Age of Adepts

Thick smoke lingered above the skies of the Murloc village.

If this were anywhere else, the smoke would have been visible from dozens of kilometers away.

Sadly, this was the Swamp of Sorrows!

The excessively dense fog was like a massive barrier of water that trapped the swamp beneath it and cloaked it in dim daylight.

The battle in the murloc village was still underway, and the slaughtering was only getting more brutal.

Adept Deserra flew twenty meters high in the air, his body radiating intense wind elementium aura. He was also loudly chanting spells and using wind blades to slash at the dragonborn warriors beneath him, wounding them while throwing them into disarray.

However, being in the air didn’t mean absolute safety. Several large and ferocious whirling metal axes were hurled into the air. Deserra would be severely wounded if he couldn’t dodge these axes. Usually, he could use Tornado Vortex to redirect ranged physical attacks like these.

However, the metal axes of the dragonborn were far too large. They were far beyond the likes of small long-ranged weapons. No wind barriers or Tornado Vortexes could completely shield Deserra against these ferociously spinning weapons.

If Deserra was already in such danger in the skies, it was only natural that Dana and her two snakefiends were having more trouble on the ground.

Two massive Loggers stood in the front, enduring attacks and strikes from multiple dragonborn. The large chainsaws in their arms would rumble and shriek every time they clashed with the axes of the dragonborn, and blinding sparks flew everywhere.

The reinforced metal bodies of the Loggers were heavily dented and scratched. Many of the violent strikes had already broken through their outer metal shells, revealing the interconnected and spinning metal components within.

Dana and her two four-armed snakefiend subordinates were taking turns attacking the dragonborn with the Loggers holding the line at the front. They were continually wounding the dragonborn around them.

The snakefiends were like rattlesnakes in front of honey badgers when they fought with the fully-armored dragonborn. The thin knives in their hands sent sparks flying when they struck the armor and scales of dragonborn.

Dana was shouldering all the pressure of the battle alone.

She slithered with her long snake’s tail and rapidly weaved between the thick limbs of the dragonborn, dodging their axes while having her snake arrows pierce into the gaps between their scales.

Dana even climbed up some of the particularly ferocious dragonborn. She would use the tiny instant where they locked eyes with her to open her snake eyes and inject her petrification powers into the enemy. In that short instant when Dana paused to look, all the snakes on her head immediately erupted into action. They lashed out their forked tongue and hissed in unison.

A Halo of Fear radiated outward, affecting all enemies within a dozen meters.

Any ordinary creature would have been utterly terrified when engulfed in the Halo of Fear. They would have dropped their weapons and started running. However, the dragonborn were powerful life forms with the bloodline of dragons. They were only scared a few steps backward before breaking out of the fear.

The dragonborn were also all equipped with armor and didn’t need to worry about friendly fire.

Thus, the surrounding dragonborn warriors instantly threw their weapons at Medusa Dana while she was wrapped around one of their companions.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

Dana frantically dodged left and right amidst the metallic clangings. She weaved rapidly but was still unavoidably hit by the axes that were flying everywhere.

Dana might be wearing a wind-indurium armor on the upper half of her body that helped her mitigate much of the damage, but her lower half was only covered with scales.

A brilliant light shone from her dusty-yellow eyes as she moaned in pain. Several nearby dragonborn were instantly petrified and turned into statues with wicked and ferocious expressions. Dana then dragged her bloody tail and made a wild attempt to escape. One could even see the bone of her tail exposed.

Four of the six dragonborn around her were petrified. The remaining two were still relentlessly pursuing after Dana, waving their glowing red metal axes and slashing at the medusa.

Petrifying Gaze!

Halo of Fear!

Poison Snake Arrow!

A chain of spells and powers blasted the dragonborn and wounded them so badly that they were coughing up blood. Yet, Dana still couldn’t defend against all of their brutal attacks. The wind barrier around her was on the verge of breaking. She could be severely wounded by the death throes of the dragonborn warriors at any time. Just then, a violent Tornado Vortex descended from the skies, crashing at the feet of the dragonborn like a speeding meteor.

The ferocious hurricane instantly exploded and turned into hundreds and thousands of thin and powerful wind blades. These wind blades quickly engulfed the two dragonborn warriors.

The storm faded as quickly as it had appeared.

When the violent whirlwind finally disappeared, the two dragonborn looked as if they had been thrown into a meat grinder. Their whole bodies were covered in painful wounds of various sizes. The blood that flowed from their cuts completely stained their bodies.

They stumbled two more steps toward Dana before crashing with a loud thud. The metal axes in their hands even left deep craters in the ground when they landed.

