Battlefield- Evolution

by Daniel Dragon

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Food corps

  Chapter 2:: River Crossing

  Chapter 3:: Skill Terminal

  Chapter 4: : Hobgoblin

  Chapter 5: Twilight

  Chapter 6: Supreme

  Chapter 7: Concessions

  Chapter 8: Werewolf

  Chapter 9: Mess Hall

  Chapter 10: Nature vs Pride

  Chapter 11: Level 10

  Chapter 12: Constitution

  Chapter 13: Creston

  Chapter 14: Meeting

  Chapter 15: Increasing Stakes

  Chapter 16: Remnants of Humanity

  Chapter 17: Towards the Future

  Authors Note

  Chapter 1: Food corps

  Dracon awoke to the sound of the rain hitting against his tent as he waited for the upcoming battle. There were thousands of other tents with similar soldiers waiting for their fate on the rise of the morning sun. It would soon be determined whether he lived or died, and, perhaps, if he were lucky, earned the right to proceed to the next battlefield.

  The winds started to pick up as he stared out at the moon in the sky, trying his hardest to sleep as the minutes turned to hours. He held a small shinning sword in his hand just so he could sleep without fear of being killed in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, he remained awake the entire night, feeling the adrenaline pumping through his veins as the sun started to rise like a call to action for all of the troops.

  I will be the last man standing today even if it means killing those whom I used to love. Dracon thought about the upcoming battle, I know that the people chosen for the other side of the battlefield were randomly chosen from the other villages. However, if I don’t kill them, they’ll kill me…

  The sun finally reached the top of the clouds as Dracon got into the orbit of the marching shoulders. He had a small sword in his hand that he’d picked up in the brambles and thicket of the last battle. It was much better than his previous sword, and gave him minor confidence as he looked at the crystal in the center of the hilt.

  Blacksmiths often made swords with slots, and the weapons usually had fairly good stats if they knew you were in the food corps, however, an imbued sword meant he’d at least have some sort of stat boost. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to evaluate the sword since he’d yet to learn the skill.

  Status… Bill… You there?

  “Status activating Dracon… You ready for the battle?”

  “I’m as ready as I was yesterday and as ready as I was the day before… This is ridiculous though… How many more people must die until I get to stop fighting?”

  “We can debate why the battle happens another time,” Bill said, his AI device, called a Theta, replied before a screen appeared in front of him.

  Name: Dracon

  Level: 1

  Race: Human

  Age: 18

  Exp: 97 / 100

  Health: 100 / 100

  Force: 150

  Endurance: 120

  Acceleration: 180

  Trickery: 100

  Stealth: 50

  Skills: None

  ~~Three more kills until you level up – one experience point is equal to one kill unless you kill someone of a higher rank.

  “Well… that’s not looking too bad… Three more kills and I finally reach level 2, and can earn myself a few extra stat points… However, Let’s just go over this again… Force is how much damage I can do and--”

  “Endurance is how long you can last,” Bob replied, sounding a little agitated like he normally did “Acceleration is your speed, trickery is related to your intelligence and craftiness while stealth is your ability to remain unnoticed in the midst of battle. “

  “Let’s hope that this battle is a little bit different then last time… How much longer will we be marching?”

  “The battle is going to happen in the mill… An old abandoned farm lot that hasn’t been used since the apocalypse will be used to hold the battle… I hope you didn’t forget how to hit and run…”

  The battles usually involved thousands – if not hundreds of thousands - of people rushing onto a field and killing each other while the monsters stayed behind them watching their development. The humans that got too strong, or made too much progress, would be transported away by the monsters that oversaw the food corps…

  The monsters were usually the orcs, demons, and other nefarious beings that entered into the human landscape a hundred years ago during the golden age of humanity. They had, basically, taken over the human race and made humans reproduce only to have all the third born children of every household fight to the death.

  The ones who grew the strongest, thanks to the mana in the world, would either be sacrificed or turned into a soldier for the nefarious beings that had taken over Earth.

  Dracon couldn’t help but think about his two older brothers, at this moment, as the soldiers made it to the line. They’d been treated like true human beings, while he’d been raised only to fight and kill. As long as the demons and orcs and kobolds, and the other races he wasn’t even privy too, kept a supply of humans to be eaten the other generations of humanity got to be happy.

  Dracon held his sword close to his chest and prayed that no one important to him would end up getting cut by his blade.

  A few unfamiliar faces lined up at the vanguard across from him, meaning that they too had killed over 90 individuals. The more kills you had, the further up the line you were organized, and Dracon knew it was a moment of either his death or their life.

  I promise… If I’m able to kill three of you, I will pay back the demons with a thousand times more of their own blood! If I can just somehow get to be a soldier for the dark armies, I promise to turn on them as soon as they let me close.

  Dracon pulled out the jewel covered blade and sighed, marching after the man in front of him as a large boulder shot over his head. It crashed into a bunch of humans on the other side, making blood shoot into the air.

  “Go… go my wretched humans! Kill them, or become my feast!”

