Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  “You’ve had enough of a look, haven’t you? If you’ve had a good look, then it’s my turn now.”

  Mornashen roared and started striding forward. With his massive legs, he appeared before Greem in just three steps. His giant palm glowed with golden light. It wrapped into a fist and crashed straight down onto Greem’s head.

  A thundering noise sounded as he struck with his fist. A terrifying bolt of lightning as thick as a tornado descended from the skies, striking at Greem at the same time as the fist. Mornashen’s horrifying 49 points of Strength caused a cone-shaped hurricane of wind pressure to appear in front of his fist as he punched.

  The wind arrived before the fist!

  The wind pressure’s intensity was over 3,700 points, as indicated by the Chip in Greem’s vision. That was almost equal to Greem’s most powerful attack before he obtained the two Fifth Grade artifacts.

  Moreover, this was only the power of the wind pressure. The fist itself contained over 7,900 points of power. In addition to that devastating bolt of lightning, this one casual punch from the Gold Titan easily possessed over 10,000 points of power.

  An attack of such intensity was enough to kill any Fourth Grade instantly. It wouldn’t matter if they were prepared; the result would be the same.

  Greem, who had turned into a blazing giant, was only thirty meters tall. He was like a dwarf in front of the fifty-meter Gold Titan. That was why flames blasted out of the front of Greem’s body when the punch arrived. His body lunged backward from the force as he avoided that ferocious strike.

  Simultaneously, a radiant red cloud gathered above his head, intercepting the golden bolt of lightning. The Fourth Grade Lightningcall and the Fourth Grade Flame Barrier clashed, with the lightning being devoured in the end. A small piece of the Flame Barrier remained.

  However, while Greem smoothly dodged the fist, the vicious wind pressure that accompanied it was not as easily avoided.

  The wind cut across the air, slicing Greem once across his chest as he lunged back. The quad-colored layer of fire laws around Greem stalled for a moment as the wind struck against it. A small dent appeared on the invisible defensive layer.

  The muffled sound of cracking bones could be heard faintly in the air.

  Greem took a few stumbling steps backward. His entire body then vanished in a blast of fire.

  The next second, Greem reappeared a thousand meters away. He stood up straight and stared at Mornashen with fury in his eyes.

  Greem waved his hand over his chest, and the dented defensive barrier of laws and the energy bones within his body were restored to their original state.

  Damn! That 49 points of Strength was truly overwhelming! He had almost been done-in by just a tiny graze.

  However, when Greem saw how clumsily Mornashen was when turning around to face him, a thought appeared in his mind. He struck without any hesitation.

  This time, Greem did not rely on the focusing crystal, nor did he draw upon the Tome of Corruption’s poison power. He simply created a fireball with the help of the Orb of the Fire God and threw it at the enemy.

  3,500 points of power.

  Now, even a simple attack from Greem could rival an all-out attack from his past self.

  However, compared to Mornashen, his power was still ‘meager’!

  Mornashen, who had managed to turn around and was charging toward Greem, did not even avoid the fireball when he saw it. He punched straight through the molten rock and lava, letting the rest of the flames wash over his body.

  Mornashen strode through the fire unharmed. He chuckled coldly, then pointed a single finger at Greem’s location. In the sky, the dark clouds instantly turned into crackling lightning clouds, sending bolt after bolt of electricity down at Greem.

  Greem’s Flame Barrier protected him and would not be defeated by these bolts of lightning for a while. However, with the lightning constantly disrupting him, he was having incredible trouble concentrating casting his spells.

  Greem teleported away without hesitation, trying to reposition himself again.

  The moment he stepped out of the flames, another blinding bolt of lightning blasted down, causing him to stumble backward.

  Greem lifted his head in surprise. It was only then that he realized that the lightning cloud from earlier was still hovering above him, repeatedly assaulting him with lightning bolts.

  Dammit! A locked-on attack!

  The Tome of Corruption hanging at Greem’s waist promptly appeared in his hands. The pages flipped rapidly of their own accord. When the tome stopped on a page carved with mysterious runes, a blob of green, slimy poison appeared above the runic array. The toxin then flew into the lightning cloud above.

  The lightning cloud, which had been crackling with silver serpents of electricity, turned a sickly green color that cast the rest of the world in the same pale-green shade.

  The poison power had disrupted the lightning laws in the cloud. Naturally, the cloud had gone out of control and could no longer threaten Greem in the slightest.

  Greem took this opportunity to fire another two Magma Fireballs at Mornashen in the distance.

  Of course, both fireballs were struck by a thick chain of lightning in the air without exception.

  After a few attempts to close the distance, Mornashen realized that he would never catch up to Greem with his Fire Teleportation. Mornashen wasted no more effort and instead chose to gather electricity between his fingers and send it crackling continuously at the opponent.

  A ranged battle? Gold Titans had never been afraid of that.

  If elementium adepts could so easily kite Gold Titans, then Mornashen Gaia would not have earned his title as the strongest bloodline adept of the Central Lands!

  For the next few hours, the entire battlefield was engulfed in an apocalypse of blazing fires and snapping electricity.

