by Dante King
Monster Core (Book 2)
Dante King
Copyright © 2019 by Dante King
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
v001
Created with Vellum
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
5. Interlude
Chapter 6
7. Interlude
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
17. Interlude
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Want More Monster Core?
About the Author
Chapter One
Corpses lay scattered inside Zagorath, the last remnants of the Sand Pirates who’d attempted to raid my dungeon. They’d been no match for my minions and my champions. The final nail in the proverbial coffin was my Tainted Elf avatar, Von Dominus.
From within my blood-colored gem, I examined the equipment of my fallen enemies and felt a shudder of anticipation. Essence and blueprints lay within their items, and even the lifeless bodies could be consumed.
I went to work.
Deconstructing the weapons was simple because I knew the steel, and even their designs were somewhat rudimentary. I absorbed the tattered remnants of leather armor and a collection of scabbards before I moved on eagerly to the potions. Like the weapons and armor, the outer containers of the pots weren’t difficult to reduce down to their essences, but the substances inside were delightful feasts of complex compositions.
The first was a healing substance filled with Infernal Essence. How it’d been attained, I had no idea. To the best of my knowledge, there was no way for an adventurer to channel their essence into anything except sigils, but these potions suggested otherwise. I’d seen the effects of the magical tonics, and I’d even benefited from them by absorbing Jeff’s blood during our battle inside the troll grove.
I consumed each drop of liquid until I understood its molecular structure. My knowledge became so granular that I began to learn how even the liquid’s atoms held themselves together. As I’d seen in leather and wood, there were hints of deceased organic life. It seemed there was a refinement method known only to adventurers that allowed them to distill essence through plants and monsters to create potions like these for particular ends.
The effects of each vial were simple enough, and they were all too familiar after years of video gaming. The red restored health, and the green was designed to aid stamina. I’d witnessed the power of the potions in my encounter with the pirates. They closed surface wounds, neutralized poison, dulled pain, and otherwise worked as an all-round elixir. The stamina potions must have been what allowed my enemies to fight with a ferocity unlike my dungeon’s previous visitors.
Once the last drop from the final bottle dissipated into essence, the largest readout I’d seen so far appeared in my mind.
Zagorath
Type: Infernal Core
Avatar Time: 180 minutes (refreshes every 24 hours)
Essences
Physical - 14,560/20,000
Infernal - 16,000
Storm - 20
Soul - 3,400
Minions
Hellbat (25 Infernal Essence)
Storm Sprite (20 Storm Essence)
Champions (3/3)
Bertha the War Troll (Evolution Level 2)
Puck the Shade (Evolution Level 2)
Abby the Storm Elemental
Traps
Spring Trap (Physical)
Bladed-Fan (Physical)
Ceiling Spike (Physical)
Floor Spike (Physical)
Wall Spike (Physical)
Paralysis Ring (Storm)
Materials
Obsidian
Breadrock
Honeywood
Troll Iron
Leather Scraps
Obsidian Alloy
Clouded Ruby Gemstone
Black Leather
Tanned Leather
Goblin Oil
Orc Steel
Roughweave Cotton
Cheap Crystal
Burnished Bronze (new!)
Blueprints
Cleaver (Magic)
Poleaxe (Common)
Savage Halberd (Magic)
Savage Mace (Magic)
Two-Handed Great Sword (Epic)
Orc Scimitar (Common)
Orc Short Spear (Common)
Jerkin (Common)
Boots (Common)
Cuffs (Common)
Pants (Common)
Belt (Common)
Pig-Sticking Dagger (Magic)
Staff (Magic)
Priestly Robes (Common)
Satchel (Common)
Wanderer’s Armor (Common) (new!)
Pirate Crossbow (Common) (new!)
Teardrop Crossbow Bolts (Common) (new!)
Two-handed Broadsword (Magic) (new!)
Curved Hatchet (Common) (new!)
Flanged Mace (Common) (new!)
Warhammer (Magic) (new!)
Ring (Magic) (new!)
Spiked Helmet (Common) (new!)
Breastplate (Common) (new!)
Leggings (Common) (new!)
Scabbard (Common) (new!)
Gauntlets (Common) (new!)
Glass Vial (Common) (new!)
Lesser Healing Potion (Magic) (new!)
Lesser Stamina Potion (Magic) (new!)
Seals
Swiftness
Swiftness +1
Swiftness +3 (new!)
Might
Might +3 (new!)
Illuminate
Embolden +2 (new!)
Fright +1 (new!)
Zagorath Increased in Power!
Total Champions Increased: 3 → 4
Maximum Physical Essence Increased: 20,000 → 30,000
Maximum Avatar Time: 180 minutes → 360 minutes
The acquisitions joined my consciousness in a spiral of neural fireworks. The constant flow of power and knowledge was intoxicating, but Abby interrupted my moment of appreciation with her Storm Core’s mental voice.
