Perhaps because she sensed Greem’s impatience, Oliven put on a frustrated and troubled expression, before finally speaking, “Greem…Lord Greem, I wish…I wish to have that Third Grade water dragon.”
As expected, she was here for the water dragon.
Greem could tell that Oliven had reached a bottleneck at peak Second Grade. Any further improvement required unique methods. The adepts could advance by using the knowledge passed down by their ancestors, but dragon devourers had to use the bloodline of the dragons if they wanted to advance.
Demanding that Oliven hunt a Third Grade dragon on her own with her current ability was undoubtedly asking for too much.
That was why Oliven couldn’t help but get excited when she saw the clan take down a Third Grade dragon. That said, suddenly bringing up such a request with her current relationship to the Crimson Clan was a bit too abrupt.
Greem chuckled coldly.
“Oliven, it’s been a few decades since you joined the Crimson Clan. I wonder, what can you offer in exchange for this Third Grade water dragon?”
“Thirty…thirty thousand magical crystals, and…and two thousand contribution points.” Oliven stuttered.
As a Second Grade dragon devourer who had spent a few decades in the clan, this small amount of wealth was more than an indication of her lack of active participation in clan matters.
“Thirty thousand magical crystals and two thousand contribution points. Hehehe, Oliven, do you know the base price of this Third Grade water dragon?” The smile on Greem’s face turned even colder, “Its dragonsoul might have dispersed, but its base price is still well above two million magical crystals. With what little you have…”
Perhaps knowing that her request was too extreme, Oliven gritted her teeth and said, “Lord Greem, I know I have not been performing too well in the past few years. However, if you give me this water dragon and allow me to advance to Third Grade, I promise…I promise to be as obedient as Lady Mary. I will do anything you tell me to!”
“Anything I tell you to?” Greem raised an eyebrow.
“Anything you tell me! “Oliven straightened her slender and tall body once more as she repeated with firm conviction.
Greem chuckled, “You do know that Mary and I have more than an ordinary relationship. Can you do this as well? ”
“I can!” Oliven spoke with iron certainty, “Anything she can do, I can do.”
Greem smiled at the sight of Oliven, offering up her person. He extended a right hand and slowly moved it toward Oliven’s heaving chest, wrapped under the leather suit.
Oliven’s body trembled as she gritted her teeth. However, she did not avoid Greem’s touch and watched in anxiety as the male adept’s hand got closer and closer to her breasts.
Just as the two were about to make contact, Greem had a thought. His hand shifted directions, and he abruptly took off Oliven’s mask, causing her to gasp softly.
What a hideous face was hidden beneath that mask!
A large mouth that went across her entire cheek was opened slightly, revealing the white, sharp fangs within. The teeth were like daggers spread across her jaw, vicious and terrifying.
Where the nose was supposed to be was just smooth flesh, with no sign of a nose.
If the mask were not taken off, Oliven’s eyebrows and face alone would make her an incredible human beauty. However, take away the mask, and the human beauty instantly became a terrifying monster with a face too horrifying to behold.
Such a sight could not faze Greem after so many years of training.
He had dissected plenty of magical creatures and humanoid plants. Every one of them was a monster amongst monsters and a magical creature among magical creatures. They were not only hideous but strange, weird, and possessed bizarre organs and disgusting bodily liquids.
As such, Oliven’s true face only surprised him slightly, rather than scaring him.
Moreover, Greem could very clearly see that Oliven’s appearance as a human had been fairly decent.
However, this unique path of the dragon devourers to improve their abilities had caused some uncontrollable mutation and corruption of her body. These changes could undoubtedly increase her lethality against dragons from all aspects, but it also unavoidably brought her further and further away from her human origins.
It wasn’t just Oliven. Even among the high-grade adepts of the World of Adepts, individuals who retained their human forms were a small minority. Most of the high-grade adepts had all sorts of monstrous and strange appearances.
After all, the body of a human was too weak and frail. The upper limit of power that it could contain and endure was far, far too low. If a high-grade adept were too attached to his human body, then his basic power would be weaker than his companion of the same grade who had undergone changes.
It was a universal truth known in the World of Adepts!
Once Greem was done looking at her face, Oliven put on her black mask once again and covered her inhuman features.
“This is all I can offer you. However, I can sign a soul contract with you. As long as you give me the Third Grade water dragon, I will listen to everything you tell me after I advance to Third Grade!” With her greatest secret exposed, Oliven stopped holding back and seriously offered up her conditions.
Trading a dead Third Grade water dragon for a possible Third Grade dragon devourer; it seemed like a fairly good deal.
However, it would not be acceptable if Oliven continued to behave as she had before, without putting in effort in her contributions!
Greem waved his hand in the air without any hesitation and drew several fire runes of various shapes. These fire runes floated in the air between them, bumping into each other as they wandered about. Finally, they pieced together to form a strange magical contract.
“Take a look at this contract, and sign it if you think it’s fair. Once you’ve signed the contract, I will find you a suitable Third Grade dragon!” Greem said casually.
