“Are you going to man the wall tonight?” Vector finally spoke.
“Yes. We are gearing up.”
Grabbing my arm above the elbow, Drool hugged it to her chest.
I would be lying if I said my body didn’t react, but my years with Destiny had prepared me for girls like Drool. Let’s say I was preconditioned to respond to her. It wasn’t hard to tell what she wanted and that she was willing to use me to get it.
“Do you mind if we join you?” she asked.
There was no doubt that they had just seen me face off with the hobgoblin, and were following where they thought there would be the most viewers. She couldn’t afford to leave the spotlight. None of them could. Sure I had gained a huge following in the last 24 hours, but it was nowhere near what they probably thought. A couple million people weren’t much in comparison to billions.
There really wasn’t anything wrong with what they were asking. My problem was her. She had made a living out of embarrassing guys, often destroying their careers. She was the Male Fail Videos queen.
“I’m afraid not.”
She immediately pulled me down to look her in the eyes and said in the sweetest voice, “Why?”
Because you will destroy me and lick up the pieces while smiling all the way.
As I hesitated with what to say, Victoria replied, “It’s my fault. My friends want to keep the group small. We are starting a guild soon and you guys will be welcome to join then.”
They were already talking about starting a guild? A guild was an organization of players with a common goal. The ability to start one was a reward for surviving week one.
Drool let go and the tension in my body eased. She looked up at Victoria but was quickly distracted by her outfit.
“Where did you get this?” Drool asked, reaching out for Victoria’s sleeve. With a nod, she lifted and tugged at the material. “I wasn’t able to find anything that fit this well.”
“Oh, I made it.”
Tilting her head, Drool pulled back.
“No, really. Come with us. I was going to set Lucius up anyways. You will probably appreciate crafting more than he will.”
She winked at me, then set off chatting with Drool.
“What just happened?” I said after she had left.
“Girls,” Treetop said as if there was nothing more to say. “She’s cute, though. Have you claimed her?”
We followed behind at a distance.
“I have the word of a giant that she’s taken.”
“Bleh. All the tall girls are taken. Do you think she’s the casual type?”
He was just like St3alth. I didn’t know her well enough to say for sure, but I wasn’t going to encourage him regardless.
“I doubt it.”
“What was your uptake after last night?” Vector asked. By uptake, he meant new followers.
Pulling up my menu I accessed my Player Profile to find the shock of my life. Doing my best to act like nothing was out of the ordinary, I replied. “26 million.”
“Very nice,” Treetop said.
“I was expecting more.” Vector shook his head.
How many followers did he have if 26 million wasn’t enough?
“You had one of the top three moments and there have to be at least a billion people watching. Probably many more times that. There had to be something else going on in Freedom that was getting everyone’s attention last night.”
“My uptake was only 2 million initially, but has grown to 26 since then,” I replied.
“Interesting. So our village probably didn’t have as many viewers’ attention until after Mia’s show. How’s your back by the way?”
“Good. Surprisingly, I’m not even sore. How’s your leg?”
“Oh, just fine. I can’t say the same for not being sore.”
“Drool’s probably to blame for that,” Treetop smirked.
I stopped short. Was he insane? Sure she was as attractive as they come, but didn’t he know who she was?
Vector shrugged.
“What about…” I said, unsure how to word my question.
“Her reputation?” Treetop replied. “Drool’s easy to figure out.”
Sighing, Vector added. “She knows I have a lot of followers so she will leech off me until another guy comes along. I’m not stupid enough to put myself in a situation where she can take advantage of the situation. Besides, we are all newbs right now and there is no advantage to her betraying any of us. Maybe you. If you let her join the group, she’d likely reward you. Be careful, though.”
How could they speak so nonchalantly about a person in their group? Looking ahead, I watched her as she talked with Victoria. My eyes wandered to her bare legs. Lingering too long, I diverted my eyes, terrified what easy prey I would be for her.
We neared the front gate where the majority of merchants parked their carts.
Wink started to snarl.
Nasally grunts joined the clash of steel. Dozens of goblin militia were swarming in from the entrance, attacking players and merchants alike. We were about 100 meters away.
“Well, that’s handy. I’m going to have to get me a pet,” Treetop said.
My initial thought was to form a defensive line with the gamers, but at the first sign of the goblins, Victoria retrieved her spear from her inventory and raced forward. Drool didn’t miss a beat and was right beside her.
Something primal held me where I stood. Without my permission, my body hesitated. A tingle in my back brought the memory of the uncontrollable spasms to the forefront of my mind.
Then I remembered the anger Victoria displayed when she couldn’t do anything to help me. She pounded on Peter’s chest. Now she ran off to face a horde of goblins with a short little gamer chick in tow. I wanted to grab her by the hair, sit her down, and give her a talking to.
I took off after them not sure if Vector and Treetop would follow. If I had been in my right mind I would have tried to group message Peter, Kline, and Oliver, but I was too distracted.
Pulling a leather wrapped, highly weathered shield from my inventory from last night’s loot along with my spear, I saw that the girls were about to be in trouble. There was a group of players protecting a merchant that Victoria was heading for. From my angle further back, I saw a handful of goblins were about to join in and overwhelm them. Victoria would be swept away.
There was no time, this was going to hurt.
Digging deep, I widened my shoulders to let my spear and shield pump as I sprinted forward. They were too close to the action to stop now. There was a gap between the goblins already fighting and their reinforcements. I headed for it.
Shooting past the girls, I was going full speed. I didn’t stop. Reaching the gap I skewered one fighting goblin from the flank, losing my spear, and leveled one of the reinforcements with my shield. Not daring to stop, I ran past them. Hopefully, it would be enough.
I found myself behind the goblin line, surrounded by dozens. Turning frantically, I saw the five goblins had given me chase and were seconds away from overtaking me.
Unsheathing my sword, I gripped the rickety shield I hoped would hold for one more impact.
To my horror, Victoria was giving chase. She impaled one of the goblins from behind.
Drool was at her side, almost losing grip of her sword as it slashed down on the back of the same goblin. She chewed her lip with a wide-eyed glare.
A hatchet swung for my leg. I lowered my shield to block it without thinking. Thankfully the shield held together. I parried a club, with more a swat than a turn of the wrist. The blows came faster. I pumped my arms in desperation, never knowing what angle the strike would come. The shield held.
When Victoria lunged for another goblin, two of them turned on her. It was then that Vector and Treetop caught up.
Were they all crazy? Now we were all in the belly of the beast with me.
With only two goblins left, I threw my shield at the one on my left and slashed down with all my weight at the other.
Its club reached up and met my spear in time, but my blow crumpled it at the knees. With that one on its back, I slashed low, severing the stunned goblin’s ankle. As it fell, I bullied its hatchet from its hand and chopped down at the other one on the ground. It was an awkward left-handed blow, but it sunk into its hip. My blade stabbed into its chest but didn’t pierce more than an inch because of its leather vest.