Age of Adepts

Even though he owned the Lightning Giant, who was a Pseudo-Adept level fighter, and even aided by an elite warrior like the Fire Deity, Greem still didn’t have the confidence to defeat and capture Alice. It was all because Alice’s innate talent in spatial magic was simply heaven-defying!

When you just poured in all your effort and unleashed a great attack, she simply teleported to a far distance and watched you act like a fool. When you relaxed a little bit, she would teleport back in front of you. Faced with an opponent like this, even if one’s overall strength was stronger than hers, perhaps he would be tortured into becoming half-insanity by her.

Since today was the debut of his brand new golem, the Fire Lord, Greem had no intention of turning the scene into a low comedy of lions hunting for flies. Hence, he had put in a huge amount of effort, and even went into the battle personally, with the goal of luring Alice into the flame field that he had prepared for her.

With the help of the chaotic flame field, and together with the Elementium turbulence that distracted one’s spiritual sense, Greem was able to sneakily bury the core of his brand new golem into the soil and wait patiently for Alice to arrive on the battlefield he had prepared.

He had guessed that, with Alice’s character, if there was a chance that she could humiliate him face to face, the treacherous little loli would never let it slip away from her.

In order to improve the mightiness of his brand new golem, together with the core, Greem had also buried a few supreme quality Fire Diamonds and Fire Stones he obtained from the underground volcano. When Alice set her mind at ease and came daring to the predetermined position, Greem had finally summoned his trump card: The Fire Lord.

Fire Lord. Adept level element golem, a large-scale and double-elements creatures of Earth and Fire. Basic body attribute: Strength – 14, Agility – 8, Physique – 16, Spirit – 21. Element magic spells mastered by it: Lava Armor, Shroud of Flame, Fire Core Explosion, Firestorm, Meteor Shower, Earth Quake, Elemental Summoning, Fire Teleportation, Fire Cage.

Aside from the Earth Quake being a pure Earth element magic spell and the Fire Teleportation and Firestorm being pure Fire element magic spells, the rest of them were all mixed magic spells of Earth and Fire element. More importantly, the Fire Lord had also mastered the skill of Elemental Summoning, which was the best ability for a gang fight.

At fifteen minute intervals, the Fire Lord was able to randomly summon twenty Fire element creatures from the Fire Element Plane. From a Fire Deity of a Pseudo-Adept level down to Fire Bats of Beginner Apprentice level, who answered the summon and came through the space was based on pure luck!

Yet, what Greem used to deal with Alice was the only imprison type magic spell the Fire Lord knew, the Fire Cage. Using the double-element characteristics of Earth and Fire, the magic spell could produce a near isolated space in a particular region. Using this magic spell, the Fire Lord could force some opponents to fight a melee battle.

Right after Alice broke through the space, and before she could get far enough, she was forced out from the layer of space by a huge lava pillar that lay in front of her. When she was once again returned to the material plane, she was shocked to find that she had been trapped inside of a gigantic flaming cage, 30 meters in width and length.

Each of the lava rock pillars constructed in the flaming cage had a diameter of half a meter and there were huge gaps between these pillars. With her body size, she could easily squeeze through them. However, before she could put this thought into action, bright red flares started to burst out from between the lava rock pillars and clusters of scorching hot flame had filled the gap. Soon, the flaming cage was completely sealed.

Any creature that tried to get close to the pillars would have to withstand 8 points of fire damage every second!

Meanwhile, the six meter tall Fire Lord was running toward her from behind her with heavy steps that shook the ground.

The look of the Fire Lord was rather similar to a Fire Deity, yet it was stronger and more ferocious. The human-shaped body was completely made up of materialized fire and was covered with a layer of Lava Armor filled with dark red patterns.

The entire body was enshrouded in leaping flame and flowing lava. Wherever it stood, the ground would be toasted dry by the extreme heat. The dark soil and sand would start to soften and became glowing red, eventually melting into a substance that looked like lava.

The color of the flame outside of its body was bright red, yet the flame inside of its body was pure white. One could even see a shade of gold at the core of it. It had a pair of gigantic palms made from condensed lava. Ferociously high temperature flares and flame were emanating from their cracks, making them into a pair of deadly palms covered in violent flame.

The space within the flaming cage wasn’t big. It was surrounded by flaming fire pillars that no one could get close to and there was a Fire Lord who crazily punched and attacked the enemy. From time to time, it would raise both hands high up in the air and unleash an AoE Fire Core Explosion or Firestorm.

A combination like this instantly drove Alice to desperation.

Alice kept teleporting herself crazily and running for her life within the confined space of the cage while trying her best to search for the weak point of this isolated space. But it was a pity that the ominous environment didn’t allow her to halt even a brief second, hence she wasn’t able to focus her attack at the constantly moving weak point. Instead, the dreadfully high temperature and the flame that filled every inch of the space had worn away at her Protection Barrier, making it as thin as a piece of paper.

