The Nether Attack Read online

  “I can’t see you,” Ben said in a panic.

  “That’s the point,” Hannah laughed.

  “But how can we keep track of each other?” Ben wasn’t sure this plan was going to work.

  “Let’s run toward the center of town,” instructed Violet. “When we spot the silver griefers, don’t let them out of our sight.”

  The group sprinted into town. The town was in the thick of battle. Violet could hear snippets of conversations from the townspeople. One townsperson was battling a red rainbow griefer while asking, “Where are Noah and Violet? They said they’d protect us.”

  Another townsperson cried, “They left so long ago! They said they’d return with snowballs. If they don’t return, we’re going to lose this battle.”

  Violet didn’t like hearing the townspeople question their plan. Violet and her friends were only trying to help. But she understood that the villagers were frustrated. They had been fighting a nonstop battle, and they were exhausted.

  Noah also heard the townspeople talking about them. He wanted to discuss all of this with Violet. Of course, he knew that once he opened his mouth, there would be no point in being invisible. So he kept quiet and just looked for the silver griefers.

  Violet finally spotted the two silver griefers. They stood atop Valentino’s butcher shop and shot arrows at the townspeople. Their aim was excellent, and they were able to destroy hordes of townspeople while they attempted to defend themselves.

  The gang climbed on top of Valentino’s butcher shop. Violet spoke softly, “Will …”

  The silver griefer turned around and spoke to his friend, “Did you say something?”

  “No,” replied the other silver griefer.

  “Will …” Violet spoke again.

  “Okay, someone is talking.” The silver griefer was annoyed.

  “What did the voice say?” asked the other griefer.

  “They called out the name Will.”

  The silver griefer asked, “Isn’t that the name of the guy Daniel has trapped in his desert palace?”

  “Yes!” he replied as he aimed and shot arrows at the townspeople.

  “That’s weird,” the other griefer said as he also shot a barrage of arrows at the sea of innocent people.

  It was then that Violet realized these two silver griefers were not her friends. This made her feel so much better. Even if her friends were brainwashed, she would be very upset if they had turned so evil and had destroyed innocent townspeople.

  Now that the plan had changed, Violet had to destroy these two evil silver griefers.

  “Destroy them!” she called out to her friends.

  The silver griefers didn’t have time to figure out where the voice was coming from because within seconds, they were attacked by invisible people carrying enchanted diamond swords.

  As the two silver griefers disappeared, the gang began to reappear. There are very few times in life when one has perfect timing. This was one of those times. The townspeople were in awe and began to cheer for Violet, Noah, Hannah, and Ben. Unfortunately, the gang didn’t have time to enjoy the applause because they had an agenda. They put on their armor, jumped down from the roof of the butcher shop, and attacked the remaining rainbow griefers.

  As Noah struck one of the last rainbow griefers, he asked the orange griefer, “Where is Daniel?”

  “You’ll never find out,” the griefer called back with a laugh, and Noah struck him again. He was destroyed.

  Noah didn’t have any answers. They still had to find Daniel and had no clue where he was.

  Violet stepped up next to Noah in battle, and as she struck a green griefer she said, “I think Daniel is in the desert.”

  “Really?” Noah asked as he destroyed another griefer.

  “Yes, I heard the silver griefers talking about Will and Trent being trapped in a desert palace.”

  “But there are tons of desert biomes in the Overworld. How will we find the one that houses Daniel’s palace?”

  Violet said, “We should check the desert outside of our town. I bet that’s where he’s hiding with Will and Trent.”

  “I hope you’re right,” replied Noah.

  As Violet struck a pink griefer with her enchanted diamond sword, she heard the griefer utter the words, “You are right,” before it was destroyed.

  “That griefer is trying to help us,” Violet told Noah.

  “I don’t trust griefers, but I do think we should look there first,” said Noah.

  The final griefer was soon destroyed. The townspeople applauded.

