Age of Adepts

The viscous liquid covered the entire corridor and Agassi's position was no exception.

A thin layer of inner power shrouded his body and blocked all of it.

Agassi was unbelievably furious as he watched the poison slowly drip down from his barrier!

When had a Fourth Grade been as seemingly worthless as he was now? To think that even a mere First Grade witch dared to lash out at him. Though such 'inferior' poison could hardly deal any damage to him, the witch's efforts were an act of immense scorn toward a Fourth Grade powerhouse like himself.

Poison Hag Endor had, in one go, devoured countless terrifying poisons. She had then proceeded to stimulate all of her essence and Spirit, driving them toward self-destruction and amplifying the power of the mixed poison.

There were two hundred and sixteen points of acid damage along with two hundred and forty-seven points of rot damage!

The fact that a First Grade witch could unleash such shocking power was beyond expectations.

Sadly, while such damage might represent a tremendous threat to a Second Grade, against a Fourth Grade, it was no different from a mere bug self-destructing in front of a lion. There was no threat to its life; only, perhaps, being able to make the lion frown at the smell!

Agassi immediately directed his inner power barrier forward and prepared to advance.

Awkwardly enough, the barrier trembled but didn't move.

That…that slimy poison. Apart from its toxic properties, the liquid had surprising adhesiveness. It had managed to bind Sword Saint Agassi to the spot he currently stood.

Aaaaahhhhh!

Agassi was no longer able to contain the fury burning within him. His violent inner power erupted outward, sending countless golden shockwaves rippling away from himself.

The sturdy metal deck, the sticky poison, the harmful smoke, and the half-corroded metal corridor; absolutely everything had been reduced to nothing during the storm of blinding golden blade light in a single instant. No metal could have endured the tens of thousands of high-frequency slashes from the Fourth Grade Sword Saint at this moment.

The Fourth Grade Elven Sword Saint Agassi hovered proudly in the air, both blades in hand. No substance larger than a grain of sand remained within a fifty-meter radius of himself.

The Sword Saint's berserk strike had created an empty sphere in the center of the flying ship a hundred meters in diameter. A hundred meters away, at the now mirror-smooth edge of the corridor, the cabin was exposed to Agassi, and a corner was shaven away by the wild attack.

With the obstruction eliminated, the leader of the enemy frantically disappeared down the end of a different corridor.

Agassi wasn't in a hurry to pursue him. Instead, he remained still in the air and spent seven seconds to regulate his breathing.

Even Agassi couldn't unleash such a powerful move easily.

Once he had restabilized the boiling inner power within his body, Agassi put on a wicked grin and lifted his sabers. He intended to exterminate these evil adepts in one fell swoop.

Sadly, the enemies were still one step ahead of him!

Almost at the same moment that he finished regulating his condition, the flying ship shuddered. A tremendous surge of wild magical energy flowed across the metal corridors and burst forth from the cracks in the walls. It charged toward Agassi with the force of falling mountains and rippled outward.

The space furnace had exploded!

In truth, the self-destruction of the space furnace had always been the strongest ace that Greem held tightly in his hands. However, because the battlefield and the ship itself would be destroyed after the self-destruction, Greem had no choice but to withhold it as his last option. He was to use it as a means of escape.

According to Greem's original plan, the modification of the flying ship combined with Uzzah bought time for Alice to get the Staff of Divination. They would then immediately leave. Greem was confident he would be able to force back the pursuing elves with the ship's self-destruction and stall enough time for them to retreat.

Unfortunately, despite all of Greem's calculations, he had never expected Alice to choose to forcefully advance after obtaining the Staff.

She was choosing to advance immediately at such a dangerous moment?

Greem honestly couldn't understand Alice's decision.

Since Alice had chosen this path, then Greem, as her greatest 'investor,' had no choice but to silently support the battlefield for her sake.

The combination of the flying ship and Uzzah had slowly crumbled under the assault of the elven Sword Saint until it finally fell apart.

The enemy had destroyed all one hundred and seven magic energy cannons in the ship.

The only remaining sixteen magical machines had all been put to use, dying in the glory of battle.

The twenty-one hastily repaired engineering machines had also gone to stop the enemy only to be destroyed.

The determined Endor had gone forth alone to stop the elf and had died.

Such tremendous sacrifices had only managed to stall the elven Sword Saint for ten minutes in total; it was still ten minutes away from the two hours that Alice had requested.

Ten minutes.

It sounded like a moment, but in this battle, it was more than enough for the elven Sword Saint to slice them into pieces a hundred times over!

That was why Greem immediately gave the order to detonate the space furnace the second he sensed the Sword Saint had escaped from the poison.

Having prepared for this ahead of time, Greem had collapsed the tunnels outside the dragon's den. All of the adepts and goblins were hiding in the small ditch outside the treasure hall of the dragon's lair.

