Battlefield Reclaimer, Ch 55: The Grey Wave (Patreon)

Sam set the second core down gently on the stone table in front of him while holding his breath. It shouldn’t blow up until he activated the rune pattern on it..., but it was charged with an incredible amount of energy. He had to handle it with care.

The enchanted sphere was a combination of two fully charged auras, forty points of his essence, and the mana that was already inherent to the monster core, which had come from a Level 30 Seeker. All together, it had over a hundred and ten points of energy in it, most of it from essence. It was much more than even the strongest of his spells, similar to five and a half Essence Blades at once.

Both of the finished cores sat in front of him now. They were covered in dense, tiny runes that created a silver pattern across their surface, almost as if they'd been encrusted with precious metals, like a decorative egg he'd heard about once.

They hummed softly with the power of the enchantments on them, the sound echoing in his ears and in his bones as it radiated outward. The sound was both a promise and a warning of what was to come.

As far as he could tell, they would work. It was a lot easier to make something blow up and release its contained energy than anything else. He didn’t have any more time to study the spheres, however, since at that moment, Krana’s shout echoed through the cavern.

“The Grey Shards are here!” Krana’s voice carried across the stone, echoing with a rolling thunder of warning. “At least thirty of them, along with more lizards! Whatever the other thing is, it's right behind them!”

As Krana spoke, everyone rushed to their places, including Sam. The two cores were too energetic to put into his dimensional pouch, so he placed them in regular pouches instead, one on each side of his belt, cradling them as carefully as possible.

He didn't think they would explode if they were hit, or at least they shouldn't unless the activation runes were charged, but he didn't feel like risking it.

Krana's voice was angry, filled with pent-up irritation. No one liked being stuck here in the cavern, even the dwarven seer. They all wanted to break free into the world above and return to their homes. Hopefully, once this battle was done, there wouldn’t be anything else in the way.

The battle itself seemed straightforward to him, but he knew that it wasn't. If anything went wrong..., all of their defenses might fall apart. He couldn't tell if they'd been able to think of everything. On top of that, no one knew what the force behind the Grey Shards was, and that could throw all of their plans into chaos.

As he took up his position near the exit to the maze, his senses roamed ahead of him, searching for the enemy. He was too far away to see what was coming, but as soon as anything entered the maze, he would spot it.

To his right, his father, Krana, and the guards took up their familiar posts. Behind them, Ayala was ready to support them with her Earth summoning spells and healing. This time, her golem was next to her. She’d summoned it as a back-up, even though she wouldn’t be able to move it and her real body very well at the same time.

A moment later, a craaaackk of breaking stone sounded as the Grey Shards broke through the outer wall and entered the maze. As they did, their forms appeared in Sam’s perception. They weren’t alone. There were half a dozen Horned Water Lizards with them, the bigger ones at Level 25 or so, that raced into the maze first.

It must have been the lizards' charge that broke through the wall. Now, their claws scrabbled at the stone, tearing furrows in it as they raced around the openings in the maze, heading haphazardly for the exits. Their actions were much more organized than the last pack, somehow under the command of the Grey Shards.

Sam took a deep breath and let it out. Crystal flame poured out of his body, intensifying as it began to spin around him. They were prepared..., but if the Grey Shards had too many forces, the only thing they could do was fall back and try to escape through the exit they'd made at the rear, which led out to the tunnels farther back, in the direction of the mana pool.

It had taken Ayala quite a while to make it, but he hoped they would never need to use it. Running wasn't a good solution. Unless they won here, the monsters would chase them. If they were wounded and had to run, it would mean that they'd already lost.

Behind the lizards, the slender forms of a dozen Grey Shard Stalkers poured into the maze, darting to the left and right in a blur. They were agile and fast as they whipped through the maze, living up to their reputation as hunters.

“Get ready!” Krana shouted as she tracked their movements. Beside her, the guards held their swords with white knuckles, their eyes fixed on the exit as they braced themselves.

Sam’s hands curled into fists and then relaxed again as he waited for the enemy to arrive. His mind was clear and alert. The pulse of his blood sang in his awareness, like a meditation on the meaning of life.

The essence that he’d absorbed from the spiders was still there as well, chiming like a chorus of stars as they flared with his awareness of danger. Somehow, they were roused by the approaching fight.

It felt like they were calling to each other, sending little electric tingles of anticipation through him. Instead of clouding his mind, they cleared it, helping him to push aside all his other concerns. There was only the battle in front of him and his father and allies at his side.

Each star was like a tiny heart beating in a vast galaxy, and as the echoes flowed out around him, they brought back impressions of his enemies. They were just fragments, not enough to paint a full picture, but they gave him a vague awareness of what was approaching.

