Age of Adepts

Fiveface’s five faces almost turned white from horror when he sensed the terrifying energy intensity contained in the two fireballs.

He raised his five reptilian heads and opened his maws, spitting out as many energy balls of his five elementium as possible. In the end, he was able to detonate the two fireballs before they reached him.

The Vicious Fireballs collapsed inwards when they detonated. All of their power erupted simultaneously, creating a massive mushroom cloud of flames at the frontlines.

The terrifying energy radiation and shockwave ravaged the surroundings, vaporizing everything within range of the flames and leaving a deep crater in the ground measuring over five hundred meters in diameter.

The adepts and the other disaster creatures fighting in the center of the battlefield fled in every direction, panicked and terrified. None of them dared be involved in the battle between those two ultra-grade powerhouses.

“Ferenen Cambatu…Mother of Flames!” Greem chanted quickly and summoned a massive cloud of fire. It rapidly enveloped the opponent’s location like a red puff of cotton candy.

The next second, a sickly green poison halo pierced through the fire cloud.

The poison and fire powers lashed at and neutralized each other, corroding the planar space. Puddles of poison fell everywhere upon the ground.

Fiveface emerged from the flames with earth-shaking steps.

A few patches of its scales were visibly burned, with golden flames still smoldering on them. The main head of Fiveface stared firmly at Greem, while the others turned around and used their various breath attacks to put out the remaining Undying Flames.

However, even after extinguishing the flames, the injured parts remained withered and black. It was obvious that they had been affected by the principle powers.

The Undying Flames were very effective against enemies that had not mastered principle powers. However, it was relatively easy for Fiveface to put them out as long as he was willing to pay the price.

On one side, you had a thousand-meter-tall flame giant. On the other, there was a massive reptile measuring a hundred meters in size. They were both gigantic individuals. When they crashed together, the mountains literally trembled, and the ground was upended. Both of them were protected by principle powers as their poison halo and fire halo clashed. The resulting principle shockwaves became even more devastating and lethal than the original attacks were.

The Fourth Grade adepts and disaster creatures who had just fled a kilometer away turned back to look for an instant. They were scared out of their wits and immediately turned to run. The ultra-powerhouses and minor Scourge Lords were able to endure the shockwaves, but their own powers were affected.

Even they had no choice but to frown and move away from the nucleus of the battle.

The ten thousand-meter-wide space at the center of the valley was left as an exclusive battlefield for Greem and Fiveface.

For the sake of being able to match Greem, Fiveface began devouring spatial energy by the mouthful, his body swelling up to several times his original size. Eventually, he was able to reach Greem’s waist.

His five serpentine heads then summoned magic energy and created numerous elementium shields over his body. Rock Armor, Frost Shields, Whirlwind Shields, and Wave Shields.

Once he had applied defenses from all the elementium powers he was capable of using, Fiveface lunged at the flame giant with its sharp claws overgrown body.

The two gigantic monstrosities clashed together. Poison, fire, frost, rock, wind, and water- magic energy of various attributes blasted against each other and reduced the other to oblivion, leaving the earth and skies a mess.

With their powerful Spirits, they were even able to tear apart space itself, causing violent storms to appear!

The many-headed reptile was truly a powerful creature with tremendous Strength and Physique. His five heads ignored the blazing fires and wrapped themselves around Greem’s body, using their sharp fangs to bite at the flames.

Meanwhile, Greem seemed to have gone berserk. The flames shooting out of his blazing body reached unbelievable temperatures. They caused Fiveface’s body to blister all over, filling the air with the noxious stink of burned flesh.

The principle light radiating from the Tome of Corruption formed a thin barrier around Greem’s body. This barrier was as thin as an insect’s wing, but it managed to endure Fiveface’s ruthless tearing and tackling.

However, no number of principle defenses could stop the violent attacks of a raging beast. Fiveface’s sharp fangs were able to bite through the barrier and inject surges of elementium energy into Greem’s body.

This elementium energy contained his soul aura and was no different than the most vicious poison in the world to Greem, whose body was currently composed purely of fire.

Greem endured the twisting agony from his body. His massive hands balled into fists and smashed against Fiveface’s heads with resounding thuds. Golden flames gathered in his eyes and shot out as golden beams, leaving crisscrossing burn wounds on the enemy’s back, so deep you could even see bone.

