Age of Adepts

Disaster!

A major disaster!

A major disaster had befallen the forest elves– the pacifists and protectors of nature!

For some reason, a horde of hundreds of thousands of fearsome undead had swarmed out of Death Scar, the heart of the forbidden land of Garan. These undead had slaughtered everything in their warpath to the closest elven city– Rhames.

Life withered wherever they went, and all creatures and magical beasts of the woods were subjected to extermination.

Some powerful magical beasts fought back against the undead to defend their home and territory. However, even the lords of the magical beasts fell before this tide of undead creatures and evil undead casters hidden within, their bodies shredded to pieces and their souls scattered to the winds.

Naturally, as masters of Garan, the forest elves would never allow a group of foreign evildoers to step all over their beloved home. The elven court that had not stirred in awhile immediately ordered a sizeable elite army to march to Rhames without stop. They were to intercept the vanguards of the undead tide at the city.

The local elven villages started to arrange for a mass evacuation of the villagers to the city upon hearing this news. At the same time, they began gathering men to ambush and hunt down the undead creatures that had scattered all across the Fantasy Forest.

For a moment, the fires of war raged all over the Fantasy Forest. It was on the brink of a massive outbreak of chaos!

Just as the undead disaster was about to erupt, an odd silhouette abruptly appeared above the Death Scar.

It was a phantasmal soul projection.

A brilliant layer of golden light enveloped the entire soul projection, the radiance so bright that it was hard to see what was within. One could only vaguely sense that it was a woman.

That said, the state of existence of this soul projection was obviously far from the norm. The projection radiated a strange aura of divinity that gave it mysterious and supernatural powers. At the very least, these rotten corpses and shambling skeletons did not possess the ability to see her true form.

This soul projection casually strolled through the crowded throng, not a single undead capable of sensing her existence even as they shuffled across the land.

That was the case even for the First and Second Grade undead!

Within the projection, ’she’ first looked down at the scale and movement of the undead tide from high above the Death Scar before furiously diving down into the fearsome gorge festering with the aura of death.

She zoomed past the swarming undead as if they didn’t exist, passing straight through the corridors and caverns filled with foul-smelling zombies, skeletons, and ghouls, before heading directly for a mysterious area a thousand meters deep in the underground world.

If the outside world was described as being cloaked in a thin layer of an aura of death, then this place was pitch-black. Even with her divine vision, the projection was incapable of seeing through this space of death and the secrets around her.

”Please stop there, Lady Saoirse!” A strange crystalline skeletal head floated out from within and stood in the way of the soul projection.

It was the beginner Fourth Grade Lich Luke that had taken down Antoril and Uzzah. Yet, at this moment, it was respectfully greeting this soul projection whose looks could not be clearly discerned.

There was no need to hide anything now that she was here.

The golden light burst apart, revealing the perfect body of the chief elven god, Saoirse, within.

As the chief elven god, Saoirse naturally possessed all the good looks and beauty of the forest elves.

Short green hair, long, slender, and soft ears, a straight nose, emerald eyes, and an impressively flawless figure. This projection was only a manifestation of her godly will and thus had no weapons or armor manifested upon her. She was just draped in a light, elegant, and delicate robe.

Lich Luke carefully erected a Deadsoul Barrier and shielded himself from the aftershocks of the dispersing golden light.

He might be a Fourth Grade lich and existed as one of the most powerful forces on a material plane, but he was still facing a true goddess. Even as sinister and calculating as he was, the lich did not dare to behave disrespectfully before a powerful goddess.

Not even if it was only a godly manifestation of that goddess!

”Lich, tell your master to come out. I have something to tell him personally!” Saoirse frowned and said with a disgusted tone.

Her manifestation had no more than one ten-thousandth of her actual power. It was difficult for her to even deal with a ’mere’ lich such as this one. That said, the disgust of undead creatures that came from her very soul origin made it impossible for her to speak with a cordial tone.

”Please wait for a moment.” Lich Luke calmly replied and then shut his eyes without another word.

Judging from the looks, he was conversing with an individual in the distance.

A short moment later, an immense consciousness descended upon the lich, lighting up his eyes.

Two blazes of fire ten thousand times more intense than before suddenly burned in the lich’s empty eye sockets. The intensity of the red light was so immense that even Saoirse’s divine power appeared to strain from the pressure.

”Blightcaller, you have gone beyond your bounds!”

