The last thing I saw outside was the dreadnoughts stomping up the drive toward the entrance wielding battering rams that glowed with magical power.
“They’re going to smash the doors in,” I said. “We need to be ready with a dungeon in place to contain them.”
I placed the Granite Cave dungeon in the Mansion’s Main Door slot, so that when the cyborgs broke through they would be faced with the power of the mobs. From our side, the mansion doors became grayed-out, and I knew that for the moment at least, the integrity of the mansion was secured.
I turned to the agents. Astrid had transformed back into herself, and was leaning over Selena, who was sitting up, coughing and spluttering but looking much better. The glow of a healing potion shone around her, and the wounds on her leg and face were disappearing before my eyes.
“You okay?” I asked quickly.
She nodded, her face grim.
At that moment there was a rending sound of breaking wood, and I heard Kyrine scream inside my head.
There was a shimmering of light, and the dungeon avatar appeared in the hall. “They’ve smashed the main door!” she gasped. “They’re in the Granite Cave dungeon! So many of them! The dungeon was not designed to contain so many beings all at once!”
I activated my Sentient Dungeon awareness, my conscious slamming into the fabric of the Granite Cave dungeon. The Technomancer’s beings were crashing through the main hall. They had triggered the mobs, and the cyborg rats were fighting giant spiders while the cyborg men were grappling with Flora Whelps, Frostbreath Cougars, and goblin mobs.
The new towers we had created were spewing fire, with the flamethrower goblins cheering and howling with delight as the flames ate up the cyborg flesh.
But Kyrine was right. The dungeon was never designed for this level of attack. As the Sentient Dungeon I felt Kyrine’s power flowing through me, and I drew on it to break past the mob limits. At my command, hundreds of goblins appeared from all over the dungeon, charging the cyborg host with their scimitars.
A unit of MP5 goblins were triggered by some cyborgs smashing through the first boss door, and they began to unload on the cyborgs. The noise of Storm Sphere and the crackle of flame mixed with the howling of goblins and the guttural moaning of the cyborgs. The noise echoed around the chamber.
Blades flew from the triggered traps, cutting cyborgs to pieces, and flame traps set them on fire. One of the goblin towers collapsed, and the goblins’ flamethrowers exploded in a series of orange fireballs. The shockwaves from the percussive detonations knocked over monsters and cyborgs alike, filling the hall with smoke.
There was a creaking, whining noise, and I saw that the dreadnoughts were forcing themselves through the entrance and into the dungeon.
The flamethrower team came in with the dreadnoughts, but they had stopped firing. Everywhere, their allies were filling the dungeon.
The boss doors were broken down, and Magma Ape bosses charged out of one, while boss-level Venomous Cobras rushed from the other. They made an impact, but there were too many foes, and they were being overwhelmed and cut down even as I watched.
Then it happened.
My Personal Cultivation System began to ping furiously at me, and I turned my attention to it.
Warning: Dungeon integrity compromised.
Reduce load!
The Granite Cave dungeon creaked under the sheer mass of enemies crammed into it. My mobs were being forced back, the traps not seeming to make any difference. The dreadnoughts had shoved their way through the press and were tearing at the very walls with their hammers and whirring blades.
There was a deep groaning sound like overburdened stone, and I felt a sharp sensation of pain as the dungeon wavered.
“Jeremy! Jeremy!”
It was Kyrine. She spoke urgently in my mind. “You need to get out of there. There’s only one way to reduce the load, you have to split the load between the two dungeons. You need to channel the cyborgs into the Castle Hall dungeon as well. If the Granite Cave collapses while you’re inside, you might be destroyed!”
She sounded half mad with fear at the prospect of my destruction. Frankly, I wasn’t too keen on the idea myself. I extracted myself from the Sentient Dungeon awareness and collapsed in a heap in the main hall.
Warning: Dungeon integrity compromised.
Collapse imminent!
Repeat: Collapse imminent!
There was no time to lose.
Chapter 21
Sarah Windvane’s dungeon adventurer team were having the time of their lives when I stepped into the Castle Hall dungeon.
They had triggered the final boss, a massive, oversized knight armed with a battleaxe and a magitech shotgun that fired blinding blasts of steam and fire at short range. Sarah was trading blows with the knight while Todd boosted her, and Josh used his fire crossbow to hold off a mob of melee squires that were trying their best to gain the dais.
It was clear that they had found the potion caches, and the gold, and also that they had discovered the healing and boosting properties of the food that was laid out on the tables. Or had been laid out on the tables; the hall was a mess of smashed furniture and spilled food, dead spiders and smashed knightly mobs.
All the adventurers were radiant with boosts, though, and big Josh was munching on an enchanted roast chicken even as he blasted the encroaching enemies with his crossbow.
I could have watched them all day, but the situation was urgent.
I gave a great shout and held up my hand. The boss froze in place, dropping his weapons, and the mob dissipated into thin air.
The adventurers looked around in confusion, then saw me.
Josh raised his crossbow and pointed it at me, but Sarah held up a hand and pushed his weapon down.
