Age of Adepts

If the Holly Witch was still just scared, then at this moment Qiu Lisa was near desperate!

Although she and Mangus had combined their forces to advance to the 4th rank, they had a huge flaw after all.

Therefore, so far, except for the time during the transformation period when he or she was considered a competent enough 4th level witch, they were only in a kind of transition state between 3rd and 4th level.

When they encountered a 3rd rank witch, they could strong-arm their opponent by transforming into a two-headed witch. But to encounter a truly strong 4th rank, dragging through that 'short' transformation period, they were as fragile as a lump of rotten meat.

Moreover, their biggest and biggest problem right now was... insufficient defense!

Whether it was physique, or magic resistance, they had a considerable gap between them and an ordinary 4th rank. This, coupled with the lack of a powerful defensive sorcery, made their bodies particularly fragile.

Not to mention engaging in a battle with a 4th rank creature, even the 'little bit' of flame aftermath brought by Grim's remote rescue just now could break through their flesh* body defenses and cause 'mishaps', which was already very telling.

With the defenses that Qiu Lisa and Mangus had accomplished together, they were barely able to withstand elemental damage below 1200 degrees. The portion beyond that would have to be carried by them hard.

But Grim's physique was up to 31 points, and carrying the next Evil Hoof attack was still able to withstand it, only suffering a small injury. And Qiu Lisa's and the others' stats combined were only 26 points, with such stats and magic resistance, if they were hit once by that evil hoof, they would probably be injured.

So after seeing the battle escalate, even if she was reluctant, Qiu Lisa could only call out her brother's soul, and the two of them once again completed their combined transformation, swelling up to become that ferocious, two-headed wizard.

Facing a menacing 4th Order Calamity Little Lord, Grim, Holly, and Qiu Lisa coincidentally all took out their strongest forms and began to fight in earnest.

It had to be admitted that this Evil Hoof far surpassed several of their witches in terms of elemental use and coordination of their own abilities.

The witches were more like a group of elemental manipulators.

Although they had linked themselves to the elements through their various natural abilities and affinities, and were able to manipulate the elemental forces as if they were at their fingertips. However, a sorcerer was still a sorcerer, and an elemental was still an elemental, and they were not completely equal.

On the other hand, this Evil Hoof was completely different, as it seemed to have merged deeply with the earth element.

Watching it launch an attack, it didn't even need the set of sorcery spells or gestures to guide it, it was almost as if it was chanting and doing whatever it wanted. As a result, it was often able to resist or neutralize Grim's powerful flame sorcery with a seemingly simple and tiny earth elemental skill.

Moreover, turning mud into stone and stone into mud, as well as petrifying rays were used by it with great skill.

Like a true earth elemental creature, it was able to freely travel through the ground, able to manipulate earth elements in various forms to attack its enemies as it pleased.

And it was this bizarre ability that caused Grim great trouble!

The evil hoof seemed to recognize him as the strongest of the three wizards, leaving almost all of its attacks to Grim.

Using the ability to travel through the earth, it was able to borrow dirt and rocks to block Grim's counterattacks. Then without fail, it emerged from the dirt around Grim and used crazy earth skills like Earth Spear Stab, Stone Lance, and Earth Crash against him.

Once Grim revealed his weakness, his bizarre monocle would radiate* a terrifying petrifying petrifying ray.

This petrifying ray had the strange effect of ignoring physical defenses, and even if Grim encountered it, he would have to deal with it carefully, or else he would end up with a damaged body and an invasion of petrifying power.

On the Grim's part, the extensive burning field also made the Evil Hoof scrupulous.

What it was worried about wasn't the soul-possessing, bone-burning effect of the flames, but rather the fear of being captured and locked in position by the other party.

In the battle just now, it had also secretly tried the power of the opponent's elemental flames.

Scary... scary!

A little fire witch who had just advanced to rank 4, and even his mental strength hadn't fully stabilized yet, that one fireball hitting his body was so painful. This... was simply a bit out of the Evil Hoof's expectations!

It should be known that for powerful creatures like them that roamed the depths of the Star Ocean, superb elemental resistance was almost an essential skill for survival.

With its Evil Hoof's anti-magic skin and superb physique, it was even burned by a small fire witch's fireball, which was a clear indication that the other party's fireball witchcraft had something strange mixed in.

And the only thing that could pose such a threat to a 4th Order Calamity Minor Lord like it was, of course, those rule powers!

A new 4th level Fire Witch who had mastered some of the Laws of Flame....

After slapping this label on Grim, Evil Hoof was extra careful when fighting him.

With three human sorcerers, that two-headed sorcerer was simply 'useless'. Not to mention engaging in a 4th level battle, I'm afraid that he would have trouble dealing with just the onslaught of those alienated beasts. The other human sorcerer hiding in the strange armor, although his attack power was not as terrifying as the fire sorcerer, it was a bit tricky to deal with.

