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

branches.  Don’t worry, though, because they are horrible shots – and even if they are able to hit one of us, our armor is enough to deflect their poorly made projectiles.

“The best way to combat these Goblins is to attack them with pairs or trios of Shieldmen so that they can watch each other’s back.  Killing them is fairly simple, because they usually only use the most basic of tactics – which typically means trying to sneak up and stab you in the back.  Our armor protects us pretty well, but those nuisances tend to like to jump around and find the cracks in our defense, before jabbing their little knives or shortswords into our unprotected areas.

“Each band is usually led by a more powerful Goblin like a Hobgoblin or something equally as fierce, though they are usually still easy enough to defeat.  From what Bregan told me…before he heroically fell in the line of duty—” Delarthe said, his voice breaking a little before recovering quickly— “there have been a few times when a larger band would emerge led by something even more dangerous, but he never explained what that was.  Nor did I ever see one myself over the last year I was helping to defend Nurboldar.”

That was all good information to have concerning the two different Cores and their Dungeon Monsters, which Sandra immediately put to use in arming her constructs and deciding what would be the best ones to send.  For the Goblins, it would be pretty straightforward and quite easy; the metal weapons and arrows wielded by these monsters would be nearly useless against most of her constructs.  Nearly anything she sent would work, but there were some that would be more effective than the others.

What she really needed to help augment the Dwarves was something fast, at least according to what Delarthe mentioned and her own observations via her Shears.  She briefly thought about her Roaring Blademasters, since the Goblins were “flesh and blood” and could be sliced apart; however, while the Blademasters were powerful and could float through the air, they didn’t move or even turn nearly as fast as something like her Shears.  Sandra could just imagine the Goblins running around them easily, with her constructs not being able to catch the small and agile Monsters.  Her Steelclad Ape Warriors were also a potential choice, because they were a force to be reckoned with, but again, they weren’t the fastest of the bunch.

Therefore, she had three main choices in which to select from.  Two were very similar in form – the Mechanical Jaguar Queen and Mechanical Dire Wolf; watching them fight against the Undead, they weren’t very effective…but they were certainly fast enough in their attacks that they had some success.  Against Goblins, they would be highly effective if they were allowed to tear into them, biting and shredding them with their powerful teeth and sharp-bladed claws.  In addition, they would be ideal conveyances for the Dwarves, who could ride on their backs and get to their targets much faster than having to walk everywhere.  It wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable for the Shieldmen, but it would work.  Because of all that, Sandra created 5 of each construct, which took a total of 24,750 for the Mana Cost alone, with just over half of that for the Mana Seeds that needed to be created for them.

The other choice was the Titanium Anaconda, which was now something she could create because of the reduction in Mana Cost she recently purchased as an Advancement.  It was still expensive at 17,600 Mana, but Sandra thought that it would be worth having as an additional fighter on the front lines.  The Steel Anaconda was the fastest ground-based construct she had of all her Dungeon Monsters (her Shears and her Roc were fairly similar in speed in the air), and when she decided to create one to go with the Shieldmen, the Titanium version lived up to its predecessor handily – and more.

The new Anaconda was approximately 5 feet longer in length and the overall diameter of its body was about 3 inches thicker, but the biggest change was the durability of its natural form; Titanium was both stronger and lighter than Steel, which meant that it could withstand quite a bit more abuse before being damaged beyond functioning, and the reduction in weight meant that its already-fast speed had increased by at least a third.  All in all, it was a welcome addition to the team – even if it cost nearly 30,000 Mana to create it with Monster Seed and all.

For the Golems, she had to go with something a bit different.  This was where she could utilize her Steelclad Ape Warriors, which she created 3 of – at a cost of over 50,000 Mana all told – to accompany the Shieldmen.  Against the Undead, she had armed them with Titanium Warhammers enchanted with Fireburst and Holy Light, which was particularly effective against that type of Monster.  While the Fireburst enchantment might still be a little useful, neither of the enchantments were ideal for fighting against an Earth-based Golem.

Therefore, she had to design something that would be effective, and from Delarthe and Thelon’s comments on the subject, Air seemed the best way to go. Digging down in her memory, the only Air enchantment she could think of that might work was one that created a small, tightly focused blast of air; it was usually meant for knocking back a monster when you activated it as your weapon struck at the enemy.  It wasn’t necessarily designed to hurt something, but only to move them backwards; because of this, it was aptly named Knockback.

Therefore, she placed a small Air Energy Orb and Spirit Energy Orb inside a Titanium Warhammer and set up the Knockback enchantment with the Limiter and Activation runes.  Before she sent them along with the Ape Warriors, however, she tested them outside of her dungeon;