[Beep. Given the current development, target creature is estimated to last for another 127 seconds, while Host will only last for another 89 seconds. Host’s body will be the first to collapse and be completely invaded by the poison power.] The Chip’s response was calm and cruel.
Greem’s fire principles might be far stronger than the enemy, but he was utterly outmatched in terms of Physique. That allowed the opponent to last longer than him despite enduring more grievous wounds.
“Then there’s no more need to hesitate. Activate Scorched Earth!”
[Beep. Order received. Scorched Earth activating.]
A tremendous change immediately took over the battlefield!
Chapter 1412 - Fiveface’s Despair
This place was a strange and mysterious world!
The skies were a dark red.
The ground was filled with terrifying volcanoes of various heights.
These volcanoes were exceedingly active and violent. Thick, black plumes of smoke billowed from their craters. As the black smoke continued to rise, even the crimson skies became obscured by rolling black clouds.
Red lava flowed all over the exposed magma, forming large and small pools all over the earth. Groups of fire creatures played and frolicked in every one of the lava pools.
An exceptionally majestic volcano stood tall at the center of this world. Its tip couldn’t be seen, hidden behind the black clouds in the sky. Only half of its black and red body could be seen.
This gigantic volcano was still active. The thunderous rumbling inside the volcano was like the eternal background music of this world. Tens of thousands of powerful fire creatures gathered around the volcano. Each of them was over Fourth Grade in might, with many being powerful Fifth Grade existences.
Without exception, they were all gathered around small fire altars at the foot of the volcano. Without fail, they meditated and prayed here every day, even forming patrols to prevent any non-fire creatures from approaching their holy mountain.
However, as they conducted their daily prayers today, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the majestic holy mountain.
“The Orb of the Fire God! I sense the aura of the Orb…who is it? Who is it that dared to steal my treasure?”
The violent voice washed across the world, instantly dispelling all the black clouds within five thousand kilometers. The mighty body of the giant volcano appeared before the countless believers for the first time.
Wherever the fearsome voice passed by, the ground cracked and the volcanoes erupted. The world itself trembled before it. However, the fire creatures living in this kingdom did not appear fearful at all. Instead, they prostrated themselves on the ground, praising the great Fire God Sinai as they did so.
A five-meter-tall fire giant kneeled piously in front of the largest fire altar. He asked with his booming voice, “My master, what is it that has incurred your wrath so? Your most loyal servant Arihi awaits your instructions!”
This fire giant was a terrifying Fifth Grade powerhouse!
Fire God Sinai vented his anger after rising from his slumber. He then slowly retracted his overbearing divine power. Only then did the thousands of volcanoes across the Kingdom of Fire’s vast territories cease erupting and return to peace and quiet.
“I remember now. My Orb was stolen by a bunch of despicable adepts. Arihi, I just sensed the presence of the Orb. The Fifth Grade divine spell Scorched Earth that I sealed within has been activated. Send someone to investigate immediately. Send back the planar coordinates if you find the culprit’s location or the Orb of the Fire God…hmph! These reckless fools. I will cast down a clone and raze their world to ashes!”
“Yes, my master! It will be as you wish!”
Fifth Grade Fire Giant Arihi turned and left the god kingdom upon receiving his orders. He teleported to another planar world that belonged to Fire God Sinai.
He took his place in the Great Temple there and sent out the Fire God’s decrees to the dozens of subordinate lesser planes. These major planar forces that served the Fire God Temple immediately went into action searching for information on Greem and the Orb of the Fire God.
To their surprise, their aimless search actually ended up tremendously successful. An anonymous, unaffiliated lich provided an incredibly valuable tip to the Fire God Temple.
The forces of the Fire God immediately switched the focus of their investigation; they set their sights on a planar war occurring in the World of Adepts.
It seemed like…the aura of the Orb of the Fire God was leaking from there!
…………
Scorched Earth was a Fifth Grade divine spell.
It was a powerful spell sealed within the Orb of the Fire God.
It was said that this was also the first Fifth Grade divine spell that Fire God Sinai created after his ascension!
As for its power?
One could judge that much just by looking at Fiveface!
Fiveface was truly miserable this time.
He might be Fifth Grade, but his power had been limited to peak Fourth Grade level while within the World of Adepts. That gave the human adepts he typically looked down on the opportunity to injure him.
Of course, his Strength might be limited, but his tough Fifth Grade Physique remained. He still had no problem crushing a peak Fourth Grade human adept.
Sadly, he was truly, incredibly unfortunate!
Firstly, his opponent Greem was also an unusual individual.
Even though Greem did not even have the Spirit of a peak Fourth Grade, he had somehow mysteriously masted a powerful principle fire. It was an unimaginable phenomenon in most planar worlds.
Secondly, Greem had equipped two pieces of Fifth Grade divine equipment.
Due to the might of the Orb of the Fire God and the Tome of Corruption, Greem could endure the violent attacks of a Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lords. He was even fighting him to a standstill.
Most importantly, Greem was actually able to draw upon the Fifth Grade divine fire-spell Scorched Earth that was sealed within the Orb. That was the real reason that Fiveface was suffering such a tragedy!
