Corrupted Time

A Dungeon Core Time Loop

Time Core – Book 2

Jonathan Brooks

Cover Design: Yvonne Less, Art 4 Artists

Edited by: Ellen Klowden

Copyright ©2022 Jonathan Brooks

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

The following is a work of fiction.  Any names, characters, businesses, corporations, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.  Any resemblance to any actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.

Cover Design Copyright ©2022 Yvonne Less, Art 4 Artists

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my wife for supporting me throughout my writing career, as well as my daughter, who has just recently started reading Dungeon Core and LitRPG – giving me reason to write even more so that she can enjoy them in the future!

In addition, I can’t forget about all my awesome beta-readers:

Aaron Eichler

Aaron Wiley

Brian Oles

Gevan Eldredge

Grant Harrell

James Boyles

Keith Mueller

Kelly Linzey

Kevin McCartney

Nate Martin

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Recap

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Monster Progression Charts

Author’s Note

Books by Jonathan Brooks

Recap

Tempara was still a young Greater Temporal Fox living in the Frozen Reaches when she was captured by a group that originated from the Kingdom of Radia to the south; at the same time, her entire family was murdered in front of her.  Forced to become a familiar to a new Mage who belonged to the Order of Defenders, the organization that protected the Kingdom from monster threats in the eight different hostile regions that surrounded it, she and her master were killed on their first dungeon delve.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the end of her story.

Through some fluke with her minor ability to manipulate time, the Greater Temporal Fox’s soul became a Dungeon Core – a fragile, floating sphere that could create dungeons full of monsters and traps.  Not only that, but if her Core was destroyed, Tempara’s soul had the ability to travel back in time to the exact moment her soul originally arrived in the world; in other words, her mortal birth.

Stuck in a time loop, the Fox-turned-Core was determined to save her family from their impending slaughter at the hands of those who captured her in the future.  Through the help of her automatically supplied assistant, who just happened to be her former master without all of the Mage’s original memories, she learns how to create her dungeon, protect against both other dungeons’ attackers and the Defenders from the south, and unlock every single monster and trap available to her as a Dungeon Core part of the Frozen Cohort.

But it wasn’t enough to stop what was going to happen to her family.

After countless restarts, Tempara eventually learns that her family wasn’t actually killed, but was captured just as she was – though for a more nefarious purpose.  A Chronomancer named Creetim, a unique Defender Class that could manipulate time, used three members of her family to enact a ritual, stopping the automatic accumulation of Elemental Power for all Cores in the Frozen Reaches – essentially shutting them down entirely.  Due to her unique nature, however, Tempara is able to continue to operate at a diminished capacity, and she eventually learns that this ritual wasn’t the only one performed over the next few months.  After each elemental region had their accumulation of Elemental Power in their Cores paused, there was a massive buildup of Power that eventually destroyed the entire world.

Thankfully, Tempara’s soul was able to return to the past after learning of this future catastrophe, and she worked to stop the ritual and free her relatives that were trapped inside.  After luring the guards that were protecting the magical ritual sphere into her dungeon and killing them, she was finally able to free her Aunt Chrona, her Uncle Timo, and her Uncle Ido – or at least their souls, which were then connected with Tempara’s own.

Now she has to save the rest of her family – including her parents – from the forced ritual time loop they are all connected to, which spans months into the future.  Only by releasing all of their souls will Tempara be able to bring them all back physically, a goal that she will strive to complete, to bring all of her family together again.

To boot, she might even save the world in the process.

Tempara has a goal, a means to make it happen, and a destination for where the next ritual will occur in the future.  With determination, the Fox-turned-Core heads toward the Nightgloom Swamp….

Chapter 1

Leaping over a decaying fallen log that was partially submerged in the stagnant water to her left, Riley urgently pushed the figure in front of her to go faster.  That was easier said than done, of course, because her companion was clad in a full suit of steel plate armor, along with an oval shield strapped to his back that was almost as large as her and a double-edged shortsword hanging off his hip.  Granted, all of his equipment was battered, dented, and notched in dozens of places, evidence of the hard life they had lived over the last few months, but that didn’t make it any less heavy.

“We have to keep moving, Jorden!” she half-shouted, not wanting to alert their pursuers to their location.  Of course, with the fact that the Paladin’s armor sounded like someone was banging two metal pots together over and over, a shout probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference.  Still, it was in her nature and Class to be as quiet as possible as she moved, so even that half-shout sounded loud to her pointed ears.

“I’m doing the best I can, but you know I can’t see that well in this blasted darkness—” Jorden shouted back at her, just as his right foot slipped on the muddy edge of the land bridge they were crossing.  The edge of the sabaton covering his foot caught on the mud for a split-second, stabilizing him just enough that he was able to rebalance himself to the point where he wouldn’t fall down, though he was forced to slow down in order to do that.

“Careful!  If you slip in, I’m not sure I could get you out,” Riley admonished, though she knew it wasn’t his fault.  It was hard enough even for a Shadowwalker – such herself – to find their way safely over the connecting bridges of muddy land inside of the Nightgloom Swamp.  Unless you stayed in the exact center of the 6-foot-wide, arched pathways, which was hard to do while running, there was a chance of slipping on the mud that comprised a foot and a half on either side of the middle.  It also didn’t help that this was a natural land bridge in the Swamp, rather than one from a dungeon, because this one seemed to twist and turn, as well as vary in width unexpectedly.

Jorden was breathing harder by this point, as his exertion during their escape was now compounded by a near-death experience.  Not only was there a risk of drowning in the disgusting water that characterized this entire section of the Wildlands, but there were things in the water that might not even let him live long enough to suffocate from lack of oxygen.  Despite traveling through the dark Nightgloom Swamp hundreds of times, she hadn’t ever gotten more than the barest glimpse of a massive shape emerging from the disgusting water, but it was enough to know that not many people could survive being attacked by whatever monstrosity inhabited it.

The Paladin recovered from his near-fall into the water after a few seconds, leading the way again without a response to her angry outburst.  There was really no need to respond, after all, because he already knew that it could spell the end of his life if he were to fall off the land bridge.

Jorden made his way around a tree trunk that jutted out the side of the bridge at an angle, one of many along their route.  Fortunately, none of them stuck straight up, blocking their pathway forward; rather, they all draped their thin, dying branches, which hung straight down like a head of long, wet hair, over the water to either side.  Riley didn’t actually know if the tree was dying, because that was what all of the vegetation looked like in the Swamp, but she couldn’t think of any other reason they would look like they had given up on fighting some sort of wasting sickness that enveloped the entire region.

Given the atmosphere of darkness, death, and decay, it wouldn’t surprise her to know that her assumption that everything was in a constant state of dying was correct.

Riley paused for a moment as she was following Jorden, looking behind her at the pathway they had taken.  For all of her superior darkvision in the gloom that perpetually blanketed the Wildland region, it was difficult to see a far distance because of all of the dead and dying trees and other foliage. Still, by carefully climbing up one of the angled tree trunks, ready to leap off of it at the first sign it might collapse into the water, she was able to catch a glimpse of movement and a faint mage light that blinked off and on as it passed behind trees.

They’re so close!  I’d say only a few minutes behind.  We’ve got to find somewhere to hide… but where?

The fact that their pursuers could track them even through the darkness and the sometimes-confusing pathways throughout the Swamp wasn’t a surprise; as he moved, Jorden’s armor was loud enough that it was easy to follow.  That, and they weren’t able to camouflage their tracks, which were easily seen, even in the firmer portions of the land bridges – or at least Jorden’s were.  Riley didn’t leave much of an imprint, given how light she was on her feet and the benefits of her Class, but the heavy armor and tread of the Paladin were more than enough to leave a clear sign of passage.

She caught up with her friend quickly after scouting their back trail.  “We’ve got to hide; they’re close,” she whisper-shouted at him, and he raised his hands in helplessness.

“Where?  There’s nothing out here!”

As the Shadowwalker looked past him, she realized he was right.  The pathway they were on was filled with more trees hanging over the sides; but despite that, there weren’t any branches leading off in any direction for as far as she could see.  Her original idea was to escape far enough into the Swamp and then hide out in the first few islands of a dungeon somewhere, but now there didn’t seem to be any nearby.  Though had already passed a half-dozen dungeon entrances along the way, they had bypassed them in favor of moving further away from the border with the Kingdom, so as to make it harder for their pursuers to find them. But with the Defenders after them so close, there was no time to backtrack into one of the dungeons while also obscuring their tracks.

She could only hope that they came upon another entrance soon; otherwise they might get caught out in the open.  Worse than that, they might even encounter the denizens of the dungeons wandering around, though they had been lucky thus far in their flight through the Swamp.

As they ran ahead along the dangerous pathway, Riley couldn’t help but wish that Jorden had changed out of his armor before they escaped from the Defenders chasing them, but there had been no time.  Not only that, but the Paladin refused to travel undefended, especially as they ventured into the Wildlands. So, even if they’d had the time, he wouldn’t have taken anything off.  It made him powerful enough to withstand a hefty beating that would likely kill a Shadowwalker like herself, but it made a ton of noise and – more importantly right now – his kit slowed his movement speed down considerably.

Her companion was breathing hard but steadily as he continued to navigate his way around the trees along the pathway, but his slow speed chafed at Riley’s nerves.  She knew she could move much faster if she was by herself, but there was no chance in hell that she would ever abandon him. Especially after everything he had done for her over the years.  Granted, she had done just as much for him during their career in the Order of Defenders, a career which was now ruined, but that didn’t really matter all that much right now.  They just needed to keep moving and escape the “justice” that was about to fall upon their heads if they didn’t find somewhere to hide.

Shouts from behind them were audible even over the clamor of Jorden’s armor, and the proximity of their pursuers urged Jorden to greater speeds.  Recklessly leaping over a few tree trunks in their path, he took off with a speed that belied the weight of all the metal he was lugging around his body.  Riley easily kept pace, but she was immediately worried more about the Paladin’s footing than their pursuers.  If he didn’t slow down, the likelihood of him slipping and falling into the water increased at least five-fold compared to his slower pace. Then again, if he didn’t move as fast as he was, they would be caught within the next few minutes.

“Be careful!” she whispered to Jorden when he nearly tripped over his own foot when it stuck a little in the mud along the side of the land bridge.  He nodded and continued running without regard to his safety, but she couldn’t blame him; if they were caught, they would immediately be killed, without anything like a trial in the Order.  Sadly, there was no need for a trial when a murder that had been committed had been witnessed by other Defenders – even if it wasn’t their original intention, though Riley had thought that it was more than justified after what they had witnessed.  It wasn’t an accident, either; but things had quickly spiraled out of control, and now they were in trouble, even if it wasn’t their fault.  Of course, they only had to pay for it if they were caught – hence their escape into the Wildlands.

Cognizant of the “justice”-seeking pursuers behind the pair, she didn’t notice the abrupt right turn of the land bridge ahead of Jorden until he was nearly upon it.  “Jorden!  Look out—!”

The warning came a second too late, as the Paladin was still running headlong over the relatively straight pathway up to that point, unable to correct his course in time.  He heard her warning and attempted to slow himself for the turn that he was just-now seeing through the darkness, but as he planted his feet to arrest his momentum, they slid out from underneath him in the slimy mud of the land bridge’s edge.  Jorden’s back barely even hit the edge of the pathway as his speed was enough to slide him deep into the water, and he was almost instantly lost to sight.

Riley attempted to rush forward and grab him before he disappeared completely, but her fingers were only able to brush the top of his helmet before it was swallowed up by the opaque liquid.  “Jorden!”

Chillingly, her shout went completely unanswered. As she readied herself to dive in after him, a sudden disturbance under the water made her take a step back from the water’s edge.  A portion of a black tentacle, 2 feet wide with sharp, 5-inch-long spines periodically placed along its length, rose up above the surface, moving quickly through the stagnant pool. Even as she watched, it disappeared back under the water.  With a wider view of the waterway, she could now see dozens of ripples and even more tentacles that barely breached the surface, making the water appear as if it was boiling.

“Riley!”

Approximately 20 feet to the right of where the Paladin originally disappeared, the Shadowwalker saw Jorden pull himself up from the water as he reached out to the edge of the land bridge. His left gauntlet stabbed into the mud and pulled himself even further up the bank.  His right arm was by his side, the plate armor crumpled and leaking blood mixed with stagnant water, to the point where it hung there absolutely useless.

Riley stepped through the shadow of a tree nearby and teleported through the darkness, appearing through another shadow nearby the Paladin with her Shadow Blink skill. Immediately, she whipped her twin daggers out from her sheath and stabbed down at the tentacle that was beginning to wrap around her companion.  Blood blacker than a void leaked out of the wounds she caused, punctuated by spasms that reverberated through the entire tentacle as she severed it completely.  A low rumbling she felt in her feet was followed by an even greater disturbance in the surface of the water, and a dozen tentacles shot out of the stagnant pool, where they hovered in the air as they somehow focused on the one that had injured one of their number.

Riley shivered even as she quickly crossed her knives and concentrated on another of her skills, Shadow Cross, which sent out a dark bolt of spinning shadows toward a target.  The spinning shadows hardened and sharpened at the edges, making them appear as if they were 2 blades attached to each other in a simple X cross pattern. Her skill slammed into the nearest tentacle and cut through it with surprising ease, the bladed shadows finding very little resistance to her attack.

But her skill wasn’t done yet.

With another pulse of her Mana, Riley was able to control the spinning Cross, and she directed it to hit the next nearest tentacle, where it sheared through the appendage with as much effectiveness as the first, but that was when the monster under the water started to react.  The remaining 10 tentacles immediately shot toward Jorden, attempting to snatch him up and pull him back below the surface of the pool again, and it was all she could do to move her Cross to block or dismember the tentacles as they got close.

“Hurry!  I can’t keep them at bay for long!” she shouted at the Paladin, who was still struggling to pull himself up.  She wasn’t exaggerating, either, as her Mana was over half-empty already, just from the few seconds she had been attempting to defend him; this sort of defense wasn’t exactly her specialty, and it showed with how much of a Mana hog it was on her resources.

Unfortunately, it was the only attack she had that would be effective at range, because her other Skills weren’t exactly suited to defending against multiple opponents.  What was even worse was that she was basically stuck in place while she used her skill, because as soon as she moved it would disappear, and reusing it would require too much initial Mana.  As much as she wanted to grab Jorden and yank him fully out of the water, she knew that as soon as she let off her defense, she wouldn’t have enough time to react.

Thankfully, Jorden was already half out of the water and he was already casting one of his self-heal spells on himself, which was obvious as he lit up the surroundings with the bright light of his magical effect.  It wouldn’t repair his armor, of course, but whatever injuries he had were already being repaired.

“I’m almost out!  Just keep them off me for another second or two,” Jorden asked of her, as he got to his knees and started to stand up, already reaching for his weapon and shield strapped to his back.  There was a screech of metal against metal as his crumpled right armor protested against the movement – but at least it was moving, at least marginally.

There was another effect of the Paladin’s healing, though, which was evident as soon as he got to his feet.  The tentacles, which had been reduced down by half of their original number by her Shadow Cross, suddenly stiffened as if in surprise, stopping in place and allowing her to cut through another pair with her skill.  With her Mana starting to bottom out, she was about to abandon the spinning shadow blade and escape with Jorden, when the remaining quartet of tentacles was suddenly joined by another dozen, then a dozen more, and then a dozen additional ones after that.  That would’ve been bad enough, but a shape suddenly rose out of the center of the stagnant pool, so dark that it was hard for even her darkvision to penetrate its exterior, as it seemed to absorb any trace of light around it.  The only thing she got from its appearance was an impression of its massive size, and that was just the barest portion of what still rested underneath the surface.

“Well, that’s just craptacular, isn’t it?”

The Paladin whipped around at her words, but he couldn’t even see more than the nearest tentacles closest to him, so he wouldn’t be able to see what she saw.  Regardless, he readied himself as well as he could with his shield and his sword arm raised only partially because of the damage done to his armor.

“Run!  We can’t fight—”

Again, she was too late, as the dozens of tentacles speared forward en masse, overwhelming Jorden within seconds, while a few also attempted to wrap themselves around Riley.  Nearly depleted of Mana, she was able to cut through two of them before she was forced to use nearly the rest of her reserves to Shadow Blink away, just out of range of their attacks.  From the spot where the Paladin had fallen in the water, she watched helplessly as Jorden managed to dismember a half-dozen appendages before he was wrapped up completely, his superior strength was overpowered as his arms were bound to his sides and he was lifted up from the land bridge.

As his screams echoed in her ears, the Shadowwalker used the rest of her Mana to create a single Arrow of Darkness on the tip of her right hand knife and sent it flying off toward the enormous figure in the middle of the churned-up pool of water.  It was normally a precision-based attack and best used to hit critical weak spots that had been identified in a monster, but she was simply praying that she might get lucky and hit something that she couldn’t really even see well enough to identify.

There was an ear-shattering screech as her Arrow hit something vulnerable, but other than a momentary hesitation as the tentacles retracted under the water, her attack didn’t seem to do anything but annoy the monster.  She pulled one throwing knife after another from her belt and threw them at the tentacles surrounding Jorden; but other than one of those tentacles falling away from the damage she caused, her attacks didn’t seem to do much.

Her companion ceased his screaming for a brief moment before he was pulled completely under the water, as he shouted, “Riley!  Run!”  A sob bubbled up from her chest as she desperately looked for some way to save Jorden, but she was completely out of both Mana and long-range options.  She contemplated tossing her long melee knives at the tentacles, but the Shadowwalker doubted they would do much good. Regardless, by the time she even thought of it, the Paladin was already descending into the water against his will, pulled under by the unknown monster’s appendages.

As his head sank below the surface, as his frightened eyes focused on her, as he continued to scream out in pain from the tightening tentacles around his body, she turned away to continue running.  Before she could take more than a step, a massive fireball from the pathway behind clipped her right shoulder, burning through all of her armor and blistering the skin beneath.  The impact wasn’t the worst part, however, as the unexpected attack caused her to be knocked back, and she landed and rolled over the tender flesh of her shoulder as she hit the muddy water of the land bridge.  She barely stopped before she hit the water, and she looked out to the stagnant pool to see if any tentacles were near to snatch her… but fortunately, there was no sight of any spiky appendages, nor of the massive monster figure in the middle.

As she struggled to pick herself up, the pain in her shoulder flared up. She gritted her teeth as she got to her knees.  Before she could fully rise to her feet, a pair of arms snaked around her own from behind, wrenching them behind her back painfully. She screamed as the burnt skin on her shoulder split and bled.

As she was lifted up from the mud and spun around, she attempted to wiggle free, but the arms holding her were too strong; she couldn’t even budge them enough to relieve the pressure on her joints.  She was close enough to one of the darker shadows near one of the dying trees and attempted to Shadow Blink away, but that attempt failed because she was out of Mana.

Swung around with another wrench to her shoulder sockets, she looked up to see herself in front of a group of 14 other Defenders besides the one holding her.  In her agony, she couldn’t focus on them and so she didn’t recognize a single one, but she supposed it didn’t really matter.

“Riley Humbral!  Your Defense is at an end, as your judgment is hereby rendered.”  The woman’s snide voice was vaguely familiar to her ears, but she found that she didn’t care enough to wonder who it was.  Instead, she let her head loll forward before snapping it backwards with all of her might, and the crunch of cartilage as the back of her head destroyed her captor’s nose was more than satisfying.  The pain in her skull from the act was barely noticed as her shoulders still burned with agony, and she was disappointed that her abrupt attack didn’t loosen up the strong grip holding her in place.

Through the tears in her eyes, caused by the pain in her body and the loss of Jorden just moments ago, she saw a blade whipping around in her peripheral vision, before it was lost as her decapitated head went sailing into the air.  The last thing her mind registered before everything went black was the sight of her detached appendage landing in the water, and the brief sight of an undulating spiked tentacle nearby.

At least I’ll finally be able to join my love, even if it is in death….

Chapter 2

* Select your starting location…. *

Tempara had used her Temporal Displacement[1] skill to shift her soul out of her Dungeon Core in the Frozen Reaches, something she had done before when she had been trying to figure out how to free her relatives from the ritual they were caught in.  By shifting her soul out of her Core, her Temporal Reversion[2] auto-skill activated, sending her back in time and to an overhead map of the Kingdom of Radia and the surrounding Wildland regions.  The Greater Temporal Fox-turned-Dungeon Core turned her attention to the northern part of the map, where the familiar Frozen Reaches was located. The bright white of the snow-laden land presented itself in stark contrast to the brown and grey-colored Rolling Mountains to the northwest, as well as the vibrant blue of the water in the Roiling Sea to the northeast.

For Tempara, though, it was home.  Or at least the home in which she had spent approximately a month of her life as a young Fox and years as a Dungeon Core, stuck in a temporal loop that reset her back to a particular point in time whenever her Core was destroyed.

But none of those places to the north were where she needed to go next.  Nor was it the thick foliage of the Verdant Forest to the west, the expansive fields that made up the Endless Plains to the east, the sand-filled Charwell Desert to the south, or even the mixture of different trees in the Sweltering Jungle to the southeast.  Instead, Tempara moved her attention to the southwest of the Kingdom of Radia, to a land that was darker than any other.

The Nightgloom Swamp.

A perpetual darkness cast a shadow over the Wildlands region, though from the Dungeon Core’s point of view high up above the map-like selection vista, she could vaguely see through the darkness.  Tempara likened it to looking through a thick, grey fog. But somehow, she was still able to see clearly through the haze.

As she brought her perspective closer to the Nightgloom Swamp, the first thing that the Fox-turned-Core discovered about this new region was that the dungeons weren’t buried inside of a small mountain range like she was used to experiencing up north in the Frozen Reaches.  In fact, there weren’t any mountains, nor even hills taller than 10 feet or so; the majority of the land was flat and covered in large pools of stagnant water and sludgy-looking islands emerging from the depths, connected by seemingly random and narrow land bridges.  On these islands and strips of land connecting them, decrepit trees with hundreds of branches full of decaying leaves hung out over the stagnant waterways, and while the foliage was still technically alive, to Tempara it all appeared to have been afflicted by some sort of blight.

Everything was either dead or dying inside of the Nightgloom Swamp – at least on the surface.  While she couldn’t see beneath the water, there were enough random ripples underneath the surface of it that she was fairly certain that if there was anything that really thrived in the Swamp, it was in the water. She got the feeling that whatever was in the stagnant pools and waterways was more than enough to prevent people from attempting to take shortcuts through the water.

The dungeons in the region weren’t on these small, interconnected, decaying islands, however.  Instead, they were located on much bigger island chains that were surrounded by much larger expanses of deep water, in which Tempara could vaguely see the shadow of something large moving underneath the surface.  She assumed that these deep water perimeters provided as much of a barrier as the stone walls of a dungeon in the Frozen Reaches, and she could see that there was only a single land bridge that led inside these dungeon-based island chains.  When she tried to get closer to obtain a better look – something more than the vague impression she had of them – her viewpoint was stopped from moving too near them, shut out as firmly as she had been when trying to enter a dungeon up north in the Reaches.

So, where do I go?

The entire environment was so foreign to her that she wasn’t exactly sure what she should do, though experience told her what not to do.  It would be unwise to situate her new dungeon too close to the border with the Kingdom to the northeast, as the scouting parties of Defenders would constantly be venturing into the Nightgloom Swamp to eliminate any Cores that were nearby.  At least, she figured this would still be the case despite it being a different Wildlands region, and some vague memories of her former master-turned-assistant, Kiana, told her that this was likely the case everywhere.

That being said, she also didn’t want to venture too deep within the Swamp, as that was where the most powerful Cores were located.  As she focused on the different dungeons, she was able to see that those closest to the border were around Core Level 3 or 4, while those further in were already Core Level 8, 9, or even higher – meaning that she would be at a severe disadvantage.  She wondered for a moment why they were so high compared to when she started in the Frozen Reaches, where they had been at relatively even starting positions—

* Select your starting location…. *

She was interrupted by the monotone voice against insisting on her selection of a starting location, but she ignored it as the reason for the difference in starting Core Levels came to her from Kiana’s memories once again.  The periodic sweeps through the different Wildlands regions didn’t happen at the exact same time, because that was impossible without having many more Defenders in the Kingdom; therefore, the sweeps rotated from region to region, one after another so that each Wildlands area was cleared out once a month.  The former Defender didn’t have much more information than that, such as schedules or other procedures, because she had still been relatively new to the Order of Defenders when she had been killed along with Tempara.

Taking all of that into account, the Dungeon Core looked for a compromise between the border area and the deeper portion of the Nightgloom Swamp.  Just past the nearest to the border was a small body of stagnant water that appeared uninhabited by any nearby Dungeon Cores, though the ones nearby were around Core Level 5 and 6 – a worry, to be sure, but better than being too far inside of the Swamp.  It was just past what she judged would be the farthest that most scouting Defender groups would venture across the border, but not so far that she would be overwhelmed by extremely powerful Dungeon Cores immediately.

Or so she hoped.

Granted, this was going to be a test run, mainly because she had no idea where the next ritual with her family was going to take place within the Nightgloom Swamp.  That was also taking into account that the souls of her Aunt and Uncles were correct in that this Wildlands region was the next one to have a ritual involving another trio of Greater Temporal Foxes.  Tempara didn’t have any other information to go by, however, so she trusted that they seemed to have some inside information that she didn’t have access to herself.

Therefore, the former Fox selected the plot of water that she singled out earlier and immediately felt her soul being pulled downwards, a sensation that originally felt strange, but she had gotten used to after it happened so many times in the Frozen Reaches.  In what seemed like no time at all, she found her soul in her Dungeon Core again, looking out of it at her new dungeon – or what apparently counted for a dungeon in the Nightgloom Swamp.

Instead of a cold, stone room in a small mountain range like she was used to in the Frozen Reaches, she found herself on an island that appeared to have been created out of nowhere.  The circular plot of land around her Core – her “Core Room”, she supposed – was approximately 20 feet in width and was elevated 3 feet above the disgusting-looking water surrounding it, and it had a very subtle rise to the land that had its apex in the center just under her Core.  It only rose a few inches up over the entire distance, but it was enough to see that her new island wasn’t completely flat.

Leading off to the northwest and connected to her island was a very long strip of land exactly 8 feet wide, with the edges a little softer and muddier, so close to the water.  It terminated far into the distance, what she judged was probably over 500 to 1,000 feet away, though it was difficult to see from her current position in her Core. The darkness that permeated the Swamp wasn’t the issue with sight, however; it was the prevalence of trees along the pathway that blocked it from her current viewing position.  Her island, on the other hand, was completely devoid of any trees, as it was entirely barren of anything but packed dirt.

Using her skills in directing her viewpoint she had gained while existing as a Dungeon Core up north, she lifted it up out of her Core and directed it to follow the pathway further, and she could see that it mimicked its length and perfect straightness that she was familiar with her former dungeon.  It led all the way out to another strip of land that wasn’t nearly as uniform, nor was it as straight, as it seemed to undulate in different directions, branching off almost randomly.

I’m guessing this is where the normal Swamp region exists outside of my dungeon, sort of like the snow-covered expanses of the Reaches.  I wonder if they have feeding frenzy days like the frozen north, too?

There was no way to answer that at the moment, but at least there were some things that were familiar.  Before she stared around at the local landscape too much, other than noting exactly how far away the nearest Cores were, she directed her viewpoint back to her Core Room—Island, I suppose.  On her Core Island, she immediately saw the wispy, blue forms of her Aunt Chrona, Uncle Timo, and Uncle Ido: the souls of the family members she had freed from the ritual sphere in the Frozen Reaches.  They had somehow become attached to her own soul in the process, and she was glad to see that they came with her to her new location, because that hadn’t been a sure thing.

Before she could speak to them, however, something else caught her eye.  For the first time since her soul became a Dungeon Core, there was something fundamentally different in its appearance.  While it had grown larger as she had increased her Core Level, it hadn’t ever looked much different.  Now, though, instead of a bluish-white color, mimicking the ice and snow of the Frozen Reaches, her new Core was a shiny black color, with a deep, void-like center that seemed to suck in the light.  As if denying that light-sucking void, there was a subtle glow around her spherical form, though the brightness was subdued enough that it didn’t illuminate more than a few feet of the darkness that characterized the Nightgloom Swamp.

“I guess this means we’re not anywhere near our den, doesn’t it?  What happened to your… Dungeon Core, I think you called it?”

Tempara tore her gaze away from her strange Core to look at Aunt Chrona.

Yes, we’re very far from home.  As for what happened to my Core, I have no idea.

The Fox-turned-Dungeon Core wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was determined to figure it out.

Chapter 3

Opening her Core Display, Tempara suffered a massive spike of pain that dug deeply into her mind, causing her to lose focus enough that she lost sight and any sensations of anything around her Core and viewpoint.  Thankfully, the agonizing pain only lasted a few seconds before it disappeared as if it was never there, and her surroundings came back into focus.  Mentally shaking it off, she hesitantly attempted to open her Core Display again, and she was relieved to find that the pain had just been temporary.

She wasn’t relieved to see that her Display had changed dramatically.

Core Display

Core Name:

Tempara

Core Level:

1

Designation:

Undead Horde

Level Threshold:

1,000 EP – Death

Elemental Power – Cold (EP – Cold):

0 EP

Accumulation Rate – Cold (AR – Cold):

3 EP/hour

Elemental Power – Death (EP – Death):

10 EP

Accumulation Rate – Death (AR – Death):

5 EP/minute

Defensible Islands:

1

Monster Threshold:

20

Available Monsters:

3

Available Traps:

8

Unavailable Monsters:

39

Unavailable Traps:

11

Available Monsters:

Flickering Wisp

Fragile Skeleton

Decaying Zombie

25 EP – Death

50 EP – Death

100 EP – Death

Unavailable Monsters:

Cold Slime

Snow Hare

Glacial Ooze

25 EP – Cold

50 EP – Cold

50 EP – Cold

Snowball

Snowdrift Hare

Winter Wolf

100 EP – Cold

100 EP – Cold

125 EP – Cold

Armed Snowball

Frost Elemental

Icicle Spider

200 EP – Cold

200 EP – Cold

200 EP – Cold

Winter Dire Wolf

Chilled Slime King

Whiteout Panther

250 EP – Cold

300 EP – Cold

350 EP – Cold

Snowflake Pixie

Polar Bear

Snowbeast

400 EP – Cold

450 EP – Cold

500 EP – Cold

Ice Golem

Arctic Tiger

Freezing Salamander

500 EP – Cold

700 EP – Cold

750 EP – Cold

Snowstorm Pixie

Yeti

Iceberg Ooze

800 EP – Cold

800 EP – Cold

900 EP – Cold

Polar Bear Matriarch

Ice Knight

Elder Snowbeast

900 EP – Cold

1,000 EP – Cold

1,000 EP – Cold

Snowbank Warren

Winter Dire Wolf Alpha

Iceshard Salamander

1,000 EP – Cold

1,250 EP – Cold

1,500 EP – Cold

Abominable Yeti

Icicle Spider Queen

Orb of Chilling

1,600 EP – Cold

2,000 EP – Cold

2,000 EP – Cold

Iceback Prowler

Coldstriker Verrant

Woolly Mammoth

3,500 EP – Cold

4,000 EP – Cold

4,500 EP – Cold

Ice Worm

Frozen Drake

Ice Giant

5,000 EP – Cold

7,500 – Cold

8,000 EP – Cold

Ice Guardian

Animated Avalanche

White Dragon

10,000 EP – Cold

80,000 EP – Cold

150,000 EP – Cold

Available Traps:

Pit Trap

Spiked Pit Trap

Camouflaged Pit Trap

0.5 AR – Any

0.75 AR – Any

1.5 AR – Any

Javelin Launch

Spear Impalement

Wall Crush

2.5 AR – Any

3 AR – Any

5 AR – Any

Necrotic Gas

Shattering Skulls

0.5 AR – Death

0.75 AR – Death

Unavailable Traps:

Frigid Blast

Extended Frigid Blast

Chilled Feet

0.5 AR – Cold

0.75 AR – Cold

1 AR – Cold

Icicle Rain

Blizzard Block

Ice Wall

1 AR – Cold

1.25 AR – Cold

1.5 AR – Cold

Icicle Deluge

Ice Spikes

Shaved Ice

1.5 AR – Cold

1.5 AR – Cold

1.75 AR – Cold

Ice Bomb

Frozen Sphere

Ice Minefield

2 AR – Cold

2 AR – Cold

4 AR – Cold

Core Abilities:

Construct Dungeon

Create Monster

Install Trap

(EP cost – varies)

(EP cost – varies)

(AR cost – varies)

Skills/Knowledge:

Monster Creation

Trap Installation

Temporal Manipulation

(Total Knowledge: 42)

(Total Knowledge: 19)

(Total Knowledge: 2)

First, she wasn’t surprised to see that she was no longer part of the “Frozen Cohort” Designation according to the Core Display, because she was no longer located in the Frozen Reaches.  Instead, she was now part of something called the “Undead Horde”, which she didn’t think boded well for the types of monsters she could eventually create.  The undead had a bit of a negative perception in her mind when she thought about them, especially when she considered that one of the Chronomancer’s main minions, who helped to activate the ritual involving her family in the Frozen Reaches, had been a Necromancer.  Tempara immediately determined that she would do everything she could to avoid creating any undead monsters, instead using the ones she had knowledge of from her previous experiences up north.

That determination not to use undead lasted all of 10 seconds as she continued reading her Core Display.

Her Elemental Power and Accumulation Rate had acquired something new, with an additional entry with notes on each saying that the EP and AR were now attributed to some things called “Cold” and “Death” – which made her mentally shiver inside of her Dungeon Core at the terms.  That wasn’t the only change, because now she only had access to a total of 3 monsters, rather than the 39 she had from her dungeon in the Frozen Reaches.  As she looked further, she saw that the only ones she could create were the Flickering Wisp, the Fragile Skeleton, and the Decaying Zombie – all undead.  Selecting each one, she could see that they required this “Death” Elemental Power mentioned above.

Monster Details

Flickering Wisp

25 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 0/250

Battle Threshold: 0/100

Potential Advancement Options:

???

???

???

???

Monster Details

Fragile Skeleton

50 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 0/250

Battle Threshold: 0/100

Potential Advancement Options:

???

???

???

???

Monster Details

Decaying Zombie

100 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 0/250

Battle Threshold: 0/100

Potential Advancement Options:

???

???

???

???

She was reminded of when she first became a Dungeon Core and only had a trio of options: Cold Slime, Snow Hare, and Winter Wolf – though the Decaying Zombie in this instance was 25 EP less expensive than the Wolf was.  Regardless, it seemed as if she had basically started over… but that wasn’t fair after all the work she went through to unlock all of her different monsters!

It didn’t make sense because she was still accumulating this “Cold”-type Elemental Power, though its Accumulation Rate was extremely slow: 3 EP an hour, rather than 5 EP a minute with the Death type.  When she looked at the Unavailable Monsters section in her Core Display, she saw all of her powerful monsters from the Frozen Reaches there, all with an EP – Cold cost; so, why were they “unavailable”?  Granted, it would take nearly half a day to afford even a Cold Slime, but that wasn’t really the point.

“So, what’s going on with your strange Core?”

Tempara was caught off-guard by her Aunt’s question, as she had been intently studying her Core Display while trying to figure out why she was so limited.

So, I think I know – in general – what happened, but I don’t know what to do about it.

“You know why your Core looks the way it does?”

I can only assume that it’s because we’re in the Nightgloom Swamp and my Core reflects the Wildland region.  What I don’t understand is why there now seems to be two types of Elemental Power—wait.  I think the solution to these questions just arrived.

Kiana, Tempara’s former master and now her assistant, appeared out of nowhere in her typical Mage’s robe, standing on the island a few feet away from her Core and staring straight up at it.  It was the same type of thing she had seen hundreds of times in the Frozen Reaches, so she wasn’t surprised when the monotone voice of the woman spoke into her mind.

* To begin the process of creating your dungeon, please refer to your Core Display.  For more information, ask your system-created assistant for details. *

Enough of that, Kiana—

As soon as she said the woman’s name, there was another spike of pain through her mind, though thankfully it wasn’t as bad as the first.  Tempara was able to maintain her vision throughout the pain, so she was able to see Kiana’s form swell up like an overfilled bladder, before she exploded into a million tiny motes of light that seemed suspended in the air.

“What’s going on, Tempara?  Are you alright?”  That was her Uncle Ido, but she was unable to answer him because the pain was still too intense.

In a process that seemed to take longer but was less stabbingly painful than what had happened with her Core Display, the torment invading her mind gradually lessened as the motes of light seemed to reverse direction from where they had exploded before.  As they slowly came together again, the pain faded completely and she was able to finally answer.

I’m fine, but I think something happened to my assistant.

There was a bright flash of illumination as the motes of light consolidated into the general outline of Kiana, and as soon as Tempara was able to see again, the woman was back.  This time, however, something had changed.

“What—?  Where—?” the woman asked abruptly, holding her hands to her head and pushing hard, as if she was trying to keep it from exploding.  For the first time that Tempara could remember, Kiana physically spoke rather than communicated directly with the Core’s mind, which was shocking in and of itself.  Her former master wobbled as if her equilibrium had been affected, collapsing to her knees in the dirt, though the rough ground of the island didn’t actually soil her robe.  From what Tempara had observed, her assistant didn’t have a substantial physical presence, so she was therefore unable to affect or be affected by the world around her.

Kiana?  What happened to you?

“Who—?” Still on her knees, the woman looked around and saw the trio of Greater Temporal Fox souls; there was a curious look in her eyes as she seemed to dismiss them, instead looking at her Dungeon Core… and then whipping her head around to stare directly toward Tempara’s viewpoint, which was still separate from her form.

“I… I remember,” Kiana whispered wonderingly, her vision looking through Tempara’s viewpoint as if she was looking at something far away.  “Not everything, but enough to know what happened to me and to you, Tempara.  I also remember bits and pieces of what happened in the Frozen Reaches, regarding the ritual that Chronomancer performed, the danger it represents, and the way you freed some of your family from it,” she said, gesturing toward the three Fox souls staring at her as if she had grown another head.

You do?  That is… different.  You usually don’t remember anything from previous restarts.

The woman nodded, getting to her feet.  While Tempara had seen her assistant acquiring many of her normal Human characteristics as she became familiar with what was going on with Tempara and her situation, the Fox-turned-Dungeon Core hadn’t seen Kiana seem so alive.  It was as if her former master’s soul had fully integrated into her role as an assistant, rather than just a general imprint of the woman.

“You’re right: I typically don’t remember anything from your previous restarts, but I think most of my memories aren’t mine, necessarily.  I think they’ve come from you.”

Me?  How is that possible?

Kiana shrugged.  “I can only guess that your arrival here changed some things, and my alterations are a result of that.”

Tempara’s family were quiet throughout that entire exchange, though her Aunt finally spoke up at that point.

“What is going on with Tempara’s Core?”

As much as the Dungeon Core wanted to know what exactly was going on with her assistant, there were more pressing issues – such as what was wrong with her monsters.

The question seemed to send a shock through the woman. She briefly held her head in her hands again, eyes squeezed shut.  Thankfully, it didn’t hurt Tempara at all, and it didn’t last more than a few seconds.

Her former master exhaled a large breath, despite her body not actually being real, as she looked between Tempara’s viewpoint and the three tense-looking Fox souls.  “Whoa.  That was a lot of information I just received from… somewhere.  Thankfully, I now have the answer to your question, though I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

Whatever answer you have will be helpful.

“Well, then.”  Kiana took a deep breath as if to steady herself after the brief mental trauma.  “I guess I should explain why your Core looks the way it does, but I’m fairly certain you already know.  It’s because you’re located in the Nightgloom Swamp, so your Core reflects the appearance of the other Dungeon Cores inside this Wildlands region. As for why it’s black, the presence of Death-based Elemental Power is to blame.”

I see all of these Death and Cold Elemental Power requirements on my Core Display, but what exactly do those mean?

It took a few seconds for her assistant to answer, as if she was searching for the required information in her mind.  The woman was acting more like a Human, rather than some sort of automaton that answered questions immediately with an annoying, monotonous voice, which Tempara wasn’t sure was a good thing or not.

“It’s just as it says: You need Death Elemental Power for some things, and Cold Elemental Power for others.”  She waved her hand around the island, which Tempara assumed was supposed to encompass the entire Swamp.  “Only Death-focused Elemental Power is available in this Wildland region, just as only Cold-focused Elemental Power is available in the Frozen Reaches.  As it is, I believe that your connections with your present family’s souls, whose bodies are still technically inside of the ritual sphere up north, are allowing you to gain a small amount of Cold Elemental Power, albeit very slowly.”

But that doesn’t explain why the monsters I had access to up there are supposedly unavailable.

“Doesn’t it?” she asked. Some of the independent snark that the Fox remembered from the original Mage bled through in the tone of Kiana’s voice as she put her hands on her hips with a smirk on her face.  Eventually, she seemed to think Tempara deserved an explanation as she dropped her smirk.  “Fine, if you want me to spell it out for you, it’s because as a primarily Death-focused Dungeon Core, your Core is unable to create any monster that requires only a non-Death-focused Elemental Power.”

It took a few seconds for that to fully sink in.

So, you’re saying that everything I unlocked in the Frozen Reaches is useless to me?

“Essentially… yes.”

Great.  Just great.

Chapter 4

I still don’t understand why I can’t create my stronger monsters if I save up the necessary Cold Elemental Power.  That makes no sense.

While Tempara vaguely understood that she was – what she was going to mentally refer to herself as – a “Death” Core now, as disturbing as that notion was, the fact that she still had access to Cold Elemental Power meant to her that she should be able to create different monsters based on their requirements.

Kiana smiled sadly at her viewpoint hovering in the air.  “I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is.”  The woman tilted her head as if thinking and sighed.  “Look, think of it this way.  Could your former self, as a Greater Temporal Fox, mate with a… Slime, let’s say, and produce offspring?”

Uh, no; that would be ridiculous.

“Exactly.  What you’re asking your current Core to do is like that.  The Dungeon Core you inhabit is fundamentally different from what it was up north, so it would be like asking a Fox to give birth to a Slime – it simply just doesn’t work, as the two are incompatible.”

That was a bit of a disturbing image that entered her mind, but Tempara was beginning to see her assistant’s point.  She was in no way happy with it, but she supposed it made sense.

And that is the same issue with my traps?  I see that I still have access to 5 of them that I was able to unlock previously, but they say “Any” as far as the Elemental Power type.

“That is correct.  Those traps, such as the ‘Pit Trap’ and its subsequent advancements, are universal and are the exact same for every single Dungeon Core throughout all of the Wildlands.  Having already unlocked those advancements, you still have access to them even now.

“As for your other traps, such as Frigid Blast, those require a specific Elemental Power to both place and maintain.  Again, while you technically have a very slow Accumulation Rate, the traps with a Cold-focused Elemental Power are foreign enough to your Core that it would be like asking a Greater Temporal Fox to fly through the air like a bird.”

Analogies aside, Tempara was understanding enough of the problem to realize that there really wasn’t any way around it – or at least none that she could see right now.  Regardless, it was time to see what she could do with her dungeon now that she was there, even if she wasn’t thrilled about having to create undead rather than the monsters she had grown familiar with in her previous incarnation.

First, in order to protect her Core Island and by extension her Dungeon Core, despite the fact that she wasn’t really a target to other Cores’ assaults until she was at least Core Level 2, she used some of her accumulating Elemental Power to create some of her new undead monsters to see what she was working with.  The first was something called a Flickering Wisp for 25 EP (Death-focused, of course) – the same amount for a Cold Slime in her old dungeon.

As soon its form filled up with the Elemental Power she supplied it, the Wisp immediately appeared, hovering 3 feet above the ground.  It was a speck of light that was approximately 3 inches in width, and it glowed with a sickly yellow light that made Tempara uncomfortable even by simply looking at it, for some reason.  The glow flickered lightly as if it were a candle being affected by a very gentle breeze, and the pattern of the flickering seemed entirely random.

When Tempara focused on it on a deeper level, she learned that it wasn’t a very powerful monster, as it only had a pair of attacks and had basically no defense. As it was, any weak Defender or monster could simply wave a hand through it to kill it.  As for its attacks, one was based on somehow confusing an enemy by luring them into the water surrounding the islands and land bridges throughout the Wildlands – including her own dungeon – but it really only worked on targets with at least a little intelligence in their heads.  She got the impression that something like an undead skeleton wouldn’t really qualify, since they didn’t really have anything inside their heads!

The Wisp’s other attack was a short-range bolt of spiritual power, which wasn’t necessarily physical in nature.  Instead, it was supposed to minimally drain a target of its Health without inflicting physical damage – which sounded incredibly powerful to Tempara.  Then again, the impression she received from digging further was that undead had a strong natural resistance to “spiritual” damage and draining. And some vague memories rolling around in her mind via Kiana told her that Defenders typically had at least minimal natural resistances to spiritual harm, so they would also be largely ineffective.  Not entirely useless, but not really a powerful monster when it came to combat; then again, neither was the Cold Slime, unless it was used in conjunction with other defenses.

Next up was the Fragile Skeleton for 50 EP, which vaguely looked like a Human – though devoid of any flesh, muscle, or blood.  Instead, it stood exactly 5 feet tall with old, yellowing, and brittle-looking bones with a nearly invisible string of black energy connecting the different bones together.  When Tempara made it move, it shambled forward with surprisingly quick steps, but even small indentations in the ground of the island seemed to make it stumble slightly as it walked.

The benefit of the Skeleton over the Wisp was that it could actually do some damage to an enemy, albeit not a lot.  It used its hands to grab and attempt to tear apart its targets with its hidden strength, or if it was unable to tear anything apart, it could scratch with brittle finger bones or bite with its jagged teeth located on its skull.  The downside was that it was, as its name implied, fragile; a sturdy kick or bash with a blunt weapon could cause it to break apart entirely as its bones shattered under the abuse.  It was also very vulnerable to fire, as its old bones were flammable, though it was immune to disease and poison-based spells and was highly resistant to piercing attacks – because blades typically did minimal damage to its bones, despite their fragility.

Lastly, the Decaying Zombie was 100 EP, and the differences between it and the Skeleton were immediately apparent.  While it was the same size as the Fragile Skeleton at 5 feet tall, it was fully enclosed with decaying, rotting flesh that was missing a few chunks here and there.  It was also vaguely Human-like, even wearing the remnants of clothing in the form of unidentifiable rags, though whether it was originally supposed to be male or female was unknown, as there weren’t any types of reproductive organs that she could see.

The strength and durability of the Zombie as opposed to the Skeleton were its greatest assets, as it had muscles – decaying muscles, but muscles nonetheless – and therefore was much better at ripping something apart with its hands or tearing into them with its fingers.  In addition, its bite had a temporary disease-based effect to it that transferred into its victims bloodstream; this necrotic disease weakened those affected by it, the severity of which was based on the target’s resistances.  Of course, against other undead, who were immune to diseases, the bites did nothing but physical damage.

They weren’t very impressive compared to what she was used to, but they were all she had to work with.

“They’re disgusting, aren’t they?” Aunt Chrona asked, walking around the trio of monsters she had created with a judging look on her face. Tempara’s uncles followed her lead, peering critically at the Zombie especially, and she could see disapproval clearly in the way they held their bodies.  While it was their souls that were present, so they couldn’t necessarily experience the same sensations such as smell that their bodies would’ve had, they still seemed to turn their noses up at what was likely a very stinky animated corpse.  “Are they even any good?”

Probably not, but I don’t really have access to anything else right now.  It was the same way with my other dungeon when I first started, but I eventually acquired better monsters.

Tempara couldn’t imagine the Wisp or Skeleton being very useful against other undead because they were so weak, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have their uses.  What those uses were, she wasn’t sure, so she’d have to experiment.

“Well then, what are you supposed to do next?  Have you figured out where the ritual is supposed to happen?”

That last part is something that I thought that you would be able to answer, given that you told me to come here.

Her aunt shook her head in a very person-like manner, which she thought was for the benefit of Tempara’s assistant, who couldn’t read visual clues that a Fox would naturally make very well.  “No, I have no idea.  All I can say is that it will happen here somewhere, though as soon as it happens I might have a better idea.”  Chrona looked at the other two Fox souls to see if they agreed, and Tempara could tell that they did.

Then I guess that brings us to your first question.  In order to survive long enough to see where the ritual will take place, thereby knowing what I’ll have to assault in order to free more of our family members, I have to see what I’m up against.

“I believe that we might be able to scout for you, if you’d like.”

That would be amazing, but I don’t want to risk your souls getting damaged.

“There shouldn’t be any risk, given that we’re connected to yours, but we’ll be careful.”

In a flash, much faster than if they were simply running at full speed along the ground, the three Fox souls took off down the tree-laden pathway leading out from her Core Island, their feet not even touching the ground as they practically flew ahead.  In just a few seconds, nearly as fast as she could move her own viewpoint, they were at the entrance leading toward the natural land bridge it was connected to—

—when they slammed into an invisible barrier, stopping their progress entirely.  In the distance, she saw them scrambling along what was keeping them from leaving, which for all intents and purposes was like a clear glass window that they couldn’t penetrate, and they eventually left after almost a minute of futile attempts.  A few seconds later, they were back on her Core Island, looking annoyed and angry at the same time.

“We’re trapped!  Your dungeon won’t let us out, Tempara!” Aunt Chrona accused, as if it was her fault they couldn’t leave.

Kiana was listening and lost focus in her eyes for a moment, before chiming in and cutting off any response Tempara was going to communicate.  “It’s not her choice.  Your souls are bound to her own, and while she can send her viewpoint out from her dungeon as part of her normal functions as a Dungeon Core, her soul can’t actually leave, either.”

“Well, that’s convenient,” the elder Greater Temporal Fox responded shortly.  “So, we’re just supposed to stay docile in here and let Tempara do all of the work?”

The Dungeon Core could understand her Aunt’s frustration, especially as it seemed as though the three souls were essentially helpless, but it wasn’t like this whole situation was her fault.

It beats being trapped in the ritual, though, doesn’t it?

It took her relatives a few minutes to calm down after learning that they were without any other options.  “You’re right, young one.  It’s just that…” she started to say, before stopping herself.  “What I’m trying to say is that this shouldn’t be all on you, especially at your age.  If we could only help, we wouldn’t feel so frustrated.”

Tempara couldn’t help but mentally chuckle at her words.

While my body may have been young when I was killed, my soul is probably older than yours by this point, or fairly close to your own age.  I’ve lived and died thousands of times, so I think I know a thing or two.

Besides that, you’re already helping me by being here and keeping me sane.  You have no idea how lonely it was with just my assistant for company.

“Hey, I’ll have you know—

I know you’re a bit different now, Kiana, more like your old self, but for the longest time you weren’t more than a Human-shaped source of information.

Both her family and her assistant were silent for a moment before Kiana nodded, and Aunt Chrona responded verbally.  “I still don’t feel like that’s enough, but if we can at least provide you some support, I suppose that’s the best we’re going to give.”

If there’s anything else I think you could help with, I’ll let you know.  For the moment, though, seeing as you’re unable to leave the dungeon, I’m going to have to do some scouting on my own.

After reassuring them that she wouldn’t be too long, Tempara moved her viewpoint out from the area around her island, sending it past her entrance, where she was able to look around better than she had at the overhead selection map.  The first thing she noticed was that the natural land bridges outside of her dungeon were a little narrower, but other than meandering with greater variety than the straight one out from her Core, there wasn’t much difference.  She attempted to dive into the water around her to see what was in there, but her viewpoint refused to penetrate the surface. Nonetheless, it was obvious that there was something alive down there, so it was unlikely that anyone would want to risk swimming through or even taking a boat over the water in order to bypass the pathways.  It was reassuring, especially considering that her Core wasn’t protected by stone walls anymore, though if there were Defenders or monsters that could fly, she wasn’t sure how effective it would be.

Following the pathway that branched off multiple times, she ventured over more than a dozen islands that – at minimum – were twice the size of her Core Island.  The various islands seemed to be filled with stone formations that looked remarkably like some ruins that Kiana had seen before back in the Kingdom, though these ones were overgrown with decaying roots or layered on top with downed and rotting tree trunks.  It was almost like there was originally a hint of people living there at some point, but it had been so long ago that there wasn’t more than a trace of it still remaining.

Hovering above one island, she found that she was 2 islands away from where she felt the nearest dungeon was located – which was Core Level 5, if she was feeling its strength correctly – when she saw her first evidence of undead from another dungeon.  In between the thick trees below her viewpoint, a small horde of a dozen Fragile Skeletons led the way, and behind them was a pair of zombies – but they weren’t the Decaying Zombies that she had available in her own dungeon.  Instead, these ones were much taller by at least 2 feet in height, had relatively intact—though sagging, wrinkled, and obviously dead—skin over most of their bodies, and were wearing what appeared to be holey and somewhat patched leather armor.

An even bigger difference in comparison to her own Zombies was that they were holding rusty-looking metal swords that were at least 3 feet in length, and if they didn’t necessarily look sharp, they were still weapons other than fists.  The fact that they were also larger in terms of frame and bulkier muscle tissue indicated that they were probably much stronger, which meant that they could use those swords to simply bash everything out of their way instead of trying to stab them.

That’s quite a step-up from what I can create.

It was difficult for Tempara to accurately determine exactly how much time the nearby Dungeon Cores had to progress with their development before she arrived, but based on her experience up north, she would say that it had been at least a week, possibly upwards of two weeks.  That meant that she would be perpetually behind in her own development, not just in her current incarnation, but in every single one after this.  She wasn’t sure if she would be able to repeat what she had done in the Frozen Reaches by dominating and controlling the monsters the nearby dungeons sent out to assault and obtain additional Elemental Power from weaker Dungeon Cores – because playing catch-up would be difficult at this point.  They had too much of an advantage from the minute she arrived, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a solution.

She followed the small horde of undead as it traveled across another land bridge to another island.  At the same time, she looked further ahead at the Core Level 5 dungeon, and was shocked at what she was seeing.  More accurately, it was what she wasn’t seeing that shocked her, because when she attempted to look at the dungeon, it was as if there was an opaque, grey dome that covered the entire thing, preventing her from looking inside.  The only thing she could see, in fact, was the entrance that connected with the nearest land bridge, along with what was visible for about 15 feet inside, before that, too, was obscured as though a wall had slammed down in front of her viewpoint.

While she was still reeling at how bizarre the opaque dome was, Tempara saw a group of undead moving out from the entrance.  This one appeared to be almost the opposite of the one that was heading in the dungeon’s direction, as there were 8 of the weaker Decaying Zombies out front, leading a quartet of skeletons behind – but like the other group, these weren’t normal Fragile Skeletons.  Instead, these ones were taller and bulkier—if skeletons could be considered bulky at all—and they held a splintering wooden shield on their left arm bones.  In their right hands, spiked maces made of rusty iron were being wielded and controlled by arms that were both thicker and had more of the dark energy keeping them together than the Fragile variety of Skeleton.

Fascinated despite her dislike of the undead, she watched both groups come together to fight on the island closest to the dungeon’s entrance.  At first, the Decaying Zombies out front from the nearby dungeon’s group quickly overwhelmed the Fragile Skeletons, but the bigger zombies wearing armor and wielding weapons swiftly moved in to even up the fight.  With the extra help and the distraction of killing the much weaker Skeletons, they were able to take out the majority of the Decaying variety of zombies before the larger, mace-and-shield skeletons engaged.

An interesting tidbit she discovered during the exchange that followed didn’t have anything to do with the stronger undead who were fighting.  Rather, it was something about undead in general that she was not aware of until that moment: Skeletons and Zombies, if their heads weren’t completely destroyed, would slowly put themselves back together if there were available parts nearby.  Tempara observed a collapsed Fragile Skeleton with an uncrushed skull start to reassemble itself, the shadowy magic threads pulling various intact bones together from different Skeletons that had collapsed nearby.

While the two sets of stronger undead exchanged blows – with the advanced skeletons blocking attacks with their shields, reducing the effectiveness of the zombies’ attacks, and the zombies suffering little damage from the blunt weapons of the skeletons – the collapsed Fragile Skeleton finally reassembled itself, though apparently it was missing a few fingers on one hand.  Nearby, one of the Decaying Zombies which hadn’t had its head destroyed also got up, as it had apparently absorbed some of the flesh of the nearby “dead” undead to replace its damaged chest and legs.

While the entire regeneration process wasn’t fast, as it required nearly a minute for each of them to repair themselves and stand back up, it was definitely interesting to see it happen.  The two weaker undead fought each other, with the Zombie coming out the winner, but that didn’t matter all that much when it had its head bashed in by a rusty iron sword a moment later.  As for the stronger monsters, the fight lasted another few minutes of uninteresting battle, before the final armored zombie managed to take down the last of the shield-bearing skeletons through pure persistence.

The sword-wielding zombie was obviously hurt, but it didn’t hesitate to continue on toward the dungeon it had been originally heading for before it was interrupted.  Before it was out of range, it seemed to heal a little bit of the damage that had been caused by absorbing a little of the flesh of its partner and the other zombies that had died (even the enemy corpses), but Tempara couldn’t tell if it had healed entirely; once it was done, it moved forward and all the destroyed undead disappeared like monsters normally did outside of dungeons when they were killed.

The armored zombie managed to make it to the entrance of the dungeon and disappeared inside, but being by itself, she doubted it would live long against the defenses it would likely face inside.  Turning away, she flew her viewpoint back to her dungeon, where she saw all three of the Fox souls lounging on the ground, though their bodies didn’t physically touch it.

Well, I’ve got some information now; so, now we just need to figure out how to use it.

“You want our help?” Aunt Chrona asked.

Of course.  I always respect my elders’ advice.

Her aunt chuffed in laughter.  “That’s right, young one; listen to your elders.  Now, why don’t you tell us what you saw.”

Without hesitation, she told everyone there – including Kiana – what she had observed.  When she was done, that was when the discussion began… and Tempara began to regret asking for advice.

Chapter 5

Tempara ignored the buzzing in the back of her mind as she started making her second island, located just after the first one near the entrance of her dungeon.  This one was going to be a little bigger than the initial one she’d made, around 50 feet wide compared to 40 feet for the first, because she was still getting used to the process of constructing “rooms” for her dungeon, which were, in fact, more islands.  Instead of carving out stone from a mountain in order to create voids to designate as rooms, she now used her Elemental Power to literally lift up the ground underneath the stagnant water to form islands of her specified size and shape.

To make it simple at first, she constructed circular islands of varying diameters similar to her Core Island, which slowly rose out of the water inch by inch over about a half-hour, with the water spilling off of it as it lifted from below.  There was a limit to how high it could go, she quickly found, which was no more than 2 feet above the adjacent land bridge pathways. At that height, an entry ramp was automatically added to the island where it intersected with the path, so that anything moving through the dungeon would have no issues traversing the islands.  Tempara also discovered that there was a minimum height, as well, which was no more than a foot below the path, which was only a few feet above the surface of the water. She was reminded of the rule back in her old dungeons where she couldn’t dig down, but here it was that she couldn’t dramatically alter the island’s height above the water.

Fortunately, that didn’t mean she was out of options of things for making the islands more difficult and deadly.  She had already thought of a few alterations to the islands’ shapes to enhance their defenses, including adding environmental décor, such as dead and dying trees and even the stone rubble found in ruins.

But for now, given that she was still trying to explore her limitations and requirements for constructing her dungeon, as well as the fact that she had limited amounts of Elemental Power at the moment, her islands were plain and simple circles at the minimum and maximum heights she had discovered. She hadn’t even branched off of the primary land bridge running from her Core Island and the entrance, as she hadn’t had enough Elemental Power to play around with that yet, though she had been informed that she certainly could do that by the helpful instruction of her assistant.

“There is also no limit to the size of the islands you can create; for instance, you could theoretically create one as large as your entire dungeon area,” her assistant had added earlier when Tempara had been asking about how to go about constructing her new type of dungeon.

Doing something like that would take a long time, and a lot of Elemental Power.  Before she started doing any construction, she had explored just how much room she had to expand, and it turned out to be in the shape of a circle with an approximate diameter of 2,000 feet.  Normally, from what Kiana inferred from the information that was forcefully shoved into her assistant’s mind, the most-advanced dungeons in the Nightgloom Swamp would construct a chain of islands that circled the entire perimeter of the space, before making a smaller loop when it made its way around the inside of the previous chain.  This continued until it came to the Core Island in the middle, creating a spiral-shaped dungeon that maximized the space available and providing the longest route to get to the center.

That was surprising to Tempara, as dungeons in the Frozen Reaches were typically held a relatively straightforward path of rooms that didn’t deviate much, if at all.

“It’s because the creation of islands and connecting land bridges is much less expensive in terms of Elemental Power than constructing rooms through solid stone up north.  That, and the fact that the undead here in the swamp tend to travel in larger groups than you’re used to seeing.  They don’t call it the ‘Undead Horde’ for nothing.”

At the mention of large groups, Tempara remembered the rather large group of Skeletons and Zombies she had seen fighting earlier, and something in the back of her mind told her to look at her Core Display again.  After she did, the Fox-turned-Dungeon Core noticed that the Monster Threshold for her current Core Level of 1 was already at 20, rather than 10 as it was in her previous location.  Depending on how fast it increased, she thought it could mean that the groups she saw earlier were actually quite small, and that a horde of dozens or even hundreds of weaker, less-expensive undead was likely a common sight.

There was no way she would be able to handle a horde of that many undead right now, obviously – and she wasn’t exactly prepared to try yet.  Being only Core Level 1 gave her a little bit of anonymity at the moment, because she was too weak for any other Core to consider assaulting, since her Core didn’t contain much Elemental Power.  At the same time, it took what felt like forever to get anything done because of her low Accumulation Rate, but that was a compromise she was willing to accept while she figured things out.

The buzzing in the back of her mind caught her attention again, though she tried her best to ignore it.  Tempara knew exactly what it was – her family still trying to argue with her – and she didn’t want to get involved in that again after their “advice” didn’t make any sense in the first place.  She tried to patiently explain to them the problems with what they emphatically suggested, but they didn’t seem to listen. The Dungeon Core had thought they understood that she was no longer a young kit with no inkling of how the world worked. But now, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Just remembering what they had “advised” made her annoyed as she finished evaluating the second island she had just constructed.

“You need to increase your Core Level as quickly as possible so that you can start the search for where the ritual will take place!”

That advice came after she explained that her viewpoint only traveled so far away from her dungeon, but that distance would increase as she achieved higher Core Levels.  Obviously, that would be ideal, but it would also invite an assault by another Dungeon Core before she was ready to defend herself, which would only end up with her destruction and having to start again without anything to show for it.  They didn’t seem to listen to her when she tried to explain the reasoning, however.

“Well then, attack the other dungeons like you’ve said you’ve done before.  Assert your dominance and establish that this is your territory.”

She couldn’t do that at the moment, especially as she only had access to the most basic and weakest of undead monsters.  It was already evident that most, if not all, of the nearby dungeons had already unlocked at least 1 or more Advancement Options for their monsters, so she would immediately be outclassed.

“Fine, then you should create your dungeon and make it as deadly as possible, so that you can show the other Cores that attacking you is foolish. Then they’ll leave you alone to do what you need to do.”

While that was an excellent suggestion, it wasn’t something that Tempara could achieve immediately, considering her lack of powerful monsters; her low Accumulation Rate; and her low Monster Threshold: At Core Level 1 she could only hold a total of 30 monsters in her dungeon.  None of those explanations seemed to satisfy her family, however, as they kept suggesting wilder and more impossible plans of action.  After listening to them for nearly an hour while her Elemental Power slowly filled, she’d had enough.

Look, I know you mean well, but you don’t seem to be listening to me when I tell you why it can’t be done that way.  I appreciate you trying to help, but I believe I’m going to have to do this on my own at first.

She had been as polite to them as she could, but Tempara couldn’t take it anymore.  Given her experience, she knew more about how the interplay among dungeons surrounding her own worked than just about anyone else, but her “elders” didn’t seem to get it.  It was almost like they were still stuck in a loop where Tempara was still a month-old Fox that didn’t know any better and had to take any advice offered, regardless of its impossibility.

It wasn’t their fault, of course, because they could barely even perceive what she had gone through before she freed them from the ritual sphere back in the Frozen Reaches.  Words alone couldn’t describe the constant experimentation, followed by the destruction of her core hundreds of times, and then restarting again from nothing. Such a difficult development phase was hard to fathom for anyone who hadn’t experienced it, so she couldn’t blame them for not understanding everything.

That didn’t mean she had to continue to listen to them spout inaccurate advice after refusing to listen to all of the information she had gathered over decades of restarted time, though.

So, now it was a buzz in the back of her mind as they continued trying to argue, advise, and suggest different strategies to her, despite her attention being elsewhere.  Tempara figured the attempts at intervention would eventually diminish when her family found they weren’t doing anything productive, but only time would tell.

After leaving them to continue their one-sided debate, she had asked her assistant for help in figuring out at least the mechanics of how to construct her dungeon, and Kiana helped her immensely.  Fortunately, despite the woman’s newfound independence and re-establishment of her original identity, her former master was still able to provide exactly the kind of information Tempara required.

With the first two experiments in creating additional islands a success, the Fox-turned-Dungeon Core decided to look at her new traps.  While she had still had access to the Pit Trap and its subsequent Advancement Options that she had unlocked previously, such as Javelin Launch and Wall Crush, she hadn’t yet looked closely at the new traps that required Death-focused Elemental Power.

Trap Details

Necrotic Gas

0.5 AR – Death

Installation Threshold: 0/50

Usage Threshold: 0/250

Potential Advancement Options:

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Trap Details

Shattering Skull

0.75 AR – Death

Installation Threshold: 0/50

Usage Threshold: 0/250

Potential Advancement Options:

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Focusing on the first one, the Necrotic Gas, she found that it was similar in execution to the Frigid Blast trap from the Frozen Reaches.  Instead of a blast of frigid air, which would both slow down and minimally hurt anything passing through the trap, the Necrotic Gas trap was pure damage with no extra effects.  The gas that was expelled when the trap was activated caused anything it touched to suffer rapid-onset necrosis, which would quickly cause living tissue to die.  While that might seem ineffective against the undead, since their flesh and bones were unliving, the necrotic gas also caused dead flesh and bones to rapidly decay.  It wouldn’t necessarily kill any of the more-powerful undead she’d seen thus far, but a Fragile Skeleton would probably collapse when its bones crumbled apart.

The second new trap was called Shattering Skulls, and it had something in common with the Ice Bomb trap she had acquired before – if only because something exploded.  In this case, a trio of innocuous-looking, thick Human skulls were wedged into the dirt of an island or a land bridge, where they waited until an enemy was close enough to activate them.  Once activated, the skulls shattered in a high-speed explosion that would send sharp bone fragments flying in all directions and hitting targets up to 50 feet away, doing tremendous damage to whatever the skull pieces impacted.  Tempara could picture it doing a lot of damage to enemy undead hordes, though the shattered skull fragments would have to get lucky and hit enemy skulls in order to permanently incapacitate them.

Currently, the Dungeon Core didn’t want to place any traps for the same reason she was forced to take things slow at the moment: Any drain on her EP accumulation would be detrimental until she had a higher Core Level.  Instead, she played around with adding dying trees to the two islands she had constructed, seeing if she could place them to create an obstacle where enemy undead would have to file through single-file, rather than as a horde.  She figured that a lot of the strength behind a horde came from the way they would be able to overwhelm a target with pure numbers; but if she was able to narrow the way forward a little, she could cut down on that advantage.  Plus, it would help with funneling those that assaulted her dungeon into some traps she was planning on installing later.

She was having some difficulty doing that, however, as the construction of the trees wasn’t as straightforward as something like ice, which she was used to from her old dungeon.  There was a minimum size that they had to be, as well as required spacing between them, so creating a funneling maze of trees was difficult, if not impossible.  She then tried it with the crumbling stone blocks that she had seen in some ruins outside of her dungeon, but those would only stack up to 3 feet tall and would crumble apart easily.

* You can also create graveyards, complete with headstones, mausoleums, and even rusty iron fencing.  They are very rarely used by Dungeon Cores in the Nightgloom Swamp because they are typically more of an aesthetic touch than anything else. *

Her assistant’s voice in her mind surprised her, since Kiana had taken to speaking out loud since she had undergone her change.  However, given that her viewpoint was absent from her Core Island, it was good to know that her former master could contact her from anywhere in the dungeon.

