Age of Adepts

It was a blatant slaughter!

The number of dragonborn hiding in ambush, paired with the perfect geography of Deadmoon Valley, should have allowed them to fend off the attack of an army that was a few thousand strong.

Unfortunately, their enemies were no ordinary beings; they were an adept army that had traveled from a different plane.

Their ability wasn’t even on the same level as the dragonborn!

Consequently, the entire battle was like a game, an interesting hunting game. The goblins’ overwhelming bombardment decimated the powerful dragonborn army who had once possessed a dominating position in Lance. The only result at having paid such a hefty price was the destruction of a meager seven Archers.

Once the battle had concluded, both the dead and living dragonborn were transported back to the Mothership, where they were used as materials for voodoo beasts or flesh golems. Meanwhile, the seven destroyed Archers were sent back to the goblin workshop for dismantling and reassembly. Fifteen minutes later, seven brand-new Archers walked off the assembly line.

Taking that into consideration, the ambush arranged by the Second Grade Zamu had not only inflicted zero losses to the adept expedition but had provided them with a large batch of valuable, high-quality corpses.

The energy exhausted by the goblin chariots in their bombardment was replenished upon returning to the army. It didn’t matter whether it was the Mothership in the sky or the giant magical golem dragon following behind the army. The powerful magic generator furnaces were not only able to sustain the functions of the two goliaths. They had plenty to spare for the magical machine army.

That was why such low-intensity skirmishes could not possibly bring any losses to the adept expedition army!

However, the natives of Lance had no idea about this. In fact, they would have a hard time simply comprehending the very concept.

From their perspective, an enemy army that had ventured deep into their territory would naturally be defeated once their logistics had been cut off and they were faced with constant harassment.

Unfortunately, their minds and reasoning would have a tremendously difficult time understanding this adept force whose knowledge and ability overwhelmed them by dimensions.

The enemies in Deadmoon Valley might have been vanquished, but the narrow path of the valley could not possibly fit the colossal body of the golem dragon. The metal parade slowly gathered before the entrance and awaited answers from above.

The old yet energetic Gonga jumped up and down in the metal body of the dragon, screaming as he did so.

“Forward…forward. Let those bastards who’ve underestimated us witness the true might of this beautiful baby. Prepare the Destruction Beam. Let’s give this valley a makeover.”

While Gonga screeched with all his heart, the giant dragon continued forward. Its four thick, firm limbs left craters behind as it continued to stride toward the valley.

The goblin chariots that had gathered in front of the valley hastily retreated to either side to avoid being turned into pancakes.

As the golem dragon walked forward, its head moved about in an agile fashion. A blinding red light suddenly glowed deep in its one-meter-wide eye sockets. Then two terrifying red lights, half-a-meter-thick in diameter, shot out of its eyes and sliced the walls of the valley in the distance.

For an instant, it seemed like nothing had happened. Three seconds later, massive dust clouds rose from the cliffs, accompanied by a wave of explosions as the walls collapsed before everyone’s speechless gaze.

Ten meters off of each side.

The terrifying red beams sliced ten meters off of the walls on both sides before they collapsed from the horrendous pressure and expansion of the temperature within the rocks.

The valley used to be thirty or forty meters wide, but it was now another twenty meters wider. It was just barely enough for the golem dragon to pass through. The golem dragon did not even pause for a moment. It stepped through the debris and wreckage, paving the road forward as it advanced. Somehow, it managed to squeeze its way through this one and a half kilometer long valley.

The Crimson adepts in the Mothership above couldn’t help but look at each other. They were once again stunned by the might of this Fourth Grade magical machine.

Fourth Grade. That was the power of a Fourth Grade?

Truly as destructive and stunning as they had expected.

Though the fight earlier was fierce, it had only been a small battle of low intensity. If it had been this Fourth Grade golem dragon that had been involved in the fight, it would not have taken much effort at all. It only needed to sweep across the valley with its beams to vaporize the enemies in an instant.

It didn’t matter how tough the Second Grade dragonborn were. Could they possibly survive being crushed beneath the feet of the Fourth Grade golem dragon?

The Destruction Beam from earlier might sound immensely threatening and powerful, but in truth, it was no more than a Scorching Ray. However, compared to ordinary Scorching Rays, these were fired with the aid of the super magic generator furnace. It was more potent and more effective.

