Is it dead? Did we kill it? We…won?
Stunned and in shock, with some pain along his arm and ribs that apparently hadn’t been automatically healed, Sterge raised his head up and looked around at the arena and stands. They were filled with the absolute carnage left behind by the attack, with blood, body parts, and dead invaders lying in the middle of it all. Not exactly a victory. But at least some of us survived.
Stumbling away from the corpse of the most frightening monster he’d ever seen, the exhaustion that he’d been trying to keep at bay while they were fighting finally caught up to him. Falling to his knees, he felt arms surrounding him as he was gently laid on the ground, his head cradled by something soft. He smiled with his eyes closed as he felt fingers running through his beard, and he succumbed to the sleep of the thoroughly exhausted.
Chapter 32
Tacca had watched the red-skinned invader break out of the Light Cage she had placed around it with despair. She had been hoping that she would be able to keep it contained long enough that the massive block of iron ore she frantically created high above the arena ceiling would squish the monstrous person, but her Assistant ability obviously wasn’t meant to contain something that strong. With the help of the other Cores, they had Carved enough of a passageway for the block to be able to break through the thin covering they left over the chute they made for the cube; it had been at least partially successful, though, even if it didn’t squish the figure completely.
Still, the price had been quite high. Thousands of Raiders had died, along with a few hundred non-Raiders, and the aftermath was horrendous to see.
“I…have no words. I mean, I’ve seen death in my dungeon plenty of times over the last few centuries, but nothing quite on this scale or level of gruesomeness. If I had a stomach still, I think I’d be throwing up in a corner.”
“I feel the same way, Kenzie. I’ve watched hundreds of horror movies in my day, as well as action flicks, but nothing could prepare me for what we just witnessed.”
Tacca could agree with both Kenzie and Brandon, because she felt the same way. If she could be physically sick, she would be; as it was, the level of gore and devastation had made her a bit overwhelmed. During the battle, she had been focused on other things – like attempting to keep as many people alive and to figure out a way to defeat the invaders – but now that she had a chance to look around, she felt like crying.
“Tacca. Do you understand what you just did? You defeated a small army of these things, and you didn’t even have to blow yourself up this time.”
No, Shale; we defeated them, not just me. If it hadn’t been for the help of the Raiders, you and the other Dungeon Assistants, and the other Cores that we’re connected to, we couldn’t have succeeded in this.
She made sure to communicate with everyone that was a part of their little family, to impart her seriousness in how they all had played a part.
“What was that you used earlier? The shockwave that seemed to short-circuit their Personal Force Fields and whatever else they had brought with them?” David asked.
Short…circuit? I’m not even sure what that means, but it was a special ability that I acquired from my last Core Improvement. It’s called Omen Charge, and I wasn’t sure what it did until that moment. It was a complete gamble, but it thankfully paid off.
“That’s my girl!” Patrick interjected, strangely pleased that Tacca had gambled on their lives for some reason.
“I think…and I could be wrong, mind you, but I think it has to do with what happened to you the last time you were attacked by them.”
“What do you mean?” Shale asked. “What does that have anything to do with what happened?” Tacca was curious, as well, because it was all a mystery to her; her new ability, the etching all over her Core that David said looked like something he knew, and even her miraculous survival when she blew herself up.
“Now, I’m not an expert on interdimensional physics or anything like that, but I’ve read a lot of books and played a lot of games – so I know a little bit of theory behind it. Now, you said that when you were attacked before, you ended up blowing yourself up through a chain reaction with this ‘synergy energy’ and by rupturing the dimensional space in these bottomless bags the Raiders carry, right?”
Tacca wasn’t sure what half of what he said meant, but she had followed the last part. Yes, that’s essentially what I did.
David seemed excited now, really getting into his explanation. “Ok, so try to follow me on this. I think that this ‘synergy energy’ amplified the effect of the dimensional explosion, but not only that, it also created a ‘synergy’ between your Core and anything not of this particular dimension. Namely, the invaders.”
What? But…I’m not all blue or purple or have 6 arms.
“Sorry, I forgot to clarify. It wasn’t the invaders themselves that you ‘synergized’ with, but their technology. I think you adapted the same sort of technological effects that their devices apply to their Personal Force Fields, their weapons, and whatever caused a rupture in the regeneration of Dungeon Force, Fairy Mana, and the use of those things by your Core and Dungeon Assistants.”
So, in effect that means…what, exactly?
“That your Core is now integrated with these invaders’ technology, allowing you to tap into and short-circuit – or overload – the devices they brought with them. That is why your Core looks the way it does, because at this point you’re one third Fairy, one third Dungeon Core, and one third invader technology.”
And I survived in the first place, how?
