Now, Ryan’s first room had six skuirrels and four victorious skuirrels, costing fourteen points in total, while his second room had two infested ratbies, eight skuirrels, eight skrats, two victorious skuirrels, and two champion skrats, for a total of forty points in that room.
Steve still cost him twenty-five points, and Ryan was now using seventy-nine of his eighty-five points. Well, those other six points were going to be used in skeletal fight club. Ryan loved when a plan came together.
“Let’s see how these new fights go,” Ryan whispered to himself, his attention turning back to skeletal fight club.
“I’m excited to see how Blake’s team does tomorrow,” Erin replied sleepily as she curled up in the dungeon core room, pulling her silk cloth around her.
Oh, close call. Ryan had been thinking about his skeletal fight club fights, but as Erin fell asleep, he felt excitement filling him as well. He really was interested to see how the groups would do against his new and improved dungeon mobs.
Chapter Forty-One
“Erin!”
Ryan’s voice was frantic as he tried to wake the snoring fairy.
“Erin!” he said with a little more force.
The fairy mumbled in her sleep and rolled over, pulling the silk tighter around her. Now was not the time for her to be a deep sleeper.
Well, I tried the easy way.
A small rock dropped from inside the dungeon core room, landing directly on Erin’s stomach.
“Ouch!” Erin cried out as she woke, and then clutched at her stomach, gasping for air.
Oh, she’s being so melodramatic. The rock wasn’t that big.
“We might have a little problem,” Ryan said.
He was trying to stay calm, but he could tell he was losing his cool. It was more than a little problem. From what he could tell, it might be a big problem.
Erin shook her head, pushing away the last bit of sleep, as she looked down into his core.
“What’s going on hun?” she asked.
Knowing he had her attention, Ryan turned his focus back to the problem currently making its way through his dungeon, and pulled up the image for Erin to see as well.
“This… person.” Ryan wasn’t sure if they were a male or female.
In fact, he really wasn’t sure about anything when it came to this invader. Ryan had been minding his own business, watching as a victorious skuirrel wrapped itself around a champion skrat, using its tail to pry away the thicker mob’s bones. Then, all of a sudden, a figure had appeared at the entrance to his dungeon.
Over the past few weeks, Ryan had become used to adventurers arriving at his dungeon, and the two twins, Rasha and Sasha, often arrived earlier than most, and left after them.
Ryan was used to that, so when the figure appeared, at first he just figured it was one of those two. However, even as the battle in skeletal fight club reached its climax, Ryan’s attention was suddenly jerked away. The strange figure had stepped into Ryan’s dungeon.
The moment the figure did this, Ryan knew something was different, and it made him uneasy. First, the twins never set foot in his dungeon. Therefore, Ryan concluded this person was not one of the twins.
Second, this new intruder seemed to be completely cloaked in a swirling darkness, which Ryan couldn’t see through. Third, when Ryan tried to pull up information on this figure, nothing came up. That wasn’t a good sign. While he hadn’t been able to see Rasha’s information previously, that was because the dark clad female hadn’t stepped foot in his dungeon. He had never not been able to see someone’s information once they were inside.
In the time it took Ryan to wake Erin, the intruder had reached the first room.
“Who is he?” Erin asked, and Ryan mentally sent her a blank stare. If he knew that, he wouldn’t be so worried.
“No idea. He just kind of showed up, and waltzed right in.”
“Has he done anything? Said anything?”
“Nope. Hun, I have no idea about this figure,” Ryan said. “I was hoping you might have an idea.”
“Oh. Well—“ She drew her face closer to Ryan’s core, staring intently at the figure.
The shadow-clad form had paused in the middle of the first room, and was completely still. It really disturbed Ryan. What’s more, his mobs seemed afraid to attack. What was going on?
“Ryan, this might be bad.” Erin’s voice held something he hadn’t heard in a while: fear.
