Age of Adepts

The battle in the night raged on.

Both parties were already fighting with all they had, and neither side refused to back down despite the heavy losses.

From an overall perspective, the Aba Beemen still held the initiative on the battlefield. The wandering squads of beeman soldiers were continuously attacking stray ogres with their poisoned arrows and spears. On the other hand, the ogre soldiers relied on their tough skin and tremendous regeneration to bulldoze through the attacks. They didn’t fear the poison arrows at all. Instead, they roared and picked up large boulders to throw at the beemen.

Whistling arrows and crashing stones flew across the woods. Beeman soldiers kept being hit and knocked down from the canopy. The already tough skin of the ogres started glowing with an intimidating red light under the effect of Mage Zac’s Bloodthirst. They waved their sticks and charged towards the defensive lines of beeman soldiers while enduring a rain of poison arrows.

The power gap between the individual troops was far too broad. Even two or three beman soldiers together couldn’t fend off a single ogre. If it weren’t for the beemen’s absolute numerical advantage, Zac might have been able to break into the nest with the four dozen ogres behind him.

These wild ogres were all at least three meters tall and built like true savages. They didn’t wear any armor or clothing, and apart from a crude piece of hide wrapped around their waist, there was no protective gear anywhere on their body.

Every time Mage Zac let out an angered roar from the back, these ogres shook their sticks and crashed against the battleline of beeman soldiers. They didn’t even try to dodge the rain of poison arrows. Instead, they would charge forward with their simple weapons, using their thick left arms to cover their more vulnerable heads.

The tough skin of the ogres mostly deflected the poisoned arrows. Only a select few managed to pierce through the skin and embed in the flesh of the ogres. The ogre warriors couldn’t care less about these little arrows. They continued to advance as if they had wings on their back.

Their muscular bodies gave them powerful physiques. These poisoned arrows that crippled ordinary woodland creatures could only make an ogre warrior to feel slight dizziness. When Mage Zac’s Bloodthirst engulfed their bodies, the exponential increase in their resistance and the enhancement of their bodies made them immune to that sliver of dizziness that they felt.

All the ogre warriors advanced furiously. They attacked madly, crushing all of the beeman soldiers in front of them into meat paste.

The only ones that could deal with the ogre warriors were two strange bugs.

These strange bugs looked like a cross between locusts and bees. They were two meters long and had two pairs of semi-translucent wings on their backs. Their most distinctive trait was their lightning-quick speed in flight, as well as their frightening jaws.

They were so fast when flying that they would leave behind a trail of red light and appear before an ogre warrior in an instant.

Their sharp limbs could stab right into the ogre’s muscular arms. The moment they managed to cling to an enemy, they would use their massive jaws to tear apart the throats of the enemy immediately.

If the ogre continued to resist, the bug could even sever their neck in half with a single bite.

The ogres might have powerful regenerative abilities, but that didn’t help them against such horrifying destruction.

One could see two trails of red light flashing and blinking throughout the forest. Every place the two bugs visited would shortly be followed by the death of an ogre warrior, howling and yelling as they collapsed.

The speed at which the ogres slaughtered the beeman soldiers wasn’t slow at all. Still, the bloodlocust bees were even faster at slaying the ogres.

It was as if both parties were engaged in a killing competition. A storm of blood had descended upon the forest.

The two bloodlocust bees had eleven points of Strength, eight points of Physique, and thirteen points of Agility. In a situation where their Strength was no less than the ogre’s, their terrifying thirteen points of Agility allowed them to crush any ordinary ogre completely.

However, they were aware of Two-Headed Ogre Mage Zac’s might as well. That was why they only attacked regular ogres and avoided where Zac was. Zac might be called a mage, but sadly, he was a mage that leaned towards strength as his primary form of power.

It didn’t matter whether it was Bloodthirst, Attack Speed Increase, or Brute Force. All of them were enhancement-type spells meant for physical fighters. In a situation where they couldn’t catch up to the two bloodlocust bees, the ogres were helpless, despite their terrifying and savage strength.

That was why one could occasionally hear Zac’s furious roar on the battlefield, loud as a drum.

While the Aba beemen and the ogres were sending blood flying everywhere, a wretched and sinister form was crouching in the shadows, watching the carnage with inexplicable excitement.

Billis’ power had drastically increased after this period of bloody slaughter. His current self had already reached the peak of an advanced apprentice. He was only one step away from becoming a pseudo-adept. That was why he had come here despite knowing that there was a risk in doing so. However, his desire for more power compelled him to come here without any regard for his personal safety. He was taking advantage of the ignorance of both parties and silently pilfering spoils from the place.

