The Dungeon lord : Women, power and monsters

Chapter 36: Chapter 36 : Preparing

Twelve hours earlier...

The sun had barely risen when Tolu and Ore entered the dungeon.

The morning air outside had been cool, but the moment they stepped beneath the earth, Tolu was already thinking about everything that could go wrong.

They had come early for a reason.

If the Dungeon War really began that night, they couldn’t afford to waste a single hour.

Ore looked around at the narrow tunnels.

"So where do we start?"

Tolu rubbed his chin. "Everywhere."

She laughed. "That’s helpful."

"I mean it."

He pointed toward the entrance. "We can’t make this place strong in one day. So we’re going to make it annoying."

"Annoying?"

"Very annoying."

Ore smiled. "I like the sound of that."

They started with the simplest thing.

Trenches.

They dug shallow trenches through several of the wider passages, leaving enough room for their own creatures to move around them.

They weren’t deep enough to stop a large creature completely.

That wasn’t the point.

Tolu wanted enemies to lose their footing.

A charging beast stumbling for even a second could be the difference between a Mirefang landing its claws and getting trampled.

Ore crouched beside one of the trenches.

"Won’t they just jump over this?"

"Some will."

"And the others?"

"We make the ones that jump land where we want them."

Ore looked at him.

Tolu smiled. "Traps."

They spent the next several hours turning the dungeon into a maze of unpleasant surprises.

Ropes were stretched across passages and concealed beneath dirt.

Others were tied to loose wooden supports that would pull branches, stones, or sharpened stakes into the path when triggered.

They dug several pits and disguised their openings.

Some were shallow enough to merely trip a creature.

Others were considerably deeper.

Tolu didn’t expect any of them to stop a powerful beast forever.

He only wanted them to slow one down.

Every obstacle was designed around the same idea.

Don’t fight strength with strength.

Make the enemy waste time.

Make it stumble.

Make it separate from the others.

Make it vulnerable.

And then let the Mirefangs attack.

At one point, Tolu stopped digging and looked toward the creature chambers.

Thirty Mirefangs now occupied the dungeon.

The twenty-six eggs had hatched.

The sight had almost made Tolu laugh when he’d first seen them.

The creatures were still young, but they were alive.

Thirty pairs of eyes.

Thirty sets of claws.

Thirty bodies that could stand between the enemy and the Dungeon Heart.

Ore followed his gaze. "They’re all yours now."

Tolu smiled. "I wouldn’t say that."

"What would you say?"

"They’re the dungeon’s."

Ore raised an eyebrow. "You’re starting to sound like a proper Dungeon Lord."

Tolu laughed. "I’ll take that as a compliment."

They continued working.

Later, they ventured outside again.

They needed more creatures.

Tolu had learned that the dungeon could absorb creatures that were brought into its territory, and although Razor Leaches were weak, he didn’t care.

Weak didn’t mean useless.

The creatures were small and ugly, with long, soft bodies and circular mouths filled with rows of tiny, razor-sharp teeth.

They were Level One creatures.

Their greatest strength wasn’t their physical power.

It was what happened when they attached themselves to something.

A Razor Leach would bite into flesh and begin draining blood and mana.

One wasn’t particularly dangerous.

Even several could be ripped away by a strong creature.

But a large number of them?

That was different.

Especially against beasts.

A human could reach down and pull one away.

A beast didn’t have hands.

Tolu stared at the writhing mass they had gathered.

Ore looked at him. "You have that expression again."

"What expression?"

"The one that means you’ve thought of something terrible."

Tolu smiled. "I’m beginning to think you know me too well."

They brought the Razor Leaches into the dungeon.

Several deep pits were prepared throughout the passages.

They filled them carefully and covered them with thin layers of dirt and loose material.

Anyone stepping into one would disturb the covering.

The leaches would swarm.

Tolu imagined a large beast charging through the dungeon, falling into one of the pits, and suddenly having dozens of tiny creatures crawling over its legs.

It would probably panic.

It might even injure itself trying to escape.

And while it struggled...

The Mirefangs could attack.

"That’s actually clever," Ore admitted.

Tolu grinned. "Thank you."

"It’s also disgusting."

"I’ll take clever and disgusting."

They moved on.

Ore prepared the next weapon.

Poison.