It was like a perception skill, but it worked in a way unlike anything he'd felt before. Instead of coming from his soul, it felt like his blood itself was seeing the enemy. Perhaps this was how Outsiders saw the world.

Essence was another source of power, the same as experience. Both of them were pure in their own way and when they were absorbed, they turned into other things, like status points. It only made sense if the essence system worked on different principles than the ones he was familiar with, even if he didn't know all of the rules.

The calm focus from both the stars and Crystal Focus radiated through him as the spiral of crystal flame grew wider. Like the essence in his blood, the crystal flame marked out the stark difference between who he was now and who he had been only a month before.

His eyes were filled with a sharp presence as he tracked the exit to the maze, waiting for the first enemy. He’d done what he could and now he would find out if it was enough. His life at that moment was reduced to a simple choice, one he would have made even if the Guardian had never appeared.

Fight or die.

In the future, if killing monsters and sealing the Flaws that created them was what let him live and protected his family, then he would kill them. There was nothing more simple than that.

The Horned Water Lizards burst through the exits, their tails lashing as they twisted around the corners and stabilized themselves. All six of them arrived at once, their eyes glowing with a brilliant, sea-like glow.

They saw Sam and the others and, as soon as they caught their balance, they charged forward again, their claws tearing at the stone. The rippling water around their horns shone with a sparkling aqua light as the long diamonds of water spikes shot forward, crossing the distance ahead of them.

Sam’s expression barely changed. Only his eyes narrowed as he waved his hand and an Essence Shield rose in front of him. The two water spikes headed towards him shattered against the crystalline barrier like the ocean's tears striking stone. Shards of water flew backwards.

Two lizards came through each exit, and as soon as the ones on his side moved into the open, a flight of crystal flame arrows hissed toward them, splitting the air as they burned. Two headed for each lizard, exploding through their head and chests as they were tossed to the side.

The stone at the ground rolled, tossing the lizards farther away as Ayala pushed them away and cleared the field again. Sam glanced to the side, where his father was facing two lizards by himself. Jeric was a yellow-gold whirlwind as he spun between them, blocking their claws on his shield and hammers as he sent blows back.

Two more arrows left Sam’s hands, splitting through one of the lizards as he sent it tumbling to the side. His father was able to handle them, but it was faster for Sam. His dad needed to reserve his Stamina for what came next.

With the new opening, Jeric moved in on the other one, catching its claw strike with one arm as he slammed a hammer into its head. A moment later, he sent a wave back in Sam's direction. There was a proud smile on his face as he looked toward him.

Past him, Krana and the guards were holding their own, the three of them enough to deal with two lizards, and Sam turned to look back at the maze. He could sense twenty-some Grey Shard Stalkers moving through it, their forms like drifting grey clouds. They were moving quickly.

“Fall back!” Krana’s warning echoed out across the field. Sam frowned as he started to move backward, his attention on the maze. She’d either seen something he hadn't, or she was worried that the Grey Shards would overwhelm them.

A moment later, the Grey Shards flowed out of the exits and began to dart to the sides, spreading outward, and he realized what Krana had seen. There was no good way to deal with that many ranged fighters at once, not from this close. They needed to pull back and keep the distance, letting the traps and spells do their work.

He saw his father reaching for his belt pouch, already pulling out one of the elemental scrolls Sam had given him. A moment later, a surge of Water flared outward from Jeric’s hand, forming into a whirling sphere of tendrils that lashed outward as it flew toward the Grey Shards.

Earthen spikes from Ayala and a similar rocky spear shot out from Krana toward the enemies, at the same time as tumbling knives from the Grey Shards flicked through the air. The blades were dark, blending into the stone behind them, and their edges steamed with a corrosive mist.

Sam pulled his attention away from the others and back to his own spells. He had to trust that they would be fine. He was the only battle wizard here, and he felt the weight of that responsibility on his shoulders as the crystal flame around him surged higher.

The others had a few attack spells, but their focus was on vision abilities and on summoning Earth or healing. He needed to protect them, in the same way that he had to protect his family. They were relying on him.

In an important way, it made him realize all of the changes he had gone through since they’d first entered the ruins. He felt that weight harden his spine and straighten his back as he lifted his head and examined the enemy, tracking how they moved into the cavern.

Monsters were attacking, and he had the ability to do something about it now. It didn’t matter if the Guardian had told him it was necessary, or if the World Law was trying to force him to do it. It boiled down to a question of who he was.

The changes that his personality had been experiencing over the past weeks jumped forward in that instant as his decision finally fell into place.

Sam’s mind slowed down as he counted the enemy and he realized they had misjudged the situation. They weren’t going to be able to fall back. These Grey Shard Stalkers might be the same as the others, but there were more of them. They weren’t going to be able to contain them.

His father and the others planned to separate the monsters and try to trap them as they retreated, but he had a new idea in that instant, especially as he saw how quickly they were pouring into the cavern.

