Hero's Bane

Chapter 56: Put Your Best Foot Forward

Steve glanced at his blade once more and nodded as he looked back at the immortal. "Okay. This isn't going to be easy, but I can try." He said with a hint of doubt in his tone of voice. It was hard enough to dodge fast flaming spheres flying at him, it would be even harder to slay the mob with a dull blade that was more of an accessory of luck than a weapon; but now he really didn't have a choice.

"Fight as if your life depends on it, face your punishment accordingly and prove to me that you can atone for your lie, to amend that gap in my trust that you just put in it." The White-Eyed man narrowed his eyes as the miner looked back at him again with a innocent expression.

"But I had no choice to come out here, that mob-" He started.

"No excuse. I told you it was unwise to leave the main floor but you did not listen. You brought this upon yourself." Herobrine interrupted with a scowl. He didn't actually expect the miner to go back on his word after all the man done to prove that he was trustworthy, it would have been a sad excuse to slay the miner here and now. "It's time to focus on your target and so face your punishment. Defeat the Blaze."

"I will!" Steve shouted back with more conviction from the being's words, somewhat mad that Herobrine wouldn't even give him the chance to explain that he had no choice in the matter to leap from a hole in the building and land painfully with the blazing creature in pursuit of him. He could have just stayed in that hallway and burned to death. Steve tightened his grasp around his weapon with both hands and held firm despite his growing exhaustion. Herobrine was mad at him for leaving the fortress though it wasn't his fault, but he still had to redeem himself for inadvertently puncturing a hole in powerful man's trust.

"Good." Herobrine lowered his head. He disappeared from his spot and reappeared on the other side of the mob; blocking an entrance to the fortress, this made it head back in Steve's direction with fright of the White-Eyed being.

Steve gulped silently as the mob made it's heavy metallic wheeze and focused in on him and only him once it started back towards him on the bridge, it glared at him with it's unnatural dark colored orbs for eyes. The fire rods spinning around it spun more faster and it immediately slung a glop of bright flames towards the human.

Steve quickly dove to the side and rolled a block away, hearing the clanging sounds getting near; he pushed himself up onto his feet and waited for the next fireball. He held the heavy stone weapon firmly and lifted it to the fire mob now hovering even closer in his direction, the blade was heavier than he remembered; but then again he wasn't used to carrying a weapon since it had been a while now that he wielded it and he was in an environment that just seemed to sap the life and energy right out of him. He could feel the tattered leather covered handle in his hand shift uncomfortably by the weight of the weapon and tear just a little. It didn't help that the slight moisture building up between his fingers was making it harder to keep a solid grip, the sword was really old and barely in one piece.

Steve steadied his breath and waited patiently. The Blaze heading towards him made a deep winded noise, the same kind that the man remembered when it first attacked him. He watched as the mob's flaming rods pick up in speed and glow brighter as they spun around the eyed ball of fire, it looked like it had gone fully hostile; completely ignoring the fact that Herobrine was just behind it. 'So it fears Herobrine and won't attack him, but it becomes immediately hostile when the greater threat is no longer around it or in sight?' Steve thought to himself as he observed. Watching the fear instilled fire beast suddenly become aggressive without Herobrine's presence was interesting to say the least, but Steve had to keep his focus on the fight and not on something like observations.

A fireball suddenly shot at the miner and he sidestepped it, just enough to avoid it though he could feel the heat grazing a past his side. He was surprised his shirt hadn't caught aflame or he would burning alive, stopping to drop and roll to extinguish the fire would have opened up a big opportunity for the blaze to pelt him with more of it's biting flames so he was lucky so far. He wasn't quite sure of what to do now but avoid the flying fire, he knew he had to use his sword considering it was his only weapon to kill it but still; the closer the mob got, the harder it was to evade all of the fire flying at him and it made the idea of running at it to be a reckless one. Sadly, he didn't have a bow nor a choice. He only had a few steps to step back but he couldn't risk stepping off the edge of the broken bridge so the only thing he could do was move forward and closer to the monster to just strike it and hope that he can dodge it's attacks.