Even if it were the same spell, the magical effects would be completely different given the amount of magic energy infused within it.

A high-temperature concentrated light beam of one hundred points of power was known as a Scorching Ray. Two hundred points of power, and it would be known as a Solar Ray. Meanwhile, a high-temperature concentrated beam with an energy class of eight to nine hundred points like the one that the dragon had fired already possessed elementary destructive traits. These beams possessed a trace of destruction energy within them.

Most magical shields in the world could not endure concentrated beams of such high intensity, let alone when the attacks were so focused and fast. Even Greem would have been disintegrated if those two Destruction Beams had hit him.

No number of magical shields would be effective against an attack of such intensity!

As such, much like a heart-pounding fantasy show, the gigantic metal dragon roared and advanced through the towering valleys, forcefully creating a wide path between the two mountains.

However, this wide road had been covered beneath the collapsing cliff walls. The forceful manner of the dragon’s passage had caused even more debris to rain down, making the path even more difficult to travel.

It was awkward!

The magical golem dragon had managed to make it across by sheer force, but the path behind it was now covered by tens of thousands of tons of rocks. The goblin chariots could not traverse terrain like this, nor could they change the geography like the golem dragon.

Thus, under the command of the Mothership, the goblin skyships descended and used alloy wires to suspend the chariots, using over half a day to transport all of the chariots to the other side.

With this battle as an example, the dragon lords that came after learned their lesson.

They no longer gathered armies to clash with these adept forces. They came up with different ideas.

If a frontal conflict didn’t work, then they would turn to more subtle means!

The Dragon Cultists took off their robes and scattered, blending into the ranks of native creatures and launching ambushes at the enemy when the goblin chariots stopped to rest. They acted as suicide squads to launch death charges at the adepts, hid near the camps to poison the water sources, or destroyed the roads ahead of time to slow down the enemy’s march.

Some of these operations succeeded and killed goblins in the army, but most of them failed.

After all, with the eyeball machines scanning from the sky, any lifeform that attempted to approach the army paid with their lives.

Of course, not all dragon lords were so ‘wise’!

The fourth dragon lord territory that the adepts passed through was the land of a First Grade dragon. This idealistic and passionate First Grade dragon refused to submit before the might of the adepts. He risked his own life and attempted to assault the adepts with his fast flight speed and mighty dragon’s breath.

As such, he came, and he stayed, successfully turning into the first valuable spoil of the adept expedition army!

This First Grade dragon was beaten black and blue, then pinned to the deck of the Mothership with steel tools dozens of tons in weight. He cried day and night, but no rescue came for him.

Finally, the arrogance of the adept expedition army attracted their first formidable enemy!

…………

The army avoided most swamps, hills, and deserts under Gru’s lead, always traveling on plains or wastelands.

Today, the army of metal were camped and resting by a lake. Several loud dragon cries could be heard on the distant horizon.

The goblins that had been bathing or retrieving water from the lakeside quickly dressed and got into their goblin chariots. Meanwhile, the golem dragon also adjusted its stance and pointed its head toward the black dot on the horizon that was growing larger.

A short moment later, a wild gust of wind swept across the camp. A completely silver dragon with a prideful and elegant stance stopped above the golem dragon.

It was obvious that he was exceptionally fearful of the golem dragon, as he stopped half a kilometer away from the adepts.

This silver dragon beat his slender wings and hovered in the air pridefully as he silently assessed the giant metal dragon and the First Grade dragon now bound to the collosal machine. After a while, the silver dragon lifted his head and looked at the Mothership above the clouds. It was then that he broke the silence with his thunderous roar.

“Outsiders, what are you trying to do, exactly? Why are you invading the plane of us dragons? Do you want to torture our kind?”

Greem smiled from within the Mothership.

It was a Third Grade silver dragon!

It was probably because the might of the expedition army had exceeded the limits of the dragon lords’ ability to respond that they had sent this silver dragon to find out their intentions. The dragons would not be interested in the motives of any other weakling. They would simply wipe them out of existence with a dragon’s breath. Who would ever want to come out to such a rural place to ask a question if it wasn’t necessary?

The roar of flames rang out in the air as the tall silhouette of a human adept appeared on the head of the golem dragon.