Midsummer Feast

“HE IS SUMMONING MINIONS! HANDLE THEM!” Anlie screamed out orders to Merie as the fight with the Goblin-leader continued. And Merie wasn’t late with following the order, as she’d decided to continue the fight as Anlie remained there. Not ready to abandon her friend, at least not as long as Anlie was alive.

The Goblins appeared out of nothing, directly aiming at the enemy party. But it didn’t matter. Merie leaped forward and slashed wildly around her, thinning them out as she’d thinned out the original goblins in the cave. Scoping out their chests, and every other part she could reach, as she thought about how glad she was that they were easy to kill. Cracking a goblin’s head with her knee, pushing another down and stomping its head. Getting a feeling that she probably could kill goblins the whole day. “WHEN YOU’RE DONE, STABB THIS FUCKER IN THE BACK!” Lart didn’t have to say it. Merie would’ve done that as soon as she killed the summoned goblins.

The fight had calmed down slightly, even though the large goblin summoned minions from time to time. But the calm came from the thin fact that Opiom had fled, after suggesting it, meaning fewer things were flying through the air. And even though she’d tried to help, so had her spells hit Anlie in the back of the head a couple of times. And considering that, so could it maybe be a good thing she left.

Jumping backward, turning in the air, and leaping toward the leader. She felt she’d the situation under control and could give the others a helping hand, but it would only be momentary as she would need to handle the remaining goblins too. Jumping at the Goblin-leader’s back, as it was turned to her, and hooked her claws into the flesh. Thrown off as it trashed, turning in the air and landing on her feet, facing it, and leaping toward it again. She was once again getting its unshared attention, watching it raise its large club to crush her.

Merie nimbly dodged the attack, aiming an attack at the arm, scratching it. Passing it, avoiding incomings attacks from the regular goblins, passing them with light steps. Turning just in time to see Lart slashing the large goblin’s shoulders. A great hit, but he was still not doing any good damage. Merie pushed toward the leader again, once again passing the goblins without paying them any attention. Knowing that she needed to gain the large goblin’s attention again so the other two could handle the rest.

She was glad that they’d decided to raid the cave while Merie was at Anlie’s place, as it was taking far longer to complete than Merie had thought. But she suspected that she finally could see the light at the end of the tunnel, hoping it wasn’t a fucking train. “I THINK HE’LL BE DONE AFTER THR NEXT BEATING!” Anlie better be right. They’d been fighting the damn thing so long that it wasn’t fun anymore. But looking at the wounds, so was she probably right, as long the developers hadn’t prepared an unpleasant surprise for them, or any other player who would’ve happened to stumble upon it. “WHO’LL STEAL THE LAST OF ITS HP?” Lart yelled with a prideful undertone, most certainly sure that he would be the one. Which wouldn’t be the slightest surprising as he did the most damage out of them.

Running into action, knowing well that she wouldn’t be the one killing it. But even though that so could she still make sure to fulfill her task to distract the fucker.”WHOEVER KILLS IT, KILLS IT!” She was satisfied with the role she’d this far, killing the minions, and that she’d been able to handle it without any hiccups. Ducking the club, swung sideway, but was surprised when the goblin tackled her. Sending her flying backward, draining most of her health, before she landed. “BE CAREFUL, DEAR! HE ISN’T AFRAID OF MOLESTING YOU!” Couldn’t she have used a better word than that? Even though she didn’t mean it, so did she make it sound much worse than it was.

Before Merie could answer, she noticed Lart swinging both of his axes down and into the head of the Goblin-leader. Almost cleaving it in half, spurting out light particles everywhere. “TEN POINTS FOR THE IDIOT OVER THERE!” Anlie seemed just as glad as Merie that the fight was over. Even if the monster hadn’t exploded in a shower of particles yet so was there no way it could’ve survived a hit like that. At least as long as it was like all the other monsters and players. “AND WE’VE A WINNER! ME!” Lart was a little too full of himself. Sure, he’d some rights to be slightly full of himself, but there were limits to it.

