The principle battle from last time seemed to have exhausted too much of his Spirit. Consequently, commanding this ridiculous amount of magic energy was like dragging an overloaded cart with a pony. The magic energy had become incredibly volatile and active.
“Indeed! There are four monsters down there. The many-armed giant and the ten-headed ghoul are Fifth Grades in actuality, while the winged serpent drake and the dust elemental are only Fourth Grade. It would be difficult to hunt down even one of them in space, even with the combined force of all the adepts in this world, let alone exterminate all of them,” The elderly adept chuckled coldly. “Since they’ve done us the favor of coming into the World of Adepts now, I say we take this opportunity of their weakness to keep them here forever.”
“That’s two Fifth Grades and two Fourth Grades!” Greem was a little speechless. “They might be significantly weakened, but it’s impossible to kill every last one of them. My offensive power might be enough, but my defense is incredibly lacking. If I rush down there and they pile on me, I will probably be dismembered in just two rounds of attacks!”
The elderly adept continued chuckling.
“No shit. I’m only willing to work with you on account of that powerful Fifth Grade divine fire spell of yours. As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, this is only an elementium clone I have projected into the World of Adepts. It can only last in this world for another six months if it doesn’t die here today. So, while this perfect opportunity is in front of us, I’ll rush in and blow myself up in the middle of all of them. Given that I completely sucked out all the magic energy from three adept towers earlier, it will be a pleasant surprise for them.
“When that happens, the minor Scourge Lords will be heavily crippled, if not just dead. Given your powers, you should have no problem hunting down one or two of them. I don’t want much else but the heart of that many-armed giant. The rest of the spoils can belong to you. How about that? These conditions are appealing enough, aren’t they?”
“Hss!”
Greem drew in a breath of cold air. He couldn’t help but take two steps back with his giant body. He looked at the elderly adept like he was looking at a monster. The muscles of his face twitched unstoppably.
No wonder his energy aura seemed so unstable. A mere peak Fourth Grade elementium clone had gone ahead and absorbed all the magic energy from three adept towers and was barely constraining them within his tiny body.
This old adept was probably more of a monster than those minor Scourge Lords down there in the valley!
Moreover, the reason for him having turned himself into such a horrifying elementium bomb was definitely not as simple as he claimed. If he hadn’t chanced on a prey he wanted, if he hadn’t wanted to get his hands on the heart of the many-armed giant, then his plan had probably been to blow himself up along with Greem.
Even Greem couldn’t help but break out in cold sweat at this thought. Once again, he had experienced the Great Adepts’ creative and unrestrained ways of doing things.
“Yes or no. Just give me an answer! This body of mine can’t hold on for much longer,” The elderly adept said impatiently. “Heheh, I’m sure you know the consequences of rejecting me!”
Greem could only negotiate helplessly, “Give me one more day. I need to prepare a few things! We will strike one day from now!”
“Very well, one day it shall be! As we agreed, once I blow up, you will keep the heart of the many-armed giant. I will come find you and retrieve it after this is all settled.”
The space around the adept warped strangely. He vanished without a trace.
The entire conversation was clean and concise, and the adept’s invisibility power was oddly powerful. It resembled a spell and an innate ability at the same time, yet it did not radiate even a hint of elementium. If it weren’t for the senses between the principle powers, even Greem would have trouble detecting his presence.
Since they were going to strike at the disaster creatures, Greem really did have to make a few preparations. Moreover, it was best to pull back the Fourth Grades of the Central Lands before they struck, to prevent any collateral damage.
These individuals were all the Central Lands had. After everything they had been through, they were finally starting to acknowledge Greem as their leader. If possible, it was best not to use them as cannon fodder!
Greem thought to himself.
Chapter 1419 - A Terrifying Explosion
The battle at the bottom of Inkdeep Valley raged on.
The elderly adept made it sound like he wouldn’t care about any collateral damage inflicted in the process. But when he faded away, he seemed to have notified the Silver Union of his plans somehow. Vice-Chairman Melone of the Silver Union thought about the strategy for a long time. In the end, he decided to relay the information to the Adept’s Association and the Northern Witches.
All four major organizations active on the battlefield obtained the same information. They began to subtly bait the disaster creatures out from the bottom of the valley.
The Central adepts felt lucky when they learned of the plans.
It was fortunate that a legendary fire adept had appeared in the Central Lands, thereby earning them the other organizations’ respect. Otherwise, if they had been kept in the dark about this destructive plan, it was very likely the other three organizations would have tricked them onto the frontlines and sacrificed them along with those minor Scourge Lords.
At this moment, they could truly feel how great it was to be backed by a powerful adept!
After the past few days of working together, their disapproval of Greem had been replaced by a different kind of fear and respect. Greem’s status in their minds was rising with each passing day.
If it weren’t for that, they would have already panicked upon learning the final battle was about to occur. How could they have fought and retreated in such a calm manner while slowly baiting all the enemies at the bottom of the valley to the entrance?
