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

by Jonathan Brooks

  One disappointing development from gathering all of the Monster Seeds in the Reptile dungeon, however, was that the blue shards of the Water-based Dungeon Core she was hoping to absorb…well, they wouldn’t do anything.

  Winxa, why can’t I absorb these pieces of the other Core?

  “That’s…very strange,” the Dungeon Fairy answered after a few seconds. She looked entirely perplexed. “You should be able to absorb them like almost any other material, I know that for a fact from my own experiences as a guide for new Cores that were born next to their destroyed predecessors. The fact that you cannot absorb them must mean…something; what exactly that might be is a mystery.”

  It was certainly a mystery, but not one that she thought she could solve right then and there. Instead, she had a couple of Automatons bring the shards to her treasury, where she stored them away until a later time when she could devote some time to investigating.

  She also made another dozen constructs in total for the Dwarven Shieldmen to use in their culling of the Golems and the Goblins, including 4 more Dire Wolves and Jaguar Queens, 3 additional Ape Warriors equipped with enchanted Titanium warhammers, and another Titanium Anaconda. As they became ready, she sent them out to the Dwarves to use immediately instead of keeping them for their next outing. The additional help allowed both groups to easily keep up with the increased output of the two dungeons, which was essential to keeping things under control.

  Shortly after midnight, all of the Shieldmen came back exhausted but pleased with their work to her dungeon; the constructs, on the other hand, were now a large enough force that she could allow them to operate autonomously and continued to roam around and kill any Dungeon Monsters they could find. She gave them instructions to leave anything different from whatever they had already fought before alone and to retreat if something out of the norm came up. Since she wasn’t controlling them directly, anything difficult would have to be addressed when the Shieldmen came back the next day.

  Along with their return, they also brought back bags full of Monsters Seeds from their culling. None of it was particularly impressive; from the Golems came a variety of different metals including Copper, Iron, Gold, and even Steel, along with a Tiny Faceted Topaz Sphere for some of the larger Stone Golems that were destroyed. The Goblins also had some metals, like Copper, Nickel, and Iron that were used for their weaker and more numerous Goblins in their camps, but there were also some varieties of wood sticks like Yew and even Ironwood. The more difficult Hobgoblins and larger Brawler varieties of Goblins sometimes dropped Tiny Faceted Hematite Spheres, which by that point almost seemed typical of these dungeons to have some sort of elemental Monster Seed.

  Sandra absorbed every Seed they brought back and used the Mana she received from them for a few purposes. The largest portion of it was spent on the creation of another Aerie Roc, which was needed for Gerold to ride on the next day; she had already crafted another harness for it earlier, so it was easy enough to strap it on and get it ready for the Dwarven delegate in the morning. The second, smaller portion was used to create basic Elemental Orbs, which she was stockpiling in her treasury for emergencies. Now that she had the opportunity, she needed to build the reserves up again that she had ended up burning through because of the Undead Core’s threat.

  Just before dawn, Sandra looked around her AOI to see another, larger group of Rangers headed towards her dungeon. They were un-Bonded, and from conversations she overheard from some nearby Shears monitoring their border with the Wastelands, it was obvious that they wanted Bonds and to acquire some of the new bows. Fortunately, she had created just about enough Energy Orbs for the Bonding process for the 30 new Elves streaming towards her dungeon, though she might need to enchant and convert some of the Elemental Orbs she was putting away in order to accommodate them.

  The stumbling block to getting them all Bonded was going to be her available Mana, as it took 1,000 per Bond; while she was nearly full at the moment, she would need to wait for it to replenish before she could finish them all. Luckily, Chryla was with them so that Sandra could communicate with the un-Bonded Elves.

  * Chryla! I see we have some more that want to Bond with me…and perhaps acquire some of the new bows? Let them know that it will take approximately an hour and a half to accommodate that many, as I need to absorb more Mana over that time to finish all of their Bonds. Oh, and just a heads-up; both the Beast and Slime dungeons just upgraded their Cores, so their reach has been expanded. From what I can tell, both of them can now send their Dungeon Monsters just beyond the forests’ edges in a few places. *

  The young Elf Ranger wasn’t especially pleased at that last information, but she passed on what Sandra had said to the others. “Thanks, Sandra; those that get bonded first will run back immediately to start on culling the Monsters for the day. The others will wait with you until they get their bonds and then return. Thanks for the warning,” she said, before they all started running faster towards Sandra’s dungeon entrance.

  It only took a little under an hour and a half for the whole process to be complete with the Elves and they were either heading back to their village or already fighting Monsters in the forest. The newly Bonded Rangers were adjusting their new bows on the fly, fixing them up after they started to get a feel for them during their brief hunts. It seemed a little dangerous to Sandra for the Elves to test them out in a life-or-death situation, but they corrected their shots fairly quickly as they caught up with those Beasts or Slimes they hadn’t gotten to the day before, as well as tackling the new ones periodically exiting from the two dungeon entrances.

