Age of Adepts

“No, wait.”

A half-burned holy knight lifted his remaining arm to prop himself up as he shouted, “Leave, Catherine! The Holy Light teaches us to be willing to sacrifice, but our sacrifice must have value. If you don’t leave, then they will probably stay as well, just like you.”

Judging from his armor, he was a Second Grade Silver Knight.

However, compared to the wounded knights around him, his wounds were also the most grievous. He was on the brink of death, and even his voice was hoarse now.

The young girl froze when she heard this. She finally looked around and discovered a hundred trainee knights just like herself slowly approaching the enemy and standing in-between them and the injured knights. In their eyes was fear, terror, confusion, but more than that, there was a determination that had not been there before.

“Take them and leave! Pass on the Holy Light forever. We must not let the Holy Light of the northern counties be extinguished.” The Silver Knight’s voice was drained of all strength now and could not continue.

Time continued to flow by, second by second. This trainee knight, known as Catherine, had never known such a painful and agonizing decision. Seeing as the time limit set by the blazing giant was approaching, she finally gritted her teeth and said, “Let’s go.”

She turned and took the initiative, leaving by the massive hole that had been burned into the building.

The other trainee knights exchanged glances at the sight of this and finally followed after her.

What are they doing? Why do they have to make me look like some big bad demon king?

Greem grumbled, dissatisfied in his mind. He was utterly oblivious to how much his appearance and behavior were no different from the terrifying big bad demon kings in the stories.

Greem had no interest in slaughtering these trainee knights that couldn’t be extracted for any value. The blinding fire elementium gathering in his hands turned into a giant flame halo as he chanted his incantations. The halo then spread to the bodies of the trainee knights.

The trainee knights immediately became nervous. They tensed up, believing that the flame giant had gone against his word. However, the flame halo simply shimmered around them and did not hurt them in any manner.

“You may leave now!” Greem’s thunderous voice boomed, “This halo has my soul aura. You will not be attacked by the dragons, flaming tigers, or the fire creatures while the halo is on you. Remember, leave this city immediately. Do not stop along the way. The fire halo will only last for fifteen minutes!”

The trainee knights looked at each other upon hearing this. They weren’t sure if they should hate this evil flame giant or be grateful to him. With complex emotions on their faces, they looked at each other once again with confusion and slowly left.

However, what they didn’t realize was a tiny and delicate fire rune landed on Catherine’s shoulder as the fire halo enveloped her. The rune flickered once and mysteriously disappeared.

She remained completely ignorant.

Greem couldn’t help but betray a mysterious smile on his fiery face as he watched these young knights leave.

He might not be bothered about these little fellows, but it didn’t mean he was ignorant of the small little tricks they had been pulling behind his back. Several important figures had been mixed among the first group of ordinary civilians to leave. They may have been dressed in peasant garb, but the Chip’s comprehensive spiritual scans revealed everything underneath. Their silk underwear and the seals and documents they were hiding exposed their identities.

It was obvious that they were prominent figures of Hakans, possibly the likes of the city lord and governor.

If Greem were Arms, he would definitely detain them. It would make raiding the city treasury much simpler and quicker.

Unfortunately, Greem couldn’t care less about these worldly treasures. What he wanted were these holy knights before him. That was why he did not stop these important individuals from escaping in the crowd.

Meanwhile, his decision to let the trainee knights leave was not just because of his disinclination for unnecessary slaughter, but also to figure out where they were headed. Now that the most significant Holy Light Chapel of the north had been taken down, Greem would be traveling the region to clear out all the smaller chapels in the surrounding cities.

However, the Zambez Empire was a massive nation with vast lands, strong armies, and the protection of many holy knights. Though he might have defied their expectations and conquered one of their large cities, it didn’t mean that they were entirely without means of retaliation.

If they mobilized a group of high-grade holy knights, Greem would be in trouble. Just two or three Gold Knights would be able to stop him in his tracks. If he were to make any mistakes, he would be the one on the run.

It was a foreign plane, after all, and a nation filled with hostility toward him!

As long as he didn’t run into the two Fourth Grades, Greem’s Third Grade abilities should be enough for him to run amok in this land. Still, he had to be cautious of the traps that the plane’s natives could set up for him.