They'd underestimated the Grey Shards' speed. He needed to do something to slow them down.

His answer came in the form of an Essence Blade that condensed in front of him, the spell compressing over and over as he forced more energy into it. Twenty-two points of essence flowed away into the triangular blade as it shot forward, heading toward the maze.

KRRiiiiSSSshHHHTT.

The cerulean, diamond-like edges of the spell cut through the air as it flew forward, leaving a streak of crystal flame behind. There were more Grey Shard Stalkers inside the maze, along with the other thing behind them, all trying to reach this side. He was going to prevent them from getting what they wanted for as long as possible.

The walls of the maze were only about a foot thick, which wasn’t enough to impede the Essence Blade as it exploded through the outer walls and cut inwards, heading for the center where several Grey Shard Stalkers were clustered.

BoooOOOOmmmmMMMM!

A moment later, the spell exploded in a roiling blast at the center of the maze, where all of the paths joined together. Surges of crystal flame rose into the air, gushing outward like waterfalls pouring toward the sky.

The maze trembled, its walls shaking as its foundations bent, tilting away from the blast as they toppled outwards. Gouts of dust and fragments of stone went flying in every direction. When the dust settled a moment later, the center of the maze was a smoking pile of rubble.

Sam was expressionless as he looked at it, his hands already moving as he reached to his belt and pulled out a scroll. Whatever Grey Shards had been inside the maze, they were either dead or trapped for now. Hopefully that would block the others from entering, at least for long enough that they could deal with the ones already inside.

The explosion would no doubt enrage the thing outside, so time was limited.

The scroll he pulled out of his belt pouch shone with icy blue light as he turned toward a pack of the Grey Shard Stalkers that had made it into the cavern. There were fifteen of them already, clustering in four groups as they continued to spread outwards. Some of them darted their heads toward the maze, hissing in a garbled language to each other as they ducked the flying stones.

Spells were headed toward them from Ayala and Krana as his father sprinted behind one of the traps, waiting for the Stalkers to come to him. He was trying to lure them to the deadfall there. The guards ran to do the same with another trap.

Essence surged through the scroll in Sam’s hand as the runes on it activated. The spider skin scroll turned ice cold against his palm as a series of frozen cracks rang out from it, like icicles shattering in the winter. Then it dissolved into a cloud of swirling, icy particles like a frozen mist.

The light blue particles gathered together in the center of the scroll where the main runes had been, turning into a thousand shards of ice that started to spiral around each other. The rest of the scroll slowly disappeared, falling apart as it turned into ice as well. A moment later, there was a jagged, blue cyclone resting on Sam’s palm that turned in a slow, threatening spiral.

He turned toward one of the larger groups of Stalkers and threw the cyclone toward them with a flicker of will.

It shot outward from his hand, winds whipping around as it grew larger and headed for the targets. Its size doubled, and then doubled again, continuing to stretch outward until it covered nearly fifty feet. Ice particles the size of Sam’s head roared around the center, each of them like a small boulder.

The Grey Shard Stalkers tried to leap out of the way, their forms sliding to the side, but they weren’t faster than the cyclone and their leaps didn't take them far enough. The cyclone struck with shattering force, the icy rocks that were part of it whipping outward to crash into the stone.

Everywhere the boulders hit, sheets of ice began to appear, stretching outward, as the power of the cyclone froze the area around it. Layer after layer of ice appeared, covering the stones on the ground, the edge of the maze, and the Grey Shards that were within its radius.

An instant later, the energy from the scroll was gone, leaving five Grey Shard Stalkers sealed in an icy tomb. On the edges, three others rushed away, managing to escape from the impact. Shards of ice covered their grey cloaks and boots. Their movements were sluggish, chilled from the ice.

His attention was distracted as he watched the effect of the spell, wondering for a moment if the Grey Shards were cold-blooded, and in that instant, he barely caught sight of two dark knives stabbing towards him from the left.

A wash of crystal flame surged outward, instinctively hardening into an Essence Shield, but it was too late for it to fully block the knives. The blades tore across his left shoulder and down across his back as he spun towards them, catching sight of a pair of Grey Shard Stalkers as his right hand rose into the air.

He could feel the wounds burning with whatever dark substance the Stalkers had on their blades as a flight of crystal flame arrows broke off from the spiral around him, shooting toward them.

Blood was already running down his body from the wounds, but he didn't have time to check how deep they were. The area where the knives had touched pulsed in strange, chilly waves, alternating between hot and cold.

His aim was partially off and three of the arrows hissed away into the distance as the Stalkers darted away again, but two of them still struck home, shattering through the body of the one on the left.

The one on the right dashed backwards, its spear appearing in its hands as it spun in place and lunged forward again, aiming for him. An Essence Shield formed in front of him, making the monster miss as it slid off the barrier and to the side.

