“This is my dungeon." Flutter asserted with authority. "I design, you servants just do as you’re told.”
“Sure, handle things on your own if you want.” Yen stared down at the abrasive fairy in derision. “But you know… Raids are different from dungeons. Forty players can invade at once, not just one party. And you drop legendary tier loot. Everyone in the world will be coming after you and there are guilds out there almost as strong as us.”
Flutter fell silent in catatonic horror as she imagined forty Shins rampaging through her dungeon. “...I permit you to help.”
“Good choice. Shin, you couldn’t harvest floor bosses from the Frozen Palace. There any slots for them in the core?"
“Four.” Shin already checked himself.
“Okay, then you fuse up some busted monsters to be the floor bosses after we decide the themes.” She turned to Jean, the only other member of the party who came with them for Flutter’s upgrade. “What’s the worst set up you imagine having to deal with as a scout?”
“Underwater. Or complete darkness.”
“Can you change the environment of the first floor to that?”
Flutter toyed with the core for a little. “It won’t fill up all the way, or get rid of all the light. Capacity…? It takes up a lot, hey! I didn’t even put any monsters or traps yet!”
“Then…” Yen thought. “Let’s prioritize traps over the environment. Constant traps every step of the way. Double traps that target the scouts. Ambushing monsters too… or maybe cheap monsters that keep attacking to distract invaders from the traps. Labyrinth?”
“Shifting maze would be effective.” Jean agreed.
“Yeah, that’s good. Boss should be a big brute type. Something that can tank long enough to kill at least a few of them and set expectations so they don’t see the more devious ones coming. Shin, you’re up.”
Shin thought for a moment then drew the troll he recently killed. He vestiged Survival State and fused it with a rare tier worg variant with Swiftness. The soul of a Fleetfoot Troll appeared in his hands and he fused that with a Blood Orc Tribe Chief, choosing Feral Mind and Regeneration, taking great care to keep it at epic tier. Something difficult to do without destroying both souls at the same tier, but possible for any monsters below legendary, a trick he had learned over the last few weeks. Both raged fiercely but the troll came out on top again, showing good resolve.
[Feral Charger Troll (epic) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 2816
Agility - 2233
Constitution - 2760
Vitality - 3765
Dexterity - 2024
Perception - 1963
Force - 1146
Spirit - 1765
Control - 1530
Willpower - 1941
Skills:
Greater Mangle, Chomp, Overpower, Superior Unarmed Combat, Swiftness,
Traits:
Survival State (legendary), Regeneration (epic), Feral Mind (epic), Iron Body (epic), Iron Mind (epic), Iron Soul (epic), Poison Resistance (epic), Disease Resistance (epic), Fire Weakness (epic),
A good result. He had not only gotten both Overpower and Combat from the orc, but the Iron toughnesses as well. With one half of the final product complete, he moved on to the second, taking out the soul of the Rockhide Mastodon killed by the Tyrannosaur back in the valley.
He had been saving it specifically for two of its skills. One was Ram. Although it had stark drawbacks in being unable to change directions as well as doing as much damage to the user as what it inflicts, it grants speed boost twice as much as movement skills of the same tier. The other was its namesake, Greater Rockhide, which not only increased the toughness of its exterior, but absorbed blunt damage. A solid combination.
He fused the mastodon with a rare elite Elk Mana Grazer, selecting its Mana Eater trait along with Greater Rockhide, creating an Ivoryhide Nue that gained form before him. Slightly smaller than a mastodon but fiercer with large moose antlers on the sides of its head and its rockhide body turning bone white, coating its body even more like armor. The nue readied a charge and a green orb pierced through its tough skull, turning it back into a soul for Shin to harvest.
From the Nue, Shin chose the now improved Greater Ram and from the troll, Overpower. From the fusion rose a giant mammoth man. Upright with humanoid hands and flat trunk like legs of a mammoth, tan fur covered its hulking body and over that a layer of ivory bone over its chest, shoulders and back. A helm of bone covered its head like a helm from with two large tusks curved out, a long furred trunk hung down to its waist from a face half man half mammoth.
Before anyone could react, the monster crashed into Shin, splattering his body against the wall he caved in. Shin regenerated in an instant behind from a single chunk of flesh and blinked just as the mammoth man burst again. Several times in rapid succession the greater monster shot across the room with tremendous speed and power. Its charge twice as fast as even Ashley, leaving blink all Shin could do to avoid it.
