AN: Another two-for-one chapter set. Mainly because I wrote the vastly easier and self-contained Lenz stuff first, then hammered out chapter 263.

This should be posted within a few hours of 263, which will hopefully make a lot of viewers happy. Repay me with reviews, comments, and your thoughts, either on the discord or as a review on this site. I like reading reviews.

I don't own Minecraft. If I did, I'd have the Wardens drop something indicating their Mob name.

Otherwise, how would you know they're called Wardens?

Chapter 264

ppp

[Lenz]

After I left that underground, palatial structure overgrown with sculk, I returned to the massive cavern of stalagmites and stalactites and resumed my journey to tunnel under the other Survival Island. It helped that the cavern was so massive, and that I could get away with traversing it in my designated direction without wasting a single sliver of durability on either my iron or diamond pickaxes. I was met with darkness, and I encountered Mobs, but I was able to enact crowd control with some choice displacements of lava, burning large groups of Mobs so I could isolate and kill the loners with my dagger. I illuminated my path with the soul lanterns I got from the underground ruins.

I specifically targeted Creepers, Skeletons, and Zombies to obtain, respectively, gunpowder, arrows, and rotten flesh.

The rotten flesh was a food source I grudgingly had to rely on. I could've eaten the last of the glow berries in my backpack, but those were for Z7. There was also the possibility I could grow more glow berries, like the seeds of any crop, aided by the bone meal I could make from the bones I had, but it would involve testing I was not yet ready to commit myself to.

The reason I wanted arrows was self-explanatory, though I was still waiting on the Skeletons to drop a bow. Even a weak bow would have been fine, but no such luck. Just bones and arrows.

And the gunpowder was for rockets or TNT. Explosives were my best weapon against Larkspur if and when I saw her again.

Actually, that was not quite true. My best best weapon was the Sculker, and finding a way to lure Larkspur down to it so she would talk and talk and talk, and trigger those sirens, those... Sculk Shriekers... and get mauled to death.

As plans went, it was a wild one, reminiscent of the kinds of stunts Cobbert pulled, like breaking an aquarium of Guardians to escape Dahlia and the Berserkers. It pitted one threat against another, despite both threats being, well, threatening. It was risky, but then so was being trapped on a series of islands with Teal_Larkspur hunting me down.

So I picked off Mobs, and risked a couple of Creeper explosions too close for comfort, until I had a handful of gunpowder, arrows, and rotten flesh. That was when the massive cave ended, and I began to dig again.

The tunnel I dug was narrow, just enough for a Crafter to run through. I did not waste durability enlarging it, not when I needed every bit I could squeeze out. I did, however, convert my surplus of iron ingots into an anvil, for pickaxe repairs, and a flint and steel, for a weapon. Whenever my iron pickaxe got too low in durability, I switched to my diamond one, and whenever that got low, I repaired both with iron ingots and diamonds and my own hard-earned EXP, then continued digging. I regularly dumped the stacks of cobbled deepslate I mined to keep my Inventory clear.

I also decided now was the best time to craft an actual weapon I would need in the future once I finally got around to making the fireworks rockets.

I laid out all the wood I had atop my precious Crafting Table under the blue light of the soul lantern. One stick I got from a Witch, and the three dark oak planks I had managed to saw off while getting chased by the Sculker. It was nowhere near enough for a boat, but it was enough for something else.

"A tripwire hook..." I began, reallocating the stick and plank, then adding a single iron ingot to make one tripwire hook. "And then I need sticks..." I used the last two planks to make four sticks. "Put them all together with some string and a dash of iron ingot..." I rearranged the tripwire hook, three of my four sticks, two string scavenged from dead Spiders, and one iron ingot. "And you get..."

Out popped a shiny new crossbow, which I quickly tested the weight of. It was a comforting feeling to finally have a bow in hand. And yes, a bow would have been less costly in terms of sticks and planks, but then a bow could not fire rockets. My rate of fire would suffer using a single crossbow, but it was not like I had a lot of ammo to work with anyway.

Chances are, if I miss Larkspur with my rockets, I am done for anyway. I thought realistically. I holstered the crossbow at my belt, next to Z7's dagger, gathered up my Crafting Table, and continued digging my tunnel.

After a while of digging, and internally counting how many meters I traveled, I reached a point where I was 80% certain I was underneath the other Survival Island. I was not fully sure, and there was a risk of digging up and being met with ocean water, but there was no other way to check but to have faith in my distance-measuring ability.

So, I dug straight up.

And stopped.

After a second thought, I dug back down, then dug a small pit at the base of where I intended to dig up. I filled it with water from one of my water buckets, then I resumed digging up, this time digging out a two-by-one chute, where I would only nerdpole up in half of the dug space, leaving a chute that would lead down into the water pit I made.

I was leaving a quick access chute to reach this depth, with the water pit there to cushion my fall. Not only did it serve as a precaution should I run into Mobs, or lava pools, or the ocean and needed to drop out of danger quickly, but it was an emergency chute to flee down should Larkspur find me. Then, I could run back down my tunnel, blocking her pursuit of me with cobbled deepslate as I went, and make it back to that underground sculk-covered ruin with her in tow.

Would she keep chasing me? Like a cat chases a bird.

