A Dungeon’s Survival

Cameron

The faint light of the group's lanterns extended into my core room. The light caught on the plethora of stalagmites in the room, blocking most of it from making it far. As they entered, the beastkin I had identified as their leader spoke, “What do you feel?”

It was a question directed toward their mage. I was worried about the response. I didn't know how sharp his ability to sense mana was, but if he could feel the mana from my monsters, their camouflage and hiding places would be next to useless. I hoped his was weaker than the detection ability of my Crystal Puffers.

“It feels like there's mana everywhere in here,” came his response, “I'm not used to this ability enough to pick the specifics out, but most of it seems to be coming from the center of the room.”

I had gotten lucky. From the sound of it, the gnome had only recently acquired that sense. I would have to rethink camouflage going forward, but for the moment, my plans weren't ruined, even if he was able to pick out my location.

“Stay vigilant,” their leader spoke, “Remember how many people have died in here. Even if we've reached the second tier of power, don't let your guard down. Barnes, can you sense any monsters?”

“There might be some behind the rocks. It's hard to tell.”

The man nodded at that. Then, he took a step toward me. As he moved, he raised both his weapon and his voice, “For wealth and pleasure–”

“–we raise our tarnished blades!” the rest of his group finished in unison.

Isn't it a bad idea to alert enemies to your presence? I couldn't help but to question their outburst.

“Generally, yes, but sometimes morale is more important. Also, they didn't actually alert anything that wasn't already aware of them,” came my advisor's response.

But, they don't know that, I complained internally, but even as I did so, I acted.

Time was of the essence, and no matter how much I had prepared my defenses in the weeks of downtime I had been given, it would all be in vain if I didn't play my cards properly. As the group rushed forward in unison, the time to do so arose. It was time to try something new. It was a bit clunky and not as responsive as I would have liked, but I was micromanaging every move of my last line of defense.

I commanded the Bloodthorn Vines, and they listened. The heavily modified monster was my trump card, and I had yet to get a chance to try it out. During the bandit raid, no one had made it to my core room, so this was my first time putting it into action. It would have been a difficult fight, but I thought it would have at least stood a chance against the man who had led the bandits' assault. Assuming each member of the group attacking me now was of similar power to him, the monster's strength was the barest minimum requirement for me to stand a chance.

A moment later, I put that strength into action. One of the fake stalagmites whipped toward the group from the direction of my core. I may have been tucked safely underneath the tree in the room, but I wasn't going to let them get any closer to me without a fight.

My attack was intercepted as the large beastkin stepped into its path, clearly aiming to catch it. As good as his reaction time was, that was a mistake on his part. I commanded the plant to activate Velocity Transference, and it did. He was sent flying back, and for the moment, my way was cleared. In the next moment, another vine made itself known to my enemies. I had it make a jabbing attack at the group. Specifically, I was aiming for their mage. The orc didn't take too kindly to that.

Similarly to how their frontliner had received the prior attack, he stepped into it, but unlike the man before him, he relied on more than brute force. As he grappled the vine, he let out a roar, and a red aura emanated from him. The vine came to a swift halt, and he remained rooted in place.

Not good.

My ambush had been carried out with little to no effect. Worse, the others weren't slow to react. Their leader was the fastest. He raised his sword and lunged toward the vine his companion was holding back. The blade struck it, and with a flash, it pierced and tore through plant matter with ease.

Meanwhile, the other two members of the group were on guard for more unseen attackers. They stood back to back as their eyes darted across the room. I would have smiled at the sight if I could have. They were prepared for attacks from any direction other than the one that mattered.

Crash!

Vials rained down from above onto them from the stockpile I had stashed in my hidden tunnels. It was a precaution I had taken throughout my Dungeon in various choke points I figured I might need to make a stand in. Some were filled with Minor Strength Sapping Poison. Others contained Archie's new concoction: Flame Solvent.

The mixture was odd. The potion didn't do anything on its own, but when exposed to mana that wasn't thoroughly contained, like another type of potion for example, it ignited. Thanks to this property, the poison that landed on the woman and mage did more than slightly weaken them. It also caught aflame and began to roast them alive.

