Age of Adepts

The first wave of enemies to emerge from the mega-rift was a pack of thirty vrocks.

These were a kind of unusual demons that resembled large bats. They had scrawny bodies but exceptionally large leather wings. They circled the skies like vultures waiting for prey. Their attacks were fast and vicious, primarily relying on their sharp claws.

Most abyssal demons might have a pair of leather wings on their backs, but they were often too bulky and heavy to actually fly. The pair of wings they possessed were more decorative than functional.

For instance, the quasits that looked like skinned toads and the longhorn demons infamous for their barbaric rushes were all unable to fly. Regardless of how hard they flapped their wings, they could only make themselves hover about half a meter above the ground.

A flying altitude like that was virtually the same as not being able to fly.

The most capable flyers among the abyssal demons were probably these vrocks.

They had scrawny, light bodies that allowed them to sprawl their wings and soar in the skies. By relying on berserking spells and their sharp claws, they were threats that could not be underestimated.

While vrocks had mediocre melee combat abilities, their exceptional flying skills allowed them to become intermediate-grade demons. They often took up the role of scouts and lookouts under the rule of demon lords.

Upon seeing their master Demon Lord Fernus injured by that strange ship in the sky, all the vrocks let out a peculiar cry resembling that of an ape. They beat their wings and rushed into the air.

They circled in the sky, avoiding the giant cannon at the silver ship’s front as they dashed toward the expansive deck.

Before they could get close, rows of magical machines stepped onto the deck of the Versailles. The next second, a blinding flash of light lit up the sky as a barrage of energy fireballs crashed into the ranks of the vrocks.

These vrocks were mostly Second Grade creatures. Only a few individuals that led the pack had reached Third Grade. They screeched in the face of the storm of fireballs, but they did not have time to turn away before the flames engulfed them.

Large squads of magical machines always accompanied the Crimson Fleet. Almost everyone in the World of Adepts knew this. Unfortunately, these vrocks did not!

The abyssal demons might have potent fire resistance due to their physiques, but they were not actually immune to fire. The overwhelming fireballs still inflicted severe magical damage to the vrocks.

Seven of the thirty Second Grade vrocks were scorched black in the first wave of fireballs. They crashed down from the skies and left a trail of black smoke behind them. However, judging by the way they struggled as they fell, only two of them were actually dead. The other five were only severely injured.

“Dammit! These demons have ridiculous fire resistance. We can’t take them down like this! All units, attention! Switch to frost rays!” The magical mechanic in charge of commanding the magical machines shouted out loud. Mechanical whirring could be heard as they switched their equipment. The next wave of attacks was no longer energy fireballs but a rain of frost rays.

Apart from the frost rays, powerful explosive goblin rockets also whistled and took to the air. Each of these rockets was as thick as a man’s arm and one-meter long. They contained plenty of arcane crystal fragments and metal bullets inside them.

Every time a goblin rocket howled and surged into the midst of the demons, the impact would cause the arcane crystal fragments to explode outward violently. The shockwaves, along with the shocking amount of shrapnel, would erupt where the demons were densely packed. That scene of carnage was an extremely cathartic sight for everyone who could witness it.

The savage force of explosion made the metal bullets exceptionally lethal!

Pupupu!

A series of puncturing sounds could be heard. The vrocks that had been engulfed in the explosion were blown away, their bodies trembling unstoppably as the shrapnel cut through them. Holes the size of a finger appeared all over their bodies, and purple blood splattered everywhere.

The thirty-strong squad of vrocks had suffered tremendous casualties after just three rounds of attacks from the machines. Only the two Third Grade elite vrocks managed to escape the enemy’s range of attack, themselves wounded and badly injured. The rest of the vrocks had died in the barrage.

The two elite vrocks screeched as they circled in the air, but they did not dare cross the enemy’s line of fire again!

Demon Lord Fernus had been standing silently on the spot, absorbing the abyssal aura radiating from the mega-rift to mend his wounds. He lifted his head with his bloodshot eyes opened wide. He couldn’t believe what he had just seen.