  Noah stood in the center of the town and announced, “We have to travel to the desert. But we want to distribute snowballs to everyone in the town first, in case the ghasts and magma cubes come back.”

  The townspeople lined up and received their snowballs. They had protection now against the Nether mobs. Noah made sure the gang still had some snowballs, too. They had no way of knowing what Nether mobs they might encounter on the road to the desert.

  10

  TREASURE OR TRAP?

  The desert wasn’t far from the village. As the gang set out on their trip, Valentino the Butcher hurried toward them. “Hey!” he called out. “You need to take this meat and eat it for energy.”

  “Do you want us to trade anything for the meat?” Noah asked. He had a few emeralds and some wheat in his inventory and would gladly trade them for the meat.

  “No,” replied Valentino. “I just want to help you all. You have done so much for our village, and you deserve this food.”

  The gang thanked Valentino. They stopped and ate the tasty meat, and watched as their health bars increased. Then they set out toward the desert.

  On the way, the friends had to pass through a lush jungle. Noah reminded his friends, “The jungle has many areas where it’s so overgrown with leaves that we might lose our way and not find each other.”

  “Yes,” said Hannah, “we must stick together.”

  Ben added, “If we didn’t lose each other when we were invisible, I’m sure we’ll be able to stick together in the jungle.”

  Noah was glad everyone had the same thought. “Good. And once we get to the desert, we need to track down Daniel and destroy him.”

  “Yes,” said Violet, “and we also have to free Will and Trent. I wonder what Daniel is doing to them. Those poor guys are trapped in his desert palace. Daniel is probably starving them.”

  “We’ll save them!” declared Noah.

  Hannah sheared the leafy tree-lined path, as they trekked deeper into the dense jungle.

  “Do you see that?” Violet asked her friends.

  Around a bend in the path, the gang saw a jungle temple that was extremely lavish. The large structure was located on a stretch of water. A large arch framed the entrance to the waterfront temple. Although they had to concentrate and make it to the desert before dark, they were also struck by the temple’s total awesomeness.

  “Should we go in?” asked Hannah.

  Noah paused and stated, “It looks so grand, and maybe we’ll find treasure there, but it’s almost night. We have to stick to our plan of reaching the desert.”

  Violet agreed with Noah, but she didn’t want to pass up this opportunity of entering a jungle temple. “Maybe we can just stop in for a quick look?”

  The rest of the gang also wanted to search the temple. Ben said, “If we do go and find treasure, we can put that in our inventory and it might come in handy when we’re battling Daniel and his evil rainbow griefer army.”

  Everyone admitted that they really did want to enter the temple. The friends went off course and walked toward the temple. They looked up as they passed beneath the arch that stood in front of the grand temple.

  Violet was the first to enter the temple. “Maybe I’ll finally get to go on the treasure hunt I always wanted to!”

  Noah asked, “Does anybody know where treasures are hidden in jungle temples?”

  Without their treasure-hunting friends Will and Trent leadi
ng them, the group had to navigate their own way around. They explored the temple and peeked into the many rooms to search for treasure chests.

  “I don’t think the treasure chests are just left out in the rooms. I think we have to go to the bottom floor and unearth the chests,” Violet said. She remembered Will and Trent telling her a story about treasure hunting in the jungle. They had mentioned how they unearthed booby-trapped treasure.

  “Yes, I remember Will and Trent telling us a story about finding treasure,” Noah told them.

  “Right,” Violet exclaimed. “I was just thinking about that story. Hopefully we’ll remember enough of the details they told us to help on this impromptu treasure hunt.”

  The dimly lit temple was a breeding ground for hostile mobs to spawn, especially in the temple’s darker secret rooms. The gang walked into a secret room, hoping it was where they’d find the treasure, but instead they found lots of silverfish.

  “Yuck!” Violet called out as she was attacked by dozens of small insects that slithered on the ground of the secret room.

  The gang used their swords to fight the small hostile mobs. As they struggled with the insect mob, a skeleton rattled down the hall toward them.

