward him in the air, forming into a summoning portal filled with mysterious runes.

  Soon, with the intense trembling of magical energy, a spatial wormhole appeared at the center of the summoning portal. Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms once again displayed its lithe, muscular, and bright blue body in front of the adepts.

  Arms struggled within the wormhole and finally broke free of it after three minutes.

  "Brat, you owe me for last time."

  The Third Grade thunder dragon impatiently started grumbling at Greem the moment he emerged from the wormhole. However, he suddenly stopped before he finished. The Third Grade thunder dragon turned his body toward the northeast and lifted his snout to sniff the air, almost as if there was something that interested him.

  "Lord Arms, last time I promised to introduce you to a flight of green dragons. How is it now? Can you smell the scent of the Dragoncliff?" Greem asked politely.

  "Not bad, not bad," Arms couldn't help but sniff the air. There was no hiding the excitement in his large, intimidating eyes, "I looked it up when I went back. This Faen Plane isn't listed in the sacred texts of the dragons, so the dragons here are still considered wild dragons. If I can lead them toward the glory of the Great Dragon God, I will most definitely be rewarded by the Dragon God himself."

  Thunder Dragon Arms became increasingly excited the more he spoke. His bright blue wings started beating intensely.

  "Little adept, if I succeed here I will reward you greatly. I can void the summoning fee for the past two times. Just call me anytime you run into an enemy you can't deal with. As long as it's not one of those Fourth Grade old men, I can send the rest of them packing."

  Having said that, Thunder Dragon Arms couldn't be bothered with exchanging any more words with Greem. His giant body quickly rose to the skies and flew toward the location of the Central Mountains' Dragoncliff.

  Once the storm stirred by the Third Grade thunder dragon's flight had calmed down, Greem once again cast his gaze toward a snowy mountain peak in the distance.

  "Hmph! You are a patient lot!"

  …………

  Upon the snowy peak where Greem was gazing at, a group of elves was hiding inside a cave of ice. They were monitoring the movements near the dragon's den through a magical water mirror.

  The number of elves in the group wasn't many, but the power of each member was shockingly high.


  There were Weapons Grandmasters, Magic Marksmen, Druid Elders, and even an elegant dragon with emerald scales among their ranks as well as a fearsome green dragon of colossal size and stature. However, the most conspicuous one among them was a young male elf with a cold and stern expression.

  This elf wasn't precisely tall or broad, but his limbs and body had extraordinary senses of flexibility and coordination to them. He was only wearing light elven armor on his body with two long and narrow blades sheathed on his back. A single golden braid trailed down his back all the way to his waist.

  No blinding magical light could be seen on his body, nor any bulging muscles. Yet when he stood there in silence, all of the elves present couldn't help but turn their eyes towards him in admiration and respect.

  Even the two proud dragons couldn't help but hold their breath in his presence, fearing that their heavy breathing might offend this noble Fourth Grade.

  Indeed, the one leading this Witchslaying operation was the Fourth Grade Storm Sword Saint– Agassi!

  The attention of the elven kingdom had been tied to the Pale Witches on the Echo Isles all this while. They had stationed nearly forty percent of the kingdom's military strength, and most of their powerhouses, at Greenwater City. It was the only way they had managed to keep the Pale Witches out of Garan.

  Unfortunately, what they hadn't expected was the squad of no more than thirty witches, of which none were above Second Grade, utterly throwing the heartland of Garan into chaos by reaping more lives than they could count.

  Even putting aside the slaughtered coastal villages, the witches had also baited a Third Grade druid elder into the Death Scar and caused the riot of the undead. This bloody debt was one that would be etched into the soul of each and every elf. Even the rivers and waters of heaven could not cleanse them of their sins!

  Moreover, they had even taken advantage of the elves being tied up by the horde of undead to ambush the sacred land of the pegasi in the Central Mountains. They had utterly ruined the place. This wicked punch felt like a blade cutting all the way to the bone for the elves!

  With almost no hesitation, the elven higher-ups consulted their gods and sent out this powerful squad to ambush and hunt down these evil adepts.

  The God of Luck Visenna had specially conducted several divination ceremonies to get ahold of their locations. Finally, the elves figured out the ultimate goal of these evil adepts and the purpose of their trip to Garan.

  To think…to think it was all for a low-grade pseudo-artifact crafted by the fallen human God of Divination, Pantheon– the Staff of Divination.

  Pantheon originally crafted this Staff of Divination for his descendants. To accommodate the strength of his descendants, the materials of this Staff of Divination had been downgraded, again and again, until it was at the level where even a Second Grade child of a god could use it.

  Unfortunately, this Pantheon had fallen during the last invasion of the continent.

  His son had also died tragically upon Garan.

  This Staff of Divination came into the possession of the fighters of Garan.

  Of course, God of Luck Visenna couldn't possibly desire a pseudo-artifact as weak as this. Meanwhile, the other elven diviners couldn't beat a Second Grade green dragon to claim it for themselves.

  After many twists and turns, the Staff of Divination finally became part of Ohgu's extensive collection.

  The elven leaders immediately set up this trap after realizing the goal of these witches.

  On the one hand, they pretended to send Green Dragon Ohgu to the frontlines. On the other, they gathered a group of elven powerhouses around his den, preparing to cut off and trap the enemy once they had entered deep into the cave.

  To avoid alarming the witches, the higher-ups did not move the elven armies at all. Moreover, a divine emblem of Visenna's was hung up within this cave.

