Age of Adepts

Xan’tish Sharpfang was silently observing the battlefield.

Seventeen elders and leaders of the Witherwater City Tribe Alliance stood behind his towering body.

Fourth Grade Berserk Warrior Mau’ris was the most annoyed person among them all. He was continually pacing near Xan’tish, loudly complaining and questioning the strategy at play, “The brats have all gone charging up the frontlines! Are we just supposed to wait here and do nothing?”

Xan’tish replied solemnly without even turning his head, “I have already contacted the Sala Tribe. They will be joining the war with thirty thunder rocs soon.”

“Thunder rocs, thunder rocs, thunder rocs…are we orcs unable to fight without thunder rocs?”

“We aren’t here to fight today. We are here to destroy the enemy’s portal.” Xan’tish finally turned his head. His broad and bloodshot eyes were filled with an unconcealable fury, “You have heard the holy decree of the beast gods themselves. The invading enemies this time are not the usual sort. They are fearsome witches who have sworn vengeance against us. If they establish a foothold here, then our Strongwoods Plane will be in danger.”

“Then all the more reason you should let me onto the battlefield to slaughter them. I’ll butcher every enemy on the ground, and then you guys come from the skies once the thunder rocs arrive. Isn’t that even better? ” Mau’ris was still doggedly arguing.

Xan’tish grabbed Mau’ris by the collar and stared at him angrily, “You are the most powerful warrior of our group now. As the leader of the Witherwater City Tribe, I command you to calm down and wait for the true battle to arrive.”

“Hasn’t the battle already started? Our brats can’t hold the line for much longer.”

“If you aren’t blind yet, you should be able to see what is happening. Not a single one of the powerhouses among the witches have shown themselves yet! What are they waiting for? Their plague beasts are powerful and many. Our orc army has no chance of winning against those monsters. That is why the witches are waiting…waiting for a chance to lunge at our own powerhouses and kill them all! You tell me, dare I put at stake the last force of Witherwater City without the absolute certainty of victory?”

The two orc powerhouses had loud voices. The massive soundwave from them shouting at each other alone was enough to shock an ordinary human to death.

The elders and leaders standing behind the two orcs were of various backgrounds. There was the minotaur chieftain, who had a humanoid body and a massive cow’s head. There were lion-people with lion faces and golden fur over their humanoid bodies. There were also harpies with gray wings and hooked beaks for mouths.

Amongst all these elders, the cyclops elder was undoubtedly the largest and most eye-catching.

The cyclops elder looked like a strong human who had been enlarged several dozens of times. He had a body, two legs, two arms, and the same facial features as a human. The only unusual feature of the cyclops was the single eye at the middle of his forehead.

Ordinary cyclopes were ten meters tall– larger and more ferocious than war mammoths. This Third Grade cyclops elder, on the other hand, was a massive twelve meters in height. Disregarding everything else, just a single finger on his large hand was as thick as a human’s waist.

The one eye on its face blinked continuously, a dense dirt-yellow elementium aura radiating from within. If needed, this cyclops elder could use three seconds to form a two-meter-wide boulder with the earth elementium gathered within his eye. He could then use his immense might to toss it at his enemies.

Rock throwing was a racial ability that all cyclopes were capable of from a young age. They could hit any target within five hundred meters with pinpoint accuracy. As the most powerful person of his tribe, the cyclops elder could throw his rock as far as seven hundred meters away.

These human trebuchets were the strongest fighting forces in the technologically backward plane of Strongwoods.

Even the proud dragons that soared in the skies above didn’t dare to enter an area where the cyclopes lived casually. There had even been champions throughout the long history of the cyclopes who had managed to kill dragons all by themselves!

However, the cyclopes on this plane had lost all of their past freedom and faith. They had been reduced to a powerful fighting tribe subordinate to the massive Orc Empire of Strongwoods.

Upon seeing the two orcs arguing with each other, Cyclops Leader Apto bent down and ‘whispered’ with his thunderous voice, “Xan’tish, my kids have already been fighting for over two hours. They must be very worn out now. What do you think? Should we let them retreat and rest for a while?”

The cyclops might be able to gather earth elementium into boulders, but this racial ability of theirs wasn’t without limit either. They might be able to last for a long time in an ordinary battle. However, the constant focusing of elementium and throwing of boulders had exhausted most of their stamina and soul origin.

That was why Cyclops Elder Apto, feeling sorry for his people, had put forth such a request.

