Age of Adepts

An elite group of goblin soldiers that had been guarding the surroundings of the ritual hall was immediately ordered to intercept these two adepts.

What made him want to scream out loud was how long the soldiers lasted. They hadn’t even stood three minutes before being annihilated by that fire adept. The opponent had fully demonstrated the terror and power of an otherworldly adept.

The fire adept had turned into a five-meter tall flame fiend. Unbearably hot elementium fire surged out of his body as he casually strolled through the metal corridor. The floor, walls, and the ceiling started to melt under the ambient heat as he passed by. They melted like wax.

The goblin soldiers that dared to attack him were all melted along with the walls; their equipment and flesh turned to liquid. Only the magical machines and goblin chariots could last a bit longer due to the special alloy materials they were composed of.

However, these were not enough for them to harm the terrifying flame fiend.

The beautiful witch, on the other hand, was sitting on the flame fiend’s blazing hand as they slowly advanced towards the ritual hall.

The other adepts quickly started to gather toward the location of the fire adept as if they had sensed his aura. However, the fervent defense Gazlowe’s subordinates were putting up was significantly delaying their progress.

After all, a barely animated magical machine lifeform like Gazlowe watched over the whole thing. The adepts and dragonborn were essentially moving within his body. That was why there was no possibility of remaining undetected. The adepts would have to utterly exterminate the goblin guards of whichever checkpoint they chose to walk past.

These adepts also clearly lacked the might of a Second Grade fire adept like Greem. As a result, they were being held back by the magical machine squads.

When the flame fiend that Greem had turned into finally descended upon the ritual hall with the heat of hell itself, a massive magical machine squad was already waiting there.

They didn’t rush forward to fight with Greem. Instead, they retreated to the front of a large glass vat, as if they were protecting its contents.

Greem’s scorching heat radiated to every inch of the room the moment he stepped inside. What surprised Greem was an invisible mental barrier that had sealed off the ritual hall. This barrier had forced his Ring of Fire out of his body.

This barrier also seemed to be a unique mental consciousness domain.

The scarlet Ring of Fire around Greem’s body clashed with the white mental barrier, neutralizing and attacking each other. The Ring of Fire was superior in terms of strength. When combined with the frightening heat around Greem, it was burning away the mental consciousness without any real resistance.

However, the opponent’s Spirit seemed to be incredibly resilient, and the mental consciousness continued to crash against the Ring of Fire with unrelenting waves. Even though it was weaker than the Ring of Fire, the mental consciousness was ahead when it came to a numerical advantage.

The two individuals involved in the clash couldn’t help but frown when their domains of different attributes clashed. They developed a deep apprehension of each other.

If it weren’t for Gazlowe’s mental barrier, Greem could use his Ring of Fire to turn the entire ritual hall into a world of magma and fire. When that happened, everything would be reduced to boiling lava. Whatever plans Gazlowe had in mind would have failed.

Sadly, while Gazlowe had yet to show himself, his familiar mental consciousness permeated the room.

Greem lightly placed Alice at his side on the ground. He shared a deep look with her before striding towards the white mental barrier in front of him.

The intensity of the flames that the mental barrier had to endure increased as Greem closed in.

Gazlowe’s furious grunt suddenly rang out in the underground network.

"It seems I can’t fight against you without a true body," Gazlowe’s mental flux flowed into Greem’s mind clearly, "If that’s the case, then come at me."

As Gazlowe’s mad mental consciousness trembled through the air, the magical machines, goblin chariots, and various magic energy weapons located in front of the glass vat were suddenly taken away from the control of the goblins. They quickly gathered in a single spot.

Kacha, kacha!

A series of complicated combinations occurred, and the three dozen magical machines, eight goblin chariots, and many magic energy weapons started to combine in a sequence, not unlike the fictional ’Transformers’ back on Earth. They turned into an odd and bloated humanoid figure that slowly stood up.

Countless black gun barrels and cannon barrels emerged from the bloated body of the machine. All the magic energy weapons started charging at the same moment as blinding white light shone in the room.

"Dammit."

Greem could only curse a single time before a flood of energy fireballs and metal bullets devoured his body.

The brutal energy attack lasted for twenty-six seconds!

This barbaric attack finally ended when the magic energy weapons on the giant metal monster started to fall apart due to excessive energy output.

