Age of Adepts

Greem ran into a group of Blazefire Spirits when he walked in the direction given by the magical spirit.

Compared to ordinary fire elementium, such humanoid blazefire spirits already possessed elementary intelligence and social traits. They lived on a large black mountain burning with a huge flame and kept all outsiders from getting close.

It seemed as if they were guarding something there!

Greem secretly got close to the black mountain with flames and silently observed each and every action of these blazefire spirits.

The spirits were truly gigantic creatures. Even the young spawn were three meters tall, while the First and Second Grade spirits easily reached between five and seven meters.

Judging from their appearance, they were humanoid creatures formed of bright yellow flames. They had humanoid bodies, arms, and heads, but everything below their waists was a blurry cloud of fire.

Greem couldn’t discern any differentiating sexual characteristics after much observation. Perhaps these elementium creatures had no such thing as sex to begin with.

During the time he had been observing, most of the blazefire spawns had been playing about on the black mountain, never leaving its boundaries. Meanwhile, the adolescent blazefire spirits had formed patrol groups and were continually patrolling the surroundings of the black mountain.

Their groups were all composed of six blazefire spirits. The leaders were all Second Grade while the members were all First Grade.

Greem could see some beehive-like holes at the top of the mountain from a distance. Those might be their homes. Still, due to the existence of the patrol groups, Greem had no chance to get close to the black mountain or to scout the place.

Everything living in the fire elementium plane was a fire elementium creature of the same origin. They didn’t require food, water, and air like humans did, but they still needed the constant nourishment of the fire elementium. Most fire creatures living in the fire elementium plane were extremely violent as well. They also hoped to become stronger as quickly as possible.

For them, a home was where fire elementium was most concentrated and dense!

Since the blazefire spirits took the black mountain as their home, then there had to be a powerful fire elementium cluster point in the black mountain. Maybe there were some fire treasures or relics.

Greem hid in the surroundings of the black mountain for quite a while and ultimately made his decision to strike against these blazefire spirits.

Of course, the main factor driving his decision was the discovery of no Third Grade beings among the spirits. Moreover, he badly needed to accumulate combat experience against fire creatures now. Thus, after much pacing about, Greem could no longer hold back. He moved.

There was a sparse patch of forest at the foot of the black mountain.

Several tall, bare fire trees were spread out evenly over a range of thirty miles. These trees had no leaves nor tender branches. The thick stems of the fire trees were only sharp and erect spikes that pointed toward the sky. One could even vaguely see viscous red liquid slowly flowing underneath their dark red bark, much like flowing magma.

The sharp roots of the fire trees were also embedded deeply into the earth, desperately taking in fire energy from the underground fires.

A squad of blazefire spirits silently walked through this forest of fire trees.

There was no day and night cycle in the fire elementium plane. As such, most fire creatures had no concept of time. They simply executed any mission given by their leader to the best of their abilities. It was only when the fire energy within their bodies had been mostly exhausted that they would return to their dens and recharge.

These spirits could dutifully remain at work for years on end as long as they still had plenty of fire energy within their bodies.

This group’s patrol mission was to survey this fire tree forest. They had walked past this fixed route more than tens of thousands of times and were exceedingly familiar with every fire tree and patch of earth along the way.

Their mission was to chase away low-grade fire elementium that had wandered into the place, as well as to be on alert for attacks from the other surrounding fire creature tribes.

There were not many disagreements or bad blood between the fire creatures of the fire elementium plane. The only reason for conflict was to rob the opponent of their fire elementium cluster point. Thus, the wars between tribes had never ceased!

Today, this group of blazefire spirits once again stepped upon this familiar path, silently making their way through the ghastly and sinister fire trees.

The one walking at the forefront of the group was naturally the leader and the Second Grade blazefire spirit. He was a whole seven meters in height, and a pair of golden flames burned fiercely upon his humanoid head. When he slowly hovered near the fire trees, everything within a one-kilometer radius would fall into his vision without exception.

They had barely made it a quarter of a kilometer into the fire tree forest when a wandering fire elementium entered their security perimeter another quarter of a kilometer ahead.

It was a beginner fire elemental only one meter in height. It only possessed the strength of a beginner apprentice and was obliviously walking between the fire trees, as if it had yet to gain intelligence.

Of course, if it had gained intelligence, it would not have ignored the warning signs that the blazefire spirits had left around the perimeter.

Seeing that a brat had trespassed into their land, the leader of the group waved his arm and impatiently ordered, ”Doug, go deal with it!”

