The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3)

by Jonathan Brooks

  The Holy Light enchantment was equally impressive. Upon being struck, a brief flash of very bright light enveloped the point of contact, spreading out and causing a large part of the bones around it to crack and virtually fall apart. Both enchantments were about equal as far as the damage they inflicted, but Sandra suspected that the Holy Light enchantment might have an even better result against some of the Undead that were protected by Nether-based effects – like those Liches that Echo had mentioned.

  The Celestial Authorities were equally impressive, using a surprising agility to jump into the fray and avoid being smashed by the Ogre’s huge bone club. Every slice of its longsword made of pure light cut completely through bone like it wasn’t even there; even though it wasn’t quite as “destructive” as the warhammers her Apes were wielding, it was possibly even deadlier – especially when they could slice and slash their longswords much more rapidly than the Apes could swing their weapons. The only downside was that their light seemed to dim a little after each strike, but when the battle was done they were back to their original brightness; she took this to mean that interacting directly with a Nether-based Monster – while effective – “hurt” them a little, though it was obviously not directly proportionate to the damage they doled out.

  The Pegasi, for their part, dampened the Ogre’s special ability that it tried to use to speed itself up; they had to be within about 15 feet for it to work, but that wasn’t a problem, because they were flying circles around the Undead. Every other second, one of them would swoop in and stomp their hooves on the head of the Ogre, cracking it apart bit by bit. That didn’t really even matter, though, because within 15 seconds the Undead Monster was blown or hacked apart – all without even touching one of her own.

  When her force entered the forest, they set about destroying every Undead Monster in their path; there were a few times when there would be gatherings of the Undead in another attempt to trap her forces, but rather than risk them dying she went around them and mopped up all of the stragglers she could find. Sandra figured that she would eventually be able to get into a pitched battle with them – just not quite yet.

  By day three, all of the Specters above the trees that Sandra could reach were eliminated, though she could visually see a large number of them in the Undead Core’s Area of Influence further to the east that she couldn’t reach. That alone let her know that it was quite possible the rest of that area was crawling with Undead, which was likely still funneling quite a bit of Mana to the Core; as far as she could estimate, though, her own intake was at least twice as much at that point from her various constructs roaming around. In fact, she estimated that she was gaining just about 650,000 Mana every day, which was only increasing as she created more Dungeon Monsters and sent them out into the world.

  By the end of the fourth day, she had added enough of her Dungeon Monsters to finally take down one of the gatherings of Undead that had plagued her so far. With dozens of Apes, Pegasi, and Authorities comprising her force – along with two Repair Drones, which really hadn’t been needed yet – she pitted them against a dangerously large force of over 100 Undead of various types, which also included Liches, the black-colored armored undead, ghouls, large zombie beasts, and even a couple of Ogre Skeletons.

  But she also had a secret weapon – Felbar had joined the fight with his War Machine. After he asked her to soften them up with her Celestial Authorities’ special long-range Arrows of Spiritual Ascension attack – which literally punched holes in the Undead wherever they hit – he waded into the small horde like a madman. A particularly skilled and deadly madman that laughed as he destroyed the Undead with abandon, at that.

  His Flame Cone attack swept across the front line, lighting on fire and burning at least two dozen of the enemy in the first few seconds, before he swept away those close to him with his warhammer and literally sliced an Ogre Skeleton in half with his double-bladed axe. He had gone ahead of the others when he attacked and nearly became overwhelmed, but he was quickly backed up by her Apes and Authorities, who tore into the Undead crawling at his flanks. Her Pegasi, on the other hand, went straight for the Liches who were staying near the back of the group, preparing their powerful Nether-based attacks. As soon as they got close enough, the black-ish energy that the robed Undead were gathering started to dissipate, but not completely. There was still enough gathered by that time for them to launch their attacks, though they were drastically decreased in potency.

  The black clouds that shot forward and surrounded her constructs and other Monsters slowed them down considerably and dimmed the light in her Angels, which resulted in a few being killed from the affliction they were experiencing by the other Undead. Fortunately, none were destroyed from the dangerous effect of the Liches’ casts, which would’ve been deadly if they hadn’t been diminished by the aura coming from her Pegasi. Felbar and his War Machine were spared any of that, luckily, as he had activated his Shield and the spell was absorbed into it without harm. It also had the effect of making a few of the Undead attacking him rebound backwards, freeing him from being surrounded.

  There were no additional spells from the Liches, fortunately, because their relatively fragile bodies were pounded into oblivion by the hooves of the Pegasi. Their aura – now a bit diminished after sucking a lot of the power out from the Undeads’ spells – was still enough to dampen the Nether shields protecting the powerful robed Monsters, which left them highly vulnerable to physical attacks.

  The entire battle lasted no more than 5 minutes…and it was a massacre that made Sandra inwardly smile at how well it had gone. She felt a little vindicated after her last showing against the foul Undead, and she was actually looking forward to pitting all of her might against the dungeon in a few days’ time.

