Chapter: 18

The segmented ‘pillars’ that reached up to the ceiling weren’t pillars at all. The spider was half the size of the room. As it shifted, it cracked the crystal that covered its body.

“About face and run!” Rick yelled.

The soldiers on the ramp/tunnel turned and hustled up the ramp, chunks of crystal raining down as the creature broke a leg free, sheets of crystal crashing through webs and the shorter pillars to impact against the ground.

Len and Rick charged up behind the soldiers as they rushed up the ramp.

Prismatic light flared in the room, the beam hitting where they had been and moving towards the ramp/tunnel, coating everything in a layer of crystal.

The beam hitched, jumping from the path it was on. An annoyed chitter broke off the beam as a leg broke free, rising up and crashing into the ground.

Sharpened lengths of crystal jutted out of the wall.

Len dodged two and cut through three others.

Mackie and his squad got the worst of it, their armor breaking most of the crystals that struck them, though several got injuries.

Len kicked a crystal impaling a soldier, cracking it and grabbing the man as he dragged him towards the safety of the next floor.

Gibson and his people threw the spears they’d made from the entrance at the top of the massive spider.

They went off with bangs, marring but not penetrating the armor of the beast.

The other squads rushed past them and into the cave floor. “Shield wall!” Edwin yelled.

Mackie and his people readied their shields for what was ahead.

“Last man, pull back,” Len yelled to Gibson.

“Up to the next floor, we’re the rearguard again!” Gibson ordered his squad.

“Wounded here!” Adrian yelled, off to the left side in an alcove, three soldiers working on others that had been hit with the crystal attack.

Len took his guy there, laying him down before jogging after Rick and the sounds of fighting from the shield wall.

“Brace!” Gibson yelled.

Len looked back, blinded by a crystal breath attack as it went through the opening along the side of the tunnel/ramp, coating in crystal before hitting Gibson’s rearguard, they were pushed back, one lost his footing, the crystal covering his legs.

The attack finished and someone pulled them to the side, cracking the crystal on their legs.

“Its trying it again!” Gibson yelled.

Len reached out with his will, drawing up on the crystal floor. Mana flowed out of him as the crystal swept up, creating a half-wall, protecting them from the spider’s attack.

Gibson got his people organized. Len turned to take in the space they occupied.

Mackie and Edwin’s squads were fighting small foxes and spiders coming through the bypass Rick had made and the original tunnel leading to the third floor.

Mackie and Edwin’s squads were reaping their own harvest, using the terrain to their advantage, funneling the creatures into their shields and swords.

We need to get the fuck out of here.

Rick hit the ground, shards of crystal jutting out on the wall and ceiling to aid the defenders.

Then the floor under the attacking creatures dropped away, filling with the dead.

“Advance up the bypass!” Adrian said.

Mackie’s squad pushed forward, stepping on the bodies that filled the pit Rick had made.

He was looking wan. Have to recover his mana.

Len moved with them, ready to support as needed. They had the strength to withstand the foxes and spiders, they pushed out into two lines.

“Gibson get your squad and the wounded up here. Edwin be ready to draw back and become our new rear guard!” Adrian yelled.

“Yes sarge!” Edwin yelled back.

“On it,” Gibson said.

All of the wounded could move under their own power as Edwin and his people folded up the bypass, attacked by spiders and foxes.

They combined with those on the other side and continued their backward retreat.

The squad leaders changed people out as they moved up through the dungeon, slowly and carefully. The number of foxes and spiders slimmed down as they went.

Len used healing spells as they moved, enough to keep them patched up and bleeding out. He knew what it took to keep the body moving.

Finally they came out of the dungeon.

“Gibson you and your squad stay at the bottom of the ramp. I want two people either side at the top,” Rick said.

“We’re not going to head out?” Adrian asked from nearby.

“We leave the dungeon and its going to start recovering and making more creatures. We stay inside and it messes it up. I want everyone healed up, rehydrated and then we’re going to go throughout the entire dungeon killing everything in it,” Rick said.

“What about that creature in the last floor?”

“Gravity kills,” Len said.

“Huh?” Rick asked.

