The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Echo was ready, even as her nervous energy had her rapidly petting the neck of Starlight 3. Looking around, she saw the Totems starting to move into position near the right-side wall, having not even noticed them until they moved. C’mon, Echo, get your head into it.

  Suddenly, a massive chunk of the wall disappeared, and the Totems glided inside the empty space. I guess that’s our cue. She joined the rest of her party as they also entered the space, only to see another chunk of dirt and stone disappear. This happened another 8 times in rapid succession, before the constructs they were following started to smash their fists against the wall on their left. In what felt like no time at all, the wall collapsed in front of them, and they pushed their way through.

  She and the others weren’t far behind.

  Chapter 46

  It was chaos as soon as she flew through the opening on Starlight 3 with her bow pulled back into position and ready to fire. The first monster she saw was a Hobgoblin Brute, located about halfway across a relatively small room, and she fired her bolt (not an explosive one) right between its eyes – only to see it pass right through its head as if it wasn’t there. What?

  Out of seemingly nowhere, a ball of fire zoomed toward her from the side, too fast to easily have the Pegasus she was riding dodge out of the way. She was only about 15 feet off the ground, so a quick decision caused her to fling herself off the opposite side of her mount, and she felt herself falling – though floating would almost be more accurate. The Lesser Buoyancy enchantment that Sandra had mentioned earlier was already showing its worth, as she fell much slower than she would’ve normally, and she literally had time to draw another bolt from her quiver, fit it to the invisible string on the bow, and fire it where she estimated the fireball had come from.

  There was a squeal of pain from something, though it wasn’t something she could see. In fact, all she could see was the Hobgoblin Brute she had seen before, along with some Scouts…but they weren’t moving. In fact, they were like simple, moving images standing in the middle of the room, as if they were—

  “They’re illusions! I’m casting a nullifier now!” her Queen shouted, first in Elvish, and then in what she assumed were the other languages. Echo hit the ground in time to see the regal Elf wave her hands a few times, and something in the room seemed to change. Some sense of danger alerted her to an attack and the Ranger flung herself out of the way, turning around in mid-dive to see a crude-looking iron dagger being wielded by a Goblin Scout looking confused at where she was.

  She scrambled to her feet even as she grabbed another bolt and released, impaling the Scout through the throat and catching in a bone, the force of the projectile so great it flung the monster back a few feet. When it landed, she looked behind it to the back of the room, only to finally see what her Queen was talking about.

  Dozens of Goblins were charging at them, hidden by a simple illusion. She could see the trap now; rushing into attack the Brute and Scouts, those Goblins hidden by the Spirit-based illusion would quickly surround whoever got close enough and kill them. With the trap nullified by the Queen, they had no other choice but to attack.

  An arrow suddenly slammed into Echo’s shoulder, her surprise at there being so many Goblins in the room freezing her into inaction. She felt the pain of the arrowhead piercing through her leather chest armor and into her flesh, but the force of the impact was worse than the sting of the arrow. She immediately reached up to yank it out, not caring if it were barbed or not, which would rip her flesh – she didn’t want it ruining her aim. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the arrow hadn’t penetrated that deep and practically fell out, only the tip of it showing a tiny smear of blood as she threw it away.

  Stoneskin saves the day.

  Finding the Goblin Archer along the back that had shot her, she immediately sent an explosive bolt at it, seeing that it was surrounded by 2 of its friends. The bolt traveled nearly too fast to physically see it, let alone try to dodge it, and the Archers were quickly blown apart, pieces of them hitting a few other Goblins along the back of the charging line. A dismembered arm smacked against what appeared to be a large Hobgoblin Mage, and the red-robed monster turned its attention towards Echo, flinging out a fireball at her, even as she suddenly felt ice forming at the bottom of her legs and feet, trapping her in place.

