Age of Adepts

The skies were a dark red.

The ground was filled with terrifying volcanoes of various heights.

These volcanoes were exceedingly active and violent. Thick, black plumes of smoke billowed from their craters. As the black smoke continued to rise, even the crimson skies became obscured by rolling black clouds.

Red lava flowed all over the exposed magma, forming large and small pools all over the earth. Groups of fire creatures played and frolicked in every one of the lava pools.

An exceptionally majestic volcano stood tall at the center of this world. Its tip couldn’t be seen, hidden behind the black clouds in the sky. Only half of its black and red body could be seen.

This gigantic volcano was still active. The thunderous rumbling inside the volcano was like the eternal background music of this world. Tens of thousands of powerful fire creatures gathered around the volcano. Each of them was over Fourth Grade in might, with many being powerful Fifth Grade existences.

Without exception, they were all gathered around small fire altars at the foot of the volcano. Without fail, they meditated and prayed here every day, even forming patrols to prevent any non-fire creatures from approaching their holy mountain.

However, as they conducted their daily prayers today, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the majestic holy mountain.

“The Orb of the Fire God! I sense the aura of the Orb...who is it? Who is it that dared to steal my treasure?”

The violent voice washed across the world, instantly dispelling all the black clouds within five thousand kilometers. The mighty body of the giant volcano appeared before the countless believers for the first time.

Wherever the fearsome voice passed by, the ground cracked and the volcanoes erupted. The world itself trembled before it. However, the fire creatures living in this kingdom did not appear fearful at all. Instead, they prostrated themselves on the ground, praising the great Fire God Sinai as they did so.

A five-meter-tall fire giant kneeled piously in front of the largest fire altar. He asked with his booming voice, “My master, what is it that has incurred your wrath so? Your most loyal servant Arihi awaits your instructions!”

This fire giant was a terrifying Fifth Grade powerhouse!

Fire God Sinai vented his anger after rising from his slumber. He then slowly retracted his overbearing divine power. Only then did the thousands of volcanoes across the Kingdom of Fire’s vast territories cease erupting and return to peace and quiet.

“I remember now. My Orb was stolen by a bunch of despicable adepts. Arihi, I just sensed the presence of the Orb. The Fifth Grade divine spell Scorched Earth that I sealed within has been activated. Send someone to investigate immediately. Send back the planar coordinates if you find the culprit’s location or the Orb of the Fire God...hmph! These reckless fools. I will cast down a clone and raze their world to ashes!”

“Yes, my master! It will be as you wish!”

Fifth Grade Fire Giant Arihi turned and left the god kingdom upon receiving his orders. He teleported to another planar world that belonged to Fire God Sinai.

He took his place in the Great Temple there and sent out the Fire God’s decrees to the dozens of subordinate lesser planes. These major planar forces that served the Fire God Temple immediately went into action searching for information on Greem and the Orb of the Fire God.

To their surprise, their aimless search actually ended up tremendously successful. An anonymous, unaffiliated lich provided an incredibly valuable tip to the Fire God Temple.

The forces of the Fire God immediately switched the focus of their investigation; they set their sights on a planar war occurring in the World of Adepts.

It seemed like...the aura of the Orb of the Fire God was leaking from there!

............

Scorched Earth was a Fifth Grade divine spell.

It was a powerful spell sealed within the Orb of the Fire God.

It was said that this was also the first Fifth Grade divine spell that Fire God Sinai created after his ascension!

As for its power?

One could judge that much just by looking at Fiveface!

Fiveface was truly miserable this time.

He might be Fifth Grade, but his power had been limited to peak Fourth Grade level while within the World of Adepts. That gave the human adepts he typically looked down on the opportunity to injure him.

Of course, his Strength might be limited, but his tough Fifth Grade Physique remained. He still had no problem crushing a peak Fourth Grade human adept.

Sadly, he was truly, incredibly unfortunate!

Firstly, his opponent Greem was also an unusual individual.

Even though Greem did not even have the Spirit of a peak Fourth Grade, he had somehow mysteriously masted a powerful principle fire. It was an unimaginable phenomenon in most planar worlds.

Secondly, Greem had equipped two pieces of Fifth Grade divine equipment.

Due to the might of the Orb of the Fire God and the Tome of Corruption, Greem could endure the violent attacks of a Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lords. He was even fighting him to a standstill.

Most importantly, Greem was actually able to draw upon the Fifth Grade divine fire-spell Scorched Earth that was sealed within the Orb. That was the real reason that Fiveface was suffering such a tragedy!

