The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) Jonathan Brooks (sites to read books for free .TXT) 📖

“You don’t understand, this dungeon—”

“No, it’s you who don’t understand!  We’re losing, Hafanorc, and it doesn’t look good for the future.  We are barely keeping back the nearby dungeons’ monsters as it is and having another one so near to Grongbak will doom everyone there.  Is that what you want?” the warband leader asked but didn’t allow Kelerim to respond.  “I for one won’t allow that.  Once we destroy this one, they’ll be safe for a time, but now that we know there are dungeons out here, we’ll have to be more vigilant in our patrols.  Now, either get out of the way and let us do our job or stand there and die like the worthless excuse for a Hafanorc you are.”

Sandra watched the two of them stare each other down, before Kelerim broke first and retreated back down the tunnel behind him.  She quickly opened the doorway to the VATS and closed it just as quickly when he was inside.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them, but I did warn you that Razochek doesn’t like me,” Kelerim spoke to the empty air once he was safely inside.

* I appreciate your trying.  I really don’t want to have to kill them if I can help it, and your talking to them seemed like the best way to avoid more bloodshed.  Now…well, I guess I’ll have to do what I need to do. *

It was the last thing she wanted, but as they seemed intent on destroying her, she was going to let the defenses she had put into place do their jobs.  She didn’t intentionally invite their wrath, but she would be darned if she was going to let them kill her – and her new friend – if she could help it.

Chapter 38

After Kelerim left, Razochek and his warband didn’t hesitate.  Just like the first room, they rushed in – but then screamed in pain when the intense brightness from the Holy trap seared their eyes.  Luckily for them – and unluckily for Sandra – they were prepared for some sort of attack and closed their eyes fast enough to probably save their vision; still, they were effectively blind as her Singing Blademasters started up and converged on of the wildly swinging Orcs.

Even hardened skin couldn’t fully suppress the efforts of spinning blades of death, and the tracker that had taken a beating from the room before fell after being inflicted with thousands of tiny cuts that ripped his Leather armor to shreds and turned his skin red from an overabundance of blood leaking from countless wounds.  The fallen Orc managed to take out two of the spinning blade poles with powerful strikes of his Iron sword, because although her constructs were deadly, they were still made from the softer metal material that the majority of her Dungeon Monsters were made from.

The remaining nine Blademasters inflicted their own damage on Razochek and the five other warband members still alive, though none of their wounds appeared life-threatening.  A single strike from a sword was enough to take out one of her constructs, but they did manage to break another weapon before they were completely destroyed.  The Orc that had his sword damaged from the impact with her spinning blade monster picked up the still-intact weapon from the dead warband member and they continued resolutely on.

The standing pool of water confused the Orcs at first, but the Small Armored Sentinels armed with Steel swords were plain enough for them to see.  Being able to see their opponents helped increase the warband’s deadliness, but it also increased their bloodlust.  Unable to see their friends dying in the previous two rooms made them desire revenge, so they were unconcerned about any other traps when they saw something they could easily fight against.

A third Orc that was in the lead lost his life as he rushed towards one of the Sentinels, only to trigger an icicle that shot up through his calf muscle.  That didn’t kill him, of course, but his momentum cracked the frozen spike and he lost his balance, falling face first on another trigger that impaled him right through the throat.  The Sentinel he was heading for finished him off so that he wouldn’t suffer more than necessary.

Seeing another one of their number go down, the rest of the warband were more cautious in their approach.  Despite that caution, two more Orc managed to have an icicle speared through one of their feet as they triggered the seemingly randomly placed activation points in the water.  As far as battling the Sentinels, her constructs had no great fighting experience – especially against hardened Orc Warriors – and only managed to score a single shallow slice along the thigh of another Orc.

“What do we have here?” Razochek said, as he picked up one of the short Steel swords her Sentinels dropped.  The dungeon invaders had largely ignored the seeds or “dungeon loot” that were left behind after her constructs dissolved upon destruction, but the swords were not a part of the original Sentinel.  They were ones that Sandra had made.

One of the remaining four Orcs spoke up.  “Those look like Steel, though how these strange monsters got ahold of them, I have no idea.”

“These are very finely made; I daresay even my father would be impressed by this, and he has two old Steel swords in his collection.  It’s too bad they’re so short and almost look like knives in my hands, but if we bring enough back, we can see if we can have a competent Blacksmith forge them into some longswords for us.”  That last comment from Razochek was likely meant for Kelerim’s ears, but luckily her friend wasn’t around to hear him.  In fact, he was waiting in his forge impatiently for word of what was happening.

* They’re