  She tried to dodge out of the way, but she wasn’t going to be able to in time; instead, she fired another regular bolt at the Mage that was going to injure her severely, and she got satisfaction in seeing a bolt through its right eye just as the fireball hit her. Or it would’ve hit her, if a thick sheet of ice hadn’t formed in front of her face, angled as to deflect the burning ball of flames off to her left. The next moment, the ice around her legs seemed to melt and evaporate, and her King was there, giving her a wink before turning his full attention on the incoming horde of Goblins.

  With everyone fully in the room now, and the monsters they were facing fully revealed, it was a slaughter. Calling Starlight 3 down to pick her up, Echo barely got another bolt off to drill through the head of a stray Goblin Scout before it was all done. King Mynag, First-shield Parten, Gerold, and Princess Celeste led the charge against the wave of Goblins, acting almost as a wall as they prevented anyone from passing by them. Battleaxes sang out almost in unison, chopping through Goblin flesh, leaving headless and armless monsters in their wake.

  Mynag and Parten had normal metal weapons, which were devastating in their own right, enhanced by whatever made their Shieldmen gear so powerful. Gerold, on the other hand, had an axe made entirely from what appeared to be ice, and it left those he cut with it on the floor with frost forming over their wounds, which rapidly spread to the rest of the surrounding area. It was actually beneficial for the Goblins for a few seconds because it numbed and stopped the bleeding of their open wounds, but their bodies soon froze up to the point where they couldn’t move.

  In his left hand, he also had a shield made of what appeared to be shadow, which he used as a way to absorb damage from weapon attacks, almost like he was holding a large spongy pad; it didn’t allow him to bash at his targets or push them away like the other two Shieldmen, but it was highly beneficial, nonetheless.

  The one thing the Nether-based shield couldn’t block, however, were hostile spells. Instead, the armor, itself, helped to protect him. Echo saw one of the Goblin Mages try to freeze his legs like one did to her, before sending a fireball in his direction – but that didn’t work out so well for the Mage, nor the Goblins he was facing off against. The ice from the spell formed on his legs for less than a second, before it was broken apart and flung forward, deadly shards of frozen water impaling at least 2 Goblin Scouts and a Goblin Warrior in the process. When the fireball hit his suit in the chest, he didn’t even bother blocking it; a layer of his own ice appeared to take the brunt of the heat, extinguishing the spell in the next moment. It still staggered him backwards a step from the impact, but he was ultimately unharmed.

  The Princess had a matching shield made from shadows, but instead of an ice-formed battleaxe, she had a smaller hatchet made of fire. Or more precisely, flames that had been somehow solidified into a concentrated form, which made it very, very hot in a small area. The pure heat of her hatchet was enough to slice through and cauterize flesh as quickly as it touched it, though the few hits on the metallic pieces of armor on the larger Goblins only managed to partially melt and warp the metal a little. Echo wasn’t sure how it managed not to melt her Deep Diver suit, but it could apparently resist the heat with no ill effects.

  The two Orcs were both a chaotic force of nature and a beautiful dance of death that was delivered upon the Goblins’ flanks. Owchet wielded a warhammer that reminded Echo of the ones that Sandra’s Apes used quite effectively, but the Orc Warrior was on a whole new level. He practically leapt into the heart of the Goblin charge’s right flank, slamming his hammer down with devastating results, to the point where it was almost sickening. His strength was so great that he nearly obli
terated 3 Scouts in one wide swing of his weapon, and when one of the Brutes tried to block him, he shattered its sword and caved in its chest, sending it flying backwards at least 15 feet.

  He wasn’t invincible, though, nor did he have eyes on the back of his head. A Goblin Scout snuck up and stabbed him in the back with an iron dagger, but the armor he was wearing – as well as the Stoneskin enchantment from his necklace – saved him from being seriously hurt. If it had been one of the larger Goblins, like a Brute, he probably would’ve been injured; as it was, Echo doubted he had more than a pinprick’s worth of blood come out from the sneak attack.

