Age of Adepts

The sword that Scarface Gallow used was extremely powerful, and its might far exceeded ordinary Third Grade magical equipment.

After witnessing his battle with Medium Dante, Greem even suspected that it was Fourth Grade magical equipment. Its magical effect was ‘Devour.’ All substances that came into contact with the sword–be they tangible or intangible–would vanish instantly.

If a living creature’s flesh was devoured in this manner, that portion of tissue would never be able to regrow through natural means. At the very least, it was the case during combat.

Such a magical effect countered body-refining adepts and bloodline adepts who were known for their high Physique to a large extent. When this magical sword slowly devoured their resilient bodies, they would be reduced to mere skeletons; it wouldn’t matter what powerful techniques they possessed. It would be of no use if their bodies were gone.

Dante was at a disadvantage against this sword. After having two of his high-grade spiritual beings consumed by the magical sword, he lost the ability to fight with Gallow directly. He had no choice but to desperately flee and change battlefields, using distance to neutralize Gallow’s wild and unstoppable offense.

Scarface Gallow’s weakness was fully exposed here.

He had thirty-nine points of Strength and thirty-nine points of Physique. These attributes gave him unimaginably violent power and a resilient body that was nearly indestructible. His every action unleashed a destructive tide of power. An ordinary Third Grade adept would not be able to fight him face-on.

However, mobility was Scarface Gallow’s greatest weakness, and one he could not compensate for!

In truth, his seventeen points of Agility already made him a swift swordsman whose movements were like the wind on the battlefield. Unfortunately, that much Agility counted for nothing before the elementium adepts, who possessed a large number of mobility spells.

It didn’t matter how powerful he was or how unusual his sword was. He would have to strike his enemy first.

When Medium Dante made up his mind to play a game of cat-and-mouse against him, Gallow’s weakness was utterly exposed. He chased after Dante for three days and nights without any sleep, but Dante simply refused to engage. Instead, Dante incessantly sent out all sorts of ghosts, voodoo dolls, phantom puppets, and other evil constructs to harass Gallow.

These things could hardly harm Gallow, but they annoyed him to no ends.

Whenever Gallow was affected by one of these beings and became possessed for even an instant, Dante would immediately close in and unleash a barrage of attacks. He would strike with his Necklace of Death, which was capable of firing a Fingers of Death, while also sending his countless ghosts to rip into Gallow and using the Rituals of Dark Arts.

All of these attacks focused on Gallow’s soul consciousness. Even with his high Strength and Physique, Gallow had no means of defending himself. He could only endure these assaults with the sheer resilience of his soul.

In truth, this was the danger in battles between high-grade adepts!

It might seem like neither side could do anything about the other, but if the enemy caught a single chance to break through your defense, then doom might be right around the corner. The attacks of high-grade adepts were not that easily endured. Enemies that were attacked by Dante’s ghosts and wraiths might look unharmed on the surface, but their most important part–their soul origin–would already be tattered and broken. It would be incredibly difficult to recover without a long period of rest.

That was the main reason why Medium Dante had become famous!

Dante freely traversed the boundless plains, constantly releasing evil beings to harass Gallow, while spreading out low-grade ghosts in every direction. On the one hand, these ghosts could search for living beings and consume their flesh to make up for Dante’s Spirit consumption. On the other hand, Dante could also switch positions with any of these ghosts when he was in danger, thereby avoiding any mortal strikes from Gallow.

Meanwhile, Gallow was suffering. Even though his strength was far superior to Dante, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and bear Dante’s ceaseless attacks, simply because he was too immobile to catch his opponent.

The two adepts stormed through the plains recklessly. All living creatures died where they passed through, becoming the food by which Dante sustained his energy. It included an incredibly unfortunate, large nomad tribe that happened to be situated in the path of the two adepts’ battle.

The scale of this nomad tribe was sizeable. It had a population of over a thousand people, along with over a hundred thousand cows, goats, and horses. Sadly, as Dante and Gallow passed through the tribe, this famous nomad tribe was instantly exterminated.

Though the Association had intentionally placed the battlefield of the Third Grade adepts in remote locations, this incident was unavoidable. Gallow and Dante had also inflicted irreparable damage upon the environment here.

It was important to note the impact of their actions. Every swing of Gallow’s blade was the combination of violent force and tremendous magical energy. Vicious sword marks stretching for hundreds of meters scarred the ground every time he struck. Meanwhile, Medium Dante’s army of ghosts reaped the region of all life wherever they went.

Dense energy particles that would not dissipate for a long time to come were left wherever the two peak Third Grade adepts clashed with all their power. These particles would slowly seep into the local geography, changing the environment and the elementium energy balance.

