The other three survived but were gouged and dented in multiple places; despite the damage, they were still able to move, though one had a definite wobble to it. She still had another three that hadn’t been involved in the attack, but now half of her rolling metal balls were damaged and wouldn’t fare well in another maneuver like that.
Then again, her forces had killed around three dozen of the Ants; it wasn’t quite an even trade-off, but it was better than her Clockwork Spiders. Sandra’s original constructs moved surprisingly fast once she sent them to attack the falling Ants from above, but except for a lucky break where one was able to stab its leg into the neck of an attacking insect – decapitating it in the process – the rest were quickly overwhelmed and taken apart by the super-sharp mandibles of the Territory Ants.
Her Tiny Automaton performed remarkably well considering it couldn’t move quickly. Its strong, hammer-like arms nevertheless caved in a half-dozen Ant heads before it was eventually surrounded and picked apart.
New lines of Territory Ants were already heading for the smooshed graveyard of their brethren underneath Sandra’s Core, so she sent her Rolling Forces to disrupt anything they tried to create and roll over individual ones as they made for the center of the cave. One-by-one, though, the self-inflicted damage caused by impacting the durable exoskeletons and deadly mandibles of the Ants were destroying her monsters. Not only that, but her flock of Small Animated Shears had lost two of their number from attempting to slice into the ants and mistakenly hitting their sharp head weapons, which blunted their edge and caused them to fall apart within a few hits.
Sandra wasn’t idle, however. She began to see how the other dungeons fell into the trap of wanting to kill everything they saw; Mana flowed into her faster than it ever had before from the deaths of the Ants. Every second, her Mana ticked up another point or two – and sometimes even three. From the initial destruction of the insect pyramid, she absorbed nearly twenty Mana in little more than a second.
Sandra immediately started to use that Mana to replace her destroyed Rolling constructs and even using the remainder of her Raw Materials to create a few Tiny Copper Orbs so that she could make more Animated Shears. In less than five minutes, she had replaced and expanded her currents constructs, though the constant influx of Territory Ants was making it difficult to get any breathing room.
Eventually, she had to create three more Tiny Automatons. They weren’t there to attack or defend, but to retrieve the fallen Copper Orbs that were now littering the cave so that she could make more defenders. The issue she was running into, unfortunately, was the lack of Raw Materials. Since she couldn’t physically change her one-room dungeon, she couldn’t absorb the dirt and stone from the walls to accumulate more.
Fortunately, that limitation didn’t extend to absorbing the corpses of hundreds of insects now littering the cave floor. It was very strange at first, as the sensation in her Core was quite different from “eating” dirt. Somehow, despite the disgust she felt at consuming bugs, it was much more fulfilling – like a treat of some sort. Although it “tasted” better, it took nearly twice the volume of insect bodies to equal the same amount of dirt wall; she wasn’t sure if it was because of its density or for some other reason. However, since the supply was constantly arriving, Sandra didn’t care overly much about the conversion efficiency.
With access to both Mana and Raw Materials in a fairly constant stream, Sandra was able to finally get ahead and produce more than enough Rolling Forces to wipe out anything that hit the floor within seconds, and her flock of Shears had multiplied to three times their original number. Two hours after the start of the attack by the Territory Ants, Sandra felt safe enough to look for a way to end the stalemate. They should be running out of Ants soon, right?
The stream of insects seemed to be endless, and the confused Dungeon Core was beginning to wonder why. Granted, she had initially seen thousands of the Ants roaming through the colony tunnels, but she estimated that her constructs had wiped out nearly 10,000 of them, so there couldn’t be that many left.
When Sandra focused on the Territory Ant colony, she discovered why they weren’t stopping. The Ant Queen was frantically laying eggs by the dozen around the central colony room, which would harden, grow, and hatch within less than a minute, supplying a constant stream of brand-new Ants for the assault. She hadn’t known they could do that, but she wasn’t an expert on insects. Regardless, it meant that unless she found some way to stop the Queen – who showed no signs of stopping anytime soon – she was going to be fighting this territory war indefinitely.
A circular portal appeared in the air about two feet in front of her Core unexpectedly, and Winxa emerged with a frustrated look on her face. The portal collapsed and disappeared as soon as the Dungeon Fairy was completely out, closing with a near silent *pop* that she hadn’t noticed before.
“You would not believe—what is going on!?”
Impeccable timing, Winxa.
Chapter 11
“Sandra, what did you do?” Winxa asked, shocked at the constant battle being waged against the invading Territory Ants.
It’s not my fault. These Ants were directly above me and as soon as I upgraded my Core Size, they dug down here while I was helpless.
“Well, why haven’t you stopped them yet?”
First, I don’t know how, and second, they keep coming and there is no let-up. Third, I am very limited in what I can do while they are attacking so constantly.
The Dungeon Fairy looked around at the defenses and defenders Sandra had set up, noticing the stone dome above. “I can see that, and that was a good idea to create a stone barrier. I would suggest doing that for your entire dungeon when you get a chance, though of course that will have to wait until it’s safe. Which should be soon, as there should be an end of these insects soon. How long have they been attacking? A few minutes?”
