Age of Adepts
chapter-208

Such an evil undead like the ghoul had never appeared on the knights' plane.

Some wild undead beings occasionally appeared in rural areas. However, most of those were low-level skeletons with creaking bones, or withered corpses that shambled about slowly. The worst of those were only spectres that had lost their souls.

As for an elite undead such as ghouls- they never appeared naturally without the existence of an undead manipulator.

Today, under the infection of the plagues and viruses of the voodoo beasts, along with the catalyzation of the black fog, the injured witcher-knights were unable to resist the powerful magic and were all converted into strong and lithe ghouls. Perhaps because the physiques of this group of knights were extremely exceptional, the ghouls that they turned into also possessed extraordinary strength and physique.

Of course, the agility unique to ghouls was once again amplified as well!

They were like a group of humans who had been skinned, then soaked in pungent water for several days and nights. Their entire body had a pale color to it, like the drowned. What's more, the surface of their body was sticky, moist, and let out an extremely pungent odor.

The converted ghouls gathered into groups under the horrified gaze of the witcher-knights, launching an attack on the surrounding humans. One after another, surprised witcher-knights were barely able to draw their longswords before they were tackled to the ground by the pouncing ghouls.

Their sharp claws and immense physical strength made attacks unnaturally powerful. The knights' armor, as thick as an entire finger, was easily shredded and penetrated as if paper. The ghouls crouched on the witcher-knights’ bodies, baring their sharp fangs and biting the knights on their necks.

Just a single bite and the knights would lose half their necks. Their bloody cervical spine, shattered throat, the fountains of blood that gushed outward… all of this instantly caused the knights to lose their ability to resist. They could only press their hands against the gaping holes on their necks as they drowned in the blood flowing from their orifices, not even able to let out a final call for help.

Of course, there were some knights with quicker reactions that were able to draw their runic longswords and fight valiantly against the ghouls that charged forward.

However, most of the excess fat and unnecessary organs within the ghouls' body had already been dissolved. Under the nourishment from all the flesh and blood on their bodies, the ghouls’ bones had become extremely large and dense, while their muscles and tendons had become as thick and tough as steel wire. This caused every slash of the witcher-knights to feel like a cut on an extremely tough and old tree. The resistance they felt from their blades shocked them.

With no choice left to them, all the witcher-knights had to activate the runic arrays on their longswords. As the scarlet or azure runic energies flowed across their longswords, the fight against the ghouls became slightly easier.

As hard and tough as the ghouls' bones and bodies were, they were no match for the sharpness of the runic weapons.

The witcher-knights quickly regained their advantage, pushing the numerous ghouls to a corner of the camp. However, in that mere fifteen minutes of chaos, another forty witcher-knights had become the victims of the ghouls’ sharps fangs and claws. Their flesh that had been ravaged and torn to several pieces, as well as bodies that had been bitten and mauled all over, filled the chests of the witcher-knights with a fiery anger that could burn the skies.

Those accursed adepts! They should be diced into a thousand pieces!

Knight Meusel strode forward, and with a single horizontal slash, he released a destructive flame blade that appeared as an unstoppable red scimitar. It slashed forward for fifty meters, finally disappearing when it sliced through a large tree. In the time it sliced through the air, the pale and bloated bodies of seven ghouls had silently split into two, their black and sticky blood soaking the dirt beneath their feet.

"Do not get caught up in a battle with them, hurry to your colts, we… " Meusel's loud and powerful voice suddenly stopped, replaced with a face full of shock and fear.

In a corner of the camp, where the knights had placed their colts, the black fog was present and had already engulfed the entire area.

Under the effect of the magic, colts repeatedly fell to the ground with pained cries. Blood was flowing endlessly out of every pore in their bodies.

Purple and black blood!

The magic colts who had spent years as the companions of the witcher-knights were almost dead!

For one moment, even a radiant knight like Meusel couldn't help but feel nauseous. Everything before his eyes seemed to blur.

They were knights, after all! Knights that spent their lives on the backs of horses, dominating battlefields with the help of magic colts!

The delicate but hard knight's armor. The delicate shield that could generate an energy barrier. The iron gauntlets, iron kneepads, and metal pads that ensured both agility and defense, as well as the runic longswords and runic bows that were forged from unique metals… disregarding all the minor decorative ornaments, just a set of runic equipment alone weighed forty-five kilograms.

Only the sturdy magic colts could carry such heavy equipment as well as the weight of the knights. Disregarding riding across mountains and rough terrain, even running two rounds around the camp would have exhausted a normal warhorse.

