“Herder!” Stitcher shouted, then quickly covered her mouth with her hand, realizing her mistake.
“Never mind being quiet now,” Gameknight said. “The time for stealth is over. Now, we need speed!”
Removing the dull iron armor and replacing it with his enchanted diamond, Gameknight sprinted forward. He pulled his diamond sword from his inventory as he ran, his dual blades ready for anything. The iridescent light from the enchanted items cast a shimmering blue glow on the walls and floor, lighting the way ahead of him. Light from behind splashed on the walls and ceiling as the others swapped out their armor, the sisters drawing the enchanted bows, arrows notched.
When they reached the intersecting passages, they turned the corner to give chase—and stopped dead in their tracks. Standing before them were a dozen blazes, their king, Charybdis, floating at the head of the formation. The monsters looked like they were built of floating golden rods, each glowing as if just drawn from a hot furnace, all spinning and floating in the air around a central block of pure flame that formed their body. Their blaze rods rotated in different directions; those that seemed to make up the creatures’ feet spun clockwise while the rods farther up on the monsters’ body circled the blazes in a counterclockwise direction. Smoke billowed from the creatures, hiding any specific details to their bodies, though the smoke never seemed to cover the creatures’ faces, revealing eyes as black as coal, all of which were now turned and staring right in the direction of Gameknight999.
Behind the monsters, at the end of the passage, Gameknight spotted Herder. The young NPC had stopped and was glancing back at him.
“You are a trespasser in my land, User-that-is-not-a-user,” Charybdis said, a mechanical breathing sound accompanying the monster’s words.
The king of the blazes was larger than the rest, the flames making up the monster’s body burning much brighter than all the others combined. He stood out like a violent beacon of hatred, his eyes filled with anger and a thirst for destruction.
“We aren’t invading,” Gameknight yelled back. “We are only here to help our friend.”
The king of the blazes floated forward, his internal flame growing even brighter.
“Your friend is my guest, and I think I will keep him here in the Nether for a while,” Charybdis wheezed. “The blazes have heard what you did to the Maker. It is time for your punishment.”
“Wait! We aren’t here to fight,” Gameknight insisted. “We just need to help our friend.”
The monster did not respond. Instead, every blaze formed a ball of fire and flung the burning spheres directly at Gameknight999. Bringing up his sword, he hoped to deflect one, but knew the other fireballs would surely hit him. Gameknight readied himself for the pain that was about to envelop him, gritting his teeth with determination. But before the fiery balls of death could reach him, a bottle smashed against his armor, the liquid covering him from head to foot just before the first fireball hit. Swinging his sword, he deflected the first ball, but the rest hurled into him with great intensity.
He expected to be overcome with pain, but in fact, after a moment, realized he felt no damage at all. Looking down at his armor, Gameknight could see tiny little orange spirals drifting off his body, a particle effect of some kind.
“Fire resistance,” Crafter shouted. “It’s only good for three minutes, so you better hurry up.”
Gameknight glanced over his shoulder at his friend and smiled, then turned back and faced the flaming beasts. Another volley of fireballs struck him as he charged forward, but Gameknight ignored the incoming attack. Instead he focused on the blaze king, his swords yearning to destroy the creature.
“Charybdis, you and I—”
Gameknight could not finish the challenge. Two of the blazes moved forward to protect their king, blocking the User-that-is-not-a-user from proceeding forward as Charybdis sped off around another corner, vanishing into the darkness. Swinging his diamond sword in a great, deadly arc, Gameknight tore at the approaching blazes’ HP with a fury. He attacked the monster to his left, then spun and stabbed at the creature to his right. From behind him, fiery arrows volleyed past him, striking both the blazes he was battling. Slashing at the wounded monsters, they disappeared quickly as more arrows filled the air. Some of the blazes tried to fire back at his friends, but Gameknight charged at them when he saw fireballs forming, blocking their attack.
