Minecraft VR Chapter 10: Beast of the desert part 2
Sure enough, the child followed us, and properly revealed himself, the hood falling off his face as he walked into the border of our camp. It was soon decided that he would work with Liam as an Archer, that way he would still be useful in battle, but he could avoid the front lines where his cloak wasn't a major advantage, due to his movements causing the cloak to get stuck between transitions when he moved too fast.
The kid was a bit strange though, for one, he outright refused to tell anyone his name, and on top of that, he had a habit of acting a bit more mature then his age every so often, before he would return to the state of mind we all expected of someone his age. Since i couldn't be sure of him, i had everyone keep tabs on him, which was made ridiculously difficult by his cloak, which none of us could figure out a way to notice if he decided to stay still.
A couple of days later however, we ran into another annoying problem. Since the kid had left the desert, it seemed like the mob population had increased, to the point where it was reaching the level where it was threatening our camp. Liam went out to scout it, and reported that at the current rate, we had at most two days before the mobs would fill the desert, making expeditions past it impossible. In other words, we needed to mount an expedition today. I ran the problem through my head a couple more times before i answered Liam.
"all right, gather everyone here for debriefing, we'll all set out an hour after everyone has their positions given for the siege."
it took about ten minutes for him to get everyone here, but he did manage to get everyone here.
"Liam has returned from his report, the day after tomorrow, the desert will be far too infested with enemies for us to continue past there, and they might decide this camp is a good place to expand."
the kid piped up "but this kind of behaviour isn't like them, usually mobs just kind of wander, they don't have a plan."
"correct" i replied, sitting up from my makeshift chair, "so we should assume that the rumours of a beast in the desert are true, and that beating that golem was some sort of event trigger."
i stopped for a moment, allowing the news to sink in.
"therefore" i continued "we are going to rid the desert of all the mobs today, hopefully drawing out this beast as well, and stopping this event before it gets out of hand."
Several people lost their composure at this for a few seconds, and soon enough, everyone was raising their voices, trying to buy themselves time. I raised my hand, signifying silence. Shortly after, the talking stopped.
"if we wait until tomorrow, the population will have surged again, and we will be at a major disadvantage, as it is now, we have a chance, but we all need to be cautious, as our newest recruit said, this type of thing is pretty unknown for minecraft, usually you can choose to ignore this kind of thing, but this is too great a threat, another thing, these enemies don't burn in the daylight or despawn, they are out there even now." another small gasp.
What this means is we cant afford to get tied down in a series of one on one battles like normal, we are going to have to fight this with a plan in mind, with that being said, Kira and i will ram them close range, drawing a large bulk of the forces towards us, Liam, you take our new recruit, and harass them, move along their formation once it exists, and break it, let your arrows fly, and take as many of them out as you can, but don't stay in one place. Leah, has your arm healed yet." i turned to face her, and she nodded. "flank them, drive at the back of their formation, hit them hard, then retreat until they come at Kira and I, but don't be afraid to take on the few that will probably chase you, just retreat from the main battle so you don't get surrounded."
we hammered out a couple more details, like paths of retreat and other similar plans, then everyone left to get ready. Myself, i sat back and ran the conflict through my mind twice more, then practised with my sword until it was time to leave.
Massive was the only word i could use to describe the force we were facing. We were easily outnumbered 30-1, and several of the enemies had equipment. on top of that, we could all clearly see the enemy we were facing, and the health bar it had, which covered the length of its wings. I turned to Liam "that wasn't in your report"
"wasn't here last time" he replied as he sized up the enemy, "ill focus on it, new kid can handle your diversion, everyone should focus on evasive tactics when it changes to focus on them, it looks rather strong."
I nodded, and told everyone the change of plans. Everyone's face whitened as i told them we were to focus on defence, nobody liked that much. Regardless, i called the order to disperse, and our siege begun.
Everything started off well, the wyvern didn't move, allowing us to focus mostly on the mobs, who we proceeded to attack following plan A. Everyone moved like darts, getting a good slash or two in before retreating. We continued thinning out their numbers like that for a good while, but the wyvern's behaviour was bothering me, it didn't make sense that it wasn't moving while it had all the advantages.
I didn't have time to think though, as it was time to charge in again, the tempo of the battle was already set, and we seemed to be gaining ground, slowly pushing the enemy back towards the wyvern, of course, once we got close enough to make out its name, everything went wrong.
