Lanek awoke the following morning to Pharaoh flying into the camp. The tressym flew straight to Lanek and began speaking rapidly, with the dranrid only catching maybe one in three words.

  “Pharaoh, slow down. I can’t understand you, what’s going on?” Lanek said, attempting to calm the flying cat down.

  Pharaoh paused and settled onto a nearby stump before taking a deep breath. “Sorry, my mind is all over the place right now and I’m exhausted. I came back to warn you. The gaunts will likely be moving out soon, my illusions don’t affect them any longer.”

  “Did they get a resistance to them or something?” Lanek asked in confusion.

  “I don’t think so. Last night I watched a new group of gaunts arrive, led by five creatures that were floating along rather than walking. I couldn’t make out any other details aside from them having six arms. Maybe they were dispelling the illusions?” Pharaoh said tiredly.

  “Shit. I’ve run into one of those before. The closest guess I have to what they are is a spell caster gaunt evolution, so it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for them to be able to dispel or see through illusions. I wish I knew more about them, but the only one of those things I ran into was so far above me that I couldn’t Identify it. It was powerful too, I only survived because a Myrmidon came for it.”

  “Oh.” Pharaoh said quietly.

  Lanek scratched the cat’s ears. “It’s okay, we’ll figure it out. I’m much stronger now and we have a mage in camp. Tell me what’s going on with Sanguineus and Kazuma.”

  Pharaoh purred for a moment before responding. “Kazuma is in evolving, but I’m sure you know that already. Sanguineus is guarding him as he evolves. The two of them are hiding in an abandoned burrow on the far side of the horde. I don’t see the gaunts stumbling across them, so they’ll be fine.”

  “That’s good to hear.” Lanek sighed with relief. “Okay, get some sleep, buddy. There is no need for you to stay on alert or head back out.”

  Pharaoh nodded, his eyes already closing as he flew over to Lanek’s bedroll. The tressym promptly curled up and slipped into a deep sleep. Lanek chuckled quietly as he made out the faint sound of snoring coming from the furball.

  Turning away from the sleeping cat, Lanek’s face turned grim. While he was far more powerful than he had been during his last encounter with a gaunt caster, he couldn’t help but worry when he recalled the decimated city blocks from the creature’s attacks. He still shivered involuntarily thinking about how easily a single one of those creatures had nullified his attacks.

  Lanek walked around the camp, taking in the preparations and hoping it would be enough. He found Duristor, Liv, Garik, and Isaac already training the freed slaves, only now with proper weapons appropriate to their classes. After chatting briefly with his companions, he learned that having actual weapons made a difference with the System as the novitiates were reporting that their skills were leveling more frequently.

  After relaying the news from Pharaoh, the mood turned somber. While none of Lanek’s companions had ever encounter the six-armed gaunt variants, they were nevertheless very concerned at the thought of a spell slinging gaunt. That was made even worse when Lanek told them of his previous encounter with one of the monsters.

  “Bloody hells…” Duristor muttered. “How can we stand against five of the creatures?”

  “Maybe they aren’t all as strong as the one Lanek fought?” Liv said hopefully.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Well, at least we have priority targets now.” Garik said, already making plans to have the archers focus on the new monsters.

  “That we do. I’ll be targeting those monsters first as well. In the meantime, I’m going to talk to Cithrel and see if he has encountered these things before and if he can use his magic to help us.” Lanek said.

  “Do we know what kind of mage Cithrel is?” Isaac asked.

  “No, but hopefully it will be something useful. Meanwhile, lock down the camp and start making final preparations to the defenses. We won’t have a lot of time once the gaunts start moving.” Lanek said before departing in search of Cithrel.

  He found the elf standing atop one of the archer platforms, his gaze scanning the land to the south. Lanek climbed up and stood alongside the elf mage.

  “Good morning, Lanek. Judging from your expression, I take if you have bad news?” Cithrel said, nodding in greeting.

