The Earth Online

65 Oath of the Sword Masters

“Nala, it’s great to see everyone here! I am so glad everyone made it.” Nala gave the beast tamer a large smile as she was happy that her team was surviving, even thriving in the second world.

Suddenly, without any warning, Thaleos was locked up in the embrace of multiple arms. He saw Haya, Kedrick, and Ygritte attempting to sushi hug him in pure happiness.

“Thaleos, man, you f*****g made it!” Kedrick shouted in excitement while the berserker and druid were hollering in joy at the sight of their friend. Although it’s only been a couple of hours, they were extremely worried about the beast tamer's state.

To keep their minds off their friend’s state, they decided to kill as many beasts as they could. This has proven to be quite fruitful for them as they managed to sell some of the mined items to the Professional Collectors guild and some of the Lagash Interpoint stores.

They came back with thousands of shekels and were happy to know that they could purchase more high-level potions and scrolls.

“It’s only been a day.” The beast tamer said while rolling his eyes, but they all knew that the gesture touched the bearded man. They knew that the man could give the most comforting talks but had trouble accepting some on his own.

“Dude, still, though. I mean, I knew you were going to make it. Your sword skills are like f*****g top-notch.” Haya proudly said as he knew that his friend was good in weaponry in general.

Thaleos merely shook his head with a warm smile and was just about to walk away when Nala spoke,

“Master of swords, I see? Care to test that theory with me?” The team leader asked with an eager smile on her face. Nala was a great leader, but she was a competitive player as well.

She wanted to see up to what extent Thaleos’ sword skills. She didn’t know why; maybe it was this natural desire to know how far their gap is, or maybe it was society’s constant reminder that everything was a competition.

Either way, the Emerging Group leader was looking to spar with the strongest player from the earth.

Although Thaleos felt incredibly tired and preferred to just sink in his bed, he was also never the type to back down from a challenge.

Everyone started distancing themselves from the pair and eventually forming a circle that surrounded them.

The crowd was happily cheering for Nala, and the Igigu Team just about screamed their lungs out. They made sure that the beast tamer could hear their support.

It was like they were in a festival, as there was a bonfire nearby and everyone had a pint of ice-cold beer in their hand. They were enjoying the show as both the team leaders were just circling each other around.

Both of the competitive players had smiles on their faces, and Thaleos knew they were both cautious attackers.

As Thaleos was still feeling the adrenaline rush with his earlier brush with death, he proceeded to attack first.

One thing about Nala that he didn’t know was that the woman was a professional gymnast in her youth. Before the sword could even reach her, she quickly did a forward flip, throwing off Thaleos from his strategy.

Just as the ebony woman was about to attack the beast tamer with her sword, he quickly blocked it using his black katana.

Since Nala was wielding the war sword, Thaleos was definitely at a disadvantage. His black katana’s edges chipped a bit at the impact of the blazing red sword.

He jumped a couple of feet away to reroute his strategy, but Nala was merciless as she kept attacking him left and right. The beast tamer was quick to dodge, but he needed a plan fast.

So, he decided to meet Nala’s attacks head-on and deflected her attacks with his own. While Nala’s attacks were about to hit his left shoulder, the bearded man quickly ducked and attempted to kick the woman’s legs.

But Nala jumped and flipped before he could even do anything. Anticipating her move, Thaleos quickly slid to the ground as to where she was going and immediately kicked her legs again just as she jumped on the ground.

This successfully made the Emergence Group’s team leader slide, giving the bearded man a chance to stab the ebony woman’s side.

Nala smiled at the beast tamer’s attack as she felt the competition firing her up. She knew it was cheating, but he wanted to see the beast tamer’s limit, so she used the War Sword named Red Panther’s full powers.

Recharging it with some souls from soul diamonds, her attacks became fast by five seconds, increased her bloodlust by 10 percent, and called forth a red panther familiar.

Seeing Nala’s use of powers made Thaleos a bit more excited about the fight. Although he knew that Nala was serious in knowing his skill level, he knew it was still a controlled environment.

He could still test out his skills and not worry about his life.

Thaleos didn’t even have that much time to think as Nala kept slashing and hacking him with his sword while the red panther was scratching at him. They were attacking both sides, so the beast tamer threw his black katana to the side and took out two daggers.

The bearded man activated his Painful Torture skill and decided to center it all on the dagger he was using to attack the red panther. Although the beast had this soul-like body structure, it was still susceptible to attack.

As soon as the dagger slashed its neck, it started mewling in pain. The Painful Torture skill causes great pain to the target and drastically reduced their attack power and speed. The distressed tune of the beast worried Nala for a split second.

This split second was the only time he needed to kick Nala as had as he could in the sheen, causing her to falter a bit.

He quickly sheathed the two dagger he took out and flipped her body to the ground. Seeing her drop to the ground, she flipped her body around and held her two arms together.

Thaleos immediately took out one of the daggers in his back and aimed it at the Emergence Group’s team leader.

With that attack, Nala finally gave her little nod of resignation and agreed with Thaleos’ victory. Soon after, everyone started clapping and hollering around like crazy. They certainly enjoyed the show.

Everyone could see that they were both equal in strength at first, but eventually, the beast tamer won by a large margin through strategy and wit. Nala clasped his hand and shook it with all her might.

“Thank you for that fight, Thal! That was a wonderful spar. You do deserve to be called the best player.” The beast tamer humbly nodded his head, and everyone approached them to talk about the fight.

Once they finished drinking their pints, they all went to their respective bases and had some grub before sleeping. They rested as much as they could and talk about their strategy during breakfast.

“So, what’s our next plan?” Ygritte asked while looking around the table.

“Yeah, awesome question. We just need to focus on building our skills again, and I was thinking that we’d spend half the day just venturing off to nearby locations on our own.” Thaleos muttered under his breath while eating some grilled cheese sandwiches.

The beast tamer realized that although teamwork was vital to surviving the game, they still had to learn to grow their own skills.

This was a good fallback plan in case they suffered any isolated or surprise fights. They needed to be prepared at all times, so they needed to use their skills independently without framing it under a team strategy.

“Are you sure about that?” Haya asked warily because he knew how dangerous the divide and conquer strategy was, but after Thaleos explained his reason, everyone eventually agreed.

“But how do we make sure that we can be there for each other in case someone comes across a high-level monster?” Kedrick asked with a hesitant look on his face. He leaned forward on the table and waited for the beast tamer’s answer.

“We can go ahead and device a whistle or a clap to help us send a signal whenever we’re in serious trouble.” The beast tamer threw out the suggestion in an unsure tone. Everyone looked at him warily, and Ygritte chimed in,

“I think a quick throat chant would work. Since it blends it with the sound of the environment, it works well to not catch the attention of any beasts, and it’s very lowkey.”

They all agreed, but they didn’t know how to do throat singing, so Ygritte remedied this by just teaching them for the next day and a half. “Ready your lungs, boys.”