Age of Adepts

Upon returning to the Zhentarim Association, the wounded adept that had barely managed to survive had firmly insisted that the Crimson Clan adepts had attacked them. That stirred up a hornet’s nest. The old fogeys of the Zhentarim Association had not yet made a statement, and the elders and executors beneath them were already causing a commotion. They were requesting strict punishment on the murderers that had killed an Association adept.

The few small adept clans around Fire Throne also started jumping up and down and turned all their spearheads toward this steadily rising Crimson Clan.

The Crimson Clan was a newly raised adept clan after all. They lacked sufficiently important allies in Zhentarim, while their enemies could easily be found everywhere. Thus, an Anti-Crimson Clan alliance was quickly forming, to no one’s surprise.

The main force of the Anti-Crimson Clan Alliance was the few small clans surrounding Fire Throne. Their headquarters were too close to the Crimson Clan. If the Crimson Clan ever chose to expand outward, they would all be affected to some degree.

Rather than wait for the Crimson Clan to go stronger and assimilate them, they preferred to take apart the Crimson Clan while its forces were split up.

Of course, these small adept clans had worked hard before committing to the operation. They had performed some in-depth reconnaissance regarding the adept forces of the Fire Throne.

The Crimson Clan had strategically split up their forces to the Northern Lands. Most of their clan’s strength had been transferred over to Icewind, which was under the control of the Northern Witches. Such odd and unconventional logic was regarded as a terrible idea by other adept clans.

Though transfer of manpower and resources was still possible through long-ranged teleportation arrays, the splitting up of the clan’s towers would still limit this kind of interaction due to the number of magical crystals needed for every teleportation.

If the Crimson Clan had a few dozen years to manage their land slowly, they might have been able to settle their roots into both of these places while using Fire Throne and White Tower to spread the clan’s influence and power over an even broader area. Sadly, both Fire Throne and White Tower were in a temporary state of weakness and lacked military strength during the initial period following the split.

A formerly clenched fist so suddenly opened naturally meant that the strength of both towers would be weak.

The adept clans couldn’t do anything about White Tower, but Fire Throne was well within reach.

Under the encouragement and interference of enemies in the shadows and on the surface, a terrifying storm targeting the Crimson Clan was quickly brewing.

As the majordomo of Fire Throne, Gargamel had naturally received countless reports, pieces of information, and news about this situation. Sadly, the number of adept forces that he could mobilize was far too small. Consequently, he had no power to deflect the increasingly harsh situation that was pressing toward them.

Over the past few days, the roads to the south of Fire Throne had been cut off by their enemies. The markets and towns around the tower were also experiencing significantly lower traffic. Most adventurers, mercenaries, and apprentices had left this area and were silently waiting for a clan war to erupt!

In the past, such large-scale adept clan wars were not be allowed by the Zhentarim Association.

After all, the ones exhausted in the war were all fundamentally forces of the Zhentarim!

If adept clans were allowed to exterminate each other as they liked, the Zhentarim Association would lose the fundamental force that allowed them to fend off the invasions of the three major adept forces. However, the elimination of the weak and the survival of the strong was still necessary on a smaller scale.

After all, a powerful adept’s clan could only climb to the peak by stepping upon the bones of their enemies!

When the Association adept was murdered near Fire Throne, the Zhentarim Association secretly loosened their control over the area. They even started, knowingly or otherwise, to contact the nearby forces to form an intimidating Anti-Crimson Clan Alliance.

Now that the Alliance had gathered sufficient force, they slowly started to eat away at the fringes of Fire Throne. If they were allowed to establish themselves in the outer areas, Fire Throne would probably have to deal with an organized and prepared siege against them.

Adept’s towers might be known to be impenetrable and indestructible, but that also depended on what kind of enemies they were dealing with.

In the hands of a Third Grade adept, the tower would be nigh invulnerable; even a Fourth Grade adept would not have absolute confidence in breaking the tower and killing the Third Grade adept. However, the upper limit of power that the tower could unleash in the hands of a Second Grade adept was much lower.

With proper strategy, forceful means, and sufficient adepts, razing a small adept’s tower was not all that difficult!

Consequently, the surroundings of Fire Throne were engulfed in an atmosphere of fear during this period. Even the clan adepts and apprentices didn’t dare to take a single step out of the tower.

"Firstly, I need to clarify something," With Greem absent, Mary naturally took on the seat of the leader, "This is a massive conspiracy targeting us!"

Mary paused for a moment here, her crystalline ruby eyes sweeping across the entire place.

The many adepts present were all settled in their spots and silently listened to Mary’s announcement.

The ones standing by Mary were naturally her bloodkin.