“Why do you say—“
Dark projections shot out from the stranger. These tendrils snaked towards Ryan’s mobs, and Ryan winced as they struck each of them at the same time. However, they didn’t die. Instead, the moment the tendrils hit his mobs, he lost his connection with them.
“What did he just do?” Ryan whispered to Erin, watching as his mobs began to calmly walk towards the shadow-clad form.
“He’s a necromancer,” Erin hissed. “He can control the undead.”
“He stole my mobs?”
That didn’t seem right. How could his mobs be stolen? They were his! He made them, and he brought them to life, sort of.
“Yes, he stole your mobs.” Erin went silent for a moment, leaving Ryan to watch the figure, and his army of stolen mobs, walk towards the exit of the first room, heading deeper into Ryan’s dungeon.
“How?”
“Necromancers are a very rare class,” Erin said quietly. “It is a class that is constantly feared and hunted by the church, a class that is viewed as evil.”
“Go on.”
Ryan could tell Erin really didn’t like talking about necromancers, but he needed to know just what was going on. He hated the idea of someone in his dungeon that could steal his mobs.
“The reason the class is so…“ Erin shuddered, “…vile, is because they use a darkness affinity to bring back the dead.”
“Which is what I do as a darkness dungeon.” Ryan remembered how upset Erin had been when he chose his affinity.
“Yes, but you don’t bring back the dead. You create your own sets of dungeon bones, and animate those. You’re a good darkness dungeon. This vile creature is an evil, disgusting thing.”
Okay, Erin really doesn’t like necromancers.
“You still haven’t covered how he stole my mobs,” Ryan said, becoming increasingly worried. The figure had reached the second room, his army of skeletons lined up behind him. He was moving slowly to the center of the room, and Ryan could guess what was about to happen next.
“Because of his darkness affinity, and his class, he can animate the dead,” Erin said.
“Yes, you covered that, hun.”
Ryan was getting impatient. The necromancer had just shot out his tendrils again, and stolen all of his mobs in the second room.
“Well, the thing about necromancers is that they can steal undead minions from others who are two tiers below them,” Erin explained quickly, sensing his fear. “Even though you create your mobs from scratch, the bones are still based off once-living things. Therefore, they are free game for the necromancer.”
Well, that’s not good.
“So,” Ryan thought aloud, “because I’m Bronze, he has to be at least gold to be a necromancer—“
“—who can steal all of your mobs.”
The necromancer is at least Gold. Well, that’s really not good.
“How can we stop him?” Ryan asked.
“Have you tried your favorite rock method?”
Erin must really hate this guy if she was recommending he dropped a stalactite on the necromancer’s head. However, given the fact he was stealing Ryan’s mobs, and his class was evil according to Erin, Ryan was happy to oblige.
“Got it.”
Ryan didn’t need any further prodding. He didn’t like evil things, and the necromancer was definitely that. He willed a stalactite into being, and silently dropped the massive stone down onto the necromancer.
“That should—“
Swirling darkness shot from the necromancer to the nearest skeletal mobs
, breaking them apart and pulling their bones above the necromancer’s form. The bones created a swirling, skeletal shield, which easily blocked the stone spike Ryan had summoned.
Even as Ryan started summoning another, the necromancer started laughing. The sound was dark, and if Ryan could shiver, he would have.
“I see I have gotten your attention, dungeon.” The necromancer’s voice boomed around the room, coming from deep within the swirling darkness.
Ryan responded by dropping another stalactite, much larger than the first, onto the necromancer. The swirling bones blocked the stone, sending bone shards and rock pieces flying across the room.
“Please, your tricks will not work against me,” the necromancer said, unfazed.
Ryan dropped a boulder this time. He was starting to feel the mana drain hitting him. He couldn’t keep up this barrage.
Darkness shot out, pulling apart the remaining skeletal mobs the necromancer had stolen. The bones formed into a spike that shattered the boulder, sending its remains cascading harmlessly. The bones appeared to have tendrils of black mana snaking around them. If Ryan had to guess, the necromancer was reinforcing them to preserve them.
