Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  He was wearing a red adept’s robe with a dark black cloak draped over it. The hood was drawn over his head to obscure his face, and only a few stray strands of his black hair were showing.

  Greem examined the place with his blazing eyes and quickly confirmed the energy auras of everyone involved here.

  Holly, a werewolf, a foxgirl, and…Dark Witch Shani!

  Just as expected, Shani had not died. Instead, she had chosen to revive in this foreign plane. As an intermediate Fourth Grade Dark Witch, her appearance undoubtedly put Greem on alert.

  It seemed like this trip to the floating city wouldn’t go as smoothly as he expected!

  His old enemy had appeared once more, along with two unknown believers of the Beast God. Add to the equation the minor Scourge Lord Illhoof, and over five otherworldly powerhouses were roaming this floating city at the moment, all searching for their own prey and their own hunting grounds.

  Adept Holly might be powerful, but he had obviously been blinded by greed.

  In such a situation, putting in the work to search for resources was far less profitable than robbing prey who already had their hands full of loot!

  It was precisely because he failed to understand this that he had been kicked off the list of competitors the moment the fighting started. Judging from the aura at the scene, Adept Holly had probably fallen into Shani’s hands.

  As for Shani’s purpose in doing so? Greem had a decent idea.

  Having been defeated once, Shani had lost all her magical equipment. Her newly created body could not reach the standards of a Fourth Grade in a short period either. It all meant that her combat prowess was drastically reduced.

  Consequently, Shani did not dare confront Greem at the moment.

  If she did run into Greem, it wasn’t a matter of her chasing after Greem, but whether Greem would be willing to let her go.

  For the sake of killing Greem and completing her mission, Shani had to take some risks to recruit people to her side.

  Cherisha was too useless. Recruiting her would bring no benefit to Shani at all. That was why Shani had her sights set on the poor Adept Holly instead.

  Though there was an Oath Contract between Greem and Holly, it wasn’t hard to imagine what choice Holly would make when his life was in the hands of another person.

  It seemed like Shani and Holly would be his enemies the next time they met!

  Greem lowered his head and thought in silence. All of a sudden, he lifted his head and looked into the distance. A cluster of golden flames quickly spread across his entire body, causing him to vanish into thin air once more.

  A strange, fiery explosion sounded out.

  A large and muscular figure abruptly appeared in the sky. He looked down at the burning fires all across the floating city and let out some deafening laughter.

  It was a fearsome abyssal demon.

  He wore thick, spiked copper armor on his body. The armor itself was covered all over in massive slash marks that ruined the patterns on the armor itself. The scores on it were of varying depth and from different times. Some appeared recent, while others could have been left on the armor hundreds of years ago.

  While the demon laughed brazenly in the sky, his muscles started to swell and grow in size, filling the ancient copper armor and causing it to appeared larger than it should be. His violet skin was covered in all sorts of twisted magical runes, and his muscles were so firm they seemed almost like refined ingots of iron.

  The demon’s appearance was savage and terrifying. His mouth jutted forward, resembling that of an ape or a dragonborn. A pair of tattered, crimson leather wings beat slightly behind his back. These wings were covered in sharp hooks.

  Every time he opened his fanged mouth, a breath of semi-translucent sulfuric flames would burst forth, filling the air with the pungent smell of sulfur.

  A Fourth Grade Great Demon.

  Greem hid in the shadows with the invisibility from his flames and quietly observed this uninvited guest.

  It was apparent that the mutated beasts’ war invasion of the floating city had drawn out all the otherworldly invaders hiding nearby. It caused the battle to become even more unpredictable. It was hard to tell where things were heading with all these variables.

  That wasn’t the end of it either!

  While the Abyssal Great Demon beat his tattered demon wings and flew to some battlefield in the distance, a flash of light cut through the sky. Greem’s attention was drawn away once more.

  It was a strange, pale-white fire. Inside the flames was a skeleton formed of jade-white bones.

  An indescribable chill crept up Greem’s heart when he saw those bones that were as white as jade, those magical gemstones that were set in the jaw as teeth, and those unusual flames burning behind those ruby eyes.

  A lich. A Fourth Grade lich!

  A monster like this would be enough to rule over a complete small-sized plane of the undead!

  This lich hid within the chilling death flames as he cut across the sky above Greem’s head. When it passed by, its cold, merciless, and evil soul flux swept past Greem’s hiding spot and stopped for that one fleeting instant.

  Perhaps sensing Greem’s soul aura, which was no weaker than his own, the lich chose not to engage in a fight. Instead, he simply cackled coldly and flew away.

  That was the difference between casters and warriors!

  Arrogant beings like demons, disaster creatures, and starbeasts would often charge forth and fight the moment they sensed an enemy’s existence. They knew their power. As for whether they could win? That was a different matter entirely.

  Meanwhile, casters like liches and adepts were more rational and cunning in their approach.

  They would often choose to avoid fighting when they ran into enemies of the same grade. They were more inclined to attack opponents who were slightly weaker than themselves.

