“Looks cool,” Miles admitted grudgingly. “I got cool stuff, too,” he announced. He wasn’t sure why, but Asher brought out his competitive side. Miles showed off the coins, cursed flames, and other drops he had picked up.
Isaac was most impressed by the zombie arm. “Got any more?”
“Sure, I have three,” Miles said proudly. “I can sell one to you.”
“Done!” Isaac shouted, dropping four silver coins into Miles’s outstretched hand. “Oh, I do love playing with new ways to destroy things!”
“I’m glad to see Isaac is feeling better,” Miles whispered to Isabella.
“He was sad about Shelly, but then he got excited to meet the new mechanic,” she replied.
“Speaking of new ways to destroy things, anyone want to help me craft new weapons?” Miles asked, knowing he’d catch his friends’ attention.
Jack was the first to reply. “You have to make a Mythril Repeater.”
“No way,” John chimed in. “Save your mythril for armor. A Palladium Repeater deals more damage.”
Jack shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Merchant.”
“Don’t fight.” Miles separated them. “I think Mythril Armor is the way to go.”
“Good choice, Miles.” Asher appeared by his side and peered at Miles’s stacks of ore. “That is a lot of rare ore.”
Miles positioned himself protectively between Asher and his stash. “I worked hard to get it. You should head out there and see what you can mine for yourself.”
Asher shrugged. “I may. Once I’ve rested.” He rubbed his arm dramatically. “I’m still recovering.” Asher turned and searched his inventory, pulling out a stack of meteorite bars. “Do you think you could use this?”
Jack pushed Miles out of the way. “Is that meteorite? From a Shadow Chest?”
“Um …” Asher stammered, avoiding looking at Jack. “Yeah, I guess.” He turned back to Miles. “Since you have a Mythril Anvil and a Soul of Light and Pixie Dust already, you can make a Meteor Staff …”
Miles looked sideways at Asher. “How’d you know I had all that?”
Asher shrugged. “Your friends were telling me about all you’ve been through. I guessed …”
“Well, whatever. That sounds cool, but everything around here comes at a price. What would you want for it?” Miles asked.
“I’ve been staying in your house, eating your food, and enjoying your hospitality without asking,” Asher said. “Consider it payback.”
“In that case, thanks a lot,” Miles replied. He felt bad about suspecting the guy. Asher seemed grateful, but there was something about him Miles didn’t trust.
Miles combined the bars with the other ingredients to craft a staff. He weighed it in his hands. “I don’t suppose we can try it out …”
Isabella stopped him. “Please don’t. I’d hate to ruin all these trees with a meteor shower. Besides, you should save up your Mana for when you need it.”
“I guess it can wait.” Miles shrugged, then turned to crafting a stack of weapons and armor. When he was done, he held up the stockpile for his friends to inspect.
“Not a bad job, young … what was your name again?” the wizard asked. “I have trouble with names sometimes. You’re the nice adventurer who built me that lovely house.”
“Miles,” he replied, trying to be patient.
“No, you must have me mistaken for someone else. I’m not Miles. I’m Cedric. I’m a wizard,” Cedric answered and walked away.
Miles put away his weapons and sifted through the items he had brought home. He held up one cursed flame. “Anyone know how to use this?”
“You can craft powerful weapons with it,” Asher said, ticking the many uses off on his fingers. “Cursed dart, cursed arrow, cursed bullet, cursed torch … you can also use it to make a living fire block if you have a Crystal Ball, which I happen to have.”
“Isn’t that just a piece of furniture?” Miles asked.
“Well, yes. But the other things are great weapons,” Asher admitted.
Miles picked up the present he had found back in the cave. It was wrapped, but it looked like it could hold a Crystal Ball. That would show Asher if I got a Crystal Ball as a gift for being a great warrior and didn’t even have to trade for it.
Miles tore the wrapping to reveal a snow globe. He shook it, but nothing happened. “Isn’t this supposed to make snow fly?” What a rip off, Miles thought. Not only was it a silly snow globe, but it didn’t even do anything. As he held it up to the light, he noticed a smudge on the surface. As he wiped it off, a message appeared: “The Frost Legion is approaching from the east.”
