Mark had gone with a level 2 swordsman for the sample unit, but the stats also proved that the Arachne would be an effective mage with intelligence outpacing the reds by quite a bit. It would make a lot of sense for Mark to use them as mages since their upper half was pretty vulnerable compared to the black armor-like shell that encased the spider portion of the body. One arrow or well placed spell could take out the expensive unit. Not to mention, the special condition of the arachne. Their manna, stamina, and regeneration were 50% greater than what the unit''s stats would normally entail.
The regeneration was nothing special. Its wounds would close fairly quickly, but it would take a fairly significant rest period for the unit to recover any vitality. The unit would survive longer in a heated battle provided they did not get hit in a critical spot. Mark expected that there would be units who could regenerate far faster, otherwise that necrotic weapon stockpile they had started would hardly be worth the effort.
Then there was the fact that the arachne did not play nicely with others. One of the green goblins had been cleanly decapitated by the goblin arachne. The reason¡ Perhaps the goblin has just wandered too close when delivering the arachne¡¯s meal. The other goblins had already been keeping a wide berth from the arachne, but the distance had increased even further. Mark understood, he certainly would never go close to the creature himself. It was definitely a detriment to their versatility, but once he got the top half sufficiently armored they would be powerful units.
Still Mark had decided to unlock another of the level 2 unit¡¯s before manning their fourth dungeon floor. Once Amelia got up and around, they would unlock their most powerful level 2 unit option, the violet scorpion. Mark would man the dungeon with 20 of them with a couple of bloodline upgrades. Then he would make four level 2 arachne mages and one level 2 healer.
It would be impossible to keep them a secret since he would have them train in the barracks to raise their experience level from recruit to regular. There was no sense not getting the extra 10% boost. Perhaps, if anything, the sight of them might be a bit of a deterrent for the dungeons that might be keeping tabs on them. Which they might need a bit of since unlocking the appropriate upgrades and summoning the units would drain their accumulated MP. Still Mark needed to get the units built and man the fourth floor as soon as possible.
Mark felt the tension level rising. According to the harpies, Mareth likely had nearly 2,000 units in existence. That was a lot compared to the just under 400 that they currently had summoned. Sure they had been keeping around 100,000 MP to bolster their forces if an attack were to occur, but if Mareth were to bring all of her units to attack her force would likely cost several times that with the average unit cost being well over a 100 MP per a unit. Not to mention, if she was going to attack she would likely summon additional units to increase her numbers even further.
Still Mark knew that they would not be able to have the numerical superiority if a battle occurred in the near future. While the 100,000 MP they had been holding in reserve was becoming far from sufficient, Mark could not afford to increase the reserve by several fold to be able to match Mareth unit for unit. Holding a defensive position and their ever growing arsenal of enchanted weapons would have to make up the difference. Using 20,000 MP plus would be more useful to summon a bunch of units in the near term, but unlocking a higher class level or a level 2 unit was better in the long run.
Gale was less worrisome although she had clearly unlocked one of the level 2 branches. The harpies had referred to the new level 2 units as giant humanoids, but Mark could not nail down which branch based on what the harpies had said. He could easily picture units from the troll branch being considered giant humanoids. Regardless, of which of the two branches she had they would be powerful units.
Thankfully, Gale still did not give any indication of leaving her ever growing fortress. They would be in trouble if she truly went on the warpath, because their dungeon was closer to Gale¡¯s than Mareths was. They were not quite in the middle of the two, the three dungeons actually formed a triangle, but Mareth was likely a good 30 or 40% further away. Not to mention that both of their two outposts were even closer to the swampland.
A flickering of his tactical map indicated that Amelia was ready to go. It only took Mark a few minutes to descend from the second level of the watchtower. It was a good place to watch the sunrise from. Far away from the goblins or their stench. It was as peaceful as it got for someone who would not venture out of their 2 mile territory cage they kept themselves in. The actual places that they dared to go were even smaller since they would not go near the boundary even with a contingent of guards.
Mark met Amelia outside the dungeon entrance. She had already scampered across the gangplank by the time Mark arrived. Mark studied her for a moment. It was clear that she had just showered and changed into a green knee length dress with a black waistband. Her still damp bangs were now swept to one side. Four months had been enough for her pixie cut to extend by several more inches. Another year and it might be down to her shoulders, if they lasted that long Mark reminded himself grimmly.
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¡°Just want to go to the barracks since our units will have to train there anyways,¡± Amelia posed as Mark made his way down the gangplank after her. The gangplank bounced up and down slightly with every step.
Once the rainy season had ended, Mark had set the goblins to repairing the earthen walls. The dungeon entrance and main fortification had been combined together. Now the earthen wall would have a gourd like shape with the entrance portion having a smaller diameter than the larger fortification. They had expanded the walls some, which would allow for around a thousand units to fight comfortably. That was not even counting the hundreds of units that could man the massive two level watchtower in the center.
¡°Sure, as good a place as any,¡± Mark said, feet hitting the earth. The two of them started to make their way up to the eastern edge of the clearing where the large barracks compound now resided. A dozen legionnaires fell into step behind them.
¡°I guess, you still won¡¯t be convinced to unlock one of the level 2 plant units instead,¡± Amelia posed.
¡°Definitely not,¡± Mark said confidently, falling in step shoulder to shoulder with her. They had talked it out several times over the last few days. They would move into unlocking beast bloodlines first since they had the overwhelming offense that their dungeon floor would need and would pair well with the arachnes. He chose the scorpions over the weevils since they had the higher power rating. Not to mention scorpions would likely be pretty fearsome in an enclosed space¡ Well they should be. ¡°Just think, if you find them awful to look at, so will our enemies.¡±
¡°Yes, but our enemies don¡¯t have to live next door to them. They will basically be our neighbors,¡± Amelia wined.
¡°Not like we have to let them come into the core room?¡± Mark said.
¡°Who is going to watch the dungeon feed when we are asleep. They will be the only intelligent creatures on the fourth floor,¡± Amelia said, narrowing her eyes at him. They had already seen that units from the lower floors could not bypass higher floors to make it to the core room. Neither could they descend floors. Only the highest level floor defenders could make their way into the core room. Mark and Amelia could not always watch the feed. Someone would have to monitor it, and the scorpions did not seem like likely candidates.
¡°Well¡ Okay they can watch the feed and you can send them away before exiting the hut,¡± Mark said smiling. He got a glare in return. ¡°Maybe we will get a good spawner? Or perhaps we won¡¯t have to wait too long before we get to the fifth floor.¡±
¡°We could just use a bugbear again or one of the units from our sponsorship package,¡± Amelia pleaded, batting her eyes.
¡°Nope,¡± Mark said resoundingly. ¡°Whoever said that survival was fun. You can get over it.¡±
The corners of Amelia¡¯s mouth twitched. ¡°I hope we do survive. When I am queen, I am going to make you serve as my footstool when I sit atop my throne.¡±
¡°I would be glad to be your footstool if we ever make it that far,¡± Mark smiled.
¡°Creep,¡± Amelia said, increasing her pace.
¡°Wait, is there really a throne?¡± Mark called after her. ¡°Sounds a bit pompous in my opinion,¡± he added, getting no reply.
Mark checked their sponsorship page while they moved on. Still just the one level 3 package. They had gotten it a few hours after the last rankings had dropped. Likely, a benefit of having made their way into the tenth spot. The package gave a dozen true fiend imps with a power rating of 2.0. Mark could assign any of the classes that they had unlocked, although the power rating would remain locked at 2.0. Likely, Mark would choose mages when he summoned them since the creatures were small in stature. Still 2.0 was far too weak, for what Mark wanted for their fourth floor. They would continue to hold off on summoning the units until they needed them. Not like they had a host of other packages to choose from. The one package a week was not an issue.
Mark had just over 163,000 MP to work with. He opened up his interface, so that Amelia could follow along. He started with unlocking the scorpion for 24,000 MP. From there he moved to unlocking the four different bloodline aspects for 1,000 MP a piece. The unit upgrade page updated. The option to unlock a second aspect slot was provided. It only cost 10,000 MP, so Mark immediately unlocked it as well. A unit with two bloodline slots filled would cost an additional 30 MP, the same as a unit with a level 2 class. The third slot upgrade became available for 25,000 MP, but Mark held off for now.
Mark prepared a violet scorpion like he was going to summon it. Just like he had understood from the description, he would be available to add any combination of the fierce, swift, tough, and mind aspects to the beast. He could double down on one attribute or could make the beast more balanced choosing different aspects. Satisfied, Mark dismissed the potential creation, going back to the unit upgrade page. Except this time he went to the skills section. Mark immediately chose the Soak skill, unlocking it for 10,000 MP.
The second skill slot option became available to unlock, but the cost was 100,000 MP. That was quite the jump. Mark had hoped it would only be to 25,000 MP or at the very least only 50,000 MP, but it did make sense. Even these basic skills sounded pretty powerful. Mark could hardly be disappointed, since it also meant that units possessing more than a skill or two would not be showing up anytime soon.
Mark went back to the unit summoning page. As expected, he was unable to attach a skill onto the scorpion. The beast bloodline upgrades basically took the place of the class and skills that were available for humanoid units. Mark tried it again with one of the flower units, getting the same result. Finally, he swapped the unit out for a goblin arachne. The soak skill equipped to the arachnid as it would for any other humanoid. It made sense, since the unit was under the humanoid tree and not the beast or plant trees. Units either went one way or the other. It was slightly frustrating since improvements in one area would not affect the others, but there was nothing Mark could do about it. Better to have the options than to not.
Next Mark unlocked the level 2 healer class for 25,000 MP. It would make the lone floor healer stronger, but it would also be useful in the future. A test with a goblin healer had proven that they could heal anything living including beasts and even the flower units. Although the healer could not restore the daisy¡¯s vitality the unit lost after using its natural petal storm skill.
Mark checked their MP. They had just over 90,000 MP left and would still have to actually summon the units. That would cost quite a good portion of what they had left. Mark contemplated it for a minute, finally he unlocked the third bloodline slot for 25,000 MP. They would use most of their MP, but it was not like it was not going toward the defense of the dungeon. It would only be disastrous if they were attacked in the next couple of days or so.
Amelia gasped after seeing how little MP they had left, but she did not say anything about it, so Mark continued on. Now for actually summoning the units. Summoning the 20 scorpions dropped their MP down to around 12,000 MP. Mark decided to go for the balanced approach, giving each scorpion one dose of fierceness, swiftness, and toughness. Amelia, squealed despite anticipating the appearance of the 20 giant scorpions.
| Violet Scorpion 1 (1/34) |
Bloodline X3 (Recruit) |
Power lvl: 3.8 |
Morale: 48 (content) |
| Strength |
23 |
Attack: 4 |
Defense: 7 |
| Endurance |
14 |
Abilities/Skills |
| Agility |
8 |
Bloodline enhancements: Fierce, Swift, Tough |
| Vitality |
17 |
| Intelligence |
3 |
| Wisdom |
2 |
The violet scorpions were indeed formidable looking. Their main body was only about six feet in length, but the creature seemed far larger. The two massive dark pincers extended a good three feet in front of the body, and the tail was likely at least 20 feet curving back and up over the creature''s body. The creatures¡¯ deep purple body sat at chest height on top of its six legs. It would be difficult to pick out the creature''s eight dark eyes against the dark purple carapace. The creature by appearance was closer to black than purple, but the violet from the name likely came from the lightening of the color on the creature''s belly, which was closer to the violet color.
¡°Well they aren¡¯t as ugly as the spider monster, but I definitely would much rather face one of them than these guys,¡± Amelia said out from behind his back. Like hiding behind him would do any good if these things attacked, Mark thought, shaking his head.
¡°Well I guess, we will see after you see the arachnes up close,¡± Mark said, opening back up his interface.
A minute later five arachnes had joined the 20 scorpions, four level 2 mages and one level 2 healer. All five were given the soak skill. Hopefully, the skill would be enough to help keep them alive. Mark would of course have armor and enchantments ready to go for the creatures as well in less than a week. Hopefully, by then they would have hit the regular experience level giving them an additional 10% boost. Mark had no trouble assigning the units to the barracks. The barracks could not increase their bloodline, but beasts could still use the training section to increase their experience level.
Amelia bowed out soon after they were complete. Retreating back to the dungeon with the guards. Neighbors indeed, the poor girl would be squirming at the thought of what the core room door connected them too. Mark stayed to observe the units as they moved into the training area. He had to make sure the purchases were worth all the effort since they were currently sitting at just over 23,000 MP. If they got attacked before their MP pool built back up, hopefully these guys were worth their weight in gold.
The arachnes hissed at the scorpions, but made no move against them. Likely since in a one on one fight they would not stand a chance. It was hard to believe that there was only a point two power rating difference between the two, but after observing them for a while longer. Mark understood. The stats had hinted at it, but the scorpions were not meant to be very mobile creatures, and that was with the Swift bloodline boost he had given them.
It took a bit of mentally encouraging himself, but Mark finally got up to the point where he got up next to one of the scorpions. The scorpion studied him with its black beady eyes, but otherwise did not move. Still Mark carefully set out to accomplish what he meant to accomplish.
The scorpion''s natural armor was thickest in the front and on top of its body. The underbelly was more like a tough hide than the hard shell that covered the rest of the beast. However, it was unlikely they could shore up the weakness with manmade armor, without restricting the scorpion''s mobility nearly completely.
Having studied the beast closely, Mark quickly moved back allowing the scorpion to go back to what it was doing. He would not be doing that again. He would not say as much, but he was just as creeped out by the monstrosities they kept acquiring. Even Bruce the giant wasp drone was too creepy to approach, and he definitely would not approach Dragon, the behir. Winnie was scary, but the bear look was not as unsettling, so when Mark needed to harvest the undead blood goop, he went there.
The scorpions were not mobile movement wise, but were still extremely agile. In a close quarters fight their pincers would be extremely deadly, and their tails could lash out incredibly quickly covering the midrange. Further out from that they would just be slow moving tanks. Mark would have to design the dungeon floor to take advantage of their advantages while still allowing the arachne''s free range to devastate with their spells.
Chapter 42.1 Authors notice
I apologize for not updating for the past few months. I had a professional board, that I had to study for and decided to not even get on royal road to prevent me from getting distracted. While I did post it to the Book synopsis, that I would be doing so, I''m not sure how many of you all actually saw it. I passed my board, so intend to resume. I will be moving across country this summer, so that will hamper my ability to write some, but I also will be living by myself, no wife, no 3 year old, for the month of July so perhaps I can just about break even.
Two months is long enough for me to lose the feeling for the story, so as not to go off on some tangent or forget story lines or game metrics I decided to reread what I have written thus far.
First, of all thanks for reading this long and staying with me. Best guess is that it takes a good 14 or 15 hours to read through chapter 42. Second, I did notice alot of errors and things I need to add. I always knew that I am basically writing the frame work of the story and will need to flesh it out on a second draft, but I found my own story to be more choppy than I would like. But I would rather continue forward finishing out the story. Then as long as the story is worth it I will go back and make the characters better, correct errors, and do what I can to improve the flow. The lot of you are smart and can likely fill in the blanks... except for a whole missing chapter... more on that after this. If you are reading this then the errors are not enough to bother you, and I''m sure most of you would rather have the story finished, than for me to spend months improving different areas of my story by a tier or two.
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Also While rereading I discovered that my story jumped from chapter 35 to 36. Did not fully make sense. Went through my word document and found I have two Chapter 36s, So I added the first as Chapter 35.5. It is a full length chapter... Ooopsss, bet you all were like, ''that was quite sudden. Why was there no lead up.''
Finally, I should finish reading what I have tonight May 22nd, so will start writing new chapters shortly. Initially I thought my story would be alot more chapters, but now I would not be surprised If I''m a third of the way done. 100-120 chapters will be my target, which will still be a decently long story, likely taking a good 40 hrs to read. Of course if I do another draft I would not be surprised for that length to increase by 10 to 20 % since I will be feeling in gaps, and describing things better. 50 hrs should be good for my first story that I have put out into the world.
Thank you! hope you enjoy.
Chapter 43: Day 121
Nasal was standing by to greet Mark as he exited the dungeon. It was a bit unusual. Typically, Mark would have to send one of the core guards to track him down, if Mark did not have the time to make his way to wherever Nasal was. The Lieutenant was normally quite busy keeping on top of the goblin affairs. Checking up on the mining, the forge, the crafting, and work projects were just the big named items. Nasal also dealt with all the squabbles and issues that arose with infuriating frequency.
Mark was finding himself, more and more reliant on the hobgoblin. He almost felt like keeping Nasal away from combat to serve purely in an administrative role. It was really frustrating to have to pick up his Lieutenants duties for two weeks each time he died, but in the end Mark could not afford to do so. Although Nasal''s named status seemed to give quite a bit of clout. Units were only getting stronger. Nasal needed to progress or at some point he would be unable to effectively be in command.
Luckily, Nasal had advanced another step in the right direction. His power rating was now sitting at 1.6, now that his experience level had jumped from regular to veteran status, and his power rating boost went from plus 10% to 25%. Mark was not quite sure what caused the upgrade, but he guessed that combat and time both played a role. Not that Mark had many data points to pull from. Other than Nasal, only two other yellow hobgoblin scouts had reached veteran status. Somehow the two had survived all the way from the time, Mark unlocked the scout class and started using four-unit yellow hobgoblin teams to scout their surroundings. Quite a feat, since teams fairly often lost a member, and occasionally even whole teams went missing.
Regardless, Mark needed the unit to get stronger. The only options he had were to send Nasal to train to obtain higher class levels or for him to increase to expert status. Expert status would double Nasal¡¯s current 25% power rating boost that he received from being a veteran. Expert was probably far off, and currently Mark could not afford to let Nasal go train unobstructed at the barracks for a couple of weeks.
Mareth was most definitely gearing up for an attack. Since Gale¡¯s dungeon was practically unassailable and all of the other dungeons appeared to be pretty far off, it was little guess on where her forces would be headed. In fact, It was likely the reason that Nasal was waiting for him. The harpies were being rewarded generously to bring frequent updates on troop types and numbers. Nothing could be hidden from the winged beings aerial view.
¡°Report,¡± Mark commanded as he stepped past Nasal. A second later the two of them were making their way down the gangplank and away from the dungeon entrance towards the research lab where he had left Amelia. A half dozen legionnaires fell into step behind the two..
¡°This morning the Harpies reported that another group of stone golems had finished their time in the barracks. As of yet, a new set has not taken their place. In addition, it appears that another couple hundred of the various weaker units have been summoned. That puts their numbers at around 2,500,¡± Nasal paused. ¡°And, boss¡ They are forming up.¡±
Mark stopped, and looked back at his lieutenant, but Nasal had nothing more to offer. Mark glanced at the sky. They still had several hours worth of daylight left. ¡°When did you receive that report?¡±
¡°Around 1400 boss,¡± Nasal replied curtly.
Mark nodded. ¡°Okay, if one of the harpies stops by, see if they can do a check in that direction in the next few hours, or during the night. We will pay whatever they want.¡±
It would take a good 12 hours for the slow moving constructs to cover the distance. If they wanted to perform a night attack then they would have to leave soon if not already.
¡°Yes, sir. They already agreed to check around sunset. Just in case a couple teams of our scouts have been stationed at each of the passes that lie between us. Unless they take an indirect route they should be able to put eyes on them hours before they reach our dungeon.¡±
¡°Look at you,¡± Mark expressed, although he stopped his inclination to pat the goblin on the shoulder, but it was nice to see him showing some initiative. ¡°Uhmhm, Good work. Anything else to report, Mark asked as he made his way toward outer wall gangplank.
Over the last month a lot of work had been completed expanding their defenses. The outer earthen mud wall now encompassed the dungeon entrance, which would now serve as more of an inner keep. The size of the rudimentary fort would now allow well over a thousand defenders to fight comfortably. Which was good since, battles now would range in the thousands.
The walls might actually hold up decently in the upcoming battle. Taking a cue from Nehemiah, the goblins were now haphazardly utilized wooden lattice framework to keep the wall together. Sections still occasionally collapsed, but things were slightly better now that nearly a week had passed since the last rain. Perhaps the rainy season was over. It was a welcome relief for their defenses, although it would not be a big factor for too much longer. They had finished researching Masonry today. They would not have to put up with earthen walls for too much longer.
¡°I have identified the boundaries of the area the archers in the tower can cover. While they can not hit the settlement buildings the top deck can practically reach the tree line to the west. Things are already a bit clustered up there with the archers we have. Since the tower does not improve the range of mage spells. I think it would be a waste to add anymore that you may summon up there.¡± Nasal stopped waiting for Mark¡¯s input.
¡°Very well,¡± Mark sighed. The tower might not give them a greater range, but it did give them an excellent vantage from which to strike from. Still the range of the spells meant that mages on the tower would not be able to reach much past the outer wall, if even that far
. ¡°With our limited MP I don¡¯t think I can summon too many more mages, and the ones I do will be needed to lead and support the infantry. However, that will mean that you will be the lone commander for the tower.¡±
Currently, there were around 300 archers allotted to man the tower in the upcoming attack. The majority were green goblins, but a handful of horned goblins were included in the count to serve as sergeants of the 30 designated squads the greens were assigned to. The horned goblins were just strong enough to keep the greens in line, but it was far from enough to say that the division of archers was well managed. However, Mark could scarcely afford the MP to solidify the division. The ground troops needed the stronger units far more. Green and horned goblins only needed to pour as many arrows out during the attack as they could.
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¡°Yes, boss. All of the scouts not currently out on mission will be stationed in the tower. They can help me maintain things.¡± Nasal replied promptly.
A thought struck Mark. Mark pulled up his interface real quick. He could not help but chuckle. It appeared there would only be one scout team out over the next day. It was an important mission to the kobolds that had been planned for days, but wouldn¡¯t you know. Both the veteran ranked scouts were a part of the four unit team.
They were either incredibly lucky, or they were incredibly perceptive. It was not exactly a secret that a potential dungeon ending force would be headed their way soon. Perhaps that was how these two had lasted so long when the other scout units were lucky to last a month or so. Mark could just picture the two volunteering to go on this mission while the other scouts were doing everything they could to not be selected.
There was a good chance it might work out for them. Mark was confident Mareth would not be able to conquer their dungeon, but there was a decent possibility that the surface forces would be annihilated. Still the two were also going through miles and miles of underground tunnels, since there were potentially more beasts like Dragon down there¡ They were not exactly dodging the draft. Unless their luck held out they would have to fight, and with far less support.
¡°Oh, um¡ continue,¡± Mark said, realizing that Nasal was giving him an odd expression.
¡°Yes, boss. We have plenty of arrows for the tower. We should be able to fully equip around 50 more units with a full set of enchanted gear, not including the shields. We have just over a hundred of those in total. Other than that we have an additional 45 enchanted hide vests, and maybe a dozen extra arm and leg braces. As far as necklaces, we have a surplus well over a thousand, although half of them are below average or even poor quality.¡±
Mark nodded. The vitality necklaces required the least amount of manna and were the easiest to make out of the various enchanted items their dungeon produced. New transcriptionists always started working on them to develop a feel for enchanting and to develop their skills.
¡°Prioritize outfitting our ground forces first. Anything extra can go to goblins in the tower. I will decide how many and what type of units to summon in the next few hours, and will summon them as soon as we get confirmation that Mareth is indeed attacking. Is there anything else?¡±
¡°No, boss.¡± Nasal said, snapping to attention. Mark continued forward toward the research lab. Nasal was soon left behind to go about his duties.
Mark opened up his interface as he walked. They were currently sitting at just over 34,000 MP. On top of the 300 units to man the tower, Mark had an additional 20 patrols of ground forces. Over half of them even had horned goblins instead of the cheaper green goblins. If they were not at the horned goblin unit cap they would all have horned goblins. On top of that they had the sample plants and extra arachne.
But the pride and joy of the force was the 45 unit squad of bugbears Mark had spent the last five days forming. All of them were fully outfitted with enchanted gear. Although there was one difference. The metal back and breastplate Mark had gotten the gnomes to forge for them would take the place of the hide vest, although it carried its own version of the same defensive enchantment. The better material gave an additional point in defense. In addition, the 45 bugbears each hefted massive warhammers that came as the standard loadout of the goblin warhammer class.
The platoon of bugbears had one purpose, to obliterate the thousands of constructs coming their way. Similar to an advanced class the warhammer class granted units a 15% power rating increase in addition to adding a point to strength and endurance for each class level. What''s more, similar to the other specialized classes they had access to, Mark did not have to spend MP to unlock higher level classes. He could summon units with the warhammer class up to the level of the associated archetype base class. Which in this case was warrior.
Mark had decided to unlock level 3 converting 27 DP to help cover the 25,000 MP cost. It was not like they needed too much DP for their dungeon purposes. Even after buying the fourth floor and making the conversion they were still sitting at 83 DP. Mark would even consider converting some more if he felt like the upcoming battle required it.
The bugbears power rating sat at 3.2 a piece not counting those with ranks. Unfortunately, Mark did not have time to get them above the recruit experience level since the barracks was until recently being used to increase their fourth floor defenders. It nearly took a week for units to increase their level in the barracks and a majority of the defenders had started to hit that level today. If the attack came before the few holdouts made it, Mark would be forced to send them in as defenders as recruits. Although hopefully, the future dungeon defenders would not be involved in the upcoming battle
Hopefully, the elite warhammer platoon would perform as well as he expected. The 3.2 power rating was a bit deceptive. Since the units enchanted gear was all good quality, they could easily be a 3.6 or higher, and that was not even considering their defense. With the metal breast and backplate they were sitting with a 7 in defense. Not to mention each carried a rock skin pill that would add at least 3 to their defense during the pills duration. A handful even had a pill that increased their defense by 4. On top of that, each had the soak skill so could further take a lot of damage over the course of 1 minute.
The one platoon had cost over 57,000 MP in total to summon, and encompassed the entire bearbug population that they were capped at. But hopefully the result would be a very difficult to kill, platoon of rock smashers. Which considering the reports of what was coming they would very much need.
According to the harpies, Mareth had over a hundred of the level 2 dungeon rock golems. The exact number was difficult to discern, but it was clear that Mareth had well over what a level 2 unit cap should allow. Either there were multiple similar unit types offered or Mareth had other means. Although based on the descriptions, essence was most definitely involved.
Some looked like normal rock golems. Others were as black as the coal mounds; all the dungeons were mining. Others had glowing orange streaks throughout their body, like there was molten magma within, but the biggest giveaway were the rock golems with the glowing green eyes. They already knew that Mareth had access to brimstone essence since some had been brought into their dungeon during Mareth¡¯s last attack.
However the rock golems were not the only threat. Other unit types had similar variations of essence use with the same characteristics. Although she was apparently mainly using it on her level 2 units. While the bugbear platoon would be Mark¡¯s answer to the rock golems, he could only build standard fighting units and depend on their enchantments for the rest.
It did not take Mark long to decide on what more they would need. He would summon an additional 50 legionnaires since Nasal had put together that many sets of enchanted gear. Other than that, Mark would summon a good number of mages, a couple of healers, and some more patrols. Then perhaps another troop of units to support the bugbears, he would include the sword wielding arachne in that group.
Mark soon found himself descending the steps of the research lab and into the basement. He had dedicated an entire room to the mad scientist. It had not been very long, but hopefully the mad scientist had some way to contribute. Just a brief stop and conversation here, then he could go to the crafting house where he had initially been headed before Nasal¡¯s report.
Then he would inform Amelia of the likely attack. She was probably wondering why his bathroom break was taking so long. Mark sighed before knocking on the door, just a couple of quick conversations and he could be back at the cauldron. A couple more average quality rock skin pills could be helpful.
Chapter 44: Day 122
Mark was not exactly surprised when reports came back indicating that the bulk of Mareth¡¯s forces had departed at some point in the afternoon on day 121. Nor was it surprising when their scouts picked them up on the most direct route just past midnight. At their current progress they would reach the dungeon well before the night was over.
Mareth choosing to attack during the night was not wholly unexpected. Constructs did not need the light to see like normal units did. His best guess was that they had some sort of spacial sense that they used to navigate although the specifics were unclear. Eh, might as well just say magic since there was no scientific explanation for it. Preparations had already been made for the assumed night attack. Hundreds of torches had been placed to cover the entire clearing.
Mark glanced back at the interface tinted in an entirely green hue. Mark had never actually used night vision goggles, but he had played a couple first person shooters that had a function that simulated what things would look like. The view currently only showed the trees. The high vantage point over his retreating scout units could not tell him much, but their positions on the tactical map were getting real close to their dungeon¡¯s territorial boundary. Supposedly they were staying just ahead of the enemy force, so it would not be long now.
Mark went ahead and shifted the core tactical screen back to their dungeon. Lights were winking into existence all across the clearing as goblins set the torches alight like some candle sigil. Each of them would last several hours. Which should be long enough to get them through to day break. Provided the battle was not already over with by then.
Mark stood and made his way to their hut. It was time to wake her up. Amelia had exhausted herself making as many new enchanted items as possible the day before. While he had elected to just stay up and monitor things, her body had required her to get some sleep.
¡°Amelia¡ Amelia¡ Its time,¡± Mark said, nudging the sleeping form.
¡°Okay,¡± she replied, snapping up, surprising Mark. ¡°I¡¯ll be out there in a minute.¡± Seconds later and she was in the bathroom.
Mark retreated back to the couch. That had been quite easy. If he had known she would not grumble and protest as much as she did on the other occasions when he had to wake her up, he could have let her sleep another ten or fifteen minutes. As it was she joined him on the couch near the same time that the first of Mareth¡¯s forces crossed the territorial boundary.
¡°Did you find out anything ahhhhw,¡± Amelia started, yawning midway through.
¡°No, I was able to see the forces briefly when they first neared the scouts position, but even then I could only make out a portion of them. Could not really discern the individual units very well. Still operating under the assumption that we are dealing with 2,500 units, with somewhere between two to three hundred being level 2 units.¡±
¡°And how many did we end up with?¡±
¡°Uh, just over 1,300 units, and 48 level two units. I built only a couple more arachnes to support the bugbear platoon, and a couple more patrols and mages to hold in reserve.¡±
¡°Geez, I thought having goblins would mean that we would always have the numbers in battle,¡± Amelia remarked sarcastically. ¡°Instead we are losing in both quantity and quality.¡±
¡°Well I could have made another four hundred green goblins or so, but I doubt they could make much of a difference. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m sure we will be just fine,¡± Mark said, flashing her a smirk. She just glared at him in response.
Mark¡¯s attention shifted back to the main screen. Their scouting unit had just broken the tree line and was headed to join their main forces. In a couple more minutes the enemy forces would do so as well.
However, Mareth¡¯s forces paused just beyond the tree line. They had become strung out over the long march, so Mareth was allowing them time to consolidate, so they could attack in force. The actual attack might not come for another 15 to 20 minutes. Which was just fine for Mark. While they were prepared for a night attack, daylight would be more optimal. Still they had well over an hour before first light. While units were still crossing their boundary even now, it should not be much longer, and constructs did not seem to need to rest as far as they could tell.
Their interface was updating the total number of enemy units. The single digit column was nearly constantly blurring as units entered, but as of yet individual units were not being identified with their own counters. Something that would happen when the units all became unveiled for an unspecified amount of time.
Mark checked in with his three linked units. For this battle, he intended to be more involved in directing the key components of his forces. Red hobgoblin #41 was the ground forces leader. He would direct reserves and plug up holes at the wall. There was nothing particularly special about him. He was just one of dozens of red Lieutenants that would be running around. Still Mark needed someone to be the guy, and at least number 41 was among the reds that had reached the regular experience level.
The second link was with the bugbear platoon¡¯s captain. Mark had allowed the bugbears to fight it out on who would be in command bugbear # 52 had been the one to come out on top. The captain rank gave the bugbear a 50% boost bringing him up to a 4.3 power rating, making him the strongest unit that Mark and Amelia had ever fielded, not counting their dungeon defenders. On top of the captain, the platoon also had the associated boosts for lieutenants, and sergeants. Mark was placing a lot of hopes on this platoon.
The third link was with Nasal. Mark could help Nasal direct their efforts to maximize their most valuable resource. They had well over ten thousand enchanted arrows in the tower. Mark had organized them into four general categories of special purpose, flame, piercing, and bang arrows. Mark had chosen to rename the firecracker arrows for a couple of reasons. In a moment of clarity a week ago, Mark realized during a drill that using the word fire for two different types left it up in the air on which of the two the goblins would actually choose. Perhaps they had a preference for one over the other, or perhaps one type was just closer to them. Regardless, allowing the goblins room to choose during the heat of battle was not the best idea.
The special purpose arrows included the high shelf double enchanted arrows that would be delivered to the archers as the need arose. The new light enchanted arrows were also included in this category. It had occurred to Mark that being able to shoot a bunch of lights to any area of the field during a night attack, might be pretty beneficial, so he had a small stock of them made and put aside.
The non special purpose arrows included arrows of all quality level other than poor quality. The four categories were already stretching the goblins'' capacity to effectively use correctly. He did not want to add another factor in the equation for arrow selection. In reality most of the non special purpose arrows were either at average or below average quality, since most of the good quality became dual enchanted. The poor quality arrows were not allowed in the tower. There were a good 50 odd archers that were a part of the ground forces. They would handle those.
The enemy unit counter froze at 2,431. Mark and Amelia watched as the constructs bunched up and started to organize. It only took a few minutes, before the construct army surged forward. The battle would be fully underway in a matter of minutes.
¡°Nasal, first lines seem to be made mostly out of the block and clay constructs, carrying shields. Start with a volley of flame arrows,¡± Mark ordered through his own personal interface to the side that was focused in the tower. They would watch the battle through the dungeon core interface and use their personal interfaces to follow key areas or units.
Nasal cried for flame arrows. The archers on the second level acquiesced. Ten seconds later when the constructs broke the tree line over a hundred arrows streaked out into the night. Seconds later the tips of the arrows all burst into flame before streaking down. The clay and wooden constructs only made it ten steps out in the open before they were forced to raise wooden shields to catch the flaming projectiles. As far as they could tell, not a single unit was adversely affected by the volley, save some having to abandon their shields, but that was few and far between. The better quality the flame enchantment the longer the flames would last and the more easily the flames would spread to the target. Only the higher level quality arrows had the staying power to catch the shields at this range.
¡°Unlike last time. It seems Mareth had come to play,¡± Amelia noted. Mark nodded. The last time Mareth had attacked, most of the golem constructs maybe had a spear,, and there had not been a semblance of armor. Now shields looked to be quite common and many units had hide coverings.
The bottom level of the tower joined in on the second volley resulting in a full 300 arrows streaking toward their enemies. Once again more shields were cast aside and the enemies continued on seemingly otherwise unaffected. The front ranks started getting funneled by the various earthen works, so the archers fired several fire arrow volleys on those that came behind.
Mark did not need to say anything. Nasal was already hollering for the archers to switch to bang arrows before the units emerged more closely packed on the more narrow paths of attack. A rolling wave of small explosions rocks against the closely clustered golems, sending flicks of clay and wood flying.
¡°Damn,¡± Mark cursed after seeing the results of the first firecracker arrow volley.
When his goblins had encountered the firecracker arrows whole swaths of them had fallen in an instant, but the golems were proving to be far more resilient. While a handful went down. The majority continued forward with pocket sized chunks missing off their clay or wood bodies. Although Mark did note that more than a few had lost their arms. The smaller diameter appendages had not fared as well through the hundreds of explosions.
After that volley the constructs charged ahead. Now there was nothing between the front ranks and the earthen walls. The top level of the tower continued to fire on the second and third ranks while the bottom level shifted to firing straight on at the targets closing the walls. Piercing and fire arrows zipped into the foremost of the enemies, who now without shields started to fall supposing the goblin chose the right arrow for the very different constructs.
Mark and Amelia watched for a moment as flame arrows streaked out from their side. The surviving front ranks crashed into the sloshy mud of the moat. The difficult footing only delayed them a few moments before they started clawing at and up along the earthen wall.
War drums began to beat furiously from within the fort, and the goblins on top of the wall began to answer with iron axes and spears. Knowing what opponent they were about to face, Mark had summoned them all with either axes as their main weapons or at least with a hatchet if they came with a spear. Spears might not be as effective at eliminating these enemies, but they did help them keep enemies at bay, so Mark made sure every patrol still had a fair number of them as well.
For a minute the battle held there in a relative stalemate. Then from out of nowhere cries sounded out from within the fort and several of the goblin counters ticked down. Amelia immediately shifted her tactical screen to investigate. Seconds later more cries sounded, and this time, Amelia found one of the sources right after it had happened. A green goblin lay pierced by a javelin that pinned the small creature to the earth. Amelia scrolled around the inside of the fort finding more. Many had missed and stuck ineffectively out of the earth, but others had found their mark. Seconds later they saw a body fall down assumedly from the tower. Once again they found a green goblin run through with a massive javelin.
Mark scanned the battlefield. He could not find any javelin throwers. Sure hundreds of the lesser scarecrow archers were closing in, but the javelins were coming from further out. Mark noticed that all of the torches in the furthest reaches of the field had been snuffed out including everything set alight by the flame arrows. Only half of the field was now illuminated.
¡°Nasal! I need a wave of light arrows. Then have the archers target the strawman with fire arrows.¡±
A half minute later a hundred arrows burst into light at the peak of their flight and started raining down in the blackness. Immediately the whole section was faintly illuminated once again. Dozens of hulking gray and black stone golems had posted up with a large supply of javelins. Mark watched as several reared back and launched their projectiles forward.
¡°That is way too far away,¡± Amelia exclaimed incredulously.
¡°No, It looks like we aren¡¯t the only ones with enchanted items. Might be the same with the¡¡± Mark trailed off. He had been about to say that their arrows were also likely enchanted, but the sight of the second wave emerging out from amidst the trees caused the words to stick in his throat.
Flesh golems, jack o lanterns, stone golems, and a literal horde of creepers emerged into view. There were green and orange lights that were clearly visible even without zooming in any further. There seemed to be 3 types of jack o lanterns. The standard unit and the ones with their pumpkin heads seemingly set a blaze by green or orange flames. Similarly the stone golems had three main types. The standard normal gray units. The stone golems with the evil green eyes. Finally, there were stone golems who seemed to have live magma trying to burst out from their core. Orange light burst from cracks throughout their body. Then there were rows of lines of flesh golems and creepers. Perhaps there were about a hundred flesh golems, but there seemed to be four times that number of creepers. Most of which carried long wicked looking scythes.
¡°Wow this kind of makes the first wave seem like some kind of joke,¡± Amelia said, her eyes glued to the interface.
¡°You aren¡¯t wrong,¡± Mark said, sifting his fingers through his hair. It was unbelievable. Mareths whole second wave consisted of level two or peak level one units numbering over 700 in total. ¡°Nasal shift fire of the second level on the next wave. Give em¡¯ our best.¡±
Nasal hollered in correspondence. Soon goblin runners were grabbing bundles of arrows from safe boxes toward the center of the tower and carrying them out to the archers. The lower level continued to fire in support of the ground troops. The second wave surged forward.
The creepers quickly outpaced themselves from the rest. Some even seemed to blur into black shadows and whirred forward. They did not seem to even require touching the ground as they easily transgressed the uneven terrain. In less than half a minute they would be amongst the ranks of the first wave.
¡°Whoa, how are they doing that?¡± Amelia wondered. ¡°A skill?¡± she then postulated.
It was not a bad guess. There was a swift skill that would likely offer that type of movement, but some sort of essence ability made more sense. After all, it was only being completed by the pitch black creepers. The normal creepers or those at a green tint had fallen well behind.
¡°Mareth is fielding more creepers than should be possible with a unit cap. Which likely means she has a way to make a net set of base units. Based on what I¡¯ve seen I would guess it involves a couple different essence sources.¡±
¡°Wow we need to figure out how to do that,¡± Amelia said in amazement.
Fires erupted to the east of the fort drawing both of their attention. Mark glanced over. Dozens of constructs were setting the buildings ablaze. Mark sighed. It was not wholly unexpected, but he had hoped Mareth was too confident in wiping out their dungeon and would pass them by. They would lose a day''s worth of progress after all.
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Mark¡¯s attention was about to shift back to the main battle, before he saw a ten foot tall nutcracker burst through the research lab siding. The enemy constructs immediately shifted their focus on it, but they were immediately¡ disintegrated? Blue pulses surged forth from the wooden robots'' palms. Any construct that got hit directly turned to ash. Any that was just grazed started falling to pieces.
¡°Holy hell,¡± Amelia said in awe. ¡°At least that mad scientist is good for something.¡±
¡°Yeah, it sure is something,¡± Mark said forcing his attention back on the main battlefield. Ezekial¡¯s mad sideshow might be able to handle the few dozen weaker enemies setting fire to the buildings, but it would not really affect the overall battle. Not to mention the buildings were already on fire, so what would it even save?
The shadow creepers had reached and mounted the earthen walls. Their scythes rose and fell sending bits of goblins flying. Mark gripped the couch armrest hard enough till his knuckles became white, when a handful of flame arrows sailed right through the shadowy forms. The hit shadow creepers,, staggered a bit before reassuming their stance. More shadow creepers were cresting the walls at every moment. If he did not do something immediately a whole section of the wall would be lost.
¡°Number 41, have the spiritualists engage the shadow creepers on top of the wall,¡± Mark ordered the ground commander.
The red hobgoblin immediately yelled to a group of reds waiting off to his right. The ten spiritualist reds started toward the potential breach. Dark shadowy shapes started to spring from existence around the spiritualist. Each of them had a capacity of 5 power rating worth of shadows under their controls. Dozens of shadow kobolds and lizardmen soon joined the fray. The one sided slaughter was almost immediately stifled. However there were more shadow creepers joining every moment. Units equivalent to a 50 power rating would not be enough against a hundred high 1 power rating opponents.
¡°Nasal, have several squads start firing light arrows into the shadow creepers!¡±
Luckily, Nasal did not need any clarification. It took a bit for the goblin runners to deliver the appropriate arrows. During which the spiritualist¡¯s summons started to get overwhelmed, but the light arrows started at just the right time. This time the arrows stuck inside the targets. Whatever shadow phase thing the creepers had been able to do with other attacks did not work against the pure light arrows. Even better, they seemed to be a critical hit. Several shadow creepers were instantly dropped. Others were put in such a destabilized state that even normal goblins were able to engage.
That was one fire prevented, but there were sure to be other areas that were heating up. Mark forced himself to once again reevaluate the battle as a whole. The field was littered with hundreds of golem and strawman corpses, with many mini fires burning throughout the field.
From all appearances they had killed a lot of the enemy units, but the counter still showed that Mareth still had 1,532 units fielded. They still had a ways to go. Fortunately, most of the unit types now had numbers. They were delineated by however Mark and Amelia had decided to delineate them. For example the shadow creeper counter was down into the 40¡¯s with another dying every moment.
Just like Mark thought there were four categories for Mareth¡¯s units. The regular stone, magma, and green eyed golems were all pegged at 40. However Mareth had apparently only summoned five of the black stone golems. The jack o lanterns only had one shadow unit. Whereas there was not a single flame type creeper. There were not any variants of the flesh golems.
Either Mareth had a limited amount of essence or certain essences worked better with particular units and not with others. The shadow creepers were one such example of an essence complimenting a unit perfectly. Mark shook his head. He could ponder on the implications afterward. For now he needed to focus.
The flesh golems were shoving their way into the front, evidently intent on taking over the breach the dwindling shadow creepers had made and were struggling to hold. Several hundred feet away, the rest of the creepers attacked their own section of the wall intent on starting their own breach. Green acid balls blazed from dozens of palms, and scythes whipped from side to side. The goblins manning the section were dropping at an alarming rate.
Mark did not have to give any orders. Nasal was already on it shifting a whole section of the tower to focus on the creepers, and number 41 barked for the 10 mages, 50 legionnaires, and reserve patrols to reinforce that area. That was about all they could do, so Mark shifted his attention to the 125 stone golems slowly approaching the wall. The group that had been throwing the javelins had evidently run out. They had joined up with the others intent on hitting the fort like a slow moving rockslide.
¡°Captain, it''s time. The stone golems are making their move.¡±
Forty eight units emerged from behind the earthwork to the side of the attacking army. Since the attack had commenced they had slowly crept into position to be able to shoot in and engage the stone golems. Three dual sword wielding arachne with armor covering their goblin half immediately separated from the 45 bugbear platoon that moved at a light jog toward their target. The three arachne¡¯s jobs were simple. They had to eliminate and hold other unit types at bay while the bugbear engaged the main purpose for their existence.
The battle inside the fort was heating up. Flesh golems had successfully infiltrated the walls forming a solid wall of flesh where the weaker units could now amass behind them safely. Not that the weaker units were really required. The flesh golems were difficult to stop by any unit¡¯s beside the mage lieutenants. All of the reserve mages had already been sent to reinforce the creeper breach. Even the archers in the tower were having difficulty at halting the flesh golem¡¯s progress.
The creeper breach was fairing even worse. The reinforcements and concentrated fire might have evened the odds against just the creepers, but the Jack o lanterns had joined the creepers. Translucent orange and green pumpkin heads formed in their palms before they were sent sailing into patches of goblins either bursting them into flames or melting them down like the witch on the Wizard of Oz. The regular jack o lanterns joined in the melee, scythes sweeping through the goblin ranks, but there was little else they could do that breach was already receiving their utmost attention.
Mark¡¯s attention was pulled back outside the walls. The arachne were practically galloping through lesser straw bowmen. With them focused on the arachne, the stone golems would practically receive no support when the bugbears engaged them, but the fact did not seem to matter to the golems. They had stopped and turned to engage the bugbears closing their position.
Mark had wrestled with how to ensure this engagement happened and whether it would even be as effective as he hoped it would be. It had been months since, but he remembered sending another unit behind enemy lines on a mission, only to have them cower and refuse to fulfill the mission. However, Mark knew the bugbears had to be the ones to hit the stone golems. Mark could not afford to have the archers concentrate fire on the sturdy golems like they had in Nehemiah¡¯s dungeon, when there was so much else going on during this attack, and all of the other units would have difficulty damaging a stone golem let alone killing one. Mark could not afford for the bugbears to get pulled in by some other force. They were strong and durable, but mages and archers would still be effective against them.
Starting the bugbear platoon outside the fort was the only way Mark could think of to ensure the confrontation of the two forces. As he could see it, if Mareth kept them as a group she would either deploy them at the very front of the attack as a moving shield wall since they were almost impossible to bring down, or she would hold them in reserve saving them for the dungeon. The stone golems were unreasonably slow, so Mark doubted she would imbed them within her other forces. Luckily, he had guessed right, and even more fortunately Mareth had held them in reserve. The other option would have required the bugbears to rush in and engage right outside of the fort while the rest of the goblin forces tried to keep the rest of Mareth¡¯s armies at bay.
The other worry was that the stone golems would prove tough even for the hammer carrying bugbears. While the bugbears would still be effective, the battle would last too long and there would not be enough bugbears to engage a hundred plus units. In which case the bugbears would lose the engagement despite taking a heavy toll on the stone golems.
The captain of the bugbear platoon put those worries to rest moments later with a single swing. This platoon was not a cowardly group of frogmen, nor were they opportunistic goblins. No, they were far more like the ferocious orcs, born to do battle.
The bugbear captain was several paces ahead of the rest of the platoon when the two sides met. His massive hammer swung down in an overhead arc, slamming down on the stone golem¡¯s arm it had raised to catch the attack, but the hammer continued right through the gorilla sized stone arm sending pieces flying in all directions, before cratering into the golem''s head. The head fared little better than the arm, and the associated counter ticked from 40 to 39.
The rest of the bugbears slammed into the stone golem force. While not as strong or as effective as their captain, even the weakest of units had a power rating at the same level as their opponents. Any boosts that the golems gear brought was likely negated by the bugbears receiving the same or better boosts. From what he could see Mareth did not have the military organization tech. Which meant she was fighting at a distinct disadvantage, and likely did not even know about it based on the way the encyclopedia was hesitant to unveil the benefits of techs and other features.
The sight brought up an old memory for Mark. It was during his freshman year during a discussion about a group project for engineering 101. The professor had based the whole class on choosing the right tool for the job, and how much more effective things would go. The class had been pushing for them to be innovative and think outside of the box, but the words came to mind in their more practical application for Mark now. There was nothing better for smashing rocks than a giant hammer.
Two dozen stonemen fell before the bugbears hit their first snag. The regular stone golems were falling seemingly defenseless, but the bugbears started reaching golems of the other types. A magma golem seemed to pull out all the heat from its core causing the orange glow emitting from the cracks across its body to fade making it look like the standard unit. A second later the orange ball of heat slammed into the closest bugbear.
The bugbear dropped screaming soundlessly. The metal breast and back plate melting into his body. The bugbear squirmed for a few moments before the body went basically still, except for an occasional twitch from one of its legs. The bugbear counter dropped down to 44.
What was worse was that the orange glow was starting to grow again from the magma golem. Another minute or so the golem might be able to perform the exact same feat once again. Not that the bugbears would give him a chance. A bugbear turned the top half of that golem to rubble moments later. Still the bugbears pushed into golem ranks, doing their best to dodge orange balls of pure heat from the magma golems or green globs of acid from those with green eyes.
Mark''s eyes shifted back to the fort as one hundred flaming arrows duplicated into four times as many raining down on the creepers and jack o lanterns. Dozens of enemies were knocked back a step. More than a few fell, but they would not be brought down so easily. Then a rain of piercing arrows zipped right through black cloaked figures dropping even more. More arrows fell every few seconds cutting the attackers to ribbons stalling any progress.
For a moment, Mark thought the battle might be over then and there. The stone golems numbers would be severely reduced. Assuming the bugbears could not just finish the job. The flesh golems were progressing slowly, but they were little more than slow moving tanks.
But Mareth¡¯s forces had their own answer. Seemingly instantaneously each and every one of the surviving jack o lanterns removed their heads. This was different from the palm sized ones the flame and sulfur types summoned at their palms and lobbed at his forces. They were likely three times the size. Seconds later the pumpkins were set loose.
¡°On no,¡± Amelia stated as the pumpkins sailed toward the tower.
The breach had gotten them close enough to target the tower, but it was still a difficult feat to accomplish and half of them fell short sailing under the tower. The other half slammed into the lower level eviscerating that section in orange and green flame. A good thirty or forty goblins evaporated in an instant.
Moments later the payloads that had fallen short landed on the surface wreaking havoc. Amelia¡¯s interface winked to a different picture as Red Hobgoblin #41 disappeared. The spiritualists who had retreated to the same area were decimated along with a handful of other recovering mages.
Mark¡¯s eyes shifted back to the jack o lanterns. God forbid they could pull off a second like attack, but the panic was soon alleviated. While the jack o lanterns fought on now headless, it was clear they were doing so at a reduced capacity. Like the daisy¡¯s petal storm attack it was a one time special move that damaged the unit. Mareth had likely been hoping to not have to use it outside of the dungeon, but the situation forced her hand.
Nasal and a couple of the other yellow hobgoblins were able to keep some groups of archers on task, but most of the lower level was in pure anarchy. Nasal was able to maintain some form of semblance on the top level despite the flames and smoke that would make being on the second level a death trap in a minute or two. Perhaps the goblin lieutenant was that loyal, or he was just giving too much credit to the many defensive inscriptions that Mark had added to the tower for just such an occasion. It did not last long.
Mark was not the least bit surprised when it happened. In fact after witnessing the first level go up in flames he had almost expected it. The situation had reminded him of another older memory from his childhood. His older brother had lit one of those bee fireworks that corkscrewed through the air. The bee had done as advertised, but unfortunately had done so right into the large brown paper bag holding the rest of their fireworks. Both boys had immediately run for it as the backyard erupted with fireworks flying and popping all over the place.
The first to go off was a lone piercing arrow that shot through the first floor, a goblin on the second level, and out the tower''s roof, but the lone arrow was only a warning shot. Goblins had come to the same conclusion and scattered in all directions. Arrows erupted into fire and exploded all across the tower as more arrows found other arrows. Goblins were sent sailing over the edge railing to plummet 30 feet to their likely death. Nearly all 300 of the towers inhabitants were caught up by the hundreds of deadly projectiles or flames except for a few on the lower level who had immediately decided to climb down the stairs after the initial blast. Nasal was not among them. Mark watched in horror as their counter dropped from over 700 to the 400¡¯s in half a minute.
The battle continued. The constructs were not affected by fear or surprise so they pushed on with creepy fervor, while the tower blazed. Most of the arrows had already become unstable and fired off or exploded, but throughout the rest of the battle lone holdouts would fire off randomly into the night. If it was not to their detriment, Mark might have thought the situation was a bit funny, but their surface forces were in grave straits.
The creepers and now weakened jack o lanterns had done their part, but they no longer had the numbers to be a threat on their own. Instead they fell into pincering a section of defenders to join up with the flesh golems advance. There were still 72 flesh golems fighting on with a good 300 strawman, block and clay golems supporting them from behind. Another 400 level 1 units were set up outside to join from outside the outer wall. In total, Mareth still had 859 units.
The only saving grace for Mark was that most of the remainder would be level 1 units. Even if their numbers persisted they would never be able to get through all four floors of their dungeon. Dragon might eventually succumb, but the scorpions and arachne on floor 4 should be just fine. Mareth would have to send for more units to finish the job. Real question was whether the game producers would not allow Mark and Amelia to summon units for the days it would take for Mareth to bring a sufficient number of her stronger units, if Mareth even decided to wait for reinforcements.
While the situation inside the fort looked bleak, things outside were wrapping up rather nicely. The arachne were still picking up lone or small clumps of units. The bugbears were finishing up their mission, although only six were left on their feet. A couple others lay panting amidst the rubble, too tired to continue. Regardless, the captain and 2 of the lieutenants were among those still up. They would finish the job, however it was clear they would need a breather before they could even attempt to rejoin the battle. The battle would probably already be decided by that point, but Mark could hardly fault them. The 45 unit platoon had taken down three times their number, and swinging the massive hammers repeatedly had to be tiring.
Another five minutes passed and the captain of the bugbears had fallen to one knee in exhaustion after slaying the last of the stone golems. Another 2 bugbears had gone down leaving six on the counter. The rest of the defenders had been pushed back to the dungeon entrance, although only about 200 hundred of them remained. Through the pedestal, Mark had been able to shift the untouched entrance guard out with tired soldiers to delay the inevitable. The 5 mages from the entrance were fresh so were able to take down twice as many flesh golems, but they were soon as worn down as the other mages still on their feet. Hundreds of empty mana potion vials were littered throughout the fort. Cast aside as soon as their contents had been drained.
The mages were tapped out. Each kept enough for a bolt or two for their last defense, hoping that something else could turn the tide of the battle before they were forced to use them and collapse after doing so. The only saving grace was that the enemy mages and acid ball attacks had seemingly also been tapped out, so the fight had become a pure melee. The downside was that the flesh golems and remaining creepers were the dominant units in that regard.
¡°Seriously,¡± Amelia said pointing.
Mark eyes instantly glued on the ten foot tall wooden nutcracker cresting the hill behind their forces. It was a welcome relief, but Mark was still skeptical about how much of a difference the contraption could make, after all the numbers were now 600 to 100. But blue pulses lanced out striking flesh golem after flesh golem. Each golem dropped their body turning to a pile of goo. The loan goblin drum emboldened by the feat soon started beating his drum more furiously. The goblin spirits lifted briefly.
¡°Tkkk,¡± Mark scoffed as the nutcracker clearly tried to send out one of its blue pulses, and failed to do so. ¡°I guess it ran out of life essence,¡± Mark remarked calmly as the several creepers swarmed the wooden construct. The nutcracker swiped at them, but its movements were far too sluggish. After that brief respite, the wholesale slaughter of the goblin forces continued.
Chapter 45: Day 122
The fight for the surface of the dungeon lasted just under an hour. The sky was still fully dark, although that would change within the hour. The main light source casting shaky shadows was the bonfire encompassed by smoldering wooden poles in the center of the fort. For now it was all that remained of the two levels of the tower.
Mark could not worry about that for now. Mareth still had 562 units, and had effectively captured the surface of their dungeon. Perhaps soon she would begin her assault on the dungeon floors. There were still a couple dozen friendly units alive on the surface, but that would likely not last for long.
Mark was only concerned with nine of them. Instead of having the 6 bugbears and 3 arachne mount a suicidal charge, Mark decided to pull them back. The units were too exhausted to do much good, but more importantly as linked units they were Mark''s only way to communicate with the surface. Since they could not currently summon units from one of their outposts these nine and the 150 or so frogmen several days away were all that Mark could field supposing Mareth decided to hold the surface.
Hopefully, it would be a nonissue. Based on the last patch, one of the succession battle managers could allow the defending dungeon to summon units provided the attacking dungeon was not actively attacking and just inside of the territory. Mark did not know whether that would apply for this situation, but since Amelia was from a third rate faction, Mark was not willing to depend on their good graces. That was assuming Mareth decided to occupy the surface instead of sending all of her units below. That and that the dungeon floors could weather the attack.
The bugbear captain quickly gathered his bugbears and retreated into the forest to the east. The arachnes took a bit more coaxing, but after hissing back against his orders a couple times they eventually relented. Mark would have them go rest for now. If they were needed to retake the dungeon then it should at least be after a some sleep.
They did not have to wait for long. Mareth¡¯s forces immediately set about entering the dungeon. However nearly a hundred of them did indeed hold back. They set up around the dungeon entrance. If Mark had to retake the surface it would be doing so against his own defenses.
First, they would see if Mark and Amelia would even survive the assault from the 475 constructs. They poured down the tunnel, wooden block golems leading the charge. Traps triggered with little effect. Even the collapsing ceiling trap only claimed one unit. The constructs marched on, only pausing briefly prior to entering the amphitheater. Mareth might have already seen the trick, but it was still the best place for Mark''s forces to make their stand. After all last time she had attacked, the rolling pin had been stuck in place.
Mark only had the five goblin archers man the trap stationed in the center of the room. After all, he only intended to drop it once. The rest of the yellow hobgoblins set up on the left side of the room. Ten orcs and Winnie set up on the right.
The block men led the charge up both sides. None bothered attempting the middle where the studded rolling pin sat waiting. Seconds later a handful of creepers popped out and began peppering the right side with acid balls. All of them aimed at the bear tearing apart the walking stacks of wood. However Mark noted that the creepers remained near the entrance with a watchful eye on what was happening in the center. They would be ready to dive back into the tunnel if Mark tried to divert the rolling pin their way like he had last time.
The stream of constructs was constant. Flesh golems made their way up both sides. The goblin shield wall was holding up fairly well despite them getting slowly pushed back up the slope. Winnie was already barely holding together, and several imps had gone down. One brute orc and two regulars were the only thing keeping the right side together. Once the flesh golems reached their position the fight would end real quick.
Mark waited until the moment before the flesh golems made it into the brawl. The five hobgoblins on top started to push the rolling pin sliding the contraption over to the right side. In all it only took around 10 seconds for the goblins to get it into position, but that was long enough for Winnie and several more orcs to fall. The goblins did not hesitate, they pulled the lever.
The brute orc and three other surviving orcs fought bravely. Right up to the moment the rolling pin smashed into them from behind. The flesh golems and block men all fell soon after as the studded pin bounced down toward the bottom. The creepers however saw it incoming and ducked back into one of the tunnels.
After that Mark ordered the goblins to break the shield wall and kill as many enemies as they could. The five archers scurried to join in. All together they might have brought down another one or two of them. Unless Mark could get them outfitted with better weapons or something they could hardly affect the durable block men and the flesh golems were even a further stretch.
Still Mark was quite happy with the results. They had taken down just over three dozen of the enemies including five flesh golems. It was not much, but Mark did not have high expectations for the first two floors.
Then came a fifty minute wait as Mareth amassed her forces in the amphitheater. Mareth was obviously aware of the floor cooldown time, and was going to allow her creepers to recoup as much manna as possible before assailing the second floor. It was a bit annoying, but it did add the benefit of keeping her from easily reinforcing from the 87 units left on the surface.
Mareth had some clay golems scout out the second floor. The rest of her force followed closely behind, but when the tunnel opened into the large final room her forces surged toward the stairs leading to the top of the 40 foot cliff. Her forces cautiously advanced up the two set of stairs. It was not till they reached the cutback that fireballs streaked from the towers engulfing foremost units that the constructs started to frantically scramble to reach the top. Several block men ran up a flight''s worth of stairs as their bodies slowly burnt. More units pushed past them reaching where the two paths joined, ready to assail the final few steps and meet the legionnaire shield wall waiting on top.
The creepers advanced into the room ready to provide support against the legionnaires, while several flesh golems flanked them to guard against attacks from the two mage towers to either side of the room. That was when Bruce, the orange drone wasp and second floor guardian, made his move. Launching off the cliff, Bruce¡¯s wings beat madly to help him glide on a collision course with the clump of high value targets.
The creepers scattered, but not before Bruce cut through three of them. Unfortunately Bruce then found himself surrounded by flesh golems, who immediately started pulverizing him. Bruce fought back, taking another four flesh golems off the board. Overall Mark was a bit disappointed that so many of the creepers had escaped. Bruce could have likely killed a good fifty of the weaker constructs, but Mark had elected to use the opportunity to strike over the front lines at the more dangerous mage units.
The creepers rejoined together and started lobbying their acid at the shield wall that was holding fast. In less than half a minute the stalemate became an open melee, so Mark had the three spawned brute orcs enter the fray. Mark allowed his forces to be pushed back and out of range of the creeper mages who would lose their line of fire. The goblin mages focused their attacks on any flesh golems that tried to go up the stairs. However, Mareth brought forward several dozen lesser scarecrow archers. They poured arrows over the side. Sure they were firing blind, but the regular arrows stuck ineffectually out of golems that were hit. They injured or killed any unlucky orcs or goblins.
The melee lasted for several minutes. The legionaries and spawner brute orcs put down another forty units before succumbing to the swarm. The mages had long depleted their manna and eres rock licks in their position. They could only feebly fight the constructs that marched up the stairs to engage them.
It was not an entirely bad showing for the second floor. All together they had brought down the enemy numbers to 363 including nine flesh golems and three creepers. Together the first two floors had managed to wipe out a good 25% of the forces. Which did not sound good since they had burned through half of the floors, but floors 3 and 4 were in an entirely different tier of power.
This time, Mareths forces paused for an hour and fifty minutes. It only seemed like overkill till Mark watched the pumpkin heads sprout back into existence. Nearly two dozen jack o ''lanterns would enter the third floor at full strength. Similarly a half dozen on the surface received their heads back. Mark suddenly was a bit more concerned. He had been thinking there was a chance that the third floor would weather Mareth¡¯s forces by itself, but that seemed fairly unlikely now. Still noting the time lapse, it seemed it took the jack o lanterns at least three hours to regrow their heads. If they threw their heads again, they likely would not be able to regrow them during the dungeon attack without facing a floor respawning its defenders.
Mareth¡¯s forces would be the first to really test the third floor. Dragon the floor guardian with a power rating of 5.6 had done most of the work in the prior attacks that had reached there. Then there were the spawned ten 2.5 power rating skeletal knights. The 20 bugbear swordsmen boasted a 3.2 power rating, and the four bugbear mages boasted a 2.9 power rating. Although none of those power ratings took into account the enchanted gear which would effectively raise them an additional three or four points. In contrast only the jack o lanterns reached into the low 3¡¯s. The creepers and flesh golems barely made it into the 2¡¯s.
The constructs poured into the cavernous floor. Stone columns frequented the open expanse, and the ground was slick with dew from the high humidity. The only light came from ever burning torches on the columns. It would make ambushing quite easy if it were not for the construct''s unique way of seeing their environment. Mark¡¯s only guess was that units would not be seen if they were behind something, which they all currently were.
However, Mareth had the clay units fan out into the room immediately. The scout units immediately located the cluster of columns the bugbear forces were utilizing, and the construct army started forward to engage. This time Mareth¡¯s forces were more mixed. She anticipated the floors to be more difficult the further she went down, and did not allow her weaker units to get whittled down in such an environment.
Two flaming jack o lanterns advanced along with the main force striking right at the bugbears. While two more were amidst the slightly smaller flanking groups sent out to the left and right. The rest of her forces moved forward cautiously, keeping a careful watch on their perimeter. It was a surprisingly well coordinated attack and defense for only a half minute¡¯s worth of time.
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The bug bear mages struck first popping out from behind stone columns with orange balls of energy already coalescing around their fingertips. The fireballs struck the awaiting shields of the front ranks. Not many of the shields had survived the surface, but Mareth could still throw together a shield wall or two. The 20 bugbear swordsmen charged in as shields were cast aside. Golems still on flames attempted to halt the charge, but the bugbear swordsmen cut clay golems into two and block golems splintered. The bugbears were too strong for even the durable block men to last more than a couple strikes.
The jack o lanterns had each started to summon a flaming pumpkin caricature in each of their palms even before the bearbug mages had made their move. The cast time seemed to take about four seconds a piece, or eight in total. Immediately after the initial clash their attacks were ready. The flaming pumpkins each streaked out. The pumpkins exploded against their targets immediately covering their bodies in fire. The flames stretched out to try to snare other surrounding units, but none other than constructs were close enough. Four targets and four bugbears lit up like torches.
Several dropped to the ground to try and put out the flames. One swiped ineffectual around himself. The last fought on stoically, trying to bring down as many with it as possible. Which actually worked out for it. Like the normal fireball the flames only clung for a set amount of time after impact before they tapered off, while twice as long as for a fireball the bugbears were still alive when the flames started to wane. The two on the ground had already become easy targets to clay golem spearmen, who pinned them to the ground. The one who could not see was targeted by several globs of creeper acid. The one fighting on emerged from the flames severely burnt and steaming with a manic look in his eye.
The jack o lanterns did not bother to try to summon a second volley of palm pumpkins, both went to their ultimate move. Their flaming heads were removed and sent into the biggest clusters of bugbears in sight. Most of the bugbears caught in these blasts were flash fried. Some were not killed outright, but they would be far too devastated to continue to fight effectively.
In the first fifteen seconds 14 of the bugbear swordsmen had been dropped. The rest fought on, barely needing to pause to eliminate those they encountered. Fireballs zipped by them zeroing in on the jack o lanterns and creepers in the middle. Both jack o lanterns were in a weakened state and lit up like torches, and three more creepers were set aflame.
Another clump of creepers further back continued the acid attacks on the bugbear swordsmen, while the constructs that slipped through the cracks streaked toward the mages. The flanking forces were coming around, but would not make it to the battle. The left flanking force was halted by the ten skeletal knights. While the right¡
Dragon roared as he burst out of a tunnel. The behir was 25 feet long and stood a good 10 feet tall with two arms with razor sharp talons. The creature was so quick that two of the four green acidic palm pumpkins missed. Dragon slammed into the ranks, talons ripping through constructs. Even a flesh golem was diced as easily as if they were made of jello. The jack o lanterns immediately began removing their heads while creepers rained acid on the undead beast.
But the jack o lanterns never got to throw them. Dragon had instantly recognized them and the creepers in the center as the only threats, and what were ten ranks of minor roadblocks to it. One claw cut both the jack o lanterns in half. The creepers did not warrant an attack, the falling pumpkin heads exploded where their owners had stood. A green explosion rocked the area. Dragon shied back immediately, Half of its face and one of its arms disfigured in the blast, but the damage did not stop the beast, who immediately started slaughtering the surrounding constructs.
It did not take Dragon long to make his way to the main attack force. New creepers sent new waves of acid onto the creature, but Dragon was weathering the acidic attacks far better than most had. Mark did not know whether it was due to the creature¡¯s naturally high defense or thick hide, or since the beast was so big and powerful the acidic attacks just could not burn through as deep.
The skeletal knights fell first allowing the left group to join the fight in the center. Mark had expected as much. He had just needed them to delay for as long as possible. They were not the only group to reinforce the center; another clump of jack o lanterns and creepers were coming from Mareth¡¯s reserves. The idea was to completely overwhelm and slaughter Dragon. However the left side got there first. Two flaming pumpkin heads launched at Dragon exploding against the creature¡¯s chest. Dragon went ballistic, roaring and trampling to get to them. Several of the surviving bugbears were among the units to get run over, but they both were able to get back on their feet and continue fighting. Dragon set into the left group of enemies devastating it entirely.
But the next wave of reinforcements had 10 jack o lanterns. Two waves of 10 palm pumpkins slammed into the undead¡¯s main mass. Dragon survived, but with a good deal of its legs blown off or entirely ruined, he would not be able to do much except thrash around, which he was doing. However, Mark could see that another wave of palm pumpkins would be on their way soon.
It was the bugbear mages who were the last on their feet. Even at close quarters they were deadly with their staffs when faced with the far weaker constructs that had engaged them to prevent their continued assistance, but once Dragon and the other bugbears were finished off the four of them were quickly run down.
Mareth¡¯s forces had been cut by nearly 200, down to 187, but with fifteen jack o lanterns still in commission Mareth could definitely still challenge the fourth floor. While Mark would be lying if he said he was not worried at all, he was interested in seeing how the fourth floor would handle.
Mark had made one of the giant scorpions the fourth floor guardian, giving the scorpion the name King. King would boast a power rating of 4.9, a bit below Dragons but still exceptional at this stage in the succession battle. The other 19 scorpions¡¯ power ratings were at 4.4, while the arachne mages and healer were at 3.5, but the arachne also had enchanted gear including a metal breast and back plate. Then they also all carried bows with top shelf enchanted arrows. This line up was while Mark was still fairly certain that they would be all right.
This time Mareth only delayed for a little over an hour which was apparently enough for the few surviving creepers to refill their manna. The constructs entered the fourth floor to find themselves facing a honeycomb of tunnels. It was as close to a maze as Mark had been able to manage. The floor was not overly big, but had plenty of tunnels crisscrossing and joining one another. There were only a couple of open rooms, but they were basically kill zones. All were lit by bioluminescent moss. It was a perfect floor for the scorpions and arachne to skitter around and ambush enemy units.
The constructs were forced to break up into smaller groups as the tunnels were only wide enough for around ten to walk shoulder to shoulder to shoulder. However, Mareth kept the constructs in clumps near one another, so that they would be able to aid in mutual support while still acting independently. Each clump had expendable clay golems scout ahead.
It was a very reasonable move, on Mareth¡¯s part. Throughout the battle, she had demonstrated quite good judgment in tactics. In her position, Mark doubted he could have come up with a better in the same amount of time. It was just unfortunate for her that she did not have the right pieces to contend the fourth floor as far as Mark was concerned. If she still had a good deal of stone golems Mark might have been a little worried.
Mareth¡¯s units started to the left. She seemed intent on exploring the honeycomb network section by section, not allowing her units to become spread out. Somehow she had even picked the side where Mark had placed the entrance, not that it would do her any good till she killed King the floor guardian. Mark immediately started coordinating his defenders to intercept.
It did not take long for the fighting to begin. Several arachne fireballs came from overhead exploding into clumps of constructs. Several blockmen and clay golems were incinerated by the level 2 mages. There were a couple of ways for units to get into the attic like the second floor of the maze, but none of them were in the front half of the floor. It gave the arachne the perfect vantage to attack with impunity from any angle all while keeping them difficult to engage.
On cue the scorpions moved in, nipping at the constructs from the side tunnels. The clay golems scouts that were scouting each of them were easily trampled, leaving only ten seconds for the main construct forces to prepare. The scorpions could not move fast for long, but they could cover a decent bit with a short burst of speed. Luckily, for Mareth she had the back wall to one side so the attacks were only coming from above, in front and the right side.
Pincers snatched up units, and crushed them after a couple seconds of strained effort. The tails darted in stabbing units. While the neurotoxic venom was ineffective against the constructs. It did not save them, when the tail whipped back flinging units into the stone wall. For clay units or block men, the impact smashed them into pieces, killing them outright.
Mareth¡¯s careful planning had kept most of her better units well protected. Except for one creeper who took a set of flaming arrows from the floor healer, she had not lost any of them in the opening gambit. The issue was that few of her units actually stood a chance. The scorpions shell could not be breached with the strength of the weaker units and the arachne were firing through a hole and then shifting behind cover to another hole in the passages roof.
Mark noted enchanted arrows that streaked from the less scarecrows at impossibly high speed. While they did stick into the scorpion¡¯s carapace, little damage was done. Creeper acid balls splashed against the blackish purple shells, but they seemed to do little more than create a blemish on the otherwise smooth carapace. They would need to continually target the same spot for that level of attack to be effective.
Several jack o lanterns immediately resulted in their ultimate move. The large pumpkin heads smashed into the scorpions. The regular pumpkins exploded into hundreds of shrapnel like pieces. Most blasted away from the scorpion although some stuck into or pierced the carapace, but damage was not enough to even halt the scorpion. Perhaps if a piece happened to hit the brain or another vital point, but the wounds Mark saw only resulted in dark blood oozing from the small wounds.
The flame pumpkin actually apparently blinded the scorpion who had to thrash stabbing or snapping at the air, only occasionally catching an unfortunate golem. The acidic pumpkin hit the scorpion and sizzled. It took a half minute, but it did cause the defender counter to tick down. Mareth had a kill move. The problem was, only 4 of the flaming green headed jack o lanterns had made it down to the fourth floor.
The battle continued. Amelia had to force the healer arachne to move to the right areas to heal the injured scorpions. Mark had left small holes from the roof throughout, allowing the healer to be able to perform its ranged heal spell down on those on a lower floor. The healer struggled and hissed the whole time. It solidified the fact that healer class was definitely not a good choice outside of the dungeon, it only worked inside since defenders could be compelled into action. Still it would require someone, Amelia in this case, to actually focus on the task.
The healing probably was not required for this attack, restoring the sight of the blind scorpion was really the only unit that healing caused a remarkable difference. Three scorpions were killed outright, but most of the others only had superficial wounds. Once all of the jack o lanterns had all used their final move the attack was entirely one sided.
It would definitely be a learning point for Mareth. If she wanted to beat their fourth floor she would need a lot more level 2 units or better enchanted gear. The floor had surpassed Mark¡¯s expectations. But his excitement was short-lived. A couple months ago, Dragon by himself had been an insurmountable obstacle that could halt attacks, but progress had dropped him from being at the final boss level down to a mid tier boss. In another half year or so Dragon might fall just as easily as Winnie or Bruce did during today''s attack.
It was a testament to the march of progress. They would have to continue to develop and strengthen themselves to keep up. Now they just needed to get out of the current pickle they found themselves in. Mareth still held the surface of their dungeon, and even now Mark was unable to summon units.
Chapter 46: Day 122
It was nearly 1330, when the small squad of bugbears made it to the Gnome settlement. They had gotten around five hours of rest during Mareth¡¯s attack on the lower levels of the dungeon. It would have to be enough. Mark was on a clock. Mareth¡¯s units were repeatedly sabotaging the respawning buildings, and if losing a day¡¯s worth of furthering research, crafting, and the home base¡¯s production was not bad enough, they had also lost their first outpost around noon.
Mareth only had brought 30 units, but two jack o lanterns and more than two dozen level one units were plenty to take on the goblin patrol Mark had stationed at Crassius¡¯ old dungeon site. Mareth might not have succeeded in conquering their dungeon, but the fact that she must have sent out the war band to attack their outpost at the same time that her main force left told Mark that she was not taking chances. If she could not kill them outright she would be content to strangle them away from resources that they would need to keep up. Amelia and Mark were already working through several disadvantages. They could not afford for their progress to stall.
First, they would need to retake their dungeon¡¯s surface. Mareth seemed content to sit at both the main dungeon and outpost site and continually destroy their buildings. Unfortunately, Mark had no way to organically retake the home base. The bugbears and arachne might be able to retake the outpost, but that would mean giving up on the home base for several days. The frog men also could retake the outpost, but that would take at least 3 days for them to get there. It would take them about the same amount of time to get to the home base, but although they almost outnumbered the units holding it 2 to 1 they would not stand a chance.
That left trying to get outside assistance. The harpies likely were not strong enough, and the kobolds likely would not care. For one the magic mine along with the forge were both up and running, so the kobolds were not adversely affected. Mark did not know whether Mareth did not know about them, or she just did not care. Regardless, they did not really have a deep enough relationship with either group to get them to assist. That left the gnomes as the only choice.
Mark had been then thinking through a couple lines of argument while the bugbears traveled. He was exhausted, but he needed to get things on course before he could afford to sleep. If he could not convince the gnomes to help it would result in a major setback. Mark would then have to offer the kobolds everything under high heaven to try to get them to help out. If that did not work, then Mark would have to go back to relying on their own means.
Mark could only see two options if they had to free themselves. For the first he would upgrade their other outpost to a settlement for 100,000 MP. Then they could summon a force to retake the surface of the main dungeon, but how long would that take. He had used up most of their MP prior to the attack and now they could only produce 6,300 MP a day with the other outpost. The tens of thousands of MP they would recoup from the enemy units that died in their territory was being held up. The 87 units occupying their home base apparently still made the system behave as if the battle was ongoing.
They were sitting at 86 DP, so it would only take a few days for them to upgrade the outpost, but it would still take some time to build an army to take on the 87 units. Meanwhile Mareth could and probably would reinforce her forces. In that case, how much of a chance would they even stand at catching up, when Mareth was operating at full capacity pulling in three times more MP each day. Not to mention, enchanted weapons were off the table since they only had a crafting house at the home base.
The other option would be to have the frogmen immediately march to join the remnants of the bugbear platoon. The 150 extra fodder might give the bugbear platoon a chance to make things happen, but Mark still did not like the chances. Mareth could easily double her forces in the time it would take for the frogmen to get there.
In conclusion, even if Mark could get either of the options to work out in the end, it would still result in a lot of lost production. Something Mark and Amelia could not afford. The gnomes were their best solution to break them free of the situation.
The gnome settlement came into view. It actually was Mark and Amelia¡¯s first time to set eyes on it. A wooden gate with metal hinges sat between two natural massive stone pillars. Using his overhead view Mark could look past the gate into the village. The village was built in a secret glade like recess in the sheer face of the plateau. The glade was covered in crop fields and gardens with only a couple of buildings. There was a forge and a large town center like building near the back against the cliff face. Then there were a handful of stables near the front gate. This must be where the sheep were housed for the night.
During the day the sheep were allowed to graze in the surrounding fields outside the gate. The bugbear squad had marched between two large herds of them, their gnome caretakers watching on. Mark sighed remembering that it was their goblins trying to steal these very sheep that had started this relationship. Mark supposed in hindsight, he was fortunate the goblins had been dumb enough to think they would be able to sneak sheep out from under the watchful eyes of their caretakers.
