Core was relieved his goblin and lizard made quick work of that pudling. Only having three defenders and two traps might not be enough if more powerful and bigger parties entered his dungeon. His previous dilemma popped into his mind again.

He could place his traps in the first part of his dungeon to secure kills and stop invaders, but that would mean his defenders wouldn't gain any experience. He also liked the option of multiple defenders fighting together. While spider did a great job of killing the first pudling, Core knew most of that was based on luck as both of the spider's skills had activated.

The experience he gained from those two kills was pretty high, and he was already close to level three. He really hoped he'd get something good when he reached it.

Core now had an additional defender option as well. He pulled up his defender creation menu and selected his newest addition, eager to learn more about them.

Pudling, < Lizardman > archetype. An aquatic race mostly found in areas around lakes and coastal waters.

Because of their amphibian nature, they can hunt for prey on land as well as underwater. Skills:

Aquatic < Passive>.

Aquatic < Passive > When staying in an aquatic environment gain the following buffs:

5% increase to attack speed.

15% increase to movement speed.

25% increase to regeneration speed.

10% damage increase for water spells.

25% reduction to the mana cost of water spells. Current skill level: Maximum. Due to the lack of webbed hands and feet, this skill is currently < Disabled > for this defender.

Core was pleasantly surprised by his new addition. The fact their passive ability was disabled wasn't too much of an issue since he lacked the means to make water inside his dungeon. It would flow inside when it rained outside but that would hardly be enough to count as an aquatic environment. Other than the passive ability its statistics were mostly on par with the goblin.

He wondered about the feature the spear was added to. He asked System about locked features before, but she couldn't answer questions about them until he had them unlocked. But remembering how the pudling used it to attack his spider gave him decent hope for the future.

Looking at the small tunnel project he wasn't unhappy about how it had worked. The pudling chose the right part this time but it did give him pause on which tunnel to select. This gave him the confidence to expand on his project some more planning to add an additional layer around his current setup. He resummoned his spider first and have it go back into hiding out in the tunnel.

Core opened his dungeon layout tool and started on expending his tunnel creation. While he originally wanted to add one more layer, since it was after all a test run of what he actually planned to build. After completing his first draft Core wasn't happy with the design. The design looked way too simple and easy to navigate not enough dark corners and wrong paths to choose from. Instead of his planned design, he kept tweaking, adjusting, and playing with his design, changing tunnels, and adding more intersections. The version Core settled on would cost him a total of 70 mana. Since he had to resummon his spider he'd need around twelve hours before his mana was filled back up enough to complete his latest project.

Outside the cave, it started to rain lightly. Since Core didn't have anything to do but wait for his mana to regenerate he decided to just stare out of his cave and into the rain. Looking at the rain gave him a sense of peace. He didn't know why he liked it, but he guessed that it had to do with how the outside world became silent like his dungeon, with the soft sound of rain added onto it.

After staring at the calming rain for about ten minutes Core saw movement in front of his cave entrance. And within a minute another invader had reached his dungeon.

Warning:  An invader has entered the dungeon!

The shape of the invader looked like one of the worms that sometime crawled around on his dungeon floor. The red box didn't list them as invaders so Core just let them be. That and he liked looking at how they wiggled around, only this one was around eight feet long. It had bright green scales covering its body with a flat reptilian face. Core could see a tongue dashing in and out of the invader's mouth which had two sharp-looking teeth.

The size of the new invader was fairly big compared to that of the spider that was hiding in his ambush spot. Core ordered spider to stay hidden. The scales looked pretty tough, even if spider did piercing damage it wouldn't be possible for him to kill it alone. Core would wait for the big worm to enter the tunnels, so he could have all three of them charge in and take it down.

The worm slithered forward into the tunnel its tongue continuously going in and out of its mouth. It suddenly stopped as it neared the spiders hiding spot. It curled up its body and eyed the floor continuously. The fact Core didn't receive a notification meant the invader had detected his spider and was raking a defensive posture anticipating a fight. The stalemate continued for a few minutes as neither side made a move on each other. Core could only assume the worm thought his unseen target wasn't a threat as it started to uncoil and continue its way further into the tunnel.

Warning:  A second invader has entered the dungeon!

´WHAT!?'

