Age of Adepts

Black Rose Manor.

It was deep in the night now, but the manor was still brightly illuminated, and many silhouettes flickering here and there.

However, the only people who could enter and exit from the manor were strange individuals dressed in robes or armor. Judging from the metal emblem they all wore on their chests, these people were official adepts of the Dener Clan.

Numerous powerful magical beasts were also looming in wait around the manor, some more hidden than others. They formed a tight and impenetrable defensive net that firmly protected the estate.

At the moment, about one kilometer southwest of the manor, a strange bat clung upside down to a branch in the sparse woods. It quietly monitored the movements of the estate under cover of the leaves.

Flap, flap, flap.

The soft sound of beating wings came from the darkness as three furry bats with red eyes the size of a human head landed in a clearing in the woods.

The bats then transformed into two men and one woman dressed like nobles.

A simple road paved with pebbles stretched from the manor’s entrance all the way to Andman City, not far off in the distance. It wasn’t hard to imagine how the city’s nobles and prominent individuals had ridden here on carriages for banquets when the city was still thriving.

Small manors and mansions like these that were close to the city were the nobles’ favorite places to party!

However, with the start of the adept war, this place had changed completely.

Powerful auras could be sensed everywhere, in every key entrance and hidden passageway. Packs of voodoo beasts patrolled the manor’s surroundings. Any creature not wearing an emblem of the Dener Clan was attacked on sight.

A troop of elite adepts stood guard at the entrance, carefully and seriously examining every individual that entered and exited the manor.

As for the three-story building? It was shrouded in a strange mist, fading in and out of view. It was hard to discern what was happening within.

A protective array…the building had been obscured by a protective array.

Viria beat her wings with all her strength and flew against the sharp winds. She spoke in a soft voice, like that of a mosquito, “My lady, that’s the building. The last place the Grand Duke was seen was…”

As the two of them communicated, the quiet manor was suddenly shaken awake by an alarm.

The vampires that had secretly descended from the skies triggered had the security arrays scattered all over the manor the moment they landed.

As the blaring alarms rang, the vampires gave up on sneaking around. They revealed themselves and charged toward the main building.

“Over here.”

“The enemy…they’re in the skies.”

Shouts could be heard all over as groups of adepts and voodoo beasts gathered from all over. They quickly surrounded the vampires.

The two Second Grade vampires had no choice now but to land along with their remaining four dozen subordinates.

They transformed into their human forms, and the battle started instantly!

“Careful, they are vampires! Watch out! Don’t let them bite you.”

There were several knowledgeable individuals in the enemy ranks. They were instantly able to identify the vampires based on their abilities and the way they dressed.

Everyone knew that vampires were powerful assassins with ridiculous Agility. They were also extremely resilient and hard to kill. The only way to kill them was to attack their only vital point.

“Adepts who can fight at melee range, intercept them. Everyone else, use your spells. Remember, aim for their hearts! That’s their true vital point!” The leader of the Dener forces shouted. He quickly made strategic arrangements while pulling out his staff and preparing a powerful spell.

It was a hundred times easier to create a vampire than it was to raise a human adept. Yet, vampires were not the mainstream force of the World of Adepts. The main reason for that was because adepts had thoroughly researched the vampire’s weaknesses and strengths. Thus, everyone had an idea of the techniques and means to deal with vampire adepts.

‘Major Illumination!’

‘Modified Stinking Cloud (Garlic Stench)!’

‘Static Forcefield!’

Several simple, modified spells explicitly adapted for use against vampire adepts crashed towards the vampires. Even the melee adepts had swapped their weaponry for silver weapons. They enchanted those weapons with a strange magic that prevented the vampires from healing through consuming blood.

Even an ordinary adept could inflict significant damage on a vampire with the aid of such equipment, let alone this army. The army was composed of elite-force adepts from the Dener Clan.

The enemy had badly beaten Spalla’s group of vampires in the blink of an eye. The vampires had suffered over a dozen casualties upon contact, while only three of the Dener adepts had stepped back from the battle due to injuries.

The Dener Clan had also lost nearly a hundred voodoo beasts. However, as voodoo beasts were a disposable force, neither party counted them as actual casualties.

The vampires that had broken-in were beginning to falter. They quickly started to attempt to escape the manor, even as they continued to fight.