With the surprising movement of the Body of Flames and the phantom-like Fire Teleportation, Greem weaved between the seas of flame like a fire spirit, swarming Sanazar with intense fireballs and tides of infernos.
With the four-hundred points of holy light damage provided by Sodden’s Holy Ring, every single one of Greem’s attack had over eight-hundred points of power. That was already close to the offensive power of Fourth Grade adepts. Of course, this inflicted incomparable damage on Sanazar.
The terrifying burn marks left by the fire magic and the scorch marks left by the holy light power caused Sanazar’s ugly body to be covered with scars. Her thirty-nine points of Physique were wildly healing her body, but they were no match for Greem’s insane ability to inflict damage.
The significantly weakened Sanazar thrashed within the exploding flames, madly chasing after Greem’s flickering Body of Flames yet always falling into the traps he set. She would either be smashed into the ground by Meteor Showers from above or blasted left and right by Flame Pillars bursting forth from below.
Even as they reveled in the pure display of power, the savage might that Greem displayed after taking off his veil of gentleness struck fear in the hearts of every adept watching the battle.
A beatdown. An undisputed beatdown!
Greem relied on his mobile Body of Flames to dodge Sanazar’s repeated attempt to lunge at him. He then used vicious fire magic to drown her in a tide of flames.
It didn’t matter how Sanazar struggled or charged. She could not escape the flames that continued to pursue her as if they were her shadow. She could only furiously roar as she rushed from one sea of fire to another. Everywhere around her, every spot within her vision, was all filled with devastating flames.
If it weren’t for her bloodline providing her with exceptional Physique and magic resistance, Sanazar would already have been reduced to ashes beneath such powerful fire.
However, even as badly beaten as she was, Sanazar still charged through the flames stubbornly, searching for that radiant silhouette formed out of bright yellow flames. The flesh on the surface of her body flaked off as ash, and new tissue quickly grew again.
With her fearsome regenerative powers and her enduring bloodline powers, Sanazar was able to remain standing even in the face of Greem’s most brutal attacks.
It was now a contest of whose powers were more overwhelming and whose stamina could last longer.
If Sanazar had greater Physique and could endure until Greem’s Spirit had been exhausted, then she would be the victor. However, if Greem’s fire magic were even more ferocious and exhausted Sanazar’s bloodline powers, it would be a different story. Without her bloodline powers, Sanazar would not be a match for Greem.
The two adepts finally moved into attrition mode on their third day on Bluesea Plane. An unprecedented duel between two of the strongest adepts began.
It was the Flying Venom Dragon’s thirty-nine points of Physique against the flame giant’s thirty-nine points of Spirit.
The fight should not have been like this!
With the cautiousness of Third Grade adepts and their variety of magical techniques, this battle should have lasted for several weeks and been filled with all sorts of traps and schemes.
However, due to someone intentionally driving the battle in this direction, the fight had deviated from its original course.
It didn’t matter if this battle was what the audience wanted to watch. Greem was firmly proceeding down this path.
If he had fought like an elementium adept from the very start, Sanazar would most definitely have begun fleeing while fighting, dragging this battle into a drawn-out affair of constantly probing each other.
When that happened, Greem would have had an exceedingly hard time finishing the battle in a short time!
Now, having exhausted most of her stamina, Sanazar could no longer escape from the range of Greem’s fire magic; she could only passively endure the ferocious flames.
Sanazar roared and struggled with all her might in wave after wave of monstrous fire attacks. Poison halos ravaged the earth over and over as she held on with all she had. Sadly, she had already fallen into Greem’s rhythm. There was nothing she could do to improve her situation apart from struggling in vain.
Finally, the Flying Venom Dragon reared its neck and roared in the tides of flames. A dense cloud of purple mist erupted around its body, and Sanazar uncontrollably reverted to her human form.
Chapter 1039 - Victorious Return
Sanazar was defeated!
The countless adepts watching this scene couldn’t help but let out a long and drawn-out sigh.
It wasn’t that Sanazar was weak. It was simply that her opponent was stronger than her!
Greem was an opponent with a Physique as tough as a bloodline adept and the terrifying offensive power of an elementium adept. Anyone would hate to run into an enemy like that.
Greem had already reverted from his Body of Flames into his human body. He looked at the apocalyptic scene around him and slowly walked towards the scorched figure lying in the center of the carnage.
Sanazar had also completely reverted back into her human form.
She was not obscured by any purple mist and appeared to be unusually skinny. Most of her body was also covered in burn marks from the flames. Some traces of her former beauty were visible on her face, but only uneven scars and disgusting sores remained now.
Bloodline adepts were not actual magical creatures, after all. They might be able to allow themselves to temporarily possess horrifying might rivaling that of powerful magical creatures through bloodline reversion or purification. However, once their bloodline power was exhausted, they would become a mortal once again, exposing their weak and pitiful side.
With how mighty Sanazar’s Flying Venom Dragon was, the fact that she could fight with Greem for three whole days before exhausting her bloodline powers was already fairly evident of her talent.
If she hadn’t fought so vigorously and had instead fled the battle to recover her bloodline power, this battle could have gone on for far longer. At the very least, Greem would have had to pay a more substantial price to obtain victory!