  It was only when the enemy betrayed a glaring weakness that they would risk their own lives to attack. Moreover, they were a group of people who would escape without any hesitation if they sensed any threat to their lives.

  That was why the lich had behaved in that manner earlier. He had sensed the strange flux of the principle fires around Greem. After some evaluation, he confirmed that he could not defeat Greem quickly. As such, he flew away without any hesitation.

  Through this, Greem could deduce that the lich had also mastered certain principle powers.

  That was why the lich had managed to see through Greem’s invisibility from the principle fires, while the Great Demon, as powerful as he was, had not managed even to detect Greem’s presence.

  Greem couldn’t help but frown when he saw the terrifying beings that were appearing one after another.

  This pond was getting murkier by the minute.

  The number of predators that had joined the fray was only increasing.

  Under such circumstances, the difficulty of obtaining what he wanted had increased exponentially!

  When it was just Illhoof and the three of them, Greem had confidence in holding the advantage above everyone else. He could obtain whatever he wanted. However, given the situation, even getting any sort of loot would come at a great cost to himself!

  In particular, the Dark Witch was a hidden time bomb.

  If she were insistent on bothering him, it would be near impossible to obtain any decent spoils from the floating city!

  However, after some thought, Greem’s frustration was quickly replaced with pride.

  Disaster creatures, Beast God believers, demons, liches. Which one of these was not a powerful individual who had established their reputation within their planes hundreds of years ago? Which of them had not achieved what they had after hundreds upon hundreds of years of cultivation? It had only been two hundred years since his own birth, yet he was not that much weaker than all of them.

  Greem even had plenty of confidence in defeating a few of these opponents.

  It was sufficient proof that Greem’s potential f
ar surpassed any of them!

  Faced with all these terrifying competitors, Greem did not need to feel dejected. Instead, he should be proud of his achievements.

  As he silently consoled himself, Greem remained invisible and headed towards the inner circle.

  One had to admit that the floating city was unusually large.

  The arcanists had indeed moved a massive city into the skies.

  Even Greem couldn’t help but be impressed by this nearly miraculous feat.

  In all honesty, if Greem had not been born in the World of Adepts back then, but had instead been born in the Arcane Empire, he would probably be a Great Arcanist by now!

  After all, the Arcane Empire’s standard for advancement was each individual’s level of arcane knowledge. It was different from the adept’s Grade system, which set a firm threshold and standard for each grade. Consequently, the arcanists of the Arcane empire very rarely trained their bodies. Even their Spirits were far weaker than adepts of the same grade.

  If these arcanists were separated from their arcane towers and their arcane facilities, they would be as helpless as rabbits in front of the adepts!

  Greem hid his figure and roamed the empty streets.

  Some mutated beasts sprinted past him and smashed through many of the stores along the way. Whenever they found an arcanist defending an arcane facility, they would screech, calling more allies to their location to encircle the arcanist.

  It caused flames to appear all over the floating city, along with the sounds of fighting and the noise of crumbling buildings.

  It was at this moment that Greem finally saw the Great Demon again.

  The Great Demon was currently fighting against two arcane towers.

  He could faintly sense the life auras of two Fourth Ring arcanists in these towers.

  Chapter 1118 - A Terrifying Enemy

  The battle was surprisingly savage and exceptionally bloody!

  The Great Demon was like a frenzied boar. He ignored the barrage of arcane attacks from the towers entirely and demolished palace after palace amidst the colorful torrent of magic.

  The arcane apprentices hiding in these buildings scattered in horror while under the effects of the Halo of Fear. One by one, they were cut down by the Great Demon with his massive executioner’s blade. At the height of his excitement, the Great Demon picked up arcane apprentices and tossed them into his mouth. His sharp teeth snapped together, and the screaming would come to a sudden end, replaced by the crunching of bones and flesh.

  The eyes of a Fourth Ring arcanist hiding in an arcane tower turned red when he saw this. He drove his arcane tower down from the sky, charging at the Great Demon while drowning him with ferocious torrents of arcane magic. However, before he could finish his attack and return to the skies, the Great Demon appeared behind the tower with a long bang. He swung his massive sword against the arcane barrier of the tower.

  The arcane tower was forcefully struck down from the sky by the immense strength of the demon, trembling as it crashed to the ground.

  The arcane tower did not suffer any damage from the fall; it could still attack as ferociously as before. However, it had lost its original mobility and agility. It could only remain rooted to the ground, barely hanging on with its rippling arcane barrier.

  It caused Greem to frown as he observed everything from the shadows.

  He had been impressed by these arcane towers and envious of the arcanists for possessing such a powerful structure. However, from the looks of it, these arcane towers had their flaws and weaknesses.

  Firstly, they were not heavy enough.

  The adepts had their adept towers, and the arcanists had their arcane towers. Compared to the adept towers, the arcane towers could fly and, therefore, freely move. In this aspect, they were far superior to adept towers.

  However, it was for the sake of being able to fly that the arcane towers had their weight significantly reduced during construction.

