The Earth Online

23 To Die or To Kill?

“What are you looking at?” Manny’s lackey asked with a pissed off face. Kedrick merely returned the look with his own pissed off face and then rolled his eyes in irritation.

Just as the other man was ready to attack, the other minion—the one who seemed to be way calmer and gentler—clutched unto the pissed-off man’s shoulder to stop him. After the other man just looked at him in exasperation, he just shook his head and spoke to Thaleos’ crew,

“Forgive Igor. We’re all just following Manny here because he has something over us. If we all fail to kill Muson Telk, it’s our families on the line.” The giant man explained as he had this look of despair on his face.

Igor just looked away while trying to hide the dimmer in his eyes. Both men were terrified for their wives and children since Manny somehow scammed them into signing unreasonable contracts—essentially forcing them to become his slaves for an indefinite amount of time.

Thaleos nodded his head in understanding and Haya just sighed in exhaustion, as he was tired of Manny’s exploitative ways.

“But wait, since the game started, contracts don’t mean jack-s**t to anyone anymore, right?” Kedrick asked in curiosity. The two lackeys just looked at each other with somber expressions and the gentler man decided to speak up first,

“I wish it was that simple, Manny has our families locked in the Purple Mansion.” The gentleman spoke in a hushed tone as if fearing Manny overhearing their conversation, even if they were safe inside a vehicle.

They were all in the large navy green jeep and were headed straight to the docks.

“Ulrick’s wife is bedridden which makes escaping harder, even if we were to escape, we doubt that we’ll survive out there without Manny’s protection,” Igor said as his hands tightly clenched on the steering wheel.

Kedrick knew how they were beaten up to submission and manipulated into thinking this way—a tactic his worthless father was familiar with—and decided to let the topic go, for now.

Not fully knowing the story of the two lackeys, the rest of the drive was dominated by an awkward silence.

Once they’ve arrived at the docks, the trio felt like they could finally relax. After looking around the area, they noticed how it was a ghost town.

Wet markets and boisterous sailors were no longer around the area. The only thing left was one abandoned ghost motorboat tied to the docks.

It’s been 2 months since the start of the apocalypse, and the motorboat’s sides had growing algae and rusty screws. Ulfric and Igor immediately got to work and took out some equipment to man the motorboat.

As they climbed up the wobbly motorboat, the trio followed suit while double-checking their weapons. The lackeys brought boxes and boxes of weapons and suits, just to effectively assassinated the CEO.

“It’s weird to see the sea like this. Even if it looks the same, everything just feels different.” Haya uttered in a low voice, making the other five think deeply. Thaleos was the first to respond as he settled in the motorboat’s deck,

“Gods ruling earth and the Apocalypse taking millions of lives were way beyond our imagination, and it’s bewildering how we’re forced to slowly let go of our humanity just to survive.”

Igor and Ulfrick felt those words the most as they kept going through all the bad stuff they did for Manny. They forced themselves to shut off every emotion they had, otherwise, they’d go insane from the guilt.

Soon, the conversation was left to the sounds of the motorboat’s motors and the ocean’s waves. The sun was at its hottest and the group of five just felt the humid air fanning across their faces.

“How far is Telk’s private island?” Kedrick asked as he stared at the clear blue waters.

Igor, who was just checking the motorboat’s ropes and systems, responded gruffly, “About 30 minutes, he prefers his privacy, but he wants to be near the city center just in case he needs extra reinforcements.”

Thaleos remembered reading about the billionaire and his obsessive paranoia, entertainment media even tried painting it in a quaint and quirky picture. Just as Ulfrick was ready to explain their strategy, Haya suddenly bellowed in amazement,

“Jesus, what the heck, those dolphins look like f*****g whales.”

As all five of them looked up, they saw dolphins as big as whales jumping through the crashing waves of the ocean.

“The f**k, that’s hella terrifying!” Kedrick’s jaw slacked as he stared at the large dolphin moving through the ocean at the past pace. They all held their breaths when they saw that it was about to approach them.