So I dug up, making my chute, and finally making use of all the deepslate I dug to nerdpole up. The deepslate I dug at eventually turned to stone, signifying I was out of the underground Bounty Day area and back in familiar territory. I took bites of rotten flesh and finished off my dried kelp to keep my energy up. I repaired my pickaxes with more iron and diamonds and EXP. I kept digging and digging, swinging my pickaxes until my arms felt like lead weights, and even then I kept swinging. Going higher and higher without once hitting sand.

Then, I hit dirt.

And when I broke through the looser substance, I poked my head up into sunlight and fresh air.

I did not immediately hoist myself up. No, instead I lingered there, my arms braced against the soft grass and my body limp and leaning against the soil as I took great lungfuls of fresh air, and lifted my tinted glasses to feel the full warmth of the sun on my face. I basked in it, letting out a pleasant sigh.

After about a minute of basking, I hoisted myself up and dug out the final bits of my underground chute. Staring down it, I could make out the distant blue glow of the soul lantern at the bottom. It was a long drop. Ninety meters, at least.

It was dangerous to leave it open, but I lacked anything to use as a distinguishable marker for it. Instead, I glanced around at my surroundings for a noticeable landmark.

The trees on this island were as woolen as on the last one, as expected, but they made for great cover. I spied the nearest one, made up of green and brown wool, and trimmed the edges of it just enough to make it look jagged. Then I used the wool to make carpets, laying them on the ground in the shape of an arrow to point to the hole that was the underground chute.

"That should do it." I nodded, satisfied. It would have been a waste to disregard what I found down there, and I knew there were planks aplenty just waiting for me to scavenge. I just had to risk summoning the Sculker.

But with the chute and the water set up at the bottom, I could fall down without worry in the event I needed to make a quick escape. After all, it was only a matter of time before Larkspur deduced I made it off the first island. Now was an excellent time to get a read on my new surroundings.

I had no idea how many days it had been, both since I was whisked away from the Eastern HQ, and since I first landed on the Survival Islands. With the sugar cane in my possession, I could make paper, then a compass to make a map, but I would rather use the paper for my fireworks rockets.

Then again, if I scoured the shoreline, maybe I could chance upon another undersea ruin, or a sunken ship. It would be a comparatively safer source of planks than returning to that underground ruin.

My stomach growled audibly, and it was with great revulsion that I chewed a few strips of rotten flesh, nearly vomiting on the spot. "Maybe I should have invested in a hoe..." I lamented, thinking how farming wheat seeds from bone meal grown grass was a sustainable means to feed myself.

I did a once-over of my mishmash if gear before straightening up and exploring my new island.

Quietly.

It was growing dark. The sun was threatening to dip below the horizon.

After a cursory examination of the second island, I found it to be hook-shaped, and at least three-times larger than the first island. My first island had been to the north, and there was a third island - larger than the first and second one put together - to the east.

I had yet to find any undersea ruins or sunken ships on my hook-shaped island, but I only checked half of the shoreline, picking off Creepers for gunpowder while I was at it, and periodically marking my path with carpets so I would not get lost. My method of marking was just enough for me to notice, but not enough for people like Larkspur to notice.

It was while I was carefully scanning the southern shore of the hook-shaped island that I saw something that made me feel a swell of hope unlike anything I had ever felt in my life.

Never have I looked to an airship with greater euphoria and hope than I did with that familiar fleet of airships floating towards my island. I fell to my knees in sheer relief, tears running down my cheeks, and a watery smile spreading across my face. All my survival plans meant nothing now, and I happily banished them to waste. The Paragons had come back. I was going to be rescued!

I opened my mouth to holler at them, only to click my teeth shut. They were far away, still. My shouts would not reach them, but they could reach Larkspur.

I shifted in place, feeling like a bundle of energy with no outlet. The fleet of airships and their promise of rescue had brought about a second-wind in me, even after being exhausted from a day and night of sleepless digging. Making a fire or a signal to the fleet was just as likely to call Larkspur down on me, and I was not willing to risk that with rescue so tantalizingly close. But then, how long until Larkspur noticed the fleet? Would she stay with the prospect of facing a force of Paragons? I dared to hope she would flee with her tail between her legs.

As I watched the fleet grow closer, dithering in place as I considered my best move, I noticed something through my tinted goggles. From what I could see, the fleet was not aiming for the hook-shaped island. Based on the bearing of the ship out in front, they were aiming for my first island - the smallest one. The one Larkspur was still scouring for me.

I needed to be sure.

I recklessly ran across the island, back the way I came. I followed the dotted carpets I left for myself and traced my path back to my hole in the ground. Then I picked the tallest tree and nerdpoled my way onto it.

It was definitely the fleet. I recognized the ships. Somehow, someway, they put together I was here. They must have.

But they weren't sure where I was exactly. There were three islands to choose from, and the fleet was heading for the smallest one first. They did not have my eyesight, and thus would be unable to pick out a long Crafter atop a canopy of woolen trees. They could not see me.

They were going to land on the smallest island first. The same one as Larkspur.

I felt a chill run up my spine as I recalled Perry's Head in Larkspur's grasp. She had Wonder Wings and the Voda Shlem, not to mention her deadly close combat skills. How much damage could she do to the Paragons with that? How many would share Perry's fate before the Lieutenant was killed or driven off. It would be worse if the Paragons split up to search for me, putting my safety as their highest priority. Larkspur could pick them off with ease.