“That I’m not as sure of, but I think it has to do with the dimensional space that was released from the bags you destroyed. From my knowledge of particular games, these types of dimensional storage tend to want to keep the items placed inside intact, releasing them when called forth exactly how they looked when they were inserted. My guess is that you were kicked out to an external dimensional pocket a moment before you were actually shattered, the storage space found that you weren’t quite intact; when it couldn’t hold you anymore since it didn’t technically exist from that point because its container was destroyed, it spit you back out, utilizing the ‘synergy energy’ that it absorbed at the same time to put you back together. Simple, really,” David said matter-of-factly.
Tacca understood some of that, and what she did understand didn’t seem so simple. Regardless, it was an explanation; whether that was what actually happened, she had no way of knowing. Still, whatever it was allowed her to remove the Fields that had been protecting the invaders, so there was that.
“So what are we going to do, now?” Tulip asked, the fear and shakiness she and the other Assistants had displayed earlier completely gone. Tacca was inordinately proud that all of them had enough courage to stick around and fight, rather than flee when the going got tough. Any one of them could’ve easily abandoned their group when they were able to Translocate again, and it showed a dedication and fortitude that she wasn’t sure they had in them until now.
Well, we aren’t going to do anything until we get this place cleaned up and survive through the winter. I think we’re also going to have to set some other defensive rooms up, working together, so that if there is another attack like this last one, we’ll be better prepared. Now that we all know what we’re up against, we can hopefully figure out a way to fight back effectively without the brave sacrifices of so many Raiders in our defense. Especially after they leave the mountain once winter is done, as they won’t be here to help.
“Once that is all done, though, what are your plans?” Regina questioned.
Tacca was about to respond that she didn’t know, but that wasn’t quite true. While she didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do, she knew the end result she wanted to achieve.
Using this new knowledge and my new abilities, I want to wipe every trace of those invaders from the planet.
“Lofty goals, girl, but that seems like a lot of work—”
Almost in unison, Tacca a
nd the other Cores shouted back, “Shut up, Karen!”
“Whatever. As soon as I find and speak to whoever decided on transporting me here after my death, I’ll tell them about all of this abuse you’ve heaped down on me.” Something in Karen’s voice made Tacca think that the other Core really enjoyed needling everyone else, and she was pleased she could get under their “skin”, so to say. She didn’t seem vindictive or mean, it was just who she was as a person, or more accurately, as a Core.
“I don’t know how you plan on doing that, Tacca, considering that you’re sort of confined to this dungeon. Unless these invaders send every single one of their kind down here, I doubt you’ll be able to wipe them all out.”
What Shale said was true, but Tacca also knew that she had to try…somehow. Right now wasn’t the time for that, though, because they had some work to do.
The Raiders, after resting and healing their wounds after the battle, left within an hour or so of the 8-armed invader’s death. Some were so wounded that they needed to be carried, where they would be able to heal once they had access to additional healing spells from the exhausted Healers in the group. As they were leaving, she finally got a count of how many of them were left, as well as who had managed to avoid any type of combat still back in the Hall.
732 individuals were left.
Out of a total of 3,917 that had arrived at the Hall when winter started.
That meant that over 80% of those that had been living the day before were now dead, and the fact made Tacca more than a bit sad. She had designed this place to save them from the harsh winter, but it had ended up being a deathtrap for most of them. There wasn’t much that she could do about it now, though, except work to make sure the rest survived long enough to leave their temporary mountain habitation.
As soon as the room was clear, the Raiders leaving their dead behind in their reluctance to see any more death than they already had, Tacca used the help of the others to start absorbing bodies. It was particularly disgusting work, mainly because she had them only absorb the bodies themselves, leaving all of the gear behind.
“Why? It’ll be so much easier to just absorb it all. Besides, it’s not like the others will need it,” Patrick asked.
Because I’ve noticed that the mortal races like to keep some sort of souvenir from their dead, I think in remembrance.
“Ah, I think I’ve noticed something like that from them, too. Sort of like dog-tags, I guess. I don’t blame them.”
Tacca wasn’t sure what dog-tags were, but the others seemed to understand. It took a few hours to fully clean up all of the intact corpses, detached body parts, and blood everywhere, including the bodies of the invaders. They left their weapons in case any of the Raiders could use them, even if they were oversized, because it was possible they might be able to figure out how their impossibly sharp edges worked. In addition, the strange devices that the purple-skinned invaders had worn around their bodies were left, on the thought that some investigation could prove fruitful.
Unfortunately, none of the other Cores could make heads or tails of it.
“I was a gamer, not an engineer. I may have some knowledge of what these things might or might not do, but as for how they work – I have no idea. All I can say is that it is extremely advanced technology compared to what I grew up with on Earth.”
None of the others seemed to have any other ideas either, but they did learn through their conversations that not only did all of the other Cores come from Earth, but they were all from the same few decades of the timeline there – despite Regina being the oldest of them at a little over 400 years, and the youngest (Brandon) at just over a century and a half. Not only that, but Regina was apparently from a time that occurred after Brandon had died. It was strange, indeed, but it didn’t really help them figure out how this invader technology worked. Other than it being completely inert, that was. Whatever her Omen Charge ability had done, it had turned the strange device basically into a heavy brick of metal and other unidentifiable materials, unable to do a single thing.
