An explosive arrow shot by a Ranger impacted the furry, grey side of the giant rabbit, but the thickness of the fur was enough to cushion against the majority of the explosion. Instead of hurting it, the monstrous bunny only seemed to become highly annoyed, going into a frenzy of destruction that saw many of the trees that hadn’t already been toppled torn apart as if they were little toys. Quite a few Wyvines gave their lives at that point to save the Elven Rangers, who retreated back to their village in order to regroup and recover from the sudden onslaught.
The Shieldmen who went off to help Sandra’s constructs fight against the Goblins and Golems faced a similar situation, with a horde of weaker Monsters followed by a larger and more powerful variety of the enemy. They both also revealed the latest additions to their roster of Dungeon Monsters, like the Mercury Slime and the Bunny Rabbit of Death and Destruction (which was what she decided to call it, as the name seemed fitting).
Logically, she realized the next step in the Golem hierarchy would be something even stronger than Steel. While Titanium or Platinum were both a possibility, or even a metal she hadn’t heard of before, Sandra hadn’t counted on the Magnetite Golem that walked out of the dungeon entrance. Granted, it was much smaller than many of the other Golems that made an appearance, being only about 9 feet tall, but that wasn’t what made it dangerous. Any construct that came within 5 feet of it was pulled into the Golem, unable to move at all; one of the newer Shieldmen was nearly sucked into the powerful magnetic field it possessed, but he fortunately managed to run away before he could get caught. Within a few minutes, the Magnetite Golem was laden down with a half dozen constructs, which were then smashed apart by some nearby Iron and Steel Golems, leaving the new Golem free to keep sucking up constructs still fighting the other Dungeon Monsters.
The Goblin-Classification dungeon…well, it produced something that couldn’t be allowed to roam free. It also painted a target on the Dungeon Core that produced it, and Sandra immediately knew which would be the target of the group preparing to deliver the Prismatic Core into a dungeon.
Everything seemed as normal as it could be, with hundreds of Goblin Scouts spreading out in a wave with the initial push. Then came Goblin Archers, Goblin Warriors, Goblin Chiefs, Hobgoblin Brutes, and Hobgoblin Mages, backed up by one of the more dangerous Dungeon Monsters the Dungeon Core was sending out, the Goblin Commander. The Commander was huge in comparison to the lowly Goblin Scout, at just under 9 feet tall, 5 feet wide, and wielded what appeared to be a 2-handed Steel longsword – which it could use with a great deal of strength. When the Goblin Commander was able to hit one of her constructs, which happened much too often in Sandra’s opinion, it could shear through the metal limbs of her Wolves and Jaguars with ease. Added to that, its full-body armor that covered it from head to toe protected it from all but the most concentrated attacks on it – or by some Shears sliding through gaps in the armor – it was a dangerous foe, but certainly not unbeatable.
It wasn’t any of these that were a concern, though, because it was the introduction of a new Goblin in a black, hooded robe that painted a target on the Dungeon Core. Innocuous-seeming at first, the new Monster turned out to be some sort of Goblin Necromancer; with a horrid twisting of Spirit energy that brought the dead back to life, each of the black-robed Goblins quickly amassed a small undead army completely under its control.
“Fall back! We can’t fight them like this!” Delarthe shouted as soon as the first undead started to appear. Unlike the powerful Dungeon Monsters that came from the Undead-Classification Core that was destroyed, these undead weren’t as deadly – but they certainly were more numerous.
He and 5 other Shieldmen had been trying to hold the line against the Goblin onslaught, and were doing an exemplary job. By controlling some of the Iron Animated Shears and Powered Arachnids, in addition to scores of Mechanical (and the new Powered) Wolves and Jaguars, Titanium Anacondas, and a few new Platinum-banded Wyrms, they were absolutely devastating the Goblins as they came out of the dungeon entrance. A half-hour into the assault, however, a hazy aura started to cover the Goblins as they ran out to attack the defenders.
