Age of Adepts Chapter 612

Chapter 612 Magical Machines Take the Stage
The portal to Faen was in an underground hall behind the Witch Council. It was under the joint protection of the Sidonthiria Clan and the Pale Witches.
The witches of the various branches had all sent their representatives to Werning as the date of the plane's opening approached. What surprised people the most was the fact that the Witches of Fate had also sent people to participate in this planar invasion.
It was the first time this had happened since the witch branches had shared their private lesser planes with the others.
Thus, the arrival of the Witches of Fate drew a lot of attention!
While the other witches were driving their heavy chariots on the uneven roads toward Werning City, a massive shadow flew past their heads.
The witches in the rear of the formation lifted their heads in surprise. They were shocked to find an incomparably large flying ship storming toward Werning City with unstoppable momentum, shredding the clouds in their way as if it was a metal fortress floating in the skies.
Several dozen witches rose from Werning at the same moment. They stood off against the flying ship from a distance.
"Who is it that has arrived? Do you not know that this is the Northern Witches'..." Of the many Sidonthirian witches, the leader was a terrifying Third Grade.
The massive flying ship suddenly stopped when she appeared in front of it in the air.
A familiar shape appeared at the bow of the ship before she could finish her sentence.
"Lady Iola, it is me!"
The voice was deep yet gentle. It wasn't loud, but there was a strange charm to the sound. Even Third Grade Iola couldn't help but open her eyes wide in disbelief as she gasped, "Alice, it's you?"
The several dozen apprentice witches surrounding the Third Grade witch opened their mouths wide in shock. They silently stared at the pretty figure that had emerged from the ship and was smiling at them.
There was that familiar robe of stars, those pretty eyes, that head of silky smooth 'white' hair, and that gentle yet determined look in her eyes.
It was Alice. It was truly Alice, leader of the Witches of Fate!
"Lady Alice, this is…" Witch Iola couldn't help but ask questions.
Alice's presence on the ship meant that they weren't dealing with an enemy. Still, a massive metal battleship like this didn't seem to have ever appeared in any of the witch branches. In fact, the design and style of the ship somewhat resembled those fellows from the Silver Union.
While the witch responsible for the security of Werning City was caught up in the confusion, a hint of a smile appeared on Alice's pale face.
"Iola, this ship is our ride. We are here to participate in the plane opening day of the Pale Witches."
"What? Participate in the plane opening day?"
For a moment, Iola couldn't believe her ears.
In the past seven decades since Witch of Fate Alice had handed over the plane coordinates of that large-sized plane, the witches of the other branches had also started to publicly open the portals one or two of their private mid-sized planes. They encouraged witches of other branches to form groups to explore and excavate these planes.
These mid-sized planes might have been excavated and developed by them for several hundreds of years now, but there were still some potent and terrifying local native forces existing within. These clan witches were only barely able to survive as a foreign faction within the planar world.
The territory they had excavated was often isolated beyond the main continent or situated in some perilous and hazardous place.
They had only managed to avoid the persecution and expulsion by the native forces and hold on to their strongholds through such methods.
They still hadn't managed to fully excavate these private planes even after a thousand years. Instead, they had slowly assimilated with the plane, becoming a 'local' force that was half native and half hostile!
Most of the witch branches took this opportunity to offer up these planes that they couldn't do much with. They would provide the portal and the temporary foothold for all adventuring witches. The witches of the other branches could keep all spoils they found on their adventures.
This way, they could indirectly draw upon the strength of the other witch branches to help their own clan develop and expand their lands. The time of the plane opening usually only lasted for six months to a year. All witches of other branches that failed to leave within that timeframe would no longer receive reinforcements via the portal. Naturally, they would also no longer be able to get any supplies from the witches' stronghold.
Lone witch parties like these would eventually be exterminated by the fierce persecution of the local native forces. Thus, no witch party would ever dare to go against this rule!
It was precisely the cruelty and bloodiness of interplanar warfare that made the affair a suicidal one for weaker witches. That was why the Witches of the Fate were the only ones out of the eight current branches that had yet to send anyone to participate in these plane opening days. After all, it had not even been a hundred years since Alice brought the Fate branch back to life.
Consequently, Iola, who very well knew what the situation was like, was shocked upon hearing Alice's words!
