Battlefield Reclaimer, Ch 30: A Meeting Among Gnomes (Patreon)

Somewhere in the Tunnels

“We’re getting very close now.” Krana turned to speak to the group following her. “If nothing else happens, we’ll be there sometime today.”

“After so long...,” Ayala smiled, as her mood started to look up. It had taken the better part of two months, but it looked like she would finally be able to unlock her class!

She just had to reach the Earth mana pool and they were so close to it now. She smiled as a sense of hope filled her. Her father had always been so distant, only paying attention to her when he noticed she'd received the unique class.

Still, it hadn't been enough to really get his attention. His work kept him too occupied, defending the city and dealing with invasions from strange, powerful beasts. That was life at the Second Evolution, she supposed.

He was a World Knight..., and so distant from her it that was practically like asking for attention from a star. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind again as they continued forward. There was nothing new there and she'd gone over it many times.

She was walking next to her dwarven friend at the head of the party. It was a habit she’d picked up over the last week as she tried to distance herself from Ismela, whose mood was swiftly becoming worse the longer they spent in the tunnels.

The guards behind her were expressionless, but the wizardess was grimacing as a spark of lightning flared around her fingertips.

There had been a series of weak basalt gnomes in the tunnels recently..., and Ismela had been blasting them with a lightning spell she was practicing.

"Lightning in tunnels is a bad idea," Krana whispered. The dwarf shook her head as she thought about the trouble it might cause.

There were too many things in tunnels that attracted lightning, whether it was stone or metal. The spell could easily go out of control, despite the wizardess's assurances.

Dwarves grew more slowly than humans and had their Class Day at 30, and that had been enough time for her to learn a lot about mines and tunnels.

On top of that, it was not a good sign that there were basalt gnomes here. They were a terrible nuisance and often formed into colonies or villages, taking over entire sections of a tunnel. They lived off of stones and metal that had been infused with Earth mana, almost like elementals.

As a species, they were almost as bad as goblins, but they lived much deeper in the earth. As long as there was some Earth mana in the rocks, they could find a way to survive.

The things were a plague on dwarven mines and her people routinely eradicated them whenever they were found. Still, they always returned, like bad mushrooms....

One of the problems with basalt gnomes was that their population grew extremely swiftly. Another was that as they matured and continued to consume more Earth mana, they naturally became stronger. Their race had a lesser evolutionary feature that was particular to some monsters...which meant that their classes changed as they got older.

They’d only encountered the smallest of the gnomes so far, the younger ones, but if the gnomes had been here for long enough..., there could be some very dangerous versions up ahead.

If there was a gnome village in the way of the Earth mana pool, it could be difficult to get past it, even with the Arestes Guild’s team.

Just as she was thinking about that, a premonition from her class abilities struck her, and her eyes turned silver. She wasn’t a very powerful seer yet, but she could sometimes catch a glimpse of the near future.

This time, it was far more than that.

A looming sense of the future stretched out like a thread in front of her...and it teetered precariously.

Aster Fall...their world and all the lives on it.... Stars were falling through the night as the earth ruptured....

Dwarven homes crumbled to dust as the foundations shattered....

Six-eyed monsters with shadowy arms reached through rifts in her kingdom’s border wall, breaking the rune-carved stones....

The images crashed down on her, pressing on her mind with an enormous weight of dread.

She froze, her boots stomping to a halt as the feeling overwhelmed her, ...and then the silver light faded from her eyes as they returned to normal. Krana drew in a ragged breath, her face pale as she stared at the tunnel in front of her.

She didn’t know what was causing it..., but she knew that the next few minutes would determine whether they all lived or died in the future.

SCRRReeEEEEEKKKekkkKKk!

Ahead, a blood-curdling shriek of gravelly rage echoed through the tunnels.

---

Now that Sam and his dad were through the wall, there was a clear view down into the village, including of the thing that had just screamed.

In the middle of the village where that small hut had been, there was a giant of a gnome. It was easily twice the size of a marauder.

If those resembled a small rock golem, then this was the real thing.

The thing was the size of a wagon and its muscles were like boulders. Its eyes were red pits, glaring towards them across the distance. There were vague runic symbols all across its body, almost like swirls in its skin.