Well, that’s new.
The necromancer brushed dust from his robe.
“Any ideas, Rin?” Ryan doubted sending Steve after the necromancer would do anything, and he didn’t want his boss mob stolen.
“Absorb Steve, and close off the path to the boss room. Maybe he will leave.”
That seemed like a good plan, as Ryan doubted they would be able to kill the necromancer. As a Bronze dungeon, he just wasn’t that strong. He’d only killed that mage using the element of surprise.
Ryan absorbed Steve, and summoned a stone slab over the exit in the second room. He silently cursed how little mana he had. The necromancer turned towards the now sealed entrance, chuckling darkly.
“I can understand your fear, dungeon,” the cruel voice said. “It is good of you to fear me.”
The bone spike had joined the rest of the shards, creating a protective, swirling mass of bones around the necromancer’s darkness-clad form.
Ryan knew he wouldn’t be able to hurt him, but dropped another stalactite for good measure. Small stalactites were the least draining attack he could do. While he wanted to open a pit under the necromancer, he hadn’t spread his influence far enough under his own dungeon to kill him with the fall, and he didn’t have the time or mana to do so now. A small drop would simply anger the intruder, and Ryan suspected this was not a good idea.
The stalactite shattered against bone, and Ryan heard the necromancer sigh.
“Do you not hear me, dungeon? If you keep that up, I will kill you.”
“Can he do that?” Ryan whispered, stopping the stalactite he was about to release.
“Yes,” Erin whispered, and Ryan could tell from her swirling emotions that she was extremely scared, and angry, at the intruder.
The necromancer stood in silence for a few moments, waiting to see if Ryan would heed his warning. Ryan, of course, wasn’t keen on the thought of dying. He was pretty sure he had done that already, and didn’t want to do it again. As such, he made no further attempt to attack.
“Good, it seems you aren’t stupid.” The necromancer looked around the room, and Ryan wished he had the mana to drop the entire ceiling on him. “I’ll keep this short, as I have wasted more time in here than I had planned.”
Speaking of time… Ryan turned part of his attention to the entrance to his dungeon. He was certain it was nearing the time for Rasha or Sasha to arrive. Maybe they could help.
“I want to offer you a deal, dungeon.” Whatever the deal was, Ryan was certain he wouldn’t accept. “I want you to summon an army of skeletons for me to take control of. In return, I won’t kill you, and I will bring you sacrifices, to help you grow stronger.”
Yeah, like that will ever happen.
Ryan waited in silence. Even if he wanted to respond, he didn’t have a way to talk to the necromancer.
After a few minutes, the necromancer cocked his head.
“Is that a no?” he asked. “Are you not excited at the opportunity to gain free strength and spread an army of the undead?”
Ryan decided this was getting nowhere, and he dropped another stalactite on the necromancer. Not a large one, but enough of one to give the necromancer his answer.
“I’m not sure if you are too young to understand this opportunity, or if you are just stupid. Either way,” the necromancer said, shaking his head, “I am done with these games.”
The darkness in front of the necromancer began to swirl, and the bones around him created a large bone lance. The necromancer turned slowly, aiming the lance until it was pointed directly towards Ryan’s core. Uh oh.
“I tried to make a deal with you. I was told I would be able to grow even stronger if I worked with you. But now I shall shatter your core, and reassemble your pieces into a perfect mana gem to fuel my own powers.”
The bone spear began to spin, and it shot forward, smashing into stone. With some of the last of his mana, Ryan instinctively began reinforcing the stone wall, but slowly, the bone began to bore through it. He wasn’t going to be able to stop this weapon.
“You are smart, and capable for a Bronze dungeon, I’ll give you that.” The necromancer spoke casually as the lance continued to drill towards Ryan.
Ryan was draining his already low mana with each layer of stone he reinforced the wall with. He was silently praying to the Goddess of Justice that someone, anyone, would save him before he ran out of mana and the necromancer’s spike made it to his core.