It was evident that there would be adequate forewarning of the bugbears'' arrival. The land was cleared for a good distance from the main gate, and indeed Cedrick and a small party were already making their way toward the gate to meet them. Luckily, Cedrick knew about and had even met some of the bugbears, so at least they should not be treated overly suspiciously.
¡°I guess there would not be any village tour,¡± Amelia remarked glumly.
¡°Last thing we should be concerned about,¡± Mark said stiffly.
Their attention shifted back on screen as the bugbears approached the gate. Cedrick was waiting in full iron plate along with eight other gnome brawlers. Then there were a half dozen archers perched up on the wall. They were on good terms, but there was no reason not to have a show of force when it came to forces approaching their village.
¡°I would ask why you all made your way here, but I suppose it¡¯s rather obvious. That was quite the scuffle you guys got in last night. Although I was a bit far away to see the specifics,¡± Cedrick said. His own war hammer rested across his shoulder, the pick on the back pointing up toward the sky.
¡°Boss, Mark and Amelia, send their greetings,¡± the bugbear captain said as he lowered his hammer to the earth. The weapon likely weighed about 30 pounds, so even the captain would take any respite from carrying it whenever possible. The three bugbears without military ranks were breathing quite heavily, having no decorum one of them decided to take a seat on the ground. The other two soon followed suit. The captain gave the two lieutenants a glare and they remained standing, although they rested their hammers on the ground as well.
¡°Let me guess, you came asking for a bit of help. Despite us not having such an agreement in place,¡± Cedrick said stroking his white beard that was awkwardly tucked into the front of his armor.
¡°Yes, we are seeking to continue our relationship, and continued cooperation. While we do need your help, we believe that helping us will be in your best interest in the long run,¡± Mark said. The bugbear repeated, answering the gnome leader.
¡°Oh¡ How do ya figure?¡± Cedrick said, arching his eyebrows. ¡°Helping you fight would draw the ire of your enemies, and from what I¡¯ve seen¡ Well, I don¡¯t think we could afford such a thing.¡±
Mark paused. He had expected as much. Cedrick was not exactly saying, no. Mark would have to convince them that helping out would be in their best interest. He had a couple of ideas, but had also wanted to gauge the gnome leader¡¯s attitude prior to choosing a route.
If Cedrick had taken an adamant stance against helping them. Mark would have to assume the gnome leader was prioritizing his people¡¯s safety above all else. Mark would only be able to go with the more coercive approach, suggesting that the gnomes were already on their enemies radar.
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The other approach would be to play to the gnome''s explorative and innovative nature and perhaps their greed. They were getting a lot of benefits from the research lab and crafting house. Not to mention, the potential benefits that the mine promised, although had as of yet not delivered. Over the last few hours, Mark had decided that he would need to touch on both approaches in their request for aid. Luckily, Cedrick seemed to be in a state of mind that would be receptive to such an approach.
¡°Okay, I will get straight to the point. You have witnessed for yourself the unique advantages that our dungeon can offer. I¡¯m sure it also would not be a surprise for me to tell you that a bunch of other such dungeons have sprung up across the land. Similar to ours, those dungeons are also working to develop and strengthen themselves, including gathering resources, like essence¡¡± Mark let the last word hang in the air.
He was sure Cedrick would get the implications. The gnome village was built around an essence source. The gnome village, the wasp nest, both had probably been set as roadblocks for contenders to take an essence source. Amelia¡¯s chosen specialization may be one of the few that would allow dungeons to get the essence source without necessarily having to fight for it. The sources were probably fairly common throughout the endless bluffs. The battle creators had not intended for contenders to be able to find and control a whole lot of essence sources easily without expending resources and effort along the way. Sources like the life essence spring were perhaps an exception in that regard, but the amount was far more limited than the other two essence sources.
¡°Aye¡ We have located and observed several other dungeons in the area. Not to mention we have heard of other dungeons from some of the other clans,¡± Cedrick said, taking on a more somber tone.
Mark''s mind immediately went to, What! they are in contact with other clans? And knew about other dungeons farther away? But Mark pushed the thoughts away. They could ask about it later. For now, he needed to focus. Based on the gnome leader¡¯s somewhat resigned facial expressions and tone, Mark could assume that it was not lost on the gnome leader that the dungeons represented a change to the status quo that the endless bluffs had existed in for untold millennia. After all, powerful forces like the gnolls and wasps could be wiped out after only a few months of development, and the gnomes fell short of both of them.
Surely it had crossed the gnome leader¡¯s mind what would happen if they became at odds with Amelia and Mark or one of the other dungeons. Even when the gnomes had superior strength compared to the dungeon summons on an individual level, they would not have been able to keep up with the endless numbers that a dungeon could summon. Now with level 2 units, the gnome¡¯s would easily be both outnumbered and outmatched. Even the benefits that the gnomes had gleaned from Amelia and Mark¡¯s dungeon could not help to alleviate the difference. They would always be at any dungeons they crossed mercy.
Mark allowed Cedrick to dwell on it for a good minute. ¡°We have a good thing between your clan and our dungeon. While I cannot say that there will not be more risk getting more deeply involved with our dungeon. At least your clan will be fighting for its place, it might beat the uncertainty of not siding with us and dealing with whoever comes after us,¡± Mark paused thinking on what to say next. The bugbear leader shuffled awkwardly while waiting.
¡°Right now our dungeon is in a tight spot. One that could be alleviated quite easily with your help. We are unable to summon units until we retake the surface of our dungeon. The situation will only get worse if we are unable to act soon, since the other dungeon is likely to reinforce their units and starve our dungeon off from resources, so we would like to retake the surface as soon as possible¡ Today!¡± Mark added with finality.
¡°Aye I have dwelt on the potential threat the dungeons like yours can pose to our clan. It is likely a couple of them that are responsible for us losing contact with some of the other clans. Perhaps if we had realized the danger you all would pose, we would have snuffed you out during your infancy,¡± Cedrick stated with a hard expression.
¡°Although it¡¯s doubtful whether the five clans would have found or got to them all in time. Why, it was not till a good month after we met you that we had discovered all of the dungeons in our own backyard. Still it would be difficult to throw ar¡¯ lot in with you all when you likely are not even the strongest out there. It makes it difficult to side with you, or put my people at risk,¡± Cedrick sifted his fingers through his beard.
Mark thought about it for a moment. Well this next part would be a bit awkward. ¡° While I cannot promise there won¡¯t be casualties retaking our dungeon. Our units will be leading the attack and should draw most of the fire. As far as the other dungeons. We only have two others in the area, that would potentially see you siding with us here and now. There is a good chance that things will be settled one way or the other before the other dungeons further away even come into play.¡±
After a brief pause Mark added. ¡°Oh, and just so you don¡¯t think things are in the dungeon that attacked last night¡¯s favor. All of their forces they sent to our lower levels were defeated. The other dungeon spent double the amount of resources than we spent on the battle and failed. The reason we lost the surface is due to us prioritizing developing our lower defenses. While it has come back to bite us, our lower level forces all respawn. In short the enemy has used up more of its resources in the battle than we have,¡± Mark explained.
¡°Ah where the reanimated wasp body and those powerful scorpions and arachne were sent,¡± Cedrick remembered. Mark nodded, before realizing that the gnome leader could not see him and had the bugbear captain affirm the statement.
¡°Very well, I think it would still be to our benefit to support your dungeon.¡± But before Mark could get too excited, the gnome leader added a qualifier. ¡°Still I think it would be prudent of me to get a bit of compensation, ehhh,¡± Cedrick said with a smile.
Mark sighed, as he listened to the gnome leader''s conditions, knowing he would basically have to accept whatever they were. The alternative would be their dungeon losing so much more. The gnome leader seemed to know it, although the gnome did not make too harsh conditions. He shrewdly was keeping in mind that Mark could renege on the deal if he pushed it too far. Cedrick had to balance out his demands with the worth the gnomes were bringing to the dungeon.
The first condition was that the gnomes would collect 25% of special resources mined in the dungeon instead of the 10% that they had taken for their cut for managing the goblin¡¯s mining efforts. So far they had basically only found basic metals, with the exception of a handful of gems, but that could change any day. Not to mention that, Mark had really yet to mine the mine full force. It was clear a couple of patrols rotating in and out was far from sufficient to make enough progress. Now that they had mined a good deal of rock out, there was enough room that Mark could potentially have hundreds of miners at work at a time. From harpy intelligence, he knew both Mareth and Gale likely had hundreds of units at work at all times in their dungeons.
The second condition was that the goblins would show the gnomes where the essence spring was located. Then the gnomes would manage the spring, taking a majority stake of the life essence produced. Mark and Amelia would still get 10%, but it would basically shut the door on them reanimating any additional units in the future. Well, not unless they wanted to save up their cut of the life essence for around 3 months, and that was to get a unit at the level of the reanimated dungeon floor bosses they currently had.
Honestly, it was not as big a loss as it would have been a month or two ago. The ability to reanimate corpses had most definitely what had kept them alive in the first few months of the battle. Crassius would have wiped them out in the second week of the battle otherwise. If not then, they would have been wiped out multiple other times since that first attack. However, it was also true that they were moving away from needing them. Right now with level 2 units and unit upgrades they could field units in the same realm of power as Winnie and Bruce fairly easily. Their 10% steak should at least be enough for them to use to make items like the vitality bomb.
Still who could tell what uses the essence would have in the future. Mark only had the presence of mind to fight for one more stop gap. They had just lost their ten spiritualists, Mark at least needed to ensure that they could be immediately replaced. Cedrick agreed after Mark explained what he needed them for and why. Cedrick agreed, so they could resummon them before the new allotment measures took effect. Mark was exhausted, but he still had the presence of mind to remember how hard it normally was for the spiritualists to meet their conditions of gaining their shadow minions. Fortunately, there were 87 units from another dungeon that would be easily available for his new spiritualists to refill their capacities.
The final condition was that Cedrick would direct the upcoming attack. Which Mark had no reason to challenge. Mark had already awkwardly made his bugbear captain agree to be fodder in the gnomes attack. With things decided, Cedrick moved to gather his forces and equipment. While the bugbears ate meals provided to them.
¡°Make sure the arachne¡¯s meet up with them on the way,¡± Mark directed Amelia. ¡°And keep them in line. Last thing we need is for them to attack one of the gnomes.¡± Amelia nodded in response.
¡°Good, I¡¯m going to bed.¡± Mark said, turning toward the hut. It had been something like 36 hours since he had slept last. Amelia had slept half of last night and even taken a quick nap while the bugbears made their way to the gnome village. She could keep an eye on things for now.
Chapter 47: Day 122
The attack, led by Cedrick, to retake their dungeon¡¯s surface proceeded smoothly. The bugbear captain led the other five bugbears alongside the three arachne to storm the inner earthen wall. Lesser straw scarecrows peppered them with arrows, but only one bugbear succumbed to the ranged attacks. The others and the three arachne each had a concerning amount of shafts protruding from their bodies, but even without the extra defense provided by the rock skin pill the bugbears could endure quite a bit and the arachne were also quite resilient.
The bugbears and arachne slammed into the fifty awaiting clay golems and the carnage began. It was not till the three jack o lanterns lobbed their palm pumpkins that more of the attackers fell. These jack o lanterns were of the normal variety, so their summoned palm pumpkins looked like legitimate miniature pumpkins. However, they acted closer to grenades. When they detonated pumpkin shrapnel was sent in all directions. The attack was not any weaker than the flame or acidic versions.
One exploded in between two bugbears, and instantly killed one and seriously wounded the other. The other two pumpkins targeted arachne. One shredded the goblin upper half of one of them, and the other detonated to the side of another arachne. Shrapnel shredded and severed all but one of the four legs on that side, on top of blasting into the spider abdomen. The arachne went down and was swarmed by clay golems.
However there was no chance of Mareth¡¯s forces turning away the assault as soon as the gnomes got into range enchanted arrows streaked toward the defenders. Seconds later two magic lances streaked forward toward two of the jack o lanterns. Most of the straw scarecrows were caught by one of the hundreds of flaming arrows. Several of the jack o lanterns went down. The last, seemingly taking stock of its sides chances, proceeded to remove its head and throw it at the last remaining arachne.
The arachne''s entire body was shredded along with everything else in the vicinity including a good 10 clay golems in the area. Another one of the bugbears went down despite being a good 25 feet away from the blast. Apparently he had caught a piece in the neck. A handful of clay golems and a couple of creepers bounded over the wall intent on taking down whatever they could manage in what little time they had left, but they barely made it to the final two standing bugbears.
Cedrick¡¯s gnome brawlers slammed into them immediately, pulverizing the rest in a matter of seconds. Mark only paused briefly to ensure the last of the red dots disappeared before checking the main dungeon screen. Sure enough, the battle had registered as over and they had received their MP from defeated enemies.
¡°Whoa,¡± Amelia exclaimed. Mark was equally as flabbergasted. Switching over to the log gave the exact figure. They had received 106,431 MP all at once, but since the garden sanctuary was still up and running they had accumulated over 3,000MP on top of the little they had prior to the nighttime assault.
¡°Holy crap. Mareth spent a lot more on her forces than I had thought,¡± Mark said amazed. In truth he had been anticipating getting 50,000 at the very least but had been expecting around 70 or 80 thousand. This would give him a lot more leeway, and Mark immediately knew what he wanted to do with it. ¡°Amelia, can you settle things with Cedrick and get the essence of life essence? I need to run the numbers a bit.¡±
Amelia glanced at the main dungeon tactical screen that showed a dirt field filled with charred buildings and bodies. ¡°Sure,¡± she said finally hesitantly walking towards the room exit.
Mark quickly went through what he had planned to summon immediately following the attack. He needed to make a decision quickly. The bodies on the surface would start to dissolve into the ground in a matter of hours. He needed to recover as much of the enchanted gear as possible. In addition, he needed to summon the 10 spiritualists. Then there was the only slightly less time critical subjugation force he needed to summon to retake their outpost.
However, Mark had already decided on what he wanted and would need. He just needed to make a few adjustments. Despite only having a couple hours of sleep for the last two days, it only took him a couple of minutes. Mark smiled as the numbers fell into line. Mareth should not be able to send a force anytime soon, so Mark needed to take the opportunity to increase the power of units that he would summon.
Mark flipped to the unit upgrade page and selected mage level 3. Upgrading the mage class to the third level cost 50,000 MP. It was a lot considering how vulnerable their dungeon currently was, but it was a big step in increasing their future potential. However, the main reason was that now he would be able to summon 10 level 3 spiritualists for 7,000 MP. Each spiritualist getting an extra 5 power rating worth of spirits under their control would slightly offset Mark not using the MP to increase their forces to protect them in their current vulnerable condition.
Perhaps Mark should not have taken the risk, but how often did he have hundreds of enemy units for his spiritualists to choose from. Not to mention, the level 3 mage class would give their future mages a big boost. Not only would they get a 10% increase to their power rating they would also have access to another basic spell. The level 3 mage gnomes had just demonstrated how powerful magic lances could be. Magic bolts were good for a quick attack or for dealing with weak units. Fire balls were good for crowd control, but neither was really good against powerful individual units.
Mark continued on. He would need the life essence the gnomes had collected on the way before he could summon the spiritualists. Mark next unlocked level 2 of the scout class and the associated archer class for 15,000 MP in total. It was another long overdue boost their forces needed. Their enchanted arrows were a critical part of their dungeon¡¯s strength. Increasing their accuracy and stopping power should not be a waste. Mark wanted to get this little upgrade before he started summoning new units.
Next Mark moved to summoning units. First, he would summon two divisions of goblins. Both divisions would include 269 green, 20 horned, 10 yellow, and 1 red for a total of 300 goblins. All the horned goblins and above would get a class. One division would get the level 2 archer class and the other division would get the new sapper class. All 600 would be sent to scavenge from the battlefield, but when things were over one division would rebuild the defenses and man the tower in case of an attack. The other division would mine. In total the 600 goblin divisions would only cost 20,290 MP leaving Mark with plenty to build a subjugation force.
However, before Mark purchased the units he noted several things on the unit page. For one, three bugbears had survived retaking the dungeon. Two of them were just a part of the rank and file. The other was the bearbug captain, his status was highlighted indicating that the unit could now be named. Mark had been needing another goblin commander, but before Mark could get too excited he noted that one of his other units was still alive.
What the¡ Mark thought. Ezekiel was apparently still alive. How had he missed that for the last 12 or so hours. Before Mark could wonder how the mad scientist had managed the feat, he noticed the white haired red hobgoblin off near where his nutcracker contraption had fallen. A compartment door had been kicked off allowing the goblin to emerge out from within. The goblin was now ranting and raving holding both arms up like he was in supplication to the heavens above.
Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be a non combatant class, Mark mused. His smile somehow got a bit bigger and he chuckled. Good luck to the interface getting Ezekial to understand that fact. Mark hardly bothered with the goblin since he hardly listened anyways. Mark had told the scientist about getting into the builders hut during the attack, but had not gotten any confirmation. Now, Mark knew why. In an act of finality Ezekial kicked the wooden nutcracker, before settling down. Then with a surprising amount of strength the scientist started to drag the contraption back toward the charred remains of the research lab. Was he planning on rebuilding it? Whatever, Mark went back to task.
Amelia had collected the life essence which immediately made it available allowing Mark to summon the spiritualists. A minute later 600 goblins were already at work scavenging. They would have done it anyway since there was a lot of goods up and free to grab, but Mark directed the bugbear captain to direct the efforts. He needed samples of enemy equipment as well since some of it was enchanted.
The spiritualists had also scattered throughout the field, apparently they could choose from among any of the enemy dead including those that had died the night before. Which meant they had a whole lot of corpses to choose from. Although they would likely prioritize level 2 units and only include weaker units to round them up precisely to 15. Once again true to goblin fashion the spiritualists argued over the most valuable corpses despite the vast selection seemingly available. Mark just shook his head. Hopefully, they would all fill up their capacities in time.
Cedrick and the gnomes departed and Amelia started walking back. Mark quickly summoned the subjugation force. Mareth only had around 30 units occupying the outpost, so Mark did not need a lot of power. What he needed was a force that would move quickly and through the night to get to the destination. Luckily creepy crawly units were made for that. Mark summoned 5 spiders with 3 bloodline upgrades a piece. They would serve as the mounts for the goblin mages. He summoned 25 roaches to serve as fodder.
Mark decided the bearbug captain could lead the attack. He could sleep on top of one of the spiders through the night, but for support Mark decided to send an additional 4 red mages and 1 red healer. The mages could take on the more powerful units while the roaches dealt with the weaker ones. Mark decided to include a healer, having learned the lesson from their last attack force. There was no sense in losing units due to not being able to heal them. Besides, one of the surviving bugbears was not doing so well. The healer could heal him before they set out. In total the force would only cost 9,800 MP, leaving them with just over 8,000 MP. They could save that for later. Mark summoned the units and told the captain what he expected. The subjugation force could set out immediately.
Amelia rejoined him. ¡°Cedrick said the builders, crafters, researchers, etcetera will come and reset up their camps tomorrow afternoon, just before the buildings respawn.¡± She plopped down on the couch next to him.
¡°Yeah, Mareth did us dirty. I think the last time her units scattered our respawning buildings was about 30 minutes before we attacked, so we should get them back around 1800 or so,¡± Mark scowled. ¡°But¡ at least we got a new named unit.¡±
¡°What!¡± Amelia exclaimed, bringing up her interface to investigate. Mark waited patiently. ¡°Ohhhh, can I name this one? I got a perfect name for him.¡±
Mark shrugged in response. A second later the bugbear captain became Henry. Mark looked at her, raising an eyebrow in question.
¡°Oh, my family has a big n¡¯ tall butler who also has shoulder length curly hair. Just made me think of him¡¡± Amelia smiled. She went on for a couple of minutes telling Mark about the butler, who Amelia was apparently quite close to. She had never really talked about anyone from back home before. Mark had always assumed it to be a touchy subject.
¡°Well I¡¯m sure Henry will be thrilled that you are thinking of him,¡± Mark decided to go with that, and not the more sarcastic, ¡®Well I¡¯m sure Henry will be thrilled being compared to a big hairy man with a pig snout.¡¯ Amelia was reminiscing about someone who she might actually like, it would be pretty stupid of him to bring it up¡ At least for now, later there might be an opportune moment to slip it in.
Mark did not dally around in the core room for much longer. He was running on only a few hours of sleep. There was nothing that could not wait till tomorrow at this point.
Day 123
Mark did not even get out of bed to watch the subjugation force retake the outpost at first light. Conversely, Amelia did not even bother to wake up. She got the alarm, same as him, but had silenced it and rolled over in her bed. The attack did not last long.
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A couple of roaches were lost in the attack, but the rest of the force passed through the battle just fine. The mages had immediately targeted the jack o lanterns with magic lances. While the jack o lanterns were not all killed outright, none were able to perform their ultimate move. Next thing they knew the roaches were scrambling over them along with the rest of the enemy units. Henry and the mages dispatched the constructs easily once the roaches had their full attention.
Mark scanned the unit page to catch the exact number of roaches that had fallen. Only 6 had been lost, but Mark¡¯s attention was immediately drawn to something else. He almost shouted aloud, but settled for subtle fist pumps on his cot, that squeaked from the movement.. Henry¡¯s experience level had risen to veteran status. The bugbear had only been summoned for something like three weeks, but had already caught up to Nasal. Perhaps going through a major battle and then two small skirmishes, all in about a day, had really worn in the bugbear captain. But the status increase was not the only thing Mark was excited about.
Henry¡¯s rank was now highlighted indicating that Mark could now safely upgrade the unit to colonel without any adverse effects. Mark quickly did so, before bringing up Henry¡¯s status.
| Henry (4/125) |
Warhammer lvl 3 (veteran) |
Power lvl: 5.6 |
Morale: 55 (content) |
| Strength |
22 |
Attack: 5 |
Defense: 3 |
| Endurance |
21 |
Abilities/Skills |
| Agility |
14 |
Soak Skill |
| Vitality |
29 |
| Intelligence |
12 |
| Wisdom |
12 |
Henry only had a base power rating of 2.2, but after it was increased by 1.55% due to his class, rank, experience level, and named status, his power rating had jumped all of the way up to 5.6, putting it at the same level equivalent to that of Dragon. Mark imagined Henry being a god of destruction in their next battle, but only for a moment. He quickly recaged his thoughts. It was true they had the same power rating, but they were definitely not equivalent. The behir was a 25 foot long monstrocity, while Henry was a 6 foot something tall humanoid. Henry would be explosively powerful, but was far more vulnerable and could potentially fall in battle quite easily. Still it was a good pick up.
During the previous battle, Mark had just selected one of the red hobgoblin mages to serve as the ground force commander. Now since the red had died, it could be said the position was open. Mark definitely planned to continually rebuild the bugbear warhammer platoon until at least Mareth was dealt with. After that, he could tailor the limited bugbear population to what dungeon they anticipated going up against. Still going forward, the platoon would only have 44 members, since Henry would be holding higher command. The loss of one member would not change much, and it would give Mark the opportunity to pick a new captain to lead the platoon.
That being taken care of, Mark decided to just stay on his cot and go through his menus. Despite having to sleep for two days, he felt pretty good after being out for a good 10 or 11 hours. He definitely would not be able to go back to sleep, and it was still a bit early to be out and about.
They were currently sitting midway between 11 and 12 thousand MP. Not surprising since they only had one outpost going for the last 24 hours. Their main base, the biggest production site, would be back up and running later that evening, and the Crassius outpost would be back up tomorrow morning. They would miss out on quite a bit of MP during the down time, but it had been mitigated as much as possible. The 100,000 MP windfall they had gotten from fallen enemies meant they were recovering quite quickly.
Mark thought about what their next moves would be. The masonry tech was complete, so they could start building stone walls. Mark was looking to build a fortress for their home base, but he was also looking to build a wall to span the crevice entrance from the garden sanctuary. Mark quickly decided he would need three more divisions. One to go to each outpost. For the Crassius outpost, the division would just further fortify what they had and guard the location. After all, they had just under a hundred days worth of coal to mine from the location. There was no need to build it up any further.
The opposite was true for the garden sanctuary. Mark had been saving DP to potentially open a fifth dungeon level for their dungeon, but their dungeon was pretty secure for now. Instead they would upgrade the garden sanctuary outpost to a settlement for a 100,000MP. They were currently at 89 DP, so should only need four days to get there with the 3 daily DP. The goblin division could both build the wall and make other buildings to give their dungeon a second base with full capabilities.
The next division at the home base would start the fortress under the guidance of the gnomes. By the time the coal supply ran out, construction should be well underway allowing them to move everything inside the developing fortress. However once the archer division was done repairing what they could on their current site, they would work on crafting. The scout class focused on attention to detail and hand dexterity, so they would be the best choice. Mark needed tens of thousands of arrows to replace what they had just lost among other things.
After creating the three divisions, Mark would resummon the bugbear platoon. He would send one group of goblins through the barracks, but would swap to getting the bugbear platoon back up to full strength after one round of goblins went through. Mark would have to see how things were going before he solidified his plans after that.
Research wise they had contributed 11 of 12 RP required to unlock the sunflower unit. After that Mark would route their RP to the blood rose and midnight lotus units, unlocking the last of their level 2 units. Mark scanned through the tech tree. There were several that he would like to work towards, but for now he felt unit upgrades would be the best place to send their daily 5 RP.
After all they could unlock some things in a matter of days, they could even unlock warrior lvl 4 after 10 days. Another 15% boost from the associated warhammer class would definitely be beneficial. For level 5, the cost would likely be 100,000 MP corresponding to the price for level 4 of the mage class. Mark shifted from that train of thought. It was fun to speculate, but right now he wanted to focus on the next step.
Mark finally moved to their next research page. For enchantments, they had several research projects underway. The manna reserve project was sitting at 99%, so should be done within a few days, once things are back up and running. But new to the list were protection, stun, and the fire resistance enchantments. All of which showed promise.
The latter two were pretty self explanatory, but Mark had to look up protection. Protection was apparently something that defended against non physical attacks, including magic and curses¡? Okay, he had not known curses were a thing in the battle, but it was nice they were getting something to protect from them. However, Mark¡¯s mind quickly dismissed the intangible concept as it saw the last thing on the list. Protection also protected against incorporeal beings or objects.
Mareth¡¯s shadow creepers had basically shifted away from their physical forms to become incorporeal beings. The spiritualist¡¯s spirits were also incorporeal. Mark knew from talking to Cedrick that physical attacks could still hit or effect the spiritualist¡¯s spirits, but Cedrick had to work bloody hard to dissipate wolf spirits that probably had a power rating at or around 0.5. Since both Mareth and they themselves had incorporeal fighters, it was likely that other dungeons had also discovered them.
Sure things such as magic or the light and flame enchantments had proved effective against the shadow creepers, but the two enchantments had been on the opposite end of the spectrum than shadow or darkness. If they ran into something like a fire elemental the same two enchantments might be less than useless. Whereas the protection enchantment might be good against all types.
Mark moved on. They had three classes underway. The tattooist class was at 91%, so it should be complete soon. The beast handler class was at 67% so still had another month or so. The witch doctor class was fairly new at 14%. Looking into it, Mark could glean a little. It was a specialized class that fell in the healer category. But unlike the standard healer, the witch doctor could perform attack curses.
¡°Haha ha,¡± Mark laughed quietly. There it was again. Perhaps there was a little cross pollination going on. Someone had looked up something in the infinite library of information the researchers could sift through, and then had spoken about it giving another of the researchers an avenue to pursue. Both projects were basically brand new, having moved from the undefined category the day prior to the attack. Mark just had not gotten around to looking into them yet.
There were only two projects underway in the essence category. The hardening project which was more than halfway complete. The gist of that project was that stone essence could be used to make materials denser, potentially upgrading the quality of the material. Mark was excited to see how that project would affect weapons and enchantments.
The other project was a combination project with the new embuing focus, toxin embuing, but the project was only at 8%, so they would not get it for a longtime. It was the first project to make use of their toxic essence which they literally had almost an infinite supply of. Mark hopped it panned out.
There was only one other embuing project underway. Manna embuing, at 11%. It sounded simple, perhaps being the base concept of the focus. Mark did not exactly know what it would entail, but embuing was basically storing power in a high quality material, such as one of the gems from their mine. In turn that power could be used. Mark assumed it was the equivalent of say a magic sword pulling energy from a jewel in the hilt.
For the pharmacology focus they had three foci, stamina potion, enlightenment pill, and a soldier pill. Besides for the first, Mark could only infer what benefits they could provide.
Mark sighed, swiping away the interface. Nothing having changed from the last time he had checked, was the worst part about having to wait for their buildings to respawn. Mark continued to plan for another hour before a dark gray blimp appeared on his tactical screen ringing the associated alarm.
¡°Figures,¡± Mark said after taking a look. A harpy was already showing up to try and get an award. Too bad that there were no domesticated animals for them, but if the information was good Mark could at least promise something at a later time. Mark put on his shoes. Nasal was not here, so Mark would have to attend to the matter for now. Perhaps he could task Henry with the duty in a day or two, when the subjugation force returned, but for now he was the guy.
None of the goblins were up and around when Mark emerged from the portal. Luckily the dungeon entrance had been expanded and there were currently no guards, so he would not have to step up over anybody. The harpy winged her way down to land right in front of the inner wall. Mark did not even bother to walk down the gangplank. The harpy did not seem to care, but was craning her neck looking over where the pig pens had been. Mark did not recognize the harpy. He only knew she was not the matriarch.
¡°We should have pigs and chickens again in another day or so. If your information is good, we can get it to you then,¡± Mark offered.
¡°Very well, landlocked. Did you know that the lizard forces and giants were moving in this direction¡¡± the harpy said. She paused to preen one of her wings. The information was hardly important to her, but Mark¡¯s eyes bulged.
¡°Yes, they apparently set out some time in the morning. Lizardmen and 30 giants. Perhaps about 800 total¡¡±
They most definitely were not in a position to face Gale right now. The first three floor guardians had yet to respawn, and they had no enchanted arrows. Mark was not so concerned that they were going to get wiped off the map, knowing how powerful their dungeon levels were, but the attack would drain more resources. Being caught between the two other dungeons would be the death of them, but then the harpy continued.
¡°Although they turned around at some point near nightfall.¡±
¡°You could have led with that,¡± Mark¡¯s eyes narrowed.
¡°Well we could hardly report it to you yesterday, could we¡? Then this morning I saw that you all were back in control of things, so figured I would drop in. And you don¡¯t even have a piglet to reward me for the effort,¡± the harpy said in an offended voice.
¡°Its fine, is there anything else?¡± Mark said rolling his eyes. The self absorbed harpy would be offended, when they were going through the most minor of slights. God forbid she had to wait to be rewarded for her information.
¡°No, thats it. I will stop back by once you are back up and running. I trust for this I will get a piglet for this¡?
¡°Yeah sure, whatever¡¡± Mark stated dismissing the harpy as she winged off. Not as if he cared about the goblins'' precious food supply. He cared more to keep the information coming.
Timeline wise, Mark figured that Gale had sent her forces that way first thing after seeing that Mareth had conquered the surface of their dungeon, but had decided to turn her forces around after the remnants of the bugbear platoon and gnome war band had retaken their surface.
Apparently, Gale had been looking to fish a bit in muddy waters, but had decided against facing even a moderate bit of resistance on the surface and then having to conquer the dungeon levels. The army had only around 800 units in total. It did not seem like a lot, but that included 30 reported giants and powerful lizardmen. Fortunately, the giants all seemed to be the same unit type so Mark could assume that whichever giant humanoid branch Gale had unlocked only had one level 2 unit option. It was good in that it limited the amount of powerful units she could field, but it also would limit Amelia and him when they unlocked one of the branches themselves.
In some ways it would have been an opportune time for Gale to attack. The first three floors of dungeon guardians had been slain and would not have respawned before the prospective attack. Then there was the fact that they would have hardly had any enchanted arrows or other gear ready, but Gale had apparently decided it would not be worth taking the gamble and elected to conserve her resources instead.
The feint would serve as a wake up reminder that although Gale had not made any moves as of yet, but that could change at any time. Perhaps what was even more alarming was the stockpiles of MP and advancements that she must be making, without having to constantly expend MP to deal with other opponents. As far as Mark knew, Gale had fought and eventually killed off the bullywogs, but other than that she had remained practically untouched. If and when they finally dealt with Mareth, Gale would be a much more difficult nut to crack.
Chapter 48: Day 131
In an uncharacteristic example of her normal behavior, Amelia was already up and around prior to Mark. He was not too surprised though. It was flower day. Today they would unlock the last of their units, leaving them with two RP to spare. Not only would they build a sample of each of their three new units. They would also delve into flower tree germination path upgrades.
Amelia was impatiently pacing back and forth waiting for him. ¡°I already finished out the lotus and used the extra RP to unlock the two sprout stages,¡± Amelia said smiling.
¡°Already,¡± Mark said, pulling up his interface. Sure enough they had five new options for the second seedling stage on their germination path. The killer sprout led to three different options, and the support sprout led to two. Mark gave them a cursory glance, before mentally swiping away.
¡°I¡¯m gonna go to the bathroom then we can leave.¡±
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll be out in the core room when you¡¯re done,¡± Amelia sighed, stepping out of the hut. Mark was very thankful she had. He was a bit self conscious in the bathroom anytime she didn¡¯t. Now he could relax and not worry about it.
Mark pulled up his interface for his morning update. They were sitting at just over 41,000 MP. Normally, he would have liked to have more on hand to prepare for an attack, but right now he doubted he needed to worry about it. All had been quiet for the last week, and the number of troops they were fielding was at an all time high. Two 300 unit divisions had set out for their two outposts as soon as the MP became available. Mark had built another small regiment of 454 goblins to add to their home base, putting them around 1600 units in total.
The regiment included the 44 bugbear platoon, two 50 legionnaire platoons, 10 red mages, 40 yellows, and 260 horned goblins. Henry, their dungeon¡¯s only colonel, would serve as the regiment¡¯s commander. A regiment could have up to 1200 units, so having the archery and mining divisions fall under Henry¡¯s banner was not an issue. However Mark had run out of the weaker goblin units to summon, both the green and horned goblin units were at their caps. For the garden sanctuary outpost division Mark even had to substitute 76 horned goblins for the green goblins capped at 1000.
Keeping that many units increased their daily upkeep costs, but Mark had a whole queue of jobs that needed to be completed. The core of the regiment had started work on their home base fortress. The 10 gnome builders directed their efforts according to Mark¡¯s plan. The archery division was working to increase their weapon stockpiles. The miners were mining, and the garden sanctuary division goblin¡¯s were developing their new settlement.
Five days ago they had been able to upgrade the sanctuary into a full settlement. The upgrade had resulted in only two major changes. There was no additional option to upgrade the settlement further, so either the settlement was the only upgrade for an outpost or they would need to unlock another prerequisite.
For the first change, the tactical map had been further unveiled as their territory surrounding the sanctuary expanded to be equivalent in size to that of the home base. It was a pretty big increase since before the territory had only been about 400 feet in diameter as an outpost
The second major change was that they could now build more than basic fortifications at the site. The goblins were currently querying stone from the inside of the cavern to build several projects. The main project would be the wall to span the entrance, but Mark also had a team working to build a spawner. Soon they would be able to summon units at that site. Then Mark would push the team to build a crafting house and barracks at the site. They could not duplicate the research lab, but the others were all fair game.
Mark just hoped the goblins did not bring the cavern crumbling down on themselves since they were cutting into the walls. However, there had not been much of a choice. While there were trees near the settlement''s location at the edge of the swamp, most were not suitable for construction use. Mark was hesitant to both devote the labor required to bring trees from further away and the attention that doing so would cause. As far as he knew, the other dungeons still did not know about the location. Mark was doing all he could to ensure that did not change.
Besides, the sanctuary was hardly pristine and serene at this point. The goblins had seen to that. However, the vitality bonus provided by the location had remained despite being turned into a goblin squalor, so battle wise the goblin¡¯s filth did not affect the vitality boost his defenders would receive. Mark could only be thankful there were not some sort of health metrics dealing with diseases, sickness, and such.
It left them currently sitting at 13 DP now, five days after the purchase, and of course RP was at zero since Amelia had already allotted the daily quota. Mark swiped through the rest of the menus. Nothing else popped out at him, so he finished his business and prepared for the day.
¡°Ready?¡± Amelia asked, falling into step with him.
¡°Yeah, yeah. I may not be as excited as you, but I¡¯m genuinely interested in seeing them.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t act like. You know despite your alleged dislike of the goblins, you hardly use either of our other two branches,¡± Amelia stated matter of factly. As they exited the portal, she motioned to the legionnaires. After a moment of bickering a dozen fell into step.
¡°Well, yeah humanoids are better for building and other daily tasks. You know how much the spiders eat. With only five of them, they are still able to go out and hunt, but can you imagine a whole force of them? The forest would be swept clean in no time, and the plants¡ Well from what I can see they would be better defenders. They are on the slower side, and are more powerful when they can take root.¡±
¡°So what do you think we should do about the germination path? From the looks of it they are going to keep branching out. Assuming it follows the same cost as classes, the next level will be 25,000 MP a piece. We could only unlock the third tier of one of them, and open an additional two on the second tier.¡±
Mark pulled it open and shared his screen. They would have a couple minutes before they got into the forest where they would do the summoning. At the first tier there were only two options, the killer sprout and the support sprout. The killer sprout broke into three options, Wild, bloodthirsty and arcane seedling. The support sprout broke into two options, the shelter and health seedlings.
Assuming the third tier followed suit of each option opening into 2 or 3 new paths, there would be 10 to 15 new branches. That could mean the fourth tier would have 20 to 45 branches and the fifth tier could have 40 to 130 new options. When considering that the fourth tier and fifth tier would cost at least 50,000 MP, it was quite probable they would never unlock all the routes, even if the new options were at the lower end. Even unlocking the tier 3 options would be quite costly, costing at least a quarter million MP.
¡°We could go with what you said, or we could unlock all of the tier 2 options and see what tier 3 has to offer. Based on what I see they should become more specialized the more tiers we unlock. We would not unlock a tier 3 option today, but likely we won¡¯t be able to unlock all the routes even if we survive to the end of the game. The seedling options are still cheap, we could open it up and see which directions we want to develop.¡±
Amelia nodded. ¡°That works, lets go ahead and start now.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t want to save it for after summoning the units?¡± Mark asked. She glared at him. ¡°Okay, okay,¡± he placated.
Amelia did not wait. She started at the top with the first killer sprout option unlocking the wild seedling for 5,000 MP. Two paths from the tier 3, vegetative state, became unveiled, bold and tranquil. They both read what the first tier 2 option gave. The wild seedling option seemed to be the basic upgrade for the killer sprout path. The killer sprout increased a unit''s strength, agility, and dexterity. The wild seedling upgrade increased the same attributes. The bold and tranquil vegetative state paths would likely follow suit to some degree.
The first unlocked upgrade only held Amelia¡¯s attention for a good fifteen seconds. Like a kid with Christmas presents, she was eager to see what was next. The bloodthirsty seedling was the next to be unlocked. Once again two more options were unveiled for the vegetative state, enraged and manic. The bloodthirsty seedling however increased a unit¡¯s attack. Based on the vegetative tier 3 options, this seemed to be some sort of berserking path.
They moved onto the third one, the arcane seedling. Perhaps the seedling that Mark had been most interested in. This time three vegetative tier 3 options were unveiled, mystic, occult, and decay. The later two of the tier 3 options made Mark extremely interested. Mystic sounded like a basic option, but occult and decay¡
However, Mark''s attention was drawn by what the arcane seedling actually gave. Units would get the spell magic missile. A quick look in the encyclopedia on the spell made Mark smile. It had a 3 second cast time. Three times longer than the magic bolt, but the magic missile was more powerful and would always hit the intended target, assuming something did not intercept it. Not to mention the range. There was none, although it was mentioned that after 100 feet the missiles would get weaker.
It was far better than magic bolt that his goblin mages haphazardly shot a target. For one, the amount of magic bolts that actually hit their intended targets was probably less than half. Then a magic bolt might take down something with a power rating less than 1 with one hit, but more powerful units could easily shrug it off. They would be less likely to shrug off a missile to the head or the neck¡
Once again Amelia was already moving on. The support sprout gave boosts to defense, vitality, and endurance. The shelter seedling carried on with all three of those, and unveiled two new tier 3 options for the vegetative state, shield, and barrier. Both options seemed to indicate that they would continue down the path of making a unit an ultimate defender, or a tank.
The shelter option was apparently the most boring, Amelia was on the final seedling option within seconds. The life seedling gave units a healing spell. The plant version of the healer. Three new vegetative options became available, health, versatile, and beast shepherd. The health option likely would continue along the healer path. Mark could only guess what the versatile path would entail. However his attention was drawn to the final option, the beast shepherd because by the name was the disclaimer, unique.
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It was a unique option for them, likely since the creepy crawlies counted as beasts. Well at least they followed the beast bloodline upgrade route. In truth, Mark was unsure of how much they would actually need this unique option. They already had a beast tamer class project in work at the research lab, but he felt the unique disclaimer would likely goad him into it.
Actually, most of their 12 new tier 3 vegetative options were enticing. In the future, he could see them spending a lot of MP to unlock the germination pathways. After reading through all of them and thinking for a moment, he actually recognized that they all seemed to follow class archetypes.
For the killer sprout, wild seedling, it was the warrior path. A dependable fighter with increased strength, agility, and dexterity. Based on the tier 3 names, bold and tranquil, and seeing how the first two tiers had worked, Mark could infer what bold and tranquil would entail. The bold option would likely move down the strength route. The tranquil option would go the agility and dexterity route for a graceful fighter. Interesting, but when compared to the other options available they were not at the top of his list to unlock.
The bloodthirsty seedling almost definitely followed a barbarian or berserker like path. Units would have an increase in their attack power with little regard for anything else. The fact that the two tier 3 options were called enraged and manic, assured Mark that his assumptions would not be wrong. In all honesty, these options were at the very bottom of his list. He could not help it. He had an engineer type of mindset. He liked things to be more predictable.
The arcane seedling was obviously the mage archetype. The mystic path likely followed a standard mage build. It might be the boring sounding of the options, but after seeing that they got magic missile as their first spell, Mark could not discount it. After all, the flower units were strongest when they were rooted in the ground. What class would suit them better than to serve as mages.
The occult option hinted at things forbidden, but there were numerous possibilities as to what they would be. The decay option seemed more evident. Mark could picture enemies shriveling up like raisins. Regardless, All three tier 3 magic based options would be high on his list to unlock.
The shelter seedling followed the tank archetype. The difference between shield and barrier was not too difficult for Mark to infer. Barrier¡¯s were likely protection from magic based attacks, meaning that the shield option was more literal in its name in protecting from physical attacks. Both options were actually fairly high up on his list to unlock. The right flower units could be pretty durable, making them into unbreakable shields that sounded good.
The life seedling followed the healer class. The health option would likely stick to that route. What exactly the versatile or beast shepherd options would give were a little more ambiguous. Mark would have to unlock them to find out more. The unique beast shepherd option had a real pull to choose it, but versatile likely would fall lower on his list.
Mark and Amelia discussed the options as they walked. Amelia seemed to lean towards the same options that Mark did, except for the two tank options. She seemed to have switched them with the berserking options. The berserking and healing options were at the top of her list. Apparently, Amelia liked the idea of a crazy rampaging plant. ¡°
¡°Could you imagine one of the plants climbing over a wall with its vines, going absolutely nuts. Then we could have some plant healers following right behind healing them up¡¡±
The way she described it, actually made them sound pretty good. Mark only sighed as he realized that at some point he would likely be unlocking all of the tier 3 options at some point. Good grief, that would be 300,000 MP, but unlike the beast and humanoid upgrade paths the plant germination path offered a wide variety of options. For a creative mind type like Amelia, the path would be extremely appealing. Based on her excitement, Mark knew where their daily RP quota would be going tomorrow and the foreseeable future. The only thing that would cut off that idea down at the roots would be if the units were let down by the three level 2 flower options they were about to summon.
Once they got to a small clearing, Amelia wasted no time. After a quick argument, Mark quickly won. Amelia acquiesced quite quickly in order to move on. Amelia wanted to give the samples a boost, but Mark wanted to see what the units were like without any upgrades. Otherwise, wanted to see what the base unit was like, so he could determine what paths they would be most suitable for. Giving them a germination path at this stage might muddy the situation. They would start with the weakest of the new units, the sunflower with a 2.0 power rating.
The sunflower appeared towering over them. It was easily 15 feet tall with a foot diameter stem at its base that stood among a tangle of 10 foot tentacle appendages and roots. The width of the step tampered down to half that of the base. The face looked like any sunflower he had seen. The center is a blackish brown circle flanked by foot long yellow petals. By far this was the biggest unit they had access too. A monster of a plant.
| Sun Flower 1 (1/50) |
(none) |
Power lvl: 2.0 |
Morale: -- |
| Strength |
12 |
Attack: 4 |
Defense: 1 |
| Endurance |
11 |
Abilities/Skills |
| Agility |
2 |
Sunburst: 0/100% of charge (non MP attack) |
| Vitality |
14 |
| Intelligence |
8 |
| Wisdom |
8 |
Of note the sunflower had a unique magic attack, Sunburst, that was powered through sunlight. They would have to give the unit a bit to charge up since it was currently at 0 of 100%. Overall the unit was very impressive for a 2.0 power rating, but there was one real drawback. The unit¡¯s movement was entirely too slow. Mark had not seen a slower moving unit. Even the rock golems moved two or three times as fast. However with their height Mark could see them vantage for magic attacks.
Mark only got a few minutes to test out his new unit before Amelia summoned the bloodrose. At that time, Mark already got a pretty good idea of how fast it would take the sunflower to charge up its special attack, 20 minutes. Of course right now they were in direct sunlight in the early summer. Mark had a feeling that if there were other factors like cloud cover it might take longer.
Even at first appearance the blood rose seemed menacing, a thicket of vines wrapped up tightly to the size of a hedge 7 or 8 feet tall. What made the unit menacing was the thousands of shark tooth like thorns that covered the vines. Oddly enough there were no roses for which the unit got its name. However that mystery was solved after reading the blood rose¡¯s special ability.
| Blood Rose 1 (1/41) |
(none) |
Power lvl: 2.4 |
Morale: -- |
| Strength |
14 |
Attack: 4 |
Defense: 2 |
| Endurance |
18 |
Abilities/Skills |
| Agility |
8 |
Blood Frenzy |
| Vitality |
17 |
| Intelligence |
3 |
| Wisdom |
4 |
Blood frenzy allowed the blood rose to use the blood of its victims to grow roses. The more blood and the amount of blood the blood rose took in, the more roses would appear. It did not detail what the roses did, but Mark was sure they would like for as many to appear as possible. Even the interface pointed to this with a disclaimer. Enemy units and friendly units could not be sacrificed to increase the blood rose¡¯s blood frenzy. The blood rose had to entangle or kill the units itself.
Mark smirked. The battle creators would have almost had to make another patch because of him, because that was exactly where his mind had gone. Regardless, like the sunflower the blood rose promised to be quite a powerful unit compared to its power rating of 2.4. When the bloodrose untangled its vines it could reach up to 30 feet from its center. Along with its smaller cousin, creeping ivy, Mark could form a literal thicket wall.
Unlike the sunflower, the blood rose had a decent movement speed. when tasked to do so. The vines stretched out in the intended direction of movement clawing and digging into the ground as it went. Furrows were carved into the dirt upon its passing. Like a tractor was pulling something to till the land. No way this thing could be sneaky. However, Mark had identified Amelia¡¯s rampaging flower unit. This thing could likely claw its way right up a wall regardless of what it was made up of.
Without being able to test the blood frenzy the two moved on to the final flower unit the midnight lotus. The midnight lotus appeared. A flower with dark purple flowers 8 foot in diameter with petals curving up 6 feet into the air appeared in front of Mark and Amelia. At its base were green lily pad like leaves. Around eight, 15 foot long tentacle-like vines reached out in all directions. The root structure looked far from sufficient to support the massive flower. Mark did not need to test it to know the flower would be extremely slow.
| Midnight Lotus 1 (1/35) |
(none) |
Power lvl: 2.8 |
Morale: -- |
| Strength |
10 |
Attack: 1 |
Defense: 2 |
| Endurance |
8 |
Abilities/Skills |
| Agility |
2 |
Malevolent aura: |
| Vitality |
22 |
| Intelligence |
7 |
| Wisdom |
7 |
At first look the midnight lotus was not very impressive. It was relatively fragile. The tentacles had the durability and strength similar to that of the creeping ivy. The movement speed was even slower than the sunflower. However, the unit was a support unit not a powerhouse by itself. It all depended on the unit''s special ability, Malevolent aura.
[Malevolent aura: increases the power of flower type units within its vicinity, up to a maximum of 25%. The closer a unit is, the greater the effect. Other unit types from the plant tree will benefit from the malevolent aura at a reduced rate.]
Mark was kicking himself for having waited so long to unlock the level 2 units. The level 1 units had been alright. However it would have taken boosts to make them really shine. However the level 2 units changed everything. He could already picture an ultimate defense with a bunch of the level 1 and 2 units working together.
Amelia was just as excited. Even she understood how the three level 2 units complimented each other perfectly. The bloodrose could form a defense. The sunflowers would be great mages. All of the level 1 units could fill in the gaps. All while the midnight lotus boosted them all. She gave him a knowing smirk. Mark sighed. Lunch today would be him going out to eat to, ¡®I told you town.¡¯
Chapter 48.1 Authors note/announcement
This might be the last chapter for a few weeks. I am moving 1,000 miles and will be staying at my in-laws for a week. not sure how often I will get to write during that time. However then I will come back to work at my day job through the month of July. I will be living by myself (no wife, no 3 yr old) for the whole month of July, including July 4th weekend. Goal is 100,000 words. That being said, they will not all be to this story, which leads to my announcement.
Announcement: I have started a second story (I have not started posting it yet). Planning on working both stories concurrently, although I will put any questions to ease. The Age of Dungeons is the priority and my greater passion. The other story is going to be its opposite although also LITRPG as well. Where this story is more strategically focused, where MC''s develop their dungeon. the other story will be MC developing himself. Also there will be more means for character interaction, and exploration of the map.
Main reason that I am not postponing the desire for a second story. Age of dungeons takes a whole lot more planning and thought to do it justice. In fact, I had to wrestle with chapter 48, the latest chapter for a whole week. Thinking up all the germination paths and how I wanted to structure them took some time. Then I had to finalize what the level 2 flower units would look like. And to be honest I was not sure how I wanted to close out the next phase, although I am now, had an epiphany moment which charted the course for the next 10 to 15 chapters. Likely I will push all of those out in July.
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Plan is to finish out the next phase in July. After that the goal will be 2 chapters a week on the age of dungeons, although I can imagine there will be some 1 chapter or 0 chapter weeks. Depends on how my next job is.
Conclusion:
The other story will be based in the Arcadian realm in another battle, so I will be developing the realm back setting and interface more. All of that will eventually funnel back into this story. I have a growing list of things that will need to be fixed or completely overhauled for the next draft of this story, although the story will not be changed on a fundamental level (order of events will remain the same).i mainly want to fix the areas I acknowledge have been very weak including interface prompts, character development (yes I know Amelia is probably very awkward just lingering in the background.), but I also want to improve the other characters including the dungeons very own named units and other contenders.
Chapter 48.5: Day 132
Cynthia
Cynthia along with the rest of the world were in shock. Richard Lambert, the third place holder, had spent the last four days marching an army South to pincer Jack Wynham¡¯s dungeon with the other republic of Neurim contender, Leonard Boulevic. An obvious show of the two republic dungeons coordinating their efforts despite in battle communication being currently disabled.
The fact that they had found away to coordinate was not nearly so surprising then the fact that the two were doing so for the benefit of Leonard and not Richard. Richard had been assumed to be Republic¡¯s main, while the other two contenders played blocker and support, but either that assumption had been wrong or the republic had changed their plans.
Neither option would be too surprising, although from a battle standpoint most leaned towards the later. Truth was that Richard was involved in a three way stagnant struggle with the 5th and 6th place dungeons in the Northeast. None of them could gain an edge against the others and the three way struggle had actually caused them to start to fall behind. However this new move would likely end that struggle.
Richard had committed far too many resources to wipe out the other republic¡¯s main competition in the southeast region. Several hundred DP had been converted and added in with an additional 300,000 MP. The half million MP army devastated Jack Wynham¡¯s surface forces, and Leonard¡¯s army moved in before Jack had a chance to summon more construct defenders. Leonard being able to sweep through the dungeon levels with a full untouched army of orcs and gnolls was a foregone conclusion.
It changed the game board. Once Leonard finished off Jack, he should be able to gobble down the other three dungeons in the southeast given enough time. He would emerge dominant in the Southeast region. Nicholas Holt would do the same with the Southwest region. The north would almost certainly be claimed by Daniel Hale, the beastmaster. Whereas Derrick Blackwell from the Atlin empire would face off against Avery Kingston the model from Magnum. Richard had already lost both of his outposts, in his weakened condition it was unlikely for him to be able to make a comeback or aid Leonard after this.
Seemingly the breakout of three of the regions had been decided. Four by most estimates, since Gale Barbary was assumed to be the emerging power in the Northwestern region. Cynthia was not entirely convinced since she did not think her client or Mareth would go down easily, but perhaps she was too deeply involved to see the truth of the matter.
Gale Barbary had just unlocked the troll branch, making her the only contender to have unlocked two level 2 unit branches. Now with Amelia and Mareth squaring off with each other Gale would only pull further ahead. She already passed most contenders in regards to unit upgrades. She had more level 2 techs researched then anybody else, and her swamp fortress was becoming more and more formidable. Only real reason she was number 9 on the rankings list was that she had not done anything. She had not gotten any unique rewards, but she was ahead in everything else.
The real question was when the major powers would be done consolidating their areas. Nicholas Holt and Daniel Hale would likely be done in another couple of months. Leonard would likely need a few months more since he had three more dungeons to knock out. The Northeastern battle could happen at any time. Although many theorized that either Avery Kingston or Derrick Blackwell would emerge victorious sooner rather than later since they both had fallen behind due to the other and Richard Lambert. It was clear they both wanted things settled, so that they could move on unencumbered by other nearby dungeons.
Day: 133 Avery Kingston
Avery smirked as she watched the last of Richard Lambert''s undead fall before her forces. Fifteen enraged vegetative state Treants led the charge into what was likely the final floor of Richards dungeon. Myconid healers followed behind healing the already durable rampaging treants. The cherry tree mystics would lob spells and their special cherry bomb attack from behind them all.
Avery had started the battle opening the plant tree, and the cheapest fungus branch. Soon after she had unlocked the tree branch to give herself a little more physical strength. From there she had been offered a unique reward for her first and only conquest. The unique reward unlocked the humanoid tree requirement for her, allowing her to get the myconid branch.
The fungus based humanoids were welcome in many regards, but also introduced the headache of having to advance classes and eventually skills as well as the germination paths for her plant type units. Her resources had already been stretched thin dealing with Richard and Derrick for the last few months. Thankfully, Richard had basically just removed himself from the competition. It had been expected for one of the republic contenders to make the move. Avery could only be thankful that Richard had apparently become the republic''s sacrifice.
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Avery¡¯s only regret was that she had not made her move earlier. It was extremely likely that the forces he had sent away had already accomplished their mission. Richard had done a good job concealing his intentions. Both Derrick and herself had been wary for several days, having both lost sight of Richard¡¯s massive army. While they had each taken the opportunity to take out one of his outposts.
It was unfortunate, if Avery had not had the misconception that Richard was the republic¡¯s golden boy, she could have finished him off before his army went to the aid of Leonard, the soon to be last surviving member of the Republic. How funny would that have been, if she had taken him down while his army was in transit?. At least after today, she would be left with a standup fight with Derrick. With only two of them, they could fight it out without worrying that someone else would intrude. Well at least not someone local. Hopefully her next unique rewards would give her the edge in the upcoming struggle.
Once she had taken control of her region of the map she could catch up with the other contender finalists. She was not under any misconceptions. The three way struggle had caused them all to fall behind. The only respite in their constant struggle had occurred after someone hit dungeon level 2. They had all shifted their focus to reaching level 2 themselves. Of course the pause only lasted a couple of weeks, before something had inevitably restarted hostilities.
But Avery was far from discouraged. Apparently, very few contenders had unlocked the plant tree. Few could understand what it could offer. The humanoid class and skill system was far less versatile, than the germination pathways that she had only begun to unlock. Unlocking its mysteries would forever take precedence for her. The myconids would only be advanced enough to supplement the plant types.
The myconids did offer new avenues in one area. Construction. All of her buildings before getting the fungus men branch had been grown and warped together out of trees. Now she had units that could work with stone. She already had ideas on how to fuse the two techniques to form a stone palace covered with vines and trees. Her own jungle fortress, where the stone would protect the vital areas of the plants, allowing the plants to attack with impunity. The plants would use the research projects from her trap research focus. The result would be a stone palace, with non unit plants that would seek out, entangle, and kill any who entered.
The treants finished off the last of the defenders and exited the floor. As expected, the fourth level was Richards last line of defense. None of them had unlocked dungeon features II, so five floors was all any of them had, since they all had also devoted one of their floors for a mine. Her treants entered the core room, and destroyed the core. After her last conquest, she knew that she would have to wait an hour before she could look at her unique rewards. Just enough time to get the tension she had been carrying out of her neck and shoulders. The three way struggle had been quite stressful..
¡°Mckayla, can you set up for a massage,¡± Avery said stretching.
¡°Yes miss Kingston,¡± Mckayla said moving to the opposite side of the core room.
Mckayla was her champion, but had been her aid for over a decade prior. Avery had picked her since she could do practically everything, including massages, aromatherapy, acupuncture, and make the perfect cocktail.
Avery had not spent the 10,000 MP because she needed a champion. As a model she had always spearheaded major decisions herself, but she could not bear roughing it alone. When the battle could easily last several years, bringing in Mckayla had been an easy decision.
***Below is a graph of who is left in each region, their rank, and their troop types if specified, for you visual types. Just note their are now only 14 contenders. Ranks are based on the last months ranking and do not account for the Number 3 and 4 being taken out of the picture.***
| Remaining Contenders: 14 |
| Northwest Region |
|
North Region |
|
Northeast |
|
| Amelia Cromwell (rank 10) |
Goblins, Creepy Crawlies, flowers |
Daniel Hale (Beastmaster)(rank 2) |
Several beast branches, and tree branch |
Avery Kingston (rank 5)) |
Fungus, Tree, and Myconids |
| Mareth Ingall (rank 11) |
Golems, Scarecrows |
Simon Heath (rank 8) |
Not specified |
Derrick Blackwell (rank 6) |
Not specified |
| Gale Barbary (rank 9) |
Lizardmen, Giants (Lvl 2), Trolls (Lvl 2) |
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| Southwest Region |
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Southeast Region |
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| Nicholas Holt (rank 1) |
Skeletons, zombies |
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Leonard Boulevic (rank 7) |
Orcs and gnolls |
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| Unnamed (rank 16) |
Not specified |
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Unnamed (rank 14) |
Not specified |
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| Unnamed (rank 15) |
Not specified |
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Unnamed (rank 13) |
Not specified |
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Unnamed (rank 12) |
Not specified |
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Chapter 49: Day 133
Mark watched the gray and blue dots break from the tree line on his tactical map. It was dark outside so he would not be able to see them for a while. Not until they entered the firelight where he waited with Henry, a half dozen legionnaires, and a pair of red mages. If things did somehow come to blows there would also be the two surviving yellow scouts. Of course the two survivors from the four unit scouting party would be the two veterans. Accompanying them was Khondur the kobold leader and a dozen other kobolds.
Mark had an idea of what they were coming for. Several weeks ago one of the scout teams had left the dungeon to get guidance from the kobolds. The mission had been a success. They now had an underground route mapped to Mareth¡¯s territory. A couple days of travel would allow Mark to drop an army right on Mareth¡¯s doorstep. Probably less than a quarter of a mile from where Mareth¡¯s territorial boundary began. The best part was that the beginning of the route started from the cave where they had found the cave bear all the way back during week 1. Their troops could be spawned and enter the cave in a matter of a couple of hours under the cover of darkness, without Mareth being the wiser. There had been just one snag.
¡°Niccceeee to sssseee, you again dungeon lord,¡± Khondur said with his gravelly voice, stepping into the edge of the firelight.
¡°A pleasure,¡± Mark replied. ¡°I understand our scouting team and your guides ran into a bit of trouble. Sorry that a few of your men got killed helping us out.¡±
¡°A knownnn adversary of ours, yet their patrols have been venturing further. Challenging the territorial boundaries that have existed for generations.¡±
Mark nodded. Right after the first dungeon had hit level 2 neutral parties across the map had attacked the various dungeons they were nearby. For Mark and Amelia, it had been a gnoll army. For Mareth, the harpies had described that she had been attacked by giant humanoids. From what his scouts had described, Mark now suspected trolls, since the ones the scout party had run into were not giants.
¡°The trolllsss, might hinder your plansss of sssending an army underground. They would sssurrely, attack such a forcsse that came within the area,¡± Khondur finished.
¡°How many trolls are we talking about?¡± Mark asked. ¡°And what types?¡± he added.
¡°Our estimates would put their numbersss at 500 or so. The bulk of their forcsse conssitsss of lowland trolllsss, but their plenty of regular trolllsss and hill trolllsss as well. Of coursssse, they will alsssso have ssssome cave trolllsss.¡±
Five hundred was not a small force. Then there were four unit types, and since trolls were a level 2 unit branch, Mark would expect them all to be above the 2.0 power rating threshold. At least one of the four types was likely a level 3 unit type. Since a couple dozen cave trolls had obliterated the surface of Mareth¡¯s dungeon, Mark could not underestimate them. If they had even a couple of class or experience upgrades the cave trolls would likely have a power rating well into the 4¡¯s.
Mark calculated how much taking out such a force would require. Definitely over a hundred thousand, probably closer to two hundred thousand. It would take more than a weeks worth of MP to challenge it. Another week of production that they would potentially fall behind the other dungeons, but what was the alternative, fight Mareth in a straight out fight on the surface. That might be even more costly in the long run.
The trolls had found and attacked a goblin and kobold scouting squad with only 10 units. What were the chances that an army of over a thousand could get through? Maybe the trolls would not want the trouble?... No, they most definitely were not that lucky. If he wanted to go through with the plan to sneak up on Mareth¡¯s dungeon the trolls would have to be dealt with. Seeming to understand Mark¡¯s predicament, Khondur spoke up again.
¡°There may be something else you would be interested in at the troll encampment,¡± the kobold leader said grinning. Although his alligator teeth made it seem more like he was sizing up how Mark would taste for dinner. Mark¡¯s attention was on the kobold leader. It had already been verified that essence sources could be co located with various neutral factions on the map, but what Khondur said next was even more appetizing.
¡°There are black coal mounds in the troll settlement, eight of them,¡± the kobold leader said, revealing his teeth even further. The reptilian knew Mark would be interested in that.
Eight coal mounds could not be disregarded. It was one more than even the garden sanctuary. Mark had not done the math recently but they only had another 3 months of coal at their home base, and the Crassius site had just a few weeks more. Mark smiled. There was no reason why he could not switch one of the sites before they ran out. Sure it would be an upfront expenditure, but it would also leave them with an outpost site to fall back upon if one was destroyed or occupied. They only produce MP at three sites, nothing said they could not have outposts ready to go at other sites.
Of course right now, Mark would have to turn off the Crassius site. They had manna bellows and manna pumps at the home base, which would also count against their MP production site limit, but there was also an answer to that. When the homebase ran out of coal, Mark had already been planning to use DP to move the buildings to one of the other sites, so that he could mine coal somewhere else.
An underground outpost would be extremely secure from the other dungeons, so would make a good location for them. However, that would require Mark to upgrade that location to a settlement. Something he would not spend a hundred thousand on, but 20,000 for a new outpost that increased their daily MP production that was definitely a worthwhile expenditure.
Still there was no reason why he should not try to get a little help with obtaining it.
¡°Would you be able to support our forces in wiping out your enemies?¡± Mark queried.
¡°Haek, haek, haek,¡± the reptilian laughed. ¡°Dungeon lord, I would not attack the trolllsss even if I could sssend a forcsse of two thousssssand. Although from what we have witnessed from your dungeon, you should be able to manage it,¡± Khondur added.
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Mark frowned, but he would not be deterred. ¡°What about in just a support role. The kobolds take out the troll scouts and guide our forces. I¡¯m sure that you know the ins and outs of the troll territory, if you have seen their base.¡±
¡°¡±Perhapssss,¡± the Kobold leader said, once again his snout formed its wicked smile. Khondur stood for a minute in contemplation. ¡°Sweeaten the pottt?¡± the kobold leader asked contemplatively.
¡°Not for only that much support,¡± Mark stated, taking a hard stance. ¡°Besides, it is rather strange how we have not seen any of our 50% of higher level resources from your miners. Perhaps we need to revisit that¡¡± Mark stated smiling.
¡°Haek, Haek, haek, just so happens we actually just located some essence in the magic mine. I was waiting for usss to finish collecting it all before we distribute your ssshare,¡± Khondur stated revealing his teeth.
Essence¡ in the mine? Mark¡¯s eyes widened. But his mind refocused back on the task on hand. ¡°Yes, we will await our share. Now how about the support?¡±
¡°Very well, we will guide the army and deal with the trolllsss patrolllsss. I guess that will concludddee tonightsss dealingsss. Till next time,¡± Khondur said, turning.
¡°It will probably be a week, maybe two before the attack. We will let you know when we are ready,¡± Michael shouted after the departing kobold lord. The kobolds seemed to dislike being above ground and social interaction, so the couple times they had met the meetings had been kept brief. It was fine with Mark.
The news of essence being found in the mine was welcome news. Since Khondur departed in that direction, perhaps they would know what type it was soon. Mark had to wonder how many other high level things the kobold miners had found. The goblins had found quite a few different basic metals including iron and copper, but nothing game changing so far.
Still with the amount of iron they were mining, their armor would soon all be made of metal. Plate armor for the bugbears and perhaps other units like the arachne, but chain mail was also in the works. With the gnomes'' knowhow it was a simple thing for the goblins to make long lines of iron that could then be cut into segments and cinch them together in the crafting house. The goblins'' handiwork might not be the greatest, but even a poorly made set of chain mail would provide a defensive bonus equivalent to their best hide armor and defensive enchantment.
Since chain mail could be counted as an undershirt a piece of hide armor with an enchantment could be worn over it doubling the defensive bonus. Well¡it would in the future. Based on one of their samples, they did not have the required tech to do so. Mark was pretty sure it would be the intricate design tech, which was available for 150 RP.
Right now they were working toward unlocking one of the vegetative state germination route upgrades, but perhaps in the near future Mark would work to get intricate design unlocked.
Day 134
¡°What do you mean, Ezekiel took it,¡± Mark asked angrily. Just the moment before he had felt like it was Christmas. The kobold leader had come through. They had delivered quite a few measures of their newest essence, lightning. Now their crazy resident scientist had absconded with it.
It was a wonder the scientist could find out about something so soon. It had only been a matter of hours. It was like the scientist had created spy bots that had infiltrated the entire camp. Perhaps that was giving him too much credit, spy bots would be too high tech. The more reasonable option was that someone was telling him. Mark¡¯s eyes scanned the goblins just now arousing throughout the camp. The bastard must be bribing them with something. Just like they were bribing the harpies to bring them information.
¡°Well actually sir, he only took about a quarter of it,¡± Henry replied with his gruff voice. ¡°We still have 16 measures of it left. I delivered a few measures to the research lab and secured the rest in the stone essence chests. Boss, if I may¡ If we are expecting to get more essence from the mine in the future, we will need some more stone essence chests for storage.¡±
¡°Very well, I will let you work that out with the gnomes,¡± Mark agreed. Sixteen measures was not bad, their life essence source could barely produce that much in a month. Maybe he should not worry too much about what Ezekial had taken. Sixteen measures would likely go pretty far with whatever methods the researchers found to use it for. Not to mention a mad scientist and electricity made a pretty good combination.
¡°Continue with the morning report,¡± Mark said finally, realizing that Henry was just standing by awkwardly.
¡°Oh yes, well, the only other thing of note, other than the normal projects is some information we received from a harpy this morning.¡± That got Mark¡¯s full attention. ¡°The harpy reported a new unit type at the lizardmen dungeon. Large gray humanoids. From the descriptions, they sound like trolls that the scouts ran into on the underground mission.¡±
That was certainly news. Gale had unlocked the troll branch, and since she already had giants it meant she had unlocked both level 2 options. It was quite alarming. There had been quite a bit of alarming news recently. Two days ago the number four dungeon had fallen. Then only the day after the number three dungeon had followed right after it. According to Amelia, they were both top contender prospects from major factions.
Big moves were being made across the map, and now there were only 14 contenders left. Yet Mark and Amelia were only aware of what was happening in their immediate area. The only glimpse they had of other dungeons were the few alternate entrances they had discovered, but since they had not sent anyone through, they had no idea who they belonged to. Perhaps they needed to do something about that soon.
Regardless, Mark was starting to get the antsy feeling again. The same one he had gotten in the weeks leading up to the first dungeon hitting level 2. With how much MP their dungeon was pulling in daily, they could save up the million MP for dungeon level 3 in two months of dedicated effort. Some dungeons had been level 2 for nearly 3 months at this point. That was plenty of time for dungeons to knock out quite a few of the level 2 techs, and start eyeing the level 3 dungeon upgrade.
Mark¡¯s worst case estimate gave them at least another month. There were a host of things for dungeons to spend MP on, and surely the other dungeons were at least running into some problems of their own. Still it was a good idea to have some idea of when other dungeons would progress.
¡°Anything else,¡± Mark asked, realizing that once again he had Henry hanging around awkwardly.
¡°Not really boss, the regiment is making a good headway on the outer wall for the fortress. We have thousands of blocks standing by, but in a matter of weeks the reserve will run out.¡±
¡°Have our miners start producing blocks as well. If that slows down mining too much, we could have members of the regiment go and mine the difference,¡± Mark said dismissively. The kobolds were producing 500 plus stones a day, but the regiment was burning through the ten thousand surplus that had been built up before work could begin. They would just have to produce more on their own.
Henry continued with other aspects, but Mark only half listened. His mind was going over with how he wanted to go about taking care of the troll problem before moving onto their true target.
Chapter 50: Day 140
Just like everyday for the past week, Mark and Amelia were hard at work. There was a lot to prepare for. Today was the last day before their forces would leave through the underground passage to take the troll village off the map. Oddly enough, it was the preparation and not MP that had held things back. They had already had a good portion of the force built.
Mark planned on sending the regiment and archer division. That would put 750 goblins in the force. Other than that Mark had planned to spawn 5 spiders, 5 scorpions, and 81 cockroaches, all with three levels of beast bloodlines. Added to the 5 spiders and 19 cockroaches leftover from the subjugation force that would give them 10 spiders and a 100 cockroaches. In addition he would send 5 level 3 arachne mages with the soak skill. The additions would only cost just over 39,000 MP.
Then Mark would also send the 10 spiritualists. Hopefully, they could be kept out of the battle, but sending an additional 75 power rating worth of shadow monsters was too good to give up. The force would be led by Henry and Nasal. The latter having respawned several days ago.
Sending around 900 units to attack a force of 500 that were all level two or higher would normally not be enough, but that is where their preparation would come in. Luckily, Mark had some idea of what their units would be facing having heard many stories with trolls back on earth. It was odd how so many things lined up with their mythology, but Mark had come to the conclusion that the lower realm with his earth had been used heavily as a reference for this battle.
If that was the case, it meant that things should line up more often than not. What did he know about trolls? They were bigger than humans. They were tough, and a good portion of lore said they had regeneration. Fortunately, they already had an answer for that. Their forge¡¯s special aspect allowed metal to take on properties from whatever it was quenched in. They had already discovered that congealed corpse blood would result in weapons causing necrosis damage which directly fought regeneration. Mark had directed the collection from all three reanimated corpses whenever they needed more.
Fire was also supposedly, something that was supposed to be effective to combat regeneration, so thousands of arrows with both aspects were being prepared in addition to other things. Mark had spent the days producing rock and doing other things during most of the process.
Amelia was playing with her new toy in the crafting shop. The goblin miners finally came through yesterday. A decent sized source of base essence had been found in the mine. Once again some of it went to the research lab, but they did already have one use for the base essence. The inscription pens could be charged with it for enchantments. Amelia and Crouse were both hard at work to break through the good quality threshold they had been stuck at for so long. Mark would have to check up on her progress soon.
There was only one issue that Mark needed to deal with. Both Mareth and Gale were keeping tabs on their dungeon. They would have to fool them. Mark¡¯s current plan was to have the mining division spend time topside carrying out various roles. Some would have to build the wall. Some would have to go in and out of the crafting house, and some would have to man the tower. The green and horned goblins were capped out, otherwise Mark would just summon more.
Mark thought through it a little more. No, pretending everything was normal would just slow down their progress. Who could say if their opponents would buy it. Then a spark of brilliance came to him. If avoiding attention was not the best idea, then perhaps he should go the opposite way. The more he thought about it, the better the idea was. Make something new and flashy to hold their opponents focus.
After unlocking the germination pathways, Mark had already wanted to swap out their home bases defensive units. Then the goblins and creepy crawlies could be used mainly for offensive purposes. The unit caps were too limiting otherwise. What better time than now, when most of the goblins would likely die in that troll attack to reconfigure their forces.
Of course there would always be a place for the goblins on defense as well, but until they hit level 3 the unit caps were too constricting. For the troll attack and for their eventual sneak attack on Mareth¡¯s dungeon they would need to take as many goblins as possible. The plants and say an archer division could keep the home base adequately defended. At the very least the plant defenders would not need to be fed, so they were basically free units.
Mark checked on their current MP and did the math. Once all the offensive forces had been built, they would be sitting with 162,580 MP right now. That should be plenty to build a pretty good defense.
Mark flipped to their germination upgrade page. They had unlocked one tier 3 vegetative state upgrade. Mystic, the basic mage option, had been Mark¡¯s first choice. The upgrade was the equivalent of unlocking mage level 3, and it did not disappoint. The mystic class gave a new spell, Concussion. Mark had summoned a cheap level 1 unit to test the spell.
Concussion had the longest cast time they had run across, costing the caster a full 30 seconds. It was hard to tell completely since it had not been tested against actual targets. The mystic plant could fire a transparent beam that had a duration of about 4 seconds. From what Mark could tell it looked like a line of powerful wind that would knock over units, but he was sure there was more to it. The name concussion and a 30 second cast time surely would not be associated with just a gust of wind used to knock things over.
Surprisingly, the mystic upgrade had only revealed one tier 4, budding option, with the same name. Either the vegetative state had already branched to all the areas or the one vegetative option just did not have anywhere else to go. Mark would not cry over it. The options were great, but at 50,000 MP per a budding state upgrade he would never be able to unlock all the options if the paths all continued to branch out.
Mark looked at the upgrade currently underway. His second choice had been the shield vegetative state upgrade. Something he would surely want prior to summoning a bunch of defensive type units, but they currently had only 20 of 25 RP toward unlocking it. Mark could convert MP to finish it up or wait till tomorrow.
It did not take long for Mark to decide. He could just stay up past midnight and use tomorrow''s 5 RP. No conversion fee and the forces could still be in place tomorrow morning. He would not have to build everything tonight. Some shield blood roses and creeping ivy, and some mystic sunflowers. They could fill out the force more later.
Mark settled on 34 blood rose shields, 49 creeping ivy shields, and 49 sunflower mystics. It would cost just over 103,940 MP, leaving him with over 50,000 MP. By tonight when he actually summoned them, that would be even higher. The 135 plant units would not seem like much, but that was not taking into account the destructive power of the sunflower. Mark had only tested it once, when he was sure the spies would not see the result. A fully charged sunburst could turn multiple decent sized trees into kindling.
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Sure if Mareth attacked in the night they would only have one shot, and even that would have atrophied as energy atrophied off through the night. However, even at sunrise the sunburst would still be half charged. Enough to turn one or two of Mareth¡¯s level 2 units into rubble. Then they would have their other spells using manna. Once he unlocked the healer vegetative state option he would make lotuses. They would heal the bramble defensive barrier and increase all of the flower units'' strength by 25% with their malevolent aura.
Unless Mareth attacked, he could wait till they researched them normally. He could summon some in another 5 days. If she did attack in the next few days, Mark would have to summon yellow hobgoblins and other types that were not capped. Then he would summon a bunch of level 1 flowers to fight in the melee. Hopefully, it would not come to that.
Mareth had several weeks to rebuild her forces, the same as them. From the harpy reports, she had already built hundreds of units including a handful of level 2 units. It would take her at least to build an army similar to the last one, but it was likely it would be another week or two before she actually attacked. She had seen what Mark and Amelia had to offer. If she came again, it would be with additional measures.
Mark believed that the fourth level of their dungeon could deal with a lot, but if Mareth got the right units there she would be able to clear it. While Mark thought they could prevent her from doing so if he put his full effort against her. That was not the plan. Last time, Mareth had attacked their dungeon, she had only left a skeleton crew to guard her own dungeon. No other threats in the area had let Mareth focus on all out offensives, but next time she did there would be a surprise ready for her.
Best part is that Mark would not even have to actually endure her attack. If all went according to plan, they could attack once her army was hours away. Based on her previous attacks it would be at night, but that should not be an issue. There was only one issue to the whole plan. Feeding his forces at the advanced position. His forces could theoretically have to wait for weeks. At least a new outpost at the troll settlement would solve the logistical problem.
No longer would he have to constantly send supply trains back and forth. He could buy the food at the outpost right where he needed it. Mark loved when the pieces lined up perfectly.
Mark decided to duck his head into the crafting house. Amelia had been there for a good hour. He could see how much success she had with the base essence. Mark entered to find dozens of units scurrying about for last minute preparations. Amelia had separated herself off in a corner on a desk next to Crouse, the gnome¡¯s main inscriptionist.
¡°How is it going?¡± Mark tried, but Amelia just shhh¡¯d him in return.
¡°It¡¯s going exceedingly well,¡± Crouse the gnome spoke. He was pale from manna deprivation. ¡°Even I have been able to turn out a couple exceptional quality inscriptions with the base essence. However there still seems to be another threshold preventing us from turning out a masterwork. Our hypothesis is material quality. However right now she is attempting to put three inscriptions on a single arrow. Piercing, duplicate projectile, and the flame enchantment.¡±
¡°We have failed a couple of times, but it should be possible as long as all three enchantments are of exceptional quality. As long as we can work out the interference issues between the three.¡±
¡°I guess that excludes the firecracker enchantment since we can only produce up to average quality,¡± Mark frowned.
