Age of Adepts

Chapter 1043 Conscription

Bluesea Plane. Nero City.

It was a mid-sized city with a population of merely fifty or sixty thousand.

As a city populated primarily by humans, the buildings in Nero were mostly built of wood. Though the designs were slightly different than those of the World of Adepts, there was still a sense of familiarity to them.

It was currently at the time of the day when the sun was at its brightest.

Countless people walked in and out of this human city beneath the warm light of the sun. Merchants moved ever forward, along with carriages carrying all sorts of cargo.

Inside a magnificent palace at the center of the city, a beautiful girl in a purple lace dress was anxiously speaking with a white-robed female adept.

"Are you abandoning us, teacher? Why, Teacher Jenna?"

The white-robed adept was a woman who looked reasonably old. Her face was compassionate and kind, but it was now filled with a helpless expression. She wore a strange magical emblem on her chest; the insignia appeared to be that of the Zhentarim Association.

Moreover, judging by her energy aura, she was only a First Grade adept.

"Princess Aisa, these few years have been very pleasant for both of us. I also like a disciple as diligent and brilliant as you very much. However, the Association has suddenly sent us the message to make an emergency retreat without any explanation. I have to to go. It cannot be helped!" The female adept frowned and explained casually.

"Could this…could this have something to do with the terrifying plague that broke out in the north?" Princess Aisa finally asked in a hoarse voice.

The female adept fell silent for a moment before finally speaking, "You are not a member of the Association. Supposedly, I shouldn't reveal any information about this to you."

"Teacher…Teacher, you are the one who doted on me the most over the past few years and the one who cared the most for me. I…I have always loved you like a mother!" Princess Asia became even more agitated.

"Very well, I will make an exception this time!" The white-robed adept gritted her teeth, "According to the message I received from the Association before this, an adept's duel has recently been arranged for Gordon Highlands, at the northern border of the dukedom."

"Gordon Highlands? That's over five hundred kilometers away from Nero City!"

"Indeed. I also never expected the adept's duel to spread to Nero City. Unfortunately, judging from the plague that broke out in the north, one of the adepts must have used some taboo magic. To my knowledge, over a dozen cities in the north have gone silent. They must have been……"

The female adept's voice turned soft and downcast.

"Teacher, Teacher, are we…supposed to just let those adepts do whatever they want while you are still overseeing this city? Teacher Jenna, Nero City is my only fiefdom! If this city is destroyed, I…I will have nothing!" Princess Aisa shook the adept's shoulder with all her strength as large beads of tears rolled down her cheek.

The white-robed adept shook her head helplessly.

"If I were you, Aisa, I would immediately bring my family and subordinates and escape to the south. Even a minute's delay will be extremely dangerous. Don't count on the Association. Even if those reverent adepts were to use some taboo magic, their punishment would only come later. A stationed adept like myself has no means to change the decision made by the Association's leaders."

The adept's face suddenly turned pale. She jumped over to the tall, large paneless window and stared at the northern skies.

An insignificant black dot was bobbing up and down in the air.

…………

Remi stood a thousand meters above the ground. A massive mountain eagle whose feathers had all fallen off and whose skin was covered in mucus and sores was his mount.

Remi bent down slightly and looked at the pretty little city below, as neat as a chessboard. A vicious smile appeared on his face as he saw the dense crowd traveling through the city to and fro. As he lightly waved his hand, vast clouds of black smoke emerged from within his body and charged downwards like a pack of living creatures.

As the black clouds descended, they started to rapidly split up and multiply, turning from tiny spores into plague viruses invisible to the naked eye.

The black smoke continued to thin and disperse until, gradually, it vanished without a trace. However, countless viruses now floated in the air, spreading to every corner of the small city on gentle breezes.

The sound of retching and vomiting began to ring out across the city, along with the sound of furniture being knocked over. Soon, the first group of 'monsters' that had fallen victim to the virus and mutated appeared.

They might have been the hunchbacked elderly or frail teenagers in their past lives, but upon turning into poison zombies, their Strength was greatly amplified, and their movements also became significantly more quick and agile than before. However, the terrifying aspect of these poison zombies were their numbers.

The zombies crouching on the ground relied on their rapidly growing claws and fangs and their extraordinary agility to charge along roofs and walls. They were hardly bothered when their heads smashed through three-finger-thick wooden planks. They simply shook their heads slightly and continued forward.

The people's screams of terror could be heard in every street and building in the city. The sight of poison zombies scaling buildings could be seen everywhere.

