Thermodynamic Surprise!

Chapter 11

Looking at the holes in my defenses didn't make them disappear. Unfortunately, knowing that wasn't the least bit comforting. I'd been thinking of a classical party set up with a tank and mage when designing the layout.

Lots of games had archers, but they usually weren't primary damage dealers. Now I had images of elves storming the place and parkouring their way to the core room. That dark fantasy ended with them exploding the core with arrows.

It also brought an end to my mental break time. I had until the heroes' party reached my core room to try and figure out a way to fix its defenses. A task easier said than done. I was already out of mana.

I wracked my brain for an idea. Beyond being out of mana, the rules of how the dungeon worked changed once a raid was initiated. Alterations that were usually free or cheap suddenly had a steep price tag.

New items cost triple. Moving tiles cost their value in mana per square moved. Even if I'd had any mana left, I probably wouldn't have been able to do anything useful with it. That left my only option as using what remained in my inventory.

I opened it but didn't feel hopeful. I'd already put everything I thought would be helpful into the original layout. I only had some trash grade leftovers I'd gotten as rewards in the prior section left.

In a moment like this, the ideal solution would be to make up for quality with strategy. Unfortunately, tactics under pressure weren't my thing.

On the upside, I didn't have time to second guess my choices. I placed the remaining traps and a fire rat nest. I could only hope they would shore up some of the weak points.

Agony looked at my last-ditch attempt with a raised stone eyebrow but didn't say anything. There wasn't a penalty even if I did terribly, but I crossed my fingers and hoped to do well all the same.

Agony had said I'd get rewards based on the outcome. I was desperate for any starting advantage I could get. I'd decided to live as a dungeon core and wasn't going to half-ass it.

I watched nervously as the hero party began to explore. Things went well at first. The party was wearing heat-resistant armor and items, but they weren't enough to block it completely.

The priest had to cast elemental resistance to make up for the deficit. That reduced his ability to support the party, fortunately for me. Another plus for me was that his spell wasn't entirely up to the job.

Once they were out of the dungeon's cooler entry section, they started taking minor heat damage. It wasn't enough to harm any of them, but it did impart the overheated status ailment. That was a much bigger win than pure damage.

Its effect on their overall performance was visible. They were fatigued, needing rest breaks frequently and after fights. Unfortunately, that only slowed their stalwart advance of doom toward the dungeons core.

Some fared better than others. The combat specialized mage, in particular, wasn't doing well. He was an older man, not quite flowing white beard old but still up there. In all honesty, he'd endured well under the circumstances. He collapsed from heat exhaustion a third of the way in.

The party wasn't heartless. They halted their mission when the mage collapsed. The priest did what he could, but his spells were already at their limit. They chose to try and carry the mage out. If they'd had a little more time or some more appropriate healing spells, he might have survived.

He died halfway to the exit. I felt bad watching it. That was a miserable way to die, and his death didn't convince his party to quit. Instead, they took a break in the cooler portion of the dungeon.

It was infuriating to watch them. The thief, archer, and warrior healed up with items. The priest restored his mana with potions. They needed a break because they were tuckered out from kicking in my defenses.

This was a blatantly adding insult to injury. The only upside was restoring his mana didn't improve the quality of the priest's spells. Despite knowing how punishing the interior of the dungeon was, they continued.

It didn't take long for them to take back the ground they'd given up. The party moved faster because they didn't have to try and match the wizard's pace. They got back to ripping through my already compromised defenses with renewed zeal.

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It wasn't the heat that claimed the next party member, at least not directly. They were all suffering, but the rogue was impatient and proud. He didn't want to rest as often as the others. What claimed his life wasn't the heat but carelessness.

The thief ranged too far ahead on his own and came up against a small salamander. Small being relative as it was the size of a german shepherd discounting the tail. He fought well but was more fragile than the rest of his party.

The fight took a toll on him, and in the end, he made a mistake. The salamander looked dead, and the thief paused to wipe the sweat from his eyes. It ripped his throat out before he had time to finish the motion. It was the most basic of mistakes; always double-tap.

"And then there were four…" I muttered to myself. I wished I had fingernails to bite or something. It felt weird to have nervous energy but nowhere to spend it. I supposed I should be grateful. I wasn't treated to another horrific dungeon master-only experience, at least.

