“Um, what exactly are you looking for, Master Taurus?” Duke Godwin asked curiously.

Bowen hummed to himself as he stroked his beard. “May you guide me to where all your dungeon core shards are, Your Grace?”

The young duke looked slightly flustered, clearly unaware of where the shards were in the massive underground vault. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn it was his first time down there, as there was probably no reason for such a young child to do so. He probably wasn’t even allowed to be down there if he wanted. Thankfully, Sir Blackwood was there to assist.

“I’ll take you there now, Lord Taurus,” he said, motioning for us to follow him.

“So…is there any particular reason you brought me along?” I asked while I looked around the underground space.

It wasn’t disorganized; if anything, the vault was well maintained, with items stacked into crates or placed neatly onto shelves. Each crate or shelf had some identifying number on it that a corresponding document would lead someone to if they needed to find something. There were many things down here, dozens of weapons from ornate daggers to large golden halberds fitted with gems. Shelves holding gold and silver ingots, dried herbs, and even preserved monster parts.

Many shelves were dedicated to what appeared to be random items at first glance, but they were no doubt dungeon items. Hopefully, one of them would be helpful in the ongoing battle. I had heard that Prince Xander brought dungeon items to aid the city’s defense, but I had not seen any. They must have been kept under lock and key.

“Well, I figured since you could see mana, that you would be able to assist me in finding what I need,” Bowen finally answered.

“Oh? What makes you think I can do that? To find something with a certain amount of mana, to be specific,” I questioned.

Bowen shrugged to himself and said, “If you can see someone direct mana through a wall, then it was an educated guess that you could see the amount. I’m assuming you can, right?”

“I can indeed,” I confirmed.

“Interesting…well, I’ll be needing that ability of yours in a moment. It seems we’ve arrived,” Bowen said.

Sir Blackwood gestured to the table and some barrels next to it. “The unidentified and non-appraised shards are on the table and in the barrels. If you are looking for high-quality shards immediately, they are against the wall on the shelves, going from low to high quality starting on your left.”

“Thank you, Sir Blackwood. We shall take it from here,” Bowen said as he picked up one of the shards and examined it.

It was a small blue shard, about the size of a pebble, and looked ready to crack with even the smallest amount of force. He twisted it around between his fingers and then tossed it to me.

“What do you know about appraising dungeon core shards, Kaladin?” Bowen asked.

“Bigger is typically better. And the less damage it has, the higher the quality,” I answered.

Bowen nodded in approval. “A relatively straightforward system, yes? However, there are many nuances to it all. Appraisers will spend hours reviewing a single shard, numbering the cracks, and finding patterns in the madness only to set a high gold count for certain patterns or specific amounts of cracks on the surface. Some even say color directly correlates to quality, although that is unfounded as far as I am aware. Frankly, I find it to be nonsense for the most part. There is just simply too much that we don’t know about the hearts of these dungeons…”

“So you want me to find the purest shard with the most amount of mana then?” I questioned.

Bowen surprisingly shook his head. “Not quite. What I need are shards that would be considered…medium in quality but have high amounts of mana in them. When shards are in this middle stage from low to high purity, many people find it troublesome to appraise them and often- let me see…how are these, for example?” Bowen said as he reached down and grabbed two shards.

One was a light blue, while the other was a soft yellow. Volumetrically, they were about the same, about the size of a child’s palm. As for purity, they also looked similar at a glance, each with a fair amount of missing cracks and chunks. However…with my Soulsight, that was not the case.

“The light blue one has more mana than the yellow. I’d say about fifteen percent more, give or take. I don’t have a real way to gauge the exact amount, though,” I said.

Bowen grasped the light blue in his hand, placed the yellow one back on the table, and looked up at me with a smirk. “That in itself is precious information. One wouldn’t even be able to figure that out based on appearance and not until they were fitted in some wand or staff. I couldn't find a difference even if I channeled magic into them. That is the nature of these middling shards and exactly what I need.”

“I’m assuming it has something to do with your golem magic?” I asked.

Bowen nodded again as he began searching through the barrels. “Indeed. You see, I can share sight through my golems if I use a dungeon core shard, although I rarely do, as it is both challenging and tiresome. Maintaining that connection at length requires a lot of concentration, and going so far as to reach the outside of the walls and into enemy lines requires my utmost attention and abilities by the end of it.”

