Terror on a Treasure Hunt Read online

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  Copyright © 2016 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.

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  The Minecraft game is copyright © Mojang AB.

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Cover design by Brian Peterson

  Cover photo by Megan Miller

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0599-9

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0609-5

  Printed in Canada

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Planning

  Chapter 2: The Big Hunt

  Chapter 3: Cheats

  Chapter 4: Adventure Maps

  Chapter 5: A New Enemy

  Chapter 6: Invasion in the Overworld

  Chapter 7: Snow and Surprises

  Chapter 8: Trapped

  Chapter 9: Secrets

  Chapter 10: Escape Plans

  Chapter 11: Mooshrooms

  Chapter 12: Zombie Attack

  Chapter 13: Desert Battle

  Chapter 14: Never Say Nether

  Chapter 15: The Search for Mr. Anarchy

  Chapter 16: It Can’t Be the End

  Chapter 17: Original Plans

  Chapter 18: Treasure

  1

  PLANNING

  “We’ve been talking about going on a treasure hunt for such a long time. When are we going?” Lily asked her friends.

  Robin agreed, adding, “We want to be prepared. We have to collect supplies. All of those battles with Mr. Anarchy have left our inventories depleted.”

  Michael looked through his inventory, rattling off a list of items. “Pickaxe, potions, wood, snowballs, apples.” He paused. “I think I’m ready for an adventure.”

  “Great!” Lily exclaimed.

  “Is your inventory full?” Simon asked Lily.

  Lily checked, then nodded.

  Warren walked over to the group. “I found the perfect place to look for treasure.”

  “Where?” Michael asked.

  Warren showed a map to his friends. “There is a large cave in the forest. I heard there is a dungeon there that’s filled with treasure.”

  “Who told you about the dungeon?” Lily asked.

  “I met a person in town who was talking about it.”

  “Who?” Lily was curious to.

  “His name is Peter,” replied Warren. “He visited the forest and discovered the dungeon. A creeper destroyed him before he could loot the dungeon. And now he wants to go on our treasure hunt.”

  “When can we meet him?” asked Lily.

  “Now,” Warren explained. “Peter lives in the village.”

  The gang followed Warren into town. On the way to the village, they ran into Ilana the Alchemist. She was carrying her chest filled with potions.

  “Are you interested in trading? I just brewed some new potions.” Ilana opened the large chest.

  Lily eyed the potions. “Maybe we should get a few. We are about to go on a treasure hunt.”

  “That sounds like fun! Can I join you?” Ilana asked the gang.

  “Yes,” Warren replied. “Of course you can join us. We’re going to the forest biome. We have to find my friend Peter, and then we will start to plan the trip.”

  Simon looked at the sky. “It’s getting dark. I think we shouldn’t leave until tomorrow.”

  “But we have enough time for a quick meeting before the sun sets. We can wake up early and start our trip to the forest,” Warren announced to the group.

  Ilana and the others walked down the town’s main street, and Warren pointed out Peter’s house. “It’s right past the shops,” said Warren.

  Peter lived in a small house made of cobblestone. He had a patch of land where he grew potatoes and carrots. Outside his house, an ocelot was resting. As they approached the house, the ocelot meowed.

  “Peter,” Warren said, knocking on the door.

  “I’m over here,” Peter called to his friends, walking out of his neighbor’s house.

  Warren introduced Peter to his friends.

  “How long have you lived in Lisimi Village?” Lily asked Peter. “I’ve never seen you around.”

  “I’ve been trapped on this server for a while,” he replied.

  Warren said, “He was also zapped onto the server by Mr. Anarchy.”

  Peter smiled. “I’m so happy that you guys will be joining me on a treasure hunt. I usually go on my treasure hunts alone, and it isn’t that much fun. I’d rather go with friends.”

  “This is going to be a great trip.” Warren nodded in agreement.

  Peter said, “After getting destroyed by a creeper on my last treasure hunt, I am going to be a lot more careful on this trip.”

  The group studied the map and planned their route. “I think we should head to the desert biome to see if we find any desert temples,” suggested Robin.

  As they talked, the sky was growing darker. Peter placed a torch on the wall of his home to ward off any hostile mobs.

  “We have to get going,” Lily excused herself and her friends. “We don’t want to stay out at night. It’s much too dangerous.”

  Everyone agreed, and Lily and her friends had started to head home when Robin gasped.

  A horde of skeletons approached, shooting arrows at the group. Their bones clanged as they marched toward Peter’s house.

  Lily retrieved her diamond sword from her inventory and fearlessly lunged at the group of bony beasts. Robin hesitated for only a moment before joining Lily in battle, adding the sound of her sword striking bone to the clamor of Lily’s fight. But Robin cried out as a barrage of arrows struck her, and as her last heart vanished she was destroyed. “Robin!” Lily cried out.

