The wheatstone (3)

After the sudden outbreak of the fight, Laura and Samantha decided to set aside their discussion and to put all of the information they had just received in the back of their minds. Winning the upcoming battle had become the highest priority.

Despite most of their questions had revolved about Moirai and the purpose behind it, they still learned about other players competing with them and that everyone involved was fighting a Moirai. What they had considered being a simple fight for enslaving an NPC had turned into a direct contest between the players without any knowing it.

Due to their long friendship, no communication was needed and they started to attack the new threat. Although Samantha's initial plan of catching him off-guard had failed, it did not cause her to have any regrets.

A direct hit with or without clothing in between would prove fatal for her. Passing out on such a great chance just because of a clothing article was not something Samantha would do. Besides, the issue would not have any negative impact on her ability to wield magic at all.

Without missing a beat the fighting had intensified once more, although Laura and Samantha were already exhausted from the previous encounter. They could not afford to try to buy time against an enemy like Moirai, that is why they throw caution in the end and gave it their all from the minute the fight had started.

Yet all of their efforts were easily nullified by the positioning and movement of their enemy. While the previous Moirai, was hell-bent on killing them, this version seemed to be more interested then toying with his enemy.

He was evading their attacks with ease and a big grin plastered on his face but acted as if he stood no chance and was suffering hellish pain being hit by spells which clearly passed him. The more than obvious fake cries of pain did not leave the attackers unaffected.

Far from it, their current mood could only be described as visibly not amused. They were livid about the blatant disrespect that was shown in front of them. While they were clearly not as hot-headed as their counterparts even they had a limit which had clearly been crossed.

Being aware of the taunts and the goal behind them was not enough to keep them from being unaffected. Feelings of anger kept rising up within them and only by barely suppressing them could they prevent themselves from committing serious mistakes.

Their opponent on the other hand apparently had the time of his life. There was no indication of him trying all too hard to avoid everything. He did not even attack them. yet they struggled already. It was clear that the Moirai was just toying with them.

Any hope for a miracle had been extinguished after getting treated like that. It was enough to quell their anger but a feeling of defeat had begun to arise in their mind as well. With their thoughts interfering in their focus their odds of success had sunk even lower.

But Moirai did not capitalize on their current predicament instead he just continued to dodge every attack thrown at him. His pained cries and moans were still giving up by him, much to the chagrin of the 2 players.

They wanted to win at all cost, but everything they did was useless and in return, they were only made fun of. All of a sudden Samantha stopped her magic in its entirety and walked over to the cloth she had taken off earlier. Without saying another word she put it back on and just calmly looked at her enemy, which stared right back at her.

" A fight like this has no meaning to it. You could have finished this fight ages ago, but you are clearly not interested in actually winning. So what is your true intention?"

It was only now, that Laura had stopped conjuring spells as he wondered what had brought the chance in Samanthas behaviour? But why did the enemy refuse to treat them seriously, what was it trying to achieve?

" Why did you suddenly stop, you were so close to hitting me."

Neither Laura nor Samantha bought these words and the reply came quick.

" You jest, there was nothing we could have done." these words were spoken without any hesitation, but Samantha had admitted defeat for the first time in her life. Somehow although it was painful, it did not hurt her as much as she had imagined such a setback in her still young life.

" While conceding this fight is truly admirable, it is not enough to pass this test. What would you say if I told you, that I was mesmerized by the beauty in front of my eyes."

" I would not remotely be able to believe you. The both of us could have been in the nude right in front of you and nothing would have changed." Samantha chuckled softly after those words hat been spoken and murmured something intelligible before she returned to her usual countenance.

" I commend you for your insight but all of this is still not enough to pass." Moirai's face had lost all playfulness as everything about him turned sombre.

" You will not be able to advance to the next stage unless you find the method to pass me."

But as soon as those words had been spoken he returned to his playful persona and began to taunt them anew.

In the meantime, each player who had reached the second stage saw themselves confronted with a similar problem and no one had managed to pass it. Although the exact details might differ, the core problem remained the same.

Each of them was confronted with an enemy they could not beat and that was vastly superior to them. Each of them had tried to battle their enemy, who just ignored them and refrained from attacking them back.

