Chapter 42: Terror

It's odd, by now I should be tired and ready for bed. Yet I feel no exhaustion. I could force it, yet an all-nighter sounds like fun. Although from past experience I know first-hand how much of an impact sleep deprivation can have.

With that in mind, I have a 30-minute powernap. How I woke up you might ask, the answer; a floating hourglass, a piston, and a bed. It was a little scary being thrown out of bed; it worked though. That reminds me, I need an alarm clock. NEI once more blesses me with its wealth of information. “Ah, yes; that one's good.” Having carefully selected the cheapest and easiest alarm clock I could find I craft it. No way on earth I am building an enrichment chamber just to make an alarm clock.

I find it works just like you would expect, which I appreciate. I decide to spend a short while playing with Sling and Chic. While doing so I had a random thought. When I do bond a familiar, what's stopping me from bonding either Sling or Chic. It would make more sense than bonding a random cat from who knows where.

I will try and bond with Chic when I start the ritual; not that I dislike Sling but I prefer intelligence in my life long partner. Heading to town, I use a map I recently found to find a large lake. North-east of the town, it's situated. The cover of night-time does wonders for when you're trying to fly undetected. Finding myself at the lake I spot a pier already in place. A few boats lazily tied around.

Placing a comfortable chair, taking out my fishing rod; I begin fishing. I have improved a lot, finding that tranquil peace is far faster now. A strange state of mind to be in, my thoughts muffled; not in fog but just less vibrant. I never realized fishing was so pleasant.

I take the time in this state to ponder some mods I should play with. Of course, I will gradually play around with the twilight forest. But that mod truly brings blood lust to the surface of even the common man. I would like to play with draconic evolution, but for that, the end will be important. I have a sneaking suspicion that the end-dragon fight won't be as easy as it once was.

I think I’ll make some lucky blocks soon; they are always fun to play with. Although caution is a requirement, not an option. If I was to play with lucky blocks it's probably for the best, I find a nice quiet place to do so. Avoiding permanently scaring the world. Aromas mining dimension fits the bill perfectly. Easy to get to, no structures, super flat; kind of. Just what you need.

Ah, that reminds me; I should ask Jengal to keep an eye out for a Kontron crystal. A rare dungeon chest item that will let me make a Tardis. Well technically summon an already existing Tardis that no one owns. Still, that would be good fun; I should give Jengal a mailbox so I can send him new things to find before I forget.

Aside from that, I could explore space… Nah I still haven’t explored this world. Although it would be fun owning a space station. I do still need a ME system. Actually, I will need nether stars soon, it’s a good idea to get it over with and collect some wither skeleton heads.

Looking over the quiet pond, no bites. A shame but it happens. Using my necklace, I find myself back within the town. Heading back to my island I start making a cleaver. Just made out of diamond, nothing special. Once crafted I add additional modifiers using the diamond, gold block method, and god apple, diamond block method. Once that’s done, I add more beheading modifiers, resulting in a 50% chance of removing the head of my target. This will be useful in a lot of ways; all be it a grim concept.

Heading to nether, heavy cleaver in hand. “Here wither skeletons, come to bone papa.” Chortling at my sense of humor, time to hunt. Finding a nether fortress proved a royal pain in my neck, I eventually found one. Placing a Telepad down for good measure. The nether truly is like a second overworld, just hotter. God bless this wonderful Armor.

Skulking across the extensive bridges of nether brick, find mostly pigmen. It seems both pigmen and piglings are here, they do not like each other that’s for sure. I also spotted a few odd structures that would be wise to explore.

After exploring for a while, occasionally grabbing the odd resource. Mentally noting to create tools able to harvest cobalt. I hear it “clack, clack, clack.” Wither skeletons more than likely. Turning the corner, I see… ah crap “Three, never fought three at once before.” This is likely to hurt.

I was right, running towards them with foolish abandon, I found myself outclassed massively by sword skills alone. They didn’t do much damage, but it truly hurt my pride to be wrecked. I suddenly felt really weak, taking that as my cue I flew up and away. One of them managed to apply wither. Eating a golden apple, I prepare for combat once more.

Watching them carefully I see one split off from the group. Stalking it like I’m Tiger, I follow it until I feel it’s the opportune time. I strike with a devilish cleave to the spine. It stumbles to the side; I only nick the bone; a shame.

It managed to correct its posture, realizing they truly are excellent swordsmen; I do the only logical thing. Tank its hit and cleave it in half with sheer power. It worked, and I used items to do it. It felt a little hollow. Sadly, no skull dropped, but what did drop was both a necrotic bone and a drop of evil. The latter being a rather rare drop.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Happy none the less I find its companions. Heart rate rising, I guess two would be a challenge. Stepping forward, no surprise attacks; just a challenge. I swear I almost spotted a look of recognition before they ran at me mindlessly. I do wonder where wither skeletons come from.

One of them is a hair slower than the other, moving towards the faster skeleton, I predict the sword slash they would use, blocking it with my own weapon; I barge the skeleton away. Breaking them up, right as the second skeleton goes in for the kill, I go in low and tackle its legs. Trusting in my Armor and its inability to coordinate while falling.

