Midsummer Feast

Merie sat in her bed and glared angrily at the wall in her room. Silently cursing those idiots in the school she knew trash-talked her behind her back, which she knew because she’d heard the asses talking about her. And if it shouldn’t because she was a kind person, so should she have given them a piece of her mind. Which she was starting to regret.

After fuming for a while before she turned her attention toward her VR-set, knowing the set was a great outlet for her frustration. And even if it turned out she was the only one in the party needing to set out for a hunt, so would she still do it. Even though she would join the others at a large hunt the following day, so wasn’t it soon enough.

Wearing the set, only a helmet, and laid down on the bed. Starting it up, she watched the loading screen where she also could see how many were online. Which seemed to be more than usual, even though it shouldn’t be any events going on. And well in the game, so could she only watch the other players dashing around like aimless bullets, most of them heading toward the shops. None paying her any attention.

Merie opened her menu and entered the party chat, directly seeing a message explaining what was happening. Opiom welcomed everyone to one of the largest cities, not controlled by players, where one BIG bloodbath was in full charge to have some fun.

Merie found it funny a Guild had decided to try taking over the city, and even better was that she was sure the Guild was filled with PKs.

Merie didn’t mind it at all and in seconds decided to join the fighting. And even though she was cheering for the Guild, she wouldn’t join them. Knowing that if she died so would she be reborn in the temple with everyone else. Meaning she would get repeatable executed as every other PKs. And it wasn’t anything she wanted to risk, so she would take part in it and fight against the PKs, and any “potential” PK. Needing to let out some steam, and she frankly didn’t care who she was killing.

After making sure she’d enough potions so did she equip a set of claws, a different set than she used when hunting other players, and set off toward the teleport portals. Smiling for herself the whole way there and as she walked through the teleport. In a flash finding herself at the city square, directly watching an archer losing his head in a dance of shiny particles.

Merie didn’t waste a second before sprinting, watching all the players and trying to figure out who belonged to that Guild. Sure there had to be something all those Guild members had something in common with each other to make sure they didn’t attack each other.

Dodging a sudden sword swing, the attack barely missed as she jumped back. Just landing before she leapt forward, meeting the enemy with a palm strike to his face. First then noticing he only had one piece of armour, a chest piece, and made a spin to get the momentum to increase the damage to his leg.

Merie honestly didn’t know if the other player belonged to that guild, but no matter where he was from so had he attacked her first. Meaning she has the liberty to protect herself.

She watched a white and shiny slash open over his leg, proceeding with the spin for another turn. Taking the opportunity, as he concentrated on his injured leg, to cut him through the neck.

After some more running so did she come to the conclusion there were no indications of who belonged to the guild and who didn’t. Meaning it was a free-for-all and an opportunity she couldn’t waste. If any problem would come out of it, so would she only point out it was impossible to know who was on her side and who wasn’t.

Noticing a female archer taking aim at her and running into action. Not even stopping as an arrow grazed her body, shaving off a slight part of her HP.  But she stopped in her track as another player appeared behind the archer with his huge battle-hammer held high. Bringing it down and crushing the girl.

Even though Merie couldn’t tell who was with her and who was not, so did she know the idiot in front of her. A large warrior in full-body plate armour, and a two-handed battle hammer, one flat and one pointy side. He was a member of her party, and the one who suggested the upcoming hunt, Lart. “Fuck you, asshole.” Merie was annoyed he’d stolen her target, but wouldn’t do anything more than curse him. To which he only answered with a smile before setting off toward the next target, Merie soon doing the same.

“There are rumours a Guild filled with PKs is trying to take over one of the cities, and we’re offering a reward for those fighting the Guild. Other Guilds’ members will be granted points to be used in the “Guild shop”, and independent players will be granted points to use in the premium shop.“

Merie could hear the announcement but didn’t pay it any mind. Having her hands filled with fighting enemies of all kinds. Knights, Stalkers, Mages and Spellcasters. Not to mention a bunch of those deciding to not join a class at all. Rapidly using potions, trying to be more defensive. But it was an impossible task in the mess of a battle.

Even if she dodged one attack, so could there be another one hitting her in the back. But it was also a part of the fun. Exchanging punches and see who would stand the longest. Honestly exciting in another way than to hunt someone down and get away with it. Both making Merie sure she’d done the right decision to continue playing Rocking World.

