Age of Adepts
chapter-246

Dragons were apex predators at the top of the food chain for all native beings of material planes.

If any witcher-knight had doubted this truth in the past, today was the day bloody reality would correct them!

It was easy to imagine the depth of despair in the humans' hearts! Their barrage of arrows did nothing as rows of five dragons groups dove from the skies and whizzed through the air, leaving paths of deaths in the wake of their terrifying dragon's breath.

Skandre City had no city walls, having experienced a thousand years of peace and prosperity with their long allied history with Dragon Valley. Moreover, there were no defense facilities within the city that could threaten the dragons. Weapons such as catapults and ballistae were completely absent from the army's arsenal of weapons. Thus the well-equipped palace guards could only run about in the face of the decimating dragon's breath before dying painfully in the midst of the green smoke.

The only things that were able to damage the dragons were the violent sword techniques of the high-grade knights.

Sadly, after numerous spellbreaker knights had managed to hurt the first few waves of dragons, when they were at the lowest point of their dives, the following dragon attacks were quickly adjusted to put the knights at the center of the damage.

The magic resistance of the spellbreaker knights was still insufficient to help them endure the dragons' bombardment.

Large clouds of wind poison breaths, along with quick and accurate acid shots, quickly singled out and eliminated the high-grade knights who were mixed in with the guards.

The four radiant knights, on the other hand, were engaged in an intense battle with the Third Grade Green Dragon Wrathion. Their attention was wrapped up in the platform in front of the palace. None of them could spare any strength to help their dying companions and subordinates.

Only two of the four radiant knights had gone down the path of violent knights. Their runic energy enhancements allowed their strength to increase tremendously, giving them the ability to threaten a Third Grade dragon in close combat. The other two radiant knights had placed their focus on speed and technique. Even though this gave them more agile and lithe movements, it also limited their ability to break through the dragon's tough scales.

The four radiant knights circled around Wrathion's massive body, avoiding his terrifying jaws, ferocious wing attacks, and his monstrous tail. It was only when one of them had managed to draw the dragon's attention that the others would charge forward and unleash their most vicious sword technique on the dragon's weak spot.

Regardless of whether the attack was effective, the attackers would immediately retreat from the radius of the dragon's attacks. None of them could possibly receive an attack from the green dragon Wrathion, be it his breath, bite, swipe, or his tail whip.

The dragons used two types of breath. One was the area-of-effect, damage-over-time, poison mist breath. This was also their favorite attack when they dove at enemies. At close range, the green dragons were still able to rapidly fire acid breaths at enemies.

The acid breath didn’t cover a very large area, but it could be rapidly fired. Moreover it was still a very threatening attack. Even with their defense and magical resistance, the radiant knights didn't dare take on the acid. Within a thirty meter radius this breath, that possessed both corrosiveness and toxicity, could easily dissolve their flesh and turn them into a pile of bones.

The imposing Wrathion dared to land on the ground an engage in a brutal melee with the four powerful radiant knights because of these menacing attacks of his.

In less than fifteen minutes, eight inch-long gashes had already appeared on his gigantic body. His right armpit had been badly wounded by destructive sword techniques. Patches of dark green scales had been blasted away, leaving only a large and bloody wound behind.

Such injuries may have looked scary, but they were only moderate injuries to the tough body of a dragon!

On the other hand, two of the four radiant knights had already retreated from the battlefield.

One of them had been hit on the chest by the green dragon's tail. Even though he had blocked the blow with his longsword, the tremendous impact still managed to shatter his ribcage and cause him to continuously cough up blood. The other knight’s right arm was completely dissolved by acid and he could no longer hold up his longsword.

Even the two remaining knights were exhausted and injured all over. It seemed they were barely hanging on using the last vestiges of their strength.

They couldn't have changed the conclusion of this fight. Through their immense physical strength and monstrous magic resistance, the dragons had always dominated the world. These were the sources of their dominance, and was what allowed them to challenge powerful individuals above their Grade. Thus, in truth, the Third Grade green dragon before them already had powers rivalling that of an ordinary Fourth Grade.

The four radiant knights were only at Second Grade. The fact that they were able to inflict such damage on a Fourth Grade being with just their mortal bodies was only due to their reckless and desperate way of fighting!

For a time the entire palace, and the entire peak of Mount Mingsu, was filled with the tragic cries of human guards and the ravaging gales brought about by the rapid dives of the dragons. Groups of people were running about everywhere as more and more of the earth became scorched under the corrosive dragon breath. The sight of scattered bones and pools of green liquid shocked and stunned everyone that looked upon them.

Moreover, half-molten bodies of palace guards could be seen everywhere. They were on the palace walls, the rooftops, the towers, in the streets!

