Age of Adepts

The tower trembled, and energy scattered in every direction.

The pillar of energy blasted against the forcefield; the tower turned red from the heat in an instant.

Two terrifying surges of power clashed in midair, neutralizing each other and causing horrifying crackling sounds.

The entire adept tower erupted into flames like a giant torch. The walls of the building glowed with a blinding red shine. There was complete chaos inside the tower. All the Entom Clan adepts connected their Spirits with the tower spirit; the spiritual channel was bustling with voices.

“…abandon energy circulation to Arrays One through Nine. Transfer all energy to tower defenses. Hurry, we must act swiftly.”

“No, we can’t do that! Energy supply to Arrays Seven through Nine must not be cut off. Otherwise, we will lose all ability to retaliate.”

“Wake up! The defensive arrays are already breaking down. What is the point of your offensive arrays now? Listen to me and prioritize energy supply to the defensive forcefield.”

“I object.”

The Crimson Clan’s army was pressing into Entom Clan territory, but the Entom Clan did not dare face them in frontal combat. They could only pull back all their main forces and core adepts of the clan back to Kerslin Castle. Consequently, the most powerful adept in the Lakarr adept tower was only Second Grade. It was obviously incongruous with the tower’s grade itself. Naturally, there was no way they could unleash the true power of the tower.

The tower was having an exceptionally difficult time surviving this first violent attack from the Crimson Fleet flagship.

After a dozen seconds, the energy pillar started to weaken. The first shot from the giant magic energy cannon had not managed to crack the tower’s firm shell.

However, before the Entom Clan adepts could exhale in relief, their hearts were strung up again. That was because the Versailles had slowly back away, and an equally massive Mothership drifted into its position. Its cannon was already charged, and the terrifying roaring of the cannon was horrifying.

“Hurry, hurry…replenish the energy and restore the outermost defenses as quickly as possible,” The shouts of many adepts could be heard ringing from the tower. However, the next moment, their voices were drowned out by a terrible blast of energy.

Yet another pillar of energy cut across the one and half kilometers of empty space, precisely landing on the same location as the last cannon shot.

The forcefield that had just faded away revealed itself once again, blocking the energy pillar with its layers of force walls. The force walls could not endure the terrifying power of the cannon shot and shattered one after another.

However, an endless supply of energy surged from within the tower as new force walls replaced the damaged ones. Through this means of constantly replenishing exhausted energy, the tower was once again barely able to survive the enemy’s attack.

Twelve seconds later, the energy pillar dissipated, and the second attack ended.

The Motherships hovering high in the sky switched positions once again. A third Mothership drifted forward before the horrified gazes of the Entom adepts.

“Dammit! Open fire…return fire. We must retaliate! Otherwise, we will be sitting ducks. Once the tower is broken, none of us will survive.”

As the adept’s leader shouted out his commands, the tower trembled as several layers of magical light appeared around its structure. Countless runic circuits filled with magic energy lit up sequentially and activated the numerous offensive arrays laid down throughout the tower.

The next second, magical lightning bolts as thick as silver serpents lashed forward, along with a hail of frost weapons, giant globs of poison, and a barrage of shadow arrows. The attacks blasted against the sky fleet in a torrent.

The Mothership that was preparing to fire showed no signs of retreat or defense. It was the two other Motherships behind it that erected a strange defensive barrier that engulfed the third one as well.

It was a sort of special defensive barrier that combined energy shields and anti-magic barriers. It was incredibly effective at neutralizing elementium spells.

The defensive barrier clashed with the rain of spells. It was as if fireworks had lit up over the city. However, before the shockwaves from the explosions faded away, a pure white beam of energy shot out from the cannon, blasting against the tower’s shields once more.

This time, due to the diversion of energy to its offensive arrays, the tower’s defensive forcefield was no longer able to endure such a ferocious attack. The forcefield started to shatter and break down, layer by layer. Soon, a large hole ten-meters in diameter had burned through the forcefield. The energy pillar landed unimpeded on the structure of the tower itself.

The defensive arrays on the tower’s walls lit up one by one, the magical runes glowing with blinding light. The dust and dirt on the walls of the tower were instantly blown away by an unseen force. The part of the structure hit by the energy pillar began to glow bright red as if it was molten lava.

