Age of Adepts

The next day, Greem met two reeking midgets.

Clearly, they were two unlucky guys who had been attacked by the Sludge, which seemed to have hit them with both it’s ‘Acid Retch’ and a ‘Shrinking’ curse, thus turning them into their current forms. But, before Greem could learn how this had happened, the two, discovering his presence, clenched their jaws shot and glared at him.

Faced with their angry glances, though completely confused as to why they were doing so, he just quickly handed over the list of the items he wanted to trade to Danny, turned around, and left.

Danny was considered to be one of the friendliest guys among all the Apprentice Adept in the tower, and he had established an underground market by selling info on supply and demand. Greem had come by to tell him that he was selling a Giant Lizard egg and Magic Iron Ore. If any Apprentice Adept was interested, they would come to him for a trade. At the same time, he bought a few useful items from Danny at a high price.

Comparing to previous days, the Tower was rather lively today. Most of Apprentice Adepts had left their room, coming out and talking with their familiar ‘friends’ about all that had happened yesterday. The compulsory mission that Adept Anderson had set for them was like a bomb, bringing a massive storm to the peaceful lives of these Apprentices.

All Apprentices were forced to discontinue their research projects and pay close attention to the latest developments, as their very status as ‘Apprentice’ was at stake.

After all, only a handful Apprentices had immediately decided on their missions yesterday, and most of them were still hesitating. In fact, everyone could tell that these missions had been put out by then Zhentarim Association. This also meant that they would have to form a temporary team with Apprentice Adepts from all over the Zhentarim region to fight together.

This was a situation that never happened before, so, while the uniqueness of this event in their formerly dull lives was refreshing, it also absolutely terrified and disturbed most of them as well.

Walking slowly in the public hall on the second floor, Greem passed through all these perturbed Apprentice Adepts. When these Apprentice Adepts saw him passing by, they would immediately shut their mouths, giving him a ‘your not welcome here’ look. Even a few of the ‘lone wolves’, who normally talked with him, were avoiding him, their faces filled with mixed emotions.

Greem was like a lone wolf who had just been rejected by the pack of wolves, walking slowly in the grasslands. Pulling his hood and covered his head, Greem turned around and left the hall.

Only the strongest three could make everyone stay away from him. Ellen was not capable of doing this.

Greem had no intentions on finding out why the strongest three were being so hostile towards him. In any case, it was probably because of Mary. The thing he was concerned with most was how to improve himself in the shortest amount of time, so he could survive the upcoming mission.

Taking the opportunity, while nobody was watching him, Greem, once again, snuck out of the Adept Tower.

Returning to the muddy swamp, Greem suddenly sensed how desolate this place had become.

Originally, no matter how desolate this place had seemed, Greem could always sense a pack of Ghost Nannies hiding at the banks of the muddy ponds, waiting for their prey. But, now, after performed countless scans, he just couldn’t find the red dots that represented Ghost Nannies on his Elementium vision.

Within his line of sight, there were around four to five large stinking ponds. According to Ghost Nannies habits, each pond should be inhabited by a group of them, at most thirty, at minimum seven.

But now, after going through all those intense battles, the largest Ghost Nanny group, who had inhabited the largest of the ponds, had suffered greatly, causing the groups who lived near the borders to weaken, making their lives seem really miserable.

However, this was better for Greem, as it saved him some effort.

Today, Greem purposely came here to slaughter demons, so he really needed a large battlefield. If there were any Ghost Nannies left over from the past few days, they would be slaughtered by him today.

After inspecting the area again and checking all the surrounding areas (he had the Chip record the terrain data), only then did Greem take out the Clay Golem core.

After spending more than ten hours of recovering, all four energy nodes on the summoning core were brightly lit, showing that they had been fully charged with Earth Elementium. The Golem was ready to show its might!

Greem threw the summoning core to the edge of the muddy pond. As before, when it touched the muddy shore, a huge amount of earthy yellow smoke instantly erupted. This was not real smoke, but dense Earth Elementium flaring up around the core.

Earth Elementium rapidly gathered together. Driven by unseeable forces, the wet soil started to rise and twist, quickly forming into a humanoid Clay Golem that was around Greem’s height.

Too bad it was not a Stone or Iron Golem, or else it’s defense would be strong enough that he could, perhaps, fight face to face with the Giant Alligator King, which was Greem’s target today. You got what you paid for! Indeed, the Clay Golem was cheap, but its defense was only on par with that of a human fighter in full leather armor. It could hardly withstand a Giant Alligator’s sharp fangs and powerful tail.

But the Giant Alligator did have a weakness, or else, with its formidable strength, comparable to that of an Advanced Apprentice, it would merely be a dream for Greem to fight it.

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

Early in the morning, the muddy swamp was still peaceful.