“And I can’t use large, pure dungeon core shards for a golem small enough for scouting. The expense is too high, and using weak, low-grade shards is all but useless,” he said.

“So, that’s why you must stay with shards in the middle. However, the medium-quality shards are inconsistent in their mana quantity. And this is where I come in,” I said.

Bowen smiled again as he handed me a few more shards. “Exactly. Many years ago, I tried to perfect this, but after wasting large sums of coin, only to get lackluster results, I’ve finally been able to return to it. So, I need about twenty or so; shall we?”

—

It took roughly an hour to rummage through all the available shards and find the best ones. In the end, Bowen got about twenty shards to his liking, and together, the two of us walked over to the city's western wall. We stopped at the rear, where all the catapults and trebuchets were.

The siege machines constantly fired off large boulders over the walls and into the undead horde. The new stench of rot was even more overwhelming than it was in the early hours. Regardless, Bowen found a place to sit, and I joined him. He immediately set to work and placed an orange-colored shard on the ground. He backed away from it and sat down, outstretched his hands, and began to concentrate.

I was curious to see what it looked like, so I fed mana to my left eye and watched Bowen work his magic. I was surprised to see just how much mana was forming into such a tiny spell core, and within seconds, the spell began to take shape. From thin air a tiny bird made of wind formed. The orange shard floated through its airy body and settled directly to where its face would be.

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The air golem bounced around and flapped its wings a few times before getting a running start and jumping into the air. I wondered if that was necessary, but one’s imagination did play a factor in their magic, so if it worked for Bowen, then that was just how it was. After all, what was the point of making logical sense of a bird made of wind magic being controlled by golem magic anyway?

The golem soared into the sky and I quietly observed as Bowen silently controlled his magic. After a few minutes, Bowen abruptly flinched and sighed deeply while opening his eyes.

“I figured that wasn’t going to work…” he grumbled.

“Did something take it down?” I asked.

“Indeed, I didn’t make it very far before a flying undead launched itself into my golem…they are rather weak, considering all they need to do is hit the shard a single time to cut my vision,” he explained.

Boiwen shrugged and said, “Well, onto the next one.”

He pointed to a crew manning a trebuchet and called out to them, “You there, hold that boulder for a moment!”

“Yessir!” the man replied.

Bowen made his way to the placed boulder that was ready to fire and set another dungeon cord shard on top of it. From there, the space where the shard sat on the rock morphed, and the stone went with it. In a few moments, a small animal the size of a rat with a shard on its forehead made of stone had formed from the very stone itself.

I see…launching the golem over the wall…not a bad idea as long as the rock doesn’t crush the golem on impact.

Bowen gave the crew the okay to fire, and he returned and sat down with a sigh. “This is going to be unpleasant…” he mumbled.

The crew gave a final shout, and the boulder was flung into the sky from the trebuchet. Bowen flinched again with gritted teeth, but he maintained concentration the entire time. The noise of battle was overwhelming, so I could hardly hear when the boulder landed on the other side, but I was able to tell the moment it landed when Bowen stopped grimacing. I’m sure his view was less than pleasant.

But for a time, Bowen was silently controlling his golem with what appeared to be little problems. That was until he sighed again and opened his eyes.

“What happened this time?” I asked.

“A Zombie fell on me and crushed the golem…” he complained.

“It appears a direct approach might not work. How about you work from the ground but from a less direct path?” I suggested.

Bowen stroked his beard and nodded. “Yes…perhaps if we fired the boulder not into the masses but off to the side where the undead are thinner, so I could loop around, it would increase my odds. Yes, that may just work.”

Bowen stood back up and explained to the trebuchet team that they needed to aim off to the northwest instead. The team explained that moving the trebuchet like that was feasible but would take hours to adjust, and they told him to try the siege catapults instead. Even though the catapults lacked the power to launch projectiles further than the trebuchets, aiming them would be easier.

Bowen followed the same steps, but before he sat down again, he said, “You should go and get some rest. I may be here for a long time.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind resting out here in case there is an emergency,” I assured him.

