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

They had to be stopped.

With heavy emotions racing through her Core, she broke the bad news to Gerold first, and then the others.

* I have some very distressing news.  My forces, including the Shieldmen, Rangers, and mercenaries, are being pushed back.  I think I can hold most of them for the next 12 hours or so, but there are some dangerous new Monsters out there.  I’m pulling back most of the defenses to protect Avensglen and Grongbak, because it is no longer possible to contain them inside. 

* There have also been two casualties on the part of the Shieldmen, which has confirmed the target of the upcoming mission. *

“Wh-what happened?” Gerold asked, clearly emotionally affected by the loss of more Shieldmen in the defense of the local area.  He was currently experimenting with and showing off his Deep Diver suit to King Mynag, Master Jespin, First-shield Parten, and Princess Celeste.  Work had already begun on the Gnome’s Deep Diver suit, which had to be adjusted size-wise in comparison to Gerold’s, but Sandra was hoping to get it done even faster now that she’d had some practice.

* The Goblin-Classification Core has a new Monster: A Necromancer.  Not only is it bringing back its own killed Goblins as Spirit-warped undead, but it seems to have the ability to bring back…people…to fight for them.  There is the distinct possibility that it could also do that for the dead of the other dungeons, as well. *

She left out exactly what happened, but she did let at least Gerold know who had perished.  Sandra was still trying to come to terms with how quickly everything seemed to turn, and the deaths of two of hers brought anger and thoughts about revenge to the surface.  This time, though, it was all her own emotions and not as a result of the Core fragment that had been stuck in her head.

“That has to be our target, then,” King Mynag said as soon as she was done communicating the situation.

The Elven King and Queen, down below getting a tour of the Dwarven villagers’ farms and operations, agreed without reservation.  “We must wipe out any trace of the undead from this world.”  While Sandra agreed, she knew she might need to caution them against actually destroying the Goblin-Classification Core.  That would just make everything worse.

“We need to hurry and get to that dungeon!” Parten demanded.  “I will not lose any more of my Shieldmen in defense of this place.”

* While I agree, I’m only in the beginning stages of finishing off Princess Celeste’s Deep Diver.  It will probably take another few hours…unless I can get some expert help?  Jespin, what do you think? *

The Master Blacksmith just shook his head sadly.  “I’m pretty sure I told you that it will only work with one Blacksmith at a time, didn’t I?  I couldn’t help, even though I would love to.”

Sandra had neglected to mention exactly who her Shapeshifters were using to complete the creation of Princess Celeste’s Deep Diver.

* Actually, if you don’t mind being extremely weirded out by the whole thing, I believe you might still be able to help.  I would advise everyone else to wait here while you join my “team” down a few rooms in my personal forge. *

Jespin looked extremely skeptical, though he followed her directions, nonetheless.  When he walked into the forge, he was very surprised to be met, not just with 5 copies of himself, but with 5 naked doppelgangers – Sandra hadn’t bothered with clothing them.  The cohort of copies were all diligently working to shape the large block of Titanium-Mithril alloy that would be the new Deep Diver.

“What is this?!  Who—?”  For once, Master Jespin looked completely out of his element.

Sandra explained what they were, even demonstrating them in their base form, and described how she used them to perform tasks that needed a more personal touch – like this particular form of Blacksmithing and Enchanting.  It took him a few minutes to recover, but once he watched himself working on the project, he couldn’t help but chip in.

In no time, he was in the thick of the Deep Diver crafting, using his honed skills to accomplish bends, folds, and shaping that took her own Shifters twice as long.  After a few more minutes, she actually had him take over control of one of his copies, followed by the rest after he picked it up quite quickly.  “This is incredible!  Creepy, disturbing, and absolutely insane, but incredible; it’s almost like having 10 extra hands.  This is something that I never knew I needed, but I can’t even imagine Blacksmithing without the extra help in the future!”

With that project well in hand, by a Master of his craft, Sandra was able to concentrate on the full-on rout by her forces up above.  She had been constantly adding reinforcements where she could, creating them as quickly as she had Mana for them, but it wasn’t enough to stem the tides of Dungeon Monsters flowing through the forests.  Somehow, some way, through great sacrifice of her own Monsters, the Elves and Orcish mercenaries were able to make it back to Avensglen without any casualties (though many of their Wyvines and constructs were killed or destroyed); the rest of the Shieldmen retreated to Grongbak to protect the village without any more of their comrades falling, as well.

It took some hurried warnings to Furbrea about the potential for an attack and to prepare, and the old Orc took control of everyone there with swift alacrity.  While there wasn’t a wall or even a fence around the village, the safest and most defensible place was in the Supply Hut’s storage space; therefore, everyone was crammed down there while Sandra’s two Steelclad Ape guards watched over them.

They needn’t have gone to the trouble, however, because none of the attacking Dungeon Monsters bothered