The fight for the surface of the dungeon lasted just under an hour. The sky was still fully dark, although that would change within the hour. The main light source casting shaky shadows was the bonfire encompassed by smoldering wooden poles in the center of the fort. For now it was all that remained of the two levels of the tower.
Mark could not worry about that for now. Mareth still had 562 units, and had effectively captured the surface of their dungeon. Perhaps soon she would begin her assault on the dungeon floors. There were still a couple dozen friendly units alive on the surface, but that would likely not last for long.
Mark was only concerned with nine of them. Instead of having the 6 bugbears and 3 arachne mount a suicidal charge, Mark decided to pull them back. The units were too exhausted to do much good, but more importantly as linked units they were Mark's only way to communicate with the surface. Since they could not currently summon units from one of their outposts these nine and the 150 or so frogmen several days away were all that Mark could field supposing Mareth decided to hold the surface.
Hopefully, it would be a nonissue. Based on the last patch, one of the succession battle managers could allow the defending dungeon to summon units provided the attacking dungeon was not actively attacking and just inside of the territory. Mark did not know whether that would apply for this situation, but since Amelia was from a third rate faction, Mark was not willing to depend on their good graces. That was assuming Mareth decided to occupy the surface instead of sending all of her units below. That and that the dungeon floors could weather the attack.
The bugbear captain quickly gathered his bugbears and retreated into the forest to the east. The arachnes took a bit more coaxing, but after hissing back against his orders a couple times they eventually relented. Mark would have them go rest for now. If they were needed to retake the dungeon then it should at least be after a some sleep.
They did not have to wait for long. Mareth’s forces immediately set about entering the dungeon. However nearly a hundred of them did indeed hold back. They set up around the dungeon entrance. If Mark had to retake the surface it would be doing so against his own defenses.
First, they would see if Mark and Amelia would even survive the assault from the 475 constructs. They poured down the tunnel, wooden block golems leading the charge. Traps triggered with little effect. Even the collapsing ceiling trap only claimed one unit. The constructs marched on, only pausing briefly prior to entering the amphitheater. Mareth might have already seen the trick, but it was still the best place for Mark's forces to make their stand. After all last time she had attacked, the rolling pin had been stuck in place.
Mark only had the five goblin archers man the trap stationed in the center of the room. After all, he only intended to drop it once. The rest of the yellow hobgoblins set up on the left side of the room. Ten orcs and Winnie set up on the right.
The block men led the charge up both sides. None bothered attempting the middle where the studded rolling pin sat waiting. Seconds later a handful of creepers popped out and began peppering the right side with acid balls. All of them aimed at the bear tearing apart the walking stacks of wood. However Mark noted that the creepers remained near the entrance with a watchful eye on what was happening in the center. They would be ready to dive back into the tunnel if Mark tried to divert the rolling pin their way like he had last time.
The stream of constructs was constant. Flesh golems made their way up both sides. The goblin shield wall was holding up fairly well despite them getting slowly pushed back up the slope. Winnie was already barely holding together, and several imps had gone down. One brute orc and two regulars were the only thing keeping the right side together. Once the flesh golems reached their position the fight would end real quick.
Mark waited until the moment before the flesh golems made it into the brawl. The five hobgoblins on top started to push the rolling pin sliding the contraption over to the right side. In all it only took around 10 seconds for the goblins to get it into position, but that was long enough for Winnie and several more orcs to fall. The goblins did not hesitate, they pulled the lever.
The brute orc and three other surviving orcs fought bravely. Right up to the moment the rolling pin smashed into them from behind. The flesh golems and block men all fell soon after as the studded pin bounced down toward the bottom. The creepers however saw it incoming and ducked back into one of the tunnels.
After that Mark ordered the goblins to break the shield wall and kill as many enemies as they could. The five archers scurried to join in. All together they might have brought down another one or two of them. Unless Mark could get them outfitted with better weapons or something they could hardly affect the durable block men and the flesh golems were even a further stretch.
