Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

The entire camp remained still. No one dared to move nor make a sound. After 5 minutes had passed Sturdy called an emergency meeting in the command tent.

"It seems like the final boss has made its presence known."

The tent remained silent, no one was sure of what to say. Lucan spoke up.

"If a true dragon is residing in the fortress, all of our enchantments to conceal the formation are worthless if it decided to make a move."

"Yes, I have encountered a true dragon before." Sturdy replied. "They will not be swayed by illusions and stealth is worthless against them. A dragon is able to see through to the truth of what lies before it."

This was bad news for Lucan. His main play style relied on trickery and illusion.

At this point Shifty began to take charge again.

"Frantic and Lucan, I need both of you to upgrade the defenses of our formation. Even if we are discovered I want the formation to be able to buy us some time."

Frantic, Lucan and Silent left the tent and headed to the center of the formation to begin their work.

It was a sleepless night for most. Even those who didn't have tasks found it hard to rest comfortably. At any moment a dragon may come bursting through the formation and slaughter them all.

Frantic and Lucan finished a few hours before sunrise and were able to get a little rest. Enough so they could operate with their full potential in the coming fight.

Shifty had gathered everyone together and started to go over todays goals.

"The plan is to hold the gate today again. Let's whittle down the number of kobolds in the fortress. Everyone should keep an eye for any changes compared to yesterday. Lucan, I want you to head with the paladin brigade and you guys need to empty that graveyard today. I want the elder ghoul dead. Like yesterday, I want most of the damage dealing spell casters and archers on the walls to keep watch over the battlefield. Miss Night, I would apricate your help on top of the walls. Our scouts-."

"I'm sorry." Silent Night interrupted. "I am Lord Quilldrake's shadow and will be following him."

Shifty frowned but Sturdy nodded to signify that it was fine.

"Then I guess you have your own job to complete. I want half our scouts to enter the astrology tower while the others circle around to the far side of the fortress." For the next 15 minutes Shifty kept giving out orders till everyone knew what was expected of them today.

The scouts departed from the camp. Seeing how they were still alive 30 minutes later the rest of the Willow troops moved out with Silent and Lucan following them.

As they approached the fortress Lucan could see that the gate which remained opened was blocked by a pile of broken furniture. Overnight the kobolds did their best to wall off the opening.

"Wild_Flower and Breezy." Shifty called out a druid and a shaman. "The scouts have reported that the kobolds haven't taken positions on their new barrier yet so let's show them what you can do. Be careful of archers on the walls. We will be right behind you."

Breezy pulled out his staff and began to call upon the spirts to aid in his mission while the druid Wild_Flower began to close her eyes and chant.

A dozen horned bison came into being around the shaman while the druid transformed into a large 15-foot-tall mammoth. The bison followed behind the mammoth as it began its charge into the blockade.

*Bang*

The mammoth plowed straight through the stopped-up gate opening, sending debris flying into the air. The group of bison arrived shortly after to clear what remained. Arrows started to fall on the animals. Wild_Flower transformed into a sparrow and flew back towards the group while the bison continued their charge into a group of kobolds who had just exited the main entrance of the fortress.

Several other shamans helped breezy reform earthen mounds to be used as strategic defense points while the rest of the Willow troops rushed in and began to battle.

Lucan and Silent followed the paladin brigade which consisted of 5 paladins, 2 knights, a priest, a mage and hunter. After entering the gate, they immediately turned to the right. They clung to the wall to avoid the arrows being shot down from above. They circled the fortress until the graveyard came into sight.

A broken and dilapidated church sat at the back of a walled in graveyard. A pair of iron gates separated the graveyard from the rest of the fortress.

"I am sure you have heard, yesterday we managed to defeat most of the ghouls, but the sudden appearance of an elder ghoul pushed us onto the defensive and we weren't able to make much progress after that." Said Holy Willow, the paladin in charge of the operation. "Now that all of our abilities are refreshed, hopefully we can punch through that bastard, cleanse the church and return to help the others."

