Age of Adepts
chapter-224

Compared to the numerous odd tricks up the adepts' sleeves, the means of fighting available to the knights of this world were way too primitive and crude.

Even though the spellbreaker knights and the adepts were of the same grade, and weren't too different in terms of their level of strength, they had no methods of restricting and containing the adepts other than a couple of their battle techniques such as their Flame Blades, Explosive Cross Slashes, and Crescent Moon Slashes.

In comparison, the adepts had confusingly strange spells and unthinkable means of slaughter. Together, these factors allowed the adepts to easily kill a spellbreaker knight with a single wave of attacks.

The difference in power between beings of a higher plane and beings of a lower plane was immensely huge, even when compared with the same grade!

With no other choice, the eleven radiant knights could only split up. Each one of them tagged an adept and followed closely behind their target. This effectively stopped the adepts' hunt. Yet at the same time, doing so split up the knight army’s most powerful fighting force.

Once all of the radiant knights had been lured away, the numerous arrays hidden underneath the battlefield finally activated simultaneously.

Corrosive acid swamps, wetlands with poison mists, bloodsucking forests filled with vampiric magic vines, quicksand traps… all these terrifying lands of death started to appear one after another, filling up every single piece of land in this stretch of forest.

The numerous voodoo beasts and ghouls even took advantage of this unique geography that had sprung up to start guerrilla warfare against the witcher-knights. Once a witcher-knight was lured into these areas, there was almost no chance for them to escape alive.

A radiant knight had charged into a bloodsucking forest to save a dozen-man knight squad and faced the most horrifying nightmare of his life in there.

Countless bloodsucking magic vines burst out from the ground, wrapping towards him from every direction, their vines gleaming with a metallic sheen. Moreover, dreadful thorns filled the surface of each and every one of those vines, and a horrifying mouth with sharp teeth could be seen at the tips of the vines.

The radiant knight had to endure immense danger before managing to escape, horribly disheveled by the experience. When he made it out, there were still a few severed vines on his armor. These vines continued to wriggle and move, their sharp wooden thorns scratching against the metal parts. The knight’s magic colt, on the other hand, had been completely covered in a nasty green sap. Wisps of green smoke from corroding flesh rose from its body, letting out a pungent odor.

The knights' leader Windsor gazed at the battle from a distance and saw with his own eyes how a group of eight witcher-knights had fallen into an acid swamp when chasing after some voodoo beasts. Half of the knights had accidentally fallen in along with their colts, and were completely dissolved into skeletons within a dozen seconds. The rushing ghouls tackled the remaining knights to the ground, starting another round of bloody fighting.

There were also the forests filled with poisonous mists. A witcher-knight squad walked into the mist, and one could only hear the angered shouts and roars from within, along with the howls of savage beasts. Not one person could see what was happening inside. That squad of witcher-knights never appeared again.

Several deadly pieces of land were like death traps that ate humans whole. Any witcher-knights that walked into them would not be able to walk away unscathed. Moreover, the traps had split the wide forest into separate and smaller battlefields, causing the witcher-knights to be unable to rally again and launch their massive charge!

"Sir?" Windsor grimaced at the sight and turned to the Holy Knight Willis.

"Have them push forward while keeping an eye out for the hazardous areas. No matter what, we must crush the enemy's adept tower! I'll have the dragon knights act in coordination with you.” Willis' mighty figure stood tall on the back of the green dragon Aufreyr as he replied determinedly.

"Then I'll lead the army at the front. It's up to you here, Sir!"

Already, after a mere hour's battle, almost six hundred witcher-knights had already fallen in these woods. Their sacrifices had only caused the deaths of around a thousand voodoo beasts and ghouls.

Those evil adepts, on the other hand, were like poisonous snakes hiding within their pitch-black holes, waiting silently for the best opportunity to attack. When you finally saw them, it would most likely be their vanishing silhouette after they dealt a killing blow.

Windsor, who had been commanding the army from the back, was finally unable to hold back his anger when he saw all this. He led the 1500 men in the reserves and charged forward fervently.

Holy Knight Willis stood behind the army, raising his head and letting out an odd and resonating roar. Three green dragons hiding in the woods behind him took to the skies amidst the roars, carrying the dragon knights on their backs. They unfurled their massive, leathery wings and rapidly glided across the canopy, swooping towards the magic traps on the battlefield.

Every time they flew over those areas, they would open their mouths wide and let out a massive dragon's breath. The dense green poison dragon's breath would sink into the acid swamps and poisonous mist forests, ravaging the entire area.

Countless voodoo beasts would run out, screeching in pain, as green poison mist slowly rose from their bodies. They never ran far before the ghastly miasma took their lives. One after another, the voodoo beasts collapsed in the forest, their bodies rapidly rotting and falling apart. It was a horrifying scene to behold.

