*************************POV Marcus****************************

I was rushing back to the wall when the elves unleashed their barrage of fireballs and arrows onto the raging mass of goblins running at them. The first wave of goblins just disappeared in a flash of fire and dirt thrown around by the power of the explosions. If you took into count all the punishment the goblins had taken until now it was a rather small body count the goblins had to pay but the fact that the elves could use such a spell now surprised the little suckers quite a bit.

Still they closed the gap to the wall in mere seconds and there a new surprise awaited them when all the vines at the wall suddenly began to move and grab the green figures like toys, using the bodies like improvised clubs to smash other goblins.

The goblins had attacked only a third of the wall until now and began to flow all around it now, pressuring the elves upon it with pebbles from slings and a crude shortbow here and there, eliciting painful cries from wounded men and women alike.

I reached the wall shortly after and began my bloody work still using the dead drake to clear some place around me.

Noting that only two heavily wounded drakes had made it to the wall and now trying to climb it I let go of my now quite mangled weapon and took a running start right into another drake ripping it from the wall and then smashing my fists into his hard scales.

The poor creature didn't take it so well regarding the fact that each of my fists had to weigh around a hundred kilograms. Blood splattered out of its mouth and the mistreated scales broke under my attack. I knew the creature was dying so I just threw the drake right into the approaching goblins and searched for the other one.

It had just reached the summit of the wall when an angry elven paladin exploded into its face with a hard shield slap. Andarin had invested much of his stats into his strength before the leveling tour so it wasn't very surprising that the drake's head was thrown back opening his underbelly for any attacks.

Two other elven warriors rammed their spears right into the throat of the drake, only to be stopped when the drake threw its body to the side jumping away from the wall and taking the spears from their hands with it. The creature fell to the ground on its back and seemed to be stunned for a moment, so I took advantage of that and jumped over to it. I guessed my overall weight at around 4 tons so you can guess what happened when I landed a good old body slam right on top of it. Yeah, it was messy and I liked it.

Blood and gore covered my surroundings and I yelled my victory to the world when I heard Andarin yelling from above, “Damn kill stealer! That was mine!”

I took a look upwards, “Come down and be my guest, small one! There is enough for everyone.”

He just grunted and turned to the next crazy goblin who tried to mount the wall, so I turned also to my unfriendly neighbours and did was I was best at the moment, smashing them into bloody paste.

The fighting had reached a point where my elves could hold their own on the walls even as they was pressured from almost every side, so I just began to use some of my subminds to attack bigger masses of enemies using fireballs everywhere on the battlefield to maximise the mana to damage ratio.

I had to admit that the lack of lizardmen spooked me somewhat. Where did they go?

The number of wounded fighters had increased so I used my healing aura to give my warriors some relieve. The other aura that enhanced their armor was already in place and helped them even more than I had guessed. My increased skill with earth manipulation seemed to have some influence on the damage mitigated.

With most of the other elves used as mana batteries I had enough juice to hold the spell indefinitely and still throw some spells around the place.

Suddenly I felt something hampering my power. It was like something was holding my arms and legs but there wasn't anything visible so I concentrated to watch the flow of mana around me and then I saw it.

There was a spell formation right under the whole place! I hadn't had time to infuse much ground under my town yet, so I hadn't discovered that someone seemed to have tunneled right under my home. So there they have gone with their forces. They still must have some drakes left for the burrowing. I regretted now that I hadn't invested more power into expanding my influence deeper into the ground.

The discovery didn't do much to help me against this attack. I felt my power over the golem slip and it fell to its knees, the arms slumping to the ground, attacks from the goblins hailing down from all sides. Although they almost didn't do any damage at all their numbers began to grind down the protecting stone. They would still need minutes to do any substantial damage but I didn't know how long this spell could hold me down.

'Gilian, how deep do your roots reach?' I sent a desperate thought to my newest guardian.

'So you also have it tough with this new spell? I think that my roots go down almost to the place where this spell originates but right now I don't have the mana to defend the wall and dig deeper simultaneously.' I felt her anger and fear through our connection.

My consciousness left the golem suddenly and I felt myself thrown back into my core with my subminds also returned to it. Whoever had created this spell had to be quite knowledgable to target me so accurately. At least my city spells were still active and supported my people.

