Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  With the barrier at the entrance, Mary would not have any chance of sneaking in unnoticed.

  Just as Mary started to wonder what to do, Alice’s voice rang out once again.

  “Prepare yourself! I just contacted Greem. He will launch his most ferocious assault seven seconds from now. His attack will trigger Nightmare Castle into entering an energy overload. This barrier will vanish for half a second, so you must grasp this opportunity. The moment you enter the room, you must control him with your soul brand.”

  “I understand!”

  Mental communication was the fastest means of conveying information. Even the most complicated of thoughts could be conveyed in the blink of an eye.

  The instant the attack that shook the castle arrived, Mary transformed into her human form and lunged into the room while the barrier was down.

  Her movements were quick, but this was Kerslin’s Nightmare Domain, after all. Kerslin had the home-field advantage. The moment the blood energy fluctuated, Kerslin was able to pick up on it.

  Energy immediately erupted in the magical hall outside, and a ferocious spiritual pressure pressed toward Mary like a hill, threatening to crush everything into pieces.

  Meanwhile, ‘Freed’s’ body trembled violently in the room. The battle of souls had been put aside for a moment. He lifted his head, two blinding lights glowing from his yellowed eyes.

  There wasn’t much time left for Mary!

  For powerful individuals like themselves, a thought took no more than an instant. Naturally, when facing an enemy, their reactions would be their first line of defense. There was no need to think or hesitate- the moment Mary’s aura was exposed, Kerslin and the Nightmare Castle’s retaliation was already ready.

  The energy barrier that had disappeared for an instant due to the energy overload appeared once again. It extended from the walls and quickly surged toward the center. It would take no more than half an instant for them to seal the entrance once more.

  When that happened, the invaders would first have to break this barrier if they wanted to reach Kerslin.

  Unfortunately, even half an instant was time.

  For Mary, who had exceptional Agility, Kerslin’s rapid responses were no more than hilarious movements in slow-motion.

  Crimson energy erupted at the door’s entrance the previous moment as Mary transformed into her human state. The next instant, Mary’s crimson figure had made it through the room and had arrived next to ‘Freed.’

  A miniature tornado instantly appeared between the two of them, forming a vicious vortex that tore at Mary’s body. These blades of wind, each as thin as a scale, ravaged Mary’s body. Even with her blood energy shielding her, countless fine cuts still appeared all over. It was almost as if she had been thrown into a shredder.

  The vortex of wind continued to grow in size, attempting to shut off all of Mary’s paths of attack.

  ‘Freed’s’ line of thought was straightforward. He would force Mary back with this fearsome instant-cast spell and buy some time for himself. All he needed was one second-no, half a second-and he could redirect the powerful energies of the castle’s core to protect this body. It would allow ‘his’ consciousness core to escape back to the central crystal.

  Of course, this meant that it would have to abandon the soul of this advanced Fourth Grade adept, as well as the opportunity to reach for the next grade for the time being.

  It was a shame, but it did not hesitate at all.

  That was because the pain of having another subjugate one’s soul was not an experience it was willing to relive!

  Sadly, the opponent that it faced today wasn’t just the legendary fire adept stirring up a storm out there. There was also this Fourth Grade blood adept. However, what truly decided Kerlin’s fate was the mastermind behind the scenes- Alice, the Witches of Fate’s leader!

  Mary did not intend to retreat or step away. She endured the terrifying spell, bursting through the vortex to grab hold of ‘Freed’s’ body. She then sank her fangs into his neck.

  At the same time, a strange beam of prismatic light surged into ‘Freed’s’ body, forcibly detaining Kerslin within.

  Noooooooooo!

  ‘Freed’ let out a scream of horror, two distinct voices coming out of his throat.

  However, no matter how they struggled and howled, the powerful instinct of a vampire soon overwhelmed their true consciousness.

  Chapter 1329 - Nightmares

  Chapter 1329 Nightmares

  Everything occurring in the Nightmare Domain was no more than a battle of wills.

