Thus, when Greem and the elementium magical machine focused their attacks on Gallow’s heart, the source of his dead energy, this adept with an undead’s bloodline finally went berserk.
Scarface Gallow gave up on defending altogether, putting all his strength into attacking instead. Greem immediately felt mountainous pressure crash down upon him.
Force threads!
These force threads, created by Gallow’s concentrated Strength and magical energy, slashed towards Greem from every direction. Even as powerful and composed as he was, Greem had no choice but to turn and flee. He didn’t even have the courage to turn back.
They were too firmly concentrated!
Compared to the formed spells of elementium adepts and Greem’s pyromancy, Gallow’s Strength was undoubtedly richer and more refined.
The difference between the two of them was like that of a needle and that of an ostrich egg. There was no doubt that the ostrich egg was larger and contained more power. However, if the needle and the egg were to crash, the egg was sure to be the one to break. Its strength and hardness were simply too dispersed compared to the needle.
The main reason Gallow was able to refine his Strenght to such an extent was likely due to the magical sword in his hand. At the very least, in Greem’s Elementium Sight, Gallow’s danger indicator was lower than the magic sword in his hand.
According to the Chip’s analysis, the magical sword was close to awakening to an independent consciousness, or what people usually knew as an artifact spirit. Should the sword awaken successfully, it was very likely to advance into Fourth Grade magical equipment immediately, becoming even more potent than before.
However, at the moment, it was only Third Grade magical equipment that could refine its user’s Strength to an extreme!
As Scarface Gallow pressed forward with all he had, the insignificant red force threads wove into a vast yet inescapable web that descended upon Greem. Greem fled without hesitation, directing his flames to stall and obstruct the movement of the threads as he did so.
After flying for two hundred meters, the force threads gradually started to falter. They became incapable of maintaining a stable form and energy structure, quickly scattering and disintegrating. The energy tide that radiated from the dispersal of the threads caused a fearsome storm on the battlefield.
Greem was only grazed slightly by the shockwave of the energy storm, and a good half of his Inferno Shield crackled and shattered into sparks.
Before Greem could take a breath, Gallow roared and charged ahead, dragging Greem into a melee with a storm of attacks.
The two adepts that stood at the peak of Third Grade clashed with each other in this fashion, causing yet another horrifying energy storm to rise in the battlefield.
…………
The battle in the faraway land raged on.
The many adepts standing in front of the magical screens were holding their breath, almost watching this high-grade adept battle with a sort reverence.
The power of the bloodline adepts and the ferocity of elementium adepts were on full display in this battle.
Even the Third Grade adepts that were leaders of their own organizations couldn’t stop sweating as they watched the battle unfold. They couldn’t help but compare themselves to the two combatants. They were also subjects of admiration in the regions they came from, elites amongst the adepts.
However, compared to these two peak Third Grade adepts on the screen, there was nothing praiseworthy about themselves!
Their past arrogance and disdain for everything weaker than themselves were swept away in an instant, leaving them with only the realization of their ignorance and foolishness.
Among the many rooms where adepts watched the battle, there was one in which resided two silver-robed adepts.
They talked amongst themselves with solemn expressions as they watched.
“How is it? Can you detect the intensity of their attacks?”
Several magical crystals floated in front of one of the silver-robed adepts. The sharp ends of these crystals were pointed at the screen, and all kinds of data and numbers continually appearing on the surface of the crystals. Most of these numbers were glowing with a blinding red color.
“…760 points…830 points…910 points……”
This silver-robed adept broke out in cold sweat when he saw the jumping red numbers continue to soar and turn a brighter shade of red.
The two people fighting on the screen were only Third Grade adepts! They might have reached the peak of Third Grade, but they were still Third Grade after all. Yet, somehow, the might of every casual attack they unleashed was approaching the range of Fourth Grade adepts.
Didn’t that mean that either of these two adepts alone would have enough power to face off against a beginner Fourth Grade adept!? Moreover, the shadow of the principle powers could be seen on both of them.
It was evidence that these two peak Third Grade adepts both had a frightening potential for development.
Even without any external assistance, these two adepts were very likely to advance to Fourth Grade within the next century or two.
After all, principle powers were a miraculous power that only peak Fourth Grade adepts could possess!
“These two adepts would at least be elites if they were in our Silver Union, wouldn’t they?” One of the silver robes couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Probably not just elites,” the other adept shook his head and said, “Considering the trace of principle power that they already possess, even our core adepts might not be able to defeat them with utter certainty!”
“Core adepts.” The silver robe became utterly speechless.
The adepts were classified in a strict fashion within the Silver Union based on their abilities.
Apart from the silver-robed adepts who were responsible for upholding and maintaining order within the Union, several silver-robed adepts were also selected to form an elite squad. Most of these elites were of higher status than even the executors and the punishers.
