Guardians of Terraria II: The World of Calamity

Episode 23.1 - Outcast of the Sulphurous Seas

"What happened?" Sid shouted, running towards Meg. "Where's Amidias?"

"He's dead!" Meg shouted. "This Aquatic Scourge creature ate him! Literally swallowed him whole!"

Sid looked up at the sea serpent as it soared through the sky. It gave a loud, phlegmy roar and charged straight towards them. He jumped upwards, his wings allowing him to fly up and over the scourge, but then he gave a shout of "Cactuses!" as spikes began launching from across the scourge's scaly body.

He summoned his Daedalus Golems, the robots beginning to fire their lightning attacks at the worm, and he flew to avoid the scourge's sharp spines as they sailed through the sky.

Meg was firing her Flarefrost Bolt and also a new weapon she had bought from the Archmage. The Icicle Trident fired volleys of icicles that pierced into its body easily, damage quickly stacking up. The Aquatic Scourge chased after her. She saw its skin seemed to be turning a strange brownish colour, before suddenly speeding up with a loud roar, making a large loop-de-loop around her. She was struck out of the sky, falling onto one of the sulphuric islands that dotted the bay.

"Meg!" Sid shouted.

He wanted to check on her, but the Aquatic Scourge blocked his path. He ran in the opposite direction, intending to lead it away from his fallen ally.

I'm not going to let you die, Meg, he thought to himself. He shouldn't have been so insistent on dropping into the Abyss over and over again. He hadn't thought of any consequences beyond immediate death down there.

What treasures had he even gotten from the Abyss? Barely anything. No new weapons, no powerful accessories. Stuff that felt like junk, really, all of it guarded by unthinkable aquatic pressure and ruthless sea creatures that were uniquely adapted to said environment.

The Aquatic Scourge made a loud burping noise, and a ring of spines was fired from its mouth, exploding out in all directions. He hooped through the ring, watching his Daedalus Golem summons blasting at its side. The damage output – not great.

He thought about the Butcher gun in his inventory. He could rake its blasts all along the Scourge's body, never stop firing until it had died.

Then he thought about what Meg had said. His summons' feelings getting hurt sounded a bit too crazy, but it was his chosen path. He just needed to strategise.

Rather than changing classes, I should just change summons!

He called back the golems, replacing them with some Ice Claspers from his Ancient Ice Chunk. He then instructed the minions to see if they could tear their jaws along the Aquatic Scourge's length.

It's working!

The damage had sharply increased, the attack pattern of the Claspers being more suited to the Aquatic Scourge's shape.

He led the creature around the sulphuric bay, watching as its health got lower and lower. Most of its attacks proved to be quite nonthreatening as long as he kept moving away from the scourge. It sometimes breathed out some toxic fumes that lingered in the air, a minefield that Sid would have to cross if he had chosen to double back, so he made sure to never do so.

Soon, the Aquatic Scourge fell, its serpentine body crashing into the beach in front of the respawning hut. But for perhaps the first time, Sid wasn't immediately interested in its drops.

"Meg!" he shouted as he landed in front of her. He took hold of her shoulders, gently pulling her up into a sitting position. He felt relief entering his body, his veins detensing, as her eyes crinkled open. "Are you alright?"