Age of Adepts

Horner’s savagery incited the anger of the disaster creatures.

Soon several Fourth Grade disaster creatures made their way to the frontlines under cover of the mutated beasts.

Boom!

A strange spider-ape hybrid broke through the wave of blood, roaring as it appeared in front of Horner.

This creature was a strange being born of a berserk ape and underground spike-spider’s mixed bloodlines. Its upper half was that of a black ape, with thick, black hair and bulging muscles. Meanwhile, its bottom half was that of an eight-legged spider, the hairy limbs gleaming with a strange gray light.

Much like the other disaster creatures, this spider-ape wasn’t carrying any proper weapons or equipment. It only had a sharpened black spear in its right hand.

The material appeared to be some sort of wood.

However, the fact that it could be chosen as a weapon for a Fourth Grade and could endure the speeds at which it was being swung around indicated that this wooden spear was not as ordinary as it looked.

Once it had charged through the wave of blood, the spider-ape rumbled through the air with its eight hairy limbs, lunging at Horner viciously.

“Foolish idiot. Die!” Horner shouted out loud and punched forward multiple times with both fists. Countless force shockwaves blasted at the enemy like cannonballs.

The spider-ape did not dodge. It simple covered its face and chest with its arms as it continued forward.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

Several of the attacks landed on the spider-ape’s shoulder, waist, and arm, causing its muscles to twitch and tremble. However, it did not seem to have been injured at all.

The spider-ape quickly closed in. It raised its right arm, and the black spear stabbed toward Horner’s chest like a bolt of black lightning.

As a body-refining adept, his specialty was crushing strength with strength!

Horner gripped his right fist tightly. Light-purple light gathered on his fist as he punched at the spear tip without any hesitation.

The spear and fist crashed together. The violent force they carried rushed at each other, instantly turning into fearsome force waves that rippled outwards.

The body-refining adepts closest to the battle were blown away. Strangely enough, the two individuals at the center did not budge a single inch. The fist was pressed against the tip of the spear, all the muscles of the arm trembling and undulating. It appeared they were locked in a contest of Strength.

When it came to pure physical Strength, the two of them were equally matched. The spider-ape also had a slight advantage in Physique and endurance.

However, apart from base Physique and Strength, there were also other factors important in a battle. For instance- equipment!

While the two of them were locked in a stalemate, runes began to glow on Horner’s bracers, necklace, and belt. They turned into magic energy that surged into his body.

The next second, Horner’s Strength increased by nearly fifty percent, allowing him to drown the enemy in a crushing tide of force.

The spider-ape was fighting back with all its might when it felt an unstoppable force rush toward it. Before it could step out of Horner’s reach, the adept’s fist blew away the spear and punched him in the stomach.

Boom!

A gaping hole appeared in the spider-ape’s back as Horner’s fist pierced through it.

Aaaaaah!

The spider-ape screamed in agony, its eight limbs frantically moving backward as it pulled its body away from Horner’s fist. It waved its spear even more frantically, the dark light of the weapon leaving lasting black trails in the air.

Horner had intended to chase down the spider-ape and crush its skull, but these black trails stopped him in his tracks and prevented him from going any further. His right middle finger that had made direct contact with the tip of the spear was injured. A small black hole could be seen in it.

Black blood dripped from the wound, and the poison within was forced out by Horner’s violent strength, dissipating into wisps of black smoke.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Another three Fourth Grade disaster creatures of equally strange appearances broke through the wave of blood and appeared near Horner. The spider-ape howled in pain. A gaping hole might have been opened in its body, but it still gritted its teeth and charged forward.

Horner couldn’t help but frown.

Such horrible injuries would have been enough to kill any ordinary creature. Yet, that spider-ape was still able to fight with such ferocity.

The toughness and savagery of the disaster creatures couldn’t be more obvious!

In a duel, Horner was confident he could kill any disaster creature of the same grade by using his advantage in equipment and technique. Fighting one against four–or three and a half, in this case–was quite impossible. It would be challenging even if he were a minor grade stronger than he currently was.

At this critical juncture, a poison bomb that engulfed an area of ten meters exploded amid the three disaster creatures. Bloodline Adept Neve quickly slithered over, standing in the way of the four disaster creatures alongside Horner.

The two parties went back and forth, clashing with each other at the frontlines with their myriad abilities.