Meanwhile, there was also a group of adepts that stood above even the elites. These were individuals with exceptional talent and potential that were selected from the combat adepts, inducted into the inner circle of the Silver Union, and acknowledged as core adepts of the organizations. Each of these individuals was shockingly powerful and formed the core strength that had ensured the Silver Union’s continued stability of the past one hundred thousand years.
In all frankness, they were Fourth Grade adept reserves and candidates!
Should any casualty occur among the current Fourth Grades of the Silver Union, an opening would appear within the power structure. The Silver Union would then invest resources and effort into cultivating these core adepts without holding back, such that they could fill the opening within the Union as soon as possible.
That was the true purpose for the existence of these core adepts!
The two Second Grade silver robes in the room right now were executors sent by the Silver Union to collect information on Zhentarim. As such, their opinion was fairer and more objective than any of the other observers.
…………
Apart from the Silver Union, the Northern Witches and the Adept’s Association had also sent representatives.
The Northern Witches sent none other than Second Grade Witch Nina.
As the representative that the Deceit Witches had stationed in Zhentarim, Witch Nina naturally had to have perfectly understood everything about the significant event that was happening here. The reason she was so passionate about her job was that it was the Deceit Witches’ turn to manage the public affairs of the Northern Lands for these hundred years.
If a witch leader were to ask about major events in Zhentarim during the next witch leader meeting, the entire Deceit Witch branch would suffer shame should there be gaps in the information she was supposed to collect.
Moreover, she was relatively well acquainted with this legendary fire adept as well.
The thought of making the fire adept her man and concubine had even appeared in Nina’s head at one point.
However, as this Adept Greem became related to the newly risen Fate Witch leader, Alice, Nina had no choice but to give up on this idea. She had been reasonably upset over this for a long time.
However, when she once again saw Greem–this time through a screen–he had become a fearsome peak Third Grade existence that she could only look up at.
If…if this guy was to improve by just a little bit more, wouldn’t he…wouldn’t he be equal to our clan leader?
Witch Nina’s body trembled and her soul quaked at the thought of this.
Dammit! Had these years of living gone to waste compared to him?!
Disregarding all the complex emotions that Witch Nina was currently experiencing, a middle-aged adept in a proper adept’s robe and a pointed hat was sitting in another room, staring solemnly at the light screen. His long adept’s staff leaned against the back of his chair.
As the two peak Third Grade adepts on the screen fought with increasing ferocity and savagery, the expression on the middle-aged adept’s face only turned graver.
Finally, he took out a crystal-clear communication crystal and rubbed it with his right hand. He mumbled a few activation chants, and the crystal ball lit up.
“I need all the information on Legendary Fire Adept Greem. The more detailed, the better, and the faster, the better…yes, put him into our observation and contact list as well. As for his position, put him in front of that Gallow!”
A short moment later, the light from the crystal ball faded.
The only source of light was the magical water screen in the room, illuminating the dark and solemn expression of the middle-aged adept.
Chapter 1048 - Surestrike and Origin Fire
“Die! ”
Scarface Gallow let out an earthshaking roar and sprinted forward with rumbling steps. Black light gathered on his magical sword but remained inert, seemingly waiting to execute Greem in a single strike.
Greem’s blazing body quickly flickered and moved about swiftly, trying its best to break free of Gallow’s Spiritual focus. He could sense a cold chill swimming around on the surface of his body. That should be the spiritual power that his opponent was projecting onto him with his dull eyes.
If Greem’s body were to stall for even a single instant, Gallow would be able to lock onto his specific position, and a terrifying strike would follow after!
Given Gallow’s thirty-nine points of Strength and that strange energy that he had been charging up, Greem had no confidence in escaping unscathed from this attack. He quickly dodged and wove about, not giving his opponent a single opportunity to lock onto his person. Fire energy gathered in his eyes as he moved, turning into two crimson beams that shot towards Gallow.
Scarface Gallow gritted his teeth and endured these two beams so as not to be thrown off of Greem’s trail.
When the Scalding Rays swept onto Gallow’s body, they sliced apart his leather armor and revealed the dark-purple skin beneath. Two trails of smoking burns were left on Gallow’s flesh, where the beams had swept past.
Unfortunately, this was the limit of damage that the Scalding Rays could inflict on Gallow’s body with their six hundred points of power. Breaking through the magic resistance of his defensive forcefield and injuring his organs was impossible without an attack of at least a thousand points.
Unless Greem could bring the magical golem dragon along with him and blast Gallow with one of its cannons, the best he could do was scratch and annoy Gallow slightly.
While Gallow chased after Greem, the elementium magical machine was striding towards the battlefield. The cannon it held on its shoulder was still firing without stop. Unfortunately, the cannon shots could barely wound the opponent. It was still a little difficult for them to truly injure Gallow.
The pointless pursuit finally wore out the last of Gallow’s patience.
The magical sword that had been lying in poise could not remain in this charging state forever. After chasing vainly for an entire kilometer, Gallow let out a ferocious roar. The magical sword in his hand arced forward into the air faster than the eye could see, unleashing an invisible sword aura.
