Midsummer Feast

Lart had finally picked a new date for hunting, which turned out to be a gorgeous day for just that. The sun shined, the birds sang and the wind gently caressed everything in its path. Still, at the same time, so had he picked a bad day for it. Not because of the day itself, but because it turned out to be a day when the assholes, Marcus and Cleara, could join.

They’d decided to gather in a one-way cave, maybe a dumb idea since they couldn’t escape, but at the same time, couldn’t anyone sneak up at them. Merie had already reached the cave. Her black, hooded, armour and the white mask was easy to identify. But so were the three keeping her company.

A Mage dressed in purely white clothes and had a white mask, crying blood. The player was Opiom, who also went by the fake name Snow.

The second in the company was a female knight, wearing a too large armour, too wide and round like a boulder, with a short sword and shield. That player was Anlie, who went by the fake name boulder.

The last one was one large and muscular man, dressed in only underwear and a bucket, over his head, who also was carrying two large battle axes. This player was Lart and went by the fake name Smash, which didn’t fit since he only was chopping his enemies up and not crushing them.

“They should be here by now, Girls…” “So what do you say about we’re setting out without them and creating a chaos the world has never seen.” Opiom was also included Lart, but was still expressing it like that. Just the way she used to do. “I’m not a girl, Snow. But I think we should go through with your suggestion if they don’t arrive in the next five minutes.” And Lart had always answered it in the same way, and had always been too kind for his own best. “I didn’t hear the latter part because of the bucket, so what did we say? Shall we go out and have some fun?”Merie had simply decided not to listen to the second part, sure they would’ve tons of more fun without those two.

“Sadly so can’t we do that. I’m sure we wouldn’t have enjoyed others doing that against us. Right?” Anlie wasn’t wrong, but she missed the part where the two others were trying to order them around, which was something that always failed. Just like they failed to not be angry afterward. “Either way, Gust. Have you found out something about the skill allowing you to create bombs?” Opiom hadn’t forgotten her and Merie’s talk about it, but unfortunately, so could Merie only shake her head in response, “I haven’t found out anything about that. But I did get some information about an ability that allows you to create status-potions.” She’d tried to find out as much information as possible about it since she first heard it from Fiy. And as luck would have it, so had she found out in which area the NPC was, but not how she would get the ability from it.

“That sounds fun. But does that mean you can blind the targets so I can run over them?” Anlie’s face couldn’t be seen because of her armour, but the tone revealed joy in her question. “I might be able to do that when I get the ability, but I don’t have it yet and am researching how to get it.” “BORIIIIING~” Opiom franticly followed Merie’s answer with her opinion about it. “It’s far more fun with bombs. Just think of how many you can blow up and how far down their throats you can shove the bombs.” Opiom sounded straight of dangerous with her ideas, but still, it sounded fun if it should be possible to shove bombs down someone’s throat.

“If you want me to stay for the whole hunt, so might we need to get going soon.” Opiom broke up their chitchat, but she was right. Not to mention the five minutes Part offered them had passed some time ago. “Shall we, Mien Skitie, get our asses in gear and flatten out some players?!” Anlie’s question was rapidly followed by loud agreements. Not even Lart would consider waiting for them any longer. They’d got their chance and failed it, so they were all on their own now.

The group left the cave and set out to find some targets, with Merie leading them as she was the only one of them who’d Senses, being able to listen if there were any players nearby. Firstly sure she heard others when they were in the deeper parts of the forest, telling the others to keep it low as they’d to check if the players were fitting targets. Who couldn’t be too strong for them to be sure of a victory.

Merie couldn’t deny they might be seen as cowards, but she didn’t mind if they were seen as cowards. They were PKing for the fun out of it, and they wished to continue doing it without risking getting caught.

As she scouted out the targets so did she grow confident the targets were weak enough, primarily by judging them by their equipment. “I can’t hear any others than those eight, so I think we’re in the clear.” It would have been too many players for Merie to handle herself, but now so was there four of them and they wouldn’t have problems. “Is a blizzard enough for us to get started, Girls?” Opiom wasn’t wrong that spell would be enough to start it, answering with a stern nodd. Prepared to launch at them as soon it was time. “Go ahead, Snow. I’ll go in swinging and catch the fleeing ones.” Lart held his battle-axes toward the ground, talking joyfully to them without even facing them.