He had been hit directly by a Fifth Grade divine fire spell after being grievously injured in his savage tussle with Greem. Even as powerful as he was, Fiveface collapsed instantly.
The ferocious divine spell surged into Fiveface’s body, charging and rampaging recklessly through his insides. Fiveface’s four-hundred-meter-tall body turned scarlet in a single instant.
It was almost as if a volcano had been stuffed into his body; endless flames and lava were waiting to burst forth. The scales on his body flared as red flames came bursting out of the gaps between them.
Through his skin, so swollen it had almost turned transparent, you could see that it was no longer blood that flowed in his body. It was viscous, boiling-hot lava.
The terrifying power of the fire had nowhere to go. It could only rampage in Fiveface’s body, instantly causing four of the five heads to explode into pieces. The only remaining head also lost one of its eyeballs. A giant, bloody hole remained where the eye once was.
“Save me!!! Nair…Many-Arms…save me!! I…I’m going to die!!!”
Fiveface had been tortured to the brink of death by the Fifth Grade divine fire spell. He no longer cared about Greem. Instead, he instantly turned and fled towards Inkdeep Valley. Bloody holes erupted all over his body as he ran away. It wasn’t blood or organs that came spilling out from within, but clusters of fire and thick lava.
If things continued at this rate, he would probably be consumed by the flames before he could flee the World of Adepts, even with his massive body.
The other minor Scourge Lords were absolutely shocked. They had known that the legendary fire adept was a troublesome opponent, but they never expected that a Fourth Grade human adept would defeat a Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lord. Moreover, it seemed like such an overwhelming defeat.
It was important to note that Fiveface was already the most powerful amongst t
hem. If he couldn’t deal with the legendary fire adept, then even they were in danger.
They were rats in the same hole.
For the first time, the minor Scourge Lords felt a genuine chill from the bottom of their hearts. Could it be…could it be that this invasion of the World of Adepts would be a trip to their graves?
Without any hesitation, the minor Scourge Lords turned and ran, racing toward the bottom of the valley alongside Fiveface.
A chase began!
“Now you think of fleeing? Too late!” Greem roared from the center of the battlefield. He had paid a heavy price. If the enemy were allowed to escape now, it would be a massive loss for him.
Greem strode forward and grabbed the air with one hand. Large balls of fire energy gathered in midair and turned into a one-meter thick-chain under his expert fire manipulation skills. The chain rattled as it cut across the sky and wrapped around Fiveface’s body.
Clang! A muffled boom rang out.
The fire chain instantly pulled taut as Greem’s gigantic body skid forward, dragged along by the furiously fleeing reptile. No matter how much he leaned back and pulled with his arms, he could not stop his body from slowly sliding toward the valley.
“Declan…Kerala…come help me, quick!” Greem pulled with all his might as he shouted.
“Coming! Coming…I’m coming!” Declan and the several Central adepts hurried over hastily from the horizon. They quickly helped Greem pull onto the creaking fire chain.
With the help of a Fourth Grade body-refining adept, Fiveface’s momentum finally came to a halt. The valley was just a hundred meters in front of him, but Fiveface’s giant body was being pulled back by the human adepts. He could not even take a single step forward.
Moreover, as more and more adepts joined the effort, Fiveface was dragged further and further away from Inkdeep Valley. He left deep gouges in the ground as he clung on for dear life.
Fiveface finally let out an ear-piercing scream of fear and despair.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dust rose into the air and the earth quaked.
Three equally gigantic and ferocious figures landed on the edge of Inkdeep Valley. They were Fiveface’s companions.
Fiveface screeched with the only head he had left, as if he had just set eyes on his saviors.
“Save me!!! Many-Arms…save me, and I will give you all my subordinate planes.”
Fiveface was calling for help from the many-armed giant. The giant’s body was also covered in wounds. He had barely managed to get here after escaping the Association adepts’ pursuit.
The many-armed giant hesitated for a moment when he heard Fiveface.
While he was wondering if he should save his ally, Greem had already let go of the fire chain and was sprinting toward the valley.
Many-Arms’ expression changed. He glanced at Greem’s giant body fearfully. Finally, he dove headfirst into the valley and vanished without a trace.
“Basta……”
Fiveface instantly despaired when he saw this.
Before he could let out a final cry of anger, a heavy fist blazing with golden flames smashed Fireface’s last head into pulp.
Chapter 1413 - Post-Battle Spirits
Fiveface was dead!
There was no greater shock on the battlefield than the death of a Fifth Grade creature.
In the World of Gods, a Fifth Grade being would be a transcendent god.
Killing a Fifth Grade was akin to slaying a god!
Even if you were to look at things that way, Fiveface was no more than a demon. However, no matter what you thought and what you called him, Fiveface was still a bonafide Fifth Grade existence. He was equal in power to the weakest gods.
He was an existence that had transcended the limits of planar worlds and broken free of the limitations of planar laws. If nothing unfortunate happened to them, Fifth Grade beings would live for at least ten thousand years.