”Kehkehkehe. I was wondering who was calling for me? So it was you! Saoirse, little girl, why have you suddenly come to my territory?” Lich Luke, who had been nothing but respectful to the elven goddess, had a complete change of attitude. Not only had he turn incomparably arrogant, but even his title for Saoirse had also changed.

”Blightcaller, don’t even think of changing the topic. The contract we signed last time still exists. Are you trying to tear apart the contract and start a war again?” Even Main Elven Goddess Saoirse had a headache when dealing with this otherworldly powerhouse that had brought such a calamity upon Garan.

”Kehkehkehe. How could that be possible?! You lot gathered the main gods of all three major pantheons to force me to sign that agreement of peace. Do you think my soul consciousness could still appear here if I went against the contract?” Luke laughed chillingly in a voice filled with resentment and hatred.

”Then what are your actions right now?” Saoirse was also starting to fly into a fury, ”Your subordinates have charged out of the Death Scar. They are harassing and assaulting my constituents right now. This…is this not you going against the agreement?”

”Haha… little Saoirse, are you wondering why I haven’t been punished by that contract, even though my subordinates have ventured out of the Death Scar?”

”You must have used some sort of sinister scheme to bypass the Agreement of the Gods. Now! Recall your subordinates immediately! Or I will launch a war of the gods against you once again!”

”It won’t work, Saoirse!” Luke started to cackle without any restraint, ”It won’t work again even if you were to summon the main god of the seas and the main god of the humans. Because this time, I am not the one to go against the contract– you are.”

”You… nonsense! I have always been keeping my subordinates in check. I have never sent a single high elf in here to disturb you. You…”

Saoirse’s cheeks were flushed red from frustration. Just then, Lich Luke clicked his upper and lower jaws, and a portal opened. An incapacitated figure shrouded in layers of death energy floated out from the gateway.

Saoirse looked at the figure’s beard, his clothes, that nature’s radiance that permeated his entire soul, and her heart sank.

It was a Third Grade druid!

Among the forest elves, the only ones that could advance the Third Grade druids were often elves that came from famed elven families and were considered high elves.

”What is it, Saoirse? Do you dare not acknowledge this individual as your follower? He was very daring indeed. He charged all the way into my territory and exterminated countless servants of mine that I had gone to great lengths to raise. Thus, since you forest elves have initiated an attack against me, my sending of servants in retaliation is perfectly within the bounds of our agreement back then.”

Saoirse’s expression turned cold and solemn.

Even though she knew that the opponent was keeping something from her and the truth was much more complicated than that, there was nothing she could do. She had used divine magic to verify the authenticity of his statement, and the planar consciousness itself had acknowledged his words.

Despite the planar consciousness’ hatred for this evil intruder, it was bound by the planar laws and the Agreement of the Gods. It could not step beyond its bound to side with the elves.

Without the suppression of the plane, even Saoirse would have trouble dealing with this evil Blightcaller.

”Blightcaller, I will investigate the situation based on what you have told me. However, before the investigation results are out, you must return my follower to me and recall your undead army. If we are truly the ones who violated the contract, then I guarantee, with my name as the main elven goddess, to provide you with satisfactory compensation!”

Even Main Elven Goddess Saoirse didn’t dare to ignore the ’witness’ that the Blightcaller currently held in his hands.

”Kehkehkehe. Investigate as you will. However, don’t even think of taking away the ’evidence’ from my hands! Since you have promised to provide compensation, I will not increase the number of forces on the surface. As for the undead I have sent out, I won’t be recalling them for now. I’ll just let them take a tour around your territory for the meanwhile! When you have come up with satisfactory compensation, you can come to look for me to talk about the matter of recalling my troops. Kehkehkehe.”

Having said that, the flux of the oddly powerful consciousness retracted and vanished from the spot.

Lich Luke’s originally blazing eyes immediately dimmed.

If one were to observe more carefully, they would find that Luke’s soulfire was weaker and dimmer than before the great consciousness had descended on him. It was proof that the simple task of hosting the soul consciousness of that great existence was more than enough to exhaust a beginner Fourth Grade lich!

That said, Saoirse couldn’t possibly be in the mood to pay any attention to a mere lich. Her eyes swept across the Third Grade Druid Antoril with a complicated look before finally leaving, shaking her head as she did so.

Even though the powerful existence’s consciousness had already left, and an exhausted Fourth Grade lich was the only one guarding the place, this Sixth Grade elven goddess still didn’t dare to retrieve her follower by force.

And this indirectly demonstrated the power and terror of this ’Blightcaller’!