“Chip, can you confirm their identities? Are they holy knights or adepts?” Greem asked solemnly.
In all honesty, Greem would rather fight against two Third Grade natives than one Third Grade adept. After all, the spells of the adepts were far too complex and mysterious. Most of the time, even if an adept was stronger than another adept, it was still possible for them to lose their lives to some particularly sinister spells.
The Chip quickly displayed the final image captured by the wind spirit before its death. It also started to zoom in on the image.
The appearance that had initially been obscured by the dark shadow of the hood slowly became clearer as the image was enlarged.
It was the face of a pretty, seductive woman. She had beautiful features and smooth skin. The red that ran beneath her face showed her bountiful life force. Even the fine hairs on her skin appeared to be even and smooth, without a single imperfection. However, what drew Greem’s attention wasn’t her beauty, but her glowing eyes and the strange crystal on her forehead.
After repeatedly examining and appreciating this pretty face, Greem’s heart became heavy with concern.
Adepts. There was no doubt. They were definitely adepts from the World of Adepts!
A few more enemies aiming to kill him had broken into Henvic Plane. Moreover, the mastermind behind all this might still be planning to stuff even more hunters into this plane!
The exposed witch had to be Third Grade. Judging from how her abilities functioned, she appeared to be a psionic– a special adept profession that could use mental and spiritual magic.
However, were the other two Third Grades, or Fourth Grades? If they were Third Grades, then what were their abilities?
Greem, who had been getting a little carried away over his bountiful spoils, was immediately put in an uneasy mood by these sudden enemies.
The enemies had already started exterminating the scouts he had placed outside. Moreover, given the direction they were coming from, they were traveling from Hakans; one of them had to be an expert at tracking.
It seemed like a battle against them in the future might be unavoidable!
After wrapping up his thoughts, Greem immediately started packing up and preparing to run.
Chapter 962 - Fleeing Five Hundred Kilometers
The same path in the forest.
The bright light from Benija’s purple eyes slowly faded away as an intangible mental flux spread outward with her at its center.
“What is it? Did you discover anything?” Serpentine Adept Natagu was walking at the forefront. He stopped his footsteps and asked softly.
Benija had the strongest Spirit of the team. Thus, she understandably became the guide and scout of the party. The reason they had managed to track Greem all the way from Hakans to here was due to Benija’s strange mental sensing ability.
“I just exterminated a wind elemental. It didn’t seem like a wild elemental, so it’s very likely a monitor the target placed there.” Benija replied quickly while her mental flux still quietly scanned for all movement around her.
Nothing on the entire path, be they squirrels or birds hiding within tree hollows, or snakes and rats crouching beneath the dirt, could hide from Benija’s mental senses.
Any creature that still had life signs in the area would appear in her mental consciousness as unique points of light. Benija chose to ignore those extremely tiny dots. Meanwhile, her mental flux would cause the larger creatures to avoid their strange party unknowingly.
The world in Benija’s purple eyes was pretty, swirling, and colorful. Apart from the material image before her, she could see the distribution and flow of magical elementium in the air through her elementium sight.
The fire adept had come through here two days ago; it was obvious from the density of the faint red fire elementium particles left in the air. Elementium adepts were massive elementium reactors, after all. Even if they tried their best to restrain their energy radiation, they would still change the elementium particle density of the places they traveled through.
That was why Benija could see a faint red ribbon stretching all the way from Hakans into the distance. The path the fire adept had taken was as bright as a bonfire in the night to her. She couldn’t even overlook it if she tried.
In fact, through the fire elementium particles left in the air, Benija could faintly estimate the fire adept’s basic power, condition, and rough emotional state.
It seemed the fire adept had obtained a plentiful bounty from the local city. Even the fire elementium particles he left behind carried a faint trace of joy and excitement. Through the aura of the particles, Benija could genuinely tell that this was a young adept full of talent, whose body contained fiery and vicious power.
He was young, very young. He was so young that it even exceeded Benija’s expectations.
The elementium aura he left behind carried with it the warm taste of youth, so dense that it made Benija envious. It was like the sweet and enticing smell of a newborn baby!
“You mean the enemy has already discovered us?” Natagu’s ghostly green eyes stared coldly at Benija. She felt as if her entire body had been wrapped in the slimy, cold forked tongue of a snake. It was a terrible sensation!
“Yes. When I crushed that wind elemental, I vaguely felt a strange spiritual energy watching over us. However, this spiritual energy doesn’t seem to belong to a lifeform, which is what is throwing me off.” Benija bit her lower lip and replied in frustration.
“Hmph! It might be one of that fire adept’s magical techniques!” Natagu said coldly, “The Lady’s information did state that he excelled at golem creation. He is always followed by powerful elementium golems at the same grade as himself. It seems like we are getting very close to his hiding spot! Let’s go; pick up the pace. Don’t let him escape!”
