Age of Adepts

With the extermination of the orc squad, the fire creatures that had been walking around the area instantly vanished without a trace.

They might not have been the most intelligent of creatures, but their instinct for danger was exceptionally sharp.

They scattered the moment they realized that Greem and his party were dangerous characters and went straight back to their nests to hide.

The adepts couldn’t be bothered to deal with these unintelligent creatures either. They continued down the mountain after putting on a good show of force.

Sprinting fifty kilometers in a single breath was nothing difficult with the Physique of the adepts.

Greem’s party arrived at the foot of the towering volcano by sunset.

The air had reached shockingly high temperatures here. The adepts had no choice but to radiate the elementium particles within their bodies to neutralize the vigorous fire elementium around them. Otherwise, even the cloth robes and capes that they were wearing would burst into flames from the heat.

The stifling smell of sulfur in the air beneath the mountain was so pungent that it caused headaches for everyone. Apart from Greem, who was able to endure the experience easily, the adepts had no choice but to erect elementium barriers to maintain the circulation of their life systems.

While the adepts could use their magic to protect themselves, Dragonborn Zacha and Goblin Tigule couldn’t do so.

Zacha was in better condition. His twenty-four points of Physique allowed him to endure environments even ten times worse than this. Other than a bit of annoyance at the baking heat, this tiny ’obstacle’ couldn’t even faze the Second Grade dragonborn.

However, Tigule was almost at his limits.

The Goblin Shredder he piloted might have the might of a Second Grade, but he was only at intermediate First Grade. The adepts could use their magic to sustain themselves in this environment while the dragonborn could endure the punishment with his extreme Physique. Meanwhile, Tigule, a mere First Grade goblin, could only pant in short and hurried bursts.

There was no way to lock the moisture in your body in this place. Just sweating itself would kill you!

The part of Tigule’s robe that had been dragging against the ground was starting to show signs of scorching as well.

However, in the next second a flame barrier surrounded the goblin, pushing away the burning air around him.

Tigule immediately felt much more comfortable.

He was First Grade, after all. His Physique was several times stronger compared to an ordinary human. It was his lack of fire resistance that made him so weak in this environment.

The Un’Goro Volcano was a relatively famous active volcano in the Burning Plains. It was perpetually shrouded in smoke and heat waves that radiated continuously from the place. Standing at the foot of the mountain, they could hear the roiling and rumbling inside the belly of the volcano through the thick stone structure of the mountain itself.

A terrifying river of lava several dozens of meters wide wound about the foot of the mountain. Hundreds of lava lakes and pools of various sizes had formed beside this river.

This place naturally became the place where fire elementals gathered in the highest numbers!

These fire elementals were mostly unintelligent low-grade elementium creatures that could only instinctively gather around areas where fire elementium was most concentrated. They had lived here for a long time and treated the volcano as their own home, fervently keeping outsiders from entering.

That was why a dozen human-sized blazing fire spirits jumped out of the nearest lava pool the moment Greem’s party approached the volcano. These fire spirits started yelling and cursing something at the adepts the moment they emerged from the lava pool.

However, no one here could understand the strange language of the fire elementals.

Seeing that Greem and the others did not intend to back away, the fire spirits raised their blazing arms in anger, and several elementium fireballs crashed toward the adepts like meteors.

”You started this!”

A fireball landed in front of Mary, the resultant heatwave lifting a corner of Mary’s robe and causing her long red hair to billow in the wind.

This act of intimidation undoubtedly infuriated Mary!

A red silhouette flashed across the place.

After Mary returned to her original spot, the fire spirits exploded into piles of charcoal and ash despite being thirty meters away. Mary had just relied on her extreme Agility and imperceptible speed to pierce the fire cores within their bodies, resulting in the scene before them.

However, just as these fire spirits exploded like fireworks, Mary let out a sudden cry.

She held her right hand with her left and screamed angrily.

”I want to kill these bastards. I want to kill these bastards. They…they actually scorched the nail polish I had just applied!”

Greem couldn’t help but let out a sigh when he heard this.

These fire spirits might only have the power of an advanced apprentice, but they were made of the purest concentrated essence of fire elementium. In particular, their fire cores were basically elementium flames whose temperatures went up to two to three thousand degrees. Mary’s claw might be protected with her blood energy, but not sustaining any damage after piercing a dozen clusters of elementium fire in a row was simply looking down upon these fire spirits.

”Tigule, I’ll leave these fellows to you!” Greem instructed softly.

”Understood!”

