Dungeon Core Academy: Books 1-7 (A LitRPG Series) by Alex Oakchest (book suggestions txt) 📕

“Arrows!” I shouted. “Before he can pull…”

Too late. Cael wrenched the blade free and displayed it triumphantly above him.

“Your monsters are weak, core. You are weak. Hells, my brothers were weak. But me? There is nothing you could do, no creature you could create, no trap that you could conjure that is able to kill-”

A giant fist closed upon Cael’s torso and squeezed. Razensen, still on his back and with blood dripping from his belly, stared up at the night sky with glowing red eyes, three of them burning like stars ready to explode. Though he could only move his arm, he still had power enough to close his hand tightly around the hero.

From Cael came the sound of bones cracking. His face reddened, and he tried to scream but couldn’t summon the breath to even make a sound.

And then Razensen gave one big groan and released his grip, and his limp hand slapped down onto the wasteland.

“A pox on your ancestors,” cried Kainhelm, taking great strides on his gangly legs. “Plague your family for generations to come! Blight each of your descendants! Razensen, speak to me, can you move? Can you breathe?”

“Rusty!” I shouted.

The kobold appeared. “Yip?”

“Use a healing totem on Razensen. Do what you can to seal the wound.”

“Yip yip!”

I floated over to Cael now. I hovered twenty feet above him, leaving enough distance that he couldn’t surprise me with one last attack. Not that there was much danger, his chest was crushed, his face pale, his lips covered in bloody spittle.

“You…” he groaned. “You could spare me. Let me...go. I’ll never come back. I’ve raided my last…dungeon. I…swear it.”

“You want mercy, eh?”

“Surely you can…find it…in your heart…I know you can…”

“Oh, really? It’s in my heart, is it? Well, you’d have to find my heart first.”

“No!”

“Kainhelm? You deserve the honors.”

Kainhelm stomped over Cael, and I let him have the joy of killing him. As Cael’s cries rang out and then stopped, I floated above the center of the fray where my monsters and the mercenaries were still going at it.

“Enough!” I shouted.

Not a single one paid me the slightest bit of attention. Not a surprise, given they were locked in mortal struggle.

I used my core voice to speak to my monsters in a way they couldn’t ignore.

“Disengage. Step away from the mercenaries and back off. Keep a safe distance.”

The mercenaries were too surprised at my monsters’ sudden retreat to give instant chase. I took my chance.

“Cael is dead,” I said. “Such a terrible shame. There will come a time to mourn his brave and pure soul, let me assure you. For now, let’s talk about more interesting things.”

Every single mercenary was listening to me.

“Killing Cael was really all I planned to do today,” I said. “Did he already pay you?”

“Aye,” said one.

“If you already have your gold and Cael is dead, it really seems like a waste of time fighting each other, doesn’t it? I’d suggest that you all leave here and enjoy your fortune. Though if you ever want to try looting my dungeon in the future, you’re more than welcome.”

As the mercenaries sheathed their weapons and headed into the wasteland horizon, notifications pinged in my inner core.

Heroes slain: 8

Leveled up to 17!

- Total essence increased to 1789

- Existing crafting categories expanded

- Dungeon capacity increased!

- Brecht [Kobold, Bard] is upgraded to lvl 22!

- Gary [Melded monster] leveled up to 10!

- Rusty [Kobold, Bard] leveled up to….

I dismissed the flood of post-battle information and turned my attention to my creatures, to my dungeon mates. Some were nursing superficial cuts and scrapes. Others were on the ground and yelling for help, while others didn’t make a sound at all.

It was always a sorry sight, the wreckage from battle. Lately, I was beginning to get less and less enjoyment from hero slaughter, and instead felt the stabbing loss of my monsters outweighed any cause for celebration.

But dwelling didn’t help the wounded. 

“Attend the wounded!” I said. “Wylie? Send for Cynthia. Rusty? We need more healing totems. Gary, can you help carry Redjack? Jopvitz, Tarius, help move…”

I gave order after order, and my monsters and I sifted through the detritus of the fight as the twinkling stars above us dulled and then faded completely, and the sun slowly yawned over the wasteland.

CHAPTER 19

I floated into the Scorched Scorpion and found myself in Yondersun’s premier tavern for the first time. Core Jahn had created the shell of the building, but Willy, the innkeeper, had made the tables and chairs himself. Well, himself was being generous, since Willy was an ex-carpenter who had crushed his right hand in a wagon accident and thus couldn’t work anymore, and had to instruct two apprentices in the skill. As such, every table was different from the rest, each one showing an increase in workmanship so that only one looked sturdy enough that you’d truly trust your drinks on it.

Over in one corner of the tavern, a kobold and a spider-troll-leech were playing their instruments and supplying the drinkers with music. Brecht and Gary had asked me over and over again if they could take their talents into town. Now that the No-Cores were gone, I felt it was time to relax about like this.

Many patrons were supping in the Scorched Scorpion, but the three who caught my interest were a bunch of folks with their backs to me. They wore leather armor unsuitable for the wasteland, and their pink faces showed no sign of a suntan. Leaning against their chairs were swords, shields, and a mace.

Heroes. They had to be.

“What do you think?” asked one. “We hittin’ the dungeon today, or what?”

His friend glugged his beer. “Er…well…”

“What we came for, innit?” said a third.

They