Age of Adepts

It hadn’t even been seven minutes before the two adepts arrived at the volcano.

Their expressions turned when they saw the rolling smoke and felt the pressing heat waves.

Their opponent was a famous and legendary fire adept. Though his name was unknown beyond the realm, they were hunters amongst adepts; they would never make the mistake of underestimating him. Blade Princess Katherine was a famous Third Grade in her own right, yet she had fallen at the hands of the natives due to her moment of arrogance and carelessness.

If it weren’t for Serpentine Adept Natagu appearing just in time to strike an agreement with the Fourth Grade Holy Knight, Katherine would have died in this pathetic and barren lower plane.

The agreement plainly stated that the three hunter adepts would not attack Henvic Plane, but would also help in the holy knight’s battle against the Deceit Witches. Of course, as a condition of exchange, the holy knights had to aid them in their pursuit of Greem.

It was this suggestion that made the Fourth Grade Holy Knight let Katherine go and allowed him to rush to Haisas with the help of the three adepts.

Naturally, the three hunter adepts would not give up the opportunity to hunt down the fire adept when they heard news of him in Haisas City. They tracked him all the way here, to this terrifying active volcano.

Any adept would feel their head hurt at the very prospect of fighting a fire adept in such a place!

The advantage of this environment was too high. It wouldn’t be a surprise if both of them were defeated here.

However, Serpentine Adept Natagu and Psionic Adept Benija were not easy enemies, either. If the volcano were such a dangerous place to stage an attack, then they simply would not do so.

The two of them put up a tent near the volcano and started a small camp as if they were prepared to remain here for a long time to come. Yet, this very action struck straight at Greem’s soft spot.

The adept hunters could wait, but Greem could not.

No, more accurately, those Deceit Witches could not!

If the materials for repairing the magical array could not be delivered in time, the witch’s tower–having been cut off from all reinforcements– would foreseeably be razed by the local holy knights.

Greem didn’t need to risk his life to intervene and help in the matters of the Deceit Witches. However, if that interplanar teleportation array were lost, Greem would have to go to great lengths to return to the World of Adepts. The hunter adepts, on the other hand, clearly had no such trouble.

Poison Witch Guinevere finally hurried over two days after the start of the standoff.

That caused Greem to be under even more pressure.

Remi had intended to meet Greem here, but considering the geography of the volcano would limit Remi’s powers, Greem rejected his help.

Just as Greem was hesitating about his decision to continue staying here, the badly injured Blade Princess Katherine arrived as well.

Katherine had been badly crippled at the hands of Greem and the Fourth Grade Holy Knight. Her mechanical magic had been dispelled, and her limbs had been severed. She could not have been in an even more dire state. Such terrible wounds could only truly be healed after returning to the World of Adepts or the realms beyond. She could only patch the surface wounds while they were in this plane.

The severed limbs had been reattached, and her broken mechanical heart was still barely functioning. As such, the incredibly furious Katherine decided to hurry to the volcano camp and join the ranks surrounding the fire adept.

With her wounds, she was barely hanging on as a beginner Third Grade, despite her actual intermediate Third Grade ranking. Still, she could be of help in the battle.

Her arrival also extinguished all of Greem’s thoughts of escape.

He might be able to fight multiple opponents while hiding in the volcano, but if he were to leave the volcano, every one of those hunter adepts would be a difficult opponent for him. Meanwhile, Witch Rena and those magical materials for repairing the array were no longer important; not compared to his own life.

For the first time in his life, Greem had been forced into a corner, with no solution or means to deal with the problem!

Greem had charged out of the volcano crater countless of times, battling with the four hunter adepts with the volcano’s pool of lava behind him. Unfortunately, apart from destroying the surrounding area, he could not kill or even defeat a single one of them.

Greem’s primary opponent was always the serpentine adept, Natagu.

His style of combat was straightforward. He would turn into a terrifying twenty-meter long giant snake covered in purple-black scales. This snake naturally had the resilient life force of snake creatures, along with a fearsome soundwave attack.

Soundwave attacks were a niche of magic in the adept’s arcane system. As such, there were very few spells that could defend against them. Soundwave attacks were also known for their ability to penetrate defenses. Even the elementium magical machine’s sturdy body was not entirely impervious to it.

As such, Natagu alone could restrain both Greem and the elementium magical machine. Meanwhile, the other two witches would greatly affect Greem during the course of the battle. One specialized in poison, while the other specialized in mental manipulation.

