After a quick perfunctory check, Mark quickly pulled the trigger on DP conversion. It took 97 DP to bring them to 2 million even after paying the 10% conversion fee. A moment later Settlements III was unlocked. Mark quickly looked for any new features. There were no surprises, their homepage now had a 3 of 5 for production outposts. Mark Converted an additional 69 DP leaving them with 57 remaining. He quickly built 2 outposts for 50,000 and an additional 12,000 MP for shade henchmen. Their remaining MP dropped to just over a hundred.
Mark had already found two convenient outpost locations and had scouts standing by so that he could instantly claim them. Their fourth outpost was their third outpost located underground. With 6 coal mounds, it allowed decent production while being out of sight of the other dungeons. The second location also had 6 coal mounds, but was far away on the surface on the southern edge of the map. Mark deemed this location the secret valley.
The secret valley was more of a strategic location. It was in the south nearly equidistant from the two southern dungeons that remained. It would be about a 3 day march to attack either Nicholas Holt or Leonard Boulevic. Mark deemed it the ‘secret valley’ because it was difficult to get to and out of the way. Units would have to specifically go out searching to find the valley. Hopefully it would remain hidden, and one day Mark could expand it into a settlement and use it as a staging point for attacks on the southern dungeons. For now, it was just another way to increase their MP production.
Their dungeon’s daily MP production had risen to 43,330 to 54,200 in one go. A good bump for sure, but Mark was excited to see that there was more than just a Ten thousand MP boost.
[Congratulations: You have maxed out the dungeon settlements. DP and RP plus 3]
The extra boosts would be extremely helpful. They would also help provide enough benefits to pay off the 2 million MP tech expenditure faster. A part of Mark had wondered whether it would not be better to just spend MP on troops and try to conquer the other dungeons. Perhaps if there was only one other dungeon left he would have done just that, but with multiple dungeons making early moves could set you behind the other dungeons who were moving forward.
Seemingly there was no dungeon features IV tech since the interface indicated that 5 settlements was the max for the battle. A bit odd since there was a level 4 dungeon upgrade just waiting for him on the home page. But since the upgrade was 3 million MP, Mark had wondered whether anyone would even bother to push for it. Level 3 had only 6 tech options, all at exorbitant prices. If there were techs at level 4 there likely would not be that many, or they would have ridiculously good benefits or no one would ever buy them this late in the battle.
Still progressing levels always provided fairly significant benefits, and now that most dungeons were pulling in 50,000 MP a day the upgrade could be earned in about 2 months. Inevitably dungeons would likely push for it fairly quickly for the extra benefits. The only reason Mark would be hesitant to unlock it first was that it would increase the enemy dungeons sponsorship rewards. Currently they could open 3 a week, but it would likely go up again at level 4. Of course the remaining 3 level 3 techs were also quite promising.
They would be saving up for dungeon features III next since Mark wanted to get the 5 more dungeon levels as soon as possible. They only had about 6 days before the scheduled attack on Gale’s swamp fortress, but fortunately dungeon features III was only 1 million, and they were already nearly there. Mark also planned to spend as little as possible, despite their agreements.
Mark was fairly confident that he could produce a fairly powerful and expensive looking army for a fraction of the actual cost. They would let Daniel do the heavy lifting while they built their strength. However, not everything went to plan while waiting for the coalition attack in less than a week.
Day 339
There was no surprise, Mark and Amelia saw the forces as soon as they departed from the fog that extended to Gale’s territorial boundaries. Gale’s trireme ships and barges departed mid morning from her river settlement. Their course was set straight for the garden sanctuary. The swamps were not overly deep, but anytime the ships could not find a deep channel of water to navigate the giantoids walking alongside them could help guide and push them over, as long as the water was not too shallow.
All the while frogman scouts shadowed them from a great distance. They were proceeding quite quickly. Mark guessed they had perhaps a couple of hours before they would reach the territorial bubble.
Mark was not surprised. Things had been fairly quiet over more than 2 months. Gale had recovered from her failed assault several times over. Making a play on their settlements was not beyond expectation.
“So, what do you think we should do,” Amelia scrunched her face.
Mark did not answer. The attack on the swamp fortress was scheduled 6 days from now. They currently had over 900,000 MP. Plenty if they wanted to defend and build their own attack army, but their MP was slated for dungeon features III. It was always beneficial to waste opponent dungeons resources, but was it worth spending hundreds of thousands of MP here? Gale surely had plenty of MP right now, even if they successfully defended here she would likely still be able to reset her forces within the next 6 days if not more. Mark contemplated for another minute.
