The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2)

by Jonathan Brooks

  The Clan rep wearing shades of red shook his head with a sorrowful look upon his face. “I have no idea. I’ve heard stories about monsters escaping – or being sent out of – dungeons before, but from the blood spatter, the order of the deaths, and what the scene is telling me, the start of the attack came from the opposite direction.”

  “Wait. It came from down the mountain? And what do you mean about ‘what the scene is telling me’?”

  “Yes and no. It came from that direction, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it came from all the way down the mountain. It’s possible that the dungeon has created a separate entrance where monsters could escape from, but I highly doubt it. This dungeon hasn’t been here nearly long enough to have the ability to create something this dangerous. Something that could kill all of the newer Raiders here? Sure. But nothing that could even touch Myra, let alone do what we saw was done to her. To top that off, all of the wounds appeared to have been done by a variety of weapons – none of which we’ve seen any monsters capable of using inside this dungeon yet.”

  Jesper hesitated for a moment before he added in a quieter voice, which was low enough in volume that only Sterge and Gwenda could hear him. “As for what I meant by the scene speaking to me, I’m a Hemomancer – otherwise known as a Blood Mage. I can sort of…commune with blood, as long it’s still relatively fresh. What it tells me is hard to explain, but it can help me understand how it was spilled. That’s how I’m confident that most of these wounds were done by weapons; the ones that were crushed are hard to determine, though, because they could’ve been crushed by something that wasn’t an actual weapon.”

  A Blood Mage. Never heard of them before, but it sounds useful.

  “Ok, I can certainly see evidence of that myself,” Sterge said. “The question is: What do we do about it?”

  “Unfortunately, I think we’re going to have to check out the dungeon. There is a blood trail leading directly from the entrance – again, caused by dripping off of a variety of metal weapons – so that is likely where we’ll find answers. This is the point where you can turn back, and no one will think anything of it. I for one am a little frightened to investigate any further, but it’s something that has to be done.”

  “Why not wait until reinforcements arrive,” Gwenda asked. Sterge also thought that would be the smart move.

  “Well, ideally, you’d be right. However, there are two reasons we have to move right now. First, time is of the essence here; the drying blood is nearly to the point where I can’t sense it, which means I can’t track it. Second, we need to know if there is a potential threat to everyone in the village down the mountain, and waiting until reinforcements come might end up with everyone being slaughtered just as these people were. If we go back now, without knowing if danger is headed our way, then would anyone be able to sleep tonight?”

  Sterge had to admit that he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep that night, but it wasn’t necessarily because of potential dangers. He was pretty sure he was going to have nightmares for years from the display of death he had just witnessed.

  He looked at Gwenda, who nodded back; he was glad to see that some of the color was coming back to her face. “We’re coming.”

  “Alright, then – we better get moving. Time is running out for us all.”

  As he marched behind the rest of the Raiders, who didn’t look too pleased to be going into the dungeon, Sterge couldn’t help but think, I really hope that isn’t true….

  Chapter 27

  Shale IronSchist, her faithful, determined, and reckless Dungeon Assistant, did the best he could to delay the blue-skinned, six-armed invaders from reaching her Core Room. There were more than a few times when it almost appeared he would get skewered by a tossed weapon or a lucky strike as he zoomed over their heads, but he always seemed to move just in time to avoid being splattered.

  After the room with the trees in between two hills made of rock, the monster people progressed into the last room that she had fully finished creating, though it was not yet fully stocked with traps and creatures. Instead, it again held some placeholders so that she would know what she was going to use when—though I suppose “if” is now more accurate—she had the available Control Limit.

  The room contained her first experiment in using the “synergy” between her Gnolls and Hyenas. After some safe experimentation directly after her success, she discovered three things about them: One, subsequent pairings between the two did not cause there to be a massive explosion and shockwave of energy; two, it didn’t matter what Variant of either creature she used, as the synergy bonus was still present; and three, both creatures had to be in the same room as each other for the bonus to be active – as soon as one entered another room, the bonuses disappeared.

  With that in mind, the room was a small maze of sorts, as she filled it with high walls of hard rock connected to the tall ceiling. The completely smooth walls wound through the space, leaving a pathway that was 5 feet wide of unencumbered space to move through it; there were only a total of two dead ends in her little mini-maze, as well as two different exits to different rooms (though only one was currently open) – but confusing and making the maze difficult was not its purpose. Instead, she was planning on placing a few small-but-powerful Fear-inducing Enchantment traps throughout – along with a dimly lit interior – and her creatures would do the rest.

  “That is absolutely frightening, Tacca. I’d hate to have to fight my way through this place,” Shale said shortly after he entered the room, just ahead of the rampaging invaders out for his blood. The reason for his observation was because the Echoing Hyena started to howl and laugh from where it was placed towards the middle of the maze; the smooth walls only helped to enhance and distribute the sound so that it echoed through the corridors she had constructed, reaching the blue-skinned monster people even as they entered.

