Age of Adepts

Supposedly, it shouldn’t have been so easy for Great Adepts to die.

After all, adepts had way too many mysterious spells and magic with which to transfer damage or create substitutes. Even in the face of absolute death, they had various abilities to snatch survival from the jaws of death.

However, none of these were helpful in front of a God of Slaughter.

The ferocious double axe radiating a destructive aura of slaughter seemed to possess the unusual effect of being able to destroy the soul. Every adept the axe struck had their souls extinguished at the same time their bodies blew apart. They could only turn into a bloody sacrifice, screaming and howling in agony as they were wiped out from existence.

Surestrike, Shatter, Soulquell.

Greem could tell that the axe possessed these three principle characteristics just by seeing what happened to his companion. Of course, there were probably a whole series of other principle attributes that he wasn’t privy to as well.

Great Adept Colin had been a body-refining adept with an indestructible body. Yet, even he had been cleaved apart and torn to pieces by a single axe without the ability to resist.

The second unfortunate sacrifice to the God of Slaughter’s wrath was Great Adept Sala.

Great Adept Sala had begun fleeing into the distance the moment he saw what happened to Colin.

Unfortunately, he obviously hadn’t run fast enough for far enough!

The axe cut across the horizon, rending space itself apart as it traveled several kilometers and planted itself in Sala’s back. The magical shields, elementium barrier, special defenses, and even principle protections that Sala had activated around him all popped like bubbles beneath the ancient axe.

Great Adept Sala’s body exploded into pieces the moment the axe hit him. Meanwhile, it devoured his soul before he could even let loose a scream.

Pieces of shredded flesh and torn robes fluttered down from the sky along with fragments of magical equipment and two or three items that still glowed with intense magical light.

Great Adept Sala had died!

The towering orc summoned the axe back to his side and looked around him, instantly locking onto the only two Great Adepts remaining.

Greem and Rick.

As for Sixth Grade Great Adept Briel? He had already escaped into the distance without hesitation the moment the orc appeared.

Meanwhile, Greem and Rick had both been delayed by their opponents; they had yet to make it fifty kilometers away. However, they had both separated and gone in different directions and were quite far away from the main temple at this point.

Once they made it fifty kilometers away from the main temple, they would be out of its radius. Garon Arcadas, who had appeared in his true form, would no longer be able to maintain his power as a true Seventh Grade god by then. He would also have to endure the tremendous suppression of the plane’s principle system.

That was why both Greem and Rick were flying with all they had, desperately trying to make their way past that crucial distance!

Garon, the God of Slaughter, frowned.

Forty-three kilometers and forty-seven kilometers.

The two remaining Great Adepts were already reaching the limit of his range. Judging by their speed, he could only hunt down one of them.

Garon’s gaze swept around and locked onto Greem.

It couldn’t be helped. After all, Greem had suddenly powered up and unleashed a devastating series of attacks before he left. He had actually managed to kill an Earth Prophet in a matter of seconds. An intelligent Fifth Grade Earth Prophet wasn’t much, but the swiftness with which Greem had dispatched the creature had still exposed his overwhelming potential for battle.

Meanwhile, Great Adept Rick had barely inflicted any damage to the dark dragon.

Upon comparison, Seventh Grade God of Slaughter Garon turned his third and final attack upon Greem.

He breathed in and raised his wrist firmly, posturing himself to throw his axe. The double axe instantly cut across space and caught up behind Greem.

Greem felt his blood chill as he sped through the skies of the mountains. The Chip in his mind instantly blared out screeching alarms.

[Warning! Warning! Detecting unusual divine will locking onto Host. Attack will arrive in 1.27 seconds!]

“Can we defend?” Greem quickly conversed with the Chip in his mind.

[It is impossible to defend against the primary divine weapon of a god of this level with the magical defenses and principle powers Host currently possesses. Should the divine weapon make contact with Host, the chances of survival are 0%.]

“Can we escape with the fire clones?”

[Negative!]

“Fire Teleportation?”

[Negative!]

“Can we defend with both the Tome of Corruption and the Orb of the Fire God?”

[Negative!]

“Don’t just tell me what won’t work! Tell me something that can help me survive!”

[Assimilating with the principles!]

“Assimilating with the principles? Have you completely analyzed and deciphered the knowledge required to move through the principles?”

[Principle assimilation and movement 31% deciphered. The amount of knowledge currently possessed is insufficient to support complete principle teleportation. However, it is barely enough to allow Host to complete limited principle assimilation once. However, forced principle assimilation will inflict Host with severe side effects. Please be cautious!]

