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

Delarthe and the Shieldmen weren’t to be outdone, however, as they waded into the fight with surprising enthusiasm.  After a few moments of watching, however, the Dungeon Core realized it was because they were using their elemental energy in their armor and weapons without reservation, as by the time they finished with one group and arrived at the next, their energy pools had regenerated due to the Orbs embedded in their palms.

While the Goblins hadn’t gotten stronger they were certainly more numerous.  It seemed as though there was nearly no end of camps to destroy, and the solitary Goblin scouts roaming around seemed to be everywhere.  Fortunately – or rather, unfortunately – there were no new Monsters streaming out of the dungeon; it meant that there was a finite number of Goblins that had to be eliminated, but it also likely meant that the Goblin-based Core was undergoing an upgrade.  There was nothing they could do about that, however, other than to keep doing what they were doing and negate the advantage the Core had before the Dwarves came back to cull their numbers.

Gerold and the Apes were absolutely devastating toward the Golems as well.  The Monsters in the other forest were the opposite of the Goblins, as there were stronger Golems roaming around than before.  There were also more of them than usual, but that was probably due to there not being anyone culling them over the last few days.  There were the normal dust, mud, pebble, and dirt Golems that had been fairly common – or so she had observed; however, when those survived long enough to gather more Mana (along with the enhancements the Golem-based Core had lately received), stronger and larger Golems had started to emerge from the dungeon.  Now there were a few rock and hard stone Golems, which occasionally reached 20 feet tall or even taller.

Luckily, the Apes, the two Shieldmen, and Gerold in his Deep Diver suit were capable of destroying the stronger Golems out there – though not completely without injury.  The massive rock Golems formed from plain rock were similar to Sandra’s Animated Slab, except that these Monsters were person-shaped – and were a bit more dangerous and agile.  They hit the Dwarves with tremendous force, flinging them into trees or each other with an unfortunate hit every now and again; the elemental-energy-powered armor withstood any damage – at the expense of a large amount of energy from the wearer – but that couldn’t really prevent injury to those inside.  There was some padding inside of the armor, but it could only absorb so much before something had to give.

Sandra’s Multi-access Repair Drone easily fixed those hurt in this way – including some heavily damaged Apes that took the brunt of a rock or stone fist to their sides – but it also slowed down their progress.  The warhammers wielded by Gerold and the Apes worked beautifully, at least, and easily cracked or cut through Golem limbs upon impact; the problem was getting close enough to some of the larger Monsters without getting smashed apart.  Taking one of the harder Golems down became a strategy of surrounding the Monster and letting one of the Ape Warriors take the brunt of the damage – as they were a bit sturdier and could be healed quickly afterwards – while the others demolished the limbs of the Golem as best they could.

Like the Goblin-based Core, though, there seemed to be a halt to new Golems coming from the dungeon; even being forced to “heal” after some of the harder fights, Gerold and the others were starting to catch up with how many Golems were stomping around the forest.  They were still going even as evening hit a couple hours after they started, and were planning on keeping the culling process going through the night if necessary.  Dwarves – being used to living underground – had a bit of darkvision apparently, which helped them see better in the much darker forest, though not complete darkness.  They would see if they could manage it without too much danger, otherwise they would retreat and start again the next day.

* No, I haven’t reconsidered that.  But the Orcish people do need help – and I think you both can assist in that. *

Kelerim looked unsure, as did Echo beside him.  “How can we help?  Not that I don’t think he’s capable, but as was said before he’s not exactly welcome there anymore.  And I’m…well, an Elf.”

* Both are excellent points.  What I want to do is establish a relationship with your contact in Grongbak so that we can funnel supplies through her. With Echo there, we can pass the weapons, armor, and even any Energy Orbs sent there as Elven-made instead of from a dungeon. *

They were both silent as they looked at each other in contemplation, before Kelerim finally commented.  “I think that might work with Furbrea, but there’s one major problem with convincing her and anyone she deals with that this is a merchant-like transaction, even involving the Elves.”  Echo nodded along, as if it were obvious.

Sandra understood immediately what they were insinuating – there’s no such thing as free.  They thought that the Dungeon Core was just going to give all the stuff away, as Sandra had originally considered, because she obviously didn’t “need” anything from them.  That wasn’t quite true, of course; she didn’t need items from the Orcs – she needed the Orcs themselves.

* Don’t worry, I think I have that covered.  In return for better arms and supplies, I want to offer this Furbrea and her own contacts a deal.  For every member of their Warbands that they trade to me, I will fully equip three others in their Warband. *

“Uh…what are you planning on doing with them?  Make them your slaves