Age of Adepts

“Running?”

Greem chuckled coldly.

He lifted his thick right foot and stomped it fiercely into the ground. The earth itself trembled violently. Fine cracks spread outward from the point of impact for over a hundred meters.

A series of cracking sounds could be heard as the web-like fractures radiated rapidly in every direction. Soon, they had extended for several kilometers.

The ground undulated as if made of water rather than earth. Several terrifying, bottomless gulfs appeared here and there. Meanwhile, loud rumbling could be heard underground, as if there was a massive dragon struggling and roaring down there. The earth swelled here and there and erupted.

Greem’s use of the fire principles drew violent and savage lava out from underground. The lava quickly filled the fractures in the earth, its terrible heat and flames quickly turning the battlefield into a blazing hell of magma.

“Show yourself!”

Greem shouted as his fire principle power surged wildly into the ground and detonated the lava. A piece of land measuring over a hundred meters wide erupted. Tens of thousands of tons of shattered bedrock and boiling lava were sent blasting into the air like a giant pillar of fire.

Zagu the Many-Armed Giant had just dived underground. He had yet to escape when he was blasted into the air by a thick pillar of lava.

“You forced my hand.”

Zagu was exceptionally furious. His many arms waved and swung, creating numerous force shockwaves that surged toward Greem like a tide.

His heavy body sank downward, crashing against the lava and flames as he plummeted toward the ground. A three-meter-thick stone pillar rose from the ground under the effect of Zagu’s earth principle. It rumbled and reached toward Zagu’s feet.

Once his feet made contact with the stone pillar, he would be able to continuously draw earth elementium from the earth to maintain his combat needs.

Greem had already seen through Zagu’s intentions with the aid of the Chip. He let out a battlecry and made a grabbing motion with his giant hands. Large spouts of lava gathered together, turning into an even bigger hand that swept across the horizon.

Just a little bit more, and Zagu’s feet would touch the pillar- but that would not happen.

The stone pillar crumbled as Zagu was sent hurling into the air like a tiny bird.

“Bastard! You’re looking to die.”

Many-Armed Giant Zagu was already missing a good half of his body due to the explosion from earlier. Now that Greem’s flames had forcibly sent Zagu flying away and cut him off from the earth, he became even more furious and berserk.

In truth, the so-called many-armed giant was a variant of the legendary abomination, Hecatoncheires. They possessed the same kind of overwhelming Strength and terrifying earth principles as the Hecatoncheires.

The most fundamental of the Hecatoncheires’ powers was petrification!

However, there were no signs of a third eye on this many-armed giant’s forehead. It was hard to tell if it also possessed petrification principles.

That was the only reason why Greem didn’t dare engage the giant in a proper melee!

However, the things you were most worried about were often the things that invariably happened.

Many-Armed Giant Zagu went berserk. The numerous muscular arms on his body suddenly exploded, leaving behind only five pairs of arms. The most muscular of the right arms put two fingers together and cut across Zagu’s forehead.

The skin was cut apart and the blood vessels ruptured, leaving a bloody gash there. A strange, large eye with a slit pupil appeared.

The surface of the eye was smooth and crystalline, almost like a round piece of jade. As the eye blinked, a strange power of paralysis projected forward. It was of such intensity that it was horrifying.

“You are the one that forced me to use my petrification power! Die!”

It seemed like using this ability was detrimental to Zagu in some fashion. However, Zagu had no choice but to use his most powerful ability to break free of the fire adept’s control in this battle.

Even though he was no longer supported by the earth principles, Zagu was able to activate the Eye of Petrification by relying on his tremendous energy reserves and the sea of earth energy gathered by the explosion of his arms.

The violent earth elementium surged into his only eye, turning into a pale-yellow beam that shot across the battlefield toward Greem, who had raised his right arm as cover.

The potent petrification principle power spread out rapidly. Even the principle fires in Greem’s right arm couldn’t keep out the invasion of such ferocious principle power. It was almost as if his right arm had been frozen. The flesh, vessels, tendons, bones, and muscles inside it lost their color at a visible rate. They turned gray and hard.

In the blink of an eye, Greem’s right arm had turned into gray stone. Moreover, the overwhelming petrification principle powers were swiftly flowing up Greem’s shoulder, spreading toward the rest of Greem’s body.

If Greem had not protected himself with the principle powers, the petrification principle would probably have turned him entirely to stone at the moment of contact. It was precisely because of the overwhelming principle fire within his body that Greem was able to buy some time as the two powers clashed.