I ran my hands through my hair as I wrestled with these thoughts. How many people would get hurt or die just to rescue me? They mobilized the fleet and came all this way just to rescue me.

...What if Z7 is on board?

Who was I kidding? She was totally on board. She would be the first one on the ground tearing up the island looking for me... and running straight into Larkspur's potential ambush.

I did not realize it, but I subconscious drew Z7's dagger to idly rub my fingers along the handle. When I realized what I was doing, I looked down, and my tinted gaze stared back at me from the iron's reflective surface.

"No Beginner will ever let you down..." I spoke softly to myself, thinking only of the Paragons risking their lives to rescue mine.

With my resolve steeled, I whipped out my crafting table and started working atop that fake tree. The fleet continued to move to that island as I worked, and I needed to signal them fast.

Even if it meant signaling Larkspur in the process.

"She will be faster." I spoke pragmatically, even knowing the implications should frighten me. The fear was there, but dulled. I did not know by what, but this was going against every survival instinct in my body. "I just need to stall her. Lead her on a merry chase."

If my plan fails, I know Z7 will make it. I thought confidently. And if I perish, I know Z7 will finish it. Avenge all the poor souls who perished on these islands at Larkspur's psychotic hands.

I mixed black dye from the ink sacs with white dye from the bone meal, to make a dye in the same signature gray shade as my hair. Then I mixed that with gunpowder and the golden nuggets to make gray firework stars with the star-shaped effect. Then I mixed those with paper and gunpowder to make rockets.

They would be useless as a sure-kill projectile against Larkspur.

But they would be excellent at signaling everyone where I was!

With the darkening sky serving as a perfect, contrasting backdrop, I launched the fireworks from the canopy of my fake tree, the high-pitched whistles chasing away all other sound before they exploded in large, gray star-shapes. I paused between each launched firework to ensure the signal would not be missed.

After a few seconds, the fleet abruptly veered starboard, their noses angling towards me and the location of my fireworks.

A second later, a blue speck jettisoned from the canopy of the first island before it shot forward, streaking past the fleet and zooming towards me. I could hear the faint whistling of fireworks not my own in the wind, propelling the winged fiend.

"She just cannot help herself, can she?" I murmured to myself while my hands frantically tugged on all my gear. I positioned my body on the edge of my fake tree, double-checking to see I was in the right spot.

Just got to stall for time. I told myself. Or kill her if given the chance.

I thought back to how she tortured me, tricked me, toyed with me, and otherwise tormented me.

Yes. Definitely kill her. I thought grimly before squaring my shoulders and standing firm as I faced the blue-haired meteorite rocketing towards me. She was a blur in my goggles, but she twisted her body, chambering a roundhouse kick as she expertly judged the distance between us and her relative velocity so as to deliver it straight to my face.

"LEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNYYYYYYYY~!"

I fell back at the last possible second off my tree, her kick missing me by scant inches. I continued to fall, not onto the grass but straight down the chute leading underground. I felt weightless as I fell, my shirt scuffing the sides. It took between three and four seconds to fall the full ninety meters of the chute, my lower body plunging into the water I had set to cushion my fall. I hoisted myself out fast, then plugged the water with a spare piece of cobbled deepslate just as Larkspur came hurtling down.

"Fucking-!" Larkspur's voice was strained with desperate peril as she flared out her wings to slow herself now that there was no water to cushion her fall. Her body abruptly slowed as the wings caught air, but it was impossible for anyone to halt their terminal velocity on a dime, and in such a narrow chute. Her legs swung up from the sudden whiplash and she crashed into every wall of the chute before falling face-first into a heap at the bottom, her blue ponytail draped over her head to cover her face.

I fired an arrow from my crossbow and nailed her in the skull.

She propped herself up - an arrow sticking out of her head - and spat hair out of her mouth. In the light of the soul lantern, I could see her expression was murderous. She took off from a four-point start to charge me down while I backed away into my pre-dug tunnel. I took out more cobbled deepslate and laid them down while I retreated, effectively making the Lieutenant run into walls to slow her down.

A fishnet clad arm punched clean through the first barrier of deepslate, prompting me to erect more. I kept laying down blocks as I backpedaled, occasionally throwing down fire or a bucket of lava to keep her on her toes. I could hear her busting through each barrier with her insane EXP strength like they were cardboard, or else nullifying the fire and lava with her Voda Shlem, cooling them with a hiss of water.

I also heard her screaming.

"How the hell did you dig all this!? I only gave you a dagger! This is NOT something that can be done with a dagger! Did you make some nerdstone mining robot or something!? You totally did, didn't you! And how did you get your hands on a crossbow!? STOP BLOCKING ME WITH WALLS, DAMNIT!"

Underground like we were, in a narrow tunnel, her wings were useless. Confined spaces were a weakness for someone like her, who strafed and relied on her aerial maneuverability. The tunnel went on for a while yet, and I had plenty of deepslate to block her with.

"You're trying to buy time, aren't you Lenny?" Larkspur's mocking voice reached me through the layers of deepslate. "Hoping your Paragons will catch up before I do~?" I caught a glimpse of her madly grinning face as she punched through another wall before I set down a new one. "How are they gonna get down here fast when you plugged the water trying to kill me? Hmhmhmm~! You're fooling yourself if you think anything can protect you from ME!"

