Age of Adepts
chapter-300

The fight deep in the woods wasn't the only battle.

A massive elementium explosion erupted in the camp as well.

The sudden tide of elementium ravaged everything around it. The temporary camp was destroyed and turned into an expanse of elementium. Even Greem felt the destructive aura from a distance.

Through the soul contract, he ascertained that Alice and Snorlax were still alive. They were frantically running away from the destruction. However, were there people chasing after them? Would they be able to escape the pursuit of an adept?

He had no answers to these questions!

If he wanted to rescue them, he first needed to defeat the accursed adept before him– Bloodhand Butcher.

In the time that Greem hesitated, the Infernal Tyrant had already clashed with the Butcher.

The Tyrant's massive body of flames had been slashed several times while in the sea of fire. The ferocious flames that ravaged everywhere had also burned the Butcher. He screamed in pain as the longsword in his hand started to heat up from the flames. Soon, the sword had turned into a bright red piece of iron.

Even more crimson energies emanated from the Butcher's resilient body. They enveloped him and prevented him from being reduced to ashes by the flames. However, this protection wouldn't last for long. He had to crush this elementium being as soon as possible, or the crude crimson barrier he had just erected would eventually be breached.

The crimson energies extended towards his sword, giving it powerful corrosive powers. Every slash of the sword delivered tremendous damage to the Tyrant.

Often, the Butcher had to rely on his swift footsteps to move about and dodge the violent fire spells launched in his direction. He felt a stinging pain whenever one of those terrifying elementium fireballs exploded nearby.

Was it 130 points, or 140 points?

Without an accurate measurement, the Butcher had no idea how powerful the attacks were. He didn't want to know either. The only thing he needed to know was that he had to dodge whenever the flame humanoid directed its palms at him. He wasn’t confident that his Physique could endure that sort of explosion if he was ever hit by the fireballs!

He had already found out about the target's fearsome elementium golem through the information provided to him, but the strength of the golem had clearly gone beyond his expectations.

As a body-refining adept with 17 points in Physique, the Bloodhand Butcher had a shocking amount of physical and magical resistance. He even rivaled some of the beefier and defensive magical creatures in the wild. He easily took on attacks below 60 points of damage even without the crimson armor he wore.

This meant that a group of apprentice adepts had absolutely no way chance of harming him, even if he was completely unarmed. In fact, he could endure all of their blows, charge at them, and use his massive sword to crush them like bugs.

Even so, the Bloodhand Butcher didn't dare take a fireball from the golem head on. He had a feeling. If he was hit by the fireballs, it would definitely do serious damage.

His instincts were fairly accurate.

The data displayed in Greem's mind. Every single spell the Tyrant cast reached a shocking 150 points. This was far above the highest limits that ordinary adepts could reach!

The human body was undoubtedly the weakest among all creatures that had access to supernatural powers. Consequently, the concentration of elementium that could be stored and accumulated within a fixed area of their flesh and blood was significantly lower than magical creatures.

This was reflected in their spells. The strength of an adept’s elementium attacks was limited by the strength of their bodies and several other factors. It was virtually impossible for their spells and attacks to be as concentrated and savage as a magical creature’s.

This was why Greem's attack was no stronger than 115 points, despite having undergone elementiumization of his body, as well as having chosen flame mastery. The Infernal Tyrant was a powerful elementium golem indeed. Its Second Grade summoning core was above its own personal Grade. While it might not have the body to fully exhibit the power of such a core, the spells that it cast were unbelievably terrifying.

150 points!

This was enough to kill some ordinary adepts in a single shot!

Greem endured the throbbing pain from his chest and straightened his body. He tried to sense the commotion in the distance.

Alice was completely out of breath from running, but she still took what time she had to send a warning to Greem. It wasn't an adept that attacked the camp, but two.

If Greem included the body-refining adept with him, the number of adepts after his life had reached a total of three!

And he was no more than a newly advanced adept!

Greem had a clear idea of the opponent's strategy.

The body-refining adept would stall him, while the other two adepts would kill his servants. The three of them would then surround Greem and exterminate him!

It seemed that the opponent had no intention of letting any news of the incident escape to the outside world. This was why they were willing to let go of their dignity as adepts and chase after his servants.