“What is this? Sandra, do you know?” The Dungeon Core responded that she had no idea, but by that time it was easy enough to find out by observation. Each of the Goblins that were killed – and were surrounded by the hazy aura – didn’t dissolve and disappear right away, leaving behind a Monster Seed. Instead, they rose back up to their feet and started to attack again, faster and more ferociously than before. Goblin Scouts, who were the weakest of the small Goblins that blanketed the area around the entrance, soon became a deadly foe; with a ferocious lack of concern for their own well-being, they threw themselves at the Shieldmen and constructs without a thought to tactics or even using their weapons. Instead, they used their increasingly superior numbers to overwhelm the defenders.
They weren’t the only undead to come back from death; Archers, Warriors, Brutes, Mages, and even Champions rose up from the field of battle after they were killed the first time. The only saving grace was the undead’s inability to fire bows or cast spells, but that didn’t diminish the danger of their attacks much. When the only way to kill the undead Goblins was to remove their heads entirely, it just made everything that much more difficult.
* It appears as if some new sort of Goblin Necromancer is controlling them from behind the lines. I’m going to try to take them out using some of the Shears. *
Sandra had identified the culprits of the new Spirit-based undead soon after they appeared, and figured the best way to get rid of the problem was to eliminate the source. She ordered a few dozen of the Iron Animated Shears to attack the cluster of Necromancers—but the constructs flew right through them, embedding themselves in the dirt. The now-obvious illusions disappeared, and Sandra looked for the tell-tale sign of Spirit energy being used to conceal the source of those illusions, and finally found a trio of Necromancers hiding their actual presence behind another illusion that made them practically invisible.
Pulling the Shears out of the dirt, she redirected them into the concealed forms of the wily Goblins—only to have the constructs bounce off a shield of Spirit energy surrounding the Necromancers. Blunted or destroyed from the impact, her Shears weren’t able to pierce through the shield, and efforts to reach them with any other defenders weren’t possible at that point, as they were currently fighting for their lives. First against the Goblin horde, and then against an undead Goblin horde.
“There are too many! Retreat and regroup; we can’t withstand them here,” the leader of their defenders shouted again, before methodically pulling back the constructs under his control, prompting the other Shieldmen with him to orderly retreat as well. Then the unthinkable happened.
One of the newer Shieldmen was in the middle of decapitating another Goblin Scout that jumped towards him without the slightest hint of self-preservation, when he was hit from the side. A Hobgoblin Brute – a much larger and powerful member of the Goblin horde – smacked into the Shieldman, knocking him off balance. That was all the opening the undead and non-undead onslaught of Goblins needed, as they piled onto the poor Dwarf, eventually dragging him down to the ground.
“Pytar! Hold on!” With a surge of desperate aggressiveness, Delarthe and another Shieldman, who had arrived so recently that Sandra had yet to learn his name, tore their way through the incoming assault, utilizing and sacrificing numerous constructs to clear a path to their fallen comrade. Through momentous odds, they managed to clear their way to the downed Shieldman…but it was too late.
As the armor protecting the Dwarven fighter crumbled to dust, the damage to it finally outweighing the regenerative properties of the Energy Orbs in the Shieldman’s palms, Sandra saw a hazy aura fall over the poor Dwarf just as his throat was torn out by the strike of a Goblin Scout. Delarthe and the other Shieldman cried out in anger and frustration, before going on a frenzy that devastated those responsible for their comrade’s death.
“Py
tar! Hold on, maybe we can get one of the Repair Drones—Pytar?” The fallen Shieldman twitched once, which Delarthe apparently took as a sign that he was still alive. The Shieldman leader knelt by Pytar’s side, took his helmet off, and quickly leaned his head against the chest of the fallen warrior.
