Age of Adepts

Flames of rage spread across the ground as a god of fire descended!

Greem turned into a flame giant, grabbed Emelia in his arms, and freely traveled through the caves. Flames erupted, and fires spread where he appeared.

It wasn't just the magical sporepeople who faced decimation. Even the Second and Third Grade Fungal Giants and swamp creatures could not survive more than ten seconds in the Burning Domain.

A trail of burned, scorched, and twisted bodies were left behind as Greem traveled through the caves. Judging from how severely burnt they were, it wasn't hard to imagine the pain and despair they had experienced before their deaths.

This place was the sacred land that the magical sporepeople had defended for several hundred years. Corrupted swamp creatures hid almost everywhere, along with terrifying and dangerous magical traps. However, all of these were insignificant in Greem's eyes.

He continuously scanned his surroundings with the Chip as he advanced.

Secret passages, hidden rooms, pitfalls, traps, ambushes; nothing-absolutely nothing-could escape Greem's eyes. His response to all this was straightforward and violent!

Fireballs, fire arrows, and flames. Fire spells of every form fired from his hands.

All scheming and strategy were pointless before such overwhelming power. Flames were all that were needed!

The thirty-meter-long winding stone road was covered in magical traps. The whole place was glowing red in Greem's eyes. He couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to.

A wave of fire surged forward, triggering all the magical traps and causing a deafening explosion of elementium. However, apart from riddling the tunnel with holes, the eruption of the traps had not been able to hurt Greem in the slightest.

Greem advanced and arrived at a narrow passage only wide enough for a single Fungal Giant to walk through. Faint energy radiance could be seen on both sides of the tunnel.

Greem focused power on his eyes and increased the Chip's penetrative vision. He instantly saw through the one-meter-thick stone wall and saw the countless red figures hiding behind the secret doors in them.

Greem snorted coldly and tapped the staff in his left hand. The Burning Domain instantly extended into the stone walls. In just three to five seconds, the enemies hiding in wait started crying out in pain. The two hidden doors also glowed red from the heat of the Domain.

"Attack…attack…all of you, charge and attack!"

There seemed to be a leader amongst the enemies. He shouted loudly and gave his orders.

The doors on both sides opened up, and the badly burned forces prepared to charge out and attack Greem.

Unfortunately, the death trap they had prepared for Greem had caught them instead.

Due to the narrow passageway, the many enemies were stuck inside the passage, unable to establish their formations. Greem took this opportunity to seal off their paths with three Demonic Walls of Fire. He then casually summoned a Firestorm and hurled it where the life signatures were the densest.

Flames crackled as the wave of fire seared his enemies.

The sizzling sound of burning never stopped, nor did the constant screams and cries for mercy.

However, the more enemies that burned, the stranger things seemed to become. Not only was there a lack of a burnt smell, but the air also seemed to be filled with the smell of grass and wood. Green sparks started to rise from the scorched bodies of the dead. One could feel their Spirit become invigorated when they came into contact with these green balls of light.

Plant elementium particles were truly the tamest magical particles in the world.

Even a fire adept like Greem was invigorated and refreshed upon coming into contact with such dense plant elementium. Emelia's bursting headache also became significantly reduced when she absorbed the elementium particles.

The Demonic Walls of Fire sealing the exit paths, the Firestorm to exterminate the enemies, and a few more fireballs to open up a path forward.

It was a violent and straightforward solution, but when supported by Greem's overwhelmingly powerful flames and incredible spiritual senses, there was no response to it. It was a situation of utter despair!

Before the enemies could surround Greem, his fire spells had already descended on them.

He didn't even need to apply the Fire Penetration and Increased Fire Effectiveness effects to his flames. The base damage of these fire spells was already enough to sweep away all enemies in his path.

In fact, when Greem traveled past some hidden passages or rooms, he hurled a fireball into the doors under Emelia's reminder, and all the enemies would be dead.

Greem was like a naughty child running about looking for ant nests with a pot of boiling water in his hand. The ambushes of the enemy, their traps, their offensives- all of these were frail and pointless in his eyes.

