Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan stood on the deck of his ship with Silent, Tigereye and his party while using his passive ethereal vision.  He kept his eyes open for a good place from them to cross over.

"Where is this place Miss Night?"  Tigereye asked.

"We are sailing the yellow river in the ethereal realm."

"Ethereal Realm?"  He asked.

Lucan spoke before Silent could answer.  "It is the realm between realms.  All the planes of existence are in the same location.  It is the ethereal realm that separates them.  If you ever walk from one realm to another without using a gate or some other device, it is because the ethereal realm collapsed in that area."

"And the yellow river?  It seems strange."

"It is something you should never touch, it ferries dead souls to the after life or reincarnation, depending on their path."

"I see.  And what is up with the disturbing creatures we keep passing?"

"Don't worry about it, we are at a good place.  Drop the anchor!"  Lucan ordered.

They slowly came to a stop.  "I found a good place for you, it's a clearing in the forest with decent sight lines."

The ghost prepared another rowboat so they could get closer to the ground.  Once everyone was on board they began to descend.

Lucan opened a portal and allowed Tigereye and his party to jump through while he kept an eye on things.

"Thanks for the help/"  TIgereye said before disappearing.

Lucan was about to close the portal when something caught his eye.  He grabbed Silent's hand and jumped through."

They fell a couple of feet to the ground but landed smoothly.

"What are you doing here?  Our deal is done."

"There is a monster I want to kill, when I am done, I will leave."

"What bullshit, he is clearly trying to follow us.  Do something boss."

Lucan scowled towards the priest that had spoken up.

"Are you lying to me?"  Tigereye asked Lucan while giving him a stare down.

"No."  Lucan said while locking eyes with the one who had called him out.  "I have my own business here."

"Alright.  I believe you."  Said Tigereye.  "But I would ask you to hurry and not interfere with us."

"Sure, but if you really want me gone, you can help out.  In return I can build you a quick formation around your gate.  What do you say?"

The party members looked to their boss.  "What is the target?"

Lucan pointed to the edge of the clearing.  "That."

In a puddle under a tree was a fist sized bullfrog.  It had two small little horn on its head and a crown woven from stems on top its head.

"Are you kidding?"  Asked the annoying priest.

Tigereye squinted and tried to tell if it was a strong beast, or if Lucan was hunting a regular frog.  He could not tell.

Lucan stuck out his hand.  "If you help me, I will get the loot, and in return I will provide the supplies and build a basic formation for your gate before turning it over to you."

"Deal."  Said Tigereye.  If it was an ordinary frog, it would be easy.  If it turned out to be a strong beast, well he was the second highest level player in the game.  If his 194 level couldn't take care of it, nobody could.

"Good."  Lucan said with a large smile.  "That is a kingbullfrog beast."

"Never heard of it."  Murmured a few players with Tigereye.

"Sure our bags can hold a lot, but have you ever heard of treasures that have a pock dimension in them.  This king frog has a stomach that is thousands of times large than himself."

"You are going to make one of those treasures that can store a carriage and stuff?" Asked a rogue.

"This one is a bit better.  It can store living things.  So let's get to it before he decides to hop away."

TIgereye lit up.  "So you could store a bunch of people inside?"

"Sure, if that is what you want to use it for."

"Alright men, let's go."

Lucan and Silent drew their weapons.  A shitless barbarian with TIgereye ran forward to attract the frog's attention.

"RAHHHH!'  The barbarian yelled while swinging an axe toward the frog.

"Ribbit."

The frog croaked then opened its mouth.  Like a bolt of lightning, its tongue shot out and attached itself to the barbarian that was approaching it.

The barbarian was lifted off his feet and was pulled towards the king frog.  It opened it's tiny mouth and the barbarian disappeared

"Ribbit."

"What the hell?"  The priest cried.

"Did he die?"  Silent asked, she had a hunch he didn't.

"No, his health is stiff full."  Said the priest, after checking his party window.

"Use ranged attacks and keep him from escaping."  Tigereye said.

Lucan finished his chant.  A beam of soulfire caught the frog, it's speed halved.

With a leap it still managed to cover five feet in a second.

An arrow flew through the air but the frog dodged.

"Can you slow it any more?  I saw all yuy can duplicate this spell."  Tigereye said.

"I can only do one more, I did a lot of prep work for the fight you saw."

Lucan waved his free hand, pulling a phantom into existence beside him.  The phantom began its own chant.

The rogue with Tigereye pulled out a cross bow and fired, missing like Silent.

Everyone spread out and surrounded the frog, but nobody wanted to get to close.

*Bang*

The frog flopped backwards after being hit, blood splattering on the nearby grass.

Tigereye had pulled out a black powder pistol and shot the King frog.

When it landed on its back, an arrow and a crossbow bolt staked it to the ground.

A second beam of soulfire attached to the frog.

The shaman who came with Tigereyes finished his spell.  An earthen hand formed from the ground under the frog and grabbed it.  The hand raised into the air as a body sat up.  An earthen golem, firmly grasped the frog as the group unloaded their ranged damage against it.  Very quickly it's health dropped down to a third.

"RIBBIT!!!!"

A strong vibration rattled out from the frog.  The earth golem collapsed into t dust.  Lucan and the others were knocked off their feet by the shock wave.

The frog fell to the ground and hopped towards the forest.

*Bang* *Bang*

Lucan directed the two soulfire bombs towards the frog, blowing up the surrounding dirt in the region.

During the explosion, something was launched over Lucan's shoulder.

Silent quickly turned, fired an arrow and pinned the frog to a tree.  It was dead.

The barbarian appeared by the tree.  He wasn't alone, three deer and a dozen rabbits took off into the forest in different directions after escaping the frog's stomach.

"Ha, ha, nice shot."  Lucan said while giving Silent a high five.

"That wasn't too hard."

"Yep, not hard at all."  Lucan answered while the five level 190+ players shook their heads after doing the majority of the damage.

"How did you even know about these?"  Silent asked, handing him the dead frog.

"I have had supper looking for one of their stomachs for a long time.  He told me I may have better luck finding a living one compared to finding someone selling its stomach."

"What do you need it for?"  She asked.

"It is a surprise."  He said while tweaking her nose.

"We held up our end of the deal, quit flirting and do your part."  The priest said.

Tigereye look to the priest angrily but didn't scold him when he saw that Lucan was barely paying the priest any attention.

"Alright, alright.  Give me a couple of minutes."

Lucan took out a set of beginner formation flags.  It wasn't something he normally used.  He had them because with their help he could set up a basic formation pretty fast.

He thought of them as throwing weapons and whipped them out in different directions.  Each hitting the spot he wanted.

He took put away his wand and used his hands to cast the magic.  It was slower for the individual spell but he could cast many different things at the same time.  For a formation like this, weaving the spells as they were cast would save more time later than it wasted now.

The group watched as he built a formation over the next 10 minutes.

"There you go.  Telekinetic walls, sound muffling, illusions to make it look invisible and a charm to make animals less interested in it.  Good enough."

Lucan tossed a mana crystal to the shaman.  "That thing powers it and controls the spells.  It should last month if nobody attacks.  Let I drain mana crystals if you want to increase the time."

"You have held up your end of the deal."  Tigereye said.

*Snap*

At the snap of Lucan's fingers, a portal opened and a rowboat floated through, being carried by several ghostly sailors.  Lucan and Silent boarded.

"Remember, if you ever need power, think my name three times and ask for a boost."  Lucan said before leaving through the portal.