I tuned her out as I placed more walls down, sticking to the plan.

[Z7]

I saw the gray fireworks.

I knew it was Lenz.

The other Paragons hastened to turn the ships towards those gray fireworks. Those gray, star-shaped sparks were calling out to us for rescue.

I saw the winged, blue blur zoom past our ship, and I knew it to be Teal.

She got there first, and we touched down second after an agonizingly long time.

We found green carpets pointing to a hole in the ground. A hole in the ground that went incredibly deep. No sign of either Lenz or Teal, though.

While the other Paragons argued about nonsense I couldn't understand - maybe about the safest way to descend down the hole without dying of fall damage - I bowled past them, ignoring their protests, and flung myself down the hole. A totem of undying was clutched in my hand just as my legs broke beneath me at the bottom and I died of fall damage.

I sneezed, revived at the bottom. I was unbothered by the death, by the used up totem crumbling in my grip, and by the forced removal of all my Vivlio Zythopoiias buffs from dying. The totem's aftereffects were stitching me back together, and I was the first one down the hole in record time. That was all that mattered. With not a second wasted, I drew my daggers and took off running down the only path available.

The path I was sure would take me to Lenz.

[Lenz]

Backpedaling for half a mile while staving off an increasingly volatile Teal_Larkspur was as nerve-wracking as it sounded, but it came to an end when my tunnel opened up into the massive stalagmite and stalactite cave, as I knew it would. I abandoned my cobbled deepslate blocks and instead poured my last bucket of lava above the tunnel's opening, hoping the flow would buy me a few precious seconds. Then I turned on my heel and sprinted as fast I could, weaving past conical rocks and dripping water. I followed the trail of soul lanterns I had set up before.

I had Z7's dagger in one hand, and my lone ender pearl in the other. Through my tinted goggles, I scanned the floor of the massive cavern ahead of me for but a sliver of an opening to the underground ruins below. All I needed was a small crack to lob my ender pearl through.

Behind me, I heard a high-pitched whistle as Larkspur bypassed the lava and finally had space enough to spread her wings. She would be upon me soon.

My vision sharpened under the influence of fear, and I saw, with frightening focus, a slight crevice in the deepslate ahead, from which blue lights shone up from. I reared back my ender pearl and launched it towards the crevice a second before I got blindsided by a rocket-propelled shoulder check that sent me crashing into a pile of stalagmites. The conical rocks dug into my back, damaging me further.

Larkspur was on me in a second, leaping like a tiger and slamming me harder into the stalagmites, pummeling me with three hard shots to the thigh, body, and face. Under each blow, I felt something break or shatter, followed by blossoming agony. I swung my dagger at her face, but she caught the arm with contemptuous ease.

I warped out of her grip just as she was winding up her fourth punch, teleporting away to the underground palatial ruins by my landing ender pearl, and taking more damage in the process. I weakly sat up only to whine through my teeth as I felt a broken rib and leg. I also could not feel the right side of my face. To her blows, I was like peanut brittle.

Not wanting to worsen the pain, I craned my head to look around without moving, trying to locate one of the many Sculk Shriekers of the ruins. I was in an unexplored part of it, though, and it was too dark to make out where I had been. All I saw were the regular Sculk Sensors and Catalysts, accompanied by blocks of sculk.

I forced my arms to drag myself across the sculk-covered deepslate, even though it was utter agony. I desperately crawled to the nearest ruin, hoping to conceal myself and buy time.

There was a high-pitched whistle before Larkspur skidded to a stop before me, stopping my desperate crawl.

"Was this stuff always down here?" Larkspur asked conversationally as she glanced at the massive deepslate cavern and ruins. Her eyes roved across the sculk and blue fire. "Me likey the blue fire. Looks like you went on quite the adventure, little Lenny~"

Larkspur kicked me in the side, launching me in the air to crash against a ruin. I coughed and struggled to stay conscious as pain coursed through my side, even as I pulled my crossbow to load an arrow I knew would never land.

"You really thought you could escape me~? I've been doing this for over three-hundred years~" Larkspur taunted as she advanced. "You have any idea how many losers like you I've killed~?"

"N-No, but I can hear their ghosts." I threw out, half-delirious as I took aim with my shaking crossbow. "They whisper to me, and tell me what I already know." My voice took on a defiant, animalistic growl from the back of my throat as I loathed every fiber of the Lieutenant before me. I spoke my next words like I was casting a curse, knowing this was the end, and glaring at her all the while. "That you are an insane, degenerate piece of filth, and you deserve to die."

Larkspur's pupils and irises constricted into tiny pinpricks as she took particular offense to my loathsome words. Her lips drew back in a snarl as she marched forward.

She completely missed the lithe figure of Z7 dropping on her from above.

As Larkspur was flattened, Z7 buried two daggers into the Lieutenant's collarbone, digging deep and eliciting a painful shout. Larkspur bucked like a bull, throwing Z7 off so she could straighten up and get a good look at her. She glared at her seriously. "If it isn't the Scarface slut herself~! I'm glad we finally get to settle our rivalry over your little boytoy~"

Z7 spared me a minute glance, and I could feel the gaze beneath that curtain of hair roving across my injuries. Then she turned to Larkspur and charged her with her daggers.