  Click! Clack! Clang!

  The skeleton wasn’t alone. Violet looked up and saw five skeletons coming toward them. One of the skeleton’s arrows struck Violet’s armor, and she dashed toward the bony beasts with her enchanted diamond sword.

  The others continued to battle the silverfish invasion. Violet was fighting the skeletons on her own. A skeleton’s arrow pierced her arm. She grew weaker and needed help. Hannah ran into the thick of the battle and used her sword to destroy a skeleton. As the duo obliterated two skeletons, they noticed more skeletons coming down the stairs.

  “We need more help!” Violet called to Noah and Ben.

  “We’re almost done with the silverfish. Ben found the spawner!” Noah called out.

  Violet and Hannah were shocked when three people rushed down the stairs and annihilated all of the skeletons.

  “Who are you?” asked Violet.

  “We’re treasure hunters,” replied a boy wearing a gold helmet.

  “Who are you?” questioned the treasure hunter who was wearing a pink helmet.

  “I’m Violet.”

  “And I’m Hannah. And we’re not treasure hunters.”

  “Violet and Hannah. Are you friends with Will and Trent?” asked the treasure hunter wearing a blue helmet.

  “Yes.” Violet was shocked. Noah and Ben walked over and introduced themselves, too.

  The boy wearing the gold helmet said, “I’m Henry.”

  The boy wearing the blue helmet added, “I’m Max.”

  And the girl in the pink helmet said, “I’m Lucy.”

  Violet exclaimed, “We’ve heard so many stories about you! It’s great to finally meet you!”

  “We feel the same way about you,” replied Lucy.

  “But we have awful news,” Violet told the treasure hunters. “Will and Trent are trapped in a desert palace.”

  “What? That’s horrible!” Henry was upset.

  “An evil griefer named Daniel has trapped them,” said Violet.

  “We know Daniel. He is really wicked,” said Lucy.

  “Can you help us free them?” asked Noah.

  Suddenly, the treasure they had been seeking seemed to lose its importance. The gang needed to save Will and Trent. So they all left the temple without treasure, but with something more valuable than diamonds—they left with new friends.

  11

  REUNITED

  I can’t believe we left the temple without finding any treasure,” Violet lamented as the gang headed toward the desert.

  “Once we free Will and Trent, we promise to take you on a treasure-hunting adventure,” Henry said as he sheared a path through the jungle.

  “Thanks.” Violet was excited to have met these famed treasure hunters. Will and Trent always told exciting tales about Henry, Max, and Lucy.

  “What are we going to do once we reach the desert? Do we have a plan?” asked Henry.

  “I think we’re just going to charge into the desert palace and save Will and Trent.” As she spoke, Violet realized this plan seemed pretty ridiculous.

  “I think you’re going to need a better strategy,” said Max, and then he added, “I hope that didn’t come across as sounding rude. I just want to make sure we save our friends.”

  “No, I think you’re right. We are going to need a better plan,” Violet agreed.

  Night was now setting in. Lucy told the gang, “We don’t travel at night. It’s too dangerous.”

  Noah said, “We all need a place to stay for the night. Fortunately, Violet is one of the best builders in the Overworld.”

  “Will told us about Violet’s stellar building skills,” said Lucy. “I can’t wait to see her in action. We also have a friend, Steve, who is a master builder. We once went to a building competition that he was invited to on Mooshroom Island.”

  “Wow, that’s an impressive competition,” remarked Violet as she grabbed planks to form her inventory so she could build a house for the night. “I’ve always wanted to participate in that one, but I’ve never gotten a chance to make it.”

  The gang helped Violet build the house outside the desert. Lucy said, “You didn’t miss much. The competition was intense.”

  Max added, “There was an Endermen invasion. We spent the entire time fighting Endermen and endermites.”

  Ben was confused. “I thought hostile mobs don’t spawn on Mooshroom Island.”

