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

In fact, the only one that wasn’t hurt was Rothgar Bloodskull; Wyrlin suspected that the Orc was just so frighteningly strong that nothing wanted to call attention to themselves by trying to hurt the Warlord.  The last six rooms had taken a toll on the rest of his Warband, however, and it all started when there was an ambush in the third room that halfway convinced the Ranger that he was in a nightmarish vision of the underworld.

“There’s a trap in here, but I don’t think we can negate it,” Fyola had said as soon as they got close to the third room.

“Why?  I thought your kind were masters of manipulating elemental energy.”

Mercyll had snorted and responded for the Elite leader, because she seemed to be ignoring the Warlord.  Or it could be because her hearing had been damaged in the explosion, which was entirely possible.  “While that is undoubtedly true, there are two elements associated with the trap, Holy and Nether, and we don’t have any of us that can access Nether to negate the Holy part of it.  Negation requires being able to cancel out both, so we’re out of options on that front.”

That had been news to Wyrlin, who didn’t understand how they negated the traps in the first place.  It wasn’t something that he had ever learned – mainly because he hadn’t ever had a need of it before this.

They had finally decided to move in cautiously, letting a small group of 20 Orc Warriors pass through the room first.  Everything had been fine until they passed the halfway mark, where they obviously triggered the trap.  The room started to alternatingly become intensely bright and frighteningly dark, in seemingly random intervals; despite their vision being so completely messed up from the extreme light and lack of light, it didn’t seem all that bad.

Until some pained screams started to erupt from the room, followed by more explosions.  However, unlike the explosions from before, these had sounded…wetter, somehow.  Not only that, but those around him had seemed to be hit with something, eliciting some shouts of pain and the sound of metal *tings* along the stone.  It was only when he stepped back out of the extreme range of the light changes that he was able to see what was happening.  Suffice it to say, it was disturbing.

From some sort of platform filled with holes in the ceiling, more Goblins were falling from above, leading with a metal spear of some kind, falling onto the unsuspecting and partially blinded Orcs.  Their stabs with the spear as they landed point-down were what caused the first cries of pain that they had heard, though even that wasn’t that deadly.  It was what happened next that shocked and appalled him.  The Goblins started to swell as soon as they hit the ground, most with broken bones from the fall, and then exploded once they expanded enough.  Along with blood, bone, and internal organs, spiked thin metal armor that the Goblins were wearing also exploded out everywhere, impaling the Orcs inside the room – and some of those outside – with shards of sharp metal fragments.

“Why?!  What kind of sick—” Wyrlin had started to ask before he was forced to duck as another exploding Goblin caused a metal shard to fly over his head.

Those outside the room had backed up to a safe distance, while another dozen or so Goblins fell down and exploded.  It was only when they stopped and investigated the room, which had stopped with its light show, that they discovered that all 20 of the Orcs inside had been practically shredded and were nearly unrecognizable.  Fortunately, that initial barrage seemed to be the last of the exploding Goblins and they left the remains of the Warriors behind as they continued on, though some of Wyrlin’s Rangers had a little bit lighter stomachs.

The next room hadn’t been as frightening, though it was just as deadly.  Large pillars of dark voids dotted the room, which Mercyll was able to negate nearly half of them with his Holy energy, but the rest aided the monsters inside – which, strangely enough, he was glad weren’t Goblins.  Instead, they were 8-foot-long beasts that seemed to blend into the shadowy void pillars, making them practically invisible and silent as they crept up to the first small group of Orc Warriors that ventured inside. It was hard to tell at first how many of them there were, but when Mercyll went along with the next, larger group – after the first group had been viciously slaughtered – his negation of the nearby void pillars revealed over 20 of them stalking their prey.

The Warriors showed their prowess then, as they fought with a savagery that was almost scary.  While he and his fellow Rangers supported them from further away, the Orcs tore into the black-colored beasts with vicious-looking claws, losing only 2 more of their number in the counterattack. The exit led off to the right, which hopefully meant they were getting closer to their destination.

The fifth room inside of the dungeon was a bit different, however.  First, it appeared much taller than the others; second, it had an elemental trap that even Wyrlin could identify.  “There’s an Earth trap in this room, though it doesn’t seem concentrated in any particular place,” the arrogant Elite spell-caster had said, and Wyrlin realized he had never learned his name.  Not that he cared, because he hoped he died, too.  “I can try to negate a portion of it, but the room is so large I’m not sure it’ll do any good.”

They decided to trigger the trap and see exactly what it was, and it was unlike anything they had expected.  Flat columns of stone seemed to erupt from the floor at various elevations, reaching up 50 to 75 feet up into the room. It looked