The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

They made an agreement with this Conclave to abide by these “Rules” and implemented regulations that Dungeon Cores had to abide by, otherwise they were free to be attacked and destroyed by the Raiders if they stepped out of line.  The Raiders, in turn, were forbidden from destroying Cores that were obeying these “Rules”.

It wasn’t the most ideal of solutions, but it had worked for so long that almost nobody knew exactly how it all came about; Malachite and the other Council members knew, of course, because such knowledge was passed down through the years.  The Conclave, though….  Well, the members of the Conclave of Sages were long-lived, but they were also sporadic and occasionally died doing stupid things, such as trying to tackle a Core Improvement Level 80 dungeon by themselves.  Sometimes when that happened, some important information regarding the whole agreement was lost.

So, was occasionally Malachite or other DPRC Leaders in the past had to visit and remind them of the arrangements that were made so long ago.  Every time he had gone to see them, the Conclave seemed to consist of mostly new faces, but one or two were still there who had lived long enough to recognize him.  He didn’t visit very often – only when he had to, really – because when he was in the presence of so many powerful Raiders, his own Fairy Mana and Abilities were muted somehow.  It was a terrifying experience feeling intensely vulnerable.  Just being there for more than a few minutes was almost too much for him.  When he thought about the…accidents…in the past where the Council leader had been killed by startled or vengeful Sages, his trepidation grew.

From all accounts, the Conclave’s headquarters hadn’t changed its appearance since it was created before the Council Leader was born, so it was always the same in case one of the Fairies had to visit.  He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on now in the world and why so many of the Dungeon Cores were being destroyed, but he was prepared in case there were some changes this time.

At least, he thought he was ready.  It turned out that he was in no way prepared for what he found.

He popped into existence in the middle of the lushly decorated Conclave chamber, very similar to the Council’s chamber but much larger.  He already had his Invisibility and multiple protective shields around his fluttering form, and he held himself ready from the first second he arrived to Translocate out at the first sign of hostility.  The instant he felt himself in the Conclave headquarters, he expected to feel the nearly overwhelming dampening of his own Fairy Mana; getting himself prepared ahead of time was the best, most sure-fire way to ensure he survived.

However, instead of experiencing those muted feelings, there was…nothing.  It didn’t take him long to see why.  Scattered around the room were the corpses of Raiders in various stages of dismemberment, sprawled over tables and chairs as well as the normally spotless white marble floor of the chamber.  Dried blood was splattered all over the walls and pooled near bodies, leaving a macabre scene of pure death and destruction.

What…what happened here?  How…?  He fluttered up higher until he was almost near the high ceiling of the Conclave chamber, as the first wave of decomposing flesh and curdled blood nearly sent him retching up his stomach – which was relatively empty, fortunately, since he had forgotten to eat after he had woken up not that long ago.  He looked around at the entire room and it looked like some sort of powerful killing force (or forces) had managed to infiltrate the Conclave’s headquarters and wipe out everyone inside.

He couldn’t believe it, though, even if it was plain to see right in front of him.  He thought for a moment that perhaps what he was seeing were much lower-Leveled Raiders, but he quickly recognized the remains of a female Elf he had seen the last time he had been there, with her upper half severed from her lower half by what appeared to be a single slice of…something.  He couldn’t tell if it were a weapon that had done the damage, or some sort of sharp claw; regardless, it had done enough damage to kill the extremely powerful Raider in one blow.  A closer inspection at some of the others, including some individuals wearing the remnants of some extremely powerful armor, showed that they had put up more of a fight against whatever had done this to them, but in the end it appeared not to be enough.  He didn’t see any indication of someone (or something) being wounded and leaving blood behind; as much as the vital liquid was literally coating some of the furniture, it was more than obvious it had been spilled there by the deceased bodies nearby.

I…just don’t understand.  How did this happen?  These people were supposed to be the most powerful Raiders on the planet.  While it was possible that their standards had dropped in the last 1,000 years, he knew for a fact that the Elf he had recognized was outrageously powerful and had been the leader of the Sages the last time he had been there.  He thought that she had been powerful enough that she might even be able to tackle the most difficult dungeons in the world by herself – one after another.  It had actually been a little frightening to be around her and others like her, because their physical proximity tended to affect his Fairy Mana to even greater extremes.

Nevertheless, there she was, killed by something that took her out in what appeared to be one blow – and killed everyone else in the Conclave chamber.  Such a thing should’ve been impossible, yet it had happened.  Judging by the decomposition of the bodies – not that he was an expert or anything, but he had been around quite a long