He had been hit directly by a Fifth Grade divine fire spell after being grievously injured in his savage tussle with Greem. Even as powerful as he was, Fiveface collapsed instantly.

The ferocious divine spell surged into Fiveface’s body, charging and rampaging recklessly through his insides. Fiveface’s four-hundred-meter-tall body turned scarlet in a single instant.

It was almost as if a volcano had been stuffed into his body; endless flames and lava were waiting to burst forth. The scales on his body flared as red flames came bursting out of the gaps between them.

Through his skin, so swollen it had almost turned transparent, you could see that it was no longer blood that flowed in his body. It was viscous, boiling-hot lava.

The terrifying power of the fire had nowhere to go. It could only rampage in Fiveface’s body, instantly causing four of the five heads to explode into pieces. The only remaining head also lost one of its eyeballs. A giant, bloody hole remained where the eye once was.

“Save me!!! Nair...Many-Arms...save me!! I...I’m going to die!!!”

Fiveface had been tortured to the brink of death by the Fifth Grade divine fire spell. He no longer cared about Greem. Instead, he instantly turned and fled towards Inkdeep Valley. Bloody holes erupted all over his body as he ran away. It wasn’t blood or organs that came spilling out from within, but clusters of fire and thick lava.

If things continued at this rate, he would probably be consumed by the flames before he could flee the World of Adepts, even with his massive body.

The other minor Scourge Lords were absolutely shocked. They had known that the legendary fire adept was a troublesome opponent, but they never expected that a Fourth Grade human adept would defeat a Fifth Grade minor Scourge Lord. Moreover, it seemed like such an overwhelming defeat.

It was important to note that Fiveface was already the most powerful amongst them. If he couldn’t deal with the legendary fire adept, then even they were in danger.

They were rats in the same hole.

For the first time, the minor Scourge Lords felt a genuine chill from the bottom of their hearts. Could it be...could it be that this invasion of the World of Adepts would be a trip to their graves?

Without any hesitation, the minor Scourge Lords turned and ran, racing toward the bottom of the valley alongside Fiveface.

A chase began!

“Now you think of fleeing? Too late!” Greem roared from the center of the battlefield. He had paid a heavy price. If the enemy were allowed to escape now, it would be a massive loss for him.

Greem strode forward and grabbed the air with one hand. Large balls of fire energy gathered in midair and turned into a one-meter thick-chain under his expert fire manipulation skills. The chain rattled as it cut across the sky and wrapped around Fiveface’s body.

Clang! A muffled boom rang out.

The fire chain instantly pulled taut as Greem’s gigantic body skid forward, dragged along by the furiously fleeing reptile. No matter how much he leaned back and pulled with his arms, he could not stop his body from slowly sliding toward the valley.

“Declan...Kerala...come help me, quick!” Greem pulled with all his might as he shouted.

“Coming! Coming...I’m coming!” Declan and the several Central adepts hurried over hastily from the horizon. They quickly helped Greem pull onto the creaking fire chain.

With the help of a Fourth Grade body-refining adept, Fiveface’s momentum finally came to a halt. The valley was just a hundred meters in front of him, but Fiveface’s giant body was being pulled back by the human adepts. He could not even take a single step forward.

Moreover, as more and more adepts joined the effort, Fiveface was dragged further and further away from Inkdeep Valley. He left deep gouges in the ground as he clung on for dear life.

Fiveface finally let out an ear-piercing scream of fear and despair.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dust rose into the air and the earth quaked.

Three equally gigantic and ferocious figures landed on the edge of Inkdeep Valley. They were Fiveface’s companions.

Fiveface screeched with the only head he had left, as if he had just set eyes on his saviors.

“Save me!!! Many-Arms...save me, and I will give you all my subordinate planes.”

Fiveface was calling for help from the many-armed giant. The giant’s body was also covered in wounds. He had barely managed to get here after escaping the Association adepts’ pursuit.

The many-armed giant hesitated for a moment when he heard Fiveface.

While he was wondering if he should save his ally, Greem had already let go of the fire chain and was sprinting toward the valley.

Many-Arms’ expression changed. He glanced at Greem’s giant body fearfully. Finally, he dove headfirst into the valley and vanished without a trace.

“Basta......”

Fiveface instantly despaired when he saw this.

Before he could let out a final cry of anger, a heavy fist blazing with golden flames smashed Fireface’s last head into pulp.