Book of the Dungeon Maker

by Nathan Valerio

Finally, the chief realizes the people they were fighting were even more disgustingly ruthless than demons and used trickery like high demons.

  At that time, a faint pain came from his chest. This was the demon seal over his heart. The demon lord's orders were to move and attack this city, but they had retreated a distance to search for a way through. This momentary retreat attributed to activating the seal’s command after a time to make them move forward.

  The chief solemnly looked at the cave.

  “Forward, slaves at front!” he shouted.

  The slaves were goblins of weaker tribes that were brought for such cases to snuff out traps that may appear.

  They slowly entered, and one by one the goblin slaves walked on already knowing they would die, but even so a few grabbed a large branch and dragged it inside and kept probing the ground but still five died to the five traps, but after them nothing.

  The goblin troop slowly moved forward with the slaves at the front, and the few remaining archers aiming at them should they run.

  For several turns, no traps appeared and soon they came to a section where a door was found, and the slaves opened it after the chief neared but kept a distance.

  Slowly opening it they found two large barrels in an empty room.

  The slaves slowly walked in moving around the room stepping on everything, but no traps were found and when they reached the barrels, a sweet and sour smell attacked their noses and they started to drool.

  “Beer!!!” a slave shouted.

  At once, a ripple spread through the nearest goblins. Goblins and all their higher ranks had an instinctive love for all ales.

  Even the chief swallowed his own drool, but he shouted to quiet.

  “Slave! Drink!” he pointed to one slave. He wouldn’t want to drink poisoned drinks, and he would wait for a day to drink it.

  A small bowl was passed, and the barrel was opened filling the bowl halfway.

  The slave was trembling as he took the drink to his mouth.

  After finishing, his face showed a blissful look and he looked distantly at the barrel but held back.

  “Close barrel, no drinking, will be dead if drink,” the chief shouted. “You go back, poison tester, stay back.”

  The slave that drank the ale ran to the back of the tribe with him the barrel aided by another slave.

  The other barrel was taken as well after testing.

  “Move!” the chief said and spurred the slaves on.

  Outside in the town, Ace stood while watching his book which showed his dungeon.

  To the next page was an interesting thing written.

  Invading Party

  Dire Wolf Goblin Tribe 600+

  Death Count

  4 Dire Wolf Tribe Goblin Rider Scout: Mana earned: 35 x Death Count

  4 Dire Wolf Tribe Dire Wolf: Mana earned: 50x Death Count

  Pending deaths

  5 Dire Wolf Tribe Goblin Slave: Mana earned: 10x Death Count

  This page appeared after the first death. This showed how much the dungeon gathered. It seemed even his own dungeons accumulated mana to run themselves, but he wondered what it would be like later on. He knew that the mana gathered rearmed the traps.

  Ace just though he would figure it out later.

  At the moment, the map showed all the movement in the dungeon and most of the leading figures were watching the movement of the goblins.

  “They are rather cautious for a small tribe, it goes to show that the goblin chief is definitely a goblin elder,” a mage said.

  “Is there a difference between an elder and normal one?” Ace asked.

  “Demons are similar to monster in that they grow by ranks, goblins can become hobgoblins by accumulating mana in their bodies and growing stronger. Goblin elder is a rank up gained when a goblin lives almost to 20 years before ranking up. Elders live for around 60 years while hobgoblins live around 80, but elders are wiser but without the major boost hobgoblins get, the mage said.

  “Why are goblins called demons and not monsters?” Misaki asked.

  “Demons are monsters who gained human form. Some religions even consider beast men demons, but because they don't have the demon seal, they are ignored but there are beast men tribes that were born from monsters which is why that contradiction exists,” a knight explained.

  “Alright, the goblins have passed the third room. Now for some fun,” Ace suddenly said.

  Looking at the map of the dungeon they saw the twenty some slaves approaching the traps.

  “Let's see how they like this, set all traps to ignore goblin slaves,” Ace said while chuckling.

  Another man laughed at this. It was a pale man with black hair and leather armor with a hood. This was a man in charge of assassins. He was definitely not on par with the beings in the shadow, but he could easily get through the dungeon even if they targeted him.

  “You are quite an evil man for a hero,” the man said cackling.

  “Why must I be honourable to those who will soon be dead? If I let them, they would kill me.” Ace replied.

  The man's grin widened hearing that.

  Men of similar views will always get along, and Ace's view of the big picture greatly appealed to the man. Unlike him though, the knights frowned due to their belief in the honor of battling face to face. They did not particularly like the act of using traps as it made them feel like cowards.

  “How many do you think your dungeon can kill?” the mage asked.

  “Considering how packed the goblins are, each trap could kill two or three, at least 200 should exit as long as they get lucky and get the correct path from the start, but I made a maze with many twists and turns. As long as the tribe remains as a long line they may find their way back, but if I do something like deactivate the traps and wait for the goblins to spread out and activate them all to do a rapid killing spree then I doubt many will survive,” Ace said.

