Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  However, a fearsome Fourth Grade spirit shadow had been burned alive by that legendary fire adept without being able to display much of its power. It…it was unbelievable!

  In doing so, the legendary fire adept had struck fear into the hearts of all high-grade shadow creatures present on this battlefield. They stared at the blinding ball of light with horror and surprise. Of course, they could not see anything within the ball of light.

  For some reason, all of the shadow creatures’ attacks weakened slightly. They were all trying their best not to stand out amidst the entire army.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t matter how they hid or disguised themselves. Beams of Blazing Light still shot out of the ball of light, reducing seven or eight Third Grade shadow warriors into ash.

  Greem’s actions filled Dark Witch Shani’s heart with anger and heartbreak.

  While cultivating a high-grade shadow creature wasn’t as difficult as developing a high-grade adept, the resources and rare materials consumed in the process cost a shocking amount. Each and every one of the shadow creatures that the legendary fire adept so brazenly slaughtered was an elite subordinate that the Dark Witches had invested greatly in.

  Now, they were all being wasted in vain on this other plane without bringing any objective benefit to the clan at all. It…it was an unforgivable waste of resources!

  Dark Witch Shani might not be criticized for such wasteful use of clan property if she were the leader of the Dark Witches. Sadly, she was not the leader.

  At the very best, she was a high-grade witch sent out by the Dark Witches on an interplanar bounty hunting mission. The leader had only authorized partial use of the origin tower’s powers and limited mobilization of the clan’s private militia.

  That did not include or allow for heavy losses on the militia’s part!

  Shani could almost already see herself being accused and criticized by all the clan elders during the next clan meeting as she watched the high-grade shadows turn to dust beneath the red beams of light.

  Those bastards would most definitely force her to compensate for this ‘mistake’ with her own resources!

  That was a given!

  Shani’s heart bed unstoppably. She could no longer sit behind the lines now. She hastily summoned the surviving spirit shadow to her side and had the spirit shadow replace her as the conduit for the origin tower. She personally descended upon the frontlines furiously, enveloped by a tide of darkness and shadows.

  Dark Witch Shani had finally shown herself!

  A smile appeared on Greem’s face inside the fireball. He quickly adjusted his condition.

  A fireball and a ball of darkness. The two powerful adepts of entirely different attributes faced off in the air, their eyes fixed upon each other.

  [Beep. Locked on to target’s position.

  [Target creature’s attribute is darkness. Target possesses various short-ranged mobility spells, including Shadowstalk and Shadow Teleportation. Possibility of maintaining lock-on to the enemy’s position inside the pseudo-shadow domain is no more than 23%/

  [Dynamic trajectory estimation and calculation online. Lock-on possibility increased to 46%.

  [Elementium Sight assistance system online. Lock-on possibility increased to 62%.

  [Spatial node distribution scan complete. Lock-on possibility increased to 71%.

  [Warning. Said possibility is the most optimal result given host’s current abilities. Unless host can break the pseudo-shadow domain, the ability to maintain lock-on will be perpetually affected by external factors!

  So, 71%. That is enough!

  Greem’s eyes flickered slightly.

  It was important to note that he was now fighting an intermediate Fourth Grade Dark Witch that had advanced several hundreds of years ago. The fact that the Chip could increase his lock-on possibility to 71% within the pseudo-shadow domain that the enemy had so carefully laid out was already unimaginable.

  The real key to victory in this battle between Fourth Grade adepts was whether they could successfully unleash the might of their spells on their enemy.

  Due to the existence of defensive forcefields, mobility spells, defensive spells, and the environment itself, maintaining a perpetual lock on the opponent’s position and ensuring a hundred percent accuracy on all spells was nearly impossible.

  Being unable to lock onto the opponent meant a high possibility that your spell would miss. That was not just a waste of precious magic power, but a waste of the opportunity to attack. It would be simply unforgivable!

  With the Chip’s aid, Greem’s possibility of maintaining a lock-on to Shani’s position was at 71%. It was a terrifying number. In contrast, the Dark Witch’s chance of successfully locking onto Greem was no more than 30%.

  This difference in numbers would affect their combat effectiveness so drastically that it was almost unimaginable!

  “Sadly, you Dark Witches still chose to make enemies out of me in the end. I will give you this one opportunity today, then. Let us see if you will be the one to die, or I will be the one to live!” Greem chuckled sinisterly, his thunderous voice causing the very domain itself to rumble and shake.

  Shani laughed coldly in her shadows.

  “It’s not your place to decide how we Dark Witches choose. Stay here forever, won’t you!”

  As Shani let out her battlecry, the dark energy within the entire pseudo-shadow domain came to life. The darkness lunged desperately towards Greem from every direction.

  The true battle had finally begun!

  Chapter 1097 - Whack-A-Mole

  Chapter 1097 Whack-A-Mole

  Greem looked at the overwhelming dark energy around him.

  He knew very well that this wasn’t the power of the Dark Witch across from him.