He was an actual Third Grade adept now. Weaving a magical contract like this with a wave of his hands was a simple matter. This contract might seem simple, but it contained all sorts of magical knowledge he had obtained from other worlds. It had incredible soul-binding abilities. Thus, he did not need to worry about Oliven going against her word after advancing to Third Grade.
Oliven gazed at the contract with anxious feelings. She did not recognize most of the fire runes here. However, wherever her eyes landed, the contents and details of the rune she looked upon would unfold like a book.
There was no need to recognize the runes, nor to decipher them, as the information contained in each one flowed into her mind directly.
The conditions of the contract were just as she had described. The Crimson Clan would provide her with a Third Grade dragon such that she may advance to Third Grade. Upon advancing to Third Grade, she would have to devote herself wholeheartedly to the service of the Crimson Clan for two hundred years.
These conditions sounded harsh, but Oliven was overjoyed.
She had been in the World of Adepts for so many years that she was well-acquainted with how the adepts did things.
There would never again be a second adept clan that would offer her such excellent and lenient conditions.
It caused Oliven to be unbelievably glad. She had already made up her mind to grit her teeth and accept any unreasonable condition that Greem would throw at her.
After all, with her talent, her lifespan would be extended by a minimum of six to seven hundred years upon advancing to Third Grade. Taking out two hundred years from that to work for the Crimson Clan didn’t seem all that unacceptable!
Oliven immediately cut her finger and left her soul brand on the magical contract.
Chapter 937 - Successful Rescue
World of Adepts, White Tower.
Fourteenth floor.
While the adepts of the Crimson Clan were celebrating at the banquet on the lowest floor, the most powerful adepts of the clan were gathe
red here, silently waiting for Greem’s delegation of tasks.
The metal cell had been transported here and had been placed in the center of a magical hall.
It was a large, round hall.
The insides were utterly empty, just the way casters liked it, and was so tall and wide that it was impressive.
The tall ceiling was hidden in a patch of darkness, while a gentle yet bright light illuminated the space near the ground.
Countless runic lines that resembled blood vessels extended all over the ground and the walls, seemingly chaotic and disorderly, yet hiding some profound and mysterious law amongst them. Countless magical runes of various forms, patterns of different sizes, and words of multiple shapes weaved together, forming a mysterious yet incredibly vast runic light array.
Greem stood tall before the metal cell, waving his hands and using his authority as the master of the tower to weave a mysterious three-dimensional network.
Naturally, Greem himself could not accomplish such a feat.
However, with the assistance of the Chip, a task like this that demanded a tremendous number of calculations and effort was completed in the blink of an eye.
Under Greem’s artistic control, strands of energy connected with the White Tower’s energy system. All sorts of magical power surged through these circuits, overwhelming and unstoppable.
The magical energy would cause countless unique and small magical marks to be born whenever they passed through a magical nexus. These magical marks would circle about in swarms, gathering into mysterious runes. These runes would then arrange themselves once more according to a specific pattern and form hundreds of barrier spaces.
These magical marks would then further merge, assimilating perfectly through the layers of runes and barriers and connecting and supporting one another. In the end, the marks would connect all of the magic lines in the room, turning into one single entity than enveloped the hall, while connected with the massive arrays spread all over the tower itself.
Mary, Arms, Iritina, Oliven, Snowlotus, the two blood knights, and three blood elves all watched Greem wave his hands with expressions of shock and admiration. For the first time, they experienced the might of a high-grade adept.
If they were the ones who had to construct such an array, it would have taken them at least several weeks. Yet, their clan leader had managed to build it in a mere hour, all by himself.
It was simply unbelievable!
Snowlotus was a bit better. Having come from a major clan of the Northern Witches, she could almost understand most of the content. The others had already given up on deciphering the contents of the array, having experienced headaches and dizziness just at the sight of it. They only knew that the aura of the array was getting stronger and more elaborate.
The only one amongst them who could provide Greem with some degree of help was the elementium fairy, Helen.
As such, Greem left the construction of most of the energy circuits and magical nodes to Helen, while he focused on the core components of the array.
The most crucial aspect of this rescue operation was to deny the shadow dragon any time or opportunity to harm Alice. That was why Greem so patiently constructed this unusual sealing array.
He had to release the seal to rescue Alice. However, releasing the seal also meant that the shadow dragon would regain his freedom.
If a Third Grade shadow dragon went berserk with his strength within the tower, it would require the power of everyone here to keep him suppressed.
That was also why Greem was treating this matter with such seriousness and solemnity!
Greem and the Chip concocted this method of rescuing Alice. It was highly feasible, but it required the full cooperation of everyone present.
“You all remember what I told you earlier?” Greem once again looked at the subordinates gathered around him after he finished constructing the sealing array.
Mary, Arms, and Iritina, the three primary forces in this operation, stood forward and nodded silently.
Greem used his Spirit to check the array thoroughly. After confirming that there were no problems, he waved his hand and severed the energy system of the array within the metal cell.
