Age of Adepts
chapter-301

A burning pain.

A simple fire spell!

The only uniqueness of this spell was its ability to convert part of the fire damage to harm the Spirit rather than the physical body.

In fact, this spell could be considered mutated.

When the Infernal Tyrant launched this simple mutated spell from its hands, it possessed 160 points of dual-attribute elementium damage.

Bloodhand Butcher let out a surprised scream, and his spinning body completely froze. The stunned Butcher was then instantly flooded by sizzling red flames.

Even Greem couldn't get an accurate reading of the center of the torrent of flame's precise temperature.

All he could see was a bright red patch in his elementium sight.

The extreme heat had even caused distortions in the air. The twisting shadows and blinding red lights made it hard to so much as look at the fire. Not even Greem's Spiritual sense could probe into the center of the fire, where the red light glowed the brightest.

Aaaaaah!

An anguished cry, like that of a beast, rang out in the woods. A towering figure charged out of the torrent of fire.

Red flames still burned around him, but the temperature was much lower. Greem was finally able to see through the fire with his Spirit and witness the Butcher's wretched state.

He was in a terrible state indeed!

The fearsome heat had already eaten away half of the flesh on his body. Finding even a single untouched area was hard.

The flames had carbonized a half-centimeter-thick layer of flesh and blood on the Butcher's body.

The black remains cracked as he walked forward, revealing the smoking flesh and strong muscles beneath. His stomach had a massive and shocking hole burned through it.

The crimson armor he wore couldn't endure the ravaging of the flame torrent. It had already been turned liquid, dripping towards the ground. The rest of the metal had fused with the Butcher's skin and flesh, turning into an inseparable part of his body.

The Bloodhand Butcher had charged out of the fire with his arms covering his face. They had received the impact from the torrent head on. Not a single piece of flesh remained on his arms. The molten gauntlets and bracers coated his white bones with a layer of golden metal.

He uncovered a vile and horrendous face when he put his skeletal hands down.

He no longer had a face. His hair, nose, skin, and even the flesh of his face had all been vaporized. Only a black, bleeding hole remained where his right eye once was.

The Butcher stared at Greem with the only eye he had left. His gaze etched the hatred and resentment into his soul. The exposed teeth screeched as he ground them together. It was almost as if he wanted to eat Greem alive.

Two adepts in odd costumes slowly walked out of the forest behind him. One took the left, and the other walked towards the right, subtly limiting the space that Greem could maneuver.

Having missed his opportunity to kill the Bloodhand Butcher, Greem stopped moving. The Infernal Tyrant rose its arms and stood on guard beside him.

One against three!

The situation was undoubtedly extremely disadvantageous for Greem!

He quickly called for Alice in his heart, but he didn't get a response. It was hard to verify her status through the crude soul contract they had.

Greem's heart sank.

His extreme anger and the close call with death provoked him. Rage boiled within his body, and the blood in his body rose in temperature. Thump. Thump. The sealed heart in his chest sounded the drums of war.

"You killed Alice?" Greem's voice was unnaturally low and hoarse as if he was trying his best to suppress his emotions.

"Do you mean that adorable girl?" The adept on the left pushed his hood back and revealed a hissing snake's head, "She tasted pretty good!"

This enemy was a powerful bloodline adept!

Even Greem, with all the ruthless killing intent currently bubbling in his heart, couldn't help but be shaken when faced with a bloodline adept. These were, after all, the adepts who were most known for their combat prowess.

Esoteric Adepts were undoubtedly the weakest in the four branches of adepts.

They were good at golem creation, or potion concoction, or alchemy and magical enhancements, or otherworldly summonings. It didn't matter which it was. If an esoteric adept wanted to become good at their craft, they would have to spend half of their lives on research.

That was why the specialized esoteric adepts were the weakest in combat!

The elementium adepts and the body-refining adepts had similar advantages and disadvantages to their strengths.

Elementium adepts had exceptionally high Spirit, which allowed their elementium spells to become extremely powerful under amplification from their potent Spirit. However, their Physique was often weak, being the most significant flaw of elementium adepts.

Body refining adepts forged and refined their bodies as if it was a human-shaped magical tool. They filled every single action with strength and power. Unfortunately, their means of attack were mostly limited to close-range physical attacks. The way they fought was similar to warriors or assassins of other worlds.

Bloodline adepts, on the other hand, usually fought like elementium adepts. The only difference was their lack of variety in the spells they had mastered. However, the moment they successfully called upon their bloodline origin, they would instantly turn into an ancient magical creature, possessing both the long-ranged attacks of elementium adepts and the muscular bodies of body refining adepts.