But he was unbothered. He let the mammoth man slam into him again but a coat of rippling pulse cushioned all damage. In the brief lull, an invisible force locked the monster in place. Shin placed a palm on its torso and channelled a great deal of his mana, and the monster splattered into a pile of gore. The chunks started regenerating immediately but Yen cast a stream of fire on every piece until the monster register dead. Shin harvested the soul back, quite pleased.
“Your name is Mammut.” Shin felt the Rockhide Mastodon from the beginning the one to survive it all.
[Ganesh Barbarian (legendary) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 9225
Agility - 4173
Constitution - 5520
Vitality - 6725
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Dexterity - 3841
Perception - 3926
Force - 1897
Spirit - 3530
Control - 2062
Willpower - 2987
Skills:
Maul lvl. 1, Greater Ram lvl. 1, Supreme Unarmed Combat lvl. 1, Greater Overpower lvl. 1, Greater Swiftness lvl. 1,
Traits:
Unfettered (mythic), True Soul Armor (mythic), Primitive Mind (mythic), Rapid Regeneration (legendary), Greater Rockhide (legendary), Greater Mana Eater (legendary), Diamond Body (legendary), Diamond Mind (legendary), Diamond Soul (legendary), Poison Resistance (epic), Disease Resistance (epic), Curse Resistance (epic),
All its skills had improved and the ganesh even acquired Unarmed Combat from the troll, a welcome addition to its skillset. Greater Ram was a double edge sword without question, but perfect for Mammut, now with Unfettered and Rapid Regeneration eliminating the need to worry about damage, not that he would take much to begin with due to the nullifying cushion of Greater Rockhide.
And then there was True Soul Armor, something he had not even used. Similar to Inari’s Soul Weapon, it summoned bound armor, which by the description in Mammut's case could be chosen to counter either body, mind, or soul attacks. Maul was its only mythic tier attack, a similar skill to Dynamic albeit one that tore rather than broke, but that would have to do for now.
Primitive mind made him much more resistant to mind control and mental attacks and removed any inhibitions of fear or pain allowing him to rampage freely. Intelligence was a limiting factor but Mammut was a living spirit. He would learn and in time become a true terror to deal with in constrained close quarters.
“Well, there’s our minotaur.” Yen commented. “It’s busted too, why aren’t you keeping that for yourself.”
“Kong will be better.”
“If you say so…” She returned her focus back to the task at hand. “The labyrinth probably won’t get all the scouts, but it’ll wear them down. The second floor should finish them off. Focus on a swarm of monsters that keeps the invaders’ attention while more traps drain the scouts mana until they fall apart. I’m thinking undead.”
“I don’t have any.”
“We’ll just summon from the core then.”
“It’ll be weaker.” Jean spoke up. “Better to just change the ‘theme’.”
“No compromises.”
“The golden skeleton.” Shin suggested, remembering the four armed monster in the festival challenges.
“Any indestructible legendary undead? With holy immunity. Mind attacks shouldn’t be a problem, I guess… Do undead have souls?”
“Yes.” Shin answered with certainty.
A skeleton monster ten feet tall summoned before them. Thick boned all around with four long clawed arms holding giant cleavers and a head similar to the tyrannosaur, pure gold. It was a physically specialized monster with Indestructible and Holy Immunity as requested as well as the mythic tier skills Cleave and Anti Magic.
[Golden Bone Terror (legendary) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 7986
Agility - 6162
Constitution - 5027
Vitality - 4324
Dexterity - 3841
Perception - 4156
Force - 1900
Spirit - 3897
Control - 3013
Willpower - 3580
“Good enough. Make the second floor a graveyard. Uneven and cover it in mist to block people from seeing the whole stage. As for the traps… can monsters be traps?”
“What?” Flutter asked, a little testy.
“Is there a way to plant monsters around for cheaper than they normally cost, and they only get active if something triggers them?”
“As if that… there is…”
“Okay, put legendary tier variants within graves marked by tombstones that trigger if people step over them. Then put traps in other graves that inflict wide range damage if a living being gets near and doesn’t dismantle it in time. Magic traps, not physical.” Flutter scanned through the core, unhappy with being ordered around by the orange human, but the idea of dying gave her a greater tolerance.
“The floor boss could roam outside of the graveyard traps, and decoys put inside to get them to stay longer.” Jean suggested.
“Now you’re thinking like a dungeon master, you devious fuck.” Yen grinned. “Okay, third floor is a blizzard tundra. That frozen palace zone could have been serious if the environment was harsher and the boss wasn’t a dumb brute.”
“Can you explain what exactly a tundra is?” Flutter strained the question out.
“Since you asked so nicely…” Flutter’s eye twitched at Yen’s mockery. “A land of just snow. Put a raging blizzard over all of it that obstructs vision inflicts legendary tier frostbite.”
