The news about Dungeon Mistress becoming close to the Sun elves' King shocked all inhabitants of the oasis. Only sun elves weren’t surprised, because rumors about their king's interest in Dungoen Mistress were circulating. A story about how she stopped him decisively and forced him to retreat, despite having only two floors, was widespread. For them, it shows her strength, despite not being a warrior, and what happened later only proves that further. For them, she was worthy to become a candidate or even, in the future, the wife of their best warrior and the king.

  People outside of the desert had mixed feelings. They were accustomed to dungeon masters not getting involved in mortal affairs. There were a few instances when an adventurer caught the eye of one of them and became a lover for a short time. Kings and nobles, however, weren’t supposed to do that. The dungeon masters will outlive anyone, including elves, and that will mean they will need to rule the kingdom alone sooner or later. But ruling even the smallest kingdom means dealing with the nobles. And the nobles had their way to do what they wanted. And the abdication will end in a war over who should sit on the throne. Either way, it will be a mess, so, as any reasonable person would do, dungeon masters decided to become neutral.

  Naomi was aware of all of those problems. She had a lengthy discussion with Alduin, Itylara, and the grand priests a few days after their stroll.

  “I don’t care.” King Alduin said, seeing Naomi’s growing concerns. “I’m King of the Sun Elves. If someone disagrees with my choice, they can challenge me at any time. If the gods decide that I should step down, so be it. But I give my word to the Dungeon Mistress, and I will not break it. Also, if I remember correctly, the same goes for her. Only gods can tell Dungeon Mistress what she can or cannot do.”

  And the gods weren’t against their relationship. They also warned that there could be some political pressure, but Tabitha promised to take care of troublemakers.

  “They aren’t against our relationship.” Naomi shakes her head.

  That news prompted everyone to drop the topic and even congratulate her. If the gods blessed them, there wasn’t a place for discussion.

  Political complications weren’t the biggest concern for Naomi. Earth was full of complaining politicians doing nothing. No, her biggest concern was her boyfriend, King Alduin, and his hobby - looking for and challenging a mighty foe. Right now, he was about to fight the champion of the fifth floor. In fairness, he possessed a plethora of skills, most of which were at Grandmaster level, while the golem was only on the fifth floor. Powerful enough to stop the usual team of adventurers, but not the sun elves. Still, accidents happen, and that makes Naomi nervous.

  “Do not worry. You saw his path, and now he will show you what he can do.” Itylara, who was sitting next to Naomi, reassured her.

  “I’m sorry for being so worried.”

  “That’s a normal thing. Even I feel a tinge of worry sometimes. But I know how capable Alduin is, and now you will see too. It will ease your fears.”

  At the entrance to the arena, aperad king Alduin flanked by four sun elf warriors, and all of them were accompanied by their spirit animals. The King was holding two spears for some reason. Immediately upon entering, he took a stance for throwing. The guardian had no time to fully activate when the weapon flew out with a loud crack. The whole fight lasted only a second. Spear pierced the armored chest of the golem, destroying half of the machinery inside.

  “What?” Naomi jumped, not believing her eyes. “I understood this is just a guardian of the fifth floor, and he supposedly is the best warrior the sun elves have, but this?”

  “I told you.” Itylara laughed.

  “Showoff!” Naomi shouted at Alduin. In response, he bowed respectfully and smiled.

  Far north in The Citadel of the Undead, the atmosphere was much gloomier than usual. Reports were arriving that the invasion, like the previous ones, had stalled. Even worse, there were places where the cultist legions were pushed back. And in half of the reports of further failures, one thing was repeated. Giant metal monsters, trampling undead and cultist alike, and caring mages inside their bellies. And those monsters carried the banner of On Taram.

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  “My spies still haven’t managed to enter the fort where those elephants are kept, but according to the information gathered so far, they are not alive. They are machines.” Arch Lich spoke to the Arch Warlock.

