Matthew, the weakest among them, summoned three Fourth Grade magical creatures and sent them forth to stall the other minor Scourge Lords.
At the same time, large groups of adepts from the Silver Union, the Northern Witches, and the Adept’s Association poured out of the tower in the distance. They were rushing over as fast as they could.
The minor Scourge Lords were severely wounded, but they weren’t wholly incapacitated. Upon seeing the severity of the situation, they turned and hurried toward the valley. They couldn’t be bothered to deal with the human adepts.
They would only have the time and room to heal their injured bodies once they fled there and summoned more subordinates to cover for them. These injuries might look serious, but they were little more than flesh wounds. With enough time and sufficient energy, it wasn’t too hard to recover.
“Focus your power on the serpentdrake. Ignore the ten-headed ghoul,” Greem quickly instructed his allies with a voice transmission. He himself strode over and stood in front of the many-armed giant that had been trying to sneak away.
Kerala and the others only realized the ten-headed ghoul’s true terror once they started fighting it. They might be protected by Greem’s principle fire and the planar consciousness’s blessing, but the endless horde of ghosts were unstoppable. They were already starting to bite and tear at the Central adepts’ bodies and injuring them.
A Fifth Grade creature was Fifth Grade, after all!
Greem could fight them to a standstill. Ordinary Fourth Grade adepts like them were not a match, even when they possessed superior numbers and the enemy was already injured.
The difference in power couldn’t be more obvious!
The seven Central adepts had no choice but to give up on what seemed like the most delicious prey. They turned their focus onto the equally wounded winged serpentdrake.
The serpentdrake was only a peak Fourth Grade minor Scourge Lord. It was powerful, but the best it could do was defend itself against a whole bunch of Central adepts. It had no room to run.
“Mugus, help me! I will give you half my wealth once we escape,” the serpentdrake endured the barrage of fearsome spells with its tattered body as it shrieked to its companion for help.
However, its heart soon plunged into the icy depths. Ten-Headed Ghoul Mugus sprinted toward the entrance of the valley without turning back.
Three human adepts had landed at the entrance. It was evident that they intended to cut off the minor Scourge Lords’ escape route.
There had never been any trust or friendship between the disaster creatures; they were only subordinates of the Sixth Grade Scourge Lord Dilmas. There was plenty of rivalry and competition amongst them, and these were times of crisis. Naturally, it was every disaster creature for themselves. No one would ever put their lives on the line for another.
The four minor Scourge Lords were instantly split up and intercepted by the major adept organizations.
Greem took on the many-armed giant, Kerala and the seven Central adepts stopped the serpentdrake, and the three ultra-powerhouses of the Association intercepted the ten-headed ghoul at the entrance of the valley. The Northern Witches managed to reach the only remaining dust elemental first and quickly surrounded it.
In comparison, the Silver Union forces that consisted only of golem masters and puppet masters lacked mobility. They were so slow that they didn’t manage to corner even a single minor Scourge Lord for themselves.
Silver Union Vice-Senate Head Melone was so furious seeing the other organizations steal all the prey that he almost couldn’t resist taking the serpentdrake from the Central adepts.
However, upon seeing Greem’s gigantic, mighty body–and recalling that terrifying Fifth Grade divine fire spell–Melone’s anger quickly subsided. He was left with nothing but sighs.
At this point, he could only hope that the Central adepts would be incapable of taking down the peak Fourth Grade serpentdrake. That way, the Silver Union would have a chance of taking over. After watching from the sidelines for a while, Melone could only shake his head in disappointment. He turned and flew toward the bottom of the valley with the Silver Union adepts in tow. He was hoping to find some spoils of value there.
The battle was still as intense and savage as ever!
The human adepts might have the absolute advantage, but it was still challenging taking down these powerful minor Scourge Lords. Of course, if the human adepts had fought as fearlessly as warriors and accepted a little sacrifice, the fighting would probably already be over.
It was precisely because no one wanted to die and no one wanted to pay the price for hunting this prey that the battle ended up as a war of attrition.
The battles against the peak Fourth Grade serpentdrake and the dust elemental went without a hitch. Everything was within the control of the adepts. Meanwhile, on the other two battlefields, the battle against the Fifth Grade many-armed giant and the ten-headed ghoul appeared to be incredibly risky.
Fifth Grades were Fifth Grades, after all!
Even after being blown halfway to their graves by the elderly adept, the two monsters’ remaining power was still superior to the Fourth Grade adepts.
The many-headed giant was five meters tall and glowed with a radiant, earth-yellow light. While his feet were connected with the ground, he could endlessly absorb earth elementium and form thick stone armor around his body.
Meanwhile, countless muscular arms grew on both sides of his body, all of them creating stone spears and boulders to hurl at Greem.
The many-armed giant’s Strength was surprising. Even though Greem was several hundred times larger than the giant, he was still weaker in Strength. The blazing hand that Greem swung at the many-armed giant had been destroyed by the giant several times through sheer force. As such, the battle inevitably ended up at a certain range.
