The sudden duel issued by Adept Kerala wasn’t precisely a desperate attempt to achieve something by defeating Greem. Instead, she could see everything with perfect clarity now and was looking for the quickest way to stop the Dener Clan from bleeding any further.
She was unwilling to remain as the spearhead against the Crimson Clan for the rest of the Zhentarim Association. She was using this method to force those ghosts to step out of the shadows.
It wasn’t hard to imagine how bloody and cruel the battle in three days’ time, which would decide the Central Lands’ fate, would be. Meanwhile, it was probably best for the Crimson Clan to find some more allies for itself in the meantime.
…………
Three days later.
Stoneshard Valley.
Ever since they confirmed the final battle’s date, the Dener forces that had reached deep into Ailovis had slowly retreated to Stoneshard Valley and the surrounding lands.
They set up camp and strengthened resistance here, starting large-scale construction and hurrying to place down as many temporary magical defenses as they could.
There were several round watchtowers, each three-stories high and nearly ten meters in diameter. Several sniping spots and observation slits in the towers could each have ten adepts stationed within.
These impromptu war towers protected the adepts within with powerful magical arrays. Simultaneously, the adepts could use the offensive arrays within the buildings to amplify their attacks.
These war towers were constructed in a hurry, and most of the magical facilities were single-use. However, the resources and materials consumed in their construction were no less than a proper adept tower. That was why clans that did not have so many resources could not afford to use these war towers in such lavish fashion.
The cheapest adept tower would cost at least two hundred thousand magical crystals, while a single one of these impromptu war towers cost one hundred and fifty thousand magical crystals.
For the sake of defending the dignity of the clan in this last battle, the Dener Clan had constructed as many as thirty of these towers in front of Stoneshard Valley.
However, having war towers alone was not enough. These towers were meant for defense after all.
The Dener Clan also placed numerous garrisons between these towers, composed of shocking numbers of forces. These adept forces consisted mostly of adept apprentices that could unleash power roughly equal to an adept with the aid of special equipment and combat techniques.
Their existence made up for the insufficient number of official adepts and increased the flexibility of the clan’s strategies in war.
The Dener Clan had also put together several tens of thousands of powerful voodoo beasts and placed them before the war towers. They were the cannon fodder for this fight.
Adept Kerala finally felt slightly relieved after making all these preparations. She sat calmly inside the fortress located in Stoneshard Valley, silently awaiting the Crimson Clan’s arrival.
Standing at her side were Zhentarim Association Chairman Freed, Vice-Chairman Mirva, Elder Nicolas, Elder Matthew, Elder Fabres, and Elder Mornashen Gaia, known as the leader of the Gaia clan and as the most powerful adept of the Central Lands.
One could frankly claim that almost every Fourth Grade adept in the Central Lands with any kind of disagreement or grudge against the Crimson Clan was gathered here. The other Fourth Grades were either watching matters unfold from the sidelines or were genuinely not interested in the politics.
Moreover, individuals were also sent out from the three major adept organizations to observe this war and evaluate the Central Lands’ future trajectory.
Of course, should things start to move in a direction ‘detrimental’ to them, it wasn’t unlikely that these ‘observers’ would take action as well. There was no need for armies. All it would take was the appearance of one or two incredibly powerful Fourth Grades on the battlefield, and the war would go down whichever path they had chosen.
If one were to be even more straightforward, they would point out–accurately–that this war would never have reached such intensity if not for the major organizations’ subtle influence in the shadows!
Noon had just passed when a massive dust cloud rose on the horizon.
A rumbling army of magical machines charged forward, heading towards Stoneshard Valley like a steel dragon.
At the forefront of the army was a hundred goblin chariots, the Steel Pathfinders.
The goblin chariots had now broken free of their former constraints of steam power. They were now powered by magic energy and, thus, no longer released their signature white smoke. A hundred goblin chariots thundered across the land, stopping two kilometers away from the enemy lines. They began to bunker down as the cannons on top of the chariots spun around. In the blink of an eye, a kilometer-long wall of steel had appeared.
Behind the chariots was a massive army made up of magical machines.
Ten Motherships hovered in the air.
Each of these Motherships was as large as a small city. The bottoms of the Motherships were covered in terrifying cannons, their silver hulls brightly reflecting the sun’s light.
An army of over ten thousand magical machines marched in perfect formation on the ground. Each of these machines was over three meters tall. Fearsome magic energy cannons and beam rifles were installed on their torsos, shoulders, and arms.
With each coordinated step forward, it felt as if the earth itself quaked along with them.
Chapter 1292 - 2 Fire and Undead
Everyone fell silent.
Even though they all knew the Crimson Clan had been hiding a massive army of magical-machine constructs, the visual impact of seeing over ten thousand magical machines thunder onto the battlefield like a torrent of metal still shook them to their core.
Dammit! Why were there so many of them?
Did the Crimson Clan dig up every last scrap of metal ore from their Goblin Plane?