The violent fire energy gathered by the Orb blasted out of his hands, turning into golden waves of flame that engulfed Fiveface.

The many-headed lizard squirmed in agony, but he stubbornly refused to let go of his bite. He used all of his strength to tear out pieces of flame from Greem’s body and cast them far away from the battle.

Greem was fire, and the fire was Greem!

He might be a thousand meters large, but fighting against a reptile with five heads like this one was still quite the disadvantage. His Physique was also at a low point and far from his peak. Consequently, he was not a match in a contest of sheer strength.

If he couldn’t pry the enemy away from him, then it was simply a matter of who was more vicious!

Greem tolerated the pain and drew upon as much power as he could from the Orb of the Fire God and the Tome of Corruption. He used the flames to brutally burn the enemy’s body.

The two of them rolled around the battlefield and fought in that savage fashion, neither side gaining ground!

Though neither could defeat the other, they both suffered severe losses.

Greem’s body of fire did not have sufficient defense. It had been torn out in chunks by Fiveface, making for a horrendous sight. Meanwhile, Fiveface was suffering the most painful, most agonizing ordeal he had ever faced in the past few thousand years.

His body, heads, legs…almost every piece of his body had almost been thoroughly cooked by Greem!

Even during the most intense moments of the fight, Fiveface could smell the scent of burned flesh coming from his body. The skin and flesh under the surface of his body had almost all been burned to charcoal. They came off in large pieces at the slightest touch.

Even the organs inside him were half-cooked. The organs hurt as if there were tens of thousands of needles stabbing them at all times. It was unbearable pain.

Fiveface really doubted whether he would find a single piece of untouched flesh across his body once this fight was over.

“Bloody hell! Why is there an ultra-grade adept in the World of Adepts? Shouldn’t they all have been banished to space? Nair! Ramzai! Many-Arms…you bastards! Come and help me, quick! I’m almost burnt to a crisp here!” Fiveface raised one of his head and let out a shrill cry as he continued to fight.

He was using the native language of the World of Disasters, a language that only noble higher creatures like themselves had the right to use. Unfortunately, his tragic cries for help could not move the steel hearts of his companions.

They continued to fight with the Fourth Grade human adepts as if they had not heard him. Clearly, none of them were willing to be involved in the vicious battle between the two ultra-grade beings!

They prided themselves on their power. But while they remained in the World of Adepts, and while the land had yet to be corrupted by the disaster powers, the limit of their might was peak Fourth Grade.

To fight against an ultra-grade adept whose power had clearly exceeded the limits of the planar world with only the might of a peak Fourth Grade. In all honesty, only an idiot like Fiveface who had been blinded by his own power would do it.

Even the most powerful among them was suffering terribly against that fire adept. They would only fare worse.

Invading the World of Adepts might be crucial, but it wasn’t important enough for them to give their lives in the process!

Intentionally or otherwise, the four minor Scourge Lords and the human adepts they were fighting against strayed further and further from the central battlefield. They were already approaching the border of Inkdeep Valley, leaving more than enough space for the two main combatants.

Greem was still communicating rapidly with the Chip, even as he fought.

[Beep. 26% of Body of Flames missing. Approaching severe damage…17% of fire energy lost. Attack intensity is weakening. Estimated to fall below 10,000 points in 23 seconds.

[Target creature is estimated to still retain 67% of its combat ability. Target creature remains a threat to Host. Recommend Host use Devouring Fish Transformation and devour the enemy with the starbeast bloodline. Estimated success rate of devouring: 37%.

[Furthermore, for every 1% reduction in target creature’s combat ability, the chance of success will increase by 2%.]

“I can’t use the transformation. That’s a killer ace I’m saving for certain enemies. I can’t waste it on fodder like this one. Just tell me- if we continue to grind this out, who will be the first to collapse?” Greem calmly rejected the Chip’s suggestion.

[Beep. Given the current development, target creature is estimated to last for another 127 seconds, while Host will only last for another 89 seconds. Host’s body will be the first to collapse and be completely invaded by the poison power.] The Chip’s response was calm and cruel.

Greem’s fire principles might be far stronger than the enemy, but he was utterly outmatched in terms of Physique. That allowed the opponent to last longer than him despite enduring more grievous wounds.

“Then there’s no more need to hesitate. Activate Scorched Earth!”

[Beep. Order received. Scorched Earth activating.]

A tremendous change immediately took over the battlefield!