  Adept towers often used unique magical materials in their construction, ensuring both physical and magical defense. In particular, steelrock, the most common material used in adept towers, greatly increased their physical defense. Correspondingly, it made the towers incredibly heavy as well.

  Meanwhile, arcane towers were made almost entirely out of lighter materials. Specifically, it was a collection of special arcane alloys.

  These alloys were sufficiently light while maintaining an acceptable level of physical and magical defense.

  It caused arcane towers to be a hundred times lighter than adept towers of the same size.

  It was for this reason that the arcane tower had faltered in a direct clash against a massive behemoth like the Great Demon. It was also why this strange scene of a five-meter tall Great Demon chasing after a hundred-meter tall arcane tower with a sword in hand came to be.

  The Great Demon was not foolish.

  He used the unique Pinpoint Teleportation of all demonic creatures to avoid the ferocious attacks of the arcane towers, appearing unexpectedly beside them instead. He then used his own brutal attacks to beat the towers into submission.

  However, such a method of combat was only possible for someone as sturdy and resilient as the Great Demon.

  His powerful and distorted forcefield, his unreasonably magic resistant skin, and his exceptional Physique as a demon; if any one of these had been missing, he would already have been blown to pieces by the fierce attacks of the two arcane towers.

  It was his ability to rely on his toughness that let the Great Demon continue fighting as fiercely as before, even when his body was already tattered from all the arcane attacks. His combat prowess was not affected by his injuries. On the contrary, he had managed to force both arcane towers to the ground, where they would not be able to return to the skies without the aid of their allies.

  The battle between the demon and the towers had been going on for a long time. Their battlefield spanned several kilometers as the demon chased after the towers.

  All arcane buildings along their way were destroyed, and all intermediate-grade arcanists and arcane apprentices inside these buildings were slaughtered. Meanwhile, the Great Demon was injured, but not dead. He was still as lively as ever, wildly fighting against the two arcane towers.

  Greem hid nearby, taking the opportunity to gather necessary information on the Great Demon.

  [Great Demon.

  Intermediate Fourth Grade. Demonic creature.

  Bodily Attributes: Strength 43 | Physique 45 | Agility 27 | Spirit 31.

  Combat Skills: Pinpoint Teleportation, Halo of Fear, Sinister Strike, Savage Body.]

  In particular, Pinpoint Teleportation allowed the Great Demon to freely teleport to any location within his vision, as long as the location was not shielded by a barrier of any sort. The effect of the teleportation was far superior to the Fire Teleportation used by low-grade demons.

  Meanwhile, the Halo of Fear was an area-of-effect spell that resembled a domain. It caused every creature within the range of the halo to feel fear towards the Great Demon from the depths of their heart, making them incapable of confronting the Great Demon, much less fighting against him.

  Evil Strike, on the other hand, was a racial ability available to all demonic creatures. It allowed the demon’s attacks to possess the corrosion and corruption effects of hellfire. Any individual the demon attacked would not be able to heal their wounds so long as they didn’t dispel this sinister effect.

  Savage Body was an even more fearsome spell.

  It gave the Great Demon the strange ability to become stronger the more injured he was.

  Consequently, you could not let down your guard when fighting against the Great Demon, not until you lopped off his head. Otherwise, it was easy for the Great Demon to turn the tables once backed into a corner!

  Greem couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder as he appraised the Great Demon’s combat techniques.

  Even though he once possessed the ability to transform into a Flame
Fiend, Abyssal Flame Fiends were still only intermediate demonic creatures. Meanwhile, the Great Demon before him was a real blue powerhouse of the Abyssal World.

  Greem would benefit greatly if he could defeat this demon and bring his body back with him.

  However, the feedback from the Chip made Greem cast away any such thoughts.

  The Great Demon’s body might seem battered and broken, but his life energy aura remained above 87%. His injuries and wounds were more of a sort of disguise and bait to tempt the enemies hiding in the shadows to attack him.

  Faced with such a ferocious fighter that relied on his sheer toughness to crush his enemies, Greem could only shake his head and slip away from the battle.

  However, though he could discern the Great Demon’s actual condition, this wasn’t necessarily the case for other invaders.

  Greem had only taken a few steps away when the werewolf and the foxgirl charged at the Great Demon without hesitation.

  Greem immediately hesitated. Should he stay and watch for any opportunities to intervene, or should he simply leave?

  Just then, a sinister and chilling aura of death erupted somewhere in the distance. Mixed within that aura of death were Mangus’ panicked roar and Cherisha’s scream.

  Mm? Was the lich fighting against the two-headed adept?

  Greem hesitated for a brief moment but chose to make his way to the other battlefield to see what was happening.

  The floating city was now a chaotic swamp of endless fighting that engulfed all the invaders and all the arcanists.

  The arcanists wanted to rely on their geographical advantage to beat back the enemies. In contrast, the invaders wanted to take advantage of the chaos to obtain as much loot as possible.

  Any small battle on the floating city could potentially catch the attention of even more predators, causing the fighting to grow in intensity and scale. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, things were slowly scaling out of control.