Wait—fencing?  Wouldn’t that be an effective means of defense?

* Normally, yes, but the only fences you can construct are relatively weak because of their rusted state, as they can be ripped or bashed apart within a short amount of time. *

That was disappointing, but she supposed that it would’ve been entirely too easy to keep any dungeon invaders away from her Core.  Nevertheless, Tempara moved to the other island she hadn’t done anything with yet and created her first piece of rusty iron fence for a total of 20 EP, an expensive addition considering that it was only 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide.  It had thin, vertical, iron bars that were no bigger than a half-inch around, spaced 6 inches apart from each other. There were two more bars, located 6 inches apart from the top and bottom, which kept them all connected to each other.  The bottom of the fencing was implanted into the soft dirt of the island, stabilizing it and keeping it from falling over, while the top of the fence was tipped with plain, sharp-looking points.

With those attributes alone, the iron fencing would’ve been an excellent environmental tool.  Unfortunately, as Kiana had mentioned, it was also a rusty iron fence, and not just a little bit; it was so rusty that there was barely a hint of any dark, iron-colored bars underneath the brownish-red layers of significant amounts of rust.  Tempara knew from Kiana’s memories of her time as a Defender what rust could do to iron if left alone after a long time, and it was obvious that the fencing had already suffered greatly from its affliction.  Pieces of the fence were already falling apart as the rust ate into its bars, and it didn’t take an expert in metalworking to see that a few blows by even the weakest of monsters would be able to form a hole in the barrier.

Still, it was a barrier, even if not a very effective one.

The Dungeon Core was thinking about different strategies of how to utilize the rusty fence in conjunction with other monsters and traps, when something caught her attention.  At first she thought it might be the cessation of the persistent buzzing in the back of her mind that fell off at some point, but then she realized that it was something else entirely.  Sending her viewpoint up so that it was approximately 200 feet above the island she had been working on, she looked around to see what had alerted her, but didn’t see anything in her dungeon. It was only when she turned her attention outside of her dungeon that she finally saw something.

Is that an undead horde coming to attack me already?  I thought I would be immune to attack until I hit at least Core Level 2—no.  It’s not them; it’s something living.

Running along the land bridge outside of her entrance were two people dressed like Defenders stumbling along in the darkness. One of them wore a full suit of plate mail, while the other was dressed in dark leathers and a hood, and they had the sure movements of those who were comfortable with the lack of light and treacherous footing.

Initially, she thought they were rushing toward her dungeon in a hurry for some reason, despite her only having been active for a few hours.  It was only when she saw the Defender in the back looking behind themselves that she realized that they weren’t rushing toward her dungeon, but away from something chasing them.  Moving over their backtrail, she immediately saw, a short distance away, an unnatural light that hovered in the air and seemed to bob along the pathway. After a few seconds, Tempara saw that the light was actually hovering over a large group of Defenders, over a dozen strong.  When she ventured a little closer, it was obvious that this much larger group was tracking something along the ground, and she saw what appeared to be footprints ahead of them glowing with a faint, red, magical light.

Uh, oh.  What is going on here?

When the two who seemed to be running away from their pursuers suddenly stopped at the sight of her entrance and proceeded to run inside of her dungeon, Tempara had the feeling that she’d be forced to select another starting location fairly soon.  It wasn’t the ideal way she wanted her first day as a Dungeon Core in the Nightgloom Swamp to end, but she supposed it was still a good learning experience.

Chapter 6

Leaping over a decaying fallen log that was partially submerged in the stagnant water to her left, Riley urgently pushed the figure in front of her to go faster.  That was easier said than done, of course, because her companion was clad in a full suit of steel plate armor, along with an oval shield strapped to his back that was almost as large as her and a large-headed mace hanging on his hip, with its handle slid through a leather loop.  Granted, all of his equipment was battered, dented, and notched in dozens of places, evidence of the hard life they had lived over the last few months, but that didn’t make it any less heavy.

“We have to keep moving, Jorden!” she half-shouted, not wanting to alert their pursuers to their location.

“I’m doing the best I can, but you know I can’t see that well in this blasted darkness—” Jorden shouted back at her, just as his right foot slipped on the muddy edge of the land bridge they were crossing.  The edge of the sabaton covering his foot caught on the mud for a split second, stabilizing him just enough that he was able to rebalance himself to the point where he wouldn’t fall down, but he was forced to slow down in order to do that.

“Careful!  If you slip in, I’m not sure I could get you out,” Riley admonished, though she knew it wasn’t his fault.

Jorden was breathing harder by this point, as his exertion during their escape was now compounded by a near-death experience.  Not only was there a risk of drowning in the disgusting water that characterized the entire section of the Wildlands, but there were things in the water that might not even let him live long enough to suffocate from lack of oxygen.

The Paladin made his way around a tree trunk that jutted out the side of the bridge at an angle, one of many along their route.  Fortunately, none of them stuck straight up, blocking their pathway forward; rather, they all draped their thin, dying branches – which hung straight down like a head of long, wet hair – over the water to either side.  Still, it was an obstacle they didn’t really need at the moment.

Riley paused for a second as she was following Jorden, looking behind her and the pathway they had taken.  For all of her superior darkvision in the gloom that perpetually blanketed the Wildland region, it was difficult to see a far distance because of all of the dead and dying trees and other foliage. Nonetheless, by carefully climbing up one of the angled tree trunks, ready to leap off of it at the first sign it might collapse into the water, she was able to catch a glimpse of movement and a faint mage light that blinked off and on as it passed behind trees.

They’re so close!  I’d say only a few minutes behind.  We’ve got to find somewhere to hide… but where?

The fact that their pursuers could track them even through the darkness and the sometimes-confusing pathways throughout the Swamp wasn’t a surprise, given that Jorden’s armor was loud enough as he moved that it was easy enough to track.  That, and they weren’t able to camouflage their tracks, which were easily seen, even in the firmer portions of the land bridges – or at least Jorden’s were.  Riley didn’t leave much of an imprint, given how light she was on her feet and the benefits of her Class, but the heavy armor and tread of the Paladin were more than enough to leave clear signs of passage.

She caught up with her friend swiftly after her quick scout of their back trail.  “We’ve got to hide; they’re close,” she whisper-shouted at him, and he raised his hands in helplessness.

“Where?  There’s nothing out here!”

As the Shadowwalker looked past him, she realized he wasn’t entirely accurate.  While he couldn’t see it with his poor vision, there was a fork that led off to the left in the land bridge approximately 60 feet ahead. Even from a distance, she could see that it looked much more uniform and straight compared to what they were currently traveling upon.  As she looked into the darkness, she recognized the hazy distortion that sprang up like a wall that obscured even her darkvision.

A dungeon.

Her original idea was to escape far enough into the Swamp and then hide out in the first few islands of a dungeon somewhere, but they had already passed a half-dozen dungeon entrances along the way. She and Jorden had collectively bypassed them in favor of moving further away from the border with the Kingdom, so as to make it harder for their pursuers to find them.  With the Defenders who were after them so near, though, there was no time to backtrack into one of the other dungeons while also obscuring their tracks.

But with one just ahead, she thought that if they didn’t attempt to hide now, they wouldn’t survive long enough to find another.  She wasn’t about to ignore the miracle of its presence just ahead.

“Jorden!” she called out just loud enough for him to hear.  As he stopped, she went on in a whisper.  “Just ahead you need to turn left, where you’ll find a dungeon entrance; I’ll be obscuring our trail as best as I can.”

He nodded before taking off again, and Riley began to exude a shadowy substance from her hands that blanketed the ground behind them.  Wherever it touched, her Shadowtouch spell smoothed away any trace of their passage.  It was expensive in terms of Mana, so it wasn’t something that she could keep up for their entire flight through the Swamp, but she was hoping that it would at least give their pursuers pause as they lost the trail.  With how the pathway branched ahead, she was just hoping that those following behind would assume that they weren’t stupid enough to try and hide inside of a dungeon, and that they would pass her and Jorden by.

While it wasn’t necessarily stupid, it could definitely be dangerous for just the pair of them, especially so far from the border and it being 2 weeks since the last sweep.  The dungeons in the area were likely strong enough to cause them some problems, but they weren’t planning on making their way through the entire thing, of course.

They stopped abruptly at the branching pathway to look at the entrance of the dungeon, which seemed odd to Riley.  She wasn’t exactly sure what it was that seemed off about it, but she also didn’t have time to investigate; after a second’s hesitation, Jorden ran ahead and the Shadowwalker followed, still using her Shadowtouch spell to erase all signs of passage.

Unlike every other dungeon she had been inside, at least in the Nightgloom Swamp, its pathway led straight ahead, rather than curving to the side almost immediately.  She was used to the spiraling pattern that the various islands of these dungeons typically followed, so seeing it traveling straight was startling.  However, she again didn’t have the time to wonder about it and simply followed the Paladin as he ran toward the first island.

Riley stopped her Shadowtouch spell as soon as they stepped foot on the dirt of the island, moving up a ramp that allowed them to easily reach the higher elevation of the space.  She could immediately tell that the island wasn’t very large, but that wasn’t unusual; she’d seen all manner of different island sizes in dungeons, especially for the first couple near the entrance.  What was unusual was the layout of this particular island, as it seemed to simply be a bunch of dead and dying trees and crumbling stones all bunched together, as if they had been deliberately placed to provide an obstruction – which was something she’d never seen before.

Even stranger than that was the fact that there were no monsters.  As a Shadowwalker, she had an instinctive connection with any shadows within a 50-foot radius, to the point where she could feel through them like a sensory extension of her fingers.  It was how she was able to use her Shadow Blink spell to travel to another shadow within range, but it also allowed her to find any hidden monsters that might be using the natural darkness of the Swamp to hide.  On the island, however, there weren’t any threats lurking nearby, nor did her ranging senses detect any type of trap that might be waiting for them.

To say it was odd was a severe understatement.

In order to ensure there wasn’t something she couldn’t detect waiting for them, they cautiously walked around the haphazard collection of trees and stone blocks.  Ever since she had acquired her Class, Riley’s senses hadn’t failed her, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.

Thankfully, even after they progressed over the small island, there still didn’t seem to be anything dangerous.  She was beginning to think that perhaps another Defender group was in the middle of clearing out the dungeon and its Core, and that Riley and Jorden were entering after all of the monsters had been killed already.

That thought lasted until she caught a glimpse of the next island, when all that was present on the slightly larger space was a single piece of rusted fencing standing strangely by itself with nothing else around.  Looking at the plain, soft dirt of the island, it was more than obvious that not a single footprint could be seen, so no Defenders had come through there before her; more than that, no monsters had passed through there, either.

Stranger and stranger.

They again took a cautious approach to passing over the island, though she was beginning to suspect that there was no danger present, nor had there ever been any type of danger.  It didn’t make sense to her.  Without a word, just from the way he looked at her in confusion, Jorden conveyed to Riley that he felt the same way: He was as baffled as she was.

A shout coming from the dungeon’s entrance startled her when they were getting to the final stretch of the island, and she tried to see what it was.  Unfortunately, the island was actually set lower down than the previous one had been, so she was unable to see past the trees and stones on the other island.  She and Jorden froze in place, listening for any other sounds for nearly a minute. They dared not make any noise – especially Jorden in his armor – as they were so close to the entrance that it was almost guaranteed that someone would hear it.

She was just about to turn back toward the Paladin and whisper that she thought their pursuers had likely lost their tracks, when she saw a ball of mage light appear, floating in the air just above where the entrance was located.

Oh, no – they already found us!

Knowing that they would have to hide on one of the other islands in the dungeon, she motioned for Jorden to go ahead, slowly, as that was the only way to prevent the racket that his armor made when he hurried.  As soon as they started moving, Riley deployed her Shadowtouch spell to erase their trail again.  She knew she’d probably only be able to maintain it for another few minutes – just enough that they’d hopefully be able to hide on another of the strangely empty islands.

Except that, when she peered ahead, looking for the next island… there weren’t any more.  In the distance, farther than she could accurately see even with darkvision, she thought she might see one, but it was a long way off.  Glancing back, she could see the mage light in the air bobbing closer, and she realized there was no way they’d be able to sneak all the way to that island in the distance, especially while she had her Shadowtouch active.

“Change of plans, Jorden – run!” she whispered to her companion, gesturing for him to start moving more quickly.  The Paladin looked at her in confusion before he took off with a clatter of his armor, and then the race was on.

Shouts from behind her told her that their pursuers had obviously heard Jorden running, and now they were back to giving chase at their top speed.  There were still hundreds of feet between them and the island, though, and with how relatively slow the Paladin was in full armor, she wasn’t sure they would make it.

But that island, if it was what she thought it might be, was their only hope of salvation.  If it was where the Dungeon Core of this dungeon was located, surely there had to be a dungeon boss there. With any luck, they would be able to avoid being killed by it for long enough that the boss would target those chasing them, giving them an opportunity to slip away during the fight.  The only other alternative to letting them catch up and executing them on the spot was to take their chances in the water as they attempted to swim away.  Of course, they would likely just be trading death at the hands of the Order of Defenders with death at the hands of whatever monstrosity lurked in the water.

It felt like the journey down the pathway took forever, with the island in the distance getting no closer despite running as fast as they could.  At one point, she heard a crackling from behind her and she screamed, “Down!”, before face-planting in the dirt of the land bridge, watching Jorden do the same.  A tremendous heat passed over her entire body as a fireball as large as her torso passed over her prone form, missing her by only about a foot.  She looked up to see it land and explode on the pathway approximately 50 feet ahead, partially setting fire to the tree it landed near.  She got back up faster than Jorden and helped to pull him to his feet, and they continued running. She kept half of her attention behind them from that point on, though there weren’t any other flaming projectiles coming their way.

With their pursuers breathing down their necks – at a glance, less than 100 feet away by that point – they finally reached the island.  Upon her first look, she couldn’t see any sign of a dungeon boss, though she did see the other thing she expected to see: The Dungeon Core.  It was a dimly glowing, black sphere that floated a little above the ground, very similar to every other Core she had seen and helped to destroy on the periodic sweeps through the Nightgloom Swamp – other than the fact that it appeared to be a bit smaller than normal.

Is that the difference?  Is this dungeon new?

She hadn’t ever been in a dungeon that had just spawned; normally, even those along the border that were culled had been around for at least a few days, if not longer.  During sweeps, they would see all sorts of dungeons, but she’d never seen anything like this one.

For the first time, though, there were actual monsters on the island – though they weren’t nearly as formidable as the dungeon boss she was hoping for.  Instead, she identified a single Decaying Zombie, a solitary Fragile Skeleton, and a lonely Flickering Wisp – the latter of which she’d seen a few times, but they were a rarity.

Not exactly ideal for their situation.  It looked like they were going to have to resort to swimming away and taking their chances in the water, though Jorden would likely drown before he got anywhere.  Knowing that it would be a guaranteed death sentence for her companion, she decided then and there that if they were going to die, they would go down swinging.

The Skeleton and Zombie immediately shambled toward Jorden in the lead, but the Paladin immediately pulled out his sword and cast his Repel Undead spell, which caused the two monsters to visibly flinch and stumble a few steps back when the sword he was lifting up lit up with a crisp, white, internal light that emitted a glowing aura.  It didn’t exactly hurt the two undead, but it kept the monsters away while they couple moved further onto the island.

The Flickering Wisp, however, was completely unaffected.  The little mote of sickly light dashed forward and seemed to shoot out a small tendril of light toward Jorden, but he didn’t seem to feel it.  From what she remembered, these things did some sort of spiritual damage that bypassed all physical armor, but could be nullified by the most simple of resistances; for a Paladin, it would take something many times more powerful than that little attack to have any sort of effect over his powerful, Class-given resistances.

But it was still a nuisance, which was why Riley sped forward and sliced through the mote of light with her dark-coated blade, cutting through it with ease and causing it to collapse with a faint *pop*, with the remnants of it falling to the dirt below.

“Where do we go?!” Jorden shouted, for the first time seeing the entirety of the island – and its lack of options – thanks to his spell that lit it all up.

Riley quickly circled the area with her eyes, seeing absolutely nothing that could help them.  “I don’t know… this wasn’t exactly what I was expecting,” she admitted sadly.  Right then and there, she knew that there was no hope for their survival – though perhaps they could take a few of their attackers with them.  While she didn’t particularly blame them for coming after her and her companion based on what their pursuers thought they knew about their crimes, there was no way she was just going to sit there and let them kill her and Jorden without fighting back.

But perhaps I can talk to them and make them see reason….

She turned around with the floating Dungeon Core behind her and Jorden as he continued to hold the undead back from them, lighting them up so that they could easily be seen by the incoming Defenders who were after the pair.  There was no point in trying to hide now, given that there was no way they could sneak past what appeared to be 3 full groups of 5 Defenders each.

“I’m going to try and talk to them—” she said to the Paladin in an aside, but Jorden just snorted.

“Isn’t that what got us into trouble in the first place?”

Riley wanted to deny that, but she knew he was right.  Still, she had to at least try.

“Hold!  I don’t know what you were told, but it isn’t the way it really happened—” she shouted at the approaching group of angry Defenders.

Her protestations were cut off by a familiar woman – clearly visible in the light of both Jorden’s spell and the mage light bobbing overhead – whom Riley immediately recognized as Beatrix Garmin.  The young-looking Defender was actually older than anyone else she had ever met, which made sense when one considered that the woman was the local Branch Master of the Order near Nightgloom Swamp.

The Shadowwalker knew at that point that whatever she said would be instantly ignored.

“Riley Humbral and Jorden Mattox!  Your Defense is at an end as your judgment is hereby rendered.”

The pair of escaped murderers didn’t have time to prepare a proper defense before they were bombarded by a half-dozen elemental spells including fireballs, lightning bolts, and shards of stone, as well as arrows imbued with arcane force, thrown axes and spears, and vines that grew out of the ground to wrap around their legs and hold them in place.

As she and her companion were violently thrown backwards from the onslaught of deadly attacks, Riley felt something slam into her back as she was torn apart from the violent assault.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Jorden’s armor had been obliterated by some sort of powerful strike, likely coming from Beatrix, and that he was dying just as quickly as she was, despite his extra defenses.

It was only as she heard what sounded like the shattering of glass in her final second of life that she realized she had slammed into the dungeon’s Core with enough force to destroy it at the same time.  That epiphany was the last thought that ran through her head before everything went dark.

Chapter 7

* Select your starting location…. *

As she suspected would happen, Tempara’s Core had been destroyed and her soul sent back to the location selection map.  She had watched the two Defenders who were being pursued cautiously make their way into her dungeon, their confused expressions evident as they looked at her experimental islands that weren’t even half-finished and empty of any type of defenses.  The Dungeon Core had also watched the pursuing Defenders momentarily confused at the lack of trail near her entrance, but only for a short time before they also ventured inside.

Then there was a chase followed by the confrontation between both groups on her Core Island, which didn’t make any sense to Tempara.  Not that it really mattered to her, because the result was her destruction and most likely the deaths of two Defenders, though she had no way to confirm that because her Core had been shattered during the attack.  Regardless, she was back to the start. While it was a little disappointing to have been destroyed that quickly, she could only take solace in the fact that she had only been there a few hours.

In those few hours, she had actually learned quite a bit about her new dungeon type, and during her next iteration she wouldn’t have to spend so much time asking so many questions.  What she was curious about was if she would have to go through another transformation process with her Core Display, or if the change was permanent.  In addition to that, would the changes in Kiana stay, as well?

She wouldn’t know until her soul was inserted into another Dungeon Core, of course, so it was time to get back down there and start making some progress.  Tempara immediately started looking for another location that would hopefully be Defender-free. She ranged all across the mid-range area of the Swamp, trying to find the perfect spot.  After the monotone voice in her mind instructed her to select a starting location after a short time without finding anything obvious, she started digging further into some potential areas that might work out.  Unfortunately, after looking closer, the only spaces she found were located in the middle of a congruence of other high-Level Cores.  Plopping down in the middle of them, she would be putting herself right in the center of a veritable battlefield. While they likely wouldn’t attack her at a much-lower Core Level, as soon as she attempted to increase it, they would all be over her as a means of gaining easy Elemental Power.

Tempara did find that there were a few empty places that were perfect for her… were it not for the fact that they were extremely near the border with the Kingdom.  It was possible that she might be able to survive longer than many of the others there if she kept to herself like she did up north, but she was beginning to understand that the hiding strategy probably wouldn’t work very well in the Nightgloom Swamp.  In the Frozen Reaches, her dungeon entrance in the side of a mountain could be overlooked in the snowy environment, especially if she didn’t call any attention to it; in the Swamp, however, it had been obvious that the pursued woman in leather clothing had been able to see her dungeon even from a long distance away.  She wasn’t exactly sure what the Defender saw, but if it was anything like what Tempara had seen when looking at other dungeons, then anyone who could see well in the dark could see her dungeon from a mile away.

* Select your starting location…. *

The pressure to select a location was starting to increase, so Tempara quickly thought about what she should choose, now that she had a better understanding of what was going on down there.  The way she saw it, she basically had three undesirable choices.

1. Return to her initial location

2. Establish a dungeon near the border with the Kingdom

3. Surround herself with dangerous, high-Level Cores

The first option of returning to where she had just been was out for the moment, given that she wouldn’t be able to survive against even the two Defenders being pursued, let alone the group that was doing the pursuing.  Even if she had access to all of the traps and monsters she had unlocked in her previous dungeon, there wasn’t enough time to accumulate enough Elemental Power to make much difference.  It was possible that she might be able to do something about that in the future, but as for now, picking this option would basically just be asking to have her Core shattered within hours again.

Establishing her dungeon near the border would almost certainly let her survive longer, but as soon as a scouting group of Defenders spotted her there, her days would be numbered.  Still, it had potential as a starting point. The nearby Cores that hadn’t been destroyed yet had a relatively low Core Level, which might mean she could survive an assault by an enemy undead horde or two before she was overwhelmed.  It was almost inevitable that her dungeon would be found at some point by Defenders, however, so it wasn’t a long-term solution.

Lastly, the third option was tempting, if only because she’d be able to see what she might be able to unlock in the future.  In addition, she was beginning to think that if the ritual that was supposed to take place in the Swamp would be anywhere, it would probably be amid these higher-Core-Level dungeons.  The reason for that was that, in her searching for a new location to plunk down her dungeon, she found a large natural island that was at least 3 times larger than anything she saw elsewhere – and it was located near some of these higher-Level Cores.  While that wasn’t a sure thing, it was the only space that called out to her as being a potential center for the ritual.

The problem was that any of the empty areas she could use for her dungeon were located a bit of distance away from that massive island.  She estimated that she’d have to be at least Core Level 15 or higher to have the range to see it with her viewpoint, as her range expanded as she increased in Level. Getting up to that high of a Core Level right now would be practically impossible while surrounded by much more powerful dungeons and their undead hordes.

Knowing that the first thing she had to do in order to survive longer against just about any other dungeon was to unlock Advancement Options for her monsters, she eventually decided – after another increase in pressure on her mind by the incessant voice – that the best course of action was to choose somewhere near the border.  A quick look at her options had her selecting an area that was relatively distant from the nearest Dungeon Cores, similar to her first choice, though she had to be much closer to the border than she felt comfortable with.  However, with the internal resignation that she’d be destroyed at some point by Defenders in the near future, she figured it was the best shot she had to start developing her options before that happened.

After selecting her new location, Tempara experienced the familiar rapid transportation of her soul into her Dungeon Core, and before long she found herself floating above an almost identical-looking Core Island down in the Nightgloom Swamp.

“Well, that was certainly traumatic, wasn’t it?”

The Dungeon Core looked at her Aunt Chrona and couldn’t help but chuckle mentally.

Yes, yes it was.  In order to avoid that happening again, I’ve moved us to a different location near the border with the Kingdom.  What that means is that we’ll eventually be visited by Defenders scouting over the border, but my hope is we’ll survive long enough to further my development.

For once, her aunt and uncles actually appeared to be listening to her.  Tempara wasn’t sure what it was that had prompted the change, but it seemed as though her Core being destroyed so quickly and abruptly had demonstrated the real danger she had to deal with by as a Dungeon Core.

“You’re taking the shattering of your Core quite well, aren’t you?  Have you really experienced that over and over again?”

I have.  As much as I would prefer it to be otherwise, without access to my powerful monsters, this whole situation won’t be solved as quickly as you seem to think it will.  Compared to what I’m up against here, I’m still the baby Fox you view me as and I’m surrounded by vicious Winter Wolves. Only by developing myself and growing will I be able to not only compete with them, but surpass them in order to free our family from the ritual.  Does that make sense?

Her family’s souls were quiet for a moment.  “Yes, I suppose so.  I figured that you would have an advantage over them since you were so powerful up north, but that isn’t the case.”  Her aunt was quiet for a few seconds before asking, “To develop yourself, you’ll have to be destroyed over and over again, won’t you?”

I don’t necessarily want to be destroyed, nor even actively remove my soul from the Core to trigger a restart, but I found that was the only way that it would work for me before.  It’s possible that there is another solution; but until it presents itself, this is what I have to do.  As soon as I have more options, I can potentially start to implement some of the suggestions you had earlier.

“Fair enough.  I apologize for being so insistent and argumentative before; I really did not understand how it was that you got so powerful, but I’m beginning to see it now.”  Tempara’s uncles agreed, showing some shame for the way they acted before.  Tempara was too shocked at the abrupt turn of attitude from them all to do anything other than acknowledge their apologies, so she instead focused on what she had learned and exactly what she was going to do now.

Opening up her Core Display, Tempara was pleased to see that it was still the same as it was when it had dramatically altered, so everything was updated with all of the new information – and she didn’t even have to suffer another mind-splitting bout of pain!  It was too soon to see if her assistant was still changed, however, because the woman didn’t usually show up until about 5 minutes after her soul was inserted into her Dungeon Core.  While she waited, she began to think about the setup for her upcoming dungeon, and what would be the most effective against any incoming assaults by other Cores.

As much as she would’ve liked to dominate the others like she did in the Frozen Reaches, by sending out her own powerful monsters that weren’t yet accessible to them, she was in no position to do such a thing at the moment.  Therefore, she was prepared to go back to what she’d needed to do as a relatively new Core and set up a defense in her dungeon that would maximize her survivability for as long as possible.

There were some advantages that she still possessed, despite not having access to her familiar monsters.  The first were the few “universal” traps that she had access to, which were varied enough to present a formidable obstacle to any enemy monsters that invaded.  While they were expensive in terms of Accumulation Rate costs, they could be useful against an undead horde, especially if she was able to figure out how to funnel them where she wanted them to go.  The weaker undead she had seen seemed to be relatively unintelligent, unlike Snow Hares and Winter Wolves, who at least had some semblance of self-preservation when it came to identifying traps.  Experimentation and observation would tell her if what she thought was correct about the basic Skeletons and Zombies: that they would blindly walk into a trap if they were faced with them.

Tempara also possessed something that no other Dungeon Core had: Restraint.  There was no insistent drive to send out monsters to go assault other dungeons, using every scrap of Elemental Power gathered up to produce these assault groups – or in this case, undead hordes.  She could keep every monster she created inside of her dungeon for defensive purposes and rush to accumulate enough EP to raise her Core Level rather than trying to steal it from other Cores.  Prioritizing defense over attack was a superior advantage, though at the early stages she would still suffer against advanced foreign monsters that were too powerful to defeat with her current options.

Lastly, Tempara also had the knowledge that this was all temporary.  She could afford to take some risks and explore different avenues in order to maximize her development; even if something was a poor choice at first glance, she could learn from it and improve upon it during her next incarnation as a Dungeon Core.  This was probably the greatest of benefits to being sent back in time again and again, because it allowed her to build upon previous knowledge and anticipate things happening the way she’d already experienced.

What I’m going to do first, she explained to the trio of Fox souls on her Core Island, is let my Elemental Power accumulate for a few hours until I reach Core Level 2.  As soon as that happens, with my higher Accumulation Rate, I’ll be quickly building islands and then populating them with some of my undead monsters.  Once I have the most basic of defenses in place, I can start expanding and building up the core elements of my own undead horde, of which I’m hoping to use to keep my Core intact as long as possible.  During that time, I’ll continue to create monster after monster, rushing to unlock additional Advancement Options for each one as they fight to protect me.

Once I have access to stronger undead, I’ll be able to establish even better defenses, and the cycle will repeat, even as stronger Cores send more-powerful undead to assault my dungeon.  I doubt I’ll be able to unlock any Advancement Options on this first attempt, but who knows?  I might get lucky.”

Now that her family was a little more accepting of her reasoning, they were much more receptive of her explanation.  “Makes sense; I’m just impatient to find the ritual and free those trapped inside of it before they have to suffer for long.”

Perfectly understandable, but it’ll take a while to—

Just then, Kiana popped into existence, staring at her Dungeon Core for no more than a second before her form flickered once and then twice, and a groan escaped her mouth.  “I… I remember,” she whispered, looking around at Tempara’s Core Island.  “That was an odd transition, to say the least.”

Good to have you back.  Now, as I was just explaining to my aunt and uncles, I’m going to—

“Aaaaaahhhhhh!”

“Noooooooooo!”

Unfamiliar screams filled the island and interrupted her communication with Kiana, so Tempara whipped her viewpoint around to see where it was coming from.  She hadn’t detected anyone coming into her dungeon, so she was thoroughly confused; having her dungeon present for only a few minutes, there really wasn’t time for anyone to journey from her entrance all the way to her Core Island, anyway.

What she found was something so insane that Tempara thought she had somehow damaged her mind.

Chapter 8

The source of the screams was obvious a second later, as she recognized the Defenders that were currently on their knees on the side of the island, their wide eyes and open mouths testament to the abnormal fear that encompassed their bodies as they continued to yell uncontrollably.  For a moment, Tempara thought that they had somehow arrived at her Core Island before the events of the last timeline, but a quick look at their actual appearance dissuaded her from considering that as the reason they were there.

The figures of the two Defenders that had been killed at the same time Tempara’s Core had been shattered were faded and semi-transparent, with a bluish glow around them that appeared very similar to the three Foxes that were currently backing up in alarm at the presence of the two people who shouldn’t have been there.

Is that—?  Did they really—?  How in the world did this happen?

“Those are the souls of the two that were killed, Tempara,” Kiana said calmly, though the Dungeon Core was anything but calm.  While she could fundamentally understand what she was looking at, it made no sense to her why they would be there.  She could only assume that they had gotten caught up with her own soul when her Temporal Reversion skill had kicked in and got pulled along.  But since they shouldn’t be there, she aimed to fix it; the last thing she wanted was to be saddled with the souls of the two Defenders while she was trying to save her family.

I’m going to reset again and see if that fixes this, she told her family and her assistant, while the two Defenders continued to scream.

Activating her Temporal Displacement skill, she created a localized temporal displacement inside of her Dungeon Core, which essentially ejected her soul and caused her Temporal Reversion auto-skill to activate.  A second later, Tempara was choosing her starting location on the map again, and in what felt like no time at all, she was looking out of her Dungeon Core at her Core Island.

The figures of her aunt and uncles were there, as she expected, but didn’t see anyone else.

“Do you think that fixed it?” Aunt Chrona asked.  “I can’t say I liked seeing them here.”

Me either, Aunt.  Hopefully that detached them from my own soul.

There were a few tense minutes as she waited for her assistant to show up.  When she finally did, and there was no sign of any Defenders, Tempara was relieved.

That looks like it fixed itself.  Now, as I was saying—

“Aaaaaahhhhhh!”

“Noooooooooo!”

Not again.

The two Defenders suddenly appeared, still screaming like they had last time, and it was all Tempara could do not to activate her Temporal Displacement skill yet again.  However, she stopped herself when the man and the woman abruptly stopped their yelling at the top of their lungs and actually looked around.

“What—?  Where are we?” the woman asked, and for the first time the Dungeon Core was able to catch a glimpse of pointed ears under her hood.

An Elf, huh?  And the man is Human, it appears.

“Who said that?  Where are you?”

Tempara was speechless for a few seconds as the repercussions of being able to communicate with these two people suddenly set in.  That certainly changed things.

“Wait, are those foxes?  I’ve never seen anything like that before.  And—” the leather-clad Elf continued, catching sight of Kiana as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.  “Are you the one who was speaking earlier?  Who are you?  Where are we?”

The Dungeon Core didn’t mentally speak, because she wasn’t exactly sure what to do in this situation.  Instead, she let her assistant handle talking to them at the moment.

“Well, this is certainly an interesting development,” Kiana answered, smirking at the two Defenders who were still on their knees where they had appeared.  Tempara couldn’t help but notice that her assistant had grown a lot bolder since her personality change, at least compared to what she could remember of the brand-new Mage after the Fox had been bonded to her.  “As for where you are, you’re inside Tempara’s dungeon.  There was apparently some sort of accident, and your souls ended up here.”

“What?  I don’t understand… wait,” the Elf woman said, before a look of confusion rolled over her face.  “I… I remember being chased into the Nightgloom Swamp along with Jorden, but things are a little fuzzy after that.”

“We ran into a dungeon…” the man abruptly spoke, before he, too, cut off in confusion.

“And then they caught up to us and—” the woman eventually finished, and she looked like she was about to start screaming again.

“Yes, they killed you at the same time as Tempara’s Dungeon Core was shattered, so now your souls are somehow tied to hers.  Don’t ask me how, but that seems to be the only answer,” Kiana informed them shortly, as if she was tired of them already.  Or angry at them for no reason that Tempara could fathom at first.

The Dungeon Core didn’t really understand why it appeared she felt that way, but then she remembered that a lot of what Kiana remembered came from Tempara, or at least was tempered by the Greater Temporal Foxes’ viewpoint.  If Kiana felt the same way about some Defenders as Tempara did, which was an intense hatred of those responsible for what happened to her family, then she could understand how her assistant felt that way toward the two Defenders despite being a former Defender herself.

“So, we’re dead?  What exactly does that mean?”

It means that your souls are now connected to mine, and I can’t see any way to send you back.

The Elf and the Human jerked in surprise at Tempara’s comment, and the Dungeon Core could see the satisfaction on her assistant’s face.  That was something she’d have to talk with her about at some point, because now that it seemed as though these new souls were here to stay, she didn’t want to hear them fighting and arguing all the time.

I’m Tempara, by the way.  You can see me floating right here in the middle of the island.

“You’re… you’re a dungeon core?” the man asked, appearing more shocked at that fact than learning that he was dead.

Yes.

There really wasn’t more that she wanted to add, so she didn’t.  Thankfully, the man didn’t ask any other questions about her after the Elf put her hand on his arm – or at least attempted to.  When her hand passed right through his body, both of them shivered in place and looked horrified.  As they were still figuring themselves out, Tempara had more important matters.

Anyway, Kiana, what I was trying to say before is that I’m going to repeat a lot of what I did up north to get stronger, by gradually unlocking more Advancement Options, though it won’t likely happen all at once.  After each time loop, however, my hope is that my development—

“Time loop?  What does that mean?”

Tempara mentally sighed in frustration, as she really didn’t want to have to talk to these people.  It wasn’t like she necessarily hated them in particular, but other than Kiana – who she now knew had no direct hand in what happened to her or her family – she didn’t trust any of them.  They caught a little slack because they seemed to have been hunted by other Defenders, but then again she hadn’t missed the fact that there must have been a reason for the hunt in the first place.  These people could be criminals of some sort, a concept she was familiar with through Kiana’s memories, even if she didn’t understand completely.

With all the stress she was under, Tempara was tempted to just ignore them.  Certain that she would constantly be pestered with more questions until she either gave in or snapped at them, though, Tempara quickly explained what was going on, in as few words as possible.

Alright, here it is.  I’m a Greater Temporal Fox that was turned into a Dungeon Core, but every time I’m destroyed, I get sent back in time to a temporal displacement point and can relive through the same time period over and over.  I’m trying to stop this evil Chronomancer named Creetim from initiating arcane rituals with members of my family, designed to stop the absorption of Elemental Power by Dungeon Cores within each of the Wildlands’ regions.

There are two main problems. The first is the fact that they are trapping my family members in a ritual that spans through time. The second is that, without Dungeon Cores absorbing Elemental Power, there will eventually be an uncontrollable build-up of Power that will erupt and destroy the world.  I know this for a fact, because I’ve seen it happen – and I was subsequently destroyed and sent back in time again.

I know what I have to do; but in order to do it, I need to get stronger.  To get stronger, I need to repeatedly restart and expand my knowledge of different monsters, so that I can survive long enough to search for where the ritual will take place in the future, eliminate all of the Chronomancer’s guards protecting the ritual sphere containing my family, and then free my relatives’ souls.  Once all of them are free throughout every Wildlands region, the ritual will be broken, and I’ll have saved my family and the world from destruction.

The three Greater Temporal Fox souls you see are my Aunt Chrona, my Uncle Ido, and my Uncle Timo, who I rescued from the ritual sphere in the Frozen Reaches.  This is my assistant, Kiana, who used to be a new Mage that bonded my original Fox form in the Order of Defenders, but she died along with me and was turned into my dungeon helper.  Now, if that answers all of your questions, I need to formulate a plan for how to get started with this initial segment of my development here in the Swamp.

Tempara turned her attention away from the two dumbfounded Defenders who stared at her Dungeon Core with slack-jawed expressions, and continued her discussion with Kiana.  After a few minutes, the Human that was still wearing a full suit of plate armor – which was intact, compared to the last time Tempara had seen it – asked, “But what are we supposed to do?  Why are we here?”

I have no idea.  You can do what you want and go where you want, though I’m uncertain that you’ll be able to leave my dungeon, seeing as my family cannot.  You’re free to try, though, because I have no use for you.

It was a bit harsh to speak to them like that, considering that they were still reeling from their deaths, but the Dungeon Core was in no mood to interact with them more than she already had.  The only reason she wasn’t inwardly seething in anger at their general presence was the fact that they were already dead and couldn’t hurt her – nor anyone else – anymore.

After her announcement, the two Defenders looked at each other and communicated silently between themselves.  A few minutes later, while Tempara was finishing up her discussion with her assistant, the two souls decided to try to leave her Core Island and walk along the path toward the entrance.  It wasn’t long before they discovered that they weren’t bound by the same rules as physical beings, as they took off with great speed down the land bridge, until they were lost to the Dungeon Core’s sight.

…and now I need to check on our neighbors, to make sure they haven’t already sent something our way.  Oh, and to see if there are any scouting Defenders that might run into my dungeon within the next few hours.

So saying, Tempara took her viewpoint and sent it toward her entrance, following the two souls that had gone that way a few minutes ago.  As she flew near where her entrance connected with the natural land pathways outside, she expected to see the Elf and the Human nearby; but for some reason, they weren’t there.  Thinking she may have missed them as they ran back to the Core Island, she dismissed them from her thoughts as she focused on the nearest dungeon, which was Core Level 3 and located just on the edge of her current range to the east of her entrance.  She got closer and looked for anything heading in her dungeon’s direction, but the only thing she saw was a small horde of a dozen Decaying Zombies heading off to the east, the opposite direction of where her own dungeon was located.

Thankful that she wouldn’t have to worry – at least, not yet – she started searching for any Defenders who might be sneaking around, looking for dungeons to destroy.  Starting as close to the border as her range would let her, she backtracked toward her dungeon, seeking any signs of movement.  It wasn’t until she was nearer her entrance that she finally saw something that made her worried: Defenders.

Her worry was quickly replaced as the pair of Defenders she saw were familiar—very familiar.  The Elf and Human who had hitched themselves to Tempara were slowly walking around, as if they were out for a stroll rather than being the souls of the recently departed inside of the Nightgloom Swamp.

She couldn’t help but wonder how they had gotten out of her dungeon, when her family was restricted from leaving.  More than that, she was curious whether or not she could turn that to her advantage.  As much as she didn’t want to work with them, given what they represented, there were more important things at stake than her personal feelings.  Having invisible scouts that could bring back information from far afield, freeing her up to handle other important things, could be a huge advantage.  In addition, if they were able to leave her dungeon, did that mean they could enter a different dungeon?

It was all speculation, of course, but she resolved to ask them the next time they came back to Core Island.  If they came back; with how she had treated them, the Dungeon Core wouldn’t blame them if they never wanted to return.

Putting that from her mind until a later time, she turned back to her dungeon and settled in to wait for her Elemental Power to accumulate enough to increase her Core to Level 2, and then the real development would begin.

Chapter 9

Riley walked slowly next to the Paladin, their haste to exit the dungeon having subsided once they succeeded.  She didn’t know why the voice of the Dungeon Core, Tempara (if she remembered the name correctly), told them they couldn’t leave, but she had obviously been wrong.  Sure, as soon as they had gotten to the entrance they had sensed an invisible barrier that flowed over the pathway leading outside, but there was absolutely no impediment as they passed through it.  The Shadowwalker thought she had felt a little tingle go through her body at the time, but it didn’t stop them.

I have to remember, it isn’t actually my body anymore.  I’m just a soul, doomed to be tied to an insane dungeon core for eternity.

“What are you thinking about?” Jorden abruptly asked from her side.

For a moment, she had nearly forgotten he was even there, as she had been consumed in her own thoughts; plus, now, he didn’t make a single sound despite his full suit of steel plate armor.  She thought it was odd that it was still all in one piece after she vaguely remembered it being partially destroyed at the moment of their deaths, but almost everything she had experienced since discovering they had died and were free-floating souls had been varying degrees of odd.

“I was just thinking that I don’t even know what to think – if that makes any sense.”

He chuckled, or at least she supposed he did.  They didn’t actually vocalize their speech because they didn’t have bodies, but whatever they did to communicate almost made her think it was actual, physical emanations.  “That makes complete sense, actually.  This whole situation is so bizarre that it’s difficult to really wrap my head around it.”

Riley was silent for a few seconds before she asked something that had been on her mind the most.  “Do you think the Dungeon Core was telling the truth?”

“Truth about what?”

“About a Chronomancer somehow ushering in the end of the world; you know, the most significant part?”

The Paladin grunted, as if to show his opinion of that.  “That core is insane, talking about strange rituals and power of the elements and whatnot.  And the craziest of it was all that mention of time loops and being sent back in time.  I may not be as smart as some, but even I know that time travel is impossible, even for the most powerful of Chronomancers.  They might be able to speed up their perception of time or even briefly look into near-future possibilities, but time travel?  Impossible.”

Riley couldn’t help but agree, but there was a nagging thought in her head as well that the core might have been telling the truth.  Regardless, she ignored the possibility because it wasn’t as if she could do anything about it, especially considering that she was dead.

So what if the world is destroyed?  That won’t really make a difference to us, now.

As they walked along the pathway, Riley couldn’t help but be amazed at how different the world looked to her now that she was dead.  It wasn’t some sort of existential epiphany that occurred to her after being killed, or some such philosophical revelation; no, it was literally the fact that the world appeared different than it had when she was alive.  No longer was her vision restricted in the darkness of the Nightgloom Swamp; her current sight was worlds better than her darkvision ever was, and looking around was like seeing the land around them on a cloudy day.  It was slightly hazy, as if the darkness was still there but didn’t have the same effect of taking away the light, but it wasn’t like fog, either.  It was strange, but she was already getting used to it.

The other way things were different was the fact that she was entirely insubstantial.  Not only could she pass her hand entirely through Jorden’s arm, but anything with a physical presence – such as trees along the pathway – were treated as if they weren’t even there.  She no longer had to weave her way around any of the obstacles in her way, as she literally walked right through them.

There was a brief moment of panic at one point when she wondered why she didn’t simply fall through the ground, which immediately caused her to sink down until half of her body was inside the land bridge. But a moment later, she closed her eyes and imagined walking on top of it again – and it worked enough that she glided back out.  It seemed as though she could pass through it, but it was also a natural way her soul saw herself as walking above the ground that kept her in place.  It was actually difficult to negate those natural impulses and fall through the ground, so she didn’t have to worry about doing it by accident in the future, unless she specifically thought about it.

“So, what are we going to do, Riley?”

The Shadowwalker didn’t have to ask him what he meant, because she knew exactly what he was asking.  With no body and no way to affect the world, as well as the obvious disregard the Dungeon Core and the strange “assistant” had toward their presence, they were at an impasse as to what they could do.  While they hadn’t found a limit to how far they could venture from the dungeon, she was sure it was out there somewhere. Being able to walk through the Nightgloom Swamp with impunity was refreshing, but were they fated to wander around aimlessly like lost souls, forever?  Or was there something they could do?

“I’m not quite sure yet,” she answered truthfully.  The nagging thought from earlier came back to the forefront of her mind.  “While the freedom is nice, I can’t imagine us walking around this dingy, old Swamp for years upon years with nothing to show for it.  Maybe, just maybe, we can look into helping out the dungeon core?  I know that she’s probably insane, but there has to be some truth behind her ravings, right?  At the least, we might get to learn how a dungeon is constructed from the inside, which could be entertaining.”

The Paladin looked at her skeptically.  “I don’t know if entertaining is the word I would use, but it would certainly be a novel experience.  Perhaps one of these days, Beatrix might even walk in and get killed; now that would be entertaining.”

Riley chuckled, nodding her head.  “That sure would be.  It would serve her right for what she did to us back in the Kingdom—hold on, what is that?”

She pushed thoughts of revenge against the local Order Branch Master out of her mind as her instincts as a Defender kicked in.  She hid behind a tree and beckoned Jorden to do the same, as she looked around it to see a couple of figures running toward them.  Her eyes widened as her mind seemed to shut down, locked in a struggle to comprehend what she was seeing.

“What trickery is this?  That can’t be… can it?” her companion whispered to her, over her shoulder.

His questions restarted her thoughts, and her mind started to work again.  She shook her head in disbelief as she watched – and heard – the figure of a steel plate-laden Paladin and an agile Shadowwalker running up the path in their direction, the armor on the man jangling and creating a cacophony that broke through the otherwise-quiet Swamp like a blaring alarm.  As they got closer, it was obvious that it wasn’t just any random Paladin and Shadowwalker making their way through the Swamp, but was instead exact copies of the two souls watching in pure shock.

How—?  What—?  This is impossible.

Not of her own volition, Riley stepped out in the middle of the pathway as they neared, followed closely by Jorden behind her.  She couldn’t even speak as this living representation of Jorden barreled right through her soul – and kept going, as if she wasn’t even there.  A breath releasing in a grunt came from behind her as the running Paladin ran through Jorden’s soul, but she didn’t have time to wonder what that was all about as her own living copy effortlessly glided through her own soul…

…and Riley felt as if something had punched her in the stomach.  It was a strange feeling, mainly because she currently couldn’t feel anything physical in the world – and yet, it took her breath away.  After a few seconds of recovery, she turned around and saw that the living copies of the two individuals that ran through them appeared entirely unaffected, and they continued at a run down the land bridge without showing signs of stopping.

With a shared look, she and Jorden followed them at a run, easily keeping up with them despite their head start.  It was quite easy to move much faster than normal by simply thinking about moving quickly, so they had no issues.  After approximately 25 minutes of following, Riley abruptly slammed into an invisible wall, stopping her without harm to her soul, thankfully.  She saw Jorden careen to a halt beside her, showing that it wasn’t just her that was prevented from proceeding further.

“What’s going on?  Let us through!” she screamed, banging on the invisible barrier with her insubstantial fists, to absolutely no effect.  Riley wasn’t sure why she was so obsessed with following those two living people further, but there was some sort of internal need to be reunited with her body.

Is that possible?  Can my soul be reunited with my body?

While she didn’t know the answer, nor even what exactly she had just seen and experienced, the Shadowwalker that knew she wanted to find out.

She stood there in silence for a long time next to Jorden, staring at the retreating forms of the two living beings, both unable to express the longing they felt in seeing them leave.  Riley wasn’t sure how long they stayed there even after the figures were completely out of sight, but it was apparently long enough for them to hear something else.  Glancing behind, she was shocked for the second time when she saw a large group of Defenders with a glowing mage light bobbing overhead, led by none other than Beatrix Garmin – the one that had caused this whole situation with Riley and Jorden to happen in the first place.

Anger suffused her soul at the sight of the woman, as she wanted to tear the Branch Master limb from limb, and she rushed ahead with an inhuman growl.  It didn’t surprise her to see Jorden at her side with an equally pissed-off expression on his face, his hands curled up like claws that mimicked her own and ready to rip the woman apart.

Riley was next to the woman in less than a second, her hands immediately aiming for the woman’s neck to strangle the life from her, but her implements of death passed right through the Branch Master’s without resistance.  She tried again, snatching desperately at anything she might be able to grab onto, but there was nothing in which she could find purchase.  Jorden didn’t have any luck, either, as he frantically attempted to tear into her body, eventually resigning to punching and kicking, followed by pulling his sword and trying to slice her apart.  Riley did the same with her own long knives, but they were also ineffective; she found that when she tossed some throwing knives out, they disappeared as soon as they left her hand and returned to her brace as if they had never been removed.

It wasn’t long before the group passed through the invisible barrier that had prevented Riley and Jorden from going further down the pathway, and the both of them brutally but fruitlessly attacked the barrier keeping them from their revenge.  After a few minutes, during which neither of them actually grew tired, Riley finally put her weapons away, as did her companion a few seconds later.

She stared at where the living Paladin and Shadowwalker, along with the group of Defenders chasing them, had disappeared, her anger slowly dissipating after her target disappeared from sight.

“So… that just happened.  I think we need to go figure out why,” Riley said after a moment to calm down.

“I agree.  Was that an illusion, or were they really there?”

She shook her head, unable to come up with an answer.  But she knew someone – or something – that might be able to provide the answer they needed.

It took much less time for them to travel back to the dungeon than it did to journey that distance away, mainly because they weren’t following anyone, and also because they were in a hurry for answers.  They turned into the entrance and kept their speed up, flowing over the long, straight land bridge so quickly that she almost felt as if she was flying.  In fact, when she deliberately thought about it, she found that her running feet weren’t even technically touching the ground. At that revelation, she imagined herself lifting off the ground and propelling through the air, just like a bird but without wings or any other visible signs of propulsion.  When Jorden saw her doing it, he also took to the air, and they flew over the treetops lining the land bridge at speed, before finally landing on the island in the middle.

As soon as Riley touched down, she saw the trio of ghostly-looking foxes staring at her in curiosity, followed by the semi-hostile stare of the former Defender-turned-dungeon-assistant, Kiana.  She ignored them as she addressed the dungeon core.

“We just saw what appeared to be ourselves running through the Swamp, followed by the group of Defenders that killed us in your dungeon,” she started without preamble, but was cut off from saying more when a voice spoke in her mind.

I know, I saw them traveling through the pathways, as well.  I’m assuming that you’re confused?  I’m not sure why you would be; I’m pretty sure I explained about my Time Loop and that we will repeatedly go back in time whenever my Core is destroyed or I deliberately trigger a restart.

What you saw was, indeed, you running along, because in this timeline, it still happens.  You won’t be killed in my dungeon, though, because I moved closer to the border; but whatever would normally happen without my interference would still occur.  Whether or not you’re killed soon by those Defenders chasing you, or you manage to escape for a short time, I don’t know.

“They are fated to die, I believe,” said another female voice, which startled Riley because she realized it was coming from one of the foxes nearby.  “If there is anything I’ve learned from being involved in the time loop ritual, it’s that what will happen will happen.  If their souls are free to be tied to yours, then no matter what, they’ll perish right around the same timeframe as they did when your dungeon was near.”

Riley couldn’t help but be thoroughly confused.  What she thought she was being told was that she and her Paladin companion were going to die, no matter whether they were inside of a strange dungeon or not. Still, that didn’t really answer her original question very well.

“Is that true – we’re fated to die?  Did we really go back in time?  And we’ll continue to go back in time to this point every time your core is destroyed?”

Most likely, yes, and yes.  And before you ask, it is almost guaranteed that you’ll see your former selves running through the Swamp each and every time my soul goes back in time.

Something caught her attention in the response.  “You said, ‘most likely’.  Does that mean there is a chance we won’t die?”

Anything is possible, I suppose – just look at the whole time loop situation going on with me.  If there is a way to stop them from dying, though, I would think that your souls would have to be reunited with them to accomplish it.  It’s vaguely the same idea of what I’m trying to do with my family, though the circumstances are wildly different.

The thought of her soul being reunited with her body sent a thrill of anticipation coursing through her mind.  Even if it was a longshot, the potential that it might happen at some point was enough to give her purpose.

“If we somehow find the opportunity to stop our deaths from occurring, would you help us accomplish that?” Riley asked after a moment’s thought.

The dungeon core was silent for a few seconds, and the Shadowwalker grew a little worried.  Thankfully, Tempara reassured her that she would.

If that happens, then I’ll do what I can to reunite your soul to your body.  However, keep in mind that I have a much higher purpose right now, so I won’t let it interfere with what I have to do to achieve that.

The core was silent for a few more seconds, before there was a hesitance in the voice that Riley hadn’t heard before.

Speaking of that, I couldn’t help but notice that you can leave my dungeon.  Would you be willing to work with me to further my purpose?  Any help you give could potentially lead to figuring out a way to get what you want, as well.

Riley immediately knew that wasn’t necessarily the case, that helping the core would lead to being reunited with her body, but she wasn’t going to point that out.

“How can we help?”

Scouting.  As things start to heat up and other Cores send their hordes to attack me, it’s difficult for me to keep an eye on everything happening outside of my dungeon, especially since I’m a newcomer here.  I would appreciate being able to know what is coming my way so I can find a way to counter it, if at all possible.

Riley looked at Jorden; he smiled and nodded.  “I think we can do that.  It’ll at least give us something productive to do, rather than wandering around aimlessly.”

Thank you.  Now, I’ve almost accumulated enough Elemental Power for me to increase my Core Level up to 2; once that happens, I expect I’ll have captured enough attention to see some visitors soon.

With that information given to them, she heard an obvious dismissal in the core’s voice.  She didn’t care, though, because the knowledge of what could happen in the future was enough to give her wings as she flew off to start scouting around outside of the dungeon.  Well, not wings, per se, but her discovery that she wasn’t limited to running on the ground allowed her to take off and quickly exit the dungeon at any point, completely ignoring the entrance as she and Jorden went off to explore and find any threats that might be coming to destroy the core.

It was a strange experience to fly through the air, but sometimes need overrode strangeness.  She would do just about anything for her soul to be reunited with her body, even if it was working with a dungeon to achieve that goal.

Chapter 10

“Incoming!  There’s a small horde of skeletons and a few zombies headed toward your entrance!”

Thanks; I see them now.

Tempara had spent the last 4 hours setting up her dungeon defenses, starting with the creation of 3 separate rectangular islands of the same size, approximately 70 feet long and 12 feet wide.  While Kiana informed her that islands created by Cores in the Nightgloom Swamp were generally circular or oval in shape, Tempara was used to the squarish and rectangular rooms she had carved out of the stone in the Frozen Reaches.

She would’ve rather have made the islands even narrower, given that it would help to contain much larger groups of monsters than having a much more open, wide space, but there seemed to be a minimum width – which probably had to do with the size of the land bridges connecting them.  Islands barely wider than the 8-foot-wide land bridges would become virtually indistinguishable from those bridges, which essentially acted like the tunnels or hallways Tempara was used to.  Therefore, 12 feet was the islands’ minimum width, though there was essentially no limit to their length, as long as they fit within the dungeon.

Once those were constructed, on the first island, Tempara put down obstacles to help funnel anything that came through by using the rusty iron fences she had experimented with before.  She began by placing one fence near the entrance, perpendicular to the island with one end nestled up against the right hand side, which theoretically blocked half the pathway through.   Of course, a few good hits against the fence would cause it to collapse, but the Dungeon Core was thinking that any undead hordes that invaded her dungeon – especially the weaker ones without much intelligence – would likely take the path of least resistance and simply walk or shamble their way to the left.

That was where she placed another fence connected to the first, though it wasn’t blocking the left side; instead, this one was angled so it followed the length of the island, instead of the width like the first.  She added a few more fences connected to this second one, angling them so that the area within which the funneled undead could walk shrunk from 6 feet to only 3 – so narrow that Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies would have to walk single-file.

This was exactly what she needed, because she put a simple Pit Trap approximately halfway down the island, right where the undead would fall inside, one after another.  It took a whopping 0.5 of her Accumulation Rate to create and maintain it, which was a significant amount considering that she only had a total of 10 AR for her Death-focused Elemental Power, but she thought it would be worth it.

Expecting that, after a few fell down, the undead would look for a way around the trap, Tempara also added a Camouflaged Pit Trap to the ground just behind the fence that was located a few feet in front of the first trap.  Her thought was that the undead would batter down the fence in order to bypass the first Pit Trap, then fall into the second one, camouflaged by a thin layer of dirt atop it.  It was another expensive addition at 1.5 AR, but she thought it was necessary to take out as many of the weaker undead as soon as possible.

All-in-all, that first half of the island was simple and basic, without much in the way of expert defense strategies, but Tempara needed to see if her assumptions on the intelligence of the undead were correct.  For smarter undead that weren’t likely to fall for such traps, the latter half of the first island was designed to start fighting back against them.

Fencing was abandoned for piles of stone arranged to create very low barriers along the left and right, again largely funneling whatever managed to break through the pit traps and fencing down the middle.  The stone barriers were crumbling apart and only 3 feet at their tallest – nowhere near insurmountable -- but they acted more like guides than anything.  Anything passing through the middle of the stone barriers would be blasted by another trap, Necrotic Gas, which would eat away at the bones and flesh of any undead walking through.  The Gas would be expelled from one of the stones she set up and last for a total of 10 seconds, so hopefully, it would hit more than a single undead in the process.

Since the Gas wouldn’t necessarily kill the invaders, only weaken them, they were then met by a force of 10 Fragile Skeletons, which she’d created before installing the traps.  The extra AR was important to get as much done before she cut it by 25% with the addition of the traps, so that was always her priority.

That was it for the first island, which Tempara thought would be a good test of the defenses and would dictate what she would adapt for future ideas.  The second island was full of trees placed in an alternating grid pattern, solely designed to break up large hordes that may have come through the first island unscathed.  They would have to break apart their group formation in order to navigate their way through the dozens of tree trunks and decaying branches that drooped to create an environment that was difficult to see through easily.  There were so many trees and branches that falling off of the side of the island was more than a possibility if a monster or a person got turned around and wasn’t watching where they were going.

Inside of these trees, she created a total of 15 Flickering Wisps, which would randomly move around and attack anything they came across before running away.  They weren’t necessarily designed to kill anything themselves, but she was hoping they would be enough of an annoyance that they would lead stronger foes into accidentally falling into the water – where they wouldn’t survive for long.  Besides, while they weren’t the best defense, she really didn’t have anything else to work with that was stronger and would blend better inside of the environment she had created.

The third island was very, very simple: her own undead horde, assembled from side to side on the island.  She was still adding to it, but she planned on a total of 12 Decaying Zombies at first, arranged in neat rows of 4, which would attack anything that made it that far.  Thankfully, she could have a total of 37 monsters in her dungeon because her Monster Threshold had increased, not by 2, like she was used to, but by 5.  That meant she could hold a total of 50% more than her Threshold of 25 in her dungeon without having to send any outside, and she planned on using every single one on defense.

But that wasn’t going to happen all at once, as it took time to accumulate enough Elemental Power to create a dozen Zombies at 100 EP each.  She had managed to complete the construction and monster population of the first pair of islands with what she had accumulated thus far, but had only been able to create a single Decaying Zombie on the third island when the Elf soul’s warning reached her.

Quickly looking outside her entrance, Tempara saw a force of 8 Fragile Skeletons and 3 Decaying Zombies heading in her direction from the nearby dungeon.  It was a relatively small number of undead compared to what she had seen elsewhere, and she was glad there weren’t any of the powerful kind that would be more of a challenge.

The Dungeon Core was able to produce one more of the Decaying Zombies that she was able to send toward the third island by the time the invaders arrived.  They shambled inside, silence broken only by the random rattle of bones colliding with each other and rotting feet impacting the ground.  Compared to the small numbers of Snow Hares and Winter Wolves she originally encountered at first up north, the “horde” was rather large at 11-strong, but she was fairly confident in her defenses at this time.

Her islands weren’t moved outside of the straight land bridge that led to her Core Island, so it wasn’t long before the lead elements of the enemy Skeletons set foot on her first one.  Tempara hadn’t adjusted them quite yet, for a few simple reasons: For one, she didn’t have the time; and for another, she didn’t have the resources.  In the future, she was planning on adapting something similar to what Kiana said the other Dungeon Cores located in the Swamp normally did with a spiraling pattern, but for now there was no reason to alter anything significantly.

As she had hoped, the Skeletons up front paused for a half-second as they encountered her rusty iron fence and shuffled to the left, where there was an easy gap where they could progress further.  There were also no problems as the gap narrowed, causing them to walk single-file with the water on their left and an ever-narrowing fence on the right.  Before long, the lead Skeleton reached the visible Pit Trap placed where the fences stopped narrowing, and it immediately fell inside, disappearing from sight as it descended to the floor of the pit, where it collapsed in a jumble of bones, cracking dozens of them in the process.  Unfortunately, from what Tempara could see, its skull appeared intact, which meant that it wasn’t “killed”, so she was interested to see what would happen next.

Another Skeleton and the one behind it also blindly walked into the Pit Trap, falling far enough to break them all apart, though only one of them cracked their skull enough that Tempara felt half of the Elemental Power invested in the monster – 25 EP – flow into her Core for her own use.  However, even as she watched to see if any more of the Skeletons would fall inside, the majority of the bones at the bottom of the pit started to rattle around in preparation of putting themselves back together.

The fourth Skeleton stopped mid-stride before it could fall into the pit, and immediately started to pound its bony fists against the fence on its right, followed by the other 4 Skeletons and trio of Zombies – right where they were standing.  Tempara had been hoping that only the lead undead would create a hole in the fence, so she wasn’t quite prepared for all of them to do it, and the barrier was subsequently demolished within seconds.

Having created a way through, the remainder of the horde walked through the remains of the fences—and two of the lead Skeletons immediately fell victim to the Camouflaged Pit Trap, falling inside and breaking their bones on the floor down below.  This trap also had spikes on the bottom of it, an advantage of the Spiked Pit Trap that was a conveniently included upgrade.  The stone spikes were more than enough to break or shatter the bones that fell down, including the skulls of the two Skeletons, each cranial bone impaled by a different spike.  Tempara immediately felt another 50 EP filter into her Core, and she was able to produce yet another Decaying Zombie to add to her pitiful horde on the third island.

Thankfully, another Skeleton also fell victim to the Camouflaged Pit Trap when it didn’t stop in time, where it was destroyed along with the others on the bottom of the pit, but the remaining pair of Skeletons and the 3 Zombies managed to move out of the way to avoid it.  Soon enough, they were moving through the funnel Tempara had created with the crumbling stone blocks, and the lead Skeleton triggered the final trap in her dungeon.  A dark fog suddenly erupted out of one of the crumbling stones nearby as the trap was activated, and the effect was immediate on the bones of the leading undead pair.

Their yellowing bones became visibly brittle, with dark spots where they thinned enough that they appeared as if they would shatter from simple movement. Flakes of bone also started to detach from their forms like a heavy snowfall in the Frozen Reaches, and there was an obvious reduction in their speed, as they continued forward despite what was happening to them.

The enemy Zombie behind them also moved through the Necrotic Gas as it continued to be expelled into the air, and it also suffered from the trap; in fact, the effect was visibly worse on it than the Skeletons, as its flesh started to rapidly disintegrate and slough off its body in a gruesome waterfall.  Regardless of the damage being done to it, the effects weren’t enough to do more than slow it down, though it appeared significantly weakened as a result.

That was proven a few seconds later as the 10 Fragile Skeletons Tempara had placed there immediately attacked the invading undead. Essentially, the enemy Skeletons were easily overwhelmed, their skulls shattered in seconds.  And after only a single attack with its fist, which shattered a rib on one of Tempara’s Skeletons, the Zombie with its flesh sloughing off of its body was likewise torn apart with ease.

The last pair of Zombies had been wholly unaffected by the Necrotic Gas trap, however, because the trap had run out of gas before they walked through it.  Despite being whole and “healthy” (not a word the Dungeon Core would normally attribute to the undead, except in this context), the invading Zombies couldn’t withstand the attacks of 5 times their numbers. Within 30 seconds, 3 of Tempara’s Skeletons had been torn apart to fall to the ground in a pile of bones, but the invading Zombies had bony fists shoved into relatively soft, decayed heads and were torn to pieces.

Thankfully, only one of her Skeletons had cracked its skull enough to kill it, and the others that had collapsed were able to pull themselves together with the bones available on the ground.  That meant that she would only have to replace the single Skeleton that had been “killed”, which she thought was an excellent result.

Of course, there were still two enemy invaders inside her dungeon. She contemplated how to eliminate them.  Before, she had been able to use one of her Cold Slimes to fall down the pit and finish off whatever was still alive, which could then climb back up afterward, but she didn’t have anything like that.

Or did she?

Instructing one of her Flickering Wisps from the second island forward, she directed it toward the pit to see what would happen.  As it got close to the pit, the yellow light hesitated for just a moment before it dove down inside, floating toward the bottom and the two Fragile Skeletons standing there creepily unmoving, missing a few bones here and there they couldn’t replace with unbroken ones as they reassembled.

When it was within a few feet above one of the Skeletons, a thin bolt of yellow light struck out at the bony monster, hitting it in the head.  The light didn’t seem to do anything but provoke the Skeleton, which attempted to swipe at the Wisp with one of its hands, but the floating light was just out of range.  Another bolt of light flashed out at the Skeleton; and this time, there was a visible sign of damage being done, as a tiny crack appeared on its skull.

It does work!

Tempara hadn’t been sure that the spiritual damage of the Wisp could even significantly hurt any undead, but now it was obvious that it could.  Not a lot, obviously, but given that undead were supposed to have a very strong resistance to spiritual damage, even a little was more than she had expected.

It took over a minute of constantly striking the Skeleton with bolts of yellow light before the skull finally shattered, but the lowly Wisp was finally victorious.  The next second, it started attacking the other Skeleton, repeating its feat in another minute of constant spiritual assault.

In a fair fight, the Wisp would likely be killed within seconds before doing any damage. But when its targets could be descended upon and attacked with impunity?  Easy.  She still wasn’t sure where they would be useful other than where she already had them, attempting to lure the enemy to fall into the water, but it was good to see that they weren’t completely useless.

As soon as the last Skeleton was destroyed, all the used traps began to regenerate, absorbing ambient Elemental Power to reset themselves.  The rusty iron fences were something Tempara had to fix or replace; but fortunately, the cost to repair them was much, much less than their original EP cost.  She was already sending up the one Skeleton she had to replace that had been killed, and the ones that had been injured slowly started to “heal” the damage that had been done to them.

“Another horde is on the way from the other direction!  Should be there in about 25 minutes!”

Tempara acknowledged the information from the soul of the man in armor, as she prepared herself for the next attack.  Looking at the Camouflaged Pit Trap, she saw it would be nearly reset by the next wave; but even if it wasn’t, she’d be ready for just about anything.

And even if she wasn’t, then there was always next time.

Chapter 11

“That was weird.  Is it like this all the time?”

A total of 5 undead horde waves after the first, Tempara managed to accumulate enough Elemental Power to increase her Core Level to 3, thanks to the EP she absorbed from the undead her defenses were killing.  Unfortunately, those defenses only managed to survive for another wave before she was attacked by a larger horde of undead. Among them were a pair of the advanced zombies that she had seen before in her previous start, wearing leather armor that was falling apart and wielding rusty swords.  They had come from a Core Level 5 dungeon a little to the southwest of the border, which was apparently just within range of the other dungeon; she couldn’t see it within her own range, but her other Dungeon Core senses picked up its location.

Still, she did better during this first real experiment in defending her dungeon in the Nightgloom Swamp than she did up north in the Frozen Reaches.  She put it down to her prior experience with how interactions among Cores worked, as well as her knowledge of how to properly use her environment in her defense.  While she still had a long way to go to perfect her defenses and was still learning about the best ways to utilize them in the Swamp, she didn’t think she had done too badly.