  A large gargantuan orc said as Dracon wiped the blood off his eyes and prepared to slash into the human coming towards him.

  Dracon grunted and let his killing intent burn as a sword glided towards his face as his opponent screamed. Still, for some reason, his confidence soared, and he replied by parrying the sword with the gauntlets on his wrist.

  The opponent facing him slid back, looking down as Dracon stabbed forward with his sword. He pulled up the blade and cut through his chest and blood shot out onto him before he kicked off the poor man.

  Turning to look to his right, another two soldiers were charging at him, boiling with rage as he slid on his right foot and slashed outwards.

  “Two more to go… You just gained one experience,” Bob said, interrupting him from his blood thirst as a hand shot into his back, pushing him onto the ground.

  Dracon immediately felt his body go numb as a sword stabbed into his shoulder, causing him to scream out in agony.

  - 30 health [70 / 100]

  Dracon pushed off the ground and flipped, tossing a small dagger from his corner gauntlet as blood dripped out of his shoulder. The dagger went straight into the eye of the man who had stabbed him, causing him to instantly fall down and scream.

  I’m sorry, but I only have two more experience to go, and I can’t give up now… My entire life of suffering just to not be food cannot end like this… I was not born just to be put on someone’s plate!

  Dracon pulled the blade out of his shoulder, and spit out some blood as more and more shrapnel shot into the air. Goblins, on his left and right side plucked out the dead bodies and brought them to carts as the humans kept fighting trying to survive. />
  Dracon ignored them, and stabbed forward into the man’s chest that had stabbed him, causing blood to burst out of his neck… He slashed three more times into his chest, making sure that all chances of his survival were cut off…

  “Well… you look like a good opponent,” Dracon laughed, staring up at someone approaching him with a large spear. “How much more experience do you need to reach level 2?”

  “You mean… get tossed to an even worse hell?” A large bald man replied, having nearly a dozen scars on top of his head. “I… I have three kills left… How about you short stuff?”

  “One… one more kill… I’m sorry, but it’s either you or I die, and I didn’t suffer my entire life just to lose here…”

  “Heh… I’m sorry, but I don’t fight someone with that look in their eye,” The man replied, turning and stabbing his spear into the person on his left. “Here… Kill him and level up… If you see me on the battlefield in the future, my name’s Jorge… I just almost killed my comrade, so you better remember this for me…”

  Dracon sighed and walked over to the man he’d stabbed, cutting his throat with his knife causing a large light to shimmer around him. At the moment, a few individuals turned to him with jealousy as he rolled to the side to avoid the incoming attack.

  Jorge scoffed as he looked down at him, missing barely with his spear as Dracon felt a strange feeling rising up inside of him.

  What was going on?

  His blade slowly started to glow as he noticed an electricity beginning to well up inside of him… Was it possible that this weapon had a skill?

  Does… does this have an imbued skill, Bob… If it does, can you please tell me what it is?!

  “You’re in luck kid… You just gained 5 mana for reaching level 2, and can barely use the skill in the sword,” Bob said, causing his voice to raise in pitch as he pretended to smack his lips. “It has a basic transformation skill… It looks like you can turn into a goblin…”

  “A goblin? Doesn’t this mean this is a banned weapon?” Dracon turned to look at the orc approaching him with his arms crossed, holding two axes over his head as he tried to figure out what to do. “What should I do? If they find out I have this skill, won’t they kill me on the spot?”

  “Just go with the orc, and be happy you survived… Maybe when you’re back at base you can cause some havoc, and earn some experience while no one is looking,” Bob replied, minorly excited that his boy had finally received something worth his time… “Luckily, my connection to the mainframe is broken, so I don’t have to report it…”

  I hope this means that going forward that I’ll be able to get revenge for all the people they made me kill… If I really have such a useful skill, I promise to use it and kill as many demons as possible!

  Dracon was brought out of the battlefield, at this time, looking at the large orc standing nearly two meters tall. He got patted on the head before getting placed in a cart with another 50 individuals…

  “You’ve all made it to level 2… I guess that means your taste and value has gone up a little bit… However, as promised, if any of you make it to level 5, I promise to make you into my personal soldiers…”

  “You’ll get all the food you can want, and I’ll even let you wander the tier 2 towns you’ve all heard so much about… Now… remember, it will take a thousand kills to make it to the 3rd level…”

  “Take them away…” The large orc said, patting the small goblin on the front of the cart as he hissed underneath his breath. The goblins were treated almost as horribly as the 3rd born of humans, and could only mutter under his breath as the orc went over to his pile of dead.

  They literally butchered all the humans that died on the field, and packaged them away in bags. Since they were level 1, they were actually sold for cheap to the demons that had taken over Earth.

  Dracon sighed and looked down at the chains on his hands… He’d gotten so used to being enslaved that he’d put them on without thinking…

  However, he couldn’t help but think of what would happen if he took over the role of that goblin currently managing the cart. Would he be able to wreak havoc, and escape?

