Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  There were at least one and a half kilometers between them.

  The earth trembled as a shocking amount of concentrated earth elementium surged out of the ground, forming into a hundred-meter-wide palm that crashed down upon the golem dragon.

  The golem dragon had been knocked around by the dust storm and earth spikes earlier and wasn’t standing firmly on its feet. However, it showed no fear in the face of the enemy’s vicious attack.

  The golem dragon reared its metal head and let out a formless sonic wave from its maw. The magic energy cannons on its back started firing at maximum frequency. There were so many fireballs they practically formed a line of flame that blasted against the giant hand crushing down from above.

  Dong!

  The sonic wave and the magic energy cannons combined finally shattered the earth hand.

  The elementium hand of earth elementium collapsed, and the resulting wave of dirt pushed the golem dragon thirty meters away. In the end, the golem dragon had to plant its metal limbs deep into the earth, gouging deep ditches into the ground until it came to a stop.

  The golem dragon shook its body and cast off the dirt. It looked at the suddenly more powerful enemy in the distance, and its own energy aura began to rise.

  The magical golem dragon had not been damaged much in the exchange earlier. However, in the eyes of observers, the stone giant had easily knocked the golem dragon away with a single strike.

  It was an incredible humiliation for the magical goblins piloting the golem dragon!

  The golem dragon opened its maw and let out a loud roar that reverberated through the air. It then shook its tail and lunged at the enemy.

  Arms also folded his wings and dove downwards, forcing the stone giant to go on the defensive with a ferocious assault.

  A metal dragon, a stone giant, and a pureblood dragon. These three entities of entirely different natures of existence clashed together once again in this manner.

  Freed, who had thoroughly assimilated with Kerslin Castle, could now freely control this hulking creature. It stood upon the earth, continually accepting the leyline energy being siphoned from underground to maintain such a massive body’s energy requirements.

  Every single action taken by Kerslin Castle moved the earth elementium, turning it into giant boulders that flew at the enemy, transforming it into stone spears with incredible piercing power, or casting a rain of rocks over an entire region.

  With Kerslin Castle’s ability to magnify elementium power, Freed’s control over earth elementium grew stronger and stronger!

  Moreover, due to the tough stone body of Kerslin Castle, neither the thunder dragon’s breath, the golem dragon’s wild thrashing, or the Motherships’ bombardment could truly damage it. None of their attacks could penetrate the hundred-meter-thick body and hurt its soul origin.

  Meanwhile, Freed stood firmly at the edge of the pit, alternating freely between ranged attacks and melee strikes. Either way, with every move, he sent ripples throughout the ranks of the Crimson Clan.

  The golem dragon was forged entirely out of metal. It was able to endure Freed’s earth elementium attacks. However, Arms and the Motherships appeared too frail in front of these violent attacks. If any of the stone giant’s attacks were to land, they would cause unimaginable devastation.

  Two of the Motherships had already been hit by Freed’s spears and were forced to retreat from battle. If it weren’t for the stone giant not venturing too far away from the pit, the Crimson Fleet would already have suffered numerous casualties!

  The reason the battle appeared so one-sided had to do with the Crimson Clan’s advantageous position.

  The Crimson Clan held the absolute upper hand in this war. They had rampaged their way through Entom Clan territory without so much as a single effective opposition.

  Seen from above, vast swathes of land around Kerslin Castle had already been conquered by the magical machine armies. The Entom Clan’s adept forces were either conquered or routed. Their figures could be seen running from the Crimson Clan’s pursuit, both in the air and on the ground around the main battlefield.

  There was no possibility that Arms would ever fight in a desperate and suicidal fashion against the opponent, given such circumstances.

  However, when he started pulling his punches, the beginner Fourth Grade golem dragon would have to face the full wrath of the larger, more powerful Kerslin Castle alone. Naturally, it felt like it was being countered in every aspect and was having a very awkward time in this fight.

