Battlefield- Evolution

by Daniel Dragon

  Dracon opened the wrought iron gate to Staverton City, and left his wagon out front before he walked up the stairs to his right to take a look.

  There was the sound of swords clanging and clashing as he looked on from the ramparts of the city… A few hobgoblins and orcs were even running towards him, getting chased by what looked like other orcs and other hobgoblins…

  Had some sort of war unfolded?

  “We… we need to get this wagon out of here now!” Dracon jumped and screamed, looking at Waal as she peered out of the carriage… “Take that carriage to the beach, and wait by the large rock we saw on the way here! Do you hear me Waal?”

  “Wait, but isn’t it dangerous?”

  “I have to try and take advantage of this battle! Creston… Protect Waal okay?!”

  “Who are you?!” Creston screamed, looking up as the wagon started to head down the road… “Tell me… Why do you seem so familiar?!”

  “He said help me!” Waal interrupted him, turning the wagon around and beginning to head down the road… “Do you want to insult our great master Drack?”

  “Drack? That’s not a normal goblin name… Wait, could he be?!”

  Dracon sighed and looked back, hearing their voices dissipate as he pulled out his blade and looked at the mayhem unfurling before him…

  There were a few kobolds fighting a few meters away and some orcs and hobgoblins fighting a few meters further next to the hotels of the town. He instantly changed into a goblin and jumped onto the roof on his left side, heading further and further towards the source of the fire…

  Screams echoed beneath him as hundreds of orcs and goblins and hobgoblins and kobolds clashed swords… Was there was a reason for all this fighting? Did demons fight over territories just like they claimed humans did?

  He’d always heard that demons always respected each other, and were united against destroying all of humanity. This was something they’d taught him at BlackRock School, however, now it seemed like this was all another trick to make them obedient.

  I don’t understand, though, why would demons attack demons? I thought they were only against humans and never fought against each other…

  “I don’t know…” Bob replied, interrupting his thoughts, “I’m guessing they’re probably like you humans… When they want a territory, they are willing to fight over it… Perhaps a nearby demon wanted an ocean view so they attacked this base?”

  So all that stuff about the demons coming to stop the destruction of the Earth is fake? They are just lying to us to get us to fight each other to the death?

  “Kid… if you wanted to control someone, you’d probably tell them just about anything to make them do your bidding… I mean… look how many times you just lied to Creston, and you just met him!”

  Dracon hated that Bob had a point, thinking about it as he hoped from roof to roof before he made it to the center of the city. Dozens of small fires had started and were spreading in the circular town square; Dead bodies were around those fires as more and more hobgoblins ran out of shops to join the mayhem currently sweeping through the town…

  What… what the hell was going on?

  “You… you’re a smart goblin,” a voice appeared behind him, coming out of a six feet tall kobold with green skin… “However, hiding on top of a roof isn’t going to keep me from killing you…”

  “I work for Najd… a werewolf… If you kill me, he’ll kill you and probably all the kobolds in your village…”

  “I don’t know who that is, but even if I did I would still kill you… Are you not aware that this is a battlefield currently? Anyone foolish enough to walk in here can be killed without asking questions!”

  “Now… do you still think your master will protect you…”

  Dracon shook his head and sighed, pulling out his blade and grasping it tightly as the kobold walked closer and closer to him. He was still in his goblin form, and figured he had one opportunity to strike if he transformed at the right time…

  Basically, if he switched to his hobgoblin form fast enough, he could catch the kobold off guard and take his life…

  The kobold stopped right in front of him, and withdrew a large axe from his back, raising it up in his hands as Dracon carefully pulled out his blade…

  Transform to hobgoblin!

  Dracon spun backwards as his arm turned from green to red and slashed as hard as he could at the handle of the kobolds axe, causing him to jump back and dodge his attacks.

  He followed up with three slashes at the kobold and then flipped into the air and slashed down.

  Had he overestimated himself?

  The kobold blocked every attack easily before it smiled and pulled out a dagger, tossing it forward at a fast speed towards Dracon’s moving form…

  The blade instantly burst into Dracon’s foot before he dropped onto the floor, feeling an enormous pain shoot up his spine…

  I can’t by any chance transform to something else can I… Is there anything else this weapon can do?

  “Hell… I didn’t check yet!” Bob said, sounding completely insane as he tried to examine the swords abilities deeper… “Wait, I found something! There is a skill that allows you to temporary change into something you killed… At your level you can transform 3 times int something you only killed once!!”

  Like a bear… Can I transform into a bear? Dracon fell onto his knee and looked up at the kobold approaching with measured steps… Please… please tell me I can transform into it…

  “You can, but it can only last 10 minutes! You’d need to kill at least 5 more bears of that type for a full transformation… Do it or you’re probably going to die!”

