Age of Adepts

“Where are they heading?” A Dener Clan adept asked in confusion. “What’s there southwest of here?”

Everyone shook their heads.

Only one adept suddenly piped up, “Andman City. Black Rose Manor! They are heading for Black Rose Manor!”

The expressions of all the adepts turned. They instantly understood.

They’d stabbed the hornet’s nest. Lady Marilyn Mona was in for a reckoning!

The Third Grade adept in charge of the entire army took out a communication crystal and urgently contacted headquarters.

Marilyn Mona received news of the vampire’s movements about seven minutes later.

The moment the communication concluded, she quickly summoned all the stationed adepts of Black Rose Manor and sent them to the neighboring Andman City. She departed under the escort of the Dream Garden troops, quickly separating from the clan’s main forces as she fled towards Dener Clan territory.

Coldmountain City was over five hundred kilometers away from Andman City. With the vampires’ flight speed, they would need a minimum of four hours to arrive, even if they traveled with no regard for their stamina.

Four hours wasn’t particularly short, but it wasn’t incredibly long, either. Marilyn Mona did not have the luxury of riding back to the clan headquarters in a carriage. Moreover, with all the commotion the vampires were making, it was evident that they held no regard for appearances now. Nothing was holding them back.

Even if Mona managed to escape back to clan territory, her survival still couldn’t be assured until she was protected by absolute power. The threat of death continued to linger over her head!

All the adepts were riding on massive goats as they leaped and bounded towards Dener territory like the wind. Of course, magical horses were slightly faster over short distances. However, when it came to stamina, the giant mountain goats were far superior.

Moreover, these special mounts bred by the clan could sprint for days on end on a single meal. They were superior creatures compared to ordinary mounts when it came to stamina, endurance, and docility.

They would have to pass through Stoneshard Valley to return to clan territory, the only path that connected Dener territory and Crimson territory.

The two hundred kilometers of travel took them three hours to traverse.

They received news that Andman City had been attacked by the vampires just as they arrived at Stoneshard Valley. They didn’t even have time to rest.

Simultaneously, the garrison at Stoneshard Valley also received reports that a terrifying army of adepts was marching in their direction.

“Those vampires have gone mad! Mad, I tell you!” Marilyn Mona, who had traveled here as fast as she could, was utterly shocked and furious. She might be a Third Grade adept, but even she couldn’t help but be anxious when hearing of such a terrifying horde of enemies pursuing her so insistently.

“We are leaving now! Now! We can’t stay here any longer. We must return to clan headquarters now!”

As she shouted her orders, the Dream Garden forces immediately ruffled their goats and passed through Stoneshard Valley. They sprinted towards the clan heartlands upon a road of gray and white stones.

They could see dark smoke rising from Stoneshard Valley in the distance only an hour after they departed.

“Dammit! Those vampires won’t dare to venture into Dener territory, will they?” Mona consoled herself desperately, but she did not have much confidence left.

“The situation is dire. We cannot keep traveling leisurely like this! Ansok, Muto,” Mona named four or five of her subordinates and instructed sternly, “Each of you lead a group of people in different directions. Rally back at clan headquarters after you escape enemy pursuit. Talina, you continue down the main road with everyone else. Remember, run as fast as you can.”

Talina was a young adept, but she was only a Second Grade. Her body trembled when she heard Mona’s orders, but she dared not go against her superior. She gritted her teeth and nodded in acknowledgment.

The hundred-man party of adepts quickly split up into five separate groups. The main group and its sixty adepts continued fleeing down the main road under Talina’s lead. The other groups scattered into the forest and escaped in different directions.

Meanwhile, Marilyn Mona slipped into the woods alone and fled northwest with all she had.

Since she was trying to escape, she couldn’t fly in the air.

On the one hand, flying wasn’t her expertise, and trying to outrun the vampires in the air was a foolish idea. On the other hand, flying in the sky would leave obvious tracks in the air, allowing the enemy to track her down easily.

