The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5)

by Jonathan Brooks

  That didn’t mean the shard was any less dangerous. She still remembered the sight of her Human image in her conscience, with it slowly being turned into a Dungeon Core. A quick check of it, now that she knew it was there, showed that the shard’s advancement had been reversed when Sandra’s conscience took over; though even now, that was starting to change, bit by tiny bit, as she shared her mind with the shard. As she was now, trying to stop the shard from changing her seemed to be impossible, so she knew that the only choice she had was to live with it – and to take advantage of its plans as if they were her own.

  Which they technically were, even if she probably wouldn’t have thought of them beforehand.

  There were only a few minutes before the Dire Wolves arrived, which was unfortunate – because it meant sacrificing the one means of transportation Kelerim, Owchet, and Palzerk had back to her dungeon. There was no help for it though, because she needed to delay the inevitable so that she could mount some sort of counter-defense.

  * Kelerim, I have some help on the way; you’re going to be stranded for a little while, but if you survive the attack, I promise to get you and the others to safety. *

  “Wait—what? What do you have planned—?” The Blacksmith’s words were cut off as the High Peak Roc started running, taking off from the ground within a few hundred feet, soaring into the air.

  * Tell the others to prepare to defend themselves, because I’m not sure my constructs will get there in time; they just need to hold out for a short amount of time. *

  Kelerim just nodded, and so did Owchet when Sandra passed on the news. The Orcish mercenary unslung the warhammer from his back, where it drew some attention for its difference. Warbands typically used swords, and most other weapons were looked down on as inferior, but Owchet knew how to utilize the Titanium Warhammer Sandra had supplied him with great effect. Especially since he was a Fire-element user and could enhance his strength – his swings packed a wallop. Because of that, she had to use an Earth Energy Orb and accompanying enchantments inside the hammer’s construction, increasing the strength and durability of the weapon itself, so that it could dish out pain without deforming in the process.

  Meanwhile, her High Peak Roc had already closed the distance to the Dire Wolves, who didn’t seem to care that a gigantic, 150-foot-long bird was descending upon them with enormous speed. Sandra let the Roc attack any way it wanted to, only telling it to spare nothing as it attacked – and she wasn’t disappointed. Its Sonic Dive Special Ability was the first thing she witnessed, as it dove from 500 feet in the air to just over the loping Dire Wolves in a flash, slamming its beak into a dozen of the Wolves in a line, before swooping back up, smacking another two dozen of the enemy Monsters with its wings as it flew away. The powerful attack managed to kill every single Dire Wolf that was hit by the beak, though the ones hit by its wings were only slightly damaged.

  And they all kept running.

  Theoretically, she could tell the Roc to keep using its Sonic Dive attack over and over until it ran out of Air energy; that was the safest strategy, and one that Sandra probably would’ve employed had she not listened to the “wisdom” of the shard, but it wouldn’t slow down the advancing Dire Wolves. They were too focused on the Orcs to care about a few stragglers being killed, so they weren’t going to stop. Therefore, Sandra needed to give them something else to focus on.

  An ear-piercing screech shattered the relative silence of the flat plains the Wolves were racing over, causing the running canines to stumble and fall, unbalanced as their eardrums were pierced in less than a second. The Shattering Screech Special Ability did its job, slowing the Wolves down, but that wasn’t enough; while they were recovering and starting to lope with renewed purpose towards the Orcs, the High Peak Roc landed 300 feet in front of them, spread its wings, and prepared to take down as many as possible.

  Now the Dire Wolves stopped their forward progress as they attacked the newest threat. Rushing as a wave of nearly 400-strong, the deadly grey-and-black-furred canines fell upon the bird with unbridled ferocity – and the Roc responded in kind. Even as its wings were soon latched onto by powerful jaws, those wings were buffeting any Wolves that got too close with equally powerful flaps of its appendages. Its Beak Extraction Special Ability was seen in full effect, as it struck out at its targets with blinding swiftness, biting down on a Dire Wolf and practically ripping it in half with its mighty, crystal-like beak. Even something as simple as a hop backwards caused carnage as its talons flashed out and tore the Wolves apart, ripping them to shreds in as little as a second.

