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

was some sort of automatic translation that affected anyone inside of her dungeon – so that they could easily communicate with each other.

Chryla went on.  “I think, for the protection of our people, we need to maintain our vigilance outside of the dungeons.  I don’t know what happened to her, but we should continue to use the tools she provided to safeguard the surrounding lands until we hear from her.”

Winxa considered Chryla’s words and thought that was smart and it was exactly what they should be doing.  They were dedicated to that course of action before the attack, after all, and there was no reason not to re-establish that routine.  Especially given how much Sandra was already working on that very thing.

Unlike Winxa’s other experiences with deranged Dungeon Cores, Sandra had maintained her protective and nurturing instincts with her “people”; the other Cores she had helped to guide had lost all control and killed indiscriminately, indifferent about who they hurt or attacked – as long as it got them Mana and Raw Materials, which were used to upgrade their Core, making them stronger.  The anger and monstrous thoughts Winxa had received from Sandra before she had lost all contact weren’t directed to the people living near the wastelands created by Wester all those years ago, but were instead directed towards the 4 nearby Cores that had worked together to attack her dungeon.

That fact, sadly, might spell doom for the entirety of the nearby people more than if she were to target them herself.  If Sandra ended up destroying even 1 more of the Cores that had attacked her, the enhancements that the others received because of that destruction could potentially be insurmountable.  As things stood, it was going to be extraordinarily difficult to regain control over the local areas because the Dungeon Cores within 138 miles of the 4 already-destroyed Cores were experiencing a period of rapid expansion.  If Sandra did nothing to corral those dungeons, the entire situation would end up in disaster that not even the former merchant and craft master could come back from.  Not only that, but if she compounded the issue by shattering additional Cores, the entire world could suffer due to the darkness that had settled over her mind.

“I think I know what happened,” a voice abruptly spoke up from a tunnel leading farther into Sandra’s crafting rooms.  Kelerim, the half-Dwarf/half-Orc, suddenly had all eyes on him as he walked toward the group.  “Without a specific target like the Warlord attacking her dungeon, she transferred her anger to the nearby dungeons.  I think she sort of…snapped, I guess, when my father killed Perceine.”

Winxa thought that was very perceptive of the fledgling Blacksmith, because he was absolutely correct.  However, what he failed to realize was that no one happened to know that the Warlord Rothgar Bloodskull was his father.

“Wait…what?” Chryla asked, confused.  “Can you please explain that?”

Without leaving anything out, Kelerim explained his history with Sandra and how his father the Warlord managed to track him down and brought his extensive Warband with him in order to destroy the dungeon that killed Kelerim’s half-brother, Razochek.  He seemed exhausted, despondent, and resigned all at the same time; it took Winxa a moment to realize that he was expecting the others to blame him for bringing all of the trouble their way, and he was prepared to suffer the consequences.  When a small amount of grief over the last member of his family being killed during the attack was added to the mix, Kelerim was a bit of a mess.

The room was silent after the Blacksmith finished, though after about a minute, the leader of the Shieldmen cleared his throat.  “It’s not your fault.  If anything, it’s Sandra’s fault for saving you in the first place,” he concluded.  “Not that I would expect anything less from Sandra, given what I know about her and how she has made my people feel welcome here, but this whole situation seems to stem from that one decision.  A decision that, contrary to what we’ve all been taught about dungeons, was designed to save a life, rather than take it.”

“I agree,” Chryla spoke up, her previous nervousness about being the center of attention long gone.  “If Sandra has snapped, like you said, she is only that way because of what happened to one of us.”  She nodded towards the 3 Orcish mercenaries that had joined them earlier, whose facial expressions showed clear shock.  “Yes, even though you were volunteers that are here to help, she still considered you as her own people – and not in an ‘owning’ sense, but as a…family?”  The Ranger shrugged.  “I don’t know if that is the precise way she feels about you, but I think it’s accurate enough.”

  They know her better than she realizes.  Winxa was surprised at the intuitiveness of these people, though she figured that she probably shouldn’t be.  Their lives had been turned a bit upside down, and having adapted so well to the changes likely meant they could start to understand where Sandra stood with her people.  The former daughter of a merchant might have been Human in her previous life, but she was fully committed to the cause of saving as many people as possible.

Of course, that didn’t necessarily correlate to the fact that she had very recently killed over 3,000 Orcs and Elves that had invaded her dungeon; then again, they had attacked her, so Winxa couldn’t really blame Sandra.

As a result of those deaths, the Dungeon Core had obtained a lot of Mana and Raw Materials; what she was using it for wasn’t that much of a mystery, however.  Every few seconds, another Monster Seed and subsequent Dungeon Monster would appear beneath her Core, before marching or running off to parts unknown.  Well, they aren’t really unknown, but I really don’t want to think about Sandra sending her Monsters through the tunnels the other