Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  A trace of order and cautiousness mixed into the chaos and evil. A hint of cunning blended into composure and experience.

  Dammit! It was the smell of adepts!

  To think some adepts had broken into his hunting grounds and even slaughtered some of his subordinates!

  An evil and cruel aura rose from Sytance Illhoof’s large and hideous body.

  He kicked with all four of his hooves, leaped down the cliff, and started sprinting wildly towards the west.

  The cold night winds howled past him.

  Sytance ran beneath the moonlight with the stance of a horse, traveling at a speed that eclipsed even the flying creatures in the sky.

  Fields of wheat, forests, and rivers rushed past beneath his feet.

  He passed by many human villages and towns along the way. These human settlements were always filled with cries of terror, the light of fires, and, of course, the shapes of murderous beasts tearing apart the humans.

  Sytance ignored all of this. Every bound and leap he made caused him to travel a hundred meters. One human settlement after another was left behind as he stubbornly bounded towards the west.

  The mutated beasts that slaughtered in these villages hastened their massacre upon sensing Illhoof’s aura. They rushed out of the towns and followed after their leader, wildly advancing towards some unknown location in the distance.

  A small pack of mutated beasts quickly formed in this manner under the night sky!

  Illhoof leaped onto a small hill and finally stopped. He glanced at the pitch-black human village in the distance with a sinister and cruel light in his eyes.

  He could faintly sense three soul auras of various strengths in the village. He could also smell elementium lifeforms around the area.

  If the enemy were too weak, Illhoof wouldn’t have bothered to travel so far just to warn his enemies.

  He could sense it. The aura of the adepts hidden in this village had reached a level where even he had to be cautious. As such, before his final hunt, Illhoof needed to cull all possible factors of instability around him.

  These fragile adepts were undoubtedly some of the most annoying insects. They weren’t just annoying; they were downright detestable!

  Their auras might have reached the limit of power that could be contained by the plane, but Illhoof did not regard them as actual opponents out of the usual contempt his kind harbored for adepts.

  After all, an adept was a profession often taken up by intelligent species with inferior talents and potential.

  They either had frail bodies or weak Spirits. There was always a massive, scornful weakness to their person. A race like this, a foundation like this- even if they managed to strengthen their soul to Fourth Grade, they were still prey in the eyes of the great Sytance Illhoof.

  Sytance Illhoof already had easier prey at hand. He had lost all interest in hunting and slaughtering these barbed prey.

  However, Illhoof didn’t want his moment of ‘compassion’ to cause the adepts to get any ideas. He didn’t want them to interrupt the banquet of blood and flesh that was to come. A warning and a show of force were required!

  If these interlopers were too weak, Illhoof didn’t mind having a few adepts as appetizers before the feast. After all, those who could become Fourth Grade adepts had quite delicious souls!

  Chapter 1107 - Crush the Weak

  Just as expected, Illhoof’s arrival alerted Greem and the others.

  After all, they were all at Fourth Grade. They were the most powerful people within the material planes. Though there might be some variance in power between them, they had all put in incredible amounts of preparation into their personal defenses.

  Greem, Holly, and Cherisha all sensed it when Illhoof appeared on the distant hill. They woke up from their sleep or meditation, their mental consciousness active once again.

  No one knew when, but Greem had appeared in the air above the wooden house. He evaluated the ferocious monster standing atop the hill from a distance, nervous yet excited.

  Disaster creatures were exceptionally terrifying opponents, even for a major plane like the World of Adepts. In particular, Scourge Lords that had lived for thousands, or tens of thousands, of years were all-powerful existences that were planar calamities.

  Countless planar worlds that lacked the strength to defend themselves had their residents slaughtered and all their rare resources robbed from their lands. Even the planar origin required to maintain a world’s stability and development was extracted, leaving the planar world to collapse, disintegrate, and turn into ‘waste’ drifting through the endless space.

  If adepts were leeches parasitizing the planar worlds, then the disaster creatures were army ants that ate and devoured everything in their way. Where they went, planes collapsed and species went extinct. Only the shattered remains of planar continents would slip into the space storms, where they would become home for galaxy wanderers.

  Both parties were at the top of the food chain, but the difference in power and status was astronomical!

  In strength alone, the adepts were jackals, while the Scourge Lords were tigers, rulers of an entire mountain.

  It was precisely because of this that Illhoof dared to approach the adepts so brazenly.

  As expected, Illhoof was wildly different from an ordinary plane creature in Greem’s magical sight.

  Illhoof wasn’t all that large in size. He was only three meters tall.

  That was already somewhat ‘petite’ for Scourge Lords, who easily measured several kilometers in height.

  However, considering that he was only a clone of a Sixth Grade Scourge Lord, choosing a smaller and more agile body for a planar invasion was probably the more optimal choice.

  Illhoof’s body resembled that of a mastiff. He had an aerodynamic body, four powerful limbs, and sharp claws at the end of each limb. However, Illhoof’s most prominent feature was his head.

  Or rather, his lack of a head.

