Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  The elementium magical machine charged into the hall without any hesitation as well.

  This hall had once been an armory. However, the equipment and shelves had all been taken away, while a broad and mysterious array had been carved on the ground.

  The mysterious array was still functioning when the elementium magical machine and Greem stepped into the hall.

  Tremendous, sacred holy light power flowed through the array, faintly resonating with the cathedral nearby. The milky-white holy power outlined a mysterious and wondrous array in the air. An indescribably powerful fluctuation would surge out of the array with every revolution it made.

  The elementium magical machine did not feel much when it stood at the edge of the Holy Ward. Greem, on the other hand, felt a trace of chaos break out in the fire energy within his body upon setting foot in the hall. The fire energy was no longer utterly compliant to his every whim and will.

  The other two Silver Knights guarding the hall helped up their limping companion. Their gazes fell upon the ferocious and towering elementium magical machine first before turning to Greem.

  “Who are you? You…who exactly are you?” The tallest Silver Knight asked in a severe tone, clearly confused by Greem’s attire.

  So wordy.

  Greem sighed in annoyance and snapped his fingers.

  “Smash it. Smash it all!”

  Greem could tell that this Holy Ward was entirely powered by high-grade magical creature cores. Of course, the power source also contained the accumulation of hundreds of years of the Chapel’s faith.

  Compared to the World of Adepts, the arrays here were still too crude. A basic defensive array did not even protect them. Of course, it might also be possible that the holy knights had too much faith in their martial prowess and believed that three Silver Knights were enough to defend the Holy Ward.

  If that were the case, then they would be paying a tremendous price for their mistake and oversight!

  The ten-ton elementium magical machine didn’t even need to try. It simply ran inside the Holy Ward, and its heavy steps crushed the weak stone floorboards into pieces.

  With the foundation of the array damaged, the mysterious light formation in the air vanished. Greem instantly felt the fire energy in his body return to normal.

  “Aaaah, you evildoers. How dare you destroy the ward. None of you will leave today.”

  The eyes of the two Silver Knights opened wide in shock when they saw this. They immediately drew their swords and charged into the fight.

  Still dressed in an Iron Knight’s armor, Greem lifted his head and gave them a cold smile. Vicious fire energy once again erupted from his body.

  In the blink of an eye, Greem swelled into a terrifying, six-meter tall flame giant. The armor and clothes on him were instantly vaporized, and the surging flames revolved around his body, their tongues licking away at the top of the ceiling to burn a massive hole into the building.

  A wave of overwhelming aura burst forth from the giant’s body. The two Silver Knights felt like they were walking against a furious current. Even taking a single step toward Greem was difficult and impossible.

  The extreme heat and fearsome flames quickly spread throughout the hall. The clothes and hair of the Silver Knights started to singe and vaporize rapidly. Even with a thick layer of holy light protecting them, they could still feel their exposed skin stinging with pain as they withered and cracked.

  They opened their mouths to scream and yell, but only fire came out from within.

  They wanted to charge and move forward but found it impossible to step a single inch.

  They looked down and saw that their silver boots had melted and merged with the red-hot floorboard beneath them. Their delicate armor and longswords had also turned into semi-liquid metal as if they had been made of wax instead. The equipment no longer even looked the same.

  Just as the Silver Knights screamed in terror, Greem casually hurled a Vicious Fireball their way and killed them in an instant.

  Second Grades; could he not do whatever he wanted against these ordinary and indistinct Second Grades? Moreover, with the enhancement of Sodden’s Holy Ring, every one of Greem’s attacks would be empowered with 400 points of holy damage.

  Such terrifying offensive power was not something that a few Second Grade Silver Knights could hope to endure!

  Whether holy damage could harm holy knights was a non-existent topic of contention.

  Take Greem, for example. He was a fire adept. Could he be utterly immune to fire damage? Could other adepts not harm him with fire spells? Even the very suggestion of the question was an insult against elementium magic!

  As a fire adept, Greem was only more resistant to fire compared to the average adept. If the fire damage of the opponent exceeded his resistance, he would still be wounded by the flames.

  Similarly, the holy knights were only skilled at manipulating and controlling the power of the Holy Light. They still had to endure the corresponding damage of other individual’s holy light attacks. The only difference was the degree of damage that they would endure.

  However, with the might of Greem’s Third Grade Vicious Fireball and the four hundred additional points of holy damage, these Silver Knights were undeniably dead, regardless of what resistances they might have had.

  The shockwave from the fireball’s explosion washed across the entire hall like a crashing wave. Three Silver Knights were reduced to ashes in the waves of fire that came after.

  Just then, a rapid beam of white lightning sliced into the room, slashing an X-shaped opening into the wall of the hall. A towering knight in full body-armor stepped forth, unrestrained fury bursting from the tiny gap in his helmet.

  The strange longsword in his hand was radiating layers of pure, white holy light.

  “Greem.” Clearly, this commander of the holy knights had already known of the fire adept’s name through the mouth of their captive witch.

  “Lambert, I have been waiting a long time for you!” Greem stood tall and pushed down the collapsing walls with his large body.

