Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  It horrified Cindral, who had always looked down upon the human adepts.

  He had no choice but to admit that though the human adepts were far inferior to the powerful elementium creatures when it came to their Physique and control of elementium powers, they were far, far ahead of elementium creatures in terms of combat techniques and schemes.

  Even this fearless tiger couldn’t help but want to run when he heard of this sinister plan.

  “You heard it as well. Those bastards are planning to lay down such a terrifying trap in the mines. I think we should cancel our plans for operation for the moment! I…I can run off elsewhere and play for a few years. I will just come back once they’ve run out of patience!” Cindral said with some hesitation.

  The fire clone was speechless when he heard these dejected words come out from his ally’s mouth.

  Still, at least he had a new understanding of how difficult dealing with fire creatures could be!

  In all sincerity, Cindral’s plan was the simplest way to deal with the problem, but also one that made Greem speechless. Still, it was not to Greem’s benefit, and thus, he had no choice but to refute the idea.

  “Cindral, do you not believe in my mind? Don’t worry; I will come up with the perfect plan and make their operation go in vain. Meanwhile, we can find ourselves a bountiful harvest and leave immediately after!” Greem could only use his oratorical skills and try his best to persuade this sly flaming tiger.

  “Your plan better be as good as your speaking skills, otherwise don’t even think of having me go to the mine to deliver myself to death!”

  Chapter 884 - The Flaming Tiger Appears

  Chapter 884 The Flaming Tiger Appears

  Two days later.

  Greem silently assessed the flowing crimson light pouring through the light barrier at the entrance to the lava sea. He seemed to be able to faintly hear the rumbling of the coursing lava beyond the boundary.

  “Lord Greem, we will be counting on your protection during this operation!”

  The two Second Grade fire adepts sent by Molten Fire City were actually a pair of siblings: a brother and sister. The slightly older brother had a serious expression on his face and gave Greem a simple introduction on him and his sister. Meanwhile, the sister remained silent throughout, walking closely behind her brother as he and Greem talked.

  However, judging from the looks she was sneaking at Greem, her personality was fairly lively. Her looks were somewhat decent as well.

  “Mm, we will act according to the circumstances.” Greem replied and stepped into the light barrier first.

  These two Second Grade siblings didn’t dare walk into the lava sea as simply as Greem had just had. Instead, they quickly chanted and cast some spells. It was only after applying a series of elementium halos and drinking a bunch of spirit regenerating potions that they dared to cross through the barrier carefully.

  If First Grade adepts were beginners that had just peeked into the hall of truth, then Second Grade adepts were truth seekers that had fully taken the first step.

  This lava sea in front of them was already three hundred meters below the surface; ordinary adepts would have trouble surviving here. Although these two fire adept siblings could endure the flames and intense lava pressure here, they were exhausting their powers at every moment.

  They were far less casual and relaxed compared to Greem’s performance.

  Those who could become fire adepts had all naturally completed their body elementiumization.

  Three nearly completely transparent flame humanoids looked at each other in the dark red lava as they silently dove toward the position they had agreed upon ahead of time.

  The underground mines of Molten Fire City had all been fortified with countless defensive arrays to prevent lava from breaching it. Unfortunately, many of these arrays had been damaged by the Third Grade flaming tiger, causing the mine to suffer immense losses.

  Though the lava within these tunnels had been drained, and the defensive arrays had been repaired, the entirety of the mine’s defensive system was now in shambles and pieces. They were no longer one continuous entity as they had been before.

  This time, the array master of Molten Fire City took advantage of this flaw in the system. He specifically left a seemingly unintentional gap in the defense system of the mine to lure the flaming tiger into the trap.

  However, a trap like this couldn’t be too expressly laid out. Whether the flaming tiger would take the bait, and when, was unknown to anybody!

  Greem and the Molten Fire City fire adepts’ mission was to hide in the depths of the lava sea and rush out to seal off the tiger’s exit path once it had entered the mine.

  It was a simple plan in theory, but challenging to execute in reality. The two fire adept siblings followed closely behind Greem, nervous and anxious.

  Naturally, as Second Grade fire adepts, the power of the siblings was immense. Their ability to hide their tracks was also astounding after they had transformed into their flame humanoid forms.

  However, they couldn’t help but be impressed when they paid attention to the Third Grade legendary fire adept, “Truly, a legendary fire adept.”

  Even though they were so close to him, they couldn’t sense any distinction between the flames that Greem had turned into and the flames in the lava around them.

  Greem slowly walked through the lava as if he was just another cluster of burning fire that could be seen anywhere in the molten sea. If it weren’t for being able to see Greem’s existence physically, they would not even be able to distinguish Greem from the background flames.

  The three adepts traveled quickly through the lava sea and soon arrived at the predetermined location.

  A three-meter wide, five-meter tall spindle-shaped runic rock was floating in the lava here, slowly moving around. The runic stone sensed the arrival of the adepts, and the strange runes carved upon it lit up in succession, flickering with an inconsistent glow.