As the inferno alighted, a pocket of explosive gas ignited. It wasn't a large amount, but it was enough to cause a decent explosion that consumed the pair. I had been hoping that blast along with the potions Vie and Pee had dumped from the ceiling would have been enough to take them out, but sadly, neither the woman nor the mage seemed to be even the slightest bit as frail as I would have hoped. I had to wonder if the group spread their stats far more evenly across the board than what I would consider a normal build.

As good as it was, the attack wasn't without a downside. As much damage as I imagined it did, it also illuminated the room far more than their lanterns did. There wasn't much to see other than the stalagmites and the tree that I hid beneath, but it did unfortunately give the group the benefit of sight.

It also caused chaos, something that I did not hesitate to take advantage of. The moment the boom echoed throughout the room, I ordered forth another vine. It rose from ground and sailed toward the head of the group's leader. I had hoped to catch him as he turned back to see what had happened behind him, but he didn't so much as sneak a glance. Instead he focused on the vine he was already attacking. In only a few seconds, the tendril was shredded and severed.

Seeing that, I tried to pivot, instead ordering the vine to target the orc, but it was too late. The moment the one he was holding fell limp, he released it and grabbed the incoming vine. The delay between my orders and them being followed had been too much. The situation reminded me of how it felt to play an online video game with bad connection. It didn't matter if I made the right call; the input delay made that irrelevant. It was an unavoidable problem of controlling a monster in the way that I was, but it was still more effective than letting the creature thrash about of its own volition.

My attack wasn't fully in vain, though. By that point, the aura surrounding the man had faded away. Whatever ability it was seemed to have been vital to him intercepting the fist attack as easily as he had. He budged this time, sliding back on his feet but still holding his own.

The interaction gave me something concrete to work with. I couldn't be sure of exactly how their strength stats stacked up, but from the display, I gathered it was relatively close without the use of abilities. That was good. If I could get some blood into my monster, it would win out in terms of stats in the end. It just needed it to last that long. The issue with that was, with how easily the feline beastkin had cut down one of its limbs, I hadn't invested enough in its endurance to be confident it could.

At this point, my advantage was rapidly disappearing. The pair that was on fire and the orc momentarily had their hands tied, but both beastkin were free to capitalize on my failings. The leader closed in on the vine that barely managed to puncture a thorn into the orc's flesh not even a second later. His sword shot forward and stabbed through the vine. His speed was concerning, putting the likes of Flur's to shame. Adraugon seemed to take that as a challenge.

In a display of speed that didn't fall short of the seeming rogue's, the lizard decided it was time to make his entrance. To the beastkin's credit, the man managed to notice the incoming attack and respond before the blur of green reached him. He moved a hand to his waist, and in a single, fluid motion, he chucked a dagger at the miniature dragon. A glint of fury in Adraugon's tiny, beady eyes was far from his only response.

With a jolt of speed that had to have come from his Wind Flow ability, he dodged out of the way and, with Velocity Transference, sent the man flying. His sword left behind in my Bloodthorn Vines, he bounced off of the ground a couple of times before another tendril caught him. I had it wrap around him in a way that allowed for as many of the thorns as possible to sink themselves into his flesh. At last, I had source of blood and a hostage. The vine raised him up into the air where he could remain out of reach. Then, he plummeted back toward the ground, free.

I could not immediately figure out what had happened, but after a couple of seconds, I noticed the spear that had severed yet another vine bouncing around on the other side of the room. The large beastkin had thrown it in a display of much more strength than his stats could have accomplished. I winced. Even if Vie, Pee, Adraugon, and my most powerful Bloodthorn Vines could put up a fight against some of these people individually, my monsters and I were lacking in teamwork and the mundane kind of experience when compared to them. Also, their abilities were terrifying.

No, I thought to myself, I can't think like that. I am not losing here to some random people, not after everything I've gone through!

The fight I was looking at was going to be difficult to say the least, but if I invested everything I had into it, victory wasn't off the table. I only needed to make the most out of every resource I had in this fight. This wasn't like the bandit raid. It wasn't a war of attrition. It was a matter of throwing everything I had at my problems at once and crushing them with nothing but overwhelming might and strategy, and unlike the bandit raid, all of my elite units were alive, present, and working together.

We can do this.

With that thought, I issued another order, and my newest monster entered the fray. Rising from the ground, a hand made of pure darkness gripped the hilt of the sword still lodged in the Bloodthorn Vines. Then, as suddenly as it had come, it vanished along with the weapon into one of the small tunnels underneath the room. I had found a use for the creature.