The Tower in the Shadows

Ranus was again in Comus's laboratory. This time, the body of a massive boar was on the table. It bore the scars of a brutal death and was cut open. Its organs were scattered around in jars with different liquids. Comus was wearing an apron that was covered in blood. Ranus thought he looked more like a butcher than an alchemist. He was even more excited than usual.

"It is just incredible!" He said, waving his arms at the corpse. "I have identified at least three separate parts of the body that can be used in different alchemy potions. That is not even counting the hide!"

"Slow down, Comus. What is this about the hide?" Elian was trying to get him to tell them coherently what he had found. He stopped and took a breath.

"The board hide normally supplied as a reward from the Dungeon is of good quality and makes solid leather armour. This hide is different." He points at the corpse. "This hide has been infused with large amounts of shadow-aligned mana. You will get magical leather armour with the right leather worker and armour maker, allowing the owner to hide in shadows better."

This was amazing. Ranus knew that magical-infused crafting materials were vastly costly to find and use.

"What price do you think?" Elian asked. Comus stopped and looked at the body on the table, deep in thought.

"It's hard to say, but the least will be three to five gold coins per hide, depending on the condition. The armour will sell for far more."

Ranus and Elian looked at each other. That much for the hide alone would drive far too many unready to their deaths. It was something they would not be able to hide for long as several leather workers were already putting in requests for the boss's hide. The Alchemy Guild will have to realise its discoveries soon.

"We cannot hide this for long." Elian said with a sigh.

"Comus, can we hold off letting the population know?" Ranus had to ask.

"Not possible, Ranus. The Guild's divine mandate states that all crafting materials, when identified, are made known to anyone who asks. What they do with the knowledge is their business." Comus said with a heavy heart. He, too, knew what was going to happen.

"Messages and traders will take the value of the hides even further. Drive demand." Elian added.

"It will be a slaughter at the start." Ranus finished.

All three fell silent. The Dungeon was going to feast and Ranus wondered if this had been its plan all along. This Dungeon had always shown signs of being too intelligent for its size and age.

Before anything else could be said, there came a rapid knock at the door.

"What is it?" Comus snapped.

"Guild Leader, an urgent message for Lord Goldwind!" Came a young voice through the door. Ranus walked over and opened it.

"Yes?" He enquired to the young boy standing there. The boy gulped and stammered out.

“Lllord…L-ord…Lord Goldwing. Sails seen to the south!"

"Thank you. Be about your business now." Ranus dismissed the boy, who promptly fled.

"Well, it seems it has begun." Ranus turned and spoke to the other two. They nodded in understanding. "Excuse me. I will now be rarely available for the next…for the foreseeable future."

"If you permit, I will walk with you." Elian offered.

"Of course."

The two left the Guild and walked towards the rise that overlooked the river. They wore less than a few days ago, as spring had arrived and the weather was warmer. The snow was melting fast, but they had to stay alert to the threat of sudden winter storms. Today, the sky was mostly clear with few clouds.

"They are sooner than we hoped." Elian said as they walked. Ranus said nothing.

Many of the town's population was gathering on the rise. They moved aside as Ranus approached. He looked southward along the river. He began counting sails.

"Nine large river barrages." He counted.

"Anything behind them?" Elian asked.

"It's too crowded to see."

Below them, at the piers, the work gangs were getting organised. The overseers were yelling instructions. There were now three piers for loading/offloading into the town. He had prioritised them over housing to Vulus's complaints. He knew they needed to get those boats empty fast to get them moving back down the river.

Ranus counted again and made some calculations.

The first boat docked and began offloading. People streamed down the gangplank and he looked at the new Adventures coming to his town. They were a mixture of the young and inexperienced to the older and more battle-hardened. Yet they all had the same burning hunger in their eyes.

The town's population watching were moved on or taken away by their duties. Ranus was soon almost alone watching the second and third boat docking. They, too, were quickly offloading more Adventurers as well as goods that the town demanded. They would be loading what the town had produced few trade goods. He knew that the coins coming from the Dungeon were the thing most of the merchants would be seeking.

