Age of Adepts

[Beep. Dodge ten meters to the left.]

A blazing stream of fire shot out of the right side of Greem's giant body, propelling him a short distance to the right.

The flame humanoid had just vacated his original spot when a massive ball of acid landed on the grass below, dissolving all grass within a ten-meter radius and turning it into a slimy black liquid.

Greem lifted his head and looked at the diving green dragon and the female elf, who was still firing arrows at him. He wasted no energy in dodging those Surestrike shots and instead fired out innumerable magical fireballs in succession, drowning his enemy in a storm of magic.

Aooooo!

A loud, pained roar later, the great green dragon managed to break through the explosive zone of the fireballs with its tough Physique. With a single swipe of his powerful claws, it shattered the afterimage that Greem had left behind. The green dragon then flared its wings and took the female elf into the skies again, kicking dust and debris into the air.

Meanwhile, the flame humanoid appeared a hundred meters away. Greem calmly removed the magical wind arrows embedded in his body and crushed them between his magma hands. One by one, the wind arrows cracked and fell into pieces.

The green dragon was once again in the sky and had just locked onto the flame giant's position when three fist-sized phantom golems appeared nearby. They grinned sinisterly and charged toward the female elf.

Sinvathee had just used her Ring of Grasswood to rid herself of the fire poison in her body when she immediately entangled with these annoying ghost golems. She couldn't continue her attacks on the flame humanoid adept.

With no choice left to her, Sinvathee could only snap her bow and shoot down each of the three ghost golems that attempted to dive into her body and snatch pieces of her soul. The giant flame humanoid took this opportunity to join hands with the Flame Fiend of Terror, casting a large-scale Meteor Shower in unison. This area-of-effect spell easily enveloped the elf within its radius.

The green dragon used its trained flying techniques to weave between the meteors falling from above. It was only when there was no avoiding it that Green Dragon Oridela used a short acid breath to neutralize a meteor.

The young female elf Sinvathee did not need to concern herself with external distractions when she had such a powerful flying mount. She turned all of her attention to the evil fire adept that was flickering about the battlefield.

Both of them were the same grade, while Sinvathee herself had the help of a mighty Second Grade green dragon. Based on her understanding, it should have been a simple enough matter to deal with this evil fire adept.

Yet, when they exchanged blows, Sinvathee was shocked to find that the elders' fear of the adepts was not without reason. The difference between their understanding of combat and experience of slaughter was as vast as the earth and sky!

Most elves believed that combat techniques were the same as murderous techniques. Excessive pursuit of combat techniques meant deviating from the nature of elves as pacifists and protectors of nature; it meant losing their soul to the way of bloodbath and slaughter.

That was why most elves, despite possessing excellent skill in archery, were not willing to spend too much time on refining their combat skills. That also caused the lethality of their superb archery skills to be far less practical and brutal compared to the spells of the adepts, forged in blood and battle!

She was a 'chosen one' favored by God of Archery Marco, and she owned a pseudo-artifact longbow envied by all of her tribespeople. However, she could only fight this evil fire adept to a standstill.

This…this fact annoyed and frustrated the proud Sinvathee to no end!

Both parties had been fighting for a dozen rounds upon this plain!

Greem still had not found an effective way to kill the opponent.

Fire poison. That elf was wearing a Ring of Grasswood. She could utilize the power of nature to neutralize most poison.

Coldflame. With the green dragon's protection, the brief instances of freezing that Greem could inflict upon the elf wouldn't be of much use. He would have trouble making it past the green dragon to kill the elf.

Fire. In all honesty, this was the ability that Greem had put the most research into and the talent that best manifested his might. Unfortunately, with the selfless defense of the green dragon, few fire spells could even threaten the female elf.

As for the Stitch Ghost Golem and the Voodoo Doll, they were barely capable of distracting and limiting the female elf's power. If they were to act as the primary offensive force, they would probably be torn apart by the green dragon in a matter of minutes.

It seemed the aid that they could provide Greem with was ultimately minimal, at least before they advanced to Second Grade!

After a series of confrontations, the female elf was still unharmed, but visible wounds had already started to appear on Greem and the green dragon. That said, the ones who suffered the most significant losses were the herds of wild horse across the plains!

They had no natural predator, no harsh environments, no drought, and no famine. These wild horses had always lived a peaceful life of leisure upon the plains where they had succeeded for generations.

However, on this day, all of that was shattered by a group of outsiders!