The explosion of such power had exhausted all the wind elementium left in Deserra’s body. His body trembled as he slowly floated down from the sky.

Just then, the sound of cracking stone came from the four dragonborn statues that Dana had forcibly petrified. The dragonborn warriors had used their powerful Physique to resist the powers of petrification and were quickly breaking free of their petrified state.

Dana’s face turned. She let out a battle cry, and the short bow in her hands snapped several times in succession. Two snake hair arrows accurately found their way to the throats of two of the dragonborn warriors who had broken free.

That was the only place on the dragonborn’s body that was not protected by scales!

The snake arrows entered their bodies, and the poison took effect.

The faces of the dragonborn warriors immediately turned purple and black as they were poisoned to death.

The two snakefiends that Dana had brought with her took the opportunity and rushed forward. They waved the four knives in their hands and wildly slashed at the two half-petrified dragonborn warriors. The strength of the snakefiends was very much inferior to the dragonborn. They had to cut their enemies’ exposed throats and necks to be able to behead them.

The knives flashed and danced about as sparks flew here and there.

Finally, a firm slash from the knives caused two dragonborn heads to roll to the ground just as they had almost broken free from their petrification. A fountain of blood poured out of their necks.

Twelve of the fifteen dragonborn warriors had been executed. Only the dragonborn captain and two ordinary warriors were left.

Deserra and Dana had already ambushed and wounded the captain severely when the battle started. They then intentionally let his companions save him.

They then took the chance of the dragonborn being split up to protect their captain to wear away at their numbers.

Now that all the other dragonborn warriors had fallen, the other two survivors could no longer remain calm. They picked up their captain upon their shoulders and attempted to flee. Sadly, the moment they turned their bodies, they found themselves staring at another nightmare. Eight towering and mighty magical machines were slowly walking toward them with steady steps from the distant fog. The three machines that stood at the very front were the same model as those terrifying machines they had just fought. Five more slender machines stood in a row behind them. Black gun barrels extended from the front of their bodies, their shoulders, and even their arms.

The five Archers at the back immediately let out a blinding red light when they reached the optimum fifty-meter attacking distance. Metal bullets the size of pigeon’s eggs were propelled by violent magic energy and ravaged the two surviving dragonborn warriors like a ferocious storm.

Most of the metal bullets were deflected by the metal armor or simply crushed to pieces. Only white spots were left upon the armor. Yet, when the metal bullets hit the scales of the dragonborn, they managed to leave shallow dents in them.

Only individual bullets managed to pass through the gap between the scales and dug into the flesh of the dragonborn warriors. The dragonborn felt the pain in their bodies and grunted in agony.

The two dragonborn could only endure the beating without any hope of retaliation. It infuriated them, and they roared in anger.

Their requisitioning party was about to be captured entirely now that they had been flanked. They needed to think of a way to break through the enemy’s perimeter. The two dragonborn warriors could only prop up their captain and continue running ahead while braving the barrage of the Archers.

The captain saw how desperate the situation was and summoned the last surge of strength within his body. He pushed away from the two dragonborn, picked up a war axe, and immediately charged at the three Loggers.

”The two of you, run out the flanks. Hurry up and report the situation here to Lord Will…”

The dragonborn captain let out a primal roar and used his charging momentum to drive the axe into the black earth beneath him furiously.

The massive and wild blow shook the earth, sending tremendous shockwaves toward the three Loggers.

The magical machines couldn’t stand still. They stumbled about and lost the best timing to intercept the enemy.

The captain then leaped high into the air and smashed the massive axe in his hand into the metal chainsaw of one of the Loggers. The unbridled strength was unmatched by the Logger, and the machine went stumbling backward. The chainsaw in its arm had been badly deformed and had even been forcefully driven into its own body.

The Logger tried its best to pull out the metal chainsaw while using the drill on the other hand to stab the dragonborn. Unfortunately, the dragonborn captain’s second axe had already cut down upon the massive gash created by the chainsaw.

A muffled but loud boom rang out.

The Logger’s mechanical body split apart. Countless metal shards, components, and magic energy parts scattered in every direction like snowflakes in winter.

This unfortunate magical machine struggled for a bit longer before powerlessly collapsing to the ground. It no longer moved after that.

This series of violent attacks had also taken the last wind out of the dragonborn captain.

He leaned against his axe and panted in exhaustion. He looked around, but all he saw were the tragic, hacked corpses of his dragonborn subordinates. The two dragonborn warriors trying to escape were also intercepted by the flying Deserra and the slithering Medusa Dana.

It was over. His party was completely done for.

The dragonborn captain felt his vision go black as his will to battle faded from him. He fell unconscious.