  All in all, she lost 4 Apes, 6 Authorities, and a single Pegasi that was jumped on from below by a trio of ghouls as it flew too close to the ground, though there were a few that needed repairs or “healing” from her Repair Drones. Considering that they had destroyed a little more than 10 times their number, the casualties they experienced were worth it.

  By the middle of the fifth day, her Monsters and Felbar had wiped out every single Undead they could find, though her Rolling Forces had all split up and were literally combing the forest for more. Some Specters tried to hide in the trees which the Phoenixes above couldn’t reach, so Sandra had to improvise by having some of the Celestial Authorities ride on the backs of the Pegasi, where they could slice the mist-like Undead from where they were trying to stay out of sight.

  She took a page from the Undead’s strategy book and surrounded the dungeon entrance, as well as a second “exit” that was much larger – which was probably where that massive horrific abomination of corpses had come from the other day. Unlike the Undead Core, which had grouped its Undead up into a massive horde, she had her forces spread out just in case there were any surprises coming from the other dungeon. She couldn’t plan for everything, but she hoped she was prepared enough for most eventualities.

  Felbar came back once everything was secured and took a much-needed rest – but there was no rest for Sandra and the others. Production of everything was still ongoing, including a special project that was inspired by a suggestion from Echo.

  “Do you know how your Ape practically blew itself up the other day? I was thinking…is there any way to maybe, I don’t know – put that kind of enchantment on an arrowhead?” she had asked, innocently curious whether such a thing was possible.

  With Sandra and the burgeoning talents of her Journeyman Enchanter in residence, such a thing was merely a challenge, not an impossibility.

  It was relatively simple in design, but executing the enchantment took some ingenious design. First, instead of using wood for the arrows, Sandra had to create a thin Steel tube – it wasn’t necessary to be Titanium – to help with preventing the arrow from destroying itself when it was shot. She could’ve made it from a lighter material, like Copper or Nickel, but it needed to be a little
heavier to support the weight of the tip – which was quite different from a normal arrowhead.

  Instead of a sharp point, the tip of their new arrows were bulbous in shape – because they contained two Tiny Energy Orbs, one Fire and one Spirit. It was a thin Nickel oval ball that was stuck on the end, with a small point on the end to help it cut through the air a little better, but would crumple upon impact; as soon as it did, there was a small Activate rune sequence that was the barest distance away from touching the front portion of the tip which would activate upon impact, discharging the contents of the Fire Energy Orb into the Fireburst Enchantment placed upon the arrow tip. With the Limiter rune turned all the way up, all 50 Mana inside the Tiny Fire Energy Orb was sent into the Fireburst Rune, creating an impressive explosion that had metal fragments shooting in all directions near the impact. It was slightly dangerous if one of her Dungeon Monsters was too close to the explosion, but it was worth it for the sheer devastation it caused.

  The only issue was the fletching on the arrow, which was normally made from some sort of bird feathers. No bird feather was strong enough to make much of a difference for the heavy arrow – more like a bolt, actually – so Sandra put Steel fletching on it at a slight angle, which helped to stabilize it during flight...and then the problem was when it would hit the grip on the bow when it was released, sending it tumbling away instead of flying straight. It required moving them slightly on the arrow and creating two additional notches on the bow grip that the fletching could pass through, which Echo said would work fine – as long as it was held and released in a certain way.

  Each of those arrows required approximately 100 Mana for the Energy Orbs and materials – which wasn’t that much considering what it could do – when she wanted to have a full supply of them for each of her Echo “copies” via her Unstable Shapeshifter Monsters, it added up. She wanted each of them to have at least 50 of them and although that was technically only 5,000 Mana apiece, the time it took to complete all of the crafting and enchanting was what slowed the process down.

  By the end of the fifth very productive day, Sandra was pretty sure they’d all be ready to go by mid-morning the next day; she was already planning on working through the night, and Violet volunteered to stay up later to do so as well, which would help immensely to finish on time. Sandra was feeling good about their chances of success, especially as the Deep Delvers that Felbar and Gerold were going to be using were complete.

  The Deep Delvers were a whole new class of Gnome construct – and looked quite a bit different as well. Instead of 20-foot-tall behemoths, the one that Felbar was going to pilot was 5 feet tall, while the one the Dwarf was controlling was a foot taller because of their height differences. Also unlike the War Machine, all of the movements of the all-Titanium Delver were controlled by the actual arms and legs of the pilot as they put their own limbs into the construct; essentially, the entire thing was like a large shell around the person inside of it, making them approximately the same size as a Human or an Elf – just thicker and a lot more durable. A warhammer and double-bladed axe was included as weaponry for Felbar – attached to the ends of the arms similar to the War Machine – while just a warhammer and a flat piece of Titanium (acting as a shield of sorts) was attached to Gerold’s.

  Because of the size difference and less space to place Energy Orbs or Cubes, there were weaker Flame Cone and Light Shield enchantments on the Deep Delvers, but they would still work well enough – just not quite the same length of time. The Delvers were actually completed on day three, but it was taking Gerold that much time to get used to controlling the construct – especially after he fell on his face dozens of times in just the first few hours of getting inside.

