Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

Lucan woke to the sound of a bell ringing inside the formation.

As he ran out of his room in the tent, he found Silent rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she followed him to see what was happening outside.

All the Willow troops were up and moving, responding faster than Lucan and Silent had. The two found Sturdy and approached him as the knight watched Shifty give out commands.

"What is going on?" Lucan asked.

"Over 200 hundred Kobolds left the gate and are following our trail towards the base camp. At the pace they are going they should be here in 10 minutes."

"Where's Frantic!" Shifty was shouting.

The young formation master came running up to Shifty.

"How positive are you that they won't be able to find us?"

"Uhh, I am about 90% certain. Since everyone is here, we have activated the high-grade barrier and dispersion charm. With the illusion upgrade I got from Lucan we should be fine. Even if they bounce off of our formation, they aren't likely to notice it."

"We should use this chance to kill off some more kobolds." One of Shifty's subordinates suggested.

Shifty frowned. "Let's not, if even one escapes, they will confirm our location and send raids at us every night, not giving us a break, it's risky and not worth it." Shifty said before looking towards Sturdy.

The Vice-captain of the A team nodded to Shifty to show his agreement.

Shifty continued. "But if they want to raid us at night, we can do the same to them. Stealth team!" He hollered out an order for them to assemble.

He passed the leader of the stealth team a map based on Lucan and Silent's work earlier in the day.

The stealth team leader studied the map before passing it around to his subordinates. "How should we proceed?"

"If there are enemies in the courtyard at the base of the astronomy tower hit them but don't venture far into the fortress. You have three minutes of engagement time before you need to return. We don't want to attract anything we aren't prepared for."

"Understood. Everyone, prepare your consumables, we will leave in five."

"You can count us in." Lucan said while Silent nodded eagerly.

"Good, if you can manage, I want you to make a flashy exit on your broom if you can. It would be best if they don't have to think too hard about how we got in."

"Alright, I will do my best. I just need a couple minutes to prepare." Lucan said before starting to cast another shadow tunnel.

He was concerned about the drakes they saw on the first day. If he was pursued by something with flight abilities on his way out, he didn't want to lead them back to the base camp.

Silent ran to the tent to grab some extra supplies. When she returned Lucan was finished with the shadow tunnel. He led the Stealth leader and 20 stealth fighters towards the tunnel to the astronomy tower.

"Master, it is a pleasure to see you again." The pixie bowed and greeted Lucan as he entered the formation. The warlock was already casting spells and preparing for the fight.

From here the stealth team leader led the rest of the way. Silent chose to enter stealth herself instead of merging into Lucan's shadow, that way she would be able to leave with him and provide support in the escape if he needed it.

"Shifty gave us 3 minutes of combat time but that doesn't mean you should use it all. Stay in groups of 2. Our goal is not to injure but to kill, pick you targets, unleash you powerful attacks and retreat. Don't bother trading blows with the enemy."

22 figures hid in stealth while the team leader slowly opened the door to the courtyard. Fires were burning and over 200 kobolds lay sleeping in the courtyard while campfires crackled, and embers painted the area in a gentle warmth.

After opening the door, the stealth team leader entered stealth and stepped aside. Two ninja class users with advance stealth took the opportunity to enter first. With their advanced stealth they could set down items while remaining invisible.

Slowly and quietly the other stealth users entered the courtyard. Silent and Lucan brought up the rear.

Lucan followed Silent to the far corner by the door leaving the area where 6 unsuspecting kobolds slept with full tummies.

They quietly waited. After two minutes there was a notification in the raid chat they had joined.

[Ghostly Willow (stealth team leader): Get ready]

[Ghostly Willow: 5]

[Ghostly Willow: 4]

[Ghostly Willow: 3]

[Ghostly Willow: 2]

[Ghostly Willow: 1]

[Ghostly Willow: Attack]

Simultaneously 23 figures emerged from stealth with weapons drawn. Behind Lucan and Silent 5 phantom slashes floated out of the walls.

Screams and angry growls filled the courtyard as blood sprayed into the air.

Silent's daggers cut open a kobold before she kicked it onto the hot embers beside its bed. Stepping down on the kobold she drew her bow and fired point blank before taking another arrow and firing it over Lucan's shoulder at a kobold who had just risen from sleep.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

The vials and items the ninjas had spread through the room earlier exploded and turned to a magical fire after they were targeted by different members of the stealth team.

Night's whisper plunged into the neck of a kobold while Lucan's other hand set a telekinetic wall in front of the door, making it much harder for anyone to leave or enter. Several phantom slashes cut up the other kobolds around the fire. With his other wand Lucan unleashed a flash bang in the center of the group before draining his mental mana with telekinetic slashes to finish them off.

Silent killed 3 kobolds while Lucan and his phantoms killed 5. With the room burning and the kobolds fully alert and ready to fight it was time to leave.

Lucan dumped all his shadow mana into illusionary shadows, filling the room and creating chaos, allowing the other stealth users the perfect cover to retreat under. There was a loud banging coming from the door Lucan blocked it was followed by angry shouting.

Without looking, he knew Silent had merged into his shadow. Originally, he couldn't feel it when she did so but now there was a comfortable sensation when she occupied his shadow.

Lucan converted pure mana into mental mana to gain enough power for telekinetic cling before hopping onto this broom. As he rose above the courtyard, he pulled out the bundle of vials Ghostly Willow had given him.

The courtyard bellow had fires burning all over the place. He aimed at a fire in the center of the courtyard and threw the bundle. He heard glass crashing and breaking followed by a big whoosh.

The fire turned bright blue and started reaching higher into the sky as the intense heat began to spread. He could hear agonized yelps and cries from below. The kobolds lucky enough to remain untargeted in surprise assault were now being burned up.

Lucan smiled as the experience points rolled in one after another.

'One of the perks of being the customer is getting to launch the big bomb.' He thought to himself

'Hurry up, let's get out of here.' Silent urged him

As Lucan turned to flee, he could see a large draconian man giving him a death glare while soothing an angry drake from a flight tower on the opposite end of the fortress.

Lucan reached out his hand and provocatively motioned for the man to follow before he dumped all his ethereal mana into the broom and flew out of the area. Without looking back he rushed deep into the forest heading away from the base camp.

'I don't see him following us. It was hard to see but it looked like that man retreated deeper into the room. Hurry up, land, and connect the tunnel before you get us into trouble.' Silent scolded.

Lucan did as instructed. They entered the shadow tunnel without issue and quickly returned to camp.

They arrived the same time as the stealth team. There were some injuries and burns but everyone came back alive.

"Good work, great job, nice effort." Shifty praised everyone. "The group of kobolds passed us without finding our camp. Get some rest everyone you earned it. You will be working hard tom-."

Shifty was cut off

*ROARRRRR!!!!!*

A loud menacing roar cut through the night, coming from the fortress. A natural fear was felt from deep with the bones. That wasn't the roar of an angry drake. That was the roar of a true dragon… and it was mad.

**********************************************

Enjoy this bonus chapter. Thanks for the support, i hope you have enjoyed reading my story the past week. if you enjoy it, vote with your power stones, and give me some reviews. If you want to tell me what you liked or didn't like leave a comment and let me know. I have some time off this weeked so i am going to use it to start stocking up more chapters. I hope to be able to start releasing 2 chapters every day here soon. (no promises)