The Flickering Wisps, set up inside of the grid of trees on her second island, had been better than expected, helping to distract and lead many of the Fragile Skeletons and even Decaying Skeletons into the water along the sides.  Their efficacy wasn’t necessarily due to the invading undead being intelligent enough to be confused or enraptured by the little motes of light, but because they were simply trying to kill the little buggers by chasing after them and striking them with a bony hand.  It didn’t work every time, but at least 50%, of the time the Wisps were able to lead one of the attacking monsters into the water.

Which was just as deadly as Tempara had hoped.  There were two distinct types of attacks that occurred when the undead fell in the water, both of which were extremely effective.  The first appeared to be some sort of large hard-scaled eel or snake that popped out near the edges of the islands – their large, wide-open mouths filled with sharp teeth that were at least 6 inches long – and immediately crushed whatever was unfortunate to fall in.  None of the Skeletons or Zombies that accidentally walked off the edge of the island survived for more than a few seconds before they were crunched apart, with no chance to fight back.

The second attack from the water was a bit further away, in the deeper parts of the stagnant pools.  None of the attackers ever made it that far, but when one of the Wisps accidentally traveled more than a half-dozen feet from the island’s edge, a massive tentacle with intermittent spikes shot up from the water with tremendous speed.  It was out of the water so fast that there was no chance for the Wisp to even react as it was basically slapped by the fleshy, spiked appendage.  Since it was basically defenseless, Tempara’s small monster was destroyed immediately, leaving nothing behind.

Needless to say, it was good to see confirmation that invaders couldn’t simply swim or float over the water, bypassing all of the islands to get to her Core.  Something flying a few dozen feet above the water might be successful, but Tempara was fairly certain that she hadn’t yet seen how far up those tentacles could reach. She could picture them reaching 30 or 40 feet, however.

Regardless of the Wisps’ effectiveness, they did very little to affect the larger, more-powerful zombies that invaded.  Instead, the stronger undead completely ignored the Wisps, only swiping at them with their swords when they got too close and attempted to attack.  As a result, the pair of them were able to make it through to the third island with a small handful of Fragile Skeletons that managed to survive that long. They had to face the dozen Decaying Zombies that Tempara had been able to create with her higher Monster Threshold after increasing it to Core Level 3.  The Skeletons didn’t even seem to matter, it seemed, as the stronger Zombies that accompanied them were more than enough to completely demolish Tempara’s defenders, though they took some damage of their own during the exchange.

The Dungeon Core wasn’t able to capitalize on the injuries they suffered, however, as they used the dead parts of Tempara’s Zombies to help patch themselves up before marching onward to her Core Island.  She had managed to create a half-dozen more Zombies thanks to many of the invaders dying and giving her some more Elemental Power, but they were not nearly enough to help stop the enemy from reaching and destroying her Core when they attempted to siphon Elemental Power from it.

All of which led to another restart, in the exact same place as before.  She debated trying somewhere else, but this location along the border was still the best prospect for success at the time being.  Besides, now that she knew what she would be up against in the future, she could better plan her defenses to attempt and stop those powerful zombies from reaching her Core.

A few minutes after she had chosen her starting location once again, Kiana showed up on the island, looking momentarily confused before the memories of the “before-time” came back to her, and then she frowned when the two souls of the Defenders popped into existence, prompting the Elf’s comment about it being weird.

Weird?  I suppose so.  It’s not every day that you’re transported back in time to start all over again – unless you’re me, of course.  I’ve gotten used to it by now.

The Human, Jorden (if she remembered his name correctly), looked confused.  “What happened?”

Tempara briefly described how the powerful zombies were able to make it through her defenses and were able to destroy her Core.  Now that she was utilizing their help to scout, she was more inclined to explain things to them – not that she liked them; merely that she was tolerating their presence for now.

“So all of that was for nothing?” the Elf, Riley, asked.

No, not for nothing.  I’ve made some progression on unlocking Advancement Options for my different monsters.

“Advancement Options?”

Uh… like that strong zombie that was in the group that destroyed my Core?  Basically, the more I create and watch the different monsters I have access to in battle, the more of those powerful monsters I can then unlock to use for myself.

“Oh, you mean the Withering Revenant?  You can’t create one of those yet?”

Something *clicked* in Tempara’s mind when the woman mentioned the name of the stronger zombie, but she wasn’t sure what it was at first.  It was only after she explained in better detail how the process of development for a Dungeon Core worked and then checked on her progress with her three different monsters that she discovered what it did.

Monster Details

Flickering Wisp

25 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 42/250

Battle Threshold: 4/100

Potential Advancement Options:

???

???

???

???

Monster Details

Fragile Skeleton

50 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 35/250

Battle Threshold: 11/100

Potential Advancement Options:

???

???

???

???

Monster Details

Decaying Zombie

100 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 18/250

Battle Threshold: 9/100

Potential Advancement Options:

???

Withering Revenant

300 EP – Death

???

???

The gains toward the different Thresholds for each monster weren’t extraordinary, but they were at least moving in the right direction.  The biggest surprise was the fact that one of the Advancement Options for the Decaying Zombie was now revealed: the same Withering Revenant that Riley had mentioned, which had a 300 EP cost associated with it.  Tempara briefly attempted to choose it, hoping to have found a way around the Thresholds, but that didn’t work. Instead, she was able to learn more about the future Advancement Option when she focused on it.  Unfortunately, other than what she had already seen of it, there wasn’t anything new that was added to her impression of it.

Overall, though, it was excellent to be able to get an advanced preview of the undead monster before she probably should have.  Even better, when Tempara asked about the powerful skeleton she had seen previously, the Elf thought about it for a moment before calling it a Skeleton Fighter.  The same *click* occurred, and she was able to see the Advancement Option for Skeleton Fighter appear in the first slot of the Fragile Skeleton, for a cost of 100 EP – a third of the price of the Withering Revenant.  There was no other information about it other than what she had seen, with a splintering wooden shield and a spiked mace, along with slightly larger and stronger bones.  The Fighter was definitely not as powerful as the stronger zombies, which was why 3 of them weren’t able to take out a pair of Revenants outside of that dungeon she had seen a few restarts ago.

She attempted to ask if they knew the names of any other undead or monsters they’d seen in the Swamp, but that was when something strange happened.  As soon as they said the name of some and tried to describe them, the words became garbled in her mind and didn’t make sense.  This happened repeatedly over the next few minutes before she asked them to stop, thoroughly confused.

“You need to have actually seen these monsters for their true names to connect with their physical characteristics,” Kiana suddenly mentioned, a hint of a familiar monotone in her voice.  From Tempara’s experience, that typically meant that she was relaying assistant information that was outside of the norm, as it wasn’t readily accessible.

When asked to explain… her former master couldn’t.

“I… don’t know.  I believe that this type of information isn’t necessarily standard, and I have no more details.  My assumption is that you’re unable to actually hear the names and descriptions until you’ve actually seen them, or unlocked the Advancement Options for them.”

That was disappointing, but she was at least better off than she had been at the start.  She turned back to the pair of Defenders’ souls and clarified some answers for them.

Regardless of my inability to understand more about the other types of undead, what you’ve given me already has helped.  As I’ve explained, I’m still in the process of developing my Core to have access to stronger monsters, but the process is a bit long and can be boring at times.  It will be many restarts before I’ll be able to really defend myself properly against these other Cores, as they have a head start.  Speaking of that, do you have any idea how long it is until the next sweep?

The two looked at each other before the man in his plate armor answered.  “A little less than 3 weeks, I believe?  If indeed we went back in time, though I still have trouble believing it.”

It was approximately what Tempara had thought; the other Dungeon Cores had about a week’s jump on her.  Being able to catch up with them would be a challenge, because a week was a long time in the Wildlands, but she was positive she’d be able to succeed… eventually.

Oh, we indeed went back in time.  In just a little bit, you’ll probably see your former selves moving through the Swamp again.

“Really?  Maybe we can figure out how to insert our souls back into our bodies!” Before Tempara could say anything else, the two Defenders took off toward the entrance. As they were about to pass easy communication range, the Dungeon Core told them, Good luck.

She doubted it would work, but stranger things had happened.

With nothing to do at the moment, since she was waiting for her Elemental Power to accumulate enough to increase her Core Level to 2, Tempara rethought her defensive strategies on the islands she had created last time.  On the first island, the fencing idea had been effective against the weaker Skeletons and Zombies, but the Withering Revenants had torn through them immediately, their slightly greater intelligence obviously refusing to be baited by the open space on the left.  In addition, the Camouflage Pit Trap was a bit of an overkill, as the undead that fell inside likely would’ve fallen in a normal Pit Trap – so the extra AR expense wasn’t worth it.

But the whole concept with the fences had proven to be effective, at least in part, so Tempara was going to keep it – though some changes were going to be made.  Instead of a simple Pit Trap marking the end of that section, the knowledge of how they reacted after finding a trap was going to be an extra defense.  Instead of the Camouflaged Pit Trap, the Dungeon Core would place a trio of normal Pit Traps behind the fencing for when they broke through, which all had to be a required 6 feet apart.  They were staggered starting with one nearest the start of the island, because she had found that as soon as the parallel fencing was knocked down, the rest would stream around the perpendicular fencing at the beginning.  By putting a trap there, a few of them would fall down before the rest went around it – only to fall into the next one she would install after that.  A third would capture even more, and then whatever was left was free to navigate their way around.

This also meant that a few near the front of the horde would get through at first, but they would easily be taken care of by the Necrotic Gas trap and the Skeletons she had near the end of the island.  By the time the rest caught up, those first few would theoretically already be taken out by her defending monsters, and would face her Skeletons without as big of a horde as before.

The second island had worked as she intended, though she was planning on reducing the number of Wisps by 5 for a total of 10.  They weren’t very effective when there was still a big horde of undead, as it was difficult for them to peel single ones away to follow them into the water; so, more didn’t necessarily mean better.  When she added in the fact that they were basically useless against the Revenants, she knew she would rather have more monsters available on the third island for defense.

The third island was going to have the biggest changes, considering that it was basically just an empty island with a bunch of Decaying Zombies.  The Zombies were still going to be there, given that they were the strongest against the Revenants (even if they were still rather weak), but the environment would favor them a bit more than before.  The stronger undead had persevered over her defending Zombies in her previous restart because her Zombies weren’t able to take advantage of their numbers – they had simply walked forward to their doom as soon as they spotted the invaders.  While a few had been able to work around their fellow Zombies to the sides of the Revenants, the majority had attacked from the front and been summarily hacked to pieces by a rusty iron sword.

This time, though, Tempara was going to utilize trees, both to camouflage the presence of her Zombies and to funnel them into an arena of her choosing.  Whether or not it actually worked was something that only time would tell.

Chapter 12

“The horde with the Withering Revenants is coming up, just like last time!”

The slight hint of surprise in the Elf’s voice was almost humorous to Tempara, despite the fact that everything had perfectly repeated thus far for the two Defenders.  The Dungeon Core would’ve thought that seeing their former selves running through the Swamp – again – would have sufficed to prove that they had gone back in time, but it seemed as though they still weren’t entirely convinced.  How anyone could think that everything they saw was either an illusion or just coincidence was beyond her comprehension.

Thanks.  It’s time to see if my preparations will work.

The changes that she had planned and implemented had certainly been effective, even though her first island looked a bit silly with so many open Pit Traps on it.  However, the quite unintelligent attacking Skeletons and Zombies weren’t able to avoid them until at least 2 of their number fell inside each one – and they moved almost precisely as she had predicted when faced with them.  Every wave of undead that arrived to invade her dungeon had been whittled down by anywhere between 8 and 10 of their number before they were even halfway through her first island, which was typically half of their number or a little less.  By the time the largest undead horde – numbering just over 30, with none of the most powerful kinds, such as a Revenant or a Skeleton Fighter – managed to get to the second island, they were down to only a third of their original number, after the onslaughts of the Necrotic Gas and Tempara’s own Skeletons waiting for them near the end of the first.

Only 4 Zombies managed to make it through the Wisp Forest, as Tempara was taking to calling it, to reach the third island, and they didn’t last long against her own Zombies there.

But now she was going to face the Revenants again, and this time she was hoping her changes would stop them.  Thankfully, her other changes had meant that she had been able to save up her Elemental Power enough to fully stock the third island with 17 Zombies, even before she increased her Core Level to 3, and she was already planning on adding more.  With her Monster Threshold now up to 35, she could have a total of 52 monsters in her dungeon without having to send any outside.  To put that in perspective, back in the Frozen Reaches, it was only after gaining Core Level 7 that she could hold more than 50 monsters in her dungeon; so, the current increase in her Monster Threshold was incredible.

Core Display

Core Name:

Tempara

Core Level:

3 (+2)

Designation:

Undead Horde

Level Threshold:

6,000 (+5,000) EP – Death

Elemental Power – Cold (EP – Cold):

66 EP

Accumulation Rate – Cold (AR – Cold):

9 (+6) EP/hour

Elemental Power – Death (EP – Death):

85 EP

Accumulation Rate – Death (AR – Death):

15 (+10) EP/minute

Defensible Islands:

4 (+3)

Monster Threshold:

35 (+15)

Available Monsters:

3

Available Traps:

8

Unavailable Monsters:

39

Unavailable Traps:

11

The front ranks of the new horde entering her dungeon consisted of 10 Fragile Skeletons and 8 Decaying Zombies; bringing up the rear were the pair of Withering Revenants that had destroyed her Core the last time.  As they progressed into her first island, her fences and traps did their duty and managed to eliminate 4 Skeletons and 2 Zombies before the Revenants even got close enough to the fences; after they arrived, they knocked down the perpendicular fencing intending to funnel the undead off to the left.  Their new entrance prompted a shift in the rest of them, which caused them to miss the rest of the Pit Traps, which was a little disappointing to Tempara.

Regardless, the next part of the island – with the Necrotic Gas and her own Skeletons – managed to eliminate another 4 Skeletons and 3 Zombies before they were overwhelmed, leaving only 2 of each weaker undead, along with the untouched Revenants.  Those remaining Skeletons and 1 of the Zombies were lured off of Wisp Island into the water, where they were taken care of by the things that lived underneath the surface.

It was technically 1 extra Zombie that arrived at the third island compared to last time, which was courtesy of the fewer Wisps on the previous island, but Tempara didn’t think it would make much difference.  As the attacking Decaying Zombie led the way, only a few feet in front of the stronger Revenants, it passed by a stand of trees planted lengthwise upon the island on both sides, leaving a narrow strip of land next to the water.  Neither the enemy Zombie nor the Revenants saw the dozen Zombies that worked for Tempara behind them, because they were all focused on the 5 Zombies in the middle of the island.

The trees were basically a screen, and unless the invaders were paying attention, they wouldn’t see them until it was too late.

As the two small groups started to engage, 6 Decaying Zombies emerged from behind the trees on either side, coming up behind the Revenants that were currently tearing apart the ones they were focused on.  At first, she thought they were too late in arriving, as all but one of her Zombies in the middle had been killed; but the stronger undead were so focused on that threat that they completely ignored her reinforcements until it was too late.

While weaker than the rusty-sword-wielding Revenants, Decaying Zombies were extremely effective when they took them by surprise – if only because they grasped onto the powerful undead and wouldn’t let go of them as they began to tear them apart.  The extra weight was enough to throw them off their counterattacks as they couldn’t move their arms well enough, and trying to extract themselves from Zombies literally hanging off of their backs was next to impossible.  It didn’t take long before they were able to rip off an arm or two, damage a knee enough to bring it down to the ground, and then bash its head in.

Still, even with all of the disadvantages of being caught from behind, the Revenants showed how powerful they were by killing another 6 Zombies between them, leaving only a half-dozen to finish off the last of the enemy Decaying Zombies that survived.  It was a close result – but it had ultimately been a success.

“You did it!  I don’t remember those things being so strong. But then again, you don’t really have a lot to work with.”  Tempara saw that both Riley and Jorden were floating above the island, looking down at the fight as it finished up.

Thanks.  It’s a bit expensive to replace them, but hopefully I’ll be able to replace everything before the next group arrives.  Speaking of which, have you seen any more nearby?

The two souls looked a little guilty, and they took off for the Swamp to keep watch again.  Tempara mentally chuckled as they left, before turning back to the cleanup.  There were still a few enemy Zombies and Skeletons in the Pit Traps, which made eliminating them a priority as she created a few more Flickering Wisps to finish them off.  Thankfully, in addition to the Elemental Power Tempara received back from the destruction of her own undead, which was half of their original cost at 1,225 EP, she also received 950 EP from the destruction of the invaders.  That was nearly enough to replace all but a couple of Decaying Zombies in her entire defensive force, but what she already had in reserve plus the time it took for the fights to occur was enough to give her the full amount through her natural Accumulation Rate.

Things were looking good, especially if she could manage to add some more monsters to her defense before the next wave arrived.  Given that the majority of the nearby Dungeon Cores were Core Level 5 or lower, she didn’t expect them to challenge her too much over the next day or so.  After that, there was a risk that they could’ve unlocked something stronger, especially the one that had just attacked her with the Revenants; but for now, she felt relatively safe.

“Another small horde is about 15 minutes out!” Tempara suddenly heard from the Human, Jorden, as he raced back to the dungeon through the air.  Ever since they had learned how to fly, they rarely touched down on the ground if they could help it.

That isn’t too bad, I think the dungeon should be back in shape by that point—

“There’s a Defender scout pair working their way in this direction!”

Oh, great.

Riley’s arrival was unfortunate, because that meant one of two things.  The first was that this scout pair would see her dungeon so close to the border and report it back to the Order; if things stayed consistent the Kingdom over, then within 24 hours, her dungeon would be visited by an Extermination Team, specifically sent to destroy her Core.

Or, this scouting pair could physically investigate her dungeon and attempt to clear it themselves.  Tempara was used to scouting teams being larger in the Frozen Reaches, usually around 4 to 5 Defenders, but that was also because traveling in the freezing cold was dangerous, along with the dungeons themselves.  The Nightgloom Swamp was obviously different if there were only pairs of scouts going out.

“Who is it?” the man asked, which Tempara thought was an inconsequential question.  To her, it didn’t really matter who they were, only that they could become a problem.

“Martin and Vimea.  I forgot their patrol was coming up,” Riley said, tapping her chin in thought.

“Martin?  He’s good people.  Really knows his way around a blade, he does.  I don’t know Vimea very well, but I’ve seen her around.  Isn’t she an Arcane Archer?”

The Elf shook her head.  “No, you’re thinking of Pimera.  Vimea is an Assassin, though she just recently changed her Class the other week.  I was actually trying to see about recruiting her to become a Shadowwalker when she improved her Class enough, but… well, you know,” she said, waving her hands down at her body and around Tempara’s dungeon.

Tempara didn’t really follow their conversation very well, because she was already looking at what she could do to prevent her Core’s destruction if these new Defenders decided to investigate her dungeon right now.  After a moment, it was obvious that there was nothing she could do that wasn’t already being done, especially if they were experienced in killing the undead.  She had no confidence that her simple dungeon and weak monsters would be able to take them out before they took her out.

She briefly thought about a Dungeon Boss that she could put on her Core Island, but the expense for that was a little too much right now.  It would require 15 times the base cost of one of her monsters, which at minimum would be 375 EP for a Flickering Wisp Boss.  A Skeleton would be 750 EP, while a Zombie would be 1,500 EP – two amounts that were a bit above her current resources.  She had already spent all of her accumulated EP to replace her missing monsters from the last undead horde, so unless she removed a large chunk of them for half of the EP she spent, there wasn’t time to create it.  Given that the Flickering Wisp wasn’t very powerful by itself, she couldn’t imagine that a Wisp Boss would be much more effective against these Defenders; they were likely relatively high-Level, if they were trusted to be scouts running in a pair.

Something one of the souls in the air said caught her attention, and she realized they were talking to her.

Huh?  What was that?

“Those two scouts are good people; do you have to kill them if they enter your dungeon?”

Uh… I doubt I would be able to kill them right now, even if I could at all.  It wouldn’t really matter, though, because even if I managed it, they would be back when I restarted again.

The Elf looked thoughtful.  “Oh.  I never thought of that.”

Speaking of those two, do you think they’ll investigate my dungeon?

Nodding, the man said, “If I know Martin, he’ll want to at least check it out and see if it would be possible to complete it with just the two of them. Many of the dungeons near the border here are easy enough to destroy—uh, what I mean is….”  Fumbling his words, he didn’t complete what he was going to say.

Never mind being polite – I completely understand.  I’ve been destroyed thousands of times, so I won’t take offense.  I’m assuming that they’ll be able to see how weak my islands and monsters are from near the entrance?  In your opinion, do you think they’ll bother to attack me?

There was only the slightest hesitation as they both nodded.  “Yes, you’re… quite weak.  From what I’ve seen of your dungeon, they would have no problem getting to your core,” the Elf said.

The Human snorted and crossed his arms across his chest.  “Heck, I think even one of them could… uh, I mean, yes.”

Wonderful news.  I guess this means that we’re going to face them with every restart, which makes me wonder if I should move next time—

“NO!” Both Defender souls shouted at the same time, surprising Tempara.  “Don’t move,” Riley pleaded, before explaining.  “We don’t want to risk losing the opportunity to see our bodies running by; it’s the only thing that’s keeping us going.”

That’s… alright.  I understand.  But if it hinders my development too much, I will have to leave so that I can complete my goals. There is more than just you and your bodies at stake here, though I’ll still try and help you get back to your lives.

They hesitated for a moment, likely gauging whether Tempara was telling the truth or not, before Riley sighed rather dramatically.  “Alright, fine.  But at least see if you can make it work here before going anywhere else.”

Don’t worry, I will.

Tempara went out to look at the two Defenders as they approached closer and closer to her dungeon’s entrance, watching them as they quickly but carefully navigated their way through the land bridges of the Nightgloom Swamp.  Because this was a different Wildlands region than she was used to, she wanted to see how close they had to be in order to actually see her dungeon. While a brief conversation with the Shadowwalker had revealed that Riley could see her dungeon from quite a distance away, that Defender’s experience was a bit different, given her ability to see through the darkness better than most.

The Dungeon Core discovered that someone without the advantages of a Shadowwalker could see the darker outline of her dungeon at about 50 feet away, just shortly before the actual entrance could be seen.  This was actually better than in the Frozen Reaches, where an opening in the side of a small mountain range was visible hundreds of feet away, except in the middle of some of the strongest blizzards.

“Looks like another dungeon—hold up, we’ve got company.”

The small undead horde that was heading in her dungeon’s direction arrived, a total of 15 weaker Skeletons and Zombies, and as they turned the corner of the pathway across from the scouting pair, they hid themselves behind two different trees.  Tempara thought they would simply let them by, but that wasn’t the case; despite being outnumbered 15 to 2, the Defenders attacked just as they were turning into her entrance, showing how much they didn’t fear the undead for even a moment.

The woman Assassin, dressed in blacks and dark greys similar to Tempara’s resident Shadowwalker, moved behind the Zombies in the back with two long knives in her hands.  With obviously practiced movements that almost appeared choreographed, she stabbed her weapons into the back of two Decaying Zombies within a split-second of each other, before pulling them out with barely a sound, even as the monsters dropped.  As she moved further into the horde without them even knowing they were there, the man – whose Class Tempara wasn’t aware of – moved just as quickly with a wide-bladed short sword held in his hands, with one side razor-sharp and the other much thicker, like some sort of blunt instrument.  He was past the first two Zombies that had been taken out by the Assassin before they even started to drop, slicing his sword crosswise with the aid of a short hop, the blade completely severing their heads from their bodies.

As their heads flew into the air, their bodies dropping to the land bridge, the Assassin was past him, taking out the last 2 Zombies who still hadn’t seemed to know that they were being ruthlessly destroyed from behind.  Another pair of quick strikes killed these two, leaving 9 Skeletons to go.  Unfortunately for their stealthy maneuvers, one of the decapitated heads landed in the water on the side of the pathway, which caused a splash that alerted the other undead.

“I told you not to show off, Martin.  Now see what you did?” the surprisingly sweet-sounding voice of the Assassin said with amusement, even as the Skeletons whipped their bones around to confront the threat.

“Sorry, not sorry.  We need a tiny bit of challenge sometimes, you know?”

Even 9 fully aware Fragile Skeletons wasn’t really a challenge, however, as the two waded into the fight with amazing teamwork, the Assassin practically gliding in a crouched position through the Skeletons, using her knives to slice through their knee joints with a small spark of light, which seemed to interrupt the dark string of Elemental Power keeping them together.  None of the Skeletons could even touch her as she moved too fast for their weak bones to catch, but it didn’t really matter when they toppled to the ground after she passed them by.

As for the man, Martin, he reversed his wide-bladed sword and used the blunt end to smash the skulls of the downed Skeletons, dancing around them as they attempted to reach for his legs from their prone position.  In what Tempara judged to be less than 15 seconds, all 9 Skeletons were dead, disappearing moments later.  While she would’ve rather they had actually been inside of her dungeon so that she got the extra Elemental Power, at least watching them fight counted toward her Battle Threshold for the two undead monsters.

“See? Easy,” Martin said with a smirk toward the Assassin.  “Now, let’s see if we can take out this dungeon; I want to head back soon before night falls in the Kingdom.  Being in this blasted darkness is bad enough while we’re scouting – I don’t want to see it back home, too.”

“Fine, but unless it’s extremely dangerous, I feel like taking down a dungeon before we report back.”

The man laughed softly, not loud enough to be heard more than 50 feet away.  “I told you we needed a challenge.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Let’s just get in there and finish it so we can leave.”

So, within the first few restarts of her exhibition to the Nightgloom Swamp, a pair of Defenders was entering her dungeon.  Tempara just hoped that they didn’t end up the same as the previous two.

Chapter 13

“This is different.”

Riley thought that was quite the understatement.  Nearly everything about the dungeon her soul was now tied to was different, which probably had to do with the dungeon core that controlled it.  As she began to learn more about the core named Tempara, the more she was beginning to think that the forced time loops she had gone through had affected the former Fox’s mind somewhat.  The Shadowwalker couldn’t help but notice that Tempara was singularly focused on a specific objective to the detriment of everything else, and didn’t seem to value life the same way that Riley thought she should.

Then again, if I knew that any decision I made could simply be wiped away after I was killed, restarting back in time to try again, I think my view of the world would be somewhat skewed, as well.

At least it seemed as if Tempara generally wanted to help her and Jorden get their souls back in their bodies.  Riley was convinced that her motivation was mostly to get rid of them, but that was perfectly acceptable to the Shadowwalker; they wanted to get back, and the Fox wanted them to leave.

“I’ve only seen these types of fences a few times before, but nothing like this.”

She and her Paladin companion were observing from overhead as the two scouts entered cautiously into Tempara’s dungeon, a bit of nostalgia overcoming her as she watched.  She used to be part of a scouting pair with Jorden before all of the… stuff… back in the Kingdom went down, and she missed moving through the Swamp on the lookout for dungeons near the border to destroy.  Not that she was going to tell Tempara that, because, well, she was a dungeon, but she didn’t think there was any reason to.  Jorden nearly spilled that information earlier when they were talking with the core, but fortunately he seemed to recover before he said anything incriminating.

“I haven’t either, so I think we better be safe.  This is too out of the ordinary to simply run through without a care.”

The two Defenders underneath them were now walking even more slowly than before, silently reaching the rusty iron fences that blocked their way.  Since they were much more intelligent than the undead that recently visited the dungeon, they didn’t bother moving toward the left where the pathway was unblocked, but instead had Martin swiftly knock his blunted Cleaver Sword into the rusted bars before hopping away.  The fence practically disintegrated from his blows, as it collapsed in place rather than being pushed down.  Walking over it, Vimea checked for traps on the ground or on the fences themselves, but other than the more-than-obvious Pit Traps, there was nothing for her to find.

Riley couldn’t blame Tempara for using them, though, because Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies were stupid.  The traps were actually the perfect addition for the first island, because they whittled down the numbers of undead hordes with simple ease, even if they were so obvious that no other living creature would likely fall into them unless by a complete and crazy accident.

The Assassin saw the obvious trap that spewed out flesh-eating gas near the skeletons, quickly disabling it while Martin took the lead against the Skeletons set up on the edge of the island.  Riley couldn’t help but think the undead were wasted there, as they would’ve been better backed up by some Zombies for support.  She shook her head in surprise at the thought, because it was almost as if she wanted the dungeon to be deadlier – something she never would’ve considered before her soul was ripped out of her body.

“It’s getting stranger as we go.  Be on your guard,” Martin mentioned to his scouting partner, looking over at the next island.  The Shadowwalker heard Jorden snort from next to her, and she nearly copied him.

The second island was probably the strangest of them all, with its checkered assortment of trees, creating a veritable forest.  There was barely room for a single undead to move through it, which basically negated the strengths of the monsters that Tempara could create; Skeletons and Zombies were much more effective in a horde, after all, not in ones and two.  Of course, there were no Skeletons or Zombies on this island, because it was instead inhabited by those annoying Flickering Wisps.

They seemed to do well against the weaker undead that came through, luring them into the water to be destroyed by a nightmarish creature under the surface, but against higher-Level Defenders and stronger undead, such as the Withering Revenant, they were only an annoyance.  That proved to be the case when the scouts carefully picked their way through the arrangement of trees, as the little motes of sickly yellow light were completely ignored unless they got too close.  At that point, a sword or a knife would flash out quickly, slicing through the Wisps without the barest sign of resistance, killing them instantly.

Regardless of the lack of real danger, it still took Martin and Vimea a few minutes to walk through to the back of the island, because they were both watching out for traps every few feet.  There weren’t any, however, though Riley privately thought that area would’ve been the perfect place for some traps, because the visibility was rather low.

“No traps at all.  How weird.”  Almost as if the pair of Defenders down below could hear her thoughts, the Assassin echoed them quite adeptly.

“Yeah, and now… this?”  Martin gestured ahead of them at the third island, which was mostly bare of any décor except the trees that hid the Decaying Zombies on either side.  They had managed to allow the dungeon’s undead to surround the Withering Revenants that had attacked not long ago, but she doubted they would surprise the two veteran scouts.

“I’ll check for traps, but I have a feeling that what we’re seeing is it,” Vimea softly advised her partner.

Both were looking at the trees on either side of the island, and it was obvious they saw the Zombies waiting there.  It was hard not to see them, because the trees didn’t really provide full coverage.  Only the undead might fall for something like that, which was precisely what had happened before.

After detecting no sign of traps, the two Defenders slowly walked forward, which helped to draw the Zombies on the sides out from their “hiding places,” and they joined the others in the middle.  There were a total of 18 Decaying Zombies, 1 more than had fended off the Revenant, but it didn’t really make a difference.  While not surprised or ambushed from behind, even nearly a score of weaker undead was no match for the pair of scouts, as the Assassin pulled out some throwing knives and accurately tossed them through the foreheads of her targets, taking a half-dozen of them out before they even got close.  Martin practically danced through half of the others, using the bladed half of his Cleaver Sword to strike low and high, severing heads and lower limbs as if they were saplings that were being chopped down by a professional lumberjack. Just as how trees were dangerous to lumberjacks, the only time Martin suffered any kind of injury was when his footwork placed him right where a Zombie fell after dismembering one of its legs, but it was more a hearty slap on his back rather than an actual injury.

“You’re so good that they’re literally falling all over themselves for you, Martin,” Vimea joked, after seeing that he was alright after the unexpected blow.  The Assassin moved in behind him, finishing off those he’d left missing limbs but not heads.

Martin barked out a short laugh.  “Very funny.  Was that all of them?”

“I think so.  And… I think this was the last island, unless there’s one right near the core.  Have you heard of a dungeon this small before?”

He shook his head, helping the woman recover her throwing knives from the corpses she took out at the beginning.  “No, I haven’t.  Is this something we should report?”

Vimea hesitated for a second before shrugging.  “Up to you.  It’s not necessarily dangerous, just strange.  Either way, let’s see what else is waiting for us.”

They’re not going to be happy seeing that there’s no boss waiting for them near the core.  Those fights were half the fun of destroying dungeons, because they gave off a lot of Elemental Charge – unlike these weaker undead.

Riley was suddenly overwhelmed with the memories of her own fights against the undead and the dungeon bosses that she destroyed with Jorden, with the Paladin using his spells that basically paralyzed the undead or weakened them; when they were sufficiently weakened, she would use the shadows created from his bright spells to sneak up on them and stab them in the back or wherever they were most vulnerable.  Being a Shadowwalker paired with a Paladin seemed counterintuitive at first glance, with most of the Paladin’s spells being flashy and bright, but those always seemed to create the best shadows.

She followed the pair across the long land bridge as they approached the island in the middle of the dungeon, where Tempara’s core was located, floating a few feet off of the surface.  The former Defender, Kiana, was there along with the three foxes that were apparently part of the core’s family, which she was confused about – though neither of the living scouts could see them, of course.  She had learned that, just as with herself and Jorden, no person could actually see that trio of Foxes, if they were still amongst the living.

“No boss?  Is it hiding?”

Hah, nope.  You’re out of luck.

Again, as if she could sense her thoughts, Vimea responded to her partner’s question.  “No, I don’t believe so.  The strangeness continues, which means we’re out of luck with gaining some more Charge.”

Still cautiously approaching the island, the two circled the perimeter, looking for any sign that they were wrong, but they obviously didn’t find anything.

“Let’s do this and get out of here, then.  We’ll just chalk this one up as a bust.  At least it was interesting enough in its variation that I wasn’t bored,” Martin said, after they had thoroughly searched the bare island.

“Very true.  You want to do the honors?”

“Absolutely.”  With a few steps toward the core to get closer, he reversed his Cleaver Sword so that it had its blunt weapon ready to strike.  When he was in range, he wound up his swing and hit the floating, black, glowing gem with enough force to shatter it in a million pieces.

The next thing Riley knew was that her perspective changed, as she was no longer floating in the air, but was on the ground, looking at the intact dungeon core, Kiana, and the three fox souls hanging out on the island.

“Welcome back.  I don’t like it, but we’re still located where we just were.  I need to start ramping up my development if I’m ever going to get a chance to defend my core against those scouts.”

The abrupt change in her elevation and the intact appearance of the core took Riley a few seconds to adjust to.  The fact that Tempara didn’t seem fazed in the least from her core being destroyed and being sent back in time – which she supposed had to be true now, despite the insanity of it – was still difficult for the Shadowwalker to comprehend.

“W-what does that mean?” Jorden asked by her side.  It was obvious that he was still reeling from the abrupt transition, as well.

“It means that I’m going to, well, exploit the development and advancement systems a little. I need to unlock some more powerful monsters quickly. Otherwise, this could take hundreds of restarts, and there’s only one way to do that easily.”

Riley wasn’t sure what that meant, but she figured she was about to find out.

Chapter 14

After being attacked by the pair of Defender scouts and her defenses being absolutely annihilated in the process, coupled with the two souls pleading with her not to move locations, Tempara decided that there was only one way this was going to work.  To survive more than 24 hours, she was going to have to convince the scouts that her dungeon was too much of a risk for them to attempt to clear, so they would have to send an Extermination Team the next day.  Her hope was that this Team would be strong, but not strong enough to cope with the changes she would make after the scouts’ visit.  That way, she could eliminate them and gain some breathing room before the Kingdom eventually sent someone too strong for her to defeat.

Doing all of that within a few days during a restart was a colossal challenge, but it was the only way she could figure out how to survive long enough to really develop herself.  Developing herself was going to be important, too, because she needed to survive long enough to discover where the next ritual was going to take place and keep her dungeon around long enough – through a sweep, most likely – to do something about it after it had been accomplished.  Actually surviving intact through a sweep was enough of a challenge that she wasn’t sure how it could be accomplished at the moment, but she pushed that thought out of her mind for the moment.  She’d tackle that problem when the time came.

As she had told Riley and Jorden, in order to ever get to that point, she was going to have to exploit her development using what she had learned over many loops through time.  It all had to do with obtaining those all-important Advancement Options for her monsters, and to do that they needed to hit their Thresholds.  The Creation Threshold was easy, as she only needed to create 250 of each of them. The way to exploit that Threshold, especially with the lower-cost ones, was to create one and then immediately eliminate it, gaining half of the EP spent on it back.  At Core Level 2, that meant that she could create another Flickering Wisp (for example) every minute and a half, so that within an hour, she could boost that Threshold by at least 40 or more.  If she was able to increase her Core Level to 3, she could do it even faster.

But that whole process was a bit of a waste, because with these weaker monsters, they almost inevitably hit the Creation Threshold far ahead of the other one: the Battle Threshold.  The Battle Threshold was something altogether more difficult to exploit, but not impossible.  It was measured by the times that Tempara had seen them in a battle, even if it wasn’t her own monster. That meant that simply observing the fights of undead hordes as they battled outside of dungeons in the Swamp also counted, though there was a caveat.  For each battle she observed, including inside of her own dungeon, it only contributed one toward the Battle Threshold, for each type of monster fighting.

That meant that she could watch a single Fragile Skeleton fighting a million enemy Fragile Skeletons, and she would still only receive one toward the Battle Threshold for that monster.  Subsequent battles with different foes counted, of course; but if, for example, reinforcements were added while the fight was still ongoing with that original battle, then there was no way to increase her Threshold at that point.

For her dungeon, things were slightly different from the environment outside.  Each room – or island, in her current situation – could count as a different battle, as long as there were monsters present.  With that in mind, in order to exploit the system, all Tempara had to do was take advantage of that rule; it was something she had done up north after she figured it out, and it had helped to advance her development incredibly fast.  She hadn’t originally adopted that idea with her new dungeon immediately because she had done it in the Frozen Reaches when she already had a good defense in place, so she wasn’t sure how it would go, starting out with that at first.  Now, though, she wasn’t going to have a chance to set up a good defense before her Core was going to be destroyed by one thing or another, so there was no reason not to attempt it to see how it went.

Therefore, as soon as she hit Core Level 2, she saved up enough Elemental Power to start constructing small, 12-foot-wide by 6-foot-long islands starting near the entrance, which was the minimum length that she found she could construct and still have them count as a “room” or island.  She spaced these islands out by short, 4-foot-long pathways of equal width to the rest of the land bridges, and she began to start them branching off to the left of the first island, moving to the next as it followed the perimeter of her dungeon.  She had remembered Kiana telling her that many of the dungeons in the Nightgloom Swamp did this to maximize space, constructing a single, spiraling route toward the Core Island in the center. While she was mimicking this pattern somewhat at the start, she was planning on doing something a little different once she made it all the way around the perimeter.

After every island was constructed, Tempara created 1 Flickering Wisp and 1 Decaying Zombie – and that was it.  She didn’t bother to change some of the Decaying Zombies to Fragile Skeletons until the tenth island, for a simple reason.  Knowing what she knew about the undead hordes that would attack her dungeon, every single one of them had some Fragile Skeletons that would lead the way, meaning that there would be a representative of that particular monster in each battle for a little while. There were Zombies, as well, but her own being there had a better chance of killing an invading Skeleton over anything else she could place on the islands.  As for the Wisp, they were there because there weren’t any that invaded her dungeon, so they needed to be on each island.

Because she was constructing her islands without any environmental décor, nor did she install any traps at first, the process went quite quickly.  She was able to construct 18 islands, as they were the only ones that could be fully defended with monsters until she hit Core Level 3.  Once she was at that point, she started to install simple Pit Traps on the land bridges connecting the islands, right in the center where most – if not all – of the undead would be walking.  How effective they would be, she wasn’t sure, but she was hoping that they would at least be enough to eliminate some of the invading hordes, allowing her to survive for at least a few assaults before her core was destroyed.

This entire tactic wasn’t exactly meant to be a long-term defense, after all, as it was only designed to maximize her development.  As soon as she saw she was going to be destroyed and couldn’t get any more from her dungeon, she would activate her Temporal Displacement Skill and send her soul back in time – where she could do it all again, growing her development even further.

After placing 10 Pit Traps throughout the land bridges – bringing her down to half of her normal Accumulation Rate – she thought she had a fairly good chance to survive the first few hordes that attacked her.  There were a few that would likely challenge her defenses, but she was prepared to cut her losses and restart if that happened.

“This is very odd, Tempara.  I don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish with… whatever this is.”

The Dungeon Core looked up at Riley floating above the small islands inhabited by small pairings of monsters, and she began to explain their purpose.  The floating soul of the Defender still didn’t seem to comprehend exactly what she was trying to do, but at least she stopped asking questions when Tempara told the Shadowwalker to trust in her methods, even if they were a bit strange and unorthodox.

Despite her show of confidence, the first horde of undead that attacked her dungeon made the Dungeon Core slightly nervous.  She wasn’t 100% sure that this method would work, even as she hoped it would, because it was largely untested in this environment.  Thankfully, she needn’t have worried, as everything went off surprisingly well.

The Pit Trap just inside of her dungeon, located right before the first horde of 8 Fragile Skeletons and 3 Decaying Zombies reached the first small island, managed to take out 3 of the Skeletons up front when they blindly walked right into it.  When they navigated their way around the trap, single file instead of the large grouping they had been in originally, Tempara couldn’t help but be thankful.  Her own Zombie on the island met the lead Skeleton all by itself, and it was able to crush the skull of the monster before any of its companions could enter the fray.

Once a few of the others caught up, one of the Skeletons was led away by the Flickering Wisp after it snuck up behind the enemy and zapped it with its yellow light.  Her instructions to all the Wisps was to flee to the water as soon as they had the attention of an invader, and this was exactly what this one did.  Even as the Skeleton it lured to the water was being ripped apart by the underwater beasts, her Zombie was overwhelmed by the rest of the horde as they entered the island.  When the Wisp came back, all the remaining horde members were ready for it, killing it before it could even annoy them.

All-in-all, her first trap and island managed to kill 4 of the 8 Skeletons, which was very promising.  Only a single Skeleton fell into the next Pit Trap, located right before the second island, but it was worth it.  Her Zombie managed to take out another Skeleton before being killed, and the Wisp took out another, leaving only 1 Skeleton and 3 Zombies in the horde.  The last Skeleton fell into the next Pit Trap, but her lone Zombie wasn’t quite as effective against the invading trio, only managing to do some minor damage to one before its head was crushed.

The Zombies, evidently learning somewhat from prior experience, only managed to let one of their number fall into the next Pit Trap – and none of the others afterward.  The fourth island’s Zombie did more damage to one of the enemies, as there were only 2 invading Zombies by that point, but it was ultimately killed before it could finish it off.  The foreign Zombie repaired itself a little from the pieces left behind by her own monster, and they both moved to the fifth island, bypassing the Pit Trap entirely.  There, another invading Zombie was damaged even more, nearly killing it, but it survived and repaired itself minimally again.  The Wisps on that island and the previous one managed to get in an attack before being swatted away, but that was it; the smaller the number of undead in the horde, the harder it seemed to be to lure any of them away.

The sixth island finally killed one of the last 2 enemy Zombies. When her Zombie and the invader clashed on the seventh island, hers had an advantage when the Wisp attacked it, basically with impunity, as it was engaged in a fight with its equal.  As a result, her own Zombie was only partially damaged by the time the last enemy monster had its head crushed, signaling the end of the danger and the horde.  Of course, there were still some that needed to be eliminated from the Pit Traps, which was easy enough to take care of with the help of Wisps from the islands not even touched; and within 5 minutes or so, everything was clear.

“That worked better than I thought it would, but I can’t imagine it would be able to withstand much larger hordes,” the man, Jorden, told her.

Maybe; maybe not.  Like I told the Elf, the point of all this isn’t for a long-term defense, but to maximize the progression of the Battle Thresholds of my monsters.

He seemed to understand it a little better than the woman did, but it really didn’t matter to Tempara whether he did or not.  The fact was that it worked, and surprisingly well, if she were being honest with herself.  As the Paladin had mentioned, though, much larger hordes might be able to blow right through her defenses; but that was something she already expected.  Given that she had advanced the Battle Thresholds for each of her monsters by anywhere between 5 and 7, whenever that time came it would ultimately be worth it.

With the Elemental Power she had gained from all the deaths in her dungeon, she had more than enough to replace her monsters that had been killed.  In fact, she was at a surplus, which meant that she was able to save it for an upcoming Core Level increase.

Tempara briefly considered replacing some of the Pit Traps that had been completely avoided, but she held off because she wouldn’t have enough time to fully eliminate them and reinstall something else before the next wave of undead arrived at her dungeon.  In future restarts, she might end up changing it up a little; but for now, it was relatively fixed the way it was.

The next horde arrived just when she expected it to, and while it was a few undead larger than the first, it only managed to progress another 2 islands further, meaning that they hit the halfway mark.  She still had plenty of Elemental Power to replace her monsters and then some, so she was ready when the next arrived.

A slightly larger one than the second, at 22 total undead, the horde was a bit intimidating.  However, as Tempara soon learned, it seemed as though larger hordes weren’t exactly as careful as the smaller ones; even when they approached the seventh and eighth Pit Traps, at least 1 of the invaders fell inside, inadvertently pushed from behind by the crowd behind them striving to move forward.  As a result, the last remnants of the horde made it to the eleventh island, progressing only one more island than the last wave.

Then she was attacked by the one she had been worried about, a horde containing a total of 31 undead, the strongest of the waves she would face until the Revenants started showing up later.  Thankfully, her defenses held up remarkably well regardless of the numbers, and it was probably because everything was relatively narrow that they weren’t able to take advantage of numbers the way they were used to doing.  Still, they managed to make it to the penultimate island before they were entirely destroyed, which was a little too close for comfort.

In that short time, she had already achieved 50 or more for each of her monsters’ Battle Thresholds, which meant that they were halfway to their goal – a drastic improvement over the little she had for them before she initiated the change.  When the next horde arrived, she was able to defeat them just as completely as the others, adding another 10 or so to each of their Battle Thresholds by the end of the attack.

She was doing quite well, but then it came time for the Withering Revenants to attack her dungeon, which she knew she had no way of defending against.  She waited for them to arrive… but they never showed up.

Anyone see the Revenant-led horde out there? she asked her two soul helpers, but they didn’t see one coming towards her dungeon’s direction.

“I think I saw it briefly on the edge of your range, but it turned the other direction,” Jorden informed her, confusion in his voice that mimicked her own mind.

What?  How did that happen?  What is different—oh.

She hadn’t increased her Core Level to 3 like she normally did, which meant that she wasn’t as juicy of a target as the other Cores around the area.  She briefly wished she had known about that earlier, but it ultimately didn’t mean anything but a temporary reprieve.  The pair of Defender scouts showed up shortly thereafter, attacking just as they had before.  While their opinion that her dungeon was weird and strange – expressed multiple times as they slaughtered her monsters – was fairly accurate, Tempara couldn’t help but be a little offended in the process.

Regardless, it had been a very beneficial restart, and she knew that all it would take was one more before she finally unlocked some Advancement Options that would make survival much more likely.  With that in mind, she obeyed the voice in her mind after her dungeon was destroyed and picked her starting location… once again.

Chapter 15

Yes!  Finally!

Tempara had been keeping an eye on her Thresholds through this new restart, and after only two more hordes assaulting her dungeon, she finally hit the Battle Thresholds for first her Decaying Zombie and then her Flickering Wisp.  The Creation Threshold for each of them took a little longer, as she hadn’t quite made 250 of each yet; but by the time the large horde of 31 undead attacked her again, she had managed to surpass the Battle Threshold for the Fragile Skeleton, as well as her Creation Threshold for Wisps.  Both the Skeleton and Zombie required another 22 and 35 for the Creation Threshold, respectively, but it was likely that would occur during this restart – especially if she did her little exploit by creating one and then eliminating it right away to get half of the EP she spent on it back.

Opening up her Core Display, she focused on the Flickering Wisp, which had been much easier to hit the Creation Threshold for because of its low EP cost, and she was greeted by its Advancement Options.  She was actually looking forward to seeing what the Wisp had to offer, since it was the only one of her starting monsters that she hadn’t seen an Advanced monster from.

Monster Details

Flickering Wisp

25 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Living Shadow

50 EP – Death

Glowing Wraith

100 EP – Death

Incorporeal Phantom

250 EP – Death

Wailing Banshee

800 EP – Death

The Advancement Options for the Flickering Wisp were definitely not what she expected.  Then again, she wasn’t really an expert on undead, so she wasn’t exactly sure what an advanced “Wisp” would be, but this definitely wasn’t it.  That wasn’t to say that her options weren’t intriguing, but they were likely quite different from the Options available for her Skeleton and Zombie monsters.

The first Advancement Option was the Living Shadow for 50 EP, the same cost as a Fragile Skeleton, and it was essentially what the name suggested.  The Shadow was an amorphous blob that reminded her of a slime, and it was approximately 2 feet across when it was at rest, but it could change its shape to become slightly larger by becoming less dense, or smaller when it condensed itself.  The reason it could change shape was that it could hide in any shadow, but especially ones cast by bright lights.  While there weren’t many bright lights in the Swamp other than what was put out by Wisps and Defenders casting spells, the shadow could attach themselves to their victims regardless of whether there was a light source nearby.

When they attached themselves to an enemy, they attacked by slowly causing spiritual damage similar to the Wisps weak light attack, but this was a bit more insidious.  The Living Shadow could completely envelop the rear part of a victim, such as a Skeleton or a Zombie, attaching themselves so that they were only visible to someone or something else.  Of course, if a target were intelligent enough to realize they were slowly suffering from spiritual damage, then it was easy enough to attack it with just about anything on hand – or a hand, itself.  The Shadows were as weak as the Wisps, unfortunately, but their benefit over the small mote of light was that they were a bit sneakier and harder to detect.

The second Option was a Glowing Wraith for 100 EP, which looked like a Wisp if it had grown up and developed a blurry, humanoid-looking body with drab, ragged, and unrecognizable clothing hanging off it in what appeared to be various strips.  It glowed with the same sickly yellow color as the Wisp, but it was 4 feet tall from head to toe – and it hovered 2 feet above the ground.  From the information she was getting from her focus on the name, she understood that it couldn’t actually fly, but simply hovered as part of its natural movement.

As for what it could do, it was an upgrade to the Wisp on many levels.  It had a much stronger lure to it that could occasionally affect those with stronger minds, which Tempara assumed meant a bit more intelligent than the weaker Fragile Skeleton and Decaying Zombie. The Wraith also had a spiritual attack similar to the Wisp and the Living Shadow, but this one was a bit more powerful, as it did approximately 5 times the spiritual damage as either of the weaker monsters, but the drawback was that it had to touch a victim in order to do the damage.  So the bolt of light from the Wisp from a short distance away was gone, and the sneaky, insidious latching on of the Shadow was non-existent – because it was hard to miss a large, glowing figure attempting to attack a victim.

Next was the Incorporeal Phantom for 250 EP, which was different from the previous 2 Options in one major way: it was invisible.  Or, at least when it reached within 10 feet of their victim, they would suddenly turn invisible to normal sight, though to those with abnormal sight, such as the way undead – who may or may not actually have eyes – could see, they were still relatively visible because of the Elemental Power inside all monsters.

Their appearance was similar in form as the Glowing Wraith, as it was a hovering humanoid figure, but instead of glowing it was essentially only visible as a hazy fog-like shape when it was out of range of its invisibility.  It had no visible clothes or armor, though unlike the Wraith it had a weapon: a 5-foot-long spear that had the same fog-like appearance as its body.  When it got within 10 feet of a victim, the Phantom would turn itself invisible and then attack from a few feet away doing spiritual damage (once again), making it difficult for anyone to fight back against something they couldn’t see.

For undead, however, they could notice it coming with their special way of seeing Elemental Power, so it wasn’t nearly as effective.

Similar to most of the other monsters she had seen related to the Wisp, the Phantom’s defense was quite low, as a single strike through its body could kill it.  Spells and other magical effects were really effective against them, but the biggest difference was that the only damage it took from physical blows were from weapons containing a high content of iron.  That meant that Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies, while they could see themselves being stabbed by the Incorporeal Phantom, couldn’t do anything about them; it would take the weapon from a Withering Revenant or even Skeleton Fighter to finish them off with one blow.

Lastly, at a cost of 800 EP, was something called a Wailing Banshee.  The Banshee was a bit different from anything Tempara had seen thus far, in either Wildlands location, because the figure of the monster was unlike anything she expected.  Floating 3 feet above the ground, the Banshee appeared to be a mix between a Human and an Elven woman, with long black hair that seemed to float around her head as if she was underwater.  She wore a long white dress that covered her modestly from head to toe, with long sleeves that ended in a lace-covered cuff at her wrists, and while she was barefoot, her skin seemed to glow with a subtle, white, inner vibrancy that was totally unlike the death and decay of everything else in the Nightgloom Swamp.

Her pale face was thin with delicate features, and her full lips had a life to them that was unseen on any of the Zombies Tempara could create.  The ears that were just barely visible from underneath her moving hair were slightly pointed, as if they were a mix between a Human and an Elf. She couldn’t tell what the Banshee’s eyes looked like, though, because they were closed, as if the woman were asleep.

Apart from its appearance, the information she gained from focusing on the Wailing Banshee told her that it used some sort of screaming attack that affected anything within 50 feet of it, including her own monsters with a physical body.  It was also different from the other Options in that the attack didn’t only cause spiritual damage, though it still did, but also to do some sort of sonic-based damage – which she figured meant with sound.  It was apparently strong enough to shatter or crack weak bones, strip off heavily decayed or rotted flesh from those same bones, and had a chance to deafen anything within range, though most of the undead she saw really wouldn’t be affected by the latter.

As far as defenses, the Banshee suffered from the same weaknesses as the Incorporeal Phantom, in that iron weapons or spells could greatly affect it, though it was able to withstand a few blows before it was entirely killed.  In addition, it apparently couldn’t move around very quickly, as it could only glide over the ground at a normal walking pace, and its scream attack only lasted 5 seconds and had a 20 second cooldown before it could be used again.  It was a very powerful monster, but it was also very vulnerable if it couldn’t kill everything within range with its attack.

Looking over her Advancement Options, Tempara knew exactly what she wanted.  While the Living Shadow could be beneficial to help add some sneaky damage to the hordes that came through, it still wasn’t very ideal for defense against so many undead given its low spiritual damage.  The Glowing Wraith was very similar in the reasons why it wasn’t needed at the moment, though she could imagine some ways to utilize it in the future; its poor defense and need to get up close and personal to a victim was too much of a drawback at the current time.  Lastly, while the Wailing Banshee was extraordinarily powerful and would likely be super effective against the hordes that were currently attacking her dungeon, its high EP cost and range – which could affect her own nearby monsters with a physical body, as well – meant that it wasn’t right at this time, either.

What she needed was something that might be effective in both destroying many of the weaker undead that were invading Tempara’s dungeon and that might be a possible deterrent to the two Defender scouts when they inspected her entrance.  While the Banshee might be a good choice for that, if it didn’t work, then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to utilize the powerful monster elsewhere in her dungeon normally.  Besides, proper defense wasn’t necessarily dependent on just the Phantom to deter the scouts, as she still had the Fragile Skeleton and Decaying Zombie Advancement Options to choose from soon.

With all of her reasoning done, she chose the Incorporeal Phantom as her new monster, resetting the Thresholds for the Flickering Wisp so that she could choose another Advancement Option once they were reached again.  By that point, it was nearly time for the last undead horde to arrive before her dungeon was visited by the scouts, but she really wanted to see what her new monster could do.  Eliminating a couple of the monsters she had on the last few islands nearest her Core Island, she used her available Elemental Power to create a pair of her new Phantoms.

Her new monsters weren’t overly impressive-looking when she created them near her Core, because they looked just like forms made out of a thick mist or a fog.  The spear they carried as a weapon was thinner than she had pictured, looking more like a stick than anything else, but it was still better than nothing.

Instead of keeping them in the back, she sent them to the very first island, where they joined the Zombie and Wisp already there.  They moved over the land bridges and islands quite quickly, faster than the Flickering Wisps, but they were also insubstantial enough that they passed through her other monsters as if they weren’t even there – which was very strange to see.

It didn’t take long before the next horde arrived, and Tempara was finally able to see what her new acquisitions could do.  The invading horde of undead contained 12 Skeletons and 8 Zombies, and a pair of the bony monsters fell into the Pit Trap located before the first island.  As the rest moved their way around it and the lead elements of the horde stepped onto the island, the Dungeon Core’s monsters attacked.  Her Zombie, as usual, fought against one of the enemy Skeletons that reached it first, which typically ended up with her monster winning after a few seconds as they scuffled, followed by its death when the other elements of the horde caught up.

This time, however, her Zombie had backup.  Tempara saw the Phantoms suddenly turn invisible, though she could still “see” them as indistinct shapes with an aura of shadowy power around them. She supposed that this was the Elemental Power she had used to create them, which made them still visible to her and anything else that could detect it.  The pair of Phantoms floated forward in a rush and stabbed the first Skeleton that her Zombie was in the process of attacking, and the invading monster immediately showed signs of cracked bones where they struck at its ribcage and right arm.

The weakened bones allowed her own Zombie to overcome the defenses of the Skeleton much quicker, as it seemed to recognize the spiritual damage and took advantage of it by hitting its chest with one hand and ripping off the damaged arm with the other.  The bony attacker practically collapsed into a jumble as it was pushed back, hitting the one behind it and causing the other Skeleton to stumble; the delay in the attack on her Zombie allowed it to recover and was ready for the next Skeleton to reach it, which it did as soon as it was within range.

Her Phantoms backed up a few feet after their original attack, as if they had to ready themselves for another charge, and they contributed to the next attack with another spiritual spear-stabbing.  This time, one of them hit the Skeleton’s head, which… didn’t shatter, as Tempara had hoped.  The invader’s skull was cracked, but she equated the damage to be similar to a Flickering Wisp attacking it for about 20 seconds straight; it was certainly more powerful, but it would take at least three strikes to completely kill even the weakest Skeletons.

I can now see why these types of monsters aren’t widely used by the other Dungeon Cores.  Even this Phantom feels weaker than a Fragile Skeleton… but at least they are immune to damage from these particular undead.

That was seen shortly after their second attack, as more and more of the horde piled onto the island, surrounding her Zombie and striking out at the Phantoms.  Their bony hands simply passed through the relatively invisible monsters without seeming to do anything to them, and even when the invading Zombies were able to strike at her Incorporeal monsters, their decaying flesh did absolutely naught.

Her own Zombie and even her Wisp didn’t last long against the horde, though they had done a little more damage than normal thanks to the Phantoms.  Even so, it was obvious that her new monsters weren’t a catch-all for defeating the hordes, despite their inability to be hurt by the invading undead.  They still did damage, though, which she supposed was important – and they didn’t let up for a moment.

Once the physical obstacles were out of the way on the first island, the horde continued to the second island without even attempting to kill her Phantoms more than they had already tried.  After a few seconds, in fact, the invaders basically ignored them even as they were stabbed over and over again, being weakened as they marched ahead.  Another few Skeletons fell into the next Pit Trap, and another one was killed by the continued spiritual damage being heaped upon it before they reached her next Zombie, which she supposed was a proof that they could kill the undead, even if it took a bit of work to get it done.

“What are those?  I don’t think I’ve seen them before.”

Tempara turned her attention away from the ongoing battles as she looked at the Shadowwalker’s soul floating near her viewpoint above the islands.  Before she could answer, Jorden floated closer and answered the question for the Dungeon Core.

“They’re Incorporeal Phantoms.  I remember seeing one at a distance during my Paladin training before we even met, and it’s one of the reasons there are so many Paladins, Priests, and Battle Clerics near the border with the Nightgloom Swamp than anywhere else.”

Why is that? Tempara asked, genuinely curious now.  She really didn’t know much about the Classes that the Defenders used, other than from personal observation and the little knowledge that was imparted to her from Kiana’s memories.

Jorden looked surprised that she had asked that question, but he continued after a few seconds.  “Because of their Life-based spells?” he asked, as if that should answer it.  When she didn’t say anything, the man went on.  “Do you remember the Repel Undead spell I cast when I was still alive and on your core’s island?”

Yes, I believe so.  The one that shone with a bright light?

“Exactly.  The light is a result of the Life-based spells and skills that I can use, and it is anathema to the undead – and that includes monsters like this Phantom.  The light of Life can both expose and hurt them when they turn invisible, and simple Life wards can help prevent attacks on our Health that would be otherwise unavoidable.  Thankfully, monsters like the Phantom are few and far between, so even if a group doesn’t have a Paladin or a Priest, they are typically fine attacking most of the other undead.

“I only saw the Incorporeal Phantom once when I was brought along on a sweep and had to clear out a particularly strong dungeon years ago.  Other than that, those and a few of the other ghost-like monsters that I’ve seen are a rarity.”

Tempara supposed that made sense, given what she knew about the way Dungeon Cores worked.  If there was a monster that wasn’t effective in killing the opposition, then they would typically neglect its usage, just like they did with Cold Slimes up north.  Their short-sightedness meant that most Cores didn’t see the use of Wisps, Phantoms, or any other monsters along that line of Advancement Options until they were a much higher Core Level, because they concentrated on undead that could actually be effective – or so they thought.  The Phantoms weren’t terribly effective, granted, but they weren’t necessarily useless, as she had seen inside of her dungeon already.

Overall, with the Phantoms’ help, this undead horde – which normally lasted all the way to the tenth island, was completely destroyed before they passed the fifth.  The constant attacks on them that they couldn’t fight back against was a powerful tool, one that was certainly underutilized by other Cores in the Nightgloom Swamp.

After they were destroyed, the horde with the Withering Revenants arrived – because Tempara had decided to increase her Core Level to 3 when she had the chance, and because she wanted to see what would happen when her new monsters went up against the Phantoms.

Sadly, it went just as poorly as she had expected.  While the Phantoms were able to help kill a few of the leading undead, when the Revenants were able to get close to the Incorporeal monsters, a few simple slices with their rusty swords were enough to kill them, and they disappeared with a *pop* similar to the Wisps when they were killed.  As a result, without them to help thin out the horde even further, the Revenants were able to progress through the entire dungeon, bypassing any Pit Traps along the way.  It wasn’t too disappointing, because she would’ve likely been destroyed when the scouting pair showed up, and she was also able to rapidly create more Skeletons and Zombies as the horde fought her way through to her Core.

When she restarted, she would have the chance to choose some more Advancement Options.

Chapter 16

The benefit of having to wait until her Elemental Power accumulated enough to increase her Core Level to 2 soon after choosing her starting location was that it gave her some time to think things over.  She typically spent that time thinking about how she might change her dungeon – once she began to actually construct it – or other methods of boosting her development, but in this particular case, it gave her time to really think about her new Advancement Options.  Surprisingly, Tempara was finding it more difficult to choose among these options than among those for her Flickering Wisp, and she was glad of the extra time to come to a decision.

Monster Details

Fragile Skeleton

50 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Skeleton Fighter

100 EP – Death

Skeleton Archer

150 EP – Death

Skeleton Mage

350 EP – Death

Skeleton Amalgamation

700 EP – Death

As she had already learned from Riley, the Skeleton Fighter was available to her at 100 EP, which was actually an impressive Option, so much better than a basic Fragile Skeleton.  The ability to arm a Skeleton with a mace and a basic shield – even if they weren’t very powerful – couldn’t be taken lightly, though there were obviously counters to it, such as the Withering Revenants she had seen demolish them earlier.  Still, there were other Advancement Options to consider for the Skeleton line of monsters.

The first new option was a Skeleton Archer for just a little more EP at 150, and it was essentially exactly its name implied.  Instead of a mace and a shield like the Fighter, the Archer was armed with a simple wooden bow that looked like it was going to splinter as soon as the string was pulled, and it had a quiver of arrows strapped to its hip, where it could pull the arrows out and release one of the projectiles every 10 seconds.  Some magical property of the quivers ensured they never ran out of arrows, no matter if the Archer were firing for days on end. They were only temporary constructs, though, because 30 seconds after they were loosed from the bow, they disappeared.  Tempara figured it was this mechanic that allowed the arrows to keep spawning, as the Elemental Power infused in the arrows constantly cycled between the projectiles and the quiver.

As far as any other attacks, the Skeleton Archers would drop their bows if an enemy came within 5 feet of their position, pulling out one of the rusty, iron-tipped arrows to use as a last-ditch weapon to defend themselves.  Their bones were only slightly sturdier than the Fragile Skeletons’ and not nearly as strong as the Fighters’, so they were quite vulnerable to close melee attacks.  That meant that if they failed to kill a target before it got into melee range, it wasn’t likely they would last much longer.

Next up was the Skeleton Mage, continuing the skeleton theme, and it cost over 2 times as much as the Archer at 350 EP.  The Mage was very similar to the Archer in terms of its physical attributes; it was stronger than a Fragile Skeleton, but not as sturdy as the Fighter.  The biggest difference between the Mage and the others was that it held a plain-looking wooden staff tipped with iron caps in its hands instead of a dangerous weapon.  Tempara supposed that the iron caps were yet another reason why monsters along the Wisp line weren’t as popular, as they were all affected by iron; with an iron mace, iron-tipped arrows, and now an iron-capped staff used by at least 3 of the Advancement Options in the Skeleton line, they certainly wouldn’t be fearing invisible Incorporeal Phantoms or Glowing Wraiths.

Apart from the snazzy staff, the Mage could also cast spells.

Being that it was undead and made from Death-focused Elemental Power, the spells it could cast reflected those things.  In total, there were three spells the Mage could cast, each requiring a few seconds to build up Power.  Once unleashed, the spells required, at minimum, 10 seconds to be recast, with one requiring up to 30 seconds.

The first was a Necrotic Bolt, essentially a ranged attack that sent out a bolt of dark energy that had an effect very similar to Tempara’s Necrotic Gas trap.  This one was targeted and only affected one victim, however, and was described as a little more powerful.

The second spell was a wide-area effect called Shadow Veil, which essentially blanketed a spherical area up to 20 feet across with a dark shadow, completely blinding anything within the area.  Apparently, it also messed with the capacity of the undead to see Elemental Power, so they would be unable to see anything – including invisible monsters such as her Phantoms.  This also affected her own monsters, unfortunately, but disguising a rather nasty trap might take advantage of this spell, killing many more monsters than normal.

The last, and the one that took the longest to recover from casting, was a spell called Umbral Explosion.  This spell caused a wave of dark force to be expelled from the Mage’s body in a circle entirely around them, forcibly pushing back or knocking down anything within 10 feet of the explosion.  While the wave of force didn’t have any nasty effects associated with it, the sheer impact when the wave hit weaker foes could potentially kill them.  It was a bit of a final stand-type of spell, to be used by the Mage when it was in danger of being overwhelmed, which was also why it required 30 seconds to recover enough Power to cast another spell after using it.

Other than those spells, there weren’t a lot of other offensive abilities to the Mage.  While it held the staff, it was woefully inept in using it, and even a weak Decaying Zombie would easily kill the Mage if it got close enough.

The last, and strangest, Advancement Option for the Fragile Skeleton was the Skeleton Amalgamation for 700 EP.  The Amalgamation wasn’t person-shaped like the others, which all appeared to be humanoid in shape; instead, the undead monster was essentially a large ball of bones 6 feet wide.  Of all the strange monsters Tempara had unlocked during her time as a Dungeon Core, this one was probably the oddest – so unlike anything else that she had trouble even wrapping her mind around its purpose.

The closest she could compare it to was the Armed Snowball from the Frozen Reaches, but even that didn’t really give it the proper justice as an explanation.  Essentially, it was a jumble of mismatched bones of all types, with a single skull, located in the middle of the ball-like shape, as the main vulnerability of the Amalgamation.  It could extend parts of its bones out to attack its victims, as well as throw bony projectiles with varying degrees of accuracy; in addition to that, it could simply roll over anything in its way, squishing it with its surprisingly heavy weight.

All of those things were impressive when put together, but they weren’t exactly what Tempara would consider 700 EP worth of monster – especially when she learned that the bones making up the ball were relatively fragile and it could be hacked apart rather easily.  What did, however, made it worth the expense was its repair and growth ability, which was definitely something she’d never seen before.  Essentially, it allowed the Amalgamation to roll over bones and even zombie parts and add them to its own bulk, repairing anything that had been broken off of it or simply making it larger.  All the flesh was stripped off of anything it absorbed, and in the case of bones, if it rolled over stronger bones (such as the bones from a Skeleton Fighter), they would be reduced down to Fragile Skeleton sturdiness, like the rest of the ball.