Light-Elementium User Geraldine had transformed into a fearsome light giant in the center of the battlefield. Two beams of milky-white light shot out of his eyes. Where the light beams went, the entire battlefield was sliced up and thrown into chaos.

The light would even hit Fourth Grade creatures that were engaged in battle if they weren’t paying attention. They would scream in pain and dodge aside.

Fourth Grade adepts indeed had an awe-inspiring ability to dominate the battlefield if they lashed out with all their might!

The other adepts that had come as reinforcements flew out of the adept tower once the Association’s battle squad had engaged the disaster creatures. From both flanks, they started to exterminate the mutated beasts and disaster creatures that had gathered around the valley.

As discussed earlier, the Association’s squad would take center stage, the Northern Witches and Central adepts would take the left flank, and the Silver Union would take the right. They would encircle the enemies.

This assignment was given out of consideration of the difference in power between the major adept organizations.

The Central Lands had Greem. Overall, however, the Central adept squad was the weakest among all the organizations. The reason for it was simple. They had never engaged in any team battles nor been a part of any large-scale planar wars. That had always been the weakness of the Central Lands!

An individual’s power was never enough on such a cruel and bloody battlefield. Only a team that could trust each other could cover each other’s weaknesses and enhance their strengths.

In this regard, the Central adepts undoubtedly lacked a sense of cooperation, long-term thinking, trust, and war magic.

At this moment, to their detriment, the more cowardly ones among them were still wondering if this was Greem’s plot to get rid of them!

It was impossible to unite and organize these disjointed adepts without harsh, authoritarian means.

Kerala. Intermediate Fourth Grade, Sealing Master. Specialized in shadow sealing techniques.

Declan. Beginner Fourth Grade, Body-Refining Adept. Specialized in close combat.

Alfred. Intermediate Fourth Grade, Elementium Adept. Specialized in sound magic.

Matthew. Beginner Fourth Grade, Summoner. Specialized in summoning powerful otherworldly creatures.

Nicolas. Beginner Fourth Grade, Elementium Adept. Specialized in water magic.

Ariza. Beginner Fourth Grade, Bloodline Adept. Able to transform into a lion-headed human.

Roderick, Beginner Fourth Grade, Elementium Adept. Specialized in plant magic.

It seemed like there were all sorts of adepts spanning all manner of specialization. However, trying to put them together into a squad capable of fighting against Fourth Grade disaster creatures was back-breaking work.

There might be many of them in the party, but the only one who could serve as a tank was Body-Refining Adept Declan. Ariza might be a bloodline adept capable of transforming into a lion-headed human, but that particular ancient beast didn’t excel at melee combat. They preferred to charm and trick an enemy with illusions and sensory-disabling abilities.

That was why Declan was the only person who could stand at the front. Matthew could also summon some tough otherworldly creatures to help, but that was it.

It would be okay if they were just a little weak on defense, but the squad was incredibly weak, even on offense!

There might be many elementium adepts among them, but they all excelled at single-target, instant-cast spells. They laced in the kind of potent area-of-effect spells that required long cast times and someone to cover for them as they cast.

It would have been fine if they only lacked war magic. After all, wouldn’t it be okay if they had excellent equipment and were able to match the disaster creatures in a duel? However, many of the Central adepts couldn’t even do this much!

They indeed had numerous pieces of magical equipment on their persons. However, most of them were used for self-preservation, escape, or defense. While it wasn’t like they had no offensive equipment, they certainly didn’t have much.

In all honesty, Greem felt a chilling breeze run over his heart when he got his hands on the Fourth Grade Central adepts’ basic information. At the same time, he fully understood why the three major organizations despised and looked down on the Central Lands so.

Upon seeing the other organizations get into formation and rush into battle, Greem could only sigh and give out his own orders.

“Declan, you’re in charge of defense.

“Matthew, summon some powerful magical creatures to help Declan.

“Ariza, you are in charge of the second defensive line.

“The rest of you stay by my side and exterminate the mutated beasts with long-ranged spells.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Having said that, flames surged around Greem. His body was instantly clad in red-white flames. He marched forward, scattering out numerous fire runes as he did so.

The fire runes dove into the bodies of every single Central adept. The next moment, their bodies glowed with red light as they were engulfed by light.

“This is my Light of Principle! You won’t have to worry about the chaos principles on the battlefield with this! Since we are all here already, let the other major organizations see if we Central adepts are truly a bunch of useless fools!”

Greem roared as he lunged into the battlefield headfirst.