The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Sandra was fairly confident that her traps and constructs inside her dungeon could protect her against a small party of whoever this man’s people were, but she didn’t want to hurt them in the first place. Of course, if there were many of them – and they were determined to kill her for some reason – there might not be anything she could do to stop them.

  So she watched from the comfort of her Mechanical Wolf’s vision as the man wandered within twenty feet of her entrance, oblivious to his surroundings. She felt a faint urge to help him, but quickly decided against it – mainly because she didn’t have any food or water to give him. Well, she might be able to rig a trap to give him fresh water to drink, but that didn’t help his food situation. Either way, she didn’t want to get involved when she didn’t know what the risks were.

  That decision was taken from her as the man apparently got a little too close to the Bearlings’ cave. One-by-one they started to emerge, staring at the man with dangerous, feral eyes; somehow, he must’ve felt the weight of their gazes on him, because the man turned toward the large beasts and paused his shambling walk in shock. He stood there frozen for a moment, before placing his spear-like weapon – she still had trouble considering that ridiculous implement a spear of any kind – on the ground slowly. Walking slowly backwards, the man seemed to be trying to be as unthreatening as possible, while the Bearlings miraculously stayed where they were while they watched him.

  Sandra instructed the Wolf to slink away and to attempt to stay as hidden as possible – she didn’t want to call any attention to herself or her constructs at all. It was successful in retreating quite a ways back towards safety, when her Jaguar – who Sandra had moved to the mountain above her dungeon as soon as the man was sighted – saw the man trip over something behind him and fall flat on his back.

  That was all it apparently took to break the spell holding the Bearlings in place, because they started to surge forward. Sandra saw the man get up and start running – almost directly toward her dungeon! If he kept on his current heading, he would probably miss it by 20 feet, but it was close enough that if the Bearlings caught him there, they would easily be able to find her entrance.

  She made a decision that she hoped she wasn’t going to regret. Sending her Wolf out in front of the running man, she watched as it raced towards her dungeon’s entrance. Thankfully, Sandra saw that he noticed her construct and was instinctively following it – though from what she could see of his eyes, he barely seemed to know what he was doing.

  The Bearlings moved fast, but panic and fright are excellent motivators; the man tore up the distance between him and the dungeon entrance faster than she thought possible, so she wasn’t quite prepared when he entered the tunnel leading to her first room. Her Mechanical Wolf had entered first and activated the trap, which meant that the man ran blindly into the room and promptly smacked his head on one of the nearby Basher Totem’s arms, knocking him roughly to the floor and unconscious at the same time.

  At least, she hoped he was just unconscious.

  Chapter 26

  Fortunately, Sandra had a short amount of time before the Bearlings arrived. She directed her Ironclad Ape up from the second room to the first, where it grabbed the unconscious (as a quick experiment, she tried to absorb his body, but it wouldn’t work – so she knew he wasn’t dead) man and dragged him back to the second room. There wasn’t anything inherently dangerous in there, so it was safest for the time being; she hesitated to bring him any further, as the traps would likely do the Bearlings’ work for them.

  She had also accumulated more than enough Mana over the time she was exploring aboveground and not doing anything else, so she was able to spend it on creating another Ironclad Ape. As soon as it materialized from her last Average Steel Orb, she sent it to help defend the man if the Bearlings managed to make it that far. Fortunately, she knew where all of the traps triggered in the rooms, and therefore her constructs did too; for those triggers that couldn’t be avoided, the Ape wouldn’t be harmed from them (i.e. lack of air in a room or poisonous gas).

  Her new construct was only halfway through her dungeon by the time the first Bearling arrived, squeezing its large frame through the tunnel. Luckily, the beast was such a tight fit that it had to wiggle its body just to get inside, which of course meant that only one was able to enter at a time – and slowly at that. As the first tusked bear face stuck its head out of the tunnel, the light that had been illuminating the seemingly empty room went completely dark as the Nether trap activated.

