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

harder than I thought.  If I had my armor, that would’ve been nothing.”  He could picture just pressing one of his gauntlets up against the lock and willing his energy to produce a coating of water, before it was flash frozen; better yet, he thought that he could’ve probably slammed his armored fist into the lock mechanism itself, breaking it open.

“This spell-casting business definitely isn’t for Dwarves.”  While he was sure that some Dwarves might be able to figure it out, Gerold was cognizant of his own limitations.

Reaching out and testing the door, he found that the lock had indeed broken – but was stuck with a thin fragment of iron keeping the door shut tight.  Brute force was all it took to shake the fragment loose, and he was able to yank it open, freeing him from his cell.  Unfortunately, something like 4 more locked doors remained between him and freedom.

It took another 30 minutes or so for him to recover physically, as well as regenerating his Water energy to work on the next lock.  This time, it took him a little less time to break the lock, as well as less energy, but it was still draining, nonetheless.  He figured it might get easier if he knew specifically what to do, but as there was no one there to teach him, he was struggling his way through it.

After 2 more hours and three more locked doors down long hallways, deep in the heart of Stonebrink Hall, Gerold finally made it out of his confinement.  In all that time, the Drums didn’t stop, though their previous staccato rhythm was reduced to one *thump* every 5 seconds or so, as if whoever was responsible for keeping them going was getting tired.  “That’s definitely not a good sign.”

Speaking his thoughts out loud was almost automatic at that point, and it was only when he passed through the last locked door and into the wide-open cavern that was the center of the Hall that he realized he should probably be a bit quieter now that someone might hear him.  Except that, looking around at the deserted homes, shops, and governmental buildings, there was not a single soul in sight.

He realistically knew that the residents of the Hall, those not dedicated to their defense, had likely been sent somewhere safer.  There were literally hundreds of miles of tunnels under the ground, connecting all of the different strongholds and Halls of their people, easily collapsed if necessary in case of attack; the Drums of War weren’t only used to warn of attack, but to let those who had evacuated down the tunnels if it was safe to come back or not.  Gerold didn’t know enough about them to know what the 5-second delay meant exactly, but it was quite possible that it meant for everyone to stay away until further notice.  At least, that was the impression he got when he didn’t see a single person.

While he didn’t see anyone, that didn’t mean nothing was nearby.  The exhausted Dwarf could hear the familiar sounds of metal striking against stone, flesh, and bone coming from down one of the larger passageways leading to a different section of the Hall.  The sounds of random screams also erupted every once in a while, though it was hard to tell from the echoes if they were Dwarven…or something else.

“They must have broken through one of the side passages; that could be why they are still having trouble with those monsters.”  Gerold immediately looked towards the passageway leading to the Hall’s outside entrance, to his freedom, as he tried to ascertain whether there was any fighting going on.  After a few minutes of not hearing anything, he walked closer to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, taking his time as his body still needed to recover from using so much Water energy in a short amount of time.  Looking at his palm, he was glad to see that even though he had refilled his energy pool multiple times, the blue Orb had barely reduced in size; the change was still noticeable, but not enough to worry him.

A few minutes later, the Dwarf was at the passageway leading towards the entrance, and he peeked around the corner to check if it was clear.  Down the long hallway, he could see the large, steel-hinged, circular stone doorway ahead. Where he always remembered at least 4 Shieldmen guarding the door in distinct spots worn into the floor, now there wasn’t a single one.  It was quite a distance away down the long passageway, granted, but there was nowhere for them to hide; not only that, but the extremely heavy steel crossbar was set in place across the portal, blocking it from opening at all.

“It’s clear, but how do I get that crossbar off?”  If he had been in his armor, applying a bit of energy through his gear would’ve helped to boost the strength of his arms, through an application of water flexing his armor joints, and through dark Nether energy slightly reducing the weight of the bar where he was grabbing it.  Even then, it would still be difficult, but it could be done; other elements like Earth were even better for increasing the weight one was able to lift while wearing armor, which was why there was at least one Shieldman with Earth at the door at all times.  Alas, he no longer had his armor, which had led him to the situation in which he currently found himself in the first place.

He backed up from the entrance tunnel, looking around for some sort of tool that would allow him to lift the crossbar off.  “If I can get that off, then I can…what?  Flee?  Fly back to Sandra empty-handed?”  He felt like a coward, running from the fight that was going on in the middle of Stonebrink Hall, but he wasn’t exactly equipped to fight.  “Now, if only