Age of Adepts

Just as Greem was feeling proud of Alligator's strong recovery ability, he suddenly heard strange noises. One after another, frightening misshapen corpses suddenly leapt out from the flames, sprinting their way towards the Demon Alligator while letting out terrifying groans.

Damn it! There were too many of them!

Moving as nimbly as squirrels, eleven of the misshapen corpses swarmed up in a fan shaped formation.

Without hesitation, Greem quickly activated his bracelet, which unleashed body armor made up entirely of thorny vines. It blinked with a bright green glow as it covered his entire body.

What happened next was a bloody and savage close-range battle between the Demon Alligator Hunter and the group of misshapen corpses.

Although the misshapen corpses appeared to be attacking Demon Alligator, anyone could tell that their actual target was Greem, who was sitting high up on its back. This tactic was the go-to for most apprentices who primarily used summons as weapons when attacking their opponents.

Compared to the powerful combat strength of a summon who was unafraid of death, the summoner himself had much less defence. Therefore, rather than waste a huge amount of energy trying to defeat the summon, it was easier and far more effective to just defeat the summoner. Thus, after he used his blood essence to create the eleven misshapen corpses and entangled Demon Alligator in the fight, Dark Wood stealthily moved far away to once again start casting the long-range curse spells that he was an expert in.

While controlling Demon Alligator Hunter and trying to deal with the crazy attacks of the misshapen corpses, Greem also needed to focus his mind to defend against the mysterious dark lassoes that Dark Wood kept attacking him with. He was suffering greatly!

Many of the misshapen corpses in close range of the Demon Alligator were being killed, but the death of each corpse would result in a large explosion, which would destroy a large part of Demon Alligator's body. After the third corpse exploded, the front of the Demon Alligator, which had looked so strong and mighty before, was in a disastrous state.

He couldn't let this continue!

A trace of a smile appeared on Greem's lips, then he quickly put something into his mouth and lightly stomped his feet. The Hunter, who was mounting in front of him and kept throwing dirt spears at the enemy, expanded its body and moved backwards, swallowing Greem's body into its own.

In the next second, like a giant whale, the massive Demon Alligator Hunter sank into the ground and disappeared without a trace. The eight remaining misshapen corpses immediately stormed forward, restlessly digging into the hardened ground, but failed to find anything.

Damn…

Instant uproar from the side of the battlefield.

The damn kid could actually travel under the ground? This was going to be fun for Dark Wood!

To be honest, when Dark Wood saw his opponent and the summoned golem disappear from his line of sight, he was also filled with questions and frustrations.

Damn it, how was he going to fight this battle? If he couldn't see his opponent, how was he going to lock down the target with his curse attacks?

While he was looking for a solution, his spiritual senses suddenly discovered something under his feet, bringing a dramatic change to his expression. Without hesitation, he forcefully hit the ground with his staff.

A huge dirt claw suddenly stretched out from the ground beside Dark Wood. With tremendous force it slapped onto Dark Wood and crushed him into a pile of meat paste. After that, the upper body of Demon Alligator Hunter unearthed itself.

Although it was a successful strike, Greem's face on the Hunter didn't show any sign of joy. Instead, he threw his gaze like two lighting beams into the far distance.

He saw a misshapen corpse suddenly thrown itself onto the ground, violently twisting and struggling.

In just a couple of seconds, Dark Wood had replaced the misshapen corpse and was standing where it had once been.

The Hunter's expression changed slightly and it started to squeeze back into the ground, but it was too late.

The pile of meat paste under the Demon Alligator's giant claw suddenly exploded, staining the exposed body of Demon Alligator Hunter with a large amount of a gray-colored substance. Hearing the sizzling sound of corrosion made Greem's heart pound.

Through the Hunter's eyes, Greem viciously gazed at Dark Wood, who was standing up again. Without saying anything, he once again sank into the ground. The misshapen corpses who had fast been approaching once again missed their target.

Fuck… staring at the emptied battlefield once again, except for the remaining seven misshapen corpses and the broken ground, there wasn't any trace of that hateful kid. Dark Wood was furious.

Under the command of Dark Wood, the seven misshapen corpses were stationed around his perimeter. With this, not only could he could instantly block that bastard from retreating the next time he tried to attack, the formation also allowed him the flexibility to shift himself to any of the corpses as needed.

However, just as Dark Wood retracted his spiritual senses to the vicinity of his body, quietly observing every slight change under the ground, the ground under the feet of a corpse standing at a far distance suddenly started to boil. Countless dirt spikes poked up through the ground and turned the corpse into shish kabobs.

Once again, the misshapen corpse exploded. But this time, the gray substance splashed onto the ground harmlessly. As the attack had been launched from beneath the ground, the Demon Alligator was never exposed.

Dark Wood, standing on the battlefield, together with the audience at the side, gasped in astonishment.

Damn it, it was hard to tell the outcome of today's battle!

In the next seven or eight minutes, Greem cunningly stopped launching any attacks at Dark Wood. Instead, he kept moving around Dark Wood's perimeter, finding opportunities to kill the remaining misshapen corpses. Clearly, he wanted to destroy all Dark Wood's minions.

If they were all slaughtered by this kid, how was he going to shift himself to another corpse when he was again faced with danger?