That was a squad of intermediate-grade vrocks! They were an excellent aerial assault squad, even in the Abyssal World. To think…to think they had been exterminated before they could even reach the enemy.

Fernus drew in a breath of cold air. For the first time, he felt regret for his recklessness!

However, abyssal demons were truly violent creatures whose minds were filled with only murder.

Fernus only maintained his rationality for three seconds before the thick scent of blood devoured it on the battlefield. He let out another furious roar and ordered every demon to charge at the enemy in the distance.

A bloody battlefield, a ground stained with blood, broken corpses, and the provoking battlecry of a demon lord. The hordes of abyssal demons that had just teleported over howled and rushed into battle before their bodies had even adapted to the new planar environment.

The numerous war towers unleashed their might. The tower walls glowed with prismatic light, shooting out bolts of lightning, blades of ice, and raising spears of earth from the ground. All of these attacks inflicted devastating damage to the crowded army of abyssal demons.

This place was a battlefield. It didn’t matter how strong an individual abyssal demon was or how excellent their magic resistance. None of them could survive the endless barrage of a dozen war towers. Their towering bodies were shredded to pieces, those pieces then ground to paste and mixed with the black earth until they were indistinguishable.

However, even amidst the storm of spells, large groups of high-grade demons were using Pinpoint Teleportation to arrive beside the war towers instantly.

When that happened, it was the voodoo beasts’ duty to charge forward and stall the demons!

A simple war tower measured twenty to thirty meters in height. There were no living facilities or laboratories in them. They only had basic offensive and defensive arrays, as well as a small energy pool.

War towers had no elementium altars of their own. Thus, they could not absorb ambient magical energy from space. Their functions relied primarily on their small energy pool, which was connected to an actual adept tower’s energy room. Thus, a war tower could only be considered an extension of an adept tower.

Because of their simplification, it was impractical to use the same materials in their construction as used in adept towers. These war towers were quite vulnerable to an abyssal demon’s reckless attacks, each of whom was easily eight meters tall and several tons heavy.

The voodoo beasts standing around the war towers were the only thing that could stop the abyssal demons!

However, while both the demons and voodoo beasts were meant to be cannon fodder, the demons were far better at their job.

The abyssal demons were all big and strong. Their bodies were even covered with tough scales and corrupted armor. Moreover, they were capable of unleashing instant-cast spells. The voodoo beasts were like hunting hounds facing down ferocious lions. It didn’t matter how much they struggled or how fearless they were. They were cut down by the score in front of the demons.

Redflame demons were a sort of low-grade demon, more commonly known as fire demons. They were the primary forms of intermediate-grade Ash Lords. If Ash Lords could evolve one step further, they would become the legendary Flame Fiends, capable of incinerating everything in their way.

First Grade redflame demons were considered a special branch of the abyssal demons that were the best at long-ranged attacks.

Upon seeing the longhorn demons, the quasits, and the hezrous slaughtering the voodoo beasts and assaulting the war tower, the redflame demons got to work as well. They gathered in groups with their skinny bodies blazing with purple abyssal flames. They shouted as they hurled globs of abyssal fire at the war towers.

The war towers had been constructed out of magic-resistant stone and reinforced with defensive arrays, all while protected by an energy barrier. However, no number of defensive measures could stand up to the endless onslaught of war.

As the abyssal demons marched forth and unleashed their attacks, the war towers on the outside started to fall, one by one. Legions of voodoo beasts were slaughtered and cut down. The battlefield ran red with blood. You could see corpses lying everywhere.

Every time a war tower collapsed, the Ahlden Clan adepts within had to scramble away to safety.

They had to escape from a tower’s ruins to the closest war tower, or even the adept tower behind the lines. These distances of no more than a hundred meters were often the difference between life and death!

The abyssal demons that had been ravaged by the war towers would instantly teleport the moment they caught sight of the adepts.

Dong, dong, dong!

The sound of their teleportation filled the air, and the escaping adepts would instantly find themselves engulfed in the shadows of multiple looming creatures. The demons swung their sharp claws and weapons, and these First and Second Grade human adepts would die on the spot.

The corpses they left behind were instantly split between all the abyssal demons!