Lucan and Silent nodded, they were familiar with the plan.

"Alright everyone, have your weapons ready. We are going in."

Unlike when they worked with the stealth team, Holy Willow drew his sword and shield and charged at the iron gates. With a battle cry of "LET THE LIGHT CLEANSE YOU!" He kicked the gates open and charged in with the others.

Before Lucan and Silent could even enter the graveyard, they could hear the sounds of swords cutting into flesh.

They entered to find an unexpected sight. There were even more ghouls today than what the scouts had originally reported the first day. It looked as if the paladin brigade didn't even make a difference yesterday.

"Crap, why are there even more?" A knight yelled.

The paladins and knights formed a protective circle around the priest, mage, and hunter as they moved forward.

When Lucan and Silent stepped into the graveyard. Humanoid figures with dazed expression rushed towards them with superhuman speed. Lucan threw up a telekinetic wall, but it was shattered almost instantly.

"Watch out." A knight yelled while spearing a ghoul that was charging at Lucan.

"These undead scum are super-fast and scary strong even though they don't have much health. But be careful. If they eat flesh, they will heal up almost instantly and become even stronger for a short period. If you see anybody die, run out, the ghouls will feast then turn on the rest of us." The priest warned.

Lucan cursed as he found his shadow bolts did very little damage to the undead monsters. He conjured Night's Whisper and activated Acrobatics to improve his reaction time before starting to slash at the ghoul come at him from the side. Even with his improved dexterity he wasn't a match for their insane reflexes.

He jumped to the side as an illusionary duplicate split off. The ghoul's unfocused eyes didn't even consider it as it kept rushing towards the real Lucan. It's craving and mad desire to feast on blood made his illusions useless.

Lucan could only sigh as he was finding more and more enemies who didn't even react to his illusion. On top of that, his life drain ability didn't work on undead. They had no "Life" to drain, which put him in even more of a risky situation.

As much as Lucan was struggling, Silent was shinning like a bright star. With her legendary bow in hand and her precision aim that almost guaranteed critical hits, 2 arrows were enough to kill any ghoul.

The knights and paladins were thrilled. Any ghoul they found charging them with a single arrow stuck in it was able to be vanquished with a single strike. The hunter also made good use of the opportunity. When Silent shot far into the herd of ghouls, his rapid-fire bow would send 2 arrows to follow hers. A quick double tap was enough to put a ghoul to rest.

Silent turned to give Lucan a cheeky grin. "Looks like you should start making me some more arrows."

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled.

With a flicker of shadow form, he moved into the protective circle with the others. The heavy armor of the knights and paladins kept the ghouls from getting their greedy hands on flesh. The priest kept them healed up while Lucan took out his woodworking kit.

To his disappointment, Lucan's knife wielding skills were starting to become unparalleled when dealing with wood. If only he was that great in combat. With 4 swipes of his knife an arrow shaft was born, he used a strip of leather to attach an arrowhead and then quickly attached a few feathers to give it stability in flight. The whole process only took 30 seconds.

After he made each arrow, he would rapid fire a bunch of telekinetic slashes into the horde of ghouls so he could claim some experience points when they died before working on a new arrow.

Once he completed 30 arrows, he passed them to Silent who quickly stored them in her quiver and went back to being the hero. The arrows weren't perfect, and she couldn't rely on them for long shots, but they were good enough for the situation they were in.

"Do you think you can help me out too?" The hunter asked while holding out a bag of supplies to Lucan along with a recipe.

Seeing the woodworking recipe, the warlock's eyes lit up. "Sure, no problem."

It was hard to pout while getting free recipes. The hunter's arrows were shorter and more light weight, compared to the arrows that Silent wanted. This particular hunter valued quantity over quality as he was constantly rapid firing out arrow.

It took Lucan even less time to make arrows for the hunter than it did compared to Silent.

[You have progressed to the first stage of intermediate woodworking]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 93.]

Lucan changed his mind. Making arrows while the others did the fighting wasn't really that bad.