Age of Adepts

A small welcoming party was held in the large guest hall on the flying ship.

As the hosts, the adepts of the Fate Witches were surprisingly not too far behind the guests in terms of number and quality. There was a single Third Grade, one Second Grade, and nine First Grade among the eleven Dark Witches. Meanwhile, the Fate Witches had Greem and Zacha as their Second Grade attendees for this banquet. They had plenty of First Grade adepts as well.

In general, disregarding the higher-grade adepts, the Fate Witches were more powerful compared to the Dark Witches.

Of course, the main reason such an exciting situation had come to rise was that the Dark Witches sent to Faen were only a fraction of the branch’s strength. On the other hand, the Fate Witches were already putting out all of their available manpower!

Almost all of the Northern Witches already knew of the young Second Grade fire adept’s relationship with Alice.

Due to their usually low profile and distance from each other, no odd rumors had been spread about them. However, for this journey to Faen, an undeniable combination of powers had appeared between these two forces from the central region and the north.

It had caused dissatisfaction among some of the Northern Witch leaders!

Of course, these worrisome matters were things that concerned the higher-ups. It didn’t affect the collaboration of the Dark Witches and the Fate WItches here in this other world.

Still, with the usual pride and arrogance of the Northern Witches, they didn’t assign too much importance to Greem, despite his identity as a Second Grade fire adept. The Second Grade Dark Witch prefer to talk to Snowlotus rather than exchange a single word with Greem.

Greem couldn’t help but sigh internally at this sort of arrogance.

At the same time, the ’guilt’ he felt over his deception and manipulation of them immediately faded!

The flying ship turned back and flew off without any pause after fetching these Dark Witches from the Echo Isles.

The three leaders of their respective forces met up in a secret room for a discussion while the witches were gathered in the hall socializing.

Uzzah, Alice, and Greem.

Uzzah was upset with Greem’s presence here. Her first words upon seeing Greem were an innuendo, ”You are truly fit!” Having said that, she turned toward Alice and teased, ”You truly know how to choose.”

For a moment, both Alice and Greem’s face turned gray.

Uzzah was a black-robed, middle-aged witch. She had a sinister face, a hooked nose, and thick, dark-colored lips; she looked somewhat insane. Still, the dense aura of darkness around her was unforgettable.

As a Third Grade Witch, Uzzah had no need for reservations in front of the two of them. That was why Alice and Greem could only chuckle forcibly in response to her crazy comments. They could not break into conflict with Uzzah.

Moreover, those two seemingly innocuous sentences had quite obviously placed the Second Grade Greem in the position of Alice’s male concubine. She was obviously trying to force Greem out of the room before negotiations had even started!

Fortunately, Greem and Alice had already established an understanding. Greem kept his mouth shut and sat silently to the side, leaving Alice to deal with Uzzah alone.

Alice might only be of First Grade, but she had the wondrous magical and metaphorical halo of a witch leader over her head. That was why Uzzah wouldn’t dare to push her too far, even if she was two entire grades above Alice.

At the very least, Uzzah had to wait for Alice to sit before she could.

The negotiations were direct and efficient!

They were both Northern Witches, and because of that, they knew very well what they should do when fighting a third party.

Working together against a common enemy was the best way to cooperate.

Both of their factions had traveled to this distant plane from the World of Adepts, all for the sake of raiding and robbing enough resources to drive the further development of their clans. The only thing that currently stood in their way were the elves of Garan. They only had a chance at obtaining the richest prize if they could move this massive mountain away.

However, with the information they currently possessed, it was only a pipe dream for the witches current numbers to be able to beat the elves, who had plenty of powerful fighters. Even the Pale Witches couldn’t defeat the elves after mobilizing much of their available strength. It was even more impossible for them with their tiny bit of military force now.

Furthermore, even if they could defeat the elves, the ones that benefitted the most would only be the Pale Witches. Their allied army would, at the very best, only gain some leftovers. Consequently, neither party had any interest in directly going against the elves.

They easily settled the remaining issues now that they had agreed upon this important principle.

Their entrance and exit from Garan would be much smoother than before with the flying ship. As long as they always had a clear target, accurate information, and maintained the basic principle of quick fights and running after the first strike, those dull elves with their stubborn mindsets would never have a simple time catching them.