  They did not need to worry that the Fate Witches would be able to sense the abnormality surrounding the dragon den this way!

  Chapter 703 Mysterious Fourth Grade

  Green Dragon Ohgu was exceedingly furious!

  These wicked evildoers were boldly marching into his den, slaughtering the kobolds, and wrecking every single magical trap. Green Dragon Ohgus' heart burned in agony even as he watched the event unfold through the mirror.

  For the sake of realism, and to avoid the Fate Witch from even sensing the tiniest of shifts in the river of Fate, the elven commander had requested Ohgu not to move away any bit of his wealth. The Staff of Divination was one of the most valuable and precious items of his 'tiny' collection.

  However, to avoid alerting the enemy, Ohgu had no choice but to leave the Staff back in his den and wait for the robbers to raid his home. Though the elves had promised to double the compensation for all of his losses…that was a pseudo-artifact! Were the elves capable of compensating him twice over if it were to go missing?

  The more he thought, and the deeper he considered, the more frustrated Ohgu became!

  He thrashed his dragon tail against the ground again and again. The long tail covered in beautiful green scales smashed against the crystalline ice, sending shards of ice into the air and causing cracks to appear in the ground.

  The dragon's hoard was the most inviolable right of every dragon!

  Even the Great Dragon God had no right to make a dragon surrender his hoard. That was why Ohgu had left so many magical traps in his den to protect this wealth. Yet, they were merely traps in the end. It wouldn't have mattered against these prepared thieves even if there were ten times as many traps.

  Ohgu watched as magical flames and frost blasted out of the den, aware that the wicked enemies were furiously wrecking his snares. Even an ordinary group of thieves would have retreated in the face of so many magical traps of such quality.

  These people had no such reservations!

  They had no time to disable every one of these annoying traps. As such, they were all using the most foolish and violent of ways to destroy the traps: having the magical golems go 'minesweeping.'

  All of the metallic golems were large and sturdy cans of iron. They had outstanding physical defenses and decent magical resistance. These golems only needed to run across the winding corridors to trigger most of the magical traps.

  Flame Shockwave: capable of unleashing three waves of fire in succession.

  Magical Barrage: capable of firing eight magical arrows in every single direction.

  Acid Splash: capable of firing a powerful acid ball (the acid of which was provided directly by Ohgu himself. Even a First Grade adept and his shield would be turned into mush if the acid was to land squarely upon him).

  Frost Breath: capable of sealing the entire corridor in a two-meter-thick ice crystal. Any enemy hit by the frost would most definitely suffer death.

  Finger of Death: capable of firing the Finger of Death spell. Living beings with insufficient soul toughness would instantly die. All defenses were ignored.

  ……

  ……

  One had to admit that Green Dragon Ohgu had expended a large amount of effort and resources to protect his home and his hoard. Ignoring the treasure itself, just these magical traps alone would cost upward of several tens of thousands of magical crystals when put together.

  Yet now, they were only wasted upon these cheap iron lumps.

  One metal golem fell over, but a second metal golem instantly took its place.

  The second metal golem fell over, and the third took its place.

  It was through such barbaric and violent methods that the magical golem squad continued to advance into the den. Meanwhile, the blaring magical alarms kept going off in Ohgu's mind.

  For a dragon, magical traps did not represent all of the defenses of their dragon den.

  The only one that could genuinely defend a dragon den was naturally the owner of the cave itself– the dragon!

  That was why so many magical traps and magical alarms filled the inside of the den. As long as an outsider brok
e into the cave, the dragon would be alerted by the magical alarm the very first instant, regardless of where they were. When that happened, the dragon would rush back to their den to trap the damned thieves, even if they were hundreds of kilometers away.

  Now, Ohgu had no choice but to allow the magical alarms to blare wildly in his mind. He could not do anything about the situation.

  Ohgu couldn't help but start turning restless!

  "Ohgu, tolerate it!" The slender and elegant Third Grade Emerald Dragon Iritina turned to console him, "Those evil adepts have yet to enter the den. If we were to attack them now, we would very likely scare them away. It will be hard to catch them all in a single strike then! Just tolerate it for a little bit more!"

  Ohgu was finally slightly calmer after being consoled by his crush.

  Before he could approach Iritina to flirt with her, she gasped from a scene in the magical mirror.

  That…that damned male adept had summoned a mighty Third Grade thunder dragon. Moreover, that thunder dragon had risen and left in the direction of the Dragoncliff shortly after appearing.

  What was it planning? What was the Third Grade thunder dragon going to Dragoncliff for?

  The more she thought about it, the more she panicked. Even Iritina couldn't stay calm any longer!

  An ominous feeling rose in the heart of both dragons out of nowhere.

  "Don't worry, Iritina!" The Fourth Grade Storm Sword Saint Agassi seemed to understand the dragon's concern. He consoled her with gentle words, "Several Fourth Grade emerald dragons are guarding Dragoncliff. A mere Third Grade thunder dragon can't do any damage!"

  It was the truth, but both dragons still could not suppress their concern and worry.

  They had an intuitive feeling that an unpredictable turn in Fate would happen to the forest dragons if the Third Grade thunder dragon were allowed to reach Dragoncliff.

  "Lord Agassi, we must immediately expel that thunder dragon from this plane. If you are unwilling to lend us a hand and intercept him, then I will have no choice but to hurry back to Dragoncliff and rally the elders of the clan," The pretty female dragon roared anxiously, "Ohgu, we are leaving for the dragoncliff, now!"