Age of Adepts

“Let me go.”

“Greem, Holly, Cherisha, don’t you forget. I came here to Morrian with all of you. If I die here, my clan leader won’t let this issue slide.

“If you don’t want to be perpetually pestered by the Dark Witches, you will let me go now!

“I’ve given up on this mission! I promise never to harass you again.”

As expected of the Northern Witches. Being the sole rulers of the Northern Lands, they were a unique group of adepts, far more unreasonable and demanding than any of their counterparts. Even in this moment of life and death, Shani’s tone had not softened at all. In fact, she was vaguely threatening the three of them, as if she would continue fighting at the drop of a hat.

“Why don’t we…just force her to make an origin oath and let her go?” Cherisha hesitated before speaking.

Out of fear and respect for Greem’s power, the two siblings had no choice but to participate in encircling Shani. However, now that they were deciding Shani’s fate, they behaved as cautious and careful as before.

It couldn’t be helped. They were not in any way core members of the Adept’s Association. They were often brushed off and pushed around by the higher-ups of the Association. Otherwise, they would never have been arranged to participate in such an extremely dangerous otherworldly battlefield.

It was only natural they became apprehensive at the thought of the infamous Dark Witches of the Northern Lands.

“Hmph! In my opinion, we should destroy her body one more time and make her revive all naked again! This way, she will need at least fifteen days of recovery. She won’t be able to disrupt our operation again.” Adept Holly cursed angrily.

His tone was fierce, but it was obvious that he didn’t dare to offend the Dark Witches too much either.

Since ancient times, the Northern Witches had always been the most united and protective of their members!

Moreover, they were also exceptionally unreasonable among adepts!

If one offended the Dark Witches, they would ambush you and assassinate you over and over without regard for their own lives. Not only were they incredibly proficient at shadow magic, but their soul energy pools could revive them over and over, allowing them to fight with reckless abandon. Anyone would hate to make an enemy out of a group of fearless, undying shadow assassins.

“Kehkehkehe. It seems like you know what’s good for you! I admit defeat on this mission. I promise before we return to the World of Adepts—” Perhaps sensing the reluctance in the two adepts, Shani’s tone was just as unrestrained as ever before, even though her physical body was now firmly restrained by the shadow hand.

However, before she could finish speaking, the shadow hand that Greem had created with the Orb of Shadows clutched tight, crushing her materialized body into mincemeat.

Shani’s voice came to a halt.

Even Holly and Cherisha couldn’t help but lift an eyebrow at the sight of this. Their eyes were filled with a conflicted look, one of both glee and worry.

That wasn’t the end of it!

Greem tossed the Orb of Shadows lightly in his hand and waved it at the flesh all over the room. Infinite shadow power appeared out of thin air and broke down the flesh into nothing.

Greem opened his palm, and a pitch-black light flashed from the Orb. Countless swaying, black chains reached out from within, shooting into the space around them like sharp arrows.

A cry of agony could be heard in the air. It was a familiar voice.

A brief moment later, the black chains slowly retracted, dragging a restrained soul out of the air. Judging from its appearance, it was Dark Witch Shani, who had once again lost her physical body.

If Shani was only scared before this, then this time she was genuinely terrified!

The reason the Dark Witches were so fearless in the face of death was due to that unique revival method of theirs.

It didn’t matter how many times they were killed; their souls could always escape to the prepared soul energy pools via their unique technique. Then, after a few weeks of recovery, they would be able to rematerialize their bodies.

It was this undying trait of theirs that made the Dark Witches the most difficult opponents amongst the Northern Witches!

However, Greem had managed to use the distinctive characteristics of the Orb of Shadows to forcefully drag her soul out of the air before it could escape to her soul energy pool. If anything else were to happen to Shani’s soul, she would be truly dead. There would be no chance of revival for her.

The circumstances were beyond her abilities!

She had no choice but to lower herself now.

Just as Shani’s soul trembled in a desperate attempt to negotiate with Greem, he simply put his lips together and blew. A translucent golden fire gently washed over Shani’s soul, instantly burning holes in it until it finally dissipated into the air.

A tragic scream could still be heard echoing in the ears of the three adepts.

Adept Holly and the two-headed siblings opened their eyes wide in shock. They had to grit their teeth to stop themselves from crying out in surprise.

They were truly shocked and slightly terrified, as well.

That had been an actual, proper Fourth Grade Dark Witch!

And he chose to kill her without any further thought?

After all, in Central Zhentarim, any Fourth Grade adept could be a powerhouse that ruled over an entire province. A Fourth Grade adept alone would be enough to prop up a massive human empire and a long-lasting major adept clan.

