Chapter 234. Dungeon Prep.
Blieek and two of my goblin trio were gone, but in the dungeon, I had hopes that they would be ready to summon before too long. Capria didn’t know how far the mage had to travel to summon help, but I figured it would take a while for him to return the kids, gather his forces, and make his way back here. Even though our melee goblins were wiped out in the fight, the battle and killing of the summoned beings before they cleared the dungeon ended in a nice positive influx of mana for the core to use.
With the resources from our fight, the dungeon first started by replacing the lost goblins. After that, it would get back to work on the defenses I had planned. While we waited for the inevitable attack, I went over my plan with Capria, who would help me organize and command the dungeon minions. She wasn’t without power, and planned to jump into the fight when the time was right.
It turned out that Capria was a type of dryad and had several magical abilities at her disposal. Most were geared around controlling a foe or enchanting them to do her bidding. She had one ranged damage spell where she could summon a sharpened root from the ground to impale a foe. It could only be used twice a day, but it was better than nothing. With Capria also having a single target, ranged heal, she would provide backup healing for Elida.
Rounding out Capria’s ability was a summoning spell to call forth plant creatures that resembled small, man shaped bundles of thorny twigs. She could summon six of them per day. It was too bad the second floor of the dungeon had been shut down due to mana starvation. From what Capria told me, the second-floor minions were much more powerful than the goblin horde we had to work with here.
Knowing that time was limited, I scaled back my initial defense plan, trying to get the best bang for my buck. One of the tactics I contemplated was hitting the enemy with an ambush right when they entered through the dungeon portal. Capria warned that the initial energy release inside the portal room when someone entered would stun any dungeon creature nearby. My team could try for the ambush on our own, but I wasn’t entirely sure if the portal energy would affect them with us being tied to the dungeon for this summoning.
Instead of risking everything on a dubious all-or-nothing strategy at the dungeon entrance, I leaned on Major Finley’s instructions on small unit tactics. After the enemy left the entrance, they would face a small barricade manned by a few melee goblins and a pair of archers. When the enemy charged forward to take out the weakly defended point, they’d run into the first of the pit traps that I had the dungeon create.
The pits weren’t too deep, only five or so feet, just enough to drop a foe onto the sharpened wooden spikes I had placed inside. Hopefully, the pits would injure a few of the enemy, and slow their progress as they were forced to look for traps everywhere they walked. Far behind the barricade, and just in line of sight of the attacking enemy, I’d stand and use a few more of the scrolls in my possession.
Time passed and I laid out the rest of the defenses I thought were necessary. After replacing the losses we’d sustained earlier, the dungeon alternated between producing more minions and working on my defenses. Eventually, Blieek and the other goblins came off cooldown and I was able to resummon them. I’d at least fight with my whole team when the enemy arrived.
“Rico, what is the world you come from like?” Capria asked as we worked on positioning the goblins and giving them whatever limited orders that she thought they could follow.
“Very different from this one. For now, it’s mana starved which means there’s no magic. That’s changing though, and we’ll probably be integrated into the system in the next few years,” I replied.
“Are there no dungeons?”
“No, and we don’t have most of the creatures and other species you run across in most worlds. There are no orcs, goblins, dragons, and the like. We have legends and tales of them, so some believe there was a system bleed over at some point in our history, which gave our ancestors a glimpse at what was out there. Until a few months ago, I thought dungeons were just something from a game. Now, I’ve met two cores and love getting to know more about them,” I explained.
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It was true, among all the odd fantasy creatures and magical things I’d experienced, I found that dungeons were among the most intriguing. There was a whole ecology inside a dungeon, and after dealing with this situation, I could see how delicate the balance was between adventurer and dungeon. Both could benefit from the interaction, or they could just as easily destroy each other.
“If there is no mana on your world, how is you became a summoned being?” Capria asked.
“From what I know, it’s the system’s way of slowly seeding mana into a new world before integration. Normally, I go through several summonings at a time before I return home. In between summonings, I have a personal space the system created for me and a few others to hang out in,” I said.
“Who else lives in this personal space? Do you have a family there?” Capria asked.
“No, just my friend Melvin, he’s a gelatinous cube, and sometimes there’s an undead guy that I have a contract with to help me in any negotiations. There was an expansion space, but I rented it to someone that I can’t talk about. My real home is back on my world, Earth, but I’m not sure if I’ll stay there once the chance to leave comes up,” I said.
“Why would you leave your home?” Capria asked. She seemed genuinely interested in hearing about my world, so I didn’t mind chatting with her as we laid out my final surprise for the invaders.
“I’ve seen too much in my adventures. Now, I don’t know if I’d ever be happy just sitting in one place on Earth all the time. Maybe, once my world is integrated, I can find some way to keep traveling. I love exploring new places, but becoming a summoned being was forced on me and I didn’t have a say in the matter,” I said.
The way things stood now, my life as a summoned being wasn’t all that bad. Sure, I had to experience a painful and terrible death now and again, but I’d also gotten to help people. While I didn’t want to return to my old life, I would like to have more say in when and where I was summoned. Tier three still loomed in the near future, and there were supposedly going to be some options for me when I hit it.
“My core will have a question to ask of you once we’ve defeated the trespassers. Would you allow that,” Capria said.
“Sure, you and your core can ask me whatever you’d like,” I replied, happy to answer any of their questions.
“Wait, my core says the trespassers are outside,” Capria said.
“Where, I asked, fumbling with my dungeon vision to locate the entrance. The dungeon couldn’t see all that much outside the entry portal, but there was a small spot around the entrance that we had vision of. I could see the wizard, Avius, and several armed and armored men who he was speaking to.
“Can we hear what they’re saying?” I asked. A moment later I began to hear the Avius and another man arguing.
“This is a simple dungeon, Avius, I’m not calling out the king’s guard to clear it. Just a few days ago, children playing with summoned creatures were able to defeat it, I don’t see why you would even need any of my order’s help,” a huge man in plate armor argued.
“Something is off in this dungeon, it’s more powerful than just a few days ago. We need to go in with overwhelming force and deal with the threat. Who knows what might happen if the dungeon gets out of control,” Avius tried to argue. It did kind of feel good that the wizard believed my presence made the dungeon powerful enough to force him to seek help in clearing it.
“You’ll take what forces I assign to you, and not a blade more. The kingdom has more to deal with than a single, rogue dungeon. His Majesty expects you to handle this problem using the generous means that will be provided. Clear the dungeon with what I give you, or don’t bother returning to the keep,” the armored man ordered.
“This is preposterous!” Avius said, raising his voice to the armored man, who, with lightning-fast speed, reached out and grasped Avius’ throat, hauling the wizard off the ground.
“I have no more time to banter with you, wizard. I am not some household servant that is forced to listen to your complaints,” the armored man said, tossing Avius to the ground like he weighed nothing.
“My apologies, Knight Commander, what forces would you like me to take?” Avius croaked out.
“You’ll take Sir Medford and his retinue. In addition, I have a squad of militia from the town that need some experience. Sir Medford, make sure that any rewards gleaned from the dungeon make their way into the treasury. The only thing this wizard is to keep is the dungeon core, though I have no idea why His Majesty was so generous with him,” the armored man ordered before stomping off out of view of the dungeon.
“Let’s go, wizard, I expect you to assist us with any magic you may possess. I’ll not take losses because you wanted to conserve mana,” another armored man, who I guessed was Sir Medford, said as he plucked Avius from the ground and set him on his feet.
Things were about to go down, and we watched and counted as the forces arrayed against us began to enter the dungeon.