17 – LASERs might not be the right thing to use against that

Devastating, bright blue light erupted from the focusing lens of the cannon, traveling through the air in a visible beam before impacting against the muzzle of the beast. Jacob’s aim was perfect, hitting the monster in the face where it was most vulnerable.

A sizzling sound started to come from where it was, and a dark and thick smoke poured out of the lighted area like blood from a wound. The sizzling grew louder, the sound of flesh boiling and burning while little flames could be see poking out of the black cloud.

The battery died, the laser shutting off as its energy reserves were depleted. The burst was quite short, but the energy it outputted was more than enough to kill even a behemoth beast, Jacob was sure.

The smoke stirred. A few air currents disrupted its state, and from behind emerged the figure of the beast itself. The area where he hit it was still smoking and burning, but below the thick ruined fur he could now see the white-hot shine of a metal that had been heated to immense temperatures.

It was slowly cooling down, going to yellow then orange and glowing less and less. There was no time to appreciate that change, however, because the beast was once again moving.

Jacob’s eyes widened. He did not expect this.

“Run!” He yelled, now in a panic.

Lumia was shaking like a leaf, but did not move an inch. Gritting his teeth, Jacob sprinted towards her and picked her up in a fireman carry, the weight barely registering in his adrenaline-laden brain. In his mind there was only one thing: to run.

And so he did, obeying his most basic of instincts: survival. He ran towards the village, making a beeline straight for his cabin almost on instinct. The beast was right behind him, right on his tail and gaining quickly. The metallic skeleton of its muzzle reflecting the moonlight back at the eyes that dared stared upon it, its right eye glowing red while the other a dull black.

The laser had done extensive damage to the exterior of what was not quite clearly a mechanical monster, melting the fur and the layers like they were made of some sort of plastic. It even damaged one of its eyes. But that was it. The beast did not seem to have lost fighting capability, and it was chasing the two through the forest smashing trees everywhere.

It was barely a few inches behind now, he could feel it. The raspy, labored breath of a beast that by all means should not have a breath. The sharp teeth, no doubt filled with metal as well.

An idea came to mind. It came to him as he jumped through the air and noticed he was falling down slowly; he still had his feather fall band equipped. This meant that he could jump and stay in the air for a long period, running away all the while.

He made a small ramp of cobblestone, placing block so fast he didn’t even think it was possible. He jumped off of it, and the beast followed suit. Its flight path ended much earlier than Jacob’s however, giving him the chance to pull off his plan.

He looked down, seeing he was still two meters in the air. He took out the cobblestone, and began to place blocks everywhere on the ground. They appeared instantly, right in front of the beast. It had no way to dodge them, instead smashing into them violently, making the compacted stone explode like loose rocks. Stone that, when placed with Minecraft physics like now, would have been able to withstand the weight of a mountain.

But, of course, the interaction with the beast overwrote those physics. Jacob had hoped, right until the last moment, that it would not happen but he knew it was wishful thinking.

Still, each impact sapped the beast of a good portion of its momentum, and not it was losing ground.

It also seemed to slow down, somewhat unsure that chasing would be a wise choice.

Eventually, as Jacob turned around he saw nothing but green forest, almost black in the dark of night. No trace of the beast.

He arrived at his cabin, went past it and up to Tyla’s home. All the time, thinking that the beast would emerge from a shadow and jump him, that somehow it had managed to beat him to the village and was waiting for him. Even as he opened Tyla’s door, in the back of his mind was the irrational fear that somehow the beast could be there, waiting.

There was no beast, however, only a caring mother that immediately started to nurse her daughter. Lumia was fine, he wanted to tell her, but he could not bring himself to say the words. Because, she most definitely was not. She might have been fine physically, but not in the mind.

So he watched, the pale green motes of magic going from mother to daughter, and eventually left to go back home.

He arrived in his basement, looked at the many machines that were now full of processed minerals, and sighed.

“Now, it’s personal.” He said, finality in his voice. “Iron, I need a lot of iron.” His face then fell. “And a pumpkin! Where the hell do I get a pumpkin?”