The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4)

by Jonathan Brooks

  The new Anaconda was approximately 5 feet longer in length and the overall diameter of its body was about 3 inches thicker, but the biggest change was the durability of its natural form; Titanium was both stronger and lighter than Steel, which meant that it could withstand quite a bit more abuse before being damaged beyond functioning, and the reduction in weight meant that its already-fast speed had increased by at least a third. All in all, it was a welcome addition to the team – even if it cost nearly 30,000 Mana to create it with Monster Seed and all.

  For the Golems, she had to go with something a bit different. This was where she could utilize her Steelclad Ape Warriors, which she created 3 of – at a cost of over 50,000 Mana all told – to accompany the Shieldmen. Against the Undead, she had armed them with Titanium Warhammers enchanted with Fireburst and Holy Light, which was particularly effective against that type of Monster. While the Fireburst enchantment might still be a little useful, neither of the enchantments were ideal for fighting against an Earth-based Golem.

  Therefore, she had to design something that would be effective, and from Delarthe and Thelon’s comments on the subject, Air seemed the best way to go. Digging down in her memory, the only Air enchantment she could think of that might work was one that created a small, tightly focused blast of air; it was usually meant for knocking back a monster when you activated it as your weapon struck at the enemy. It wasn’t necessarily designed to hurt something, but only to move them backwards; because of this, it was aptly named Knockback.

  Therefore, she placed a small Air Energy Orb and Spirit Energy Orb inside a Titanium Warhammer and set up the Knockback enchantment with the Limiter and Activation runes. Before she sent them along with the Ape Warriors, however, she tested them outside of her dungeon; she was glad she did, because she – as she had when first testing the Fireburst enchantment – had turned the energy transfer up way too high.

  When her Steelclad construct used it against the ground, it caused an explosion of air to suddenly emerge from the tip of the warhammer, causing such enormous backwards force that the weapon was ripped away from the Ape’s control. It rocketed straight up into the air, nearly 200 feet before it reached its apex and crashed back to the ground just a few feet from her Warrior – who was apparently missing two hands now, as they had been ripped off at the wrists and were still creepily clutching the weapon tightly despite being dismembered. The whole thing gave her some ideas for later, but for now Sandra toned down the flow of energy to just a trickle compared to what it was before, and her second test was a success. It was very similar to the Fireburst enchantment she had on the other warhammers, except instead of an explosion of fire, it was an explosion of air – much smaller, this time – that shot out directionally forward. It was still powerful enough to make the weapon pop backwards from the force of the small explosion, but nowhere near what it had been like initially.

  With the Steelclad Ape Warriors now fully equipped – hopefully – to destroy the Golems, it was past time when Gerold and the Shieldmen all needed to leave to start the process of destroying the nearby Monsters before they got entirely out of control. Before they left, however, Sandra made sure to include two Multi-access Repair Drones in their party, so that each group would have their own healer along.

  Gerold would be heading up his group of two Shieldmen and the Apes, while Delarthe would take the other two with him to fight Goblins; while Gerold had more experience fighting the Golems with an axe, in his Deep Diver suit he was using another copy of the Titanium warhammers the Apes were using. To save on time and Mana costs, he also didn’t have any other enchantments in his suit of armor. Sandra didn’t think anything she had available would do too much good against the Golems they were going to fight, regardless.

  As they took off into the late afternoon, eager to get started, she kept an eye on them – and on the various groups of Goblins and Golems out there waiting for them.

  * I’ll help direct you to where more of the monsters are located, using my Shears to point you in the right direction. If you get in trouble, escape as fast as you can and let my constructs protect you; they are expendable – you are not. I’m leaving control of each group of helpers to Gerold and Delarthe; if for some reason one of them is unable to pass on instructions to the constructs, control will pass to the next closest Shieldman. If necessary, I can take over control at any time, but I want you all to get accustomed to working with my constructs as part of your team, which you can direct much better than I ever could in a fight. Good luck, and may the Creator bless you in your endeavors. *

  She felt a little silly using the Creator’s name like that to wish them luck, but like she told Winxa – it couldn’t hurt to get on the divine being’s good side. Whether or not it actually did anything didn’t really matter; what mattered was that she felt better invoking the Creator as the higher power directing their actions instead of just a Dungeon Core trying to throw her weight around. In the end, she didn’t really think it was going to make that much of a difference other than to her own conscience.