As it looked towards them, the high-pitched scream that sounded like gravel hitting a saw echoed through the tunnels again.

Basalt Gnome Warlord (Subterranean)

They had made it angry by destroying the fort.

The warlord commanded so much attention that, for a moment, Sam didn’t notice the two other gnomes flanking it. They looked a lot like warders, but they were bigger and more powerful. Even from here, he could tell that the rune on their foreheads was complete.

They were surrounded by billowing yellow Earth energy.

Basalt Gnome Shaman (Subterranean)

There were a few more scattered normal gnomes in the village, but fortunately nothing else.

Thuudddd.

Thuuuudddd.

As the scream faded, the warlord was already moving, racing towards them across the stone. It steps slammed into the rock.

Despite its size, it was fast.

There was no time to retreat now, if the warlord would have even allowed it. It would only chase them through the tunnels, and it was probably faster than they were in a straight line.

Perhaps they’d made a mistake by assaulting the village without more preparation....

On top of that, he was almost out of essence.

They had about thirty seconds before the warlord arrived. The shamans were trailing behind it, but they were nowhere near as fast.

“Sam, grab the experience and the auras closest to you!” His dad shouted, as he bent down to touch the marauder next to him. Two of the warders were also close enough for him to speed towards them, right after that.

“Grab it all and get ready to fight! I’ll hold it!”

There was no time to waste, so Sam did the same as his dad. Crystal Focus slowed down everything in the world as he touched the marauder in front of him, absorbing its experience and then its Aura of Basalt.

He was lucky enough to reclaim it.

He ran as fast as possible to the two warders, and grabbed their experience as well, but both of their auras slipped through his hands, leaving him with just the ashy taste of regret and the thought that he should have invested more into Wisdom.

Not that he knew where the points would have come from.

Still, he got one of the three, and that left him with one Aura of Umbral Flame and six Basalts as he spun back to look at the warlord that was closing the distance as fast as a galloping horse.

Notifications sang in his mind with their joyful silver chimes, but it felt like nothing was moving fast enough.

You have used your Class abilities to slay your enemies.

You gain 43,275 Class experience.

Congratulations, Scion. You have gained four Class Levels.

You are now a Level 23 Battlefield Reclaimer.

Total Experience: 89,775 / 90,500

You may now choose one Basic Class ability and one Subclass ability to upgrade to Advanced.

Unique Bonus: You may also choose from one of the following Class abilities for this tier.

Intensify Aura

Transfer Aura

Shatter Aura

Congratulations Scion. You have gained four General Levels.

You are now Level 24.

Total Experience: 92,075 / 107,000

You gain +4 Aura, +4 Intelligence, and have 12 free status points to assign.

Sam waved the windows away as he frantically chose three options. He focused on what would help them the most right now, since it looked like the gnome warlord was as durable as a mountain.

For Battlefield Reclaimer, he upgraded Aura of Crystal Flame to Advanced. For Scion of the Crystal Flame, he upgraded Flame Strike to Advanced.

For the extra ability, he grabbed the first one, Intensify Aura, since he had no idea what any of them did. He hurriedly made the rest of his choices as the warlord approached.

The levels brought him up to 46 in Aura and Intelligence, and he evenly divided the 12 new points between those as well, taking them to 52. It added 10 points to his essence pool.

He felt the new energy filling his body, but it still only brought him up to 16 points.

He had just enough time left to grab two auras from his storage and combust them, raising his mana and aura to 23 and 25, before the gnome arrived.

The warlord collided with his father at the mouth of the tunnel like a mountain striking a boulder.

---

A Moment Earlier

Jeric’s head whipped toward the village as the gnomish scream sounded in his ears. It was echoing with rage. For a moment, he berated himself for being a hasty idiot. They’d forgotten to check for reinforcements!

His desire to get out of the tunnels had led them into another problem. Then he pushed that thought aside, since there was nothing he could do about it. Below, he could see the gnomish warlord and the two shamans heading their way.

“Sam! Grab the experience!” he yelled, as he bent down towards the marauder and chunks of warder that were next to him. “I’ll hold it off!”

The warlord was already running, its steps thudding into the stone as it raced towards them. They didn’t have long, but it was enough for him to make a couple of fast choices as he pulled the experience into himself.

