Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

“Correct firing mode, switch to regional diffuse bombardment!” Gonga shouted inside the golem.

  One moment later, the magic energy cannons on the golem dragon no longer pursued the silhouette of the amethyst dragon. They instead started to bombard the possible areas where he could stop at in an irregular pattern of bombardment.

  Although it increased the number of energy fireballs that hit the amethyst dragon, the points of impact were much more scattered. They still could not injure the dragon apart from causing larger energy waves.

  Greem and Gonga sighed at the same time.

  Fourth Grade dragons were truly difficult to deal with!

  They had no choices now. If they wanted to threaten the dragon, they would have to concentrate the cannon fire. However, this made it very easy for the dragon to dodge with his speed and movements. If they chose diffuse bombardment without a specific target, it would scatter the strength of the attacks and be a waste of firepower.

  As expected, upon realizing that the cannons on the golem dragon were of a minimal threat to himself, Toril dashed forward once again, charging straight for the golem’s right front leg.

  The golem dragon was over a hundred meters long, while the amethyst dragon was only thirty meters long. Though they were both at Fourth Grade, the magical machine dragon was a good deal larger and stronger than the amethyst dragon.

  Like a hulking giant fighting against a small fighter only the height of his knees, the initiative remained firmly in the hands of the amethyst dragon despite the size differential.

  The golem dragon did not back down when the amethyst dragon lunged at it. It moved forward with its thick and firm metal limbs and charged in response. The giant metal mouth opened to its limits and bit at the amethyst dragon’s head.

  Those rows of sharp metal teeth gleamed with a cold light. From close up, it looked as if a row of hills were crashing down upon you.

  However, the next second, the golem dragon’s head swerved left as the amethyst dragon’s tail whipped across the right of its face.

  The sharp sound of a tail cutting through air rang out loud.

  Chapter 933 - Battle of Dragons

  Rather than physical damage, it was an immense psychological humiliation that had been inflicted upon the golem dragon when the amethyst dragon’s tail hit it.

  The eyes of the previously calm and composed Gonga immediately turned red as he flared with anger.

  Under his berserk control, the golem dragon also turned into a frenzied bull, lunging without any hesitation to bite and tackle the amethyst dragon.

  In response to the golem dragon’s relentless pursuit, the amethyst dragon dodged with agile and graceful movements, while repeatedly using crystal breath to erode the joints of the golem’s frontal limbs.

  The breath of the amethyst dragon was of a unique elementium-corrosion attribute. The Crystallizing Breath could rapidly seep into the target creature’s muscle structure and turn all organic substance in came into contact with into lifeless crystal.

  Such attacks were undoubtedly exceedingly harmful to creatures of flesh and blood!

  Unfortunately, the magical machine golem dragon was an alchemical creation and had no muscle to speak of. Though the magical alloy would also experience some degree of mutation due to corrosion from the breath, the damage was significantly mitigated.

  After seeing no results from his repeated Crystallizing Breaths, Toril immediately switched to magical bombardment.

  The crystal magic that amethyst dragons possessed was more niche magic, and there weren’t very many spells they could use. However, amethyst dragons had unique ways of circumventing the inconvenience. They would search for powerful magical gemstones and embed them onto their scales.

  This way, they would not need to prepare their Dragontongue magic during battle. They only needed to activate the magical gemstones on their bodies to successfully fire powerful elementium spells. It created a special method of combat unique to the amethyst dragons.

  No one saw the amethyst dragon chant anything. It simply wove around the golem dragon’s massive body as several crystalline gemstones on its body lit up, turning into ferocious elementium magic that surged toward the golem dragon.

  The attacks were concentrated, and the target was obvious– the joint of the golem dragon’s right front leg.

  Ice Ring Howl!

  Doomsday Storm!

  Devastating Thunder!

  Inferno Impact!

  Ring of Gravity!

  ……

  High-Grade elementium magic was bombarding the metal leg of the golem dragon at such a close distance. As magically resistant as it was, the magical alloy was damaged to some extent.

