Age of Adepts

At this point, the existence of the Alliance army was no longer necessary!

From start to end, the ten thousand Alliance soldiers had been no more than cannon fodder that the adepts used to exhaust the tower’s defensive power. Now that Fire Throne was on its last legs, the remaining adepts were more than enough to finish the job.

Thus, the Alliance adepts mixed in with the army immediately rushed out in response to the Crimson adept’s retaliation.

Naturally, given they had the courage to attack Fire Throne, the five clans had already performed a thorough investigation of the Crimson Clan. Of course, they had heard of the name of Bug Adept Billis.

However, a First Grade mutated bloodline adept was not a target they would be wary of!

Six or seven adepts instantly threw out magical fireballs and engulfed massive numbers of black beetles in the explosions.

They believed that one fireball from them would easily turn thousands of these beetles into dust. To their surprise, though the fireballs were exploding in succession, and some charred insect corpses were falling from the skies, the number was far lower than what they had expected.

From the looks of it, a magical fireball with 110 points of power could only cause the death of two dozen beetles, and only those caught at the center of the explosions. Most of the beetles found at the edges of the explosions were only wounded and had not even lost the ability to move.

The sight of this caused all the adepts to pause for a moment.

Elementary resistance?

Could such a massive swarm of insects all possess elementary resistance? How many resources did the bug adept have to consume to achieve this!

While the adepts were stunned, the swarm immediately responded to the assault on them. They started to split and gather like intelligent creatures, quickly forming into six separate armies and lunging back in the direction the spells had come from.

What a terrifying swarm.

The Alliance adepts praised it with wicked smiles on their faces. They then started concentrating several powerful area-of-effect spells and throwing them at the swarm. The spells they chose this time were more potent and engulfed an even larger area. The soldiers who were caught between the two forces could only howl and scatter in every direction. They no longer dared to charge at the enemy ranks.

The speed of the black insect swarm was slightly beyond the Alliance adepts’ expectations. Though plenty of charred corpses were falling from the sky, it did not affect the speed of the swarm in the slightest. Just as the Alliance adepts finished preparing their next spell, the swarm descended upon them.

The six Alliance adepts standing at the very front were immediately confronted with a difficult problem!

Should they dispel the magic in their hands and run away, or should they toss the spell at the insects?

The swarm was so close to them now. If the adepts threw their spells at it, they would be caught in their area of effect as well.

In that one instant they hesitated, the swarm devoured their bodies.

Brilliant and colorful magical barriers immediately popped up in the pile of squirming beetles. The Alliance adepts that had been caught in the horde of insects started slaughtering the insects biting at their shields while calling for help from their companions.

Even from a distance, the only things within sight were those ugly and wicked black beetles; there were simply too many of them. They came wave after wave, like a squirming hill of insects, drowning the six adepts in a black tide.

The spells of the Alliance adepts exploded within the swarm, blowing the black beetles into broken bits and pungent black blood. However, before their spells even vanished, the adepts would be drowned by another wave of insects.

The Alliance adepts trapped within the swarm watched as their magical shields became thinner and thinner, shouting for help as they continued to bombard the horde around them. In the end, two of the Alliance adepts were powerful enough to blast a way through the swarm and escape the flood of insects, their barriers still crawling with beetles.

The swarm broke the remaining four adepts’ shields before help could arrive. Desolate screaming rang out. The four adepts beat their bodies all over frantically, but they still couldn’t stop the beetles from entering their bodies through their eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and even skin.

Dong! Dong!

Two dull explosions later, a good chunk of the swarm had been blown to bits. Two massive craters appeared in the center of the black insect tide before being instantly filled by insect corpses and blood.

Two adepts who knew their fate was death had self-destructed!

At this moment, there were already seventy-six Alliance adepts in the Magma Hall. Naturally, there was no way they could stand by and watch this terrifying swarm continue slaughtering their companions. A hail of powerful explosive fireballs, chain lightning, acid mist, and ice lance barrages shot toward the swarm.

Just as the beetles started to fall in large numbers, two Alliance adepts who had been blasting away at the swarm froze. The explosive fireballs in their hands suddenly dispersed. Their heads shot up several meters into the air and rolled into the distance.

