Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Over the past few days, Billis had managed to digest and absorb the knowledge crystal that Endor had left behind. As such, he could now transfer poison attributes to every single individual insect in the swarm. The swarm under his command no longer solely relied on physical attacks, but also horrifying poison damage.

  However, given how weak these Blackiron Dwarves were, their corpses were gone long before the poison could even act. Billis' improvement flew under the radar of the other adepts.

  As for the burden of the group, Oliven? She chose to once again daydream in the battlefield.

  At any rate, those Blackiron Dwarves wouldn't actively attack her as long as she didn't attack them. The special effect of the Orb of Deceit was just as powerful as before!

  Beng! Beng! Beng!

  The strongest of the Blackiron Dwarves was only at the advanced apprentice level. The rest were even weaker. If it weren't for the cracking blackiron rifles in their hands, Billis alone would have been able to wipe them out.

  Unfortunately, just as this thought emerged amid the adepts, something changed at the front of the battlefield.

  Beng…beng…beng!

  Several deafening sounds rang out as massive explosions appeared, causing several terrifying mushroom clouds in the distance. The Goblin Shredder that had just run into the ranks of the dwarves and was slaughtering their numbers immediately charged out of the dust cloud, covered in dirt.

  Judging from how it was stumbling about, Tigule had probably been stunned and fazed by the apocalyptic explosions of the enemy. Billis also waved his ugly insect claw and let out a furious shriek in the direction of the battlefield.

  That round of explosions had caused tremendous losses to his swarm, enough to make him feel hurt by the loss!

  Savage. Truly savage!

  These Blackiron Dwarves were as vicious to their kin as they were to enemies. They would wildly ignite their explosive packs and charge at the enemy when they were losing.

  These blackiron bombs might only have individual power of one hundred and sixty points and might not be able to kill Tigule–who was well protected under this magical machine–but the explosive shockwaves were enough to make him suffer. The poison swarm that had been recklessly slaughtering the dwarves died in droves, causing Billis to shriek and howl.

  Each poison insect that he could currently breed in his swarm only had seven points of Physique. They could not possibly live through such a terrifying explosion that could even directly kill a First Grade adept.

  Greem couldn't help but frown at the sight of this.

  To think a group of dwarves that were not even First Grade could stop their advance. That was not a good sign!

  Greem felt rage rise up his heart. He mumbled quickly, and after a dozen seconds of chanting, a yellow, head-sized fireball suddenly appeared on his right palm.

  This odd fireball was entirely different from the magma fireballs and magical fireballs he usually fired. At a glance, this blinding fireball not only radiated no warmth, it even gave off an odd, chilling feeling.

  It was a Coldflame Fireball that had undergone improvement by the Chip. Its method of attack was also even more wicked and malicious.

  Greem flipped his palm and pressed it downward. The Coldflame Fireball vanished into the crimson rock below without a single sound.

  A hundred meters away, the smoking and bloody battlefield was immediately sealed by a strange, chilling aura. Traces of chill winds seeped out from under the ground, avoiding the swarm and freezing all of the Blackiron Dwarves in ice.

  In the blink of an eye, the previously violent battlefield had turned into a world of ice and snow. The Blackiron Dwarves were frozen in all sorts of odd poses. Their wicked smiles were still fixed on their faces as they were sealed in a thick block of ice.

  Due to the speed of the frost, some metal bullets that had just shot out of the rifles had also been frozen along with the guns themselves, forming odd and weird human ice sculptures on the battlefield.

  However, this was the Burning Plains after all. The temperature of the air and ground was shockingly high. Even the powerful magic of a Second Grade adept couldn't last very long. As the heat waves raged, the human sculptures started to melt, but the cracked ice continued to burn coldly like actual fire.

  The Blackiron Dwarves that had been wrapped in the Coldflame started to burn once their bodies were exposed to air; they simply melted before everyone's eyes.

  Indeed, the bodies of the Blackiron Dwarves melted, just like the ice around them!

  With a single move from Greem, the one hundred surviving Blackiron Dwarves outside Blackiron Tower were exterminated.

  The Blackiron Dwarves who were still hiding in the tower finally felt fear upon witnessing this scene.

  Kuangdang! A loud boom rang out. The two massive metal doors of Blackiron Tower were firmly shut again.

  Chapter 731 Fire Dragon's Den

  One had to admit that the Blackiron Dwarves were nothing in front of this powerful squad that had traveled a long way to slay a dragon.

  Perhaps in the Burning Plains, they might be able to own a relatively large territory as their base with their impenetrable Blackiron Tower and their explosive weapons, becoming one of the most excellent subordinates of the Second Grade fire dragon. However, the fate of the Blackiron Dwarves came to an end when they ran into Greem and his party!

  Greem didn't even need to lift a finger. Mary led Vanlier and Soros on the battlefield, transforming into bloodsucking bats and infiltrating the tower through its gun port. What came after was a brutal and reckless slaughter.

  Now that they knew how the Blackiron Dwarves did things, the three vampires would never give them the chance to execute their plan. They either killed the dwarves instantly upon seeing them, or they simply fled the blast zone when they realized the enemy had ignited their explosives.

