Age of Adepts

How much did Greem’s spells hurt?

Three fire spells at one hundred and fifty-five points beat on the body like a downpour. Even a golem crafted from magical alloy would have melted and been reduced to liquid metal in that kind of heat, not to mention that Sicha only had a body of flesh and blood.

Sicha had used various poisons to train and refine his body over the years. This training allowed him to form an invisible layer of force on the surface of his skin when he drew upon his magical powers. This sort of barrier was generated by a combination of life force and Spirit. It deflected all elemental, soul, poison, and curse-attribute magic damage. Of course, the person’s ability determined the damage reduction effect of the barrier.

Sicha was a veteran adept and could reduce about thirty to fifty percent of all incoming elementium damage.

Moreover, after all that refining, his body was as resilient as a top-grade magic resistant armor, even without the use of any other equipment. It was the most astounding trait of body-refining adepts!

They could endure an elementium adept’s barrage entirely and charge to the enemy’s side. After that, a single strike for them would end the battle. If the enemy didn’t have sufficient mobility spells, victory was guaranteed.

However, this only held true for ordinary adepts.

An ordinary First Grade adept could only cast spells with power between seventy to a hundred points. Those that could exceed the hundred point threshold could already be considered veteran adepts. One hundred and thirty points would put you at the elite-level.

Flandre’s signature Water Dragon Wave might only have one hundred and ten points of power at the point of impact, but its persistent nature made it an effective spell. The spell could last for forty seconds. Converted to total damage, the Water Dragon Wave could reach a shocking one hundred and forty points of power.

An ordinary adept would not even be able to break through Sicha’s defenses, regardless of whether they could instantly cast spells as Greem could.

A hundred point elementium attack would be reduced by thirty to fifty percent, then further weakened by Sicha’s golden armor, before finally affecting him. Sicha didn’t even need to dodge. He could take these spells head on, and he would be fine as long as he could endure thirty to forty points of elementium damage.

This little bit of damage was entirely tolerable for Sicha, who had already honed his body until it was as durable as magical equipment. He might feel some minor pain in the process, but it wouldn’t compromise his ability to fight in any manner.

However, a hundred and fifty-five point elementium attack like Greem’s was far beyond the limit that his body could endure. The amount of damage that broke through his defenses was shocking!

That was why Sicha’s body started to melt the moment the three spells descended upon him!

His previously steel-like muscles quickly disintegrated and fell apart when ravaged by the elementium flames. Sicha was engulfed by elementium flames of over three thousand degrees the moment his forcefield was overcome; he immediately ignited and started to burn.

The fire blazed, burning all his skin, hair, blood, flesh, and nerves.

The intense pain from every piece of his body caused Sicha to break free of the wind dragon’s intimidation instantly. He howled in agony and started running away. However, there was no use in running. That ferocious layer of flames still overwhelmed his body, sizzling and crackling as it burned away his flesh.

It didn’t matter how powerful Sicha’s magic resistance was. His skin still withered, cracked, and turned to ashes under the effects of that horrifying fire. Without the protection of his skin, the flesh, nerves, and bones were exposed to the flame.

With his powerful Spirit, Sicha very clearly felt how the fires were burning every inch of his skin and every piece of his flesh.

It was a nightmarish feeling that frightened him to the very core of his soul. His actions became even more desperate and mad.

He waved his claw frantically, striking at whichever direction he thought Greem could be in, all while crying out in pain and calling for Flandre’s help.

He was now using all his strength and power to keep the elementium flames restricted to the outside of his body. They might be dealing tremendous damage to him, but at least they had yet to affect his spirit origin. As long as his companion saved him in time, he still could recover from such wounds, despite how terrible they appeared to be.

Flandre frowned as he continued to control his Water Dragon Wave, and a chilling light shone in his eyes. He quickly wove signs with his hands, and the unstoppable wave chasing behind Greem immediately transformed into a dozen water dragons. They forcefully broke through the magma field created by the fireballs’ explosions and lunged at the Flame Fiend’s back.

Flandre still chose to strike at the enemy, even at this moment.

Saving Sicha could be put on the back burner until they had captured Greem.

Greem, on the other hand, had fixed all his attention on Sicha. He was no longer going to be able to escape or avoid the ferocious Water Dragon Wave crashing down upon him.

Fire Teleportation was an excellent tool for escaping and moving around. However, casting the spell still required one second to channeling the flames and lock onto the target destination. The Water Dragon Wave would not provide him with that much time to escape.

Most of his Lava and Fire Shields had already been torn apart by Sicha. What remained of his defenses couldn’t possibly stop Flandre’s powerful spell. However, Greem remained fearless in this situation. His body started to sink, and amazingly enough, it began to merge with the form of the wind dragon below.