A single day passed in the blink of an eye. Scorched Earth, the Fifth Grade divine fire spell sealed within the Orb of the Fire God, was finally recharged!
…………
Due to the lack of further reinforcements, the Adept’s Association finally began to falter at the frontlines.
After the mutated beasts destroyed the sixth unit of animated armors, the Adept’s Association had no choice but to send in the voodoo beasts again.
That gave the disaster creatures a chance to make a comeback.
The ten-headed ghoul was the most challenging creature to deal with of the four minor Scourge Lords.
The principle power he possessed was the repulsive Mind Plague. It could transmit disaster power to every creature’s mind through the principle level while completely ignoring magic resistance.
If his power had not been suppressed, he could even directly corrupt a beginner Third Grade adept. Of course, the low-grade adepts and voodoo beasts were even more vulnerable to him.
Upon seeing the large armies of voodoo beasts swarm forward, Ten-Headed Ghoul Mugus showed no fear. Instead, he excitedly rushed ahead. A large horde of the voodoo beasts was instantly engulfed by the terrifying principle aura and collapsed to the ground as a painful and evil transformation began.
In just thirty seconds, these voodoo beasts whose minds had been plagued by the disaster aura quickly turned into mutated beasts. The object of their loyalty also switched from the human adepts to the high-grade disaster creatures.
The Adept’s Association had thrown over a hundred thousand voodoo beasts into the fray this time, and nearly thirty thousand of them had been corrupted by Mugus in a single move. In doing so, the battle at the bottom of Inkdeep Valley turned around immediately.
They had sacrificed so much to gain one and a half kilometers of ground. They were only a mere step away from the bottom of the valley now. Yet now, the disaster creatures chose to retaliate with their full might.
The mutated beasts and the newly turned voodoo b
easts erupted like a black and red flood under the orders of the Scourge Lords. They surged out of the valley quickly and lashed out at the war towers that had just been reconstructed.
Meanwhile, the voodoo beast army that had just rushed into the valley was instantly surrounded and besieged by enemies numerous times their number. They were trapped and barely hanging on amidst the countless numbers of mutated beasts. Meanwhile, the human adepts following behind the voodoo beasts were sly as foxes. They had turned to run the moment something seemed off. Almost all of them managed to take shelter in the closest war towers.
The war returned to its original state. The large hordes of mutated beasts crashed against the human adepts’ formations like a rolling tide, causing a great commotion in the area surrounding the valley.
The four minor Scourge Lords also disappeared into the hordes of mutated beasts as they silently snuck their way toward Greem.
Right now, the individual they feared the most among the adepts was this legendary fire adept. That was why, before the decisive battle broke out, their foremost priority was getting rid of this fire adept.
Unexpectedly, the gigantic fire adept did not put up his Burning Domain. Instead, he slowly retreated backward. Even when he finally detected the minor Scourge Lords, he simply got on one knee and raised both his arms, putting up two principle barriers that barely obscured his figure.
One barrier was put up by the Tome of Corruption, while the Orb of the Fire God erected the other.
The power of the two artifacts added together increased Greem’s defensive power in that one direction by a hundredfold!
What was the legendary fire adept doing? He seemed to be…shielding himself from something? Could it be…?
The four minor Scourge Lords abruptly realized something was wrong.
They turned around and were horrified to see an elderly adept hovering above the valley entrance, smiling and waving at them. The adept was dressed in a simple robe, tightened at the waist by a hemp rope. He had a wizard’s hat on his head, a staff in his hand, and looked just like a scholar.
The next second, violent magic energy of extreme intensity erupted from the elderly adept’s body. It blew apart the adept’s body like a raging sun, rising into the sky with endless heat and light.
It was almost as if a dozen bombs had exploded around him, or if a miniature sun had just popped up from the horizon. The temperature surrounding Inkdeep Valley instantly increased by a million degrees. Moreover, as the magic energy continued to ravage the environment, the temperature continued to rise rapidly.
Everything not protected by magic within one and a half kilometers of the adept’s explosion disintegrated the moment the energy shockwaves touched them. They were shredded into tiny particles and dust invisible to the naked eye.
The earth closest to the epicenter rapidly withered and cracked. The dirt and sand vaporized and vanished without a trace. The exposed bedrock also started to melt like snow under a glaring sun, until over a dozen meters of the bedrock had disappeared.
The red and black torrents of mutated beasts that had filled the valley turned to ashes from the insane heat. Energy shockwaves blew the ashes away and scattered them across dozens of kilometers.
Greem crawled into a ball and expanded his principle barriers as much as possible, just barely protecting himself from the shockwaves by doing so. Loud crackling and popping came from his shields, as frequent as raindrops in a storm. Numerous holes had appeared on his principle barriers, even as sturdy and robust as they were. The light of principles flickered unsteadily.
Greem was already using all his power to resist the might of the elderly adept’s explosion. He had only barely survived the shockwaves due to the aid of his two Fifth Grade divine items.
Meanwhile, the four minor Scourge Lords who stuck between Greem and the explosion suffered tragedy!
