William led Robyn and Sid down the tunnel into the heart of the Crimson, ready to confront the being that had thrashed them the last time they had been here.

It had been a week since the Goblin invasion. That week had been full of mining, exploring, upgrading, building and rebuilding. But now they were ready.

William looked down at his attire and at his two friends. He was kitted out in glittering golden armour – the best possible they could craft at the time. As the one with melee weapons, it was important he had the most defence. He had two swords in his inventory, one newly crafted, the other recently found in a chest on a floating island that he had reached using a gravitation potion, and he planned to use both of them against the Brain.

Robyn was clad in shining silver armour, and held a Tendon Bow in her hands, crafted from Crimtane that they'd gotten from the Eye of Cthulhu as well as the small amounts they'd turned up while mining. Sid still wore the same armour he'd had when they'd fought the Eye – Viking Helmet, Flinx Fur Coat, and Silver Greaves – and was armed with his Leather Whip, Flinx Staff, Crimson Rod, and perhaps most importantly his Minishark. He'd managed to get it at a very low price once the Arms Dealer had moved to the Desert with the nurse. Being in his favourite biome with the citizen he loved the most had brought down his prices.

As for accessories, the three of them had managed to locate a Goblin Tinkerer, named Mrunok, tied up in one of the mining tunnels they frequented. He'd explained he had been exiled from the Goblin Army for being intelligent and pacifist. Once he'd moved into the Snow village, he had provided them with two very important items. The first one was the Tinkerer's Workshop, which allowed them to combine their accessories – the three of them now each had different-coloured Horseshoe Balloons, crafted using Lucky Horseshoes found in chests underground, and two Shiny Red Balloons from floating islands and a Sharkron Balloon from Robyn's fishing. The second item from the Goblin Tinkerer were Rocket Boots, which could be combined with each of their fast-running boots to create Spectre Boots.

Sid had been excited beyond belief to have Rocket Boots, but on his first time trying them he'd ended up ramming his head into the ceiling, then crashed into the wall. It was a good thing he'd been wearing his helmet. And that hitting your head on the ceiling didn't damage you in this world anyway.

But regardless, after some practise the three of them had quickly become proficient at flying the short distances their boots now provided. He was sure their new ability would end up being invaluable during the upcoming fight.

He emerged into the large cavern where several tunnels branched off.

"No sign of the Brain."

He dropped straight down to the cavern floor. His Horseshoe Balloon meant he no longer took fall damage, so he didn't have to use the rope they'd laid last time. It still felt strange being able to fall so far but feel absolutely no pain in his legs upon landing.

Robyn and Sid came down after him. They had discussed this beforehand – if the Brain didn't show itself, they would destroy some more Crimson Hearts. There were more tunnels that they hadn't been down, which each had a Crimson Heart. Sid counted three hearts remaining.

They weren't sure if the Brain would keep coming back after every single Heart's destruction, or if they'd have to destroy three more. Sid planted a bomb at one of the Hearts and ran back to the central cavern, and it detonated.

William felt a horrible chill go down his spine. He remembered the same chill after destroying the very first Heart.

"No sign of the Brain," Sid said.

"Okay. So we have to destroy two more," William said.

While Sid destroyed the second one, Robyn ran to where the first Heart had laid to pick up its drop, which turned out to be an accessory named the Panic Necklace.

"Get into position while I set a bomb on the third one," Sid said.

William and Robyn flung their grappling hooks up to some wooden platforms that they'd set up criss-crossing across the cavern at multiple levels. They hoped these platforms would help with manoeuvrability.

"Throwing bomb in three! Two! One!"

A few seconds later Sid came running back into the cavern, and William heard an explosion.

The Brain of Cthulhu appeared.

Its fleet of Creepers flung themselves to the Brain's defence, but William, Robyn and Sid were ready. Robyn started firing Frostburn Arrows at the Creepers, while Sid set up a rain cloud using his Crimson Rod to damage the Creepers. William held the sword from the floating island – the Starfury – and swung it. The blade hit nothing, the Creepers being too far away, but a star shot down from above and slammed into some of the Creepers.

