Age of Adepts

The walls in front of them trembled violently.

Swarms of nightmare creatures swarmed past inside the dark and dusky corridor, rushing towards the battlefield.

And in the shadows above the corridor that they couldn't see, a palm-sized, unremarkable-looking black shadow was slowly but surely crawling forward.

The surface of its body was covered with furry hairs, and its sharp claws gently gripped the gaps between the rock blocks, silently moving forward against the shadowed corners of the ceiling.

The battle outside the castle was still fierce, which could be detected by the trembling of the walls and the speed at which the nightmare creatures were consuming.

This was already the fourth floor of the Nightmare Castle, and the Nightmare creatures that emerged from the various chambers and secret passages had all reached Level 3. They were all terrifying monsters that tyrannized the side outside. But here, they were just expendable items for a high level war.

Mary wasn't as powerful as Grim to be able to fight Kathryn head-on. Therefore, once exposed, what awaited her would inevitably be a siege by powerful 3rd level nightmare creatures.

But to Mary's utter surprise, after sneaking in from the third floor of the castle, her actions had never been smoother. Although the interior of the castle was filled with an astonishing number of nightmare creatures and densely packed with terrifying magic traps, there seemed to be an invisible deity inside her head silently giving her instructions.

What route to take, where to find traps, when to wait in silence, and when to pass with confidence... With the guidance of that tiny voice, Mary passed through the barriers and obstacles, bypassed the lurking sentries and traps, and reached the fourth floor of the castle.

And if she had sensed correctly, the core of consciousness that rose up and was engaged in a ferocious soul battle with Grim extended out from here.

Not daring to spill her spiritual consciousness out of her body by a single cent, much less using her spiritual perception to scan everything around her, Mary gave full play to her Bat Demon Transformation characteristics, sneaking and carefully probing along the way, and finally crawled down the long tunnel into a tall and imposing witchcraft hall.

The predecessor of this place might have been the core hall of Keslin Castle, with a dense cluster of crystals on top of the central platform and a ten-meter diameter black ball of light suspended above it, connecting itself to the various areas of the castle through a single dark and deep band of magical light.

On the surface of the black ball, there were hundreds of strange magical images floating on the surface, all of which were instant images sent back from various parts of the Nightmare Ancient Castle. In particular, the number of battle images in front of the castle was the largest, accounting for almost 70% of the magical images.

Right now, there was a shadowy and illusory humanoid light figure standing pinned in front of the central platform.

He was looking up at the ever-changing images on the black sphere, his hands flying as if they were dancing. Under his control, the offense, defense, and the flow of huge life energy from all parts of the castle were all in order.

Although the humanoid light and shadow was illusory, a particularly bright halo of light flickered at the location of his chest, faintly transmitting a soul fluctuation unique to life forms.

Kirthlin's soul core....

Mary's heart was so hot that she wanted to climb through the dome.

But as soon as her mind moved, that strange voice in her head popped up.

"Be careful, that humanoid figure is an imposter... This place is filled with witchcraft traps, don't take half a step closer!"

Mary's body trembled slightly and immediately stopped her steps.

Being so far away, she was bound to be unable to actively perceive the other party's soul scent, so it was really not easy to judge its authenticity.

However, the voice in her head had helped her along the way, so Mary chose to trust the other party without hesitation.

"Then what should I do? There's not much time left..." asked Mary in a heartbeat, "Alice, if you know what to do, just tell me, no need to pretend that you're coaxing me!"

The voice in her head paused for a moment, finally withdrawing that neutral and deep voice and replacing it with Alice's sweet and clear voice.

"Hehehe, I'm not afraid that you'll hesitate whether I'll harm you or not!"

"Well, I don't know if you'll harm me. But I just need to know that you would never harm Grim. So...I trust you!" Mary cut to the chase.

Alice trailed off slightly and sighed grudgingly, "You and Grim meet up, and I don't know who's luckier! Ahem, you should be down there...."

Mary didn't even want to take the trouble to think about discerning the other party's so complicated psychological changes, but closed her eyes and listened to her planned 'strategy'. No guy could keep or hide his secrets in front of the powerful Fate Witch.

Even the newly born Kirthlin!

There were no secrets she couldn't find out if she wanted to. The difference only lies in her willingness to pay the high price of acquiring those secrets.

With Alice as her cheating talisman, Mary, who was transformed into a petite bat, was able to turn in and out of the densely packed witchcraft traps and psychic threads like a godsend. Her target was no longer the humanoid figure in the middle of the hall, but the small room behind the hall that was covered by a tall pillar.

The small room was only a dozen square feet in size, and its furnishings were extremely simple, with only a table and a chair.

