"It was only a bat, Larry."
He was strutting around the front room after killing a bat that had entered the tower and tried to sleep there. I had sent him up to kill it, and he managed to do it after a few attempts. After the kill, I gained a new design for the bat, but it was a 1 CP creature that was bad at best.
He had returned to the main entrance and positioned himself back on the rafter, was settling in. Dawn had just arrived and I was preparing for the first adventurers. They would be here any minute. The doors opened and I looked to see…
Raid Alert!
Your Dungeon is being raided!
A Void Corrupted creature is attacking your Dungeon. Kill it before it destroys you!
Rally your minions!
Defend your Core and Dungeon!
…………..
Minion room/floor restrictions have been lifted until the raid has been completed or defeated!
A massive creature jumped into the Dungeon. Several adventurers fell into the room as the creature knocked them over as it barrelled into the room.
"Oh! Fuck me!"
I rushed around, opened the doors and got the minions moving. Above, in the main room, the corrupt monster was pushing through the few adventurers who fell in with it. I returned to the main room as my minions gathered in the stairwell.
I could finally get a good look at what was attacking my Dungeon. It was a lion, or was it? The basic frame was that of a lion. It was larger and had a deep grey colour to its coat. The main was a lighter grey and black veins could be seen on different body parts. The eyes were golden irises with black around them. Its teeth were larger and sharper. Its claws were black in colour.
Red blood was decorating the walls now. The lion swiped with his claws, tearing through armour and bodies alike. The adventurers were wounded, but I did not get any essence rushes, so no deaths yet.
The lion pushed through them and headed for the stairs. He moved with the feline grace of its kind. He was quickly at the top of the stairs. Stopping here, he looked down the stairs, smelling and his ears twitched. The sound of alarm and shouts for support were to be heard from outside. Several arrows flew into the room, aiming at the lion, but they missed. The lion turned and looked back out of the building. Turning back to the stairs, it started to descend.
The wounded adventurers were pulled from the building. Others tried to follow but were ordered back from the building. They grudgingly stepped back from my Dungeon, leaving me to deal with this thing.
The lion was now on the first floor and fighting the wasps. It was faster and swiping them out of the air. He would be moving further down soon. Checking each floor, I descended through the Dungeon. It was then that I discovered a problem I had not foreseen.
The fourth and fifth-floor guardians were too large to get through the doors!
Cursing, I thought fast about what to do as I returned.
The mangled corpses of wasps littered the floor. The Guardian was the last left, still fighting. The Guardian struck at the lion's hide, scoring a hit. Its stinger failed to cut into the lion's body deeply. A small scratch did appear, and a small trickle of deep red, almost black blood slowly oozed out.
The lion reacted fast, turning and counterattacked. It lept up, standing on its hind legs, clawing at the Guardian. The claws ripped through the Guardian's body as it tried to dodge but was not fast enough. The shredded remains hit the floor. The lion looked around, not seeing any other threats, then moved down.
My toads are going to get slaughtered.
And they were.
The lion jumped from the top of the stairs and was among them. They fought. The room echoed with the crack of their tongues and the sound of their status attacks. The lion was too fast and brutal. The toads were savagely ripped apart. Felines are nasty predators and like to torment their prey. Here, they were savaged.
The Guardian did its best, but as it fought in the remains of the others, it fell to claws and teeth. The room was a gruesome scene of toad remains scattered across the floor and walls.
The lion continued down.
I held the third Guardian back as the other boars got stuck in. This was the first challenge to the lion, as the boars were weaker individually, but together, they were a danger to it. The lion used the stairs as a means of attack, running back up them and leaping onto a nearby boar. It was using hit-and-run attacks to prevent being pinned and trampled to death. I released the Guardian to the fight as soon as the lion was committed.
The wounds were bringing down the boars one by one. The lion was not getting away without injury. It had been impacted several times by tusks and feet. It now sported several new wounds, but he was not slowing down in his attacks.
Eventually, only the Guardian and lion were left standing. Both are breathing hard and wounded, but my Guardian is in worse shape.
The boar charges his enemy, triggering its skill and the lion countercharges. As they approach each other, the lion springs to the side, using the wall as a platform to leap onto the boar's back. It grips onto the boar with its claws and starts mauling and biting into the boar's body.
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The boar kicks and bucks, trying to shake the lion's loss, but to no avail. The red health bar above it falls as the wounds pile up. With a grunt, the boar collapses and dies.
The lion stopped here for a few seconds, focusing on the stairs. I know what it's looking for. Me.
The spiders went the same way as the boars. They were smaller and faster, but the lion ripped through them. The spiders used their numbers better than the boars and tried to swarm the lion. They were willing to get on top of each other to get to the lion. It was soon apparent that the lion had never fought them before, as this worked initially. The lion adapted quickly, concentrating on the spider's legs to slow them down.
The lion's body received several more minor wounds, but the fight ended with spider ichor on the walls and floor, along with the ruined bodies. The queen had no role in the fight, and I would need to look into that if I survived.
He moved on.
The worms of the fifth lasted longer as they were tougher and had natural armour. The floor lacked earth, robbing them of some of their abilities, but their teeth were far more dangerous. Here, the lion found an enemy not easily overcome.
He used the same tactic with the boars: retreating up the stairs and leaping onto the worms from above. This worked at first, but the worms got wise. They could sense the lion's movement through even the stone and knew when it jumped. They did not know where it aimed to land, but all reared up to meet it.