“No, I don’t think we should spend much to defend against this attack. Instead we can use DP to move the manna bellows, pumps… back over to our settlement. Then we can start mining the coal still available at our home dungeon. As long as we take her out in 6 days when the garden sanctuary respawns we can get things going again there.”
“I guess that makes sense. We will lose tens of thousands of MP. Still shouldn’t we make her pay at least a little bit,” Amelia said smirking.
Mark thought about it. They only had 500 frogmen, 400 goblins, and 25 sunflowers. For only 20,000 MP he could bring the goblin numbers up over 1,000. That would be enough to at least put up a decent fight. They had plenty of equipment and weapons there since the sanctuary had its own warehouse and other facilities.
“Okay, I will evacuate the frogman since they would be more helpful in the attack in a week. Then let's spend 30,000 to add 3 more divisions of goblins, putting them at about 1,400. Nothing too powerful, we will depend on enchanted equipment to make up the difference.”
Amelia nodded as Mark started making the orders. In total they had nearly 700 frogmen, but nearly 100 of them were out scouting across the waterways in the north and the east. They had even mapped locations up to within a day's march of Leonard's dungeon. Nick Holt’s dungeon would always be untouchable from the water. They would have to send a land army to attack the desert region of the endless bluffs.
The other 100 frogmen were working further south with a large contingent of goblins, building their own barges and small ships for the upcoming attack. They definitely would still need the other 500 to help guide them all there on the day of the attack, so Mark would have them take a circuitous route far to the south. The moves were made in only 10 minutes, but the goblins were scrambling to get things together and get outfitted according to Mark’s instructions. They had plenty of surplus supplies to expend here.
Mark then spent 12 DP to bring the manna production devices back to their home dungeon. He would allow the sanctuary shades to continue to mine until the attack began. Mark thought about it for a moment before he went ahead and did it. He converted 120 DP paying an additional 12 to get them to 1 million. They still had 66 DP remaining, so they would have some wiggle room if something unexpected came up.
Mark was just too eager to see what dungeon features III would bring. Once again there were no surprises. They could build 5 new levels, which would bring them up to 14 levels. The move also increased their daily DP by 1 up to 10. The earlier their daily DP went up the better, but it was a shame they would only get 1 additional point. Mark had held off despite being able to make the move for a few days now, since that would have burnt all their MP and DP leaving them helpless should something occur.
What they were left with was not much, but the risks should be worth it since Gale was the only threat that should be attacking in the short term unless someone was planning a double cross. But in Mark’s opinion it was to all of the coalition dungeons' benefit to see the attack through at the very least.
The tenth level was double the cost of the previous 5 dungeon levels at 200,000 MP. It was not too much at this point. They could unlock a level every 3 weeks just by using DP, which is likely what Mark would do. They were already a third of the way there even after having converted so much.
As for RP, Mark needed to find something new to devote the 5 leftovers for the day. Over the last few months they had unlocked healer to level 4 and all 3 unique germination paths to tier 5. The trainer flowering stage finished today, rounding out his plans prior to the attacks. The five upgrades may not seem like much but they would make a difference in the upcoming battle.
Witch doctor level 3 and 4 each gave an additional spell or curse. Level 3 gave a witch doctor the reanimate spell that could be used to reanimate a number of units equivalent to that of the witch doctor's level. It had a variable duration and the reanimated body could remain reanimated for a full day. The manna required also varied depending on what was being reanimated. One of Gale’s giants would likely be more than enough to clean out a witch doctors full reserves.
The fourth level gave the class a shrunken head curse. The spell would cause an enemy units head to shrink gradually until it became the size of a baseball or the witch doctor died, allowing the head to go back to normal. Of course units would die more quickly before their heads ever became that small.
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In actuality the curse basically gave a unit a time limit and acted to grab their aggro. If they wanted to live they would have no choice but to try and make it to the witch doctor and slay them. Not a bad curse for a caster that could be hundreds of feet away. The downsides was that the curse took 25 seconds to cast, and a witch doctor could only have one active against a living being at a time. The stronger enemies would also survive for far longer, but it still might result in the elite unit having to leave defenses to go after the witch doctor. That by itself could be worth it.
But there was one more benefit. If the witch doctor survived the battle they could go around and collect all of the shrunken heads. The shrunken heads could then be used to strengthen curses and reduce manna costs, and even better there was no limit on how many heads a witch doctor could collect. They just had to cast the curse themselves to be allowed to use the shrunken heads.