  The female fire adept stepped forward and pressed her translucent palm against the elementium barrier created by the runic stone. She chanted a series of words, and the rock trembled lightly. The elementium barrier parted slightly as a small door appeared on the surface of the solid rock.

  The three of them hesitated no longer and quickly went into the door.

  The space inside the stone was not significant to being with. Now, it appeared crowded when three adepts were stuffed in it.

  Once the entrance to the stone had closed, the three adepts sat down and barely had enough space for everyone. However, any slight movements they made would unavoidably cause some limb contact.

  The runic stone was a part of the security system set up in the lava sea to monitor for activity around the mines. The flaming tiger would not be able to avoid passing by this stone if it wanted to enter them.

  The three of them were safe while they hid here.

  To avoid awkwardness, the fire adept siblings shut their eyes and silently rested as they waited for a message from off in the distance. Greem looked around him and assessed the runic stone he was in.

  The inside of the stone was not empty. The walls around Greem were carved full of strange runes and magical inscriptions.

  Greem could see that some of these were energy-storage runes, while others were energy-absorption runes, defensive arrays, or alarm runes. Though he didn’t really understand the mechanism of the runic stone, he could still learn a lot through these arrays carved within it.

  As a part of the security system, the runic stone was too predictable and straightforward alone. It was difficult to stop the enemy from sneaking past it through various means. That was why the runic stone here usually had an adept stationed within it.

  With the tireless scans of the runic stone and the powerful spiritual scans of the stationed adept, ordinary enemies would have an incredibly difficult time trying to sneak into the mines without being discovered!

  Greem could sense the arrays carved on the walls of the ston
e continually resonating with the two Second Grade adepts. The stone and the adepts aided each other, their aura and powers merging and improving their spiritual senses by leaps and bounds.

  Greem couldn’t help but ask, “Was this runic stone purchased or something that your organization created on your own?”

  The siblings opened their eyes and looked at Greem curiously.

  In the end, the brother was the one that spoke.

  “The basic knowledge on the runic stone was purchased from the Silver Union, but I believe Lord Dorian was the one who personally created it! According to my knowledge, most adept organizations create stuff in this manner. After all, our own security and defensive system can’t be left in the hands of others. It’s safer to create it ourselves.”

  Greem nodded and once again shut his eyes and fell silent.

  The siblings looked at each other and could only shrug. They once again returned their attention to the scanning of the lava sea around them.

  However, they didn’t remain quiet for long. The female fire adept suddenly opened her eyes and said with a surprised voice, “There’s movement at the mines! The flaming tiger seems to be destroying the walls of the mines.”

  Greem opened his eyes, and an expression of thought appeared on his face.

  …………

  At this moment, a flaming tiger was furiously destroying the stone walls outside the underground mines.

  Unlike the stone in other regions, the stone walls around the mines showed no signs of melting or disintegration, despite being soaked in terrifying lava. A large amount of metal mixed within it caused the volcanic rock here to be as tough as steel. It was also capable of resisting prolonged heat conditions, making it extremely difficult to destroy.

  However, the tiger didn’t seem to mind.

  He stood in the flowing lava, waving his claws formed of flames and smashed them again and again upon the steel-like walls.

  As powerful as the Molten Fire adepts were, they could not protect the entirety of the mine and its dozens of kilometers of tunnels with runic arrays. That was why the runic arrays were mostly concentrated around the weak points of the mines, as well as its entrances and exits.

  However, today, the flaming tiger that had been missing for so long went the other way. He did not try to sneak into the mine and instead chose to dig furiously at a spot in the mine where the adepts couldn’t defend.

  The molten eternium he had absorbed over the past few months had caused his elementiumized body to appear somewhat different. The sharp flaming claws made of pure fire not only contained tremendous power whenever they struck, but also caused ferocious winds to ravage across the lava, demonstrating their horrifying physical power.

  A single claw would cause a half-meter deep crater to appear on the sturdy wall, and the bottom of the hole would be filled with terrifying cracks. The flaming tiger continued to dig without any stop, claw after claw. Soon, he had dug out a massive pit that was seven or eight meters deep.

  If he kept digging at his current speed, he would only need half a day to dig through another three dozen meters of rock and enter the tunnel.

  That was clearly beyond the expectations of the Molten Fire City higher-ups. Even the Third Grade adepts behind the scenes could no longer sit still.

  Two of the Third Grade adepts appeared simultaneously in the lava sea with an intense magical flux.

  Unlike Greem’s transformation into an elementium form to merge with the lava, the two Third Grade adepts were a poison adept and an array master respectively. They were not suited for combat in the lava sea.

  However, now that the plot had swerved away from their expectations, and the tiger had not entered the trap, the two of them could only reluctantly strike out and hope to draw the tiger into the trap.

  Adept Karak and Adept Dorian stood in a giant rolling stone, pushing away all the lava in their way as they charged toward the tiger.

  The two forces immediately broke out into a deathmatch outside the mines.

  Rather than a fight, it was more the two adepts defending and trying their best to fend off the countless attacks from the Third Grade flaming tiger.