"Slow down, girl~!" Larkspur jeered as she put on the Voda Shlem, intent on slowing Z7 down.

She was unprepared for Z7 to bowl through, unaffected, and sink her daggers into Larkspur's stomach. Larkspur recoiled from the unexpected move, then screamed bloody murder and spasmed as Z7 ran the daggers up through her body like she was gutting a fish. Her eyes found Larkspur's as she spoke in whispered Jibberish.

"(Look upon me as the light leaves your eyes. You hurt my love. Prepare to die.)"

Larkspur shoved away hard to get Z7 away from her, then lashed out with a kick across Z7's face that sent her staggering backwards. However, Larkspur was the one left wincing from the damage.

"GAH!? THORNS!? AGAIN!?"

That was right. Z7 was one of the designated fighters to receive armor specifically designed to combat Teal_Larkspur and Abyssmal. Depth Strider III boots to counter the Voda Shlem, and Thorns III to counter her close combat style. Larkspur would be hard-pressed to overcome both. Meanwhile, Z7 could fight unabated.

Her iron daggers whistled as she hurled them at Larkspur's chest. The Lieutenant strafed to dodge, then kicked off a ruin to mount Z7's shoulders, her fingers reaching down to grip her by the head, trying to snap her neck and end the fight quickly. The two engaged in a brief contest of strength, one that Z7 began to lose against Larkspur's superior EXP levels, before, with a primal scream, Z7 kicked with her legs and flung her body backwards, slamming the two of them into and through a ruin, loosening Larkspur's hold enough to reach up, grab her arm, and whip her off like she was a ragdoll. Larkspur's body tumbled out the other side of the ruin, skidding against sculk before she slowed to a stop and looked up with a glare.

"(Z7!)" I called out painfully, making her turn with concern. "(Fight quietly!)" I advised in Jibberish so that Larkspur would not heed the warning. "(Down here, noise will summon a terribly deadly monster!)"

"(They don't call me the Slumbering Death for nothing. I'll be as quiet as a mouse.)" She flashed a thumbs up before readying a fresh pair of iron daggers in a reverse grip.

A high-pitched whistle erupted as Larskpur took to the open space above the ruins. She decided to fall back on her one advantage: her speed.

As she flew around like an angry hornet, Z7's eyes tracked her carefully, waiting for the eventual attack.

Then, Z7's eyes went wide in panic as Larkspur pelted towards me.

She turned and ran, even though I knew she would be too late. Larkspur pelted towards me, readying another rocket-propelled roundhouse kick to finish me off.

'One last piece of advice. From a senior, to a junior. You're a good archer, but you'll only be a great archer - an archer's archer - when you stop playing the bow and start playing the foe. Anticipate your enemy, foresee their every movement, and they'll run right into your arrows every time. With your big brain, you can pull it off: Foresight.'

Abyssmal's parting words stuck in my mind. And... for some weird reason... maybe because I had seen her do it before... it should have been impossible the speed she was going... but some instinct possessed me... somehow I knew she would feint...

I raised my preloaded crossbow to point, not at Larkspur, but where I knew she would be, and fired.

She feinted like I predicted, only for her eyeball to run straight into my arrow, her head jerking back and throwing her into a tailspin as she sailed past me and crashed into a half-ruined deepslate brick tower. She slid to the sculk-covered ground, clutching her ruined eye, but also with her other eye wide and... dare I say it... afraid. It quivered as she looked at me.

"...H-How'd you do that...? Th-That's Abyssmal's thing-"

Before I could ponder on what she meant or what I had just pulled off, Z7 tore past me, retrieving her daggers in the process, and charged the still reeling Lieutenant. Larkspur grimaced and shot to her feet before charging Z7 in turn. However, at the point of contact, Larkspur slid between Z7's outstretched legs and righted herself back on her feet, aiming to gun for me once more. Killing me was her priority.

This time, however, Z7 was expecting it. She caught Larkspur by her long, teal ponytail, eliciting a ripping sound and a noise of protest, followed by a shrill screech as the Lieutenant was dragged backwards and before her. Just to be petty, Larkspur grabbed two fistfuls of Z7's long, purple, curtain of hair and tugged hard to one side, making the Paragon's head jerk.

With an evil smile, and holding Z7's hair like they were sled reigns, Larkspur rocketed into the air, a silently suffering Z7 in tow, and carried her towards the heart of the ruins, where blue fire was burning beneath a frame resembling the head of the Sculker. Even at a distance, I could make out the fight through my goggles.

Z7 was whipped into the blue fire, tumbling along the length of it and taking considerable fire damage. She quickly rolled off, but heeded my warning by not screaming. Instead, she quietly burst apart in a shower of gear, and Larkspur crowed in triumph.

Until Z7's gear rematerialized and she sneezed following the spent totem.

"Whuh-! You have totems too!? No fair!" Larkspur whined before catching Z7's dagger arm.

An eerily familiar shriek sounded. My eyes shot to the Sculk Shrieker at the base of the frame structure that detected Larkspur's sound from the nearby Sculk Sensors. The rings of sound waves were loosed.

The Sculker was coming.