  From the neck up, his head split off in four pieces, like the petals of a blooming flower. The edges of these ‘petals’ were filled with sharp teeth. A thick tentacle emerged from the center of the ‘flower,’ and a strange eyeball attached at the end of the tentacle was looking around.

  The terrifying Illhoof stood at the top of the hill, his hind legs slightly bent and his body upright. The four petal mouthpieces were trembling in the direction of the adepts, while the eyestalk in the center twisted and gazed at them.

  There was no greeting or even a declaration of battle. Illhoof simply straightened his body and let out a strange screech. Tens of thousands of creatures thundered from behind the hill as an army of mutated beasts swarmed at the adepts.

  Scourge Lords truly had a unique way of greeting people!

  To think he would start the battle without a single word.

  If they could survive the attacks of his subordinates, they would have naturally won the qualifications to speak to him as an equal. If they couldn’t survive…well, weaklings had no right to negotiate or even a voice!

  Greem’s eyes swept across the battlefield and quickly scanned all of the approaching beasts.

  There was a great variety of these mutated beasts, each with unusual appearances. You could find creatures of any kind. There were eagles with the heads of lions among them, tigers with the bodies of deer and the claws of wolves, and many, many more. However, the majority of them were still ugly creatures that appear simply to be an amalgamation of flesh, where no single feature could be distinguished.

  It was evident that these were mutated beasts whose life origins had been corrupted by the Scourge Lords’ twisted power. They could no longer regain their former appearance or consciousness.

  A single word from the Scourge Lords, and these corrupted creatures would swarm and tear apart any enemy like irrational madmen.

  The grades of these creatures ranged from First to Third Grade, but there was no hierarchy amongst them.

  They had no formation, and they made no disti
nction between each of them. The group simply gathered together as a horde and roared as they charged the adepts.

  Greem and Holly exchanged a look and instantly understood each other’s intentions. They also began to fight without any hesitation!

  As the most powerful elementium adept among the three of them, Greem’s two-meter-tall body swelled to ten meters in the blink of an eye. He stood firmly on the ground with both feet, red flames smoldering around his body. Piece after piece of magical equipment started to appear around him in energy form.

  Demonic Wall of Fire!

  Meteor Shower!

  Firestorm!

  Even as his body was elementiumizing, Greem waved his fire coral staff lightly, and three powerful area-of-effect fire spells had been cast onto the battlefield.

  The Demonic Wall of Fire erected a ten-meter-long and three-meter-thick wall of flames in front of the mutated beasts. Any creature that charged into the wall would have to endure nine hundred points of fire damage per second. The Third Grade mutated monsters might be able to survive this with their formidable Physique, but the First and Second Grade weaklings were finished. All of their magical elementium would ignite the moment their bodies came into contact with the fire.

  They would turn into ashes in less than three seconds.

  On the other hand, Meteor Shower caused a rain of meteors to crash down from the skies, creating a giant sea of flames wherever they landed. Shards of magma were also sent splashing upon impact. Meanwhile, Firestorm was a series of flame shockwaves that inflicted seven hundred points of fire damage to any creature unfortunate enough to be swept up in its radius.

  There were five shockwaves in total, the fire damage of which stacked upon each other.

  This compound series of attacks that came from the ground and the skies would not be sufficient against a Fourth Grade enemy. However, when used against a horde of low-grade creatures, it was as if a giant furnace had been created on the frontlines of the battlefield. Anyone that dared to enter that furnace would be instantly turned to dust before the combined might of three fire spells. They wouldn’t even have the chance to cry out in pain.

  It was Greem’s first time fighting against a Scourge Lord. As such, he did not reveal all of his abilities.

  Of the four significant magical fire effects that he had obtained, Greem only used the increased fire spellcasting range and increased fire effectiveness. Meanwhile, he also made sure to keep his trump card, the magnification crystal, properly hidden. He would not use it unless it was a crucial point in the battle.

  Even so, as a Fourth Grade legendary fire adept, Greem’s terrifyingly destructive powers still put the other two adepts to shame. So fearsome were his attacks that it almost made Holly and Cherisha’s attacks look like lukewarm water.

  Greem exterminated the three hundred mutated beasts sprinting at the forefront in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, Adept Holly quickly donned his astral armor amidst a beam of blinding starlight. He charged right into the middle of the mutated beasts and slaughtered them without any resistance.

  The astral armor that Adept Holly wore was unusual. Every single punch and kick he used was far, far more powerful than what an ordinary metal golem should be capable of. Whenever he punched a mutated beast, strange starlight power would jump and leap across the bodies of other surrounding creatures, instantly causing them to explode into a mess of blood and flesh.

  Meanwhile, due to the projection of starlight around Adept Holly, any creature that approached him would be stunned and lose all control of their body. The slightest delay in their movements would be more than enough for Holly to punch them to pieces with his ferocious metal fists.

  It didn’t matter if they were First, Second, or Third Grade. There was only one fate awaiting the mutated beasts that tried to attack Adept Holly– death.

  For a moment, Adept Holly was unstoppable, rampaging uncontested amongst the enemies while clad in his unusual armor.

  However, it didn’t matter how fast he punched or kicked. He would never be faster than Greem, who slaughtered scores of beasts with a single spell.