It wasn’t powerful enough to instantly kill anything.

That wasn’t what they needed.

They only needed something that would weaken an enemy.

Ore carefully coated the tips of her arrows.

Tolu watched her work. "Don’t get it on yourself."

"I know."

"Seriously."

Ore looked at him. "Tolu."

"What?"

"I know."

He nodded. "Right."

She smiled. "You worry too much."

"I’ve seen what poison does."

"So have I."

She finished another arrow and placed it carefully into her quiver. "That’s why I’m being careful."

Tolu nodded.

Then he looked toward the remaining supplies.

"We should coat the spikes too."

Ore looked at him. "Can we?"

"Why not?"

So they did.

The sharpened stakes positioned along several traps were treated with the same poison.

If an enemy triggered the mechanism and the spikes struck, the wound wouldn’t simply hurt.

The poison would begin working afterward.

It wasn’t a perfect strategy.

But perfection wasn’t something they had.

They had preparation.

They had numbers.

They had terrain.

And they had desperation.

By midday, both of them were covered in dirt.

Ore’s hair had become messy.

Tolu’s clothes were stained from digging.

They sat against the wall of one of the chambers to rest.

Ore looked at him. "You know..."

"What?"

"We’ve been preparing all day."

"Yes."

"And we’re still probably going to get ourselves killed tonight."

Tolu stared at her. "Could you not say that while I’m eating?"

Ore laughed.

Tolu shook his head.

Then he smiled.

For a moment, the fear disappeared.

Ore leaned against his shoulder.

Tolu looked down at her. "You’re comfortable."

"Very."

"You weren’t this comfortable a few weeks ago."

"You weren’t this annoying a few weeks ago."

Tolu chuckled. "Fair."

They remained there quietly for a while.

The dungeon around them was strangely peaceful.

Thirty young Mirefangs occasionally made noises from the nearby chamber.

The Razor Leaches moved beneath their hidden coverings.

Ropes waited beneath dirt.

Traps waited silently.

Everything they could think of had been prepared.

Ore lifted her head. "Tolu."

"Hm?"

"If we survive..."

He looked at her. "What?"

She smiled.

"We should do something normal."

"Like what?"

"I don’t know."

She thought for a moment. "Go somewhere without worrying about dying."

Tolu smiled. "I’d like that."

Ore leaned closer.

"Then survive."

Tolu nodded.

"I’ll try."

She kissed him.

It was brief.

But unlike the kiss from the night before, neither of them was startled by it anymore.

There was something natural about it now.

Something reassuring.

Tolu rested his forehead against hers afterward.

"Definitely surviving."

Ore smiled. "Good."

They stood again.

There was still work to do.

The rest of the afternoon disappeared beneath dirt, sweat, rope, and stone.

They checked every trap twice.

Some three times.

They tested the ropes.

They tested the triggers.

They marked dangerous areas so the Mirefangs wouldn’t accidentally fall into their own defenses.

They created paths through the dungeon that only they and the creatures knew.

They even moved some rocks and debris around the entrance to make the dungeon appear smaller and weaker than it really was.

If the enemy underestimated them, even slightly, that could become an advantage.

Eventually, they reached the inner chamber.

Tolu looked around.

The tiny dungeon was no longer quite as helpless as it had been that morning.

It was still small.

Still weak.

Still nowhere near the great dungeons he imagined existed across the world.

But it had teeth now.

Thirty Mirefangs.

Razor Leaches hidden beneath the earth.

Poisoned arrows.

Poisoned spikes.

Trenches.

Pits.

Ropes.

Falling obstacles.

Hidden paths.

And two people who had spent an entire day preparing to fight something they didn’t understand.

Ore stood beside him. "Anything else?"

Tolu looked around.

He thought for several seconds.

Then shook his head. "No."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing I can think of."

Ore looked toward the entrance.

The light outside was beginning to fade.

Tolu followed her gaze.

Night was coming.

The Dungeon War was coming with it.

He took a slow breath. "We’ve done everything we can."

Ore nodded.

Tolu looked at the dungeon around them.

Then at Ore.

She reached for his hand.

He held it tightly.

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

Finally, Ore whispered, "Let’s hope it’s enough."

Tolu squeezed her hand. "Yeah." His eyes moved toward the dark entrance.

"Let’s hope it’s enough."

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