The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) by Jonathan Brooks (e ink epub reader .txt) 📕

– and her solution was already mostly constructed, which made it even better.  Simply put, the 4-mile-long tunnels that the other Cores had made to invade and destroy her own Core were going to be the new extensions to her dungeon.

Sandra’s original dungeon entrance would remain as a deterrent if she was attacked by another group of people again from the outside, or a small horde of Dungeon Monsters that happened to make it there; her Roc tunnel would act as a defense against larger Dungeon Monsters that managed to make the trek.  With the upgrade to the Core Size of the other Cores coming up, it was quite possible that some powerful, giant Monsters would make their appearance aboveground.  While she would do what she could to protect the villages nearby, Sandra had the feeling that she had annoyed the other Cores enough that she would be the target.

Plus, using the existing tunnels dug out by the other Cores meant that there would be no reason for them to look for another avenue of attack.  Sandra could block any other attempts at creating another tunnel if given enough warning, if only by tunneling into their path by using the existing passageways.  It wasn’t foolproof, granted, because there were ways around her blockages if given enough time – though it would likely take weeks or months of work on their end, spending Mana that would take away from their constant attacks.  Therefore, if Sandra organized things correctly, there would only be two options for the Cores to attack: through the existing tunnels that they created and Sandra was preparing to stock with more permanent defenses, or from above.

With luck and a lot of work, the second option would be taken care of after she talked to Palzerk; in the meantime, she needed to work on the first.

Tackling the Beast-Classification dungeon first, she found the dozen Sonic Blademasters she had stationed there, floating in the air without even the slightest sign of movement.  A single Titanium Anaconda and Steel-plated Behemoth were still there as well, bolstering the defense of the area by attacking anything that got through the Blademasters’ powerful sonic attacks, as well as attempting to block anything thrown towards the floating constructs.  Right now, of course, they were immobile as they waited for another attack to come or other orders.

All-in-all, they had a fairly good defense, if she was being truthful.  Not great for the long-term, though, because one stray rock or corpse thrown at the deadly Blademasters could tear one of the constructs apart, which could potentially impact the others nearby as they exploded.  Spreading them out a little was an option, but Sandra had a feeling that concentrated fire was almost always better than individual attacks.  Regardless, it was a good place to start expanding on what was already there.

Using her mana to absorb the sides and ceiling of the surrounding tunnel, expanding it in size to create a room that was approximately 30 feet wide, 30 feet deep, and 15 high, thereby making it an official “room” as classified by her Dungeon Core system, she considered what would be the best defense against the Beasts.  The Sonic Blademasters were excellent choices against the Beast-types because their targets were flesh-and-blood, which seemed to be thoroughly affected by the constructs’ attacks.  Sandra doubted they would be effective against Golems, for instance, or even Slimes; the gelatinous nature of the gooey Slimes would probably just absorb the attack and move on, not to mention that neither the Golems or Slimes had “ears” that would hurt and bleed from the sound they made when they spun.  Goblins would probably be slaughtered by the dozen if they stood still, but they were usually so numerous and quick that keeping them in the line of fire would be difficult.

So, Sandra had to utilize the same sort of effective tactics against the Beasts that the Sonic Blademasters employed.  While she wasn’t an expert in battle tactics by any means, she had learned enough since she had become a Dungeon Core that she wasn’t exactly helpless.  Just like in crafting, you had to use the right tools and materials to produce what you wanted; you could use inferior products, but the craft might not be the best that it could be, or take twice as long as it should to produce.

Replicating the same “sonic” attack in a separate traps was relatively impossible, she’d noted from some brief small-scale experiments, so she decided to use defenses that were best used against a flesh-and-blood creature.  Since she didn’t have to worry about there being any Slimes, Golems, or relatively intelligent monsters going through the room, that made narrowing down what she placed inside much simpler.  Given that Beasts was a Classification that came from a Fire-based Dungeon Core, she ruled out any type of heat or flames as a solution; while they certainly weren’t immune, the fact that there were so many flame-based traps inside of the other dungeon was a sign that they wouldn’t be as effective against the Beasts.

Given that the opposite element of Fire was Water, it seemed reasonable enough to apply it to her traps – though she didn’t stop there.  Air was the likely candidate in what the Sonic Blademasters used to devastating effect, so she combined the two in a dual-element trap that she was hoping would be just as effective.

First was a pool of water that she created by digging out 2 feet more of the room below the level of the tunnel itself; it wasn’t enough of a deterrent near the exit to make those entering Monsters hesitate and try another avenue of attack, which was the whole point of the defenses she was putting together.  She wanted them to keep moving forward, attacking in a constant stream, while getting slaughtered one after another – but she also wanted to give them the appearance of a chance to