William and Sid clambered their way back up to the surface of the Lavender biome.
After taking down Crabulon they'd done some exploring of the nearby underground caverns, looting more chests for accessories and mining ore, though most of what they could make from the ore they found was obsolete compared to William's Victide gear and Sid's Wulfrum suit.
Both with Hermes' Boots on their feet, William and Sid began to sprint across the purple plain. The sun had just risen, giving them an entire day to explore before darkness would make that difficult.
"What do you think we're even supposed to be looking for?" William asked.
"It's hard to say," Sid said. "Maybe the solution will present itself. If not, we can find a place to hole up and call home until one does."
William looked to his ally. Despite all that had happened, Sid seemed very outwardly calm, but he felt sure the summoner was holding in his rawer emotions.
As for William himself, the events that had led to them being stranded in this strange new world still felt like a massive punch in the gut. They had no way home. The citizens were being held hostage, or possibly dead. And Robyn...
Where could she be?
***
Where could William be?
Robyn felt tears as she and Meg worked on digging their tunnel, staircasing up to the surface. William had been there for her at the beginning. The stress of trying to survive in such an unforgiving world had been... it had been so much, but with William, even though he'd often felt the same, it had been easier to bear because of him. He'd shown her care and understanding, and had never given up against any foe. She'd come to like him because of that.
For all that he was to her.
But now, William was nowhere to be found.
There was Meg, but she'd truthfully always rubbed Robyn the wrong way. She was confident. Robyn was not. She was sociable. Robyn was, again, not. And she was smart, always seeming to know what to do.
Robyn wished she could say the same.
She felt lucky to have survived the ninja-assassin coming after her and Amidias. She'd been so freaked that whole time, but Amidias at least had had the quick thinking and intuition to ensure their survival.
Then there was right after the sinking of the Red Pearl, when she'd been alone in the dark underground. By the time she'd come across Meg, she'd already found materials to gear up while Robyn had just been blundering about in the dark. Not to mention the other times Robyn had almost gotten them killed. The laser turrets and the Giant Clam.
She felt inadequate. Meg was just so much cooler than her. She'd once been worried that Meg would attract William's attention instead of her, but she supposed the fact that William was more similar to Robyn than to Meg was why she'd never had anything to worry about on that front. But still... Meg was just...
"Damn," Meg muttered.
"What?"
"We just hit some unbreakable stone."
Robyn saw just as the dirt block she was digging came loose from her pickaxe.
Red, bloody stone.
They were underneath the Crimson biome.
Or, a Crimson biome, if they really were in another world.
***
"What is that thing?" William asked.
"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.
It was the most freakish thing Robyn had ever seen. And she'd fought a giant eyeball, a giant brain, and even Lord of the Moon Cthulhu himself.
She involuntarily stepped backwards, falling off the outcropping and landing next to Meg, who was already firing her Waywasher up at the Perforator Hive. The hive flew forward and launched an array of golden shots from its... somewhere. The shots spread out in a line in mid-air, which Robyn ran backwards to avoid. Meg, undaunted as ever, jumped up to zap the Perforator Hive with her Plasma Rod, setting it on shadowfire, and kept up the attack with water bolts from her Waywasher.
On seeing Robyn running down the hill, Meg nodded at her. "Let's lure it down the hill! The citizens can help us take this thing down faster!"
Robyn saw the citizens at the foot of the hill were already rushing forward. The Pirate raised up his minigun and began firing bullets and the occasional cannonball up at the Hive. The Princess summoned expanding pink circles at the Hive with her Resonance Scepter while Amidias the Sea King threw snapping clams up at it. She tried to calm herself, held her Platinum Bow aloft, and began firing likewise.
The Perforator Hive took quite a beating from all these attacks, its health quickly dropping. But as it did, one of its mouths suddenly belched out something that looked like a meaty sausage with a horn on one end. Some sort of worm.
A Perforator.
The worm dropped from its hive, burrowing straight into the ground. It then burst amidst the citizens, sending them scattering. It turned down, goring its horn straight into the Pirate, though even as he was knocked to the side with a third of his health missing, he wasn't fazed.
"Die, ye serpent!"
The Perforator worm slithered for Robyn next, its drill-like horn carving out a trench in the dirt as it charged towards her. She fired arrows at it, desperately hoping it would turn away, but it was undeterred, its 2,400 health meaning her arrows barely made a dent in it. It was all she could do to jump over the worm as it was about to ram her. Thankfully, it was very short in length.
Taking a moment to catch a breath, she realised her other bow might be much better suited for this situation. She switched to her Shellshooter, and right as the worm began charging for her again, she fired a sharpened shell straight into its head. The shell pierced straight through its body, dealing quite a considerable amount of damage. Then Meg was there, blasting it with streams from her Waywasher. The worm was soon destroyed, bursting into a bloody mess.
"We've got to take that hive down before it summons more of those worms!" Meg shouted.
The Perforator Hive was now floating across the sky faster and faster, making it difficult for Robyn to hit with her arrows. It was also now bombing the ground with streams of golden liquid, including quite frequently among the citizens, coating them with spatters of the viscous substance.
"Eeuuwww!" the Angler exclaimed. "What is this?"
"It looks like honey," the Princess said.
"I don't think it would taste like honey!"
At that moment another worm began streaming out of the hive, looking like someone eating a strand of spaghetti but in reverse. This one was much bigger than the first one, at least twice as long, and coated with bulging golden sacs. It snapped its three layers of jaws as it dug down into the ground, bursting up into the air close to Meg.
Robyn ran forward, Shellshooter in hand, and fired a shell straight through its middle. To her surprise the shell split the worm in two halves. That was the good news. The bad news was, the rear half sprouted another head of its own and turned to bite straight into Robyn.
"Eeek!" she cried as its jaws raked into her armour. Burning heat began to rush through her, her blood feeling like it had caught fire.
The worm lunged forward again, its jaws this time closing completely around her. It bent its head into the air, Robyn caught in its grasp. She screamed as the pressure of its jaws began crushing her armour plating, feeling like she was inside a can that someone with superstrength was crushing in their hand.
Suddenly the rest of the worm that was biting into her started to disintegrate, from its tail straight up to its head. She fell to the ground amidst vertebrae and blood, finding the Pirate standing triumphantly in front of her.
"Arrr, serpents be no match for me cannonballs!"
She watched as the front half of the worm was dealt with by Meg, the Princess, and Roxanne the Stylist, who had resorted to throwing her scissors at the worm.
She looked to the Perforator Hive, which had fallen below 1,000 health. Joy!
Then it belched out another, even more massive worm. Panic!
This one was covered with grey spines and its mouth was round, with layers of teeth going all the way around.
"We've got this! Let's go!" Meg shouted, already firing more of her water bolts forth.
Robyn haggardly got to her feet and ran forward.
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