Age of Adepts

The Spear of Vengeance was a path of development that went utterly against the mainstream of the elves that allowed such a fearless elf, who was as muscular as a male elf, to jaw-droppingly advance to Third Grade.

At that time, it had caused a noteworthy commotion within the elven kingdom!

The unhealthy custom of the elves to judge people on their appearances was hard to shake off. Even though Spear of Vengeance Eijae had the power of a Third Grade, most elves still found it difficult to acknowledge her ’chivalry’ and ’valor.’ After all, elegant speech, noble aura, and pretty looks were what determined nobility and status in the tradition of the forest elves.

As for bloodshed and means of murder? These were not necessities required for a peaceful life in the eyes of the forest elves!

Thus, even with Spear of Vengeance Eijae’s power and reputation, she was still rejected from mainstream society by the higher elves of the kingdom.

Still, the priests under Saoirse were immediately overjoyed to hear that Eijae was currently living near Skywater City. Under their insistent orders, a mission delegation was quickly signed and sent out in the name of the Elven God’s main temple.

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

The battle at Quel’Lithien Lodge was still ongoing.

When compared to the savagery of the insect sea, the elves’ resistance was weak and powerless.

Their lack of strong fortresses and untraversable terrain caused the wide and flat forest roads, tree bridges, and winding vines to become paths upon which the swarm could freely travel.

The living space of the elves was being pushed back, becoming smaller and smaller.

Most of the elves had even been forced up the canopy, relying on the winding vines and tree bridges to quickly move from tree to tree. Yet, it was at this moment that the fast magical mantises became even more terrifying.

They were like wicked wolves hiding outside the herd, relying on the cover of the trees to quickly close in on the resisting elves. Once the magical mantises found the opportunity to rush forward, their lightning-fast speed and extremely sharp scythe-limbs were an absolute counter to the elven blade dancers and bowmen.

While the forest elves were still running and escaping via the canopy, the magical mantises would catch up with unbelievable speed and cut them down or knock them off the tree one by one.

The elves that fell from the treetops had no chance to get up again; they were instantly pinned to the ground by the swarm. It didn’t matter how hard they fought. They could not escape the tragic end of being eaten alive by tens of thousands of bugs!

Billis, still hiding within the sea of insects, didn’t care for the deaths of these elves. He took advantage of the insects’ cover to devour plenty of elven combat professions. The ordinary elves, on the other hand, would be dragged underground after being bitten to death. There, white eggs would be stuffed into their bodies.

Many elf corpses were already bloated like balloons!

With the nourishment of the elven meat, dozens and hundreds of black bugs would climb out of every hatched egg. These young black insects feasted on flesh and matured at a rate visible to the naked eye.

When their slimy bodies hardened into tough shells that could resist blades and swords, they would surge to the surface and join the rumbling swarm.

It was through such a technique of instant hatching and maturation that the boundless sea of black insects had not only not shrunk since the start of the battle, but had even started growing in size.

The swarms of the past didn’t have too many abilities apart from sharp fangs and limbs. However, with the increase of Bug Adept Billis’ power, the swarm had also evolved and gained some strange abilities.

Billis was only First Grade now. The only ability he could grant the swarm was the ability to tunnel.

The reason why such a massive bug army had been able to hide from the elven patrol and their flying scouts to sneak all the way to Quel’Lithien Lodge was due to the swarm’s ability to tunnel.

One could easily forsee the swarm gaining new abilities with Billis’ continued growth.

If the swarm was said to be the warriors commanded and controlled by Billis, then the magical mantises were generals and heroes of the hive. Their numbers were few, but every one of them had powerful combat ability that far surpassed ordinary insects.

Even in their current form, the magical mantises possessed all sorts of strange abilities: Submerge, Rapid Flight, Looming Presence, Rabid Execution, Entrap, and many more. They were like assassins hiding within the swarm. It would be exceedingly difficult for the enemy to escape unscathed once they reached the enemy’s side.

The unique Entrap ability was like an invisible shackle. As long as the magical mantises’ scythe-like limbs came into contact with the enemy’s blood, the enemy would no longer be able to escape from them. The only way to survive was to kill these magical mantises!

In truth, if one were to compare the numbers of the swarm and the First Grade warriors in the elven garrison, the garrison of Quel’Lithien would easily crush these magical mantises that barely numbered thirty. However, the elves possessed no ability to defend against the endless assault of the swarm, let alone being able to assemble formations to deal with the magical mantises.

