Age of Adepts

Greem's overly calm attitude had caused the Lizardman to start to doubt the value of the hostage he held in his hands.

But, before he could do anything, the frail Mary moved first.

With just a few twists, her fair and slippery naked body was freed from Lizardman's control. Mary then dodged nimbly, suddenly appearing behind the Lizardman. Greem could see that the Lizardman's arms were hanging limply by his sides, and he seemed to have lost the ability to defend itself.

Blood was oozing out from the joints of the Lizardman, dying his dark green scales red. It seemed that Mary had cut his muscle tendons using her sharp nails.

Any ordinary human, when getting wounds like these, wouldn't be able to fight, however, Lizardmen were different. They had a strong vitality and excellent resistance, so, to them, it was simply a minor injury. After all, although the Lizardman couldn't move his limbs, he still had a mouth full of sharp fangs.

But, because Mary was hiding behind him, all of his attacks had failed.

As he was trying to detach himself from the frightening lady, his body turned numb and, like a robot losing power, he stiffened. A smile graced Mary's features as she slowly pulled her long, sharp nail out of the Lizardman's back.

In close combat, by using the gap between the Lizardman's scales, Mary could sever his neck instantly. At this moment, the Lizardman was completely powerless and had no way to fight back.

"What? Are you going to stay here and watch?"

After ridiculing Greem, who was in a rather embarrassing situation, Mary draped herself over the Lizardman's body, gradually moving her tender lips towards his fragile neck.

"Beauty and the Beast!"

"Little Green Man Fighting the Vampire!"

It was such an erotic drama, that Greem hoped he could enjoy it close-up. He wanted to clap excitedly.

However, whenever he imagined the potential scene that was going to unfold, he felt that it was better to just avoid it. Unlike those vampires who, in his memory, would gently poke their sharp fangs into their lover's necks, Mary obviously preferred to ravage her meal and enjoy it completely.

Greem felt that if he saw the scene of fresh blood mixing with organs, he would lose his appetite. Therefore, he just spun around and sulkily left.

As he passed by a stalagmite, he heard the frightening sound of muscle ripping, followed by Mary's excited moans. As Greem heard the weak cries of a creature in the throes of death, he couldn't help but shudder and increase his speed.

After nearly half an hour, Greem saw Mary fixing her dress as she walked out of the cave. It seemed that she had enjoyed her 'restaurant'.

Anyone looking at her beautiful face brimming with energy, wouldn't be able to tell what had just happened.

"Have you taken the sample from the mission site?" Greem closed up his magical book and asked.

"This is just a small matter, so obviously it's completed!" Mary said contentedly. After agreeing, she casually tossed a Rune Crystal to Greem.

Greem cast a verification spell, and, after finding it suitable, he placed it into his waist pouch.

Every pond located in the mission sites had a small magical formation placed at the bottom of it. These formations helped the Adepts on garrison duty grasp the situation in the Underground Cave. It enabled them to observe the terrain without leaving their Adept Towers.

The duty Greem and the other apprentices were given was to collect the information stored in the formations by using a custom-made Rune Crystal. After completing this duty, they were free to use their spare time to harvest some rare Underground resources.

The team, after splitting up, had agreed to reunite in three days. Thus, they had plenty of time to harvest all the resources located around the mission site. Since both of them had completed their mission in half a day, they had some spare time they could use to leisurely travel around.

However, while both of them were traveling around, a heart-pounding battle was occurring in another cave just five miles away!

Leo, the apprentice Adept from the Mushroom Forest in the Rofen region, was fleeing. Two black-robed Pseudo-Adepts were chasing after him. Matthew, the other advanced adept in Leo's team, was nowhere to be found. It seemed that he had been struck with great misfortune.

Leo truly deserved to be the young Pseudo-Adept his family had high hopes for. It could be seen that he had extraordinary talent in Thunder Elemental magic spells. Although he didn't have great Agility, he could move freely thanks to the layer of white Wind Elementium surrounding his body. In fact, one could even liken his speed to that of a feather or a fast stallion. If it wasn't for the winding tunnels and stalagmites, Leo probably would've already escaped his pursuers by now.

Whenever he ran by some narrow areas, he would stretch both his hands outward and form an arc of blue electricity, allowing it to dance violently between his palms. Then he would toss it over his shoulder and, without even bothering to check the result, continue onwards. After throwing it, within ten seconds, a loud boom would ring out from behind him, followed by a bunch of cursing.

Following that, two sorry-looking, burnt figures would emerge from the dust. This happened so often that, every time they exited, the small Lightning Storm would've ripped off a bit more of their black robes. Their robes were falling off like butterflies.

After one of the black robes was completely torn to pieces, it revealed a man wearing pitch-black, soft leather armor. He carried a snake-headed staff and had bloodshot vertical pupils. He was absolutely terrifying.

