Greem spent the next few days spying and peeking!
Unfortunately, Lord Artes was like your standard recluse. He spent all of his days soaking in that magma pool of his and was hardly ever seen going out patrolling or visiting his subjects. Even the occasional guard captain that came to give a report would be sent away after a few words.
It demonstrated that the Fire Lords of the Fire Elementium Plane did not have too much desire for influence and authority. They diverted all of their efforts into absorbing fire energy and increasing their abilities. This method of improvement was extraordinarily primitive and crude. It was almost an insult to the superior resources and convenience they possessed.
With the magical eye that Greem had planted, Lord Artes had absolutely no secrets to speak of. Greem repeatedly thought about his plan of a.s.sa.s.sination as he continued his constant monitoring of Artes.
A frontal a.s.sault would not work!
Artes was a powerful Second Grade Fire Lord. Greem would not have more than a forty percent chance of beating him in a direct challenge, even if he were to pull out all the stops. If the First Grade molten giant guards were involved as well, then Greem"s chance of success would fall to a mere ten percent.
If he was even more unlucky and the Second Grade molten giant captain was at Artes" side, then he wouldn"t stand a chance!
That was why Greem had decided on an ambush and a.s.sa.s.sination from the very start.
Moreover, Greem had to find a way to weaken his target"s strength before the operation. Otherwise, the Fire Lord would only need to survive for seven or eight minutes before all the molten giants of the city would be upon Greem.
Fortunately, Greem had purchased an expensive set of Icecrystal Frostmarrow prior to his arrival here in antic.i.p.ation of his a.s.sa.s.sination. It was a strange marrow taken from the glands of magical ice creatures. It was a scarce and precious material.
Drinking potions made out of this marrow would significantly improve the power of ice adepts. On the other hand, if fire adepts were to consume them accidentally, they would be faced with the terrifying consequence of polluting their fire origin.
Of course, Artes was too powerful for Greem to trick him into swallowing the Frostmarrow. Greem would have to find a different, more indirect way to achieve this.
This day, Greem snuck out of his hiding spot and silently entered the city.
After all his while of patrolling and scouting, Greem had the geography of the city completely figured out. In fact, he knew the key spots better than anyone else.
He had planted over a hundred alchemical bombs on most of the supporting pillars of the city. When the time came, Greem remotely detonated all of them without hesitation.
Chaos and madness once again descended upon the city after forty days of peace and quiet.
The pillars supporting the stone ceiling were blown away. Shattered rocks and collapsing boulders fell from above, burying nearly one-fifth of the city in rubble and dust.
The deafening explosions and trembling quakes instantly drew out the resting Artes from his hall.
Greem turned himself invisible again and dove into that magma pool while Artes was roaring in anger outside.
The first thing that Greem did upon entering was set up a strange fire array at the bottom of the pool. There were three levels to this fire array, and each of them had their own magical effect.
The first was to absorb the fire energy of the magma pool and funnel it to Greem, serving as replenishment for him while he was fighting. The second effect was a Fire Prison. A Fire Prison that isolated the target would be constructed on the edge of the pool with the energy from within as the power source. This way, he wouldn"t need to be concerned about interruptions from the outside world!
The third effect was a barrier of invisibility that could hide Greem"s soul aura and prevent him from being detected ahead of time.
After setting up the trap, Greem placed a small magical trap at the place where Artes most enjoyed lying upon, hiding the sealed Frostmarrow within.
Once he completed all these preparations, Greem dispersed his true body and allowed himself to become a cl.u.s.ter of fire before hiding at the bottom of the fire pool.
With the concealment of the invisibility barrier, Artes would not discover his existence without specifically scanning the area. After all, Fire Lord Artes was only proficient at physical fighting. His Spirit was only at 13 points. On the other hand, Greem"s Spirit could reach 29 points if he underwent both phases of the Flame Fiend Transformation.
Such power was enough for him to duel with Artes, especially with the aid of the Flame Fiend of Terror!
Time spent waiting always went by incredibly slowly.
Artes" territory had been blown to rubble, and yet his useless subordinates couldn"t even find a sliver of the enemy"s shadow. Such a thing would infuriate anyone if it happened to them.