¡°That is true,¡± The gnome relented, but then his pale face widened in a grin. ¡°But you should have seen our first test of exceptional quality enchantments.¡± Mark¡¯s eyes widened in question.
¡°After we got our portion of the base essence, I could not help but work into the night using it. Of course, I eventually was too drained to continue, so I joined the festivities as normal. After a few drinks Cedrick suggested we try one out. The duplicate projectile caused the arrow to separate into 9 separate arrows that then burst in flame.¡±
¡°It doubled?¡± Mark exclaimed. The gnome nodded. From poor quality to good quality the duplicate projectile enchantment added one additional arrow per a quality increase, resulting in four duplicates at good quality. Crouse was saying that crossing that barrier had resulted in eight or double the payload. The same was likely true for other enchantments. Crossing the quality threshold would allow their weapons to double in strength.
¡°How much base essence does each one take?¡± Mark asked.
¡°¡±Hmmmm even with my experimenting, I think I should be able to produce over a hundred double enchanted arrows from our allotment. However we only got 25% of the base essence, so you should be able to produce three times that. Of course, if she is successful with the triple enchantment that number would be less¡¡±
¡°Can you guys, go somewhere else,¡± Amelia spoke up frustratedly. Her attention was still on the arrow she was working on. The gnome shrugged.
¡°Okay, I¡¯ll get out of your hair,¡± Mark stated. They could talk through his plans during dinner. At that point she would likely be far too drained to enchant again till later that evening, new toy or not.
Mark went to the apothecary expansion. The bugbear platoon was already fully outfitted with pills for the upcoming battle, but increasing their stockpile would never be a bad thing. Mark got the ingredients and got things going. After a few minutes he was able to sit back and think, only dedicating a bit of his attention to the task.
Mark could not help, but think what a rock skin pill would do if he hit exceptional quality with one. Mark smiled despite himself. He had just mastered average quality, and had yet to even produce one good quality pill yet. Scouts had brought enough herbs for some exceptional quality pills, but Mark did not feel up to the task when he could not even hit good quality yet.
Still, if the jump from good to exceptional quality held true for the pill¡ good quality would likely increase the defense stat by five, so exceptional quality could take it all the way to 10, Mark thought excitedly. To think he had been excited to get his bugbear units past 10 in defense with the use of rock skin pills, but with armor and an exceptional quality rock skin pill 10 did not seem like much at all.
Mark continued producing pills throughout most of the day, with just an hour break for lunch. By dinner time, he was thoroughly worn out. Amelia was just as worn down. She was already waiting for him on the couch. The new rankings were already pulled up. Mark had intended to be here in time, but to finish the last pill he had to accept being a few minutes late.
Mark instantly found their dungeon. They were ranked number 7. With Mareth, just behind at 8. First place had been held by Nicholas Holt, and Daniel Hale had stayed in second. Leonard Boulevic had jumped all the way up to third.
Then, there was Gale sitting in fourth place. She had crept up the list. It seemed that viewers were starting to realize that Gale¡¯s strength was growing without opposition. Avery Kingston and Derrick Blackwell stayed in fifth and sixth respectively, although Gale had surpassed them.
As far as ninth through fourteen, Mark did not care too much. He had a feeling that if Amelia and him survived for too much longer most of them would not be a factor. Simon Heath, a contender from a major faction had dropped all the way to twelfth signaling that he likely was not long for the world.
Being in seventh place would have sounded amazing, if Mark did not read between the lines. While there was some bias in play, viewers should be ranking where they felt dungeons would end up. Amelia being in seventh meant they thought seven other dungeons would fall before Amelia. It likely meant that half of the dungeons were going to be gobbled up by the stronger ones in their area. Amelia and Mareth were just lower on the list since Gale, their local major faction contender, was turtling down.
However, Mark was glad that viewers ranked them above Mareth. It meant people seeing everything both sides had to offer, felt that Mark and Amelia would come out on top. However, Mark could not help but feel some trepidation at the thought of what the battle would be like once there were only seven or so dungeons left. Without the other distractions in their own areas, dungeons would start looking elsewhere.
Chapter 51: Day 143
The ruse had either worked, or the other dungeons had noticed that Mark had moved a large portion of the goblin forces and elected not to act. It did not matter now. In a matter of hours the goblins would assault the troll settlement. Mark would soon be able to resummon goblins to supplement the mining division, who were currently running ragged to do a bit of everything. Mark had summoned another 50 yellow hobgoblin mages, but they were keeping the barracks running. Half went to get the experience boost, while the rest worked to progress their mage class.
The new plant line did look formidable. The 85 combined units of creeping ivy and blood roses made a literal bramble wall in front of the moat. Yellow sunflowers stretched up 12 feet overhead. A vantage that would allow them to blast from out behind the defenses. Just that much should be able to delay and do some damage.
Mark''s attention shifted back to the large interface. Khondur was approaching Henry.
¡°We wiped out three patrolllsss, but it seamsss the rest have formed lines at the edge of their settlement. They are preparing for battle. Another few minutes that way,¡± Khondur said pointing down the tunnel.
¡°I guess it won¡¯t be a surprise attack, then. Henry send a scout team first so we can get a look at things, and formulate a battle plan,¡± Mark said, directing the latter half of that through the link.
Khondur left with the rest of the kobolds. They intended to cut off any who chose to flee, but Mark thought it doubtful that any would when he saw their lines. Rank upon rank, 500 trolls stood there waiting calmly. Their weapons were crude and sample, a throwback to weapons before researching the metal casting tech. Tomahawks and spears with stone tips in the hands of the smaller trolls, and tree trunks roughly held in the massive hands of 12 foot tall cave trolls.
Mark sized them all up. The lowland trolls were the smallest, but that was only compared to the other troll types. They were each six feet tall with gray skin. Hippopotamus-like teeth jutted out of their closed lips. All of them had black dreadlocks that hung to their waists, although some had the different portions of their head shaved similar to hairstyles Mark would expect from ancient Egyptians.
The regular trolls were only a foot taller, but shared a lot of the same characteristics. The hill trolls were basically eight foot tall gorillas, without the hair. They had bulky muscles and sharp incisors. The cave trolls were also hairless and stood 12 feet tall. Instead of bulging muscles they had bulging guts. Although with the way they hefted tree trunk sized clubs, they definitely had the muscle as well.
¡°They are just standing waiting for us¡¡± Amelia said, shifting eyes between Mark and the screen.
¡°It will be fine,¡± Mark reassured. It was as much for himself as for her. The trolls aligned for battle all likely had power ratings between 2.5 and 5 once class and experience were taken into account.
¡°Henry, We will send the cockroaches in first. While they keep the trolls occupied, then have the archers pepper them. Nasal, have the archers save our best stuff for the big trolls. Then the goblin infantry and scorpions can advance. Keep the bugbears in reserve. I don¡¯t want to have to use them if we don¡¯t have to.¡±
¡°Yes, boss,¡± Henry answered. Moments later he was already shouting directions to the forces gathered.
¡°Well at least, the kobolds weren¡¯t exaggerating. There were eight mounds of coal, like they said there would be,¡± Mark stated leaning back into the couch.
¡°Hopefully another three year supply. At this rate, I don¡¯t think the battle will last half that,¡± Amelia added.
The cockroaches hit the tunnel''s exit and went screeching right toward the troll lines. Mark would have rather them bunch up and attack as one instead attacking three abreast, but they did not exactly have the best control over them. The goblins followed hot on their heels. The goblin drummers had already started their cadence, but their beats were drowned out by 500 trolls shouting in unison.
The lowland trolls surged forward to meet the cockroaches. The cockroaches slammed into the gray wall of muscle and stone. They were about as dangerous to the trolls as bugs would be to a car¡¯s windshield. Still after only seconds the roaches had broken into their loose ranks skittering into the gaps. The scene reminded Mark of water moving through a stream. Solid unmovable rocks and water flowing around them. If nothing else, the cockroaches were resilient. Even crushing blows from the powerful troll units would not easily bring them down.
The goblins entered the large cavern and started forming ranks. Most of the trolls were turning around and around trying to smash the persistent bastards flowing among their ranks, but a few saw the goblins and started flowing that way. The troll charge however had effectively been halted.
Goblin infantry moved to intercept the few trolls moving their way, as the goblin archers set up. The goblin infantry got slaughtered several at a time, despite having more units and better weapons. The cockroach counter was down to 60 and dropping steadily. The distraction would not last for long.
The seeming one sided slaughter ended with the first volley. Hundreds of arrows duplicated before bursting into flames. Then they rained down on the clump of trolls and cockroaches. The necrotic flaming arrow heads found hundreds of trolls. Few actually went down, but a second volley was already on the way. More and more trolls left the melee streaking towards the goblin forces. Already the few that had reached the goblins were already causing havoc.
¡°Henry have the scorpions and bugbears intercept them,¡± Mark ordered. The goblin infantry was too far outmatched. The goblin lines would buckle if too many trolls faced the weaker units.
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White spears flickered into existence, streaking toward the approaching targets. Mark watched one ape-like hill troll take a spear straight to its shoulder. A sizable chunk of flesh was blown off the creature¡¯s deltoid, but it kept going. Lowland and regular trolls that took a magic lance were blown back, but the bigger trolls were far too resilient. Soon fireballs joined in sweeping into multiple onrushing trolls.
The spiritualists sent their black shadows forward to tear into the approaching trolls. The effort was enough to stall the trolls long enough for the scorpions and bugbears to reform the goblin ranks into a vanguard. The scorpions'' tails and pinchers darted forward piercing and snatching. The bugbears slammed their hammers down. The goblin line held firmly, with one exception. The hill troll with the exploded deltoid pushed two bugbears back, and threatened a section. However Henry arrived on the scene a moment afterward. Three swings of his hammer, and the hill troll went down.
The goblin front line was reformed just in time for them to face the bulk of the troll force headed their way. Only a fraction of the cockroaches were still alive. Not enough to keep the main troll forces attention. Included in the hundred charging trolls were dozens of hill trolls and a good ten cave trolls. All of them had arrows sticking out of them, but if it affected them, Mark could not tell.
¡°Nasal, use the good stuff,¡± Mark shouted through the link, but the archers were already firing the good stuff. Double good quality enchanted piercing or flaming arrows duplicated in the air. A wall of a thousand plus arrows raked through the troll lines. There had been a good 300 plus still on their feet, but the one volley dropped half of them. There was no time for a second volley before the two lines slammed together.
The portion fronted by bugbears and the scorpions held, but trolls burst through other parts. Ten spiders stepped forward to engage any that made it through as the archers now each shot at whatever caught their eye. Mark watched as the friendly counters ticked down. The first scorpion got pulped from a couple consecutive blows from a cave troll. Several bugbears were born down by the might of the hill trolls.
The battle was far closer than Mark had expected. He had really thought that the necrotic enchanted arrows would be a little more dominant, but so far not one of the hill or cave trolls had succumbed. Only the lesser trolls had been thinned. Was it due to the strength of being 3rd level units, or just the troll''s natural endurance?
But Mark did not lose all hope. Finally, several cave trolls did go down, hundreds of arrows sticking out of their bodies. Mark zoomed in on his personal interface to see that one of the cave trolls had flesh that was burnt and looked rotten. Too much necrotic and fire damage had built up, causing catastrophic system failure in the big brute.
The troll numbers were now down in the sixties or seventies. Only the arachne, archers, and spiritualists had not been touched on their side. Hopefully, that would hold, since it was the mages and archers that were actually doing most of the killing. Several spiders were down, and the eight remaining would soon struggle to protect the archers for much longer.
A cave troll lurched toward the five arachne. The tree trunk club swung past several times as the more nimble arachne nimbly dodged the cave troll strikes. Then the troll received a magic lance straight to its chest. The cave troll teetered backward but righted itself. Two more lances struck its center mass causing the troll to lurch backward several steps where it collapsed.
¡°Mark,¡± Amelia gasped, gripping the side of his arm and pointing with the other.
Her finger pointed to a hill troll that held a spider aloft. Despite both creatures having the same bulk the hill troll was far stronger, indicated by how one of his fists had sunk deep into the spider¡¯s back. The hill troll now held it aloft and ripped out one leg at a time. The troll finished the job before slamming the spider¡¯s body down and moving toward the goblin archers. A second later the hill troll fell backward, its hide now a pin cushion for hundreds of arrows.
The battle was proceeding ferociously fast. In another five minutes it might be completely decided. The five arachne held together in a clump to the far left. The other clump was held together by Henry. A half dozen bugbears and the remainder of the other goblin infantry had banded together.
Henry¡¯s battle hammer whirred around, slamming into any enemy that approached. A hill troll met Henry in a one on one match. Perhaps it was the dozen arrows sticking out of the hill troll, but the battle was relatively one sided. However, Henry¡¯s next opponent was a cave troll already moving in.
Henry separated himself from the other goblins for the engagement. Power rating wise he was probably above the cave troll, but if he had the advantage it was hard to tell. The bugbear was able to dodge several blows and deliver his own, but it was hard to see if the strike to the cave troll''s side had any effect other than cause the creature to stagger a step due to the momentum. But the troll recovered a second later. Henry was over extended and took the tree trunk straight to his side. Henry was batted away.
However, It was becoming clear that the battle was likely won, provided the archers did not run out of arrows. Only a couple of spiders had survived the onslaught, but they had done their job. Three hundred untouched archers brought down the trolls one by one. Any who were not in direct engagement with the small clump of goblins remaining had quickly been targeted. Four cave trolls raged. One even surged towards the archers, but they scattered in all directions while still peppering the massive creature.
¡°Mark, that was closer than you led me to believe it would be,¡± Amelia said, shooting him a glare.
¡°Makes you want to unlock the troll branch though,doesn¡¯t it. Just imagine if they had armor and real weapons,¡± Mark said excitedly.
¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure our friend Gale will be glad to show us,¡± Amelia said, smirking.
¡°Oh¡ That¡¯s right¡¡± Mark sat back sullen as they watched the remainder of the battle.
Gale had two branches like that, sure she would not be fielding all of what they just saw till her dungeon was level 3, but how far away was that, a couple months? For a while Mark had been wondering whether their powerful enchantments and equipment would get them through till the end. They had blunted Mareth¡¯s last attack using far less MP, by relying on their top grade equipment, but after what he had just seen maybe that was too optimistic.
It was a good thing that they were starting to get exceptional quality gear, because after what he had just seen. They were going to need it. They could not rely on killing enemies, ¡®death by a thousand cuts style¡¯ every time. Dungeon forces would have shields and enchantments. Not to mention their forces would be better controlled.
The last cave troll was brought down, ending the fight. The counters showed the final numbers. Six bugbears had lasted along with a handful of the other types. The arachne, spiritualists, and archer division were all still untouched. The cockroaches and scorpions had basically been exterminated, but one of the spiders had held out. But the biggest high note was that both Nasal and Henry had endured. They would not have to wait weeks for either to respawn.
Henry likely had a broken arm and ribs and internal trauma, but this time their army had brought healers. The healers got to work, as the surviving goblins started scavenging from their fallen brethren.
Chapter 52: Day 146
After the battle, Mark had quickly made several changes. He spent 50 DP to send over the manna bellows and manna pumps to the garden sanctuary. After that it was a simple matter to build their new subterranean outpost and 16 shade henchmen. Their homebase henchmen could standby. If something ever happened to one of their other outposts, they could begin work immediately. Making the move had increased their daily production by 4500 MP since they were effectively mining 5 extra mounds of coal. They had moved from 22,930 to 27,430 MP just like that.
Mark decided to keep the leftover goblin infantry and spider to guard the subterranean outpost. The archer division, spiritualists, a few red mages and healer would all return with Nasal and Henry. The guards would not protect from much, but at least it would take some monstrosity to take down the outpost and not something like a pack of dogs.
After that it just took a day to resummon and reform the regiment. The 38 bugbears were the first on the list. They would take over at the barracks as soon as the current class of yellow mages were done. The regiment was built a day later, and went right back to working on the wall.
Then this morning Mark had found one more unexpected benefit from the expedition, that had returned last night. Both yellow veteran scouts could become named units. Leading several successful expeditions had been enough to make them notable characters. Mark did not give it much thought, naming them Lewis and Clark. Like Nasal, they were only yellow hobgoblins, so they would never be true champions in battle. However, Mark would always welcome more dependable units.
After only a few minutes of thinking, Mark decided that he had the perfect task for the two. He would send them on another long term expedition. Their mission would be to seek out and explore the map for the other dungeons. Of course, to get the most benefit of such an expedition they would need to unlock mapping. It would cost 100,000 MP, but Mark was tired of their whole map being black except for their territory. They had half the MP already, even after rebuilding their forces. In two more days they would have the rest and then Lewis and Clark could set off.
As far as RP, they had just finished their most recent project, the health vegetative state. Once again, only a similarly named health budding option was offered for the 4th tier upgrade, but the 3rd tier upgrade already came with a new spell, Blessed Aura. It took Mark a couple hours to determine the limits of the spell, simply due to the spell''s duration. The spell lasted for a full hour and provided minor healing effects on all friendlies within range. Since the range appeared to be around 200 feet from the unit, the spell covered quite a large area. However it did seem the spell likely could come with a long cooldown since ten minutes had passed since the spell had ended.
Mark had summoned two midnight lotuses with the upgrade. The lotuses were ideal since they already needed to be protected in the center, but they proved to be even more ideal since they already had their malevolent aura that radiated out to empower plant types. It would likely take another lotus to cover the entire fortification, but Mark held off. If he wanted to buy mapping in two days he could not afford to do much else, but support upkeep food and drink costs for the units.
Now Mark was just left with what to do with their RP going forward. Just like mapping he would probably buy another tech upgrade once they had the MP. It would just take too long to use RP, so Mark decided to focus on the small unit upgrades like they had been. As far as their defense was concerned they had the germination upgrades that he had wanted to defend their base.
Mark looked at the class upgrades. It really did not seem worth it to him to pour too much MP into advanced classes, where they would have to upgrade the base class and then pay double to upgrade the advanced class. However the specialized classes had one benefit in that they could be used at the level of an upgraded base class. Right now, they only had the warhammer and spiritualist specialized classes that could take benefit from this, but there were three more in the works, and at least two of them promised to be fighting type classes.
The witch doctor class was likely a combat type class that would fall under the mage class. Then there was the known Ranger class. It was only at 9%, but Mark could already see it becoming the default for both their scouts and their archers going forward. Maybe their archery or scouting would not be quite as good as straight up scouts or archers, but at least Mark would not have to pay MP to advance the archer class any more. Not to mention they would be more versatile which was always good. The final class was the beast handler class. It was the next one closest to finishing, but it sounded like a support class like the goblin drummer class.
The latest project to finish was most definitely a support class, tattooist class. It also gave Mark a new way to spend base or any other kind of essence. The premise was that a goblin with the tattooist class could inscribe tattoos on the other units. Like enchantments or anything else, the tattoos would provide benefits based on their quality. Interference would also come into play, so having multiple tattoos on a single unit could have adverse effects.
Since the tattooists would be doing the majority of their practice on their goblins, the tattooists would need to be very experienced before Mark would let them go that far. Still the benefits that it could bring would be welcome. If the tattooist used base essence he could improve the goblins overall attributes. Mark took that as simply a direct improvement of their power rating.
Other essences could have other effects. The stone essence might improve a goblin¡¯s defense, or it might allow them to geomance for all he knew. Everything seemed in the realm of possibilities. It all came down to what designs the tattooists could come up with and what benefits they would bring.
Of course it was not a pure boon to the dungeon. It would require resources as the tattooists developed their skills, let alone use. Then there was the fact that it was said they would work better in their own building. Mark rolled his eyes when the tattoo parlor became an actual add on for the crafting house, but of course he had immediately shifted the gnome builders to working on it.
The gnome¡¯s were curious about the tattoos and what effects they would have, but they did not seem interested in pursuing it themselves. They would be content to watch the goblins deface one another.
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Mark had only added three more reds as tattooists, then he added five more reds as full time crafters and brewers. It brought them up to 45 reds being used in support purposes including Ezekiel, but that still left plenty of reds for combat purposes. The current cap was at 166, and it would likely increase again when they hit dungeon level 3.
Mark had gotten off topic. He pushed for their RP to go towards unlocking level four warrior class. The bugbear¡¯s including Henry could get another 15% power rating increase in a matter of 10 days worth researching. That was the best thing he could do for their army. Then there would be the level 4 beast bloodline upgrade which would take another 10 days.
Mark scowled. There went his decision making for the next week or so. As the game progressed, the times that he needed to make new directional decisions were becoming fewer and further in between. Guess there was nothing to do, but go to the crafting house.
Day 156
After the return of the expedition the next 10 days passed quite quickly. Lewis and Clark had set out a week ago. Now that Mark had bought Mapping using MP, they were carving a swath out of the darkness with each day. They had not run into other dungeons, yet but they were making decent headway as they traveled living off the land.
Conversely the other scouting parties were expanding the area around their own dungeon. In just a week, Mark had the entire swamp area mapped thanks to the dozens of frogmen teams that traversed the area. Then the other goblin scout teams had unveiled all the area within a day or two travel from their dungeon. It was not all clear, but the shaded gray showed Mark a picture of what was there.
Mark was surprised by how much relief it had brought both Amelia and himself. They were finally getting a clear picture outside their little bubbles, and things felt less constricting. With how far Lewis and Clark had traveled and not located any other dungeons, Mark now knew the scale of the map was absolutely massive. Every step they took expanded the darkness, showing what little piece of the map they actually inhabited.
But things would not be quiet for long. Mareth¡¯s forces were starting to increase. In another week or two, she might attack again. They would be ready, but Mark still held off on sending their own army to wait at the subterranean outpost. He was not ready to start the increased daily expenditure that would mean quite yet.
Mark eyed their MP. They were sitting at above 190,000 MP. He did not think they would need to spend too much to complete either their defenses or attack force. Which left some room for him to unlock something. Warrior class level 5 could be knocked out for 100,000 MP now that level 4 had finished today, but it was extremely unlikely that they would have enough time to send the bugbears to the barracks long enough to pick up the class level. Level 4 was probably already pushing it. Another week for level 5 did not seem likely.
Their RP was set to unlock the fourth beast bloodline upgrade, although it would not likely come into play for the battle either, but it would be quick. Mark shifted his attention to the techs. There were only three left, but there was only one for 100,000 MP, dungeon features II.
It would be a bit before they had enough DP to get another floor, but there could be other benefits.
What the heck, Mark thought, unlocking it. Their MP dropped in half, but he did not regret unlocking the tech. Their DP rate increased from 3 to 4. Five new dungeon levels became available. The first would cost 100,000 MP to build, but what really caught Mark¡¯s attention were the new features.
The barracks could now have a higher occupancy. Instead of only being able to have 25 units go through each side of the barracks, they could now have up to 50 gaining experience or upgrading their class.
Finally, there was the maelstrom feature. Mark had always wondered why the dungeon floors were so large despite only getting 25 defenders to guard each level. Defenders that dungeons would coordinate and have fight together since it would be foolish not to.
However, the maelstroms would provide monsters that would wander throughout the whole level either by themselves or in small groups. However, they would avoid rooms where the defenders presided, so would not help in the final battle for the floor. The numbers of wandering units spawned could be anywhere from 25 to 50 units. It was apparently random. Of note, the maelstroms would not summon when the dungeon was being challenged, so they would not replenish between waves of adventurers or while an army marched through the front door.
Mark was slightly peeved when he read the next part. Maelstrom units would be 10-25% weaker than the average power rating of the defenders. For their first level or two, the units would be little more than units to be swept aside, but they would have to build them. They had to build the first floor maelstrom, before they could move onto level two. It was only 25,000 MP for the first floor, but the cost was sure to go up.
Mark contemplated whether he should use DP to quickly grab the first floor maelstrom, but he decided against it. They were at 40 DP now. It would be better to just wait fifteen more days to build a whole floor. Another floor would be far more effective against any type of attack.
The gnome builders were now working on a new project, the greenhouse. The plant unit version of the barracks. The tattoo parlor had been completed. Like the apothecary add on, the tattoo parlor did get a bonus.
[Tattoo Parlor: Due to the nature of your Tattoo Parlor, tattoos produced in the parlor will get extra benefits to endurance. Benefits gained will be dependent on tattoo quality.]
Mark was not sure how helpful the boon would be. Perhaps his units could fight harder slightly longer. On an individual level, it probably would not amount to much, but if an entire force had boosts to endurance it might make a small difference.
That being said the three tattooists had been at work for over a week now. Neither Mark or Amelia had any desire to try their hand in the new field, so they were the lone force proceeding to advance the strength of his units. Mark could not even help come up with designs like he could for enchantments either. There were no pamphlets to guide the way.
So far the tattooists had been relegated to performing their own work on the goblins from the mining division. Since there was no desire to throw them into combat, it would be better if they were the ones stuck with the duds. Beneficial designs could be found and then be paired with the units that would find the most benefit. Not much had come from it yet.
There were several finished designs. To Mark¡¯s eye they were simple, little better than cavemen pictures, but Mark guessed they had to start somewhere. The poor quality designs did not add much. Even the boost to endurance was not enough to be reflected on the unit¡¯s attribute points. It was not saying much since the goblins had such low attributes in the first place, but Mark could infer that the boosts they were receiving at the poor quality level were definitely less than 10%.
Chapter 53: Day 162
The time had come. Mark could not afford to hold off on forward deploying their forces any longer. The harpy reports had focused heavily on the forces Mareth moved into the barrack equivalent building for the constructs. If she was going to attack after the next class finished, then she would likely attack in about 3 days. Of course it was always possible that she would send another class of units through, and even one after that. However, Mark did not think it would be too many more.
Mareth had likely taken several steps to ensure her attack would be successful this time. Probably unit upgrades and perhaps better equipment, but for the last week and a half there had been one clear indicator. Mareth had unlocked guardians, a level 2 branch on the construct tree, and they looked to be quite capable.
The guardian branch gave 3 reported unit types: forest guardian, stone guardian, and the bronze guardian. All three types were humanoids made out of wood, stone, and bronze respectively. Each wielded a sword and shield. Just from the name, Mark could guess that the latter two would be difficult to bring down. Like the stone golems, the stone and bronze guardians would be tough to kill, but unlike the stone golems, the guardians were more nimble. Since they each carried a shield taking them down promised to be extremely challenging.
On top of the three new unit types. Mareth also had whatever feature that allowed her to summon various types of the same unit, supposedly from using her various essence sources. Mareth had also seemingly changed her strategy. Instead of sending thousands of weaker units to act as a meat shield, she was likely going all in with level two units. Considering that she might be sending hundreds of stone golems and guardians to act as the meat shield instead, Mark was not sure that they could stop them even if they put their full effort into doing so.
The reason why Mark was fairly sure that the attack would be headed their way soon was that Mareth was cycling 50 bronze statues for her version of the barracks. Mark assumed she was giving her top units an experience bump prior to sending them to battle. Based on the numbers of different types of guardians, Mark could infer that the bronze statues were near maxed out level 2 units with a base power rating of 2.8 or 2.9. Another 10% boost on top of the other ones she likely had could take them into the high 4¡¯s quite easily.
Mark doubted Mareth would allow too much extra time to pass while she sent weaker units through, although she might send one more group that would include the remainder of the bronze guardians through. Like them, Mareth would be wanting to finish things up sooner rather than later. If she did, it would actually work against Mark¡¯s plans of hitting her hard after she sent her forces their way.
Mark¡¯s attack force was ready. Mark summoned 100 yellow hobgoblin archers, 9 more spiders, 150 cockroaches, and 5 scorpions. These would depart tonight with the 5 arachne mages, 10 spiritualists, 50 yellow mages and the newly resummoned goblin regiment. The exception was the bugbears that would leave the day after, once they had finished their time in the barracks leveling up their war hammer class to level 4.
Once again, Mark had taken precautions to prevent scouts spying on their dungeon from noticing the difference. All of the new summons were summoned after it was dark and sent straight to the tunnel. Then Mark summoned 50 legionnaires and yellows to fill in some of the void felt by the 400 plus goblins that had just left. Mark did not have much more leeway to summon any more since most of the goblin unit types were either at capacity or right under.
However, Mark did not expect any issues. If Mareth had not noticed something weird when they had attacked the troll settlement, then she was even less likely to notice anything different now.
Mark checked out the status of their dungeon. They had just over 170,000 MP and 64 DP accumulated, but with a major battle looming on the horizon, Mark felt no inclination to spend their reserves. Best case scenario, Mark could unlock a level 2 branch soon afterwards. Worse case, he would have plenty of MP to resummon losses and to defend as required.
Things were proceeding extremely well. Amelia was churning out triple enchanted arrows and their new dual enchanted shields. Another slightly larger cache of base essence had been found allowing her to never have to stop. Additionally, the goblins had also found more electric essence.
Mark had several thoughts on why they were all of a sudden finding better stuff in the mine. First, he believed that it was a distance thing. Up to a certain distance from the mine''s entrance they had discovered no higher level resources, but after hitting a threshold of some sorts, they now were able to obtain some. The second thought that Mark could infer having found the lightning essence twice in a row, was that it was the common essence source in their mine. Mareth likely had the same thing although Mark did not know whether it was the fire or shadow essence.
There was a chance that it could be both. Perhaps once they mined further they might find another type of essence, however Mark was certain that lightning would always be included. After all it took dungeons time and work to find uses for these essences, it would make sense for the mine to produce the same type or types.
The new shields were their newest enchanted item, combining the energy shield enchantment with the new manna reserve enchantment. Prior to this point, the energy shield had been difficult to incorporate into their force. After all, the only units with enough manna to power the shield were the mages, and even they could not power it for more than a few seconds.
However, the new manna reserve enchantment, allowed units to pour manna into the enchantment that could be used by the shield bearer. If Mark understood things correctly it was actually similar to what their imbuing projects would be like. The difference was that units had to pour manna into the inscription, where imbued items could recover manna from the environment.
Regardless, the result was shields that could provide a decent amount of protection. The shields had to be made of metal to take a fraction of the amount of energy that two excellent quality enchantments could make. Wooden shields would explode from trying to store too much manna. Only Henry and a couple of other elite units would be taking the shields for this exhibition. They were too new, and Amelia and the other crafters would not focus on metal shields since beside the bugbears or the arachne none could use one of the iron shields effectively.
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It might not be something used widely throughout their arsenal, but it was another step of progress giving their units another edge. Progress for their dungeon was not limited to the new enchantments.
The goblins at the garden sanctuary had finished the unit spawner and already switched over to building a barracks, and the wall spanning the base opening was already at waist height. In another month or two the settlement would be both highly defensible and capable of building a powerful fighting force.
It was important, since the swamp separated their dungeon from the center of the map. Now that their map was being unveiled, Mark could now see how large of an obstacle the swamp would pose to sending units east. Now they would have a power base on both sides. Once Mark was less cautious about other dungeons being able to easily conquer the settlement, they could start sending scouting parties out using it as their main base.
There was one very important reason why Mark needed a power base on the opposite shore of the swamp. Their scouting expedition had determined the boundary forming the western and northern side of the battle map. Their dungeon was perhaps three days'' travel from the western boundary, and were a good 7 or 8 from the northern boundary, so having a power base on the opposite side of the swamp was a step towards the other dungeons.
At the home base, the builders were still hard at work on the greenhouse for the plant units. They were using a combination of wood, stone, and glass. It would take a good month to complete the project. Mark was not quite sure what it did since, the plant units did not have an experience level like the other units. However, it would make the plant units stronger somehow.
The outer wall of the home base fortress was also at waist level, but it also covered five times more distance than the sanctuary''s wall. Another month or so, and Mark might go ahead and move the buildings over since the wall would be better than their current defenses.
For the underground outpost, Mark would also have them doing what they could to fortify the area around the carved out homes the trolls had dwelt in. They were limited into what they could actually do, since it was an outpost and not a settlement. However, the army was on its way bringing lumber and other materials that could make a rough barricade. It would not be much, but it might hold out against smaller threats that might choose to attack.
Overall Mark was quite pleased with their progress.
Day 173: 0330
Mark finally opened his eyes. There was a faint intermittent talking coming from outside their hut. Mark just lay there for a moment groggily. If it was not still there in the background, he would just go back to sleep. Mark felt momentarily annoyed at the fact, but it only lasted a moment. Mark¡¯s mind snapped into focus in a second. Someone was speaking through the pedestal from the surface.
Mark hopped off his cot and out the door. It was Nasal frantically calling through the pedestal. A little ways off to the side lurked the solitary arachne that was supposed to be monitoring the damn thing, but the arachne just glared at Mark and the blue orb that were disturbing what would otherwise be a quiet night.
Mark would have been frustrated at the beast, if he had not heard the urgency in Nasal¡¯s voice. There should only be one reason that Nasal was this worked up in the middle of the night. Mark brought up his interface as he responded.
¡°Nasal, this is Mark. What is going on?¡±
¡°Boss, the construct army has already come out of the nearby pass. They will be here in a matter of hours!¡± Nasal exclaimed.
¡°What!¡± Mark shouted. He was more than a little alarmed. They had several scouting teams that should have raised the alarm prior to the army getting to far from their dungeon. Nasal went into an explanation, the goblin scout team on the bluff had lit the warning fire, but it had been one of the gnomes enjoying gnome festivities that had noticed and decided to tell the goblins on sentry duty. How long it had been lit for, Nasal was not quite sure, but he had been trying to get Mark or Amelia¡¯s attention for the last 10 minutes.
Mark was only half listening to the goblin leader. He knew what the first step was. ¡°Henry¡ Henry¡¡± Mark shouted through the link.
¡°Bossssss¡¡± Henry said questionally after sputtering for a few precious moments.
¡°The construct army is already within our valley. You need to march on the construct dungeon now!!!¡±
Mark heard the affirmative from the bugbear colonel. He pulled up the interface for the outpost. The bugbear leader was already shouting for the units to assemble. It should not take long. Another 5 minutes and they would hopefully be on their way. They had half expected the attack, either today or tomorrow night, but apparently waiting for the attack that had never come the week prior had been like the boy who cried wolf.
Mark glared at the Arachne mage for a few seconds. The damn thing had the gall to glare right on back.. ¡°Go to the fourth floor,¡± Mark ordered angrily. The creature hissed in response but moved toward the portal as ordered. Maybe Amelia was right about keeping one responsible unit to monitor things.
¡°Nasal have we sent out a scout team to find the enemy army?¡± Mark asked.
¡°Yes, boss, I sent several teams out. They set out about 10 minutes ago,¡± Nasal replied.
Good, Mark thought. At least someone had some sense. Hopefully, the army had not gone through the pass too long ago. Henry had a good hour march ahead of him. Then there was still the time it would take to actually conquer the enemy dungeon.
Mark opened up his units page. He quickly noticed the fact that the linked scouting unit that had been stationed several hours from Mareth¡¯s dungeon were all dead. The other scouting team even closer to her dungeon that was not linked were likely dead as well. Mareth had likely located them both and wiped them out. She must have waited until dark to perform any preparations as well, so that Mark did not get an update from the harpies. Due to the signal fire, it was likely she must know that they knew now, so would be coming full tilt.
Mark swapped one of the links to the scouting team on the bluff. After a couple of questions he had the answer. The army had passed a good hour ago. The signal fire had burnt for nearly an hour without being notice. Mark was beyond frustrated. No longer would they wipe out Mareth¡¯s dungeon while her army was in route. No, now they would be competing for who could wipe out the other dungeon first. Damn goblins, how much MP was he about to waste due to the fools.
Chapter 54: Day 173
Mark checked their status. They were currently sitting at just over 400,000 MP. Enough to mount quite the defense. However, he also had 108 DP. A new floor level would cost 100 DP. It made sense to him, that if he was required to spend resources to defend the dungeon, he might as well put as much as possible into something that would be there after the battle. With how much MP and DP they had, he could easily build two more levels as well as reinforce the surface.
Building two levels was quite tempting. On top of putting the resources into something that would still be there, each level would take the enemy an additional 10 minutes to find their way through. Since Mark was unsure whether they would be able to defeat Mareth¡¯s army with their full power, he was quite certain that they likely would not be able to defeat her army after having sent out an army of their own.
That changed the game from successfully defeating her forces to delaying her army and hoping that their own army was strong enough to defeat Mareth¡¯s dungeon. Mark was sure they would be successful. Mareth¡¯s dungeon was in the same situation that they were. With her army departed, she was vulnerable according to Mark¡¯s plan.
Mark designated how much MP to put aside for the two levels. He would reinforce the surface first since as soon as Mareth entered the territory, he would be prevented from doing so. Then if she arrived, he could always build the dungeon floors as long as she had not entered the dungeon proper.
It did not end up mattering. Mark had completed everything well before Mareth had even arrived. It helped that he had already had plans for the next floors and what he would need on the surface.
Mark only summoned two more midnight lotus and 50 more creeping ivies to round out the flower units. Sunflowers were already maxed out, so reinforcing the plant defensive wall and ensuring they all had healer coverage was as much as he could do. Mark did not consider using any of the other tier 1 flower units. Other than creeping ivy they would not be able to add anything.
However, the flower units would not comprise the entire defense. They had the archer division led by Nasal. Mark decided to reinforce further with 80 red mages nearly capping out the unit, and 29 scorpions which did cap the unit. Like the sunflowers the mages and beasts would be the unit killers. Mark gave the scorpions all four beast bloodline upgrades in fierceness to increase their physical power. It should make them powerful enough to attack and destroy even the toughest enemies they would be facing.
There was not much else Mark could summon that would truly make a difference. The total cost for the surface reinforcements only came to over 130,000 MP leaving them with double that to build two new dungeon levels.
Mark had decided on another beast floor and one flower floor. He felt a compulsion to put the beast floor next to keep things nice and orderly, but Mark resisted. The plants would man the fifth floor, and the sixth floor would be nearly the same as the fourth. Mixing the floors up would require enemies to change tactics and reconfigure their forces.
Mark made the midnight lotus the guardian of the fifth floor. With only a tier 3 health vegetative state, the named bonus, the unit only got up to a 4.2 power rating. Far weaker than the third or fourth floor guardians, but the midnight lotus¡¯s only purpose was to empower the other flowers and heal them.
Mark styled the floor like a tower defense game. The enemy would have to storm up a mountain and then would be forced through three levels of 3 blood roses. All the while 15 sunflowers fired at them from above. The lotus would also not be visible from the lower levels, keeping it defended. The floor was open air, meaning hundreds of feet of space above the floor with a fake sky and an artificial sun. To build a floor with open air and an artificial sunlight source only required an additional 10 percent or 10,000 MP.
Mark had been a little worried about whether the artificial sun would charge the sunflowers'' sunburst skill. The floor would be far weaker than he hoped if that was the case. Thankfully, it appeared their abilities were charging, although at a far reduced rate. Perhaps they would not get fully charged for this attack, but it would be a valuable floor in the future provided they survived.
After doing the math, Mark had realized that he had enough MP to unlock one of the fourth tier budding states for 50,000 MP. He went with mystic to power up the sunflowers as far as possible since they were the damage dealers. However, the mystic budding stage did not provide another spell, so they just got the 10% power rating boost. Not great, but the higher their power rating was the more of a boost they would get from the lotus¡¯s malevolent aura.
The sixth floor was nearly the same as the fourth floor. The exception was that Mark used a bugbear for the floor healer instead of an arachne. Then there would be four arachne mages and the 20 scorpions. They would not have the 10% bump for being regulars, but having the fourth bloodline it all about evened out. The scorpion guardian, he named Emperor. His power rating was up to 5.3 versus the fourth floor King¡¯s 4.9.
When it was all said and done, Mark was quite pleased with himself. He only had 27,000 MP leftover, but since there was not too much more they could add, he would save it for rebuilding.
Completed, Mark relaxed back onto the couch. Well as much as a guy could relax. He was fairly confident things would work out, but that was far from certain. Based on both armies'' progress the attacks would occur nearly simultaneously. The scouts had located the construct army and were staying well ahead. They would get the official numbers as soon as they crossed the territorial boundary.
The number was only surprising in that it was exactly 1,000 units. The tree line had been further cleared since the last attack meaning that Mark got a good count prior to the army moving into range. The field had been well lit allowing the counters for the various types to be registered, prior to the units extinguishing such lights.
There were only 454 level 1 units, 254 creepers and 200 flesh golems. The most powerful level 1 units that Mareth had to offer. Then for level 2 units Mareth was fielding 120 rock golems, 105 Jack o lanterns, 135 forest guardians, 100 stone guardians, and 86 bronze guardians. The army was half the size of the last, but vastly more powerful.
Mareth was banking that her unit''s toughness would allow them to plow right through Amelia¡¯s dungeon. Unfortunately, she may be right. Things were not helped by the fact that Mareth¡¯s forces had made it to the battlefield first. The goblin creepy crawly army still had more ground to cover before they even breached the earth¡¯s surface. Then they would have another 10 minutes before they were able to assault her dungeon.
However, Mareth was not aware of that fact and waited for her forces to form up. The slow but tough rock and flesh golems would be the vanguard for her assault. They marched forward, their ranks staggered to prevent area attacks from easily affecting multiple units. They extinguished the lights as they moved. Not too much of a concern since they had thousands of light and fire arrows.
Nasal directed the first wave of light arrows to land just behind the slow moving vanguard. They all stuck in the earth, forming a band of scattered white lights. The other unit types waited as the vanguard proceeded. The front ranks of creepers and guardians waited. Unmoving statues with only their fronts barely illuminated.
Day 173: Mareth
Mareth watched smugly as her vanguard advanced, so far during the succession battle she had exhibited a poor showing. She had yet to take another dungeon, and this was the third time that she had sent her armies to crush this dungeon. However, she felt confident that this would be the last.
Amelia seemed to be able to pull one trick after another, and things had not changed. In the last month and a half she had pulled out another one. Somehow the girl had managed to get a plant branch despite the tree being closed after the dungeon ranked up to level 2. It was infuriating. She had unit types from seemingly all of the trees.
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However the new unit types would not save her. Mareth studied the thick vine units that stretched around the dungeon¡¯s walls. For flesh and blood enemies, it would likely be quite formidable, but her units should be able to wade right through the brambles and vines. Not to mention she had the magma essence. Her lava rock golems should be able to wither large sections with their heat attack.
Mareth watched as the stone and flesh golems approached the walls. Several stone golems found little pockets where they would be safe from attack. They dropped large bundles of javelins. Soon they would send them rocketing into the midst of the fort destroying the softer targets inside.
Waves of arrows started pouring onto the flesh golems. Arrows were duplicating in the air and then punching into the ground, occasionally right through one of her flesh golems. The flesh golems were incredibly durable, but the arrows were piercing with ease. They must have some sort of enchantment for punching through, which would mean they were double enchanted. How frustrating? Amelai had far surpassed her in regards to enchantments, but in the end it would not matter. Mareth¡¯s construct army just was not as susceptible to most things.
A couple of pockets of arrows targeted a couple of the rock golems. Small pops encompassed the targeted golems, but the rock golems seemed to be unaffected. They continued forward like nothing had happened. After that the archers left them alone, only focusing on the flesh golems.
It was effective. The flesh golems were dropping one after another. Very few if any might survive taking the surface, but that was fine with Mareth. As long as she had the bronze guardians and a good number of jack o'' lanterns for support, Mareth was confident that she would be able to take the dungeon¡¯s lower levels. Both units had power ratings that had been brought well into the 4¡¯s.
Mareth¡¯s vanguard reached the final stretch; all they had now was a couple hundred feet of a straight away before they faced the tangle of units sitting upon the earthen wall. Once they got a bit closer, Mareth would send the rest of her forces forward. Even at this point the creepers could still overtake and hit the wall before the slow moving vanguard did.
The beams of light that illuminated her screen took Mareth quite by surprise. Mareth leaned in. The sunflowers were shooting yellow beams of light. Each beam only lasted three or four seconds, but they swept across the ground. Twenty seconds later and everything was back to what it was. Like a sudden light show that abruptly ended. Mareth glanced at her counters.
Her rock golems total had been reduced by 34 units. It would not be too big of a concern, however Mareth noticed that the 34 included the majority of her magma golems. Mareth just sat there for a few moments mouth agape, before her expression firmed. Something that powerful should not be something that her enemies could use over and over again. From all indications, they had probably already burnt out. Mareth just needed to take the sunflowers out before they regained their manna or whenever some cool down was over.
Mareth sent the orders. The creepers, forest, and stone guardians surged forward. Half of the jack o lanterns fell in behind them. Unlike the rock golems, the stone guardians were actually fairly quick. However, their nimbleness meant they could endure far less, but their quick attacks should make them even more difficult for enemies to deal with.
More lights flickered into existence. Light spears surged forward exploding into the rock golems. Each hit caused the rock golems to rock back, and separated chunks of rock. The rock golems were incredibly durable, but the spears seemed to be coming from a hundred or more units. Her flesh golem counter was already down to half, and the rock golem counter was dropping once more.
Mareth gritted her teeth. She should have expected as much. This was her third attack. Amelia should have a good idea how to bring down each of her units. As soon as the creepers came into range, the archers shifted their aim. Now hundreds of arrows burst into flame before raining down onto the deadly level 1 units.
The rock and flesh golems reached the earthen wall and began climbing and digging even as vines reached down to entangle. Several scorpions had wedged themselves in amongst the bramble. Their tails and pincers whipped forward. Even the tough rock golems could be pierced by the tail or have an arm ripped off by the pincers. The scorpions were wedged amongst the bramble wall which would likely make them immobile, but it also meant that the constructs could not attack from any direction except for the front.
However, Mareth¡¯s units were now in range. The few lava and brimstone rock golems attacked the bramble unit wall. Hundreds of green balls of acid splashed into the tangle from behind them, from the creepers advancing from behind. Small sections of the bramble wall withered as units died. Then the creepers and guardians made it to the wall.
Shadow creepers immediately sprang into the midst of vines. Their incorporeal forms were highly resistant to physical damage, so they were able to attack with impunity. Fireballs sprang into existence. Mareth zoomed in to see red goblin mages setting their own plant units alight in their effort to destroy the shadow creepers. The shadow creepers succumbed to the flames, but so did sections of the plant wall.
The shadow creepers continued in after the softer targets. The red mages fell quite easily, but before Mareth could get to excited light arrows started duplicating in the air. Any shadow creeper that had been targeted fell quite easily. Within minutes they had all but been eradicated, but they had done their job. In a couple of minutes they had wiped out a good deal of the red mages that had moved forward to engage them, and large sections of the outer wall were opened.
Forrest and stone guardians made it inside of the fort through the gaps in the plant unit coverage. There were actually not too many defenders inside. Sure the sunflowers stood tall, and some glowing purple flowers that occasionally sent streams of yellow healing light into friendly units. There were a couple dozen red mages still alive, but they had fallen back behind a second bramble wall formed from the units that had been guarding the far walls Mareth had not attacked. With them was one tall wooden robot with sparks of lightning streaking from various parts of its body, and more scorpions posed to mount a second defense.
Still it did not seem like enough. She would have expected hundreds or even a thousand goblins behind the plant units. Amelia¡¯s defenses were effective, but they were far from enough. Mareth still had 600 units fighting the dwindling defenders. Once the jack o lanterns put an end to the archer tower, she should easily be able to finish off the rest. All she really needed was about 150 of the right units to take the lower levels. Even if Amelia had added floors, if Mareth¡¯s units rested between each floor she should still easily manage.
The outer wall fell in another five minutes. Mareth¡¯s units started mopping up the remnants even as the rest moved toward the second defensive line. The archers were giving it everything they had, but very soon jack o lanterns would get in range and clear out the tower quite easily.
The wooden robot sent streaks of electricity into the front ranks of charging guardians. Mareth would have thought that electricity would not have much effect, however the stone units that were hit turned into slag. The forest guardian¡¯s burst into flames. It was an alarming display of power, but just like the sun flower light show it was short lived. The robot ran out of juice. Moments later the robot pulled out a blackened club. It had killed a dozen with the electrical attacks, perhaps with its big stature and blunt force weapon it might kill a dozen more, but it would not be enough to make a difference.
Sunflowers were dropping. Seemingly out of magic the flower units had started lashing out, whipping their bodies against attackers. It was not very effective. They would be cleared out in short order.
A half dozen jack o ''lanterns used their ultimate move. In a matter of seconds the first level of the archer tower was nearly cleared of all life. Only a few goblins clung to life amidst the pile of corpses and blood. Soon after the jack o lanterns came into range and cleared the second floor as easily as the first. There was no sense in holding back since she could slowly work her way through the dungeon. Her unit total was just under 500. With what was left arrayed before her she would likely be able to enter the dungeon with at least 400.
It was then that the alarm sounded. What? Mareth thought as she brought up a screen of her home dungeon. Several red units had broached into her territory. Mareth immediately zoomed in. It was hard to tell due to the darkness, but finally one passed into open space and Mareth was able to make it out. A cockroach, Mareth thought her eyes widened.
Oh no, she thought as more red dots started to enter her dungeon. How had they gotten past her scouts? Her valley was absolutely covered in them. There should be no way that an attacking force could have gotten in so close without any warnings. Mareth was stricken in terror for nearly a minute.
They were already in her territory so she could not summon more units and what she had available¡ Practically nothing. There were 600 units, but the majority of them were likely so deep down into the mines they might not even make it out in time. Mareth had her units sound the alarm. Hoping that the cockroaches were some sort of joke, but then large clumps of red dots started entering her territory. Mareth did not have to zoom in to see that these were not all cockroaches.
It was not an overly large force, about 700 units in total, but what did Mareth have to mount a defense. She had over a hundred thousand MP, but could not use it. Wait, she could build another floor as long as they had not entered the dungeon yet. Mareth contacted her army attacking Amelia¡¯s dungeon.
The bronze guardians and jack o lanterns that had been waiting charged forward to join the fight. Things likely would have been wrapped up in another fifteen minutes any ways, but Mareth did not want to waste even one minute. Her army would rush down level by level until Amelia¡¯s core was destroyed. There would be no breaks in between, because she was certain the force attacking her dungeon would not be taking breaks either. It was a race, and now all Mareth could do was to add one more level to extend the time it took for her opponents to finish.
Chapter 55: Day 173
Mark was less than pleased with how long it took their forces to reach the opponents dungeon. Their attack would begin nearly half an hour after Mareth had started her attack on their own dungeon. Not to mention that their army was already down five units. The scorpions had been too slow to keep up with the army. They would reach the dungeon in another half an hour, too late to be of any help.
Their defenses had done extremely well. Despite being outnumbered they had killed over half of Mareth¡¯s army and were still fighting. They might manage to kill another 50 units or so, but more importantly, Mark expected them to hold out for another 10 minutes.
Mark almost smiled when it took a couple of minutes before the bronze guardians and jack o lanterns, that had been held in reserve, rushed to join the fight. A couple of minutes in which Mareth had been frozen in indecision. Seemingly she had realized that things were now a race. Mark had no clue what Mareth¡¯s dungeon had to offer on the lower levels, but he was confident it would not be enough. Still he would have liked to proceed through them cautiously. Now the units would be rushing through as fast as possible.
Luckily, Mark and Amelia had the best vanguard dungeon exploration force that could be asked for. The cockroaches were both cheap, quick, and durable. Not to mention they were still powerful enough to pose a threat to weaker units. Mark had them rush forward into the territory to prevent Mareth from summoning more units, but now he had them stand aside. He could not afford to lose too many of them outside the dungeon.
Mareth¡¯s walls were a good twenty feet high. They were made of wood, although an outer layer of stone had started being erected along the outside perimeter of the wall. Walkways and parapets surrounded the top of the wall. Mark sported a smile as big as the Cheshire cat when he saw how few units there were to defend it. Did she only have a couple hundred units? Still their units had to go around to a different side of the castle where Mareth had a wooden gate.
Scarecrow archers started firing, but the arrows were few and far between. The arachne mages made the first move and got in position in front of the main gate. Five lances seemingly struck as one. Runes on the gate lit up, but even against only five mages the runes did not stop the attack entirely. The 50 yellow mages moved in as the 100 yellow archers started firing flaming arrows at the scarecrows. Once the 50 yellow mages attacked the gates with fire balls and lances the door exploded inwards.
A minute into the attack and they were already inside. A small clump of clay and block golems moved to intercept the invaders, however they faced a platoon of armored bugbears. Like bugs splattering against a windshield the defenders were turned to rubble as the bugbears moved right through them.
Inside the outer walls were a handful of various buildings, but the attacking force immediately charged through them toward the inner keep. Units were streaking out from the mine. Individuals or pairs of units rushing to join the defense. It was clear that a lot of the forces that Mareth did have were all still in the dungeon.
Mareth had gathered about 100 units to defend her inner keep. A couple of creepers led the defense, sending globs of acid at the approaching army. Several bugbears went down due to the acid or arrows, but the rest continued forward right through the gap in the wall where a future gate would likely go. Mareth¡¯s keep was still in its infancy. The bugbears engaged from the inside as spiders and cockroaches hit the outer wall. They went up and over
The defenders fell quite quickly, but Mark did not even wait for them to all fall before sending cockroaches into the dungeon. Mareth¡¯s dungeon had fallen in five minutes, but her forces had already entered their own dungeon, while some units mopped up the rest. Forrest guardians and creepers, her fastest units were moving as quickly as possible through the hallways and chambers. In another five minutes they would face off against their first floor defenders.
It was a race against time, and Mark¡¯s units were a few minutes behind. Mark could only hope that Mareth had fewer dungeon levels. However, if she did it would probably not be more than one less. A difference that could be made up or lost depending on the attacking forces and their dungeon layouts. However, it seemed the first floor was relatively simple, Tunnels and rooms.
Mareth¡¯s forces reached the final room first and engaged the first floor defenders. The floor had a full complement of 10 orcs along with the defenders, but they fell seemingly just as quickly as the hobgoblins. Winnie the floor guardian got reduced to goo almost immediately, before he could do much. The trap crushed 10 units, but that was because all strategy had seemingly been thrown aside as units swarmed up the slope. Seemingly the 30 or so units lost were acceptable, but she took the room in less than two minutes. The constructs proceeded to the second level.
The cockroaches ran into random units quite frequently. Flesh golems and creepers that took their toll on the bug force. Most continued forward as a pair of cockroaches engaged the enemy. Mareth had unlocked the first floor maelstrom. The bugbear platoon following less than a minute behind quickly fell the individual units, hardly pausing a step.
The cockroaches also hit traps although few cockroaches were lost to such imprecise measures. A good five minutes had passed since Mareth hit their second floor, before the cockroaches reached the final room. They had lost some time, but what they found waiting for them in the final room of Mareth¡¯s first floor only caused the alarm to deepen. The 25 defenders were all flesh golems or creepers, but the two cave trolls were what really caught the eye. Her first floor spawner was something to be envied.
Mark wished he had a way to stop the cockroaches, but they skittered forward. The flesh golems and creepers they could deal with to an extent. However the 2 giant cave trolls would smoosh them as easily as Mark could crush a bug. The cockroaches took staggering losses before the next units arrived, the arachne.
The cave trolls immediately moved toward the more appetizing targets. Mark could only watch as the five arachne went down causing as much damage to the trolls as they could in defiance., either under foot or by the giant¡¯s clubs. The rest of the forces made it and started hitting the trolls from all sides. Mages started burning the trolls with fireballs which stopped the onslaught. Henry moved in to engage one, while the other bugbears whittled down the other. Despite the aid from the mages the trolls were able to last several minutes putting their forces'' progress even further behind Mareth¡¯s.
There were only 63 cockroaches left from the initial 150, however Mark sent them forward. He had already known this attack would be far different than their assault on Nehemiah''s dungeon. The cockroaches had been crucial there, but they were less effective against enemies they had difficulty killing. Still they had done their job on the first floor. All of the traps on the floor had been sprung on them, and they had kept all of the defenders busy, even killing most of the creepers, while the bugbears and mages dealt with the cave trolls. The cave trolls should be a one-off. Mareth should not have any more spawners that were that powerful.
Mareth¡¯s forces were nearly at the end of floor two, before the cockroaches continued on. The forest guardians charged up the two ramps as the creepers and jack o lanterns supported them. The only saving grace was that the slower stone and bronze guardians had fallen behind. Still that would not matter much, if Mareth¡¯s advance forces could conquer the defenders prior to them getting there. The few rock and flesh golems were still on floor one, so like the 5 scorpions of their own attack force it seemed they would no longer be a part of the attack.
The second floor fell easily due to the high levels of fire power that Mareth¡¯s forces immediately brought to bear. Mark could only hope that her forces would wane. They were constructs so they did not tire physically, but their manna was not unlimited. However, Mark noticed that each of the creepers and jack o lanterns had vials in a pouch on their lower back. They might be able to continue hitting the dungeon full force, while Mark¡¯s own attacking army had to slow down or risk exhausting the units too much to battle.
Bruce the drone wasp went down as easily as Winnie. Once again he had been sent to attack the mages. He had managed to take a few down with him, but less than Mark had hoped.
The red mages in the side towers were the last alive once again, but Mareth¡¯s forces did not even bother to climb the towers. Instead they poured towards the opening to the third floor.
Mareths¡¯ third floor was an obvious rush job. No traps, nothing unique, but it would still take the cockroaches 10 minutes to cross it. They were a good 8 minutes behind at this point, so had ground to make up. Then there was the fact that their own third floor was just one giant cavern. If the defenders were wiped out quickly they would lose even more time. Mark had them hide away in a far corner away from the portal down to the fourth floor. As long as Dragon was alive they could not go down.
Mareth¡¯s forces engaged with the bugbears, and skeletal knights on the third floor. They found them within minutes. Their frantic attack cost them a lot of units. The bugbears and skeletal knights were powerful enough to make it costly. However clearing out another 40 units did not seem like much, when Mareth still had 240 left to participate in the attack. She had entered with 400, but nearly 50 of them included the rock and flesh golems which had already fallen behind.
However, Dragon was still on his feet. He had not participated in the brief, yet intense struggle, nor would he. Mark smiled wickedly as Dragon ran from more attackers. Mareth did not have a single unit that could run the powerful reanimated behir down, and the cavern was so big. Mark was asserting direct control on the undead beast, moving him away, keeping him alive.
How long could Mark keep it up? He did not know, but a minute had passed and Mareth¡¯s units had not hit it with a single spell. That might soon change. Mareth started having units fan out. Mark would not let Dragon get cornered, but when they came spread out like that, it was inevitable that some attacks would hit. If enough acid attacks hit, Dragon might lose the mobility that was crucial in keeping him out of reach. Things would end quite quickly after that.
The cockroaches reached the end of floor two revealing only 25 defenders, which appeared no different from the first floor. More creepers and flesh golems, although these ones might have an extra boost from an upgrade or two. Regardless, they went down quickly once the goblin support arrived. There would only be 24 cockroaches to check for traps on the third floor. They would all die by the end, and then it would just be the goblins and the 10 spiders.
Mark weaved Dragon in and around, occasionally sending Dragon right through a thin net of attackers. Dragon carved up units when he could. However, Mark could tell that the game would soon be at an end. The jack o lanterns were now resorting to their ultimate move whenever the dragon got close. So far only a few had hit near the undead beast, but one direct hit might end the keep away game.
Mark focused intensely zooming out his tactical screen occasionally to look for a new place to move Dragon to. However, the game ended when Mark moved Dragon to a seemingly clear area. Several jack o'' lanterns attacked immediately from all sides emerging from hiding behind large stalagmite pillars. Their ultimate moves smashed into Dragon¡¯s sides and legs. A couple legs hung limply and others were heavily damaged.
Not able to keep running away, Mark switched Dragon to carnage mode. However, he was able to kill only six units before the overwhelming amount of attacks coming from all directions brought him down. The construct army did not stop to admire their handiwork, they immediately marched for the entrance to the fourth floor. However, Dragon had bought them a lot of time. The goblin forces were already engaging the creeper and flesh golems at the end of Mareth¡¯s third floor.
With all of the cockroaches gone, the goblin regiment led the charge into the fourth floor. They were only minutes behind Mareth¡¯s forces now, but Mareth¡¯s forces were already fighting the scorpions while the arachne launched attacks from above. Mareth¡¯s forces were taking losses, but not as much as Mark would expect. They were also killing the scorpions quite quickly.
Nearly a hundred jack o lanterns had made it into the dungeon. Upon entering the fourth floor a small majority still had their pumpkin heads, but now they were pulling them off and using their ultimate attack without abandon. The jack o lanterns would be left extremely weakened, but it looked like a good 30 to 40 would still have their ultimate move in reserve after this floor was conquered.
Mark had King move to the opposite corner from where they had engaged the enemy forces, but they quickly flowed that way after wiping out the majority of the other scorpions. Having reached the back side of the level, the units found the entrance to the next floor and a way to get units up to the second level. Some units went up and some started making their way across the dungeon level. Two scorpions had been kept to ambush Mareth¡¯s forces, and hopefully lead Mareth¡¯s forces in a different direction to keep them from finding King the floor guardian, but with the way they were attacking without abandon the ruse would not last long.
The fourth floor was buying them more time, but the goblins had slowed significantly. They had marched hard for over an hour to reach the dungeon and had been moving or battling for the last half hour. Unlike the constructs they were flesh and blood, they could not continue forward at full speed.. Mark allowed them to slow down to a quick walk. Hopefully, they could regain their breath and get ready for a final push. They were on Mareth¡¯s fourth floor the same as her forces were on theirs.
Mareth had spent a little more time to make her fourth floor more formidable. A room of spiked pendulums swung back and forth. Occasionally some bashed together changing their trajectory. How much DP had she spent on this? Mark was left to wonder.
The first few goblins that ventured out into the chaos got brained. The others did not make a move until Henry lifted his hammer menacingly. They started forward once more, Each goblin choosing their own path. It was better to face the pendulums and maybe make it through than to face certain death from a motivated superior. The goblins knew to take a superior''s threat very seriously.
The room slowed down the army significantly, but there were far fewer deaths than Mark would have expected, maybe 30 in total. None of the bugbear platoon were among them. Oddly enough none of the large spiders were struck either. Mark chalked it up to them having a spidey sense. Regardless, it was good since they carried the 10 spiritualists.
Despite the danger, them having to navigate through the room would have to be the end of the goblins breather. Mareth¡¯s forces had found and eliminated King. The 190 that remained moved on into the open air room. The sudden sunlight did not affect the construct creatures, however they did pause to study the spiraled mountain before them.
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Mark had set up floor 5 like a tower defense game. Enemy units would have to move back and forth up a hill to reach the top. Brambles and steep terrain would keep all by the most determined from just going straight up. Three sets of 3 blood roses formed walls across the paths. Their tangled vines and bulk would slow enemy unit progress even further. All the while the 15 sunflowers would rain down attacks on the units from above. The lotus power would empower them as much as it could from out of sight.
Mareth had her forces reconfigure immediately. All of the bronze guardians were still alive, and she had determined it was time to use them. Other than the 86 of them Mareth had 55 forest and stone guardians and 49 jack o'' lanterns. However only half of these jack o lanterns still had their ultimate move available to them, the other half were about as dangerous as level 1 units.
Light beams blazed down on the approaching army. The sunburst had to be focused on one bronze guardian for several seconds to melt the unit enough to end its existence. The fifteen sunflowers were only able to kill 22 after blowing through their charge. Mark had them target the bronze statues with the sunburst. Then they would focus their other attacks on the softer targets. The jack o lanterns could only strike the nearest blood roses with their attacks, the elevation would keep the sunflowers and the lotus out of range for a majority of their climb.
The goblin forces found Mareth¡¯s defenders in a simple room at the end of the fourth floor. A couple of tiers of a walled fortress lay before them. The goblins would have to climb the stairs and then cut back up another flight of stairs to the next level''s wall. All of the defenders were creepers and manned the battlements. They would pour acid down as attackers approached. The floor had familiar units from a spawner, thrash bears. Mark could see them ready to ambush attackers as they climbed up the flights of stairs. Just like Mark¡¯s tower defense level, multi multi-tiered tower would allow the creepers to rain down acid on the attackers.
Henry sent the goblins charging forward. The archers and mages started firing burning arrows and spells over the walls. The spiritualists sent their shadows forward. The shadows overtook the charging goblins. The thrash bears would have a hard time ambushing them. Some shadows would kill the bears while the others would continue up after the creepers.
While initially menacing, the defenders fell quite quickly. Mark watched as the shadows cleared out the bears and the creepers. The biggest delay to Mark¡¯s forces would be all the steps. The goblins slogged up them tiredly. Mark had the 10 spiders move on over them and into the fifth floor. Each carried their spiritualists and Mark had a couple mages jump on each. The bugbear platoon was able to power through on their own. They entered Mareth¡¯s fifth floor several minutes after Mareth¡¯s forces had entered theirs.
However, due to Mark¡¯s urging Henry was leaving behind the majority of the goblin forces. Hopefully, Mareth only had five floors, but if she had a sixth then the goblins needed to hurry. If she had a seventh, then only God could help them get out of this. Henry left with most of the leaders of the goblins, which left the goblins with less formidable leaders in charge. They urged the green goblins or other yellow hobgoblins forward, but Mark could tell it was just lip service. One leader even was sitting on a step yelling at those down below. It was very likely that they would not be a part of the attack anymore.
The blood rose¡¯s proved to only be a minor inconvenience. Mareth sent a flaming or acidic ultimate move into each of them. Mareth was not holding back resources if it meant stalling progress. The final moves devastate the blood roses if not kill them outright. The attacks from the sunflowers had slowed down significantly. Most had burned through their manna. They replenished it extremely quickly if they were rooted, which they all were, but the result was still only an attack every couple of seconds from the 15 units.
The jack o lanterns had done their best to hide against the side of the hill, making the various guardians the only target available. Mark had them focus on the forest or stone guardians. It took quite a few magic missiles to even bring one down, but the sunflowers were somehow good at coordinating targets. One unlocky guardian would take attack after attack until it went down. Then the sunflowers would move on to the next one. They could not beat the force, but decreasing their numbers would be extremely beneficial. It would leave Mareth with fewer units to search on the sixth floor.
When Mareth¡¯s forces killed the last of the blood roses they streamed uphill. Enough time had passed for the sunflowers to shoot a fraction of a second sunburst. They all targeted a couple of bronze guardians leading the charge over the hill lip. Hitting at the same time, the two guardians die, melting into a metallic slag. Then began, Mark¡¯s last trick, sequential concussion waves. Ten of the sunflowers had held onto enough manna for one last spell. Mark actively coordinated their 30 second cast time giving 10 seconds in between each attack.
Only one bronze guardian made it around the beams of translucent air that knocked the force back. The closest sunflower engaged him while the other sunflowers shot their concussion waves 10 seconds apart. If Mark would have known how effective it would be he would have had them save a lot of manna and keep this going for 10 minutes, but the 10 waves only held off the guardians for an additional 2 minutes. The sunflowers fell quickly in the melee, and the lotus with its tendril vines was hardly even a challenge. The guardians struck them all down and proceeded onto the sixth and final floor.
The sixth floor was a near copy of their fourth floor. When Mareth saw it she adjusted her forces appropriately in a short time frame. She had just over 120 units to take on the 25 defenders. Mareth did not know it was their last floor, but it did not matter her forces proceeded forward to wipe out this floor as quickly as possible.
The goblin forces were running several minutes behind. It would not matter if the fifth floor was Mareth¡¯s last floor, and with how her units were attacking he could have believed it. But how could they be so lucky? The fifth floor defenders challenged them on a narrow passage of steps. It was the first floor that she had level 2 units, so perhaps she had thought the rock golems would stall attacks allowing the jack o lanterns to devastate from above.
Last floor or not, Mark had a third of the bugbears take their rock skin pills and charge forward. A half dozen final moves turned the passage into a death trap. Only one bugbear who had been out in front was able to continue forward. Twelve more had been killed instantly. However, Henry surged forward moments after the explosion. Mark saw him ingest his own pill. The other bugbear in front of him went down to several fireballs. Henry burst through the flame and brought his hammer down on the first rock golem.
Now in close, Henry was able to go to work. The jack o lanterns behind did not care about hitting their own units; they sent attacks down at the bugbear colonel, but the rock golems blocked him from the worst of it, and his high defense helped to prevent critical damage. The last few final attacks exploded from behind, sending shrapnel into the colonel¡¯s back, but they had been too far behind to do much to the bugbear leader. Dozens of magic lances streaked over the melee into the mass of jack o lanterns. While powerful units, they were not entirely durable. Without room to maneuver, being packed in like sardines now made things go poorly for Mareth¡¯s defenders.
A majority of the scorpions were dead by the time that Henry hit the portal¡To find that Mareth indeed had a sixth floor. Mark heard Amelia gasp in dismay. Before Henry was a seemingly endless corridor. Mark immediately guessed the purpose of the long unending tunnel. Mareth had thrown this floor together to stall them, just like he had done an hour or two ago. Mark shouted direction to Henry who quickly complied.
Unfortunately, for Mareth the spiders could actually be quite quick, moving as quick as a human could sprint, and despite the morning¡¯s exertions the spiders were ready to go. The type of spiders these units were based on were the big wandering spiders so moving for hours was not really too much of an exertion. They should still be good for a quick burst, even laden down with three units each.
Mark brought all of the spiritualists. A handful of the best bugbears and the mages with the most manna. The rest would be left behind to follow at half the speed that the spiders could muster. Mark had thought to leave Henry behind since he looked like he was barely holding it together. His skin was burnt, his armor was charred, and he had more than a few puncture wounds. But Henry took another rock skin pill from one of his subordinates staying behind and hopped on. The spiders started streaking down the tunnel.
The last big bulk of scorpions were making their last stand as the arachne and bugbear healer supported them. However, they would not hold out for more than a few minutes. Within another five to ten minutes she could sweep the entire floor. She already had a handful of units standing by the portal door that would allow them into the core room as soon as the guardian was slain.
But to Mareth¡¯s dismay when the final defender her forces were facing fell, she found that the guardian lock was still there. Mark watched as her forces exploded in all directions. She had killed 24 defenders, but this was Mark¡¯s last move. If Mareth discovered the trick they would be finished.
Amelia grabbed his hand and gave him a frightened smile. All they could do now was wait. The dungeon core interface screen showed a line of spiders running down a hall, while both their personal screens showed the 100 or so remaining attackers scrambling to find their sixth floor¡¯s guardian.
Ten minutes passed, and Mark felt her hand clench his tighter as the end of the hallway came into view. Henry was already shouting orders. He was riding the front spider. He threw in the pill, brought out his shield, and activated the barrier as they crossed the threshold of the tunnel¡¯s opening. Magic attacks including jack o lantern¡¯s final moves erupted in explosions around Henry and his mount. The spider he had been riding, the spiritualist, and the mage that had been riding beside him were all torn to shreds despite the barrier offering them some coverage. Henry was flung forward crashing on top of his shield. His body smoldered and looked ripped apart despite the shield''s barrier. The room was large with two sides separated by a fifteen foot line of water.
Mareth¡¯s forces were gathered on the other end. Ten jack o lanterns supported by fifteen bronze guardians. The spiders poured into the room immediately moving over the crisp corpse of the foremost spider. Another spider and its riders were incinerated by an ultimate move. However the next two flying pumpkin heads were both surprisingly caught by a fireball from the mage on the third spider. They were both blown back into their own force.
That fireball might have saved the attack force. The rest of the spiders were able to make it into the room safely uncontested as the jack o lanterns own attacks ripped half of them to shreds. Spiritualists and mages rolled off the spiders landing with a thud, as the spiders charged forward to battle. Half of them leapt across the line of water entirely, the other half landed in the water. Although they broke the surface and crawled onto the opposite side in a matter of seconds.
One of the spiders was almost immediately cut in half along with its bugbear rider. The guardian¡¯s sword seemed to become molten hot and it easily carved through them like they were butter. Mark had not had much of an opportunity to observe the different essence guardian¡¯s before, but now he could see that each could perform acid, or flame attacks with their sword. One of the bugbears'' hammers met blade but flames were still seemingly sent forward into the bugbear¡¯s face. It resulted in the bugbear being blinded for a crucial second, and cut in half the next. The bugbear likely had a defensive bonus of 11 or so, but it did not seem to matter.
Black shades joined the few remaining bugbears in open combat. Effective against most things the shades died fairly quickly against the essence based attacks of the bronze guardians. A round of magic lances took out several guardians, but the long cast time for magic lances would prevent them from sending another wave anytime soon.
Most of the jack o lanterns were down, and only one of the remaining still had its ultimate move in reserve. However it had gotten separated from the battle by one of the spiders who was attacking it ferociously. The jack o lantern probably was twice as strong as the spider, but it was a fifth of the spider¡¯s size and was not able to bring its magic to bear.
Mark switched his attention back to their own dungeon. It looked like Mareth had still not figured it out. When building the floor, Mark had made six ambush tunnels. A scorpion would be able to attack units that passed, but would have its flanks protected. More importantly, once the scorpion died its body would fill the opening.
The interface prevented Mark from having secret rooms or hidden passages for the most part, but it would not restrict him from having dead end tunnels whose opening would be covered when one of the defenders died. Emperor, the sixth floor guardian hid at the end of one of these tunnels. His body was behind a bend so even whatever life sense the constructs had should not work. The constructs were still running around like crazy, but as soon as Mareth realized the ruse, things could be over in less than a minute. She easily still had the firepower to burn out Emperor without really having to fight him.
Their own attack was faltering. All but one of the spiders were down, and only two more bugbears were left against the seven guardians. Four of the guardians had crossed over the water to deal with the spiritualists and mages. The mages and bugbears that had been left behind were still five minutes or more away. Who could say whether they would arrive before Mareth figured out where the sixth floor guardian hid?
Then Mark noticed Henry rise back to his feet. He was almost definitely finally using his soak skill, wounds were closing enough for him to push on. One hand still clenched his war hammer. Three steps forward and the colonel launched himself forward over the water. He landed near the ledge and pulled himself out a second later. It would basically be him against three guardians since both of the other two remaining bugbears had just fallen.
That number soon became two as Henry smashed the heavily wounded guardian before proceeding toward the other two. Henry¡¯s hammer immediately met a molten sword, receiving a splash of molten metal in return. However, Henry continued the attack even as the other guardian with the corrosive sword joined in. Henry''s armor was already thoroughly charred, but now it literally had parts melting off his body.
Henry had the advantage in both speed and strength, likely would have won quite quickly if he was one on one with either of them, but the two could keep him from pressing an advantage. The other guardians were finishing off the last of the mages and spiritualists. In less than a minute, at least three more guardians would rejoin the fight. The spider fighting far off to the side was on its last legs against the jack o lantern.
Mark heard another gasp from Amelia, following her line of sight it appeared that Mareth¡¯s units had figured it out. They were already pulling one scorpion after another out of their tunnels. Mark made a mental order to Emperor. The sixth floor guardian moved forward and clenched the scorpion, blocking its tunnel tail. Mareth¡¯s units started pulling on the scorpion, but the body resisted the pull as Emperor resisted. Mark watched with alarm as all the enemy units in their dungeon started that way. Emperor with his power rating of 5.2 and his size could likely hold against quite a few units, but he could not win the tug of war against all of Mareth¡¯s forces.
¡°Henry, we need victory now,¡± Amelia shouted through the link.
The bugbear heard her and increased the ferocity of his attacks, although it was clear that he did not have much more to give. However, he was their only hope since the reinforcements were still minutes out and only the spider and a few more mages remained.
Henry gave out a passionate grunt as he brought his hammer back around dealing a crushing blow. The guardian caught it on its shield, but the weight of the blow caused both weapons and shield to slam into the guardian¡¯s head. The bronze flame guardian was knocked back several steps, and Henry went to work on the guardian with the acid sword.
Henry finished off the acid sword guardian with four powerful blows and refocused on the guardian that carried the molten sword. His hammer met the shield with such power the guardian was once again knocked back. Henry followed up blow after blow, all the while Amelia bounced up and down on the couch screaming for his victory. Mark clenched the couch side and watched Henry fight. If Emperor lost the tug of war battle, they would know quite quickly since units would pour into the core room soon after.
Henry gave one last guttural roar as he brought his hammer up and around. The battered guardian only half caught it on his shield. The blow continued forcing the shield down and crushing into the guardians¡¯ head. The guardian crumpled to the floor, and Henry¡¯s attention focused back to the three guardians climbing out of the water back to their side of the room.
Mark felt his heart sink for a moment but only a moment. Not all of the floor defenders had to be killed, just the guardian. Mark jumped from the couch and started shouting as soon as he saw that the far door lost its protective haze. ¡°Henry run through the door and crush the orb!¡± he yelled over and over again. Amelia joined in a second later. They were both jumping and shouting.
Henry got the message he turned for the door, with three guardians hot on his heels. Seconds later a pumpkin head sailed toward the four of them. The jack o lantern had been pushed away from the fight with the spider, and was trying to stop the bugbear colonel. The end of the room exploded. Henry was sent through the door. He rolled back to his feet. Five strides later he brought his hammer down on the orb obliterating it.
[Notice: Contender, Mareth Ingall, has been eliminated by another contender. Contender has been given a unique reward. Contenders remaining 13/35]
Chapter 56: Day 173
Mark and Amelia cheered and hugged each other jumping in excitement, before Mark realized in horror that the units in their own dungeon were still alive. The half dozen bronze guardians that had been fighting to pull out the dead scorpion were standing still as the interface worked to switch them over from dungeon creatures back to the neutral faction. Mark hurriedly took control and had Emperor move back behind the bend of the dead end tunnel. It was all he could think. When Crassius had been defeated, the orcs attacking their dungeon had been frozen for a good 5 to 10 seconds. Then when they woke up they were confused, and the normally battle driven creatures were forced to retreat before the far weaker goblins due to the confusion.
Amelia¡¯s excitement died as she realized what was going on. Mareth was defeated, but their dungeon was very much still under attack. They watched with wide eyes as the constructs began moving again. Less than 10 seconds had passed since Mareth¡¯s core had been shattered, when the constructs began to move again.
Mark sighed in relief when they just meandered about. They had seemingly forgotten what they had just been doing with the reupload, and since Emperor was back around the tunnel¡¯s bend they should not be able to sense him. Over a hundred units were still alive on the sixth floor and an additional 50 were on the fourth floor making their way up.
¡°I can¡¯t believe this!¡± Amelia exclaimed. ¡°We wiped out a dungeon, and still might end up dying.¡± She collapsed back into the couch in disbelief. ¡°How much time till our units respawn.?¡±
¡°Well it is the sixth floor, so 6 hours for the normal defenders. Since it has only been 15 to 20 minutes since the last of them were killed, we have a good five and a half hours¡¡± Mark responded matter of factly.
¡°Your kidding me, so we just have to sit here for that long, hoping that the constructs don¡¯t find the guardian?¡± Amelia asked exasperated.
