Dungeon Battle

by Andrew Bardsley

  "High-level warrior, they were always going to be the problem," muttered Rinaldo as he signaled for a retreat of the faster units.

  The ramparts open and allowed the units to withdraw from the battlefield, in an orderly manner as dukes army started to organize itself into the unit center around one of the high-level warriors.

  As the last of the attacking units entered the defensive rampart, a red flag went up, and the bombardment started again with rocks catapulted by the metal trolls behind the ramparted. When the rock started to fall, magical shields went up, and fireballs started to be shot from the duke's army.

  "Thank goodness for that, "Rinaldo said to an orc belaying his orders by his side, "have the archers, and the trolls target the area where the wizards are."

  The orc shouted in a ruff langured that was relayed up and down the line to the sergeant controlling each of the archery gang, as a concentrated black rain of arrow stated to fall on the area where the fireballs were emerging from. Over the next few minutes as the fireballs hit the ramparted, burning some of the orc archers the heavy rain of arrows contoured to fall heavily. Ceras could see happily that the number of fireballs slow started to fade to zero under the concentrated fire.

  Ceras still saw hundreds of the duke army was still on the battlefield with more coming through the entrance to the dungeon level and was worried about what would happen next. Still, under the fire of rock and arrows, a shouted cry went up from the high-level warriors amongst the attacking army as they rushed through the gathering army toward the stone ramparts the monsters were attacking them from. As the strong warrior ran forward, the rest of the duke's army took courage from their leader and started forward with a shield in front of them. Soon this group of men was smashing against the stone rampart, as some of them managed to jump the twenty feet in the air reaching the top of the rampart and started to fight with greatsword the orc warriors on top of the stone works.

  Ceras saw the several orcs being beheaded by a large man with plated armor and a great board sword, only for five orcs to approach him from the back, finding a hole in his armor as they stab him to death as if they were butchering a pig. This scene was repeated up and down the stone fortifications time and time again as the mass of the duke's army pushed the wall again.

  A magical flare signal shot into the air on a command from Rinaldo, and suddenly the whole battlefield changed. The first sign of the change was the loud noise of grinding stones as the rampart started to move and break up into pieces. Ceras jumped back on the ground behind him, as large metal troll started to emerge from the rampart that their bodies have formed. As each of the tolls moved forward into the tightly packed enemy soldier, they swung their massive arms, smashing the combatant out of the way. Ceras could hear the breaking of bone as he saw hundreds of bodies flighting in the air as the whole rampart was one mass of moving the smashing rock. As the troll plodded forward the duke's army's front rank was stuck, so they fell under the onslaught of grinding rocks.

  From the rear of the duke's army he heard the crushing of rocks, only two see massive rock worms break through the grass floor and start to crush any fleeing soldier they could hit. The scene that Ceras could behold in front his eyes had now turned to carnage as the, and battered bodies of the enemy were sent flighting in all direction. From the entrance to the level, a loud shout could be heard as hundreds of orc warrior emerged to attack from the rear of the panicking duke's army.

  Ceras saw the battle reaching a climax as the duke's army was caught between the rocks and a hard orc. In the center of the dwindling army, he saw a circle of a warrior standing their ground and managing to hold off the enemy. As the metal rock troll was encoring on this heavily armed group, a shout went up from a large man at the center.

  "I the duke challenge the dungeon master in single combat."

  Ceras lent over to Rinaldo and said, "My turn."

  Then he started to walk through the battle that was slowly being won by the dungeon monster to the fight that was always his.

  Chapter 11 The Challenger

  Ceras would have liked to say that a hush fell over the battlefield as the two great warriors approached each other and a circle was formed allowing the duel to take place under the gaze of the assembled multitude, but the reality is never like a dream. Ceras had to push and fight his way forward through battling trolls and orcs that were in an uneven fight with the human army, as they were proceeding to slaughter them. Several times he had to dodge a massive fist from a troll that had to mistake him for one of the soldiers, only to be recognized as the fist went over his head and the troll gave a cocky smile in apology.

  By the time Ceras had made it the center of the battlefield most of the army of the duke was died or dying on the blood-stained ground, and their body was starting to disappear in the white light of dungeon absorbing them. So, the first view Ceras had of the Moryam the Duke of Riverwind was of him hacking away at an orc's body with his large, broad sword cutting the orc in two pieces. As the sword passed through the torso of the orc went flighting a few meets with the force of the blow while the legs just stayed standing there as if they were being held up by a pole.

  The duke sword was dripping blood as he saw Ceras approaching him in the fray of battle, and seem to smile with a bit of laugh as if the battle was not going badly for his side.

  "You must be the child dungeon master, that I'm here to kill," said the duke in a mocking roar as he approached Ceras in his full plated armor that glinting in the light silver with a red cloak flowing behind him.

  Ceras would have like to have said something grand and momentous, but all he said was, "Yep."

  With that comment, the duel started in the midst of the battlefield that was in the last throws of a slaughter of the duke's army that duke Moryam did not seem to be bothered by.