Artes beat up three of his molten-giant subordinates before finally feeling somewhat relieved. He ordered his only Second Grade subordinate, Firerend, to lead a group of molten giants on a search throughout the city. He also ordered his fire elementium army to hurry to the entrance of Dustfire Valley to shut off the place entirely.
No creature would be allowed to exit Dustfire Valley until the culprit was found!
This time, Fire Lord Artes" orders were executed firmly and thoroughly.
Large groups of fire elementals took up the entrance and formed perimeters. Meanwhile, the molten giants repeated the orders of their lord and gathered all of the fire creatures within a cave for further identification.
Artes then a.s.signed two more molten giants to his fire hall. This way, the number of First Grade molten giant guards at his side increased to four. It was unprecedentedly high security for the molten giant tribe, who only had twenty-seven members in total.
After furiously reprimanding his subordinates, Artes once again walked to the magma pool with his substantial body and jumped in without any hesitation.
The bottom of this fire pool was slanted downward slightly. The edge of the pool was only three meters deep, while the center was approximately seven or eight meters deep. As such, nearly half of Artes" body was still exposed on the outside while he stood at the edge.
The disruption had distracted Artes, causing him to pay no attention to the pool itself. He slowly sat down and leaned against the edge, only leaving his one-meter large head outside of the magma. Artes did not choose to nap while he waited for the results of the search. Instead, he slowly shut his eyes and silently absorbed the rich fire energy radiating from the roiling lava.
Greem slowly reformed his body and opened his eyes while Artes was distracted.
As a Second Grade fire adept, the fire energy within Greem"s body was also shockingly intense. There was no way Artes could not have detected him while he was right in front of the molten giant. That was why Greem had dispersed his form ahead of time and relied on the fire energy of the magma pool to conceal his existence.
Now that he was about to act anyway, Greem started to reform his body as quickly as he could.
First transformation: Body of Flames!
Second transformation: Flame Fiend"s Body!
As two towering Flame Fiends emerged from the pool, all of the fire energy in the magma pool was disrupted as an incomparably powerful mental consciousness quickly pressed toward Lord Artes.
Mm…what was happening?
Artes opened his eyes abruptly and glanced at the bottom of the fire pool.
An intense surge of fire energy had suddenly gained substance there and was rushing toward him like a ma.s.sive hill.
Enemy!
The enemy was at the bottom of the magma pool!
Artes roared when he instantly understood. He then started to stand up and prepare for a fight.
Unfortunately, Greem"s Spirit had already lashed outward.
The first to hit Artes was naturally the magical trap that Greem had set on the wall of the pool.
As a fire rune appeared and shattered, a brilliant crimson light the size of a fist hit Artes" thick magma leg. The next moment, a red light spread out, and a frost aura that terrified Artes emanated from the spot of impact.
In just an instant, Artes and the dozens of meters of magma pool around him were frozen in a layer of blue ice crystals. A layer of frost crept up Artes magma body and worked toward his chest, head, and arms.
If this layer of frost reached his fire core or soul origin, then he would probably have no chance of advancing every again.
Fire countered ice, while ice countered fire!
Both of these attributes were counters to each other. There was no real strength or weakness between them, only partial numerical superiority or inferiority!
With Artes" power and the endless fire energy of the magma pool, the power of frost within the Forstmarrow would be exhausted in less than seven minutes. However, before it was exhausted, the sudden burst of frost energy still had the upper hand around Artes surroundings. It burned and caused Artes to howl in agony.
While the fire energy that Artes gathered in his body fought against the invading frost energy, the lava at the bottom of the pool splashed everywhere. Two gigantic Flame Fiends rose from the lava and launched their most ferocious attack at him.
At the edges of the pool, the red lava twisted together under the compulsion of some outside force and formed several dozens of meter-thick fire pillars, completely sealing off the pool.
Through the gaps in the pillars, four molten giants who had hurried over when they heard the commotion could see their lord being attacked by multiple enemies. They immediately started to smash and tackle the pillars with all they had. Sadly, the endless energy being supplied by the magma pool repaired any damage to the flame pillars in an instant.
The guards couldn"t help but roar out loud in anger.