Age of Adepts

The assault came from outside the city.

Hundreds and thousands of infected civilians that had been transformed into poison zombies swarmed from every direction, wildly charging at the city gates.

Spirit of Pestilence Remi had spread the plague seeds across all the nearby human settlements for this moment. The number of people who he had secretly infected reached into the thousands. To avoid alarming the knights, all of these plague seeds had remained inert within the bodies of the merchants and villagers, reducing their lethality to the minimum.

When Greem gave the order, Remin instantly activated all of the plague seeds.

In a single instant, thousands of humans across a dozen towns immediately collapsed to the ground, howling in agony. Their bodies then started to transform into terrifying poison zombies. Those with a weaker Physique died tragically in the painful transformation process.

Only seven or eight hundred managed to survive the process and become poison zombies.

However, this was enough!

Remi gave an order, and all the people who had now lost their minds and turned into poison zombies surged recklessly toward Haisas. They scaled the city walls with inhuman speed and agility, instantly clashing with the city guards that had hurried to the defense.

Rather than a clash, it was more like a bloody slaughter!

These poison zombies did not know death. They had also lost all of their sense, making them fearless warriors. Each one of them leaped across the ground as if they had wings, moaning and howling as they lunged at the city guards.

The guards’ swords felt like they had landed on tough hide when they struck the zombies. The impact alone caused their wrists to go numb, but none of their attacks could wound the enemies.

These senseless poison zombies feared no sharp weapons and were tremendously strong. They leaped around the walls, pushing the warriors to the ground and tearing pieces of flesh off of their bodies. Their teeth and claws had become as sharp as beasts and were coated with terrifying poison. Even a slight scratch would be enough to cause a human warrior to die of poison within a dozen seconds.

Moreover, these newly dead warriors began to twitch and scream once Remi floated past them. As soldiers selected to fight for the Empire, every one of them had excellent Physique. Most of them survived the poison zombie transformation and started to claw their way up from the ground.

They tossed aside the swords in their hands and were still dressed in the armor they’d worn in life. Their skin turned a fearsome dark green color, covered with plenty of purple and black spots. They howled like the other zombies and sprinted on all fours like beasts, quickly joining the army of monsters leaping down the streets and attacking the civilians.

There were still sparks of battle continuing across the city walls, but those were only the efforts of a few Iron Knights defending a single tower to the very end. When the impatient Remi personally stepped upon the battlefield, this last bit of resistance was finally squashed.

Three zombies dressed in the standard armor of the holy knights now stood behind Remi, only capable of howling like beasts.

It was effortless to create these poison zombies, but they were really only effective against ordinary people. Individually, each of them was only as powerful as a beginner apprentice adept. Even the trainee knights could quickly deal with multiple zombies.

That was why Remi never treated them as the main force of the attack. Instead, he ordered them to scatter and break into the homes of civilians to infect as many humans as they could.

Hundreds of poison zombies broke into Haisas City, instantly turning the place into a hellish purgatory.

The helpless civilians ran in every direction, panicked and terrified. Their screaming voices, howls, cries, and pleas for mercy filled the entire night sky, waking the silent city from its quiet sleep.

Ordinary humans had no means of retaliating against the poison zombies. Their only recourse was to close their eyes and wait for death.

Apart from having no sensation of pain, no fear of death, and terrifying poison, these zombies also possessed the agility of panthers. They scaled walls as if they were flat ground and traveled from building to building as if they had wings.

The people ran through the streets, helplessly crying for help. Meanwhile, all around them, lithe and agile figures could be seen freely jumping from building to building and wall to wall.

These figures would occasionally lunge out of the darkness, pushing the humans to the shadowed ground before gathering together and sharing the feast of flesh.

Some courageous and more powerful men finally stood forward, using their swords and knives to cut down the poison zombies. However, the zombies did not seem to mind the massive wounds and gashes on their bodies. Even if they were missing a hand or a head, they continued to bite and scratch away at their enemies.

They were not thoroughly dead until they had been completely ground to pieces!

Moreover, when they died, a green and yellow cloud would emanate from their bodies. Any living creature that came into contact with these clouds would be infected with plague seeds in the blink of an eye.

Those who had mustered the courage to retaliate quickly lost all their will when fighting against such resilient monsters.

