Guardians of Terraria II: The World of Calamity

Episode 20.1 - Blood Coagulant

"You mean that gross, oozy purple thing with the brown lump on top that looks like brains?"

"Yes, that thing."

They stepped up to it. William read its label.

"Hive Cyst. 1000 life?" he exclaimed.

"That's a lot," Sid said. "Yet it's just sitting here. Maybe breaking it will give us treasure."

"Or it'll just unleash a boss that we have to fight. You remember how the Brain of Cthulhu went."

Sid shrugged. "Do you think we should take it on? At least this time we'd be starting the battle on our terms rather than just having the battle start for us."

William sighed. He felt somewhat powerful with their new weapons, armour and accessories. But still weak compared to how he had once felt, and that hadn't been enough against Yharim.

But if we're ever going to claw our way back up to that power level, we're going to have to take some risks.

"Let's flatten out this area and cover up the nearby crevices so we don't fall in," William said.

"On it."

The process took about five minutes, the sun looking like it was a bit past noon in the sky by the time they had finished. William ran around placing some torches in case the fight ended up running into the night.

"Think we're ready?" Sid asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be," William replied as he began swinging his Urchin Flail into the cyst's skin.

***

The Crimson enemies were much like what Robyn remembered. Face Monsters, Crimeras, and those creepy Blood Crawlers. Fortunately, the land was sparsely populated, so Robyn, Meg and the citizens had little problem crossing the visually dangerous biome.

The downside was that the biome was so huge. Robyn kept an eye out for a spot of forest green, snow white or even desert yellow, but there was none to be found. Had this world already been completely Crimson-ed over before they'd even come here?

"Let's try climbing that hill to get a better view," Meg said, pointing to a slope leading up to a rocky outcropping to their right.

Robyn nodded. Telling the citizens to stay at the base of the hill, she and Meg began to climb. A few Crimeras swooped at them from above, but Robyn was able to shoot them with her arrows while Meg zapped them with her Plasma Rod or blew them away with the water-bolts from her Waywasher.

As they got closer to the outcrop Robyn began hearing noises that sounded like somebody was hitting something. Something fleshy.

She used her grappling hook to sling her way up to the top of the outcropping. Climbing to the top, she came face-to-eyeball with a bulging, fleshy mass of something. A Perforator Cyst, it was labelled.

And the assailant from earlier was hitting it.

They found themselves locking eyes, but neither making any movements to attack each other.

Then Robyn heard the assailant speak.

"You won't get rid of me that easily."

Then there was a shatter of glass, the blast of a green radioactive explosion.

As another flash of a Magic Mirror emanated from the assailant's hand, the Perforator Cyst burst.

And up raised a massive, grotesque, mushroom-shaped mass of flesh.

The Perforator Hive.

Red and raw, streaks of pumping gold ichor running across its top. It had one single eye on its side and two snapping mouths on its front and rear.