Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Not to mention, there were still a significant number of Shield Defenders in the ranks of the magical machines. These combat machines held steel tower shields in their hands and specialized in close combat defense. If they were able to box off the orc powerhouses, then what awaited the orcs would be a barrage of energy beams and magical spells of frightful power.

  The Spirit of Pestilence might not be all that lethal on the battlefield, but its ability to spread plague and diseases was second to none.

  The Spirit of Pestilence had taken the opportunity of the battle earlier to spread out plague spores while the orcs were retreating. The spores had now attached themselves to the defeated orcs.

  When the orcs escaped to the surrounding villages, the plague spores would also be brought to the various orc settlements. That was when the Spirit of Pestilence would show its true might!

  Meanwhile, the Stitch Ghost Golem was a strange existence similar to spirit beings. It was undoubtedly the bane of the orc warriors.

  Its peculiar body sewn from cloth and rocks allowed it to be unharmed by any physical attack. Meanwhile, its three ghost guards could directly attack an enemy’s soul; the orcs’ strong bodies were utterly useless before it. In fact, it made them more susceptible to the Stitch Ghost Golem’s techniques, making it easy for the Golem to invade their bodies and turn them into soul slaves.

  A large amount of high-quality flesh on this battlefield also caused this group of paranormal beings that feasted on meat to become all the more savage and vicious.

  The Stitch Ghost Golem was a terrifying spirit roaming the battlefield while the three howling ghost guards circling it occasionally charged into the body of an orc warrior. If the possession failed, then the ghost guards would burst forth from the orc’s body as specks of white light and quickly search for the next target.

  If the possession succeeded, the orc warrior would become a slave of the Ghost Golem. He would turn the weapon in his hand and start wildly attacking the companions around him. Once the soul slave died, his soul would be brought back by the ghost guard to be devoured by the Stitch Ghost Golem.

  With the three ghost golems slaughtering on the battlefield, the aura on the Stitch Ghost Golem grew increasingly stronger. It seemed very likely that it would advance on the battlefield.

  In all honesty, after such a long time following Greem and all the countless battles they had been involved in, it was time for them to advance as well. Otherwise, they would not be able to keep up with Greem’s incredible advancement speed!

  Mary and the others easily conquered Andorhal.

  For some reason, no Third Grade orc powerhouses were present in this battle. The few remaining Second Grades tried in vain to rely on street warfare to slow down the advance of the magical machine army. Unfortunately, they were met with the combined attacks of Mary and Tigule.

  It wasn’t until Andorhal had been conquered and all surviving orcs and shamans had been exterminated that Greem slowly emerged from his chariot.

  He obtained yet another tribal flag from this battle, along with many new orcish runes.

  These things were enough for him to continue with his research during the upcoming trip!

  The third orc city was known as Gordunni and was two hundred kilometers away from Andorhal.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t until Greem and his army arrived at Gordunni that they realized the city had been completely evacuated. Not a single orc was visible anymore.

  What happened to the first two orc cities had already spread to Gordunni.

  The number and strength of the orcs in this city could not compare to Makren or Andorhal. As such, the orcs knew themselves to be powerless and had no choice but to take their families with them and flee into the wild. However, what they didn’t realize was that Greem had sent the Spirit of Pestilence out everywhere during his journey here. Plague spores had been spread in every orc village or town along the way, polluting the water sources there.

  Greem had even intentionally released a large group of orc prisoners, making sure to leave deeply hidden plague viruses in their bodies before they left.

  As long as they fled back home to their orc settlements, the orcs there would also experience a plague of terrifying scale in a month.

  Greem’s only reason for doing this was to massacre the orcs and reduce their population as much as possible. That would affect the orcs’ faith system and was a preparation made in anticipation of the upcoming final battle of the plane.

  Greem wasn’t the only one to do this either!

  Every single witch force out on missions had received similar tasks to spread plagues and viruses. The witches had no intention of conquering this place, after all. They might as well go all-out with no reservations.

  With the crude healthcare system of Strongwoods Plane and their pathetically low numbers of shamans, treating the orcs and avoiding this calamity was no more than wishful thinking.

  The civilization of the World of Adepts clashed with the civilization of Strongwoods Plane, and it ended in an overwhelming beatdown. If the Beast God hadn’t been backing the orcs, then the Northern Witches would have easily made the Strongwoods orcs submit, turning them into a source of slaves for the witches.

  However, now, the witches were trying to forcefully destroy the plane to establish dominance and make an example out of their enemies. Every single lifeform living in Strongwoods Plane would experience an inescapable calamity in one month, turning into one of countless vengeful spirits across the universe.

  As for how to destroy a plane? Greem only had vague ideas of how to do so. He knew that one had to destroy the plane’s planar origins. However, he had no clue about the specifics. That was a secret closely guarded by the high-grade witches, and Greem had no chance of gaining such knowledge.

  Either way, it definitely had something to do with the blood ceremony the Death Witches were currently preparing in Witherwater City!

  As the witches did an excellent job of keeping their secrets, the Orc Empire had yet to realize their abnormal actions. They simply continued to amass forces and prepared to contact the Beast God for a final push to expel the evil witches, much in accordance with the typical flow of planar invasions.