Left with no alternative, Dark Wood called all four remaining misshapen corpses to his side, having them surround him in a circle. With this, if Dark Wood was under attack, he could shift himself to another corpse, but he would still be inside the attack radius of his opponent, which significantly increased his risk!

But under such circumstances, he had no choice but to take this risk. He was trying his best to lure that bastard from the ground, then he'd seek his winning chance, despite the great danger.

At the thought of himself being forced into such a messy state by a Beginner Apprentice, a shivering ghost flame instantly ignited within Dark Wood's gloomy eyes. He wished he could instantly capture the bastard and torture him good.

But too bad, you couldn't always get what you wished for, as it was Dark Wood himself who was being tortured by this mere Beginner Apprentice.

In the second half of the battle, the hateful bastard never showed his face, but instead kept attacking from under the ground using long-range magic spells. Although most of the magic spells were noticed by Dark Wood before they hit him, two misshapen corpses had been miserably killed by the combination of a Quagmire Spell and dirt spikes.

The sorrow of getting attacked but failing to catch the enemy was perfectly expressed by Dark Wood.

As he witnessed one corpse puppet after another, each meticulously made by him to possess the fighting strength of an Advanced Apprentice, be destroyed by the 'enemy,' Dark Wood's emotions moved from anger to frustration to sadness until he nearly burst into loud sobbing from Greem's torture.

When Hulk finally shook his head, sighed, and announced the winner, Dark Wood, who had remained standing through will alone, immediately fainted from anger.

The crowd gazed at each other helplessly. Although they wished to say a few words to comfort Dark Wood, no one seemed to know how to start.

Without the ability to attack underground, no matter who encountered such an enemy, he would land himself in serious trouble. This situation could only be blamed on Dark Wood's bad luck, as he was picked by Hulk to fight with this freak who had brought him such a miserable ending.

Wearing a gloomy expression, Hulk pulled Kevin in front of himself, asking with a ferociously, "I thought you said he doesn't have any special abilities? How did we end up with this kind of result? Tell me honestly, if you are fighting with an opponent like this, can you defeat him?"

"Ugh…" Kevin gulped, then continued, saying, "If it is not a fair match, and the venue is a desolated wood, give me half day and I'll be able to kill him in the dark. But if we were to fight in an emptied field like this, I… I wouldn't have a chance of winning, because I can't cause him any damage."

Right at this moment, Greem carefully poked his upper body out from the ground. Once he determined that he had won, he squeezed out from the ground.

After spending so long underground, all the outer wounds of the Demon Alligator had fully recovered and it looked exactly like it did before the fight began. The crowd felt wonder at the sight, but when they recalled the bets they had placed before the fight, no one could maintain a happy face.

Looking at the young guy striding towards him, Hulk had no choice but to bite the bullet. With a loud voice, he asked, "Mensa, give me the number! I want to know how much we need to pay this guy?"

Mensa wore black clothes and had a noble appearance. Without hesitation, he loudly read out.

"Mister Greem pledged nine magic crystals, two tier-3 magical items, one tier-4 magical item, one tier-1 magical item, and the magic notebooks of the Demon Vine Lady. Estimated total is 417 Magic Crystals. According to ten to one odds, we need to pay him 4170 Magic Crystals. However, combined, we all only bet 3270 Magic Crystals, so…"

"So we still owe this guy 900 Magic Crystals!"

"Yes!"

The crowd stared speechlessly at each other, before they couldn't help it and moved their gazes to Kevin, who had brought this bastard here.

In that instant, the generally calm Kevin had a forehead bathed in sweat.

Greem, who stood beside him, was grinning from ear to ear as he quickly stepped out to ease the situation.

"It's good to have the love of all my Senior Apprentices. As you have given me the chance to prove myself, how dare I collect this debt from you! This amount is more than enough. I, Greem am not a greedy man!"

Upon hearing Greem's rather flattering speech, all the Advanced Apprentices and Pseudo-Adepts shook their head and sighed. In fact, Dark Wood wasn't weak. He could be considered as having middle tier strength within all the Advanced Apprentices in this training camp. But due to lack of preparation, he was defeated by this foxy kid, and fainted on the spot. Everybody really was frustrated.

"Hey, you crafty kid, don't get carried away. The reason you had such an easy win is because your ability naturally oppressed Dark Wood. We'll pay those Magic Crystals we owe you, but do you have the guts to fight again with us? A fight between you and me, what do you say?" The man who said this was the violent burly man who Greem had seen carrying a thunderous axe when he had arrived. Obviously, this man had taken the path of a Body-Refining Adept, and used Thunder Element magic spells as his supplement ability.

Greem grinned, saying, "Why not?! But my golem is damaged from today's battle. I need time to readjust and fix it. Why don't we fight tomorrow?"

Hearing this, the violent burly man became extremely happy. The eyes of the surrounding men also brightened. Clearly, they were tempted as well.

With the time of one night, they believed they could help Mark find a way to defeat this guy. This hateful kid only had a special ability in summoning his golem, which allowed him to hide underground and attack his enemy. As long as they could find a way to stop this ability, how could a rubbish made from dirt be the match of Mark, the man known for a mighty strength? It was simply a silly dream!

Perhaps imagining some scenes that could vent their anger, all of the apprentices couldn't hold themselves back and grinned coldly.

In that moment, a shivering breeze blew through the scene, making one's hair stand on end.