Farming is OP

With the last bit of work, I brought the dungeon online. Almost ten years of research, of playing with the laws of dungeons to find the perfect way to quickly build a dungeon system. Earth manipulation could only work so fast because the dirt had to go somewhere, and most of the time, I would just pack it down. There was a limit to packing dirt, though, and the more packed it became, the harder it became to pack more.

With the dungeon core in hand, I could instead soften the dirt and store it in the dungeon's storage, not only making it far quicker to design these underground bases, but also quickly filling up the resource acquisition of the dungeon core, allowing it to either grow its borders incredibly fast or make changes to the land it already controlled. Right now, its borders are expanding rapidly.

The reason I did this was for the stat boost to myself, which would feed back into my wives, empowering them as well. I wished it were possible to quickly make a farm, but the requirements were far stricter. I had to sleep in the house with crops outside for it to register as a farm. There might have been ways to make it possible, but at the end of the day, this was the correct decision for what we currently needed.

A house on the surface couldn’t survive a single wyvern attack, let alone the combined efforts of all those drakes, wyverns, skeletonized dragon, and Lich. The only way I could ensure that the dungeon wouldn’t be destroyed was by digging this tunnel system for it to stay in. I could have only dug down enough to hide the core, but then it would take forever to grow its territory, meaning I’d have to constantly stand by it, which might draw attention to what's actually empowering us.

Now, if he didn’t realize what I did and look in an obscure corner hidden behind a stalagmite, he would never find the dungeon core. All of us looked at the Lich; there were four other paths leading here, but the one he came from was destroyed, meaning three paths to the center of the dungeon. If he fled or left this area, I couldn’t chase him, and only half the room was empowered, meaning I could only move in this half; otherwise, I’d lose the bonus stats for my wives and me.

The fighting started immediately, the Lich’s hand moving fast and mechanically, pointing at Sarah as a bolt of death magic moved through the air. If it was before, it would have struck her cleanly with no defense; the Lich was just that fast and powerful, but now she could put up a defense. She tried to block it at the same time as she moved out of the way. It still struck her, just not dead center like the first bolt that did.

The difference in her stats was clear immediately, because the blow that might have killed her before only knocked the wind out of her now. She was hurt; it definitely dealt damage, just not at the same level as before. What could have killed before in two or three clean strikes now would take four or five, and it was much harder to land those perfect, center-mass shots.

All of my wives moved in tandem while I made it look like I manipulated the earth, but actually used my dungeon creation to raise a dirt pillar up to block another bolt flying toward Sarah. The Lich had two hands, though, and had now begun firing those bolts from both of them; while the first aimed at Sarah, the next was aimed at Delilah.

It struck her clean, but she was the real tank of the group. It barely slowed her down as her hammer struck the Lich’s magical shield. At the same time, Tems' daggers dug into the back of the shield, proving it was a complete bubble around him. The Lich moved mechanically, almost like a golem, making every decision quickly enough that there was no stuttering in its movements. It decided the flight spell was an unnecessary drain on its mana, landing on the ground at the same time the attacks did, the shield pushing those close back while he kept firing those bolts.

I was playing 100% defense right now; it made the most sense. Tems just kept striking over and over again. I could see the shield crack. If the Lich could sweat, he would be, just from the sheer pressure she was putting on him while the rest did their best. His hand snapped backwards and fired at her, but she was already fast enough to dodge before the stat increase. Now, she could dodge a point-blank attack and did so.

I just kept raising more and more pillars, one blocking a bolt while the next came up to hold the weakening roof from collapsing down. Every bolt that missed my wives’ would hurt the structural integrity of this room; it wasn’t reinforced, which meant I needed to constantly rebuild it so it wouldn’t kill us all. I had the inclination that might have been a strategy of the Lich.

I noticed something: the Lich was targeting Delilah, an inordinately large amount compared to the rest. While they were doing their best, many of my wives took bolts. Sarah had retreated out of the room as she held her arm, almost dead, drinking a potion which would send her into potion shock because of how many she drank.

Delilah was the next to flee, then Olivia, and finally Sophia. It came down to Tems and me to defeat the Lich; he was that powerful. Even with all our advantages, they only managed to break his shield three times, and he quickly reformed another, but with each new shield, it became weaker and weaker, easier to break, and more fragile.

Tems had done amazingly at avoiding the damage, but now with the Lich able to fully focus on her, she needed to make harder and harder movements to dodge. Even still, she was keeping up, but that wasn’t the only magic he had. With a wave of his hand, he caused a concussive force to generate from his body. It wasn’t very strong, but it was still enough to push her back and into the air, making it impossible for her to dodge two death bolts he fired.

The death bolt's damage wasn’t 1+1=2; no, they dealt more damage because her body had to fight the energy of two bolts at once instead of just one. Black veins started to cover her face as blood leaked from her nose and mouth. With her suddenly on her last legs, the Lich began to gloat. “It seems this is the end of you. Don't worry, though, you’re all very strong. I’ll make good use of your corpses.”

It was up to me now. I needed to distract him, and, as much as he tried to hide it, I could tell he was on his last legs as well. His hands shook from the last attack, and I was hoping it was a sign of him running out of mana. “Hey fuckface. You forgot about the real threat.” He completely ignored me, firing again at Tems, who managed to jump out of the way, but the effects from the death magic running through her body were clear; she was now on the ground and completely defenseless.

I got to work; death bolts rained down on her as I kept raising more and more earth between the two. Absorbing six before she recovered enough to run out of the room. Finally, he turned his attention to me. “Looks like it’s just you and me now,” I smirked, scared but still happy that no one died yet. “It appears that way. Let me show you why you should have gone after me from the start.”

I was calm and cool on the outside, but freaking out on the inside. All my wives working together wasn’t enough to beat him. What hope did I have? But this was fine. As long as I stalled enough for my wives to recover, I’d be happy. Even if it cost me my life.

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