Mark nodded. He was just as frustrated. They sat there in silence as they watched the constructs meander about. They were all scattered and seemingly had no clue on what they had just been doing, but Mark knew if they were able to kill Emperor, then they could still end up dying today.
The more frustrating part was that they were going to have to wait a long time to potentially resolve this situation, and not necessarily just six hours. It could easily take several iterations to finish off the remaining attackers. The real question was if and when the scorpion¡¯s body would dissolve into the dungeon. Was it just time based, or not till all enemies on the floor were gone. He hoped it was the latter, because he had witnessed it occurring within a couple of hours in all previous instances, although every other time there had not been enemies still on the floor.
Mark watched for another minute or two before he decided he would go mad, if he sat here for the rest of the day. He gave the scorpion directions to start the tug of war game if the constructs started pulling the dead body out. Of course, Mark hoped that Emperor could just stay behind the bend in the tunnel. Perhaps the constructs would not sense him regardless due to the dead scorpion in the way, but he would rather not chance it.
Mark would definitely keep the feed up, but there were definitely things that they could look at or do. After all, all of the constructs were all inside the dungeon so theoretically Amelia and he could even go outside, the portal taking them right to the surface. Not that they would, however Mareth had not destroyed the buildings, so it was an easy thing to let the researchers and dedicated crafters out. They might as well get back to work in case they survive. Ezekiel would be among them, once again he had survived in the compartment through the attack.
Mark was eager to see what their unique reward would be, but they still had a good 54 minutes to wait according to the counter, so Mark went to the next thing on his agenda. Of all the units that they needed to replenish, there was only one group that had a time limit. Mark summoned 10 new red hobgoblin spiritualists. Luckily, the summoning worked without issue since there were no enemy units alive within their territory.
Mark would have loved to unlock another level of mage to increase the capacities further, but the MP they would receive from defeating Mareth¡¯s forces was held up since there were still plenty of her former units hanging out in their dungeon. However, Mark did not know whether the same would hold true for the dead bodies strewn about on the surface. The ten spiritualists immediately went to work, each rushing to find the best corpses to add to their spirit army.
Mark then resummoned the archer division. No reason they could not get back to work making more arrows and other goods. With just over 17,000 MP Mark could not due too much else. He summoned 100 yellow hobgoblins to send through both sides of the barracks. In just over a month, he could have a 100 regular yellow mages all for the cheap price of 17,000 MP right now. He only had enough MP to give half the Mage class, the rest would have to pick it up in the barracks. That drained their MP down to the dregs, but hopefully they would have the MP from the battle should Gale send a force to attack later in the day.
It was just getting light outside, so she would know soon enough. There would not be any hiding it. Hopefully she would also see the notice that Mareth had been defeated, so would once again err on the side of caution and not send an attack force their way.
However, Mark was needlessly worried about the other dungeon in their area attacking them today. Not that he would ever know. They had only minutes left on their unique reward counter. The enemies in their dungeon were once again meandering about, searching for a way to open the door to the sixth floor. The rock and flesh golems had joined the others on the sixth floor, and a round of defenders had respawned.
Mark got one answer to his question, defender bodies would dissolve quite quickly once they respawned. Mark had sweat pretty hard for a bit when the body had dissolved. However through some careful coordination of the other 24 Mark had drawn all the enemies to one area with the sounds of battle. Meanwhile he had snuck one of the scorpions the opposite way to retake the position at the hole¡¯s entrance. It was still alive, but whenever the constructs found it, hopefully it would once again die in place blocking the hole.
The sad part was that Mark was going to have to do this more than once. Over a hundred of enemies still roamed their sixth floor, so Mark could easily imagine needing several more iterations of this tactic. Each time the shuffle would risk their floor guardian being found.
But having successfully managed it once, Mark had been watching the counter tick down for their unique reward when the new notice popped.
[Notice: a Contender has reached dungeon level 3. New features have been unlocked.]
[Notice: The In-battle contender chat feature has been unlocked. Contenders will now be able to message with one another provided they have encountered the other dungeon.]
[Notice: The limit on sponsorship has been reduced for all contenders. Limited status: three sponsorship support packages per a week. Contenders can elect on which support they would like to receive and when to receive it.]
Mark stared for a moment at the notice. Someone had leveled up their dungeon to level 3. Once again new features were unlocked for everyone, regardless of their dungeon level status. They were both worrying additions to the battle. Now other dungeons could receive three times the support from outside of the dungeon. The in battle chat feature could potentially allow alliances or coordinated attacks.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. But after thinking about it for a minute perhaps the in battle chat feature could be beneficial for them. After all, when considering the various super powers still in existence who would coordinate to take out a supposedly weaker contender like Amelia. The opposite was more likely. Who would not want to team up with a supposedly weaker dungeon that they felt could be taken out at leisure. If they played it right perhaps they could team up with others until most of the others were taken out.
Mark could not dwell on it for too long. The new notice for their unique rewards would be on its way shortly, but Mark had also noticed something else. A prior notice, he had not seen. It arrived an hour ago.
[Congratulations: One of your elite units has received a unique title, Relentless. Each of the 100 titles can only be given once during the succession battle. Each unit can only have one title. (Titles still available: 91/100) ]
[Relentless: The relentless title recognizes a unit for continued perseverance through grueling circumstances, and will increase their ability to push on. The unit''s endurance will be increased by twofold, and the unit¡¯s vitality and toughness by 25%. In addition, contenders can pick one among the following.
- Added stat points, attack, and defense
- Special skill
- Added essence ability: (essences currently available: toxic, electricity.)
Time remaining 60:00]
Mark and Amelia looked at each other in shock. Normal units could progress through five different experience levels: conscript, recruit, regular, veteran, and expert. Before the battle this morning, Henry had only been a veteran, but at some point during the battle he had not only leveled up to expert, but had pushed beyond to claim one of what had been 92 unique titles remaining.
But Mark could not be shocked for long. Like the unique reward component this notice had a one hour timer, and both of them had started Now that he had reviewed the notice the timer had started.
¡°Don¡¯t open the unique reward notice till we settle this one,¡± Mark directed.
¡°Not like we will need the full hour,¡± Amelia huffed, but she closed her interface anyways to only pay attention to the screen he was sharing. ¡°My vote is for the essence ability,¡± Amelia immediately stated after rereading all the options.
Mark rolled his eyes. Just like her to go for the most flashy option without much thought. He sighed though after only a little bit of thought. She was probably right. The stat point option would be nice, but it would not add much besides increasing the power rating. The skill option was more enticing. A special skill had to be better than the four basic skills they had been offered once they upgraded their dungeon to level 2. Henry already had the soak ability. Another even more powerful skill would certainly be enticing. Perhaps if he knew what the stat option or skill would actually offer.
But it was true that essence was the succession battle''s driving resource, so it would seem foolish not to go in that direction. However, they only had two options available. Mark could only guess it was based on how much they currently had on hand. If stone had been an option it might have been a really good pick to increase Henry¡¯s survivability, but since it was not. Mark did not really have to consider between the two options. A certain superhero who wielded a hammer and could use electricity came to mind. If only Mark could rename Henry as well. Then he would be uh¡. A much uglier version.
¡°Electric essence, then?¡± he asked questionably.
Sounds good to me,¡± Amelia agreed. She selected the option and the two looked at Henry¡¯s status.
| Colonel Henry the Relentless (1/45) |
Warhammer LVL 3 (Expert) |
Power lvl: 10.0 |
Morale: 82 (Cheerful) |
| Strength |
29 |
Attack: 5 |
Defense: 3 |
| Endurance |
42 |
Abilities/Skills |
| Agility |
19 |
SKills: Soak
Abilities: Jolt
|
| Vitality |
34 |
| Intelligence |
14 |
| Wisdom |
15 |
The title was added to the name column, and the ability Jolt had been added. Mark checked jolt in the encyclopedia. Henry¡¯s attacks would send out electricity. Which could cause damage even if blocked and could potentially even temporarily paralyze enemies. They would have to see how it was in practice, but it sounded amazing. On top of the 25% experience bump to expert and the extra stats Henry had become frightening. Of course there was only one way for him to become more powerful now, class upgrades. He was still level 3 in his war hammer class so he could already get another 10% bump, but he could not become much more powerful.
Amelia enthusiastically went back to their new notice. After a brief moment for them to read it the counter started.
[Unique Reward: Choose between one of the three options
- Take the money and run.
- Skill Gymnasium
- Essence Hoard
Time remaining 60:00]
The first option was the standard MP option. They would get an additional 2,500 MP a day. It was not quite a 10% increase since their current daily production was 27,430 MP, but it would be even less once dungeons moved on to dungeon level 3. Probably after all the production increases from level 3 it might only be 3 or 4 percent of a dungeon¡¯s daily production. Still it was definitely more tempting than the 1,000 MP they had been offered last time.
The second option, the skill gymnasium, would allow units to train and receive skills. Ten units could train at a time, and each new skill would take one week. If that was all there was to it, then Mark would have immediately bypassed it. Adding a skill to a unit only cost 200 MP and even with the substantial mark up for additional skills for a unit, the cost would be less than what the MP option would give.
The real hook for this option was the second part. The gymnasium would allow him to bypass unlocking additional skill slots. The second skill slot by itself was already 100,000 MP. The third and fourth would be progressively more expensive. He would be able to summon units with one skill and then use the gymnasium to add additional skills, only dealing with the 10 unit limit. It would also allow him to add skills to already summoned units, say Henry. That by itself would make it tempting.
Mark was pretty much already sold on the second option but he gave the third option a look over. Essence hoard did not sound bad. It would give a seemingly endless supply of two new essences that they had not yet encountered. To sweeten the deal, the option would start them out with one method of use for each essence.
Damn, Mark thought. It was just enticing enough to make him think about it for a bit. Amelia and him discussed both options for almost the entirety of the time the counter was made available, but finally Mark selected the second option, skill gymnasium. Not knowing what essences they would receive or how beneficial the methods they would get, was the main factor.
They could potentially be game changing, but they could also just be so-so. Mark was not particularly interested in spinning a gacha wheel and hoping to get something good, especially when it was not actually up to luck. In this case the essences and methods they would get would be up to the succession battle creators. Mark was not willing to depend on their providence. He would go for the known quantity.
The gymnasium appeared in an area that would be protected by their outer wall. It just fit in with everything else. He had thought he had left quite a bit of left over space, but now it was looking like things were going to be quite cramped in their in progress fortress.
With everything decided, Mark treated himself to a good meal. He still had a long day ahead of him. They were still in a bit of a precarious situation. One wrong move and the enemy units on their sixth floor would finish them off. They might not be a part of a dungeon any more, but it was quite apparent that they would not leave the dungeon. They would either be wiped out, or they would destroy the dungeon. Hopefully, the succession battle managers would be a bit merciful since it would be a pathetic and non climatic end to a dungeon after they had actually won the battle with another dungeon.
Chapter 57: Day 205
Mark set himself up on the second level of the archer tower for a cup of coffee and to enjoy the ambiance before he opened his interface to perform his first status check of the morning. Once he did that his mind would once again be embroiled with the seemingly infinite possibilities the interface offered. More than seven months had passed since he had been pulled to this virtual world to act as a champion of one of the contenders, Amelia Cromwell, in a ruler succession battle royal where only one of the dungeons could be left standing at the end. The victor would be the next ruler of the Arcadian realm. In another 19 days he would close out the 8th month and have officially been here for half of the 16 month standard year in the Arcadian realm.
The recognized time intervals did not quite line up to those of earth. The weeks were the same as were the number of days in a week. The time in a day was near the same as far as he could tell. All these similarities were seemingly universal constants that showed up throughout various lower realms and planets time and again. With hundreds of planets with life, days could have any amount of length, so they had chosen an arbitrary median between them to determine the passage of time among the factions. The result was sixteen, 28 day months resulting in 448 days in total.
Regardless, even by earth standards, Mark had already been here for half a year. It was only a fraction of the near 25 years of existence by earth standards, yet already his life on earth seemed like a far distant past. His thoughts seldom went back to things from there. It was odd since he had been to far more places, interacted with more people, and seen more things before being summoned here.
For the last 204 days, he had spent all of his time within about the same half of a mile worth of space, and that distance had been far less before he had used DP to move the dungeon entrance and other structures against the rocky outcropping of the nearest plateau a week ago. The endless bluff map he had been brought to was filled with the near sheer faced rock protrusions. Luckily one had been located partially inside the territory of their dungeon. Mark had elected to build a fortress against it.
Mark took another sip of his coffee before inspecting their defenses. A half circle stone outer wall arced around the two tiered pagoda archer tower that he now stood on. The wall was around ten feet across its entire length and abutted into the cliff face on both sides. While it seemed quite tall, it was not near high enough to protect from the monstrosities that could soon be assailing it.
Of the 35 dungeons that the succession battle had started with, only 8 remained. While at the start of the battle, this wall would have been a near insurmountable obstacle it now was far from sufficient. Of the eight dungeons remaining, only one other was near them. That dungeon was held by Gale Barbary. Which unsurprising meant that of the remaining contenders, she was the dungeon that they knew the most about, and she had both trolls and giants that could probably hurdle right over the wall as it currently was. Not to mention magic and enchanted items that could do who knows what.
According to the seventh month rankings, Gale was still only in fourth place. His and Amelia¡¯s dungeon on the other hand was ranked seventh. Only one away from being last on the list, and that was more likely due to the likelihood of one of the other dungeons being deemed more likely to be taken out before them than being based on their strength.
Amelia was the only contender left from the weakest group of factions, and could be said to have already survived longer than anticipated. Even the medium sized factions only had 2 contenders remaining. Since one of them was ranked eighth, it soon might be only one. The other, Daniel Hale, was actually also doing uncharacteristically well. For the first few rankings he had even led the rankings, although he was now only residing in third place. Likely whatever hype had given voters cause to rank him highly had died out.
Now two of the pre battle favorites held first and second place, Nick Holt and Leonard Boulevic. Nick Holt was from one of the richest families in the realm and Leonard was from a republic that consistently put all their eggs in one basket to support one of their contenders to victory, and support really mattered. Sponsors could send sponsorship packages, each of which could equate to about a day¡¯s worth of a dungeon¡¯s production. While the sponsorship feature had not been available initially, once the first dungeon had advanced to level 2 the feature had been unlocked. Dungeons became able to open one of their support packages a week. More than a month ago, one of the dungeons had hit level 3. Now each dungeon could open up to three a week.
Each sponsorship package was ranked 1 through 5 could be purchased with the cost to sponsors increasing exorbitantly. The major faction contenders would of course be getting a lot of packages, contenders like Amelia on the other hand were not expected to make it far in the first place due to features like this. It meant that most contenders from a minor faction received little or no support.
In the first five months, they had only received one, and that had been a rank 1 package that would not even be able to affect the outcome of the battle. A hot tub that had been sent to them¡ for who knows what reason. Mark did not want to think about it. However, since they had taken out a second dungeon some support had trickled in. Investors deciding that a sponsorship despite the cost might be made up for in advertising. Still the best of the packages they had received over the last month were at the third rank or below and it would only take two weeks to blow through the five packages whenever Mark decided to open them.
The fact that they were at a major disadvantage during this succession battle had still yet to really rear its ugly head. Since so far they had really yet to go against any of the powerhouses of the battle. Gale was likely extremely strong, but luckily for them her strategy had been to seclude herself and build her strength through the early part of the game. It had allowed the other dungeons in the region to deal with each other, eventually leading to Amelia and him coming out on top. While it had been fortunate for them up to this point, eventually it would work against them.
From what they had gathered, Gale had been among the first to level up her dungeon to level three. She also had two tier two unit branches unlocked compared to them having opened none of them. Not to mention the fortress that she was building herself in the middle of a swamp. The outer walls of which were three times the comparatively puny wall they had currently erected. On top of an army having to approach through water and muk, taking her off the map seemed like it would be virtually impossible.
Still weaker contenders had their own way to compete. The interface that ran the succession battle was robust. Different types of units, unit upgrades, research, crafting¡ The possible routes that the dungeons had available to grow their strength was practically infinite. While Mark had considered it unfortunate at first, Amelia had made several decisions that had defined their course prior to summoning him as her champion. She had chosen the dungeon specialization social interaction, which allowed for them to negotiate with the neutral factions or natives on the map.
Mark had been entirely frustrated with her decision. That decision was compounded with her choosing to unlock the cheapest branch on the humanoid unit tree, starting them out with goblins. The goblins were not strong fighters, nor were they very intelligent. Seemingly the only advantage they had was how cheap the goblin unit types were.
Seven months later, Mark could only admit to himself that they likely would not have made it as far if the decision had been left to him. From the other examples Amelia had been able to recount, Mark would have most definitely chosen something else. However with hindsight, the specialization had given them several edges that gave them a fighting chance, and even her pick of the goblins had been mitigated later on once they had obtained named units and other unit branches.
Currently, they had five named units outside of their dungeon. Nasel was the first of them. The yellow hobgoblin was relatively weaker, only having a power rating of 1.6, but since Mark basically used him as an administrator to keep the other goblins in line it hardly mattered. Then there were the two scouts Lewis and Clark. Also yellow hobgoblins, the two despite being on the weaker side had survived dozens of scouting missions earning their names. Which was a good thing since they had already died several times since.
Named units could be respawned. It was based on their power rating, meaning two weeks for the three weaker named units. The two scouts were currently awaiting respawn after being killed by some of the number one contender¡¯s undead army to the south of them. Three weeks prior they had been killed by the third ranked contender¡¯s beasts. It was unfortunate, but they had uncovered almost the entire western side or nearly a third of the endless bluff map.
The best of the named units was Henry the Relentless. A bugbear, named after a butler of the Cromwell family, who Amelia had been quite fond of. The bugbear had earned himself the Relentless title in their last assault on Mareth¡¯s construct dungeon. The bugbear commander had fought the odds and been instrumental in their victory, and now was the general of their forces. Bugbear¡¯s had a base power rating of 2.2, but Henry was all the way up to 10.6. Over the last month since the battle, he had gotten far more powerful.
The relentless title had boosted his stats and given him the Jolt ability. On top of that they had been able to promote him from a colonel to general, and now being at an expert experience level the bugbear general was now almost twice as strong as he had been when the battle began. The power rating increase was not the only boost. The bugbear had also picked up the other three basic skills over the last month, making him a real powerhouse.
The only downside was that the bugbear was smaller in stature than some of the larger units out there. A six foot something humanoid with a power rating of 10 might have his work cut out for him to deal with something much bigger with even half the power rating. Still Mark had not seen the new and improved bugbear in battle. Perhaps with the four skills and the electric jolt ability he might be able to go toe to toe with the best other dungeons had to offer.
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The other goblins comprising their forces were far below Henry in strength. It was hard to get any even into the 4¡¯s power rating wise. Luckily, they had some other unit branches that they had been granted by the interface. Both had come from a special feature gained by having a research lab expertly crafted by the gnomes, Amelia¡¯s choice of social interaction had allowed them.
The second branch they had obtained were the creepy crawlies. Bugs and arachnids that had brought some much needed strength and versatility to their forces. Thanks to them, Mark had been able to conquer their first dungeon. They had been able to choose the thrasher bear as their unique reward, which had also unlocked the humanoid-beast cross bugbear units who had become their elite fighters.
The third branch they had been given was the flower branch from the plant tree. The plants were surprisingly incredibly powerful. Mark was currently using them as their main defensive force. Mark glanced down. Fifty sunflowers were interspaced across the hillside. The fifteen foot tall plants would be able to blast enemies with their magic and special sunburst ability from behind the wall. Then there were the 40 bloodrose units that would be able to act as a second line of defense if the outer wall fell. The forty units could form a literal hedge of brambles when next to each other. In support were a handful of midnight lotuses which boosted all nearby plant units with their malevolent aura. They had also been given the health germination route that would allow them to heal the other plants.
The best thing about the two branches was that they had been given to them for free. Finding unique locations had been the only requirement of the research lab special feature. However, obtaining them did have its downsides. While the three different unit branches offered a lot of unique capabilities, having them had prevented them from unlocking a higher tier branch since the cost of successive branches increased for every one you already had. Most dungeons would likely be hard pressed to get more than three or four. The diverse branch types also all had their own unique upgrade routes, which meant Mark would have to expend more of their precious MP to make each of the different types stronger.
Luckily, the unique reward they had obtained for defeating their second dungeon had given them a way to avoid having to unlock some of the upgrades. The gymnasium building, Mark and Amelia had chosen would allow them to train up to 10 units to obtain skills. Once their dungeon level had hit level 2, they had been able to unlock 4 different basic skills. Of course to maintain battle balance they would have had to unlock successive slots to be able to attach multiple skills to units.
The second slot to allow a unit to have 2 skills already cost 100,000 MP. The third and fourth would have cost many times more. It would likely have been another half to a full year before Mark would be able to get to unlocking them. Now he likely never would. They could only train 10 units at a time, but the units could gain a new skill each week they spent in their training. Henry and nine of the other surviving bugbears had been the first to be sent through. Being able to use all four skills made them even more of powerhouses. The gymnasium could only be used for the humanoid units, the same as their barracks, but there were other solutions for the other unit types.
Mark glanced at the greenhouse. It was still cast in shadow this early in the morning. In the shadow of the plateau it would likely be several hours into the morning before the sun would glint off of the glass the building was made out of. Like the gymnasium the greenhouse could only house 10 plants at a time. Each week spent in the greenhouse would give a plant a 10% boost to their power rating. Plant type units did not have experience levels, nor could they have skills or classes. Each week they spent in the greenhouse made them bigger and stronger, adding a dash in the row below their name if they were analyzed with the interface.
Right now, Mark had 10 sunflowers with four dashes working on their fifth dash. Battle balance made it likely there would be an upper limit to how strong the greenhouse could make the plants, but apparently they would be able to get at least a 50% boost from the building. It was a slow power up method, but every little bit might matter when they were disadvantaged in many other aspects.
Mark had not built a beast specific building yet. The creepy crawlies also could not have classes or skills. They had bloodline evolutions, which Mark had unlocked to the fourth rank.
The barracks complimented the gymnasium allowing them to increase unit experience levels up to regular giving units a 10% power rating boost as well as allowing them to train their classes. It allowed them to save MP, or allowed them to advance previously summoned units. It was basically the only way to power up Henry at this point, unless they got another skill. Since they could send 50 units at a time through each side of the barracks it was a real force multiplier.
As far as getting more skills, there was a solution to that in the research laboratory. The research building had been the first building Mark had commissioned the gnomes to build. After two additions, they could not have six research focuses. Although they currently only had five since the last lab room was being used by the Ezekial, the special unit they had received after completing the research lab.
The projects they had researched was the source of their dungeon¡¯s strength, namely the enchantment focus. In addition they had the specialized class focus, Pharmacology, Essence, and Embuing. The last two were the most difficult subjects so progress was slow, but they also promised a big payout. For the Embuing focus they still had not completed a project, but that would not be the case very soon. The essence focus had several projects completed. For the pharmacology focus they had completed a handful of projects, but there would not be any more.
Mark had pushed for the last remaining projects to be completed, so they could then swap the focus to researching skills to make use of their new gymnasium. He could not afford to give up the enchantment, essence, embuing, or specialized class focuses, so Pharmacology was the only option. Pharmacology had delivered everything Mark felt they needed from it. Still pharmacology had finished on a high note, with its last three projects being potentially its best.
The stamina potions would allow their troops to continue on through prolonged battles. The soldier pills would similarly keep their units going in another way. Units would have their physical aspects boosted to a degree. Their stamina would recover quickly and their wounds would bleed less. It was something akin to a berserking pill.
The final project was not something that would really be effective in battle, however it was not something to be looked down upon. The enlightenment pill would boost mental acumen by a large degree. One of the things that had limited their ability to get equipment, pills, or potions to higher quality levels was the physical limits on crafters or brewers. The enlightenment pill promised to push those limits. While the project had only been complete for a few days, Mark was eager to make some. Unfortunately, they had to wait on some more ingredients to be brought in. Luckily, scouts had already located the various ingredients. Mark only needed to be patient until they brought them back.
The enchantment projects put into practice with their crafting house had been the two features that had allowed their forces to be victorious or fight off enemies. The enchanted gear and weapons had been the only advantage they had over their enemies. It was what allowed the relatively weaker goblins to compete.
Other than the tent city where the gnome workers lived, there were only two other structures. The magic mine and the forge. The mine allowed them to gather resources from seemingly an alternate dimension. They just had to be dug out. Metals that would allow them to utilize their forge, but also some other special resources such as the electric essence could be pulled from there.
Another benefit of Amelia having chosen the social interaction specialization, they now had hundreds of kobolds in the mine working on top of the 300 goblin mining division. The kobolds were contracted to produce five stone blocks a head every day, on top of turning over a portion of the other resources collected. Without them, the wall would maybe be a third of its current height. The deal alone was worth it for the produced stones and the pile of basic metals the kobolds continually brought forth. Getting what little of the allotted better resources they were supposed to get was a bonus. Overall, they did not lose out on anything since the goblins mined the other sides of the mine.
It was not the only advantage their relationship with the kobolds had brought. Their third resource settlement had been shown to them by the reptilian humanoids. Then there was the fact that they had found an underground route that had allowed Mark to put an army in Mareth¡¯s territory before the other contender could make any countermeasures. Thanks to that, conquering their second dungeon had proceeded far easier than it likely would have otherwise.
Mark turned open hearing the ¡®clump¡¯ after ¡®clump,¡¯ of someone climbing the ladder to the second level. Soon Amelia¡¯s head appeared from below. Seconds later the rest of her emerged. The girl was on the shorter side. The pajama bottoms she still wore bunched up at her ankles and the sweater top had just as many folds on her smaller frames. Together with the youthful face, she looked almost like a little girl who had put on her mothers clothes. Although Mark knew she was quite a bit older than she appeared.
In fact, she was a bit older than him. The difference was that she had grown up in a higher dimension. In the arcadian realm, humans could live several centuries before they died of old age. It was one of the factors Mark attributed for why she seemed younger than she was. Being able to live so long, humans of the Arcadian realm did not seem as driven to develop emotionally or in other words grow up as quickly. There was not as much of a push to become independent, get a job, get married, all so that you could have kids before you became physically incapable of doing so.
The second factor was a little darker. Mark had not been explicitly told so, but from various statements and talks they had over the months he had gleaned that she did not have a high standing with her family. The society in the Arcadian realm seemed to be more clan-like. It was hard for an individual to live independently. Amelia had been a part of the top family in Altaire, but her mother had not been her father¡¯s wife. She might be from a top family, but she was an unwanted part of it.
Neither the Cromwell family or Altair anticipated their candidate being able to win the succession battle, so they normally prepared someone disposable to take part. Someone else had been slated to fill the role. They had been trained and prepped for years, so they would not make a fool of the family. The throw away had decided to run off just prior, resulting in Amelia filling that role for the family and Altair faction. Since she was grossly unprepared, it was apparent the family had intended her to be some endearing sacrifice. Without his help and some good fortune, she likely would have.
Things had been a little shaky between them at first, but the girl had eventually come around. She was actually the best they had at crafting since it required an artistic touch in manipulating one¡¯s manna input, something he was more lacking in. However she was far from capable of making decisions under pressure and high levels of strategy. Kind of funny since the winning contender would be the ruler of the realm.
A faint smile touched Mark¡¯s lips at the thought. She would be far from equipped to handle such a role, but then a ruler just needed capable people under them. For this battle, it was him. There had been indicative statements the girl had made that it would also be his role should they somehow win. Mark would never be able to go back to Earth, so apparently his choices were either death in the succession battle or to serve Amelia as the queen. It would be difficult for him to manage in the higher realm without any support, so it was not as if he could go off on his own.
Moments after she appeared a small platter of food appeared on one of the tables. Mark grimmaced. The amount and quality probably meant she had just spent around 100 MP. She gave a knowing smirk in reply. Mark rolled his eyes. He supposed it was a special occasion. Today they would be leveling up their dungeon to level 3. It was still some hours out¡Well another couple minutes now that she had spent so much MP for breakfast.
Chapter 58: Day 205
Mark pulled up the interface. The homepage shared the current status of their resources. They had just shy of a million MP. In another couple hours that would not be the case and they would have enough to unlock dungeon level 3. Mark moved on.
They currently were sitting at 28 DP. They earned 4 a day, and could use them for any dungeon purchases such as buildings, terrain alteration, and building their dungeon proper. They had pretty much used them almost exclusively for the latter except for the few times that Mark had been forced to pay the penalty to convert DP to MP for an emergency. The dungeon proper was expensive enough. Each new floor now cost 100 DP. Mark had just unlocked the seventh floor.
Now that level 3 dungeons were coming on line, their dungeon would need to beef up. Dungeons could be attacked in two ways. Either a force could take over the surface of their dungeon and send their forces through the actual entrance, or they could send adventurers through the alternate entrances that had popped up throughout the map. Level 3 dungeons meant more numerous and stronger adventurer parties would soon be on the way. After dungeons reached level 2 there had been a literal culling through this method.
Building the seventh floor was a necessary step to ensure their continued existence in the battle. Each new floor opened an alternate entrance, but it was hardly a concern at this point in time. After the first dungeon had hit level 3 an in game chat feature had been unlocked. The new chat feature would allow dungeons to chat and potentially make alliances with one another.
Not much had come with it as of yet. Since dungeons were all working on leveling up or working to unlock the level 3 techs to increase their production things were relatively quiet. Still Mark knew most dungeons already had access to one of their alternate entrances. To establish a connection many had sent a single weak unit through. Mark could now chat it up with five of the other opponents, not that he did, but the option was at least available.
Mark glanced at Amelia. Her dazed expression hinted that she also had her interface open. From her slack jawed smile, he could tell she was currently chatting it up with someone. There were only two likely candidates. One was Cynthia, their representative for sponsorships. Amelia had banned Mark from that chat since Cynthia mainly seemed to be giving the girl advice on what to do to make them more appealing for sponsorships from viewers. From what he could see, their representative seemed to be working some sort of young love angle. Amelia had started acting more cutesy and touchy since the feature became available.
It was not really as nice as it might sound. For one the girl was pretending. Second, nothing could actually come of it. In battle romance was prevented. How Mark did not really know? But it was not like he would attempt it regardless. For one, it would feel like he was on some sort of reality tv dating show if he did, since potentially millions of viewers could be watching at any moment.
The second candidate for who Amelia might currently be chatting with was Avery Kingston. She was currently sitting fifth in the rankings. Avery was apparently a well known model princess in the Arcadian realm. Amelia had even been a fan of hers. Now the two were in-battle besties. The relationship had an expiration date since only one contender would leave the battle alive, however the two apparently appreciated the outlet.
The relationship did have some merit in the meantime. First, Amelia had gleaned that Avery had been among a cluster of dungeons to the Northwest. It was the final piece of the puzzle that Mark had needed to determine how dungeons had been situated on the map. Dungeons had been clustered in groups of 7 in five different locations. Now Mark knew at least the general area where all of the dungeons were located.
Gale Barbary and them were in the Northwest. Nicholas Holt was in the Southwest. Daniel Hale was in the North. Avery Kingston was in the Northeast. The last two remaining dungeons were to the Southeast, one being the 2nd rank from the republic. The relationship also could serve as a vehicle for a potential alliance. The dungeons were far from another, but so were most of the other dungeons at this point.
The distance between dungeons was just one more reason why their dungeon needed to be strengthened since adventuring parties were now the easiest way to attack another dungeon. Level 3 dungeons would likely be able to send 20 units at a time. It might not seem like much, but if they were all, say giants with good equipment it could be a real issue. Twenty might not be enough, but they could send wave after wave. Dungeon defenders did not respawn quick enough to prevent this method from potentially being successful. Only forcing adventurers to move through a lot of floors and powerful defenses, could Mark prevent their dungeon from falling.
For the seventh floor, Mark had decided to go with a different approach. The types of attacks in other dungeons could be extremely diverse, so Mark had elected to attach their 10 level 3 spiritualists as defenders in addition to 15 level 4 bugbear mages. The spiritualists could summon up to 5 power rating worth of spirits times their level, meaning the 10 spiritualists could summon 150 power rating worth of raised spirits to defend the seventh floor. Mark could only ever have 10 spiritualists and the condition of them only being able to raise spirits of units from other dungeons, made their upkeep difficult to continually replace them, so Mark had elected to give their seventh floor the capability instead. Now the 150 power rating worth of spirits that the spiritualists could summon would never have to be replaced, and their dungeon had a unique new defense.
Devoting the other defender spots as mages was only possible thanks to the spawner exchange, Amelia had worked out with Avery. The premise had been simple. They would both send individual units through to each other''s dungeon until they got spawners that they wanted. Finding an alternate entrance to Avery¡¯s dungeon had not been difficult since they had long ago located quite a few of them, although half had disappeared with the falling dungeons. It was not worth much of a sacrifice to send one green goblin through each to identify the owner.
In contrast Avery had also located an alternate entrance for their dungeon. It was a bit of a cheat, but they had also sent in unit¡¯s at the others request until they got the spawners that they desired. It had meant two more for Mark and Amelia, since their fifth floor did not have a spawner. Their seventh could have two. The sixth floor had already received a spawner courtesy from the last attack on their dungeon. The sixth floor spawner gave 20 guardians of the various types that Mareth had last attacked their dungeon with.
There was no question that the exchange had given even more intel on what their dungeon had to offer, but they had also learned what Avery had to offer. She had three branches: the fungus branch, tree branch, and the myconids. As far as Mark knew she was the only user of the plant tree, and the spawners they had gotten had allowed him to focus their defenders as mages.
The first spawner was three treants. The tall humanoid trees were powerful units that had a power rating of 4.1. Avery had apparently unlocked many options on the fourth tier of the germination paths. The treants had a base power rating of 2.9 which was raised by 40% due to 4th tier Bold germination they had been given. The germination increased their strength meaning that they were as strong as anything they Mark had seen.
The second spawner gave 50 Roughwood Myconids. They were actually level 1 units, but had a power rating up to 2.5 due to having a level 3 warrior class that boosted them by 30%. The roughwoods were a strong defensive first tier unit. Together they could effectively form a wall that would slow all but the strongest attackers. They likely would not be killing anything that made it to the seventh floor by themselves, but their numbers, toughness, and size would make them difficult to just bypass. They could delay even powerful tier 2 units allowing the mages time to reduce their enemies to dust.
Similarly, Avery had gotten several different iterations of their midnight scorpion. It had been what she wanted and she had tripled down on them. Putting three different versions of a scorpion spawner on her next floor.
Mark had based the floor off of one of Mareth¡¯s floors. There were three levels, each had an outer wall. Units would have to enter a central stair before being able to turn left or right to climb stairs to the top of the first level. It was repeated for the second and third level. Unfortunately, the fortification had consumed almost all of the floor space Mark was allowed on a level, so the level could be relatively short to get through for units once the defenders were killed.
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It had delayed their progression slightly, but Mark had elected to upgrade their mage class to level 4 for 100,000 MP to strengthen the 15 bugbear mages that he summoned as defenders. The upgrade only gave them another 10% power boost, no new spells, but it was what they could do at that point in time. A 3.3 power rating was not great, but one of the mages was made the floor guardian, giving him an additional point to his power rating. Mark had named him Chewy, a name he had been waiting to give to one of the bugbears for a while now.
The defenders and guardian were relatively weak compared to some of them on the lower floors, but Mark had made the floor with one purpose. To hit enemies with a high level of fire power. Dozens of powerful spirits and mages were the best they could currently manage. The floor most definitely had a slightly different flavor than previous floors. It was important to change things around to keep opponents from easily exploiting any weaknesses.
Mark continued on. They currently only had 5 research points, which was not surprising since it was the same everyday. RP had to be allotted by the end of the day. Over the last month, Mark had allotted their RP to several different things. The third mystic tier germination path had been completed a few days after they had taken Mareth¡¯s dungeon. The next 30 days went to researching the intricate design tech. Mark would decide on what to do with today¡¯s RP after they unlocked dungeon level 3. It was very likely that third level techs would be far too expensive. Mark would rather save up MP to buy most techs, Their RP could still knock out some of the lower unit upgrades in a week or two, but Mark would not afford the several months it would likely take to unlock the expensive techs.
The only other resources their dungeon had was essence. They had a near unlimited supply of toxic essence from a pool of the essence they had discovered early on. The only other source of essence they had plenty of on hand was the electric essence that came from their mine. Every couple of weeks or so a new batch was found, making it another essence they would always have plenty to spend.
Their other sources were a little more limited. The gnomes had stone essence in their village, that Mark could requisition, but much of it was used to make stone containers for their other essence types. They had a little of the first essence they had discovered, but they only got 10% of the life essence the source could produce thanks to a deal they had made with the gnomes to get them out of a bad situation.
The final essence source they had easy access to was a spoil of war. Mareth¡¯s dungeon had literally almost been built on a bubbling spring that produced a near infinite supply of brimstone essence. It was what had given her units the corrosive attacks. Mark had not build another outpost there as of yet. For one it would cost a full day¡¯s worth of production. Second, doing so would draw attention to the source out in the open field. Since it was only a day¡¯s march away, it was simple enough to send expeditions anytime they needed more. Which might now be for a while since they had not found a way to use it yet.
Mark shifted to the unit page. He sifted through the list. It took less than a minute to ensure that none of their units had died through the night. Occasionally it would happen where a scouting team was wiped out. At the home base, Mark had a 300 goblin mining division, a 300 goblin archery division, and 150 goblins that had survived the attack on Mareth¡¯s dungeon. They were currently helping mine and build the wall, but they would be a part of the army whenever Mark got around to building one. Other than that there were just a hundred flower units at the home base.
The underground outpost was the weakest. It only had five scorpions stationed to defend it. It was nestled deep underground so it was unlikely that another dungeon would actually ever find it. Without the kobolds help they would never have found the coal mine source. Mark would likely never upgrade the outpost to a settlement since he saw little reason to do so.
The other outpost had a small contingent of goblins for protection, but since it was on a former dungeon contender site to the Northwest of the map, it was well out of the way. However, the five mounds of coal at Crassius¡¯ old dungeon site would soon run out. They had another 20 days, but Mark¡¯s calculation before the initial 200 day supply ran out. It meant that they needed new sites to mine coal from in the next couple of months. Mark also anticipated there being another tech that would allow them to have four MP collecting sites at once.
They could always go back to mining the 3 coal mounds at their home base, but Mark was hoping to find a more plentiful source. They had found other sources with 4 or five mounds quite easily after all. However even they could not compete with the 7 or 8 mounds the underground outpost and garden sanctuary offered.
The garden sanctuary was their only other settlement and was quickly becoming a second base. The unique location had been discovered months ago by the frogmen under their control. It had given them the flower unit branch, but also offered a large cavern with 7 coal mounds. The cavern had been a picturesque site with sunlight streaming through an opening on its roof allowing sunlight to spill down on the sanctuary. The sanctuary even offered a vitality bonus to units that dwelt within.
After months of settlement, the cavern''s beauty was long gone. The goblins had built a shoddy barracks, crafting house and were currently building a wall to span the ground entrance. Mark had also moved the manna bellows, manna pumps, and the frogmen hatchery to the more centralized settlement.
The settlement was manned by a division of goblins, but also was practically at capacity for the tadpole and pollywogs the hatchery could spawn. The frogmen units were not overly strong, but they were extremely effective in the water. Which was a good thing since the entrance to the cavern was on the edge of a swamp. They were too slow overland, but now that they were near capacity Mark was using them to map out the rivers that fed into the swamp from the north. It was possible that he could find a water route to Daniel Hale and Avery Kingston¡¯s dungeons. It was even possible some of the other rivers would lead down to the southeast for those two dungeons. Only Nick Holt¡¯s dungeon to the South of them was for sure not accessible by water since his dungeon was in a desert.
Mark continued through the interface tabs. Other than the pharmacology projects they had completed the beast handler class. It fell under the mounted class which Mark had only unlocked the first level. Mark had pictured a calvary early on, but early in-game limits had kept him from realizing it appropriately. The beast handler would be a more effective means of managing the cockroach units versus riders. The ants were too slow and small to be effective. The top first tier spiders were the best option so far.
Level 2 had only added the scorpion and the beast-humanoid cross unit arachne. The scorpion was strong but also slow, and the arachne¡¯s was aggressive even to friendlies. Not to mention the arachnes were actually considered a humanoid as far as upgrades went so a rider would not get any bonus anyways.
There was only one additional option. The thrash bear they had chosen as a reward to get the bugbears. The thrash bear only had a 1.2 power rating so was not overly impressive. Mark had not really used the unit yet, but that would soon change with the beast handler class. A group of the bears could be managed effectively. The only issue was their low power rating, they would only be good to take on weaker enemies. Hopefully they would get more options once they unlocked the level 3 dungeon.
The hardening essence project had been completed a couple days ago. For the last few days, Mark had spent much of his time figuring out uses for the project. Stone essence could now be used to strengthen weaker materials. It would not work on metal weapons or armor, but it could strengthen arrow shafts or other enchanted gear allowing lower quality materials to potentially hold higher level enchantments. They had been stuck at the good quality threshold for the most part.
There had been only one exception. They occasionally found pockets of base essence that allowed them to get up to exceptional quality enchantments which had doubled the effects given by good quality enchantments, but there had been more than one occasion where wooden shafts had blown up in the inscriber¡¯s face. The basic wood material was pushed to its limit to hold the exceptional quality enchantments. Now with the hardening project complete Amelia had even been able to start getting exceptional quality enchantments without the base essence. When they found another batch of base essence, there was a chance she could even shoot for the masterwork or artifact quality levels.
The application Mark was currently working on was strengthening a structure. He would have to wait till the wall was complete, but reinforcing them was on the docket. For now, he was working to strengthen the tower in which he now stood. During the last attack it had exploded far too easily. It only took a day to respawn, but the explosion had taken out the entire archery division which had caused the surface of their dungeon to fall far more easily.
Mark was tackling this job, with the new basic manna embuing project that was on its final stages at 98%. Being able to store a large amount of energy would allow him to give the tower one more crucial defense. They had completed the energy shield enchantment project months ago, but it required too much energy to use it effectively.
They had made a few shields that units could force their manna into the enchantment to use, but even mages would not be able to power an energy shield for long. Even if they could it would render the mages useless since they would run out of manna defending themselves in a matter of seconds.
There were plenty of other projects in work, but Mark only gave them a precursor glance. There was the thunderstrike spell essence project which was nearly complete. It would give mages one more spell to use. Toxin embuing and the witch doctor specialized class both sounded interesting, but they were a little further out.
Mark skipped over the unit upgrade tab since it did not change that often and he practically had them memorized. They had a handful of class upgrades up to level 4. Beast bloodline was up to level 4, and most of the germination paths were level 2 or level 3.
Mark glanced back at the home screen. He sighed still an hour to go.
Chapter 59: Day 205
¡°So, how is Avery¡?¡± Mark asked, trying to engage the only other person he got to talk to these days.
¡°Oh, same same, she is just dealing with Derrick, he wiped out one of her outposts with a gargoyle army, and she did the same with her treants to one of his. He¡¯s a bad match up for her, especially when he brings out the level 2 gargoyles. The only good counter she has are her treants, and they can¡¯t be everywhere at once. Because of having to constantly deal with each other she keeps having to dip into her savings for level 3,¡± Amelia sighed for her friend''s plight.
¡°You know, you guys probably shouldn¡¯t be getting that far into details with each other, right?¡± Mark posed. Amelia mouthed the word ¡®okay,¡¯ and rolled her eyes. ¡°There is a saying from my world, ¡®loose lips sink ships.¡¯ Means giving too much information through casual conversation and other things¡¡±
Amelia once again mouthed the words ¡®O my god.¡¯ Her eyes once again took on the distant look as she went back to messaging Avery. It was not the first time they had had this conversation. Before he had gotten answers like ¡®I¡¯m being careful¡¯ or ¡®we are learning just as much about her and her dungeon. Get off my case.¡¯
¡°Surprised, you haven¡¯t tried chatting up our good neighbor in the swamp?¡± Mark asked questionably. I think other than Avery she is the only other female contender still in the battle.
¡°Oh, I sent out a feeler several weeks ago, but she is way too boring¡¡± Amelia remarked casually. Mark gave her a fake smile. He was restricted from the chats, so he had no idea what the girl was up to. She had tried to chat up their nearest neighbor¡? Avery was one thing, she was on the other side of the map. Gale on the other hand could have an army on their doorstep by the end of the day. Hopefully she had not told her anything useful.
¡°I didn¡¯t tell her anything. I tried to get things started with her, but she is far too adult like you know what I mean. She seems like she would be zero fun, sure you two would get along alright though,¡± Amelia purposely glanced Mark up and down.
Was she saying he wasn¡¯t fun to be around¡?
¡°Anyway, who else are you talking to?¡± Mark said after a minute.
¡°Uh, no one really. Daniel Hale seems like he would be alright. Nick Holt is a spoiled rich kid. Obviously not going to talk to Derrick, and we don¡¯t have access to the other two yet. Not that I would want to talk to either of them. Avery says that they both suck.¡±
Mark nodded along. As much as he did not like her giving out their information, Avery had been a great source of intel. They knew specifics about several of the other dungeons thanks to her. Derrick Blackwell, the other dungeon in the Northeast, was supposedly the last construct dungeon on the map. After dealing with Mareth for so long, he could sympathize with how hard dealing with a construct army could be. Assuming Derrick got taken out, there would only be two undead dungeons, two other humanoid dungeons, Daniel Hale¡¯s beast dungeon, and Avery¡¯s plant dungeon left for them to contend with.
Avery had fed specifics on them all. Of course the information had been a two way street. Avery knew more about their dungeon than he would care for her too, and she had gotten a full scoop on Gale. Amelia and him were kept almost constantly apprised of what went on with Gale, thanks to the harpies to the north. They would not venture far enough to give info on the other dungeons, but they got daily reports on Gale. They would also likely be made aware of any armies headed this way.
Avery was soon re embroiled in her interface. Mark could only shake his head. She was getting almost as bad as a teenage girl with a cell phone. Luckily she would still set aside a good portion of time to craft every day, but Mark was starting to wonder if that was just so that she had something to brag about. Avery Kingston would undoubtedly have a good idea on their capabilities if and when the two of them were required to face off against each other. Mark only hoped that Amelia had just as good idea of their opponent¡¯s capabilities.
Mark sat around just relaxing and snacking as they waited. The settlement came alive. The goblins started ferrying stones to the wall and construction resumed. A half hour later the gnomes had joined the effort. More deposits of metal were brought to the front of the mine. It was kept in a front room of the mine to protect from the elements. Only a little was brought outside to the forge each day, but the piles of various types of metals were getting bigger by the day. Soon Mark would need to expand the forge if he wanted to keep up with the volumes of raw ore that were piling up. It would likely be more of a concern for when they were able to increase their metal working capabilities.
A harpy landed near the animal pens. Minutes later the harpy departed, a squawking hen clutched by one of her taloned feet. It was probably a morning report on Gale. Probably nothing really of note, but a chicken was a small price to pay to keep the information channels open. They now continually made an effort to pass by the dungeon throughout the day and hopefully immediately notice when something of note actually occurred.
The goblins were not too pleased with the exchange, but as long as their moral was kept in the content range, he could not care how they felt about things. Low morale could cause units to disband and abandon their posts. It really would only happen if the units were not well taken care of. The occasional ale or meat, however small, supplemented the foraging and meager rations he actually paid to keep them going.
Mark perked up when his most recent check on the interface showed that it would only be a couple more minutes. He waved to grab Amelia¡¯s attention. She practically skipped over to join him.
¡°Avery was about to get her daily massage anyways,¡± Amelia remarked plopping down by him. ¡°I¡¯m so jealous. Her assistant Mckayla does massages, acupuncture, aromatherapy you name it. The girl is literally living her best life over there. Meanwhile I¡ should have added a couple more stipulations before I summoned my champion. She said the last part under her breath.
Mark still caught it. When summoning her champion, Amelia had been able to put in a sort of wish list and the interface did its best to pick a good candidate with those traits. What she had said to get him¡ He had no idea, but apparently she now wished she had added a few things. More often then not it seemed she wanted qualities that would make her life more pleasant than having to do with actual strategy.
Mark sighed pulling up his interface as big as he could in front of them. He shared it so that Amelia and him could go through the changes together. Seconds after their MP total hit 1 million, Mark clicked the button to upgrade their dungeon to level 3. Nothing changed, except the information on their screens.
[Notice: Dungeon has been upgraded to level 3. New features are available.]
There were not too many changes on the home page. Three hashes now delineated them as a level three dungeon. The upgrade tab changed to dungeon level 4, and now had a 3 million MP cost. Their daily DP had been increased from 4 to 6, and RP had been increased from 5 to 8. The 2 and 3 point jumps alone would be a significant boost to their dungeon progression. Things were getting far more expensive, so the extra DP and RP would cut costs for upgrades significantly.
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However, Mark did not focus on the increase for long. Both he and Amelia were far more eager to see the other benefits level 3 brought, Mark cycled to the tech tab. Level 3 only had six technologies.
| Tier 3 Research |
Cost to Unlock |
| Magic Energy Production III |
1,000,000 MP |
| Dungeon Features III |
1,000,000 MP |
| Advanced Metallurgy |
1,500,000 MP |
| Higher level Learning |
1,500,000 MP |
| Gun Powder |
2,000,000 MP |
| Settlements III |
2,000,000 MP |
Only two of the techs were a real surprise. Higher learning? What could that offer? But the real eye opener was the black powder. Was the tech really offering gunpowder? Were they going to potentially have guns?
Mark tried to dismiss the idea. If there were guns they would likely be only at the level of muskets. Long reload times and other issues to maintain the game balance. But then the brimstone essence they had access to came to mind. Mark did not really know how to make gunpowder, but he at least knew that sulfur was one of the key components. His jaw dropped at the idea.
¡°What?¡± Amelia questioned.
¡°Nothing,¡± Mark replied, moving on. There was no reason to get her all excited. It was a faint possibility, and likely quite a bit further in the future. At the very least they would have to get magic production and settlement III first since they would increase the daily production. With the high costs of each of them, getting any one of the techs would take another month.
Mark moved on shifting to the units page. It was what Amelia and him were most excited to see. Mark has spent the last month praying for at least one level 3 unit. The goblin branch had tapped out at level 1, although there had been a combination humanoid-creepy crawly option. However both Amelia and him held out hope for their other two branches. They had gambled a bit moving onto level 3 without snagging a new level 2 branch. Trolls or giants would be a great addition, but Mark was also hesitant to fall behind Gale by another two weeks. She was already a month and a half ahead.
Mark let out a sigh of relief when he saw that there were four new units. There were two new creepy crawlers and two plant combinations. Of course Mark¡¯s attention immediately went to the creepy crawler options. The first was the Black funnel web spider which was the weaker of the two from the branch with a power rating of 3.2. It had a cost of 85,000 to unlock. The second more powerful unit was the carnivorous centipede and had a power rating of 3.8. It cost 132,000 MP to unlock. It was by far the most powerful of their new unit options.
The last two units were two different versions of the same combination unit. A Knotted spore spider with a power level of 3.0, and gnarled wood goblin. They both cost 70,000 MP to unlock. Interestingly enough the combinations came with a prompt.
[Topiary combination: Every dungeon that opened a branch from the plant tree and a branch from any other tree will get a topiary combination unit reflecting the standard for that branch. Units will follow the unit upgrade path for the other branch. You have unlocked two other types of branches, so will get a topiary combination for both branches.]
¡°Someone has a weird hobby,¡± Amelia remarked.
Mark nodded in agreement. He was happy to get two more units, but Topiary, which Mark could only assume was the art where people shaped hedges into the shape of an animal or an object, was a weird inclusion into the battle.
¡°Oooooooo, I wonder if Avery will get one,¡± Amelia exclaimed her mind already having moved on. Her eyes glazed over. She was likely informing Avery right away.
Mark¡¯s hand went up reflexively to stop her. Then he thought over it. The myconids were already a sort of cross branch between plants and humanoids, but they did fall under the humanoid category. It was very likely that Avery would get one as well. Mark chuckled at the thought that the resulting combination figure would basically be doubling down on the plant aspect.
Then the thrash bear came to mind. ¡°Damn,¡± it was a shame the combinations had been extended to branches. A wooden bear would have been nice to get, however it was just a stray thought. Overall he was quite pleased with the four options that they had. The centipede alone was going to be a real powerhouse. With only the level 4 beastline upgrade they currently had, they could build a giant centipede with a power rating of 5.3. If they unlocked the fifth bloodline it would jump up to 5.7. He could just picture a swirling army of legged centipedes crawling through someone¡¯s dungeon. Then it occurred to him.
Mark checked the units they currently had. The capacity of each unit had been extended. The level 1 units all now had a capacity of 750. They would literally be able to summon 3,000 green goblins alone. The level 2 unit capacities were now at 250. Going off of that, Mark could only conclude that the level 3 units would have a capacity of only 100. It meant he would only be able to build 26 of the centipedes and around 30 of the weaker level 3¡¯s. It was a bit disappointing, but since Gale had like four new different varieties of giants and several level 3 types of trolls they were probably better off for having the balance the battle creators had imposed.
Mark also noticed that there were no new unit humanoid branches. They would not be able to unlock any additional level 3 units. He had held out some hope that there would be a new level 3 branch, but he supposed he should have known better. He could not imagine humanoid unit types that would surpass giants or trolls.
Mark¡¯s musings were interrupted by Amelia exclaiming, ¡°On no.¡± Mark shifted his eyes to the girl. ¡°Oh, its not too big of a deal. Avery said that apparently Daniel Hale has the tree branch opened as well, so he should get one of those topiary combinations,¡± she explained.
Mark frowned at the news. Daniel Hale getting a level 3 topiary combination was not to bad in and of itself. The fact that he had the tree branch was far worse. It would likely mitigate some of the disadvantages of having mainly beast units. Mark had always wondered what an all beast dungeon would look like, but now it appeared they would never know. Their own creepy crawly units were not the easiest to control for precise instructions. They only excelled through use of brute force. Not to mention he likely had multiple beast branches open. Would he get a topiary for each¡?
Mark supposed it did not matter. It was what it was. Except for when their scouts Lewis and Clark had been ambushed by some of the dungeon¡¯s beasts, they had not had any interactions with the beast dungeon. There were closer alligators to the boat as far as he was concerned.
Gale was a close nestled threat, but she had not made any moves. More worrisome was the undead threat from the number one contender from the South. Mr. Holt already had made a settlement at the halfway point between his dungeon and theirs. A volcano that evidently gave out some sort of fire essence. On top of that there were six mounds of coal making it a great resource base. Unfortunately, the number one had already snagged it.
Mark could not help but have a bit of a suspicious feeling when he thought about it. Mareth had showcased some sort of fire type essence. The fact that the rock golems looked like they were filled with molten lava, made Mark think that they had found the likely source of the essence. Except now it was owned by someone far more dangerous.
Mark scanned through the other tabs. He did not see anything new. Apparently when the upgrade notice had said new features were available it had not been so literal, or perhaps the new units and techs were considered additional features. Or maybe it was pointing back at the chat feature which had been made available to everyone whenever the first person had reached the threshold.
Mark only had one thing to do before he swiped the interface away. He allotted their research points to unlock one of their cheaper level 3 unit options. It would take a couple weeks, but it was not as if he would be able to spend MP for the next month and a half. It would take another 40ish days before they had enough MP to unlock Magical energy production III. Increasing their daily production was the obvious first step.
The next month and a half would be similar to the last month. They would add to their ever growing stockpile of enchantments, potions, and pills. Many of the other dungeons were likely doing the exact same thing, meaning in another 2 or 3 months every dungeon would have a lot of resources to burn through. When the blows did come, they would hit far harder than anything they had seen before.
Chapter 60: Day 212
The next major event took place only a few days after they made the move to level 3.
[Notice: Contenders cannot control another dungeon like a puppeteer patch. Dungeons cannot hold other dungeons core¡¯s hostage.]
It was only the third patch of the battle. The first that had not been directed at them. Of course moments after the patch notice, there was a second notice.
[Notice: Contender, Avench Guiseppe, has been eliminated by another contender. Contender has been given a unique reward. Contenders remaining 7/35]
Leonard Boulevic, from the Republic of Neurim, became the sole dungeon remaining in the Southeast, and now only 20% of the original contenders remained. Apparently the guy had conquered the dungeon, but instead of destroying the core he had decided to try and force the dungeon to become subservient or the core would be destroyed. It was a devious and good idea. Units could come up from the lowest floor, but could not be summoned to the core room directly. Without the patch, Leonard would have been able to coerce compliance. Of course the other contender would be dealt with eventually anyways, but many would be willing to play along for no other reason than to live a bit longer.
Mark could only be thankful the tactic had not been allowed. The number 2 already had every advantage. If it was a lesser loophole, the battle managers might have allowed it, since Leonard was a contender from a major power. It would have tipped the scales too heavily. One dungeon doubling up on production would be almost impossible to deal with. The other major factions with a horse still in the race would never let such a thing pass.
The only good news over the developments over the last few months was that it was highly likely that neither of the top two contenders had been able to save enough MP to level up their dungeons since their resources had been moving towards conquering the other dungeons in their region. However, at best it only put the two a bit behind. It also meant that they had both collected a handful of unique rewards. However it also meant that now, the two had nothing standing in their way.
Mark dismissed the notices. Whether they were level 3 or not, it did not change the fact that Mark needed to eek out every advantage that he could. Despite having to save up as much MP as possible there was plenty for them to do. He redoubled his focus on his brewing. He was making the first enlightenment pills. Like the rest, the process would last for around two hours, and much of the time he just had to stand by till a more complex part of the process occurred.
After hundreds of rock skin pills he had become quite proficient in pill creation. The new enlightenment pill and soldier pill had differences from the rock skin pill, but without a essence as one of the ingredients they were actually easier. It was like he had been thrown into the deep end in order to learn to swim, now the shallow water would not offer much of a problem.
His first soldier pill had even been of average quality. It had only taken a handful to perfect the process where he could get a good quality every time. The higher qualities were still beyond him. The higher quality levels required rarer ingredients. Mark had attempted a couple of times, but the process had been more difficult so he had winded up with a lower quality anyways.
Higher level pill and potion making processes were just too intensive. Hopefully, the enlightenment pill would change that. It was a bit odd spending time to make one pill, only to turn around and use it to make a better version of another. Even funnier was that he would have to use a lower level enlightenment pill to make a higher enlightenment level pill. The amount of pills and potions he could make would decrease, but hopefully the payoffs would be well worth it. It was not like they had battles everyday. Exceptional or higher quality levels might make all the difference.
Truth was they already had quite a large stockpile of lower quality enchantments, pills, and potions since they had not had a battle for nearly two months. Mark was able to make at least 4 or 5 a day, and that was on top of working on other projects. The manna consumption for pill refining was negligible compared to inscribing enchantments. He could literally keep it going as long as was physically able to.
However, Mark had several other major projects he was overseeing. The first came after finishing their latest tech, intricate design. Now they could make sets of armor. Before they had been prevented from using the same enchantment on different pieces of armor for one individual unit. Now they could. Of course Mark had started with the defensive enchantment over every piece of armor.
Their dungeon currently was limited on what metalwork they were able to perform. It was not like they were using pure iron, which would have been a relatively soft material. They could just not work metal to the point where they could make steel or bronze. The techniques were hidden behind the advanced metallurgy tech. Once they were able to make steel, their weapons and armor would be lighter and more effective. Currently, only the stronger units were able to wear a full set of iron plate armor. Even the chain mail that had become possible after intricate design was on the heavier and weaker side. It all meant getting the advanced metallurgy tech was a priority, but then again so was everything else.
Still the results of the new sets of armor could not be looked down upon. Before they had been able to add about 3 to 4 to a unit''s defensive stat with the plate breast and back plate with a good quality enchantment, but that was a little deceptive. While enchantments did affect the unit overall, they were strongest on the parts they were actually covering. It meant well placed shots could hit a more vulnerable area. The new full plate not only gave a greater combined defensive bonus, but also covered most of the body allowing far fewer vulnerable spots.
Henry had been the first equipped. A full set of heavy plate with good enchantments had increased the bugbear general¡¯s defensive stat by 8. It brought his defense up to 11, but that had not been the end of the ensemble. Mark had made use of one of their new enchantments as well on the undershirt equipment slot units were allowed. Mark made a design for a leather undershirt for Henry. The leather would not only better insulate the bugbear from the rough, heavy armor, the fire resistance would also aid in protecting him from one of the most prominent damage types, fire.
Mark was more than happy with the result. With a good quality rock skin pill, he would be able to get Henry¡¯s defense all the way up to a 15. The fact that the general had more stamina, skills, and stats meant the heavy armor would not slow the general by much. The general did not only look like an iron encased juggernaut, he would effectively be one.
The other bugbears were only able to manage a lesser portion of the heavier armor. Chain mail was supplemented in many of the areas, and even then the units would tire faster and move noticeably slower. The defensive bonus could only get up to 6 before the adverse effects were not worth the extra defense, and that was for the higher rank bugbears. The base bugbear could only get to 5. Still Mark would also be able to outfit other units like arachne, scorpions, and eventually the level 3 units.
The second major project was manna imbuing. The project had an unexpected extra step, Mark had not anticipated. There were several important qualities for the imbued items. Most important was what material was used. Anything could be used, but gems far surpassed anything else. There was little point using something else when gems were available since gems could hold far more manna for their size. The amount of manna a material could hold was the first important factor. The second factor was the flow the material would allow per a second.
Gems were better in all regards. The flowrate and the amount of manna could still vary depending on the type of gem used. However, a larger size was always better for the same type of gem. However, both factors were also affected by the gems purity as well. There was one more thing to consider. Certain gems would be able to hold different types of energy more effectively. The example the encyclopedia had given was a ruby being more effective at holding fire types of energy. Of course they only had the basic manna embuement right now, so it was not a factor.
Mark loved to nerd over things like this, but even he was glad that the interface simplified everything by assigning ranks to the factors. Mark did not have to actually worry about the material type or its clarity, he could go based on the material¡¯s rank in manna or flow rate potential.
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Mark had evaluated quite a few different substances. For the non gem materials, a piece of quarts rock had given the best values for both manna quantity and flowrate, and Mark had not seen it even get above a 0.3. A regular rock or a piece of wood did not even give a fraction of that. However, even the worst of the gems gave at least a 3 in both categories. However many of them had values into the low double digits.
Where the material type did come into play was due to the unexpected snag that he should have anticipated. Raw gems could of course be used for embuement, but if they were cut and polished they would be far more effective. The end result would of course follow the same quality types as everything else. The downside was that he needed at least a below average end result for a gem. A poor quality cut could at best degrade the effectiveness of the gem, but it also had a good chance to do something unexpected when manna was put in or during use.
Different uses and different gems would do better with different cuts. Suddenly the stockpile of raw gems they had stockpiled did not seem like it would be enough. It would also be difficult and resource costly to get a goblin up to speed on cutting gems. Instead, Mark had elected to just commission them all from the gnomes. It had taken the industrious gnome craftsmen only a matter of a week to get gems up to the good quality level, and a couple of those days had been expended as the gnomes built more suitable tools to undertake the endeavor.
So far Mark had only implemented the embued gems on the top level of the tower. It took seven good quality gems to form the energy shield to protect the first level. The amount of gems that could be used was of course based on their quality as well as other things. Seven seemed to be the limit for good quality gems working on one enchantment. Of course that was with how spread out the tower was. They could not use more than one with say a single unit piece of armor. Their outer wall on the other hand might be able to have a hundred or more working together. It meant Mark could not put a bunch of gems on one unit, or on units working together in close proximity. Just like enchantments they would interfere with each other. Of course their crafting house decreased interference, so other dungeons would be even more restricted at the various quality levels.
The gems would recharge by ambient manna in the environment, but they could also be charged from units imputing manna into them. Although it would take a dozen mages draining their manna to fill one gem.
The result was a translucent bubble. Mark had mages blast it with lances and fireballs. There was little concern whether the experiment ended with the tower getting damaged, since even if it was destroyed it would respawn in 24 hours. The shield prevented all incoming magical attacks including enchanted arrows. However, Mark noted that unenchanted arrows would pass right on through. The shield also would not prevent a unit from passing through unless they were wearing enchanted armor. The bright side was that outgoing attacks would not be affected.
Mark also noted how long it took for the energy shield to be depleted. The energy would deplete over time just by being used. Magic attacks would deplete it far faster. Enchanted items hardly depleted it at all. Enchanted items whose function occurred prior to hitting the shield such as the duplicate arrows were not blocked. A regular fire arrow would similarly pass through. Only things of magic would be stopped.
Yesterday, had been a rough day on their dungeon magi. They had refilled the gems over and over, but Mark was glad he had taken the time to test every aspect he could think of. For one, their archers exclusively carried enchanted arrows that would not be able to pass through such a shield. If they came across an opponent using energy shields, it would prevent them from utilizing their dungeon¡¯s greatest strengths. Second, he was more aware of the limits of imbued items. Mark expected that embuing would be one of the focuses in almost every dungeon.
The final project that Mark had underway involved their resident mad scientist and also intricate design. Every three or four days or so, Ezekial made some new small implement. The items would have various functions. Mark could see the use in all of them. Problem was that they were small scale, and the inventor never made the same item more than once, so they were one off minor advantages. While it might make a difference for a unit or group of units, even burning through a dozen of the creations would not make too big of a difference in a large scale battle.
That is where the tech intricate design came in. Crafters could literally create new items and make templates that could be used to mass produce the creations. The goblins were not overly creative, but there was nothing preventing the gnomes and them from disassembling Ezekial¡¯s creations and hopefully creating a template.
Mark had almost scrapped the idea as item after item were themselves scraped in the process with nothing to show. An electric disintegrating ray among others never got their time in the spotlight. How effective they would have been would never be known. Even Ezekial did not seem to know how effective his creations would be. He just gave each a simple description of what he thought it would do. However, the inventor was definitely capable; his wooden battle puppet was proof of that.
It was when the eighth item was disassembled that the gnomes working the project finally had their first success. Most of Ezekial¡¯s creations used one type of essence or another, usually it was lightning. The eighth item, the golem ball so named by Mark, just happened to use two different types. The stone and lightning essence would pull some golem humanoids from the surface the ball landed on. From dirt they would create a handful of dirt golems. On stone it would create a stone golem.
The template had first been reproduced at the poor quality level, but it had only taken a couple of days for the gnomes to move the quality up to below average. Future quality levels would hopefully follow. At poor quality the golem ball could summon around a 1.5 power rating worth of golems. For dirt golems, they got 3 or 4, each with a power rating or around 0.4. However if the ball was formed on stone, it might only get a single 1.0 power rating stone golem.
The poor quality golem balls might not have been worth the essence expenditure, but the below average version had doubled the power rating of units that could be created. It would then summon around six earthen golems, with a power rating of 0.5. The stone golem would give 2 golems at around 1.5 power rating each.
The possibilities of stronger versions of the item were too good to give up. Mark half expected for there to be another patch, but apparently the expenditure of precious resources was balance enough. Mark could see a point of time, where hundreds of such balls could be used at once to build an entire golem army. It offered opportunities for surprised attacks on other dungeons as well as stretching the adventure party unit cap a bit. The first idea seemed to have been accepted by the battle managers, however he had a feeling the second might bring about another patch. They might only be able to utilize that idea once. Luckily, the patches never seemed to deal with the benefits already gained by utilizing exploitative methods, so as long as he hid the thought before its actual use it might give them a real edge.
The golem ball was still the only item to have been successfully duplicated. A half dozen other items had since been wasted. Mark wished he could get the eccentric inventor to make templates himself, but that would definitely be a balance breaker.
The new use for the electric essence drastically increased the need for the resource. It would set them back a couple days in getting Magic energy production III, but Mark knew it would be worth it. The mining division was brought to regiment size of a thousand units for a bit over 40,000 MP. Tripling the amount of miners would hopefully triple the amount of electric essence and other resources gathered from the mine.
Mark expected it might, well at least for a little bit, but as the mine became more developed units would have to travel farther and farther in the tunnels already dug. Mark was waiting on steel and probably the level 2 siege engine tech to build rail lines and carts that could remove ore or loose rock far quicker. Until then a greater work force would have to do.
It was in that moment of thought, when Amelia opened the door. ¡°Are you able to chat for just a minute?¡± she asked.
¡°Yeah, I have a bit before the process becomes more intensive. What¡¯s up?¡±
The girl smiled. ¡°Avery made us offer¡¡±
Mark listened intently to the proposed plan. He told Amelia, he would have to think on it after she was finished. The girl immediately after. Mark tried to shift his focus back to his first enlightenment pill, but he nearly failed entirely. The result was a poor quality pill. Mark examined it. It would increase brain function and processing speed by 8% for up to 41 minutes. It did not sound like much, but even this poor quality pill could mean the difference of a quality level for another enchantment or pill. Still a better quality enhancement pill would make it near a sure thing. Mark wanted to refine another pill, but he knew despite his ability to compartmentalize things that the result likely would not end up much better.
Instead, he secured the poor quality pill and made his way for the door. He would need more details from Avery, that Amelia had not thought to ask. The details were not for him to decide on whether to accept the proposal. Mark had already made that decision. After all, another unique reward was quite a tantalizing prize.
Chapter 61: Day 215
Mark watched as their forces closed on the translucent portal. From just a glance, some eyes might easily skip right over the alternate dungeon entrance, but up close or for those looking for it, the portal was easily recognizable. The view from behind it was distorted. It was like looking over pavement on a hot day, except several degrees more intense. The fact that the phenomena was localized on a perfect 20 foot diameter circle made it stand out all the more.
This alternate entrance led into Derrick Blackwell¡¯s dungeon. Three days ago, Avery had made an enticing offer. Tired of her advancement being held up by the other nearby dungeon, Avery proposed for them both to storm his dungeon with adventuring parties. The enticing part was that Avery would be sending five teams in first, allowing them the opportunity to complete the job and earn the unique reward conquering a dungeon would offer.
By far Avery would be getting the better part of the deal since it would be relieving her of an annoying thorn in her side. She would be able to progress her dungeon far less encumbered. Mark would definitely not have been on board if the attack meant just wiping out another contender and helping another dungeon out. However, getting another unique reward for the small price of only a couple days worth of production was worthwhile.
It was also true that it was hardly worth considering what aiding Avery would mean for them in the long run. It was far more likely that they got wiped out by one of the other closer threats, far before they would have to contend with her. Another unique reward would certainly make a difference. A couple day delay to unlocking magic energy production III was a small price.
Mark had Henry align the first adventuring team closer near the entrance. They still had some time before it would be their turn to assault the dungeon, but they needed to be ready. Mark had tried to send a green goblin through, only to have the unit blocked. It was expected. Only one adventuring party could attack a dungeon at a time. Still he had thought it was worth the attempt. A visual ¡®under attack¡¯ appeared in the middle of the portal. It did not disappear. The dust formed words seemed to hang in the air presumptively until the last of Avery¡¯s forces were wiped out. They would have to wait. Meanwhile Amelia was getting a play by play from Avery Kingston on her own adventuring parties progress. Her fifth team was currently fighting the defenders on Derrick¡¯s fifth floor.
While Mark had quickly agreed to joining forces with Avery for the attack, he had of course had Amelia ask dozens of questions to get as much information as possible for their upcoming assault.
Dungeon wise, Avery had only information up to the end of his fourth floor. An adventure party assault had already been something she had attempted months ago. However, she was currently feeding them information on the fifth floor as well.
Unit wise, Derrick had at least three branches as far as Avery could tell. The first two, Mark and Amelia were already intimately familiar with. Mareth had attacked them with the golem and scarecrow branches since the first month of the battle. The third was Derrick¡¯s level 2 branch gargoyles. The other construct dungeon they had dealt with had taken the level 2 guardian branch. They had been extremely powerful, so Mark expected for the gargoyles to offer something similar.
As far as the pseudo fourth unit types Avery had seen Derrick put to use, Avery was fairly certain they did not come from having unlocked another branch. For one, he had not displayed many of them. Second, every single one of them was different. They were categorized as amalgamation constructs. Construct creatures, made from an assortment of different materials, from trees and rocks to parts off of corpses.
Amelia announced that Avery¡¯s fifth adventuring group had just finished with the fifth floor defenders. Now they only had to contend with the floor¡¯s guardian which was one such amalgamation construct. She described a stone and wood giant wearing a scarf of wiggling tentacles. It had a power rating of 5.1. While she was certain that her fifth adventuring party would prevail, they had already taken heavy casualties. At best she would only be able to give them an idea about what the sixth floor had to offer and take out some of the weaker units.
It was not as far as they had anticipated. Avery thought it was likely that Derrick would have at least seven floors. She had been hoping to take down the first six, leaving the last floor or two for them. However, taking the fifth floor had been exceedingly costly. The third adventuring party had made it onto the fifth floor at three quarters of its strength, but the floor had wiped it out easily along with the stronger follow on fourth party.
It was likely that the higher floors would be even more difficult. Amelia¡¯s play by play reports were starting to sound more frantic, and she was interspersing plenty of doubts amidst the updates. It was clear that Amelia was beginning to question on whether they would be able to finish the job if Derrick had more than another level or two after the sixth. However, Mark¡¯s concern was not at near the same level.
In truth, from what he could gather Avery had a lot of difficulty dealing with the more powerful constructs when facing them in equal numbers. It was not to diminish that Avery was not powerful, she would be an extremely deadly adversary from what Amelia had passed on to him. She just did not have a lot of units that had enough raw power to crush higher level constructs.
It was not a problem that Mark felt that they shared with her now. Not now that they were able to summon a hundred rock crushing bugbears. They had other units like the scorpion that would be able to deal with high level constructs as well, but they were too slow. Mark had decided to just go with bugbear mages and the war hammer class. Mark had contemplated snagging the fifth level of the warrior class for a 100,000 MP. Another 15% boost would be welcome, however it would set obtaining magic production III for even longer. The level 4 mages and war hammer bugbears would just have to be enough.
¡°Her forces have reached the final chamber on the sixth floor¡.¡± Amelia delayed as she read the next message. ¡°There are 24 gargoyle kings and bishops, power ratings just over 4. The guardian is a crab amalgamation, power rating¡ of 6.2.¡± Amelia announced the last power rating glumly. If a 5.1 construct amalgamation had given Avery so much trouble, how much more would one with a 20% stronger power rating.
Mark nodded. It was kind of a shame. The gargoyle kings and bishops would likely be the only units from the branch that they would see. The kings were the most powerful level 2 units the branch seemingly had to offer. The bishops on the other hand were more lanky, mage types with a slightly lower power rating. Both unit types sounded just like larger and more dangerous looking versions of those he had seen from gothic architecture. There was reportedly one major difference, the kings had bat-like wings and tails. The bishops on the other hand looked more like lizards, with ridges on their backs.
The next thing Mark knew the dust words of ¡®under attack faded, the dust seemingly collapsing back to the earth. At the same time, came Amelia¡¯s final update on the battle. ¡°Avery took out five Gargoyle king¡¯s. The crab amalgamation and five bishops were left untouched.¡±
The first adventuring team of bugbears started pouring into the portal. The party consisted of 18 from the war hammer class and two mages. They each only had a power rating of around 3.6 with the 25% adventuring unit bonus, but that did not take into account their gear. This first batch did not include units with sets of iron armor. They each only had metal breast and back plates that increased their defense. Instead they wore an assortment of other enchanted items.
A necklace that increased their vitality. Bamboo vambraces that increased their strength. Bamboo grieves that increased their endurance, and boots that increased their agility. A leather undershirt would give them some resistance to fire damage. Mark had not been sure on how beneficial it would be against constructs, but since fireball was one of the standard mage spells he had included it. Round wooden shields hardened with stone essence would provide additional protection. All of the items were of good quality, so the boost would not be negligible. Mark would guess they were at least a 0.4 power rating stronger or so.
Their first adventuring party assault started off extremely lackluster. The 20 unit adventuring party passed right through floor after floor. Avery had wiped out all of the lower floors. She had even recleared the 24 defenders that had respawned on the 1st and 2nd floors. The 3rd floor defenders had not yet respawned by the time the party made it to the end of the 3rd floor. That likely would not be the case for the next adventuring party or the party after it. If all went well, they would only have to re-clear the 24 defenders from both the 3rd and 4th floors. It was the fourth floor, on which the first spawner had reappeared. There had been another on the fifth floor, but the respawn criteria on them were not clear. Regardless, they would not be overly difficult to deal with.
The adventuring party passed right through the fourth floor without a fight. The 20 undead from the spawner did challenge them on the fifth, but the bugbears breezed right through them. The elite most units were skeletal knights with a power rating of 3.1, but there were only two of them. Most of the rest did not even have a power rating of 2. If the bugbears took wounds from the fight, they were not serious enough for Mark to notice. Without mages, the bugbears smashed their way through them relatively uncontested. They would be just a minor annoyance that all of the successive adventuring parties would have to deal with.
The first real clash came when five magic lances streaked out from the defenders. Timed perfectly to meet the upcoming group of adventurers, just entering the room. All five were caught on round wooden shields, carried by their prospective bugbears. The shields shattered and the bugbears who had carried them were blown back, some with their arm that carried the shield shredded. The rest of the bugbears just surged past. The injured bugbears took a moment to down a potion before they followed in the others'' wake.
Half of the other wooden shields were cast aside as bugbears chose to wield their warhammers two handed instead carrying the defensive item. It was a bit of a waste, but Mark was not disappointed with the initial clash. For the first time, Mark saw units put the basic skill surge into practice. Each of the bugbears only had one skill. Mark had not sent any from this group through the gymnasium. Instead he had just bought each of them the Surge skill which boosted their strength and endurance. The boost would not last more than a minute, but their ability to kill enemy units quickly here was all that mattered.
Several gargoyle kings went down in the initial clash, their bodies reduced to rubble even as they collapsed on the ground. Other¡¯s managed to cover and guard against the onslaught with their wings that enclosed to block the strikes. However, one strike sent cracks throughout the wing and a second crushed the wing. The crab-like amalgamation was the only thing that kept the construct line from wholly collapsing.
The crab amalgamation was slightly bigger than an arachne, except its legs were longer and held its body twice as far above the ground. It looked just like a crab with four sets of legs and two pincer appendages. The crab caught two strikes with both of its pincers. It quickly retaliated at the two attackers. One bugbear jumped back in time, falling backwards nearly avoiding being caught.
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The other bugbear was caught in vice grip. The bugbear gave one long scream as its breast and backplate crushed in. The scream diminished as blood started spurting out of the mouth. Only three seconds after having been caught the bugbear was split in half. The crab amalgamation dropped it reaching for another. Both pincers could seemingly react independently, searching for new prey so it did not take long for one of them to find another. The second bugbear met the same end.