All seventeen meters of the wind dragon’s body, along with its wings with a wingspan of six meters, swung around. Its spindle-shaped tail whistled through the air and smacked Sicha across the body, sending the body-refining adept crashing down from the sky.

However, the wind dragon was also quickly swallowed by a rumbling tsunami. The dragon tumbled and rolled about in the air from the impact, its green-scaled body creaking from the continuous strikes of the water dragons.

If it weren’t for the wind dragon’s densely concentrated elementium body, it would have fallen apart from the repeated attacks of the water dragons.

Adept Flandre felt a considerable joy rise in his heart when he saw the Water Dragon Wave devour Greem and his wind dragon. Decades of bloody battles had instilled absolute confidence in Flandre when it came to his Water Dragon Wave. As long as the opponent was still an adept of flesh and blood, and as long as they hadn’t reached Second Grade, there was no way they could defend against the continuous attacks and strangulation of the water dragons.

A terrifying dragon’s roar that seemed to rend the skies apart emanated from the center of that humongous wave of water.

It was almost as if a legendary monster hid within the waves. An egg-shaped ripple spread out from within, enveloping every inch of space around the mass of water. Every single wave, whirlpool, and vortex of water was ripped to shreds and reduced to mere mist wherever the wave spread. The fog was even further reduced to its most basic form– pure water elementium.

The Water Dragon Wave that had once filled the entire sky transformed into a peaceful world of water in a single moment. The dense concentration of water elementium quickly dispersed after that.

A green wind dragon roared as it flew out of that blue and rippling atmosphere of water. However, strong and surging flames had replaced the transparent wind vortices within its body.

This was a strange and unusual dragon that possessed both wind and fire attributes!

The dragon landed on the ground with a heavy thump. Trace of fire energies radiated from within its body as Greem’s towering body reformed on its back.

Flandre drew a cold breath.

He hadn’t thought much about this wind dragon’s power at the start of the battle. He only felt that it looked majestic and magnificent. However, Flandre finally had a vague understanding of this dragon’s power after that Water Dragon Wave.

It was definitely more powerful than him!

That meant that the dragon was as powerful as a peak elite-adept!

Even if Greem weren’t involved in the battle, Flandre alone would have no more than a twenty percent chance of winning against this wind dragon. Now that the wind dragon had synergized so well with that accursed Greem, Flandre knew his chances were slim.

No. This was no longer a matter of whether Flandre could win; it was a matter of whether the enemy would let him escape!

Flandre’s handsome face twisted into a wicked and distorted expression.

Goddamned elders. What kind of information did you provide me with!? Didn’t you say that I was only up against a fire adept that could temporarily possess the power of an elite adept! Where did this elite wind dragon come from?

……

Flandre’s expression shifted several times from the complex emotions he was feeling. Meanwhile, his desire to continue fighting was quickly falling.

He could clearly sense that Sicha was gravely wounded. The body-refining adept was now suffering and crying for help in a deep crater somewhere. The flock of red-eyed crows looking on from a distance had all disappeared now.

Was there still any meaning in continuing this fight now that both of his companions were down for the count?

Large beads of sweat emerged on Flandre’s forehead, and his expression was grim and painful.

Greem ordered the wind dragon ahead. Just a single step and the struggling Flandre promptly raised both of his arms.

”Surrender. I surrender. According to the Adept’s Code of Conduct, you may take every resource or item I have on me, but you may not harm me. I wish to be conferred the treatment of a prisoner of war.”

Gah.

That was a thing?

Greem had been thrown into a planar war the moment he advanced. Then he was engrossed in all sorts of errands after he returned, including a small skirmish he had to settle for the clan. He had never found the time to catch up on some of the less critical knowledge about adepts.

Consequently, Greem was stunned for a few seconds when faced with Flandre’s surrender.

He immediately gave the Chip an order to bring out the contents of the Adept’s Handbook and quickly look for information related to surrender and prisoners of war.

The Adept’s Handbook was a necessary item given out by the Zhentarim Association. Almost all adepts in the central area of the continent had to obey the rules written within. Even though much of the content could be ignored and disregarded in private settings, going against them in public was a bad idea. One would be pursued and hunted by the executors, who likely had too much time on their hands.

If this place was somewhere rural and far away, Greem only needed to be a little more, and he would have no problem, even if he killed an adept who surrendered. However, now Greem glanced at the clan apprentices who were huddled together and fearfully observing the battle from a distance. He then recalled the couple of hidden spiritual fluctuations he had sensed at the edge of the battlefield. In the end, Greem had no choice but to sigh and dispel his thoughts of killing the enemy and exacting his revenge.