Age of Adepts

In all his time as a Fourth Grade, Declan had honestly never found himself in such a situation where his stamina had been nearly exhausted by the enemy.

He was a body-refining adept, after all!

His trained body of flesh and bone had already been refined into a formidable existence comparable to magical equipment.

Incredibly powerful physical defense and unimaginable regenerative powers made Declan one of the most challenging body-refining adepts in Zhentarim to deal with. How could his stamina be exhausted? Such a suggestion was usually no more than a joke.

However, such a ridiculous thing had happened today!

After finishing all the healing potions he owned, using up all the spells in the healing wands, and exhausting all the magic energy in his body, Declan was finally worn out.

However, the Third Grade fire adept and the Fourth Grade golem dragon he piloted were both still as vigorous as ever. It almost seemed like there was an unending supply of magic energy supporting them in combat.

That was what Declan simply couldn’t comprehend.

To his understanding, any metallic magical machine required magic energy to function. If they ran out of magical power, the magical machines would turn into unmoving piles of metal and lose all combat ability.

Thus, even though most adept clans had metallic golems of their own, the golems were only used to defend adept towers, mystic realms, and other vital facilities. The cost of operating these golems anywhere beyond an adept tower would be enough to cause most adepts to go bankrupt.

Meanwhile, this colossus dragon in front of him was huge and bulky. It had to be continually consuming a shockingly high amount of magical energy. How was it that the Crimson Clan was keeping it running? They couldn’t possibly have filled the entirety of the dragon’s insides with magic crystals, could they!

It had been a battle of such intensity, firing hundreds of magic energy cannons without stopping along with three fearsome giant magic energy cannons; all of that had to be supported by a mountain of magic energy. Yet, even though Declan–a Fourth Grade body-refining adept–had been completely exhausted, this magical golem dragon was still as mighty as before.

It…it was unthinkable!

Halfway through the battle, when Declan finally realized he could wear out the golem dragon’s energy supply, his own reserves had already been depleted to a concerning level. As such, he had no choice but to take the risk of attacking the Third Grade fire adept.

Unfortunately, the fire adept always seemed to be able to assess and predict his intentions in battle.

Every time he advanced to a position where he could attack the fire adept, three thick energy beams would already be waiting for him. Declan had to dodge with all his power to avoid being hit by them. That often meant giving up on the opportunity to attack.

With an endless supply of magic energy at his fingertips, the Third Grade fire adept could freely bombard any location where Declan could threaten him, drowning the body-refining adept in an endless sea of cannon fire.

Dripping water can cut stone, and even rope can fell a tree.

Declan had ignored this barrage of cannon fire initially, then started to avoid them as best he could when his strength began to falter. When all of his energy was exhausted, he could only clumsily stumble around to dodge the energy beams. He finally realized that his biggest mistake was not destroying these smaller cannons as soon as possible!

By the end of the battle, with his depleted energy supply, there was no way he could take apart these cannons while they were protected by the three primary energy beams and the fire adept’s strange magic.

As Declan’s energy reserves ran out, the role of both parties in the battle started to undergo some interesting changes!

At the start of the battle, Declan had been the hunter with the absolute advantage. His only point of concern had been how to deal with the prickly boar he was fighting against. His choice was to circle repeatedly in an attempt to find a weakness to exploit.

At the end of the battle, Declan’s stamina was running out. He could no longer charge and dash as ferociously as before, nor move around while dodging as quickly as before. Meanwhile, Greem and the golem dragon became exceedingly active near the conclusion of the battle. They started to chase after Declan, desperately trading blows with him to further increase his exhaustion.

At this point, Declan had become the prey, and Greem and the golem dragon the hunters. Their positions had been reversed!

It was the ridiculous scene that the eagle flying above the sky was witnessing. Of course, everything that the eagle saw was transmitted back to Kerslin Castle, shocking all of the scrying Fourth Grade adepts.

“What a humiliation.”

“Failure.”

“Declan’s making us all look like fools.”

The furious and angry shouts were so loud they almost threatened to shatter the magical barriers around the room and shake the castle itself.

However, after a brief period of fury, the Fourth Grade adepts remembered Declan’s current situation. They couldn’t help but feel immense sympathy for him.

The dominating move to exterminate the Crimson Clan was most certainly not Declan’s own idea. Instead, it was an order given out by the Great Adept of the Fabres Clan from the realms beyond. It was said that the ancestor of the Fabres Clan had only given such an order at the request of another Great Adept.

Obviously, this order had now put Declan in a horrible situation.