But even as the crab amalgamation killed the two, the rest of the gargoyle king¡¯s crumbled around the floor guardian on both sides. The floor guardian would soon be a lonely island amongst a sea of enemies. Fire balls streaked from the bishops smashing into bugbears amidst the chaos. The fireballs caught on individuals or small clumps as they broke apart. A dozen bugbears screeched as the flames clung and licked at their skin, but the flames around them soon died out 3 seconds later. The still smoldering bugbears brought potions to their mouth, even as they rejoined the fight.
The only lasting benefit of the attack was that several bugbears had been killed by the gargoyle kings they were engaged with at the time of the attack. The bishops had not bothered to care whether any of their comrades got caught in the blasts, but the flames also seemingly had no effect on the gargoyles, except making it easier for them to kill their adversaries. Bugbears consumed in flames, had lost battlefield awareness and fell to enemy blades. More than a couple were moving past the guardian toward the back
However, the fireballs would be the last attack the bishops were able to make unchallenged. Several bugbears had emerged from the melee and flames and made it their purpose to take on the ranged combatants.
Half a minute after the battle had started, twin lances streaked out from the bugbear mages. Each targeted one of the legs on the left sides. Seconds later the crab amalgamation could only shuffle precariously with only its 2nd and 4th legs remaining on its left side. Before that moment it had been able to quickly spin around the face the bugbears attacking from all sides. It had caused the battle to a sort of stand still as the bugbears hung back unable to move in attack and back out quickly enough without being caught. A half minute had been enough time to reduce half of the gargoyle kings to rubble, and the bishops who were currently engaged would not last much longer. Several more bugbears had been caught and snapped in twain after the first two, but now the guardians'' limited mobility emboldened them, the ones not still held down by the gargoyle kings started to attack the guardian¡¯s blind spots.
Only one more bugbear shrieked as it got snapped up, but once the bugbears had finished off the gargoyle kings it was left with ten attackers smashing in from all sides with their hammers the crab amalgamation was quickly losing substance as pieces were smashed right off of its body. Once one of its pincers was smashed off, the guardian could hardly put up much more of a fight. It became too easy for the bugbears to attack from the unguarded side.
Eleven bugbears, including the two mages were left standing. They quickly composed themselves, picked up their shields and continued onto the next floor. Only losing nine of their first adventuring party was a good start, but they had all burnt through their skill already. The degree of savagery they had just displayed would be diminished enough where gargoyle kings would not fall as easily. They would likely only be able to whittle down the weaker defenders, leaving the guardian and a few others for the next adventuring team.
Amelia chuckled smugly as her eyes took on a distant look. She was likely bragging to Avery that they had taken down the rest of the six floor within the first couple of minutes of battle. Mark sighed. He would prefer it if she downplayed their strengths. Friend or not, Avery was someone they would potentially have to contend with at some point.
Mark¡¯s assumption that the 11 would be able to significantly whittle down the defenders on the next floor turned out to be a bit of hubris on his part. Without the surge skill burning, they only held a slight advantage to the gargoyle kings. The war hammers were the right weapon against the constructs made out of stone, but the stone was still extremely durable. Without the extra boost of the surge skill, the bugbears were forced to continually beat on the same opponent, with cracks only slowly forming with each strike.
The guardian on this floor was also more suited to dealing with the bugbears. A four bone armed earthen giant that clutched clubs in each of its hands. It was ideal for dealing with the bugbear threat. The power rating was weaker with only a 5.5, but it proved to be far more deadly against the adventurers. In addition, this floor had a spawner of eight orc magi with power ratings of 2.9. Only two gargoyle kings met their end in the assault. In reality the short skirmish had looked like a one sided slaughter.
Mark only contemplated for a few seconds before sending a second team through the portal. Now that they were on the 7th floor, they would have to wait more than an hour for the second adventuring team to make it to the 7th floor. It would be plenty of time for Mark to chide himself on being stingy. Fact was he had only prepared three adventuring teams of bugbears. While he did have more optional goblin teams standing by. They likely would not amount to much, unless only a handful of units were leftover on the last floor. He had also elected not to buy any new additional upgrades, despite having plenty of MP. Hopefully, his frugality would not cause the attack to fail.
They watched as the second wave proceeded on slightly slower than the first. This adventuring team had a complete set of armor. They still had the fire resistant undershirts and vitality necklaces, but they no longer had the boost to agility and were heavier. The second team actually had to fight respawned defenders on both the 1st, 3rd, and 4th floors. None of the bugbears died in the fights, but several had to use one of the two healing potions they each carried. A couple had even used portions of their surge skill despite having been told to try and save it for the seventh floor. The undead on the fifth floor was once again an easy victory.
Another half hour and the units hit the final room to the 7th floor. Pretty much every floor of this dungeon had the exact same layout, ending in a singular large room. Derrick apparently was not overly creative, or just wanted to keep spaces wide open for his constructs to fight in.
Lances blasted them at the doorway halting the onrushing attackers. However the shield bearers that withstood the onslaught did so far better than those that had been in the last team. After being knocked back momentarily they surged forward anew, although a few had one arm hanging limply.
The addition of the surge skill made this clash go far better for their forces. The gargoyle kings once again could not withstand the force of the hammer wielding bugbears. Individual units were beaten back and down quickly. The four bone armed earthen giant amalgamation stepped forward to put a stop to the attackers as it had last attack, but this time the blows were met with hammers. The bugbears might be knocked back, but they were only battered and able to rejoin the fight. A small group of four bugbears steamrolled right through the defenders toward the magi, but of the four two got peeled off and stuck in the melee. The remaining two rushed toward the orc and gargoyle magi. Magic bolts glanced off them harmlessly. The magi had chosen to drop spells with longer cast time for the weaker quick option. They seemingly had no effect.
The two bugbears smashed right through mage after mage until two lances formed and knocked them back. Unshielded, the two bugbears were both heavily wounded, but both remained standing. One took a second lance and went down, but the other threw back a potion and charged forward to finish the mage threat.
During that time the other bugbears worked to deal with remaining gargoyle kings and the four armed guardians. While bugbears had survived the attack with the guardian, just as many had been crushed to death. Once their surge skill ran out a minute into the battle, their struggle became even more fierce.
The one remaining bugbear had dealt with the mages, but he was in no shape to come to the aid of the five remaining bugbear warriors attacking the monstrosity from all sides. The two mages each sent their third lances into the guardian, but unlike the crab amalgamation this guardian did not have spindly appendages that could easily be blown off. The guardian had plenty of pockmarks from magic lances or from hammer strikes, but it was clear the remaining bugbears would not be enough to bring down such a sturdy foe.
Hopefully, this was the last floor, but when had Mark been so lucky. As the remainder of the battle played out, Mark made his decision. ¡°Henry, pull out all of the stops for the last attack.¡± Mark ordered, in the midst of his description of what the guardian on the 7th floor would look like. He was hoping the battle managers were not paying attention to the golem balls that were getting passed to each of the bugbears. Henry was doing it discreetly, but it was not like the battle managers could not figure it out from other non-visual means. They were all in a created world afterall. Hopefully, it was an unnecessary preparation.
Hopefully, after Henry killed the 7th floor guardian they would next see a core room, but Mark had to prepare this adventuring party like it would be the last. A goblin adventuring party could follow. They would likely have to fight through several floors worth of respawned defenders and a couple of respawners. It was definitely doable for the well equipped force, but they would most certainly take heavy casualties. If Henry could not lead the next team to victory, then their assault could very well end in failure.
The four armed amalgamation stretched its arms up in victory as the last of the bugbears fell. The scene disappeared, even as Mark ordered the next team through. The decision to include Henry on a team had not been made lightly. Now that the unit had a power rating of 10.4 it would take him eleven weeks to respawn should he fall. However, Mark also could not pass up sending such a powerful unit on an attack with the stakes the way they were. He was the only unit who had all four skills. Nine of the others on the adventuring team had completed the three physical skills in the gymnasium. Mark had decided that there was little purpose in giving them the pull skill that increased wisdom and intelligence. The other nine who had gone through with Henry receiving all four skills had already become defenders for their 7th floor, so could not be used for this attack.
A little over an hour later, Henry made it to the final floor with his team. The five orc magi had indeed respawned. Five lances struck true on the shields of the bugbears leading the charge. They were knocked back, even as Henry pushed right past him. His target was the floor guardian. Other bugbears would make their way around the fight to deal with the magi. Others would join Henry in the attack, but for the most part they were there to contain the floor guardian. Mark did not want to lose units on this floor if they could avoid it.
Could Henry take on a giant more than twice his size. Mark was not for certain, but his power level was closer to doubling his opponents than not. The four arms struck in from both sides. One of Henry¡¯s bars began to drop as he turned on his dash skill. It was a slow trickle, but it was enough to increase the generals speed enough where he could dodge the guardian¡¯s attacks completely.
When Henry brought his hammer down, rubble was sent flying from the creature¡¯s midsection. The biggest pockmark on the creature yet. Twice as big as any that had been created by the magic lances or other hammer strikes, but it would not be enough. Henry took a couple seconds to reset, even as he dodged more attacks from the clubs. His body weaved between the attacks as he turned back toward his opponent. One of the things that made these construct amalgamations so deadly was their ability to not be affected by damage they had or were currently taking. The counterstrikes aimed at the bugbear general would have caught up to a lesser bugbear. However, Henry was showing excellent battlefield awareness. Ten seconds later he was able to fight his way back through the guardian¡¯s guard and strike again. His hammer smashed into the same area, this time knocking out an entire section of the amalgamations midsection was just gone.
The arms still swung after Henry, but it was clear that the guardian had lost some maneuverability. Then a third smash expanded the hole even further. Henry became comfortable enough to turn off his dash skill, conserving the 30% of the energy bar that was left.
The two mages had already joined in on the attack as soon as their magic lance spells had charged, but once the guardian was sufficiently weakened the others joined in as well. One got batted away, much to Mark¡¯s dismay, but that was the only one. The one that had been smacked away, had a dented chest plate, but after a brief interim of another bugbear hammering it crudely back into place and both of his healing potions the bugbear was nearly as good as new.
The time lost was not too big of a deal. Even if there was another floor and Henry could not lead this team to success. Mark doubted that they would be sending another adventure team through at this point. Another team would likely have to fight several floors of defenders and spawners. Mark and Amelia watched the moment of truth, but When Henry stepped through the portal they found themselves on another floor instead of in the core room.
Chapter 62: Day 215
Henry led the adventuring team through the eighth floor. However when they got close to the end he halted the group and even sent a bugbear forward to scout out the upcoming final room. Like the previous seven floors, the eighth did not seem to hold any real surprises. No complicated floor structure, no traps, just a large contingent of troops awaiting in a final room.
The contingent in the eighth floor was by far the biggest, including forces from at least three spawners. The 25 construct defenders occupied the center of the forces. Mark quickly sized them up, 18 gargoyle kings, 5 bishops, and this time 2 amalgamations. The first of the amalgamation constructs looked like an oversized gorilla. Two thick arms, whose forearms flared out into the shape of a shield, were held out before it, which would effectively shield the rest of the construct¡¯s body. Which includes a bunch of rocks and earth held together by tree roots. It turned out this unit was the guardian of the floor with a power rating of 7.1.
The other construct amalgamation had the look of a hedgehog with a power rating of 5.1. A large round earthen body with wooden, rock, and bone spikes jutting out from its back. It¡¯s front legs were slightly more elongated than its hind legs exposing a large earthen rock encrusted chest that resembled a bejeweled look for Mark. Both creatures looked like they would be extremely difficult to take down.
Flanking the constructs, was a squad of 9 orc warmongers. Bulky pig humanoids that were at least 7 feet tall. Their corded muscles were barely contained by their greenish skin, contorted far past the range that even a human body builder could ever hope to reach. Each had a power rating of 3.8 indicating that they were likely powerful level 2 units for the orc branch. They matched the bugbears, each wielding a massive two handed warhammer.
Mirroring them on the other side was a cluster of plant type units. The weakest of which were the same level 1 roughwoods that Derrick had likely gotten courtesy of one of Avery¡¯s attacks on his dungeon. The roughwoods were actually the tallest of the plant types at 7 or 8 feet. Wooden armor plates covered their chest and shoulders. Having the roughwoods as a spawner, Mark knew them to be strong and difficult to kill, but they were also extremely slow.
The second myconid type seemed to be a mage class since all four from this variety carried a staff. They were low level 2 units with only a power rating of 2.7 after some likely boosts. The four stood 5 feet tall and had white pale bark like skin that actually resembled a mushroom stem from this distance. Since their mushroom heads were a dark reddish brown and they were named Balefire, Mark had an idea on what to expect from the myconid mages. Mark was glad that all of the bugbears had a fire resistant undershirt as a part of their ensemble.
The last type was a fungus branch unit. By looks it would have been the easiest to dismiss. If they did not each have a power level of 3.3. They were called Shrieker¡¯s. The diminutive units stood less than 4 feet tall. Their dark purple mushroom caps concealed everything from the chest up in shadow except for the illuminated yellow eyes. Their brown bark like arms ended in three pronged dagger like claws.
¡°What can you tell me about the shriekers?¡± Mark could only hope that Amelia had gleaned something about the small strikers.
¡°The Shriekers were the only level 2 unit Avery got for the fungus branch. Like any plant they can take root to recover health or stamina. However they differ from the rest, in that they specialize in melee fighting, and are fast when they aren¡¯t rooted¡ Like really fast¡¡± Amelia replied coolly.
¡°Great,¡± Mark muttered turning his attention back to the screen. In other words they were awkwardly short and fast opponents. They would be extremely difficult for the bugbears to counter, since the bugbears swung warhammers which were relatively slower than other weapons.
Finally there were two dozen panther-like units, half on each side. The ¡®shadow cats¡¯ each had a power rating of 1.9. They were not overly powerful, but they would bring their own unique aspect to the upcoming fight.
Mark¡¯s mind raced on what their best course of attack would be, as the scout debriefed Henry and the other bugbears. It was just his own speculation since Mark could not communicate with the bugbear leader despite being linked. Apparently sending a squad in as adventurers severed the communication link. However, Mark could not complain too much since they were able to get visuals on non linked units when they went into a dungeon. It was a tradeoff. They could always watch their adventurers regardless of link, but would not be able to feed them more information.
¡°How are they going to beat them?¡± Amelia asked worriedly.
¡°Just watch,¡± Mark replied. He would have loved to fill her in on everything, but since he anticipated that his actions would likely draw the battle managers into making another patch he couldn¡¯t. Once the die was cast in another minute, it would be too late for a patch to prevent the golem balls. Since there were over 80 powerful enemy units in the next room, they definitely needed the stone golems each average quality golem ball would summon. Each should summon 3 rock golems about 5 feet tall with a power rating of about 1.8.
Mark had the gnome craftsmen work overtime on the project for the last few days. The payoff was the increase of an additional quality level. The downside was that Mark had discovered a restriction. Each unit could only cast one golem ball. There were some in battle summoning restrictions that were hit since units had to activate the balls with their manna prior to throwing. Units were prevented from summoning or resummoning over a short period of time. Even the spiritualists had a cool down associated before their spirits reconstituted. It was not too big of a deal. An additional 60 units, despite being on the weaker side, would even the odds with the opposing force they now faced.
The only real worrisome opponents were the two construct amalgamations. Both looked like they would be difficult to take down. Henry could likely manage one like he had on the last floor, but this floor had two, and these two looked more difficult. The only thing that left Mark with some hope was that Henry had not had to go full tilt with the four arm amalgamation on the last floor.
Henry concluded the quick huddle and the bugbears resumed their positions. Each awkwardly shouldered their war hammer with their shield arm, leaving their other hand free to throw. Each first threw back a rock skin pill to raise their defense by an additional 4 points for the next ten plus minutes. The battle would likely be decided before they wore off. Then with one loud shout the bugbears shouted as they stormed their way down the tunnel. Mark watched as the gargoyle bishop''s hands flared with magic. There was nothing hidden from the dungeon owner, so the mages spell cast times were near perfect. Only a few premature lances were sent streaking down into the tunnel.
One struck Henry, who was leading the attack, head on. Of course an energy shield winked into place ahead of the general from his shield and caught it. Henry had a limited manna pool even after getting a boost to all of his stats with his new Relentless title, but he could still flare the energy shield for a handful of critical moments. Conversely the other bugbears with energy shield enchantments would likely only be able to manage it once, and even then it would only be for like half a second. The other lance that went down the tunnel blew its target back, the bugbear having failed to get the timing right.
Henry entered the room first, just in time to receive a second lance. A moment later a third hit after that. Each time the shield winked into existence briefly to intercept and stop them. Henry¡¯s battlefield awareness was high enough to easily turn the shield on and off as required. His only limit was his manna pool. Other lances quickly followed, but targeted other bugbears. Only 1 of 4 successfully blocked the magic lance with their energy shield. The other three like the one prior were all blown back from the impact.
Then came a torrent of velvet red flames from the four balefire fungus mages. All four attacks hit Henry first. Upon seeing the attacks, the bugbear leader had leapt in front of the rest to stem the flow.. A transparent shield formed like a ball around the general, and flames were sent crashing over it and to the sides like water crashing to all sides of an obstacle. The lines of fire halted the charge, despite only lasting a couple of seconds.
Henry was revealed to be kneeling when the flames finally abated. He had blocked the attack, but was now in a severe manna deprived state. The stone was charred diagonally and back to both sides of him. The other bugbears were more or less unharmed. In seconds a dozen golem balls were launched forward. Some landed in between the two armies, but most went soaring past, a part of Henry¡¯s strategy to create a pincering force on the other side of their opponents. The balls exploded into white light that crackled like white lightning across the ground in a circle around where they had landed. Figures started to emerge from the stone, even as the surrounding stone started to seemingly be eaten away to account for the mass of the golems. The dungeon would soon hold 20 new shallow craters and 60 new rock golems. However it would take a good 10 seconds for the units to form.
The bugbears charged surging to either side of their kneeling leader. Henry was struggling to get a mana potion from his waist. Keeping the energy shield energized had pushed him to his limit, making him groggy.
The shadow cats, constructs, and shriekers surged forward to meet the charging bugbears. Only the 9 orc warmongers moved the opposite direction to deal with the stone golems forming behind their ranks. It was a great response by Derrick. The orcs with their warhammers could likely easily take on the 40 or so forming stone golems by themselves. After all their power rating was twice that of the golems, and their warhammers were well suited for the task, as Mark and Amelia well knew.
Seeing the disparity the bugbears that had been blown back by the magic lances threw their golem balls to create more stone golems on their side of the fight. However, their golems would not join the fight till a while after it began.
The shadow cats closed the distance first, with the shriekers only a few steps behind. However, only one of the bugbears got tackled backwards by one of the beasts, and that was only after he had bashed one in the side. Most of the bugbears had met a cat with a well timed swing. One hammer blow was plenty to crush in one side of the cats with only a 1.9 power rating. They might not be killed instantly, but the damage was enough to take them out of the fight. The shriekers on the other hand easily dodged between the hammer swings. Their dagger-like hands continually sought out gaps in their opponents armor as they passed right by.
In two seconds the shriekers were dispersed through the entire bugbear force. Their attacks were not causing critical damage against the bugbears with their high defense, but a bunch of little wounds could accumulate. The bugbears all made additional swings at the difficult to hit enemies, but Mark had not seen any succeed. A couple more bugbears were born to the ground by the shadow cats. The bugbears could not contest one of the beasts by itself. In fact, Mark watched as the first bugbear that had been tackled grabbed both of the creature''s jaws before pulling them in opposite directions, killing the beast. However, some of the bugbears had several shadow cats working together pulling on a bugbear like a game of tug of war. The large cats were having a difficult time killing the bugbears, but keeping them occupied and inflicting small wounds was already a noteworthy contribution.
The standing bugbears however had to turn their attention to the other forces incoming. The gargoyle kings slammed into the melee, pushing the bugbears back. The slow moving rough woods were only a few strides behind, as were the amalgamations. Although it appeared the amalgamations might actually hang back so as not to cause collateral damage on their own forces. After all by the looks of it, even to Mark who knew better, the bugbears were already getting overwhelmed and might soon fall by the droves.
However, across the bugbear force a change started to happen. Bugbears'' speed increased all of a sudden. Several shreikers that had perfectly timed their approaches and exits into and out of a bugbears range suddenly found out they were not quite quick enough. One hammer strike bashed those that had been caught unaware by the nine bugbears that had the dash skill. The other bugbears who only had one skill started burning their fierce skill to easily crush the gargoyle kings once again. Then some of their wounds started to close. The nine bugbears had already had the soak skill before going through the gymnasium. The others also carried a soldier pill. The soldier pill wound did not heal anything, but once ingested blood loss through wounds would significantly be decreased among its other benefits. Then finally some of the rock golems started to join the attack, elevating the strain on the outnumbered bugbears.
Henry was back on his feet a second later. He had recovered enough mana from the manna potion to function again. He even had enough to spare to launch the golem ball. A second later, he hefted his war hammer and charged forward. A second after that, he was in the thick of the melee. A shrieker was crushed into splinters, too slow to avoid the general¡¯s swing. Two shadow cats were the next target. Henry bashed the cats away freeing the bugbear they had been mauling back into the fight.
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The next instant magic lances passed each other in flight. Flame''s blazed from the Balefire fungi mages, although two were almost immediately cut short by two bugbear magic lances. Lances and flames struck bugbears already embroiled in the fight. After the magic exchange, several bugbears were left dead, the first casualties from the adventuring party. A third followed soon after, as one bugbear had a gargoyle king sword glance up off his shoulder plate and decapitate him. A fourth and fifth bugbear fell within the next seconds due to accumulated wounds. However, the battle had otherwise gone in their favor.
By the time of the next magic exchange, the shriekers and shadow cats had nearly been wiped out. Soon the last of the gargoyle kings would join them. The roughwood myconids had joined in, but all they had were their durability. It would only cost the bugbears time in wiping them out. The amalgamations still held back. The orc warmongers were still finishing up on their side. It would be a powerful second wave.
The battles concluded at around the same time, just after the fourth exchange of magic lances and fire. The smoke rose after the latest streams of flames winked out. A sixth and seventh bugbear had fallen. A handful of others were in rough shape despite their skills or soldier pills. Their healing potions had already been consumed. The attackers actually more than doubled the defenders now, but half of their number were the weak rock golems. It was them that would start the second half of the fight. Mindless constructs, they attacked whatever enemies were close to them. Until that point there had been more of the weaker enemies. Now all of the other enemies were a hundred or more feet away. They mindlessly stumbled toward the amalgamations who were actually the closest. The bugbears frozen for a second followed quickly in their wake.
All nine of the warmonger orcs charged forward and past the amalgamations to meet them. Henry overtook the rock golems and met them first. His hammer rocketed down, pushing through the orcs defense. The head was either turned to pulp, or knocked down into the chest cavity. For a fraction of a second, Mark just saw the bugbear general¡¯s hammer resting on top of the shoulders, but it was gone the next moment. The hammer trailed blueish blood as it trailed behind the bugbear general.
Henry had already left the orcs behind. Just a little contribution before he moved on to engage the gorilla like amalgamation lumbering forward. Henry leapt swinging his hammer. The amalgamation lifted one of its overly large forearms to receive the blow. At its zenith, lightning started crackling from the hammer. The hammer smashed down with a concussive force that could be felt throughout the room. Small chunks of rock were sprayed in all directions as even the floor guardian¡¯s defense gave way. White lighting streaks cracked down the amalgamations arm and into its body. There were definite signs of damage on the forearm, but the floor guardian proceeded heedless of the cracked and damaged forearm. The two started exchanging strikes that sounded just like the thunder normally associated with the lightning pulsing from the bugbear general.
The warmonger orcs smashed apart any rock golem they came across, but soon became gridlocked with bugbears who were similarly equipped and could match them blow for blow. One bugbear avoided the melee and rushed toward the mages. However that was when a previously unseen attack caught him from the side. A tail flipped out from behind the hedgehog amalgamation. Wood, rock and bone spikes streaked toward the bugbear. The unit saw the incoming projectiles, choosing to dive to the ground to avoid. It did not do him much good. Some spikes flew past where he had been, but several more struck the ground before him and where he had landed. The bugbear had taken at least three projectiles. To his credit, the bugbear pushed his way back to his feet and started staggering once again toward the mages. However, seconds later he was engulfed by the flames of the last surviving Balefire mage. The velvet fire licked across the unit, bringing him down. It would be the balefire mage¡¯s last contribution to the fight as a bugbear magic lance blasted it back a second later.
Hency continued to trade blows with the floor guardian, and looked to be getting the better of the much larger floor guardian until the second amalgamation pincered in from the side. Derrick recognized Henry as the biggest threat of the attack. Another swath of projectiles were sent toward the bugbear general. In a fluid motion, Henry used his hammer to guard his upper torso, while dropping his shield to guard legs and lower body. The projectiles slammed into his defense or passed around and into the ground. A half second later the general dodged to avoid a crushing blow from the floor guardian¡¯s oversized arms.
The high intensity battle continued for several minutes. The orcs were getting the worst of it. In another minute they would likely be eliminated, but there were only six bugbears other than the general still standing. The last bishop had fallen half a minute ago. The next and last magic lances were sent into two of the orcs holding their own. It was enough to kill one out right and wound the other enough to make it easy for the bugbear it had been fighting to finish it off. Apparently, the two bugbear mages were low on manna and had run out of manna potions. After the last attack, they picked up warhammers from the fallen on their way to join the melee.
With that fight wrapping up, things appeared to be taking a positive turn. However a second later, Henry entered the floor guardians guard to deliver a blow to its main body. One of the guardian¡¯s shield forearms had been reduced to rubble, leaving only a stub that could be swung like a club. It was at this point where the floor guardian demonstrated a before unseen capability. Roots unfurled from the body shooting out. Some flew forward in an attempt to spear the general. Others flew past and curled in an apparent attempt to coil around their enemy.
Henry blocked those thrust directly at him with his shield. A split second later, he noticed the roots closing in from behind him. He leapt corkscrewing in the air with his hammer. There were too many roots behind him, but above there were far fewer, his hammer was as good as a blender mashing the roots it met as the general made it 15 feet in the air.
Henry hung for a moment at the zenith of his jump, his body was still turning but at a far reduced rate. That was when the floor guardian¡¯s stub batted him from the air. The general caught the attack on his shield, but he was still sent like a rocket away from the melee. His shield separated from him in flight, the hand and forearm straps having snapped. A second later the general slammed into the floor and rolled a half a dozen revolutions away from the battle.
Henry was on his feet a second later, and sprinted back the hundred feet to rejoin the battle. Mid stride he yelled for the other bugbears to attack the hedgehog amalgamation. The last orc had fallen, leaving five already weary bugbears still on their feet. However, after hearing their commander¡¯s orders they charged their designated target.
The hedgehog amalgamation turned to face them, but the floor guardian ignored them completely, unwilling to shift any focus from the deadliest threat. Henry''s speed increased substantially, making him a literal blue. He was flaring his dash and fierce skills together. The two bars were dropping at a rapid rate, but the general¡¯s speed and power was near double what he was normally capable of. At the edge of the guardian¡¯s range, Henry leapt forward. Lighting crackled from his hammer as he brought it down.
The floor guardian was not fast enough to react to the much smaller figure. It could do nothing as the warhammer slammed into its head. The large rock that was the guardian¡¯s head was obliterated. Shards and rubble were sent out in all directions. Henry continued through his arch landing on the far side.
With the head gone, Mark half expected the creature to topple lifelessly to the ground. Instead the headless amalgamation slowly turned its body to face the bugbear commander. There likely was a limit of accumulated damage that the creature could withstand, but it had not reached it yet even without a head. Whatever sense it used to find and locate enemies was similarly not affected.
Henry charged back in this time without using any of his skills. Dash had bottomed as had his pull skill when tanking the magic attacks at the beginning of the battle. The leader still had his full soak bar, and about a quarter of his fierce bar. It was enough to deliver another powerful blow or two slightly weaker than his last attack, but the bugbear leader would have to be able to reach the guardian¡¯s body. Tens of roots tentacles flared out to all sides increasing the angles that they could streak in to grab or pierce their enemy.
Even an unenhanced hammer swing could mince roots that it met, but the guardian seemed to have plenty to spare. Not to mention the creature still had one shielded forearm and the stub that it could swing surprisingly fast for something of its size. It would take time for Henry to work himself back in close enough to deliver another strike to the main body.
The other five bugbears had engaged the hedgehog amalgamation. One of the mages was almost immediately turned into a pin cushion. With no shield to guard against the projectile swath, the mage took quite a few. The mages did not have the soak skill as the rest had. Mark had chosen the pull skill since it would allow them to regain manna to perform more magic attacks. The unit tried to bring a potion to his lips, but eventually the arm fell back down to the ground allowing the healing potion to roll away.
The potion did not go to waste. One of the injured bugbears of the warhammer class had noticed the effort and elected to scoop it up. One of its arms was badly mangled. The other three had closed in. The earthen hedgehog also had another attack that could be performed against units that entered into close range. It could push out any of the hundred projectiles to three times its length in an effort to skewer anything close by. The two bugbears of the warhammer class reacted fast enough to dodge the unexpected attack. One was even able to continue its attack, slamming its hammer into the rock encrusted chest. The bejeweled rocks showered and cracks spread out from the impact point. The second mage bugbear on the other hand had been a touch slower, and had caught a makeshift bone quill to the side.
The bugbear mage stumbled away, one of his hands trying to locate the healing potion that he carried. The other three bugbears renewed the attack. Perhaps if there were a few more bugbears or the ones that were here were in peak condition they would be able to manage this amalgamation, but as they were, Mark would not hold out hope for their victory. Mark just hoped they could hold this one off, allowing Henry the space he needed to finish the floor guardian.
The bugbears had seemingly realized that they would not be able to quickly take down their foe, so were being more careful. All the while the bugbear general chipped away pieces off of the floor guardian. If the battle continued like this, Mark was sure that they would eventually prevail. However, the other side had likely noticed the same thing. The hedgehog obviously turned its attention away from the lesser foes and onto the bugbear leader whose back was to it.
A swath of projectiles lanced from its tail. Luckily the bugbear general was already moving to the side to avoid some of the root like tentacles from the guardian. The movement saved him from becoming a pincushion, although several projectiles still looked to have grazed Henry including one that tore through the side of his waist. Evidently it was a good enough shot to make a connection with Henry¡¯s pelvic bone, since the force spun the bugbear commander about. A second disorientation was all that was needed for several roots to snake their way around various locations on the bugbears body. The guardian had a hold of him.
The other bugbears intercepted the hedgehog, punishing it dearly for disregarding them. They went to work on the only exposed surface near the front left leg. The left leg was turned to rubble by four successive strikes However the last of the bugbears was too slow in retreating and ended up getting speared through the chest. The wound might not be instantly fatal for the bugbear, but he would not be contributing any more for the minutes that he likely had left.
Henry strained against the roots. He was able to tear some free through pure force, but they were being replaced quicker than he could tear free. All the while the general struggled to keep the roots taunt, so the amalgamation could not reach him with either of its arms. However, then the guardian started stepping toward Henry to close the distance itself.
Henry made a split decision strategy change and rushed toward his foe. The vines slackened briefly as the bugbear commander reversed direction. The last of his fierce skill burned down as he ripped through roots moving forward. He was free, but had been slowed far too much to use the fumes of the fierce skill to deliver a final strike. The remaining shield arm whipped back in between intercepting the lightning charged strike. The earthen shield on the forearm fell apart crumbled, but the appendage was not severed like the other one had been.
The other stub swung in hard from the side. Henry was unable to dodge. His left arm was pinned against his side from the blow, before his entire body was sent pinwheeling away¡ towards the hedgehog. Henry¡¯s left arm hung limply as he regained his feet right in front of the other amalgamation. He was still the focus for both amalgamations, so the hedgehog attacked him immediately.
Henry called the lightning to in a flash as he swung his hammer back up and through the swath of projectiles. It was partially effective. One speared through Henry¡¯s thigh, and another through the lower part of his chest. Henry the relentless, continued through, bounding toward the amalgamations chest. The lightning charged hammer continued one full revolution over his head, back down behind him, and back up and into the earthen hedgehog¡¯s chest. Cracks quickly fissured throughout the enemy''s unit for a split second, before the unit just fell apart. The various parts crumpled to the ground.
Meanwhile the remaining four bugbears charged in to delay the guardian. The guardian powered on right through them to get to its target. One of the bugbear mages was batted away by the guardian¡¯s arm. The other mage got caught in the roots. The remaining two bugbears made it through to either side of the guardian. They might not have been as powerful as Henry, but they both were still able to deliver powerful blows to their respective legs. Dual pockmarks were created on the legs and the guardian hobbled forward several steps.
Henry was limping away himself, his soak ability going full tilt to seal up the two serious wounds. His soak skill bar dropped to perhaps a tenth of the bar in a matter of seconds. Mark had been worried up to this point in time, but now the other amalgamation had been taken out of the picture it would be a more direct flight with no more surprises. Henry hardly had any skills to burn through, but his soak skill and some healing potions had brought him back up to near peak condition. Not to mention he still had the help of two other bugbears, and the guardian was not in peak condition. One arm was gone just past the elbow. The other no longer had the shield like protrusion, and seemingly half of the roots were already gone.
It might be a bit non climatic ending, but the three worked to whittle down the guardian¡¯s defenses over a good 10 minutes before Henry moved to deliver the final strike. The bugbears paused only briefly outside of the doorway to the next level. A moment later the three stepped through. Amelia and Mark let out a sigh of relief as the view of a core room came into view. If there had been another level, the attack would have ended in failure.
Chapter 63: Day 215
[Notice: Contender, Derrick Blackwell, has been eliminated by another contender. Contender has been given a unique reward. Contenders remaining 6/35]
The three surviving bugbears appeared back in the middle of their dungeon territory instead of being dropped on the other contender¡¯s dungeon site or where the alternate entrance had been; the two locations that Mark had thought were possible. Both of the other surviving bugbears had become the dungeons'' newest veterans. Mark greedily thought that they were perhaps one step closer to perhaps having two more units hit a level where they could push for a unique title, but the thought did not last very long. They had just defeated a dungeon, so there was already a unique reward waiting for them.
During the hour wait for the unique reward to become available, there was indeed another patch notice.
[Notice: It is an adventuring party not an army patch has now been made on the interface. Going forward, adventurers will not be able to take items that summon additional units into the dungeon. This patch does not apply to units who pass through a dungeon¡¯s main entrance.]
The patch had sent Amelia off on a tirade, as seemingly the battle managers worked once again to close off a carefully discovered advantage that they had discovered. She stomped around for a minute or two before she settled back down and started messaging Avery about the outrage. Mark understood her anger, since out of the four patches that had been implemented, three of them had been directed at their actions.
However, Mark had wholly expected this patch. The rock golems had really been little more than fodder in the attack, but they would most definitely not have been able to make it through the battle without them. If the dungeon¡¯s defenses had been less suitable for dealing with the rock golems they could have been far too effective. Not to mention the golem balls were only of average quality. They would be even stronger if the gnomes were able to perfect them further.
The second the timer ran out, Mark pulled up their unique reward starting the new hour timer.
[Unique Reward: Choose between one of the three options
- Take the money and run.
- Grave robber
- Technological leap
Time remaining 60:00]
The first choice was the obliged MP option. At 5,000 MP a day, Mark would be lying if he said he wasn¡¯t tempted. Their daily MP rate was 27,430, so it would be a large boost. However, Mark expected to get at least another 15 to 20 thousand MP daily production increase once they finished the techs Magic energy production III and Settlements III, which would diminish the daily production increase. Still 5,000 MP a day, could not be looked down upon.
The second option was perhaps one of the most interesting options that they had ever been offered. When it said grave robber, it meant robbing one aspect of the newly defeated contender. Everything was on the table, including essences, techs researched, branches unlocked. If they went with this option, Mark could snag the level 2 gargoyle class or the ability to make the amalgamations. Of course there were also options that Mark had no idea about. Mark and Amelia would be able to browse over Derrick¡¯s whole dungeon if they picked the grave robber reward.
Mark doubted Derrick had any techs that they would be interested in. Derrick had not even progressed his dungeon to level 3 yet. If they went with one of the essences that Derrick owned, they would get an infinite supply. That would be good, but it would depend on what uses they found for that essence. For their last unique reward they had been offered an essence hoard, and Mark had ended up going with something else.
The gargoyle class or the amalgamations were by far the most tempting options that Mark knew about. After all, they had not even seen what level 3 options the gargoyle class could offer. However there were a few cons that Mark could immediately identify with going that direction. The constructs could have their own unique upgrade system. Mark already had three different paths that they were on, adding a fourth could further stifle progress.
As far as amalgamations, it seemed to Mark that there must be some limit, either time or resources that had prevented Derrick from making as many as he wanted. Through Amelia¡¯s conversation with Avery, it was apparent that Derrick had only used them sparingly outside of the dungeon. How long had Derrick had the capability? Based on having the capability to put one on the fifth floor, Mark had to guess Derrick had the capability at or around the time dungeons started ranking up to level 2. Three or four months worth of time with the capability meant that at best he had gotten one every two weeks or so.
If that were the case, Mark would be better off getting 5,000 MP a day. He could build a fairly strong platoon of units for the amount of MP in a two week period of time. Sure the amalgamations could be put in the dungeon where defenders were limited, but Mark could always build more floors or even strengthen the dungeon in other ways. No, if they were going to go with the second option, the gargoyle branch was likely the better bet.
The third option, technological leap, did not sound near as good until Mark started running through some mental math. Technological leap would not only give them one free random tech from the tech tree, but would advance one upgrade on their other paths. It would also give them one free project for each of their research lab focuses. With option 2, Mark had once again been reminded about the difficulty of maintaining multiple different unit upgrade paths. However for the third option it looked like their diversification would actually net them more benefits.
Mark shifted to their tech page. They had seven techs available including the level 2 siege weapon option. That would be a serious blow if that was the one they unlocked for free. Mark shifted to their homepage. They were just under 129,000 MP, but they did have 88 DP that he could convert. It would be a bit of a setback, but since the lowest of any of the other technologies was at a million MP, getting siege weapons if they chose option number 3 would be a serious blow if they took this unique reward. If Mark took it out of the running, they would basically get a tech that would normally take them at least 40 days to unlock if they went into full save mode.
Already, Mark could discount option one with this offer. Getting something worth at least a million MP or more would be the equivalent of 200 days for option one to equal up to, and they had a 66% chance of getting one of the 1.5 or 2 million options since there were two techs at each cost level. And all six options were something Mark wanted as soon as possible. Not to mention the other projects and upgrades that would be finished. At this point Mark doubted that the succession battle would last more than another year before things wrapped up, so it was doubtful they would hit the point where option one netted them a greater MP equivalent than what Mark could get right now. Not to mention, how could he put a price on getting some of these technologies that much sooner.
Mark scrolled to their unit upgrade page. If they did indeed get one from each of their different upgrade paths it might not amount to much. For the humanoid tree upgrades they could get something as low as 1,000 MP if any of dozens of the advanced class options were selected. For the plant tree, they would get either a 25,000 or 50,000 germination upgrade. By far the only sure win would be the level five beast bloodline upgrade that cost 100,000 MP. Overall they would not amount to much when compared to the free tech, but they were certainly a nice bonus.
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As far as the projects from their research lab. They would get five freebies. After the free tech, this would be the biggest bonus in Mark¡¯s opinion. After all it would mean another skill, which would really compliment their last unique reward, the gymnasium, so far their own research, had only produced one as of yet undefined project.
Mark totaled up the benefits of the third option in order to sell it to Amelia. Conservatively, taking option 3 would put them a good 2 months ahead of where they were now right off the bat, on top of the other benefits. There was a 33% chance that they landed one of the MP production increasing techs, which would allow them to quickly increase their MP production. He had expected that she would be leaning toward one of the other options, but after he detailed why the third option was the best option, she readily agreed.
Mark spent another couple minutes thinking through things. After All they did have more DP they could possibly convert. If he really wanted, he could theoretically even change one of their research lab focuses, but in the end Mark just went with converting enough to unlock siege weapons for 150,000 MP completing the last of the level 2 techs. Their MP dropped to just over 0 and their DP down to 65. After one deep breath, Mark selected option 3.
Mark could not resist looking at their biggest gain first. In one way, they had hit the jackpot. They had landed one of the 2 million MP options. However, it was not the one he had been really hoping for, so there was a touch of disappointment mixed in. He had really hoped to get one of the production increasing techs, obviously favoring Settlements III for 2 million. Still the little disappointment was quite quickly forgotten with what they had gotten. They were likely the first dungeon to have unlocked gunpowder.
As much as he would love to look into gunpowder right there, he was interested in what else they had gotten as a part of their unique reward, technological leap. The humanoid upgrade was a wash, crossbowmen for 1,000 MP. A 10% power rating increase for units using crossbows. Mark had to think for a second, on how they had gotten it since crossbowmen had not been on the list of dozens of 1,000 MP level 1 upgrade options months ago. He had not really paid close attention to them in a long time, but then he remembered they had researched intricate design and siege weapons since then. Perhaps it had been added after they had researched one of those.
The fifth beast bloodline option was unlocked for 100,000 MP. Not a surprise since it was the only option they had available. However, the fact that the next upgrade was called evolution was certainly interesting. It was likely a step that had only become available upon dungeons hitting level 2, but since their dungeon was already there, they could not unlock the evolution upgrade for 250,000 MP. A steep price, but it would most definitely be worth the cost based on what information on evolution was available.
Mark could not dive too deeply into it, but a cursory glance showed that an evolution would require a catalyst. A catalyst could be literally anything. The obvious choices were of course essences, but herbs and metals could all potentially add some unique aspect. An evolved beast would take on aspects of whatever catalyst was used. The evolution would also give a power rating increase, but the amount was not detailed in the encyclopedia. Mark pondered on the possibilities for a few moments more before his curiosity on what else they had been given pushed him on.
As far as the freebie for the germination upgrade, Mark had to wonder if the battle managers were tweaking with the supposedly random selection. The only unique class had been selected. The tier 3, beast Shepard, had been selected for 25,000 MP. Mark pulled it up the germination upgrade, but it did not say much. The tier 3 germination upgrade would give a plant unit the ability to empower. Presumably the ability would allow the unit to increase the strength of beasts under its control.
As far as Mark could tell, the germination upgrades had stopped branching out at tier 3. Not a bad thing since tier 3 already had 12 options.The tier 4 and the one tier 5 upgrades they currently had available were just upgrades of the same name as their tier 3 equivalent. However the unique beast sheppard class branched out to three options all of which were also unique upgrades, trainer, symbiote, and breeder.
Just from their names, Mark could guess on what each of the tier 4 budding stage options would allow. Trainer was likely the direct upgrade from beast sheppard, increasing the plants control and perhaps strengthening ability. The symbiotic option made Mark think about the amalgamations that they had just faced. Except instead of earth and rocks it would be beasts with plant-like appendages. The final breeder option was perhaps the most enticing. Would they be able to breed more units for free?
Mark spent another minute thinking on the possibilities. It was readily apparent that anything considered unique in the game would present interesting possibilities. They would cost 50,000 MP a piece, but at least two of the new options would be added to his priority list if not all three.
Mark finally shifted to their research lab project freebies. The free projects had been what he thought would be the second best thing from choosing the third unique reward option, but after reading through their five new projects, he wondered whether it could not compete with first. The research lab projects up to this point seemed to rely heavily on things the gnomes or goblins could conceive of, or natural progressions from one project to another.
The enchantment projects for example often came in groups. They got all the stat boost enhancements. Then there were some elemental enchantments. Now they seemed to be going through a resistance or debuff phase, with fire resistance and stun being among the first completed. However, the five freebies seemed to be completely off the wall projects that fell under the realm of the foci. Perhaps some battle manager had felt sad that one of his well thought up ideas would never make it into the natural progression for dungeon units to conceive naturally.
The free enchantment project was called earth shaper. Mark would have to read through the little book that would inevitably come with the new enchantment to figure out what it could possibly do.
The new specialized class, flame jugglers, fell under the mage class option. It was their second specialized classes that fell under the mage class. A welcome addition since the spiritualist class had a strict 10 unit limit among other limitations. The flame juggler class on the other hand had no limit so could become a dependable part of their force. At level 4, flame jugglers had several spells that were available including create flame and manipulation. However, they only got a 10% boost per a level unlike the 15% boost that the warhammer class gave. Mark would have to make a flame juggler to find out anything more.
The free essence project was a corruption incendiary. The project was based on the sulfur essence they had secured from Mareth¡¯s former dungeon site. It would be the first use of the essence that they had found. Once again, Mark would have to make one to see its effects.
The embuing focus was one of their newer foci with only one completed project, manna embuing, although there were currently three more projects in the works. The first two were the basic projects of health reinforcement and stamina reserve. Basic embuing projects that likely would increase a unit''s health or stamina pool. Neither promised much use for Mark since the resources required would be more effective elsewhere. Leaders and powerhouses like Henry would likely be the one exception. However, based on resources that would likely be quite common for embuing projects.
The new project was called void embuing. Certainly, sounded cool, but once again Mark would not know what it did till they had one built. He would have to commission the gnome craftsmen to void embue a gem to see what it could do.
The final focus was the brand new skill focus. Currently, there was only one spell, thunderstrike, in work, but it had been in work prior to even taking skills as a focus. But now there was one completed project in the column, the reversal skill.
Eager to find out what the skill would do, Mark was tempted to build a unit right then, but he calmed himself. Actually tomorrow would be the day that another round of skills would be given out in the gymnasium. Another batch of 9 bugbears would finish their time through the gym with the 3 basic physical skills. Mark decided to keep 6 of them in the gym while shifting three of them out for Henry and the other two surviving veterans. He could wait 8 days to find out what the reversal skill would do.
However, it did not mean that today they could not get an idea on what some of their other new projects could do.
Chapter 64: Day 221
The defeat of Derrick Blackwell left only six contenders remaining in the battle. They were pretty much officially in the finals with only one dungeon emerging dominant in each of the five regions the dungeons had started in. The exception was their own region which was still contested between Amelia and Gale Barbary.
The feeling that the battle was moving to the end game was only further solidified by the newest move of Gale Barbary. For months, Mark had enjoyed near daily updates about Gale¡¯s development from the harpies flying overhead. Three days ago a heavy fog had enveloped the area. It was definitely initiated by their neighbor since the fog centered on her dungeon and her outposts and nowhere else. Gale had likely figured out that they were using the harpies to keep tabs on her, and found a way to counter it. She was now effectively concealing any and all of her future developments. How she was doing it was still a mystery?
What Mark did know was that Gale had shifted some of her focus. The harpies still flew over the area, and what they had been able to tell Mark was that Gale was gathering lumber¡ a lot of it. The harpies could still make out the fact that hundreds of trees no longer stretched up into the encompassing mist centered around one of her outposts. The outpost was the one near a river mouth. The biggest by far of the three sources of water that fed into the swamp that surrounded her dungeon along with much of the surrounding area.
The outpost had not been in any trouble up to this point. With only six coal mounds the site fell short of both their outposts. However, this new development was certainly something that could not be dismissed. The lumber was being used for something, and it was not walls. At all three locations, Gale had walls made of stone, so he doubted the lumber was for that purpose. In the end, Mark could only come up with one thing based on the materials she was procuring and why she was only doing it at the one location. Gale was building ships.
It would be difficult for anything other than a flat barge to traverse through any part of the swamp, so Mark guessed she was intending to send ships upstream to the north. It was not a unique concept. For more than a month Mark had been doing the same. They currently had hundreds of Tadpoles and Pollywogs making up their frogmen forces. Once they had finished the mapping tech and mapped out the swampland, the only use Mark had found for the weak units was to send them North.
Mark had been forced to send them through the southmost tributary since Gale held the biggest, and the second tributary was only a mile further to the south. Already the frogmen patrols had added a good third of the currently explored map that was still at only 50% complete. Currently the left third of their map was fairly unveiled
Lewis and Clark had respawned within the last week and had been sent south of the swampland, but North of Nicholas Holt¡¯s dungeon to expand their center of the southern part of the map, and hopefully eventually find the location of Leonard Boulevic¡¯s dungeon.
Although it was through the frogman¡¯s exploration that Mark found out another move being made by one of the dungeon contenders. Several days ago a frogman patrol had made their way south through one of the many tributaries, making it to the center of the map. Mark had been surprised to find that a large lake encompassed an island that was located in the very dead center of the map. After mapping out the lake, the frogmen had landed on the island to explore. Within minutes they had been set upon and killed by panther and wolf beasts.
There was only one other contender using beasts, so the culprit was evident even without analyzing a unit. Still it was only their second run in with Danie Hale, the contender that had surprised everyone by being ranked first on the first round of rankings despite not being one of the battle favorites.
Daniel Hale, currently held the northern region and now it was apparent that he was holding the island at the center of the map. What was on the island was a mystery, but based on the guard that was evidently patrolling the beaches it had to be good.
Mark should have known that there would be something good at the map¡¯s center. It was likely something they would all want, and it had been centralized for them all to discover and fight over. However, it had been Daniel Hale who had discovered and claimed it first. Mark could not help but picture that Daniel Hale had an outpost surrounded by dozens of coal mounds¡
As for the other contenders, Nicholas Holt was fortifying the southwest along with a volcano and source of a fire based essence that was midway between Amelia and his own dungeon. Leonard Boulevic was located in the Southeast. Mark and Amelia knew the least about him, but like the rest of the other dungeons, he was either working on dungeon level 3 or putting all his efforts to the level 3 techs.
Avery Kingston held the Northeast. Amelia was in almost constant communication from the renowned model, with both of them exchanging more information about themselves than was likely good for either. Amelia did not have an exact date, but she knew that Avery was still working on saving up for dungeon level 3. She would likely be one of the last dungeons to hit the next level. However, Mark and Amelia had aided her in taking out Derrick Blackwell who had been a constant thorn in her side a week ago.
Avery might be a month behind development wise, but she was also the last contender from Magnum. One of the biggest factions in the Arcadian realm. Not to mention, being a model and princess, she was a household known name. Currently dungeons were able to open three packages from sponsors a week, and Avery was hitting her quota each and every week. Not to mention the fact that she had a good 50 sitting in reserve.
Mark could only assume that it was the same for most of the other dungeons, other than Daniel Hale who was also from a smaller faction. Mark had no evidence of this belief. After all Gale had not displayed any units other than the lizardmen, troll, and giant branches, Mark knew that she had. However, Mark also knew that she likely had hundreds or thousands of miners. It was not out of the realm of possibility that she had an army waiting inside her mine waiting to be used or if someone should happen to attack her.
As far as Nicholas Holt and Leonard Boulevic, Mark knew they were likely opening sponsorship packages every week and also had some to spare. Mark just did not have eyes on their dungeon to keep tabs on any of their developments.
Mark and Amelia had collected a handful of sponsorship packages. They were currently sitting on 11 in total, having had the number double after their most recent victory. However, their packages were on the weaker side. It was just one of the advantages the other dungeons had always held over them.
However, Mark could not complain. Unlike the beginning of the battle, Amelia and him were fairly safe. Their defenses were improving every day as stones were mined and added onto the walls surrounding both the garden sanctuary settlement and their home dungeon. Every week or two a new project from their research laboratory was completed. An edge that gave them the ability to continue to compete.
The latest round of freebie projects they had gotten from their most recent unique reward had in no way been a disappointment. The earth shaper enchantment by itself added so many possibilities. The earth shaper enhancements were one time use enchantments, as in they were used, had an effect, and were subsequently consumed in the process. However, a good quality enchantment made on a plank of wood could already pull earth up and into an earthen wall both five feet in height and width, with a foot of thickness. They could be used in a line to instantly create a small barricade as long as Mark had enchantments to use.
While the battle had moved away from the point where a five foot tall earthen wall could make a major difference it did not mean that the enchantment did not have dozens of other possibilities. Other easy to use applications were insta forming pittraps or making a patch of land form into a bunch of spikes making it difficult for living creatures to traverse. Of course his tests had not included higher quality uses of the enchantment. In every other facet a jump from good quality to exceptional quality meant a drastic increase in effect. Mark laughed maniacally when he thought of the idea of using the enchantment to form earthen ramps up to the top of someone''s walls. It was definitely feasible.
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However, the battle managers had anticipated some of the game breakers the enchantment would allow. The enchantment could affect any type of material, but would have less effect on harder materials. With the same good quality enchantment a wall of stone might only make it to 2 feet in height. There was also a provision that the enchantment could not be used to affect man made buildings or be used to destabilize them, unless the enchantment was made for it.
Mark could not use the enchantment against one of Gale¡¯s walls causing it to crumble. Neither could he affect the earth underneath her wall to do the same thing. Of course if he built a wall he could have an enchantment that changed the base to where it would fall over when activated. Mark could picture collapsing large walls on enemies, but since it took a long time to build walls he doubted it would ever be realized. Still the basic uses for the enchantment were not bad.
The corruption incendiary on the other hand could do exactly what the earth shaper enchantment could not. It was a sulfur based liquid that would weaken most things it came into contact with. Armor and weapons that were splashed with the liquid became more brittle and dull. They looked almost like they had undergone years of oxidation. A sample wall had been splashed with the liquid, and the effects were definitely noticeable, but to a far lesser extent. Mark would need a substantially higher quality if he wanted to topple someone¡¯s walls with it. As far as living units splashed with the stuff, it would burn hell out of them. However other than the sharp pain, it would not debilitate them enough to take them out of the battle quickly.
The higher quality that was reached by the incendiary brew the greater the effect. Mark had been able to get up to average quality. One of its ingredients being an essence certainly made it more difficult than other potions although not to the extent on how much harder the rock skin pill had been.
The flame juggler specialized class was certainly interesting. The base spell for the class was to create fire. They could conjure multiple balls of fire that each had a quarter of the power of a normal fireball. Their manipulation skill was where the class truly came into its own. The fire jugglers could manipulate their own flames as well as flames from other sources. They could strengthen the flames and keep them from dying out.
It did not take Mark long to figure out that manipulating existing flames was a better use of the flame jugglers limited mana pools. Regular mages could create fireballs, and fire jugglers interspaced through the mage ranks could keep the flames alive, strengthen them, and cause them to spread. It was even possible for Mark to bring along a lot of flammable material that could quickly be set on fire to really strengthen his flame juggler¡¯s capabilities.
The void embuing project was perhaps one of the most interesting. Mark only had a couple of examples so far, but even a below average gem with this embuement was something incredibly useful. The project turned the idea of embuing over. Instead of packing magical energy into a gem, the gnomes were actually creating a vacuum that could then absorb energy. Even a gem with only a weak quality embument could absorb two magic lances. A third magic lance had caused the gem to crack, with only part of the lance being absorbed.
Of course that was only since the user tried to push the gem past what it was capable of. Normally the void embument could be used up to the point where it was full. Then it would slowly expel the energy over time. However the bugbear who had used the void embument had said he could tell where the gems limit had been. The only requirement was to have the gem close to where the magic lance¡¯s flight path. In the future, Mark could potentially have high quality rings that would keep their owners safe from a good number of magic attacks.
Mark would find out what reversal skill would do in a couple of days. However, the other projects had pushed Mark to the point where he needed to spend some of the MP they were saving up to increase their auxiliary staff. Before they had only 50 red hobgoblins that were full time researchers, crafters, brewers, inscribers, tattooers, and forgers. It would set them back another day in reaching magic energy production III, but Mark had decided to double their full time auxiliary staff to 100 reds.
Now that their dungeon was level three the unit cap for the reds was 500 units, so Mark did not feel as restricted. In truth they had hundreds of other units that had been helping out when they were not going to battle, but they were needing more and more enchantments, potions, etcetera¡ The need grew by the day despite the growing stockpile of weapons they had set aside. Unlike the 1,000 miner regiment that would fight in a pinch, these 100 would never fight no matter how bad things got. Mark could not risk their developed experience.
A day set back in progression would easily be offset by what 50 more units serving as auxiliaries could accomplish in the long run. It had been long overdue. However, this next expenditure was more to ease Mark¡¯s curiosity than to meet any need. The big ticket item for the day was that 6 of their 8 daily RP had been enough to hit the 70 RP required to unlock the first of their level 3 units.
Mark¡¯s first choice had been the Gnarled wood goblin. The topiary unit was one of two cheap options, but had the greatest potential to add strength quickly since it would follow the humanoid upgrade class. The potential to use weapons and enchanted gear made it one of the more enticing offers. At 1,800 MP per a unit, summoning one now would not be cheap, but both Amelia and himself were eager to see what their first unlocked tier 3 unit could do. Mark summoned a basic level 4 warrior. He could send it through the barracks to increase its experience and then send it through the gym for skills later.
| Gnarled wood Goblin (1/33) |
Warrior lvl 4 (recruit) |
Power lvl: 4.2 |
Morale: --- |
| Strength |
16 |
Attack: 5 |
Defense: 9 |
| Endurance |
18 |
Abilities/Skills |
| Agility |
12 |
|
| Vitality |
20 |
| Intelligence |
10 |
| Wisdom |
10 |
By looks the gnarled wood goblin was not the most intimidating of units. It was as the name suggested, gnarled roots formed into a goblin. It only stood five and a half feet tall so was not overly large. However, Its stats were far better than that of a normal bugbear and its joints appeared to be as limber as any natural humanoid. Of course the unit¡¯s natural defense was unusually high.
However, after a half hour of tests Mark could not help but feel a little disappointed. The unit followed the humanoid upgrade path, meaning it could have a class and skills, however it was not a flesh and blood unit. Healing or stamina potions were unusable, as were enlightenment or rock skin pills. In addition the unit could not make use of some of the enchanted gear. Defensive armor worked, but the ones that tried to increase strength or vitality were useless.
Still Mark felt comforted in the fact that while it could not take advantage of things that other humanoids could, it also did not share their disadvantages. The unit did not need to eat, so upkeep costs for keeping them around would be nonexistent. That was important by itself since Mark was already spending nearly 2,000 MP a day in upkeep.
The gnarled wood goblin could also take root to recover stamina or heal like a plant unit could, but the biggest boon was that it could benefit from things that affect plants. A midnight lotus¡¯ malevolent aura could boost its power rating by up to 25% based on the gnarled wood goblin¡¯s proximity to the plant. Since Mark also made the midnight lotus healers they would also benefit from the hour long healing blessed aura, and be targeted for greater spot healing.
Overall Mark was satisfied the gnarled wood goblins would be handy in many situations, but they along with the other topiary option would make excellent lotus defenders. A level 4 warrior would already have over a 5 point power rating if they were fighting close by to the larger flower. On top of being able to use skills, they would be simply dominant. However, like everything else in the battle there were limits. They would only be able to summon 33 of each type due to the cap limit for a tier 3.
Satisfied, Mark looked at what to put the remaining 3 RP for the day towards. They currently sat at just under 130,000 MP, so they were a long way off from getting the million they needed for magic energy production. They also had made it back to 101 DP. It would delay progress again, but Mark wanted to build another dungeon floor. The potential of level 3 adventurers was just too high to trust the seven floors that they currently had. They still had 2 more floors that could be bought for 100,000 MP before they hit the limit and would need dungeon features III to continue.
Mark sighed as he selected the second topiary unit option, the knotted spore spider. Mark would love to unlock the better beast options, but right now they needed another powerful floor in their dungeon. The knotted spore spider would be able to have a fifth level bloodline for a 50% power rating increase as well as get the additional boosts from the midnight lotus, the same as the gnarled wood goblin.
It felt like a bit of a loss to not pick up the evolution upgrade first as well, but that would be too substantial of a delay in their progression. Hopefully, he could unlock it before the ninth floor. Perhaps he would make an entire level of evolved Carnivorous centipedes. Since they all already had base power ratings of 3.8, their power ratings would be simply monstrous. However with the malevolent aura the gnarled wood goblins and knotted spore spiders could potentially already reach that level of strength despite probably not being as dangerous as the giant centipedes were sure to be.
Chapter 64.5 Day 222 Daniel Hale the beast Master
Primordial essence, as far as he could tell, Daniel thought he was the first to discover it. The battle creators had placed the essence that was above all essences in the exact center of the map, on an island in the middle of a lake. A prize that all of the contenders should supposedly fight over. However, the battle creators could not control everything, and things often go differently than they likely anticipated when building this world.
How could they have expected that a contender would dare hold the island, taking the benefit all for themselves. The island had defenses, both natural and unnatural. Getting across the lake would likely be a major barrier for most dungeons, but even after getting onto the island the contenders would have found an inhospitable environment filled with neutral units that spawned all throughout the island.
The battle creator¡¯s intent was likely for dungeons to send expeditions to gather and carry back as much of the essence as possible. There were a dozen different coal mound locations for dungeons to build settlements along the lake shores. Locations where expeditions could bring the essence back to in order to use. After all, the island would be too dangerous with a good hundred units spawning daily. Some with power levels closing in on double digits.
It had hurt Daniel a bit, since he had to sacrifice a small army to clear the island of all the enemies, but once the island was clear, killing the units as they spawned was a simple matter. After all, he had been doing so for nearly a month now. Occasionally he lost some of his tier 1 units; the units he sent to scout out and find the spawned creatures¡ and now units from opposing dungeons.
Killing the spawned creatures was a different matter. He currently had 4 of his 6 uniquely titled beasts responding to his tier 1 units calls to take out the constantly spawning threats. With the threat taken care of, maintaining his outpost, now settlement, was an easy matter. Now he had an inexhaustible supply of the primordial essence that would make his forces stronger. Primordial essence was far better than the dozen other essences that he had found over the course of the battle. After all it gave a direct power rating increase with any summoned units, even more when used as the catalyst for evolutions. Who could say what other uses he could find for the essence in the future.
It was a wonder that he was still only ranked third, but then again there had not been a new ranking since he had taken control of the island. He was interested in what would happen in a couple of days, but it was not like it would be surprising if things stayed the way they were. Nicholas Holt and Leonard Boulevic were most certainly the biggest obstacles that he had left to face. Until it got to the point that it was obvious that he would win, Daniel was doubtful that he would ever regain the top spot in the rankings.
In some ways he had been as surprised as everyone else, when he had held the top rank for the first few rankings. Then again, he had exploded onto the scene right out of the gate. His initial momentum might have seemed insurmountable there for a while. However, eventually his momentum had stalled as dungeon level 2 evened the playing field for the other dungeons, and the hype around him in the outside realm must have died down.
Daniel now understood that he had been one of the few that had elected to start the battle by opening the beast unit tree. Tier 1 beasts had been the perfect complement to his weak mind, strong of body specialization, where his units got a boost to strength if they had a combined intelligence and wisdom of less than 10. For each point less they gained an additional attribute point in strength. It was not much, definitely a specialization that was strong early in the game, but tapered off to nothing as higher tier units exceeded the threshold. The specialization came with the foraging and basic minerals tech, which was perfect allowing his beasts to survive on their own in the wild and discover useful resources.
The lack of intelligence and wisdom had not mattered overly much since his units did not have access to magic at the beginning. No need for strategy either, when dungeon¡¯s defenses had been so crude. Strength and speed were all that had mattered. Of course he had not realized how much simpler the upgrade path had been for beast units, until he had gotten a branch of another unit type. It had been simple enough to get beast bloodlines unlocked to level 4. A 40% power rating increase on top of his specialization was already enough for him to take on most dungeons. It was especially true since his beasts did not rely on weapons, when other dungeons had to research two technologies to even get metal weapons, with the second, metallurgy, being locked behind by dungeon level 2. The only real annoyance had been enemy mages.
His first step was maxing out MP production and unlocking beast bloodlines, all while scouting out his region. Getting set up meant that he was not the first dungeon to conquer one of the others. Several dungeons fell prior to him unlocking beast bloodline level 4 and really taking off. He took 3 of the dungeons in his region down in quick succession, and a fourth through an alternate entrance that he had discovered.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
By the end of the 4 dungeon conquest, he already had four unique titled units. All came from his starting branch, cats and dogs. The branch was the cheapest option on the beast tree, not counting the base animals option. The branch only started him with four unit types.
The ¡®First¡¯ title was given to Vivi, the caracal. The weakest unit of the branch caracals only had a power rating of 0.6, but they were quick and nimble. They were simply perfect for exploring, which is how Vivi picked up the ¡®First¡¯ title. Just one of eight caracals he had immediately summoned and sent out, Vivi had successfully discovered another dungeon before nightfall on the first day.
A second caracal, Vince, had also earned a title, the Wanderer. The ¡®Wanderer¡¯ title was awarded to the first unit that had traveled 1,000 leagues. The last of his initial unique titles, Vince had completed the feat in just under a month.
The third title, ¡®Peak¡¯, had been earned by Luna, a moon wolf. The title had been earned by the unit after reaching the point of highest elevation on the map. Not a difficult feat since his dungeon had started in the mountains where it was located. A moon wolf¡¯s base power rating was 1.3. Of course, like the rest of his named, Luna¡¯s power level was nearly 4 times that now, with a maxed out bloodline and two evolutions. Once he had built a lair and unlocked higher bloodline levels and then the evolutions, he had of course quickly empowered the unit as much as possible.
The strongest of his first four was the shadow cat, named midnight, who had earned the ¡®reaper¡¯ title. Somehow the cat had survived through all of the initial battles, when most of its peers did not. Midnight had earned the title by being the first unit to eliminate a 100 power rating¡¯s worth of units. Initially shadow cats had a base power rating of 1.7. Now Midnight was over 7.0. However she was not the strongest.
Several months passed, but Daniel finally got a fifth. This time the unit was from the first of two branches he had chosen as one of his unique rewards. The tree branch had been the fourth of his five branches, and luckily it was the strongest level two unit possible, the treant with a base power rating of 2.9. The treant, World tree, had earned the ¡®Earth shaker¡¯ title by starting a landslide moving hundreds of tons of rock. Unfortunately, he had not developed the germination pathways to the end, so the unit¡¯s power rating was still just shy of 10.
Thankfully, the sixth unique title, was once again earned earned by a beast. He had expected something for his first unit that used the primordial essence, and he had been right. He had double evolved an earth dragon from his fifth and final branch, ¡®Dangerous reptiles.¡¯ The ¡®First Primordial,¡¯ titled earth dragon, had been the strongest of his level 3 options at 3.5, and now it was probably the strongest unit in the battle at 14.1. He aptly named the earth dragon Pinnacle, a beast that would stand above the rest.
His second and third branches that he had spent MP to unlock were the primate branch and the big game branch. The primate branch was useful, being the only branch that could use weapons, like the units from most of the other dungeons. The top unit was the Garillion, an ape with four arms, with a base power rating of 2.7. Well that was excluding the branch''s Topiary combination unit he had gotten up one leveling up his dungeon to level 3.
The big game branch had given him the strongest units for a while. The branch only had five units between tier 1 and tier 2, but with the weakest being a longhorn ram with a 1.0 power rating the units were all power houses that each brought something to his armies. The most powerful unit was the cave bear with a 2.8 power rating.
All of his units were nearly double their base power rating after being double evolved. The only thing really limiting his armies were population caps and his MP. Power rating wise, Daniel knew he was the most powerful dungeon, however through his own observance of other dungeons, and his late-to-the-game, limited development of his own research and equipment, he knew power rating was not everything. Weak tier 1 units could bring down units three times their power rating with the use of enchanted gear, and enchanted gear was only one of the avenues of power that other dungeons had to fill the gap.
Having scouted all five of the other remaining dungeons, he knew he could not take this battle lightly. Sure right now, he was positive that he could take out Avery Kingston. She had fallen behind, but there were a lot bigger fish to fry. Knocking out other weak dungeons, now might not be the best move for him. After consolidating their respective areas, Leonard Boulevic and Nicholas Holt had not made a single move. Neither had Gale Barbary. For her, she had not made a move all battle. Her forces were building behind her ever growing walls, presumptively to sweep across the map, like a tidal wave.
If he focused on wiping out anyone at this point, it would actually be a detriment as other dungeons continue to grow. No, he would continue to develop his power and monitor the situation. What did it matter to him that the major factions were receiving sponsorships weekly. A mish mashed army of strong units would not make up for his well planned armies.
Chapter 65: Day 261
Mark once again checked the dungeon status page. He could not help but smile, seeing their brand new daily MP rate of 43,330. Only a month and a half ago it had been 27,430. The first raise was only an extra 900 MP. The old Crassius dungeon outpost coal mounds finally ran dry. Of course, Mark already had an additional outpost site ready to go. Once again another subterranean outpost to the south. The outpost was even further south than their last one, but only had six coal mounds for the shades to mine.
Still it was a slight bump, and that was not even mentioning that it was nice and prepositioned within less than a days march of the volcano currently held by Nicholas Holt. Of course to really make use of the site, Mark would have to upgrade the outpost to a settlement, so that units could be summoned, but Mark felt that they were a ways off from taking that step since it would cost 100,000 MP.
The next 15,000 daily MP came from the manna towers that stretched into the air above the home dungeon. They had completed Magic energy production III on day 259, but since each of the three 30 foot spires cost 25,000 MP to build, it had taken a couple additional days to build them all. Mark had even woken up briefly just hours after midnight to build one as soon as they had enough MP.
Their DP currently only sat at 10. Mark had built the 8th floor as soon as the spore spider was unlocked. Then he had spent 225 DP to build the maelstroms for the first seven floors. The first 5 floor maelstroms only cost 25 DP. The next set of 5 floors would each cost 50 DP. The maelstroms would generate wandering units with the average power rating of units set as defenders. It was not much since Mark could not control them, but it would help to prevent enemies from resting on a floor. Five minutes after a maelstrom unit was killed it would be resummoned. There were as many maelstrom units as there were defenders, so it was like doubling their defenses. The maelstrom units would be extremely helpful on the beast floors since Mark could make those fights last due to the maze of tunnels.
The eighth floor was fairly formidable, with the guardian lotus, 4 sunflowers, 5 knotted spore spiders, and 15 gnarled wood goblins. The topiary units all had power ratings over 5.0 when under the full effect of the lotus¡¯s malevolent aura. The gnarled wood goblins were equipped with shields and warhammers. The spore spiders also had an additional effect of being able to send out irritating spores. They would irritate skin, but would also close airways if breathed in, making them a truly threatening addition against flesh and blood enemies. It was just a shame that the spiders would not be evolved.
The last that would not have the option¡ their dungeon¡¯s RP flipped to zero. After finishing research on the topiary spider, Mark had decided to start sending the 8 daily RP toward unlocking the 250,000 beast evolution. It had been tempting to hold off on summoning the 5 spiders, before it was completed, but dungeon units were reaching terrifying levels of power. Mark was already looking at building a ninth floor as soon as possible. Of course the plan was to unlock their level 3 spider and centipede units to stock it with.
But now¡ Mark glanced at the 2nd evolution option available for 1,000,000 MP. A second evolution!!! Mark had immediately and hungrily read the details of the first evolution. To evolve a beast would already have to be at the fifth beast bloodline, or a 50% boost to its base power rating. The evolution would double it, meaning an evolved beast would have double the strength when first summoned. That did not take into account a beast unit''s experience level.
An expert level beast would have an additional 50% boost. The second evolution would likely be at least another 50%. Of course it would take time to get a beast up to the expert level, but it was not inconceivable for a double evolved beast to be more than 2.5 times stronger than its base level. If he were to double evolve a carnivorous centipede with a base power rating of 3.8, it would have a power rating of 9.88 at the regular experience level that all their units would start at. Suddenly Henry¡¯s 10.4 did not seem quite so overwhelming.
Mark felt a chill when he realized that the good dungeon at the north of the map was based on beasts. It did not seem like the other unit types would get to a high power rating as easily, or maybe they just had not researched that far. After all they only had up to level 4 unlocked on various humanoid class or germination upgrades. Suddenly, Mark felt they were severely behind in the battle. Maybe splitting their focus had been a detrimental mistake.
But then he thought, Or maybe the beast upgrade path increases power rating drastically to keep them at a competitive level. Beasts did not have classes that gave additional abilities. They were not really able to use weapons or equipment, they only had their physical prowess. The bloodline only increased an aspect of the beast. The evolutions gave a sharp rise in strength, but at 500 MP a unit they could not do it indefinitely. A second evolution would raise the per unit cost even more.
Mark could not help himself, he had enough MP to summon up to 16 evolved giant cock roaches at 650 MP a piece. It might be a waste of 10,000 MP, but they did need to understand the intricacies of how it worked. He would stop as soon as felt like he had things figured out. Mark spent 10 minutes thinking on how best to proceed, as he had a normal giant cockroach that was already in existence head his way. The cockroach had some bloodline upgrades, but would be a decent enough non evolved for him to compare them too.
The evolution would work based off of a catalyst, but would also develop the creatures based on what bloodline upgrades were chosen. Mark eventually decided on four of each archetype: fierce, swift, tough, and mind. For the catalyst, he would choose one of the essences that he had an unlimited supply of. He decided to go with toxin, since it would likely go pretty well with most of their creepy crawlies. After summoning the four archetypes and comparing them to a non-evolved unit, Mark realized he probably did not need to summon too many more. It was exactly as he had thought.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The fierce cockroach with 5 bloodline boosts to strength and endurance, became the largest of the 4 new units. Although all 4 were bigger than the non evolved, the fierce evolved was about 80% bigger. The mandibles also looked the most dangerous from the group.
The swift evolved cockroach with boosts to dexterity and agility was only 20% bigger than the non-evolved, well at least body-wise. The legs were longer making it stand higher off the ground. The body was more streamlined. During a demonstration, it was far faster than any of the others. The fastest unit Mark had seen during the battle by a decent margin.
The tough evolved cockroach had a noticeably thicker carapace. It was the second biggest body, perhaps 50% bigger than a non-evolved evolved, but its legs were closer to the ground. It also ran noticeably slower than any of the other four cockroaches, but it was a natural tank.
The mind evolved cockroach was apparently the mage equivalent. All four evolved cock roaches had toxic melee attacks, a trait from the toxin catalyst, but the mind evolved had two magic attacks. The weakest of which was an attack called toxin missile. It formed in between the cockroaches mandibles before streaking out like a magic missile. The toxin missile hit the tree trunk blasting off the bark in the spot, but not much else. The liquid slowly slid down into the bark below like sap. Upon closer inspection the wound was starting to fester, but it was definitely not a quick process. It probably would not be super effective against plant type units or the undead, but beasts and humanoids it probably would.
Mark imagined substituting the brimstone as a catalyst. It would probably end up similar to the corrosive attacks Mareth¡¯s units had used. The second attack was basically just a bigger version. The toxin bomb exploded against the trunk sending the liquid out in all directions. It would be a good area attack.
Mark summoned a different cockroach, this time with only one of the mind beast bloodline upgrades. The idea was to get the magic attacks while developing the cockroach in other areas. It was a failure. He found that it took at least 3 bloodline upgrades in mind to get the effect, but the cockroach only got one spell. The spell was called toxic needles. A spray of toxic needles would shoot out. It appeared that the attacks would not always be the same, although similar. Another test with 3 mind bloodline boosts proved it.
Mark had used the same other 2 bloodline boosts as the last. The result was once again only 1 spell, that was also different. Although this attack was the single target type of spell. The two cockroaches'' stats were also slightly different. It appeared that the evolution process always delivered something different.
The fact that it took multiple mind bloodline boosts to get spells was not overly concerning. The cockroaches had poor manna based stats to begin with, so he would need all mind bloodline boosts if he wanted them to be useful. It was possible other naturally smarter beasts would be different, but none of them were really that smart to begin with.
Mark could not help but to summon two more. One swift cockroach with electric essence. The result was not disappointing. The cockroach was even faster than the other swift cockroach. Mark had expected as much since the electric essence was more conducive to speed. Interestingly enough the electric cockroach had basically an energy bar that it could burn to move even faster, or use to electrify its attacks. The bar would apparently only refill slowly though. Mark expected it was due to having a poor wisdom attribute.
The second cockroach evolved using stone essence as the catalyst. The armor became even thicker, the cockroach slower, and the defensive stat had sky rocketed past the other evolved cockroach tank. It was clear that catalyst¡¯s were not a one size fits all, if he used the right one it would reinforce what he was going for. Whereas the toxic essence might have actually been less complementary resulting in a weaker defense, but the toxic tank also had the toxic attack. Everything was a trade off. Mark did not have enough stone essence to make a line of tanks, but it was likely that metal from the mine would be fairly effective.
It had taken 8 samples, but Mark felt that he had a good understanding on what they would need. He sighed, the 8 cockroaches only had a power rating of 2.1. They would be little more than fodder at this point. Definitely not worth their cost of 650 MP.
Mark sent them off as he contemplated on where to go from here. Months had passed since the first of the dungeons had hit level 3. Things had been relatively peaceful for a while, but things were sure to kick off at some point. Once again, he was starting to feel that time was growing short. Dungeons would start making their move soon.
Mark shifted to the notes part of the interface to see the latest tallies. Looking at the numbers always brought him some comfort. Months with no action, meant months of building their stockpiles. Enchanted arrows were their biggest surplus, and had broken into the six figures just recently, but they also had spare armor and weapons. They had enough potions and pills to give a large herbal shop a run for its money.
They had so much that Mark had to have two large warehouses built, one for each of their main settlements. No longer would they store so much in the core room. If the warehouses were destroyed in an attack, they would respawn with everything they stored in perfect condition.
The only issue with replacing an army now, would be the MP constraints of resummoning units. With things the way they were, Mark knew that they should start ensuring they had a buffer of MP at all times once again.
Other than their equipment, their dungeon''s defenses had come along nicely. The wall was now about 12 feet tall. The double level archer tower was back further up on the hill, with full coverage. However two dozen smaller archer towers were scattered along the wall''s length. Each would support eight to ten archers. Then there were the other defenses, Mark thought smiling. Of course they would only work once.
Chapter 66: Day 268
Mark had expected hostilities to start up at some point, but never did he think that Amelia and him would be the ones helping to kick them off. ¡°What did the message say exactly,¡± he said, running his fingers through his hair.
¡°Here,¡± Amelia just said, bringing up a chat window from the interface. There were multiple messages, back and forth from past interchanges between Gale and Amelia, but Mark¡¯s eyes focused on the latest.
[Gale Barbary: Amelia, I am proposing a team up between the two of us. My plan is to take on Mr. Holt, hopefully with your assistance. He is the bigger threat to all of us. Unfortunately, if you are unable/unwilling to send a force in assistance, my plans will change. I cannot risk sending my forces so far with your dungeon right on my doorstep. You might not be the most dangerous threat, but I cannot disregard you, after your accomplishments in this battle. If you do choose to join, we will have to coordinate, so I can ensure that you are sending a sizable portion of your might in this endeavor. My forces will march south in 3 days. I hope your forces will be able to join us 4 days from now. Plan is to take out his volcano settlement before moving on to his home dungeon. I will standby, expecting your answer sometime this morning, and then we can work out the details.]
