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

Core Room.  She was thankful that Shale decided to stay and help out, because even with the winding route, the six-armed warrior monsters would arrive before she was ready.  It put him in extreme danger, of course, but that was his decision – and it was one for which she was proud of him; she couldn’t help but think how much he had changed from when she had first met him.  The old Dungeon Assistant in him who had been prejudiced against Tacca and her “bad luck” would have jumped at the first chance to escape.

 Is this more of my bad luck coming back to haunt me?  It’s almost as if the world is punishing me for having it too good for a couple of months, and now I have to pay for it.

“That’s not true, Tacca.  I think most of your bad luck disappeared when you were sucked into that Core,” Shale abruptly said as he again flew through her dungeon, though this time with another purpose.  Tacca had forgotten to shield her thoughts, and she didn’t realize she had broadcasted her insecurities to her Dungeon Assistant.

Thanks, Shale – but I can’t say I believe that with what’s going on right now.

The unwelcome intruders were just now blowing through her Boss Room in her easy section, and even with the additional creatures she had in there, they barely paused to slaughter her defenders before moving on.  One of her Root Foxes actually managed to sneak up on one of the monsters and bite its lower left leg from behind—but its teeth failed to penetrate the tough skin of the deadly fighter.  It was cut in half soon after by a casual slice of a massive sword, and none of the others even got close.

Now was the chance to see what the traps she still had in her old Core Room would do – though she doubted they would do much, unfortunately.  The Merchants that had come to destroy her months ago had been heavily enchanted against them, and she had a feeling that whatever this glow seemed to be that surrounded each of these monsters would act similarly.

When they walked in, the extra-deep Pit trap opened up underneath the lead invader, who dropped at least 10 feet down before the glow enveloped it.  She watched as the blue-skinned monster was levitated upwards and deposited gently to the side – where the three blades shot out from the wall and impacted the figure.  Just like those Core-hunting Merchants, the monster was protected by the glow, but it also suffered from the impact; it was knocked away, stumbling into where the Earth-based trap was located, and sharp boulders dropped from the ceiling onto its head.

Tacca could see that the boulders made the glow around the six-armed monster start to fade a little as it was hit multiple times.  While it didn’t disappear completely, the Dungeon Core saw the invader knocked around more than she would’ve expected had it been glowing brightly.  When the trap ended, she saw that there was still no damage to the monster, unfortunately – though it did delay the rest as they easily jumped over the Pit trap and unburied their comrade.  Other than looking a little rattled – which she only assumed as the monster escaped the trap and shook its head a few times as if to clear it – the trap didn’t really do much to her invaders.

She had some hopes for the Death-based trap that one of the others ran into as they progressed through the room, but again nothing happened other than a super bright glow like a mystical aura surrounding the monster. With that unsuccessful, Tacca didn’t have any other serious defenses until they traveled closer to her Core Room.

When they arrived at the next room, which was the official start of her new section, they paused for the first time since they arrived at her dungeon.

Shale!  Just be aware, these blue-skinned monsters are more intelligent than I expected.

Tacca looked at his location, which was currently two rooms away from where the monsters were.  “What do you mean?” he asked, stopping at the same time.

I thought at first that they were just mindless killers, with the way they just charged ahead without regard to their own safety and slaughtering everything in their path.  I was wrong; from what I can tell, they are having an argument about where they need to go.

“What – like hand movements or something?”  Tacca watched them for a few moments before she responded.

No, they are talking to each other.  Or more like yelling with their volume, but they are having a conversation.  These are intelligent people, Shale.

“What are they saying?”

I have no idea; it’s no language that I recognize, and I’m fairly sure I learned about every language still in use today at DAPS – in addition to a variety of dead languages.  This sounds a little familiar, but I can’t place it or understand it all.

“You…studied some dead languages?”  He sounded incredulous.

Yes, there were some old tomes I needed to translate—but that’s not important right now.  It looks as though the almost-purple-colored one has made a decision for the group.  That’s strange…it closed its eyes for a moment and then pointed directly towards the correct tunnel.  I think that at least that one can sense my Core somehow; now I know for sure why they are here.

“Like you didn’t before?”

Not entirely; I…guess it’s good to have confirmation?  It wasn’t really good to know that these things were there to destroy her – or so she assumed – but it at least ruled out any other reasons.

The monstrous people took the tunnel leading off to their left, which led to one of the only rooms that was actually finished.  The “cliff” and the path leading up it were primed and ready to go, and