Age of Adepts

A sturdy and elaborate stone bridge across the still water lake divided the town into east and west, and the town's only tavern was located on the eastern shore of the crystal clear still water lake.

It was early in the morning, and although the tavern was open, there weren't many customers.

Therefore, when Grim, who was dressed in a black traveler's robe, stepped into the tavern, he did not attract anyone's attention. Even the yawning old Willy, who was wiping down the counter, merely glanced up and paid no attention.

Although Grim had covered most of his body and face with a robe, it was obvious that he was a human just from his exposed hands and the small half of his chin.

In this border region of Lakeside Town, adventurers and mercenaries like this were not uncommon.

Whether it was the brutal jackal in the deep mountains or the orcs in the north, they were all highly rewarded guys from the Zambis Empire, which attracted a lot of unsuspecting guys who wanted to gain merit and rewards. And they were also regular customers of the tavern, so Old Willy was extraordinarily familiar with their outfits and dress.

"You look strange...did you just arrive in Lakeside Town?" Old Willie hands and feet poured a glass of Thunder beer and slid it down the counter to the man in black, "The drink's on me!"

Grim lifted his hood and smiled a sunny, gentle smile, raising his glass and nodding in salute, "Thanks! Good health to you!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, Grim was a fluent speaker of the universal Zambis language.

Looking at the young man's long, dark red hair that fell over his shoulders, his fair skin, his high nose, and the black pupils of his eyes, old Willy flinched and scratched his head, "Are you from the south of the Empire? Such looks are not common in our area!"

Grim smiled faintly and didn't reply, instead he just ordered a stew and sat in the corner of the tavern and slowly ate and drank.

But as Grim ate and drank while contemplating his next step forward, there was some commotion faintly heard in the distance, accompanied by the sound of a loud alarm bell.

"Damn, it must be those jackals scurrying over again..." whispered Old Willy, cursing, coming to the door of the tavern to peer in the direction of the stone bridge.

With just one glance, he was instantly stunned.

The stone fortress fortress that was placed on the other side of the town's stone bridge was now not only burning with a pillar of rushing smoke, but also frantically ringing the warning bell. All the residents of Lakeside Town came out of their houses and looked at the stone fortress in the distance with nervousness and anxiety.

The Stone Fortress Fortress was the only military facility outside the town, with 150 Imperial soldiers stationed inside, protecting the town's safety for years and years.

Now, they had a beacon burning there, which was never a good sign.

The mayor of the town, Gundas, rushed out of the village office in a hurry and ran towards the stone fortress fortress with two of his men while shouting at Old Willy.

"Don't just stand there, old drunkard, organize all the young men of the town and go to Stonebridge to stand by. I'll take the men to see what's going on!"

With that, he hurried away.

Old Willie hesitated, and shuddered as soon as he returned.

The young man had been standing behind him at some point, staring up at the distant beacon in silence.

"Young man, I'm sorry, but my tavern will have to close for a while. If you are truly an adventurer, please stay and help us in Lakeside Town. I'm really afraid that the enemy coming this time is very dangerous..."

Grim paid no attention to this short and thick like a wine barrel, but looked out over the distance, his heart moving slightly.

The elemental fluctuations....

In the place where the beacon was lit, Grim could perceive a strong elemental fluctuation coming from afar, which seemed vaguely familiar.

As far as Grim understood, there were no large-scale spell casters present in this place of the Enwik Dimension. Moreover, this incoming elemental fluctuation was also somewhat inconsistent with the power system of this location, and it seemed to... have a wizard's smell.

Grim narrowed his eyes.

He had seen very clearly while crossing the spatial rift that the two fraudulent witches had fallen in a direction that did not coincide with his own, and could not have come to join him so quickly. Therefore, suddenly perceiving familiar power fluctuations in this alien plane, Grim not only did not have any sense of kindness, but also an ominous feeling of foreboding.

Was it a friend or foe? Did you just happen to pass by or did you come for yourself?

Without hesitation Grim turned away from the tavern and strode off in the direction of the town away from the beacon.

Old Willy could only shake his head and sigh, and quickly squirmed his fat body to gather the town's young people.

The town residents also had more than 2,000 people, in addition to the old and young women and children, summoning up a team of seven or eight hundred people was still not difficult. They also didn't know the situation outside the town, so they could only hold sticks, knives and forks, holding up torches to block the stone bridge, anxiously waiting for news from afar.

In the early morning, the gravel road leading to the stone fortress outside the town was shrouded in a faint mist, making it difficult to see as far as possible.