  “I also received news about them, but my people haven't seen them yet. I don’t think those things are machines. More like puppets moved from the inside. Still impressive but not surprising. I’m not sure, however, why they make them resemble elephants.”

  “I don’t know. Reports suggest they are likely robots. And if you add the smaller golems from the new dungeon, things start looking suspiciously modern.”

  “There is no way they build robots.”

  “I know. I was just a teenager back on Earth, but even I know that machines need electronic components to work. Microchips, sensors, motors, batteries, and who knows what else.”

  “Some machines don’t need that, but robots definitely do. Who knows if some things can be replaced by enchantments or built with magic? I myself did that for a few things in my lab. But I needed years to develop even the simplest thing. Oh Shit!” Arch Warlock exclaimed, realizing something.

  “What is it?”

  “Listen, I get this crazy idea right now, which suspiciously matches all that has happened until now. What if this new dungeon isn’t new? What if instead of years it’s there for decades?”

  “Impossible, we will know it.”

  “Really? How many spies have you sent to the great desert until now? Because, at best, I sent a few, and I don't remember any of them coming back. Sun elves guard their secrets well.”

  “Shit. You could be right. People are vanishing there constantly. What problem to send people needed to build magical robots, disguised as adventurers, and when they do not return, tell that they just died.”

  “No one will even be asking. It is obvious that you either return or die there.”

  “Right. Then what now? They probably had factories for building more robots. My zombies aren’t strong enough to stop something of the size of an elephant.”

  “That's why I was always telling you, that quality is important too. But I think we don’t need to fall back. We should press forward.”

  “Are you sure? What if this is a trap? They decimate our forces and then try to counterattack?”

  “Valid point. For that, we have spies. And I don’t think they are ready to attack us. I have a feeling they acted now, because they discovered our plans. They decided to force us to hasten our invasion before our armies grow too large for them to handle. If they were ready, we would see those robots everywhere, and maybe airplanes too. And instead, there are just a few of them. Do you know exactly how many?”

  “Actually, you are probably right. Reports telling about only three of them, and they appear every few weeks, and always in a different location.”

  “I know it!” Arch warlock shouted with smugness. “They have only three of them. Let’s be generous, and let’s say they have six. Three are sent on the frontline, and the other three are being repaired in the meantime. And they are harassing you because zombies are stupid. They are afraid of my orcs, which will destroy those robots with ease. I repeat. We need to press forward. Order your necromancers to use animal carcases for zombies to replenish numbers. You don’t need to conquer any castle there. Just sit and wait until they run out of food.”

  “I’m doing that already. But maybe I should check if someone doesn’t get lazy.”

  “I’m doing that regularly. Discipline is an absolute must. Without it, everything will fall.”

  The warm months were slowly coming to an end, and so were the fighting. The cultists were exhausted by the summer counterattacks and were unable to break through the citadel walls. Defenders, on the other hand, were content to sit and watch how the cultists struggled with the northern winter. Unlike them, they managed to replenish their food supplies and will survive the winter without difficulty. And if the need arises, they will receive help from On Taram. Half of the castles also receive communicating artifacts, and that alone gives them a tremendous advantage. The generals were able to react twice as fast as soon as a serious threat from the cultists emerged.

  The cultists, however, don’t sit idle. They learn how to hinder movements or even stop golem elephants. They felled trees, placed large boulders, or dug trenches. Exactly as Naomi had predicted, the golems were unable to cross them and had to bypass them or stop.

  But people in On Taram, inspired by her golem elephants and the success of Grand Master Unroh with taming golems, start getting ideas. Like: ‘let's try to rebuild one of the golem guardians’. It was a tall order, especially for the guardian of the tenth floor. Fragments of armor and machinery were extremely heavy, and the time for studying them was short. However, a small group of craftsmen had formed, and whenever there was an opportunity to examine or acquire a piece of one of the guardians, they always took advantage of it. It will take some time to rebuild one. And then the scales of war would turn in their favor, or at least that's what they hoped for.