Age of Adepts

It was a classic goblin civil war!

The size of the battlefield limited the scale of the battle. However, the fight itself was exceptionally bloody and brutal.

The leaders of both parties were trapped in a metal ore warehouse that was no more than seven hundred square meters in size. The reinforcements were still swarming into the warehouse. This tiny place instantly turned into an asura’s slaughterhouse where both factions fought each other to the death.

The royal guards that were escorting the princess were currently in an incredibly awkward position.

Two or three dozen magical machines were fighting in front of them, while the goblin death squads stubbornly pursued them from behind. They were stuck in the middle, unsure of what to do. For a moment, they had no idea where they should go.

The goblin town was still sovereign territory after all. The number of goblin soldiers stationed here undoubtedly outnumbered Gazlowe’s private army that had traveled from far away. However, it was precisely this advantage in numbers that caused Princess Vanessa and the Military Minister to let down their guards.

They had never imagined that this daring Gazlowe would attempt something as barbaric as abduction, especially while he was in the enemy’s base.

Not only did the old goblin ignore the Princess’ offer while the evil adepts wreaked havoc inside the Goblin Plane, but he was also even willing to risk civil war to get his hands on the princess. Such mindless actions were clearly beyond the range of an ordinary goblin’s logic!

Princess Vanessa agonizingly mumbled as she stumbled forward with her guards: ”Mad…mad, he must have gone mad... ”

As intelligent as she was, even she couldn’t comprehend the insanity of an ancient goblin teetering on the brink of death. There was no way she could ever understand the intensity of Gazlowe’s desire to live in the face of death, especially when he still thought of himself as the future hope of the Goblin Empire!

If the Goblin Empire couldn’t rise to prominence with him as its leader, then he would rather have all goblins fall along with him!

The battle was still raging on.

The army that Gazlowe had brought with him could not compare to the local military in terms of number. However, as the ones on the offense, their equipment quality and skill was far above the royal guards who hadn’t seen a battle in a long time. Moreover, Gazlowe’s army seemed to have already decided on their targets before their attack.

That was why their attacks were always targeted and their strategies well laid out. The moment the fight had started, they assaulted and took over all the strategic areas around the warehouse via both land and air.

The royal guards inside the warehouse were still trying their best to resist, but they were at a clear disadvantage. The number of royal guards had dwindled rapidly under the flanking attacks of the enemy. They had been reduced to less than ten men from their initial complement of a hundred.

The soldiers stationed around the warehouse by the Royal Family were being held back by a squad of magical machines. Magical machines were fighting both inside and outside the warehouse, along with the goblin soldiers supporting them.

Magic energy weapons, alchemical weapons, and gunpowder weapons could be seen everywhere across the battlefield. All of these were lethal weapons of murder that had been created by the intelligent goblins. Dozens and hundreds of goblins fell to the ground at every moment, each turning into yet another sacrifice on this chaotic battlefield.

When the final goblin guard was riddled with holes, only Princess Vanessa alone was left with Tigule’s single magical machine. They faced a dozen magical machines and over a hundred goblin mercenaries.

Among the enemies, three of them were First Grade goblin mechanics who could match Tigule’s might, and all of them were piloting Second Grade magical machines as well.

Tigule’s Spider Machine had been badly damaged after that bloody battle, and its combat ability had been severely reduced.

Only five of the machine’s eight limbs remained. The rapid-fire array of guns scattered around the spider’s body had mostly been destroyed as well. Even the high radiation flamethrower on the back of the spider’s metal body had vanished without a trace; only half of its metal base had remained there.

If these were the only problems that Tigule faced, then the battlefield before him still couldn’t prevent him from escaping. After all, he was daring and resolute in all of his maneuvers. However, he was the only thing standing between Princess Vanessa and the enemy. Thus, there was no chance of him using rapid movements and repositioning to dodge the enemy’s attacks.

Most of the time, he had to use his machine to shield Vanessa from stray bullets actively. Even the unstoppable Tigule couldn’t help but feel a helpless dejectedness when the enemy slowly closed in on them.

Kacha kak!

Countless black gun barrels forced them towards the center. Tigule hopelessly tossed away the First Grade machine he had torn into two pieces and gave up all resistance.

So many enemies at such a close distance. There was no way he could still protect the Princess from harm, and if he continued to fight, any random stray bullet would cause lethal damage to Princess Vanessa. There would be no saving the Princess’ life no matter how many enemies he killed after that.