The Goblin-leader was finally turning into light particles, in a slight explosion, and Merie got a signal she’d levelled up. “Did everyone gain a level or two?” There were no differences in the tone if the player gained one or multiple levels, so none of them would know until they checked. Which Lart wasn’t late to do, “I gained one level, and I got a placeholder. Did you also get something?” Merie was surprised he’d gotten something, she hadn’t thought anyone would get anything from the Goblin-leader. But since he’d got loot, so did Merie check her inventory, noticing that she also got something, only named placeholder. “Do you think it’s something for the update?” It was probably a dumb question, but at the same time so could there maybe be a risk it was for a later update? “I hope it’s for this update, otherwise so might we’ve done something we weren’t supposed to do.” Anlie expressed it as if it would be bad, but no matter what, so did she think they’d done an excellent job doing it. “If we got something that won’t be implied for a while, so is it just to wait and hope that we’re still playing when it gets to it.” Lart was right on that point that it wouldn’t be much else to do about it. But Merie couldn’t deny that it would suck if it turned out they would need to wait a month, or more, before they could find out what they got.

After discussing what they could’ve done better and what they might need to think about if they would need to do the same again, and a horribly annoying message from Opiom where she thanked them for the placeholder, so did they decide to leave the cave before anything else came up. “I’ll leave as soon we set our feet outside the cave.” Lart was still doing something in his menu while they walked, speaking up in a frank tone. “You know, I’ve important things to do in the real world.” “I see. Then you do you, and take care of what you need to take care of.” Merie knew she couldn’t know what he was supposed to do, but she was sure that it’s something to do with his daughter. And it was, honestly, far more important than spending time with the others in the party. “If it’s about your little girl, so do you better say hi to her from us, Lart.” So Anlie was also knowing about the daughter?

There had been none monsters at all as they left the cave, saying bye to Lart as soon they reached the exit. “Since you’re stuck with me in the real world, what would you say about spending some time here for a date, dear?” Did Anlie honestly think about going on a date in Rocking World after complaining about that they talked about games too often when they were meeting up? “Are you sure you’re fine with that, Anlie?” Merie hadn’t taken Anlie seriously when she spoke about dating the previous evening, and was honestly hesitating to take her seriously even now. But it wasn’t as if she would reject her if Anlie honestly wanted to spend some time together in the game. Or even the real world. “I’m sure about it. Especially since we already are here and don’t have anything to do for the moment.” If Anlie said so, so why not?

On Merie’s suggestion, so did they head to the spot where she’d met Pois. Still thinking of it as the most beautiful area in the game. The waterfalls fit perfectly in the open space, and the wood was nicely separated from the rest. “It was here I met that NPC who taught me Potion-craft. But it’s even calmer here now as she’s gone.” Merie didn’t have any thoughts about what they should be doing there, but it wasn’t as if they could do anything special in the world. Compared with other games, so hadn’t the players given much thought to creating places where others could date. But of course so hadn’t the developers created something like that either. “It’s still a nice spot you’ve found, Dear. And I can think of it as perfect for an outing, even though it would’ve been more beautiful during a full moon.” Anlie was right that it was perfect for an outing and maybe that it could look more beautiful in the light of a full moon. “Not to mention that it could’ve been a gorgeous place if we would be able to get physically closer in the game.” She just had to taint the conversation with something like that, didn’t she? “Maybe we should come here one night, maybe during a sleepover, and see how charming it can be.” Merie ignored the latter comment, trying to turn the conversation in the same direction again.

They were sitting under the bare sky and talking about everything between heaven and hell, both enjoying the time. “Come to think of it, Dear. If we, in the party, should reach as far as we can turn into a Guild, so am I curious if you should wish us to settle a base in an area like this?” Why was Anlie even asking her that? It should be a question she asked the whole group, or otherwise decide herself. “It depends on, Anlie. We maybe find a better place before that. And it should also depend on what we need to be safe.” Merie was sure there were better places than this, and she knew that they would need to think about strategic benefits too. So it shouldn’t be anything they should decide upon right now, especially considering the fact that they might get other people joining them. “Are you thinking about finding more players who might want to join us?” Maybe it was the thing they should think about first? They might’ve an increased chance of becoming a Guild if there were more of them. “It isn’t as if I actively search for more members to join us. I’ll just wait and see who turns up, like Adu, and then check if they might be the right kind of people to become one in the group.” Anlie probably meant the right people as people who didn’t mind a hunt now and then. Or players who didn’t care if the others went out for a hunt. “By the way, speaking about nothing. What would you say about staying at my place for the night and spending more of the night hunting under the moonlight, Dear?” If that was what Anlie wanted, so was Merie willing to go along with the idea? Not to mention that it was quite some time since she last had pulled an all-night, and since it was a weekend, so wasn’t it as if she’d something planned for the following day. “Sure. But I’ll need to make sure that it doesn’t create any problem for my parents.” Merie didn’t think there would be any problem, but she still had to make sure it wasn’t.