  Instead of the powerful strength of Owwchet’s blows, Palzerk flowed through the various Goblins that tried to attack him like he was dancing, cutting flesh open with his titanium sword. Each movement seemed choreographed, his weapon sweeping out efficiently to remove limbs, heads, or just injure them so badly that they would have trouble fighting from that point on. Nothing seemed to hit him, either, though sometimes it appeared as if he was deliberately baiting the Goblins and dodging out of the way a split-second before he would suffer a devastating injury.

  Then came her King and Queen, who were frightening on their own. Focused spells of all different sorts tore up the back line of the Goblin Archers and Mages, ranging from bursts of flames, spears of ice, chunks of stone, searing explosions of light, clouds of noxious-looking poison, and blinding clouds of darkness. All of it was delivered with deliberate care by the two Royal Elves, standing in the back and moving their hands as if they were conducting a symphony. A symphony of death and destruction, naturally, because they didn’t stop until everything on the other side of the room was dead.

  The two Champion Totems that had helped to break down the wall so they could enter stayed in the back, both because no one had given them any orders – and because they weren’t really needed. Instead, they were the perfect guards for their Repair Drones, which were also hanging back and waiting until there was a need for their services. A service which was quickly provided at a distance without making her freeze in place, as she saw one of the Drone’s arms pointing in her direction, and the small wound on her shoulder, where she’d been shot by an arrow, healed entirely.

  There was silence for a moment, as Echo and the party looked at each other in astonishment – at least, it was astonishment on her part – before her King pointed towards one of the two tunnels in the room. From her perspective a little higher, she could see that it was sloped a little downwards, which was a fairly good indication that it would lead to the Core they were seeking. No other words were spoken as they raced ahead, the Shieldmen and the two in their Deep Diver suits out front, the Orcs coming next, then her King and Queen, and finally Echo on Starlight 3, which had to walk instead of fly in order to fit through the tunnel. Also, since she was in the rear, she ordered the 4 constructs that Sandra had lent them to follow after them staying relatively safe from behind.

  The next thing she heard down the short tunnel was her Queen saying, “HOLD! Nullifying!” She couldn’t see from her position, but Echo suspected that the Elven Queen had just nullified the illusion in the next room, just as she had moments ago in the first room. She knew that it was a common tactic in dungeon-destroying teams, such as the one that had visited Sandra’s dungeon; she also knew that it required a lot of energy to nullify traps in dungeons constantly, as well as ensuring that you nullified with the opposite element, which made the process quite draining and a bit dangerous – normally. With the amount of energy her King and Queen wielded – which had been doubled by their necklaces – and the regeneration by the Orbs in their hands, Echo doubted they would have any problems.

  The room she entered, once everyone had made their way inside, was a little larger than the last one, though it was only that way because it was like a long, wide hallway. On the floor, dotting the perfectly flat stone in seemingly random positions, were large pits. While unable to view inside them, Echo suspected that they were quite deep and possibly filled with spikes or jagged rocks. They also seemed quite easy to avoid, as there was a clear narrow pathway between them, which made her wonder for a moment why they were there.

  Oh—that’s right. They were probably concealed by an illusion that my Queen nullified. That made it much easier to make their way through without getting hurt because of the traps – but that wasn’t the only obstacle in the room. More Goblins made an appearance, though these were in the shape of dozens of Goblin Archers and Mages in small alcoves along the side of the long room.

  “I’ve got them!” Echo shouted, before lifting Starlight 3 into the air. The ceiling wasn’t that high – maybe 50 feet – but it allowed her to get a good look at the waiting Goblins; they were hard to see unless you were nearly even with them down below, but from up high she could see them almost ridiculously easily.

  As soon as she started moving forward, a transparent shield of swirling air appeared around her, and she looked back and shouted, “Thanks!” at the King, who winked at her again. Flying slowly through the room, she rotated firing to her left and her right, filling the Archers and Mages with regular bolts that ended them swiftly; they, naturally, fired back, but both arrows and fireballs were deflected by the shield of swirling air around Echo. Ice formed around her legs and feet, as well as the legs and feet of Starlight 3, but that didn’t really hinder her in the slightest since they weren’t stuck to the ground, being so high up.

