Dungeon Novel: Chapter Thirty-Three (Patreon)

In the small tunnels, the earth elemental wreaked havoc upon the invaders. It took one of the knights dying before one of the defenders before the fire mage could get a clear shot on the elemental and melt the stone body.

There were only six intruders remaining now and Unbound was relaxed in the fact that he was unlikely to be harmed at this point. The party was moving forward slowly, the knights hugged the walls to allow the fire mage to blast any incoming elemental.

It was when they were about to reach one of the few rooms on the floor that another member fell, several hooks were driven into his brain by his own power. They had driven in through his eyes and as the man went still, they tore out of the falling corpse with a faint pop.

The noble looked away from the gruesome sight before ordering the group onwards, there were only two more knights now and they had been ordered to check the air ahead of them with their swords before walking forward.

The group walked further into the floor, pitfalls were jumped out of, spikes destroyed and the Purge Undead sigils were completely ineffective against living beings. The fourth floor was specifically designed to fight off hordes of Undead, they were far weaker than the elementals and traps as the hooks were the only trap especially for sentients.

It was many hours before they reached the boss room, they hadn’t lost anymore people to the defenders and traps, but the fire mage was once again exhausted, and the knights seemed the same from what Unbound could tell. The swords were slightly lower, and they did not move with the familiar grace and swiftness from before, the only one who seemed rested was the noble but even he was slightly tired from the long walk across the expansive floor.

The large, open area of the boss room likely caused alarm bells to ring in the noble’s mind because he stared around the seemingly empty room with a small sneer upon his face. He slowly walked into the room, not ordering any of the other party members to spread out and search but rather staying close.

They slowly ventured around the room and as they entered the middle of the room the Explosive Skeleton Boss ventured out of the small divot it had been hiding in. The boss was a lightly armored skeleton with enough maneuverability to get near the enemies before detonating.

As soon as the boss could be seen the noble immediately ordered all of his forces to attack the boss whilst he strangely ran off.

Directly at the small cavern holding Unbound’s core.

Alarm bells rang within Unbound’s mind as he positioned a Void elemental to intercept the noble if necessary but before the noble could reach Unbound’s core room the boss struck.

It dodged the gouts of flame from the fire mage, ducked under the dimensional blade from the space mage, and eviscerated one of the knights charging at it’s skeletal form. It smacked the other knight across the face causing the steel-clad man to roll across the floor uncontrollably as the boss ran at the noble.

The rest of the team sent several attacks at the boss as it ran but its speed and ability to dodge was uncanny for a being of its size and armor level. Then as the boss reached for the noble, for the first time ever the noble drew his jeweled sword.

The sword had a golden blade that came to a sharper-looking silver along the edges and the point, the metal clashed with the boss’s arm and without difficulty sunk into the tough bone. It was likely to be of a rare or stronger metal than what Unbound had access to.

But the fact that the noble had halted the boss’s charge was enough to allow the rest of the group to catch up with it and with the group, in one place it brought the boss’s primary attack to bear.

An explosion. It took time to charge and explode, not an instantaneous detonation and it caused the blood-red color of the bone packs to glow and pulsate with a darker mahogany color.

The noble’s eyes widened at the sight but before he could say anything the Void elemental struck, slicing through the arm that held onto the sword and about to sheer through his head before he ducked. He didn’t scream with pain but shouted to be teleported.

As the noble and the space mage disappeared from the immediate area both the fire mage and the remaining knight slackened and fell completely still. Unbound hurriedly ordered the boss to stop charging the explosion and instead go to the far side of the room from the two comatose invaders.

With the noble gone there was the feeling of a level up and Unbound mentally felt the ability to craft another floor and use all of the shop points that he had gained by killing the knights. The two unconscious intruders hadn’t moved, barely breathing and Unbound could feel their life aura weaken and recede slightly.

With the Void elemental there to guard them Unbound asked Elvinia to inspect the two invaders, he had found the mind affinity sigil within the dead knight’s minds and had assumed there to be some sort of mental control over the knights and mages from the noble.

The Dungeon fairy fluttered out from her own home with an expression of curiosity as she landed next to the two humans. She looked over their forms with a small frown upon her face as she inspected them.

She mentally said she didn’t understand what had happened to either at the moment and if it was best to place them with the other residents. Unbound started to move them even as she asked by shifting the ground beneath them.

But as he was moving them from the fourth floor to the third he could watch as the next group of invaders enter the area around his entrance, they had returned with greater numbers and forces, fully prepared to destroy or enslave the Dungeon.