Age of Adepts

One had to admit that when it came to the techniques of murder and scheming, these elves were as pure as rabbits that had never seen the true face of the world.

Despite how wicked and sly they had already imagined the enemy to be, they were still continually falling into the many tricks and traps of the otherworldly witches when they fought them.

Of the two parties engaged in the pursuit, the elves undoubtedly had the advantage in numbers and power; there was no question that they were the hunters. Meanwhile, the vampires numbered only one to two hundred. They should be the prey. They should be thinking about how to escape the elves. They couldn’t and shouldn’t have the courage to turn back and bite at the elves.

However, these vampires insisted on going against that logic. They hid most of their elites within the pile of elf corpses and waited for the fish to bite the hook.

This ’fish’ was the ’loudmouth’ that could bring disaster to the vampire horde– the Second Grade Elven Diviner Master Kimbell.

As the corpse pile exploded, a large cloud of blood mist instantly enveloped the place, engulfing an area of several dozens of meters in utter darkness. The screeching bats flew about like headless flies, madly attacking every elf around them.

Strangely enough, not one bat tried to get near the elven diviner!

If the enemy had planned this attack, how could they possibly have forgotten about a character as important as the elven diviner?

Master Kimbell knew she was in danger. She quickly retreated, shaking the nature’s staff in her hand as she did so.

Several brilliant green halos shone around her body as dense layers of Bramblethorn Armor, Natural Ward, Bark Skin, Nature’s Vigil, and other defensive spells quickly shrouded her body. The eye-catching radiance of magic was so bright that it made it difficult for others to even look at her.

As an elven diviner, Master Kimbell might have lost most of her casting abilities. However, with the use of an instant-casting staff, magical items, magic scrolls, and magic potions, Master Kimbell was still able to enhance herself with the maximum number of magical defenses in the shortest amount of time.

Master Kimbell was slightly more relieved once such a tight layer of defenses protected her. She reached toward her waist and took out a seemingly ancient magic scroll of immense power. She then narrowed her eyes and carefully awaited the enemy’s assault.

She knew very well her own abilities. There was no way she could escape the range of the enemy’s attacks with her six points of Agility. As such, she decided to keep a tight defense and await the aid of her allies.

There were as many as twenty-seven Second Grade fighters among the elves here and even one Third Grade druid elder. All she needed to do…

Master Kimbell’s mind was still turning when a phantom-like silhouette inside the crimson mist pressed against the outermost Bramblethorn Armor. Green waves rippled across the defenses, and both the assailant and the diviner grunted in unison.

As a Second Grade vampire adept, Mary’s basic attacks combined the power of blood energy and shadow energy. With her ability to launch five strikes in a single second, she could deal a terrifying amount of damage in the shortest time possible.

In particular, blood energy possessed extreme corrosive power and excelled at destroying magical defenses. On the other hand, shadow energy possessed the magic trait of ignoring defenses and was one of the fundamental abilities that magical assassins had to master.

Consequently, Mary managed to break through sixty percent of Master Kimbell’s magical defenses with her compound attack in a matter of two to three seconds. At the same time, the shadow energy that pierced through impacted the elven diviner and caused her to cough up blood.

However, the Bramblethorn Armor that Kimbell had cast on herself also possessed the ability to reflect thirty percent of all physical damage. As a result, Mary’s body also received damage, even as she rapidly attacked the enemy.

These few short seconds were enough for those elves and druid to react.

Shua! Shua! Shua!

Large areas of Nature’s Light erupted within the field.

These elves and druids were creatures of nature and naturally wouldn’t be damaged by such a spell. The only things here that were not of the nature attribute were Mary and her bloodsucking bats. Thus, the transformed vampire spawn all let out agonized screams as the green auras that erupted in such density instantly purified them.

The elves were still near the perimeter and couldn’t get over there just yet.

However, their Rejuvenation, Protection from Evil, Cure Damage, and other healing spells quickly washed over Master Kimbell’s body, immediately negating the tiny bit of damage she had previously endured. Her status recovered to her peak.

Several druids roared and charged forward. Some turned into ferocious bears and rumbled across the ground, while others transformed into massive hawks, calling as they soared into the skies. There were even some that turned into lithe jaguars and disappeared into the air with a single leap.