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“Remember the Alcarra dungeon?”

“Oh—OH, yeah that could work. Though think it will get through its armor?”

“Cut some trees, turn them into spikes like we have in the pits and drop them,” Len said.

“I like it,” Rick said.

***

Squads went back down into the dungeon to clear out the various areas. Few ran into beasts, most had been killed in their exit.

Len dragged two oversized spears with him to the entrance of the dungeon the heads covered in fused crystal with a mana core at their heart.

Behind him four more soldiers dragged their weapons.

“Off we go,” Edwin yelled.

Edwin’s squad took the lead as they tracked back down into the dungeon, the beast’s bodies were tossed to the side as they descended.

They followed markings on the wall to a random tunnel where Mackie and half of Gibson’s squad were defending. In the middle of them were four holes that Adrian and Rick were looking through.

Len and the others walked to the holes. Len dropped his spears down, the heads nearest the holes and he peered down them. The giant spider was crouched down now, just staying still.

Rick gestured to all of the spear carriers.

Len walked to the end of the spear, he lifted it up, pointing the spear head through the hole and pushing it through till he was at the edge of the hole, holding the spear up.

Rick dropped his hand. Len and the others released their spears.

Len watched as they dropped like darts. The spider shifted some before the first impacted in a spray of crystal and blood, the others going off in blue puffs.

“Load!” Rick yelled.

Len jumped over to the end of the spear, putting it into the hole much faster, holding it at the ready, letting the movement drain out of it before he released it.

The other spears were held aloft and then released, crashing into the ground below.

Experience flowed into Len before they’d all impacted.

===

Dungeon Cleared

===

“Well shit I’m glad for that,” Rick said.

“Shall we head back up?” Adrian asked.

“We just cleared the place, now’s the time to loot it. Len you think you can call the farmers over to start clearing up the dead in the pits. We’ll need some carts to haul out everything we find.”

“Can do, might need to send some people back to reassure them,” Len said.

“Alright, then I’ll teach the rest of them how to really clean out a dungeon.” Rick grinned, his eyes darting over the walls as he held up his hammer at the ready. “It’s the best part.”

He swung his hammed with all of his might, the walls hummed, sparks flying off of some of the crystals as the noise spread away from the point of impact.

Then he raised his hand from the floor, crystal came with it in the shape of the dungeon but larger than the version he’d made from stone.

“Alright I’ve broken up the first two floors into three sections so each squad can take a section. The bottom floor is just one section. There will be hidden rooms and spaces, check the model you’re given and make sure you check it all. The hidden stuff is usually the most valuable.”

“Should probably teach them how to mine it out of the walls and harvest the plants,” Len said.

“Ah, right, first timers. Gah, so much to learn!”

“We’re going to need some tools,” Len said.

“Come on! The loot!” Rick threw his hands out to the dungeon, throwing them back and forth. “It’s. Right. There!”

Len cocked his eyebrow.

“Fiiiine.” Rick huffed and put his hammer away.

***

It was dark as Len and Gibson’s group returned to the farms.

Fires had been set in the courtyards to give everyone light against the darkness.

The farmers moved aside as they entered the courtyard.

“Len?” Edward greeted them.

“Cleared out the dungeon, looking for some carts, we’ll be pulling a lot out of it but we’ve only got so many hands.”

“Right, we got them put away once you rushed off.” Edward turned and led them towards the barns.

“We saw that lightning and then the hole through the clouds. Then there was that loud bang.”

“Ah, yeah got hairy there for a bit,” Len said.

Gibson let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

Edward caught the noise too. “Something go wrong.”

“Just didn’t really figure out how big the bang was going to be,” Len coughed.

“Oh,” Edward turned around, the corners of his mouth fighting to crawl upwards. “The harvest has filled up a lot of the carts, we haven’t been storing any of it as we’re leaving. Most of us at least.” He walked into the barn. “These four are unloaded, but the more carts we have the faster the harvest will be.”

The converter cart was at the back thankfully.

The dungeon had a lot of resources, but food was always going to be useful.

“Thanks, we’ll get these back to you for the morning,” Len looked at Gibson and his squad, then nodded at the carts.