"(Z7! DON'T MAKE A SOUND!)" I shouted in warning before obeying my own advice and going as silent as a grave. Z7 twitched at the warning, hinting that she caught it, even while she wrestled with Larkspur.

"What is that dork even saying~? Some romantic pillow talk for your ears only, hm~?" Larkspur taunted, unknowingly triggering the Shrieker again. She was more focused on straining against Z7, her arm reaching down to the Paragon's belt as quick as lightning and stealing something golden for herself. Z7 did not rise to the bait, keeping dutifully quiet. "Cat got your tongue, Scarfa-?"

There was a loud cracking of solid rock. Loud and violent. Z7 and Larkspur forgot their wrestling to turn and look at its source. Black particles swirled around them as the Darkness effect undoubtedly took hold of their senses. I noticed their gazes turn vague, though I realized I alone was unaffected. It must have had to do with proximity, as the two women were a lot closer to where the Sculker emerged.

It came out of the ground, a hulking monster unlike anything either woman had ever seen. Its heart pounded with an unsettling beat.

And Larkspur... foolish, stupid Larkspur... broke the silence with, "What the fuck is that?"

The effect was immediate and glorious.

The Sculker let loose an angry, reverberating roar before it lumbered towards the Lieutenant. Z7 wisely and quietly disengaged from Larkspur, slinking backwards on her bare feet so as to not make a sound. She really was the Slumbering Death, quiet enough to kill even the lightest of sleepers without waking them.

It also helped that Larkspur was making a whole lot of noise.

"You're new~ Another Bounty Day Mob for me to play with. You wanna get nuts?" Larkspur chewed a golden apple she had stashed on her person to replenish her Health and buff herself with Absorption I before she squared off against the Sculker in a combat stance. "Let's get nuts~!"

Larkspur delivered a strong, solid, jump front snap kick to the Sculker's face... and barely budged it, even with her tremendous EXP strength.

Then the Sculker's tree trunk arms swung down and flattened the Lieutenant, sending cracks spiderwebbing through the deepslate.

When the arms lifted, Larkspur was sprawled in a small, Lieutenant-sized crater, her mouth agape and her eyes wide, her body so riddled with pain that she could not even voice it. Her left leg was bent the other way.

The Sculker roared again before winding up another swing.

Larkspur's survival reflexes kicked in and she used her fireworks to take off between the Sculker's falling arms and legs. She no longer had any intention of fighting the hulking monstrosity. Instead she zoomed in the space above, her busted leg dangling limply beneath her and causing her further pain. Her flying was slightly erratic as her vision was affected by the creature's Darkness effect.

Unbeknownst to her, the high-pitched whistles of her firework rockets only served to further incense the Sculker. It roared in impotent fury as it attempted to follow Larkspur's noise, lumbering around in circles and getting faster and faster, and angrier and angrier. Its heart pounded a mile a minute.

Z7 quietly padded over to me, having gotten out when she could. She made to say something, but I pressed a finger to my lips and shook my head. No sound. Instead, we just watched things unfold, with no small amount of relish.

Unsatisfied with its fruitless attempts at tracking the Lieutenant, and fully fed up with her incessant flying, the Sculker made that noise that heralded its sonic boom cannon. The deep inhale, with the volume increasing into a fevered crescendo. I brought my hands up to cover Z7's ears, and, mirroring my actions, Z7 knelt down beside me and covered mine.

The Sculker turned and aimed at the flying Larkspur, its inhale building and building until-

*THOOOOM!*

It was a markedly different experience witnessing the attack as opposed to being on the receiving end of it, like Larkspur was now. The attack traveled outward in concentric - and ironically teal-blue - circles, not from the creature's gaping mouth but from its heart. The organ in its chest sent out the sonic boom, and its ribs actually opened up to allow the sound ease to travel.

It struck Larkspur mid-flight, obliterating her instantly and sending her gear and Head pelting onto the ruins below like raindrops.

The Sculker paused to sniff the air and click its antennae, looking for new prey now that the noisy woman had been vanquished. It lumbered about for a few moments before suddenly moving to where Larkspur's gear had fallen.

I uncovered Z7's ears and she did the same with mine. Then I tugged on her sleeve, my gaze on the ground as I felt tears threatening to surface. The nightmare of the last couple days was finally over, and it was all hitting me at once. If we stuck around any longer, my sobs would expose us to the Sculker's wrath. She grasped my meaning, sliding her arms under my injured form and carefully lifting me up. I stifled a whine from the pain of my broken bones, but Z7 was as gentle as can be, treating me like a baby bird.

She then proceeded to walk, her bare feet padding across the ruins as she carried me bridal style. We walked past several Sculk Sensors and Shriekers, but not one of them were set off by Z7's padding. The Slumbering Death was as quiet as could be, even while carrying me. Indeed, she seemed unbothered by my weight.

My body shook and my eyes were watery as I held back the water works until we were safely out of those ruins. Z7 understood that too, her fingers rubbing along my uninjured leg comfortingly as if to say everything was okay.

Once we were well and fully clear of the ruins - having found a sloping path that led back to the stalagmite cavern - we finally felt safe enough to talk. A sob tore itself past my lips.

"(S-Sorry for... for g-getting emotional...)"

"(It's alright. You can cry.)" She rubbed circles along my back. "(It's over now. You're in safe hands.)"

