Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  Greem waved his hands, and the horde of fire creatures charged into the camp after the retreating ogres. For a moment, flames burned everywhere, and the cries and shouts of the ogres could be heard all over.

  Seeing that the ogres had lost all ability to retaliate, Rauluns slowly stepped onto the battlefield across from Greem.

  “The Ango’rosh ogres have lost the courage to resist. Outsiders, you may stop now!” Rauluns calmly said, seemingly without any discernible expression on his face made out of water elementium, “We will take over the rest of the fighting. You must stop your slaughter now!”

  Mm? The water elemental wasn’t on our side?

  Greem was confused by the hostility expressed by the water elemental and couldn’t help but look at Moat with a look of utter confusion.

  Moat smiled bitterly and took out a small silk pouch, which he threw at Greem.

  “This is the reward for what you have done so far. As for the battle here, take a break! Our main goal today is Fahssn. It’s best if we…make Gorefist submit rather than simply killing him!”

  “Submit?” Greem laughed coldly. “We haven’t even caught the ogre chieftain, and you are already thinking of making him submit? If we don’t take this opportunity to destroy the ogres’ camp, it will be too late to do so when their reinforcements arrive.”

  “Human adept, know your place,” For some reason, Water Diviner Rauluns had no goodwill towards Greem at all, “How we deal with the ogre chieftain is an internal matter of the Marsh Wetlands. An outsider like yourself has no place in telling us what to do!”

  The expression on Greem’s blazing face froze momentarily when he heard Rauluns’ reply. He stared at the Water Diviner and finally nodded. “Very well…very well indeed! Since this is the matter of your Marsh Wetlands, I should take a break.”

  Having said that, Greem waved his hand, and the staff flew into his hands from beside the Flamegate.

  Without the fire power from the staff, the Flamegate started to implode, finally dissipating into loose sparks. The fire creatures engaged in combat also began to disperse, quickly vanishing without a trace.

  All of a sudden, only the twelve Swamp Giants were left chasing after the retreating ogres. The battlefield suddenly appeared oddly lonely.

  Hmph!

  Rauluns couldn’t be bothered by Greem’s actions.

  He started chanting as he stood in a pond. Water humanoids began to rise from the water, instantly forming a massive army of water elementals.

  These water elementals were only First and Second Grade, but they came in shocking numbers.

  They quickly moved across the water’s surface, rapidly replacing the fire creatures on the battlefield and forming a numerical advantage over the ogres once more.

  Chapter 1209 - Water Elemental Army

  People who were used to being the most important person could behave like idiots sometimes, even if they were incredibly intelligent!

  Even though Greem was prepared to be used as bait for the sake of drawing out Fahssn, he was still pissed by Rauluns’ ungrateful attitude.

  Greem had already experienced the stubbornness of elementium creatures.

  Thus, Greem stepped away when the Water Diviner started pointing fingers and looking for trouble. He decided to watch silently.

  However, even though this Water Diviner wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, he was indeed very powerful.

  Disregarding everything else, just this ability to summon elementals was enough to shock and surprise Greem. The number of water elementals was overwhelming.

  When Greem summoned fire creatures earlier, there had only been four or five hundred of them, at best. However, the Flamegate’s existence allowed for new fire creatures to stream forth from the Fire Elementium Plane continuously. That was what made it seem like there was no end to them.

  However, this Water Diviner was truly very impressive. With just a wave of his hand, he directly summoned an entire horde of water elementals, numbering in the thousands. A water-elemental army like this, even if they consisted only of low-grade individuals, was still a considerable force. All each one had to do was fire a simple Water Arrow.

  Such power might not be anything in Greem’s eyes.

  However, against those barbaric ogres without any long-ranged attacks, the water-elemental army was a terrifying opponent. There might be a few ogre shamans among the ogres who were capable of casting simple spells, but they were too few in number. They could only scurry around against the murderous and unstoppable water elementals, without even the opportunity to retaliate.

  Water arrows whooshed and cut across the air all over the large camp as Greem watched on from the side. What came after were the cries of agony and death throes of the Ango’rosh ogres.

