Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Greem and the other two adepts avoided the hotspots. They walked between tall mountains and deep valleys. It was apocalypse wherever they looked.

  Large and small rifts could be seen in the sky. Some unusual creatures of unnatural size were crawling in through these rifts, flapping their wings and screeching as they charged all over the plane.

  Greem and the other two adepts might have hidden themselves very well, but they failed to escape the unusual senses of these exotic creatures. They screeched as they dove down, trying to turn the adepts into their food.

  Unfortunately, they came, and they stayed forever!

  The three adepts each used their magic and brutally massacred these otherworldly creatures. It was only then that the monsters realized the terror of these beings. A short moment later, an otherworldly powerhouse appeared in front of the three adepts, riding on the back of a flying dragon.

  “Adepts? It seems like you people are an assault party that snuck into the plane ahead of everyone else! You must have a lot of loot if you’ve been able to survive so long. Hurry up and hand over all your spoils. This way, I, the great Lord Valkbar, might just let you live. Otherwise……”

  Greem looked at the sky and evaluated the enemy when he heard his arrogant words.

  This ‘Lord Valkbar’ and his kind were strange humanoid creatures that resembled bone fiends. Their lower halves were fused as one with the dragons beneath them, while their upper halves were pale-white armor of bones. A series of hard bone spikes ran down their spines from the top of their heads. Each was a meter long, with wisps of black smoke trailing from the ends of the spikes. It seemed like these spikes had some sort of unusual power.

  They had no nose and no ears, only a terrifying mouth and countless compound eyes all over their faces. Their four armored arms were slender, and each held glowing bone spears in their grasp.

  “Do you know what race they are?” Greem asked in a soft voice.

  Adept Holly and the siblings shook their heads.

  Their efforts in the past had mostly been focused in their labs on magic research. They did not know much about the boundless galaxy and the innumerable foreign creatures living throughout it. As such, they couldn’t figure out the opponent’s race or combat abilities in this sudden encounter.

  Lord Valkbar became furious when he saw his ‘prey’ whispering in front of him as if taking him as a non-existent threat. He waved his hand, and the flight of dragons dove at the three adepts.

  A battle broke out just like that!

  Chapter 1136 - Might of the Fire Adept

  Chapter 1136 Might of the Fire Adept

  The creatures that dove down were unusual creatures that resembled dragons.

  They were somewhat similar to swamp dragons or wild poison dragons in their size and means of attack. They had similarly muscular bodies, were five meters long, and were covered in small, gray scales. They had powerful wings as well, along with firm hind legs, sharp claws, and a jaw full of sharp teeth.

  Apart from those, their claws, teeth, and club-shaped tails were all shrouded in a black mist as if they contained deadly poison within.

  When vicious and powerful beasts like these descended from high above, their sheer force and biting strength were enough to tear through any mortal army. Their poison only made them even more deadly. Even a person with supernatural powers might fall prey to the poison if they were wounded even slightly by their claws.

  Unfortunately, they had not picked an appropriate opponent for themselves today!

  The two-headed siblings cackled in their two distinct voices, one low and one crisp, as they watched the dragons dive. They actively transformed into their awakened state and charged ahead with elementium magic in one hand and mental magic in the other.

  One dragon after another screeched in agony as their bodies were blown to pieces by the violent spells. Meanwhile, as Cherisha’s Mind Blast spread across the sky, many of the dragons were dazed and started to crash towards the ground.

  For a moment, the flight had been thrown into utter chaos.

  Greem clearly sensed through the Chip that these dragons were merely a pack of Second Grade creatures. Even the otherworldly individual that had approached them was not much more formidable of an enemy. His energy aura was only that of a Third Grade. Though his offense and defense might be slightly improved through his assimilation with the dragon he rode, it was arrogant to imagine threatening or attacking three Fourth Grade adepts!

  There was no need to mention Greem or Holly. Even the two-headed siblings, the ‘fish’s belly’ of the party, quickly managed to slaughter the dragons alone.

  The otherworldly creature who had assimilated with a Third Grade dragon roared when he saw his prey act so arrogantly. He charged down at them.

  He only made it halfway before a fierce elementium spell from Mangus injured him. When he finally approached the adepts after enduring all the elementium attacks, he was turned around by a simple mental illusion from Cherisha. He started circling the sky, chasing after a non-existent illusory phantom.

  While the siblings were toying with their opponent, a pack of powerful flying creatures with black scales and red wings emerged from a massive rift in the sky nearby. Many more individuals who looked like the opponent they were fighting sat atop these flying creatures.

  Their gaze naturally fell upon this battlefield when they appeared. The leaders of the group flew into a rage and hurried over with all their followers in tow.

  Greem looked over and quickly estimated the might of the enemy.

  Most of these were small fry of Second or Third Grade. Only the leader was a Fourth Grade powerhouse, whose unusual energy flux was significant enough to detect even from a distance.

  “Damned adepts! How dare you slaughter our Daimas. All of you will have to die here today.”

