Age of Adepts
chapter-194

It was theoretically possible for a group of First Grade adepts to scheme and slay a Second Grade giant dragon.

But in truth, it was extremely difficult, so much so that it wasn’t viable.

The greatest problem was with the giant dragon's ability to fly.

However, today, four First Grade adepts who had yet to experience planar wars almost succeeded in accomplishing a terrifying and shocking feat– dragonslaying!

But ‘almost’ was ‘almost’ after all!

Greem and the others could only give up in pity when their attacks on the green dragon could hardly extinguish the last dying flames of its life, while the fuming knights were closing in on the square.

There were too many variables and unexpected elements in today's battle. Thus, one should not look down upon the power of giant dragons based on today’s events.

Firstly, if it was a Second Grade green dragon, with freedom of movement, then even ten more First Grade adepts couldn't have done anything to it. Therefore, Adept Ferrier's astounding dragon paralyzing drug was the largest factor for success in this battle.

Secondly, today was a rare occasion where green dragon Rissana was left alone!

In its daily life, Rissana would either be together with the Third Grade dragon-knight Kalyk, or peacefully sleeping within her beautiful palace. Naturally, there were strict patrols of witcher-knights outside the palace in charge of her protection.

However, the delicate political relationship of the actors within Herdurand City caused Great Duke Lington to put up a strong front against stationing large groups of witcher-knights in the city. Thus, the green dragon that lived in the city square could only have city guards as her defenders, while the servants serving the giant dragon were temporary hired hands from the ghetto.

All of these details ultimately brought about a life-threatening disaster to the green dragon. In less than three minutes, she had been beaten to the brink of death by four adepts who had been waiting for this moment.

Unfortunately, be it Greem's transformation into the Flame Fiend and his desperate slashes with the giant executioner's blade, or Mary lying on the green dragon's bloody chest and drinking its blood with wild abandon, or Keoghan's transformation into a giant tentacled monster constantly devouring the dragon's flesh, or even Ferrier's incessant infection of the dragon's wounds with terrifying viruses and plagues…

Even when every single one of them used all the terrifying means at their disposals, or when the green dragon Rissana's last flicker of life was so dim it seemed like it could go out the very next second... still, the green dragon did not die!

Under Greem's command, the Fire Deity at the outer rim of the square launched a counter-charge towards the knights who were rushing over with heavy steps. Sadly, just as it reached halfway there, a dozen Crescent Moon Slashes, Evil-Decimating Slashes, Holy Radiant Swords, and other similar powerful knight battle techniques containing the anger of the knights, crashed into him.

The radiant knights only needed to rely on their powerful bodily strength to activate the violent runic energies; unlike the spellbreaker knights, that needed to rely on runic weapons to even use knight battle techniques. The Fire Deity exploded in a fiery death as it was hit by a dozen knight battle techniques charged with highly concentrated energies. It didn't even have the chance to struggle!

The radiant knights had now charged to the edge of the square. They were barely five hundred meters away from Greem and the others. Only a hundred meters more, and they would be in range to blast Greem and the others with their knight battle techniques. When that happened, they were confident that they only needed one wave of attacks to completely wipe these annoying pests off the face of this plane.

The scene of the Fire Deity being instantly destroyed by the radiant knights was deeply alarming. Seeing the powerful opponents that were quickly closing in, Greem and the others could only give up on their urge to slay a dragon, regardless of how unwilling they were to do so.

Without another word, Greem retrieved the Fire Lord and leapt away with a Flame Teleportation.

Greem vanished in a gigantic cluster of fire that suddenly appeared, only to reappear at the edge of the other side of the square, appearing in a pillar of fire.

Greem waved his large hand with a wicked grin on his face, and violent Chain Fireballs blasted the city guards around him, sending their flesh and bones flying everywhere. Once the flux of the flames around him had stabilized, he turned his body and once again swiftly cast Flame Teleportation.

Keoghan and Ferrier were not very adept at flying, and they didn't dare to delay. Each of them used the best of their abilities, either turning into black smoke, or growing a pair of wings of wind, and rapidly fled the battlefield as well.

Only Mary was too greedy, desperately devouring the flowing dragon blood, even as the acidic and poisonous blood stained her completely green. Only when the radiant knights were almost three hundred meters away from her did she reluctantly take to the skies. The giant bat wings on her back suddenly opened, and she quickly escaped from the square.

"Hmph. Bloody reptile, stay! " A cold snort full of anger suddenly rang out, and then a single dreadful sun, burning with power, rose amidst the numerous radiant knights, indiscriminately radiating shocking power flux in all directions.

Third Grade Dragon-Knight Kalyk!

Following his angry shout, an energy spear formed from concentrated runic energies quickly gathered in his hand. As Kalyl threw it with all his might, it turned into a beam of light that slashed through the skies, directly shooting towards Mary who was flapping her wings in the sky.

Mary turned her body a little, revealing light glowing on her crimson longbow, and a dozen blood-coloured arrows hit the tip of the energy spear. Unfortunately, it was like a mantis trying to stop a cart. The blood-colored arrows had less than 13 points of attack strength and were like bubbles beneath a sun when put before the concentrated energy spear. They disappeared almost instantly. Even though their numbers were superior, they could hardly pause the unstoppable advance of the spear.