  “Hello, Cithrel. Yeah, there have been some concerning developments. What are you doing up here?”

  “Surveying the battlefield. I’m trying to determine which of my spells will be most suited to this terrain.”

  “Good idea, we’re definitely going to need whatever spells you have. Speaking of which, what kind of spells do you have?”

  “I am an Elemental Contractor.” Seeing Lanek’s blank look, Cithrel continued. “I’m not surprised that you are not familiar with the class, it is very rarely ever chosen.”

  “Why is that?” Lanek asked.

  “It is a much slower path to power than that of an Elemental Mage. An Elemental Mage merely needs to level up and learn new spells to begin flinging fireballs and ice storms at their foes. That class is not only powerful, but it offers immediate benefits. However, an Elemental Contractor must reach out to the elemental planes and find a denizen willing to contract with them. This process is very time consuming as the denizens of the planes can be fickle and care must be taken not to offend one. An incautious Contractor could easily find themselves blocked from using an entire element by angering the wrong spirit.”

  “What do you get in exchange for all of the extra work? I mean, there has to be a tradeoff.”

  “My elemental spells will be more powerful and cost less mana to use. This is because even the most minor of elemental spirits will have more insight into their particular element than any mage, because they are made from said element. These bonuses are more powerful depending on the strength of the elemental spirit I am contracted with. For example, a fire sprite will very minor bonuses compared to what is offered by a Salamander or Flame Vortex. In addition, a contractor can make a deal with multiple elementals with the only real restriction being that you can never have more than one contract with multiple denizens of the same elemental plane. It is very much a high-risk, high-reward class.”

  “What made you take it? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

  “As you are no doubt aware, elves have a much longer lifespan than most of the other races. As a result, we tend to be more patient and deliberate when it comes to advancement. Because of this, I was able to take my time and mitigate the risk of the class by spending many years studying every scrap of information I could find on the elemental planes and their customs. Had I not had the time to study for years on end, I very likely would have gone down the path of an Elemental Mage instead.”

  After a few moments of silence, Cithrel spoke once again. “Now, are you going to tell me what is troubling you?”

  With a sigh, Lanek explained what Pharaoh had seen and his theories about the creatures. He concluded with the story of his previous battle with one of the casters.

  “That is indeed troubling. Ivareon has had to deal with its fair share of these gaunt variants. They are known as Evokers. You are correct in your assumption that they are casters. I am sorry to say that they are just as dangerous as you fear. They were responsible for the few breaches of the walls of Ivareon and specialize in brute force destruction spells. Living siege artillery, essentially.”

  “Great.” Lanek groaned. “Please tell me you know how to kill them, because right now it sounds like they could just stay out of range and simply flatten our camp. I don’t imagine our little barricades hold a candle to the walls of your bastion.”

  “The orc you call Garik had the right idea, focus them down. If you can get through their wards or engage them at close quarters, they fall quickly. Physicality is not one of their strong suits. They are also quite slow, so run them down if you can. Now, the bad news. Evokers strengthen one another. When a group of Evokers gather, all of them become more powerful. Their spells hit harder and their wards become more difficult to break. There are few things that the guardians of Ivareon feared more than the appearance of a full company of Evokers.”

  “Please tell me you have some way to wipe the bastards out.” Lanek said.

  “Oh, I have a few ideas that they definitely aren’t going to like.” Cithrel said with an evil smile. “What about you? Any plans for dealing with the creatures?”

  “I’m still thinking about it. I need to sit down and go through my options and come up with something before they arrive. I suspect that I don’t have nearly as many spells to choose from as you do. I’m going to need to get creative.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help you come up with a plan?” Cithrel asked curiously.

  “You’ve already given me enough to work with, I think.” Lanek said as he descended from the platform and made his way toward a quiet corner of the camp before pulling up his spell and skill options. Just you assholes wait, I’ve got some fun ideas I’ve been itching to try out.