Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  There were quite a lot of thunder dragons among the dragon lords of Lance, but those who could reach Third Grade were still a minority. Even if they were to search blind, the dragons would have quickly found their way to Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms.

  Furthermore, the metal fortress had been a calamity to its surrounding dragons over the past few years.

  In particular, in the incident with Third Grade Philippa Eilhart, Arms had shown himself and publicly stood on the side of the invaders. It had been a significant conflict at Stonetalon Mountains back then!

  Now, with the eruption of this crisis, all of these past events were dug up and used as evidence.

  The dragon lords cast their increasingly doubtful eyes at the young and successful Third Grade dragon lord, Arms.

  Just as the dragons were planning an assault on Arms’ territory to capture and interrogate him, Arms managed to find out about the plan through his secret connections with the thunder dragons.

  Arms might be a Third Grade dragon lord, but even he had become restless when he first caught news of this. If he was brought before the high-grade dragon lords, and his spoils were exposed as evidence of his wrongdoings, it was very likely that his title would be voided, and he would be imprisoned until his eventual death.

  That…that was not an outcome he could accept!

  After some long and laborious thought, Arms could only choose to take his wealth, Third Grade Emerald Dragon Iritina, and five low-grade green dragons to seek shelter at Greem’s place.

  Iritina had initially hated Greem to no ends. In fact, she had even considered leaving Arms and establishing a place for herself in Lance. Unfortunately, this coming crisis had become a storm that swallowed everything in its way. No person and no dragon could remain uninvolved.

  Iritina had the most direct connection to the disappearance of Wings of the Azure Skies Krille. If she fell into the hands of the dragons who sought vengeance or searched for information, she wouldn’t end up any better than Arms.

  Just a single bite from each of the one hundred dragons serving beneath Krille would be enough to tear Iritina to pieces!

  It was a dead-end situation like this one that forced Iritina to suppress her seething hatred and come to seek refuge from Greem.

  Chapter 809 - The Dragonflight Descends

  Lance. The Metal Fortress.

  The hoard brought back from Tempest Keep had already been organized, properly stored, and transported back to the World of Adepts.

  This raid alone could bring as much as six to seven million worth of profit to the Crimson Clan. Furthermore, mixed amongst the many magical crystals, crystal cores, magical materials, and treasures were large numbers of mysterious items that were awaiting appraisal.

  In particular, most of the magical equipment was not suited for the massive physiques of the dragons but was still included in their hoard like a collection of art pieces.

  With the sharp eye of a Fourth Grade dragon, the lowest of this magical equipment would have to be Second Grade. Some of it might even be powerful Third or Fourth Grade equipment. Though the dragons couldn’t use these items, the adepts could easily make use of them with some slight modifications.

  With the appearance of such a large number of exceptional items, the equipment of the Crimson adepts would definitely improve significantly!

  Moreover, after performing a rough inventory of the dragon’s hoard, Greem was surprised to find that most of the materials required to forge the other three Fire Throne set pieces had also been found. The remaining materials could easily be gathered in the World of Adepts with a few magical crystals.

  Without hesitation, Greem set a deadline for Crimson Financial Manager Snorlax to collect these materials. He also assigned a million magical crystals as capital for Snorlax to gather the long list of missing materials.

  After all this time working together, the nobles of the Goblin Plane had finally lowered their heads to the Crimson Clan. Some of the nobles and merchants were trying their best to engage in more extensive cooperation with the adepts.

  The five most famous goblin merchant groups had already sent as many as six hundred professionals to travel to the legendary World of Adepts. After enduring the harsh planar backlash, they rushed to various areas across the World of Adepts and set up shop everywhere under the banner of the Crimson Clan.

  The Crimson Clan could even send apprentice adepts to follow along and guard these goblins in Zhentarim and the Northern Lands. However, the goblin merchants had to rely on elite magical machines to protect them when they entered the Silver Union and Adept’s Association territories.

