Age of Adepts

The parchment was a request for aid, and the person who had issued it was Vice-Chairman Domhnall of the Adept’s Association.

The other two major organizations had probably received a letter just like this one as well.

Greem stared at the parchment, and it flew out of Andrew’s hands toward him. As the scroll unfurled, the magical recording within started to play, showing Greem the terrifying carnage unfolding at Inkdeep Valley.

A thousand-meter-long reptile with numerous heads and dark green scales climbed out of the depths of the valley.

It released a blaring screech when it appeared, and its body glowed with a jade-green light. The radiance covered an area of a hundred meters. Every voodoo beast and monster within the green light rotted rapidly and turned into puddles of purple liquid.

Meanwhile, three Fourth Grade adepts in Association robes stood around the monster, two men and one woman.

The female adept was Gloria, who had fought Greem once before!

Greem also recognized one of the two male adepts. It was Adept Cerveris. The other was an unfamiliar face.

Three adepts, three ultra-powerhouses!

These three ultra-powerhouses from the Adept’s Adept’s Association surrounded the fearsome creature and fought against it.

Meanwhile, large hordes of magical creatures charged out of the mists of the valley behind the monstrosity. These creatures had the wings of an eagle, the head of a serpent, and the body of a lion. Every one of them carried a revolting aura of corruption!

Mutated beasts. They were mutated beasts that had been affected by the Scourge Lord’s Scourge Aura. They weren’t of a very high grade individually. At best, they were First or Second Grade. However, there were so many that it was nearly impossible to kill them all.

Judging by the number and strength of the mutated beasts swarming out of Inkdeep Valley, the Scourge Lords must have connected the spatial rift at the bottom of the valley to a plane that had been corrupted by the aura of disaster. All the mutated beasts of that planar world were now being herded into the World of Adepts.

It was a typical move from the Scourge Lords!

They first opened a spatial rift, then herded an endless stampede of disaster creatures into the world they were invading. Regardless of whether these disaster creatures lived or died, their existence would corrupt and destroy the planar laws around the spatial rift.

Once the planar laws had been damaged to a certain degree, the Scourge Lords would then send their high-grade subordinates!

The many-headed reptile, for instance, was barely a minor Scourge Lord. It was either the clone of a true Scourge Lord, or one of their high-grade subordinates. Regardless of which it was, its appearance was a calamity for the World of Adepts!

Apart from the reptile, a many-armed giant and a colossal bone-fiend could be seen in the image projected by the parchment. These individuals demonstrated power at peak Fourth Grade, but their true forms were probably fearsome Fifth Grade creatures.

The Adept’s Association was pulling all out the stops to deal with these minor Scourge Lords.

Greem could see as many as eighteen Fourth Grade adepts just from the projection. In addition to the adepts stationed in the towers behind and supporting from the backlines, the Adept’s Association had at least invested two-thirds of their high-grade forces in this battle.

Even so, the situation did not look good for them!

The endless swarm of mutated beasts continued to emerge from Inkdeep Valley, storming and assaulting the adept towers and forces like a dark, moving cloud.

The vicious battle extended from the skies to the ground and even all the way underground.

It could be said that every piece of land within fifteen kilometers of Inkdeep Valley had been fully occupied by the black and red forms of the mutated beasts. The adept forces could only retreat to the side of the war towers, their backs against the elementium barriers as they fought against the endless army of mutated beasts.

Lightning crackled around the war towers as bolt after bolt of thunder crashed down from the skies, turning the beasts into ashes and dust.

It was still not enough to stop the tide of monsters.

These mutated beasts could fly and even burrow underground. Ugly and vicious carapace or scales covered their bodies. Ordinary elementium spells below Second Grade could not kill them quickly. Only powerful spells of Second Grade and above could slightly stall their mad advance.

The Adept Association’s reserve of cannon fodder was quite plentiful indeed.

Voodoo beast armies of strange shapes and sizes marched out of the towers- a rather brazen display of the adepts’ experimentations. They brandished their claws and rushed fearlessly at the mutated beasts.

You could see voodoo beasts and mutated beasts tearing into each other everywhere on the battlefield!

Due to the shocking numbers of mutated beasts and the three powerful minor Scourge Lords, the Adept’s Association was unable to push the enemy back into Inkdeep Valley, even with all their might. Naturally, there was no way they could purify the aura of corruption either.

