The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (ebook reader with android os TXT) 📗

that, she would keep adding layers of Steel from the inside, making it even harder for them to get in.  Regardless of what they tried, Sandra was not going to allow them to force their way in her Home.

They were going to have to use the front door like everyone else.  Or the back door, at least, which the Orcs and rebel Elves were going to be using soon.

When there was no progress being made by the Golems, using her vision of her Area of Influence she saw them digging all around their tunnel, seeing Steel walls everywhere they tried.  The Goblins arrived soon after and tried in a completely different spot on the outside of her Home room, and then one of the nearby tunnels, but all they found was Steel as well.  They didn’t have nearly the same sort of power to smash into and deform the Steel walls as the Golems did, so they were a whole lot less effective and gave up within a minute of trying.

The Beasts arrived next and attempted to scratch and slam their way inside, but even with what she assumed was one of the massive green-furred Monsters trying to claw its way inside, they weren’t having much luck.  Its sharp claws might have been able to completely shear through a tree trunk, but solid Steel was something else entirely; Sandra could see gouges made in the metal after a while, but since the entire face of it wasn’t deformed and pushed inwards – like the Golems, who basically “extended” their dungeon tunnel – she was able to repair the damage almost instantly.

What worried her the most was when the Slimes attacked, because she had already seen that their acidic nature could eat through metal after a while.  However, when they were only about 100 feet from reaching her dungeon with their tunnel, they suddenly started to tunnel at an angle towards the surface, along with the other Cores – at the exact same time.

Ok, Winxa, I’m convinced that now they are all communicating somehow.  I wonder, are the enhancements they are receiving allowing them to speak to each other somehow?

“I…am not aware of that being something they could do.  You have to remember, it’s been many, many years since there has been any serious incidence of these enhancements taking place and I can’t remember if that was part of them.”  The Dungeon Fairy could only raise her hands in supplication, looking apologetic.

That’s ok, Winxa.  It doesn’t really matter now; if I know that if something happens to one of them, then all of them will find out shortly thereafter, then that will help me with my plans.  She wasn’t sure how that would help, but at least knowing had to be a benefit.  Right?

Regardless of their mysterious ability to communicate, the immediate problem wasn’t necessarily that the Cores were tunneling to the surface, it was where they were tunneling to the surface that concerned her.  Instead of angling to emerge near her main entrance, they were instead aiming for her secondary entrance.

This isn’t good.

The army of Orcs and Elves were walking into an ambush, but it wasn’t one of Sandra’s making.  By the time she realized where the Cores were going, the people trying to destroy her Core were already at her stone wall sealing up her Roc tunnel.  As she had suspected, the Elite Elf leader, whose name she hadn’t been able to overhear quite yet – despite having Clockwork Tarantulas hidden everywhere over the landscape hiding perfectly still and listening in – used her Earth elemental energy to shatter her temporary obstacle so they could get inside.  It was actually an impressive use of her energy in the form of a powerful spell, and not for the first time Sandra wished she were a little more adept at casting spells through her Shapeshifters than she was.  She could do some of the simple things that Echo had shown her, but more complex spells were a bit more hit and miss; she’d much rather craft enchantments to some of the same things.

* Perceine, just a warning.  The tunnels that the dungeons were creating towards my own dungeon couldn’t get inside, so now they are apparently going to attempt to come through my secondary entrance.  You know, where you’re standing right now, and an army of your people are trying to come in? *

For the first time, a flash of pure fear overcame the Orc mercenary’s face, but it was gone in a flash; if Sandra wasn’t looking right at her, she probably would’ve missed the raw emotion’s appearance.

“I saw and heard the wall collapse, so they will be here soon.  Do you want me to move up?” Perceine asked, looking around at the lifeless-looking Goblin Foremen that were surrounding her for extra protection.

* No, I want you safe.  I’m bringing in the other mercenaries to help out, as well as the Elven Rangers and Dwarven Shieldmen.  As much as I loathe that they want to kill me, nor do I want them all slaughtered unnecessarily. *

“It was their choice to come here, so it’s their choice to die.”

* That’s a grim way to look at it, but I can’t say I disagree.  However, I would still rather not have to kill them all, because your land can’t afford to lose so many of your people, and a Warlord as well. *

“Wait, you didn’t mention that there was a Warlord out there,” Perceine suddenly said, as Sandra watched the first few Orc Warriors climb over the rubble of the stone wall.  “Do you know which one it is?”

* It’s the Bloodskull Warlord, for sure, but I have to admit that I forgot to ask what his first name is. *

Another flash of fear suffused Perceine’s face for a moment before she composed herself.  “I’ve heard that the Bloodskull Warlord is known to