  Fortunately, the World of Adepts had a complete and perfect system of governance. They were unlike lower planes where the natives would kill and slaughter outsiders like them as they liked.

  Moreover, the Crimson Clan had now established themselves both in Zhentarim and the Northern Lands. Any adept or group that infringed upon the Crimson Clan’s benefits would have a hard time escaping retribution for their actions. As such, the goblin merchants’ lives would be guaranteed as long as they didn’t go too far into chaotic, untamed areas.

  This global expansion undoubtedly spread the Crimson Clan’s influence across the entire World of Adepts. It should have taken the Crimson Clan over a hundred years, and the lives of numerous adepts and apprentices, to achieve.

  Yet now, with the support of countless goblin merchants, they had achieved astounding success in just six months.

  Still, reports of raids were continually coming from all over the place. Instances of threats and extortion were also numerous. In fact, two goblin merchant groups had been completely exterminated. Not a single person had lived to tell the tale.

  As subordinate members of the Crimson Clan, they could not die in vain.

  Greem sent Soros and Windsor, the two blood knights, to hurry over in response. They were to start a series of extensive investigations to reveal the truth. Judging from the reports they had been sending back, they were getting closer to finding out the perpetrators. Greem estimated they would be able to find the murderers soon.

  Once they discovered the murderers, the Crimson Clan would be able to use the incident as an excuse to raise a bloody storm of revenge in that location!

  Greem dealt with all these little matters as quickly as he could. It was then that he turned all of his attention to the uproar in Lance.

  Seventy-eight days after Tempest Keep was assaulted and thirteen days after Arms came to Greem with his dragonflight, the dragons of Lance descended upon Stonetalon Mountains.

  For a moment, lithe and muscular dragons could be seen all over the thousand kilometer stretch of the Stonetalon Mountains. They either circled high in the air or glided right above the forest canopy, leaving majestic silhouettes in the blue skies.

  Over a hundred dragons of various attributes and grades roared as they circled the tallest peak of the Stonetalon Mountains. A dozen dragons stood atop the mountain, gathered around two exceptionally large dragons whose scales were of an entirely different color from the rest.

  The golden scales of the dragon on the left was gleaming in the bright daylight. His body was muscular and ferocious, with a long beard on his long and narrow head. When he stood upright, his entire body appeared as if it had been sculpted out of pure gold. It radiated the intimidating and sacred magical aura of the dragons.

  A gold dragon!

  It was a terrifying Fourth Grade gold dragon!

  Meanwhile, on the right side of the peak was a rare gem dragon.

  Gem dragons were a unique branch of the various dragon races. Every one of them possessed powerful soul abilities. They could roughly be divided into the amethyst dragons, crystal dragons, topaz dragons, sapphire dragons, and a few others.

  The dragon here had light purple scales that looked like crystals and glowed with brilliant color. It was a Fourth Grade amethyst dragon.

  The most important reason amethyst dragons were classified as gem dragons wa
s their ability to embed magical gemstones on their own bodies. They would be able to activate the magical gemstones on their bodies in a fight and bombard an enemy with magic attacks.

  Moreover, the strange scales on the amethyst dragons possessed a peculiar ability to turn them invisible. It made them all the more dangerous!

  Such rare dragons were hardly ever seen, even in dragon planes.

  Yet today, they had all left their comfortable lairs and gathered, silently making preparations for the vengeance of the dragons to come.

  There were two Fourth Grade dragons and sixteen Third Grade dragons on this tiny mountain peak. Ordinary Second Grade dragons weren’t even qualified to set foot on this place. They could only circle the summit and await the orders of the high-grade dragon lords.

  The two Fourth Grade dragons raised their bodies and silently listened to Third Grade Fire Dragon Philippa describe the situation of the outsiders in the mountains. She explained when they had appeared here and established themselves, which dragon lords they had harassed, and how Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms had come to assault the fire dragons when they were sieging the metal fortress.

