The day promised to be a busy day for Mark. The gnome and goblin army had arrived within a few miles from the wasp nest last night. They had then stopped to rest for the night. The attack would likely start at some point this morning. But first Mark still had quite a few things to take care of.
He had actually unlocked the second floor of the dungeon precisely at midnight. The secondary dungeon entrance was a bit ominous in that they had no clue where it was at and would have no idea when an enemy dungeon would choose to send an army through a squad at a time.
Despite the ominous feeling Mark had gotten himself to hold off till the stroke of midnight. While they could have afforded the dungeon hours earlier, Mark had elected to wait a little longer so that they could spend the next day's DP and convert less MP over. Of course Mark had then decided to stay up through the night to design and plan for the second floor. Mark could only sigh as they got a familiar notification.
[Warning: A third entrance to your dungeon has been established. Once found, enemies can send a party through and challenge your dungeon. Party size will depend on the dungeon level of the challenger. Just like attacks through the main entrance, the dungeon will enter a rest period 5 minutes after not being challenged. This does not prevent enemies from entering through the main entrance. No improvements can be made when the dungeon is being challenged, build up your dungeon defense.]
Of course they would add another entrance for dungeons to send adventurers through. Adding the entrance was supposed to make the dungeon safer, but it seemed that it was a double edged sword. Likely the third entrance would be in a far different location with proximity to dungeons other than the Holt dungeon. Mark moved on. There was nothing he could do about it. Having more floors was definitely better than the alternative of allowing their dungeon to be easy to conquer.
Nick would likely return. He had seen the first floor, so would definitely only come back when he felt confident in dealing with it. It was likely that he would also assume correctly that they would have a second floor by the time he attacked again. He would also likely account for the second floor being stronger than the first. Mark would have to ensure that it was as strong as possible.
Mark once again went for a long gauntlet style floor, forcing enemy units to expend time and energy to reach the second floor dungeon guardian room, which for now would remain empty. Hopefully, their expedition to the wasp nest would bag them a top notch floor boss. Until then Mark would just fill the defenders as their MP allowed.
The idea was to delay the attacking groups long enough for the defenders on the first floor to continually respawn. Unfortunately, it seemed like the respawn time for the second floor was double that of the first floor, and since the defenders would be of higher caliber being between 1 and 2 power rating wise, like Stein was. It would take them 4 hours to respawn. However the stronger units would definitely be required. Weaker units just did not have enough stopping power.
Fortunately, they just got access to the level 1 goblin branch’s pinnacle unit. Day 37 had brought them 2 more RP, totaling 7 RP toward the Red hobgoblin unit. He just had to convert 500 MP over to finish the 7,500 MP research option, unlocking the unit.
Red Hobgoblin 1 (1/66) Mage lvl 1 (conscript) Power lvl: 1.5 Morale: 50 (content) Strength 14 Attack: 2 Defense: 2 Endurance 13 Abilities/Skills Agility 10
Spells:
Magic bolt: Cast time 3 seconds
Fire Ball: Cast time 10 seconds
Vitality 12 Intelligence 11 Wisdom 9
The Red’s, as Mark now referred to them, had nearly twice the intelligence as the yellow hobgoblins. Their wisdom was more than double. They also had physical stats equivalent to those of the brown legionnaires, making them pretty versatile. Of course it came with a hefty price tag, costing 400 MP for a unit, so it would make more sense to just use legionnaires as their melee fighters.
All in all, Mark was quite pleased with the level 1 goblin branch’s best unit. They would be trounced in a melee fight against a brute orc, but would at least be able to hold their own against lesser level 1 unit types in close combat. They were all-arounders, much like the scarecrow creepers who had been more than a match against an orc regular in melee while being a mage class.
The level 2 floor would be manned by the best units that Mark had available at this point. They were still only allowed to have 25 defenders, so they needed to be as strong as possible. Mark had decided to leave the floor guardian spot open, but had filled the rest.
First he had pulled 18 legionnaires from their settlement defenses, equipping them with the premium round wooden shields from the interface store. Their settlement was now substantially less defended than it was a few days ago before the outpost contingent and army left, but any army assaulting the dungeon would also have to pass through the second dungeon floor so it was not a true loss moving these legionnaires into the dungeon.
The six red hobgoblin level 1 mages on the other hand had to be bought at 500 MP per a unit. It was the best that they could do for defenders at this point in time. Mark made a promise to himself to unlock a higher class level by the time they built the third floor. The third floor cost 50,000 MP, so it would be a while.
Mark glanced at their current MP. It was just under 5k, so he had at least 4k to work with. It would be more of a long play, but Mark decided to spend it all on more Reds. They would make far superior researchers than the yellow hobgoblins. Changing researchers would cause some loss in progress, but with double the intelligence and wisdom, the sooner the change happened the better.
So far most of the progress on research options had been carried by the gnomes. The few goblin specific classes had hardly progressed since they were goblin specific and were not being worked on at all by the gnomes. The gnomes on the other hand had a couple classes more than half way passed completion.