  Standing before Blackiron Tower, the only thing that Greem could hear from the outside was the Blackiron Dwarves' cries of despair. Explosions regularly went off, starting from the lowest level of the tower. Greem looked on as massive tongues of flames shot out of the gun ports and the observation platforms as he listened to the cracks of rifles. The bloody slaughter extended from the bottom of the tower all the way to the top. The weak Blackiron Dwarves finally despaired and broke down before the three phantom-like killers.

  The doors of Blackiron Tower once again opened. But this time, it was opened with the sheer force of the Goblin Shredder!

  It was clear that Tigule was also embarrassed by his prior failure against these weaklings. As such, he had every intention to wash away that blemish with an absolute slaughter.

  Sadly, no Blackiron Dwarves ran out of the tower even after the doors had been opened. The entirety of the first level was littered with corpses in strange shapes and states. Many of them had been blown up beyond recognition.

  Several corpses lay on the spiral stone staircase at the side of the hall. They still held their snapped and smoking rifles tightly in their hands. Pungent black blood flowed down the stone stairs, gathering into a black lake in a corner of the hall.

  Blackiron Tower had been constructed relatively high, and the vampires had killed the dwarves too quickly. The battlefield had already reached the upper levels of the tower, and the cracking of rifles could no longer be heard on the first level. However, the might of the blackiron bombs was still immense. The tower was still trembling and shaking, sending dust and metal powder falling from the ceiling and filling the place with an atmosphere of danger and warfare.

  The Blackiron Dwarves on the higher levels had tried using their bombs to destroy the staircase and halt the enemy's advance. Sadly, while this may have worked against ordinary enemies, but it was no more than digging one's own grave against the adepts.

  If the staircase was gone, then they just had to go outside!

  The vampires charged out of the tower, flew one level above, and reentered through the gun ports and observation spots. In doing so, the B
lackiron dwarves had sealed their only path of escape, leaving them incapable of anything other than embracing their deadly fate. Many Blackiron Dwarves were forced to roar and ignite the explosives wrapped around their bodies before exploding in despair as the enemy distanced themselves.

  They couldn't fight if they wanted to, and they couldn't even bring the enemy down with them either!

  The remaining Blackiron Dwarves fell into complete despair, madly jumping out of the tower before the vampires could reach them. With their tiny bodies, lack of flying abilities, and lack of deceleration methods, they could only turn into pulps of blood around the tower.

  Finally, after twenty minutes, this three-hundred-meter-tall iron tower that housed four hundred Blackiron Dwarves fell into a deathly silence.

  After doing a simple sweep of the tower, the adepts found a set of neatly arranged iron ingots and other special metals in the warehouse of the Blackiron Dwarves. Naturally, they found quite a lot of mithril, wrought gold, scale copper, magical metals, rare resources, and some valuable magical gemstones.

  The Blackiron Dwarves had gathered these valuables as offerings to the fire dragon lord. Now they went into the pockets of the adepts. Everyone who participated received a share of the spoils. Every single member of the party took a reasonable percentage of gemstones and resources that they could use, and Greem packed the rest of the stuff.

  The massive amounts of common metals could only be left behind.

  Though Greem had once again sealed the warehouse and reinforced the doors with simple magical seals, such an excellent structure would not be left unoccupied, even in these wild lands. It was inevitable that other natives would take over this tower once they had gone.

  When that happened, this tower would become the home of a new lord of the area.

  Thus, any more seals Greem put on the area would be pointless!

  …………

  They would arrive at the Firethroat Dragonborn's territory after passing through Blackiron Tower.

  There was no reasonable environment or space for outside races to survive or reproduce in this scorching crimson land.

  Just walking on this searing magma floor would cause your boots to sizzle and roast on contact. The adepts had no choice but to radiate part of their elementium particles to protect their shoes. Otherwise, they would have to start walking barefoot in less than a quarter of a kilometer of travel.

  The arrival of the party had alerted the Firethroat Dragonborn here.

  Roars rang out in succession within the crude camps in the distance. Soon, squads of Firethroat Dragonborn had gathered and were advancing in the direction of Blackiron Tower.

  In truth, the leader of the Firethroat Dragonborn had already received news of the adepts the moment they set foot in the Burning Plains.

  However, these outsiders had only active near the outside areas of the Burning Plains at that time and were not showing signs of invading the inner region. That was why the Firethroat leader only ordered the subordinates forces in the outer areas to take note of the outsiders' movements and was not at all concerned.

  After all, Lance was the private plane of pureblood dragons. The chances of war breaking out between dragon lords were minimal. Even when two dragons were hostile with each other, the ones who did the fighting would be their subordinate dragonborn or local forces. Incidents, where dragons went all the way to attack the opponent's den, had never happened before.

  The Firethroat leader only ordered his subordinates to remain alert. That was already a sign of great caution!

  Sadly, regardless of how much he tried, he would never have expected these outsiders to be so quick and decisive in their advance.

  He had just received news of a group of outsiders breaking into the Burning Plains. The very next day, the enemy had made it past Un'Goro Volcano and had gone missing. By the time the Firethroat leader became aware of their predicament and started to search for these outsiders' location, smoke had already risen from the direction of Blackiron Tower. It was a request for help.

