Age of Adepts

The Silent Dark Forest.

This was a vast forest located deep within the Black Forest.

Underneath the five-mile wide dense forest, the Silent Dark Forest was filled with powerful demons that usually roosted in various places to dominate. On the outskirts of them, there were also ordinary jungle beasts and birds of prey that were far more than a hundred times the number of demons, as well as an uncountable variety of small herbivorous beasts and insect and spider-like small creatures....

They are far more diverse and varied than an outsider could ever imagine.

From the wind sculptures, gale eagles, chimera, and bipedal flying dragons that flew in the sky, to the razor boars, iron-armored rhinos, berserk baboons, and earth tyrannical bears that ran on the ground, to the strange and bizarre purple worms, blood-sucking spider monsters, and fermi ants, as well as the barbarian bears, shark lizard beasts, and griffins that had become extinct in the main continent....

It could be responsibly said that all the magical creatures that could be described on the Magician's Almanac could be found here, and there were even many mutated varieties that had not been included on it.

Today, even if a wizard scholar well-versed in magical objects was present, it would probably be difficult to identify each of their races, origins, and categories.

Usually, these guys were hidden in the dark and deep forests, with their own fixed living and hunting areas, and seldom traveled long distances to break into other creatures' territories. But today, under the restraint of a strange power, they suppressed their nature and their urge to hunt, and hid in the forest, waiting for the orders from the forest kings.

In the center of the forest surrounded by many demons, three forest kings with different forms and an air of savagery and violence were gathering together to discuss the attack from behind.

In the southeast corner of this small camp, a large group of bird body witches were entrenched together.

As a large demon kingdom in the Black Forest, most of the members of the group were grey-feathered, ugly and vicious-looking, with far more bird-like features than human ones. Only those individuals who had mutated would lose the feathers on their torsos, retaining only some blue bird feathers on their joints, armpits and the ends of some of their limbs.

And the bird-bodied witches present today were clearly the best in the kingdom. Their mounds revealed snow-white and delicate skin, slender body lines, full and swollen breasts, and faces that were unusually exquisite and perfect. The only remaining racial features were their bloodshot scarlet eyes, curved and sharp finger claws, and the blue wings sticking out from their backs.

As spell casters who had awakened the power of the elements, most of the bird-bodied witches were surrounded by the striking elements of wind and lightning. When such a large group of spell casters gathered together, the mountainous and tsunami-like magical breath could even resonate with the magical energy of the Black Forest.

In the middle of them was a beautiful woman covered in a fiery red feathered robe, revealing an elegant and noble posture.

Her posture was exceptionally tall and slender, and she had a charming countenance. Based on her looks alone, she could cause quite a stir when placed in the mortal world. However, the purple pupils with heavy black eyeshadow were shining with the insane and cruel gaze unique to wild demons.

What's more, this beautiful woman, who combined the feminine features of a human and the cruelty of a demon, wore a small, delicate crystal crown on her head.

She was actually a Bird Body Queen who possessed a 4th rank intermediate power!

By all rights, with her 4th rank intermediate power, this Bird Body Queen Philoxie wasn't qualified to be the king of the Black Forest. However, considering the huge number of spell casters in the Bird Body Sorceress Kingdom and the astonishing number of warriors in the community, there was a place for her among the three major forest kings.

On the eastern side of the camp, there was a lone floating mass of jellyfish-like flotsam. It was about the same size as a rhinoceros, floating ten meters above the ground and dragging thousands of strange, silky beards underneath it.

The body of this jellyfish-like demon is translucent, filled with a light blue viscous liquid, which from time to time radiates dizzyingly strange light waves in the dark and dark forest.

This demon was confronting the other two forest kings far away with only its lone person, and it did not lose any ground in terms of momentum. Even when that bird-bodied queen Philoxie's gaze fell on its odd and evil body, it would reveal a hint of scruples and vigilance.

As for the third forest king, it was a huge war bear covered in white fur.

It was five meters tall, but it was sitting like a human squatting on a tree stump, with its legs crossed and a huge pipe in its mouth, and was swallowing clouds with a smile on its face.

On top of its body, it was wearing a set of simple and crude metal armor, which only covered the front chest, back and ribs, while the rest of its body was still exposed. On its head, however, was a metal battle helmet clasped crookedly. Looking at its thick and sturdy appearance, it seemed to be made from the special Starfall Iron produced in the depths of the Black Forest.

The three parties were also worthy king-level powerful demons in the Black Forest's Western Domain, and in their respective ruling regions, they could all be said to be jungle hegemons that no one dared to provoke.

And now, they had finally gathered here under the teasing of the magic tides and began to discuss how to launch a formal attack on the human gathering place.