All at once, everyone turned to look at Miles. “What did you do?” Jack demanded.
“N-n-nothing,” Miles stammered. “I touched this …”
“Snow globe!” Cedric shouted. “Quick, nobody panic!”
“What’s happening?” Miles asked, confused by all the excitement. “What’s the Frost Legion?”
“Let me ask you a very important question, John. Do you want to slay a snowman?” Cedric asked.
“My name is not John, you crazy wizard. What are you talking about?” Miles shouted.
Another message appeared: “The Frost Legion has arrived.”
“I changed my mind,” Cedric shouted. “Everybody panic!”
Miles turned to see a legion of about eighty snowmen marching toward them. “Uh-oh.” He called out, “Get ready everyone!”
Chapter 7
THE FROST LEGION
The snowmen hopped across the blue grass, jumping and dancing playfully toward them. The only thing was, this idea of play didn’t look like it would be fun for Miles and his companions. The snowmen were waving swords, pointing guns, and hurling snowballs with evil grins plastered across their faces.
Miles hit the first few, taking them out with his Ice Rod before his Mana ran out. Isaac, in true goblin form, rushed head-first into the crowd of snowmen, hurling spiky balls and slashing his sword while calling out a battle cry. Isabella quickly threw up a leafy wall of protection while Autumn stood atop a low garden wall, throwing her wrench at the approaching mobs.
Miles switched to his sword and fought alongside Isaac for a few moments, but when Cedric let out a piercing shriek, he left the goblin to check on the wizard. Miles ran toward the source of the wizard’s cry, where he found Cedric running around in circles, the back of his cape on fire.
“Nasty fireballs,” Cedric exclaimed. “I was hurling them and the snowmen ricocheted my fireball back toward me. “You don’t play fair!” He shook his fist as Miles put out the fire. The snowman fired a round of snowballs at them in response.
Miles grabbed Cedric and sat him behind a thick, yellow tree. “Stay here,” Miles cautioned the wizard. “Use your fireballs only in case of emergency and only if they don’t have shields up, okay?”
The wizard nodded absently as he checked the singed edges of his cape. “Ruined,” he moaned dramatically. “It was my favorite.”
John backed up into Miles and Cedric as he took out a handful of snowmen with as many knives. “I’ll hang out here with the wizard if you want to head back into the action,” John offered, holding out a stack of knives. “I can hold them off with these.”
“Thanks!” Miles got back in time to see Jack hurling grenades at the oncoming rush of snowmen.
“Take that!” the demolitionist called out.
Miles came alongside Jack and started throwing his yo-yo as the snowmen came closer. “This is harder than fighting goblins,” he panted.
“Yup,” Jack agreed. “Speaking of goblins, I got this if you wanna help Isaac. His sword is no match for these guys.”
Miles patted Jack’s shoulder and set off to where he last left Isaac struggling to fight off a wave of enemies. He looked down and saw that Asher was running to his rescue, waving a flail. Miles called out to them: “You guys okay?”
Asher and Isaac both replied with a thumbs-up gesture,
so Miles left to check on Isabella and Autumn. The dryad’s leafy wall of protection was beginning to waver, and Autumn’s wrench was looking worn.
“Help us, Miles!” Autumn called out. “We weren’t ready for this attack.”
“I’m here to help!” Miles stood in front of the protective wall, took out his sword and swiped at the last few snowmen. The enemies fell. Isabella let her defenses drop and collapsed in a grateful heap. “Thanks!”
All was quiet. Miles looked around and saw that, despite low health, the companions he saw were mostly unharmed. Cedric went up to the tree house to change his cape, while Autumn followed behind to repair her wrench. The dryad went to lie down and Jack came up alongside Miles after tucking away his last few grenades for later.
“How’d the goblin tinkerer do?” he asked. “That guy was crazy, rushing in to slay fifty snowmen on his own. I like that guy!”