“Cautious, my ass. I’m staring death in the face right now. Screw the side effects…now…right bloody now! Do it! Assimilate with the principles!” Greem practically shouted out his last order.

Even though he did not hear anything around him or feel an object approaching, Greem’s soul seemed to have gone berserk. He could faintly sense the arrival of death and even smell the aura of slaughter and savagery on the axe’s blade.

The Tome of Corruption and the Orb of the Fire God within Greem’s body let loose a surge of principle power beyond what he could endure. The energy quickly filled his entire body.

Greem’s form paused for a brief instant and then continued flying into the distance at extraordinary speed the next second.

Garon stood quietly in front of the orc main temple. He paused for a moment and lifted his head. His cruel eyes cut across space and gazed upon a certain place in the distance.

Just there, an insignificant little adept had used some unusual means to escape his divine will. He had vanished for an imperceptible instant.

“Merging yourself with the principles of the plane system to escape my divine will?” A vicious smile appeared on Garon’s ugly face. “You dare try something like before me? Die!”

Forty-seven kilometers away, the double axe that had passed straight through Greem’s image had clearly missed its mark.

Garon let out a grunt as the axe unleashed an overwhelming divine power shockwave. Every principle within several dozen kilometers was torn to pieces.

Meanwhile, Greem, who had forcibly merged with the principles, slowly appeared, bathed in blood. Being forced out of the principle system by the turbulent principle powers had made him endure indescribable damage.

His body looked unharmed, but everything inside was in complete disorder. All his flesh, bones, tendons, and organs were no longer in their original positions. Instead, they had reformed in random places inside his body.

That wasn’t the most horrifying part. More concerningly, every piece of his flesh and skin had been polluted with twisted and mutated principle power. If it weren’t for the Tome of Corruption and the Orb of the Fire God protecting his soul from the chaos, Greem would have already transformed into a mutated monster devoid of all reason and rationality.

Fifty kilometers away, Seventh Grade God of Slaughter Garon extended his hand and grabbed the axe returning to him. He could sense the life aura that had reappeared fifty kilometers away. His brows furrowed, and an expression of shock flashed on his face.

“Not dead? How could it be? A mere Fifth Grade adept managed to escape my principle attack? Impossible!” Garon was flabbergasted.

Given his prowess as a Seventh Grade true god, killing a few low-grade adepts couldn’t be any easier. No accidents should have occurred. That was why he hadn’t been paying too much attention when he threw the axe out earlier.

He hadn’t even been concerned when the adept merged with the principles.

That was why Garon couldn’t help but be surprised when the adept’s soul aura reappeared. By the time Garon tried to lock onto the adept’s aura again, the little bug had already escaped his range.

Garon couldn’t help but become frustrated at this unexpected turn of events.

Dammit! These insects from the adept civilization are sly indeed. To think they could escape with their lives.

Garon’s expression became dark.

Just then, the incredibly weakened chief priest of the orcs walked out from the temple behind him, barely supporting himself with a wooden staff. He got onto his knees fearfully.

“O’ Great Garon, it is I who was incapable, who could not stop the adepts’ attack, that forced you to descend in your true form. This is my fault. Please, cast your divine judgment down upon me!”

Garon did not turn around. Instead, he surveyed the ravaged landscape of the central mountains. The assault by the Great Adepts had brought about unimaginable calamity to this holy land of the orcs.

With his overwhelming divine will, Garon could only sense the withering life auras all around the orc temple. It would be fortunate if half of the three hundred thousand orc elites of this mountain survived this incident.

The orc elites living here were all his loyal believers!

As one of Garon’s only seven faith worlds, such a loss was monumental. It would almost certainly affect his provision of divine power.

If these were ordinary times, he could easily make up for this loss. However, they were currently at a crucial point of conflict against the adepts. A weakening of his divine power was not a good omen!

Garon’s expression didn’t change as he said sternly, “This isn’t your fault. It’s a scheme of the adepts. They are currently sieging Plane Pandar. I only hurried here while we had some time to rest. I need to return promptly now. Hurry up and put together forces to expel the remaining adepts. Remember, you must defend the temple. I will leave my projection here for the moment.”

The orc chief-priest hastily got onto the ground and acknowledged the orders.

Plane Pandar. That seemed to be the origin world of Enus, the God of Hatred!

If anything were to happen there, it wouldn’t just be a matter of losing one or two clones for Enus. It would be a significant incident. Enus himself might die, and his god kingdom might fall.

In that case, the Great Adepts’ assault of Plane Mutas seemed more like a diversion now!