One after another, the unprepared and panicking forms were pinned to the ground by the zombies. Terrifying screams would then ring out, swiftly followed by the sounds of wild beasts chewing on the flesh and bones of their prey.

The healthier humans survived the first round of plague modification. That was no fortune, but the start to even greater torture. They coughed violently as they stumbled as far as their legs could take them, fearfully avoiding and hiding from the poison zombies.

The poison zombies' leaping shapes could be seen everywhere in the large city. The people could only wander aimlessly, as none of them had any idea where would be a safe place to be.

Attacked by both the viruses and the poison zombies, the second wave of plague modifications began!

Remi stood tall in the skies above, looking down at everything happening below with an indifferent expression.

Suddenly, he turned his head, and his gaze fell upon a delicate and attractive building at the center of the city.

He could faintly sense elementium flux from that building.

A white-robed female adept, who was shrouded in black smoke from head to toe, shouted and charged into the sky.

Association adept?

Remi hesitated for a moment when he saw the white-robed adept's emblem. He then waved his hand and drove out the plague viruses that lingered on her person.

"Are you the stationed adept here?" Remi asked.

Adept Jenna stared at the black smoke as it slowly faded away from her. It was only now that she could let go of some of her concerns. When she heard the words of greeting from the 'monster' above her, she carefully manipulated the elementium particles to push her to the opponent's side.

"Good day. I am the stationed adept sent by the Association to oversee the Nisara Dukedom. Who might you be, sir?"

Adept Jenna secretly looked at the City of Nero below her as she spoke.

At this moment, the beautiful and peaceful city had now turned into an apocalyptic scene where dens of the virus where everywhere, making for an unbearable view to witness!

"Since you are an Association adept, you may leave! I wish to borrow the people here!"

"My lord, there are also a few people in the city that I wish to take away with me. What do you think?"

"Are they members of the Association?"

"No. However—"

"Then I will make sure none of them escapes! If you don't leave now, even you will have to stay here forever."

Adept Jenna could only shake her head and leave dejectedly after hearing Remi's somewhat impatient words.

When she turned to leave, she could very clearly see a pack of hideous and vicious creatures charge out of the palace. Parts of a purple lace dress were still attached to the body of one of these monsters.

At the sight of this, Jenna's last bit of hesitation was completely severed. She gritted her teeth and flew into the distance without looking back.

Seeing that the plague army beneath him had started to achieve a sizeable scale, Spirit of Pestilence Remi used his authority as their master to command them towards the battlefield in the distant north. He continued to ride the mountain eagle southwest.

There was another city there, eighty kilometers away.

It was a place that he had to go harvest personally.

Remi also sent newly evolved Plaguebringers to the six or seven human towns and villages along the way, all for the purposes of gathering more troops. It was this small accumulation, bit by bit, that allowed Remi to pull together a massive plague army in just ten days.

…………

While the north of Nisara Dukedom was being ravaged by plagues, and the fight raged on in Gordon Highlands, the Zhentarim Association was already in an uproar.

Even though the Bluesea Plane wasn't considered a particularly important resource plane within the Association, it was a good place for leisure and holiday. Right now, over one-fifth of the Nisara Dukedom, the largest of the plane, had been invaded by the plague. All surviving civilians had also turned into ugly and hideous plague creatures.

Was the Association still intent on sitting by and watching the Spirit of Pestilence wreak destruction under such circumstances?

The Association adepts had split into multiple factions over this matter and were engaged in a passionate argument.

The more radical called for the Association to punish this damned fire adept who had dared to allow his contracted spirit to freely slaughter the people and destroy the Association's property.

Some of the others were more conservative. They believed that the Association was the one to place the battle in that location, and Greem's actions were a means of magic, making it understandable for him to do whatever he was doing. All they had to do was warn him and have him compensate with some resources at the end of the fight.

Many sat on the fence, not particularly expressing their opinion towards one or the other. These people were both dissatisfied with the brazen attitude of the Spirit of Pestilence, but also didn't want to appear too particular about the rules and too much of a miser. Counting the losses of every single planar native would be a little selfish.

As such, the opinions could not be reconciled, and the various parties quickly came into conflict.

However, this was the opinion and attitude of the low-grade adepts, after all. Compared to them, the high-grade adepts of the Zhentarim higher-ups appeared to be extremely calm and composed, almost as if they weren't fazed by the temporary chaos that had spread in this tiny little resource plane.

On the contrary, some high-grade adepts even unexpectedly praised and acknowledged the legendary fire adept's unscrupulous behavior.