Chapter 11: level 10
Dracon remained up in the trees as he looked down at the large beast smashing into the bark.
He’d jumped from three trees, and every tree, one after the other, had been knocked over by the gigantic beast. It’s fur had raised on its ends, and it gave off the feeling of death incarnate…
Its eyes were black, and its large claws were almost a foot long as it slashed again and again into the tree as he balanced on the branches…
He only had once chance, and that was to jump down and stab it in the head. However, what if it moved, and he missed? His blade was sharp, but it didn’t mean that it guaranteed success…
Even if he managed to cut off its arm, it would still be able to kill him easily with a single swipe… He sighed and steadied his breathe as he pulled out his sword and raised it in the air, activating Silent Feet as the tree vibrated more and more from the onslaught…
He had to attack, or else he’d eventually run out of trees to jump to, however, a second later he noticed a large man walking towards the beast.
Suddenly, that man started to grow fur and he instantly moved as quick as lightning, turning into a blur that rushed towards the bear… The bear, in response, howled, and then lashed out at the incoming figure…
Dracon could barely make it out, but soon the bear burst back and skipped into the water…. Najd walked over to the bear and slammed its head into the pond, smiling as he turned to look at Dracon…
“I don’t need the experience… As your welcoming present, and in exchange for a good relationship with you, why don’t you come kill this for me?!”
“You… are you sure?” Dracon said, jumping off the branches in his hobgoblin form, walking over to it with careful steps… “That monster must be at least level 20…”
“It’s level 23… However, you’re only level 5… You’ll at most grow to level 10, which is what I expect of a hobgoblin working for me… I also am doing this for that beautiful girl you have in your room…”
“Yes, I understand… However, I must ask the vampire first about her,” Dracon said, pulling out his blade and spinning it in his hands. He spit on the hilt as if it was insignificant, and then walked over to the bear as it struggled in the water…
He stabbed down into its head three times, and pulled out the blade only to find a dark blood on its hilt. Unlike his blood, it was almost like this blood had something different inside of it…
A moment later, all of that dark blood spilled into the pond, and he walked back only to find a hot feeling traveling through his body…
“Your body can probably barely handle the experience… I remember when I was given my first ‘free meal’…. My father purchased ten orcs and put them in pillory so I wouldn’t have to do the work and could just cut off their heads… It’s a glorious feeling, right?”
Dracon spit out blood as he nodded his head, dropping onto the floor as his body started to literally feel on fire… He’d absorbed a lot of experience before, but this was intense and in a completely different ballpark of pain…
He had to do everything in his power to keep that feeling from bursting his insides and ripping him apart… He focused on meditating like they’d taught him in the BlackRock school, and soon managed to let that energy slowly pass into his body and through his mana spheres – the place where his mana was stored after he got experience…
Experience, basically, traveled from one creature to another almost as if a sort of fated trade for taking someone’s life… All the experience that the bear had to offer went into his body and slowly caused him to heat up hotter and hotter. He had no choice but to focus his energy internally as the werewolf laughed and plucked the bear carcass out of the water…
“You can eat this tonight… You coming?” The werewolf said, smiling as he somehow tossed the entire bears carcass on his shoulder, leaving its feet on the floor as he started to move… “If you make me wait for more than a minute, I’ll have no choice but to kill you…”
“No… I’m coming!” Dracon forced himself off the floor, walking as his muscles and bones cracked… He didn’t want to die for so many reasons, and one of them was definitely to protect Waal.
He’d only known her for a day, but she was one of the first people that was human who seemed to genuinely care about him.
All the people he spoke to in BlackRock, besides maybe his teacher, always treated him like someone they might have to kill someday. He did the same to them, but just Waal and his teacher alone gave him strength to get up at this moment and walk towards the werewolf…
Every few moments, his body began to shine as he walked behind the werewolf and back to the town. By the time they made it to the mess hall, the werewolf turned back to him and smiled at him, looking surprised that he’d managed to walk such a long distance with his body literally burning in agonizing pain.
“You’re something else… When I jumped 5 levels, I fainted and had to be carried back to my room with my dad’s help… However, perhaps it was because I was a little young?”
“I’m sure it was… I wouldn’t dare say that I’m superior to you in anyway… Just have learned to deal pain over the years…
“I hear you… Now remember, tomorrow at 10 o clock… I expect to see you with your cart on the battlefield…”
“Where?” Dracon asked, pushing his arm against the pillar to his right as his bones kept making louder and louder cracking sounds… “Where shall I meet you? Great one?”’
“Heh, I already spoke to that girl of yours, and I’d like you and her to meet me three kilometers down the road… She can help load the dead bodies into the carriage…”
“Thank you! Thank you!” Dracon said, turning and bowing before he excused himself to return to his room. He walked up the stairs and opened the door, collapsing on the floor as soon as he saw Waal in front of him.