Greem tossed a series of fire spells containing the Undying Flames at the giant. If any of them were to hit the giant, they would burn until he died. The many-armed giant retaliated with giant boulders the size of hills. These boulders would explode into countless fragments when they hit Greem’s body.
This method of fighting inflicted serious damage to both parties.
However, while the many-armed giant relied on his stone armor and impenetrable skin to defend against the flames, Greem defended with the principle barrier put up by the Tome of Corruption.
After enduring severe damage, the many-armed giant’s power was basically equal to Greem. Under such circumstances, the two pieces of Fifth Grade divine equipment in Greem’s possession became the final straw that allowed him to crush his opponent.
The many-armed giant that relied primarily on his own body was no match for the legendary fire adept wielding two divine items!
More and more clusters of golden flames started to burn on the many-armed giant’s wide-body, quickly spreading into an inferno. The psychological pressure of these gradually spreading fires caused the enemy to lose the courage and faith needed to continue the fight.
Many-Armed Giant Zagu was observing his environment as he traded blows with Greem. He was searching for the perfect opportunity to slip away. Finally, while Greem was dealing with a barrage of fifteen boulders, Zagu raised all his arms and swung them down at the same time.
Smashed by overwhelming strength, the earth cracked apart, and a giant pillar of dust rose into the air. The many-armed giant’s body quickly faded away into the dust.
Chapter 1421 - Zagu Falls
“Running?”
Greem chuckled coldly.
He lifted his thick right foot and stomped it fiercely into the ground. The earth itself trembled violently. Fine cracks spread outward from the point of impact for over a hundred meters.
A series of cracking sounds could be heard as the web-like fractures radiated rapidly in every direction. Soon, they had extended for several kilometers.
The ground undulated as if made of water rather than earth. Several terrifying, bottomless gulfs appear
ed here and there. Meanwhile, loud rumbling could be heard underground, as if there was a massive dragon struggling and roaring down there. The earth swelled here and there and erupted.
Greem’s use of the fire principles drew violent and savage lava out from underground. The lava quickly filled the fractures in the earth, its terrible heat and flames quickly turning the battlefield into a blazing hell of magma.
“Show yourself!”
Greem shouted as his fire principle power surged wildly into the ground and detonated the lava. A piece of land measuring over a hundred meters wide erupted. Tens of thousands of tons of shattered bedrock and boiling lava were sent blasting into the air like a giant pillar of fire.
Zagu the Many-Armed Giant had just dived underground. He had yet to escape when he was blasted into the air by a thick pillar of lava.
“You forced my hand.”
Zagu was exceptionally furious. His many arms waved and swung, creating numerous force shockwaves that surged toward Greem like a tide.
His heavy body sank downward, crashing against the lava and flames as he plummeted toward the ground. A three-meter-thick stone pillar rose from the ground under the effect of Zagu’s earth principle. It rumbled and reached toward Zagu’s feet.
Once his feet made contact with the stone pillar, he would be able to continuously draw earth elementium from the earth to maintain his combat needs.
Greem had already seen through Zagu’s intentions with the aid of the Chip. He let out a battlecry and made a grabbing motion with his giant hands. Large spouts of lava gathered together, turning into an even bigger hand that swept across the horizon.
Just a little bit more, and Zagu’s feet would touch the pillar- but that would not happen.
The stone pillar crumbled as Zagu was sent hurling into the air like a tiny bird.
“Bastard! You’re looking to die.”
Many-Armed Giant Zagu was already missing a good half of his body due to the explosion from earlier. Now that Greem’s flames had forcibly sent Zagu flying away and cut him off from the earth, he became even more furious and berserk.
In truth, the so-called many-armed giant was a variant of the legendary abomination, Hecatoncheires. They possessed the same kind of overwhelming Strength and terrifying earth principles as the Hecatoncheires.
The most fundamental of the Hecatoncheires’ powers was petrification!
However, there were no signs of a third eye on this many-armed giant’s forehead. It was hard to tell if it also possessed petrification principles.
That was the only reason why Greem didn’t dare engage the giant in a proper melee!
However, the things you were most worried about were often the things that invariably happened.
Many-Armed Giant Zagu went berserk. The numerous muscular arms on his body suddenly exploded, leaving behind only five pairs of arms. The most muscular of the right arms put two fingers together and cut across Zagu’s forehead.
The skin was cut apart and the blood vessels ruptured, leaving a bloody gash there. A strange, large eye with a slit pupil appeared.
The surface of the eye was smooth and crystalline, almost like a round piece of jade. As the eye blinked, a strange power of paralysis projected forward. It was of such intensity that it was horrifying.
“You are the one that forced me to use my petrification power! Die!”
It seemed like using this ability was detrimental to Zagu in some fashion. However, Zagu had no choice but to use his most powerful ability to break free of the fire adept’s control in this battle.
Even though he was no longer supported by the earth principles, Zagu was able to activate the Eye of Petrification by relying on his tremendous energy reserves and the sea of earth energy gathered by the explosion of his arms.
The violent earth elementium surged into his only eye, turning into a pale-yellow beam that shot across the battlefield toward Greem, who had raised his right arm as cover.
