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

was already too far away to hit.  He wasn’t the only one to see it, however, as the majority of the Orc Warriors shot forward, waving their swords in the air, and yelling guttural roars at the retreating dungeon heart.

“Wait!  That’s just an illusion!” Fyola shouted after them, followed by Rothgar – which got them to stop immediately.  It was too late for most of them, however, as the floor seemed to come alive underneath them all and snap closed, smashing over a hundred of them in little more than a second.  The horrible scene caused Wyrlin to stop his own race into the room from shock, mainly because he hadn’t felt any Earth energy anywhere in the room.  It turned out that there was a reason for that, as there were 6 monsters in the shape of large stone slabs that were now walking around on their points looking to finish off the rest of his group.

Powerful shots from the Elite archers ripped literal holes into the moving stone monsters; one had used a massive amount of Earth energy in his shot that basically shattered one of them; another launched an arrow that landed in front of one and created a whirlwind of air that lifted two of the stone monsters off the ground and flung them away, where they shattered against the wall.  The last three were skewered by arrows wrapped in a chunk of ice that acted as a kind of drill, rotating fast enough to burrow a hole a foot wide into each of the monsters.  That was apparently all it took to kill them, because they crumbled apart and disappeared shortly thereafter, leaving behind their dungeon loot.  All of the others had dropped something when they were killed, but none of them had even looked at the loot – they had more important things on their minds, and he didn’t look at these ones, either.

Which brought him to his current location, looking inside the next room.  It appeared as though it was huge, and he was hoping and praying to the Creator that this was the last one, because he didn’t think they could take much more.  Other than Rothgar Bloodskull, who didn’t have a scratch on him – and come to think of it, hadn’t actually done anything other than skewer that traitor Orc near the entrance – none of them were uninjured in some way or another.

I have a feeling that’s about to change, he thought, as he limped ahead and into the next – and hopefully last – room.

Chapter 40

“I’ve got nothing left to negate the Air trap in this room,” Fyola said as they stood on the threshold to the room.  Wyrlin could understand where she was coming from, because he was on the last dregs of his own Earth energy as well; he thought he might have enough left over for a single enhanced arrow, but that was probably it.  He’d rarely used that much energy before while out hunting monsters in the forest, and he didn’t like the way it was draining him of physical endurance the further he drained his energy levels.

“We’ll just have to make do with what we have, then,” the Warlord said, directing some of the few Orc Warriors they had left to investigate the room.  “If I’m not mistaken, this should be the final room; I can nearly feel that the center of the dungeon is very near.”  There was a long overhang at the entrance to the room, which blocked those who were still in the tunnel (which was pretty much everyone else) from getting a view of the room as a whole.

The five Warriors walked inside, looking left and right with their weapons out, prepared to destroy whatever attacked them.  Nothing happened to them, though, which in itself was suspicious; they traveled about a third of the way towards the room’s exit, which appeared to be filled in with stone, leaving a 10-foot-wide and tall tunnel to – if Rothgar Bloodskull was correct – the dungeon heart.

It was at this point that Wyrlin heard a faint *whoosh* sound and he thought that the trap must have been finally activated.  However, it turned out to be something else as the Orcs turned as a unit to their right – and looked up; their surprise was evident on their faces for all of a second before a brown blur streaked past those in the tunnel and the injured Ranger received a brief sight of some sort of bird…and then it was gone – along with the five Orc Warriors.  He and the others could hear brief roars of pain coming from the Orcs, and then silence again after a few seconds.  The next thing they knew, five mangled and torn-up bodies slammed into the ground near where they had been snatched up, bouncing a little from the impact.

“What was that?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“I’d say that was some sort of Roc,” Mercyll said, but the confused faces on everyone else (except Fyola) made him explain a little more.  “It’s basically a big bird – a really big bird.”

That seemed easy enough to kill, though with its speed Wyrlin thought that it might be hard to hit.  The other Rangers still alive – as well as the Elite archers – seemed to think the same thing, but the Warlord seemed…happy.

“Finally!  A worthy challenge!”

Crazy Orcs.

Other than the magnificent sword throw he had seen the Warlord perform near the start of their dungeon nightmare, Wyrlin hadn’t seen him exercise his power and abilities; he didn’t even think he had necessarily used any energy to throw that sword, either – he was just naturally that strong.  If he thought that he could fight and kill one of those “Roc” things, then he was welcome to try.

With some more orders thrown out in his Guttural language, the Warlord directed his Warriors