He learned last time that parties could enter his dungeon, but now multiple invaders could enter his dungeon as well?

"Hey System, what's going on?!"

Each dungeon floor can hold a certain amount of invaders, as long as the invader limit hasn't been reached new invaders can enter the dungeon.

The current maximum amount of invaders is two.

This would complicate things. If the first invader would kill all his defenders then the second invader had no problem just walking into his core room, unless his traps took it out. Core put the thought in the back on his mind. He'd deal with that later once the current invader had been killed. Setting his sight on the entrance he saw it was another pudling that had entered his dungeon. Good, the spider that was still hiding could deal with that invader, and he could focus on the worm with goblin and lizard.

The worm slithered up to the tunnels turning its head to either side and flicking out its tong. It decided to pick the top tunnel, right into the dead-end, and the waiting goblin. Core ordered lizard to move up to support the goblin. Goblin took a hunched position, ready to jump out at the invader that dared to oppose its master. The worm's head passed his corner but didn't look its way. With a mighty jump, the goblin launched itself onto the spider. Two sharp bony claws dug into the worm´s flesh, the scales not nearly as sturdy as Core thought they would be. The worm let out an angry hiss and bared its fangs on the little goblin. Goblin wasn't fazed by this show of force, it's undead after all, and he has no feelings. With its claws dug deep into the worm's flesh, it chomped down with its teeth. The worm tried to thrash around to shake off the goblin, but the small creature held on strong.

The worm lunged its mouth towards the goblin, its two sharp fangs ready to pierce the goblin. It bit down hard on the defender, but only did minor damage as it pierced and graced bone instead of flesh. Biting down on its opponent was only a reaction to the sudden attack and damage the worm received. Normally it would stalk and ambush its opponent itself as the bite of its fangs wasn't the main method of getting kills. As if suddenly remembering how it normally hunted prey the worm started to coil its body around the small stature of the goblin restricting more and more of its movement.

Warning:  Skeletal goblin has been inflicted with < Bind > it will suffer continuous damage.  Due to the lack of a respiratory organ, the damage is reduced by 50%.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

The little goblin was now fully wrapped up by the worm, its only means of attack was biting down into the flesh that bound it. While small in damage, it started to add up as the worm looked worse after each successful bite the goblin could take.

The lizard rounded the corner as the two opponents desperately tried to kill each other. Both the lizard and the worm snapped at each other with their mouths. The lizard tried to inflict damage while the worm tried to keep the lizard at bay while it killed tried to kill the goblin. The downside of binding an opponent meant that the worm was left mostly immobile and only had its mouth to fight back. With almost no room to move the worm took a tail strike to the head, slapping it away. Just as the lizard tried to get in closer the worm countered with a bit into the lizard's shoulder, again doing a low amount of damage as it resisted a large part of the piercing damage. Not bothered by the attack the lizard clammed down its own jaws onto the neck of the worm. Both opponents low locked into place biting down on each other the fight drew into a stalemate with both sides unable to gain the upper hand until finally, the snake died to the continuous damage the goblin was inflicting.

Constrictor Snake < Runt > Level 3 has been killed by < Skeletal Goblin>  Experience gained: 22. Current experience 97 / 100.

Dungeon Points gained: 1. Current Dungeon Points: 22.

Progress gained: Understanding of < Snake > archetype +10%.

Current % progress: 10 / 100. Undead archetype experience gained: 24.

Undead archetype current experience: 79 / 1.000. Skeletal Lizard experience gained: 12.

Skeletal Lizard current experience: 36 / 50.

Skeletal Goblin experience gained: 12.

Skeletal Goblin current experience: 30 / 50. * Skeletal over type has been applied to Snake ( Constrictor ).

The pudling invader took out another one of those glowing orbs from a pouch on its waist. Unlike the earlier one, he held it in its hand, while in its other hand it held a much shorter and bigger stick. It steadily made its way forward into the illuminated tunnel. Sound of combat could be heard echoing through the tunnel as the defenders had engaged the worm invader. With its attention fully focussed on the fighting ahead of the pudling never even took the opportunity to look for traps or ambushes.

Spider's Trapdoor < Passive > has activated, it has successfully remained undetected. Current skill level: 1.

