Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  A Third Grade witch!

  And a witch that specialized at poison!

  Remi analyzed and determined the identity of the opponent in no time at all.

  After all, they both used poison. That familiar scent could be smelled from hundreds of meters away.

  “Kehkehkeh. To think, it was a contracted spirit that had evolved to Third Grade. I’m in luck. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You’ve even developed conscious sentience. It seems that little brat didn’t hold back on investing in you, did he?!” The old witch laughed sinisterly and started mumbling to herself as if Remi was not a threat at all.

  She might be the only person here, but Remi was leading a small ‘army’ of his own. Yet, she still behaved as if victory was assured. It was pretty simple, really. This army of zombies had not truly taken shape yet.

  A group of apprentice-level zombies and a dozen First Grade wights were no threat at all to a Third Grade poison witch like herself. They wouldn’t be a threat still, even if they grew to ten times their current number.

  A Third Grade adept was no longer a being that could be worn down by mere numbers.

  Killing any Third Grade required the proper conditions, geography, and a sufficiently large army of fodder. All three were necessary.

  Meanwhile, the might of the Spirit of Pestilence itself was nothing in the eyes of the Third Grade poison witch. If it weren’t for her distasteful preference for torturing her enemies, Guinevere would have already struck at the Spirit of Pestilence.

  Dammit. It was a poison witch!

  “Hello, is something of the matter?” A sweet smile appeared on Remi’s dark green face. He blinked with his pale green eyes and looked at the old witch intently, seemingly full of curiosity.

  As he spoke, a cluster of terrifying and tiny plague spores spread into the air, so minuscule they could not be seen with the naked eye. The spores quickly moved toward the witch, like invisible ink.

  Two hundred meters was just a matter of six to seven seconds for strange plague spores like these!

  “Heheh. Brat, trying to act cute in front of me, are you? Well then, let me show you the might of my poison techniques.” The old witch laughed sinisterly.

  Remi’s green eyes saw a similarly invisible cloud of poison mist spread from the witch’s body, quickly colliding with his plague spores.

  The two previously invisible poison clouds immediately appeared in midair. They tore at each other, devouring and consuming the other like two fighting beasts, trying their best to corrupt the other into their own.

  The two clouds of poison mists were only clashing between Remi and the witch, but as time passed and the winds blew across the air, they started to spread outward until they covered the entire plains.

  They bubbled and trembled, corrupting each other, devouring each other.

  The poison zombies and wights caught in the mists immediately became the central battlefield where the poisons fought for dominance. Large areas of rot appeared on the body of any zombie that was caught in the fog, despite their tough skin. It was almost as if they had been corroded by acid, revealing their still-fresh flesh beneath the withered skin.

  The two clouds of poison mists flew into a frenzy when they sensed the presence of blood and flesh. They surged into the bodies of the zombies, fighting for control in every muscle, nerve, and organ.

  Whenever one side obtained an advantage, they quickly spread outward, turning more flesh and bone into their own kind. Black smoke rose from the orifices of the zombies, and their bodies quickly started to rot and decay.

  In the blink of an eye, a zombie of apprentice level was reduced to a pile of spotted and corroded bones.

  The newly gathered poison mists would join the fray, strengthening the might of their own side.

  These poison mists were like the most oil-hungry machines, while the oil they burned was the flesh of any living creature!

  Chapter 976 - Forced into Desperation

  “Kehkehkehe. Brat, you found the right person if it’s a contest of poison you want. Let’s see who is the more poisonous of the two of us!”

  As the poison witch cackled, a thicker, denser dome of invisible poison rose around her and wrapped toward Remi from every direction.

  Even though they were a cloud of innumerable microscopic viruses, Guinevere commanded them as if they were her own limbs. They were more disciplined than an army of a thousand battles and more obedient to her will than the most submissive of slaves.

  Remi’s expression instantly turned at the sight of this. He patted the wight beneath him, and the creature quickly turned and charged into the distance. All the low-grade zombies remained on the spot. Some even willingly rushed into the poison mist to become hosts for the spreading spores.

  For a moment, the entire field was engulfed in dark, black mists, as if the whole world had been plunged into a hazy realm of illusions.

  With the witch’s sight obscured, the other dozen wights scattered, each running in a different direction.

  “Trying to run? Kehkehkeh. Brat, you had best stay here!” Naturally, there was no way the witch could not pick up on Remi’s location, having long since locked onto him. She laughed sinisterly and rushed into the mist, protecting herself with the thick dome of poison she had just conjured. She was intent on pursuing the fleeing Spirit of Pestilence.

  However, just as she charged into the poison mists, all of the poison around her started to seethe and explode.

  Explode?

  It was a special ability that was far beyond the old witch’s expectations!

  The poison viruses that she had used possessed all sorts of abilities: infection, corrosion, assimilation, mutation, latency, aggressive breakout…but none of them could explode. That seemed to belong in the realm of elementium magic?

  Still, regardless of how shocked and horrified Guinevere was, the massive cloud of poison continued to explode with her at the very center of it all.