  The violent flames and the lightning both contained fearsome law powers. Where they struck, everything crumbled away. Even the ground became scorched with each attack. The sky itself was rent, leaving dark red marks in the air that would not fade with time.

  Wherever the flames and lightning landed, slight tremors and changes would occur to the planar laws there. Such attacks that delved deep in the laws were the most frightening ones. The damage they inflicted was challenging to repair.

  Had this land been scorched by ordinary fire, grass and flowers would be able to grow again in less than a year. Where Greem’s law fires burned, the scorched land would remain barren for the next dozen years, void of all life and hope.

  The reason was simple. The planar laws there had been changed!

  Until the planar laws were restored, this land would never recover to its former glory.

  Chapter 1299 - Ghosts and Phantoms

  An unnoticed corner of Stoneshard Valley in the east.

  Two adepts, a male and female, were hiding deep underground within the bulb of a magical flower. They were secretly observing the battlefield in the distance.

  The image of the two colossal giants tearing at each other’s throat was being projected onto the inner walls of the flower bulb.

  The hearts of these two adepts trembled as they watched the devastating and apocalyptic might of the two powerful adepts. Even though they were hiding in a completely safe and hidden spot with no chance of being affected by the shockwaves, they still felt their mouths turn dry. An indescribable anxiousness and frustration throbbed in their chests.

  “Ultra-powerhouses. Who would’ve ever thought that a place as run-down as the Central Lands would be hiding two ultra-powerhouses?” The female adept cursed angrily.

  “They don’t deserve to be called ultra-powerhouses yet!” The male adept remarked coldly, “The two of them are only able of such power through external means. One relies on his overwhelming bloodline power, and the other relies on a high-grade artifact that is compatible with his soul origin. They, by themselves…have clearly not yet reached the standards of an ultra-powerhouse!”

 
“They are very close, even if they aren’t there yet,” The female adept replied angrily. “If this development is allowed to continue, the Central Lands might be able to break free of the Association’s control and become a new force of their own. Don’t forget why the Association sent us here. What they wanted was for us to buy over some of the loose forces of the Central Lands. If the two of us are the ones that let the Central Lands slip through the Association’s fingers, that kind of burden to bear…”

  Having said that, the female adept couldn’t help but shiver. It was obvious that she had thought of something nasty.

  The male adept had a dejected expression on his face as well.

  The situation before them had gone far beyond their control. It involved the future of the Central Lands, the fates of half the Fourth Grade adepts of the Centra Lands, and two adepts whose power seemed to rival those of ultra-powerhouses.

  What good could Third Grades like themselves do?

  In all honesty, they might be inspectors from the Adept’s Association and well-received anywhere in the Central Lands they went. However, in the Fourth Grades’ eyes, they were no more than the Adept’s Association’s spies and plugs in the Centra Lands.

  Though the Fourth Grades wouldn’t actively undermine them, it was unavoidable that they would work around and behind them in the shadows.

  Moreover, with their power as Third Grades, recklessly walking into that vicious battlefield could mean their immediate deaths. After all, both opponents were fighting all-out now.

  As such, they would rather observe everything from underground than take a single step toward that battle.

  “What do we do?” Fear flashed across the female adept’s face at the thought of the punishment they would have to face after today.

  “What can we do? Just report everything we saw here today as it happened and request for stronger adepts to take over and manage the situation. Otherwise,” The male adept replied decisively.

  Adepts stronger than them. Didn’t that leave only the Association elders?

  Moreover, judging by the intensity of the fight, an ordinary Association elder might not be able to settle things, even if they were present!

  The female adept licked her dry lips and was just about to say something else when a sinister voice rang in the underground space.

  “The two of you brats shut up. Keep your eyes on this fight and watch carefully! You don’t see fights of this level in the World of Adepts very often.”

  The voice came from the ring of authority that the adepts wore. There weren’t very many individuals in the Adept’s Association who could override their jurisdiction and perform direct communication in this fashion.

  Moreover, this voice was so unique and memorable that the two adepts immediately thought of the same ultra-powerhouse’s name. They looked at each other.

  Cerveris.

  “My greetings, Lord Cerveris!” The two adepts said in unison, their faces flushing with excitement.

  Since headquarters had sent an ultra-powerhouse like Lord Cerveris, it meant that they were prepared for a big operation!

  “Shush. Don’t be so loud, you two!” The sinister voice continued to speak, “You don’t think only our Association sent people here, do you? Hmph! Idiots.”

  The faction that the female adept belonged to appeared to have some connections with Cerveris. She mustered her courage and asked, “My lord, have the other organizations also sent forces here?”

  After a short moment of silence, the cold voice replied lazily, “I haven’t found who the Silver Union have sent here, but the Northern Witches will definitely be sending Khesuna here, that bitch. Hmph! If I have the opportunity, I won’t shy away from a reunion with her.”

  Judging from Cerveris’ resentful tone, their meeting wouldn’t be quite a peaceful or friendly one!