They were Soros and Windsor–the two pseudo-Second Grades–and the two pretty blood elves with long ears. Old Fox Vanlier hadn’t appeared among the ranks of combatants this time, as he had to stay in White Tower to assist Meryl.

The other two Second Grades of the clan, Dragonborn Zacha and Tigule, were each standing in a corner of the hall silently listening to Mary speak.

Strictly speaking, they couldn’t be considered as core adepts of the Crimson Clan.

Dragonborn Zacha was the first Second Grade soul servant that Greem had received. Everything he did was according to Greem’s will. Now that Greem was far away in the Fire Elementium Plane, Dragonborn Zacha was basically without his master. Though he was participating in the clan meeting with a somewhat nonchalant attitude, it didn’t mean that he had to offer his loyalty to this weak and frail Mary.

Tigule only had the power of a First Grade himself. He relied entirely upon the unique mechanic profession of the goblins to freely control the Second Grade magical machine Goblin Shredder. Now that the Goblin Plane had become a possession of the Crimson Clan, this goblin warrior had no choice but to reluctantly join the ranks of the adepts for the sake of his people.

However, Tigule only bowed before the powerful Adept Greem within the Crimson Clan. This Adept Mary had yet to reach a level where she could command him.

To represent how much the Fate Witches’ valued the problem at hand, Alice had also sent her powerful subordinate over– the Berserk Witch Sofia. This crude and muscular woman was sitting in a corner with her thick staff in her arms and appeared not to be paying attention to the speech.

Apart from these proud individuals, the other ones in the hall were all internal adepts of Fire Throne.

Crimson Majordomo Gargamel, Forest Spirit Adept Eva, their beloved daughter Adept Emelia, Manticore Leader Charon; the tower had originally recruited some free adepts, but considering that they weren’t exactly the most reliable, Greem did not summon them to participate in this internal clan meeting.

Mary looked across the room and saw that they were a group of divided soldiers. She couldn’t help but frown deeply.

"Greem is now exploring the Fire Elementium Plane. It’s unlikely that he will return to the clan in the short term. Before he returns, I have already met with Alice. The danger that Fire Throne is currently facing is very likely a conspiracy of enemies behind the scenes!"

"Lady Mary, could you speak in detail about the specifics of the situation?!" Dragonborn Zacha was truly the most loyal soul servant. His rage instantly ignited when he heard that this operation against them could threaten the safety of his master.

"The current situation is extremely complicated. I can only describe it in more simple terms," Mary licked her red lips and sternly said, "Greem went to the Fire Elementium Plane by the power of Fire Throne and has left his planar positioning coordinates here. If this place is taken down and the planar positioning coordinates are lost, Greem will have to go to great lengths if he wants to come back!"

"You mean to say that those bastards out there are attacking the tower so that master is lost in another plane?" Dragonborn Zacha’s voice immediately raised by degrees and blinding lightning arcs started crackling on his bright blue scaled body.

"Indeed!" Mary nodded and said, "As such, we must guard the tower until Greem returns. We cannot let them destroy the positioning coordinates here."

"Understood, Lady Mary!" Dragonborn Zacha’s voice instantly filled with killing intent, "Zacha is willing to listen to Lady Mary’s orders before master successfully returns. I will send those rats packing back to their nests!"

Mary nodded in satisfaction as her gaze quickly focused on goblin Tigule.

Even the veteran couldn’t help but feel shivers run down his spine in the face of the spiritual pressure from a Second Grade vampire adept. Tigule grumbled about the big guy’s frankness and recklessness inside his heart as he sighed. He had no choice but to put on a smile and step forward.

"Lady Mary, I too, am willing to listen to your orders while Lord Greem is absent."

Since the two Second Grade powerhouses of the clan had already made their intentions clear, the assignment of the combat missions that followed would be much easier. As for the First Grade adepts of the clan? They could only listen to orders in a situation like this. They were not qualified to attempt to negotiate.

"Gargamel, you can report on the enemy’s situation now."

"Understood, Lady Mary!"

Gargamel stood out from the side. He cleared his throat, looked at the core adepts of the clan, and loudly began to explain the situation.

"There are currently five separate forces who are preparing to invade our Crimson Clan: the Kamala Clan, the Andorra Clan, the Cenas Clan, the Magic Forest Hut, and Layton Adept Academy.

"They have currently stationed most of their forces in the Kamala Clan’s territory and are preparing to use that place as a jumping-off point to quickly invade our Crimson Clan.

"The noble army that they have gathered totals thirty thousand people and is put together by three small adept clans. The number of official adepts is already over a hundred individuals, but the number of adepts of Second Grade and beyond has yet to be confirmed..."