The Brain teleported close to Sid, but that proved to be a mistake on its part, as Sid set forth his Flinxes to deal massive damage to the Creepers. He snapped at all of the Creepers with his Leather Whip, and before too long the Brain teleported again.

"I think a few of them died!" Sid exclaimed. "There's items on the floor! Looks like extra Crimtane ore!"

"Keep it up!" William shouted.

The Brain next teleported close to him, so he switched to his Blood Butcherer, a large sword forged from Crimtane. He slashed at the Creepers as they flung themselves at him. A few hit him, but he had plenty of life to withstand them. More Creepers died, dropping more Crimtane ore and a new item he'd never seen before named Tissue Samples. One of the Creepers knocked him off the platform, but he double-jumped with his sandstorm and his Spectre Boots kicked in. He hovered over to a different platform, fine white mist and a deep rumbling emanating from his boots.

The Brain kept on teleporting around the cavern. More and more Creepers fell, and before too long the last one died.

That was when the Brain opened up, revealing a maw containing a Crimson Heart with an eyeball embedded inside.

Then it disappeared.

"It looks like it's damageable now!" Sid cried.

"How much life?" William asked.

"1700!"

The Brain roared as it teleported close to Robyn, but she shot arrows into its fleshy hide, setting it on frosty fire.

Next it appeared next to William, and he slashed at it with his Blood Butcherer. Then next to Sid, then Robyn, then Sid again.

"I swear, there's extra things slowly fading into existence around it!" he shouted as he fired at it with his Minishark.

William peered closely right as the Brain teleported in front of him. Suddenly it began appearing as though he was surrounded by four brains. Three were far more transparent – obviously they weren't real ones. But as William hit the real one with stars from his Starfury, he couldn't help but notice that the fake ones were becoming more and more opaque.

When the Brain teleported to Robyn, William was beginning to have trouble telling which was real. Robyn seemed to be having the same problem, as her first arrow shot straight through one of the images of the Brain. However, her second arrow made contact, lighting it ablaze, and she kept firing at that one before it disappeared again.

"The real one's still on blue fire!" Sid exclaimed. "Robyn! Make sure to keep shooting it!"

"Got it!" she called.

A few times the fire went out before Robyn could get a shot in, but the three of them were able to keep hitting the real one wherever it went.

Before too long the entire Brain split apart. The illusions vanished, and a pile of Crimtane ore and Tissue Samples fell to the cavern floor.

"We did it!" Sid cheered.

William heaved a sigh of relief. The Brain had started out being the one foe that had almost killed them, but now after some preparation it had become one of their easiest and quickest fights.

Sid stepped over to the pile of items and picked everything up.

"Hey, a Brain of Confusion! Has a chance to create illusions and dodge an attack! I'm putting that on!"

William chuckled.

"Let's head back to Forest village," he said.

Upon using recently-acquired Magic Mirrors to return home, Sid said, "We must celebrate! Last time we fought that thing, we thought it would be impossible to defeat! But we took it down!"

That was when he almost stumbled over an unconscious man on the ground. He appeared to be heavyset and bald, with bushy eyebrows. William had never seen this citizen before – had he literally just arrived?

"Hey man, are you okay?" Sid asked, reaching down.

The man got up. William saw he was wearing a white apron over a blue shirt.

"Huh? How did I get here?" he murmured, wiping his forehead. "The last thing I remember was a portal opening up in front of me..."

William could see Sid staring at him with a rather what the cactus? look on his face.

"Well, okay," he said. "What's your name, dude?"

"Paddy."

"Cool. What type of citizen are you? What's your job?"

"Well... I guess until I can find another portal... do you know any good places to set up shop? Would love to open up a bar here."

Sid turned to William with the biggest grin on his face. "Now we know how we're going to celebrate!"