I hugged her tighter, burying my face in her t-shirt. I had been kidnapped, tortured, imprisoned, beaten, waterboarded, and stranded, all in the span... of...

"(Wh-What day is it...?)" My muffled voice asked.

"(The 19th. December.)" Z7 replied. "(It's night out.)"

...Was that really all it had been? Six days since the Eastern Division fell. It seemed like longer in my isolation.

"(...That long and you did not give up on me?)"

"(Never.)"

"(Not even when Larkspur and Abyssmal were whom I was left with...?)"

"(Not even then.)" She looked to me. "(We've fought together. I know how hardy you can be. There was never any doubt.)"

There was on my end, but I did not say that. She had such unwavering faith in my survival skills, despite my background. I was not a trained Paragon...

...but I also never gave up.

"(...Thanks for coming to my rescue.)"

"(Any time, nerdling.)" She smiled warmly.

Remembering something, I shifted painfully and reached into my backpack before withdrawing and presenting the glow berries to Z7. "(S-Saved you something sweet.)" I smiled through the cracked bone in my face.

Z7 stopped walking. Her black eyes widened slightly behind her curtain of hair. She looked a little choked up hearing that, despite fighting for my life on Larkspur's Survival Island, I had found time to think of her. If she only knew how much I had actually been thinking of her.

"(W-Well,)" she gave a teary-eyed smile as she accepted the glow berries, "(that's the important thing.)" She smiled wryly for a moment before reality snapped her back. "(Baltic...? Is he here too?)"

"(...You mean he has not contacted you?)" I asked, wondering why Baltic did not send a map message. Did he and Cobbert not get out of the Nether yet? After six days? Sensing Z7's distress, I told her what I knew. "(Cobbert, Baltic, and Dwight all made it through a portal before we blew up the final portal hub. They should be in the Nether. That was the last I saw of them before I got captured and stripped of my Inventory.)"

"(...You didn't mention Perry.)"

My face grew pained as I looked at Z7, and she seemed to put it together, even as I shook my head. Perry was gone. She looked down in mourning.

"(...I'm so sorry, Z7.)"

"(Don't apologize.)" She shook her head. "(You have nothing to apologize for. Was it you who killed him? No. Who was it really? Abyssmal or Teal?)"

"(...It was Larkspur.)" I revealed, remembering Perry's torn-off Head in her grasp. If I had killed that loathsome woman properly in the Simulation Room, maybe Perry would have lived.

"(At least she is dead now.)" A tiny smile wormed its way onto my face. I was not usually one to delight in an enemy's death, but Larkspur was an exception. If anyone deserved it, it was her. "(She is dead.)"

"(...yyyeah.)" Z7 agreed, though she sounded a tad awkward. One of her hands also shifted to her belt before she regained her hold of me.

Larkspur's death was like a great weight had been lifted. No longer would I be tormented by that battle junkie. She hated me as much as I hated her, our enmity marking us as arch nemeses. But now that she had been put to rest, that no longer mattered. She could not hurt me anymore. She would not be after me anymore. She would not waterboard me anymore.

Like Z7 said, I was in safe hands.

With relief came drowsiness. Z7's arms were exceedingly comfortable, and I felt my eyes closing on their own. All the excitement and fatigue was finally catching up to me, though I was looking forward to waking up to a proper meal and a bed aboard an airship, one of my favoritest things in the world. I was amongst allies again.

"(Get some rest, Lenz.)" Z7's voice urged me softly. "(I'll get you back. I'll get you back.)"

And it was that which she repeated to me, like a lullaby, lulling me to sweet, irresistible sleep.

[Z7]

I met Trenay, Attila, Alfonso, Lathrop, and a couple other people in the long tunnel between the stalagmite cavern and the chute drop entrance. They were late because they made ladders to get up and down. Had I waited that long, Lenz would have-

Well, I didn't want to think of it. The narrow tunnel was impractical for a debriefing, so the Paragons quickly expanded it to allow us to stretch our limbs comfortably.

The Paragons were relieved to see the nerdling in my arms, and the Team Beta people - Witige, Milton, and Gregory - came forward with Splash Potions of Healing and Regeneration to fix Lenz and me, but they also wanted a report. I would've rather carried Lenz to the airship first, where he'd be safe to sleep, but I understood how time sensitive the situation was. Trenay was ready to send a full report to Jillian assuring her of Lenz's survival.

So, I temporarily handed Lenz over to Alfonso, took out my little translation book, and slowly began to describe what had happened in as few words as possible.

[FOUGHT TEAL. CAVE AHEAD. THEN DARK RUINS FURTHER DOWN.] I chose my words carefully. [DANGEROUS NEW MOB. SUMMONED BY SOUNDS. POWERFUL MOB. KEEP QUIET. MOB 'KILLED' TEAL.] I made sure to put single quotation marks in order to impress upon them the potential dangers. [SEND SEARCH PARTY. EVERYONE YOU GOT. BE READY TO KILL.]

I caught the confusion on their faces. Why send a search party if Teal was dead? Why risk encountering a new, apparently powerful Mob? I elaborated swiftly, showing them my handwriting.