  Henry remembered the craziness of the building competition on Mooshroom Island and said, “They don’t usually. This was an odd case.”

  The group worked together to build a shelter for the night. Violet placed the roof on at last, and the gang entered the house before sunset.

  “You did such a great job. Will and Trent are right. You are truly talented, Violet. They told us about your tree house and how it has amazing views and is so large that it’s nestled in two trees,” complimented Henry.

  “When we find our friends and save them, I want you to come visit our town and stay in my tree house,” Violet said as she crafted beds for everyone.

  “It’s a deal. We take you on an official treasure hunt, and you let us stay in your tree house!” exclaimed Lucy.

  The weary friends climbed into their beds. They quickly fell asleep with blue wool blankets draped over their tired bodies.

  Morning came quickly. The sun was shining and the group was excited to start their trip to the desert.

  Noah offered their new friends the extra meat he had from Valentino the Butcher.

  As Max ate breakfast he told them about Lucy’s incredible hunting skills.

  Lucy said, “You exaggerate,” but she felt pleased.

  The group finished their food and exited the house. The desert could be seen in the distance. As they reached the sandy biome, a ghast flew toward them and shot a fireball.

  “Ghasts?” Max was confused.

  “In the Overworld?” questioned Henry.

  “Daniel is behind this Nether mob invasion,” Noah warned them as he struck the ghast with a snowball.

  “Bull’s-eye!” Max called out. “You did a good job destroying that ghast.”

  “Should we be worried that there are more Nether mobs ready to attack us? And in daylight?” Henry was clearly upset.

  “Once we defeat Daniel, we’ll be able to stop him from summoning the Nether mobs,” said Violet.

  “You talk like that’s an easy thing to do,” Max protested as he walked toward the desert.

  The desert palace stood out in the flat terrain. The enormous palace was four stories high with a large terrace across the front of the building. A cactus garden with a table and chairs could be seen on the side of the palace.

  “How are you going to get inside?” asked Max.

  Violet looked over at Hannah for a solution. Hannah took out the
last of her potion of invisibility. “Take off your armor,” she instructed.

  The gang reluctantly took off their armor and drank the potion. The group ran toward the desert palace and entered the lavish structure without any of the rainbow griefers noticing them. They were all completely invisible. They raced throughout the house, searching for the room where Daniel had trapped their friends.

  They rushed down the stairs to the basement. They sprinted down a long hallway until they saw a closed door. Two rainbow griefers stood guard in front of the door. Noah took out his sword and pierced the rainbow guard. The other guard looked shocked. Noah struck the second guard. He destroyed them both. Ben opened the door, and the gang ran inside.

  Although they were invisible, their voices could still be heard. When they saw Will and Trent they called out their names: “Will! Trent!”

  “Violet!” cried Trent.

  “Max?” Will sounded confused.

  “Are all of our friends here?” Trent asked. He was overjoyed.

  Noah spoke up. “There’s no time for happy reunions. Hannah, please give them some potion of invisibility so we can get out of here.”

  Hannah stammered, “I—I don’t have any left.”

  12

  DISTRACTIONS IN THE DESERT

  How will we escape if we aren’t all invisible?” Noah asked.

  “I have an idea,” announced Violet. She took out blocks of TNT from her inventory and placed them on the floor. “Can somebody ignite this? It will be a great distraction.”

  Max ignited the TNT, and the group dashed out of the room before the harsh blast.

  Kaboom!

  The gang hurried up the stairs as the rainbow griefers raced toward the blast. They didn’t even notice Will and Trent on the stairs because they were so concerned about the explosion.

  “What could that be?” Violet heard one of the rainbow griefers question.

  They ran out of the palace and sprinted through the desert. As they went along, the potion slowly wore off. As it did, rainbow griefers sprinted out of the palace toward them.

  “They got away!” a blue griefer called out, and he shot arrows at them.

  “And they have their friends with them!” a green griefer screamed as he ran after them with his diamond sword.