  The sound made the invader in front pause for half of a second, though Tacca doubted it was from fear. She thought it was more likely that it was acknowledging the sound and dismissing it as a threat all in the same moment. Directed by some barely audible commands from the purplish leader, they easily navigated their way through the maze, though they were delayed a few times when Shale shot by over their heads at random intervals and they tried to kill him – ineffectually, thank goodness.

  You’re flying quite low – you’d better watch out or they might get lucky. I don’t know what’s going on with my luck issues right now, and I don’t want you to become another victim.

  “Don’t worry about me; as powerful as they are, I’m still faster.”

  She could definitely see that, but she didn’t bother to point out that all it would take was a weapon passing through where he was flying at the wrong time for it to be over for him. He seemed to be enjoying himself with his teasing for some reason despite the danger, especially once he got over his initial fright at their appearance.

  Even with the few delays, the group of invaders still made it to the center of the maze within a minute, where they found the Echoing Hyena still howling and laughing. From a small shadowed alcove within the wall next to the group of advancing six-armed people, a Gnoll Assassin abruptly emerged and stabbed the closest blue-skinned back with its twin rusty iron knives with which it automatically came equipped. It was a perfect execution of an attack, with timing that spoke of coordination and forethought with the Hyena – which was something that she didn’t instruct the Gnoll to do, but which seemed to be part of the “synergy” process. Either it was more intelligent somehow, better at tactics, or perhaps just lucky, but the strike likely would’ve put any Raider down with the strategic attack.

  Of course, just like every other attack against the invaders, the annoying glow came back and prevented any damage to the six-armed monster person, though Tacca was almost positive that the tough skin of the being would’ve prevented it anyway. Regardless, it was yet another delay, and another indication that her defenses were going to work – if she ever got a chanc
e to use them, that was.

  Her creatures were quickly dispatched, as the element of surprise was now gone – not that it did anything anyway – and the Gnoll and Hyena were relatively defenseless against the invaders. After that, with a few more distractions by Shale, they unerringly found their way to the one exit tunnel that was open to the next, half-finished room.

  This was what she had been working on creating when everything started to go wrong up above. In the room, Tacca was planning on relying heavily on her experiences with the Forest Environment from her easy section. She was planning on using a combination of Canines and Felines that could take advantage of thick foliage along the ground, which she had started to fill in and was halfway done. There was a Scrub Lion that was various shades of green and brown, which she was planning on pairing with some higher-Level Frond Coyotes, along with some Hallucination-inducing Enchantment traps. The thought was that some hallucinations would have the Raiders attacking creatures that weren’t there, while they were in turn ambushed by Tacca’s real creatures from a totally different direction.

  Unfortunately, none of that was yet set up, so there was very little stopping the group of invaders from just tearing through the dense fern-and-bush areas she had started to create with impunity. Shale delayed them a little by weaving in and out of what foliage she did have in the room, but it might have only been 10 seconds or less of delay for all of his work.

  The next room, and the 8 rooms after that, were essentially empty. Nothing Shale did delayed them for more than a second, mainly because there was nowhere for the Dungeon Fairy to hide and avoid being killed. Still, the sheer distance they had to travel took a couple of minutes for them to traverse, so it wasn’t a complete waste. Finally, they arrived at the other side of her main “corridor”, having navigated their entire way through one half of the section and were on to the next.

  Tacca was thankful that she had been working on both sides at once, creating a symmetry in her completed rooms. The blue-skinned monster people once again had to climb a cliff, which was even less effective than the first, as they were able to slice the Lynxes that descended on them in mid-air. The jumped down from the heights again, destroying more of her room’s floor, and then tackled the Cougar and Wolf in the forest valley between 2 rocky hills; the maze on this side of her new section was set up differently, but they still managed to clear through that room without missing a turn. The Assassin tried to attack, but the invaders were ready for it and cut it down before it could close with them.

  All through that, Shale was trying to distract and delay them, but it seemed as though the six-armed people were finally over it all. Granted, they still tried to attack him when he got dangerously close to them, but they barely even broke stride on their journey through the last few rooms of her dungeon. After they were done with the rooms she had completed or half-completed, there were only a few empty rooms between them and her Boss Room.

  Shale…it’s time for you to leave.

  Her Dungeon Assistant stopped in mid-flight at her words. Fortunately, he wasn’t anywhere near the blue-skinned group of monster people, so he was safe. “What? No! I thought you had a plan?” He was understandably angry.

  If you come any closer to my Core Room, there’s a good chance that you’ll die. I just couldn’t live with myself if that were to happen.

  “Wait…what are you planning on doing? Are you trying to get yourself destroyed? Is that why you wouldn’t explain what your plan was?” Now he wasn’t just angry, but hurt.

  I’m not trying to get destroyed, but there is a good chance that I won’t make it. If I do survive, I don’t want you to throw your life away for no reason. There’s nothing else you can do right now – you’ve already done enough with delaying them.

  “But—”

  No, Shale. If you’re nearby, I might not be able to do what I need to survive. You have a decision to make: Leave now and live, giving me a chance to succeed; or be stubborn and stay, almost certainly dying and reducing my own chances to pull through.