Several managed to bite the lion, and their teeth caused much more severe wounds. The lion's legs and flanks were bleeding from far deeper wounds, but its teeth and claws did less damage in return. The fight was turning against the lion, but it still had a few tricks to be played.
The lion shimmered with a strange echoing snarl and glowed a sickly grey/black; it had triggered its skills. Still shimmering like a mirage, it attacked again, but far faster than before. It moved at a speed that was hard for me to keep track of. Worms all around him as he moved were slashed and were wounded. Worms tried to hit back but were far too slow.
The lion returned to the stairs, made the same snarl, and attacked again—and again. This started to wear the worms down. Their health bars were dropping and some were getting near critical.
The fight continued and the lion used this skill less and less, but the damage was done. The worms were now starting to drop. They were biting at the lion and a few were still connecting. More wounds were traded between the combatants. The worms were dropping faster now. Eventually, the last fell and I could now get a good look at my intruder.
The lion was bleeding and breathing hard. It had wounds across its body, and I noticed a slight limp on its back leg as it supported a deep cut. Its blood, along with the worm's blood, stained the stone. The lion was not making any attempt to move to the last floor. He lay down and licked at the wounds that he could reach. They were healing far too fast. Was there some regeneration ability in play? He remained there, and below, the snakes were waiting for him.
Above, I sensed the adventurers scanning my aura, trying to discover the Dungeon's status and to get an idea of what was happening. Larry and Puck were on the floor above, awaiting my instruction. Against the lion, they would not last long and were my last chance if things went wrong. The lion was now getting back to his feet and investigating the stairs going down again. He was sniffing the air and his ears twitched as he heard the movement below. He took his time but started to walk down the stairs.
The snakes went silent and were using their camouflage ability. It was not as effective in the stairwell room, but they were harder to spot. The lion was not fooled but was more cautious as he descended. The first snake was on the stairs and wrapped around the central pillar. As the line approached, it darted forward to bite him. The lion reacted faster, maybe knowing it was there, and swiped at it with a paw. The blow caught the snake across the top of the head, ripping into its scales. The snake pulled back to defend itself, but the lion followed and mauled the minion.
That was the first death. The lion looked over the edge of the stairs at the room. I was sure it was marking the snake's locations before attacking. It then lept and the fight was on.
The lion caught and killed another snake, but the others quickly reacted. The lion was forced to fight them off, but the snake's numbers were coming into play. Their fangs ripped and dug into the lion's legs and flanks. The new wounds were adding to the existing partially healed ones. The lion could not take this number of injuries without cost and slowed. It was not using any other skills or magic; I hoped it had exhausted itself.
The lion had good survival skills and realised the fight had turned against it. He pushed past the snakes it was fighting, swiping at targets of opportunity as it made for the stairs. It made it to them with a few more wounds. Unfortunately, the floor Guardian was waiting for it.
During the fight, the Guardian moved up the stairs and coiled up on one. Its camouflage ability was far superior and if I had not known where it was, I would have missed it. The lion did. As it moved up the stairs, the Guardian struck. It caught the lion under the head on its neck; the mane was an evolutionary protection for this area, but it did not help against the Guardian. The Guardian's fangs dug in deep and scored the fatal wound.
The lion had no time to react as it collapsed dead. With this, the next alert appeared.
Raid Alert!
Your Dungeon is being raided!
The raid has ended!
Result – VICTORY!
Your defences killed a total of 1 Void Corrupted Mountain Grey Mountain Lion.
Design gained Mountain Grey Mountain Lion!
Your Dungeon has not been damaged in the raid. As you are VICTORIOUS, all damage will be repaired.
Void corruption gained!
………….
Minion room/floor restrictions have been restored and your Dungeon is being reset!
"Shit! That means…"
The void corruption hit my Core, and everything felt terrible. I really wished I could throw up right now, but as I could not, I had to endure.
"Oh! Fuck ME! I hate this!"
It took several minutes before I was able to function again. Puck and Larry were sitting in my Core room, guarding me in my weakened state. During the corruption absorption, they came down as the other minions returned to their rooms. The others were starting to reappear around the Dungeon. Things would be back to normal in a few minutes. Concentrating and thinking was hard right now. My mental state was not improving when I absorbed corruption, even knowing what to expect.
"Right, you two back to your usual haunts."
Puck and Larry were hesitant but eventually obeyed me. I sensed more scanning of my aura from the outside; some were slightly different from the usual ones. I wonder what they were.
I opened my status screen and looked at the corruption level.
"30%, well, that will give me a fun time."
If things were the same as they were last time, it would take around thirty days to get rid of that. I groaned, thinking of the unpleasant few weeks ahead. I had a new design for the Grey Mountain Lion, but I was in no mood to look it over. I had time.
I moved slowly through the floors, checking on everything and making sure there were no surprises. Usually, this would only take a few minutes, but it was close to half an hour this time. No adventurers had come yet.
I finished my look around at the main entrance room. The doors were open and outside, I could make out many figures. They were facing the Dungeon doors with raised shields in a defensive position behind them. In the fuzz, I could make out many more figures. They were gathered and seemed to be arguing, but I could be wrong.
"I wonder what that's about?"
I settled in to wait like Larry was up in the rafters. He was watching the doors intently and his ears were up and twitched now and again. Oddly, I could never hear what was happening beyond my claimed area. Sound travelled, so I should have been able to listen to what was going on.
I never saw any more adventurers this day but they came back as normal the next as dawn arrived.