The old, hunchbacked witch Guinevere lifted her head and sniffed the air before shaking her head in disappointment. It appeared the fire adept had not released the Spirit of Pestilence. Otherwise, she should have been able to smell that unique elementium aura that belonged to a Spirit like that.
The three had a simple discussion but did not delay for long before continuing their pursuit.
…………
Inside a vast and massive forest.
Greem stood on a tall cliff peeking above the sea of trees and gazed into the distance.
A massive mushroom cloud of fire was rising there, accompanied by a rumbling halo of dirt and dust that was spreading outward.
“How is it, Chip. Did you detect anything?” Greem asked silently in his mind.
[Beep. Strange energy has engulfed the trap area. Unable to detect specific bodily attributes.]
The Chip’s feedback undoubtedly disappointed Greem. He couldn’t help but follow up with another question, “No specific bodily attributes, but what about their rough energy level? There should be a rough estimate for whether they are Third Grade or Fourth Grade, isn’t there?”
[Third Grade. Judging by the intensity of the energy feedback from the trap area, there is no Fourth Grade energy reaction present. The three target creatures are currently estimated to be Third Grade. Accuracy of judgment is 76%. More data required for correction.]
“Finally, good news!” Greeem licked his lips and narrowed his eyes, “As long as there isn’t a Fourth Grade, I won’t be afraid, no matter how many Third Grades there are. The worst case is all of us playing a game of hide-and-seek in here! I don’t believe that they will risk the danger of attracting a Fourth Grade native to fight me to the death.”
Flames erupted around Greem, and he appeared a few hundred meters away in the air. The fire around him formed into a pair of wings, carrying his body as he flew across the sky. After just two hundred meters, Fire Teleportation came off cooldown, and Greem’s blazing body flickered away once again.
This alternating use of Fire Teleportation and Wings of Fire allowed Greem to make his way to the southwest of the Zambez Empire as fast as possible.
The citizens living in this ancient kingdom finally had the luck to witness the terror of an otherworldly adept!
The Zambez Empire, in the northwest region.
The sky appeared as if it was burning, the roiling clouds of fire staining it a bright red color.
The sound of thundering flames could be heard everywhere.
Greem flew through the sky several hundred meters above the ground, flickering forward every five seconds. The red and radiant Wings of Fire left a path of blazing clouds behind him. Every time he teleported, a slowly spreading halo of fire would be left on the spot.
To travel as fast as he could, Greem no longer cared if his actions disrupted the civilians below. He drew upon the Flame Fiend’s Heart as hard as he could, causing it to ferociously beat and howl as it sent pure fire energy to every part of his body.
The fire energy that surged through his body possessed temperatures up to three to four thousand degrees. The energy level was also terrifyingly high. Even so, the maximum output of the Flame Fiend’s Heart was still barely enough to support Greem’s wild actions.
After traveling for seven hundred kilometers, Greem finally found a massive lake and dove into it.
…………
Cascara Lake.
It was the largest lake in the central region of the Zambez Empire, with the clearest waters and the most bountiful aquatic resources.
The coursing River Bain and the Fenris River that wound throughout a good half of the Empire met here, forming a region of lake and marsh that stretched for dozens of kilometers.
As this was the inner region of the Empire, it had not experienced a baptism of fire and blood in hundreds of years. Even the witch invasion in the south of the Empire had not had any effect here.
As they say, you eat by where you live!
Most of the civilians here were fishermen. Though their daily routine was hard work, it was still a much more peaceful and casual life than those who lived in the borderlands, where fire and war were constant.
Even though this place did not have the prosperity or liveliness of a large city, it had its own unique peace and quiet.
However, today, massive clouds of fire had started burning on the distant horizon, accompanied by deafening and continuous rumbling.
A gigantic flaming meteor cut across the sky and crashed into the depths of Cascara Lake.
The fearsome flame shockwave clashed with the pillars of water that had been blown into the air, causing steam to cover much of the lake. As the lake started to boil, countless half-cooked silver barracuda floated to the surface of the water. Meanwhile, the strange meteor had already sunk to the bottom of the lake.
Countless people who made a living in Cascara Lake had personally witnessed this apocalyptic scene, but their primitive and humble minds could not comprehend what terrors that lay behind it.
Half an hour later, Greem walked out of the lake from a spot where the seaweed grew in dense patches, his entire body steaming as he did so. He had not taken two steps onto the shore, yet his robes were already dry from the fire elementium’s heat.
Greem turned and looked at the path he had taken as a wicked smile appeared on his young and handsome face.
He had traveled so brazenly and recklessly across the Empire. What would the three hunters choose to do?
Would they do as he did and charge across the country? Or would they sprint across the land on their own two feet with faces filled with resentment? Neither option was a choice they would like to make.
Even with his power, Greem couldn’t help but feel a wave of exhaustion after fleeing such a long distance in a single journey.
He quickly restrained the fire energy he was radiating and disguised himself as an ordinary traveler before turning and walking to the east of Carasca Lake.
According to information that the Chip had gathered, there was a human city of moderate size there. It was perfect for hiding his tracks and collecting information on the witches.