The Silent Dark Forest was already on the western edge of the Black Forest, and no more than a hundred miles east from here, one could enter the human territory in the central region of the Wizard Continent. It was said that the human sorcerers had already built a tall witch tower at the edge of the forest to guard against their onslaught, constructing a dozen war witch towers.

In the face of such a form, the three Western Kings did not look worried and fearful, instead discussing more about the division of the loot that was scavenged after they had breached the Sorcerer's defense.

"Wizards... we only want wizards!" The bird-bodied Queen Philoxie heaved her crystal scepter and glared at the strange purple pupil in a stern voice, "When fighting, you'd better be gentle with your hands, so you don't kill all those human sorcerers. What we need are living witches, the stronger the better... If you capture living witches, we can exchange the Dark Crystal and the Gala Fruit with you!"

"Gallo fruit is a good thing, I still haven't forgotten that sweet taste." The white war bear had a humanized gluttonous look on its face, exhaling a thick smoke ring, he said, "Don't worry, I'll try to use as little energy as possible when I meet those human witches. But I'll take all the magic crystals of the human witches, whoever dares to steal them from me, hehe, don't blame my fist for disowning them..."

"Well, that's good! Philohi wants human wizards, you want magic crystals, I want human souls... Jie Jie Jie, so we don't have to fight each other, all of us will be happy!" The jellyfish-like demon had no mouth, and was communicating with the other two entirely in spirit words.

"Since it's agreed, let's hurry up and launch the attack!" The white war bear put away his pipe, and the man stood up, growling, "The little cubs have been holding it here for a long time, and once they become violent, I'm afraid the entire beast tide's ranks will be in disarray."

"Fine, then..." the jellyfish-like demon said mid-sentence, Ug came to an abrupt halt, and the flocculent body turned its head slightly, and the thousands of silken fleshy whiskers dangling beneath it raised at the same time, pointing towards the northeastern sky.

There, an inexplicable sound of thunder rolled in.

It was a strange fluctuation from the world rule level that ordinary creatures couldn't detect at all, and only strong people like them whose own strength touched the rule or law level were qualified to embed their mental energy into the ethereal world rules and read the correct information from it.

However, the moment the three of them had just probed into the bitter void, the moment they touched the rules of the world, a word 'roll' full of searing fury rushed into their hearts and minds.

Unable to defend herself, the Bird Body Queen Philoxie squealed and spurted out a mouthful of blood. The fire-red feathered robe around her also instantly ignited with a wisp of fire, with the tendency to transform into a sea of fire and spontaneously combust.

The bird-bodied witches gathered around her side all squealed and rebuked, either swooping over to shield the queen, or soaring up into the sky in search of the strange sneak attacker. The rest, however, gathered the power of the wind and quickly suppressed the strange flames on Philohi's body.

"Don't touch those flames... Scatter them all!" A group of men didn't know good from bad, but Philohi was able to perceive the terror of the golden flames with her keen direct senses.

She threw off the most cherished fiery red feather robe with one hand, turned a flicker and escaped a hundred meters away. And when the wind power of many of her men collided with the burning feather robe, it exploded into a huge flame in an instant.

The three bird-bodied witches who couldn't dodge were affected by the flames, and their bodies and hairs began to burn. However, no matter how hard they pounced and their magic power washed away, it was to no avail. On the contrary, the gathered magic power became the nourishment for the golden flames, and the flames became bigger and fiercer.

It took only a dozen or so fingers for the three Second Order bird-snake witches to be burned alive by the golden fire, turning them into a puff of black ash.

The rest of the bird witches realized the horror of the golden flames and no longer dared to add fuel to the fire, fleeing away from all the flames that had ignited.

And at the same time that Philohi took a brutal loss, the white war bear didn't take advantage of it either.

It was thick-skinned, and was completely comfortable with the burning will that invaded its body from the rule level. As soon as it stood up, it heavily slapped its chest, and a stream of crimson flame gushed out from inside its nostrils, turning the grass in front of it into ashes in an instant.

However, how could the indestructible flames be dispelled so easily!

The White War Bear raised its broad and majestic right paw, staring stupidly at a tiny flame burning in its palm. It had tried many times, using all sorts of methods and means, but it had been unable to annihilate this seemingly weak, small flame that went out with a single blow.

It couldn't use magic energy!

When you use magic energy, it's like playing with oil in a flame, it only encourages it to grow even more... but if you don't use magic energy, do you choke it out with your hands?

The white war bear's left hand bear paw extended two sturdy claws, pinching out the center of the fire with precision. A moment later, released, the small fire was still burning quietly.

The center of the fire seemed to have been rooted in its soul. As long as the fire of its soul was not extinguished, this small flame would never be extinguished!