Age of Adepts

Scarface Gallow’s expression changed, and he prepared to turn around and return to the forest.

Unfortunately, a black tide of insects crashed down from behind him, instantly merging into the appearance of a strange adept standing at several dozen meters tall.

Five Slayers, a dozen Voidreavers, and a hundred magical mantises merged with the gigantic figure, like birds returning to their nest.

Bug Adept Billis.

This man, who was feared throughout the Central Lands, had finally shown himself in front of Scarface Gallow with his swarm’s power.

Tens of thousands of beetles, scorpions, and other insects squeezed together, forming into Billis’s ugly form. When his gigantic body strode forward, countless beetles were shaken off and dropped to the ground. However, these insects quickly caught up with the rest of the swarm and merged with Billis’ body again.

Billis was able to completely cut off Gallow’s path of retreat with the sheer numbers of his swarm.

Ambushed…and caught in a pincer attack!

There was no need for any more discussion. Rezai, the vice-commander, pointed with his sword and shouted, “With me!”

He led all the magical knights and charged towards the army of machines without hesitation.

The countless stitches on Gallow’s face began to twist and squirm like an ugly centipede.

He could clearly see that a death trap had been laid ahead of them. Even if he was the one leading the charge against the enemy, they would not have emerged unscathed, let alone when it was Rezai who was leading the army.

The only reason Rezai was doing so was to stall the magical machine army and give him an opportunity to slip away from the bug adept.

After all, if they remained here, they would be caught in a pincer by the enemy. Moreover, it was apparent the army of magical machines and the mothership were the more significant threat.

At this point, escape demanded sacrifice.

Gallow whipped his horse as they charged at the vicious ‘Bug Adept Billis.’

The next second, the blinding light of energy filled the battlefield.

Countless energy beams and magic energy fireballs shot towards the charging knights like a merciless rain. The knights were not willing to back down either. They put up elementium defenses around themselves while taking out metal spears from their satchels on their saddles. They used magic to ignite the arrays on the spears and hurled them towards the machines.

The attacks of both armies shot past each other. The next second, their attacks bloomed upon the battlefield.

Terrifying and deafening explosions. Destructive elementium tides and blood and flesh splattered everywhere. The battlefield was instantly engulfed in a rain of blood!

In truth, Gallow had already foreseen what would happen the moment he turned away from his army.

That was why he did not turn back and look, regardless of how loud a commotion was occurring behind him. Instead, he focused entirely on that massive ‘bug adept.’

His vicious magical sword ringed in his hands. His powerful aura solidified and pressed towards the opponent like an invisible wall.

His overwhelming Strength spread into the surroundings through an invisible forcefield. His unbelievable force even overwrote the simpler planar laws within thirty meters.

Rocks and dirt particles of various sizes started to float in the air as if gravity had disappeared. Gallow also started levitating as he moved towards the ‘bug adept.’

The magical horse suffered the opposite fate. Its spine collapsed, and its flesh splattered the ground as if a mountain had crushed it. The beast couldn’t even let out a cry before it was crushed to paste by Gallow’s simple step.

Gallow’s physical Strength had reached a limit. Even without the use of any magic, he was able to fly in the air. At this point, gravity was no longer an invisible and ethereal rule. Instead, it was a strange power in Gallow’s hands that he could freely twist and morph to his will.

The gravity laws were no longer effective in the areas Gallow’s force could reach. That was why this unusual phenomenon that disobeyed the laws of gravity had occurred!

Scarface Gallow concentrated all his power into this sword. He then exhaled and shouted as a thick black sword aura shot toward the towering man of insects.

Rustle!

A rain of insect corpses fell to the ground as a gaping hole appeared in the insect person’s body. You could even see the vast forest behind him through that hole.

The bug person looked down at this open chest and lifted his head to howl. No one could imagine that the insect person would be able to open his mouth so wide. A torrent of countless black beetles flew out from within.

Like a dark, black tide, they swept forward and crashed against the forcefield around Gallow.

The invisible yet material force of strength around Gallow was evenly distributed all over the defensive forcefield. All creatures that came into contact with the forcefield were instantly squashed to dirt by the overwhelming force. The tide continued to swarm and continued to die. However, even as they died, they imposed incredible pressure on Gallow.