  The power of the tiger, while he was in the lava sea, was shockingly high.

  His three-meter body flickered about the stone ball, vanishing and reappearing. Every time he appeared, the tiger would be accompanied by a loud roar and ferocious claw attacks, causing the earth elementium on the stone’s surface to tremble uncontrollably.

  Chapter 885 - Battle Under the Sea

  As Third Grade adepts, how could they not retaliate when attacked?!

  Adept Karak waved his hand, and a giant ball of poison shot toward the flaming tiger.

  The flaming tiger roared and leaped, vanishing from the spot instantly. When he once again appeared, the tiger was on the other side of the stone ball. The tiger continued his attacks.

  The ball of poison instantly erupted in the lava sea upon missing its target, staining all the lava within a hundred meters black. If this were on land, any plants and creatures within a hundred meters would have died to the poison. Even tiny microbes and bacteria would have trouble surviving it.

  Unfortunately, they were currently three hundred meters below ground in a massive sea of lava. The might of the poison was tremendous, but it was also severely limited by the harsh environment here.

  The poison halo that would typically last for half a month vanished from the tide of lava after just ten seconds. The poison cloud formed from the spell also couldn’t spread out and simply dispersed.

  Adept Dorian lifted his staff and repeatedly pointed it at the tiger.

  Every time the staff tapped the ground, a radiant runic array would appear beneath the flaming tiger.

  Unfortunately, the Third Grade flaming tiger would get out of the way with his immense strength and agile movements before the runic arrays could completely unleash their binding effects.

  Adept Dorian immediately went all out. The tip of his staff glowed brilliantly as several arrays with various functions whipped toward the tiger, like lassos. If the tiger failed to dodge any single one of those arrays, he would be bound to the spot by the rain of arrays that followed.

  That would then create the perfect opportunity for Adept Karak’s poison attacks!

  Sadly, the tiger was not only incomparably sly but also exceptionally sensitive to energy fluctuations.

  He would rapidly change positions if he picked up any slight abnormality in the elementium around him. He would never give his opponent the chance to bind him. Meanwhile, the two Third Grade adepts’ attacks barely reached the tiger. The spells were having a difficult time taking effect on the beast through the flowing lava.

  The three Third Grades traveled through the lava sea as they fought, repeatedly switching positions and forcefully turning the sea into a chaotic storm of lava.

  The location where they fought was more than two kilometers away from the runic stone where Greem and the two siblings were hiding. As such, the three of them had a hard time getting a proper sense of the situation on the battlefield. They only had a rough understanding of how the battle was going through the simple messages that the Third Grade adepts were sending them.

  Back in the battle, Karak and Dorian, who were turtling within the transparent stone ball, were almost going mad with anger!

  The flaming tiger was sly beyond their imagination.

  If the two of them lunged forward to fight the tiger, he would jump at them and take on the fight. If the two of them retreated as they fought in an attempt to lure the tiger into the array traps, then he would just leave and continue digging a hole in the wall.

  After two to three attempts, the stone ball the two adepts were hiding in was at its limits, even though the two of them could still continue fighting.

  After all, Karak and Dorian were a poison adept and an array master, respectively; neither of them was an earth adept. This stone ball was something they had summoned with a piece of magical
equipment.

  If the ball was to shatter, they would lose their protective equipment and could only fight with the tiger while pushing apart the lava around them. The situation they were in would only get worse.

  If the battlefield shifted to the surface, the two higher-ups of Molten Fire City would not fear any enemy. However, in this unbearable environment, their spells could not be unleashed to their full effect.

  That was why the two Third Grade adepts had immense trouble suppressing that accursed Third Grade flaming tiger no matter how hard they tried!

  Finally, Karak had no choice left and could only send the signal for Greem to participate in the battle.

  Inside the runic stone.

  The two siblings opened their eyes at the same time and said to Greem with a low voice, “Lord Greem, Lord Karak has requested that you join the battle!”

  Greem feigned surprise and said, “This seems to be different from the original plan, isn’t it? The trap hasn’t been sprung yet. If I were to join the battle now and scare the tiger away…”

  The brother said with a bitter smile, “Lord Karak has already noted that the plan can no longer be carried out. We can only chase away the tiger before we formulate a new plan. We will find another opportunity to discuss how to deal with the tiger after this!”

  Now that this had been said, Greem had no reason to refuse to help. He immediately turned into a cluster of flames, slipping out of the gaps in the runic stone and hurrying toward the battlefield.

  Two and a half kilometers of distance was no more than a dozen seconds worth of traveling for a Third Grade adept.

  The tiger that had been fighting with the two adepts suddenly stopped and lifted his head. His eyes stared deep into the lava sea as if he had sensed the arrival of a powerful enemy.

  The two Third Grade adepts knew what was coming and would never let the flaming tiger leave. They immediately used their most potent spells to keep the tiger rooted.

  The stone ball trembled intensely and finally fell apart.

  A magic ring on Karak’s right little finger abruptly shattered, sending a turbulent current of energy throughout the air. It was obvious that the ring was utterly destroyed.