  Dracon didn’t hesitate and thought “transform bear!” as the kobold stopped within a foot of him… His body instantly grew from only perhaps a meter tall to two and a half meters tall, causing his stats to jump way up as he felt his hands turn to paws…

  An unbelievable rage burned inside of him at this moment before he struck with his hardest blow into the kobold’s chest…

  He instantly went flying and crashing into the tiles on the roof, sliding against it before Dracon charged at him… Since he only had ten minutes remaining, he bit into the kobald’s arm before he even got a chance to get up, slashing his claws into the man’s face as he screamed in pain…

  “You’re not a hobgoblin you beast! Get off you monster! Get of--!”

  Dracon slammed his claws over and over again into the kobold before he finally breathed his last breath. He felt so strong at this moment as he turned to the city, heaving in his bear form…

  I feel so powerful even as a level 10 bear… How… how powerful does that mean Najd is if he was able to kill a level 23 bear of this caliber…

  Dracon turned and jumped off the roof, slashing into two hobgoblins as he landed before he pushed down and crushed their skulls.

  Everyone turned towards him in the town square as he heaved a large breath, letting the feeling of animal ferocity grow stronger as he found his next target – two fighting kobolds…

  He wanted nothing more than to kill every demon here and planned to use this form to the best of his ability. He charged straight for the two kobolds fighting and roared before he jumped and lashed out with three quick claw strokes.

  Blood gushed out of the kobolds as they tried their best to block his claws with their blades… He simply was too powerful, though, and managed to smack both of them into the wall…

  He chose the one on the left and bit into his arm, pulling his body out before he tossed it with his teeth towards the merchant stall in the middle of the town…

  Next, he walked over to the other kobold and found him crawling through the rubble… Was he really able to kill many kobolds with this form? If he was able to do this against kobolds, would he be able to do this against orcs?

  I’m getting ahead of myself… However, why… why does this bear form make me feel so powerful! It’s almost like everything in this town is beneath me except for the
sky!

  I’m… I’m going to kill everything until there is nothing left to kill!

  “You only have five minutes…” Bob interrupted as Dracon stomped his claw into the last kobold… “However, this is great, you’ve already gained the form of the kobold! In a few minutes, you might even reach level 11!”

  Chapter 14: meeting

  Najd waited in his study as he looked at a werewolf that had appeared before him with an orc. He sighed as they spoke about a single human that had gotten away and apparently turned into a goblin…

  However, now they were going as far to say that the human was here after arriving yesterday and inspecting the place… Najd didn’t believe for a second that any human would be able to get past his nose, and grinded his fist as the werewolf sniffed the air…

  “I’m insulted that you’d dare think I’d hire a goblin that was a human… Don’t you think I would’ve smelled him before I hired him…”

  “We don’t mean to offend you, but he was definitely here…” Mactrid said, bowing to the Najd as he put a pair of chains on the table… “Here… smell this, and tell me if you recognize this scent…”

  “I’m not your wolf, and I refuse to smell that… However, I’m surprised to see you’re working for an orc, Damas… How much money did this orc have to give you to—”

  “We’re in a bit of a bind here,” Damas responded, standing in his human form in a black suit with a tight white shirt. A supreme demon visited Mactrid four days ago and told him everything had to be resolved with this human in a month…”

  “A supreme demon… Why would he talk to you personally? They… they find it hard to even talk to vampires and werewolves.”

  “Please… just smell it… I swear that you’ll recognize it, or you can kill me yourself…”

  Mactrid really had nothing to lose, and decided to go all in after Damas tracked the scent here… They’d already found a wagon missing in Grande City, and that led to this place… At this point, they were actually 90% percent sure at this moment Dracon was impersonating a demon and working for Najd…

  A few minutes ago, they’d just visited his room, and there were two scents that smelled of the flowers of Grande City.

  Who else could it be?

  Najd, on the other hand, barely bought any of it, and struggled to pick up the handcuffs before Damas tossed a large bag of sterling on Najd’s table.

  “You really want me to sniff these? What if I told you the person you’re probably looking for is already on his way to the grave.... I don’t have to sniff these to smell the scent of flowers lingering from it…” Najd sighed, tossing the handcuffs onto the table as he looked at Damas before he took a deep breath. “I… I’m sure that hobgoblin will be dead actually in less than twenty minutes…”

  “Yup, then our biggest problem is getting his weapon…” Najd interrupted, “We have to kill him now and stop him from being able to transform into anything else! Would you mind taking us taking to the city where he’s fighting?”

  Najd shook his head…

  He couldn’t go there yet because he was one of the people who’d designed the battle that was currently happening! He’d actually talked to another werewolf and had both of them send their troops there two days ago!

  Today, the last day of the battle, would determine who won the territory! However, there was also another reason for this battle, and it was to give weak kobolds, goblins, and hobgoblins a chance to reach max level!

  Kobolds had a maximum level limit of 15, and because of that there were actually some level 13 kobold’s fighting… Just like humans, beasts too had to fight for their rank.