“Two to a cart, don’t scuff ‘em up!” Gibson led his lads into the barn.

“Do you have mining picks?” Len asked.

“Sure, we have some,” Edward led him through the barn. Len signalled for those not moving to the carts to follow him.

They reached a room with handled tools. Edward moved some out of the way to get to picks hidden away. “These work?”

“Perfect,” Len reached over and grabbed two, passing them back to the duo that had followed him, pulling out all of the tools.

“We’re going to need to store the materials somewhere,” Len said.

“Throw it in the barn, we’re storing the food in the carts. Just how much is down there?”

“Not sure, but it’ll all be valuable right now,” Len said.

“What does it have in there?”

“Alchemy ingredients to make more potions, like the ones we used on those wounded when we first got here. Then there’s different kinds of crystals, ores. No one’s raided it yet so there’s still the last owner of the storage device’s gear inside,” Len said.

“Someone owned the dungeon?”

“Not really, they owned a storage device that held a lot of things. The storage device broke in someway, leading it to cross the stars to smash into our world. It spread through the world, consuming a lot of mana, unfolding all of the space that was inside the storage device with the chaos of mana, assimilating nearby creatures or those within to create a dungeon,” Len said.

“Okay, so then some of the things that the person who owned the storage device are still in the dungeon?” Edward said.

“Right, so we’re going to loot all of that and the resources that are part of the dungeon itself. Taking parts of the dungeon will slow down how fast it recovers,” Len said.

“And these beasts, you killed them all right?”

“For now, with time they’ll reappear in the dungeon and you’ll have to kill them all again. If they’re given time they’ll get stronger and grow in numbers till the dungeon overflows again,” Len said.

They loaded up the carts as Des and Jed came up carrying planks of wood holding a large steaming pot.

“Len take this with you to feed up the lads with you. Be good to have something warm in their stomachs,” His mother said.

“Thank you.” Len said.

Gibson pulled the bolts on a cart, troops helping his brothers to load up the stew filled pot into the back.

“Now don’t go working too hard, we all need rest now and then.” His mother said, grabbing his hands, studying him for injuries.

“It’ll take a bit to tire us out still,” Len smiled to reassure her.

She gave him a doubting look before patting his hand.

“Thanks mom,” He hugged her.

She hugged him back. “We’ll get a breakfast cooked up for you and your friends too, we’ll need that pot back!”

“I’ll make sure we send back the pot,” Len said.

They returned back to the dungeon. Crystals that gave off light had been pushed into the sides of the pit, illuminating the beasts within.

Dirt was being piled up to create a new bridge across the pit.

Len got up on the converter cart he carved in new runes and jumped off. “Get this into the pit, toss in the spiders and foxes.”

They pushed the cart into the pit, some jumping down to grab it and lower it down.

Len grabbed up picks, two in each hand he put them over his shoulders.

“Gibson help out with the bridge then start throwing the bodies into the cart,” Len said.

“Aye.”

Len jumped from the edge of the pit, landing near the crater he’d made, he jogged before leaping out of the pit towards the dungeon.

He moved past the guards there with a nod and hurried into the dungeon.

He ran into Mackie’s squad clearing out one of the fox burrow holes. “Got your pickaxes.” He called out to everyone.

They were quickly picked up and carried over to nodes, separating mana imbued crystals and metals from the dungeon’s walls.

Len studied the plants that had been carefully removed from the dungeon, roots and all.

“Nice work, with the roots intact we can plant them and harvest them over time.” He slapped his knees and stood back up. “Gibson and his lot brought back carts but they’re having to make a bridge to bring them across. They’ve got warm stew from the farmers that you’ll all get a bit of.”

He felt the morale lift around him. “Keep at it.” Len hurried off to the dungeon entrance and back across the pit to get more pickaxes for Edwin’s people.

The bodies were being tossed into the converter, the enchantment activated, consuming all of the organic bits, leaving just mana stone, crystal and cores.

Gibson and his people threw boulders they’d removed from the pit back in, using them and dirt together to form a new bridge. One more full day and we have to head back to Goran.