With the mountain itself containing the explosion, the entire tide of magic created by the space furnace's destruction poured upward toward the exit of the valley.

For a while, the entire stretch of mountains trembled and shook as the rumbling noise spread across the land.

It was as if a stampede of bulls had ravaged this formerly beautiful and peaceful valley. The tide of magic had snapped countless ancient trees and ripped the greenery away from the ground, throwing it into the air and revealing the black dirt and gray stone underneath.

Even the flying ship, which had managed to survive the attacks of two Fourth Grades, was blown away by the gigantic shockwave and disintegrated into metal shards and jagged pieces in midair that bombarded the forest and mountain, ravaging them beyond recognition.

The adepts hiding in the dragon's den joined hands to cast layers of defensive magic and warded off the falling stones and rocks. The walls above, beneath, and around them were shaking unstoppably, rumbling as they did so. Several goblin engineers couldn't dodge in time and were crushed to death by the falling rocks, filling the space with the scent of blood.

It was fortunate that Green Dragon Ohgu had spent quite some effort when choosing this dragon's den of his.

Even with all this damage, there were no signs of complete integrity loss apart from some large cracks and small patches of collapsing stone. It helped prevented several unnecessary deaths!

They barely managed to hang on until all of the ferocious magical energy exhausted itself. All the grass, dirt, and rocks that had been blown into the sky fell piece by piece. This peaceful valley appeared before everyone's eyes once again, now wholly unrecognizable and ruined.

The mountain where the dragon's den was situated had snapped at its waist. The entire upper half fell slanted and pierced the left side of the mountain in a weird position. Tremendous amounts of rock and sand sealed the exit of the den. Carving a way through would probably take a very long time and plenty of manpower.

Not a single patch of green could still be seen inside the valley.

All the trees, grass, and nearly half a meter of dirt had been ripped away to land here and there over the forest within a ten-kilometer radius.

The silent valley and the forest around it had been shaved bald by the shockwave of the explosion. From high above in the sky it looked as if a massive crater had suddenly appeared in the vast green sea of trees. It was extremely conspicuous!

Only a single lonely silhouette remained in the air above the desolate valley.

Agassi might have avoided that explosion, but he wasn't unharmed.

His muscular left arm was bloody. Crimson snakes trailed freely down his arm, soaking the handle of his blade before dripping down to the ground.

The wounds weren't serious, but he, a Fourth Grade Sword Saint, had been injured at the hands of a group of Second and Third Grade adepts! This painful reality was what had truly wounded his pride!

Aooooo!

He released an earthshaking yell. Agassi finally let out everything he had, whirling his hands madly and sending out one bright blade beam after another at a rate of thirteen slashes per second.

Agassi's body itself didn't move. He merely shook his wrist and used the blade radiance as weapons, furiously slicing away at the mountain where the dragon's den was. The incomparably vicious slashes would leave terrifying blade marks every time they landed on the rock. Each of these marks measured two meters in depth and seven to eight meters in width.

As these furious blows shot out, rocks were carved away from the walls of the mountain. Clouds of dust rose to the skies and obscured everything in sight.

Even the thick clouds of dust could not hide the blinding light of the blade light. This humongous mountain was actually trembling and shivering under the continuous assault of the Sword Saint.

As Agassi furiously carved away at the mountain, a strange tunnel started to appear and extend toward the inside.

Naturally, there was no way for the adepts within the mountain to realize what was happening outside.

However, the sudden trembling of the mountain after it had settled down, paired with the rumbling noise from outside; this…this was certainly not good news!

Of the people present, Uzzah undoubtedly possessed the most powerful senses. She closed her eyes and felt for the commotion outside. Her expression froze as she growled in panic, "Dammit, that Sword Saint's gone mad. He…he intends to cut his way in through the mountain."

The faces of the adepts blanched when they heard Uzzah's words.

Everyone here had personally witnessed the Sword Saint's might. If he were to charge in here…

Uzzah couldn't help but speak furiously, "Why are you still dragging your feet? Hurry up and call for Alice and run together. If we wait any longer, none of us will survive!"

Sofia and Snowlotus, who had been guarding the entrance to the hall, stepped forth and said firmly, "The leader very clearly stated before she shut herself in the hall– no one is to disturb her!"

"What time is it already? You guys are still hung up over the advancement," Uzzah's voice was gradually turning cold: "If you guys are unwilling to call for Alice, I will go in and call for her myself!"

Sofia and Snowlotus' expressions turned into ones of panic. They both turned to look at Greem.

If anyone here could still stop Uzzah, it would have to be Greem.

Was he in a hurry to escape and willing to make Alice give up on her advancement? Or was he willing to take the risk of waiting just a bit longer?

The Dark Witches, the Fate Witches, and the Crimson adepts couldn't help but cast their eyes toward the proudly standing Greem.