Age of Adepts

It had to be said that after becoming a sorcerer, Grim's time dimension seemed to have been different from that of an ordinary person.

The last time we encountered that Catherine, the other party was still just an ordinary trainee knight who needed to exert all his strength to stand firm in front of Grim.

But now, the other party was already a Black Iron Knight who was admired and respected by celebrities!

In a trance, Grim realized that five years had passed by without him even realizing it.

To Grim, five years was just a 'slightly' longer fight between him and a few witch hunters. But for the other guys, five years was already enough time for them to cross an important part of their own lives.

However, even if this Kathryn's growth in strength was exaggerated, it was impossible for her to detect the flame rune that Grim had punched into her body.

In the past five years, this Flame Rune had also sent back countless broken and messy messages, but they were all blocked by Grim himself. At that time, he was busy battling with several witch-hunting wizards, so how could he have the time to browse through the growth of a small trainee knight.

However, after solving his own enemy, Grim who freed up his mind picked up this line of Catherine and instantly grasped the changes in the other party over the past few years through the past data accumulated in the chip database.

Black Mountain City?

Catherine is now in the southern part of the Zambis Empire, in the city of Black Mountain.

A lair of the remnants of the Fraud Witches seems to have been discovered there, and the Paladins are trying to rally their forces to try and wipe them out.

According to the vague information Catherine had sent back, the witches' lair seemed to be hosted by two 3rd level Fraud Witches and had repelled multiple attacks by the Paladins. The two sides had been fighting in the jungles, deserts, and swamps surrounding Black Mountain City, and the continuous war had been going on for a long time.

For some reason, the two 4th rank holy knights who had originally led the group to head there had suddenly turned halfway, which was why the outnumbered holy knights had faced the sinister and cunning foreign sorceress and had continuously besieged the city for over two months without achieving final victory.

As the rising star of the new generation of Black Iron Knights, Catherine had performed exceptionally well in the battle against the witches, having personally 'purified' five witch followers and an uncountable number of evil witch beasts.

The team of Holy Knights that had besieged the Witch had seven 3rd rank Gold Knights, and that was what attracted Grim the most.

He knew very well in his heart that the two Holy Knights, needless to say, must be around the Gonsas Volcano at the moment. If at this time, Remy's Plague Corps was marching towards the capital of the Zambis Empire, the two Holy Knights would definitely prioritize hanging this group of enemies that had suddenly appeared.

At that time, there would be no 4th rank divine knights sitting near Black Mountain City in the south.

And there would also be the perfect battlefield for Grim's extensive scavenging of Holy Light souls.

As for whether or not this move would help the Fraudulent Witch, it was clearly not an area that Grim was truly concerned about!

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

Deadwood Canyon.

Within a hidden cave, six fraudulent witches clad in black robes were sitting around a campfire, discussing in low voices.

"There's not much time left..." a one-armed witch said in a deep voice, "The Paladins who came to search for us have been led to Raven Ridge, but they will eventually react. Once they turn around and intensify their search, the Illusionary Witch Formation set up outside of Deadwood Canyon won't be able to hold them off for too long!"

The one-armed witch was giving her opinion, but her eyes were looking straight at the tall witch at the top. Not only her, but the eyes of all the witches present were glued to that witch, waiting for her to give her orders.

As soon as the tall witch opened her mouth, she couldn't help but cough incessantly, the hoarse, slurred sound of her pulling on the old bellows sounding heartbreaking. The shriveled, withered chest rose and fell violently for a long time before the restless magical energy in her body was calmed down.

"What's the situation there in Misty Valley?" Finally, the tall witch spoke up.

"It was just breached by the Paladins seven hours ago..." a white-haired witch whispered.

"Where are the sisters there?"

"Two have died in battle, and the remaining one has moved west. From the last message she sent back, it doesn't look good!"

"What about the Burial Swamp?"

"There's been no contact for three days." The white-haired witch's voice grew lower and lower, "I'm afraid..."

The witches in the audience could not help but look gloomy.

Once upon a time, they were all powerful witches who had crossed all major planes. But now, they were inadvertently attacked by the natives of this plane, and were reduced to rats who could not be seen in public. This kind of frustration and bitterness can simply drive people crazy.

Ever since the Witch's Tower was overthrown, their group has been pursued by the mad dog-like Paladins.

In order to preserve their strength and power, the remaining twenty or so Fraudulent Witches had to turn into pieces, evade the Paladins' pursuit, and scatter and abscond to the vicinity of Blackwater City.

