Age of Adepts

As Third Grade adepts, how could they not retaliate when attacked?!

Adept Karak waved his hand, and a giant ball of poison shot toward the flaming tiger.

The flaming tiger roared and leaped, vanishing from the spot instantly. When he once again appeared, the tiger was on the other side of the stone ball. The tiger continued his attacks.

The ball of poison instantly erupted in the lava sea upon missing its target, staining all the lava within a hundred meters black. If this were on land, any plants and creatures within a hundred meters would have died to the poison. Even tiny microbes and bacteria would have trouble surviving it.

Unfortunately, they were currently three hundred meters below ground in a massive sea of lava. The might of the poison was tremendous, but it was also severely limited by the harsh environment here.

The poison halo that would typically last for half a month vanished from the tide of lava after just ten seconds. The poison cloud formed from the spell also couldn’t spread out and simply dispersed.

Adept Dorian lifted his staff and repeatedly pointed it at the tiger.

Every time the staff tapped the ground, a radiant runic array would appear beneath the flaming tiger.

Unfortunately, the Third Grade flaming tiger would get out of the way with his immense strength and agile movements before the runic arrays could completely unleash their binding effects.

Adept Dorian immediately went all out. The tip of his staff glowed brilliantly as several arrays with various functions whipped toward the tiger, like lassos. If the tiger failed to dodge any single one of those arrays, he would be bound to the spot by the rain of arrays that followed.

That would then create the perfect opportunity for Adept Karak’s poison attacks!

Sadly, the tiger was not only incomparably sly but also exceptionally sensitive to energy fluctuations.

He would rapidly change positions if he picked up any slight abnormality in the elementium around him. He would never give his opponent the chance to bind him. Meanwhile, the two Third Grade adepts’ attacks barely reached the tiger. The spells were having a difficult time taking effect on the beast through the flowing lava.

The three Third Grades traveled through the lava sea as they fought, repeatedly switching positions and forcefully turning the sea into a chaotic storm of lava.

The location where they fought was more than two kilometers away from the runic stone where Greem and the two siblings were hiding. As such, the three of them had a hard time getting a proper sense of the situation on the battlefield. They only had a rough understanding of how the battle was going through the simple messages that the Third Grade adepts were sending them.

Back in the battle, Karak and Dorian, who were turtling within the transparent stone ball, were almost going mad with anger!

The flaming tiger was sly beyond their imagination.

If the two of them lunged forward to fight the tiger, he would jump at them and take on the fight. If the two of them retreated as they fought in an attempt to lure the tiger into the array traps, then he would just leave and continue digging a hole in the wall.

After two to three attempts, the stone ball the two adepts were hiding in was at its limits, even though the two of them could still continue fighting.

After all, Karak and Dorian were a poison adept and an array master, respectively; neither of them was an earth adept. This stone ball was something they had summoned with a piece of magical equipment.

If the ball was to shatter, they would lose their protective equipment and could only fight with the tiger while pushing apart the lava around them. The situation they were in would only get worse.

If the battlefield shifted to the surface, the two higher-ups of Molten Fire City would not fear any enemy. However, in this unbearable environment, their spells could not be unleashed to their full effect.

That was why the two Third Grade adepts had immense trouble suppressing that accursed Third Grade flaming tiger no matter how hard they tried!

Finally, Karak had no choice left and could only send the signal for Greem to participate in the battle.

Inside the runic stone.

The two siblings opened their eyes at the same time and said to Greem with a low voice, “Lord Greem, Lord Karak has requested that you join the battle!”

Greem feigned surprise and said, “This seems to be different from the original plan, isn’t it? The trap hasn’t been sprung yet. If I were to join the battle now and scare the tiger away…”

The brother said with a bitter smile, “Lord Karak has already noted that the plan can no longer be carried out. We can only chase away the tiger before we formulate a new plan. We will find another opportunity to discuss how to deal with the tiger after this!”

Now that this had been said, Greem had no reason to refuse to help. He immediately turned into a cluster of flames, slipping out of the gaps in the runic stone and hurrying toward the battlefield.

Two and a half kilometers of distance was no more than a dozen seconds worth of traveling for a Third Grade adept.

The tiger that had been fighting with the two adepts suddenly stopped and lifted his head. His eyes stared deep into the lava sea as if he had sensed the arrival of a powerful enemy.

The two Third Grade adepts knew what was coming and would never let the flaming tiger leave. They immediately used their most potent spells to keep the tiger rooted.

