Age of Adepts

At almost the same time the flames obscured the vision of the goblin mechanics, Greem vanished.

When he once again reappeared, he was near the side of the wolf-type machine.

Three Magma Fireballs simultaneously exploded beneath the Wolf machine. The ferocious flame shockwaves threw the robot into the sky. Its energy shield rapidly flickered inside the terrifying shockwave before finally shattering.

The moment the energy shield shattered, Greem lifted his head, and two highly concentrated Solar Rays shot out from his blazing eyes. The Solar Rays merged into a single ray midair, brutally burning away at the space between the forelegs of the wolf machine.

And that place was precisely where the goblin mechanic was hiding!

The sudden burst of attacks from the evil adept struck fear deep into the heart of the mechanic. The machine was also in the air, rendering it incapable of executing most combat maneuvers. The goblin’s hand quickly worked across the seven control levers and fifteen crystal buttons when he sensed the terrifying rays blasting at the metal plates in front of him. He was frantically trying to have the wolf machine perform a dodging maneuver.

Sadly, it was all too late!

The Krathor Alloy that was four fingers thick might have a hardness that far surpassed ordinary metals, but it was mediocre when it came to resisting magic. After all, magical creatures that wielded elementium attacks were rare in the Goblin Plane. As such, magic resistance hadn’t been the first priority of the goblin engineers when they created the magical machines.

The laserbeam-like Solar Rays stacked together. Even though the resultant beam wasn’t as thick as a little finger, it possessed an astounding cutting ability that was unimaginable to an ordinary human. It practically ate through that metal plate in an instant. The goblin mechanic hiding within the narrow cockpit had absolutely no chance or space to dodge and was cut apart by the Solar Ray.

As the strength of the Solar Ray continued to increase, the purple and crimson pillar of light pierced through the body of the goblin and tore through the metal behind him. The beam stabbed through the back of the wolf machine and blasted towards the sky.

The torso of the wolf machine that was one meter thick had been thoroughly pierced through by the Solar Rays that Greem had shot out of his eyes. It wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened to the goblin mechanic hidden inside the machine.

”Billy!”

”Billy... ”

……

Screams and gasps rang out in the forest.

These goblin mechanics were obviously extremely close. Several combat magical machines roared and charged forward when they saw Greem striking Billy.

In particular, the Bear machine acted as a tank. It roared and stormed forward as it opened its massive bear mouth. A pillar of fire that was a dozen meter long burst forth. The Squid machine waved its seven-meter long metallic tentacles and struck at Greem as if they were whips.

Playing with fire in front of a fire adept?

A cold smile surfaced on Greem’s handsome face. He paused for a moment before vanishing in a towering pillar of elementium flames.

Most of the magical machines here only had the strength of an elite adept. Only their captain, Tigule, could have some semblance of a Second Grade creature’s combat ability. Even so, the battle was entirely one-sided. If it weren’t for the plane suppression that Greem was enduring, the situation would have been much more unfavorable for the magical machine squad.

Greem flashed even further away with his Fire Teleportation. He appeared behind the Wyvern machine that was flying in the sky.

Greem didn’t give it any chances. Purple flames of a shocking temperature started to burn in Greem’s right hand. He bent his back and thrust his hand towards the backside of the Wyvern with a single motion. The energy shield protecting the Wyvern machine only endured for less than three seconds before cracking with a crisp sound.

The massive purple flame hand immediately stabbed into the tough metallic shell.

”Winny, he’s on your back! Quick, cast him away!” Captain Tigule yelled furiously. He raised his arm as blinding fire instantly ignited at the end of the two goblin rockets attached to the arm. The rockets whistled as they blasted towards Greem.

The other machines quickly turned their guns, and a new barrage of bullets fired into the sky.

Their companion was protected by the metallic plates of the machine and wouldn’t perish to their bullet assault. That was why they were able to shoot away without any worries to force that damned evil adept away from Winny.

Greem grunted. He didn’t care about killing the creature beneath him. He leaped away from the machine with a single kick of his legs. Fire blazed while he was still midair and he was gone again.

”Dammit. All of you, dodge, quick!” The Metal Goblin that Tigule was piloting had just made it beneath the Wyvern machine. He had no choice but to stop his movements when he saw the evil adept vanish in a blaze of fire once more. He shouted to remind his companions while hastily searching for the next location the enemy would reappear.

Boom! This time, Greem appeared behind the Squid machine. The Solar Rays forming in his eyes swept past and instantly severed three of its metallic tentacles.

