Age of Adepts

“Magic Energy Association…”

Meryl put down the parchment in her hand and couldn’t help but mumble.

Vanlier, who had been organizing documents by the table, suddenly ceased his movements. He couldn’t help but interrupt, “That Princess Vanessa has suddenly become very active recently.”

“Do you know who the people she has contacted are?” A trace of a smile appeared on Meryl’s pretty and gentle face.

“It seems she has sent messengers to anyone on the goblins’ side who has any sort of reputation!”

“Quite the ambition she has.”

“Isn’t it all the fault of those magic-enhanced goblins!?” Vanlier complained, “Ever since Adept Deserra discovered a way to safely infuse the goblins with magic without affecting their intelligence, the goblins’ emotions have erupted.”

“I think it’s time to find a chance to put them in their place!” Meryl turned to look at Vanlier, “Start making movements on your side as well. Plant a few spies in the Magic Energy Association and keep a constant eye on their activities. Immediately give me a report if they try and make contact with key figures!”

“Yes!”

“That’s right; Lady Mary has been out of her seclusion for a while now. What has she been doing recently? She isn’t bothering my teacher, is she!”

“This…I don’t dare to probe into Lady Mary’s affairs. However, Lady Mary seemed to have dragged Lord Greem to Lance a few days ago.”

“Lance? Why did they go there?”

“I heard…I heard they are there to hunt a Third Grade female fire dragon!”

…………

Lance, Doomsday Castle.

As a magnificent castle floating above a lava sea, Philippa Eilhart’s den was unique.

The rural geography and harsh environment made it such that ordinary creatures could not survive in this place.

Consequently, no other places of shelter could be found near Doomsday Castle apart from the searing earth, the winding valleys, and the vast stretch of volcanoes. In such an environment, the only things surviving, other than pure fire creatures, were fire-attribute creatures who preferred fire or had the ability to endure the heat.

Such creatures tended to have sour flesh. Even dragons could not tolerate the taste.

That was why the dragonborn guards of Doomsday Castle had to travel one to two hundred kilometers away to hunt in other regions on a daily basis. It was the only way to satiate the Third Grade fire dragon’s shockingly tremendous appetite.

However, today was somewhat different. Two uninvited guests had broken into Doomsday Castle for some reason.

For the past few decades, there had been a pack of rat-like outsiders secretly hunting down the dragons. However, their power was limited. They only dared to set their sights on the smaller First and Second Grade dragons. They had never dared to choose a Third Grade dragon as their target.

That was why the Third Grade female fire dragon was able to continue living her life of luxury and enjoyment in Doomsday Castle.

Unfortunately, today, her luck had run out!

A silver Mothership crossed the mountain stretch and settled upon the scorched earth like a ruler descending upon his domain.

When it steadily stopped in the air above the castle, two powerful adepts, one male and one female, flew out of the ship. They stood in the air, silently looking down at the large castle floating in the center of the lava sea.

It was apparent that the people in the castle were already alerted to the arrival of the adepts. Ant-sized black dots could be seen moving and running around the massive plaza and all the various buildings.

A powerful dragon’s roar rang out as a somewhat fat fire dragon rose from the castle, flapping her dark red wings.

Greem stood in the air, silently looking at everything beneath him.

Seeing that the owner of the castle had come out, he lifted his hand and cast a defensive layer of fire around Mary. His body then erupted into flames and instantly appeared in front of the fire dragon.

Unlike the elegant and flowing lines of other dragons, this female fire dragon was unusually obese. Her massive size was even two to three rounds larger than dragons of the same grade. Greem couldn’t help but be concerned about whether her wings could support her body when he saw her hover in the sky with such an effort.

Philippa narrowed her large eyes and marveled when she saw the blinding fire elementium suddenly form into a tall, handsome, and young male adept.

The dragon’s sense of beauty accommodated for everything and was not limited by age or race!

Philippa couldn’t help but be aroused when she saw a handsome human male adept appear before her. The shiny saliva leaking out from between her large and sinister teeth almost dripped from her mouth.

“Handsome boy, you are pretty fit, aren’t you? Did you come to sister’s place to be friends with me?”

Damn! Ran into a lovestruck dragon!

Greem could already faintly hear Mary’s wild chuckling from above him.

“Lady Philippa, can’t you tell that we are here for revenge?” Greem reminded her unamusedly.

“Revenge?” The fire dragon was shocked. Her massive dragon eyes opened even wider as she looked Greem up and down from a distance, “I don’t think we have met, have we?”

“You might have forgotten this, but the Stonetalon Mountains that you brought people to assault was my territory.”

Stonetalon Mountains. Wind Dragon Cherkes. Fourth Grade Dragon Wings of the Azure Sky Krille.