You have used your Class abilities to slay your enemies.

You gain 42,175 Class experience.

Congratulations, Earth Blessed. You have gained five Class Levels.

You are now a Level 22 Earthen Marauder.

Total Experience: 72,800 / 76,000

You may now choose one Basic Class ability and one Subclass ability to upgrade to Advanced.

For reaching the Advanced Tier in your Class, you gain the Class ability: Reverberating Blow.

[Reverberating Blow: Allows you to harness Stamina more efficiently for a strong attack.]

...

You have gained five General Levels.

You are now Level 22.

Total Experience: 72,800 / 76,000

You gain +5 Strength, +5 Constitution, and have ten free status points to assign.

As soon as the options appeared, Jeric immediately upgraded Enhanced Physique to Advanced, followed by Persuade. Enhanced Physique might help him in the current battle, and Persuade would be important in the future if they survived this.

As he made the choices, Jeric felt his body swelling with energy. Information on what Enhanced Physique did poured into his mind.

The Basic tier of the ability had changed the way he looked and given him a little bit of extra Strength and Constitution, but it had only been a starting point for what was to come. The Advanced tier was much stronger.

Instantly, his Strength and Constitution rose by 10 points, and his Agility went up by 5. His appearance didn’t change much, but he could feel a massive amount of strength and vitality infusing him.

His skin and bones became sturdier, able to deflect about ten percent of damage that he was dealt. His stamina use also became more efficient by ten percent. He didn’t have time to admire the changes as he split the ten free points he had between Strength and Constitution.

Before these levels, he’d had 40 in each. The level jump had added 5 directly, and the skill and free points added another 15. It left him at 60 in both stats.

The twin hammers in his hands added another +4 on top of that, pushing him to 64. It was an incredible amount of Strength and Constitution, but it wasn't clear if it would be enough against what was coming.

The gnome was massive, easily the size of two or three marauders put together.

His bones crackled with force as he tightened his grip on his hammers and prepared to defend. He would either hold here, or they would both die before they could see home again.

He refused to let Aemelia and Altey live without him, and he wouldn't let anything harm Sam.

To the side, he could see Sam grabbing the experience from the other gnomes. Hopefully, it added enough energy back for him that he could do something to stop this warlord.

His son was inventive, and that might be the only thing that could help right now.

The new information about Reverberating Blow built in his mind as he channeled his stamina around himself, strengthening his body further.

Stamina was a lot like mana, but it came from Strength and Constitution together. It was what fueled his Earthen Shield, as well as his other abilities. It was the average of the two attributes.

Right now, he had 60 base points in it, and he called up as much as he could to meet the gnome’s charge.

A bright yellow Earthen Shield sprang up around him, ready to absorb the impact, and the hammers in his hand sang as he poured mana into them.

At the same time, stamina flowed into the new ability he’d just learned, and ten points of stamina instantly formed a bright golden gleam around the hammers.

Jeric only had time to run forward to the edge of the tunnel before the gnome was on top of him. Reverberating Blow and Earthen Shield met the marauder with a clash like the world was collapsing.

His bones creaked in pain as he was slammed backwards, his feet digging a trail into the stone as he slid across the ground.

---

A ringing sound echoed out across the tunnel as Sam saw the gnome warlord collide with his dad.

Jeric was surrounded by a bright yellow shield that seemed to be defusing some of the impact, but his feet cut a furrow in the ground as he was pushed backwards. The stone was curling up around them like a knife pressing into butter.

“Dad!” Sam called, as he felt himself beginning to panic. He couldn’t let that gnome hurt his father.

How could they have forgotten about the village?!

If he’d been thinking more, it would have been obvious that if there were multiple marauders, then there was probably something even stronger behind them!

The warlord was enormous, head and shoulders taller than his dad and twice as broad. Its head was smaller than its arms, and its skin looked as hard as the basalt for which it was named.

It was far more deadly than a marauder.

He didn’t know if it was a higher class, or if it was an evolution. Sometimes, monsters evolved earlier than Level 100, as part of a natural growth cycle, in what was called a lesser evolution. When they did, their classes could change.... He'd heard of the idea, but he'd forgotten it until now, since he'd never dealt with anything like that before.