  Her Basher Totems were placed to the side out of view, and the two closest took advantage of the surprise darkness to take turns smashing the Bearling’s face with their powerful fists, alternating their blows so that they didn’t get in each other’s way. Sandra could almost physically feel the force of the roar that shook the room as the beast cried out in surprise and pain, before it managed to wiggle through the last part of the tunnel.

  Unfortunately for the Bearling, it still couldn’t see, so when the other two Totems joined in by smashing into its sides, it was in such pain from the devastating damage and disoriented enough from the blows to its head that it had trouble fighting back. Within seconds, the same fists that had cracked her stone walls completely devastated the skull of the larger beast in a disgusting explosion of blood, bone, and brains.

  It hadn’t been long since she had just spent most of her resources on creating another Ironclad Ape, so Sandra was surprised to feel herself rapidly fill up with Mana. In less than a second, she had gained back all that she had spent and was completely full again. She didn’t know what else to do with it and couldn’t quite think straight, so she spent it on completing one of the stages she needed toward upgrading to Core Size 16. From previous experience, she knew that the “stage” process wouldn’t put her under like the actual upgrading did; all she felt was a small infusion to her Core like she had just taken a breath and kept the air inside her lungs. It was only when she completed the upgrade would she “exhale”.

  The next Bearling was already entering the room and struck out blindly over the top of the first dead beast, hoping to hit whatever had killed its friend. The first swipe missed hitting anything, but a return swing managed to carve inch-deep furrows into the totem part of one of Sandra’s Bashers. Fortunately, the strike wasn’t debilitating, but it was more evidence that the claws could deal out some serious damage.

  After that one lucky hit, her Basher Totems quickly took the Bearling down with a flurry of smashing fists to its face and head. Sandra felt another infusion of Mana from the death and put it toward completing another stage, before she got back to her dungeon invasion.

  The devastating blows weren’t without their own side effects; her Totems’ hands were getting severely banged up and damaged, with even a few chips in their closed “fists”. Not enough to put them out of the fight, but worrisome, nonetheless.

  Sandra had her Repair Drone in the second room, but she didn’t want to bring it up and potentially freeze one of the Bashers in the middle of a fight – so she left it where it was. The third Bearling attempted to push the corpses of the two others out of its way to try to wriggle its way inside, but the sheer weight of the bodies was hindering it. Her Totems couldn’t get to the beast either, which caused a sort of stalemate – until the Bearling started to slice into the stone-walled tunnel, breaking off chunks with its powerful claws.

  No! They’re destroying my dungeon! Sandra knew she could always repair it later, but if it kept it up, the Bearling might widen up the entire tunnel, allowing more than one of the beasts to enter at the same time – which would cause some issues. If it had been just the one inside the tunnel doing it, she thought she could find a way to stop it, but a look from her Mechanical Jaguar outside showed that the dozen or more still outside were starting to tear at the stone outside as well, widening the entrance little-by-little.

  The only way she could think to stop it was to start absorbing the dead Bearlings, giving them free access
to enter once again. Before her dungeon was sliced apart and opened to the entire force of Bearlings, Sandra went ahead and started to absorb the bodies of the slain beasts, though their massive size meant it took a good twenty seconds for them to dissolve and be converted into Raw Material.

  There was so much material in their bodies that Sandra was forced to create a few Orbs in the process, as she didn’t want to “overeat” and be forced to convert it all into Mana. In addition, a few notifications popped up in her vision, but she pushed them to the side without even looking at them; she couldn’t afford the distraction, and from experience she knew she could read them later when she had more time – if she survived, of course.

  With the way now unblocked, the third Bearling gave up tearing up the tunnel (which had been widened nearly a foot on either side toward the bottom) and rushed inside – only to be met by Sandra’s Bashers, who were ready for it. They easily smashed its head to bits just like the last two within ten seconds, but that was when the Nether trap ran out of charge and shut off.

