At this point, Greem very clearly smelled a thick scent of conspiracy around the sweetly smiling Alice.
Ahem. Arms was in for trouble.
Chapter 717 Return
The day of the planar door's opening had arrived.
After eight long months of slaughter in another world, the various branches of the Northern Witches had all returned to Shadow Island.
Those who had yet to return at this time were very likely never to return again.
Everything came with a cost!
The reduction of their ranks had happened to all the witch branches.
The Dark Witches lost two witches, the Death Witches one, and the Coldwinter Witches one. If one were to tally up all the witch branches' casualties, most of them had suffered about one or two losses, apart from the Fate Witches.
However, the Fate Witches still weren't the ones with the most substantial losses!
Shockingly enough, the False Witches that had chosen to venture into the Oceanic Empire had been completely wiped out, with the sole exception of a Third Grade witch. That said, she didn't seem to be too mournful. It was likely that they had accomplished their mission as well.
With sacrifice came rewards!
Though the witches had all suffered losses, their spoils were bountiful as well.
Chests upon chests of rare treasures, cage after cage of otherworldly magical beasts, rows and rows of slaves, and purses or storage rings bursting at the seams.
The deaths of their companions might have been heartwrenching, but the surviving witches had all been tempered by the flames of war and had succeeded in gathering plenty of resources. One had to admit that it was this method of the major adept organizations that allowed them to filter the weak and select only the elites.
At the same time, it effectively caused the more valuable resources to tilt toward the hands of the strong.
Of course, the witch branches couldn't possibly announce their true bounties. They had all been very careful to conceal their biggest gains from their expeditions. The only things that they allowed the others to see were the slaves and the magical beasts which couldn't be effectively hidden.
The Coldwinter, Pale, Death, Agony, and Deceit Witches had chosen to invade the human kingdoms. As such, the slaves and magical beasts they brought back were of every species, almost spanning the entirety of known species on the Faen Continent.
Meanwhile, the Dark and Fate Witches went to the elven kingdom. Consequently, their slaves were forest elves and nature magical beasts of various grades. In particular, the Dark Witches, for whatever crazy reason, had brought back with them a total of over four hundred forest elves. Even the young and the old were included among them. It appeared they were an entire tribe of elves.
Bringing so many elven slaves back to the world of adepts would probably cost them several millions of magical crystals just in terms of the transportation fee. Such an extravagant use of money shocked all of the witches. They couldn't help but guess at the reasoning behind the Dark Witches' actions.
In comparison, the Fate Witches had lost half their numbers only for their leader to advance from First Grade to Second Grade. It almost didn't seem as if their trip had been worth it! However, considering the Fate Witch branch had just been resurrected, and that Alice was the one person bearing all of their hopes, making such a decision didn't seem all that odd anymore.
The Fate Witches' spoils didn't seem all that eye-catching either.
Fifty carefully hand-picked elven slaves and three dozen nature magical beasts. Such a number of spoils was barely passable. Moreover, who knew what the Fate Witches were thinking? To think they were bringing back with them a dozen pungent Three-Headed Lizards.
Three-headed lizards might not be found easily in the World of Adepts, but they did exist. As long as one was willing to put in the work to search the Black Forest, they would be able to catch a couple of these lizards. Yet, the Fate Witches were willing to blow an exorbitant amount of teleportation fees to bring these beginner First Grade monsters back to the World of Adepts. It was almost as if they had too many magical crystals to spare.
However, these were all inconsequential details. What truly gripped the attention of the witches was the False Witch that had escaped by herself. She was completely and utterly alone. There were no spoils to be seen, nor even a trace of a prisoner. It was as awkward as it could be.
A few of the Third Grade witches who were leading their respective factions couldn't help but approach her upon seeing this.
Sadly, no matter how they tried to tease something out of her, they could not figure out what the False Witch's mission target was.
While the witches chattered amongst each other on the gigantic teleportation plaza on the inner island, the adept's tower inside the volcano started to tremble. A blinding white light projected onto the square as a spatial rift surging with violent energy slowly tore through the air.
The massive array hidden under the teleportation plaza started functioning, and a mysterious light array formed from pure magical energy slowly materialized, spinning with the spatial rift as its center.
Two odd giants appeared on both sides of the rift. They let out a savage roar and pulled at the edges of the breach. There was a ripping sound as the rift started to widen and expand. Once it was thirty meters wide, the two giants roared and instantly transformed into two towering golden doors, firmly stabilizing the rift.
"Let's hurry up and pass through the portal! The flesh of something like a Cloud Giant is tough to find these days. This spatial door can only held open for fifteen minutes. All of you, hurry up."
As the Pale Witch hurried the other witches, those who had completed their headcounts and paid their teleportation fees slowly started moving.
It didn't matter whether they were human, beast, or even the magical beasts shut in the metal cages; everything that touched the shimmering planar door was instantly sucked into it, vanishing without a trace.
The cries and yells of the prisoners grew louder and louder.