* Delarthe! Get back! I think Pytar has been turned— *
Sandra’s understanding of the situation and warning came a second too late. From one of her Shears floating above the rapidly losing battle, she saw Delarthe’s eyes go wide as he listened to the Dungeon Core in his mind, before raising his body back up. As he went to grab his helmet, Pytar’s hand abruptly shot up and his fingers buried themselves into Delarthe’s mouth, pushing through and out of the Shieldman’s neck in the back. His spinal cord abruptly cut, Delarthe flopped to the ground, twitching uncontrollably as he quickly bled out.
The other Shieldman looked on in horror, eyes opened wide in shock; if she could see his mouth, Sandra probably would’ve seen that it was hanging open in sudden surprise. The Dungeon Core looked around for a Repair Drone, but the closest one was at least 100 feet away – with a small horde of various living and undead Goblins in between.
As the now-undead Pytar got to his feet, the Shieldman still on his feet finally got ahold of himself. With a strangled cry, he brought his battleaxe around in a powerful sweep, cutting through the undead Dwarf’s neck, sending his head spinning off into the crowd of Goblins. Sandra wasn’t really looking, however, because she saw another hazy aura settle over Delarthe, just as his armor disintegrated and his body fell still entirely.
* You have to do it. Before he turns into one of them. *
She hated having to say it to the Shieldman – especially since she felt horrible about not even knowing his name – but it needed to be done. Delarthe wouldn’t have wanted to be a danger to his comrades.
The Shieldman started, prompted into action by her words. He slowly nodded, stepped over to the fallen leader, and raised his weapon above his head. With another cry, and tears streaming down his cheeks, the unknown Dwarven Shieldman struck down with all of his might, shearing through the neck of his twitching comrade with deadly efficiency.
It was then and there that Sandra knew that the Goblin-Classification Core was going to need to be stopped. Not only were the Goblin Necromancers able to bring their dead back to life, effectively doubling the size of their horde, but they could bring any of the people they killed back to life to fight on their side as well. She was fortunate that her constructs didn’t seem to be able to be brought back the same way, otherwise she would be in real danger about now.
Brief thoughts of horror flowed through her mind at the implications of this new threat. Could they bring back the Golems? No, for some reason, I think they are the same as my constructs. But if they were to link up with the Beasts? Having hundreds of undead Squirrels sounds extremely frightening. And I guess all the rest would be pretty scary, as well. The Slimes didn’t seem like they could be brought back as undead, either, but anything was possible.
They had to be stopped.
With heavy emotions racing through her Core, she broke the bad news to Gerold first, and then the others.
* I have some very distressing news. My forces, including the Shieldmen, Rangers, and mercenaries, are being pushed back. I think I can hold most of them for the next 12 hours or so, but there are some dangerous new Monsters out there. I’m pulling back most of the defenses to protect Avensglen and Grongbak, because it is no longer possible to contain them inside.
* There have also been two casualties on the part of the Shieldmen, which has confirmed the target of the upcoming mission. *
“Wh-what happened?” Gerold asked, clearly emotionally affected by the loss of more Shieldmen in the defense of the local area. He was currently experimenting with and showing off his Deep Diver suit to King Mynag, Master Jespin, First-shield Parten, and Princess Celeste. Work had already begun on the Gnome’s Deep Diver suit, which had to be adjusted size-wise in comparison to Gerold’s, but Sandra was hoping to get it done even faster now that she’d had some practice.
* The Goblin-Classification Core has a new Monster: A Necromancer. Not only is it bringing back its own killed Goblins as Spirit-warped undead, but it seems to have the ability to bring back…people…to fight for them. There is the distinct possibility that it could also do that for the dead of the other dungeons, as well. *
She left out exactly what happened, but she did let at least Gerold know who had perished. Sandra was still trying to come to terms with how quickly everything seemed to turn, and the deaths of two of hers brought anger and thoughts about revenge to the surface. This time, though, it was all her own emotions and not as a result of the Core fragment that had been stuck in her head.
“That has to be our target, then,” King Mynag said as soon as she was done communicating the situation.