If he was lured into a trap and surrounded by multiple opponents of the same grade, there was a risk of dying here. He had to admit that possibility, as prideful as he was. That was why any opportunity to obtain information on the holy knights’ movements was invaluable.

This trainee knight known as Catherine might not be powerful, but she had an indomitable spirit and a pure heart. She was incredibly suited to walking the path of a holy knight. After all the hardship she had just endured, it was very likely for her to be accepted as a disciple of a high-grade holy knight. Thus, Greem would be able to obtain some private information on the movements and mobilization of holy knights with her as the medium.

It wasn’t just Catherine. Greem had silently planted fire runes in several promising individuals among the fleeing trainee knights. These fire runes were typically hidden and would not affect their hosts in any manner. However, if the host’s mental consciousness were to focus strongly on Greem, it would draw his attention from thousands of miles away.

A fire rune such as this involved a significant number of arcane fields, including transformation studies, spirit energy, curse magic, and even divination. Even Greem had only mastered these subjects upon advancing to Third Grade.

By the time the small fry had left, the cathedral was finally quiet. Only the dying holy knights and some extremely devout Holy Light believers were left behind. Greem wasted no words. He waved his hand, and a massive wave of fire surged across, instantly turning everything inside the building into ashes.

Greem licked his lips in satisfaction after successfully harvesting a hundred clusters of holy light. His eye fell upon his feet.

“Here. Dig downward!”

The powerful elementium magical machine temporarily served as a construction machine under Greem’s orders. His bulky fists pounded against the charred floor of the cathedral and dug a massive hole into the ground.

When the hole was five meters deep, the earth collapsed, and the heavy machine fell into a massive cavern.

Greem wasn’t surprised by this. He chanted a few words, and his body of flames shrank rapidly and reverted to his human form.

The Burning Suncrown, the Emblem of Fire, Fire Dragon’s Breath, Ash, the Fearless, and a crimson adept’s robe slowly appeared on his body, each of them radiating a faint red light. It was then that Greem jumped into the hole and gently landed at the bottom of the cave.

It was a simple and crude crypt. One-meter-square boxes had been dug into the walls around them. Each box contained a set of skeletons wrapped tightly in gray bandages. Contained in some of the small boxes were some ancient, rusted armor and weapons.

There wasn’t any of the brilliant light of jewelry or treasure within the crypt, nor any valuable art pieces. From a distance, this place looked like a long-sealed market of antiques; the whole placed was covered in dust and dead air. Dust and cobwebs had gathered atop all the items, making it hard to discern the contents beneath them.

The elementium magical machine had fallen down here along with a ton of rocks and loose sand, making a mess in a corner of the crypt. Countless withered bones fell out of their boxes and were scattered across the ground.

Greem frowned slightly upon seeing everything in here.

He didn’t have the patience to search for the valuables in here slowly. He waved his hand once more as a massive flame shockwave recklessly ruined the crypt.

Anything that could survive a thousand years had to be valuable, as would be anything that could survive a flame shockwave. As for whether valuable notes or scrolls would be destroyed in this inferno– that was none of Greem’s concern.

As the flames repeatedly washed over the cave, the cobwebs turned into ashes, dust into shards of glass, bones completely burned, and the metals melted. By the time all the ‘junk’ and ‘scrap’ were turned to dust, the real treasures hidden among them started to show.

Either a shard of a bone that was impervious to the flames, a piece of gleaming metal ore, a magical longsword radiating a faint light, or even a strange shield with a muted color.

However, none of these could attract Greem’s attention. His eyes were focused solely upon the strange coffin in the center of the crypt.

It was a large coffin forged of a strange, unknown metal. It sat silently at the center of the crypt, its surface carved with intricate and exquisite carvings. It was unusual for the holy knights, who had always pursued simplicity and humility.

It was important to note that even the Second and Third Grade holy knights were also wrapped in a thin layer of bandages before being placed in the boxes of the crypts. The most impressive of them might be buried with the weapons and armor they had used in life.

Therefore, this luxurious and extravagant burial only further emphasized the weight of this holy knight’s identity!

An expression of joyous surprise finally appeared on Greem’s face.