Phew. Another chapter is released. Thanks for following this story- it means a lot to me as a budding writer. :D :D :D

ShadowShinigamiWolf: Hohoho~ But I won't reveal that TOO soon, since he's quite the tsundere character. XD

Belle looked at him, mildly surprised at the presence of another player in the world. She took a good look at him. His short, auburn hair was covered by a silver hoodie. It was complemented with his raven-black pants.

"Done staring?" the guy spoke, sounding slightly annoyed.

Belle snapped out of her trance. She did not realise that she had been staring at him for a long while. She gave a slight, timid bow and held out her hand. "Call me Belle," she said.

The man looked at her and shook her hand half-heartedly. "Name's Jake," he replied, "What are you doing here in the ravines anyway? It's dangerous, you know. I don't need a burden who cannot even take care of herself."

"Oh no he did NOT just insult me." Belle thought, giving him a pointed glare. "Fine," she said, "I'll find my way out. Just so you know, I don't need you to take care of me at all." she shuffled huffly towards the door, only to be stopped by a strong arm slamming her against the door.

"Is that any way to thank someone who rescued you from a huge pool of water, two creepers, two skeletons and one zombie while you were out cold?" he demanded angrily.

Belle narrowed her eyes at him questioningly and turned away. "Fine, thanks," she retorted, "now can I please go?" she saw a wooden button and was about to reach for it when Jake simply stopped her hand.

"Surely, you are not thinking that I'm going to let you off this easily, are you?" he asked maliciously. Belle's eyes flared with anger as her hazel eyes blazed against his emerald ones.

"What are you up to?! You say you don't need another burden and now you are not letting me leave?!" she yelled.

Jake wore his sinister grin and pinned her against the door. "I need someone to be my bodyguard when I go to explore the mineshaft that I had found before I saved you."

Belle arched an eyebrow at him.

"You want me, the very person you considered 'a burden' who 'cannot even take care of herself' , to be YOUR bodyguard? " she questioned incredulously.

Jake narrowed his eyes at her. "And your problem is...?"

A thought popped up into her mind. "So," she continued, "why do you need a bodyguard, if you are that confident that you can take care of yourself and that I'd be a burden? Don't tell me... you are too weak to take them on yourself?"

Jake pressed her arms harder against the door. Belle winced from the grip of his strong arms.

Belle glared into his emerald eyes. "I already set up camp underwater elsewhere with another player, so no. Plus, we are probably going on different missions. "

"Does it involve a search for diamonds too? " he asked with a smirk on his face.

Belle froze in surprise.

"Well now," he drawled on, "I guess our missions may not be so different after all."

"What about my partner back in the base? " she argued.

He frowned, leaning back on his heels as he plunged into thought. "Where is your base?" He questioned seriously.

Belle thought hard about how to describe her base. "Well," she finally began,"it's outside the jungle that's near the flat plains above. It's well underground."

After hearing that, Jake turned nonchalantly and started making a new set of tools. "Leave him there, " he commanded,"he will join us here in the ravines soon. It is your choice if you do wish to go back, though I must warn you that ravines are extensive and creepers lurk in every corner. Hence, I can guarantee neither your way back nor your life. No pressure, though. "

Belle flopped to the ground helplessly and sighed. Much as she'd hate to admit it, he was right. She should not go out unless she was completely sure about the place that she was in. "It's hardcore after all, " she convinced herself.

Jake walked over to her and handed her an iron pickaxe. She looked at it for a moment and took it. Jake gave her a wide smile which mildly surprised her.

"I'm glad we can have an understanding," he said, and walked outside to wait for her.

Azrael looked up into the window of the base anxiously. Belle had been out for way too long. He could not imagine what could have kept Belle outside beyond sundown. She could have been lost, and hence staying up in the trees to hopefully protect herself. Or she could be wandering around in a ravine or a cave until the sun comes back up. Or she could have… Azrael shook his head. He had been worrying far too much than necessary. He cannot believe that Belle could be dead. "No, she couldn't have," he told himself and headed back down to the lava cavern he had discovered. "Yes, I refuse to believe that she is dead." With that, he continued mining, believing that she will return to him and show him some diamonds that she would have found. Or gold. Just about anything to show that she was alive.

As a matter of fact, she was indeed alive. And breathless. Belle was running away from cave spiders that were coming after her. The mineshaft was more scary than she thought it sounded from Jake. "AH!" she yelped in pain as a cave spider bit her in the arm. Jake fought them off with his sword and quickly helped Belle into a new emergency shelter they had built near the mineshaft.

"I told you to be more careful with cave spiders, especially when you have insufficient armour on!" he scolded.

"You did not tell me that they were poisonous and I thought those were like the usual spiders up there!" she defended, then winced in pain as the poison took its painful effect on her.

Jake sighed, and handed her a bucket of milk. "Drink it," he ordered. Belle gave the milk a sip, and suddenly she did not feel the side-effects of the poison any more. She looked at her arm and watched the spider bite fade away slowly. When she finished the bucket of milk she handed it to Jake. "Milk has healing properties. That's something useful for you to remember. It's my last bucket of milk though. So you really ought to be more careful," he explained as he deposited the bucket into a chest.

"Th-thanks," she muttered softly as she stood up from the floor. Jake looked out through the small window in the iron door.

"The spiders are gone for the moment, I think. But we still ought to be more careful," Jake warned. He walked to the chest and took out a flint and an iron ingot. He walked to the crafting table and started arranging them in several positions. Finally, he managed to craft out flint and steel.

Belle looked at the item quizzically. "And you're bringing that because..?"

Jake smirked and struck at the stone floor in front of him. Belle watched the stone block burst into flames. "Using this on the wooden mineshaft pillars will kill the spiders that already live there. We still need to find the spawner, though. But it'll be easier with them gone," he explained.

Belle nodded and grabbed her sword. "I'll follow you."

Jake thought for a moment and walked in front of her. "Stay behind me," he commanded. "or else the person getting poisoned would be you."

Belle looked at him, surprised. She definitely did not expect that he would think about protecting her from the spiders.

"If you are thinking that it was to protect you, you are thinking too much into it. I want someone to watch out behind me for creepers. That's why you are here anyway, remember? Bodyguard?" he spoke coldly and walked ahead.

Belle's eyes glared at his back, almost burning a hole in his back from her glare. "You are just too incompetent to watch your own back," she muttered. Jake gave her a glare.

"I'm sorry, you said something?" he questioned icily.

Belle shook her head nervously. "Nothing," she assured.

Jake gave a shrug and turned back towards the mineshafts.

Azrael looked around in the lava cavern he explored. He was already done with turning all lava pools into obsidian. He walked around, lighting torches. Soon, the moan of a zombie was heard. He walked towards one wall and started swinging his pickaxe hard at it. Within minutes he found a small hole, which he continued to swing at. He looked up and placed some torches around. Wood. Dirt.

"I'm in a mineshaft?" he thought.

And Azrael found a mineshaft. Now how is HE going to look around for resources in this dangerous place? What about Belle and Jake? Will they survive against the spiders?
Stay tuned with me to find out!
Thanks for reading this chapter~ *bows*
Please review, follow or favourite. I like knowing that I have done a great job with this somehow. :D :D :D THANKS AGAIN~ *bows*