Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  More and more damage slowly accumulated on the elementium magical machine’s body.

  However, the elementium magical machine was a Third Grade construct that Greem had devoted himself to creating. He had even mixed in large amounts of magical memory alloy when he last repaired the machine. All sorts of cracks and dents had appeared on the elementium magical machine’s body as the second-generation machines smashed, punched, and bombarded it with cannons.

  However, as the battle progressed and the elementium magical machine’s plentiful magical supply circulated through its body, these minor injuries quickly healed at a rate visible to the naked eye. Dented metal creaked and reformed, returning to its once flawless state. Bent and twisted metal spikes moved and extended back to their former positions.

  As long as the rate at which the enemy inflicted damage did not exceed the pace at which the elementium magical machine self-repaired, and as long as the miniature magic generator furnace inside the elementium magical machine continued functioning, then it would remain as an unstoppable metal beast. It would firmly guard the metal door that led to the interplanar teleportation array.

  The remains of the magical machines that the elementium magical machine had smashed to pieces had gathered into a small hill by now. The elementium magical machine stood at the top of this hill, taking down every single machine that approached it with furious cannon fire and violent fists. It endured five to six punches every moment, along with hundreds of beam attacks from various magic energy weapons.

  It was as dazzling as a display of fireworks, and certainly just as loud.

  The majesty of the elementium magical machine while it fought inspired zeal and courage in all who watched it. Deserra wanted nothing more than to charge forward at this moment and fight by its very side.

  However, when he saw the destructive energy explosions all around the elementium magical machine and the powerful machines that were blown away one after another, Deserra shook his head and cast these impractical thoughts out of his head. He gritted his teeth and unleashed his largest and most destructive wind magic upon the enemies.

  The elementium magical machine might have stopped the main force of the enemy, but how could it, a single fighter, perfectly defend such a wide entrance? Occasionally, a few machines would make it past the machine’s defensive perimeter and rush towards the teleportation array.

  It would then be Deserra and Snorlax’s turn to fight, along with the rest of the adepts!

  Deserra had been stationed in the Goblin Plane for all these years and had not participated in the various clan wars that had broken out. As such, he lacked experience and training.

  However, as a direct disciple of Meryl, he received a sizable number of resources from the clan that were far above that of the average adept.

  As he started to unleash his elementium magic without restraint, the magical machines were blasted to the ground by wild pillars of lightning descending from the skies. The rebels could only get their hands on a limited amount of magical alloy. As such, the magical machines they had at their command were often not very resistant to magic.

  The few stationed adepts and dozen apprentices alone were enough to wipe out most of the magical machines that made it past the elementium magical machine.

  However, when second-generations started appearing among these machines, the inner perimeter propped up by Deserra and the others began to falter.

  The sharp-eyed Snorlax also spotted Princess Vanessa’s figure among the rebels that were gathering in the distance. Standing beside her were many other influential goblins, including the leader of the Blackwater Magnate, the Chairman of the Musen Merchant Group, and the Chairman of the Risk Investment Company.

  They gathered around the princess, pointing here and there at the battlefield as if arguing or debating about something.

  “Des, something seems wrong!” Snorlax had a terrifyingly powerful magic-energy ray gun in his hand. He secretly snuck to Deserra’s side and spoke, even as he continued to shoot frost rays to turn the magical machines into blocks of ice, “I know those guys. They might have been able to put together an army behind our backs, but their forces shouldn’t be such an elite army with such terrifying power. I suspect that a third party is involved in their rebellion!”

  “You mean,” Deserra paused for a moment, but his eyes quickly lit up, “That big ol’ brain has extended his hands into this affair?”

  “Only he can manufacture such a large number of second-generation machines and transport them here to the Goblin Plane without our notice. The other goblin leaders have all been under the clan’s scrutiny. They could not have been capable of such a feat.”

  Chapter 1062 - Crushed

  Chapter 1062 Crushed

  World of Adepts, White Tower.

  A large group of Crimson adepts gathered together and started putting down the scattered sparks of rebellion rising around the tower.

  This territory was directly under the Crimson Clan’s control, after all. Regardless of how well-hidden the Magic Energy Association was or how much military power they had accumulated, they could not possibly compare to the elites of the clan. After leaving the mission of pursuing and exterminating the remnants of the rebel forces, Meryl used her personal connections to call Mary and Emelia over to the Northern Lands. They then accompanied her to the blazing battlefield on the Goblin Plane.

  Now that Mary–the Blood Queen herself–had arrived, the vampire army subordinate to her was fully present as well.

  As blinding light shone in the teleportation array, this powerful group of reinforcements quickly teleported to the City of Machines. There were over thirty adepts, and not one of them was weaker than advanced First Grade.

  The light from the teleportation had yet to fade away completely, yet Mary had already recovered from her teleportation daze.

  A sweet smile appeared on her pretty face when she saw the brutal and bloody fighting nearby. Her figure flickered and she appeared beside Deserra and Snorlax, who were barely hanging on at this point. Crimson light flashed as the three magical machines that had been fervently assaulting the two of them were instantly cut into pieces, scattered across the floor as loose metal components.