It was important to note that in most material planes, it was only possible to obtain one ton of refined steel by refining and processing over a hundred tons of ordinary metal.
Moreover, such exceptional steel could only be used for the armor of the magical machines. To obtain alloy with sufficient conductivity and hardness to craft weapons, one would have to resort to small-scale production in their laboratories.
Due to all these limiting factors, creating metal golems on a large scale was very difficult. Not only did it require a tremendous amount of metal resources, but it also needed manpower in the form of alchemists. In the entirety of the World of Adepts, the Silver Union was the only organization able to entirely replace their armies of footsoldiers and cannon fodder with metal golems. Even the two other major organizations relied primarily on their adept forces and voodoo beasts as their military.
The appearance of this massive magical machine army had up-ended everyone’s expectations. They once again confirmed that the Crimson Clan most certainly possessed the means to create magical machines at a very low cost.
The Crimson forces couldn’t care less about what outsiders thought about their magical machine army. The rest of their military forces began to appear.
These forces arrived by the Motherships.
As the ten Motherships stopped above the Crimson Clan’s military formation, large groups of unique adept forces leaped off of the ships’ decks, registering in and filling the spaces in between the magical machine armies.
The most eye-catching of these groups was an army of over seven hundred goblin machinist-sorcerers.
Goblin. It was a synonym of lowly crudeness in the eyes of most adepts. Goblins were creatures reared in adept towers for the sole purpose of being used as test subjects or as feed for their voodoo beasts.
Yet now, these lowly creatures that weren’t even fit to be slaves were piloting ferocious magical machines and weaving through the battlefield with grace. Many of the adepts felt as if their worldviews were collapsing and b
reaking down as they saw the goblins’ fluid movements and eager battlecries.
What had happened to this world? Why was it that even feed and test subjects had taken up arms?
Soon, the adepts’ eyes were drawn toward another strange army.
As many as two thousand fire creatures had gathered together, causing the area they stood on to ignite and burn furiously, turning into a sea of flames. Even at a glance, the quality of the members in this fire creature army was horrifying.
In the past, even with all his power, the strongest fire creature Greem could summon had only been Second Grade. However, in this fire army, even the weakest individual had the power of a beginner Second Grade, while the most powerful individual was a Fire Lord at intermediate Fourth Grade.
This Fire Lord stood at the front of the army, golden flames burning silently all over his body. It was undeniable that he was an individual who had mastered specific basic fire laws.
It was not a fire summoning. It was a real fire army- a whole army of fire creatures with ranks and officers and a commander.
While everyone was evaluating this army of fire creatures, the Fire Lord concluded its conversation with Greem.
“We are here to aid you in your war, as per the orders of the Fire King! Human adept, point out our enemies! Also, Lord Groms said that he is delighted with your gift. If you can find more Primal Water in the future, he will be willing to maintain this collaborative relationship.”
The Fire Lord’s voice boomed, but his tone was a straightforward one. He had none of the slick cunning common to mercenary groups. It almost seemed like he was eager to figure out the enemy, finish the fight, and go home to sleep.
“No need to be in a rush, Sir Grisen. Your enemies are those special adept forces stationed around the war towers. However, before you charge into battle, I will need to have another friend of mine wipe out those annoying voodoo beasts in our way. Once the voodoo beasts are scattered, your forces can charge forth. When that happens, your troops will exterminate the adept forces, while my magical machine army will siege the war towers. That will make the battle a little easier.”
“Huh, you mean to say you invited more reinforcements aside from us? And they are…?” Fire Lord Grisen couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity. He might seem like a large, stout, and dumb lava giant, but there were no idiots among those who could reach Fourth Grade.
In all seriousness, high-grade elementium creatures were just as intelligent as adepts of the same grade. The only thing they lacked was wisdom and knowledge accumulated over countless decades and cunning that had been honed in deadly trials.
“You might have heard about how our academy managed to hire a very famous lich. I was able to make acquaintances with several other famous and powerful liches across the universe through him. And so, the other mercenary army with us today is……” Greem paused for a moment as a shocking scene unfolded on the flank of the Crimson Clan’s magical machine army.
Three strange figures wrapped in black cloaks appeared there.
They lifted their arms, and the cloth slid down to reveal their jade-white skeletal hands. The three figures hovered half a meter off the ground, loudly singing an incantation in unison.
As their voices rose in pitch, a black spot of light appeared in the center of the three of them, continuously growing in size. The earth around them started to rise as a shocking number of skeletons burst forth from underground. Soon, a ten-meter-tall and five-meter-wide skeletal door had been constructed around that ball of darkness.
Dense death energy gathered around the skeletal door, creating a roiling gray cloud that rose into the sky and blotted out the sun.
Once everything was ready, the skeletal door connected with an undead dimension and formed a stable portal.
The next second, death energy emanated from the black screen of light. A seven-meter-tall skeleton walked out from within, dragging a massive skeletal sword against the ground as it emerged.