  And yet, as powerful as the High Peak Roc was, it wasn’t meant for a protracted battle on the ground; it was deadly in the skies, and attacking from a position of strength where it was most comfortable was how it was best used in a fight. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really any other choice, because the name of the game here was to delay the horde of Wolves, not to whittle them down over a longer period of time. As a result, the outcome of the fight was a forgone conclusion.

  Against 50 or even 100 Dire Wolves, the formidable High Peak Roc might have come out on top; against nearly 400, the massive bird was quickly and savagely overwhelmed. Dozens of Dire Wolves had leapt on top of the Roc’s body, while nearly 100 were latched onto its wing feathers, dragging it down and preventing it from moving. At first, chomping through the tough body feathers was difficult; with so many bites falling on the beset bird, however, more and more were simply torn out from where they were attached, exposing the vulnerable skin below its natural armor.

  Even as the Roc turned its head to pick off some Wolves making a meal of its body or wings, it was suffering some horrendous wounds. Three of the ferocious canines had managed to gnaw at its left leg, chewing through the resistant skin to destroy the muscle and bone underneath, nearly causing the Roc to fall on its side. Fortunately, the bird brought its right leg up as it screeched again in pain, collapsing on its belly instead of its side. A massive chunk was ripped out of its chest next, causing a prodigious amount of blood to flow from the wound, weakening the Roc.

  Sandra’s Dungeon Monster was dying, but it was taking quite a few Dire Wolves with it.

  It seemed to take forever for Sandra’s Dungeon Monster to finally succumb, and it was almost painful for her to watch. Regardless of the blood being thrown about, the bodies littering the ground before they disappeared into Monster Seeds, and the severe carnage she witnessed, it had been worth it. An entire minute and a half passed by while the Dire Wolves were delayed in eliminating the new threat, and the casualties on their side had been hefty in the process. Over 150 of the Wolves had been bitten in half, ripped to shreds, or smashed by powerful wings, which was a good trade-off for the loss of a single Dungeon Monster.

  She just hoped that the delay was long enough.

  As soon as her High Peak Roc succumbed to 6 different Wolves finally tearing through the thick feathers around its neck, ripping out its throat, the wave of enemy Monsters continued on their course toward the Orcs. Now, with no way to escape, it was imperative that they survive long enough for her reinforcements to arrive. Thankfully, Kelerim was in the back of the group, weaponless and looking sicker by the moment at the approach of imminent death, but safe enough for now to survive.

  Amazingly, not even a flicker of fear passed through the expressions of the awaiting Orcs; instead, they appeared almost eager for the fight to commence. When the Wolves were within 100 feet of their line, the Orcs got tired of waiting and rushed forward with a short roar of defiance. Weapons held at the ready in front of them, they sped towards the massive wave of Dire Wolves without any hesitation, bounding forward with blood-thirsty grins on their faces.

  Meanwhile, Kelerim was standing where they had left him, appearing helpless and way out of his element; he was a crafter, not a fighter, after all.

  Suddenly, just above where the two forces would eventually clash, 25 V-shaped forms suddenly arrived with a high-pitched whistle, slowing to a complete stop so quickly th
at it nearly appeared that they had run into some sort of invisible, unmovable wall. Immediately, the V-shaped Sonic Blademasters turned their upper openings towards the Dire Wolves, before starting to rotate their long poles.

  * Owchet; you just need to hold on for another 15 seconds before the Blademasters can get to work eliminating the Wolves. *

  “Easily done!” the mercenary said with a low chuckle, before leaping off the ground with enormous strength towards the line of Wolves. Not expecting the move, the Wolf in front didn’t have time to switch directions, and ended up with a warhammer embedded in its thick skull, the rest of its body practically obliterated as it was driven into the ground by the force of the downward strike.

  Owchet didn’t hesitate as he ripped the warhammer out of the dead Wolf’s cranium when he landed from his leap, swiping out at a second Dire Wolf that dashed over to crush the Orc within its jaws. The warhammer connected the side of those jaws with such force that the canine’s neck snapped in the process, practically detaching as the skin and muscle tore from the impact. Owchet’s follow-through swing destroyed a third Wolf’s front foreleg, crippling it and causing the loping Monster to stumble and roll forward in a tangle of broken limbs – down, but definitely not out.

