Age of Adepts

As natives of Faen, the god messengers naturally knew who Atri, the God of Sea Beasts was.

If the majority of gods were higher lifeforms that transcended worldly creatures and possessed superior power and intelligence, then Atri, the God of Sea Beasts would be a special exception!

It was slow, and its mind was little more than chaos embodied. Even its mind and intelligence couldn't be considered as complete.

However, there was no denying that Atri possessed overbearing strength and physical power that far surpassed an ordinary god. Even without fancy techniques or skills, Atri could easily defeat half of the elven pantheon with its physical strength alone.

It couldn't be helped. After all, over half of the gods in the elven pantheon were not proficient in combat!

Moreover, Atri possessed the divine authorities of savagery, cruelty, and regeneration. It was especially worshipped and respected by all the powerful sea beasts in Faen. If one were to weigh the size of the Faen Plane's oceans and the number of lifeforms within them, there was no doubt that the number of powerful sea beasts outnumbered even the total number of forest elves.

With such incredible faith power backing it, the God of Sea Beasts forcefully pushed itself upon the ranks of the most powerful gods of Faen, even if it was highly unqualified. It became the second most powerful god of Faen, only second to the God of the Sea- Dions.

If the battlefield were set in the sea, Atri alone would be enough to destroy the entire elven pantheon. Of course, if Atri was able to do this, then so could the Sea God Dions, who held the title of 'Lord of the Berserk'!

All seafolk powerhouses that followed Atri, the Sea Beast God became mindless savages under its teachings. Still, a Fourth Grade 'fool' was still not an existence that an ordinary person could afford to anger!

Ursol and Zyvere had no choice but to swallow their pride and retreat from the battle.

Once the two god messengers vanished into the horizon, the Fourth Grade siren turned to look at Pale Witch Rimura.

"Hey, ugly hag from the World of Adepts, when can you send over the Blood of the Sea you promised? If I find out you were lying to me, I will bring my men with me and smash that garbage Shadow Island of yours."

Blood of the Sea was merely a euphemism. The substance was no more than the blood of powerful sea beasts from the World of Adepts. The blood of sea beasts of a higher world was undoubtedly an extremely rare and invigorating substance for the seafolk of Faen.

The Blood of the Sea that this siren needed was naturally origin blood of a siren that it shared an ancestor with.

Rare resources like these weren't kept in stock by the Northern Witches, even with their great might and influence. They had no choice but to send men into the depths of the World of Adepts' oceans to search for it. Moreover, they had to organize manpower to surround and hunt the target upon finding it. The difficulty of obtaining this Blood of the Sea was truly enormous!

Pale Witch Rimura was surprised by this Fourth Grade siren's wild and rude words, but she didn't resort to hostilities over this. Here in Faen, the Pale Witches dared to provoke the elven pantheon and could hold their own against the human pantheon. Still, the only thing they didn't dare do was provoke these savage seafolk.

The total volume of the ocean in Faen was nearly a hundred times larger than the total area of the landmass. Resources were also bountiful and readily available. Naturally, the number of seafolk powerhouses was shockingly high!

This seafolk messenger casually spoke of destroying Shadow Island. These weren't wholly lies and threats.

If she genuinely forced this siren's hand, it wouldn't be hard for it to gather dozens of Fourth Grade sea beasts from the depths of the sea to break into Shadow Island. Shadow Island might have turned into an impenetrable fortress over the past thousand years of effort by the Pale Witches, but all its defensive towers and energy barriers were little more than a joke before dozens of Fourth Grade creatures. Moreover, these were massive and gigantic sea beasts that were almost always as large as hills.

"Lord Bestal, the delay can't be completely attributed to us, can it?!" Even Witch Rimura had no choice but to explain with a bitter smile when dealing with an unreasonable siren, "If you could provide us with some of your own blood, we could naturally match it with our knowledge and find suitable prey for you. However, you refuse to provide any of your blood. That is why all three samples we previously provided you with were not compatible with your essence. Trying to find the sirens that match your specifications in the vast and boundless depths of the ocean is a daunting challenge, even for us!"

"Hmph! I don't care! Don't even think about getting your hands on my blood. You witches love dealing in weird things the best. Who knows what you will do once you get my blood!" This Fourth Grade siren might seem crass, but he had street smarts of his own. He waved the trident in his hand angrily, "I will only give you ten more years. If I don't get the Blood of the Sea you promised me in ten years, then prepare to get kicked out of Faen."

The Fourth Grade siren turned and disappeared into the sea after roaring these words, vanishing without a trace.

After letting out a silent sigh, Witch Rimura also silently returned to the island's tower with her accompanying spirit.