“That’s the problem. You’ve been up long before the sun did, and you even left your armor at the castle, right? Many others and I would much prefer that you be well-rested and equipped if something happens. So go, I’ll be fine by myself,” he said with a wave.

“Then I’ll do that…make sure to wake me if news comes,” I said, standing up.

“Don’t worry. I hope by the time morning comes, I’ll have some news to share,” he said with a smile.

—

And the news did come the following morning.

Prince Xander had us reconvene after a quick breakfast to break the news. Bowen was also present, and the wear of making so many golems and controlling them was evident. He looked not only tired but haggard from overusing his mana and looked ready to pass out at any moment. But finally we had some intel on what the undead may be doing next.

“After scouting in their backlines, I managed to find a group of Liches. They were creating more Corpse Golems and had already formed at least four more,” Bowen explained.

“Another frontal assault, then?” Prince Xander asked.

Bowen shook his head. “There was…something else.”

Bowen took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “What I saw could only be described as a battering ram made of flesh and bone. It was massive in size, at least half the height of the western gate doors. It was a grotesque abomination that paled in comparison to regular undead. It was covered in hundreds of bodies used as armor and even walked on hundreds of animal and Human legs. Never in my life have I seen or heard about such an atrocity.”

“The undead are deploying actual siege equipment…a troublesome turn of events,” Marshal Cloudsun pointed out.

“Just how many of these…battering rams can we expect to face?” Prince Xander asked Bowen.

“I have no idea, to be truthful, Your Highness. If it took the undead a single day to form one, then there may be more on the horizon. Unfortunately, a Lich destroyed my scouting golem, and further attempts were squashed by undead roaming the perimeter of their backline. I’m afraid I can no longer continue and require more resources and rest…perhaps tomorrow I can attempt another scouting mission,” Bowen offered.

Prince Xander put a hand up and told him, “That won’t be necessary, Lord Taurus. Please rest for the time being, and thank you for your hard work; you are excused.”

Bowen bowed deeply and took his leave, his rest well deserved. “How shall we deal with this new threat, Your Highness? A preemptive strike before they reach the gates, or perhaps we allow them to get close only to strike back immediately?” Lord Vasquez suggested.

“How about we use that item? Surely, if there were a time and place, it would be now. It may just give us an unexpected advantage and clear a path,” Lauren said while looking at her brother.

“Yes…it may be time,” Prince Xander agreed.

Of all people, Thrandil chuckled to himself and asked, “You mean to tell me you can still use that dungeon item from all those years ago? Wasn’t it used up when you tried to kill me that one time?”

“A failed attempt it was, but our researchers agree the item can be used one more time,” Lord Vasquez said.

“Indeed. Then we shall use it,” Prince Xander announced.

“In our possession is a great dungeon item capable of decimating a wide area. It can only be used once, so we shall deploy it when the site equipment is in sight and destroy them before they reach the walls,” Prince Xander announced.

Squeaks raised his hand, and although Prince Xander looked confused, he motioned for Squeaks to speak. “Any reason you haven’t brought it out yet? If it's so powerful, shouldn’t we have started the battle with that instead of doing all this?” Squeaks pointed out.

“Unfortunately, this dungeon item, although powerful, is as hazardous to its user and surroundings as it is unwieldy. It takes a person of great magical power to wield it at the cost of their life, and the attack is prone to injure us if it is even slightly missed. A failed attempt may see the entire wall crumbling with us atop it, and it will undoubtedly change the landscape forever. It is not something to be used carelessly,” Prince Xander explained.

“I can corroborate that. That dungeon item destroyed an entire field, and even to this day, we have not managed to reverse the damage. The magical aftermath is almost as deadly as the initial strike,” Thrandil added.

What? What kind of magical item is this? It almost sounds like a nuclear bomb leaving toxic fallout…surely it isn’t something like that…right?

“Then that is the plan we will go with. In the coming hours, we will assemble the predetermined teams to strike out at the undead after using the item. Also…we shall be looking for a volunteer. Please see me if you wish to take on the task. To their regular schedules, everyone is dismissed until further notice,” Prince Xander announced.

An item that consumes the life of another for its use. And it has to be a powerful mage. Not many people fit that bill…

There must be a way to avoid such a sacrifice.