The Spatial Cut she unleashed did slice through some of the lava rock pillars and shattered them, causing flame and sparks to leap everywhere. But too bad, following the circulation of a red glow on the lava pillars, all damage done to them was instantly repaired. As for attacking the Fire Lord directly, Alice had also tried that, yet all of her hard efforts had yielded no result.

After all, Fire Lord was a real Adept level golem and it had cost Greem 18 points of Spirit to summon. If the Flame Body hadn’t been able to reduce the cost of all Fire element magic spell to half, it would have been impossible for him to deploy it and Lightning Giant at the same time.

Nevertheless, the debut of such formidable golem always meant catastrophe. With Alice’s current overall strength, she could only flee at the mere sight of the oncoming attack and there was no possibility that she could fight it head to head. If the flaming cage hadn’t existed, with just a teleportation, Alice could have always escaped from the attack range of the Fire Lord. Then she could have just fled without turning back.

But now...

What would be the consequences when a person was placed in a cage together with a fierce lion?

No matter how crazily Alice dodged, the flame in the air still burned through her Protection Barrier. Her dress was kindle, her long hair started to curl up, and one after another blisters started to appear on her delicate skin... Wherever she went she would be greeted with flame; the air was filled with scorching hot flares and everywhere had a deadly high temperature. Where could she run?

Even under such a miserable and tragic situation, even if Alice’s voice turned hoarse as a result of constantly letting out pained shrieks, and even if her face was washed with tears, she still clenched her jaw tightly and didn’t want to bow her head and admit defeat to her damn enemy!

If she was defeated once again today, she would rather be killed instantly in this place, a place that brought her despair!

Finally, the fire poison that existed in every inch of the air invaded her body, turning her feet heavy so that she could barely move and her vision started to sway and blurr. Eventually, through her tear-filled vision, the last image she saw was the frighteningly gigantic hand of the Fire Lord grabbing toward her and filling up her entire line of sight.

Losing all her strength, Alice relaxed her tensed mind and her consciousness immediately sank into a vast darkness.

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

She had no idea how long she had lost consciousness for.

When a stream of pure and sweet water flowed into her dried and cracked mouth, Alice finally regained her conscious.

She choked on the water and kept coughing, yet she still swallowed, in her mind, the most refreshing and sweet dew, with big gulps. When her belly was bloated and could no longer swallow anymore, only then did she stop this nearly insane behavior.

She was in a simple and neat apprentice’s residence. She couldn’t find a magnificent and comfortable bed, no luxurious furniture, and no glittering magical crystal lamps. The only thing she saw was a simple wooden bed, a wooden table, a chair, and some experimental equipment, like jars and bottles that were commonly seen among apprentices.

In front of the bed stood a man holding a water-skin and staring at her silently. Of course, the man was none other than the man she hated with gnashing teeth, Greem.

Right at this moment, Alice finally realized that she was completely naked!

Her princess dress had been badly burned, it had become rubbish not better than a pile of ashes, and all her magical equipment was placed on top of the wooden table. As for herself, she was now stripped naked and all of her various burn wounds of all sizes had been covered with a thick layer of pungent black medicinal paste.

Originally, her body had been covered with a thin sheet, but following her sudden movements of sitting up and drinking water, the blanket had slipped off, exposing her delicate, budding body.

Alice was twenty-six years old this year, but her body had been locked forever at the stage she had been at when she was seven years old, the moment she had awakened her innate spatial talent!

There was no screaming, no bursting into tears; Alice just kept staring at Greem’s face, emotionless. She didn’t even pull up the blanket to cover her naked body.

“Why can you control an Adept level element golem?” She asked with a hollow and faint voice, as if she was a puppet who had no soul.

There was no need for her to verify the fact she had been defeated by the rascal in front of her, she could feel it vividly. Because... because the magical contract she had personally drafted was currently tightly tying her to this rascal. She was now a possession of this guy!

Hmph. You didn’t kill me because you don’t want to lose a precious fighter, eh? Also, I suppose you don’t want to offend those frightening Northern Witches! Alice thought pensively. At this moment, her thoughts and mind had become unprecedentedly clear and incisive. Looking back at what she had done during this period, she looked at an arrogant girl who was courting for her own death, a fool who ran further into the path of her own peril.

Since when had she become so stupid? Damn it, I pushed myself to a dead end!

From the moment she had been defeated, it was like Alice had changed into someone else. She had become totally different from the crazy, extreme, and treacherous little loli in the past.

Starting from the moment she had woken up, Alice had begun to walk on the dark path of self-salvation.

Alice’s eyes stared straight into Greem’s pupils, which were black with shades of dark red. She didn’t find any lust in them. When she looked out of the corner of her eyes, she didn’t find any trace of that female vampire.

What is this? Stripped me naked and personally applied medicine on me? Is he trying to soften my grudge and pull me into his camp? If he really wanted me to serve him, why didn’t he ask that Mary to apply medicine? Isn’t that a better way to win my heart?

Could it be... could it be he had an improper desire for the body of a loli?