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

know they don’t have enough of them to search for your dungeon – or whatever it is they think killed Razochek.  Let’s just hope that it’s the first, and that they’re not heading back to get more help.”

* That’s something I don’t even have time to consider right now, so I think I’ll shelve that for another time.  No need to borrow trouble at this point in time. *

The group left just after mid-morning, off to join the rest of her forces outside of the Undead dungeon entrance.  Just so that she hopefully wouldn’t be surprised by any last-minute strategies by the other Core, she took 500 of the Shears in her AMANS and spread them throughout the border of her AOI to inform her if the Undead started to stream in from the areas she couldn’t reach.  It wouldn’t necessarily prevent them from attacking, but she heard Felbar say the other day: Forewarned is forearmed…or something like that.

It took a little over an hour and a half for them to walk all the way to the dungeon entrance, mainly because the Shieldmen Dwarves – though they tried to walk quickly – couldn’t move nearly as fast as Echo and the Deep Delvers. Regardless, the sun was high in the sky above the trees as they approached the large assortment of constructs and other Dungeon Monsters.

When they were all together, it was an impressive display: 50 Steelclad Ape Warriors armed with Titanium warhammers enchanted with either a Fireburst or Holy Light enchantment; 50 Celestial Authorities holding their longswords made of light and wearing Leather necklaces around their necks containing Large Holy and Spirit Energy Orbs to regenerate their elemental energy; 40 Unstable Shapeshifters that had accompanying enchanted bows made from Yew and Titanium, each with a leather quiver that held 50 of the special arrows that would explode upon impact; 20 Radiant Pegasi that would help dampen the severity of Nether-based traps and effects, which the Shapeshifters (in Echo form) could ride, also with supplies for the Echo copies strapped to their backs; 8 Multi-access Repair Drones to heal anyone who was hurt (she made sure to have one for each living person going); 5 Shieldmen with full sets of plated armor, shields, and battle-axes that became stronger through the use of elemental energy – which was also helped by the Energy Orbs embedded in their palms, along with more hanging around their necks underneath their chest plates; Felbar and Gerold in their Deep Delvers (with Gerold’s Energy Orbs connected to his attack enchantments replaced from the battle in the Dwarven village); and finally Echo, riding on the back of her Pegasus Starlight, who would have a commanding view of the fights to come to direct the Shapeshifters in battle.

Sandra and Echo had already practiced with that portion of the plan earlier, and it worked well enough; all she had to do was order the Shapeshifters to target whatever the Elf targeted, and they immediately shot their bows – which only worked if Sandra wasn’t directly controlling them, otherwise they would fumble about like the novice archer the Dungeon Core was – or sent out a spell using their elemental energy.   Along with the bows, quivers, and arrows they were bringing, each of them had a pair of Holy and Air Energy Orbs that they could wear to keep them from running out of that energy too quickly.

“So…what?  Do we just go in?” Gerold asked when they were all assembled and ready to go in front of the Undead dungeon entrance.

* Not quite yet.  I’m sending in some…sacrifices…first to hopefully trigger some of the traps and get a better look at what’s inside.  Hold on. I need someone living to go with them, though, to keep the Core from changing anything afterwards.  Just stepping inside the entrance should do the trick. *

“Is that the reason you needed these…tattoos?” Felbar asked, rubbing the chest on his Deep Delver with the side of the warhammer attached to his left arm.

* Precisely.  Without those Visitor’s Bonds, I can’t create much other than Monster Seeds – you know them as Dungeon Loot – and the Monsters themselves; it’s a hindrance to me, but it also ensures that anyone entering a dungeon with the intent to destroy it won’t have to worry about new traps springing up or walls collapsing on them. *

If Sandra had learned anything from her previous experience dealing with the Reptile-based dungeon, it was that she probably would’ve been better served to send in some of her smaller constructs first to draw out some of the attacks, instead of letting the bulk of her forces suffer from it.  With that in mind, she pulled up the 500 Rolling Forces she had gathered over the last hour, as well as over 1,000 Reinforced Animated Shears from her AMANS.  She was already in the process of replacing them back in her dungeon, so they wouldn’t be missed for long.

The only drawback from having her “sacrifices” scouting the way without someone following along was that the Monster Seeds they dropped would be absorbed and used by the Dungeon Core right away; normally, Sandra – and she assumed from what Winxa had told her, the Undead Core as well – had to wait until the invaders left the room to absorb them, but if there was only someone stationed at the entrance, then it wouldn’t matter.  It was a price she was willing to pay, however, to save the lives of her Dungeon Monsters and the people coming with them.

Felbar volunteered to stand inside the entrance while Sandra sent in the first wave of scout “sacrifices”: 100 Shears and 50 Rolling Forces.  Rather than have them all go in at the same time, she figured it would be better to space them out – it would defeat the entire purpose of this plan if they all went in and were destroyed