Age of Adepts

They only lasted fifteen minutes before ending!

The organized attacks of the elves were feeble and ineffective against the fully-armed magical machines descending from the skies.

Their fast and accurate arrows were utterly useless before the impenetrable metal machines.

Meanwhile, the flower fairies and blade dancers, who only had close combat skills, had nowhere to run during the area barrage of the magical machines. It didn’t matter how fast they flew; they weren’t faster than the speeding bullets. It didn’t matter how rapidly they swung their elven swords; they couldn’t deflect the storming barrage.

One after another, fairies and blade dancers charged out of their hiding spots. Their sharp claws and blades sent sparks flying and rang out against the metal bodies of the magical machines, but nothing they did could harm the opponent. The other machines that stood in the distance turned their guns without hesitation and drowned this place in a savage barrage of bullets.

They didn’t seem to worry about whether their attacks would harm their own allies.

In truth, there was no need to worry either!

There was only one ’living thing’ that could still stand within the center of the attack once the barrage had stopped– the magical machines that had been surrounded by the elves. All the flower fairies and blade dancers had been riddled full with holes. They littered the battlefield like abandoned rags.

The magical machines moved their forms, paying no attention to the bullet dents on their bodies, advancing toward where the elves were with their heavy and steady steps.

How powerful a military force could a tiny village at the very edge of the elven kingdom possess? That was why they could not retaliate against the magical machine army, who were far stronger and more prepared. They were all razed by the gunfire and turned into prisoners of the adepts.

The only ones that put up some degree of an outstanding performance were probably the female elf captain Lyfaea and the druid Syd Sharpfang. One of them was a First Grade elven archer, while the other was a junior First Grade druid. They could still threaten and damage the magical machines when going all out.

The junior druid held an oaken staff in one hand and cast out iron thorn seeds with the other, summoning clusters of fast iron thorns from underground to trap an Archer on the spot. Meanwhile, Lyfaea let out a battle cry and shot out two elven arrows glowing with a green light.

The two arrows instantly embedded themselves in the chest plate of the Archer.

For the magical machines supported by magic energy batteries, that was sadly not where their energy core was located. As such, the damage dealt by these two arrows were insufficient to cripple the magical machine or force it to self-destruct. The very next second, the Archer raised both of its arms, and eight mounted magic-energy guns immediately drowned Lyfaea’s location in a violent torrent of metal.

There was none of the usual deafening roar of ordinary goblin rifles, or the large plume of smoke from the explosion of gunpowder. The metal bullets continually fired out of the magic energy rifles and large clusters of blood burst out of Lyfaea’s slender body, along with the sound of snapping bones.

By the time the wildly spinning mounted rifles had stopped their shooting, the only thing left of this once beautiful female elf captain was a terrifying and bloody corpse that quietly collapsed to the ground.

”Lyfaea…” Druid Syd Sharpfang let out a pitiful cry. His green eyes instantly turned blood red. The druid let out a howl and quickly transformed into a fearsome Earth Mauler. He then charged at the Archer.

The mounted rifles on the magical machine’s arms once again spat out a chain of bullets, bloodying the ferocious Earth Mauler all over its body and causing it to wince in pain.

However, Syd Sharpfang still managed to arrive in front of the Archer thanks to the robust physique of the Earth Mauler.

The Earth Mauler stood on its hind legs with a furious roar. It raised both of its paws high up and savagely smashed them upon the body of the Archer. The humanoid Archer magical machines were vastly inferior to the spider machines when it came to balance. The Archer was actually thrown onto the ground by the druid.

The Earth Mauler immediately leaped forward and started rolling about on the ground with the Archer.

There were bestial roars, unsettling dull thuds, and the crisp, continuous sound of gunfire. All these sounds mixed, slowly descending from a loud commotion to muffled noises, then from muffled noises to subdued sounds. Gradually, all sounds vanished without a trace!

By the time the other magical machines had cleared up the elven village and arrive at this battlefield, they only saw one bloody and one metallic corpse entangled together.

The earth mauler that the druid had transformed into had its stomach entirely shot into ribbons. The shattered internal organs slowly flowed out from within, soaking the ground beneath with blood. The Archer had also fallen apart. It appeared to have been badly ravaged by the earth mauler. Its metal body had been twisted beyond recognition, and it was totally non-functional.

When all the battles had ended, the magical machines started to search outward with the help of the metal eyeballs. This broken elven village was left to the adepts for research.

The surviving elves and flower fairies were sent to the flying ship to be interrogated by Poison Hag Endor. She had to figure out the approximate locations of all surrounding elven settlements, as well as the nearest elven city.