Suddenly, there was a bellowing roar that made the passage quake with fear. In an instant, Digger was at his side, slashing at the flaming monsters with his dual pickaxes. Tearing into their HP, he smashed the blazes before they could fling a single burning ball of fire at him.
Then his father was on his other side, sword in his right hand, an iron chest plate in the other. A blaze fired at the monkey, but the fireball bounced off the metallic shield, causing it to smolder and glow for an instant, but quickly cool. The three of them pressed forward, forcing the blazes to begin to retreat, but with Hunter and Stitcher’s arrows raining down upon them, the monsters did not last long.
In just a few minutes, they had destroyed all the attacking monsters.
“We did it,” Monkeypants exclaimed. “We defeated the blazes!”
“That was just the smallest portion of Charybdis’s army,” Gameknight explained as he wiped cubes of sweat from his brow. “And the blaze king himself escaped!” The User-that-is-not-a-user pounded the netherbrick wall with his square fist in frustration.
“It is not your fault, Gameknight999,” Crafter said. “He retreated as soon as the fighting started.”
“It figures,” Hunter replied. “These monster kings think nothing of sacrificing their people while they skulk away like cowards.”
“Well, I’m sure we’ll be seeing him soon enough,” Digger added as he put away one of his picks.
“Right,” echoed Hunter. “Let’s go.”
Not waiting for another word, Gameknight turned from the dark wall and sprinted down the corridor, following Herder’s path through the fortress. Gameknight knew he was close, as he was beginning to hear the whine from Herobrine’s XP again. With a rectangular finger, he stuffed the wool deeper into his ears and charged forward, hoping he could reach Herder and stop him from doing whatever he was planning with the ender chest.
Herder, why did you abandon us? Why did you steal the chest? Gameknight thought as anger boiled up within him—not just anger aimed at the monsters of the Nether, but also anger at the feeling of betrayal that overwhelmed his soul. He remembered what his father had said earlier, but it was just so hard to accept. A real friend wouldn’t do something like this, no matter what the circumstances were, right? he thought.
“I won’t let you escape, Herder,” Gameknight growled as he sprinted through the fortress, chasing the NPC that at one time he had considered one of his closest friends. But now, he didn’t know what Herder was . . . or whose side he was really on.
CHAPTER 18
FRIENDSHIP STRAINED
Gameknight moved cautiously through corridors and tunnels that made up the fortress, expecting large groups of blazes to be waiting for them around every turn. Everyone had put away their enchanted armor again, hoping to stay off the blazes’ radar. Occasionally, they could hear the mob’s characteristic, mechanical wheezing sounds echoing off the warm stone walls, but few actually confronted them in the dark passages.
“This seems too easy,” Hunter said as they rounded another corner. “I don’t like easy.”
“Nor do I,” Gameknight replied.
Ahead, a set of stairs descended to the floor below. Gameknight peered down the shadowy steps. The bottom, assuming there even was one, was completely shrouded in darkness.
“Which way?” Monkeypants asked his son reluctantly, even though he already knew the answer.
“Down,” Gameknight confirmed, taking the first few steps.
Suddenly, the piercing cry of Herobrine’s XP burst into their heads. Shocked by the shrill blast, Gameknight dropped his iron sword as he
brought his left hand up to his ear, trying unsuccessfully to keep the sound out of his head.
He glanced back up the stairs. All of his friends were doubled over, trying to block out the terrifyingly loud whine with their hands, weapons lying on the ground. Gameknight reached into his inventory and pulled out another block of wool. Another large piece of the fuzzy block gave him a little relief, but not very much. Moving to his companions, he handed out more clumps of wool, gesturing to their ears. They all knew instantly what to do and stuffed the soft material into their ears.
“That didn’t do very much,” Hunter shouted at Gameknight, a hint of accusation in her voice.
“It’s all we can do right now,” the User-that-is-not-a-user replied.
“Why did Herobrine suddenly start up like this again?” Monkeypants asked.
“How should I know?” Gameknight snapped, then looked apologetically to the ground.