  Perhaps these aliens were all too arrogant, or maybe they all lacked a nerve in their brain, but they charged forward like berserk boars, even though it was evident that Greem and his party were the superior side in the conflict.

  Greem frowned slightly.

  In all honesty, he did not want to fight this battle at all.

  It was a meaningless fight driven by emotions. There was no substantial loot to be obtained here, even if they were to kill all of these arrogant fools.

  Truthfully, these otherworldly creatures were no different than savage magical creatures in the eyes of the adepts. They did not deserve to be called an intelligent race.

  Secondly, Morrian Plane had now been plunged into absolute chaos. Unusual creatures and powerful individuals from all over the universe of many varying factions were all appearing in the plane. Being too conspicuous at this time was likely to draw the attention of the truly powerful.

  If those people set their sights on the party, their journey back home would be fraught with disaster!

  A slight misstep might put them under an unnecessary risk of death.

  Greem’s eyes grew cold and severe as he watched the descending flight of ‘dragons.’ He snorted as a crimson elementium barrier emerged from his body, instantly engulfing an area of a thousand meters around him.

  Burning Domain.

  This elementium technique that Greem had mastered since First Grade had evolved from the mere Ring of Fire to the Ring of Flames and finally to its current form– the Burning Domain. Naturally, the might of the barrier had improved exponentially as well.

  There was almost no discrepancy in the intensity of the energy within the Burning Domain.

  All enemies within the Domain would suffer direct burning from the elementium flames, with over two hundred points of damage per second.

  Two hundred points per second.

  This amount of elementium damage was merely a warmup for Fourth Grade powerhouses. That was why Greem had seldom used Burning Domain in recent times. Rather than maintain the Burning Domain, his time would be better spent firing another Blazing Fireball.

  However, when faced with a large nu
mber of low-grade magical creatures, the Burning Domain was able to turn the tides of battle instantly.

  Everything caught in the faint red elementium barrier started burning.

  The ground burned, the rocks burned, the earth burned. Even the air itself began to burn.

  Red flames engulfed the dragons caught in the domain, their bodies crackling violently as the fires danced. It didn’t matter how they beat their wings or how low they flew; they could not escape the constant scorching of the elementium flames.

  These unusual dragon-like creatures might have some magic resistance, but their scales and skin were as thin as paper before a fire adept as powerful as Greem. He had mastered four fire laws, after all.

  All the dragons in the Burning Domain flew about aimlessly like blind beasts, desperately attempting to escape somehow. Many of the dragons even fell from the sky as they crashed into their own companions.

  The dragons who were at the edge of the Burning Domain could still manage to escape, thanks to their tough bodies. That said, even if they survived, their bodies were now covered in blisters and patches of scorch marks. The rest of the flying dragons howled in vain for a dozen seconds in the Burning Domain before turning into fireballs and crashing to the ground.

  Pupupu!

  These burnt creatures plummeted from the sky like dumplings into water, smashing deep craters into the ground upon impact. They could only let out cries of pain on the verge of death, their bodies scorched, and their wings tattered. They could not escape the endless elementium flames.

  Finally, their heads fell limply to the ground as what remained of their bodies slowly burned down into unrecognizable corpses.

  The dragons in the distance abruptly stopped their advance.

  The scene they had just witnessed was simply too terrifying. Moreover, due to how fast they had stopped their advance, several of the dragons in the back were forced to circle around to avoid crashing into their allies.

  For a moment, the dragons had been thrown into disarray!

  The Fourth Grade leader of the group stopped in front of the Burning Domain, his gaze piercing through the elementium barrier and landing on Greem.

  Greem’s human body was now only flames. However, he did not increase his size but instead remained at his two-meter height. His scorching gaze matched that of the Fourth Grade enemy. When their eyes met, blinding sparks appeared in the air.

  It was the might of a Fourth Grade adept!

  Every action of theirs, even just a simple gaze, could project or draw upon the elementium in the air to cause unusual magical effects.

  The Fourth Grade enemy was forced to shift his gaze after staring into Greem’s eyes for a mere dozen seconds. He then suppressed the slowly rising heat he felt in his body.

  Powerful opponents from the World of Adepts. It was difficult for their group to fight these enemies head-on!

  He immediately understood the difference in power between the two parties and instantly quelled all thoughts of a fight.

  “A misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. It seems like today is just a misunderstanding! So glad to meet you all from the World of Adepts. I, Naiguta, greet you!” The Fourth Grade leader with the odd appearance put on a terrifying but ‘well-meaning’ smile as he spoke the unfamiliar language of the adepts.

  Greem looked around at the scorched corpses within the Burning Domain and at the Third Grade fellow that had been beaten half to death by the siblings. It was such a terrible scene, and the opponent had described it as just a ‘misunderstanding.’ Greem couldn’t help but smile.

  “If it’s a misunderstanding, then you, sir, are free to leave now!”

  His tone was not exactly friendly, and the Fourth Grade leader’s expression turned dark. However, he showed no inclination to resume the conflict.

