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

last few weeks continues, then it’s more than likely,” the Council Leader said sadly, looking at the northern part of the continent of Abenlure.  While the attacks seemed nearly random when they started a year and a half ago – despite Lapis discovering a correlation – there was nothing random about this new series of attacks.  The northern Dungeon Cores were being systematically invaded and destroyed, with no survivors or witnesses.  “We have no other sightings of these blue-skinned people whatsoever, and if there were any type of representative of the mortal races near or in the dungeons, they were killed.  It was as if they were silenced to prevent knowledge of who perpetrated the attacks from spreading.”

Lapis looked at the map as well, before turning to Malachite and giving him his full attention for the first time in weeks.  “Can we start pulling them out now?”

The Council Leader gave the question more consideration this time than the first 50 times he had heard it from the Head Instructor.  The DAPS Leader was a softy at heart, which made his question more a demanding request than a gentle inquiry – but it was understandable when it came down to those that used to be his charges.  What he was asking would be unprecedented in the history of Gairth, even dozens of millennia ago when the overall world situation was a bit more chaotic.

Pulling out hundreds of Dungeon Assistants from their positions was certainly something that Malachite never thought he would have to do.

It wasn’t all of them, of course, only those in the northern part of the continent.  Every dungeon located above the “Girdle” – the middle part of the continent – would be evacuated of their Fairy Assistants, so that there wouldn’t be any more loss on their part.  If the Cores didn’t break the Bond between them on their own, then Malachite and those helping him in the DPRC, such as Lapis, could manually break the Bond – though it usually took a few hours to complete.  Which was why they were thinking about preemptively moving them all out before an attack, where they could still manage to enact a Bond-severing before it was too late.

All because they couldn’t see any other way to save them.

Malachite, in a desperate attempt to Translocate into range to see if he could help the Assistant escape when one of the lights started to flash, discovered that there was some sort of protection around the entire area; his Translocation started, but almost immediately shut down, which was something he had never encountered before.  He knew from Shale’s report that the distraught Dungeon Assistant hadn’t been able to Translocate away when the blue-skinned monster people had arrived, and it seemed as though this applied to Translocating in, as well.

Every Fairy in an Assistant position had been informed of the sudden attacks, and to be on the watch out for them – not that it had done much good to those that had been killed in the last few weeks.  Recalling every single Assistant from every dungeon was a drastic choice, as it would leave every Core without their valuable assistance, but it had been one that he had been considering over the last few days, especially with Lapis questioning him about it every other hour.  Now that there seemed to be a pattern, and an obvious one at that, Malachite knew it was time to implement some sort of evacuation plan – within reason.

“Yes, Lapis,” he finally said, but stopped the other Fairy from running off right away with a hand on his shoulder.  “But not all of them; I only want regions 22 through 35 recalled, as those are in the sweeping pathway of these mysterious invaders.  If there are any changes in the pattern, we’ll deal with it then.”

“But—”

The Council Leader firmly squeezed the shoulder of the Head Instructor, cutting him off.  “I know you want them all brought back safe and sound, but we also have a responsibility here.  As it is, there are going to be nearly 200 Cores in those regions that won’t have an Assistant for however long this lasts, and even asking those ones to break their Bonds with their Fairy will be difficult.  Leaving them unsupervised at this point in time is a big risk, as you well know, but I’m going to do everything I can to save as many Fairies as I can.”

He made no mention of the fate of the Dungeon Cores, because there was nothing they could do to save them if these invaders attacked.  They couldn’t move the Cores from their dungeons, after all, nor could they relocate somewhere else.  Abandoning them to their destruction made Malachite physically sick, because it felt like a dereliction of his duty and responsibilities; however, he also had a responsibility for the Fairies under his charge, and they were something he could save.

“…Understood.  I’ll see to it, using my students from DAPS again to relay the messages.”

The Council Leader only nodded as he turned back to the map, noticing another light starting to flicker and dim to the north.  He was about to mention it to Lapis, but the Head Instructor was already frowning and scribbling something in his notebook.  As the leader of the Dungeon Assistant Preparatory School finished, Malachite saw him wipe a tear away from his cheek as he called out to some of the other Instructors from his school.

I know just how you feel, Lapis.  He still hadn’t had any clue yet as to where the rest of the Council had disappeared to, and their absence made him want to cry and rage in frustration at the same time.  He felt more helpless now than he had since…well, ever.  There just wasn’t anything he could do, despite searching in his free time all over the world for any sign of their presence.  Or their corpses, even