Age of Adepts

Individually, all of these magical machines were only First Grade.

The surfaces of their bodies started burning the moment they stepped into the crimson dome, turning bright-red from the heat as the metal began to soften and melt.

However, their armor’s top layer of magical alloy plates provided them with a certain degree of elementium resistance. Their twenty-centimeter-thick metal armor further ensured that they could last longer than ordinary lifeforms in the Burning Domain, even if they were not immune to the heat.

They rapidly approached Greem during this time, concentrating their bullets and energy beams, drowning him in a barrage of attacks.

Greem’s steps did not stop.

He continued to walk forward casually, reaching out with one finger and quickly drawing fire rune after fire rune in the air. Each rune vanished rapidly the moment it was finished, turning into thick and solid Lava Shields that revolved around Greem.

The wild barrage of bullets sent lava spilling everywhere when they crashed against the shields.

A single Lava Shield was half a meter thick, two meters tall, and one meter wide, but shattered after just seven seconds from the concentrated fire of all the magical machines. However, regardless of how intensely the magical machines went on the offense, they could not be as relaxed and comfortable as Greem simply drawing runes with his fingers.

It didn’t matter how much the magical machines continued unleashing their firepower with their melting bodies; they still could not catch up with the speed at which Greem replenished his Lava Shields.

To the contrary, as the barrage went on, the Lava Shields around Greem only increased in number. They were gathered together like a massive wall and had almost completely obscured his figure.

After shielding himself from the magical machine attacks, it was Greem’s turn to act. He was not a man to stand by without retaliating.

The fire runes he was drawing suddenly changed and quickly outlined an unusually large door of fire in the space in front of him. As the fire runes slowly merged with the door, the Flamegate opened, and a horde of fire creatures swarmed forth from within.

Greem was a Fourth Grade adept now. Every single fire spell he cast contained a trace of the principle powers. Most of the fire creatures summoned from the Fire Elementium Plane in this manner were First Grade creatures, with even a few rare Second Grade monsters.

Elite fire elementals, fire giants, Blazefire flamespirits, magma hounds, magma beasts, fire crows.

Strange fire creatures of all shapes and sizes quickly appeared and clashed with the magical machines.

The two armies started tearing into each other in a ferocious show of force upon the narrow bridge.

After finishing all this, Greem smiled as his silhouette flickered, only to reappear on the other end of the bridge.

Over a hundred magical machines were gathered here, wildly shooting at the fire creatures from a hundred meters away.

A sudden ring of fire erupted as Greem appeared amid the magical machines.

The halo of fire that engulfed these machines possessed two strange characteristics– Explosion and Impact. It instantly blew away nearly half of the magical machines, causing them to fall off the bridge as meteors enveloped in flames.

It was at least three hundred meters away from the ground.

Given the weight of the machines, they would be utterly destroyed when they crashed.

The magical machines that were fortunate enough to survive the shockwave were not in any better condition.

There were still plenty of Lava Shields revolving around Greem. These shields crashed against the bodies of the magical machines, causing hot lava and fire to wash against their metal bodies. These poor constructs only managed to open fire for five seconds before turning into liquid metal, like candles tossed into an open flame.

The Burning Domain was everywhere.

Without the protection of magical shields, the internal runic and energy systems of the magical machines were exposed to the wild flames, even if their metal bodies were impenetrable. When their circuits and control core had been melted and destroyed, they lost all their ability to fight.

Greem continued to teleport in the same fashion, over and over again.

Every time he appeared among the magical machine army, he would use the terrifying might of his fire to reduce the machines into useless piles of metal.

These magical machines that had once helped the Crimson Clan conquer countless enemies seemed to have lost their past sharpness and power when facing this fearsome fire adept. They were now pathetic lambs to the slaughter.

The difference in power was simply too vast, so much so that it could not be compensated for with numbers or space!

Half an hour later, Greem stepped onto the last metal bridge on his journey.

At the end of the bridge was a large metal platform. As many as five hundred unusual magical machines were arranged in perfect formation upon it. Split-Brain Gru was hidden amongst these machines, connecting himself with them using several energy chains.

Greem stopped and took a good look at these strange magical machines.

