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

by Jonathan Brooks

  Ah, I guess that’s how it works.

  One look at Palzerk as the other Orcs stared at the hovering Roc was all she needed to know that he wouldn’t survive long enough to put the harness on. Not only that, but as Owchet was starting to walk over to the rest, he collapsed face-first on the ground, unconscious before he even hit the ground, the wounds he had sustained too much for him.

  * Kelerim! You need to tell the others that I’m bringing their leader somewhere to be healed! *

  Her yell seemed to shock the Blacksmith out of his reverie at the appearance of the Roc, and he started to run towards the Warband in the distance. “Step back from Palzerk! The bird is going to take him somewhere to be healed!” he shouted in Orcish, which caused the Warriors to back up immediately. They had no reason to deny access to their Leader, since he was essentially dead anyway if nothing was done.

  Sandra instructed the Roc to pick him up gently with its talons, which was harder than she expected because she didn’t want to accidentally squish him – and did the same with Owchet. In moments, the massive bird was back in the air, cradling both Orcs in its talons as it activated its Traveling Vortex again, this time with Sandra instructing it to appear above her workshop.

  A little more than 15 minutes later, Owchet had been healed by her Repair Drone stationed in the workshop, and he was watching over Palzerk as he slowly struggled awake after his healing.

  Well, that took longer than I thought to get him to my dungeon, but now that he’s here – it’s time we had a chat.

  Chapter 22

  Nipping at the heels of Felbar’s War Machine was only the first wave of smaller Dungeon Monsters, coming from a pair of dungeons that had orchestrated the ambush from before. Actually, looking at what they were, Violet had to revise her original assessment: There were three distinct types of monsters there, one of which they hadn’t been planning on.

  They knew they were going up against a Beast-type dungeon, which was the most common of dungeons around. Not only was there one near the Elven village near Sandra’s dungeon, but there were 5 of them spread throughout Gnomeria, as well – including the one near here. Bears, wolves, and boars were the most common type of monsters that came from those dungeons, at least when they were culled frequently and contained within the area right around the forest sections they were located.

  For one that had expanded as far as this one obviously had, there were giant cats that looked capable of eating a Gnome whole, large monkeys with bear-like heads that appeared extremely strong, and even something that looked very much like one of Sandra’s Behemoth constructs, but made from flesh and blood. This was what they had expected; it wasn’t surprising that some of the smaller wolves and boars were charging ahead, following just behind Felbar on his race to get back to their defenses.

  Defenses which were currently being deployed, as half of the Defensive Force dropped down from the Haulers and grabbed Flame Thumpers, Ice Bombs, and Absorption Bombs. The Burning Darkness defenses were laid out and activated, giving them a long fence of darkness that encircled most of the Haulers; fortunately, the Mass Accelerator operators on their transports could see over to shoot the monsters as they approached. The 4 Shredder Cones were also unloaded from their large wagons and those operating them got inside, ready to protect the flanks or contain any breakthroughs.

  Behind the smaller beasts came the first wave of a Flora-based dungeon, which specialized in plants that were both mobile and deadly. Dense collections of vines (nicknamed Vine Crawlers) crawled along the ground, a central nexus in them representing their “heart” that needed to be destroyed; bushes filled with thorny stems rolled along the ground like tumbleweeds, but instead of the lightweight nature of tumbleweeds, these “Thorny Bushes” were quite heavy and could knock a Gnome over if they weren’t prepared for it – before being cut and strangled to death; and small “Snaplings”, which were 8-foot-tall trees, ran with their uprooted lower appendages acting as legs to become mobile, using their sharpened branches to hit a person hard enough to snap their bones.

