Age of Adepts

“Crimson Lotus’ Rain of Fire…Scorching Flames!”

Greem shouted out several short incantations, summoning surging flames around him that surged at the lich.

The flames were golden yellow, with a trace of unusual power within them.

The golden fires and the death energy around Lich Kanganas’ body clashed together and neutralized each other ferociously upon contact.

The golden flames and the pale white energy were entangled with each other, devouring and destroying the opposing power as they clashed.

When the golden fire appeared, all the curses that Kanganas had applied to Greem evaporated like snow under a blazing sun. What traces remained of the curses could no longer affect or disrupt Greem as they had before.

The sources and owners of these two contrasting powers were casting their own terrifying spells as quickly as they could. They were both trying to pave the way to victory with all their might.

Individuals as powerful as Greem and the lich could unleash all sorts of powerful spells without incantations. However, when their opponent was an enemy of the same grade, it was best to fire a spell after a series of incantations. That was the only way to pose a threat to the opponent.

Instant-cast spells were mostly used to interrupt or disrupt the opponent’s chanting or spellcasting.

Liches would often turn every part of their body into fearsome spell sequencing devices through a series of mad and cruel modifications. Their method of casting was entirely different from an ordinary spellcaster.

As such, when Kanganas sensed the terror of the golden flames, he immediately hastened his spellcasting without hesitation.

His fearsome skull stared straight at Greem as the adept walked across the sky with flames beneath his feet. The soulfire burning behind the rubies in the lich’s eye sockets pulsated rapidly. Meanwhile, his jaw also started trembling, letting out an unusual crackling sound.

It wasn’t Kanganas trembling in fright. Rather, it was the unique spellcasting method of the liches.

Magical gemstones of various colors and functions had been embedded into his jaw. By clicking together his ‘teeth,’ he could activate these magical gemstones in a specific sequence.

As there was no need to chant any incantations, the terrifying spells stored within these gemstones could be simply molded into a powerful spell sequence based on the lich’s will.

Why were liches considered one of the most powerful and savage magical creatures in nearly every single material plane? It was precisely because of this unique spellcasting method of theirs!

A spell sequence like this was usually a combination of anti-magic magic, offensive elementium magic, compound curses, and death magic.

In particular, the anti-magic was used to break an opponent’s magical defense. The offensive elementium magic was to inflict elementium damage and trigger the opponent’s last line of defense. The compound curses would then weaken the opponent’s elementium resistance. All of these factors worked in service of the death magic, which was the real, lethal core of the entire sequence.

Fearsome and targeted spell sequences like this had helped Kanganas defeat and kill countless enemies that had challenged him in the past. However, this same trick was far from enough to defeat Greem, who possessed a mastery over some of the fire laws.

The surging flames abruptly shrank together, forming a golden shield between Greem and Kanganas.

The shield was not very large nor heavy. However, it appeared to be unusually dense and sturdy due to the existence of the golden flames.

The sequence of spells crashed onto the golden shield. The anti-magic caused the elementium particles to lose their established order and destroyed the spell model. Unfortunately, the fire laws contained within the flames was power of a higher order; the destruction caused by the anti-magic was not thorough.

Though the golden shield had been disrupted and damaged by the anti-magic, the fire elementium particles remained in a relatively stable position. This layer of defense greatly affected the rest of the spell sequence. The fearsome Bone Lance, the crimson Berserking Curse, and the frightening Energy Drain were all prematurely triggered. A purple halo of death bloomed in front of the tattered golden shield.

While defending against the lich’s attack, Greem waved his staff as a large Magma Fireball, half the size of a human’s head, fired at the lich.

In truth, a Fourth Grade Blazing Fireball had more elementium offensive power compared to the Second Grade Magma Fireball. Unfortunately, the lich’s elementium was simply too high. Physical damage was far more effective against him compared to elementium damage.

That was why Greem had no choice but to use a Second Grade Magma Fireball instead!

Even the Second Grade Magma Fireball was incredibly powerful when fired from Greem’s hands.

The massive fireball formed of magma and fire was filled with liquid lava at a shocking temperature. Endless heat and light spilled forth from the cracks in the magma, causing the air to become unbearably hot.

Moreover, Greem was firing over a hundred of these Magma Fireballs.

One fireball after another.

The previous fireball had just fired, and the next one’s shape could already be seen forming in his palm.