  It also took him some getting used to being almost fully enclosed with just a small area to look outside the Delver through some slits, as well as the fact that it was extremely difficult to get in and out of the hatch that allowed him to enter the construct from the back – by himself. After nearly an hour of hyperventilating and acting a little claustrophobic, either his fear was overshadowed by his need to contribute or he hid it pretty well – because he seemed fine.

  I think this is going to work out; I think I’ll even see if Echo would be up to riding on a Pegasus to keep her out of harm’s way. Then with all my Monsters and the two Deep Delvers coming along, we should be good.

  Halfway through the night, she realized she had made a mistake: she had begun to think that things were going well, and that everything was going to be alright. I should know by now to put my pessimism first, because being optimistic only seems to invite trouble.

  Just after midnight – very early in the morning of the day they were going to attack the dungeon – the situation became a little more complicated. Sandra immediately felt the expansion of the Undead Core’s Area of Influence…and she quickly sent her awareness of her own AOI to see if she should be concerned. Of course, when she went to go check, she found that the other Core could now reach just barely through the village – which was definitely a concern.

  So was the large horde of Undead that streamed out of the inaccessible eastern part of the Undead Core’s AOI, heading west and slightly north…directly towards the Dwarven village.

  * * *

  What? What was that?

  Something made Gerold sit up straight in his bed, though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was that made him do it. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes, feeling like he had just gone to sleep only minutes before.

  * Gerold! You’re awake! Hurry and head up to the workshop; the Undead Core has expanded and can now reach your people’s village! *

  Gerold was up and out of his bed before his body could catch up with his mind, and he stumbled badly enough that he slammed up against the nearest stone wall with his face. Picking himself up, he rushed through the tunnels leading to the clever vertical transportation rooms, where he met Felbar on the way. The two didn’t even have to say anything, as they had been working side-by-side the last few days without even having to communicate; many of the things they needed to convey could be done non-verbally with hand movements, other visual cues, and a few words that they had learned over the last few days of the other’s language.

  He had never really had any friends growing up because of his unique Nether sensitivity, and he was starting to think of the old Gnome as one – even if they didn’t speak the same language. Gerold knew that Felbar was committed to destroying the undead as much as he was, and it created a sort of bond between the two.

  It only took them a couple of minutes to arrive at the workshop above, and despite the late hour and not a lot of sleep, Gerold felt wide awake. He jumped into the Deep Delver construct with a little help from Felbar, who locked him in when he was all set; in return, the Dwarf lifted the Gnome up with his warhammer so that he could get into the pilot’s area in the much larger War Machine, and within moments he was strapped in and ready to go.

  * I’ve sent the majority of my Monsters guarding the entrance of the Undead dungeon to intercept them before they arrive, but I fear they will arrive too late. I also had some of my Shears sent down to the village to knock on doors and walls to wake everyone up, though I can’t really communicate the danger to them. If you both rush, you might make it in time – but you better hurry! *

  Gerold didn’t wait for anything else and he ran for the workshop’s exit, his practice over the last couple of days showing in the way he didn’t trip himself up. All the hesitation and fear he had initially felt being trapped in what was essentially a large metal suit of armor was gone, and the movements needed to control the Delver were basically natural to him by that point.

  Seconds later he hit the dirt and stone of the barren wasteland and took off, the partial moon above lighting a little of the way. A few times he had to turn on his bright shield to see a few particularly dark areas bathed in shadows, but for the most part he could see well enough to navigate through the hills and valleys of the broken land successful
ly.

  Running next to him was Felbar, who – despite having longer legs on the War Machine – was barely keeping up with his rapid pace. It was one of the benefits of the construct he was controlling, he was told; it wasn’t nearly as powerful, but it was faster and more agile than the larger behemoth. Gerold ate up ground faster than he thought possible, and within minutes he could see the burning torches of Nurboldar ahead of him.

  As he crashed through the fields of wheat near the border of the wasteland – deliberately uncaring about what he trampled – he could see that there was a commotion near the village as more torches were lit and were moving around erratically, as if someone was carrying them around and trying to smash them into something.

  * They’ve outpaced my larger forces, but some of my Rolling Forces near the forest border are seeing them almost there – you better hurry! *

  True to her statement, Gerold could start to sense a large concentration of Nether Energy coming from the east. It was hard to tell, but he didn’t think it was quite as large as the one he had sensed outside of Sandra’s dungeon nearly a week ago – though it was large enough to cause him some concern. He could only hope that one of those gigantic, disturbing corpse-piles wasn’t accompanying them, otherwise they likely had no chance to survive.

  It didn’t take long for him to arrive at the village proper, only to see every Dwarf out of their houses wandering around and obviously wondering what was going on.

  “What are you doing back here, Gnome? Is this your doing?” Second-shield Bregan asked in Dwarven as they arrived and practically slid to a stop. The old Dwarf obviously didn’t know that Gerold was inside the smaller construct – how could he? – and the dishonored former Shieldman got a kick out of startling him.