Perhaps they had realized that once they passed through this door of light, what awaited them would no longer be the world the prisoners were familiar with, nor the people they knew. Their past companions and relatives would be forever gone with this step, never to be seen again!
…………
The World of Adepts, Werning.
Where the Witch Council was located.
The strange phenomenon caused by the tremors in the planar space had yet to vanish completely.
Layers of spatial ripples trembled around the portal opened in the teleportation hall. Every time they shook, a strange creature would be spit out from within.
The prisoners and magical beasts that had never experienced such interplanar teleportation were all lying helplessly within their cages. It was clear that they were enduring the pressure from the laws of the World of Adepts. The weaker individuals had mouths wide open, inhaling and exhaling as hard as they could. Every breath was as difficult as a battle of life and death.
Conversely, every single witch and adept that stepped through the door of light appeared to become even more energized and refreshed.
A relaxing aura continuously surged toward them from the surrounding air. It was like the warm embrace of a mother, comforting the adepts and making their souls drift.
It was a common occurrence for adepts returning from a different world.
After all, the World of Adepts was where their soul's origin resided. It was only here that adepts could unleash their powers to their fullest. Comparatively, they were always in a state of suppression and rejection while in another world.
"Hurry, hurry. Take all these prisoners for processing. These elves are too frail. If we don't do something about it as quickly as we can, most of them will die here."
Several tall voodoo beasts that had been waiting outside the hall promptly rushed in under the orders of the witch in the lead. They helped the witches in moving the spoils and slaves
out of the chamber.
Alice, dressed in her purple starry robe, extended her hands and stopped the witches and voodoo beasts approaching to help them.
"We don't need your help with our spoils. Tell your superiors to hurry up and open the teleportation array. We want to return to the Tower of Fate immediately!"
The witches were utterly befuddled upon hearing this.
What? Teleporting to the Tower of Fate?
Had Alice gone mad?
It didn't matter how many spoils and slaves she had brought back with her; hiring a mercenary and traveling to the Tower of Fate by land wouldn't cost more than a few thousand magical crystals. However, teleporting would easily cost up to hundreds of thousands of magical crystals.
While the witches were stunned in shock, a witch stood forth.
"Open the teleportation array. I also need to return to our headquarters immediately."
The witches looked over. It was the only surviving False Witch.
It seemed there was something odd with the two witch branches. They were worried that dragging things out would invite variables and that was why they wanted to return as soon as possible.
The Sidonthiria Clan in charge of managing Werning had no reason to deny such a request.
Soon, once the other witch parties had exited the teleportation hall, the teleportation array once again got to work.
Dong, dong!
Two dull thuds rang out in the space, and the Fate Witches disappeared from the array, quickly followed by the False Witch.
…………
"Hurry up, hurry up. This, this…and this as well. Take them out of the room now!"
Under Sofia and Snowlotus' orders, the witch apprentices that had received news of their return and had been waiting here quickly surged forward. They either used Levitation or simply commanded the voodoo beasts to lift the chests of spoils out of the teleportation array.
They only moved one-third of the spoils and prisoners. The remaining chests and cages were placed within the teleportation array, along with the cage full of three-headed lizards.
"We Fate Witches have lost quite a lot of strength this time. We might need quite a bit of time to reorganize our matters here. I'll leave everything there to you," Alice stood outside the teleportation array, waving her hand at Greem as she said, "The matter over in Lance isn't easy to deal with. You need to be careful as well."
Then a white light rose and enveloped the array.
By the time the white light faded, there was nothing left in the array.
…………
Lance. The metal fortress.
A blinding white light radiated from the portal as multiple silhouettes suddenly appeared on the teleportation platform.
Arms, who had transformed into a three-headed lizard, roared and broke free of the illusion when he smelled the familiar and comforting aura of his plane. He smashed through the wooden cage and let out a moan as he stretched his body.
The other dragons followed suit and broke out of the cage. They roared loudly as they returned to their original forms.
For a moment, the formerly spacious teleportation platform was wholly taken up by a dozen ferocious dragons. Now it appeared narrow and tiny.
Chapter 718 Trouble at the Metal Fortress
"Welcome back, my master!"
A somewhat deep voice rang out from the side.
"What is with these dragons? Are they all your slaves?"
"That's enough, Gazlowe. We can talk about that later. Let's start with a report about the situation on Lance since I've been gone!" Greem hastily interrupted the brain monster and changed the topic.
"Er, master. The situation here seems like it's possible…that it isn't too good!" Brain Monster Gazlowe was stuttering with every word as if they were something he was having trouble mentioning.
Before Greem could pursue the matter, he felt the floor tremble and the mountain itself shake. A resounding dragon's roar penetrated through the thick stone and metal walls, reverberating above the skies of the fortress.
A dragon is attacking the metal fortress?
Greem frowned again.
"Master, ever since you left the metal fortress, those dragons have been attacking the place like they have gone crazy. They come here to stir up trouble every two to three days, always coming in flights of six or seven dragons. Their grades range from First to Third Grade. It seems they are determined to duke it out with us!" With the backbone of this place having returned, Third Grade Brain Monster Gazlowe immediately went into grumbling mode.