Thus, the strongest of the four branches of adepts were the bloodline adepts!

The bloodline adepts would always be the most dominant and oppressive in a fight of adepts of the same Grade!

The adept on the right also took his hood off, revealing a pretty woman's face. A diamond-shaped tarot gem was embedded between her eyes, letting out a colorful glow under the moonlight.

She seemed to be an elementium adept that took the path of illusion!

The two adepts coldly assessed the Butcher's pathetic appearance. Even though they put up a facade of confidence, the hint of caution in their eyes gradually became thicker and thicker.

The two of them might have had tricks of their own to deal with the Butcher, but it wasn't easy to reduce him to this terrifying state. It seemed this Greem person had fearsome powers that could rival their own. Consequently, they didn't leap into battle upon arriving. Instead, they started circling Greem and the Tyrant.

"Which one are you gonna take?" The snake-headed adept turned to look at the female illusionist.

"You are the most powerful of us all. Of course, you should be the one to deal with that Greem guy. I'll deal with the elementium giant!" The illusionist beauty smiled seductively. Even Greem could feel his heart beat faster at the sight of her smiling.

"Hmph! Your charms and illusions are useless against an elementium being, aren't they?" The snake-headed adept snorted in dissatisfaction. Still, it was clear that he was glad about her respectful attitude.

"Hehe, you, sir, are the one dealing with him after all! I merely need to delay this giant for a bit, and I'm sure you will already have defeated the opponent. Why would I ever be in any danger that way?" The beautiful illusionist spoke casually as if this was the way it should be.

"Hmph."

The snake-headed adept couldn't be bothered to deal with the woman any longer. He turned and glared at Greem. His odd, amber-colored vertical pupils were calm and composed. Greem's figure reflected in them.

Greem turned around and the two locked eyes. He instantly felt his Spirit stall, and discomfort crept up his body!

At the same time, a blaring alarm had gone off in Greem's mind.

"Warning. Warning. The intrusion of foreign energies detected. Host's body is taking damage! Instructions requested from the host. Expel energies?"

Eye powers?

The discovery unsettled Greem. He could feel the slight numbness in his body. Without any hesitation, he quickly gave the order, "Immediately expel the energies. Chip, can you determine the nature of his eye power?"

"Beep. Foreign energies expelled. Initial estimates suggest the effect of the energies to be petrification!"

Eye of Petrification!

Was this the racial talent of the opponent's bloodline?

"Chip, can you determine the opponent's bloodline origin?" Greem gave the order as he summoned a Lava Shield to obscure the opponent's gaze.

The existence of the snake's head and the Eye of Petrification were big hints. The chip should be able to deliver some information.

"Beep. Data reference and examination complete. There are a total of eleven ancient serpentine bloodlines with the Eye of Petrification. The opponent has fine and tightly packed scales. The color of the scales is dark gray. The opponent's eyes are amber in color, with the existence of some dirt-brown spots. According to trait analysis, the initial estimates are as follows: Giant Black Mamba, earth elementium creature, 66% compatibility. Giant Serpentman, a branch of the ancient Medusas, 27% compatibility. Other matches have less than 1% compatibility and will not be listed here…"

"Show me everything related to the Giant Black Mamba!" Greem was practically screaming at the chip. However, communication on the Spiritual level was always the quickest. It didn't matter how sophisticated the thought was; it would be able to get through in the blink of an eye.

The very next moment, all the information the chip had on the Giant Black Mamba displayed in Greem's mind.

The data wasn't complete, but it was enough to give Greem an idea of the strength and terror of this ancient creature.

Giant Black Mamba. Earth elementium creature. An ancient apex predator. One of the most dangerous and terrifying species. They embodied superior physical strength and terrifying Spiritual powers. They were able to inject the energy of petrification into their enemies through the use of their eyes. The innate talents they possessed included the Eye of Petrification and Stonefall Purgatory.

As Greem slowly stepped backward, the serpentine adept hissed as his entire body started to swell and grow in size. In the blink of an eye, he turned from a humanoid adept to a black snake ten meters long. Its body was as thick as a water tank.

The giant snake lifted its head and trained its terrifying gaze on Greem. Dirt-yellow dust rose from the ground, forming an armor of rock around its body. Mysterious and profound patterns filled its armoring.

The snake raised its body high up, now that it had completed its combat preparations. Its mouth split open to reveal the white fangs and forked tongue within.

"Flame Demon? What an arrogant title! This name will no longer exist after today!"

The snake spat out its declaration of war and lunged forward. It bared its massive fangs and bit at Greem, who was already shrouded in destructive flames.

The battle erupted!