Guardians of Terraria II: The World of Calamity

Episode 20.2 - The Filthy Mind

When William had finished smashing all the life out of the Hive Cyst, it suddenly bulged into a much larger form. Purple and round, with several brown alien-like tentacles rooting into the ground, five dark hollows on its front that may have been eyes, and a bulging mass embedded in its top that was clearly its brain.

The Hive Mind.

At a glance, William began to wonder if they were biting off more than they could chew, as the boss boasted almost 15,000 life. But as he began to swing his Urchin Mace, he did his best to bury his fear and concentrate on the fight. Within less than ten seconds the Hive Mind had already lost 1000 of its life.

"That's a lot of damage!" Sid shouted, armoured in his Wulfrum mech suit.

The Hive Mind seemed to realise this too as it suddenly burrowed into the ground, sending up plumes of dirt and clods of purple grass as it did so. William glanced around just as it emerged next to Sid. Several dark eyeballs burst out from its body and began spinning around it, firing green fireballs at him, while some purple things with brown spines flew towards William.

William flung his mace at the purple things – the Dank Creepers – disintegrating them with his whirlpools before any could even get close. Then he ran for the Hive Mind, his Hermes Boots leaving a white particle trail on the ground, and leapt at it. But just as he got close, the boss burrowed underground again, emerging about 30 blocks to his left.

He ran for it, Sid's two Stormlion summons running by his side while the Fungal Clump flew above his head. William brought his flail back into the Hive Mind's side, soon bringing it below 12,000 life.

That was when it roared. Its rooted tentacles suddenly detached from the ground, and it launched itself into the air. The purple strip running over its brain split open, its brain appearing to have been torn in two.

William leapt for it, double-jumping with his Cloud in a Bottle, but the Hive Mind had already flown out of his reach, towards Sid at a relatively slow speed. He called back his Stormlion and replaced it with two wulfrum droids, but just as the Hive Mind was getting close to him, it suddenly lunged forward at speed. It faded out of existence just as it hit Sid, dealing over 70 damage to him.

William saw it reappear close to him, moving around him in a fast circle before charging straight at him with a roar. He too was hit. He didn't take much damage thanks to his rover drive shield, but still got knocked over by the Hive Mind's bulk.

His face hitting the ground, he suddenly felt like he had the wind knocked out of him. His armour felt cold against his body, the grass feeling like it was going to swallow up.

He craned his head up just in time to see the Hive Mind hovering towards him, its claws and tendrils twitching, its eyes unblinking, staring straight into him.

He somehow found himself unable to move as the Hive Mind's tendrils began to curl around him, lifting him up off the ground. He felt something pierce his head, his vision being forced to stare at one of the dark green eyes on the Hive Mind's side.

Suddenly, those eyes were fading, turning into eyes of bright blue.

"Wake up!"

Eyes. The innocent eyes of a child.

He was assaulted at once by her visage. The biggest grin he'd ever seen, eyes wide with excitement. Freckles across her petite nose. Tight blonde pigtails.

The detail in her face... details he'd never seen in any of his friends... it wasn't made of squares. That caused him to realise one big, groundbreaking thing.

This wasn't Terraria. It wasn't the Lavender biome.

He was seeing real life again.

"Daddy, wake up!"