After fifteen long seconds, the energy pillar finally extinguished, leaving a giant, three-meter-wide scar on the tall tower. From a distance, it was almost as if a giant had left a burn scar on the tower with an equally gigantic cigar.

Fortunately, the tower had been built out of obsidian, an excellent material. It possessed exceptional magic resistance and decent physical resistance. The tower was barely able to survive the cannon’s shot by the skin of its teeth.

However, even though the section of the wall blasted by the energy pillar had cooled and returned to its original color, it was still damaged. It had now become a weak point of the tower.

While the cannons cooled down, the tower drew wildly from the magic power in the energy pool at the building’s bottom. It injected the tower walls with power. The tower’s robust array system allowed the shattered forcefield to be restored, once again sheltering the tower.

As for the damage to the tower? That would have to be patched up after the battle.

At the very least, no Entom adept would dare brave enemy fire to repair the tower. That wasn’t courage, but idiocy!

“Who would’ve thought that the Crimson Clan would possess such a terrifying magical weapon!?” The few Second Grade adepts that the Entom Clan had left in the tower all carried terrified expressions on their faces. They shouted out loud, “Where do they get all this magical power from? Could it be…could they have hidden an entire adept tower in those ships?”

It was no surprise that the Entom adepts were so shocked. To their understanding, the most powerful things in the world were none other than war towers. War towers had a complete energy pool and energy circulation system, along with plenty of defensive and offensive arrays. Towers could store magic energy when not required, and draw upon the energy pool to supply the tower during times of war.

These perfect magical facilities provided the adepts with a perfectly safe environment to freely unleash their destructive power. Naturally, war towers became a synonym for ultimate power in the hearts of all adepts!

Today, the Crimson Clan had dared to face off against a large adept tower with only three metal ships in the sky. That was far beyond the understanding of the Entom adepts, and it filled them all with awe and shock.

They had always believed that the Crimson Clan had been fueling these gigantic monstrosities with their tremendous wealth- that they were powering these flying death machines through a humongous supply of magical crystals.

They now recognized their mistake.

It was obvious that these metal ships held a power source in no way inferior to the energy pools of the adept towers. Otherwise, an energy blast of such intensity could not have lasted for so incredibly long!

The miniaturization and mobilization of energy pools and elementium pools had always been key research subjects for most major adept clans. However, they never expected such technology to appear within the Crimson Clan.

Judging from the ease with which the ships maneuvered around, as well as the complete defensive and offensive system, the Crimson Clan were already well-versed enough with this technology to implement it efficiently in war.

The power that the Crimson Clan had been hiding was overwhelming!

“Mobilize…go…tell the Swamp Flying Dragon force to strike now! We can’t let the enemy continue to attack our tower brazenly like this. We must counterattack,” Some of the more vicious and bloodthirsty adepts started shouting.

As they gave their orders, several doors opened at the waist of the tower. Approximately a hundred strange dragons appeared.

Adept apprentices dressed in robes of various colors rode on the backs of these dragons.

They held high-grade magic wands and scrolls in their hands. Where they appeared, they shredded the enemy to pieces with a rain of instant-cast spells.

If the enemy attempted to engage in a melee, then the dragons would leave them a terrifying memory to keep for what remained of their lives: sharp, scythe-like claws and fangs, powerful limbs, acid breath, and those ear-rending howls.

Swamp flying dragons had inherited some dragon bloodline, after all. They might not compare to even the weakest of the pureblood dragons, but in a pack, they were still a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

Pseudo-dragon mounts and apprentices with the ability to unleash powerful spells combined both physical and magical attacks. You could almost call it perfect.

Unfortunately, such an army was little more than dead meat in front of the Crimson Fleet.

The Motherships retracted the giant cannons and revealed hundreds of smaller magic energy cannons in their place. The black cannon barrels adjusted their angles according to the enemy’s position as they approached. Once the dragons were within firing range…Boom! Boom! Boom! Hundreds and hundreds of energy fireballs shot towards the dragons, like meteors falling from the sky.

One or two fireballs were not enough to kill these dragons, given their resilience and magic resistance.

However, with this carpet of fireballs raining from above, even pureblood dragons would be doomed, let alone these mutts.