  When the next Bearling entered – faster than the others because of the slight widening of the tunnel, it wasn’t hampered by a lack of sight; with room to maneuver and targets in sight, it took a couple blows to the face but retaliated by swiping a claw through one of Sandra’s Basher Totems, shearing through one of its arms and the majority of the way through its totem-shaped body. Her construct quickly hit the ground – damaged beyond repair – and dissolved into thin air, leaving behind a Large Bronze Orb in the process.

  The other three retaliated by striking rapidly in succession, pulverizing the Bearling into a pulp; however, another lucky shot ripped off a second Totem’s arm, leaving it still able to fight but severely hampered by a missing limb. The time needed to finish it off, unfortunately, allowed two more Bearlings to enter, leaving about a dozen still trying to push themselves inside.

  Her newest Ironclad Ape arrived at the second room after navigating its way through the traps throughout the last few rooms, and immediately ran through it into the first, leaving the “older” Ape to watch over the unconscious man. As soon as it rushed into the room, the Nether trap had finally accumulated enough ambient Mana to activate again, but not before Bearlings five, six, and seven (who was just entering the fight) managed to slice her remaining Bashers apart.

  Iron was much harder and denser than the softer metal that her Bashers were made of, however. As soon as the lights went out and the Bearlings became disoriented, her Ape went to work, using the heavier and more durable material it was made from effectively. Jumping over the last of the dissolving Bashers, her Ironclad construct landed on top of the nearest beast’s head, smashing it into the stone floor with nearly a ton of weight behind it.

  The Bearlings were tough, though, and the one that her construct landed on didn’t instantly have its head popped like a grape like she had expected. A double-armed pound from the Ape’s fists directly to its skull did the trick, though – nothing like a sledgehammer to the brain to seal the deal.

  A second leap from the back of the now-dead Bearling brought her Ape towards the next Bearling in line, but the sheer weight of her construct prevented it from reaching it completely. It landed with a crash against the floor (that ended up damaging even the reinforced stone) a foot away and swung at the beast’s head, but the Bearling had heard it land and bit down with its enormous jaws right as the Ape’s hand entered its mouth. Teeth broke and blood spurt out from bloody gums, but the enormous beast held on despite the obvious pain and wouldn’t let go.

  A half-dozen hammer blows from the Ape’s other arm caved in the Bearling’s head, but directly after the killing blow, the seventh beast had arrived and swiped at her construct. The attack didn’t cut through the Iron like it did the softer metal of her Bashers, but it did leave deep gashes along its body; the powerful impact, on the other hand, flung the heavy Ape away to crash against the nearest wall, leaving its right arm in the jaws of the sixth – dead – Bearling.

  Her construct was far from done, fortunately, and was able to get back up and into the fight, but now it was at a disadvantage. The eighth and ninth Bearlings were able to get inside while it recovered, with the tenth poking its head through. Seeing the overwhelming odds against her Ape – and despite the Nether trap still active – Sandra ordered her missing-limbed construct to retreat.

  Her Repair Drone instantly went to work on the damaged Ironclad Ape once it shuffled toward the back of the blindingly bright room. She still had her undamaged Ape and Mechanical Wolf watching over the prone body of the man, fortunately, and she wouldn’t hesitate to utilize them if she had need – which she was pretty sure was a great possibility.

  Sandra watched as her damaged Ape had its foot repaired – she hadn’t even realized it had been bent in an unnatural angle – and its arm was just starting to barely regrow when the Nether trap ran out again and the Bearlings could see enough to advance farther into her dungeon. The Holy trap had luckily turned off seconds after the Ape had arrived; she had set it up to trigger when something passed the threshold and stayed active as long as whatever had triggered it was in the first two-thirds of the room.

  When the first Bearling looked into the room from the tunnel, all it could see was an Ape frozen in repair mode near the exit to the third room, another Ironclad Ape and a Wolf standing guard over the inert body of the man, and a bunch of metal poles scattered along the floor. Seeing easy prey, the Bearling rushed inside, followed closely by another – and that’s when everything went wrong for the invaders.