The calm and crisper forest air disappeared in an instant, snowflakes taking over the area. Startling the targets, the next second noticing a player in black running toward them. Rapidly followed by a large ball, soon overtaking the black dressed one, and an almost nude man with a large battle in each hand and a bucket over his head.

Merie could hear a shout from someone in the group as the ball, Anlie, ran into them. Throwing a bunch of them to the sides, resulting in Merie changing direction. Barely letting a Thief get up at his feet before slashing his face open, from his jaw and across his face to the ear. Shiny particles danced around her face. A knight, landing a bit further away got up at his feet and unsheathed his sword, soon widening his eyes as Lart threw himself at him. Pushing him to the ground before letting his battle-axes fall and chop the knight in three.

Another knight, who also had been flying, rushed toward them with his sword held high, only to be hit in the face by a flying piece of ice. Opiom had held their backs, even though she was at a distance. But with that clear so did Merie turn her attention toward the other prey nearby, “MAKE IT COUNT, SMASH!” The shout had no other purpose than to make sure the players knew which group they were in. Sure, they wished to keep a low profile, but at the same time so did they want some fame for what they were doing. Just to make sure that other PKs knew their name. In case they would join forces sometime in the future.

“MAKE THEM DANCE, GUST!” Even Anlie was along with the idea since long. Or rather, so had it been her idea from the beginning, as she was part of another PK-party in the beginning. But it’d only been until she invited Merie to join the game.

“RUN THEM OVER, OR CUT THEM UP, BOULDER!” Out of everyone in the party, so did Merie liked Anlie the best, which also went in the real world. She liked Anlie better than anyone she knew.

Pieces of ice flew frequently, and the swings came wildly, followed by cries and curses. Merie and the others were dominating the battle without even going out seriously.

Merie was still keeping Sense active and because of that picked up the sound of an approaching group. “IT’S TIME TO HEAD HOME!” Sure the arriving party was terrible news. It had been a while since they killed the first players, so there was a risk they’d asked for help, which might be what was coming now. And without missing a beat so did the group splintered and fled in their own direction, so they could swap their equipment and then meet up in another city to check that everyone was fine.

Merie followed the other and set off, slashing one across the neck as she passed. Annoyed that danger had arrived so fast, but at the same time, glad for the fun they had. Which was something they honestly should do more often and probably would’ve done if it wasn’t for the hatred for them and every other PK.

It was good for her that she knew the areas they used for hunting by heart. As she soon could hear a couple of players picking up a chase. Considering how fast they ran, so were they probably thieves or hunters. Worse was that they slowly decreased the distance between them. But she could say for sure they wouldn’t be able to lay their hands on her as she could see a cliff a distance forward. “YOU’VE NOWHERE TO RUN, ASSHOLE!” One of the players was right, but it wasn’t as if she would run either.

Merie could hear them breathe down her neck as the ground disappeared beneath her feet. Jumping off the cliff and feeling the air swiveling around her as she did. Something she never, in her life, would’ve done real life. But she’d done it many times in the game after considering the many opportunities it opened.

A scream could be heard through the loud winds, and she guessed one of the players hadn’t stopped. Now falling toward his or her death, as Merie had done many times herself. And just like him, so could she see the ground getting closer by the second, still she wasn’t worried. She’s been training for this more times than she could count. Slightly affecting her direction, aiming for a tree. Close enough so did she grab a branch. It felt as if the arms got longer for a second as the familiar feeling shot through her body, seeing most of her health vanish in a heartbeat.

This kind of action had killed her more than she could care to count, but she hadn’t given up. And as time passed so did it seem as if she could handle that kind of damage better, which seemed to be the case for many when she searched for information about it at a forum. Suggestions soared from that the system was taking pity on players, to that there were some abilities they couldn’t see, which made them able to handle more. But in either case, so did Merie only care about the opportunities she got from it.

She spent only a second at checking her health, after landing, before she sprint of again. She couldn’t hear footsteps behind her, so the other player had probably landed hard and was gone.

After running for a while so did Merie feel safe enough to swap her equipment and to her normal name.

Names weren’t shown in the game to give it a more realistic feeling. But because some players wished to play detectives, so was it added as an ability so they more easily could identify and expose those breaking the rules created by players. This ability goes as far so it also can show guild names.

Merie both liked and hated that ability, but in different from the crybaby-players, so wouldn’t she complain about it since it was how the developers had created the game. And if that was how they wanted it, so did they’ve all right in the world to have it so.