  Coming over the hill, following the smaller monsters, Violet could see the larger Beasts like the ginormous hunting Panthers and behemoth-like Tuskaphants. Behind them were the larger Flora monsters, such as the 25-foot-tall Wandering Oak Bashers, the Mossy Ditches that were almost like gigantic Slimes but weren’t as acidic, and even a couple of Sunflowers. Those last were especially worrisome out in the full sun of the day because they were able to convert sunlight into a deadly airborne toxin that could envelop a hundred-foot radius in a matter of seconds. It was best if they destroyed those from afar if at all possible, before they became a major problem.

  Those were all basically accounted for; defensive mechanisms already existed, to defend against those, in some way or another. The fighters were aware that another dungeon may have been in on the attack, but the reports by the survivors couldn’t say for sure what it was, other than the monsters were large. Thinking that they might be Golems – similar to the dungeon that was next to the Dwarven lands near the wasteland – had prompted Felbar to include the weighted ends to the chains on the Shredder Weapons, as they would most likely help to eliminate those as a threat. There was a Golem dungeon relatively nearby, though it was thought that it hadn’t expanded that far as of yet; just to be sure, they had prepared for it.

  What they hadn’t prepared for was the small, nearly forgotten dungeon on the opposite side of the Beast and Flora dungeons to finally emerge as a threat. The reason it hadn’t been considered was that ever since it had been found over 50 years before, it hadn’t released even a single monster. No one had ventured inside, afraid that an appearance might suddenly start it spewing out monsters – which was something they didn’t need in the area if they could help it. Unfortunately, it appeared as though it was ready to show itself to the world, and Violet understood why it hadn’t really produced any monsters until then.

  Because they were giant. As in, Giants. According to what she knew about Sandra’s dungeon and the constructs she created, the bigger and deadlier the construct, the more “Mana” it cost her to create. For these literal Giants, the cost must have been astronomical.

  They were almost Orcish in general appearance, though their skin was not green; instead, they were a pale peach-ish color, with tiny, beady eyes just above their massive balloon-like noses. Their mouths were also tinier than she would’ve expected; only a very small line across their otherwise-expressionless faces indicated that it was a mouth at all. They were also bald without a hint of hair anywhere, with mottled skin on top of their heads that nearly looked like some sort of fungus. The clothing they wore was plain cloth of different kinds, patched together from a dozen different sources and colors, creating a quilt of randomness that was disturbing to look at. Upon closer inspection (and seeing that a few of the patches were green), she wasn’t sure if it was actually cloth, leather, or…something else she didn’t even want to think about.

  That all wasn’t even considering how literally giant they were. As in, 80 feet tall, holding clubs made from uprooted trees that looked capable of destroying one of their Haulers in one hit. To say that they were totally unexpected by the Defensive Force would be an understatement.

  “Oh, no – what have we gotten ourselves into?” she asked herself, suddenly worried that all they had prepared wouldn’t be enough.

  The giants could simply walk over their Burning Darkness Defenses, their Flame Thumpers likely wouldn’t even shift one of the Giants, and the Ice and Absorption Bombs would be practically useless against something that size. Even the War Machines wouldn’t be much more than an annoyance to such a large monster, as much as it pained her to say so.

  That left their Mass Accelerators, with their powerful bolts that flew so far and punched so hard that they might have a chance of hurting the Giants, as well as their Shredder Cones. Either one was potentially a weapon that could be used to great effect – but they had to figure out how to do so while still keeping the othe
r monsters at bay.

  Not that Violet had anything to do with the actual defense, as she was waiting on one of the Haulers, observing things as they happened. In fact, the only reason she was there was to help if any of the enchantments suddenly had some issues that she could fix, as well as—

  The Aerie Roc! Violet rushed to the side of the Hauler and looked up past the roof of the transport vehicle, seeing the massive bird circling overhead. I can use it to attack, but will it do any good? Those Giants look extremely dangerous. It was definitely large enough to do some serious damage to one of the giant monsters, but would it be able to do enough before it was clubbed out of the sky by a swing of one of those uprooted trees?