Chapter 963 - The Tragic Katherine
The City of Zola.
It was a moderate-sized city with a population of more than fifty thousand. It mainly traded in sea products from the nearby Cascara Lake, transporting the products to every part of the Zambez Empire through the convenient rivers and streams that ran near the city.
That was why when Greem arrived at the commercial road leading to Zola, he discovered that all the carriages traveling on it were transporting boxes upon boxes of fish.
Greem had used magic to change his appearance to better disguise himself.
He put away his eye-catching adept’s robe and equipment and wore simple leather armor and pants. A two-handed longsword was slung over his shoulder, and a gray traveler’s cloak was draped around him, making him look like an adventurer that was walking through the lands.
His appearance had also been changed slightly. His dark red hair and black eyes had all vanished, making him look about the same as the civilians of the Empire.
He casually stopped a merchant party traveling along the road and bought his way onto their wagons with two silver coins. He then squeezed beside Old Tom, the driver of the wagon full of fish, as they slowly continued to ride towards the city in the distance.
As Zola slowly approached, the wagons and pedestrians on the commercial road started to grow in number.
In the dense traffic, traveling merchants and coachmen that passed by each other shouted and hollered to the others, greeting them warmly like they had known each other for years.
However, five kilometers away from Zola City, the thunderous stomping of hooves rang out in front of the crowd.
The wagons and pedestrians on the road hastily dodged aside, allowing the silver-armored knights to charge past them with their tall horses, leaving a trail of dust in the air.
Though the travelers and merchants had panicked at the appearance of the silver-armored knights, none of them complained about it. Instead, they returned to the road after the knights had passed and softly started to discuss the reason for the knights’ haste.
“It must be because of the strange incident at Cascara Lake.” Old Tom waved the whip in his hand and mumbled softly, “It has to be; such a terrifying thing happened there. Those sir knights must have been going there to investigate!”
“The strange incident at Cascara Lake?” Greem asked in confusion.
“You don’t know? Judging from where you came from, aren’t you returning from Cascara Lake? Could you…could you not have seen the scary flaming rock that fell from the sky yesterday?” Old Tom had a look of disbelief on his face.
“Oh, you’re talking about that rock! Such things aren’t all that strange or unusual. There’s no need to make such a big deal out of it.” Greem replied with ease.
“You’re an adventurer. These things might not seem amazing to you after traveling from south to north and east to west, but I, Old Tom, have lived in Zola City for over thirty years. This is the first time I’ve seen something so scary. You might not have seen what happened with your own eyes. After that fiery rock landed, a good half of the lake’s surface started boiling. The dead fish and prawns that floated up to the top were so dense that it was horrifying.” Old Tom was a pretty talkative person. He couldn’t stop once he started chatting about the strange thing that happened yesterday, and it seemed like he wanted to take out everything he knew of the incident.
Greem also chatted with him, throwing in a question or comment every so often. However, his thoughts drifted to the holy knights that had just ridden past them. There had been six First Grade Iron Knights, but not even a single Second Grade Silver Knight. Greem couldn’t help but become less excited over the Holy Light Chapel in Zola.
Greem didn’t mind making a huge commotion again if the Holy Light Chapel of Zola was sufficiently large. However, if it were too small in scale, it wouldn’t be worth exposing his identity and his trail.<
br />
…………
Natagu was in a terrible mood at the moment!
The Lady had already warned him multiple times how difficult it was to deal with the fire adept. She had told him to be as careful as he could be, but Natagu had remained confident due to their superior numbers.
However, his thought of having a pleasant hunt was shattered by the cruel reality before half a day had even passed.
That damned bastard had escaped in such a brazen and arrogant manner. It was obviously challenging his tolerance and patience.
Just as he was about to erupt with anger and chase after him in the same brazen manner, a short message for help caused him to calm down.
The message had been sent by the mechanical witch, Katherine, who had left on her own. The message was short. It was just two words: save me. Natagu and the others could not get a response when they tried to contact her after that.
What had happened to Katherine?
The three adepts that had just arrived on Henvic couldn’t help but start wondering.
Supposedly, a Third Grade adept should be virtually unstoppable in a lower plane like Henvic. In their eyes, as long as they didn’t run into those few terrifying Fourth Grades, the other Third Grade holy knights were no more than ‘fake paladins’ that did not have the protection of a god!
The so-called holy knights might seem powerful, with their high-grade knight battle techniques and holy light divine spells that made them resemble spellcasters. They were skilled at both melee and close range, and they were learned in both the martial and mystical arts. However, in the eyes of the adepts, they were classic jacks-of-all-trades. They were ‘trash professions’ that were neither experts at magic nor physical fighting.
Moreover, all four of the adepts that had arrived in Henvic were combat adepts. Every one of them was a hunter back in the World of Adepts. Would they run into danger in this lower plane with their power? Blade Princess Katherine could probably fight her way out of a circle of several Third Grade knights and escape even if she were caught in one to begin with!
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