  Greem simply chuckled at the sight of this from within the Versailles. He suddenly stood up from his chair and appeared at the front of the deck in a flash of fire.

  He did not transform into a flame giant, nor did he cast any fire spells. He simply stood there, and Freed’s heart trembled. The stone giant’s attacks became less bold and unrestrained compared to before.

  Even Freed felt powerless at the continuous appearance of new high-grade opponents.

  He had to keep forty percent of his attention on the legendary fire adept, thirty percent on the sly Fourth Grade thunder dragon, twenty percent on the stubborn golem dragon, and the last ten percent on the movements of the Motherships in the sky.

  It couldn’t be helped. These entities were all capable of inflicting damage to him. Of course, the attacks from the other insignificant ‘ants’ couldn’t even tickle him, let alone leave any sort of damage.

  However, no matter how careful Freed was, Legendary Fire Adept Greem seemed to be toying with him. Greem simply stood on the deck and stared with a smile on his face, as if he had no intention of joining the fight at all.

  Could it be?

  Could Greem’s injuries remain, and he was only putting on appearances?

  The moment the idea was born, it wrapped itself around Freed’s mind like a sinister serpent. Even as he continued to attack and defend, he found himself repeatedly wondering about the answer to this question.

  Was it a trap, or was it an opportunity?

  Freed did not know, and there was no way he could.

  The loss of a hundred years of his life span had caused his hatred for Greem to reach a peak. If there were even the slightest of chance he could bring death to this man, he would never give up on it. In fact, he would be more than willing to pay the price for it!

  There wasn’t much else that Freed had left to lose now!

  Upon making up his mind, Freed started to move in the direction of the Versailles subtly.

  Once he had reached within distance to strike, Freed left behind the thunder dragon and golem dragon without hesitation. The massive body of the stone giant instantly crossed a kilometer of distance. Upon seeing the Versailles within striking distance, Freed roared loudly.

  “Die, Greem!”

  Freed gathered a tremendous amount of earth elementium and turned it into elementium boulders, which he shot at Greem.

  In the blink of an eye, the massive Mothership had been surrounded by a shocking number of boulders and rocks. Moreover, as Freed continued to manipulate them, they pressed down on the Mothership’s shields further, as if intent on crushing the entire ship flat.

  The unique power of earth elementium to slow things down instantly wrapped around Greem.

  If Greem were caught unaware and did not have time to unleash the power of an ultra-powerhouse, it was very likely he would be injured by this attack.

  However, Greem showed no signs of fear in the face of this terrifying assault. Instead, he had a nasty smile on his face, like his evil plan had just succeeded.

  With the Chip’s aid, the stone giant’s subtle movements towards the Mothership had not escaped his eyes.

  However, for the sake of ending this battle faster, Greem decided to put on a show for the enemy!

  Upon seeing the terrifying mountain crashing down upon him and sensing the overwhelming earth elementium, Greem took out a strange object in the shape of a water drop and waved it.

  The next second, a looming water ele
mental appeared out of thin air.

  The light green water elemental was over a hundred meters tall. It wore several strange metal bands of intricate design on its wrists, ankles, waist, and neck.

  The water elemental roared and summoned a fearsome torrent of water.

  An endless stream of elementium water surged out of thin air, forming a ferocious tide that crashed against the mountain.

  Water and earth clashed on the battlefield.

  A terrifying shockwave rushed through the land. Every substance caught in the shockwave was crushed to pieces and blown away.

  Numerous sandstorms and water vortices lashed at each other like two venomous vipers, cleansing the entire land thoroughly.

  The five Motherships activated their barriers but were still blown away like tiny ships in a storm. The violent clash of powers had inflicted severe damage, even to the Motherships.

  The Watersoul Jade!

  It was the Fourth Grade item that Greem had obtained from the Spirit World; it possessed the might of an all-out attack from Water Diviner Rauluns. Even though Rauluns was not at peak Fourth Grade, he was still a powerful individual of advanced Fourth Grade.

