Age of Adepts

“Soulstorm!”

The two-headed adept formed by the assimilation of the siblings was capable of firing two spells of entirely different natures every time they cast. An ordinary opponent would probably have a hard time defending against the sheer number of spells.

Unfortunately, they were fighting against a fearsome lich, whose kind was known for their immense magic resistance.

The lich simply ignored ordinary Second Grade spells. Only spells of Third Grade and above could threaten and inflict some damage on him. Having only recently advanced, Mangus and Cherisha had trouble casting Fourth Grade spells without some time to prepare and chant the spells. As such, they relied entirely on powerful Third Grade spells in combat.

These Third Grade spells were barely effective against the lich. The lich ignored half of the elementium powers of the spells, and the remaining half still had to be reduced by his magic resistance. What remained of the spells’ power could only inflict slight damage to the lich.

Moreover, the siblings had to avoid using all sorts of spells related to poison, hypnosis, paralysis, petrification, disease, death, and undead. That was because the lich was simply immune to all such spells!

There were barely any spells that could affect the lich, especially with all the damage immunity that he also possessed.

On the other hand, any simple death magic fired from the lich’s hands was more than enough to wound the siblings!

Death magic ignored physical and magical resistance and affected the soul directly. The only resistance against death magic was having a resilient soul.

Moreover, enduring even a single death spell meant a significant loss of lifeforce and incredible agony upon the soul!

It might look like Mangus and Cherisha had the advantage in numbers, but they were the ones who were being beaten down.

In the end, the siblings discovered some method of defending against the lich’s death magic. That was to simply grab someone else as a shield.

All death magic was either in the form of beams or halos. As long as the siblings could find an arcane apprentice and throw him in the trajectory of the spell, they could trigger its effect before it hit them.

Trading the life of an arcane apprentice for a death spell fired by the lich was the most cost-effective course of action for the two-headed adept.

However, the lich was a cunning and intelligent being as well. Such a simple trick would never thwart him. After a Banshee’s Wail, there was no longer an arcane apprentice alive within a kilometer for the siblings to use as a shield.

They could only retreat as they fought, hoping that the lich would leave to find an easier target with time.

Unfortunately, ferocious beasts and powerful individuals were everywhere in the floating city right now. No matter how you counted it, the two-headed siblings were undoubtedly the weakest of them all. Thus, the lich pursued stubbornly no matter how they dodged and ran. It seemed he would never stop until they were dead.

Mangus and Cherisha were finally scared now!

“Lord Greem, we know you are nearby. Come out and save us!” Cherisha screamed for help, “As long as you can keep us alive, we...we will be willing to listen to your every instruction! All the loot we found on this mission will be yours!”

Terror and fear were written all over the siblings’ faces.

Mangus was somewhat upset about her sister’s promise. He believed there was still room for negotiation. However, faced with a vicious, unbending lich, he had no choice but to shut his mouth and let his sister do the talking.

“You mean it?” Greem’s familiar, crisp voice suddenly rang out in the battlefield.

“We mean it, we do. We are all party members that came here together. How could these siblings ever lie to you?” Upon hearing Greem’s voice, hope once again burst forth from Cherisha’s eyes.

This trip to another world was still too dangerous. They simply didn’t have the ability to survive until the very end. Cherisha put away all thoughts of making a profit as early as she could. She started to recognize the reality of their situation and began to think rationally once more.

“Hehehe.”

A muffled laugh sounded as a large cluster of fire suddenly ignited in midair, surging towards the Fourth Grade lich like a wandering cloud.

Greem and Cherisha had been talking in the common tongue of the World of Adepts. Naturally, the lich could not understand their conversation. However, as an evil creature, he had already prepared himself for a battle when he sensed Greem’s unusual aura approach.

When the cloud of flames appeared, the lich simply laughed sinisterly. He lifted a finger, and the second joint on the small finger of his left hand glowed brightly. A fearsome Iceghost carved out of Eternal Ice was summoned out of nowhere.

Iceghost. A Fourth Grade golem creature.

It was an unusually powerful ice-attribute undead creature. It could not form naturally in a material plane and was an artificial creation of liches in their laboratories. They were the most loyal servants of the liches, charging at enemies and fighting on the frontlines without any hesitation.

That was why the lich had summoned the Iceghost to engage with Mangus and Cherisha when Greem appeared. He, on the other hand, turned around and clashed with the cloud of fire.

