It was due to these ‘lowly’ little tricks and a frightening loss of magical crystals that Greem gained an equal footing against a Third Grade adept. He had not shown himself on the battlefield from the very start of the battle until the very end. However, the Flame Fiends and fire creatures he summoned were all over the place, turning the entire arena into a scary sea of fire.
The individual lethality of Yurga was amazing, and he was no weakling even amongst Third Grade adepts. However, he was somewhat powerless against Greem’s swarming strategies.
If Greem ever dared show himself, even ten of him together would be turned into hotpot by Yurga in a single go!
However, Greem was nowhere to be seen now, while his Flame Fiends were extremely hard to deal with.
If Yurga were even slightly slower in reacting, the Flame Fiends would self-destruct without any hesitation. That was what made Yurga’s head hurt.
Such a mighty intermediate Second Grade elementium golem would be worth a lot in the market. Yet, the young Crimson Clan leader abandoned them without a second thought. Moreover, he wasn’t dropping just one or two of them, but an entire pile of them.
Yurga felt like he was in perpetual agony when fighting against such a strange opponent!
Yurga might have intended to destroy a few more Flame Fiends at the start of the battle to upset Greem. However, the number of elementium golems that Greem had summoned had already gone past his psychological bottom line. Yurga’s state of mind was utterly shaken now.
He was no longer as confident as before.
He had no idea how many elementium golems that Greem still had in reserve!
If…if the number of elementium golems he had was immense, wouldn’t I be basically digging my own grave with this duel? Wouldn’t I have led myself to my demise?
The more he thought about it, the wilder his imagination became. Yurga’s state of mind went from the initial rage to the current nervousness. His combat style also unintentionally became much more reserved.
The clan might be important, benefits might be important, but in the end, they were not as important as his life!
One could never be too careful.
If Greem had as many as twenty elementium golems–no, eighteen golems–then his life would be in danger.
You knew his own abilities the best. After this one hour of intense fighting, Yurga had already fired eight Death Gazes and five area-of-effect Death Beams in succession. Such intensity was already far beyond the limits of his body. If it weren’t for the potions, Yurga would be wholly exhausted now and forced onto the defensive.
Perhaps the potions might heal his physical wounds and recover his magical power and Spirit, but they could not eliminate the lethargy and feeling of defeat that he was feeling right now.
The Death Gazes he was firing were still powerful without compare, and he was still invincible to the Flame Fiends. However, deep down in his heart, an unconcealable fear was slowly growing.
If he was defeated…
This question that he had never once considered before the battle appeared in his heart for the first time. He quickly clamped down on the idea, not daring to think of it, yet unable to forget either.
Elementium magic of most attributes could not be successfully cast within this mystical Burning Domain; only innate abilities like Death Gaze and physical attacks could circumvent its effects. Under such circumstances, Yurga’s exhaustion was tremendous as well.
Kill a thousand enemies at the cost of three hundred of your own!
Yurga was not having an easy time or going unscathed every time he exterminated a Flame Fiend. Even a Third Grade bloodline adept like himself could not stand it if all the ‘three hundred’ were stacked together.
Of course, without the Burning Domain, Yurga would have been able to move freely and go completely uncontested with his immense power. He would have long since dealt with the Second Grade fire adept. The battle would never have been so forcefully drawn out to this awkward state.
If Yurga claimed that he felt no trace of regret at this moment, he would be lying to himself and everyone else.
At this moment, Yurga was so regretful that his intestines were green!
Wasn’t it just attacking a newly established adept clan? How did it slowly escalate to this situation? If Yurga had the chance to choose again, he would have firmly rejected that Association elder’s messenger’s suggestion to mobilize troops.
Aren’t those bastards just placing him in a pit and a fire?
Regardless of how regretful he was and how upset he was, Yurga had to grit his teeth and finish this duel before him.
The situation had already reached this state. It was no longer a matter of whether he was willing to let the young fire adept go. Rather, it was a matter of whether the opponent wanted to reach for the thousand-year miracle of slaying a Third Grade as a Second Grade!
Whenever Yurga thought of himself potentially becoming the Third Grade adept held in the highest contempt across the entire world, his anger and frustration boiled to a peak within him. He wanted to slaughter something to let it all out. However, whenever he remembered that he could pay the price of his life for reckless attacks, he immediately cowered.
His emotions and spirits swayed between these two extremes, momentarily displaying barbaric viciousness at times, and cowardly retreat at others. It undoubtedly caused the outcome of the battle to become shrouded in even more mist and uncertainty!
Yurga’s state of mind was a complete mess now!
It wasn’t just Greem who could see this. Even the adepts and apprentices on stage could pick up on this.
By the time the fifteenth Flame Fiend fell in the arena, Yurga was engulfed in the self-destruction of the sixteenth Flame Fiend due to his injuries slowing him down.
This time, when Yurga struggled out of the sea of fire, he reached into his pouch and froze on the spot.
The high-grade potions for recovery had all been used up!
It couldn’t be helped. Regardless of how smart or wise Yurga was, he would never have expected to receive such massive physical wounds at such intensity. Thus, the number of potions for physical wounds in his reserves were far less than the number of medicines meant for recovering Spirit.