“What did you mean by becoming adventurers?” she asked. She was referring to the promise I had made right after we defeated the Sand Pirates. I’d said that our next step was to become adventurers, but I hadn’t explained my intention behind the statement.
I pulled my focus away from the new materials, weapons, and energy that now shone through every facet of my blood-red dungeon heart. “This is only the beginning, dear Abigail. More dungeons await, outside of Zagorath’s influence. How else do you think I will to bring them under my control unless we venture into them like adventurers?”
Zagorath, my dungeon, was merely the first step. There were other dungeons. Not in the Infernal Realm, for I was the only one Lilith had created, but there were other realms with other divinities. With my special perks, I could gain the abilities of any other dungeon core I dominated—through sex or conquest.
I’d already added Abigail’s Storm Sprites to my repertoire, and she’d joined me as a champion. Her elemental form had proved a serious boon in battle, much to the misfortune of the pirates. Bertha, on the other hand, had gifted me with speed and strength. I had also dominated Puck by making him my champion, but I didn’t fuck him. That would have been undesirable, and I hadn’t gained any power
s from him either. I’d now come to the conclusion that this special gift from Lilith, the Infernal Goddess, was restricted to conquering members of the fairer sex. Much to my pleasure, since the option of screwing a male monster wasn’t a decision I wanted to make. It also meant, however, that killing a male dungeon core was unlikely to provide me with their abilities, but then, Lilith had said that may dungeon cores inside the Sinarius Realms were female.
And other dungeon core avatars were my prime targets for my next champion slot. I had just increased my slots from three to four, so I could add another avatar from an entirely different realm. Getting to another realm could prove difficult though; I didn’t even know how far away they were.
“Your avatar has, what, three hours of lifespan, if that?” Abby asked while I pondered.
“I have six hours now,” I said. It wasn’t much of an increase, and even six hours was unlikely to take me outside the Infernal Ream. But there was something Bertha had mentioned when we’d first met.
Travel stones.
“How far do you really think you’re going to be able to make it on foot?” Abby continued. “It’s not like you can remove your core and have one of your champions carry it into another realm. It is secured to Shadow Crag Mountain now, for good or ill.” I could feel her chuckling to herself. “For all of your power and your victory, Dom, you’re still far too big for your boots. It’s not possible.”
Not possible, my ass. I made it my business to accomplish the supposedly impossible. It wasn’t a question of fair, or even possible, but one of audacity, and how far I was willing to go with my game plan.
I could see and hear everything within every portion of my dungeon, like a person playing a Real Time Strategy or Tower Defense game. Except this was no game, and my perceptions were a hundredfold stronger than even the best Augmented Reality games could replicate.
With a simple act of will, I focused on the First Floor, where Bertha sat in her customary meditative pose, leaning against a pillar on the First Floor. The half-troll shifted at the touch of my mind, and a smile touched her full lips.
“How may I be of service, Master?” She injected a layer of saucy salaciousness into her jazz-singer voice. “All of these cunning machinations of yours keep you from me. It’s becoming rather frustrating, I must admit.”
I pulled at her Infernal Essence and tickled her insides with it. She moaned as her lithe emerald body stiffened with pleasure.
“All good things come with time, my lovely champion. You’re the first demonstration of that.” I paused, formed my thoughts, and composed myself. This was a long shot, and I needed to make sure I wasn’t placing all my bets on the wrong horse. “You mentioned a travel stone, once. Describe them to me.”
The half-troll’s smile widened. “The little lightning bolt doesn’t know of these stones?”
There was a little antagonism between Abby and Bertha, but our battle with the pirates had done much to decrease it.
“You brought it up first,” I told Bertha, “so you get to be the first to inform me.”
Bertha puffed her chest a little and gave a brief smug smile to Abby’s dungeon heart from across the vast chamber. “They were designed as a method of adventurer transportation. My step-father, Gavin, often used to speak of a golden age, tales handed down from generation to generation. When adventurers could seemingly arrive from anywhere and go to places that would take 40 days by foot.”
My heart raced with excitement. “And how do they function?”
“I always wondered at such magic, but Gavin explained them to me as a kind of doorway. Instead of opening to a room, they opened to a completely different land. But, without constant use, or guilds, their insides fall apart, and they can barely be used as anything more than a way of communication.”
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, my mind flickered back to my old world, on Earth. Back to the old games I’d once played, games not entirely unlike the reality where I now lived. Somehow, the gods of the Sinarius Realms had found a way to combine portals and cell phones together into one device. More raw, unadulterated excitement blasted through my core’s razor-sharp edges.
