Age of Adepts

The metal giant that Adept Holly had turned into possessed impressive might that far surpassed these arcane golems.

The arcane golems that only reached his waist were so frail and fragile in front of him.

Loud metallic snapping and crackling rang out as the metal giant charged like a stampeding bull through a china store. It immediately pierced through the army of arcane golems, its domineering figure appearing in front of the arcanists. The metal giant had knocked the arcane golems all over the place, large web-like cracks covering their rune-carved bodies.

"Little brats, make way!"

Adept Holly was hidden well within the astral construct. He extended a giant metallic hand, and countless blinding starlight descended from the skies, wildly ravaging the shocked and terrified arcanists.

These dozen arcanists were of various grades. Some were young, and some were old. Some were male, while others were female. Without a single exception, every one of them was draped in fine and ornate arcane robes.

As the violent starlight crashed down upon them, layers of dense and thick arcane light shimmered around their bodies, desperately protecting them against this fearsome power.

If they were all Fourth Ring arcanists and enhanced by energy from the arcane tower, they just might have been able to defend against Adept Holly's attack. Unfortunately, the most powerful one present in the group was only a Third Ring arcanist!

The arcanists' energy forcefields slowly shattered, one by one, beneath the splendorous beams of starlight. As the vicious starlight seeped into their bodies, they turned into human sculptures devoid of all life before even their human forms started to collapse and disintegrate, turning into scattered sparks.

Not a single piece of flesh or blood remained of any arcanist that died in this manner. Their existence had been thoroughly deleted.

The arcanists erupted, one after another, like blooming fireworks. No one could have expected that even death could look so beautiful!

The eyes of young Arcanist Riant reddened as he saw his companions die one by one around him in such an unusual fashion. Insuppressible anger and rage filled his chest.

He was a Third Ring arcanist, after all. He had much better equipment than his First and Second Ring companions. Moreover, the arcane tower had instantly applied an arcane shield around him. It had saved him from following in his companions' footsteps and washing into exploding fireworks by that enchantingly blinding starlight.

Riant furiously poured magical energy into the arcane shield to defend against the corrosion of the starlight, all while rapidly establishing a connection with the spell pool inside the tower. A rapid series of chants came out of his mouth. Several blinding beams of arcane light flowed out of his hands, shooting towards the towering metal giant.

Unfortunately, his meager power was nothing to a Fourth Grade golem master. He had only one second of brilliance before he was crushed to mincemeat beneath a giant metal foot.

There was a muffled squish. After stomping a Third Ring arcanist to death, Adept Holly promptly rushed towards the entrance of the arcane tower. He smashed through the arcane barriers while the metal gates had yet to shut, and the tower's primary barriers not yet activated. Thus, he stepped into the tower.

A slender, shadowy silhouette appeared momentarily at the gates from the energy turbulence caused by the shattered arcane barrier. The shadow lasted for less than a second. It cackled sinisterly and melded into the air once more, vanishing without a trace.

"Alert…alert…alert.

"Invaders have entered the arcane tower. All defensive systems activate.

"All members of Arcane Tower Four, return to your positions. Defensive retaliation system will be activated in three seconds. Three…two…one.

"Defensive retaliation system has been activated.

"Primary barriers activating now. All entrances and exit on the first and second level have been sealed. Target creature is locked on.

"Beep. Beep. Beep. Emergency alert. A second invader has been detected. Invader has breached the second level.

"Passageways on the third, fourth, and fifth level of the tower have been sealed. Arcane guards are mobilizing.

"Warning. Warning. Target Creature One is heading to Basement Level One. Initial estimates suggest invader's target to be the elementium pool in the energy room. Enemy action categorized as a Class One Threat. Requesting immediate interception by tower arcanists.

"……"

"……"

The elderly Third Ring arcanist couldn't help but lift his head and sigh sorrowfully during the blaring alarms from the tower spirit.

There was no need to probe the enemy. The fundamental strength of the enemy could be deduced from how fast and barbaric the enemy was in their assault.

It was a terrifying enemy, more than a match for low-grade arcanists like themselves!

If there were a Fourth Ring arcanist stationed in this arcane tower, those evil adepts that had broken into the plane would never dare to be so reckless. However, with the continued war, all the high-grade arcanists had been mobilized to the planar battlefield or Gallan Province to wage war.