  It was getting darker, making it easy for other hostile and more powerful mobs to spawn in the Overworld. Lily shook as she battled the skeletons. She feared more mobs would spawn, and she was losing hearts. A quick glance around showed her that her friends were doing no better.

  “Look out!” Peter cried.

  Zombies lumbered toward the town, followed by two block-carrying Endermen.

  Lily struck a skeleton with her sword, obliterating it. As she leapt at a zombie, an Enderman made eye contact with her. The lanky mob unleashed a deafening shriek and teleported toward Lily. She sprinted toward the water, but she wasn’t fast enough. The Enderman attacked her and she lost her
final heart. With a cry, Lily was destroyed, and the sight of her friends still fighting mobs vanished.

  The next thing Lily knew, she was respawning in her cottage.

  “Lily,” Robin said, standing when she saw her friend respawn.

  “Robin.” Lily pulled her covers off and got out of bed. “We have to go help the others! They’re still battling the monsters that destroyed us.”

  Robin handed Lily a potion of strength, but Lily almost spilled it when she heard a loud blast.

  Kaboom!

  “That doesn’t sound like a creeper, right?” Lily asked her friend.

  “No, that sounds a lot more serious.” Robin looked frightened.

  The duo ran out into the night, wondering what destruction they’d find.

  2

  THE BIG HUNT

  “I can’t see. Do you have a potion of night vision?” Lily asked Robin.

  Robin shook her head, and the friends dashed toward the center of town in darkness. Lily reached for her sword when she spotted a baby zombie riding a chicken. “Robin! It’s a chicken jockey!”

  “I see it!” Robin grabbed her bow and arrow, aiming at the rare, hostile mob.

  “I’ve never seen a chicken jockey before,” Lily confessed as she aimed her bow and arrow at the small zombie. The arrow pierced the zombie’s flesh and it lost a heart.

  Robin replaced her bow and arrow with a diamond sword. She leapt at the chicken, avoiding Lily’s arrow as it flew toward the baby zombie.

  Seeing that Robin was having more luck attacking the mob with her sword, Lily darted to Robin’s side and ripped into the zombie with a blow from her powerful sword.

  “Robin! Lily!” Simon called out from somewhere in the distance. “We need your help!”

  Lily couldn’t reply. She was too busy battling this undead mob that rode a white chicken.

  Robin slammed her sword into the chicken, destroying it. She reached down and picked up the feathers it dropped.

  “Watch out,” Lily warned Robin. Though the chicken was destroyed, the baby zombie was still lumbering toward them. Lily clobbered the purple-shirted zombie with her diamond sword. As it vanished, destroyed by Lily’s powerful attack, the mob dropped an iron ingot.

  “We have to help Simon,” Robin exclaimed.

  Lily agreed, and the duo dashed through the dark night toward their friends. Simon was in the middle of battling a gang of skeletons. Ilana and Peter must have been destroyed already, because they were nowhere to be seen. Too late, Lily tried to warn him about the silent creeper lurking behind him.

  Kaboom!

  Simon was destroyed, and Lily and Robin were left to battle the skeletons without him.

  Robin plunged her sword into a skeleton, then looked up to see Ilana running towards them with a potion in hand, ready to splash it on a zombie.

  “Ilana!” Robin called to the acclaimed alchemist.

  Ilana weakened the zombie Robin was fighting with her potion, then used her sword to annihilate the undead beast. “I can help. I grabbed more potions when I respawned at home.” Ilana splashed potions on the cluster of zombies that surrounded Lily and Robin.

  “Thanks!” Lily could barely speak as she struck her sword against the bony mobs.

  “I got one,” Robin exclaimed when she destroyed a skeleton.

  Ilana splashed more potions and Lily and Robin obliterated the remaining skeletons.

  “What was it that blew up?” asked Lily. “Besides Simon, I mean.”

  Ilana frowned. “Simon’s house, and Juan’s butcher shop.”

  Lily was devastated. They had spent the past few months rebuilding Lisimi Village, and now someone was destroying it.

  “Who is responsible for this?” Robin cried.

  Ilana shook her head sadly. “I don’t know.” She paused, then added, “Mr. Anarchy isn’t able to grief anymore, so I assume it’s someone we don’t know.”

  This scared Lily. She didn’t like the idea of an unknown person in their village, especially someone who would threaten them. The villagers had already paid their dues when they battled Mr. Anarchy, and she didn’t want to be involved in any other griefer battles. She simply wanted to go on the treasure hunt.

  “The sun is rising,” Robin said with a smile. She was glad they’d be safe in the daylight.

  As she spoke, the rest of the group came running over to them, having respawned in their homes. Lily was relieved to see that Simon had been able to respawn in Michael’s home, where he had spent the night before.

  Everyone spoke at once. Michael was talking about the explosion. Warren paced while screaming about monster spawners. Juan was crying about his butcher shop. Peter asked about the treasure hunt.

  Lily shouted, “Stop! One at a time.”