It was a Skeleton General at advanced Second Grade. Judging from its tough bone armor covered in bone spikes, and the blazing green soulfire in its eye sockets, there was no doubt that its very presence on the battlefield would terrorize its enemies.
The black screen of light never rested after the moment the Skeleton General appeared.
Death energy pulsated outward over and over, and the portal spat out another group of powerful and vicious undead with every beat.
Undying wraiths, black knights, skeletons, reapers, abominations, undead knights, lesser liches, undead mages, skeletal dragons. Apart from these elite high-grade undead, there was also an unending horde of skeletal warriors equipped with bone armor, bone shields, and bone swords, as well as ghouls that flooded the plains and hills.
It was almost as if the portal connected to an infinite plane of the undead. These vile creatures continued to walk out of the portal without stop, starting to swarm towards the Dener Clan’s formation under the command of the elite undead.
High-grade liches and their undead armies.
The Fourth Grade adepts in the fortress of Stoneshard Valley couldn’t help but frown.
All liches were Fourth Grade and above.
That meant three Fourth Grade liches and a Fourth Grade Fire Lord had somehow appeared on the side of the Crimson Clan. What tremendous price had Greem paid to summon such powerful reinforcements?
Of course, in the World of Adepts, the Fourth Grade adepts did not fear these liches in the slightest.
Even Fourth Grade liches would have to endure terrifying planar suppression while they were here. What remained of their power was not enough to scare off the adepts.
Still, they couldn’t help but be impressed with the legendary fire adept’s vast social circle.
To make allies out of individuals like liches and Fire Lords– that required absolute power!
Without the power to defend yourself and intimidate these beings, any sort of collaboration you had with them would be no different than plotting with robbers. A tragic fate would be the only thing awaiting you.
Yet, the fire adept had somehow managed to simultaneously make allies out of so many evil creatures and savage elementium beings. He was no ordinary person indeed!
As everyone sighed exasperatedly, the battle finally broke out.
The first ones to step onto the battlefield were, naturally, the wildly sprinting ghouls.
These creatures were scrawny, but what muscle fibers could be seen on their bodies were as thick and tough as steel wires. The ghouls sprinted across the ground like hunting dogs at rapid speeds. They leaped over any obstructions, the sharp claws on their hands and feet providing them with the strength to easily do so.
From a distance, the tens of thousands of ghouls were like a white tide that instantly devoured the empty space between the armies. They quickly arrived before the voodoo beasts.
The thirty war towers commenced functioning at the same time. Overwhelming magic energy surged through each of the towers, lighting up their numerous arrays and runes.
Layers of elementium defenses stacked upon each other, firmly protecting the tower below a series of barriers. Then, the offensive arrays lit up as devastating elementium magic was unleashed upon the ghouls, guided by the adepts in the towers.
Violent lightning crashed down from above like an apocalyptic nightmare. Dozens of bolts of silver lightning, each over two-meters thick, cut through the ghouls and instantly turned them to ashes. Not a trace of their corpses could even be found.
Ice magic quickly turned the frontlines into a world of frost. Countless blades of snow and ice rained down from above, pinning the ghouls to the ground and slicing them to death.
Elementium magic of various forms and effects ravaged the battlefield, instantly wiping out the first wave of ghouls charging at the forefront.
Chapter 1293 - Clearing Out the Fodder
Thousands of ghouls were shredded to pieces in an instant. However, the adepts in charge were not excited in the s
lightest. Instead, they were furious.
“Send out the orders…now! Have those idiots stop firing. Ghouls are the most worthless fodder in the enemy’s forces. Have the adepts conserve their magic energy and prepare to deal with the high-grade undead. Leave the ghouls to the voodoo beasts.”
After the order was given, the thirty war towers immediately stopped attacking. They began gathering magic energy as they waited in silence.
Without the war towers’ interference, the swarm of ghouls and skeletons finally clashed with the voodoo beasts.
In the blink of an eye, a tide of blood rose from the frontlines. Mixed in that massive wave of blood were countless bone shards and dismembered limbs.
Voodoo beasts were created with the sole purpose of being fodder in the first place. The biological materials used in their construction were the wild beasts captured from Black Foret. The more powerful voodoo beasts were singled out and used as guardians for adept towers. The rest were only twisted monsters created with crude technique and stimulated to only know battle and slaughter.
Voodoo beasts often had bizarre shapes and forms as well. It was easy to tell that they were a simple amalgamation of wild animals. However, without exception, all voodoo beasts had strong, muscular bodies, savage killing instincts, and a variety of means of attack.
When it came to Physique alone, the voodoo beasts were head and shoulders above the ghouls and skeleton warriors. A single berserk voodoo beast standing three meters tall could brush aside a dozen slow skeletons with a single blow. However, the beasts did not have sufficient space on the battlefield. All the ghouls and skeletons and beasts were crowded together, fighting with their primal instincts.
Age of Adepts c1-1513 Page 786