At the same time, he felt the earth tremble. The maze in front of him rolled like an earthquake had just hit it. The ground beneath his feet shook as a rumble filled the air, roaring through the cavern. He heard the shouts from Krana and the others, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying in the noise.

He didn't have time to look over and see what was going on. The Grey Shard Stalker in front of him dashed forward again, the spearhead shining bright as it stabbed at him. It was faster than he was, its form agile and dangerous, but this time, he was ready. His Essence Shield flared in front of him, blocking the attack and knocking the lizardkin back.

Crystal flame arrows appeared around him automatically, breaking off from his battle spiral, but instead of launching them, he reached out and twisted, turning the Essence Shield to the side as he spread it forward around the Grey Shard Stalker, trying to freeze it in place.

Its body glowed in the range of Crystal Focus, and he felt the shield locking around it, but it was difficult to hold it. The Grey Shard Stalker was fighting back. A mist of grey energy rose up from it, some version of mana or Stamina, as it tried to push the shield aside and prevent the Essence Shield from closing.

At the same time, the chill waves of the poison pulsed outward from where the daggers had landed. Sam’s vision blurred and he felt his blood burning as his Fire Affinity ignited, flaring up to fight back against the invader as it sought to burn it away.

His essence was already under half again, but as long as he had a moment to combust an aura, he could deal with that. He pushed the poison out of his mind, letting his Fire Affinity deal with it, but he didn’t have time to heal the wounds. He’d given his father both of the healing pills from Ismela, but he still had the healing scroll on him if he needed it.

He glanced toward the maze, but it was still a pile of rubble. Whatever had hit it, it hadn't broken through yet. All around him, he could sense the others fighting their own battles, exchanging blows with Grey Shard Stalkers that had escaped from the maze.

They had underestimated the speed of their enemy and their ability to dodge. They weren’t going to be able to make it back to the fort behind them. All their plans to stand back and defend it were crumbling now, caught up in a chaos that was moving faster than they’d expected.

The traps they’d dug were also useless, scattered across the area where they were standing. Slender forms were darting around them, their feet so light that they didn't even trigger them, like a grey wave that was rolling across the area. The Grey Shards were accompanied by the hiss of poisoned daggers that smoked in the air.

The one in front of him continued to struggle against the Essence Shield as Sam focused on the concept of repeating crystal patterns spreading, trying to lock it down and understand his abilities better. Perhaps he should have just killed it, but he had the feeling that opportunities like this were hard to come by.

He poured more energy into the shield and finally it locked into place. The geometric pattern of the shield crackled, like ice forming, as it strengthened and froze everything inside. He could feel the Stalker still trying to struggle in it, but the area around it was completely filled with the Essence Shield.

It was frozen there like a fly in amber, covered in a geometric Crystal Field.

CraaaAAAAcckKKK!

Just as he felt a surge of success, the earth beneath his feet rolled again as the maze exploded outwards. The rocks that he’d collapsed in the center went flying through the air in a whistling barrage until they slammed into the stone floor and rolled toward the walls.

Dust and smoke rose up from the rubble, clearing a path through to the center, and a new wave of half-a-dozen Grey Shard Seekers poured in through the gap, spreading outward to the sides as their bows hummed and arrows appeared on the strings.

The level of threat they carried with them was far greater than the Stalkers that were already in the area. A hiss of dark laughter echoed out from around them, as if they were pleased with themselves. Behind them, in the opening where the maze had been, the path to the tunnel was clear now, filled with smoke and dust that was still swirling. It had become a corridor leading out.

As the dust began to settle, the slow tap of a staff hit the stone, echoing out with a quiet, resounding note that seemed to carry far more easily through the air than it should have.

A moment later, a strange, hooded figure came into view, his steps slow and shuffling, but for each step he took, the distance seemed to disappear beneath his feet, moving him faster than expected. His shoulders were hunched, and he was covered in a grey hood, but a dim golden light blazed from underneath.

When he reached the end of the path, he crossed in front of the Grey Shard Seekers and they moved to the side, turning toward him with a respectful bow as they gave way. He paused there, his staff falling silent with a final tap on the ground, and then a scaled hand reached up and pushed back the hood.

At that moment, a prompt appeared in Sam’s mind.

Dark Chryso Bloodweaver (Soul Remnant)

A moment later, the Guardian Star on his hand began to flicker with half light, as if torn between warning him of something or not, like it wasn’t sure what to do. There was no sense of essence resonating from the figure, but it let off a strange, dull throb in Sam’s senses, as if there were a gap where essence should have been.

Everything in the cavern froze as Grey Shard Stalkers, Seekers, Sam, and all the others turned to stare, their gazes hanging on the new arrival.