  A burst of Fire energy through the Orc’s legs allowed him to jump high the next moment, narrowly avoiding being chomped into from behind by a fourth Wolf, and he landed on the back of a fifth Wolf. He rode it for a moment before swinging his warhammer in a wide arc, obliterating the eye socket and snout of the Wolf as it investigated what was on its back. Even as the dangerous Dire Wolf fell forward from the near-fatal injury to its head, Owchet leapt off and aimed for yet another giant canine, swinging his warhammer down again with energy-enhanced strength. The Orc mercenary was a force of unending carnage.

  Unfortunately, that didn’t mean he was invulnerable. Even as he crushed the back end of the Wolf he was aiming for, the back legs of the beast kicked out involuntarily, smacking into the chest of the Orc and sending him flying. Sandra could tell that he was bleeding from some additional scratch wounds caused by the kick, but the worst part was that he was flung into the mass of Wolves still trying to surround and devour the 25 members of the Orcish Warband.

  A Warband that, despite its best efforts, couldn’t compete with the mercenary in terms of killing ability. However, even if they didn’t have the ability to regenerate their energy, they spared none of it as they defended themselves. Air energy was used to speed up a trio of Warriors, who danced around the Wolves with great alacrity; they weren’t fast enough to dodge a few bites that crunched into their leather chestpieces, tearing them up and leaving long lines of blood flowing in their wake. Sandra couldn’t help but be glad that they were wearing the chestpieces she had supplied them; otherwise, those bites might have ended them.

  Other Fire-element users struck back with enormous strength, carving their way through the Dire Wolves, but there was almost always one more behind the last. The use of so much energy was taking its toll on them, and Sandra estimated that they couldn’t last that much longer. The same went with the Earth-element Orcs, as they transformed their flesh into stone-like hardness, allowing them to take a few bites without much damage: They were also becoming extremely weary.

  The others weren’t doing much better, though Palzerk was an exception. A Water energy user, he was able to flow between attacks like a river meandering through the countryside, narrowly avoiding attacks as though he was at a dance instead of a battle. His Titanium sword cut with efficiency, hamstringing a Wolf here or slicing a deep cut into a neck there, but he didn’t stop to finish them off. Instead, he kept up his dance, and the few times Sandra actually saw him being bit on his shoulder, she could see what appeared to be ice covering his bare skin, though it disappeared almost as soon as it deflected a tooth.

  Only 10 seconds into the battle, the first Warrior fell from being surrounded on all sides, and he was literally ripped apart, though 4 Dire Wolves near his ripped-apart body showed just how dearly he made them pay for his death. Sandra felt Mana slam into her Core as the Orc’s death was absorbed by the Beast-Classification Core controlling the Dire Wolves, which she immediately used (along with some additional Mana she had recently accumulated) to create another High Peak Roc. Moments after it formed in her dungeon, she sent it out of the Roc tunnel, with instructions to arrive at the site of the battle as soon as possible.

  Just then, her Sonic Blademasters screamed out as their rotating blades reached a crescendo; waves of concentrated sound and air blasted into the massive grey-and-black forms below, tearing apart their bodies with ease. Strafing their beams of powerful sonic energy across entire swathes of Dire Wolves, the Blademasters killed dozens within the first few seconds, and dozens more died within the next. The tide was turning, but yet another Orc died against the press of Dire Wolves; she couldn’t see who it was, but she was relieved that it wasn’t Palzerk or Owchet.

  Speaking of the mercenary, he had recovered from being flung into the heart of the Dire Wolf horde, and was laying about them with his warhammer, smashing heads and breaking bones with every hit. The wounds on his chest were soon accompanied by even more wounds along his legs and arms, and the blood he was leaking out was weakening him extensively. Another few moments, she judged, and he would become too overwhelmed to survive.