Still Mark was quite happy with the results. They had taken down just over three dozen of the enemies including five flesh golems. It was not much, but Mark did not have high expectations for the first two floors.
Then came a fifty minute wait as Mareth amassed her forces in the amphitheater. Mareth was obviously aware of the floor cooldown time, and was going to allow her creepers to recoup as much manna as possible before assailing the second floor. It was a bit annoying, but it did add the benefit of keeping her from easily reinforcing from the 87 units left on the surface.
Mareth had some clay golems scout out the second floor. The rest of her force followed closely behind, but when the tunnel opened into the large final room her forces surged toward the stairs leading to the top of the 40 foot cliff. Her forces cautiously advanced up the two set of stairs. It was not till they reached the cutback that fireballs streaked from the towers engulfing foremost units that the constructs started to frantically scramble to reach the top. Several block men ran up a flight's worth of stairs as their bodies slowly burnt. More units pushed past them reaching where the two paths joined, ready to assail the final few steps and meet the legionnaire shield wall waiting on top.
The creepers advanced into the room ready to provide support against the legionnaires, while several flesh golems flanked them to guard against attacks from the two mage towers to either side of the room. That was when Bruce, the orange drone wasp and second floor guardian, made his move. Launching off the cliff, Bruce’s wings beat madly to help him glide on a collision course with the clump of high value targets.
The creepers scattered, but not before Bruce cut through three of them. Unfortunately Bruce then found himself surrounded by flesh golems, who immediately started pulverizing him. Bruce fought back, taking another four flesh golems off the board. Overall Mark was a bit disappointed that so many of the creepers had escaped. Bruce could have likely killed a good fifty of the weaker constructs, but Mark had elected to use the opportunity to strike over the front lines at the more dangerous mage units.
The creepers rejoined together and started lobbying their acid at the shield wall that was holding fast. In less than half a minute the stalemate became an open melee, so Mark had the three spawned brute orcs enter the fray. Mark allowed his forces to be pushed back and out of range of the creeper mages who would lose their line of fire. The goblin mages focused their attacks on any flesh golems that tried to go up the stairs. However, Mareth brought forward several dozen lesser scarecrow archers. They poured arrows over the side. Sure they were firing blind, but the regular arrows stuck ineffectually out of golems that were hit. They injured or killed any unlucky orcs or goblins.
The melee lasted for several minutes. The legionaries and spawner brute orcs put down another forty units before succumbing to the swarm. The mages had long depleted their manna and eres rock licks in their position. They could only feebly fight the constructs that marched up the stairs to engage them.
It was not an entirely bad showing for the second floor. All together they had brought down the enemy numbers to 363 including nine flesh golems and three creepers. Together the first two floors had managed to wipe out a good 25% of the forces. Which did not sound good since they had burned through half of the floors, but floors 3 and 4 were in an entirely different tier of power.
This time, Mareths forces paused for an hour and fifty minutes. It only seemed like overkill till Mark watched the pumpkin heads sprout back into existence. Nearly two dozen jack o 'lanterns would enter the third floor at full strength. Similarly a half dozen on the surface received their heads back. Mark suddenly was a bit more concerned. He had been thinking there was a chance that the third floor would weather Mareth’s forces by itself, but that seemed fairly unlikely now. Still noting the time lapse, it seemed it took the jack o lanterns at least three hours to regrow their heads. If they threw their heads again, they likely would not be able to regrow them during the dungeon attack without facing a floor respawning its defenders.
Mareth’s forces would be the first to really test the third floor. Dragon the floor guardian with a power rating of 5.6 had done most of the work in the prior attacks that had reached there. Then there were the spawned ten 2.5 power rating skeletal knights. The 20 bugbear swordsmen boasted a 3.2 power rating, and the four bugbear mages boasted a 2.9 power rating. Although none of those power ratings took into account the enchanted gear which would effectively raise them an additional three or four points. In contrast only the jack o lanterns reached into the low 3’s. The creepers and flesh golems barely made it into the 2’s.