  One by one, Philippa described all of the events that had transpired. Almost half a day had passed by the time Philippa was done.

  Golden light glowed from the Fourth Grade gold dragon’s eyes after hearing Philippa’s descriptions. He roared, “The truth is clear now! These are invaders from the World of Adepts. They have broken into Lance and killed many of our brethren. I am now certain that they are the ones responsible for the attack on the lair of the Wings of Azure Skies. Toril, it’s our time to move now!”

  The Fourth Grade amethyst dragon, Toril, narrowed his eyes as a savage smile appeared on his face.

  “We have gathered here today to exact vengeance for Krille, the Wings of Azure Skies. With the evidence we have now, we can be certain the invading adepts are the ones responsible for Krille going missing. As such, there is no longer any need to continue waiting. Today, we will break through the enemy’s lair and kill all adepts who have invaded our home. Set out!”

  “Set out!”

  As the two Fourth Grade dragons gave their order, the one hundred dragons gathered around the mountains roared in unison. The deafening sound of their roars reverberated throughout the Stonetalon Mountains!

  The dragons took to the skies and flew toward the enemy’s lair, which had long since been identified and marked.

  The dragonflight attacked!

  The fruits they had reaped earlier were so sweet, and the trouble that they had to endure now was so bitter.

  The metal fortress that had most of its magical machine army and metal reserves relocated was still standing in the distance. There was no more combat personnel inside the empty fortress apart from ten thousand magical machines waiting on alert.

  The metal fortress would fall eventually.

  Assigning Crimson adepts there to die along with the fortress was meaningless.

  Greem and Gazlowe did not attempt to move the last defensive forces after removing most of their resources and metal reserves. If the dragons believed the fortress was so easy to break through, they were welcome to try.

  Though defeat was inevitable and capture was a matter of time, Gazlowe was confident that the impenetrable wall of the fortress and the ten-thousand-strong magical machine army would give the dragonflight a painful and memorable lesson!

  That was the main reason that Greem had remained in the fortress along with Gazlowe!

  …………

  After seventeen grueling hours of waiting, the dragonflight arrived!

  Dragon roars echoed outside as muscular dragons cut across the sky, diving past the cloud layer and charging at the mountain where the fortress was built.

  There were no battlecries or insults. Both parties were engaged in mortal combat the moment they ran into each other.

  The metal fortress had always been hidden inside the massive mountain as a disguise.

  With the belly of the mountain fully excavated, there was only a thin layer of several dozen meters of rock maintaining the structure of the mountain.

  At this moment, several dozen dragons of various colors and attributes were unleashing their dragon’s breath upon the mountain. The mountain layer over the fortress melted like wax, revealing the shiny metal shell beneath.

  Chapter 810 - The Black Sun, Once Again

  Over a hundred holes opened above the surface of the metal fortress, and black gun barrels emerged from within.

  Shockingly intense magical energies started to gather within the barrels beneath the terrified gazes of the dragonflight.

  The next second, over a hundred energy beams shot out toward the dragons.

  For a moment, the dragon roars continued without stop as they circled and tried their best to avoid the shots. The sky descended into chaos in an instant.

  Three of the dragons did not manage to avoid the attacks in time, and seven or eight energy beams hit their bodies. Their wings were immediately injured, and blood splashed everywhere. Those dragons roared in agony and fell toward the ground.

  A dozen metal doors suddenly opened at the foot of the metal fortress. A hundred three-meter-tall magical machines charged out from within and lunged at where the dragons had landed as if they wanted to execute these fallen creatures.

  Naturally, there was no way the dragonflight would watch on as their brethren were slaughtered. A group of dragons immediately braved the barrage of energy beams and dove at the magical machines below.

  Dong, dong, dong!