  Those few moments, however, were enough for the Blademasters overhead to do their job. A wide clearing was blasted around Owchet by their efforts, and the injured, exhausted Orc collapsed to one knee, held up by his warhammer as he looked at the disappearing bodies of the Wolves that had been within seconds of killing him. Everywhere the Sonic Blademasters pointed, in fact, was another Warrior saved from certain doom, and within 30 seconds of constant attack, the Dire Wolves were down to fewer than 50.

  Slow to react to the new threat in anticipation of more Orcish slaughter, the Dire Wolves finally turned their attention to the danger in the sky. Standing 8 feet tall at the shoulder, the massive canines had quite the leaping ability – and they certainly showed it, leaping into the air towards the constructs only 20 feet above. Half of Sandra’s airborne forces were destroyed with a simple bite, though plenty of damage was dealt back to the Wolves from spinning blades and the repositioned beams of their sonic attacks. The other half were in danger of being destroyed, but the distraction was enough for the Warband to rally and counterattack, coming at the Wolves as they prepared to take down the rest of the Blademasters.

  A fierce battle ensued as the dwindling numbers of Dire Wolves fought with all they could muster against the Orcs, and Sandra’s constructs were hindered from attacking because the two sides were so close together; she didn’t want to inadvertently blast an Orc with a sonic attack. Eventually, the battered, injured, and exhausted Orcs were able to overcome the enemy Monsters through sheer determination without any additional casualties, though there were some serious injuries. The worst of them, unfortunately, was sustained by Palzerk, who threw himself in front of another Orc who was too occupied to defend herself, and the Warband Leader got his entire right leg crunched as a result. He ended up thrusting his sword through the Wolf’s eye and into its brain even as his leg was still inside the canine’s mouth, but by that time it was too late.

  Everyone was wounded, though Palzerk was the only one with life-threatening injuries. As the others stood looking around them in shock and wonder at the fact that they were still alive, Sandra was already working on trying to save the injured Leader.

  * Kelerim? Are you okay? *

  She knew that none of the Wolves had even gotten close to the Blacksmith, as they had been preoccupied by the Warband. However, he looked quite pale and ready to fall down, as if he had been horrendously injured.

  “Uh…yes? I don’t know, actually. I’ve just never seen something like that before…what are those things in the air?” The lost-sounding tone to his voice told Sandra more than anything that Kelerim was deeply affected by what he had just witnessed –
and she couldn’t blame him. That was a lot of carnage, after all, including the deaths of 2 Orcs that he had probably just seen alive only a few minutes ago.

  * It’ll be okay, Kelerim. My Sonic Blademasters are going to stay here for the moment to make sure nothing else gets close enough to attack them, but Palzerk is in a bad way. I have another Roc coming to transport him to my dungeon so that I can heal him, but you’re going to have to help them put the harness on. *

  When her previous Roc had died, the leather harness it had been wearing had dropped to the ground, trampled over as the Wolves raced for the Warband. From what she could tell, it amazingly hadn’t been too greatly damaged during the fight, so they should be able to fit it on the new one coming to transport the injured Warband Leader.

  Except…Sandra wasn’t sure if it would arrive in time.

  “Palzerk! Where’s Ghrooch? We need to stop the bleeding!”

  “Ghrooch was killed, along with Yevin. We don’t have anyone else that can heal him.”

  Their leader was now unconscious with the amount of blood he had lost, and with no one to at least stabilize the wound, he would be dead within minutes.

  The High Peak Roc was just now emerging from the tunnel near her dungeon, and it wouldn’t be able to get to them in time, even flying at its fastest. Sandra didn’t know what to do; all she could think of was if she could somehow get the Roc there faster, then she might be able to save the—

  Before the Roc was more than 200 feet into the air, it suddenly formed a swirling vortex in front of it, flying through it moments later. This time, however, it didn’t reappear a moment later right where it had been swallowed by the vortex; instead, a similar vortex suddenly appeared a few seconds later above the injured and exhausted Orcs with a loud *bang* – and the High Peak Roc appeared and flew right out of the swirling mass of air. As soon as it was clear, the vortex collapsed with another *bang* and everyone stared in shock – including Sandra.