The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) by Jonathan Brooks (e ink epub reader .txt) 📕

of Echo in Sandra’s workshop, carrying the body of another female Elf was all she needed.  NOOOOOO!!!!  STOP! she screamed at the shard with such an intense feeling of emotion at the sight of another one of her friends that she broke through the barrier preventing her from accessing the rest of her Core.

Praying she wasn’t too late, she ripped control away from the shard, turned her attention back to the Slime-Classification dungeon, and thanked the Creator that the closest pair of Shears had literally stopped less than an inch away from the Core.  If she’d had a body, she would’ve collapsed in relief.

Chapter 34

“Sandra!  I need your help!”

The Dungeon Core ignored Echo for just a moment, as she started moving all of her remaining constructs out of the other dungeon, though there truthfully weren’t all that many.  Only about 200 Animated Iron Shears were still whole enough to retreat, as well as 2 Platinum-banded Wyrms.  The Expanded Mobile Fortification was a mess, and it stumbled and collapsed when she tried to get it to move back to her dungeon; the construct had destroyed hundreds of Slimes with its multitude of weapons, but it had suffered horrendous damage in return.  That damage only multiplied when it collapsed, as it was quickly swarmed by the hundreds of Slimes still inside the room.

Needless to say, despite there still being quite a few Slimes inside the room, she wasn’t expecting there to be any attacks by that Core for a while.  As far as the other Cores went, none of them seemed to have had any reaction to the sudden attack on the Slime-Classification Core; after a moment’s reflection, she decided that they probably didn’t care and hoped that she would succeed.  More enhancements would be coming their way, after all.

It was difficult to withstand the increasingly powerful efforts by the shard to regain control, and she heard it screaming in frustration at robbing it of its revenge, but she managed.  Barely, but she was ultimately able to hold on to it for now.  Now back in full control, she turned back to Echo and the female Elf she had been dragging inside, only to find that Echo was gone from the workshop, the same Ape that had recently helped to carry the Gnome Princess helping her unstrap someone else from the Aerie Roc that had brought her back.

Echo!  You have no idea how good it is to see you! 

The Elf jumped at Sandra’s voice in her head, and she inwardly chuckled even as she quickly checked over the tunnels that were constantly being assaulted by the other Cores.  They were starting to make progress using the method she thought they were using, though it would be an hour or more before they progressed through to her secondary defenses.  At that point, she would have to monitor them closely and replace any of her own constructs and Dungeon Monsters as attrition wore them down, but for now everything was fairly stable.

“Sandra!  There you are; I was trying to talk to you for what felt like the longest time,” Echo said after recovering from her shock.  Smiling, she waved to the male Elf that the Ape was currently carrying.  “I brought you a surprise – our King and Queen.”

Sandra couldn’t help but be shocked at the presence of yet more royalty.  And…what is wrong with them?  They don’t appear injured.  Unlike the Gnomish Princess, the two Elves’ bodies were healthy-looking, dressed in fine clothes, and seemed almost like they were just asleep – not in need of Sandra’s services.

“I’ll explain everything in a little bit, but I need your help to Bond with them.”

It was something that she was planning on doing anyway, because having them inside of her dungeon put a limit on what she could do, but this was new.  Okay…do you happen to know what elements they are able to use?

Echo froze and her face seemed to lose the small amount of color it possessed.

What’s wrong?

“I…don’t, unfortunately.  I didn’t even think to ask before I left…”

It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out, I wouldn’t think.  Did you see them use any spells before they became like this?

By that time, Echo and the Ape had descended into her dungeon, and Sandra’s construct placed the male Elf next to the other unconscious figure on the ground.  The Dungeon Core felt a flare-up of personal anger at his appearance in her dungeon, not even coming from the shard in her mind; the King – if Echo was speaking the truth – had similar facial features as Wyrlin, the Elf that had brought so many Orcs to their deaths in her dungeon not that long ago.  Not enough resemblance to pin them as relatives, but enough to make her need to steady her emotions so as to not allow the shard to take over again.

“No…but I at least know how many they both have access to?”

How many?  Sandra expected that the King and Queen would have access to 3 or 4 elements, perhaps even 5; she hadn’t heard of anyone (Human, at least) ever having more than that.

“They both had access to 6 elements – I just don’t know which ones.”

The Dungeon Core was astounded.  Winxa?  Is that right?  I realize that I was unique in having access to all of the elements – but I couldn’t use them, so it sort of balanced out.  But 6 elements?  That seems impossible.

The Dungeon Fairy was quickly informed of what Echo was saying, as well as who was supposedly in her dungeon right now.  After the quick update, Winxa shrugged.  “It’s not all that unusual in the Elven race, though it isn’t exactly common.  I seem to remember hearing about an Elf a long time ago having access to 7 elements, though whether or not that was true, I can’t confirm.”

Sandra took