The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) by Jonathan Brooks (best english books to read TXT) 📗

space about 2 feet in diameter was all that was sucked dry.  Attempting to make it stronger with additional elemental energy was largely unsuccessful, with only small increases in the diameter even with twice as much energy as before.

Now, if they had been able to use a Water Energy Orb with the enchantment, that might have made a much bigger difference.  Doing so would consume an entire Orb, though, and they had precious few as it was.

There were a handful of other Weapons of War that didn’t require an Energy Orb to produce, which meant that they were able to create quite a few of them in the time allotted before they began their assault.  For those weapons requiring an Orb, they were limited by the quantity of resources at hand – exactly 48 of them that weren’t being used by the Enchanters. With 6 Large Energy Orbs of each elemental type, there was only so much that they could do; what they did accomplish was impressive, nonetheless.

Seeing if they were actually effective in action was something else entirely – and it was about time for just that.

Chapter 15

The first thing Violet saw when she entered the command tent was the large table that had been erected in the middle of the area, giving them barely enough room to move around.  It was necessary, however, because the table held a complete map of Gnomeria; on the map were markers indicating villages, towns, and the single city that existed outside of the capital, as well as their last-known defenses and current situation.  Around the perimeter of their land, thick forests separated them from the other races, nigh impossible to pass through without an extraordinarily large amount of luck – or a massive force, neither of which they had at the moment (not that they had any desire to adventure in other lands).

Relatively near the inside border of those forests were dungeons, nearly 100 of them throughout the entire perimeter.  Based on information that was at times updated daily or monthly, lightly tinted glass disks of different sizes sat on top of each dungeon, indicating the approximate reach – or “Area of Influence” as Sandra called it – of the dungeon monsters belonging to those dungeons.  Throughout 85% of Gnomeria, the reach of the dungeons was appropriately small, as the nearby Defensive Forces were keeping up with the culling of monsters to keep them small.

There were a few exceptions, where it was obvious that a few had expanded recently, and the dwindling resources of the Defensive Force were shuffled around, but nothing too out of the ordinary.  Overall, the defenses were kept to a point where there wouldn’t be much in the way of danger for most of the nearby people – at least for another decade or so, Violet figured, when the loss of so many Master Enchanters over the last few years would really start to be felt with the lack of new War Machines.

For the other 15%, mostly concentrated to the northeast, there was only speculation, as reports from the area where the King and the rest of his party had been ambushed and killed were sporadic or non-existent.  Based on which monsters had attacked them, it was easy enough to pinpoint the dungeons they came from – which had assumed reaches that were significantly larger than the others.  Benchville, a small village near the area, was reported to have been wiped out completely, though the few towns and other villages near there had enough warning to have withstood the sporadic attacks, bolstered by emergency reinforcements.  Those same reports indicated that it wouldn’t stay that way for long, however, as attacks were becoming more and more frequent, and casualties and losses of defenses were starting to mount up.

Which was why they needed to move quickly before things could become too dire, as much as Violet thought another week building Weapons of War would be beneficial.  Then again, I’m not really a strategy person; I’m just here to flex my Enchantment knowledge to produce results.  Besides, Felbar agreed with the assessment, so who was she to naysay the decision?  That, and she didn’t want any more people dying than there was already, so the sooner they moved, the better.

“Thank you for coming, Violet, Felbar,” the young Enchanter heard as soon as she walked through the door with the old Warmaster by her side.  Council Leader Brinda was there, as were the rest of the council members, along with those chosen to lead each contingent.  From what she had been told, this was the largest undertaking the Gnomes had been a part of since the events that led to Sandra’s Wasteland, so having leadership throughout their Forces was important.  Especially since more than half of them had been recruited from the general population, as their experienced Defensive Forces had taken recent hits to their ranks.

“We were just finishing up our logistical assessment, and since there doesn’t seem to be any major issues we’ve foreseen, we can start—” Brinda continued, but stopped when a voice outside the tent made her lose her concentration.

“—will not be held against my will!  I demand to accompany this Force so that I can avenge my family!”

In walked Princess Celeste, geared up in a hard leather outfit that provided excellent protection while still allowing easy movement.  The Princess was carrying a pair of hatchets that glowed with enchantments, probably Sharpness and Durability, and her face was a thundercloud of emotion; anger, disappointment, and determination warred with each other as she stared down everyone in the room.

Out of the entire Royal family, it made the most sense that the Princess had stayed home while the others had left.  Unlike most Gnomes, Celeste wasn’t as interested in Enchantments, though it wasn’t as if their use was unknown to her; instead, she concentrated on more of the martial aspect of culling dungeon monsters and frequently joined