Age of Adepts

"Go back; you have no place in this battle."

Spalla hovered in the dark, lightless sky as she said this. Then she dove straight down towards the manor.

The cool night wind rushed past her aerodynamic form, causing her soft fur to wave quickly. Spalla vanished without a trace after a few quick turns in the air. She was nowhere in sight now.

Viria felt a sudden chill rush over her body. She beat her wings and quickly flew away.

The battle in the manor raged on.

The invading vampires were clearly at a disadvantage. They slowly retreated even as they fought. Their forces had already scattered in the darkness of the night. They scampered all over the manor, spreading chaos throughout the building.

Six adepts wearing Dener Clan emblems were herding a pack of voodoo beasts and chasing after a group of vampires. When they passed by a tall tree, a white and slender arm reached out from the darkness and grabbed the last adept in the group that had fallen behind, pulling him behind the tree.

As the hand was swift, the other adepts, who were completely focused on their task, did not at all realize that they had lost a companion.

Back in the shadows, before the abducted adept even understood what happened, a slender figure pressed up against his body as two sharp fangs sank into his neck.

A short moment later, Adept Ralph stopped trembling and stood up straight.

"Go to the main building and bring me to Antoneil!" Spalla instructed before turning into a bat and slipping into his sleeves.

"Understood!" Ralph replied respectfully.

When he emerged from the shadow of the tree, he lifted his head, and one could vaguely see his inhuman transformation under the dim light of the moon. His eyes had turned red, and his face was unusually pale.

He tidied up his collar, hiding the small bite wound on his neck, then turned and walked towards the building without hesitation.

Even amid the intense fighting, security around the building had not relaxed at all.

A group of strange adepts in standard white armor stood guard in front of the entrance. Among them were both males and females of various ages, but everyone had a strange emblem of a mountain on their right shoulder.

It was a black mountain shrouded in white mist…it was an unusual design. Even with all Spalla's knowledge, she had never seen such an emblem.

"This is the emblem of Lady Marilyn Mona's Dream Garden troop. They are Lady Mona's direct subordinate force. I have no idea what unusual abilities they have," Ralph continued to communicate with Spalla through a unique mental connection as he walked calmly towards the adepts.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" A male adept stood out and stopped Ralph in his tracks. His stern expression did not change at all, even in the face of an 'ally.'

"I am Ralph of the Seventh Adept Squad. I have critical information to report to Lady Mona. Let me through!"

"At this time," The male adept hesitated for a moment and said, "Lady Mona is most likely still in deep meditation at the moment. She won't be willing to see anyone! Just pass on the information to us!"

"My captain was the one that sent me back. It is critical information. I have to hand it to Lady Mona personally!"

Ralph's insistence seemed to push the male adept to a compromise.

He turned back and instructed, "Yasna, bring him to wait in the living room on the first floor. Send news to the lady once she awakes!"

"Understood!" A young girl in short brown hair and leather armor nodded in acknowledgment before leading Ralph into the building.

The moment he entered, Ralph could clearly feel himself pass through a transparent barrier of light. The inside of the building had a very different air to it.

An old but broad wooden set of stairs stood across from the entrance, leading straight to the second level. Meanwhile, to the left and the right were the dining hall and a small guest hall, respectively. There were also some tiny rooms in the corners meant for servants to rest in.

Lady Mona had taken up residence in the entirety of the second and third levels. Thus, her subordinates had no choice but to live in the servant's rooms. However, no adept dared to make a single complaint in the face of such 'unjust' treatment.

"Follow me! Don't walk around blindly, or you'll trigger all the magical traps laid down around here. Neither of us will be able to pay the price if we end up disturbing Lady Mona in her meditation." The short-haired girl was fairly enthusiastic as she led Ralph into the guest room on the left.

"Keep this girl occupied while I will go take a look on the second floor!" Spalla gave Ralph a few simple instructions through their mental connection before silently crawling down from his robe. She then turned into a black-haired rat and scurried up the stairs.

Once a young and beautiful druid of the Faen Plane, Spalla was skilled at transforming into other animals. After being transformed into a blood elf and taken back to the World of Adepts, she slowly became the shapeshifter that she was now.