  He was silent as Tacca watched her doom descending on her, passing through the last few rooms without hindrance, entering her vast and empty Boss Room. “Fine,” her Dungeon Assistant finally responded – and flew back at full speed through the rooms he had just spent nearly a half-hour delaying the deadly invaders. “You had better survive, though, because I still want the chance to yell at you for this.”

  I will do my best. Try to get somewhere hidden soon, in case the worst happens; having our Bond broken if I get destroyed will hurt more than anything you’ve experienced before and will leave you quite helpless. That was certainly an understatement, as Tacca could attest. Are you sure you don’t want me to dissolve the Bond?

  “No, because you aren’t going anywhere. You’re going to pull through, you hear me?”

  I hear you, Shale. I’ll talk to you soon.

  With that, Tacca shut off all contact with her Dungeon Assistant, putting him completely out of her mind. It was hard to follow him visually as he passed through her dungeon, anyway, because the effect of whatever the six-armed monster people were doing was still making things a little fuzzy to her perception. She could still feel where he was through their Bond, but actually seeing him flying through her rooms was difficult.

  It only took the blue-skinned invaders 20 seconds to run to the tunnel leading down to her Core Room, which was concealed by an extrusion of stone that jutted out into the room just enough to hide it from casual observation. If you looked at it at the right angle, which was basically the opposite side of where the exit staircase was located, you’d be able to see it easily – but for the most part it was invisible. Obviously not undetectable, at least to the group who were aiming for her destruction; they found it without trouble, passing through the narrow protrusion that was just barely larger than the tunnel connected to it.

  Only to emerge in her final defensive room, which she was hoping would delay them enough for her plan to work. Tacca did some mental calculations and realized she still needed just over 3 minutes for it to be complete, so she hoped that she had enough time. If she didn’t, then there really wasn’t anything else she could do – or had time for, which was really the limitation that hindered the most. Even if she hadn’t just spent most of her Dungeon Force already, there wasn’t enough time for anything to be created that might be of use.

  Unlike when she had been in danger before, she didn’t have a hope of trapping these blue-skinned invaders behind a wall; it was more than obvious that they were strong enough to demolish anything she attempted to put in front of them. She was actually surprised that they hadn’t just destroyed her Bridge traps that blocked off the easiest access to her Core Room rather than traverse pretty much the entire new section; she figured that whatever they were using to determine her location was taking the open path of least resistance. Of that, she was thankful; them being there in the first place, not so much.

  Therefore, the only thing she could think of to stop them was highly unconventional, required time to set up, and was extremely dangerous. She wasn’t even sure she would survive; there was a good chance that if she weren’t fast enough in her reactions, she would be destroyed along with her would-be killers. That is, if it actually worked in the first place.

  The first step that the lead six-armed invader took into her final defensive room set off one of her powerful Enchantment traps, and the familiar glowing aura surrounded the figure, negating any effect that it might have had. The second step set off one of her Life-based traps…and her last hope that they wouldn’t be guarded against that was dashed. The glowing aura still negated the effect – but it also dimmed quite a bit as a result.

  A few more steps did absolutely nothing to the blue-skinned monster person as it focused on Tacca’s 5 creatures wearing enchanted armor at the far end of the room. However, the sixth step finally did something: it extinguished the glow entirely, and the powerful Confusion-based Enchantment took hold of the invader’s mind.
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  She could see it stop even as the others came up behind it, walking safely through the path that was now clear of traps; each trap could only be activated once, so once the lead monster person triggered them they were basically inert. However, stopping caused the others to spread out to either side of the lead invader, triggering their own traps as they rushed ahead and past. The confused blue-skinned would-be killer seemed to shake off its confusion and raced after the others, a faint glow around it again.

  It didn’t last long, however, nor did the glows of the others as they triggered trap after trap after trap. There were some more Enchantment traps activating on each of the invaders, though for the most part they seemed to shrug them off as they continued, only a dozen feet from Tacca’s creatures, who were settled in a defensive formation that seemed natural to them – for the Dungeon Core hadn’t instructed them to do that.

  Finally, one of the monster people touched one of the Life-based traps without the protection of the glowing aura – and the results were spectacular. Between one step and the next, it ballooned up to twice its original size, with muscles sprouting on top of muscles all over its body; at the next step, it was at least three times its size…and then it imploded with a wet *pop*, collapsing in on itself and skidded forward dead. A few seconds later, the muscles and strength that it had gained deflated, leaving behind the corpse of the six-armed behemoth of a person.

  The others either didn’t notice or were having problems of their own, because they didn’t stop; one after another, they each hit their own Life-trap and imploded—and here I thought they would explode—with the last one getting so far into the room that it collapsed and landed on one of her Human Fighters, crushing but not killing it because of the enchantments inside.

  I did it—well, almost. Four of the blue-skinned invaders were dead, but the purplish-colored leader was still alive; it was standing, watching what had happened to its comrades from the entrance of the room with an unreadable expression upon its face. When the last of the blue-skinned monster people perished, the purplish one rushed forward, following the exact pathway of the lead invader, down to the precise placement of steps – which was unfortunate, because it avoided a few of the traps that had been missed the first time around.