Void Crowne - Book 1 - Chapter 64 (Patreon)

For those of you who are reading this on a website that is not Patreon, please stop. You're reading a pirated version. Instead, if you would be so kind, please click on the table of contents link below and go to my Patreon instead. Or even read it off of Royal Road, which is free.

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Table of Contents

I am once again back home from my vacation! That said, it looks like those allergies were just me being sick. And I'm still sick. so...

Anyway, chapters are back again. I hope you enjoy!

Click on the following link for the 1450 word Chapter 64:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rFftx8Bv1lBu2zj4lcKGyOEqqybSC9Z8LMU9xOz4Z28/edit?usp=sharing

Or read the following unformatted chapter on Patreon:

Somewhere on Furtruna

Leonhart lets out a breath of relief after they finally finish off the last of the blighted, including many of their own numbers. But his relief doesn’t last for long before he gets the final tally of their total casualties.

They brought twenty-five thousand shadow hunters to the battle, and they lost two thousand four hundred and twenty-one of them. Almost an entire tenth of their number. And this was with the help of five other City Lords.

The future battles against the First Ranked’s Assaults won’t likely have all five of those City Lords assistance, so he can expect even more casualties during those battles than this one.

It’s infuriating to him. Especially when he saw his own Assault getting completely crushed by a force of voidlings that didn’t even include the First Ranked through the footage from the System.

At least we finally dealt with the First Ranked’s Assault…

He grits his teeth as he thinks that before ordering all of his forces to return to the city. Albeit only after gathering together the dead blighted, blightlings, and broodmother. Simply to use them as research to see if they can create an antidote for the blight.

Only for him to learn when he arrives at his System City again that the First Ranked has already sent two more Assaults at once. Proving just how many Event Points he must have claimed from his first Assault in his ability to do so.

Leonhart clenches his fists at his sides before eventually managing to calm himself down. Simply by telling himself that the First Ranked must have sent smaller Assault forces this time since it’s his second and third force.

That’s the only thing keeping him calm.

And even that calm shatters when he brings his most powerful shadow hunters with him into the closest of the two Assaults, only to find the Assault filled with even more monsters than the first Assault reportedly had.

How?! How is he getting so many War Points?! Is it because he’s the First Ranked?!

Regardless of the First Ranked’s methods, Leonhart continues pushing his way through the Assault. With this Assault being a grand cave system underground that his forty-nine fellow shadow hunters, filling the maximum limit of fifty different users, are trekking through alongside him.

Since it took them a couple hours to arrive at the dungeon, all of the monsters within it have already become blighted. Which significantly increases the difficulty of their dungeon attempt.

Yet, despite that, he still manages to continue pushing through with minimal casualties until they arrive at a large cavern. One filled with over a hundred monsters inside of it, including the broodmother at the back of the cavern.

“Charge and wipe out this disgusting nest!!!” Leonhart roars before rushing forwards with shadows beginning to wrap around him. Ready for combat.

I wonder if those dwarves will choke on their pride when they inevitably bring too few of their own.

Leonhart feels his grin returning at the thought of the dwarves dying to mimics and blightlings. Especially since Leonhart decided not to tell the gruff old dwarf about the mimics.

I can’t wait to see that bastard’s face.

Somewhere Else on Furtruna

Rhetfel Igni feels ashamed at how much he struggled against the blighted army despite his prior complaints to the First Ranked on their planet, Leonhart. Not because he feels bad for insulting him, but because he embarrassed himself in the process.

He was already told that the dungeon originally only had fifty-three monsters, with the boss and the blightlings the boss periodically produces. So he doesn’t feel much wariness at all when going into the dungeon.

Even with his confidence, though, he still brings thirty of his strongest dwarves. Leaving the rest of them to deal with the rest of the dungeons around his System City.

If he’s being honest with himself, he feels grateful that the second Assault appeared next to his own System City. Thereby designating it his to deal with out of the City Lords in their agreement.

All because it gives him the chance to make up for his previous loss of face.

For dwarves, their pride is everything. Nothing is more important than their pride, their reputation, and their name.

The moment he enters the dungeon, he feels even more confident. Because the dungeon is in the form of a large mineshaft.

A dwarf’s playground, in his mind.

“Get busy!” Rhetfel shouts, making the dwarves with him begin their push through the mineshaft. All the way until they find a blighted zombie wandering around and easily kill it with a single bolt from a crossbow. Then they find a few more zombies a few minutes later and kill them just as easily as the first batch.

Looks like I was right. Those weak tigerkin wasted their chance to clear the dungeon and let it grow, then the damned shadow hunters flubbed it even more after tha’.

“Forgemaster! We’ve found somethin’!” Rhetfel hears from further down another tunnel. So he moves over with several other dwarves to find the dwarf in question looking at a large chest located in the center of a smaller cavern.

This isn’t the first chest he’s seen in dungeons. Rhetfel has found numerous chests scattered throughout dungeons, with many of them including powerful items placed there by the System.

It’s one of the most beneficial reasons for traversing dungeons.

However, they aren’t very common, and they usually only appear in the dungeons of users ranking within the top one hundred on the leaderboards of their respective planet.

His mentor explained that rather clearly.

“Ye found it, so ye can keep it,” Rhetfel says, his accent slipping out a bit again. But he doesn’t really care when he’s just with dwarves. The only reason he tends to hold back his accent around outsiders is because they often can’t understand him if he doesn’t.

His accent is particularly strong, even amongst dwarves.

Right as Rhetfel turns around and begins to leave the cavern, though, a grinding sound followed by crunching and screaming echoes from behind him. So he immediately turns around, only to find the chest having turned into a monster that is currently trying to rip off the arm of the dwarf who found it.

“Shit on a fucking forge,” Rhetfel swears before shouting, “Kill the beast! Now! Before it turns ‘im into its next meal!!!”

He doesn’t wait for the other dwarves to do the job either. He rushes forwards while still shouting and raises his battleaxe to swing down at the large chest, whose identify result shows as a mimic. One that is level fifty-six.

A higher level than most of the dwarves he brought.

Despite the level gap, the dwarves in the group rush in to attack the mimic monster. But they don’t manage to save the dwarf whose arm was drawn into the monster’s mouth because the creature refuses to let him go. All the way until it dies while swallowing him.

Finally dropping their numbers down by one.

Rhetfel grits his teeth at the idea of one of his elite forces being killed by a chest with teeth, only for him to shake his head and roar for them all to continue their march. Which they do until they reach another mimic.

This time Rhetfel and the other dwarves hold back around the edges of the room, letting one of their scouts move up to and check out the chest. Because they aren’t certain yet if it is a mimic or not.

No identify result showed up for the previous one until it revealed itself, and no identify result is showing up now either for this one.

All the way up till the scout touches the chest in his attempt to prod it, making the dwarves tense up around the cavern.

Nothing happens.

Rhetfel lets out a breath of relief before ordering, “Open the chest.”

The dwarf does so.

And gets swallowed whole immediately when the monster suddenly sticks its tongue out and drags him kicking and screaming into its maw.

The dwarves around the room begin to swear one after another as they react too slowly to save the dwarf scout, but still manage to kill the thing.

Rhetfel can’t help but scowl at the mimic’s corpse due to losing another of his elites. And in such a ridiculous manner.

But, more importantly, he feels the faintest hint of anxiety beginning to creep in.

Because he hasn’t seen a hint of either blightlings or the blighted broodmother.

And that doesn’t change even after spending several more hours traversing the mineshaft tunnels.

This ain’t lookin’ good.