Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

Lucan frowned.  Diseases inside of Evolution could be a real pain.  What made him even more concerned was that the holy classes such as paladin, priest and cleric had the highest resistances against disease.

"How bad is it?"  Silent asked DivineDiva.

"My stamina and holy power are regenerating a tenth of their normal speed."

"Damn it.  If there are diseased monsters in the first room, it is likely that their will be many more later."  Lucan said.

"What is the big deal?"  Tracker92 asked.  "Can't she just die and respawn at the start of the dungeon.  We aren't far and it would take five minutes tops for her to get back since all the traps have been disabled."

"It isn't that easy with diseases."  DivineDIva said.  "Even if I die, I will still be infected.  The only way to get cured is to find a doctor with the cure or to head to a church and receive a bless.  But the prayer takes an hour or more depending on the severity of the disease."

"Since even a paladin is able to contract it, it will probably take more than an hour to cure the disease."

"That sucks."  Tracker92 muttered.

"Since we are on a time limit, I will just work through it."  DivineDiva said.  "But the rest of you need to be careful.  If too many people get infected, it is likely that we won't be able to finish before the time limit is up."

"Okay, take it easy for now and focus on recovering your stamina and holy power.  We will search for room before we move on."  Lucan said.

Stamina, mana, and holy power recover naturally but there are ways to increase the recovery rate. For mana you usually just need to drink water.  Eating can recover stamina and praying can speed up the recovery of holy power.

While the others searched the room DIvineDiva began to pray to the god that imbued her with holy power.

The group took five minutes to search the room.  They found some scraps of leather, a few books and a part of the map of the prison.  The map only included the room they were in and the next room, but it did point out a few locations with traps.  By the time they were done, DivineDiva had recovered her holy power but her stamina was only halfway.

"Let's go."  Divine said.  "If we wait until I am full after every fight, we may not have enough time."

The paladin then took her sword and shield and led the way out of the room.

With the help of the map, they made it to the next room quickly since they didn't need to disarm every trap.  Avoiding them was much faster.

Little Brown took his mouse form and squeezed under the closed door to give Lucan a look inside the room.

The set up was similar to the room they had just cleared with only one change.  Instead of five demon minotaur's, there were only four.  This time the fifth guard was a Rare Elite with a name.

Floor captain Fardin, watched over the minotaurs.  He was shaped like a normal man but with bright yellow skin and he held a staff.

Lucan let the others see what he was seeing by creating an illusion in real time.

"Okay, this time Diva will only take two minotaurs while Super and I will each another take one."  Lucan said.  "Silent and Tracker, both of you need to deal with the caster fast.  Once he is dead go for the demons closest to death.  And everyone needs to keep an eye on the lever that is on the far wall.  We don't want the prisoners to be let out again.

After everyone nodded, Divine kicked open the door and charged through, she moved to take on the two closest demons.

"Vile scum!  How dare you invade his eminence's prison!  You will all suffer!"  Fardin yelled.  "Now di-."

*Bang*

A bullet smashed into his face before he could finish his bad guy declaration.

Lucan rushed towards his minotaur while Adrestia transformed into her larger size. The demon lowered its head and charged towards Lucan with his horns leading the way.

Purple hellfire engulfed the creature as it passed straight through the warlock.  Shadows formed of chains shot from the ground and bound the demon so it couldn't continue its charge into the ranged attackers.  The Night's Whisper stabbed into its back while Lucan began to chain his thief attack together.

The blade of corruption had a nice bit of bonus damage and did more overall damage but Night's Whisper was incredible fast and Lucan was able to chain his attacks together much easier.  All the while he added in telekinetic slashes that he used his stump to cast.

When the creature broke through its chains Lucan finished casting his phantom mage which launched a beam of soul fire toward his target.  With a quick use of flash bang, the demon was not only slowed, but momentarily blinded and deaf.  Adrestia moved in the claw and scratch at the creature while the imp on her back launched a barrage of fireballs.

*Wham*

Lucan was suddenly knocked off his feet.

Fardin had summoned a demonic goat that charged straight into him and bowled the warlock over. Taking away a third of his health.

"Your fight is over here?"  Tracker92 yelled while storing his rifle and pulling the axe from his back.

With two hands he swung the axe over head and threw it straight towards the demon mage.  The axe tumbled through the air.

Fardin Turned and leaned backwards to let the weapon fly over him.  He turned back to smirk at Tracker but found the shooter had disappeared.

"Over here."  Tracker92 whisper before he brought the axe down on Fardin's shoulder.

Lucan picked himself up and stretched his stump towards the demon.  Purple mana once again formed a beam that connected the two.  The dagger in his hand transformed into a blue and red blade which he stabbed into his thigh.  It began to convert his health into mana.  Stretching out his good hand, he activated life drain.

Adrestia and the imp continued their attack while Lucan's phantom maintained the soul fire beam while sucking away his mana.  His stump sucked away the life force and vitality of the demon while his right hand stole its health.  When the creature dropped to five percent health, the phantom ended its spell and launched the soul fire bomb to finish it off.

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, a crystallized soul was all that remained.

Super had already finished his demon, but that wasn't a surprises since his level was higher than Lucan's.  He went to help Silent and Tracker who were close to finishing off Fardin.

Lucan pulled the dagger from his thigh to stop his health from falling further.

DivineDiva was panting and her sword swing had become sluggish.  These were all signs that her stamina had dropped below 10%.  Lucan began to burn through wands as he unloaded telekinetic slashes as fast as he could while aiming at the demon Divine had been working on.

It die a moment before Fardin did.

Like expected the last demon broke free from the paladin's bindings and ran towards he lever.

Arrows, crossbow bolts, and bullets poked holes into it but the demon was determined and didn't break stride.

Adrestia swooped down in front of the demon and activated her devilish aura.  It caused the demon to falter for a moment, but the demon quickly broke free of the fear and rushed passed the shadow drake, ignoring her claws and the fireballs that were pelting it.

With the last of her strength Divine was chasing the creature.

Lucan finished his chant when the demon was only a few steps from the lever.  A beam of soul fire locked on it, cutting its speed in half.

"No you don't."  Divine shouted while tackling the demon from behind.  The both went crashing down to the ground.  The paladin tried to get up and keep fighting but her legs gave out when her stamina reached zero.

Silent kept firing arrows but the minotaur was slowly trying to get back up at half speed.

When it had pushed itself up to its hands and knees, Tracker92 had arrived.

"Choppin' wood!"  He hollered while bring his axe down.

*Slice*

The head tumbled from the demon's body.