  It took less than a minute to clear out the Goblins in the room, and the others had been following along at a distance, allowing her to clear the way for them. Looking at her quiver when she was done, however, she realized she was already running low on bolts, but she hoped that she wouldn’t be needed as thoroughly in the next few rooms as she was in this one. If she was…well, she still had nearly all of her explosive bolts, if it came down to it.

  Luckily, she wasn’t needed through the next few rooms other than as backup, as the others demolished and destroyed everything in their path. All of the traps were nullified, so they didn’t need to worry about those, but there were a lot of Goblins of all different kinds. They began seeing Goblin Commanders, which were bigger than any she’d seen before, but they fell just as quickly as the others when they were tag-teamed by the two Shieldmen or Gerold and the Princess, who systematically sliced them apart, piece by piece.

  And then came the Goblin Necromancers that Sandra had mentioned. Just seeing their black robes made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, as she remembered the undead she had faced in another dungeon not that long ago. Echo couldn’t see the spell they cast over the other Goblins they were facing, but she could tell that both her King and Queen could. “They all are going to arise as undead! Take their heads from their shoulders!” the Elven King shouted.

  Echo went hunting for the Necromancer, but it seemed to have disappeared. When she flew dangerously close to the back line of this room’s worth of Goblins, she saw that it had retreated behind a pillar, out of view from anyone else in the room – anyone but her, of course. She took aim and let a bolt fly – only for a grey shield to appear to around the Goblin, deflecting the bolt so it flew into the wall. What?! Fine, try one of these on for size.

  An explosive bolt followed her first one, but it too was deflected – though it was more the explosion that was redirected than the bolt itself. Fortunately, it was close enough to a few Goblin Archers that the explosion sent them flying. When Echo looked back at the Necromancer, though, it hadn’t been harmed in the slightest.

  With the projectiles sent by her bow not working, she tried another tactic. While she wasn’t anywhere in the same sort of spellcasting league as the Elven King and Queen, that didn’t mean she couldn’t cast a few offensive spells. They weren’t nearly as reliable as her trusty weapon, however, so she only fell back on them when she had no choice. With some deft manipulation of her Holy energy, she formed a long, thin rod of light with a sharp point to it in the front, and then threw it at the grey-shielded Goblin. Her Lig
htstrike spell shot nearly as fast as one of her physical bolts through the intervening distance, striking against the barrier…and then dissipated harmlessly upon impact.

  “I can’t kill it! That Necromancer is shielded and I can’t break through!” Echo shouted as she directed Starlight 3 back to the other side of the room, dodging a few arrows shot in her direction as she did so by a handful of Goblin Archers. Taking her frustration in not being able to harm the Necromancer out on the ones trying to shoot her, she shot another explosive-tipped bolt at the floor in between the Archers, and their relatively fragile bodies blew apart.

  “We’ll deal with it after these are dead – or re-dead, whatever the case is.” Her Queen continued to fight even as she spoke, weaving fatal spells throughout the room that killed Goblins by the dozens. Without line-of-sight, however, neither she nor the King could affect the Necromancer; a big enough explosion might reach it if it was set off near the pillar it was hiding behind, but Echo thought that wouldn’t really work.

  The battle in the room was winding down within a few minutes, as those Goblins that were killed and not decapitated sprang back into action within a few seconds, meaning they had to be killed again. To those Mages or Archers that Echo had shot or exploded with her bow, many of them came back as undead, as it was difficult to remove a head with a projectile – unless it was demolished as a result of her explosive bolts, of course.

  When the last undead Goblin fell, the Necromancer finally made its move to flee, heading for the exit to the next room. The Elven King brought forth a thin stone wall that blocked the majority of the tunnel, though, and the Necromancer was trapped. Spell after spell from the Royal couple were thrown at it for nearly a minute, but when they stopped, the Goblin was still standing; the powerful shield seemed able to block just about anything long-ranged.