Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

Chapter 59: Bandit Ambush

Lucan waited outside for Silent to finish talking with her sister. No one gave him any problems or hassled him while he waited in their guild headquarters. 20 minutes later, the sisters exited the room. Heaven didn't yell and curse at him, but she had a whole bag of different nasty looks she intended to try.

"All settled?" Lucan asked. Silent happily nodded. "Then let's get to work." He said while standing up.

"There has been a slight change." Silent said with an awkward smile.

"Oh yeah?"

"Heaven is going to join us." Silent said.

"Umm"

"What?! Do you have a problem with that?" Heaven's Kiss snapped at him.

"No, it's just that you are paying us to deal with this because you didn't have the time." Lucan said scratching his head.

"I am not coming to help you. I am looking out for my little sister."

"I thought you were the same age." Lucan said.

"Just because we were born on the same day doesn't mean we were born at the same moment." Heaven said. "And I won't help you, there are a lot of creepers who play this game, I am here to look out for Silent. There is no way of knowing what you have already done to my sister."

"Yeah, okay." Lucan said absentmindedly while walking out of the Guild.

"Pay attention when I am talking to you!" Heaven demanded while they were walking out of the village. "Even if she doesn't want to tell me, I will find out how you tricked my sister into leveling with you."

"Heaven" Silent said, trying to get her sister to stop.

"Oh, what, she didn't tell you that when we first met. Every other day, I would lay her down before pumping my mana into her over and over until she couldn't take it anymore and started to cry out."

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"LUCAN!! Heaven it wasn't like he made it sound. We were making a mana core, nothing perverted, it was to change my race." Silent said while holding back Heaven. "Lucan, quit being a stupid idiot and stop making things worse."

Lucan chuckled to himself and picked up his pace, walking ahead of the sisters. He listened to Silent tell the story of how she became a shadow elf variant as they kept walking on the dirt road through the forest.

After an hour they were nearing their destination. Heaven was explaining why her guild went to the Assassin's Guild. "Yes, it's true that everyone is dedicated to their levels since the Competition is a week away, but we also can't rule out an inside job. Our trade wagons keep being hit by the same 6 bandits. We have sent decoys filled with players. We have come out and looked around. The only time the bandits ever show up is when a legitimate trade wagon drives through the area ahead.

"We will take care of it." Silent said.

"Cloaks on, I see something." Lucan said while pulling his hood up to conceal his identity.

Silent did the same while Heaven's Kiss reluctantly put on a cloak.

Lucan and the others silently walked the road. After 20 minutes Lucan stopped.

"Is this the location where they are normally attacked?" Lucan asked.

Heaven nodded. "Yes, always right here."

"Makes sense." Lucan said while staring into the forest.

"We have searched this area of the woods several times and never found anything."

That didn't surprise Lucan. 100 feet from the road was a magical formation concealing a patch of the woods. Lucan was able to see a huge volume of magic. It was glowing so brightly it was hard to miss with Menta's eye.

Lucan turned away from the formation and continued walking down the road until the magic in the air was out of sight.

"I can't be 100% certain but I am confident that your guild isn't leaking information to the bandits."

"And what makes you so certain?" Heaven asked. "Where is your proof?"

"There is a small camp about 100 feet from the attack site that is protected by formations. You may have someone leaking information, but I believe the bandits were there, watching us pass. They wouldn't need outside information to know when to attack since they are always there."

"That would make sense." Silent said confident in Lucan's judgment.

"We searched the woods with over 50 players and didn't find any signs of a camp."

"Do you have anybody that can see magic, any formation users, or anything like that."

"Not really." Heaven said quietly.

"Step 1 complete, we have located the enemies." Silent said. "Now it's time to scout."

A single blue butterfly appeared on her fingertip while Lucan summoned a small mouse and a shadow drake.

All three headed back towards the attack site while Lucan and Silent sat down. Lucan pulled out his wand making kit while Silent took the chance to clean her new bow. Heaven stood nearby and remained alert and ready for a fight at any second.

"Sit down, nothing is nearby." Silent said to Heaven.

She eventually came and sat on the ground.

Silent started asking a bunch of questions about Heaven's Guild. Lucan kept to himself and used Little brown and Adrestia to look for a way in while the sisters talked. Unfortunately, he could think of only one way and it would take a bit of time and studying.

"Looks like we will be here for several more hours." Lucan said. "If we want to surprise them, I have to make sure I find the right flag, we will only have one chance to disable to formation while being unnoticed."

"Do what you need to. I will make some lunch." Silent said.

"Okay, first I will give us a bit of protection." Lucan spent half an hour making a small formation to conceal them in the woods.

"This is formations? Like what the bandits are using?" Heaven asked while Lucan was finishing.

"Yes, but the their formation is much bigger, and they have probably been adding to it every day since they made camp here."

Lucan was able to devote his full concentration to understanding the enemy's formation.

A few hours after nightfall Lucan was as sure as he could be. He believed he had isolated the position of each formation flag.

He was suddenly forced to change his plans moments before he reached out to Silent and Heaven.

"Hey, 6 level 100 NPCs just left the formation. They are heading down the road in our direction."

Silent and Heaven stopped their conversation.

"Their may be more hidden in the formation, but I say we risk it and just deal with them now." Lucan said to Silent.

"That sounds good to me." She said taking out her bow.

Lucan altered the formation around their own camp. "The walls are gone; you can shoot from in here if you want."

When she nodded, he used Vanish and disappeared in the direction they were coming from.

"I know I said I wouldn't help earlier, but that was just because that man aggravates me." Heaven said while taking out her staff. "I won't make you fight alone."

"Don't worry about it. The bandits don't have a chance." She said as she let an arrow lose. It silently shot into the darkness past where Heaven could see.

There were suddenly screams coming from the distance. They could hear several footsteps running in their direction. The 6 bandits were being chased by 50 ninja like people in dark clothing. Their red eyes could be seen pursuing the bandits. Blasts of black energy shot from the group, exploding against the bandits.

Two of the ninja's had caught up to the bandits and lashed out with short swords cutting into their backs as they ran.

A large glob of shadow magic flew over their heads and landed in the road before them. The shadows parted to reveal a man holding a wand and black dagger covered in darkness. The bandits couldn't stop running or the ninjas would pounce on them. The black clothed, red eyed figures bounced from tree to tree traversing the forest with ease. The only hope the bandits had was to outrun them on the road.

They didn't hesitate to charge through the man in their way. A single kick sent a single bandit flying back into mob chasing them. A telekinetic slam, easily knocked the bandit off his feet. The others couldn't spare a second to look back or help, they were only thankful they had not been targeted.

Under the cover of the illusionary mob Lucan activated his thermal vision and pounced on the bandit who had been slammed backwards. His rogue abilities crippled the enemy and left him stuck in a stun until he turned gray and disappeared.

Ever since Lucan's first attack Silent had been using her bow to punch holes in the bandits. With her and Lucan's combined effort, by the time the bandits reached her and Heaven's position, only 3 remained and they each had less than half health. Silent put her bow away and pulled out 2 daggers. She leapt from the formation and summoned over 200 blue butterflies. Their razor-sharp wings and hungry mouths didn't hesitate.

By the time Lucan rejoined them the bandits were just a pile of bones, waiting for the butterflies to stop feasting so they could turn gray and disappear.