The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) Jonathan Brooks (online e reader TXT) 📖

new, but not unheard of; having different monsters just adds to the variety.  However, with that in mind, please be careful – we don’t know what other surprises are in store here.”

Ferryl nodded, before venturing further into the room.  Though there weren’t any more traps, there were an additional 4 Frond Coyotes that attacked near the exit -- easily dispatched with help from the others, now that the Scout knew to look for them.

The same type of pattern of investigation occurred in the third room, with the trees and the Branch Jackals descending from the limbs of the trees.  The Fear-inducing Enchantment trap had a similar one-second effect on the Scout, causing him to momentarily turn away in fright – which was when her creatures attacked as a pack.  It was clear that the Raiders had been expecting Root Foxes, because they were looking down instead of elsewhere – which meant that the Healer-type managed to get scratched and bit a few times, as one landed on her unsuspectedly as it jumped down from above.  She wasn’t wounded too seriously, though, and ended up healing most of her injuries using her own abilities, though for some reason it wasn’t as effective as if she were to use it on someone else.

Which was how they discovered the healing properties of the trap awaiting in the fourth room: The Healer was paralyzed momentarily, as the healing enchantment took effect on the entire room when it was triggered.  “W-what?  Did the dungeon just heal me?  That’s…impossible, right?”

“Not impossible, though it’s nothing I’ve ever heard of before.  I’m eager to see more of this place.” The Elf in charge seemed to be smiling, and so did everyone else.  To have been the first to see something unique was evidently something to be happy about, though Tacca didn’t really understand why.

The fifth room with the Forest Wolves was a bit more of the same, though in that room she had two Soil-covered Pit Traps that livened things up a little.  Since she didn’t remove these traps, like she did when the two new Hill Dwarf Raiders appeared initially, they were able to showcase their deadliness…except for the fact that this group of Raiders were too experienced to fall for something as mundane as a pit trap.  They deftly eliminated the 8 Forest Wolves inside the room, all while triggering the traps – but not falling inside.  Ferryl agilely threw himself out of the way of their collapsing soil-top covers, though the Raiders all agreed such traps could be deadly to less-powerful Raider groups, especially if they were corralled into them by the attacking Wolves.

“That makes four distinct types of monsters, though they all have a similar theme,” the Elf mumbled as she sketched and wrote out the description of the room.  “Highly unusual.”  That didn’t seem like a bad thing, though, because she was still smiling as she finished up.  In fact, the entire group was faintly smiling, though they definitely made sure that they kept up their vigilance in looking for additional threats.

There was nothing really exciting about the sixth room, because the Confusion-inducing trap inside the room barely affected the Scout, though it was fun to see how the entire group (except the spell-casting Elf, who watched and recorded the entire battle from the entrance) fought off the 10 Root Foxes, 6 Frond Coyotes, and 8 Branch Jackals attacking them from all corners of the room.

It was a slaughter, of course, but it was amazing to see how the Raiders worked so well together to fight off 6 times their number. The Healer deftly used her rapier-sword to skewer one of Tacca’s creatures after another; Ferryl practically danced out of the way of biting Coyotes as he sliced them up in turn; Palter slammed his shield into a half-dozen creatures and smashed a few others with his warhammer; and the Elemental Archer seemed to be having the time of his life sending his arrows through the mouths or eyes of his targets – even when they were jumping through the air towards him.

There were still a few minor wounds and some slight tearing of cloth and leather armor, but overall there wasn’t much of a challenge for them.  It made sense, based on their strength, but it was good to see that they couldn’t just walk through without much difficulty at all.  Tacca also was doubly glad that she had removed quite a few of her defending creatures when the two Hill Dwarves had investigated her dungeon before, because they wouldn’t have survived this long.

Finally, the group arrived at the last room, her “Boss” room, which was much larger than the others.  “What…is…that?” the Elemental Archer asked as soon as they looked inside the room from the hallway.

It was probably the first time they had ever seen the massive Mastiff Dog, either in a dungeon or even outside of one.  From what she knew, it wasn’t a common Variant in the non-dungeon world, so their lack of familiarity didn’t surprise her.  There was currently one of the large creatures sitting in the middle of the room, looking straight at the entrance of the room as if daring them to come inside.

“No idea, but maybe it means this will be a bit of a challenge,” the Elf said, before she put her sketching tools away in her bag and pulled out a fancy-looking wooden staff with a glowing green gemstone wedged on top artistically.  As a team, they moved forwards into the room with Ferryl leading, cautiously looking for more traps even as he eyed the Mastiff in the middle – who wasn’t moving.

Unlike when the two Hill Dwarves had seen the Boss room, the creatures Tacca had inside the final space were hiding. She had arrayed them previously as obviously as possible to discourage the two novice Raiders from entering the room at all, but there was