Their bodies were immortal, and their souls were incomparably powerful. Under ordinary circumstances, planar creatures would be injured just from looking at a Fifth-Grade. It was unthinkable for them to be wounded, much less killed.
However, such an existence had died in the World of Adepts, at the hands of a Fourth Grade adept. That…the shock of it was enough to stun the adepts speechless.
Unknowingly, a hint of awe, fear, respect, and envy appeared in the eyes of the adepts as they looked upon Greem’s giant body. They weren’t aware of these emotions that had come over them. It was probably the limit of power that a Fourth Grade adept could ever hope to achieve!
Far away under the Association’s adept tower, Domhnall let out another resentful sigh.
For some reason, he’d been sighing a lot more in the past year than in the past five hundred years combined.
“Fiveface is dead! Relay news of this to Lord Ulnak at Camp Exodar and Lord Riva of the Endless Gardens. I’m sure they will be interested in this news!” Domhnall adjusted his feelings and immediately made contact with someone in the tower through discreet means.
This message soon found its way to the Tower of Observation. It was then quickly relayed to the few Great Adepts who maintained close contact with the Adept’s Association via the teleportation arrays.
The youthful-looking Adept Ainley gently drifted down beside Gloria, whose face was pale as a sheet. He said in a solemn voice, “I don’t intend to provoke a fellow like that! The deal we agreed on earlier is moot. You…don’t have any opinions on that, do you?”
Gloria’s body trembled when she heard this, but she did not open her mouth to retort.
Adept Ainley glanced at her in pity before putting on a smile and flying over toward the legendary fire adept standing proudly in the distance.
It was about time to introduce himself and make some connections!
An overwhelming victory. This battle was absolutely an unprecedented and overwhelming victory in the World of Adepts’ history!
To think that a Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lord had been slain inside a planar world. That, too, was a significant and unprecedented event in the history of the universe.
The many participants of the war-particularly the seven Fourth Grades of the Central Lands-were all overjoyed and excited. They gathered around the corpse of the many-headed reptile and went to work.
This Fifth Grade monster had just recently been killed. Both its body and soul were in fresh, peak condition. Under Greem’s instructions and with his approval, the numerous Fourth Grade adepts of the Central Lands became the most expert of butchers. They happily commenced dismembering and preserving what remained of the creature’s magical organs.
Fiveface had suffered a painful death. The Fifth-Grade divine spell had incinerated most of his body, and the parts that remained were badly damaged by fire energy. However, he was still a Fifth Grade creature. Even a scale from his body, a piece of meat, or a tendon would be an invaluable high-grade resource for the adepts here.
Meat. Fresh meat cut off from the body of a Fifth Grade monstrosity…and they were the ones who performed the butchering.
There was no doubt that this glory would make them proud even when they remembered this moment a hundred years in the future!
Scaling, skinning, carving the meat, cleaning the bones, pulling out the tendons, gathering the blood, collecting the marrow, and preserving the brain.
It was a series of bloody and filthy tasks, but the Fourth Grade adepts of the Central Lands refused to hand the job over to anyone else. They gathered around the corpse and happily went to work. The adepts of the other organizations could only watch jealously from afar. None of them approached the scene of butchering.
Declan, the only Fourth Grade body-refining adept in the Central Lands, rolled up his sleeves as he started butchering. Declan looked just like a butcher as he carved up the spoils with a giant Fourth Grade knife he had found somewhere, wiping the sweat away from his red face as he did so.
He wasn’t sweating because of the labor, but bec
ause of his sheer excitement!
He was holding the scales of a Fifth Grade creature in his hands as he stepped upon the flesh of a Fifth Grade creature and swung his knife to sever the tendons of a Fifth Grade creature, splashing the blood of a Fifth Grade creature all over his face. The work was tough and dirty, but Declan couldn’t be more excited. He was so eager he looked as if he would be fine doing all the work alone.
Kerala, Alfred, Matthew, and Nicolas gathered around, taking special sealing boxes out of their storage rings. They carefully dug out the magical organs from the gory mess, cast the proper preservation spells, and put them away.
Meanwhile, Greem, the man who made it all happen, stood silently close to Inkdeep Valley. He slowly retracted all the fire energy he was emitting and restored his human form.
It was a terrible sight. Greem’s body was covered in wounds.
There were injuries and missing flesh all over. In particular, the wounds Fiveface had gone berserk on were missing so much meat it was an absolutely ghastly sight to behold.
Even the relatively unharmed portions of his body were covered in green and purple spots. These spots were created by elementium poison that Fiveface had left in Greem’s body after biting him. Until Greem dealt with the poison, he would not be able to heal these wounds through his regenerative power.
It had been a victory, but it came at a cost!
Greem was not a body-refining adept that specialized in melee combat, after all. He had undoubtedly been at a disadvantage when fighting against Fiveface up close. That caused him to suffer severe physical injuries bordering on what you would call ‘grievous.’
Fortunately, he won in the end.
It gave him more than enough time to treat his wounds slowly!
Age of Adepts c1-1513 Page 857