Of the two Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lords, the many-armed giant was of a relatively small size and had excellent resilience and magic resistance. Upon seeing things turn sour, he had turned over and crawled into a ball, shielding his head with his hands and using his back to endure the blast.
Though he suffered terrible injuries all the same, he managed to survive the explosion with no risk of death.
After the first round of energy shockwaves, a thick layer of the skin on his back was very obviously shaved off. His tall and majestic body was now skinned and bloody. You could even faintly see the scorched internal organs in his body through the burnt flesh.
The other Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lord–the ten-headed ghoul–was powerful because of his corrupting abilities. His defensive powers were naturally far weaker than the many-armed giant, who was a physical fighter. The damage that the energy shockwaves inflicted on him was exceedingly horrible.
The intense temperatures, the terrifying energy shockwaves, and the fearsome radiation- any of these would be enough to leave him gasping for air, let alone all of them combined.
If the Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lords were suffering so, then it was only natural that the peak Fourth Grade minor Scourge Lords were doing even worse!
If it weren’t for their outstanding Physique, the explosion of the elderly adept alone would have been enough to kill them.
The fearsome heat burned their bodies bright-red, the terrible shockwaves peeled the scales and hair off their bodies, and the horrifying radiation caused their skin to rot and fall apart. Blisters and dark spots appeared all over their bodies.
Their eyeballs had swelled and exploded due to the heat. Their bodies had been skinned, revealing their blistering skin for all to see. The two of them rolled on the ground in agony, their exposed flesh sizzling when they came into contact with the equally red-hot ground.
Even the seven war towers closest to the explosion had melted like candles under the energy tide, let alone these exposed disaster creatures.
Naturally, the adepts inside had not survived!
After enduring that energy blast’s most ferocious wave, Greem put away his damaged principle barriers, exposing his injured body. As he stood up, the seven Central adepts hiding behind him were revealed.
Kerala, Alfred, Declan, Matthew, Nicolas, Ariza, Roderick- elementium barriers of various colors surrounded them. They lifted their heads and surveyed the devastated battlefield. Their eyes instantly landed on the four terribly injured minor Scourge Lords.
It couldn’t be helped. The explosion had cleansed the entire battlefield; no other living creature remained. Not a single thing was within sight, apart from the four minor Scourge Lords.
Usually, the Central adepts would flee upon seeing such powerful minor Scourge Lords. At this moment, their gaze was only filled with endless greed and unconcealable excitement.
Strike while they were down!
Fight!
Several battlecries containing tremendous bloodlines rang out at the same time. Kerala and the others took to the air without hesitation and charged forward with unstoppable momentum.
Chapter 1420 - Chaotic Melee
Courage and guts. Who would’ve thought these things would appear in the Central adepts?
Such a suggestion would have been a hilarious joke in the past. However, this ‘joke’ had come true on this bloody and cruel planar battlefield.
Kerala and the other Central adepts who had achieved this ‘miracle’ were oblivious to what they had just done. All they could think about at the moment was how to ravage this prey before them with their most violent and savage spells.
Indeed, these terrifying monsters that once resided in their nightmares had now become their prey. All they had to do was tear off a piece of flesh from the bloody bodies of those disaster creatures, and their great and mighty feats would be recorded in the historical records of the World of Adepts.
It was a sort of glory, a form of belief, that provided the Central adepts with endless courage and motivation as they lunged at the grievously injured minor Scourge Lords.
“Bastards…you
ants…how dare you harm my body. I will make you pay the price,” The ten-headed ghoul Mugus let out a berserk roar. Thick black smoke scattered from his slime-like body, countless ghosts howling and shrieking as they thrashed within the smoke.
These terrifying ghosts screeched and broke free of the smoke, swarming at the adepts under his instructions.
“Mother of light, haven of fire!” Greem boomed in a loud voice like an ancient fire-giant. He swung his hand and cast out a wave of light. It turned into dark red halos around the human adepts, perfectly enveloping their bodies.
The ghosts running at the Central adepts turned into balls of flame the moment they touched the halos. They screeched and howled horrifically, swerving left and right through the air. They clearly couldn’t break free of the flames.
Soon, the flames burned out their malice cores, and the ghosts vanished without a trace.
These ghosts were composed of Mugus’ principle power. They could ignore all defense, corrupt any living creature, and even devour the flesh of his enemies. These ghosts were incredibly powerful and lethal weapons, even in space and the realms beyond.
In the face of Greem’s principle fire, even a Fifth Grade being like Mugus would have great difficulty forcibly corrupting these Fourth Grade adepts.
As Mugus howled in anger, Kerala and the others were already bombarding him with spells.
Seal of Darkness!
Infrasound Rupture!
Water Dragon Rush!
Nature’s Wrath!
Declan’s body glowed as his companions provided cover fire. He rushed forward and started fighting this berserk ghoul to the death. Behind him, Ariza had transformed into a lion-headed human. He roared and followed after Declan.
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