The Echo Isles' reef formation had been utterly shattered after this disaster, turning it into hidden reefs beneath the surface of the sea. That caused the waters around the Isles to become increasingly complicated and difficult to navigate.

However, Rimura couldn't find any interest in dealing with this matter. Instead, she hid in her room and silently contacted the Fourth Grade Witch stationed on Shadow Island.

Let the matter of the so-called Blood of the Sea be left to the leaders and elders of the clan headquarters!

…………

Garan Continent, Aerie Peak.

As a notorious den of magical beasts near the south coast, a flock of Windhawks lived here.

As wind magical beasts unique to Garan Continent, these windhawks possessed exceptional flight speed and powerful wind magic. Adolescent windhawks had the strength of a beginner First Grade. That didn't sound very impressive, but one had to take into consideration the fact that they were an entire flock of magical beasts.

A hundred windhawks had built their nests on the sunny side of a tall cliff, resting and reproducing here. As time slowly passed, the number of windhawks here grew in number, and they became tamed magical beasts of the elves. It became a place where druids would come to summon an animal companion.

Thus, this place became the famous Aerie Peak!

As flying magical beasts with shocking intelligence, the windhawks had always maintained friendly relations with the elves.

Furthermore, they had an extreme sense of territory and would unleash the most ferocious of attacks upon any birds or beasts that trespassed in their homes. That was why there were no dangerous creatures that could threaten young windhawks anywhere within two and a half kilometers of Aerie Peak!

However, these days, Aerie Peak had lost its past serenity, turning into a chaotic and tumultuous place.

The cause of all this was a swarm of accursed insects!

Seven days ago, a massive swarm of odd beetles swarmed out of the depths of the forest and rooted themselves underground Aerie Peak, never to show themselves again.

A sky full of adolescent windhawks immediately stopped the large group of elves led by Spear of Vengeance Eijae after she reached within one and a half kilometers of Aerie Peak. This time of the year happened to be a crucial moment where many young windhawks hatched from their shells. The windhawks would never allow the elves to turn the den into a battlefield, even with their historical relationship.

Spear of Vengeance Eijae instantly flew into a rage against this flock of short-sighted cawing featherbrains who did not allow for any negotiations. If it weren't for the elven captain leading the troops finding the courage to stop her, Eijae would probably have started a fight with these windhawks before they could even exterminate the swarm.

This flock of 'puny' First and Second Grade windhawks would probably have had half their numbers annihilated by Eijae in a single move. However, if Eijae were actually to do so, then the good relations between the forest elves and the windhawks would come to an end.

The elves had no choice. The hippogryph riders that had been pursuing the enemy could only stop outside Aerie Peak, monitoring the surroundings and ensuring the insects would not escape. The elven captain led some men and flew to Greenwater City, a mere three hundred and fifty kilometers away from Aerie Peak, to request for aid from the elven commander there.

Half a day later, a squad of Windrunners numbering less than a thousand men hurried to Aerie Peak.

One had to admit that the elves could not do anything about this problematic situation, regardless of how much military force they mustered. That was because the enemy was dead-set on hiding underground!

The elven kingdom had twenty to thirty million forest elves and, naturally, had all sorts of talented individuals. Some had precision archery skills while others possessed sharp movements; some even had the ability to channel powerful nature magic. There were also those that could transform into all sorts of magical beasts.

However, oddly enough, not a single one of them could engage in underground battle.

Forest elves were strange beings that liked nature, freedom, and art after all. How was it possible for there to be an oddity among them that excelled at subterranean battle? Thus, when the one thousand elves had managed to surround Aerie Peak, the topic of smoking out the enemy became the most significant concern that troubled them!

Smoke, water, and fire.

They tried all these strange methods at least once but failed to force out Bug Adept Billis. Instead, they had made things insufferable for the young hawks hatching in Aerie Peak.

The elven commander of Greenwater City could only use his connections and all sorts of negotiations to deal with the windhawks. In the end, he managed to persuade this sizeable flock of windhawks to relocate to another area temporarily. Once the battlefield had been cleared, the elves started to relentlessly dig at the foot of Aerie Peak, trying to excavate the insects that had killed so many of their brethren and exterminate them.

Sadly, under Billis' command, the swarm were more sly and cunning than most magical beasts.

The tunnels they dug underground were not even a meter thick and did not allow for any elves to move around within. The main areas of activity for the swarm were also concentrated right beneath Aerie Peak, where the rock layers were dense and thick. That indirectly increased the difficulty of excavation for the elves.

With no choice left to them, the elven commander could only gather large groups of druids that could transform into rock serpents and blindworms to have them change into earth magical beasts to smoke out these wretched insects.

As such, a battle between the swarm and the druid-transformed magical beasts erupted in the narrow and lightless underground space!