Chapter 234 Post-Battle Reward
The dragons left!
Even the three dragons that had been wounded took to the skies with the help of their companions. They disappeared on the horizon without even looking back.
None of the dragons turned to explain the situation to the witcher-knights and naturally none of them tried to help the knights retreat.
The resolve of the witcher-knights instantly crumbled when they saw the dragons take to the sky and leave. Be it the two abandoned dragon knights, or the numerous wounded witcher-knights, all they could do was stare wide-eyed as the cruel reality unfolded before them.
Their past glory and valor was now scattered to the winds, never to be regained!
A deep and rumbling horn rang out, signaling the surviving knights to finally start their retreat!
For a moment the entire forest was filled with the frantic witcher-knights, fleeing like hounds that had lost their homes.
They no longer cared about their injured companions or their knight's honor amidst their panicked retreat. They threw away their swords and knives, took off their armors, and drove into the woods, running away from this tragic land of defeat without ever turning back.
The adepts did not pursue the defeated knights. Instead they withdrew all of their remaining forces back into the war tower and started to distribute amongst themselves the jobs to be done.
The reason the adepts weren't in the pursuit wasn't because they were generous individuals. Far from it. In fact, it was because there was no need for the adepts to do so.
When the rulers behind the scenes of this plane had actively abandoned them, these witcher-knights were no longer a threat. If the witcher-knights were allowed to live, it was very likely that they would surrender to the adepts once the their rule had been solidified. Then the adepts would instantly get their hands on an elite group of subordinates!
…………
Fifty kilometers away, a group of green dragons crouched on top of a tall cliff, silently gazing in the direction of the tower.
"Lord Father, why did you give up such a good opportunity earlier? The enemy was only a single Fourth Grade adept. With the strength that we had, we could easily have taken him down!" Willis asked angrily.
It was clear that he was still extremely upset about Raistlin's decision.
"You are still too young. You understand too little about the adepts!" Raistlin turned his large dragon head slightly, "Singe, you tell him!"
As a clan elder, the Green Dragon Singe was also the dragon prophet of the clan.
Almost every dragon clan would have a dragon prophet of their own. Moreover, the prophet's status was only below that of the clan leader. They were also the main, no, the only way the dragons could communicate with the great Dragon God!
"Cough, cough… " The Green Dragon Elder Singe finally spoke, "Willis, you cannot blame your father for his decision. That terrifying adept was not someone we can deal with. He is not a Fourth Grade Adept. Rather, he is a… a Sixth Grade Great Adept!"
"So what if he is a Sixth Grade Great Adept?" Willis straightened his body in fury, "The upper limit of strength that this plane can contain is only Fourth Grade. The most power he could draw out here would be the peak of a Fourth Grade. If we threw everything we had at him, we could have exterminated his projection, crushing his foothold here in this plane!"
"Things are not as simple as you think!" Elder Singe shook his head painfully, "He is a Sixth Grade Great Adept. This means that if he ever activated his personal origin domain, he could still break through the limit of this plane and project all of his strength here. Even though the price he would have to pay for doing so would be expulsion by the planar forces, as long as he could kill us in an extremely short time, the remaining low-grade adepts would still be able to gain control of this plane!"
"That is why I said that this world's fate had already been determined when its coordinates were revealed to the evil adepts! If us Taerar Green Dragons had been any more powerful, we might have been able to beat them back where they came from. But if the price we needed to pay for that was you, Aufreyr, and the other dragons' lives, I would rather give up on this plane!" Green Dragon Clan Leader Raistlin looked down on the surrounding forest silently. His large dragon eyes were filled with an indescribable sadness.
After all, this plane had been the home that the Taerar Dragons had managed for several thousand years. It was impossible for them to not feel heartbroken now that it had been forcefully taken over by the adepts. The Taerar Dragons were still too weak. If they fought with the adepts, more than half of the adolescent dragons would forever be left on the cruel battlefield.
And this was something that Raistlin would never be able to stand for!
"…… " Willis dejectedly lowered his large dragon head.
Even though he was reluctant to admit it, he knew that this was the only thing that his father could do for the sake of the clan!
"Let's return!" Raistlin suddenly unfurled his wings and roared angrily, "The adepts movements will be quick. We must hurry back to Dragon Valley. Moving the ancestors' graves and shifting the Dragon Altar; all of these need time! Let's go!"
The few green dragons rose to the skies, accompanied by their loud and magnificent dragon roars, beating their wings and heading towards the distance.
…………
The battle had concluded once and for all.
However, the flames of war that had been ignited were not that easily extinguished.
The war tower, having experienced a brutal plane war, had finally ceased functioning and revealed its bruised, battered, and ugly body.
