Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

Little Brown couldn't see his master, but he could feel that Lucan was up ahead. Without worry the little bird dove towards the ground and passed through a formation barrier. He was now able to see Lucan and quickly landed on his shoulder before rubbing his head against his masters cheek.

"Good boy, you did well on that mission." Lucan said while running his finger down the backside of the tiny bird.

*Chirp* *Chirp*

Little Brown reveled in the praise.

Lucan turned to Sturdy Willow. "Have your people had enough time to rest?" He asked.

"We should be good to proceed."

Lucan nodded and waved his hand, opening a shadow tunnel that he had just recently built. This shadow tunnel wasn't used to travel across a distance. No, this shadow tunnel lead directly into the ethereal realm.

The scout team went in first followed bv Sturdy, Lucan and the other Willow players. Pretty much the entire base camp went through the shadow tunnel.

On the other side was a set of black hills that rose and fell in the distance. High in the sky, a yellow river flowed along a winding path. A few members of the Windy Willow organization were startled when they saw the scout team directly combating with ghosts, but they quickly picked up their weapons and rushed to help.

Although their help wasn't needed, it was still appreciated. Lucan had already spoken to the scout team. They knew in advance that they would be passing through the ethereal realm and Lucan had already spoken to them about the difficulties they may face.

When the group of wild ghosts were taken care of, everyone rushed to the location where the fortress should be under the command of Sturdy Willow.

Lucan strolled through the ethereal realm like he was going for a walk in the park. As he looked around he was satisfied, he couldn't detect any weak points in the realm, at least there were not any near him. He felt a little guilty. He had become the champion of one of the realms guardians, but he hadn't done a single thing for the realm. But time was tight, after ensuring that everything was in order, he caught up to the others.

It was no trouble at all for him to look into a single realm. The warlock scanned his surrounding while looking into the shadow realm. It took him a few minutes to find the location of the command room where the boss was located.

Lucan looked at the boss with concern. The boss was a shadow elemental, if it slipped away into the dark territory, it may be impossible to find and he was not a fan of leaving such a big disaster alive after kicking it out of its house.

"Okay everyone, gather up!" Sturdy Willow called out. "This fight is going to be much harder than the normal fights when we take on a fortress boss. I am sure all of you know that we are skipping to end. This means that the entire fortress is going to be filled with elementals and there is a good chance that after the fight starts they are going to swarm towards the command room to help out. I won't lie, this is going to be a bloody fight with a lot of deaths but if you work hard, we can defeat this boss. Weather we win or lose everyone here will be getting a bonus. Work hard and don't make me regret recommending you all to Lucan."

The crowd cheered when they heard that they would be getting bonuses. It was always good to earn extra money.

When Sturdy was ready, he gave Lucan a nod.

The warlock took a seat with Adrestia on one shoulder while Little Brown was on his other. He gripped his scepter and started to gather magical energy.

"Weapons at the ready, get ready to slaughter!" Sturdy screamed.

Lucan tapped his scepter on the ground and a giant green portal nearly one hundred meters wide opened.

"RAAAAA!"

"KILL THEM ALL!!!!!"

"DEATH TO THE ELEMENTALS!!!!!"

Sturdy was the first through the portal and lead the charge into the fortress. With only a single step he was in the boss room of the fortress

When the last person passed through the fortress, Lucan entered behind them and closed the portal. Opening such a large portal ate up half his mana even though it was only open for a few seconds. If he wanted to keep it open longer he would have needed to use maa crystals, but that wasn't necessary, and he had already spent enough on this current campaign.

There were three doors leading into the command room. The southern doors was blocked by several players that managed to get it shut and barricaded the moment they entered. The western and eastern doors were further away. By the time the Willow players reached these doors, elementals grunts were already starting to pour into the room. The players formed a defensive line while the rest of the team turned their attention to the boss.

"YOU DARE TO INVADE MY TERITORY! I WILL DESTROY ALL YOU PATHTIC SKIN SACKS!!!" A large Elemental in the center of the room roared.

Unlike the others, the boss wasn't made up of elemental crystals that formed earth, fire, water, etc. The boss looked like a normal human person, except for the fact that he was nine feet tall. Lucan might have even believed he was a normal person if not for Menta's eye. He could see the elemental energy inside was about to erupt.

"SUFFER MY WRATH!!!!"

Black shadows stretched out and covered the room. Screams were heard from the western and eastern entrances. Everyone lost their vision as darkness spread.

Lucan saw a large clump of shadow energy take form over the boss's head. It concerned him when the energy took the form of a large sword and swung towards the Willow players closest to him.

It was hard to tell who was who, but Lucan could recognize that the masses of mana between him and the boss were friendly. He targeted them and send them a telepathic message. He chose telepathy because anyone who heard it would know that Lucan was trying to talk to them. It wasn't like he was shouting an every one could heard.

'Duck!' He said to them.

Most of the players dropped to the ground quick enough but two masses of mana disappeared from his sight. Lucan assumed they weren't fast enough and didn't avoid the sword of shadows that claimed their life.

When the sword rose to make another strike, Lucan heard the chanting behind him come to an end.

"Let the darkness flee over the horizon, DISPELLING LIGHT!" The highest ranked Willow Priest slammed his staff on the ground unleashing a bright light into the room. The shadows that had claimed the vision of the Willow members was pushed away and destroyed. Even the shadow sword the hung in the air was beginning to corrode and collapse.

Lucan was amazed by the might of the priest. Not only was the light able to drive back the darkness, but there was also dispelling magic inside of the light. It destroyed all magic in its path, slowly eating away at it.

"Paladins!" Sturdy yelled.

Several large golden swords made of light fell from the heavens and pierced into the elemental boss. Golden chains wrapped around his arms and legs to hold him place.

"Attack!" Sturdy yelled while charging into towards the immobilized boss with the others.

Lucan knew his value and was aware of how strong he was. After throwing a telekinetic slash towards the boss he turned his attention to the western entrance and helped to try and keep the elemental grunts out of the command room.