  Commander Lambert had already predicted this scene happening in front of his eyes ever since the witch was transported to Haisas City. However, the savagery and recklessness of the opponent had far exceeded all his expectations.

  He didn’t understand. Even though they were both Third Grade, what gave the opponent such immense confidence as to break into the headquarters of them holy knights and begin a slaughter?

  Could…could these Third Grade adepts from another world simply be that much stronger than Third Grade Gold Knights?

  However, the Holy Light would never be able to give him a logical explanation.

  Just as Lambert brandished his blinding sword of light and prepared to face this daredevil of an adept, the elementium magical machine roared and charged at him.

  Meanwhile, Greem started to draw fire runes in the air while loudly chanting deafening incantations. As he cast his spell, spatial ripples appeared near his head, forming into a temporary spatial wormhole.

  While Greem was quickly casting his spells, a dozen Silver Knights surrounded him. They ignored the blazing heat of the Burning Domain and charged to his side, wildly hacking away at his wall of Inferno Shields and the two Lava Shields.

  Unfortunately, they couldn’t tear down the shields quick enough!

  As the final incantation completed, the wormhole took shape, and a vicious dragon with bright blue wings appeared before the crowd.

  “Why did you summon me again so quickly, Greem? I haven’t even recovered from my wounds from last time.”

  This thirty-meter-long dragon let out an earthshaking roar once he emerged from the wormhole. His overwhelming aura of dragon’s might spread throughout the Holy Light Chapel.

  Naturally, the natives of Henvic Plane had never seen a living dragon, much less understood the complex and challenging Dragontongue.

  “Hmph! I don’t see you complaining when you reap the benefits, and you push ar
ound whenever I get you to run some small errands. Look for yourself! This is a new city. The quicker you finish, the more time you have to go gather your wealth.” Greem shouted in his giant form.

  “Hmm? A new city. It’s a new city, but it’s not as large as the last one!” With Arms tremendous Spirit, he could easily sense the intensity of life aura within several kilometers.

  His heart bled profusely every time he remembered how he had only raided the city lord’s castle and two to three villas from the previous city before being forcefully sent back to Lance.

  Thus, now that a brand new treasure chest had appeared before him, he couldn’t be more excited!

  Arms roared furiously and opened his maw, unleashing a terrifying storm of lightning onto the battlefield. He then folded his wings and dove at the holy knight commander like a courageous champion.

  Dragontongue magic might be convenient, but his own robust body was more reliable for ending the battle as soon as possible. As for whether a melee might cause him to suffer more wounds…this problem no longer existed in Arms’ greed-filled eyes!

  Chapter 973 - Combat Sense

  Grades didn’t mean everything in the infinite universes!

  It was only a means of differentiating the changes of a species at different levels of strength.

  However, this differentiation of grades became less meaningful when comparing across different species.

  Take the current situation, for example. Even though all the fighters appeared to be Third Grade, an unexpected outcome would present itself if everyone fought with all they had.

  Simply put, Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms utterly eclipsed Gold Knight Lambert in power.

  Both of them relied primarily on their Strength and Physique, with Spirit as their secondary source of power. They used both physical strength and arcane forces in combat. However, Arms thoroughly crushed Lambert in all of these aspects due to his tremendous attributes as a dragon.

  Even though they were both at Third Grade, Arms only needed to pay a small price to exterminate Lambert.

  Meanwhile, Arms had no chance of beating Greem now that he possessed both the Fire Throne set and Sodden’s Holy Ring.

  Taking into consideration the elementium magical machine, Greem even had a significant likelihood of killing this arrogant Third Grade thunder dragon. The reason Arms had been so obedient as of late had much to do with Greem’s rapid growth in power!

  Now the Third Grade thunder dragon and the Third Grade elementium magical machine had joined hands to fight against the holy knight commander. Lambert roared out loud in fury and anger, but there was no changing his situation of being beaten down by his two enemies.

  If it weren’t for the large groups of Second Grade Silver Knights charging into the fray and using their bodies as shields to desperately obstruct the dragon and the machine, Lambert would already be dead.

  Greem did not participate in the fight. Instead, he stood to the side, his blazing eyes sweeping across all the buildings as a hint of disdain glowed through his eyes.

  This Holy Light Chapel had two Third Grades stationed. Yet, only one had arrived. That obviously meant that the other Third Grade knight was waiting in the shadows for a chance to strike. That knight’s target was very likely Greem himself!

  Hehehe. If you won’t come out, then I’ll smoke you out like a rat!

  Greem snickered to himself and immediately started chanting the major spell Summon Flamegate.

  With him, the elementium magical machine, and Arms fighting in the Holy Light Chapel, the place had already been turned into utter chaos and a mess from their sheer size and power. If another horde of terrifying fire creatures were to appear, this battle would be over.

  Just as Greem got halfway through his chant, a white light flashed in the hall behind him. A powerful sword radiance fast as light and white as snow instantly appeared behind him.

  A series of crackling sounds rang out.

  The Inferno Shields and Lava Shields around Greem were all destroyed by this one longsword; it contained tremendous holy power. The longsword sliced against the fire giant’s waist, tearing a one-meter long and half-meter deep gash into the magma armor.

