Greem was mixed in among the berserk fire spirits while the street was thrown into chaos. He was the first to throw an elementium fireball at the six-meter-tall Second Grade molten giant. The next second, over a hundred fireballs of various shapes and forms whistled through the air and smashed toward the giants.
The faces of the giants instantly turned.
Goddamn! So many fireballs! They weren’t all that powerful individually, but when such an incredible number of fireballs were stacked together, the might of their explosion was still formidable. Even molten giants like themselves didn’t dare to endure the blow, despite their flame bodies that were as tough as steel.
The molten giants gathered together and crouched down, using their tough magma backs to protect their more fragile body parts.
Beng! Beng! Beng!
After a tremendous explosion, a small mushroom cloud rose from where the molten giants were standing, and a searing flame shockwave spread outward in every direction.
The entire fire city couldn’t help but tremble at this moment!
“How bold! Going against the Lord’s orders is rebellion. Come, men! Capture them all and put them in prison.” As the giant roared, the molten giants stationed all over the city rushed out of their posts and started attacking every single fire spirit in sight.
The entire city was plunged into chaos in a single instant!
Chapter 791 - Stealthed Observation
All fire creatures in the Fire Elementium Plane were free!
Unlike the lord-subject relationship in most material planes, Second Grade Fire Lord Artes only had management authority over Dustfire Valley and not lordship over all fire creatures within the city.
The only ones in Dustfire Valley who were truly subordinate to Lord Artes were his molten-giant guards and an army of three hundred fire elementals. The other fire creatures were all free beings and were not under the jurisdiction of Artes.
Thus, when the Second Grade molten-giant captain furiously wanted to capture all the fire spirits for interrogation, he instantly incited the anger and fury of all the fire creatures.
There were no weaklings among the fire creatures of Dustfire Valley. Seventy to eighty percent of them were already advanced fire spirits, flame spirits, and fire elementals with defined forms. Some of them were even Second Grade wanderers.
When the molten giants started to charge into the fire city to capture the free fire spirits, the chaos immediately spread to every corner of the city.
Meanwhile, Greem took advantage of the chaos to sneak into an unnoticed corner. He then took out a bright blue potion and drank everything. A short moment later, his blazing body abruptly turned transparent, and after a bit longer, even the last bits of his existence vanished without a trace.
The invisible Greem carefully snuck toward the towering fire hall in the depths of Dustfire Valley.
Fire Lord Artes lived in that hall. The place was different from the rest of the valley, for there was a quarter-kilometer-wide magma pool in the center of it. The fire pool led directly to the underground depths. Red lava pillars blasted out of the pool occasionally, frequently making waves in the liquid.
Lord Artes was currently lying within the magma pool. He was using his massive hand to splash his own body with the scalding magma. When the red liquid of surprising temperature flowed down his muscular body, the roaring fire energy seeped through his stone skin and into his fire core, causing him to moan lightly in pleasure.
The magma pool beneath him was not a natural pool. Instead, it was a unique fire pool that had been created by using the unique geography and landscape of Dustfire Valley. All of the lava rivers were sealed off and redirected toward one place to form the pool.
For a fire creature like himself, soaking himself in pure fire energy on a daily basis and taking the energy into his fire core was the only way to improve his own power slowly.
Due to the unique nature of fire elementium in the Fire Elementium Plane, advancement materials of attributes other than fire could not be found at all. Thus, apart from daily accumulation, powerhouses of the Fire Elementium Plane had no other way of improving themselves. After all, they couldn’t travel the plane in search of knowledge or resources that suited them as the adepts did.
Artes had been staying in the hall ever since he returned from his meeting with his master. He had left the task of searching and capturing the human adept to his subordinates while he lazily enjoyed the luxurious life of bathing in boiling lava.
A mere six months had passed in an instant while he enjoyed himself!
Artes was not in a hurry.
Much like most fire creatures, his mind held absolutely no concept of time.
His master might have given him a mission, but there was no time limit to its completion. As such, he could still enjoy the carefree life of a lord while slowly waiting for the appearance of the mysterious adept.
Yet today, an intense fire flux came from the city in the distance while he was enjoying his bath. A deafening sound traveled through the valley and reached the hall.
Mm? What was happening?
Artes stood up in the pool. The scalding liquid flowed down his strong body, and a wave of heat as scorching as ten thousand degrees ravaged the entire hall.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Artes walked to the entrance of the fire hall with heavy steps and gazed at the city below. Fires were blazing while fireballs soared throughout the air. It seemed that a wave of chaos and uprising was spreading throughout the entire city.
“What’s the matter?” Artes’ loud voice resounded within the hall, “What has happened in my territory? Why is there chaos? Where is Firerend?”
The two molten giants guarding the entrance of the hall got down on one knee and reported with their booming voices, “My Lord, Captain Firerend sent back news earlier. They have found the fire spirit spy and are now in the process of arresting him!”