  Deserra and Snorlax looked at each other in shock.

  They clearly saw how clean and smooth the surface of the cuts inflicted on the three magical machines had been. It was almost as if they had been diced to pieces by countless laser beams in a single moment. One of these three magical machines had been a second-generation device.

  Deserra and Snorlax had been scrambling and been forced back by that machine. The next second, that very machine had been butchered and fragmented. The two of them could not believe their eyes, having witnessed such a massive gulf in combat prowess.

  However, this was only the prologue to a grand banquet of slaughter!

  Distinct whistling sounds shot through the air. Crimson silhouettes appeared one after another. Deserra and Snorlax gasped in surprise at the scene that unfolded before their eyes.

  One vampire after another turned into a crimson shape, quickly weaving and flickering through the battlefield.

  Their targets were not the magical machines, but the goblin technicians and pilots controlling the devices from within. After all, vampires were known for their ability to regenerate and their rapid rate of attack. Engaging the magical machines in a frontal assault was not their strength.

  These vampires might not be able to deal with the magical machines directly, but it didn’t mean that the other adepts could not.

  A strange and wild dragon’s roar abruptly rang out in the hall.

  Adept Meryl sprinted forward, her entire body quickly engulfed by a halo of flames, distorting and twisting until she transformed into a lithe, seventeen-meter-long fire dragon.

  She lowered her slender and thick neck, her blazing gaze sweeping through the entire battlefield. Without a single word, she opened her mouth and let out a viscous breath of fire. The fire brea
th was thirty meters long, cast out into a massive fan as Meryl shook her head. It instantly engulfed the first dozen magical machines standing before her.

  The fire dragon’s breath was, in truth, an extremely hot pillar of flames created by the combination of fire elementium and a strange liquid secreted within the dragon’s body. It possessed incomparable viscosity and heat.

  The dozen magical machines could not escape or put out the sticky flames no matter how they struggled. After thrashing around the sea of fire fruitlessly, they eventually collapsed to the ground helplessly. Their gleaming metal bodies started to soften in the blazing flames before turning into a glistening liquid that pooled on the ground beneath them.

  Meryl didn’t just have potent breath. She had formidable melee prowess as well.

  The fire dragon roared and lifted her head slightly. Her scaled dragon wings shook, her hind legs stomped against the ground fiercely, and she thundered wildly into the ranks of magical machines, the horns on her head swinging as her most vicious weapons.

  Emelia, who had arrived in the City of Machines along with Meryl, was not to be left behind either. She let out a battlecry, and the soft and thin vines beneath her waist started to grow and expand rapidly. They split up into many thicker, denser tentacle-like appendages.

  Her two arms also started to grow and split off into strange, thorned, whip-like appendages that resembled bramble branches. Her long hair and her green robe also started to twist and grow, entangling with each other into an armor of brambles with little yellow flowers growing on the surface.

  It was the true form of Mystique Emelia!

  Her plant-like features now covered in strange patterns, Emelia giggled and charged into battle. The bramble whips that her arms had turned into lashed about wildly in the struggle. Even the magical machines were blown away like weightless feathers by a single strike, disassembling into broken components before they landed.

  The appendages beneath Emelia’s waist continued to grow and twist without stopping. They viciously stabbed between the gaps in the magical machine’s armor, all while moving her own body forward.

  Her lively and peculiar tentacles also seemed to have an exceedingly unusual capacity for growth. They would pierce into a magical machine’s body from a single spot before splitting into a dozen or even a few dozen vines of various lengths as they emerged from all over the machine.

  Naturally, all the internal components and pieces of the magical machines were thoroughly destroyed in this process of growth.

  The magical machines would struggle wildly for a brief moment before powering down with a sudden snap, like golems that had their core abruptly taken out of them.

  Two blood knights and three blood elves had come along on this excursion. In particular, Soros had already been promoted to Third Grade by Mary. They gathered into formation and covered each other as they charged into the rebel’s ranks. Almost instantly, they started to push back the enemy line, step by step.

  Deserra and Snorlax, who had almost despaired, could finally let out a breath of relief.

  They watched enviably as the terrifying fire dragon ravaged the army of magical machines, all while quickly treating their own injuries. One could only imagine how hot their hearts blazed at the moment.

  Deserra had spent all these years stationed in the Goblin Plane, barely improving despite the time that had passed. He was happy to see his teacher devastate the battlefield in all her glory and might, but he couldn’t help but feel a little downcast.

  Perhaps, peace was an adept’s greatest enemy.

  The life he had led up to now had undoubtedly been far too peaceful!

  Snorlax, on the other hand, was utterly green with envy.

  He had bought the serpentine bloodline recreation potion and consumed it.

  Unfortunately, his innate talent did not seem particularly compatible with this bloodline. Apart from extending his lifespan slightly, the bloodline modification had not been particularly beneficial.

  It wasn’t just the bloodline talents that he failed to inherit. He couldn’t even fully inherit the ancestral manifestations that would have enhanced his body.