The ghouls were undead beings themselves and were therefore immune to poison attacks. They climbed up to the canopy with their agile bodies, jumping from the treetops, trying to grab onto the dragons' bodies and drag them to the ground.

Most of them were unsuccessful and were blasted away by the violent winds stirred by the green dragons' flight. Even the occasional ghoul that managed to grab ahold of a dragon would be split in half by the dragon knight riding on the back.

The green dragons continued to dive downwards, spewing their poisonous breath before pulling back up and going for a dive once more.

After two or three waves of such attacks, the magic arrays hidden in the ground were finally destroyed. Some of the magic traps started to falter, and the woods returned to normal. However, the pale-white bones and charred bodies left in the empty spaces of the woods served as a clear reminder of the terrifying events that had taken place there!

…………

Inside the war tower.

A dozen adepts were busily and frantically working.

Their movements were rushed, but not disorderly. Each of them was commanding a large group of robotic beasts, trying their best to finish the last bit of construction.

The battle on the frontline was well underway!

The voodoo beasts that the adepts' base had accumulated over the past fifteen days had been mostly exhausted. And while the elite ghouls were powerful, they were few in number, rendering them inconsequential in such a large battle.

With no other options left to them, the adepts at the frontline could only rely on the arrays they had set up earlier to hinder the enemy's progress. However, with the interference of the dragons, the magic arrays were slowly being destroyed and the situation on the battlefield was quickly souring!

The battlefield had slowly inched forward from two and a half kilometers to a mere kilometer away from the adepts' base. Some scattered witcher-knights had already been able to break into the area of the base. Even though they had been immediately exterminated by the numerous guards, it still fully highlighted that the adepts were running out of time.

One hour? Half an hour?

If they were unable to complete the construction of the war tower before large numbers of witcher-knights flooded into the base, then the fragile tower would not be able to endure the assault of the dragons!

Thus, when the alarms from the frontline consecutively went off, all of the clan adepts brought out their best efforts, working hard to complete the tower.

There were a male and a female in a hidden room within the tower. The two Third Grade adepts stood before Adept Sarubo's human-shaped projection, silently conversing.

"Lord Sarubo, let us go out to hold back the enemies for a bit! As long as we are able to eat away at one or two of the dragons, we should be able to slow down their progress. This will give us more time to complete the tower!" The one speaking was a female adept in a green robe, her face hidden behind green mists. However, the greed and excitement in her tone when she said the word ‘eat’ was very obvious.

The purple-robed adept standing beside her hadn't hidden his face, but the strange purple eyes spread all over his body sent chills down the spine. Numerous blinking purple eyes could be seen on his neck, face, and his hands. Moreover, it was clear that these eyes weren't some sort of carving or tattoo, but actual eyes.

Whenever the eyes were opened wide, and rolling about looking in every direction, anyone would feel a chill right to the bones, feeling fear and respect that came from the bottom of their heart!

"Indeed, Lord Sarubo. Let me and Sanazar go out and rampage through the enemy ranks. Exterminating those dragons should not be a problem!" Surprisingly, the purple-eyed adept that seldom spoke opened his mouth and agreed with his companion.

"No! The two of you rely too much on your physical strength. Even now, you still have yet to complete your analysis on the different planar laws. How much of your prowess can you display under the suppression of these planar laws?" The human projection finally opened its eyes and asked coldly.

The purple-eyed adept frowned before replying uncertainly, "Around 45%, I would say!"

The green-robed female adept gave a forced smile, "I can only use 35% of my full power."

"Hmph… " The projection snorted in disdain, "With this little strength, you are, at best, at the peak of Second Grade. It might be no problem for dealing with a few tiny dragons, but if you expose your strength now, the Fourth Grade Holy Knight might choose to act!"

"Sir, since they have already arrived, why are they not attacking with all their might? What is that Willis fellow waiting for?" The purple-eyed adept asked, puzzled.

"Kehkehkeh. You think he doesn't want to act? I'm the one who's intimidating him! I've split a strand of my Spiritual consciousness and have been using it to pressure and intimidate his will ever since he stepped foot into the woods. This will cause him to feel an unknown terror, yet be unable to find the cause of it. It is because of this that he has become so conservative and passive. Otherwise, he would have brought the dragons and charged straight towards the adept tower the moment the battle started. Do the two of you think you could stop his attacks?"

The Third Grade adepts looked at each other, and the respect they felt for Lord Sarubo became even more reinforced.

To be able to plant the seed of an idea and a feeling within the mind and will of a Fourth Grade planar powerhouse without him noticing, and being able to affect his important decision-making in doing so. This kind of ability was unthinkable!

The two adepts no longer spoke, but shut their eyes and continued to analyze those annoying planar shackles.