The other boats were moored, ready to take an empty slot in the piers. Some were using row boats to take small groups to shore. All around, there was noise as people spoke and orders were yelled. Things were as in hand as could be expected.

Ranus turned and watched the bodies flow towards the Adventures Guild. Elian had disappeared some time ago and he did not envy her in the coming days. He knew, too, that he would be busier than he had ever been, but that came with the position.

He walked through the crowds to the gate in the palisade that led to the Dungeon. He looked over the floodplain to the building in the distance and thought to himself.

"Are you ready for what is to come?"

## ## ## ## ##

"What the hell is going on out there?"

Over the last three days, I have been thinking this to myself more and more. Adventuring groups I had never seen before have begun appearing more frequently.

"Case in point."

One such group fought the boars on the third floor in the second room. Out of a group of five, one was dead, one was severely injured, and the other three were fighting for their lives. True, one boar was dead, but the other two were still fighting hard.

My essence total was fast, pushing enough to reach level five.

I spent three days with different groups exploring my Dungeon. In the last few days, I have seen more deaths than in almost the previous year!

One group of six Tins, almost Iron, had gone straight to the fourth and got wiped out.

I had noticed that someone was now stationed just outside my door. Every so often, a hand holding a crystal would appear, and it would glow. I would feel my aura being checked. By the second day, it dawned on me that, somehow, they were checking to see if my Dungeon was resetting. After the overconfident group got taken out, another came in shortly after.

I gained a few interesting things, but nothing stood out from the corpses.

"Another wipe? Might happen."

The fight on the third was still too close to call. The boars were wounded more than the Adventures. The healer was forced to aid in the fight as the boars threatened to overwhelm the other team members. The health and stamina bars above them were draining fast.

The fight turned when the swordsman leading the group killed the boar he was facing off against. The group healer was able to break away from the fight to treat the injured team member.

"Well, that means there is no wipe with this lot."

The healer stabilised the injured team member as the last boar was killed. The team decided quickly that they were getting out. The rewards and body were collected. The injured team member leaned on the healer as the other two carried the body.

I watched them leave.

"So, who's next today?"

It did not take long before the next team entered.

"Damn it! It's the boss recovery team."

The Copper grade team that had been taking out my floor guardians and taking their corpses entered my Dungeon. They were grim-faced and looked ready for a fight. I looked them over with my mana sight, noting the increased number of magical items since their last visit.

"Hold on. They are going to the fourth."

I shift my main perspective to Queen's guardian room.

"Queen, there is a team coming to take you out."

"What can you tell me about them."

"A six-member team: three frontline fighters, an archer, a mage, and a healer. They are experienced and skilled. This is a copper-grade team and definitely capable of taking you down."

"I understand. I will be ready for them."

Over the last few weeks, we have discussed tactics for dealing with different groups. With a group like this, a ceiling-based ambush attack was the best angle to take with them.

I watched them coming down the stairs. They were ignoring all the other floors and came straight to the fourth.

"Right, here we go."

They began working through the floor room by room. The spiders were hitting them from different directions. The team found it hard, but not as hard as the third. Two frontline fighters suffered hits, but nothing; the healer and armour they wore could not handle.

This changed when they reached the room with the eight spiders. From how they acted in each room, it was easy to see they were briefed on the floor layout. This room made them work as the spiders hit them as soon as they reached the midway point. The spiders attacked from every possible direction. Two had waited and allowed the adventurers to pass them before joining the ambush.

The group was focused on the spiders attacking them from the front. The melee fighters were engaged and the archer supported them. The spiders attacking from behind went for the group healer, but she was not ready. She suffered a nasty bite on her leg and her scream of pain brought the support team members to her defence.

This was the high point of the fight for the spiders. The group was experienced and reacted quickly, changing their formation to face the spiders. Even wounded and clearly in pain, the healer had the presence of mind to treat her injuries with magic. This had her back healing the others, guaranteeing their victory.

"They will be reaching, Queen."

She probably heard me but remained silent as she got ready. I had noticed something about the fight on this floor that I needed to answer.