  After another moment, the voice suddenly said, “You two brats best leave now! Go back to the outpost in the Central Lands and await further news. While you’re at it, make sure to pull back all forces you have waiting nearby. I can sense new auras approaching. If a fight starts, it will be too late for any of you to run.”

  The faces of the two adepts, who were intermediate and advanced Third Grade respectively, turned pale when they heard the warning.

  The male adept stomped his feet and pulled at the flower bud, causing it to shrink rapidly. When the space was so small that it barely accommodated the two of them, he began to control the flower and dig away from the battlefield.

  Meanwhile, the female adept rubbed her ring of authority and sent out retreat instructions to all of her subordinates. The forces sent here were all elites that the two of them had spent hundreds of years training and cultivating. All of them were at least Second Grade. If any of them were to die here, they would be absolutely heartbroken.

  After the two Third Grade Adept’s Association adepts had snuck away, a mysterious figure appeared near Stoneshard Valley.

  It was a strange crystal ship that resembled a stingray.

  It hovered high in the air, over two and a half kilometers northeast of Stoneshard Valley. It silently observed the two ‘ultra-powerhouses’ as they fought.

  The inside of the flying ship was much larger than it appeared outside. A dozen individuals in the Silver Union’s unique silver robes busily worked at their posts inside the broad central command.

  Ratpersons, treants, sethraks, dark elves, black dwarves, gnomes…at a single glance, there were individuals of so many different species, it was almost as if you had walked into some sort of menagerie.

  “Lord Tartas, the scouts have been sent out. We will have an image feed of the battle soon,” A silver-robed adept with a humanoid body but the head of a snake reported respectfully.

  Fourth Grade Golem Master Tartas sat on a small, elevated platform with his eyes closed. He opened them slowly when he heard this.

  Tartas was also not a human. He was a mixed-blood human with obvious gnome blood. He was only 1.3 meters tall, with undeveloped muscles and Spirit slightly lower than the average Fourth Grade adept.

  However, as a high-grade golem master of the Silver Union, most of his power, in fact, came from the golem that was assimilated with his very own soul. That was why this person appeared to be somewhat weaker than the average adept.

  Tartas opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was the image of the battle in the distance projected onto a large screen in front of him. Tartas’ eyes instantly gleamed when he saw the two towering adepts tearing the world apart with their every movement.

  “Titan bloodline. Truly one of the most powerful bloodline powers in the universe!” He stared as he praised, “It’s a shame that Titans are too strong. Otherwise, the Union could capture one or two of them, and we could make flesh golems out of them. They would certainly make much more powerful golems than those slow and clumsy metal cans. Such a shame…such a shame!”

  He continued to speak until no one knew exactly what shame he was referring to.

  However, his gaze was quickly drawn towards the flame giant.

  “An energy body…fire elementium modification…these elementium adepts only have these few tricks up their sleeves for enhancement of their powers! No creativity at all…hang on, isn’t the offensive and defensive power of this fire adept a little off the charts? He’s only intermediate Fourth Grade. How are his attacks reaching over 10,000 points? What…this…how is it possible?”

  Tartas was more surprised the longer he looked. He waved his hand and called the screen forward, then put on a multipurpose pair of goggles. He leaned onto the three-dimensional projection and started to analyze with all he had.

  “Artifact…he’s using an artifact! A Fifth Grade artifact…hang on, why are there two spots of high-energy reactions detected on him? Could he…could he have two Fifth Grade artifacts on him? Bastard…this lucky bastard.”

  The silver-robed adepts in the room shrugged when they saw their flight supervisor laugh like a madman. They returned to
their work like they hadn’t seen anything weird.

  In all honesty, they were very busy!

  They had to collect and arrange all the data collected from this battle, predict the future of the Central Lands, and provide information upon which the Silver Union higher-ups could make their decisions. None of these tasks were easy. It was no wonder that their flight supervisor for this trip was one of the Union’s more famous powerful individuals.

  While Fourth Grade Golem Master Tartas was breaking out in tears and laughter, three witches stood in a barrier of invisibility, just ten meters away. All three witches had similar figures, appearances, and age. They were also observing the fight.

  Death Witch Leader Khesuna. In the Northern Lands, her name carried enough weight to shake the world where she traveled. It was often rumored that she was the most powerful of the Northern Witches.

  Accompanying her were the two supervisors of the Witch Council stationed at the Central Lands. One was Second Grade, and the other was Third Grade, belonging to the Dark Witches and the Pale Witches, respectively.

  The two of them did not belong to the Death Witches, but they were still beholden to the Witch Council. As such, in the face of the sudden appearance of this witch leader, the two witches could only obey her every order fearfully.

  Chapter 1300 - Main Fateline

  “Lady Khesuna, what do you think about what’s happening?” Third Grade Pale Witch Julia asked in a soft voice.

  “Tell your subordinates to behave themselves. There are too many people here today. Our people cannot show themselves easily, no matter what happens!” Khesuna looked around her, then looked to the skies. A stern expression came over her face.

  “The other adept organizations also sent people here?” Julia gasped in surprise.