The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

from each of the Cores that stomped or rolled out of their dungeons appeared to be some sort of “Boss” Monster because of their size and sheer presence.

From the Beast-Classification dungeon, a monstrous bulk of a Beast strode out on two legs, reaching at least 50 feet tall and half of that wide.  It had long, shaggy fur that had a greenish tint to it, which covered its chest and four arms; its head, though, was strangely hairless and the skin was a tree-trunk brown, wrinkled as if with age.  Three glowing green eyes were centered over its mouth which comprised nearly half of its head, full of dozens of sharp teeth likely capable of shredding one of the Elephants she saw earlier without too much trouble.  On the end of each of its arms was a four-fingered hand that had foot-long claws extending from them.

Sandra watched it stride forward on massive legs and was almost immediately blocked by a tree in its way.   A casual swipe of its right-side claws was all it took to slice entirely through the tree’s trunk, which was then knocked out of the way so that the massive Beast could advance.  The way it acted, Sandra got the feeling that it considered the tree to be no more than a minor annoyance, and swept it away just as easily as the Dwarven villagers harvested the wheat they were growing.

Another few measured strides and another tree was knocked out of the way, which made her assume that the Beast was relatively slow; however, after seeing it move, she realized that it was extremely fast and it was only because it was impeded by trees that it wasn’t at the forest’s edge already.  She was proven right after a fifth and then a sixth tree was chopped down and knocked out of the way, when the 50-foot-tall Beast decided that it had enough of the delay and just charged ahead; it slammed into everything in its way and cracked tree trunks while rebounding off unhurt, before squeezing through wherever it could.

As for the Slimes, their “Boss” monster was unlike its smaller brethren.  Those tended to be relatively blob-like, spherical or ovoid-shaped gelatinous masses that moved by rolling forward with a nucleus that basically counted as a brain inside of it.  Some were larger and could extend parts of themselves out like long arms, some had multiple nuclei that had to all be destroyed to kill them, and even some had abnormal properties to them that were nearly elemental in nature.  However, this Slime barely looked like a Slime at all based on its shape when it finally emerged.

While it rolled out like a 40-foot-wide dark-green Slime, as soon as it touched the outer part of the entrance it transformed.  No longer a gelatinous ovoid shape, it suddenly shrunk in places, grew larger in others, and extended itself so that it was longer.  When it was done, it looked like an 80-foot-long gelatinous lizard with hardened claws and teeth and 12 different nuclei inside of its form.  Oh, and it had wings.

Uh, oh.  That’s not good.

“What?  What’s not good,” Winxa asked worriedly.

Uh…nothing.  Just a big boss slime that looks difficult.

“Don’t give me that, just tell me what it is.”

Sandra hesitated before describing it because she had a feeling about what it was she was seeing, and watched as all the color left the Dungeon Fairy’s cheeks.  “That-that sounds like a Dragon Slime!”

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too.

Winxa had a thing about dragons, so Sandra hadn’t wanted to tell her – but the Dungeon Core wasn’t going to deliberately keep it from her.  Without another word, a portal opened in her Home room and the Fairy disappeared while a scream started to emerge from her tiny body, obviously scared enough about dragons to want to leave the entire realm for a time.

Moments later, she was back, looking a little more composed.  “It’s ok, it’s ok – it’s just a slime.  Nothing to worry about,” Winxa was muttering to herself.

While she didn’t have anything to worry about, the Elven village certainly did.  There was enough space near the dungeon’s entrance to allow the Dragon Slime to lift off the ground with large beats of its wings, and when it gained enough altitude it glided forward towards the edge of the forest and the village beyond.  When it got to the edge, it stopped and gently set down right past the treeline for some reason.  It was confusing at first, when she realized it was waiting.

The Elves had already escaped the forests and were currently holed up in their village, getting ready for the inevitable assault, so the Dragon Slime wasn’t waiting for them.  No, it was waiting for the rest of the Slimes to arrive – just like the Beasts across the way were waiting just past the treeline for the rest of their number to gather, including the massive 50-foot-tall beast that could chop down trees like it was harvesting crops.  It took nearly 15 minutes for them all to arrive, but when they did they…sat there, unmoving.  Both the Slimes and Beasts were unnaturally still, as if waiting for some sort of signal to attack.  It was both strange and worrying.

Are you absolutely sure they cannot communicate with each other?  Because this seems entirely too coordinated for simple coincidence.

Winxa just shrugged, still a little shaken at the mention of the Dragon Slime.  “There shouldn’t be, but then again I’ve been wrong before when it comes to some things around you.”

She took that to mean that they certainly were working together, despite the fact that they shouldn’t be.  It was bad enough if they were going to be attacking the Elven village one at a time, or even staggering their attacks, but if they were coordinating their efforts, the whole situation went from bad to worse.

Great…just great.