Dungeon Novel: Chapter Twenty-Four (Patreon)

The several necromancers were milling around the entrance for several moments, loitering around the entrance as three amongst their number analyzed the structure around the entrance and the glowing portal.

However, despite seeing the army of Undead and their necromantic controllers, Unbound was confident there was none of the higher tier Undead he had encountered, and it seemed that this group was a simple probing party to see how strong his Dungeon was.

Elvinia had explained the spiky Undead to him as well, she had called it a tier two Defender. Dungeon spawned defenders were classified in tiers and split down into five tiers. There were tiers beyond that point, but they were an incomprehensible amount of time and effort away.

Tier One was levels 0-100 and compromised the bulk of defenders he could create, not including bosses as they went beyond the limits for their species whilst not evolving. Tier two was level 100-500 and that included the spiky Undead and the Void elementals, the elementals only barely counting due to the legendary affinity.

Tier three was the limit on this world so far, Unbound could go past it but the sentient races had not managed to level past the blockage. It compromised of levels 500-1000 and for not naturally immortal races started to develop far longer life spans.

Elvinia also knew that the sentient races had a different way to classify the gaps in power between certain level boundaries. The sentient races tended to have bottlenecks at similar points and thusly had far more classifications for levels. She didn’t know what they were or for which level boundaries and Unbound would have to ask the residents in his Dungeon for more information.

The residents had another bonus apart from the information they had given him as well, they boosted both the passive mana gain and passive shop point gain. The shop point gain actually being brought up to a measurable level per year.

It was one of the disadvantages of Unbound’s currently linked location, he wasn’t in danger of being controlled anytime soon but he had a lack of available resources due to that. It had hampered his growth rate and his most diversified defender type at the moment was Undead, which he had lingering hatred for.

The investigative party of necromancers had started to send Undead into the Dungeon in small groups. Ordering the skeletons in to kill one creature before returning with its corpse. It seemed that the necromancers were actually being very cautious with their approach.

It gave him an idea, technically he had claimed the land the necromancers were currently stood on and they were stood underneath the small outcrop that sheltered his Dungeon entrance. If he formed several large boulders further up the cliff it would likely squash the party at the bottom.

If he was not currently in danger from their necromancers and their wish to conquer, he wouldn’t do it. Dungeons who formed several offensive structures and defenders on the surface tended to be fiercely hunted by all of the sentient race nations.

No living being at his level could survive being overwhelmed by that many opponents and he would swiftly die.

However, for this situation, it was unlikely they would care as he was fighting one of the most universally hated groups in the world. Nearly everyone disliked someone who would raise their dead relatives and attack them with it.

The large boulders tumbled down as soon as they were let go, they were about the size of two humans in diameter and immensely heavy. As they got close enough several of the necromancers yelled and scrambled backward, pushing their comrades out of the way in their rush to escape the falling rocks.

The closest seven necromancers were crushed to death instantly by the boulders but nine of them escaped without injuries and four of them had limbs trapped beneath the rubble. They were swiftly executed by their fellows and the several deaths within Unbound’s territory showered him with shop points, even more than the bandits due to the necromancers being stronger on average.

Unbound didn’t immediately purchase anything, waiting to end the current threat first before he tried to bolster the power of his floors and the diversity of his defenders. The boulders had obscured his entrance and Unbound pulled away from the boulders from the portal slowly, there were several Undead crushed alongside the necromancers.

The total amount killed boosted him up a level and Unbound felt the familiar feeling of his mana pools expanding and the rush of power that he gained from it. He also felt a similar mental pain to when he absorbed the spiky Undead, although lesser compared to the previous situation.

Shaking away the pain he focused upon the other necromancers had spread out slightly away from his entrance, barely within the outskirts of his territory, and looked as though they were having a mental conversation with each other. Then as one mounted the skeletal horses and rode away, out of Unbound’s territory and sight.

He waited for several moments before pulling up the screen to show what patterns he had gained from the past two attacking parties.

Skeletal Abomination: Spiny variant

Skeletal Horse: Speed variant

Skeletal Warrior: Infantry, Archer, Knight variants

Draugr: Weakened variant

The Draugr was the Undead that caused the pain and Unbound was curious for the future when he gained a non-weakened variant. It meant that Unbound had two Undead Defenders of Tier Two strength, his Dungeon was empowered massively compared to when he first started.

Unbound decided he had to create an Undead-themed floor next, he was gaining new patterns for Undead and all their variants were piling up in his banks of knowledge.

The other thing Unbound gained from the encounter was their equipment, the bandits had only given weak armor and weaponry, and amongst the equipment was a strange necklace with an amethyst gem in the middle, engraved with another sigil.