Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  “Truly,” Old Vampire Haines also smiled sinisterly, “If this much magical energy was properly used, it would have been more than enough to exterminate even a Second Grade adept. Yet, they use it to deal with cannon fodder. Hehehe, it seems we can think of ways to continue baiting more tricks out of them!”

  The other Second Grade adepts present nodded as well, their faces full of joy.

  Everyone here had spent a lot of time in their adept’s towers. They might not have an entirely accurate count of how much fire energy that spell had cost, but they had a pretty good guess.

  If the Crimson Clan adepts had found a way to bait the Alliance adepts near the tower before striking with this thunderous attack, most of the Second Grade adepts would not have been able to endure it. However, the Crimson adepts had wasted such a fearsome attack on mere mortals. That meant the safety of the Alliance adepts had been further assured.

  If such a scenario could happen two or three more times, the small adept’s tower would not have much energy reserves left!

  If the power reserves of the tower’s energy room were exhausted, they would have to sustain the tower’s functions by consuming magical crystals. That would be an astronomical cost that even the adepts wouldn’t dare imagine. The Crimson Clan couldn’t possibly last long committing to such a wasteful act with their magical crystal reserves from only ten years of establishment.

  The main reason why the Alliance adepts very rarely approached the tower, despite how long the war had gone on for, was out of fear of the tower’s retaliation. Even Third Grade adepts like Yurga and Haines were at high risk of dying if they were stalled at the tower by the desperate attempts of the Crimson Clan while being bombarded by the ferocious attacks of the tower.

  The adepts all treasured their lives extremely. They would never be willing to set foot upon such dangerous ground that could threaten their lives. That was why they had sent so many soldiers to exhaust what remained of the tower’s magical power, even after cutting off Fire Throne’s connection with the lava sea below.

  The high-grade adepts would only be willing to step on the battlefield and attempt to capture the tower its energy room had been depleted of half its power.

  Without the blessing and protection of the tower, the small crew of the Crimson Clan couldn’t possibly be the match of the alliance of five clans. When that happened, the Alliance could seal off all paths of exits, and they might even be able to snatch the planar coordinates of the two lesser planes in the Crimson Clan’s control along with all the resources and materials stored within the tower.

  It was said that one of those planes was a bountiful plane of dragons. There were plenty of dragons to rob in there, along with innumerable natives to enslave. That was the real reason that these five clans could unite as one.

  Otherwise, no one would be as stupid as to throw away so many of their mortal soldiers all for one small tower that they couldn’t even take away with them.

  The Alliance quickly made some adjustments while the sea of fire raged on in the Magma Hall.

  The Andorra Clan that had suffered severe casualties retreated to rest, while the Cenas Clan chose another thousand-man army to fight during the next round. They would charge toward the tower once the sea of fire had been extinguished, and force the enemy to use the defensive powers of the tower once again.

  The Crimson Clan also started making some slight adjustments beneath Fire Throne.

  The Archers no longer stood at the front of the tower. Instead, their formation was pulled back, revealing the front of the tower to the opponents. The invaders would have to rush at the magical machine’s line of fire while enduring the tower’s attacks if they wanted to get at the Archers. Otherwise, they would have to endure the bullet storm from the Archers while assaulting the tower.

  That would leave the Alliance adepts with no choice but to step within the attack range of the tower.

  It would provide the Crimson adepts with an opportunity to retaliate with all they had.

  Both parties were weighing the options available to them and trying their best to figure out how to wear down their enemy. Finally, fifteen minutes later, the deathmatch erupted once again!

  The battle inside the Magma Hall was intense and bloody.

  Armies of human warriors charged onto the battlefield and fell on their way toward the enemy. Their bodies were broken and twisted, quickly gathering into little hills of corpses. Then, a new group of warriors would step over the mountain of dead bodies, raising their shields as they silently and numbly pressed forward.

  There were no battlecries or courageous roaring. It was almost as if all the soldiers knew their fate beforehand and only fearfully advanced forward under the urging of the adepts and nobles.

  The Archers behind the tower had been reduced from their original thirty-five to their current twenty-two machines. The Alliance had also buried five thousand men in front of the tower. It was already the sixth group of soldiers charging now!

  From the start of the battle, over twelve thousand soldiers and servants had died, while a total of seventeen First Grade adepts from the various clans had fallen in battle.

  Meanwhile, the Crimson Clan were entirely unharmed apart from some magical machine losses!

  However, leaders on both sides knew that the losses of the Crimson Clan were no less than the Alliance.

  After all, the energy of the tower was the Crimson Clan’s lifeline! Now, the power had dropped to 57%; it was a hazardous level of energy for the tower.

  Should the energy reserves of the tower no longer be able to pose a threat to Third Grade adepts, it would be time for Haines and Yurga to strike. Even with the blessing and protection of the tower, the Crimson Clan would have a hard time fending off so many Alliance adepts with their current military force.

  The reason the Alliance adepts had waited so patiently was for the moment the Crimson Clan reached their limits.

