Age of Adepts

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Eijae sprinted under the bright and crisp moonlight.

Ancient trees that were several dozen meters tall were like flat ground beneath her feet. Cliffs and rivers were left behind in a matter of moments.

The damp winds of the night pressed against Eijae's face, soaking her armor and her face, yet they were incapable of extinguishing the burning fires of rage in her heart.

Eijae had set off on the journey alone upon hearing news of Quel'Lithien's invasion from the mouth of a hippogryph rider, even before the envoy from the main temple had arrived.

The garrison of Skywater City was still trying its best to assemble when she set off.

Since the enemy had so daringly invaded Quel'Lithien Lodge, a mere one hundred kilometers away from Skywater, it either meant that they were immensely powerful and unafraid of a counterattack from the garrison of SKywater City, or that this was a conspiracy intended to draw the garrison away.

The elven commanders and high elves of Skywater City broke out into an argument in the meeting hall, bickering non-stop over the scale of the incursion.

Much like the corrupt and indulgent nobles of human society, the elven kingdom also had certain special classes– the high elves. The so-called high elves were still forest elves, and the only difference was their bloodline going even further back into history, into ancient times.

They prided themselves over this, believing that only high elves were the purest and noblest of all forest elves. They refused to intermarry with peasants, trying their best to safeguard their bloodline from external contamination. They had exceptional authority within the kingdom. The positions of elder and council member in the elven kingdom could mostly only be taken on by high elves.

Though the elven commanders of Skywater City had absolute military authority, they couldn't completely ignore the protests of these high elf nobles.

The elven commander had intended to send all of their aerial forces to first hurry over as reinforcements the moment they received news of Quel'Lithien's invasion. An ordinary-sized ground force also had to be mobilized. Sadly, the variety of units and the number of soldiers continued to be cut down due to the protests of the high elves.

The irritable Eijae furiously chose to move out alone, unable to tolerate such heartless and cold-blooded administrative delay!

About five or six elven powerhouses made the same decision as Eijae. These were all Second Grade 'rogues' that refused to be bound by the military.

Sadly, their speed and stamina could hardly compare with the powerful Eijae. Thus, they were quickly left behind by the Spear of Vengeance after the first fifty kilometers.

How free and fun was it to travel through the sea of trees under the sacred and beautiful moonlight!

If it weren't for the concern for her tribesmen that filled Eijae's heart, she would have shouted out in excitement at this moment. In fact, she would have even sought out a powerful magical beast for a showdown.

The fearsome name of Eijae, the Spear of Vengeance might not be all that widespread amongst the elves, but she had an infamous title as the 'Madwoman' among the magical beasts of the central mountains!

It didn't matter whether it was the immensely powerful Wyvern King, the incomparably strong Giant Raging Ape, or even the cunning and sly Silver-Tailed Fox; all of them would be endlessly harassed by Eijae, crying until they had no tears left and with no one to complain to. All other magical beasts with any fame or power would immediately be visited and challenged by Eijae.

One could say that Eijae's terrifying combat techniques had all been honed in the thousands of life and death challenges she had initiated. The many scars of various sizes that covered her body were the best proof of her insane drive and combat will!

The forest elves might be the owners of Garan, but traveling through Fantasy Forest during the night was still a perilous thing to do.

The wild beasts that ordinarily hid within their caves during the day would all pour out of their dens come nightfall, roaming the dark forest for fresh meat. Most wild beasts were affected by the power of nature and would not actively attack the forest elves. However, there was no preventing wild animals under the effects of starvation or malice to suddenly lash out at the elves.

That was why, under ordinary circumstances, the forest elves would also keep to some unspoke rules, such as never going near or passing through the territories of wild beasts during the night.

However, these rules were seemingly non-existent for Eijae. She even let out a long roar as she ran, actively challenging the kings among magical beasts.

Sadly, her voice and aura were well-known among the magical beasts. Consequently, not only were the forests she passed absent of any responses from the magical beasts, they even became absurdly quiet. All magical beasts temporarily halted their hunts and hid in the bushes, praying that this demon of a female would leave their territory as soon as possible.

One hundred kilometers of winding forest roads tired even Eijae after running all that distance in one go. She was soaked in sweat.

By the time she gradually approached Quel'Lithien, she started to meet elves that had escaped from that place. Eijae was heartbroken to hear the worst of news from their mouths.

A roaring blaze had turned this former elven town into a sweltering sea of fire.

The overwhelming waves of heat and licking tongues of flames forced anyone away before they could even enter Quel'Lithien Lodge.

