Age of Adepts

The battle in the sky was utter chaos at this point.

In general, the fighting was mostly between the arcanists and the otherworldly invaders.

However, who among these invaders–who were powerful enough to set foot on this foreign plane–was not a bloodthirsty predator in their own right?

Whenever any of the invaders became weakened for whatever reason, they instantly became ideal prey in the eyes of the other invaders.

Every single invader was keeping an eye out on their other competitors as they fought viciously against the arcanists.

Whenever an invader slipped up or got caught in the arcane barrage of the arcanists, countless bloodthirsty predators would descend upon them. The battles and conflicts that resulted from this were even wilder and more savage than the assault on the arcanists.

Greem saw all sorts of creatures and beings on this colorful battlefield. Ferocious disaster creatures of unusual size, powerful starbeasts with odd appearances utterly unlike those of any material creature, believers of the World of Gods, sinister liches of the Great Pan-Universe Alliance of Liches, elementium lords from the elementium worlds, merfolk, archons, underminers, ironforged……

These invaders from all over the universe summoned even more creatures as they fought: wild beasts, fierce magical creatures, alchemical constructs, magical creations, and even elementium lifeforms.

Otherworldly creatures of all shapes and sizes could be seen everywhere atop the slowly crashing floating city. They all belonged to different factions, but they were all fighting ferociously across the chaotic city. It was hard to discern to whom each of the summoned creatures belonged now.

Lich Kanganas had opened a portal of the undead, summoning an entire army of skeletons from his personal skeletal plane. These undead were rampaging through the city unfettered. The prideful elementium lords were not to be outdone either. They all summoned elementium portals of their own, bringing forth hordes of elementium creatures into this foreign plane.

With these two forces of nature devastating the area, the other invaders had no choice but to head elsewhere, as much as they wanted a slice of the pie as well. Otherwise, they would be in deep trouble if they got caught in the crossfire!

Even more otherworldly powerhouses were prowling the ravaged battlefield, searching everywhere for prey they could sink their fangs into.

Greem and the other two adepts were among these individuals, hunting for a bounty.

…………

The floating city.

Above the ruins of the arcane palace.

This place was the main battlefield now, and the ones fighting were Illhoof and a lady in green robes with a gold circlet on her head.

This once majestic and towering arcane palace had been the absolute core of the floating city.

Unfortunately, the shockwaves from the battle between the two powerful individuals had thoroughly destroyed everything. All the arcane buildings had been reduced to rubble, and all the low-grade adepts had lost their lives. The only things left were four unusual stone pillars, each standing over thirty meters tall and two meters thick.

These four pillars were arranged in a square, each of them a corner of an arcane altar. Together, they sustained a semi-translucent elementium dome that firmly protected the altar. It didn’t matter how intense the fighting was; none of the shockwaves could shake it at all.

An unusual rune glowing with a faint yellow light was slowly spinning above the altar. The elementium flux emanating from the rune was defined, seemingly resonating with some remote place far away from the city.

Illhoof stood above the ground, his four limbs firmly rooted to the earth like pillars of stone as he continuously extracted earth elementium from the ground.

A massive ball of earth measuring ten meters in diameter enveloped him, blocking any and all attacks fired at him.

The ball of earth mended itself whenever it was damaged, sustained by Illhoof’s incredible supply of earth elementium. There was no concern about it being broken down by the enemy’s attacks.

Even while he was on the defense, Illhoof continued to summon thick earth spears and fired them at the lady standing proudly above the altar. The earth spears would shatter into a rain of pebbles upon contact with the elementium barrier around the altar. A loud explosion would occur every time this happened.

Every one of Illhoof’s attacks was utterly horrifying. They caused massive clouds of dust to rise into the air and ripples to spread across the elementium barrier.

The lady in the green robe was more than an equal match. Two arcane crystals, half the size of human heads, hovered around her. Whenever she flicked her fingers, blinding, violent lightning crackled forth from the crystals. The lightning split Illhoof’s protective earth dome apart, sending rocks flying in every direction.

A scorched patch of skin could vaguely be seen on Illhoof’s neck. It seemed like he had been injured at the hands of the arcanist.

Greem stopped at a distance with Holly and the siblings. They observed the fighting from afar.

They were Fourth Grade as well, just as the two terrifying individuals on the battlefield were. However, the difference in power couldn’t be any clearer upon comparison. In fact, they were hardly even comparable!

The energy intensity of the battlefield had reached over two thousand points in Greem’s Elementium Sight. That was only the energy reaction caused by the shockwaves radiating from their attacks. The offensive power of their actual attacks was probably over five thousand points.

Five thousand points.