Greem and the two adepts, who were watching the tragedy unfold before their eyes from the safety of the side hall, all had differing feelings and emotions about it. As native adepts of this plane, Cobalt and Flower were content to see the palace guards rightfully paying their dues as they were cruelly slaughtered. Yet, at the same time, they couldn't help but feel a trace of indescribable sorrow at the scene! Greem, on the other hand, was a human from another world. He had absolutely no sympathy to spare for these people.

This was actually a very common mentality amongst all plane worlds!

The adepts firmly believed that only humans from the World of Adepts could barely be considered as the same race as them. This was because those humans were shared their bloodlines. In the eyes of the adepts, the humans of other worlds were no more than groups of humanoid creatures.

This was much like the attitude of players in online games back on Earth. The adepts were a bunch of invading player-characters, while the natives were only NPCs that happened to look like humans. Thus the adepts would never feel a slight bit of guilt at slaughtering such natives.

Greem thought that he would find it difficult to cross that line. Yet, as he watched humans from another world die en masse at the hands of dragons, he found that his emotions were extremely calm. It was like he was watching a play, a show performed on stage. He couldn't help but sigh at this discovery. The past few years of difficulties in the World of Adepts had undoubtedly tremendously changed him!

Now that the time was ripe, Greem didn't intend to dawdle. He reached into the air and drew a crimson runic line in front of his eyes. When one strange flame-shrouded rune had been completed, Greem blew at the rune lightly and it instantly vanished.

Greem took out oddly-shaped orb and swallowed it in one go.

"Alright, the runic seal on the books I gave you have been removed!" Greem turned back and calmly said, "Send my greetings to Diviner Mas."

Having said that, he didn't wait for the two native adepts to reply. He pushed apart the doors and strode towards the hall in the distance.

"How is it? Is there a response from Sir Diviner?" Adept Cobalt couldn't help but turn his head and ask, "Don't let that adept trick us!"

Adept Flower pressed her right hand against her forehead. She closed her eyes and sensed with a spell for a minute or two before finally opening her eyes and nodding, "The magic seal has indeed been removed. Sir Diviner wants us to return immediately! Let's go!"

Adept Cobalt nodded silently. He gazed at the silhouette of that terrifying adept, shrinking away in the distance, before turning and retreating from the palace with his companion back to where they came from.

They weren't here to help Greem in the first place. They were only here as personal 'bodyguards' to make sure that nothing happened before he removed the runic seals on those books. The agreement between both parties had actually been completed when the dragon flight had attacked.

Diviner Mas had used his wisdom to help Greem draw away most of the radiant knights. If Greem was still unable to kill Edward VII, that could only be the fault of his own weakness.

…………

It was still that delicate and spacious bedroom.

The tightly shut doors were forced open by a stumbling figure.

They were wearing the blinding knight armor that belonged to the radiant knights. Terrifying marks that indicated it had suffered corrosion by the green dragons' acid could be seen everywhere. Even the visor had been badly damaged by an external force and had its shaped twisted and distorted. Blood covered the rest of his exposed skin, making it hard for anyone to recognize the knight’s identity.

The two radiant knights guarding the hall were shocked for a second. They had already drawn their runic longswords in preparation for a confrontation. However, they both let out a sigh of relief when they saw the person's costume.

As they moved forward to help their companion up, the injured knight started screaming in a hoarse voice, "Quick… reinforce them… "

Before the knight could finish his sentence, he had already fallen to the ground. His head rested limply against the floor. It was clear he was unconscious.

"The situation in front must be extremely urgent. Otherwise they wouldn't have sent someone back to ask for help. I'll go take a look. You stay here and guard the king!" The more experienced radiant knight quickly made a decision. After barking out some simple orders, he rose and rushed towards the front of the hall, where the fighting was at its most intense. Several spellbreaker knights followed behind him.

Even though the radiant knight that stayed behind was extremely anxious, he could only suppress his worries and do his job. Then his attention was drawn towards his companion that had fallen to the ground.

As high-grade knights, their Spirits might not be as sharp or powerful as spellcasters, but they were still far superior when compared to ordinary people. He was able to recognize the aura of any of his companions after slight contact. Yet his senses were acting up today. Even though he could very clearly sense an aura of familiarity about his 'injured' companion, he couldn't place a name or face to the person.

Did the dragons cast some odd spell on him?

He lifted his companion's body in his confusion, and turned him face up. Just as he was about to take off that distorted and damaged helmet, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen. It felt like a burning rod had stabbed all they through.

He looked down in surprise, only to find his 'companion's' hand in his stomach. The hand was muscular and glowing red like fire. Moreover, it seemed like his 'companion' was still thrusting his hand even further inside.

The next moment, a terrifying blaze of fire had ignited in the room.

A menacing Flame Fiend had come to life, right in his embrace!