The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (english readers txt) 📗

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