“Count,” the father said to his son.
He nodded, then counted in his head.
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 5 . . .
“Sorry,” Gameknight replied. “I’m not sure, maybe he’s calling to the monsters, letting them know where he is.”
“That means we must hurry,” Crafter said.
“We have to hurry just because you say so?” Digger asked, an angry scowl on his face.
Crafter didn’t reply. He ran past the stocky NPC and charged down the stairs, plunging into darkness with Gameknight and Monkeypants on his heels. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found passageways heading off in opposite directions. Crafter went to the left while Gameknight and Monkeypants went to the right, checking both ends of the new passage. The booming footsteps of their companions echoed off the walls as they lumbered down the stairs behind them.
Three wither skeletons jumped out of the shadows, two of them charging toward Gameknight999 while the third engaged Monkeypants. These monstrous warriors were different from what they’d faced in the past. They knew what they were doing with their swords and fought hard. Gameknight blocked the attack from one skeleton with his iron sword while he attacked the other with his diamond. The blades rang out with a dull clang as they smashed together, reverberating in the stone hallway.
He tried to glance at his father, to see how he was faring, but the two wither skeletons gave him no opportunity. These two creatures were pressing their advantage at every opportunity. A sword came speeding toward Gameknight’s head. Bringing up his diamond sword, he easily blocked the attack, but then the second skeleton jabbed at his ribs, hoping to catch him off-guard. He blocked the attack with his iron sword, then spun, bringing the diamond sword down on the monster’s shoulder, making it flash red. If he didn’t have the second sword, that attack to his ribs would have landed a devastating blow. He had to be careful.
“How about some help over here?!” Gameknight shouted, not taking his eyes of his opponents.
Nothing happened. Chancing a quick glance over his shoulder, Gameknight saw his friends standing around, arguing over which direction to go. Stitcher had her blocky hands cupped over her ears, trying to block out the piercing whine. It was like they didn’t even notice he was in trouble.
Pain shot down his arm.
Gameknight stepped back as the skeleton’s sword bit into his shoulder. Blocking another attack, he leapt into the air and tried to bring both swords down on one of the skeletons, but its companion leaned in to block part of the blow.
“I’m tired of this,” Gameknight growled, the whining sound drawing every bit of anger and frustration from within his soul, making it near impossible to concentrate on the battle in front of him.
Driving forward, Gameknight slashed with incredible speed, attacking one and then the other with a ferocity that shocked the monsters. Side-stepping quickly in a circular motion around the enemy, he positioned himself so that one skeleton was directly behind the other, removing the far monster from the fight for just an instant. In that moment, Gameknight concentrated all his effort on the monster before him. He slashed at the monster’s head, then side, then legs, then stomach—moving his attack all over the creature’s body. He scored countless hits, the creature crying out in pain as it flashed red.
The skeleton tried to step out from behind his bony companion’s back, but Gameknight repositioned himself again so that he had to face only one of the monsters at a time and kept circling to keep the angle of the attack working in his favor. In only a few more well-placed strikes—Gameknight dodging blows and dancing around the skeletons like a boxer in his prime—the first wither skeleton disappeared with a pop! Not waiting for the other to react, the User-that-is-not-a-user charged forward, taking the offensive. Now all by itself, the lone creature stood little chance as Gameknght’s sword bit into his HP. In seconds, it, too, perished, its stone sword clattering to the ground in defeat.
Gameknight’s father was not faring as well. The dark skeleton Monkeypants was facing was driving him backward, pressing him against the wall. Gameknight could see the skeleton was the better swordsman, and his father was playing right into his trap. It was evident by the look on Monkeypants’s face that he’d taken a lot of damage and was growing desperate. But their dance of death had moved the combatants farther down the passage, away from everyone; Gameknight could never get there in time.