“Yeah, he’s crazy alright. I’m glad Asher helped out,” Miles admitted. “I guess that proves he’s a good guy.”
“You doubted it?” Jack asked, surprised.
Miles nodded, embarrassed. He looked around to where he had last seen Isaac and Asher. He didn’t see Asher anywhere, and finally spied the goblin under a huge pile of snowballs. He didn’t seem to be moving. Miles approached slowly, fearing the worst but hoping for the best.
“Isaac?” he asked cautiously. There was no response. “You okay?”
Isaac’s form shimmered for a moment, and then he was gone. Miles closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears of frustration and sadness at losing another friend in battle.
Jack came over and shook his head sadly. “He was one crazy goblin.”
Isabella came over. She took one look at the demolitionist and Miles and she knew. “Maybe he’s with Shelly again,” Isabella offered, hopefully.
“Where’s Asher?” Miles asked, looking around.
“I hope he’s okay,” Isabella said softly. “He ran right into the attack behind Isaac. I hope he didn’t …”
Jack put his arm around her. “I’m sure he’s okay. I mean, I hope he is.”
Miles suddenly straightened up, determination in his eyes. “This attack is costing us too much. We are running out of time to fight the Corruption, and now we’ve lost another member of our team. Maybe two.” He turned to Isabella. “Do you have any more Purification Powder?”
Isabella looked up in surprise. It was clear she was still mourning the tinkerer’s departure. “Yes, of course. Why?”
“I’m going back out there. I need to build another trench and dig deeper,” Miles announced. “With my new, stronger tools and my armor, I can cover more ground.” He pulled out a sack of gold coins. “How much powder will this buy?”
Isabella took the coins and handed him several large stacks of powder. “It will buy enough,” she said, looking at Miles admiringly. “You are a great warrior, but you also have a good heart. You know the right thing to do.”
Miles blushed and bent down to fix his armor, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “Yeah, well … anyway, I’ll be back soon.”
Cedric and John approached the group. “Where are you going?”
“Isaac is gone. I’m off to fight the Corruption,” Miles announced, glad to have an important job to take his mind off the recent battle.
“You can’t leave,” the wizard replied, clearly afraid. “If you go, who will save us from the snowmen? They have guns and knives and projectiles. When you get back, we’ll be gone just like that goblin tinkerer.”
John patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, old wizard. We’ll protect you until he gets back.”
Miles had an idea. “You can all come with me,” he suggested. “This way, if the snowmen come back, we can face them together.”
Isabella looked around. “What about Asher? He may still be okay.”
Miles took a deep breath and thought for a moment. “If he was taken out, he’ll respawn just like Isaac and Shelly. Maybe he’ll find us again. If Asher is just hurt, we’ll be back soon to help him.” He looked at the group to see their reaction. Autumn gave a nod of approval that only he could see. The rest of the group murmured their agreement.
“Well, I guess we all agree,” Autumn said. They all went off to grab their weapons and supplies for their next journey.
One by one the group gathered back at the base of the tree house. Miles checked his inventory, making sure he had his trusty weapons that had served him so well, along with the Mythril Armor that had protected him during the goblin attack. Chain mail armor was surprisingly comfortable, and he tried slashing his broadsword a couple of times to test out his flexibility inside the hard metal shell. Not bad, he thought. I’ll be ready the next time a wave of snowmen attack us.
No sooner had the thought run through Miles’s head when Isabella called from the top of the tree house, “Look out! The next wave is coming!”
“More snowmen!” Cedric shouted and scampered up the tree to the highest room. “I’ll do what I can from up here,” he shouted nervously.
Miles readied his broadsword, took a deep breath, and sped off in the direction of the Frost Legion.
Chapter 8
THE SECOND WAVE
Miles activated his Dao of Pow, confusing the snowmen that began to surround him and his friends. As the snowmen milled around, accidentally shooting and stabbing each other from the debuff, Miles conferred with Jack the Demolitionist.
“Can you think of any way we can get rid of these guys quickly and efficiently without any more casualties?” he asked.