Tigule, who had been troubled by the harsh environment all this while, finally received an order from Greem. He raised his arm and summoned the towering four-meter Goblin Shredder from within the golem talisman. He quickly scampered into the pilot’s seat and shut the opening. This towering magical machine warrior finally started moving, clanging with every move it made.

The appearance of this massive object naturally attracted the attention of all elementium creatures that had been roaming the area.

Unlike the fire creatures, elementium creatures had no natural human-like emotions. That included things such as fear and reluctance. There was no need to incite them or draw them into conflict. These elementium creatures all emerged from the lava river or the magma lakes upon discovering an outsider breaking into their homes. They gathered together and charged at the adepts.

Fire spirits, fire crows, magma hounds, fire serpents, fire deities, fire elemental elders.

For a moment, it was as if every single fire elementium creatures recorded in the Adepts’ Handbook had been enchanted with a spell as they emerged from ancient legends and started assaulting this tiny group of adepts.

Their numbers were many, and their powers ranged from beginner apprentice to advanced First Grade, almost including every single grade in between. Moreover, their means of attacks were mostly similar. They were either elemental fireballs, flame shockwaves, or lava splashes.

When accumulated, such attacks were terrifying, even for a fire adept like Greem, let alone Tigule.

Dammit, we just stabbed a hornet’s nest.

Greem roared and tossed out that Second Grade elementium golem of his.

An earthshaking roar rang out as the seven-meter-tall body of the Flame Fiend of Terror stood up in front of the party. Blazing fires shrouded it, and surging lava and scalding magma covered its body.

”Battle! Destroy!”

The Flame Fiend of Terror shouted wicked and malicious battlecries as it strode toward the volcano with its thick magma legs.

The elemental fireballs that had been shot at it exploded continuously upon its giant body, but they couldn’t do any damage to it. Only the Magma Fireballs or flame spears that contained a bit of earth elementium could deal a little damage to it.

However, compound magic of this kind could only be used by high-grade fire elemental elders or fire deities.

The Flame Fiend of Terror strode forward to the very front, using its massive body to attract the enemy’s firepower. Meanwhile, the Goblin Shredder followed behind, occasionally using the propellers on its back to accelerate into the midst of the fire elementium creatures and execute the more threatening high-grade enemies.

Though these fire elemental elders were of a pretty high grade, they did not have tough, impenetrable bodies. That was why their large bodies of flames would self-destruct from the backflow of elementium after their fire core had been slashed in half by the Shredder’s metal chainsaw.

One had to admit that the ultra magical alloys that Greem had exhausted to forge this Second Grade magical machine warrior were well worth the money. Even the iron-hard bodies of the magma hounds couldn’t stop the wild slashing power of the metal chainsaw. The fire cores of the elementium creatures couldn’t resist the piercing power of the metal drill.

Unless it was seven or eight high-grade fire elementals self-destructing at the same time, the explosions had no hope of damaging Tigule who was hiding inside the Goblin Shredder.

Bug Adept Billis, who was only First Grade, was so terrified at the chaotic scene of flying fireballs and ravaging flame streams that he dug underground. Though the ground–which was nearly two hundred degrees warm–wasn’t all that comfortable, it was better than being hit by the barrage of fireballs from the fire elementium creatures.

Mary hid in the center of the group. Initially, she was invested enough to jump into the battlefield and instantly murder anyone who came close with her rapid speed. However, after a while, the dense concentration of fire elementals turned the place into a suffocating sea of fire. Mary had no choice but to stay by Greem’s side and took out the crimson longbow she had neglected for a long time to start revising her archery skills.

The tall dragonborn, Zacha, followed closely behind Greem, helping him cover for any attacks from the rear. His lightning spear pierced and scattered the elementium fireballs flying across the sky. The heatwave that radiated from the explosion was no more than a warm breeze of wind; they couldn’t harm his body.

The group of adepts charged ahead as they slaughtered the elementals. In the blink of an eye, they had fought their way through the siege of fire elementals and made it to Un’Goro Volcano.

One had to admit that the Orb of Deceit that Mary had sold to Oliven was very effective.

Oliven was part of Greem’s party, but none of the fire elementals’ attacks were directed at her. She casually walked alongside the adepts, occasionally dodging a stray fireball and became the most carefree person of the group.

By the time Greem and his party reached the volcano, the swarming fire elementals stopped at the foot of the mountain and glared at them, but they didn’t continue following them.

That was because the volcano was the territory of the powerful fire lord!