Age of Adepts

As the mission approached, Greem started to come into contact with more people and more information on them.

The battle at the frontlines grew more intense with every passing day.

The major factions were all fighting on their own, letting a bloody battle unfold at the planar barrier of Morrian as they fought against the arcanists.

It was said that the battles there clouded the skies and blotted out the sun. Rivers of blood formed from the bodies in that war, and the world itself teetered on the brink of collapse.

The adept faction was undoubtedly one of the weaker camps among all the invaders.

When the Scourge Lords used their overwhelming power to knock down the arcane towers of the Great Arcanists and tear a massive gash in Morrian's planar barrier, a horde of disaster creatures and starbeasts swarmed into the plane. These monsters charged wildly towards the gigantic floating cities waiting below.

At the same time, barriers of light massive enough to cover entire cities arose from the floating cities, keeping out the disaster creatures and starbeasts. The arcane towers and watchtowers stationed all over the plane fired off beams of brilliant arcane magic, destroying the massive, ugly bodies of their enemies.

For a moment, corpses rained from the sky, and blood poured like a perpetual waterfall. It was a horrifying scene to behold, accompanied by the shockwaves of magical tides!

However, most of the casualties of the battlefield were low-Grade disaster creatures forcibly spawned by the Scourge Lords. The Scourge Lords would hardly feel a thing no matter how many of these creatures were to die. On the contrary, the Scourge Lords took full advantage of the space that had been created by the horde of disaster creatures. They hastened their offense against the arcane towers of the Great Arcanists.

With the massive bodies of the Scourge Lords that easily spanned kilometers in width, they had incredible trouble forcing their way into Morrian Plane, even without the obstruction of the Great Arcanists. As such, they focused their efforts on tearing the planar barrier of Morrian. In doing so, they could allow more of their subordinates to rush into the world to harvest the lives and souls of its residents.

They crouched upon the gap of the planar barrier, trying their best to stop the opening from healing while absorbing the clouds of light golden soul silhouettes rising from below.

According to the planar laws, the souls of all living creatures that died in the plane would be reassimilated into the mother river of souls. There, they would repeat the cycle of rebirth as new life was born within the plane once more.

However, at this moment, the Scourge Lords were like parasites leeching upon Morrian Plane. They had shattered the ecosystem within the plane and were desperately absorbing the souls of every arcanist and planar native that died on the battlefield.

The Morrian Plane, having lost-and still losing-many of its residents, was starting to stall in its operation like an aging machine without the lubrication of souls.

Within the Arcane Empire, two Arcane Emperors (Eighth Grade), seven Great Arcanists (Seventh Grade), ninety-eight arcanists (Fifth to Sixth Grade) and thousands of arcane scholars (First to Fourth Grade) were rushing to the gap in the planar barrier, rising in flying arcane towers and levitating cities.

During this process, they continued to battle with the disaster creatures and starbeasts that had breached their plane, turning tens of thousands of kilometers of land into a fearsome war zone of death and destruction.

The reckless actions of the Scourge Lords had drawn away nearly seventy percent of the Arcane Empire's defense. The other invading factions had no choice but to hasten their own invasion. Some of them even started to organize small groups of elite forces to breach Morrian and obtain their long-awaited resources, knowledge, and treasures before the rest of their competitors.

…………

There was a tall cliff on the western coast of Morrian Plane.

A hundred-meter-wide black hole was slowly closing in the skies above. Sixteen hazy outlines were struggling beneath the hole, trying their best to break through the planar barrier as quickly as they could.

"Go now! Go and do your duty according to what has been assigned to you. I will give you the reward you deserve when you return successfully!"

An unusually loud and stern voice rang throughout the lands. The sixteen adepts finally succeeded in breaking through the planar barrier, allowing their bodies to manifest in Morrian slowly.

Greem was among these sixteen adepts. He endured the dizziness in his mind and tried his best to resist the overwhelming planar backlash descending upon him. Finally, he managed to stabilize himself.

While he stood upon a rock with his hand on his forehead, five of his fifteen companions had also managed to recover. They stood up straight and started to evaluate this utterly alien planar world.

The first few to recover looked at each other, secretly surprised by each other's capabilities. When their gazes landed upon the figures that were still lying or crouching on the ground, a trace of disdain unavoidably surfaced in their eyes.

In particular, when the two-headed adept, Mangus, spat out a mouthful of blood from the tremendous planar backlash, someone in the group even started to laugh maliciously.

