Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Chapter 867 - Silent Swamp

  The war going on between the Fate Witches and the Coldwinter Witches was both strange and ridiculous.

  The difference in power between both parties was so massive, yet their performance in combat was the extreme opposite.

  The apprentices and witches of the Fate branch didn’t seem to care about their territories and resource sites being attacked. They would immediately retreat if they found themselves on the losing end. If the Coldwinter Witches insisted on pursuing them, they would even leave behind their elementium golems to buy them the opportunity to flee the battlefield.

  However, whenever the Fate Witches gained the advantage, the entire group of witches and apprentices would form a suicide squad. They would use cheap elementium golems and have them charge the frontlines, where it was the most dangerous. Meanwhile, they would hide somewhere safe behind or use instant-cast magic wands and magic scrolls to attack their enemies.

  Consequently, the Fate Witches kept their casualties at the absolute minimum in most battlefields!

  The Coldwinter Witches did a count and discovered that their losses were at a shocking 11:1 ratio compared to the Fate Witches.

  Even Morgana, who typically remained in Icesnow Valley, could no longer keep her composure after reading those heartbreaking casualty reports. Just two months after the war had begun, Morgana charged out of Icesnow Valley with a group of Frost Guardians.

  Strangely enough, the entire tide of the battle turned the moment the Third Grade witch appeared on the battlefield.

  All the Fate Witches and apprentices retreated to the Fate Tower in Dragonblight as per their orders. The ones who were left fighting with the Coldwinter Witches were all Second Grades of the Crimson Clan.

  The Coldwinter Witches thought of all sorts of ways to hunt down these powerful Second Grades, but their efforts were fruitless.

  They might have injured the Second Grade dragonborn and forced the Goblin Shredder to retreat, but one of their own Second Grades had also been forcefully abducted by Mary and her forces.

  If one were to count all of their casualties, the Coldwinter Witches had practically lost every significant military force that they owned!

  It seemed Morgana couldn’t accept this reality. She personally joined the battlefield in her frustration and intended to teach the enemy a vicious lesson.

  Unfortuantely, Zacha, Tigule, and Mary worked together often and never confronted Morgana head-on. The Crimson Clan wouldn’t fight when she joined the battle, choosing only to scatter and retreat.

  However, if they ever discovered a Second Grade of the Coldwinter Witches isolated, Mary would lead a group of Second Grade vampires and go on the assault.

  The Coldwinter Witches’ frost magic was powerful in both offense and defense. However, even they had tremendous difficulty fighting off the attacks of multiple vampires. That wasn’t even mentioning that amongst these vampires hid Mary, the Bloody Queen who was almost at peak Second Grade.

  Mary’s attacks were slightly weak. Her claws, enhanced with blood energy, only had one hundred and eighty points of power. Still, there was no denying that Mary’s attacks were as fast as lightning.

  Trading damage for speed!

  At a rate of three attacks per second, Mary’s Bloodshade strikes were terrifying when stacked together.

  After integrating the otherworldly runes, Mary’s ordinary attacks contained both the corrosion of blood energy and the defense-bypassing ability of shadow damage.

  These two magical traits were not lethal, but they were exceedingly troublesome to deal with. Even if the Coldwinter Witches wrapped themselves in a thick shell of ice, they could not stop these two magical effects from seeping through.

  Apart from Third Grade Witch Leader Morgana, the other Coldwinter Witches couldn’t do anything about Mary. They couldn’t fight her if they wanted to, nor could they escape. It didn’t matter how much they cried or wailed; they couldn’t escape the ceaseless assault of the vampire flock.

  …………

  Silent Swamp.

  As rarely seen geography in the vast plains on the outskirts of Dragonblight, Silent Swamp could be considered a reasonably dangerous hazard zone.

  Puddles and pools of mud could be seen everywhere, cloaked in a heavy, humid fog. Many places appeared to be grassy fields, but anyone that stepped in these places would immediately fall into the swamp, filled with silt and murky water.