  Once the tower gates had been broken, it would be the moment for the Alliance adepts to go all out!

  That moment slowly approached as the war continued.

  Chapter 778 - Bug Adept Advances

  Icewind, White Tower.

  Though White Tower was in the Northern Lands and did not have accurate information on everything that was happening in the clan headquarters, gossip and rumors still quickly spread throughout the land.

  Most of the clan adepts within the tower had been drawn back into Fire Throne where they were desperately fending off the invaders. However, judging from what news they received, the situation didn’t seem to be looking up.

  That caused the members at White Tower to become anxious and concerned!

  Fortunately, Majordomo Adept Meryl was still here. With the collective efforts of her and Icelady Snowlotus, they quickly managed to suppress the hint of chaos and uprising that was stirring amongst the others.

  Meryl had been beyond busy during these few days.

  On the one hand, she had to work hard on managing the daily matters of White Tower. On the other, she had to keep a close eye on all the news from Fire Throne and remain prepared to provide headquarters with the most significant backup of resources and manpower that she could muster.

  Of course, Meryl also had to split off part of her attention to watch over all the commotion on the ninth level of White Tower!

  The most famous of Crimson Clan’s First Grade adepts, Bug Adept Billis, had suddenly returned and shut himself in his room on the ninth level right before the crisis at Fire Throne had broken out. According to what Meryl knew, the clan had already provided Billis with the necessary materials for advancement to the Second Grade a long time ago. Billis choosing to shut himself away at this moment was most likely so he could advance to Second Grade in the shortest time possible.

  The addition of another Second Grade to the Crimson Clan while the battle raged on at the frontlines was an extremely beneficial thing from every possible perspective. As such, Meryl sent Old Fox Vanlier to Billis’ door in ho
pes of getting news of his advancement at the first possible moment.

  …………

  Inside Billis’ room.

  The disturbances of the outside world could no longer affect Billis’ mind.

  Here in this wholly sealed magical room, Billis had taken off the thick black robe he always kept around himself and completely revealed his wicked and ugly bug body.

  After the past hundred years of murder and slaughter, there was no longer a trace of human features on him.

  Gleaming black shell, ugly lotus-like mouthpart, sophisticated compound eyes at the front of his insectoid head, and thick, clumsy claws.

  Billis was crouching against the ground like a true bug. His abdomen rapidly swelled and shrunk as crackling sounds rang all over his body. It was almost as if his current bug body could no longer host the massive amount of power that he had devoured.

  Countless cracks appeared on his dark black shell, widening over and over with every passing second. One could even see the semi-translucent abdomen sac swelling to its limits through the cracks on his shell. Some unknown, yellow viscous liquid was churning within there. One could also occasionally see strange eggs in the shape of tadpoles.

  As a bug adept, Billis’ advancement was most definitely different from an ordinary adept.

  His current situation was nothing like an ordinary human adept’s advancement. Instead, it bore more similarity to the evolution of magical insectoid creatures.

  Billis rolled and ground against the floor in agony as dense acid mist spewed out of his ugly mouthpart and hid his body within a fog. The acid mist sizzled when it came into contact with the air and the ground. However, Billis’ screams and cries toned down when his splintering body came into contact with the mist.

  It was almost as if this terrifying acid mist had the ability to nourish and heal him, soothing some of the pain of his shell tearing apart!

  As a core adept of the Crimson Clan, Billis was able to enjoy many unique benefits.

  The Crimson Clan had obtained a large number of life-attribute crystals after the war in Faen Plane. These crystals had now all been devoured by Billis, turning into his biggest reliance to sustain himself until he completed the evolution.

  However, Billis was once again faced with a difficult choice during this process of evolution.

  The process of advancing to Second Grade was a decisive turning point of deciding the path of his insect evolution. Billis needed to choose between the two options of strengthening his bug body and enhancing his swarm.

  If he chose to strengthen his bug body, he would leave behind his weak self and allow his shell toughness and magic resistance to increase by a hundred times. When that happened, he would be able to rely on his sturdy body to endure the attacks of ordinary Second Grade adepts.

  That was clearly a choice that would lead him onto the path of a combat insect!

  If he chose to strengthen his swarm, he would only experience a minor increase in his physical and magical defenses. Most of his evolution abilities would be concentrated on the swarm that he led. Moreover, all the magical skills that he has mastered would be able to benefit his swarm through the effect of his amplifying aura.

  This choice would undoubtedly allow him to remain the master of his swarm and a brood leader that relied on his insects to fight!

  After some thought, the cowardly Billis, who preferred not to have direct confrontations, chose to walk down the evolution path of a Brood Leader.

  Once he confirmed his evolution path, strange changes started happening to Billis’ body.

  The color of his black shell shifted continuously, while his thick claws and limbs became even denser and stronger. However, these changes were still not as obvious as the changes to his abdominal sac.

  Digestive and excretory organs could no longer be seen in his evolved sac. All the space within there had been segmented into cavities of various sizes. Billis could freely breed unique insects to his specifications in these cavities.