Before she chose an Advancement Option from the Skeleton line of monsters, Tempara checked to see what the Decaying Zombie had to offer.  She wanted them all to work together as a cohesive team for both attack and defense, after all, so she wanted as much information as possible.

Monster Details

Decaying Zombie

100 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Scrounging Ghoul

200 EP – Death

Withering Revenant

300 EP – Death

Vampiric Spawn

450 EP – Death

Terrifying Wight

600 EP – Death

The first Option was a Scrounging Ghoul for 200 EP, which at first glance didn’t seem much different from the Decaying Zombie.  It had the same general shape, was only slightly larger, and had firmer, stronger skin – but it didn’t have any armor or weapons.  It was only when she looked closer at the information that she realized the Ghoul was actually twice as fast as a Decaying Zombie; that it would move crouched over, like it was “scrounging” around for something along the ground, presenting less of a target; and that it had sharp, iron-tipped claws in place of normal fingers.  Apparently, using those claws, it could rapidly eviscerate its victims, treating its hands as a multitude of deadly knives it used with great effectiveness.  Those claws could even cut through weak bones without too much trouble, which meant that Fragile Skeletons would suffer greatly when paired against them in a fight.

While it wasn’t much stronger than a Decaying Zombie, and its flesh was only minimally more resistant to damage, the Ghoul’s speed and deadlier attacks made it a fairly large step up from its forebearer.  It was definitely something she considered getting right away, as it was definitely much better than a normal Zombie – but there were still more to look at.

The second choice, as seen earlier, was the Withering Revenant for 300 EP.  Looking at the information once again, she didn’t see anything new that stood out to her that she didn’t already know, so she moved on to the next.

The Vampiric Spawn, for 450 EP, was probably the worst Advancement Option of them all, if only because they would be nearly useless against the undead.  Apparently, vampires craved fresh blood and attacked anything within line-of-sight that had it within their bodies. They used this fresh blood to empower their attacks and strengthen their defenses, so it was very important to them.  Even without fresh blood, they were much faster than a Ghoul when it moved around and fought, and their blows had even more power behind them than a Revenant.  Claw-like fingernails that were a bit shorter than a Ghoul’s were nevertheless even stronger, and they had a paralyzing bite that incapacitated living victims for up to a minute – which was almost an eternity in a battle.

Unfortunately, nothing that Tempara had seen thus far in a Nightgloom Swamp dungeon had any fresh blood running through their bodies.  Without that lure of blood, the Vampiric Spawn wouldn’t even attack anything unless they were attacked first.   That meant if they were, for some reason, left alone when an undead horde came calling, it would simply stand there and impassively watch as they walked by – unless the undead were foolish enough to attack it first.

While that was likely to happen, especially with the low intelligence of Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies making them attack any threat they saw in front of them, there was a bit of a risk to using the Vampiric Spawn.  She didn’t want to create some only for the invading horde to suddenly wise up and avoid attacking them, after all.

The last option was the Terrifying Wight for 600 EP, which was surprising to Tempara that it wasn’t more expensive, considering that the Wisp and Skeleton both had more-expensive Options.  Regardless, she looked at the Terrifying Wight and found that it had some similarities to the Living Shadow that was a Wisp Option, though it actually had a body that looked like a larger version of the Withering Revenant.  Instead of rotting leather armor protecting it and a rusty iron sword to attack with, the Wight was covered in a shadowy armor that clung to its desiccated skin, protecting all of its most vital areas – including its head.  In fact, the Wight’s head almost seemed to be made of a bubble of shadow, and a pair of glowing, green eyes emerged from it in a frightful display of darkness and death.

But that was entirely what the Terrifying Wight was all about.  It exuded a presence that instilled fear in intelligent beings (including, to a slightly lesser degree, most undead), causing them to weaken in their strikes against it, as well as slowing down their movement.  At approximately 8 feet tall and nearly half that wide, with powerful shoulders, arms, and fists the size of a Zombie head that appeared able to pound a victim into the dirt, the Wight was more than capable of doing some damage. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a ranged attack other than its fear-emanating aura, and while the shadowy armor looked scary, it didn’t actually do anything to stop physical attacks.  Against some types of spells, especially Life-filled ones like the Paladin mentioned to Tempara earlier, it could offer some protection, but they were mostly for show.  The Wight was also slow, able to move at approximately the same speed as a Decaying Zombie, perhaps a little slower.

After taking a look at all of her Advancement Options, Tempara had to make some choices.  Having already chosen the Incorporeal Phantom, which could easily help deal with the weaker Skeletons and Zombies attacking her dungeon, she needed something, both to defend against Withering Revenants and perhaps even to convince the two scouts to leave and tell an Extermination Team to come the next day.  In addition, if she could get something that could actually allow her to successfully attack other dungeons, that would be extremely beneficial, if only because it would help her raise her Core Level up even higher.  Granted, as soon as the Extermination Team arrived (if she were successful in deflecting the scouts), she would be sent back to restart, but there was a lot she could do before that happened.

Despite the souls of the Defenders attached to her Core not wanting to leave, she knew she was going to have to move on eventually.  She’d never find out where the ritual was taking place if she had to constantly restart every few days; though for the time being, there was no real reason to leave.  At least not until she had gotten everything she could out of her dungeon in her current location, of course.

After reviewing at her choices over and over, Tempara still couldn’t decide what might work best.  There were a few that caught her attention, but would they be enough to dissuade the scouts?  She figured she might as well ask a resource she hadn’t had before, who had already expressed an inclination to keep those Defender scouts safe.

Tell me, if you would, what do you think would make those two scouts turn around if they saw it?

As she explained her Options to Riley and Jorden, she was suddenly glad that she asked – because their answer was definitely not what she expected.

Chapter 17

“This thing is a lot less scary when it can’t hurt me,” Riley mused out loud, looking at the undead monster standing stationary in front of her.

Her Paladin companion nodded.  “I know what you mean; a lot of the fear I used to have when I thought about encountering one of these things has almost completely evaporated.  But even as a soul without a body, there’s still a hint of fear hidden in the back of my mind – and I’m not afraid to admit that fact.”

Riley didn’t blame him for feeling that way, because what they were seeing was almost like a nightmare that had come to life.  Remarkably, while the monster wasn’t large or particularly scary looking, what it represented sent alarm bells ringing in her mind when she thought about it.  The Shadowwalker’s soul involuntarily shivered when she thought of the havoc this could cause in the Kingdom if something went wrong.

When Tempara first asked Jorden and her which Monster selection would most likely convince the scouts to back off, the dungeon core had expected the choices to include the Skeleton Amalgamation and Terrifying Wight, which were both dangerous but not too difficult to kill; but it was one other choice that Riley knew immediately would cause Martin and Vimea to back off and run for help from a special Extermination Team.

Vampiric Spawn.

The relatively weak undead was extremely rare to see in a dungeon or outside of it roaming with hordes throughout the Swamp.  If she was correct, the last known sighting of one was approximately 2 years ago, and it had sent a flurry through the local Order Branch when it happened, prompting them to send in an overpowered, special Extermination Team full of Paladins, Priests, and Clerics in an effort to wipe the dungeon it appeared out of from existence as soon as possible.  From what she remembered, Jorden had been a relatively new Paladin at that time, so he hadn’t been one of those that went, but he certainly heard about it more than enough from his fellow Class holders.

Why were Vampiric Spawn so worrisome?  It wasn’t because they were difficult to kill or anything like that, though they could be if not handled correctly.  No, it was because of the incurable disease that could be transferred to any Defender if they were ever bitten by one of the Spawn.  Despite all the power they had in healing, which could reattach limbs and bring people back from the brink of death, the disease that infected the Spawn’s victims had never been able to be removed.  The Vampiric Taint, or just Taint, as they called it, eventually caused those infected to slowly turn into vicious murderers, killing indiscriminately in order to devour the blood of their victims in a grotesque display of carnage.

They never fully turned into an undead, though, because it was more a disease of the mind than anything else.  The problem was that it was nearly undetectable except through special divination spells, and it was so contagious that even saliva could transfer the disease to someone else without either person being aware of it.  The symptoms didn’t show up until it was far advanced, and by that time it could’ve spread to hundreds or thousands of people.

Those stationed near the Nightgloom Swamp, as Riley had been, were taught about an incident a few decades previous where just over 3,000 Defenders had contracted the disease through the careless misreporting of a Vampiric Spawn in a dungeon by a nervous new recruit who had been lightly bitten.  She could certainly understand not reporting it, especially with someone new and at the start of their career as a Defender, because it was a death sentence; it couldn’t be cured and they couldn’t allow it to spread, so victims were exiled to brave the Swamp and essentially commit suicide by undead horde.

Therefore, if Tempara really wanted to dissuade the scouts from entering her dungeon and destroying her core, all she had to do was show one of the Vampiric Spawn at the start of her dungeon.  There was no other sure way to make that happen, other than having a lot of other powerful monsters right up at the start – and even that might not convince them to leave right away.

Having never actually seen one in person, only heard about them, the Vampiric Spawn that Tempara had chosen and created in her dungeon – which was currently on the island where the core was located – didn’t appear very threatening, as it looked like a very pale zombie with elongated fangs and sharp nails.  It wasn’t as decayed as a zombie, and it was wearing a worn-looking and loose-fitting black linen shirt and pants, but those only made it look less impressive to her eye.

She shivered again as she realized how deceptively sinister the monster was.

“Are you sure about this disease thing?  My information says absolutely nothing about it when I focus on its Monster Details.”

Riley looked at the core in confusion.  “Yes, we’re quite sure.  Why?”

“Because I’m not sure why something like that would be omitted – unless it wasn’t an intended feature of the monster?  Regardless, the lack of information explains why it isn’t seen very often, and why I dismissed it almost immediately, because the Spawn is only really effective against victims with fresh blood.  As you no doubt have seen, there’s a distinct lack of that in the Swamp.

Riley definitely had noticed that, but given how dangerous the Vampiric Spawns could be toward Defenders, she had wondered why they weren’t seen more frequently.  As she had begun to learn more intimately than she ever expected to learn, dungeon cores apparently didn’t consider the people of the Kingdom as their main avenue of conflict; they were instinctively focused on attacking other dungeons in order to steal their “Elemental Power,” apparently.  As such, the Spawn was nearly useless, given that they wouldn’t immediately attack targets without fresh blood running through their veins.

Wanting to take her mind off the Spawn, Riley looked behind the Vampiric Spawn and saw the other new addition to the dungeon, the Skeleton Fighter.  It wasn’t necessarily her first or even second choice, but by selecting Vampiric Spawn as one of the Options, Tempara said she needed something to protect better against the invading hordes so her other monsters could be more effective.  She supposed it made sense, as the other skeleton choices would work best with some sort of monster to tank the incoming hordes, and the Fighters were especially annoying in that respect with their flimsy shields.  Not annoying enough that she ever had problems with them, but when there were enough of them in a group, it certainly made things more challenging.

“Hey, how much do you want to bet that Vimea will run screaming from the dungeon when she sees the Spawn?” Jorden asked with a chuckle by her side.  The fact that they could even joke about the Spawn right now was a testament to their full belief that they were indeed in a time loop and trusted Tempara not to unleash a deadly disease on the people of the Kingdom.  Not that she was too happy with the local Order branch right now, which had been corrupted at the highest levels, but there were still some good people out there.

She turned to Jorden to let him know that she would take that bet, because she knew Vimea much better than the Paladin did. “In fact, if I were to guess, I think it’s more likely that Martin will be the one to run screaming—”

Out of the corner of her eye, Riley saw the Vampiric Spawn moving, and she immediately felt her mind freaking out, as it was coming right toward her.  She froze in place instead of moving as a spike of fear flashed through her entire soul, and she belatedly realized that she was standing right on the pathway that led off the island.  She calmed down a bit just before it reached her, however, as she knew it would simply pass right through her. She and Jorden had attempted to reconnect with their bodies when they ran through the Swamp each time it happened, and every time they passed through their bodies with their disconnected souls as if they weren’t even there.

She vaguely felt the Spawn pass through her without stopping, and even whipped her head around to see its chest coming out of her insubstantial back….

….and then she stumbled, falling to her knees on the dirt of the island, awkwardly catching herself from faceplanting with her long-fingered hands.  It took a few seconds for her mind to catch up to what she was looking at, and when she realized that she could feel the dirt and tiny stones underneath her pale-colored palms, her razor-sharp nails digging furrows into the earth as she curled them unconsciously… well, she freaked out once again.

“Aaaaaahhhh!  What—?  How—?  Aaaaaahhhh!”

She kept screaming as she looked up and around, seeing Jorden looking at her in horror, and even the strange foxes finally got up from where they typically lounged near the dungeon core, looking with curiousity rather than in horror.

“What did you do, Tempara?!  How did you do this?!”

She suddenly realized that she still wasn’t actually speaking, despite her soul being in what undoubtedly felt like a body, but was still communicating the way had been as a free-floating soul.  When she realized exactly what kind of body she was in, recognizing the linen clothing she was wearing, she wanted to scream again – in horror, rather than shock like before.

“I did nothing.  This is highly unusual.”

“Unusual?  You think?!”

“Yes, I do think so.  Tell me, can you, say, will your soul out of that Vampiric Spawn?”

Just hearing the core confirm that her soul had somehow been consumed by the horrific Spawn was enough to freak her out a little more for the next minute, but eventually she calmed down and finally got to her feet.  The feeling of being in a body not her own nearly made her unbalanced enough to fall down again, but she managed to stay upright.  Looking at Jorden, who hadn’t said a word but was still staring at her with facial expressions that changed from horror to curiosity to confusion and back again, she put her hands on her hips and felt a slight pressure on her sides.  Peering down, she saw that she had just stabbed herself with her long fingernails, though no blood came out and the strange pressure went away within seconds of adjusting her hands.

I can’t believe I just did that.  I wonder if that pressure is what undead feel as pain?

Her mind was practically rambling by that point, as she was trying to come to terms with what had happened.

What was it that Tempara said?  Oh, yeah, will myself out of this thing.  Let me try.

She tried to close her eyes, but apparently the creepy Vampiric Spawn didn’t have eyelids, because her action did absolutely nothing.  Shaking her head, she instead stared at the core and concentrated on it as a focus, as she attempted to free her soul from the monster.  At first, she felt silly because nothing seemed to happen, but then she felt something.  It was so vague that she thought it was her imagination, but she was convinced it was real; as she focused on the feeling, which felt airy, if that made any sense, she found that it was just out of reach of her focus.  It was almost as if it was too far above her, and the only way to reach it was to fly up there like she could as a free-floating soul—

Riley suddenly shot up into the air a hundred feet before she stopped herself, and she looked down to see the ground directly below her.  Breathing heavily at what just happened, she saw the Vampiric Spawn standing there by itself, and looking at herself she saw the semi-transparent form with which she’d come to be familiar lately.  As she realized that she couldn’t feel anything physical anymore, a crushing longing shot through her very being, after having the experience of having a body again – even if it was the body of a Spawn – and then having it ripped away in an instant.  It nearly felt like dying all over again.

Jorden was suddenly next to her as he shot up into the air, and the strong Shadowwalker felt a few sobs escaping before she could stop them.  “Riley?  Are you alright?  What did Tempara do to you?”  He sounded angry, as if he was about to go down and demand the dungeon core pay for what had happened to her.

“I’m… fine,” she answered after a few seconds.  Composing herself, she explained.  “It was the experience of having a body again after what felt like so long, and it was… confusing.  It wasn’t my body, but it was at least a body – even if it was one of those things,” she said, waving toward the Spawn.

“I apologize if that was a disconcerting experience; I had no idea that could happen.  I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen ever again—"

“No, don’t.  It wasn’t your fault, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing.”  Riley couldn’t believe she was saying that, but it was true.

“What?  Are you crazy?”

She shook her head at the Paladin.  “No, I don’t believe so.  I can’t explain it; it’s something you have to try for yourself to understand.”

Even now, she wanted to go back down and somehow enter into the body of the Vampiric Spawn, but she restrained herself.

Jorden chuckled for a second, before he looked at her face.  “Wait.  You’re serious?”

“Yes.  See if you can go into that Fighter down there,” she answered, pointing toward the Skeleton wielding a rusty iron mace and a flimsy wooden shield.

The Paladin stared at her for a moment before looking down at the monster below.  When he looked back at her, she could see something change within his gaze, as if his curiosity finally overcame his caution.  Without saying anything, he shot down and hovered just above the Skeleton Fighter, before slowly descending until he was nearly fully engulfed by the undead monster.  So quickly that she would’ve missed it if she hadn’t been staring, his soul suddenly disappeared from its free-floating form; and suddenly, there was a very subtle aura now surrounding the Skeleton.

Unlike Riley, Jorden didn’t fall when his soul entered the undead monster, but it did visibly stumble a little.  After a few seconds of wobbling on its feet, the Skeleton stood up straight and even took a few steps.

“It’s… different.  But now I see what you’re talking about.”  Riley floated down to see everything a little closer, and she thought it was strange that the voice came from the Skeleton, but it also didn’t come from the Skeleton; it was more like the mental communication they possessed when they were free-floating souls.

“What is it that I’m missing?  What are you talking about?”

The Shadowwalker knew exactly what Tempara was asking about, but it was difficult to explain.  Thankfully, Jorden had the simplest answer.  “Physical sensations, pure and simple.  While we were just souls, we couldn’t actually feel anything. Though this isn’t exactly the same as having our bodies back, it’s worlds better than being without corporality.”

The Skeleton Fighter now possessed by the Paladin’s soul took a few experimental swings with its mace, before lifting up its shield a few times as if it was pretending to block something.  Riley could see familiar movements in its stance that were so obviously Jorden that she intuitively knew it was him controlling the monster’s movements; the Fighters she remembered battling never had those kinds of agile moves and expert skills.  They were more like better-armed Fragile Skeletons than anything else, showing very little in the way of actual tactics or combat abilities.

“So, is this a good thing?”

The undead monster turned around, looked at the black dungeon core, and then nodded, which was so “normal”-looking that it made Riley chuckle seeing it.  “Yes, I would say that it is.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw the familiar shape of one of the fox souls streak past her, where it quickly disappeared into the Vampiric Spawn nearby.  The monster abruptly fell to its knees, which was very reminiscent of what happened to Riley, but she realized that this was for a different reason entirely.

“Really?  You, too?”

“It appears that way,” the voice of one of the male foxes came from the Spawn.  “But this will take some getting used to.  How some beings manage to walk around on only two feet all the time is something I never thought I’d have to worry about.”

For the first time since she had died and had her soul attached to a dungeon, Riley genuinely laughed as she watched the fox struggle to stay upright while wearing the Vampiric Spawn’s body.

This could change everything.

Chapter 18

“They’re coming.”

Tempara quickly sent her viewpoint outside of her dungeon to check on the scouts’ progress, acknowledging Riley’s warning.  Seeing them a few minutes out, and appearing to also intercept the incoming undead horde that was heading in her dungeon’s direction like they usually did, a little of the nervousness came back to her as she was anticipating what would happen.  This was going to be their first attempt at dissuading the scouts, after all, and it all hinged on the Vampiric Spawn – along with the help of Riley and Jorden, of course.

Ever since the two Defender souls had discovered the ability to temporarily inhabit and control one of Tempara’s monsters, the two had been almost manic in their determination to acquaint themselves with how to use them effectively.  Even though both were apparently quite creeped out by the Vampiric Spawn, despite it looking more “human” than the Zombies and Skeletons, they had learned how to utilize its speed without accidentally falling in the water when they overshot their target – which had nearly happened once – and to use their long nails to inflict massive damage on anything they fought.

At first, it had just been the Fragile Skeletons and the Decaying Zombies of the undead hordes that invaded Tempara’s dungeon, and the speed and sheer damage they could bring against the weaker undead was devastating.  A sweep of the Vampiric Spawn’s nails was strong enough to cut through bone, and the decaying flesh of a Zombie was casually ripped apart with ease.  They were both so fast in their new “bodies” that very little could actually touch them, but even when they were hit, the relatively weaker attacks didn’t do much more than cause a few small lacerations in their skin.

But the Dungeon Core had decided to test how they did against something stronger, so she increased her Core Level to 3 when she had the chance, and the horde with a pair of Withering Revenants showed up once again.  Tempara had set up her dungeon the same as she had been lately, with 18 small islands all in a row, with the same types of traps and Zombie/Wisp combinations as she normally deployed for the first 10 islands.  Starting on the eleventh island, however, Riley waited inside of a Vampiric Spawn, while Jorden had chosen to inhabit a Skeleton Fighter.

The first 10 islands had stripped away most of the horde, leaving a single Fragile Skeleton and both Revenants to face Riley and Jorden.  The Paladin used his superior fighting skills to engage both of the stronger zombies with his inhabited Fighter’s shield and mace, amazingly keeping them occupied without being destroyed within seconds like what would normally happen if Jorden hadn’t been controlling it.  Even his superior skill in combat wouldn’t let him do much more than hit the Revenants a few times with flesh-destroying force, however, but he hadn’t been alone.

After quickly tearing the final Fragile Skeleton apart, the former Shadowwalker used the speed of the Vampiric Spawn to get behind the Revenants while they were engaged with Jorden, and started to quickly tear into their legs, as attempting to slice into their heads was a challenge to the relatively short Spawn.  When the Revenants attempted to counterattack, they were unable to reach Riley as she rapidly moved out of the way of their clumsy strikes, but the movement also tore their legs the rest of the way through where she had injured them. When they collapsed onto the ground, Jorden suffered a few broken bones as he moved in to pound his Fighter’s mace into their heads, since he was unable to move fast enough to fully avoid the swords that lashed out at him.

Still, it was proof that with the help of the two Defenders, they could tackle something that was stronger than them, utilizing their superior skills.

Now, though, both of them were on the first island using Vampiric Spawns, as they wanted to be the ones that the scouts saw, rather than Monsters not controlled by them.  Knowing that Spawn could spread a vicious disease throughout the Kingdom, they wanted to ensure there was no accidental chance of that happening.

As for Tempara, she was of two opinions about the disease.  On the one hand, she wasn’t very happy with the Kingdom as a whole, so she ultimately didn’t care what happened to them on a general level.  On the other hand, she knew that just as much as the Dungeon Cores had their purpose, so did the people and Defenders in the Kingdom have one to try and regulate the power of the Cores.  She was well aware that if they didn’t sweep the Wildlands periodically, destroying every Dungeon Core they could find, it was possible some Cores would become so powerful nothing could stop them.  If that were to occur, normal beasts like her and her family of Greater Temporal Foxes wouldn’t be able to survive as they were hunted down by extremely powerful dungeon monsters.

Both had to exist for the world to survive, even if both wished the other wasn’t there.  It was that wish on the part of the Kingdom that led to the Chronomancer capturing Tempara’s family and using them in a ritual to prevent Dungeon Cores from absorbing ambient Elemental Power, after all.  While in an abstract, general sense, the Dungeon Core understood that the purpose behind it was to protect the Kingdom from having to help regulate the Wildlands, the Chronomancers’ selfishness, ignorance, and short-sightedness would doom them all if Tempara wasn’t there to stop that from happening.

The souls of her family wanted to contribute to the defense of Tempara’s dungeon, as well, but they had yet to accustom themselves to controlling bodies that walked around on two legs.  She had originally been surprised that the Defenders could take control of one of her monsters, but had been even more surprised that her aunt and uncles could as well – though with limited success.  However, just as Riley and Jorden had mentioned, the fact that they had a body of some sort again, able to perceive physical sensations, was more than enough incentive to work their best to adapt to the different bodies they were offered.

It was just going to take a bit for that to happen.

The massacre of the undead horde out front of her dungeon’s entrance was as one-sided as it normally was, as the scout’s encountered the Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies from a different dungeon out there.  Tempara sent her viewpoint overhead, where she could observe them finishing up the last of the Skeletons that were up front.

“See?  Easy.”  The scout named Martin always said the same thing to the Assassin after the battle with the undead horde outside of Tempara’s dungeon entrance.  “Now, let’s see if we can take out this dungeon; I want to head back soon before night falls in the Kingdom.  Being in this blasted darkness is bad enough while we’re scouting – I don’t want to see it back home, too.”

“Fine, but unless it’s extremely dangerous, I feel like taking down a dungeon before we report back.”

The man chuckled softly.  “I told you we needed a challenge.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Let’s just get in there and finish it so we can leave.”

The pair of scouts walked in through the dungeon entrance, turned so that they could see the first island that curved to the right… and stopped so abruptly that Tempara thought that time had suddenly stood still, again.  The fact that she could see them still breathing, however, meant that she was wrong, and the two Defenders were just shocked as they saw the Vampiric Spawn.  The Dungeon Core thought it was ironic that the objects of their attention were actually inhabited by two other Defenders, who were only controlling them so that these invading Defenders wouldn’t attack.

As if they had planned it, which Tempara wouldn’t have put it past them to have done, both Spawn went from staring at each other across the island to swiveling their heads at the exact same time to stare at the pair of scouts, exposing the fangs in their mouths in the process.  They didn’t move a muscle other than that, but it was enough for the still-living Defenders to slowly back up, retracing their steps, eyes riveted upon the undead monsters as if they were afraid that if they paused their gaze, the Spawn would suddenly attack.

It wasn’t until they were fully outside of the dungeon’s entrance and back on the natural pathway of the Swamp that they stopped and turned to each other in horror.  “That was—” the Defenders whispered at the same time, before cutting themselves off.  Instead of chuckling at themselves for saying the same thing, they said absolutely nothing but simply stared at each other for a few seconds before turning toward the route that would lead them away from the dungeon and toward the border with the Kingdom.

Well, I guess that worked.

“It sure did,” Riley said, a bit of humor reflected in her voice.  “I feel a little bad about scaring them so much, but the way that they backed out from the dungeon was quite amusing, especially with how confident they were before they entered.”

Tempara couldn’t really see the humor in it, but that didn’t bother her too much.  She was more concerned about what would happen next.

How long until the Extermination Team arrives, do you think?

While the Dungeon Core couldn’t actually see the souls she was talking to – other than as a faint aura around the Spawn – she could tell they were thinking about her question seriously, even if the undead were unmoving.

“Hard to tell, exactly,” Jorden answered.  Since he had been a Paladin before he was killed, he seemed to know the workings of an Extermination Team like they were expecting better than Riley did.  “With the normal sweep not happening for a few weeks, there are fewer Defenders in Hasterfell – where the local Order of Defenders branch is located.  If they’re lucky and don’t deplete the border forts, they could probably mobilize an appropriate Extermination Team in less than 24 hours.  If they don’t have enough Paladins, Priests, and Clerics to fill the Team nearby, then it could take longer to put together a team, especially as it will likely be all volunteers for a dangerous job like this.  I would say that, at most, you’re going to get up to 72 hours before a Team comes to wipe out your core.”

It wasn’t a lot of time, but it was much better than nothing.

Thanks.  We’ll try and maximize my development until that time comes.

Everything from that point on was unknown, because Tempara hadn’t survived that long – and she was going to take advantage of her new survival period, utilizing every minute to unlock even more Advancement Options.  What she had unlocked already was definitely an advantage over some of the nearby Dungeon Cores, but it wasn’t nearly enough to complete her goal.  Even discounting that she somehow needed to survive the next sweep, if the next ritual had strong guards protecting it like the one in the Frozen Reaches, then they weren’t likely to be scared of a few Vampiric Spawn and Incorporeal Phantoms.  Even a horde of hundreds of Skeleton Fighters wouldn’t pose them much of a challenge, at least based on what she’d seen them do before.

Therefore, now that she knew she had some time to spare for her development, she was going to start unlocking as many Options as she could, so she would be ready for when the time came to move on.  In addition, she was hoping to become strong enough not to have to rely on the two Defenders controlling some of her monsters.  Hopefully, if she could figure it out, she could even get them back into their bodies somehow, though she had no idea how to go about that at the moment.

To prepare for just about anything that might head in her direction from other dungeons, Tempara utilized her new, higher Monster Threshold to add more monsters and islands to her dungeon.  To maximize Battle Thresholds for unlocking Advancement Options faster, she continued to have the first 10 islands be Decaying Zombies and Flickering Wisps, but after that she started to change it a little.  With a total of 26 islands now for her monster limit of 52 inside of her dungeon, she had a Fragile Skeleton and a Skeleton Fighter on islands 11 through 15, a Skeleton Fighter and an Incorporeal Phantom on islands 16 through 20, and finally an Incorporeal Phantom and a Vampiric Spawn on islands 21 through 26.

Of course, she couldn’t deploy all of that right away because it was expensive, but her natural EP accumulation, as well as the EP she gained from killing the last horde that had invaded her dungeon (the one with the Revenants in it), she had a bit saved up to get a start on it.  By the time the next undead horde appeared, she had filled the islands all the way to 20, plus the two Vampiric Spawn that the souls of the Defenders had been using on island 21 and 22.

She also eliminated half of her 10 Pit Traps, mainly because she wasn’t as concerned about thinning numbers now, focusing instead on maximizing the number of battles in her dungeon.  Unless there were some powerful undead heading her way, what she had was more than enough to handle even another pair of Withering Revenants, especially with Riley and Jorden’s help – as well as that of her aunt and uncles.

“These are much easier to use, even if they don’t have a body that ‘feels’ like the others,” her Aunt Chrona remarked, after inserting her soul into one of the Incorporeal Phantoms.  Tempara’s family member was able to move the Phantom around quite adeptly in the air, because it didn’t require having to learn to walk on two legs, though it took her a little bit to learn how to properly handle the spear it used to attack.  It wasn’t capable of dropping it, thankfully, as it seemed permanently attached to the monster, but actively holding and manipulating it with a pair of hands was still a different way of thinking and moving, for a soul that was used to paws.

The next few hordes were around the same size and composition as what she’d seen before the scouts’ arrival, so they were no problem to take care of without having to worry.  It also helped when either Jorden or Riley took control of a Decaying Zombie or two, extending the capabilities of them with better combat skills through the initial islands.  There was a little worry as the first time, one of the Zombies was killed while the Paladin was inside of it, which forced the violent ejection of the soul; but he seemed to feel no lasting effects.

“Whoa!  That was weird.”  When Tempara asked him what he meant by that, he explained.  “It felt as if something pushed me out all of a sudden, so the sensations I was feeling were ripped away abruptly, which is a little disorienting.”  He was silent for a moment as he floated above the ongoing battles through the islands beneath him.  “Though I thought about entering another monster right now to take control of it, something tells me I should wait a few minutes, at least.  Otherwise it could hurt.”

You think it would hurt your soul if you went into another monster so quickly after one was killed with you in it?

His soul shrugged.  “Maybe?  It could just be some internal instinct telling me that, or the fact that I don’t want to experience that sudden disorientation again so soon after it just happened. Either way, it probably means that I can’t simply move from one monster to another in a constant stream, especially when they’re killed with me still in them.”

That made sense to Tempara, because the shock to the soul would likely be intense when the monster it was inhabiting was killed.  From what she understood, none of the souls – the Defenders or her family – felt any pain while in the different monsters, but the sudden disconnect upon death was probably more than a bit disconcerting.  She advised Jorden and Riley to be as careful as possible and take the time to recover after such a thing occurred, because she didn’t want their souls to suffer because they were trying to help.  Tempara didn’t have to advise her family, because they were more than aware how dangerous such things could be.

Other than those times when the Defenders had to take a small break before throwing themselves back into the defense of her dungeon (which was strange to see, as if they enjoyed fighting or something), none of the hordes that came to her dungeon were strong enough to worry her.  Even though her island setup was basic, she had enough stronger unlocked monsters that the invaders were easily countered by her defenses.

Approximately 12 hours after the scouts retreated at the sight of the Vampiric Spawn, she began to see Withering Revenants moving along with Skeleton Fighters, as these seemed to be the go-to Advancement Options for the Dungeon Cores in the area.  The Core Levels of her competitors also increased over that time, as did Tempara’s once she had enough Elemental Power, so everything was getting stronger and more numerous.  When her new Monster Threshold went up to 50, meaning she could have 75 monsters in her dungeon, she expanded her island chain again, adding another 23 monsters over what she had at Core Level 3.

With that increase to her Core Level, the target she presented to the other dungeons also became bigger.  As such, larger and stronger hordes arrived at her entrance, and it was all she could do to keep destroying them, one after another.  More traps were installed, which included some Necrotic Gas traps and even a single Shattering Skulls trap, which didn’t do as well as she had hoped when it failed to kill or damage more than a single Decaying Zombie, and they managed to prevent anything from getting through to her core.

Eventually, after she had accumulated enough Elemental Power, Tempara created her first Dungeon Boss, using her Vampiric Spawn as the base.  It required 6,750 EP, which was 15 times the base cost; but as it was her most powerful monster, she wanted to make sure it was up to the task of defending her Core if it was needed.

Unlike most Bosses she had made in the past, which were basically much larger and stronger representations of the original monster, the Vampiric Spawn was a bit different.  Yes, it was taller by approximately a foot compared to the base Spawn, but the real difference was its much greater speed, slightly deadlier attacks, and stronger defenses.  The Vampiric Spawn Boss wasn’t just fast; it was nearly impossible to follow when it moved around.  If Tempara hadn’t been able to nominally follow it with her viewpoint, she would’ve said that it was actually teleporting from one location to another, rather than physically running.

That was its greatest asset, though, because while it was fast, its nails and fangs were only slightly sharper and therefore deadlier.  Then again, if it could attack blindingly fast, that sort of made up for it, didn’t it?  Plus, while it wasn’t too much stronger with its physical attacks, the Boss had thicker, more durable skin, which would allow it to take more hits than the base Spawn.

Over the next 24 hours, Tempara felt like she was just on the edge of being destroyed, as the undead hordes never seemed to stop coming.  She never got the opportunity to try and send out her own monsters to stem the constant hordes from arriving, because it was enough of a challenge simply keeping her own dungeon fully defended.  She never even managed to reach Core Level 5, due to the fact that she ended up installing a few more traps in her dungeon to help do some more damage to the increasingly larger and powerful hordes; the Accumulation Rate those traps required to maintain themselves made that goal nearly impossible to achieve, without risking her defense.

Her Boss saw action a few times as a few stragglers managed to break through all of her islands, especially one horde that had 15 Withering Revenants and 25 Skeleton Fighters, which were entirely too many to fight off normally. Tempara was just glad that she didn’t see anything stronger than them, though it was entirely possible that if she was around for another day or two that stronger foes would start showing up.  Thankfully, Riley had managed to practice with the Vampiric Spawn Boss so that she could control it well enough to help defend the Dungeon Core. Otherwise, her powerful monster wouldn’t have even looked twice at the enemy, because they were lacking fresh blood.

Finally, just over 36 hours after the Defender scouts had left, and with Tempara worried that her dungeon wouldn’t last another few hours of constant assaults by undead hordes, the Extermination Team arrived.

Chapter 19

The special Extermination Team arrived in a smaller group than Tempara expected, given that her resident Human and Elf souls had told her that it was normally around 15 Defenders.  Instead of 15 people, though, only 10 arrived, though they appeared quite well-equipped to destroy her Core.  Judging by the descriptions she had heard about Priests and Clerics, there were likely 7 of them with the group, and having seen Paladins before – courtesy of Jorden – she saw 3 of them included in the assemblage of Defenders.

At the head of the Extermination Team, however, was someone she vaguely recognized.  It took the Dungeon Core a moment before a memory came to her, and she immediately told the two Defenders in her dungeon that they needed to check something out.

There’s something you need to see.  The Extermination Team is coming, and you’re going to want to look.

Tempara hadn’t pried into the past lives of either Riley or Jorden, as she didn’t really want to know and didn’t care, but she was more than aware that there was some sort of misdeed that had led to the deaths of the pair in her dungeon.  Unfortunately, a bit of that past was coming back, and it was in the form of a woman in a bright white robe with fancy silver threading in strange-looking patterns stitched throughout the garment.  It was the same woman that had led those that had chased down the two and enacted her judgement down upon them, killing them and accidentally binding their souls to Tempara’s own in the process.

“Beatrix.  Why is she here?”

Beatrix, huh?  Who is she to you?

Riley’s and Jorden’s souls joined her viewpoint in the Swamp as they watched the group coming near her dungeon, and they were so silent that Tempara thought they wouldn’t answer as they stared with hatred in their eyes at the woman down below.  After a moment, however, the former Paladin finally answered.

“She’s the local Branch Master for the Order in Hasterfell, and she’s quite a powerful Priestess… as well as being corrupt to the core.  No one knows what Level she is, because they are too scared to ask; most people think it’s quite high, and based on what she can do, that is most likely true.”  He stopped talking and the Dungeon Core thought that he was done, which turned out to be the case because Riley took up the explanation.

“Her high Level couldn’t explain some of the power she has displayed over the last few months, however,” the Elf began.  “There were rumors of something shady going down in the local Order branch, but there was always some sort of scandal going on with this person having intimate relations with that person, or someone stealing some equipment or whatnot, so no one really paid it much attention.  Everything was still getting done, scouts were still actively searching for dungeons along the border, the forts were occupied and adequately patrolling, and the last sweep went off without a hitch.

“Yes, all of the Defenders were doing an excellent job of defending the border, but everything was certainly not fine.  I used to spend time with some of the farmers near the border in my off time, having grown up on one myself, and I loved to ride some of the horses from one particular farm of my friend, Yeothan.  He had this gorgeous deep-black stallion that ran like the wind, and I used to wish that I could take it with me on our scouting missions over the border, but that would never work out.

“Anyway, a day before we ended up… here, Jorden and I came back from out scouting mission to find all of the horses slaughtered and shoved into the back of the barn as if someone was trying to hide their corpses, and Yeothan along with his entire family was missing.  We ran back to the Order to report what we had found, but Beatrix and her lieutenant, Pietro, refused to look into it, saying that it was Hasterfell’s problem, not theirs.  Their blatant disregard for the people they were supposed to be defending was a sure sign that something was up, but we didn’t know exactly how bad it was until later that night.”

Riley stopped as her voice began to break, and Jorden took over once again.  “Confused and angered at their apparent lack of sympathy for what had transpired, we went to confront them later that night – and what we found was a scene out of a nightmare.  The Branch Master along with Pietro and nearly a dozen others were all involved in some sort of sacrificial magic located in the basement of the Order Hall, where they had apparently killed Yeothan and his family, even the youngest of them, using their blood for some sort of rite.  We interrupted them as soon as we saw what was going on, but it was already too late.

“Some part of the magic they were messing with seemed to backfire on the one using it, Beatrix, and she was knocked out from the backlash.  The others were also knocked unconscious, but Pietro had apparently been only partly connected with whatever they were doing and wasn’t as badly affected, and he attacked us immediately, with eyes full of hate and madness that I’d never seen in him before.  He wasn’t in his right mind, obviously, and we tried to restrain him, but he was too strong; in the scuffle where he broke free, he was accidentally stabbed with his own sword, right through the heart, killing him almost instantly.

“With all of the death in the room, from Yeothan and his family being sacrificed and Pietro dead, we panicked… and then we ran.  Running further into the Kingdom to get away from that entire situation was where we first headed, so as to inform those higher up than the local Branch Master about what was going on.  Unfortunately, Beatrix recovered faster than we expected and used her tremendous power and political clout to get ahead of us, sending out the word to any and all that we were murderers and to apprehend us as quickly as possible.

“Without any other choice, we were forced to turn to the only place we knew well enough to hide within: the Nightgloom Swamp.  It was just our luck that we were seen crossing the border, however, and those pursuing us were too close behind for us to properly find a place to hide.  We didn’t even know that Beatrix was leading that group of Defenders until we saw her in your dungeon, and we knew then that we were screwed.  She got rid of us immediately in order to silence what we could say in our defense, but even if we had lived, it would be our word against hers – and the others that were involved with the sacrifice of Yeothan and his family.

“You know the rest, I assume, but the fact of the matter is that we were unjustly accused of murder, but there was no way to prove that, especially given how powerful Beatrix is; there’s no doubt in my mind that she could get around truth-detecting spells if she were to be interrogated.

“So, yes, there’s some history between us, and I want to see her burn in hell for what she did to not just us, but who knows how many who had been sacrificed in what was obviously something that had gone on for a while, right underneath our noses.”

That was a lot for Tempara to process, but now was not the time for her to do that.  While Riley and Jorden had been relaying the story of their relationship with the woman below, the group had already made it to the entrance, where they stopped and gathered around the local Order Branch Master.

We’ll revisit that later, but for now I want to know what they’re saying.

The three of them, Tempara and the two souls, drifted closer to listen.

“Look, I know there’s significant danger here, but with everything in an uproar back in the Hall, we don’t have any choice.  You already know what’s at stake if they send investigators from the capital, and letting this dungeon with the Vampiric Spawn stick around any longer will certainly pique their interest, if what’s already occurred hasn’t done that already.  All we have to do is hold on until Creetim enacts his ritual in a little less than a month, and we’ll be able to move more openly without fear of being found out.

“We can’t let anything affect his border crossing, and if the Order investigators from the capital are nearby, it’ll be next to impossible for him to slip through.  Now, let’s get this done and back so we can continue cleaning up this mess.”

Tempara almost didn’t hear the last part of the Branch Master’s words, because she heard the name Creetim and everything else didn’t seem to matter at that point.  Somehow, this woman knew about the Chronomancer that was responsible for capturing the Fox-turned-Dungeon Core’s family, as well as the rituals that involved trapping their bodies to use them as a source of constant temporal power.  Beatrix not only knew him, but was actively working with him.

“I knew it!” Riley exclaimed.  “I just knew there had to be something bigger than just sacrificing people, as bad as that was, but I don’t know what they’re talking about.  Who is this Creetim?  Wait a minute, where have I heard that name before?”

From me.  He’s the Chronomancer that is responsible for enslaving my family in a series of rituals that stretch through time, stopping the Dungeon Cores of the Wildlands from absorbing Elemental Power, inadvertently causing the destruction of the entire world.

“Oh.  I guess you were telling the truth about that?”

Of course.  I haven’t lied to you about anything I’ve said.

“You were telling the truth about getting our original bodies back, too?”

She hesitated for a moment before answering, because she was trying to see if this woman below was going to mention the Chronomancer again, but all she was going over were the tactics the Extermination Team was going to use in Tempara’s dungeon.

Yes, I was and I still am.  I would greatly love for you to get your bodies back, and I’ll do everything I can to ensure that happens, but I can’t guarantee it will happen.  I can’t promise you that we’ll succeed; I have no way of knowing how I would even going around doing it, but there’s always a chance.

Riley nodded, still staring daggers into the woman below.  “Fair enough.  I knew it was a long shot when you mentioned it, but I can always hope, right?”

“You know what I would love to see even more than getting my body back?” Jorden asked, waving toward Beatrix at the same time.  “For that piece of filth to get what is coming to her.”

“Yeah, I think I could satisfy myself with that, too, though I’m not giving up on my body, and neither should you.”

“Oh, I’m not, but who says I can’t be greedy and want both?”

Unfortunately for the two Defender souls, neither of those things were going to happen right now.  The special Extermination Team, their preparations finished after they had cast multiple-layered, glowing protective shields over everyone, entered her dungeon… and basically started to rip it apart.  Not the islands or the water, of course, but her monsters were systematically and efficiently destroyed with brightly flashing Life spells that slammed into Zombies, Wisps, both types of Skeletons, and Phantoms with a constant barrage of deadly accuracy.  None of her monsters even moved more than a step before they were entirely wiped from existence, leaving nothing behind as they passed through all of the islands.

When they got to the first of the Vampiric Spawn, they took extra care to completely obliterate them as soon as they were spotted, sometimes from multiple islands away.  They were taking no chances of the deadly disease-carrying undead getting close to them, and they didn’t stop their spells until they were sure there was nothing left.

For spells that are supposed to be considered in the realm of Life, they certainly are destructive, aren’t they?

“That’s because they specifically target the undead, who are full of what we consider Death energy,” Tempara’s resident Paladin informed her.  “The two are opposites and both do enormous, destructive damage to each other, which is why my Class is so valuable in the Swamp.  Elsewhere, those spells could still inflict some damage, but not anywhere like what you’re seeing.”

Riley spoke up as she pointed down below; the fact that they were both with her instead of directly trying to fight told Tempara that they knew what was coming and there was no way to stop it.  “Do you see the reddish tint around the edges of those spells?” she asked Jorden.  “I think whatever we caught them doing with that sacrificial rite is enhancing them even further; it must have succeeded more than we thought.”

“You’re right.  They should be pure white, not this… corrupted version of the spells.  I don’t know what they were thinking….”

The Dungeon Core didn’t particularly care what this whole sacrifice thing was all about, even though it sounded bad; only the fact that this Beatrix woman knew Creetim really interested her.  In addition, it didn’t really matter what she did right now, because her Core was going to be destroyed in only a minute or so; she had very little confidence that her Vampiric Spawn Boss would do much against the assembled might of the special Extermination Team.

In that, she would be proven correct, as the Boss was able to move swiftly toward one of the Paladins before rebounding off of its multi-layered shield.  As soon as that happened and it moved back in apparent shock, a rush of different spells came from above and to the side of the Paladin, slamming into the Boss and practically disintegrating it within seconds.

Well, see you both again in a few minutes.

“See you soon.”

The next thing Tempara knew, she was back looking at the map of the Kingdom and the surrounding Wildlands.

* Select your starting location…. *

Here we go again.

Chapter 20

The next few loops through time weren’t much different in terms of ultimate results, as Tempara’s Dungeon Core was annihilated repeatedly by the special Extermination Team with no real challenge.  Before that happened, however, the way that she had set up her dungeon for maximum development had paid off once again with access to more Advancement Options.  Shortly after beginning the restart following her first interaction with the Extermination Team, Tempara was able to choose another Option from the Wisp, Skeleton, and Zombie lines of Advancements, which were very important in terms of maintaining a strong defense once the scouts had been scared back over the border.

For the Flickering Wisp line of Advancements, the Dungeon Core chose the Living Shadow Option.  While not as powerful as some of the others, the fact that she could keep it relatively hidden until it was ready to attach itself to a victim’s shadow was a great boon to her, especially when the hordes that invaded her dungeon had been whittled down to only a few undead.  When there weren’t many undead to literally watch each other’s backs, it was extraordinarily easy to have the Living Shadows latch on and do persistent spiritual damage to the invaders.

Best of all, the Living Shadow was nearly impossible for even the Withering Revenants and Skeleton Fighters that came later to detect on their own.  Without backup helping them identify and remove the Shadows, she was able to take out quite a few of them from the unsuspected attacks.

The next monster Tempara unlocked was the Skeleton Archer, for the simple reason that it wasn’t as destructive as the Skeleton Mage or the Amalgamation.  With such small islands that she was utilizing, she didn’t want to risk hurting her own forces with a large area attack or have them accidentally rolled over if the Amalgamation became a little overzealous.  With the Archer, however, she was actually able to widen a few of the islands and place one of them on one side, where it was able to attack from a short distance.  Unfortunately, the drawback of her small, multiple island approach meant that each island was its own separate room, and her monsters wouldn’t automatically attack enemies in another room. Her monsters would follow the invaders as they passed through to another one, but they were essentially blind to anything that wasn’t in the same room as them, or just inside of its entrance.  As a result, the Archers wouldn’t shoot anything that wasn’t on the same island as them.

Eventually, Tempara was planning on changing her dungeon to take better advantage of their long-distance attacks. But for now, they were very handy for putting an arrow or two through the head of a Withering Revenant or shattering the skull of a Skeleton Fighter without risking themselves in close-quarters combat.

The last of the new monsters she acquired came from the Zombie line of Advancements, and it was the familiar Withering Revenant.  While not completely original, there were reasons why many of the local Dungeon Cores had taken it as their Advancement: They were sturdy, strong, and quite effective – especially in larger numbers.  There was a reason she had struggled to survive during the previous loop when the hordes became larger and more difficult to defend against, and it was mainly due to a higher quantity of Revenants being included in the assaults.

Tempara incorporated each of her new additions into her defenses, which meant reducing the number of the weaker Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies she was using in order to properly incorporate them all, but that would still work out since many of the hordes still used them all the way up to when the Extermination Team destroyed her Core.  Her development was still steadily improving at incredible rates, far faster than it had in the north, which was something of a mystery to her at first.

Then she realized that Monster Thresholds were much higher there than in the Frozen Reaches; dungeons were able to hold more monsters in defense as well as send them out. That meant Elemental Power was changing hands much more rapidly, and having hordes of weaker monsters wasn’t a detriment like it would’ve been in her previous environment.  10 Fragile Skeletons were much more dangerous than 10 Snow Hares, for instance.

As for the revelations from her resident Defender souls, the two refused to expound on what they had already told her when Tempara asked for more clarification.  To say they were emotionally scarred from the incidents that led to their deaths would be an understatement, and she understood exactly what they were going through more than anyone.  Having “seen” her family slaughtered in front of her, and later discovering the identity of the one who had done it, the Fox-turned-Dungeon Core knew how they must have been feeling – and she respected their reluctance to talk about it all.

She attempted to listen in on the Extermination Team’s conversations as soon as they crossed into her range, to see if the Branch Master said anything else about the Chronomancer, but she never said anything until they were just outside of her entrance, just like the first time.  Without any other information to go on, she was at a standstill at her progress as far as that goal went, but at least she was developing enough in other areas that she’d be able to tackle gaining more information eventually.

In the middle of her second restart after originally learning about Beatrix the Branch Master, Tempara not only unlocked yet another Advancement Option from the three lines she had already gained from before, but she also unlocked some Options from some of those she had already unlocked.  Before she looked at those ones, the Dungeon Core went ahead and unlocked the Wailing Banshee from the Wisp line – even if she wasn’t sure where to utilize it quite yet with her current dungeon setup; the Skeleton Mage from the Skeleton line – which she was planning on utilizing on some lengthier islands near the end of her island chain; and the Scrounging Ghoul from the Zombie line – because it was similar in a way to the Vampiric Spawn, minus the incredible speed and penchant for fresh blood.

They were sure to be useful at some point or other, but it was the other Options she had unlocked that she was much more interested in perusing.  The first was from the Incorporeal Phantom, which her Fox family had adapted to controlling with ease over the last few days of constant fighting, and which had benefited from their control during the sometimes hectic battles.

Monster Details

Incorporeal Phantom

250 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Fearstriker Ghost

500 EP – Death

Spiritual Oppressor

2,500 EP – Death

The Fearstriker Ghost was an Option for 500 EP, and considering what it did, that was a fairly inexpensive cost.  Similar to the Phantom, the Ghost was visible as a greyish, fog-like entity, before becoming invisible at 10 feet away from a victim; but instead of attacking with a spear or other weapon, the entire spectral monster was a weapon.  It would reappear only inches away from its target, where it would emit a wave of spiritual force as it touched the victim with a ghostly hand that not only would cause spiritual damage, but also would inflict a strong fear-like effect on any monster or person.

Because that even included undead, the fear effect was extremely useful in cases of a horde, because the wave of force extended up to 6 feet away – which would undoubtedly affect more than one at the same time.  The fear effect didn’t necessarily cause the victims to become scared and run away, but instead would cause them to lose control of their senses and attack anything within range.  Minds with higher intelligence behind them, such as Defenders and much more powerful undead, would be able to shrug the effects off fairly easily; but for those like the multitude of Skeletons and Zombies – and even their slightly advanced forms – they wouldn’t be able to withstand such an attack.

As with the Incorporeal Phantom and many of the other Wisp-line Advancements, the Fearstriker Ghost was vulnerable to iron and spells, but it was able to withstand a few hits similar to the Wailing Banshee.  In addition, it was able to retreat almost immediately after sending out the wave of fear-inducing spiritual force, turning invisible in the process; granted, other undead could still see it because of their attuned senses, but it was at least useful.  Not as useful was the short, 5-second fear effect which dissipated after that time, nor the 30-second cooldown that the Fearstriker Ghost required to use its attack again.

The other Option was the Spiritual Oppressor, with a hefty cost of 2,500 EP.  The Oppressor was a much larger monster than any of the others she had seen thus far, and it was shaped unlike anything she’d encountered.  Instead of being vaguely humanoid in shape, the Spiritual Oppressor was shaped like a large, mostly transparent mushroom cap that was 12 feet across and missing its central stalk.  It floated about 15 feet above the ground, and it attacked its victims directly underneath its form like a raincloud, dropping invisible “raindrops” that were essentially blobs of concentrated spiritual damage.  From what Tempara could determine, each of these raindrops was as powerful as 10 of the bolts of light that a Wisp could generate, but there were also a lot more of them.

The Spiritual Oppressor’s advantages came in the form that it could affect a wide area from relative safety above a crowd, especially when there were a lot of weaker victims beneath it.  The Oppressor could also concentrate its rain of spiritual damage bombs by contracting itself and producing, effectively, a stream of damage aimed at a single victim, which was also useful against more powerful targets.

The disadvantages of using a Spiritual Oppressor were that it couldn’t travel over open water for some reason, because it would start to break apart immediately, and that it moved slowly.  The speed with which it moved reminded Tempara of the Cold Slime up north, which could only move as fast as a blob of goo could roll along, essentially the speed of a very casual walk.  In addition, it suffered from the same weaknesses that the other monsters of the Wisp line did, in that iron could severely damage it, though it was, again, stronger than most.  It had a central glowing ‘core’, similar to the Slimes in the Frozen Reaches, in fact, and only by penetrating deeply enough and hitting the glowing core would the Oppressor be defeated.  Lastly, the “rains” would only last for 15 seconds before having to shut down, and there was a full minute cooldown before they could start up again.

Obviously, there was no way she could pass up the Spiritual Oppressor, though she did spend a few minutes debating with herself over the Fearstriker Ghost.  However, with the way that her islands were set up, which didn’t allow a lot of a horde onto them at one time, she figured it would be more effective when she finally changed up her dungeon in the future.  At the moment, she wanted something that would almost guarantee nothing could get through (meaning she wouldn’t have to rely on her Boss to clean up any stragglers).  The Oppressor fit in that category quite well, especially since absolutely nothing she had seen thus far – the Extermination Team excluded – could even hurt it, as it was so far above the ground.

After choosing the Spiritual Oppressor, Tempara turned to even more Advancement Options.  The first was from her Skeleton Fighter, which had been instrumental in defending various islands while other monsters did a lot of the damage to the incoming hordes.

Monster Details

Skeleton Fighter

100 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Skeletal Hulk

200 EP – Death

Skeletal Champion

1,000 EP – Death

The first option, for 200 EP, was the Skeletal Hulk.  Instead of having a weapon, a shield, even some armor, the Hulk was simply a large skeleton.  While that didn’t seem that impressive at first glance, the upper torso of the monster was even larger than a Withering Revenant; with arm bones that rivaled most skeletons’ legs and fists that were larger than the size of most skulls, it had a powerful punching attack that could inflict serious damage to whatever it hit.

That was about all, however.  It was slightly faster than a Skeleton Fighter or Archer, but it also had the same weaknesses that any of the skeletons had, in that its bones could be easily cracked by blunt attacks, and it was vulnerable to many magical effects.  Overall, it was an upgrade over the Fighter in that it could inflict more damage with its attacks, but it wasn’t suited to defending or long-lasting battles.

The Skeletal Champion, on the other hand, was almost the exact opposite.  For a total of 1,000 EP, the Champion was approximately a foot taller than the Fighter, but was instead encased in a full suit of battered and scarred, mismatched iron and steel armor, wielding an equally battered but still serviceable steel longsword in its right hand, and it had a partly rusted iron shield strapped to its left arm. With it covered from head to toe in armor, it was almost difficult to see that it was actually a skeleton underneath, except for the fact that its bony face was partially uncovered due to the style of the helmet it was wearing.

It wasn’t particularly strong, as it couldn’t rival the pure punching power of the Skeletal Hulk, but it had a better grasp of combat tactics and could wipe the floor with a Withering Revenant, for example.  The armor protected its body quite well, holding up to numerous blows that would’ve shattered dozens of bones on normal skeletons, and the iron content also helped to shield it fairly well against many of the attacks from hostile spiritual damage effects, such as those from her Wisp line of monsters.

The downside to it was that it didn’t move very fast and apparently wasn’t able to handle large hordes surrounding it, but those weren’t too much of an issue for Tempara and her current dungeon.  In a larger engagement that could be a problem, but for now those disadvantages weren’t enough to pass on the Champion as her new addition.

Lastly, having created and utilized quite a few Vampiric Spawn in her dungeon, controlled many times by Riley and Jorden, she was able to pick an Advancement for that monster, as well.

Monster Details

Vampiric Spawn

450 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Vampire Warrior

900 EP – Death

Vampire Mage

4,500 EP – Death

Similar to the options for her Skeletons, there were Options for a warrior type of vampire and a mage – though the mage variety was much more expensive.  The Vampire Warrior form was almost self-explanatory, as it was slightly larger than a Spawn but had thin leather armor covering its upper body and wielded a lightly rusted, double-bladed iron battleaxe in its hands.  There was no shield or anything other than its armor for defense, but it was still just as fast as the Spawn – and additionally had the same sort of dangerous nails and fangs as the weaker version.

The same weaknesses remained from the Spawn to the Warrior variety, meaning that its skin wasn’t extremely durable when attacked, but the armor mitigated at least some of that.  The other large weakness was the whole “fresh blood” thing, which meant that they either had to be directly in a horde’s path or controlled by Riley or Jorden to be effective in the dungeon.

The Vampire Mage, on the other hand, was much more powerful than the equivalent Skeleton Mage variety.  The black, hooded robe-wearing Mage had all of the advantages of speed that a Spawn possessed – if not a tad bit more – along with the disadvantages of thirsting for fresh blood and a relatively weak defense; but the Mage was more than just a fancy Spawn in a robe.

The Vampire Mage was a spellcaster, through and through, and would likely rival some Defenders in that arena of combat.  While it had a limited Elemental Power pool, which was why it cost so much to create, there was no cooldown period for each spell it cast – unless it emptied its pool entirely.  At that point, she would have to let it regenerate by absorbing the ambient Elemental Power around it, and it could cast spells again when it had regained enough Power.

Unfortunately, almost all of the Mage’s spells required fresh – or even relatively fresh – blood to be used as a component in spells.  There were numerous ones it could cast using blood, from floating swords made of blood, to blood barriers to help protect the Mage from external projectiles, and even using strands of blood to create a deadly net that could capture and lethally constrict around a victim.  There were other ones that specifically targeted a bleeding victim, causing their blood loss to speed up dramatically, or even poison the blood in a body through an open wound – which all sounded amazing, but they all needed the one component that wasn’t readily available against undead hordes.

Against an average group of Defenders, the Mage could possibly be an asset in a fight; but when facing any of the hordes assaulting her dungeon or the special Extermination Team?  Practically useless.

As a result, the Vampire Warrior was the best choice for the moment, because a fast monster with a battleaxe was always useful.  With all of those Options chosen, Tempara could finally move to the next step in her development.

Attacking the other Cores to steal their Elemental Power.

Chapter 21

To say that Riley was getting bored would be putting it mildly. Even inserting her soul into a monster and using it to fight other monsters, with no danger of ever being permanently “killed”, got old after a while – though it did improve her combat skills quite a bit.  Of course, she wasn’t in her own body, so she wasn’t sure how they would translate if she got it back.

Not if, Riley, when.

As time went on, though, she couldn’t help but think that getting her body back might not ever happen.  Even Tempara had admitted that she didn’t know how to go about doing that, but at least she promised to try, which was about the best hope the Shadowwalker had in ever returning to a normal life.

But would it ever really be normal?

She refused to think about that too much, because it was depressing to even consider.  But that didn’t stop the occasional stray thought that hinted that even if she was somehow able to get her soul put back in her actual body, along with Jorden in his own, that they wouldn’t simply be in the same position as they were before they had been killed: running for their lives.  Even if they were able to somehow convince Beatrix not to kill them, could she really continue acting as a Defender for an Order that either turned a blind eye to the corruption of its leaders, or worse – knew about it and condoned it?

Shaking her head while she inhabited a Vampire Warrior, one of the new varieties of Spawn to which the dungeon core had apparently gained access to, she dismissed those thoughts and questions as she heard a voice in her mind.  She had never really gotten used to the sudden voice of the dungeon mentally talking to her, but at least it didn’t surprise her as much as it did at first.

“I have a proposition for the two of you if you’re up to it.”

A proposition?  She wasn’t sure what it was, but she was up for just about anything different.  One undead horde looked the same to her by that point, and it was just too easy to kill them now, especially when the stronger undead that used to actually challenge the weaker monsters in the dungeon weren’t so dangerous anymore.  It was quite amazing to Riley how Tempara was able to gain access to new and more powerful monsters just by creating the weaker ones and watching them fight; there were even some she’d never heard of before, even in the stronger dungeons found during the periodic sweeps.

Of course, there were much stronger monsters that she hadn’t yet seen in Tempara’s dungeon still out there, but the dungeon core seemed to be taking a more even road in her development than most cores typically did.  Or that was what she was told, but she didn’t have any reason to disbelieve the former Fox.

“What is it?”

“Well, it could be dangerous, but I have no way of knowing precisely how dangerous; the way your souls are tied to my own and the way you can control my monsters are still relatively new to me.”

Now I’m intrigued.  Danger seemed like it would be perfect for her and Jorden, because they needed a little excitement.

“Anyway, what I would like to see if you could do is lead a horde of my own undead into another dungeon in order to steal some of their Elemental Power.  By doing that, I could increase my Core Level and possibly invite some of the stronger Cores in the area to attack my dungeon, which would allow me to really test my defenses.”

“You want us to run through a dungeon?  Won’t that just destroy their cores like what happens if they touch yours?” Jorden asked.

“No, all it will do is siphon a certain amount of Elemental Power from the Core so you can carry it back.  My own Core is a bit… different, as you’ve no doubt discovered, and it can’t withstand the siphoning without shattering.”

Riley barely had to think about it before she answered, “I’m in.  When do we leave?”

“Right after this next horde, if you’re up to it.  Now, a word of warning before you absolutely agree to this.  I don’t know if you’ll even be able to enter a different dungeon, so you may end up hitting a barrier over the entrance.  In addition, even if you are allowed inside, I’m not sure what would happen to your souls if your controlled monster would happen to die.”

That was a little worrisome, but not that bad – or so she hoped.  “What do you think would happen?”

“Well, either you would be expelled from the corpse like what normally happens, with no abnormal effects, or… your soul might be lost inside the dungeon with no way to escape.  I cannot connect with any of my monsters, nor see inside another Core’s dungeon, so it is entirely possible that without that physical connection of your soul being inserted in a monster, you could be cut off from my soul in the process.

“Now, I’m fairly certain that you’ll be fine, but I cannot guarantee it.”

Riley’s boredom was so great lately that she had no desire to hesitate at this chance of getting out and doing something different, despite the unknown danger.  Her partner started to say something along the lines of, “We’ll have to think about it—”, but she cut him off.

“I’m still in.  Let’s do it, Jorden.”

He was silent for a moment, before shrugging the shoulders of his Vampire puppet next to her.  “Fine.  But if we get stuck, Riley, I’ll kill you myself.”

She laughed at his attempt at humor.  “You’re a little late for that.”

“I know, but I could at least try.”

It wasn’t more than 20 minutes later, after the latest invading horde was completely annihilated without trouble, that Riley found herself leading a horde of her own along with Jorden by her side.  Each was still in their Vampire Warrior monsters, as they had gotten adept at using its speed to maneuver around a battle with alacrity, but they led a force of undead that was 15-strong.  Included in the horde were 5 Skeleton Fighters, 5 Skeleton Archers, and 5 Scrounging Ghouls, one of the newer additions to Tempara’s dungeon.  The Ghouls were like a slightly weaker version of the Vampiric Spawn: while they weren’t as fast nor as deadly with their claws, at least they would attack the undead, because they didn’t require fresh blood.

They were heading toward what Tempara mentioned was a “Core Level 4” dungeon, but neither Riley nor Jorden knew exactly what that meant.  All the core would say was that it was a rather weak one, so she supposed that it was probably one of the easier ones that she and the Paladin had cleared out and destroyed when they had been Defender scouts not that long ago.

As soon as they had left the vicinity of Tempara’s dungeon, a monster that she had seen before in the dungeon emerged from the entrance after them, where it stationed itself in the air above their heads where the pathway led inside.  The Spiritual Oppressor was one of the monsters she had never seen or heard of before throughout all of her experience in the Order; when she saw what it could do, though, she wondered why they weren’t more common, because they were certainly powerful – though a little silly and disturbing at the same time.

She couldn’t help but mentally giggle when she thought about how it seemed to urinate on everything below it, but the humor dissipated when she thought about how those affected by it seemed to nearly melt away from spiritual damage.

They weren’t disturbed on their journey to the dungeon they had been asked to go to, thankfully, because fighting outside of a dungeon was always a little worrisome as a Defender scout; there was always the chance that a small fight could become much bigger if other hordes accidentally stumbled upon them mid-battle.  Thankfully, they didn’t have to worry about that this time.

Without hesitation, the horde marched into the entrance of the dungeon, following the instructions that Tempara had given them.  The core had admitted that her control of monsters outside of her dungeon was quite limited, as she could only give them simple orders like go here or go there; but once they entered a foreign dungeon, she couldn’t even do that much.  Once they were inside, they either perished or made it to the core and absorbed some Elemental Power.

To say that she and Jorden were actually leading the horde of skeletons and ghouls would be inaccurate.  In fact, they were actually following after the lead elements of the horde marched their way inside, so it was actually the other way around.  Also, given that they couldn’t actually control any of the other undead, the pair of Defenders were there more to act as backup more than anything else.  Anything they encountered that might be too much of a challenge for the 15 undead that accompanied them would have to be eliminated by the Vampire Warriors they controlled – but they had no problem with that.  The less they had to engage in the commonplace close combats that could lead to their accidental deaths, the better, in her opinion.

As was fairly common in dungeons, as even Tempara had adopted the practice, the pathway inside led off to the right, where an island awaited them.  Unlike the familiar dungeon core’s, though, this island – and the few that she could see in the distance through the dark – was larger and had trees vaguely camouflaging what was awaiting them inside.  In addition, at the forward portion of the first island near the land bridge was a gathering horde of Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies, though there were less than a dozen of them.  She had seen the likes of them hundreds of times over the years as a scout and always wondered what they were about, but now she had a different perspective.

They were gathering there so that they could leave the dungeon and attempt exactly what Riley, Jorden, and their own horde were trying to do: invade a nearby foreign dungeon and try to steal some Elemental Power.

It wasn’t going to happen for them today, however, as her own horde was already starting to engage them.  The Skeleton Fighters led the way in a disproportionate line with their shields raised and maces ready, with the Scrounging Ghouls moving in behind them, where they could sneak around and do some damage when they got close enough.  The 5 Skeleton Archers stopped a small distance away from the enemy horde and started to nock their arrows to their bows; when they were prepared, they released their projectiles in a staggered pattern, not through any particular design, but because they had no team coordination.  Two of the arrows loosed at the small enemy horde failed to do more than get stuck in the chest of a Zombie or crack the ribs of a Fragile Skeleton, but the other three managed to hit and shatter the skulls of Fragile Skeletons, dropping them instantly.

As soon as the remaining mini-horde engaged with the Fighters out front, the Ghouls slipped in between the friendly Skeletons and started to tear through the enemy, ripping them to shreds and slicing through bone like it was nothing, dropping them quickly without too much trouble.  Before the Archers could even grab another arrow and release it into the crowd, which took a bit of time to accomplish, there was only a single Decaying Zombie left, which was essentially brained by a mace to the face.

They weren’t exactly a cohesive fighting force, but they were adequate.  Tempara had done well in choosing complementary monsters, which could all perform different tasks and not get too much in each other’s way.  That was something she had seen plenty of, both in her career as a Defender and now as a bodiless soul helping to defend a dungeon: Undead hordes tended to concentrate on numbers rather than coordination.

Fragile Skeletons, Decaying Zombies, and even Withering Revenants all wanted to get to their victims as soon as possible, and they constantly pushed each other around in order to be the first one there.  But with how this setup currently worked, the Fighters were acting as tanks to distract the front ranks of the enemy, while the Archers fired from safety behind them, and the Ghouls acted similar to more stealthy individuals, as they quickly moved through the distracted horde to inflict massive damage upon them.