He watched the battlefield closely. The moment an ogre warrior fell, he would immediately instruct his sting scorpions to tunnel their way there underground. Then, Billis would find the right moment to have the sting scorpions burst out of the ground while no one was noticing. The scorpions would then grab the corpse and drag it back into their tunnel.

Corpse stealing!

Only someone like Billis, whose and personality were completely twisted, could perform such an unscrupulous act. Any other apprentice would never have committed to such a dangerous course of living on the edge of a knife.

However, Billis suddenly shivered in the middle of his happy harvesting. He turned and looked towards the southwest.

Just then, a bug scout he had placed at the perimeter had caught sight of a strange figure.

Crimson armor, unfurled bat wings, a curvaceous figure, and an incomparably arrogant expression.

For some unknown reason, an inexplicable sense of fear and terror surged out from the depths of Billis’ heart the moment he laid eyes upon that red silhouette. It was almost as if he was facing his natural predator. Billis was trembling uncontrollably from his body all the way down to his soul.

Who was this person?

Why did this body of his fear her so much, even though he didn’t know her?

While Billis was shocked into paralysis, Mary had dominantly descended upon the battlefield with her four subordinates.

Mary flapped the big wings on her back and descended from the skies like a breathtaking goddess of war, accompanied by ear-piercing screeches and falling leaves. She levitated five meters in the air.

Three towering and fully armored knights silently stood behind her. Their bloodshot eyes swept past every single lifeform present on the battlefield as their red-lined black robes fluttered behind them.

The old fox Vanlier still dressed as a middle-aged noble. He stood on a thick branch atop a tree, excitedly looking down upon the battlefield. In his eyes, every life on the battlefield was a decent treat for him.

”Human adept, you’ve overstepped the boundaries!” The Two-Headed Ogre Mage Zac couldn’t help but emerge from the crowd when faced with the intimidating newcomers. He roared in dissatisfaction at Mary.

”Tsk! Since when did you magical creatures start playing by rules as humans do? Don’t forget; this is the Black Forest! Whomever’s fist is greatest is righteous!” Mary’s crimson eyes turned increasingly brighter as dense blood mist seeped out of her body.

”Tremble, magical creatures! Scream! I, Mary, will be the ruler of this place from now onwards!”

Having given her declaration of war, Mary folded her wings. Her entire body turned into a beam of red light as she immediately lunged and appeared beside Zac.

The fearless Zac roared. A red light appeared on his body, and the thick wooden club in his hand crashed towards the light, screaming through the air.

With the help of Attack Speed Increase, Zac’s movements were several times agiler compared to before. However, this speed was utterly insignificant when faced with Bloody Mary’s high Agility.

The red light swerved and passed by the bat with millimeters to spare. Mary passed straight by Zac’s right ribs in a single flash.

Scarlet light flashed again, and Mary’s seductive body appeared in an empty spot thirty meters away. Everyone only realized that Zac had been wounded when she raised her hand and started licking the blood on her sharp claws.

Ten scratches of varying depths appeared on the right of Zac’s torso. His tough skin couldn’t deflect the claws that possessed blood energies. Ten mediocre wounds had been left on him.

Such wounds weren’t much against the powerful Physique of a two-headed ogre. Under normal circumstances, the wounds would close in three to five seconds, and all signs of injury would vanish with less than another three minutes.

Yet strangely enough, traces of blood energy had now appeared around Zac’s wounds. It didn’t matter how much Zac tried to draw upon his powers; the wounds would split apart moments after they healed due to the corrosion of the blood energy.

”Dammit! What is this?!” Zac shouted angrily. He waved the wooden bat in his hands with all his might, and one brilliant red aura after another flared up around him.

Bloodthirst!

Attack Speed Increase!

Brute Force!

Two-Headed Ogre Mage Zac’s strength was increasing exponentially under the effects of these enhancement spells. He once again roared and charged towards this enemy that angered him to no ends!

However, the one to clash with him this time wasn’t Mary. Instead, it was a Blood Knight clad in full armor– Soros.

His title of Second Grade Knight no longer held true when compared to his actual power now, but his robust body was still there. That was why Zac was quickly defeated in the area he was most proficient in after a round of close combat.

The three Second Grade knights from the other plane could only bring out the power of a First Grade elite-class here in the World of Adepts. However, that was more than enough to deal with these wild magical creatures!

Billis was hiding in the shadows, watching Mary and her Blood Knights sow discord in the battlefield like powerful whirlwinds. The terror in his heart grew even stronger as he witnessed one mighty ogre warrior after another fall to the ground like small fry.

Perhaps it is time for me to leave!

Billis secretly thought to himself.

The moment he turned, Old Fox Vanlier’s sly smile appeared before his eyes.