Chapter 29: Mistakes and Guardians
Guide clutched his rifle with both hands, his eyes madly searching the rotting purple fields of the corruption. No devourers had shown themselves yet, but the damn worms could pop up anywhere. Not to mention the soul eaters...
"Jesus Guide, calm yourself. We haven't even stepped into the corruption yet," Hero said, casually spinning a revolver in his hand. As he finished his statement, Hero suddenly took aim and fired in a seemingly random direction and a horrible squelch was heard, followed by a thump. "Hm. Try not to step in death-beetle stew."
Guide eyed Neptune suspiciously. Just a week ago, she'd suggested that the team head out towards the dungeon. Unfortunately, that meant crossing the corruption, which was difficult with 3 brightly dressed, noisy adventures, especially now that the Eater of Worlds was awake. Neptune decided to ignore Guide's searching glance.
"So, are we going to go in, or what?" Hero asked, loading another bullet into his revolver.
"I suppose so. I shall lead," said Neptune, after an uncomfortable silence, "tread carefully. And please, keep the shooting down."
The group walked slowly behind Neptune, sticking to any cover that could be found and avoiding engagement with enemies. This was successful for some time. Indeed, after half an hour of sneaking, the end of the corruption and beginning of green fields was in sight. However, as time progressed, Hero grew more and more agitated at the lack of action. He was a warrior, damnit, not some sort of secret agent!
He explicitly voiced his concerns to Guide and, after failing to gain recognition, he loudly proclaimed "screw it!" and opened fire on a group of Soul Eaters. Guide cringed and threw himself onto the ground at the sound of the shots, landing himself in a thorn bush. He screamed as he tore himself out of the bush, though most of it was now sticking in him. Neptune instantly began trying to help Guide remove the thorns from his person, leaving the player alone to defend himself against the army of soul eaters. He smirked and began fanning his revolver.
The first two went down before the rest of the group could notice, and another three exploded in a gory green shower as they flew towards the group, screeching horribly. Hero fired another shot, this one a miss, before throwing down his revolver and unsheathing his sword just in time to slice one of the oncoming enemies cleanly in two. The rest of the attack passed in a blur, and ended with Hero gleefully putting his boot through a wounded eater, and letting out an exhilarated sigh.
"You two can get up now. Man, I needed that!" Hero laughed, picking up his empty revolver. Guide, covered in bleeding cuts, suddenly stood up and punched Hero in the face. As he stumbled backwards, Guide instantly regretted his action, but had too much ranting to do to step down.
"You idiot! You incompetent fool!" Guide shouted. "I try my best to get us across the corruption and you ruin it with your the antics!" Hero, quickly recovering from the shock, looked at guide with distaste.
"What the hell, Guide? I just wanted to have some fun. Not like it did any harm in the..." Hero started. He looked down curiously. The ground was trembling. Neptune stood frozen, staring down at the earth beneath her feet.
"Of course! Of course we woke it up! I hate you Hero, you know that? I absolutely hate-!" Guide shouted, before being violently thrown on the ground by the intense shaking of the Earth.
"Agh... I... What?" Hero asked drearily, before Terraria was suddenly, loudly, torn in two.
A great, rotting chain of flesh and bloodshot eyes burst from the ground, ripping up soil and stone and throwing it all in the air in a volcanic explosion as it broke the surface. It let out an immense, tumbling roar, opening its immense mandibles and clicking them a few times for good measure. Guide frantically sprinted towards the end of the corruption, grabbing Neptune by the arm on the way. She numbly followed him as the beast smashed back into the surface, tearing up the already abused surface of the world.
Meanwhile, Hero stood his ground, waiting for the beast to emerge again. He held a flintlock pistol in one hand, and his sword in the other. However, his stance amounted to nothing as the Eater of Worlds burst forth from the ground and clenched him between its mandibles. He screamed in pain as two holes were drilled straight through him, and again as the beast burrowed through the ground with him still impaled on a mandible. Guide watched with horror as its head emerged from the soil once more, flinging the battered hero several yards before he landed in a bloody heap in front of Guide.
"Hero!" Guide shouted. Hero, coughing and wheezing, crawled towards Guide, his crushed silver armor hampering his breathing.
Guide promptly grabbed him by the wrist with his free hand and began hauling him towards the end of the corruption. The beast burst forth again, scattering the party and throwing them on the ground once more. Impressively, Hero managed to get up and chase after the Guide on his own initiative. Neptune appeared to be done with her panic attack, and was now actively escaping.
Guide assessed the situation. If he could take several more bursts of movement, he might be able to shake the beast off, as it couldn't move outside the corruption, and was unlikely to tunnel on its borders. However, hero was still behind and slowed, and he was priority number one. He would have to...
As guide frantically considered his options, he suddenly realized that, on the horizon, and moving rapidly closer, was a massive human skull, with two skeletal hands trailing behind it. A shower of blood poured from the whole thing, seemingly keeping it aloft.
He stood still, awestruck. His rifle finally dropped from his sweaty hands, and he collapsed. The dungeon guardian, skeleton, was now joining the fight! Why? Who did hero piss off? However, much to Guide's surprise, the ancient Dungeon guardian soared over him, ignoring him completely. He nearly collapsed from the wave of negative energy which washed over him as the undead construct passed. It roared and grabbed the Eater of Worlds by the tail, before yanking it out of the ground. Guide gasped as the Eater was violently ripped in half, then torn again, before the remaining pieces slipped out of Skeletron's grasp and fled.
Guide, barely clinging onto consciousness, looked around. The field was covered in different kinds of blood. Hero laid unconscious or dead on the ground, and Neptune, paralyzed by the negative energy wave, was suddenly snatched up by Skeletron. Guide let out a silent scream as he was suddenly seized by the other bony hand, and continued to attack his own vocal cords in an attempt to form a scream before blacking out.