  The Ango’rosh ogres were genuinely sturdy. They could even endure the attacks of seven or eight water elementals and charge up to them to smash them into puddles. Unfortunately, though they could withstand attacks from seven or eight water elementals at once, seventeen or eighteen water elementals were too much!

  The ogre warriors continued to roar in anger, raising their wooden shields and stone hammers to protect their vital points. They howled with all they had and charged at the water elementals.

  Pew! Pew! Pew! The water arrows crashed like violent raindrops, ringing out loud when they hit the ogres’ shields and bodies. Some Slow and Mire spells were also mixed in with the barrage of Water Arrows, cast by the high-grade water elementals. The ogres hit by these spells roared in anger. Their eyes were bloodshot from how much they were exerting themselves, but their feet were still rooted to the spot as if they had been glued to the ground. They were as slow as turtles.

  The water elemental’s strategy was just that simple– a barrage of Water Arrows and Slows. Yet, it was shockingly effective and powerful!

  Their offense did not appear as destructive or violent as the fire creatures’ had, but the unfortunate Ango’rosh ogres could only die filled with resentment under the ceaseless rain of water arrows. They were robbed of any ability to resist.

  Greem reverted from his flame giant form and returned to his human form. He watched the water-elemental army fight on in silence.

  Even though he felt no goodwill towards the stern-faced Rauluns, the water-elemental army he had summoned was shockingly powerful. If his fire creature army fought against Rauluns’ water elemental army, Rauluns would undoubtedly be the one to win.

  It wasn’t that fire elementals were weaker than water elementals. Rather, it was because the fire creatures were only cannon fodder than Greem had temporarily summoned from another world. They were not his direct subordinates. Meanwhile, the water-elemental army was disciplined, and the few high-grades serving as their commanding officers were quite intelligent.

  It was only natural that Greem would lose, pitting a loose force of fire creatures against a proper, disciplined army!

  However, if Greem could pull together an army of magical machines from the clan, he had complete confidence in crushing this water-elemental army.

  “Battle requires calmness, composure, and intelligence. You pyromaniacs are always too impulsive, ill-suited as excellent generals,” Water Diviner Rauluns couldn’t help but start speaking in an excited tone after seeing how well the situation was going for them. The sound of his voice made Greem frown in annoyance.

  “Hmph! It doesn’t matter how many low-grade creatures there are. They are still cannon fodder in the eyes of true powerhouses, crushed with the wave of a hand. The effort spent to train all these little guys would be better used to strengthen yourself! How much could these cannon fodder help when you run into an opponent of the same grade?” Greem already didn’t like this water elemental diviner guy. He immediately rebuked Rauluns without holding anything back.

  The Water Diviner couldn’t help but narrow his eyes when he heard Greem’s reply.

  “Do you mean to say that you are more powerful than me?”

  “Not necessa
rily! Who can say for sure? We haven’t fought yet.” Greem still appeared calm and composed.

  “You……”

  Seeing as tempers were starting to flare and tensions were rising, Sage Moat felt his head hurt. He immediately interrupted, “Alright, alright. Let’s not discuss this problem for the moment. Look, it seems like Gorefist has appeared again.”

  Indeed, Ogre Chieftain Gorefist had appeared once more in the center of the camp after hiding to treat his wounds. He took out a stone stick that he had found somewhere and started to swing it around. In the blink of an eye, he had exterminated a squadron of nearly a hundred water elementals.

  Even though the high-grade water elementals were furiously hurling Slows at Gorefist, the difference in their grades was too apparent. He managed to resist most of the spells. Even the occasional spell that worked on him did not affect him for more than half a second.

  After some brief treatment, Gorefist had once again become full of energy. He shook his fat body and strode across the battlefield with thundering steps. The water-elemental army’s pace was halted wherever he went, and whenever he swung his stick.

  The low-grade water elementals were crushed into drops of water by a fearsome shockwave when they approached Gorefist. The ogre chieftain couldn’t care less about the hundreds of water arrows. One after another, he smashed the high-grade water elementals into beads of water.