  She was unsure, and with it being the one access to speedy transportation back to Sandra’s dungeon, she was hesitant to send it into the middle of battle. She would, though, if it came to that, in order to save their lives; the enormous bird would be useless if they all died, after all.

  The 5 other War Machines had already returned to their defensive line, preparing to engage the horde of incoming dungeon monsters flowing after Felbar, and the grizzled Warmaster was nearly back himself. He was only about 10 seconds ahead of the lead elements of the ambushing force, which was plenty of time for him to take his place on the right-hand side of the line. Their formation was very simple. The Burning Darkness defenses created three-quarters of a circle around the Haulers, which held the Mass Accelerators that could fire at quite a distance away; the Shredder Cones were lined up on the left and right of the semi-circle (2 on each side), giving them enough space to spin and maneuver; the War Machines were on the far flanks (3 to each side), which would help to contain anything trying to circle around. The large Gnomish machines were agile enough that they could intercept just about anything making their way around, and it was their job to keep those inside safe.

  Just in case, there was a squad of the Defensive Force that was stationed in the rear open space of their Burning Darkness fence with Flame Thumpers and Bombs, and at least a half-dozen of the Mass Accelerators could be swiveled around to fire at anything attacking from that direction. Plus, there was something of a surprise in the rear waiting for such a thing to happen, buried underneath the dirt. It was a good defense, and could handle just about anything that attacked them – except for the Giants, unfortunately.

  The first clash of the monsters versus Gnomes was anticlimactic, as the first wave of the horde ran directly into the defensive fence of darkness, seeing the Haulers inside from a distance and thinking them easier targets. Dozens of beasts and plants attempted to cross over the Gnomes’ threshold, only to burst into flames (and turn to ash) or freeze solid (only to fall forward and shatter against the ground). At least 50 of the enemy had died, and the Gnomes hadn’t even done a single thing.

  Those were the only easy kills they were going to get, however.

  As if the dungeons had seen the folly in continuing that avenue of attack, the remaining horde of monsters split in two, dividing their forces to either side of the fence of darkness. As soon as this happened, Violet heard, “Take aim…steady…FIRE!” The unique *crack* of the Mass Accelerators releasing the tension in their large bows was followed by an equally unique *pop* as the negative vacuum was applied to the released bolts. Faster than she could follow, 60 bolts from the mounted crossbows zipped across the distance to the racing monsters, all but a few finding their targets.

  Violet couldn’t watch everything at once, but from what she observed, the bolts had been even more devastating than she expected. She saw a bear, a hulking 800-pound monstrosity, take a bolt through its shoulder, the force of the projectile so powerful that it came out the other side of its body and pinned the monster to the ground. Another hit an Oak Basher in the middle of its trunk with enough of an impact that it split in half, the two sides of the walking tree falling apart. From the carnage and the disappearing corpses after a few seconds, most of those that were actually hit by the bolts were killed in one hit.

  Even with the threat of the Giants slowly heading their way, lagging behind the others, Violet couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride at how her people were effectively fighting back; and, without too much modesty, it was because of her own efforts and ideas that they were able to accomplish that. But now, it was time to see if some of her other contributions would be just as effective as the Burning Darkness and Mass Accelerators.

  Half of the Defensive Force not operating the ballistae had climbed on top of the Haulers via a ladder, bracing themselves on the roof above; with practiced precision, 50 of them placed Ice Bombs in one of their long, curved, hand-held launchers and released at the same time, aiming for the advancing horde while the Accelerators reloaded. The Bombs sailed through the air over the fence of darkness, landing among the Beasts and plants racing ahead. As soon as they landed, long ice shrapnel shot out in all directions, impaling monkey-bears, boars, and wolves alike, as well as shredding the vines or foliage of different Flora-dungeon monsters. They did more damage versus the flesh and blood creatures than plants, granted, but the next volley was just the opposite.