  Many aquatic magical creatures lurked in the corners of the swamp. They would silently stalk any outsiders that entered the swamp, following them while submerged under the silt. Once the outsider was trapped in the mud of the swamp, they would lunge forward like savage beasts, ripping off warm flesh from their enemy’s body with their sharp claws. It would be a feast for them.

  Almost no traveling merchants dared to pass by Silent Swamp due to the sinister and dangerous nature of the place.

  However, a group of witches that descended from the skies shattered the silence here today.

  Morgana jumped off of a three-meter tall snow eagle. She stepped on the squishy dirt and couldn’t help but frown when she smelled the gag-inducing pungence of the swap.

  “Are you sure they are in here?”

  Morgana asked the person beside her, Deputy Leader Cerro.

  Cerro was a Second Grade witch with a handsome face and a beautiful figure. However, her expression was so cold that it made her look inhuman as if she was a snow woman brought to life.

  When she heard the question, Cerro cast a spell before solemnly nodding and said, “They are still here. Zivelina made sure to coat her with a layer of Coldwinter Chill when she got hit. The opponent won’t be able to neutralize that frost aura so easily.”

  Morgana also closed her eyes to sense for the aura.

  As expected, a familiar frost aura led straight into the depths of the swamp. It was slowly dispersing.

  “Then hurry up and move! Don’t let that bitch Mary slip out of our hands again. Cerro, you lead some people and surround her from this end. Find her. I will go and cut off her escape path from the other end. We must capture this damned Bloody Queen today!”

  Morgana stepped forward, and her entire body instantly froze into a giant ice sculpture.

  The next second, the sculpture shattered, leaving behind a ground full of ice shards with Morgana nowhere to be seen.

  “You all heard the leader’s words?” Cerro ordered with a cold expression, “Form pairs and spread out. Find that Mary. Let’s see if the vampires still dare to show themselves with our leader here. Let’s go!”

  The Coldwinter Witches mobilized a total of eight witches for this massive operation. Apart from Third Grade Morgana and Second Grade Cerro, the other six Coldwinter Witches were all Second Grades as well.

  The witches bowed and acknowledged their orders. They then used their own spells and quickly rushed into the Silent Swap.

  On a small island in the depths of the swamp.

  The surroundings were all silt and water that would cause one to sink if stepped upon. The hundred-meter-square island was the only place with solid dirt.

  Mary was currently on this island.

  She stood at the edge of the island, standing tall and proud as she looked into the distance.

  The fog here was heavy, and vision was severely limited.

  Moreover, silt, mud, water, bushes, thorns, and sinister ghost trees were everywhere; there were far too many places to hide. The Silent Swap itself also seemed to have its own mysteries. Even spiritual senses couldn’t pierce that veil-like fog.

  As such, finding a hidden individual was nearly impossible if they were thirty meters away!

  “Hmph! You won’t be able to escape!” A completely bound and bloody witch lay at Mary’s feet. She spoke resentfully, “With the Coldwinter Chill on your body, our people will be able to smell you even from five kilometers away. You won’t be able to escape to Dragonblight this time.”

  “Escape? Why would I escape?�
�� Mary’s expression remained unmoving, a faint smile on her face.

  “Our leader has already caught up. Do you think you can fight off a Third Grade witch?”

  “Hehe, you are right, indeed. Morgana has come. However, she has already wrapped around to the back of the Silent Swamp to cut me off. There are no longer any Third Grade witches on the battlefield in front of me!”

  “You…what are you planning?” Zivelina saw Mary show no signs of panic despite being pursued. Moreover, Mary appeared to have a perfect grasp of everything happening outside the swamp.

  Zivelina couldn’t help feel a trace of unease creep up her heart.

  Could it be?

  Unfortunately, before she could gather her thoughts, Mary lifted the tip of her foot and kicked the witch into the swamp in front of them.

