The Crafter's Dominion: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 5) Jonathan Brooks (books that read to you txt) 📖

Sandra’s voice sounded amused in her mind, but she didn’t care.  She was just happy to be back on her beautiful mount, and she could see that even her King and Queen were slightly envious.  Or disgusted.  Or didn’t really care – their faces were a bit of a blank to her.

Without another word, they all turned toward the tunnel and started to run lightly down the long passageway.  She couldn’t help but notice that Gerold and the Gnome Princess, Celeste, ran together in their Deep Diver suits, and she had to admit that it was sort of adorable, with the Princess’ suit a bit smaller than the Dwarf’s.  Whether it was her recent kiss or something else, she couldn’t help but think, I bet they would make a cute couple. 

Also accompanying them, which she was doubly glad to see, were 2 of the Repair Drones that were so useful for a variety of reasons.  One, they healed wounds almost miraculously well; and two, they exploded quite extraordinarily when they were damaged.  It was the sacrifice of their Drones in the Undead dungeon that had saved them from almost certain doom.

But that was it.  Sandra really wasn’t kidding when she said we would basically be on our own.  The 9 of them, plus Starlight 3 and 2 Repair Drones, were all that they were bringing with them to invade a dungeon, fight their way to the Core, and hope that Sandra’s plan would work.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever, and along the way they passed rooms carved into the long passageway; some of them were filled with constructs, while others appeared empty.  Echo remembered that Sandra had mentioned that she had set up some traps as defenses along the tunnel, which she supposed the rooms were being used for.  Luckily, it appeared as though they were either deactivated or removed entirely, but nothing attacked them.

Finally, in what Echo judged to be a little over 30 minutes later, they arrived at the end of the tunnel.  At least, she assumed it was, because there was a large stone wall blocking off access to anything else.

* Are you ready? *

Sandra’s voice in her head sounded a bit strained, and the Ranger worried about what was happening near the Core’s main dungeon.

She answered in the affirmative, as well as everyone else.  She was pleased to see that everyone still appeared rested enough after their light run, mainly because they hadn’t been pushing themselves.

* Alright; this is going to happen fast, so be ready.  My Champion Totems are going to punch through the remaining wall left over after I remove the dirt and stone separating the tunnel I’m making from the other dungeon, and they will accompany you inside.  I’m sorry that they are all I can spare, but things are getting a little tight over here.  Good luck and may the Creator guide you on your way. *

Echo was ready, even as her nervous energy had her rapidly petting the neck of Starlight 3.  Looking around, she saw the Totems starting to move into position near the right-side wall, having not even noticed them until they moved.  C’mon, Echo, get your head into it. 

Suddenly, a massive chunk of the wall disappeared, and the Totems glided inside the empty space.  I guess that’s our cue.  She joined the rest of her party as they also entered the space, only to see another chunk of dirt and stone disappear.  This happened another 8 times in rapid succession, before the constructs they were following started to smash their fists against the wall on their left.  In what felt like no time at all, the wall collapsed in front of them, and they pushed their way through.

She and the others weren’t far behind.

Chapter 46

It was chaos as soon as she flew through the opening on Starlight 3 with her bow pulled back into position and ready to fire.  The first monster she saw was a Hobgoblin Brute, located about halfway across a relatively small room, and she fired her bolt (not an explosive one) right between its eyes – only to see it pass right through its head as if it wasn’t there.  What?

Out of seemingly nowhere, a ball of fire zoomed toward her from the side, too fast to easily have the Pegasus she was riding dodge out of the way.  She was only about 15 feet off the ground, so a quick decision caused her to fling herself off the opposite side of her mount, and she felt herself falling – though floating would almost be more accurate.  The Lesser Buoyancy enchantment that Sandra had mentioned earlier was already showing its worth, as she fell much slower than she would’ve normally, and she literally had time to draw another bolt from her quiver, fit it to the invisible string on the bow, and fire it where she estimated the fireball had come from.

There was a squeal of pain from something, though it wasn’t something she could see.  In fact, all she could see was the Hobgoblin Brute she had seen before, along with some Scouts…but they weren’t moving.  In fact, they were like simple, moving images standing in the middle of the room, as if they were—

“They’re illusions!  I’m casting a nullifier now!” her Queen shouted, first in Elvish, and then in what she assumed were the other languages.  Echo hit the ground in time to see the regal Elf wave her hands a few times, and something in the room seemed to change.  Some sense of danger alerted her to an attack and the Ranger flung herself out of the way, turning around in mid-dive to see a crude-looking iron dagger being wielded by a Goblin Scout looking confused at where she