The other three major organizations were far more strict in their management of Fourth Grade adepts. However, at the core of the matter, every Fourth Grade adept was the most precious asset of a significant organization. No one was willing to let them go to waste like cannon fodder.

But now.

Right before their eyes.

An intermediate Fourth Grade Dark Witch, a Dark Witch whose name was established even in the Northern Lands where talent was found everywhere, a Dark Witch of such repute, had been killed with the ease of killing a dog or a chicken. Even the last remnants of her soul had been thoroughly extinguished.

Just imagine, what kind of mental impact could such an extreme psychological blow have had on the two adepts?

At the very least, even Adept Holly, who had hated Shani with a passion before this, turned pale at the sight of her death. An indescribable feeling of sympathy for someone whose position he could have been in rose in his heart!

When the two adepts once again looked at Greem, their eyes were filled with respect and fear.

“No need to worry,” Greem chuckled and said, “The reason they sent Shani out to this foreign plane to kill me is to avoid any sort of divination. Once we return, we just have to make sure our accounts of the events are the same. We just have to insist that Shani died during a fight against an otherworldly creature. The Dark Witches won’t be able to disprove us or verify the truth of our words when it all happened so far away.”

Greem continued when he saw how pale the two adepts were, “Moreover, Morrian Plane is about to experience total destruction. Everything here will return to chaos and nothingness with the disintegration of the planar consciousness. Will you two still be worried about some great diviner making the trip here just to search for the truth behind Shani’s death? This plane probably won’t even exist by then.”

The two adepts’ expressions finally turned better when they heard this.

Of course, it was simply them persuading themselves that the situation wasn’t all that terrible!

After all, given how unreasonable the Dark Witches were, they probably had no intention of letting them go unscathed from the moment they sensed Shani’s death. That said, now that she was already dead, what could they do? Hope for Greem to take full responsibility for the matter?

They were still in a foreign plane. Moreover, one of them was weaker than the average adept, and the other was grievously injured. Neither of them could risk infuriating Greem. If they did do so and Greem decided to kill them to seal their mouths……

Perhaps it was because they realized this that Adept Holly and the two-headed siblings all put on smiling faces and started cursing about how shameless and sinister Shani had been. From how angry they appeared to be, you would think they wanted to tear her apart and burn her to ashes all over again if she appeared in front of them once more.

That said, no one really knew what they were thinking on the inside!

“Since you two have no objections, we will deal with the matter as such! We will say Shani died in the battle against Scourge Lord Illhoof. Speaking of which, I was wondering why Shani’s equipment looked so familiar. I assume it must be yours, Holly! If that’s the case, then you should have it back!”

Adept Holly retrieved the equipment scattered all over the ground with a bitter face.

The equipment was all his, but, at this moment, he could find no cause for joy!

Greem looked around the library after dealing with the matter with Shani. He couldn’t help but let out a silent sigh.

The battle from earlier might have been brief and small in scale, but it had still brought about destructive damage to the library.

It was like a class-ten typhoon had ravaged the library. All the furniture and shelves were in disarray. The arcane barriers that protected the tomes had now lost all their arcane radiance, and the tomes themselves had been eroded to dust by the wild shadow powers.

With how utterly destroyed the place was, there was no longer much meaning in searching this location.

Boom!

All of a sudden, a loud explosion could be heard from above the library. Plenty of dust and debris came cascading from the ceiling above.

“Ah…Freila, you despicable fool. You only dare to fight me because of that arcane barrier around you. How dare you injure me. Just you wait. Once my actual body projects power down onto this plane, I will devour you in a single bite.”

Illhoof’s strange hissing voice rang out in the air, sharp and high-pitched. It hurt just to hear him.

Judging by his tone, it seemed like Illhoof had suffered a little defeat at the hands of the Fifth Ring arcanist!

“Let’s go and take a look. We might just be able to benefit from this!” Greem chuckled, a cold light piercing through his eyes.

“Gr…Lord Greem, you see, the er…Seed of Darkness in me?” Holly hesitated for a moment but finally put forth the right attitude.

“There’s no need to worry; the Seed of Darkness is dormant at the moment. It won’t affect you all that much. Moreover, I haven’t fully grasped the powers of the Orb of Darkness. It is going to be a little difficult for me to get rid of the Seed of Darkness in the short term. Don’t worry about it. Once I figure out how it works in a few days, removing the Seed of Darkness will be an easy matter.”

Greem stepped out of the library ahead of everyone else.

The two-headed siblings followed closely after.

Adept Holly remained stunned on the spot. Several different expressions flickered on his face. All of a sudden, he shivered, only then realizing that the other two had already left. Adept Holly quickly followed in their footsteps.