  How could these foolish orcs possibly know that the witches weren’t even here to conquer them? They were here to destroy them!

  The witches out on missions took advantage of the orcs’ hesitation and struck everywhere, destroying all their cities and temples within five hundred kilometers of Witherwater City. This way, the orc army would first have to deal with this five hundred kilometer of no man’s land and a terrifying plague zone, even if they managed to push back against the witches.

  This move alone allowed the witches to turn the gathering orc army into a useless force.

  It seemed the Orc Empire had no other means to stop the Northern Witches now, apart from gathering all of their orc powerhouses into a formidable strike force. Only these orcs of Second Grade and above could pass through the plague zone and arrive safely at Witherwater City.

  Ordinary orcs would die by the number without any hopes of even reaching the city walls.

  After destroying the three orc cities and Beast God temples, Greem unhesitatingly led his magical machine army back to Witherwater City. He couldn’t wait to arrive and look at the preparations of the Death Witches.

  How exactly were they going to achieve the destruction of an entire plane?

  After eleven days, the magical machine army led by Greem was the first to return to Witherwater City. Their results in battle were so glorious that they obtained a personal audience with Death Witch Leader Khesuna.

  There, inside the city, in a vast orc council hall, Greem and Alice met the Fourth Grade witch who they had not seen in a long time!

  Chapter 833 - Alice’s Decision

  Greem and the others had only left Witherwater City for half a month, yet everything here had become so unfamiliar.

  The once blue skies had turned a dark red. St
range and brilliant elementium ribbons floated and hovered in the air, entangled with each other and forming a beautiful, though terrifying, scene.

  All the orcs within five hundred kilometers of the city had either been captured by the witches or had fled for more remote locations. It was the only reason this bizarre scenery had yet to been discovered by the orcs.

  Greem lifted his head and looked at the wandering lights that had almost descended onto the roof of the orc council hall before entering. He couldn’t help but sigh to himself. The orcs didn’t have much time left!

  These wondrous, beautiful, and seemingly phantasmal prismatic lights weren’t intangible substances; they indeed did exist.

  They were mainly formed of the magical elementium leaking from within Witherwater City. It was a sign that the sacrificial ceremony that the Death Witches had been preparing had already started. It was only to avoid alerting the orcs and drawing them out into a full-force confrontation that the ceremony had not been completely put into motion.

  Death Witch Khesuna waited casually inside the council hall, not a single expression on her delicate and cold face. It wasn’t the first time Greem had wondered if Khesuna had turned her body into an existence similar to corpse princesses.

  Otherwise, given the tendency for Death Witches to come into contact with and absorb negative energy, her flesh and blood should not be preserved in such a perfect state. Of course, one couldn’t dismiss the possibility that Khesuna practiced some secret technique to maintain her appearance and prevent it from being corroded by the negative energy.

  That said, a Death Witch refusing to embrace the power of death completely went against the essence of what it was to be a Death Witch. That was why Greem was reasonably confident that what lay beneath Khesuna’s pretty face and skin was not living flesh, but wholly dead and rotten meat.

  The smell of her corpse rot could probably be detected from miles away if she didn’t conceal it with secret methods!

  It was this understanding that allowed Greem to not be enchanted by Khesuna’s ice-beauty looks. The most valuable thing to a Fourth Grade Death Witch was her terrifying Fourth Grade death powers, not this sack of skin or her looks.

  A trace of anger rose in Khesuna’s heart as she watched Greem and Alice walk into the hall, side by side.

  How was this Alice so useless?! She hadn’t seemed to have managed to charm the male adept and had instead been charmed by him. How was a witch like this qualified to be one of the leaders?

  That was a thought shared by all Northern Witches!

  Those who could enjoy luxury and glory in the Northern Lands could only be powerful witches. Meanwhile, the male adepts were either subordinates or concubines. They were strictly prevented from ever achieving status above the Northern Witches.

  This extreme and perverted ideal of ‘witch supremacy’ was, in truth, the mainstream belief of all Northern Witches!

  What about romantic relationships between men and women, and feelings of love? These fake things did not exist in the minds of most Northern Witches at all. If it weren’t out of consideration for their own biological needs and their requirement for descendants, most of the Northern Witches would probably seal off the Northern Lands and forbid any male adepts from entering their territory and seducing the more weak-willed young witches.

  From Khesuna’s perspective, Alice failing to manipulate this male adept in the palm of her hands, despite being the leader of the Fate Witches, was already a failure on her part. Not to mention that she was placing herself on the same level as him; these were all signs that Alice was being corrupted and falling toward depravity!

  Still, Alice was a leader of a witch faction after all. She might still be at Second Grade, but she had the same amount of authority as Khesuna on the Witch Council. Though upset, Khesuna did not show her emotions. Instead, she appeared all the more calm and collected.

  “You’ve come back so quickly. Could it be that you have finished the mission I assigned to you?”

  Her tone was cold and void of any warmth.