  Meanwhile, Cherisha showed no signs of releasing Mangus and transforming into their true two-headed form. Instead, she used her strange, powerful mental magic to enchant the mutated beasts, causing them to turn on one another.

  These mutated beasts might have once been incredibly powerful monsters in their native planes, but they were as weak as sheep before these Fourth Grade adepts, who stood at the peak of the material planes.

  With Adept Holly serving as an invincible tank for him, Greem did not need to worry about defense at all. Instead, he focused solely on being the destructive cannon that he was.

  He turned into a ten-meter-tall fire giant and stood at the center of the village, occasionally tossing a fire spell at the frontlines to halt the mutated beasts’ wild advance. The monsters would thrash in his flames like blind men, unable to find a way out and eventually crumpling to the ground as they whined in agony and burned to a crisp.

  Greem’s attack did not stop, but most of his attention was still focused on Illhoof, who remained on top of the hill.

  Even when the battle was at its most intense, Greem still had one or two powerful fire spells readied and prepared. If Illhoof tried anything weird, he would hurl these spells at him without any hesitation.

  Sytance Illhoof stood firmly at the top of the hill, looking down at the battlefield in silence.

  His subordinates might be getting torn apart by the enemy and slaughtered by the hundreds, but he felt nothing at all.

  Mere insignificant corrupted beings. He wouldn’t even bat an eye no matter how many of them died.

  As long as he could take down that floating city, he could have as large a mutated beast army as he wanted. Numbers were not a problem.

  The only thing he cared about now was how powerful these three adepts were.

  Chapter 1108 - Clash of the Powerful

  In all honesty, if all three adepts were as ferocious as the fire adept, Illhoof would have turned tail and ran without any hesitation. He would rather lose his entire mutated beast army here than risk the death of this clone of his.

  Correspondingly, if all three adepts here were as weak as that weird two-headed adept, Illhoof would charge forth without any hesitation.

  He would never give up on such high-quality prey!

  Unfortunately, the opponent’s group was too strange. Some of them were powerful, and some of them were weak. That made Illhoof somewhat upset.

  The weak were the perfect prey, but the strong were simply too difficult an opponent.

  Illhoof’s lotus-shaped mouth opened wide as he bent down on all fours. The next instant, his entire body vanished from the spot.

  Invisibility, teleportation…or some other unusual ability?

  Greem and the others were shocked at what they just saw.

  It didn’t matter how many of these mutated beasts there were. The best they could do was force the adepts into a retreat. They had no chance of killing them. The only thing that could threaten the lives of the three Fourth Grade adepts was the bizarre-looking Scourge Lord, Illhoof.

  The three adepts immediately went on high alert the moment Illhoof vanished from sight. They were careful of an ambush from him.

  Greem looked around him, and instantly his magical vision allowed him to spot a faint silhouette quickly moving through the ground.

  “He’s underground. Cherisha, dodge!”

  Greem shouted loudly and hurled the Meteor Bombardment he had been preparing towards Cherisha’s feet.

  Cherisha was the weakest of the three of them. As such, she had long since prepared herself to be the target of any attacks. Upon hearing Greem’s cry, she quickly took to the air and shifted her bright yellow magic shield to her feet. At the same time, Greem’s blazing meteor crashed into the quiet ground with the force of a thousand hammers.

  Just as Cherisha’s feet left the ground, the flat earth suddenly bubbled li
ke mud in a swamp. Four vicious mouthpieces abruptly clamped shut above the ground, the sharp teeth clashed with each other and causing sparks to fly.

  Cherisha had barely dodged the enemy’s underground ambush with millimeters to spare.

  Only the upper half of Illhoof’s body was visible. His only eye glare at Cherisha viciously before turning towards Greem, a mean gleam flashing within.

  At that moment, the crashing meteor was very close to Illhoof already.

  Extreme heat engulfed the surrounding space before the violent meteor had even arrived. Traces of white smoke rose from the ground, and the earth itself started to melt and show signs of turning into magma.

  Illhoof smiled wickedly before turning and diving into the earth again.

  A dirt-yellow radiance flickered over the ground as the earth instantly became harder than stone.

  Boom!

  A loud explosion sounded as the meteor crashed into the ground. A half-meter deep crater was carved into the land, the bottom of which was filled with fine cracks. Flame shockwaves and streams of fire of extreme heat spread outwards in a ring, blasting away all substances at terrifying speed.

  Cherisha, who had just taken off the ground, was clearly too close to the point of impact. The flames immediately engulfed her. The multiple magical defenses around her crackled as they erupted into sparks. The horrifying flames instantly scorched her feet and turned them black.

  Cherisha cried out in shock and escaped from the flames. She no longer dared to land after she got back in the sky.

  After stabilizing herself in the air, Cherisha took out multiple vials of potions and started to drink them as fast as she could. The wounds to her lower body started healing at a visible rate.

  The flame giant that Greem had turned into was extremely tall. Naturally, by looking down from above, his field of vision was much wider than the average person.

  Blue light flickered deep in his black eyes as he looked around him to search for Illhoof’s location.