It didn't matter whether it was Greem's fire spells or the green dragon's acid breath; these were all terrifying attacks with immense might and radius. Any wild horses swept up in the shockwaves of their battle had no hope of surviving.

For a moment, the plains were scorched and turned into dead earth. Black and withered bones covered in acid were littered all over the place, leaving only a tragic sight to behold.

Without the existence of the green dragon, Greem would have only required fifteen minutes to deal with this prideful young elf. He'd have ensured that she was crisp on the outside and raw on the inside!

Sadly, in his current circumstances, he could only run across the plains and endure the pain of arrows piercing his body without any end in sight.

Greem was having a fierce battle, but Mary's fight wasn't much easier either.

In the face of multiple powerful enemies, Mary was still being turned into a pincushion, even with her speed and agility. If it weren't for her exceptional regeneration abilities, her flesh would have been thoroughly picked apart by the arrows.

Fortunately, both of them had accomplished their goal. They had mostly intercepted the first reinforcements from the elven army. The reinforcements that made it into the magic spring area were no more than one-third of their original number.

Greem and Mary were relieved when they finally received news of the sealing's completion. They no longer bothered with the enemy and turned to flee back to where they came from.

Naturally, the infuriated elves couldn't just let this slide. They pursued the adepts and sent a barrage at them all the way back.

When Greem and Mary 'successfully' returned to the Pegasus Magic Spring, they realized that the entire magic spring had turned blood red. The corpses of countless elves and pegasi floated in the average-sized lake.

The adepts guarding the spring had all retreated onto the flying ship. The vessel immediately climbed up into the sky once Greem teleported onto the deck with Mary by his side.

At the same time, several dozen cannon barrels extended out of the bottom of the ship as a horrifying assault stopped the army of elves from pursuing any further.

Even as strong as Sinvathee and her green dragon were, they could only dodge in the face of the explosive magical blasts.

The elven aerial knights behind them that failed to dodge were blasted into pieces by the magical purple blasts, their broken limbs falling to the ground like a bloody rain.

Countless aerial knights drove their pegasi and hippogryphs upward in their fit of fury, intending to lay down their lives to slay these evildoers. Sadly, flying magical beasts were only magical beasts after all. They could comfortably cruise at an altitude of a thousand meters, but anything above that and their wings would not be able to catch up to the flying ship.

In the end, this trivial pursuit ended with the elves' loss as the flying ship hid within the cloud layer!

The elves arrived at the Pegasus Magic Spring and silently looked upon the missing stone statue. Their faces were filled with downcast expressions. The surviving pegasi were furious, but there was nothing they could do.

The loss of the stone pegasus statue meant the loss of the endless magic spring water.

What this meant to the pegasi was evident and certain!

Perhaps it wouldn't even take a hundred years for the once famous pegasi to go extinct from the Continent of Garan.

…………

In contrast to the anguish of the elves, the flying ship was filled with an atmosphere of joy and celebration.

Dark Witch Uzzah's was in a pleased mood after completing all the missions her leader had assigned to her. Even when she once again saw Greem, it was a gentle smile that appeared on her usually cold and sinister face.

"Kid, you did well this time! Regardless of what grudges or disagreements we Dark Witches might have with you and your people, from today onward, I can speak for the Dark Witches and let all that be bygones. If you are willing to come to develop in the Northern Lands, I can speak for our leader and extend a very warm welcome!"

The fact that Uzzah was able to publicly utter such words despite her typical disdain for male adepts was more than enough proof that Greem had won the respects of this Third Grade Dark Witch. These words from her was also an acknowledgment and praise for his power and the faction he led.

The unexpected release from captivity after the underground trip and the fully-committed help with the magic spring this time had indirectly caused Dark Witch Uzzah to owe two major favors to Greem and Alice.

If they had been so willing to help, then they had an excellent reason to do so!

Uzzah pondered the mystery and decided that the key lay within the mysterious actions of the Fate Witches this time.

The Fate Witch branch had only been revived for less than a hundred years. Rationality dictated that any training of their witches should merely involve the less dangerous small-sized planes. Yet, this time, they had committed all their forces to venture to this dangerous plane of Faen.

Dark Witch Uzzah would never believe it if someone told her that there was no secret lying behind this!

Perhaps something that they desperately needed resided on Faen, or maybe the Fate Witches wanted to gather the powers of Fate in Faen. Neither option was something that the Fate Witches could accomplish alone with their currently meager strength.

A request always followed immense courtesy. Now, it was just a matter of seeing what the Fate Witches would ask of her.