Age of Adepts

The City of Zola.

It was a moderate-sized city with a population of more than fifty thousand. It mainly traded in sea products from the nearby Cascara Lake, transporting the products to every part of the Zambez Empire through the convenient rivers and streams that ran near the city.

That was why when Greem arrived at the commercial road leading to Zola, he discovered that all the carriages traveling on it were transporting boxes upon boxes of fish.

Greem had used magic to change his appearance to better disguise himself.

He put away his eye-catching adept’s robe and equipment and wore simple leather armor and pants. A two-handed longsword was slung over his shoulder, and a gray traveler’s cloak was draped around him, making him look like an adventurer that was walking through the lands.

His appearance had also been changed slightly. His dark red hair and black eyes had all vanished, making him look about the same as the civilians of the Empire.

He casually stopped a merchant party traveling along the road and bought his way onto their wagons with two silver coins. He then squeezed beside Old Tom, the driver of the wagon full of fish, as they slowly continued to ride towards the city in the distance.

As Zola slowly approached, the wagons and pedestrians on the commercial road started to grow in number.

In the dense traffic, traveling merchants and coachmen that passed by each other shouted and hollered to the others, greeting them warmly like they had known each other for years.

However, five kilometers away from Zola City, the thunderous stomping of hooves rang out in front of the crowd.

The wagons and pedestrians on the road hastily dodged aside, allowing the silver-armored knights to charge past them with their tall horses, leaving a trail of dust in the air.

Though the travelers and merchants had panicked at the appearance of the silver-armored knights, none of them complained about it. Instead, they returned to the road after the knights had passed and softly started to discuss the reason for the knights’ haste.

“It must be because of the strange incident at Cascara Lake.” Old Tom waved the whip in his hand and mumbled softly, “It has to be; such a terrifying thing happened there. Those sir knights must have been going there to investigate!”

“The strange incident at Cascara Lake?” Greem asked in confusion.

“You don’t know? Judging from where you came from, aren’t you returning from Cascara Lake? Could you…could you not have seen the scary flaming rock that fell from the sky yesterday?” Old Tom had a look of disbelief on his face.

“Oh, you’re talking about that rock! Such things aren’t all that strange or unusual. There’s no need to make such a big deal out of it.” Greem replied with ease.

“You’re an adventurer. These things might not seem amazing to you after traveling from south to north and east to west, but I, Old Tom, have lived in Zola City for over thirty years. This is the first time I’ve seen something so scary. You might not have seen what happened with your own eyes. After that fiery rock landed, a good half of the lake’s surface started boiling. The dead fish and prawns that floated up to the top were so dense that it was horrifying.” Old Tom was a pretty talkative person. He couldn’t stop once he started chatting about the strange thing that happened yesterday, and it seemed like he wanted to take out everything he knew of the incident.

Greem also chatted with him, throwing in a question or comment every so often. However, his thoughts drifted to the holy knights that had just ridden past them. There had been six First Grade Iron Knights, but not even a single Second Grade Silver Knight. Greem couldn’t help but become less excited over the Holy Light Chapel in Zola.

Greem didn’t mind making a huge commotion again if the Holy Light Chapel of Zola was sufficiently large. However, if it were too small in scale, it wouldn’t be worth exposing his identity and his trail.

…………

Natagu was in a terrible mood at the moment!

The Lady had already warned him multiple times how difficult it was to deal with the fire adept. She had told him to be as careful as he could be, but Natagu had remained confident due to their superior numbers.

However, his thought of having a pleasant hunt was shattered by the cruel reality before half a day had even passed.

That damned bastard had escaped in such a brazen and arrogant manner. It was obviously challenging his tolerance and patience.

Just as he was about to erupt with anger and chase after him in the same brazen manner, a short message for help caused him to calm down.

The message had been sent by the mechanical witch, Katherine, who had left on her own. The message was short. It was just two words: save me. Natagu and the others could not get a response when they tried to contact her after that.

What had happened to Katherine?

The three adepts that had just arrived on Henvic couldn’t help but start wondering.

Supposedly, a Third Grade adept should be virtually unstoppable in a lower plane like Henvic. In their eyes, as long as they didn’t run into those few terrifying Fourth Grades, the other Third Grade holy knights were no more than ‘fake paladins’ that did not have the protection of a god!

The so-called holy knights might seem powerful, with their high-grade knight battle techniques and holy light divine spells that made them resemble spellcasters. They were skilled at both melee and close range, and they were learned in both the martial and mystical arts. However, in the eyes of the adepts, they were classic jacks-of-all-trades. They were ‘trash professions’ that were neither experts at magic nor physical fighting.

Moreover, all four of the adepts that had arrived in Henvic were combat adepts. Every one of them was a hunter back in the World of Adepts. Would they run into danger in this lower plane with their power? Blade Princess Katherine could probably fight her way out of a circle of several Third Grade knights and escape even if she were caught in one to begin with!