"Since Lady Alice is here to participate in the Pale Witches' plane opening day, then please stop your ride at Fifteenth Street Square!"
Alice was clearly intimately acquainted with this Werning City. She turned back to give a give a simple order, and the flying ship immediately turned like a giant whale. It slowly flew toward somewhere one and a half kilometers away under the accompaniment of many Sidonthirian apprentice adepts.
…………
The citizens and merchants of Werning were all terrified when they saw the hundred and twenty-meter-long and forty-meter-wide massive flying ship slowly descend from the skies. They hid at a distance and silently judged this fearsome metal beast.
A thick, muffled boom rang out.
The gigantic hull of the flying ship successfully landed on the flat and stable Fifteenth Street Square, crushing the tough stone slabs beneath into dust.
Several Sidonthirian apprentice adepts rode upon flying brooms and floated in the skies around the flying ship. They all held glowing elementium wands in their hands.
Strangely enough, the first to appear on the full metal deck of the flying ship was not a human. Instead, it was a group of short and stout green-skinned goblins wearing leather suits with goggles upon their heads. They started to shout and wave excitedly at the witches in the air once they appeared upon the deck. No one could figure out what it was that they were saying.
The cabin door opened once again while the apprentice adepts were mired deep in confusion. This time, it was the actual Northern Witches.
Seven Witches of Fate followed closely behind their leader, Alice. They walked onto the deck in an orderly fashion and arrived at the bow of the ship.
The goblins no longer dared to make a commotion when they saw the witches come out. They hurriedly ran to each side of the platform and started giving orders while waving strange glowsticks in their hands.
The next second, a hatch opened at the side of the hull. Squads of ferocious and towering metal golems of strange design walked out from within the ship with heavy footsteps. The entire square tremored slightly with their march.
It was a group of exceptionally fierce-looking metal monsters!
The armor on their bodies was at least a dozen centimeter thick and glowed with a ghostly blue sheen. That was an appearance unique to magical metals. They came in various shapes and appearances. With a quick glance, one could approximately split the machines into three categories with.
The first ones were defensive magical machines with incredibly thick and heavy armor. They held a large metal tower shield in one hand and a thick, massive flail in the other. As they walked in neat rows, the dust and debris on the stone slabs of the square were sent flying into the air. Even the stone buildings around the square started to tremble slightly.
The second type of machines was comparatively slender and agile. However, their bodies were covered with all sorts of strange gun barrels of various sizes. For some reason, the apprentice witches could vaguely feel a suffocating killing intent when they looked at these black gun barrels.
The first two types of magical machines took up ninety percent of the army. Three even stranger and even more fearsome magical machines slowly walked out of the ship behind them. These three machines were all enveloped by a forcefield of semi-translucent energy.
The machine in the lead was the first proper magical machine warrior that Greem had created after exhausting a great deal of energy and effort– the Mechanical Pioneer, Second Grade.
It was a new magical machine warrior model that used the miniature magic energy furnace as its power source. Installed on it were the Blitz Apperception System, magic energy guns, gravity interferometers, and energy artillery cannons. Greem didn't wholly put this mighty magical machine warrior under Gazlowe's control. Instead, he decided to have the machine fight using the traditional method of the goblins– being operated by a pilot.
However, the magical machines of the past were difficult to control, yet they were still only capable of simple body movements. They could not qualify as proper magical machine warriors. However, the Mechanical Pioneer had been equipped with the Blitz Apperception System. When hidden within, First Grade Goblin Mechanic Tigule didn't need to use any levers or control panels. He could flawlessly operate this powerful machine using his mental consciousness alone.
The other two magical machine warriors were the improved Goblin Tinker and the Goblin Bomberman.
The magic energy weapons installed on them were not as powerful as those outfitted on the Mechanical Pioneer. Their core energy sources were also miniature space furnaces, rather than the miniaturized magic energy furnace. They were far inferior compared to the Mechanical Pioneer, especially with the addition of the goblin mechanic.
If one were to evaluate these two machines from various aspects, they could barely make the cut as Pseudo-Second Grades.
All who witnessed these one hundred towering metal constructs form up neatly in the square couldn't help but hold their breath and dilate their pupils.
This…this was a frightening army of steel!