  The previously calm Firethroat leader could not remain calm after that!

  He sent troops to the fire dragon's nest to report on the situation while wildly gathering the dragonborn around him to form ranks and hurry to Blackiron Tower.

  Unfortunately, his actions were still one step too slow!

  There was probably no one who would have expected that these outsiders would be able to exterminate all of the Blackiron Dwarves in less than twenty minutes, casually pass through Blackiron Tower, wrap around the Firethroats' camp, and advance on the fire dragon's den.

  By the time the Firethroat leader arrived at the tower, panting in exhaustion, the only thing he saw was a land of death and silence, filled with dwarf corpses. The enemy was long gone.

  A fool might have scattered his forces in this situation and start searching for the enemy near the tower. However, the Firethroats' leader was an experienced veteran. His heart sank when he saw the situation before him and immediately led his men in the direction of the fire dragon's den without any hesitation.

  It was sixty kilometers from the Firethroat Camp to Blackiron Tower, and eighty-five kilometers from Blackiron Tower to the fire dragon's den. Even with the outstanding Physique of the Firethroat Dragonborn, sprinting a distance of one hundred and fifty kilometers in one single session was unreasonable!

  While the Firethroats were running along the scorching land, Greem's party had already reached the fire dragon's den and had met up with the blood knight who had stayed there.

  …………

  A narrow fissure that ran for over six kilometers could be seen here at the center of the Burning Plains.

  When looking down from the edge of the fissure, you could see the surging river of lava a few thousand meters below. The steaming heat waves and the acrid smell of sulfur made this place a forbidden zone for all life.

  Any individual that got too close to the fissure would be killed by the harsh air, even if they were not roasted to death by the heat.

  "My lord, I have guarded this place for twenty days, and I have not seen the fire dragon emerge." The blood knight responsible for guarding this area placed his hand over his chest and respectfully gave his report to Greem.

  It was clear that he'd experienced a rough time here over the past few days.

  Not only were most of his clothes red and melting from the heat, but even his body was also full of scorch marks.

  The fact that such apparent injuries could be left on a Second Grade blood knight was more than enough proof of how harsh the environment was and how few living creatures could exist here. The Firethroat Dragonborn might be everywhere, but the blood knight didn't dare to attack them for blood out of fear of alerting the enemy.

  "Mm, I have made a note of your contribution. Now, get back into the party." Greem gave a few words of praise before turning and speaking to the others, "The fire dragon's den is below. Let us go!"

  Having said that, Greem was the first to jump down the fissure.

  The burning heat waves surged up from below but were kept away from Greem's body through the flame barrier around him.

  Fire clashed with fire, and the flame barrier turned bright red from the heat, violently crackling as it did so.

  Greem ignored this and looked at the crimson stone walls as he fell.

  Finally, just two hundred meters away from the river of lava, Greem saw a protruding stone platform on a wall to the north. He could vaguely see the glimmer of magical runes there.

  There!

  Greem, who was still falling at extreme speeds, focused as he cast Fire Teleportation.

  The next second, fire flashed upon the round platform as Greem's tall body appeared there.

  He had finally reached the fire dragon's den's entrance!

  Chapter 732 Fire Dragon's Labyrinth

  The fire dragon's cave wasn't without defenses!

  Greem had just landed, yet two Firethroat Dragonborn immediately roared and lu
nged at him from inside the cave. The long-handled axes in their hands glowed with a flickering red light as they smashed them at the enemy, who had yet to stabilize himself.

  Advanced First Grade!

  The two Firethroat Dragonborn were both advanced First Grade elites. However, their strength was still nothing before a Second Grade adept.

  A Flame Halo of Repulsion shoved the two dragonborn away. Greem then lightly patted the Scroll of Voodoo at his waist, and the Voodoo Doll emerged along with the Stitch Ghost Golem.

  "The two of them are yours."

  Greem gave a simple command and then ignored the two dragonborn.

  The two magic servants giggled and floated toward the towering dragonborn warriors.

  It was at this moment that Mary flew down from above along with her two blood knights. Though they possessed the strength of Second Grades, the three of them hated this environment with a passion. Wisps of black smoke had even started rising from the surface of their bodies.

  While Mary was upset and cursing about the harsh environment here, a long and drawn out cry came from the fissure. Then, the massive and heavy body of the Goblin Shredder crashed down like a set of weights.

  Tigule had already tried his best to maintain his balance while shooting out decelerating jet streams from the back of his machine. Sadly, the air currents in the lava valley were chaotic and random, making it difficult for the goblin to control the trajectory of flight and leaving him no choice but to crash like a massive piece of iron.

  Greem sighed and waved at the crashing Goblin Shredder from a distance.

  Red light immediately engulfed the massive body of the Shredder, and it gradually started decelerating. Once its speed had sufficiently slowed, the red light began to move the machine toward the teleportation platform through some unknown force.

  "Thank you, boss. Thank you so much." When he finally found his balance on the platform again, Tigule's shrill and frightened voice rang out from within the Goblin Shredder.