Waal saw him collapse and instantly jumped off the bed, running over to him and doing all she could to pick him up without a second of hesitation…
Chapter 12: constitution
“Your body is so hot… It must be at least 120 degrees!” Waal pushed Dracon towards the bed, only making it a few feet, as she ran to get a washcloth from the bathroom…
Her worst fears seemed to only be slowly coming true as she watched Dracon’s skin begin to turn beet red as he suffered on the wooden floor… What would happen to her if he died? She had to do everything she could to ensure he wouldn’t be killed by the fever currently sweeping through his body!
“Please… please… please tell me you’ll be fine…” Waal cried out as she replaced the washcloth on his head with another wet towel and massaged it against his scalp… “You’re finally making me feel like I can care about living for a few years… Before you… before you I would’ve never thought of eating a meal!”
Waal did all she could to make him comfortable for the next several hours as the moon slowly started to take over the day…
Dracon woke up several hours later, finding his skin and body in much better shape as Waal rested on the side of the bed.
“Status,” Dracon whispered as he turned to look at Waal resting on his right side… He had just suffered through so much pain, and his body had even spewed out impurities. Luckily, though, his once burning temperature was back to normal, giving him an opportunity to look at his stats.
Dracon
Level 10
Race(s) : Human / Goblin / Hobgoblin
Age: 18
Exp: 8,000 / 40,000
Health: 1850 / 1850
Mana: 130 / 1300
Force: 1250
Endurance: 925
Acceleration: 1020
Trickery: 700
Stealth: 620
Skills: Silent Feet, Great Strength, Night Vision (HG), Basic Tracking (HG)
~~You have 7 skill points… Perhaps you might want to finally go to a terminal?
Dracon ignored the prompt, and gently waked up Waal as she rested by his side. Ins
tantly, though, she panicked and rolled off the bed, dropping onto the floor like a rock…
“Drack… I’ll… I’ll get back to cleaning… I’m sorry for falling a sleep!”
“Come with me wench!” Dracon said, getting the rope and passing it to her as he opened the door. “Put that around your neck and make sure it’s tight…”
Judging by the sun, it was already early in the morning. He had to make sure he didn’t miss the battlefield or horrible things could happen.
The sun was just entering into the window, and the smell of blood was in the air…
A battle was about to happen, and he had to make sure he was as cruel as possible to Waal on their journey.
He had no choice but to keep putting on this act, and made Waal follow him as he held onto the rope with his hands. Her white dress was in tatters as they walked down the hallway, and her blonde hair was completely disheveled from her worried night…
Still, she almost looked slightly happy as she walked past the goblins and towards his carriage. Even with the rope around her neck, she kept her head up high as they got in their wagon and got their horse out of the stable…
As he grabbed the horse, Dracon couldn’t help but think the horses were treated better than most humans. Demons, apparently, found horses as extremely useful creatures and usually fed them three times a day.
As he walked past the human tents, on the other hand, even though they were fed three times a day, it was by goblins who gambled on which humans would live or die…
Dracon sighed and noticed that his old teacher wasn’t in the tents as he made his way towards the battlefield. Thirty minutes later, he made it to the battlefields down by the hills a few kilometers down the road.
The clouds were overcast and the soldiers on both sides were lining up to form two disparate lines… He sighed and focused on one of the men standing in the front…
His teacher, Creston, was three rows back meaning he was only a few weeks at most from reaching level 5…
This made him feel nervous as he thought about the cost of having to fight your own race to level up. Usually, when you killed someone from your own race, there was a lot less experience given to you in exchange for your efforts.
In fact, it was said killing your own race would give you 100x less experience than someone from a different race… Was this a sort of universal law meant to keep people from hunting their own that only those who understood mana could contemplate?
Dracon ignored these thoughts as a horn blew and large arrows from ballista were fired from the rear of both sides… Dust flew up into the air as all the humans took towards their enemies as the battle started…
Dracon sighed and turned to Waal as he prayed for his teacher’s success… If there was a single person of the thousands who deserved to live, it was him.
“What’s wrong… Do… do you know someone there?” Waal said, forgetting about werewolves for a moment as she looked at Dracon… “I mean… is there someone there you don’t want to die?”
“I… I really hope that they all die… What are you talking about” Dracon said untruthfully as blood started to be spilled on both sides, feeling a small chance that someone was listening in the trees to his right and left…
Still, he watched patiently as a few of the humans that knew skills cast weapons out of their hands like fire arrows and water arrows as other humans charged towards them.
This was not the battlefield he remembered, and his teacher, Creston, used a technique as well. He caused the hilt of his blade to slowly grow branches in three directions that lashed out like whips…
It was a neat skill, but mostly showy, Dracon couldn’t help but notice as the attacks did very little damage to his approaching opponent… A moment later, a small ball of fire was returned at him, skimming past his arm as the two clashed.