It wasn’t a perfect setup, given that there didn’t seem to be any conscious effort from Tempara’s monsters to actually coordinate together, as they still got in each other’s way a little.  But it was much better than simply sending large numbers of undead with no plan of how to use them efficiently.

When they eventually moved through the site of the small battle with the mini-horde and onto the island, she saw that it was a fairly typical design that Riley had seen dozens, if not hundreds of times over the years.  Trees that drooped into the water surrounded the perimeter of the island, including near the entrance, which effectively made long-range attacks against the monsters in the center difficult, if not impossible.  While she had rarely seen any other environmental decorations in other dungeons, trees were frequently used as a screen to prevent undead, such as Skeleton Archers – which weren’t necessarily the most common, but certainly not rarely seen – from standing on the land bridge outside and attacking those in the middle of the island.

Or so she assumed, because now that she was learning about dungeons from a different perspective, it made the most sense.  As a Defender, all she cared about was that trees prevented – for the most part – doing the same thing with long-range attacks.  With her new knowledge from controlling a monster and being part of a “horde” herself, she also saw that the trees helped to break up incoming invasions, as she watched the Fighters, Archers, and Ghoul separate from their cluster as they traveled through the trees.  This meant that as soon as they were through the tree-filled barrier, they would exit into the clearing in the middle of the island by themselves, instead of as a united horde.

Of course, it didn’t really matter when there was simply a grouping of 10 Fragile Skeletons waiting for them.  Riley watched the Skeleton Fighters out front engage them individually, but their battered shields and mace gave them enough of an advantage that they could take on 2 of the fragile variety without being overwhelmed right away.  Left by themselves, they might have suffered some losses, but the Ghouls and finally the Archers emerged from the trees and contributed to the fight, wiping out the defenders with their superior numbers.  A pair of the Fighters absorbed some of the bones from the fallen Fragile Skeletons to “heal” some of the damage they had taken in the fight, but overall it wasn’t that bad of a fight.

Better yet, neither Riley nor Jorden had yet to actually fight yet.

This is way too easy.

Chapter 22

Inside of the trees near the second island’s entrance, there was what Tempara called a Necrotic Gas Trap, which went off when a Skeleton Fighter stepped right on it.  The greyish-black gas billowed up from the ground, coating not only the one that activated it but also a Ghoul behind it; they weren’t immediately killed, fortunately, but Riley could certainly see that it had made the Fighter’s bones quite fragile, and the Ghoul’s skin seemed to melt off its body in a few places.

She knew they wouldn’t last long in the next fight if they were attacked – which was exactly what happened as soon as they emerged from the trees.  A small mini-horde of 8 Decaying Zombies was waiting for Riley’s horde, and they attacked as soon as the first started to emerge.  Almost as if they were deliberately targeting the ones affected by the trap, the majority of the Zombies were clustered around where they emerged, overwhelming the two before they could get any backup help.  One of the Zombies was killed with a mace through its head, but the remaining 7 were able to kill the Fighter and the Ghoul before anything could stop them.

While they were doing that, however, it allowed the other undead coming from the trees to circle around the Zombies, which meant that they didn’t last long, especially when bombarded by the 5 Archers.  Nevertheless, the fact that a couple of Riley’s horde had been killed by much weaker monsters wasn’t a good sign.  She looked at Jorden, and he nodded; they were going to have to participate if they didn’t want to lose all of them before they made it to the Dungeon Boss.

There was a Pit Trap in the trees in the next cluster at the beginning of the third island, but fortunately none of their horde fell victim to it.  If there had been any of the Fragile Skeletons or Decaying Zombies, she had no doubt that one or two would’ve fallen inside, as Riley had seen countless times happen in Tempara’s dungeon; fortunately, these undead were slightly more intelligent.  Not much, but enough that they wouldn’t blindly walk into a hole in the ground.

Riley and Jorden were right behind the Fighters when they emerged through the trees to see a horde of 8 Zombies and 6 Fragile Skeletons, and they immediately sped around the front ranks of the Skeletons to reach the Zombies behind.  Using their much-greater speed and taller stature, they used their battleaxes to cleave through the necks of the Zombies a pair at a time, as they were clustered up close enough together to make that more than possible.

The weak undead barely had a chance to turn around and face them before they were killed by the Vampire Warriors’ efficient strikes, and Riley couldn’t help but chuckle at how outrageously overpowered the monster she was controlling was, compared to the undead they were fighting.  Granted, as a Defender, she had also felt she was capable of cutting down the weaker undead like a scythe through a wheat field; but this was an entirely different experience, in her opinion.  Not for the first time, she was thankful that Vampiric Spawn and their stronger versions weren’t seen very often, because they seemed entirely too powerful for their own good.  Of course, that was balanced out by the fact that they really needed fresh blood as an incentive to attack something. But by controlling the Vampire herself, she was getting around that limitation.

And being able to go all-out without worrying about dying is something I never thought I would experience and enjoy so much.  But I can’t think about dying in here, though, because I don’t want to see what’ll happen as a result.

With their help, the third island’s residents were annihilated within seconds, with the friendly horde being barely more than a helpful distraction while Riley and Jorden killed everything.  The fourth island was more of the same, with 14 Decaying Zombies this time, which was almost as easy to devastate with their speed and battleaxes.  There were no more traps that were seen, thankfully, but they were more than happy to let their horde go first whenever they were on the move in order to “find” them.

The fifth island was a little different, if only for the fact that there were Withering Revenants waiting for them – a total of 6 of them, along with a small handful of Decaying Zombies.  From the opposite end of the island clearing, another Zombie joined the horde in the middle, so she could only assume that it had been recently created and was just then arriving, reinforcing what was already there waiting for Riley and Jorden’s horde.

With slightly stronger undead to contend with, they utilized their horde to soften up and engage the enemy before the two Vampire Warriors made their move.  While a pair of Fighters were quickly battered and killed by the Revenants, the arrows of the Archers were able to wipe out the handful of Zombies before focusing on the stronger undead.  Just as the Ghouls went around the last few Fighters to fight the Revenants, gaining their attention, Riley and Jorden went to work, moving behind the group and striking quickly, then retreating after they got a good hit in.  The skin and flesh of the Revenants were much tougher than a Decaying Zombie’s, so it frequently took 2 or more strikes to cut through their necks; but again they didn’t have too many problems handling that.

Unfortunately, they lost all but 1 of the Fighters and 2 of the Ghouls, who weren’t quite able to overcome the power and tough defense of the Revenants before Riley and Jorden could kill them.  If the 2 Vampires had readily engaged the stronger undead without retreating after every strike, more might have survived, but then there was every chance that the two former Defenders could’ve been hurt or killed – which they wanted to avoid at all cost.

That fifth island was apparently the last, as they found themselves heading straight to the island in the middle of the dungeon afterward, where the core was located.  Another Decaying Zombie met them on the land bridge when they were already headed there, which they dispatched quite easily, and then Riley could see what was awaiting them through the trees.

They were easily able to see the 14-foot-tall Fragile Skeleton, which towered over the drooping trees circling the island.  It was a typical Dungeon Boss that Riley had seen countless times over the years, along with a 15-foot-tall Decaying Zombie – both large and scary-looking – but extremely easy to defeat.  Thankfully, the Skeleton was actually the easiest of the Bosses they could fight, so she didn’t think they would have any problems.

“The first part is usually your job, but I suppose we can probably do it together?” Riley asked, looking at the other Vampire Warrior.

“Sure.  In fact, I think we can probably do both at the same time.”

That was certainly different, but she was game.  They let the remaining horde lead the way through the trees blocking them from access to the center of the island, as there was almost always a trap protecting the core.  As she suspected, one of the Ghouls found what Tempara called a Shattering Skulls trap, which caused a trio of humanoid-looking skulls to explode, sending bone shrapnel everywhere.  The Ghoul unluckily ended up getting a shard through the bottom of its jaw, where it penetrated to its squishy brain, killing it instantly, but fortunately, none of the others were injured in the slightest.

As soon as they were through the trees, there stood the 14-foot-tall Fragile Skeleton Boss, which towered over them and protected the core floating in the air behind it.  Despite seeing dungeon cores hundreds of times over the years, seeing one from the perspective of a monster was a little different; it seemed to glow a lot brighter than she was used to seeing, and there was some instinctual part of the Vampire she was controlling that had an urge to absorb some of that glow.  It was a strange feeling, as she hadn’t felt anything that strong before, and it scared her just a little.

She didn’t have time to contemplate it any more, however, as the Boss immediately engaged with the remaining Fighter and Ghoul which had streamed forward, and the arrows of the Archers behind plinked off the bones of the Skeleton without doing much damage.  Riley knew that they wouldn’t do much damage, of course, because while the Boss was essentially a large Fragile Skeleton, there were a few things different about it.

First, its bones weren’t nearly as fragile as its original form, meaning that even a well-loosed arrow wouldn’t shatter bone with only one impact.  Second, it was much stronger, meaning that it could slam down one of its fists, which were as big around as a normal Skeleton’s torso, and completely obliterate weaker undead with one blow.

Lastly, despite its larger size, it was as equally slow and unintelligent as the original.  That meant that when Riley and Jorden ran out of the trees, each of them going in opposite directions around the giant Skeleton, it was unable to process which Vampire it should concentrate upon first – and therefore did neither.  Instead, as it slammed down a fist and crunched the last Skeleton Fighter from Riley’s horde, two battleaxes swung around with tremendous amounts of force, slicing through the knee joints of both the Boss’ legs.

Normally, as Defenders, Riley would distract the massive Skeleton by moving rapidly around the island, occasionally throwing a Shadow Bolt or Shadow Cross at it, while Jorden would walk right up to one of its legs and smash its kneecap out.  That would cause it to stagger a bit, but it would start to regenerate its leg after a few seconds; during that time, it was frozen in place and couldn’t move, though it could still try and punch anything nearby.  Another distraction by Riley would allow the Paladin to reach its other leg and kneecap that one as well, bringing the entire Skeleton down to the ground, where the Shadowwalker would be able to stab and shatter its skull, killing it.

Here, though, they were able to bring down both knees at the same time, causing it to topple forward, squishing the last Ghoul that was trying to get close enough to fight the Boss.  With a mental whoops, Riley and Jorden sped around the downed Boss, intent to shatter its skull to kill it, but they were beaten to that when the 5 Archers all released their next volley within the same second, their arrows hitting remarkably close together on the giant skull in front of them.  Being only 15 feet away, it was hard for them to miss, and when the last arrow slammed into the skull, it cracked and fell apart into two halves instead of shattering – but that was all that was needed to kill it, thankfully.

The entire skeleton faded away a few moments later, and Riley turned to the foreign dungeon core, right alongside her fellow Vampire Warrior.  “So, what now?”

Before Jorden could answer, they saw the 5 Skeleton Archers march up to the core and raise their right hands to it; after only a second, some of the core’s internal glow seemed to stream out of it and into the Archers, before the flow stopped after a while.  When it stopped, the Archers immediately started to leave, but Riley also saw that they had an aura around them that was very like the glow they had siphoned out of the core.

Tempara had warned her about this, that the glow was visible by both cores and foreign monsters, and would be a tempting target to any of them.  Riley likened it to finding a treasure chest full of gold and then waving it around for all to see as they made it back to the safety of “home”.

Shrugging, she did the same thing that the Archers had done, walking up to the core and raising up her arm.  As she did, she realized that lifting her arm was unnecessary, because the glow from inside the core seemed almost eager to leave, and it slammed into her Vampire Warrior body with enough force that she took a step back.  Out of the corner of her eye she could see the same thing happen to Jorden, who had followed her lead, but she couldn’t concentrate on that too much at the moment.  With the glow came a feeling of euphoria that flowed through her mind, like she was drinking up the most delicious nectar of power that she hadn’t even imagined had existed.  It was so intense that she couldn’t even focus on anything but that, as if the entire world had disappeared.

All too soon the euphoria faded, but it never fully went away as the flow of the glowing power stopped.  It was largely replaced by the sensation that she was now a little bit faster and stronger than she was before – as if she had just ingested some sort of strange stamina potion.

Looking over at Jorden, she could see that he was glowing just as the Archers had after gaining the Elemental Power of the core; when she looked down at herself, though, she couldn’t see it at all.  That didn’t seem to matter because she certainly felt it.

“You’re glowing!”

“You’re glowing!”

They laughed when they ended up speaking and pointing at each other at the same time, and out of the corner of her eye Riley saw the Archers disappearing into the trees leading to the exit.  “We need to hurry and protect them, or they might get ambushed on the way back,” Jorden mentioned, and she nodded.

It turned out that he was absolutely right, because it wasn’t a minute after they emerged from the foreign dungeon that they were intercepted by an undead horde 20-strong.  Fortunately, only Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies attacked them; with Riley and Jorden out front and energized by the Elemental Power in their Vampire Warrior bodies, they were able to take out the entire horde without suffering any losses.

They were accosted once more before they made it back to Tempara’s dungeon, this time by a much smaller horde, though it had a pair of Withering Revenants.  Even those weren’t enough to stop them, though one of the Archers had been killed.  When it died, the glow that had been inside of it floated in the air above its shattered bones; when Riley tried to absorb it, it did nothing.

“You’re already full; you can only hold twice the amount of what your monster originally cost to create, so you can’t hold any more.  I’m going to send out another one of my monsters to try and snatch it up before something else comes along.”

“Makes sense, I suppose,” she told Tempara, who startled her by speaking into her mind.  She hadn’t heard from the dungeon core since they’d entered the other dungeon, and she hadn’t been aware that the core knew they were successful.

A Scrounging Ghoul passed them as they made it to their dungeon’s entrance, whom she supposed was going out to get the energy that had been dropped by the Archer when it died.  As they entered, Riley felt an impulse through her body and mind to discharge the Elemental Power her monster was full of at the moment.

“Can we keep it, Tempara?  It feels wonderful and makes us faster and stronger,” she asked toward a specific spot in the air, as she could usually tell when the dungeon core was nearby.

There was silence for a few seconds before a response came.

“I just spoke with Kiana, and she warned that the Power will eventually become too much for your monster bodies to hold and will slowly begin to eat away at them from the inside.  You can try holding on to it as long as you can, but make sure to discharge it to my Core when it starts to feel uncomfortable.”

Looking at the Archers ahead of them, Riley could see that the glowing aura around them had already disappeared, the energy already discharged.  Jorden was also holding onto his Elemental Power, and she was fairly certain that he heard the warning, as well.

“Let’s just see, alright?” he asked, looking at her.

She shrugged.  “Sure.  I wonder how long it will take until it—”

Already, there was a sensation of burning coming from inside of the Vampire’s body, which was such a strange feeling that it cut her off mid-thought.  It wasn’t too uncomfortable yet, but if it kept increasing like that, she didn’t think it would be too long until she had to release the Power.

She was right.  The burning increased inside of her controlled body over the next few minutes, which wasn’t exactly painful, but it was surely very uncomfortable.  After it seemed to affect her actual movements, which was certainly not beneficial anymore, she thought about pushing the Elemental Power out of her.  Like a dam that had burst, she watched the glowing energy flood out of her in a stream, pointed toward the center of the dungeon and Tempara’s core, though it disappeared from her sight after about 50 feet.

Once it was all gone, she literally sagged in place, with Jorden doing the same next to her, as it felt like all of her own energy drained from her, too.  Thankfully, the feeling only lasted a few seconds before she was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

“Weird,” she said, shaking her Vampire’s head.  “Well, now we know – don’t keep that stuff inside for too long when we’re in this dungeon.  Outside of the dungeon, though, I wonder if we can take advantage of that extra power somehow?”

“Oh, probably,” Jorden answered, before looking at where Riley suspected Tempara’s viewpoint was located.  “Are we going out again?  That was definitely a step up in entertainment compared to guarding your dungeon.”

“Absolutely.  What you brought back more than paid for all that were lost, so as soon as I can replace them – as well as add some more for you – then you’ll be going back out, as long as you’re up for more.”

Riley looked at her companion and smiled, her fangs feeling strange as they seemed to elongate at the same time.  “Bring it on.”

Chapter 23

The addition of extra Elemental Power coming from the efforts of her two resident Defenders, while reducing the number of weaker hordes assaulting her dungeon, was enough for Tempara to rapidly increase her Core Level much faster than she’d ever been able to before.  The more her Core Level increased past 5, the more her dungeon was the target of stronger Cores located further into the Nightgloom Swamp.  She quickly outstripped the Cores along the border in terms of Level and advanced monsters, and it was almost as if the stronger ones she eventually came into range of were just waiting for her to join their “group” so they could beat up on her.

For some reason, she had a target on her back which caused everything within 10 miles of her dungeon to send horde after horde of undead to assault her dungeon.  There was even one point where she was nearly destroyed by a horde consisting of 100 undead, only half of them being the weaker Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies, and she was barely able to survive thanks to Riley and Jorden luckily being there in between their own attacks on other dungeons.

The sheer number of undead in the hordes she saw, especially as she expanded her own range and was able to better observe what was coming from other dungeons, quite boggled her mind.  The time and investment of EP needed to accomplish something like a 100-strong horde – even if it consisted only of weaker, less costly monsters – seemed impossible to her.  For instance, for 100 Fragile Skeletons, she would need 5,000 EP to put something like that together, which wasn’t a small amount; for what had attacked her dungeon, however, she estimated that the cost was more like 17,000 EP – an incredible amount even for higher-Level Cores.  The Core that the horde came from was only Core Level 10, which wasn’t necessarily weak, but it was certainly not the largest she saw out there.

It wasn’t until Tempara achieved Core Level 6 that she realized how they could afford to create so many undead in a relatively short amount of time.

Core Display

Core Name:

Tempara

Core Level:

6 (+1)

Designation:

Undead Horde

Level Threshold:

21,000 (+6,000) EP – Death

Elemental Power – Cold (EP – Cold):

415 EP

Accumulation Rate – Cold (AR – Cold):

18 (+3) EP/hour

Elemental Power – Death (EP – Death):

1,843 EP

Accumulation Rate – Death (AR – Death):

40 (+15) EP/minute

Defensible Islands:

40

Monster Threshold:

95 (+15)

Available Monsters:

15

Available Traps:

8

Unavailable Monsters:

39

Unavailable Traps:

11

For some reason, the normal increase in her Accumulation Rate per Core Level – for the Death-focused EP, at least – jumped from 5 to 15.  Therefore, at Level 6, when her AR should’ve been 30 EP/minute, it was now 40.  She had already seen that her Monster Threshold had changed dramatically from what she was used to in the Frozen Reaches, and now her Accumulation Rate was changing, throwing off her normal thought processes on her development.

“All of the Dungeon Cores in Nightgloom Swamp have received that increase in their Accumulation Rate, Tempara,” Kiana told her after Tempara had discovered the change.

Why?  Why wasn’t it like that up north?

It took the woman a few seconds to respond, as if she was searching for the answer in her mind.  “As far as I understand, it’s because the Elemental Power emanating from this Wildlands region is much stronger than in the Frozen Reaches. It is so strong that it literally blankets the Nightgloom Swamp in darkness as a result. In order to regulate the amount of ambient Elemental Power, so that it doesn’t manifest even more signs of the Death-focused energy inhabiting the area, the Dungeon Cores are tasked with using even more of it at a faster rate.  That is why the hordes here are so large, which will get even larger as time goes on.”

That’s… I don’t even know what to say about that.  Why is it so strong here?

Kiana shrugged.  “I’m not sure; that information isn’t something given to me.”

Regardless of the why, she now knew the how of the large hordes she was seeing.  It was almost like Core Levels 1 through 5 were just training to get a Core used to absorbing Elemental Power and utilizing it; once they graduated to the next phase at Core Level 6, the pressure was on to use as much EP as possible, as fast as possible.

Thankfully, Tempara didn’t have a problem with that.

She expanded her islands, utilizing her new Monster Threshold of 95 at Core Level 6 to add even more defenders.  For the moment, she was keeping with her usual setup of a pair of monsters on each island with them relatively close together, mainly because it worked.  As the larger hordes started to arrive, they were a little less effective in actually repelling the invading undead, but they still got the job done.

At Core Level 7, her Monster Threshold went up to 125, which prompted yet another expansion of islands and defenders.  It was when she hit Core Level 8, shortly before the deadline when she was expecting the special Extermination Team to arrive, that she was assaulted by the 100-strong horde, which caught her right in the middle of expanding everything yet again with a new Monster Threshold of 160.  That number meant that she could hold an unbelievable 240 monsters in her dungeon – a feat she had only achieved at Core Level 17 when she was in the Frozen Reaches.

Unfortunately for her, she was still recovering after barely repelling that massive horde when the Extermination Team arrived, so she wasn’t able to properly defend her dungeon the way she wanted.  Not that it really mattered in the end, because the Order of Defender’s local Branch Master and her team of deadly Paladins, Priests, and Clerics was still more than strong enough to clear out Tempara’s dungeon even if she had been fully prepared.  It was a humbling experience, given how strong she had become, but when she only had just under 4 full days to prepare for their coming, she still thought she was doing well enough.

It was during the next restart that she began unlocking even more Advancements for a number of her monsters, which included her base Wisp, Skeleton, and Zombie.  As a result, all the Advancement Options were completely unlocked for each base monster, as she picked up the Glowing Wraith, the Skeleton Amalgamation, and the Terrifying Wight.

In addition to those being completed, she was also able to unlock some Advancement Options for a few of her other monsters.  In her Wisp line of monsters, only the Incorporeal Phantom managed to unlock access to something else, mainly because she didn’t use the others as much as she probably should.  With the Spiritual Oppressor already chosen, the only one left was the Fearstriker Ghost, which she chose gladly.

In her Skeleton line of monsters, both the Skeleton Fighter and the Skeleton Archer had been used extensively by Tempara, meaning she had unlocked some Options from which she had to choose.  For the Fighter, since she had already chosen the Skeletal Champion before, she selected the Skeletal Hulk as a result; she hadn’t had much chance to use the Champion in her dungeon, due to its expense, but she was still hoping to in the future.

As for the Archer, the Advancement Options were brand-new to her.

Monster Details

Skeleton Archer

150 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Skeletal Bomber

300 EP – Death

Skeletal Assassin

1,500 EP – Death

The first Option from the Skeleton Archer was something called a Skeletal Bomber for 300 EP.  Looking physically identical to the Archer, the Bomber switched out a bow and a quiver full of arrows for a patchy leather satchel that had a strap that crossed over its left shoulder and sat along its right hip bone.  Inside of the satchel were constantly regenerating, black spherical objects approximately the size of an apple, which could be grabbed and pulled out one at a time by the Bomber.  Upon a 2-second activation process, the spherical object – ostensibly a “bomb” of some kind – could then be thrown at a target, where it would explode upon contact.

But the explosion wasn’t a fiery one, sending shrapnel everywhere and burning anyone who was unlucky enough to be near.  While it certainly had some serious force behind its detonation that could cause some extensive damage to anything within a few feet, it instead exploded with a necrotic energy that behaved like a fast-acting, powerful Necrotic Gas trap.  Anything hit with this energy, be it bone, flesh, wood, or even iron (to a lesser extent), would rapidly decay, to a much larger magnitude compared to Necrotic Gas; instead of Gas, this explosive energy was more like a liquid that clung to everything it touched.

The explosive range had a 12-foot radius, so it wouldn’t cover everything, but it was certainly large enough for Tempara’s current islands.  The downside to the Bomber was that, similar to the Archer, there was a limit to how fast the Bomber could throw these necrotic bombs: about 1 every 15 seconds.  In addition, the effects of the bombs only lingered 10 seconds before they disappeared, so there was a gap between throwing them and the damage being done.

The other Advancement Option was the Skeleton Assassin for 1,500 EP, which was actually smaller than the Archer, but this one was fully clothed – very similar to the Champion, in fact.  Except that instead of armor, it was in a black cloth wrap that covered it from head to toe, but which still allowed freedom of movement.  The clothing seemed to emit an almost tangible darkness which acted to obscure its form, as well as allowing it to blend into the shadows.  Similar to how Riley had been a Shadowwalker, it could make a short-range teleport (up to 20 feet away in distance) through any nearby shadows, though it could only perform that teleport once every 30 seconds.

In the Assassin’s hands were held a pair of blackened, dark-steel daggers, which blended in with the rest of its appearance, making them nearly invisible.  It would use those blades to inflict enormous damage to anything unlucky enough to be its victim, as it could strike fast and deep, cutting through even the toughest skin or leather armor like it was nothing.  The Assassin apparently also did extra damage to its victims when it was unseen, which was probably a nod to its name and likewise its profession.

The Skeletal Assassin’s bones were only slightly denser than an Archer’s, which meant it couldn’t withstand a concentrated attack – but it usually didn’t have to, due to its ability to blend in with shadows and teleport away.  It was also fairly quick on its feet for a skeleton, which meant it could probably avoid blows that would normally kill it.

While the Assassin seemed very strong, it was also quite expensive in terms of EP cost.  At the moment, it was difficult to create too many monsters that cost 1,000 EP or more, mainly because she had limited time in which to build up her dungeon before the Extermination Team came and destroyed her Core.  That was something that was going to have to change soon, because she was quickly coming to a point where she wouldn’t be able to advance quickly; not only that, but she was making almost no progress toward her goal.  It wasn’t as though she hadn’t made any progress, especially learning that the local Order of Defenders Branch was helping the Chronomancer somehow, but that ultimately didn’t matter when she couldn’t survive long enough to do something about it.

Therefore, based on her current situation, Tempara chose the Skeletal Bomber for her next monster, though she definitely wanted the Skeletal Assassin as soon as it was viable.  She figured it would only be another 1 or 2 restarts before she got to that point.

For her Zombie line of monsters, a pair of them had managed to reach their Thresholds, giving her some more Advancement Options.  The first was the Scrounging Ghoul, which she had utilized both in her own defenses and to attack other dungeons, because it was a good monster that was quick enough to move through a battle and inflict injury – most of the time without getting caught up in a fight, its hunched-over gait presenting less of a target.  Paired with a single Skeleton Fighter, it was remarkably effective in causing a few casualties when on one of the smaller islands in her dungeon.

Monster Details

Scrounging Ghoul

200 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Putrefied Skinwalker

400 EP – Death

Rotten Corpse Eater

2,000 EP – Death

Both of the Options available were quite disgusting, and were precisely why she didn’t like undead in the first place.  She had largely gotten used to most of her current undead, despite their appearance and the general feeling of ickiness that using them as her monsters generated in Tempara’s mind, but they were nothing in comparison to these Advancement Options – and she nearly didn’t choose either of them on principle alone.

The first of her possible choices was the Putrefied Skinwalker for 400 EP, which was just as disgusting as it sounded.  Looking like some sort of mobile melted candle, the Skinwalker was essentially layers and layers of putrefied skin on top of a two-legged, two-armed form, standing 6 feet tall and with no visible head.  The layers of skin acted both as a defense and an offense, as each layer was relatively firm and had a consistency of rotting leather – but when there were a dozen or more layers, that made a difference.  It also had the ability to lengthen its arms by melting some skin layers together, and it could manipulate those putrescent, elongated arms like enormous hands, grabbing a victim from up to 10 feet away.  When the Skinwalker pulled a victim back to itself, it they could then pull apart or pound its enemy to death with its surprisingly strong limbs.

The drawback to using the Putrefied Skinwalker, aside from its general appearance, was that it was extremely vulnerable to edged weapons and many types of spells, but particularly necrotic ones.  It was possible that a single Necrotic Gas trap could kill it, because most of its putrefied skin would rot away in an instant, exposing its “brain” located essentially where its chest was located.

The second Advancement Option was somehow worse, in Tempara’s opinion.  The Rotten Corpse Eater, for 2,000 EP, was essentially a hulking, naked, brownish-green-skinned zombie that was 10 feet tall and half that wide; but other than having thick, tree trunk-like legs and arms as well as a torso, that was about the extent of the similarities.  Also like the Skinwalker, there was no actual head that stuck up above the body of the Corpse Eater, but instead there were two white, fleshy orbs that constituted eyes where its shoulders were located.  A massive mouth filled with sharp, jagged teeth made up the majority of its chest and lower torso, big enough to fit an average-sized body inside.

Which was essentially what the mouth was for.  If the name, “Corpse Eater”, didn’t give it away, then its ability to pick up and consume the corpses of the dead certainly explained it.  The monster didn’t just do that just for fun, though: Whenever it consumed a corpse, it would regenerate from some of the damage that had been done to it beforehand.  If it wasn’t damaged, however… it would instead grow in size, depending on the strength of the corpse it consumed.

The weaknesses of the Rotten Corpse Eater were its relatively low defense and its slow speed.  While it had arms capable of punching or pounding a victim into the ground, similar to the Skeletal Hulk, its skin and bones were barely thicker and more dense than the weakest Fragile Skeleton and Decaying Zombie.  The area around its “eyes” was a little more protected with thicker bone, which housed its brain – located just above the upper portion of its mouth – but only by a little bit, about the same as a Withering Revenant.  The Corpse Eater was also just as slow as a Decaying Zombie; it practically shuffled around, and it couldn’t twist its body. That meant that if something were attacking it from the side or behind, it would have to move its entire frame around in order to get to them.

While Tempara didn’t want either of them, she ended up choosing the Rotten Corpse Eater – if only because she could see a use for it with all the undead hordes providing a lot of corpses of it to consume.  That, and it was slightly less dreadful to look at tahn the walking hunk of putrefied skin that was the Skinwalker, though only by a little bit.

Lastly, the Withering Revenants she added to her dungeon had finally been created and had seen battle enough to unlock some Advancement Options.  Thankfully, these were much more appealing than what had come from advancement of the Scrounging Ghoul.

Monster Details

Withering Revenant

300 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Mindflaying Ghast

600 EP – Death

Boneraiser Lich

3,000 EP – Death

The first of the Options stemming from the Withering Revenant was the Mindflaying Ghast for 600 EP.  Essentially a slightly larger version of the Revenant, the Ghast went without the rotting leather armor and was instead covered in cloth rags hanging in strips over its body, with a hood covering its head to the point you couldn’t see its face.  Also, instead of a rusty iron sword, the Ghast had no visible weapon other than its claw-like hands which, with the pale skin and nearly absent flesh, almost looked like the bony hand of a skeleton.

What the Mindflaying Ghast did have was an ability to affect the minds of living beings.  It emitted a near-invisible pulse that reached up to 30 feet, and any living being within range would be directly attacked by a psychic assault, digging into and damaging their minds. What it also did was prevent the casting of spells by anyone affected, as well as activating abilities or other skills that required deliberate activation.  The mindflaying effect wasn’t very powerful in terms of physical damage, as only the weakest beings would actually be hurt by it, but the spell-prevention effect could last up to 20 seconds after it was initiated.

As the mindflaying was only effective against living beings, it was likely that this type of monster wasn’t widely utilized in the Nightgloom Swamp, as they would be entirely useless against any type of undead.  In addition, from what she understood about Defenders, and especially the Extermination Team, they had high resistances to different types of non-physical attacks, depending on what Class they were.  A quick question to Riley and Jorden let her know that Paladins, Priests, and Clerics had natural high mental resistances; as for someone like a Shadowwalker, they would likely be susceptible to something like the mindflaying attack.  Despite the limitations, Tempara was still considering getting the Mindflaying Ghast, but held off until she looked at the other Option.

The second Advancement Option of the Withering Revenant was the Boneraiser Lich for a hefty cost of 3,000 EP.  This monster was an interesting undead, because it was both a powerful spellcaster and could also utilize “dead” undead to help it fight.  The Lich was approximately 7 feet tall and it wore a worn but elaborate black robe filled with silver-threaded runes, along with a foot-tall headpiece which was almost cylindrical in shape.  In its hand was a staff that appeared to be made from multiple leg bones fused together, with a skull on the top with glowing red eyes, matching its own underneath the headpiece.  The Lich’s skin and flesh was thin and drawn, as if it had lost any trace of moisture years ago, and its body was actually quite fragile.

Floating 2 feet off the ground, the Lich could get around quite quickly, zipping around with enough speed to nearly match a Vampire Warrior, though it certainly didn’t have the same type of physical prowess as the Warrior.  In fact, if it was forced to fight in close combat, it could only swing its staff with the strength of a Decaying Zombie – which wasn’t very strong to begin with.

Nearly useless as a physical combatant, the Lich was best at casting spells.  It could create a dark-outlined, transparent shield around itself to help protect it against projectiles and spells. Another spell sent out an explosion of necrotic energy that was like 5 bombs from a Skeletal Bomber all together. A different spell could shoot out a dozen spikes of solidified darkness at a target, which could cut into a victim while also inflicting necrotic damage in wounds. It could also create a powerful whirlwind of shadows within 20 feet of itself, which would continuously damage anything within the whirlwind.  There were different cooldowns for each of its spells, though its cooldowns were only slightly shorter than any other spellcaster she had access to (or knew about).

But what made the Boneraiser Lich so powerful was the fact that it could temporarily raise fallen skeletons to fight for it again, infusing them with its power so that they were stronger than before – and those skeletons could even have been one of the enemy.  This meant that if there were 10 Fragile Skeletons fighting another 10 Fragile Skeletons and they killed each other, the Lich could raise all 20 Skeletons up to serve it, strengthening them and repairing any damage done to them previously.

Unfortunately, even though the Lich was from the Zombie line of monsters, it couldn’t raise anything but skeletons to fight for it, nor could it do anything about the Wisp line of monsters.  Therefore, if it was faced against a bunch of Decaying Zombies, it would have to rely on its spells to defeat them, which was definitely possible against the weaker undead.  This limitation, as well as its weak form and poor physical attack, were the real weaknesses of the Boneraiser Lich, though they were rather minor in comparison to its strengths.

Given that the Mindflaying Ghast was limited to only affecting living beings, Tempara passed on it for now in favor of the Boneraiser Lich.  While she might not be able to effectively utilize it much at the moment due to its high cost, Tempara could imagine some scenarios in which it could be useful, especially when she was able to survive longer than a few days.

Faced with all these different monsters she really couldn’t make use of properly, she knew her time there on the border was coming to an end.  She needed to be able to survive at least a little longer to develop her Core more than she could there, as well as looking for a way to free her family from the ritual set to occur somewhere in the Nightgloom Swamp.  She was quickly getting strong enough to do that, or so she hoped, but it was still going to take some effort to get there.

Before all of that, though, there was a promise she needed to keep to the pair of Defenders helping her out….

Chapter 24

“Do you think this will work?”

Riley looked at Jorden, his bony skull strange to see on her old scouting companion.  Then again, I can’t really say anything because I’m also controlling a Fragile Skeleton and look just as strange.  While the Vampires they had frequently been inhabiting weren’t exactly the same as a Human or an Elf, they were at least not so eerily different as a skeleton.  It was still odd controlling one, considering it didn’t have any flesh or muscles to contract in order to move, but whatever power filled them seemed to do the trick, regardless.

“Maybe?”  She shrugged, which was accompanied by the sounds of bones clinking together.  Seeing a skeleton move its shoulders up like a person, even if it was her own, was surreal.  “What’s sad is that I think I’ve been detached from my original body so long that I can’t even gauge how it will react to this.”

“I… I know what you mean.  Sometimes I think that—”  The former Paladin stopped before he revealed any more, but Riley was fairly certain she knew what he was about to say.

It was something that had passed through her mind more than once over the last few of Tempara’s restarts.  But putting it out there and actually saying it was a lot different from simply thinking it.

“Yeah, I— wait, here we come.”

She was standing next to Jorden’s Fragile Skeleton on the pathway just outside of Tempara’s dungeon, and now it was time to see if their plan had any merit.  In the distance, easily detected through the senses of the undead – as sharp as or better than hers had been as a Shadowwalker – she could see the aforementioned Shadowwalker and Jorden’s Paladin body running toward them.  It was only a bare hour or so since the new restart began, but it was something that both of them had timed down to the second, so their appearance was no surprise.

As soon as she was sure her old body could see two Fragile Skeletons standing in the middle of the pathway, she lifted her right arm and pointed to the entrance of Tempara’s dungeon, followed almost instantly by Jorden.  They made no other movement, simply standing there and trying to urge the bodies of Riley and Jorden to go into the dungeon rather than continue on their journey leading further into the Nightgloom Swamp.

When Tempara had asked them for ideas on how to reunite their souls with their bodies, the two Defenders had been ecstatic that the dungeon core had actually kept her promise to try.  Their first thought was to get their bodies into the dungeon, since they had tried numerous times to reunite while outside the entrance, with absolutely no luck.  Ideally, they would’ve liked to have something a little stronger, even a Vampiric Spawn to catch their attention, but the meeting with their bodies was so soon after the restart that Tempara couldn’t create one yet.

The best she could do was a pair of Fragile Skeletons, especially if she used the rest of her accumulating Elemental Power to prepare a place for the bodies to hide from their pursuers.

“Whoa, only 2?” the physical version of Riley asked as soon as the Shadowwalker saw the pair of Skeletons.  “What are they doing?”

“What?  I can’t see any—oh.  You’re right, what are they doing?” the Paladin repeated the earlier question in confusion.

Come on, come on; go into the dungeon, please.

Unfortunately for the souls, the running bodies only slowed for a half-step before they kept going, and the armored Defender simply whipped his shield off of his back mid-run, before barreling through the two undead in their way.  Riley felt her skeleton completely shatter from the Paladin’s Shield Bash, though her skull was still technically intact.  That lasted until it hit the ground, and her soul was ejected from the monster.  Controlling an undead outside of the dungeon and having it die wasn’t that big of a worry anymore, as they had since learned that it didn’t do anything but make them eject again.  There was even an accident in one of the foreign dungeons when Jorden’s Vampire Warrior was killed, and all it did was eject his soul from the entire dungeon, sending it to just outside of the entrance.

“I guess that didn’t work, did it?”

Her companion’s soul had been ejected from his Skeleton as well, and he appeared as disappointed as she felt.  “Nope.  Try again?”

“Restarting now.”

Less than an hour and a full restart later, Riley was outside of Tempara’s dungeon, though she was controlling a Decaying Zombie this time.  Jorden’s soul was floating nearby, watching from above, because Tempara wasn’t able to produce another one and still work on a hiding place in the dungeon.  If this didn’t work, they’d have to forgo the hiding place in order to see if they could get the Defender’s bodies into the dungeon at all; but for now, this was what they were going to try.

“Alright, here we go.”

Similar to their first attempt, Riley stayed entirely still and only raised her Zombie’s arm toward the dungeon.  The two bodies of the Defenders came, saw the Zombie, and ran it down without even stopping or saying anything.

“Restarting now.”

This time, both Riley and Jorden were controlling a Flickering Wisp, which was an unusual experience even for this messed-up afterlife.  It didn’t have a body that she could move around, and the only thing Riley felt was the sensation of her soul being squished into a form entirely too small for it.  Fortunately, moving around the floating light was easy enough because it was similar to what they did as souls to fly around, though there were limits to how high they could elevate themselves – only about 7 feet above the ground.

“Ok, we’ve got them this time.  Let’s try and direct them into the dungeon—”

“Restarting now.”

With the bodies they were trying to reunite with having negligently swatted the Wisps out of the air, Riley decided to see if a Skeleton Fighter would have any more luck.  This time, Jorden was controlling it because he was most familiar with holding a weapon and a shield.  When the bodies approached, he banged on the shield with his mace to get their attention, then dropped the weapon before pointing toward the entrance.

It definitely got their attention, which made them pause for the first time.

“What the—?  Have you ever seen anything like that?”

The Paladin body shook his head.  “No, but we don’t have time to investigate.  We’ve gotta go!”  With that, he Shield Bashed the Skeleton Fighter, and left Jorden behind while he attempted to put himself back together.

“Restarting now.”

An Archer was attempted next, and Riley released an arrow into the entrance of the dungeon while the two bodies watched during their run, but they simply pushed the Skeleton out of the way before continuing on. After that was a Glowing Wraith, which had just as much luck as a Flickering Wisp.  Then came a Scrounging Ghoul, which ended up using most of Tempara’s Elemental Power to create, but the Riley body used Shadow Blink to come up behind it and stab it through the head.  The last one was the Skeletal Hulk, which had just as much luck as the others.

Otherwise known as none.

Riley didn’t want to give up just yet.  “Can we communicate another way?” she asked.  She already knew from experience that they couldn’t actually speak while in a monster, but perhaps they could do something else.

“We can try.  I’m not sure what good it will do, but I guess it can’t hurt.”

With that thought in mind, the pair of souls used Fragile Skeletons again, but this time they were going to try and do something else.  Ideally, Riley would’ve loved to hold up some sort of sign that explained what they were trying to do, but they had nothing to write on nor anything to write with.  She briefly thought about tree bark and something as simple as carving into it with a bone finger, but whatever she pulled from a tree in the dungeon crumbled away in her bony hands.  The bark outside, though, was a little more intact; however, she had real problems even peeling enough off to use, as the Fragile Skeleton she was controlling wasn’t exactly the most dexterous of monsters.  Bony fingers didn’t have the ability for fine movements, so she was forced to try and chisel some bark away from the tree, cracking her fragile hand bones in the process.

While she worked at that, Jorden grabbed some sharp rock pieces from the pathway and attempted to carve them.  Attempt was the correct word, because he had the same issues with manipulating his bony hands as she did – but he eventually managed something.  When he held it up for her to see, she could plainly see the word “SAFE” and a crude arrow carved into the exterior of the dark-colored bark, with the lighter color underneath poking through where he had carved.  It wasn’t very large, only about a foot in width, but it was still a sign that the bodies would have to be blind not to see.

“Ha!  SAFE!  That’s something I haven’t seen before,” the Shadowwalker exclaimed as soon as she saw the sign being held by the Fragile Skeleton.  “The undead are getting cleverer by the day – but it’s not like we’re going to fall for something like that.”

With a few well-placed blows, the two bodies destroyed the Skeletons, and the two souls were now starting to get frustrated.

“Restarting now.”

They attempted to make a message out of rocks embedded into the pathway, but the bodies either didn’t see it or chose to ignore it.  Some better practice with her Skeleton fingers allowed Riley to create a much larger piece of bark, and Jorden was able to carve their names into it.  Of everything, that was what actually managed to get them to stop for more than a second.

“How do those skeletons know our names?  What is going on?”

Yes!  Alright, let’s get them inside the dungeon.

She bowed toward the two Defenders, something else that was uncharacteristically out of place, and then Jorden and her beckoned them to follow.  Riley thought for a moment that they wouldn’t, but she saw her old body and the Paladin exchange glances.  “I have no idea, but let’s at least check the dungeon to see if it is somewhere we might be able to hide out.”

Finally!

Rather than jeopardize their success by jumping up and down in anticipation, she walked as swiftly as she could with Jorden by her side, leading the two bewildered Defenders into the dungeon.  Thankfully, both of them came fully inside, which had been a brief worry at first, but as soon as they were inside, she pulled her soul out of the Skeleton, which was a signal to Tempara to order the monster to freeze in place.  The last thing they needed was for it to attack those they had lured inside.

Jorden had done the same thing and followed her as they zipped across the space toward their confused bodies.

“I don’t see anything—whoa!  I just got the chills for some reason,” the Paladin said, as soon as Jorden’s soul passed through it.

Riley did the same with her own body, and while she felt a very tenuous connection there, it was completely out of reach.  She tried everything she could to pull or push or grasp or somehow reconnect her soul with the body… but nothing happened.

“I feel it, too.  I think we should get out of here.”  With that, the two bodies turned away and ran back out of the dungeon, leaving the two forlorn souls behind.

Riley was silent and unmoving as she watched their hope for gaining their bodies back run down the pathway that would eventually lead to their deaths.  She wasn’t sure how long it was before Tempara spoke into her mind, but she thought it might have been at least an hour.  Having seen the pursuing group of Defenders pass by without comment a while ago, she figured it had to have been at least that long.

“Do you want me to restart so you can try again?”

She didn’t answer right away, and neither did Jorden.  After nearly a minute she sighed and shook her head.  “No, I think we’re done.  For now, at least,” she said, looking at Jorden for confirmation.  He didn’t say anything, which she took as a sign that he didn’t object.  “I can’t think of anything else that might work, other than perhaps being there at our time of death.  That opening might be the only option, but I don’t see the point of reattaching our souls to our dead bodies.”

She paused again as she thought about what Jorden was starting to say before they began all of these attempts.

“The way we are right now at least allows us to live on, even if it is as free-floating souls. While it’s not exactly better than having our old bodies back, it’s at least something that allows us to experience having a body, even if it isn’t our own.  Better than that, we can still fight and learn how to control a whole variety of monsters, which was something I never would’ve dreamed was possible.

“Going back to our bodies would also mean we would be chased and persecuted for something we didn’t do, and trying to prove we didn’t kill all those people would be a nightmare.  I don’t think I really considered what gaining my body back would entail, but it certainly wouldn’t be a walk in the park.  Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, though it’s the creepiest disguise I’ve ever seen,” she finished with a poor attempt at humor.

No one said anything for a moment, before she saw Jorden nod his head.  “I agree.  As crazy as it is not to strive to do everything conceivable to get my body back, I honestly can’t see the outcome, if that were to happen, being a positive one.  I think we might have a better chance, from where we are now, both of getting revenge against Beatrix and her psychotic group, and perhaps even of stopping her from doing whatever she has planned in the future.”

She hadn’t thought of that, but her companion had a good point.  They were nearly powerless against the Branch Master when they were flesh-and-blood Defenders, but perhaps they could do something as undead monsters?  It was too soon to tell, but at least there were some more options available.

“If you’re sure about that, then I think it’s time we moved on.  We can always come back during a different restart if you want to see your bodies again, but there will eventually come a time where I’ll have to establish a temporal displacement point in the future.  This will change the restart time to a new one, which will effectively remove the chance to see your bodies again, at least while they’re still alive.”

Riley remembered Tempara mentioning something like that a long time ago, but it didn’t really hit her until now.  Can I seriously leave any chance of living in my own body again behind?  She looked over at Jorden, who had a determined look on his face.  When he slowly nodded, she sighed again, realizing that they had made their decision.

“We’re sure.  Thank you for helping us attempt to gain our bodies back; I really appreciate you taking the time to do all of that.  You didn’t have to, yet you did it anyway.”

“You’re very welcome.  As you know, taking time to do that kind of thing isn’t really that big of a deal to me, and it would’ve been nice to be able to reunite you with your living bodies.”

“You just wanted to get rid of us, didn’t you?” Riley joked.

“I will admit that, at first, that was my only thought.  However, as I’ve come to know you a little better, I’ll also admit that I’d now be disappointed if you were to leave.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing and only nodded at the dungeon core’s words.

“Alright, then. If we’re all united in this, then I’m going to make some changes.  We’re off to a different spot in the Swamp, where I can really put all of my development to the test.  Restarting now.”

The next time Riley found herself on the edge of the island containing the floating dungeon core, they definitely weren’t anywhere near the border with the Kingdom anymore.

Chapter 25

Just as she had assessed shortly after coming to the Nightgloom Swamp, Tempara only had a few options of where to select her starting location.  The first was the one a little further into the Swamp, where she’d begun her journey in the new Wildlands region – only to pick up a couple of Defender souls as a result.  That was out of the running for a viable area, if only because her core was likely to be destroyed by those pursuing the innocent fugitives; the time between her arrival and the appearance of Riley and Jorden’s living bodies was measured in hours, not days, so she wouldn’t be able to put much of anything together before they all arrived.

The second option was where she’d just been, though there were a number of places along the border where she could set down her Dungeon Core.  However, the border with the Kingdom was always going to be a temporary solution, because even if a scout team didn’t find her dungeon immediately, they would eventually.  She had seen it happen countless times up north, and she didn’t have any reason to think it was different in the Swamp, at least based on what she had seen thus far.

That left a total of 2 other spots where there was room for her dungeon, one of which was near the middle of the Wildlands and one to the far southwest.  The further southwest she went, the stronger the Cores seemed to be, but even near the middle they ranged from Core Level 8 to 10.  If she started there, she’d be at a severe disadvantage from the beginning, as all the other Cores had many more resources than her, but she had something they didn’t: knowledge of more monsters than they did.  It was that advantage, as well as banking on the fact that nothing would likely attack her until she was at least Core Level 2 or even higher, that gave her the confidence to select that area for her Core.

Besides, the area was right in the middle of the Swamp where there was a very large island, nearly the size of a dungeon all by itself, which she had noticed when searching previously.  It was where she thought a ritual might take place, as it was the only location that really stood out as unique; she could be completely wrong, of course, but that was something she’d have to wait and see about later.

Almost immediately after selecting her new starting location, right in the middle of some high-Level Cores, there was a subtle pressure that seemed to weigh on her Core that she hadn’t felt before.

“What is that?  It feels… heavy.”

You can feel that too, Aunt Chrona?

“We all can.  Do you know what it is?”

She immediately took her viewpoint up and out of her dungeon’s entrance, looking around for the source of the pressure she was feeling.  To the east, just out of her current range, was the large island that she had seen before, and as she moved her viewpoint closer, she felt the pressure increase slightly. She went back to her dungeon to report to her family.

Whatever it is, it seems to be coming from the east.  There’s a big island there, and I can only assume that what we’re feeling is an increase in the Elemental Power around here.

As soon as she said it, Tempara was confident that was the reason.  She was unsure if it just happened to be a simple concentration of Elemental Power, or if it was some sort of object, but the pressure she felt was the greater amount of ambient Power in the area.  Based on what Kiana had told her, it was likely that as soon as she reached Core Level 6 and was able to accumulate additional amounts of EP, the pressure would start to drop off.

For now, it wasn’t exactly painful or uncomfortable, but it was certainly noticeable.  She found that she was able to ignore it if she didn’t think about it too long.

“Is this the new place?”

Tempara had been away and thinking about the pressure so long that Riley and Jorden had already appeared, along with Kiana.  Her former master had gotten slightly better about the presence of the two Defender souls, especially as they had been so helpful, but there was still some underlying hostility there.

“Yes,” the assistant replied curtly and dismissively.  Thankfully, Riley and Jorden had gotten used to her attitude, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Yes, we are someplace new.  Do either of you know what is in the middle of the Swamp?  There is a very large island nearby, and it feels like a large concentration of Elemental Power is coming from there.

The two souls looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to her Core.  “I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen it; only the strongest groups during the sweep destroy the Cores around the Isle of the Dead,” the Paladin said.

Isle of the Dead?

Riley shrugged.  “That’s just what we’ve heard it called, though I think it’s just a nickname.  I just know there’s supposed to be an island where all the pathways through the swamp eventually connect, which makes it a central nexus where the undead roam in massive hordes.  Or that’s what the rumors say; we were rarely part of those that went farther into the Swamp during a sweep, as we were better suited near the border.”

A central nexus?  Now that she pictured what she saw from the overhead map in her mind, she did remember seeing that there were a lot of land bridges connected to it.  She didn’t have enough time to look and see that everything was connected to that central island, but it could also explain why there was a lot of pressure coming from there.  If it was a place where large hordes of undead fought, then it was possible that the deaths of so many in a relatively small area would release enormous amounts of Elemental Power as a result.

Tempara knew she would eventually want to check it out, but for now she wanted to stay as far away from that place as possible.  She wasn’t quite ready to compete in that kind of arena against the nearby high-Level Cores.

Speaking of them, sensing what she could of her neighbors, she saw that to the east and near this Isle of the Dead was a Core Level 10 dungeon; to the south and southwest of her were a pair of Core Level 8 dungeons; and to the northwest was a Core Level 9 dungeon.  There were more further out, of course, but those were the ones that were actually in her range and that would be the biggest threat to her.

Why don’t you go explore and see if you find anything interesting.  I’m going to start planning for my new dungeon – which will be much different from my previous one.

“Oh, how different?” Riley asked.

Completely different.  Now that I’ve had some time to get used to my monsters, I have some interesting ideas I want to try out.

“Sounds good.  We’ll go look around and see what we’re up against.”

As the two Defenders left her dungeon, flying through the air in their soul forms, Tempara turned to her plans for her new dungeon.  When she had been near the border, she had asked her family a few times what they would suggest for some different defenses, and they had been surprisingly astute in their observations of what might work better and what probably wouldn’t.  It was a big change from when they had first tried to boss her around and make her do what they wanted. A big part of that evolution was actually experiencing multiple restarts, as well as participating in the defense via controlling some of her monsters.  They had really only used a few from the Wisp line of monsters, because they still couldn’t adapt to walking or fighting on two feet instead of four, but there had been plenty of chances for them to experience the defense of a dungeon from the inside.

The most insightful thing that they had mentioned, and that Tempara had seen herself, was the fact that her old dungeon defense wasn’t exactly optimized against fighting hordes of undead.  That seemed obvious from the start when she had set her dungeon up in a multitude of small islands with only a few defending monsters on each, but what they really meant was that she wasn’t taking advantage of the different strengths of both her monsters and her traps to really demolish a horde, instead of taking them apart piecemeal like she had been doing.

Of course, there was a reason she had been doing it that way: to develop as quickly as possible.

There were a couple of other suggestions they had contributed, but the most important was the first, most obvious one about optimizing against fighting hordes of undead. It was about time she utilized her monsters to their fullest extent, instead of just using them to unlock more Advancement Options. While that was still important, as there was still a lot that she thought she could gain access to, for the moment she had more than enough to provide a strong defense – as long as she survived long enough, of course.

“There’s a lot of large hordes out there, Tempara,” the Dungeon Core heard after nearly an hour of contemplating what she was going to do with her dungeon.  She had a fairly good idea how she wanted it set up now, but there was also something else she needed to find out.

Do any of them seem interested in coming here?

Riley shook her head.  “No, they are swarming all over the other nearby dungeons.  Most of the hordes we saw numbered at least 50 and went all the way up to around 100 undead, and all of them have Withering Revenants and Skeleton Fighters, and a few even already have Skeletal Hulks.  I’m sure there are even more out there that we didn’t notice, but it’s plain to see that these dungeons are a bit stronger than what we’re used to.”

It was what Tempara expected, though the fact that some of the Cores had unlocked a Hulk, which required the unlocking of the Skeleton Fighter first, was an indication that she would be facing some strong opposition immediately.  But there was still a question of when she would be attacked by the other dungeons.

Normally, when nearby Cores saw that she was Core Level 2, the assaults would begin.  That was only when the nearest dungeons were a few Core Levels above her own, however; but in this case, all of them were much higher.  She was gambling that she would stay beneath their notice even at Core Level 2, because there wouldn’t be much to gain from her dungeon; a few thousand EP wouldn’t be worth trying to steal from her Core, especially if they were risking more than that in the horde they sent.  If they were a lower Core Level, such as 4 or 5, then those few thousand could be important, but at Level 8 to 10, it would likely be beneath their notice.

Therefore, before she did anything else, she needed to know the threshold of when the attacks would begin.

“You’re not going to do anything right now?” her Aunt Chrona asked, curious when Tempara explained that she was going to wait.

No, not right now.  I’m going to save up as much Elemental Power as I can so that I can increase my Core Level as rapidly as possible.  When I get to a Core Level where I find that I’m starting to get attacked, then I’ll know how much time I’ll have to prepare before that happens.

“I guess that makes sense.”

It did, though it was quite boring for all involved.  Without doing anything to her dungeon, not even creating a single monster, there wasn’t much for everyone to see or participate in.  Thankfully, she didn’t have to hear the complaints of boredom from the Defender souls, because they were busy watching the hordes wander around and fight each other throughout Tempara’s current range.

A little over 3 hours saw her achieving Core Level 2, and then at 5 more hours after that saw her accumulate enough EP to get to Core Level 3.  Throughout the entire time she had been Core Level 2, not a single horde had appeared to be the least bit interested in turning toward her entrance, which was definitely good to know.  Once she increased her Core Level to 3, Tempara was constantly looking around her current range (along with Riley and Jorden) to see if anything had changed.

It hadn’t, just as she hoped.

Just under 7 hours later, she accumulated enough EP to reach the 10,000 EP Level Threshold for Core Level 4.  Within minutes of initiating the Core Level increase, the first of the undead hordes that originated from one of the Core Level 8 dungeons emerged from their entrance and headed straight toward Tempara’s dungeon.

I guess that’s the threshold for when they’ll attack me.  Restarting now.

She didn’t bother to wait for them to arrive and destroy her Core, but instead activated her Temporal Displacement skill.  A short time later, she was right back in her dungeon 15 hours earlier as the time was reset.

Now that she knew how much leeway she had until she was eventually attacked, Tempara initiated her plan.  It took a little over 8 hours to start on it, of course, because she had to wait until she was Core Level 3, but that was a relatively short time to wait.  With an AR of 15 EP/minute, she was a lot better able to produce the necessary changes to her dungeon than trying to do it all at Core Level 1.

Core Display

Core Name:

Tempara

Core Level:

3

Designation:

Undead Horde

Level Threshold:

6,000 EP – Death

Elemental Power – Cold (EP – Cold):

40 EP

Accumulation Rate – Cold (AR – Cold):

9 EP/hour

Elemental Power – Death (EP – Death):

15 EP

Accumulation Rate – Death (AR – Death):

15 EP/minute

Defensible Islands:

1

Monster Threshold:

35

Available Monsters:

23

Available Traps:

8

Unavailable Monsters:

39

Unavailable Traps:

11

Available Monsters:

Flickering Wisp

Fragile Skeleton

Living Shadow

25 EP – Death

50 EP – Death

50 EP – Death

Decaying Zombie

Skeleton Fighter

Glowing Wraith

100 EP – Death

100 EP – Death

100 EP – Death

Skeleton Archer

Scrounging Ghoul

Skeletal Hulk

150 EP – Death

200 EP – Death

200 EP – Death

Incorporeal Phantom

Withering Revenant

Skeletal Bomber

250 EP – Death

300 EP – Death

300 EP – Death

Skeleton Mage

Vampiric Spawn

Fearstriker Ghost

350 EP – Death

450 EP – Death

500 EP – Death

Terrifying Wight

Skeleton Amalgamation

Wailing Banshee

600 EP – Death

700 EP – Death

800 EP – Death

Vampire Warrior

Skeletal Champion

Rotten Corpse Eater

900 EP – Death

1,000 EP – Death

2,000 EP – Death

Spiritual Oppressor

Boneraiser Lich

2,500 EP – Death

3,000 EP – Death

Available Traps:

Pit Trap

Spiked Pit Trap

Camouflaged Pit Trap

0.5 AR – Any

0.75 AR – Any

1.5 AR – Any

Javelin Launch

Spear Impalement

Wall Crush

2.5 AR – Any

3 AR – Any

5 AR – Any

Necrotic Gas

Shattering Skulls

0.5 AR – Death

0.75 AR – Death

Core Abilities:

Construct Dungeon

Create Monster

Install Trap

(EP cost – varies)

(EP cost – varies)

(AR cost – varies)

Skills/Knowledge:

Monster Creation

Trap Installation

Temporal Manipulation

(Total Knowledge: 62)

(Total Knowledge: 19)

(Total Knowledge: 2)

I think I have all the tools I need to prepare a good defense, so this should be quite interesting.

“I hope so, because this is starting to get a little boring,” Riley said after waiting for so long.

Don’t worry, you won’t be bored for long.

Chapter 26

The first island Tempara constructed was unlike anything she’d done before in the Swamp, as it surely wasn’t a tiny island barely big enough for a few undead, nor was it like the rectangular one she had first made with rusty iron fences.  Instead, directly past the entrance – and not even angling to the side to start making a circuit around the perimeter – was a large, circular island that was 100 feet across and ringed with trees along the edges.  She had heard about what Riley and Jorden encountered in other dungeons, and while she wasn’t setting out to copy them, there were a few things that made sense.  Having a screen of trees between the entrance pathway and the defenses she had on the island was a smart idea, and it wasn’t too costly in terms of Elemental Power.

On the island, she was planning on installing some Necrotic Gas traps inside of the trees near the entrance, as they had been quite effective in reducing the defenses of anything that passed through them in the past; she didn’t do it right away because it would take away from her Accumulation Rate, but before any visitors arrived, they would be in place.  She was close to acquiring an Advancement Option for the trap soon, however, so she hoped that whatever was unlocked was even better.

In the center of the island, Tempara was finally able to create a Wailing Banshee; the screaming monster had been too volatile before on her small islands to utilize without hurting her other defending monsters.  The ability it had to damage or even kill many of the weaker undead that arrived in her dungeon couldn’t be underestimated, so that was why the Banshee was up first.  With the horde so concentrated together, Tempara stood the best chance of severely injuring dozens of undead all at once.

Of course, the Banshee by itself was rather weak, as once its scream was done, it was extremely vulnerable.  Trying to protect it with other monsters nearby, even to finish off those hurt by the Banshee’s scream, wouldn’t be very productive if they were similarly hurt by the sonic attack.  At least, they would be similarly damaged if they had a physical presence, but Tempara wouldn’t be using those types of monsters.

She’d be using something that wouldn’t be affected by the scream, but could instead ride out the attack with impunity and attack when the defenses of the incoming undead horde were down.  In other words, another monster along the Wisp line of monsters: Living Shadow.

Tempara and the two Defenders assisting her had seen Flickering Wisps only very rarely, and none of them had seen any advanced Options the entire time she had been in the Nightgloom Swamp.  Jorden mentioned seeing some Glowing Wraiths before in the past, but they were certainly not very common.  The Dungeon Core could well understand the reasoning behind not using the Wisp nor any of the accompanying Advancement Options, because they were relatively weak, as most did very little damage to undead, and were typically able to be killed so easily that they were a waste of Elemental Power in the first place.  Even the Banshee, while fairly powerful in terms of its wide-ranging scream attack, was then highly vulnerable for the next 15 seconds, and it could be killed by a few grazing strikes coming from simple iron weapons.

But that didn’t mean they were totally ineffective.  Tempara had noticed in her dungeon that if most undead had a much bigger target to concentrate on, one which had done a lot of damage to them, then they largely ignored any small attacks by the weaker Wisp, or in this case a Living Shadow.  The best example of this was when she had a Withering Revenant attacking a horde of a dozen Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies; the Revenant had torn through a pair of the Skeletons, pushing the others back in the process, and that was when a Living Shadow attached itself to the shadow of one of the Zombies that had been pushed back.  The Zombie completely ignored it, as it was concentrating on the Revenant, and despite being in a larger group where the other undead could certainly see her Living Shadow, they did nothing to kill it.

This was exactly what she was going to do here on this first island, with an additional 10 Living Shadows placed along the dirt, where they could attach themselves to the horde trying to reach the Banshee that had just hurt them.  Those damaged by the scream attack would be quite susceptible to further spiritual damage, so the Shadows would have a much easier time finishing off those already spiritually injured.  They wouldn’t survive forever, and neither would the Banshee, but they weren’t really meant to.  They were simply there to destroy the weakest of the undead that invaded, which were typically in the front of most hordes, and not to stick around for a long time.

From this first island, Tempara didn’t just make a straight line for her Core Island, but instead connected 4 branching pathways that led in different directions.  While creating a maze of different islands might work for Defenders to confuse them, she knew from experience up north that monsters were able to sense the correct pathway to her Dungeon Core, as if they could sniff it out.  The branching pathways weren’t necessarily designed to confuse the undead hordes, however, because all of them eventually ended up where they wanted to go; instead, they were designed to split up the horde.

One thing Riley and Jorden had noticed when they took her monsters into a foreign dungeon was that each type of monster that accompanied them tended to act independently of each other.  Occasionally they appeared to work together to accomplish the task of killing enemy monsters, but for the most part that teamwork was nothing more than knowing they shouldn’t do anything that could deliberately hurt a “friendly” member of their horde.  This was seen most often when Skeleton Archers fired over the heads of a front line of Skeleton Fighters, for instance, instead of straight ahead through the defending Skeletons.

But after a battle, they tended to do their own thing.  Most of the time they walked in the same direction, but occasionally a faster clump of monsters would overtake the front ranks – all because they weren’t really working together, they were simply headed toward the same goal.  It was Tempara’s hope that by creating branching pathways, she would see if she could split up the different groups of monsters in the horde, who would each decide on the correct way to reach their goal.  It was a big “if”, unfortunately, but she could afford to experiment; if it did work, then she had a potential solution for dealing with so many undead.

On all 4 of the branching pathways, she created a single Skeleton Amalgamation on a long but narrow island, surrounded by trees along the perimeter, making it even narrower.  It was just large enough for the spherical Amalgamation to roll down, which was precisely what she wanted; as the horde filtered into the 12-foot-wide island, narrowed down even further until it was barely 6 feet wide with a few ranks of trees along the sides.  The large, 6-foot-wide ball of bones then had a perfect runway down the island, and when she raised up the end of the island where the ball of bones started, there was enough of a ramp to let it pick up some speed.  The objective for these islands was to run over as many of the horde that came through as possible, and that’s why the island was 150 feet long – so as to allow more to enter from the pathway.

After the Amalgamation Island, all of the different routes converged again into a single island, which would have a Camouflaged Pit Trap right at the entrance of each pathway.  They were there to take out some of the stronger undead that had managed to survive to that point, thinning out their numbers even further.  On the island itself, which was rectangular and approximately 100 feet wide and 60 feet long, the four pathways all emerged along the bottom width, and 50 feet across from each entrance was a Skeleton Mage.

Theoretically, these Mages would be able to cast one of their Shadow Veil spells that would cover the entrances with a darkness the invaders wouldn’t be able to see through, which could be capitalized on by 4 sets of 4 Skeleton Archers and a single Skeleton Bomber that were separated by at least 15 feet in between the Mages; that was so that if the Mages used their close-range Umbral Explosion spell, they wouldn’t get caught in the destructiveness.  Stationed in front of the Archers and Bombers were 4 sets of 2 Skeleton Fighters, which would help to protect the long-range attackers from any initial attackers that got through it, letting them survive a little bit longer.

Even working together like that, Tempara knew the Skeletons couldn’t withstand any heavy opposition for long.  That was why she also had a Boneraiser Lich at the rear of the island, which could cast spells from afar and then take advantage of the destruction of the skeleton forces that were likely to occur.

The total number of monsters she had created for her dungeon by that point equaled 43, leaving – at Core Level 3, at least – another 9 she could add before she couldn’t add any more.  At Core Level 4, she would be able to add 23 more, but for the moment 9 was all she needed.

One more island was added before the pathway eventually led back to Core Island, and this one was filled with many of her more-powerful monsters.  There was a Vampire Warrior which Riley could control; a Skeletal Champion, which turned out to be the Paladin’s favorite because of its armaments; a trio of Terrifying Wights, in the center of the 100-foot-wide circular island, which could utilize their auras together and not affect each other; a Spiritual Oppressor, which sat right over the entrance to rain down some hurt on anything arriving; and a pair of Corpse Eaters, along the back edges of the island, to help clean up any undead that were left by eating the corpses of whatever had already been killed.  There was also going to be a pair of Shattering Skulls traps near the entrance, which would attack the horde from below while the Oppressor was attacking from above.

Overall, it required a little more than 24 hours to completely set up her dungeon, and then another few hours to put on the finishing touches with traps and décor.  Thankfully, while the two Defenders were rather bored during this time, none of the nearby Cores decided to investigate her dungeon, so she was left completely alone to do what needed to be done.

“Pretty impressive, I have to say.  I think it might just stand up to many of the hordes we’ve seen moving around out there, though it’s hard to say for sure,” Riley said as soon as Tempara was finished.  “Of course, a strong team of Defenders could probably get through the majority of this with ease, though they’d probably be challenged on that last island of yours – mainly because that’s where we’ll be,” she continued, pointing toward herself and her fellow Defender soul.

I’m sure.  This isn’t necessarily meant to stop a team of Defenders, though I’ll certainly have to make one later once I find the ritual.

Tempara held off on making a Dungeon Boss right away, mainly because even the least expensive one was going to require a large chunk of EP, so she decided to wait until she hit Core Level 4 and had a higher Level Threshold, anyway.  She wanted to be able to make something better than a Fragile Skeleton, a Decaying Zombie, or another weaker base monster, and she would need more EP to do that.

Besides, if something managed to get that far, then there was something very wrong with the rest of her dungeon.  That wasn’t to say that she had an answer to everything, but she was fairly confident she could withstand the majority of the smaller hordes roaming around out there without the need for a Boss.

It took another 6 hours or so after finishing her dungeon to her liking before she had enough to increase her Core Level up to 4.  All-in-all, it had taken a little over 33 hours to get to that point, but now she was ready to see how it all handled against some real threats.