Here, they barely established themselves, creating five hiding spots with defensive witch array guards in one breath, and carefully recuperated here.

Unfortunately, after only three or two months of work, that group of Paladins, like sharks that smelled blood, tracked them down again. From the tops of high mountains to the depths of abyssal rift valleys, no matter where the witches lurked, the Paladins would leave no stone unturned to seek them out and 'purify' them one by one.

It was reasonable to say that there were no weaklings who were able to charge through the heavy siege of the Paladins, and the proportion of 2nd rank among the remaining fraudulent witches was far higher than the usual ranks of witches. Unfortunately, no matter how strong a witch was, once she lost her logistical support, her body's sorcery materials ran out and the sorcery equipment she wore was destroyed one after another, the combat power she could exert was greatly reduced.

Thus, in the absence of supplies, even the most powerful 2nd and 3rd ranked witches would have the possibility of being mauled to death by their opponent!

What's more, the Paladins here were simply killing more than they could kill, there were an astonishing number of them, and they were going forward and backward with no fear of life or death. What was even more frightening was that the number of high-ranking Paladins following behind them was not a fraction less than the Fraudulent Witches.

So, from 23 witches three months ago to 12 witches now, the number of Fraudulent Witches had drastically decreased to a heartbreaking level. And it was the abominable Paladins that were roaming the hills in hot pursuit outside that were causing all this.

There were originally two rank 3 Witches of Fraud stationed in the Enwik sector, and one of them died at the hands of a rank 4 Holy Knight when the tower was breached. The 3rd rank witch who had to abscond with her injuries was the tall witch who had been coughing deeply, Tess Cynaria.

While fleeing, she was struck by that 4th rank holy knight so hard that half of her chest was obliterated. If she hadn't been carrying the High Sorceress Potion with her, she would have been unable to hold on for dear life.

However, these past few years of bouncing around and hiding, she never had the time to search for the right magic potion to concoct her injuries, so although her life was saved, she had fallen victim to the serious aftermath. Now, the battle power that she was able to exert was only at the 2nd rank intermediate level.

Once the power that erupted exceeded the limits of this broken body, the barely maintained life system could collapse at any moment. With their current lack of medical care, that would be a sign of death.

Thus, suddenly hearing a series of bad news, Tess Cynaria's heart was even more filled with misery and sorrow.

It was only after a long time that she managed to control her emotions and asked, "Where is Lord Itariel Tower?"

She was now a misnamed 3rd rank, but Italiel, who had crossed over to reinforce them, was still an authentic 3rd rank witch. And the other party had met up with the witches on their way to escape.

The main cause of the fall of the tower was the loss of the witchcraft materials and the lack of rescue efforts. Therefore, the witches stationed in the area were displeased with the Itariel Witch and refused to follow her orders.

When Tess asked, several of the witches present looked at each other, but none of them seemed to know where the witch had gone.

Only the white-haired witch hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Yesterday, it seems that the Itariel Witch received a witchcraft message and hurriedly left after simply explaining that she was going to meet a friend, without specifying where she was going..."

The faces of all the witches immediately changed in unison.

"Illyria, are you old and confused... What kind of friends would that Italiel have here!" The one-armed witch was indignant, looking worried and uneasy.

The white-haired witch was startled, then it dawned on her, "Are you worried that she will betray us? That's impossible. She's a witch too! Those natives won't leave her alone..."

"Hmph, what time is it, and you're still so childish. If she really meant to come to our rescue, why would she put the most important thing on that bitch Lena!"

The one-armed witch's statement immediately resonated with several of the witches, and they all cursed with hatred.

"Lord Tess, we cannot hesitate to move now! Otherwise..."

In the midst of the discussion, a few witches suddenly turned pale and looked back towards the entrance of the cave in unison.

Just a moment ago, the few defensive witch formations they had placed on the outskirts of Deadwood Canyon had been touched. Judging from the other party's speed without pause, it could only be the Itariel witch who also held the authority of the witch array.

If it was just Italiel, they probably wouldn't have reacted so strongly, but the point was, according to the feedback from the witch array, there was a stranger who entered Deadwood Canyon along with Italiel.

A stranger? In this bullshit different plane of the world that is full of pursuers, so-called strangers mean enemies, and enemies mean fighting and sacrifice. Have they sacrificed fewer sisters and witches over the years in the Enwick dimension?

Therefore, when they perceived a strange life through the Guardian Witch Formation straight into the cave, all the witches tensed.

Who was it that Italiel had brought with her? Are they friend or foe?

All the witches drew their wands, raised their wands and posed as if they were enemies!