  It was impossible for her to have turned this entire space into a pseudo-shadow domain without the aid of an adept’s tower. However, there was no doubt that the Dark Witch would still enjoy a tremendous boost to her combat power in this domain.

  That said, what would decide the outcome of this battle was still the fundamental power of both parties, as well as their combat techniques.

  There was no doubt that the Dark Witch held a tremendous advantage in this regard!

  Five hundred long years of fighting had allowed her to accumulate plenty of experience in combat that rookies could not hope to match. That was the real reason why she had been able to maintain her esteemed status amongst the Dark Witches.

  As Dark Witch Shani slowly walked through the air towards Greem, her entire body, her heartbeat, and even her breathing resonated intensely with the pseudo-shadow domain.

  At this moment, her body and consciousness vanished without a trace. They had wholly assimilated into that endless, soaring darkness.

  “Dammit! Just as I expected, there’s no easy opponent among Fourth Grade adepts!”

  Greem cursed in his mind while he detonated the fire tentacles without any hesitation.

  The explosion blew the surrounding shadow creatures to pieces. The fire shockwave that came after then pushed back against the approaching dark energy like a vicious wave.

  As the fire shockwave spread outwards, the fire energy and shadow energy clashed in the center of town, entangling with and tearing into each other.

  Dark Witch Shani, who had just merged with the pseudo-shadow domain, was forcefully pushed out of her resonance by the clash of energies before she could assume full control of the domain.

  The damned legendary fire adept quickly approached with an endless sea of fire the moment her slender figure emerged from the darkness.

  “Bastard! How did he know how to deal with the power of a domain?”

  Shani cursed furiously as she waved her hand and summoned a hundred shadow arrows to intercept her opponent.

  The pseudo-shadow domain was sustained by the power of the origin tower, after all. It was not part of her abilities. As such, Shani’s compatibility with the domain was not very high. It was why she was so quickly fo
rced out of resonance by an energy shockwave that encompassed the entire domain.

  In all honesty, Shani couldn’t help but be impressed by the fire adept’s ability to do this!

  Shani flickered and disappeared into the endless shadows as she looked at the charging fire adept.

  The next second, a Blazing Fireball devoured her previous location.

  …………

  “Dammit! She got away again!”

  Greem couldn’t help but curse as he sensed the lack of life aura in the air.

  For a long time, Greem’s favorite strategy in adept battles had been to recklessly spread fire and create a sea of flames, creating a battlefield in which he could freely move around.

  However, now that he was trapped in a pseudo-shadow domain, he could finally taste the anguish of entering someone else’s home field!

  The Dark Witch had the space to teleport endlessly within this pseudo-shadow domain. All it took was a single thought, and she could appear anywhere in the domain.

  This advantage would allow her to ambush Greem freely without serious repercussions. When Greem wanted to retaliate, she would already be long gone, vanishing to a different region in the shadows.

  Greem could not unleash his power to its fullest potential in this domain space. If it weren’t for the Chip barely being able to track the location of the Dark Witch, Greem would already be stuck in an awkward position with no ability to counter at all.

  Blue light flickered deep in Greem’s eyes as he looked at the vanishing Dark Witch. The lightless world before his eyes suddenly turned into a straightforward world of gray and white. Dark grey clusters of energy flowed everywhere within his vision.

  Meanwhile, a single trail of dissipating red traces could be faintly seen in this world of gray.

  Greem forced back the approaching shadow energy without any hesitation and quickly followed the direction of the red trail.

  A thousand meters away, Dark Witch Shani had just emerged from the Shadow World and was drawing upon her shadow energy to search for the legendary adept’s location.

  However, before she could obtain feedback from the domain space, a violent Blazing Fireball rumbled through the air and shot towards her in an elegant curve.

  The unprepared Dark Witch hastily blocked the explosive impact of the fireball, only to realize that the legendary fire adept was almost upon her.

  “Dammit! How did he find me?”

  Filled with resentment, Shani had no other choice but to dive into space again. She leaped from one dark node to another and quickly emerged at the other end of the domain.

  She had learned her lesson from the previous encounter. This time, she did not invest all of her Spirit into her management of the domain.

  As expected, just three seconds after she emerged from the dark node, the male adept charged towards her with boundless might.

  At this point, Dark Witch Shani was certain that the fire adept had somehow locked on to her position!

  Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! What was the point of this pseudo-shadow domain that she had gone to such great lengths to create if she did not have the home-field advantage? She couldn’t just run all over the area and let the fire adept chase her like it was a game of whack-a-mole, could she?

  Unwilling to give up, Shani tried to teleport a few more times before she finally gave up.

  That bastard. He actually had the means to track her location in this pseudo-shadow domain!

  It was nearly unimaginable, but given all the unusual and bizarre variety of spells available in the adept’s magic system, Shani had no choice but to accept her situation.

  After emerging from another dark node, Shani decided not to hide any longer. Instead, she quickly gathered shadow energy and prepared for a serious battle.