They all panicked since their motorboat was only a fourth of the dolphin’s size, they knew that once the dolphin crashes into their tiny boat, then they’d be a goner.

All of them were lowkey panicking and nervous at the sight of danger, so Thaleos hurriedly looked through the motorboat and was desperate to find the toolbox.

Once seeing it, he immediately opened it and hoped that the object he needs was there.

Luckily, it was.

After taking it out, he tied it to one of the ropes nearby and pressed one of its buttons. Once confirming that it was working, he swiftly threw it into the ocean and held unto the other end of the rope.

Within a couple of seconds, the dolphin beast quickly paused and swam away the other direction. Everyone who was holding their breaths could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“That was a close call.” Igor said as he just continued to speed up the motorboat—just to avoid crashing into more sea creatures.

“So, what’s that thing you’re holding?” Ulfrick asked as he stared at the rope that Thaleos was holding. The bearded man quickly looked down on the rope and stated,

“Oh, this is a Dolphin Pinger, similar to a Whale Alarm, it wards off sea creatures using vibrations and sound waves. Most boats and ships have them just in case of emergencies or fishing trips.”

Haya and Kedrick both just nodded their heads in the agreement since they knew how much of an animal-advocate their friend was. Ulfrick and Igor raised their eyebrows in amazement, to which Haya proudly responded with,

“Dude basically watches animal channels for fun. He’s obsessed with everything’s that related to animals.”

The two other men looked at Thaleos in new light, and Igor asked, “What’s your occupation in the game?”

“Oh, I’m a beast tamer.”

“Really? That’s like at the very bottom of the list. Are beast tamers strong?” Igor continued with his tirade of questions.

“Well, I hope so. What about you, guys?” The bearded man said as he pulled the rope back up the shore and sat on one of the motorboat chairs.

“Ah well, I’m a Hunter under the Warriors occupation, and Ulfrick’s an Alpine Hunter under the Archers occupation,” Igor shouted through the noise of the engine.

“Well, I, for one, am a Priest under the Mages occupation, and Haya’s a Berserker under the Warriors occupation.” Kedrick piped in with a proud smile. After finding out each other’s occupations, they’ve finally decided to discuss their strategy.

“So, here’s the info that we have now,” Ulfrick stated while passing some papers and maps around their little entourage.

Once receiving his, Thaleos immediately skimmed through the files and saw Muson Telk’s personal details. It included not only basic information but also data on his player status in the Godly Gambles. He saw the same status details that he first saw in the blue pop up message.

Name: Muson Telk

Race: Human

Age: 49 years old

Job: Illusionist

Level: 3

Attack Points: 105 points

Health Points: 210 points

Stamina Points: 145 points

Magic Points: 245 points

Specialized Skills: None

General Skills: None

HP Armor: 35 points

Attack Weapon: 40 points        

Intelligence Points: 60 points

Current Experience: 245 XP

“Dude doesn’t look that strong based on the player status but having over a hundred guards is a sure ass advantage.” Kedrick muttered under his breath as he skimmed through the next pages of the files.

“Yeah, Manny mentioned how this f*****g billionaire has the strongest guards among the aristocratic bastards.” Igor shouted from the steering wheel.

“Based on the investigation, all his guards are at least level 2 and most of them are under the warrior occupation.” Ulfrick added in. Haya and Kedrick just shook their heads, as they thought that it almost seemed impossible to go through 20 guards, let alone a hundred.

Meanwhile, Thaleos was staring off the ocean after memorizing the papers. He was thinking of a plan that doesn’t involve bulldozing their way through security.

As if understanding what he’s thinking, Kedrick muttered in an exasperated tone, “We need to stealth mode our way through this, I suppose.” To which, the bearded man responded with a smile.

“Yep and the only way we can do that is by causing a big distraction.” After saying the last few words of their sentence, they finally arrived a couple of meters away from the island’s blind spot.

Thaleos decided to quickly mention his plan and proceeded to get his choice of weapon.

“We’re here, get out losers, we’re killing people,” Haya said with a menacingly smile.