Chapter 5

SKELETRON

“I see the old man,” Miles said as they approached the dungeon.

“Once you defeat Skeletron, you’ll have unlimited access to the dungeon. This is very important because you will be highly rewarded once he’s gone.”

“What can I find in the dungeon?” Miles asked. He was excited to explore it.

“There are golden chests and a variety of useful mechanisms, and it’s there you will find the key to the Floating Island,” Matthew explained. “But there are also many traps and you must be very careful when you’re in the dungeon.”

Miles was so preoccupied with getting into the dungeon and what he’d discover, that he wasn’t paying attention to the Old Man, who was slowly transforming into Skeletron in front of his eyes once Miles had uttered the words “curse.” An enormous skeleton head floated above him. Its bony hands were separated from the head. They floated next to Miles and slashed at him. Miles jumped back. He swung his sword at one skeleton hand, but it ripped through his own arm, and he started to bleed.

The mammoth skeleton head floated toward Miles and the skeleton hand slashed him again.

“You must destroy the hands,” Matthew ordered. “It will make Skeletron extremely vulnerable.”

Miles leapt at the hands. But he was destroyed by the head.

Miles respawned in his bed and waited for Matthew.

“I lost,” he said, trying to hold back the tears. Being defeated twice was slowly gnawing at his self-confidence.

“There will be other battles,” explained Matthew, “and you can try to defeat him again.”

“Can I go back and fight him now?” asked Miles.

“No, tomorrow night.”

“But I don’t want to wait,” Miles protested.

“Miles, it wasn’t your lack of skills that failed you, but it was your arsenal of weapons. You don’t have strong enough weapons. Without powerful weapons, you will never win.”

“But you helped me craft the wooden weapons,” said Miles.

“Yes, those are good, but we need better weapons. If we go mining, you can mine for gold and make gold weapons and armor,” said Matthew.

“Would those weapons help me battle Skeletron or the Eye of Cthulhu?”

“I’m sure once you have the right weapons, you will defeat both of them.”

The sun was beginning to come up and Miles wanted to go mining. The duo set out for a cavern. Matthew led Miles into the cavern’s entrance and pointed to a spot. “This is a good place to begin mining.”

With his pickaxe in his hand, Miles mined for a while. He was beginning to believe there was nothing in the ground until he spotted ore.

“I think I see ore!” Miles cried out.

“That’s gold ore,” Matthew confirmed as they inspected the ground. The yellow glistened as Miles filled his inventory with the valuable ore.

His inventory was now brimming. Discovering the ore made him feel much better. He was very sad that he lost to both the Eye of Cthulhu and Skeletron, but was glad to unearth treasures. He didn’t want to stop.

“You have enough ore,” Matthew explained. “Let’s go back and craft weapons. It will help you defeat Skeletron. We need to do this before it gets dark.”

The two went to the house and Matthew gave Miles detailed instructions on how to craft gold weapons and armor. Miles was proud of his work, but despite holding a new gold sword and outfitted in shiny gold armor, Miles was still nervous when the sun began to set. He was worried about his battle with Skeletron.

“It’s time to go,” Matthew informed Miles.

Miles left the house as the sun set, and shook as he walked toward the entrance to the dungeon.

“I see the Old Man,” Miles’s voice cracked.

“You can do it. I believe in you.” Matthew smiled.

Miles walked toward the Old Man and took a deep breath as he spoke the word, “Curse.”

The Old Man was transformed into Skeletron and Miles remembered Matthew’s advice that he should strike the hands to make Skeletron vulnerable. One by one he used his sword to weaken the hands, but they weren’t destroyed. He gasped in horror as Skeletron’s head began to spin. The bony head spun fast and Miles knew this might be the end. He clutched his gold sword and hit the spinning head, shocked when his sword pierced the hard skull and Skeletron began losing energy. The weakened hands floated toward him and he pounded against them until they were erased from the sky.

Now that the hands were gone, Miles could concentrate on annihilating the large skeleton head that floated in front of him. It began to spin again, and Miles took a deep breath and swung at the head until it was destroyed.