Several elves that had escaped from the town knelt at the edge of the fire in agony, crying, wailing, and drowning in their sorrow.

Beside them, Eijae's body started to give off purple waves of air. She walked into the field of fire one step at a time with all her determination.

Quel'Lithien Lodge was a mid-sized elven town. Almost three dozen giant ancient trees that reached up to a hundred meters tall formed its core area.

Unlike the broad, straight roads of human settlements, no such structures were ever seen in the elven towns and cities. The homes and buildings of the elves were all constructed upon the base of the ancient treetops where all the branches converged. Tree bridges and vines were what were used to connect these structures.

Today, this prosperous and beautiful elven town had been put to the torch by the evil enemy. Every single tree in a radius of one and a half kilometers had been devoured by the sea of fire, twisting and struggling painfully in the unrelenting blaze.

Eijae walked through the flames solemnly as the fire lit up her face.

She used her violent sacrificial inner power to force back the flames shrouding her sides and quickly scanned the place with her eyes, trying to find the enemy's location.

The enemy clearly hadn't gone far!

The flames might be ferocious, but Eijae could still see large patches of black blood stains on the branches, grounds, and the leaves. Eijae also saw plenty of black beetle corpses covering the ground around the few treant warriors at the center of the town.

The treant warriors had obviously fought until the last moment of their lives.

A thick pile of insect corpses buried their collapsed bodies. Numerous wounds of various sizes could be seen all over their bodies.

Even more strange was Eijae's discovery of a small handful of ashes at the edge of this tragic battlefield.

Eijae squatted by the ashes and picked up some of them with her right hand. She rubbed the ashes in her hand.

They took to the air, so light it was like they were weightless.

It was a small handful of ashes that was the product of something wholly burned.

Eijae couldn't help but narrow her eyes.

It wasn't uncommon for ashes to appear in such a ferocious field of fire. However, it was odd to burn anything so thoroughly that no bone shards or minerals remained.

In Eijae's impression, only unique spirits or undead could produce such a strange phenomenon upon death. If her deduction was correct, it was proof that some powerful undead creatures had appeared in the ranks of these witches.

Undead creatures were evil, and the witches were evil as well.

It wasn't all that surprising for them to collaborate!

The only thing that confused Eijae was how the evil witches had managed to create such a dizzying number of insects. If the scale of the insect army was so large, then what method was it that they had used to avoid the elven patrol and the aerial scouts that were everywhere?

Eijae's face turned while she was still wondering. Her eagle-like eyes quickly focused upon a spot on the forest ground. There was a small pile of dirt and what seemed to be an insect cave there. That place seemed to have experienced the most concentrated blazes of fire.

It seemed as if the departing witches were trying to use the fire to hide something.

Eijae's feet tapped the ground, and she quickly arrived at that empty space.

Her expression shifted slightly when her feet stepped on the ground.

There was a cave underneath. The sound of her step was slightly different from solid ground.

Eijae didn't hesitate. She jumped into the air as a throwing spear from the leather sack behind her back immediately appeared in her hand. She inhaled in midair and started drawing upon her power. Violent purple sacrificial inner-power rapidly gathered upon the throwing spear.

The next second, a purple afterimage that could hardly be captured by the naked eye blasted across a distance of a dozen meters and exploded in the center of the space.

The savage and ferocious shockwave momentarily extinguished the fires around the area, and the scorched earth collapsed into a massive pit. Once the ashes had dispersed, a horrifying scene appeared within the hole. Spear of Vengeance Eijae almost spontaneously flew into a mad rage.

The bottom of the pit was filled with a large pile of flesh and withered bones, along with a pungent slime. Plenty of white cocoon shards and dying larvae that had yet to mature could be seen amidst all this 'waste.'

When EIjae looked upon these twisted corpses, she could almost imagine how they looked while they were still alive; she could envision the immense suffering that they'd had to endure at that moment.

Eijae let out a furious roar into the sky and kicked against the ground with a single leg. She leaped into the air, and the Spear of Vengeance in her hand quickly flashed. A circular ring of explosions blew up around the pit. Under her intentional control, the shockwaves of the blast were all spread outward, instantly clearing out the center of the fire in the town.

The witches had set fire to this place because they didn't want the elves discovering their deeds. They just hadn't accounted for Eijae appearing as fast as she did.

The Spear of Vengeance's destructive strength forcefully extinguished the fires around the pit. She then turned with lightning speed and sprinted toward the southwest of the town.

The enemy hadn't gone far!

If they were still carrying their spoils with them, she would definitely be able to catch up!