The radiant knights saw black before their eyes and almost fainted when they saw their magic colts being slaughtered by the adepts.

Yet just at this very moment, countless screams, cries, and roars rang out in the woods around the camp. That group of accursed voodoo beasts had chosen to attack again!

Suddenly, the dark night sky above the hill, along with the canvas of bright stars, had once again been replaced by roiling red clouds. Several hundred lava bubbles of all sizes were forming in the clouds. Every time one of the bubbles popped, blinding red light and burning flames would spill out from within.

The red clouds shook and thundered. A large Meteor Shower was about to form in the blink of an eye!

The leader of the knights, Charles, stumbled two steps forward, and coughed out blood on the ground before him. Several of his companions rushed forward to help him up, but he pushed them away. Charles drew his longsword with all his strength, and blinding flames instantly rose on the blade.

"Leave, hurry and leave… ignore the injured and the magic colts in the base! Quick, have everyone gather and break through in one direction!" Charles waved his large sword and shouted his orders with all his strength, his snow white beard already stained with blood.

Having given his orders, Charles felt the blood in his body boiling. A violent and imposing force started to gather wildly around him. When his aura of might had reached its peak, Charles let out a shout that shook the entire forest as he lashed out with the flame longsword in his hand. A bright red blade slashed apart the skies and blasted into the surging red clouds.

The very next moment, the Meteor Shower that had neared completion went out of control!

The unstable fire elementium that had been densely concentrated had their internal structure destroyed by that red blade, instantly causing Greem to lose control over the flame cloud. A gigantic apocalyptic volcano erupted above the skies, forming an enormous flame pillar that looked like a mushroom cloud, before turning into a sea of flames and falling to the forest beneath.

In a hidden valley one kilometer away, Greem crouched within a giant array, violently coughing blood. The flames on the body of the Fire Lord, who was standing next to Greem, let out crackling noises as if it had received severe spell backlash as well. Its usually bright red protective flames had dimmed. The fires on several parts of its body had even gone out completely, revealing the uneven and ugly magma body beneath.

Greem finally struggled out of the severe spell backlash after a good eight minutes. He took out potions, powders, and medicines of all sizes, immediately swallowing five vials before exhaling.

Dammit! To avoid being attacked by the enemy’s knight battle techniques, he had even intentionally guided the flame clouds to a height of two hundred meters in the sky when he cast Meteor Shower. Who knew that he still wouldn’t be able to avoid the terrifying attacks of the radiant knight.

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!…

If knight battle techniques had such long range and still retained such terrifying might, what were the adepts supposed to use to fight against them? The adepts would most likely be slashed to death by the knights from a distance when they were still desperately trying to chant their spells!

It's important to note that with the exception of very few basic instant-cast spells, most powerful or large radius spells needed chants and hand-signs to be completed. On the other hand, knight battle techniques were able to be used with a wave of a sword and had an astounding concentration of energy.

Greem knew that the one who disrupted his spell was a Second Grade knight and that it was all too usual for this to be a result when a Second Grade knight fought against a First Grade adept. However, the utter success so far had caused Greem to become somewhat impetuous! Otherwise, with his usual forbearing and patient personality, he would never have chosen to be the idiot to attack first!

Perhaps, right at this very moment, countless adepts in the woods nearby were waiting for an opportunity to laugh at his failure!

Greem recovered a little and took back the Fire Lord's core that had exhausted most of its energy. He then summoned the Alligator Hunter and sunk into the ground with it. A short moment later a massive flame pillar exploded within the magic array, erasing all signs and traces of him that he had left behind.

The adepts wandering nearby were far too numerous, so Greem didn't dare let any part of his body be obtained by an enemy. In particular, blood! Greem himself was capable of casting twelve or thirteen long-ranged curse spells that used blood, skin, and other body parts as catalysts.

If it was those terrifying adepts that specialized in curses, it was said that even the air one exhaled could be utilized to collect enough personal information about the victim. If they were able to obtain any hair or blood from one's body and hosted a grand curse ceremony with these items, they could even kill all living beings with your bloodline in one go.

Moreover, it didn't matter where they were– there was no escaping from this type of formidable bloodline curse!

As a member of the adepts, cautiousness, care, and keeping a low profile was the best way to stay alive. Never ever offend another adept without reason. If you had no choice but to start a blood feud with another adept, remember to kill the opponent when you had the chance, even if you had to pay a painful price to do so.

Otherwise, any single adept going into hiding to exact his vengeance on you would make you pay a price hundreds or even thousands of times more painful than you had to pay now.