This meager supply of potions had been exhausted after just three rounds of use.
When Yurga dragged his injured body around the arena, unable to find suitable potions, the two Flame Fiends once again charged at him.
This time, Yurga was truly scared!
He could still fire one or two Death Gazes to deal with these two Flame Fiends with his remaining Spirit and soul origin. However, this last bit of his power was reserved for dealing with the Second Grade fire adept. If he used them up here, what could he rely on to exterminate the opponent of his duel?
Yurga had no choice but to drag his wounded body along and kite the Flame Fiends. He had to drag out the fight and allow his body to heal better.
Greem, who was in hiding, also realized that this was Yurga’s plan. He silently summoned a fire portal and sent a large group of fire creatures onto the battlefield once again.
Yurga was unbelievably furious when he saw this cannon fodder hop onto the arena.
The cannon fodder was nothing at all. Even a shockwave from Yurga’s battle with the Flame Fiends would exterminate most of them. However, any of the surviving trash only needed to stall his movements slightly, and the two pursuing Flame Fiend would be able to catch up and detonate.
Yurga was already terrified of their blasts!
He had lost the black smoke protecting his body. He had lost the aid of the potions. Don’t even mention the detonations of the Flame Fiends; just the Burning Domain in the background alone was slowly causing Yurga to experience the horror of magical flames.
The Burning Domain with no more than a hundred points of power was applying constant, unavoidable damage.
When Yurga was powerful, he could naturally ignore such weak ‘damage.’ However, once
the battle entered the endgame, such ‘insignificant’ damage became the last straw to break the camel’s back. It caused Yurga to be hurt. Very hurt.
Finally, Yurga collapsed under the flame shockwave of the nineteenth Flame Fiend and completely fell unconscious.
Greem was afraid that Yurga was putting on a show, and he refused to show himself yet. It wasn;t until he commanded the Flame Fiend to chop off Yurga’s head and burn his body that Greem appeared at the edge of the battlefield.
Greem looked at the slowly fading defensive barrier around the arena and unhesitatingly took Yurga’s ugly and vicious head into his own hands. He then quickly gouged the strange red eye embedded in Yurga’s forehead.
The red eye was still exceedingly soft when he first took it out.
However, as Yurga’s soul aura started to fade, the strange red eye rapidly solidified and turned into an amber pearl. Upon closer inspection, there was a gray cross in the center of the pearl, and Greem could clearly sense a faint magical flux.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t absorb Yurga’s massive soul into this red-eye under everyone’s gaze. Otherwise, the remaining bloodline power might be even stronger!
Greem thought to himself as he lifted his head and looked at the arbitrating adept walking toward him with a sour face– Laurent.
This outcome was entirely beyond his expectations. It had caught him by surprise.
In all honesty, even Laurent himself didn’t know how to face Greem now.
Chapter 845 - Expansion of the Crimson Clan
The outcome was well and truly beyond everyone’s expectations.
When Greem walked out of the arena while tossing around the strange red eye in his hand, the stands were utterly silent.
The spectating adepts watched him silently with complicated looks in their eyes. For a moment, not a single person walked forward to congratulate him.
In the end, it was Mary and Billis who, all smiles, gathered at Greem’s side and offered their blessings.
A trace of a smile finally appeared on Adept Laurent’s face. He strode to Greem’s side and loudly said, “Very good! I never expected you to be hiding such a special trick. Good…very good.”
Greem knew that Laurent was probably cursing him somehow in his heart right now. As such, he showed no courtesies.
“Lord Laurent, according to the contract of the duel…”
“You don’t need to say anymore. Everything will go according to the contract!” Adept Laurent’s face turned extremely ugly when Greem brought this up, “As the victors of this fight, the Crimson Clan has the right to take away a suitable portion of war compensation from the Kamala Clan. As Yurga is dead, this compensation will be shouldered by all members of the Kamala Clan.”
Laurent took out a yellow parchment and handed it over to Greem.
Greem took the paper and looked at it. It was a long list of all the territories and resources belonging to the Kamala Clan.
With the help of the Chip, Greem managed to find problems with this list after a single look.
“Lord Laurent, according to what I know, the Kamala Clan seemed to have two First Class resource sites. Why are they not on this list?”
“Hmph! Yurga pledged those two First Class resource sites to the Zhentarim Association before the contract was signed. What? Do you want to take them back from the hands of the Association elders?” Laurent had a nasty expression on his face.
He hadn’t managed this thing well enough and allowed this brat to turn the tables. If news of this got back to the Zhentarim Association, he would be scolded by the elders. It was only natural that he bore such a sour expression.
Those who could become Association elders were all famous Fourth Grade adepts in the Zhentarim area. Greem was smart enough to shake his head immediately.
Laurent’s face finally relaxed when he saw Greem leave at last.
“Three Second Class resource sites and seven Third Class resource sites. In addition to several stretches of noble’s land that make up over two hundred square kilometers of territory; brat, don’t you be too greedy!”
