Chapter 17

SWORDS AND ARROWS

Victoria and Stefan looked up and scrambled to their feet, sprinting toward the Ender Dragon as its scaly wing hit one of the dorms, making a gaping hole on the side of the building.

“That’s my dorm room!” cried Lucy.

Liam cackled. “I wonder if your bed is safe, or if you no longer have a safe place to respawn.”

Maya shouted at Liam, “We don’t want to hear anything from you.” She led him into the bedrock jail. As soon as the cell was locked, Maya and Lucy dashed out of the jail toward the vicious dragon that was flying across the campus.

The dragon’s tail struck the dining hall and the side of the building collapsed. Lucy dove behind a pile of bricks from the rubble, shielding herself as she struck at the low-flying dragon with her sword.

The dragon roared in pain and lost hearts. Lucy was pleased with her small victory, but the fight wasn’t over. Suddenly, Adam was by her side—he must not have respawned too far away. He handed her a snowball.

“Thanks,” Lucy said. She knew it would be easier to hit the dragon with a snowball than to keep striking it with her diamond sword. Adam aimed his own snowball at the Ender Dragon, hitting its head.

Lucy threw a snowball at the Ender Dragon and struck another place on the beast’s head. The dragon was losing energy, but it was still extremely powerful.

“We have to keep weakening it!” Adam said.

The Ender Dragon swept toward the ground, destroying two rainbow griefers with its wings.

“At least it doesn’t know whose side it’s on,” remarked Lucy.

“Yes, the dragon destroyed our enemy.”

Victoria and Stefan struck the side of the Ender Dragon with arrows, and the beast cried out again.

Lucy and Adam threw snowballs at the weakened dragon, then watched Phoebe, Jane, Maya, and Debbie sprint toward the dragon, striking the flying beast with their diamond swords. The Ender Dragon let out one final cry and exploded.

Lucy was relieved, but she looked around the campus and saw several rainbow griefers attacking students. “We have to stop the rainbow griefers,” she called to Adam, already running into the fray.

The duo raced into the center of campus and battled the remaining rainbow griefers. An orange griefer put up a hard fight. As Lucy struck him with her diamond sword, she said, “I don’t understand why you are still attacking people on the campus or even battling me. Your dragon has been destroyed and your leaders are in prison. Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

“We promised to fight this battle to the end,” the orange griefer replied as he leapt at Lucy.

Lucy delivered a final blow and destroyed the griefer. To no one, she said, “Well, it’s over now.”

“Lucy, help me!” Adam called out. Two blue griefers were attacking him and his health bar was low.

As Lucy sprinted over to Adam, she saw a horde of lanky Endermen spawn on the campus. Lucy looked up at the sky. It was nighttime, and she knew more hostile mobs were going to spawn soon. They needed to end this fight quickly.

“Don’t look at the Endermen,” Lucy called out as she ran toward Adam. It was too late. One of the Endermen shrieked and teleported toward Phoebe, who cried for Lucy to help her. Lucy was torn. She knew that she couldn’t help both of her friends at once.

Lucy looked over at Adam, who was surrounded by rainbow griefers. Lucy called out to Phoebe, “Run as fast as you can to the water! It’s right outside of the campus.”

“Lucy!” Phoebe cried.

But Lucy was already by Adam’s side. She struck one of the rainbow griefers and annihilated it. Her sword locked with that of the other griefer, and they struggled against each other. With his last strength, Adam grabbed a potion of harming and threw it on the griefer. While he was distracted, Lucy plunged her sword into the griefer’s chest, destroying him.

She wiped sweat from her forehead and looked around. The griefer army had been defeated, but her friends weren’t safe. “We need to help Phoebe!” Lucy said as she ran toward the water. She had to make sure the lanky, block-carrying, teleporting mob didn’t destroy Phoebe.

Lucy could see her friend just reaching the water. She called out, “Jump in! Fast! The Enderman is right behind you.”

Phoebe jumped into the deep, blue water. Lucy was relieved, until she heard another Enderman shriek. It was teleporting and ready to attack Lucy. Lucy sprinted to the water, but she wasn’t sure she was going to make it. The Enderman was right behind her—she could feel its breath as it tried to grab her. She jumped in the water, and it splashed her face.

When the Enderman jumped in after her and was destroyed, she swam toward Phoebe, and the two walked out of the water, Phoebe leaning on Lucy for support.

“We have to watch out for other hostile mobs,” Adam said as he joined the two friends on the shore.

“Yes, nighttime battles are very dangerous,” Lucy replied, stepping away from Phoebe.

“Look out!” Adam called.

Lucy turned around and spotted a creeper, but she was too late; it exploded, destroying Lucy.

Lucy’s first feeling when she respawned in her bed was relief; it hadn’t been destroyed, so she was able to respawn on campus. Her eyes traveled from the gaping hole in the wall to Phoebe, who was standing next to her.

“What happened?” asked Lucy.

“It’s over. We won!” Phoebe smiled.

Maya, Debbie, and Jane burst into the room. “We defeated the rainbow griefers!”

“It’s still nighttime, so we have to be very cautious,” Phoebe reminded them. “We could still be destroyed by hostile mobs.”

Jane looked at the hole in the wall. “Yes. We have a hole in our wall, and that leaves us exposed. We have to fix it.”

Maya said, “Amazingly enough, the Ender Dragon missed the other side of the building. I noticed there was a large empty room on that side. Would you like me to craft beds so we can all stay there?”

Lucy exclaimed, “That’s a great idea. Let’s all head over there and we’ll help you.”

The five girls quickly crafted and jumped into their new comfy beds, pulling the covers over their bodies.

“Do you think there will still be auditions for the talent show tomorrow?” Debbie asked.

“I’m sure there will be,” Lucy replied. “I’m looking forward to more planning. I have a lot of ideas for the show.”

“Me, too!” added Jane. “I want to help design the set.”

Thinking about their parts in the show and exhausted from the night’s hard battle, the girls drifted off to sleep.