Maybe that was what was happening with these gnomes. Were the small ones the youngest, and the warlord at the top of their evolutionary path...?

Sam shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside as a spiral of crystal flame began to condense around him, outlining his body with an intense, cerulean aurora that wavered as it roared higher.

What he needed to do now was kill the gnome. He’d failed in that task once before and his father had nearly died. He wasn’t going to let the same thing happen again.

There were five auras left in his storage and he grabbed them, combusting them one by one. It took his mana to 37 and his aura to 45. It wasn’t a lot, but it was all he had to work with.

“Sam!” Jeric yelled, as his feet dragged on the stone. “Hit it with something big!”

The gnome’s initial charge was starting to wear out and somehow his father was still standing, even though his shield was flickering on the edge of failure and his face was white.

The gnome’s face was a bluff snarl of rage, its eyes deeply set pits of red that blazed outward. The runes on its skin began to surge, dull yellow lines of energy connecting one to the next as the warlord started to use an ability.

Behind it, the two shamans were still running forward, halfway to them now. They would be here in another moment or two.

Crystal flames surged, turning the world around Sam into an ocean of cerulean light that rippled across the walls as he condensed another Essence Blade.

It was the first thing he could think of and his most powerful spell. The crystal triangle of the spell built up, condensing again and again on itself as he poured more energy into it.

“HaaaaAAAARRRRRRrrrr!”

A strange shout from across the village got his attention, and Sam glanced up as a new sense of dread filled him.

Were there more gnomes?

---

Krana ran forward around the curve in the tunnel, her hand grabbing for the warhammer at her belt. A sense of deep, instinctual panic was flooding through her body.

She didn’t know what was going on or what that vision had been about, but she knew that if she didn’t get to whatever was ahead of her, there would be a severe price to pay in the future.

One that Aster Fall itself couldn’t handle.

She had never had such a powerful premonition of doom before. She was new to her class, and visions like that should only have come to the most powerful and eldest of Seers.

The fate of the world...how could that have something to do with a dwarf as young as her?

But it didn’t matter anymore, because whatever it was, it was right in front of her and the choice was simple. She could either help or not.

Her boots kicked up dust in heavy clomps as the hobnails on the bottom echoed against the stone and her grip tightened on her hammer. The vision had come to her, and that meant she had a role to play. There was something she could do to help.

Whatever it was, she was going to make sure it didn’t harm Aster Fall.

“What’s wrong?!” Ayala cried out as she ran along after her. The young woman was at her side, keeping pace. Her voice was concerned. She’d never seen Krana panic like this before.

A moment before, the dwarf’s eyes had turned silver as her Seer abilities kicked in and then she’d gone as pale as a ghost.

Ayala didn’t know what was happening, but she wasn’t going to let Krana face it alone. The dwarf was her only friend down here and they’d been together since they were tiny children, when their fathers had met up to discuss the defense and trade that ran through Osera.

Ismela and the two guards trailed behind.

“Stop! Where are you going?!” The wizardess had a look of consternation on her face as she yelled at them.

The lightning she had been playing with was frozen into a ball in her hand as she gripped it, her alarm growing. A sense of deep-seated aggravation and disdain for the tunnels was also thick in her mind.

Now, her charge was endangering herself and running ahead without her. What would she tell the World Knight if his daughter were injured?! Desperation and anger combined to put her in a very foul mood as she sprinted after Ayala.

The two guards joined in, running along behind Ismela. Their faces were as indifferent as ever, and it was hard to tell if they even cared about what was happening.

They were just thinking about a mug of ale and a bed back home, after they killed the rest of the things in the tunnels and completed this mission. After this one, there would only be another of the same, so they didn’t feel any great urge to comment on it.

At least this one hadn’t been very dangerous so far. The gnomes and tunnel worms were the strongest things they’d encountered, and the fragments of experience they’d picked up so far were worth the trip.

It was hard to find monsters like this near the city. They kept well away from the borders. When they did appear, they were routinely slaughtered to protect the citizens.

If this dragged on for long enough, they might even get another level out of it, and with each point of Constitution they gained, that was another few years of life. Years to spend on ale and good food in their retirement.

Krana sprinted around the next curve in the tunnel wall and Ayala was right behind her.