If he retreated from the battlefield in defeat, then the Third Grade adept would most definitely drive the Fourth Grade golem dragon towards the Fabres forces and slaughter the lot of them. The high-grade adepts might be able to escape successfully, but the majority of their adept forces and the subordinate army would be done for.

It would be a vicious strike that was enough to inflict a terrible blow to the Fabres Clan, even with their wealth and prosperity!

Chairman Freed’s voice immediately rang out in the room.

“Elder Nicolas, your clan’s territory is the closest to Ailovis. Send a party to rescue the elites of the Fabres Clan. Remember, do not incite any more conflict or cause any more confrontations with that fire adept. Saving people is the priority!”

“Kerala, inform Laurent of Rhein City to immediately contact the Crimson Clan. Tell them that the Association has approved of their rule over Ailovis. This clan war has also ended in the defeat of the Fabres Clan. All the losses that the Crimson Clan has suffered during the war will be compensated ten times over–even a hundred times–by the Fabres Clan, and request that they do not slaughter the Fabres adepts and apprentices recklessly.”

“They are free to do as they please with the worldly soldiers and subordinate armies!”

A series of orders were quickly relayed. Several adepts nodded, and their bodies exploded into black mist, vanishing from the room.

As it turned out, their bodies in Kerslin Castle were illusions formed out of projection spells. Their actual persons were still in their own rooms in their adept towers.

In the blink of an eye, most of the Fourth Grade adepts in the room had disappeared. Only Chairman Freed and Elder Mirva remained. There was a heavy frown on the Chairman’s face. They had attended the meeting in person.

“What do you think about what happened today?” Chairman Freed suddenly said.

“If my estimation is not wrong, that fire adept known as Greem has over a forty percent chance to advance to Fourth Grade. A person like this…we should try and recruit and get on our side!” Elder Mirva thought for a moment before replying.

“But Matthew and Alfred…” Freed couldn’t help but brood.

“Hmph! Their opinions mean nothing! I heard that the Crimson Clan’s development in the Northern Lands has not been going well. Even though they have made allies out of the Fate Witches, they are not welcome by the other witch branches. They also broke out into a war with the Coldwinter Witches not long ago; it’s said that the Coldwinter Witches were the ones who lost. It’s truly unbelievable!”

“Oh, there was such a thing?” As the Chairman of the Zhentarim Association, Freed controlled the adept forces in the entirety of the continent’s Central Region. The daily tasks he had to manage had taken up most of his time. Naturally, he could not pay any extra attention to the conflicts between the witch branches of the Northern Lands.

That said, since this matter concerned the Crimson Clan, he had no choice but to find out more.

“Send some people to perform an in-depth investigation of the relation between Greem and the Fate Witches. If he isn’t a spy planted by the Northern Lands in the Central Region, we can consider recruiting him into the Association. Cough. It’s been over two hundred years since we had a new face in the Zhentarim Association, hasn’t it? It’s about time for us to inject some fresh blood into the system.”

As the two higher-ups of the Zhentarim Association left the room, the place once again returned to ghostly silence.

How could the adepts and apprentices of the Fabres Clan possibly know that their fates had already been decided by several Fourth Grade adepts tens of thousands of kilometers away, in a matter of a few sentences?

…………

When Adept Declan’s stamina reached an incredibly dangerous level, he finally abandoned all his dignity and glory as a Fourth Grade adept. He turned to flee.

The tens of thousands of adepts, apprentices, warriors, and soldiers who witnessed this scene were stunned.

By the time they realized something was wrong, the overjoyed Crimson adepts were already charging over at the lead of their magical machine army.

The same two armies, the same vicious warriors, but when the position of attacker and defender switched about, their mentalities changed entirely.

The Fabres Clan were the ones on the offense earlier, while the Crimson Clan had been on the defense. Now the Crimson Clan were the ones on offense, and the Fabres Caln were the ones on defense!

When the gigantic golem dragon stormed forward with an army of magical machines in tow, the adepts of the Fabres Clan had yet to break free from their utter shock and horror. By the time they understood the situation, a torrent of magic energy fireballs and the energy beams of the golem dragon had already fallen on their position.

Adepts and apprentices alike were blown to bloody bits in the earthshaking tide of magic energy. Pieces of flesh and bone splattered everywhere.

The adept force that had lost their will to resist weakly retaliated with two volleys of attacks before quickly abandoning the formation and fleeing into the distance. The subordinate armies and the worldly soldiers were all left behind to intercept the pursuers from the Crimson Clan.

Thus, a chaotic melee broke out as one party chased after the other, spreading the flames of war to further and further territories.

At the same time, news of the Fabres Clan’s defeat spread in every direction like a plague.