Two areas where the two Third Grade adepts had fought turned into zones of death. Not only were all traces of life exterminated from these locations, but they would also remain death zones where no life could flourish for the foreseeable future.

After all, very few creatures could endure the radiation of such powerful energy particles!

…………

Greem lay on the stone bed, comfortably and leisurely enjoying the treatment of the three beautiful adepts while he silently collected data on Scarface Gallow.

Eighty percent of the hundred screens in front of him were locked onto Gallow, observing his every action from various angles and directions. Meanwhile, Dante’s figure only took up twenty percent of the screens. Moreover, the screens where he appeared were pushed into the corners of the array, utterly ignored.

That undoubtedly drew Mary’s curiosity.

“I see you seem to place more emphasis on Scarface Gallow. Are you sure your next opponent will be him?”

“Of course!” Greem turned his face and let Meryl put a peeled Piro fruit in his mouth. He smiled and answered whimsically as he enjoyed the sensation of the refreshing fruit bursting in his mouth.

“Why? Why do I feel like Dante has a better chance of winning? That Scarface guy can’t catch up to him, while he has an entire army of ghosts to absorb life force and Spirit for him. He is practically in a situation where he cannot lose. Once Scarface’s strength is exhausted, it will be the ghost guy’s turn to retaliate!”

“The situation you are describing is valid, but that is under the presupposition that Scarface has no means of forcing Dante into a direct confrontation.”

“Does he have something like that up his sleeve?”

“Not only does he have such a thing, he certainly has such a situation; most definitely so!” Greem raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think that this is the extent of first-ranked Gallow’s abilities, do you? It’s not possible that all his fame came from bullying people with shorter legs than him, could it?”

Emelia, who was concentrating on treating Greem’s injuries, couldn’t help but burst out laughing when he heard Greem’s joke. She then yelped in pain. Clearly, Mary had ‘punished’ her again.

Emelia was now very different from before.

After advancing to Second Grade, her appearance had changed massively.

She still retained a humanoid appearance from the waist up, with a slender body and generous curves– a beauty by all standards. However, below her waist had split into countless strange vine-like appendages of various thicknesses. These vines could move and grab onto things according to her will.

She crouched at Greem’s side, slicing and splitting open his flesh with her sharp and painted nails before using precise and agile moves to force out the poison remnants and foreign energy hiding in his flesh, tendons, and bones. She then used gentle plant energy to further neutralize anything she could not expel.

All kinds of strange and unusual metallic equipment were in the small wooden box beside her. It was obvious that these were used for dissection and surgeries.

Emelie held two incredibly sharp surgical knives in her hands, while the vines beneath her held onto a dozen other surgical tools of various functions. She was able to switch between the various tools and techniques without even lifting her head from her work.

If she discovered any piece of flesh that was completely dead, she would cut it off precisely, inflicting only the smallest of wounds on Greem’s body. She would then casually heal the wound with Rejuvenation or Lifebloom. The plant energy stimulated Greem’s own recovery, allowing the injuries to heal and close up rapidly.

Broken ribs needed to be fixed, and dead flesh needed to be cut off. Hidden foreign energy needed to be neutralized, concealed poison needed to be expelled, and damaged organs needed to be healed. All of these complex and trivial tasks would have taken Greem a dozen days to properly deal with, even with his Physique and the healing potions he possessed.

However, with a plant-attribute master like Emelia working with all her skill, Greem would be able to recover from all the previous fight’s side-effects in a short amount of time without even lifting a single finger.

It wasn’t until she had finished all her tasks that Emelia let out a long breath of air. She put all her tools back into her box using the vines and straightened her back, before asking out of curiosity, “Clan Leader, you still haven’t answered Lady Mary’s question. Why do you favor Scarface Gallow so much?”

“That’s because Scarface Gallow’s energy reserves are still above 89%, while Dante’s energy reserves have fallen to 73%.” Greem wasn’t bothered by all the flesh that had been cut off his body. He smiled as he explained, “I believe that Scarface Gallow is waiting for Dante’s energy reserves to fall below a certain threshold before finally dealing with him in one swift blow.”

Emelia was shocked.

Gallow had been chasing Dante for four entire days and nights. He had left his harrowing sword marks across the entire plains. How did he still have 89% of his energy reserves left? That…that was unbelievable!

Moreover, why did the clan leader know these numbers so clearly?

However, she quickly understood that the clan leader wouldn’t provide her with an explanation. After all, it involved the deeper secrets of a high-grade adept. He wouldn’t reveal the truth, even to his most intimate partners.

As expected, those who could participate in this tournament of powerhouses were all monsters.

Emelia shook her head and sighed in exasperation.