The materials used to hurriedly construct the tower were not proper magical stones. Naturally, its functions couldn't be compared to a proper adepts' tower. During the war, all of the tower's flaws had been hidden by the activation of its powerful defense system. It had seemed so impenetrable.
However, once the magic radiance surrounding the tower dissipated, the adepts were finally able to see the deep fissures and countless fine cracks that ran along the tower's structure. Some of this damage had been caused by external attacks, while others were caused by inferior materials bending under the stress of massive energy circulation.
In conclusion, the war tower would hardly be able to exhibit the kind of incredible dominance it had previously without a large-scale renovation.
Just as the clan adepts were busy clearing up the battlefield, creating new voodoo beasts, and guarding the tower, Greem and the other adepts who performanced well on the battlefield received an audience with the great Lord Sarubo.
Moreover, it was a private audience for each one of them.
The location of the audience was set in a dim, dark, and mysterious hall.
Having experienced the massive battle earlier, Greem finally had a basic understanding of Sixth Grade Great Adept Sarubo. He was definitely a powerful Immortal who had elementium affinity with negative energy and walked the path of an Undead Adept.
That said, Greem had absolutely no idea which class advancement Sarubo specifically chose.
Adepts that had negative energy affinity could choose to deepen their elementium affinity and walk the path of the Dark Adept, master of magic curses. Alternatively they could also learn knowledge about biological dissections, commonly belonging to the Esoteric Adepts, and craft undead creatures, walking down the path of a Summoning Adept that used undead to do their bidding. Of course if he didn't prefer entrusting his strength to other external entities, he could also walk the path of a Necromancer that strengthened his own body.
Other than these mainstream adept class advancements, there were countless other powerful adept classes that one could choose based on their own affinity and preferences. It was extremely hard for Greem to figure out the Great Adepts' path based solely on his performance today.
However, there was no doubt that he was powerful.
At least the dragons had chosen to yield before his intimidation instead of pitching their all into a final fight!
As such, Greem displayed his utmost respect when he finally met this powerful Sixth Grade Great Adept's projection in the dim hall, paying full respects to his vast knowledge and terrifying prowess.
"I have always been monitoring your growth!" The Great Adept surprised Greem the moment he spoke, "You are a fellow with plenty of talent for an outsider. You might be weak now, but there will be a day when you become strong."
Greem bent his body to hide his shock.
"There's no need to panic or fear!" The face of the projection was obscured within the shadows, but his tone was mild and gentle, "Foreign souls like you aren't that rare of a sight in the World of Adepts. As long as you have completed your advancement in the World of Adepts, it means that you have obtained the Will of the Plane’s acknowledgement. Your identity as an adept cannot be stolen from you by anyone!"
Greem could no longer hide the shock on his face.
"You are still too weak to understand these things." The Great Adept was clearly in a good mood today, and unlike what he commonly did, he explained, "Lethon. The World of Adepts we live in. Every year several dozen, and even up to hundreds, of planar eruptions will happen here. These creatures or souls that came from outside might be a potential threat for weak planes. However they are a hard-to-come-by assistance for large planes like Lethon."
"Are the adepts not worried that these outsiders could endanger the plane's development?" Greem couldn't help but ask.
"Endanger the plane's development?" The Great Adept's projection nearly laughed at the idea, "Little fellow, you have pretty wild ideas. Even us Great Adepts don't dare to disrupt and steer the development of an entire plane. And a small First Grade adept like yourself dares? Hahaha… "
"But… but isn't it mentioned in the books that the most powerful adepts are able to embed part of their personal origin laws into the planar laws, thus allowing their own laws to become part of the planar laws?"
"As you have said, only the most powerful adepts can do that! In our World of Adepts, the ones that can do that need to be at least an Eighth Grade Adept! And how many Eighth Grade Adepts are there in our world? Three. Only three!"
Greem was stunned for a second.
There were only three Eighth Grade Adepts in the World of Adepts? This number seemed to be the same as the number of large adept organizations in the World of Adepts. Could it be…
"Alright, there's no need for suspicion or doubt. The reason I called you here is because your performance in the planar war was exceptional. As your reward, you can now take this Flame Fiend's heart for yourself."
Having said that, a massive heart the size of a skull was tossed into Greem's hands. Its heavy weight left even Greem breathless.
The crimson flesh, the thick tendons, and the disgusting aura of corruption. The large heart was still beating stubbornly, and one could vaguely feel an intense aura of life radiating from it.
The heart of a Flame Fiend.
This was a powerful Flame Fiend's heart!
The Flame Fiends had always been Second Grade creatures from the terrifying World of Abyss.
Just as Greem was still reveling in joy over the Flame Fiend's heart, the projection spoke once again.
"I heard you are extremely interested in the runic knowledge of this plane. Very well. I have a task here for you to complete! You need to… "
Greem quickly stored the Flame Fiend's heart and paid attention to the Great Adept's words.