I put my focus back on the party. The priest, fighter, archer, and tank were still a nasty combo. With every obstacle they passed, I could feel the inevitability of my demise growing. It was an unpleasant experience, to say the least.

On their own, they might not have made it to the core, but there was still the archer. The core guardian was a lava elemental with the intellect of a brick. With the other three tying the guardian up, the archer would be free to take potshots at the core. Even if he was terrible, he'd hit it eventually.

The tank and fighter would be able to handle the core guardian with the priest's support.

"Felicty… sublime… heaven..." I muttered to myself. I tried willing them to fail with my mind, only to see them overcome my carefully planned defenses. The group was battered by the time it reached the core room but not out by any means.

I still had a little hope left, but it was crushed in short order. Not having a rogue, the tank took point. I watched in horror as he bashed through my traps like they weren't there.

They were finally in the core room. Unfortunately, they followed my prediction about the formation. The priest, tank, and fighter went for a direct assault and pulled the lava elemental. It ran to them like an excited puppy.

"Let's observe from close up," Agony said, and the air shimmered. We appeared in the core room on a ledge that let us overlook the boss room. The hero party was already locked in combat with the elemental below us, but they were missing a member.

The archer had already peeled off from the party to search the edges of the room. It didn't take him long to find some uneven basalt pillars and climb up to a ledge above the one Agony, and I were on. The core was still far away, but his vantage let him see it clearly.

"Oh fuck you!" I growled, wishing I had a rock or something to throw at him. I grabbed for a loose bit of stone.

"You can't affect anything in here. The tutorials are supposed to focus on management, not combat," Agony explained. My hand passed through the stone like a hologram. I let out a frustrated sigh.

Now I could only hope the guardian finished the assault team quickly. If I got lucky, the guardian might reorient and go for the archer. I wasn't fortunate. The group taking on the guardian was doing fine.

They were in a punishing stalemate but not taking severe damage. The elemental was led by the nose as they moved the fight along the entry platform. In short order, it had its back to the archer. I was utterly screwed.

With an easy win at hand, it was the archer who surprised both Agony and I. My hastily placed fire rats started to attack. Despite biting at his boots, they couldn't penetrate the elemental resistance spell. Like my shitty traps that hadn't slowed the party down, it was embarrassing to watch them fail.

That was when things started to get weird. The archer wasn't in any danger from them but responded with a strange fervor. He stood up to face them and started stomping. Below, his party was waiting for him to finish the main fight, unaware of the madness that had seized him.

"Wow!" Agony said as we watched the scene unfold. Boots slick with gore, the archer lost his footing and fell from his perch into the lava below. His party heard the thump and then the hiss of flesh burning.

Only that wasn't quite right. The noise took a sharp turn, like the scream of a human-sized teakettle.

"Lawful Hells!" Agony said and started laughing so hard his little body bounced on my shoulder. The scent of ham filled the air as the sound crescendoed. A split-second later, an explosion rang out. The archer's body had superheated and exploded. I'd never seen anything like it.

Watching in rapt horror, a bit of him splattered against me. I brushed it off absentmindedly. I was distracted by trying to decide what to do with my newly acquired information. Short of brain bleach, I was stuck knowing how a human body reacted to lava. I could have lived without knowing that...

The core chamber descended into chaos as the priest broke formation. He didn't seem to understand the archer was beyond help immediately. Distracted, he was looking the wrong way, and the lava guardian knew it.

Its fist came barreling toward the priest. The tank managed to get between them and block it but at a cost. He wasn't able to get a firm footing. Stance compromised. He was brought down to his knees by the next attack.

Dazed, he let out a scream as the third attack connected. He rag-dolled for a few yards, landing in a broken heap on the entry steps. It spared him his comrade's explosive final fate, but that was all.

Only seconds had passed between the successive attacks. The priest just had enough time to turn around and freeze. It was as if how he'd fucked up was sinking in during the split second before the guardian killed him.

The priest's death spelled the end of the elemental protection spell. As a fighter, the last man standing was royally screwed. His gear wasn't up to the task of shielding him from the environment, and he had no relevant magic ability.

It was almost merciful that the guardian put him down before the spell failed. It was better than the grotesque alternatives like combusting or boiling in his own skin.

I heard a tinkle of bells. A moment later, the practice dungeon shimmered out of existence.