“What a mess!” Artes instantly flew into a rage, “Almost seventy percent of the free citizens in this city are fire spirits. Does Firerend intend to arrest all of them? That stiff-minded fool! You, go and tell him to immediately give up on the arrest and restore my city’s peace and quiet.”
“Understood!” A molten giant acknowledged the order and turned to stride toward the city center.
A short while later, Artes’ order was received and executed, and the chaotic city instantly regained its calm. Apart from twenty or thirty fire spirits that had been surrounded and beaten down by the molten giants, some of the buildings in the city center had also been affected. Several shops had even collapsed.
The molten giants would never apologize or give compensation over these losses. The fire spirits that had regained their freedom could only curse in anger before fleeing Dustfire Valley and finding a place to treat their wounds.
The invisible Greem saw the towering figure at the entrance of the fire hall from far away. His intimidating aura and his attitude toward the fire creatures around him informed Greem as to his identity. Greem was almost certain that this fire creature was his target.
It was Second Grade Fire Lord Artes!
Compared to a human lord or king, Artes’ arrangement of his security was crude and loose. Human kings would need towering walls and castles on the outside, large amounts of patrolling soldiers on the inside, and specially hired powerhouses to act as their guards.
Even so, some kings would still be concerned. These kings would go on to set up plenty of traps and mechanisms where they lived to prevent assassinations and ambushes targeted at them.
However, these strategies were clearly useless in the Fire Elementium Plane!
In the end, Artes himself was the most powerful individual in Dustfire Valley. He didn’t need too much useless trash surrounding himself.
Greem circled the hall several times while stealthed and only found two molten giants standing guard at the entrance. The fire hall was also an open space supported by dozens of thick pillars. That broad spa
ce was enough for Greem to enter and exit freely.
It was imprisoning a cat with a cattle fence!
Such magma pillars might stop big guys like the molten giants, but they were as wide as city roads for the three-meter-tall Greem. Greem kept a healthy distance between himself and the guards and entered the hall from a different direction. He narrowed his eyes and silently assessed this Second Grade Fire Lord Artes.
He was a five-meter-tall molten giant.
His entire body was formed of pieces of large magma rocks while blinding red light shone through between the cracks. A surge of liquid lava flowed within his body. One could feel the shocking heat radiating from Artes even from forty or fifty steps away.
Blue light flickered in Greem’s eyes as he used a strange magical light spectrum to reveal the rippling heatwaves around himself.
Though Artes had not intentionally increased the intensity of his flames, his fire energy was already sufficient to form a Fire Domain of his own.
All creatures that stepped into the Domain would have to endure fire damage of sixty-eight points at all times!
Greem’s Ring of Fire was actually an embryonic form of the Fire Domain. It was most likely a product of the adepts finding inspiration and knowledge from the fire creatures; a weakened ring of fire replicated with the use of magic.
Greem didn’t dare to get too close to the opponent as he was worried that the fire energy radiating from his body would be detected. He could only analyze and collect data on the opponent from a distance.
The Chip quickly projected an approximation of Second Grade Lord Artes’ attributes based on the degree of light refraction caused by the fire energy and the intensity of the radiated energy aura.
Artes.
Second Grade. Molten Giant. Dustfire Valley FIre Lord.
Bodily Attributes: Strength 27 | Physique 24 | Agility 7 | Spirit 13
Greem couldn’t help but frown when he saw Artes Strength and Physique. Both of them had already exceeded twenty points.
Judging by this, Artes walked the path of physical strength and power. His Strength and Physique were at a shockingly high level. With his 24 points of Physique, he could easily endure two to three of Greem’s Second Grade spells to the face without being severely harmed.
Moreover, his 27 points of Strength would allow him to smash through Greem’s Lava Shield with a single punch and continue to put a hole in Greem’s chest.
There were also two peak First Grade molten giant guards outside the hall. If Greem couldn’t kill Artes in under five seconds of ambushing him, he would have to deal with the guards as well. Greem had no way of dealing with both of the guards while also fighting against a powerful opponent of the same grade.
Greem hesitated for a moment before silently sneaking out of the hall.
Of course, he left a magical eye in a corner of the hall before he left. It was only then that he retreated from Dustfire Valley and found a hiding spot.
After all, there was a time limit to his high-grade Invisibility Potion. He couldn’t enter Artes’ Fire Domain either. Otherwise, the invisibility potion would instantly vanish the moment his body took damage!
Chapter Notes:
Editor Ryu: If you’re enjoying Age of Adepts, now is a great time to stop by our Patreon and consider supporting this fine series! Patreon is mine and Eris’ sole form of income for working on this series, and everyone who supports us through Patreon helps ensure the continued translation and release of AoA. The AoA Patreon has contribution tiers that give you access to advance chapters of the series (fully translated and edited) up to 15 chapters ahead of the GT releases. Thanks for your readership, and we hope to have your patronage as well.
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As always, more than anything, thank you everyone for your continued readership and support of Age of Adepts!