  Ceras first magical spell was to produce a shield around his body, over the months of grinding he had managed to develop the shield, from a blue sphere around his body to a much stronger and efficient transparent shield that only form fitted his body. This made the spell almost impossible to detect, which Ceras hopped would give him the element of surprise in a fight.

  When the duke was about twenty feet away, Ceras blasted him with a large fireball, to test the strength of duke's plate. The large ball of circling wave of flames washed over the upper section of the duke's breastplate, causing the metal to lose some of its shininess slightly. What was suppressing, to Ceras, was not that no damage was done to the duke, but the look of shock replaced the duke's previous arrogant expression?

  "You're a magic user," shouted the shocked voice of the massive warrior in front of Ceras, "how is that possible."

  Before the duke could continue talking, Ceras cast his immobilizing spell onto the great broad sword to hold it in the air. This had an immediate effect as the duke was stopped in his track as hands held onto the sword as he was trying to pull it from the air. Uncertainty showed in his face for the first time as he struggled with the sword that would not move. Ceras cast his 'Temperature Extreme' spell at targeted parts of the large plate armor and saw several swirling balls of white-hot heat and darkness flight towards the duke's armor. When the mass of negative and positive energy hit, a crack started to appear in the large plated armor and parts of the plate metal fell to the ground with a loud clatter that was heard above the battlefield.

  The duke a let go of his sword and rushed forward as his he was a large bear with a large dagger in his gloved hand. Before Ceras could do anything, the duke seemed to burl slight and then reappear in front of the wizard. The large, powerful warrior then plunged his dagger up into the throat of Ceras, with a force the threw the wizard-warrior a few feet backward as he flew off his feet and landed on the ground stunted as he shields were flickering. Before the duke could attack Ceras again throw a magical spell of immobilized at the duke's foot locking him to the ground.

  The duke with an expression of pure fury lunged forward toward Ceras only to be stopped by his fo
ot from moving. The pure power of the mighty warrior started to pull more and more into the immobilized spell, as it started to have a significant drain of Ceras precious mana. While he kept the immobilized spell working, he shot out a few more ball of positive and negative energy managing to rip sections of the duke's armor his body. Concentrating on the breastplate, he managed to get a fist size hole in the center were now Ceras could see the duke's under padding.

  Producing the hottest fireball, he could create, Ceras pored as much magical energy into it taking it damage potential up to nearly two thousand HP, he blasted it straight at the hole in the armor. The ball of white-hot energy rocketed across the intervening space hitting the duke in the chest burring away all his clothing that was exposed, and throwing him on to the ground as it exploded. Ceras could see smoke coming out of the hole, but the Duke started to get to his feet only slightly dazed from the massive explosion that would have killed the most creatures.

  Taring free of the immobilization spell that locks his foot into place he ran forward and dived on Ceras body, pushing him over. Stunned for a second, Ceras stared to feel the smashing fist of the gutless of the duke trying to break through his shield that was now starting to crack as if it was shattering glass.

  Using his spell, he had developed when gaining the master level, Ceras put as much power in the spell as he could, and started to push the spell slowly from his chest. It emerged as a bar of pure white and dark energy the was combine with the immobilization spell that ate up any mater in front of it. Slowly it extended into the duke's body and started to eat away at the skin as it pulls the duke downward. This not only had the full power of the 'Temperature Extreme' spell of cutting anything, but it also held the target in position as it tried to escape. The duke's face went red with effort as he tried to pull away from the spelling bit it held on only pulling Ceras into the upright position as the dukes were standing.

  The bar of energy slowly inched forward deeper into the duke's body as he screamed in agony, and his health dropped. The fight was all over as soon as Ceras bar of energy hit the beating dukes' heart, evaporating it into a cloud of mist.

  As the duke's body went limp, it fell down onto the ground and disappeared in white light as the dungeon absorbed all of the energy. Ceras looked around the battlefield to see the orcs and other monsters standing around in a rough circle staring in astonishment of the fight they had just seem. As Ceras shot his hand up into the air as a sign of their victory, the whole army roar with its approval. Sometimes dreams do become a reality.

  --

  The rest of the team of adventures ran up to him each of them, giving him a big hug as they are celibate the victory over the duke and his army. Rinaldo was smiling from cheek to cheek with a huge grin that his battle tactics had worked so well.

  "Well done," said Rhef as she hugged her taller brother, "you weren't entity stupid for once's."

  "That battle gave me plenty of experiences, let's hope that you are looking at the next master in our group," said Rhef smiling.

  "I hate to interpret your celebrations," shouted Hidden-Caverns in a panicking voice that echoed around the cavern, "but we have a major emergency on our hands."

  "Don't worry it all over," said Ceras in a soothing voice as looked at the spot of where the duke's body was."

  "No," shouted Hidden-Caverns in a loud voice full a terror, "it's not to do with the army; it's the dragon. She went into labor and is have trouble if the sound of her roaring is enough to go by. I quote her 'If you don't get that healer down her as quick as possible, I'm going to burn down the entire dungeon.' That was then followed by a lot of cursing and mostly fire out her mouth but am not really sure."