The Squid machine swiftly turned to run when it realized the situation. However, Greem extended a hand, and countless fire elementium particles gathered together to form a giant hand of fire. The hand grabbed the Squid machine’s round metal body.

The hand of fire tightened its grip, and the thick fingers caused the energy shield to creak under pressure.

Seeing that it would take a while longer to break through the enemy’s energy shield, Greem shouted under his breath, and the fiery hand threw the machine. The struggling Squid machine transformed into a massive bowling ball as it crashed towards the Metal Goblin.

Tigule had no choice but to save his endangered subordinate. He piloted the Goblin and had it leap up into the air, catching the crashing Squid machine with its large metal hands. The tremendous momentum caused the two robots to fly another dozen meters before finally crashing to the ground.

Tigule extended one leg and planted the other into the ground behind him. He sunk half a meter into the ground before that kinetic force was neutralized.

Yet, it was this short delay that kept Tigule out of the battlefield. Greem smiled coldly and once again disappeared in a burst of fire.

All the magical machines went on alert when they saw Greem vanish. Those that were close by each other gathered together, back to back, and watched their surroundings with caution. The ones that were too far away from each other were fearful and started to move as quickly as they could.

Despite their superior numbers, the opponent’s untraceable Fire Teleportation had turned them into the ones at a disadvantage; they didn’t feel safe even with their companions by their side. When they sensed the slightest breeze at any location around them, they would instantly shower the place with a curtain of bullets as they retreated.

Even though they knew that their bullets couldn’t harm the adept, they could still delay the enemy’s attack motions. That would give them a few precious seconds to escape. It was why the cluster of flames would always be greeted by a barrage of bullets whenever it got close to a machine.

Poof! This time, Greem didn’t appear by any machine. Instead, he had teleported to a distance of a hundred meters away from them.

When he stepped out of the raging pillar of flames, he held the Blaze of Destruction in his left hand. His loud and clearly enunciated chants also echoed throughout the forest.

Goddammit! The evil adept’s spells were terrifying enough without the use of chants. If he were allowed to complete his chant, then even more casualties would occur.

The goblins instantly understood this fact. The machines sprung towards the adept in a fan formation. They continued to barrage the enemy’s Lava Shield as they ran towards him.

Just as their attention was all concentrated on Greem, Mary and Billis finally emerged from hiding and struck.

Mary chose the Wyvern machine.

It was the only machine in the group that was flying at the height of twenty meters. More importantly, it had yet to regain its energy shield. Such a mistake should never occur on a battlefield, where life and death were determined in an instant.

Just as the Wyvern machine prepared to dive at Greem, a massive silhouette with bat wings appeared on its back. An opening in the shape of an inverted triangle could be seen on the clearly-defined, aerodynamic metallic body of the Wyvern.

That was the mark that Greem had left behind with his attack when it hadn’t managed to burn through the metal due to the lack of time.

Mary walked towards the opening with her tall and slender figure. She immediately pulled the towering crimson bow in her hand into a full moon. Incomparably violent blood energies gathered at Mary’s fingertip and formed into a delicate, crimson arrow.

Boom! The bowstring snapped loudly.

The crimson arrow sped towards the opening and pierced through the last bit of the metal plate, exploding inside the cockpit.

The goblin mechanic known as Winny died instantly. All of her blood essence was corroded and turned into a dense mist of blood that returned to Mary’s body.

The Wyvern machine crashed down from the skies!

Billis, on the other hand, picked a considerable Metal Giant as his target.

As the machine was far too large, its movements were slow. As a result, it naturally fell behind its companions.

While the Metal Giant was shooting as it ran, the earth beneath its feet suddenly collapsed. The machine fell to the ground, completely caught by surprise.

A swarm of innumerable insects poured out of the split earth like a tide. They buried the Giant before it could even get up.

The Metal Giant struggled with all it had, but it was pinned down and restricted by a dozen sting scorpions. The terrifying swarm of bugs crawled all over the Metal Giant, digging all over its surface in search of passage inside.

And who’d have known? They actually found one!

The goblin mechanics still needed to breathe while enclosed in their cockpits. That was why every machine had ventilation passages on the surface of the machine that connected to the cockpit. Under ordinary circumstances, these ventilation passages were very well-hidden and quite small. Regular enemies were hard-pressed to attack the goblin mechanic through these holes.

However, the scorpions that bug adept Billis controlled were no ordinary enemies.

Once the terrifying scorpions finished their search and burrowed into the cockpit, the only thing left for the other goblins was the painful screams of their companion and the crunching sound of something being eaten.