Age of Adepts

Within the dense forest.

Somewhere near the Troll Capital.

In a hidden underground cave, the voodoo ritual was still going on....

The one who presided over the voodoo ritual was the old poisonous woman who worked under Remy the Poison Spirit, while Remy himself hid away with Mary to watch the whole thing.

The cave wasn't large, the ground was rugged, and there were still some ashes from a campfire.

Once upon a time, it might have been the lair of some large carnivorous demon, but unfortunately, its habitat was too close to the troll capital. So this place was obviously converted into a crude camp by the later trolls.

Inside the small underground cave, there were common areas, restrooms, an armory, and some unexplained small storage rooms. The area was guarded by a squad of seven trolls, and now they were part of the Voodoo ritual sacrifice, never to return to their homes again.

The public camping area was cleared of a patch of ground, and the bones of countless beasts and the skulls of troll warriors were piled up to serve as fuel. Their souls and flesh and blood were stirred out by the witching formation below and turned into a cluster of pale green ghost fire, quietly licking a strange crystal suspended above.

There were too many miserable dead souls entwined and bound inside the ghost fire, they were crying, they were wailing, they were cursing... And the operating witch formation collected the powerful hatred and resentment that they were spilling out, turning it into a terrifying voodoo curse that was sent into the body of the power crystals.

In line with the resonance between the same source of power, this power crystallization was also echoing somewhere with the Troll Capital. Following the origin connection between the two sides, this extremely powerful voodoo curse was also infiltrating the source of that magical power, one by one.

Through the voodoo ritual, Remy could even hear a roar of rage transmitted through the rules level.

Apparently, the power source had already detected the voodoo infestation and expressed its anger.

Unfortunately, its anger not only failed to trigger Remy's fear, but instead caused it to grow more hyperactive and agitated.

Cursing a deity... no, cursing a divine object, to be able to personally experience such a thing was something for any 'cursed sorcerer' to show off and be proud of!

Thus, when Mary had taken out that power crystal a few days ago, Remy had taken on this 'scary' task without hesitation. The reason why this task was called scary was because such an act would undoubtedly deeply anger that divine creature.

Once the other party became furious and carried out unbridled retaliation, I'm afraid that this Vampire Expeditionary Army could count a single slap on the wrist of a guy who could escape a godly creature's pursuit.

"How was the effect? Can you pass the plague to that guy?" Mary obviously knew nothing about voodoo rituals, and after watching it for half a day and finding nothing, she could only be patient enough to ask questions.

Hearing Mary's question, Remy rolled his eyes.

"Lord Mary, you think too highly of us! It's a mythical creature! Not to mention the plague, we can't even pass on a small weakness curse. Even one bad one, and this place could..."

As soon as the words were said, Remy stirred violently and turned his head to look in the direction of the Voodoo Ritual.

There, above the voodoo ceremony, a dark space suddenly twisted and shattered, and from it burst out a scorching and terrifying golden lightning bolt.

Distraught, the old voodoo woman presiding over the ritual screamed out and was struck by the lightning.

The few clothes she had on her body instantly turned into ashes, her short, shaggy, dirty hair stood on end, her greenish-purple body skin became charred black, and even a curling wisp of black smoke came out of her open mouth.

Fortunately, the old poisonous woman had been transformed into a 3rd rank plague creature, and a 'divine punishment' couldn't kill her yet.

As she struggled to climb back up from the ground, Poison Spirit Remy opened her small mouth and blew out a thick stream of yellow-green smoke at her.

The poisonous smoke swiftly rushed into the old Poison Woman's body and quickly healed the lightning damage she had received.

However, the divine energy that came with the golden lightning was not so easy to dispel. As a result, Old Poison Woman's own breath of strength inevitably lowered a little.

Seeing the scene before her, Mary once again looked at Remy with a strange look in her eyes.

"You're smart!" Mary faded away.

"Thank you for the compliment!" The poisonous spirit Remy still had a playful look about him.

"You just said that you couldn't pass on a single curse of voodoo, so what's the point of continuing this voodoo ritual any further?"

"Lord Mary, the voodoo ritual may not curse the feathered snake, but it can contaminate its mind. So, between a clever and cunning Feather Serpent God and a Feather Serpent God polluted by violent emotions, which one would you choose?"

"Of course it's the latter. That fellow holds absolute power, and it's hard for us to match it head-on. But once its power goes out of control, here's our chance! Are you...sure there's a way to make it lose its mind?" Mary wondered.