¡°So, what do you think?¡± Amelia asked frantically. Mark held up his hand as he thought about it for another minute. Amelia shifted her weight back and forth as she awaited his response. The message did not read differently his second time through.
¡°It¡¯s an ultimatum. Either we join her to take on Nicholas Holt, or she will attack us instead,¡± Mark sighed.
¡°Duh¡ I got that much,¡± Amelia said, rolling her eyes. ¡°I was asking what you wanted to do. Honestly, teaming up with her seems like the way to go. Maybe we get Avery to join in forming an all girl alliance, and we can take out all the guys,¡± she added excitedly.
¡°Well it would definitely be too late to add Avery in all this since it would take her far longer to move an army across the map,¡± Mark stated, giving Amelia a depreciating look. ¡°As far as siding with Gale versus Nick, siding with Gale is clearly the better option given the alternative. Knocking Nick out would be great in the long run. However, I would not say this is really an alliance at all. She is not giving us a say in the matter, other than join her or she will attack us.¡±
¡°Well from her side of things, it would be pretty difficult to make a big move, when her next door neighbor who took out the last two dungeons in the area does not. If she is planning on moving on Nick, then I am sure she would be capping out her best units,¡± Amelia reasoned.
Mark nodded. The line of thinking was definitely sound. It would be difficult for him to send a large army away with such a nearby threat, but he did not have to like the fact that Gale was basically twisting their arm to participate in her upcoming move. Mark knew what was driving, Gale¡¯s new move. Gale had finished researching Settlements III. It was evident since she had established not one but two new outposts. Gale had maxed out dungeon level 3 MP production. Perhaps now she was trying to push the MP production advantage while she still had it.
Mark was fairly confident that if Gale were to attack their dungeon, they would be able to win the battle. However, it would also mean that the two dungeons would have to go at it until one dungeon emerged as the victor. Avery was too busy building up her dungeon since she clearly felt behind. Daniel Hale had not made any indication that he wanted an alliance. The other two would for sure not help in the conflict. Mark would love to bet on himself in the matter, but a more realistic part of him knew that the conflict would delay progress substantially. The other dungeons would only get stronger. Who could say a unique reward that they would get from defeating her would make up for the delay.
¡°We will join her, try to ask for a full week of time to prepare though,¡± Mark said finally. Amelia started thinking through how she wanted to say it, as Mark took stock of their situation.
They currently sat at 289,324 MP, 52 DP, and 56 RP toward unlocking the black funnel web spider. The spider would not be unlocked prior to the army having to set out, so their top level 3 unit options would not be in play for the endeavor unless Mark wanted to use MP to unlock them.
They would net more than another 120,000 MP in the next 3 days, meaning that Mark would have a good 400,000 MP to work with. Not that Mark wanted to use it all. In total they had over 1,800 units at their home dungeon, and that did not include the 100 auxiliaries. However, the 1,900 included a 1,000 unit mining refinement, a 450 unit archer division, and just under 100 plant units that would not be pulled for any reason.
Mark had a 100 unit platoon of bugbears and a small squad of bugbears that would work separately under Henry to lead an army. However, he only had just under 300 other goblins to start out a force. At this point, an army would have to be in the thousands, but Mark would also have to consider the logistical support for such an army. It would not be cheap. Thankfully, he had already done much of the planning legwork. After all he had anticipated prospective armies, and spent no small amount of time refining it, but Amelia cut him off before he could start the preparations.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
¡°She responded. Says, it will have to be in 3 days. No, she did not give a reason. I already asked,¡± Amelia said, looking at him.
Mark sighed but nodded in affirmation. MP wise, they would definitely have enough to send a decent size army. He was more frustrated with the fact that they were being pushed into it, but then again he would rather hundreds of giant humanoids and lizardmen march on Nick¡¯s dungeon and not on theirs.
However, the ensuing exchange that Amelia eventually gave up on mediating made Mark feel like changing his mind. Gale started to inquire about the forces that they would send. Mark knew that he would have to make their offer sound reasonable, but he also knew that Gale would want to push for them to send as much as possible. Nobody wanted to go full out on an attack, when their allies only sent a token force. Gale wanted their help, but she also wanted them to spend a lot of resources on the endeavor.
Mark had thought that a full regiment of 1,200 units would be a good initial offer, but Gale wanted to know the force makeup. Amelia gave up at this point, giving Mark access to the chat with Gale. She was less than thrilled that the army would be made up of mostly tier 1¡¯s when her force would have hundreds of tier 2 and tier 3 giants and trolls.
Mark had already explained that the goblins did not have any tier 2 units besides the bugbears and they would be at capacity with them already. Gale obviously knew about their ¡®insect¡¯ and plant branches, so Mark had to argue that most of them would just slow down the army. Their enchanted weapons were their strength anyways, so they would want them for the assault.
A good hundred messages later, Mark and Gale came to an accord. Mark would have to send five full divisions of the lesser goblins, the bugbear platoon, 100 mages, and the spiders that he had planned for logistics. In all the force would be around 2,000 units. It would definitely squeeze their available MP, but Mark could not overly complain since the force Gale described that she would send would most definitely cost quite a bit more.
Mark started to shift numbers. Four of the divisions would be infantry. The only limiting factor was that goblin legionnaires were capped at 625. The lesser goblins just could not fill in the role for forming a defensible shield wall. Mark decided that 150 for each division should be plenty. Mark could only sigh when he realized 600 legionnaires with level 3 classes would cost 162,000 MP. However, they should be the biggest single expense for him to make. The rest of the infantry would be made up of horned goblins. Mark decided he would only give them a level 1 class for 10 MP. In total the infantry would cost 233,400 MP.
The fifth archer division on the other hand was ridiculously cheap. Mark would be spending less than 6,000 MP for the cheap units. He would not pay for classes for those he was required to summon, but half the force would be the leftovers from their attack on Mareth¡¯s dungeon anyways. Many of them had been sent through the barracks over the months. Mark also would not be paying any MP for the mages or bugbears. He already had capped out the bugbears, and had more than 100 level 4 yellow mages ready to go.
It meant the only other expense would be the spiders, that would be used to carry supplies. At 600 MP per a base unit they were already fairly expensive. Mark definitely was not going to pay to evolve them, nor would he pay 300 to get them to bloodlines level 5. However, level 2 was fairly reasonable at 30 MP. Two fierce bloodline upgrades would help them carry a bit more.
Mark had of course already established a logistical base for the wolf spiders. Five spiders without enhancements would be able to support the needs for just over a hundred units. Mark sighed. It would take about 95 spiders to carry everything for the army for a week''s duration. Mark cut the number down to 75, they would lose a lot of units in the first conflict at the volcano. Not to mention, the goblins would be carrying some of it themselves.
Mark did the final calculation. The total endeavor would cost them around 292,000 MP. Mark checked their status, after several hours of working things out with Gale and doing his calculations, they already had enough to summon everything. Of course he would wait to minimize support expenses, but at least the attack would not require any of the MP that they earned from here on.
The cost included summoning the required units and rations, but in total the endeavor would cost them far more. After all, a lot of manpower went into gathering and making the supplies that would be taken. Not to mention the MP and time it would take to rebuild the units that they already had. Just replacing the bugbears would be 150,000 MP, and that would not include them having more than 1 skill. They would all have to be re-sent through the gymnasium. Saying that it was a half a million MP army would actually be an understatement.
Unfortunately, some of the new research projects would not be in play for this battle. Mark was especially looking forward to the grenadier class that was still in its infancy. Other than black powder stuffed into hide bombs, they did not have a use for their newly researched tech. The thunderstrike spell completed the day before, but it would not be in time to send units through the gym to learn it.
On the other hand, they had plenty of gear ready to engage undead. Mark knew a bit about what they would be facing. The incorporeal spirits would be a definite threat. Luckily, they had things to use even against them. They would take some of their very first essence project the vitality bombs. Mark had a whole shelf full of them, despite never having used them. They also had shields that were double enchanted with defense and the protection enchantments. They would give the goblins some defense against curses or incorporeal beings.
At least with the warehouse, he would no longer need to physically set aside gear for summoned units. He could do it all on the interface now. He could match any equipment in his warehouse right to the unit before summoning them. That had been the biggest heartache with preparing the army in the past. Managing goblins was a real chore, best to be avoided whenever possible.
Chapter 67: Day 276
Nicholas Holt
¡°Jeeves! Another glass of wine,¡± Nicholas Holt demanded. It was not even 7 a.m. but he was already stationed on his chaise lounge chair. If he was going to be up this early, then he was going to do his best to be less miserable about it.
The attack on his volcano essence outpost was not a surprise. Truth is he had been monitoring his enemies progress for days, and he had known about it before then. After all, a deal had already been brokered. There were two contenders that no longer belonged in this battle, and a third that was too far behind to matter.
Initially Jeeves and himself had thought of manipulating the weaker dungeons to help him take on his real opponents. Of course the republic bastard and Gale would be thinking along the same lines. Even a lesser dungeon could make the difference in a head to head between Nicholas and any of the other dungeons. The others likely had come to the same conclusion. Going against two dungeons at once would be difficult to overcome. Well at least while still progressing his own dungeon. However similarly the other top contenders were of the same conclusion. Six dungeons were just too many, with alliances on the board.
Sure this move would help Gale out more than him, but the alternative was less desirable. Gale¡¯s full might resulted in a far smaller force than what all the other dungeons could manage, but giants and trolls were extremely powerful. Add on several thousand fodder from another force, it would be impossible for him to focus all his efforts on Gale, resulting in a rather difficult battle.
Gale had played both sides. She had given her next door neighbor an ultimatum, and she had given him an ultimatum. Jeeves had been unsure of which way she would actually move till the armies had set out. Nicholas would play along for now as would Leonard, although they all probably expected things to fall through within a matter of weeks.
Nicholas shifted the view once again on the interface. The sun was already almost fully above the horizon, yet it was difficult to pick out his forces under the trees. The goblins were camped in a field several miles from his territory, planning on assaulting his settlement the next day. He doubted the goblin forces were expecting to be the ones being attacked.
Nicholas saw a massive ten foot shape moving through the trees. It was one of his mummy lords. The massive clothes figure carried a massive coffin on his back. Nicholas had four branches from the undead tree unlocked. The first was the skeleton branch. The branch was made up of tier 1 units, only giving one tier 2 unit, the skeletal knight. Of course he also had a couple combination units that bolstered the branch in the higher tiers.
His mummy and zombie branches both had several options in both tier 1 and tier 2. The mummy branch had even given a tier 3 unit, the mummy lord.
The last branch he had unlocked was the tier 2 spirit branch, made up beings that were full or semi incorporeal. The weakest of the incorporeal units was a ghost with a 2.0 base power rating. They were probably weaker than a normal unit with the same power rating, but they were also difficult to kill with physical attacks. Enough physical attacks would scatter their essence enough resulting in the unit¡¯s death, but that would require quite a bit of effort. It would be difficult for units to focus on the task, since his army was already the most numerous among the dungeons. The more powerful spirit units were far more fearsome than even the ghost.
All four branches followed the same upgrade path as the humanoid branches with classes and skills. Nicholas knew that much from conversations with Leonard and Gale. However, it would be his research lab foci that set his dungeon apart from the others. He had enchanting, essence, and embuing like probably all the other dungeons, but other dungeons could not use the necromancy focus. At least not very well since death magic would harm living casters. With necromancy, Nicholas was able to add to his forces both before and during battle.
But his favorite focus by far was the dominion focus. It was a mix between skill and equipment. Various objects like the coffin that was being carried by the mummy lord could have many various effects. Perhaps it was because it was well suited for the undead, or perhaps it was due to him having the most researchers working on it, he had more dominion projects completed than almost all the rest put together.
¡°Young master, it appears there is chaos in the goblin camp,¡± Jeeves said, even as he refilled Nicholas¡¯ glass. He was already sharing his interface.
Sure enough, he could see the whole goblin camp scrambling about. Nick checked the time. It was 0654. It was too soon. He sat back contemplating for a moment as he watched the butler¡¯s screen. What little the goblins had done to set up a camp was quickly being broken down. Soon they would be completely organized. That would not do.
¡°Jeeves, have our armies start,¡± Nicholas finally said.
¡°Young master, that might throw off the others,¡± Jeeves said hesitantly.
¡°Just do it! I will message them. A few minutes should not make much of a difference. If they are able to summon more units and give Gale and Leonard a harder time¡ Well that would just be too bad,¡± Nicholas smirked.
Nicholas sent a few quick messages, as Jeeves started moving the armies. The army was split in three. There would be a two pronged attack from the front by the two undead armies. The third fiend/demon army would be moving in from behind. By the time Nicholas had finished sending the messages, the goblins had become even more frantic.
Nicholas watched while smirking. How had Amelia Cromwell made it this far? After having attacked her dungeon previously he had expected for her to have a few large undead beasts, but what was before him was a force almost entirely made up of tier 1 units. The bugbears were seemingly the lone exception, and there were only a hundred of them. The commander, though¡ The bugbear commander was impressive, but then he had a title. He would hardly make a difference, especially since he had brought one of his own titled units.
Nicholas had two units with a title. He had elected to move one up here while he deciphered Gale¡¯s true intentions. Now it seemed his titled would have a chance to throw down with another titled unit.
Nicholas had decided to just name the unit after its title, so now the unit was Numerous ¡®the numerous.¡¯ He could care less if it seemed lazy, naming a zombie was tacky anyways. Luckily the title had fallen to one of the zombie tier 2 units, the wight. Very lucky since the title was given to the 5,000th unit to be summoned into existence at the same time. He was lucky that he had capped out many of the lower tier¡¯s already. No reason not to since they did not consume resources just by existing.
Numerous¡¯ power rating was only 6.2, but it was not its power rating that made it dangerous. The unit was wrapped in chains that it could swing about its bodies to keep enemies at bay. All while weaker 2.0 to 3.0 skeletons summoned all around it. Numerous could only have up to 10 times its power rating in existence at once meaning 62, but they would immediately start pulling themselves out of the ground within seconds of their predecessor dying. It meant Numerous could send a steady stream of 20 to 30 weaker wights to attack enemies. Numerous might not be the best frontliner, but how many hundreds of units could he spawn over the course of a battle.
The two undead armies broke the tree line first. Already the goblins were starting to form ranks. However, their ranks started to become chaotic once again when the commander realized that another fiend army was coming from the opposite direction. The fiend army was still a good minute out, but they could not be disregarded. It was a couple months worth of sponsorship packages after all.
A level 5 sponsorship package could give a half dozen decently strong units for the tier, a dozen slightly weaker units, or 25 even weaker units. This fiend army was composed of all three types. There were some remnants from tier 2 sponsorship packages, but most of the army had been opened after their dungeon had hit level 3. The power rating for the 400 odd fiends fell between 3.5 and 5.0. Nicholas used them in every battle since maintaining them did cost some MP.
A goblin shield wall formed on both sides. The more elite bugbears, goblin reserves, and archers formed up in the center. Several goblins in the center started beating war drums. Nicholas scoffed that they thought a shield wall held up by a bunch of tier 1¡¯s would stop his forces. However, he was enjoying the cadence from the drums. His own army was eerily silent all of the time, except for the banshees none said a word.
Nicholas wondered if the goblins plan was to hold out long enough for Gale came to their aid. Nicholas knew that would not happen. Gale¡¯s army wasn¡¯t even here, but then his jaw dropped as an earthen wall sprang into existence nearly entirely around the force. The wall was a good four feet tall with an additional ditch right before it. Not something that could not be overcome, but it would certainly help.
Then came a volley of arrows. Nicholas watched as they duplicated in the air before crashing down into the front ranks of pygmy skeletons. Tiny explosions erupted among his fodder, killing over a hundred pygmies all at once. Not a big deal since that was the purpose of the pygmies, but Nicholas had only thought it would happen after several volleys and they had also come into range of the goblin mages. The one volley had been quite effective.
Twenty five wights broke out into the front of the left army. They were Numerous spawned. The goblins answered with arrows that duplicated before bursting into flames. A good deal of the wights went down, Nicholas'' eyes shifted to where Numerous was. Only a second later zombie arms started pulling themselves out of the earth. Always fun to watch. If there was anything that his army was good at, it was overwhelming numbers. Right now their forces might be equivalent as far as numbers were concerned, but in a matter of minutes his force would bulk up.
A wave of ghosts overtook the vanguard. Over a hundred translucent white wisps. This was where things would start going wrong with the goblins. The incorporeal beings always threw enemy forces into chaos while the stronger undead approached. However, a new volley of arrows burst into light and swept through the ghost ranks. Nicholas was shocked as he watched the arrows annihilate his ghosts. Only about 20% made it through unscathed. It was still enough to cause confusion, but it would not throw the force into full disarray as expected.
The shock only continued, when the ghosts quickly closed the distance before a another volley could be launched. Normally the ghosts would pass right through units unhindered, before they were able to become more tangible and strike from behind unexpectedly. However the ghosts slammed to a stop on the goblin¡¯s shield wall. The shields flared blue in response and repelled the ghosts.. A few ghosts tried to go up and over, but the further ghosts separated from the ground the slower they became. The ones who attempted to go up and over became easy pickings for the archers on the back line. Amelia¡¯s dungeon enchantments were certainly living up to what they had heard and seen.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
In the end it would not matter, a new wall of tier 1 skeletal soldiers and tier 2 skeletal knights were moving in from the left flank. Each carried a shield and a melee weapon. Similarly from the right flank were mummies and zombies bearing shields before them as they closed on the earthen fort. The enchanted arrows had been more effective than Nicholas had expected, but even they would not be as effective against higher defenses. Right behind the shield bearers were the special forces. Dominion units and mages that were the true trump card of his forces.
As expected the next volley of arrows were far less effective. Some arrows pierced right through the shields and into their bearers, but far fewer undead units fell as they closed on the wall. Then the goblins had to start to split their focus as 400 fiends broke out of the tree cover and into the open from behind. Many of the fiends carried a shield and all of them had fairly decent defensive stats. Arrows sifted through their ranks, but not a single fiend went down.
However, the goblin forces immediately countered. The heavily armored bugbear platoon hopped over the wall to engage the fiends outside of the walls. Seemingly at once all of the forces met. Skeletons, zombies, and mummies slammed into the front wall, and the bugbear platoon and fiend army slammed together. Outnumbered and weaker than most of the fiends, Nicholas expected the bugbear platoon to buckle fairly quickly, but the bugbears were actually carving into the fiends.
It only took Nicholas a moment to realize that the difference was made due to skills. If that was the case, their skill bars would run empty in a minute or two. Then the fiends would quickly take the upper hand.
His attention turned to the other side. Several powerful tier 3 banshees swept the front line shields with their sonic wails. The wails did not effect the undead, but whole swaths of the shield wall opened up as the goblin units fell back clutching their ears and eyes which were already bleeding. Undead started making their way over the walls. Ghosts, wraiths, shadows, and spectors also started pouring past the protective shield wall that likely would have kept them out. It looked like the battle had quickly shifted to being a slaughter, all thanks to the spirit branch. A shame since the dominion units and mages were coming into range.
However, the goblin force had a new surprise. A handful of round globe like objects were cast out from the center to the different parts of the front line. Each exploded, sending golden energy in all directions. Tier 1, 2, or 3, it did not matter, all of the spirit units caught in the aura were obliterated. They screamed as they were torn from existence. Wights, zombies, and skeletons fared better, although more than a few collapsed.. Conversely the injured and wounded goblins started jumping back up to their feet. The aura only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it had renewed the goblin forces and devastated his own. Nearly all of his spirit units had been whipped out by the one move.
Nicholas gripped his chair. The goblin ranks were still fairly chaotic, but they were already coming back together. They had anti-undead bombs? and they were alarmingly effective. He was beginning to feel pissed off. Not because he thought that he would lose, but from the fact that this battle was starting to seriously cost him. Still he controlled his rage as he saw his trump card come into play. The special force units got into range.
Undead eldritch mages started firing green flames into the goblin ranks. Necromancers sent black globs of energy forward. They passed right through the bodies of goblins archers and into the ground. Within seconds bony or flesh covered fingers started pulling themselves from the earth. Other necromancers outside of the wall were bringing back fallen undead and goblins. It was not a true resurrection. They would collapse when the spells wore off. To maintain balance the battle creators had put limits preventing him from making an infinitely reviving army.
Dozens of dominion carrying units started to make their move. The only downside about dominion was that the units could not move while asserting their dominion. Thoroughly interspaced mummy lords slammed undead banners into the ground. All of the undead within the banners range would become 20% stronger and their wounds would heal. Other high level undead whipped around their dominion items. There were all sorts. Coffins that had chains that shot out to ensnare goblins before pulling them into the coffin. Other coffins released powerful undead guards that were both powerful and difficult to kill.
Goblin mages and archers started targeting his special forces, but most of their efforts were in vain. Chains knocked fireballs aside. Most of the arrows were not powerful enough to take down the stronger undead. There was not enough concentrated fire. Most of the goblin archers were still trying to fight off the undead popping up out of the ground within their midst. The 75 wolf spiders had already been sent out to aid the bugbear platoon as their skills began to wane. That fight would actually eventually go his way, but it would be a slow tilt of the scale.
The bugbears would last longer than he would have expected. Amelia had certainly spent a lot of time and resources to make that force quite strong. If he was not pissed off, he would have felt quite good about it. The fiends would deal with a force that she had put such care into raising. Undone by 3 months worth of sponsorship packages.
The goblins inside the makeshift fort were now in complete disarray. Undead unearthing in their midst, and goblins rising from the dead made it impossible for them to hold a line. Until that point the handful of bugbears that were leading had managed to hold things together, but now things seemed past the point of no return. Pockets of goblins were fiercely fighting to stay alive. Apparently, the bugbear commander had come to the same conclusion. He roared, ¡°On me! On me.¡± A good eight bugbears that were still alive within the mayhem made their way toward the bugbear commander, abandoning their zones of control.
¡°I think they are going to try to break out and escape,¡± Nicholas warned. Jeeves immediately started barking orders to close the net.
Half a minute later the bugbear commander started forward. Except instead of trying to break out through the rear or try to escape through the flank, he went straight into the undead force in front. ¡°Hmmm, looks like instead of escaping, he is going on a warpath.¡± Jeeves mumbled quietly.
Nicholas watched as the bugbear commander led a wedge of other units into his own forces. One part of him had wanted them to try and escape. He would lose less units. If things went according to plan it would not matter if the force was wiped out or not. The other part of him wanted to continue to watch the showdown, after all he hardly had much occasion for excitement over the last half year.
The bugbear commander¡¯s war hammer swept back and forth turning bones and flesh into paste as he surged forward. His charge quickly breached through the front lines and into open space. A half dozen eldritch spells slammed into a shield bubble that formed around him. He emerged unscathed, hardly losing a step. Nicholas smiled, they had actually just finished researching the energy shield enchantment. Nice to see what they had to look forward to.
A skeletal knight carrying a dominion tombstone sent streaks of energy his way. The energy went right into the commander. They seemingly had not done anything, but Nicholas knew that the bugbear commander¡¯s stamina would drain quicker and he would not be as fast or strong. It was an all purpose debuff.
A second skeletal knight with a dominion tombstone sent out red streaks of light. They hit the bugbear, flashing red and then down into the earth. Red ethereal chains formed wrists and ankles tethering the commander to the earth. The chains could stretch indefinitely in theory. In practice their pull to that spot of earth would become stronger the further the ensnared unit moved from the spot. However the commander seemingly flashed right through the red tethers that hovered momentarily before winking from existence. Neither did he seem weakened by the debuff.
Nicholas could only guess at the reason, but they had not taken effect. The bugbear commander surged toward the two skeletal knights. They both attempted to use their dominion tombstones as melee weapons, but the bugbear commander bashed right through them.
Several mummy lords had chains pour from their coffins. The bugbear commander was too quick and strong, he powered right through them, smashing them and their coffins. Other high level undead closed in on him, including several dozen grave rippers.
The rippers were combination units between his zombie and mummy units, overpowered half clothed wrapped skeletons, They were currently the pinnacle of what Nicholas could currently bring to bear in melee. Their base power rating was 3.4, but these units were well past that. They were the perfect close combat fighters since they fought with such ferocity. His other tier 3 unit the mummy lord on the other hand was big and slow. Electricity sparked from the bugbears eyes and hammer as the rippers closed in on him. He was finally going all out.
Nicholas frowned when the first swing obliterated one of the rippers. The backswing destroyed another. He once again felt the rage built as he watched his best melee fighters easily get blasted into fragments, and the enemy general showed no signs of stopping. This battle was becoming beyond costly.
However, the bugbear commander was now alone in his assault. The rest of the force that had formed and followed him had faltered quite quickly as they engaged the more powerful undead units. These goblins were hardly going to cost a thing. They were stuck fighting Numerous¡¯ wights. All while they were preyed upon by the other high tier undead. Goblins screamed as chains dragged them toward the abyss inside of each coffin. The coffins closed briefly, before sending out a chain wrapped mummy to fight its former comrades. Seconds later the chains streaked back out to catch another. The chain wrapped mummies would only last for a day, but since they had a 50% increase to the victims power rating, they were quite fearsome.
In another minute the goblins that had followed their commander would be obliterated. The goblins in the makeshift fort would be finished in a matter of minutes as well. The bugbears and spiders would fall soon after as more undead joined the fiends in exterminating them. However, Nicholas could not feel too enthusiastic about the fact when he had tier 2¡¯s and 3¡¯s falling in quick succession to the bugbear leader. From all appearances the bugbear had every base skill along with its abilities, and some¡ Just by himself, the commander had already cost him six figures worth of MP, and worse even if Nicholas put him down, he would respawn in a matter of months if Amelia survived this ordeal. Gale and Leonard better come through on their side of things.
Too think he had mainly partook in this battle to gain units more experience. He should have just sat back and waited for Amelia¡¯s dungeon core to be crushed. She would have likely had too much on her plate to take the battle to him this morning. Then again, how was he to know that his spirit units would all be killed so easily. He would just have to chalk this battle up as a learning experience in what other dungeons could be capable of.
The bugbear commander made it to the back of the undead army. He had zeroed in on Numerous. A fresh batch of wights started pulling themselves from the earth. They surged forward to only be quickly crushed. Seconds later their replacements were pulling themselves out. However the two titled units were already going at it. The bugbear commander had clearly burned through and used most of his trump cards.
Numerous on the other hand was strengthened by undead banners and could use its chains to keep its distance and attack from all sides. The wights who spawned one after the other aided where they could. They could not do much, but they delayed the bugbear¡¯s advance which was enough for Numerous to keep out of range. Another tombstone welding knight sent red tendrils from its tombstone. This time the cuffs remained on the wrists and ankles. Red ethereal chains secured the bugbear commander to the ground. The titled unit ignored them as he continued to try and kill Numerous. The bugbear commander had to know he would not be escaping now, so was making every effort to bring as many down as he could.
More debuffs hit the leader and caused him to start to noticably flag. Numerous just maintained its distance. Wights continued to pull themselves from the ground and swarm the bugbear commander, who now could only fend them off. The bugbear commander changed tactics to try and kill the skeletal knight who had tethered him, but a red energy shield sprung into existence stopping the blows. Cracks formed on the red shield, but they were half way healed before the next blow. The energy shield would not be broken in time. The wights closed in and the bugbear commander had to give up.
The tether dominion shield would not protect knight from any unit that was not so ensnared, but apparently even a 10.4 power rating unit would not be able to break it on their own. In another minute, it was all over. Pockets of resistance still struggled among the goblins and bugbear platoon, but his losses from now on would be nearly nonexistent. Most of the undead were sitting back and allowing the necromancer summons to do the fighting, at Jeeves direction.
Chapter 68: Day 276
According to the game plan the assault on the volcano was supposed to occur around 0900. Mark was already up and around well before then. He was up when he got the voice report from Henry.
¡°Boss, one of my bugbears is reporting something unusual at the giant camp.¡±
It only took Mark a moment to locate the bugbear and transfer a contact to him. Technically he was one of Henry¡¯s connected squad, but he was away from the squad leader so was currently considered an individual.
¡°What is going on?¡± Mark asked as soon as the connection was established.
¡°Boss¡? At dawn I moved to check up on the giant camp with a few lil bits. I¡¯ve been watching them for a few minutes now¡ Something just doesn¡¯t seem right. The few that are up and around keep repeating the same motions,¡± the bugbear said hesitantly.
Mark studied the camp. Over the last 3 days they had kept constant visuals on the enemy camp through multiple scouting teams. Mark wanted to verify that Gale¡¯s army was proceeding in parallel to their own. However, sure enough Mark recognized the tell tale signs of multiple lizardmen, trolls, or giants stuck in a time loop. Some stood deathly still, others were making the same movement every 30 seconds or so. There was even a case where one troll scratched his ass every half minute or so.
¡°Make a lot of noise and see if anything changes,¡± Mark ordered the bugbear.
The bugbear and green goblins immediately started hooping and hollering. There were some changes from the camp. Dozens of lizardmen interspersed throughout the camp immediately rose and oriented in their direction. A handful had been on watch, but many had just been asleep. However, Mark noticed that they were few and far between. Not to mention not a single unit from the trolls or giants stirred.
Mark switched to the connection with Henry. ¡°Henry, break down the camp. The giant army is not there. They left a small contingent with some kind of ability to make a mirage. I think they might be marching back toward our dungeon. You will have to catch up to them,¡± Mark shouted through the connection.
His mind was already playing through the worst scenario. Clearly if Gale¡¯s army was not where it was camped then it could only mean she was playing them. There was no doubt that Nicholas Holt already knew the two armies were there, so having a fake army would not be for him. Mark cursed as his mind scrambled. There was a good chance that they had marched all night.
His mind calmed down a bit. They should still be several days out. It was unlikely that Henry and his army could make it back in time, but Mark was sure that their home dungeon could fend them off even without them. Unfortunately, it would mean playing cards that he had hoped would not have to be played, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
However, minutes later Mark realized that there was an even worse case scenario that he had not considered. His interface alarm went off. Red dots were already entering their territory. His heart sank. In the seconds it took for him to shift his view to that edge of the territory, dozens had already crossed the boundary. It only took Mark one look. The very trees were being affected as giants and large trolls moved between them. Mark could already see a few of the lumbering shapes.
Either Gale had a second army or he had just found the missing one. Who was to say that the army marching south for the past few days had not been a mirage for their scouts to report back on the entire time. It was not overly surprising that goblin scouts could be fooled for so long.
Henry came over the link reporting that multiple armies were closing in on their location, but that was the least of his concerns when their very house was on fire. Mark noted it, but did not even feign to answer.
¡°Nasal!¡± Mark shouted. ¡°prepare for battle against lizardmen, giants, and trolls¡±
Nasal sputtered awake for a moment, so Mark repeated the order adding, ¡°Sound the alarm in the mines, crafters, and researchers. We will need everyone.¡±
¡°Yes, boss,¡± Nasal said after he gave the order for the second time. Mark shifted his interface back to the camp. In only seconds the camp was stirring. Nasal was shouting and rousing the sleeping goblins. Thankfully, for them Gale¡¯s army had entered the territory from the far side. Since they had moved their dungeon entrance to the complete other side, Gale¡¯s forces still had to travel two full leagues. It should take them at least twenty minutes¡ Well assuming Gale wanted the lizardmen to be a part of the attack. The larger giants and trolls could probably cross that distance in half the time.
Mark¡¯s mind was already blazing, as he considered what else he could do. Amelia started swearing from inside their hut, but he had to disregard her for now as well. Gale was already inside their territory, so they could not summon more units. Luckily, he had bolstered their defenses slightly by adding more sunflower units in the last few days, but maxing out the sunflowers was not a lot of additional units since they would be facing a full army. Besides, the sun was just now coming up. Their special sunburst ability would only be at half charge.
That left the dungeon. Mark could not help but make a quick sarcastic laugh when he saw they were right at 100 DP. Mark instantly spent it, creating the ninth floor that he had long ago designed. He also immediately paid the 10% penalty to convert MP to RP to finish unlocking the giant centipede. The black funnel spider had finished days ago, the same day their army had departed. Fortunately, Mark had built a few evolved samples. However, for the centipede, he would have to pick essences blind. He did not know how much time he would have.
They only had enough stone essence on hand for a handful of evolutions. Mark made a stone essence evolved giant centipede as the floor guardian. Nine other giant centipedes got brimstone essence evolved. Mark evolved 5 black funnel web spiders with stone essence, and gave the other 10 toxic essence. The guardian had a power rating of 8.8. The other giant centipedes had a power rating that rounded up to 8.0. All of the spiders were at 6.3. However, Mark did not even note them. He was already onto the next thing. They did not have enough MP to make the maelstroms on both the 8th and 9th floors, so Mark had to settle on one just for the 8th floor.
It was a good thing, he had gotten it all done within about a minute of the giants entering their territory. Amelia stormed out repeatedly shouting ¡®that bitch,¡¯ but then she froze in place as a new alarm rang. Adventurers had entered their dungeon. Mark flipped his personal interface screen to the first floor entrance. Twenty bulky green skinned orcs had entered their dungeon, Seventeen tier 2 Orc Warmongers and 3 tier 3 Orc Chieftains. All of them had a power rating of 4.5 up to 5.3, and all had muscles that far surpassed what a human bodybuilder on steroids could manage. All of the warmongers wore heavy armor. All of the chieftains wore robes and carried gnarled staff. They looked every bit as strong as the warmongers, but it was clear the 3 were mages.
Regardless, Mark felt furry in the pit of his stomach. The orcs belonged to Leonard Boulevic. Gale was moving on to their home dungeon, and Nicholas had his armies surrounding the army they had sent his way, and now Leonard was locking down their dungeon and potentially paving the way for Gale through the first few floors. Based on the time of the three attacks it was clear that they had coordinated with each other. Shouldn¡¯t they worry about one another? Why were they all working together against the last ranked dungeon?This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Mark only allowed himself to be sidetracked for a half a minute. He sent a quick message to Henry that he would have to manage things on his own, while Mark focused on the upcoming fight on the surface. If the surface fell, their dungeon would likely follow. There was a fair chance that adventuring parties would not be able to take the dungeon at this point, but if Gale was able to attack with even a quarter of her army, then the dungeon likely would not hold up. It would certainly be true, if Leonard cleared many of the floors for her.
Mark spent the next several key minutes fine tuning orders to Nasal to carry out. He directed for various arrows, pots of poison, and other consumables to be distributed. The trolls had a regenerative ability, so Mark made certain that necrotic arrows and weapons were one of the main priorities. The various archer towers carried a small assortment of various types, but Mark needed to ensure they all had the best tool for the job.
The alarm had sounded in the mine, but less than half of the thousand miners had made it out, although more trickled out every few seconds. Mark elected to have them form up as a second line of defense right before the pagoda tower. Manning the walls, likely would not do any good when a giant would go right over or smash it to pieces. The gnomes were retreating so they would not get involved in the battle. Amelia reappeared from the hut. She had noticed that he was too busy to engage with her, so had taken the opportunity to go to the bathroom.
¡°What exactly is going on? How did Gale get her army back here?¡± Amelia asked, looking back up at the large interface screen. Trolls and giants were marching through the large clearing where the original dungeon had been. Counters had appeared on the side and were ticking up as more and more emerged from the trees.
All of the lizardmen unit types were represented from Hatchling to the tier 2 dominators. All four types of trolls were also present including the tier 3 hill and cave trolls. However, the five giants were the only unit types that were completely new. There were five different types. The Ogres were the only tier 2 unit. The hill giant, Ettin, Cyclops, and cloud giants on the other hand were all tier 3 units.
The hill giants were slightly taller than the ogres, standing about 12 feet in height. They were sturdy looking. Each wore heavy plate armor that covered their frame except for the cavemen-like features of their face. The ettins were the same height as the cave trolls, standing about 15 feet in height. They only wore vest like plate allowing more freedom of movement for their muscular tanned arms. The cyclops were about the same height. They differed in that their skin had a pink hue and they more resembled sumo wrestlers. Like the cloud giants, they only wore hides across their massive frame. The cloud giants were the tallest, at around 18 feet. They were extremely slender in comparison to the other giants, with blue skin and blue hair. They were the only giants that were not welding tree trunk sized clubs, so Mark guessed they were more of mage types.
The cloud giants and cyclops were the strongest units on the field. Mark guessed their base power rating was at the top of the tier at 3.8 or 3.9. The two headed Ettin was likely in the mid 3¡¯s. The hill giant was likely in the low 3¡¯s, and was not much more powerful than the ogres. Regardless, they were all powerful, and like the two giant troll units they would easily be able to get over the wall.
In total there were about 200 giant humanoids, including all of the giant unit types and the tier 3 troll units. There were over 800 lizardmen and lesser trolls with just over 250 being at the tier 2 level. There were 300 lizardmen regulars, 250 centurions, and about 200 lowland and regular trolls. There were a couple dozen hatchlings as well, but they were likely for auxiliary purposes such as scouting.
After a moment of sizing up Gale¡¯s forces, Mark finally answered Amelia, ¡°This morning our scouts figured out that Gale¡¯s camp was basically all a mirage, and I guess they have been for the last few days. She never sent her army south, just a small contingent of lizardmen to keep up the ruse. Obviously Nick and Leonard were coordinating with her. I was able to build our ninth floor prior to them appearing in our dungeon, but that was it.¡±
¡°Oh¡¡± Amelia said solemnly, staring at the screen. Giant humanoids were on their way to end their very existence.
The dungeon''s tunnels and rooms had grown in size to accommodate larger units with every dungeon level, but even so the giant humanoids would have to stoop fairly low, and they would take up most of corridor width size as well. Likely, Gale had come to the same conclusion. It might be the lizardmen who carried out the main dungeon assault, after the giants took the surface. Of course they would likely enter the dungeon too for the bigger rooms. No they would have to stop them on the surface.
¡°How was that bitch able to fool us for multiple days?¡±
¡°I don¡¯t know. Likely due to the goblins'' poor observance abilities. As far as the giant holograms forming the army that traveled south. I would say it would have to be an essence ability, the same as the fog that surrounds her territories,¡± Mark stated shrugging.
¡°That bitch! I can¡¯t believe she lured us to send our army south and then stabbed us in the back,¡± Amelia stated exasperated.
Mark heard her, but his attention was currently on his personal interface screen. He felt the same way, but they could not change anything now. Regardless, not too much would have changed had Gale just attacked out of the blue. If she was able to march an army through the night and into their territory without them knowing then it was likely Mark would not have had a bunch of additional units already summoned to deal with her. Having Henry would have been nice though.
Still if they were able to survive, he needed to observe what happened on all fronts. He directed Amelia to open her interface to the adventurers in their dungeon. They would monitor all three battles as they occurred. Still Mark could care less about the orcs for now. They would easily slaughter through several floors before even showing any of their true capabilities. He could watch them if they were still going, and they stopped Gale on the surface.
Nicholas¡¯ forces of undead and fiends had been engaged with their army for a good 5 minutes now. At the start the forces were about evenly matched in size, and Mark had thought they might even stand a chance. Mark had started watching, right at the point where all of the spirit units were quickly and handily dealt with. The vitality bombs were outstanding, and the double enchanted shields that bore the defensive and protection enchantments had worked well.
However, once the specialized higher level undead started to get involved things started to turn. Mages were raising more skeletons and zombies from the earth, in addition to reviving their own and goblin dead. Then there were the coffin and gravestone bearing special moves. It was now clear that the goblins were fighting a losing battle. Henry had apparently come to the same conclusion. Mark watched him set out on a final charge.
Tethered chains and debuffs failed to take hold, as Henry used his newest spell, reversal. As far as Mark could tell the spell actually dealt with time. One of its biggest uses was to be a backup for his soak skill since wounds could just be reversed, and apparently so could things like debuffs.
Henry¡¯s final charge was starting to wind down, when Gale¡¯s forces started emerging from the trees. The trees had been cleared for hundreds of feet from the wall, but the space did not look like a lot, when the giants would cover so much ground with their long strides. Contrary to what he had expected the giants did stop. They were going to wait for the lizardmen to catch up.
¡°Nasal, as soon as they start forward again, have the archers fire. Concentrate fire on the giants and trolls. Necrotic and piercing arrows.¡± The dungeon proper was uphill, so the units were already at the edge of their range.
¡°Yes boss,¡± the defensive commander replied.
Mark watched the rest of the battle on his personnel interface. Henry went down mere moments before the charge began. In all the battle only lasted 15 to 20 minutes.
Chapter 69: Day 276
The reason why the giants and trolls waited for the lizardmen became immediately apparent. Giants had carried ladders and various other equipment dropping them off in piles, which the lizardmen immediately began picking through. Dozens emerged with cords and satchels filled with light blue shot put sized orbs. They were basically miniature versions of the dungeon cores, except they were sky blue instead of the royal blue of the cores. Two lizardmen each took one of the cord handles and moved away from each other, while a third grabbed an orb and moved to the center. They had giant slingshots. The earth version of them would be used to launch water balloons, but these would be used to launch the glowing blue orbs, that would do who knows what.
¡°Nasal fire now,¡± Mark ordered. Before it was beneficial to wait as more goblins trickled from the mine to set up a second line of defense, but Mark was not about to let them have the first shot.
A volley of arrows streaked into the air from the double pagoda archer tower. Smaller volleys joined from each of the smaller towers that stood just beyond the wall. Arrows duplicated in the air before screaming down. However, Mark watched with dismay as many landed short. Others clinked off the armor of the giant humanoids.
A couple of the weaker units were killed, but not a single giant fell from the volley. All of the arrow heads would have necrotic damage from having their tips being quenched in undead guardian eyecore, but that would not be the case for the duplicates. The volley had done very little.
The giants weathered through the cloud of arrows, not twitching in the slightest. However, as soon as the arrows had passed one of the cloud giants blew a horn, and all two hundred giant humanoids started forward. The lesser trolls and lizardmen, that numbered about 800, held back to allow the giants to crush all the defenses.
Seconds later, the lizardmen launched their first slingshot volley. Blue orbs streaked through the air. The hill was not overly steep, but the walls and towers were still at a higher elevation. Mark expected the orbs to fall well short, but could only watch in surprise as every single one covered the distance, with many going well above the walls. The weakest shots crashed into the wall. The orbs exploded and ice exploded across the wall in all directions and left about a 10 foot radius of ice accumulation on the wall.
Most of the orbs sailed harmlessly over the wall, failing to hit anything exploding harmlessly, creating ice patches in the midst of the defenses. Not surprising since it was mostly open ground. A few crashed against the double pagoda tower energy shield that flared in light. Seemingly the orbs disintegrated on impact, with the normally translucent shield fading quickly from view after each hit.
Still Mark grimmaced when one sunflower was struck right in the face. The impact froze the head and petals. The stem whipped back from the impact before righting itself, however it did not stand for more than the moment. The head of the sunflower lay broken into pieces on the earth. The unit nearly instantly. Quite a few others hit all around the goblin forming up below the tower.
Mark shifted his attention back to the field. Normally he was the type to play his trump card near the end of things cinching the victory. However, he would have to play it immediately to catch the really dangerous units of Gale¡¯s army. Who knows, if things went well enough, Gale might even break off her attack, cutting her losses. The effectiveness of this move would determine whether they would stand a chance today. Failure would mean a sure defeat.
Hopefully, Ezekiel knew what he was doing. When Ezekiel had found out about the idea, he had wanted to be a part of it. A good thing since he had also improved it substantially since he had arranged for several hundred enchantments to all go off at the same time. The goblin army had just used their newest Earth shaper enchantments to build a makeshift wall, quite effectively. Now Mark was going to use the enchantment for something else entirely.
Unfortunately, this would be a one time move. He would never be able to play this card again. He would only be able to use this move at this location once, since it would be too much effort to clear away a literal mountain of rubble, so they would have to make it count. He smiled. Gale had no idea what she was marching into.
¡°Get ready Ezekiel¡¡± Mark shouted. He watched as the advancing giants and trolls hit the inconspicuous points marked on the surface. ¡°Do it! Do it¡¡±
¡°Muhahahah,¡± Mark only heard maniacal laughter before it was abruptly cut off. For a split second he thought Ezekiel had screwed him since nothing happened. Then the whole hillside beneath the giants and trolls fell out from under them. Hundreds of earth shaper enchantments went off at once in the caverns and tunnels below. Each moved a small section of rock and earth. One enchantment by itself would not have done much, but hundreds going off all at once according to Ezekiel''s design took away all structural support of the rock above allowing it to collapse in on itself.
Mark had spent a lot of time and effort calculating this one trap. Even utilizing the kobolds to expand caverns and tunnels over the course of several months. He hated to use it here, but their survival was on the line.The collapse occurred all around the wall, a full arc a mere two hundred feet from the outer wall. The amount of tonnage that collapsed had to be in the hundreds of millions, probably even billions. A fog like layer of dust and dirt covered the open field.
A good majority of Gale¡¯s giants and trolls had been caught dead center in the giant trap. Their counters started streaking toward zero. However, Mark was dismayed to see that their were still a decent number of giant silhouettes standing amidst the dust haze. Some had already made it to the other side, even more had lagged behind. Both groups stood at the edge of the brand new v shaped divot in the land. The dust started to clear quite quickly revealing the tallest of the giants who were a mere 200 feet from the walls staring back dumbly at the space, where the rest of their brethren had stood just moments earlier.
Amelia was squealing in delight, clapping her hands. She had known about the trump card, but probably had not understood the exact degree of carnage the move could create. The giants and tier 3 trolls were the biggest threat, and most of them had just been extinguished all at once. However, his joy was not long lived. In the goblins eyes they likely thought they had this fight in the bag, but assuming Gale did not pull out, there was still a battle ahead.
¡°Nasal have the archers fire,¡± Mark shouted. The goblins had also stopped and started cheering at the sight, but there was still a battle to go one. A good dozen giants stood on the dungeon side of their new major landscaping endeavor. They might be staring dumbly back for now, but it would not last. A handful of hill trolls stood on the far side. Shorter than the giants, they had quickly fallen behind, saving them from being caught in the perilous trap.
The goblin force quickly reigned themselves in, although their fervor was still quite palpable. Several goblin drummers started hammering away as the archers loosed another volley. The giants and trolls continued to stare dumbly for a while longer. Perhaps Gale herself was struck dumbfounded from the blow to her forces, or perhaps she was just having difficulty getting through to the giants and trolls. The second volley also failed to release them from their stupor. However, the lizardmen were already back to firing their slingshots, once again sending deadly projectiles over the wall. Two more sunflowers and a score of goblins on top of one of the wall archer towers were killed instantly by the ice projectiles. The hundreds of others not shooting the deadly projectiles started marching forward to join the fight. The surface of their dungeon was still very much in contention.
Then Mark saw about a dozen large shapes pulling themselves from the rubble. It was near the far edge of the collapse, but some of the victims that had fallen with the earth had survived. Mark noted that every single one of them was either a cave or hill troll. Rather than crawl out to the far side though they started moving down toward the bottom of the divot. They were once again advancing. Perhaps seeing the trolls once again advancing motivated the giants on the near edge. They all turned around with fire in their eyes.
The collapse had killed every single ogre and hill giant in the army. Only one two headed ettin had managed to survive, and only 3 cave trolls. Two dozen hill trolls started climbing down from the far side. Twelve cloud giants and a half dozen cyclops standing on the wall side of the collapse turned and started lumbering forward.
Sunflower sunbursts all struck out as one. Mark had summoned an additional 50 in the last few days to cap out the unit at 125. Despite having had a few already fall in battle, there were still plenty to wreak havoc on the approaching army. It was the six cyclops standing at the forefront who took the blasts to the face and chest. The sunflowers might not have charged them to full power, but an average of several dozen half charged blasts to one giant was still not something that could be looked down upon. Four of the cyclops were dead before their bodies hit the ground. Another was seriously wounded, potentially beyond the point where he could fight in the battle, since his head had been charred to the bone and one of its arms had been flash fried to non-existence. Another cyclops stumbled forward despite having had its outer skin blasted off. It looked like the cyclops front was covered in open sores and its blood oozed down in goops. Several of the cloud giants all sported some burns from having been caught by a handful of the energy beams that had made it through, but not enough to be of concern for the tier 3 units.
Another quick blow to Gale¡¯s forces, but it was also not repeatable. At least not for this attack. The sunflowers were not in direct sunlight in the morning, so it would take hours for them to get a usable amount charged back. They would be stuck to basic spells from here on.
The single advancing cyclops smashed the top of the wall with both fists. All of the goblins in the nearby archer tower just behind were already starting to vacate the area, but several died from the stone shrapnel sent spraying in all directions. The top layer of stone crumbled. The wall was fairly thick being a good 4 feet wide, but Mark had yet to give it a defensive enchantment, since the construction was not finished yet. The cyclops would be able to smash through eventually just by hammering away. How long it would take, Mark could only guess. However, it was possible a whole section might separate long before the cyclops had to bash it down layer by layer. They likely had minutes.
All of the cloud giant''s hands glowed blue before blue balls of energy streaked out. Several harmlessly blasted against the main archer towers energy shield. Two of the smaller archer towers however fared far worse. The tops were just gone, along with the archers that had been on top of them. The spell resembled a blast of ice that exploded upon impact and froze over the remaining surfaces.
A half dozen of the cloud giants had focused their spells on the section of wall near the cyclops. The cyclops stopped his rampage for a second to observe the iced over section mere feet to his side. He immediately reoriented on the section. Huge chunks quickly started falling. Minutes had become maybe half of a minute.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
All of the while the goblin archers poured arrows at the giant humanoids. However, many failed to hit the cloud giants as energy shields intercepted the projectiles. Nasal had immediately shouted for the archers to switch to regular duplicating regular arrows. Since the duplicate arrow effects occurred at the zenith of the arrows arc, there was nothing magic for the energy shields to catch. However, the base arrows did not do much damage to the giants, even if they had been turned into pincushions. Even the original necrotic arrowheads would take a while to take effect.
However Mark watched the cloud wizards heal themselves as well as the second downed cyclops. A surprising turn since mages and healers were separate classes, but Gale had apparently found a way to sidestep the class archetypes. It was bad news for them since it was clear they would not fall quickly. The necrotic damage would battle against the healing effect, but healing would still occur until the necrosis was able to surpass the healing by an overwhelming amount.
The cyclops at the wall, however, fell backward although his job at tearing a section of the wall down was only half finished. He had become a favorite target of many of the archers since he was not protected by any such enchantment. Several of the cloud giants advanced to pick up where he had left off. They were obviously better spell casters, but they were still 18 foot tall giants, they set into the wall using other large pieces of rock that had already fallen to bash into the frozen section.
Cave and hill trolls started cresting the near edge of the divot and immediately started moving toward the quickly expanding hole in the wall. The cloud giants did not have to destroy the wall all the way to the base, enough rubble had formed on both sides to allow passage despite the footing being a bit precocious. Five of the thirteen cloud giants fell after a second storm of the sunflowers'' magic missiles depleted their energy shield allowing high quality arrows to get through. Dozens of exceptional quality arrows duplicated and hit their targets, the high quality piercing enchantments allowed them to punch all the way through, leaving the cloud giants with dozens of holes throughout their bodies. Even they could not survive that. The ones that did immediately took cover behind the wall and started healing themselves.
By this point the one armed cyclops with half of its face still missing down to the skull was able to resume its charge. A quite frightening lead to the enemy forces entering the base¡¯s interior. Right behind the cyclops would be several dozen of the larger trolls. The rest of the army would be only minutes behind depending on how much they were slowed down moving through the rubble. Mark doubted it would take them long.
The cyclops became a pin cushion well before it engaged the blood rose units that were awaiting it on the other side. However he managed to kill a blood roses by grabbing it and using its teeth to help rip it to pieces before finally collapsing on top of another killing it as well. Mark had blood roses from the edges already moving in. It was clear that most of the attackers would funnel through the one opening in the wall.
The two blood roses on either side of the dead cyclops started swelling as buds began to form. Apparently, it had counted them as having taken part in the kill despite them only having caused topical damage. Mark watched in interest. He still had not seen one of the units enter a so-called ¡®blood frenzy,¡¯ but they would likely see an example of it soon. The trolls however destroyed the chance for those two units because they were in the path of dozens of trolls who ripped their way through. It was seemingly quite easy for the trolls to rip the vines apart once they had them in their grasp. However the trolls started getting separated naturally as they moved away from the bottleneck toward their next target.
The cave and hill trolls would easily win a one on one with the bramble units, however once they were each surrounded by multiple bloodroses they had difficulty proceeding. Their club weapons were not very effective against the brambles, so many were using their bare hands to tear the vines apart. Plenty of close contact to allow the lotuses to start blooming pods from the absorbed blood. Damage to the bloodroses was minimized by the lotuses'' blessed aura and spot heals. With the constant rain of arrows, progress started to stall.
The numbers were nearly equal on the front line after losses on both sides, but the defensive bloodroses were now clearly holding the advantage. One by one the blood roses started to swell in size and apparently strength. Mark could tell that they would now each be able to contend one on one with the giant trolls, and the longer the trolls remained entangled the further the buds across the blood rose bloomed. However, the recovered cloud giants started firing spells from cover from behind the walls, and the rest of the army was fast coming to their aid.
Two of the cloud giants swept their arms horizontally from over the wall, sending blue mist out in a wide arc. Two swaths of blood roses were frozen stiff. The targeted bloodroses survived the spell, but the now brittle vines forming their body were easily crushed by the giant trolls. The lowland and regular trolls started pouring into the interior over the rubble. The blood rose line would not hold for long. However, enemies were falling from arrows and magic attacks at a decent rate.
A minute later the army was through. The bulk started advancing forward toward the double pagoda archer tower. About 800 goblin miners had picked up their weapons and were waiting for them in front of the base. Earth shape enchantments had raised a v shaped wall in front of the towers base. Former researchers and craftsmen mages stood behind them ready to do their part. Dungeon research, enchanting, crafting would all take a hit after this, but first they had to survive. Before them was still a force that could sweep right through all nine dungeon levels.
A smaller portion of the force swept to both sides to clear out the sunflowers. The sunflowers could fight in melee to some small extent with the tendril leaves that surrounded their stem, but it was far from sufficient to fight off units at even this caliber. Their unguarded bases would fall quite easily to the attackers. They could only inflict as much of a toll on their enemies as they could before they were cut down.
Mark''s attention was on the main army. All of the trolls and lizardmen wore piece male plated armor. Likely, each unit had a half dozen enchantments further supplementing their strength. Many carried shields. They were far from fodder, if it was not for the numerous powerful enchantments slamming against their ranks, it would likely be difficult to bring them down in sufficient numbers to make a difference. The archer tower would whittle them down, but they would need the time to continue to pour arrows down on them. The converted miners and auxiliary goblins would have to hold them off for as long as possible.
Cockroaches, spiders, whatever else Mark had on hand swept in from the side into the flank. Mark watched with interest as the evolved cock roaches fought, although they did not make it far since their power rating was only 2.0. The evolved spiders on the other hand each killed a few units before they went down. They were far more powerful, but open area combat was not their specialty.
Fifteen minutes later, the battle for the surface was over. The goblin miners were not able to put up much of a fight. However delaying the army allowed the mages behind them and the archers above to make a devastating toll on the attacking army. However, within minutes the lizardmen and trolls had finished off the goblins below. The archers in the tower on the other hand proved far more difficult.
Bags of black powder with lit fuses were dropped when too many lizardmen and trolls had congregated below the tower. The first utilization of black powder killed several dozen all at once. More were thrown out at clumps of enemies with less effect. Then the cloud giants made their move. A few black powder bags made a direct hit on the giants, the explosion destroyed the hide robes the giant wore and singed the skin, but not much else.
Several cloud giants physically climbed the tower. They then used their arms to sweep across the deck, knocking the majority off the tower and crushing others. One cloud giant took a powerful arrow into the eye and went down, but it was the last of the enemy casualties. In the end Gale was left with a couple hundred of the lesser trolls and lizardmen and 3 cloud giants. Not a bad result, considering the formidable army that had marched ready to challenge their dungeon not more than 30 minutes ago. Only 3 of the more than hundred tier 3¡¯s had survived, and the tier 2¡¯s had been cut in half.
Gale elected to directly enter the dungeon with the 252 that remained. She only left the hatchling lizardmen to collect the remainder of their ice orbs and other gear. They retreated with what Gale had deemed valuable enough to take back to her dungeon. Her army entered the dungeon only minutes behind Leonard¡¯s 2nd adventuring party. The first adventuring party had cleared the first 3 floors before being quickly destroyed on the 4th. It would be Leonard¡¯s last adventuring party since he could not send additional parties until the dungeon was not being challenged by Gale¡¯s army. However the 2nd party could still aid in clearing what they could.
It took a half hour, but once again the battle resumed. The orcs had outpaced Gale¡¯s army and finished clearing out the 4th floor when Gale¡¯s forces made it there and virtually absorbed them in their ranks. Leonard had probably decided to take advantage of the opportunity to observe Gale¡¯s forces.
The 5th floor was the first plant floor. The sunburst abilities claimed more than equal to their number in dead enemies. The sunflower¡¯s spells and blood roses claimed a few more, but the floor fell quicker than Mark would have liked.
The 6th beast floor did remarkably better knocking down the total enemies to less than 200. One of the arachne mages even managed to bring one of the 3 remaining cloud giants down. The cloud giants were worth their weight in gold as far as Mark was concerned. They were lucky that only 3 had made it down into the dungeon. The ones that had, could devastated with powerful attacks. The only detriment was their size. They were relegated to a hunched over shuffle in the halls.
The 7th floor stood its ground exceedingly well. The 50 roughwood myconids and treants held the orcs and Gale¡¯s forces at bay while the bugbear mages blasted them, and the spiritualists spirits wreaked havoc. Putting the spiritualists down here had not been a bad move the cloud giants and a few remaining mages were able to kill the spirits easily enough, but they often could only pick out one while they were fighting amidst their own troops. In the end two thirds of the spirits had to be dissolved through a large number of physical attacks.
Only 54 units made it off the floor. However, their number still included both cloud giants as well as mostly tier 2 lizardmen or trolls. Of course a pair of orcs had also survived giving Leonard a free chance to see their 8th floor. Mark was satisfied that this group would not be able to make it through the dungeon. The danger would be if Leonard sent additional adventuring parties through to finish the job. Although even that would be unlikely to bring success, since units were respawning. He would have to have stronger adventuring parties than what he had shown so far.
This would be the first time the 8th floor had been challenged. The maelstrom units attacked in ones or twos as they moved uphill. Only one regular troll fell from their effort, but they were also making them expend stamina and manna. Which at this point was starting to show. Their movements were significantly slower.
The 4 sunflower sun bursts once again claimed a good 6 or 7 units as they swept their energy beams across the advancing force. The cloud giants stopped to heal several who were badly injured as the rest charged forward. Gnarled wood goblins, wooden spore spiders, and treants from the spawner stepped forward to stall them. All of the melee fighters had power ratings of around 5.0, since even the 5 treants they had gotten from a spawner were similarly boosted by the lotus¡¯s malevolent aura. The sunflowers started raining down spells. The spore spiders released spores that started causing enemy trolls and lizardmen to cough.
The battle became slightly more even when the cloud giants along with a handful of healed units joined back in, but the defenders carried out against the worn down forces. However only a couple of 8th floor units had survived. Few enough that Leonard did indeed send a 3rd adventuring party. However, it was an exact copy of the first two. By the time they made it back to the 8th floor, eight of them were dead from maelstrom or spawner units. A handful of others were fairly wounded.
It did give Leonard a look at their ninth floor, since he was easily able to overcome what remained of the 8th, but his party was annihilated quite quickly on the 9th floor. The giant centipedes had immediately set upon them as soon as they entered to diminish the opportunity. Leonard did not send another adventuring party. The higher level floors would start respawning their defenders making it difficult for an adventuring party at that level to make it through.
Chapter 70: Day 277
It was not till well after the attack, that Mark saw the full extent of the measures that Gale had enacted to pull off the surprise attack on their dungeon. The first surprise was the arrival of Cedrick and a whole village of gnome refugees. Gale had sent a much smaller second force to crush the gnome village. Several dozen had been killed, while holding off the gates against a lizardmen force accompanied by a half dozen giants.
However, perhaps the attack had the opposite effect than what was intended. Instead of removing one of her enemies'' allies, she had instead caused the gnomes to double down in their support of the dungeon. Mark now had access to hundreds of more researchers, crafters, forgers, etcetera¡ They still would not partake in battle against other dungeons with the goblin forces. There was probably some rule against direct aid against another dungeon to maintain the balance, but the extra auxiliary support would make a world of difference by itself.
The second measure that Gale had taken had just been confirmed. It had not gone unnoticed that the harpies had failed to stop by the dungeon after the battle. Finally, Mark had sent a handful of units to look into the situation. All that was left was a camp ripped to pieces, bodies, and feathers. It almost looked like a fox had been let loose in a henhouse. As far as Mark knew there were no survivors.
Gale had likely attacked them the night before her assault on the dungeon. Since the harpies all roost every night, it was not surprising that Gale had managed to catch them all. It was a bit of a blow. It meant he would have to drastically increase the amount of scouts for both their home dungeon and garden sanctuary.
Besides for Gale, no one would have been able to approach their dungeon with a large force, while the harpies had been with them. The night time when the harpies did not patrol was the only exception, and the kobolds would know if such a large force tried to move on them from below the surface.
What really made him frustrated was that he had seen the potential gap in their security and had made moves to prevent exactly what had happened. There were always two goblin scout groups monitoring for an army from Gale¡¯s dungeon. Both scout teams had been alive yesterday morning before the battle. Mark had checked. But sometime during or after, both teams were killed.
So far the bodies for one of the teams had been discovered. All four goblins had their throats cut. They had also been tied up. Mark¡¯s best guess was that they had been incapacitated during the night and kept alive, so that Mark would not have any indication. It was a move he had never considered, and it had worked since he had not had either of the scout teams linked.
One change Mark had decided to implement was the addition of the thrash bears to the goblin scout force. A couple dozen tier 1 units scouting and rummaging around their dungeon, would be difficult to target by other enemy dungeons. One goblins with the beast handler class could receive simple updates. The bears could not relay details, but at home in the forest, they would not miss the passing of a large force. Then they could report back within a matter of hours, despite ranging distances that would take normal units a day to manage.
Now that they had unlocked the last of their tier 3 units, Mark had also decided to put their RP toward breeder, one of the germination path¡¯s budding stages. It was a unique upgrade, so Mark was looking to see what new capability that it would allow. If they could breed beasts for free, it would be very beneficial for the long run.
In total they had received just over 148,000 MP for the battle. However, Mark had already spent it all to replenish their auxiliary and offensive forces. They had lost literally every unit at the home dungeon including Henry, Nasal, and Ezekiel. The latter had died under an avalanche of earth after setting off all of the earth shaper enchantments. Mark supposed that even a mad scientist could not predict exactly how it would go after setting things in motion. The caverns and caves underneath had collapsed more than expected. Mark was not too upset since it had saved their dungeon, and now there was a new natural defensive barrier of overturned land that would stifle other dungeon assaults.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Despite the gnomes coming in to fill many roles, Mark still allotted 50,000 to summon 100 new level 1 red mages to establish their auxiliary complement. It took 35,500 MP to remake the mining regiment, archer division, and 50 thrash bears to patrol the region. Goblins from the archer division would fill up the barracks, while 10 bugbears for 13,500 would fill the spots for their gymnasium. Summoning 50 mystic budding stage sunflowers, took up much of the remainder.
All of their DP would be going toward their newest spawner for the next 10 days. At 60 DP, it was by far their most expensive spawner. However, the offering was also the best. It gave a compliment to the various high tier units that had actually entered their dungeon. The spawner could have up to two charges that could be used whenever, even at the same time. Each charge would give 1 cloud giant, 3 orc warmongers, 1 orc chieftain, 3 lizardmen dominators, and 1 salamander. Both charges would double down on the high tier units. The downside was that only one charge would be generated each week, and it would not start until the units for one of the charges were killed. Mark could hardly care about a long respawn time. If they survived an attack that made it down to their 9th floor, and were attacked again within the next week or two then they were likely screwed anyways.
Their dungeon was back up and running, with a weak defense. Mark could only hope that Gale and Nicholas had lost enough where they would not be able to make a move in the interim. Both had lost hundreds of thousands of MP worth of units. Probably more than they had been expecting, and they had not even got the end result that they had been shooting for. Mark could only hope that they were both having to evaluate things.
The fact that the three dungeons had coordinated to attack them, did not necessarily mean they had an alliance. Mark could only imagine that the failure made future cooperation even more tenuous. However, the attempt had made it clear that dungeons were once again starting to look outwards after having reached dungeon level 3. It had also highlighted the danger that each of the three dungeons could pose.
In truth, Leonard Boulevic had not revealed much that would be considered alarming during his part of the attack. However, literally later that day, their scouts Lewis and Clark had found a vantage to give Mark a glimpse of Leonard¡¯s dungeon. The southeast region of the map still had plenty of forests, however the underbrush was nearly non-existent. Just trees, separated by large prairie fields and the occasional river. Nothing to provide any concealing cover.
Soon after providing the look, the scouts had once again been dispatched by a group of centaurs, but Mark had already seen enough. Leonard was also building walls of stone, likely mined from the dungeon, but the real fight would likely occur well before that. At one point, Mark had pushed towards making a cavalry. Then after one attack, Mark had been left wondering whether the goblin riders actually were worth the cost.
Leonard on the other hand had held nothing back. There were dozens of camps with hundreds of beasts and their riders. The good thing was that Leonard did not unlock any additional tier 2 branches. He only had gnolls, orcs, and basic steads. However, he still had plenty of higher tier units. Two tier 2 units from each of the humanoid branches. Wargs from the basic steads branch, and two apparent combination units: centaurs and minotaurs. The lack of any tier 3 units did not at all make Mark think that Leonard would be an opponent. In the open field, he would likely be very dangerous.
The real question was where should he go from here. By all appearances, Avery was open to a full alliance. However, her dungeon was clearly behind the rest, and besides for Leonards her dungeon was the furthest from their own. Daniel Hale was receptive, but for now was non committal. His final decision would likely rely a lot on what the major players decided to do next. Unfortunately, it seemed he saw Avery and their own dungeon as a sort of buffer between himself and the real threats in the battle. He might come to their aid, or he might even side against them.
Mark could not blame Daniel Hale. He, himself, was considering possible team ups and scenarios. Unfortunately, he did not think that they had too many options. They were the only dungeon that shared their region of the map with another dungeon, and it was clear that all of the dungeons considered their dungeon the weaker of the two despite their accomplishments. Mark did not have many strings that he could pull to initiate things. It was a very much ¡®We¡¯ll call you¡¯ type situation. They would have to wait till someone else made the offer.
So Mark endeavored to do the only thing he could do, strengthen their dungeon, and develop their strength.
Chapter 71: Day 289
Daniel Hale
The next major move in the battle was against him, Daniel lamented. For about a week he had watched as Leonard¡¯s forces built barges on the edge of the central lake, so the day¡¯s assault was by no means a surprise. Daniel had spent the week bolstering his forces. However the much larger and more sophisticated warships manned by lizardmen were a different matter.
Gale working with Leonard was a surprise. Through a scouting caval he had watched the battle. She had to have lost the bulk of her forces worth hundreds of thousands of MP in a battle not two weeks ago, yet here she was with full sized ships filled with lizardmen, lesser trolls, and the handful of tier 3¡¯s. Amelia¡¯s scouts had seen them depart Gale¡¯s fog territory just the day before, giving Daniel some warning. According to her champion, these vessels were similar to ones from the lower dimension. Mark had called them Roman-like Triremes with a few sails and oars. Each vessel held over a hundred units.
In contrast, Leonard''s forces made up the bulk of the attack. Tens of simple barges with rackety walls covering the front third and a drop ramps up front. Orcs and gnolls manned oars propelling the amphibious craft forward. A few similar landing craft were starting to fill up from Gale¡¯s forces. It was her forces that started the assault, sending blue orbs over thousands of feet of water and earth. A few of his beasts were caught by the exploding ice bombs, but most fell wide. The trees and underbrush near the beach on the other hand was being absolutely devastated.
Luna ¡®the peak,¡¯ his named moon wolf, was the next to make a move. The giant wolf set its feet and reared its head back before bringing it forward. Luna¡¯s mouth opened and a brilliant white beam lanced out striking one of the gnoll landing craft. Wood exploded and the craft bucked in the water from the force. The gnolls in the front were killed instantly. The rest were left floundering as what remained of the raft started falling apart.
Then came a volley of large stones from the four armed tier 3 girallons. The 10 foot giant apes were extremely strong, even for their base power rating of 3.7. The small boulders sailed hundreds of feet forward and into the air before slamming down like meteors, usually just making big splashes in the water. The occasional hit splintered the wood as the rocks smashed right through. A few more amphibious craft joined the first in falling apart, as the occupants did their best to hold onto logs and make toward the beach.
The rest of the beast forces started assembling as the landing craft prepared to make beachfall. The defenders started forming as the front ramps fell down exposing only a pair of wall shields that quickly moved forward. The shield bearers faltered a step or two as they splashed down into a foot of water and wet sand. Spells from evolved beasts and projectiles from the lesser primate units were already in the air slamming into units as they poured out into the surf.
Luna let loose another white blast, killing probably the front quarter of orcs on another landing craft, but it was just one of dozens. Now that Daniel''s beasts were gathered in mass, the blue orbs launched by the lizardmen started to claim some casualties as they continued to freeze whole areas of beachhead.
It took only minutes for the orcs and gnolls to move out of the surf and to get into melee with the quickly forming line of armored gorilla regulars (1.8 base power rating) and gorilla kings (2.7 power rating). The primate branch was the only branch that Daniel had that could fight like a standard force. Their weapons and armor were more crude than that of other armies. Their fighting prowess was also more savage with little technique from classes, but they made up for it in raw power. They easily surpassed most other units with an equivalent power rating.
Still Daniel could only grimace as he watched the primates only manage to fight on an equal footing as the orc and gnoll warriors used skills and powerful enchanted gear to make up the difference. It took the tier 3 Orangutan and Tier 2 chimp mages firing spells steadily to keep the attackers from overwhelming the defensive line. The ape defensive wall was strong, but they were few in number and already the number of attackers that had landed was starting to outnumber them.
The defensive wall was pushed back steadily, but that was according to plan. Once they reached the edge of the beach, Daniel sent a quick order through to a battlefield commander. An army of lesser beasts led by peak tier 2 cave bears swept down on both sides engaging units as they left the surf and attacked the orc and gnolls from behind. The attack¡¯s forward progress faltered as the reinforcements were cut off, as all of the beach turned into a mixed melee. A melee in which his forces would clearly emerge victorious if given enough time, but then five more landing craft landed to the far right of the main battlefield.
Daniel had already directed forces to lay and await, but his hopes for an easy victory took a significant hit after seeing what lay within. The landing craft ramps dropped in quick succession to reveal centaurs in full plate. The front centaur in each carried two massive shields to guard the entire front quadrant. Each centaur was mounted by orc chieftains. Spells and projectiles were absorbed by the leading centaurs as they led the charge out and into the surf. They quickly made it to the beach and engaged Daniel¡¯s reserve primate defenders. Even a girallon thrown boulder only caused a lead centaur to falter a step as the dual magic shields absorbed the impact.
There were only 15 centaurs and riders per a landing craft, but the 150 units formed an elite force. Chieftain spells were already piercing out at the awaiting defenders. Daniel quickly pulled more powerful reserve units to deal with that flank. This front would fall quite quickly with what he had initially allotted. The shadow cat, Midnight ¡®the reaper¡¯ and the earth dragon ¡®first primordial¡¯ led a gang of girallon¡¯s and lesser beasts forward cutting through the edge of the forest.
Three patrols of centaurs immediately broke off riding out to deal with the reinforcements. Leonard probably felt that they would be plenty to deal with the reinforcements while the two remaining patrols would be able to deal with the remnants on the beach. He would be wrong. How could two named units and a half dozen tier 3 ape monsters be dealt with so easily.
Midnight met the lead centaur head on. Black ethereal claws 3 feet long projected from Midnight''s actual claws and tore into both shields like scythes. Surprisingly both shields held, but the centaur behind them had its arms break from the impact. The orc chieftain rider was sent flying as his mount was stopped mid stride. Midnight continued on leaving the centaur to be torn apart by one of the girallons following behind him.
The ¡®First Primordial¡¯ on the other hand tore into a whole patrol by itself. The earth dragon was a full 40 feet long with its body sitting a good 3 to 4 feet off the ground when standing. It was likely the biggest dungeon unit in the entire battle. Having become a unique named unit with a double primordial evolution the creature had more than doubled in size. The 14.1 power rating allowed it to unleash utter destruction despite just being an overly large brute with no magic.
The centaurs splintered but were not dissuaded in their attack. Power lances and other spells started wreaking havoc on the monstrosities that they faced. The centaurs on the other hand were very nimble and were able to keep out of range of all but the unique named units. They weaved in and out attacking the oversized gorillas'' flanks and rear as the girallons were distracted by other units. The centaurs and chieftains all had enchanted or straight up magic equipment, allowing them to do far more damage than Daniel would have liked. Two girallons went down during just the second pass. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
However, once again Daniel felt things were in hand, but more landing craft were landing at the main battlefield, and Gale¡¯s large ships had even drawn close. A dozen giant humanoids leapt off the ships. They crashed into the water, sinking briefly before their heads and shoulders appeared moments later. They started walking forward on the lake bottom. In another minute they would join the battle overturning the balance. The lizardmen slingshots also started redirecting their deadly blue orbs toward the elite battle taking place to the side. Daniel guessed Gale would not care about killing a few of her allies elite centaurs and orc chieftains if it meant killing some of his best.
The primordial earth dragon took multiple shots and two other girallons took a shot a piece. The ice orbs did not instantly kill anything, however the wounded girallons went down. The centaurs moved in to finish them off almost instantly. The earth dragon took the blows in stride as whole sections of its body were covered with ice patches. Midnight nimbly dodged the orbs with god level reflexes as it continued to assassinate its enemies one after another.
Subsequent volleys meant many more hits to the primordial who started to slow. Its giant bulk made it a favorite target as orbs burst on or around it frequently. Daniel started to realize that the battle was not going his way, He only had Vivi ¡®the first¡¯ and a few other elites in reserve at the main battlefield, but with a dozen giants and trolls among several hundred lizardmen joining the main battle it would not be enough.
Midnight would be just fine, but it did not look like the earth dragon could escape the bombardment without retreating from the battle entirely. In less than a minute nearly its whole body seemed to be nearly frozen solid. Its movements were stiff. Daniel felt sick watching the strongest unit in the battle being brought low by the ranged attacks. The slingshots were far more accurate than they had any reason to be. Now that the ships were close their margin of error had decreased to the point where 1 of every two orbs hit the giant primordial. The earth lizard had taken a good 20 hits, but the beast had slowed significantly.
Daniel sighed as he watched for another few minutes. Before he made a decision. Sure he could make a second wave of units to meet the attackers midway from the beach to his settlement, but in the end Daniel knew he would lose the island today. He would lose what he had and four unique named units, but the named units would respawn.
There would be several hundred enemies left alive on the beaches when all was said and done, combined with the 100 lizardmen on the ships and hundreds of orcs and gnolls on the far banks waiting to be ferried across, he would not be able to win. Instead he focused on gathering as much of the primordial essence as humanly possible. With his current means he could only store it for about 3 months before it started to lose its potency, but that would be plenty of time to rebuild an army using it all up.
Far out into the water 4 sets of frog eyes watched.
Day 289: Mark
Mark and Amelia watched the battle. The means of Daniel Hale and Leonard Boulevic were both beyond impressive, and of course Gale¡¯s forces were nothing new. Mark was glad they had noticed the ships leaving the base yesterday. Mark had of course had Amelia alerted Daniel Hale to screw over Gale since of the two they definitely hated her more. Daniel had mentioned that Leonard¡¯s forces were already amassing, so Mark had frogmen swim all night and day to get to the point where they could watch the battle.
Now they had far more intel on the two dungeons they knew the least about. Both would prove dangerous in battle, which was not a surprise at this point in the battle. Still Mark liked their chances against Daniel. Other than the primates the other beasts would fall quite easily to their enchanted weapons. However, Mark had to remind himself that Daniel had a full other tree branch not even exhibited here. Then there were the unique titled beasts, but how many could he possibly have. Mark had noted at least 3, but it was hard to tell since other evolved beasts looked equally powerful making them difficult to pick out.
Leonard¡¯s forces on the other hand would be very difficult to deal with. They were highly mobile and powerful, but most concerning was the level of their equipment. In battle Amelia and him had counted on having the best gear to make it through, but Leonard had quite a bit of magical equipment and enchantments that were at least at the same level. Besides for Henry they did not have powerful units that could just smash through the high level gear. It was a good thing that Leonard''s dungeon was on the far side of the map.
Two weeks had passed since their own desperate battle with Gale¡¯s army. All of their structures had long ago respawned. Mark had not spent much time with their MP since. He had maxed out their sunflowers since they were the only units that required time to charge an attack. Their home dungeon now sported 100 while their settlement sported the remaining 25.
At half a million MP, they still had a ways to go to save up for Settlements III to max out their MP production for their dungeon level. However, Mark did spend enough to buy units to figure out the specifics of their two new germination path upgrades: breeder and symbiote. Both knew upgrades led to a single fifth tier germination path upgrade, meaning Mark had probably unveiled all of the potential paths.
The breeder upgrade was far different than he had expected. Instead of allowing him to expand his army by quickly breeding and birthing new units continuously, the upgrade gave a proliferate ability that could only be used on any of the creepy crawly units, but not the thrash bears. The proliferate ability would cause them to spawn a bunch of miniature versions of the unit. A wolf spider quickly made a large egg sac that burst minutes later creating tens of young, each with a power rating a quarter to a third of the wolf spiders.
The spider young lasted several hours before they dissipated. Other creepy crawlies spawned varied numbers of young with varying power ratings. The three spider types birthed the most. The scorpion and cockroach only produced a few young that were far more powerful. The centipede fell in the middle.
It was a pretty strong upgrade, but it did have its limits. The breeder could only breed one unit once until its young magically dispersed into the air. The proliferate ability also used up quite a bit of manna so the blood rose breeder he had summoned could only use it once before it had to recover some manna for a second use.
However, Mark salivated thinking of the possibilities. Each breeder would be a decent addition to battle since they still had their healing spell and empower to strengthen beasts. However their true utility was prior to battle. He could see them magically breeding up to half a dozen units a piece before battle. Mark would be able to make an entire creepy crawly army of hundreds or thousands. Sure they were weak, and would suffer catastrophically against area attacks. However it would be an effective swarm tactic in battle.