  If Snorlax were to take off his clothes, one would be surprised to find clusters of hard skin resembling snake scales all over his body. Unfortunately, these ‘scales’ were scatted all over the place and could not form a protective layer of armor.

  Thus, one could see how lowly Snorlax’s original goblin bloodline was. Otherwise, such a state of semi-manifestation would never occur.

  His bloodline modification turned him into an unfinished product, while Meryl’s bloodline modification let her dominate the battlefield.

  Snorlax could only watch the majestic Fire Dragon Adept Meryl and the unique figure of Mystique Emelia with gleaming green eyes. He had no other way to express his feelings other than pure, unfiltered envy.

  The arrival of the Crimson elites almost instantly reversed the scales of battle.

  It didn’t matter how the goblin nobles and commanders roared or shouted. The only thing they could do was hasten the speed at which the magical machine army was torn apart.

  The goblins were at a complete disadvantage due to their lack of a high-grade fighting force!

  Meanwhile, the Crimson Clan had the Third Grade elementium magical machine and a Second Grade fire dragon absorbing all the damage on the frontline. Meanwhile, the vampires wreaked destruction as Mystique Emelia healed their allies. The green healing beams she fired were fairly effective at healing all living creatures.

  As for the strongest person in their crew? Bloody Queen Mary. Her hips swayed as she walked through the battlefield, casually moving towards the leaders of the rebels.

  Any magical machine that charged forward to intercept her would burst into four or five pieces after a flash of crimson light, scattering to the ground as metal parts.

  The Third Grade equipment, Stinger, which she had just recently obtained, was undoubtedly very compatible with her bloodline talents. It increased her offensive power tremendously, making her a much more formidable threat!

  Perhaps sensing the aura of defeat, the goblin nobles and leaders that had gathered around Vanessa started to retreat and silently sneak away. Their escape undoubtedly caused the rebellion’s offensive to decrease in fervor and momentum quickly.

  Finally, when Mary arrived in front of Vanessa, there were hardly any rebels left behind her.

  Even in this terrible predicament, Vanessa kept her head held high, unconcealable determination and resolution written all over her perfect, delicate face forged of metal.

  “Girl, you caused us quite some trouble! Tell me, where is Tigule now?” Mary stood proudly before Vanessa, staring down as only a predator would at its prey.

  Just an advanced First Grade mechanical adept!

  With Mary’s Agility, she could slice Vanessa to pieces before she even lifted her hand. It didn’t matter what aces Vanessa had hidden up her sleeve.

  No scheme nor tactic would be of use in the face of such a massive gap in power.

  If Vanessa wanted to fight against Mary, she should probably try again once she had reached Third Grade!

  Mary had no interest in the tragedies and agonies of the inner world of a character as insignificant as an ant. If she hadn’t wanted to know Tigule’s location, Vanessa would already be resting in pieces.

  “As expected, we failed!” Red light flickered in Vanessa’s mechanical eyes. She said furiously, “This damned world! Why is it so cruel to us! I hate you people! I hate this world even more. Since this world will not let us goblins rise to power, then…die with me, you all!”

  As Vanessa screamed with all her strength, the red light in her eyes flickered even faster. The metal skin of her body also turned a blinding scarlet, as if it were about to explode.

  Chapter 1063 - Mastermind

  Chapter 1063 Mastermind

  Time instantly stopped!

  The mechanical heart beating in Vanessa’s chest wildly
pulsated and put out energy beyond her control. Violent and ferocious magical energy gathered quickly in her cold, stiff metal body. In the blink of an eye, it had reached the threshold of self-destruction.

  There were unconcealable hatred and wild madness in Vanessa’s eyes.

  Even though the project she had been planning for forty years had been shattered, she would be able to make that evil adept who dared to invade the Goblin Plane feel a trace of regret by killing this wicked woman before her.

  It wouldn’t be much regret, and it didn’t need to be. Vanessa would be happy as long as that demon-like man could feel a trace of regret!

  Sadly, while wild light flickered in her eyes, the entire world paused for a moment beyond the senses of her consciousness.

  In truth, the world did not stop, and neither did the universe pause.

  The only real change happened to that wicked woman’s speed!

  When a person was thinking and moving at ten times–a hundred times–the speed of everyone else, then everything within their senses would feel slow and unmoving.

  When the Third Grade mechanical heart in Vanessa’s chest suddenly went berserk and was on the edge of exploding, Mary abruptly went into her hypersensitive state.

  In this state, everything around her suddenly became silent and frozen. Each person and everything within her vision moved in an extremely slow and distorted flow of time. Under such conditions, even the air itself suddenly became thick and sluggish. Mary would have to exhaust far more energy than usual while moving through the air in this state.

  The only person who could move within this ‘static world’ was probably Mary alone.

  Like a beautiful, noble lady walking through her garden, Mary elegantly stepped in front of Vanessa. She bent down and looked at Vanessa’s face, twisted with anger. She extended a finger and lightly tapped the princess’s heart, which was boiling and glowing red with heat as if there was a miniature sun contained within. Mary smiled.

  The next second, a small and delicate dagger appeared in Mary’s hand, swiftly stabbing into the small gap in Vanessa’s metallic body.