I settled myself before I asked further questions. “Your family—they used one, didn’t they? To communicate with the Sand Pirates?”
Bertha must have sensed my elation, because she opened her eyes, and her smile turned almost crafty. “Of course. I take it you’d like to find one and use it for furthering Zagorath’s strength?”
“You know me all too well, champion. That is precisely my intention.”
“Some are buried in the caverns below us, Master.”
“In Shadow Crag?” I asked.
“Yes. I stumbled across them as a fledgling.”
“You must have been quite the explorer.” Puck snickered from his perch on the dais. The goddess, Lilith, the being responsible for transporting me to this world, was depicted in a giant carving on the wall behind him. Lilith’s likeness was a tribute to her goodwill, and the terrible deeds I committed—and would continue to commit—in her name.
“It was unintentional,” the half-troll shot back. “I had been playing in the tunnels at the time.”
“Playing? Bertha, I can hardly imagine you playing as a young half-troll.” The Shade fluttered above the dais to taunt her.
“My play involved killing sulfur gnomes—a pity there weren’t any imps. I particularly like slaying their kind.”
“Good thing I’m no longer an imp,” he said, and he expanded his form so that it was almost seven feet of pure shadows. A menacing creature, no doubt, but Bertha showed no sign of being intimidated. Instead, she grabbed her halberd and stood to face Puck.
“Enough. There will be time for sparring later,” I said before focusing on Bertha. “Tell me more of these stones.”
“They’re large, Master. Far too large for even the combined might of all your champions to carry into Zagorath.”
“I’ll think of a way,” I said.
I’d consumed materials by the metric shit-ton, reforged weapons with magical sigils, and spawned creatures from nothing more than the energy of Lilith herself. I’d continuously overcome my own limitations with only a little prior planning and having the balls to stick it out where others would have fallen down and died. But I needed more information, more of an understanding of what these travel stones looked like, how they functioned, and, most importantly, whether or not I could consume and recreate them inside Zagorath’s halls.
“What are they made of?” I asked Bertha. “Do they look anything like the soul forge, or the effigies I’ve used to spawn lesser minions?”
Those were the only two things I’d been completely unable to break down so far. My suspicion was that the gods themselves crafted them in such a way that they couldn’t be tampered with, to maintain a cosmic balance between adventurers and dungeon cores.
“No, they’re not made of that strange metal,” the half-troll answered. “It’s a kind of gem, or crystal. They’re melted into the ground, and they’re incredibly difficult to uproot, let alone move.”
“But you know where I can find one?” I asked.
“Yes,” Bertha replied. “Although I wouldn’t be able to point it out without a map.”
With a thought, an old tool that Lilith had gifted me flickered into my dungeon’s senses—a map of Shadow Crag. In a few moments, I carved a perfect replica on the obsidian tiles in front of the half-troll.
“There.” Bertha crouched down and pressed a fingertip to the map. She was pointing to a small cavern in the lower tunnels of Shadow Crag, where I’d first spawned in the Sinarius Realms. “There’s a stone here.”
“It is a mountain.” Puck latched onto the pillar above her like a looming gargoyle. “There’s likely to be at least one stone inside of it.”
Bertha ignored him, her face glowing with excitement. “This cave is where you’ll find one. I remember seeing it as a fledgling. Jeff and Ma dragged me away from it, years ag
o, but there’s one here.”
Interest glowed in Puck’s blood-red eyes as he looked at the map. “Fascinating. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a sketched representation of Shadow Crag this complete before. Where did you find this, Master?”
“Lilith continues to provide,” I answered with a chuckle.
I considered the possibilities carefully. Bertha knew the location of one of these travel stones. If I could gain access to it, I could examine it more closely and discern a way of using it. Abby had made clear that the other realms were impossible to reach in only six hours, so my only option was a travel stone.
Accessing this cave would take some time, but if I were to focus my excavation into a single, sharp point—like a scalpel—I could extend Zagorath’s reach out to this room, gain access to the cavern, and make it part of the dungeon.
Then, I could use the stone to venture into lands unknown.
Chapter Two
I wanted to begin seeking out the travel stone immediately, but my champions would be idle while I worked, and that would be a dreaded inefficiency I couldn’t allow. Before Puck had become a Shade, he’d mentioned an effigy that his imp kin kept in their homeland, and now was a perfect time for him to retrieve it.
“Puck,” I said.
“Master?” His form dissipated into shadows before it materialized directly in front of my core. The longer I let my senses fall on him, the more I realized how much he had changed. He still had wings like a demon, but he seemed wrapped in shadow-like bandages, almost as if he was a demonic variant of an Egyptian Mummy. He hadn’t looked like that when he’d first evolved from an Infernal Imp into a Shade, but I figured he was slowly coming into his new body and taking a more permanent form.