Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Kincaid sat in a luxurious room while watching the Dungeon Battle between his champion and a local dungeon.

He sipped a glass of wine and smiled at what that little human had accomplished so far. He had been playing close attention to his champion like most of the disciples.

His champion sure had unique ideas about dungeons, but he found the change to be refreshing. He looked forward to the first competition that was just under 5 months away.

///

Max vanished from where he was standing and appeared behind a goblin. His fist meant to stun the creature smashed its head like a watermelon.

He fought on the outskirts of the horde but found that these goblins went down even easier than the wooden training dummies.

Quin slashed with his sword that remained sealed in his sheath. The goblins near him collapsed after being bisected.

They really were nothing but an annoyance.

”Ah, this isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.” Max said as a dozen spears of earth rose from the ground and impaled all the nearby goblins.

”What were you expecting? These things only have numbers and no strength.” Quin replied.

Max shrugged. ”I was hopping to get in at least a little practice.”

”Maybe once we go on the offensive the Goblin Mines will have a strong boss that will be worth fighting.”

”You think so?” Max asked.

”No.” Quin said.

”HA, ha, alright. Anna just told me that the enemy Dungeon Master is approaching the Boss of this level. Let’s go watch.”

”At least that will be more entertaining than this.” Quin said while stabbing his sheath through the chest of a goblin.

Without another word, the pair retreated from the battle at a speed the goblins couldn’t follow.

///

Hizon and his hobgoblins passed through the fog of the forest. Up ahead they saw a large clearing. In the very center stood a tall treant.

Inside an enemies dungeon his menu only gave him the barest of information. All he knew about the treant was that it was a level 15 Boss.

He grabbed the daggers at his waist while his party prepared for action. They waited a few moments as the horde finally appeared in the distance.

”Let’s go.” Hinzo said.

He flickered from sight and appeared behind the large tree. He sunk his blades into the bark as a dark magic was unleashed through his weapons.

A pair of hobgoblins charged with a sword and a spear. Another raised a staff as it began chanting. The last hobgoblin held a totem in one hand and began to buff the others and while he clutched his prayer beads and was ready to heal the moment it was necessary.

The goblin horde swarmed into the clearing as the hobgoblins moved through them with ease.

Spells were launched and spears stabbed out. A lone ant rider had made it this far. The ant sank its sharp mandibles into the tree.

The treant turned its eyes to the horde. A large root like foot rose into the air and smashed down, killing 20 goblins with little effort.

Hizon cursed. He had used his strongest strike and barely dented the things health.

He was a level 35 hobgoblin, that made no sense.

Feeling a strong nature magic surge through the clearing he quickly backed off. The shaman support/healer quickly interrupted the treant’s ability, not letting it take form.

Hizon wasn’t sure why this level 15 was so difficult to deal with.

He and his men should have easily been able to take down the boss with the help of the horde.

Max and Quinn watched from a distance. This was what they had expected.

The treant had the least amount of abilities and skills compared to the other 2 bosses. But the one thing it had in abundance, was health and armor. The only reason it was able to kill so many goblins at once was due to its size.

That was why Max chose this boss for the Dungeon Battle. Since the level restrictions were lifted, this was a level 15 unique boss. Its unique ability was nothing special compared to other treants. Well, that wasn’t true. Max considers it a great ability.

The treants natural regeneration was significantly boosted. If the instance was still activated, players would need a good long while to deal with this boss. Its attacks were nothing special and its magic had plenty of warning before it activated. A truly determined party would be able to hold on and eventually deal with it.

The issue for Hizon was that this wasn’t an instance. The enemies in this level weren’t restricted. That meant that the longer they were stuck here, the more likely the large beast and the remaining fey creatures would eventually converge on this location while the treant acted like an impenetrable door that prevent them from continuing.

”What the hell is wrong with this dungeon?” Hinzo cursed.

This was not going like he imagined it. This should have been a dungeon filled with fey.

The hobgoblin Dungeon Master saw another 20 goblins squashed by a large root. He heard a rumble in the distance and saw a large creature arrive at the clearing. The ogre roared and charged into the goblins that were swarming the tree.

If one had arrived, the others would be here soon. This whole thing was going to shit. He didn’t want to make the decision, but it was the only way out. They would retreat. The large creatures would only be able to occupy the cavern at the entrance to the mine. They wouldn’t be able to enter. The orcs, although they could fit in the tunnels, wouldn’t be able to fight with their full capacity in the tight spaces.

His best chance at winning was to defend and hope his dungeons contributions outweighed Crag Dungeon.

He sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on the enemy’s dungeon core.

He motioned to the team of hobgoblins and began to retreat. After running through the forest for a few minutes he heard the horn signaling the rest of the horde to fall back.

Hizon cursed again as they exited the forest. The other large beasts and creatures had not been heading towards the boss. They covered the field with the orcs while trying to prevent the horde from returning to the mines.

Hizon and his party easily evaded them by hiding in the large horde, but many goblins were not so lucky.

Stepping into the Goblin Mines the Dungeon Master yelled out to his elite force. ”Prepare for defense. Abandon the cavern and head deeper. We must protect the core at tall costs.”

///

[Goblin Mines Dungeon Master has retreated. Crag Dungeon is now able to initiate an offensive attack.]

Max watched as the goblins fled from the boss. He and Quin joined in as they killed everything in their path.

Once the order was issued, all the creatures of Crag dungeon did their best to decimate the retreating goblins. The more they killed here, the less they had to deal with in the dungeon.

Max stopped at the edge of the forest. He watched the last few goblins escape from the orcs and the large creatures.

Gnomes began to appear from the forest as they went to go provide aid to the elves and the orcs.

Most of the large creatures were ignored since they wouldn’t be able to do much to help the offense and the materials needed to patch them up were enough to heal 4 or 5 elves. The only creature that was tended to was the ground wyrm.

It was a large snake/worm like creature that had four claws. Covered in thick scales that were reinforced by its faint draconic blood line, it wasn’t too banged up. Since this creature was able to burrow through the ground it would be included in the attack force.

Elroband and the orc war chief soon came to Max.

”What are our losses like?”

The elven prince spoke first. ”32 martial fighters will be able to help in the attack. The 10 casters I have held from defense at your suggestion are in perfect condition.”

”Good.” Max said then turned to the bare-chested orc.

”I have 81 orcs who can still fight. We will hold the cavern on their side while the large beasts and creatures will guard the entrance from our side.”

Broomer stepped out of the forest while 150 hundred dwarves marched in formation behind him.

”Ho, what a good battle. The lady boss let me watch from the monitoring room.” The dwarf leader said while reaching up to clap the orc war chief on the back. ”Boss, let me know when we can start the fight.”

Max looked around and saw the gnomes were wrapping out their treatment. ”We will head out shortly.”

Looking at the assault team that was beginning to assemble it was hard to not compare it to what the goblins sent.

The ones who would be doing the actual attacking would number less than 200. This was a battle between quality and quantity.

The dwarves and elves were both strong. Everyone was a rare Elite at level 25. Broomer and Prince Elroband were both unique creatures even though they weren’t bosses. They would be joining both Max and Quin, neither of which were weak. Only inexperienced in Max’s case. And then there was the level 20 rare elite ground wyrm who would not be an easy opponent.

Once they were assembled, Max turned to the orc war chief. He and the orcs would go through first in case there was any surprises waiting in the cavern on the other side.