  An intense light temporarily blinded the beast – and the one directly behind it – and it stumbled forward as stabbing pain to its low-light-accustomed eyes made it additionally disoriented. And then, out of nowhere, a shockingly loud whining noise assaulted its ears, the sound of a dozen different Singing Blademasters echoing and reverberating around the room until it was magnified so much that it physically damaged the sensitive ears of the Bearlings.

  Blinded, deafened, and in pain from unknown sources that they couldn’t even see to fight and stop, the lead beasts roared out in retreat. The two inside the second room turned around and started shoving their way back out the tunnel (after running into the walls a few times, of course). The ones behind were confused, but they could also hear the sound of Sandra’s Blademasters; after seeing the remains of at least four of their number (since Sandra had absorbed two already) inside the first room, and the panicked roaring of their lead elements, the rest beat a hasty retreat as well.

  The Singing Blademasters stopped their rotation when the Bearlings were halfway to their cave, a third of their number having lost their lives in her dungeon. Silence reigned over everything and Sandra watched in numb fascination as – over the next 20 minutes – the arm of her damaged Ironclad Ape slowly rebuilt itself.

  She had done it. Against the odds – and with a bit of luck, maybe – she had been successful.

  Sandra tried to repair the damage that had been done to the entrance tunnel – just in case the Bearlings decided to come back within the next few minutes – but she got a message stating that she couldn’t do it while there were invaders inside her dungeon. She looked at the first room, verifying that the ones in there were all dead and started to get worried. Did something else invade while I was distracted?

  A frantic search around her the rooms of her dungeon showed nothing out of the ordinary; it was only when she returned to the second room that it hit her – the man she had saved. She looked at him closer, seeing that he was still unconscious, and she wasn’t sure when he would wake up. Or if he ever would.

  Now…what the heck do I do with you?

  Chapter 27

  Sandra wasn’t quite sure what to do with the strange-looking man, so she ignored him for the moment while she dealt with some other issues. The first issue – though it was a good problem to have – was that she was full of Mana again from the deaths of the Bearlings inside of her dungeon. She felt a little bad for needing to ki
ll them because it hadn’t been her intention to seek their deaths, but she was hoping they had learned their lesson and would leave her, the man, and her dungeon alone now.

  While she had already used the Mana from the first two Bearlings who lost their lives on her Core Size stages, after that point she had been too preoccupied with the battle to pay attention to her Mana levels. Although she was full now, she figured that she had lost all the rest of the Mana from the other four Bearlings that had died. Oh well, it’s not like I was seeking Mana out in the first place.

  “That Mana is still there, you know. Since you can only absorb so much at once, the rest sticks around the area where the Bearlings died so that you can still grab it later with one of your Dungeon Monsters. It will eventually disperse into the surrounding environment after a few hours or so, but you’ve got a little bit of time before that happens,” Winxa told her after hearing her thoughts again.

  Thanks, I didn’t know that. Sandra was briefly annoyed that the Dungeon Fairy hadn’t told her that before – because it meant that she didn’t have to spend it on her Core Size stages if she hadn’t wanted to – but she realized that the issue hadn’t really come up before. The Territory Ant attack had been already ongoing when she had arrived, and the total amount of Mana the unending stream of insects had provided hadn’t been all that much in the first place – especially in comparison to the Bearlings.

  Regardless, now that she knew about it, she could spend the Mana however she wanted. She was also nearly full of Raw Materials from absorbing the bodies of the two Bearlings, so Sandra immediately recreated the fallen Basher Totems at 2,000 Mana a piece, using some Large Bronze Orbs she had lying around – a few of which she had been forced to make during the battle to ensure she didn’t fill up her Raw Material capacity. She even made enough to add another four of the Totems to the room; they did very well against the Bearlings, and more was always better.