The stone ball trembled intensely and finally fell apart.

A magic ring on Karak’s right little finger abruptly shattered, sending a turbulent current of energy throughout the air. It was obvious that the ring was utterly destroyed.

Adept Karak’s mood turned sour at having lost a piece of Third Grade magical equipment.

Karak roared and used the poison halo dispersed around him to keep the lava from pressing toward him while extending his right hand toward the tiger.

Sla!

A giant green hand suddenly appeared between Karak and the tiger, furiously grabbing at the beast.

“Help me keep him there.”

Dorian, who was now standing in an invisible three-dimensional runic array, gritted his teeth when he heard Karak’s magical message. He pulled off the lion tooth pendant around his neck and tossed it at the tiger.

The pendant exploded into shards of bone while it was still flying through the air, turning into a fast wave that spread outward in a fifty-meter radius.

The tiger was caught within.

The next second, a quicksand trap appeared beneath the tiger. His gigantic body fell downward as half of him was buried before he could even struggle.

At this moment, Karak’s green hand arrived, in perfect synchronization with the quicksand trap.

The Third Grade flaming tiger was furious at this combination attack.

He struggled with all his strength. A red light glowed within the quicksand trap, and he managed to free two of his claws.

The flaming tiger pressed against the edge with a claw, lifted his head, and let out a deafening roar at the green hand grabbing at him. A layer of golden flames emerged from his body and blocked the green hand.

The fire and the poison clashed with each other, letting out an odd sizzling sound.

The poison hand rapidly melted away, while the formerly golden fire quickly turned a sickly green!

While the tiger was engaged in a stalemate with the two Third Grade adepts, the sea of lava behind the tiger parted. A nearly invisible human silhouette emerged from the lava and lifted his hands. A smoldering flame whip immediately wrapped around the tiger’s body.

The flaming tiger was a fire creature to begin with. Naturally, he could not be wounded by flames.

However, the flame whip kept the tiger bound solidly upon the spot, robbing him of all its agility and speed.

“Nice.”

Karak immediately let out an excited yell when he saw Greem’s attack take effect so quickly.

He and Adept Dorian immediately flew to the tiger’s side, intent on taking down the tiger in cooperation with Greem.

Meanwhile, Sealing Master Yunid had also appeared and was hurrying toward them.

Just as Greem was trying his best to keep the tiger tied up, his face changed color. He quickly sent a voice transmission the other adepts, “Run!”

Greem himself abandoned the whip and vanished from the spot in a blast of fire.

Er…why?

Karak and Dorian did not have any tacit understanding or coordination with Greem after all. They couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment when they heard his message. This one moment of hesitation caused them to suffer tremendously!

An incomparably powerful aura mysteriously erupted from the flaming tiger’s body! A ten-meter tall molten giant appeared out of thin air. It let out a resounding roar as its wild and vicious fists rained down upon Karak and Dorian.

Third Grade. Yet another Third Grade!

Where did this one come from?

Countless thoughts appeared in the minds of the two Molten Fire City higher-ups, but they found no answer.

The frail Karak and Dorian dared not take one of the frenzied giant’s wild attacks to their bodies. They desperately retreated.

Yet, the immense force of the molten giant’s fist had already reached them through the lava.

The impact landed, and half of the shields around the adepts were shattered.

The second impact landed, and the two adepts stumbled away, their faces full of shock and horror.

A third blow and the two adepts coughed up blood in unison.

Seeing that the fourth blow was about to land and the two adepts were to be unavoidably wounded, Greem suddenly appeared by their sides and teleported away with them in tow.

However, regardless of how fast his Fire Teleportation was, the impact from the molten giant’s fist still caught up with them, causing the three of them to be blown even further away amidst the turbulent currents.

The molten giant that had erupted with such tremendous power rapidly crumbled after these few punches, once again turning into a cluster of chaotic elementium.

“Soul projection; dammit, it’s an elementium talisman!”

Yunid’s sharp voice suddenly rang out in the distance.

She had witnessed the entirety of the fight and had very clearly seen that the molten giant was not a physical elementium being, but a soul projection created by an elementium talisman. The soul projection only held so much power and collapsed once all of it was spent.

Though it was only a projection, it had managed to unleash such explosive power in the short instance it had appeared. That caused the faces of the Third Grade adepts to turn.

Moreover, the Third Grade flaming tiger had also took the opportunity of the soul projection unleashing its might to break free of the quicksand and dive into the depths of the lava sea.