“Well, those adventurers did mention some issues with your setup.” Her words caused Ryan to wince.
“But that guy was Platinum.” Sean had been way too overpowered. It wasn’t fair.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t improve yourself,” Erin scolded him, though her eyes took on a dreamy look at the mention of Sean.
“You just have a crush on him.” Ryan sulked as he thought back to the adventurers. That mage had mentioned Ryan was lacking in traps.
“I do not.”
Ha! She was blushing. For some reason, though, her reaction only made him smile for a moment before he felt something else. Jealousy? Why am I jealous?
“Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Rin.” He paused, seeing if the nickname would stick.
She glanced at him and smiled lightly. Yes. Her smile made him shine a little brighter.
“How about we get to work, Ryan?” she said. “Any ideas on what you want to fix first? We probably have a few weeks before more adventurers start arriving.”
“Well, that mage did mention I didn’t have any traps. How about those?”
“Oh, that mage just continues to come in handy.” They both laughed. His attitude may have been crap, but the mage had been the most useful of all the adventurers from Ryan’s point of view. Free levels. Free advice. Free complete skeleton.
“Yeah, he really did give us a hand. And an arm, and—”
Erin groaned, cutting him off. “I get it, you have a full human skeleton now,” she said. “First things first: traps.”
“Tell me,” Ryan said, rubbing his hands together – metaphorically speaking, of course.
“Traps are, well, traps.”
“Oh gee, that really helps.”
“Traps are something a dungeon can put in place to try and hinder or kill adventurers,” Erin said. “Some dungeons use traps like pitfalls, others use trick passages, falling objects. There are really countless ways to trap your dungeon.”
“Okay. Does it matter which type we use?”
“Well, usually dungeons try to make traps that synergize with their mobs, and the type of dungeon they are. Fire dungeons usually use lava in pitfall traps to burn adventurers alive. Earth dungeons have been known to chase down adventurers with boulders on steep slopes, to crush them.”
Ryan visualized an adventurer running through a dungeon, trying to escape as a giant boulder rolled after him. The idea made him smile.
“All right. What type of traps do darkness dungeons usually have?” he asked.
“Honestly?”
“No, I want you to lie to m—”
She slapped him lightly and went on.
“The darkness dungeons I’ve heard of usually had massive pits where they would trap adventurers and kill them. Then they would bring the zombies back to life, and just keep filling the pits with zombies, until they had enough to release throughout the dungeon.”
“Oh, let’s not do that.”
“Agreed,” Erin muttered.
“I can still do some pits, though. Maybe make some narrower areas for the adventurers to pass, which will allow my mobs a better chance to attack? If the adventurers fall, they go into a pit, and we send in the mobs to finish them quickly?”
“As long as you only absorb them and do not resurrect them.”
“I promise.”
Sheesh, didn’t she think he was a dungeon of his word?
“Well, stop floating around and get to work, then,” Erin ordered.
She curled up, obviously prepared to take a nap while he worked. Ryan didn’t mind, though; it would give him space to modify more than just traps.
He started with his first room, remembering how easily the adventurers had walked through, killing his mobs. Ryan knew he was going to put more mobs into that room but decided to modify it a bit more to give them a better chance.
He created narrow tunnels all around the walls and under the floor, much like he had for Erin from his room, so his mobs could move about undetected. Then he hollowed out a few portions of the room, leaving just a thin layer of stone on top. If anyone stepped onto one of those areas, their leg would break through and become trapped. Not enough to kill anyone outright, but Ryan could imagine it would at least sprain or break something and give his mobs a chance at a kill.
Next, the tunnel leading into his second room was just too simple. Instead of an easy walk, Ryan decided to add in a twist. He widened the hallway, but then cut away most of the floor on either side. This created a narrow, winding walkway, with a ten-foot drop on either side. The adventurers would have to walk single file, or risk falling into one of the pits. He littered the pits with random broken bones. Nothing he was going to reanimate, but he figured it would scare the adventurers as they walked past it.
His second room was where he was hoping to do some damage. He knew the zombie rats could create wounds that would potentially hinder adventurers against his boss, and he wanted to capitalize on that. Ryan started growing rock formations out of the ground, obscuring visibility in the room, so that his mobs could hide more easily.
He littered this room with tunnels for his mobs as well. Never again would anyone waltz through as easily as those other adventurers had. He made the tunnel leading from his second room to his boss room the same as the first tunnel, wanting to keep the adventurers on edge as they neared his final room.
Once he finished, Ryan gave all his work a once-over. His dungeon was still dark, the lightly glowing walls providing poor visibility. There were decent traps layered throughout, and he thought he had done a good job for his first attempt at trapping. Erin was still asleep, though, so Ryan decided to add a little more to his dungeon while she slept.
First, he sifted through the plants he had absorbed when he created his opening. He found a few that he felt looked nice and urged them to grow in his second room. Now the room had a nice mixture of dark stone and simple flowering plants and mushrooms. Not only did they add a little color to the room, but they would help muffle the approach of his mobs.