A true warrior would sever his arm when bit by a venomous snake!

Principle powers were very resilient forces that were hard to get rid of once they attached to your body.

That was why Greem did not even hesitate. He plunged his left hand into his right shoulder and ignited his fire powers. The entire right arm, along with half of his shoulder, was blown away.

Even though all of his gigantic body was no more than a projection of magic energy, every trace of energy and every piece of simulated flesh were still tightly connected with Greem’s mental consciousness.

It was the only way he could precisely control such a gigantic form.

Naturally, it was unavoidable that the sudden loss of an arm inflicted terrible damage to Greem.

He had no time to cry at this crucial moment. Any slight slip in focus on such a terrifying battlefield could mean death.

Greem endured the horrendous pain and forced most of the fire principle power in his body to his eyes. The next second, two incredibly pure golden beams shot out of his eyes, cutting across the sky to slice Zagu’s body.

Fire powers possessed tremendous penetrative ability, and these golden beams converted from fire principles were even more terrifying.

The remaining arms of the many-armed giant were cut off where the golden beams passed. They blasted against Zagu’s body and sizzled. They pierced straight to his lungs, causing unbelievable agony and making the giant howl over and over in pain.

Zagu turned his gaze around, and the earth-yellow petrification beam clashed with Greem’s golden beams. The petrification power and the fire power wildly devoured and neutralized each other. Shockwaves from the principle powers rippled outward in circles.

Every substance and lifeform caught in the waves were either instantly turned into statues or abruptly ignited into flames. In either case, the victims were finished. They had no hope of surviving that.

The effects of Greem and Zagu’s battle were widespread. Even the other adepts who were engaged with the minor Scourge Lords hastily fled further away. They had no chance of surviving with their abilities if these principle powers caught them.

The aftershocks and stray bullets from the battles of higher creatures were often incredibly deadly!

Moreover, the principle powers commanded by higher lifeforms were formless and intangible. They could not be detected with the naked eye and there was no dodging them. The radius of higher lifeform attacks was also vast. Most of the time, the radius exceeded the limits of the physical senses of ordinary lifeforms.

That was why ordinary creatures could not even hope to join a high-grade battle. In fact, simply watching from the sidelines put their lives at significant risk.

Perhaps, this was the massive gulf that divided man from god!

According to the World of Gods’ classification, Fifth Grades had achieved the standard to be known as gods. Peak Fourth Grades might have transcended the world, but they were still very much human.

The main reason that Zagu hadn’t dared engage Greem in a melee since the start of the battle was out of fear of Greem’s terrifying Fifth Grade divine fire spell, Scorched Earth. After all, Greem had used that divine spell to kill a minor Scourge Lord more powerful than himself.

That was why Zagu had made up his mind not to go within three hundred meters of Greem while it was uncertain whether he was capable of unleashing another Scorched Earth.

That was the shortest distance at which he was confident in dodging the attack!

Yet now, even without using his Fifth Grade divine spell, Greem had pushed him into a corner with just his fire principles. The golden beams and petrification beam clashed in midair. Zagu, who was suspended in the air and unable to replenish his earth elementium, was undoubtedly the one at a disadvantage.

Thus, the equilibrium between the two beams rapidly began moving toward Zagu. It instantly caused Zagu to break out in cold sweat.

At this point, over a dozen golden flames were already burning silently on his body. He had been engaged in battle and had not had the time nor energy to extinguish them with his earth principles.

If Greem’s golden beams were to reach him, he would probably no longer be able to suppress the Undying Flames. He would turn into a giant torch and die.

Zagu only had three of his once numerous arms left. Two on the left and one on the right. He beat his chest violently with his arm, drawing on the last bit of petrification power within his control to force the golden beam away. He then sank down once more, hoping to dive underground.

Greem, who was also left with only one arm, made a vicious play. The Orb of the Fire God in his body was driven to its limits as Greem opened his mouth. A completely invisible flame surged out of his mouth and hit Zagu straight in the head.

A loud explosion could be heard as Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lord Zagu’s skull exploded. His giant body crashed onto the ground like a mountain, leaving a fearsome crater in the earth.

Greem was relieved.

This was the second Fifth Grade creature that had died at his hands since he mastered his fire principle. What incredible glory and intimidating feats for a Fourth Grade adept who had yet to fully ascend to the next grade!