  “Bastard…you…”

  Zivelina only managed to curse a single time before sinking into the swamp water, leaving a couple of bubbles behind. Several clear traces of movement under the water could be seen flailing toward the spot where she had sunk.

  It was just a couple of adept-level magical creatures. They couldn’t really kill a Second Grade witch, even if she was injured and restrained. That said, a little bit of pain was unavoidable!

  Having done all this, Mary leaped forward without any hesitation. She beat her wings and turned into a crimson flash as she surged toward the direction the witch had come from.

  A blue spot of frostbite on the right of her waist vanished at a visible rate under the assault of her ferocious blood energy.

  Somewhere in the Silent Swamp.

  Ryp hovered gently ten meters above the swamp, slowly flying forward while assessing everything below.

  The swamp wasn’t a static body of water. Instead, it slowly flowed in a particular direction. It was just the layer of soft grass on top of the swamp that gave the wrong impression that it was unmoving.

  There were also clearly quite a lot of wild magical creatures in the mud.

  Be it sludges, drowned zombies, or ghost nannies.…

  None of these creatures could escape Ryl’s spiritual senses.

  Mary had always been known for her cruelty and cunning plans. The Coldwinter Witches were never her opponents in a duel. However, at this moment, Ryl was accompanied by her companions on each side. Both of them were two hundred and fifty kilometers away from her. It made her feel a bit more relaxed.

  It didn’t matter how savage Mary was; she could always last for three to five seconds, right?!

  As long as Ryl could stall for three to five seconds, her companions would be able to reach her, and that so-called Bloody Queen would have a slim chance at escaping. This way, they would be able to capture a significant enemy without alerting the leader. It would be a considerable contribution to the clan.

  The rewards would have to be satisfactory when she returned!

  The Coldwinter Witches searched in a loose formation, all for the sake of luring out the enemy as soon as possible.

  While Ryl was slowly searching, she suddenly sensed the aura of the Coldwinter Chill from somewhere in front of her. Moreover, that individual with the aura was charging toward her with the speed of an arrow.

  Dammit, it’s Mary!

  Ryl immediately narrowed her eyes.

  Chapter 868 - One More

  The battle immediately broke out!

  The mist thirty meters in front of her parted as a crimson silhouette shot toward Witch Ryl like a flash of lightning.

  The instant-cast Frost Shield stopped the opponent’s bloody hand just in time.

  While the opponent’s form was coated in a layer of frost and her movements were temporarily slowed down, Witch Ryl waved the instant-cast magic wand in her hand. A storm of sharp ice blades and a vortex of cold wind blew the opponent into the air.

  Small cuts instantly appeared all over the enemy’s slender body, but the chill froze these wounds before the blood could spill out. Not much blood could be seen despite the numerous injuries.

  Something wasn’t right; Mary couldn’t be this weak, could she?

  Witch Ryl quickly understood that something was off and frowned. She instantly focused and tried to send news of this to her companions, who were rushing to her aid. Yet, at this moment, the crimson silhouette forcefully broke free of the snow that imprisoned her and once again lunged at Ryl.

  Dammit! That was the enemy’s plan!

  Though she understood what was happening, Ryl had no spare energy to warn her companions when dealing with an opponent of the same grade. The two beautiful forms, one red and one white, clashed together, turning the swamp into an absolute mess.

  The witches near Ryl’s side sent alerts to their companions after receiving her warning. They then quickly approached her position. Witch Cerro was also a peak Second Grade. She took the lead and charged to the forefront.

  In doing so, they indirectly left the two witches who were at the edge of the search formation in the very rear.

  Laila was one such unfortunate witch!

  She was at the rightmost of the fan-shaped search formation. By the time the alert reached her, the two companions to her left were already making their way toward the battlefield. When she finally received the alert and stopped to change directions, there was already a kilometer between herself and her partners.

  A single kilometer was usually nothing to adepts. At full speed, Laila would only need thirty to forty seconds to catch up to her companions.