  No matter how ferocious and intense the battle was, the outside world remained utterly unaffected.

  When Mary forcefully Embraced Nightmare Castle Kerslin and gained control of it, Greem’s mental consciousness was instantly rejected by the Nightmare Domain by a powerful force.

  It was the same room in the actual Nightmare Castle. Greem opened his eyes, and Mary followed soon after.

  Greem frowned, but Mary had a big smile on her face.

  “Did it work?” The question had just left Greem’s mouth, and he immediately knew it had been an unnecessary one.

  In fact, Greem didn’t even have to see that gleeful expression on Mary’s face. He immediately knew what had happened when he sensed the strange resonance between Mary’s soul and the Nightmare Castle.

  The moment she emerged from the Nightmare Domain, Mary’s soul had been bound with this Nightmare Castle. Strands of crimson energy flowed between them, and this monstrosity of alchemy and flesh whimpered before Mary’s authority, as gentle as a puppy.

  The forcefield pressure that had been weighing on Mary and Greem all this while also vanished instantly.

  Powerful crimson energy replaced the castle’s life force, becoming the Nightmare Castle’s source of energy to maintain its functions.

  “We should return the Gem of Power to Kerslin, shouldn’t we? Otherwise, its home-field advantage will be limited to within the castle. With the Gem of Power, it can extend its Nightmare Domain over a thousand meters away. When that happens, everything within one and a half kilometers of the Nightmare Castle will be Kerslin’s home field!” Mary asked impatiently.

  Even though she had the Gem of Power with her, she still had to respect Greem’s opinion on how she should use it.

  “It’s your pet. You decide!” Greem smiled, but his tone clearly approved of Mary’s idea.

  Mary gladly took out the Gem of Power. Surges of crimson energy appeared around her, turning into a red pillar with an indentation upon it. Mary put the Gem onto the pillar, and it retracted into the ground.

  A short moment later, the Nightmare Castle glowed brightly with crimson light. Layers of forcefields expanded from the heart of the castle, expelling all elementium energy that did not belong to it. In the blink of an eye, countless energy forcefield layers once again engulfed the Nightmare Castle, turning the whole area into Kerslin’s home-field once more.

  Greem estimated that Kerslin had reached an advanced Fourth Grade level after falling under Mary’s control. It had yet to reach the level of a forbidden lifeform. Meanwhile, Freed had been sacrificed in the blood ritual and became a Fourth Grade spirit bound to the Nightmare Castle. However, his powers had degraded to that of a beginner Fourth Grade.

  “How is it? Do you feel any improvements to your power after gaining control of Kerslin?” Due to the existence of the energy forcefields, even Greem could not obtain detailed information on Kerslin. He could only ask Mary.

  “Not really. It’s just the addition of an advanced Fourth Grade subordinate!” Mary smiled brightly and seemingly bragged in a cheerful tone. “However, if the battlefield is within Kerslin’s radius of effect, I would have the confidence to fight you ultra-powerhouses!”

  That meant that the combined power of Mary and Kerslin could reach peak Fourth Grade!

  Unfortunately, the mobility of the Nightmare Castle was terrible. Mary could only fill-in for the role of a defense ultra-powerhouse.
It wasn’t the perfect conclusion, but Greem still nodded in satisfaction.

  With this, the foundations of the Crimson Clan were truly secure!

  Zhentarim had been thoroughly shaken by Greem’s appearance as a pseudo-ultra-powerhouse. The ripples spreading across the land had not ceased, even now. Schemes and plots from the regions around Zhentarim also started to press forward.

  This time, the Crimson Clan would have to push forward regardless of what happened.

  If they could not survive this ordeal, then the only future they would face was extermination. Greem might be able to escape unscathed due to his status as a Fourth Grade adept, but the other members of the Crimson Clan would have a hard time ever living in the Central Lands again.

