Empire Builder 1: Breed, Populate, Conquer by Dante King (free e books to read online txt) 📕

the hall. The monsters might not have been sentient, but Ben was sure the way they cowered in a corner together was a sign of fear, or at least of caution on the part of the dungeon.

Ben decided he wanted to get his hands dirty for the last part. He and the women still all had enough speed energy to last another round. Ben gripped his scimitar in both hands, and waited as the others prepared their attacks.

Lulu had her globule of water poised above her head. Melody’s wand crackled with blue lightning, casting lurid flashes around the bright green glowing hall. Imogen had a surprisingly bloodthirsty grin on her face as she held both torches in front of her. And Nipper pranced impatiently at Ben’s feet. He was spoiling for a fight, but obviously wise enough not to go in alone.

On Ben’s signal, they all dashed forward. The six vine monsters lunged to meet the adventurers as they came well within their range. Ben and the women each went on the offensive and began the slaughter.

Yelling the closest he could think of to a warcry, Ben swung his scimitar forward and up with all his strength. The blade sliced into gooey plant flesh, instantly cleaving the monster’s head in two, spraying sap and goo all across the hall ceiling. The vine the head had been attached to swung limply and dropped to the floor.

Imogen attacked two vine monsters at once. She made no sound as she thrust the two torches into the monsters’ faces, setting their heads ablaze. She had a grim but satisfied smile on her face as she did her violent work. Ben kept his eyes on the flames, realizing with relief that the fire was burning through the vine monsters before spreading to the rest of the plants on the walls.

The two vine monsters thrashed about, fanning their own flames, until the sap inside them boiled, and their heads popped, green blood erupting like a geyser. The scorched vines fell to the ground motionless.

Melody ruthlessly and efficiently dealt with her opponent, frying the vine monster in an instant with a heavy dose of magical voltage. The lightning strike boomed through the hall, rattling the green glowing growths on the walls. The vine monster’s head fell smoking to the ground.

Lulu yelled a high-pitched battlecry and ensnared the neck of the nearest vine monster with a liquid noose. Manipulating the noose with her hands, she flung the monster’s head as far as she could, until the head was yanked right off its neck with a pop.

Nipper took out the last monster. The plant creature was busy trying to attack Ben, snapping its jaws, just out of reach of his scimitar. Ben’s skill with the weapon was slowly increasing, but he still couldn’t get past the monster’s defenses.

Nipper used the opportunity to gnaw right through the stem of the monster, unnoticed. As the monster made a final desperate lunge at Ben, Nipper severed the vine, and the whole monster collapsed to the ground.

Everyone clapped and cheered for Nipper, who stood by the wall spitting plant juices out of his mouth, an expression of total disgust on his tiny face.

“We did it,” Ben said, relief in his voice.

The women came to stand beside him, and he and Melody embraced, both a little exhausted.

Ben turned to Lulu and Imogen. “You both fought well. Your use of magic was really impressive.”

The nymphs looked slightly puzzled.

“That’s totally normal of course,” Ben hastened to add. “I just mean that you both used your skills very well.”

Nipper bounded over to the group and rubbed himself against Ben’s leg. Ben stooped to scratch his ears.

Melody used her wand to absorb the vine monsters’ essence for mana purification, since Nipper wouldn’t touch the monsters. Ben took one of the mana crystals Melody had already refined. He needed to keep his levels high for whatever faced them below.

Ben also tried smashing one of the glowing lights on the wall with the hilt of his scimitar, to see if they contained anything of value. Glowing green goo spilled out. In the cavity lay a small glowing crystal. Ben scooped it out and held it up.

“What are these, Melody?” he asked.

Melody shrugged. “I have never seen these crystals before. I would assume they have some sort of power, since they give off light by themselves.”

Ben dropped the crystal back into its cavity. “We can gather these up on our way back out of the dungeon. They might be useful later.”

“Well, time to see what the next level holds in store for us,” Ben said, as soon as they had all recovered their breath.

A winding flight of stairs spiraled downward at the end of this hallway. They descended to the next level, which was guarded by giant rodents. Melody said the rodents were earth-based creatures. They had far more physical strength than any other attribute. Nipper appeared to find them far tastier than the vine monsters.

The level after that contained more gravel ghouls. Ben continued periodically taking mana crystals to supplement his own regeneration. He was cautious not to overdose and make himself sick though, as he didn’t know how much harder the levels might get before they rescued Vinata. If he had to overdose, it had better be before facing the most dangerous dungeon guardians, not regular mobs like these.

Curiously, they encountered no traps. This was a mystery that gave Ben a little pause since he would have certainly installed traps throughout such a place if given the chance, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Still, he thought it too good to be true. No doubt that if he would’ve designed the place, it’d be full of traps.

Ben may not have been able to take part directly in the fight just yet, but his use of Drain provided invaluable support to the women as they were fighting, so it became essential for Melody to keep refining enough mana crystal to replenish Ben’s supply. Ben