Chapter 27

Riley floated above the entrance of Tempara’s dungeon, looking down on the 80-strong horde of undead squeezing themselves down the pathway.  It consisted of about 30 Fragile Skeletons and 20 Decaying Zombies, but along with them were 25 Skeletal Hulks and 5 Withering Revenants.  It wasn’t a very dangerous assortment of monsters, but it was certain to be a good test of the dungeon Tempara had created.

The former Shadowwalker was actually impressed at what could be designed when the dungeon core wasn’t thinking solely about developing her assortment of monsters.  There were some things that she would change if she were in charge, but she hadn’t mentioned anything because it wasn’t like she was an expert on designing and constructing a dungeon.  She knew how to kill undead, though, so that had to count for something.

“What do you want to bet that at least 1 of these undead will make it to our island?” she asked her companion soul, who had joined her in watching the horde enter the dungeon.  When she referred to “our island,” Jorden knew exactly what she meant, because it was the only one featuring both a Vampire Warrior and a Skeletal Champion on it, which they had been most comfortable inhabiting lately.  Tempara had mentioned something called a Skeletal Assassin, which Riley had never heard of before, and she was slightly disappointed that the core hadn’t unlocked it when she had the chance.  Thankfully, she said it was only a matter of time before it was available for her, because it sounded so much like her former Class that she was eager to try it out.

I never thought I would look forward to seeing a monster, but I guess that’s my life now.  Or afterlife, whatever the term should be.

“You’re on,” the former Paladin said with a chuckle.  “The defenses here are perfect, but they are more than enough to stop this bunch.”  He floated there with his hand on his incorporeal chin, as if he was thinking hard. “If I win, you have to try controlling that Rotten Corpse Eater and eat a corpse.”

Her soul shivered involuntarily at the thought.  That thing was creepy, and disgusting to even look at for more than a few seconds.  The thought of being forced to eat a corpse, even if she knew she wouldn’t be able to taste it, was enough to make her want to call off the bet – which was precisely why she was going to take it.  It wouldn’t be a bet worth taking unless the punishment was serious enough.  “Extremely disturbing, but fine.  And if I win, you need to control a Flickering Wisp until you make a kill – and it can’t be stuck inside of a pit.”

To the untrained soul unused to controlling monsters, that might not seem to equate to being forced to eat a corpse – and yet it was so much more devious.  See, eating a corpse would be disgusting and vomit-inducing (if she had any vomit to expel), but it was over and done with in less than a minute.  To have to control a tiny Flickering Wisp – which was already slightly difficult and strange, not to mention being slightly claustrophobic – and then try to kill something with it could take hours or days to accomplish.

“Ugh.  Alright, I agree.  If none of this horde makes it to the final island where we’ll be waiting, then you’ll eat a corpse; if at least 1 does, then I’ll kill something with a Wisp.  No cheating by directly influencing the outcome, either.  Agreed?”

She nodded, a smile creeping out on her face.  “Absolutely.  Agreed.”

Jorden looked at her and her sudden smile.  “Why do I feel like I’ve just been swindled?”

“What?  Who, me?”  Riley tried to project as much innocence in her expression as she could, but she wasn’t sure if he believed her.  She probably wouldn’t have believed her either, mainly because she rarely took a bet she didn’t already know she was going to win.

Of course, Jorden didn’t know that, just like he didn’t know that she had overheard Tempara mentioning to her family that she was going to try and let a few of the horde get through to the last island to test out if she had the Terrifying Wights enough distance away from all of the other monsters so they weren’t affected by the fearful aura it projected.

“You’re acting suspicious, but I can’t see how you could already know what’s going to happen.  Either way, a bet’s a bet, so we’ll just have to see; speaking of that, let’s watch this first island, because I’m curious about this Banshee.”

“Curious?  Oh, are you into that kind of thing?” Riley teased.  In all honesty, the Wailing Banshee was completely counter to anything she’d expected to find in a dungeon, as the floating woman had remarkably striking features.  She wasn’t quite an Elf or a Human, but something in between, and her appearance was completely at odds with what she could supposedly do.

“Well, you know, she is kind of pretty—”

“Ha!  I knew it!” Riley crowed, chuckling at his embarrassed reaction.  “I’m not sure she’s your type—”

“Whatever.  Let’s just watch.”

Riley smirked at him as he turned his attention to what they were watching, so she did as well.  The front edge of the horde, which consisted of Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies, were already making their way through the trees located in the initial section of the first island, setting off the Necrotic Gas traps that had been placed there by Tempara.  While the traps didn’t kill any of them, they did happen to affect at least a dozen Fragile Skeletons as they walked through, making them so weak that a stiff breeze might shatter their bones.

Soon enough, the front line, all 50 of the Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies made it through the trees, where they immediately detected the floating figure of the Wailing Banshee right in the middle of the island.  As if drawn to it like a beacon, they converged on the beautiful woman-like monster, each of them acting like all they could think about was ripping her apart.

When the first of the undead got within 20 feet of her location, the woman suddenly opened her eyes for the first time, but they weren’t like any eyes Riley had seen before.  They glowed with an inner light, while at the same time emitting enough illumination that it seemed as though the entire inner clearing of the island became just a little bit brighter.

As the Banshee looked down at the incoming skeletons trying to reach her, she opened her mouth; at the same time, her fair appearance transformed as it was twisted into a nightmarish visage, with dried, tight skin that was missing chunks from different areas around her visible body.  Riley thought it looked like the monster had suddenly aged thousands of years in a matter of seconds.  Her floating hair, which looked like it had been gently drifting in water, suddenly vibrated and moved frantically around her head, and her clothing was suddenly in rags, where it had been a pristine white dress before.

As soon as the transformation was done, which took less than 2 seconds, the Banshee  let out an incredibly destructive scream, which was actually visible as waves of force shot out in a circle around the monster.  Any of the Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies within 50 feet were violently pushed backward, with more than half of them falling down and rolling as the scream continued.  Any of the Skeletons that had been hit by the Necrotic Gas trap a little earlier were shattered into hundreds of pieces as soon as the first sound waves hit, throwing shrapnel in a rain back toward the trees, which hit some of the emerging undead, doing minor damage.  As for the rest within range, they all suffered greatly from the screaming attack, as decaying flesh was ripped off Zombies’ bodies and bones were cracked to the point where they would shatter if Riley sneezed on them.

After 5 seconds of continuous abuse by the scream, the Banshee slowly closed her mouth, her withered and nightmarish body slowly transforming back to its original appearance, as she closed her eyes and floated there as if nothing had happened.  The entire process was such a surprise and was frankly so shocking that she didn’t even know how to respond.

“Alright, I take it back.”

That shook Riley from her temporary stupor.  “What?  The bet?”

“No, I don’t think she’s so pretty anymore.”

She couldn’t help it; Riley started to giggle uncontrollably as she watched the Living Shadows that had been sitting unmoving along the area in front of the Banshee rise up and attach themselves to the Skeletons and Zombies as they tried to recover from the beating they had just taken.  Within a second or two of the dark shadow monsters touching them, their already-damaged bodies were hit with just a little bit more, which was all they needed to collapse and fall apart.  As soon as one went down, the Living Shadows jumped to the next-nearest enemy, none of whom seemed to see or sense them ripping the rest of their un-life away from them – because all of their attention was focused on the Banshee in the center of the island.  In 10 seconds, nearly all of the Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies were killed, with none the wiser to where their deaths were coming from.

Riley stopped giggling when the last of them fell, and she couldn’t help but be impressed.  “That’s quite amazing.  Who knew that the Banshee could be so powerful?”

It was obvious that not a lot of dungeons really knew about how effective they could be, though the former Shadowwalker realized that they probably weren’t sure how to utilize them properly, as Tempara had.  Then again, from what the dungeon core had said, the scream attack was less effective against stronger undead, so they would only really be useful for these weaker hordes.  If she understood how the entire process worked, by the time other cores actually unlocked the Banshee for use, they would likely be a much higher Level and less dependent on Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies.

By that time, the Skeletal Hulks and the Withering Revenants had arrived, and they moved quickly toward the Banshee.  Along the way, they punched or swung their rusty swords toward the Living Shadows that were in their path, cutting down more than half of them in seconds.

A full 20 seconds had passed before the first of the Hulks arrived and attempted to punch the Banshee, but its large fist passed right through the floating woman as if she was a ghost – which was essentially what she was.  The incorporeal monster opened its eyes, followed by its eyes in anticipation of screaming again, but then the Revenants pushed their way through the Hulks and swung their weapons at the apparition.  With the first hit, the transformation the Banshee was going through seemed to pause, which continued as it was attacked again and again.  After the fifth strike, the floating woman seemed to break apart, a brief scream that was more a yell of frustration than an attack emerging from where she started to disappear into a glowing pile of unrecognizable ectoplasm on the ground.

The rest of the Living Shadows attempted to attack the gathered Hulks and Revenants, but they were only able to attach themselves for a second or two before they, too, were cut down.  Regardless, the fact that a Banshee and 10 Living Shadows, along with some Necrotic Gas traps, had managed to eliminate 50 undead on the first island was amazing.  Needless to say, Riley began to worry that none of the remaining 30 undead in the horde would progress far enough to be “let into” the final island, thereby putting her bet in jeopardy.

For the next part, the former Defender was amazed to see that Tempara had been correct in her supposition that different types of monsters within a horde would split up, even if they were given equal choices of a path to take.  The Hulks, which were slightly faster than the Revenants, streamed ahead, and they took the route in the center right at the end of the island.  The Revenants strangely took the center left pathway, probably because the majority of them just so happened to be slightly nearer to that entrance when they came to it.

The pathways weren’t very long, only about 75 feet, but they both ran into the long, narrow island that Tempara had constructed.  The Hulks reached their destination first, and as they weaved their way through the trees near the entrance, she could see the giant ball of bones – which Riley had only seen a few times before as a Defender – located near the opposite end of the island start to roll forward.  There wasn’t a large slant to the island, but it was enough to add momentum as a little more than a dozen Hulks were already moving their way up the narrowed pathway, flanked by trees on either side.  The lead skeletons saw the Skeletal Amalgamation headed their way and appeared to be readying to punch it, but by the time it slammed into the front ranks, it was already moving too fast.

Bones went flying as a half-dozen Skeletal Hulks were shattered by the impact of a rolling ball of mismatched skeleton parts, though the hits slowed the Amalgamation down considerably.  By the time it demolished the first few, it was already showing signs of damage; even as it rolled over the Hulks, however, she could see it visibly being repaired as the spherical monster picked up parts of the shattered invaders to “heal” itself.

With its momentum all but stopped when it reached the eighth Hulk, the Amalgamation then turned to other means of doing damage.  Large “arms” composed of an assortment of long bones emerged from its sides, where it began punching into the enemy that was rapidly surrounding it.  The blows by the Amalgamation’s arms did a significant amount of damage, as it was able to smash the skulls of another 3 Hulks in a matter of seconds, but the Hulks were also quite good at punching things.  The fragile bones that made up the majority of the sphere’s outer shell had chunks taken out of it at a rapid pace, and before it could try and repair itself anymore, the central skull in the middle of the Amalgamation was reached and shattered, causing the rest of it to fall apart into a large pile of bones.

Now down 10 of the 25 Hulks, they continued on down the island, after a few of them took the time to repair some of the damage that had been inflicted upon them by snatching some bones from the pile or from their fallen invaders.  Again, it was an impressive showing by a single monster, though the one on the other pathway wasn’t quite as successful.

The Withering Revenants were made of slightly sturdier stuff than the Hulks, and when the Skeleton Amalgamation there slammed into them, only the first one was crushed and killed.  At that point, most of the momentum it had was stopped, and the subsequent fight with its bony arms was only successful in nearly killing another Revenant.  It wasn’t a great trade-off, but the success against the Hulks made up for it.

Because the fight with the Revenants was over much faster than the Hulks, the two groups managed to arrive around the same time at the third island.  When the first of the Hulks and the Revenants managed to step through the thin line of trees near the entrance, they immediately fell into the Camouflaged Pit Trap that Tempara had placed there expressly for that reason, which was more than enough to kill both of them when they impacted the spikes down below.  Unfortunately, those traps were only good for one use, because the following undead were now aware of it and took pains to avoid them.

However, even as the first of the invaders moved around the traps, a large sphere of total darkness appeared and blanketed the area around the activated pit traps.  It was so dark that not even Riley could see through it, and she could only assume that none of the undead down below could either.

That didn’t stop the Skeleton Archers and Bombers located near the entrances from releasing their arrows or throwing their bombs, however.  Even if they couldn’t see their targets, they knew they were there somewhere, and there was no harm in trying.  Whether or not they hit anything wasn’t immediately apparent, but based on their previous locations before the bubble of darkness took effect, she wouldn’t be surprised if at least a few were hit.

A few seconds later, the spell that the Mages had cast wore off, and Riley was able to see the results.  One of the Revenants was killed when it was hit by 3 arrows, one of which slammed into its head, but it was also blown into the open pit when the bomb exploded next to it, joining the one that had already fallen inside.  The remaining pair of Revenants were unharmed, which was a disappointment, but the Archers and the Bomber were quickly reloading.

Of the 14 remaining Hulks, one apparently stumbled into the nearby pit as well, while another was killed when its skull was shattered by an arrow.  Another one had multiple broken bones in its leg and was practically immobile by that point, but it immediately started to repair itself from the remains of the one that had been killed.  A third had been hit in the chest by a bomb, and the force of the explosion (while not its main function) was enough to blow it to pieces.  It wasn’t a perfect start to the defense, but it was better than nothing.

Now that the remaining dozen of Hulks and the pair of Revenants could see again, they streamed toward the skeletons that had fired upon them, ignoring the Mages.  That wasn’t the best idea for them, however, as one of the Revenants and another Hulk was slammed into by a bolt of darkness tossed out by the Mages, which had a very similar effect as the Necrotic Gas traps she had seen earlier – but with a much greater magnitude.  The Hulk that was hit had all of its bones crack and nearly shatter from simply walking around, while the Revenant nearly collapsed along with its sloughing skin as it fell from its body, though it was still largely mobile.

A second after they were hit, another volley of arrows slammed into the approaching undead, with a single arrow taking down the Hulk and Revenant that had been hit by the bolt of darkness thrown out by the Mage, while the others impacted the remaining Revenant and a different Hulk, doing damage, but none of them actually killing their target.  Another few seconds after that, a bomb was thrown by the Bombers, which finished off those hurt by the arrows, killing the last of the Revenants and bringing the total Skeletal Hulks down to 9.

By that time, they were close enough to engage the Skeleton Fighters that were designed to protect the Archers, but they didn’t last long against 9 Hulks that were able to batter aside the Fighters’ shields and pound the skeletons into bone dust.  The delay while they engaged the defending Fighters was enough to allow the Archers to nock another arrow to their strings, which they immediately released into the approaching Hulks at point-blank range.  Needless to say, they didn’t miss their target, which took out yet another of the Hulks as its head was shattered by 3 arrows, and the fourth arrow even damaged a second invading skeleton; but that was all they had time for before they were set upon by the much stronger undead.

When they reached the 4 Archers and 1 Bomber, however, they were also within range of the nearest Mage that hadn’t cast any spells as of yet, as well as the Skeleton Archers and Bombers located 30 feet away on either side, and projectiles fell upon the Hulks from multiple locations.  Another bolt of darkness successfully hit one, two bombs exploded and caused extensive necrotic damage on another 3, and arrows managed to full-on kill another pair of Hulks when all was said and done.

But the enemy was still dangerous even at that point, as they annihilated the Archers and the Bomber they were already fighting, before they turned toward the Mage that had hit them before. As they got within range of the robed skeleton, the Mage used another spell that caused a ring of darkness to be expelled from it at a rapid pace, slamming into 4 of them with enough force to send them flying, with two of the already-damaged ones dying upon impact with the ground.  The remaining trio of Hulks was just outside of the range of the attack and pressed forward, but the Mage didn’t have any more spells it could cast at that point; it was killed when it was bonked incredibly hard on its noggin, easily shattering its skull.

The trio of Hulks, instead of going back to help those that had been flung away, kept moving forward – ignoring the rest of the monsters on the island in favor of taking the exit pathway.  Unlike Defenders, who would wipe out every undead on their way to the dungeon core, the only purpose of these undead hordes was to get to the core as quickly as possible; if there was nothing standing in their way, there was nothing preventing them from simply moving on.

By the time the Hulks that had been flung away got back to their feet and started to follow after them, the Archers had been able to fire again, and they rained their arrows down on the damaged undead, killing them with a few lucky shots to their heads.  None of them chased after the trio that got away, however.

“What?  Why didn’t the rest of the monsters on that island help?  There was a whole squad of skeletons and another Mage that did nothing!  And where was the Boneraiser Lich that was supposed to be there?”

Riley knew exactly where it was (on Tempara’s island), but she didn’t want to admit that she knew the dungeon core was planning on letting a few undead through to test the last island.  “Yeah, that’s strange.  Oh well, it looks like I won the bet!” she gloated.

“Y-you must have known this would happen!  How?”

Rather than answer truthfully, she flowed toward the Vampire Warrior on the last island, as she was going to need to participate soon.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jorden.  But we’ve got a job to do, so let’s do it!”

She left him spluttering in confusion as she took control of the Warrior, the feel of the battleaxe in her hands a welcome sensation.  She looked over and saw the former Paladin enter the Champion nearby and heard him say, “This conversation isn’t over, Riley.  At least tell me how you knew.”

“Maybe one day.  Perhaps when you kill an undead with a Wisp, I’ll tell you then,” she jested, but there was no more time to talk.  It was time to get to work.

Chapter 28

With the success against the first undead horde invasion of her new dungeon layout, Tempara was ready for some more-dangerous hordes to challenge her defenses.  Of course, after the first assaulting group was destroyed, she had to make some changes, the least of which was to widen the last island so that the fear auras from the Terrifying Wights located there were far enough away from the rest of her defenders, as it seemed as though multiple Wights together tended to amplify and extend the effect.  Other than that, though, everything else performed admirably.

Also with the defeat of the first horde came an influx of Elemental Power, which proved to be more than enough to replace her slain monsters – and to add even more in the process.  At Core Level 3, she could only have a total of 52 monsters in her dungeon because of her Monster Threshold; but at Core Level 4, she could add an additional 23.  As such, because the Living Shadows had done so well on the first island, Tempara added another 10 of them – bringing them to a total of 20 – and then added an additional Skeleton Fighter, Skeleton Archer, and Skeletal Bomber to all the teams on the third island.  They had done quite well in their initial outing, and having more of them could only make them more effective.

There were some other additions she wanted to put in sometime, but until she achieved Core Level 5, this was what she had to work with.  Thankfully, it was more than enough for anything that came her dungeon’s way, as they defeated the next horde with just as much success, and the one after that. Only a few undead were able to make it to the final island, where they were absolutely massacred by the strong defenses she had there.

She even acquired enough EP to produce a Dungeon Boss, which Tempara decided would be a giant Terrifying Wight.  It required 9,000 EP to create, which was quite a lot, but she had seen how the normal Wight had performed against the invading hordes.  The fear aura, especially if it was amplified by multiple Wights working together, reduced the movement speed of the undead it faced by at least half or more, and they were also a bit weaker in their attacks – if they were even able to land a blow, in the first place.  She thought having a much more powerful Boss in the form of a Wight would be even more beneficial.

Thankfully, she was right, as was proven when a massive horde invaded her dungeon a few assaults later, which included more than 60 Withering Revenants in their number.  They were able to survive long enough to squeeze a pair of Revenants through the last island when the way was open, and her Boss engaged them itself.

It was a massacre.

The Revenants were nearly frozen in the face of the fear aura, moving so slowly that it was almost as if they were trying to walk through mud.  Their attacks were only slightly slower than normal, however, but they made no difference when they were punched around by a 25-foot-tall Wight with fists half the size of their bodies.  Needless to say, they didn’t survive more than a few seconds as soon as they stepped foot on Core Island.

These different hordes, in addition to giving her EP, also helped to finally advance her Necrotic Gas trap.  The Shattering Skulls trap still had a little ways to go, but Tempara was looking forward to seeing what kinds of Advancement Options she had for her Death-specific traps.

Trap Details

Necrotic Gas

0.5 AR – Death

Installation Threshold: 50/50

Usage Threshold: 250/250

Potential Advancement Options:

Extended Necrotic Gas

0.75 AR – Death

Shadow Hands

1 AR – Death

Spectral Imprisonment

1.25 AR – Death

Void Wall

1.5 AR – Death

The Options she had to choose from were actually quite similar in function to what she had access to in the Frozen Reaches; but naturally, they were suited to the environment in the Swamp.  The first Advancement Option was Extended Necrotic Gas, which was essentially the original trap but lasted for a longer period of time.  The second, Shadow Hands, brought dark, shadowy hands up from the ground in a 6-foot square of space, which would latch onto and prevent from moving any victims unlucky enough to be caught.  They didn’t suffer any damage from the hands, though only the most powerful of monsters, Defenders, or those who had a special resistance to Death-focused Power, such as Paladins, Priests, and Clerics, could break free.  Once victims were caught, they were stuck in place for a total of 20 seconds, which Tempara thought could be an interesting addition to her defenses.  Best of all, it didn’t affect her own monsters if they moved over it, even after it was activated, which was a beneficial bonus.

The next new trap Option was Spectral Imprisonment, which seemed specially created to protect against those monsters along the Wisp line.  Once activated, the Spectral Imprisonment trap produced a sphere with a 20-foot diameter, and any Wisps, Living Shadows, Incorporeal Phantoms, or any other intangible monsters would be caught and “imprisoned”.  Not only were they unable to leave; they also were unable to affect anything outside of the sphere where they were trapped.

This imprisonment lasted for up to 5 minutes, and it wasn’t just a way to keep them from moving; the longer the monsters were caught inside, the more Elemental Power was siphoned from them (which could result in their deaths), empowering the trap so that it lasted longer.  That meant that if a Flickering Wisp were caught in the trap, it would be imprisoned for 10 seconds or so before it was drained completely of Elemental Power, killing it instantly; a Wailing Banshee, on the other hand, could power it for the entire 5 minutes, damaging it in the process.  Any monsters killed in this manner didn’t provide EP to the dungeon, however, so Tempara could imagine that this was very rarely used.

The last Advancement Option was the Void Wall, which basically created a 12-foot-wide wall topping out at 6 feet tall once it was activated.  Anything touching or trying to pass through the Void Wall would suffer extreme damage to their extremities as they were torn apart by the forces within the void.  Although the trap lasted only 30 seconds, the Dungeon Core could imagine that being able to prevent anything from moving through a wall like that could be extremely useful, as it could completely block off a land bridge, for instance.

Seeing the potential Options, Tempara immediately disregarded Spectral Imprisonment, simply because it wouldn’t be useful; she hadn’t seen any monsters in any of the hordes that would be affected by it, after all.  That could change in the future, of course, but for now it was basically useless to her.

While the Void Wall seemed potentially useful, it didn’t really fit into her dungeon design at the moment, so she crossed that off her list as well. Extended Necrotic Gas was also on that list, and while it would be helpful to have her Gas traps to be longer, it wasn’t a priority.

That left Shadow Hands, which she could certainly use, and she knew exactly where to put them: on the islands where the Amalgamations rolled over the incoming hordes.  Throughout the last couple of hordes, she’d noticed her Skeleton Amalgamations were usually destroyed because they couldn’t escape the hordes fast enough once their momentum slowed, and having some of the incoming undead stuck in place would allow them to move away, with a chance to even pick up enough speed to roll them over again.

Once Tempara had chosen her new trap and installed some where she’d planned, then fine-tuned her dungeon to the point where it could withstand just about anything sent against it by any Core Level 8 or lower Cores, she finally accumulated enough EP to increase her Core Level to 5.  Doing that would likely attract the attention of stronger hordes, but it was time to see what she might be up against in the future and whether she could successfully defend her Core.

It only took a few hours afterwards to learn that she certainly could defend herself, and quite handily at that.  The Shadow Hands did exactly what she was hoping for, which allowed the Amalgamations to escape after running out of momentum so they didn’t get surrounded; they were then able to roll all the way back up the narrow island and run into the horde groups again, doing even more damage.  All of her other defenses had been equally successful in repelling the hordes that invaded her dungeon, even if they were more numerous, because she wasn’t seeing anything particularly powerful as of yet.  She kept her original dungeon defenses and added in more monsters where she could, increasing the defenders on the last island and more skeletons on what she was dubbing Skeleton Island, where the Mages, Archers, and Bombers devastated the incoming hordes.  It turned out that large numbers of long-range attackers, when grouped together in defense, could absolutely devastate tightly packed hordes – which were usually what invaded her dungeon.

It wasn’t until she graduated to Core Level 6 that she saw some stronger monsters included in the hordes.  Terrifying Wights, Skeleton Mages, Skeleton Champions, Scrounging Ghouls, and even a few Putrefied Skinwalkers made an appearance (the latter of which was just as disgusting as she expected), but they were few and far between.  The other Cores seemed to prize expediency in their horde preparation, which meant a lot of less-expensive monsters, such as Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies, which were then accompanied by the more expensive, stronger ones.  They wanted to move the hordes out as soon as possible for some reason, rather than wait to build a horde that had only strong ones in it.

Tempara supposed she could see the point behind that, as it would allow them to attack faster for a better chance of gaining more Elemental Power, as well as “losing” less when they were successful, but that certainly wasn’t the way she thought and worked.  She’d rather be assured of victory rather than waste time sending out hordes that were likely to fail.  From what Kiana had told her of how the other Cores were instinctively compelled to try and steal Elemental Power, though, she supposed that it was inevitable that they did it that way.

A close call came in the form of a horde that had gone all-in on the Skeleton line of monsters, and with 120 skeletons invading her dungeon, Tempara knew she was in trouble.  Not because of the skeletons themselves, but because they also had a Boneraiser Lich accompanying them.  Her own, on Skeleton Island, had been a powerhouse of defense, as it was able to animate the skeletons that had been killed nearby, bringing them back to life stronger than before.  It used its spells to rain down even more damage, but eventually it got overwhelmed when there were just too many undead left intact that it couldn’t recover from its cooldowns fast enough.

But when a Lich came with over 100 skeletons to raise up after they died, then there was a problem – especially when there were more than just Fragile Skeletons.  In fact, there weren’t any of the Fragile Variety, but this horde was instead filled with Fighters, Hulks, Archers, Mages, and even a few Champions.  Unfortunately, with a squad of 20 Archers at the horde’s disposal, her Banshee didn’t last long enough to scream even once, as it was bombarded with arrows and killed before it could.  As a consequence, the Living Shadows were also slaughtered with very little to show for it, as the horde moved through the island with impunity.

In fact, the only reason Tempara’s Core wasn’t destroyed was due to her branching pathways.  Given the varied number of skeleton types, all 4 of the pathways were utilized by different types, sometimes more than 1 type per path, and the Boneraiser Lich only went through a single path.  It was by pure luck that the Archers went off by themselves, and they were absolutely devastated by the Amalgamation that rolled over them multiple times, killing all but 4 of them before a well-aimed arrow managed to pierce through the rotating ball of bones to crack the skull in the center.

The other routes fared well, killing their fair share of skeletons in the process, except for the one that the Lich was accompanying.  In that one, the Amalgamation managed to run over a half-dozen Fighters, but was blasted apart by the Lich and 10 Skeleton Mages that had joined that pathway.

The fight on Skeleton Island was fierce, as both Liches fought to control the dying skeletons on both sides of the battle, though the larger horde eventually managed to overcome her defenses, though not before losing quite a few skeletons in the process.  That was mainly because when one of the skeletons were raised to serve a Lich, as soon as they were killed again, they shattered into what was essentially a bone powder that couldn’t be raised again.  And while there was no limit to how many times a Lich could raise skeletons, it usually took a few seconds per skeleton, and they could only be raised one at a time.  Therefore, it was quite common for her own Lich to raise an enemy skeleton to fight for it when the opposing Lich was busy with some others.  It was a close fight at times, but the enemy horde eventually won out.

Though, if the Archers hadn’t been mostly destroyed by the Amalgamation, Tempara wasn’t sure her defenses could’ve pulled it off.  Just as she had learned how effective the long-range defenders could be, it seemed as though the other Dungeon Cores were finding out the exact same thing.  She knew that she would have to see about compensating for that fact, especially as there were likely to be more Archers and Mages in the future.

Thankfully, even though there were still approximately 30 invading skeletons that survived the Lich battle on Skeleton Island, her forces on the last island proved to be more than enough to defeat them.  With Riley and Jorden leading the fight, and with many of the skeletons slowed by the fear aura coming from her trio of Terrifying Wights (though the Boneraiser Lich remained unaffected), they were able to quickly whittle down those remaining.  It helped that most of the leftover skeletons had already been raised during the previous island battle, so that they crumbled to bone dust after they were killed.  Again.

Eventually, after more than a week surviving against different hordes that arrived every few hours, Tempara was able to reach Core Level 7 for the first time in the Swamp – which was when everything seemed to implode.  Apparently, her Core’s sudden rise in Level while in a hotly contested area was enough to engender some animosity, or at least curiosity, from all of the nearby Dungeon Cores.  She was soon being assaulted by hordes every 10 or 15 minutes, with some so numerous she was barely able to hold them back.  She did, though, for 4 whole hours while barely able to recreate her slain monsters in time – and get them into position – but it could only last so long before something had to give.

What finished her off wasn’t even the particular strength of a horde, but the timing of it – only a minute or so after she had just managed to eliminate the previous horde, which had lasted all the way to her Boss.  She attempted to recreate her monsters and was doing a fairly good job of it, but only a fraction of them were able to get into position.  Not only that, but all of her traps were still being reset, so there were basically no defenses all the way up to Skeleton Island, and even that was only half-completed. Monsters with higher EP costs took longer to materialize, after all, so ones such as the Boneraiser Lich and even her resident Defenders’ normal Vampire Warriors weren’t even ready yet.

As a result, the incoming horde marched through half of her dungeon without stopping, and the defending monsters that Tempara actually had in place were not nearly enough to stem the tide.  It was only when they made it to the final island that some of her stronger monsters were finally ready, but by that point it was too little, too late.

* Select your starting location…. *

The constant fighting of Core Level 7 and leading up to it wasn’t all bad, however, as she’d made some phenomenal gains toward different Thresholds, and she was beginning to learn what worked and what didn’t.  As she increased in Core Level and encountered more diversity among the undead that assaulted her dungeon, she was seeing that she needed to take into account things such as long-range attackers, specialized hordes like the one with the skeletons and the Boneraiser Lich, and even putting together a plan to expand her dungeon with additional islands before things got too hectic to think.

Eventually, she would even try to send out Riley and Jorden again to attack other dungeons as well, but that would have to wait until she had a better handle on the situation.  Tempara had already made some incredible progress toward that, and it was only a matter of time before she figured it all out.

It might take a few years’ worth of repeated time to get there, but get there she would.

As she selected the same starting location again and waited for Kiana, Riley, and Jorden to show up, she was already getting into her long-term mindset that she had leaned upon up north.  Now that she was in a place where she could survive past a few days if she did everything right, it was only a matter of time before she would be able to dominate the local Dungeon Cores, even if they did have a head start.

Alright, everyone, here’s the plan.  It’s going to be a bit boring and repetitive, but I guarantee it will get us where we need to be.  Once we have this locked in, then we can see about surviving until the ritual takes place, break my family out from it, and stop the effects of the ritual from destroying the world….

Chapter 29

Years of repeated time flowed over Tempara and the souls that resided in her dungeon with her as she continued to learn, adapt, and overcome the challenges she faced in the dangerous center of the Nightgloom Swamp.  At first, she spent weeks at Core Level 6 without going past that, but once she started to learn which hordes would come to her dungeon and when they would arrive, it wasn’t long until she had developed a strategy to defeat them all.  Small but important changes, such as filling the entire first island with trees instead of just trees around the perimeter to prevent long-range attackers from targeting and hitting her Banshee immediately, or adding in rusted iron fences to help slow down the progression of larger hordes on Skeleton Island, eventually helped shape her defenses to the point where she could handle just about anything thrown her direction.  Even as the weeks went on and she saw some more-powerful undead monsters attack her, she learned how to adapt and overcome the challenges, even with a smaller number of monsters in her own dungeon.

Eventually, she survived long enough to experience the nightmare of a sweep, which she hadn’t actually suffered from before in the Frozen Reaches.  The one and only time she had been present during the sweep, she had closed up her entrance to the point where only a small sliver was still present, and it had been a horrible experience.  Tempara’s Core had almost shattered under the pressure of the Elemental Power being trapped in her dungeon, and she didn’t want to have to go through that again if she could help it.

In the Nightgloom Swamp, unfortunately, there was no way to wall up her entrance so no one could come inside.  Instead, she was forced to watch thousands of Defenders marching through the land bridges outside, so numerous that they were like a “horde” themselves.  They weren’t like many of the Defender groups, scouting groups or otherwise, that she had seen in the past, where only 5 or 6 of them would enter a dungeon to clear it and shatter a Core; instead, they entered each dungeon by the dozens, or in the case of some of the stronger ones, by over a hundred, as they systematically wiped out one dungeon after another.  Hers were no different, as a party of around 30 Defenders of what appeared to be various Levels, entered her dungeon and tore through her defenses like it was a foot through a paper-thin sheet of ice.

They weren’t even specialized in fighting undead, like the special Extermination Team that had plagued her at the beginning of her experience in the Swamp, but were simply just powerful enough to throw everything they had at her monsters to come out ahead.  All of her traps were detected, so no one fell victim to them; her Banshee was killed from afar, despite being partially hidden behind trees; and all her carefully planned defenses that worked so well against undead hordes were either ignored or blasted through as if they weren’t there.  There were a lot of spellcasters in the group that had swept through her dungeon, or at least there seemed to be, but in reality it was only around 7 or 8; they just worked in tandem to obliterate anything in their path, and what they didn’t destroy, the rest of the Defenders were more than capable of finishing off.

Tempara could’ve activated her Temporal Displacement skill as soon as they had entered her dungeon, saving her from being destroyed, but she wanted to watch how the sweep worked, as she hadn’t experienced it before.  Her goal was to find some way to perhaps survive the sweep so that she could be around for when the ritual was enacted, but she was quickly disabused of that notion when she saw that there was no way to fight the sweep as it went through.  It wasn’t that she wouldn’t eventually be able to construct a dungeon specifically designed to kill groups of Defenders, because she was sure she could; instead, it was that there were more of them than she could hope to kill.

At one point, before her own dungeon was infiltrated and her Core shattered, she’d seen a small group of around 15 enter a dungeon that they apparently weren’t prepared for, and they came out missing half of their original members.  As soon as that happened, they were quickly joined by an additional 50 high-Level Defenders, who appeared to be roaming around specifically for the purpose of aiding those who had failed to clear a dungeon.  Needless to say, they didn’t fail a second time, as they emerged from the defeated dungeon shortly thereafter and simply moved on.

From what she could tell, it wasn’t just a single reinforcement group of high-Level Defenders, either, but there were dozens of them all over the Nightgloom Swamp, in addition to the normal thousands of Defenders that swept through the Wildlands region.  There was no way to kill them all, nor did she really want to – so there had to be a different way to survive.

Until she could figure that out, however, she utilized her repeated restarts and years of time to improve her development, while watching the sweep happen dozens of times during that period.  It was always identical in the way it occurred, and while she thought that – if she set things up right and managed to achieve a high enough Core Level – she would probably be able to withstand the initial sweep group by killing most of them before they retreated, there was no way she’d be able to handle what came afterwards.  She even briefly considered an entire dungeon full of Vampires to alarm the sweepers and delay the inevitable, but that would only antagonize them into sending a large Extermination Team all that much sooner.

Regardless of her inability to find a way to survive the sweep that didn’t involve slaughtering thousands of Defenders, which she vaguely thought might be possible but unlikely, she was making huge strides in her development.  It was a testament to the patience of the souls attached to her own that they put up with the repetitive defense of her dungeon, which Tempara was appreciative of more than they knew; endlessly reliving the same time period over and over in the Frozen Reaches was a chore, but at least she didn’t have to worry about how others connected to her would perceive it.  In actuality, it was much better for Tempara’s state of mind that there were other people to talk to besides an assistant that didn’t remember anything from previous restarts.  It kept her from losing sight of her purpose, from getting lost in the repetitive nature of what she was doing.

As time went on – or looped back around, as it were – she unlocked more Advancement Options for just about everything.  When she unlocked another monster or trap, she would then try to incorporate it into her dungeon somehow, if only to see how it worked in a real fight rather than relying on the information she received through her Monster Details.  After a while, she even sent Riley and Jorden out a few times with groups to assault other dungeons, but that was more for their benefit to get out of the dungeon and do something different than simply defending, which they certainly appreciated.

Along her Wisp line of monsters, the first to reveal new Advancement Options was the Living Shadow, since she used them quite frequently on her first island.

Monster Details

Living Shadow

50 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Ebon Orb

100 EP – Death

Nightstalker

500 EP – Death

The Ebon Orb Advancement Option was only 100 EP, though it was a small price to pay for what it did.  Instead of a sneaky shadow that attached itself to a victim like its predecessor, the Ebon Orb was a floating sphere of darkness that exuded an aura that reached up to 10 feet away. The aura had the same properties as the Living Shadow’s attacks, as it did spiritual damage to anything within range, but it also hindered the movement speed of victims by half while within the aura.  It was vulnerable to long-range attacks of any kind, iron or not, as just about anything passing through it would pop the Orb like a bubble.

The Nightstalker, on the other hand, was completely different and cost 500 EP.  Instead of a formless shadow or orb, the Nightstalker looked very similar to a large black cat in shape and form, and it could move quickly through the darkness, moving through shadows in a teleporting ability like a Skeletal Assassin.  The spiritual damage it did rivaled a Spiritual Oppressor in terms of sheer strength, though it was targeted toward a single victim rather than a large area, and it was vulnerable to iron and bright lights, which would slow down its movement considerably.  Tempara’s family was ecstatic when she unlocked it, choosing it first out of the Options before taking the Orb later, because they could finally run around on four legs like they were used to.

After those Advancements came the Wailing Banshee, which was constantly used on her first island to inflict massive damage against weaker undead.

Monster Details

Wailing Banshee

800 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Vengeful Shade

1,600 EP – Death

Tortured Soulbinder

8,000 EP – Death

These more-powerful Advancement Options were a lot more interesting – and also came at a higher EP cost.  For 1,600 EP, the Vengeful Shade was unique in the fact that it couldn’t be killed immediately, no matter how powerful an attack hit it.  Very similar to an Incorporeal Phantom in terms of its basic size and form, the Shade was completely black instead of looking like a fog or going invisible.  The Shade’s attack was very similar to the Incorporeal Phantom as well, as it did a decent amount of spiritual damage but nothing like what its cost hinted at.  It was vulnerable to iron and spells, but it was a bit more resilient – it could take a half-dozen hits from iron, and depending on the spell, it could withstand a few seconds of being directly impacted by a magical effect before succumbing.

What made it difficult to kill was in its name, Vengeful Shade.  When it was “killed”, it would suddenly reappear with another one right next to it, as it came back for revenge with a friend.  When those 2 were killed, 4 more would appear with their strengths and weaknesses all the same as the original.  After those 4 were killed, 8 more would appear; when those 8 were killed, 16 showed up – and that was the extent of their duplication.  In all, creating a Vengeful Shade was the equivalent of creating 31 monsters, though none of them were particularly powerful or resilient.

The Tortured Soulbinder, for the huge cost of 8,000 EP, was on another level entirely.  It was similar to the Wailing Banshee in that it floated above the ground and was primarily stationary when it attacked, but that was the extent of its similarities.  Where the Banshee was a beautiful woman (when she wasn’t screaming, of course), the Soulbinder was the opposite.  Its twisted, transparent, red-glowing body was wrapped in bindings of ropes and chains, and its withered spectral limbs were pulled taut, stretched out so that it looked like something was trying to pull them off its body.  There was a burlap hood over its head, covering up its face, but Tempara was fairly certain she didn’t want to see what it actually looked like.

The name “Soulbinder” was a little worrying for the Dungeon Core, considering that she had free-floating souls nearby, but it actually had nothing to do with them, despite the name.  Instead, a constant red aura pulsed out from the incorporeal monster, which did a little bit of spiritual damage to whatever got close to it, but its other purpose was much more sinister.  The Binding Aura, as it was called, worked to bind the control over the physical bodies of its victims who were affected by the aura, depending on how long they were exposed.  The range of the Binding Aura was up to 40 feet, with the effect being stronger the closer something was, and the speed at which it worked to take control depended on the strength and particular resistances of the victims.

Even better, it would technically work on Defenders, though they typically had higher resistances to what was essentially a mind-control aura.  Regardless, whatever was bound to its control would attack any non-controlled monsters or people nearby, though they were noticeably weaker as a result of the mind control.

The Soulbinder was actually relatively strong when it came to its defense, as while iron could hurt it, the equivalent of 100 arrows sent its way from Skeleton Archers would be needed to kill it, though Life-based spells could inflict some serious hurt.  It also didn’t have any attacks other than its Binding Aura, so it was a bit limited in versatility.

For the first choice of an Advancement Option, Tempara chose the Vengeful Shade, because it was much more useful and less expensive in terms of cost.  Using it in her dungeon against weaker hordes actually worked out quite well, and she ended up replacing a few of the Living Shadows on the first island to eliminate weaker undead that didn’t have iron on hand. A bit of time later, she was able to unlock the Tortured Soulbinder and found that, when using it in conjunction with the Wailing Banshee, the quality of her defenses went up exponentially.  By using the large tortured specter as essentially a shield against attacks that would’ve normally killed the Banshee, both of them lived longer – and neither of them negatively harmed the other, just as the Living Shadows and Vengeful Shades were unaffected by Banshee screams or Binding Auras.

The last Advancement Options she had to choose from through the Wisp line of monsters were from the Glowing Wraith, which took a while because she didn’t really have a place in her defenses right away.  Eventually, she started to use them on her Amalgamation islands to add some additional damage to those run over by the big ball of bones, though their contribution was weak at best.

Monster Details

Glowing Wraith

100 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Playful Poltergeist

200 EP – Death

Spectral Golem

1,000 EP – Death

The Advancement Options for the Glowing Wraith were anything but weak, however.  The first was the Playful Poltergeist for 200 EP, which was almost identical to the Glowing Wraith in terms of its appearance, aside from it being approximately 25% bigger; it also suffered from the same relatively poor defenses, as it could be killed quite easily.

The biggest difference between them was that the Poltergeist didn’t attack people directly like the Wraith did, but instead used an ability to move inanimate objects to attack for it.  This could include branches ripped off of trees, smaller stones from crumbling blocks, or even pieces of a rusty iron fence that had been broken down.  There was a size and weight limit it couldn’t surpass, like it couldn’t pick up an entire tree or a large stone block, but most smaller objects were fair game – including bones and small body parts.  She ended up placing a few of them on Skeleton Island to utilize the broken fences she ended up placing there to slow down incoming hordes, as well as small remains from those that were killed.  It was sometimes amusing to Tempara to see something like a ripped-off Zombie arm being “thrown” at the head of a weak Skeleton, shattering it instantly.

The other Option, for 1,000 EP, was something called a Spectral Golem.  This particular monster was similar to the Poltergeist, if only because the Golem utilized physical objects.  Instead of throwing them, however, it would use inanimate material to create a “shell” of sorts over its 7-foot-tall spectral body, which looked vaguely humanoid without a head; similar to the Rotten Corpse Eater, but with much thicker limbs.  Basically, the Golem levitated enough loose nearby objects that weren’t part of the physical makeup of the island (so it wouldn’t rip up the dirt beneath its feet or tear out a tree), and then used them to cover its transparent white body, as it acted like armor.

If there was nothing around to cover it up, the Golem was vulnerable to most of the same types of attacks as others in the Wisp line, such as iron and magical spells; but those were negated when it had its armor.  Or as negated as whatever the material it was using afforded it, because it didn’t change the properties of that material – so, if it was hit by a fireball while covered in tree branches, it wouldn’t stop the wood from burning away.

If it lost some of its armor, the Golem required a few seconds to reattach more from whatever was nearby, which made it vulnerable to attack, but that was balanced by its speed and damage output.  Not only did it hit its victims hard with its large arms and fists, covered by whatever it found nearby, but it also inflicted small amounts of spiritual damage with each strike – and it struck fast, considering its bulk.  It couldn’t run very fast, but the Golem could surely inflict a lot of damage in a short amount of time when enemies were close.

Tempara eventually incorporated the Golems into a separate island that she added to her dungeon (after Skeleton Island), filled with tree branches and crumbling stone – with a half-dozen traps sprinkled throughout.  It actually worked to thin out some numbers of undead that had made it through her Skeleton Island, especially when she added a few other Advancement Options from other lines.

As for those, they were even more exciting than the ones from the Wisp line, as well as more appreciated by Tempara’s resident Defenders.

Chapter 30

Tempara contemplated her dungeon, sending her viewpoint so that it looked down from 1,000 feet above.  She was fairly certain that nothing could break through her defenses at this point, even if she raised her Core Level up to match or even exceed the other Cores around her.  That was due, in part, to the Wisp line of monsters she had unlocked during her extensive learning and development period, but most of her achievements came from the Skeleton and Zombie lines.

Tempara had eventually unlocked the Skeletal Assassin that was an Advancement Option of the Skeleton Archer, for which Riley was extremely grateful.  While the Assassin didn’t have the exact kinds of skills as the Shadowwalker she once was, it was close enough that she took to controlling the monster like she had been born to it.  Even better, she could use it to move, within Tempara’s range, around the Swamp without being seen by other hordes, and she did that a lot.  After a while, she and Jorden weren’t technically needed in the defense of the dungeon, and they spent a significant amount of time scouting and making hit-and-run attacks against bigger hordes… for fun, apparently.

She also ended up using Vampiric Spawn a bit more in her dungeon if only so she could unlock the Vampire Mage, even if she couldn’t use it normally.  Against Defenders, though, she thought it might come in handy.

There were two more skeletal monsters for which she hadn’t previously unlocked advancements for, but that was quickly remedied as time went on.  The first was the Skeleton Mage, which she’d used as one of the key components of Skeleton Island.

Monster Details

Skeleton Mage

350 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Skeletal Warlock

700 EP – Death

Skeletal Necromancer

3,500 EP – Death

The Skeletal Warlock, at 700 EP, was essentially an upgraded Skeleton Mage.  It had a lot of the same spells as the Mage at its disposal, but it also had a few that its originator didn’t, such as one that sent out rings of shadows that could bind a victim in place and prevent them from moving for a limited time.  Also, instead of a large burst of necrotic energy when an enemy got close to the Warlock, it had a spell that produced a series of transparent, black whips that extended out of its hands and both did necrotic damage and knocked back anything it hit.  The largest difference was the shorter cooldown times, as instead of 10 to 30 seconds between spells, it was cut in half to between 5 and 15 seconds.

The second Option was 3,500 EP, and it was very similar to the Boneraiser Lich in its abilities.  Instead of raising skeletons to fight for it, the Skeletal Necromancer was able to raise up the dead from the Zombie line of monsters, as well as the bodies of Defenders that had been killed – which the Lich could not – though the Defenders’ skills and spells were unusable when brought back that way.  Almost all the other spells it could cast were slightly different versions of the one that the Lich could cast, so there wasn’t much difference from it, other than being a skeleton instead of a withered, old body – even down to its staff of bones.

Working together, they could pretty much raise every undead that invaded her dungeon, with only the Wisp line exempt – but it was so rare to see them that Tempara hadn’t been visited by any thus far.  She chose the Necromancer first and added it to Skeleton Island, and the two of them working in conjunction made an incredible team.

In addition to the Mage unlocking new Options, the Skeleton Amalgamation was next, as she had been using them a lot on her branching pathways.

Monster Details

Skeleton Amalgamation

700 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Skeletal Whirlwind

1,400 EP – Death

Skeletal Beast

7,000 EP – Death

First up was the Skeletal Whirlwind for 1,400 EP, which took the big ball of bones that was the Amalgamation and exploded them upwards into a cylindrical tornado of bones that reached 12 feet into the air.  The bones that spun around in a 6-foot-wide whirlwind were sharpened to the point where they looked like little daggers, and they rotated so quickly that they could smash or pierce through most soft materials and a few harder ones, including bones.

The Skeletal Whirlwind moved slowly, however, no faster than a Fragile Skeleton, and the bones that spun around were more likely than not to be shattered when they ran into something.  It could circulate over additional bones, such as if it shattered a skeleton, and have them added to its cyclone, but it would take a few seconds for that to happen.  In the precise middle of the whirlwind was a skull floating perfectly calmly as bones violently rotated around it, and only by shattering this skull could the monster be fully destroyed.  As long as it was still intact, the whirlwind would continue, searching for bones to add to its rotating collection, and attacking victims as they got near.

The Skeletal Beast was another creature entirely.  Instead of a ball or a whirlwind, for 7,000 EP a large “beast” that ran on four legs would be created, looking like a massive bear of all things, and made entirely of bone.  Standing 10 feet tall at its shoulder when down on all four legs, the Beast was covered in plates of extremely thick bone that extended over its entire  body, like a pale armor that protected it from being damaged by most attacks.  Its mouth was large enough to bite a Decaying Zombie in half, and it had fangs that were a foot long and tipped with sharpened iron caps, which could inflict some serious damage to any victim unfortunate enough to be bitten by it.

The claws of the Beast were also tipped in sharpened iron, and were large enough to rip a Zombie apart in one blow.  The legs, while thick and covered in bone plates, moved smoothly enough that the skeletal monster could move quite quickly despite its mass and the sheer weight of its body.  It could run and knock over enemies in its way, similar to an Amalgamation, but unlike its predecessor, it was best suited to an up-close battle against attackers.  The main vulnerability of the Beast was its skull – but not the one on the front of the undead monster.  Instead, there was a much smaller skull in the middle of its body, right where a real bear’s heart would be, and only if that was shattered would the Beast stop moving.

While the Whirlwind was eventually chosen as an Option, Tempara selected the Skeletal Beast for her first one – because her family wouldn’t leave her alone until she unlocked it.  Her Aunt Chrona had taken to demanding Tempara create one as soon as possible during every restart, just so she could control the skeletal monster that was the closest approximation to a Fox as possible.  While the Nightstalkers were close in form, they didn’t have a physical feel to them that they were missing – or so she said.

But the Skeleton line wasn’t the only one to obtain more Advancements.  In the Zombie series of monsters, there was only one for which she hadn’t seen what was available yet, but eventually Tempara had created and utilized enough Terrifying Wights in battle to see what was available.

Monster Details

Terrifying Wight

600 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Ancient Mummy

1,200 EP – Death

Veiled Deathwing

6,000 EP – Death

The first Option for the Wight was the Ancient Mummy for 1,200 EP, and at first it didn’t seem very strong.  The Mummy was smaller than the Terrifying Wight, at about 6 feet tall, and it wasn’t very impressive in terms of bulk.  Essentially, it was a corpse covered in what appeared to be long cloth wrappings, all the way around its body. Not a trace of skin was visible – other than two eyes that glowed green through a dark slit on its head.

It wasn’t until she saw what it could do with those wrappings – or more accurately, wrapping that it created – that she understood how powerful it could be.  Upon its whim, the Mummy could summon long strips of cloth that seemed to extend out of its body and direct them where to go, where they could wrap around a victim and either pull them somewhere or simply try and rip them apart.  They could also be used as blunt weapons, smacking into enemies and knocking them back or shattering fragile bones.  If kept wrapped around a victim, the wrappings could also start to drain them of their life force or the Elemental Power that animated them, depending on what the victim was.

Of course, being made of cloth, the wrappings could be cut or even ripped apart with enough force, but the Mummy could create more after a while.  The downside was that only 4 of the long cloth strips could be produced at one time, and it took a full 5 seconds to create another after a wrapping was destroyed.  The mummy was also very vulnerable to fire, being cloth, but it could also sacrifice those same cloth strips to intercept spells and other projectiles rather than let them hit its body.

The last Advancement Option was a Veiled Deathwing, which Tempara thought for 6,000 EP wasn’t exactly worth it.  The Deathwing was essentially a flying undead bird with reptilian wings, covered in dark, shadowy smoke that camouflaged its approach by shielding it from being detected by those who could see Elemental Power.  Its thin, wasted body was 7 feet long and had a 20-foot wingspan; the pair of claws that hung off its equally thin arms was sharp and tipped in iron, as was its long, pointed beak.

The problem with the Deathwing, as she found out soon after selecting it – after the Mummy, which was much more useful to her – was that it couldn’t fly more than 20 feet off the ground, as if there were some sort of invisible ceiling it was banging into.  That was an issue because the Deathwing glided to move around instead of being able to hover in place, which meant it needed room in which to glide. Even with a decent-sized island in her dungeon, there were times it flew outside of the confines of the constructed area and ended up over the water.

The scary monsters underneath the water didn’t like that.  Long tentacles reached up and pulled the Deathwing under the water, killing it almost immediately and losing the Dungeon Core a chunk of EP in the process.

As far as traps went, she was able to unlock all of the Advancements for the Necrotic Gas, including Extended Necrotic Gas, Spectral Imprisonment, and Void Wall, but she also managed to unlock most of the ones for Shattering Skulls, as well.

Trap Details

Shattering Skulls

0.75 AR – Death

Installation Threshold: 50/50

Usage Threshold: 250/250

Potential Advancement Options:

Shattering Ribcages

1 AR – Death

Femur Rain

1.25 AR – Death

Shoulder Blades

1.5 AR – Death

Flesh Pit

2 AR – Death

Shattering Ribcages, at 1 AR, was a different version of Shattering Skulls.  A trio of ribcages would explode when activated, sending more numerous but smaller shrapnel everywhere in a large radius, but didn’t do as much damage as a skull piece individually.

The second Option at 1.25 AR was Femur Rain, which reminded her of Icicle Rain from the Frozen Reaches.  Instead of icicles, however, sharpened femur bones rained down from 20 feet above where the trap was placed, impaling anything below. The bone deluge lasted a total of 10 seconds, which was more than enough to cause some damage to those caught in its 6-foot-wide, circular area of effect.

Then there was a trap called Shoulder Blades, which – for 1.5 AR – made a pair of large, 8-foot-wide plates of sharpened, serrated bone poke out of the out of the ground while it rotated, exposing 4 feet of it at a time, which could cut through all but the strongest materials.  The plates made the rotation very quickly, and it rotated a total of 60 times in just a few seconds, which was very effective in chewing through large hordes or particularly tough monsters.

The last, and one that she hadn’t quite been able to unlock yet, was the Flesh Pit for 2 AR.  The Flesh Pit was about what it sounded like: a 10-foot-wide circular pit of roiling flesh, blood, and bones.  What it did when it was activated was send out disgusting tendrils of blood and flesh to snatch at any unwary passerby for a total of 30 seconds, before dragging them into the pit to be crunched up and killed.  Large, strong undead were also vulnerable because it could send out multiple tendrils to drag something inside the pit, and while the tendrils could be cut off, that was difficult to accomplish when the victim was being pulled to their deaths.  Defenders would probably be fine because they had group mates who could save them, but undead hordes tended not to care about their fellow undead enough to save one of their own.

All the traps she’d unlocked were useful in her dungeon at one point or another, just like most of the monsters she now had, but while they helped her to easily survive until the sweep, there wasn’t anything she found that could let her pass by it without being destroyed.

At least, not yet.  She hadn’t quite unlocked everything yet, and she wasn’t talking about the last trap, the Flesh Pit.  There were a total of 5 more monsters that she hadn’t acquired yet, each of them an advancement of a stronger monster available to her: Tortured Soulbinder, Skeletal Champion, Skeletal Beast, Vampire Mage, and Veiled Deathwing.  While she wasn’t sure what unlocking the Advancement Option of any of them could do to solve her problem, there wasn’t any reason not to try, she supposed.

“Why don’t you just kill all the Defenders that invade your dungeon during this sweep?  I’ve seen what your monsters can do, and I’m confident that you could probably do it with proper planning.”

Tempara began to deny what her Aunt Chrona said by replying that it was impossible, but she was cut off by one of the other souls in her dungeon.

“Uh, no… I won’t allow that to happen!” Riley shouted, getting up close and personal with the Greater Temporal Fox’s soul.  “Killing thousands of people is not the way to go about getting past the sweep; even if she could, that doesn’t mean she should!  That solution is not acceptable, because that would eventually be just as bad as not stopping this whole ritual thing from succeeding!”

“And how are you going to stop Tempara from doing what she needs to do? So what if all the Defenders die? They deserve it for what they did to Tempara and my family – not to mention yourself!  Or did you forget that it was your own people that killed you?”

Sensing that tempers were starting to fray after such a long stretch of restarting time and fighting against one undead horde after another, the Fox-turned-Dungeon Core stepped in.

Alright, that’s enough!  Aunt Chrona, you’re correct that I need to do what needs to be done in order to stop the ritual, but that doesn’t mean slaughtering thousands of Defenders – if I even could do that.  If I were to do that and establish a new Temporal Displacement Point afterwards, then the Kingdom would suffer greatly from that.  While you might not care what happens to them, just think about what would happen if they weren’t able to complete sweeps as often or as thoroughly in the future.

The remaining Defenders would eventually allow some, even a few of them, to become strong enough to endanger the borders by sending massive hordes of undead against the undead, until they’ll eventually be overwhelmed.  And if they aren’t there to keep the dungeon monsters in line, then what will happen to the beasts living in the Wildlands, just like we used to?  They’d be slaughtered, that’s what.  Is that what you want?  Even if I save the world from this ritual, eventually there would be no world for us to live in.

All of the souls were silent after Tempara spoke, as Riley and her Aunt Chrona slowly backed down from their confrontational stances.  It was her Uncle Ido that eventually broke the silence.

“Tempara is right, Chrona.  The solution can’t be as bad as the problem, you should know that – otherwise, what’s the point?  There has to be another way to get through the sweep that doesn’t involve attempting to kill all of the Defenders, which I don’t believe is even possible.”

“You may be right, but I can’t think of anything else that will work, so keep it in mind, Tempara.” Her Aunt snorted dismissively and turned around, refusing to look at either Tempara’s Core or the Defenders.

“Well, if killing all of the Defenders is off the table,” Riley began, putting her hands on her hips, “which it is,” she continued, looking pointedly at the Fox that had turned her back to the former Defender, before moving her attention to Tempara’s Core, “then what are you going to do?  How else can you possibly hide from the sweep?”

In all honesty, I have no idea. I was hoping that a solution would present itself, but—

“I think I have an idea.”

The sudden contribution by Kiana was unexpected, because she had been fairly quiet as of late.  With Tempara knowing what she was doing as far as the dungeon went, and understanding the idiosyncrasies of the Nightgloom Swamp by this point, there wasn’t much that her advisor could add to their conversations.  Occasionally, she had a suggestion; but for the most part, the former Mage who had brought Tempara on her first dungeon delve had been off to the side as a silent observer.

You do?  I would love any kind of suggestion you might have.

“Well, do you remember what you did in the Frozen Reaches to avoid the sweep?”

Of course, but I can’t do that here.

“Well, that’s not entirely true, but you’re largely correct.  However, I think there’s something else that you could do that just might work….”

Chapter 31

“Do you really think this will work?”

Jorden shrugged at her question, which was exactly what Riley was feeling: unsure.  Regardless, she was going to do her part to at least attempt it; otherwise, they might be stuck defending the dungeon in this swamp forever.  Plus, there was no way she would ever condone the other option, because killing every single Defender in the sweep was not only a heinous act, but dangerous to the Kingdom.  While she wasn’t really happy with the local Order Branch, she knew hundreds of other Defenders who were awesome people, and when the gathering for the sweep arrived, only a very small fraction of it came from the local Branch.  In addition, if Tempara were to kill everyone, they would be putting all of the innocent, normal people of the Kingdom at risk.

Thankfully, she was glad that she had put her trust in the dungeon core, because Tempara had already refused to do what that nasty Fox had urged her to do.  She could sort of understand where the Fox was coming from, as she was frustrated too, but that was just too much for Riley to stand by and potentially let happen.

Regardless, the argument was over with, and they had listened to that woman Kiana, who had softened slightly toward Riley and Jorden over the—how many years has it been?  I think I’ve lost count.  Anyway, now they were going to attempt the woman’s plan, which was unusual in its approach.

“Well, I’m hoping it will work, because I’m actually tired of seeing Tempara’s hard work go to waste every 3 weeks,” Riley replied to the former Paladin’s shrug.  It felt a little strange being back in the monster she was currently controlling, but that was all part of the plan.  At the moment, they were stationed outside a relatively weak dungeon, apparently “only” Core Level 9 according to Tempara—I remember when that used to be strong—which they had just cleared less than an hour before.  It was relatively close to Tempara’s dungeon, which was why it had been chosen; and thanks to constantly attacking it during this restart, it hadn’t grown much at all.

“How much time?” she asked impatiently.

“The normal group should be there within range of that entrance in 30 seconds.  Get ready to move.”

“Finally!  Alright, get them started when it’s time.”  Riley knew she really didn’t need to tell Tempara how to do her job, but she was a little nervous about this plan, not in the least because there was an element of danger to it.  Not to her, Jorden, or Tempara, but to the Defenders coming without any suspicion of what they would find.  If their plan managed to kill a few of them as a result, well, she’d be a bit sad to have been the cause of it, but it was a whole lot better than slaughtering thousands of them.  If everything went according to plan, though, they wouldn’t have to worry about it.

She had to admit that the way Kiana had come up with such a devious plan in the first place was intriguing.  Despite the arrogance and obvious dislike the woman had of the two Defender souls, she had seemed a bit shy and kept to herself most of the time, unless she was parting with information Tempara needed.  But to come up with a plan full of—

“Let’s move,” Jorden nudged her with the elbow of his monster, and she shook herself out of her thoughts.  This is not the time for all that.  I’ve gotta get my head into this now, before something goes wrong.

She and her companion led the huge horde of Tempara’s undead as they moved into the foreign dungeon, and right away she could see that some of the monsters that had guarded the first island had been replaced.  A total of 9 Withered Revenants with their ragged leather armor and rusty iron swords were there waiting for them, and another was joining the group just as they walked in.  No longer were the weakest islands they encountered in a dungeon inhabited by Fragile Skeletons or Decaying Zombies; now they were usually filled with stronger undead, though they were certainly not as strong as what Riley and Jorden took with them to clear out dungeons nowadays.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of those strong undead with them this time, because they had already gone back to Tempara’s dungeon and turned in the Elemental Power stolen from this Core.  They had a different horde of monsters with them this time, but it was there for a specific purpose.

As soon as the friendly incoming horde got to the first island, Riley and Jorden immediately engaged the Revenants, who in turn were then engaged by the others in her horde as the two souls ran behind the Revenants to distract them and move them into a better position.  It was a trick they’d learned a while ago in order for their horde to help them rather than pass them by, which could happen with these particular monsters with her.  As long as there was an obstacle in the way of their objective, they would do whatever it took to remove that obstacle.

Sometimes it was a challenge controlling Vampires, but they had certainly learned quite a bit in their time amongst them.

The front ranks of the Vampiric Spawn quickly fell upon the rear of the Revenants, even as Riley and Jorden sliced into them with quick attacks before backing away.  The key to killing the Revenants was to strike quickly and decisively before retreating, because getting hit by one of the swords could hurt, even for a Vampire Warrior like herself and Jorden.  While the two Warriors kept the attention on them, they were absolutely torn apart by the rest of the horde – exactly as planned.  As the last one dropped, one more came over the land bridge connecting the island with the rest of the dungeon, and Jorden rushed ahead, using his incredible speed, and took its head from its shoulders.  It was likely to happen again as they progressed further into the dungeon as the core attempted to replenish its defending monsters, but they could easily take care of them as they came.

“We’re clear, let them keep moving inside.”

Funneling nearly 100 Vampiric Spawn, Vampire Warriors, and even Vampire Mages through the narrow pathways helped to slow them down, because otherwise they might get to the core too fast.  Luckily, it wouldn’t be long until the Defender sweep arrived, so all they really needed to do was move them forward a little bit and then wait and see what happened when Tempara engaged the next part of the plan.

This was what worried her, because none of them knew exactly what was going to happen.

Riley looked back at the entrance of the dungeon and her obstructed view of the pathway outside—darn trees in my way!—and saw that the lead elements of the group designated to clear the dungeon she was in turning into it. The last of the stragglers in her horde were just exiting the first island when they stepped inside, and she felt a distinct change come over the dungeon, which she’d felt inside of Tempara’s dungeon plenty of times when the sweep had reached her entrance.  From what she was told, it essentially shut down nearly everything in the dungeon when a Defender walked in, meaning Tempara (or any other dungeon core) couldn’t create any more monsters or install traps.  Once the first Defender walked in, the dungeon had what it had.

More than that, from what Kiana had just recently told them, the absorption of Elemental Power from a core was shut down, so even if an enemy monster made it to one, they wouldn’t get anything.  The monsters in a foreign dungeon instinctively knew that, too, which was why Riley suddenly saw the horde with her stop where they were, before quickly turning around.  In just a few seconds, they would be streaming out of the dungeon, because there was no longer anything for them to try and steal.

“Get ready.”

The rear contingent of the horde had traveled about 10 feet back onto the first island when they suddenly paused in mid-step, some with their feet still in the air.  Riley immediately felt as if some part of her was missing, which was what she was expecting, but it was doubly impactful while she was in a foreign dungeon.  She wasn’t sure whether it was because she was already partly cut off from Tempara’s core by being there in the first place, or something else, but when Tempara closed off her dungeon to the world, Riley felt like she was adrift from everything.

Don’t think about that right now; we already tested this in part, so it should be fine.

Shortly after Kiana had revealed her plan, there was one major part of it that needed to be tested.  When the woman said that Tempara had been “partially” wrong about not being able to close off her dungeon, they needed to know what that meant.

*          *          *

“Well, you obviously cannot put up a wall over your entrance like you could up north, but there is certainly something else you can do,” Kiana had told Tempara.

“And what would that be?”

“What is it that connects you to the Nightgloom Swamp?”  The dungeon core was silent for a moment.

“The land bridge?”

“Exactly.  The land in the Swamp is the conduit through which Elemental Power flows in and out from the environment, and removing that will essentially serve the same purpose as walling up your entrance in the Frozen Reaches.”

“But that won’t help the fact that the Defenders will still be able to see my dungeon’s outline, right?”

“Sort of?  What cutting yourself off from the Swamp will do is start to let the dark, visible sphere around your dungeon begin to fade; when it fades completely, that means your Core has been shattered.  Do you remember what the other Cores look like when they are destroyed by the Sweep?”

“Of course; I’ve been watching that happen for a while now.  The sphere of their dungeon fades, like you say, and then their dungeon sinks beneath the surface of the water as if it was never there.”

“Precisely.  When you close up your dungeon like I suggested, that’s what will appear is happening to your dungeon.”

“But I’m guessing I can’t maintain that for long, can I?  I was able to keep a little sliver of my entrance open up north to prevent my Core from shattering, but it was a close thing.  This sounds like it is all-or-nothing, and I probably won’t survive the time it’ll take to camouflage my presence from the sweep.”

“You’re right, you won’t be able to do it for more than an hour, if you’re lucky.  That’s why you have to take their attention off you for a short time.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Simple: Vampires.  But not in your dungeon.”

“Vampires?  What… oh.  Oh.  That might just work.  Let’s do it.”

*          *          *

The testing was conducted shortly after that conversation, as Tempara was able to remove the land bridge near the entrance of her dungeon, dropping it below the surface to the point it wasn’t visible.  Riley and Jorden had been outside the dungeon in a pair of Vampiric Spawn with a few other random monsters, and she’d felt something similar to what she was feeling at that moment, but this was much more intense.  The monsters, on the other hand, had been completely disconnected from the dungeon and started to wander around aimlessly.  Even when Tempara reestablished her entrance pathway, they were still disconnected.  It was if they were adrift in the Swamp with nothing looking after them, and the dungeon core couldn’t reestablish her connection with them.

