Age of Adepts

By the time the mutated beasts appeared above the floating city, the arcanists had already completed their preparations.

Rows of arcane golems formed up in tight formation and stood in front of the arcanists.

These golems were of many different models and covered most combat positions in battle.

At the forefront was a row of exceptionally large and bulky arcane golems.

Each of them was ten meters tall.

Compared to the other golems, they were completely covered in metal and seemed extremely tough and sturdy. Various strange magical patterns and arcane runes had been etched onto the surface of their metal bodies. Surging arcane energies shone from the cracks between their armor, forming an arcane barrier around themselves.

Their metallic toughness and excellent conductivity from the magical silver used in their construction made them powerful war golems with tremendous physical and magical prowess. Their weapons were their heavy metal fists and their two-meter-thick legs.

When they stood in a row and charged at the enemy, the entire city would tremble and shake.

Behind the war-golems stood several rows of three-meter tall golems that looked like metal knights. They were like human knights clad in full steel armor, each holding two steel longswords with blades that measured up to a meter and a half in their hands.

They followed tightly behind the war golems, moving their swords with elegance and grave. It was obvious that they were the skirmishers.

Behind the metal knights was a vast army of ordinary arcane golems.

They might be weaker in melee combat, but they all possessed the ability to fire energy bolts. Consequently, they took on the role of long-ranged fire within the army.

Meanwhile, the human arcanists had all hidden themselves in their arcane towers, controlling their powerful arcane facilities from within and gathering thunderous lightning storms above the battlefield.

Arcane apprentices had no place on a battlefield like this. They had been sent to the inner circle of the floating city, where they would be better protected.

Initially, the mutated beasts that came to the floating city were stragglers, rushing in few and scattered numbers. They could not break through the arcane golems’ sturdy perimeter at all. The beasts would charge forward, and before they could even reach the first row of golems, they would be blasted to pieces by a barrage of energy bolts.

However, as time went on, more and more mutated beasts arrived at the floating city along the stone pillars. Even the skies began to be blotted out by screeching red and black creatures.

Dong! A muffled boom rang out.

Illhoof appeared at the golems’ perimeter in all his might and fury. He looked at the golem army in front of him and raised his body. His petal-like mouthpieces trembled rapidly.

Like a warrior sounding the war horn, the gathering horde of mutated beasts instantly roared and charged the defensive line.

The lightning storm that had been brewing on the frontlines immediately struck. Thick bolts of lightning crashed down from above, electrocuting the beasts and blasting the life out of their bodies.

However, the mutated beasts did not fear death. They sprinted through the storm like a flood bursting through a dam. They ran headfirst into the first row of war golems.

The iron giants remained fixated, kicking with their legs and punching with their fists. They forcefully sliced the black tide into strands of thinner black lines. The mutated beasts that made it past the war golems immediately engaged the metal guardians.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

Rumble!

Crack, crack, crack!

All sorts of strange noises weaved together on the frontlines of battle. It was deafening, and the smell of blood quickly filled the air.

Another muffled explosion rang out as Greem emerged from a cluster of flames. He ignored the mutated beasts around him that he had accidentally scorched to ashes. Instead, he focused and evaluated the entire battlefield from afar.

The battle was still currently focused around the outer ring.

The large groups of arcanists sent out by the floating city had managed to forcefully keep the mutated beasts at bay with the help of their arcane towers and golems. The bloody battlefield was everywhere, as was the lingering threat of death from all the zipping energy bolts. In contrast, the inner circle of the floating city was oddly quiet.

“How is it? We break into the inner circle for a slaughter first and take the opportunity to loot?” Adept Holly had just stepped onto the floating city a few hundred meters away from Greem.

Meanwhile, Cherisha had also arrived. She had turned invisible through some unknown means and was secretly looking at the battlefield.

“The arcanists’ defensive line can only stop the mutated beasts. It cannot stop us. However, we have absolutely no knowledge of what is inside the inner ring. Brazenly breaking in like this makes us susceptible to traps and ambushes.” Greem thought for a moment and rejected Adept Holly’s suggestion.

“Then you mean to…?” Adept Holly paused in confusion.

“Help Illhoof pave a way through the defensive line and let some of the mutated beasts enter the inner ring. We will sneak in during the chaos after that. With the mutated beasts to draw attention away from us, the chances of walking into an ambush will be much lower!”