The long-lost Freed sorcerer was sitting silently on the wooden chair, with a black dagger sticking out of his head, his eyes turning white, his body trembling, and his mouth shouting hoarse and dry.

Apparently, that Kirthlin was still in the midst of an intense soul 'fusion' with this Freed. If it wasn't for the desire to obtain the knowledge and memories in Fried's soul intact, I'm afraid this soul war would have ended long ago.

Mary cautiously crawled to the door of the chamber, but was blocked here by a thin film of energy light. It was difficult for an agile assassin like Mary to break it with a single blow.

With it blocking the doorway, it would be impossible for Mary to sneak in without a sound.

Just at the moment when Mary was at her wits' end, Alice's voice once again rang out.

"Be ready! I've communicated with Grim, and he'll launch a most violent attack in 7 seconds. That attack will touch the energy of the Nightmare Castle and make this light membrane disappear for half a flex. You may want to take advantage of this time and use your soul seal to control the opponent the first moment you rush in..."

"Got it!"

The connection of thoughts was undoubtedly the most swift, and even the most complex and tangled thoughts could be exchanged with others hundreds or thousands of times in an instant.

So, the moment the blow that shook the entire castle came, Mary instantly transformed into her human form and jumped straight into it while the light film was dissipating.

Her movements were swift, but this was, after all, the nightmare frontier of Kirthlin. With the advantage of home turf, the slightest fluctuation of blood energy was captured by the near-by Kirthlin.

The witchcraft hall outside immediately roared with energy, and a terrifying spiritual pressure pushed over as if it were a small mountain, threatening to crush this place into pieces.

And in the chamber, 'Freed's' body shook abruptly, instantly suppressing all the struggle, raising his head, and two dazzling strong manes lit up in the depths of his cloudy, dim pupils.

There wasn't much time left for Mary to strain!

For top-tier powerhouses like them, a single thought in their minds was almost instantaneous, and instant reaction to sudden encounters with enemies was an essential part of instinctive defense. These things didn't require thought or hesitation at all, and almost the instant Mary's breath 'leaked', the entire Nightmare Castle and Keslin's counterattack was ready to be launched.

The energy light films that had disappeared for an instant because the aftermath of the Great War had affected the energy transmission appeared once again. They spread out from the entrance walls and quickly diffused towards the center. It might only take a short half-second for them to reseal the chamber door.

At that time, the only way for the intruders to attack Kathryn would be to break this energy light film first.

Unfortunately, half an instant was also time.

To Mary, who had superior agility, her opponent's quick reaction was still nothing more than a comical slow motion.

One moment there was a bang of blood-colored energy diffusing at the door of the chamber, transforming from a small bat demon form into a normal human form. The next moment, Mary's bloody figure had passed through the door of the chamber and appeared on 'Freed's' side.

Two small draconic tendrils instantly appeared between them and turned into terrifying wind vortex sharp blades that wrapped around Mary's body. A piece of wind blades as thin as scales and as fast as knives wreaked havoc on the surface of Mary's body like a roller blade formation, even though she had blood energy protection, Mary's body still had countless tiny wounds as if she had been instantly retarded.

The wind vortex blades were still expanding and diffusing, trying to block all routes of Mary's advance.

'Freed' had a simple idea, using this terrifying instant sorcery to force Mary back, trying to buy himself some time to react. With a single flex, no, with half a flex, it would be able to mobilize the powerful power of the castle's core, protect the body, and allow its own core consciousness to escape back to the central crystal.

Of course, this would mean that it would have to give up the soul of this up to 4th stage advanced sorcerer, and moreover, it would also mean that it would simultaneously give up the chance to hit that terrifying threshold in the short term.

It was a pity, but it didn't hesitate in the slightest.

Thus the pain of the soul being subjected to it, it wasn't willing to try anymore!

It was just a pity that the enemy it faced today was not only the legendary Fire Witch who was making waves outside the castle, but also this super-sensitive Blood Witch who was also at the 4th level. But the one who really decided its fate was the one who was behind the invisible curtain, the Fate Witch Leader Alice!

Mary didn't have the slightest intention of retreating or evading, but she actually withstood the opponent's terrifying sorcery of an instant counterattack, barged through the wind vortex blade's stranglehold, pounced on 'Freed's' body, and devoured it with a vicious bite on its neck.

And at the same time, a strange dazzling light surged into the 'Freed' body, surprisingly forcing the newly budding Kirthlin to remain within the body.

No.........

'Fried' screamed in alarm, two voices clearly present within its hoarse roar.

But no matter how much it struggled and roared, powerful vampiric instincts still overtook its native consciousness....