“I especially like the evolution your mobs are taking,” the necromancer went on. “I feel we could have created a truly fearsome skeletal army, had we worked together.”
The lance was nearing the boss room.
“I’m sorry, Rin, I can’t stop him.” Ryan’s core was vibrating from the exertion, and he felt his power starting to wane. It would only be a minute or two before the bone lance would break into his core room, and into him.
“Oh, Ryan.” Erin threw her arms around him, tears streaming from her eyes. “You were the best dungeon ever. I’m so glad the Goddess sent me to you. I’m just sorry there isn’t more I can do for you.”
She sobbed, her emotions awash in pain and sorrow, and Ryan felt a renewed sense of energy. He pushed even more mana, all he could muster, into reinforcing the wall between him and the lance, slowing its approach even more. The spinning weapon slowed, but still it inched towards him.
“Get out while you can, Rin,” Ryan whispered, feeling his vision waver. Erin had explained to him mana was life. She had never said it out loud, but he was starting to realize the dangers of using it all up.
The light in his core started to flicker. Am I going to die if I use all my mana?
“I live – and die – with you, Ryan.” She held him tighter and closed her eyes.
The spike was inches away from breaking into the core room.
“You were the best thing to happen to me,” Ryan said.
The lance broke through, shooting towards Ryan’s core. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable darkness of death. He wondered if he would feel pain when the lance struck him.
A moment passed, then two. Nothing.
Hesitantly, Ryan opened his eyes, looking around. Bones lay scattered in his room and in the tunnel that the lance had created, but the weapon was gone. He sent his attention back to where the necromancer had been, and for a second, he was certain he was dreaming.
Sasha stood in the room, darkness swirling around her form, a bloody dagger in her hand. A small splash of blood was noticeable where the necromancer had stood, but there was no sign of him.
The woman shook her head, wiping the bloody weapon on her leather armor before sheathing it. She pulled a crystal out of her armor and whispered into it.
“The necromancer got away, but I saved the dungeon.”
“And our suspicion?�
�� Ryan recognized the voice as Marcus’s.
What was their suspicion? What was going on?
“It was Viktor,” Sasha said, her voice filled with disgust. Ryan wondered just who this necromancer, this Viktor, was.
“I’ll report back to the Guildmaster. Good job, Sasha,” Marcus’s voice said.
At these words, Sasha put the crystal away, and simply faded back into the shadows, leaving no trace of her presence.
Ryan wasn’t sure what had just happened, but all he could guess was that Sasha had saved him. He closed his eyes, letting out a shaky sigh of relief, before he looked at Erin. The fairy was wiping tears from her eyes, and sat trembling, her silk cloth wrapped around her.
“So, I think we need to get a lot stronger,” Ryan whispered, doing his best to try and shake the overwhelming fear that had filled him. He had been seconds away from death, and he never wanted to experience that again.
Erin offered him a small smile, even though her emotions were still a mess.
“I’ve been telling you that the whole time.” She let out a laugh and wrapped her arms around him. “Grow stronger, so I never have to lose you.”
Ryan sent her a mental nod and turned his attention to the entrance of his dungeon. He had an hour or two before the first group of adventurers arrived. That should be enough time for him to refresh his mana enough to fix the damage to his dungeon and prepare for the adventurers.
He was looking forward to the dives, and the chance to grow stronger. The necromancer’s visit had just given him incentive to reach Silver as quickly as possible.
Viktor
He let out a gasp as he fell to the floor, safe in his castle. His hand left his side, and he was happy to note the wound had already begun to close. Still, the pain was excruciating. He clutched at the cord around his neck, pulling his pendant out.
“Is it done?” a voice asked through it, and it took everything Viktor had not to throw the stone away.
“The dungeon turned me down,“ he said.
“A pity.” The voice on the other end seemed bored.
“The twins were there. I could have been killed.”
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 17