They were strange, as all of these machines were encased in a layer of a nearly-translucent energy barrier. This barrier seemed to protect them from every angle. The barrier also appeared to have strange magic energy characteristics that enabled them to isolate the Greem’s spiritual probes as well as the Chip’s scan.

It was an extremely unusual situation!

If Greem could not deal with these magical machines fast enough, he would have trouble killing the advanced Second Grade Split-Brain Gru.

After all, any adept would frown at the thought of having to fight against five hundred magical machines.

Moreover, if the Chip’s scans were not incorrect, then all five hundred of these magical machines were probably the enhanced second-generation machines. In other words, they were Second Grade magical machines!

If Greem had such a force in his hands, the Crimson Clan would immediately gain an extremely formidable ace. Unfortunately, since the foolish Gru had chosen to fight back, the possibility of this ace remaining untouched was very much close to zero.

For the first time, there was a trace of sinister killing intent in Greem’s eyes when he looked across the bridge at Gru, who was hiding behind the magical machines!

In all the previous battles, he had been fighting with a relaxed attitude, one of toying around and testing his abilities.

However, at this moment, he really wanted to kill!

Behind that metal platform was the steel hall where Third Grade Brain Monster Gazlowe was hiding.

Currently, the hall appeared to be completely silent, as if the creature within had not realized what was happening.

Energy light shimmered over the tightly shut metal doors, alongside a mental barrier that covered the entire structure. Greem’s spiritual senses could not penetrate these defenses.

A coward would always remain a coward!

Gazlowe didn’t dare step onto the battlefield himself, so he sent these magical machines and his split-brain, Gru. If Gru could stop Greem in his tracks, he would gladly accept the victory and become the winner in this scenario. He would utterly break free of the reign of the Crimson Clan and obtain true freedom.

However, if Gru were to be defeated, Greem wondered if Gazlowe had the courage and decisiveness to face him himself. Brain monsters might be incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable, but these traits had nothing to do with courage.

They were also one of the most cowardly creatures in the universe, quickly bowing before and submitting to beings more powerful than themselves!

Indeed, cowardly. It was the label that Greem had always applied to Gazlowe in his mind.

If he wasn’t cowardly, how could he ever have been threatened by Greem and submit while Greem was still a Second Grade adept? If he wasn’t cowardly, why was it that he only ever dared to plan useless schemes behind the scenes, never daring to honestly confront Greem? If he wasn’t cowardly, why would he have given up on the powerful combination of a Third Grade brain monster leading five hundred Second Grade magical machines? Instead, he chose to have advanced Second Grade Split-Brain Gru command instead.

As such, Greem boldly laughed when he saw the army of magical machine lying in wait, when he saw the fearful Gru, and when he saw the tightly shut doors behind them. His trademark flames finally rose on his body.

The battle was intense but uneventful!

The combination of a Second Grade split-brain and five hundred Second Grade magical machines was a sufficiently terrifying force for most adepts. Gru’s energy chains connected the magical machines and allowed them to have a practically limitless amount of energy while sustaining their magic energy shields for extended periods.

It became exceedingly difficult for Greem to quickly dispose of the machines due to the magic energy shields.

Greem often had no choice but to use some strange techniques and engage them in melee combat instead.

Would magical machines be afraid of melee combat? In all honesty, the whole reason they were created was to charge at the enemy, to fight at the very frontlines, and to crush the enemy’s defenses.

Unfortunately, despite how powerful these machines were, they lacked a sufficiently qualified commander.

After failing to break through the defensive line of the magical machines several times, Greem changed his tactics.

He sealed off the bridge with a massive Flamegate, occupying the fire creatures with a constant stream of fire creatures. Greem himself stood on the bridge and gazed at Gru from five hundred meters away.

As magical power flowed through his eyes, Split-Brain Gru suddenly let out a cry of surprise. Despite being protected by layer upon layer of magical machines, his tall metal body silently ignited.

If it weren’t for how much magical alloy had been used in forging Gru’s metallic frame, this sudden burst of fire would have severely damaged his body.

Gru let out a panicked cry. An overwhelming wave of mental power swept across his body as he attempted to extinguish these unusual flames.

Unfortunately, his Second Grade mental powers were no match for Greem’s Fourth Grade flames. Not only did the fire not extinguish, but it also started to burn brighter and higher.

In the blink of an eye, Split-Brain Gru was consumed by the devouring flames!