It was becoming clear to Mark that the specialized buildings such as the research lab and crafting house could play a huge part in this succession battle. Unit power levels could only be increased through so many means. The research lab could provide variance and options not available through the normal dungeon progression. The crafting house could provide boosts to an individual's effective power.
At some point, Mark would want to make the researchers and accomplished crafters non combatants since losing them would become a serious blow to the dungeon’s progress.
Transcriptionists become better with more practice, so would be difficult to replace, and it was the same for researchers. They could hide in the builder’s hut with the shades and weather through future attacks. However, Mark knew that was a ways off, since 10 mages could still turn the tide of battle.
It only took a few minutes for Mark to replace 8 of the researchers. Within the next few hours he would replace the last two. The former yellow hobgoblin researchers could work in the crafting house for now, and they would not be alone. Mark wanted to build at least a few Reds’ to work as inscriptionists. The lower intelligence units could craft weapons, but inscription had proven difficult for even those at the hobgoblin level of intelligence and wisdom.
Currently the only one putting out anything decent was Amelia, and himself to a lesser extent. The gnomes were also doing well, but their finished products would mainly go back to the gnome village.
Mark's attention shifted to the research screens. They had three techs left that were available for level one dungeons. Of them he most wanted to unlock contender capabilities, but he was also thinking about the other research options. Advancing the dungeon level was definitely off the table until they had unlocked more branches or another tree. Mark was determined to not be stuck with only goblins for the remainder of the battle.
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The unit population caps would likely get in the way. The cap limits would likely increase with dungeon level advancement. However, armies would likely number in the thousands or even tens of thousands by the end of the battle. The cap limits would then always be a factor. Sure they could increase individual units' strength, but in many cases it would be more beneficial just to have a larger army.
The third option was to unlock higher levels of unit classes. A level 2 warrior would get a 20% boost to their base power rating instead of just a 10% for level 1. The cost for higher power rating units was seemingly increasing by an exponential rate. Green goblins only cost 25 MP and had a 0.3 power rating. Whereas the Red’s cost 400 MP and only had a power rating of 1.5, if the cost increase was linear with power rating they would only have to pay around 125 MP. Instead the rate of MP for a unit was increasing sharply for only a little increase in the base power rating. Eventually it would be more beneficial to just pay extra for a higher class level, or increasing effective strength through other means such as enchantments.
However, it was clear that the more powerful units were worth the expense. A brute orc might cost hundreds of MP, but it could basically wade through weak units like the green goblin. Numbers would not mean much, if they could not even touch one elite unit. Weak units had their place, but they would never be enough to fight top elites or take defensible positions. They would be best used as support for the better units and fodder.
Mark sighed before shifting his attention back to the topic at hand. While he had decided to wait the days it would potentially take for Nasal to bring back a guardian level unit. There was a new spawner option that became available. A spawner option seemingly became available anytime the dungeon was attacked, which apparently included attacks from the secondary entrance.
Mark had unhesitantly bought the first spawner option that became available, but they had been given the choice to exchange it after the construct attack since the construct army had also made it into the dungeon. Mark had not even considered swapping since they would have had to pay for the second option just like they had done for the first. The orc spawner only had an initial cost of 10 DP.
Mark might have given it some thought if the Creeper or flesh golem units were a part of it, but the construct spawner had only promised the wooden golems. In some ways it was better than the orc spawner. It would spawn 20 block golems at the beginning of each day, regardless of whether the dungeon was in its rest period or not. Of course there could only be 20 block golems in total, so it was effectively only replacing ones that were injured or dead. It was better since if the dungeon was under constant threat the orc spawner would hardly be able to keep up, only spawning 1 new unit every day.
However the main reason Mark had immediately not considered it was due to the price tag of 20,000MP that had to be paid over the following two weeks. Especially at that point in time before their second outpost, they just could not have spared the MP. They could have paid less MP and gotten a lower cap for the spawner, but Mark also could not get himself to give up the stronger orc units. They were the only real support for Winnie. The hobgoblins could only delay strong enemies and kill weaker enemies.
The block golems lethality was pretty low. They would be good units to hold a front line, but Mark only had 5 archers on the floor. All the rest of the defenders including the guardian had to fight in melee range. It might have been a good spawner for the second floor with the red mages, but the spawner option like the current one had expired 24 hours after the dungeon attack.
But, they now had a third spawner option, well at least for the next 5 hours. Unfortunately, it was in Mark’s mind the worst of them. The spawner could spawn up to 12 skeletal soldiers. They would have a level 1 warrior class and be locked in at the recruit experience level, which gave them an even 1.0 power rating. However they did not respawn naturally.
The upfront cost for the spawner was only 6 DP, but they would have to pay actual DP each and every time to respawn units. Four units could be resummoned with 1 DP, for a total of 3 DP to resummon them all. They could be respawned each time the dungeon entered rest mode, of after 5 minutes without being attacked.
It would provide an immediate boost for their dungeon, but Mark was still hesitant. They would be weaker than the normal defenders on the floor. Unlike the orcs on the first floor they did not add much except for numbers. Waiting for the next spawner however would mean facing another attack on their dungeon where they could have potentially had the spawner.