A series of associated names immediately allowed the female fire dragon to understand the severity of the situation before her. Her lovestruck expression quickly faded as a ferocious expression appeared on her vicious dragon head.

“You…you are the leader of the outsider adepts at Stonetalon Mountains. You were also the ones that captured Krille?”

“Hehehe, you don’t need to know about that. The reason I brought people here with me today is to take my revenge for you destroying my territory back then. You had best go with us obediently.”

Before he could finish, a surging dragon’s breath engulfed his form.

Even higher up in the sky, Mary, who had completed all of her combat preparations, waved her hand. She signaled for the Mothership to put some distance between them. It was only after that she folded her bat wings and dove at the fire dragon at a speed indistinguishable to the naked eye.

The fire dragon might look like a lovestruck fool, but she had taken notice of Mary’s movements a long time ago. She quickly stopped her breath when she saw Mary’s silhouette vanish. Her two wings beat forward furiously as her large body instantly moved back by three meters.

A sharp tearing sound erupted.

A phantom-like crimson outline slashed past the fire dragon, its sharp claws tearing apart the air and leaving countless blood marks in the sky.

The fire dragon let out a roar and beat her wings once again, attempting to chase after the crimson silhouette to retaliate.

However, the moment she shifted targets, what was left of the dragon’s breath abruptly dispersed. A towering humanoid of flames stepped out from within, holding a Magma Fireball in his hands. The man smiled sinisterly and shot the fireball at her.

A hundred meters could be considered a safe gap for low-grade adepts, but it was no different from melee distance for high-grade adepts.

The fireball instantly arrived in front of the fire dragon and exploded into a massive cluster of flames the moment it left Greem’s hand.

Both of them played with fire. The damage of fire spells on each other was negligible. That was why Greem had chosen the Magma Fireball–which carried a portion of physical damage with it–as his means of attack.

The violent flame shockwaves crashed against the fire dragon’s enormous body along with a large number of magma shards. They crackled against her dark red scales and sent sparks flying when they hit her.

Dammit, it was an annoying fire adept!

The fire dragon roared in anger. She no longer cared for the bothersome little bat around her. Instead, her massive body, covered in surging flames, lunged at the young male adept.

She could tell that the female adept’s offensive power was not very high. Her claws had no chance of penetrating her scales and hurting her. Meanwhile, the male adept was a fire adept that excelled at offense. She had to deal with him very carefully.

The three Third Grades charged about in the air above Doomsday Castle, fighting wildly and furiously. Wave after wave of heat and fire spread outward in every direction like an unstoppable tide, surging at the castle beneath.

Flames descended from the skies, igniting roaring pillars of fire wherever they landed. Even those tall and sturdy buildings could not tolerate the extreme heat and started to collapse amidst the blaze. If these flames landed on the dragonborn guards, they would instantly ignite all the magical energy within their bodies. They would turn them into human torches and spew flames from every orifice and pore on their bodies. They would be reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.

It was almost as if an actual apocalypse had descended upon Doomsday Castle. Rooms fell apart as people darted about in chaos.

While the dragonborn were panicking, a shrill cry could be heard. A massive cluster of flames fell from the sky, smashing a deep crater into the tough plaza. When the erupting flames slowly faded, a slender form climbed out of the hole, burnt all over.

Behind her, the lava in the crater had yet to cool down, still bubbling and roiling violently.

The scorched figure moved her body with much difficulty. The carbonized skin on her body started to flake and fall off, revealing the still steaming flesh beneath.

The scorched figure stood up straight, and her burnt eyelids opened, revealing a pair of crimson red eyes. She glanced at the sky resentfully before turning her gaze to the dragonborn guards nearby.

For some reason, the dragonborn guard that she stared at felt an uncontrollable fear in his heart. He had wanted to escape with his heavy body when the figure lunged onto his body.

The difference in size was massive. One was as large as a truck, while the other was as slender as a willow in the wind. However, if they were to truly fight, even ten dragonborn guards wouldn’t be the match of a severely injured Mary!

No one knew what Mary did, but the dragonborn guard immediately lost all ability to resist once she leaped onto his back. He simply allowed her to crouch down on his neck and drain him of all his blood.

After a series of sucking sounds, the body of this advanced First Grade dragonborn was obviously withered and dry. Five seconds later, when Mary wiped her lips and got up, she had already recovered her natural beauty and dashing charm.

Not a trace of a wound could still be seen on her white and smooth skin!

Mary felt the plentiful bloody energy in her body as she lifted her head and stared at the fat figure still fighting in the air. She let out a cry and unfurled her wings, charging into the sky once more like a rapid crimson silhouette.