"They can spit webs. I wonder why you do not do this more?"

A question for later.

The Adventurers were moving on. The next room had better spiders, but against this group, they were going to be beaten. I watched as they were engaged and killed.

The group showed clear signs of strain and exhaustion. They were resting and tending to their gear before facing Queen. This floor had pushed them more than they had planned.

"This will be interesting."

They collected themselves and went into the final room. The apprehension was evident on their faces. They were not cocky or arrogant, knowing they were in for a fight. I had to respect this; they were not as good as Gran's team but were close.

"Thinking about Gran's team. I wonder when they will be back?"

My distractive thought ended as soon as Queen engaged. She had positioned herself next to the entrance instead of further into the cave as usual. The Adventures were just coming through the doorway when she struck. Dropping from the ceiling, her attack was sudden and violent.

One melee fighter was hammered to the ground by my floor guardian's weight. The other melee fighters reacted but not fast enough. One was hit as he turned to face her. The leg racked across his body, knocking him away from the fight. His armour saved him from serious injury. Queen lunged at the other to bite him but was met by his shield.

The archer and magic user did not stay idle; they joined the fight. The guardian was attacked from the side by an arrow and a spell. Her armour deflected the worst of the attacks, but she was forced to move to limit her exposure to attack. This freed up the fighter she was pinning. His lack of movement either was a tactic, or he was badly hurt.

The other two fighters soon engaged her and pushed her back, making room for the others to enter the cave. The healer attended to the fallen fighter and the others attacked the guardian. Queen's health bar was starting to empty.

I stayed quiet, respecting my creation's ability to fight its own battles.

She pulled back further into the room, drawing the team members attacking her away from the healer who was casting spells on the fallen fighter. This was a manoeuvre she had planned. In our conversations, I had emphasised the need to take out group healers as fast as she could.

The blue mana bar above her head suddenly dropped as she cast her spell, Shadow Arms. The black tentacles wrapped around the legs of one fighter, causing him to trip. The other quickly moved to cover him. As he did this, Queen used her Spiderling Swarm skill as her green stamina bar fell.

The swarm erupted from an egg cluster next to the healer, attacking her from behind as she was focused on her patient. They covered her, biting her at every opportunity they could. She screamed out from the attack, making the archer and mage turn.

This is when Queen made her final play. She glowed slightly green as she used her Charge skill. Almost leaping forward, she crashed into the fighters, knocking them over and attacking them.

She had the advantage now.

The archer had other ideas. As the group's leader, he ordered the mage to help the healer while he turned to my guardian again. Pulling a strange arrow from his quiver, he notched, drew, and fired it using some skill. It yelled out "eyes" as he fired, closing his own.

The arrow did not have to travel far and as it did, it glowed white.

Queen did not have time to react. The arrow impacted her head and there was a blast of hard golden/white light. Queen screamed.

"Fuck!"

My vision was filled with spots and I could just make out my guardian reeling from what had happened.

The spots quickly faded and the situation had changed. Queen was being attacked by the two fighters again, along with the archer. The mage had somehow cleared the spiderlings off the healer and the third fighter was getting up.

Queen's health bar was down to a third and she had a nasty wound on her head. The fighters were triggering their skills, increasing their damage and speed. This was ending whatever that arrow was had shifted the battle decisively in the Adventurer's favour.

Queen only lasted a few more minutes before she fell to her attackers. The Adventurers had won, but they were severely battered. The fighters and healer were the worst off, even with the magic used to get them back up. The healer had collapsed from exhaustion.

The reward appears in a flash. I noted they got the three silver and spider silk option. The archer was organising the body removal as it was too big for their dimensional storage bag, but again, they had a plan.

They produced collapsable polls from the bag and tied the body to it. As they worked, I listened to their conversation. It was soon apparent that the fight had been far too close for them and they were talking about staying on the third or the first few rooms on this floor for the time being.

It took all six of them to lift and carry the body out of the Dungeon. The spiral staircase gave them a lot of problems, but in the end, they got it out.