Next, he decided his boss room needed a door. He didn’t want adventurers being able to see his boss from the hallway, and besides, leaving the boss visible would open him up for attacks outside of his range, which hardly seemed fair.
However, just as Ryan made the decision to start, he immediately stopped. How do I make a door? A stone slab was useless, and hanging the cloth from the mage’s robe wouldn’t really do much. Plus, he hated the way a hanging cloth over an entryway looked.
He did summon some of that cloth into his room, though. It added a nice splash of color, and he was sure Erin would like it. He smiled as he decorated the arched entryway into his boss room with glowing skulls, deciding he would revisit it when Erin was awake.
Finally, Ryan decided his main entrance needed a little work. Right now, it was just a gaping hole in the ground. He had his pride as a dungeon to uphold, so he got to work. He slowly pushed his influence into the ground around his opening and started pushing the stone up. Ryan grinned as he formed the stone; since his dungeon had a theme, he might as well embrace it. Checking his work over, he smiled to himself, and decided it was time to wake his fairy.
Chapter Fourteen
“I LOVE THIS.”
Erin sat on the ground, running her fingers along the fine material the mage’s robes had been made of.
Ryan forced a smile. He was glad she was happy, but he was also a bit annoyed. He had put all this work into modifying his dungeon, and yet she cared more about the cloth in the room.
“So, about my new dungeon,” he said.
She flapped her wings as she reluctantly lifted off the ground.
“Fiiine, I’ll go look.”
She flew through the tunnels connecting his room to the boss room, and Ryan made a mental note to make that a smoother flight for her.
“Boss room looks the same,” she said.
Judging from her short comment and tone, Ryan figured his mental note was a good one. All the twists and
turns seemed to put her in a foul mood. Happy fairy, happy life, or something like that.
“I didn’t think we needed to change much in there—”
“No traps? Nothing?”
“Nope, just the boss. He seems able to handle himself against a weaker group.” Sean had said as much, after all.
“Okay, well, hopefully the next—” She paused as she left the room, noticing the glowing skulls on the arch. “All right, Ryan, that is a nice touch.”
Erin shuddered as she glanced at it one more time.
“That gives off a creepy vibe,” she said.
“I want to make the adventurers a little wary of entering my boss room.”
He knew he limited his raw power by refusing to use the dead as his mobs, so Ryan had decided he could mess with adventurers’ minds a little. Nothing wrong with mind games.
“Well, that definitely works.” She flew lazily across the winding path, noting the narrow walkway and the bone-filled pits on either side. “Your dungeon definitely feels more dangerous now.”
Erin stopped as she reached his second room, now filled with rock formations and plants.
“This is amazing,” she laughed.
She zipped around, going to different flowers, smelling them with a smile on her face. Each of the plants she flew to, and even the mushrooms, all had the same faint white glow that everything Ryan created in the dungeon had. It gave the room a mystical feeling.
“What do all of these do?” she asked.
“Well, I just put them in to make the room look better, and because I figure my mobs would be better hidden. But—” He flipped through his knowledge on everything he’d put in there. “Some of the mushrooms are edible, and others are poisonous, so that’s fun.”
He glanced at the plants. Most of them were just nice to look at, but the winding three-leafed ivy he had intertwined throughout the room had a property that made him chuckle.
“The three-leafed ivy you see is called poison ivy,” he said. “It will cause a painful rash on humans, if what I’ve learned from absorbing it is correct.”
He could imagine that would inconvenience at least a few adventurers as they walked through the room, though he wasn’t certain how quickly it would take effect.
“All right, well, nice job on this room.” She flew towards the next room, noting he had mimicked the tunnel design from the boss room to the second room. “A bit unimaginative.”
Ouch. That was rude.
He looked at his path, feeling a little less proud about his work. She was right; he shouldn’t have both tunnels exactly the same. “Well, I am new to this.”
Erin crossed her arms, disappointment clear on her face.
“I know, and you were doing so well with the first tunnel and your second room,” she said. “I was expecting another surprise, is all.”
“Well, I have hidden traps all through the first room,” Ryan countered. “I hollowed out small holes and left just a thin layer of rock over them. When someone steps on them, they should get stuck.”
Erin nodded at that, examining the rest of the room as he spoke.
“I also put smaller tunnels all throughout the dungeon, letting my mobs have a chance to attack without getting blasted apart like earlier,” added Ryan.
“I like it,” Erin said.
That made him smile. He was so caught up with her praise that he almost let Erin start flying back without checking out his entrance.
“Wait.” He stopped her. “You should go look at the entrance.” He was proudest of his work there, and he wanted her to see it.
“Oh, I didn’t think you’d done anything there!” she said, clapping her hands with glee. She flew off, her excitement evident through the bond. As she neared the light, she slowed.
“Just go towards the light,” Ryan said.
He mentally nudged her forward, realizing she hadn’t been outside since her Goddess had sent her to him. Her form seemed to glow even brighter as the sunlight touched her, and Ryan couldn’t help but admire how beautiful her wings were in the light. He felt a pang of guilt that she was stuck in a darkness dungeon.