  However, the magical golem dragon remained unable to touch the amethyst dragon no matter how it thrashed and snapped.

  The difference in their combat techniques and movement speed was too vast!

  If this situation were allowed to continue, the golem dragon would be slowly toyed to death, even with its impenetrable body. Thus, without any hesitation, Greem and the elementium magical machine attacked the amethyst dragon in unison.

  The Third Grade spells that Greem had currently mastered were probably only enough to scratch an itch for the Fourth Grade amethyst dragon. He was still far off from being able to break through the dragon’s defenses to wound him.

  However, in collaboration with the elementium magical machine, and with both of them each controlling one of the giant cannons on the golem dragon’s back, they could unleash terrifying power.

  Boom! Boom!

  In all honesty, these two shots were really off their mark!

  The direction that the cannons were pointing at was empty before they fired. However, shockingly enough, as the two energy pillars shot forward and intertwined together in midair, the amethyst dragon inexplicably appeared in their path.

  The two seemingly randomly fired energy pillars ‘luckily’ hit the amethyst dragon.

  Unfortunately, just as the pillars of energy were about the make contact, the amethyst dragon’s crystal body twisted abruptly, turning his belly away and causing the beams to graze past his back. Though the blast had missed the front of the body, it had still left horrifying scorch marks and deep gouges on the exquisitely beautiful scales.

  The amethyst dragon howled in agony before escaping the range of the golem dragon’s cannons in a few flickers. It was then that he had the opportunity to inspect the ‘injury’ on his back.

  Rather than an injury, it was more like damage inflicted on the amethyst dragon’s scales!

  The two cannon shots from earlier were far from hurting the amethyst dragon himself. However, the fact that his most treasured protective scales had been so severely devastated undoubtedly infuriated the amethyst dragon, who valued beauty and perfection above all else.

  Toril turned his head, and his glowing eyes locked onto the two humanoids controlling the cannons atop the golem dragon’s back.

  Dammit! It was them!

  They were the ones who had used a strange ability to predict the location of his teleportation and gave him an unexpected blow across the back. Otherwise, a pair of Third Grade gnats wouldn’t even show themselves before him. A single claw for each would be enough to kill them.

  Toril roared furiously in his heart as he controlled his crystallization powers to grow new crystals where the scales had been damaged, hiding the burns and gouges. However, the act of doing so also ruined the perfect, flowing lines of his scales. It only made Toril angrier.

  Without any warning or declarations of death, Toril’s body turned into a beam of light as he charged toward the golem dragon. The golem dragon did not back down either. It opened its mouth and roared as it charged forward with its massive body.

  The two Fourth Grade creatures, one large and one small, instantly clashed with each other.

  Though they were both Fourth Grades and were supposed to have a similar level of Strength, the difference in size and muscle foundations meant a massi
ve gulf in their fundamental Strength. The smaller amethyst dragon was the one that lost in this contest of power.

  A loud, dull thud rang out.

  The golem dragon’s accelerating body suddenly slid backward, its four heavy metal limbs tearing up the ground as it stabilized itself. The vicious horn at the front of its head had snapped in half, and even its skull seemed to have suffered some light distortion.

  In comparison, Amethyst Dragon Toril was in a far more terrible state.

  Cracks had appeared all over its crystalline scale armor, with horrifyingly large gaps visible everywhere. Even Toril himself had been blown over two hundred meters away. In the end, he had to rely on his wings to regain balance and not crash to the ground.

  The amethyst dragon paid no heed to his wounds. He lifted his bloodied head and roared at the golem dragon, “Again!”

  His crystal wings beat wildly as he lurched forward like as a beam of light once again.

  “Hmph, you are sending yourself to your grave!”

  Gonga, who was sitting in a metal chair inside the golem dragon, waved his hands about as he roared. He then straightened the mind-synchronizing helmet on his head and commanded the metal dragon to tackle the enemy again.