The potent petrification principle power spread out rapidly. Even the principle fires in Greem’s right arm couldn’t keep out the invasion of such ferocious principle power. It was almost as if his right arm had been frozen. The flesh, vessels, tendons, bones, and muscles inside it lost their color at a visible rate. They turned gray and hard.
In the blink of an eye, Greem’s right arm had turned into gray stone. Moreover, the overwhelming petrification principle powers were swiftly flowing up Greem’s shoulder, spreading toward the rest of Greem’s body.
If Greem had not protected himself with the principle powers, the petrification principle would probably have turned him entirely to stone at the moment of contact. It was precisely because of the overwhelming principle fire within his body that Greem was able to buy some time as the two powers clashed.
A true warrior would sever his arm when bit by a venomous snake!
Principle powers were very resilient forces that were hard to get rid of once they attached to your body.
That was why Greem did not even hesitate. He plunged his left hand into his right shoulder and ignited his fire powers. The entire right arm, along with half of his shoulder, was blown away.
Even though all of his gigantic body was no more than a projection of magic energy, every trace of energy and every piece of simulated flesh were still tightly connected with Greem’s mental consciousness.
It was the only way he could precisely control such a gigantic form.
Naturally, it was unavoidable that the sudden loss of an arm inflicted terrible damage to Greem.
He had no time to cry at this crucial moment. Any slight slip in focus on such a terrifying battlefield could mean death.
Greem endured the horrendous pain and forced most of the fire principle power in his body to his eyes. The next second, two incredibly pure golden beams shot out of his eyes, cutting across the sky to slice Zagu’s body.
Fire powers possessed tremendous penetrative ability, and these golden beams converted from fire principles were even more terrifying.
The remaining arms of the many-armed giant were cut off where the golden beams passed. They blasted against Zagu’s body and sizzled. They pierced straight to his lungs, causing unbelievable agony and making the giant howl over and over in pain.
Zagu turned his gaze around, and the earth-yellow petrification beam clashed with Greem’s golden beams. The petrification power and the fire power wildly devoured and neutralized each other. Shockwaves from the principle powers rippled outward in circles.
Every substance and lifeform caught in the waves were either instantly turned into statues or abruptly ignited into flames. In either case, the victims were finished. They had no hope of surviving that.
The effects of Greem and Zagu’s battle were widespread. Even the other adepts who were engaged with the minor Scourge Lords hastily fled further away. They had no chance of surviving with their abilities if these principle powers caught them.
The aftershocks and stray bullets from the battles of higher creatures were often incredibly deadly!
Moreover, the principle powers commanded by higher lifeforms were formless and intangible. They could not be detected with the naked eye and there was no dodging them. The radius of higher lifeform attacks was also vast. Most of the time, the radius exceeded the limits of the physical senses of ordinary lifeforms.
That was why ordinary creatures could not even hope to join a high-grade battle. In fact, simply watching from the sidelines put their lives at significant risk.
Perhaps, this was the massive gulf that divided man from god!
According to the World of Gods’ classification, Fifth Grades had achieved the standard to be known as gods. Peak Fourth Grades might have transcended the world, but they were still very much human.
The main reason that Zagu hadn’t dared engage Greem in a melee since the start of the battle was out of fear of Greem’s terrifying Fifth Grade divine fire spell, Scorched Earth. After all, Greem had used that divine spell to kill a minor Scourge Lord mo
re powerful than himself.
That was why Zagu had made up his mind not to go within three hundred meters of Greem while it was uncertain whether he was capable of unleashing another Scorched Earth.
That was the shortest distance at which he was confident in dodging the attack!
Yet now, even without using his Fifth Grade divine spell, Greem had pushed him into a corner with just his fire principles. The golden beams and petrification beam clashed in midair. Zagu, who was suspended in the air and unable to replenish his earth elementium, was undoubtedly the one at a disadvantage.
Thus, the equilibrium between the two beams rapidly began moving toward Zagu. It instantly caused Zagu to break out in cold sweat.
At this point, over a dozen golden flames were already burning silently on his body. He had been engaged in battle and had not had the time nor energy to extinguish them with his earth principles.
If Greem’s golden beams were to reach him, he would probably no longer be able to suppress the Undying Flames. He would turn into a giant torch and die.
Zagu only had three of his once numerous arms left. Two on the left and one on the right. He beat his chest violently with his arm, drawing on the last bit of petrification power within his control to force the golden beam away. He then sank down once more, hoping to dive underground.
Greem, who was also left with only one arm, made a vicious play. The Orb of the Fire God in his body was driven to its limits as Greem opened his mouth. A completely invisible flame surged out of his mouth and hit Zagu straight in the head.
A loud explosion could be heard as Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lord Zagu’s skull exploded. His giant body crashed onto the ground like a mountain, leaving a fearsome crater in the earth.
Greem was relieved.
This was the second Fifth Grade creature that had died at his hands since he mastered his fire principle. What incredible glory and intimidating feats for a Fourth Grade adept who had yet to fully ascend to the next grade!
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