That was why Mona cast a series of spells on herself the moment she entered the woods, including Haste, Obscure Detection, and Stoneskin. She then ignored her subordinates and started running with all her strength.

The forest’s gray trees were tall and straight, most of them growing at a higher elevation. The spots of clearing that could be found in the woods mainly consisted of shrubbery and bushes, as well as thick roots that slithered everywhere like snakes.

Night had fallen over the continent now.

Traces of white vapor rose from the ground when night fell, covering the forest in a layer of mist. The mist made it difficult for an ordinary person to see ten steps beyond where they were standing.

A slender figure charged out of these mists, running straight into a green bush. The petite figure did not seem to be injured at all. Instead, it was the bush that had been stomped beyond recognition with overwhelming force.

Snap.

Marilyn Mona stopped abruptly in her tracks. She lowered her head, only to realize that her beautiful dress had been torn to ribbons by the bramble. The dress barely clung to her body now. Light red marks could be seen on her white, exposed skin, but there were no signs of injury.

Like the majority of elementium adepts, Mona focused most of her effort on improving her Spirit. She did not pay as much attention to raising her Physique. Even though she was Third Grade, her Physique was still a pathetic 11 points. It was barely enough for her to survive the planar radiation and suppression of foreign planes.

Eleven points of Physique already made her as terrifying as a mammoth compared to an ordinary human. However, it was hardly noteworthy among the adepts.

With the Haste spell, Mona sprinted at superhuman speed. Her figure had turned into a blur, making it difficult to capture her silhouette. However, such horrifying speed also carried unexpected risks.

Even common bramble and branches could inflict scratches; she had to put up elementium shields to avoid being hurt. However, with so many brambles and branches flying past her, she was lucky to have been able to keep the shield up for more than a few minutes.

If she wasn’t quick enough to swerve away from crashing into a tree, Mona’s 11 points of Physique meant that she wouldn’t be the unfortunate one. The tree would be the unfortunate one. However, too many collisions and scratches started to add up, making for an unpleasant feeling.

Compared to her Physique, Mona’s Strength and Agility were only worse!

She only had 6 points of Strength and 7 points of Agility. They were neither enough for her to rampage through the forest nor enough to control her tremendous speed.

After fleeing madly for fifty kilometers, Mona finally had to stop and breathe. She took this opportunity to examine her aching body and her shredded dress.

She braced against a tree with her arm and panted for a while before regaining her breath. She then took out a magic crystal from her ring and took a look. She frowned.

It had been one and a half hours since she separated from her subordinates. Four of the six red dots in the crystal ball had been extinguished. That meant that four of her subordinates had fallen victim to the vampires.

Such speed and power. It also served to demonstrate the power and terror of the vampires on her tail!

What was even more terrifying was the ferocity and resolution they displayed!

It seemed like her decision to kill Spalla had been a foolish one. Her actions had called down such disastrous calamity.

However, regret was of no use at this point.

Mona had already sent out a call for help to the headquarters before she departed. She believed that the clan elders would not hang her out to dry, given her position and status. In fact, it was also possible that Lady Kerala herself was making her way toward her.

Mona’s anxious, beating heart slowly calmed down at the thought of this.

She looked back at the path she had come from and frowned even more.

She’d had no opportunity to cover her tracks when she fled in that frenzied manner. The ravaged shrubs, crushed grass, the fallen trees. There was even a tiny gap left in the mist that indicated the path she had taken.

These tiny tracks were practically nothing to an ordinary person, but they were as clear as day for the adepts and their powerful Spirit.

If those vampires were on her tail, she would not be able to shake them like this.

She was a noble Third Grade psionic, yet she was being chased around in the woods by a bunch of vampires like she was nothing more than a lowly mutt. This humiliation burned furiously in Marilyn Mona’s heart. She cursed, but there was nothing she could do.

She gritted her teeth angrily and cast another Invisibility and Concealment spell on herself. It wasn’t until she had turned wholly invisible and had wiped away all traces of her elementium aura that she carefully hovered over the ground and flew deeper into the woods.