The several assaults from the Dark Witches before had always been able to deal decent damage to the elves. However, given the lack of a massive battle platform and logistical base like the flying ship, they could not maximize their profits from each fight.

Not all the prisoners could be brought back. They could only pick the high-quality elves to bring along with them. The war resources were also far too much for them to take away and the remainder could only be put to the torch. Now that they had the flying ship, all these obstacles were no longer problems. The only difficult question now was how to choose the targets of their assaults!

If they could successfully surround an elven town or city and abduct all the elves within, then the first mission of Uzzah and the Dark Witches would be immediately completed. That was why Uzzan instantly objected when Alice suggested that they assault the unprepared elven villages on the west coast.

”We have the flying ship. Our greatest advantage is the unannounced and sudden nature of our attacks. The elven kingdom is sure to slip up without any preparations. Thus, the first strike will always be the one with the greatest chance of success. Rather than waste the first blow on those tiny elven villages that have neither resources nor elites, why don’t we go for something bigger and try and swallow an entire elven town with a single bite?” Uzzah got increasingly excited as she spoke. By the end, her voice had practically turned into a scream.

”But the defensive strength of elven towns is far higher than normal elven villages. From what I know, most elven towns have squads of treant warriors and are protected by powerful unicorns. These are all nature creatures that can compare to First Grade elite adepts. Moreover, there are sure to be plenty of Second Grade elven powerhouses in such towns. If…” Alice raised plenty of objections, but her tone didn’t seem to be all that firm.

Uzzah laughed coldly upon hearing this. She quickly concluded, ”I have already seen it. You have quite a few metal golems upon this ship. With them, ordinary elves will no longer be a threat. Even the treants and unicorns would have trouble disposing of them quickly. With the metal golems as meat shields and the number of witches we have, we are more than equipped to sweep away what little defenses they have.”

Having said that and still seeing hesitation upon Alice’s face, Uzzah couldn’t help but roar, ”If someone beyond Second Grade actually appears, you don’t need to worry. Just leave them to me. However, I will first take away two-thirds of the prisoners that we gain after the battle.”

She was genuinely demanding a lot by requiring two-thirds of the elven prisoners. She treated her identity of a Third Grade Witch as a golden signature.

Greem furiously grumbled internally, but he remained unfazed on the surface. He didn’t seem to mind at all.

Uzzah was in a hurry to complete her mission, while Greem and Alice were in a rush to push things into motion as well. They wanted to hitch this Third Grade Dark Witch to their metaphorical wagon as well. Sadly, any impatience and desperation before these sly old witches would draw their suspicion. That was why Greem decided to remain silent and leave everything to Alice’s performance.

Alice was more than agreeable to Uzzah’s idea. However, to avoid the opponent’s suspicion, she could only suppress her joy and slowly skirt around the issue.

Finally, after much haggling, both parties agreed upon the target of their assault.

Jintha’Alor!

It was a small elven town located where the west and south shore met. It was one thousand seven hundred kilometers deep into Garan. It had a population of seven hundred citizens, with a garrison of as many as two hundred individuals. These two hundred soldiers were all proper elite warriors and nature creatures. They were not like the elven villages that used the flower fairies to pad their numbers.

Apart from the one hundred and twenty blade dancers in their ranks, they also had twenty druids and fifty elven archers.

Apart from that, the place also had seven treant warriors and three unicorns.

According to the information compiled by the Dark Witches and the Fate Witches, the high-end combat force of the enemy consisted of seven Second Grade powerhouses. In particular, the captain of the garrison was a Second Grade weapons master, while the deputy was an elven Deadshot. Two of the druids were also Second Grade master shapeshifters.

One of the seven treant warriors was also a Second Grade Deadwood Guard. Those were famous tank units among the elves. The three unicorns were a family formed by a male and a female and a foal. The couple was a pair of Second Grade creatures.

If one were to make the calculations, the allied army of the Dark Witches and Fate Witches would have to formulate a plan if they wished to swallow this tough bone!

For the next five days, the flying ship continued on its path silently, flying high above the cloud layer. They slowly approached their prey from beyond the senses of the elves.

The witches hadn’t been idle for the past ten days either.

Those skilled in poison brewed poisons while other witches prepared their curse staffs. Everyone appeared to be extremely busy.

Finally, on the sixth day since the Dark Witches boarded the flying ship, they finally appeared near this small town known as Jintha’Alor.