The Elven King and Queen, down below getting a tour of the Dwarven villagers’ farms and operations, agreed without reservation. “We must wipe out any trace of the undead from this world.” While Sandra agreed, she knew she might need to caution them against actually destroying the Goblin-Classification Core. That would just make everything worse.
“We need to hurry and get to that dungeon!” Parten demanded. “I will not lose any more of my Shieldmen in defense of this place.”
* While I agree, I’m only in the beginning stages of finishing off Princess Celeste’s Deep Diver. It will probably take another few hours…unless I can get some expert help? Jespin, what do you think? *
The Master Blacksmith just shook his head sadly. “I’m pretty sure I told you that it will only work with one Blacksmith at a time, didn’t I? I couldn’t help, even though I would love to.”
Sandra had neglected to mention exactly who her Shapeshifters were using to complete the creation of Princess Celeste’s Deep Diver.
* Actually, if you don’t mind being extremely weirded out by the whole thing, I believe you might still be able to help. I would advise everyone else to wait here while you join my “team” down a few rooms in my personal forge. *
Jespin looked extremely skeptical, though he followed her directions, nonetheless. When he walked into the forge, he was very surprised to be met, not just with 5 copies of himself, but with 5 naked doppelgangers – Sandra hadn’t bothered with clothing them. The cohort of copies were all diligently working to shape the large block of Titanium-Mithril alloy that would be the new Deep Diver.
“What is this?! Who—?” For once, Master Jespin looked completely out of his element.
Sandra explained what they were, even demonstrating them in their base form, and described how she used them to perform tasks that needed a more personal touch – like this particular form of Blacksmithing and Enchanting. It took him a few minutes to recover, but once he watched himself working on the project, he couldn’t help but chip in.
In no time, he was in the thick of the Deep Diver crafting, using his honed skills to accomplish bends, folds, and shaping that took her own Shifters twice as long. After a few more minutes, she actually had him take over control of one of his copies, followed by the rest after he picked it up quite quickly. “This is incredible! Creepy, disturbing, and absolutely insane, but incredible; it’s almost like having 10 extra hands. This is something that I never knew I needed, but I can’t even imagine Blacksmithing without the extra help in the future!”
With that project well in hand, by a Master of his craft, Sandra was able to concentrate on the full-on rout by her forces up above. She had been constantly adding reinforcements where she could, creating them as quickly as she had Mana for them, but it wasn’t enough to stem the tides of Dungeon Monsters flowing through the forests. Somehow, some way, through great sacrifice of her own Monsters, the Elves and Orcish mercenaries were able to make it back to Avensglen without any casualties (though many of their Wyvines and constructs were killed or destroyed); the rest of the Shieldmen retreated to Grongbak to protect the village
without any more of their comrades falling, as well.
It took some hurried warnings to Furbrea about the potential for an attack and to prepare, and the old Orc took control of everyone there with swift alacrity. While there wasn’t a wall or even a fence around the village, the safest and most defensible place was in the Supply Hut’s storage space; therefore, everyone was crammed down there while Sandra’s two Steelclad Ape guards watched over them.
They needn’t have gone to the trouble, however, because none of the attacking Dungeon Monsters bothered to follow either group to a village more than a few hundred feet outside of the forest. Instead, they all turned towards the same place, effectively ignoring the potential Mana they might get from killing all of the inhabitants of the two villages.
They all streamed right towards the middle of the wasteland, where Sandra’s dungeon was located.
Winxa, I think I really ticked them all off. They are ignoring the villages entirely.
“That’s strange…but I guess it makes sense in a way.”
How so?
“Well, if they eliminate you, there’s very little stopping the other Cores from attacking the villages, is there? My guess is that, since they’ve already tried to attack once and were unsuccessful because of your intervention, they are aiming to remove the ‘obstacle’ in their way.”
She had a point, even if Sandra didn’t appreciate being a target. She supposed it was better than the villages being in direct danger, but she didn’t have to like the situation she was being put in.
At least this time, I won’t have to worry about some mysterious entity taking control of my Core again.
The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) Page 44