  It turned out that absorbing all of the moisture from a plant that relied on the precious liquid running through its entire structure was extremely detrimental. Everywhere the Absorption Bombs landed and enveloped one of the Flora monsters, even on one of their appendages such as a vine or a root, the water rushing through their entire forms was absorbed, as if the plants were just massive hoses where the fluid would flow through. Absent moisture, even one of the large Mossy Ditches was dried out so completely that it withered and crumpled to dust.

  Against the Beasts, the Absorption Bombs were still potent, but for some reason the larger and more powerful the Beast, the less moisture was absorbed. One of the large hunting Panthers, for instance, had some visible scarring where it had been hit in the side, the water inside having been sucked away, but it barely slowed the Beast down as it ran around the perimeter of the Burning Darkness fence.

  The casualties they inflicted on the horde in the first few minutes of engagement were significant, though it barely seemed to lessen how many of them there were. There were thousands of monsters and they had killed a few hundred, barely a drop in the bucket when compared to what was still left. At least there haven’t been any casualties on our side—

  As if to mock that thought, one of the monkey bears ran up to the fence and leapt high into the air, clearing the darkness by a foot or two, landing on the other side. Since the Defensive Force members couldn’t see on the other side of the fence and the attack was so sudden, they were wholly unprepared. A fist the size of one of their heads slammed into two of the nearest Gnomes, flattening them into piles of unrecognizable body parts and bloody clothes. Before the Beast could attack anything else, the Force finally rallied and used their Flame Thumpers; two of the flat metal heads on the end of their long poles were shoved into the monkey-bear at the same time, causing the explosive force to propel the monster backwards – right into the Nether-fueled barrier, burning it alive in less than a second.

  That wasn’t the only Beast or even plant that decided to take their chances hopping or somehow making their way over the fence, but after the first disastrous attack, the Defensive Force was there to push them back into the highly effective Weapon of War protecting them. Most of that was ignored by Violet, however, as she was watching the bulk of the fighting off to the left and right of the main group.

  Unsuspecting monsters ran right into the spinning Shredder Cones, which were rotating at such high speed that the chains attached to them were acting as powerful blades, cutting into and living up to its name by shredding plant and animal alike. Hundreds of monsters died in less than 30 seconds, before the dungeons controlling them finally learned to avoid the spinning cones of death. The slowly shrinking horde reversed course, turning to go around them, where they ran into the more familiar War Machines. Except that the Warmasters piloting them were ready for the onslaught, and fought with a ferocity
that Violet had never seen before.

  They held nothing back, pushing their constructs to the limit of what they could do as they cut, smashed, or stomped into those arrayed against them, racking up kills by the dozens in less than a minute. Sadly, there were only 6 of them, and they could only do so much against such an onslaught; Violet held her breath as she watched one of them get knocked over as a Panther jumped and slammed into it, landing on top, ready to rip the pilot right out of his central internal cab.

  A wood and metal bolt impacted the side of the Panther a moment before it bit down on the cage protecting the pilot, knocking it off and causing the monster to slam into the ground 20 feet away, rolling and doing even more damage as the bolt rotated against the ground. The War Machines weren’t alone; the Gnomes knew how to take care of pesky cat problems.

  Bombs landed amongst the horde as it was rebuffed by the War Machines, and Mass Accelerator bolts slammed into one monster after another. Distracted by the continuing ranged assault and temporarily rebuffed by the War Machines, the hordes were unprepared when the Shredder Cones moved towards them, blocking off more and attacking those already there from behind.

  It was a slaughter, to put it mildly.

  Unfortunately, the Cones’ movements also left a gap where the dwindling masses of the horde could slip through – and they did so. Racing around the perimeter, they came to the opened space, rushing into it as if they had found the weakness in the enemy and were planning on exploiting it. Over 50 Panthers, Snaplings, and various other smaller monsters poured through in less than 5 seconds as a group – and triggered the one-shot defense that was there to protect them if anything managed to break through the other defenses.