Even the Third Grade druid elder never thought that a mere Second Grade witch had the guts to attempt to assassinate the elven diviner in front of him. At the moment, he was so frustrated that his dark green face had turned a bright red. He furiously waved the oaken staff in his hand as he strode forward.

A mass of thunderstorm was rapidly forming over the empty field. Several thick pillars of lightning were blasting down from the thunderclouds and pointing right at the crimson silhouette that was wildly chasing and hacking away at the elven diviner.

The Undermoon Assassin leader that had completed her preparations reappeared at the edge of the thundercloud, resentful and upset. She had wanted to rely on her speed to stall the vampire witch, but this Third Grade thunderstorm was keeping her outside.

These falling blasts of lightning could not distinguish between ally and foe. If she went in, she would be attacked by the thundercloud as well!

Natasha had no other choice. She turned and dashed at the other vampires that were stopping the elves from reinforcing the diviner. Dealing with these advanced apprentice level vampire spawn was child’s play for a Second Grade like herself. It was pretty much a single slash for every enemy.

Anyone would expect the vampire witch to retreat in such dire circumstances. At the very least, she should avoid this wave of nature spells before continuing with her assassination.

However, to their surprise, the vampire witch gave absolutely no ground. She endured the savage thundercloud above her and the nature spells that burned her body, keeping close to the diviner’s shields, attacking, attacking, and attacking again with her life on the line.

The destructive lightning blasts descended from the sky, blowing away most of the blood mist around her. The remaining magical energies were still enough to electrify half of Mary’s body and turn it into char. Though Mary was already trying her best to use minimal movements to dodge the Rain of Thorns, Faerie Fire, Poison, Starfire, and more, the space she had was limited. She was still beaten within an inch of her life, coughing up blood as her broken body teetered on the edge of utter disintegration.

The elven diviner within the layers of defenses was still unharmed, but she, the hunter, was already on her last breaths!

Still, only a thin layer of barriers remained around the elven diviner!

While the elves relaxed and prepared for one more round of attacks to exterminate the wicked vampire witch, that woman took out a shiny crimson crystal and stuffed it into her mouth.

The next second, blood energy surged out of her body and instantly created a horrifying mist as thick as blood around her. Her life aura soared once again.

Dammit. Dammit!

It was at this moment that the striding Third Grade druid elder realized that his large-scale thunderstorm–despite having dealt tremendous damage to the vampire witch–had also indirectly hindered their own rescue efforts.

He let out a resounding roar, and the rolling thunderclouds vanished without a trace. The druids that were gathered near the edge of the thunderstorm swarmed forward, lunging into the blinding mist of blood.

The quickest of them all was Natasha. She rapidly freed herself of the vampire spawn and charged into the mist.

The imperceptible sound of a cracking shield surrounded by battlecries and roars was horrifying.

The mist trembled. Elven Diviner Master Kimbell let loose with her feet with no regard as to her old age. Her body had just charged past the area of the mist and was reaching at Natasha when an unbearably sharp blood arrow pierced her head and spun out of the middle of her forehead.

The blood energy within the arrow had dissolved the brain of the diviner, leaving her head completely empty.

A loud explosion rang out as the diviner’s head exploded. The fountain of blood spurted three meters high and completely soaked the elves and druids around them.

Natasha let out a furious growl and threw herself into the blood mist.

Currently, there were as many as eleven Second Grade elves within the mist, while the other Second Grades were keeping a vigilant watch on the outside and continuously casting Nature’s Light to purify the blood energies. However, what they never expected was how the dense blood mist seemed to be endlessly replenished. Even with so many elves casting at the same time, they could not rapidly purify the fog.

Natasha and the druids that had broken into the blood mist seemed to be trapped in a fearsome swamp of blood. It didn’t matter how they struggled and ran. Their speed had been suppressed tremendously.

The ferocious vampire witch even seemed to have created countless clones of herself, fighting everyone at the same time.

Pained grunts, the sound of nails piercing flesh, the noise of splashing blood, and everyone’s angered roars and growls could be heard.

”Open.”

Druid Elder Toril reached the blood mist and let out a savage roar. A massive green halo immediately crashed down on the blood mist.

The elves and druids within and outside the blood mist felt nothing. However, as the core of the blood mist itself, Mary felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her barely recovered body was instantly covered with hundreds and thousands of fine cuts. The flowing fountains of blood soaked her and turned her a crimson color.