Age of Adepts

The hall on the first floor was pitch black.

Even though there was no light source, it did not prevent Gloria from seeing and sensing as usual.

Layer upon layer, the countless forcefield fluctuations enveloped the entirety of the castle, dividing its space into tens of thousands of tiny regions.

Each region contained completely different environmental traits, causing the spiritual senses that Gloria extended outward to return shattered and disjointed. The world appeared as a strange collection of nonsensical images that could not be stitched together.

Gloria’s senses were suppressed in a tiny, twenty-meter diameter. Everything beyond that range was a blur. Even if her senses could provide some form of feedback, she could not be sure any of it was reliable.

The castle was dead silent, and a light, bloodlike mist hung in the air. The mist’s origin and destination were utterly unknown. It simply drifted about the castle’s dark, winding corridors with seemingly no purpose.

Wherever the mist drifted, the mossy walls, floor, and ceiling would turn damp. If you had run your hand across the wall, you would find blood trickling down your fingers.

Perhaps knowing that ordinary voodoo beasts would not be able to inflict any damage to Gloria, Kerslin put away those lowly means of attack. It was greeting the Nightmare Castle’s first guest with all of its sincerity.

Gloria roamed the ghostly hall. The wooden stairs leading to the second floor of the castle were no more than thirty meters away, yet despite walking for five minutes, it remained in the distance as if she could never reach it.

The sound of several small flying creatures batting their wings could be heard in the darkness just beyond, but their actual forms couldn’t be seen.

The castle was like a haunted house, void of any other human being.

“Cheap tricks!” Gloria chuckled coldly.

She had established her reputation a long time ago. She had participated in far too many battles and witnessed far too many scenes of carnage. No matter how terrifying and fearsome a situation she was placed in, it appeared no more than a childish game to her.

“If you all insist on hiding, then I will go in and drag you out!”

Gloria stomped hard with her right foot, and the thick stone tiles beneath her were pulverized. A ten-meter wide crater appeared.

Gloria let out a battlecry and plunged both her hands into the ground. When she stood up again, she was holding a five-meter large piece of the floor.

Ferocious winds howled.

She threw the stone forward like a cannonball. It blasted through the mist and vanished into the darkness.

Several muffled thuds could be heard in a row. The entire Nightmare Castle trembled violently.

The piece of rock had smashed through several walls. Just as it was about to destroy the fourth wall, a looming dark figure appeared out of nowhere. Sharp metallic clanging rang out in the darkness. There were flashes of a blade, and the rock was diced into countless tiny pieces.

Shadow Demon stared at Gloria through the three broken walls. It rubbed its metal claws together, causing sparks to appear. After patting off the dust from its hands, Shadow Demon returned to the shadows without a sound.

Meanwhile, Gloria’s purple eyes gleamed. She kicked lightly with her right leg, and pieces of rocks were tossed into the air. When they reached her chest, she swung her fist and sent them shooting forward.

Wuuuuuuu!

These pieces of rock were like cannonballs, howling as they flew in every direction.

Gloria was unable to determine her orientation or position in the castle effectively, but she did not need to do so either. Given her violent power, every piece of rock she sent flying would inflict severe damage to the castle.

She didn’t believe that those bastards in hiding would be able to sit still if she tore her way through the building!

As expected, just as she continued to tear apart the castle gleefully, a mist of blood started to spread behind her. Mary had transformed into a crimson bat and silently glided behind her.

Gloria sensed Mary’s presence the moment she rushed within twenty meters of her.

Gloria turned around abruptly and punched with her fists. A thick pillar of air, nearly as solid as rock, blasted forward.

The bat beat its wings, weaving through the air and avoiding the wind pressure blast by barely an inch. Mary transformed back into her human form upon arriving before Gloria. She gripped Stinger between her hands and began the dance of death with her fearsome opponent.

The Nightmare Castle had near-completely suppressed Gloria. Her spiritual senses, Physique, Strength, reaction speed, and attack speed had all been weakened. However, the purple light around her seemed to be the principle power of some ultra-grade equipment. It helped her neutralize a portion of the castle’s suppression.

Their battle was incredibly dangerous for Mary, who was no more than an intermediate Fourth Grade! Mary was dancing on the line between life and death.

