The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) Jonathan Brooks (read me like a book .txt) 📖

2 Healers, 2 Casters, and 3 Scout Classes, they stood in separate groupings, divided by their normal attack formations.  She could tell that they weren’t used to working with other people, unlike what she had seen of the large army of Raiders meshing together to attack the invaders.

Since there were now more Raiders, it was time to up the stakes a little: Tacca released the two weakest of her creature packs.  10 Level 1 Root Foxes ran out of one slide tunnel on the east side of the arena, while 7 Level 2 Frond Coyotes and 7 Level 2 Branch Jackals sprinted out from a different one at the western side of the arena.

The sudden appearance of twice as many creatures surprised the two groups, and there was mass confusion as they hesitated in which to shoot towards first.  Eventually, one group of Raiders turned and focused on one group while the other concentrated on the other; by the time they figured out what they were doing, it was too late to get more than a few spells and arrows off, killing a single Root Fox and 2 Branch Jackals before they closed with the gathered Raiders.

That’s when their lack of preparation took a turn for the worse, because Tacca’s creatures didn’t differentiate between the two groups.  Their backs turned toward the Coyotes and Jackals, one group prepared to easily cut down the Foxes they were facing; unfortunately, the Coyotes and Jackals just happened to be a tad bit closer to the Fox group and attacked them from behind before the other group could intercept them.

Of course, standard strategy was to have their most vulnerable members of the group in the back, so the Healer and Caster were literally piled on as they were knocked down from behind.  The Physical Attack damage from her creatures weren’t all that high, especially being Level 2, but the Pack Hunter trait enhanced it enough that even against a much higher-Level, they could still be deadly.  Before anyone could react and come to his rescue, the Elven Caster had his throat ripped out from three different Coyotes working together to do the deed.  The Healer also nearly had her arm ripped off by a quad of Jackals, but was saved by the quick thinking of the 3 Scouts in the large group, who jumped in when they saw what was happening, throwing themselves on Tacca’s creatures with savage abandon.

From there, it was pure chaos, but fortunate on the side of the Raiders.  Her creatures’ first attack was quickly countered, as each member of the bigger group went a bit berserk and practically ripped apart her Canines.  It didn’t take much, honestly, because her creatures were relatively weak in comparison to all of those Raiders, but in enough numbers and with surprise on their side, they could certainly be deadly.

Once the arena was clear of attackers, their corpses (or what was left of them) disappeared, leaving behind their normal rewards.  However, a treasure chest appeared 20 feet from the center of the arena to the north.  After their surprise, one of the members of the group that had lost their Caster opened it up, where they found a Minor Healing Potion as a bonus reward.

“Not really equal compensation, is it?” Shale asked.

No, not at all, but I wasn’t planning on someone dying to my weaker creatures, either.  The treasure chest inside of the arena was the only thing she could affect while there were Raiders inside, because it was a mechanic that Dungeon Cores could use to reward especially great performances.  While she normally let the chests be automatic in her Boss Rooms, here she could tailor the Reward specifically to the fight that had occurred.

The surprise “bonus” wasn’t lost on everyone that had been watching, and even though some of those watching one of their own lose their life were visibly affected by it, overall the death didn’t seem to curb their enthusiasm for the arena.  On the contrary, it seemed to vitalize the rest into wanting to push further.

Additional group pairings were attempted, with better successes, and Tacca was starting to get a feel for what the Raiders could handle.  After a few more days of this – and because she hadn’t really changed the locations of each creature pack – she was letting them dictate what they wanted to face when they pointed to the tunnel slides they wanted.  Some of the stronger multi-group pairings were even choosing 3 or 4 of the packs at times, which was daring enough that they deserved some excellent compensation.  Gold coins, Enchantment Scrolls, and steel weapons from Reward Tier 4 were slowly being accumulated by the teams.

Finally, towards the end of the first week, a pair of Raider groups that had some of the strongest members currently living there – including a fully armored behemoth she overheard was called Anton – pointed towards one of the two tunnel slides that hadn’t been used yet.  Fortunately, it was the smallest of the two, not the large one that contained the gigantic Mastiff dog, but Tacca hesitated.

I…I’m not sure I should release them.  I’m having second thoughts.

“Then don’t.  Keep them there and let them wonder,” Shale advised.

Her hesitation only seemed to make Anton and the others annoyed, and possibly angry.  “I said I want to face whatever is in that one – we can take it!”  The crowd roared in approval, deafening just about everyone in the room as the echoes reverberated over and over.  Yet, still, she hesitated.

The crowd settled down as they waited for her creatures to be delivered to them, and she began to hear some considerable grumbling from just about everyone in there.  Thankfully, she was saved by her 2 Bonded Hill Dwarves, who were at the front of the southern stands.

“Hold on, now, listen up!” Sterge shouted at the top of his voice, just loud enough