The Dungeon had finally changed.

That was William's first thought as an enemy that looked like a Dark Caster materialised in front of him. But it wasn't a Dark Caster – it was a new enemy, named a Necromancer. While it wore similar dark blue robes, its attack was wildly different. It cast forth a bright purple beam that bounced off the walls and floor at the speed of light, dealing instantaneous damage to William and a few of the citizens behind.

He sprinted forward and slashed at the Necromancer, only for it to disappear after it took damage.

"It's over here!" Sid shouted. It had teleported!

William watched as the Cyborg blasted it with a rocket. It teleported again, this time into the path of a rainbow blast from Meg, then into some bullets fired from the Pirate before it finally was defeated. It left behind a staff that looked like it had a hollow purple triangle stuck to its tip.

Meg picked it up, and fired it forward. It emitted the same bouncing purple beam as the Necromancer had just been firing.

"Woah, that is so sick!" Sid exclaimed, smiling.

"I'm surprised that dropped so quickly," William said. Enemies that could drop a special weapon upon their defeat only did so rarely.

"Same," Meg said. "But I'm not complaining."

Delving deeper into the Dungeon, they encountered more new and powerful enemies. The Angry Bones were now better armoured, some kitted out in full navy-blue armour. Some were glowing bright orange, as though they were entirely made from Hellstone. Some wore rusted chainmail. All wielded a variety of deathly-looking weapons. And often, upon their death, they would morph into some sort of eerie blue Dungeon Spirit that would fly straight after the nearest target, phasing through any wall in its path, and wouldn't stop its attack until it was destroyed, often leaving ectoplasm items as its remains.

There were even skeletons wielding guns – like the Tactical Skeletons with powerful shotguns or the Skeleton Snipers with sniper rifles. The first one they encountered nearly took the Wizard's head off.

And, of course, there were the Skeleton Commandos that wielded explosive Rocket Launchers. When Sid first saw one he killed it savagely with his summons and his new Morning Star whip that an enemy somewhere had dropped. Unfortunately it did not drop its Rocket Launcher. So he kept a sharp eye out, killing every Commando he saw.

William was the one to lead the way – he felt like he remembered the layout of the Dungeon the best. He first led them to the locked Frozen Chest. He pulled his Frozen Key out of his inventory and stuck it into the lock.

Inside was a Staff of the Frost Hydra. A summon weapon.

"It's not a Rocket Launcher, but I'm sure you'll find this cool," William said, handing the frozen weapon to Sid. He swung it, and in front of him a creature, completely made out of ice, was summoned.

It had a long neck with spikes along its back that led to a massive, dragon-like head. It opened its mouth and fired out an ice bolt that sailed across the room and impacted against a Blue Armoured Bones that had just entered the room.

"It is very cool, Will," Sid said, smiling. "Now it's time for the Crimson Chest."

William remembered the way there much better – it had been the room where Robyn had said she had seen the Lunatic Cultist. He hadn't been back in there since she'd first shown him. A part of him was afraid of what they might find there, aside from the Crimson Chest. What if the Cultists were waiting for them there?

Upon entering the large room, Brain of Cthulhu painting on the wall, Crimson Chest at the back of the room, but nothing else being contained within, William allowed himself to breathe. But he was still on edge.

And he was right to be worried – another caster enemy appeared. Not a Necromancer – it was a Diabolist. It wore white robes with red trimming. A fireball appeared in its hands, which it threw forwards.

William jumped to the side, however the fireball impacted against the Clothier and erupted in a fiery explosion.

A fiery explosion, he suddenly realised, that was the same type that had killed the Guide.

He was stunned. Shocked. He couldn't move, only stare as the flames dissipated, leaving James sprawled out on the floor. He heard bones rattling as Sid, Meg and the other citizens quickly took care of the Diabolist, then rushed back to join him.

"James?" Meg asked.

William allowed himself to look at James's label, but was afraid at what it might say. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw he had 189/250 life remaining.

At that same moment, the Clothier gave a cough, and sat up.

"Whew. That was a blast."

"No kidding," Sid said, then stretched out a hand to help him up.

"That fireball," William breathed. "It was the same type as what killed Andrew."

Meg nodded in agreement. "It was. Guess that proves who killed him back then."

William sighed, the memory in his head still rolling around in his head. He wondered what it all meant – the Cultists being behind Andrew's death and summoning the Wall of Flesh, followed by Robyn turning and trying to kill them all right after.

"Will," Sid called. He saw he'd just unlocked and heaved open the Crimson Chest. "There's some Vampire Knives in here. Looks like they might be an upgrade to your Shadowflame ones."