  By the time that the Elves were all taken care of, it was time to wake up Gerold and get him moving. The sooner he got moving, the better – especially since he was the last of the races (excluding the Orcs, of course) that had someone contacting their leadership, and honestly would probably need the most help getting their lands back in order after having neglected them so long by staying in their strongholds. It took an hour for the tired Dwarf to wake up and get ready to go, though there was some initial balking when Sandra finally revealed to him that he was leaving.

  “Are you absolutely sure this is a good idea? I think they need me here to help with the culling—”

  * Don’t be ridiculous – they’ll be fine. In fact, the constructs out there are still working to contain the Dungeon Monsters and while they aren’t as much of a cohesive unit as they are when you or the Shieldmen are directing them, they are holding their own. It’s more important that you get the help we need for all of your people, because things are going to start getting increasingly dangerous all over. *

  “Yes, well, I still—”

  * Are you afraid to fly? Is that it? *

  “What? Of course not; I’m just concerned with everyone here. It seems like too much responsibility to leave behind, and they look at me like some kind of leader now, so…” For some reason, Gerold looked like he had been caught trying to steal sweetbreads from a baker’s shop and tried to pass it off as nothing. Sandra thought at first that it was a fear of heights that was affecting him similar to what Violet suffered from, but then she realized what it was: he didn’t want to go back without his armor.

  * Don’t worry about your people here; Delarthe and the other Shieldmen will take care of them, and I’ll continue to make the villagers’ stay as pleasant as possible. I’m not sure if you’ve seen yet, but we’ve made significant progress in getting everything up and running like it was in the fields near Nurboldar. There’s still a bit to work on, including brewing and distilling, but we will soon have the raw materials needed for producing your alcohol that can be sent back to your people. In addition, I want you to take the Deep Diver suit back with you to show them all that despite your armor being gone, you’ve done a remarkable job of leading your people. *

  Sandra was hoping that he understood what she was trying to say. Gerold’s armor didn’t define who he was; it was how he overcame its loss and was able to still succeed that showed w
hat kind of person he was. She wasn’t sure if he really comprehended that quite yet, as his whole world before she met him had been consumed by the armor that was crafted specifically for him and being part of the Shieldmen; regardless, she just hoped that he was starting to see that just because he didn’t have the armor anymore didn’t make him any less of a person for it.

  Gerold was silent for a few awkward moments, before he sighed and gave in. “Fine, let’s do this.” Sandra told him that the Roc would meet him up top near the workshop, so that he could direct the Deep Diver suit into the harness. When he got there, he found a surprise that Sandra had slipped into the Gnomish construct at some point during the night.

  “What’s this?”

  * Since I wasn’t able to add any other enchantments to it because of time and resources earlier, I gave the Deep Diver an…upgrade…and replaced the Cubes powering its normal movement enchantments with fresh ones. Instead of being able to throw flames from your hands or create a shield made of light, I did a little something different. Why don’t you bring it up above and try it out? *

  Eager to test the new “upgrade”, Gerold climbed into the suit and brought the Deep Diver out through the old Bearling lair so that he was free to test it out. Sandra hadn’t gotten a chance to test it out yet, so she was hoping that it worked and wasn’t too powerful; she had a lot of experience working with the Limiter rune lately, even if it was through repetition, and she thought she had a good handle on it.

  “So, I just do…this—?” Gerold asked, before he activated the enchantment located in the right arm while holding it straight out.

  The metal “hand” that comprised the end of the Deep Diver’s arm was suddenly holding a thick pole made from extremely cold ice, perfectly frozen without a single flaw. On the end of the 3-foot-long pole was a facsimile of a crude single-bladed axe head of the same substance, its edge tremendously sharp; it wasn’t the best representation of an actual axe, but it was the best that she was able to come up with using the Freeze and Shape enchantment runes she knew. Given some more time, she could probably perfect it until it looked prettier – but Gerold didn’t seem to care.

  “Sandra…this is beautiful. But won’t it shatter?”

  * Yes, if you hit something hard enough with it that doesn’t give very easily like stone or metal, but it will still do quite a bit of damage, nonetheless. For flesh-and-bone Monsters, it should work remarkably well. Also, it will reform quickly if you do manage to shatter it. *

  With only the slightest hesitation, Gerold looked at a large rock sticking out of the dirt of the wasteland and swung his new frozen axe down on it. As predicted, it shattered into dozens of pieces upon impact; however, as Sandra had also predicted, there was a 2-inch-deep gouge in the rock where it had been struck. The shards of ice from the shattered weapon quickly melted where they landed and disappeared, but in less than three seconds there was a brand-new axe head on the ice pole Gerold’s Deep Diver was still holding.

  “That’s incredible,” the Dwarf said, with awe and a little something else in his voice she couldn’t identify. “What is this other one here?”

