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

safely back to her dungeon, while preparing for the inevitable attack by the Orcish army…which never came.  Instead, the Orcs went into the two nearest dungeons near Grongbak, destroying the Unicorn-based and Avian-based Cores, respectively.

Unfortunately, such an act had unforeseen repercussions; at least, they were unforeseen to Sandra, though most of the others knew about them.  It turned out that destroying too many Dungeon Cores in rapid succession would provide enhancements to the other nearby Cores, until such a time as the brand-new Cores replacing those destroyed could increase their Core Size to a certain threshold.  Because Sandra had participated in the destruction of at least one of those Cores, however, she was not entitled to any of those benefits.

Having no other choice but to destroy the Undead-based Dungeon Core, because it was already becoming a serious danger and had proven to possess a knowledge of tactics that far outstripped Sandra’s own, Echo, Felbar, and Gerold ventured towards the hostile dungeon with the intent of destroying the Core inside.  Accompanied by Advancement-unlocked Radiant Pegasi and Celestial Authorities – a type of Angel – as well as a small army of Sandra’s previous constructs, things were looking well…until the entrance collapsed, cutting off her perceptions and control of anything inside the foreign dungeon.  Luckily for those inside, Sandra was able to pass off control of her constructs and other Dungeon Monsters to Echo and the others before she lost contact.

Through difficult traps, a maze of rooms, and increasingly powerful Undead, the Elf, Dwarf, and Gnome were able to make it to the very end of the dungeon, where they were faced with a near-impossible fight with gargantuan Undead Dungeon Monsters that appeared ready to stomp them flat.  When another horde of smaller Undead flowed in from outside of the dungeon through a separate entrance, failure was only minutes away.  It was only through strategic use of their resources and sheer blind luck that Echo was able to make it to the Core Room, where – with a little help from Sandra, who was fighting her own way to get her constructs into the Core Room from another direction – she was able to destroy the Nether Core.

Felbar and Gerold were barely able to escape with their lives, picking up Echo on the way out as the dungeon itself collapsed, unlike the other Shieldmen that had come with them into the dungeon.  They were successful in destroying the Undead-based Nether Core, at least, even with the expensive cost in terms of lives lost.

With all of the Dungeon Core destruction happening so close together, though, a new danger awaited Sandra and those she had taken into her care.  The repercussions of her actions had yet to be seen, though it would only be a matter of time as the enhancements for the other nearby Cores went into effect.  A time of potential darkness was fast descending upon the world around her wasteland, and Sandra had to find a way to stop it….

Chapter 1

Wyrlin stomped through the makeshift camp in the northern forest, narrowly avoiding braining himself on a low-hanging tree branch; the rage and frustration boiling up inside of his body was making him lose sight of the world around him.  Such a thing wasn’t good for an Elven Ranger; less so for a Ranger on the run.

Then again, he wasn’t alone in the camp; spread out in between the trees of this part of the forest largely unbothered by monsters were the temporary tents and lean-tos of those that had joined him on his crusade over the last few weeks.  His message of not cooperating with a dungeon was well-received in some circles, and other Rangers, hunters, and even two young Elites had trickled into where he originally made camp five days out from Avensglen.  While it wasn’t anywhere close to the capital, he had already been informed that word of his “rebellion” had reached even there, which only served to increase their numbers.

Not that he knew what exactly he was going to do with them once they reached a certain point.  His initial thought – as he left the village where he had been using his Ranger skills to help cull the dungeon monsters in the forest there – was that he would gather up hundreds of volunteers and march to the dungeon that had taken his Echo away from him.  Well, the beautiful Elf wasn’t his, necessarily, but he had gotten to know her long enough that he thought he had a rather good shot of making her his wife.  True, it probably would’ve put her plans to become an Elite on hold, but what was a few dozen years to an Elf, anyway?

But now she was tainted by the slave mark on her cheeks, and it was because of a dungeon, no less.  If he were stronger, he would’ve insisted on going inside with the group of Elites that had come to destroy the dungeon weeks ago; he had been convinced at the time that they would fulfill their promise to destroy the dungeon heart there and find Echo for him.  But now his weakness had resulted not only in his potential wife ending up in some sort of bondage to the dungeon, but the Elites wanted to actually work with the abomination, as well.  All because they were offered a bribe of sorts in the form of regenerating elemental energy that was just as unnatural as the rest of the dungeon.

Although, I have to admit that it would be nice to not have to sleep to replenish my energy every time I use it.  Good riddance, though, because I don’t even want to touch anything that may have come from that dungeon, as it might be trying to influence me.  He had been offered one by Echo herself shortly before he left and he had refused; a little part of him regretted not taking it,