The wyvern started to stand, its head pointed upwards, and it let out a shrill shriek as black mist coiled around its body. The beasts name was Wyvern of the Dead. As the mist made contact with the random mobs, they crumbled to ash, and then those ashes exploded, creating a massive chain reaction that pretty much obliterated the desert, throwing all of us, around like rag-dolls until eventually the games engine caught up, and we we were standing in a massive hole in the ground, easily stretching 50 blocks in every direction, and probably 15 blocks down. On top of that, it had the standard jagged bottom standard where explosives are concerned.
As we all stood up, we realized two things, one- our health was all dangerously low, and two, we didn't have a way out of this battle.
The wyvern dived down, ripping through the terrain, somehow clearing away a lot of the mess, restoring the hole to a more natural form. I didn't really have time to admire it though, as i was rather busy avoiding it, trying to keep myself from being hit long enough for my health to recover, and out of the corner of my eyes, i could see everyone else doing the same thing. Eventually, the terrain was mostly flattened, and the wyvern held itself overhead long enough for our two archers to let loose several arrows, most of which found their mark in the wyvern.
The Wyvern screamed in pain, the terrible black mist streaming from its mouth, and settling on the ground as we all backed away. As the mist settled, the wyvern's body seemed to erupt in black flames, and it proceeded to dive down, the flames alighting everywhere that mist was in the ground.
Soon enough, the wyvern settled on the ground, curling its wings around it, and we all charged, closing the gap between us once more as arrows rained down upon the mighty wings.
As soon as i slashed at the beast's wings, it decided that the annoying insects were bothering it, and unfurled its wings suddenly, sending me into the air as its wings rammed into the full length of my body, in a motion that should have broken all of the bones in my body, but thankfully didn't, although i crashed into the ground very hard, and wasn't surprised at all when my vision went blank.
Thankfully i wasn't out for very long though, and i managed to struggle to my feet in time to retreat, noticing i had lost 8 blocks of health from that attack, it was lucky for me the mobs had been cleared out sometime before, or else that would have been it for me.
As i waited for my health to recover, i noticed that the noises of battle were fairly faint, not at all what they should have been if i had landed in the same pit. As i limped towards the battleground, my mind still trying to process the fact that i wasn't dead, a plan began to unfurl in my mind, and i double checked the chain end of my weapon, noticing that my hand was shaking with fear at the lunatic idea i was presented with.
We were losing. That was the first thought going through my head as i surveyed the battleground, my mind finally clear from the impact of that last attack, anticipation of the coming assault now at the forefront of my mind. Everyone was scattered, and there seemed to be no plan, with nobody to lead them, everyone was simply on auto-pilot, trying to survive against the flames that were slowly covering the entire battlefield, causing pretty much anything not solid rock to burn to cinders. Everyone was alive though, so we weren't done for yet.
My mouth set in a grimace as i whirled the chain around, willing it to grow just fast enough to wrap one of the wings to the body, and then jumping into the pit as i let the chain fly, aiming right in front of the wyvern's shoulder, and feeling the impact of the small blade as i swung around the wyvern, my momentum flipping it upside down just long enough for a sudden hail of arrows to ram into its torso. I walked forwards as it struggled pathetically, without even the strength to stand. and planted my blade above its neck as i spoke.
"for crimes including the deaths of a great deal of players, as well as casting misfortune and doubt upon one of my comrades, i exile you beyond the abyss, so you may never return again." my blade seemed to sing as i thrust it downwards, cutting through its neck, and watched its head separate, then dissolve, as everything other then a single, black claw disappeared while my sentence took hold, the wyvern wouldn't be granted revival, and any trace of it in the games systems other then the claw i now held was deleted.
Slowly, everyone gathered around me as my strength gave way, and i fell to my knees, noticing as i did so that everyone was crowded around me. I gave everyone a weak smile "we beat it, and it looks like we got proof as well, lets go home." i used my blade as a crutch, and started walking, before anyone could begin the torrent of questions i didn't really feel like answering right away.
As expected, once we got back and i gave the dispersal order, everyone left rather slowly, as for myself, i waited until everyone left, then returned to my own house, storing the claw in one of my secret chests before going to my bed to sleep. It had been a long day, and i slept almost immediately.