Gallow’s levitating body had stopped moving forward.

No matter how much force of strength he tried to muster, he could not take a single step forward.

“Bastard, you can’t stop me!”

Gallow howled and swung his magical sword. With every slash, a large and terrifying gash appeared on the insect person’s body. In the blink of an eye, the bug person’s body had shrunk by one-fourth.

However, Billis was not a harmless little creature that would not retaliate!

The giant insect body squirmed, trying its best to mend the ‘wounds’ on its body. Billis then waved his bloated right hand, and a long spear formed purely of beetles appeared out of his hand.

Zip!

The insect person assumed a throwing stance, and the spear of insects turned into a black flicker, appearing instantly in front of Gallow.

The spear was half a meter thick. Most of the beetles on the spear’s surface had been killed by Gallow’s terrifying force radiation. More and more insects peeled off as the spear pressed forward, quickly causing the spear to become thinner and thinner.

By the time it reached Gallow, the spear was already the thickness of a mere stone, but the beetles that formed the rest of the spear radiated an overwhelming aura. It was obvious that these were no ordinary insects.

The ugly stitch on Gallow’s face twisted, and a silver star that had been embedded on his face abruptly flew out. The star crashed into the spear.

The silver star was fairly small, but it contained incredible, raging force. The black spear disintegrated instantly. However, just as Gallow relaxed briefly, the spear’s shards suddenly turned into two Third Grade Slayers that glided towards him from both sides.

Their scythe-like limbs sliced across Gallow’s towering body when they passed by, causing sparks to fly. Several deep marks appeared on Gallow’s armor, revealing his tan, golden skin beneath.

Gallow’s zombified body made him impervious to poison and incredibly resistant to elementium magic. However, he still bled against the terrifying physical damage of the Slayers. A visible wound had appeared.

This process of transformation between insects had been too unexpected, and Gallow had not able to execute these Slayers in his surprise. The insects beat their wings and fled with all they had the moment they managed to escape Gallow’s radius of force radiation.

“How dare you.”

Thoroughly enraged by the enemy’s attack, Gallow roared and kicked his leg forward. An invisible ripple of force appeared in the air. With the aid of this bit of power, Gallow’s body shot backward rapidly, allowing him to engulf the two insects within his range of attack once more.

Black light flickered in the air as a force thread as thin as silk flew out and sliced past a Slayer. The next second, the force erupted as the beginner Third Grade Slayer exploded into a rain of blood.

The other Slayer was able to instantly vanish and escape by beating its wings and flying at full speed.

The insect person, who was striding forward, let out a hiss. It seemed like it had felt great pain when the Third Grade Slayer was killed. However, the insect person quickly recovered. Two bright lights lit up where his eyes were as he stared at Gallow and hissed, “You dare destroy my Third Grade insect servant. Pay for that with your life!”

The insect person wasted no more words. Black light flashed in his hands, forming into multiple black spears that he hurled unceasingly toward Gallow.

The forcefield alone was no longer enough to stop these mighty spears. Gallow could only swing his magical sword and use his incredibly powerful force threads to cut up the spears before they hit him.

The spears of insects were no longer much of a threat if they couldn’t reach Gallow.

It didn’t matter how many insects there were if this situation continued. They would not be able to touch Gallow at all.

After such a long time fighting against the bug adept, Gallow had finally figured out his method of offense. The bug adept did not excel at melee combat. He preferred to command his insects and have them attack the enemy.

Supposedly, Billis would be able to enhance his insects with poison, paralysis, curses, and other magical effects. Unfortunately, these methods that were effective against most living beings were useless against Gallow’s undead body.

When it came to pure power alone, the bug adept’s variety of attacks and techniques were unimaginable and nearly impossible to defend against. This battle would already be over if he were fighting an ordinary Third Grade adept and not the peak Third Grade Gallow.

However, the longer the fight, the more calm Gallow became.

As long as he could calm down and fight a tight battle, Billis would become much less of a threat once he killed the Third Grade insects. When that happened, he could unleash a devastating strike that could exterminate most of the insects and cripple the bug adept.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a fair duel, but a battlefield where life and death could be decided in an instant!

The next second, Gallow paid the price for his hesitation and stalling.