  However, in the eyes of someone with wicked intentions, this one kilometer was the distance between life and death!

  Just as Laila turned to hurry to the battlefield, five crimson silhouettes descended on the swamp she was at.

  Two of them had emerged from the mud, one had come from the ghost tree nearby, and two had just dove down from the clouds above.

  In the blink of an eye, they had surrounded the isolated Laila.

  The ones who had no aversion to filth and were willing to hide in the mud were Soros and Windsor, the two blood nights. They blew away the dirt on their bodies upon showing themselves and launched two immensely powerful crimson sword blasts at the Coldwinter Witch from thirty meters away.

  Meanwhile, the three blood elves lunged toward Laila and sealed off the space she had to retreat or dodge.

  Dammit!

  Laila didn’t even have time to curse these vampires for their insidiousness. She quickly threw up a Frost Shield and started casting chilling winds to freeze the blood elves on the spot.

  These blood elves were the same grade as her and, thus, had shockingly high magic resistance. Laila’s ice magic could barely keep them frozen for half a second. However, this half a second was enough for her to weave between her enemy’s strikes and avoid the barrage of attacks coming at her.

  However, she was dealing with five Second Grade vampires!

  Individually, none of them was her opponent. However, when all five of them lunged at her with no regard for their own life, it was a whole different story.

  That put Laila in an extremely compromised situation.

  Dammit, it had already been ten seconds! Were her companions all deaf and blind? Couldn’t they see the battle that had erupted here?

  Witch Laila fought on with all she had while constantly looking in the direction where her companions were.

  Her companions weren’t idiots either. They immediately understood the enemy’s plan when they sensed the eruption of energy from behind them. However, when they turned and prepared to reinforce their ally, Mary beat her crimson wings and showed up in front of them like a flash of crimson lightning. She stopped both of the Coldwinter Witches all by herself.

  The two Coldwinter Witches were powerful, but they were dreaming if they believed they could take down this viciously fast Bloody Queen in just one or two minutes.

  They battled for seventy seconds before Mary shrieked and fled the battlefield before the other witches arrived. She had to endure the attacks of the two other witches as she van
ished into the depths of the swamp.

  The two Coldwinter Witches were stunned for a second before realizing that both battlefields to their left and right had fallen utterly silent. It seemed all the battles had concluded.

  Just as they were hesitating and deciding which direction to go in, Deputy Leader Cerro arrived with the other three witches. They held a bloodied blood elf in their hands, frozen in a block of ice.

  That was lucky. They had finally caught one of the enemies.

  Just as this thought appeared in their minds, the witches immediately thought of Laila, who they had left behind. Their faces turned pale once again.

  One for one?

  Were they trading a blood elf for one of their witches?

  This trade seemed to be balanced on the surface, but the Coldwinter Witches couldn’t help but frown now that it had happened.

  These blood elves were all monsters forcibly created with sinister magic. They could not be considered formal Second Grades and were not truly powerful. Meanwhile, a Coldwinter Witch of theirs was cultivated slowly over the years, costing vast amounts of resources.

  The two weren’t even on the same level; they couldn’t even be compared.

  The Coldwinter Witches were definitely the ones to lose out from a trade like this.

  “Kill her?” A witch with a cold and severe expression asked with a sharp tone.

  Cerro shook her head silently.

  “We can’t!” One of the other witches explained dejectedly, “Kill her, and they have an excuse to kill our sisters. Don’t forget, two of our companions have already fallen into their hands.”

  Deputy Leader Cerro narrowed her eyes and looked at this strange place. She spoke coldly, “I have been to this Silent Swamp. There was none of this sinister and wicked fog. It seems this was a battlefield they had set up ahead of time. We are the careless ones. We stepped into their arena far too simply.”

  “Then…are we still searching for them?”

  “Search!” Deputy Leader Cerro ordered, “I have already informed the leader. She is now moving toward us from the outside. If those vampires still want to go for round two. Hmph! I will make sure they all stay!”