A large cavern opened up in front of her, covered in small huts that had to be the basalt gnome village. The huts were crude and made of stone that had clearly been chopped from the walls. It was an embarrassment to every form of masonry she'd ever seen.

At the center of the village, a Basalt Gnome Warlord was sprinting towards the opposite side, his heavy footsteps thudding into the ground and shaking the stone floor. Stones fell away from his shoulders, marking the remains of a small hut where he must have been sleeping.

Just behind him, two Basalt Gnome Shamans were starting to run as well, heading in the same direction. Her gaze followed them, tracking the path towards their destination.

Their targets were on the opposite side of the cavern, slightly uphill at the mouth of a tunnel that opened onto the area. She could see the remains of a blockade there, which had probably been built by the gnomes.

It had just been broken apart. Smoke and scattered gnomish bodies decorated it.

In front of that scene of destruction, there were two humanoid figures that instantly drew her attention. Her eyes went silver as she examined them, her Far Sight ability kicking in as it helped her to close the distance. She could see them as clearly as if they were standing in front of her.

One of them was a muscular human who looked a lot like a barbarian or some type of wild, muscular shaman. His hair was long and in disarray, which combined with his muscles to make him unkempt and terrifying, like something out of a story from the beginning of human civilization, when they had fought for their lives against wild beasts with nothing but sticks and stones.

At the same time, there was a sense of stability that radiated from him, as if no matter what happened, he would be there to face it.

Her Analysis ability kicked in a moment later, telling her that he was an Earthen Marauder and Human, as well as some of what he could do. The trait Earth Blessed glowed from him, making her eyes widen in shock as she saw the silver-white shine of Earth mana entwined through his aura.

It made her instantly like him. No one that the Earth had blessed could be a bad person. If he came to any dwarven city, he would be a respected guest. She had never seen a human or a dwarf with his class before, but she had seen a basalt gnome with it.... She just didn't understand how that could happen.

What in the world was going on here?

Her eyes shifted to the figure next to him and her breath froze in her lungs as she nearly jumped backward in shock.

It was a tall, lean demon with long, black hair flying behind his head like writhing shadows as it came free from a leather braid. Sharply curved horns the size of her hand rose up on either side of his forehead, giving his entire face an angular, devilish appearance.

Fierce, crystal blue eyes with slitted pupils gleamed like two stars in the night, trapping her attention. For a moment, it seemed like the world faded away, turning into a distant starscape of sparkling worlds that stretched out across a galaxy filled with crystal blue suns and twisting flames.

Her Foresight ability drove a cold spike of importance into her mind as she saw him, letting her know that this...being...was at the center of everything she had seen earlier.

She could see the demon’s mouth moving as he shouted something, and a swirl of crystalline blue flames roared into existence all around him, creating a spiral of energy around his body as he began to shape a spell.

She analyzed him, and her breath froze again as she saw his class and race. Battlefield Reclaimer...Unique...and an Outsider whose origin was...Aster Fall?

How could he look like that and be from this world?

There was a moment of indecision as she wondered if he was good or evil, but there was a look in his eyes that told her he cared fiercely about the older man next to him and would sacrifice his life for him in an instant...and that made the decision for her.

Whatever he looked like, he was standing with a human and facing monsters. Combined with her Foresight, that was more than enough. She couldn't allow him to die here.

For an instant, she wondered if she were supposed to kill him instead, but she pushed the idea out of her mind at once. She didn't feel any sort of threat from him..., just a massive sense of necessity that seemed to flow around him, as if he had the attention of the entire world and it was waiting for him to do something extremely important.

Somehow, the fate of the entire world hung on him.

The warlord finished crossing the distance and slammed into the barbarian at the front of the tunnel, driving him back across the stone. The golden sphere of stamina shielding him faded quickly, its color wobbling as he was forced backward.

It was clear that, if nothing changed, the gnome would overwhelm him in a moment.

Behind the warlord, the two gnome shamans were still running across the cavern, heading to join the battle. There wasn’t long to decide what to do, but she knew that if she didn’t do something, both the man and the demon would die.

Before she could even think of a plan, Krana felt herself shouting out a dwarven battle roar as she surged forward. Her eyes were bright silver as she raised her hammer and headed towards them.

“HaaaaaAAAAAARRRRRRrrr!”