All he had to do was throw out his spells!

"Clan leader, this isn't exactly the plan we discussed earlier, is it? Shouldn't we prioritize exterminating the forces at the center of the sacred land and taking control of that area? If we take our time like this, Fahssn will teleport back once he hears of the commotion." Emelia was suffering from a headache, but she still quickly identified the problem.

There was no real need to exterminate the forces and guards hiding all over the place. The most important thing was penetrating the magical spore center and taking control of the most important Spore Source in the sacred land. However, Greem was now playing around as if he had plenty of time. He did not seem to be in a hurry at all and was toying with the guards.

This…confused Emelia!

However, Greem had not established his reputation as the legendary fire adept for nothing. He would never make such an obvious mistake without a plan. Emelia was only asking gently, without any hint of questioning in her tone.

Greem smiled as a sly expression appeared on his fiery face.

"I'm intentionally going slow."

"Then, you…?"

"Indeed, I am waiting for Fahssn to return. Emelia, if we are fortunate enough, we might be able to avenge your losses as well!"

Emelia took a deep breath, and an expression of disbelief appeared on her pretty face.

She might have tried her hardest to lead Greem to the Marsh Wetlands and into the sacred land, but she had never expected him to kill Fahssn. The reason was simple. She still retained enough respect for the Fourth Grades!

It was hard to truly understand a Fourth Grade creature's power if you had not ventured to the outside world.

It was only when you had lived in a higher plane like the World of Adepts that you could truly appreciate the terror and might of the Fourth Grades, of these powerful beings who were demi-gods in their own right!

Take the current situation as an example. The sporepeople had been guarding the sacred land for hundreds of years, turning it into an impenetrable land of death covered in traps. Yet, the lack of a Fourth Grade meant that Greem's invasion was less of a battle and more of a slaughter.

The massive gulf in power between Third Grades and Fourth Grades was not something that could be made up for with numbers!

Moreover, the one invading the sacred land was none other than Greem, an adept powerful enough to be feared even amongst Fourth Grade. It wasn't hard to imagine why the sacred land was in such trouble.

The fact that Greem was so confident when he would be facing a Fourth Grade meant that he certainly had plans in mind. Emelia knew this clan leader well enough to know that he never exaggerated or made empty promises.

Thus, the nervous Emelia remained silent and started wondering what secret ace her clan leader could be hiding. As smart as she was, she quickly discovered certain things.

The teleportation array from earlier had a tough time completing its teleportation. With how powerful the clan leader was, the teleportation should not have been so difficult, especially over a mere distance of five hundred kilometers.

If the clan leader had teleported over from the Ango'rosh ogre camp, it would not have caused the array to overload in that manner. Judging from this, the clan leader had very likely pulled an ally from the World of Adepts with him through the aid of the directional teleportation array.

Had Lady Mary come?

Emelia couldn't help but stick her neck out and look at the cave's shadows, hoping to find signs of the Fourth Grade vampire.

Greem had done an excellent job of keeping his powers secret. Emelia had no idea that Shadow Demon even existed. Naturally, she could not have known that an incredibly fearsome killer had hidden itself in Greem's shadow!

…………

The Spore Hall.

This place was the most crucial and vital location in Podling Cave.

An exceptional tall podling stood at the center of this cave, taking up nearly half the space. Many sporepeople were gathered around the tree, seemingly working hard on something.

This unusual podling wasn't rooted in the earth. Instead, they dug into a large pile of bones. Its stem was a dozen meters thick in diameter, and several dozen branches split off from its main body. The leaves at the edges of the branches appeared like strange mouths, with sharp teeth and viscous slime.

The sporepeople were instructing swamp creatures whose minds they controlled and ordered them to crouch down in front of the tree.

When this happened, the tree would extend its thick vines, wrapping up the swamp creatures and tossing them into the air. The mouth-like leaves would open up and tear wildly at the prey's flesh.

After a feast, the dozens of terrifying mouths would burp and fall limply against the tree as they napped.

However, a powerful enemy had broken into Podling Cave, and the podling was unsettled.