Two hours, give or take a few minutes.
“Two…hours? Wait…” Winxa said, shocked and confused, before looking closer at one of the Ants before it died and was absorbed by the Dungeon Core. “Oh…well, you didn’t say these were Territory Ants – that’s a whole other situation. They have the ability to reproduce non-stop until the threat to their territory is either dead or has vacated the area. Neither of which will help you in this instance.”
I noticed.
“Well, then that just means that you’ll have to kill the Queen and then you’ll be fine. Normally, your new unlocks at Core Size 5 should be more than enough to take care of the situation – so, what did you get?”
It felt like it had been days since she had “Sized-up” instead of just hours, which meant that she couldn’t even remember what she had upgraded to. In fact, she realized she hadn’t even opened up her menu lately, as everything she had been done while creating new constructs and seeds was all performed intuitively when she thought about it. Her instincts told her that it was probably supposed to be that way, and that the menu was just a way to get started.
Core Selection Menu
Dungeon Classification:
Constructs
Core Size:
4
Available Mana:
74/80
Ambient Mana Absorption:
.08/hour
Available Raw Material (RM):
250/400
Convert Raw Material to Mana?
150 RM -- > 6 Mana
Current Dungeon Monsters:
59
Constructs Creation Options:
4 (1)
Monster Seed Schematics:
2 (1)
Uh…I’m only at Core Size 4.
“Core Size 4? Based on the size of your cave, and the number of monsters you have, you should’ve been at least Core Size 5 by now, or more likely Size 6. I was gone for almost a month and—”
I didn’t want to go back to that empty place when I upgrade my Core, so I kept putting it off until I didn’t have anything else that I could do. And most of my construc
ts you see were made after the attack, as I’ve been inundated with so much Mana that I had to use it on something.
“I guess that I can understand that. The insane Dungeon Cores that I usually deal with aren’t bothered by the isolation that upgrading brings, so I didn’t look at it from your perspective. However, Core Size 5 usually has beneficial upgrades, which you might be able to use to beat back these stupid Ants and get on with your dungeon expansion.”
But I’ll be completely vulnerable—
“That’s true, but remember, you have your Dungeon Monsters here and you can easily set them to keep doing what they’ve been doing. That is their job, you know; although they are there to help you accumulate ambient Mana, their primary purpose is to defend your Dungeon Core.”
What Winxa said made sense to Sandra, although she was still hesitant to commence with the upgrade to Size 5. Looking for another answer afforded no other solutions, unfortunately, so she gave in and decided to do it when she was ready.
Only after another hour of constant battle against the tenacious insects – and after creating an additional dozen Rolling Forces and Animated Shears – was she satisfied that she would be safe. It had been at least a half an hour since one of her constructs had broken in “death”, so she was fairly confident they could last until she was done upgrading again.
With her figurative fingers crossed in an ancient symbol of good luck, she activated her Core Size upgrade and felt the sensations of the world around her fade. The space she could still see and hear things was a little larger than last time, but she couldn’t detect much; a few sounds from farther away constructs killing Ants were all she could hear. They were away from her Core trying to destroy the invaders near where they were entering her cave, which meant they were blessedly away from her vulnerable self.
Sandra was saved from mind-numbing emptiness when Winxa flew up and perched on top of her Core. The Dungeon Fairy sat up there and watched whatever was happening outside of the Dungeon Core’s senses for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was probably no more than a few minutes.
“I…want to apologize for abandoning you for so long. I honestly thought that you were safe from any dangers here and I wanted to do as much research as possible into your situation here before I came back. That doesn’t excuse leaving my charge for so long, of course, and I hope you’ll forgive me for leaving.”
Winxa was silent for another couple of minutes, before she continued. “It’s been a long time since I’ve spent more than a few days with a Dungeon Core before they tried to ‘eat’ me,” she started, flashing a grin down at Sandra, “and it’s been even longer since I’ve touched a Core. Not that anything bad would happen, but none of them had felt…safe…or at least normal enough for me to want to touch or get close to in any way. With you, though – and considering what you might be up against – I feel like I could be your friend instead of a just a snack.”
The Fairy abruptly stood up and looked off into the distance, before sitting back down cautiously. “You just lost another pair of your flying scissors, but you still have plenty there taking its place. Anyway, I wanted to tell you what I found out now that I’ve got a captive audience,” Winxa said, flashing another smile in Sandra’s direction. “I unfortunately didn’t find out anything official, and all communication – which is rare to begin with – with The Creator has essentially ceased. That doesn’t mean it won’t pick back up, but I can’t get anything definite from that source.
“As for your location, I have a little bit better understanding of it now. You see,” the Dungeon Fairy began, settling herself more comfortably on top of Sandra’s Core as if she was preparing to tell a story, “I’ve spent the last 150 years or so working with new Dungeon Cores located in or near the Human land of Muriel. As a result, I’ve lost track of the state of all but the Merfolk, who live in the ocean and nearby islands close to Muriel.