“Very well, as you say!”

After a simple discussion, the two fearless adepts immediately began their operation.

Adept Holly was in a far better position compared to Greem when it came to penetrating and piercing enemy lines, thanks to his astral armor.

He joined the horde of mutated beasts as they swarmed forward. The lightning bolts crashing down from above were diffused into scattered electric energy by the starlight around him before they could even reach him.

He raised his hands when he was a hundred meters away from the war golems. A half-meter-wide pillar of light formed between his palms and shot towards a golem.

Strangely enough, this pillar of light pierced straight through the golem’s arcane barrier and projected onto its broad metal chest.

Hmm? What light spectrum was this? Why couldn’t he sense any energy aura from it? What damage could a beam of light like this do without any energy?

While Greem was confused about the nature of the light, traces of starlight suddenly emerged from the pillar. This starlight quickly started eating away at the war golem’s metal body. Who knew what energy substance this starlight was composed of? To think, it had such an exceedingly powerful corrosive effect against metal.

The metal on the war golem’s chest melted like powder, peeling off layer by layer.

A small dent quickly appeared!

The arcanist that had been controlling this war golem from his tower in the distance immediately reacted. He made the war golem move away in an attempt to dodge the pillar of light.

However, the war golem was too big. Its movement speed could not compare to the rate at which Adept Holly could shift the light. As the starlight rapidly continued to corrode the metal, the dent widened and threatened to pierce through the golem’s chest.

Beneath its chest was its most important component– the energy core.

Should the arcane energy core be damaged, the war golem would be instantly reduced to a useless pile of metal, even though it had not sustained any other damage.

Seeing the urgency of the situation, a bright light flashed from one of the towers in the distance. Violent chain lightning cut across the battlefield towards Adept Holly.

Greem frowned and extended a finger. Ferocious fire elementium quickly gathered around Adept Holly, attempting to form into a Lava Shield to protect him from the lightning.

However, due to the starlight from Adept Holly’s astral armor, the Lava Shield scattered into loose flames before it could properly form.

Adept Holly’s starlight appeared to make no distinctions. Even allied buffs were dispelled.

Just as Greem expected Adept Holly to have to endure this violent blast of lightning, a thick pillar of stone rose from the ground right in the trajectory of the chain lightning.

Sla!

A loud explosion sounded out as the intense electricity turned the pillar red-white with heat. The powerful energy from the chain lightning blast then shattered the stone to pieces.

It was Illhoof. He was the one who summoned the stone pillar to deflect the lightning!

Greem’s blazing eyes swept towards Illhoof as he emerged from the midst of the mutated beasts. He roared viciously, “Attack, attack…keep attacking! You focus only on attacking that big guy. I will help you defend any attacks that come your way. As long as you can take down that golem, I will reward you accordingly!”

“You mean it? Just watch, then!” Adept Holly was overjoyed to hear that. The thick pillar of light between his palms grew even more powerful.

Greem chuckled coldly and continued to walk forward.

As he advanced, crimson Blazing Fireballs continued to shoot out of his hands.

These fireballs were clearly different from an ordinary magical fireball. Every one of them contained the powerful and unusual might of fire laws. Even the non-living arcane golems felt a strange ‘agony’ when a fireball hit them.

The metal rings on the First Grade arcane golems would melt instantly if these fireballs hit them. Thus, Greem’s Blazing Fireballs exploded within the formation of the arcane golems, blasting one arcane golem after another to the ground. He swept through everything like an autumn breeze through fallen leaves.

Even the Second Grade metal guardians could not endure more than two or three of these Blazing Fireballs.

Under Greem’s merciless barrage, a path of fire piercing through the golem’s defensive line quickly appeared!

While the arcanists scrambled to mobilize arcane golems from other regions to fill in this breach, the ten-meter-tall war golem suddenly creaked. A series of explosions rang out within its body as countless components started to fall away.

It stumbled forward with its massive body and finally collapsed face-first to the ground.

When its heavy body fell, it even managed to crush the ground beneath it, which had been strengthened and enhanced with several hundred arcane techniques.

With the fall of this war golem, a path to the inner circle had been opened on the battlefield, which measured several kilometers in length. Countless mutated beasts stepped across its remains and sprinted through the path of flames as they charged unstoppably towards the inner circle.

The defensive line had been breached!