The so-called sword aura was simply air that had been extremely compressed by berserk strength. Some strange energy of unknown attribute had also been mixed into the air, turning it into the peculiar attack that terrified even Greem– the force threads.
Greem let out a cry at the sight of the sword aura. His entire body erupted, scattering into a cluster of fire that spread out in every direction.
The sword aura whistled and passed straight through the flames, annihilating part of the fire energy as it passed by.
When Greem once again reformed three hundred meters away, a large portion was clearly missing from his two-meter-tall body. After failing to recover the missing piece after drawing on his fire energy twice, Greem had no choice but to silently accept the reality before him.
[Beep. Body is 5.17% incomplete. Energy loss at 9.36%. Power deterioration 3%. Warning! Should Host’s power deterioration reach 28%, the chance of victory against the opponent will be 0%.]
The data from the Chip was far more accurate than what Greem could conjure. However, what the data revealed only made his head hurt.
“Explosive Flame Fireball!”
Without hesitation, Greem fired a series of fire spells at Gallow while there was still some distance between them. The fire spells crossed the hundreds of meters between them and drowned Gallow’s stalling body in vicious and ferocious flames.
When Gallow roared and stormed out of the explosive flames, scorch marks could already be seen all over his body. The leather armor he wore had also been turned into unrecognizable carbonized ash, barely clinging to his skin.
“Blackflame…Execution!”
Gallow once again let out a berserk howl.
As he screamed, the magical sword in his hand slashed down at Greem from a distance.
Greem was four hundred meters away, but he felt his Body of Flames tense and his spiritual world flicker for a fleeting instant. Even though Gallow was still hundreds of meters away, he suddenly and inexplicably felt as if Gallow’s sword would most certainly strike him.
Without his experience from the Faen Plane, Greem would have been hit by the attack in his moment of dizziness. However, having seen a pseudo-artifact longbow with the same unusual attribute in Faen, Greem instantly understood the strange trait that Gallow’s magical sword possessed.
Dammit! It’s that damned Surestrike!
With this prior experience, Greem instantly came up with a solution.
Greem summoned a First Grade fire spirit using a golem core in the blink of an eye and instantly switched positions with it.
When Gallow’s magical sword slashed down, a black slash mark abruptly appeared on the First Grade fire spirit’s body instead of Greem’s. The violent force erupted, thoroughly destroying the fire spirit’s body and even its golem core.
Greem was horrified, despite having survived by the skin of his teeth. He no longer dared to allow Scarface Gallow to unleash his attacks freely.
Greem also roared in a fury. Taking advantage of Gallow’s momentary pause after such a ferocious strike, he locked on firmly to his opponent’s body with both eyes. He used all his power to unleash the strange spell with a trace of the fire principle powers– Origin Fire.
Gallow, whose body was still caught in the downward movement of the slash, did not even have time to straighten his body. Elementium energy reverberated around him as a formless cluster of invisible flames extended out of empty space, quickly engulfing his entire being.
It was a strange fire that came from the very source of the fire principles. It possessed the peculiar characteristic of being able to ignore all magic resistance.<
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Even though it didn’t burn very intensely, or possess any fancy magical effects, it still inflicted maddening damage upon Gallow.
At this moment, he was no longer a peak Third Grade adept with formidable magic resistance, but an utterly ordinary mortal. Faced with the Origin Fire that had spread to nearly every inch of space from the inside to the outside of his body, Scarface Gallow finally felt Death’s approaching footsteps.
He had managed to blow away and disperse the Origin Fire attack from last time before the fires could fully form.
Even so, he had still suffered fairly grievous burns.
However, this time, the energy backlash from Blackflame Execution had kept him from dispersing the Origin Fire at the very first instance possible. As such, the mere two seconds of burning that came after inflicted the most severe wounds he had endured since the start of this battle.
The injury from this fire alone had exceeded all of the damage he had suffered over the past dozen days!
When Gallow once again stumbled out of the flames, his entire person had already turned black. Every inch of his body, from the inside to the outside, had been burned into charcoal. His skin and muscles cracked unstoppably as steam rose into the air from within his body.
Gallow stumbled for a few more steps before collapsing helplessly to his knees. He could no longer stand under his own strength.
“No more…no more fighting. I…I surrender!”
Gallow, who now looked more like charcoal than a person, shouted as he took out the teleportation crystal from his storage ring and tossed it to the ground.
Greem stood silently a few hundred meters away.
The roiling flames gradually faded from his body, revealing his muscular human form.
His eyes were shut tight, two streaks of black blood slowly running down his cheeks.
It was obvious that those two short seconds of Origin Fire had also been a tremendous burden on himself. The two eyes which he had used to unleash the attack had also suffered a backlash.
Though Gallow’s injury was severe, his high Physique allowed him to recover quickly. Seeing that Greem seemed to be out of any ability to continue fighting, Gallow gritted his teeth and started to get up with his scorched and withered body.
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