"If it were truly infallible, I wouldn't be wasting my time here." Remy had a thoughtful look on his face, "Ever since using the voodoo ritual to establish an intrinsic connection with that feathered serpent, I've felt a thousand strange things. It... doesn't seem to be as powerful as the trolls have described."

"Oh? What did you find out?"

"Either your previous information was wrong, or the other party is in some sort of weakness... In any case, that Feathered Serpent God definitely didn't reach the 5th rank, but a 4th rank creature! Otherwise, that divine punishment just now would never be this much damage!"

"Not 5 steps, but 4 steps?" Mary was also not half surprised.

She didn't have Alice's skill of being able to analyze the enemy's hidden secrets with a hammer and a piece of animal bone. On the battlefield, any hint of information about the enemy would need to be exchanged for blood and life.

Therefore, upon hearing of Poison Spirit Remy's judgement, Mary also became both shocked and suspicious.

If the enemy was really only a 4th stage as Remy judged, then Mary and the others didn't stand a chance at all. As a vampire sorcerer who came from the main plane, facing a strong person from a secondary plane, even if the opponent was one rank higher than herself, from the bottom of her heart, she was not afraid at all.

Nothing more than a total crush of knowledge, skill, equipment and consciousness!

The natives of the main plane may not know anything about shamans, but shamans have access to a wealth of knowledge about the other plane from books and crystals of knowledge. Offsetting the effects of planetary suppression, the main plane witch was superior to these sub-dimensional natives who were still in a state of primitive ignorance in every aspect.

In terms of battle strength alone, the Vampire Expeditionary Army led by Mary could not compete with the thousands of brave and physically strong Troll Warriors. But with just a 'small' plague, Mary and the others were able to push back the terrifying troll army without any bloodshed.

Even in the face of a Troll Capital that numbered 20,000 to 30,000, Mary and the others were not afraid at all, and were instead trying to wipe out the enemy. They even included the indigenous totem god, the Feathered Serpent God, who had remained hidden behind the curtain.

The thing that brought her bottom line was the difference between the two sides' positions and mindsets.

As the main position sorcerer, Mary regarded herself as a predator in her heart even if she was inferior to the other party in terms of strength. And no matter how strong and brave the other party was, in her eyes, it was just a big wild boar that was a bit 'fat'.

However, as she was thinking fiercely, Solus, who was in charge of keeping watch on the perimeter, strode in.

"Master, there's movement in the Troll Capital. A large number of troll warriors are coming in this direction, and it looks like they want to search us out!"

"Hmph, it looks like that stinking snake is in a hurry and sent them out again. Inform all the blood clans, give me all of them, and lure them deep into the jungle to kill them hard!" At this point Mary looked hyper, "I can't believe that stinky snake is still safe in its lair after so many of its followers died!"

"If that's how it can endure, then something is really wrong with its original body. At that time, we'll kill it inside its lair. Let's go..."

With that said, Mary whistled and rushed out of the hideout with her many vampire men.

As for this voodoo ritual site, with a 3rd rank old poison woman presiding over it and a poison spirit Remy, the troll who was able to break through the vampire defense and run here to cause trouble was by no means too lucky.

Otherwise, how could it have done something so self-destructive!

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

Hazen Bit, somewhere in the Deku Jungle.

Deep in the dark and deep tropical jungle, a large black and strange substance appeared at some unknown time in the air above a slightly empty and little forest clearing.

These substances were like liquid fluids that were tossing and vibrating in midair, appearing extremely active and restless.

Finally, as the bit space was torn apart with a piercing sound, a thick, inky dark substance spurted out from the crack, instantly invading the forest clearing into a pitch-black, dark pupil ghost.

And amidst the endless darkness, a hazy illusory dark shadow suddenly lit up with two dull, dark lights.

The Shadow Demon was but the body of a Demonic Armament, and was very, very little affected by the power of the bits, escaping the suppression of the bits of consciousness almost as soon as it crossed over.

"Seek out Lord Mary...for personal protection..."

Shadowmoor muttered in a strange accent and quickly located Mary's presence.

"Northeast...2700 miles..."

With the other party's message, the Shadow Demon did not hesitate to move immediately.

Unlike other magic weapons that strutted or flew through the air, the Shadow Demon's way of moving was particularly strange and eerie.

With the ability to travel through shadows, the Shadow Demon appeared in a flicker in a huge shadow cast by a tall ancient tree a hundred meters away. After only a slight pause of half a flex, its figure disappeared without a trace once again, appearing directly within another shadow a hundred meters away....

With this silent shadow travel, the Shadow Demon quickly moved across the mountains and forests for over 2700 miles, closing in rapidly on Mary Witch's location.