He tossed them to him. Upon comparing the damage of the two weapons, William noticed his Shadowflame Knives actually still dealt more damage than the Vampire Knives. But what made the Vampire Knives special was that they would steal life. If that meant what William thought it meant, they would be far more invaluable than the Shadowflame ones.

"I think we can confirm that the Cultists aren't going to be making any grand appearances today," Meg said. "New enemies are here, but they aren't."

"Let's just keep looking," Sid said. "They may yet show their faces."

They continued to climb up and down through several Dungeon tunnels and chambers, the citizens in tow. William slashed at a group of Blue Armoured Bones with his True Night's Edge, quickly rending the life from them. A few turned into Dungeon Spirits, but his sword made short work of them too. But then a Necromancer and another Diabolist both appeared.

"Watch out!" Meg shouted.

The Cyborg and Pirate both turned their weapons against them. The Cyborg, with his motion-tracking sensors, was able to quickly fire at the casters no matter where they teleported, while the Pirate's eye was so good he didn't need motion-tracking sensors.

Some more Blue Armoured Bones ran into the room, along with a skeleton wearing a white headband and mask, named 'Bone Lee'. It sailed forward in a large jump, its leg outstretched, which planted itself into William's face. He swung his sword, but Bone Lee was too quick. A fireball from the Wizard hit it, but it did little damage.

William began hurling his Vampire Knives at Bone Lee. While the Shadowflame Knives were thrown one at a time, the Vampire Knives were thrown in a spread, and many impacted Bone Lee at once. While they also didn't do much damage, some red beams shot backwards and into William. Looking to his life counter, he could see he was indeed being healed, and before too long all of the damage he had taken from Bone Lee's kick had come back.

Bone Lee made another lunge, but William jumped upwards, spreading his wings.

"William! Lure it towards me!" Meg called.

He landed and sprinted towards Meg. She held out a spell tome and cast a large, cyan sphere. It slowly floated forward, harmlessly past William, but when Bone Lee got too close to it he was immediately zapped by rapid beams of energy from the sphere. It completely stunned Bone Lee's movement and soon brought his life to 0.

The Magnet Sphere. Another magic weapon that Meg had picked up from one of the enemies.

"Thanks for the save," William said.

"Don't mention it."

That was when a flying hammer embedded itself into Meg's face.

If this had been real life she would have died in that instant, but instead she only lost 160 of her life.

William spun around.

An enormous form had stomped into the room. A Paladin, completely covered in gold-trimmed armour. In one hand it held a silver shield with more gold trimming, and in the other it held a hammer like what had just hit Meg. It raised its arm and began throwing more hammers, rapid-fire, that sailed through the air with deadly accuracy.

William tried to fly over them, but he was still hit. He threw his Vampire Knives forward to try to heal up his life. Meg cast a Magnet Sphere in its direction, then ducked behind a pillar and started firing shadowbeams, ricocheting them off a wall to hit the Paladin. The citizens all attacked with everything they had, but some hammers slammed into both the Cyborg and Pirate, knocking them to low life. The Wizard and Witch Doctor grabbed hold of them and pulled them out of sight to safety.

Sid kept his distance from the Paladin, mostly letting his Twins summons and Frost Hydra deal damage at close range, while attacking it from afar with his Megashark. But that was when something more important (to him) caught his eye.

"There's a Skeleton Commando!" he shouted.

He flew towards it, clearly hoping it would drop a Rocket Launcher. Unfortunately, him flying away into the hallway it was in caused his summons to disengage and follow him.

"No! Stay on the Paladin!" William shouted.

He saw James transform into Skeletron and try to block the Paladin's hammers, but the hammers were surprisingly able to knock him backwards, eventually pinning his arms against a wall like a pin holding up a piece of paper.

William kept up his attacks, but two hammers hit him in a row, bringing him to dangerously low life. Even the Vampire Knives wouldn't save him at this level – they only healed so much. But that was when a rocket shot out from a tunnel and slammed into the Paladin, blowing it to pieces.

All that remained was one of its hammers.

William spun around. It was Sid.

"About time I got one of these babies," he said, blowing on the end of it.

***

After some time they decided to return to the surface. A Diabolist on the way up dropped an Inferno Fork for Meg, allowing her to shoot the same exploding fireballs that they did. Though Sid was way more proud of his exploding capabilities, gleefully firing his Rocket Launcher at anything that moved on the way home. Zombies, Possessed Armour, Ice Slimes, then when they passed through the Hallow his attention turned to Pixies, Gastropods, and a luminescent butterfly.

The butterfly would be his undoing when its death caused an aurora of rainbows to appear in front of him.

A yellow-skinned fairy with glowing rainbow wings appeared with a high-pitched shriek.

Upon laying eyes on her, he fainted.