However, Sanazar’s excessively rash and impulsive personality ended up being her downfall. She had paid a costly price for her actions.
Sanazar struggled and propped herself up from the ground. Her carbonized skin trembled from the movement and flaked off as dust and ash, revealing the red and white flesh beneath; it was still steaming with heat.
“Good…very good.” A smile uglier than a ghost appeared on Sanazar’s face. She ignored the injuries on her body as she furiously shouted, “I never expected there would be a time when my eyes would betray me. To think, I was defeated by a person I looked down upon. Defeated! Very well, this belongs to you now.”
After finishing what she had to say, a black crystal flew from Sanazar’s charred body and hovered in front of Greem, where it slowly rotated on the spot.
Greem took out the other black crystal he owned, and the two strange crystals immediately merged, emitting an invisible flux in the air.
Greem silently vanished from the spot, along with the crystal.
Once Greem had teleported away, a black-robed silhouette appeared on the battlefield. The figure slowly walked towards the panting Sanazar. After examining her wounds, the individual sighed before picking her up and vanishing.
Naturally, the destination of the teleportation crystal was Kerslin Castle.
When Greem emerged from the teleportation array shrouded in killing intent, the one to greet him was a familiar face– Association adept Laurent. Before the two of them could speak, the array behind Greem trembled slightly. A black-robed adept walked out with Sanazar in his arms.
Sanazar had already fallen unconscious from exertion, avoiding the awkwardness of another encounter between herself and Greem again.
Laurent, who was all smiles earlier, immediately bowed respectfully upon seeing the black-
robed figure, “My greetings, Elder Nicolas!”
The black-robed adept ignored Laurent entirely. Blinding light shone from his eyes beneath his hood as he stared at Greem coldly. “Good…very good. Here is the toy you left behind. Put it away properly!”
Adept Nicolas casually threw down a metal doll the size of someone’s palm. A strange red thread had been wrapped all around it. After taking it in his hand and looking at it properly, Greem was shocked to find that the doll was the elementium magical machine he had left in Bluesea Plane.
This elementium magical machine that used to be several meters tall and several dozens of tons heavy had now been turned into a miniature metal toy; Greem was having a hard time accepting this sudden change.
It was obvious that the strange red strings around the doll were some sort of special sealing technique. Greem didn’t dare to break the seal haphazardly without some research first.
Elder Nicolas walked away with Sanazar in his arms after throwing the magical machine to Greem.
Greem finally turned his eyes back to Adept Laurent after Nicolas completely vanished from sight.
Upon seeing Greem’s confused look, Laurent explained with a bitter smile, “Back when Elder Sarubo was still in the Association, he had helped Elder Nicolas tremendously. Elder Nicolas was still a First Grade adept back then!”
Greem nodded his head in understanding.
With tens of thousands of years of history behind the Association, the internal relations of the various individuals were extremely complicated. It was not something that an outsider like himself could hope to understand in such a short time. After putting away his elementium magical machine, Greem exchanged a few more words with Laurent before apologetically taking his leave.
Laurent accompanied him all the way to the door of his room. He let out a long sigh when they bid farewell to each other, “I already expected you to have a chance to win, but I didn’t think you would succeed in such an overwhelming fashion. Maybe, in the future, even I will be counting on your favor. Speaking of which, you now have twelve days of rest. Make sure to make full use of it!”
Having said that, Laurent turned and left, seemingly occupied with all sorts of thoughts and emotions over what he had just witnessed.
Greem closed his eyes and thought for a moment. He then gave up on thinking about whether there were any hidden implications in Laurent’s words and instead turned to enter his room.
He immediately ran into several beautiful faces that had been flushed red as tomatoes.
“Congratulations.”
“I knew it! Teacher, you are the best.”
“Congratulations, clan leader.”
The first to greet him were naturally Mary, Meryl, and Emelie. Behind them were seven or eight adepts he wasn’t acquainted with. Naturally, these were adepts from smaller adept organizations that had recently chosen to submit to the Crimson Clan.
The Association had set the Ailovis region as the Crimson Clan’s ring of influence, but the power and authority of the clan allowed them to have a voice in the neighboring areas as well.
It was these small and mid-sized adept organizations that helped the Crimson Clan project their influence into further regions.
These clans did not have the ability or power to direct any sort of conversation in their local regions. They could only get closer to the Crimson Clan and borrow their power to execute their own will. Any adept clan or organization in their territory would first have to weigh the intentions of the Crimson Clan before they waged war against them.
If their enemies were to invite the intervention of the Crimson Clan, they would be in big trouble. Even organizations led by Third Grade adepts would not be able to bear the wrath of the Crimson Clan. They would quickly lose their lands and resource sites with a single misstep.
One had to admit that all these clans had a wild and ferocious streak for standing by the Crimson Clan’s side before Greem had won the tournament. If they had placed the wrong bets, the consequences would have been ugly. It was very likely that they would be ripped up by the roots from the Central Region and exiled from Zhentarim, just as the Crimson Clan would be.