Then the User-that-is-not-a-user remembered something Digger had done in the stronghold library a long time ago. Dropping his iron sword, he grasped the hilt of his diamond sword in both hands and raised it high over his head. Stepping forward, he flung the blade through the air, directly at the skeleton. It spun end over end, its iridescent glow lighting the passage as it flew. With a sickening thunk, it hit the monster hard, catching it off balance and sending it teetering backward, arms swinging wildly in the air as it tried to keep its balance. This gave Monkeypants the perfect chance to attack, and he took quick advantage of the opportunity. Swinging his iron sword with all his strength, he slashed at the recovering creature, hitting it over and over until the skeleton disappeared with a pop!, leaving behind a pile of items and glowing balls of XP.
Gameknight ran to his father.
“Dad, are you OK?”
Monkeypants nodded his blocky head.
“Here, drink this,” Gameknight said, handing his father a potion of healing.
The monkey took the bottle and drank the potion quickly. Instantly, his face relaxed as his HP increased. Turning to his son, he smiled.
“Thanks for your help back there,” Monkeypants271 said.
Gameknight just nodded, then stooped down and picked up his diamond sword. Looking down at the items the skeleton had dropped, he was relieved to see a wither skull amongst them. He scooped it up and held it before him. The cube was colored a dark gray, like soot, as if it had been rolled through the remains of an old campfire. The empty eye sockets stared lifelessly up at Gameknight, just as they had when the creature was alive, but now the tiny skull was his, and he needed it desperately. He added it to his inventory, noting that he now had two. But two was not enough.
“What do you need that skull for again?” Monkeypants asked.
Gameknight turned and found his father looking at him inquisitively. He wanted to snap back at him, It’s none of your business, or Why do you question everything I do? But instead, he counted slowly to five, and was about to answer when Hunter’s angry voice cut through the passage.
“No, we go this way,” the NPC said, gesturing to a side passage that branched off to the left.
“But Gameknight went to the right. We should follow him,” Crafter insisted.
“Who says Gameknight is always right?” Digger asked, a scowl on his face.
“STOPPPPPP!” the User-that-is-not-a-user screamed as he and Monkeypants ran over to the group.
The ferocity of his voice echoed off the netherbrick walls, immediately silencing his friends.
“Listen to yourselves. You’re again doing what Herobrine wants you to do,” Gameknight exp
lained. “His whining is getting worse, which is making us even more uneasy and on edge. I don’t think we’re going to be able to do much more about it until he’s destroyed once and for all, so we’ve all just got to deal. We have to work together if we’re going to stop Herder from doing whatever he is planning to do with Herobrine’s XP. We cannot fail, and the only way we can succeed is to work together. You know, Monkeypants and I could have used your help back there! We were both in trouble battling those wither skeletons, and all of you were too busy standing around bickering to even notice.”
Gameknight glared at his friends, a frown etched deep in his square face. He reached up and pushed the wool deeper into his ear, while his companions looked at the floor, feeling guilty.
“I know it’s tough. Trust me—it’s just as hard for me to concentrate with that noise echoing in my head as it is for you. But remember, count before you react!” Gameknight turned and continued down the passage, his swords held at the ready.
“I know we need to go to the right because Herobrine’s whining is louder in that direction,” the User-that-is-not-a-user explained as they traveled. “As much as we might want to head in the opposite direction, so that noise gets quieter, we have to follow the XP. Now, are all of you with me, or are we going to stay here and argue while Herobrine figures out a way to escape with that ender chest and destroy Minecraft?”
His companions all faced him, determined. He could see that none of them were going to allow Herder to escape with that box; they would give their lives to stop that evil virus if necessary. There was no turning back now, and they all knew the only direction for them was forward, toward that terrible sound and whatever fate Herobrine had planned for them.
CHAPTER 19
REACHING THE LAVA OCEAN
They sprinted through the fortress, doggedly pursuing the sound, which felt like sharp needles in their brains. Gameknight ran next to his father, the monkey’s face grim with determination. On the walls of the fortress, he could see splashes of purple and blue as the enchantments on their weapons and swords cast magical light on their surroundings.
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