“That takes up a ton of capacity.” The fairy complained.
“No problem. Just monster traps again. Quality over quantity. Entomb the monsters in frozen ice. And… oh, if any of them get attacked, they all defrost. But if none are damaged, they’re just statues.”
“A double bluff?” Jean asked. “Most will take the chance of leaving them alone than assume they’ll all defrost at a certain point.”
“Most, not all. They’ll be worn and on edge after losing some members, any dilemma will cause arguments. Also…” Yen truly looked a bit wicked in her pride she held in her machinations. “It’s not a bluff. We put monsters that appear after a while and bait attacks that hit the frozen monsters by mistake.”
“Mm.” Jean saw the value. “Frost variant ancient blood orcs would have an effect. Anyone strong went to the island. Digging up that trauma increases the chances they make a mistake. Plus they are good hunters that work in a group.”
Yen looked over at Shin, who started fusing. An ancient blood orc and one of the nanuks from the raid, prioritizing rapid regeneration and frozen claws. The result was rather unexciting, but effective. Ancient Frostblood Orc, largely the same but with legendary tier Greater Frozen Claws, as well as the bonus he hoped for of Greater Frost Resistance and Snow Sense. The blizzard would damage them slightly as well, but their vitality would carry them long enough for the short fight that would ensue with their unleashment.
“Looks good, make as much as the zone can fit.”
“Oh great and wise orange human.” Flutter called. “The core can summon them once one gets stored through it.”
“Saves a limited resource, I guess.” Yen showed none of the irritation Flutter desired. “The boss doesn’t matter much this floor. Just summon any smart frost type that’ll avoid battle instead of initiate. Longer they stay in the floor, the worse for them. A caster would probably be best after two melees.”
“Frost Djinn Mist King.” Flutter reported.
“Sounds like what we need. Go with that. But the fourth stage…” Yen looked slightly troubled.
“Yeah…” Jean agreed.
“What?” Flutter asked.
“Ideally, a full raid team would be cut down by half by now. But whoever makes it this far is probably good enough to reach the boss, aka you. I gonna be honest, you aren’t that strong. Speed is especially a problem. You can teleport but someone will just speed blitz you before you even realize, and you have no defense or regeneration to deal with that.”
“Shows what you know.” Flutter snapped back, albeit with some arrogance. “I am a true spirit with Ethereal Soul. As long as I have mana, I can reform as much as I want.”
“Oh.” Yen said, genuinely surprised. “That makes your build pretty good actually. Soul and mind defense too… Then, as a summoner type, we should aim to draw out the boss battle. Longer you have, the more summons you can make and the more invaders you can mind control. So it’s not speedsters we should target, but healers.”
Yen acquired an idea after a few moments of thought. “We’re the ones that need speedsters. Something too fast for sixth sense or foresight to properly deal with. And it has to target the players with the highest mana and get through magical defenses.”
A monster dropped into the room with them. A strange creature like the pelt of a cartoonish lion with long boneless limbs, just laying sloppily on the ground with eerily complacent eyes. It’s speed was absurd to the point of frightening, however there was a rather pressing concern.
[Bandersnatch Manastalker (legendary) - Greater Monarch]
Strength - 5115
Agility - 9962
Constitution - 3322
Vitality - 5725
Dexterity - 3841
Perception - 5124
Force - 2009
Spirit - 4580
Control - 2163
Willpower - 2087
“...is… there anything going on inside its head?”
“Bandersnatches don’t think, just kill.”
“Anything a bit more… able to think? The boss probably needs to be a packlord type with a lord of intelligence. Something that can lead the mobs to target who we need to target.”
“There’s nothing like that.”
Yen clicked her teeth. “Why won’t the system let Shin fuse whatever we summon. It’s his core, he owns the damn dungeon…”
“It’s my core!” Flutter snapped back.
“Why not focus on the command aspect instead.” Jean spoke up. “Choose an intelligent monster that commands the others well, instead of the fastest.”
A flash of inspiration showed on Yen’s face. “Are dryads legendary tier. And are they smart?”
“Yes and yes, they are keepers of the forest who make the flowers bloom and keep away big humans and nasty gnolls.”
“Make the fourth floor a giant sprawling forest with towering trees and thick brush all around. Get the most troublesome and strong plant types for the dryad to control. And stealthy fast monsters like the Mylorang that operate on their own. It also needs environmental traps with afflictions to expose the healers for the dryad to detect so it can actual target them.”
“Everyone will have the three main immunities.” Jean reminded.
Yen smiled back. “I have some ideas.”