A First Grade blazefire spirit following at the rear of the squad acknowledged the instruction. He then bent down and accelerated forward, charging at the ignorant fire elemental in the distance.

With the difference in their power, a single punch from the blazefire spirit would be enough to pulverize the opponent’s fire core and cause it to disintegrate completely.

It was only once the First Grade spirit had reached within a hundred meters of it that the beginner fire elemental appeared to sense danger. The little thing turned and ran without any hesitation.

”Hm? Does that thing know how to run?” The First Grade blazefire spirit known as Doug couldn’t help but be surprised. He hastened the fire cloud on his bottom half, and the speed of his pursuit increased abruptly.

Seventy meters. Fifty meters. Thirty meters. Ten meters.

The distance between the two continued to close until Doug completely caught up with the elemental. He then raised his massive fists of fire and smashed them down upon the burning core inside the elemental.

”Careful.”

The Second Grade blazefire spirit that had been observing from a distance was only half-heartedly watching. However, when his subordinate closed in on the fire elemental, he suddenly sensed some abnormal fire elementium flux.

Sadly, his reminder was late!

A seven-meter tall Flame Fiend of Terror suddenly emerged from behind a fire tree. It immediately thrust a lethal attack at the First Grade blazefire spirit upon its entrance.

A giant magma fist smashed downward, crushing the head of the First Grade fire spirit into scattered flames. Before the blazefire spirit could drive his headless body out of range of the Flame Fiend, a massive magma hand had pierced his chest and retrieved the fire core within.

For the fire creatures, all of their fire energy and mental consciousness came from this fire core. If it were destroyed or removed from their bodies, the remainder of their flame body would become wild, unbound fire. It would instantly scatter to the winds.

”Bastard, hurry up and hand over Doug’s fire core.”

The blazefire spirits in the distance were furious upon witnessing this. They charged over madly under the lead of the Second Grade blazefire spirit.

They had clearly seen that the Flame Fiend of Terror that crushed their companion was a terrifying Second Grade creature. However, they had a Second Grade captain and four First Grade members in the group. They weren’t at a disadvantage in a fight against this brute.

Sadly, their elementary intelligence couldn’t possibly allow them to escape the schemes of a Second Grade adept!

By the time they arrived at the Flame Fiend, their path of retreat had been sealed off by Greem.

The battle lasted only fifteen minutes before ending!

Both parties were fire creatures, and thus, both of them were largely immune to fire damage. However, the fire spirits relied on their numbers to continuously use fire arrows, Firestone Shockwaves, and Ignites to attack the Flame Fiend constantly. That caused the Flame Fiend’s Lava Shield’s to splash everywhere.

Meanwhile, the Second Grade blazefire spirit demonstrated unparalleled courage and ferocity. He brandished his fists and engaged the Flame Fiend of Terror in a melee.

One had a body of flames, while the other had the body of a Flame Fiend. One only had Inferno Shields, while the other had the more sturdy Lava Shields. When these two giants bashed and struck at each other with bare fists, the battlefield turned brutal and violent.

Seeing that the Flame Fiend had the absolute advantage in the fight against the Second Grade fire spirit, Greem unhesitatingly struck at the remaining First Grades.

Both parties were using fire spells, but the flame bodies of the First Grade blazefire spirits were not as tough as Greem’s Lava Shields. After two or three rounds of exchanging attacks, one of Greem’s Lava Shields had been destroyed, while only one of the First Grade fire spirits was left.

The others had been blasted into pieces by the fierce and solid magma fireballs. Even the fire cores within them had melted!

Greem used a Fire Teleportation to appear behind the last surviving First Grade spirit. He then reached with his hand, and a blazing hand formed of pure fire elementium gripped the spirit.

”Let’s go! The fire spirits on the mountain seem to have been alerted!”

Greem looked behind him and saw squads of blazefire spirits rushing down the black mountain. He snorted lightly and closed his fist. The First Grade fire spirit was then crushed into pieces by the blazing hand.

When the hand opened up once more, only a fist-sized fire core remained, its surface still burning with small licks of fire.

At this moment, the Flame Fiend of Terror conjured a twenty-meter-long flame whip from thin air and used it to bind the Second Grade spirit, who was desperately trying to escape.

The blades of Coldflame in Greem’s hand ravaged toward the immobile fire spirit like an unrelenting storm, slicing off his head and arms. The Flame Fiend of Terror roared and punched through the spirit’s chest before he could recover, forcefully pulling out the fire core within him.