As the white light slowly dimmed, the mighty and terrifying flame fiend appeared in a terrible state before the goblins.

Greem had managed to summon two Lava Shields to defend himself before the attack had reached him. If one were to include the six Fire Shields and one energy shield that he already had on him, Greem’s energy defenses reached a height of seven hundred and twenty-eight points.

A defense of this level was enough to resist a whole round of attacks from ten First Grade adepts.

As long as the enemy couldn’t break through his defensive spells in a single round of attacks, Greem would be able to mend these defenses while the enemy prepared for the next attack.

Sadly, this barrage of magic energy weapons had reached an energy intensity of over a thousand points. A single moment of carelessness and Greem’s Lava Shields were blasted to pieces. Lava flowed everywhere, and flames splashed all over the room.

The Fire Shields also shattered into sparks after the destruction of the Lava Shield. Greem’s flame fiend’s body was riddled with holes. If he hadn’t used his fire energies to protect key parts of his body like his heart and head, he would have been reduced to dust by that one round of attacks alone.

Gazlowe’s attack had visibly angered Greem.

The giant flame fiend let out a furious roar. The lava and molten metal beneath his feet flowed upwards along his leg and mended all of his wounds in a matter of seconds. The flame fiend roared again, and frightening elementium fires surged out of every crack of his body. These fires turned into red streams of flames that shrouded his body.

When the streams of fire finally stopped, a finely-crafted armor of fire covered Greem’s body.

Magma for a body and ember for an armor!

Greem roared again and again as a pillar of fire surged outwards and blasted against the body of the giant metal monster.

The metal monster that had been cobbled together collapsed to the ground under the terrifying stream of flames. It hadn’t even lasted seven seconds. The body that had been twisted and merged by an outside force shattered into tens of thousands of components that went rolling to every corner of the hall.

"Come out, Gazlowe!" Greem strode forward, his blazing face turned towards the glass vat of blood, "Let me see what you have become."

The stream of fire in his hand swept forward without a single pause and crashed against the towering glass container.

Even the twenty-centimeter thick tempered glass couldn’t endure such terrifying flames. A crisp crack rang out and the entire container shattered.

A terrifying deluge of blood spilled out from within and clashed with the fire. The strange sight of blood contesting with fire was almost mesmerizing.

A strange and gigantic lifeform appeared before Greem amidst the crimson mist in the air.

It was the brain of a lifeform that had been magnified and enlarged a thousand times!

From a close distance, the white lights running through its uneven and trembling main body that represented mental activity made the brain itself a work of art. A dozen thick and agile brain nerves dangled from the bottom of the brain.

Greem would never have imagined that the short, sly, and dying goblin would have turned himself into a creature like this if it weren’t for sensing Gazlowe’s mental flux within.

Gazlowe’s evolution vaguely resembled the otherworldly Mind Flayers, though just in terms of appearance. If it weren’t for meeting Gazlowe several times before this, Greem would have suspected that the goblin had wholly turned himself into a Mind Flayer.

"Gazlowe, if you choose to submit to me, I can give you the right to continue living! Otherwise... " Greem took two steps forward and pressed his Ring of Fire towards the monster.

However, the massive brain defeded against all of his attacks with a single white light.

"Submit to you? Hahaha," Colorful light spilled out of the gigantic brain as if it was thinking, "You should be the one to submit to me!"

The metal passage around Greem suddenly folded inwards under the guidance of some strange power as mental flux radiated out of the giant brain. Greem would have been crushed into meat paste had he not promptly braced the walls with his magma hands.

Joyous and satisfied laughter rang out from the giant brain when it saw Greem trapped between the metal walls. It performed all of its communications psychically due to the lack of a vocal organ.

"Don’t you forget, I have completely assimilated the Steel Capital; you are practically standing in my body right now. Do you want to fight with me while in my base? Hahaha!"

Greem was in a dangerous situation, but there was no trace of fear on his blazing face.

"Is it done yet, Alice? It’s tough trying to hold out here." Greem finally couldn’t help but complain.

Alice?

It was only now that the giant brain noticed that it hadn’t kept track of the female adept during this entire fight.

The location of the female adept now seemed to be at the space furnace.

This thing that should never have happened with Gazlowe’s evolved and impeccable brain had just happened before his eyes!