Gloria, who was a peak Fourth Grade in possession of a mysterious ultra-grade artifact, was like an incarnation of the very concept of Strength. Her not-very-muscular body contained overwhelming power. Every single movement unleashed chilling force on her surroundings.

Her every punch and kick did not even need to make contact with the opponent. Just the horrible wind pressure caused by her strikes would inflict unimaginable damage on them.

With a single punch, a fearsome blast of wind would sweep the enemy away, even if they were still dozens of meters away. The burst of compressed air caused by her punch was like a deadly cannon shot. Her attack might still be on the way, but the wind would already spread out and create a massive cyclone.

That was terrifying for Mary, who only had 21 points of Physique and 17 points of Strength. Her bones would be shattered and her flesh flattened to paste if she was even grazed by those bolts of compressed air, let alone the actual punch itself.

Mary’s Agility was raised from 44 points to 47 points while she remained in her domain of the Nightmare Castle. It made Gloria’s every action appear so slow in Mary’s eyes. If it wasn’t out of concern of retaliation from the purple light, Mary could casually walk through and frolic around in her storm of punches and wind pressure.

Stinger, the Third Grade dagger, was honestly not much of a threat to Gloria. Mary had gotten close enough to strike several times, but the only thing she had managed to achieve was causing ripples to appear on the purple light.

However, the wild assault of her blood energy was causing Gloria’s purple light to dim. It no longer felt as firm and impenetrable as before.

Perhaps sensing how formidable of an opponent Mary was, Gloria stopped abruptly. Incomparably violent power surged through her body as the purple light started to gather in her palm, forming a blinding ball of light.

“Mary, back,” Greem, who had been watching everything unfold from within the castle, immediately sent out a warning through their mental connection.

Mary always listened to everything Greem said. She did not linger for even an additional second. She unfolded her wings and flickered out like a specter. Just as her silhouette vanished from the spot, a blinding sun rose from Gloria’s hand.

It was a purple sun!

Where the rays of the purple sun reached, the crimson mist dissipated. This unbelievable radiance illuminated the entire castle.

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

Mary screeched. Her skin that had been exposed to the purple light started to rot and melt rapidly.

That strange power was still seeping into her body, its corrosive power a bone-chilling sight to behold.

Mary’s outline flickered once again as she rushed into a neighboring room just in time to avoid the rest of the purple light rays.

Mary’s heart was still beating violently even after escaping the enemy’s range of attack. She took out a vial of dragon blood and drank everything. Her injured body started to heal, and she was finally relieved. She couldn’t help but reflect on how close of an escape that had been.

It was fortunate that she had fled the moment that Greem told her to. Otherwise, she would not have been able to escape so easily.

What power did that purple light have exactly? Why was it so powerful? Mary was a powerful Fourth Grade adept already, yet even she could not defend herself against the purple light at all.

Could it be…that was a sort of principle power as well!?

Mary moved through the castle quickly, all while drawing on her authority and issuing several orders to Kerslin.

A crimson tide surged out from the depths of the castle, roaring through the stone corridors and cascading down from the top-most level toward the petite figure on the first floor.

The Boundless Blood Sea!

It was a terrifying ultimate ability that Mary had created by combining her powers with the Nightmare Castle’s. Of course, if it weren’t for the Gem of Power, creating a sea of blood of such scale would have required the sacrifice of countless lives.

Mary controlled the sea of blood and sent it rushing toward Gloria like a ferocious torrent.

The purple light around Gloria grew even weaker!

The one day and night of fighting with Greem had exhausted much of the purple light. She was also in the opponent’s domain now and the forcefield suppression was constantly draining her power.

Gloria had no option but to use her indiscriminate area-of-effect attack to catch that slippery little rat. Only an indiscriminate attack like that could capture that little bat, forcing her to engage in a direct clash of energy reserves.

Unfortunately, her act of charging up had been too obvious, and the damned bat had managed to escape.

Just as Gloria recovered from the violent release of power and prepared to pursue the bat, a loud roaring could be heard. A torrent of blood rushed toward her from the stairs that led upward.

Gloria’s face instantly flushed white!

“Basta—”

The sea of blood completely devoured her petite figure before she could finish her curse.