Riley and Jorden were fine, thankfully.  Tempara and Kiana thought it was probably because their connection was with Tempara’s soul, rather than with the dungeon or even her core.  When a foreign horde came by shortly thereafter, the adrift monsters attacked it immediately, which was a good sign, and the fact that they didn’t attack each other was also interesting.  It was like they still knew what was friendly and what wasn’t despite not being connected to Tempara anymore.  What was even stranger was that when Riley and Jorden left their control of the Vampiric Spawn they had inhabited, the monsters’ connections were still there – and try as she might, she couldn’t control any of the adrift monsters.

In the foreign dungeon, the same thing happened when Tempara shut down access to her dungeon, though Riley intuitively knew that if she were to give up control of the Vampire Warrior she was inhabiting, she wouldn’t be able to gain control again.  The Warrior had been wholly cut off from Tempara’s core and dungeon, in spite of her presence inside of the monster.

When the leading cadre of the sweep Defenders stepped onto the first island, they saw the wandering Vampires – composed of some Spawn, Warriors, and Mages – and stopped short, which meant those behind them ran into them.

“Hey!  What’s the—”

“Watch it—”

Their complaints died on their lips, however, when they caught sight of what the front line had seen on the island.  Unfortunately for them, the monsters noticed them at almost the exact same instant – and Riley was able to see, for the first time, why the Vampires were so feared.  It wasn’t because of the Vampire Taint disease that could infect them, though; instead, it was how they reacted when they saw some victims with fresh blood running through their bodies.

The Vampires went from wandering around aimlessly to a full-on sprint at the Defenders, rushing across the island to attack them with a fervor that she hadn’t witnessed before. It was as if they hungered for a meal after having been starved for days, and they couldn’t wait to eat the spread of delicious food spread before them.

“Run!  Tell them we need a containment team!”

“But what about you—”

“We’ll keep them busy while you run—now go!”

One of the Defenders out front, a Paladin by the look of him, took charge of those closest to the incoming Vampires, which were the typical tanks and other defensive members of the group.  In total, 6 of them stayed put, their expressions showing signs of fear, determination, and resignation all rolled up in one confusing package.  They were staying behind and were willing to give their lives in order for a “Containment Team” – a term that Riley hadn’t heard of before, but at the way Jorden stiffened at the name, he probably had – to arrive.

They weren’t going out without a fight, however, as the Paladin produced a powerful burst of light as soon as the Vampire horde arrived, which both burnt the skin and physically flung away two dozen of them, clearing out some room for the others to work with.  Defensive skills were activated by the others, as transparent bubbles of protection surrounded them or they glowed with an inner aura.  With shields held stalwartly in front of them and their various weapons at the ready, they prepared for the onslaught.

I guess this worked a little too well.  Riley had hoped that all of them would run when faced with the appearance of the Vampires, but she’d underestimated the reaction the monsters would have when seeing the walking flesh-bags of fresh blood.  The Paladin, who wasn’t familiar to her, thankfully, had obviously seen them before and knew they couldn’t all escape, and it turned out that he was absolutely right; judging by their speed as they ran toward the Defenders, there was no way they could’ve gotten everyone out of the dungeon before they were caught from behind.

It was a massacre on both sides.  Skills were activated that sped the Defenders up, allowing them time to block attacks and retaliate, as their strength allowed them to either smash apart or cut entirely through the Spawn that attacked them, and it was only through their experience that they were able to block the powerful swings of battleaxes wielded by Warriors.  Additional Life-based spells were flung out without stop by the Paladin, calling down beams of light from the air that stabbed into a cluster of Spawn, blasting them apart.  Another time, a pulse of light emitted from his body, pushing those around him back and harming them in the process.  His silver mace rose and fell like a machine, a bright glow around it physically harming the Vampires as they got close.

But even giving it all they had, they couldn’t withstand the tide of undead that swarmed them.  Their downfall was sealed as soon as one of the Spawn managed to pierce through a gap in one of the Defender’s armor, a minor wound by all accounts – but it bled profusely.  It was at that point that the Vampire Mages, 5 in total, took action for the very first time, having held back until that deluge of blood.

Riley was never sure thereafter if it was the fact that there were 5 Vampire Mages working in concert with each other, or if one of them was just that powerful, but either way, the wounded Defender didn’t last more than a few seconds after he had been injured.  The Mages lifted their hands toward the bleeding man and made a pulling motion – and the bleeding wound suddenly fountained out with a torrent of blood.  Ripped from his body in a matter of seconds, the rapid exodus of the life-giving, crimson liquid shriveled the Defender up so that he looked like one of Tempara’s undead – and yet he kept fighting somehow for a few more seconds before collapsing.

Pulled into the air and yanked toward the waiting Vampire Mages, the blood came to a stop in front of them and coalesced into 5 separate orbs of roiling red liquid.  No more than a second later, another few hand movements by the Mages had the blood turning into a variety of different deadly instruments of death.  In front of one, a massive spear was created as the blood hardened into a solid shape, floating in the air and pointed toward the Defenders; another had a circling ring of swords; yet another had a battleaxe larger than the ones the Warriors wielded.  The last two didn’t have weapons, per se, as the first turned the orb into what looked like a large, fluffy, red rain cloud, while the other had the shape of a large claw with 8 talons.

The spear shot straight up into the air and came down on one of the Defenders from above. The woman saw it at the last second and attempted to move her shield to block it, but one of the Spawn nearby latched on and wouldn’t allow her to move it.  The poor woman was impaled through her face as she looked up, and her body was essentially staked to the dirt of the island.  The swords rotated around in a circle and drifted over the next Defender in line, attacking him incessantly from all sides, until one of them managed to slide through a gap in his armor, sucking out blood that made the swords larger and faster.  Within seconds, he was battered and drained of blood to the point where he was starting to shrivel up, and he collapsed under a barrage of blows.

The battleaxe took a swing at the Paladin, but he was prepared; raising his mace toward the bloodborne weapon, a burst of light was emitted that hit the axe and caused it to burst apart and burn, leaving nothing behind.  The cloud that was created went toward the next Defender in line and began to rain down droplets of blood upon both Vampire and Defender alike.  When it touched the Vampires, it seemed to energize them, making them stronger and faster. When those same droplets impacted the Defender, bypassing the defensive barrier around his body, his armor was eaten through as if the blood was a powerful acid.  As they burrowed into his flesh beneath his armor, his screams were chilling.

The Paladin heard that and understood what was happening, and an aura sprung up around the other Defender, banishing the blood already on him and preventing any more from hitting him.  Too little, too late: His internal organs had been horribly burned from the blood, and he collapsed a moment later.  The last blood construct, the claw, literally yanked the last Defender on the line up into the air as it closed around him, squeezing him so tightly that bones began to crack and blood welled up from his eyes and ears.  The Paladin once again shot a powerful light toward the claw which made it disperse, dropping the Defender to the ground – where it was immediately swarmed by the Vampires down below waiting for him.

It was a valiant defense, but even the Paladin – whom Riley thought was probably fairly high-Level – was starting to flag.  She thought that he was probably nearing the end of his Mana supply, and there was no time for him to drink a potion if he even had one to replenish it.  It wouldn’t have mattered, anyway, because the deaths of the other Defenders provided the Mages with even more of the blood that they used with deadly efficiency, and the Paladin was quickly overwhelmed by blood-based spells and dozens of Vampires all trying to reach him.  His own spells, as powerful as they were, weren’t enough to save him, but he died keeping them occupied for as long as possible.

Their deaths were among the most heroic instances of bravery that she had ever seen, and she mentally mourned the loss of life.  It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to see happen, but she also wasn’t a naïve recruit that expected every sweep to work perfectly with no one dying.  Every time she watched the sweep come through this part of the Swamp, there were Defender deaths.  Every time.

Sometimes there were more deaths than other times, which was the only real difference, and it all had to do with a number of factors.  Circumstances changed depending on how quickly Tempara Leveled up, whether Riley and Jorden led some assaults against other dungeons, or any other number of factors that didn’t seem related, but in fact were.  It was only if Tempara did everything exactly the same as the prior that they saw some consistency, but for the most part there were always very minor changes.

That said, Riley wasn’t too happy about contributing to the deaths, even if she herself hadn’t done the deed.  She pushed that feeling away, however, because she knew it would only complicate matters to worry about it now, and all she could hope for by that point was for no more deaths by her horde.

As soon as the Defenders were all dead, the Vampires didn’t just wander around aimlessly again, but followed after those who had fled from them.  Normally, a monster wouldn’t leave the dungeon unless they were instructed to do so, but these monsters weren’t just any old ones; freed from the control of a core, they did whatever they wanted.  What they wanted right now was more blood, and they knew exactly where to find it: outside.

Thankfully for Riley and those outside, she knew from watching prior sweeps that there were a lot of Defenders coming, so much so that she wasn’t too worried about them.  Hundreds of them were still filtering through the pathways looking for more dungeons to destroy, and they were likely close enough to come to the aid of those that had run out of the entrance…

…and so that seemed to be the case as soon as she exited behind some other Vampire Warriors, with the Mages bringing up the rear.  Each of the spellcasting Vampires had a large orb of blood hovering over their shoulders, stolen from the bodies of those who had been killed inside.  It gave her the creeps to see the red liquid floating in the air, and she turned away from it to carry out the other parts of the plan.

Misdirection and confusion.

The large group of Defenders had certainly come to the aid of those who had escaped from the dungeon, probably screaming about a Vampire invasion or something; as Riley and the others in on this plan had hoped, though, they were only on one side of the pathway, creating a united defense rather than trying to cover both sides.  It was an impressive defense, as well, as she spotted at least a half-dozen Paladins at the front line, and glimpsed at least a few Priests and Clerics in the crowd behind.  The remaining Vampiric Spawn and the Warriors – which still numbered more than 70 in total – would get slaughtered, though how quickly the Defenders could take down the Mages was something she wasn’t sure of.  Still, it didn’t matter, because the monsters weren’t there to actually kill anyone else, but to muddy the waters, so to say – and it was her and her companion’s turn to muddy it up some more.

Instead of joining the other Vampires in turning left outside of the entrance to engage the prepared Defenders, Riley and Jorden turned right.  They would be taking a route that would lead any pursuers toward and slightly past where Tempara’s dungeon was located, which seemed counterintuitive, but there was a reason.

It wasn’t long before Riley could sense pursuers, faster than she expected, and a furtive glance behind her told her that a number of stealthy Classes had likely slipped past the fighting and gone after the rogue Vampires.  It made sense, though, because the last thing they needed was to let any out of their sight for long, and to ensure the Vampires were all accounted for.

“We need to move faster; they’re on our trail,” she warned Jorden, and they both put on a bit more speed than before.  After another minute of running, they eventually passed the entrance to Tempara’s dungeon – or at least where it had been – and she looked to see the dark dome that seemed to cover all dungeons starting to gradually fade.  Even the islands inside seemed to be a little smaller to her, as if they were falling beneath the surface, and she couldn’t help but be impressed at the lengths Tempara was going to, in order to sell this whole charade.

Shortly after they passed the non-existent entrance, they slowed down and allowed their pursuers to catch up completely.  They pretended to put up a fight, but ultimately, they didn’t actually try to strike any of the dozen Assassins, Shadowwalkers, and Rangers that tracked them down.  If they were hit, then there was a possibility that they could’ve been infected with the Taint; if that happened, in order to be safe, they would likely be “cleansed” – otherwise known as executed for the greater good.

Neither got close to hitting them, though, so there shouldn’t be any problems.  As their souls were ejected from the slain Vampire Warriors, Riley followed after them as they looked around briefly to see if there were any signs of another Vampire nearby; but of course, they didn’t find any.  As they passed by the previous entrance area of Tempara’s dungeon, they briefly stopped to look at it – and she heard exactly what she was hoping to hear.

“Looks like they’ve already swept through here.  With this area clear, we won’t have to bother sending anyone else to check, given all of the other problems this Vampire Den is going to cause.  You go on ahead, and I’ll mark it on the map.”

As the others left, the Assassin who had given the order pulled out a very detailed map of the Nightgloom Swamp and marked down something where Tempara’s dungeon was located.  That done, he stowed it and sped after his comrades, who were probably heading to join the fight against the Vampires – if they were needed.  One quick look ahead at the battle showed her that they definitely weren’t needed, as the overwhelming force of Defenders had absolutely annihilated the monsters. It wasn’t even the Paladins and Priests who blasted them to pieces, but instead was a multitude of other long-range attackers who flooded the area with fire-based attacks, including fireballs and flaming arcane arrows, burning the entire horde to ashes, including the Mages.  Riley could see that the Mages had tried to attack, but were halted by the efforts of Life-based protections that covered the front half of the assembled Defenders.

“That must have taken a lot of Mana, to accomplish all that,” Jorden marveled by her side as she looked down at the fight that was just finishing up.  “It isn’t a surprise they don’t want to have to clear the area around Tempara’s dungeon, because half these people are going to need to retreat back to the Kingdom to replenish their Mana pools.”

Based on what Riley saw, she was certain he was correct.  The Defenders didn’t take any chances with the horde of Vampires, spending Mana to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible, and that kind of thing tended to drain even extensive pools quickly.  It was worth it, though, because it didn’t appear that anyone had even been touched by a Vampire, let alone killed.

“I think it worked.  Let’s go tell Tempara.”  One thing they had learned about the core closing down access to her dungeon was that she wouldn’t have the ability to look outside, so Riley and Jorden were her eyes and ears.

“It’s hard to believe, but I think you’re right.  Let’s go.”

Chapter 32

The pain radiating through Tempara’s Core wasn’t horrible at first, but the longer her dungeon was closed to the outside world, the stronger it became.  During the first few minutes of closing her dungeon, she had frantically started to lower all her islands so they appeared to be in the process of sinking. She’d gotten most of them done before the pain became too intense to think straight, and cracks began to form on her Core.  After that, it was a bit of a blur and she couldn’t focus on what was going on, not that she could see anything; when her dungeon closed, the large transparent sphere around her dungeon turned opaque to her vision, letting her see absolutely nothing outside.

“Tempara?  Tempara?  Tempara!?”

“Her core doesn’t look so good.  I think she’s going to crack.”

Tempara barely understood the words that were in her mind, though she thought she vaguely recognized them.  They said some other things, but it was all nonsense to her and her pain.  Eventually, though, something broke through the haze of agony.

*Tempara, they’re saying that the plan succeeded and you can reestablish your entrance!  Hurry, before it’s too late!*

Kiana’s voice in her mind spurred her to action, and it took a monumental force of will for her to focus on the entrance of her dungeon.  With another application of her Elemental Power, which felt sluggish in her control, she brought the land bridge back up to the surface and beyond, to the level it was before.

The pain didn’t fade immediately, however, and it only seemed to get worse before it got better.  Another few cracks formed on her Core, and she lost herself for a while, her mind drifting in the gradually lessening pain.  All she could think about was the hope that she would never have to go through something like this again, because she wasn’t sure if her mind and soul could take it.

“Tempara?  I hope you’re coming around, because you’re going to need to defend yourself soon!”

Like a slap across the face, Riley’s voice woke her up in an instant.

Wh-what?  What happened?  Did we do it?

“Yes!  But you have to hurry and repopulate your dungeon before the horde we spotted gets here!”

Shaking off the remnants of the stupor she’d been under, Tempara quickly took stock of her situation, beginning with the state of her dungeon.  A very brief look around showed that it was exactly as she’d left it: partly submerged and missing any monsters or traps.  She’d eliminated them before she closed it down, so that any eagle-eyed Defenders wouldn’t be able to look inside to detect either monsters or traps – because she was aware that they could do that, though she wasn’t positive how far away they could detect them from.  That look only took a few seconds, thankfully, and after that she sent her viewpoint flying out of the entrance and out into the Swamp.  The first thing she did when she was out there was go high into the air to get a view from above, which was when she noticed the small horde of a dozen undead – half Fragile Skeletons and half Decaying Zombies – within 100 feet of her entrance.

Taking another second to look around, she was shocked to see that there were multiple dungeons nearby, though they were all Core Level 2.

How long was I out?

Riley answered immediately, as her soul had followed Tempara’s viewpoint outside.  “Nearly 24 hours.  It took some time for more dungeons to appear; but as you can see, they’re already sending out hordes.  Small, granted, but they’ll still destroy your core if you don’t defend your dungeon!”

24 hours?

It didn’t seem like it was that long, but she did kind of lose track of time.  She mentally shook herself to get back up to speed, as two thoughts warred within her mind.  The first thought was that she had done it – she had survived the sweep.  Right on the heels of that was her second thought: She needed to be smart and survive long enough to make that grueling experience a one-time event.

Pulling up her Core Display, she saw that she had plenty of Elemental Power to play with, even if she didn’t have a lot of time to create anything.

Core Display

Core Name:

Tempara

Core Level:

18

Designation:

Undead Horde

Level Threshold:

171,000 EP – Death

Elemental Power – Cold (EP – Cold):

16,341 EP

Accumulation Rate – Cold (AR – Cold):

54 EP/hour

Elemental Power – Death (EP – Death):

171,000 EP

Accumulation Rate – Death (AR – Death):

290 EP/minute

Defensible Islands:

9

Monster Threshold:

785

Available Monsters:

39

Available Traps:

15

Unavailable Monsters:

39

Unavailable Traps:

11

Available Monsters:

Flickering Wisp

Fragile Skeleton

Living Shadow

25 EP – Death

50 EP – Death

50 EP – Death

Decaying Zombie

Skeleton Fighter

Glowing Wraith

100 EP – Death

100 EP – Death

100 EP – Death

Ebon Orb

Skeleton Archer

Scrounging Ghoul

100 EP – Death

150 EP – Death

200 EP – Death

Skeletal Hulk

Playful Poltergeist

Incorporeal Phantom

200 EP – Death

200 EP – Death

250 EP – Death

Withering Revenant

Skeletal Bomber

Skeleton Mage

300 EP – Death

300 EP – Death

350 EP – Death

Putrefied Skinwalker

Vampiric Spawn

Fearstriker Ghost

400 EP – Death

450 EP – Death

500 EP – Death

Nightstalker

Terrifying Wight

Mindflaying Ghast

500 EP – Death

600 EP – Death

600 EP – Death

Skeleton Amalgamation

Skeletal Warlock

Wailing Banshee

700 EP – Death

700 EP – Death

800 EP – Death

Vampire Warrior

Skeletal Champion

Spectral Golem

900 EP – Death

1,000 EP – Death

1,000 EP – Death

Ancient Mummy

Skeletal Whirlwind

Skeletal Assassin

1,200 EP – Death

1,400 EP – Death

1,500 EP – Death

Vengeful Shade

Rotten Corpse Eater

Spiritual Oppressor

1,600 EP – Death

2,000 EP – Death

2,500 EP – Death

Boneraiser Lich

Skeletal Necromancer

Vampire Mage

3,000 EP – Death

3,500 EP – Death

4,500 EP – Death

Veiled Deathwing

Skeletal Beast

Tortured Soulbinder

6,000 EP – Death

7,000 EP – Death

8,000 EP – Death

Available Traps:

Pit Trap

Spiked Pit Trap

Camouflaged Pit Trap

0.5 AR – Any

0.75 AR – Any

1.5 AR – Any

Javelin Launch

Spear Impalement

Wall Crush

2.5 AR – Any

3 AR – Any

5 AR – Any

Necrotic Gas

Extended Necrotic Gas

Shadow Hands

0.5 AR – Death

0.75 AR – Death

1 AR – Death

Spectral Imprisonment

Void Wall

Shattering Skulls

1.25 AR – Death

1.5 AR – Death

0.75 AR – Death

Shattering Ribcages

Femur Rain

Shoulder Blades

1 AR – Death

1.25 – Death

1.5 AR – Death

Core Abilities:

Construct Dungeon

Create Monster

Install Trap

(EP cost – varies)

(EP cost – varies)

(AR cost – varies)

Skills/Knowledge:

Monster Creation

Trap Installation

Temporal Manipulation

(Total Knowledge: 78)

(Total Knowledge: 26)

(Total Knowledge: 2)

She was completely full of Elemental Power, thanks to the incredible Accumulation rate of 290 EP/minute at Core Level 18.  It wasn’t the highest Core Level she had achieved during the years of repeated time in the Swamp, but it was more than enough to practically dominate the competition.  It was also a high enough Core Level that she could see the massive central island that was a common place for Cores to send their hordes through.

That was neither here nor there, however, as she still needed to defend her dungeon from the incoming horde – as weak as it was.  She immediately started to create Skeleton Fighter after Skeleton Fighter, mainly because they only took a few seconds per monster to form, and a half-dozen of them were more than a match for a horde of 6 Fragile Skeletons and 6 Decaying Zombies.  She wasn’t taking any chances, though, as she continued to create them for the next few minutes, until she had 50 of them.  She sent them all to wait on Skeleton Island while she also started to raise up all of the islands from where she had partially submerged them before the sweep, though very little progress was made before the horde walked through her entrance.

Needless to say, 50 Skeleton Fighters were more than enough to protect her dungeon from the invaders, and she didn’t even lose a single one in the battle that occurred.  Those 50 skeletons she created also barely put a dent in the maximum monsters she could have in her dungeon, as her Monster Threshold was up to 785, meaning with the 50% extra she could have on her islands she could have nearly 1,200 monsters altogether.

That number sounded like a lot, and it was, but she had also seen hordes roaming around from areas outside of her range that numbered at least 300 or more, meaning that they were likely fairly close to her in Core Level, if not even higher.  Of course, that was before the sweep, so all of the Dungeon Cores besides herself were currently at a very low Level.

Once she was safe, she finished raising her dungeon back up from where it had been sunk, before replacing all of the monsters, island by island.  On the first island, 4 Banshees were accompanied by 4 Tortured Soulbinders among the trees, along with dozens of Living Shadows, Fearstriker Ghosts, Vengeful Shades, and Nightstalkers hidden for their moment to strike.  Because her Accumulation Rate was so high, she also had a dozen Extended Necrotic Gas traps scattered throughout.

After that were her branching paths, which now included more Vengeful Shades and Skeletal Assassins hiding in the trees along the sides, in addition to the original Skeletal Amalgamation – 5 of them, in fact.  There were now 3 Shadow Hands traps on each pathway, which also played a part in slowing down the incoming hordes.

Skeleton Island started with Camouflaged Pit Traps and a Femur Rain at the start where each pathway emptied into it, and there were dozens of rusty iron fence pieces there to help slow the incoming undead even further.  The original Skeleton Mages were replaced with a dozen Skeletal Warlocks, and they were accompanied by dozens of Skeletal Bombers and Skeleton Archers for long-range attacks, 8 Skeletal Champions in their armor for protection, 8 Skeletal Whirlwinds near the entrances to tear into large numbers of undead, 4 Skeletal Beasts for hunting down some of the pesky spellcasters or heavy hitters hiding in the back of the horde, and a full 5 Boneraiser Liches and Skeletal Necromancers to bring back anything that died – including the enemy, regardless of whether they were from the skeleton or zombie lines of monsters.  (She very rarely ever saw any from the Wisp line.)

If any horde made it through them, which wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon, they would face a relatively newer island she was calling “The Graveyard”.  This square-sided island held crumbling stones that looked like graves, rusty iron fencing near the entrance, and a line of trees along the left and right sides.  On those trees she had 10 Veiled Deathwings roosting and waiting to take flight when a horde arrived, and they’d be assisted by 15 Spectral Golems and 30 Playful Poltergeists who could make use of all the nearby material.  Then there were the traps scattered throughout The Graveyard, well-hidden enough within the rubble that they were hard to spot.  Among them were 4 Shoulder Blade traps, plus a scattered mix of Scattering Skulls and Shattering Rib Cage traps.

On Wisp Island – a strange name, but it did fit – the entrance was a Void Wall a few steps in, which would prevent anyone from passing quickly into the interior of the island, while 3 Spiritual Oppressors were there to rain down death upon the semi-stopped horde that had gotten that far. The rest of the island was a collection of some mid-range and stronger monsters, including Rotten Corpse Eaters; Vampire Mages (relatively useless, but worth deploying to unlock whatever Advancements they had); Ancient Mummies; more Skeletal Beasts… and more than 200 Flickering Wisps.

That last choice was due to the fact that Jorden had apparently lost a bet to Riley at one point and agreed to try and kill any undead while controlling a Wisp.  He eventually managed to do it through quick movements and attacking when his victim was nearly dead already because they had been fighting something else, but it also inspired Tempara to utilize the little glowing lights in a different way.  She’d only been able to see them in action once, but it was impressive; a few more than 200 Flickering Wisps descending on a single target, which was actually a hostile Rotten Corpse Eater that a dungeon had unlocked for use, was a sight to behold.  A little less than half of them died within the first few seconds, but they did so much spiritual damage to the much-larger monster that they were able to kill it before the Corpse Eater could kill any more Wisps.

Yes, it was impractical, but it was sort of fun to watch.

On her Core Island, which had been expanded to accommodate her Dungeon Boss, was a massive Skeletal Beast, which her Aunt Chrona loved to inhabit.  It cost a total of 105,000 EP to create, was 25 feet tall at the shoulder, and was just as heavily armored as the smaller version – but could move even faster and hit harder.

Naturally, all that wasn’t executed right away, because the expense of all of those different monsters in her dungeon – not even including the Boss – totaled nearly half a million EP, which couldn’t be achieved overnight.  In all, it required a full 4 days of constant monster creation and the installation of traps, which also reduced the speed of replacing everything.  In that time, they were visited by dozens of hordes sent by other Dungeon Cores, but none of them made it past her first island, nor killed more than a scattered few of her monsters.

Riley and Jorden were invaluable during that period of replacing everything in her dungeon, as they were scouting around Tempara’s current range, which extended over 15 miles in every direction.  The central island was their major focus, but they also kept a lookout through the rest of the Swamp they could observe, mainly because Tempara wasn’t sure when the Chronomancer would arrive for the ritual, in addition to where.  She remembered from experiencing the end of the world that the series of rituals had been conducted approximately 30 days apart from each other, but if they came early, she wanted to know about it.

After finishing her dungeon and keeping her Core as safe as possible, she spent the next few days of waiting simply raising her Core Level.  Tempara didn’t really need to at that point, given that she could field hundreds of monsters outside of her dungeon, as well as having a high Accumulation Rate and Monsters Threshold.  However, at Core Level 21, her range expanded again, letting the two Defender souls scout even further, nearly to the border.

That turned out to be beneficial, as Riley was the first one to notice something around 6 days after the sweep that Tempara had barely survived.

“I think they’re coming – and I really want to punch one of them in the face before I rip out her heart.”

It seemed as though the nature of their existence had really played a part in shaping her resident Defenders’ personalities, because Jorden practically growled next to her.

Well, then – let’s see what we’re up against.

Chapter 33

Moving her viewpoint to just over the border with the Kingdom, Tempara was able to see the group of Defenders making their way through the Nightgloom Swamp’s land bridges.  In the middle of the large band of Defenders was a much smaller group that was carrying a trio of cages, and in each cage was a Greater Temporal Fox laying down and appearing quite docile.  When she got closer, she saw that they were acting exactly as her Aunt Chrona and her two uncles from the ritual up north had been acting, as if they didn’t have control of their own bodies and were simply passengers as their physical selves did the bidding of others.

Needless to say, the amount of wrath flowing through her mind at the sight made her want to send out a massive horde of undead to overwhelm everyone there.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen – for a couple of reasons.  The first was that while he saw the Chronomancer, Creetim, and two others, whom she recognized as Palax and Frella – the man in all black who Tempara now knew was a Necromancer, and the woman in red who wielded fire like it was an extension of her very will – along with 20 identically dressed people that reminded her of the ones who had guarded the ritual in the Frozen Reaches, they weren’t alone.  A total of 15 other Defenders were there escorting them through the pathways, and they were familiar enough at that point that the Dungeon Core recognized them as Beatrix, the local Order of Defenders’ Branch Master, and a mixture of Paladins, Priests, and Clerics.

Out in the open, without any other defenses prepared, Tempara didn’t think it was likely that any horde she sent would be able to defeat them.  With enough of certain types of undead, it might be possible, but it would take a while to accumulate enough resources.

The second – and more important – reason she couldn’t send a horde to overwhelm them was that if she did, all of her suffering through the sweep would be for naught.  She had to let the ritual take place, as much as it pained her to see her family get caught up in it, because it had already happened.  Or so she understood from the whole time loop thing that the three souls she had freed from the ritual had told her.  Only after it was already active could she free the souls of three more members of her family from their imprisonment – though that was, sadly, easier said than done.  She just hoped that Beatrix and the others weren’t there to stay, because otherwise it would be even more of a challenge to get that done.

“Are those Foxes in those cages part of your family?” Riley suddenly asked from nearby Tempara’s viewpoint.

Yes, unfortunately.  It looks like my Aunt Tyda, Aunt Samaya, and Uncle Tiepo.

Tempara would be lying if she said she wasn’t disappointed that her parents weren’t the ones in the cages; as horrible as it would be to see them like that, the prospect of saving them from the ritual would’ve been an extra incentive to get them out as soon as possible – though she didn’t really need any more incentive than saving her family while saving the world.

“Aren’t you going to try and save them?  I’m more than willing to help out.”  The woman’s soul looked like she was ready to go down there and rip their captors apart with her bare hands, especially with the way she clenched and unclenched them unconsciously.

I already told you that I can’t do that yet.  As much as I want to stop it, I have to let the ritual commence, otherwise I’ll risk being automatically restarted.  This has to happen, as much as I don’t want it to.

“I know, but it doesn’t seem right.”

Tempara agreed, but that was just the way it had to be, sadly.

It took them a few hours to carefully navigate their way through the Nightgloom swamp, as they were accosted by at least a dozen hordes along the way – though it wasn’t as if they had any problems annihilating whatever attacked them.  The Branch Master and her crew were the only ones who did any attacking, leaving the Chronomancer and the others with him free to move about unscathed and unharried by any obstacles.

Eventually, they came to their destination, which was exactly where Tempara had suspected: the central island in the Wildlands region, otherwise known as the “Isle of the Dead”.  Once there in the exact center of the island, they started to unload a bunch of supplies such as tents and a few crates, but the most important items were the three cages that held the Greater Temporal Foxes.  Tempara expected the Chronomancer to begin his ritual immediately, but someone had other plans.

“I don’t understand why you need us to stay here, Creetim,” the Branch Master, Beatrix, argued.  “Your people should easily be able to handle anything that comes within the next few hours, and after that – if your claim is to be believed – nothing should attack them, because the dungeons around here won’t be able to create anything new.”

The bald-headed man looked like he wanted to slap the woman, as clear annoyance and exasperation was written upon his face, but he held off – to the disappointment of both Tempara’s and the two Defender souls with her.  “Like I said before, I felt a slight disturbance in the ritual up in the Frozen Reaches, and while I don’t think it was anything too serious, I don’t want to take any chances.”

“I don’t understand what this disturbance is that you speak of; did something shut down your ritual?  If so, then what are we even doing here?”

The Chronomancer shook his head in frustration.  “No, not at all; I can still feel that it’s active. Since I’ve never enacted a ritual this immense before, there’s bound to be some fluctuations.  There’s nothing to worry about as far as the ritual being performed, but I’d rather not take any chances of something happening afterwards.  Besides, it should only be a few months before you can leave, as I’m sure any threat to destabilizing the ritual sphere will be nonexistent at that time.”

“A few months?!  I thought you said it would only be for a few weeks!  I can’t be gone for that long!”

“You can certainly leave after a few weeks, but I’m going to need your people to stay,” Creetim said, staring at her intently.  “Unless you’re planning on reneging on our deal?”

The Branch Master looked flustered for the first time, shaking her head emphatically.  “No, of course not.  You’ve already provided everything we could need to ensure our leadership stays intact after this ritual takes place and the threat coming from the Wildlands disappears.”  She paused for a moment.  “We’ll stay, but as soon as you know any danger to your ritual has passed, I want you to tell us as soon as possible.”

“I can do that,” the Chronomancer responded, nodding.  “Now, let’s get this going so I can finalize my plans for the next region as soon as possible.”

* Approaching temporal displacement event. *

The notification in her mind was what she was waiting for, as it meant that she’d be able to establish a new temporal displacement point – which would change the point of time when she restarted.

The time is rapidly approaching where I’ll be able to establish another starting point for my restarts.  This is the last chance before I leave behind your physical bodies, with no way to go back.  Are you still committed to your current course of action?

Tempara directed her question to the pair of Defenders watching the activities down below as her aunts and uncle were let out of their cages to stand around the Chronomancer, each of them staring blankly ahead at nothing.  Riley and Jorden looked at each other for a few seconds before Jorden nodded, a brief second before the former Shadowwalker did as well.  “Yes.  I can’t see that getting our bodies back will do us any good at this point, as we’d still likely be hunted for the rest of our lives – as short as that would probably be.  Besides, if being like this gives us a chance to save the world and get our revenge on Beatrix and her corrupted cohorts, then it’ll be worth it.”

Fair enough.  I want you to know that I’m very appreciative for your help – it has been invaluable.

* Approaching temporal displacement event. *

The ritual was already starting to take place, as Creetim was gesticulating wildly with his hands as the blue, temporal energy started to pool around him.  Soon enough, more of the energy was pulled from the statue-like Foxes standing around them, a faint whine coming from their throats, the only indication that they were being used in a way that they didn’t like and that probably hurt them.  After nearly a minute of this pooling of temporal energy, both the Chronomancer and the Foxes slumped in place, plainly exhausted.

“We’re just glad that we could help.  It has been a… unique experience,” Riley said.  “What is he doing?  I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Just watch and see.

An intricate web of glowing lines sprang up around Creetim and the Foxes, as the outline of a sphere started to form.  As the pooled energy swept up the grid of lines and the swirls and symbols of the ritual formed along its exterior, she began to lose sight of her family members as the sphere started to turn slightly opaque.  It wasn’t until another few minutes after the Chronomancer completed his ritual with a flourish that it turned solidly opaque, and the bald-headed man collapsed to the ground in a heap.

* Temporal displacement event has occurred successfully.

Establish a new temporal displacement point?  Yes / No *

It looks like everything worked.  Here we go.

Tempara selected Yes from the prompt.

* Warning!  Establishing a new temporal displacement point will override previous temporal displacement point.

Proceed? Yes / No *

She selected Yes once again.

* Establishing a new temporal displacement point... complete!  Temporal Reversion in process… *

She was hoping that she wouldn’t be sent back to restart, as she wanted to keep everything she had built in her dungeon by that point, but apparently this was what happened every time she established a new temporal displacement point.  Thankfully, she had a few seconds in which to send a message out to the Defenders and her family’s souls in her dungeon, before her own soul was sent back for a restart.

See you all again soon.

* Select your starting location…. *

Looking at the map in front of her, she selected the same area as always and was relieved to see that there were no issues with choosing it.  Before, in the Frozen Reaches, she’d had to move somewhere else because of a complicated situation that dealt with her former dungeon being the site of her physical body’s death, but now there weren’t any issues – which she was thankful for, but also confused.  Pushing her confusion aside, she instead thought about her other issues, including figuring out a way to break the ritual sphere with her family inside, which she thought was going to be much harder than it was in the north.

As soon as she was back in her Dungeon Core, the 3 Fox souls that were already there asked, “What happened?” in concert, as if they had practiced it.

Hold on, I’ll tell you in a moment.  I just need to go check something out.

With that, she sped her viewpoint out of her dungeon and made her way to the edge of her range… which didn’t quite make it to the Isle of the Dead, but she could still barely see what was going on in that location.  Half of the identically dressed people from the Chronomancer’s party were already leaving, along with the man in black and the Elf dressed in red.  They were carrying the crates which held the 3 Foxes, as well as the unconscious form of Creetim, and they were headed toward the border with the Kingdom and out of the Swamp.  Even if she had wanted to try and stop them, she couldn’t even reach them with a single monster by this point.

Still on the Isle of the Dead, however, were the 15 corrupted Defenders that had accompanied the Branch Master along with the woman herself, as well as 10 members of the Chronomancer’s group that had stayed behind.  They appeared to be finishing setting up their tents for shelter, though they also seemed to be in the process of something a little more permanent – such as some type of building.

A quick look at her Core Display showed her that her Accumulation Rate was down to 4.375 EP/minute – as she’d figured it would be.  The ritual had stopped the rest of the Cores from accumulating any Elemental Power from the environment, which essentially shut them down entirely.  If they had any existing hordes available, they could still attack other dungeons to try and steal some; but if they were killed in either attack or defense, that was effectively all they would ever have until the ritual was broken.  Thankfully, if she was able to free the souls of her family from it, that would bring back a small amount of their Accumulation Rate, which would only increase as more souls were released – at least according to Kiana.  It still wasn’t enough to prevent the destruction of the world if the rituals continued to be active, but it would delay it for a time.

Moving her viewpoint back to her dungeon, she got back just in time for Kiana and the Defenders to appear, and she explained what happened to them and her family at the same time.

“So, we’ve gotten this far, but what’s next?  How do we save your family and break the ritual?” Riley asked.

We won’t necessarily be able to break the series of rituals until all of them have the souls of my family members extracted from them, but it is nonetheless a good question.  I first need to determine if the sphere has the same properties of stopping time when touched by one of the Chronomancer’s minions; when that’s been determined, then I can make a plan.

“Don’t you mean we can make a plan?”

Tempara chuckled.  Yes, we can make a plan.  That will actually be helpful if you participate, because you might just have some insider knowledge of what might need to be constructed to kill these people, including the Branch Master.

Riley rubbed her incorporeal hands together.  “I can’t wait.”

Chapter 34

The next week was spent simply increasing Tempara’s Core Level, as well as fending off a single horde sent by a nearby dungeon, which was easy enough to accomplish with a few strong monsters in her dungeon.  Approximately 6 hours after the ritual was completed, not a single undead was seen outside of the dungeons, as all the Cores had already sent out what they had available, with a few successes but mostly failures to gather up any extra Elemental Power.  As ironic as it sounded, the activity in the Nightgloom Swamp was… dead.

Not having to improve her dungeon after the first few hours meant she could devote her entire Accumulation Rate to Leveling, though it was noticeably slower with the lower AR at first.  Thankfully, with the higher general AR after Core Level 6, it went rather quickly.  By the time a week had passed, she was able to get to Core Level 17, high enough to completely see the Isle of the Dead, the ritual sphere, and the people there guarding it.  Or, more accurately, the Chronomancer’s people guarding it while Beatrix and her group either lounged around or got into verbal shouting matches with each other.

It seems as though being corrupted by whatever they were doing with sacrifices makes them a bit volatile, personality-wise.  I wonder if they’ll do the job for us and start attacking each other.

“Not likely, unfortunately.  See how Beatrix is lording her position over them with an iron fist?  She won’t let them do anything of the sort,” Jorden remarked.

That was disappointing, but Tempara wasn’t expecting an easy solution as much as she would’ve appreciated it.

Alright, time to test out the sphere.

It had been more than enough time to gather up Elemental Power and to Level-up her Core, so now she created a small horde of about 30 undead, which included some weaker Fragile Skeletons and Decaying Zombies, but also some Withering Revenants and Skeleton Fighters.  She didn’t need anything too powerful yet, as she was only testing the reactions of those guarding the ritual.

Soon enough, her horde navigated its way through the land bridges until it came to the ritual site, and they immediately surged forward upon sight of the people there.  As had been common up north, there were 5 people standing equidistantly around the sphere, looking outward for any sign of trouble, so they saw her horde immediately.  When her monsters were within 100 feet, one of the guards placed their hand against the sphere and time froze around them, stopping everything but themselves from moving.  Tempara’s horde was stopped in mid-step, locked into their position by the effect of the ritual sphere, and the guards immediately went to work with a few very effective long-range spells that absolutely annihilated the defenseless undead.  It appeared as though one of the guards was a Mage of some kind as an exploding fireball was tossed in the horde’s direction and killed more than half of them, while another of the guards formed a rain of skull-sized stones that shattered bones by the dozens as it swept through the horde.

They were dead within a few seconds, far before the time stoppage wore off, and it was only a few seconds later when the guards went back to facing out from the ritual sphere, as if nothing had happened.  Just like the ones in the Frozen Reaches, they were dedicated to their duty.

It was also interesting to note that, as soon as they engaged in the slaughter of the horde, Tempara could see the other guards not on duty stirring from where they had been sleeping – showing that they were immune to the stoppage of time.  The Defenders following the Branch Master, however, weren’t quite frozen in place like the horde – but instead moved very slowly, which was something she hadn’t counted on.

“They’re not immune to it?  Why not?” Riley asked.  She and Jorden were waiting outside of the area of effect just like Tempara’s viewpoint, so they were still able to move around; it was only if they were to move closer that they would be affected by the stoppage in time like the horde – or the slowing of the corrupted Defenders.

I don’t know, but I suspect it’s something to do with the others’ connection to the Chronomancer.  I’m assuming that not everyone can use the sphere to stop time, so that makes the most sense.

As the Defenders didn’t really react to the stoppage of time as soon as the effect wore off, they had obviously experienced it before; Tempara could only guess that it had been used while there were still hordes roaming around, but she had apparently missed it.

“Now that you know that they can still stop time, what do you want to do?” Riley asked again.

Let’s go back to the dungeon so we can all try and figure this out.

A minute later, they were all gathered on her Core Island, and Tempara began their planning meeting.

As far as what worked before, the last time I was able to annoy the guards enough by sending an endless series of monsters to them; they eventually got mad enough to hunt down my dungeon’s entrance in an attempt to destroy my Core, but that obviously didn’t work out so well for them.  Do you think that will work again?

Riley shrugged, which was copied by Jorden.  “Maybe?  I can’t see that trying it will hurt, but I think you’re going to have a problem getting them to move away from that thing because of Beatrix and her little minions.”

That is definitely my thought, as well.  Still, I guess it can’t hurt to try.  Unless anyone has a better idea?

No one spoke for a moment, not even her Aunt Chrona, who had been the most insistent in the past about charging straight in and saving the rest of their family.  After hearing about what the ritual sphere could do, she seemed to be at a loss of how to get them out any other way.

Based on her experience in the Frozen Reaches, Tempara suspected that no more sweeps would be coming through the Swamp, but she didn’t know that for sure.  If for some reason they continued to come, that meant she had 3 weeks or so until they arrived.  In addition, there was a chance the Branch Master would be leaving at some point, and it wasn’t just Riley and Jorden wanted to see Beatrix get what was coming to her. While Tempara sympathized with what the two Defenders went through and their righteous drive to see the murderers killed, the Dungeon Core’s desire for vengeance stemmed exclusively from the fact that Beatrix was directly helping the Chronomancer do what he was doing to her family.

Granted, the vengeance they enacted upon the Branch Master wouldn’t necessarily stick once they freed her family’s souls, but that wasn’t really the point.  Temporary catharsis was better than none at all.

Alright, then before I see if I can annoy them, does anyone have any suggestions for my dungeon?  If it all works, then I want to be ready for them.

“Absolutely,” Jorden said quickly.  “There are a few things that I’ve been thinking about, ever since those Elimination Teams came after your dungeon… was it years ago, by now?”

That’s great to hear.  I would welcome any suggestions, because I’m not sure what would work best against them.

Tempara actually did have some ideas of her own, but she wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas.  Sometimes having a different perspective on her defenses could really help.

“Well, first of all, the strength of the Extermination Team, and consequently those who accompanied Beatrix to the Isle of the Dead, is the prodigious use of their Mana.  From what I’ve seen of them, as well as during the sweep, they tend to concentrate on using as much of their Mana as possible on spells and skills that ensure that nothing survives.  What that means is they are extremely powerful and highly effective against the dead, as you’ve seen, but they will also use everything they have quickly.  As a Paladin, I knew that the majority of my skills that were effective against the undead were expensive in terms of Mana cost, so I had to ensure that I only used them when necessary.  Beatrix and these corrupted Defenders with her are too sure of themselves to regulate their Mana use, because nothing can stand against them.”

I can see your point, but how do you suppose we take advantage of that?

“You just have to make sure they have too many things to kill with their limited Mana supply.  They’ll burn bright at first but sputter out before they can make it through your entire dungeon.”

Tempara could understand what he was getting at, as she had done something similar before.  When she had been trying to kill the guards that she had lured into her dungeon, she had made some rooms that didn’t go anywhere, forcing them to backtrack and spend even more time fighting against her monsters.  It had also allowed her to whittle the guards down, one-by-one, but that probably wasn’t going to happen here with the corrupted Defenders; they were too powerful to suffer much in the way of casualties before they started running out of Mana, but that didn’t matter too much.

“In addition, I didn’t see any type of scouting Class with them, or at least with Beatrix and her group, so they will be particularly susceptible to traps.  Their resistances will help them against anything with a Death-focused bent to it, but falling into a pit trap?  If they don’t see it coming, there’s no reason not to expect them to fall down one.”

That was also good to know, because Tempara hadn’t deliberately thought of that.  Sure, she was already planning on including some, but if she concentrated on a few different ones that they wouldn’t necessarily have resistances to, then there might be a better chance of killing a few of them.

Excellent ideas.  Anyone else have any?

“Yes!  Can I control a Rotten Corpse Eater and eat Beatrix once we kill her?” Riley asked, which caused the three Foxes and Kiana to cringe in disgust, but Jorden only laughed.

“Wait; you would eat a corpse even though that was a punishment for that bet we had?” the man asked, still chuckling.

“Of course!  You know what they say: revenge is sweet!  So, eating her corpse has got to taste good.”

If we end up killing her, then I don’t see why not.  I don’t really want to watch, but I’m not going to stop you.

Tempara couldn’t help but think that the two Defenders had changed quite a bit since they had been attached to her own soul, and sometimes it was hard to tell whether that was a good thing or not.  Regardless, the Dungeon Core thought that the Elf was actually joking about eating the woman’s corpse, so she didn’t worry too much about it.

Alright, if no one else has any helpful suggestions, I’m going to get started.

Moving her viewpoint to the area near her entrance, she began to create a series of 10 islands, 50 feet wide, that moved off to the right once the Defenders walked in, with short pathways between them. Keeping in mind what Jorden had mentioned, she added 3 or 4 islands that split off from those 10, which appeared to head in the direction of her Core Island, but which were actually dead ends.  As each of the islands was ringed in trees, as tall as she could make them, it was essentially impossible for anyone to see through or over them, meaning that without actually checking them all, the Defenders wouldn’t be able to know which was the correct path.

The correct path, in fact, was on the ninth island along the perimeter of her dungeon, as the tenth was a dead end.  From this ninth island, she formed a chain of islands that wrapped around the tenth, before continuing along the perimeter, all the way around the dungeon.  On the next series of 10 islands, the fifth island was the one that kept going, followed by the seventh and then the fourth.  It took a total of 2 full days to complete all 145 islands along the maze she had created, and at a suggestion by Kiana, she even added random pathways along the dead end chains of islands, so that it would be even more confusing for the invading Defenders to find their way.

During the construction, she also added hundreds of monsters to the islands, but not just any undead would do.  To drain their Mana as quickly as possible, Tempara added anywhere between 3 or 4 Vengeful Shades to each island.  While not particularly powerful, their ability to multiply would give the Defenders a hundred or so undead to kill on each island, which would require a whole heck of a lot of Mana to destroy.  In addition, she was planning on scattering multiple Camouflaged Pit Traps and Shattering Rib Cages throughout the Island Maze, though she’d do that last because of the reduction in her Accumulation Rate.

When the Defenders made it through the Island Maze, they would’ve made an entire loop through the perimeter of her dungeon, as the last section of island was near the entrance.  From there, on the premise that the incoming people would be tired, annoyed, and low on Mana, she created a much larger island, covered with trees, which held 200 Scrounging Ghouls were stationed around the perimeter.  The idea was that the Ghouls would be spread out to attack the Defenders once they started navigating their way through the island, hitting the group on all sides.  By not bunching them together, she would reduce the risk that a single spell would be able to wipe out dozens of them at a time, and they were quick and quiet enough that they could move in before the Defenders knew what hit them.  With 5 Skeletal Necromancers scattered around on the island, as well, she was hoping to have them raise up the Ghouls once they were killed, so that they could attack again.

Even that island wouldn’t be too difficult for the team of Defenders to defeat, but would further drain whatever resources they had at their disposal. Following that one was yet another large island, but this one was designed as a trap of sorts.  Riley mentioned that at some point, unlike monsters that invaded her dungeon, it was possible that the Defenders might turn back in the face of dwindling Mana and exhaustion.  If or when they made it that far into her dungeon, Tempara didn’t want them to leave; as a result, while she couldn’t put up any physical barriers that would prevent them from going, there was going to be something else entirely.

Vampires.

Just like the trick allowed her to survive the sweep, the response to the sight of Vampires would trigger an alarmed response in the Defenders, even these corrupted ones.  Therefore, on this island she’d allow the incoming group to progress approximately two-thirds of the way through an equally tree-filled landscape, before the dozens of Vampire Spawn, Vampire Warriors, and Vampire Mages would emerge from the shadows of the trees behind the Defenders, ambushing them.  Her hope was that, in a panic, they would end up moving further up the island, perhaps even making their way to the final island she was constructing.  If not, there were a number of Void Wall traps that she was able to alter slightly, so that their triggers would only activate if someone was walking toward the entrance, rather than when walking further inside the island.

If all of that didn’t stop them from leaving, there really wasn’t much else she could do.

In the hopes that they’d continue on to the next island, she constructed the very last island before her Core Island, which was full of large, powerful undead.  While the specialized Defenders would normally be able to kill them easily, the more Mana they spent throughout the previous Island Maze, Ghoul Island, and the Vampire Trap, the less they’d have against monsters such as Skeletal Beasts, Veiled Deathwings, Spiritual Oppressors, and dozens of Mindflaying Ghasts.  When she added in another dozen traps of different kinds, she couldn’t imagine anything surviving.

On her Core Island, she again created a giant Skeletal Beast for one of her relatives to inhabit, because it had proven itself to be quite effective as a Dungeon Boss.  In all, nearly a week went by with all of her preparations, and now she could see what she could do to annoy the people she needed to kill in order to get to the ritual sphere.

Chapter 35

“I have to admit, it’s sort of funny watching the constant line of monsters moving through the Swamp like this,” Riley said, watching everything happen from up above.

Below her, she could see hundreds of undead walking or floating along the pathways, creating an unending line of them that she could trace back to Tempara’s dungeon.  With the dungeon core’s “Accumulation Rate”, she could afford to spend 175 Elemental Power every minute; it had taken the former Defender a while to really understand what that meant, but she equated it to the Mana expenditure for spells or skills, and each monster required a certain amount of Elemental Power to create.

As such, that meant that she could ostensibly form 175 Elemental Power worth of monsters within that minute, which equated to 1 Flickering Wisp, 1 Fragile Skeleton, and 1 Decaying Zombie.  Each of them set out approximately 20 seconds from each other from where Tempara’s core was located, though there was a temporary land bridge that led directly from the central island to the entrance, meaning that they didn’t have to travel through the entire dungeon in order to exit.  If—when, hopefully—those that the constant stream of monsters were headed toward got fed up and came after them, Tempara would had plenty of time to eliminate that pathway before they arrived.

“You’re right; it’s sort of amusing seeing this all happen.  As for how effective it’ll be, I know that I would certainly be annoyed, but these people seem to be made of something different.  It’s like they don’t even care,” Jorden replied.

Riley had to agree.  Ever since the first of the weak undead arrived at the Isle of the Dead a few hours ago, where they immediately made their way toward the opaque sphere, the strange “time guards” around it would systematically kill each one as it got close, either with a simple spell or by one of the fighter Classes stepping up and killing it swiftly with a weapon.  Once that was done, they went back to guarding the sphere for another 15 seconds or so before the next one arrived, and the process would repeat itself.  They didn’t even use the strange time-stopping ability that the sphere had, because it wasn’t necessary for such weak monsters.

Even after a few hours, there didn’t seem to be any change in their reaction – on the outside, at least – to the constant incursion of undead invading the Isle of the Dead.  It was almost like their duty didn’t allow them to be annoyed, and they didn’t even talk to each other.  Instead, under the bright light of some Mana lanterns they’d brought and set up around the perimeter of the camp they’d created, they stood stoically and unflappable as they did their job without complaint.

“I can see that.  But that doesn’t mean it’s not having any effect.  Look over there.”

Moving closer – which was a little bit of a worry if the time guards decided to stop time, trapping even their souls in place for the duration – they hovered over the corrupted Defender camp.  Inside the camp, which still consisted mostly of tents, with a few basic shacks made of compacted dirt that the time guards had made for themselves, Riley could see Beatrix arguing with someone from the Chronomancer’s crew that wasn’t on duty as a guard at the moment.

“—stop making so much noise!  Some of us are trying to sleep!” the Branch Master scolded the time guard with a finger in his face, but the man just stood there with his arms crossed and a long-suffering look on his face.

“I already told you, we have a duty to protect the ritual; and if that includes making a little bit of noise, then that’s what it will take.”

Beatrix wasn’t having any of that, as her face twisted up in anger.  “Why are they even here?  I thought this ritual was supposed to prevent things like this!”

The man sighed.  “I have no idea.  It could be that there’s a rogue dungeon that has somehow been able to bypass the suppression aura, but we have no way of knowing.”

“Well then, I think the answer is obvious.  You need to find out where these things are coming from and destroy it!”

“No, as I told you, we can’t do that.”  Riley saw the man shake his head with impatience, as if he’d already explained this to the Branch Master multiple times.  “None of us can leave the immediate area until we’ve been relieved in approximately 7 months.”

“What are you going to do to stop this, then?”

He shrugged.  “Nothing.  That’s not our job.”  He paused and stared at the incensed woman across from him.  “I do happen to remember Creetim mentioning to you that he needed you here to help protect the ritual, but you aren’t bound by our duty to it like we are.  You could go and find out where they are coming from and take care of it for us.  Who knows?  If you destroy the source, you might even be able to get some more sleep.”

Ooh, she didn’t like him talking to her like that.

Without much warning, Beatrix started to cast some sort of spell, but time suddenly slowed as the ones guarding the ritual saw what was happening.  The man that had been talking to the Branch Master, who was now moving so slowly that the light of a spell forming between her hands flickered erratically, sighed heavily and walked to the woman, swept her legs out from underneath her, and then slammed her body down to the dirt of the island with the flat of his hand.  He then slowly pulled out a knife from his hip, looked around at all of the other corrupted Defenders who were as equally slowly trying to respond to what he had done, and then knelt down by her side.

He had his knife by her throat when time resumed as normal, and the light suddenly disappeared from Beatrix’s hands.  Riley couldn’t help but revel in the fact that the Branch Master had likely suffered a bit of Mana backlash from the canceled spell, but it was the frightened expression on her face that made it even better.

“Now, I hope you weren’t trying to attack me, because that would be a mistake,” the man said calmly yet loudly even as the other Defenders appeared ready to fight.  “I know for a fact that the great Beatrix Garmin ‘doesn’t make mistakes’, but I guess anything could happen.  Also, while I help you up from where you seem to have accidentally fallen, I would advise your people to stand down; we wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt, would we?”

With a shaky breath, Beatrix responded by tremulously smiling and saying, “No, we wouldn’t want that.”  With a louder voice, she said, “Don’t worry, everyone.  Tremp here was just helping me up from where I, uh, fell.”

With a matching, but confident smile, Tremp put away his knife with a flourish and then helped Beatrix up from the ground, helping to brush the dirt off the back of her white dress in the process.  From her stance, Riley could tell that the Branch Master was simmering with anger that was just ready to boil over and cause mass destruction, but she held her tongue and her spells.

Darn.  I was hoping she would lose control and they’d take care of that little problem by themselves.  Of course, that would mean Riley would lose out on her direct revenge against the woman, but it would also be fitting for her to be killed by someone she was supposed to be protecting.

The two groups broke off contact after that, with Tremp heading back to where the rest of the off-duty time guards were also trying to sleep – and doing a much better job of it than the corrupted Defenders – and Beatrix gathering her sycophants around her in their camp.

“As much as I don’t want to agree with that infuriating man and wish I could see what kind of power boost we’d get if we sacrificed him… he has a point.  If we want to get some sleep, we’re going to have to take care of whatever dungeon is producing those undead.”

The rest of the corrupted Defenders looked put out, but none of them objected.  “When are we going?” one of them did ask, though.

“As soon as possible.  The sooner we get rid of the problem, the sooner we can get everything back to normal.  Let’s go.”

Ah, they took the bait.

“We should probably tell Tempara,” Jorden began to say, but he was interrupted.

“I heard.  I’m eliminating the pathway after the last of the undead I’ve created pass through it.”

It seemed as though the dungeon core had been keeping an eye on the camp as well, because she was right on top of it.  Within a few minutes, the group of corrupted Defenders was following the monsters as they arrived on the Isle of the Dead, and it was only when they were getting onto the land bridge where they were coming from that they actually started to kill some of them.  A Paladin out front simply carved his way through the weaker undead with his shortsword or bashed them with his shield, which was all that was needed to eliminate them within seconds.  There was no need for any use of skills or spells, because the Wisps, Skeletons, and Zombies were so weak that it would be overkill.

It took them nearly half an hour for them to track the undead back to the dungeon, with Tempara spreading out their departure from her dungeon to 1-minute intervals, to ensure they lasted long enough.  With the pathway leading from her core to the entrance eliminated, it would be difficult to bring any more of the weaker undead outside of her dungeon.  Thankfully, the last few were able to stick around long enough for the Branch Master and her cohorts to arrive.

“Standard Elimination processes here.  Let’s get in and get out,” Beatrix told the group as soon as they were right outside of the entrance, just as the very last Decaying Zombie that Tempara had created exited the dungeon.  It was practically blasted apart before it could even reach them by an irritated Priest, who cast a beam of light that speared down at it from above.

“Jerimiah – conserve your Mana!  No playing around right now.”

With one of their number properly chastised by the Branch Master, the rest fell in line easily after that, showing that while they were corrupted by whatever forbidden blood sacrifice ritual they had been participating in, they were still Defenders who knew their jobs.  Riley and Jorden followed them from above as they went inside the entrance, where they immediately followed the pathway that led them to the first of the numerous islands that filled a wide perimeter around the inside of the dungeon.

As they passed through the trees on the first island, there were 4 Paladins leading the way with their shields at the ready, followed by 6 Priests and Priestesses who were the main spellcasters of the group, and then 5 Clerics followed behind them.  Clerics were similar to Priests and Priestesses in the fact that they could cast destructive Life-based spells, though not as many or as powerful, but they also were the ones most responsible for protection against the undead and for healing.  Behind them all was Beatrix, leading from the back.

“What is a Vengeful Shade?  I don’t think I’ve seen one of those before,” one of the Clerics asked a fellow Cleric beside him, but it was Beatrix who responded.

“I haven’t seen any of these in decades, but the Shades will multiply when they are killed.  Let the Paladins handle them at first, and then preserve your Mana when they start getting more numerous.  Use wide-area spells to take out as many as possible, because they are rather weak.”

As much as she despised the woman, Riley had to admit that the woman knew her stuff.  As the 4 Paladins up front moved to engage the trio of dark Vengeful Shades that floated forward, the Defenders glowed with Life-based protections that they cast on themselves.  Even if the Shades were able to somehow score a hit on them, they were protected from any harm – at least for a while.  Enough hits would tear through the protections, though they could be renewed… at the cost of more Mana, of course.

The Paladins cut through the Shades that attacked them, with their protections extending to their steel weapons, meaning that it only took two hits to kill the incorporeal monsters instead of a half-dozen or so that normal iron weapons required.  Then the Shades came back with twice as many as before, but those 6 were easily fended off by the quartet of Paladins.  When 12 in total reappeared, they struggled a little to finish them off, but they were still more than capable – though their protections were starting to fade upon contact with the Shades.

“Time to help; pick your targets carefully.”

At Beatrix’s order, the half of the Priests and Clerics released various spells that caused minor explosions of light, which essentially incinerated the dark Shades by two and threes, killing the 24 monsters within seconds.  The other half of the spellcasters did the same thing when 48 of the Shades appeared, though a few stragglers had to be hunted down by the Paladins after the spells were cast.

The group of corrupted Defenders tensed as they prepared for more, but that was all that the Shades would multiply.  After they confirmed that the undead were re-dead, they had a choice to make as they quickly explored the edges of the island, looking for the way forward.

“Which way?  This way should lead to the core, shouldn’t it?” one of the Paladins asked.

Beatrix made the choice for them, as their leader.  “Yes.  If it turns out not to be the right way, we’ll be back.”

They proceeded to the island that would eventually lead to a dead end, took care of the trio of Shades once again, and then kept going along the only pathway available to yet another island, with yet more Shades. They came to one more island, where there was another pathway – which led off to their right.  Rather than backtrack, they took it to another island, which then went right again – toward the original string of islands along the dungeon’s edge.

“This seems wrong.  Are we going in circles?” Riley heard whispered by someone within the group.  No one answered them, however, as Beatrix simply ordered them to proceed down the only way they hadn’t been as of yet.

The next island just happened to have one of the Camouflaged Pit Traps in between the trees along the perimeter, and one of the Paladins stumbled upon it while walking through.  He fell the 20 feet down to the bottom, where he was impaled by the spikes below through his lower legs, crumpling his armor in the process – but it didn’t kill him.  The group’s Clerics healed him through his pained screaming, even as the other Paladins tossed the end of a rope down to pull him out.

Overall, while it didn’t kill him, it was certainly a waste of their time, extra damage to the Paladin’s armor, and an extra expense of Mana to heal him.

After that, they were a lot more wary of traps, which slowed them down even further and frayed tempers, as they navigated their way through the Island Maze, killing more and more of the Vengeful Shades while draining their Mana little by little.  Eventually, they found the way out from the first section of the Maze, even if it didn’t look like it to them at first – and then they entered the second section after over an hour of searching.  That section took almost as long for them to find their way out, if only because it was a little closer to the entrance, and by the end of their third hour inside of the dungeon, they’d made it through the third Maze section and were in the fourth.

Miraculously, despite encountering a few more Pit Traps that they didn’t see in time, none of the corrupt Defenders were killed, though they certainly did look ragged by that point.  She could tell that at least half of them were starting to run low on Mana, though Beatrix was looking the best as far as Mana levels went, because she barely cast anything throughout the entire dungeon.  She was certainly angry and annoyed at how long the dungeon was, however, and about being turned around multiple times.  She snapped at everyone when they questioned her direction, and seemed in the midst of killing one of them when they finally exited the Maze.

Their experience on Ghoul Island was a beautiful thing to observe.  Halfway through their trek through the trees, the entire group was surrounded by Ghouls that had swept in from the perimeter of the island, and the fighting was intense.  Whatever reserves were left were quickly expended as spells flew everywhere, and the entire island lit up as a result, until it almost appeared as if it was daytime out in the Kingdom.  The Skeletal Necromancers threw them for a loop when those that they’d just killed were brought back to un-life, though it was only those that they hadn’t annihilated by an overwhelming spell until there was nothing left.  By the end of the battle, almost all the Defenders were exhausted and out of Mana – which was when they all consumed a Mana Potion in order to replenish their pools.

It wasn’t unexpected, though, and after consuming them, they would be unable to fully restore their Mana, as any more ingested would be 20% less effective – unless they wanted to wait around another 24 hours in a hostile environment, of course.

“We have to finish this quickly, or else we’re going to run out of Mana,” Beatrix insisted.  “Get yourselves together and get it done; we’ve spent entirely too much time in here as it is.”

Thankfully, they continued on, which is when they came to the Vampire Trap – which was where Riley and Jorden came in.  Each controlling a Vampire Warrior, they crept through the trees, following after the rest of the Vampires as they ambushed the group, which was two-thirds of the way through the island’s expanse.  They were going to stay out of range until they saw an opportunity to strike, and Riley for one couldn’t wait to take the head off the shoulders of the Branch Master.

“Vampires!  Move forward, we’ll keep them at bay on the next pathway!” Beatrix yelled, even as she cast a blindingly bright spell that blew back a dozen Vampire Spawn that had gotten to within feet of the group’s leader, since she had been in the rear.  Unfortunately, she and the rest of them were ready for some sort of attack, since they hadn’t been accosted on the island until that point—which is something of an oversight, I suppose.

One of the Clerics near the rear of their formation wasn’t so lucky, however, as she was suddenly yanked out of the group by a Spawn that crept up on them, and before she could recover from the sudden attack, she was literally ripped apart.  The sudden release of blood was all the Vampire Mages needed to enact their own spells from the trees, sending blood-borne constructs at the fleeing Defenders.

“Move!  We can’t hold them here!” the Branch Master eventually shouted at the remaining Defenders, even as they took out another few Spawn and Warriors that were chasing them.  Riley watched as they enacted a running retreat with the Paladins now at their rear, even as they passed over the pathway leading to the final island.  “We need to destroy the core!”

Yeah, good luck with that.

She and Jorden followed behind the dwindling numbers of Vampires as they chased the corrupted Defenders, hearing as they engaged the strong monsters through the trees that she couldn’t see through very well.  Once she got the edge, she felt almost giddy as she saw Beatrix and only a dozen of the Defenders surrounded on all sides by much stronger undead than they had faced as of yet.  The Skeletal Beasts stalked them like prey, shrugging off all but the most devastating spells sent their way, and even then it required a few hits to take them down.  The Mindflaying Ghasts were attacking from a distance, tearing into the minds of the Defenders, half of whom were screaming from the damage being done to them.  Veiled Deathwings swooped down from above, raking their claws against glowing shields of protection, even as a trio of Spiritual Oppressors rained down powerful spiritual damage from their rain cloud-like forms.  Most of the Vampires had been killed by that point, other than a single Mage who was using the blood from a few slain Defenders amongst their number to inflict even more damage.

They’re going down!  I’m so going to kill that woman.

Then the unthinkable happened.

“YOUR SACRIFICE IS NOT IN VAIN!  I WILL END THIS!”

Riley whipped her Warrior’s head around to the Branch Master, who had her hands raised above her head, a red fog-like mist emanating from her fingertips.  The red fog quickly spread through the rest of the Defenders, including the bodies of those that had already died.  One second, all of the Defenders continued to fight, tossing out spells with abandon or slicing through any monster that came too close; the next second, they all collapsed to the ground, all life gone from their eyes as they died.  A welling of red, pulsing energy streamed into Beatrix’s body, originating from the now-dead Defenders, and the woman seemed to swell in size before shrinking down to her normal height.

But she was far from normal anymore.

Streaks of red-tinted beams of light flashed out around her, directed by her pointed hands, and everywhere they hit, a monster practically exploded.  The Skeletal Beasts took a second or two of constant beam barrage before they detonated, but they stood no chance.  Using both hands as if she were dual-wielding weapons, her light beams swept through every undead surrounding her, destroying them so swiftly that Riley could only stop and stare in horror.  Eventually, one of the beams swept through the edge of the trees, and even the quick sweep through her Warrior’s body was enough to nearly cut it in half.  She released her soul just as Jorden did the same, escaping before the monster actually died, saving her from feeling the effects that usually came with being inside a monster that was killed.

“How?  What did she do?” Jorden asked, astonished, but Riley could only shake her head.

If everything that the woman had done up to that point hadn’t already convinced Riley that the Branch Master needed to die, the sight of Beatrix laughing maniacally at the power she wielded, stolen from the forced sacrifice of other Defenders that had accompanied her – whom she was duty-bound to protect – was more than enough to convince the former Shadowwalker.

“Alright, I admit that I wasn’t expecting that, and I can tell you weren’t either.  I have no idea what she did, but my monsters can’t even get close to her.”

Riley wasn’t sure what to say to Tempara, but the dungeon core was absolutely right.  Even when a few of the Veiled Deathwings swooped in close to the grotesquely overpowered Branch Master, there was a bright aura around the Beatrix that seemed to repel anything that got close.

No more than a minute later, every monster on the island was dead, and Beatrix marched past the dead bodies of her comrades without even looking at them, until she came to the pathway leading to Tempara’s Core.  One of the Foxes was inside of the massive Skeletal Beast Boss, blocking the way in, but the woman didn’t seem to care.  With an almost negligent pointing of her hand, she shot a beam of light that traveled between the Beast’s legs, where it impacted the core floating in the middle of the island behind it.

The next moment, Riley found herself back on Core Island, which was much smaller than the one she saw a few seconds ago, as time reset.

“Well, that could’ve gone better.  Suggestions, anyone?”

Chapter 36

The problem with someone willing to sacrifice all their “friends” in order to obtain unbelievable power was that there really wasn’t a good solution to prevent that kind of thing from happening again.  And again.  And again.