His strange Starlight Sorcery had the strange power to destroy the structure of the spell.

Any spell that attacked his side would be washed away from the model structure by the starlight, thus turning into a scattered torrent of elements, and losing nearly half of its attacking power. The strange armor on his body surface also had good results in defending against physical attacks.

Therefore, Evil Hoof estimated that if it wanted to kill that armor-wearing witch, it would have to take out nearly 50% of its own skills. And to take out that fire witch, it would need at least 80% of its strength, and it would also have to endure the other party's desperate counterattack.

As for that two-headed sorcerer, 20% strength would be enough to deal with it!

Thus while fighting, Evil Hoof was also making a quick assessment.

It had to admit that even with the assistance of the legion of alienated beasts, it would be difficult for it to take out the three sorcerers in front of it. And if this battle continued, its gain would be completely disproportionate to its effort.

So after attacking frantically for a while, that evil hoofed body returned to the top of the distant mountain packs with a shake of its body. And under the command of its strange whistling sound, those alienated beasts also stopped attacking and retreated to gather into a black mass in front of the small mountain pouch.

"Human Sorcerer, your power has been recognized by Lord Ben Evil Hoof. If we keep fighting like this, we'll have lost all our power for nothing, and nothing will come of it yet... But this way, let's cooperate!" Evil hooves towered over the mountain, rose petal-like blooming mouthparts slowly fanning out and mentally mapping out a strange hiss.

Cooperation?

The three sorcerers who had more or less damage to their bodies looked at me and me at you, clearly somewhat bewildered.

Grim shook his tall body and slowly took two steps forward, gazing at that evil hoof and shouting harshly, "I wonder what your Excellency's so-called cooperation refers to?"

Both the Holly Witch and the Two-Headed Witch also slowly retreated to Grim's side, regrouping into a formation.

Only the three wizards were each too exclusive in their power and unable to fully trust each other. Therefore, they also maintained a safe distance of one to two hundred meters between them, never daring to enter another sorcerer's power radiation area.

This was also the norm for high-ranking sorcerers fighting, so it wasn't surprising.

"Since you've come here, you're probably aiming for that floating city, right?" The evil hooves continued to negotiate.

As the three Grim looked at each other, Holly and Double-Head did not speak, acting as if they were completely at Grim's head.

There wasn't really anything to keep secret about this.

After all, at this moment of soldier danger, several otherworldly witches had gotten into the Morian position and quietly arrived near the Ruijing Garden Floating City, to say that they had no intentions would simply be an insult to the other party's intelligence.

After seeing the tall fireman in Grim's avatar nod silently, the open mouthpiece of that evil hoof vibrated more and more intensely.

"Since we both have the same goal and can't kill each other, then... let's work together!" Evil Hoof's ugly mouthpiece was aimed at Grim, "I need the lives and souls of those in Floating City, and I don't think you're going to need those!"

"What I need is the high level knowledge and rare resources of the Arcane Empire stored inside. If you don't mind, the Energy Secret Core is also of interest to me... "Grim chimed in and voiced his needs.

That evil hoof didn't show any opposition or dissatisfaction.

"I want to obtain the secrets of the creation of the high level arcane puppets of the Arcane Empire..." the Holly Wizard also carefully stated his needs.

There were many, many things he wanted to obtain, but on such an occasion, it was obviously extremely unwise for the lion to offend the small lord of calamity with his mouth wide open. And in such a cooperation, everyone's acquisition was directly linked to their own power strength.

In the battle just now, he hadn't taken out the power that made the other party unscrupulous, so naturally, he couldn't ask for more.

"I also want..." the two-headed wizard was delighted at the sight, and was just about to open his mouth to burst out his demands when he was entangled in a cold and terrifying spiritual power that wrapped around his body, thus he could only shut his mouth knowingly.

Such strength as he (she) was clearly not seen by this Evil Hoof, and being added to the cooperative team was purely for the sake of the other two witches.

Therefore, an addition like him (her) was naturally not qualified to make any demands.

Anyway, the Floating Sky City was so big, it would be enough to casually give him (her) a little edge left when the time came.

After all, in the eyes of a calamitous creature like Evil Hoof, everything had to be based on strength.

Without strength, one would be waiting to become someone else's prey!

"It seems we still have some room to work together... That floating city isn't that easy to deal with either, there's still a great arcane master left on it. We might as well team up and take him out, how about body and soul for me and the rest of the equipment for you?" Evil Hoof's proposal was a bit overbearing and final, but it still aroused the interest of Grim and the others.

A great arcane master?

There's no mention of this in the mission intel given by the main team...was it an oversight or intentional?

Grimson smirked and nodded on behalf of this squad.