  Much like elementium magic, these small and tiny plague spores, these microscopic and lethal viruses, all exploded brutally. And she, the great Poison Witch Guinevere, was caught right in the center of the explosion when the poison mists erupted.

  Her moment of carelessness and arrogance had exacted a ‘heavy’ price on her!

  Cough, cough, cough!

  Guinevere stumbled out of the explosion, coughing and panting intensely as she did so, her face black with poison. She then fell from the sky like a bird with broken wings.

  It was two minutes later before she managed to expel the poison lingering on her body. She then resentfully took out a colorful cake of herbs from her jar and chewed it.

  She went into another coughing fit. This time, it was purple-black blood then came out of her mouth, with pieces of internal organs mixed in.

  Guinevere finally relaxed after disposing of the plague spores in her body in this self-destructive manner. However, in doing so, her already frail Physique went down by another two or three points. It would be incredibly difficult for her to regain the lost Physique in the foreseeable future.

  The old witch opened her sharp eyes wide and gritted her teeth as she cursed the wicked moves of the Spirit of Pestilence. Still, she was more shocked by his peculiar control over poison. To think he could cause poison viruses to explode. Was it poison magic, or was it an innate ability?

  She had no idea.

  The only real way to know was to catch that Spirit of Pestilence and properly dissect him.

  The old witch had not actually lost in the earlier bout. She had only been caught by a small trap of the Spirit of Pestilence in her moment of carelessness. The poison and latent spores in her body had been driven out almost immediately after, though they had managed to affect the witch’s organs and Physique to some extent. However, this much was only a minor injury for a Third Grade poison witch. Her frustration stemmed mostly from the slight to her reputation.

  She got up from the ground indignantly, patting off the dirt on her robe while cursing that quick-witted b
rat. The magical broom she had used as her flying transport had been blown to pieces by that explosion earlier. It could no longer fly.

  The old witch specialized in poison magic, not flying magic.

  That was why she had purchased this magical broom– to increase her mobility. It was the newest model of the Lightcycle series, and the fastest of them all, the Lightcycle 2000.

  Who would’ve known that the broom would have been destroyed by the hands of an amateur brat in her moment of carelessness?

  Guinevere’s entire body trembled with anger. She had no choice but to take out another flying broom and get onto it with some difficulty. She whizzed off into the sky, chasing in the direction that the Spirit had fled.

  The explosion from earlier had also caused the witch to lose her mental lock-on to the Spirit of Pestilence. Whether she could catch up to him now depended purely on her luck and her mediocre tracking magic.

  As the Spirit of Pestilence and the witch left, the plains quickly regained its former peace.

  However, the remaining poison mist slowly seeped into the surrounding soil and vegetation, causing them to rapidly wither and die as if all their life force had been drained away.

  If no holy knights came here to perform a large-scale purification ritual, this place would likely become a zone of death stretching for several kilometers. No creature nor plant could live here. In fact, there was even a tremendous risk of being infected by plague viruses if they got too close.

  This brief battle between the two Third Grade poison users had created a plague zone of several kilometers in Henvic. It was more than enough of a demonstration of the terror and power of Third Grade creatures!

  If high-grade spellcasters were allowed to abuse their power with no restraint, they would inflict irreparable damage upon the plane itself. If even Third Grades were capable of such destruction, then what about the Fourth Grades?

  Many of the infinite planes placed a maximum limit of power of Fourth Grade upon themselves. One could say that this was only inevitable.

  …………

  Greem quickly flew across the sky.

  He had turned into a formless cluster of fire, leaving behind a trail of flames as he quickly sped into the distance. The cluster of fire used Fire Teleportation every five seconds, instantly changing its trajectory and blasting away in a new direction.

  Fire spells were incredibly powerful, but they left a clear trail behind when used to escape; it was inevitable.

  Though he had left the two adepts on his tail far behind, Greem didn’t dare to relax at all. He continued to flee with all he had.

  He could sense a sinister aura that was as sticky as a serpent’s tongue wrapped around him, tightly tracking his every move.

  It was the serpentine adept!

  Greem was sure that he had a strange tracking ability that allowed them to chase after him with perfect accuracy. Moreover, they were also slowly closing the distance.

  Was it a spell or an innate ability? Even the Chip could not answer this question without specific information and resources. The mystery remained unanswered.

  After fleeing for half a day, and still incapable of breaking off this odd sensation, Greem gave up on his aimless escape. Instead, he changed his trajectory and headed straight for the closest active volcano.

  If escape wasn’t possible, then let there be a fight!

  As the one being pursued, Greem naturally had the opportunity to choose a battlefield that best suited him.

  Gangsas Volcano was the most famous active volcano within the borders of the Zambez Empire. It was also the most volatile volcano of them all.

  From high above, Gangsas Volcano looked like a pretty, almost perfectly circular crater.

  The volcano itself wasn’t very tall. An odd shifting sound would come from beneath your feet when walking up its sloped surface covered in volcanic slag. Due to the constant eruptions throughout the year, there was almost no green vegetation on the volcano or within several kilometers of it. There were only a few sparse trees five kilometers away.

  Greem had just arrived near Gangsas Volcano when he saw a rising plume of gray smoke. He could hear the constant rumbling of the magma as well.