  The evolved Billis could no longer accumulate life energy by devouring food and flesh as he had before. Without his stomach and digestive acids, he had lost the ability to sustain himself through food consumption. Instead, he had to rely on the life energy that his swarm obtained to support his own life.

  Thus, it should be said that the evolved Billis was more a mobile insect hive than an adept!

  The first thing Billis did after completing his difficult evolution was summoning the magical mantises he had created. Twenty-three Intermediate First-Grade magical mantises gathered around him like loyal guards. They bent down slightly and silently offered him their loyalty.

  Billis’ appearance might not seem to have changed much from before his evolution, but if someone were to examine his insides, they would find that he had undergone a tremendous transformation.

  Billis looked upon these magical mantis bodyguards of his seriously. When he extended his Spirit onto their soul brands, these Intermediate First-Grade mantises started to writhe and cry in pain, even as tremendous changes occurred to them.

  Their bodies stretched out, their wings expanded, and their bones grew while their terrifying scythe-shaped arms became even sharper. They even glowed with a strange magical light.

  Five magical mantises had successfully advanced into Voidreavers before Billis’ face.

  It was a ferocious Beginner Second-Grade magical creature!

  They might have kept their appearances as magical mantises, but they were far more formidable and ferocious.

  Voidstep gave them the unique ability to enter the interspatial layer temporarily. This ability was remarkably suited for walking through obstacles or avoiding attacks. They could only maintain Voidstepping for three seconds with their current power, while the cooldown was eighteen seconds.

  Moreover, they could also allow this ability to temporarily enhance their scythe limbs and imbue them with the ability to ignore all defenses.

  However, sadly, their Physique after evolution was considered weak among Second Grade magical creatures. They were predators with weak defenses yet powerful attacks.

  Upon completing their evolutions, the insects’ life-grades changed.

  The five Voidreavers beat their mighty wings and crouched right before Billis, while the other magical mantises retreated further away out of fear. They silently crouched on the ground, not daring to compete with these Voidreavers for the position at the front.

  Meanwhile, the massive swarm spread out even further away, turning into a squirming circle as they silently protected their swarm leader.

  Billis looked upon these newly advanced Voidreavers with satisfaction on his face. For the first time, he felt the power of being a bug adept. Billis did not feel like a Second Grade adept would have the chance to escape or survive if they were surrounded by all five of these Beginner Second-Grade Voidreavers.

  If one were to pick out any weakness of the Voidreaver, it would be their inability to use scrolls, potions, or magic wands like other human adepts. They fought purely with their powerful bodies. Otherwise, Billis would have absolute confidence in simultaneously fighting three or four Second Grade adepts and coming out victorious.

  After all, adepts treasured their lives, while his insect generals were fearless!

  …………

  Adept Meryl immediately hurried over once Billis stepped out of his room.

  Though Meryl couldn’t see any part of Billis’ body hidden under his black robes, she was certain that he had successfully advanced.

  That was because the Beginner First-Grade Meryl felt an odd sense of fear and terror from the depths of her heart just from standing near him. If it wasn’t because Billis knew well enough to restrain his ferocious insect aura, Meryl might not even be able to stand straight before him.

  The spiritual pressure from the grade suppression and Billis’ unique aura of cruelty blended together, elevating him from being a mere master of insects hated by all!

  “Billis…Lord Billis,”
Meryl bit her lips and tried her best to suppress the wild fear surging from the depths of her heart, “Congratulations…on becoming…a Second Grade adept!”

  “Tsssss…”

  Billis savored her fear with an expression of intoxication. He could no longer suppress the joy within him as he let out an unbridled shriek.

  Chapter 779 - Gazlowe's Ambitions

  The Lance Plane.

  Inside the giant metal fortress, all of the machines hummed as they ran at their highest efficiency.

  A thousand meters underground, deep in the mines, hundreds of construction machines were hard at work in the lightless tunnels; there were no humans here at all. As such, there was no need for any illumination. All the machines were working in pitch-black darkness, moving the ores they had excavated into the elevators.

  These newly excavated ores were mostly iron ores with high metal content. They first needed to be broken into pieces at the ore crushing workshop before being sent to the smelting factory for preliminary metal smelting. They would then have to be thrown into the refining workshop to be forged into metal ingots that were easier to store and transport.

  The various tightly-connected workshops rang with the hum of machines as the conveyor belts moved without stopping. It was only when the one-meter-squared metal ingots weighing one ton arrived at the warehouse that this entirely automated process of excavation, smelting, and forging was considered to be complete.

  Ever since Brain Monster Gazlowe had started controlling the metal fortress and set down roots in Stonetalon Mountains, the excavation of resources and creation of magical machines had not stopped for a single moment. In just under five years, an extensive metal vein stretching for hundreds of kilometers had been exhausted. The foundations of the Stonetalon Mountains had been deprived, and severe sinkholes and earth collapses had happened in many areas.