“I’m glad you asked!” Jack replied. “You’ll dig a trench on either side of where we’re standing, let the snowmen wander in, then blast them with TNT.”
“Won’t that destroy the area around us?” Isabella asked, showing concerned for the land.
“It will,” John admitted. “But it will save our ammunition and our strength so we can live to fight the Corruption together.”
“The demolitionist is right,” Autumn reassured the dryad. “It’s a good plan.”
Miles exchanged most of his shrinking supply of coins for two stacks of TNT, then set about digging a trench to the east and west of his companions. “This should hold them off,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “We’ll need to fire at them. Keep your ranged weapons ready. They can still shoot at us before they fall into the trap.”
Isabella put up her protective wall of vines as Autumn held up her wrench, Jack and John held up their weapons, and Cedric held up his Flamelash from his perch in the tree house.
“Everybody ready?” Miles called out as the snowmen bounced closer.
“Yes!” they all shouted, shouldering their weapons. Miles held the TNT ready as he watched the snowmen approach. The snowmen began to fall, one by one, into the pits he had dug. He peered into the west trench, careful to avoid the bullets and snowballs that were coming from the trapped yet persistent enemies.
“Is it time yet?” he asked. Jack nodded and motioned for everyone to plug their ears. Miles dropped half of the TNT into the west trench, diving away from the explosion toward the other trench where he dropped the rest of it.
It was practically raining snowballs as the army blew apart, defeated. Miles looked around at his stunned companions, who hadn’t even needed to fire a shot.
“That. Was. Fabulous!” Isabella said, clearly amazed at the attack. “It was fast, efficient, and brilliant!” She looked down at the fiery holes where the snowmen had been. “Hey Miles, would you mind filling in the holes before we go off exploring again?”
“No problem,” Miles told the dryad as he tossed dirt blocks into the pits. He stopped halfway through refilling the east trench. A side wall had opened to reveal a large cave. “Anyone mind if I pop in to take a look around before we go?”
Isabella checked her map. “The Corruption is spreading slowly now. It can wait if you are quick about your business.”
“Excellent,” Miles said, hopping down into the pit and heading toward th
e cave. “I’ll only be a few moments. I need some coin and these snowmen aren’t good for any drops aside from snowballs.”
Miles made his way into the tunnel. As he wandered through the silent cave, he was alone with his thoughts and he didn’t like what he was thinking. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t rubbed the snow globe, we wouldn’t have had to fight the Frost Legion—twice—and used precious resources. And we wouldn’t have lost Isaac. He tripped through a cobweb and stumbled ahead, realizing how dark it had grown. Miles lit a torch and continued deeper into the tunnel. There was no sign of Corruption, so that was good.
Lost in his thoughts, Miles almost tripped over a spider web and instead, fell straight into a web-covered chest. His slime torch dropped to the dusty chest and sputtered out. As Miles lit a new one, he saw a cute little pink-haired girl trying to free herself. “Ew, my hair, there’s spider web all over it!”
Miles quickly cut through the webs and helped her out. She brushed herself off and said with disgust, “Don’t go exploring with scissors, they said. You won’t get trapped in a spider’s web, they said!”
“Um, well, you’re okay now,” Miles stammered. “I’m Miles, by the way. I’m an adventurer.”
The girl looked him up and down. “It’s a good thing you found me. You are in serious need of a stylist.” She reached out and brushed the cobwebs out of Miles’s hair. “Did you even try to brush your hair today?”
Miles blushed. “Well, I’ve been busy. You see, we’ve been up against these gangster snowmen, and we’re fighting back the Corruption, and …”
The girl looked behind him. “Who’s we? Your imaginary friends?”
Miles was about to get defensive, then stopped himself. “You know, you haven’t introduced yourself yet. You haven’t given me the courtesy of telling me who is insulting me.”
Now it was the pink-haired girl’s turn to blush. “I’m sorry. I’d like to say I’m not usually this rude, but that would be a lie.” She stuck her hand out toward Miles. “Fresh start. Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a stylist.”
Snow Fight Page 4
