The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

them up; when they caught up, however, they turned on their speed and practically chopped up the Beasts they managed to corner and tore them apart.  A few got knocked out of the air by swipes of massive paws or were pounced on by large cats, but very few were damaged enough from that single hit to be destroyed completely.  A second Repair Drone was on standby to help any that were damaged and in need of help, but they were remarkably effective, nonetheless.

Still, there were casualties.  Every other fight resulted in a destroyed Blademaster or two, which was an acceptable attrition.  The Monster Seeds from them and the killed Beasts were brought back and used to create more, until there were three groups of Blademasters running around and massacring the Dungeon Monsters fleeing for their lives.  If it weren’t necessary, Sandra would’ve felt sorry for them; as it was, she was walking a fine line between just enough and complete domination – the latter of which could inspire a different strategy on the part of the Cores, which may or may not be a good thing.

Sandra followed along with her constructs all night, tweaking how they initiated their attacks to minimize their own casualties while inflicting maximum damage.  As a result of that concentration, the only other thing she did was manage her incoming Mana to start finishing off stage after stage towards the next Core Size upgrade.  After the initial investment in the Elven constructs, anything new to replace those that were destroyed – which included one of her Titanium Anacondas at one point – was paid for by the Monster Seeds dropped by those she culled.  Therefore, by the time dawn broke across the wastelands, she was halfway done with her next upgrade and had done a fairly good job of reducing the number of Dungeon Monsters in all of the forests.

The Elves and Dwarves would easily be able to catch up with their work and finally get ahead.  Which was a good thing because it seemed as though the four Cores decided to all upgrade as well.

Chapter 26

By noon, every Beast, Slime, Goblin, and Golem that could be found outside of the dungeons had been eliminated, which gave the Dwarves and Elves a much-needed break.  They were worried what the upgrade would bring, and getting prepared for when they finished was imperative – especially since the Cores nearest the Elves were almost guaranteed to be able to reach the Elven village of Avensglen.  Right now, they had enough protection to keep themselves safe for a little while if the Cores decided to attack, but it would only last so long under a protracted siege.

* Chryla; do you think you and the others would want to base out of my dungeon?  I can guarantee it will be safer than staying in your village. *

It would take a little bit of work over the next day to make something to accommodate the entire village of Elves, but Sandra was confident she could figure it out and complete it.  She had even mapped out where it would likely go: a branch off of her Roc Tunnel would probably work well enough and would keep them separate from the Dwarves.  Eventually she wanted all of the races to work together in harmony, but she was realistic enough to know that kind of thing took time.

The young Ranger thought about her proposal for all of two seconds before she responded.  “I can guarantee that the answer would be a firm no.  I’m sure it might be safer, and we would appreciate the offer, but even the thought of spending more than a couple of hours underground gives me extreme anxiety.  I don’t know how Echo managed it for as long as she did, but she was always an…odd one, for sure.”

* I can fill some rooms full of trees and make it bright for you – would that help? *

“Yes, that would help.  I still wouldn’t want to spend more time there than necessary; I can just imagine the feeling of the walls closing in on me when I’m thinking about it,” she said, shivering in the noonday sun. “Now, if there is no choice and we have to decide on either staying here and dying, or moving to your dungeon…well, I can’t even guarantee that everyone would choose to live.  I certainly would choose to keep living, but there are others that – as grateful as they are for your help – would rather live out the rest of their time in this world free of the confines of the underground.”

* That’s perfectly reasonable, I suppose.  Just know that the offer stands for any that want to move or need to flee.  In the meantime, we need to figure out how to protect your village, because it is likely to become a prime target of attack fairly soon.  Even forewarned and forearmed, you’ll be facing two dungeons at the same time, which is a difficult proposition for anyone. *

“We appreciate the help; we have some things that we can do to help with the defense, which is what we’ll likely work on for the rest of the day.  Whatever aid you can lend us would be most welcome.”

Those defenses came in the form of the villagers demonstrating why they were so important to their small community. She had already seen them using their elemental energy to grow small varieties of crops around their village to feed themselves and the Rangers, but that wasn’t all they could do.  With being able to strongly manipulate their Natural energy, they were capable of defending themselves – and creating static defenses that would protect the entire village.

It took all 15 of them working together to grow a massive, thick root 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide that surrounded the entire settlement, acting like a natural wall