My front porch has felt fuzzy to me ever since I got here. Maybe it’s technically outside my borders? I can feel someone standing there, and what sounds like speech, but I can’t make anything out. Not like they’re speaking a language I don’t know, but more like they’re underwater. Or I am. Either way, I’m pretty sure my front door isn’t locked. I don’t think I even can lock it. I can trap it, but I can’t just keep people out. Probably for the same reason I can’t just keep flies and roaches out.

I decide to spend a bit of mana to pull everyone back, my rats and spiders all scurrying to whatever hiding places are available. Whoever is out there is either in no hurry, or has great timing, because the door only opens after everything is hiding.

My first thought is to wonder why an elf decided to come visit. Yeah, I know what an elf is, and I’m not all that surprised. I’ve played DnD. The only people who lose their crap over an elf are people with the hots for Legolas. This one doesn’t look too far off from that, though he looks almost bored rather than attentive. He’s also talking to himself… or into some kind of recording device.

“Can confirm house is a dungeon. I could feel its attention when I knoc- shit!”

Hah, suck on that rotten plank. I even got some mana for that, which is the first time I’ve gotten it for something besides killing things, which is nice.

“No, I’m fine. I managed to find a rotten floor board. Nothing came to try to eat me, though.”

Oh, right. If I’m supposed to be a dungeon, I should probably at least make a token effort. I wouldn’t want to be rude. I spend a bit of mana to send the wimpiest normal rat to go see what he’s about. I spend the extra for a normal, not one of mine. I wouldn’t want the normals to follow one of mine and swarm the guy.

I don’t think I need to worry about that, though. His eyes lock to it as soon as it enters the room, even with furniture and stuff in the way. This guy might be a bit high level for me.

“Level one rat, single, passive spawn.” The elf pauses for a moment as the rat continues to approach, the little thing not even aware it’s been spotted yet. “Roger, engaging.” He whips out a knife and tosses it at the rat, killing it instantly. He’s definitely too high level to be slumming it in a newbie little dungeon like me. I got mana from him killing the rat though. That’s weird.

Huh, that’s also weird. He’s not listed as an intruder, but as a Delver. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the roaches get a spider or two, and I didn’t get any mana for it, so why for him? As I think on it, he looks around and talks to his device… or team. It seemed like someone was talking back.

“No sign of the Sanctum, nor any other specialty rooms. The one under the stairs is close to becoming a spider lair, looks like. Level three spider swarm in the basement, and a level two rat’s nest. No hostility aside from the single rat, looks specialized for pest control still. No resource nodes… one minor chest in the attic.”

Woah, wait, hang on there elf guy. Resource nodes? Chests? I can do that?! And hands off my chest! I’m no lady, but you should still buy me dinner first! I briefly consider siccing the swarm on him, but decide against it. He didn’t sound too concerned about it being level three. I don’t want to waste that kind of resources for them to just be killed… though with what happened with the rat, it might be alright? Nah, we’ll save that for later. For now, I should put up at least some kind of defense of the chest.

“Lots of movement, looks like it wants to protect the chest. The swarm is staying put, though I see a new one forming on the stairs up. Level one swarm confirmed.”

Yeah, what’s your stupid knife going to do against a swarm of spiders, huh?

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Oh.

Skills are a thing. He doesn’t shout the name of his attack, but a few flourishes of his knife sends winds to scatter my swarm and destroy the webbing they were putting up. I got a bunch of mana from that, though, and he didn’t even kill many of my spiders. He just dispersed my swarm. Ok, uh… need to stall him.

“Swarm dispersed, minimal damage done.” His bored look shifts to a smirk for a moment. “I told you I know what I’m doing. Besides, this one doesn’t seem actively malevolent. If it was, it’d bring out the big guns and try to bury me in rats and spiders all at once. Or put a spike under that rotten floor board.”

While he takes his time climbing the stairs, I spend some mana on more than just moving rats around. I can upgrade my traps, see?

Squeaky Door

Detectability: moderate

Chance to trip: guaranteed

When opened, the door emits a loud and annoying squeak from rusty hinges, alerting and attracting all denizens up to one room away.

It’s subtle, but it’s there. Now stuff doesn’t just know a door is opened, they are incentivized to go look, instead of probably hiding. There’s another upgrade still, but it’s a bit expensive for me just yet. Now to see what elf-guy does with my new trap.

“Eugh… upgraded squeaky door. I hate that trap. It’s not just annoying to the Denizens. Alerted… two level two spawned rats and four level one passives. Engaging.”

He pulls out two knives and I’m worried he’s just going to do the same to my rats as with the spiders, or even with that first rat. Thankfully, it’s either on cooldown, or he just doesn’t want to expend the effort on rats. He still takes out each rat with a single attack, but my brave little rodent soldiers do their job of slowing him down a little. None of them even come close to biting him, but they make a good effort. With their sacrifice, my last defense is in position, at least. I seriously doubt I’ll be able to take him down, but if I can even score a hit, I’m gonna count it as a win. And, if I keep getting mana for what this Delver kills, I should have enough to do something interesting.

“Successful encounter. I don’t see any other movement, but I don’t think it’s just going to give me that chest. Proceeding with caution.” He quietly continues to the ladder to the attic, and I’m already a bit proud of making him be cautious. I hope he’s not too cautious, though. I want to take at least one of his hp to keep. At least, I think he has hp. My spiders and rats don’t, which is probably why he can take them out in a single attack.

As he climbs into the attic, I can hear a bit of surprise in his voice and see a small smile on his face, which now looks attentive. “Confirm boss encounter, level two mixed rat swarm… with Scion buff. Negative on Scion position. Engaging.”

He does his windblade attack again, but the rats are heavy enough they can’t just be scattered like the spiders were. They’re definitely blades of wind, though, as I see many rats in the swarm sliced into. The rest surge forward and he acrobats around my dusty attic, occasionally sending another blade of wind at them. They get close a few times, and I think the Scion buff he mentioned might be making them a bit tougher, as I see a few rats actually wounded and still trying to attack, instead of simply dead from any damage.

Still, the outcome was clear from the start, and soon the swarm loses cohesion and scatters. “Boss complete. Checking chest now.” He walks over to the chest, and as he lifts the lid, my rat Scion pops out and bites his hand before darting away, leaving him startled as he watches it vanish into a hole in the wall.

“Stupid mistake, didn’t get the exp from the boss fight, so it wasn’t over.” He shakes his head before continuing to talk. “Exp gained, now boss is complete. Chest contains… potion of minor healing,” he relays as he plucks it from the chest. He pops the cork and drinks the potion, causing the little bleeding wound on his hand to quickly fade.

“Dungeon is cheeky but not overtly hostile, despite lack of resource nodes. Dungeon is suitable for low level small parties up to the attic, basement is forbidden. Path to Secret Sanctum is probably down there somewhere. Note that dungeon already displays unorthodox methodology and ability to adapt to Delvers. Intruders at minimum, dungeon seems to prefer a clean house, dust notwithstanding.”

That seems to finish his report, and he heads for the ladder. I don’t bother sending anything else to mess with him. Partially because he’s cleared me, I guess. That’s just how you do when you’re cleared. Partially because he doesn’t do more than simply peek into the basement, so he respects that I want to keep something to myself. But I mostly don’t want to spend the mana on it.

I have just enough to upgrade me, not just my spawners.