Age of Adepts

The most significant change after the Scourge Lord and the adepts joined forces was the acceleration of their advance.

According to certain sources, the World of Gods, the World of Abyss, the Gold Titans, the Star Alliance, and several other powerful factions had breached Morrian Plane now. Every additional day spent in Morrian was a tremendous risk.

They certainly wouldn’t be the only ones to have set their sights on a large and bountiful target like the floating city. Moreover, attacking Reisin Garden was the most critical mission among those handed down by the main party.

Seven days after forming an alliance with Illhoof, Greem’s party arrived at the floating city.

It was quite different now compared to its normal state.

There were far fewer of those looming arcane towers. Even the security towers that were necessary for defense had been cut down by a significant amount.

Countless refugees from all over the world had gathered below the colossal floating city in the golden plains. The refugees were trying their best to get onto floating discs, which would bring them into the safety of the floating city’s walls.

Large groups of arcanists and arcane apprentices were shouting, giving commands to large arcane golems to maintain the order here. There were also long lines of carriages in this crowd, transporting badly needed materials and resources to the floating city.

While Greem, Holly, and Cherisha climbed onto a hill and watched from a distance, the vast horde mutated beasts swarmed past the hill and down the plains.

The crowd gathered below the floating city was instantly thrown into a panic.

Countless civilians screamed in terror as they desperately scattered in every direction. The frightened horses started to thrash about in the crowd, sowing even more chaos.

Several floating discs that were loading resources and civilians hastily took to the air, shaking as they flew towards the floating city. There were still many people holding onto the edges of the floating discs, screaming and crying for help.

Finally, when the floating discs were high in the air, the people on the edges ran out of strength. They screamed in terror as they fell from the sky.

The arcanists and apprentices who remained on the ground to maintain order had nowhere to run now. They could only command the arcane golems to form a circle, protecting themselves and some of the refugee civilians.

From his vantage point, Greem could clearly see that the natives were like a nest of ants whose home had just been torn apart. Meanwhile, a black tide quickly approached them.

There were all sorts of creatures among the mutated beats, each one more ferocious and violent than the previous one.

A clear line of blood was drawn on the battlefield the instant the two parties came into contact with each other.

It was right beneath the floating city. Consequently, the number of apprentices who had mastered basic arcane magic was drastically higher in number compared to the neighboring regions. A rain of energy balls fell from the sky and into the army of mutated beasts, dismembering countless creatures and sending flesh into the air.

However, this number of elementium attacks could never stop the assault of the mutated beast horde.

They were like tiny bubbles that appeared on top of massive waves. Before the crowd could even cheer in celebration, the vicious beasts had surged into their midst, teaching these arcane rookies a proper lesson with their savage bites and sharp claws.

Creaaak!

Several three-meter-tall arcane golems strode ahead with heavy steps. They parted the crowd and appeared in front of the mutated beasts. These golems were not metal constructs made of many tiny components. Instead, they were animated arcane creations.

There weren’t very many metal parts on them. Their entire bodies were composed of surges of arcane energy, and there were only a few thin metal rings in some key locations. These rings were what restrained the arcane power and gave them their humanoid form.

This structure gave the arcane golems greatly reduced physical offense and defense compared to other golems. However, it also bestowed them with the ability to cast spells.

As they marched forward, they raised their arms and fired energy bolts of eighty to ninety points of power. Attacks of this intensity were about equal to that of a First Grade adept, but they were far more rapid. The arcane golems could fire an energy bolt every two seconds.

Faced with these ignorant arcane golems, the pack leaders among the mutated beasts instantly went berserk. They endured the energy bolts and charged into the crowd, where they went wild with their attacks.

This group of two dozen arcane golems was torn apart in less than five minutes.

The arcanists quickly rose into the air when they saw the situation turn south. They wanted to escape to the floating city before the mutated beasts could surround them.

Unfortunately, they were a little too slow!

There were large groups of flying creatures among the mutated beasts. They either had insect wings or bird wings. Either way, they beat their wings and quickly surrounded the arcanists when they saw them trying to escape.

Several brilliant flashes of arcane light flickered, and a dozen of these beasts crashed to the ground. However, the arcanists could not break through the encirclement either. In the end, their shields were broken, and they were torn to pieces as the mutated beasts fought amongst themselves for their flesh. Only tattered remains were left behind.