With the second skeleton down, I kick its sword away before running towards the now standing the first skeleton. If they are anything it's resilient that’s for sure. Although I suppose being undead means stamina is not a concern.

As I come upon the first skeleton, I have a short 1v1 blocking striking each other's weapon before I move in for the kill. Trusting in my power I cleave through its neck. Turning to my second opponent, I rush forward-leaning to the left, narrowly dodging its sword before cleanly separating its spine between 2 ribs.

As they both evaporate in beautiful red particles, I find 2 skulls and a necrotic bone. I am very happy about that. Afterward, I continued to roam the fortress, finding a few lone wither skeletons. With a sneak attack, they were easy to kill. Flight truly is the best. Having gathered 2 more skulls and 1 more drop of evil I head home.

I create wither skeleton seeds, which give me an infinite supply of wither skulls and necrotic bones. A quick NEI search also resulted in the essence being used to craft several other things. Including drops of evil, I guess essences are far more versatile now. Creating a mental note to increase my farming setup and power setup. I craft 17 more necrotic bones, bringing my total to 19. I carefully portion them into a 9 and 10 with all the ingredients; absent the heart to produce heart canisters. With that, I have everything I need to make red and yellow heart canisters. All I need is said hearts, whom the wither will supply.

Now the question, am I ready to fight the wither. Theoretically, with flight, it should be a breeze, but I feel that it will be a hard fight. Using wither essence, I produce some wither proof blocks. I then made a wither box to allow close combat more easily. And the fact I can run within a moment's notice.

I prepare several potions, including strength, speed, and health. Placing everything except the final head I chug the first 2 potions. Preparing for one hell of a fight, I place the final head. I made the health potions splash for easy use. The wither is undead I suppose anyway so it will hurt the boss.

At first, nothing happened, thinking id done something wrong I go to remove the head. Finding it glued, I make the correct choice to run for my life. Thanking the speed boost as the force of the blast knocks me away slamming me into the wall. In I daze I realize I am in a room with a quickly powering up wither.

Dragging my mind back to reality, I prepare for combat. Once it finishes its power generation, it snaps all 3 heads at me. Looking up I say “High” I wave jokingly. I did not appreciate my joking greeting, its response? Throwing quickly regenerating heads at me. At first, I thought it was throwing its actual heads, turns out it was a ghostly projectile appearing like its heads.

Dodging them quickly, I realize I forgot they have a blast radius. On the floor, I quickly jump away from the next volley. Shrugging off the wave of weakness I rush towards it. It tries to fly away but it was stopped by the low ceiling, hissing in anger it throws more at me. Dodging the projectiles, I run and jump off the wall, landing a heavy blow with my sword into its chest. Damaging its ribs heavily.

Not enough, the damn things hollow. I continue to kite the wither skulls, finding myself repeatedly being struck with nauseating waves of weakness. Biting my lips, I throw a splash potion of health on myself. The weakness disappears for a moment, allowing me to have a moment to breathe. The air is thick with black charcoal-like particles, I run forward again; this time using flight I rise, plunging my sword into the middle head. Its middle head slumps forward.

Suddenly it starts swerving in the air before stabilizing, a look of frustration passing one of the side heads. The damn thing took over the body. Its shots have slowed by half, but they are far more erratic and random. I continue for the next several minutes, struggling with the waves of weakness. I manage to chip away a lot of its rib cage. I did a lot of damage.

Biting the bullet, I run forward, taking a direct hit to my chest, jumping up I strike the head currently controlling the body. Taking the moment of lost control, I strike at the final head, before I strike it blasts me in the face with a hit. Shrugging it off I finish the blow. Falling to my knees in weakness, shortness of breath I attempt to stand up to collect my rewards. I topple over, wheezing. Darkness eroding my vision, I struggle to breathe before a wave of pain strikes me, then numbness.

Suddenly awake, panic filling my chest I run forward; banging my head against the glass. Taking a moment to breathe I step out of… a pod. Wait I died didn’t i. That sucks balls. Taking a moment, I steady my breath. I can verify dying is terrifying, the lack of control is horrible. Wanting to move your arms but your body doesn’t respond it's truly soul-shakingly terrifying. I rest against the wall, looking down I see water on my legs. What's that from? Wait I’m crying.

I see why I didn’t recall my death before; you're not meant to remember dying for a very good reason. I sit for a while, just breathing. Letting my mind settle. I stand shakily in an unfamiliar body. I manage to make it back to the wither box.

I just see a pile of my items, realizing my golden bag is still around my neck. That’s reassuring. Equipment my Armor and picking up my tools, I hobble over to the withers loot pile. Seeing a visible thickness to the air, stepping forward it rushes to me. I see, so much experience it condensed into the visible spectrum. I find a nether star, a yellow heart, 2 zivicio, and an infinity card. Kind of boring drops, but I imagine it has some rare drops I have yet to see or have some kind of requirement.

Exhausted from everything, I head to bed. Laughing at the fact dawn is just around the corner. I fall into bed, heavy emotions falling away. But that image of my helplessness plagued me that evening.