  Energy pillars of various colors and attributes weaved together, forming a tight but uniform web of energy in the air near the fortress. The dragons that swooped downward grunted in pain. They forcefully broke through the suppressive fire with their tough scales and exceptional magical resistance before engaging in a brawl against the magical machines on the ground.

  Dong! Dong!

  One by one, the dragons descended to the ground with ferocious vigor. With the help of their downward momentum, their muscular claws pierced through the bodies of the magical machines. They then followed up with strikes from their powerful wings and tails, sending the magical machines’ broken bodies flying into the air.

  A single First Grade dragon was capable of easily crushing an entire squadron of First Grade magical machines due to their massive size and powerful defense. However, even dragons couldn’t avoid damage in a direct confrontation like this.

  This was especially the case given that these machines were improved ‘magical’ versions that Gazlowe had specially tinkered with. Their primary weapons were no longer the goblin rifles, which only consisted of purely physical damage. Instead, they were equipped with magic energy guns that shot out energy beams. If they didn’t hold back with their magical energy and fired all at once, the one hundred energy beams at a close distance would injure the dragons, even with their magical resistances.

  Two of the First Grade dragons were immediately riddled with holes by the barrage. The remaining First Grade dragons also grunted in pain as visible holes shot through their bodies. Only the Second Grade dragons could endure such a savage attack and storm into the ranks of the magical machines to tear them apart.

  Terrifying dragon breaths that extended as far as a hundred meters, and covered as much width as eighty degrees in front of themselves.

  Muscular, spiked dragon tails that sent violent winds rippling through the air when they struck.

  Powerful dragon wings that measured thirty meters from end to end that swept the machines to the ground with every swipe.

  Sharp teeth that could tear apart even a pillar of metal.

  Powerful claws that could gouge massive holes in the torsos of the machines.

  For the powerful dragons, every single part of their body could become the sharpest of weapons. They were like tigers in a herd of sheep. Every lunge and every turn they made would sweep a bunch of machines to the ground.

  Unfortu
nately, their most potent dragon’s aura of might did not affect the machines. Otherwise, their advantage on the battlefield would only increase.

  While the few Second Grades were slaughtering the machines, a deafening roar rolled across the skies like a muffled thunderstrike.

  “Dodge it.”

  Dodge?

  Dodge what?

  The dragons could recognize the familiar voice; it was Fourth Grade Gold Dragon Stuart.

  The problem was, what were they supposed to dodge?

  The Second Grade dragons on the ground lifted their heads. Their sharp eyes immediately caught the sight of a large ball of light on the exterior of the fortress.

  If the modified magical machines were playing with energy beams, then the fortress cannons were shooting energy pillars. Meanwhile, this ball of energy in front of the dragons’ eyes was several times thicker than the energy pillars of the cannons. Moreover, the inside of the energy ball contained the vicious and chaotic magical trait of the outer space.

  All the light nearby had been devoured and consumed by this energy ball, causing it to appear like a massive black sun. It radiated a wild surge of magical energy that horrified even the dragons.

  “Run.”

  “Run, quick!”

  It was obvious that charging up an attack like this was exceedingly difficult for the metal fortress as well. The colossal amount of energy gathered by the black sun was already causing visible distortions in the surrounding light and space.

  If an attack like this were to land on a Second Grade dragon, they would be vaporized in an instant, let alone a First Grade dragon. Magical resistance was already meaningless at this point. If it were a Third Grade dragon, they had a high likelihood of surviving as long as they weren’t within the core radius of the black sun.

  However, if the attack landed cleanly on their bodies, then this chaotic energy attack of over 1,300 points in intensity was not something that any Third Grade dragon could endure!

  The Second Grade dragons that were still slaughtering the machines were immediately scared out of their wits. They shoved past the magical machines around them and started to take to the skies. Unfortunately, these sacrificial magical machines would never let them do as they pleased. They lunged at the dragons with no regard for their own well being, grabbing on to their tails and limbs and forcefully pinning the dragons to the ground.