  Still, for a Fourth Grade witch, this was already a sufficiently ‘gentle’ attitude toward Greem and Alice! Any other Second Grade adept would not even have the chance to stand straight before Khesuna.

  Do not assume that this Fourth Grade witch was just a small girl because of her delicate looks and beautiful appearance. The memory of her standing proudly upon Fourth Grade Corpse Dragon Artest’s back while battling another Fourth Grade dragon was still engraved in Greem’s mind, fresh as when he first saw it. He dared not forget that scene!

  “It has been completed,” Alice smiled gently, “These are the things we brought back with us.”

  At her motion, Greem waved his hands, and three animal-hide flags filled with orcish flavor appeared in the center of the hall. The orc council hall was immediately engulfed in a savage and primal aura the moment the flags appeared. Everyone’s ears could vaguely hear the desolate and deep drumming sounds of the orcs.

  The flags of the Warhammer, Dhaka, and Platerock tribes.

  Khesuna nodded expressionlessly, once again acknowledging their results.

  Of the dozen witch forces they had sent out, Alice’s troops were the first to complete the mission and return to Witherwater City. In all seriousness, their mission hadn’t been the hardest one. However, it wasn’t the easiest one, either. The fact that Alice had managed to arrive before all the other groups indirectly demonstrated the strength and efficiency of her group.

  It was important to note that there were indeed Third Grade witches among some of those other groups. Meanwhile, there were no other high-grade adepts in Alice’s group apart from the arrogant Third Grade thunder dragon.

  Since they had managed to complete their mission, they should naturally obtain the reward they deserved!

  Khesuna flipped her palm, and three magical balls of various colors hovered before her.

  “These are the three pieces of high-grade knowledge we agreed upon beforehand. You can take them away with you now. Remember, you are only allowed to show this knowledge to members of the witches. You are not to spread them to any others.”

  A brilliant flame flickered in Greem’s black eyes while he stood silently behind Alice. His heart couldn’t help but be moved by Khesuna’s words.

  These were the only three pieces of high-grade knowledge that he was currently lacking.

  Once he got his hands on them, becoming a Third Grade adept would only be a matter of time!

  Perhaps because she sensed the passion burning in Greem, Alice glanced at him slightly and reminded him to remain calm with her eyes. She then stepped forward and took the three magical balls of light.

  “Since you have achieved your goal here, will you still be participating in the upcoming battle? If you are willing to continue fighting for us Death Witches, I still have some things you might be able to use here with me.”

  This time, Khesuna took out a strange magical lamp. All sorts of mysterious patterns had been engraved on the antique lamp. The magical aura radiating it was the power of Fate that she so desired.

  “Destiny Guide.” Alice practically moaned when she spoke the name of the lamp. Judging from her appearance, she was stuck in a great internal struggle, full of reluctance.

  Destiny Guide was a piece of magical fate equipment passed down by the ancient witches.

  This item might not be of any use in the hands of other adepts, but in the hands of a Fate Witch like Alice, it could unleash resounding might no weaker than a pseudo-artifact.

  If Alice could personally light up this magical fate equipment while she traversed the long river of Fate, she would never get lost in its crossroads.

  The Destiny Guide would be able to safely bring her soul back to her body regardless of how dangerous the situation she had found herself in!

  That was the true meaning of the existence of Destiny Guide!

  Finally, Alice’s longing gaze shifted away from the magical lamp. She said decisively an
d firmly, “No, thanks. The power of us Fate Witches is not enough to participate in the upcoming battle. I wish to return to the World of Adepts as soon as possible!”

  Greem, who was standing behind Alice, hesitated a few times. In the end, he decided against speaking his thoughts.

  “Very well, then!” Khesuna put on a slight smile and said: “You and your men have to stay in Witherwater City for another three days. We will be hosting our sacrificial ceremony three days from now. Before the ceremony begins, we will open an ultra-long-range portal to send away some of our forces. You may choose to leave at that time. Very well; you may leave and go rest now. Remember, do not take a single step out of where you stay in the three days you will be spending in the city. Otherwise, we Death Witches will not be responsible for any accidents that occur.”

  Khesuna was truly not jesting.

  By the time Greem and Alice returned to the orc manor from last time with the other clan members, the doors were already guarded by a group of undead.

  The manor was large, but when you stuffed a hundred magical machines and several dozen magic energy chariots into the place, there would no longer be enough space to stand, let alone sleep. Fortunately, the magical machines didn’t need a place to rest. The one dozen goblins packed themselves in a single room and barely managed to make enough space for the Crimson adepts.

  However, this time, the orc servants and maids in the manor had all vanished without a trace. If it weren’t for Arms always bringing four beautiful maids with him, Greem and the adepts would probably be unable to even find a cook in the kitchen.

  Once they had returned to the manor and retreated into their room, Greem looked up at the dark red sky. He couldn’t help but ask Alice, “Why did you reject Khesuna? That item seems like it would have been a tremendous help to you!”

  Alice stopped by the door and shook her head silently. She didn’t turn back as she spoke, “It’s not worth it! It doesn’t matter how important a piece of equipment is. It will never be as important as our own lives.”