As the Kamala Clan was located in the Ailovis area, many of their inherited territories were not far away from Fire Throne. Consequently, the Crimson Clan immediately rose to become one of the most influential adept clans in Ailovis after taking over these resource sites and territories.
With Fire Throne as the clan headquarters, the fundamental influence of the Crimson Clan stretched north to the Black Forest, south to the Ironstone Highlands, west to Stopwater Lake, and east to Morgan Stonecastle. This stretch of land, mines, civilians, and resources measuring as much as three hundred square kilometers would become the direct territory of the Crimson Clan.
Moreover, these places had already become notably developed. They only needed to go through the formalities with the Kamala Clan and change the noble management at these places. The Crimson Clan could then easily take this territory under their control.
Apart from some local nobles that needed to be cleansed for being too close with the Kamala Clan, there wasn’t much else to be worried about. These nobles had no loyalty to the Kamala Clan. They were only a bunch of pug dogs living at the will of the adepts.
One or two bones would be enough to make them change their banners and become ‘loyal’ subjects of the Crimson Clan!
After obtaining the duel pact, Greem handed it off to Billis and had him deal with the handover from the Kamala Clan. The only Third Grade of the Kamala Clan had already died at Rhein. The remaining First and Second Grades had best stay honest if they wanted to live. Greem didn’t mind cleaning them up should any of them dare bare their fangs.
Greem might have obtained a flawless victory after this forced duel, but he had also exhausted his entire reserve of high-grade magical golems that he had been accumulating for the past hundred years. At the moment, he only had one Flame Fiend summoning core left.
As such, there was no way Greem could sleep tight if he didn’t manage to get back these losses from the Kamala Clan.
The Kamala Clan was now a toothless tiger. The remaining Second Grade adepts couldn’t even do anything about Bug Adept Billis. Thus, Greem didn’t need to worry about the Kamala going against the agreement.
After the matter at Rhein had concluded, Greem led Mary back to Fire Throne, while Billis hurried to the Kamala headquarters.
When Greem returned to Fire Throne, all the Crimson adepts and apprentices had gathered at the hall on the first floor. They immediately cheered loudly when Greem entered and bowed in respect, “Long live the clan leader!”
Even the submissive adepts who had just joined the Crimson Clan were exceedingly happy and excited.
After this battle, there would no longer be an adept group that could compare to the Crimson Clan in Ailovis. From here on out, the Crimson Clan would step into a historic period of explosive development.
Those weaker clans of Andorra, Cenas, Layton Academy, and the Magic Forest Hut that had merged with Kamala would all have to face the pressing offensive of the Crimson Clan.
They could either give up on all worldly territories and resource sites, pulling back all adepts and apprentices to their headquarters, and holding in there in hopes of a miracle, or they leave far and wide, giving up everything they had in Ailovis and find some way to plant their roots in a public adept city to preserve their adept legacy.
Both of these paths were difficult and harsh!
Should the core figure of a clan fail to keep control over the situation, it was very likely for clan members to defect.
As expected, once the news of Yurga’s death had spread throughout Ailovis, Layton Academy was the first to announce their seclusion from all external matters. They sealed the gates of their academy and transitioned into a semi-reclusive state.
Meanwhile, though Layton Academy did not expressly say so, they had already cut off all contact with their resource sites and territory, as if anyone who wanted them could take over.
Meanwhile,
the Andorra Clan, which had the worst relationship with the Crimson Clan, had no choice but to pack their bags and move their clan headquarters into Rhein. As for those worldly territories and resource sites that they couldn’t take away? They were left empty and became places without owners.
Only the Kamala Clan had been doing well in the region due to their assimilation of the Magic Forest Hut.
Before they could even catch a breath, the only Third Grade of their clan, Clan Leader Yurga, had mysteriously died at the hands of that Second Grade Crimson Clan leader. Such a heavy blow caused the entire Kamala Clan to fall into a state of ruin.
After becoming the Kamala Clan leader, the most powerful Second Grade adept could only suppress his anger and humiliation to hand over much of the clan’s property to the visiting bug adept. In particular, the handing over of the already developed resource sites caused the Kamala Clan’s power to be cut by seventy to eighty percent. From then on, they had become a weak and powerless small clan of Ailovis.
With the protection of the agreement, they did not need to worry about the continued devastation of the Crimson Clan for the moment.
However, when the entire Ailovis region had become the land of the Crimson Clan, the Kamala Clan would still have an exceedingly hard time trying to continue living in the gaps between the Crimson Clan’s influence.
Without resource sites, they lost their spring of adept resources. Without worldly territories, they lost their source for new apprentices. These two things were the foundation for any adept clan to last long.
Now, the Kamala Clan had lost both!
Following Layton Academy’s announcement, the Kamala Clan also announced their retreat into their headquarters, no longer involving themselves with any of the local matters in Ailovis.
Thus, with the stepping down of one adept organization after another, the Crimson Clan truly started rising!
Greem immediately hid within his room once he returned to Fire Throne. Mary and Gargamel were the ones to give the order for three dozen Crimson adepts to walk out of the tower and be stationed in various resource sites across Ailovis.
Age of Adepts c1-1513 Page 522