I dove for the third floor, the urge to try out my new bow egged me on. In 15 minutes I reached an area with vine blocks, which had to be some kind of personal record.

A jadinfray hole appeared in my mind map and my pulse jumped to max speed. Now that I had a weapon this powerful I wanted to try to kill the monster without activating Death Mind, but I didn’t know if my crazy plan to stay back and fire arrows would work.

Since I’d used my bow on several traps to get down there so fast it wasn’t charged. I rammed through a few blocks until an arrow three times the width of my previous upgrade appeared. It had a small silver tip at the end.

When I stopped three squares away the jadinfray’s madness pressed down on my mind. A chuckle forced its way out of me. Fortunately, I was still in control.

Several minutes passed as I waited but it didn’t show itself.

Somehow the monster knew I was too far away to be fully under its control. Just how intelligent were these creatures? Maybe it was instinct, or maybe they were semi-intelligent. Obviously, not so much that they knew to avoid my light boulder traps, but still intelligent enough to know I wasn’t close enough.

I grimaced. If I moved up by one I’d have to use Death Mind, but if I didn’t then I couldn’t coax it out of its hole.

But I was getting ahead of myself. First I’d check that my upgraded weapon could kill it. As much as I trusted Korren I still needed to verify that it worked. Once I accomplished that then I’d find a way to kill it without that technique.

After touching thumb to ring finger I took a step forward and stilled.

Slowly, the jadinfray’s tentacles slithered out of the hole. When its body fully exited I let my arrow loose.

The blocks before me shook as a thick energy blasted from my square through 5 others. In my mind, a disbelieving screech rang and silenced.

I released Death Mind and collected some weird music box from within the cave to exchange later.

The idea struck me that the monster had to go off some kind of spatial instinct since it couldn’t tell that I used a technique to bypass its hysteria.

Then maybe... An even more crazy and idiotic idea came to mind. I didn’t even think it would work but I had to try.

I traveled deeper into the third floor and searched for another hole. It didn’t take long before I found one.

I stepped into the sweet spot where I didn’t need a technique but was still under its influence.

As a giggle left my lips I cast telekinesis on my bow and moved it into the next block. I waited, letting myself giggle, but not losing concentration.

Just when I thought this idea was too stupid to work I saw its black tentacles testing the edge of the doorway like cautious fingers.

I held my breath.

The jadinfray glided out of the hole. I willed my arrow to release and, to my surprise, a white-hot blast of energy burst forth.

Just before the light hit, the monster dove back into its cave.

“Tch.”

Well, the execution was awful but the idea had a surprising amount of promise. I might even use it against Korren.

And at that thought, I heard an enraged shriek from the doorway. The monster bulleted toward me. I barely had time to blink before my armor teleported me to safety, three vine blocks below.

My hands shook.

In my mind map, the monster sped through the cavern in all directions searching for me. It was obviously not satisfied.

Huh. Maybe I could use its anger against it.

I bulldozed through enough blocks to give me a recharge, while also collecting several more ore for my wallet. I then flew to the back of a hallway 5 blocks deep where I could attack from.

The monster turned a corner. Its screech of anger sent a shiver down my spine. I let it swim after me for two blocks then I released my arrow. When the light engulfed it a scream entered my mind.

All in all, my idea hadn’t worked exactly as I’d planned this time but it would the next. I’d just have to wait for the monster to move forward by a block so it couldn’t escape my blast.