  And this was after Greem had ‘stolen’ Gorefist’s hammer. Otherwise, the losses to the water-elemental army would only increase even further.

  “Gorefist is just a ferocious as ever!” Greem couldn’t help but clap as he glanced at Rauluns and said, “What is it? The guy who’s been talking big is just gonna sit by and watch his subordinates get slaughtered by the enemy? Hehehe. Maybe if you summon a few more water-elemental armies, you might wear out the ogre chieftain!”

  Moat instantly knew things were about to go south when he heard Greem’s cold words. However, it was already too late.

  Water Diviner Rauluns snorted furiously and shouted, “Do not think only you pyromaniacs can rule over the battlefield. We water elementals have terrifying might that you cannot possibly imagine. Now, let me show you the power of us water elementals.”

  Having said that, Rauluns instantly turned into a wave and surged onto the battlefield.

  Waveform. It was the physical form that the Water Diviner took on when moving at fast speeds.

  His appearance directly drew the attention and wariness of Gorefist.

  Both of them were veteran powerhouses of the Marsh Wetlands. Naturally, they knew each other very well.

  Gorefist watched as the wave surged before him and reformed into a humanoid silhouette. He waved his stick as he shouted loudly, “Rauluns, do you intend to exterminate every last one of us Ango’rosh ogres?”

  The wave had caught several ogres along the way.

  Now that he had returned to his humanoid form, Rauluns slowly dragged the half-dead ogres out of his body and threw them aside. He lowered his gaze and looked at the ogre chieftain, calmly speaking, “Gorefist, pull out of the alliance with the sporepeople, cut all ties with them, and I can still allow you and your people to live in the Marsh Wetlands. Otherwise……”

  Rauluns waved his hand, and a large amount of mist rose from the ponds, rivers, and swamps nearby, forming into thousands of water arrows. These cold arrows gleamed as they refracted light from the dim sky. They slowly adjusted their direction and pointed straight at Gorefist, who was still standing with the stick in his hands.

  Gorefist’s face turned dark.

  Rauluns’ summoned water arrows were utterly incomparable to the arrows used by the low-grade water elementals.

  Gorefist had been able to endure the hundreds of water arrows and go on a rampage earlier because of his fleshy body and fearsome elementium resistance. Those low-grade arrows couldn’t even penetrate his skin before splattering into beads of water.

  He wouldn’t be afraid of them, no matter how many of them there were!

  However, Rauluns’ water arrows contained tremendous amounts of water elementium. Even Gorefist frowned when he sensed them. Being shot by a thousand of these water arrows…even the ogre chieftain couldn’t help but betray fear at the thought of that.

  However, just as the ogre chieftain was put into a corner and hesitating over his choice, a low, booming voice rang out on the battlefield.

  “Rauluns, it seems like your brain has turned into mush after such a long sleep. Help an outsider fight a companion from the Marsh Wetlands? This is what you do? This is the Water Diviner? Hmph.”

  As the voice rang out, the mist scattered as two equally towering figures stepped onto the battlefield.

  Fahssn and Krach. They were finally here!

  Greem’s pupils shrank. He could finally relax.

  Chapter 1210 - A Secret Talk

  Fahssn showed up to the battlefield on the shoulders of an exceptionally colossal Fungal Giant.

  It was a terrifying Fungal Giant who had reached beginner Fourth Grade.

  His entire body was covered in furry green fungi, and several squid-like tentacles split off from his two upper limbs. These appendages constantly squirmed and stretched, making for an unsettling sight. A half-meter tall sporeperson covered in strange tattoos stood quietly on the Fungal Giant’s shoulder. His hands and legs had assimilated with the Giant’s body.

  From a distance, anyone would have treated this sporeperson as an accessory on the Fourth Grade Fungal Giant’s body. It was hard to imagine that such an insignificant and tiny person was controlling such a massive creature.

  Another equally massive giant stood at the Fungal Giant’s side.