Merie jumped backwards to avoid a wild axe swing, landing and preparing an attack. Only to get a strange tingling feeling in her leg, falling forward. She’d taken an arrow to her leg, directly figuring out she was done for it. She could see her enemy, a knight, holding his axe above his head, swinging it down. And by pure chance so was she able to roll to the side, soon kicked in the face. Which was followed by the same tingling feeling as earlier, but in her head.

Merie could see herself, out of person, disappearing in a storm of shiny particles. Followed by the message she’d died. Which she followed with a sigh, ready to wait for the minute it took for her to be revived in the temple. But to be honest so couldn’t she say that she was either annoyed or angry about ending like that. Rather so was she satisfied by the challenge it’d offered, and even better was that she hadn’t died while wearing her PK equipment and while using her fake name.

The room where she was revived was huge and filled with other players. Those who had been killed during the combat, just like Merie. Some were also screaming and cursing, guessing some PKs getting their asses handed to them. But they only had themselves to blame for it.

“FIRESTORM!” A whirlwind of fire shot up and was followed by yells. Followed by some more cries, signalling Merie it was time to get out of there. She’d no intention of joining the struggle in the temple, where she wouldn’t be able to get into an honest fight. So rather than act like an ass so was her destination the city. Returning and continuing the fun of slaughtering, surely taking a batch of other players with her as she died the next time.

Before returning to the city so did she gather some new potions, both healing ones and poisonous ones, which would spread a toxic gas if the bottle was thrown. Sure it would benefit her in one way or another. Even if it would turn out she hadn’t killed many PKs, so would she at least know that kind of attack worked well.

Also before she returned to the city, so did she spent a minute writing a brief message in the party chat. Simply expressing Lart being an asshole, and she wished everyone, taking part in the battle, the best luck possible. And it was even though it only had been Opiom writing something in the chat about it. But Merue had seen Lart there, meaning the others also could be there.

If blood had been programmed into the game, so would the ground have been covered in blood. Which Merie could’ve found fun, especially if the blood would’ve been slippery. After dying the second time so had Merie changed to other weapons. A cleaver and a short sword, the short sword was pointer than typical and allowed her better chances of stabbing her enemies. Which she also could do with the claws, but they weren’t as effective as the sword.

She used her cleaver to parry a sword thrust, rapidly answering in the same kin to his face. Giving her a feeling that she did better than the other two times. But she would see if that was right after giving up on the hunt, when she’d the time to check if she gained any more points in the premium shop.

“The attacking guild is messaging they no longer are attacking the city and the players will end their harassment as they get killed. So we, the developers, wish to thank you, the players, for your help. And we wish you a wonderful time in the game until next time.”

Merie took off as the announcement came to an end, sure it would be for the best as she didn’t want to risk getting accused of being a PK. Passing many, still fighting, players as she ran straight toward the teleporters and passed through without a hint of hesitation. Stopping at some distance away from the teleport to make sure she wasn’t in the way, before opening the menu and heading directly to the premium shop.

Just as she’d hoped so had she gained a couple of more points, now enough for her to buy an ability she’d kept her eyes on.

The game made differences between skills and abilities in the manner that skills only could level up by adding skill points the players got as they levelled up. While abilities were more like the level system the players were ruled by. Training and using the abilities would with time level them up.

The ability Merie had been watching was named “Wind of a goddess”, and would increase her agility by a few percent. Which maybe didn’t help her much for the moment, but would help her more as both she and the ability got stronger. Even better was that she was sure it could help her with her hunts from the first second she bought it. Especially since many players seemed to have quite some problems already with how fast she moved.

A signal echoed through her head, a Private message had been sent to her. After buying the ability so did she return to the menu and to the message, apparently from Lart. “Because Striking Kittens decided to attack and everyone seems to be on their edge, so will the planned hunt need to wait for a couple of days. But as soon it’s on the table again, so will I tell you all.” Merie didn’t like it. She’d honestly looked forward to the hunt, but it wasn’t anything to do about it. He did after all have a point. “And just to make it clear, I DID WIN! AND I WANT YOU TO GO HOME WITH YOUR TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS.” She couldn’t help but smile as she continued reading. The following was just like him, and he was an ass who knew no boundaries.

Merie wouldn’t say that he’d won, not even that it’d been a kind of competition. But she still answered his provocation with the poetic answer, “FUCK YOU AND YOUR MOM!”. The same attitude she always had when he acted like that. And the kind of attitude she, him and Anlie always had when they talked with each other.