  If I use the transformation Bob, do you think I could trust these 50 individuals? With the mountains on the horizon, if I kill the goblin right now… I’d be able to escape…”

  “I’m not sure kid…” Bob said, replying with uncertainty in his deep voice, “I want to encourage you because I like you kid… Ugh… Sure, why don’t you give it a shot… the chance of you making it to level 5 are over 1 in 100,000 anyway, so you might as well choose another way to level up…”

  Dracon gripped the hilt of his sword, trying his hardest to activate the mana he’d just earned. As a child, they’d invested time in teaching him how to meditate. That was, of course, when he wasn’t getting beaten or forced to do slave labor on the fields.

  Some fields were only watered with the blood of humans, and for years he’d worked on top of body parts and had seen the most horrible sites when he wasn’t training… It was all to grow the crops that the demons could eat, and he couldn’t help but smile as he activated the imbued skill. His hands turned green and his wrists shrunk as his 5 mana turned to zero. He’d finally gotten a real skill, and everyone on the wagon stared on with surprise and shock as the goblin manned the horses…

  Dracon immediately took his hands out of the chains, and raised his finger to tell the other humans to shut up… Even though goblins were small, they actually were usually level 5 on average. The only chance he had of killing him was if he was silent and deadly and careful in his approach.

  Luckily, regardless of level, getting beheaded meant instant death for anyone under level 100. He slowly inched forward as the goblin sung a sung will drinking a flask of wine…

  “Watch out!” A man screamed, raising his voice as Dracon appeared behind the goblin. Instantly, he slashed out, cutting off the goblins head from his neck and causing it to roll down the hill…

  He instantly took a deep breathe before turning around and looking at the small man with black hair who’d just raised his voice. His eyes looked petrified as the horses slowed down and stopped by the side of the road.

  If I kill all of them, they’ll never spill my secret… However, perhaps if I release them, it will give me enough time to escape.

  Dracon dropped off the wagon and plucked up the goblin’s head before tossing it at the man he’d heard speak. He pointed the blade he had at the man’s head, snickering as he spoke for the first time in this different form.

  “Heh… you must have thought the goblin would repay you for telling him about my attack. However, I’m now going to give all of you two choices… Escape, and run away as far as you can, or get killed by me right now?!”

  “You… you shouldn’t have done that,” The black-haired man said, shaking his head as he looked at the corpse of the goblin. “All humans that escape are dealt even worse deaths than on the battle field… At least on the battlefield we stand a small chance at a future!”

  “Idiot… That’s just a lie,” A red haired man sitting next to him said, crossing his arms as he looked up at Dracon. “They just tell that to us as kids so we don’t try and escape… I’ll choose to be set free if you don’t mind… However, how the hell did you turn into a goblin?”

  “Tell anyone about this skill, and I’ll kill you in your sleep,” Dracon replied, tossing the red haired man the key… “I’ll be taking one of the horses and heading wherever the wind takes me… If you don’t mind, I wish you all well..”

  Dracon turned around before he paused and tossed a knife out of his sleeve, thrusting it into the black haired man who’d tried to rat on him. He died instantly as blood shot out of his head, leaving Dracon with just the lone sword in his hand.

  “He had to die…” Dracon jumped on one of the horses, cutting the intertwined reins connecting it to the wagon. “I’ll hopefully see you all never again. If you do escape, I hope you have a good life.”
/>
  “I hope you survive too…” The red-haired man, Tor, said as he got up and looked up at the mountains. “However, you stepped from one shithole to the next… Being a goblin isn’t much better than being a human…”

  “I’ll find out…” Dracon pointed the horse to the one city he remembered before he got sent to war. “Try not to die before nightfall… I want a chance at surviving…”

  “You’re green ass will die before mine,” Tor smiled, and then waved before he jumped over the side and ran away. All the other individuals fought over the key as explosions rang in the surrounding fields. Hopefully, soon, things would turn better for him.

  Chapter 2: river crossing

  Dracon’s horse lasted for three days and three nights before it fell from dehydration. The city that Dracon remembered was much farther than he anticipated in the vast green tundra, and all that seemed to be around for dozens of miles was battlefields on grasslands.

  He now had no choice but to go near one of the rivers which were usually guarded heavily by the nefarious factions. He left the tired horse behind him as he walked over the hill and saw the famous river towers, he’d heard so much about.

  The demons, somewhat like humans, separated all their territories by the lines made by the rivers. If his disguise was somehow able to get him past the river, he’d be in a different territory where demons reigned supreme…

  Just the thought of him even getting close to that river made all his training surface inside of him. They’d spent years instructing him not to cross the river, yet here he was walking towards it in the form of a goblin…

  If I’m not mistaken, there are usually hobgoblins guarding the river and a few orcs… The hobgoblins look down on goblins just like vampires look down on orcs… If I want to make it across, I have to be very respectful.

  Dracon made it to the river’s edge, and bent down to get some water for his flask, drinking as much as he could while a few hobgoblins walked towards him.

  He immediately shivered, seeing their red skin getting closer to him underneath the bright sun. He’d only seen several hobgoblins his entire life, and bowed to them as he’d seen other goblins do in his former city.