Age of Adepts

“So it’s you, Endor! I don’t think there are any old grudges between us, is there? Why are you causing problems at my place?” Stepping out from the vortex, Anderson immediately saw the old witch with a peculiar look. Unable to press down his anger, he roared, “Don’t you forget, this is the territory of the Zhentarim Association! You, the Northern Witches, have no right to show your arrogance here!”

Still holding onto her broom, the old witch let out a shivering laugh that sounded like the cries of a night owl. She looked at Anderson, who appeared to be ferocious in appearance but feeble in essence, with a disdainful expression, and said, “Zhentarim Association? Would they publicly drive off us, the Northern Witches, just because of your tiny little resource site?”

“Then why are you here today? Don’t tell me you’re here to be a guest?!” Anderson still roaring furiously, nevertheless, he had lowered his voice. He was facing at a Combat Witch from the Far Land of North, although he had the topographical advantages, if a fight really broke out between them, perhaps the chances of him winning would be slim.

Though these Northern Witches looked weak and ill, they were able to open up new worlds in the Land of Far North, a place with extreme cold temperature and harsh environment. They had a strong will and frightening approaches that no male Adept could ever compare with. Putting others aside and just talking about this Endor, she was sent to station at the Zhentarim region for merely seven years, before she had brought herself the famous title of ‘Poisonous Witch’.

According to rumors, once there was a wandering Adept who had recruited a group of bandits and robbed a company of traveling merchants sent by the Northern Witches, they also killed an Apprentice Witch who had followed the merchant. When this Endor heard the news, she struck immediately, and found that group of bandits just after half a day.

She didn’t charge into the group and slaughter everyone in her sight. She just sprinkled some poisonous stuff around their camp site. Virtually overnight, all the bandits, including the wandering Adept, were killed by the horrifying, deadly poison. Just with this warfare alone, this ferocious, tough and old witch from the Land of Far North had killed nearly three hundred men with her poison, causing her reputation of ‘Poisonous Witch’ reach to ultimate heights.

She was a Northern Witch, yet she had killed so many people in a region ruled by the Zhentarim Association. Her actions had immediately evoked a strong reaction from some Adept Families at the center region of Adept Continent. But with regards to this matter, after all, the old witch had the valid reason for seeking revenge for her disciple, hence, no matter how discontent those Adept Families were, they had no choice but acquiesce her action.

Therefore, whenever the name of this poisonous witch was mentioned, all the Adepts from center region of the continent would feel a headache. After all, in the center region of the continent controlled by the Zhentarim Association, there weren’t any major scale of invasions coming from demons, and the conditions of the natural environment were so much better comparing to the Land of Far North. As the result, most of the Adepts here had spent too much time carrying out magical experiments, which caused their combative abilities and approaches to recede. That was why they were not as ferocious and brutal as those Northern Witches.

If not because Zhentarim Association had controlled a huge area with abundant resources, which allowed them to produce countless Adepts, with the quality of the Adepts in this place, there was no way they could compete with the other three major Adept powers that surrounded them.

The Magical Swamp was, after all, a private resource site for Sarubo Family. If it were any other Adept of the same grade who had come and gave him trouble, Anderson would have attacked him or her without another word. But when facing this infamous ‘Poisonous Witch’, even with his unsociable and eccentric temperament, he wouldn’t initiate any attacks easily.

Faced with Anderson’s question, the poisonous witch let out a few ghastly sneers, turned behind her and said, “Alice, come out and show yourself to this master Anderson, so he can save his breath in uttering that nonsense!”

When Anderson saw the little girl who had jumped out from behind the poisonous witch, his gloomy face turned as dark as the bottom of a used pot. “Endor, who is this little girl to you? I remember she is Deborah’s disciple.”

“You do have a good memory. She is doing her apprenticeship under Deborah currently. But she is also my blood descendant! She is an Apprentice Witch with the most potential from my family, Moya Family! However, she had suffered a shameful ambush and humiliation from you! Today, I’m here to settle the scores with you!”

Fuck! Right at this very moment, who knew how many times had Anderson cursed in his mind! Who would know by simply teaching a lesson to an Advanced Apprentice who had intruded Magical Swamp, he would provoke a junior from the clan of the ‘Poisonous Witch’? Could what he had done disgusted the Will of the Adept World, causing it to bring him such punishment?

While cursing his bad luck inwardly, Anderson roared out furiously with a cold expression, “I did teach a lesson to this little girl! So what? Are you going to fight me just because of her? Endor, don’t you forget you’re just a representative sent by Northern Witch, attacking me would stir up a clan war between our families!”

“Clan war? Hmph. Would the family behind you, Sarubo Family, declare a war against my Moya Family just because of such a petty matter? But, you don’t have to worry, my purpose today is not to teach you a lesson, but to let Alice vent her spleen.” Hearing what the poisonous witch had said, the doll-like Alice’s eyes immediately turned red, as she threw herself into the old witch’s arms and acted like a spoiled child. She even turned her head and gave Anderson a fierce gaze.

“So what exactly do you want? I was just punishing a little fellow who was rude to me, do you really want me to pay a price for that?” Anderson’s voice lowered by a few degrees.

“Hmph, I can accept your action of teaching Alice a lesson! But your apprentices had jointly attacked Alice, and we need to settle this score in a proper manner! I’ll not bully the weak by being strong, so get those few fellows who had hurt Alice before and let them have another fight again. If your apprentices win, I’ll leave immediately. If your apprentices lose, hehehe… they will have to face their death!”

