The Crafter's Defense: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (best ebook for manga .TXT) 📕

fighting and killing beasts or even the slime monsters located near the other forest dungeon, she had an unnatural fear of snakes; the larger lizards, crocodiles, and turtles didn’t affect her the same way, nor did the metallic-looking snakes she had seen slither quickly out of the dungeon she had been watching earlier.  It was just something about the size and shape of a real snake that made her freeze up; some combination of its scaly skin, forked tongue, and even lack of legs that both creeped her out and made her a bit fearful.  Ok, maybe a little more than a “bit”.

After following (but staying far back from) the strange white cylinders that trailed the other undead monsters – she had to revise her thought that they were undead, however, after seeing the metallic monkeys and other assorted objects that emerged from the dungeon – she had finally arrived at the Gnome village on the border of the wastelands, just as she had earlier thought they were heading towards.  She had already activated her active camouflage a bit earlier as she approached what she was sure was their destination, so she spent some time moving forward cautiously, not wanting to get caught up with whatever was happening.

She feared the worst for the Gnomes ahead but knew there was nothing she could do to help; even if she had gone to her own village first, gathering up enough to help them out would’ve taken a while because many were out hunting.  Even if she had been able to assemble some sort of assistance force – which wasn’t likely, as they had been forbidden contact with the other races because of some longstanding issues -- they would probably arrive too late to help.

From a distance she had heard what sounded like the sounds of an odd battle, with the gongs of hollow metal being banged around and the heavy footsteps of something walking, but because of the lay of the land she was unable to see what was happening.  When she had finally gotten close enough to get a good view, she had seen the devastation of its walls, the small forms of dead Gnomes littering the fields and roofs of their squat houses, and the metal monsters surrounding the village, ready to finish off the remaining survivors.

At least, that’s what it looked like; in reality, things were confusedly different.

She remembered seeing one of the metal monkeys jumping up on top of one of the roofs and she thought that was it for the Gnomes; she had nocked an arrow, despite it being at the extreme range of her bow and what would likely be a futile attack. However, she couldn’t have just done nothing and watch them be slaughtered without at least helping a little, even if it was just a token resistance.  Instead of killing them all, though, the metal monster gently picked up what appeared to be a wounded Gnome and jumped down with them cradled in its arms.

She had watched with shock as the other Gnomes jumped down as well and climbed on top of the metal skeleton wolves – and then rode them away!  Initially, Echo had thought they were being taken prisoner somehow, though it didn’t make any sense; then she saw all of the Gnomes looking off to the western edge of the forest between her own lands and theirs.  From her vantage point, she could see something emerging from the trees but couldn’t quite make it out.

Rather than follow the metal monsters right away, she stayed to see if she could see what they were looking at.  Along with her, Echo saw that one of the metal monkeys and a white cylinder were still there as well, though the larger monkey was missing an arm – at least temporarily.  It was too far away to tell for sure, but it almost appeared as though its arm was growing back, albeit slowly; she wasn’t sure if the white cylinder pressed up against it had anything to do with it, but in the end it didn’t matter.

Echo stayed crouched down on top of a short hill still in the wastelands as a mass of lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and of course snakes swarmed over the two metal monsters left behind.  She watched as they began to fight against each other – which was something that she’d never seen before. The white cylinder ended up exploding in a spectacular array of colors, which she could tell surprised the reptiles as well.

She had no idea what was going on; it almost appeared as though the dungeons nearby were warring against each other, even though she had never heard of that ever happening before – despite her people’s long history and recorded knowledge.  What it portended and whether the Gnomes that had been snatched away were to be pawns in some sort of unseen war was yet to be seen.  She pondered those questions as she watched the lizards and other monsters swarm over the now-abandoned village, looking for any survivors.

Her thoughts were elsewhere as she crouched there in her camouflage watching them work – which was why she only realized at the last moment that the reptilian swarm had finished and were on the move.

Straight towards her hiding place.

Though, technically, they weren’t heading straight for her, but they had spread out and advanced quickly through the wasteland in a wide line in a sweeping formation.  It was another thing that Echo had never seen before, a mass of dungeon monsters traveling together in a silent but determined group towards an objective.  She had seen small groups working together in the forest before, but nothing at all like what she was witnessing.

She took off as quickly as she could while trying to avoid the echoes that were her namesake; they usually only happened when she moved too quickly, so she had to maintain