  Thus, Greem was successfully able to survive Freed’s attack with the power of the Watersoul Jade.

  Upon seeing the stone giant intent on continuing its attack, Greem couldn’t help but smile bitterly and point behind Freed.

  Freed turned back in horror, only to see Mary’s petite body disappear into the pit like an arrow. Moreover, at the instant she dove into the pit, Mary even had the time to turn around and wave at Freed.

  Freed, who was now assimilated with the stone giant, instantly turned pale in the face!

  Chapter 1321 - Unexpected Backlash

  “No…………”

  Freed’s heartrending scream lingered in the air, but there was nothing he could do to stop this terrifying nightmare of his turning into reality.

  Freed had become truly powerful after assimilating with Kerslin Castle. In fact, to some extent, the animated fortress’ power was far superior to the Gold Titan.

  If Kerslin Castle did not have the weakness of being unable to leave its leyline node, it would probably be the nightmare of all ultra-grade powerhouses!

  Even when fighting two-against-one with the golem dragon and the thunder dragon, Freed had not suffered any damage. To some extent, he was even suppressing the golem dragon.

  However, a pseudo-ultra-grade powerhouse forcibly created through forbidden means was ultimately not the real thing. If anyone were to target the flaws in its combat system, its weaknesses would be completely exposed, and everything would collapse.

  That was the situation with Freed and Kerslin Castle.

  There were two irreparable and innate weaknesses to Kerslin Castle. The first was its inability to leave its leyline node, and the second was its massive drain on its host’s life energy due to its enormous size.

  If the enemy caught either of these weaknesses, it would be the end of Kerslin Castle, let alone the fact that both of them had been exposed!

  Not long after Mary entered the pit, the entire ground started to quake violently.

  The towering stone giant that seemed almost like an ancient giant come to life collapsed in a series of violent quakes. The massive amount of steelrock, no longer bound with earth elementium, crashed onto the ground. Giant, hundred-meter-tall mushroom dust clouds rose into the air.

  Even as the dust rose into the air, everyone could still hear Freed’s tragic and sorrowful howl.

  It couldn’t be helped. Having assimilated with Kerslin Castle, the body of the stone giant had become Freed’s own body. Now that the stone giant’s body was falling apart due to the loss of its energy supply, Freed was practically experiencing torture. It was like he was being skinned and cut apart alive.

  Without the incredible spiritual resilience of a Fourth Grade adept, the agony of this process would have broken Freed’s mind and reduced him to an idiot!

  Even so, the waves of pain were still unbearable for Freed. The entire battlefield reverberated with his horrible, terrifying screams.

  The scarier part was the fact that the alchemical lifeform that was Kerslin was actually attempting to take control of Freed’s consciousness in his moment of weakness. Kerslin had developed an independent consciousness and intelligence, after all.

  Freed’s Spirit, his consciousness, magical knowledge, emotions, and memory. Everything–absolutely everything–in Freed’s mind had become a battlefield between these two entities. Every fragment of memory, every strand of emotion, every trace of understanding; all these things that had once belonged exclusively to Freed had become shared property of the two of them.

  For the first time since his assimilation, Freed felt genuine fear.

  He realized that damned Kerslin wasn’t just robbing him of his memories and emotions. It was even attempting to wipe out his very existence. If Kerslin took away all he owned, then everything that was signified by the name of Freed would no longer exist. A new lifeform known as Kerslin would appear in the world with all his memories, feelings, and knowledge.

  “No…you bastard! These are all mine!”

  A new battle erupted amidst the giant, crumbling mountain. The animated Kerslin Castle squirmed and struggled. All the doors and windows leading to the outside world had shut tight. The stone walls and corridors were now covered in a soft, fleshy membrane. These membrane walls were coated in a slimy alchemical solution, making the castle itself seem like the intestines of a living being.

