They were coming.

Ruxium could feel them digging, tearing at the world’s flesh. Claws tore away dirt blocks, pushing it behind for others to gather and remove. The Ostrum were a hive mind. Moved in perfect unison. Tandem.

They’d been digging for the last six moons. As soon as the noise grew close enough to warn of their approach, the World Core sped his perception to mortal timelines. It was exhausting, but necessary. He refused to lose now after coming so far.

Ruxium grew tired of the relentless scrabbling sound that echoed through his chamber.

But the World Core could do nothing to stop their onslaught.

Every defense he’d employed failed catastrophically.

Tearing open the planet’s crust and showering the Ostrum with lava had slowed them down the most, but the Ostrum’s Corrupted Core just kept spawning more of them. Replacing every soldier that fell with another, just as capable.

And it just rendered the world unlivable for the mortal beings he hoped would one day be allowed to return to the surface.

Beyond the Ostrum’s searching, digging claws, the surface of Sleyn was covered in the thick shadows of the Ostrum. Void of all life, save for the milling units that waited mindlessly, nothing more than bodies to jump to alert when one tried to pass.

All it took was movement and they would stir.

Stir and kill.

Once activated, the Ostrum became mindless killing machines. They would tear and chew and destroy any who dared be in their waking vicinity.

And if that creature had a Mob Heart or Hero Core? It was more fuel for the Ostrum Corrupted Core. Another burst of power that Ruxium couldn’t take away.

Ruxium looked around his Core Room, peering through the massive multifaceted gem that housed him. He had laid traps. Nearly every corner of the room was filled with something that would slow the oncoming horde down. But it would not stop them. Could not, at least, not forever.

Warning: Zero remaining un-corrupted Dungeon Cores in play. World corruption at critical levels.

With barely a thought, Ruxium’s focus swapped to another view. A darkened core room, so unlike his own.

This one was in the sky. Far above the Ostrum’s reach.

Or, had been. The Ostrum had manifested wings in order to deal with the problem.

So clever. If only they weren’t trying to destroy him. Ruxium might have had a use for such a clever core.

Below his vision, a wisp was draped over a shattered core.

Ruxium looked at the fragments of the core on the ground. Tendrils of shadowy smoke still poured from the edges, refusing to dissipate.

Corruption. They’d tried to over take the core before shattering him.

Ruxium turned his attention to the crying wisp. The small creature’s tears seemed real, yet they did not move the World Core.

, Ruxium said in a booming voice that startled the small wisp.

“I refuse.” The wisp didn’t even look up.

The wisp jolted into the air, angry red splotches splattered across his face like blood. His tears highlighted them, sparkling in the dim light like gems uncovered in a cavern. “Didn’t you hear me? Were my tears muffling my voice? Then let me try again. I. Re. Fuse. Screw your core, screw the Ostrum, and screw Sleyn!”

“There is no ‘is’ here!”

The wisp floated upwards, towards Ruxium’s view, as if it could tell where the World Core was watching from. His fists were balled tightly. Looking for something to swing at. The World Core gave him no such target.

“You are dead, Ruxium. They’re practically at your door. We’re out of time. Another core won’t save you or those people.” The wisp lowered his gaze. “Let me go get help. Real help. Not just some withered old coot and yet another Dungeon Core who can’t and won’t listen to reason.”

Ruxium wished he had some way to comfort the wisp. To extend the image of a smile or even a hug. But without an active link, they were just wayward strangers who could barely communicate with one another.

The wisp’s wings stopped beating the air quite so hard. “I know.” He growled, a low and angry thing. His head shot up, and he glared at the empty air where Ruxium’s vision hung. “But just because I know doesn’t mean I have to like it!”

“You’re a real piece of work, Ruxium.” The wisp turned back to the shattered core, a sob caught in his throat.

The World Core left the wisp to grieve. He turned his attention inward, to the planet core again. Once more, Ruxium was assaulted by scrabbling. Scraping. An endless cacophony of digging. Punctuated by Berrith’s hunger-driven commands.

Getting ever closer.

He couldn’t tell how close. The Ostrum and their leader’s corruption blocked his view.

But they weren’t slowing down for anything.

Not now, since there were no more Dungeon Cores.

The wisp could hate him. Could beat his wings or shout his obscenities all he wanted. Ruxium knew there was no other choice. Another Dungeon Core would buy him time.

And maybe, just maybe, this one could get the job done.