[TEAL MIGHT'VE SURVIVED.] The group wore grim expressions. [I CAME DOWN HERE WITH THREE TOTEMS. I USED TWO. I SHOULD HAVE ONE LEFT, BUT IT'S MISSING. I THINK TEAL TOOK IT IN OUR FIGHT. WITH IT, SHE COULD HAVE SURVIVED.]

I didn't correct Lenz when he assumed Teal was dead because I could see the sheer relief on his face. All tension drained from it when he spoke aloud that Teal was dead. Was it so wrong to allow him that moment of relief after everything he just went through? He needed rest. Sleep with no nightmares or worries plaguing his mind. If Teal was still alive by the end of today, I would tell him the bad news, but she was about to be the hunted one for a change, and on her own - or under her own - Survival Islands. The irony had the makings of a good joke, one I would happily tell Lenz if the punchline was a dead Teal.

[PERRY IS DEAD. KILLED BY TEAL.] I wrote them, hoping it would fire them up to search more doggedly for the killer. [BALTIC, COBB, AND DWIGHT ESCAPED INTO THE NETHER. THAT'S THE LAST LENZ SAW OF THEM.]

Trenay furiously relayed the information to Jillian via map message. It would be Jillian's job to send the update to Carys, even if the Paragons in Exter were already reading what was being relayed. Lenz would likely get questioned about the details upon his awakening. Jillian would glean as much intel as she could from his testimony before sending a final summary to Carys.

But for now, the nerdling needed a good bed.

I seized Lenz from Alfonso's arms and excused myself from the search party to take him to the airship and guard his slumber. While I wanted Teal dead just as much as Lenz did, the nerdling's safety was my top priority right now. He'd been through enough, and there were plenty of hands available to look for one Lieutenant.

[Ancient City]

Teal_Larkspur held her breath, both hands covering her mouth for good measure. The Voda Shlem was firmly snug over her head, despite it proving useless against that thing's sonic boom attack.

*SNIFF SNIFF*

It responded to sounds. When she sneezed after reviving with the totem she pilfered off of Z7 - and she thanked her past self for that - the monster chased after her. Once she figured out it chased noises, she stopped using her wings and instead tried to creep away.

Only to trigger a bunch of weird, moldy, clicking plants growing about. The monster was lured to those sounds like a moth to a flame, and Teal had to forgo stealth to just book it once it was clear the monster was going to run her down.

She was in a dead end now, and she covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes quivering as the hulking Mob lumbered past her hiding place, sniffing for her. The sounds coming from its gaping maw made her feel afraid, and she held her breath as she waited for it to move on.

After several minutes of fruitless searching, the hulking Mob let out a disappointed, distorted groan before bending down and burrowing back under the ground, its massive legs kicking behind it before it vanished. Teal waited a few cautious moments, her eyes darting left and right, before she tentatively started moving again. Her feet tapped the rock beneath her, but no Mob emerged.

Feeling safe to finally make noise, she smashed her fist into the ground, her expression livid. To think that scrawny puke found a way to dig underground without planks. All she gave him was one dagger - he was an archer! An archer who hadn't swung a sword his whole life! He lured her down there, and sicced that thing on her while he just watched.

"Very clever, nerd. Very, very clever."

Going after him is out. Teal thought to herself. Not while he has a fleet of Paragons to tear through. Plus, that scarred up girlfriend of his has armor to counter every weapon I've got.

She hated to admit it, but she would have to let him live. For now. Her arch nemesis would get his by her hand someday soon. Right now, though, she had to escape before the Paragons got a search party together to hunt her down.

Congrats on winning the 318th Annual Survival Games, Lenny. She thought while sauntering off. Don't let it go to your head. Not before my fist gets there first.

Inventory (Lenz): 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Flint and Steel, 1 Crossbow, 1 Tripwire Hook, 1 Crafting Table, 4 Furnaces, 1 Diamond Pickaxe, 1 Iron Pickaxe, 19 Iron Ingots, 1 Anvil, 4 Buckets, 3 Gunpowder, 15 Copper Ingots, 20 Brown Wool, 14 Green Wool, 16 Gravel, 2 Rotten Flesh, 2 String, 8 Redstone Dust, 2 Diamonds, 27 Cobbled Deepslate, 2 Prismarine Crystals, 23 Amethyst Shards, 4 Sculk Sensors, 1 Enchanted Book [Swift Sneak II], 5 Soul Lanterns, 1 Stick, 1 Chest, 61 Coal, 1 Leather Tunic

[EXP: 21]

AN: Lenz: How many times must I kill the same, stinking psycho!?

I just know Puppet3 is gonna be pissed, since it feels like I'm just spinning my wheels when it comes to Teal, who is a one-note, static character who maybe should have died sixteen chapters ago. All I can say is that it would be too humane for her to die at this time. The fight scene between her and Z7 was pretty good. Kinda like a catfight over Lenz. Raaawr!

The Chapter title, ppp, is a reference to music dynamics. Like anyone would know that, I know, but ppp is an abbreviation for pianississimo, which means 'very, very soft'. You see it on music sheets to indicate how loud or soft a piece of music should be played. In this case, Teal should have been ppp around the Warden instead of fff, which is fortississimo, or 'very, very loud'.

THE MORE YOU KNOW!

FAV. FOLLOW. REVIEW. FORUM. DISCORD. KIT KATS.