Chapter 7:

THE GOBLIN INVASION

Miles panted, trying to catch his breath as he approached the homes. John emerged from his house. He had heard Miles screaming. John looked at Shelly.

“Who are you?” asked John.

“This is Shelly. She’s a mechanic. I have to build her a house, but I have really big news.”

Matthew walked out of the house. “Miles, what’s all the excitement?”

Miles quickly introduced Shelly and then spit out the news, “I found the key to the Floating Island.”

“That’s fantastic!”

“I want to go today,” Miles said.

“I do want you to go to the Floating Island, but I had another plan for today. I think you should go to the Corruption. You’ll find valuable resources there that will help you on your trip to the Floating Island.”

“The Corruption?” Miles asked.

“You don’t know about the Corruption?” John was shocked.

Matthew walked over. “I thought I’ve told you about the Corruption. We should travel there soon. It’s dark and dangerous, but it’s a valuable place to find resources. You’ve defeated Skeletron and now I think we can go there.”

“I want to go now,” Miles announced.

Shelly walked over. “I thought you were going to build me a house.”

Matthew looked at Shelly. “Miles, I see you’ve met the mechanic. You’re definitely advancing in the game. If you build her a house, I promise to take you to the Corruption.”

Miles and Matthew set off to the woods to gather wood. Miles was standing next to a tree when he almost dropped his axe because he heard another woman’s voice.

“Your house is empty,” she remarked.

“For now,” Miles replied. “We will return there soon.”

“Can you build me a house?” the woman asked.

Miles stared at the woman. Her appearance was unusual. She had green hair, which she wore in a ponytail. He didn’t respond and walked over to Matthew and whispered, “Do I really have to build a house for this woman? Who is she? What is she?”

“That’s a dryad. You’ll want to build her a house. She’ll be very useful to you in this world,” Matthew replied.

“Why? This woman with green hair is useful?” Miles was annoyed.

“Don’t ever judge anyone by appearance,” Matthew snapped. “Yes, she has many resources she can sell you.”

“Like what?”

“Purification powder, a dirt rod, and many other items. And she’s quite helpful when battling mobs.” Matthew rattled off a long list of other resources the dryad provided.

Miles shrugged. “Okay. I guess I’ll build her a house. I have to build one for Shelly, too.”

He walked back to the tree. The dryad leaned against the bark. Miles smiled, “I’ll build you a house. What can you sell me?”

“Manners!” the dryad called out. “Don’t you want to ask me my name first?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I’m just distracted. I’m supposed to go to the Corruption and I want to get there before dusk. And I also want to go to the Floating Island.”

“You certainly have a lot of plans,” the dryad said.

“I guess I do. I’m Miles and what’s your name?”

“I’m Lila. And I have a lot of resources I can sell you—I hope you have enough coins in your inventory,” Lila remarked as she watched Miles chop wood for her new home.

The trio walked back to the houses, and Miles constructed two small homes next to them.

Miles felt like a construction expert. He had built so many homes, he felt as if he was designing a small city. Each house mirrored the next and was on an adjacent plot of land. Miles entered this world alone, but now he had so many neighbors. After he placed the wooden door on Shelly’s house, he walked inside and crafted a table, a chair, and a light source. “I’m done,” he announced, and Shelly and Lila thanked him and inspected their new homes.

“Good job,” Matthew remarked. “Let’s go to the Corruption.”

Matthew led Miles toward the meteorite crash site. Miles was shocked at the size of the dent.”

“The force of landing creates a large impact,” Matthew said.

Miles spotted a purple biome. “Is that the Corruption?”

“Yes,” Matthew spoke slowly so Miles didn’t miss anything, “you must be very careful there. There are many enemies. You can be destroyed by the Eater of Souls, Thorny bushes, and other seriously vile creatures.”

The warning didn’t scare Miles. He sprinted toward The Corruption and as he entered the biome, he noticed Matthew wasn’t joining him. “Can you come with me?”

“I have one vital weakness,” he explained. “If I get—” He paused. “Um, it’s best if I don’t go. I’ll wait for you.”

Miles sprinted into the creepy purple biome, keeping a close eye for any of the vile mobs that Matthew warned him about. Miles gawked at a purple sphere that floated toward him. Miles wasn’t sure if it was getting ready to attack him. He grabbed his hammer and slammed it into the floating being. A musket dropped to the ground, and Miles placed it in his inventory. Another sphere floated toward him. Miles was about to hit it with his hammer, when he heard cries outside in the distance. Miles sprinted out of the Corruption.

Matthew wasn’t waiting for him like he had promised, and Miles was worried the cries were coming from his friends. He raced as fast as he could toward the homes. The cries grew louder and Miles knew his friends were in trouble. As he approached the homes, he saw his friends battling goblins.

Hordes of little green goblins in various shades struck his friends. Miles noticed Matthew off to the side, shooting wooden arrows from a distance. He remembered what Matthew said about being weak, and he shielded Matthew from the goblin attack.

Miles rushed into the center of the attack. The goblins were vicious, and Miles slammed his sword into the numerous goblins that crowded the space between their homes.

“Help!” Lila cried as six goblins surrounded her. “I’m too weak to fight them.”

Miles was able to defeat the goblins that attacked him and rush to Lila’s aid. Matthew shot arrows at the goblins that were destroying Lila. Miles pounded goblin after goblin. But it wasn’t easy. Although no new goblins were spawning, there were almost a hundred of them, but they were no match for Miles and his four friends.

Matthew’s wooden arrows shot through the air, Miles used his sword, John threw knives, Shelly threw wrenches, and Lila drained the life from the goblins with her leaf barrier. Together, they used all of their skills to conquer the invasion of the destructive goblin army.

There were a dozen goblins left and Miles was losing energy. He needed water or food to replenish his strength, but he didn’t have time to eat. Instead he grasped the sword and hit two more goblins. The goblins rushed toward Miles; Shelly flung her wrench at the goblins, and Miles had to duck to avoid getting hit by the wrench.

“All of the goblins are advancing toward me,” Miles cried. He wondered if this was their battle strategy. Maybe they would crowd around him, so Shelly, John, and Matthew couldn’t attack them without hurting Miles. He wasn’t sure. His only chance for survival was running away from the goblins and hiding behind the house.

As Miles raced from the goblins, Shelly threw wrenches at the goblin beasts. She destroyed two. John’s knives hit three goblins. When Miles saw there were only a handful of goblins left, he sprinted out and used his last bit of strength to destroy them with his sword.

The final goblin was destroyed and the goblin army defeated. Miles was rewarded with a goblin punter. “Wow! An achievement.”

Miles wasn’t one to make speeches, but he thanked the group for his help.

“We should celebrate,” suggested Matthew. “You’ve done so well in this new world.”

“And you provided us with shelter,” added John.

Miles looked at Matthew. “You never told me about the goblins. How come they just attacked us now?”

“I didn’t think we would be attacked. Someone has to break the Shadow Orb for them to spawn,” Matthew explained.

“The Shadow Orb? What does it look like?” Miles wondered if the purple sphere that he broke with the hammer might have unleashed this goblin siege.

“I assume when you were in the Corruption you broke the sphere and that’s why these creatures spawned.” Matthew didn’t sound upset when he spoke, which confused Miles.

“You guys must be so mad at me.” Miles felt awful for causing the invasion.

Lila smiled, “Now we know we’re strong enough to battle an army of goblins and defeat them.”

“That does call for a celebration,” said John. “Let’s have a feast.

The group prepared for a feast, but when Shelly pointed to a strange man bound to a tree, they stopped the celebration and sprinted toward the man.

He cried out weakly, “Free me.”