“No!” Naturally, his request was rejected by the orc leader without any hesitation, “The situation of the battlefield is already difficult and dire. If we lose the suppressive fire from your boulders, the orc army will collapse. Have your people hold on for a little. Our assault party is almost here.”

Apto sighed helplessly and straightened his body once more.

Mammoth Leader Rieth and Centaur Elder Kanem, who stood beside the cyclops, looked at each other, their eyes filled with grief and concern. They too had tribe members fighting on the frontlines.

The orcs might not compare to powerful fighting tribes like themselves when it came to Strength and Physique, but the orcs could conquer and enslave them through the might of their entire species. Why? All because of the orcs’ shocking reproduction rate!

The lifespan of an orc was only sixty or seventy years, while their birth cycle was only a measly thirteen years.

That meant that it only took thirteen years for a newly born orc to give birth to the next generation. Meanwhile, these fighting tribes had unbearably long birth cycles.

The cyclopes were the most powerful and easily lived up to a hundred and seventy years, but their birth cycle took a hundred years. The mammoths were mighty beings and could live up to a hundred and fifty years, but their birth cycle took sixty years. The centaurs were slightly weaker, but could still live for a hundred and twenty years. Their birth cycle was forty years.

As such, even though their individual prowess was far above the orcs, the overall might of their species was far inferior to the ‘weak’ orcs, who had been blessed by the Beast God!

As such, the elders and leaders of the various tribes could do nothing about their precious younglings risking their lives to stop the witches’ forces, as worried as they were.

…………

On the other side of the battlefield, many high-grade witches had gathered before the portal. They were surveying the bloody slaughter occurring at the frontlines while listening to the surviving vanguard witches report on the situation of Strongwoods Plane.

Strongwoods Plane was a resource-rich, mid-sized plane with high biodiversity.

Naturally, the ones who ruled this plane were the main targets of the witches– the Orc Empire!

The capital of the Orc Empire was located in a place known as Dweiden and was twelve thousand kilometers away. The closest orc city was known as Witherwater City. Over one hundred and ten thousand green-skinned orcs of various tribes lived there.

The orc army that had surrounded the portal and was currently attacking them had come from there!

According to the information gathered by the scouting witches, Witherwater City had almost a hundred powerhouses. Powerhouses, in this context, referred to tribe fighters of Third Grade and above.

The witch scouts had buried the locating stone seven hours ago. The first orc force–which had arrived five hours ago–was a squad of three hundred harpies. If it weren’t for the vanguard force being sufficiently powerful and well-equipped, they would never have been able to last until the witch forces arrived to reinforce them.

It was precisely due to the covert nature of the witches’ operation that they had managed to catch the Orc Empire by surprise.

The Beast God had detected the locating stone the moment it sent out a long-distance signal. However, the time he took to give the orcs a divine decree, and the time it took for the orc tribes to gather and advance toward the battlefield, had provided the witches with the best opportunity to open the interplanar portal.

The armies of the orcs were still marching toward the battlefield, while the witches’ forces were still swarming through the teleportation gate.

Just like that, the forces of both parties clashed in a deadly battle on the desolate plains. The witches had a clear advantage now. They were forcing the orcs away from the portal and were eating away at the orcs’ military strength.

The orcs had always been a species where every single member could fight.

Since Witherwater City had one hundred and ten thousand orcs, they could field an orc army of one hundred and ten thousand.

However, the ones that could arrive at the battlefield early were still elites after all. If they were all exterminated here, then the only soldiers left would be the weak and elderly. They might not be weaker than a human army, but they were insignificant before the powerful forces of the witches.

If this battle went well, the witches might even be able to take over Witherwater City.

This way, the witch forces would no longer be an isolated army that had traveled from afar. Instead, they would be a significant military force with a stronghold from which they could strike and defend. As such, the decision of the witches after a discussion was the bury all of the orc elites here, leaving not a single one to escape back to Witherwater City!

It was this decision that caused the witches to hold back a large batch of powerful voodoo beasts instead of directly releasing them onto the battlefield. Meanwhile, they relied on these intermediate and low-grade undead to stall the orc army and slowly wear them down.

Of course, even the plans of the orc powerhouses behind the lines were well within the expectations of the witches.

A flock of thunder rocs no more than Second or Third Grade and you think it would be enough of a trump card in a planar war like this?

Truly a bunch of uneducated bumpkins!

The witches laughed coldly, their voices full of disdain.