“WHAT IS THIS?”
Her voice ripped him from his feelings of guilt as she screamed excitedly through the bond. He watched as she zipped through the air, up and down, looking over his entrance.
It had been hard, but he had formed the stone around his entrance to emulate a massive wolf skull. A bit tacky, perhaps, but he felt it gave the dungeon a much more fitting feel. He was a darkness dungeon, after all. Just because he couldn’t make a wolf skeleton yet didn’t mean the adventurers knew that. Plus, he had a hunch that human skulls as entrances had likely been overdone already. And who would be scared of a rat or squirrel skull?
“Do you like it?” he asked as Erin finished inspecting it, her eyes sparkling with the pride he could feel through their bond.
“I do. This is amazing. You are really becoming a proper dungeon.” She admired the skeletal maw before her. “Now, how about we build some more mobs and set up a loot system before the adventurers arrive?”
She flew back inside, chuckling to herself.
“They are going to be in for such a surprise.”
Chapter Fifteen
“How should we mix up the mobs?”
Ryan and Erin were looking at his level triangle. Nearly half of the bottom layer of his triangle was filled with dark energy, and a white ‘70’ shone brightly.
“I was going to let you decide.”
Erin was sitting on him again, though she had wrapped part of the silky cloth around herself. Ryan wasn’t sure how to feel about her statement. He was happy she trusted him enough to do this, but he was still uncertain. That last group had knocked his ego down quite a bit.
“I don’t know.”
He knew his doubt was flooding through their bond, and he hated that fact. Ryan just wanted to do his best, but what if it wasn’t good enough?
“I believe in you.” She smiled, patting him. “Besides, you can always change things up again later on. You’re a dungeon. You live to grow and change.”
Oh, she had a good point. He could easily absorb anything in his dungeon, and just create mobs elsewhere if he didn’t like how they were performing. That thought took a bit of the stress off of him and gave him energy.
“All right,” he said.
He closed his ‘eyes’ as he shifted through his catalog of bones. The only thing Ryan had gained was a completed human skeleton, so he figured he would stick to the same mob types he had already used.
“First, I think we should use the same boss,” he mused.
Erin nodded, and he summoned his massive skeleton in his boss room. The eight-foot monstrosity rose with a clatter, dark power swirling around him, bones floating where his missing arm was. Ryan now knew those bones were a potent weapon. He could already imagine the panicked reactions of adventurers when they encountered him.
“Ryan?” Erin pulled him from his thoughts.
“Yes, Rin?” Calling her that made her blush a little, so Ryan had decided to keep at it.
“What are you going to name your boss?”
Huh? Name him?
“Does he need a name?”
“Well, generally, all the mobs in a dungeon have different names.” She had failed to mention that before. “And adventurers can identify the names of the mobs. Some can even observe basic information on mobs. Their weaknesses, their strengths, etcetera.”
Oh, that sounded like an interesting ability. I wonder if I can do the same to adventurers?
“So, I have to name everything?”
“That would probably be for the best,” Erin said.
“Ugh. You know, you keep forgetting to mention these things.”
Ryan immediately regretted saying that as he felt the hurt from Erin flow through their bond. The poor fairy’s eyes were practically shimmering, tears threatening to spill over.
“I— I— I—”
Oh, no.
Her voice cracked, and tears started to fall. Ryan silently cursed himself as his mind raced. How could he make her happy? Maybe he should apologize?
“Rin. Don’t cry.” His voice was soft, and he sent a soothing feeling through the bond. “I’m not mad at you. I was just… there is so much to being a dungeon. It gets overwhelming at times.”
He could feel her calming, but her tears were still falling, and she wasn’t looking at his core. Trying to hide her face was pointless, though, since he could see everything within the dungeon.
“But… but...” She could hardly speak past her sobs. “I’m supposed to be here to help you, and I keep failing.”
Welp, that unleashed even more tears.
“You’re a great help, Erin. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you. Now, how about you turn that frown upside down—” Ugh, what a tacky line. “—and let’s get to naming some mobs. I’ll let you name the boss.”
She steeled herself, trying to smile. “You aren’t mad?”
“Nope. I could never be mad at you,” Ryan said, wishing he had a mouth with which he could flash her a smile.
“Oh, okay.” She paused and wrapped him in a hug. “I’ll try to do my best for you, Ryan.”
“I know.”
He glowed a little more brightly from her touch, and he felt pleased with himself as he went back to summoning mobs. He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty though, too. Ryan had just passed naming the boss mob onto Erin because he had no idea what he should name that thing. Maybe I’ll just let her name everything for me.
Ryan pushed the thought from his mind, doing some quick math in his head as he summoned his normal mobs in his first two rooms. Five skeletal squirrels in the first room. Two zombie rats, five skeletal squirrels, and five skeletal rats in the second. He glanced at his level triangle, smiling at the remaining twenty points while absentmindedly trying to come up with different options for his two rooms. He knew he wanted some more mobs in his first room, but how many?
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 6