Age of Adepts

“Careful. Both of them are here in their true forms. This isn’t the same as fighting their clones…be careful!” Perhaps concerned that the newcomers would invite defeat by underestimating their opponents, the two Great Adepts stationed here immediately sent them a mental message.

It was the first time that Greem and his two companions had set foot on such a large-scale battlefield in space; it was unavoidable that they were somewhat inexperienced. They pulled themselves together when they heard the Great Adepts’ voices. They then quickly began applying casting defenses to themselves and their allies.

Dong, dong, dong!

Multiple blinding magical lights filled half the horizon. In the blink of an eye, Greem and his two companions were shrouded in light. The numerous layers of magical defenses engulfed them firmly like colorful shells and kept them protected.

As a principle adept, the most potent artillery on the battlefield, Greem naturally did not need to rush forward and engage the orc gods in a melee. After hastily activating all his magical defenses, he started chanting and preparing a large-scale fire spell.

Antuso and Bibi were a bloodline adept and a body-refining adept, respectively. They weren’t going to fall behind either. They slowly approached the battlefield as they made their own combat preparations.

Antuso let out a wild roar. Ghostly green light shone from his eyes as his entire body suddenly swelled and grew larger. His nose and chin started extending forward as four pairs of sharp fang grew out of his mouth, along with claws on his hands and feet.

Smooth, shiny black hair also rapidly grew all over his body. A spiral horn appeared on his forehead. As dark light glowed from the horn, the giant wolf that Antuso had transformed into slowly turned translucent until he completely faded from sight.

A Spiritwolf!

To think, Antuso possessed the mysterious spiritwolf bloodline.

Meanwhile, Body-Refining Adept Bibi uttered several battlecries. His body grew from two meters to three meters tall. The muscles all over his body bulged, and he pulled out a double-bit axe from behind his back. He then smiled wickedly as he stepped onto the battlefield as a monstrous hulk.

The orc warriors who were swarming into the barrier leaped off the backs of their wyverns and landed on the fortress wall. Their steps crushed the stone blocks underfoot as they rushed at the Great Adepts.

“Fools!”

Antuso’s voice cackled coldly and scornfully from nowhere.

All of a sudden, a translucent wolf-like figure appeared amid the orcs. Countless slashes could be heard as the claws swiped across the air. Every orc within a hundred meters was instantly diced into countless pieces of meat as if they had run through a blender.

The spiritwolf chuckled. His silhouette flickered, and he appeared in the middle of another group of orcs. Slash! Slash! Slash! With another flurry of claws, those orcs were finished in an instant as well.

There was even a Third Grade orc in this group.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do before the absolute power difference. Much like the low-grade orcs, he was reduced to chunks of meat in less than a second without the ability to defend himself.

“Little ones, spread out! Let me see if these two fellows are really as good as they think themselves to be!” Haistoc was the first to be unable to hold back when he saw his subordinates slaughtered.

Haistoc, the God of Tyranny, looked like an unusually tall and muscular orc. He was over ten meters tall, and his limbs were extraordinarily thick. The size of his muscles was also incredible, enough to send shivers down one’s back. He had a simple leather jerkin draped over his body, leaving his right shoulder exposed. He held a spiked mace in his left hand and a flail in his right, giving him a violent impression from the outset.

Due to his unique divinity that was suited for war, Haistoc was an incredibly qualified commander in battle. The moment he gave out his order, the orcs that had been driven mad with rage quickly stepped aside, giving enough space to the gods and the Great Adepts to fight.

Greem and the Great Adepts watched in disbelief as Haistoc shook his giant body and voluntarily rushed at Body-Refining Adept Bibi, completely ignoring his numerical disadvantage.

On one side, you had a ten-meter-tall giant orc. On the other, you had a three-meter-tall body-refining adept. Both combatants pursued a path of absolute violence, and their Strength was roughly equal. However, the tremendous difference in combat power was revealed the moment they clashed.

Haistoc’s mace and flail slammed against Bibi’s double-bit axe when he rushed forward.

Both of them bowed their knees and bent over slightly. Their muscles flexed as both parties’ berserk might clashed through the weapons in their hands. Bibi’s expression instantly turned ugly. He was blown away by the overwhelming force after just three seconds.

His body left afterimages in the air as he was blasted like a bowling ball into an attached building of the fortress.