It was clear that he'd had quite the hard time from these uninvited flying lizards over the past few days!
"Project an image from the outside and let me see!" Greem solemnly said.
Lance was a rare treasure trove of dragons. It wasn't dragons that you could find in here, but mountains of moving magical crystals. That was why Greem would never, under any circumstance, abandon this forward base: this impregnable metal fortress.
The safety of the metal fortress was undoubtedly his most significant concern in situations like this!
A metal platform slowly rose in front of Greem, and a white crystal embedded in it projected a giant light screen in front of him that perfectly displayed the situation outside the fortress.
It was evident that the perspective of the image was from the top of a mountain approximately five kilometers away. One could very clearly see everything happening outside the metal fortress from this angle.
Seven dragons were soaring in the blue skies outside the mountain where the fortress was located, rearing their heads and letting out earthshaking dragon roars. Every so often, one of the dragons would suddenly fold its wings and dive against the dozens of energy beams to unleash a terrifying breath of dragonfire against the stone and metal walls.
These black fires of fury were like roiling pillars of flame. They turned into massive fans of destruction as the dragons swung their heads from side to side. The viscous black flames continuously assaulted the stony exterior of the mountain, and the heat was so intense that it even caused the rocks to melt.
In the blink of an eye, the parts of the stone wall where the dragonfire had swept past started to drip toward the ground like molten liquid, revealing the dark-golden metal wall beneath.
A metal fortress managed by Gazlowe naturally wouldn't just sit around and allowed itself to be breached. Several terrifying beams of energy shot toward the dragon in a barrage. Even the tough scales and excellent magic resistance of the dragons couldn't endure magical attacks of this intensity.
The dragon only managed to unleash its breath a single time before its massive body was shot full of holes. Blood sprayed into the air and soaked the dragon in a layer of its own blood.
The dragon winced in pain and let out a painful cry. It flapped its wing wildly and pulled itself up into the sky as it struggled to escape the radius of the energy beams.
Greem couldn't help but sigh internally. These attacks were something only dragons could do. Any other magical creature would have been turned into skewered meat from that rain of energy beams that measured at two hundred and ten points of power. How could they possibly have escaped alive from such a terrifying attack!?
That was probably a First Grade dragon!
To think that even a First Grade dragon could survive a volley from the metal fortresses' cannons. Those Second Grades…
The very thing that Greem was concerned about happened before he could complete his thought.
A Second Grade dragon roared at the sight of a companion being wounded. It flew to a nearby mountain and picked up a half-ton boulder with its claws. It then flew as high as it could before folding its wings and diving downward.
Seeing that the situation was turning sour, a dozen black cannon barrels immediately extended out of the fortress once more. Magical light gathered within them as they fired at the diving dragon.
Like watching a high-definition fantasy animation, the Second Grade dragon used its d
ragon breath to clear the path, neutralizing most of the energy beams. The remaining shots hit its shining scales, and though they managed to leave a few wounds, they were far from being able to threaten the dragon's life.
The dragon was diving at lightning speed now.
The cold winds howled as they passed by the well-defined spikes of the dragon. It used its excellent flying technique to continue accelerating as it dragged the boulder along with its claws, smashing toward the fortress like a crashing meteor.
Once its speed and momentum had reached its peak, the dragon loosened its grip and barrel-rolled to a side. Meanwhile, the stone that had been accelerated to its limit whistled and crashed into the wall of the fortress before everyone's eyes.
Dong!
An earthshaking sound rang out as a massive indentation impacted the metal wall. The loud metallic bang left Greem's ears ringing, and he couldn't hear anything for a moment.
For some reason, Arms, the emerald dragons, and the green dragons had all gathered behind Greem, curiously watching everything that was happening through the screen.
"The fire dragons!" Arms bent down with his gigantic body and moved to Greem's side. He said with a bit of self-satisfaction at the adept's misfortune, "It's Philippa and her army. You are in trouble!"
Philippa was that Third Grade female fire dragon staying in Doomsday Castle.
She had agreed to Second Grade Wind Dragon Cherkes' request and sent out her dragonborn army to assault Greem and his fortress without much consideration. Unfortunately, this three-hundred dragonborn army had been exterminated by the adepts in the depths of the Swamp of Sorrows, along with the two hundred Dragon Cultists.
The female fire dragon had gone utterly berserk ever since then!
She had personally attempted to attack the fortress the first few times and suffered quite a few injuries under the concentrated attacks of the magic energy cannons. She didn't give up in spite of this. In fact, she even went back to the Doomsday Volcano to gather manpower for the express purpose of attacking the fortress.
All the male dragons that had at one point been her guests were summoned to follow her in constantly harassing and attacking the fortress. Thanks to the efforts of these dragons, the energy reserves of the metal fortress had not increased but had instead started to dry up. It immensely frustrated Third Grade Brain Monster Gazlowe.
Age of Adepts c1-1513 Page 447