The constructs poured into the cavernous floor. Stone columns frequented the open expanse, and the ground was slick with dew from the high humidity. The only light came from ever burning torches on the columns. It would make ambushing quite easy if it were not for the construct's unique way of seeing their environment. Mark’s only guess was that units would not be seen if they were behind something, which they all currently were.
However, Mareth had the clay units fan out into the room immediately. The scout units immediately located the cluster of columns the bugbear forces were utilizing, and the construct army started forward to engage. This time Mareth’s forces were more mixed. She anticipated the floors to be more difficult the further she went down, and did not allow her weaker units to get whittled down in such an environment.
Two flaming jack o lanterns advanced along with the main force striking right at the bugbears. While two more were amidst the slightly smaller flanking groups sent out to the left and right. The rest of her forces moved forward cautiously, keeping a careful watch on their perimeter. It was a surprisingly well coordinated attack and defense for only a half minute’s worth of time.
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The bug bear mages struck first popping out from behind stone columns with orange balls of energy already coalescing around their fingertips. The fireballs struck the awaiting shields of the front ranks. Not many of the shields had survived the surface, but Mareth could still throw together a shield wall or two. The 20 bugbear swordsmen charged in as shields were cast aside. Golems still on flames attempted to halt the charge, but the bugbear swordsmen cut clay golems into two and block golems splintered. The bugbears were too strong for even the durable block men to last more than a couple strikes.
The jack o lanterns had each started to summon a flaming pumpkin caricature in each of their palms even before the bearbug mages had made their move. The cast time seemed to take about four seconds a piece, or eight in total. Immediately after the initial clash their attacks were ready. The flaming pumpkins each streaked out. The pumpkins exploded against their targets immediately covering their bodies in fire. The flames stretched out to try to snare other surrounding units, but none other than constructs were close enough. Four targets and four bugbears lit up like torches.
Several dropped to the ground to try and put out the flames. One swiped ineffectual around himself. The last fought on stoically, trying to bring down as many with it as possible. Which actually worked out for it. Like the normal fireball the flames only clung for a set amount of time after impact before they tapered off, while twice as long as for a fireball the bugbears were still alive when the flames started to wane. The two on the ground had already become easy targets to clay golem spearmen, who pinned them to the ground. The one who could not see was targeted by several globs of creeper acid. The one fighting on emerged from the flames severely burnt and steaming with a manic look in his eye.
The jack o lanterns did not bother to try to summon a second volley of palm pumpkins, both went to their ultimate move. Their flaming heads were removed and sent into the biggest clusters of bugbears in sight. Most of the bugbears caught in these blasts were flash fried. Some were not killed outright, but they would be far too devastated to continue to fight effectively.
In the first fifteen seconds 14 of the bugbear swordsmen had been dropped. The rest fought on, barely needing to pause to eliminate those they encountered. Fireballs zipped by them zeroing in on the jack o lanterns and creepers in the middle. Both jack o lanterns were in a weakened state and lit up like torches, and three more creepers were set aflame.
Another clump of creepers further back continued the acid attacks on the bugbear swordsmen, while the constructs that slipped through the cracks streaked toward the mages. The flanking forces were coming around, but would not make it to the battle. The left flanking force was halted by the ten skeletal knights. While the right…
Dragon roared as he burst out of a tunnel. The behir was 25 feet long and stood a good 10 feet tall with two arms with razor sharp talons. The creature was so quick that two of the four green acidic palm pumpkins missed. Dragon slammed into the ranks, talons ripping through constructs. Even a flesh golem was diced as easily as if they were made of jello. The jack o lanterns immediately began removing their heads while creepers rained acid on the undead beast.
