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

it.  Having (however many) tons of Steel that the Fortification was made from slam into something at high speed was bound to hurt just about anything severely.  Further experimentation revealed its moving weaknesses, however; it took nearly 10 seconds for the Fortification to “recover” from moving before it could move again, and it could only move in a straight line toward wherever it could turn before it moved.  It seemed unreasonably limiting, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

She attempted to see what else it would do, but whatever she tried to do to activate it in any way was unsuccessful.  Unlike the Monsters she unlocked via her Advancements, none of her constructs had elemental energy – and therefore no way to see what kind of Special Abilities they might have.  She tried to create a few other constructs and even a Goblin Foreman to attack it, but all it did was sit there and take their abuse without doing a single thing.  It was quite frustrating.

Ok, so this didn’t quite work out the way I had expected.  Regardless, I’m not going to let it go to waste; I’ll send it out to the Elves and even if all it can do is smash into them, it will help.

Sandra ended up creating 3 more Titanium Anacondas to join the two that had patrolled the Slime forest the night before and another 60 Roaring Blademasters to join the previous 45 that were fighting against the Beasts, giving the Elves additional help.  They were the only two she could reasonably count on to contribute without getting in the way – and that wouldn’t freak out the Elves; she briefly thought about using Unstable Shapeshifters with Echo’s form like Echo had commanded in the Undead dungeon, but thought that would freak out the villagers, if not the Rangers as well.

After that, she was content with what they had in defense; there was a wall with 42 Rangers arranged around the entire village, who could employ their elemental energy to enhance their attacks; Sandra created more normal and explosive bolts so that they wouldn’t run out quickly when using their new bows; they had their Wyvines available inside the walls in case of a breakthrough; there were over 100 Roaring Blademasters ready to cut a swathe through any opposition along with 5 deadly Titanium Anacondas; she provided another 2 Multi-access Repair Drones in addition to the 2 already accompanying her constructs in case they were needed; and, as much as it was unknown how useful it would be, there was a Mobile Fortification that could at least ram through and splatter anything it came across with its multi-ton weight of solid Steel.  She found out how heavy it was when it eventually arrived outside of the village and sank down into the soft dirt a few feet until the earth was compacted enough to hold the construct.

She thought about trying to design some enchantment-based traps that could be planted outside of the village, but held off for now.  For one, she would have to make a lot to cover enough ground to completely spread over the different avenues of attack; two, she thought that might be overkill based on what she thought might be coming the Elves’ way; three, if she needed to, she was planning on sending her Aerie Roc out once the fighting started as backup in case something dangerous made an appearance; and finally, four – she wanted to upgrade her Core Size again while she had a chance.

It was a lot of upgrades for her to do in such a short period of time, but if she timed it correctly she could be done with it before dawn broke and would finish in plenty of time before the Elven Cores finished their own upgrades.  Then there would probably be a period of time when the two Cores would build up their forces for an attack on the Elven village, so she thought it was safe to go ahead and upgrade her own Core.  She wasn’t exactly sure when she would get a better time, so she was going to take advantage of it.

Winxa, I’m going under again.

“Wow, already?  That’s smart, I guess.  Just be careful.”

She had already told everyone that mattered that she was going to be unavailable again, so as soon as she told the Dungeon Fairy she was undergoing her upgrade again, she activated it immediately.  It was only when she felt the world close in on her that she really comprehended Winxa’s warning: Just be careful.

What do I have to be careful about?  This is just an upgrade—

Except that she did have to be careful, because the old anxiety and semi-madness that had affected her when undergoing previous upgrades returned.  Even being able to observe more of her dungeon during the upgrade process and Winxa telling stories didn’t help her cope with the feeling of being trapped within her own mind and the helplessness that came with it.  She started to panic after just a short time and vowed never to undergo another upgrade if this was what she was going to feel like.

Sandra probably would have entirely lost her mind and snapped if she had been forced to endure the isolation for the entire normal duration of her upgrade, but the pieces of Dungeon Cores that she had salvaged kicked in and saved her.

Aaaaaahhhhhhh!

“Sandra!  Are you alright?  What’s wrong?!” Winxa asked as soon as Sandra screamed through their connection.  The Dungeon Core, freed from her imposed confinement, freaked out and started to look at everything throughout her Area of Influence without really seeing it, controlling constructs and Dungeon Monsters for a split-second before leaving them – all so that she could convince her mind that she wasn’t trapped inside her mind anymore.

It took nearly an hour for her to calm down enough to really think clearly, only to find