Chaptter 115

Ranus Goldwind came through for me the next night in a big way. I spotted him entering the dungeon’s surface building carrying a cage at arm's length. I got in close, looking at the creature within the cage; I became very excited. It was a black scorpion. This had been one of the primary reasons I had made the deal with him and pressed for him to find one. All my plans beyond the ninth revolved around this small and quite deadly animal.

He placed the cage on the big desk in the entrance room and quickly left the dungeon. Larry sensed that time was about to call on him to do battle and looked down from the rafters at the table. I was about to get him to come down when it dawned on me. This was a scorpion, and it was really dangerous. I did not want to go through the cost of having Larry get killed and regenerated.

“Larry, best get down here. Puck, we will need you to.”

I brought both my wandering minions to the entrance room, as it was now past sunset, and I expected no more adventurers to appear. Puck flew up from the third floor, where he had been pestering the boars. I sensed a great deal of interest from him, wondering why I had summoned him to the entrance room. Larry climbed down from his rafter position and was now sitting on the table looking at the cage.

“Right, let's do this.”

It took several minutes to convey what I wanted them to do, but in the end, I was confident that they understood. Larry climbed on top of the cage and undid the bolt holding the door closed. He opened it, and the scorpion was hesitant but eventually came out. It scuttled out onto the table, where Puck was hovering near, ready to take action.

He used his docile ability to confuse the insect. This allowed Larry to jump down on it from behind, pinning its stinger down, and quickly dispatched it. A notification popped up informing me of the kill and the gaining of the new design. Puck was flying around excitedly, producing Pixie dust covering Larry, which he glared at the other wandering minion in frustration. He started cleaning himself.

“Good work. Let's have a look….”

As I spoke, the front doors suddenly when knocked open, and several creatures piled into the room.

Raid Alert!

Your Dungeon is being raided!

Void Corrupted creatures are attacking your Dungeon. Kill them before they destroy you!

Rally your minions!

Defend your Core and Dungeon!

…………..

Minion room/floor restrictions have been lifted until the raid has been completed or defeated!

“Run!”

I ordered my minions, and they quickly scattered. I turned my attention to what was attacking my dungeon and found…

Goats.

Half a dozen had just piled into the room, and they were heading towards the stairs. I shifted to Mana Sight and saw the corruption flowing through their bodies. Shifting back to normal view. They looked like normal goats because their eyes were black and protruding black veins ran across their bodies. They were throwing and there was blood around their mouths.

By the time I had finished reviewing them, they were already on the stairs heading down. Larry and Puck had been ignored. Larry had gotten back up into the rafters while Puck had just flew above them. He was now following them at a distance down the stairs.

Looking at the numbers and what they were, I made a decision not to mobilise the rest of my defenders. Krag, on the other hand, was going to be used here.

“Krag, get into the Core room. We have monsters coming down the stairs, and I need you to kill them.”

The opportunity to kill got him moving quite quickly without any grumbling. By the time the goats arrived on the seventh floor, he was ready and in position. When they attacked him, he was not impressed, so he quickly dispatched them. As they died, the corruption within their bodies was drawn into my Core.

“I bloody hate this.”

The six were dead, and I gained the design for mountain goats. I shifted my view into my Core to see what was happening. I looked over the channels on the flow of corruption and became ecstatic. It was flowing so quickly and smoothly now it was hardly pooling anywhere. My vision shifted as I left the core and looked at my status sheet.

“5%..... Whoooho!”

It had worked, I was getting rid of the corruption far faster than I ever had before. I still felt like shit, but now I could see the end of the tunnel. From the amount I absorbed I would have had at least 30 to 40% sitting around waiting to be processed. This would have taken weeks, maybe even a month, to take care of, but now I felt it would be gone in a matter of a day.

Thinking back over my Core’s internal layout, I knew there were areas I could still improve, making the process even more efficient. Right now, I need you to focus on getting ready for the eighth floor, but I was making progress, and that filled me with happiness even with the effects of the void corruption still lingering.

I shifted my attention back to the main doors. Several people were looking into the room, using crystals to get an idea of what was happening. They quickly found that the crisis was over and withdrew, closing the doors, which was considerate of them.

“5%, Larry, 5%!”

Larry just ignored me and settled into the rafters in his favourite spot. The only impression I got from him was he would like to have the fire lit. But in turn, I ignored that. Puck was back down on the third with the boars. Thinking about them, I looked at their status sheets and found that they were both close to levelling. They didn't do much in the dungeon, so the opportunities to level were far more limited; however, the chances of them actually being killed were also just as low.

I was left wondering where these goats had come from. I knew they were not from Folly’s End and had not been informed that the corrupted had crossed the river containing them.

“Must be local then.”