They crashed against the Bone Wall that the lich had erected, creating a rain of fire that ignited the bones and caused them to crackle loudly. The skulls that formed the Bone Wall burned crimson from the hot flames. They struggled desperately to escape the Bone Wall, to no avail.

This twenty-meter-wide, one-meter-thick Bone Wall collapsed loudly after just five seconds, reduced to shards of bone on the ground. A new Bone Wall blocked the fireballs that came after.

Lich Kanganas finally managed to complete another spell sequence with several Bone Walls shielding him.

As Kanganas sacrificed the seventh rib on the right of his body, a group of banshees was summoned. They screeched and charged into the sky.

These banshees might be no more than Third Grade, but their ear-piercing screams were a significant disruption to human spellcasters!

After releasing these banshees, Kanganas extended his right hand quickly made several motions in the air. He drew evil runes that glowed with a ghostly green light. However, before the evil runes could gather together to form a terrifying death spell, the soulfire that Kanganas hid behind his ruby eyes trembled abruptly. He hastily abandoned this nearly-formed spell and quickly teleported a hundred meters away.

As his shining body appeared in the air once more, a fearsome fire spell erupted at his original location.

Doomsday Volcano!

The scorched earth quickly swelled and cracked apart. Countless streams of fire burst forth, along with scalding red lava that quickly turned its surroundings into a world of magma.

If Kanganas had not escaped in time, he would have had to endure the complete might of this Doomsday Volcano. Now, he only had to take the warm heat waves.

With his magic resistance as a Fourth Grade lich, the streams of fire that reached six to seven thousand degrees were no more than a spring breeze. However, for most planar creatures, this ‘breeze’ would be enough to melt metal and turn volcanic rock into liquid lava.

Kanganas, whose spellcasting had been interrupted, would not take the attack lying down. He rapidly activated a spell ring on his left ring finger, firing a poisoned bone spear at Greem.

It was not an ordinary poisoned bone spear. Instead, it was a strange bone spear that reeked of death, with the ability to ignore all physical defenses. Moreover, there were rot spores at the tip of the spear. Should the spores come into contact with flesh, they would be able to spread immediately.

Greem’s face turned at the sight of such a terrifying bone spear. His body erupted into flames as he used Flame Teleportation to escape, even though he was in the midst of preparing his next spell.

Thus, the two spellcasters whose spellcasting ability was amongst the best in the material planes continued to attack each other ferociously, all while avoiding the opponent’s attacks in time. They struck wildly, trading hits as they dodged and wove across the sky. Both air and ground for several kilometers had become their battlefield.

Several arcanists had driven their arcanist towers over during this fight, attempting to take advantage of the conflict. However, they were beaten back by the combined effort of the two spellcasters who were now heavily invested in their fight against each other. It couldn’t be helped. It didn’t matter how stupid Greem and Kanganas were; they wouldn’t be dumb enough to be engaging in a fight between lions and let the harmless rabbit bite them in the ass.

After several attempts, the arcanists could only hide as far away as they could and watch silently as the two invaders fought in the floating city.

Such a strange battle wasn’t the only one occurring in the floating city. Fearsome energy fluctuations had erupted in three or four other locations as well. The most obvious of them was the fierce battle between the Minor Scourge Lord Illhoof and the Fifth Ring Great Arcanist.

One could truthfully claim that the energy flux radiating from that fight had greatly exceeded the level of Fourth Grades. It meant that the Sixth Grade Lord of Eternal Night behind Illhoof had already projected part of his powers into the plane.

Anyone who was slightly weaker didn’t even dare participate in this battle. In fact, they weren’t even able to witness from the sidelines. They were expelled by the overwhelming power and could only wander around the arcane palace helplessly.

In doing so, the chances of friction and conflict increased all the more!

Illhoof had already thoroughly destroyed the energy core hidden deep in the stone foundation of the floating city. Moreover, as the powerful individuals of all these foreign planes continued to unleash havoc upon the city, things only became even more broken and ravaged.

The fighting of these individuals had destroyed vast stretches of arcane buildings, and the city itself was slowly losing its flight ability!

The Reisin Garden that had once stood proud amongst the clouds was now like a broken vase. It was no longer able to maintain its stability and altitude. Instead, it passed through the clouds, slowly crashing towards the plains at an odd, tilted angle.