Ka ka ka!
The metal cell trembled and shook violently as the flow of spacetime that had been sealed for so long once again returned to normal.
Shadow Dragon Atlan and Alice, whose consciousnesses and thoughts had been sealed at that very instant, ‘woke up’ at the same time. From their perspective, it was like taking a quick nap and waking after a brief moment.
Black smoke rose around Atlan, and his tremendous shadow power bound and constrained Alice’s movements. His heavy claw then smashed down toward Alice’s head like a giant mountain.
With his power and speed, saving Alice was nearly an impossible task!
However, just as his black claw was about to land, an immaterial crimson silhouette flickered, and Alice vanished without a trace from the shroud of smoke.
The claw landed, and the smoke dispersed, but there was no sound of splattering blood or broken bones.
Naturally, with his spiritual senses, Atlan would not be tricked by the sight before him. His shadow power trembled, and he immediately dragged Mary out of hiding, despite her having escaped ten meters away with Alice.
“How dare you! Die!”
Though Atlan was confused at what was happening around him, he would never let a mere Third Grade weakling like this escape with his prey. Atlan opened his mouth and abruptly let out a deafening dragon’s roar. An overwhelming aura of might washed outward, instantly stunning Mary and Alice, bringing them to the brink of unconsciousness.
Atlan then extended his tail and swept forward, intending to exterminate these two annoying gnats in a single strike.
However, just as his tail lashed forward, two equally loud roars rang at close distance. Arms and Iritina shot forward, using their muscular bodies to block the shadow dragon’s attacks.
A thunder dragon and an emerald dragon?
The two new opponents that had suddenly appeared befuddled Atlan. Still, his tremendous Spirit scanned across the hall, and he instantly understood the situation he was in.
He was no longer on the battlefield from before.
Judging from the situation and the location, he was very likely trapped in the enemy’s lair.
Backed into a corner, the shadow dragon immediately unleashed his most vicious and violent attacks. A sea of shadow substance surged from his body as if threatening to submerge the magical hall in an instant.
Atlan wasn’t a fool either.
He had immediately understood his situation after a single spiritual scan. Naturally, what was left was to use everything at his command to break through the siege and escape.
This entire space had been wholly locked and sealed by the enemy. Not only could he not sense the existence of space powers, but he also could not even detect the Shadow Plane that he relied so heavily upon. Atlan started to wildly corrode the barrier space with his shadow powers, even as he battled with the two dragon traitors lunging at him.
As long as he could create a small hole in the space here, he would be able to use his immense shadow powers to escape into the Shadow Plane.
When that happened, even a Fourth Grade powerhouse would not be able to catch him in there.
Unfortunately, all of his actions and thoughts were well within the Chip’s predictions.
In the few short seconds Arms and Iritina occupied Atlan, Oliven abruptly appeared at Mary’s side. She used her sharp fingers to sever the rope-like shadow powers and dragged Mary and Alice out of the metal cell.
In the blink of an eye, Atlan, Arms, and Iritina were the only ones left in the metal cell.
“Arms, retreat now!”
Greem controlled the sealing array and had it slowly close as he ordered the elementium magical machine to stand by the entrance to the cell.
Iritina was the first to emerge from the cell.
Though the fight only lasted mere moments, her emerald-green scales had turned much darker. Several parts of her body were shrouded in lingering black smoke, causing her scales and flesh to sizzle.
Meanwhile, Thunder Dragon Arms was crackling with lightning. Arcs of lightning and thunder clashed with the roiling black smoke, corroding and destroying one another.
He had tried escaping the metal cell several times now, but Shadow Dragon Atlan always obstructed him and forced him to continue fighting. Iritina became enraged at the sight of this and turned to charge back into the cell. However, Greem stopped her before she could do so.
“Don’t go. Let the elementium magical machine do it!”
Under Greem’s orders, the towering machine stepped forward and extended its hands. Two thick and furious jets of fire instantly ignited the space within the cell.
This attack was an indiscriminate blast of fire!
Shadow Dragon Atlan wasn’t the only one howling in agony. Even Arms was being scorched and burned terribly by the flames.
With the shadow dragon forced back by the fire, Arms managed to stumble out of the cell. The elementium magical machine stood his ground at the entrance, pushing back the shadow dragon’s charges over and over with its streams of fire.
Thus, the massive sealing array within the metal cell was once again activated amidst the shadow dragon’s cries of despairs. Atlan was successfully sealed once more.
Greem and the others had possessed no way of dealing with the shadow dragon before this, as Alice was within the cell as well. Now that Alice had been rescued and the shadow dragon sealed once more, they had countless ways and methods of dealing with him.
After successfully sealing the dragon and having the elementium magical machine guard the cell, Greem finally had the chance to approach the three girls in the corner of the hall.
Alice’s Spirit and stamina were clearly at their limits after such a long period of imprisonment.
She was crouching on the ground, her face pale and haggard.
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