  Najd continued as he unfurled a map on his desk, showing all the contested territories in the area where the fights were currently happening…

  “I don’t feel like heading their early, or it will be disrespectful to the werewolf in charge of Brahler City. In three hours, there should be a few remaining orcs, kobolds, and hobgoblins that will win a vast amount of rewards… Then we can pick up his body…”

  This seemed like a full proof plan, and everyone in the room nodded and agreed. However, a nagging feeling remained in Mactrid’s stomach as he thought about the boy that had escaped…

  Dracon had been an extremely hard worker when it came to training his sword play as a child, and he regularly stayed up for twenty four hours at a time to perfect his technique…

  He was also intelligent, and was always able to get out of fighting people bigger and stronger than him by coming up with a strategy… Even on the battlefield, he soared to the top and reached level 2 before anyone in his age group…

  “I’m excited, but what if he’s one of the people that survives… Do you have any way to track him if he does manage to live?”

  “He won’t live… There will be orcs there and a level 10 hobgoblin will stand no chance against them…”

  ‘Wait, did you say hobgoblin?” Mactrid said, waddling his brow as he looked at Damas and then at Najd… “How… how can he be a hobgoblin? He was a goblin when he left…”

  “You… you mean he can evolve from killing things?” Damas said, glowering at the moon as it started to rise in the sky… “That’s… that’s horrible! What if he kills a kobold! They… they can cover up their smell!”

  “… Well, it looks like we should hurry,” Najd cracked his knuckles, standing up from his desk before he walked towards the exit… “He just earned himself a date with death…

  Chapter 15: increasing stakes

  Dracon roared and slashed his claw into three more hobgoblins as his last minute slowly came to an end… He killed more and more and more demons at every turn, causing them to run away from him down the narrow streets of Staverton Hill.

  He ran forward after them as his black fur shined in a mixture of daylight and moonlight. It was getting closer and closer to twilight, at this moment, and he knew he only had a little bit longer to kill…

  His claws, which had been covered with blood, were now completely red as he slashed at one final kobold, crushing its skull before he looked at his mana bar in his lower vision…

  When it turned to zero, he knew that his transformation would be over, and he’d lose this precious form that he gained.

  “You have just reached level 13! You’re killing them faster than I ever thought possible! Not only that, but you can now transform into a kobold!”

  I want to kill more! I want to kill all these demons to pay them back for all the humans they’ve all killed! For humanity, you’re all going to suffer!

  Dracon crushed one more demon’s skull before he looked down, noticing that the fur was receding from his body. His hobgoblin form reappeared as he stood in an abandoned street. Clouds of billowing smoke masked anyone from looking at him as he turned to look in a broken glass display.

  To his right, there was some armor and old antique weapons that looked like it was a perfect fit for him. He grabbed it and put it on, equipping level 11 armor as the smoke kept growing more and more intense…

  I want to transform into a Kobold… Can I do it yet?

  “The skill is activated… However, I recommend waiting until your mana is full to use the skill… You won’t get all their abilities unless you wait…”

  Dracon sighed and walked further into the store leaving behind all the dead bodies that he’d killed along the way… That six minutes was perhaps the most terrifying of his life, and he’d killed without blinking like a real beast…

  Whenever he turned into demons, he felt a similar need to kill, but when he transformed into the bear it was so much more intense… Perhaps, from this perspective, demons and humans weren’t that much different after all when compared to animals…

  He sighed and walked into the blacksmith’s shop, entering through the glass as the remaining demons went to try and find someone to kill…

  However, he knew that he’d already done all he could…

  If he remembered correctly, he’d killed 10 kobolds, 30 hobgobli
ns, and 10 goblins in the brief time he had as a bear… He smiled as he waited as twilight started to get closer to taking over in the sky…

  Ten minutes passed and then twenty minutes, at this time, before everything turned silent and all that remained was the strange darkness starting to pervade the streets. He grabbed two things off the shelves, preparing to leave, before he returned to the corner of the shelves and took a deep breath.

  It had once again reached twilight, and he smiled as he sat in the back of the shop, feeling an eerie sensation as he noticed three individuals bowing across from him…

  If he wasn’t mistaken, that was Najd, and Mactrid and another werewolf… His heart immediately started to beat extremely fast as he gripped tightly onto his sword! How was he supposed to survive?!

  They… they’d move immediately when it was twilight again, and at that point he’d be dead! The only thing he could count on now was sheer luck, and he didn’t have much of that to begin with!

  Transform Kobold! Dracon thought, causing his body to slowly grow taller as he stood in the shop, staring out at the two level 25 werewolves, and the one level 20 orc…

  How could he survive against them?

  His only hope was to run, hoping that their fear of the supreme demons would keep them at bay!

  “You… you’re going to regret it if you leave…” Najd said, growling as he bowed on the floor. “I already saw Waal on the way here… You dare leave, Dracon, and I promise I’ll make it to her before you do…”

  “I also will promise to visit your family in Eskdale and kill them in their sleep… Do you really want to get up and try and walk away?”

  “I think you’re afraid of something I’m not,” Dracon replied, spitting on the floor as he walked out the door, turning into a human before he winked at Najd… “I don’t think your supreme demons care if a human honors their sacred twilight hour… See you all in twenty when you’re finally able to move…”