The parchment projection lasted only five minutes, but the information revealed was enough to frighten anyone.

Greem didn’t know what the others thought about the situation. However, he knew that if the disaster creatures had chosen to invade the mega-rift instead, then the Central Lands would probably be swarmed with mutated beasts by now.

Of course, entering through the mega-rift was a far more difficult task than doing so through Inkdeep Valley. To sustain the twisted and distorted forms of the Scourge Lords here would require at least several months of corruption.

That was the main reason why the disaster creatures had chosen to invade Inkdeep Valley rather than the mega-rift of Ahlden!

Once the projection ended, it quickly rolled itself back into a scroll with a thwack and returned to Andrew’s hands.

Greem frowned and said coldly, “What’s the Adept Association’s intention in sending this to us? Do they want reinforcements? Hmph! Have they forgotten what they did in the Central Lands?”

Andrew’s face was pale, and he appeared distracted. It was obvious he was still bothered by the images they had just witnessed. Upon hearing Greem’s question, he bowed and answered, “The Association didn’t just send this parchment. They also sent a Third Grade messenger. Should we grant him an audience, sir?”

Andrew had witnessed two fights of alarming proportion and power. Even with his Spirit as a Fourth Grade adept, it was all a little hard to digest.

“Call him over! I would love to hear what terms the Association can offer us,” It was no wonder Greem was so resentful. If not for the Adept Association’s intervention, his unification of the Central Lands would not have been as risky or difficult.

If he had not held the initiative every step of the way and grew faster than the enemy’s expectations, all his hard work over the past hundred years would have been in vain.

White light flashed in the adept tower in the distance. A young male adept with a handsome face and an air of elegance flew toward Greem, clad in white light.

Even though he had already seen Greem’s magnificent figure in the distance, he still felt a genuine sense of fear and awe when he approached Greem’s gigantic face.

Third Grade...his power of Third Grade, which he had always been so proud of, was nothing before this towering legendary fire adept.

He had a feeling that all this man needed to do was move his finger, and he would be crushed to death as easily as an ant.

This Third Grade young male adept hastily put his hand over his chest and bowed. He then said in a loud voice, “Association Special Messenger Germaine pays his regards to the great Lord Greem!”

The terms ‘great’ and ‘respected’ were not words that were easily used amongst adepts. ‘Respected’ was a term usually used for high-grade adepts, while ‘great,’ naturally, was only used for Great Adepts.

It was an unspoken convention. No high-grade adept would break this convention to enjoy the reverence of a Great Adept as a Fourth Grade.

“Great?” Greem chided coldly, “You are stirring up trouble for me!”

The young male adept hurriedly explained, “Lord Greem, please do not misunderstand! I have no means of putting you in a difficult position. I am only acting in accordance with the direct orders of Lord Domhnall. He said I was to treat you with the respect accorded to a Great Adept when I met you.”

“Domhnall,” Greem smiled. “What did he send you here to say?”

“Lord Domhnall said that all the unpleasantries of the past were simply a result of our misunderstandings. The Adept’s Association will fully reimburse the losses incurred by Lord Greem.” This young Third Grade adept was an eloquent individual. He was able to adjust his attitude appropriately and put himself in a very humble position.

“Compensation...is not needed!” Greem said coldly. “All I want is the Adept’s Association to stop meddling with Central Land affairs. If you are here to apologize on behalf of the Association, you may leave now! You...are not qualified to give such an apology!”

The expression on the adept’s face froze, but he quickly put on a smile again.

“There’s no need to make me leave so early, my lord. I still have some information here from Lord Domhnall to relay to you!”

“Speak!”

“That...I,” The young Adept Germaine looked around at Andrew and the demigod lich standing not far away. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, “Lord Domhnall said that he hopes that Lord Greem will be willing to help the Association through these difficult times, on account of your past friendship......”

“Past friendship...haha! Lord Domhnall is quite the jester!” Greem almost couldn’t help but start laughing out loud.

“Lord Domhnall knows that he has wronged you in the past. As such, he instructed me to bring this to you,” Adept Germaine felt his heart pounding when he heard Greem’s mocking laughter. He took out a rectangular wooden box and respectfully presented it to Greem, sweating as he did so.

First Cerveris and then Gloria. Greem had not forgotten these two gifts from the Association. The fact that they dared ask him for help after all that undoubtedly confused him.

He was incredibly curious about what treasure Domhnall had produced to convince him to help them.