All this mobilization had left Arcane Tower Four weak and vulnerable. To think, the enemy had managed to penetrate so deep into the tower in just six minutes.

How…how could this not make his heart ache!?

As the current master of the arcane tower, the old man's duty was to maintain the regional peace and protect these arcane scholars and arcane apprentices that had been with him for so many years.

As such, faced with such a determined and unstoppable enemy, the tower master had only one choice. His heart bled as he pressed the arcane crystal in front of him.

"All arcanists of Arcane Tower Four. When you hear this message, evacuate the arcane tower immediately, regardless of whether you are in your station or fighting against the enemy. I have authorized the tower spirit to activate the emergency exits. You must flee the arcane tower as quickly as possible. The…the enemies that have invaded today are too powerful for us to resist. Your only mission now is to protect yourself and make it to…ah—"

While the arcanists of the arcane tower were listening to the tower master's broadcast with bloodshot eyes, his words suddenly stopped. They were instead quickly replaced by a suppressed grunt of agony.

A cold and elegant female voice then replaced the elderly tower master's, arrogantly reverberating between the walls of the arcane tower.

"Run…run, puny arcanists! This little ship is about to sink. You lot had better escape as quickly as you can. That said, I still want to play a little game with you before you flee. Let's see which of you is truly fortunate enough to escape this arcane tower. As long as you leave this place, I will generously let you live; you have my word that I will not pursue you. But for those of you that remain in the tower……your lives and souls will forever remain here. Hahaha! Well now, let the game begin!"

Dark, indiscernible shadows appeared all over the arcane tower as Dark Witch Shani's crazed, piercing laughter rang out. These shadows quickly distorted and morphed when they arose, turning into dark, slender, and feminine shadows.

These shadows looked very similar to Dark Witch Shani's own profile. It seemed like they were some of her many shadow clones.

These shadow clones all seemed to possess a trace of consciousness of their own. They laughed sinisterly upon forming and started wandering the tower, searching for the hiding arcanists.

Meanwhile, the old tower master was now lying on the ground in the central control hall of the arcane tower, a gaping hole in his chest. The heart in his hollowed-out chest had vanished completely.

Dark Witch Shani stood at the control crystal. Her mouth was slightly agape as tendrils of faint, black smoke slowly came out and merged with the crystal. In combination with the passwords and means of control that she had succeeded in retrieving from the tower master's mind, Shani had managed to use her powers to erode the crystal. She had managed to suppress the tower spirit somewhat and was slowly starting to take over control of the arcane tower.

A semi-translucent projection of the tower appeared above the control crystal. Every hidden room, hidden passage, warehouse, and storage facilities were fully displayed. Even the arcanists and arcane apprentices in the tower were indicated with red dots of various brightness.

Shani laughed sinisterly.

Whenever she pointed at a place in the tower, the scene taking place in that location would be magnified and projected in front of her. It showed the arcanists panicking as they tried to dodge the attacks from their own arcane golems. The magical doors that had always granted them free access seemed to have malfunctioned as well, leaving them isolated and trapped in individual rooms of their own.

Shani reveled in the crazed expressions of the arcanists as she pointed with her finger and sent clusters of dark energy through the tower.

A shadow assassin similar to Shani in appearance quickly formed wherever the dark energy traveled!

The panicked and terrified cries of the arcanists soon filled the entire tower.

…………

Greem casually strolled through the arcane tower.

The four adepts had already broken in. They were scattered throughout the different levels, slaughtering, or simply scouring for treasure. Everyone was doing what they enjoyed the most.

Dark Witch Shani had taken over the central control hall and seemed to be having plenty of fun in there.

Adept Holly had been studying and researching something in the energy room in the basement after knocking down the last arcane golem.

Two-headed Adept Mangus was cooped up in the warehouses looting all he could.

Meanwhile, Greem turned corner after corner, walked through door after door, and finally arrived at the knowledge hall in the arcane tower. A trail of magical doors had a human imprint burned through them from where he passed through.

This place was only a small arcane tower in a rural province, after all. Their magical doors only had ordinary magic resistance and couldn't possibly stop a Fourth Grade elementium adept.

Thus, Greem broke into the knowledge hall and started using the Chip's rapid scan and copy functions to quickly record the contents of every single book into his mind.

A comprehensive and organized system of the arcane arts was rapidly forming in the depths of his mind.