Half-Elf Tymo might be able to remember the locations of all elven cities, but he couldn’t accurately pinpoint the areas of all elven villages. After all, it had been nearly a hundred years since he had left this place. A hundred years of experience was enough to cause everything familiar to fade from memory.

Trying to assault an elven city with the current strength of Greem and the other adepts was suicide. However, raiding the elven cities and clearing up all of their surrounding towns and outposts was still within their ability.

As qualified adepts, Greem and the others all personally retrieved the hair, flesh, and internal organs of the flower fairies and the elves. In particular, with the Spirit of Pestilence, Greem could now very easily use these materials to extract plague seeds with specific targets.

However, both elves and flower fairies were creatures of nature and had exceptional resistance to plagues and poisons. Trying to deal with them through disease alone was no more than a pipe dream. Still, Greem was more than happy to stir up more trouble for the elves!

The ones who were the happiest about the spoils from the big battle had to be the vampires and Bug Adept Billis.

One had to mention that the elves naturally possessed dense nature auras within their bodies as children of the forest. Their blood full of magical energy was undoubtedly the favorite food of vampires. That was why Mary had personally selected a few quality fairies and elves from the prisoners to be blood treats for herself.

Billis then collected the corpses of elves that had been dismembered in the attack.

Billis had just constructed a new bug’s nest in a secret room within the ship, and he happened to need large amounts of blood and flesh. These elf corpses had come at the right moment.

Apart from these, the adepts also found many elven items within the ravaged treehouses. Most of them were different plant seeds and fruits that didn’t mean much to the adepts. However, there were some fairly significant items within the pile.

For example, there were the Fruits of Nature taken from a thousand-year-old oak. Ordinary humans could extend their lifespan by eating the fruit. However, in the hands of adepts, it could only be used as a plant-attribute material to concoct nature resistance potions.

These nature resistance potion seemed to be necessary support potions in the fight against the elves!

Of course, apart from the Fruits of Nature, the adepts also found some exotic wood used for crafting magical staffs, along with the corresponding nature magical gemstones to be embedded within them.

However, Greem gave no mind to these things. The only thing that could move him was an unexpected discovery there.

Deserra found a very well-hidden hollow in the top of the tallest tree of the elven village. When Greem passed through the narrow hollow and pushed aside the green vines hanging down from above, what appeared before him was a small nature altar.

The so-called ’small altar’ was no more than a tree stump one-meter wide in diameter. A pool-like groove had been dug into the stump. When Greem arrived here, he could very clearly see the bright moonlight passing through a hole at the top of the hollow, projecting straight into the groove.

A thin layer of green spring water rippled within the groove.

Greem had just moved toward the tree stump when he sensed the overwhelming life aura. He also detected a trace of holy and sacred aura.

Moonwater!

It should be the rumored treasure of the elves– Moonwater.

Greem took a deep breath and turned to give an order, ”Go and fetch Alice, quick.”

Deserra had only just acknowledged the order when Alice’s soft and graceful voice rang out.

”No need to call for me, I have come myself!”

Greem laughed out loud, ”Eh, what a dog’s nose you have. To think you smelled the air and came here before I even called for you.” Having said that, he started laughing without any restraint or care for his image.

Alice rolled her eyes at him unamusedly.

However, her eyes were drawn toward and fixed upon the layer of green water once she got close to the tree stump.

”Moonwater. It’s Moonwater…”

”What? There’s actually Moonwater here?”

The few witches that had followed along gasped in disbelief.

Alice tilted her head and thought for a moment. She then seemed to have understood something.

She walked to the tree stump and hit it a few times on several spots. She then pulled out a hidden drawer and took out a palm-sized wooden carving.

For some reason, a surge of a profound and strange flux radiated from the wooden carving, causing all living beings that saw it to have the impulse prostrate themselves before it!

”As I expected! Greem, we can’t stay here for too long. This is a village blessed by a deity.”

”Oh! Oh?” Greem was confused, ”What is this wooden figure?”

”A treasure like Moonwater shouldn’t appear in a village of this size and population. Yet, it has still appeared here. It can only mean that this place is under the protection of the God of Moonlight. This wooden figure is an idol of the God of Moonlight. The elves of the village are very likely all followers of the God of Moonlight. We might attract great trouble if we stay here for too long!”

”Understood. I will go and arrange our retreat now. I’ll leave everything here to you!” Greem decisively agreed and immediately walked out of the hollow.

”Don’t just look around anymore, people. Work together and move everything here away.” Alice also immediately gave her orders.

The witches gladly moved forward to get working.

Soon, the hollow had been completely emptied of its contents!