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

It’s like they completely vanished….  Looking down at the map again, he couldn’t help but glance to the far south in the Wentrylock Mountains.  There, farther south than any other dungeon by dozens of miles, was a single light nestled near the edge of the mountain range.  A few months ago, the light had disappeared, vanishing as Tacca’s Core had been destroyed in an attack.  Or so he thought, as it had reappeared shortly afterwards, dim—but alive.  Now, it was bright and seemingly getting larger by the day.

I wonder – will we find the Council alive somewhere as well?

Chapter 2

Tacca watched Sterge and Gwenda, the pair of Hill Dwarves that the former Fairy had Bonded, walking up the hill leading to her dungeon entrance.  Entrances, actually.  There were now two of them, each one leading to a separate section of her dungeon, marked with some fancy-looking skulls carved into the outer façade of the mountain where her Core was located.  The original entrance, denoted by a single skull as her system for identifying the easiest difficulty, still had a Root Fox stationed just inside the passageway to indicate that it was ready for another group of Raiders to enter.  The second entrance was a little further down the face of the mountainous slope, this one with 2 skulls (because it was more difficult) and a Gnoll Scout standing there casually, again waiting for the next group of Raiders to enter.

They had both been waiting there for months.  Just like Tacca had been.

“You can’t really complain, though, can you?  You certainly needed the time to get your dungeon back in shape.”

Yeah, I can’t say the time went to waste.  Shale IronSchist watched, along with Tacca, as their first visitors observed the remains of the Raiders that had perished outside of her dungeon.  Since they weren’t inside her influence, she couldn’t absorb them to clean up, and no one had visited since the events that nearly led to her destruction.  In fact, with her Dungeon Assistant’s help and information-gathering trips, there hadn’t been any people within at least 15 miles of her dungeon over the last 6 and a half months.  Of course, she had only been present for the last 2 and a half months, as she had been in a kind of “limbo” for the first 4, but it sure seemed like longer to Tacca GloomLily.

“You’re not really going to let them delve through your newest section, are you?  I mean, there are only 2 of them – and they don’t appear to be much stronger than they were when we last saw them.”  Her Bonded Assistant had a point, but she was already way ahead of him.

I had hoped that they would be the first ones back, but I couldn’t be sure.  Now that they are here, and there is more at stake than just obeying some rules and regulations, I’m taking matters to the next level.  As the pair of Hill Dwarves discussed their plans to enter her newest section, she prompted her Gnoll Scout to gesture invitingly to them with its paws.  She couldn’t communicate with them very well out there, so it was imperative that they be inside before she did anything else.

“I…don’t disagree, actually,” Shale said after she explained what she was doing, as she was doing it.  “Whether or not they believe you is something to be considered, however.”

If anyone is going to believe me, then it’ll be these two.

Tacca worked furiously to finish what she was working on before they arrived, and managed to complete it just as Sterge took his first step into her dungeon.  For the first time in what felt like forever, the Dungeon Core experienced the small “tingle” of pleasure from their presence; it wasn’t actually their presence that was pleasurable, but instead it was the knowledge that she was finally gaining Core Improvement Points from a source outside of what she could create internally.  Strangely, I’ve missed having Raiders in my dungeon.

“Are you absolutely sure about this, Gwenda?” Sterge asked as soon as he cautiously walked inside, the Gnoll Scout stopping 20 feet in front of him when he didn’t progress more than a few steps.  “We have no idea what this entrance is, after all.”  The Hill Dwarf in the lead looked at the Gnoll further ahead of them and frowned.  “And why is that thing just standing there?”

“I have no idea, Sterge; it’s probably just showing us the way or something.”  Gwenda shrugged, before continuing, slapping the Melee-focused Hill Dwarf on the back.  “As far as this dungeon, I think we did pretty good the first time we ventured into the unknown, don’t you?”

Sterge sighed, looking at the other Raider with a put-on expression on his face.  “Uh, we almost died, Gwenda – or don’t you remember that?”

“Oh, I remember.  But we’re much stronger than we were back then, and it’s important to check out this new entrance.”

You’re definitely not strong enough to face what’s down here.  She wished that she could communicate with the two Hill Dwarves mentally like she could with Shale or even the Council Leader – she refused to even think of Head Instructor Lapis, since she still hated him for what he had done to her at DAPS – but that wasn’t to be.  She wanted to let them know that without a full group of Raiders tackling the second section, or at least more powerful (in terms of Raider Levels) individuals, there was a much larger risk of death than anything in the original section.  Alas, that wasn’t to be, but she had something else planned just a little further inside.

Sterge sighed again, and Tacca could tell he had given up on trying to