Losing the Princess would be an intolerable nightmare for the Goblin Empire!

That was why the Princess had to live!

The battles outside the warehouse slowly came to a rest after Princess Vanessa fell into the hands of Gazlowe.

None of the royal goblin commanders had any idea what to do. They weren’t sure if they were supposed to continue attacking or transition into negotiations. Their cautiousness led them to remain idle, even when Gazlowe boarded his flying ship with Princess Vanessa in his arms. They didn’t dare to attack and could only watch as the enemy left the battlefield.

…………

The battle that occurred near the castle ended just as abruptly as it had started.

If it weren’t for the spies that Mary had planted among the goblins, the adepts would never have known that the two leaders had met up.

Greem and the others had only heard of the specifics three days after the incident due to the strict lockdown of information imposed by the goblins. By that time, Gazlowe had already retreated into the Steel Capital with his ’spoils of war’.

That was the capital of the Goblin Empire and well within the Royal Family’s sphere of influence. However, with the rise of the progressive faction, the Steel Capital had gradually become the meeting place of various financial groups.

In particular, as magic energy research had progressed over the past few decades, large amounts of wealth and resources had quickly gathered in the hands of Gazlowe’s Risk Investment Company. As such, the progressives were able to amass military might. They mass manufactured magic energy weapons and quickly became a militarized merchant union that grew with each passing day.

The leaders of this goblin merchant union were both merchants, tycoons, and bandits that possessed significant military strength.

Under the merchant union’s coercion, the conservative traditionalists had no choice but to silently move out of the Goblin Empire’s center of authority– the Steel Capital.

That was why the Steel Capital was now the base of mad goblin Gazlowe instead!

The information that Greem obtained about this battle between the traditionalists and the progressives was vague. It also lacked organization. Greem still had absolutely no idea what the mad old goblin was thinking.

Wealth and resources? For a native of a small plane, Gazlowe was only one step away from being the supreme leader of the entire plane. All logic suggested that he shouldn’t be using such a radical method to anger the traditionalists!

Given that to be the case, the only thing that could explain his actions was a rumor circulating throughout the Goblin Plane. People said that the one thing the smartest goblin in the world was thinking about was eternal life. All the insane things he had done up till now were all related to a project known as ’Immortality’.

While Greem and the others gathered in a hidden mountain, their camp had a mysterious guest.

Tigule!

…………

The curtain of night fell over the land.

It was a peaceful stretch of forest that lied beneath the beautiful sky of stars.

Tigule had run into the adept camp alone, before presenting the draft of a cooperation agreement to Greem in front of the blazing campfire. That agreement had the seal of the Royal Family on it.

As the leader of the adepts, Greem was naturally the first person to read through this strange agreement.

Greem casually stuffed the parchment into Alice’s hands after he was done reading through it. He had a strange look on his face. He then silently assessed the exhausted and pallid goblin warrior across the fire.

Alice quickly passed the agreement over to Mary after she was done.

Soon, every adept by the campfire had read through the agreement once.

While Greem was assessing Tigule, this goblin god of war was also secretly taking a look at all the mysterious adepts in the camp.

He couldn’t help but admit that these otherworldly adepts truly lived up to their names as mysterious, strange, evil, and unexpectedly powerful individuals. At least, that was what they looked like on the surface.

From what Tigule understood, only one adept had been present when they first arrived. That was the strange bug adept who was completely covered in his thick black cloak. His power was just as weird and unusual as his appearance. Not only could he command terrifying bugs, but he could also turn his body into tens of thousands of black beetles.

This strange ability alone made it hard for the goblins to hurt him with the weapons they possessed. The terrifying bug adept had even taken on a blast by the massive goblin cannon without dying during the battle against Prince Gazlowe.

Moreover, the goblins couldn’t even detect any signs of weakness or wounds on him the next time he appeared before them.

It was an evil adept that couldn’t be killed by any means!

That was a fearsome opponent that Tigule would never wish to face. He knew too well the might of the goblin cannon!

Yet, they relegated an evil adept like this to the fringe of the adept group. That was obvious from the order in which they read the agreement.

Even though the adepts in this camp had such good relationships with each other that they were willing to share such important and valuable information with each other, there still seemed to be an apparent disparity between their statuses.