  With a portion of her focus on the Dwarves and the constructs with them as they traveled across the wastelands, she turned the rest of it to other matters. For one, she needed to check up on Echo and Kelerim, since Sandra had been occupied with other matters after they left earlier….

  Chapter 10

  Echo was shocked to hear that Kelerim, despite being a Blacksmith that crafted deadly weapons, hadn’t ever learned how to fight with one of them. Not that she could blame him after hearing about what sort of trash Orcs usually fought with, but she would’ve thought that a race as focused on fighting as part of their culture would teach all of their people to fight at least a little. It seemed as though that wasn’t the case, however, as Kelerim hadn’t even been taught how to manipulate the elemental energy inside of him – which was another shock. From what she could determine through some innocent questioning, first the Dwarves, and then the Orcs, had treated him badly growing up. She thought that was because he didn’t really fit into either society, especially looking the way he did.

  She could hardly believe it, because Kelerim was amazingly alluring. While the Orcs thought he was too short and – because of that – too weak, the Dwarves thought he was too tall and therefore untrustworthy. She had seen many of the Dwarven villagers look at her with distrusting eyes, because she was tall herself, so she knew of that prejudice from personal experience. She didn’t take offense, however, as it was almost ingrained in most of the races nowadays to have a natural aversion to the others. She herself was a little prejudiced against the filthy Orc brutes to the north of her homeland, and she still felt a tiny bit of superiority over the Gnomes to the east.

  A lot of those feelings had been blunted after being exposed to Dwarves and Gnomes since being revived inside of Sandra’s dungeon, because she could see that everyone had their strengths and weaknesses, just like her own people. Just because she was taller, faster, and better able to outwardly manipulate her elemental energies (which was, honestly, amateurish in comparison to Elven Elites) in relation to the other races, that didn’t mean they were any less capable of defending themselves. For instance, she had been frankly awed by the War Machine that Violet and Felbar had managed to create with Sandra’s help, and that was just a taste of the power that enchantments – which her own people didn’t employ – could wield.

  The Dwarves were equally powerful in their own right, with their specially crafted armor and weapons that utilized their energy to make them deadlier. In a straight-up fight between an average Elite Elf and an average Shieldman, she would put even odds on the match; while Dwarven armor appeared to be able to withstand even elemental attacks used against them, if something were to slip through the cracks in their protection, they wouldn’t likely last long. On the other side, if the Dwarf charged ahead through the various attacks thrown their way, the Elite wouldn’t last long in a battle up-close. Even those trained in using melee weaponry would have a hard time even hurt
ing a Dwarf protected by their armor.

  Orcs…well, Orcs were something else altogether, and they probably wouldn’t last long one-on-one. The problem with them, or so she’d heard, was that they were rarely ever alone; they worked best in their warbands, which could have dozens or more members involved. They had numbers on their side, though they had stupendously inferior weaponry and armor. Their height, size, appearance, and sheer ferocity were enough to intimidate most opponents; she would imagine, though dungeon monsters didn’t really care about things like that.

  Echo was glad that Kelerim didn’t really share any of those traits. In her opinion, he had gained the best of both his parentages, at least as far as temperament and looks went. He was shorter than an Orc, shorter even than herself, and had a complexion only marred by lines of past hardship and two little bumps near his mouth where Orcish-like tusks would normally appear but never fully emerged. He was also a bit thin and unkempt-looking…which was probably why she felt herself attracted to him.