As such, the clan leaders all became relieved upon seeing Greem’s amazing performance in the first battle. Genuine and heartfelt smiles naturally appeared on their faces.
If Greem won this battle of the powerhouses and became a Fourth Grade adept, then all these adept organizations would have reaped a reward a hundred times what they had invested. More importantly, the adept organizations they represented would go up by one or two levels in their respective regions, allowing them to become a core force with actual influence.
That was what they prioritized above all!
Greem exchanged greetings with the three girls before nodding and acknowledging the representatives of the allied clans with a nod. He then exchanged a few words with the adepts, and they knew well enough to retire for the day.
After experiencing such a brutal battle, Greem was in great need of treatment. Once all the outsiders had left, Greem peacefully lay down on a stone bed and looked at the fight between the adepts of the other group. The three girls surrounded him and helped him take off his robe, carefully treating the countless horrifying wounds on his body.
Greem might have won decisively in the battle against Sanazar, but his body had taken a terrible beating as well.
The three days of mad fighting had left many hidden injuries inside and outside his body. He hadn’t had the time nor opportunity to treat them then. Now was the time to deal with it all. Otherwise, should such hidden injuries accumulate, they would eventually overcome the limit of Greem’s physical body. He would face the risk of his body breaking down.
With the three girls helping him, he didn’t need to worry about the treatment. Instead, he could devote his entire attention to the analysis of the battle on the other end.
The battle between Scarface Gallow and Medium Dante on the boundless plain was still raging on.
Medium Adept Dante possessed three pieces of powerful magical equipment. One was the Wraith Staff, which was a significant factor in allowing him to successfully summon powerful spiritual beings of various forms from another world.
The spiritual beings he summoned were not too powerful offensively, but they all had incredible and fearsome abilities. Ordinary adepts would be possessed if they were off-guard for even an instant. When that happened, their lives would be decided by a single thought from Dante.
However, Dante’s opponent was Scarface Gallow, who possessed the body of an undead. He was practically immune to charming and the effects of other mental magic. As such, the spiritual beings that harbored resentment for living things could only use their fearsome screams and defense-ignoring Soul Touch to attack him.
Chapter 1040 - Treatment and Appraisal
The sword that Scarface Gallow used was extremely powerful, and its might far exceeded ordinary Third Grade magical equipment.
After witnessing his battle with Medium Dante, Greem even suspected that it was Fourth Grade magical equipment. Its magical effect was ‘Devour.’ All substances that came into contact with the sword–be they tangible or intangible–would vanish instantly.
If a living creature’s flesh was devoured in this manner, that portion of tissue would never be able to regrow through natural means. At the very least, it was the case during combat.
Such a magical effect countered body-refining adepts and bloodline adepts who were known for their high Physique to a large extent. When this magical sword slowly devoured their resilient bodies, they would be reduced to mere skeletons; it wouldn’t matter what powerful techniques they possessed. It would be of no use if their bodies were gone.
Dante was at a disadvantage against this sword. After having two of his high-grade spiritual beings consumed by the magical sword, he lost the ability to fight with Gallow directly. He had no choice but to desperately flee and change battlefields, using distance to neutralize Gallow’s wild and
unstoppable offense.
Scarface Gallow’s weakness was fully exposed here.
He had thirty-nine points of Strength and thirty-nine points of Physique. These attributes gave him unimaginably violent power and a resilient body that was nearly indestructible. His every action unleashed a destructive tide of power. An ordinary Third Grade adept would not be able to fight him face-on.
However, mobility was Scarface Gallow’s greatest weakness, and one he could not compensate for!
In truth, his seventeen points of Agility already made him a swift swordsman whose movements were like the wind on the battlefield. Unfortunately, that much Agility counted for nothing before the elementium adepts, who possessed a large number of mobility spells.
It didn’t matter how powerful he was or how unusual his sword was. He would have to strike his enemy first.
When Medium Dante made up his mind to play a game of cat-and-mouse against him, Gallow’s weakness was utterly exposed. He chased after Dante for three days and nights without any sleep, but Dante simply refused to engage. Instead, Dante incessantly sent out all sorts of ghosts, voodoo dolls, phantom puppets, and other evil constructs to harass Gallow.
These things could hardly harm Gallow, but they annoyed him to no ends.
Whenever Gallow was affected by one of these beings and became possessed for even an instant, Dante would immediately close in and unleash a barrage of attacks. He would strike with his Necklace of Death, which was capable of firing a Fingers of Death, while also sending his countless ghosts to rip into Gallow and using the Rituals of Dark Arts.
All of these attacks focused on Gallow’s soul consciousness. Even with his high Strength and Physique, Gallow had no means of defending himself. He could only endure these assaults with the sheer resilience of his soul.
In truth, this was the danger in battles between high-grade adepts!
It might seem like neither side could do anything about the other, but if the enemy caught a single chance to break through your defense, then doom might be right around the corner. The attacks of high-grade adepts were not that easily endured. Enemies that were attacked by Dante’s ghosts and wraiths might look unharmed on the surface, but their most important part–their soul origin–would already be tattered and broken. It would be incredibly difficult to recover without a long period of rest.
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