  He could feel the dense fire elementium aura pressing in his face, and the fire energy in his body became agitated and excited in response.

  Greem only stopped in the air for a brief moment to take in the geography and conditions of the surroundings. He then transformed into a cluster of fire once again and dove into the slowly flowing lava inside the crater.

  Greem turned himself into a humanoid cluster of fire and rapidly traveled through the lava. This place was practically home for him. It wasn’t just that flowing lava of over two to three thousand degrees wasn’t an enemy of his, but that it was the very best helper as well.

  He summoned a Flamegate a hundred meters deep in the lava, releasing thousands of fire creatures, and had them scattered throughout this massive volcano crater. With the endless supply of fire elementium, this Flamegate would be sustained for an incredible amount of time, allowing even more fire creatures to travel from the distant Fire Elementium Plane to this rural Henvic Plane.

  Unfortunately, summoned Flamegates of this nature were always unidirectional.

  These fire elementals would have an incredibly hard time returning to the familiar Fire Elementium Plane once they arrived in Henvic. Unless they had sentient intelligence like the flaming tiger, Cindral, and knew how to open a small fire portal back to the Fire Elementium Plane with their power, their only fate was to die in Henvic Plane!

  After summoning the Flamegate, Greem released the elementium magical machine and had it perform some quick repairs to its body.

  One had to admit that Fourth Grade Holy Knight Ad Carrhae’s slash had been one terrifying cut. It had almost split the elementium magical machine in half. Without the magical machine, that one slash would have shattered Greem’s body of flames, while the holy light power attached to the sword radiance would have purified his unprotected soul.

  Fourth Grade creatures could not be underestimated at all. Even though Greem looked down upon the holy knights with utter disdain, these knights still possessed the power to kill him in a single strike when they were at Fourth Grade.

  Moreover, it was said that Ad Carrhae had been in a state of severe injury and was far from his peak.

  If that were the case, then the power he possessed at his peak would only be even more fearsome!

  At the very least, Greem was not at all interested in aggravating such an opponent again.

  Chapter 977 - Standoff at the Volcano

  It hadn’t even been seven minutes before the two adepts arrived at the volcano.

  Their expressions turned when they saw the rolling smoke and felt the pressing heat waves.

  Their opponent was a famous and legendary fire adept. Though his name was unknown beyond the realm, they were hunters amongst adepts; they would never make the mistake of underestimating him. Blade Princess Katherine was a famous Third Grade in her own right, yet she had fallen at the hands of the natives due to her moment of arrogance and carelessness.

  If it weren’t for Serpentine Adept Natagu appearing just in time to strike an agreement with the Fourth Grade Holy Knight, Katherine would have died in this pathetic and barren lower plane.

  The agreement plainly stated that the three hunter adepts would not attack Henvic Plane, but would also help in the holy knight’s battle against the Deceit Witches. Of course, as a condition of exchange, the holy knights had to aid them in their pursuit of Greem.

  It was this suggestion that made the Fourth Grade Holy Knight let Katherine go and allowed him to rush to Haisas with the help of the three adepts.

  Naturally, the three hunter adepts would not give up the opportunity to hunt down the fire adept when they heard news of him in Haisas City. They tracked him all the way here, to this terrifying active volcano.

  Any adept would feel their head hurt at the very
prospect of fighting a fire adept in such a place!

  The advantage of this environment was too high. It wouldn’t be a surprise if both of them were defeated here.

  However, Serpentine Adept Natagu and Psionic Adept Benija were not easy enemies, either. If the volcano were such a dangerous place to stage an attack, then they simply would not do so.

  The two of them put up a tent near the volcano and started a small camp as if they were prepared to remain here for a long time to come. Yet, this very action struck straight at Greem’s soft spot.

  The adept hunters could wait, but Greem could not.

  No, more accurately, those Deceit Witches could not!

  If the materials for repairing the magical array could not be delivered in time, the witch’s tower–having been cut off from all reinforcements– would foreseeably be razed by the local holy knights.

  Greem didn’t need to risk his life to intervene and help in the matters of the Deceit Witches. However, if that interplanar teleportation array were lost, Greem would have to go to great lengths to return to the World of Adepts. The hunter adepts, on the other hand, clearly had no such trouble.

  Poison Witch Guinevere finally hurried over two days after the start of the standoff.

  That caused Greem to be under even more pressure.

  Remi had intended to meet Greem here, but considering the geography of the volcano would limit Remi’s powers, Greem rejected his help.

  Just as Greem was hesitating about his decision to continue staying here, the badly injured Blade Princess Katherine arrived as well.

  Katherine had been badly crippled at the hands of Greem and the Fourth Grade Holy Knight. Her mechanical magic had been dispelled, and her limbs had been severed. She could not have been in an even more dire state. Such terrible wounds could only truly be healed after returning to the World of Adepts or the realms beyond. She could only patch the surface wounds while they were in this plane.

  The severed limbs had been reattached, and her broken mechanical heart was still barely functioning. As such, the incredibly furious Katherine decided to hurry to the volcano camp and join the ranks surrounding the fire adept.