  * You can activate it and I’ll explain, since it’ll be hard for you to test it right now. Instead of a light shield that blocks attacks, what you have in the other arm activates an enchantment that creates a fog of Nether energy that sort of muffles anything trying to harm you. It doesn’t block it entirely, but it reduces the impact of anything trying to hit your Deep Diver suit and does a whole lot less damage to you and the suit. I got the idea after hearing how you had taken some rough blows from the Golems the other day; it won’t prevent you from getting hit, but hopefully you won’t be tossed 100 feet through the air and impact another tree again. That, and it’ll make you a little bit harder to see and target, except in direct sunlight. *

  The Muffle and Obscure runes were easy enough to put together in an enchantment chain, though it was a little difficult to see exactly how efficiently they worked. As it turned out – it was too efficient; as soon as Gerold activated it, he was covered in a black fog that seemed to almost suck in the sunlight. He didn’t get a chance to test its impact-reducing effects, unfortunately, because he was having difficulty even seeing.

  “Ack! I can’t see a thing! How is this supposed to help?”

  * Hmm…I think there’s too much energy being fed into the enchantment; it’s supposed to allow you to see still even if nothing can spot you in that fog. Given enough time and experimentation, I could probably fix it, but we don’t have the time – your ride is here. *

  Gerold immediately turned the Nether-based enchantment off and the black fog dissipated quickly. He looked around with obvious pleasure at being able to see again, only to step back at the sight of the enormous Aerie Roc that appeared as if by magic in front of him. When he recovered from his momentary fright, he turned towards her exposed workshop and did as much of a bow as his suit could allow.

  “Thank you, Sandra,” he said abruptly, with a little hitch in his voice. “I barely know what to say; I can tell that you made these enchantments just for me because of what elements I have access to, and I greatly appreciate it. It might not be armor and a battleaxe forged by our Master Blacksmiths, but in some ways it’s even better.”

  * You’re welcome, Gerold. Now, just imagine what I could do if I learned how to make the same armor and weapons your Master Blacksmiths can create. *

  “I…can barely even comprehend what you’d be able to do at that point. I’ll do my best to fulfill my promise and get you that knowledge. So…err…how do I get on this thing,” Gerold asked, pointing towards the Aerie Roc.

  Sandra explained how to climb up and had him get out of the Deep Diver where the cargo straps were on the bottom portion of the harness, where he then strapped it in securely. After fastening himself in on the section of the leather harness designed for him, Sandra gave him general instructions of how to fly. He didn’t sound overly eager, and it was obvious that he was a bit afraid of heights – though not nearly as frightened as Violet had been. With another sigh, he practiced controlling the Roc by running it around a little; that turned out to be fairly easy since he was already accustomed to controlling the constructs that he had been hunting and culling Golems with. When he looked like he had enough practice, Sandra prodded him to stop wasting time and take off already.

  “Alright, I’m going. See you later,” he said, as he got ready for the Roc to lift off. “And take care of my people!”

  * Of course. Be safe. *

  Despite his reluctance, Gerold performed like an expert as he ordered the Roc up into the air and within minutes he was gone from her perception. Sandra put it down to the fact that he didn’t try to control every little part of the massive bird and what it did, instead just telling what he wanted it to do and let it figure out how to do it; it was basically the same thing he did when battling Golems, because he couldn’t fight and specifically try to dictate the actions of half a dozen constructs at the same time.

  With his absence, there wasn’t anything left she could realistically do about obtaining the help from the other races’ leadership. Therefore, she turned inward again and finished up her preparations for a Core Size upgrade. First, she sealed up the entrance to the giant Roc tunnel opening near the wastelands with a stone wall that was 30 feet thick, which also served to semi-camouflage it. Second, Sandra ensured her main entrance and defensive dungeon rooms were fully prepared with their normal traps and defending Dungeon Monsters, with a few extra constructs thrown in here and there for good measure. Third, she spoke to all of the Dwarves living inside of her dungeon – which included the Shieldmen when they woke up mid-morning – as well as all of the Elven Rangers scouring the local forests for Beasts and Slimes.

  * Just to inform everyone, fairly shortly I’m putting my dungeon on lockdown; no one will be able to leave or enter for a short period of time. Shieldmen, please prepare yourselves as you may need to camp outside for a day or more after you leave
this morning to cull Monsters, as you won’t be able to get back inside. I will be undergoing an upgrade to my Core Size and will not be able to be reached in an emergency. In addition, please avoid my Home room where my Core is located, as everything in there will have orders to attack anything on sight. With any luck, this will only last no more than a day, but it needs to be done if I am going to be able to help out your people. *

  It was a little more than she wanted to tell them, as it revealed that she was vulnerable, but she trusted everyone she had bonded with – to a point. As her Hyper Automatons reached and began their excavation of the Undead dungeon (which she helped with by clearing out large sections of the collapsed dirt and stone above the Monster Seeds) with instructions to leave what they found inside of the main Roc tunnel, she did one more thing to protect herself.

  “Are you sure this isn’t…a bit much?” Winxa asked, amusement coloring her voice as she saw Sandra’s preparations.

  Not at all; these six Pegasi with their Celestial Authority riders are perfect for blocking any attacks that may occur towards my Core, and they will provide a good airborne defense against projectiles and air-based Monsters. Plus, this Aerie Roc and the Animated Slab can handle just about anything that is ground-based.