To think that the opponent could beat her so severely that she had to call for help. No, so badly that she would be quickly defeated after she called for help. The three adepts couldn’t help but think of the two famous Fourth Grade holy knights of Henvic Plane.

There were only two Fourth Grade Holy Knights on this plane. One was attacking the witch’s tower in the south, and the other was recuperating from his massive wounds in the Empire. Could…could this Holy Knight that was recovering from his injuries be moving now?

They had no idea that a brutal battle had just ended in a forest sixty kilometers to the north.

Over half of the holy knights that had hurried over from the Empire had turned into casualties. The forest they were in had been ravaged, filled with felled trees and ditches created by a powerful force.

The terrifying Blade Princess Katherine’s two hands and a leg had been cut off and pinned to the cliff with a massive longsword.

Even in such a desperate situation, the ferocious Katherine had still managed to unleash fearsome energy beams from her mechanical eye, slicing the trees and bushes to pieces and defacing the entire geography.

The Fourth Grade Holy Knight in the party had a stern and determined expression on his face. His short white hair stood straight on his head, making him look as majestic as a raging lion.

Upon seeing how savage this disabled evil witch remained after having three of her limbs cut off, the Fourth Grade Holy Knight charged to Katherine’s side and reached with his right hand. He did not fear the energy beam shooting out of her eyes at all. Two fingers stabbed and scooped, plucking the half-flesh and half-mechanical eyeball out of Katherine’s eye socket.

Aaaaaah!

Katherine opened her mouth and let out a pitiful cry. Five or six gaps opened up on her spine. Metallic appendages reached out from within and struck at the Holy Knight.

“Hmph! Outrageous.” The knight snorted and stretched with his hand, quickly grabbing the metallic appendages with his right palm.

He then applied force, and Katherine reared her neck and screamed even more desperately. The appendages connected to her spine broke at the base, leaving a few bloody holes on her spine. The purple and black blood seeped out of her wounds, along with the foul-smelling reconciling agent. The stench was so overpowering that a few of the holy knights started choking and couldn’t help but step back.

Katherine was still moving her body in an attempt to fight back despite the horrifying wounds she had received.

The Holy Knight finally lost his patience. He reached out and gouged a few of the joints on Katherine’s body.

The neck, the shoulder, the chest, the waist, and the tailbone.

This series of critical strikes immediately severely dislocated or destroyed the modified metal joints in Katherine’s body, shutting down her control over her mechanical or organic parts.

Katherine’s body finally went limp, incapable of any resistance!

The Holy Knight looked at the battlefield around him after finally taking down this barbaric mechanical witch. His heart filled with shock and anger when he looked at the ruined forest around him and the holy knights that were scattered across the ground.

He was shocked at the savagery and ferocity of these foreign invaders.

He was angered at their disregard for the lives of Henvic Plane.

Fourth Grade Holy Knight Ad Carrhae was finally enraged!

All the adepts deserved to die. They couldn’t be allowed to continue existing in Henvic.

His emotion of extreme anger triggered the wounds on his body, making him cough intensely and spit out a mouthful of black blood. Shards of organ and muscle fibers could be faintly seen in the black blood.

It was more than enough evidence that the terrible wounds he had received in the witch’s tower had not stabilized at all. In fact, they were showing signs of aggravation.

To reduce the casualties among the ordinary holy knights when attacking the witch’s tower, Ad Carrhae had personally breached the tower with his tremendous might and destroyed the interplanar teleportation array there. He had received a destructive blow by the combined attack of the stationed witches.

If the holy light he possessed hadn’t been the most specialized at healing and neutralizing foreign energy, Ad Carrhae would never have escaped that tower alive.

He might have survived, but the terrifying wounds on his body tortured him gravely.

Ad Carrhae had no choice but to leave the battlefield and return to the Empire to recuperate, using the Sanctuary Space of the Great Holy Light Cathedral to heal his wounds.

Unfortunately, just as his wounds were showing signs of healing, the omnipotent Holy Light sent a grave warning to him. According to the Holy Light, new enemies would invade from the north of the Empire. Moreover, their arrival would bring about a fearsome disaster for the holy knights!

It was this terrifying omen that caused Ad Carrhae to drag his broken body all the way to the north of the Empire, rushing day and night with a troop of holy knights to arrive as quickly as he could. They even cut through the Avelli Mountains, Starfall Valley, and the primal woods to save time.

Who knew if it was the guidance of the Holy Light or the tremendous misfortune of the enemy, but their party had run into this lone otherworldly witch while they were traveling through Fellhammer Mountain.

After a bloody battle, this barbaric half-human, half-machine witch was taken down by the injured Fourth Grade Holy Knight Ad Carrhae after she had wiped out half of the other holy knights.