It wasn’t until now that the floating city finally reacted.

A dozen security towers circled the clouds and descended rapidly, unleashing a terrifying torrent of arcane power at the areas where the beasts were most concentrated.

Naturally, the mutated beasts were not going to take this lying down. Large packs of flying monsters took to the air, quickly engaging with the security towers.

Individually, the arcanists might be incredibly frail and lacked the ability to confront the mutated beasts in person. However, once they were in their security towers and supported by a whole host of arcane facilities, their power would be amplified by over ten times.

These dozen security towers weren’t managed by many high-grade adepts, but their firm structures and plentiful arcane energy allowed them to fight the mutated beasts to a standstill. It was an intense battle.

For a moment, all sorts of arcane beams swept across the horizon, and corpses fell like raindrops.

Illhoof, who was hiding among the beasts, might not care for the deaths of his minions, but he could not let their sacrifice go to vain.

While the security towers were fearlessly slaughtering the beasts, the earth quaked, and the ground split. Three dozen-meter-tall stone golems emerged from below.

These stone golems raised their heads and arms immediately. A massive boulder appeared between their palms. They waved their arms, and the boulders howled as they flew across the air at the security towers.

One of the security towers did not dodge in time and was hit by three boulders at once. It immediately faltered and crashed from the sky.

The moment it landed on the ground, the mutated beasts that had been on the receiving end of the bombardment roared and swarmed forward, quickly drowning it in a tide of monsters.

That seemingly provoked the other security towers. Four of them descended and started attacking the hill of mutated beasts in an attempt to save their companion. Meanwhile, the rest of them unleashed quick lightning chains at the three stone golems.

These three golems were all at the peak of Second Grade. Naturally, they were not so easily destroyed by chain lightning. The stone on the surface of their bodies was scorched black by the lightning, and pieces of it had come crumbling off. However, a yellow elementium halo flickered around them as a large amount of earth elementium flowed from their feet to the damaged parts. The earth elementium quickly solidified into new stone.

Thus, the three stone-golems were able to survive the attacks of the security towers.

The security towers’ actions became more frantic at the sight of this. They stopped in midair, contacted the floating city, and commenced channeling the power of actual arcane towers to attack the golems.

Obviously, Illhoof would never let such a good opportunity pass him by.

He suddenly emerged from the ground below the security tower. Illhoof lifted his head and roared as a giant yellow halo engulfed the four towers.

Halo of Gravity!

A Halo of Gravity released by a Fourth Grade Minor Scourge Lord!

The four security towers immediately started shaking and descending towards the ground.

The arcanists inside these towers hastily directed even more energy to the floating ring at the base of the tower. In doing so, they barely managed to resist the pull of gravity and remain flying in the air.

The arcanists were in a panic when they discovered the Fourth Grade Scourge Lord. The towers trembled as they attempted to break free of the Gravity Halo while firing a barrage of arcane attacks at the Scourge Lord.

Just as the security towers began resisting the influence of the Halo of Gravity, several dark-red Blazing Fireballs cut across the sky and blasted against their walls.

The security towers could no longer maintain stability. Black smoke rose from the towers as they spun wildly in the air and crashed to the ground.

A few thousand meters away, Greem’s giant body strode onto the battlefield with heavy steps and endless flames. His violent fireballs shot the security towers out of the sky before they could escape his range.

The two surviving security towers turned to flee towards the floating city when they recognized their defeat. However, they were intercepted by a mysterious humanoid clad in silver armor. With just a single punch for each of them, the towers were sent hurling back towards the ground.

Now that they had been grounded, these security towers would not be able to break free of the mutated beasts ever again.

Illhoof nodded in satisfaction when he saw his ‘allies’ put in work without pulling anything funny.

He was here to harvest the lives and souls in the floating city. How could he be trapped on the ground?

Illhoof stood on the ground. For the first time, he began drawing upon the full extent of his earth powers. His vicious mouth opened as all the earth elementium around him started to gather rapidly.

The next second, thick pillars of stone rose from the ground, quickly pushing Illhoof towards the sky.

The beasts that could fly also flapped their wings and hurried towards the clouds along the stone pillars. Even more of the mutated beasts leaped forward, clinging to the pillars with their sharp claws as they raced towards the floating city.

The terrifying siege had only just begun!