  The assassin laughed because Ace's hand didn't stop moving as they talked.

  On the map, all the blue dots showing traps dulled as they deactivated and the tribe moved slowly inward.

  Most rooms had some coin or barrels of ales, but no traps activated.

  This slowly made the chief worried, but the goblins behind him weren't as cautious and were simple minded so they dropped their guards.

  They soon encountered separate paths, the bends were confusing and with the cave splitting in four ways, the goblin elder didn't know where he should go.

  He pointed to the slaves and told them to split up and search.

  As such they split and walked slowly as some archers went behind.

  When they were able to turn at a bend the archer approached and they turned.

  The corridor was a bit straight and they walked slowly and when the archer was out of view a trap activated.

  From both behind and from the front arrows flew and stabbed them all and killed them, including the archers, before they made noise.

  Five slaves and archers died. Others met spring and spike traps killing them before they made sound.

  After a while, the chief called but received no answer, so he told others to go check and they came with the thing he dreaded. They were dead.

  He wanted to claw at the seal in his chest at that moment.

  He focused, the stale air had no breeze even at the entrance.

  He turned to the left and began to walk.

  As he took his twentieth step, he heard a large number of shouts.

  Looking back, he saw goblins and wolves being thrown and being impaled. From the wall a spike came out killing the nearby goblins.

  “Traps!” he shouted. At this time, chaos ensued as the dungeon’s traps activated. Some ran through the other paths running but then started dying.

  The previously tense army of goblins was completely destroyed as trap after trap activated and in an instant more than 200 goblin died from all the activating traps.

  Unlike what you expected, the chief didn't run and moved over near an active trap
after testing the ground.

  Standing near it meant no other traps appeared.

  Still, he cursed the gods and the demon lord for sending his people to their deaths.

  Outside, the red dots showed the goblins had scattered through the dungeon dying one after another.

  “They are really mad when chaos happens,” Misaki commented.

  “Goblins are simple minded, if they face something beyond them then they will run. The smart ones though remained still or near active traps. They will probably wait to walk through all the active traps,” the assassin said.

  “Doesn't matter, three floors of traps isn't something they can surpass with just their remaining numbers anymore,” Ace said.

  The knight, mage, and assassin looked at the book and nodded.

  “Complete domination without shedding our own blood. I really don't know how this will be seen but it will surely attract attention toward you,” the assassin said.

  Ace sighed and nodded. Killing 1000 mounted goblins with superior tactics goes to show his intelligence and killing over 600 of them on the first floor of a three-floor trap dungeon really made you wonder the resource needed to build such a dungeon.

  Still though, the exit was guarded and until the final goblin died no one moved.

  That didn't happen though as all the traps on the first floor were activated leaving 123 goblins alive, so with Misaki and Ace leading, they took the knights to the first floor and slowly killed the remnants until only the chief was left and Misaki took his head so she could level.

  When none were left, the villagers were allowed to come and butcher all the wolves for their pelts to get money to repay them for the materials and work.

  When they were all removed the bodies were left inside. Everyone left and Ace bent down over the exit portal.

  “Magic Hole Formation Close,” he said.

  At this time the magic hole released a ripple.

  The ripple went all the way through the dungeon to the other side and hit the ball of mana there.

  It slowly descended into the magic formation before it vanished inside.

  The magic formation cracked and broke into mana particles and vanished into the air.

  The mana ball, though, appeared on the other exit and the two balls began to revolve around the center.

  The next moment the book opened and a screen everyone could see was seen.

  Dungeon Results until closure

  Invaders

  Dire Wolf Goblin Tribe

  647 Goblins:

  100 Goblin Archers x 35 mana

  547 Goblin Riders x 60 mana

  1 Goblin Elder x 120 mana

  647 Dire wolves x 50 mana

  1 Dire Wolf Alpha x 100 mana

  48 Goblin Slaves x 10 mana

  Death Count

  647 Goblins:

  100 Goblin Archers = 3,500

  547 Goblin Riders = 32,820

  1 Goblin Elder = 120

  647 Dire wolves = 32,350

  1 Dire Wolf Alpha = 100

  48 Goblin Slaves = 480

  Total MP gathered from Goblins = 69,370

  Equipment dropped

  378 rusty swords

  69 wooden clubs

  100 old wood bows

  647 old leather rags

  1 old demon leather armor

  48 rags

  Dungeon success 100%

  Reward to dungeon maker = ⅕ of mana is converted into Exp = 13,874 exp earned

  At once Ace gained 12 full levels, but before everyone could leave a new screen appeared.

  Damage to Dungeon 0%

  Requires first floor traps to re-arm.

  10% of remaining mana used for rearming = 8439

  47057 mana remaining. Splitting in half and crystallizing.

  As it said that, the two little balls no bigger than a pinky finger’s top digit began to glow as a small rough skin formed over it and slowly it became two crystals. Another window soon followed.

