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

Giants – and what she saw froze her into inaction.  Fortunately, the Force wasn’t as frozen in response; before she knew what was happening, someone had forcibly grabbed her, threw her over a shoulder and leapt off the Hauler.

It was not a second too soon, because the next moment a ginormous tree passed through the space where the Hauler had been, completely demolishing the vehicle and everything on it.  Still falling to the ground on someone’s shoulder, Violet watched in seeming slow-motion as the tree continued on its trajectory, smashing into another Hauler just behind theirs.  The Enchanter could see the shocked faces of those that hadn’t been able to evacuate from the Hauler in time, as their bodies were destroyed just as quickly as the rest of the vehicle.

Violet and her rescuer hit the ground a second later, and she felt herself dropped as a result; the fall wasn’t too bad, however, and after a quick roll she came to a stop.  Looking up, she saw that her rescuer was none other than Princess Celeste, her face a mask of rage as she stared up at the approaching Giants.  Violet immediately realized that the thrown tree club from one of the monsters had also destroyed their forward-most Burning Darkness barrier, and her field of vision could now encompass the 3 remaining Giants as they steadily made their way closer to the Defensive Force.

Or what was left of the Defensive Force, at least; it seemed that the tree that had hit her Hauler and the one behind hadn’t been the only one thrown, because the now-weaponless Giants had taken out 2 vehicles, leaving them with only 2 Haulers still whole and undamaged.  Worse than that, all of the Force members that had been at the rear, protecting the opened portion from attack, had been either hit by the flung trees or killed as shrapnel from the destroyed Haulers sliced through them.  She couldn’t get an accurate count as she got to her feet, but she estimated that more than 50 of her fellow Gnomes had just perished.

“Thanks, Princess—where are you going?!”  Violet was trying to thank the Princess for saving her, but the battle-crazy Royal Gnome had taken off running – and was currently headed straight for the approaching Giants.  What is she doing?  Is she suicidal?

Whatever she was, Violet couldn’t allow the Princess – the last remaining member of their Royal family – to go alone.  The Journeyman Enchanter wasn’t a fighter, however, and she wasn’t sure what to do…until her eyes landed on the 2 remaining Haulers, their Mass Accelerators hanging limply in their cradles, without anyone operating them.

“Up!  Everyone up!  Get to the Accelerators; the Princess is headed out there, so you need to back her up!”  There were groans of pain, as not everyone had managed to avoid being hurt by the flung tree clubs, but they obeyed her shouts.  Violet did the same, rushing to the nearest intact Hauler and pulling herself up the ladder before just about anyone else.  Grabbing one of the bolts gathered up nearby, she placed it into the ballista, aimed it towards the closest Giant, and touched the Activation rune.  The pulling of the “bow” happened so quickly that she barely saw it happen, but the next moment the bolt flew out and flew true, hitting the Giant in the chest.  A single bolt wasn’t much of a deterrent, and only a single grunt of pain in response showed that it actually hit the monster, but it certainly wasn’t enough to stop it.  What it did do, however, was turn its attention from the Princess running full out, her hand-axes clutched in her hands, to Violet, already loading another bolt into the Accelerator.

By that time, most of the other positions on the Hauler were being filled with Force members, loading bolts of their own.  Before she fired again, she looked around and saw fear and shock on their faces, but it was also accompanied by determination.  They were scared, but they knew that they couldn’t fail here; if they did, there wasn’t much to stop the dungeons around here from continuously expanding, eventually putting everyone’s lives at risk.

They weren’t the only ones to realize that, because all of the War Machine pilots and Shredder Cone operators were already on the move – Felbar included.  Violet couldn’t think about his safety, however, because she was currently aiming another bolt…and…fire!  This one sunk into its upper shoulder, missing the neck that she had been aiming for.  More bolts were fired sporadically as the other Accelerator operators fired as soon as they were ready, hoping to do some damage before the Giants got too close.  While they didn’t have their clubs anymore, they could still stomp and smash all the Gnomes into a pulp with barely any trouble.

A lucky bolt from one of the Accelerators managed to hit the next Giant in its right eye, causing the monster to bellow out and hold its hand to its face, while it attempted to pull out the projectile.  That was the opening that the War Machines needed, as they rushed in and started to chop at the legs of the Giant, doing horrendous damage with large swipes of their axes.  The monster attempted to pick up one of its legs to kick at the trio of Machines, but its other leg had been so damaged (down to the bone) that it snapped when all of the weight was put onto it.  The massive monster suddenly fell, collapsing to the ground so quickly that it fell onto one of the War Machines, smothering it beneath its bulk.

Violet couldn’t tell if the War Machine was destroyed and the pilot killed, though she was relieved that it wasn’t Felbar underneath the Giant.  Instead, she concentrated on firing again on the prostrate Giant, her bolt flying right over another War Machine to land in the side of its neck.