Age of Adepts

Unlike the gods of other pantheons, the orc pantheon worshipped violence and bloodshed. Consequently, every one of them was extremely skilled in battle. They were like wild beasts born for battle. Their savage and cruel forms could be seen at the frontlines wherever there was war.

It was precisely this nature of theirs that made it easy to persuade the orc pantheon and drag them into all the wars of the gods. Moreover, they were fearless in combat and always showed themselves in their real bodies.

The gods of the orc pantheon were already powerful. When they appeared in their true bodies, they were uncontested when they fought against the weak and powerless clones and incarnations of the other pantheons. Consequently, the orc pantheon was one of the largest and most powerful pantheons in the World of Gods. They were not a group that ordinary pantheons could hope to compare to.

The Death Witches’ mission here to destroy Strongwoods Plane was akin to slapping the orc pantheon across the face. Thus, it was no surprise when the God of Slaughter himself appeared and seemed to be preparing to break into the plane to exterminate all witches.

Seventh Grade!

A Seventh Grade god was simply far, far, far too large for a medium plane.

This God of Slaughter Garon was a muscular orc measuring tens of thousands of meters tall. He wore heavy and crude black armor while wielding a massive double-edged axe.

Just as the God of Slaughter was trying his best to rip apart the planar barrier and forcefully entering the plane, a massive ice arrow cut across the void and hit his body.

The ice arrow shattered and the extreme chill within it cast a coat of crystalline frost over his black armor.

“Garon, our battle is not over yet! Why are you in such a hurry? Are you trying to escape?” Compared to Garon’s massive body, the mysterious witch that had just appeared was so tiny one could easily miss her. However, the powerful spells that she cast with a flick of her hand were enough to chill Garon to the bone, making it difficult for him to move.

The sudden ambush enraged Garon. His body was still stuck in the planar barrier, after all. He roared furiously, “Erdis, you only know how to run. Fight me head-on if you can.”

Garon was roaring, that was for sure. Still, he would never dare to continue forcing his way into Strongwoods Plane slowly while enduring the attacks of a Seventh Grade witch.

Thus, the God of Slaughter could only pull himself out of the barrier resentfully and turn to charge at the terrifying witch.

The Seventh Grade witch known as Erdis behaved just as Garon said. She immediately turned into a statue of ice when she saw Garon lunge at her. The statue shattered, and Erdis vanished from the spot. She was fifty kilometers away by the time she appeared once again.

The space of the outer realm was large enough for these horrifying powerhouse to fight each other to the death.

Garon’s ten-thousand-meter tall body made it such that every stride he took in space was equivalent to four kilometers of distance in an ordinary planar area. He raised his double-edged axe and roared loudly as he chased after the witch.

The profiles of the two powerful beings slowly disappeared into the distance, quickly vanishing without a trace.

The rift that Garon had torn into the barrier of Strongwoods Plane started to heal and shrink under the effects of the plane’s regenerative ability. The space storm of the outer realm entered the plane through the spatial rift, bringing tremendous devastation to the surroundings of Witherwater City.

The void of space wasn’t void of anything!

The outer realms might seem empty and void of any substance, but they contained powerful and intense magical energy. Such powerful energy filled the entirety of space, freely flowing and vibrating under the guidance of a mysterious power, like a tide of magic.

All substances in space had to endure being bombarded by magical energy constantly. Without the existence of the planar barriers, it was impossible for so much intelligent life to exist inside the material planes. The so-called rivers and mountains and plains and rocks would be minced to pieces before the tide of magic energy before being scattered across every corner of the multiverse.

It was the existence of planar barriers that allowed the material planes to be isolated and protected from the energy corrosion of outer space, turning them into gentle spaces suited for the cultivation of life. Otherwise, no life would be able to flourish or even be born in the constant corrosion of space storms, let alone the diversity that we now see.

Consequently, when Garon tore a rift in the plane barrier, the space energy surging into the plane brought about a horrifying calamity upon the life and nature around Witherwater.

Several frightening space tornadoes quickly formed around Witherwater, dragging everything on the ground into them and tearing them into fine particles before casting them five hundred kilometers away.