They abandoned their wooden clubs and metal weapons, fleeing to hide. Not one of them was willing to continue fighting against such undying monsters.

While the poison zombies ravaged the city of Haisas, squads of well-trained city guards in armor stepped forward and formed formations at all street junctions. Then, under the leadership of the holy knights, they shouted battlecries and slowly pushed ahead.

A few of the unintelligent poison zombies leaped down from the houses above, lunging at the array of spears with their bare hands and feet.

They jumped and successfully impaled themselves on the forest of long metal spears. They ignored such terrifying piercing wounds. Instead, they continued to wriggle their bodies, allowing the spears to pass through their flesh such that they could slowly approach the array of shields.

Their black claws scratched against the metal shields, leaving terrifying marks upon the surface. Pungent poison smoke came drifting out of their wounds, quickly engulfing the front of the shield formation.

Three shieldsmen started coughing intensely as the formation began to distort slightly.

“Do not panic. Maintain formation and continue forward.” The holy knights acting as the commanders shouted.

White holy light then descended from above, dispelling the plague virus that had just infected the soldiers and allowing them to recover. The holy knights lifted their swords and sliced the poison zombies hanging from the spears to pieces before using fire to ignite the smoke and burn it to nothing.

Clearly, ordinary poison zombies were not very effective against the holy knights.

The holy knights countered both their poison and sharp claws.

From a particular perspective, the holy knights were indeed the bane of all evil creatures!

At the moment, Haisas City was filled with powerful holy knights, many of them capable of fighting against Remi himself. As such, the Spirit of Pestilence chose to hide behind the scenes, furiously creating more poison zombies to assault the ranks of the holy knights. That might have inflicted tremendous casualties upon the poison zombies, but it also occupied many of the holy knights within the city.

While the plague zombies continued to fight with the holy knights in the streets of the city, Greem had changed into proper Iron Knight attire and was slowly walking toward the Holy Knight Chapel.

Along the way, he could see the holy knights and soldiers who had gathered in a hurry. The streets around the Chapel were already under strict martial law; no one was allowed to approach. Only a few of the higher nobility of Haisas City could seek temporary shelter in the Holy Light Chapel under the protection of the knights.

The other nobles could not even take a step into the Holy Light Chapel, no matter how they cried or begged or cursed or screamed. However, they were still in a much better position than ordinary civilians. After all, they were surrounded by a large group of city guards and holy knights who could protect them.

The city had now descended into chaos, and the command hierarchy of the city guards and holy knights had become less organized.

Dressed as an Iron Knight, Greem managed to arrive at the gates of the Holy Light Chapel, almost entirely unobstructed.

Towering barriers had been erected here, guarded personally by large groups of holy knights.

These knights couldn’t help but grab their swords upon seeing someone approach. Their breath caught in their throats. However, they silently let out a sigh of relief when they saw Greem’s armor.

A Second Grade Silver Knight walked forward and shouted, “What is your name? What are you doing here instead of staying at your station at this moment?”

Greem spoke with a solemn face, “Bring me to see the Lord Commander, I have found tracks of the adepts in the city!”

“What? Where are the adepts?” The expression of the Silver Knight froze, and he quickly and anxiously asked.

“This is urgent. Bring me to see the Lord Commander now. I was sent to the noble’s area a few days ago and accidentally discovered someone colluding with the adepts. They brought the adepts into the city and even secretly held some terrifying and evil ceremonies.”

“What? These damned nobles.” The Silver Knight immediately gritted his teeth and said, “Very well, this is useful information. I will bring you to see the Lord Commander now. Only he can give orders for such an important matter. Come with me!”

Having said that, the Silver Knight turned to leave a few orders to his subordinates. He then hastily led Greem into the interior of the Holy Light Chapel.

As the two walked into the chapel, Greem looked around at all the buildings inside this place.

“Sir, I secretly took a look at their evil ritual earlier. It is very likely going to be used to attack our Holy Ward. Is the security there sufficient?”

“Don’t worry!” The Silver Knight casually pointed at a brightly lit hall to the right of the cathedral and explained, “Three Silver Knights guard that place. The enemy will have no chance of...”

Suddenly, before he could finish, he felt an overwhelming elementium flux come from behind him.

When he turned his head in shock, it was a rapidly growing metal fist that greeted him.