The symbiote upgrade they finished researching today was also really good. Once again, Mark made a blood rose symbiote, but they would not get to test it more than once. The symbiote upgrade allowed the blood rose to fuse with one other living unit. Once had unfortunately fused it with the wolf spider. The two units effectively became one. A giant wolf spider with tens of thorny tendrils exiting from various parts of its abdomen. Initially the blood rose had a power rating 3.4, when combined with the 1.8 wolf spider it became a 3.2 amalgamation of woody vines and exoskeleton.
The upgrade would have its applications although it looked like he would need to use it on only the more powerful beasts to actually get power rating benefits. It would be effective at creating powerful units that counted as one. They were also fairly difficult to kill since there were two control centers to keep the unit going. Taking off the wolf spider¡¯s head would still allow the blood rose to control the unit. The symbiotes would be beyond perfect for dungeon defenders and elite units. The fusions would potentially keep the good aspects from both sides including the healing and empower abilities of the previous germination stages as well as beast evolutions.
Mark pictured a highly mobile unit shooting the sunflower¡¯s sunburst ability from its mouth, like Daniel''s unique named moon wolf. Or midnight scorpions fused with the blood roses helping them to block their flanks, Mark had not missed that the wolf spider symbiote had kept the blood roses ¡®blood frenzy¡¯ ability.
Honestly, Mark did not know which of the two upgrades he liked better. The breeder upgrade would allow him to make small swarms of weak critters. The symbiote upgrade would allow him to make powerful but expensive units. However, Mark did know where to put the remaining 4 RP for the day. There was one more unique trainer germination upgrade.
Chapter 72: Day 290
Yesterday''s enemy could be tomorrow''s friend. The phrase had never really been very applicable for Mark. Mark glanced once more at Nicholas Holt¡¯s name. Just minutes ago Daniel Hale had created a group with himself, Amelia, Avery, and Nicholas. Amelia had immediately brought it to his attention. Daniel¡¯s message was simple and demonstrated another popular Earth phrase, ¡®if I can¡¯t have it then no one can.¡¯
Daniel spoke about the primal essence and its potential uses. Now both Gale and Leonard held the center island hoarding the top tier essence resource, and Daniel wanted the world to know. He also asked the other three dungeons to form a coalition with him against the other two. Nicholas Holt was the first to respond.
[Nick Holt: So you were hoarding the resource for months by yourself, and now that you lost it you want us to help get it back?]
[Avery Kingston: I¡¯m game. Of course then the four of us will have to fight over it. (smiley face)]
[Amelia Cromwell: We are in as well. Possible strategy. Mr. Holt and Avery attack Leonard, while we work with Mr. Hale to take out Gale?]
Mark smiled as he finished the message. Working with the others would be a great way to rid themself of the biggest thorn in their side, Gale. The swamp fortress would be a tough nut to crack, but Danial¡¯s forces had shown an impressive display.
{Nick Holt: Sure of course I am willing to help you guys take out my biggest competition. I like Amelia¡¯s plan. We will need to work out a timeline and other details.]
With Nick Holt¡¯s ascent Avery and Daniel also readily agreed. It did not take them long to decide on a timeline. Both Gale and Leonard had just expended a lot of MP on their latest battles, but every dungeon of the coalition still wanted to wait a couple months for various reasons. Daniel Hale probably wanted to respawn some of his unique units he had just lost. Mark also wanted to respawn Henry, but he would not have held off purely for that reason.
But once it was clear that the other dungeons wanted a longer timeline, Mark was fine with the deferral. The longer timeline would allow them to gain settlements III and make more preparations. Sure Gale and Leonard would also make preparations, but with 4 dungeons to their 2 could they really complete. The real question was whether the coalition armies would be able to finish the job.
They decided that they would work out the details as the attack date got closer. With that Mark was left wondering on how they should proceed. Not just for the upcoming coalition army battle, but for the rest of the battle.
On paper the longer the succession battle continued the more of a disadvantage they would be at as other dungeons got more and more sponsorship packages, but as far as Mark could tell they had often done more for less thanks to having numbers and better equipment on their side. Three sponsorship packages a week was nothing to scoff at. If they were tier 5 they basically gave around 18 elite tier 3 units that would likely cost around a day''s worth of production. An advantage for sure, but not something that could not be overcome with better preparation and tactics, and now there were alliances which could potentially be extremely deadly or beneficial. Mark and Amelia just needed to play their cards right to give them an opportunity.
Six days after the coalition was formed, they finally finished their final unique germination path upgrade, trainer. Mark had not known what to expect. The other unique paths had been pretty good, so he had decided to go for it. Unsurprisingly the upgrade was a pre battle upgrade. The trainer upgrade allowed a plant unit to train a small 12 unit patrol of creepy crawlies. The patrol would get a power rating increase as a whole and the plant unit would get the equivalent military ranking upgrade.
It was only a 10% boost for the beast units at the germination budding stage, but the plant trainer would get a 25% boost since it was basically acting as a Lieutenant for the patrol. If Mark were to unlock the equivalent 5th tier flowering stage, he was sure the bonuses would go up even more. The only downside was that all units in the plant led patrol would have to train together for at least a week prior.
Mark could definitely see the use of the upgrade. Potentially he could have 12 elite crawlers that would all get the marginal boost when in battle. They would be led by a the plant unit that could act as their healer.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Of course he could also combine it with the other unique upgrade options. The symbiote upgrade could make the elites even more powerful, While a breeder could spawn each of the elite crawlers prior to battle. If he did this with a half dozen patrols of spiders he could have a force of more than 1,000 led by 60 elites with 6 healers for support. Sure the majority would be weak tier 1 equivalents, but numbers were there on strength. Mark could not forget the seemingly endless tide of undead that Nick Holt had brought against them. Now Mark felt that they could potentially match it.
The question was where should he go from here. He would love to get their RP working towards one of the level 3 techs, but he could not stomach the endeavor taking over a 100 days for even the cheapest of options. In that same time he could unlock a good number of lesser upgrades with many options taking less than 10 days. Mark quickly scanned back through all of their upgrade options looking for force multipliers or¡
Mark came across a special class under the healer class archetype: Witch doctor. They currently only had the healer class unlocked to level 2, and the unit had one spell and two curses at level 2. The witch doctor had an area heal spell around itself that had a 20 minute duration. Meaning the unit was a walking healing point. It was the only evidence that the unit was a healer. The other two spells were both enemy debuffs.
At level 1 the witch doctor class also started out with, growing faint. It was a debuff that affected units hit by it in a circular area with a 25 feet diameter. The spell would cause a general power rating decrease. Mages might have less manna. Melee types would get physically weaker. The decrease would also last for up to 2 minutes or until the witch doctor was killed, but the spell was not completely predictable. For one the witch doctor could only have its current levels worth of growing faint spells active at one time, so two for a level 2 witch doctor. Second affected units could only be affected once by any witch doctor. The effects could not be stacked.
The curse''s effects could also vary greatly, from 1 to 25%. The curse''s effects would decrease against targets with higher unit levels, greater power ratings, morale, etcetera¡ It would have diminishing effects if the enemy units in the affected area were more powerful or were highly motivated.
The second curse the witch doctor class received at level 2 was called smite. It had a far longer cast duration of 30 seconds but could cause a debuff of 10-50% against an individual target for up to 2 minutes. Once again the same factors would determine just how much of a debuff the curse would actually have. The witch doctor could cast the curse as many times as it wanted provided it had the manna available. Mark noted that it would work quite well with one of their in progress enchantments quick cast which could potentially reduce the cast time, allowing a witch doctor to decrease powerful enemies one after another.
Regardless, increasing the healer class would effectively make the witch doctors more powerful as well as potentially adding more curses or spells. Overall improving the witch doctor was the cheapest way to improve their goblin forces strength at 50,000 and 100,000 MP for level 3 and level 4. Upgrading the mage class would be his second choice, but the next upgrade was 250 for level 5, but with mage and flame juggler classes both relying on the upgrade the benefits would be compounded.
But Mark also wanted to unlock their unique tier 4 flowering upgrades for their plants units. Symbiote, breeder, and trainer upgrades would all cost 100,000 MP a piece, but increasing their crawler armies potential even further could certainly be beneficial. As far as their beast upgrades they only had the second evolution at one million MP.
That many projects would keep their RP occupied for a while. As far as their DP and MP, Mark would be saving them for a while. Until they had the dungeon features III tech, Mark would not have much use for DP for a while, so converting it was probably the best plan. Mark smiled when he realized that he could potentially cut off some time by converting their DP to MP to unlock Settlements III, increasing their daily MP production earlier. Yeah, that would be the best use of it. After that he could start saving it again, converting it as required.
The only other preparation Mark needed to make was any special gear, potions or pills that might be useful for assaulting the swamp fortress. They were making more and more exceptional or masterwork equipment and consumables. Soon they would potentially be able to shoot for artifact quality.
Over the last few days they had seemingly stumbled beyond another boundary of their magic mine. They had found a few never before seen higher level materials. The first was petrified wood. Large clumps of actual wood that was actually quite light for how durable it was. On Earth petrified wood was definitely actual stone made through fossilization, but apparently something had been lost in translation. Or perhaps the battle creators were taking some artistic license. The second material was mithril. It was the first fantasy metal that Mark could think of so he was not too surprised to see it here. Both materials would allow for easier qualitative leaps forward with their equipment.
The last method of preparation that Mark could come up with was siege equipment. Gale had some huge giants on her side. Even powerful enchanted arrows had difficulty bringing down such a large target, but for every problem there was a solution. Mark had already started building ballista for their own dungeon defenses, but he would add a mobile version to their attack plans as well as potentially some other siege weapons.
Chapter 73: Day 322
After a quick perfunctory check, Mark quickly pulled the trigger on DP conversion. It took 97 DP to bring them to 2 million even after paying the 10% conversion fee. A moment later Settlements III was unlocked. Mark quickly looked for any new features. There were no surprises, their homepage now had a 3 of 5 for production outposts. Mark Converted an additional 69 DP leaving them with 57 remaining. He quickly built 2 outposts for 50,000 and an additional 12,000 MP for shade henchmen. Their remaining MP dropped to just over a hundred.
Mark had already found two convenient outpost locations and had scouts standing by so that he could instantly claim them. Their fourth outpost was their third outpost located underground. With 6 coal mounds, it allowed decent production while being out of sight of the other dungeons. The second location also had 6 coal mounds, but was far away on the surface on the southern edge of the map. Mark deemed this location the secret valley.
The secret valley was more of a strategic location. It was in the south nearly equidistant from the two southern dungeons that remained. It would be about a 3 day march to attack either Nicholas Holt or Leonard Boulevic. Mark deemed it the ¡®secret valley¡¯ because it was difficult to get to and out of the way. Units would have to specifically go out searching to find the valley. Hopefully it would remain hidden, and one day Mark could expand it into a settlement and use it as a staging point for attacks on the southern dungeons. For now, it was just another way to increase their MP production.
Their dungeon¡¯s daily MP production had risen to 43,330 to 54,200 in one go. A good bump for sure, but Mark was excited to see that there was more than just a Ten thousand MP boost.
[Congratulations: You have maxed out the dungeon settlements. DP and RP plus 3]
The extra boosts would be extremely helpful. They would also help provide enough benefits to pay off the 2 million MP tech expenditure faster. A part of Mark had wondered whether it would not be better to just spend MP on troops and try to conquer the other dungeons. Perhaps if there was only one other dungeon left he would have done just that, but with multiple dungeons making early moves could set you behind the other dungeons who were moving forward.
Seemingly there was no dungeon features IV tech since the interface indicated that 5 settlements was the max for the battle. A bit odd since there was a level 4 dungeon upgrade just waiting for him on the home page. But since the upgrade was 3 million MP, Mark had wondered whether anyone would even bother to push for it. Level 3 had only 6 tech options, all at exorbitant prices. If there were techs at level 4 there likely would not be that many, or they would have ridiculously good benefits or no one would ever buy them this late in the battle.
Still progressing levels always provided fairly significant benefits, and now that most dungeons were pulling in 50,000 MP a day the upgrade could be earned in about 2 months. Inevitably dungeons would likely push for it fairly quickly for the extra benefits. The only reason Mark would be hesitant to unlock it first was that it would increase the enemy dungeons sponsorship rewards. Currently they could open 3 a week, but it would likely go up again at level 4. Of course the remaining 3 level 3 techs were also quite promising.
They would be saving up for dungeon features III next since Mark wanted to get the 5 more dungeon levels as soon as possible. They only had about 6 days before the scheduled attack on Gale¡¯s swamp fortress, but fortunately dungeon features III was only 1 million, and they were already nearly there. Mark also planned to spend as little as possible, despite their agreements.
Mark was fairly confident that he could produce a fairly powerful and expensive looking army for a fraction of the actual cost. They would let Daniel do the heavy lifting while they built their strength. However, not everything went to plan while waiting for the coalition attack in less than a week.
Day 339
There was no surprise, Mark and Amelia saw the forces as soon as they departed from the fog that extended to Gale¡¯s territorial boundaries. Gale¡¯s trireme ships and barges departed mid morning from her river settlement. Their course was set straight for the garden sanctuary. The swamps were not overly deep, but anytime the ships could not find a deep channel of water to navigate the giantoids walking alongside them could help guide and push them over, as long as the water was not too shallow.
All the while frogman scouts shadowed them from a great distance. They were proceeding quite quickly. Mark guessed they had perhaps a couple of hours before they would reach the territorial bubble.
Mark was not surprised. Things had been fairly quiet over more than 2 months. Gale had recovered from her failed assault several times over. Making a play on their settlements was not beyond expectation.
¡°So, what do you think we should do,¡± Amelia scrunched her face.
Mark did not answer. The attack on the swamp fortress was scheduled 6 days from now. They currently had over 900,000 MP. Plenty if they wanted to defend and build their own attack army, but their MP was slated for dungeon features III. It was always beneficial to waste opponent dungeons resources, but was it worth spending hundreds of thousands of MP here? Gale surely had plenty of MP right now, even if they successfully defended here she would likely still be able to reset her forces within the next 6 days if not more. Mark contemplated for another minute.
¡°No, I don¡¯t think we should spend much to defend against this attack. Instead we can use DP to move the manna bellows, pumps¡ back over to our settlement. Then we can start mining the coal still available at our home dungeon. As long as we take her out in 6 days when the garden sanctuary respawns we can get things going again there.¡±
¡°I guess that makes sense. We will lose tens of thousands of MP. Still shouldn¡¯t we make her pay at least a little bit,¡± Amelia said smirking.
Mark thought about it. They only had 500 frogmen, 400 goblins, and 25 sunflowers. For only 20,000 MP he could bring the goblin numbers up over 1,000. That would be enough to at least put up a decent fight. They had plenty of equipment and weapons there since the sanctuary had its own warehouse and other facilities.
¡°Okay, I will evacuate the frogman since they would be more helpful in the attack in a week. Then let''s spend 30,000 to add 3 more divisions of goblins, putting them at about 1,400. Nothing too powerful, we will depend on enchanted equipment to make up the difference.¡±
Amelia nodded as Mark started making the orders. In total they had nearly 700 frogmen, but nearly 100 of them were out scouting across the waterways in the north and the east. They had even mapped locations up to within a day''s march of Leonard''s dungeon. Nick Holt¡¯s dungeon would always be untouchable from the water. They would have to send a land army to attack the desert region of the endless bluffs.
The other 100 frogmen were working further south with a large contingent of goblins, building their own barges and small ships for the upcoming attack. They definitely would still need the other 500 to help guide them all there on the day of the attack, so Mark would have them take a circuitous route far to the south. The moves were made in only 10 minutes, but the goblins were scrambling to get things together and get outfitted according to Mark¡¯s instructions. They had plenty of surplus supplies to expend here.
Mark then spent 12 DP to bring the manna production devices back to their home dungeon. He would allow the sanctuary shades to continue to mine until the attack began. Mark thought about it for a moment before he went ahead and did it. He converted 120 DP paying an additional 12 to get them to 1 million. They still had 66 DP remaining, so they would have some wiggle room if something unexpected came up.
Mark was just too eager to see what dungeon features III would bring. Once again there were no surprises. They could build 5 new levels, which would bring them up to 14 levels. The move also increased their daily DP by 1 up to 10. The earlier their daily DP went up the better, but it was a shame they would only get 1 additional point. Mark had held off despite being able to make the move for a few days now, since that would have burnt all their MP and DP leaving them helpless should something occur.
What they were left with was not much, but the risks should be worth it since Gale was the only threat that should be attacking in the short term unless someone was planning a double cross. But in Mark¡¯s opinion it was to all of the coalition dungeons'' benefit to see the attack through at the very least.
The tenth level was double the cost of the previous 5 dungeon levels at 200,000 MP. It was not too much at this point. They could unlock a level every 3 weeks just by using DP, which is likely what Mark would do. They were already a third of the way there even after having converted so much.
As for RP, Mark needed to find something new to devote the 5 leftovers for the day. Over the last few months they had unlocked healer to level 4 and all 3 unique germination paths to tier 5. The trainer flowering stage finished today, rounding out his plans prior to the attacks. The five upgrades may not seem like much but they would make a difference in the upcoming battle.
Witch doctor level 3 and 4 each gave an additional spell or curse. Level 3 gave a witch doctor the reanimate spell that could be used to reanimate a number of units equivalent to that of the witch doctor''s level. It had a variable duration and the reanimated body could remain reanimated for a full day. The manna required also varied depending on what was being reanimated. One of Gale¡¯s giants would likely be more than enough to clean out a witch doctors full reserves.
The fourth level gave the class a shrunken head curse. The spell would cause an enemy units head to shrink gradually until it became the size of a baseball or the witch doctor died, allowing the head to go back to normal. Of course units would die more quickly before their heads ever became that small.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
In actuality the curse basically gave a unit a time limit and acted to grab their aggro. If they wanted to live they would have no choice but to try and make it to the witch doctor and slay them. Not a bad curse for a caster that could be hundreds of feet away. The downsides was that the curse took 25 seconds to cast, and a witch doctor could only have one active against a living being at a time. The stronger enemies would also survive for far longer, but it still might result in the elite unit having to leave defenses to go after the witch doctor. That by itself could be worth it.
But there was one more benefit. If the witch doctor survived the battle they could go around and collect all of the shrunken heads. The shrunken heads could then be used to strengthen curses and reduce manna costs, and even better there was no limit on how many heads a witch doctor could collect. They just had to cast the curse themselves to be allowed to use the shrunken heads.
As far as the trainer and breeder flowering tier upgrades, they just increased the number of units that could be trained or bred. Very useful but nothing new to fanboy on. However the symbiote flowering stage gave a new ability¡± Forceful possession.
Forceful possession allowed symbiote units to forcefully posess enemy dungeon units by implanting its own essence in another unit. It was close to Nick Holt''s coffin skill which took over enemy units, However this skill was far slower, and allowed Mark to keep the units for good. It would however be difficult to enact, since units had to be restrained and continually injected throughout the process. That being said, the blood rose symbiotes would definitely be pretty good at this, potentially able to convert a handful of mid to low tier enemies over the course of a battle.
Then there was the new grenadier class that had finished only yesterday. The specialized class fell under the scout archetype, which they currently only had unlocked to level 2. Like its name, the grenadiers worked with black powder making explosives that could be hurled at enemies. Unfortunately, there was not enough time for them to make a stockpile of grenades before their attack on Gale. However, he had bought 10 Reds yesterday to start their grenade inventory. Mark would then build a bunch of green and yellow hob goblin grenadiers to deliver the payloads. Units had to be grenadiers to both use the grenades effectively since it required manna being inserted correctly to vary the detonate time. They also had an ability that worked to keep their payloads from coming unstable. Mark¡¯s solution was to use the reds to build the majority of the grenades. In the future he would have a bunch of low cost level 1 units use them.
The new class would go very well with something that Ezekiel had invented. Mark was calling it enriched powder since the mad scientist had used sulfur essence to make his own batches of the stuff. Their ever present mad scientist observer had been able to note the process, meaning now Mark could make as much as he wanted.
Of course Ezekiel had been using the stuff to make an ancient Chinese-like rocket. Once again, it was something that after a few experiments could be reproduced. The gnome made version could effectively fly a thousand feet in an arc before it either exploded in the air or on the ground at the end of its trajectory. However, they were far from accurate. Some corkscrewed and wound up going as far to the side as they went forward. Others turned to go straight up exploding high into the sky like a firework. In mass they could cause some damage, but they were not something that could be depended on. The grenades would be far more precise and effective. However, the rockets had been around slightly longer, so he would actually have a handful to use for the upcoming assault.
Gale¡¯s assault on the garden sanctuary started in earnest just under 3 hours after they had noticed the armies headed their way, and armies was the correct term. A second small force of lesser trolls entered their territory from the east. They had climbed the plateau and were making for the sanctuary¡¯s sky light. They were apparently intent on repelling down into the middle of the base. There was only a couple hundred troll regulars, but they would be plenty to cause chaos behind enemy lines.
Fortunately, Mark had at least considered the possibility. Several layers of nets covered the above entrance. At worst, they would prevent the trolls from dropping right in. Best case scenarios the trolls did not cut through the net and were forced diagonally down to one side of the cave into a prepared engagement zone. It was not much, but it would delay them at the very least.
The main force ran their ships onto a mud reef several hundred feet from the wall. As soon as they were in position, orbs started launching from lizardmen slingshots toward the crack in the clifface. However any that would have hit within around 15 feet of the top of the wall collided against a barrier that flared white. The wall had been finished for a while now, so Mark had plenty of time to have the magic barrier set up. The home dungeon¡¯s was just now getting embedded with the embued stones, but then its walls were 10 times the length of their settelments. The sanctuary¡¯s wall was only a couple hundred feet in length spanning the full area between the cave walls. However, blue orbs that had a higher trajectory were able to make it through a 20 foot gap between the barrier and the rock above their defenses, they continued further in to explode inside the sanctuary.
For this battle, Gale¡¯s forces made no attempt to use barges; the lizardmen and lesser trolls splashed right down into the water which only came up to their chests. They held their shield over their heads to guard from the arrows that were already raining down continually. With a nearly undeletable stockpile of good quality and below enchanted arrows at both bases, Mark had no reason to hold back.
Next came Gale¡¯s elite giantoids. Gale had decided to mainly use hill and cave trolls for this endeavor. However a half dozen cloud giants had come to support the attack with their magic. The trolls were more suited to the hours march across the swamp, and the cloud giants had mostly trailed behind as the force made their way south. The first giant trolls dropped down into the muk, within seconds they overtook their smaller companions, and Mark gave the order.
Six rock colored hides were pulled up and away revealing 6 ballista, or oversized crossbows. The operators immediately wheeled them to point at the approaching giant humanoids. Moments later six 4 foot enchanted iron bolts streaked out. Exactly half of them hit their intended target.
Two punched right through a cave troll''s door shield and into its chest instantly bringing it down. A third punched right through a hill trolls leg, downing the unit for now. The other three missed although one continued on punching into a lizardmen regular. Mark did not see the result, but since no body surfaced the bolt had likely pinned it to the swamp floor.
Several goblins immediately started cranking wheels on either side to move the string back for another volley. Cloud giant ice blasts slammed into the barrier in front of the ballistas, but the barrier continued to hold. For how much longer, Mark could only guess, but it was unlikely to last the whole battle since the gems used were of far lesser quality than what their home dungeons wall would get. The hill and cave trolls reached the wall before the ballista were ready to fire again. Goblins peppered their heads and upper torso as they tried to boost each other up and onto the wall. Several more went down. Several more made it to the top of the wall. However immediately several yellow beams came from further back in the cavern blasting them right back off the wall.
More trolls came up and over and more sunbursts blasted them right back off the wall soon after. They would run out of their charge soon enough. The ballista fired again, this time toward the ships since the large trolls were too close. Mark was quite happy to see a cloud giant go down for the count. A second had his arm removed below the elbow.
The excellent quality single enchanted iron bolts hit very hard. However their range was severely less than the wooden shaft variants in work, but the range was fine for the sanctuaries purposes. Other iron bolts duplicated into eight more before raining down on the ships. Several hit the cloud giants and the ships, but the damage was far more topical against the giantoids. However they still killed the lizardmen manning the slingshots. The ballistas got a couple more shots each as the hill and cave trolls were continually repelled by the sunbursts.
The real attack began when the lizardmen reached the wall''s base. Dozens of grappling hooks went up and over. Others were tossed right up and onto the wall by the hill and cave trolls. There were a good 200 goblins on the wall ready for the melee. Another 300 archers and a few goblin mages would provide ranged support and another 500 goblins were held in reserve to reinforce, but they would not be able to fight them off for long. The sunflowers started using spells for the weaker units, saving whatever remained of their sunburst ability for the larger targets.
A check on the troll regulars descending from the skylight showed that they were not going to descend in accordance with the slanted net. They were cutting through to descend all throughout the cavern. However more than a few bodies were hanging on the net lifelessly bobbing in the air. Mark had sent 200 goblin archers to try and deal with them. The rest he had behind a small but second defensive line just before the sunflowers.
Despite reinforcements, the top of the wall fell within minutes. Plenty of lizardmen had joined the goblin dead lying on the walkway or down at the base, but with their shields far fewer fell to arrows despite the enchantments than Mark would have liked. They stormed down the stairs and into the waiting spears of hundreds of goblin spearmen waiting behind a legionnaire shield wall. Things held for a while until more and more lizardmen started descending down ropes after having moved their grappling hooks to drape the lines down the inside of the wall. Once the wall was hit in more than a few select locations, the goblin lines started to get pushed back.
Then came the hill and cave giants who were now proceeding over the wall without abandon. Once the sunburst ability was all used up, the sunflowers could do nothing to prevent it. Without the ballista the cloud giants had been able to move to cover behind the wall. Without aid they were able to pull themselves up. Mark ordered for the archers to target them exclusively. All but one fell back quickly. The one who didn¡¯t was already falling forward dead. They did not attempt to join the battle again until the goblins had been pushed back into the archers, which did not taken more than another minute once the hill and troll giants joined the melee. The goblin line quickly buckled and broke under their onslaught.
Once the cloud giants started sending ice blasts into the goblin ranks, the battle pretty much wrapped up. Four ice blasts killed a good 70 goblins all at once. The goblins fell back behind a five foot secondary defense, but things were already hopeless. The goblins that had been manning the wall had already been pulled to hold off the troll regulars advancing from behind.
The battle ended in about 20 minutes, resulting in every one of the defenders having died. However, Mark was pleased to see that they had killed far more than 40,000 MP worth of enemies, which was about what it would take to replace all of the goblins that had been killed.
The trolls and lizardmen immediately began destroying the settlement, ensuring that Mark would have to send a force to retake the dungeon if he wanted to use it again.
It was a distinct possibility, they would have to. However, hopefully at that point it would just be taking the sanctuary back from a bunch of neutral units since Gale would be long gone. If she thought this would be a serious blow to them, then she was wrong. Their shade henchmen were already back to work at the home dungeon site. For the next 6 days they would have a reduced daily production since they went from 7 coal mounds back to 3, but it was far less than the hundreds of thousands he would have had to use to successfully defend the site.
Chapter 74: Day 345
The day of battle and the first chance to pay Gale back for her treachery months ago or for her attack on their settlement less than a week ago, finally came. Months of preparations had come to fruition and the forces were ready. Daniel Hale was similarly ready, Mark had placed a few scouts among his army to monitor his progress, as he had done with them.
The focus of Daniels force was 20 massive earth dragons, although notably his unique titled ¡®first primordial¡¯ earth dragon one was not among them. On their backs were full wicker palanquin like baskets filled with lesser primates. However the earth dragons were not the only things slogging through the muk. Daniel had 10 massive 4 armed girallons decked in heavy metal plating that had to weigh hundreds of pounds, yet they moved on hardly impeded.
Towed behind the massive earth dragons or girallons were a good 40 barges with the majority of the rest of the force. From the looks of it they were all evolved beasts with primate riders. In total the force was not overly large but since the earth dragons all had a power rating of well over 9, and the girallons were too far behind. It was a force of elites.
Mark and Amelia¡¯s army was far different. It was made of beasts, low tiered goblins, and frogmen. The only elites were the 48 tier spiders. Half were the plant beast combo knotted spore spiders, and half were the only slightly more powerful black funnel web spider. By their sides were 20 flowering tier 4 flowering stage sunflower breeders. They would be one of the main focal points of Mark¡¯s attack plan. In total they had cost over 137,000 MP
The other half of Mark''s plan revolved around 50 red hobgoblin witch doctors that he had spent 45,000 MP on. Then there were just under 2,000 goblins, 3 midnight lotuses, and 30 blood roses in support. Most of them were packed like sardines on small boats or barges to enable quick movement through the marsh. Hundreds of barges and boats had been moved to the loading point yesterday. Then in the wee hours of the morning the fleet had loaded up and set sail. The boats were urged on through goblin swearing and wooden oars in tandem with the 450 frogman¡¯s directions. They weaved back and forth through the water channel as they made their way to the center of the swamp.
In the middle of the procession were 9 barges. That had relatively few units on board, but still sat fairly low in the water. Five carried the makeshift catapults, and the other four smaller barges carried a pair of ballista each.
But that was only a portion of the force. The other 50 frogmen and 500 goblins had set out yesterday and hunkered down in the middle of the swamp. They were moving north in near parallel with the main force. Mark had not really told Daniel about this part of the plan, but it was equally crucial. Gale would undoubtedly notice their slow moving fleet well before the attack began. Which meant she would inevitably send her force of ships and units at the riverhead settlement in support. If they made it, the assault might very well fail.
Gale and her lizardmen had made their home in the swampland, but the frogmen were just as if not more comfortable here. Mark had long had them scout out every aspect of the swamp. Unsurprisingly moving her big ships through was quite difficult. She would have to deal with extremely shallow water, mud banks, and mini islands. It was all to say that this seemingly open swamp was quite difficult to navigate with only a few lanes where her ships could pass without adding on hours into the journey of pushing them through the mud which would also add more time.
Mark¡¯s second force made for a single point of failure between Gale¡¯s swamp fortress and her riverhead settlement. Unless she wanted to go up or down and around for hours, she had to pass through here. Fortunately the goblins made it there first. However Gale had not been far behind. The ships were already at the edge of sight, giving the goblins only about 30 minutes to set up. The battle for the swamp fortress would begin here, since It would still be a good hour before the main army reached Gale¡¯s territory. It would be twice that before Daniel¡¯s forces would make it by Mark¡¯s estimate.
Gale¡¯s forces were basically going single file, but when they saw the awaiting goblins they started fanning out. Unsurprisingly, Gale¡¯s forces got to attack first with their long ranged sling shots flinging their deadly projectiles. Gale seemed to have a million of the damn things. Yet the goblins weathered the volley without a single casualty. The barges had been split in half and were now pushed up forming a defensive wall on the banks on both sides of a 70 foot wide channel. A rough net had been set across the channel, but it would only keep Gale¡¯s forces from sailing right through.. Orbs smashed against hastily constructed bulwarks and splashed into the water all around the impromptu defenses, but the goblins hunkered down inching away as frozen tendrils moved along the ground toward their feet.
As the ships closed in, the goblins quickly scrambled to set up rockets, Then a half dozen flame juggler reds lit all their fuses at once.. They only had about 80 of them due to their relative newness to the dungeon¡¯s arsenol. Several got frozen by a exploding orb before the fuse was done, another got knocked over, but then they all went off nearly at once. The two stuck in ice exploded right there sending earth and ice shrapnel into the nearby goblins killing or maiming them. The rocket that fell over shot straight into the water. All the rest shot forward, before they started corkscrewing and scattering.
Fireworks exploded overhead as all of the other rockets found a target. Most exploded harmlessly into the air or in the water, but with 80 how could all of them miss. A good 20 of them exploded in the right vicinity. Shrapnel and bodies were sent flying. Half of the masts became useless torn rags. One ship took a direct hit. The wooden railing splintered sending shrapnel sweeping across the deck.
In total, Mark guessed both sides took about an even number of fatalities from the attack. However, From the looks of it the ship that had taken a direct hit was taking on water and would go down. A successful attack by all accounts since Gale¡¯s units were far more important than any of Mark¡¯s.
However, it was just a brief respite. Gale¡¯s ships started moving forward once again, now under full power of their oars. The slingshots started to become more and more accurate. No goblins were hit directly, but the spreading ice had caught or skewered more than a few as ice stalagmites shot out from their defensive wall. Before the goblins were even in archer range, they had taken over 100 casualties. It sounded like a lot but since it had taken Gale¡¯s ships 15 minutes to close in, the rate of death was not actually too alarming.
Arrows started streaking out. They duplicated into hundreds. Then they burst into flame, all before they fell on Gale¡¯s units and ships. Most of the units were just fine, but hundreds of flaming arrows were lodged into her wooden boats. Unsurprisingly with the environment most failed to catch despite the enchantment keeping them burning for an extended period. However, the remaining sails were all ruined. If nothing else, not being able to supplement their rowing with wind power would cost her time. However, Mark intended for Gale¡¯s fleet to sink here.
More volleys followed with the same effects. The wood was just too damp with the water and the humidity, but the goblins continued unperturbed. Dozens more goblins died as the slingshots continued to pelt their defenses with increasing effectiveness. The frozen wall was not starting to give way and collapse leaving the goblins exposed. The barge and mud wall, now looked to be made entirely of ice. Most of the water or mud around them had similarly started to freeze over. More than one goblin had given up the fight as they tried to pull a foot from what was now a frozen block of ice or tundra.
However they were coming into another range, hundreds of arrows once again embedded themselves into the wooden boats. However, instead of going out many of their flames began to build. Suddenly Gale¡¯s armada found themselves alight in a half a dozen places a piece. The slingshot fire stopped briefly as the lizardmen struggled alarmed with the fire that seemed to spread and dance around despite their efforts. They spread, then closed together to trap units. Lizardmen and lesser trolls began to panic and started seeking escape in the water all around.
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But the flame jugglers'' machinations had not gone unnoticed. A half dozen ice blasts lanced out from the cloud giants following close behind the ships. Nearly all the flame jugglers were taken out in one move. However more flaming arrows landed, and the few that remained continued to spread the flames. In less than a minute all efforts at saving the boats had been abandoned. Instead all of the sailors had dived into the water and were swimming for the defenders positions on both sides of the channel. The following melee was hardly a fight as the lizardmen put down the goblin and frogmen where they stood. Mark''s last view from the linked force was hill trolls, cave trolls, and cloud giants all wading through the water toward the swamp fortress. The battle had been a success. The ships and hundreds of lizardmen and lesser trolls would never make it to the battle in time.
However the battle was little more than a skirmish compared to the full fortress assault that would start only an hour later. Gale¡¯s forces got to watch for a good hour as the goblins moved in surrounding the fortress from the south and west. Setting up took longer than he would have hoped, however the good news was that they were still out of range for the most part. Gale had both slingshots and ballistas on top of the walls, but Mark was an engineer. How could he not have figured out the max trajectory of the slingshots based on ones recovered from around their dungeon? Several had streaked high arcs before splashing down about 100 feet shy. The ballistas could probably reach, but Gale was holding back for now.
It took another ten minutes to get the siege weapons barges securely anchored, before they were ready to begin. Hundreds of other goblins and frogmen got ready, before all five catapults went off at once. Five white oval projectiles flew in high arcs. The goblin engineers furiously began working to crank the launching arm back down. While another spider approached the breeder sunflowers.
Fortunately, the fog-like cloud that prevented anything beyond the territory from seeing inside, it did not affect things in the slightest once one was fully inside the illusion. It was just like the mirage of her forces that had fooled them for days. Mark of course had already known this having sent a few scouts inside to look around on multiple occasions.
If Gale thought that he was launching standard projectiles or that he was about to assault her fortress, then she had another thing coming. Just like flinging disease ridden corpses over the walls in medieval times, Mark had come up with a far more dastardly method of attack. It would not have been possible without some of their most recent upgrades.
The five white egg sacs flew. As soon as they had formed after the spiders had proliferated cast on them, the egg sacs had quickly been encircled with iron ring bracelets for weight and a parachute that would start to catch and open on the sacs downward trajectory. Four chutes successfully opened, while one egg sac continued hard likely splatting into the ground inside the walls. The four whose chutes did open had the metal rings slip off immediately and they started floating down right over the walls. Mark saw one egg sac burst open and dozens of black spiders fell. The other 3 sailed down out of sight beyond the wall.
It wasn¡¯t much, but each egg sac should hold a good 50 spider young. All of them would be about the size of a medium sized dog, and all of them would have a power rating of about 1 or 1.2. They may be weak but 200 tier 1¡¯s could not be entirely overlooked, and the catapults were already getting working to get another round loaded. Mark gave the order for the goblins and frogmen to move forward as a second volley of spider egg sacs were launched.
Unsurprisingly, the fortress sounded to be in a bit of chaos, but Mark witnessed two egg sacs get blown from the air, before the other 3 sailed down and out of sight. It was not too surprising that they were adapting fast, however Mark could do this for quite a while. Mark had more than enough breeder sunflowers and spiders to continue the barrage, and he had thousands of iron rings and parachutes ready to go.
Eventually the battle settled as Gale got accustomed to his unstandard tactic, and the defenders started paying attention to the advancing goblins, but how could Mark let things go so easily? Mark gave the order for the catapults to take an extra two cranks to deliver the special packages. Mark could just picture things inside. Gale probably had a lot of mages either blowing the egg sacs out of the air or hitting them with a fireball as soon as they got close. That is what he would have done, and hopefully great minds think alike.
Moments later, five white bags flew into the air. They also had parachutes, but no iron rings to make them heavier. They were heavy enough on their own. Mark only had a few of these shots available so he hoped to make them count. If Gale had watched closely she would have noticed that the black powder bags were descending at twice the rate of the normal egg sacs. None of these were shot from the air. Moments later the whole fortress shook as a successive wave of explosions shook the ground and deafened any nearby units. The enriched black powder made quite a boom.
However undoubtedly, Gale would work to counter future such attacks. Hopefully they had done enough damage to her secondary lines to allow a few waves of spiders to build up. Mark smiled as four of the next five floated down. One had still been blasted from the air by a cloud giant on the wall. Mark had an answer for them as well, and it looked like the goblins and frogmen were about in position.
Around five hundred feet from the walls or half the distance between both sides the goblins started setting up. A pair of goblins with shields stood front guarding each one of the 50 witch doctor reds, whose hands started to build black balls of power. Orbs and arrows sailed their way, but the guards'' shields were enchanted and embued, catching the blue orbs with their energy shields. Soon black shots of energy were lobbed in high arcing paths toward the wall.
Ten seconds passed, but just before Mark could wonder if they had all missed several forms started sliding down the wall. It looked like a good 9 figures had been hit by the curses, and now they would do anything to end the building pain. Fortunately 6 of the figures were large humanoids including two cloud giants and an ettin. The others were all hill trolls and some small lizardmen. The goblin ballistas started firing as soon as the giant humanoids had righted themselves after crashing down into the muk. Eight ballistas and yet they only had one hit. It was a solid hit bringing down the cloud giant with one stroke.
The other giants moved forward each after a different witch doctor. The cursed each knew which witch doctor was responsible for their plight and where to find them. The smaller lizardmen would likely never make it in time. The witch doctors who had snagged big game started to flee from the giantoids running after them. However, few had needed to. Hundreds of goblin archers were stationed a little further out from the wall. Any giant who started closing in got dozens of high quality enchanted arrows shot their way. Exposed as they were, they went down far too easily
Like that the battle continued. The curses were insidious; they would go right through armor, shields, and even structures that were not too thick seeking out a target. With the spiders running amok, it was not as if Gale¡¯s forces could all just take cover either. More than a few spiders also became unwritten targets of the curses along with the defenders, although it quickly became apparent that the giant humanoids had been tucked away from the chaos, because most of the defenders who departed the walls from then on were lizardmen, lesser trolls, or spiders. Usually it was only a few per every volley of curses. Most missed or were successfully dodged.
Anytime it looked like things inside were getting too comfortable inside, Mark had them send another round of black powder bombs inside. When they ran out of them after 2 more volleys, Mark started sending a loose net of rocks that would split apart in the air. Then he would occasionally have the goblin archers move forward like they were going to start trying to breach the walls. Gale of course had to bring more units onto the walls to counter a possible attack. A lot of goblins died with each feint, but more and more defenders were pulled from the walls as they sought to bring down the one that cursed them. In the end, Gale needed her units more than Mark needed his, so Mark was willing to make the trades despite how little results he actually saw.
It was hard to tell how effective everything was, but they sure were causing a panic. Gale probably had plans for a lot of contingencies in place, but how could she have prepared for this. She likely had the walls manned with energy shields, but they did not work against curses, physical egg sacs, rocks, or black powder bombs. Mark could not see beyond the walls, but hopefully they had killed hundreds.
After an hour only 1,300 of the 2,000 goblins remained, and at least a hundred frogmen had fallen despite only playing an auxiliary role. There were quite high casualties despite their job to only spread out Gale¡¯s defenses and be a nuisance. It was Daniel¡¯s job to actually take the fortress, but Mark expected that they had still killed hundreds. Hopefully it was more than enough to help the main assault to be successful.
Chapter 75: Day 345
Gale
In reality the true assault started with the arrival of Daniel¡¯s forces. The giant earth dragons did not even pause as they moved in on her walls. The North wall became heavily defended over the course of a few minutes as Gale prepared her defenses to receive them. This attack was not going at all how she thought it would. She had hundreds of units at her settlements at the river''s edge, the central island, the garden sanctuary, and her other outposts. A good thousand plus units that would never make it.. Half of them would not make it thanks to her fleet sinking an hour ago. Only a dozen giant humanoids trudged on but even they would likely only reach the dungeon right after the conclusion.
Then came the infuriating attack by the goblins. To say it was far from standard would be an understatement. Over the last hour a good thousand spiders had been launched over her walls. The goblin witch doctors curses passed right through the magical barrier around her walls. True the spiders had likely only killed around 20 units or so. They were far too weak to be more than a nuisance to even the weakest of her troops. It was the same with the witch doctors, she had maybe lost 80 in total, that had left the safety of her walls. In contrast she had lost well just shy of 300 hundred units to the siege weapons. The first exploding sacks alone had killed 150. She had lost nearly 50 tier 2 Salamanders and dominators. Then she had lost 18 of the various giant types. She had killed twice that number, but the goblin force alone had outnumbered her, and now a much stronger beast force was headed her way.
The losses were terrible, but there was also the fact that the inside of her fortress had become a mess. Stockpiles of extra enchanted projectiles had been destroyed. The warehouse had been destroyed, so she would not be able to get more. Then there was the fact that she had hundreds of units that required healing due to the bombs and the damn spore spiders. Her cloud giants and other mages were draining themselves just to get her other unit back up to standard. They were already burning through potions to replenish manna, meaning her staying power in actual combat was decreasing.
Gale had contemplated about bringing the fight to the goblin forces while they were on their way or during the last hour, but that would mean leaving the advantage of her defenses. Even if she succeeded her slow moving assaults would likely take heavy casualties. Not something she could chance with a much more powerful beast army coming in from the North. Although now with hindsight perhaps she should have.
Gale almost relished fighting the real army of beasts approaching her northern wall. Finally powerfully enchanted ballista bolts could kill something more worthwhile than a lowly goblin. Lizardmen dominators and hill giants could fight against true elites instead of thousands of weak goblins that would just scramble away. However she still had to be ready to defend the western and southern walls that the goblins threatened. A thousand goblins and large spiders could still threaten her if she did not keep them adequately in check.
The northern ballistas started firing as the earth dragons closed. Exceptional quality piercing and swiftness enchantments ensured they moved fast and went deep. They should even go through the heavy armor plate the earth dragons were decked in. Four earth dragons were wounded, the bolts piercing deep only partially sticking out. The subsequent volleys were even more devastating as the range of the shots decreased. Earth dragons started collapsing to the water, but the assault did not falter.
Then they were too close to the wall to be targeted, so the ballistas sought out the smaller beasts that had fallen behind. Seven of the twenty earth dragons had fallen. Half of the rest supported various grades of wounds, and now they were in close range for her archers and mages.
Arrows and ice orbs poured on, but despite their enchantments they had little effect. All of the primates had shields, so were generally fine. Which meant their mounts were usually fine as well. Not really that surprising, but Gale was taken at back when dozens of spells fizzled out before their intended targets. Did Daniels mages have some sort of counter spell.
Daniel¡¯s forces did not attack, they only did their best to close and defend. Things changed as the earth dragons reached the wall. Like impromptu ramps the earth dragons could reach two thirds of the way up the wall. The smaller units could do the rest. Girallons were the first to hop right up, grab the walls top and instantly pull themselves up in a fluid motion. All done while wearing heavy plate, shields, and weapons.
The oversized gorillas and their four arms could even defend themselves as they mounted her walls, meaning only one of a dozen were rebuffed in the process. However the girallons found themselves instantly facing something on the same level. Gale¡¯s walls were overly wide. It helped support the girallons, but it also allowed her smaller giants and trolls to fight freely. Certain areas could even support her larger giants and cave trolls. Ogres, hill giants and hill trolls found themselves on the losing end of the exchange, but the girallons also became easy targets for waiting archers behind the walls.
Then 4 unique named units leapt up onto the battlements. Three large cats and a white wolf. They started weaving in and out killing the weaker defenders. Then the wolf shot a white beam obliterating a swath of her archers at the base of the wall. A cloud giant targeted the wolf with an ice blast but it leapt out of the way. More and more evolved beast beasts started making their way onto the walls. Many leapt straight down to deal with the archers.
A dozen two headed ettins and twenty cyclops moved in to keep them from going wild, while the cloud giants started picking them off. Daniel¡¯s forces hit fast and hard, and the chaos quickly started spreading throughout the fortress. All of the beasts had the equivalent of skills which allowed them to do all sorts of things. Gale watched some blink out of existence and attack from the flanks. Others had elemental attacks like the moon wolf. A pack of raptors moved along the walls bulldozing through defenders including her powerful hill trolls. Like a meteor entering the atmosphere the pack had flames burning in a barrier around them. However a cloud giant ice blast made it through the barrier on the side freezing half of their number.
To think she had thought the goblins had caused chaos. No, they had been just an annoyance compared to this. Daniel¡¯s forces were hitting extremely hard and quickly. The skirmishes continued to spread as the remainder of Daniel¡¯s forces made their way onto the wall. Less than ten minutes had passed before the earth dragons started scrambling over the side, the rest of the beasts already within.
It was at this point that the goblins started attacking. This time Gale doubted that they would break it off. She had hundreds of lesser trolls ready to receive their assaults, but packs of beasts were also headed along the walls from both directions. Gale started to have a sinking feeling that she would fail to hold the dungeon surface. Still she was devastating Daniel¡¯s forces. The unique titled wolf and one of the black cat were already dead. The smaller spotted cats were still agility moving unencumbered, but they were far less powerful.
The goblin archers moved forward and started peppering everywhere with enchanted arrows. The multiplication enchantment was especially vexing, especially since they had secondary enchantments that amplified their damage. With the pressure from the sides, Gale quickly realized that even the goblins would be able to take the wall.
She still had an inner keep, and Gale ordered much of her remaining forces to retreat back inside of her secondary defenses, but Gale did not hold out much hope. At this point by himself Daniel could likely take the surface from her. However he was taking horrifying losses to do so. Half of the remaining earth dragons sacrificed themselves to breach the keep wall only to have it quickly rendered pointless as half a dozen cloud giants used up a large chunk of water essence to form an ethereal tide of water that swept out pushing back bodies and living units alike, killing dozens in the process. A second breach occurred a minute later and received the same treatment after enough enemies had accumulated, but the defensive essence spells had a heavy resource cost. Gale could not manage it again.
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At this point most of the earth dragons were dead along with most of the girallons. But the majority of the primates had been carefully preserved. Their spells were absorbed by the magic barrier that appeared around the top of the wall. Around 5 dozen beasts also remained although many were still scattered throughout the fortress fighting remnants that had failed to make it back to the keep. Gale still had several holdouts.
The goblins on the other hand were being very deliberate. A powerful bugbear commander led another 30 bugbear elites to wipe out all resistance as the rest of their forces made their way into the fort. They likely would already all be in, if they had not delegated most of their forces to hauling up crates and crates of supplies. The elite spiders and bugbears might be quite deadly, but having been next door with Amelia¡¯s dungeon for the whole battle Gale knew that those crates might very well be the true threat.
The remaining hot spots of defenders were soon settled and all of Daniels'' remaining 150 units concentrated on the keep. Gale would have been glad that his forces had been reduced with only a small fraction being composed of his stronger units, but her remaining forces were not much better. She had 122 units, sure it included a decent number of her tier 3¡¯s, but what could she do. There was still the whole army of goblins.
Gale sighed. She had been too complacent, believing in her defenses. She had more than 1,000 units spread through her other settlements and a good fifty that had been holding the sanctuary she had won in battle. Now none of them would make it back in time. She would have been fine dealing with either one of these dungeons by themselves, but two dungeons working together¡ Could her dungeon levels hold up? She believed they would, but how could she not worry.
Mark
The inner keep fell after a good half hour of resistance once their forces joined the assault. A simple thing once the energy barriers ran out of energy. Gale had only a handful of archers and mages to fight back during the period, so few casualties were sustained until the final melee. Mark once again let Daniel take on the brunt of the assault. Surprisingly, Daniel had agreed early on during their planning to be the main assault on the swamp fortress, leaving the dungeon levels to the goblin forces. Perhaps only because he realized that he would be the best candidate to take the surface. It did not matter, Mark and Amelia would happily accept a unique reward for being the ones to finish the job.
Still Mark was a bit taken aback, when Daniel elected to retreat his remaining 50 some units rather than assist. The units were not overly strong, mainly mage chimps and other primates, but they still did have Vince ¡®the wanderer¡¯. Overall, it was a strong enough force to take a middle layer of most dungeons.
In the end it did not matter. Mark was fairly confident that the remaining 700 goblins and other units could take it on their own. However, the news on the other side of the map had been less favorable. Avery¡¯s army had been obliterated. Nick Holt¡¯s forces suffered a resounding defeat as well. Still Amelia and himself would be far better off if Gale was taken out here. If all four coalition dungeons focused on Leonard''s dungeon it would fall quite easily, but Mark doubted that the coalition would stay together after today. At the very least all of them would re-evaluate their best options. However, Mark did not expect to be proven right so soon.
Avery Kingston
Avery was seething. ¡°How dare that bastard?¡± she repeated over and over again. Losing her army to a powerful calvary an hour ago was one thing, but that Daniel bastard betraying her was another. She had kept in comms with Amelia, she knew he had maybe brought around six to seven hundred powerful units for his attack there. Sure they had been elites, but how the hell had he brought an additional 3,000 beasts to her doorstep without her notice. Sure a large majority of them were weaker tier 1¡¯s, but would it matter. Avery only had around 800 defenders right now on the surface, and her auxiliary units that were busy scrambling out of the mine to join her defenses.
¡°How did he get past all of our scouts?¡± Avery screamed.
¡°It will be okay, my lady,¡± Mckayla said trying to comfort her, but her tone was not very confident. Still the aide was making as many preparations as possible, while her master rampaged around the core room.
Avery breathed heavily as her mind scrambled for answers. A half dozen tree and other scouts were now reported as dead. Only half of them had been dead, but as Avery tried to shift a link to others they came up as dead as well. Daniel had apparently assassinated them before they could release any signal. The interface apparently did not receive the delayed updates faster than Daniel¡¯s army could move.
Avery knew she should be trying to organize her forces, but what was the point? She knew about Daniel¡¯s capabilities from Amelia updates over the last half hour, and she had very few elite units that she had held back from the expedition. Daniel on the other hand had brought hundreds of elites as well as plenty of fodder.
Eventually Avery came to a conclusion. Her fungus and tree units were all distinctive, whether by sight or perhaps by smell to the beasts. Even if they were rooted in the ground like normal plant life, all Daniel needed to know was what types she had. Since he also shared the tree branch it should not have been too hard for that one, and the fungus branch units would stand out anywhere. Perhaps the real question was how he had avoided counter detection.
Daniel Hale
Daniel felt pretty smug about everything. He had taken more losses than he had hoped in the swamp fortress assault, but then he supposed that was what happens when you try and crack open a turtle. He would allow Amelia¡¯s goblin army to take things from here, not that Daniel was content with giving up the unique reward. He still had one last trick up his sleeve.
Whether it worked out or not with Gale, would depend on Amelia and a bit of luck, but even if Gale did survive, he would meet his true goal of knocking Avery off the board. Then after that he could reconsider. He felt that none of the other dungeons were really his equal on a one for one basis, but things would be tricky until there were only two dungeons left. Sure Amelia had helped, but Daniel could reduplicate taking Gale¡¯s dungeon later. Perhaps while the two southern dungeons duked it out.
The battle commenced less than 30 minutes after Gale¡¯s fortress had fallen. The ankylosaurs led the charge smashing into Avery¡¯s treants and other units with their power spiked heads or mace like tails. A group of chimps moved right behind them using fire based attacks. However some fungus unit types shot out a thick cloud of spores that served as a barrier.
Cherry trees started launching their cherry projectiles which covered whole swaths of land in tiny explosions. Avery had advanced pretty far along the germination path, so the attacks were a bit stronger than Daniel would have thought. Not that it mattered, he had the tree branches playbook, so what if he lost a few more of his tier 1 beasts.
There were a few more surprises, but eventually Avery¡¯s forces were pushed back to her main building. It looked like a tiered cake made of stone with three layers seemingly held together by tree trunk sized roots. Hundreds of trees and other vegetation were scattered along its surface.
The inside was even more remarkable. Hidden among all the roots and vines were living versions that could drag off unsuspecting invaders. Walls a foot thick grated open allowing myconid defenders to attack vulnerable mage beasts. It really was a marvel that she had made all of this. Being a model he had not expected her to showcase this level of ingenuity and intelligence. However, it would all be for naught. His forces had already found multiple staircases to the second level. Progress was slow since roots and vines were purged whenever possible, but he had all the time in the world. Nothing could come to her rescue.
Regardless, this madhouse maze would claim hundreds of his units. Daniel shrugged. It was just the cost of taking a dungeon. Of course he would like to preserve resources when able, but anyone who had lasted this long would not go down without taking their toll, even if he had caught her completely unaware.
Chapter 76: Day 345
Mark watched the first two floors as if on autopilot. They were manned with peak tier 1 lizardmen centurions but that was hardly a concern at this stage. However on the third floor, it was immediately apparent that Gale had already had a level 2 dungeon since lizardmen dominators and salamanders started storming into their ranks or blasting their forces with fireballs and these were just the wandering defenders from a maelstrom. Still not really a concern.
Mark and Amelia could not communicate with their forces in the dungeon, but Henry was handling things just fine. Advanced teams pushed through the tunnels and secured adjoining tunnels to prevent ambushes, minimizing the losses. With over 800 goblins, frogmen, plants, and spiders, they had plenty to spare. Mark even sent the remaining frogmen back with some claimed booty from the surface. They would not be much help in the dungeon anyways. It was better to use them for carrying back enchantments and magic equipment for study and use. Despite that they were proceeding cautiously. Henry was on top of things to ensure that the right forces with the right weapons were ready for the fights. The giants later in the dungeon could quite potentially fall quite easily with the right enchanted arrows or tactic, and they had all the time they needed to succeed or fail.
Mark spent the time ruminating on where they would go from here. Naturally, he had sent linked scouting teams to give them a glimpse of both battles that took place down to the south. It had been easy to monitor them while his units sieged Gale¡¯s walls. Unfortunately, neither Avery or Nick were able to overcome the cavalry units that destroyed all opposition. It had been far more intimidating than the impression they had of his forces based on his assault into their dungeon or on the central island.
Nick¡¯s forces were literally trounced despite using the same tactics he had used against them just North of his volcano settlement. Avery¡¯s forces had lasted quite a bit longer, her plant units were far less susceptible to being slammed by a wall of moving steel and flesh. However, Leonard''s forces also had magic swords and powerful enchantments. In reality, he was the only other force that Mark had seen that displayed similar acumen to their own dungeon in that field.
¡°That rotten bastard!¡± Amelia shouted.
Mark¡¯s eyes snapped to her as she furiously got to her feet and began pacing. ¡°What is it? What happened?¡± he asked intrepidly.
¡°He¡¯s attacking Avery,¡± she stammered. ¡°Daniel,¡± she clarified upon seeing his blank response.
¡°You¡¯re kidding!¡± Mark stated just as shocked. Daniel had brought a decent sized force in his attack against Gale. Not large, but it had a bunch of elites including at least 3 units with unique titles. He had not only done that, but he had also staged an entire army to deal a deathblow against Avery. Mark had always known their little coalition would likely fall apart immediately after the attack, but this seemed to soon. It was no wonder that Daniel had his leftover units including the unique titled cat skedaddle before word could get back to them.
¡°How is she fairing?¡±
Amelia turned toward him. Her face was contorted in anger, and she was crying, angry crying. ¡°3,000 units, including at least 2 unique titled ones. She doesn¡¯t think she is going to survive this¡¡± Amelia''s voice trembled during the last sentence.
¡°Good night,¡± Mark replied leaning back into the couch. How could he have that many more units and two more titled units hidden away. It was no wonder that the guy had been ranked first for the first few rankings. Mark¡¯s mind was scrambling for an answer, but then Amelia collapsed back on the opposite side of the couch. Perhaps it was not the time. ¡°Are you okay?¡±
¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be fine,¡± Amelia said, much more calmly than Mark expected. Mark watched as her facial expressions took on a more somber but resolute feel. ¡°I guess it was always going to come to this¡eventually. At least we never had to go against each other, so we could remain friends till the end.¡±
Mark nodded. There was not really much that he could say to comfort her. There had only ever been the possibility that only one of them would walk away from the succession battle. The friendship had an expiration date from the start, but still Avery and Cynthia had been her only real outlets beside himself. Amelia was not like him, who could ruminate on the various battle features all day every day.
¡°Is she really certain that she won¡¯t be able to¡ uh make it,¡± Mark finally asked.
¡°She sounds fairly certain,¡± Amelia said as she started describing their forces.
Daniel¡¯s forces were already on the third level of her plant-encrusted palace. After that it was just the nine levels of her dungeon. Avery had apparently elected to start giving Amelia full details since she knew she wasn¡¯t going to make it out of this. After ten minutes of listening, Mark could tell that their own dungeon would have been easily overwhelmed by such a force, even if they saw it in time and used up all their remaining MP and DP, not that they had much.
It had really just been Avery¡¯s misfortune that she had been chosen. Mark did not know for certain why she had been picked, but it was likely due to the fact that Daniel was certain he could surprise her. Avery¡¯s first notice had been a blaring alarm and red blimps appearing on her tactical map. Mark and Amelia definitely knew how that felt.
Still Avery seemed to be taking it rather well, since she was giving them such detailed accounts of his forces. Mark could not help but to sarcastically smile, thinking of the saying about a ¡®woman scorned.¡¯ Avery seemingly was more worried about ensuring that they had as much information that she could give. Mark doubted it was only due to her friendship. More likely she wanted Daniel to get what was coming to him.
¡°We are going to take out Daniel next, right?¡± Amelia asked with a harsh tone.
Mark did not respond immediately, as he played through the various scenarios. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think we have a choice at this point,¡± Mark finally responded. There was no way that they would be able to perform another joint attack with the guy after this, and Mark could not see them going after one of the other two. After all, once Gale and Avery fell their own dungeon would lie in between Daniel and the other two. It would be better to focus on the northern dungeon while the two southern dungeons kept each other occupied.
Then their dungeon would only form a point of a triangle with the two southern dungeons. Hopefully, Leonard and Nick would fight things out with each other while they faced off with Daniel. They should consider each other their biggest competition, but then they had not exactly always acted that way up to this point. I guess time will tell, Nick thought as he refocused on the ongoing battle.
Their forces were on the final room of the fourth floor. Gale had already unlocked her troll branch by this point since they mainly faced troll regulars. Although it appeared that she had limited MP at the time since half of her defenders were composed of the weaker lowland trolls. Not too surprising, Mark thought after remembering dungeons falling one after the other after dungeons started to reach level 2. Gale probably needed stronger defenses right then despite using weaker units.
Gale¡¯s fifth floor was manned fully by troll regulars. The only difference was the quality of gear. Each wore thick metal armor with various enchantments. Gale had moved them forward to the beginning of the floor in an attempt to surprise their forces. They easily wiped out the 60 goblins forming the advance squads, but by the time they were defeated, Henry had already moved up the goblin mages and pyromancers and burned them alive inside of their armor.
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Gale had already unlocked giants by the time she built her sixth level. Twenty five armor plated ogre defenders were waiting once again to surprise them in one of the opening rooms. The room was well suited for the task since a long chasm separated the two sides with only two ten foot wide bridges leading across. However it actually ended up working against her. Those powerful door shields did not protect from the black shrunken head curse. Once ogres started running across they fell quite easily to the exceptional quality enchanted arrows, and once the initial ogres were spurned to cross by the curse the others quickly followed suit. Each ran down in two single filled lines, right into a hail of arrows. The powerful duplicating piercing arrows punched right through. It was Gale''s fault for allowing them to get set up.
The next three floors had nearly the same compliments of defenders. They mostly had ogres, although a few mages were interspaced to provide some variance. Gale had changed tactics to have the ogres attack when they could approach ambush from multiple directions. It was far more effective, but at this point even the wandering maelstrom units were mostly all ogres so Henry had the appropriate forces arrayed in waiting at all times. They took losses, but they were acceptable.
That did it for the level 2 dungeon floors, but Mark was hardly surprised when the next floor opened to a tenth. Gale had been among the first to reach level 3, so it was not too surprising. A scouting unit quickly scampered back after getting a good look. Twenty fully armored hill trolls carrying door shields stood guard up a fortified hill. Five cloud giants stood waiting on top, ready to blast their forces.
It was the final room of the tenth floor. Based on the lack of wandering units, Gale had not gotten around to unlocking the maelstroms for her tier 3 floors. Still the set up allowed Henry to get their forces ready. Ten minutes passed as Henry prepped. Then the damn burst.
Hundreds of archers poured into the room without warning, scattering across the wide open base of the hill. The assault started virtually without warning so that the cloud giants could not blast the single opening leading into the large chamber.
Next ballistas started being wheeled in. The first went to the right and the next to the left and so on. It took half a minute for the cloud giants to charge their ice blasts, which they sent toward the attackers. One obliterated a ballista and a couple goblins surrounding it. Another missed another ballista that was still being wheeled to the far corner of the room.
Hill trolls started charging down hill realizing that they were just targets on the hill, but hundreds of powerfully enchanted necrotic arrows started streaking uphill from the hundreds of archers scattered along the base. It was extremely effective, but the hill giants were still extremely tough. They quickly bypassed the archers that scampered to the side. Gale had apparently ordered them to take out the ballistas, which they promptly did. Only one ballista managed to fire a bolt right into a hill troll''s center mass, knocking it back and mortally wounding it.
Then the fight became reminiscent of their fight with the dragon the behir, their 3rd floor guardian. Archers scattered away and peppered the lumbering giantoids. The cloud giants continued to support, but the goblins were all acting individually so it was hard to bring down more than one or two with a single spell. It had all been a part of Henry¡¯s strategy. Mark remembered Nasal having discussed their underground assault on the behir to the goblin commander. Realizing that this was not going in her favor, Gale quickly sent the eight remaining hill giants down the hill toward the tunnel.
Henry had anticipated this and had their forces ready. Powerful waves of arrows encompassed the entire passage slamming into the approaching hill trolls. Although Henry and a few other bugbear elites had to step in to put down the last two. After that, their forces took only marginal losses charging up the hill to deal with the cloud giants. Henry ordered the units to rest once the floor was taken.
After a couple hours they continued on, to find an eleventh floor. Mark was far from surprised to find another floor awaiting them. Gale had likely spent every drop of MP and DP she had left upon seeing the attack on her dungeon. She could very well have the full 14 floors. Hopefully, there would be fewer, assuming that Gale had run out of resources.
They still had over 400 goblins, all the sunflowers, and spiders, including pretty much every elite that had entered the dungeon. However, Mark was doubtful that they could manage a full 4 more floors, so at 200,000 MP a piece to unlock the floor along with what she would need to spend to summon the defenders. Hopefully Gale had not been able to build them all.
The eleventh floor gave a good indication that this would be the case. It was just one long tunnel leading to one giant room that was filled with the unarmored two headed ettins and cyclops. It looked like it was unplanned, so Gale had likely built it earlier that day. The room was large and flat, extremely open to allow the giantoids to move around easily. Of course they were loosely clustered around the opening, ready to smash swaths of units as they exited the tunnel.
Henry took a minute to configure their forces before having them pour out of the tunnel like bees pouring out of a hive. The front wave was led by the elite bugbears with Henry at the front. Five bugbears worked together to block the ettin swung club from the right as Henry by himself blocked the one to the left, his shield flaring up a magical barrier. Others continued forward cutting the two ettins as they passed them moving forward to the next ring of giantoids.
Spiders followed immediately after the 21 bugbears. The black funnel web and spore spiders emptied into the right side of the room in seconds. One was crushed under a second swing of the right ettin, before the ettin was brought down by a group of bugbears. Henry was pushing back the one on the left.
A group of spore spiders immediately moved into a cluster of waiting cyclops on the right. Several were instantly crushed, their wooden vine like frames turned to splinters. But then the remainder all poofed out yellow clouds that quickly spread. Seconds later the cyclops started wheezing and coughing. They still killed the tier 3 spiders a kill with each successful hit, but they became far more clumsy and started staggering back further into the room.
The bugbears continued forward and to the left, taking the vanguard on the left side of the room. Despite each having a full complement of skills and top gear, a third were killed with the first pass as they broke into the secondary ring of giantoids. Once they were amidst the giants they started fairing far better, weaving in and out using the giants awkward size against them. Then out came the archer goblins, uncontested. They quickly spread along the wall to the left and begin their hail of arrows.
The spore spiders were wiped out nearly to the spider, but they had effectively scattered the clump of cyclops to the right side of the room. The black funnel web spiders followed up targeting individual giantoids. It was the first time that Mark saw them in combat. Even he was taken aback as they launched tens of feet latching onto the sides of the giantoids. In a flash they bit into a cyclops flesh. Delivering their toxic payload. A second later they shot back off and out of range. A few of the giant black spiders were swatted out of the air or while they were attached, but most were nimble enough to escape the clumsy and slow counters.
Mark had evolved all of the funnel web spiders with their toxic essence, so their bites should be fairly lethal. Still it looked like it took several before the giant cyclops started stumbling about. Still it looked like the spiders would be the ones to prevail, with their uncannily quick reactions. Their numbers were about the same, but the spiders would prevail in a matter of a minute or two. The unarmored cyclops just were not suitable opponents for them, especially when they were struggling to breath and focus.
The fight on the left side on the other hand was an open melee. Several ettins had nearly immediately charged to deal with their biggest threat, the archers. Henry intercepted one but the rest started turning whole clumps of archers into mulch. One swing could find a half a dozen despite them all being spread out.
But more archers were pouring in every second, and the ones that were able to make a successful shot were doing so with powerful effect. They were finally taking heavy losses, but it was still clear that they would have a victory on this floor. Still Mark could only grimace each time a goblin archer was turned to paste. He did not particularly care for the goblins, but their quiver full of arrows. They were losing a lot of powerful enchantments with each one that was killed. Most were only good quality, but Henry had handed out a handful of excellent quality arrows to each archer as well. Over the months they had made tens of thousands, but their stockpile would mostly be gone after this was all said and done. Mark had only kept about 25% back at the home dungeon for defense.
It was after the fight was finished, that Amelia finally informed him that Avery¡¯s last floor had fallen. She had sent Amelia one last goodbye message. A moment later they got the notification.
[Notice: Contender, Avery Kingston, has been eliminated by another contender. Contender has been given a unique reward. Contenders remaining 5/35]
It was sobering news, however it was nothing compared to the next notice a little more than an hour later.
[Congratulations: A dungeon had reached level 4 ushering in the final era of the battle.]
Chapter 77: Day 345
The notice came, while their forces rested in the final room of the eleventh floor. It was not completely out of the realm given that Daniel Hale had just earned a unique reward, but it was still a bit shocking. Mark was certain that it had been Daniel and not one of the other two to hit dungeon level 4. He was also certain that it had been due to his unique reward and not from a saved up MP. They guy had just fielded far too many beasts and top notch elites, to have that much MP lying around. The greater worry however was the second accompanying notices.
[Notice: The sponsorship feature has been fully unlocked. The other three remaining dungeons will all automatically unlock their lowest remaining technology on their respective tech trees.]
[Warning: The first champions have been summoned to the field, and the first dungeon guardian floor has been unlocked.]
Mark would have been extremely excited if not for the following warning. They only had two techs remaining, Advanced metallurgy and higher level learning. Both cost one and half million MP. Thankfully he had unlocked dungeon features III already, but then there was the warning.
Mark did not really have to guess what a champion was. Obviously it was a powerful unit, and since the battle creators had elected to give the other dungeons a warning and a compensatory free tech, they must be real game changers. Then there was a dungeon guardian. Was that like the entire dungeon equivalent of a floor guardian.
Unfortunately, Mark would have to make a decision within the next hour. Which seemed like it would be far beyond the time Henry intended to rest the army. Mark would have liked to see their own unique reward, assuming that they would get it, but they had no way of pushing Henry to push forward. Not that they would if they could. It would be far better to ensure getting a reward then pushing forward the attack and failing.
The rest was really for Henry and the other surviving 4 bugbears to refresh their skills as well as to allow the black funnel web spiders to refill their venom sacs. Since those were their only elite troops it was better to wait, even if the attack could only continue on this evening. Still the troops only had enough for one light meal, so if there was a thirteenth floor they would have to just continue on. But Mark hoped there would not be too many more floors. Each floor cost at least 300,000 MP with unlocking the floor and the units. Still it was certainly possible she had been saving up for one of the techs and been able to unlock all of the floors.
The twelfth floor looked just as unplanned as the eleventh floor. A long stretch of tunnel leading to a final boss room. The room was manned by eighteen cyclops and seven cloud giants. The cloud giants crouched behind fortifications of a pyramid like structure leading to the rooms exit. Three stairways led up the otherwise smooth ascent. Each had a single cyclops as a guardian. The other fifteen cyclops were scattered behind seemingly random wall barriers forming rings around the base of the pyramid. They would be fairly protected against ranged attacks. On top of what was obviously magic powered armor, Mark''s confidence took a serious blow.
The sight did not completely fill him with dread. Mark had the feeling that this was Gale¡¯s final room. The last floor had been a bunch of relatively unequipped giantoids. If it had been the same here, Mark was sure they would easily take this floor as well. But it looked like Gale had used up all her spare equipment for a final stand here since every unit would be extremely difficult to bring down.
Henry gave out his final orders before he led the procession out into the room. Hundreds of tier 1 spider lings poured out first scrambling forward. Following them were the goblin forces. They moved out of the tunnel quickly fanning out, so they could attack from every angle. The cloud giant''s fingers started flaring blue almost immediately when it became clear that the attack was commencing. Their ice blasts had at least a 20 to 30 second duration, so the goblins and other units started scrambling to take cover behind the very walls the cyclops hid behind.
Still units were still exiting the tunnel when the ice blasts lanced out. Henry leapt into the air to intercept them. A magical barrier formed catching the first few, before gravity brought him back down and the force of the blasts forced him back. He leapt again to intercept the rest, but a portion had gotten through killing a good dozen units.
Henry immediately barked orders and the sunflowers started pouring out and started making their way across. So far they had not been utilized in the attack, Mark had left them outside for as long as possible to recoup solar energy, but eventually the dozen giantoids from Gale¡¯s armada had made it to the fortress forcing them inside. With their goblin compliment it had been easy enough fighting their way through the first two floor defenders and the wandering maelstrom units before catching up on the fifth floor. The result was perhaps a half a second charge for their sunburst ability. Thankfully the cloud mirage around her territory had not affected their ability to absorb the late morning sun. Hopefully they could make a difference here. Just prior to sending all the spiders into battle on the last floor they had proliferated them for the last time. Now 500 some spiders could act as their vanguard for this final room.
The last of the sunflowers hobbled behind cover as the next round of ice blasts lanced out. The battle was already in full swing. The six remaining witch doctors had all switched to debuffs, each choosing a different cyclops to use their smite spell against. Accompanying them were six reanimated cyclops from the previous floor. The reanimated cyclops were far from going toe to toe with their living brethren. Mark watched as one cyclops brought a blue magic sword around cutting half way through one of the reanimations. The reanimation continued to fight as the living cyclops withdrew its sword it mauled at the open flesh around its opponents neck with its one remaining arm, but it was clear the reanimation would not last for too long.
Two other reanimations had better success having disarmed their opponents and drawn them into a full grapple. However, it was also clear that they were weaker, not being able to use their bodies as efficiently.
The goblins and spiders were faring far worse. The funnel web spiders were having a far more difficult time biting through powerfully enchanted armor. It was looking like it would be nearly the reverse of the last floor. The sixteen tier 3 spiders along with their young were not doing much good besides drawing attention.
Henry quickly worked the sunflowers into the attack. Powerful barriers sprang up to block the sunbursts but they were quickly worn down. The battle for the base wall rings lasted for five minutes. In the end, they were successful, losing only half their number while wiping out the fifteen cyclops defenders, but that left them at the bottom of three sets of stairs leading up to a well fortified position.
The cloud giants had of course saved most of their manna for this part of the assault where it would be most effective. Unfortunately, for them Henry had withheld a powerful trump card for just such an occasion. A few runners were sent to bring back supplies from the tunnel. Of most importance were the 7 shields.
Each shield was masterfully built by gnome smiths and had multiple gems embedded. Each gem had been void embued. They still did not have a ton of magical equipment, having used most of their gems to make energy shields for their defenses, but these shields were the best of what they did have. Unlike the barrier Henry had used earlier, these shields would draw in all energy from magic attacks that came close to them, with little to no effort from their bearers. While they had limits, Mark was doubtful they would hit those limits during the time it took for their forces to climb the stairs. The real issue perhaps was how to get past the cyclops stairwell guardians waiting on top.
After a few minutes the assault began without warning. A bugbear led the charge for the center and left stairways, as the remainder of the spiders swarmed up the right. The lead bugbears held their shields before them, catching the magic blasts as they came. They made it near half way up before the ice blasts lanced down. However, instead of wiping out the foremost dozen assaulters, the blue energy was absorbed right into the shields.
However, far be it said that Gale was not prepared for the limits of her mage¡¯s long spell durations. Cloud giants started throwing blue orbs down at the climbing goblins. Any that came near the void shield had blue energy forcefully pulled from them. By the time they passed by they were basically transparent globes of glass that shattered on whatever they impacted. The cloud giants immediately started targeting units away from the shield bearers. The spiders were taking staggering losses, but their side was just a diversion to keep the defenders from concentrating on the two goblin assaults.
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However, Mark¡¯s 20 sunflowers had completed their own spell cast times. Twenty blue flashes lanced out as thunderstrike skills lanced out. They shot up to the top of the fortification with surprising speed. Some missed, others met a barrier that flashed into existence from magical armor, but a good half dozen made it through hitting the upper torso or head of surprised cloud giants. Two of them immediately went down, convulsing.
The void shield bearers stopped near the top allowing other units to move in to deal with the cyclops as they guarded the approach. Other goblin archers stopped midway to fire as the cyclops exposed themselves. Several goblin archers were accidently pushed to the side as other units scrambled past them. They slid down toward the bottom of the pyramid, likely hitting the base at bone crushing speed.
Two of the three assaults floundered almost immediately with the magic armored cyclops easily weathering the attacks from the spiders or goblins, but the third on the left side led by goblin mages and pyromancers pushed forward as fireballs lanced out covering their stairway¡¯s cyclops with flame. Pyromancers increased the temperature and kept the flames alive as they burnt through the magical barrier and then sprang to cling to the cyclops itself, leading to the cyclops stumbling back in blinding pain. Melee fighters led by the void shield bearer pushed up and in to gain a foothold.
The respite only lasted a few seconds as a quick thinking cloud giant threw a blue orb to smash against the cyclops on flames. The cyclops was covered in ice, but the flames were gone and it quickly regained its bearing and started back forward to cover its stairway. Goblins were just then ascending the upper steps to reach the top. A club sent most including the void shield bugbear out into the open air. They would plummet to their deaths. However a half dozen goblins scrambled through and instantly started to run into space where it was more open.
They were little more than a nuisance with their own weapons, but at the back of the platform were a few piles of blue orbs. The goblins had definitely seen them at work. The goblins instantly made for the piles. Several cloud giants moved physically to intercept them, leaving the wall undefended. The pressure on the goblins was decreased. Henry was already leading two other bugbears up the center.
Henry separated himself from the rest, accepting a magic sword strike onto his own void shield. The cyclops got the better of the exchange forcing Henry backwards down a few steps, but then Henry sped up pushing up and right into the giantoids guard. Energy sapped from the cyclops magic equipment in steady streams as Henry moved in crushing a kneecap with one swing. It only took a few moments for the continuous energy to cause the void gems to crumble from over exertion.
However, as they crumbled, electricity sprang into existence as Henry started cycling his own manna. He delivered one powerful strike after the other to the cyclops who was too slow to deal with him. The other bugbears edged around to deal with a nearby cloud giant, however even together they were far from its equal. At most they were able to keep it occupied burning their skills up quickly. More goblins squeezed through the cracks of the battle to engage other defenders, but they were far from being any of the defenders equal.
The cyclops accumulated wound after wound despite its protective armor now flaring to stunt Henry¡¯s strikes. Then Henry started to struggle noticeably more. He was still quicker, but his speed had reduced significantly as his speed skill became completely drained. However, a few goblins who had ascended the stairs sent arrows right into the cyclops'' unprotected neck. The archers had used high quality non enchanted arrows. The attacks were not deadly to the giantoids, but they were enough to pull the cyclops'' attention for a moment.
It was enough for Henry to capitalize; he flared with electricity as he shot up slamming his hammer right into the cyclops'' chin. The giant fell straight back falling into the wall before slumping down to the wall¡¯s base. Henry immediately scrambled further onto the platform to avoid a hail of blue orbs. It was pretty much a lost cause at this point for Gale¡¯s forces as goblins started pouring in unchecked from the center. Orbs killed a half dozen at a time, but there were hundreds following them. There just were not enough defenders, but before Mark could get too excited they all noticed something unusual at around the same time.