The blade dancers and elven archers had their formations scattered by the swarm, and could only escape in groups of two or three using the cover of the trees.

Loose groups like these had no chance to retaliate or resist the squads of magical mantises. As long as they were forced off the trees by the mantises, the surging swarm would be able to devour any of the enemies.

During such a one-sided battle, the magical mantises also encountered brave resistance from the elves. Three magical mantises had already died on the battlefield since the start of the fight. However, the elves had already lost over a hundred First Grade fighters.

The elven powerhouses with eye-catching performance were immediately be swarmed by Mary and her Blood Knights the moment they showed themselves.

Regardless of how individually strong these elven powerhouses were, they would not be able to fend off attacks from multiple Second Grade vampires unless they were of the undefeatable Third Grade.

In this crimson cloud of vampires floating above the canopy, there were a group of blood elves with strange abilities apart from Mary and her three Blood Knights. The blood elves numbered only seventeen, three of them being Second Grade. The newly added Second Grade blood elf was the female captain that Mary had just embraced.

The captain didn’t look much different. She was still using the same weapons as well.

The only obvious difference was her eyes– they were crimson red.

The female elf that had just been fighting selflessly for the forest elves had now turned into a cold and bloodthirsty blood elf marksman. Her arrows filled with crimson energy cut across the sky. Every shot was accompanied by the sound of an elf howling as they fell from a tree.

There were two deadshots in the three Second Grade blood elves that Blood Queen Mary had Embraced. The last remaining Second Grade blood elf was a weapons master. Now that they had the ability to drain blood, they became far more fearless and reckless with their attacks.

If their techniques were said to be suited for combat while they were forest elves, then now that they had become blood elves, they had been modified to be ideally suited for slaughter!

Combat and slaughter sounded similar; the difference didn’t seem huge. However, when placed on a bloody battlefield where death and life were decided in the matter of an instant, then the difference between combat and slaughter was what determined the outcome!

Every single elven ability was crafted too much in pursuit of beauty and elegance. The elves could never use vicious moves such as having an ally take a hit for them, trading blow for blow, or even simply rolling upon the ground. However, these modified blood elves did not hesitate to charge up to the enemy’s side and trade wounds with the enemy, even if it meant them being more greviously wounded.

In fact, they didn’t even care if the enemy’s blades slashed apart their delicate and pretty faces.

These were all things that the forest elves could never do!

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

At this moment of the battle, the forest elves were already starting to show signs of collapse.

By the time the black sea of insects devoured the elven town, the garrison had lost all its home-field advantage. They had no choice but to blow the horn of retreat.

The black forms of the swarm were everywhere across the deep woods.

The elves could only jump upon the tall trees, desperately fleeing toward Skywater City.

At first, they still gathered in groups of two and tree, covering for each other as they retreated.

However, when the squads of magical mantises struck, these loose groups immediately fell apart. The elves could only give up on all hopes of retaliation and turned to escape as fast as they could.

Up in the towering ancient trees, the black outlines of the magical mantises were like the silhouettes of roaming reapers. Apart from slightly wounding them, all elves that were caught by the magical mantises had no chance of escaping.

One slender and tall silhouette after another was caught up to by the magical mantises and quickly fell to the ground. What was left was the constant repeat of the same unspeakably horrific scene.

With the presence of the magical mantises, few elves were fortunate enough to escape Quel’Lithien!

However, the three treant warriors that served as guardians of the town also delivered tremendous casualties to the army of insects. Be it the swarm or the vampires, none of them had powerful long-ranged attacks. Apart from swarming the treants with sheer numbers, they had no other way of dealing with the tough and sturdy treant warriors.

In the end, Billis’ bug army paid a price of fifty thousand insects to fell these three ’sacrificial pawns’ that had stayed behind as the rear guard.

In only one and a half hours, the insect-vampire alliance led by Mary and Billis had routed the elven garrison.

They then spent another hour to pursue the elves and deal with the three treant warriors. By the time they returned to Quel’Lithien, it had been three hours already. This way, there was only one hour left for them to gather the spoils and scour the town for elven resources.

As such, the horrifying insect army that had just been fighting promptly broke out into bustling work in a race against time.

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