  The demands of the battle required Gonga to direct nearly seventy percent of the magic generator furnace’s energy to form an invisible but impenetrable force wall on the dragon’s head. Gonga was confident this would allow them to deal even greater and more terrifying damage to the amethyst dragon in their next clash.

  Greem felt something off about the situation, but he couldn’t pinpoint the specific issue.

  Amethyst Dragon Toril wasn’t supposed to be someone so easily driven mad by anger! Why…why did he choose such a primitive and direct method of confrontation?

  Was there a trick behind this?

  Greem couldn’t help but be moved at the thought of this. He started to make preparations of his own silently.

  As expected, Toril’s crystal wings flared just as the dragons were about to run into each other. His slender and elegant body made a graceful arc as he wrapped around the golem dragon’s vicious horn and flickered above it.

  Just as his perfect body cut across the golem dragon’s back, Toril turned his slender neck and unleashed a short Crystallizing Breath on the two towering figures there.

  As a Fourth Grade, Toril’s Crystallizing Breath was enough to kill an unprepared Third Grade adept, even if it wasn’t fully charged.

  Unfortunately, as sly as he was, Greem was more sly!

  At the instant the dragon’s breath left Toril’s mouth, the elementium magical machine gave up on its cannon and lunged to Greem’s side, protecting him with its own giant body of steel. A barrier then rose from its feet and protected the two of them.

  The breath instantly penetrated the barrier and crashed on the elementium magical machine’s body.

  Its magical alloy quickly showed signs of aging and deterioration, with tiny particles of crystal occasionally appearing here and there. Greem could sense the magical machine’s magical energy fall below half in an instant, with various parts in its body starting to become dysfunctional.

  That said, this was not the time to care about his subordinates.

  Greem roared and turned the cannon abruptly, instantly locking onto the amethyst dragon and smashing the button to fire.

  Apart from providing the telekinetic barrier from earlier, Gru had also silently taken on the task of charging this cannon himself.

  As the cannon trembled, a beam of pure-white energy shot forth, catching up to the amethyst dragon’s gliding body and blasting its back.

  Aooooo!

  A deafening dragon’s roar rang out. Toril had let out his most pitiful cry since the start of the battle. His body tumbled away from the impact of the beam, crashing into the ground and leaving a five-hundred-meter-long ditch before reluctantly stopping.

  The entire battlefield instantly fell silent!

  Chapter 934 - Danger Behind the Scenes

  Smoke rose from the massive crater.

  A burnt and grimy claw dug into the edge of the crater as a vicious and battered dragon’s head appeared above it.

  The elegance and nobility from before the fight had vanished without a trace. Toril stared at that massive metal dragon with red eyes filled with hatred and anger.

  The golem dragon was quickly adjusting its posture and pointing its head toward him once again. Two towering figures still stood above its back. The odd smirk on that human adept’s face felt like daggers in Toril’s heart.

  God could be the witness that Greem had no intention of mocking or making fun of a Fourth Grade dragon. However, at this moment, having been so badly beaten, Toril’s inner mentality was sensitive and fragile. Any change in expression on his enemy’s face would be perceived as an insult and humiliation directed at him.

  Toril let out a silent roar and grabbed the edge of the crater with all his strength. His massive body once again lunged at the enemy as a beam of light.

  If the battle earlier had consisted of kiting and harassment, then now he was putting his very life on the line!

  The cannon blast from earlier had hit Toril on the left of his back, leaving a half-meter-large wound there. A short crystallizing breath had stopped the spurting blood. The growth of crystal clusters inside his wounds was agonizing, but what truly hurt Toril was the very fact that he had been injured.

  He, a proper Fourth Grade amethyst dragon, leader of hundreds of other dragons, was a powerful leader in Lance. Today, he had not only failed to save his subordinates, but he had also allowed an ant-like Third Grade adept to harm his noble and perfect body.

  It was an unbearable humiliation to Toril!

  At this moment, Toril had forgotten all about the benefit of dragonkind or any thoughts of compromise. He had even forgotten about pain, danger, and superficial glory. For the first time ever, he fought with the enemy with all his solemnity and cruelty.