  Growing up and living with others of her race, sometimes she felt that they all looked the same; long, silky flowing hair in a variety of colors, unblemished faces only occasionally broken up by a scar here-and-there, and lithe, athletic figures that showcased their naturally fit bodies. There was very little variety, very little uniqueness to any of them; before she had met and started to interact with the other races, that seemed…normal. Now, though, while Kelerim certainly looked much different from any other Elf, his differences made him appear exotic to her eyes. It didn’t make much sense – Echo had to honestly admit to herself – but the attraction was real enough on her end.

  Kelerim, however, seemed entirely oblivious. In fact, even as his arms were around her waist holding on tightly as they flew on the back of Starlight 3 on their way to her village of Avensglen, he didn’t seem overly cognizant of the fact that they were so close together. Instead, he was holding on to her so tightly that it was beginning to hurt.

  “Can you loosen your arms a little?” she asked as politely as she could. “It’s getting hard to breathe with you holding onto me so tightly.” She tapped his arms around her waist with her free hand, indicating what she meant. Soon after they left, they had both realized that Sandra had turned her attention elsewhere and wasn’t automatically translating their words anymore; their little jaunt to visit her people was going to be a bit more of a challenge now, but hopefully nothing would come up that would require him to be understood and understand in return.

  The tap on his arms seemed to do the trick, as he mumbled something she probably wouldn’t have been able to understand even if she spoke his language and his strangling hold on her loosened significantly. She never understood some people’s fear of heights, because back in the capital, many of their most important residences were built high up in the treetops of the ancient trees located there. Just walking over the bridges hundreds of feet above the ground was exhilarating, and she missed them; she hadn’t been back there in at least 2 decades, and she was both looking forward to seeing them and trepidatious over the reason for her visit.

  It didn’t take long for them to arrive by Pegasus-back, though longer than if she were to run herself there using her Air elemental energy. Even though it only took about 15 minutes to go a few miles to her village, she now completely understood why Sandra said the Pegasi weren’t the best choice to fly all the way to the capital; based on the massive Roc the Dungeon Core had created – which Echo couldn’t wait to ride on in the near future – she knew that the giant bird could fly much, much faster and get her there a lot sooner without any stops or worry about her falling asleep in the middle of the air.

  When they touched down just outside the village, many of the Rangers were still in attendance; the hour, while an hour past dawn, was still early enough that the culling of the nearby forests hadn’t quite begun yet. That was as she had hoped, because it was going to be better if she could let them all know the news firsthand, instead of being told later.

  With bows drawn initially, the Rangers rushed out of Avensglen at the first sight of the Pegasus, though Echo could see and hear the moment when they recognized her.

  “Weapons down; it’s Echo and—” Elder Herrlot said from behind the Rangers before she hesitated. At her words, they all lowered their bows, but her hesitation caused them to keep them at the ready.

  Echo ordered Starlight 3 down outside of the semi-circle the Rangers had created when they saw her, and the winged horse settled gracefully down, stepping a couple of steps forward before folding its wings against its body. The Elf swung her leg over the back of the Pegasus and dropped down, before untying the special bow and quiver from the strap wrapped around the neck of her mount. She nodded to Kelerim to indicate he should get down too, and luckily he understood what she wanted.

  “Elder, fellow Rangers, I bring important news,” she said, approaching the ring of her people blocking her from the Elder. They had finally put away their weapons when she obviously wasn’t bringing any immediate trouble; as unique as Kelerim appeared, one thing he certainly wasn’t was a threat.

  “Did you bring more of those Energy Orbs? You didn’t stop by yesterday, so I figure you have a large shipment of them now,” the Elder replied, looking a bit perturbed. “And what—who is this?” she continued, gesturing to Kelerim behind her.

  That made Echo a bit perturbed, too. “This is Kelerim; he’s a Half-Dwarf/Half-Orc that has connections to the dungeon heart, whose name is Sandra, and I thought I’d bring him with me to visit. He’s a bit of an outcast because of his parentage, and the Orcs want to kill him.” She didn’t bother trying to explain why, because fratricide was a bit of a big deal in Elvish society.