  Now that Mary had gained control of Kerslin, her prowess had improved tremendously. She could even rival ultra-powerhouses in some respect.

  That was undoubtedly a firm anchor for the Crimson Clan, that now found itself on the edge of a ferocious storm!

  There was no need to fight any battles or to put on an intimidating front. All they had to do was release a little news about Mary’s improvement, and they would be able to scare off many of those malicious enemies stalking in the shadows. It would save the Crimson Clan a lot of trouble.

  It was precisely because Greem had considered this question thoroughly that he suddenly smiled.

  “Then, as a celebration for obtaining the Nightmare Castle, let us host a banquet here! There have been a lot of clan representatives visiting recently anyway. We might as well have an audience with them with the banquet.”

  “Hmph! I know the banquet’s just an excuse. You just want to frighten those messengers, don’t you? Alright, we will make it tomorrow night. I will give you a huge surprise then!” Mary grunted, clearly having seen through Greem’s plans.

  The two of them smiled at each other, a light of anticipation in their eyes.

  …………

  The second day.

  Nightfall.

  All the clan messengers who had been waiting in the vicinity had received notifications from the Crimson Clan. They slowly began to return to Kerslin Castle.

  The past few days they had spent in Kerslin Castle had completely changed their understanding of the castle.

  It was obvious that a blood ritual had just taken place in the castle not long ago. As the numbers and prowess of the adepts involved in the ritual were horrifying, the entire castle had been shrouded in permanent resentment and the scent of blood.

  However, this time, as they arrived at the castle on their mounts, they immediately noticed the atmosphere had changed.

  The resentment lingering in the air was gone. The smell of blood had thinned, turned into a light mist that resembled blood energy.

  Meanwhile, the people who greeted them at the castle’s doors were none other than the vampires subordinate to the Bloody Queen. The men conducted themselves eloquently, and the women were incredibly pretty. All of them were dressed in fancy dress clothes and behaved in an elegant fashion, managing the banquet in an orderly manner.

  Apart from the high-grade vampires, many of the higher-ups of the Crimson Clan were also here.

  Just the ones that could be seen at the banquet included Fire Dragon Adept Meryl, Mystique Emelia, Emerald Dragon Iritina, Bug Adept Billis, Goblin Sage Snorlax, Split-Brain Sock, Goblin Adept Locke, and Magical Goblin Leader Gonga.

  After so many years of trials and tribulations, these veterans of the Crimson Clan who had followed Greem for hundreds of years had mostly reached Third Grade as well. As for those who couldn’t keep up? They had either been eliminated from the core group or had simply died of old age. Either way, those people would not be able to appear at such an event!

  However, that wasn’t the truly shocking part of the banquet. What stunned the guests more were the servants weaving their way between the crowd.

  Every messenger who could attend the Crimson Clan’s banquet was someone of importance, a Second Grade adept at the very least.

  The major clans might only send a single adept as a messenger, but that person would be no lower than Third Grade. Meanwhile, the smaller clans often only had one or two Second Grade adepts across the entire clan. As such, the clan leader themself would have to be the messenger.

  As high-grade adepts, all of them had attended countless adept banquets. However, none of them had high-grade spirits as servants like the Crimson Clan did now.

  The servants holding silver platters as they weaved between the crowd were not humans or vampires at all. Instead, they were pretty female spirits with seductive figures– dream enchantresses.

  Dream enchantresses, also known as night enchantresses, were strange creatures of unusual seductiveness. They had wings and a tail. Their greatest ability was the ability to drain the life essence of intelligent creatures through dreams.

  That was why they were often noted as exceptions from ordinary monsters and spirits in many books. However, no matter how you categorized them, it was obvious that they were not ordinary intelligent lifeforms but terrifying and dangerous creatures of an unusual sort.

  The fact that the Crimson Clan could tame dream enchantresses and use them to serve adepts was more than a sufficient demonstration of their power.