Current % progress: 30 / 100.

And just like the last time the spider held of its attack until the prey had passed his location and it had a clear line of attack on the invader's neck. It jumped out of its hiding spot and sank its fangs into the neck of the invader. The pop up for its other skill didn't show up this time, so the second attack only did the normal amount of damage.

This pudling seemed to be more experienced or at least be more aware of the situation the last one the spider attacked. Just as it sank its fangs down the second time, the pudling swung the stick at the spider knocking it down. The odd angle of the attack made the attack not deliver its full damage but it was enough for the pudling to create some room between itself and the spider.

Spider skittered around looking for an avenue of attack while the pudling tried to match its movement and keep the stick ready to swat him it out of the air if it tried to jump it again. While pressing the attack forward the pudling kept taking steps backward getting closer to the fighting it could hear up ahead. Just as the sounds of fighting ebbed away, the pudling found its back against the wall.

Spider kept pressing forward to create an opening. The pudling had suffered damage from its attack but it didn't land a fatal hit. The eerie green light of the orb then caught the glint of the lizard's skull as it rounded the corner coming to the aid of the spider.

More by scared reaction at the sudden appearance than out of instinct the pudling swung its weapon towards the lizard, getting a solid hit on the defender's head. Momentarily caught off guard the spider jumped in for a free attack. This time it aimed for the shoulder instead of the neck. Bony fangs bit down deep into should flesh as the pudling yelled out in pain. Another swing of the stick again knocked down the spider before it could bite down a second time. Now suffering another wound and the facing two instead of one opponent the pudling took the only available action it could see. It took another swing at the lizard which missed as the lizard dropped its head just before the stick hit it. With the spider blocking the way it came in from the pudling bolted into the only empty tunnel.

Both defenders immediately gave chase to the fleeing invader. With a warm orange light illuminating the tunnel up ahead the pudling tossed its light orb toward its pursuers hoping to at least slow them down. The orb missed both defenders as it hit the wall behind them. Believing salvation lay ahead in the illuminated tunnel the pudling blindly ran forward, its webbed feet unsteady in the sandy dungeon floor.

The sight of the illuminated tunnel suddenly gave way to a dark pit instead. Having lost all sight of its surrounding the pudling easily fell into the pitfall trap. By sheer luck, the sharp spikes on the bottom of the trap missed all his vital areas as his left side was pierced. It silently hung there, as warm blood flowed from his wounds down onto his body. Its life would soon end as the bleed damage ticked away his remaining health points.

Then as something out of its worst nightmare it saw the spider jump down after it into the hole. The pudling tried to grab the stick that was below it on the floor but it was of no use, the weapon was well out of its reach. Two sharp bony fangs punctured its flesh over and over till its vision turned dark.

Pudling < Runt > Level 3 has been killed by < Skeletal Spider>  Experience gained: 22. Current experience 119 / 100.

Dungeon Points gained: 1. Current Dungeon Points: 23.

Progress gained: Understanding of < Lizardman > archetype +20%.

Current % progress: 60 / 100. Undead archetype experience gained: 12.

Undead archetype current experience: 91 / 1.000. Skeletal Spider experience gained: 12.

Skeletal Spider current experience: 25 / 50. Item < Club > has been added to < Feature locked > 

Core was slightly worried when the pudling decide to run away from his defenders, but luckily he still had his trusty traps to take it down. What really surprised Core was the fact his spider jumped after the pudling into the trap. Luckily spider didn't die from the fall and even managed to steal away the kill from the trap resulting in more experience for the creature. He did, however, have to dismiss the spider as it lacked any means of getting out of the pit by itself. Core's curiosity was peaked again by the locked feature notification but maybe his new blue box would solve this issue for him.

The dungeon has grown to level: 3. Core Health +100. 

Core Mana capacity +25. 

Dungeon points +10.  Trap slots +1.

Defenders slots +1.

New features have been unlocked: Dungeon layout accessory assets < see the layout interface for a full list of available assets>. New trap type unlocked: Wall and ground spikes

More defenders, more traps, and a new type of trap, Core was happy with these additions to his dungeon.

The newly unlocked feature didn't seem to be related to the spear and club, but he'll find that out when he opens his dungeon layout menu.