But the jack o lanterns never got to throw them. Dragon had instantly recognized them and the creepers in the center as the only threats, and what were ten ranks of minor roadblocks to it. One claw cut both the jack o lanterns in half. The creepers did not warrant an attack, the falling pumpkin heads exploded where their owners had stood. A green explosion rocked the area. Dragon shied back immediately, Half of its face and one of its arms disfigured in the blast, but the damage did not stop the beast, who immediately started slaughtering the surrounding constructs.
It did not take Dragon long to make his way to the main attack force. New creepers sent new waves of acid onto the creature, but Dragon was weathering the acidic attacks far better than most had. Mark did not know whether it was due to the creature’s naturally high defense or thick hide, or since the beast was so big and powerful the acidic attacks just could not burn through as deep.
The skeletal knights fell first allowing the left group to join the fight in the center. Mark had expected as much. He had just needed them to delay for as long as possible. They were not the only group to reinforce the center; another clump of jack o lanterns and creepers were coming from Mareth’s reserves. The idea was to completely overwhelm and slaughter Dragon. However the left side got there first. Two flaming pumpkin heads launched at Dragon exploding against the creature’s chest. Dragon went ballistic, roaring and trampling to get to them. Several of the surviving bugbears were among the units to get run over, but they both were able to get back on their feet and continue fighting. Dragon set into the left group of enemies devastating it entirely.
But the next wave of reinforcements had 10 jack o lanterns. Two waves of 10 palm pumpkins slammed into the undead’s main mass. Dragon survived, but with a good deal of its legs blown off or entirely ruined, he would not be able to do much except thrash around, which he was doing. However, Mark could see that another wave of palm pumpkins would be on their way soon.
It was the bugbear mages who were the last on their feet. Even at close quarters they were deadly with their staffs when faced with the far weaker constructs that had engaged them to prevent their continued assistance, but once Dragon and the other bugbears were finished off the four of them were quickly run down.
Mareth’s forces had been cut by nearly 200, down to 187, but with fifteen jack o lanterns still in commission Mareth could definitely still challenge the fourth floor. While Mark would be lying if he said he was not worried at all, he was interested in seeing how the fourth floor would handle.
Mark had made one of the giant scorpions the fourth floor guardian, giving the scorpion the name King. King would boast a power rating of 4.9, a bit below Dragons but still exceptional at this stage in the succession battle. The other 19 scorpions’ power ratings were at 4.4, while the arachne mages and healer were at 3.5, but the arachne also had enchanted gear including a metal breast and back plate. Then they also all carried bows with top shelf enchanted arrows. This line up was while Mark was still fairly certain that they would be all right.
This time Mareth only delayed for a little over an hour which was apparently enough for the few surviving creepers to refill their manna. The constructs entered the fourth floor to find themselves facing a honeycomb of tunnels. It was as close to a maze as Mark had been able to manage. The floor was not overly big, but had plenty of tunnels crisscrossing and joining one another. There were only a couple of open rooms, but they were basically kill zones. All were lit by bioluminescent moss. It was a perfect floor for the scorpions and arachne to skitter around and ambush enemy units.
The constructs were forced to break up into smaller groups as the tunnels were only wide enough for around ten to walk shoulder to shoulder to shoulder. However, Mareth kept the constructs in clumps near one another, so that they would be able to aid in mutual support while still acting independently. Each clump had expendable clay golems scout ahead.
It was a very reasonable move, on Mareth’s part. Throughout the battle, she had demonstrated quite good judgment in tactics. In her position, Mark doubted he could have come up with a better in the same amount of time. It was just unfortunate for her that she did not have the right pieces to contend the fourth floor as far as Mark was concerned. If she still had a good deal of stone golems Mark might have been a little worried.
Mareth’s units started to the left. She seemed intent on exploring the honeycomb network section by section, not allowing her units to become spread out. Somehow she had even picked the side where Mark had placed the entrance, not that it would do her any good till she killed King the floor guardian. Mark immediately started coordinating his defenders to intercept.