  Dungeon Maker Low Grade Exp Crystals formed

  Like that, we just stared at them as they dropped into my hand and the windows vanished followed by the magic formation shattering.

  Everyone remained in silence for a long while before I looked at the mage.

  “What are Exp Crystals?”

  Chapter 8

  “An... Exp crystal is a type of mana crystal that... can give you exp to level up your base level, skill level or even other things depending on your class...” the head mage said from behind me.

  “Kid what class does the crystals work for?” the knight captain asked expectantly.

  “Dungeon maker so my own class. Guess I will keep these on me until I figure out exactly what to do with this,” I said as I pocketed both crystals.

  All the men looked a bit depressed hearing me say that, but if it wasn't for my class, I would probably need to hand them over with the kind of strength these guys have that I still couldn’t fight against. If I could, I wouldn’t hand it over even if the queen told me to.

  “So, I guess this is mission accomplished,” I said.

  “Yes, you have done a great service to our nation by stopping the swarm. The mages have already charged the teleportation stone, we will remain here longer to make sure everything returns to how it was as well as push forward towards the areas attacked by them,” the knight captain said.

  “Then let's go,” Misaki said not caring much.

  The last two weeks were a bit rough on her as she had done a rather large number of clumsy things and even walked into the bath without knocking which was the biggest blow to her especially when I didn't pursue the matter.

  Truthfully, it was funny seeing her clumsiness. It reminded me of that classic anime joke with airheads. Also, her blushing embarrassed face was really cute.

  The villagers took care not to address her about the clumsiness and just looked out for her, but she seemed to take it to heart.

  Truthfully, I imagined her in a maid outfit once, the thought was very stimulating, but I kept it to myself out of fear for my own safety.

  Since we had fulfilled our purpose, we headed to the town for a final goodbye before going to the stone and stepping on the middle. It activated instantly and we were both teleported.

  ***

  Far in the east stood a black castle over a massive badlands filled with magma pools. From these pools, occasionally small scrawny imp infants would crawl out before they began to attack their brethren for food. Normally five survived and left to hunt soon after.

  The air smelled of sulfur and was covered in black clouds. Demons ran amok eating imps and lesser demons.

  Within the castle, sitting atop the throne, was a single man. His look was almost purely human except for the two black horns protruding from his forehead. He wore a simple black silk shirt and black dragon hide pants. His skin was ghostly white while his hair was abysmal black. His eyes were like two black holes sucking in all light. The aura released by this man screamed only one word. Death.

  This man with the aura of death was none other than the Demon Lord. His name lost in history, only he could tell you.

  Within the desolate chambers, a small pool of shadow formed and took a humanoid form with head arms and legs but no distinguished features except for the pure white eyes.

  This was a demon from the shade race.

  “Your highness,” it said bending over.

  “Speak,” the man said bored.

  “I have come to report on the new generation of heroes,” the shade replied.

  “Speak only of the ones with the class hero or those who show great promise.

  “Yes, Your Highness. From the elven nation, the hero is a female minstrel. Her world was one of peace and, she trained her magic with music and upon using it in combat she fought alone, and her music formed vibrating blades which is a unique magic to her world. There are four others that show promise, but far too little to be of interest to you your highness.

  “The dwarven hero is a gia
nt of five meters, but in the world he comes from, he is like a dwarf compared to other races. His skin is harder than tempered steel and he wields a hammer that can cause earthquakes. He was summoned alone due to his size and power. As a giant his limits are 150 all around, and in two weeks it rose far more.

  “The beast men summoned forth a werewolf from Hell's pits. A descendant of Cerberus but due to the summoning ritual, his power was restricted to the max value of 80 all around, but in two weeks his power rose to over 150 all around and he decimated our 50 minotaurs that were sent... alone. As you may have guessed but his power made him be summoned alone.

  “Finally, the humans... to be honest, the human hero is pathetic even in human standards. He has no strategic thinking and during the battle against ogres he was easily blindsided and only got out alive due to the human knights killing the ogres and getting him out.

  “That said, the humans have two powerful men, one is a swordsman that decimated half an imp swarm alone and killed the rest with strategic superiority while the other is a dungeon maker and used strategy in the Jagged Mountains to force 1000 goblins into a maze of death and lost not one life,” the shade said.

  The demon lord's eyes seemed to glow as a small smile appeared upon his lips.

  “Seems this generation has brought some interesting toys. The dungeon maker in particular will allow them to advance into my domain for the first time in centuries since I destroyed all information within my grasp of runic language. Let us see how much he can learn before he arrives,” The man spoke to himself out loud as his hands waved and runes appeared before him as, black book rose from his side. Flipping through the pages, he pressed a page and an icon that formed a magic formation in front of him forming a complex man of wood and glowing green through the cracks in his eyes.

  “Master?” he said bowing.

  “Travel to the human nation of Heavenlight, watch the dungeon maker and keep track of his progress, you don't need to get near, just news that spreads is enough,” the demon lord said.