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

creatures, even having known the Flash was coming, were still marginally affected by the Dungeon Fairy’s ability.  While they weren’t completely blinded, they were slow to take advantage of the situation, only reacting seconds later by attacking the nearly helpless Raider groups.  One of the Raider Casters got an arrow in her stomach, and a different Healer other than Neville got a face full of a Magiburst, sending him sprawling backwards, alive but apparently unconscious.  Two of the Scout-Classes managed to avoid being decapitated by Tacca’s Orc and Hill Dwarf, their keen hearing allowing them to partially dodge and suffer only minor slices as they backed away.

That all changed when the Raider Healer cast what Tacca figured was a Soothe spell, which cleared up the temporary blindness of everyone in the area.  The now ticked-off Raider groups, able to see again, threw everything they had at Tacca’s creatures, using their abilities liberally to overwhelm her forces.  The Dungeon Fairy used its Healing Aura ability to rapidly heal her creatures, having to drop its Invisibility in order to afford keeping it going.

As if sensing that it was helping, the Raiders noticed it for the first time, sending up arrow after arrow to kill it, but the Fairy was quite nimble in the air, dodging every shot.  Suddenly, a net woven of magic appeared above its head and dropped down on the unaware Fairy, catching it and dragging it down to the ground, where it fell with an almost audible *thud*.  The Healing Aura was cut off as the Fairy died from the impact, and suddenly the rest of the battle was a foregone conclusion.

Tacca’s Elven Caster was taken out first, cutting off the Sapping Fog it was releasing onto the Raiders, followed quickly by the Human Healer.  The Orc Melee was next, as it was surrounded by Raiders and nearly hacked apart, followed up by the Hill Dwarf Melee.  The Gnome Scout Variant proved to be quick on its feet as it avoided many of the long-range attacks sent its way, but it quickly succumbed when it was caught and surrounded by the Raider Scout Classes, ending the battle that lasted a lot longer than Tacca had expected.

There was silence as the victors stood in the middle of the arena, panting heavily, with their opponents disappearing and leaving behind a piece of armor or weapon as their Reward.  For the Dungeon Fairy, a single gold coin appeared where it had fallen.

Tacca began to worry as the rest of the arena was also silent, eerily so.  Suddenly, as if it were some sort of trap being triggered, the crowd burst into deafening exultation, screaming their praise for the victorious Raiders.  In the middle of the arena, Anton raised his arms in the air in a victory pose, strutting around and pumping his sword and shield to the rhythm of the chant that suddenly arose.

“An-ton, An-ton, An-ton!”

The Raiders had found a champion, a figure they could get behind to defeat even the strangest and most “monstrous” of enemies the dungeon could throw at them.

Of course, they hadn’t even seen her giant Mastiff yet, but that would have to be another day.

Chapter 26

“Brandon has finally decided to try a connection, despite the unknown risks.”

It was a little over a week since the Raiders had been trapped inside of the mountain, a week since the arena exhibitions had begun, and this announcement came as a complete surprise to Tacca.  She hadn’t heard anything from Tulip or the other Dungeon Assistants regarding their progress in encouraging their Cores to connect for a few days, and she had honestly thought they wouldn’t go through with it.

What made him change his mind?

Tulip, the Dungeon Assistant for the Core named Brandon, shook her head in confusion.  “It was my description of the fights in your arena, believe it or not.  He said that it reminded him of a ‘movie’ called ‘Gladiator’, whatever either of those are, and that he didn’t want to miss out on any more of the action.”  She emphasized the two mysterious words with air quotes, which was humorous to see, and she realized that Tulip probably hadn’t had as much experience with the personalities of the otherworldly souls as Tacca had.  To the Fairy-turned-Core, she had gotten over their strangeness after the first dozen Cores she Bonded to, taking their mention of weird things in stride.  “Plus, he was getting really bored with just the two small rooms he had built so far, as he wouldn’t be getting any visitors for a long time, if ever.”

That was good to hear; not that Brandon was bored, but that he was looking to do something, despite the risks.  Now all Tacca had to do was figure out the best way to go about it.

I think I’m going to start a tunnel from the corner ceiling of the arena, which hopefully won’t be noticed, and have it run all the way over to…Nursery room #3, right?  If you can point Brandon in the right direction, we can meet up somewhere along the way.

Thankfully, the arena had shut down for its “rest” period, a 12-hour break that allowed Tacca to fully recover from her Dungeon Force use and to plan for any changes for the next day.  Up to that point, she hadn’t needed to really change anything, since the Raiders were still thoroughly enjoying what they were doing – including fighting against “themselves” – and no change was needed.  They would soon grow bored of it, she knew, but she had some plans in place to spice it up a little bit for the future.

Since it was empty, it was easy enough to start a tunnel, only 3 feet wide and 6 feet tall, the bare minimum that was required for a full connection to the outside; she had gotten away with small 3-inch-wide tunnels to other places in the mountain