Mark only gave it a few more minutes of consideration. He would honestly rather start saving the DP for the third floor or something else than to use it here. Opportunities in the succession battle were definitely not equal. It was better to save resources for a better opportunity later.
For example the fishery had produced the third group of frogmen the day before. In total it had given them 78 units so far. All for the initial price of 2200 MP. It was a steal. Sure the units had not really been all that helpful, but the swampland to the southeast was by all accounts fairly large, and the frogman would prove useful for transiting and exploring that environment. At the very least they would make excellent fodder attacking the lizardman dungeon in the swamp.
Regardless, this spawner was just not worth the cost. Mark was sure he would want to replace the spawner in the future, which could apparently only be done before building the next floor. It was a new discovery. The orc spawner had become permanent once the second floor was built, but Mark supposed it made sense. Otherwise late in the battle all dungeons would be exchanging all of their spawners out for the assumingly far better ones that would be available by that point.
If he did grab the new spawner, and the dungeon was not attacked within the next month, they would be forced to build a third floor and get stuck with the spawner. Which would result in him having to constantly shell out DP to replace the units. Delaying getting a third floor was not possible. In Mark’s mind it would be better to have it as soon as possible. At this point he would rather lock in the second floor with no traps since besides the rolling pin, they had not had much effect.
Thankfully, if the slot was not filled before another floor was built they would not lose the opportunity. The spawner would just be built on the current floor, and that floor could then have 2 spawners. Not grabbing this spawner should therefore not have too many demerits unless their dungeon faced a force that was only slightly strong enough to make it through both floors. In which case, at least he would not be able to regret the decision for too long since they would be dead shortly after.
A flash in the corner of his vision brought Mark out of his thoughts. He already knew what it meant. The battle would soon be underway. Mark started making his way from the crafting house to the dungeon entrance.
The gnome-goblin army was still a mile out advancing through the trees towards the cliff face when Mark arrived. Amelia was already set up on the couch with some snacks like she was about to watch a movie. Two red hobgoblins stood uncomfortably to the side. They had taken the spot of the yellow hobgoblins in monitoring the feed since the core room was now attached to the end of the second floor.
“Did you stay up all night?” Amelia inquired before shoving a handful of a popcorn like snack in her mouth. It was quite unsophisticated, making him once again surprised that this girl was from an elitist family.
“Yeah, I’ll probably take a nap once the attack is over with. Second level should be good provided Nasal can snag us a good floor guardian,” Mark said joining her on the couch.
“You're telling me. I would say it will be more than twice as deadly as the first level. Check this out,” Amelia said, shifting the view of the feed from the coalition army toward the wasp hive.
There were a couple dozen black worker wasps clinging to the cliff face. Among them were a couple larger figures. Their status called them Cyan wasp guard. There were yellow streaks paralleling the cyan streaks across their bodies. Unlike the workers, whose wings looked to be far from sufficient to get them airborne, the guards' wings covered their entire back.
“They already know the attack is coming,” Mark said in a questioning manner.
“Seems they are fairly sensitive to things. They probably already knew about our army last night. Well at least that is what Cedrick said earlier. Probably why he had them camp in deep foliage to prevent a preemptive strike. But you haven’t seen anything yet,” Amelia said once again as she shifted the view into the air.
It took her a moment. She had to zoom out, but she eventually found the giant orange wasp listlessly gliding back and forth in the air above the cliff. It looked to be just the size of a regular bug, but Mark knew it was only because it was far away. Amelia was able to zoom in and keep the wasp in frame for a short while.
It was enough for Mark to size it up. The status read, Cyan Wasp drone. It was double the size of the guard wasps who were themselves noticeably bigger than the workers. It had a completely different look being orangish brown, although it still had the cyan streaks characteristic of the species. It was held aloft by two pairs of wings that moved in a blur.
“Crap,” was all that Mark was able to manage. The beast was by far the scariest creature they had come across so far, and all he could think about was there was likely a queen wasp inside the tunnels that was even scarier.
It was a complete guess on his part, but Mark estimated that the workers had a power rating in the mid 1’s. The guards were likely in the low or mid 2’s. This drone was high 3’s, or maybe into the 4’s. If the queen was even stronger, then it would be the strongest creature by far they would have run into during the battle.
“Do you think we can even win?”
“Probably, you saw how the battle went against Winnie, and that was before we had legionnaires, mages, and an entire gnome war party. We only lost a few goblins in the attack.”
Mark said that, but even he was a bit uncertain. There were more than a few wasps, and some could even fly. At the very least the battle would be interesting.
Mark was not overly concerned about any losses. Nasal could be respawned. If the gnome warband was wiped out, the gnomes back in their village and dungeon settlement might become even more deeply intertwined with them to ensure their own survival. Of course Mark was hoping for success.
The drone would be a perfect guardian. The queen might be even better, but they only had so much life essence water. The drone was already massive. It was likely, the less than 8 measures available, would only give them a reanimated corpse with only a majority of the drones power rating already, so hopefully Nasal would base the decision based on which body was more intact.