The gloomy face of Anderson twisted violently a few times. He then waved his hand and recited some incantations that no one could understand. Following an enshrouding magical ring that flashed through the top of this small hill, three figures of different appearances appeared in midair.

As Adept Anderson owned the highest control power of the Swampy Tower, therefore, without communicating with Greem and the others, he had used his right and forcefully teleported Acteon, Mary and Greem over to this small hill. Obviously, the three of them still had no idea what was going on, they were busy with their own matters in their own residences, but with a magical ring that suddenly flashed underneath their feet, they had come to this wilderness for no apparent reason.

The three of them were first struck with bewilderment, then they were startled. And when they saw Adept Anderson, they quickly bowed deeply and paid him respect, waiting for his orders quietly.

“They are the ones! All of them are bad people, they had hurt me repeatedly! Especially that disgusting vampire, she even sucked away a lot of my blood…”

Right when Alice jumped out and scolded angrily, the poisonous witch who had brought her here knitted her brows in a tight frown.

Two Pseudo-Adepts and an Advanced Apprentice!

How came their rank was slightly different from what Alice had described?

“Alice, are you sure they are the ones? Why they are different from what you told me?” The poisonous witch’s expression turned cold.

“Yes, I’m sure! But last time two of them were only Advanced Apprentices, and this…” Alice pointed her finger at Greem, a vicious glow could be seen flickering on her cute little face, “This guy, he was only a Beginner Apprentice last time!”

They had been promoted?

Facing two Pseudo-Adepts, even the Poisonous Witch Endor started to worry.

With her overall strength and the aggressiveness of Moya Family that supported her, it wouldn’t be a big deal if Alice killed two Advanced Apprentices. But when it involved Pseudo-Adepts, things became a bit trickier to handle!

For any Adept Family, Pseudo-Adepts were the backup force they prepared for their future, and they wouldn’t give any of them up. According to Endor’s understanding, this Sarubo Family didn’t even own more than a two digit number of Pseudo-Adepts, if she killed two of them at the same time, even though Sarubo Family was a weak family, perhaps they would still declare a war to the Moya Family!

“Alice, you can’t touch those two Pseudo-Adepts! I thought you said you hated that kid the most? Go challenge that Advanced Apprentice! Kill him and vent your spleen, I’ll find a way to settle the other two.” Showing no changes on the outside, Endor had transmitted her thought over to Alice’s mind via telepathy.

Alice, who was in the middle of yelling and scolding, stopped for a brief moment. Then, she pointed her finger at Greem and announced her challenge.

By right, a meaningless challenge like this would not be approved. As the apprentice of Swampy Tower, Adept Anderson was obliged to provide protection to Greem. But obviously, today was an exception. When Alice announced her challenge in front of everyone, Adept Anderson never said another word, clearly, he had tacitly assented such behavior.

Greem sneered a few times inwardly.

Though he only arrived here for a very short amount of time, but right when he saw Alice, he had grasped the reasons behind this farce. Therefore, when confronted with Alice’s challenge, Greem took a step forward.

“After beating you last time, I never expected to see you back for revenge so soon! So, if I beat you again this time, when are you going to come back for your revenge?”

Though Alice was a black-hearted and merciless girl, she still took her honor seriously. When she heard the ridicule coming from Greem, she immediately jumped up and down from anger, screaming furiously, “Do you really think you can defeat me? Last time, if it weren’t for the fact that you all had taken turns attacking me and had gotten help from the sneak attack of that vampire, do you really think you could live until today?”

“So, if I really defeat you this time, what are you going to do?” Greem was waiting for these words from her. Without hesitation, he immediately countered her statement.

“If I’m really defeated by you, my life will be yours, and I’ll be your slave forever! But if you’re defeated by me, your life will be mine!” In a towering rage, Alice roared out this statement without thinking twice.

Endor, standing behind Alice, furrowed her brows. For some unknown reasons, an inauspicious feeling suddenly surged up in her mind. This young kid, who was going to fight Alice, portrayed an overly calm and peaceful manner. Could he really possess some powerful trump cards?

Secretly, a tentacle stretched out from Endor’s powerful spirit, slowly but surely it reached Greem’s body, and gave its target a serious examination. Overall strength of an Advanced Apprentice and ordinary Fire element innate talent. The magical equipment on his body could be considered as finely made. But, with such overall strength, it was far from enough to defeat Alice.

Since she stepped into the path of an Adept, Endor never saw anyone possessing a more powerful innate ability than Alice’s spatial innate ability. No matter what kind of powerful magic spells those elemental apprentices mastered, when facing against Alice, an opponent who had total control of the spatial aspects of the battlefield, nothing would matter when they couldn’t hit her with their spells.

As for Body Refining and Profound Apprentices, in front of Alice, they were as fragile as scarecrows. Only those Bloodline Apprentice with extraordinary innate talents would be a threat to Alice.

But, after the last defeat, Alice had gone through a painful torture, which eventually made her skyrocket in her mastery in short distance teleportation. When facing against Alice, who could now travel freely within a battlefield, Endor couldn’t think of how those Apprentice Adepts could defend against her Spatial Cut that was capable of destroying anything, and how were they going to capture Alice who kept teleporting across the battlefield!

After making sure the overall strength of Alice’s opponent, Endor let out a shivering sneer, saying, “Kid, save your breath, go inside and have a fight with Alice!”

Having finished saying that, she stretched her arm and took the golden bird cage from Alice, then waved it towards both Greem and Alice.

In next second, both Greem and Alice had disappeared from the scene!