  Shani was a Dark Witch that had advanced five hundred years ago. She had not achieved her current position through lies and deceit. Her title as ‘Nightraven Shani’ was not in vain!

  Shani sensed the commotion and shockwaves in the shadow energy around her and quickly determined the angle and direction in which the legendary fire adept was approaching.

  A rapid chant came out of her mouth. Endless shadow energy that had been flowing around her suddenly gathered together, forming into a massive core of darkness. Seven or eight massive tentacles of shadow reached out of the center and started lashing about aimlessly in the air. Every one of these tentacles was as tall as an entire building.

  When the legendary fire adept descended in a giant fireball, all of the shadow tentacles reached towards him and bound him to the spot as if they were a giant octopus.

  A series of miniature energy explosions erupted the moment the shadow tentacles came into contact with the giant fireball.

  The heat and light of the fireball dissolved the shadow tentacles incessantly, causing them to go limp like melting ice. However, the surging shadow energy around the massive core of darkness allowed it to create even more tentacles to bind Greem to the spot.

  Taking full advantage of this opportunity, the Second and Third Grade shadow creatures stepped upon the tentacles and charged out of the darkness to attack Greem’s fireball.

  Every bit of shadow energy that penetrated and attacked the ball of light would cause it to tremble unstoppably. Greem could sense the frequency and intensity of the fireball’s shaking.

  Blazing Fireballs shot out of Greem’s hand like a restless cannon. Every single fireball could exterminate a Second Grade shadow creature and significantly injure a Third Grade one. Even the shadow warriors had to defend with all their might to avoid being consumed by the violent flames.

  No shadow creature could continue maintaining their projection in a different plane once their core of darkness had been destroyed.

  After mastering the fire laws, the penetration power of Greem’s fire was one of the best even amongst elementium adepts!

  The actual bodies of the shadow creatures in the Shadow World would suddenly ignite and turn to ashes when they died at Greem’s hands. Of course, Shani was invested in this battle and still did not know of this situation. Otherwise, her heart would be aching a lot more than it currently was.

  Why were shadow creatures so challenging to deal with?

  Precisely because they excelled at using shadow energy to project their power.

  While their projection was fighting recklessly and sacrificing themselves in another plane, their actual person would remain unharmed within the Shadow World. Even if their shadow projection died in the line of battle, all they had to do was exert a portion of their Spirit to project their body once again.

  It was this unique characteristic of shadow creatures that turned them into terrifying existences that no material creatures were willing to fight, despite their almost non-existent defenses.

  However, they had met their bane in Greem!

  The application of the potent fire laws caused the dead shadow creatures to bring back a portion of the fire energy when their consciousness returned to the Shadow World. In doing so, their core of darkness, the true form of their consciousness that resided in the Shadow World, would instantly be engulfed in flames.

  That was the terrifying part of a principle adept!

  They used the lever of the principles to move entire power systems and could often inflict devastating damage upon the enemy with minimal power. Moreover, an attack that utilized the power of laws was nearly indefensible.

  Unless you had similar law powers to protect yourself, your only option was to endure the attack!

  The Dark Witches had not discovered that Greem had mastered a portion of the fire laws before this mission. That would shape up to be a massive flaw in their planning. At this point in the battle, they could only swallow their teeth and cry as they suffered a tremendous, unexpected loss.

  Chapter 1098 - Domain Characteristic

  Chapter 1098 Domain Characteristic

  Shani quickly realized something was wrong as she engaged in a melee fight with Greem.

/>   The number of shadow creatures in the pseudo-shadow domain was rapidly dwindling from her spiritual senses.

  It was a situation that supposedly should not happen.

  With the origin tower’s assistance from afar and the Fourth Grade spirit shadow as a conduit for all that power, these shadow creatures should be able to swarm endlessly, drowning the entire battlefield with their fearsome numbers and fearless fighting.

  It had barely been minutes since the battle started. The only reason the number of shadow creatures in the pseudo-shadow domain would be decreasing would be if the origin tower severed the portal that connected to the Shadow World. The number of shadow creatures was decreasing so quickly now that they were almost decimated by the enemy.

  Dammit! What were her sisters doing in the tower? Did something go wrong along the way?

  Shani became doubtful and suspicious.

  How could she ever know what was truly happen far away in the Dark Witches’ origin tower in the Northern Lands of the World of Adepts? Her leader, Circe, was already jumping around furiously and coughing up blood from sheer anger.

  The shadow army that the Dark Witches had gone to great lengths to cultivate had mysteriously been exterminated without a trace. As the shadow creatures projected their shadow powers to that distant Morrian Plane, their real bodies in the Shadow Valley had burst into flames and turned to ashes, one after another.

  This terrifying discovery left Circe with no choice but to order the severing of the soul portal to Morrian. That allowed them to save the remaining twenty percent of shadow creatures, barely.

  Circe couldn’t even cry at the sight of the mangled, thinned-out numbers of the shadow army and the severely crippled force of high-grade shadow creatures. She could angrily curse the bastards that had fed her inaccurate information about the enemy.