After that was complete, they worked together to create some additional rooms along the tunnel linking her dungeon (which was strange to say, since it was technically part of them all now) to the Nursery, which they then filled in with trap after trap after trap. Most of them were done by Tacca, though, as it was soon evident that the same handicap that had plagued her efforts when she first began also hindered the CI Level 1 Cores, meaning that they couldn’t place too many traps without stressing their Cores.
After that, Tacca added another room to the tunnel leading from the arena (which was in the ceiling, similar to the one to the Nursery) to her defensive room. In this one, she decided to adopt what she had done to help kill the red-skinned invader, by creating large blocks of heavy iron ore high above the room, while keeping the ceiling intact using a very thin layer of stone. She had to go in from the side of the tunnel ahead of the room in order to access the 6 different chutes that held the “handmade” traps, but it was worth it to keep the danger hidden until they were needed. Plus, when they were needed, it was easy enough to eat away at the stone platform underneath the iron ore, though timing would be critical to make sure it fell when she needed it to.
It was something she’d never really thought about creating before, because it went contrary to the idea of traps in a dungeon. Normally, traps that were placed would automatically be rearmed and put back to its original state as long as there was enough Dungeon Force to apply to them; their reusability and reduced cost for replacement was what made them so useful, so that brand-new traps didn’t have to be created each time they were either activated or Disarmed. But what she made in this room – as well as the one in the arena – were single-use, meaning that they couldn’t just be reset automatically. They went contrary to everything she had been taught such that it felt anathema to even contemplate using them, but use them she did. Whatever she needed to do to ensure her and the others’ safety took precedence over her own reluctance.
The Raiders stayed in the Hall the entire next day, as well as the next, as they mourned their losses; Tacca mourned right along with them. While she didn’t know many of them other than by sight, she felt responsible for them, almost as if they were her children. Granted, they were dangerous children that delved through her dungeon and occasionally died as a result, but that couldn’t change the fact that she didn’t want to kill them.
Eventually, they came back to the arena in small groups, though none of them seemed eager to actually use it for its original purpose. Instead, they were extremely thankful that all of their friends’ belongings had been left behind, and within a few hours they had taken all of it with them, either to be reused or as a remembrance of those that had fallen in the battle.
“I have to say, as much as all of this sucked, it did have a silver lining.”
Tacca didn’t think anything good had come from so much death like Patrick inferred, other than learning what her Omen Charge ability could do, of course.
Such as?
“Well, I’m not sure if you’ve looked at your Point Awards lately, but…well, it speaks for itself, I would say.”
Tacca had been so focused on the battle that she hadn’t even registered the accumulation of Core Improvement Points from so many deaths. Afterwards, she had been involved in the cleanup of everything, as well as preparing some new defenses, that it had all slipped her mind; that, and there were more important things to consider at the time.
Core Improvement Point Awards
Type
Variable Conditions
Potential CIP
Current
Rooms Constructed
Size
1 – 50
565
Traps Installed
Complexity
1 – 20
1260
Monsters Created
Levels
1 – 20
985
Rewards Placed
Valuation
625
Raider Presence
Time
1 – 5
26560
Raider Deaths
Quality
100 – 10000
500570
Uh…what?
“I’ve done some calculations based on an average Quality rating of 122 per Raider Death, based on their approximate Levels. I’ve determined, in addition to correlating the information you imparted about your last experience with these invaders, that each of the blue-colored ones were worth 5,000 Points, the purple were worth 6,000, and the larger red one was worth 8,000. Naturally, there is a margin of error of approximately + or – 133.33 Points, but I’m fairly confident in my evaluation.”
The way Regina could talk about so many deaths was a little disturbing, but Tacca could understand that sometimes it was easier to deal with so much gruesome activity by considering it in the abstract, instead of putting faces to those numbers. Regardless, if she was correct, then—
“You’re saying that there is something out there that might be even stronger than that red-skinned invader?” Shale asked, seeing the problem right away. If it was only worth 8,000 Points…was there another invader worth 9,000? 10,000? What would they even look like? For all she knew, there were very few Raiders that had died inside dungeons that were ever recorded to top even 3,000; that didn’t mean they didn’t exist, of course, but only that they hadn’t died inside of a dungeon. It hurt her mind even contemplating something more difficult than the eight-armed invader.
“Quite likely.”
Regardless of whether that was true, Tacca had to admit that the Points that she had earned seemed outrageous, but with over 3,000 Raiders dying in the dungeon – along with the invaders, of course – it made sense. She had already earned quite a bit from Raider Presence alone, as well as from the creation of so many rooms, traps, and creatures, but earning over half a million Points from Deaths was almost sickening. Then again, it would certainly be beneficial once she hit her yearly countdown – though that was months into the future.
The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) Page 30