As far as the trainer and breeder flowering tier upgrades, they just increased the number of units that could be trained or bred. Very useful but nothing new to fanboy on. However the symbiote flowering stage gave a new ability” Forceful possession.
Forceful possession allowed symbiote units to forcefully posess enemy dungeon units by implanting its own essence in another unit. It was close to Nick Holt's coffin skill which took over enemy units, However this skill was far slower, and allowed Mark to keep the units for good. It would however be difficult to enact, since units had to be restrained and continually injected throughout the process. That being said, the blood rose symbiotes would definitely be pretty good at this, potentially able to convert a handful of mid to low tier enemies over the course of a battle.
Then there was the new grenadier class that had finished only yesterday. The specialized class fell under the scout archetype, which they currently only had unlocked to level 2. Like its name, the grenadiers worked with black powder making explosives that could be hurled at enemies. Unfortunately, there was not enough time for them to make a stockpile of grenades before their attack on Gale. However, he had bought 10 Reds yesterday to start their grenade inventory. Mark would then build a bunch of green and yellow hob goblin grenadiers to deliver the payloads. Units had to be grenadiers to both use the grenades effectively since it required manna being inserted correctly to vary the detonate time. They also had an ability that worked to keep their payloads from coming unstable. Mark’s solution was to use the reds to build the majority of the grenades. In the future he would have a bunch of low cost level 1 units use them.
The new class would go very well with something that Ezekiel had invented. Mark was calling it enriched powder since the mad scientist had used sulfur essence to make his own batches of the stuff. Their ever present mad scientist observer had been able to note the process, meaning now Mark could make as much as he wanted.
Of course Ezekiel had been using the stuff to make an ancient Chinese-like rocket. Once again, it was something that after a few experiments could be reproduced. The gnome made version could effectively fly a thousand feet in an arc before it either exploded in the air or on the ground at the end of its trajectory. However, they were far from accurate. Some corkscrewed and wound up going as far to the side as they went forward. Others turned to go straight up exploding high into the sky like a firework. In mass they could cause some damage, but they were not something that could be depended on. The grenades would be far more precise and effective. However, the rockets had been around slightly longer, so he would actually have a handful to use for the upcoming assault.
Gale’s assault on the garden sanctuary started in earnest just under 3 hours after they had noticed the armies headed their way, and armies was the correct term. A second small force of lesser trolls entered their territory from the east. They had climbed the plateau and were making for the sanctuary’s sky light. They were apparently intent on repelling down into the middle of the base. There was only a couple hundred troll regulars, but they would be plenty to cause chaos behind enemy lines.
Fortunately, Mark had at least considered the possibility. Several layers of nets covered the above entrance. At worst, they would prevent the trolls from dropping right in. Best case scenarios the trolls did not cut through the net and were forced diagonally down to one side of the cave into a prepared engagement zone. It was not much, but it would delay them at the very least.
The main force ran their ships onto a mud reef several hundred feet from the wall. As soon as they were in position, orbs started launching from lizardmen slingshots toward the crack in the clifface. However any that would have hit within around 15 feet of the top of the wall collided against a barrier that flared white. The wall had been finished for a while now, so Mark had plenty of time to have the magic barrier set up. The home dungeon’s was just now getting embedded with the embued stones, but then its walls were 10 times the length of their settelments. The sanctuary’s wall was only a couple hundred feet in length spanning the full area between the cave walls. However, blue orbs that had a higher trajectory were able to make it through a 20 foot gap between the barrier and the rock above their defenses, they continued further in to explode inside the sanctuary.
For this battle, Gale’s forces made no attempt to use barges; the lizardmen and lesser trolls splashed right down into the water which only came up to their chests. They held their shield over their heads to guard from the arrows that were already raining down continually. With a nearly undeletable stockpile of good quality and below enchanted arrows at both bases, Mark had no reason to hold back.
Next came Gale’s elite giantoids. Gale had decided to mainly use hill and cave trolls for this endeavor. However a half dozen cloud giants had come to support the attack with their magic. The trolls were more suited to the hours march across the swamp, and the cloud giants had mostly trailed behind as the force made their way south. The first giant trolls dropped down into the muk, within seconds they overtook their smaller companions, and Mark gave the order.
Six rock colored hides were pulled up and away revealing 6 ballista, or oversized crossbows. The operators immediately wheeled them to point at the approaching giant humanoids. Moments later six 4 foot enchanted iron bolts streaked out. Exactly half of them hit their intended target.
