Tiara stumbled and spluttered for a second, “wait, you want what?”

Slowly sitting down Fredric asked cautiously, “what does it want?”

I didn’t respond, I know she heard what I said, she just needed to relay it. “Uh, he said, um, well, he said he wants, uh, Seroxia?”

Everyone at the table fell silent. Almost a minute went by in silence before Anderson spoke up. “Why does it want the town? What would it do with it? How would we even give it a whole town?”

Well it’s very simple honestly, I want to grow and expand and unfortunately my next expansion includes the whole town. Of course I would guarantee the townsfolk privacy and safety. I would not try to rule the town in any way unless you began doing something unacceptable such as killing innocent people or selling them as slaves.

Tiara seemed to relax as I talked to her and she relayed what I said, not word for word but very close.

Fredric seemed to visibly relax, almost as if he trusted a dungeon and a small girl more than the people he lived with, “you know, that doesn’t sound all that bad. I viscount Fredric Shieldless accept your expansion and protection.”

Anderson looked a bit worried but shrugged, I suppose politics aren’t his specialty. I had Tiara thank him for me and hit the button that’s been teasing me for a while now. Expand.

I felt my consciousness expand almost painfully, I felt the citizens walking around, the new enemies that popped up, all the new rat and spider spawners, the bat spawners that have popped up in various attics and the understandably few fox holes that appeared. I sent a quick signal to them all, no harming humans, do not let humans be harmed, if a human attempts to harm you, you may fight but do not kill.

With the advent of my new spawners came new enemies as well, wolves, boars, and the very occasional bear. These wouldn’t be easy prey, I needed to make sure to keep them away from the town if at all possible. As I start to mobilize my minions to start the war on the new dangers I notice a dark area that I cannot feel just at the edge of town close to the orphanage. I don’t know what it is but it doesn’t feel good, Tiara do you know what that is?

“Oh, the big building close to here by the town? That’s the church.” She stated blankly.

That’s not good.

With my dungeon so large it’s hard to focus on one area at a time now, I only just now realize something is amiss in my own back yard.

“Master!” Bruce yelled startling me, “the church is back! And I don’t think they’re here to talk.”

Focusing on my yard I notice that the original man from the church was there fending off my avatars, he was already halfway to the house compared to where my old borders were. He also wasn’t alone. Along with him were four hooded figures each fighting my minions. Luna lead the charge blasting alternating fire and ice attacks at the original man, bishop I’ll call him for now. The bishop seemed to easily deflect all of her magical attacks, Bruce was doing his best to dive bomb him and assail him with sonic attacks, but the priests body seemed to be covered in a secondary shield of some sort.

The bishops lackeys were faring almost as well, two held shields and maces while the other two held staves and were casting spells. The shields held back the spiders and rats while the flails crushed bats, the mages held off the magic being cast at them from the foxes and slew them with their own attacks, fireballs and ice missiles firing wildly, spikes of earth and bolts of lightning raining down on both sides.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

I saw Bruce and Lina fighting, panzer was guarding the front door, waiting until they get closer. Something in him told me he wouldn’t let anyone through while he was alive. That only left Widow, and looking at where I last saw her, I simply saw empty air. She was gone. I know she hadn’t abandoned us but she was an assassin, so I’ll leave the sneaky stuff to her.

I told tiara what was going on and to get everyone to safety. I watched as she relayed my message to the two guests and they stood knocking over the chairs and ran to secure the children. Fredric glanced outside with a look of pure horror as he saw the flashes of magic and a giant Paladin rat ushering him back in toward relative safety.

Al the children were in the bedrooms on the second floor and I told Tiara she was allowed to tell Anderson and Fredric about my core. I hate to tell anyone where my weak spot is but if I am shattered, who will protect the children? As much as I trust Anderson and Fredric, they didn’t come to save the kids before, why should I expect it after I’m gone? I suppose I’m just a little cynical at times like this.