"Are we still going to chase? This guy is a tough nut to crack!" A middle-aged man asked through clenched teeth.

The figure on the left pulled off his hood, revealing a malicious and cruel looking face.

"Chase! This guy isn't familiar with the surrounding terrain, and, once he runs into a dead end, we'll teach him a slow lesson."

"Where are Anna and Gary? Why aren't they here yet? Do they really need to take so long just to settle an advanced apprentice?" The man with bloodshot eyes asked, looking over his shoulder.

"They changed their route! They've already sent me the details about the enemy team's situation. They sent me all the information they got from that advanced apprentice. I think that they're on their way to sector seven right now in order to search for the weakest team." It seemed that judging by the way he gave orders, the middle-aged man was the leader of the group.

"Damn it! I knew this was going to happen! It looks like we have to try harder. If we let this guy go, then we'll have to return empty-handed." The man with bloodshot eyes cursed with clenched teeth. After hitting the ground with his staff, he transformed into smoke and merged with the cave wall, disappearing without a trace.

The black-robed leader grinned somberly, and a ring of black light flickered out from his body, doubling his running speed.

A moment later, a ground shaking boom echoed out from a tunnel far away.

The brutal and violent shock wave swept across the winding tunnel, crushing everything in its way. Anything that stood in the way of it, be it stalagmites, stalactites, sand, stone or dirt, was all swept up and thrown in a random direction. The residue magic energy caused the debris to act like sharp arrows, shattering the cave in a violent explosion.

The battle of life and death that had occurred between the Pseudo-Adepts had brought about devastating damage to the Underground tunnel. It had even caused widespread damage within a two-three mile radius. A large amount of the area had collapsed, causing rocks to shift positions and block tunnels. This caused many tunnels to become unavailable for usage, however, at the same time, new passages were being formed. The old saying "When one door shuts, another one opens" had never been so true before.

Of course, such a massive commotion could never escape from the eyes of the apprentice adepts in this region. After witnessing the destruction, they all quickly found themselves a stable spot and hid. They were all quietly wondering what had caused this huge turmoil.

Within a dark, quiet and broken cave, a soft popping sound was heard, and a huge, dark figure suddenly emerged from underground. The figure nearly occupied the entire space in the cave.

"Damn it! Why is there suddenly an earthquake? Could those other Adepts have stumbled upon an active region during their inspection? Damn it…" Mary's sweet and seductive voice echoed throughout the darkness of the cave.

"I'm afraid this earthquake isn't a natural one!" Greem's stable and calm voice quickly followed. His eyes flickered with an intelligent expression as he continued saying, "The source of the quake is located five miles to the south-east of us, and is around twenty metres deeper than us. If this was a natural earthquake, the focal point wouldn't be so close to the surface, so…"

"So… someone caused it!" Mary looked over her shoulder at Greem. Obviously, she was surprised by the fact that Greem could still remain calm in such an situation. She was also surprised that he could have such an accurate sense of direction, even though they were in an underground area with no light. After thinking these thoughts, she continued with her speech, "Are you saying one of our teammates has met with enemies?"

"That's highly possible!" Greem analysed. "Firstly, because the source of the quake is so close to us, it is unlikely that it has no relation to our team. Besides, you know the strength of the Underground creatures in this place, and, except for a few rare creatures, it is impossible for any of them to harm us. Therefore, the earthquake cannot be because of a Pseudo-Adept going all out against a creature. Since that isn't a possibility, there can only be one logical explanation!"

"En!" Mary nodded her head in agreement. "It should be those black-clothed bastards from before. The only thing is, is that we have no idea who bumped into them. Truthfully, I really want to test out their ability. I mean, with your golem we can travel underground, so maybe we can launch a sneak attack!"

"We were overconfident on this mission. After all, this is our first mission and the first time we've come to the Underground. Hence, before we understood the unique environment and the new style of fighting here, we shouldn't have split up. We should've completed our mission together and waited until the next mission to split up. Also…"

"Also what?"

"Also, don't forget that we're the weakest team amongst all of them. If the enemy really wants to ambush our group, we're the most likely to be targeted!"

"So what? I really want to test out their ability. Since you claim your Earth Elemental golem is so amazing, can you sense the surrounding enemy's activities? I'll tell you what, if you help your sister catch one of those bastards, I'll spend the night with you. What do you think?" Mary trailed her finger across Greem's lips and giggled carefreely.

For some unknown reason, Greem suddenly shuddered. He couldn't help but feel heartache due to Mary's naughty behaviour.

Mary's interest in teasing men had grown stronger, and she never forgot to keep flirting with Greem. However, after noticing that her bloodshot eyes would grow darker when she got excited, Greem had no choice but to use his powerful will to suppress his lust. He did this because he didn't want to become Mary's lab rat and someone she could just toy with whenever she wanted.