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

The purplish-skinned monster person was the loudest, as it pointed further down the forest valley and identified the exact location of the tunnel leading on without fail.  They others pointed back towards where Shale had flown, but were obviously overruled.  Before they finished their argument, however, their raised voices camouflaged the approach of Tacca’s two creatures.

One was a Level 5 Forest Wolf which had been frozen into immobility to camouflage its presence, located only a dozen feet away from the group of six-armed invaders.  Her creature suddenly raced forward as if by some unknown signal and lunged at the back of the nearest blue-skinned leg, using its bite strength to try to rip the flesh from its target.  Unfortunately, the same glow flared up and prevented more than a few indentations on the skin – not even enough to break through; the Wolf backed off almost immediately after discovering that it couldn’t do any damage, looking for something a bit more vulnerable – but it was too late.  A warhammer swung down from the side as another six-armed person helped its comrade, shattering the spine of the creature and nearly cutting it in half from the sheer force.

The Forest Wolf wasn’t alone in its attack, however, as a Mountain Cougar leapt down from the left-side hill, having been lying still along a small shelf Tacca had created for the express purpose of camouflaging it upon the brown rock.  The Cougar was about the same size as the Wolf, but instead of mottled green-and-brown fur, the large Feline was different shades of brown – which blended in perfectly with the rocky hillside.

It landed on the back of a different blue-skinned invader, staggering the larger figure with its weight.  The large cat immediately bit down on the back of the monstrous person’s neck, but it was so thick that the Cougar couldn’t find any purchase.  It then attempted to tear into the skin underneath its hind legs with claws that were normally super sharp, but the familiar – and highly annoying, by that point – glow sprung up and prevented any damage from being done.

Before it could spring away as it realized its futility, her creature was impaled by a trident and torn off the back of its six-armed “victim”.  The nearby invader that had stabbed the large cat raised the feebly struggling Cougar high up into the air, before slamming it down onto the ground with force.  Bones audibly cracked as her creature hit the ground hard and it quickly disappeared, leaving behind 2 silver pieces lying in the dirt, joining the 2 dropped by the now-deceased Wolf.

The best I can say is that there is certainly a decent proof-of-concept to my placement of my creatures so far – but they are useless against these…whatever-they-are.  Where they came from, who they were, what that annoying glow was, why they were after her Dungeon Fairy and her Core: These were all questions she had no answers to, and she doubted they could be answered before they arrived at her Core Room.

At least Shale was doing his best to delay what appeared to be the inevitable.

Chapter 26

Sterge and Gwenda rushed out of the “Town Hall” behind Jesper and one of his assistants, alarmed at what he had just heard.  A group had come back from the mountains, screaming about how they found over 30 bodies outside of the dungeon – bodies of the Raiders waiting for their chance to delve through again.

“What’s going on?” he heard yelled at him from his right side, and Sterge looked over to see Evy, Mordecai, and William rushing over from the nearest Inn.  While they weren’t “allowed” to stay inside the Town Hall (as per Gwenda’s rules, to keep it strictly for Village or Raider Clan business), they lodged close enough to Sterge and Gwenda that it helped them to all stay in touch and feel like a complete group.

“I haven’t a clue quite yet, but if it’s true we might have a major problem.”  His answer to Evy was admittedly incomplete, but his knowledge of the situation was likewise incomplete.  None of them protested when their groupmates nodded at his words and joined them in their run towards The Village’s center, where a huge group of Raiders – and Merchants – were already gathering.

“—don’t know!  All I saw was that they were hacked apart—”

“—said that, didn’t I.  I told you I had no part in—”

“—must have been these filthy—"

“—they’re all dead!  Whatever it was, might be coming for us next—”

“—be the dungeon, itself.  It must have released all of its monsters to kill—”

“—anyone seen Bernlet’s group?  They were supposed to be next on the list—”

They arrived to pure bedlam, as conversations, arguments, and accusations were traded back and forth by those already assembled, with the small group in the middle being bombarded by questions.  Sterge figured that the middle group were the ones who had discovered the bodies and were being interrogated – though it didn’t seem very effective, as they seemed not to know much more than they had already said; he kept hearing the same things repeated over and over by the time they reached the edge of the crowd.

Unsurprisingly, the Merchant Minister arrived around the same time, looking like he was prepared to rip the answers out of the brains of the middle group with his bare hands.  He saw them along the edge and immediately came over, flanked by some intimidating guards that he suspected were quite a high Raider Level.  He was tempted to Analyze them, as he had acquired the Ability when he achieved Level 5 himself, but held back because it was considered rude to do it to another person without their permission.  The last thing they needed at this moment was an excuse for those powerful