The three gathered in the foyer waiting as the sounds of battle grew louder outside, “Dad said I can tell you that his core is hidden under the stairs,” Tiara whispered to Anderson, “we gotta keep them away from it!”

Anderson took a small glance back toward where my core rested, “I’ll do my best, but no promises.”

Outside the church group inched closer and Panzer joined the fight, bellowing as he charged, shield raised toward the bishop. The bishop turned toward the charging paladin and held out his staff and simply stopped him in his tracks. It wasn’t as if he was frozen but like the time around him moved very very slowly. If I was honest, things weren’t looking good. Bruce made another pass over the bishop and as he passed I heard a loud clang noise in the rear of the churches formation.

The twins! The two who came with Anderson before were here! One had his spear solidly in the back of one of the hooded figures that held a shield, the other twin wasn’t as lucky and his spear was blocked.

“We’ll isn’t this a right pickle?” The brother on the left exclaimed.

His twin chimes in, “we saw the show from the guild and came to see what fun we were missing out on. Turns out it’s just you all being twats again.”

With a twirl of his spear he decapitated another of the hooded figures, one of the mages. The other mage turned his staff toward the brother who had killed not one but two of his comrades, preparing to launch a magical attack, but was stopped by the painful bites of my rats. The distraction proved to be enough as the brother who hadn’t managed to draw blood skewered the mage.

“Just two more bigots to go brother.” He said with a smirk.

“Easy peasy.” The other responded.

They circled the last opponent left that wasn’t the bishop, seeing him as the best option to whittle them down seeing as my avatars kept the other busy. This person was obviously skilled utilizing both their weapon and shield to block attacks from both sides. I had to admire the practice that went into getting that good, but it wasn’t good enough. One of the twins’ spears got though and stabbed his arm, reducing his arm to nothing more than a limp noodle. He was down to just the shield, and to my surprise he went on the offensive, charging the twin in front of him knocking him to the ground.

The robed enemy fell on top of the fallen brother and raised his shield up, intending to used the bottom edge of it to kill him. But before he could bring it down the twin that still stood plunged his spear into him, ending his resistance. The last church lackey fell to his side, dead, with a spear firmly wedged in his ribs.

The twins grapes their hands together working in tandem to raise the fallen one off the ground. “All that’s left is the big guy eh?” Asked the one who was tackled.

“Yup, you almost bit the dirt back there, getting sloppy brother.” They both grinned at each other hands still grasped. A bolt of lightning suddenly hit them, blowing them both backward away from the other, and they lay still in the yard. My sense as a dungeon telling me what I didn’t want to hear. They were dead.

“Disgusting nuisance!” Spat the bishop now clear of my avatars. Their corpses lay strewn across the yard it would take too long for them to respawn. I could only rely on Anderson now.

He strides up my porch and blasts the door open with pure mana. Seeing Anderson he simply waves his hand and my last line of defense literally flies away into the living room.

“My faith allows me to see your true form dungeon,” the bishop says Staring directly at my core through the stairs, “surrender to me and I will spare you. If you refuse, I will simply erase you and start again, until I find a dungeon that’s willing to listen to orders.”

Right then widow materializes behind the bishop shoving one leg through his stomach and biting his neck.

“Damnable beast!” He snarled grasping her by the head, incinerating her. “I see you’ve made your choice.” He growls.

He picks up the sword Anderson dropped when he was flung away and used magic to blast apart the stairs. My core now fully exposed, glowing purple, pulsing light, now the size of a beach ball.

“I hope the next one won’t cause as much trouble.” He hisses as he thrusts the sword at my core.

Time slows and I begin to think, is there anything, anyone who can help? All of my avatars are currently dead, Anderson is unconscious and the children, well if the bishop is this strong there’s no need for pointless bloodshed. I can’t rely on them. I guess this is the end. I close my eyes and feel the excruciating pain of the sword entering my core, the fractures working their way around it’s form, shattering, covered in a warm liquid. A warm liquid?

I open my eyes to see the surprised face of the bishop as he stared at the sword in his hands, that went right through me, and through Tiara.