  These dream enchantresses were all fearsome Second Grade spirits. Left in a small adept clan, they could easily wipe out every single living being. Here, they were no more than humble servants working their best to fulfill the needs of the adepts.

  The only problem was that when the dream enchantresses walked past the guests, the weaker Second Grade adepts would show signs of being charmed. They could only subtly add a few layers of magical protection to themselves and put some distance between them and those monsters.

  The Second Grade adepts were impressed by these insignificant matters, while the Third Grade adepts noticed far more shocking details!

  The more powerful of the Third Grade adepts had already started delving into research in the laws. They might not be able to come into contact with the laws or attempt to grasp them, but they could still imitate the laws’ effects through their magic.

  That was why the Third Grade adepts were fixated on Kerslin Castle while the Second Grade adepts were distracted by the dream enchantresses.

  How strange, how unusual, how odd.

  For some reason, Kerslin Castle felt completely different from a few days ago. The aura it radiated was utterly unfamiliar, such that they were confused.

  Did they sense wrongly, or had something strange really happened to Kerslin Castle?

  While everyone was confused, the hostess of the banquet arrived. Bloody Queen Mary stepped down the stairs in her clicking heels, wearing a scarlet dress.

  The confusion on everyone’s faces turned into utter and inconcealable shock when she appeared.

  This…how could this be possible?

  Chapter 1330 - A Hall Full of Guests

  Mary didn’t appear alone!

  As the clan leader of the Crimson Clan, Greem wore an intricate black robe when he appeared with Mary hand-in-hand.

  Despite his fame as the legendary fire adept and his striking physique, Greem could not steal the attention from Mary, whose aura was bright and burned as if it was on fire.

  At the moment, the soul aura radiating from Mary was resonating with the Nightmare Castle. Their powers were intertwined and, even now, were growing stronger and brighter, like a rising crescendo. The very sight of her thoroughly stunned all the adepts present.

  It was precisely because Mary’s radiance was too blinding that Greem had been unintentionally overlooked. The prideful, beautiful woman lifting the hem of her skirt with one hand was the only thing that remained in the guests’ eyes.

  Mary.

  Bloody Queen Mary.

  Since when had she also become so powerful!?

  Mary was the second-in-command of the Crimson Clan and a powerful Fourth Grade adept in her own right. However, her radiance had been outshone b
y Greem’s blinding brilliance all this while. The fact that female adepts in the Central Lands were generally weaker than male adepts also further caused people to underestimate Mary’s status and position.

  The moment Mary appeared in the hall, her overwhelming aura, crushing Spiritual pressure, and forcefield resonance that seemed to control the heartbeats and minds of every adept in the room here left an indelible mark in their hearts!

  “Welcome…welcome, my guests!”

  Mary’s smile was even brighter now, but it was obvious that her greeting wasn’t directed at the guests already present in the hall.

  Just as everyone was confused about who her words were directed at, a light flashed in the shadows. An individual with a powerful aura appeared in the hall, his deep voice booming as he spoke.

  “Congratulations, Adept Mary! And congratulations to you as well, Lord Greem!”

  It was a stout and muscular middle-aged man who walked out of the shadows. He had a face full of beard, and his head was bald on the top with three black and white braids running down the back. He wasn’t wearing robes, but a seemingly ancient leather armor. There were no signs of any other magical equipment on his person.

  Gasps rang out in the hall when the man appeared.

  “Lord Declan.”

  “It’s Declan Fabres.”

  Everyone’s expressions tightened as they hastily looked down and bowed.

  It was their instinctual respect and fear of Fourth Grade adepts. Intermediate adepts like themselves had trouble even breathing within the presence of a Fourth Grade adept.

  “I heard you defeated Freed, so I took a special trip here to take a look,” Declan lifted his head and carefully examined the forcefields around him, as well as Mary herself. There was a hint of surprise on his face as he let out a soft sigh and said, “It seems like you have indeed gained a lot in this battle. Congratulations, Lady Mary!”