Age of Adepts

Tigule, the captain of a magical machine squad.

In Greem’s eyes, Tigule had only been a First Grade goblin mechanic that had barely managed to display Second Grade strength by piloting a machine. However, while his identity as a First Grade goblin mechanic was roughly equal to the status of a First Grade adept, he couldn’t translate his body’s attributes into combat abilities of the same level.

He was at First Grade, but he had neither the close combat techniques of body refining adepts, the violent spells of elementium adepts, and especially not any innate talents he had been born with. Under such circumstances, the only thing he could rely on was the magical machine he was piloting.

The Tigule of before had been an individual of his own. The mechanic was the mechanic, and the machine was the machine. The two things sometimes overlapped, but there was still a clear distinction between the pilot and the piloted. There was nothing extraordinary about his performance.

Yet at this moment, for some reason, Greem could sense the trace of a threat coming from Tigule as he looked at him.

Was it a perfect union of man and machine?

A strange sentence suddenly appeared in Greem’s mind, and he couldn’t help but laugh a little at the thought.

However, reality left him no time to think anymore.

Tigule’s attack descended at almost the same moment he emerged from the forest.

Phew, phew!

Two goblin rockets blasting with orange flames at their tails drew strange paths across the sky and circled towards Greem. They were instantly detonated by the invisible Ring of Fire when they reached within fifty meters of Greem.

The rockets filled with excessive amounts of gunpowder exploded in midair, sending shrapnel shooting in every direction. Such an attack would undoubtedly be lethal for an ordinary creature, but it was as insignificant as a casual breeze for a well-protected adept.

In the instant that the flames of the explosion and the smoke obscured Greem’s vision, a metallic claw smashed through the layers of defenses and appeared before Greem.

Goblin rocket attack plus flying claw?

Very creative. Very creative indeed...

The expression on Greem’s face seemed like a smile but wasn’t really one. He couldn’t help but start giving comments on the attack.

Tricks like these might be useful against the low-grade creatures of this world that only relied on their eyes and noses to sense the world. However, adepts mostly used their spirits as a mode of observation. These little tricks that fooled the eye had no place before the all-seeing spiritual senses.

Greem’s body paused for a moment as his entire person leaped fifty meters backward through the use of Fire Teleportation.

What surprised him was Tigule’s Metal Goblin pivoting the moment he stepped out of the fire. The machine lunged until it was only twenty meters away from him.

The Metal Goblin extended its arm backward and expelled dense flames from its palms. This counterforce propelled its body towards Greem at three to five times its usual speed. It didn’t retract its other hand. Instead, the goblin brandished a twelve-meter-long metal chain and smashed its hand towards Greem like a meteor hammer.

At the instant the ’meteor hammer’ descended upon Greem, it had only been one second since his last Fire Teleportation. He required at least another two seconds cooldown to teleport again.

Damn! An explosion of power!

Greem was frantically cursing internally. He raised his right hand, and an equally massive hand of flame gathered in an instant.

At the same time, the Metal Goblin opened its mouth to reveal a gun barrel emerging from within. A flurry of bullets tore the hand of fire into shreds. The dozen magical machines in the sky who were closest to the battle were encouraged by Tigule’s performance. They dove downwards in a pincer attack.

Dammit! If I don’t show you a little color, you lot would really take a Second Grade adept for a herbivore!

Greem, who had mostly been breezing through his encounters, was suddenly forced into a corner by the explosive performance of Tigule. His perpetually calm state of mind started to tremble.

Killing intent surfaced within him. Greem extended his left hand and grasped; the Blaze of Destruction appeared in his grip. The next second, towering shrouds of fire surged out from his body, instantly arming him and turning him into a terrifying flame humanoid.

The three-meter-tall metal machine with the appearance of a goblin clashed with a two-meter flame humanoid spewing wild flames. They engaged each other like two fearsome demonic gods and smashed each other with all they had.

The other magical machines could only circle the two of them, with no ability to join the fight.

The two demonic beings circled as they entangled in a melee. Raging flame streams and shrapnel continuously shot out, piercing holes clean through any object. The fires that clung to the pieces of metal would then turn it into unrecognizable charcoal in the shortest amount of time possible.

For a while, the Second Grade Greem was tied with the Second Grade Metal Goblin.

Indeed, at this moment, Greem was no longer fighting with First Grade Tigule, but the Second Grade Metal Goblin that he had wholly assimilated with.

Tigule’s mastery and use of the attacks available to the Metal Goblin had reached the absolute apex of the machine. The various attacking movements that he utilized had reached their absolute limits as well. Boxing out, rhythm, pressing against the opponent; it was a combat style and tactic that was practically the same as gambling one’s own life.