The cuts to their necks were smooth as if a sharp and quick blade had severed them.

A fountain of blood spurted into the sky, and an insect with a slim body appeared for a momentary flash, vanishing from sight in the very next second.

“There are magical insects. They can hide their presence…”

“They are all Second Grades.”

The Alliance adepts immediately panicked. One by one, they started to cast magical shields on themselves and tried their best to stay with their companions.

Unfortunately, the Alliance adepts were still mostly First Grade. They could only be the target of slaughter in the face of a group of Second Grade magical insects that could hide.

Aaaaaaah!

There was yet another series of tragic cries. Three Alliance adepts who had been standing back to back were ambushed by five Second Grade Voidreavers. As the sharp scythe-limbs slashed at the adepts, their shields shattered, and their bodies were chopped up into uneven pieces that fell upon the ground.

The three adepts all belonged to the Kamala Clan, and this incident instantly incited the fury of Third Grade Adept Yurga.

Yurga let out a strange shriek as his entire body exploded into a cloud of thick, black smoke. This cloud of smoke spread out and dispersed like a living thing. Then, shrill shrieks rang out from the depths of the black smoke while a vast murder of red-eyed crows emerged from within.

Red-eyed crows were originally low-grade magical creatures. Even beginner apprentices could quickly deal with one to two of them.

However, this murder of red-eyed crows that Third Grade Yurga had created were all variants that had undergone multiple mutations. A third eye had opened at their brow, apart from their two existing crimson eyes. However, this third eye was typically shut, making it hard to tell that it even existed.

The murder of crows instantly descended upon the battlefield. They spread out and started letting out hoarse ear-piercing shrieks. Strange soundwaves rippled through the air, immediately forcing out the five Voidreavers who were traveling in the interspatial layers.

The crows swarmed the Voidreavers the moment they showed themselves, and the two parties engaged in a wild battle. The five Voidreavers showed no signs of weakness. They too summoned a dozen magical mantises, causing the battlefield to become even more chaotic and bloody.

A murder of crows gathered in the air and formed into the appearance of Third Grade Yurga.

He was cloaked in black robes and a chilling smile appeared on his face as he coldly said, “You dare confront my Death Heralding Crows head on? Kehkehkeh. Now, I’ll let you know where I got my name!”

As he sent an intangible mental fluctuation outward, the murder of red-eyed crows who were fighting with the Voidreavers and mantises started shrieking in unison. At the same time, a strange gray eye slowly opened between their brows. A death ray shot out from that eye.

If one red-eyed crow could shoot a single death ray, then hundreds and thousands of red-eyed crows could shoot out hundreds and thousands of death rays. These death rays shot into the midst of the magical insects, mostly focusing on the Second Grade Voidreavers.

Individual death rays might not have been frightening. After all, innate abilities with the trait to cause instant-death were affected by multiple factors, including the difference between Spirit and the magic resistance of the target. However, if multiple Death Heralding Crows assaulted any unfortunate individual, the chance of instant-death by these rays would stack together.

Beng! Beng! Beng!

The ranks of the magical insects immediately deflated like exploded balloons. Over half of the magical mantises were instantly exterminated, while two of the five Second Grade Voidreavers were killed in a flash.

Death Heralding Crows. Death Heralding Crows.

When the Death Heralding Crows shrieks, death descends!

Billis, who had silently been watching from the hall, spat out black blood and started stumbling.

In all honesty, with his current Spirit, even having half of the swarm being exterminated in an instant would hardly shake his mind or cause his origin to quake. However, Billis was extremely wounded by the ‘Declaration of Death’ being sent over through the soul brands when the Death Heralding Crows exterminated the insects.

It was as if he had been affected by the innate talents of the Death Heralding Crows while behind the lines.

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

Billis cursed repeatedly and let out a scream of his own to recall his insect army. Those damned crows were the perfect counter to his swarm. Not only could they exterminate his insect generals, but they could also even affect the person behind them.

That…that was unbelievable!

The black swarm immediately started retreating. Even the Voidreavers and magical mantises did not care to fight the Death Heralding Crows any longer. They desperately started escaping back to the tower.

The situation that had started looking better for the Crimson Clan was immediately overturned beneath the terrifying might of a Third Grade adept!