His jade-white skeleton was immune to almost all elementium attacks below Third Grade. As such, the lich did not have the same consciousness as other spellcasters. He charged into the cloud of fire with his body as a shield and immediately let out a fearsome Banshee’s Wail.

The high-pitched scream quickly enveloped the cloud of fire. Soundwaves powerful enough to tear the soul apart quickly spread through the air, causing ripples to appear.

A Fourth Grade Banshee’s Wail like this was enough to kill any opponent whose soul was too weak. Even Fourth Grade opponents would be injured if they weren’t careful.

The cloud of fire trembled as the skies shook.

Greem was instantly forced to reveal himself within the flames by this attack.

He held his fire coral staff in his hand, the Burning Suncrown on his head, the Fire Dragon’s Breath on his neck, the Emblem of Fire on his arm, the Fearless on his waist, Ash on his feet, and all sorts of strange magical rings on all of his fingers.

However, none of these items could conceal Greem’s unique aura.

Greem was not a pure body-refining adept and did not possess muscles that were as hard as iron. However, his two-meter height and his perfectly proportioned body gave him a perfect appearance.

He had firm muscles, crimson and radiant skin, and long black hair flowing down his back, waving slightly in the breeze. In addition to the crimson light glowing in the depths of his black eyes, Greem’s entire person radiated with the wickedness, mystery, and wisdom that was the very definition of an adept.

“Beginner Fourth Grade. Unbelievable!” The lich couldn’t help but be impressed, “You must be a prodigy of a major adept organization. How else could you have mastered some of the fire laws while you are still beginner Fourth Grade!”

The lich had assumed Greem to be a veteran Fourth Grade adept when he first sensed Greem’s fire aura. Now, upon seeing Greem’s youthful face and sensing his unstabilized mental flux, the lich could not help but open his mouth wide in surprise.

“O’ respected lich, how may I refer to you?” Greem was not in a hurry to fight. Instead, he tapped his fire coral staff and put up a dome-shaped Inferno Shield around himself. He then casually greeted the opponent.

“Kanganas. And you?” The lich replied coldly.

“Sir Kanganas, Greem greets you!” Greem smiled and said, “There is so much prey here in this city. Why do you have to be so fixated on us adepts? Why don’t—”

“Kehkehkehe, you want to snatch the prey away from my jaws just by working your mouth? Let’s see if you have the ability to back it up!” As expected of someone from an evil faction, the lich did even not bother to listen to Greem speak. He lifted his hand and fired a green beam at the Inferno Shield.

Disintegrate!

The Inferno Shield, which had five hundred points of physical defense and seven hundred points of elementium defense, disintegrated in an instant.

The next second, four to five evil curses of various colors shot towards Greem, entering into his body one after another.

Liches were indeed the strongest users of evil magic. Every single one of Kanganas’ curses possessed fearsome magic penetration. Otherwise, they would never be able to penetrate the Burning Domain and Greem’s forcefield to affect him directly.

Hysteresis!

Unnerve!

Decrepify!

Agonize!

Forgetfulness!

A total of five curses, each of which managed to activate.

The Curse of Hysteresis could significantly reduce Greem’s movement speed.

The Unnerving Curse could greatly weaken Greem’s fighting will.

The Curse of Decrepification could slightly reduce Greem’s bodily attributes.

The Curse of Agony would cause Greem to endure twice as much damage.

The Curse of Forgetfulness would cause Greem to forget some of his spells randomly.

After all the curses had taken effect, the fearsome Lich Kanganas waved his bone hand. A barrage of bone spears immediately fired at Greem from every direction. A pale-white undead flame burned at the tip of all these spears.

Any being that came into contact with these flames would have their souls frozen, causing their minds to turn much slower than usual!

After completing all these attacks, Lich Kanganas silently crushed his right little finger, sacrificing his body to fire a terrifying Finger of Death at the immobile Greem.

The Finger of Death was terrifying death magic, to begin with. Now that Kanganas had enhanced its magic penetration with a sacrifice, it became shockingly lethal.

The lich had struck out so ferociously and viciously without any hesitation. Even Greem couldn’t help but be horrified and surprised.

At the sight of the rain of bone spears and the Finger of Death hidden amongst the barrage of spears, Greem let out a wild roar. His counter-attack had begun.