-Ryu
Chapter 792 - Fire Pool Ambush
Greem spent the next few days spying and peeking!
Unfortunately, Lord Artes was like your standard recluse. He spent all of his days soaking in that magma pool of his and was hardly ever seen going out patrolling or visiting his subjects. Even the occasional guard captain that came to give a report would be sent away after a few words.
It demonstrated that the Fire Lords of the Fire Elementium Plane did not have too much desire for influence and authority. They diverted all of their efforts into absorbing fire energy and increasing their abilities. This method of improvement was extraordinarily primitive and crude. It was almost an insult to the superior resources and convenience they possessed.
With the magical eye that Greem had planted, Lord Artes had absolutely no secrets to speak of. Greem repeatedly thought about his plan of assassination as he continued his constant monitoring of Artes.
A frontal assault would not work!
Artes was a powerful Second Grade Fire Lord. Greem would not have more than a forty percent chance of beating him in a direct challenge, even if he were to pull out all the stops. If the First Grade molten giant guards were involved as well, then Greem’s chance of success would fall to a mere ten percent.
If he was even more unlucky and the Second Grade molten giant captain was at Artes’ side, then he wouldn’t stand a chance!
That was why Greem had decided on an ambush and assassination from the very start.
Moreover, Greem had to find a way to weaken his target’s strength before the operation. Otherwise, the Fire Lord would only need to survive for seven or eight minutes before all the molten giants of the city would be upon Greem.
Fortunately, Greem had purchased an expensive set of Icecrystal Frostmarrow prior to his arrival here in anticipation of his assassination. It was a strange marrow taken from the glands of magical ice creatures. It was a scarce and precious material.
Drinking potions made out of this marrow would significantly improve the power of ice adepts. On the other hand, if fire adepts were to consume them accidentally, they would be faced with the terrifying consequence of polluting their fire origin.
Of course, Artes was too powerful for Greem to trick him into swallowing the Frostmarrow. Greem would have to find a different, more indirect way to achieve this.
This day, Greem snuck out of his hiding spot and silently entered the city.
After all his while of patrolling and scouting, Greem had the geography of the city completely figured out. In fact, he knew the key spots better than anyone else.
He had planted over a hundred alchemical bombs on most of the supporting pillars of the city. When the time came, Greem remotely detonated all of them without hesitation.
Chaos and madness once again descended upon the city after forty days of peace and quiet.
The pillars supporting the stone ceiling were blown away. Shattered rocks and collapsing boulders fell from above, burying nearly one-fifth of the city in rubble and dust.
The deafening explosions and trembling quakes instantly drew out the resting Artes from his hall.
Greem turned himself invisible again and dove into that magma pool while Artes was roaring in anger outside.
The first thing that Greem did upon entering was set up a strange fire array at the bottom of the pool. There were three levels to this fire array, and each of them had their own magical effect.
The first was to absorb the fire energy of the magma pool and funnel it to Greem, serving as replenishment for him while he was fighting. The second effect was a Fire Prison. A Fire Prison that isolated the target would be constructed on the edge of the pool with the energy from within as the power source. This way, he wouldn’t need to be concerned about interruptions from the outside world!
The third eff
ect was a barrier of invisibility that could hide Greem’s soul aura and prevent him from being detected ahead of time.
After setting up the trap, Greem placed a small magical trap at the place where Artes most enjoyed lying upon, hiding the sealed Frostmarrow within.
Once he completed all these preparations, Greem dispersed his true body and allowed himself to become a cluster of fire before hiding at the bottom of the fire pool.
With the concealment of the invisibility barrier, Artes would not discover his existence without specifically scanning the area. After all, Fire Lord Artes was only proficient at physical fighting. His Spirit was only at 13 points. On the other hand, Greem’s Spirit could reach 29 points if he underwent both phases of the Flame Fiend Transformation.
Such power was enough for him to duel with Artes, especially with the aid of the Flame Fiend of Terror!
Time spent waiting always went by incredibly slowly.
Artes’ territory had been blown to rubble, and yet his useless subordinates couldn’t even find a sliver of the enemy’s shadow. Such a thing would infuriate anyone if it happened to them.
Artes beat up three of his molten-giant subordinates before finally feeling somewhat relieved. He ordered his only Second Grade subordinate, Firerend, to lead a group of molten giants on a search throughout the city. He also ordered his fire elementium army to hurry to the entrance of Dustfire Valley to shut off the place entirely.
No creature would be allowed to exit Dustfire Valley until the culprit was found!
This time, Fire Lord Artes’ orders were executed firmly and thoroughly.
Large groups of fire elementals took up the entrance and formed perimeters. Meanwhile, the molten giants repeated the orders of their lord and gathered all of the fire creatures within a cave for further identification.
Artes then assigned two more molten giants to his fire hall. This way, the number of First Grade molten giant guards at his side increased to four. It was unprecedentedly high security for the molten giant tribe, who only had twenty-seven members in total.
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