The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (the false prince TXT) 📕

Yes, I can see your point.  But now that they have pushed on and deliberately sought after my Core Room—

“—all restrictions have been lifted,” Shale finished for her with a smile in the tone of his voice.  “As Marvus said not long ago: Do your thing.”

Do her thing she would, too.  The Gnoll Archmage was just now materializing in her Core Room, as it had taken the group a long time to get to this point, and she estimated that she had at least a couple of hours before she could expect the infiltrators to arrive, so she used some of her now-significant available Control Limit to add some helpers.  She didn’t have enough time to create additional Archmages, but another Werewolf Warrior or two would probably go over well.  Oh, and another 40 Forest Wolves and 40 Echoing Hyenas would only add to the party.  Finally, to top it all off and ensure victory, Tacca also added in 6 Life-based traps inside of the room, where they would be impossible to Disarm without walking inside the room and suffering the full force of her onslaught.

Now, there was always the possibility that they would look inside of the room from the tunnel entrance and change their minds, for which she certainly couldn’t blame them.  However, they had gone too far in what they were doing for Tacca to want them to leave, no harm no foul; they had violated her inner sanctum, and while she might let others get away – this was Marvus, one of those that had caused her unimaginable pain by destroying a Core she was Bonded to.  There was no way she was letting him get away, as he had made his decision and was going to have to live with it.

She had tried to avoid the situation by filling the treasure chest that appeared after the Boss Room was cleared with superior rewards, but his greed was going to be his undoing.  If she could avoid killing the others, as they didn’t necessarily deserve the same fate for following orders, she would; however, if they persisted even after seeing what was arrayed against them, then she would end them just as quickly as their leader.

To ensure – or at least increase the chance – that Marvus would want to fight, she started placing large veins of gold ore along the back of the Core Room, along with pockets of gemstones, including diamonds, interspersed along the stone surface. It took her nearly two hours before she was satisfied, and when she was done she was quite proud of herself.  The wall, including a bit of the floor and ceiling nearby, was practically covered in shiny yellow ore, and the fragments of gems sticking out were particularly pleasing to the eye, sure to draw anyone in just to look at such a display – let alone be driven to possess it for themselves.

Shortly thereafter, the efforts of Marvus and the trap specialist led to their arrival at the end of the defensive room, with Derf? especially exhausted from his almost constant use of his Disarm Trap skill.  There was a slight curve to the tunnel leading to her Core Room, which obscured what was ahead of them; as a result, they didn’t hesitate to move forward, until they came to the last few feet of the passageway, where they were able to view the defenses she had in place.

Her Gnoll Archmage was in the middle of the room, a figure with a deep-red robe, its face hidden by a hood; it was around the same height as the Thieves looking into the room, but the staff it held in its right hand was a little bit taller.  Overall, it was relatively unassuming – but the two Werewolf Warriors to its left and right were more than enough of a frightening view for them.  As for the 80 Wolves and Hyenas she had in the room, they were stationed slightly out of view to the left and right of the entrance, though if they peeked inside they could see them.

However, they only had eyes for the gold and gemstones filling up the back wall.

“Look!  I told you that this was our big payday!  This is even more than I had Sensed!” Marvus shouted in wonder, his eyes practically glossing over at the sight of so much wealth.  Tacca wasn’t sure how he knew it was there through his Valuation Sense, because she thought it was only good for finished products – nor why he had Sensed something below before she had placed the gold and gemstones – but she guessed it didn’t really matter at this point.

“Yeah, boss – but look at what’s in the room.”

“I am looking at what’s in the room—oh,” the group leader said, seeing the creatures arrayed against them seemingly for the first time.  He just shrugged them off, however.  “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem; you need to spend money to make money, right?”  He stepped into the room, put his hand inside of his bottomless bag, and then used the same skill he had used before to toss coins at Tacca’s creatures.  This time, it wasn’t just silver, but gold that was flung out, and a massive handful to boot.

Yelps and yips of pain were suddenly cut off as dozens of Wolves and Hyenas were hit by the powerful attack, killing them instantly off to the sides of the room, which seemed to surprise Marvus; he obviously hadn’t planned for his skill to spread out so far hitting multiple targets, reducing its effectiveness.  Luckily for him, the gold coins that he sent flying impacted the two Werewolves, which did a whole lot more damage than the silver; holes were blasted clean through their torsos, incapacitating – if not killing