The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (great novels to read txt) 📗

allow another, fairer one to crop up.  It was a strange relationship between Dungeon Cores and Raiders that had been around since the beginning, where both sides benefited from each other – as long as everyone was playing by the rules.

The destruction of her Mentor’s Core and his subsequent death was strange, but not entirely uncommon.  From what she had overheard, she suspected that some important Raider had hired the others to clear out the dungeon for reasons of their own, but Tacca had no idea what those reasons might be.  Maybe they didn’t like Goblins or something – who knows?

The Dungeon Assistant followed the group of what appeared to be Brigand-type Raiders by their outfits, while Darlene informed her of her progress – which wasn’t much.  Some of the smaller rewards were able to be converted relatively quickly to Dungeon Force, but the more valuable ones – of which there were quite a few – took more Force to create, and therefore took longer to absorb.  Nevertheless, Tacca was impressed at how much the Core was able to accumulate in such a short period of time; it was enough to create another half-dozen Panthers, which joined the first one created in the room just before the Core Room.

Unfortunately, building a trap – even the least complicated and deadly ones – took at least an hour to form, so those were out of the question.  It appeared as though the seven black Panthers that blended into the shadowy recesses of the final room was going to be what they had to work with.  The large cats were about four feet tall and twice as long, with powerful muscles that allowed them to pounce from quite a long distance away and strike with potent strength behind them – but they were best used in stealthy situations, as they didn’t have a tough exterior for a lengthy fight.  Their deadly claws would easily be able to shred the leather armor of the Raiders making their way cautiously through the dungeon, but would quickly fall to the short swords and daggers being wielded by the Brigands.

Fortunately for Darlene and Tacca, the previous Dungeon Assistant had coached the Core well in the tactical construction of the dungeon’s rooms; it was a shame that Darlene had lost her focus and started hoarding rewards, because it was actually a nice set-up.  The final room before the Core Room had dozens of small alcoves cleverly hidden in the walls, where the Panthers could hide and pounce from above, and the available space for the Raiders to defend themselves was small – but fair.  This meant that they could be surrounded on essentially all sides by holes that may or may not contain a deadly creature ready to pounce on them, which would make it difficult to defend everyone in the group effectively – especially the less-protected members like spell-slingers or healing-types.

With an almost equal number of Raiders and Panthers, however, it was unknown whether even surprise would be enough to dissuade the invaders from progressing further.  Tacca felt even worse about their chances as she overheard them talking just before entering the last room.

“Well, Marvus – I have to give it to you; even I can sense the massive treasure nearby, though I wonder if it’s hidden somewhere if it hasn’t been found before now.  We may need to head back to town and discreetly pick up some mining equipment, because it’s entirely possible that it might be buried.  Regardless, the fact that I can sense it now means that there is something here, and we could get lucky and find it without having to come back.”

“I told you!  It also feels to me like it’s really near, so let’s stop all this checking for traps nonsense and go get it!  This place is completely empty, and we haven’t seen any sign of anything dangerous yet, and I highly doubt there will be; this place is deserted, which I guess is why this treasure was never found,” the Raider named Marvus said, to which gained support from the others.

The apparent leader was a bit more cautious, though.  “I agree, though there could be something protecting the treasure – which is why no one has found it.  We can move a little quicker but keep an eye out for anything strange.”

They were carrying two torches for light, which helped to dispel the darkness of the room; the fact that they didn’t even have an Amulet of Illumination between them gave her hope that they weren’t very powerful, but she knew that looks could be deceiving.  I guess we’re about to find out.

They walked slowly through the tunnel leading to the room where the Panthers were lying in wait in their alcoves, and the Raiders dispensed with checking for traps – though they kept a lookout for anything out of the ordinary.  They entered the room without even pausing, though they were experienced enough that they kept an eye on almost every corner of the room as they passed through.  Just after passing through the center of the room, Darlene’s dungeon creatures attacked.

They were all located along the wall above the Raiders’ heads, so none saw them actually emerge; the Panthers’ padded feet were silent as they rushed out of the alcoves and pounced, their claws outstretched to inflict horrendous damage on the unsuspecting invaders.  Tacca cheered as they fell through the air, but while they were still descending one of the Brigands noticed one and shouted, “Above!”

The Raiders reacted faster than she would’ve thought; hearing about some of the physical abilities that the Raiders had and seeing them herself were two different things.  Half of them managed to raise their short swords up to stab the Panthers as they descended, though they were still bowled over by the sheer weight of the creatures.  Two lucky strikes managed to kill an equal number of the large cats