Wipe after wipe

‘A cow flying a helicopter!’ Miira blurted.

‘You’re supposed to type your answer in, not shout it,’ a stern voice came from another end.

It was Apollo. Their fresh addition to the party, an archer and an old friend of Dave’s. They used to play together a couple of years ago until Apollo's toxic elitist attitude led him to quit. His tainted reputation had spread far and wide, making it ludicrous to see him now enforcing 'Draw me' rules.

The round results appeared on the screen. Everyone had typed in ‘cow flying a helicopter’, which gave exactly zero points. Dave bit his lip as he squinted at the drawing. He totally saw a cow in a helicopter.

‘It was ‘cow inside a carrot’. How does this even look like a helicopter?’ another recent addition, Sanakyu asked, who was the artist behind the creation. He appeared shortly after Dave joined and took the last slot as a DPS. He was a server famous bunny slayer who grew notoriety through his love for carrots.

‘Then why does it have wings?’ Deilo was clearly unconvinced by Sanakyu’s antics.

‘It was a creative choice.’

‘I should’ve known…’ Miira took it seriously. After all, she was in the lead.

They ended the game after a total of eight rounds and, one by one, all of them disconnected, leaving only Dave and Miira in the voice chat.

‘Are you ready for tomorrow?’ she asked.

‘I think so,’ he thought for a second as he picked up a candy wrapper that had been on his desk for hours. ‘Actually, I’m really excited. I might still be wonky on a tank but I think we should be fine.’

‘We have prepared you for weeks and I saw how you improved. You’ve got this.'

He squashed the wrapper into a tiny ball, aiming it for the trashcan. ‘We’ve got this,’ he responded with satisfaction as the ball landed a goal.

She chuckled. ‘I could never have guessed you would become such a team-player, Sei. But this makes me really happy.’

Her emphasis on really made Dave crack a smile which he tried to hold back. Even when teasing, she remained kind, and he found it endearing.

‘Yea…’ he nodded to himself. ‘I will see you at 4 pm tomorrow then?’

‘Until tomorrow,’ she pitched her voice to a comfortable, warm tone.

***

As Friday lectures came to a close, Dave swam through the eddy of students towards the exit. Amidst the crowd, he overheard some coursemates discussing an upcoming group project, while some girls animatedly debated the best crepe place in town. Most of the students were busy with their phones, oblivious to the world around them. However, Dave had something else on his mind today — the latest game update had just dropped.

He boarded a blue bus, numbered 506, stationed in front of the campus. A swift nod and a ticket flash to the driver, as he rushed to settle into his favorite seat at the back. Like this, he could observe everyone yet remained out of sight himself. He would often wonder about the lives of people who entered, and the kind of people they were. Over time, he felt he was a pretty good judge of character. Except for the time when Miira proved him wrong.

‘Thought you were messing with me,’  he thought as he watched a couple of teen girls snicker at something.

And even though he prepared himself for the day when Miira would just change her mind and toss him out of the party, it never happened.

‘Don’t hold back telling me when you need a heal or you’re in deep shit, okay?’ or ‘You know, as someone who just started tanking, you’re doing incredible!’ would be her common lines over the weeks.

When things didn’t work out, Deilo sent the best of memes to break the tension. But that was nothing compared to his steel patience during all the wipes that ensued during training. Gradually, he shelved the idea that he was mere amusement.

And now, as he ran home, a familiar sense of belonging coursed through him. Realizing it made it even sweeter.

He flung the door to his room open, eyes locking onto his PC. The update that he put on in the morning was downloaded and the clock showed 3:46 pm. Just in time for the runs. He settled in his chair, put headphones on, launched the game, and joined the voice chat.

The main city was full of returning players and once again, the game felt alive. There might’ve even been a few familiar names in the crowd from years ago.

Miira seemed overjoyed. ‘Sei! You’re early! We’ve missed-’ 

‘Finally, we can start,’ Apollo interjected.

Dave received a promptly summon from Miira, materializing him at the entrance of the new dungeon — Refinery Palace. Hordes of players teleported in and out. Wipe after wipe.

The endgame dungeons were often similar. Three rooms, three bosses. The first two always served as a mere warm up. The atmosphere could vary between gloomy dark and bright colorful.

Refinery Palace was no stranger to these MMORPG conventions. Although Dave had seen it in a couple of leaked videos, once inside, it hit him differently. A not too grand violin solo met him, which built the tension just enough. The ambience bled darkness and heat as it engulfed him in a volcanic interior. A crumbling bridge in front brought him over the lake of piping hot lava to the first palace gates — made of stone and redundant, meant for the usage of giants than regular players.