She was the only individual among the converted druids who had not lost her ability to shapeshift, despite turning into a blood elf. However, as the druid's Wild Transformation ability was not very compatible with a blood elf's innate talents, it was tough for her to grow stronger.

The rat that Spalla had turned into climbed up the stairs, avoiding the areas radiating with magic. She managed to evade all the runes and arrived at the entrance to the second floor.

Without any hesitation, Spalla turned down the right corridor and ran across the wooden floorboards. Her fur started to change colors like a chameleon as she sprinted, camouflaging her as she progressed. In addition to her small size, it was nearly impossible for an enemy to spot her.

A particularly massive Many-Eyed Beast crouched in front of one of the five rooms there, dutifully keeping guard.

Many-Eyed Beasts were a type of voodoo beast that the adepts created with a beholder as a blueprint. These creatures had stout bodies, a dozen flesh tentacles reaching out from all over, and weird eyes at the tip of their tentacles.

Like beholders, these monsters could fire magical beams and curses of various attributes through these eyestalks. Moreover, the eyestalks were covered in a thin layer of scales, making them agile and resilient. They could even be used as whips in melee combat.

These voodoo beasts' only weakness had to be their slow movement speed. That was why most adepts used them as guard dogs more than anything else.

At the moment, the Many-Eyed Beast was lying on the ground lazily. Only three of its twelve eye stalks were raised high, surveying the corridor. The rest rested on the ground, seemingly bored.

One could faintly sense two weak life forces behind the wooden door it guarded. One was an ordinary person, while the other radiated weak elementium power. It seemed like one of them was a First Grade adept.

This place wasn't an adept tower, and the wooden door was only a simple wooden door. It did not have the ability to obscure or block out the senses of the adepts. Otherwise, Spalla would not have been able to sense who was in that room so easily.

This must be where Antoniel was kept prisoner!

Spalla didn't dare approach the Many-Eyed Beast.

She knew very well that these Many-Eyed Beasts often had the ability to see through invisibility and sense elementium on one of their eyes. It was fortunate that she was only using shapeshifting and camouflage; these abilities did not generate much magical flux. Otherwise, she would have been discovered the moment she stepped into the corridor.

Spalla curled up in a dent along the wall, using the shadows to hide herself. She then carefully let out a strange aura.

Call of the Wild!

It was an ability to summon animals that was unique to druids.

However, while most druids used it to summon animal companions, Spalla was probably the only one who used it to lure out critters.

A short moment later, a chittering sound could be heard in another dark corner of the corridor.

A small mouse with thin whiskers poked its snout out from the shadows and sniffed. Its appearance naturally attracted the attention of the Many-Eyed Beast.

Spalla could hide by shapeshifting and camouflage, but this ordinary mouse had no such ability. No matter how stealthy it was, it was shining as bright as a sun in the night in front of the Second Grade Many-Eyed Beast.

Its eyestalks slowly rose, and the ones that were already on guard turned around, staring at this little fellow hesitating between the shadows and the light.

Even though this Grayskin rat was being bothered by a strange aura that was fervently calling it forward, it could also sense the terrifying aura of danger beyond the darkness.

Ever since a strange group of humans took up residence in the building, all the Grayskin rats had frightfully hidden in their homes. They didn't dare come out to scavenge or move about. This agony lasted for seven days. Now, they were all starving badly, yet they still did not dare emerge from their nests.

They could sense a fearsome aura of death outside. Their powerful instinct for danger prevented them from acting on impulse, allowing them to survive until now.

However, when that strange calling power appeared, this particular rat could not hold back any longer. It slipped out of its nest and came here to this place it was so familiar with. One more step forward, and it would leave the shadow's embrace and enter the light.

Here, it hesitated; it doubted.

One step forward was death, and one step backward was survival. However, its inferior intelligence prevented it from resolving the complicated feelings it was experiencing.

Finally, the Grayskin rat was no longer able to suppress the impulse in its heart. It dashed headfirst out of the shadows!