  Finally, he shouted, and the entire flight of dragons beat their wings and flew into the distance. The wild gusts caused by the beating wings of hundreds and thousands of dragons at the same time instantly caused a fierce storm on the spot.

  However, as ferocious and barbaric as these dragons were, none of them dared take a single step into the Burning Domain. They quietly flew around the elementium barrier into the distance.

  Once the flying dragons and their riders left, Greem dispelled the Burning Domain. The golden flames around him returned to his body, revealing his young and handsome face.

  Adept Holly couldn’t help but let out a sigh of envy.

  He was a Fourth Grade and possessed formidable powers. When it came to controlling the battlefield, however, he was inferior to elementium adepts. In particular, individuals like Greem, who had broken through the limits of elementium and peeked into the realm of laws, were always so mysterious. Every one of their actions carried a shadow of the powers of the principles.

  This mastery of the principles was a result of innate talent. It was not something that could be easily achieved through effort.

  Of course, invaluable treasures like the planar origin substances were an exception!

  Chapter 1137 - The Passing of a Plane

  The skies were dark.

  There was not a single cloud in the blood-red sky. No, in their place were numerous terrifying rifts.

  These rifts were of every size.

  The smaller ones were only several meters in length, slowly drifting through the air.

  Meanwhile, the larger ones were several kilometers long, spanning the horizon like a nasty gash in the sky. They were the color of blood as well.

  Spacestorms entered from the rifts, causing severe and irreversible damage to the ecosystem of the plane.

  All life was extinguished under the rifts, and the material substance of the plane was continually being stolen.

  The once lush greenery that filled every inch of the land of Morrian Plane had vanished without a trace. All plant life had been shredded to ribbons by the spacestorm, carried away to the ends of the universe. The animals and beasts with sharper senses had already fled to regions that were still untouched by the spacestorms.

  Once the green plants had disappeared, the exposed dirt was also blown away by the storm, stripping the earth, the mountains, and the hills bare and revealing the rocky foundations below. However, at the peak of these spacestorms, the energy tides assaulted the rocks, causing countless sparks to appear.

  The rock layers were then quickly and visibly shaved away by the storm, layer by layer. The substance that broke off was pulverized, ground, and eroded by the fearsome energy of space, reduced to nearly invisible microscopic particles before being scattered all over the plane.

  Such a scene was a common sight in Morrian Plane.

  They were mostly concentrated in the core regions of the Arcane Empire. However, the border regions were only in slightly better condition!

  Greem was sure that the origin of the Morrian Plane had been badly damaged. Otherwise, the powers of the planar laws would let the origin to mend the rifts in the planar barrier instinctually. The plane would never allow the spacestorms to ravage its body freely.

  As for who the culprit was? That was no longer an important question. It might be the disaster lords, it might be the powerful starbeasts, or it might even be the result of a united force. However, the fact that the damage had been inflicted so quickly and so thoroughly that it caused the planar origin to instantly lose all control over its world made Greem suspicious. He believed that it could have been the work of the arcanists, who were now in a hurry to abandon the ‘ship’ and flee their homeworld.

  Morrian Plane was their origin plane. It was mother and homeworld to the arcanists. Typically, they would never do such an atrocious thing as sabotage their origin plane. However, considering the hordes of enemies knocking at the castle gates, Morrian Plane was doomed. It would be better to extract everything from the planar origin and leave nothing for their enemies.

  It was a sinister assumption for Greem to make of the arcanists, but it might very well be the truth of the apocalypse that had now
befallen this world!

  Having lost most of its plane origin, Morrian Plane was on its last leg. It could no longer care for the generations of living creatures within it or the countless substances that made up its material world.

  This was a world on the verge of death!

  The rules of the world had already been thrown into utter chaos and imbalance.

  There was no clear day or night. The sky was simply an eternal, chaotic crimson.

  The planar barrier had started to thin and become weaker. The crimson color of the sky was a phenomenon caused by the energy tides seeping into the world.

  Wild spacestorms raged everywhere on the ground. Ordinary creatures and substances could not endure such intense energy corrosion. They had either died, migrated, or simply remained where they were, waiting for their death. None of them had a way out of this predicament.

  Where were these magical creatures and beasts supposed to flee when it was the entire planar barrier that had collapsed?

  At this moment, the environment of the plane had turned extremely harsh. Fearsome energy radiation covered every corner of the world. Lifeforms without magic resistance would die in another one to three days. Only high-grade creatures with a more resilient life force could survive for a little longer.

  Unfortunately, with the increasing damage to the planar barrier, the energy radiation inside the plane would only increase in intensity, until, finally, the strength of the radioactivity was the same as space itself. Throughout this process, billions of lives in Morrian Plane would be lost. Only individuals of exceptional power could travel the infinite space by virtue of their physical resilience and find a new plane for shelter.

  Moreover, for the original inhabitants of those planes, these refugees were no different than evil invaders.