  Red flames spilled forth from the giant’s body, along with boiling lava.

  The athletic figure dodged Greem’s giant hand and sliced upward with his blade, chopping off another two fingers.

  The series of wounds caused Greem to fly into a rage. His Strength and Physique had indeed increased after he turned into a flame giant, but his Agility had also been reduced to an unacceptable level.

  Greem was no longer willing to play a game of cat-and-mouse with his opponent. He lifted his thick blazing leg and stomped against the ground. The next second, a powerful halo of fire erupted around him and spread outward.

  Any living creature within range of the flame halo would be pushed back fifty meters and have to endure 220 points of fire damage.

  Flame Halo of Repulsion!

  It was one of the Third Grade fire spells that Greem had carefully chosen for the Chip’s optimization. It possessed both a damaging and knockback effect, making for a shockingly practical spell in battle.

  The Gold Knight was a fast swordsman specializing in Agility. He immediately retreated upon seeing the halo of fire approach. The Halo of Repulsion remained half a meter from his feet, unable to catch up to his fleetingly fast silhouette.

  After fifty meters, the energy of the wave had worn out and dispersed into singing sparks. The Gold Knight stopped his body and once again charged toward Greem like a flash of lightning.

  Even though he would have to endure the fire by diving into the sea of flames, the resistance of a Third Grade Gold Knight allowed him to cut a few more wounds on Greem’s body before his protective holy light was burned through.

  At their level, attempting to win against an enemy without sustaining damage was nearly impossible. Most of the time, it was a matter of who was more ruthless.

  As long as you are more heavily injured than me, as long as I can recover faster than you, then that will be enough!

  However, what Kennet never expected was that this otherworldly fire adept he was fighting was no ordinary adept. The adept was a melee adept who was capable of competing at close range as well.

  With the Fire Molding ability of the Emblem of Fire, Greem could compress and reduce his size, turning himself into a terrifying three-meter-tall humanoid bursting with bright yellow flames. A fire shield formed in his left hand and a fire lance in his right. He gave Kennet no opportunity to close the distance, immediately launching the lance at the knight.

  All of the material world vanished from Greem’s sight, instead replaced by patches of color in various shapes and sizes. With his Elementium Sight, Greem could directly see the flow of magical elementium. He could vaguely make out the distribution of power within his opponent’s body.

  Spots of red light in different sizes and intensities were scattered across Knight Kennet’s body, mostly concentrated around his legs, chest, and right wrist. These spots were not unmoving and unchanging. Instead, they were continually shifting slightly with every stance and movement that the Gold Knight made.

  When Kennet planted his foot against the ground and mysteriously changed trajectory, the red light on his legs was practically blinding. When Kennet charged to Greem’s side to attack, the right wrist by which he held his sword would let forth a powerful light.

  However, Greem paid the most attention to the massive white light on Kennet’s chest.

  Countless white threads extended from that white light, connecting all of his limbs and organs throughout the body. It was the white light that supported Kennet and allowed him to maintain his phantasmally quick movements.

  With the aid of the Chip, Greem was able to defend against the attacks of this agile knight through analysis of the flow of power within the knight’s body. Greem would always be able to predict the strange and sudden movements of the knight ahead of time. If Kennet’s
Agility had not exceeded Greem by so much, he would probably have been wounded by the fire lances.

  It was the combat support system that Greem and the Chip had produced after much thought and refinement.

  According to Greem’s initial plans, this system should have at least helped him obtain perfect control over the battlefield. It didn’t matter how many enemies there were or how powerful they were. Their power could not be present everywhere and at every moment. Greem could move freely across the battlefield by seeing through the state of the combat and predicting it ahead of time.

  He could move to where the enemy’s power was the weakest–move to where the enemy could not exert control–before closing in and slaying the enemy on the spot with the lowest risk possible and with the least amount of energy required.

  It was a good thought, but the reality was much harsher!

  Controlling the battlefield required one to have a perfect grasp of the enemy’s dynamic movements. The Chip’s ability was enough against ordinary people. However, when dealing with an opponent at the same grade or above, the Chip had a tremendous amount of work to do. It needed energy vision, elementium sight, remote distance sensing, dynamic movement capturing, and a series of other abilities to support its calculations, not to mention the massive amount of calculation itself.

  The use of all these abilities exhausted Greem tremendously.

  His current Spirit could not support the use of so many analytical abilities. At the very least, Greem could not do so in the heat of battle.

  Rather, the Chip could not do it!

  The Chip could provide simple elementium sight and energy vision at the moment. However, it could not entirely capture the dynamic movements of the opponent. After all, enemies of higher grades tended to have exceptionally sharp and immediate responses. They would instantly correct their combat strategy once they discovered Greem changing his own combat stances and attack patterns.

  When the Chip calculated the enemy’s next position and attack, it not only had to calculate all sorts of factors such as Strength, Physique, Spirit, battle conditions, and battle environments, but it also had to calculate the enemy’s potential reaction to Greem’s adjusted movements.