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

She couldn’t see what exactly was happening, but she heard the screech of what could only be a claw scraping against the outer shell of the Machine, and she saw Felbar wince at the sound.  After another few seconds and another few screeches, they started to ascend, though it was a bit slower than she thought it should be.

* That War Machine is extremely heavy, but it appears as though the Roc can handle it.  It’ll be a little slow gaining enough altitude to fly, but once you’re moving it should be fine.  Don’t forget to instruct it to let the construct go once you arrive at your destination, otherwise the Roc might crush it. *

That was smart, and Violet was sure that Felbar would have that on his mind the entire journey home—

Wait…we’re going home now?  This is it?

* One last thing; you both know what is at stake here, not just for all of Gnomekind, but for everyone around here.  Whatever you can do to convince your leadership to join with me to survive is paramount to anything else right now.  And, unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of time in which to get that done.  Good luck, and may the Creator bless you in your endeavors. *

With those last words, Violet felt the control of the Aerie Roc revert back to her as the connection she had worked so hard to establish snapped back.  A minute later, they had gained enough height to be able to start on their journey.  With one last look back at what she could see of the ground, she felt a little disappointed at leaving Sandra’s dungeon, where she had learned so much and knew there was plenty more she could learn there, given enough time.

I’ll be back soon, one way or another.

 

*          *          *

 

“The Creator, huh?  When did you start blessing by the Creator’s name?” Winxa asked with an amused expression on her face.

I figured it couldn’t hurt.  As it becomes more and more likely that I’m here by the Creator’s whim, I might as well embrace it.

The Dungeon Fairy just shrugged and looked away, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth that she didn’t bother to hide.  Sandra turned her own attention away, keeping an eye on the Aerie Roc flying out of her Area of Influence.  She was right about the giant bird being fast; it was already almost at the extent of her reach, and she could feel it growing close to the edge.  She held her figurative breath as it passed the threshold and…nothing.  Well, not nothing, because with a pair of Animated Shears she had following she could see that it was still flying along, seemingly unconcerned that it had just left Sandra’s realm of control.

In all honesty, she was only 99% sure that it would work, and the Dungeon Monster wouldn’t just dissolve into a Monster Seed as soon as it passed beyond her AOI.  She hadn’t been able to check that beforehand because she couldn’t send her constructs out of her Area of Influence – they just stopped at the edge.  Thankfully, that 1% of doubt was dashed away as the Roc flew on its way with its supplies intact and passengers alive.  It was a risk, but a calculated risk that she was very confident of the outcome.

Now, let’s get these Dungeon Monsters around here taken care of, then we can look to the future.  So thinking, Sandra concentrated on the workshop again, where her available crafting constructs were creating another Deep Diver suit for Gerold.  It was much easier to craft the parts and enchant than the War Machine, and she had helped to do it twice before; even with that experience, making one of the suit constructs was still difficult but not impossible – or even challenging.  All it took was a lot of concentration – and Unstable Shapeshifters to do the enchanting, of course.

After that…well, there was a figurative book full of things she wanted to get done.  Only time would tell if she would be able to get them completed, though, before the surrounding lands blew up in her face.

Chapter 9

Sandra was pleased at how enthusiastic Gerold and the remaining Dwarven Shieldmen were about being able to “get back to work”.  In spite of all that had happened and their changed circumstances, their original duty had been to protect their land against the Dungeon Monsters that roamed the area.  With the extreme threat that the Undead Core had represented now eliminated, they could get back to what they were meant to do – albeit with a bit of help from another Dungeon Core.

After looking at the Areas of Influence projected by the Golem and Goblin-based Dungeon Cores near the abandoned Dwarven village, Sandra was happy to see that they hadn’t expanded since the last time she had seen them, though she knew that it was inevitable that they would – and likely soon.  In fact, she thought that they might even be going through a Core Size upgrade at that moment, so they needed to be prepared for that to happen.  The overall problem wasn’t that they would expand their AOI, but that the number of Dungeon Monsters roaming around would increase by the hour if they weren’t culled regularly.

That number, currently, wasn’t outrageously horrible – but it would be soon if Gerold and his Shieldmen didn’t help to cut them down.  Utilizing dozens of newly created Reinforced Animated Shears that she diverted from her sky-bound AMANS, Sandra was able to sweep them through the forests where the two dungeons were located; the Golems roaming around were to the east of her dungeon as well as being southeast of the Dwarven village of Nurboldar, while the Goblins were primarily to the north and a little east of her location.  Similar to the Undead dungeon, there was a sliver