"Don't block it, dodge. Quick!” It was too late when Keoghan and Ferrier shouted.

The energy spear shot towards Mary's chest with a might that seemed as if it would rend the world apart.

With a Third Grade dragon knight’s concentrated runic energy, the explosion from the spear would be enough to blow Mary to bits, with not a single bit of flesh or blood left.

At this dangerous moment, an explosive fireball appeared from the sky and exploded beside Mary. The violent flame shockwaves had no effect on the energy spear either, but it managed to blast Mary away at a key moment.

The energy spear did not pierce Mary's torso; it only managed to go through her leg.

The energy storm that erupted the very next moment engulfed a large half of Mary's body like a blender.

Mary's broken body shot out like an arrow from the energy storm that suddenly erupted, ultimately able to prevent the closely following energy ripples from catching her entire body. When she escaped from the energy tide, only a small part of her perfectly seductive body was left. Everything below her chest was gone.

Such a terrifying wound would have been lethal to any other person, but on a vampire, it still wasn’t fatal.

Thanks to the nourishment from the large amounts of dragon blood she had sucked earlier, the missing lower half of her body quickly started to grow again. Mary continued her speedy flight.

"Quick, let's leave!" Keoghan shouted.

The adepts escaped desperately, without even pausing to look. Four mysterious trails of different colors were drawn in the sky, slowly dispersing after a long time.

These few adepts were masters in the art of escaping, but the vampire horde that had stayed behind to cover their rear were exterminated by energy spears the moment they took to the skies. Only some smarter ones transformed into bloodsucking bats, weaving through the crowd instead of taking to the skies, and quickly escaped into the surrounding alleys.

Using such methods, a few vampire elites were successfully able to escape knights’ pursuit, hiding in the underground sewers of Herdurand City.

…………

The sudden attack by the mysterious heretics instantly shook the city of Herdurand.

For the rest of the night, troop after troop of witcher-knights charged into the city, taking it under their control. They then searched for evidence of the outsiders by going through each and every house.

Naturally, the normal citizens had no ability to resist the witcher-knights and could only let them investigate their houses. However, rich merchants and influential nobles would not accept such humiliation lying down. Armed conflicts of varying scale happened all over the city.

Sadly, the giant-dragon partner of the honorable Third Grade dragon knight had been severely injured, and was on the brink of death. This had utterly enraged the authorities of the witcher-knight army! Therefore, amongst those who dared to stop the advance of the witcher-knights in their search, the servants and guards were killed without exception, while the merchants and nobles were caught and imprisoned in the witcher-knight's camp.

For one night, the entire Herdurand City was in chaos!

The angry merchants and nobles blocked the entrance to the castellan's quarters, unceasingly expressing their greatests protests towards the city hall. But the rulers of the city, led by Great Duke Lington, never showed their faces. As such, various malicious rumours started to spread. Many citizens were secretly discussing the possibility that the Great Duke Lington had been put under house arrest by the Lord dragon knight.

Just as chaos happened back there, the Greenland Forest several hundred kilometers away welcomed an important character.

Riding a flying giant-dragon at nearly a thousand feet in the sky was not a very comfortable or casual business. At this height, just the wind blowing at you could take away every last bit of warmth in your body. Even a person wrapped in coats and furs would feel the chill all the way down to their bones.

But with Jefferson's powerful Third Grade dragon knight physique, he wouldn't feel even a bit of discomfort in such an environment.

He bent down to look at the sea of trees that stretched on and on. Everything in his vision was a verdant green that went up and down. It was probably delusional to try and find a troop of a hundred witcher-knights in such a vast forest.

Jefferson lightly tapped the green dragon beneath his body. Ysondre understood, and folded his wings to rapidly dive downward, stretching his neck and letting out a long dragon's roar that rang across several dozen kilometers as he did so.

He couldn't find that troop of witcher-knights, but as long as they were still in this forest, they would naturally find a way to contact him when they heard this signature dragon's-roar.

Thus, the green dragon unfurled his large dragon wings slightly less than a hundred meters away from the canopy. It circled about the mountainous sea of trees, occasionally letting out loud, clear roars. With the giant dragon's stunning flight speed and loud voice, the witcher-knights should be able to hear it, as long as they weren't deaf.

Sadly, even after several rounds of circling about the vast forest that stretched for several hundred kilometer, they still had not detected any sort of feedback from the forest beneath them.

Had Ninther brought the troops deep into the woods?

Jefferson frowned, but the doubt in his heart was extinguished the moment it rose.

Ninther was not like those newly advanced spellbreaker knights that were prone to rash decisions. If he had planned to bring the knights deep into the forest, he would have sent someone to inform the others of his actions. However, Jefferson had not managed to get any useful information from Blue Hillock City. It was almost as if the hundred-man army of witcher-knights had completely vanished in the woods.

It seemed there was something odd about this stretch of woods!