Whenever Greem betrayed weakness during a battle, Katherine charged up to his side with unmatched ferocity and cut open his defenses with her most ferocious attack. In fact, Katherine was more than willing to go wound-for-wound to injure Greem at all costs.

This fact, in particular, was what caused him the most trouble!

If it weren’t for Sodden’s Holy Ring, Greem would have long since fallen victim to such a vicious group of enemies.

…………

Greem slowly opened his eyes in a secret cave beneath the lava pool.

This underground cave was over twenty square meters in size, undecorated with anything other than a simple stone bed. Small fire runes had been carved on the walls around the room, glowing with faint light as they kept the flowing lava out of the cave.

The elementium magical machine was guarding the entrance silently, its compound eyes projecting beams of multiple frequencies to keep a close eye on any movement in the sea of lava. It wasn’t until Greem finally awoke from his slumber that the magical machine stepped aside and returned to its normal state.

The first thing Greem did upon waking up was to communicate with the Chip rapidly.

He had set up many fire traps near the lava pool. If the hunter adepts wanted to sneak into the volcano, they would trigger his traps without a doubt. And that would be his time to turn the tables!

Unfortunately, perhaps out of fear of Greem’s reputation, the four adepts were being excessively cautious. They were unwilling to take a single step into the crater, regardless of how many weaknesses Greem showed.

It rendered most of Greem’s preparations useless.

Apart from the fire traps, all sorts of strange fire creatures had also scattered throughout the lava pool. Greem put them under his powerful binding the moment they set foot here from the Fire Elementium Plane, turning them into his eyes and minions.

Unfortunately, even the strongest of these fire creatures were only at the peak of First Grade. They were useable as fodder but utterly useless as a means to chase away the hunter adepts.

Hmph! If those hunter adepts won’t come looking for trouble, then I’ll bring the trouble to them.

After recovering from all the injuries and exhaustion from the last battle with deep sleep, Greem led the elementium magical machine and the horde of fire creatures out of the lava pool.

Only Psionic Adept Benija remained stationed at the crater.

While she was idly using her mental flux to scan for movement near the crater, the silent lava suddenly started boiling. A tremendous surge of fire energy rose from the bottom of the pool and stormed toward the top of the crater.

Again!

Benija lifted her slender hand to cover her mouth and let out a yawn. She then stretched and extended her Spirit toward this massive surge of fire energy. She had determined the enemy’s numbers and power with her potent mental skills before they had even emerged from the pool.

“Hey! You guys, hurry up! It seems like the fire adept is looking for trouble again!”

As Benija’s mental message reverberated throughout the temporary camp, the three hunter adepts emerged from their tents. They rubbed their sleepy eyes and cursed as they flew toward the crater.

When they arrived at the crater, Greem had also emerged from the lava, appearing before them.

“What is it, brat? Was the Kiss of Death from last time not enough of a lesson for you? To think you still dare to come out to play today.” Serpentine Adept Natagu laughed coldly, his eyes landing on Greem’s left hand through the shimmering red light that covered his body.

Two deep bite marks could still be seen at the edge of his palm. The flesh and skin around the bite had already turned black, and a bitter, tea-like scent could still be smelled in the air.

It was a nasty mark that Natagu had left on Greem during their last fight. It was a terrifying Kiss of Death that he had unleashed during their skirmish, manifesting in the form of a snake-shaped silhouette that penetrated Greem’s defenses to bite him. If the opponent was careless, the serpentine shadow could even dive into their body and gnaw directly at their soul origin.

It was fortunate that the Chip had reminded Greem so that he managed to block his chest with his palm, preventing the snake from delivering a lethal strike. However, the bite had delivered Greem a dose of snake poison. He had no choice but to resist its effects through a deep slumber.

Greem’s expression turned severe at the mention of the injury. However, he then laughed sinisterly and continued, “Poison can’t kill me yet. Instead, I’m really upset that I didn’t get to eat roast snake last time. What do you say, Sir Natagu!?”

Natagu now wore a purple robe, but there were noticeable burn marks on his exposed skin.

The fact that these wounds had not thoroughly vanished despite his Physique as a Third Grade bloodline adept was more than enough demonstration of the severity of the burns he had received.

Both parties dug at each other with their words while glaring viciously at their opponents. The atmosphere once again turned tense and murderous!