As he interacted with them, they lazily budged open, revealing the first arena. The floor gleamed with dark, shiny metal, adorned with red opaque crystals. Lava seeped from the mountainous walls surrounding the area, and chunks of shiny ore jutted out from stone, scattered along the walls. An orange glow engulfed the whole arena where Ogelfor, their first trial, awaited — a faceless giant entity fashioned from surrounding ore. Its limbs radiated red-hot intensity, and in its core nestled a blinding white orb, bubbling with energy. All of that was befitting the first guardian of the palace, an obedient protector.

Now it was time for Dave to truly make his debut as a tank.

‘Alright, is everyone ready? Give me a couple of seconds to get the aggro first. I will enrage and then we’re going all out, okay?’ The well-rehearsed tank tactic, yet reminders were always needed.

Naturally, they wiped a few times. Their gear was barely enough to deal with the new content and each hit hurt a lot more than Dave wished for. But it was all about mastering the key mechanics of the dungeon.

Throughout the battle, three random players received debuffs, causing the boss to extract pieces of himself and hurl them at their targets, scattering remnants across the ground. The debris would try to cause mayhem by releasing projectiles at everyone, and the only way to get rid of them was to use Ogelfor’s main attack. He would target one player and release two consecutive fiery beams coming from his core in the torso.

‘Apollo! Deilo! Group on me!’ Miira exclaimed as the pieces were about to be thrown.

The problem was the two shots. Even if he dodged the first one, he was out of dodges for the second one. But he bit his lip and rushed towards Ogelfor’s scattered debris. The first blast went past Dave, destroying the pieces behind him in shambles. He embraced for the impact of the second hit by a measly attempt to block. Yet to no avail, leading to his unfortunate death and subsequent chaos as rampaging Ogelfor was out for every squishy player on the field, one shotting and tossing them aside. It was a wipe.

‘I’m not sure how to dodge the second blast… I only have one dodge on me,’ Dave sensed the irritation building up.

‘That’s true. But at least you nailed the first blast timing! I completely messed up mine. There’s no way I would get it in first go.’ Sanakyu was in a mood to laugh.

‘Sei, you could try ‘Guardian’s recall’. I think it reduces damage by 50% when blocking,’ Apollo hypothesized with a precision of a surgeon.

‘I will try.’

Little by little, everyone learned the debris placement and blast timing, leading to their eventual victory over Ogelfor.

Dave smirked as he rushed towards the second boss through a gold plated bridge. The metal plated gate opened, and the arena was revealed.

This time it was much grander than Ogelfor’s lair. The room was filled with a light mist in which stars swirled around. The floor resembled a summoning circle made of gold and silver. The walls were much more proper and matched the floor in their precious metal details. And of course, in the middle of it all, the second boss — Eriniel, a man in golden robes, revealing a slither of his chest. His feet didn’t even touch the ground as he floated up, meditating.

Here, the primary challenge was a memory game. Eriniel's rapid illumination of the ground revealed safe and deadly zones. Players had to remember these safe spots to navigate. Additionally, they needed to fend off attacks from Eriniel's minions — assaults that would knock players down unless halted in time.

This boss felt like a breath of fresh air to Dave, with pressure shifted towards the DPS and healer. A couple of wipes, a few grumbles, but victory was theirs.

Finally, through a long, shadowed corridor, they reached the last gate, embellished with an intricate mosaic of something akin to Dante’s inferno. They didn’t even need to be interacted with to open up. It was as if whoever was inside was welcoming them with open arms.

There The Emperor stood proud and patient. Horns — twisted in a dark crown, a trailing ruby cape — clinging to his shoulders, and a golden spear twice his size gripped in hand. His scarlet gaze observed Dave. A sly smile mocked the very idea of him being in the regal presence. Not to mention, The Emperor himself was four times the size of a regular player.

As they engaged him, they didn’t last even for a minute. They wiped the floor harder than they ever had. The voice chat fell silent, and it took a moment until Deilo smacked his lips, released a single ‘Well…’, and teleported to the entrance. The rest followed him.

They kept on trying. And trying. And trying… Alas, none of the attempts brought them past the 90%. As soon as The Emperor begun his first round of the core mechanic, people died left and right. Even if they survived it, Miira didn’t. It’s as if it was a completely different person playing. Dave recalled she had already started behaving rather slow on their last battle with Eriniel. She even muted herself and stopped talking.

‘For fuck’s sake, Miira, get your shit together, not all over the floor. You shouldn’t be dying on this part,’ Apollo raged when she got caught in a combo of normal attacks.

‘This is not helpful,’ emotionless, Deilo said.

‘Her performance is not helpful.’

She remained silent.

Eventually, they took a break. A small snack, bathroom, or whatever… else they needed. Then regroup. But in the end, Miira didn’t come back.