  Symania started to sprint towards the exit of the dungeon level as the rest of the adventures follow closely behind. The orcs that were in the way of the healer took one look of her face and quickly moved out of the way, allowing her a clear path to the large open wooden doors.

  "I thought dragons laid eggs," said Rinaldo with a curious expression, as he ran next to Ceras.

  "When did you become such an expert on the dragon," said Ceras with a questioning look.

  "It just that they are reptiles and most reptiles lay eggs," replied the barbarian.

  "I think you have the answer they're saying most," said Ceras with a smile.

  Symania seemed to bound up the steps taking them two at a time and was across the level reception room in second and ran into the portal with it liquid surface that was as dark as a pond on a cloudy day.

  As Ceras entered the level where the dragon was living, and now in the process of giving birth, he was struck by the intense heat he felt. The atmosphere was like being in a dry desert with the blazing sun scorching your body. There was no reception cave just stairs leading down and form into the level. Looking in the distance, he saw through a slight haze a red glow as if it was liquid fire erupting in the distance.

  "Is that a volcano," said Grikius in amazement as he strained his eyes to see through the haze.

  "Only a very small one," said Rhef with a proud expression on her face, "the dragon asked us to do some decoration, and this is what I came up with. She loves it as it reminds her of her home. It was safer than the first one she produced."

  "It does have a dangerous mountain of fire feeling to it," said Ceras in wonder at how they had made a volcano in the dungeon.

  "Thanks, I do my best," replied Rhef with a smile.

  Symania rounded a corner as the others follow, and in front of them was a large open entrance to a cave in the side of the wall. Ceras could hear loud roaring as see flame jetting out from the top of the cave. Everyone but Symania stops a good distance from the entrance to the cave, but she just contoured to run in.

  "Do we just wait here?" said the concerned looking Rinaldo as he sheltered behind a rock.

  "I sure hope so," said Grikius as his dog tried to hide behind him.

  "Get in here, Ceras." shouted Symania from inside the cave between the savage roar of the dragon, "I need your magical spells."

  Ceras went white as a sheet but quickly moved forward, entering the cave with a dragon that was roaring and had already killed him once with a simple jet of fire, and now she was much more upset.

  He deepest horrors came to life as he entered the cave, he saw the dragon's huge neck runs down from its head and into a body turned around and blasted a jet of fire just over his head as he entered. The enormous wings grow to start from its shoulders and end just passed its shoulder blades were flapping as if it was trying to hit anything that got close and the curved talons grow from each ending like giant scythes were digging into the hard rock of the cave. Its narrow tail ends in a sharp barb point and is covered in the same scale-like skin as its body swung around as if it was a random motion machine break and hitting walls as if they were nothing.

  At what Ceras politely thought could be referred to the business end of the birthing process, was Symania standing with her arms reaching into the dragon. Ceras activated his magical shield as he approached the healer, in her not so white rob next to the struggling dragon. As rock fell on to his head that cracked on the shield, he was able to avoid the sharp barb of the tail from swerving him as it flew by ducking several times.

  Between pants, the healer shouted at him as he did something inside the dragon with her hand as Ceras could feel the magical healing power emanating from her.

  "I need you to use your immobilization spell to help turn the baby as it's stuck," shouted Symania as Ceras stood next to her," cast the spell and lock the baby in place as I'll get the mother to turn. Also, cast as much healing as you can on the baby."

  Ceras cast his magical healing spell that had upgraded to the master level, that allowing him to image the baby that was having trouble being born. Casting his immobilization spell, he locked the baby in place and nodded to Symania whom arm was still in the dragon helping her.

  "Now I need you to rotated slightly to your left only," Symania shouted at the struggli
ng dragon that was still blasting jets of fire onto the ceiling, "slowly now!"

  Ceras felt his spell of immobilization call for more power, as he feeds it more mana. Slowly the large dragon moved it a lower body as it rotated left.

  "Stop!" shouted Symania in a strong voice, "now shift your bottom down a bit... Ok, that's good now start pushing the baby out and once's its head is out to stop pushing."

  "Ceras release your immobilization spell, but keep healing the baby as it coming out," order the healer.

  Ceras nodded and watch the dragon start to breathe heavily as he started to push the baby out. Slow with a few tries the baby's head appeared looking very blue with white mucus all over its face.

  "Stop pushing," shouted Symania to the dragon.

  Moving quickly, she pulled on a cord that was wrapped around the baby dragons' neck and started to try to unravel it.

  "Ceras, give me some help here," she shouted.

  Ceras started to pull the core as hard as he could, and eventual to two of them got it untangled from the baby dragon's neck.

  "Now on the next contraction I need you to push the rest of the baby out," shouted the calm healer holding the baby's head with Ceras help.

  The dragon huffed and puff for a while and then blasted a jet of white fire directly into the ceiling that glowed red and started to drip molten rock. With an all might roar, she pushes, and the baby popped out of her body falling onto Ceras as he was trying to hold it up.

  When Ceras managed to crawl out from under the baby's body, that was about as big as he was, he saw Symania reaching her arm into the dragon mouth and pulling out something that seemed to be blocking it breathing. As the object came free, the dragon started to breathe and immediately turn a red coloring as his mother.