A large boom could be heard as a giant hole was knocked into the magically-enhanced wall. Everyone’s eyelids jumped.

Tssss!

Greem, who was still in the midst of his rapid casting, couldn’t help but draw in a breath of cold air. For the first time, he had experienced the true terror of a god in its true form!

Greem had never come into contact with a god’s true form, but he had clashed with the clones of the gods before. He believed that given their classification as the same Fifth Grade, the difference in power should not be all that great. Therefore, he had thought there was nothing to fear about the gods.

Today, he personally witnessed the tremendous difference between a god’s clone and a god’s true form.

They weren’t on the same level at all!

A god in its true form would wield the divine equipment most compatible with their fighting style, while most god clones fought barehanded. A god in its true form would have its powerful divine authority to sustain them and could draw upon divine power from its god kingdom. In contrast, god clones usually only had fragments of divine authority. The level of their power was usually only a fraction of the god itself.

Factor in their divinity and divine power, and the difference in power only grew exponentially!

Even if they were both Fifth Grade, God of Tyranny Haistoc had still managed to blow Bibi out of the battlefield with a single strike.

Fortunately, Bibi was a powerful Fifth Grade himself. Although he had lost to Haistoc in a clash of Strength, he had not actually received any significant damage himself.

Aooooo!

A furious roar rang out. Bibi turned into a human cannon and bolted from the debris toward Haistoc once more.

Meanwhile, Spiritwolf Antuso appeared silently behind Haistoc. The claws of his two front paws sliced through the air and reached for the god’s back.

A pincer attack!

The two adepts had never worked together before and didn’t have perfect chemistry, but a simple maneuver like this was more than manageable for Fifth Grade adepts like themselves.

Greem had also finished his casting at this point. He held the completed spell above his hand and watched the battle with narrowed eyes. He was waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Haistoc showed no signs of fear or panic in the face of the pincer attack. Instead, he laughed coldly. His body shook; all of a sudden, he had six arms on his torso.

Each of the six arms held an unusual weapon of its own. There was a greatsword, a scimitar, an axe, a flail, a spiked mace, and a pickaxe. Judging from the strange glow they possessed, it was evident that these were six pieces of low-grade divine equipment, each with a unique ability.

Even though the six divine items weren’t of very high grade, they were still divine equipment. They possessed the powerful principle characteristic of dispelling all elementium barriers and breaking through all physical defenses.

The transformed Haistoc started to spin rapidly. The six arms wielding the six divine weapons rain down upon the body-refining adept and the spiritwolf.

The two Great Adepts who were planning on pinning their opponent never expected this turn of events. They were caught off guard. They desperately attacked the enemy’s towering figure, all while dodging the hail of divine weapons.

However, the six pieces of divine equipment swung down upon them like a stampede. Dodge one, and you would get hit by another. Dodge that other one, and you would be hit by the next one. The two adepts held on for seven seconds before they were hit over and over by the divine weapons and blown away from sight.

Of course, God of Tyranny Haistoc also paid the price for fighting two adepts of the same grade with such ferocity!

As he blew the two adepts back, countless claw marks and two deep gashes could be seen on his divine figure. However, these were only light wounds to his divine body. A flash of golden light rolled over the injuries, and they vanished without a trace. Even the two gashes left by Bibi’s axe were quickly closing up.

Haistoc laughed viciously and brandished his weapons. He had his eyes set on the weaker spiritwolf, and he wouldn’t stop until the wolf was dead. However, before he could move, a violent fireball instantly engulfed his body.

Greem didn’t intend to hold back now that he had commenced attacking.

He grew to his full ten-meter size. Golden flames rose around him. He stood on the spot and waved his hand. Several golden fireballs containing the Undying Flames hurtled toward the God of Tyranny in a barrage.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The attacks didn’t seem like they would end!

Greem had practically turned into a one-man ballista. Bolt after bolt of fireballs cut across the sky with their long golden tails and bombarded the area where the god stood.

The place turned into a sea of fire in the blink of an eye.

A furious cry could be heard. Haistoc waved his divine equipment and charged out of the flames. There were scorch marks all over his body. However, the golden flames that came after were kept three meters away from his body by a layer of radiant divine-energy. They could no longer touch him.

Divine Shield!

Greem spat out from between his clenched teeth.