“I knew this place from centuries ago, however, though it has certainly changed since then. Previously, the Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes had been easily holding back the advance of their surrounding dungeons and were even using them much as the Humans still do – as a source of excellent seed loot that they could turn into weapons and armor to help combat the dungeons in a cyclical relationship. While the Merfolk, Humans, and Beastmen far to the south are still doing fine – in fact, they are practically thriving – those races that you’re currently near haven’t had the same kind of luck.
“The Elves were always a long-lived race, but they also reproduce slowly. Over the years, attrition in the ranks of their ‘Elite’ – which is what they call their ‘Heroes’ – have led to a diminished population. They have abandoned many of their primary holdings along the border of their lands and have retreated to where there are no current dungeons, such as their capital city of Lyringlade. With them not thinning out the ranks of the dungeon monsters anymore, the border dungeons are starting to get extremely powerful and are expanding their Area of Influence closer and closer to the remaining Eleven population. I give them no more than a century before they’re wiped out.
“The Orcs to the northwest were always a warlike people and used that confidence in battle to devastate nearby dungeon monsters. However, over time they have concentrated more on being the strongest and bravest ‘Warriors’ and look down on anyone who wants to be a weakling like a craftsman. As a result, many of their strongest weapons and armor from the past are breaking down and they are left with the basic swords, axes, and other armaments they can manage to produce from their craftsmen who barely know what they’re doing anymore. Most of their knowledge they used to have in crafting beautiful weapons of war have been lost, so their civilization is in decline. Because they have no reproduction issues like the Elves – the opposite in fact – they have plenty of bodies to throw at the dungeons, but not the weapons in which to do it. I give them…oh, maybe two centuries before they’re completely destroyed.
“The Dwarves are a strong, hearty bunch; they also make some of the most detailed and powerful weapons and armor in the world. However, due to staggering losses in their ‘Shieldmen’ over the last century, they’ve apparently holed up in their homes located in the nearby mountains and have let a portion of the countryside around them get overrun by the dungeons. Unfortunately, this means that the farms they still rely largely on for food are at risk of being wiped out – and like the Elves, I give them about a century before they starve to death in their mountain strongholds.
“Lastly, the Gnomes aren’t doing too badly right now, but a recent Dungeon Monster overrun of their Enchantment Learning Academy has wiped out many of the smartest and most knowledgeable Enchanters. They rely on both those Enchanters and their War Machine manufacturers to defend them from the dungeons, and with one element of that disappearing, they will be in trouble in the future. Without something to help them, I give them the best odds of surviving the longest if it were just a matter of their own dungeons they have to deal with – at about three centuries – but if the other races fall, they will go down quickly not too long afterward.
“Therefore, you can see that this portion of the world is slowly going downhill. If these races fall, it is only a matter of time before these dungeons here get so powerful that they can extend their range to the lands of the Humans, Merfolk, and the Beastmen down south. In less than half a millennia, I estimate that there will be only a few pockets of sentient life left in the world.”
After that proclamation, Winxa was silent again, though this time it was for much longer. Sandra didn’t have that great of an ability to judge the passage of time when all she had to go on was a few faint sounds coming from the edge of her awareness, but she estimated that it was nearly an hour before the Dungeon Fairy spoke again.
“I know you can’t speak to me during your Core Size upgrade, but I can almost hear you screaming out questions in my direction. The most obvious one is probably, ‘If The Creator made all the dungeons, why can’t they be uncreated?’ That’s an ea
sy one, at least – they can’t. The Creator only does one thing: create. Taking away the dungeons already here is akin to destruction, and that is something that completely impossible for The Creator to accomplish.
“An adjacent question to that one that you probably have is, ‘Then why can’t The Creator just create a new set of rules for the dungeons to follow? Maybe one that makes them not kill all the sentient races?’ A very good question, though it is one that is a little harder for you to understand since you aren’t constrained by a contract.
“When the contract is agreed upon with the soul to inhabit the Dungeon Core and The Creator, there is a distinct hands-off clause in there that prevents The Creator from altering or inhibiting the Cores in any way once they are ‘born’. It also prevents any type of interfering directly with the operation of the dungeons, like creating something nearby that would directly oppose a particular Core or Cores. So, in short, The Creator’s hands are tied when it comes to saving the seven sentient races.”
Sandra couldn’t help but think that answered some of her questions, but the most important one still—
“That brings us to you, and what is likely your most pressing question, ‘What am I doing here?’ I think I have an answer, but not in an official…proclamation, so to say. In fact, I’m not even sure if I can tell you this much without violating my own contract with The Creator, but I might as well try. I think you’re here to—” Winxa abruptly cut off, her voice sounding like she was choking on something for a moment. When she stopped coughing from whatever was in her throat, she tried again. “You’re here to—” she started, only to once again choke on something and start coughing.
The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) Page 8