  As Toril faced the situation seriously, the golem dragon’s flaws were quickly exposed.

  It could not fly, and its movements were slow. These weaknesses could be somewhat concealed through proper defensive techniques and relying on a more retaliatory strategy as opposed to taking the offensive.

  However, once the Fourth Grade dragon abandoned his superficial vanity and all useless performances, he became exponentially more dangerous. Again and again, Toril pushed Greem and the golem dragon toward the edge of death.

  If it weren’t for his wariness of the two terrifying cannons, Toril would have leaped on top of the golem dragon’s back and started tearing into its body with his sharp fangs and claws.

  It was like a giant buffalo was battling with an agile raccoon. It didn’t matter how Gonga yelled and shouted, or how the golem dragon lunged and thrashed about; they still could not even touch the amethyst dragon. Toril used his dragon breath, his tail, and his magical gemstones to attack the golem dragon as he rapidly moved about and dodged.

  Greem and the elementium magical machine were controlling the giant goblin cannons and firing as fast as they could, all while trying their best to dodge the dragon breaths that Toril occasionally blew in their direction.

  Meanwhile, Mary chose to circle about the perimeter of the battlefield.

  She also found a chance to assault the amethyst dragon, but she only managed to cast Boiling Blood on one of his wounds before she was forced away by a massive dragon’s breath. It was unknown if her attack had any effect on the amethyst dragon, but the crystallizing breath turned half of her body into clear crystals.

  If she hadn’t escaped fast enough and drank all the blood of a Second Grade dragonborn prisoner on the Mothership, the corroding crystal clusters would have turned her into a human-shaped crystal sculpture.

  The frailty of a Third Grade adept before a Fourth Grade dragon was no more evident than this!

  In all honesty, if it wasn’t for the golem dragon’s forcefield and the elementium magical machi
ne’s selfless protection, Greem might not have lasted as long as Mary did.

  The two parties fought against each other, tearing up the ground and sending tremors into the air. It wasn’t until they had ravaged all the land within fifteen kilometers that there was finally some sort of outcome.

  After this six-hour long battle, Greem had finally obtained the fundamental attributes that he needed.

  Toril. Fourth Grade Amethyst Dragon (Gem Dragon). Male.

  Dragon breath is the more uncommon Crystallizing Breath. Size is relatively light compared to the average dragon. Prefers powerful magical gemstones. Possesses Light Refraction, Visual Avoidance, Attack Deflection, and other combat abilities.

  Bodily Attributes: Strength 44 | Physique 42 | Agility 33 | Spirit 42.

  In comparison, the golem dragon’s attributes were: Strength 48 | Physique 46 | Agility 17 | Spirit 21

  The golem dragon clearly possessed a certain degree of advantage in a contest of Strength and Physique. However, it did not possess the conditions to obtain victory. Moreover, it was outclassed by the amethyst dragon in terms of speed. If it weren’t for the artillery of cannons protecting it, the golem dragon would have long since been torn to scrap by the amethyst dragon.

  As such, the true key to winning this battle was whether the amethyst dragon could tear apart the magic energy cannons and the two giant cannons on the golem dragon while the barrage was restricting its movements.

  Unfortunately, under the full cooperation of Greem and the magical goblins, the Fourth Grade amethyst dragon failed to break the golem dragon’s thick right limb, even after exhausting all of his stamina and consuming all of his dragon’s breath.

  Toril had no choice but to give up on the fight. He resentfully took to the skies, flared his wings, and flew northwest.

  Greem hesitated for a moment but gave up on his thoughts of pursuing the amethyst dragon with the Mothership.

  He might have been greatly weakened, but he was still a Fourth Grade dragon.

  The Mothership could not outspeed the dragon, making it very susceptible to kiting. Moreover, the Mothership’s defenses were not as impenetrable as the golem dragon’s. If the amethyst dragon found a chance to bring down the ship, then all of their efforts for the past month would have been for nothing!