Chapter 153 - Explosive Gnomes Liam aimed for the small red spot on the gnome and activated the [Lightning Bolt] skill. "Come on. Come on. Come on." He mumbled, watching the attack shoot towards the small thing. At worst, he had to deal with the 5 gnomes attacking him together but that was still… Bzzt! The lightning bolt crackled and without any surprise, it hit its target! "This should work right?" The aim was fine since he activated with the system's help but he had a feeling that the intensity was a bit… If his attack had indeed been effective, the gnome should now get dizzy and spin around in place before coming to a complete halt in its dazed state. Liam held his breath, watching and waiting for this to happen. And just as he wanted the gnome also began to spin… However… The very next second the gnome unexpectedly came to a complete stop and its dull lifeless eyes locked onto Liam. "Fuck!" Liam did not have to wait around to know what this meant. Instead of the gnome, he spun around and started running away with the maximum speed that he could. But he was still not fast enough. Behind him were the five gnomes, hot on his trail and not willing to let the intruder escape. He ran around the mountain ranges without catching his breath. However, it was not easy to shake off the gnomes and they continued chasing him, their speed slowly catching up to his. Liam did not know if this was good luck or bad luck. The method did not work but the good thing was that only five gnomes were behind him. He was so glad that he decided to wait and attack instead of barging in when the bigger group was around. But he couldn't feel too relieved as the five gnomes had already caught up to him. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎 BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. They all simultaneously started a round of firing and Liam gritted his teeth, diving behind a huge rock as fast as he could to take cover. A couple of bullets grazed him and a couple more directly hit him, taking out chunks of his health. Moreover, a bleed status was also activated and Liam was constantly losing blood along with his health. He immediately took a health potion but something told him that the worst was yet to happen. Just as the thought crossed his mind, a small figure flew over to him, landing directly in front of him. "INTRUDER ALERT. BEGIN SELF-DESTRUCT" Liam was face to face staring at the dull lifeless gnome's eyes. "Fuck. I am dead." He gulped down the health potion and dashed out of that spot, not before the explosion cleaved half of his health, tossing him like dirt onto another nearby rock. Before Liam could catch a breath and regain his balance, another small thing flew by and landed in front of him. "INTRUDER ALERT. BEGIN SELF-DESTRUCT" "FUCK!" Liam's hands moved at lightning-fast speed, as he sprang out of there, while also dunking in another health potion. Bam. One more explosion rang out and this one was even bigger than the previous one as the other gnomes joined the self-destructing gnome. One by one everything started the self-destruction together, triggering a series of explosions. The ground shook and the surrounding rocks trembled. Dust and debris flew everywhere and the bullets stored within the gnomes started firing in random directions. It was a total shit fest. Liam was completely caught in the attack. It was impossible for him to outrun it and even if he used five health potions he wouldn't be able to recover his health. This was a sure-death scenario. As a last-ditch attempt, he used the only other thing that was available to him. "Ice Blanket!" He shouted, activating the skill. He churned out every ounce of his mana, draining his body dry in a desperate attempt to freeze at least a part of the explosion. He did not even bother controlling anything and just let it go. Layers after layers of frost started forming, appearing out of thin air. However, Liam did not watch it. His hands hastily scurried, squeezing out all his agility to take more health potions out of inventory, and he gulped them down one after the other. Meanwhile, his frost blanket spread out starting from his body and expanding outward. This was the first time Liam had tried to use this spell as a shield and it worked. It temporarily held back the impact of the explosion covering him in a thick shell of ice. Liam sucked in the cold breath of air, looking around him to see white walls, but it did not hold for long. Cracks started appearing. The next second, the shell completely exploded and the raging fire was once again at Liam's doorstep. However, this was already enough to protect him from the main explosion impact and brought him some time to think. Watching the ice shield, Liam had another idea and decided to erect the fire shield instead. Unlike the ice element, this did not clash with the waves of the explosion and held together better. Liam had already used up all of his mana, so he quickly picked himself up and started moving away with the fire shield still switched on. He used a couple of mana potions to keep this going and hurried to a safer location, leaving behind the fire that was shooting at him. "Just how many ammunition do these fuckers have hidden in their small bodies?" He gasped for breath and ran. Despite the mana refill, he couldn't maintain focus, and the fire shield as well soon collapsed. So he dived behind another huge rock and rested there. Now that he had nothing more to run from and he was also away from the main site of the explosion, he could finally breathe. "What a fail!" Liam turned back to look at the carnage with his lips curled upwards into a wide grin.. He might have failed but he now knew exactly what he had to do.