Attacks of such power would be enough to instantly kill any one of the three adepts, including Greem!

Greem couldn’t help but lament how simple the fighting between ultra-grade individuals was while he watched from the sidelines. The attacks of both fighters were just so direct and straightforward. There were no fancy attacks or unnecessary, large area-of-effect spells.

Illhoof used the same two spells, the earth dome for defense and the earth spears for an offense. Though the earth spears were shockingly powerful, the pattern of attack was dull and bland. Meanwhile, the lady in the green robe finally settled on electric magic after trying several different elementium attacks on Illhoof and confirming that lightning was the most effective. She then simply bombarded Illhoof with lightning bolts, over and over again.

It wasn’t that the two of them didn’t have more fancy or elaborate large-scale magic. Instead, it was because they knew that unconcentrated power was no threat at all to their opponent. Only highly concentrated energy could inflict damage to the enemy.

That was why their means of offense and defense were so simple and direct.

That was because the energy intensity of every single spell was horrifyingly high!

Combat technique, fighting technique, casting technique; these were all crucial factors in combat often touted by individuals of lower grades. However, these were all overshadowed by the terrifying power of ultra-grade individuals.

It didn’t matter what strategy you used or what style of combat you employed. A little candle flame with five thousand points of intensity would turn you to ashes in the blink of an eye.

Dodging your opponent’s attacks through movement? Penetrating through the gap in your enemy’s defenses with superior Agility?

It was important to note that despite the number of otherworldly invaders on this floating city, hardly any of them could even approach Illhoof or the arcanist in terms of bodily attributes. Not to mention actually surpassing them and obtaining a sizeable advantage on the battlefield!

If Greem were to intervene in an ultra-grade battle like this without a plan, even surviving would be a matter of luck. How was he supposed to force his opponents to reveal weakness and look for a chance of victory?

The green-robed lady was obviously the Fifth Ring arcanist of the floating city, Arcanist Freila. It wasn’t a surprise that she possessed such overwhelming power. Meanwhile, Scourge Lord Illhoof also demonstrated incredible might far beyond that of what he had shown when he fought against Greem and the others. Somehow, he had become so ferocious and terrifying all of a sudden. He was able to square off against a Fifth Ring arcanist without yielding a single step.

Greem could sense a distinct aura of power from him.

It seemed like the Sixth Grade Lord of Eternal Night behind Illhoof had projected a portion of his power to him. There was no other explanation for why Illhoof had become so powerful!

A Sixth Grade was a Sixth Grade, after all. Even if he was still controlling the same body and the same earth elementium, the consciousness of a Sixth Grade Scourge Lord was enough to amplify Illhoof’s powers by several factors. It was like he was an entirely different person altogether.

It was, perhaps, why ultra-grade powerhouses were so powerful!

Greem, Holly, and the siblings subtly concealed their auras as they secretly watched the battle from the side.

Several other equally unusual and powerful soul auras were hiding around this battlefield. It seemed like these beings were also secretly observing the fight, just like them.

Meanwhile, the god believers were fighting with Lich Kanganas in a different area. It was a violent battle as well, with endless energy tremors spreading through the air.

Greem faintly sensed the unique flux of an artifact in the energy aura.

These so-called artifacts were, in truth, Fifth Grade items or magical equipment!

The Orb of Shadows in Greem’s hands could be considered a support-type artifact.

Meanwhile, as the new leader of the Witches of Fate, Alice had plenty of artifacts in her possession. The Staff of Divination had been sealed and damaged. At the very best, it was considered a pseudo-artifact. Apart from the Staff of Divination, Alice still had the Cards of Fate, the Hourglass of Time, the Witch’s Mask, and the Mercury Accessories, all of which were Fate equipment. They were incredible magical items that were as powerful as artifacts.

Moreover, they were custom equipment for the Witches of Fate!

It was the reason why Alice could speak with equal authority with the other Fourth Grade witch leaders as a Third Grade herself!

It was precisely because of how familiar he was with artifacts that Greem was so sensitive to their unique law aura.

After a simple evaluation of the situation, Greem determined that he did not have the ability to benefit from this battlefield at all, not while all these greedy wolves were looking on from the sidelines as well. He quietly notified his two companions, and the three of them snuck away to another battlefield.

A kilometer and a half away, Lich Kanganas commanded a massive undead army in an encirclement against a group of god believers.

These believers were composed of three spiritualists and five templar knights. The aura radiating from their persons was pure and strange. It was a power utterly distinct from the power system of the adepts.

Greem snuck close to the battle, secretly scanning for the opponents’ bodily attributes and the intensity of their power. The Chip’s feedback caused him to fall silent in thought.