  The Entom Clan adepts who had been stationed in various rooms and outposts across Kerslin Castle were horrified to find that this membrane was enveloping them. If their body came into contact with the membrane, they would be stuck, and their flesh would slowly melt away.

  With every adept that was dissolved, Kerslin would be able to obtain everything they owned. Their tremendous Spirit, knowledge fragments, feelings, and their understanding of magic!

  However, the powerful Entom adepts would not just stand by and watch this happen either. They took out their magic staffs, wands, scrolls, and treasures and began to attack Kerslin Castle with all they had.

  For a moment, the sound and light of magical explosions could be seen everywhere in the already tattered Kerslin Castle.

  Unfortunately, Kerslin, who had already planned to devour all of them a long time ago, would not let them escape its body. Specially trained voodoo beasts swarmed out of secret passages in the castle, attacking the adepts while they were glued to the membrane.

  The battle instantly reached its most intense state!

  The Entom Clan adepts had been fighting furiously to repel the Crimson Clan invaders just moments earlier. They were now fighting even more fervently, but their opponent was once an ally of theirs.

  No. More accurately, while they had been fighting earlier, they were now struggling for their very lives!

  To preserve their lives, to protect their memories and emotions, to retain their very existence, all of them struggled with all their might!

  There were many adepts who chose to self-destruct when death was inevitable.

  They would rather blow themselves to bits and wipe themselves out of existence than fall into the hands of the enemy and be toyed around with!

  Unfortunately, their sacrifice was destined to be in vain.

  The moment their defeat was certain, Kerslin had sealed the entirety of Kerslin Castle.

  From then on, the castle had turned into a sealed dimension. Every soul or consciousness that died here would not be able to escape. They could only hide and scurry, waiting until the moment they were devoured and digested.

  Meanwhile, the desperate struggle for dominance between Freed and Kerslin continued in the core chamber of Kerslin Castle.

  Even though Freed had barely any of his lifespan left, he was unwilling to just let go of these last fifty years of his life. Nor was he willing to just let everything he had worked for over the past mil
lennium fall into the hands of someone else.

  Two mental consciousnesses of entirely different natures tussled furiously in this room, fighting for control over the consciousness of this powerful alchemical lifeform created through assimilation.

  One would emerge as the victor, and the other would forever be damned.

  There was no room for peace or co-existence. There was only victory and defeat, life and death!

  …………

  The sound of rumbling. Falling rocks could be heard.

  Several boulders piled at the top of the mountain of debris were blown away, revealing the nearly squashed Kerslin Castle.

  Strangely enough, all of Kerslin Castle’s windows and doors had vanished. The five-story tower stood there upon the pile of boulders, with not a single entrance or exit.

  Dong. Dong. Dong.

  Countless light-blue traction beams shot toward the mountain, causing tens of thousands of rocks and boulders to levitate into the air.

  All the shattered steelrock was cast away. Finally, Kerslin Castle was also levitated into the sky, exposed to the many curious eyes below.

  “Master, what is with this castle? Do you need me to crush it for you?” Fourth Grade Thunder Dragon Lord Arms couldn’t help but open his big dragon eyes wide. He looked at this strange alchemical castle curiously, confused about what he was seeing.

  Could Freed have been dumb enough to think that sealing the castle off would be enough to protect him?

  He’s a Fourth Grade adept! He’s not that dumb, is he?

  Arms mumbled to himself in his mind and reached out with a sharp claw to poke the castle. The magical aura radiating from the tower unsettled him. It was as if something extremely terrifying was happening inside!

  “He’s right, Greem; what happened to Freed? Why is his soul aura getting weaker and weaker?” It was Bloody Queen Mary who spoke this time, having emerged from the pit.

  She was completely covered in dust and dirt. Even her hair seemed caked in mud. However, she appeared exceptionally excited and chirpy, tossing around a transparent stone in her right hand.