Spectating all of this the expectations of the Observer had been lowered once more. Not only did they lack the necessary strength they were also missing the ability to think. There was a multitude of different ways this hurdle could be passed and yet all they could do was throwing their strongest magic at them hoping for the best?

The NPC had even dropped some hints on how to solve their predicament yet they can not even listen. All these players could do was rely on their strength to force their way upon others. It would require a lot of work to get rid of these flaws.

For the time being, it would still refrain from interfering in this matter but if more and more players would be stuck at the second stage it would have to employ serious measures. Following yet another even more stupid attempt caused the Observer to cut the waiting period short. Knowing him he would probably do not demand anything in return for being given such an oppurturnity.

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The existence of Moirai was nothing more than an open secret and once the famous reporter of Primal Survival "CallmeDaddy" had caught wind of the news he did not waste any time and moved to the location where Moirai had been spotted.

After his interview with the leading developer of Primal Survival, the name CallmeDaddy became a publicly known brand. He and his team kept in touch with several sources to present the public with the latest development in their world.

CallmeDaddy would have never imagined he would rise to fame through this level of work. His family had chastised him at the beginning for the line of work, but the voices of criticism suddenly went silent upon the newfound fame of the Daddy family.

All of this had started by the first video he made about the NPC named Moirai and right now he was on the way to present the news about him once again.

After arriving near the area which his source has sighted Moirai with his team he was surprised to see numerous players in the close vicinity. Had his source not said, that it did not share the news with anyone else? If so, why were so many players present, until now he always could put his trust into the people who share the intel with him.

Upon his arrival, these players saw him and began to run over to him and loudly scream his player name over and over again. It was a normal sight for him, though the timing was not exactly in his favour. Being surrounded by players interfering in his videos was something he tried to avoid at all cost.

Although he could forget about producing his news at this location, he decided to send out his team to ask about Moira and where they had received the information from. After spending the next time talking to his fans, he began to excuse himself and talked with his team about all the information they had gathered.

The results were sadly far beyond his worst imagination, all players they had asked about this matter confirmed that they had known about Moirai. Each of them claimed to only have shared this knowledge with their most trusted friends.

The definition of most trusted friends was quite broad, that much was obvious looking at the surroundings full to the brim with players. The secretive news had turned out to be not so secretive anymore.

With his big scoop gone, CallMeDaddy felt disappointed about the wasted oppurturnity. He wondered what he should broadcast now since this oppurturnity was not nearly as lucrative as he had imagined it to be.

Should he grit his teeth and still share the news with the public risking, that the knowledge had already spread? It had been quite some time since his last broadcast and losing the public interest of the public was not something he could afford either.

This decision would have a major impact on his future and this was something he could not avoid. He pondered about which option he should choose by weighing the pros and cons each of them had.

But before he could have made that choice he spotted a peculiar sight in the distance. There was a big mass of something coming closer and closer to their location at a great speed. Was it a horde of monsters, that decided to engage the present players here?

But from them came a weird sound, which was repeated over and over again. The closer the horde came the more menacingly the sound appeared to be. The monsters were running on two legs and starting to move faster and faster after seeing the players.

CallMeDaddy was preparing to broadcast this event as his team madly prepared for the video. But the moment he was about to start the broadcast the realisation struck him. What came running towards the huge group of players was not a horde of monsters.

It was a huge crowd of Moirais and they were fanatically screaming his name over and over again. At this exact moment, CallMeDaddy began to regret treating this career path. Like a swarm of locusts, the horde of players arrived at the scene and began to ask each player whether they are CallmeDaddy and upon saying no each of them was brutally killed. It was an eerie spectacle.

In the blink of an eye, the entirety of those players had been decimated and they arrived right in front of him. " Are you CallmeDaddy?", those words hollered in his mind and all he could do was give a meek reply as a soft yes parted of his lips he expected nothing more than to appear in the closest spawn point.

But instead, he was lifted by the horde of Moirais and carried away like a trophy. Dumbfounded, he opened his eyes wide and wondered what exactly was happening to him. Even his team was transported with him as the horde of players continued to chant his name over and over again.

This time around the horde of Moirais was running into the direction where they had come from carrying the truly stumped players into the unknown. Not one of them was aware of what was going to happen to them as each and every one of them began to imagine what they would do to them.

Nobody from them could have expected what was going to happen. It will be something they will never be able to forget.