Greem reached out with his right hand, and the fire coral staff leaped out of the Elder's Ring into his hand.

He tapped the ground with his staff, and a halo of flames rose into the air around the pale two-headed adept.

With the fires temporarily isolating him from the suppression of the planar consciousness, the two-headed adept was immediately able to break free of their dizzied state. He quickly took out several potions and drank them.

He was finally able to resist the troublesome planar suppression with the aid of the potions.

"Thank you!" Mangus, having caught a break, was able to nod at Greem and express his thanks.

"We are companions. This is only something I ought to do." Greem replied with a smile.

A total of sixteen Fourth Grade adepts had traveled here this time. Twelve of these adepts were the main force, split into Group One and Group Two, each in charge of a different mission. Meanwhile, Greem and the three other adepts were Group Three. They were in charge of slaughter and mass-murder to distract the enemy and cover the tracks of the elite parties.

As for what Group One and Group Two's missions were, none of them in Group Three had any idea!

Due to the difference in power and mission objectives, the leaders of Group One and Two gathered upon arrival. They took out a map and started to mumble and discuss amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, Greem, the two-headed adept, Adept Holly, and the sinister-looking Dark Witch were left alone in a corner. They watched as the elite adepts took out magic wands and crystals to examine the spatial environment around them, completely unsure as to what they should be doing.

One of the two leaders of the elite groups lifted his head from the discussion and looked at Greem and the others. He pointed a finger at Greem and said, "Hey, you…yes, you. Come here and discuss the path that your group will be taking!"

The adept was rude and arrogant in his behavior, but there was an unquestioning and powerful aura in every moment he made.

Greem frowned but did not say anything in opposal. He silently walked over instead.

"According to what information we have obtained, our current location is here." The leader tapped at a single point on the three-dimensional map hovering above the scroll, leaving a tiny red dot in the air.

Greem looked at the map. Blue light flickered in his eyes as the entire map was quickly etched in his mind.

Overall, Morrian Plane could be split into six continents of mediocre size. A massive sea filled the space between all six continents. They were currently on the west coast of the Kentos Continent, with the Gemstone Sea behind them and the Arcane Empire's territory ahead of them.

"You and your companions are responsible for our cover. You must make a big commotion on the path you travel through. Take this path forward once you leave and attack as many cities and arcane towers of the Arcane Empire along the way as you can. Of course, if you have the opportunity, deal with this floating city along the way!"

The leader moved his hand across the map, and a glaring red line pierced through the Kentos Continent and ended on the other end of the continent.

Greem hesitated for a moment before bending over slightly and asked in a soft voice, "Sir, would you know the approximate current locations of the disaster creatures that broke into the plane a while ago?"

The leader was a body-refining adept with rough facial features and a large scar running down his right cheek. He lifted his head and glanced at Greem. He finally showed his teeth as his mouth broke into a wicked smile.

"On account of you being the strongest amongst them, I will do you a favor and tell you! Here."

Greem looked at the large circle that the adept had casually drawn on the map, and his face slightly turned colors.

Though the path of attack that had been designated for them did not coincide with the large red circle, there was only three thousand kilometers distance where the path was closest to the circle. It might be a tremendous distance for mortals, but for those monstrous disaster creatures and starbeasts, it was only a matter of hours.

That meant that there was a possibility that they would run into those savage competitors along the way.

Both of them had entered Morrian for the Arcane Empire's precious resources, treasures, and arcane knowledge. Of course, the opponent was probably focused primarily on the planar origin and the wild slaughter that would be found here.

Still, under such circumstances, there would be no such thing as a genial meeting if they ran into each other. A bloody fight would be unavoidable!

Greem's face changed colors several times, but in the end, he nodded silently.

Non-elite Fourth Grades like themselves were the least valued forces in the adept faction.

If a fight were to break out between them and the disaster creatures, they would most definitely be the ones to suffer.

While the twelve adepts concluded their discussion, a mountainous wave of bestial roaring came from the distance.

Thousands of magical beasts rushed out of the forest under the lead of a rhinoceros, surging towards the adepts' location. Greem lifted his head and looked. From a distance, he could see the appearance of every single beast, their eyes crimson, foam frothing at their mouths, as if they had gone utterly berserk.

"Hmph! This must be the last crazed throes of the planar consciousness. To think it would send a horde of First and Second Grade magical beasts to commit suicide here. Let's go now. Kill them all, and then we can get on our journey."

The next second, a storm of spells devoured this stampede of magical beasts!