Taking some advice from some of those around her, Tempara made some changes to her dungeon, mainly to streamline what was already there and to make it that much better.  Changes in some of the trap placements, especially now that they knew where the corrupt Defenders were more likely to walk, helped to do even more damage and waste their Mana even faster.  A few different monsters were used; Withering Revenants or Putrefied Skinwalkers in place of the Scavenging Ghouls seemed to work even better, and placing some other monsters on the island where the Vampire Trap was located to distract them from the Vampire Ambush was actually the key to success…

…if “success” was causing the Branch Master to go on a crazy sacrificial spree and kill all of her followers to increase her own power a little earlier than usual.

The biggest threat was Beatrix, obviously, and Tempara tried everything she could to find some way to take her out before she could go all murderous on her fellow Defenders.  Nightstalkers hidden in the trees that jumped out after she passed by were rebuffed by a subtle shield that encapsulated her body, only barely visible until she was hit by something.  The same thing happened when she used a squad of Skeletal Archers camouflaged by trees, firing blindly at the Branch Master’s location at Tempara’s command; the arrows simply bounced off her shield, doing absolutely nothing but alerting the Defenders to their location.

An army of Playful Poltergeists was attempted, which pelted the entire group with thrown rocks while also concentrating on the homicidal woman, but they were all negated by protective barriers of one kind or another.  Attempting to use 30 Skeletal Assassins to get close to her caused another hidden protection to fire, as the area around her lit up so brightly when they approached within a few feet of her person that the monsters were blinded and easily killed, including one that Riley had been controlling at the time.  Needless to say, the former Defender’s soul wasn’t happy about that.

No matter what she attempted, Tempara couldn’t figure out a way to kill Beatrix before the narcissist killed all of her companions.  She even tried to specifically target those companions in order to take them away from being sacrificed in the future, but while she was able to eliminate a few – her record was 5 – the Branch Master pre-emptively sacrificed them at the next available opportunity.

Years of restarted time went by as she attempted many different restarts with no success, though there was nonetheless a glimmer of hope.  She slowly refined her dungeon setup to present the maximum number of monsters that Beatrix had to kill before she reached Tempara’s Core Island, and she noticed that the woman’s incredible power only lasted so long before it started to fade in potency.  She never saw it reduce enough to make a difference in her survival, but the fact that it did start to fade made her positive she could find a method to take advantage of that information.

“Are you sure this is the right idea?  I’m beginning to think luring them all here is the wrong way to go about this,” Riley said after numerous restarts without any success.

I’m more than willing to visit any other ideas or suggestions you or anyone else might have on how to accomplish our goals.  Do you have another idea?

Unfortunately, the former Defender shook her head.  “No, but there’s got to be a better way.”

There probably is, but I haven’t seen it.  But I think I might have a solution; it will take a little bit of time, but I’m already part of the way there.

“What is this solution, and why are we just hearing about it now?”

Well, I didn’t think it was important at the time, because I had such a large Monster Threshold, but now I think it could help.

Tempara told everyone about the ability of overcharging her monsters with additional Elemental Power, which would increase some of their attributes.  It was her hope that with extra attributes, such as a greater speed, size, or attack, that her Monsters would live just a little bit longer.  If they lived longer, it would take more of the mad woman’s power to kill them, thereby reducing it enough that Tempara might be able to kill her.

“Why didn’t you do that before?”

Because I need to unlock all of my monsters in order to overcharge any of them.

“You haven’t unlocked them all?  How many more do you have?”

That was a good question.  Tempara had sort of lost track of her progress lately, but now was as good a chance as any to see how she was doing.  From what she remembered, there were only 5 she hadn’t unlocked yet, so she went and looked to see where they were at.

Monster Details

Skeletal Champion

1,000 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Death Knight

40,000 EP – Death

Monster Details

Skeletal Beast

7,000 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Bone Behemoth

65,000 EP – Death

Monster Details

Veiled Deathwing

6,000 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Necrotic Dragon

100,000 EP – Death

Monster Details

Vampire Mage

4,500 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Vampire Elder

50,000 EP – Death

Monster Details

Tortured Soulbinder

8,000 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 224/250

Battle Threshold: 94/100

Potential Advancement Options:

???

Wow!  I didn’t know I had already achieved those Thresholds!

The first of the new Advancement Options came from the Skeletal Champion, and it was something called a Death Knight for 40,000 EP.  The Death Knight was similar to the Skeletal Champion in that it was a skeleton covered in armor with a shield and sword, but this skeleton was 12 feet tall, covered in jet-black armor that seemed to exude a black smoke that faded a few feet away from its form.  It held a shield that was 8 feet tall and made of some sort of black metal, and it wielded a sword that was 6 feet long that was also black, but it also seemed to suck in any type of illumination around it.

Not only was it a Knight, with the martial skills that went with that, but it was also a minor spellcaster.  It had many of the same protective spells that a Paladin had, though instead of protecting against Death-based spells and effects, it protected them against Life-based ones.  It could also point its sword and send out a bolt of necrotic energy, very similar to what a Skeleton Mage could do, as well as a few other basic spells; but overall, they weren’t too powerful.  What made the Death Knight deadly was its survivability, as it could withstand some serious abuse because of its protective spells and armor with full faceplate, hiding most of its head from harm.  Its attacking ability wasn’t anything to discard, either.

The next one that she’d unlocked came from the Skeletal Beast, which – for 65,000 EP – had the Bone Behemoth as an Advancement Option.  The Behemoth was exactly what its name implied: a behemoth-sized monster, 50 feet tall at the shoulder, generally shaped like a very fat Skeletal Beast.  It was long enough that in order to fit it on an island, Tempara would have to make that island at least 150 feet wide, and even then, it could just barely move around.  The Behemoth’s legs were large and stumpy, as they could only bend so far, but they could certainly stomp on and crush just about anything beneath it.

Similar to the Beast, the Behemoth was covered in thick bone plates, with a skull inside of its massive barrel of a body as its main vulnerability.  The head on the massive monster was more akin to a snake than to any other type of beast, as it could strike out and snatch a victim from the ground without having to bend down to do it, extending its neck out with bones that seemed to stretch abnormally.  It also wasn’t very fast at moving, as its stumpy, thick, barely bendable legs made movement ponderous at best.  Tempara thought that the humongous monster had its uses, but she wasn’t sure if she would be using it very often.

After the Bone Behemoth came the Advancement Option for the Veiled Deathwing, the Necrotic Dragon.  For 100,000 EP, the Necrotic Dragon reminded Tempara of the White Dragon from the Frozen Reaches, as it was a giant, winged, flying lizard, 120 feet long from its nose to the tip of its tail.  Instead of the sleek, white, near-impenetrable scales of a White Dragon, however, the Necrotic version was made of dripping, rotting flesh, which made it quite vulnerable to attacks – but it was so fast while in the air that it could dodge most spells or arrows shot its way.  In addition to being able to attack with oversized claws and jaws filled with rotting—but still sharp—teeth, it could breathe out a dark cloud of deadly necrotic gas, which would quickly kill everything it touched, including nearby trees.

The last she’d already unlocked was the Vampire Elder for 50,000 EP, gained by utilizing the Vampire Mage.  The Elder version of the Vampires was a combination of the Warrior and the Mage, as it carried a massive battleaxe twice as large as the Warrior and could cast all the same spells as the Mage, using blood as a medium.  The biggest differences, however, were that it was much faster, stronger, had remarkably durable skin that was partially resistant to Life-based effects… and could turn into a giant undead bat when it felt like it.  Tempara didn’t really understand why that was a feature, but she wasn’t going to complain.

The very last monster she had yet to unlock was from the Tortured Soulbinder, but it was close at a Creation Threshold of 224 out of 250 and a Battle Threshold of 94 out of 100.  It wouldn’t take her long to get there if she concentrated solely on creating those Soulbinders.

“I’ve got dibs on the Death Knight!” Jorden shouted with unrestrained glee when Tempara explained what she had unlocked.  “It sounds like being a Paladin – only in reverse!”

“Yeah, well I’m taking the Vampire Elder… or perhaps the Necrotic Dragon?  I’ve always wanted to be a dragon.”  Riley appeared to be thinking hard about her choice, but Tempara interrupted her.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.  Let me unlock this last one, and then we’ll be able to see what kind of difference all of these new monsters have, as well as my ability to overcharge the ones I already have.

“Fine, but I think I’ve made my choice… Necrotic Dragon.  No, Vampire Elder.  No—”

The Dungeon Core left Riley to argue with herself, as she contemplated how to finish off the last of her Advancement Options with the Soulbinder.  The Creation Threshold was easy enough, because all she had to do was create one and then eliminate it for half of the EP back, but the Battle Threshold would require them having to participate in a fight.  As there was only one real way to do that right now, she would have to send them out to fight the ritual guards or the corrupted Defenders.

Which was easy enough, though it took about 4 days of waiting and 8 Core Level-ups to get there.  At that point, she was able to create a Tortured Soulbinder every 2 hours or so, and she was able to send them out to the Isle of the Dead (after filling her dungeon with 200 Flickering Wisps to fulfill the Monster Threshold), where they were instantly frozen by the ritual sphere and killed.  More than half a day later, she had fulfilled the Battle Threshold, and with only 20 left to create, she spent the next 17 hours creating one and then eliminating it, before creating another and so on.  When it was finally done, nearly a week after the current restart, she opened her Monster Details to see what she had unlocked.

Monster Details

Tortured Soulbinder

8,000 EP – Death

Creation Threshold: 250/250

Battle Threshold: 100/100

Potential Advancement Options:

Reaper of Souls

200,000 EP – Death

At the insane cost of 200,000 EP, she would’ve expected the Reaper of Souls to be even bigger than the Bone Behemoth or the Necrotic Dragon—but it wasn’t.  Instead, the Reaper was approximately 8 feet tall and hovered 2 feet off the ground, which she had to admit wasn’t very imposing at first glance.  It was humanoid-shaped, with a head and two arms, but it was covered with a tattered, dark-grey, hooded robe that covered its entire body, with no visible legs extending from the body.  Inside the hood was pure darkness, a void so complete that it seemed to want to suck in not only the nearby light, but everything in existence.

The two arms that stuck out of its sleeves were bony, as if it was a skeleton, but the bones were attached by withered muscles, visible given no actual skin nor flesh was visible.  Two hands held a large, reaping scythe that was nearly as tall as it was, and it had a very similar dark, smoky effect that emanated from the blade of the weapon, dispersing into nothing after it drifted upwards a few feet.

Again, even after gaining all the information about its appearance, it didn’t seem very formidable, nor worth 200,000 EP – until she saw what it could do.  Not only did it move quickly through the air, nearly as quick as a Vampire Warrior, but with one slice of its scythe – even when blocked by a weapon or armor – it would transfer enough spiritual damage that very few monsters could survive.  Against some of the more-powerful undead Tempara had access to, it might take two or three hits to kill them, but likely not more than that.

When pitted against Defenders, especially the ones like Beatrix and her corrupted following, each hit would dramatically drain the Life-based protective spells that they used to defend themselves.  It would still take a few slices by the scythe to get through the most powerful ones, but once through, only a hit or two would likely kill them – even Beatrix.

As far as defenses went, the Reaper of Souls was extremely resistant to Life-based spells and effects, though it was still vulnerable to simple iron.  That meant that it could probably withstand Beatrix’s incredibly powerful beam of light for more than a few seconds, which might be enough time to allow it to get close and kill her.

I might not need to overcharge my monsters with the Reaper—

“Alright, screw the Vampire and the Dragon,” Riley interjected.  “I want to control the Reaper of Souls!”

You might just get your chance.  I have a little bit of a late start, but I’m going to remake my dungeon and see about luring them back in here.  I believe I need to actually create a Reaper to unlock the ability to overcharge my monsters, anyway, so I might as well start working my way up to… what Core Level will allow me to hold 200,000 EP, Kiana?

“Core Level 20 will give you access to 210,000 EP,” her assistant replied immediately.  It was definitely beneficial having her former master remember everything that had happened before, because normally she wouldn’t be able to provide those kinds of numbers without Tempara having experienced them before.

Thank you.  So, let’s say another… 10 days?

“That’s not so hard of a wait, especially if I’m able to slice off her head at the end.”

I thought you wanted to eat her corpse.

“Who says I can’t, afterwards?”

Sometimes, Tempara wasn’t quite sure when Riley was joking.

Chapter 37

Tempara had just one more monster to create, and then she could lure the corrupted Defenders into her dungeon once again.  She had already created a Death Knight for Jorden to inhabit, to his great delight, and she even added a few Vampire Elders to the Vampire Trap, just to make the entire island even deadlier than it normally was.  Lately, she had been able to trigger Beatrix’s sacrifice on that island, meaning she still had to blast her way through the final island in order to reach her Core, but it hadn’t been enough to stop her.

She was hoping to change that with this restart.

At Core Level 20, just as Kiana had told her, she had the ability to accumulate 210,000 EP – just enough to afford the cost of the Reaper of Souls.  It took a little while, even with a more than 200 EP/minute available through her Accumulation Rate after installing dozens of traps all over her islands.  Eventually, though, she managed to hit that 200,000 mark… and then had to wait another 18 hours for the Reaper to fully materialize in her dungeon.  Before that happened, she started to accumulate some of her weak monsters outside of her entrance that she would send out to annoy the guards around the ritual.  Approximately an hour before the Reaper was ready, she sent the first of the Wisps, Skeletons, and Zombies on their way to start the process, until the Reaper finally appeared.

The powerful monster appeared on her Core Island, and a second later Kiana twitched and began to speak to her mentally, just as she used to before she had become a bit more independent.

* Congratulations on creating the pinnacle of dungeon monsters available to the Undead Horde!  Since you have already unlocked access to every other dungeon monster available, you may start overcharging Elemental Power into your creations, which can produce different effects. *

Excellent!  Well, if the Reaper and everything else I’ve put on the final island doesn’t work, then I’ll play around with overch—

Tempara’s thoughts were cut off as her assistant seemed to flicker for a moment, and then another message was delivered to her via the same method.

* Multiple Elemental Powers have been detected within your Dungeon Core.  Your external connection with a separate elemental region has been strengthened and balanced, allowing for the automatic conversion of one type of Elemental Power for another via your Accumulation Rate.  While monsters and traps that require a different Elemental Power than the current environment supplies still cannot be created, you have gained another school of knowledge that will allow you to enhance your monsters and traps. *

Huh?  What—?

Elemental Mastery

Skill: Elemental Combination

Usage Threshold: 0/10,000

Elemental Combination is an ability that allows for the combination of 2 elemental monsters or traps of different elements to create a unique monster or trap that blends the properties of both elements; this creation will be permanently added to the Available Monsters category and can be later created without having to utilize Elemental Combination again.  Elemental Combination can only be utilized once all monsters and traps related to a specific element have been unlocked.

To initiate Elemental Combination, the EP or AR costs of both monsters or traps will be added together and then doubled for the initial combination.  In addition, the creation time or installation time is quadrupled while the skill is in process, and no other monsters or traps can be created or installed while Elemental Combination is active.

Viable creations through the use of the Elemental Combination Skill are variable, dependent upon the compatibility of any elements being combined, and are only able to be created if one of the elements used is native to the current environment.

Further Elemental Mastery Skills can be developed with proper usage and knowledge of previous Skills.

Tempara had no idea what all of that was about, and it took her a few minutes to wrap her head around what had just happened.  Before she had fully registered the change, Riley interrupted her.

“So, are you going to ‘overcharge’, or whatever, some of your monsters now?”

Oh, I think I’ve got something else I want to try, but not right now.  I think I see them reacting over on the Isle of the Dead already.

It seemed as though the delay in sending her annoying monsters had hit at a time when tempers were frayed more than usual in the camp there, and it only took a little over an hour for them to argue, followed by the corrupted Defenders heading toward her dungeon.  As much as she wanted to ask Kiana about her new Elemental Combination skill and experiment, she didn’t have as much time as she wanted at the moment.  Instead, she settled for seeing exactly what happened with her Accumulation Rate as mentioned by her assistant, and she was shocked at what she saw.

Core Display

Core Name:

Tempara

Core Level:

20

Designation:

Undead Horde

Level Threshold:

210,000 EP – Death

Elemental Power – Cold (EP – Cold):

24,158 EP

Accumulation Rate – Cold (AR – Cold):

126 EP/minute

Elemental Power – Death (EP – Death):

6,255 EP

Accumulation Rate – Death (AR – Death):

126 (-54) EP/minute

Defensible Islands:

167

Monster Threshold:

970

Available Monsters:

44

Available Traps:

16

Unavailable Monsters:

39

Unavailable Traps:

11

Available Monsters:

Flickering Wisp

Fragile Skeleton

Living Shadow

25 EP – Death

50 EP – Death

50 EP – Death

Decaying Zombie

Skeleton Fighter

Glowing Wraith

100 EP – Death

100 EP – Death

100 EP – Death

Ebon Orb

Skeleton Archer

Scrounging Ghoul

100 EP – Death

150 EP – Death

200 EP – Death

Skeletal Hulk

Playful Poltergeist

Incorporeal Phantom

200 EP – Death

200 EP – Death

250 EP – Death

Withering Revenant

Skeletal Bomber

Skeleton Mage

300 EP – Death

300 EP – Death

350 EP – Death

Putrefied Skinwalker

Vampiric Spawn

Fearstriker Ghost

400 EP – Death

450 EP – Death

500 EP – Death

Nightstalker

Terrifying Wight

Mindflaying Ghast

500 EP – Death

600 EP – Death

600 EP – Death

Skeleton Amalgamation

Skeletal Warlock

Wailing Banshee

700 EP – Death

700 EP – Death

800 EP – Death

Vampire Warrior

Skeletal Champion

Spectral Golem

900 EP – Death

1,000 EP – Death

1,000 EP – Death

Ancient Mummy

Skeletal Whirlwind

Skeletal Assassin

1,200 EP – Death

1,400 EP – Death

1,500 EP – Death

Vengeful Shade

Rotten Corpse Eater

Spiritual Oppressor

1,600 EP – Death

2,000 EP – Death

2,500 EP – Death

Boneraiser Lich

Skeletal Necromancer

Vampire Mage

3,000 EP – Death

3,500 EP – Death

4,500 EP – Death

Veiled Deathwing

Skeletal Beast

Tortured Soulbinder

6,000 EP – Death

7,000 EP – Death

8,000 EP – Death

Death Knight

Vampire Elder

Bone Behemoth

50,000 EP – Death

50,000 EP – Death

65,000 EP – Death

Necrotic Dragon

Reaper of Souls

100,000 EP – Death

200,000 EP – Death

Available Traps:

Pit Trap

Spiked Pit Trap

Camouflaged Pit Trap

0.5 AR – Any

0.75 AR – Any

1.5 AR – Any

Javelin Launch

Spear Impalement

Wall Crush

2.5 AR – Any

3 AR – Any

5 AR – Any

Necrotic Gas

Extended Necrotic Gas

Shadow Hands

0.5 AR – Death

0.75 AR – Death

1 AR – Death

Spectral Imprisonment

Void Wall

Shattering Skulls

1.25 AR – Death

1.5 AR – Death

0.75 AR – Death

Shattering Ribcages

Femur Rain

1 AR – Death

1.25 AR – Death

Shoulder Blades

Flesh Pit

1.5 AR – Death

2.0 AR – Death

Core Abilities:

Construct Dungeon

Create Monster

Install Trap

(EP cost – varies)

(EP cost – varies)

(AR cost – varies)

Skills/Knowledge:

Monster Creation

Trap Installation

(Total Knowledge: 83)

(Total Knowledge: 27)

Temporal Manipulation

Elemental Mastery

(Total Knowledge: 2)

(Total Knowledge: 1)

Tempara’s Accumulation Rate had somehow evened out between her Cold and Death Elemental Power, as now each of them were accumulating 126 EP/minute.  From what she could tell, her original AR of 306 had been reduced by 54 due the traps in her dungeon, and then was split up between the two elements, Cold and Death.  It was actually a detriment to her AR if she wanted to try and populate her dungeon with just the monsters she could create, as her Death AR had been reduced so much, but that was something she would have to deal with later.

While looking through everything, she also found that she had unlocked the Flesh Pit at some point, meaning that she had unlocked all of the traps available to her in the Nightgloom Swamp.  Under that was the section for her Skills/Knowledge, and sure enough, Elemental Mastery was there next to Temporal Manipulation.

By the time she had finished looking at everything, the corrupted Defenders had arrived, so now she watched as they made their way through her dungeon, taking slightly different pathways through everything than she was used to.  Given that she had initiated what Riley was calling “Operation Annoy” later than usual and they had reacted sooner than normal, it only stood to reason that there would be some differences.  Nothing detrimental to the gradual reduction of their Mana pools, thankfully, but just different in general.

By the time the Defenders arrived at Ghoul Island a few hours later, which now had a number of other undead such as a few Ancient Mummies and Putrefied Skinwalkers mixed in with the Ghouls and Skeletal Necromancers, they were right around where they normally were in terms of their Mana pools and exhaustion. After an intense fight where one of the Paladins was overwhelmed and killed, most had to drink a Mana potion to refill their pools even during the fight; so, going into the Vampire Trap, they were tired and drained from so much Mana use.

It was the perfect combination for when they crossed through the trees as they walked into the Vampire Trap, as they encountered a few dozen Nightstalkers and Playful Poltergeists that distracted them while the Vampires crept up from behind in an ambush.  A trio of Clerics were killed during the ambush when they couldn’t react fast enough, and as blood covered the ground of the island, the Vampire Mages went to work inflicting even more chaos on the assembled Defenders.  It wasn’t until the single Vampire Elder that Tempara had added to the Trap waded into the fray that Beatrix lost control and initiated the sacrifice of her followers.

“That Elder is much faster than I expected,” Riley said from next to Tempara’s viewpoint, as the Elf and the former Paladin watched the Branch Master tear through the rest of the Vampires and other undead with great swathes of her red-tinted beams of destructive light.  While the Spawn, Warriors, and Mages couldn’t move fast enough to escape her wrath, the Elder was remarkably spry, dodging between trees and performing acrobatic jumps to avoid being hit by the beam.  At one point, it even turned into a giant bat and flew out of sight of the woman, only to descend to the ground right behind her a moment later as she turned to advance further into the dungeon.  Unfortunately, the process of turning back into a Vampire from a bat took a second to complete, and the Branch Master somehow sensed it behind her, and she was able to attack the Elder with both beams of light at once.

Miraculously, the head of the battleaxe it wielded emerged from the transition process first and helped to partially block one of the beams, but the other one hit it full-on – though it didn’t die right away.  Tempara could see it being horribly damaged as the beam hit it in the chest, but it still managed to move forward and swing its axe at the Branch Master, only for it to bounce off the protective barrier surrounding her.  The Elder then bounded away, nearly dead, and landed amongst the dead bodies of the Defenders that had been sacrificed.  A second later, blood seemed to emerge from the corpses and filtered into the Elder, not as an offensive spell, but to heal it.

The severe damage that had been done to it was nearly repaired in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, it was then blasted in the face by another beam of corrupted light coming from Beatrix, and its head couldn’t handle the incredibly destructive force.  As the Elder’s head practically exploded, Tempara couldn’t help but notice that the intensity of the beam was a little bit diminished from before, which was a very good sign – especially as the woman would be heading to the final island in a moment.

You better get ready— she started to say to the Defender souls near her, but found that they had already left to inhabit their monsters.  Jorden was controlling a Death Knight while Riley took the Reaper of Souls, and she had practiced a bit with it over the last few hours so that she would be ready.  Accompanying them on the final island were dozens of Veiled Deathwings, which were hard to hit in the air and subsequently would make the Branch Master use more of her incredible power to kill them. Along the perimeter trees were 50 Skeletal Archers spread out so that they could attack her at the same time, no matter where she was; a dozen Skeletal Beasts, with three of them controlled by one of Tempara’s family; 30 more Vengeful Shades, to provide even more chaos to the number of monsters attacking her; and finally 50 Mindflaying Ghasts, who would present a large target by constantly attacking the mind of Beatrix while she attempted to kill everything present.

Riley hung back within the trees while the rest of the monsters immediately attacked from all sides, with arrows falling in a cascade that bounced off of her protective barrier, Deathwings dive-bombing one after another, Ghasts approaching and sending out a pulse of mental damage, Shades converging on her only to get destroyed and multiply, and Beasts rushing her before she could find her footing.

The rapid onslaught of attacks and monsters was met with maniacal laughter as she tore through dozens of undead every second, waving her hands around as if swatting flies.  Tempara’s monsters were falling one by one until there were only multiplying Shades and Archers in the trees left, when Jorden finally charged forward in his Death Knight, his shield at the ready in front of him as he passed through some of the last Shades.  As for Beatrix, the beam of corrupted light was probably at only half-potency compared to what it had started as, which was already further than Tempara had gotten during all of her different attempts to kill the woman.

Seeing the stronger target heading for her, the Branch Master turned one of her beams on the Death Knight… only for it to be blocked by the Knight’s shield.  The force of the beam pushed Jorden back a few feet even as his stance prevented him from being knocked over, but he was still holding on.  As one of Beatrix’s hands flicked around and tore apart the rest of the Shades and even some of the Archers in the trees, the other was still trained entirely on the Death Knight’s shield; as Jorden started to push against the intense beam of light and take a few steps forward, Tempara saw a brief flash of panic cross the woman’s face before it was replaced with one of pure hatred mixed with determination.

“YOU ARE NOTHING!” the Branch Master shouted, her voice rough and scratchy, likely from the laughter she had been maintaining over the last few minutes – or for some other reason Tempara didn’t understand.  Beatrix brought her other hand’s beam of light against the Death Knight; and as they combined together, Jorden was pushed back yet again.  The protective spell the Knight had been maintaining along his armor, which the Dungeon Core didn’t actually realize was there until that moment, was broken with the sound of shattering glass.  The combined beams then tore through the shield like it was paper, followed by the Knight’s armor and bones underneath, and she saw Jorden ejected as the monster he was controlling was killed in spectacular fashion.

When the Knight was dead, Beatrix shot out her now greatly diminished beams toward the remaining Archers in the trees, killing them with a quick sweep of her hands, and then visibly slumped in place, her breathing heavy.  For the first time, Tempara saw that her hands were horribly burned and charred in places, likely from the powerful beams of light being channeled through them, but she didn’t seem to be in any pain, just tired.

It was at that moment that Riley decided to make an entrance.  Rising from the far cluster of trees near the exit to Tempara’s Core Island, the Reaper of Souls floated over the trees and descended to ground level.  Beatrix caught sight of the Reaper – and her flushed face went pale, the fear that the Dungeon Core had seen earlier back in an instant.  Rather than run, she raised her hands again and shot out two more beams of red-tinted light, which slammed into the Reaper without any impedance, but the floating undead was only stopped for a split-second as it shrugged off the much-weaker attack.  Tempara could tell that it was being hurt, but the Reaper was such a powerful monster and had enormous Life-based resistances, so that damage was minimal at best.

As it slowly drew closer to her, and with her beams of light doing next to nothing to the Reaper of Souls, Beatrix started to panic.  She shut off her beams and held her hands near each other, like she was trying to cup a ball between them; a bright light began to quickly build in intensity between her hands, and the Branch Master seemed to be hyperventilating as she pumped all of her stolen power into what she was doing.  As Riley, controlling the Reaper, got close enough to raise her scythe to strike down Beatrix, the building power was finally released in an explosion of crimson-streaked light that blinded not only the former Shadowwalker, but also Tempara and every other soul in the dungeon.

The detonation of so much Power was so great that even her Dungeon Core, one island over, felt the impact of it, and Tempara could feel a crack wanting to form.  Thankfully, she managed to somehow resist being shattered. As her vision returned she could see what had happened on the final island.  The Reaper of Souls had been blown backwards, where it had landed on the ground, its largely incorporeal hooded robe shredded in places and hanging loose in others.  One of its hands had been horribly mangled, and the rents in its robe showed only an incomprehensible void similar to its hood peeking out.

Despite all of that, though, it was still relatively intact, which was proven a moment later as it floated back up to its normal hovering height.  There was a pulse of darkness that rippled across the Reaper as it repaired the injury to its hand, though the damage to its robe seemed unchanged.  Tempara could see that it had nearly been destroyed, and the damage that it had suffered still lingered for the most part.

As for Beatrix, she was kneeling on the ground with her patchy-haired head hanging low, her labored breathing and blackened hands and arms up to her elbow clearly showing that she hadn’t come through that explosion completely unscathed.  Her dress was also ripped apart in places, showing equally burnt skin underneath in a few places, but Tempara had absolutely no sympathy for the woman.

Neither did Riley.  The Reaper floated back toward Beatrix silently, but as it neared the Branch Master and murderer looked up with uncomprehending eyes as it saw the undead.

“H-how—?!”

She didn’t get to say any more than that, however, as the blade of a chipped and scarred scythe whistled through the air and took the woman’s head from her shoulders, as the protective barrier that would’ve prevented that from happening was no longer present.  As the criminal’s head impacted the ground, 20 feet away from where her body slumped to the ground, Tempara felt the restraints on her dungeon fade away as the last of the corrupted Defenders was finally destroyed.

“Who’s up for some dessert?”

Tempara could hear the elation in Riley’s voice, but now she severely hoped that the former Shadowwalker was just joking around.

Chapter 38

Thankfully, Riley didn’t end up eating Beatrix with the help of a Rotten Corpse Eater, mainly because about a minute after the woman had died, her body started to burn up from the inside.  Apparently, using that much power in such a short amount of time was harmful for her health, and it was possible that she would’ve burnt up eventually all on her own.

Regardless of whether or not one of the Defender’s souls in her dungeon actually went through with eating the corpse of the woman who orchestrated her own death, Tempara now had another problem to take care of.  In short, while they had managed to get rid of the corrupted Defenders aiding the guards around the ritual sphere holding more of Tempara’s family, they still had to deal with the guards themselves.

“I highly doubt that they will be lured away now, no matter how much you annoy them,” Jorden opined after their success against Beatrix and her followers.

How so?

“Well, because when they realize that the others aren’t coming back, the guards will know that they had encountered something that not even a specialized team of undead killers could handle.”

Good point.  What do you suppose we do, then?

A few suggestions were thrown around, but none seemed like they’d work – because the guards could stop time.  It was the same problem she had up north, which was why she’d lured the majority of them away into her dungeon.

But there were a few things different about the Nightgloom Swamp and Tempara that weren’t present in the Frozen Reaches.  For one, the Monster Threshold for the Swamp was extremely high, which is what led to such large hordes.  Another was that she had Riley and Jorden there to help her outside the dungeon.  And lastly, Tempara had a new skill to experiment with, which might or might not prove helpful in the upcoming plan to free her family’s souls from the ritual – but there might be a way to find out.

Aunt Chrona?  I have a question.

“About what?” the Fox asked, curious.  Tempara hadn’t heard much from them lately; as they couldn’t actually leave the dungeon, they had less insight as to what might work against the guards near the ritual than the two Defender souls.

What do you know about the ritual?  Do you know how it works to suppress Dungeon Cores’ ability to accumulate the Elemental Power in a Wildland’s region?

She shook her head, a very humanoid gesture.  “No, not really.  I still barely understand all of your talk about Elemental Power and Accumulation Rates and Death versus Cold and whatnot.”

Oh.  Alright, thanks—

Something that her aunt said stuck in her mind, however, and she thought about it for a few moments while the others talked among themselves.  It was right on the edge of her mind, whatever it was, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.  Turning to Kiana, she asked her the same thing.

“I’m sorry, Tempara, neither I nor whatever gives me information knows how this ritual works.  I can only tell you what I’ve told basically told you before, that the temporal anomaly caused by the ritual has somehow halted the accumulation of Elemental Power in all Dungeon Cores located within the Nightgloom Swamp.”

I remember that.  But then I told you that it didn’t halt my accumulation entirely.

“Yes, because you’re only partially linked to the Swamp, unlike all of the other Cores around here.  The anomaly has essentially stopped time within those links, which is why they cannot accumulate any more Elemental Power.”

Do you think it’s this link that stops time around my monsters when the guards activate the sphere?

Tempara’s assistant thought about it for a moment.  “That would make sense, actually.  Because they are intrinsically created by the same Elemental Power that is being repressed, so are the monsters when they come within range of them using that ability of the ritual sphere.”

One last question: Why were Beatrix and the other Defenders affected, then?  Or at least partially affected, because they were slowed down considerably.

It wasn’t Kiana who answered, however, but Jorden.  “I bet it was because they were constantly refilling their Mana from the environment, even if it’s a lot slower than in the Kingdom.  Remember how, uh, icky we would feel when we got off our scouting missions, Riley?  It usually took a few hours of being back in the Kingdom for that feeling to go away.”

Really?  I hadn’t heard of that before.

“Oh, yes, it’s quite common,” Riley said.  “Throughout all of the Wildlands, each one has some sort of effect on those who venture inside, though it isn’t very noticeable unless you’ve been inside for 12 hours or more.  I always thought it was a result of the gloomy atmosphere, personally, but Jorden may be right; if we were affected by this ‘Death’ energy that permeates the environment, that would certainly explain the feeling.  With Beatrix and the others here for so long, most of their bodies were probably filled with that ickiness, which would also explain why they were so much more irritable the longer they were here.”

And I’m guessing that the guards are immune to this for the same reason they’re immune to it in the first place?

“That would be the supposition,” Kiana answered.  “Whatever it is that allows them to use the sphere and not be affected by it must filter out all of the Death Elemental Power that would otherwise be infusing their bodies.”

“Why all of the questions, Tempara?  Does knowing all of this make any difference?” Riley asked.

Tempara was finally putting it all together as the idea that had been just out of reach suddenly firming up in her mind.

I think I may have a solution to the problem with the time stoppage.  It isn’t a perfect solution, but it’s better than nothing.

“Ah, I think I see,” Kiana said, grinning from ear to ear.  “Your new Elemental Combination skill, right?”

Exactly.

“Huh?  I’m lost.”

“Me too.”

Instead of trying to explain it to the two Defenders, as well as her family, Tempara thought about initiating her Elemental Combination skill.  There was no display that came up, just a mental construct which had her choosing a monster or trap that required Death Elemental Power and a monster or trap that required Cold Elemental Power.  Picking the least expensive of what she had available, she chose the Flickering Wisp and the Cold Slime.

According to the skill’s information, the cost of the combination of those two monsters together was the original cost of them (25 Death for the Wisp and 25 Cold for the Slime) and then doubled, so a total of 50 of each Elemental Power left her Core to swirl together on the ground of her Core Island.  Streams of blue and black Power whirled around each other for a few seconds as they seemed to fight, before they combined and formed a shape a few feet above the ground.  Since the original time it took to form a Wisp or a Slime was only a few seconds, and the skill quadrupled that time, it took a total of 12 seconds to completely form.  From what she understood, it only took this long and cost this much Elemental Power during the initial combination, but would be more “normal” when she created one again.

What appeared when the skill was complete was literally a combination of both monsters.  Floating in the air was a Flickering Wisp, but it glowed with a bluish tint to it; when she looked closer, she could see what appeared to be a very tiny slime instead of just a light, and while she couldn’t feel anything through her viewpoint, it appeared as though the new creation radiated cold.

“Wow!  What is that?” Riley exclaimed, moving closer to the strange monster.

Tempara focused on it and found that the brand-new monster actually had some information associated with it, as well as an entry in her Core Details under a new Available Monsters (Combined) category.

Monster Details

Flickering Wisp Slime

25 EP – Death

25 EP – Cold

Creation Threshold: --

Battle Threshold: --

It’s a Flickering Wisp Slime.  A combination of a Flickering Wisp and a Cold Slime, it also uses both Elemental Powers that I have access to.  It costs twice as much as either one of those would cost alone, but I suppose having both elements might be worth it.

Understanding seemed to dawn on both Defenders.  “So, by having only half of the Death Elemental Power associated with it, you think it should be able to keep from being completely stopped in time?  As in, only slowed down by half, perhaps?”

You are correct.  Or at least, I hope you’re correct; we still have to try it out.

“Yes, but not with this thing; they aren’t likely to stop time to kill it.”

Very true.  Well then, let’s see what else I can create that might make them do that.

There were a lot of options available to her, but what she needed was something that would make them want to stop time in order to kill it.  Tempara didn’t want to spend too much on it, nor did she want to wait too long, but she thought that she found a good compromise.  It would end up taking about a half hour due to the quadrupling of the creation time during the initial Combination, but that was fine.

Half an hour and 2,000 of each Elemental Power later, she had a skeleton wearing a suit of armor covered with a thick layer of ice, including over its face, sealing the skull up inside as a durable layer of protection.  The sword and shield it wielded were covered in a thinner sheet of ice; but the sword was equally as sharp with the ice covering it, and the shield was even more durable than normal.  As a combination of the Skeletal Champion and an Ice Knight, the Skeletal Ice Champion was enough of a threat that the guards would certainly take it seriously enough to stop time.

She still hadn’t replaced all of her destroyed monsters in her dungeon, however, so she started to fill it up with normal Wisps, so that she could get to her Monsters Threshold again.  By the time the new Skeletal Ice Champion made the trek to the Isle of the Dead, she had more than enough monsters in her dungeon.  Tempara followed it with her viewpoint all the way there, while Riley and Jorden also came along, as the anticipation of what would happen when her monster got within range started to build.

The guards were silent as they saw the incoming undead approaching them, though they looked at each other in silent communication.  Tempara could only guess that they were now acknowledging that the group of Defenders that had gone out to stop the flow of monsters had failed, so it was up to them to carry on their duty – or something like that.

As she had expected, one of the guards reached over and touched the sphere, stopping time when her innovation was about 100 feet away.  She knew from experience that the time-stopping range of effect was around 400 to 500 feet, but there was no reason for them to stop it there, as then they would have to run all the way there to kill it.

As soon as the guard touched the sphere, the Skeletal Ice Champion stuttered in its step for a moment, before it continued walking, though only half as quickly as it had been before.

Yes!  It worked!

One of the guards who was about to walk out to kill the time-stopped undead paused and looked at the woman who had touched the sphere.  She shrugged and raised her eyebrows, before touching the sphere again, as if it simply didn’t work the first time.  Nothing changed when she placed her hand on it again, as Tempara’s monster just kept slowly walking toward them.

“What’s going on?  Why did you touch the— Oh.”  The one that the Dungeon Core recognized as Tremp, as he was usually the one to fight with Beatrix in the camp, came up from where he had been resting to see what the deal was.  “What did you do, Marian?” he suddenly demanded of the current team of guards on duty.

“Nothing, I swear!” the woman who had touched the sphere, Marian, shouted in exasperation.  “For some reason, it only slows that thing down!  I’ve never even heard of a Skeletal Ice Champion, have you?”

While they argued, two of the other guards moved up, and while one of them formed and threw a large fireball at the Fox-turned-Dungeon Core’s combined monster, the other one pulled a large warhammer out of somewhere as he ran forward.  The fireball hit her Ice Champion’s shield as it had enough time – even slowed – and rocked it back a step, melting most of the ice from the shield but leaving the steel underneath unharmed.  A few seconds later, the guard with the warhammer arrived and leaped into the air while he was still 10 feet away, before landing a hit with his weapon against the upraised shield of Tempara’s creation.  The force of the blast was great enough that the ice along the rest of the shield and parts of the Champion’s body shattered, but there was only the slightest dent on the metal of the shield itself.

Her monster attempted to counter-attack when the guard landed, but it was too slow.  After easily dodging the attack, the guard used some sort of skill that made his arms and his weapon glow slightly red, before swinging crosswise at the skeleton as it attempted to recover.  The sound of metal hitting metal reverberated over the Isle of the Dead, along with the sound of cracking ice, as the Ice Champion was knocked to the ground.  The fight was basically over by that point, though, because her monster couldn’t get back into position to defend itself well, especially when it was still only half as fast as it was before.

It wasn’t a vanquishing attack, but it was successful in another way.  The fact that her monster could still move, defend, and attack (albeit poorly because of its halved speed), meant that a lot more options just opened up.  No longer would her monsters immediately be slaughtered as soon as they got close to the ritual; no longer would anything she sent have no chance of making it through the guards to get to the sphere; no longer did Tempara have no choice but to try and lure some of them away in order to succeed.  In fact, she probably didn’t even need to kill all of them in order to free the souls of her family inside, because what had freed them last time was having a bunch of her monsters touching the sphere – though she wasn’t absolutely certain they didn’t have some way to repair it if she started doing that.

Instead, all she had to do was embrace the entire idea behind the Nightgloom Swamps and the Dungeon Cores located within the region.  It was time to create a horde of undead unlike any the world had seen before.

Chapter 39

It took some time for the dungeon core to conduct all her experimentation with her new skill, but in the end, Riley thought it was worth it.  They had first thought that creating some sort of combination in a monster that used more of the “Cold” power would mean that they would be slowed down less by the sphere that stopped/slowed time, but that didn’t seem to be the case.  In addition, when Tempara attempted to combine two monsters with wildly different costs, the results were less than stellar.

For instance, when she attempted to combine a Decaying Zombie with something called a Yeti – which was 8 times the cost – all that happened was the Zombie’s skin turned blue, it grew another 4 feet taller, and then it collapsed onto the island and could barely even crawl around.  It seemed as though keeping the costs between the two monsters fairly even was the key to a successful combination, so there was no combining a Cold Slime with a Necrotic Dragon, unfortunately.

Still, despite those limitations and the time invested in the experimentations, Tempara had created a horde of what they were calling the “Frozen Undead” unlike anything the former Defender had ever seen or heard of before.  Since Tempara could only hold so many inside of her dungeon, the core started to marshal all of the Frozen Undead she created outside of her dungeon along the pathways; no one came near to disturb them, and as the guards weren’t budging from where they were on duty, nothing detected them slowly accumulating over the next two weeks.

Thankfully, even though it had been more than a month since the last sweep, no one came through the Swamp to destroy any dungeons, nor did she see any Defender scout teams in all that time.  Riley wasn’t sure what exactly was going on with the Kingdom, but they apparently knew about what was happening in the region enough not to concern themselves with it any more.

“All right, I think I’m ready to move them all out.  Are you prepared?”

Riley didn’t even have to think about it.  “Ready and willing to kick some time guard booty.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.  Moving out the front ranks now.”

Rather than controlling monsters at the moment, Riley and Jorden were hovering above the massive conglomeration of Frozen Undead hanging out around the entrance of Tempara’s dungeon.  She had lost count of how many there were, but she estimated that it was at least 10,000 of them, of a few main types.

The first to move out were the Skeletal Spider Hulks, which took the Skeletal Hulk and combined it with an Icicle Spider.  Instead of adding ice to the Hulk’s bones to make them stronger, like Riley thought might happen, the Skeletal Spider Hulk was instead a large spider that was 6 feet across and had legs that were huge, rather than skinny like a normal spider’s.  A chill radiated from the entire skeletal combination rather than any icicles being present, but that was about the extent of the “Cold” power that shone through the monster.

As they skittered quickly over the ground on their way to the Isle of the Dead, she watched the second rank of the Frozen Undead begin to move as well.  This one was comprised of a Devouring Ghoul combined with a Winter Dire Wolf, which turned the new Devouring Winter Dire Ghoul blue, gave it clumpy, white fur over half of its body, and slightly elongated its mouth.  The most important part was that its speed had doubled from what a normal Devouring Ghoul could achieve, which was already relatively quick to begin with.

That was the key to which combined monsters made the cut, after all: They had to be fast; otherwise, they would be inordinately hampered when slowed by the stupid sphere those time guards protected.

Next was the Snowflake Skeleton Mage, which was a combination of a Skeleton Mage and a strange Snowflake Pixie.  What the combination essentially did was give a Skeleton Mage little wings attached to its spine, which appeared entirely too delicate to lift the monster, but that apparently didn’t matter.  Snowflakes drifted down from it when it took off into the air, moving much quicker than if it were to walk, so she supposed it worked.  Other than that, it wasn’t much different than a normal Mage – there was no flinging of sharp icicles, unfortunately.

The next rank of the Frozen Horde followed after the flying Mages, which was essentially full of blue spirits.  When Tempara combined an Incorporeal Phantom with a Frost Elemental, the result was the Frost Phantom, and it was a bit different from the original.  First, the addition of frost to its makeup made it much more resilient against iron. Second, when it struck at a victim it also added a freezing element to its attack in addition to spiritual damage.  The combination also sped its movement through the air considerably, as if it were gliding on ice.

The last of the relatively weaker Frozen Undead that moved out after the Frost Phantoms were the Ebon Snowballs, which were a combination of an Ebon Orb and a Snowball.  These Ebon Snowballs were 3-foot-wide balls of darkness that rolled along the ground at a good clip; and while the original Ebon Orbs were essentially insubstantial, the outside of the combined monster had a very thin layer of snow around it, which left tracks of melting snow wherever it rolled.  While it still did spiritual damage, the presence of the snow meant that it could also physically roll into a victim, hurting them with an entirely different component than normal.

Thousands of all those Frozen Undead traveled quickly through the pathways in between Tempara’s dungeon and the Isle of the Dead, but they weren’t the only ones going.  Bringing up the rear was a force of only hundreds, due to their increased cost.  The first was the Polar Vampire Warrior Matriarch, which was a combination of a Vampire Warrior and a Polar Bear Matriarch.  An unusual pairing, the Warrior Matriarch was 2 feet taller and a foot wider than a normal Vampire Warrior, had short, shock-white hair on its head, and didn’t wield a battleaxe anymore.  Instead, it had massive hands that almost looked like bear paws, and its claws were 6 inches long and tipped with sharp, nearly unbreakable ice on the ends.  They were extraordinarily strong and quick, which was why they were included in the horde.

Along with those Warrior Matriarchs were Elder Spectral Snowgolems, a combination of a Spectral Golem and an Elder Snowbeast.  Instead of only sucking up any extra material around to give itself protective armor, the Snowgolem started with a sheet of firmly packed snow as a bottom layer around its form, and then it could add more things as it came across them.  What was best for it, though, was to stick to mostly snow, as it moved much quicker than if it was covered in random debris.

Coming in behind them were a few dozen Skeletal Chilling Assassins, which were a combination between a Skeletal Assassin and something Tempara called an Orb of Chilling.  Not only were the Skeletal Assassins already quite fast as they flitted through the darkness and teleported through shadows, but the Orb of Chilling added another aspect of their attack that would further enhance their abilities.  They didn’t appear too different, other than having ice-blue, glowing eyes within their frost-streaked, hooded cloaks; but whenever they got close to a victim, the chilling aspect of their combination slowed their target.  Riley thought it was fitting that the guards would be getting a taste of what they were bringing to the party.

The very last group of the Frozen Horde to accompany the rest actually contained two different innovations that served almost the same purpose.  The first was an Iceback Skeletal Necromancer, and the second was an Iceback Boneraiser Lich, which were essentially a Necromancer and a Boneraiser combined with something called an Iceback Prowler.  While the combination didn’t give either special Cold-based powers, their skin and bones were coated in ice, and they were able to run much faster over the ground – nearly as fast as a Vampire Warrior, in fact.

Coming in behind all of the others, and moving much slower than anything else, were what Riley and Jorden were going to be controlling, a Death Knight and a Reaper of Souls.  Neither of them had been combined with a Cold-based monster, mainly because it would’ve been entirely too expensive or would have taken too long; so, they were going to hang back out of range of the sphere’s effect and to watch over the battle.  They were hoping that, at some point, the time guards would have to pull themselves away from constantly activating the sphere, and that was when the pair of disembodied souls would strike.

“I’m sending your rides along; just don’t forget to pick them up before they get too close.”

“Will do, and good luck.”

“We don’t need luck; we have a horde.”

Riley chuckled as she sped toward the Isle of the Dead, watching as the first of the Spider Hulks arrived, but they didn’t attack immediately.  Instead, a long stream of at least a thousand or more of them moved along the perimeter of the Isle, out of the range of her sight and the range of the sphere, until they ended up at the other end.  Unfortunately, it seemed as though they were still spotted or perhaps heard, because one of the time guards seemed to watch them moving through the darkness.

“We’ve got a lot of movement out there, circling around us.  Tremp!  We’ve got incoming soon!” the one watching shouted toward the camp.  Within seconds, the supposed leader of the time guards had gathered around the team on watch, bringing the other 4 who were off duty with him.

“Where are they now?”

The one who had detected the moving Spider Hulks pointed at the front of their group as they kept moving around, before he pointed to the west, where the next group of Devouring Winter Dire Ghouls was just starting to arrive on the Isle.  They were going the other way around the perimeter of the island, where they would be set up apart from the Spider Hulks.  “We’ve got even more, though somehow different, starting to go around the other way.  They’re surrounding us, sir.”

“Alright, listen up!  We don’t know what all of this is, but we’re here to stop whatever it is from interrupting the ritual.  Everyone into their positions and wait for Hedino to give us word that they’re attacking.  Marian, I want you on the ritual.  Let’s go!”

The time guards arranged themselves around the sphere in pairs, with Tremp by himself near Marian, as they stared out into the darkness.  Riley was watching the one who seemed able to detect the Frozen Undead’s presence, and the guard’s face became more pale as the Snowflake Skeleton Mages, Frost Phantoms, and Ebon Snowballs all arrived, arranging themselves equidistantly around the camp like the points of a five-pointed star.  The stronger Frozen Undead came next and started to disperse themselves between the massive individual hordes, with the Necromancers and Liches positioning near where they would have the most impact in raising those killed by the time guards back to life.  All of that was done by Tempara, of course, as she told them where to go; but as soon as the fight started, she would be unable to do much to help other than to tell them to go here or go there.  It was up to the Frozen Undead to handle the actual attacking by themselves.

The hordes were finally in position and completely still, awaiting an order from Tempara, but nothing moved for the next few minutes.  Finally, the Death Knight and the Reaper of Souls arrived, and Riley and Jorden went down to insert their souls into the monsters, thereby claiming a seat to watch the festivities.

“This is going to be epic, don’t you think?” Riley asked her companion.

“Absolutely.  I never thought I would see something like this as a Defender, let alone be asked to participate in it.”

The former Shadowwalker chuckled.  “I know what you mean.  Who’d have thought our afterlife would be more exciting than anything I’ve experienced while alive?  Granted, it’s really boring at times, but it’s moments like this that make it worth it.  I just wish I had been able to eat Beatrix’s corpse, but I guess we can’t have everything.”

“You weren’t really going to do that, were you?”

She paused before responding.  “Maybe.  Maybe not.  You’ll never know, will you—”

“And so it begins.”

Out of the corner of her Reaper’s nonexistent eyes, Riley watched a wave of Frozen Undead swarm towards the camp and the ritual sphere inside of it.

Ooh, this is so exciting.  I wish I could still eat snacks, because this seems like the perfect time while watching a show.

Chapter 40

Tempara wished she could’ve spent another few weeks experimenting with her new skill, combining different types of monsters to achieve the best results possible. But within the next day or so, another ritual was going to be initialized in a different region, meaning that her Accumulation Rate would drop even further than it already had.  The longer she waited, the more the effects of what had already been done to the environment would be felt, and she wasn’t sure how that would impact the Nightgloom Swamp.  The possibility that some of the land bridges would collapse into the stagnant water was a real worry, and she didn’t want to have to restart and kill Beatrix again if she could help it.

Still, despite the lack of more experimentation, Tempara thought she had put together a pretty deadly horde.  It was the largest she’d ever created, totaling a whopping 11,212 monsters, and it had required millions of EP – of both elements – to put it all together. Whether or not it would actually work was another question, but she had a good feeling about it.

At her order, she directed all the weaker monsters toward the ritual sphere… and that was all she could really do with them, unless she needed to call for a retreat for some reason.  Inside of her dungeon, Tempara could direct her monsters a little better, either by making sure they hid while waiting for an ambush, or that they stayed in a specific spot to attack from range, or any number of other orders that they could follow easily.  Outside of her dungeon, however, she essentially just pointed and told them where to go, letting them figure everything else out on their own.

So, she watched them do what they did best as a horde: swarm toward a target and try to kill everything in their way.  Against them were 10 guards and the ritual sphere that only slowed them down, without freezing them in place.

The Skeletal Spider Hulks, Devouring Winter Dire Ghouls, Frost Phantoms, and the Ebon Snowballs took off toward the ritual sphere and the guards around it like they were on the hunt for blood, while the Snowflake Skeleton Mages hung back a little, as they apparently wanted to attack from height and from a distance.  As soon as the Dungeon Core’s creations passed within the farthest range of the sphere’s activation, the female guard named Marian slapped her hand against the side of the sphere harder than necessary, activating its time-stopping or -slowing ability.  Tempara held her figurative breath as she watched her monsters stumble a little as soon as they were within the field of effect… but they didn’t stop completely.  It was a slight worry that she had been lucky with her single test against the sphere’s effects, but that was proven to be completely unfounded.

All of her “Frozen Horde,” a name made up by Riley and Jorden, being impacted by the effect visibly slowed their progress, but their original pace had still been quick enough that they still moved at a fast walk, rather than a sedate-looking pace like the Champion she had used before.  As the 5 different hordes got within spell- or projectile-range of the guards, a massive fireball shot out toward the Spider Hulks; a giant boulder formed and cracked above the heads of the Ghouls, causing large shards to rain down among them; an extensive, wavy wall of light was projected toward the Frost Phantoms; an enormous tangle of vines created a barrier that blocked the way forward for the Ebon Snowballs; and magical arrows were released in rapid succession toward the flying Skeleton Mages, streaking through the darkness on their way toward their targets.

For a moment, Tempara wondered how the guards knew where to cast their spells or shoot their arrows, but she noticed that the man who had detected her hordes in the first place was calling out instructions as to when and where to fire, as he could apparently sense or see all her Frozen Undead.  It was disappointing that she hadn’t been able to attack with more of a surprise element; but overall, that didn’t really matter.  Just because they were ready for her horde didn’t mean they were ready for her horde.

Hundreds of Spider Hulks were blown to pieces when the gigantic fireball exploded in the middle of their charge, but there were still hundreds more where that came from.  Tempara looked at the guard who had launched it at them, and he was bent over from exhaustion, already chugging a Mana potion to refill what was likely most of his Mana, drained by just the one spell he had cast.  She had to admit that it had been powerful and effective, killing hundreds of Frozen Undead, but it just wasn’t enough.

The same could be said for the shards of stones that fell amongst her Ghouls, as nearly a third of them were killed in a manner of a few seconds, but they were still coming for the sphere no matter their losses.  The guard who cast those stones was also drinking a potion, as were the ones who had cast the vines and the wall of wavy light. The results of those spells were also devastating, wiping out hundreds more of her Frozen Undead as they continued to walk quickly toward the guards in the center of the Isle of the Dead.  The archer who had continuously released arrows at the Mages was looking tired, but he apparently hadn’t used all of his Mana yet, even as each of his streaking projectiles exploded, killing a handful of flying Mages at a time.

As soon as she saw 4 of the other guards move out from their position near the ritual sphere, leaving the archer, spellcasters, and Mariana touching the sphere to maintain the slowing effect, Tempara ordered her other monsters toward the center of the island.  There were only about 50 each of her Polar Vampire Warrior Matriarchs, Elder Spectral Snowgolems, and Skeletal Chilling Assassins; but they were her heavy hitters, and she didn’t want them to be killed in the initial exchange – which thousands of her weaker monsters had just been.  Thankfully, she also had 50 each of her Iceback Skeletal Necromancers and her Boneraiser Liches, so they immediately went to work raising those still intact enough to come back from being… re-dead.

The 4 that raced out to the approaching hordes, which included the leader, Tremp, were quicker than the Frozen Horde that was already within range of the ritual sphere, and they showed off their skills as they smashed, cut apart, or dispersed all but her flying Skeletal Mages, who were still being bombarded by exploding arrows.  The fighting was fierce, with each of the guards who were fighting up close and personal being partially surrounded at times. But they were able to move well enough to avoid getting trapped, killing dozens of Frozen Undead as fast as they could.  They used skills that extended the length of their attacks, created explosions of their own, or even forcefully blasted away anything ahead of them in an arc; but they just couldn’t keep up with the numbers arrayed against them.  All of them started to fall back in a fighting retreat, taking a few wounds in the process, but nothing debilitating.

They received some relief as the spellcasters started lobbing more spells toward the incoming hordes, which they could finally see with their own eyes now, though the area damage of their spells was smaller as they picked their targets and attempted to maximize their effectiveness.  The melee-fighting guards pushed back so as to prevent any of the horde from getting any closer, and they were actually doing a good job of it, as more than half of the original Frozen Hordes that had swarmed forward had been killed by that point.

But that was the time when Tempara’s stronger reserve force arrived, moving forward faster than the guards expected, and they fell upon the potion-drinking fighters as they stepped back for a moment.  Dozens of Vampires, Assassins, and Snowgolems attacked them all at once. While many of them were blasted or ripped apart by spells, there were still quite a few that made it through to attack the already-exhausted melee-fighting guards.  It also didn’t help them when the spellcasting guards were suddenly inundated with hundreds of Necrotic Bolts, hurled by the Snowflake Skeleton Mages that finally managed to get within range.  Protective barriers went up all over, deflecting the relatively weak spells the Mages had cast, but each one chipped away at the Mana powering them.  Most of the spellcasters were on their second Mana potion already, and the battle had just barely begun.

The turning point came when the powered-up Frozen Undead of her teams of Necromancers and Liches started to arrive, to bolster the numbers of Spider Hulks, Ghouls, and Mages that were slowly dwindling. With the help of the former, the latter were finally able to kill the first guard, one of the fighters who got surrounded by Vampires and Assassins, as he was literally ripped apart.  The loss of one of their own revitalized the rest to fight harder, but the surge of strength and speed they experienced was short-lived, as one of the spellcaster’s barriers shattered under the sudden barrage of even more Necrotic Bolts, and he was hit by at least a dozen of them.  Needless to say, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

One by one, the fighters out front started to fall, with the leader, Tremp, falling last. Meanwhile, the others kept drinking potions, which quickly dwindled in effectiveness even as they slumped in place while still casting spells with abandon.  Then next to fall was actually Marian, the woman maintaining her hand on the ritual sphere, as one of the Frost Phantoms appeared out of nowhere, stabbing deeply into her chest, while an Ebon Snowball rolled through the defenses of the other guards and slammed into her legs with enough force to break one of them.  As she fell, her hand lost contact with the sphere – and that broke the slowing effect that was the only thing that had been saving the guards up to that point.

With their speed back, the Frozen Horde quickly surged forward, and while one of the spellcasters slapped his hand against the sphere to reinitiate the effect, it was too late.  They fought tenaciously to the end, until out of Mana and strength, the last of the guards fell dead to a Spider Hulk slamming a powerful leg into and nearly out of his chest through his back.

“Ah, yeah!  Now that’s what I call a battle!  I’m not even disappointed that I didn’t get to have any fun, because it was simply fun to watch.”

The way that Riley didn’t seem to care that 10 of her own people were just slaughtered by an overwhelming horde of Frozen Undead was a little unsettling to Tempara, but the Dungeon Core supposed that she was treating them just the same as Beatrix and her corrupted Defenders.  Regardless, the Fox-turned-Core had to agree that it was a battle unlike any she’d seen before, nor would she likely ever see such again – if she was lucky.

“So… now that they’re dead, what do you do next?” Jorden asked, still controlling the Death Knight.

Well, I have to essentially feed enough of my monsters to the sphere in order to disrupt it, thereby freeing the souls of my family.

It was a little more complicated than that, but what she said was essentially the overall gist of the process.  Thankfully, she still had plenty of her horde nearby, so she immediately started to have them head toward the sphere. As soon as they touched it, they disappeared, causing a little flicker in the ritual that was barely perceptible.  As more and more approached it and disappeared, the flickering extended until she could see a vague impression of her Aunt Tyda, her Aunt Samaya, and her Uncle Tiepo inside.

You might want to move away quite a distance; the last time I did this, it exploded and caused a lot of damage to the nearby environment.

Riley and Jorden immediately backed up until they were at least 300 feet away, which Tempara thought was more than enough, while she did the same thing as well.  The monsters kept impacting the sphere over and over, causing more and more flickering as their numbers dwindled, and she was starting to worry that there wouldn’t be enough.  When there were only a few hundred left, however, one of the Spider Hulks touched it – and it was as if a bomb went off from the middle of its body, sending bones everywhere.  A second later, the sphere exploded as well, and even at about 300 feet away, her own viewpoint was pushed back from the shockwave caused by the ritual being interrupted like that.

Inside of the sphere, the figures of her aunts and uncle were perfectly fine, and Tempara did exactly the same thing as she had in the Frozen Reaches.  Moving her viewpoint closer to the trio of Foxes, she called out to the two former Defenders.

If this works, I’ll see you two back on my Core Island!

Without waiting for a reply, she finished moving to right in the middle of all three of her family members, and they physically rotated as they followed her.  When she was in the direct center of them, they shot forward with incredible speed, colliding with her viewpoint—

* Select your starting location…. *

I hope that worked.  Only one way to find out, I suppose.

Selecting the same location in the Swamp as she had been using, her soul was transported down to her dungeon and her Dungeon Core, but for some reason it felt… heavier.  It was only a slight difference, but she could only hope that meant it was a good thing and she had succeeded.

A few seconds after arriving in her Core, she looked around to see her Aunt Chrona, Uncle Timo, and Uncle Ido facing three new Greater Temporal Foxes, who appeared bewildered.

“Chrona?  What are you—?  How are—?  Wait, did I sense young Tempara?”

“Yes, yes, yes.  I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but give it a few moments, and most of those will be answered for you while your minds catch up with what happened to you.  In the meantime, I’d like you to meet Tempara, who’s not so young anymore, as I’ve come to learn.  Don’t let the pretty floating gem fool you! She’s nearly as old as any one of us, or perhaps older by this point.”

Aunt Chrona! I’m not that old!

“I know, but I can’t help but tease you.  Anyway, Tiepo, Samaya, Tyda – have your souls caught up to the situation yet?”

Tempara watched the souls of her new family members pause as they were thinking, before Uncle Tiepo said, “Yes, I believe so.  To think that the young one—I mean, Tempara—has been able to do all of this is absolutely amazing.  But now that we’re making progress, I really can’t wait to get my body back.”

“You’ll just have to see how we can inhabit some of Tempara’s monsters and move around in them.  It’s not quite the same, but it is quite interesting, nonetheless.”

“Ooh, I think I want to try that—”

I don’t mean to interrupt, but do you happen to know where we need to go next?

“Yeah, where are we going?  I’m ready to leave this dump.  No offense, Tempara.”

The three new Foxes jumped back in startlement when Riley spoke, having just arrived a few seconds before.  “Who—”

They’re safe; they helped to free you from the ritual.  Yes, they’re defenders, or at least they were, but now they’re just as attached to my soul as you are.  Anyway, do you know where the next ritual takes place?

It took the three of them nearly a minute to calm down and not look at Riley and Jorden with suspicion, but eventually her Uncle Tiepo spoke.  “Yes, I believe we do know.  The next ritual in the time loop is in the Verdant Forest to the west.”

Riley put her hands on her hips and looked at Tempara’s Core.  “Great, sounds like a lovely time.  I’ve always wanted to go on vacation; how about you, Jorden?”

“I could go for a little rest and relaxation, and the Verdant Forest sounds like just the place.”

I’m not sure how relaxing it will be, but it sounds like Verdant Forest it is.

The End

Monster Progression Charts

Author’s Note

Thank you for reading Corrupted Time!

I had a lot of fun moving Tempara to a brand-new Wildlands region, as it allowed me to explore a whole other type of dungeon and new monsters!  I wanted to be able to expand on the abilities of both her time loop and the fact that she wasn’t a “normal” Dungeon Core – which I hope I accomplished.  In addition, I wanted a different perspective of the events happening, which was why I introduced Riley and Jorden, as they were able to see things and participate in ways that Tempara cannot.

The Verdant Forest is next!

Again, thank you for reading, and I implore you to consider leaving a review – I love 5-star ones!  Reviews make it more likely that others will pick up a good book and read it!

If you enjoy dungeon core, dungeon corps, dungeon master, dungeon lord, dungeonlit, or any other type of dungeon-themed stories and content, check out the Dungeon Corps Facebook group, where you can find all sorts of dungeon content.

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Books by Jonathan Brooks

Glendaria Awakens Trilogy

Dungeon Player (Audiobook available)

Dungeon Crisis (Audiobook available)

Dungeon Guild (Audiobook available)

Glendaria Awakens Trilogy Compilation w/bonus material (Audiobook available)

Uniworld Online Trilogy (2nd Edition)

The Song Maiden (Audiobook available)

The Song Mistress (Audiobook available)

The Song Matron (Audiobook available)

Uniworld Online Trilogy Compilation (Audiobook available)

Station Cores Series

The Station Core (Audiobook available)

The Quizard Mountains (Audiobook available)

The Guardian Guild (Audiobook available)

The Kingdom Rises (Audiobook available)

The Other Core (Audiobook available)

Station Cores Compilation Complete: Books 1-5 (Audiobook available)

Spirit Cores Series

Core of Fear (Audiobook available)

Children of Fear (Audiobook available)

Carnival of Fear (Audiobook available)

Community of Fear

Dungeon World Series

Dungeon World (Audiobook available)

Dungeon World 2 (Audiobook available)

Dungeon World 3 (Audiobook available)

Dungeon World 4 (Audiobook available)

Dungeon World 5 (Audiobook available)

Dungeon World Box Set: Books 1-5 (Audiobook available)

Dungeon Crafting Series

The Crafter’s Dungeon (Audiobook available)

The Crafter’s Defense (Audiobook available)

The Crafter’s Dilemma (Audiobook available)

The Crafter’s Darkness (Audiobook available)

The Crafter’s Dominion (Audiobook available)

The Crafter’s Dynasty (Audiobook available)

Dungeon Crafting Series: Books 1 – 3 (Audiobook available)

Dungeon Crafting Series: Books 4 – 6 (Audiobook available)

The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Series

The Dungeon Fairy (Audiobook available)

The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices (Audiobook available)

The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives (Audiobook available)

The Dungeon Fairy: Four Days (Audiobook available)

The Dungeon Fairy: Box Set Books 1-4 (Audiobook available)

Serious Probabilities Series

Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds (Audiobook available)

Dungeon of Chance: Double or Nothing (Audiobook available)

Dungeon of Chance: All-in (Audiobook available)

Dungeon of Chance Complete Series: Books 1-3 (Audiobook coming soon)

The Body’s Dungeon (with Jeffrey “Falcon” Logue)

Bio Dungeon: Symbiote (Audiobook available)

Bio Dungeon: Parasyte (Audiobook available)

Bio Dungeon: Hemostasis (Audiobook available)

Bio Dungeon Omnibus (Audiobook available)

Tales of Dungeons Anthology

Tales of Dungeons Vol. 2

Tales of Dungeons Vol. 3

Tales of Dungeons All Hallows 2020

Dimensional Dungeon Cores

Core Establishment (Audiobook available)

Core Construction (Audiobook available)

Core Convergence (Audiobook coming soon )

Holiday Dungeon Core

Christmas Core (Audiobook available)

Valentine Core (Audiobook available)

Easter Core (Audiobook available)

Independence Core (Audiobook available)

Halloween Core

Time Core

Frozen Time (Audiobook available)

Corrupted Time

[1]

Temporal Manipulation

Skill: Temporal Displacement

Usage Threshold: 3/1,000

???

Temporal Displacement is an ability that allows for the creation of a temporal displacement point for the purpose of returning an attached soul to that point upon destruction or release.  Temporal Displacement points can only be created while in the proximity of temporal displacement events.

In addition, this skill can also be used to create a localized temporal displacement inside of a Dungeon Core, freeing a soul from its current housing and allowing the Auto-skill, Temporal Reversion, to apply.

Further Temporal Manipulation Skills can be developed with proper usage and knowledge of previous Skills, as well as the fulfillment of all requirements.

[2]

Temporal Manipulation

Auto-skill: Temporal Reversion

Temporal Reversion is an ability that transports the soul inside of a destroyed Dungeon Core back in time to the point of the last temporal displacement event.

Further Temporal Manipulation Skills can be developed with proper usage and knowledge of previous Skills, as well as the fulfillment of all requirements.