This was the only thing I could think of. I knew that there were still some corrupted up in the mountains around us, as the passage of the ogre and the lion would have left marks wherever they went. I remembered that the snake hat also appeared, so there was a good chance I would eventually get more paying me a visit.

I opened up the goat’s status sheet and found nothing of interest. No, that was not true. There were a few bits I could use later on, but as a monster on its own, it was... not very impressive. Could I do some tinkering and create something new? Yes, but I wasn't being visited by inspiration right then.

I then went and looked at the scorpion’s status sheet. The black scorpion was everything I wanted it to be. I had plans for this little bastard. Some of what it could do was integral to what I was planning for the tenth floor. Securing it was vital to that plan, and now they had it, I had nearly all of what I needed. I was going to have to do a lot of experimentation to make it work, but I was hopeful.

“Well, that was fun. But back to work.”

## ## ## ## ##

“Twisted goats?” Ranus asked, confused, not sure if someone was playing him for a fool.

“Twisted goats,” Elian confirmed her face serious.

“How many?” Ranus, while still partly disbelieving and unsure of what to say.

“Nine attacked the watchers outside of the Dungeon. Six made it inside, but we were dispatched by the Dungeon itself.”

“Wounded?” Ranus asked.

“Thankfully, none. The goats were far more dangerous than normal, but not to the point where they endangered anyone, as the paladin on duty was able to deal with them quite efficiently. The paladin question is under observation right now for corruption contamination.”

“What does High Healer Selmum think?”

“After what happened to Comus, she is being far more diligent in her testing, but she is quietly optimistic that there was no corruption of the paladin,” Elian reported.

“Well, thank the Gods for more small mercies.”

## ## ## ## ##

Elis Goldwind and her husband had secured rooms within the city of Shadow Vale. It had taken time to establish themselves, but they were finally in a position she was happy with. She would rather have had a mansion, but they were few and far between within this city. She had found the best room she could and opted to base her operations out of them.

Elis and her husband were sitting in these rooms, looking at each other, after reading a series of reports. These reports had taken weeks to amass and double-check, even triple-check in some places. But she was sure of their veracity, and she was processing the implications.

“No Dungeon fairy.” That was the first thing she said for several minutes.

“It appears not, my dear. We do not know why, but this dungeon operates on its own rules. As you can see from the reports, it seems not even the pantheon has any form of control over it.” Hector went over what they had discovered.

“No wonder Ranus has been able to do what he has been able to do. This Dungeon is playing by a completely different set of rules.”

“Yes, it seems that way. But what of the rest we have learned?” he asked. What they had learnt was shaking him deeply. It seemed that this dungeon was somehow linked to the twisted, and they were being drawn here.

“For now, we can do little. I need to no more before I can make a plan on how we move forward.” Elis admitted in a rare showing of weakness. “As to you and the family, husband, keep on expanding our influence.”

“I understand.”

## ## ## ## ##

“Have you seen the change, Oda?” The figure asked as soon as they stepped out of the shadow.

“I have. It is a most welcome change within the Core.” He replied, not looking up from the desk.

“I confess that I am at a loss. Why did you not make the core more efficient in processing the corruption from the start?”

“Remember when I explained the Core to you and how I created it?” Oda asked, looking up at his guest.

“Of course.”

“Well, remember I said it required a body, a mind, and a soul,” Oda explained. “The core itself is the body. The mind is Bhaldor. He also supplies the soul; however, the most important thing comes from the soul. The WILL to deal with the corruption.”

The other looked at Oda, and he realised that he did not understand.

“Dealing with void corruption is not just forcing it into the Core and scrubbing it. He must be willing to challenge it and improve himself constantly. This enables him to alter his Core with his will to make himself a better vessel to remove the corruption.”

“So, by seeking to deal with that more efficiently, his soul and mind are shaping his reality, allowing him to do it?”

“In many respects, yes.”

“How far can he go?”

“How far can any soul go if it has the will?” Oda asked.

## ## ## ## ##

I came to think about bats again. I had taken a break from messing around with the designs of the rats and boars I was experimenting with. I turned my attention back to the bats to refresh my thinking.

The problem was that as the bats grew larger, their weight prevented them from flying. My plans for the tenth floor entailed a flying monster, so I had to figure this out.

A larger bat meant larger wings but also denser bones, which weighed it down and prevented it from flying. I could see no way to break this vicious cycle right now. I began flicking through other screens just to see if anything shook loose and inspired me.

“Air….”

I muttered to myself. Then I remembered I had Air Mana now. Could I infuse it into the wings? Will that, in turn, give the larger bat the ability to fly? Now, this was a line of thinking that was getting me excited.

It was the day after the goat invasion. And it was once again dark outside. Winter was fast approaching, and I knew that the number of adventurers would drop off not from lack of willingness but from lack of daylight.

“Hell, I've got the time. Let's try it.”

I opened up the necessary screens and got to work.