Less than half a mile from the stinking ponds where the Ghost Nannies lived was a vast area inhabited by Giant Alligators. There were a few frightening Giant Alligators just lying around within grass bushes, sleeping carelessly.

But, while they were enjoying their relaxed, leisurely lifestyle, a loud noise was heard, and a crooked figure was seen jumping into the pond where they lived.

Looking at the disheveled hair, full of moss, the pitch-black, dirty claws, and the skinny yet vigorous body... it was actually one of their neighbors, a Ghost Nanny.

As a native creature of the Magic Swamp, all strong demons had their own fixed territories, and the borders of these territories were distinct. No one was allowed to step over into another’s territory. But today, this stinking and dirty Ghost Nanny had dared to intrude into the territory of the Giant Alligators, and this made the Giant Alligators, who had just been rudely roused from their sleep, become extremely angry.

Without making any noise, seven to eight Giant Alligators left the grass bushes, sunk into the water, and disappeared. The only traces of them were some fast moving water lines that led toward the Ghost Nanny.

Somehow the Ghost Nanny had all her arms and legs broken by someone. Thus, even though she had a strong body, she just couldn’t do anything to save herself. Soon, a ferocious large mouth broke the water and forcefully bit onto her upper body, dragging her down as it dived back into the water. More Giant Alligators arrived, causing water to splash everywhere and mud to fiercely roll around. Once these Alligators had tasted blood, they went into a blood frenzy and started restlessly tearing the struggling Ghost Nanny apart.

An enormous Giant Alligator appeared on the banks of the pond.

Unlike the other Giant Alligators, it didn’t charge in to devoured the outsider who intruded on its territory, but pushed its upper body up, like a true king, and slowly looked around.

Those Ghost Nannies had their own leader, so it was impossible for them to intrude on another’s territory without reason. Could that Sinbad be trying to stir up a war between them?

As a demon leader who had gone through a unique evolution, obviously this Giant Alligator King possessed some basic intelligence. Thus it was able to ponder over some simple questions rationally.

But, while it was still wondering, another Ghost Nanny came flying over, drawing a strange line in the air as it fell into the depths of the swamp. After ripped one intruder to pieces, the Alligators had been completely incensed, and the noise immediately attracted those Giant Alligators, making them swarm towards the new ‘arrival’.

Only the Giant Alligator King, who stood firmly on the banks, could see that this new Ghost Nanny had been thrown here by someone, and this ‘someone’ was hiding behind a Killer Tree not far from the pond.

Without hesitating, Giant Alligator King moved its short but powerful legs, beginning to waddle toward the Killer Tree. In order not to alert the ‘enemy’, it purposely moved around the pond, hiding within dense, waist-high weed fields as it sneaked its way toward the target.

Obviously, it had a massive body, but it still tried to sneak around like an assassin. Hiding behind another Killer Tree in the distance, Greem couldn’t help but shake his head.

Although it had evolved and possessed some basic intelligence, it was still a mere demon. Compared to the profound intelligence human had, it’s low-grade intelligence was just a joke.

Even with its stomach kissing the ground, the gigantic body of Giant Alligator King was still two meters tall. No matter how dense those weeds were, they could barely cover its legs and stomach. Its gigantic body was fully covered with hard scales, and pointy spines stood high up on its back, able to be clearly seen from far away. Under such a situation, it still thought it couldn’t be seen. This situation was simply laughable.

What’s more annoying, its enormous body weighed over thirty tons, so the ground would shake briefly with every step it took. But, it still was attempting to sneak around, like it was actually going to launch a sneak attack. It seemed that it had no idea how much it shook the ground with every step it took.

—

Having smoothly moved around a bunch of obstacles, the Giant Alligator King finally discovered a suspicious figure behind the Killer Tree.

It was a hateful human wearing in an Apprentice robe. It also had a few immobilized Ghost Nannies beside ‘him’. Every minute ‘he’ would throw one into the pond in the distance. Thanks to ‘him’, the once peaceful and quiet swampland had become a lively and noisy bloodbath, where the frightening scene of Giant Alligators ripping apart their food was seen everywhere.

The Giant Alligator King angrily glared at this evil Apprentice, and, in order to prevent this enemy from fleeing, it patiently moved forward, slowly yet surely proceeding toward this Apprentice.

100 meters...

70 meters...

50 meters...

20 meters...

Today was its lucky day.

It almost reached the back of that evil Apprentice, and ‘he’ still hadn’t sensed anything strange behind ‘him’.

While praising itself for how well it had sneaked up on its target, the Giant Alligator King lowered its body, making the last preparations for a devastating strike.

Time to die, human! I’m having Apprentice Adept for dinner!

Moving explosively, the Giant Alligator King leaped toward its target.

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