  Warren looked at Lily. “This isn’t the work of Mr. Anarchy. We have to get to the bottom of the attack.”

  “Maybe someone from the town is trying to terrorize us.” Lily mused.

  Everyone paused, uncomfortable, until Michael broke the silence. “Everyone here is a suspect.”

  “A suspect?” Lily asked. “Us, too?”

  “Until we know who has destroyed Simon’s house and Juan’s butcher shop, we’re going to have to keep a close eye on the entire town,” explained Michael.

  Lily knew she was innocent, and she trusted her friends. But, come to think of it, she knew nothing about Peter. He seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere, and yet he said he’d been in Lisimi Village a long time. How was that possible?

  Robin said, “I don’t want to think of everyone in the town as a suspect. It’s not a good way to look at things. It’s not healthy.”

  “What’s your plan?” Michael questioned Robin.

  “I think we should prepare ourselves by keeping an eye on the town, but we also have to see what happens next,” Robin told him.

  “We have to wait for someone to attack us again?” Michael was appalled. “That’s an awful idea.”

  Michael and Robin debated the many ways they could solve this issue, but they couldn’t agree on anything.

  Peter interrupted. “I think we should focus on the treasure hunt. We want to loot that dungeon. It’ll be a great way for us to replenish our supplies, and it’s going to be a lot of fun, which will take our minds off of the trouble in the village—maybe it will even help us get a fresh perspective and see who could have done this.” When he saw he had everyone’s attention, Peter went on. “It’s the start of a new day. We should get going now, because then we’ll have an entire day to get to the dungeon.”

  Simon added, “I agree with Peter. I don’t think we should stick around Lisimi Village debating our next steps. I think we should go ahead with the treasure hunt. My house was destroyed, and I’d love as many resources as I can gather to rebuild. I hope to find those on a treasure hunt.”

  “Is everybody ready to go on the treasure hunt?” asked Lily.

  Ilana looked through her inventory. “I’m ready. And if anyone needs potions, I have a bunch that I’m willing to trade.”

  Warren was conflicted about going. “But who will guard the town?”

  “It’ll be fine,” Juan the Butcher reassured Warren. “I’ll make sure the townspeople will keep any eye on everything. I’m going to have them build an iron golem to ward off zombies, and then ask them to help me reconstruct my butcher shop.”

  The group gathered their belongings, and Peter pulled out his map, getting ready to guide them.

  But before they could leave, a familiar voice called out, “Wait!”

  3

  CHEATS

  The friends were shocked to see Mr. Anarchy standing in the middle of town, alone.

  Michael called to Mr. Anarchy, “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

  Lily was annoyed. “Isn’t he supposed to be under constant supervision?”

  Warren replied, “He is. I have no idea how he got out.”

  Lily grabbed her bow and arrow, aiming at Mr. Anarchy.

 
“Lily, don’t! Please,” Mr. Anarchy pleaded. “I have something to tell you guys.”

  Lily held the bow and arrow, but didn’t shoot. “Okay, tell us or I’m going to destroy you and force you to respawn in Warren’s house, where you belong.”

  “I found a way to get players off the server,” Mr. Anarchy announced proudly.

  “How? We have an entire team dedicated to finding out ways to get home. How did you come up with one on your own?” Warren questioned Mr. Anarchy.

  “Several nights ago, I snuck out of Warren’s house while everyone was distracted by talk of the treasure hunt you’re leaving on. I wanted to use a cheat to summon a storm. It was late and I didn’t see the creeper behind me, so it destroyed me just as the storm started. When I respawned and ran outside, skeletons surrounded me and I had very little energy left. I noticed a player off in the distance. I called for his help, and he said he’d TP to me. But after he vanished, he never reappeared. I’m sure that when he TPed, he left the server.”

  “How do you know the player wasn’t TPing somewhere else? Maybe he didn’t tell you the truth?” Lily found Mr. Anarchy’s idea preposterous. You couldn’t leave the server by TPing in a rainstorm.

  “I thought the same thing,” explained Mr. Anarchy. “But once the rain stopped, I went to search for the player. I had seen him around the village before—he alwayswore a black jumpsuit. I looked all over for him, but I still haven’t found him. It’s been days.”

  “A black jumpsuit …” Robin paused, deep in thought. “I think I’ve seen him.”

  “Recently?” asked Mr. Anarchy.

  “Actually, no,” replied Robin. She hadn’t seen the man in the black jumpsuit in days.

  “Does anybody know who he is?” Peter asked.

  Michael replied, “I think so. If it’s the player I’m thinking of, Juan the Butcher introduced me to him. His name is Otto. I know he is friends with Matthew.”

  “We should go find him,” Lily suggested.

  Peter clutched the map. He was annoyed. “I thought we were going on the treasure hunt.”

  “We are,” Simon reassured him, “but we have to find out if Mr. Anarchy really discovered a way to get us off this server. Do you really want to wait if we can go home now?”