One of the cloud giants who had chased after the goblins sent a magic bolt straight to a piece of empty space in front of the level door. It had been an seemingly odd move for only a second. Then Mark noticed a camouflaged shape unveiled partially. It only lasted a second, but it was clearly a four legged beast, a smaller one. Daniel had not pulled all his creatures from the attack after all.
Mark did not know which of the defenders was the floor''s guardian, but it was thankfully not one of the dead ones. Otherwise the predator-like-cloaked beast would have claimed the dungeon right out from under them.
Henry who had already been running that way had evidently also noticed. He sent a crackling ball of electricity at the fast fading form. This time the creature flashed into view more clearly. It was one of the Caval units. It was even a unique titled unit, Vivi ¡®the wanderer.¡¯
¡°The gall of that guy,¡± Amelia proclaimed. She also immediately recognized the situation.
Then began an odd exchange as the cloud giant, beast, and bugbear commander all met near the floor exit. The cloud giant whipped a spiked mace around, nearly braining Henry immediately, but the bug commander dropped to the ground at the last second. A moment later he sprang to his feet once again dodging the mace as it crashed into the stone where he had just been.
But he was launching at the quickly fading cat beast, determined to not allow it to fade back into stealth. The cat sprang away, somehow even quicker than Henry could manage, but Vivi had lost its cloaking ability nearly completely. Vivi was large for a cat, but she was still only a few hundred pounds. She circled as the cloud giant once again struck out at Henry. Henry dodged and then moved in delivering his own blow to the giant¡¯s side. The magic armor flared blue from a central gem dissipating the lighting and force behind the strike. Henry managed another half hearted swing before he was forced to withdraw.
The cat attacked him as he left the cloud giant''s range. Sharp claws carved up the side of his breastplate. After another exchange, Henry moved away, his side flaring in a faint glow. The cat had cut through the armor easily enough, and Henry was using his healing skill.
Several more exchanges proved that there was a clear hierarchy of speed between the three. Henry could not catch the cat, but the cloud giant could not touch either of them, and all of the other defenders and attackers were far too absorbed in their own struggle to pay the three fighting at the back of the platform any mind.
Henry had healed several more wounds and the cloud giant held its own side covered in blue blood as it carried its mace in the other. The cat had gotten to them both. However, the stalemate between three powerhouses did not last long. It was Henry who broke the stalemate in one move as the cat closed once again on him.
Electricity flared into his surroundings saturating the area, the cat faltered momentarily a few strides away in the electric field. Vivi decided to retreat, but the brief pause was enough. Henry¡¯s hammer caught the creature in the back hip. The cat was sent curtailing through the air. It landed 20 feet away and tried to rise up, before it found its back legs utterly useless. The cat was a perfect scout or assassin, but did not have any resiliency.
Henry and the giant paid it no further attention as they moved in on each other. Henry had clearly lost a step, and now the two were nearly evenly matched now that most of Henry¡¯s skills were drained. With the giant''s overwhelming size that was not a good thing. Henry started getting battered as he fought something with longer reach and now nearly the same speed. Things looked pretty grim for a few more exchanges, until Henry used his last trump card.
The giant¡¯s mace came around hard. From all appearances there was nothing the bugbear commander could do to keep it from taking a crushing hit from the side, but then Henry popped a step out of range. It was not teleportation, but his reversal skill that manipulated time. Henry had drained his entire bar to reverse where he had been by less than a second. It was enough, Henry launched forward following behind the swing. His body flared with electricity as he leapt forward crashing his hammer into the giant¡¯s jaw.
A second later the giant collapsed to the ground. The goblins were still half heartedly probing the defenses, but it was clear that other than the fight at the back of the chamber not much was happening. And the fight at the center looked to be a losing battle. The bugbear commander studied his surroundings for a moment longer before he quickly moved to the door and gave it a try. He had been right, the cloud giant with the mace had been the guardian.
All of the other giants immediately dropped their own fights rushing towards him, but he had a head start. He quickly dipped into the core room and rushed toward the glowing blue orb. Mark only saw a glimpse of Gale standing stoically alongside a man. She had an intense flare in her demeanor. The man on the other hand was completely average. A moment later it was finished. A second dungeon had fallen, leaving only four left in the battle.
Chapter 78: Day 345
Henry and the rest of the army appeared on a large flat piece of mud in the middle of the swamp. There was still plenty of evidence that a settlement had once been there, but the fortifications were gone in their entirety. Neither was there a sign of the dozen giants who had reclaimed the surface earlier that day.
¡°Want to eat dinner now?¡± Amelia asked as soon as their celebrations were over. Mark shrugged. ¡°Good we can eat and discuss how we are going to take out that bastard, while we wait for our unique reward.¡± It only took them minutes to sift through the dinner options.
¡°So¡which technology do you think we should go with?¡± Amelia asked, as she twisted her fork in the spaghetti.
¡°Well Advanced metallurgy has a predictable benefit. Stronger, more durable, and lighter swords, shields, armor... It should also decrease interference with our enchantments and magical embuement,¡± Mark started.
¡°But with the gnomes aren¡¯t we kind of getting around that?¡± Amelia asked in a challenging manner.
¡°Yes¡but we have only a dozen of them working in the forge. Not enough to produce enough to outfit an entire army. Why¡ are you leaning toward going with higher learning?¡±
The gnomes were an effective circumnavigation of the limits with their dungeon¡¯s equipment. The gnomes were already producing various metallic alloys for their own equipment, and even after effectively joining them, their work was still not limited by the interface¡¯s limits that kept dungeons from doing things that they had not researched. The red hobgoblin smiths still could not produce steel or work the mithril they had found, but the gnomes could. At the goblins current level, even exceptional quality enchantments were still pretty difficult, but with the gnomes it was a near foregone conclusion that their equipment could be enchanted to that level and it had made masterwork quality enchantments even possible.
¡°Yes,¡± Amelia replied. ¡°We already have mass stockpiles of equipment and armor, even after this attack. Battles are not happening on even a monthly basis at this point, so we should be able to equip our elites from battle to battle since very few will actually be goblins since it is starting to look like we might be shifting more towards using beasts and plants for the mass of our force, with goblins using our equipment in support.¡±
¡°I mean you can¡¯t tell me a green goblin having a steel sword versus an iron one would make much of a difference, and as far as arrowheads¡ A single gnome smith can mass produce several hundred in just one day. That should be plenty for our top enchantments,¡± Amelia trailed off.
Mark thought about it for a minute. The number of good quality enchanted arrows in their two warehouses numbered in the hundreds of thousands at this point. Easily enough to last them through 3 or 4 full scale battles. However, they had just depleted the majority of their exceptional quality and a handful of their masterwork equipment with this attack.
Not going for advanced metallurgy right now would limit the amount of exceptional quality stuff that could be made, but it would not affect masterwork quality at all. For masterwork quality the main limiting factor was materials. Stuff like the petrified wood and mithril they had just started to excavate. It also required base essence as an inscription material at the very least, whereas the better enchanters like Amelia could manage exceptional quality quite frequently on high steel without it.
¡°Well you are partially right. I doubt our masterwork quality and future artifacts will be affected. Still I would say we will only be producing a third of the exceptional quality enchantments that we could if our goblin smiths could get to the same level.¡±
¡°You¡¯re the one who has been saying we should not put all our eggs in one basket. By now all of the dungeons know our enchanted gear is one of our main features, so perhaps we should see what the higher learning tech would give us. For a tier 3 tech it should not be completely useless, and we are effectively already getting advanced metallurgy already even if only at a reduced capacity.¡±
Mark finally nodded. ¡°Okay I can¡¯t argue with that. At the very least hopefully the tech will give us more RP.
A moment later Amelia selected Higher learning and they both looked at what it unlocked. Mark glared at her a second later, and she smiled back sheepishly. Higher learning gave absolutely nothing¡ At least not until they built another core building.
¡°I will get Cedrick to get some gnomes to start working on the institute,¡± Mark sighed.
Once that decision was made, the two could not help but to ruminate as they waited for their unique reward. Mark felt both excitement and anxiety. This would be their fourth reward. The other three had given them what they needed at that stage of the battle. Mark was not exactly sure about what they needed now. There were many things that could be improved, but they currently had a pretty versatile hand to work with.
As the last of the time ticked down on the counter, Mark and Amelia both watched with anticipation, and the message was pulled up as soon as it hit zero.
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[Unique Reward: Choose between one of the three options
- Take the money and run.
- Surface Spawner
- Power of flight
Time remaining 60:00]
The first option was predictably the same. The whopping 10,000 MP was very tantalizing, but Mark did little more than note the amount as he moved to the second option.
Each of their dungeon floors could have a spawner that could summon defeated enemies from prior attacks on their dungeon, but the surface spawner was one that could be built outside of the dungeon. From there it appeared to be highly customizable on what could be summoned. It just had to be a unit or upgrade that they had available to them. The main limit was a 100 power rating worth of units summoned with a few caveats. Adding a skill or something else that did not exactly touch power rating would cost a currently undisclosed amount.
But there were a few other limits. Only a 100 power rating worth of units could be summoned each week, and only that amount could be in existence at once. Through some rough math, Mark put the value at about the same level of around 80,000 MP to summon about 50 elite units. That value would be more than doubled if they were to summon an army''s worth of weaker units. However, no units could be summoned while the dungeon was under attack, or until the corresponding value of units were slain.
Used correctly it would definitely be better than the MP option. The MP option would only be better if and likely when weeks passed between attacks and they were stockpiling forces. Still Mark could see some utility. What would prevent him from spawning an army of weaker units every week to batter down an enemy forcing them to expend resources. Amelia and him had just been talking about how much extra equipment they had laying around.
Perhaps the army would die, but if they killed tens of thousands of MP worth of enemy units, perhaps they could use the spawner to weaken their enemies as they developed their own killing blow.
However, Mark was itching to move onto the next option. The power of flight was a unique feature, meaning that dungeons could not normally get access to it. The option enabled flight in all aspects. But Mark was less concerned with Ezekiel trying to build some Leonardo da Vinci type flying craft than with the fact that picking this option would also unlock two new tier 2 units.
Power rating wise tier 2¡¯s were obviously a bit obsolete to be considered elites, but flying by itself would open a host of options. Even a rock carried hundreds of feet into the air could become a deadly projectile. Add on dropping enchanted or explosive payloads, who could say what would be possible.
Then there was the obvious benefit to scouting that flying units could provide. Fact was Mark still had no clue where exactly Daniel¡¯s dungeon was in the northern mountain region. They had narrowed down some locations, but even the linked thrash bears Mark had sent were quickly found and dealt with by Daniel¡¯s own forces.
Honestly, Mark had to think about the choice for a little while. Power of flight would add a lot to their capabilities, but it was hard to pass up a potential respawning army. Even a 20% increase to their daily production could be extremely beneficial, versus having less MP and paying for the units that the power of flight would allow. Mark finally sighed and chose power of flight. Their versatility was one of their strengths, and flying could offer a lot. Mark had to trust that he could use it effectively to their advantage.
Mark got nearly immediate confirmation that he had made the right choice just the next day. The first thing Mark had inevitably done after getting their unique reward was to send out flying scouts. The main objective was to locate Daniel¡¯s dungeon, although they sent units in other directions to help uncover the rest of the map.
The weaker of their new tier 2 units was the ¡®winged¡¯ goblin or what Mark and Amelia would come to call the bat goblin. An orange skinned goblinoid with an upturned bat-like snout and leathery wings that stood five feet tall. The winged goblin was fairly weak even for its 2.0 power rating with strength equivalent to the 1.2 power rated legionnaires. Intelligence wise they fell at the level of the yellow hobgoblins meaning they would be mediocre as fighters or as mages. Still since they followed the humanoid class and skill system, there would be a lot of possibilities that Mark could tryout.
The second unit was the weevil. A unit from the creepy crawly branch the weevil was far more powerful with a 2.7 power rating. The bulbous creatures had a furry black thorax and abdomen covered by four folded wings. The long hook-like nasal appendage added an extra two feet to the seven foot long beast. Unlike the bat goblins the weevil was as strong as any other beast with the same power rating. It had the best intelligence and wisdom stats of the branch, meaning the weevil was now their best beast tree mage option.
In flight however the two units could not be compared. The weevils in flight were steady and could build to a decent speed given enough time. However, it took them quite a while to get going, and when they maneuvered they had a very wide turn radius. The bat goblins on the other hand could quickly accelerate to their top speeds and could break into a hover or turn on a dime. Effectively they had a flying tank and a mediocre in all other aspects but highly aerodynamic unit. Mark could certainly make them work.
Finding Daniel¡¯s dungeon was a touch more difficult than any other dungeon, but with a dozen winged bat goblins scouring the area they found it soon enough. The dungeon encompassed a valley between two hill ridges. Hundreds of trees were still scattered throughout the area, but there was no undergrowth in the dungeon proper and only patches of grass that had not already been trampled to death. Then there were also caves carved straight into the earth, some large enough for a double decker bus to drive into the opening. There were no buildings, and currently not too many beasts present, likely due to the recent expeditions, but Mark was sure they had found it.
Because they had found Daniels champion. A large mound of red flesh and scales with much larger leathery wings curled closed around its body, forming a ball at the very center of what must be Daniels territory. It was a dragon the size of a hay barn, being at least 50% larger than Daniel¡¯s primordial earth dragon. The power rating was also double that of the earth dragon at 29.9.
¡°I suddenly fill jipped,¡± Mark could not help himself from remarking. ¡°What did we unlock the power of flight for everybody?¡±
Chapter 79: Day 350
Things solidified fairly easily after day 345. It was clear there would not be alliances at this stage, unless someone could manage to team up two of the three other dungeons, but after Daniel cut Avery down from behind, there was little chance of that. But he had not been the only one to make additional moves. Nick Holt had successfully sent a secondary force to capture the central island shortly after the other battles had concluded. Nothing had been quite formalized, but the battle had clearly devolved into the two southern dungeons facing off with one another, leaving Mark and Amelia to face Daniel.
Perfect world, Mark and Amelia would have been able to reach dungeon level 4 and get their own champion before the face off, but Daniel was not going to give them time to breathe. As soon as he reinforced the remnants of his army that survived the assaults'' on Avery¡¯s dungeon he sent them right back out. They set off the very next day, headed south skirting to the west of the swampland. Their progress was slow, but they would still reach Mark and Amelia¡¯s home dungeon in exactly a week after the coalition attacks.
The only good thing about the swift attack was that Daniel would not have half of his named units that he had lost in the battle with gale. Midnight the shadow cat, Vivi ¡®the wanderer¡¯, and Luna the moon wolf, had all fallen in that battle. The downside was that two of the three he was bringing were the biggest and baddest available. The earth dragon ¡®the first primordial¡¯, and the treant ¡®World tree,¡¯ were two of the biggest units in the succession battle. They would be accompanied by Vince, the other caval cat. Of course they were all dwarfed by the giant dragon that would most likely make an appearance. Mark¡¯s only hope was that Daniel wanted to keep that particular card a secret from the other two dungeons that would likely learn about it if he used it for the attack. However since the giant beast had winged its way over to nest on plateaus near the approaching army, it was a faint hope.
The army itself had thousands of tier 1 beasts. Then there were a good 500 of the higher tiers. It was a true elite force. Daniel knew that his attack would be no surprise, his dragon had even shot after and snapped up a few bat goblins that had winged too close, so he was throwing everything he had at them. The likely intention was that even if he lost everything while taking their dungeon, he would still be able to rebuild before the southern dungeons could even think about targeting him.
Most would think that it would be enough to accomplish the task, but Mark was determined to ensure that Daniel would pay for looking down on them. Then Mark would take the bare minimum amount of time to get enough resources to launch their own counter attack. A week was not a lot of time, but they would still have accumulated more than 350,000 MP when all things were said and done. Mark already had their defense all planned out.
Now Amelia and him were just working on their finishing touches. To be exact, Amelia and Crouse the inscribing gnome were shooting for artifact quality enchantments. They had already completed a handful of single artifact quality enchantments, but those were of little use when trying to bring down such a highly mobile dragon. For shooting something out of the air, you needed a shotgun not a rifle, but to pierce the hide you also needed greater piercing power, so despite them having some 73 enchantments currently available to them, they were working on something tried and true.
Currently, Amelia was working on one of Mark¡¯s most ambitious designs yet. At the artifact level dual or triple enchantments had to be interwoven with one another adding a depth and complexity that would result in the exponential increase of power required. For this design, Mark had downplayed the duplicate projectile enchantment. Success would mean only 3 duplications, only a quarter of some of their masterwork quality enchantments, but if piercing or more duplicates had to give, Mark wanted to keep the stopping power. Hopefully, the slightly less complicated design than when he had gone full tilt with both enchantments would allow Amelia and Crouse to succeed this time. If successful they would then have the rest of the 2 remaining days before Daniel¡¯s forces arrived to use up the rest of their materials.
Mark glanced around the crafting house. Dozens of goblins and gnomes were busy with their own crafts or enchantments. A group of gnomes were forming even more petrified arrow shafts and mithril arrow heads for Amelia and Crouse to work on. Others were shooting for just exceptional or even high quality gear.
Over the battle they had researched a bunch of different enchantments, 73 in total, but they really only got around to using a fraction of them. Of course things changed over the battle. The firecracker enchantment arrows had long ago lost prevalence due to enemies just being too strong for the average quality enchantments stolen from Nehemiah¡¯s dungeon to be effective. However the reverse was also true.
Mark had not really known what to do with the weight change enchantment, but with the addition of power of flight, different avenues had become available. Now a bunch of inscribers were busy enchanting polished rocks. Based on his design a good quality enhancement would weigh an eighth of its normal weight and be duplicated into even more projectiles, allowing even a bat goblin to take a handful up and devastate weaker unit types. Mark had then locked at about 30 pounds before the extra weight would make them too heavy laden to be effective.
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However a couple hundred pounds of duplicating rocks would slam down like meteors on ground forces. The higher quality variants were tetrahedron darts made of solid metal. They were larger, heavier, and would duplicate into more copies than the lower quality rocks. However, even with the 1 to 15 weight conversion they would still be too heavy for a bat goblin to carry more than 1. Of course the weevils would be able to carry a dozen of them. They would then be able to fly over the battlefield like carpet bombers infusing each payload before it dropped, but due to time constraints they would not be able to make that many runs. They just would not have enough built. This next battle would be mainly the rock variants.
A chorus of shouts erupted from the Crouse''s workstation. Mark drifted over. A petrified wooden shaft with a blue tinted metal arrowhead basically reverberated in the vice that held it aloft. Mark appreciated the sight for a minute, before glancing back at Amelia who was still hard at work. She still had a good half hour to go by the look of things. Each bolt would take a good 2 hours to finish, meaning Mark could not expect to have too many of them even with a half dozen inscribers working on them, but what was important was that they had finally succeeded. They already had some single artifact quality enchanted gear, but this was the first dual artifact. Not wanting to be a further distraction, Mark departed wordlessly back to his own station in the brewery. Dozens of reds were already working diligently, but Mark paid them little attention.
He was the best at making inscription designs, but he was only one of the many that could brew at their dungeon¡¯s top level. Mark focused exclusively on enlightenment pills. It was a bit of double effort, but he or one of the others would have to make an average or good quality enlightenment pill, for an inscriber to even have a chance at artifact. Even masterworks failed more often than not without the pills aid. A human or gnome just did not have the appropriate levels of awareness for such intricate work and concentration without help. For each enlightenment pill, they gave an inscriber a shot at the higher levels.
Mark did not mind contributing his part, since he could still spend half of the time thinking through various things. For the past five days it had been all about how to stop Daniel. As the defending force they would have some advantage, but that was assuming that Daniel''s dragon did not swoop down and roast hundreds or thousands all at once. Mark had not seen any proof, but he felt it was prudent to assume the thing could breathe flames, allowing it to kill units far more quickly than if it had to rely on its teeth and claws.
Even before the coalition battle, ballistas had been in mass production, so they had quite a few stationed along the wall, but ever since Daniel had turned his forces south Mark had some hauled up to the top of the plateau and started fortifying the edge of the plateau right above their dungeon. If their advance party failed, then it would be up to them to deal with the dragon.
Several thousand goblins would man the plateau and the walls and towers down below
More beasts would be waiting underground to ambush Daniel¡¯s forces outside of the walls. Daniel likely would not expect such a tactic to work, but the tunnel egress points were all sealed with solid stone. The earth shaper enhancements could drop the wall allowing their creepy crawlies free access to insert themselves behind enemy lines without warning. Of course then there was the air support, both for the battle and for the group that would be sent to down or hopefully kill the dragon.
The real limit to Mark''s plan of course was resources. Goblins were of course extremely cheap. A 100,000 MP was enough to summon the required goblins. Mark was able to summon 2,500 in total. Of course half of that money was to pay for the more expensive bugbears or mages, which Mark summoned sparingly. It also did not include their new flying units. Mark spent another 100,000 MP on them alone, but since the bat goblins'' base price was 800 MP they had far fewer than he would have liked.
They already had all of the defensive plant units summoned. Every one of the sunflowers had survived the assault on Gale¡¯s dungeon. Their number would be supported by blood roses and a handful of midnight lotuses.
Mark had spent the rest of their MP on their beast assault force. Tier 2 and 3 units were expensive, but with the proliferate skill a bunch of elites could be turned into a decent sized army. Mark went for a mix of Carnivorous centipedes and the two tier 3 spider variants. The spore spiders were a must, their unique ability was just too useful against other living units, although thankfully the creepy crawly units were an exception to the rule. The spore spiders could choose the enemies while the carnivorous centipedes and black funnel web spiders delivered the majority of the lethal attacks.
Every one of the beasts were fully evolved. They would still be at a disadvantage against Daniels double evolved on a power rating basis, but hopefully a 1,000 or so unit swarm would still be effective.
On top of all of this, Mark had a couple hundred goblins and other unit types already summoned. Then there would be a good 1,000 miners that he would keep in reserve. Of course Mark hoped things would not come to them. There was one more card that Mark had not demonstrated too much outside of a dungeon.
There just had not been much point in bringing out the golem balls against Gale. One giant would probably wade through a hundred of them like an adult wading through a bunch of toddlers after all, but for flesh and blood beasts¡ In all honesty, Mark felt they were a bit of a cheat. The only limit was manna. The green goblins just did not have enough, the other non mage goblins would only be able to activate one normally. Of course with their stockpiles of mana potions, Mark could afford even to allow non mages to launch around three. Much more than that, he would risk losing fighters to manna depletion.
In total, Mark expected to have a good 1,200 units falling anywhere from 0.3 to 1.5 in power rating. They would not be terribly lethal, but would hopefully add pressure on Daniel¡¯s forces if used correctly.
Chapter 80: Day 352
Red dot scouts started entering their territory a good half hour in front of the main force. Just a bunch of tier 1¡¯s that scattered around looking for any units waiting in ambush. Even more were scanning the area all around their territory looking for secret forces lying in wait. They did not appear to have found anything, despite the fact that hundreds of beasts were indeed waiting in the caverns below, but smell and sound did not pass through the enchanted rock walls covering half a dozen small crevice openings.
The goblin forces were already arrayed in waiting on top of the walls and in the towers. Goblin spearmen and legionnaires would propel assaulters trying to mount the wall while the sunflowers and archers assailed them behind. It was gearing up to be one of the first proper battles in a while. For Gale¡¯s assault, Mark had hardly manned the wall, knowing the giants would easily just smash through. But as of yesterday, the full scope of the wall was finally protected with a magic barrier. The giant earth dragons could still likely make their way over, but Mark had several dozen ballistas and other means to keep them from quickly securing an entrance to the inside of the fortress like they had with Gale.
A smaller secondary wall had been made from earth shaper enchantments right above the divot in the earth created by the collapsing earth several months earlier. Mark called it the ditch, and this wall the outer wall. Tens of thousands of spikes of wood and metal were firmly embedded in the earth from the outer wall to the main wall. It would be quite dangerous for the earth dragons to just plow through them. There were also plenty of pit traps scattered throughout. In theory it would all be far more of a detriment for Daniel¡¯s beast forces then the swamp had been for them.
None of it would matter if one champion dragon could not be dealt with. Just as he had stationed some goblins to impede reinforcements from Gale¡¯s other main settlement, the battle here would begin far off from their territory. Likely, it would be the succession battle¡¯s first air battle. Sixty bat goblins were winging their way toward the red dragon who had been resting on a plateau miles to the north. Through whatever means the dragon noticed them when they were still miles out. The dragon leapt off the edge, and moments later it started to climb furiously.
The dragon was incredibly quick despite its size. In a straight up contest of speed, Mark guessed the dragon would be a good 50% faster than even the bat goblins, meaning that he was about to lose a bunch of costly air units all in one go, but it would be worth it if they were able to accomplish their mission. Their mission was the dragon¡¯s wings. A successful mission would see the red barn sized beast plummeting toward the ground. Then even if it survived it would either have to get its wings healed, or proceed on the ground. However, seeing the giant dragon quickly closing on their air forces, Mark was far less sure of their chances of success than he had been when concocting the idea.
The bat goblins scattered in all directions as the dragon aimed at their center. Seconds later the dragon confirmed that it could indeed breathe flame as a plume of fire lanced out. The flames passed over two orange specs, who seconds later turned into two charred remains smoldering as they plummeted toward the earth, but the dragon was not done. It twisted in pursuit of others, snapping up another in its sedan sized maw in a matter of seconds. It quickly honed in on a fourth who was retreating. In only took a couple of seconds to overtake and snap it up as well. Although this time, Mark saw the dragon''s mouth explode moments later.
The dragon had caught one of the bat goblins carrying an enriched gunpowder satchel, and the goblin had apparently decided on a last act of defiance, setting off the payload as the dragon chomped down. However, the dragon did little more than roar in rage. Seconds later it reoriented on another bat goblin, although Mark could see that one side of the creature''s serpent-like snout was covered in garish wounds. At several points the jaw and teeth were just gone, and one could see straight through into the mouth.
For the fifth goblin the dragon passed right by it with its head, choosing to bat the smaller unit with one of its trailing paws. It was as good as hitting a fly midair with a flyswatter. The goblin was killed instantly. Bones were crushed and another orange form was sent rocketing toward the earth.
However, it was the last death that was uncontested. The other goblins had wheeled about as the dragon swiveled in pursuit. Some goblins moved to a hover and shot arrows that duplicated a dozen times over. They had a lot more luck than the ones that were trying to close in with swords to cut the wings directly. The dragon had remarkable awareness of its surroundings, and whipped its wings clear from the slower aerial units, but projectiles simply moved too fast. Half had been miss aimed, but still dozens of arrows flared up in flame as they slammed into the outstretched webbing of its wings and it''s back.
The dragon did little more than roar in defiance as it batted a sixth goblin, one who had tried to cut through its wing with a sword, out of the air. Moments later the dragon was racing away out of range of the swarm of goblins. The goblins could not hope to catch it so they once again formed a widespread clump for the dragon to target. One pass, and the champion had killed 10% of its attackers.
The dragon wheeled around for another pass. This time the majority of the goblins knocked arrows to fire on it directly as it streaked toward them. A good 40 arrows became 300 in flight as they duplicated and burst in flame. However right before they made it to the dragon the dragon snapped its wings back against its body. It reduced the area the arrows could hit, and caused the dragon to instantly plummet. It worked as only a few arrows hit seemingly ineffectually against its main body. Mark sighed upon watching so many double exceptional quality enchanted arrows sail past it into open air, but anything less would not do much against this guy.
On the second pass, the dragon only caught two goblins. The brief second loss of lift had caused it to drop too much altitude. Only one was caught in a gout of flames, and the second was run down as the other goblins fired upon the dragon from all directions. Like this the dragon continued to fly down the elusive goblins as they buzzed about him.
The main bulk of Daniel¡¯s forces had entered the territory from the North, they quickly swept down so that they could approach the wall from all sides. Mark sidelined the air battle to his personal interface as he swapped the main interface display to an overhead view from above their dungeon. While Amelia gave them a view from the opposing side on her own. Trees had been removed for nearly well over a thousand feet by this point in time. Hundreds of their trunks still lay in piles along cliff face inside their walls, fuel for their forges furnace or any other purpose. Half of the bat goblins were dead by the time the beast forces reached the open land.
The dragon had plenty of small holes, and even one large slit tear midwing, but it was still winging around now in a full dogfight with the bat goblins who died one by one. It was slightly reminiscent of when their goblins had attacked the behir in a cavern underground. The two fights were a lot alike. One giant being beset from all directions. Now it was laughable that Mark had named the behir Dragon. The actual dragon before them was ten times its size at least. However just like the behir, it did seem that the dragon was wearing down, if only a little. Each tear in its wing caused the red dragon to have to work harder for less gain as lift was lost.
In another 10 minutes things would be over, one way or another.
The main assault would begin well before that. Girallons led the charge storming across the open field, making right for the small outer wall. The ballistas all fired, they were only using exceptional quality dual enchantments for now. Wooden shafts with steel heads, streaked out, becoming a hundred as each one duplicated into eight others. However, there was a lot of open ground, so there were only two hits. Neither instantly fatal, a gut shot and one stuck through one¡¯s shoulder. The giant apes took the hits in stride, as they lumbered forward.
Moments later the ape vanguard reached the safety of the earthen ditch The ballistas had only gotten one shot at them as they crossed half the open area before the walls, but other beasts were already storming behind them. It was a test waive filled with mostly tier 1¡¯s. When they hit the halfway point from the tree line to the large ditch, a thousand black arrows streaked out into the air. They rained down amidst the weaker beasts taking the first toll of the battle.
A second volley rained down on the beasts as they entered the ditch, claiming more before the archers shifted to the slower apes, approaching from behind. The ballistas recharged shifted to scattershot bolts. Bolts with only one exceptional quality enchantment. Each bolt became fifteen before they rained into the primate ranks. Most wore armor and held a shield overhead to catch projectiles, but they did little good against the four foot bolts. Mark watched a tier 2 gorilla king take a bold through the shield straight into its chest. The tier 2 gorilla was sent tumbling backwards from the force. Some bolts took out two or three units a piece as they whizzed through the enemy ranks. A few went down due to the smaller arrows as well, despite the armor and shields, but it was only a handful. Then the primates reached the ditch as well, but that would not protect them. The archers fired lob shots that took a more oval trajectory before raining almost straight down on them and the lower tier beasts.
Right behind the wall offered some safety, but the ditch was all open from above. However, 30 girallon¡¯s started pulling rocks from the ground and hurling them forward. Each weighed a hundred pounds, and each flew far enough to crash against the wall at the very least. Others soared right over. A pair of them crashed into the top of the wall sending goblins off the back and shards out in all directions. Ten seconds later, the girallons did it again. Seemingly the only holdup was the time it took for them to magically pull rock from the ground and form it into giant bowling balls.
Tier 2¡¯s and 3¡¯s started streaking across the open field the same time that the lesser beasts started jumping over the outer wall. Dinosaurs, cave bears, tigers, and more. Some archers and ballistas targeted the closer beasts, some tilted up to fire at the stronger units.
Mark gave the order to spring their ambush. A quick flash of his tactical screen, showed that his order was being complied with. Hundreds of spiders and a handful of centipedes started pouring from a half dozen crevices in the hillside. More than a thousand had been bred from the proliferate ability, the earliest would still have some 25 minutes before they would collapse and shrivel. Others had nearly another full 2 hours, before their bodies rapidly broke down. It was an expiration time limit, many were not likely to ever reach since they would likely die well before then. They started streaming toward the rear of the beast forces.
At the same time, hobgoblins, legionnaires, and reds started launching the golem balls. The golem balls only made it a few hundred feet at most, but wherever they landed earthen forms started rising. They formed as the beasts weaved around spikes toward them. Well over a thousand were fully formed before the foremost cats weaved around them as well. However Long horn rams smashed right through the earthen constructs and the mastiffs set upon them ripping earthen arms and legs from the torsos. The weakest constructs were torn apart with ease by even the weakest of beasts. The mid range of constructs could keep one of the lesser beasts engaged, while the few top tier constructs from good quality enchantments could take on multiple weaker beasts at once.
They were not overly lethal, but the constructs fared far better than when they had been paired against tier 2 orcs in Derrick Blackwell¡¯s dungeon. Still they were really only a wave break to keep a horde of beasts from reaching the walls with full force. Mark had been unsure what a bunch of small beasts could do even if they reached the wall, but that question would be answered in the coming minutes. Several caval cats scrambled right up the side and onto the wall as soon as they made it. A few goblins were killed with little resistance, before the others set upon the fairly fragile cats. The other beasts just stopped and waited. Oddly enough there was a whole section in the middle that was left open. Then 25 earth dragons led by the large primordial lizard and accompanied by the other two unique title units as well as a handful of girillons and other tier 2¡¯s formed up at the tree line.
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¡°Uh oh,¡± Mark remarked.
Nearly instantly they saw what was happening. A large swirl of orange energy started to form in line with the uncontested wall. Mark looked at Amelia¡¯s personal interface as she zoomed in. A group of 30 red furred orangutans were performing some sort of group magic ritual, and orange energy was pouring out from each of them to make the projection forming above them. A minute later the energy started to take the shape of a giant orange incorporeal rhinoceros That was on par with the red dragon in terms of size.
Seconds after that the form solidified. The rhinoceros started forward, its hooves smashing down on the outer wall which was obliterated underfoot. Apparently it was not quite as incorporeal as it looked. With that the giant orange rhino started toward the wall. The rhino charged forward quickly building speed. Wooden and iron spikes each caused small whiffs of orange energy to be torn from the beast, even as they were ripped from the ground, but the rhinoceros had the energy to spare. Any beast or earthen golem caught in the way were smashed out of the way or trampled underfoot. Nothing was stopping this beast, and a clear path of earth left it its wake.
Technically the front of the wall also had protection enchantments. Something Mark had added in case Nick decided to attack with his force of undead that included specters, but the goblins ahead of the charging rhinoceros did not trust them or the magic barrier. They were scrambling to clear out of the path. Ten seconds after the rhinoceros began its charge they were proven right. A blue barrier flared in front of the wall, even as the white barrier flared on top, but they did nothing to stop the rhinoceros from impacting the wall. The wall exploded inward, with rocks flying high and far in all directions like pins after being hit by a bowling ball. The orange rhinoceros specter roared in triumph amidst the smoke and falling debris before the energy dispersed all at once leaving a U shaped hole moments clearly seen through the new dust haze. It was only around 30 feet wide and was cluttered with debris, but that would not be an issue for the beast army outside that would traverse the rubble almost as easily as flat earth.
Only seconds after the last of the rubble slammed back down to the earth did the tier 1 beasts start flowing in through the opening. Henry and a patrol¡¯s worth of bugbears were already leading the legionnaires held in reserve to fill the breach, even as the inside ballistas were being wheeled to cover the breach. Mark shifted the view back up. The earth dragons were charging forward, the palanquins full of ape warriors on their backs bounced precariously with each stride.
Bolts that caused the very air to crackle streaked out. The ballistas had all shifted toward the obvious biggest baddest enemies approaching in force. Each bolt was masterwork quality, some were single enchanted, many had dual enchantments, but neither helped them penetrate the magical barriers that flared up to protect the giant beasts. Each earth dragon wore armor on their front shoulders and head, and evidently it was all magic armor.
Mark noticed out of the corner of his eye that his personal interface had flicked back to the home dungeon. The last of the bat goblins had fallen. A bit quicker than he had anticipated. They had failed, having delayed and wounded the giant champion, but the dragon would be joining the battle after all. The dragon had slowed noticeably. Mark was unsure whether it was from a long period of overexertion or due to the tears in the webbing of its wings, however he was sure the brute would be here in minutes. He shifted his interface to the top of the plateau even as he gave a warning to the contingent of goblins up there. The goblins had maintained a lookout for the dragon, but had joined in firing bolts down toward the open plain in front of the walls.
Now however they started wenching the gears to increase the tension. The high quality bolts that rippled the very air around them like some sort of heat mirage were brought out and notched. Mark only had about a dozen of the dual artifact level bolts. By the time they had found a design that worked they had already been low on materials, and they still had a fairly low success rate. Most had been completed successfully, but their quality was only masterwork or even exceptional. For the six ballistas, it meant each would get two shots of the artifact bolts. Probably all they would have time for, given how quickly the dragon could probably destroy the small fortification above the plateau.
However, Mark''s attention went back to the main battle as the weevils on top of the plateau lifted off. Their wings beat furiously as they slowly built speed. There were several dozen of them, each carried various payloads. Only ten of them were real, the others were proliferated young with power ratings just under 2.0. They were still powerful units, but each beetle only spawned 2 or 3 young when the breeder ability was used. It was in line with how many carnivorous centipedes were spawned. A limit to keep balance, since these beetles and the centipedes could likely take on most tier 2¡¯s with a reasonable chance of success of overcoming them.
Seconds later the beetles started unfurling their clawed feet allowing their payloads to fall. There were a few gunpowder satchels among them, but most were the dual enchanted stones. They plummeted and duplicated, filling the air with missiles. Most slammed down successfully between the main and outer walls. Hundreds of units died in a flash as tier 1 beast¡¯s and the golems they fought were instantly turned to paste under the carpet bombing.
The forefront of the earth dragons were caught in the barrage and also went down. Most of the remaining golems had also been crushed, but many of the unit counters for Daniel¡¯s forces plummeted down in a matter of seconds. It had to be a hard hit for Daniel, but after a brief lapse in the battle the beasts surged forward toward the gap in the wall. They had lost hundreds, but the losses were negligible for an army nearly 3,000 units in size.
The ballistas inside of the walls had all been moved over within a minute to point toward the open section. One after the other they fired raking the invading hordes. Scattershots'' for hordes of units, single artifact piercing enchantments for the earth dragons. Several more earth dragons went down, but those following just scrambled over. The defensive forces scattered to the sides as the giant lizards poured in through the gap, since any who did not would just be crushed underneath. At most the inside ballistas would get one more shot before they were overrun as well. Then the melee would happen all over inside of the walls. Girallons once again led the charge leading other tier 2¡¯s from the ditch toward the breach.
The unique units were the next to make their presence known; the primordial earth dragon came right on over to the side of the gap in the wall with relative ease. Off its back jumped a small feline that instantly leapt on top of the wall, running along the wall, killing everything in its path. The primordial earth dragon continued forward, its gaze set on the double pagoda tower in the center. The treant ¡®World tree¡¯ flowed in through the gap in the wall right behind the earth dragons, but before the following tier 2 horde.
Roots shot out from its arms impaling fleeing goblins. However the wooden giant soon found itself a primary target of hundreds of flame arrows. The unique unit powered through them and crushed the nearest archer tower to the left of the breach, but then it took a flaming four foot bolt right to its face. The goblins manning the ballista on the outer wall only a few hundred feet away started leaping and hollering from their success, however an angry treant with a new Pinocchio like nose angrily moved towards them seconds later.
Seconds later the siege weapons were splintered as the goblins jumped away. However the unique titled unit was once again beset by waves of flame from several fireballs that encompassed its body, but instead of burning out the flames whirled around the treant like a tornado. It was just a side note of the full ongoing melee that was spreading into the fort, but a unique titled unit falling in battle to some mages and flame jugglers was not unnoteworthy.
By all appearances the beast army was on the verge of success, sweeping the goblin defenders and defenses aside despite holdouts like Henry. Henry was currently flaring with electricity as he battered an oncoming earth dragon with his hammer, but none of the current picture took into account a literal 1,500 spiders and centipedes that were now running across the open field closing in on Daniel¡¯s forces from behind. The weevils were also wheeling around to provide mage support from the air.
Mark¡¯s attention swapped back to the goblin contingent on the plateau. Their ballistas were all being furiously reoriented to the west. Approaching in the air from behind the spider wave was the red dragon champion. The bolts fired as the dragon swooped down toward the spiders. Artifact quality bolts became four blue needles shooting toward the giant red dragon. The first few shots were too far off, but the third was dead on forcing the dragon to abort its approach run on the spiders below. The dragon roared in annoyance before it started winging toward the North even as it climbed in altitude. More blue needles streaked towards it, but the dragon nimbly dodged.
However at the very least the bolts had kept the dragon from burning hundreds of spiders all at once. Mark watched as the spider wave approached the rear of the beast horde which happened to be a clump of slow moving ankylosaurs. Earlier Mark had seen a ballista bolt bounce right off the turtle shell hard like armor on these slow moving dinosaurs, The spiders did not have much more luck.
They overtook and swept over them. Several spiders became paste with each swing of one of their spiked tails, but more went up and over. The black funnel web spider young clung to the ankylosaurs back as they tried to pierce the creature¡¯s armor as the majority of the spiders continued on like an unstoppable wave. Seconds later they were met with flames as orangutan and chimp mages defended the outside of the breach from the reinforcements. Armored gorilla kings met the oncoming spiders with spiked maces and war hammers. It was a line of devastation the spiders would never be able to get past, if it was not for the amber cloud that started to spread.
Once the gorilla kings started to wheeze and cough the line started to falter. Once spiders got inside their defensive line could do little to stop the tide of spiders, except to kill as many as they could before one finally was able to latch on. The spiders had no sense of self preservation and proceeded even as their comrades died by the droves. It was clear they would sweep right through the primates. The centipedes on the other hand scrambled right up to the wall and over, without faltering a step. Hundreds of pincer like legs made the feat relatively easy.
Then came the ultimate match up of beasts. One of the centipede adults met with a girallon. The centipede quickly wrapped around the apes torso, stabbing into flesh with dozens of its pincers. The girallon grabbed the exoskeleton just behind the head to keep the centipede from sinking its fangs into it. The other arms worked hard grabbing and ripping out legs. Finally the two lower arms grabbed a legless section and strained. Moments later the centipede was ripped in two. However, the upper half continued to fight undeterred. It looked like the girallon would come out on top, despite having dozens of stab wounds across its body.
Mark¡¯s gaze was drawn back to the plateau contingent. The red dragon was on another approach toward the goblin contingent on the edge of the cliffside. It was moving down from high above. Blue needles streaked out one by one from the various ballista. The dragon corkscrewed and avoided seemingly with ease as it continued to close. Then two bolts launched near simultaneously. The dragon twisted out of the way of the first set, and found itself in the path of another set. The dragon continued to corkscrew. Even then Mark had thought the beast had successfully dodged both until the dragon started plummeting. A few seconds later it recovered enough to spread its wings to avoid slamming into the rock at full speed. It still tumbled over once after slamming down on top of the bluff a couple hundred yards away.
The goblin contingent cheered. The situation had Mark¡¯s full interest. Killing the dungeon champion would be a huge boon for them. However the dragon began to collect itself only seconds later. The cheering goblins went silent as they worked to get another bolt loaded. After another ten seconds of confusion, the red dragon¡¯s eyes focused on the goblin encampment. It started lumbering their way. Arrows and bolts started pouring towards it as it crashed through the small outer wall encircling the small encampment and started slaughtering them wholesale. It was enraged and determined to wipe every one of them out. From the look of things, it would likely succeed although it was also taking bolts and arrows from close range and was clearly not in a good state.
The sound of a huge crash took Mark''s attention back to the main battle. The ¡®first primordial had just brought down the double pagoda archer tower in one go. The apes were still fighting in an attempt to hold off the spiders, but hundreds of spiders had already bypassed right through striking at the rear and flanks of the beasts. The battle was now a full melee inside of the walls. One that the goblins were clearly losing, even with the spider aid. That being said the beast army had taken heavy casualties, so much so that Mark felt fairly sure that their dungeon would be safe even if they took the surface.
As far as tier 3 enemies only a handful of the earth dragons still rampaged. Most of the girallons had been brought down through concentrated fire from the archers and ballista as they rampaged along the walls destroying tower after tower. Most of the ballista on the edges of the fort were still operational. A couple times every half minute they shot another bolt into the mess that was the battle, unconcerned about friendly fire.
After this battle they would have to once again start from scratch, but that was hardly a problem at this point. Their surface army had been wiped out down to the last goblin a half dozen times by this point. The real loss was the high level equipment and their few named units. Nasal had once again died after the multi-layer tower collapsed. Henry on the other hand had successfully killed the earth dragon he had been fighting, but had fallen at some point afterwards. Ezekiel was in his giant set of armor shooting electricity wildly at a group of flame raptors that had encircled him. He would follow suit soon enough.
Chapter 81: Day 352
In the end, Daniel came to the same conclusion during the battle. Seemingly his forces would have been able to take the surface, but they ended up falling short and started a retreat. Mark did not have an exact answer for why Daniel had not even elected to take and hold the surface, but it was likely because he had come to the conclusion that he couldn¡¯t. There were only 30 original weevils along with a couple bat goblins, but Daniel¡¯s troops simply could not bring down the weevils who buzzed hundreds of feet above. A good number of mage beasts could and had attempted the feat, but the bugs would then only move higher in altitude, but the damage was usually fairly topical. Without his own flying units what would he do then.
The red dragon was one of the survivors. However the dragon was heavily wounded after slaughtering the entire goblin contingent, and it could do little more but to hobbly away. Back on earth an animal wounded to the same extent would likely die from its wounds, but something as strong as the dragon would likely recover if given long enough, assuming Daniel did not have it healed before then.
The first primordial was another elite survivor. The giant earth dragon also hobbled away leading hundreds of weary and wounded beasts and primates behind it. The goblins manning the ballistas continued to fire after them, but no friendly units gave chase. The only units Mark had that could run them down were a handful of tier 3 spiders or centipedes that had survived and Mark would rather not waste them for little gain.
In the end they had several hundred of their own survivors. A knot of goblins had been pushed to the back of the fort and had fought off attackers from on top of the piles of lumber pushed against the cliff face, supported from the survivors on the walls.
Ezekiel had fallen, his giant robotic contraption ripped into two by an angry gorilla, but there was a touch of good news. They had received a new unique titled unit. Just in time to give them someone other than from the nameless rabble to lead their upcoming assault on Daniels dungeon.
Seven red witch doctors had survived the assault on Gale¡¯s dungeon. After Daniel¡¯s attack, four were still standing. Each had a dozen shrunken heads now hanging from their person. One had more than the rest, which had apparently been enough to meet one of the unique title thresholds. Mark decided to go with the name Lucian. First fitting name he could think of for the nefarious being, despite contemplating on it for a while.
[Congratulations: One of your elite units has received a unique title, Stolen Valor. Each of the 100 titles can only be given once during the succession battle. Each unit can only have one title. (Titles still available: 62/100) ]
[Stolen valor: The Stolen Valor title recognizes that a unit has stolen a quantity of power equal to or greater than its own from enemy dungeon units, making it its own. The unit¡¯s wisdom and intelligence will be increased by 50%. The visage of the unit will enrage enemies. In addition, contestants can pick one of the following.
- Added stat points, attack, and defense
- Special curse ability
- Essence skill: (essences currently available: toxic, electricity, stone, sulfur.)
Time remaining 60:00]
The stolen valor came from the shrunken heads hanging from the witch doctor''s waist. They increased mana pools, decreased spell or curse duration, among other things. It was not overly surprising that a red could double its strength being only a tier 1 unit, with heads from tier 2 or even 3 units to supplement its own.
The title benefits were fairly similar to what had been offered for Henry. However, Mark and Amelia settled on the second option instead of the essence skill option. Lucien had gotten the title due to using a curse after all, might as well play to one''s strengths.
The title gave Lucien a special ability similar to that of Numerous, Nicholas Holt¡¯s unique titled. It was called the Sphere of corruption. It caused a general drain on all enemy units that entered the zone which extended a good hundred yards in every direction. The effects became more pronounced as units got closer to the center. Units that died within the corruption sphere would rise again and fight for their new master. Friendly units were not affected. The last benefit was that enemy ranged attacks would be drained of momentum and energy. Strong enough attacks would still make it through, but it would help protect their new elite.
It was extra protection that Lucien needed, since he was relatively squishy for an elite unit, with only a power rating of 4.2. This new ability was now his main source of strength. Since his title ¡®Stolen Valor¡¯ also seemed to act to grab the ire of all enemies who saw him, he would need any additional protection they could manage.
The ability itself sounded great. It was a literal army raiser. However, it only worked on units that died within, and the units would quickly lose the power that reanimated them if they were to leave the sphere of corruption. To effectively use it, Lucien would need to move toward the front lines and stay there to gather strength. Not optimal for a weaker mage elite, but it was what they had. Lucien was not the only unexpected boon from the battle.
As soon as Daniel¡¯s forces had retreated out of their territory, they received the MP windfall they had been expecting for defeating enemy units in their territory, but the amount surpassed their expectations being nearly double that of their last major dungeon defense, despite a sizable piece of the enemy force retreating. It was less than they had spent to form their defenses so was still a net loss, but at least they would get some of it back. Daniel on the other hand was leaving empty handed.
Now for their retribution. Almost immediately Mark used 110,000 of the 286,000 MP windfall to summon a hundred bat goblin mages. Within ten minutes of having received the MP, the bat goblins were sent out in patrol sized forces, with their numbers supplemented by half of the weevils.
Their mission was to find and destroy Daniel¡¯s production sites, and to continue to do so before they could respawn. Their scouts had already found one outpost when looking for the home dungeon within the last week. Now Mark wanted to find them all and strangle Daniels production for as much and long as possible. If they wanted to win in their upcoming assault they needed every advantage they could manage. Mark had sent a patrol to look for and hunt the red dragon down as well, but the giant reptile had holed down somewhere. Mark eventually had them give it up and fly to the north as well.
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In the days that followed, the air patrols successfully located and continually kept 3 of Daniel¡¯s outposts destroyed. It only lasted a few days before, new primates and mage beasts fortified each one of them. Wiping out the outposts became impossible, but a quick sneak attack to kill a shade henchmen or two was still quite feasible since they moved out in the open between the coal mounds and the outpost hoppers. A couple fireballs were enough to do the job, and then the bat goblins winged back into the night. It would cost 500 MP at the very least for Daniel to resummon a new shade henchmen, but he would also lose out on any MP production that occurred in the meantime.
However after a week the red dragon returned to monitor the skies. After losing a couple of bat goblins, Mark had to restrict the air patrols to monitor the outposts from cover and only take to the skies at night. They would also only act in small teams. The red dragon could patrol the whole area quite quickly, and it could easily run down any that it caught sight of.
In the end Mark expected that Daniel had at least lost a good 100,000 MP of production or unit replacement costs at the minimum. About as much as it had cost to summon the air units, but he still had and could use them. Perhaps the real gain was that Daniel now had to keep stronger contingents at each outpost site to protect them. Dividing his forces by even a little bit could only help in their future assaults.
A little over two weeks after construction had been started the institute was completed. Just another two story cabin made of wood and stone, nothing to grandiose. It did increase their daily RP by 4, bringing them up to 15, but that was the lesser gain in Mark¡¯s opinion. The real purpose of the institute was to dedicate efforts to unlock upgrades.
Mark could assign up to 10 researchers, and he could dedicate them to working on various upgrades. They could be used to progress anything other than dungeon techs. Which was just fine for Mark. He immediately added 10 more reds to their auxiliary staff and manned the institute. Instead of having them all work on different things, Mark assigned them all to work on the upgrade Mark wanted the most, the beast tree second evolution.
It would take 34 days. If he dedicated even their increased RP for the same thing it would take a full 67 days. Even saving up their MP would take 20 days, so it was effectively saving them quite a bit of time or resources. The bonus for the gnome built institute increased research progress, so the 29 daily RP points of research they were effectively getting could have been even less. The research speed was heavily dependent on the quality of the units assigned. The red hobgoblins were only a touch worse in intelligence and wisdom than the bugbears, but they were cheaper and had a higher unit cap. An extra few points a day probably would not make much of a difference.
Mark belatedly had to agree that the institute had been the right move. The second beast evolution would take over a month, but as soon as it was finished, they would start knocking other upgrades out with frightening speed.. Then they still had their automatic 15 RP that could go to something else. Having all of their different upgrade paths no longer seemed to be too much of a detriment. Perhaps in a matter of months they would be able to reach the end of the line on a lot of them. Then what would the institute and RP do?
Mark had wanted to wait as long as possible before launching their counter attack on Daniel. His only deadline was to work in the attack prior to Daniel¡¯s unique titled units respawning, which would have given them at least another week. However Mark soon realized that perhaps he had waited too long, when their ever watchful scouts caught sight of a second champion.
Daniel called it something else, but Mark had dubbed the new champion Kong, since it was a 30 foot tall gorilla. Fortunately, like the dragon it was likely far to big to enter someone¡¯s dungeon, or Daniel would likely be able to take them out before their army ever got there.
Kong was a fearsome looking beast with tusk sized canines, and would be a difficult obstacle to overcome despite being smaller and less powerful than the dragon. Kong had a power rating of 23.1 compared to the red dragons 29.9. Regardless it was a substantial difference over any of their units. Without Henry, they did not even have a unit with a double digit power rating, but Mark could not wait for the bugbear leader to respawn. Daniel would get five more of his own unique titled units back in the same time, and likely at least another champion. They would have to perform this attack without him.
After the appearance of Kong, Mark had their forces set out after only a few more days. There should be another couple of weeks before the weaker cats Vivi and Vince respawned, but they simply could not afford to wait any longer. So on Day 365 the bulk of the army set out. A good hundred wolf spiders were sent in the next few days to supplement the forces and to bring more supplies.
This was a real army, numbering in the thousands and costing over one million MP. The goblin numbers alone fell just shy of 5,000 and cost 797,000 MP. Most of the units were relatively cheap, but the 500 reds that had been summoned alone cost 350,000. A worthwhile expense since they would be the witch doctors, flame jugglers, and mages that were the true power of the force. In contrast, they only had 75 bugbears and gnarled goblin elites.
The other side of their forces were the creepy crawlies, although the tier 3¡¯s numbered less than 100. They were mainly here to breed thousands of tier 1 offspring. They had enough breeder sunflowers to raise the creepy crawly armies, and a handful of blood rose trainers to lead the elite spiders and centipedes when they actually went into battle. All the rest were support units that might be used once their function was over. Over 200 fire ants and 300 wolf spiders had set out with the initial force to haul supplies and gear.
A group of 8 fire ants were even strong enough to haul platforms that carried ballista and its operators. Mark had 9 of these ballista platforms, and a handful of others carrying supplies. Based on their latest defense the ballista could play a vital role in actually bringing down a champion. The platforms were mobile enough with the ants being able to navigate the uneven terrain quite well, and they were easily strong enough to keep up with the army despite their burden.
Several more veins of petrified wood and mithril had been excavated over the last few weeks. Overall they had less excellent quality and above enchantments, but they had far more masterwork and artifacts than they ever had for their other battles.
As far as air units, Mark could summon more to add to the numbers already on station all the way up to the morning of. The last of the wolf spiders would leave two days prior, leaving the rest for more weevils and smaller plants that could also be given the breeder upgrade.
They were putting their full weight forward for this attack. Failure would likely stifle their future since Daniel would be getting the defensive MP windfall if they failed. Then his ability to summon new champions and respawn titled units would far eclipse their own, increasing the edge he had over them. Not to mention everything had been quiet from the southern dungeons, meaning they were likely saving up for dungeon level 4. Win or lose, they would be playing catch up. The benefit was that neither of the southern dungeons should make a move on their dungeon since they were both keeping each other in check.
If either did happen to attack during this period Mark would have to convert their DP. They had 326 right now, which would likely be far from enough, but Mark was fairly sure neither would make the move. They were both likely quite content if Daniel and them continued to burn resources on each other.
Chapter 82: Day 369
Despite Mark¡¯s expectations, Daniel did not attack at any point during the multi-day march. While Mark had preparations in place, he was not sure it would be enough against quick hit and runs, especially from the dragon. At some points a quick line of fire could take out a good amount of their supplies and ballista platforms, since often the terrain dictated that they proceed down certain routes.
On the morning of the attack the army only had to march for 3 hours before setting up an impromptu base camp just shy of the battlefield. Daniels dungeon was in the center of a valley between a bunch of plateaus. Like the rest of the endless bluff map the north was covered by the plateaus. The difference was that the hillside slopped up thousands of feet leaving far less sheer rock face. Some locations only had about 20 feet, making them far less of a barrier than they were throughout the rest of the map. A good thing for them since Daniel had concentrated defenses at the passes in between.
Their attack would center around a pass that sloped up to plateaus on both sides like a saddle. Mark of course wanted to take the pass, but they would need to assault the plateaus as well. Scaling the plateaus was a simple thing for the spiders. Even the goblins did not have too much trouble free climbing such short distances. Getting the ballista platforms up would be more tricky, but Mark was not about to try to take them into the pass. They would be extremely vulnerable, only really being able to fire forward. Not to mention they needed them for dragon defense.
Their forces proceeded up from the temporary camp unhindered, but the fight would begin as soon as they reached the top. Daniel¡¯s forces held the pass and had of course manned the plateaus with primate archers, tree units, and mages. They would start firing on them as soon as the tree cover lessened, which would occur for about the last 500 feet. Daniel¡¯s enchantments were on the cruder side. From what was recovered, Mark did not see anything past average quality, but then the guy only had primates to work on them. The magic gear on the higher tier units on the other hand had been top notch, leaving Mark to believe that it was from a unique reward. Regardless, fighting uphill while arrows and spells rained down would be difficult.
Mark of course had a host of spider lings leading the charges on the plateaus. Throughout the march, Mark had continually had some bred and sent on wide ranging patrols only to have them return and die under concealment. Hopefully it had been enough to prevent Daniel from realizing the truth, that they were not real units and that Mark could breed a near endless stream of them.
For a battle that would likely last all day, the tier 3¡¯s could be bred multiple times resulting in thousands before it was all said and done, so it was best to conserve their true armies strength wherever they could. As far as the pass, hundreds of rock golems struggled up the hillside. Only 900 in total, they were the last of golem balls from their stockpile. Hopefully they would fare quite well against the ranged attacks and the tree units that waited ahead.
Daniel had not really used his tree branch units in his attacks, but had maxed the units out¡ well at least to dungeon level 3¡¯s cap. Now he had a good three thousand tree units comprising the bulk of his defense. While the number sounded daunting, over half were the weakest saplings that did not even break 1.0 with whatever upgrades they had.
The arrows streaked down the cliffside right after the spider lings reached the point where the trees thinned. Most of their tips flared blue. An enchantment that allowed the archer to gather manna around the tip for a mini explosion on impact. Mark was calling it manna burst, and had gladly added it to their arsenal, but like the firecracker enchantment, they could only copy to the exact quality of what they had recovered, so their use would be limited.
Against weaker tier 1 spider lings they were quite effective. Green ooze was flung into the air and onto the ground as legs were blown off or a fist sized chunk exploded from the spider''s abdomen or thorax. Dozens of spiders died instantly, but hundreds more proceeded on undeterred. Despite the spider''s speed the approach up to the cliff face was long and exposed, so they faced three more volleys losing dropping their number by 20% before they even got close. Once they reached the cliff face the cherry trees started showering their explosive cherry projectiles and the mage chimps started blasting fireballs. The spider lings continued to die in large numbers despite their resiliency.
Still a good half of the spider lings reached the cliffside on both sides of the pass and started climbing without pause. Apes with shields and tree units stepped up to repel the climbers, but despite the spider lings having converged on the plateaus near the pass there was far too much room. Soon spider lings pushed through gaps of coverage as the apes attempted to block their way with their shields while slashing out with their halberds. The archers and mages concentrated on the following wave of goblins that had been following right on the spider ling''s heels.
The goblins proceeded up the hillside far slower than the spider lings, but they also had shields to protect themselves from the projectiles raining down on them. Mark watched as their forces struggled forward. A good quarter of the spider lings had reach the top, but other than causing chaos in the ape and tree unit ranks they did not do too much good on their own. Three or four spider lings were going down for every defender that died. That was until a fresh group of spider lings poured in from the side. While a thousand led the charge up both sides of the hill, a flanking group had broken off and climbed uncontested on the far end. Daniel just did not have enough forces to guard a plateau that had a near mile of cliffside facing the south alone.
Finally, the ratios of losses decreased although it still leaned in Daniel¡¯s favor. Not too concerning for Mark since the spider lings were free units. The losses compounded once the witch doctors got into range. Soon apes were sliding down the cliffside on their own accord, before barreling down angrily into the waiting spears of legionnaires moving to protect the witch doctors. Mark brought out all of the witch doctors early, since it was a prime time to collect more power.
Once the apes were pushed back from the cliff side, the goblins began scaling up. They would be able to join the melee in large numbers well before the last of the spider lings died out, and another wave of spider lings was already on its way. Most would even be able to overtake the goblins as they scaled the cliffs. Mark could not keep it up indefinitely, but he could keep the waves coming for a short period of time.
Lucien on the other hand stayed off the field. It was not time to expose trump cards yet. Even Daniel was holding both his champions back. It meant that currently, the goblin forces held air superiority. The dragon by itself would easily contest the bat goblins currently up there. There were a good hundred skyborne, and the weevils would join after Mark ordered for them to be bred. A hundred green goblins of all types stood by to be carried aloft by their weevil steeds.
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Progress in the pass was going even more smoothly. The constructs were easily able to navigate the uneven terrain and fight. Hundreds of saplings, rambling stumps, and other lesser tree units fought to hold them off, but the constructs only held a minor disadvantage on a one on one basis, the cherry trees with their explosive arsenal, being the lone exception. Once again as far as Mark was concerned the construct losses were basically a freebie since the golem balls had only cost them resources. The same with the spiderlings. The only real losses Daniel was afflicting was on the goblins, and Mark had thousands to replace any that fell.
Mark watched the battle wage on for a good ten minutes before the alarm went up back at their main force. Mark flipped his personnel interface back to the main camp. Goblins were scurrying to form a defense against nothing at first look. Many had confused expressions on their faces as they formed up to oppose an empty forest.
¡°Make ready, scatter shots,¡± Lucien directed from on top of a tier 3 spider. A moment later a darkened haze erupted from him.
The goblins were still confused, but each found the appropriate arrow as quickly as possible. Then their confusion was gone, because as soon as the darkened haze hit several hundred feet out. Cats started to uncloak with yeows of pain. Several immediately shot magic blasts of white energy from their mouths. Others rushed forward. The skirmish lasted less than a minute before the remainder of the living cavals retreated from the field. There had been a good 400 of them, but even the strongest were only at the upper 1¡¯s. Only 80 were able to make it out of the sphere of corruption alive.
The rest would now be fighting for Lucien. It was a nice addition, but of course Lucien would have to keep the sphere up now to keep the caval corpses from losing their reanimation, making him a prime target. However, Mark learned something new about the sphere of corruption that had not been evident until put into practice. The sphere had gotten bigger. Apparently the units that fell under Lucien¡¯s control amplified his ability. The more he got the wider his sphere of corruption would get. A welcome surprise for sure, but Daniel would now know their commands location going forward.
Anticipating the attack had been easy for the goblin forces. Hundreds of spiders had layered hundreds of lines of webs around their camp. Despite their ability to creep up unseen, the spiders still felt vibrations from the caval¡¯s movements as they closed on the camp. Daniel had shown his hand about the cloaking ability in Gale¡¯s dungeon. While Mark would normally have thought it was a unique ability for a titled unit, information from Avery had made it clear that it was not. Daniel had taken out a bunch of scouts without being counter detected. It led Mark to believe that it was a skill that his units could have.
Daniel
The defense was going far from how Daniel imagined. The caval ambush had failed spectacularly. Somehow the goblins had easily located them. The cavals had of course frozen to prevent counter detection. Vivi could move slowly and still be perfectly camouflaged, but the offspring from her lair would easily be found out if they moved even the slightest bit while someone was carefully studying the area. Then there was that black zone that had shot out. The cavals had all gone nuts as soon as they were enclosed by it. It had been difficult to even pull out a small remnant of his force. As far as Daniel could tell, his units had not caused a single casualty, meaning he had taken heavy losses for nothing.
Daniel had of course noted the unique titled unit, the black zone had emitted from. Perhaps the leader of this army since Daniel had watched the bugbear one die during his last attack. It did not matter too much, his power rating was far too low to really be a concern. What was a concern was the seemingly endless numbers of spiders that kept assaulting the cliff face. They were fairly weak, but his forces had faced three waves over the course of the half hour it took the other dungeon to take the plateau and the pass.
Daniel had lost over 2,000 units. The tree units were of little concern, but he had only been able to retreat about half of the primate units down into the valley. Not too terrible of a price since he had claimed twice that of his enemies, or so he had thought. Now a fourth wave of 1,400 spiders were scrambling down the mountainside toward his dungeon. Had Amelia made it to dungeon level 4¡ No, there was no way she could have. Her unique reward had obviously been the flying units.
Then it finally hit him, all of these spiders were of two different types. They were also smaller versions of stronger beast units that Amelia had displayed. He had known that the constructs were not true dungeon units since he had witnessed them form out of the earth after goblins threw ball-like objects. Obviously, it was some sort of item, perhaps a unique reward, Amelia had received. Perhaps she had something that allowed her stronger beasts to spawn young. It was not only the spiders. Daniel had noticed smaller centipedes during his last attack as well. It made sense to Daniel. It was the only explanation for what he was seeing. The only real question was how often they could do it. Surely they could not do it infinitely¡
Daniel re examined his plans for defending against this attack. The first stage was already over. The plateaus and pass were naturally a good defensible position. A good place to whittle down the enemy forces with his own weaker units. Then of course he would fight the real battle against the weakened army where he was strongest, near the quadrant lairs.
The lairs had allowed Daniel to progress like the other dungeons. They served a bunch of different purposes, taking the place of multiple core buildings the standard dungeons seemingly used. They could be used to strengthen units, give upgrades, and research other features.
Daniel was allowed up to four lairs for his home dungeon and one for additional settlements. He had a caval lair for Vivi to pass on her unique cloaking ability to other cavals. A moon wolf lair for beasts that gave the white energy blast ability. Then Midnight¡¯s ethereal attack lair. It was the lair his orangutans used to develop their joint ethereal creations, like the rhinoceros that destroyed Amelia¡¯s wall in his last attack.
The fourth lair had actually been repurposed. Initially, it had been led by Vince giving greater boosts to attributes. Now it was the only lair to be led by a non-titled beast. Daniel had gone with a girallon as soon as he saw that a primate lair would allow his units to start crafting equipment, brewing tonics, and enchanting. Vince¡¯s lair had been useful in the first phase of the battle increasing the strength of his units even further, but better equipment was definitely a better way to round out his forces.
Now he could cycle beasts through the various lairs to gain different aspects. Vivi¡¯s cloaking ability, however, was not very effective for larger or clumsy units so Daniel mainly focused the ability on the cavals since they were small and graceful in their movement maximizing the gains.
Of course the real benefit to the lairs in this attack was the additional strength units would get from fighting in their proximity. It could be said to be a home field advantage, that gave an automatic 10% bump to all beasts that could call one of the lairs their home. Deeper down in the lairs the increase became even more significant. Of course the numbers that could take advantage would decrease accordingly.
Daniel spent another minute contemplating his next move. The wave of spiders would be in the thick of his dungeon soon. They were hardly a problem in his center of power, but if they truly were infinite then they would slowly whittle down his forces. They might be weak, but a thousand plus spiders with venomous bites and choking spores could still kill his units. Even the weaker tree units could be torn apart given enough time, not that the spiders readily engaged them when they had the option.
Daniel sighed. It was time to get big red into the game. The vantage from the air would help him get a better picture of things. The dragon would have to fight off a hundred other flying creatures, but that should not be a problem. He would soon dominate the skies and then he could make counter plans.
Chapter 83: Day 369
As soon as the red dragon took off, Mark started the breeding process for the weevils. With 40 original units, Mark could make 2 sets of 40 that would be available in 2 and 10 minutes respectively. The goblin riders were already standing by, but started scrambling with whatever final preparations they needed to make. They would mount the weevil lings and fire spells or arrows in support. The original weevils would stay back to breed again. Mark¡¯s intention was to keep all of the originals from entering the battle if possible, but more than likely it would come to the point where he would have to throw every asset they had to take Daniel¡¯s dungeon.
Hopefully, their air forces would be able to complete the job this time around. Mark doubted the dragon would be so compliant as to swoop down nice and close for the ballista platforms setting up on the plateau ridges. At least not until it dealt with all of the enemies in the air. As far as tactics in bringing the big guy down, there had been a few modifications.
The bat goblins once again formed a loose clump thousands of feet into the air for the dragon to target, and the dragon made right for it without delay. The dragon quickly surpassed the bat goblins'' altitude, before it entered a dive right for them. The bat goblins undeterred aimed their nocked arrows.
Moments later the dragon¡¯s eyes snapped shut and its head bucked back involuntarily breaking its aerodynamic dive as nearly a thousand lights flared up as bright as the a thousand mini suns right in front of its face. The dragon reaction actually caused it to tumble through the air for several full rotations causing it to actually fall short and below of the bat goblin¡¯s position. The bat goblins were already nocking a second arrow.
The dragon recovered, choosing to perform to put on g¡¯s while it pulled back up toward the goblins, but at near the same point a wave of arrows hit its position. Hopefully a good number successfully made contact somewhere along the dragon¡¯s body. These arrows were not the duplicating type, instead Mark counted on having a large number of archers firing for multiple hits. Instead the arrows had two other enchantments. Obviously, they still needed piercing to allow them even penetrate the dragon¡¯s touch scale hide. The second enchantment was weight.
Destroying the dragon¡¯s wings had not been very effective in their last bout. The webbing was by itself incredibly tough and even a standard hit would only punch a little hole through the webbing. The flame enchantment had not added much, so Mark had decided on another tactic, increasing the dragon¡¯s weight. Each arrow would increase its weight ten fold coming out to about a pound in total.
Mark knew how crazy of an idea it was, increasing the dragon by a handful of pounds with every pass, but it was the only feasible idea he could come up with. Even airplanes had weight limits that their engines could support, and beasts were no different. Even birds have hollow bones and would evacuate their bowels to lighten their load. It should be the same for the dragon despite the fact that it was the size of a barn.
Still the weight was only one side of it. Otherwise they would never get anywhere, since their dungeon¡¯s air forces would never survive long enough to hit the dragon enough when the dragon looked to be big enough to fly off with a pair of cows. In addition to adding weight every arrowhead had been quenched in undead eye core adding a necrotic element. Then further the arrow heads were coated in a paralytic poison. In effect every hit would increase its weight, increasing the power required to fly, while breaking down and paralyzing its muscles.
They would still take hundreds or perhaps thousands of hits to bring the dragon down entirely, but well before that point the dragon¡¯s speed would lessen, allowing for even more arrows to land on the next volley. Like slowly raising the water¡¯s temperature so that a frog would not jump out, hopefully the effects would also creep up on the dragon. Where the dragon did not realize that something was wrong until it was too late for it to escape.
On the second pass, the goblins staggered the flare arrows to avoid the dragon being able to adapt. Regardless it had far less effect. The dragon successfully was able to reorient on target after target. On only the second pass the dogfight started. The bat goblins were still maneuvering to try and not catch the dragon¡¯s focus, but they were staying in the relative area, keeping the dragon corkscrewing around their position, while it frantically maneuvered to chase down the closest goblin before reorienting on the next.
Flare arrows streaked in front and at the dragon¡¯s face quite frequently as goblins in the wrong sector of air elected to try to temporarily blind the dragon so it did not focus on them. The goblins in an advantageous position shot the actual payload. In theory, the plan was working as expected. The dragon was enthusiastically chasing down the bat goblins, while hopefully a lot of the weight enchanted arrows were landing and remaining embedded. In reality it just looked like the dragon was killing his tier 2 flyers one by one with nothing to show for thier effort.
After a few minutes the first wave of weevils with their goblin riders joined the fray. The green goblin archers shot the same weight enchanted arrows, while their weevil mounts shot bolts of lightning. The original weevils had been evolved using electric essence and had a powerful electric attack. The weevilings had a miniature version of the same, but for all Mark knew it was the equivalent of harsh static shock to the giant beast. Hopefully it was at least doing something., because the weevils were far less maneuverable and quickly became the dragon¡¯s favorite targets. Despite being spread out, they would not last very long. In a matter of minutes the dragon was back to chasing down bat goblins until the next wave of weevils made it to the scene.
Mark''s attention soon focused on the other battlefronts. The spiderlings had made it to the dungeon proper. They scrambled past a line of treants that swung tree trunk sized clubs back and forth. Several more lines of other tree units then intercepted the flow. Most of the spiderlings forced their way through headed for the primates and beasts behind. White energy blasts and primate spells lanced out culling more of their number before they all slammed into a melee.
However, the more interesting front was still being realized. Kong and the first primordial were leading groups of high tier beasts on a collision path with the ballista platforms on the two ridges. The strike force had first been noticed as they left the trees and helped themselves up onto the plateaus. A 30 foot gorilla was hard to miss after all.
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Kong was headed at their right flank and the first primordial on their left. Kong would be facing five ballista platforms and the black haze that was Lucien¡¯s sphere of corruption. The first primordial dragon would only face the four ballista and the spider breeding zone. Unfortunately for the first primordial, a quarter wave of spiderlings had already been bred and were ready. The sunflower breeders were using their manna to breed another batch as soon as they could regenerate it, but their sunburst ability was still fair game and they were at full charge.
The first primordial took a full broadside of 20 sunbursts to its face and right shoulder. The beams faltered after only a few seconds, but the first primordial was still standing. The giant earth dragon had half of its face and right shoulder scored and charred with several spots even showing exposed bone. The earth dragon had straight up tanked the sunburst abilities. Something it could not duplicate with the following ballista bolts that were all aimed on the giant beast. The left flank was far from settled, however, the accompanying beasts swarmed right by their fallen leader to meet the onrushing spiderlings. Goblin arrows rained down on them all.
Things on the right flank however went awry nearly immediately. Kong sprinted ahead of his fellow beasts at a pace that only a 30 foot giant could accomplish. His lopping gait closed on the goblin forces far too quickly. The ballista fired in quick succession, but Kong would have none of it. He slammed his open palms together right in front of its body. The shockwave sent the ballista bolts headed his way and the wave of arrows coming down from a high arc tumbling away. Only one lone ballista bolt made it through, and only because it had followed a second after the others. It sailed right below the ape¡¯s hands and into the giant ape¡¯s lower gut.
Kong slammed back down on the ground, roaring in defiance. The gorilla only took a second to recover and start charging forward again. The goblins were working furiously to reload the ballista, and the ants underneath were marching to open more distance, but both efforts were far from enough.
Kong took a bunch of smaller arrows into its face and chest as it slammed its palm down smashing the platform and ants into splinters and goo. The goblins had jumped to escape but Kong''s second palm swung in from the side like a giant fly swatter making sure everything to do with the first ballasta met the same end. Kong followed up on the second and third in rapid succession, despite the fact that Mark had spaced them hundreds of feet away from each other.
Then Kong took the first set of spells and curses. The champion was raked with multiple debuffs as it took a dozen magic lances and thunder strike spells to its head and main body. A couple witch doctors even performed the shrunken head spell. The two witch doctors on the ground were promptly caught and flattened. The bat goblin witch doctors on the other hand were working to put as much distance between themselves and the giant ape as possible.
Mark had laughed maniacally like an evil villain when he realized he could give the flying units the class. This was his special measure to deal with the ape champion. The curse would break if the witch doctor got separated by too much distance, but if a unit could take to the skies then it should never be caught. It would not work against the dragon since the dragon would easily run a bat goblin down, but Kong could not fly.
The tactic was only partially successful in that it grabbed the champion¡¯s full attention. Kong, determined to show that there was nothing outside of his reach, slapped both palms on the ground and pulled up balls of earth the size of a wrecking ball. The process took a couple of seconds, but the projectiles had all the speed of meteors once thrown. They rocketed with deadly precision at their targets. One bat goblin was able to narrowly dodge. The second became a pancake against the rock that looked like it would fly for miles.
However the second bat goblin continued to open the distance between them, seemingly having forgotten the command to stay within a certain distance from its target. Fortunately, the witch doctor did not need to be aware, Kong was already bounding after it at full speed.
The champion had left the battle on its own accord. The accompanying beasts however were just now arriving at the scene, and the goblin forces were far from prepared, having focused their full attention on the ferocious ape. The goblins at the edge of the flank near the first few platforms were already falling back. The slower were quickly caught up in the oncoming stamped that included 4 earth dragons, a dozen garillons, and hundreds of others sweeping in from the side.
But a rallying point had already been forming near the last two ballista. The goblin heavy infantry formed a shield and spear wall behind a trench that opened in front of them thanks to dozens of earth shaper enchantments. Goblin archers and mages were already getting in position in the back ranks, and the black haze encompassed them all.
The ballista fired, claiming one of the earth dragons immediately. The other beasts rushed forward heedless of the goblin defenses. The beasts came right over the trench slamming into the goblins, however the momentum stopped there. Quite a few beasts were killed instantly as they were impaled by multiple spears. Others were held firmly in place, by the good quality spears that refused to break off easily. Beasts that did make it through the line soon found themselves engaged by the bugbear and gnarled wood goblin elite, who came out on top more often than due to being hemmed in by enemies on nearly all sides.
But Mark only had 500 legionnaires so the heavy infantry wall supported by green goblins holding additional spears was only a few hundred feet in length. Inevitably beasts started flowing around the right flank. The left flank was protected by a good 40 foot drop, so all of them headed around to the right. Hundreds of more green and horned goblins stood ready to guard the flank, but they were far less effective. The mages however targeted the area almost exclusively, preventing the beasts from sweeping right through. It would all fall apart however if the ape champion returned. Mark flipped the view, and saw that the ape was still headed in the wrong direction, but how long could the bat goblin evade the furious pursuit.
The answer was barely a half minute, before Kong was able to turn around. But the giant ape would find it did not have as much support as he expected when he returned. Two thirds of the legionnaires had died in the effort, but dozens of massive beast forms also lay unmoving. The other beasts trying to flank in from the right had fared poorly as well. Their charge momentum broken, they easily fell prey to the powerful enchanted arrows and spells. The only holdouts were the garillons, since they had metal plates covering most of their vitals. The rest might were falling quite quickly to the concentrated fire.
Kong came back on the scene roaring about a minute after he had left. The two remaining ballista waited till the giant ape was in close before they both fired. The bolts both caught the ape center mass, despite a late effort to swat them out of the air. Even the champion could not react fast enough when he was this close in. The goblins had waited as long as possible knowing they would only get one shot. Kong destroyed both ballista and hundreds of surrounding goblins as the rest scattered and continued to pepper him from the flanks.
Kong seemingly ignored them, looking around for a second before its gaze settled on the only viable threat left. The ape once again surged forward, on a collison course with Lucien. Where dozens of goblin grenadiers made their succession battle day view. The ape had only completed two of its lumbering bounds before meeting a chorus of explosions that seemingly encompassed its chest and head.