It did not take long for the fighting to begin. Several arachne fireballs came from overhead exploding into clumps of constructs. Several blockmen and clay golems were incinerated by the level 2 mages. There were a couple of ways for units to get into the attic like the second floor of the maze, but none of them were in the front half of the floor. It gave the arachne the perfect vantage to attack with impunity from any angle all while keeping them difficult to engage.
On cue the scorpions moved in, nipping at the constructs from the side tunnels. The clay golems scouts that were scouting each of them were easily trampled, leaving only ten seconds for the main construct forces to prepare. The scorpions could not move fast for long, but they could cover a decent bit with a short burst of speed. Luckily, for Mareth she had the back wall to one side so the attacks were only coming from above, in front and the right side.
Pincers snatched up units, and crushed them after a couple seconds of strained effort. The tails darted in stabbing units. While the neurotoxic venom was ineffective against the constructs. It did not save them, when the tail whipped back flinging units into the stone wall. For clay units or block men, the impact smashed them into pieces, killing them outright.
Mareth’s careful planning had kept most of her better units well protected. Except for one creeper who took a set of flaming arrows from the floor healer, she had not lost any of them in the opening gambit. The issue was that few of her units actually stood a chance. The scorpions shell could not be breached with the strength of the weaker units and the arachne were firing through a hole and then shifting behind cover to another hole in the passages roof.
Mark noted enchanted arrows that streaked from the less scarecrows at impossibly high speed. While they did stick into the scorpion’s carapace, little damage was done. Creeper acid balls splashed against the blackish purple shells, but they seemed to do little more than create a blemish on the otherwise smooth carapace. They would need to continually target the same spot for that level of attack to be effective.
Several jack o lanterns immediately resulted in their ultimate move. The large pumpkin heads smashed into the scorpions. The regular pumpkins exploded into hundreds of shrapnel like pieces. Most blasted away from the scorpion although some stuck into or pierced the carapace, but damage was not enough to even halt the scorpion. Perhaps if a piece happened to hit the brain or another vital point, but the wounds Mark saw only resulted in dark blood oozing from the small wounds.
The flame pumpkin actually apparently blinded the scorpion who had to thrash stabbing or snapping at the air, only occasionally catching an unfortunate golem. The acidic pumpkin hit the scorpion and sizzled. It took a half minute, but it did cause the defender counter to tick down. Mareth had a kill move. The problem was, only 4 of the flaming green headed jack o lanterns had made it down to the fourth floor.
The battle continued. Amelia had to force the healer arachne to move to the right areas to heal the injured scorpions. Mark had left small holes from the roof throughout, allowing the healer to be able to perform its ranged heal spell down on those on a lower floor. The healer struggled and hissed the whole time. It solidified the fact that healer class was definitely not a good choice outside of the dungeon, it only worked inside since defenders could be compelled into action. Still it would require someone, Amelia in this case, to actually focus on the task.
The healing probably was not required for this attack, restoring the sight of the blind scorpion was really the only unit that healing caused a remarkable difference. Three scorpions were killed outright, but most of the others only had superficial wounds. Once all of the jack o lanterns had all used their final move the attack was entirely one sided.
It would definitely be a learning point for Mareth. If she wanted to beat their fourth floor she would need a lot more level 2 units or better enchanted gear. The floor had surpassed Mark’s expectations. But his excitement was short-lived. A couple months ago, Dragon by himself had been an insurmountable obstacle that could halt attacks, but progress had dropped him from being at the final boss level down to a mid tier boss. In another half year or so Dragon might fall just as easily as Winnie or Bruce did during today's attack.
It was a testament to the march of progress. They would have to continue to develop and strengthen themselves to keep up. Now they just needed to get out of the current pickle they found themselves in. Mareth still held the surface of their dungeon, and even now Mark was unable to summon units.