Two punched right through a cave troll's door shield and into its chest instantly bringing it down. A third punched right through a hill trolls leg, downing the unit for now. The other three missed although one continued on punching into a lizardmen regular. Mark did not see the result, but since no body surfaced the bolt had likely pinned it to the swamp floor.
Several goblins immediately started cranking wheels on either side to move the string back for another volley. Cloud giant ice blasts slammed into the barrier in front of the ballistas, but the barrier continued to hold. For how much longer, Mark could only guess, but it was unlikely to last the whole battle since the gems used were of far lesser quality than what their home dungeons wall would get. The hill and cave trolls reached the wall before the ballista were ready to fire again. Goblins peppered their heads and upper torso as they tried to boost each other up and onto the wall. Several more went down. Several more made it to the top of the wall. However immediately several yellow beams came from further back in the cavern blasting them right back off the wall.
More trolls came up and over and more sunbursts blasted them right back off the wall soon after. They would run out of their charge soon enough. The ballista fired again, this time toward the ships since the large trolls were too close. Mark was quite happy to see a cloud giant go down for the count. A second had his arm removed below the elbow.
The excellent quality single enchanted iron bolts hit very hard. However their range was severely less than the wooden shaft variants in work, but the range was fine for the sanctuaries purposes. Other iron bolts duplicated into eight more before raining down on the ships. Several hit the cloud giants and the ships, but the damage was far more topical against the giantoids. However they still killed the lizardmen manning the slingshots. The ballistas got a couple more shots each as the hill and cave trolls were continually repelled by the sunbursts.
The real attack began when the lizardmen reached the wall's base. Dozens of grappling hooks went up and over. Others were tossed right up and onto the wall by the hill and cave trolls. There were a good 200 goblins on the wall ready for the melee. Another 300 archers and a few goblin mages would provide ranged support and another 500 goblins were held in reserve to reinforce, but they would not be able to fight them off for long. The sunflowers started using spells for the weaker units, saving whatever remained of their sunburst ability for the larger targets.
A check on the troll regulars descending from the skylight showed that they were not going to descend in accordance with the slanted net. They were cutting through to descend all throughout the cavern. However more than a few bodies were hanging on the net lifelessly bobbing in the air. Mark had sent 200 goblin archers to try and deal with them. The rest he had behind a small but second defensive line just before the sunflowers.
Despite reinforcements, the top of the wall fell within minutes. Plenty of lizardmen had joined the goblin dead lying on the walkway or down at the base, but with their shields far fewer fell to arrows despite the enchantments than Mark would have liked. They stormed down the stairs and into the waiting spears of hundreds of goblin spearmen waiting behind a legionnaire shield wall. Things held for a while until more and more lizardmen started descending down ropes after having moved their grappling hooks to drape the lines down the inside of the wall. Once the wall was hit in more than a few select locations, the goblin lines started to get pushed back.
Then came the hill and cave giants who were now proceeding over the wall without abandon. Once the sunburst ability was all used up, the sunflowers could do nothing to prevent it. Without the ballista the cloud giants had been able to move to cover behind the wall. Without aid they were able to pull themselves up. Mark ordered for the archers to target them exclusively. All but one fell back quickly. The one who didn’t was already falling forward dead. They did not attempt to join the battle again until the goblins had been pushed back into the archers, which did not taken more than another minute once the hill and troll giants joined the melee. The goblin line quickly buckled and broke under their onslaught.
Once the cloud giants started sending ice blasts into the goblin ranks, the battle pretty much wrapped up. Four ice blasts killed a good 70 goblins all at once. The goblins fell back behind a five foot secondary defense, but things were already hopeless. The goblins that had been manning the wall had already been pulled to hold off the troll regulars advancing from behind.
The battle ended in about 20 minutes, resulting in every one of the defenders having died. However, Mark was pleased to see that they had killed far more than 40,000 MP worth of enemies, which was about what it would take to replace all of the goblins that had been killed.
The trolls and lizardmen immediately began destroying the settlement, ensuring that Mark would have to send a force to retake the dungeon if he wanted to use it again.
It was a distinct possibility, they would have to. However, hopefully at that point it would just be taking the sanctuary back from a bunch of neutral units since Gale would be long gone. If she thought this would be a serious blow to them, then she was wrong. Their shade henchmen were already back to work at the home dungeon site. For the next 6 days they would have a reduced daily production since they went from 7 coal mounds back to 3, but it was far less than the hundreds of thousands he would have had to use to successfully defend the site.