Creston used a spear and slashed it into the shield of his opponent before spinning and chopping at the soldier behind him. Creston luckily managed to land one hit on an incoming opponent before a spear was tossed into his arm…
Dracon immediately grinded his fist and got up, praying for Creston as three more attacks slammed into his arm, chest, and torso… However, before he knew it, Creston was left on the floor with a spear in his body as the fight continued…
More and more large weapons shot into the air as Dracon wiped the tears off his eyes… He… he should’ve done something last night like force Creston to be his servant… However, now, now he was getting dragged over to their wagon by three goblins…
Human bodies were repeatedly tossed in the back of the wagon as Waal got out and moved to the side. Entrails of human bodies were left in the back as Dracon tried to remain calm. Creston was one of the last bodies that they placed in the back of the wagon, and they dropped him on top of the load before an orc walked over to him…
“Najd said take that to Staverton Hill… Be back by nightfall, or we’ll eat without you…”
“Of course! Of course!” Dracon replied, smiling as he moved to the front of the carriage, pulling Waal with him as he bowed to the orc.
He quickly got in the carriage, and after asking the orc directions, began his journey down the road further then he’d ever gone before. It seemed that town they were looking for was along the shoreline he’d seen just yesterday when he entered the city…
Chapter 13: Creston
Dracon stopped the cart, and immediately hopped out, jumping into the blood and guts in back of the wagon as Waal remained in the front…
He tossed aside body after body before he found Creston – his black hair and forehead covered with cuts, and his eyelids struggling to open He had a little bit of experience patching wounds, and immediately tore off a part of his white shirt as Creston opened his eyes…
He didn’t have any stints, or medicine, but he couldn’t just let his teacher die! The one who’d stayed up with him a few extra hours each night to help him learn how to wield a sword.
Dracon had no choice, at this moment, but to pull out the two spears in his body – his right and left shoulders. A large shriek came out of Creston as he weltered in pain, holding his hands up trying to protect himself from any incoming attack…
Creston obviously thought he was about to die, seeing himself in the back of the cart that he’d put so many other people in on many occasions. He’d killed nearly 7,000 different humans to almost make it to level 5, and this is what he deserved!
“You’re not going to be killed by me, human…” Dracon said, tearing off another part of his shirt and wrapping it around Creston… “I… I’ll wrap up your wounds, but it’ll be up to you to heal… Then, I can see about trying to get you to level 5…”
“I… I don’t understand,” Creston coughed, getting up and bowing into the bodies beneath his feet… “If you want to, I give you full permission to kill me!”
“Stop it!” Dracon said, wrapping up one more wound as he turned to look around, making sure that no one was following him… “I… I’m only allowed to give dead bodies to the butcher shop! You’re not dead, are you?”
“No, but this must happen all the time… No living ever returns from their journeys to the butcher shop… If you’re going to kill me, please don’t play games with me…”
I try to tell him that he’s going to live, and this is how he reacts… I’d love to show him my true identity, but if I do that and he gets captured there is a chance they’ll force him to tell about me…
Still, it at least feels good knowing that I’m saving someone who saved me before in my life… Even if it means going against Najd, I owe this man that much…
Dracon grabbed a cup of water from the bucket to his side, and passed it to Creston as he shook his head…
“I already said I’m not going to kill you, Creston… Now shut up and sit in the back until we make it to Staverton Hill… When we get there, I’ll see about helping you level up…”
“Why… why are you doing this?” Creston asked, feeling ext
remely afraid as he looked at the hobgoblin… “Is this just so you can kill me, and no one can find out?”
“He’s telling the truth,” Waal said, peering through the flap as the smell of dead bodies pervaded the air. “If you keep bothering him, he’s going to be forced to kill you… Do you undetstand!”
“Yes, but… I appreciate it!” Creston still didn’t believe he’d survive, but felt a minor piece of hope welling up inside of him… “However, I have to ask… Why… why do you seem so familiar hobgoblin?”
“I… I visited BlackRock once and you helped me fix my wagon… It be a shame if I killed a person so good with his hands…”
This story was actually true, however, he wasn’t the hobgoblin that had been helped. Both him and Creston at the time had been asked to fix the wheels of a wagon going to the battlefield…
Why did he say this?
He decided to lie so both him and Creston wouldn’t be in danger! The less you knew the safer you were, and he also couldn’t’ travel with Creston!
It was one thing to travel with one girl, and say you liked to watch her suffer, but it was another thing to travel with two humans!
Even if you had a good reason, most demons would probably think of him as a human sympathizer, and that would mean his death!
“I… I’m thankful…” Creston popped in his shoulder, and crawled out of the dead bodies to sit on the side of the wagon, putting his back to the flap as the wagon got further and further up the hill…
They finally made it to the city roughly 2 hours later and found Staverton a few miles off the coast next to what appeared to be some sort of desert.
At the gate, they found a few dozen orcs guarding a city that had a trial of smoke blazing in the background… At the gate, there was a complete absence of any of the normal orcs that stood to protect the entryway to demon cities…
This is strange… Did humans attack? I can’t think of any other reason why their wouldn’t be guards in the front of the city. However, don’t the humans have to fear the supreme demons? Would they really risk it all and attack so close to twilight?
Battlefield- Evolution Page 8