  This Giant’s body was covered in green moss, parasitic seaweed, and many bulbs and sores. At a glance, the Swamp Giant didn’t look too different from the other Swamp Giants that Greem had seen so far. However, upon sensing carefully, Greem could pick up on the violent and vicious aura of strength within the Swamp Giant’s body.

  The few powerhouses of the Marsh Wetlands that stood before Greem were all glowing bright red underneath the Chip’s scan. Greem could fall at any one of their hands if he were not careful.

  Even the ogre chieftain, who Greem had already defeated, had the ability and power to kill him if he had the opportunity.

  No one should ever let down their guard in front of a Fourth Grade opponent before they were truly and utterly defeated!

  Rauluns no longer held back when he saw that the enemy’s reinforcements had arrived.

  Almost at the same instant that Fahssn and Krach appeared, thousands of water arrows howled and shot towards Gorefist.

  Gorefist panicked at the sight of this. The thick block of stone in his hands immediately started swinging around, knocking, crushing, and smashing most of the water arrows. However, the rain of water arrows still hit him all over his body, making him look like a boar with bristled fur. It was a terrible sight to behold.

  However, the Physique of a Fourth Grade ogre was formidable. Even after sustaining so many wounds, he was injured but not dead. In fact, these were only light injuries for him.

  Gorefist protected his vital points with his weapon and struggled out of the range of the arrows’ attacks. He panted in exhaustion and finally stopped swinging the stone stick. He looked at his body covered in water arrows and let out a furious snort. Violent shockwaves rippled through his body as all the arrows disintegrated instantly, blown away along with drops of his violet blood.

  Gorefist endured the injuries with no more than a frown. All the muscles across his body tightened, and the hundreds of wounds were sealed simultaneously, preventing any further loss of his blood and stamina.

  Gorefist finally stabilized himself after doing all this. He strolled to his companions’ side and glared angrily at his enemies.

  Water Diviner Rauluns wanted to continue pursuing the ogre chieftain, but Sage Moat called him back to his side. Both parties stepped forward and glared at each other acros
s a hundred-meter-wide pond.

  On one side, there was Swamp Sage Moat, Water Diviner Rauluns, and the legendary fire adept, Greem. On the other, you had the leader of the magical sporepeople, Fahssn, Swamp Lord Krach, and Ogre Chieftain Gorefist.

  To think that there were six Fourth Grades present upon such a small battlefield.

  If anyone were to witness this scene, news of it would certainly shock every native creature in the Marsh Wetlands.

  Sich an event had rarely 0ccured in the tens of thousands of years of history of the Marsh Wetlands. In fact, it might be unprecedented.

  After all, the lifespans of the creatures in the Spirit World were a dozen times longer than the average animals of an ordinary plane. Consequently, the way they looked at problems and solutions was very different. Responses were often very slow. If Greem had not intervened in this matter, the conflict would have taken another one or two hundred years before it erupted.

  “Lord Moat, this situation isn’t quite right, is it? Three against three, with both sides having relatively equal power. It doesn’t seem like we have the upper hand in a situation like this. You don’t intend to use an outsider like me as the main combatant, do you?” Greem endured the ogre chieftain’s death stare without a word, all while casually communicating mentally with the Swamp Sage.

  The implication in his words was already obvious. He was only a passerby who happened to be walking by. He had only been involved because of Sage Moat’s request. Now that he had already completed that request, he had no more obligation in helping Moat fight his wars.

  Swamp Sage Moat continued staring across the river, his face stern and cold. Meanwhile, he was secretly communicating with Greem.

  “Sir Greem is a respected guest of ours from the World of Adepts. Of course, I would never treat you improperly! I have already given over all the good stuff I collected over the years as your reward earlier. What else are you looking to get from me?”

  “Those were just a few mushroom seeds. I’m sure it’s not much to you, Sir Moat. Moreover, cultivating magical mushrooms like these are going to be reasonably troublesome as well. Who knows if I will succeed in growing them once I’ve brought them out of this place. If the mushrooms can’t grow outside of this place, all the work I’ve put in for you would have been for nothing!”