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

against anything attacking.  Expending that much energy in such a short time, even with some spare Natural Energy Orbs nearby to help them regenerate it, was enough to exhaust them all – but they had done their part.  Those Rangers with the ability to manipulate Natural energy slowly worked on the inside of the root wall, adding a way for them to climb up and perch on the top, where they could shoot down into any incoming Dungeon Monster forces.  They also caused sharp thorns to emerge from the side of the root facing outwards, which would easily pierce anything that managed to even reach the wall.

All in all, it was a decent fortification, but having seen what the Slimes could do with their acidic gelatinous bodies, if a couple managed to reach the wall they could start to literally melt the thick root away.  She remembered back when the Gnomes were attacked by the Reptile-Classification Core and they too were fairly well protected – and it hadn’t been enough.  Granted, the Gnomes were unprepared for the attack while the Elves would be expecting it, but that wouldn’t make much of a difference if they were overwhelmed from two directions.

Therefore, it was time for Sandra to contribute what help she could that might make a difference.  There were hundreds of things she could think of to add to the defense, most of which was adapting some of the same techniques she used in her own dungeon with traps; using constructs might work, but for them to be useful they would likely have to be outside of the village’s walls to fight things directly.  The whole point of the walls was to attack from a fortified position, which meant that using her constructs outside of that protection wasn’t the way to go.  Though, perhaps there was something that could help – but she’d have to see it herself to determine if it would be effective.

It took nearly her entire maximum Mana and the use of another of her Average Faceted Onyx Spheres looted from the remains of the Undead-Classification dungeon to create it, but she finally had a chance to see the new construct she had acquired when she upgraded to Core Size 21: the Mobile Fortification.  Before she created it, she made sure to move her Aerie Roc off to the side, because she had no idea what exactly she was going to be making.

“What do you think it will look like?  Will it be as large as your big bird over there?  It certainly costs a lot more Mana to create, so I’m expecting it to be rather impressive.”

Winxa seemed even more excited than Sandra to see what it was that she was going to create, and the Dungeon Core couldn’t blame her.  It was always exciting to learn about a new construct, especially since the world – and therefore Winxa – hadn’t seen any of her creations before. In fact, this Mobile Fortification was so expensive Mana-wise that if she hadn’t reduced its cost via unlocking some Advancements, it would’ve cost 50,000 Mana!  Added into that the fact that without acquiring some few Seeds that could actually hold it, she probably couldn’t have afforded to create it until she was at least Core Size 25, which would give her enough Mana and Raw Materials to fulfill the requirements for both the Monster itself and the Seed.

I have no idea, but it’s time to find out!  Sandra couldn’t help but be pumped up by the Dungeon Fairy’s excitement, and she had visions of the hydra-thing in the Reptile-Classification dungeon and the massive Undead Monsters she was told about in the other dungeon.  Now it was her turn to get something that awesome.

She got all of the elements together, watched the Mana coalesce, and…was severely disappointed.

There appeared where she had created the Mobile Fortification construct a large silver cube that she thought might be Steel based on her recent experience working with metals.  It was at least 15 feet wide on each side, which made it the largest block of Steel she’d ever seen, but it paled in comparison to the size of the Aerie Roc still in her Home room.  For 15,000 more Mana than the giant bird, Sandra was expecting something…awesome.  Yet, what she ended up with was a giant parchment weight.

“Is…that it?  This doesn’t look all that impressive, Sandra.”  Winxa didn’t even try to hide the disappointment in her voice, which matched the Dungeon Core’s own.  Even the Animated Slab had been more impressive when it appeared because she knew that the slab of stone was “animated” and could move around.  This, though, didn’t give any indication of what it did – and it was even smaller than the Steel-plated Behemoths she could create.

Let me see what it can do before we pass final judgment. 

Trying to take direct control of it was somehow worse than trying to stay inside of her Unstable Shapeshifters in their unshifted forms – it gave her an immediate headache.  When she entered her mind inside the Fortification with the intention of moving the construct, it was almost as if her mind was being squeezed with great force, so after the headache hit after no more than a second, she left it completely.  Instead, she gave it an order to move to the other side of the room and set down near the far wall.

The Mobile Fortification immediately lifted up a foot off of the floor and zipped across the room so fast she almost missed it moving.  For a split-second she thought it was going to crash into – and perhaps even through – the stone wall of her Home room; fortunately, it stopped abruptly right next to the wall with not even the slightest gap in between and set back down on the floor.

Huh.  That alone could prove to be deadly to anyone trying to attack