Ghast fire

Now I know that it was deemed unlucky to expect an attack when things were going perfectly.

But could you blame me?

In the deseet which was no different from the sea, it was unbearably annoying.

From the invisible shore to the endless horizon, the only difference between the sea and the desert was that one had water and the other didn't.

And just like when I first set sail in the sea, from the initial awe to the current boredom, I fell into deeper boredom.

Boredom that could only be quenched by the taste of blood as my only past time in the sea consisted of jumping into the water and saving a seemingly immortal old man.

Hell, the sea was at least better as over there I could be cool instead of being brain melted by the sun!

AND I DON'T EVEN FEEL MUCH OF THE SUN.

'Ahem'

Coughing to interrupt the mental spiel going through my mind talking to the mind demons, I looked at the new enemies surrounding us in the crimson forest.

As this place was so eye catchingly red in the blotch of gold, I really thought that this would a trap where the surroundings had been painted red in blood due to enemies.

And although now I know that the crimson forest wasn't painted red in blood, at least I know that this was a trap.

But of what kind was to be seen as not only did the Antlions appear while taking note of the... zombie pig people.

The zombie pig people themselves were something that I haven't seen before.

In reality that is.

In the game however, that was a different story.

Recalling in my younger days when I was still a child and got a first taste of the hit game called Minecraft, I really felt nostalgic.

Once zombie pigmen now Piglins, or in this case zombie piglins, the zombie piglins were trembling in pain as white froth dropped onto the ground.

And I'm no scientist, but I think those zombie piglins are about to attack us.

Roaring loudly, the zombie Piglins quickly proved my thought right.

...

...Not?

Watching them leap past us to the Antlions that had chittered their way over here and were on the verge of attacking our convoy of carriages I was dumbfounded.

And no doubt the others were to.

Dumbly standing in place as the Zombie Piglins were attacking the Antlions, I snapped out of it when an arrow thunked into the carapace of the Antlion.

'Yeah, I think I'm fine with that.'

Since this was a rare moment of battle, I brought out my infantry bow and nocked the arrows onto the bow.

Holding the thick wooden crafted bow made to fire powerful shots at close distances, I pulled the thick string back.

Now I haven't exactly tested the firing force of any of my bows yet since they weren't exactly the best weapons in close combat.

But better now than never right?

And who knows, I'll probably get the chance to test out some other fighting styles other than melee.

And it most definitely isn't because I used all my melee weapons to the point of breaking, Definitely not.

Even more so of the fact that I definitely have materials to replace and/ or fix all of them.

So with obvious sarcasm even to me running through my mind, I opened my stockpile of arrows collected from slain monsters and pulled the bow string and released it.

And must I say, why the hell does an infantry bow have the force of a fucking gun?

---

From the eyes of a fellow Sevallian warrior.

His name was Typh, and before all hell was set upon the Kingdom of Sevallia, turning the island kingdom into one of the malaise, Typh was a Fisherman.

Well, was a fisherman, nowadays he was a swordfisherman a sort of side job to his normal fishing skills.

Using a net, harpoon and fishing rod as weapons to fight with, it was only when a gap in time was created that he could finally return to his previous job of being a fisherman.

And it was all thanks to the one that the Queen of the isles of Sevallia called her successor.

Something that Typh was most thankful for as it allowed him to leave the Kingdom of the Malaise and experience peace for the first time in several decades.

But much like all people do, Typh couldn't help but be jealous as it was an integral part of human nature.

Doubts such as why would an accidental that had suddenly just appeared be granted the chance of leaving the infected isles when many others couldn't?

The tri boss battle with the one that the Queen announced was her successor however really opened his eyes and erased all doubts.

And now, with lots of trust placed onto the man, he followed him into the desert where Typh showed off his fishing techniques.

And although he knew that his efforts wouldn't be appreciated when an even more pressing matter was at hand.

Typh was fine with it.

As a fisherman in essence, it really would be funny if the king personally paid attention to him.

But now, as a Fisherman, he really couldn't help it.

Staring at the Infantry bow in the Successors hands, Typh dryly gulped.

Tracing the path that it took, a cone shaped carving appeared on the ground from the whiplash created by the bow.

It could be seen that the bow had a faster damage fall off than anticipated.

But nevertheless, despite having a severe damage fall off, the arrow already had enough energy to blow some weaker elites heads off.

And dare he say it, it might even break the shells of the Obsidian crabs that had to be boiled in near scalding temperatures.

Sweat dripping off of his head, the group of Antlions and Zombie piglins who were initially fighting against each other while the others picked them off stopped their battle.

Glancing at the successor, Typh silently prepared his net.

At the end of the day, although it was through an explosive arrow, the group of monsters facing each other turned to the only living group left.

The schedule had just been pulled up a slight bit.

---

'Well... I guess I'll just continue.'

Filled with the will to see this to the end, I manifested arrows into my hand and pulled the bow back all the while the Piglins were in the midst of recovering.

*BANG

'I must say though, why does this gun look so strange.'

Looking at the Infantry bow in my hands in a new light, I looked at the path that it carved onto the ground.

If I wasn't slightly rusty with bow shooting skills, such an event wouldn't have happened.

Hell, it only highlighted the arrows destructive power when infused with slight tinges of the malaise.

I don't know whether or not the arrows manifesting sharp teeth is a good sign or not.

Infusing tinges of malaise into the small arrow construct and then firing it, I swear that I saw the arrow twist in the air to land smack dab into the enemies neck.

And I kid you not, I was aiming for the head.

Watching the zombie piglin take the arrow to the neck surprisingly well, I also had the honor of watching the arrow burrow even deeper into the Zombie piglins body.

'...'

'Yeah lets make sure to control this well.'

Conscietously making an effort to point the malaise infused arrows away from comrades who may or may not enter the line of fire.

I honestly stood on the backlines like a good little turret of destruction.

Carving out a small barricade out of corpses, before they could even get to us, the Zombified piglins and the Antlions all fell to the ground like lifeless dolls who had their strings cut.

'...'

'Well that was less exciting than I thought.'

Glancing at the bow in my hands for a moment before glancing at the near broken pair of scythes, my eyes twitched before I grabbed more arrows and stuffed them into a quick slot.

---

After that brief interlude of combat where the only ones who enjoyed it the most were the ranged combaters, after clearing up the road with the help of earth mages.

We got back onto the track.

Strange that the King who was accompanying us didn't help, but I guess he does what he does.

Maybe there was some sort of pride dictating his actions, I don't know.

But nevertheless, after traversing the vast expanse of desert sand with zero landmarks in sight, the crimson forest we were in showed me something.

That the Nether really was a strange place.

Looking at the lake of lava in the middle of what seemed to use to be an oasis, I fell silent.

Filled to the brim with eddies and surging lava currents, the burnt black stone bank was marred with magma.

And looking into the distance

Turning around and looking at the convoy of people, they murmured to themselves before falling silent.

And seeing as a large shadow was cast onto me

And mother of all, that was a big beefy monster.

Staring at the ghost white surface that had appeared in front of me marred in jugular lines, two large red eyes were plastered directly on it.

And they were staring at me.

Lava still trickling off of its head while it surfaced from the lava lake that was deceptively deep, the full body of the beast was already thrice my size.

'Well... hello there.'

Floating above the lake, it screamed.

*KHAOR

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Tree