  Elder Herrlot spoke something out in the same guttural language that Kelerim spoke, though she barely recognized it coming from an Elvish throat. She looked behind her at Kelerim to see him wide-eyed and blushing for some reason before he answered haltingly in the same Orcish language while glancing at Echo. Great; I’m not sure I want to know what that conversation is about. And now I’m jealous of the Elder because she can speak to him and I can’t without Sandra’s help; speaking of Sandra, why can’t she be helping me translate, especially at a time like this?

  Regardless of why Sandra couldn’t participate, Echo had an important job to do. She cleared her throat, trying to gain back control of the situation. “Elder, I’m sorry I don’t have any more Energy Orbs with me; that’s actually what I came to talk—”

  “WHAT? You can’t be serious! We had a deal with the dungeon, and I’m already getting pressure back home about increasing the small amount we’re barely receiving as it is. I will not be made to look a fool for all the Orbs I’ve promised—”

  “Elder! This is more important than that—”

  “Don’t you dare interrupt me, child; don’t you have any idea who you’re talking to…”

  Echo looked around for help, but as the Elder droned on about who she was and how much trouble the young Elf would be in if she didn’t deliver on the dungeon’s promises, none of the Rangers would look at her. She couldn’t really blame them; the Elder was the Elder for a reason. No one would argue or interrupt her like she just did because it was highly disrespectful. Those others I’ve been hanging out with must be starting to rub off on me.

  She couldn’t hold it in any longer, so she practically shouted over the Elder’s diatribe directed toward her. “Elder! There have been four dungeons around here that have been destroyed!”

  Elder Herrlot looked ready to blow for just a moment at Echo’s new interruption, before her face lost all color – not that there was a lot there to begin with. The other Rangers just stared at her with their mouths hanging open, obviously unbelieving of her words.

  “Well…that changes things. Why didn’t you lead with that, girl? It would’ve saved you a whole lot of tongue-lashing and time,” the Elder said slowly, regaining her composure. “Now, who was stupid enough to do that? And how do you know this?”

/>   “Elder, if I may,” said one of the Rangers, Chryla, interjected. At the Elder’s nod, the Ranger continued. “We’ve all noticed that the number of beasts and slimes roaming through the forests has increased over the last few days; we didn’t think much of it, but it was certainly noticeable. If this is true, there will probably be even more today.”

  “It will only get worse, as well. Sandra told me exactly how much the other Cores have benefited—” Echo began, before being cut off.

  “Was this some sort of scheme hatched by your dungeon?” the Elder accused. “Is this some sort of plan to destroy the others around here and gain control of their territories? Or whatever these dungeons have? It probably got stronger as a result, didn’t it?” The much older Elf appeared to be placing all of the blame on Echo, which was entirely unfair – even if she did have something to do with what was going on.

  “No, the dungeon didn’t benefit from the destruction of the other Cores; on the contrary, because it was directly responsible for destroying at least one of them, Sandra received nothing as a result.”

  As Echo had expected, Elder Herrlot didn’t believe her. “That seems far-fetched, child. This dungeon must be deceiving you – because otherwise why would it destroy more of its kind?”

  Echo explained that Sandra – and she stressed the name, as it felt…wrong…to call the dungeon core an “it” – hadn’t been responsible for the destruction of the two in the Orcs’ territory, since it was the Orcs themselves that did that. Unfortunately, that just caused the Elder to focus her attention on Kelerim and start bombarding him with questions in his own language. She didn’t dare interrupt again, due to the fact that she was already on the esteemed Elf’s bad side, though she prayed that the Half-Dwarf/Half-Orc didn’t reveal exactly why he had been chased out of the Orc’s homeland. When the Elder only looked annoyed after a while but not angry, she managed to hide a sigh of relief.