Suddenly, a miserable scream came from the distance, and a staggering figure rushed onto the stone bridge with a torch held high.

"It's Yorke..."

"Look, it's the york that followed the mayor..."

A few of the townspeople were sharp-eyed and quickly identified the fellow who had hastily fled back.

"Little York, what's going on there at the Stone Fortress?" A brawny, strong man lined up and asked in a loud voice.

"Dead...dead...all dead...Mayor... "Little York shouted angrily as he staggered forward.

A sharp whirring sound suddenly sounded in the pale mist.

A disc-shaped wheel of strange blades suddenly flew out of the mist and circled around Little York's neck before whistling back into the mist again.

Little York's body stiffened abruptly and his neck rolled to the ground, tumbling all the way into the crowd.

The crowd ducked, one by one, terrified and screaming and shouting.

In the distance, the mist shook, and a petite, slender figure slowly emerged, waving five or six whimpering, strange tentacles around her body.

Emerging from the mist was a strange half-human, half-mechanical female, wearing exquisite and ornate black armor, half of her exposed skin and face still human flesh and blood, the other half replaced by a strange silvery-white metal.

The most striking aspect of the line cold and hard face was the pair of dark red glowing weird mechanical eyes.

"She...she's a...witch...from another world!" The knowledgeable old Willy recoiled in fear, his sharp voice almost capable of shattering one's eardrums.

A witch? She's a witch....

This terrifying news immediately scared the shit out of the crowd.

The fact that the Enwick Position had been attacked by the Otherworldly Witches was news that every child of the Zambis Empire knew. However, the Holy Knights sent by the Empire had surrounded the foreign witches in the Dabire Highlands, and I heard that they were about to hang them clean.

How was it possible that they had gone back to the northernmost town of the Empire, Lakeside?

A few cowardly townspeople tried to turn around and run away, but as soon as they did, the half-human, half-mechanical sorceress whistled, and four or five terrifying blades flew out in an instant and cut them in half.

A number of mutilated corpses were dumped on the ground, and the thick blood and horrible gore caused many of the townspeople to pass out straight away.

"All of you stand still, don't move!" Knife Katie advanced at a leisurely pace as she said in a loud and intimidating voice, "Anyone who tries to escape will end up like them."

All the townspeople ducked warily to either side of the stone bridge, giving way to the wide stone path in the middle.

"I'm looking for a man, and if any of you can inform me of his whereabouts, I will spare his life..."

Knife Katie said pulling out a crystal ball from her bosom, and with a surge of witch power, she projected the appearance of a tall and strong young man in the air. Looking at the eyebrows, the outfit, and the size, it was Grim.

Several of the people present had seen Grim at the entrance of the tavern and immediately identified him, and they couldn't help but look at Old Willy.

How keen was Knife Kitty's mental perception, and instantly her eyes fell on the short, fat Old Willy in the crowd, and a coiled metal blade wheel whined and whirled over, forcing the rest of the crowd away and trapping Old Willy in the center.

"You've seen this guy?" Katie's condensed face smiled wryly.

"Meet...meet..."

"Where is he?"

"He...he went..."

Just as Old Willy turned to point away, a swift fireball flew out of the distant mist and landed on him.

With a whoosh, the chunky, barrel-like Old Willy exploded into a cloud of blood, and then was instantly vaporized by the shockwave of bursting flames.

Immediately the small town's collar folk scattered in fear, and miserable screams and cries rang out.

Instead of caring for these bored grylls, Knife Kitty's mechanical eyes creaked and moved lightly, slowly locking onto the tall figure that stepped out of the mist on the other side of the stone bridge.

"Grim..." smirked Knife Kitty, "Thought you'd be fleeing madly! How dare you come forward?"

"Run? Why do you run?" Grim whipped through the mist and came to a stop a hundred meters away from the other side, sneering, "You're a 3rd rank, and I'm also a 3rd rank. In this hellhole, neither of us can exert our maximum strength, so why should I be afraid of you?"

"Because you're an elemental sorcerer and I'm a mechanical sorcerer!" Blade-Katie's scarlet mechanical eyes grew brighter, "The dissidents should have more influence on you, and... I'm a witch-hunter!"

When it came to hunting witches, Knife Katy's metal combat boots stomped with a huge force, and her small body of less than one meter six was like an arrow, fiercely pouncing on Grim.

The metal tentacles on her torso were wielded with a fierce blow, and five luminescent metal blades were whistling and cutting into Grim's body from all angles.