Episode 18 of Kill the Dragon, Michael Deering's December 2016 Minecraft Hardcore Challenge, picks up underground. Basket is still caving for diamonds, XP and whatever else turns up. "So I'm trying to get XP, diamonds, and then, you know, iron can't hurt."
A lava lake in the wrong spot
The tunnel opens onto lava, and a lot more of it than Basket expected. "Why is the lava so high? What am I, in the Nether?" Basket goes to look anyway. "Okay, let's check out this lava lake that's in the wrong spot. Any diamonds? I guess I do have a water bucket." Water goes down at the edge, and the digging moves underneath the lava pockets instead of through them. Redstone comes out of the walls along the way. "So we have 14 diamonds right now."
Armor for the dragon
While mining, Basket thinks out loud about what the diamonds are for. Good armor comes first, and above all good boots. "So the feather falling is the important part, the most important part of my armor probably." Regular Protection seems more useful against the dragon than Blast Protection. There's also the bigger question of speed against safety. "It's hard to weigh, like, trying to be fast about it versus trying to increase your chances of surviving." What's still missing is ender pearls. It rained the day before, so tonight might be clear enough to hunt for them. "Seems like a productive thing to do."
Back to the village
One more cave turns up first. "I don't like that cave. It's kinda messy." Basket heads back to the base, but it's already getting dark. Iron goes into the furnace and the haul gets sorted into the big chest. Then it's out into the village at night. "Not raining, awesome." Zombies are out, and one walks right through the wheat farm. "When I come back I'll check on the villagers, see if they decide to breed."
The hilltop shelter
Instead of fighting in town, Basket sprints for higher ground, away from the mobs in the dark. "Let's try and get up to our safer spot up on top of this hill." It's a low cobblestone roof on a pillar, and Basket waits under it with the Looting III sword out, staring down endermen to make them come over. "Hopefully they'll aggro." One finally comes in close. "This is my looting sword, right? Yep. All right, we got an ender pearl from that." Zombies keep drifting in too, and at one point Basket pulls out the bow. "I've got two creepers on the way, I might just shoot them. It's using up my arrows, but I have quite a few arrows, actually."
Nine pearls by morning
The pearls add up. "We just got five so far tonight, which is pretty sweet." Then: "Looting three is super sweet. Alright, we have nine now. And that's just what I have on me." More could be waiting back in the chest. The sun comes up, the mobs that are still out catch fire, and Basket checks that the field is clear. The episode ends with Basket alive in the grass at sunrise, in iron armor with sword and shield. "We'll go back to base next episode and we'll find out how many we have, and then plan our mission." The end card follows, with no gameplay after it.