If that was the case, there was no longer a need to hesitate. Killing this body-refining adept before the other two arrived was his only way out of this predicament.

Greem lifted his head and looked at the crimson man dashing around the Tyrant. He uttered several arcane syllables as he pointed at the enemy. The flames around the crimson silhouette quickly gathered together. All of a sudden, a strange chain of flames materialized and wrapped around the Butcher's body.

This chain only dealt 15 points of physical damage and 5 points of elementium fire damage. It was completely insignificant to a body-refining adept with 17 points of Physique and 14 points of Strength. He only needed to exert a little force to shatter the chains. However, a towering pillar of flame had exploded beneath the Bloodhand Butcher in the short moment it took him to break free.

An expression of fear appeared on his wicked face. The ferocious crimson energies exploded, instantly shattering what was left of his restraints while dispersing the fire pillar. He kicked the ground and barely escaped before the flames gathered together once more. Deep imprints of his feet had been baked into the scorched earth.

He didn't even have any time to take a breath. Fireballs from both the Tyrant and Greem flew towards him, one from the left and the other from the right.

The Bloodhand Butcher's face fell. He quickly sped up and dashed across the field of fire. Only a faint crimson afterimage was left where he had just been. The fireballs continuously exploded behind him as he ran. A few trees creaked and collapsed in each of the explosions.

Dirt was even raining down on him after being sent flying by the explosions!

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

The Bloodhand Butcher cursed again and again. He was so mad he could feel his lungs burning with rage.

The accursed target was standing twenty meters away from his golem. The two of them unceasingly launched their fire spells at him. Every time he tried close the distance, he would be greeted by a barrage of Explosive and Magma Fireballs.

Moreover, the two Rings of Fire they activated had overlapped. Consequently, the Butcher had to deal with 30 points of fire damage every second, even while he dodged at high speeds. The damage might not have been much to his tough body, but the heat could still ignite the clothes he had on.

If it wasn't for his crimson armor, he would practically have been running nude at this point!

He was a body-refining adept after all. Speed was not his proficiency. His main method of attack was through the use of his two-handed longsword imbued with corrosive blood energies. If the opponent kept him at a distance, the only thing he could do was passively endure their blows.

Wuuuu. He heard a sharp whistling.

A broken tree trunk sailed through the air towards Greem.

t was blown to bits by a Magma Fireball while it was still in the air, exploding into debris and sparks.

The next second, a one-meter-wide stone flew at Greem again.

That was also reduced to pebbles by the fireballs in the air.

Greem pivoted and lifted his hands. A Magma Fireball he had been charging up shot out like a bullet.

The flickering sea of flames was suddenly blown apart as the Bloodhand Butcher charged out of the fire with his sword in hand. A crimson slash chopped the enhanced Magma Fireball top pieces before it could explode. The roiling lava within it was blasted away as well.

The Butcher let out a yell that shook the ground and the skies. The blood energies circulating around his body increased in intensity as the sword in his hand became a curtain of slashes slicing at Greem.

In ordinary circumstances, Greem would probably have leaped away with a Fire Teleportation.

His Physique was decent as well, but entering a melee with a professional body-refining adept was a suicidal act.

However, the battle today was a dangerous one. If this dragged on any longer, he would be surrounded by three adepts. That would be the end of him. Greem didn't run when faced with the menacing sword array flying towards him. He made a circle with his arms and a terrifying stream of flame composed of extremely concentrated fire elementium surged towards the enemy.

Pu!

The rain of cuts that spun like a top didn't stop at all. They clashed against the stream of fire and forced their way upstream. Bit by bit, they were pressing towards Greem's body. The red flame stream was split into two before the spinning sword, flowing harmlessly to either side.

There were less than ten meters between the two now. Not a single obstacle stood between them besides the flood of fire.

Both of them were gritting their teeth and hanging on!

The Butcher was trying to break through this last barrier and use his swift slashes to cut the target to pieces. Greem was using every fiber of strength he had to increase the intensity and strength of the flame stream to buy time for the Infernal Tyrant. He needed five precious seconds for it to launch a powerful attack.

Szzzzzz.

The edge of the blade had come within half a meter of Greem's fingertips amid the odd sizzling sound of fire clashing against steel.

Finally, after five seconds of channeling, the Infernal Tyrant's spell landed on the Butcher's body!