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

It can’t be.

Memories flashed in her mind like lightning. Memories of a horrible day in the years gone by when her brothers had returned without Trevor.

When they’d explained what they’d learned about her father, and how they’d foolishly gone to the bandit camp.

She remembered something Bill had said now. She pictured his watering eyes, heard his shaky voice.

“The leader had a missing leg and a patch over his right eye. He was the one who killed Trevor.”

Vedetta looked at the camp now, her blood cold but her skin burning up with anger.

She stared at the bandits, and at one bandit in particular.

 CHAPTER 31

As I watched the heroes wrack their puny minds trying to solve both door riddles, I should have been perfecting my villainous cackle.

I didn’t feel like it, though.

Even though I had already sent the rogue and the bard to the great heroes’ guild in the sky (or do heroes go to one of the hells?) I didn’t feel great.

The Whistling Gary Cavern of Fight Kill had taken its first casualties, and it hit me in my non-existent gut.

I had always, always known that the monsters I created would meet their end at a hero's sword or ranger’s bow. The academy had prepared me for that. As a core, most of my human emotion should have left me by now, anyway.

But here I was, mourning the fate of a bogbadug, stone dwarf troll, and two fire beetles. Mercifully, the fallen beetles weren’t Fight and Kill, my originals.

Even so, watching the creatures die from my core room, I was all too aware of how removed from all of this I was. Sure, I had built this place up from nothing, and that had taken a lot of hard planning, hard work, and hard delegation.

They were the ones who would die for it, though. My clanmates. My beetles, trolls, maybe even my kobolds. They were being spawned into a dungeon where, sooner or later, they were doomed to die.

Wow, I was in a morose mood.

To cheer myself up I cast my core vision to the entrance, where the rogue lay dead in the pit. He was in a weird shape. Sort of like the letter ‘S’ in the way he’d landed in the pitfall. It amused me for some reason.

Next, I swept my vision east, to the scene of the battle where my beautiful bogbadug had killed a bard. Not only that, but he’d smashed his lute. Good on you, bogbadug!

This battle left little opposition for the heroes in the rooms ahead. A few more beetles, some traps. I’d banked most of my firepower in the loot room, where Gary was waiting.

Should I use some essence to create more creatures?

No, I still had this feeling I should hold off until the final battle. Right now, the hero party was reduced to a barbarian, a mage, and two younger guys.

Gary would tear the recruits’ heads off without blinking. I was worried about the other two, though. Gary’s only support would be four fire beetles, two of which were Fight and Kill, who had leveled up to level four [warriors].

My boss monster would need support, but the timing was crucial.

Here was the thing; when the heroes got through the riddle doors and found the loot room, they would get into battle mode. They would spot the loot chest and their instincts would fire, and they’d be more in the moment than before.

Whereas right now, the idiots were still trying to solve a riddle. They weren’t thinking about fighting.

So, I did something dangerous.

I hopped from my core room, and onto the pedestal in the entrance room.

It’s unbelievably risky for a core to leave his core room when heroes are around. I mean, I’m a gem. People might not realize it because I act so tough, but I’m far, far from indestructible. Just a few swings from a sword and wham! I’m shattered over the floor.

So I felt a little nervous, floating there in the entrance room. I was so close to the heroes I could hear their muttering come through the tunnels ahead.

I had to do this, though. If I created a creature in my core room, his only route to the heroes would be to go to the loot room. My clanmates can’t pedestal-hop like me.

Creating them right here, my creatures would be able to sneak up on the heroes. This was necessary.

Wasting no time, I cycled through my monster list.

Monsters

Spider [Cost 15]

Leech [Cost 15]

Fire beetle [Cost 20]

Kobold [Cost 35]

Angry Elemental Jelly Cube [Cost 75]

Sinister Owl [Cost 120]

Stone Dwarf Troll [Cost 180]

Bogbadug [Cost 200]

Now, I only had 380 essence points, and they wouldn’t re-generate while the heroes were around. I had to use them with all the wisdom of a core.

No point summoning a bogbadug, since I had already seen mine die. Then again, he did kill the bard…

Nah, they’d be prepared for a frog monster now. I needed something new. It didn’t have to be anything too fancy, just a monster that would give them something to think about.

Ah.

Create sinister owl x2

As was standard procedure by now, light spun around blah blah blah until it became two owls. Two rather large owls with beaks that could poke holes in steel, and talons that would shred a stone troll to pieces.

And wow… were indeed sinister. Each of them had one eyebrow raised so that I felt like I was being judged. It was unnerving.

One of them swiveled its head 180- degrees to look at me.

“Right,” I said. “First off, that’s creepy as hell. Cut it out.”

The other did the same head swiveling.

“Situation report,” it said.

“Enemy intelligence. Locations, weaponry, spells,” said the other.

Wow. These guys weren’t messing