Inside the Metal Goblin, blood was streaking down the corner of Tigule’s mouth as he used all of his abilities to operate the metal goblin to avoid the adept’s attacks. At the same time, he requested the floating vessel to fire its goblin cannon.

Another seven minutes passed by, and the flying ship finally arrived at the most optimal location. The terrifying cannon at the bow of the vessel was once again revealed.

The magical machines surrounding the battlefield silently retreated into the distance. They anxiously waited while engraving each and every combat maneuver of the Metal Goblin into their minds with feelings of admiration and respect.

The goblin cannon started to charge.

The black sun once again appeared.

Greem was being kept to the spot by Tigule, with no easy way to escape.

Fire Teleportation looked like an instantaneous move, but it still required preparation of approximately half a second. Greem had to painfully admit that he couldn’t even spare that half a second under Tigule’s interference. He had no choice but to accompany this suicidal Tigule in awaiting the descent of the black pillar of light.

They didn’t have to wait long. Forty-five seconds later, the fully charged flying ship shook as black light burst forth from the barrel of the goblin cannon. The black column of light two meters in diameter shot towards the battlefield.

The black pillar of light increased in size as it made its way downwards. It quickly swelled from two meters to ten meters. Twenty meters. Fifty meters. By the time the pillar reached the ground, it had spread to a hundred meters in diameter.

No being of flesh and blood could survive within the black light. At least, not the low-grade creatures that lived in this plane.

As the goblin mechanics opened their cockpits and silently mourned for the great Tigule, a burst of fire suddenly appeared outside of the black pillar. Greem walked out of the flames with the limp Metal Goblin his grasp.

What was happening? Had they failed?

Countless questions appeared in the minds of the goblin mechanics. They silently looked upon the two individuals in the distance, unsure of how to respond.

Greem loosened his grip and threw the Metal Goblin onto the ground. He wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead before summoning the hand of fire and tearing away the metal plate above the cockpit, revealing the limp goblin within.

"Why did you save me?" Black blood flowed down Tigule’s mouth as he yelled, "We are enemies! Why did you save me?"

Greem put on a cold smile, "Because I wanted to!"

Such a simple sentence instantly caused Tigule to choke on his words. It was a while later before he could curse furiously, "Don’t get too pleased with yourself! If my machine hadn’t just run out of energy at that moment, do you think you could have escaped the black light alive?"

Greem laughed coldly, "You have seven sets of magic energy batteries in your Metal Goblin. Each set of batteries can sustain five minutes of basic combat. The sudden burst of power you initiated earlier caused the batteries to exhaust at a rate that was 37% faster than usual, while also causing the machine to take an additional 25% damage. In total, the duration you would be able to fight for was reduced by 46% or more. Did you think I would play with you for so long if it weren’t for having perfectly gotten all the timings down?"

Tigule’s fierce look disappeared. He was fearful of the calm calculations of his opponent.

He had been relying entirely on his burst of adrenaline in the battle earlier. He never had, and would never be able to calculate such precise numbers in the midst of battle.

Out of respect for an equal opponent, Tigule could sense that every number that the opponent gave him was the exact statistic. But if all these were true, didn’t it mean that the entire battle had always been within the control of the enemy?!

What else could be a more significant blow to his confidence and will to fight!

The bloodthirsty aura around Tigule instantly dispersed. The goblin was once again dejected.

The opponent had come from the terrifying World of Adepts. That was a large-sized plane that was famous across the multiverse, and a place with plenty of evil and savage plane conquerors. The knowledge and strength that the opponent possessed were far superior to the goblins. Could the Goblin Empire truly succeed at defeating enemies like these?

While Tigule was shaken and lost in his thoughts, Greem took a look at the circle of magical machines that were approaching him. His body once again turned into a cluster of fire and vanished from the spot.

The enemy left...

The enemy didn’t kill him.

For some reason, Tigule felt none of the joy of having survived. Instead, only sorrow and depression filled his heart.

Perhaps I should have died in that pillar of black light!

Tigule thought to himself.

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

Greem met up with Mary and Billis six kilometers away from the battlefield.

Of course, Greem couldn’t avoid a bunch of nagging and complaints from Mary, telling him about how he shouldn’t have so easily put himself in danger.

"Let’s go. We must escape their pursuit before the flying ship arrives." Greem gave a few simple instructions before escaping into the distance with the other two adepts.

"Master, who will be coming over in the next teleportation once we get through the coming few days?" Bug adept Billis couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.

"Sabrina and Endor! This is actually the place most suited for them." Greem answered as he traveled, without even looking back.