But I still could send power to my guardians and so I gave Gilian all of it to give her a chance of breaking this predicament.

My other guardians had also discovered that something was of when my golem suddenly went down.

'Marcus, what's up with you?' Chara's concern could easily be easily felt through our connection.

'Yeah, your golem suddenly got slack and the goblins put quite a beating into it, giving us time to kill them easily with some fireballs.' Nala had a smug in her thoughts and also some anxiety.

'The lizards have created a kind of magical circle right under the town that dampens my ability to roam around and somehow it also hit Gilian somewhat. I'm not sure how they did it, but I can't imagine them to be so advanced in magic that they did this stunt by themselves.'

I felt Galen's agreement, 'You're right, that doesn't match with my knowledge about them at all. They must have some outside help, maybe the dragon lady we had a run in with. There are some other possibilities also with Tiara now here, with her successor on the top spot right now. He would have the most to gain from capturing you, getting you back under his influence.'

He had a point there but right now I had other problems.

'Gilian, how long will you need to get down there with your roots?'

Some seconds went by when my big tree lady answered, 'Give me some minutes, but I think that they will try to attack my roots as soon as the lizards see them breaking through the tunnel.'

'Then go under the tunnel and break through the ground instead. It might cost a minute more time but they won't be able to do anything.' Problem solved, good idea Chara! The girl develops a really intelligent mind there.

'That will do it, yes, I just hope we have enough time for it. The spell hinders my ability to defend the wall.'

Galen and his wives seemed quite confident in their ability to throw the goblins back when Kitara answered, 'Leave the walls to us and help Marcus! We can keep them at bay as long as Marcus can uphold the city spells. So hurry up and fuck these guys up, and when you got the chance bury them in these tunnels. They are such convenient graves for these suckers.'

I felt the spell formation trying to further weaken my ability to continue my city spells but I fought against it with my whole being behind it. The spell nabbed at the corner of my consciousness hampering my will and resolution but I steeled myself against its energy and fought back trying to manipulate the spell itself.

The magic made a connection to me so why shouldn't I be able to do the same thing with the spell formation? I snuck a mana thread alongside the existing connection and wormed my way inside the magic the tried to hold me down.

Whoever cast the ritual may have knowledge to do it but not the necessary skill in mana manipulation to make the thing resistant to my attack. That's the power of a core, you bastards!

I felt the spell and its intention and was shocked when I learned its true purpose. It should teleport my consciousness alongside the crystal to another place I couldn't specify. And the teleportation process had already been initiated!

In frantic search for the part of containing my awareness in the core I searched the whole spell formation when I felt a sudden change in the spell. It had been weakened somewhere, disrupting the teleportation somehow. Gilian seemed to have made the first progress.

The energy rerouted itself in the formation and started the process again, but by observing the changes I was able to detect the part where the capturing of my mind was located. With all my fury and rage I descended on this particular place and ripped it apart, feeling imminent release and freedom again.

But I also felt that my time was running short. The teleportation would take the object where my main consciousness was located and teleport it to another place.

Okay you suckers, I just hoped my golem was still around because I will give an unpleasant surprise. I grabbed for the golem and felt its body surrounding my mind again. It had taken quite some beating but it still stood strong enough to give some punishment.

'Guys, I fear that someone will try to capture me to another place in some seconds, but rest assured that I will still be able to support you here with my subminds, so don't give up hope and fight on. I will return as soon as possible.'

Shortly after I felt the energy surrounding my golem body and light erupted around me. I lost any sense of gravity for a moment and a painful pull at my connection with my core but I endured it.

Congratulation! You have reached a new world.

You gain the title of world wanderer.

So another planet, nice change of scene, but I still felt that I could get back to my core through the connection. It was shaky at best but still there and going stronger with every moment now that my position had stabilized. So going back wouldn't pose a big problem.

I stood up and took a look around. I was in a round room with thick carpets at the walls which were made of granite. A 3 meters high double door was 10 meters away from me with myself at the centre of the room in a spell formation that lost its illumination fast.

There were 21 men and women in embroidered robes standing around me and watching me with surprised and frightened looks. So these guys had made my life difficult. Let's get back at them.