The formerly scarce greenery of the earth quickly vanished before the destruction of the space energy. All the frail life in it died under the breath of the chaotic magic energy.

The land was now deathly silent!

Witherwater City, right below the spatial rift, had also been caught in the disaster. It was where the space storm had dealt the most substantial blow. The elementium barrier had shattered in an instant, exposing Witherwater City to the energy storm.

If it wasn’t for the war tower erecting several small barriers to protect the critical facilities within the city, this occurrence alone would have caused shocking damages to the Death Witches.

Even so, countless undead had been worn away by the violent space energy where the magical barriers could not reach, turning into dust and ash. Rows of undead fell over, first turning into bones, then powder, and taken into the skies.

A magical shield had also been erected at the plaza where the portal was, fending off the surging magic energy.

Greem looked around him and looked on with shock as the apocalyptic scene unfolded before his eyes. For a moment, he was speechless.

It was the terrifying damage that beings of Great Adept level could unleash!

Their every action did not just harm the lifeforms of the plane, but the very plane itself.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how tremendous the damage to Strongwoods Plane would have been even if the Seventh Grade God of Slaughter had managed to pass through the planar barrier and wipe out the witches.

In fact, one slight mistake by him could have brought about devastation to the plane worse than the witches ever could!

Now that Garon had been drawn away by that equally terrifying Nothern Witch, the planar battle would have to continue.

Unless the Death Witches’ plan was stopped, or the orc powerhouses were dealt a fatal blow, this planar war would never end!

Planar wars always ended with the defeat of one party. It was the truest face of planar wars!

Greem shook his head and sighed. He turned to look at the restabilizing portal and entered it without any more hesitation.

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

What waited on the other side of the portal was, naturally, the large plaza of Werning.

The returning witch forces exchanged some greetings before leaving Werning.

A planar war that gathered the elite forces of the Northern Witches in this manner might be a new sight for Greem, but it was ordinary fare for most of the witches.

The Northern Witches had some internal conflicts, but they were unusually united when it came to external expansion. In comparison, the center of the continent where the various adept clans stood appeared to be far too dispersed. They were like a tray of loose sand.

Greem immediately calmed himself down after stepping out of the portal. He quickly regained his normal mental state.

He had just experienced the bloody storm and apocalypse of Strongwoods Plane. Yet, with a single step, he had returned to the peaceful World of Adepts. This great juxtaposition made Greem feel as if he was trapped in a ridiculous dream!

Right now, he was the leader of a rising adept clan in the World of Adepts. He had a bright future ahead of himself. Meanwhile, that other world far, far away had become a slaughterhouse where the orc pantheon and the Death Witches went at each other wildly with all they had. It wasn’t hard to imagine the Death Witches’ Root of Corruption ultimately seeping into the planar chains of Strongwoods, polluting the Plane Consciousness, and consuming the planar origins.

When that happened, it would be the moment Strongwoods Plane fell apart and was destroyed!

This process was irreversible and unstoppable!

Greem might not have any emotional attachment to the hundreds of billions of lifeforms in Srongwoods, but his heart twitched at the very thought that he had witnessed an entire plane of living beings become the sacrifices of a battle between some powerful beings.

Greem would not feel guilt or burden from slaughtering hundreds or thousands of plane natives. However, when the casualties rose to the hundreds of billions, even Greem became lost.

Life should not be so dirt-cheap. It shouldn’t be cast aside in such a meaningless fashion!

Respecting life didn’t mean that Greem wanted to become a pacifist advocating universal love. It was merely an attitude and way of thinking about living for him.

The multiverse had given birth to all sorts of planar worlds. These many different planar worlds had then given birth to billions upon billions of lifeforms. The world would only be filled with life if there were enough living beings.

Perhaps this was the central axis by which the multiverse could continue developing!

Without a doubt, what Greem needed to do was to ensure his path of development matched that of this central axis. Otherwise, he would forever be a member hated by this world.

While Greem was silently considering his options going forward, a message from the distance interrupted his thoughts.

Something had happened at Fire Throne!