Chapter 4

### Act 3: The Dead

“Brando, Brando?”

Roman poked his arm, while Sophie was immersed in checking her attributes. Her strength was only at 1 level, and he couldn't help but curse that NPCs had no human rights, considering that even a skeleton had 1.5 strength.

All the values in the attributes were in oz, an ancient abbreviation for the unit of measurement called "ability level." One ability level of strength roughly meant the ability to lift about fifty kilograms, with a punch strength not exceeding one hundred and fifty kilograms, equivalent to that of an adult man.

Initially, in the game, players had a base strength of 2 ability levels, dexterity of 2 ability levels, constitution of 2 ability levels, and intelligence, willpower, and perception all at 1.5 ability levels, which was approximately twice that of an ordinary person. Absolute strength, or combat power, was around 5, indicating the ability to handle five ordinary people without any problem.

Brando, however, was a militiaman who had undergone several months of training, yet the attribute gap was still so large. Although players started with hero attributes, it shouldn't be this exaggerated, right?

Previously, he had always wanted to complain that players were said to start as heroes, but their combat power was only about the same as two skeletons. He never thought that from Brando's perspective, the players of the past were truly heroes enveloped in a protagonist's aura.

The thought of possibly not even being able to defeat a skeleton made him feel a deep sense of sorrow.

Sophie touched her arm, and the pale green number playfully remained on her retina. She realized that this world was somewhat different from the one she knew. In the game, bandages should restore 1 point of health per minute, so a civilian's 6 points of health should be fully restored in six minutes, but here it took several days.

This was not a good sign.

Fortunately, the basic usage of skills was largely the same. As long as she recalled the 'basic knowledge' obtained from her civilian identity, she could remember some common knowledge about this world. Recalling the 'military organization' from her militiaman identity, she could remember the common knowledge about the military structure of Eruin.

Although there were some differences, these pieces of knowledge seemed to be directly embedded in her real memory. Like swordsmanship, she could clearly feel that it was a skill accumulated through months of training, instinctively present in every movement. For example, the posture during an attack, the position of the center of gravity, what to pay attention to with the feet, where her sword was, and where the enemy's sword was, feints, and the intent of the attack.

In the game, the system would only provide a few rough sword paths before an attack and assist in correcting the player's movements during the attack. Here, she didn't need to know the reasons, just the results.

Although some veteran players had their own insights, they still relied on the system's assistance, so one wouldn't see game enthusiasts becoming swordsmanship or combat experts in real life.

Some things had no shortcuts.

Sophie couldn't help but clench her hand. The feeling of mastering herself was particularly wonderful, unlike the stiffness in the game. Here, the memories she controlled felt more like a part of herself, which she could use at will.

Of course, while thinking about these things, she immediately became alert when Roman poked her arm. Her ears twitched slightly, and she could already hear the faint sounds coming from outside the house.

“Brando, did you hear that?” The young lady merchant asked in a low voice, circling around to his back.

Sophie nodded. A series of clattering footsteps came from outside, and there were quite a few of them. Her heart skipped a beat, and she immediately guessed that the vanguard of the Madara army had arrived. She made a small gesture and immediately pulled Roman back.

The vanguard of Madara arrived faster than expected. At this moment, the countryside of Elson-Golan was still in a deep sleep, and no one would have anticipated the impending disaster.

Except for herself.

The urgency of the situation made Sophie frown. She led the young lady merchant into the room at the southern end and gently closed the door behind her. The room was filled with dust, making both of them cough slightly—this was a guest room that had not been used for a long time. However, she knew that from this window, she could safely monitor everything happening in the estate.

Sophie walked to the window, gently swept away the dust, and lifted the curtain—

“Where did these things come from, do you know, Brando?” The girl subtly withdrew her hand, asking curiously.

“This is Madara's army; the war has begun.” He answered while cautiously taking a look outside: indeed, it was the vanguard of Madara. Sophie couldn't help but take a deep breath. In the center of the estate stood a dense group of skeleton soldiers. She counted three squads, totaling forty-five skeletons, with a faint red glow flickering in the darkness. On the side, three necromancers controlled these low-level undead—classic figures of skeletons in robes, holding bone staves, with eyes glowing with green phosphorescence, surveying the lower-level Madara soldiers.

Brando's grandfather's old house was situated on a hill not far from Buchi, offering a view of the village below. It was more like a small estate on the outskirts of a town, originally with five or six households, but they had all moved away, leaving only Roman and her aunt.

The girl took a soft breath in the darkness.

“Aunt Jenny?”

“Aunt went to a nearby town and won't be back for a week.”

Sophie couldn't help but look back at the other person. In the darkness, she could only see a pair of bright eyes, but they sparkled with an inexplicable excitement.

“Aren't you afraid?”

“I don't know,” the young lady merchant answered softly, raising her head. “But my heart is pounding, it feels very exciting.”

Sophie was speechless. The young lady's way of thinking was indeed different from that of ordinary people. However, some people were born for adventure, and perhaps Roman was one of them.

She pretended not to hear and returned her gaze to the window—those necromancers' gazes hadn't yet turned in this direction, so Sophie could continue observing with peace of mind—there were shadows in the distance, and there were likely more enemies in that direction.

A rough estimate put the size of Madara's vanguard at over a hundred, which was not a small number. Such a large force must have a necromancer apprentice secretly controlling it, and in her view, this was a terrible piece of news.

In the game, a Madara necromancer apprentice was roughly equivalent to a level ten player. Even a single one could easily defeat seven or eight well-trained adult men (soldiers or militiamen), let alone the fact that she and Roman were only two people, and the other side had an entire army.

Sophie couldn't help but tap her fingers on the windowsill.

The Buchi guard would take at least five minutes to reach here, meaning that if they encountered the enemy, they would have to hold out for at least five minutes to wait for reinforcements.

This was assuming that Buchi had already discovered the attack.

But how could they alert the other side?

She couldn't help but feel a bit troubled. The best way would be to set a fire. Bright flames and smoke could be seen from a great distance at night, and fire was a clear warning to both humans and animals. However, whether to set a fire and how to do it was still a problem.

“Brando? Will we die?”

“Hard to say.”

The dark room fell silent.

The darkness was deep, with only a sliver of cold moonlight seeping in through the window, casting a silver path in the dim room.

Sophie thought for a moment, just as she was about to lower the curtain and calm down to think of a way to escape, a conversation from outside reached her ears:

“Where is the body of that poor wretch? Bring it out for me to see. The intelligence said that only two women live in this estate, right?”

First, a young man's voice, but it sounded cold and sharp.

The next voice was dry and old, like the creaking of broken wood: “Just an unfortunate wretch, my lord.”

This conversation made Sophie's heart tighten. She looked out again and quickly found the source of the voices under the shadow of a large tree: there, a figure in a wide black robe was questioning his necromancer.

Sophie's gaze quickly fell on the other's sleeve, where she could faintly see a circle of grayish-white bone patterns, confirming that the other was indeed a necromancer apprentice.

She hadn't guessed wrong.

“... Remember, I don't need your opinions, just follow my orders.” The necromancer, shrouded in black, suddenly paused and looked in Sophie's direction.

Sophie's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately lowered the curtain. Oh no, she had momentarily forgotten that her stealth level was much lower than the other's perception.

This wouldn't immediately reveal her, but it would certainly raise suspicion.

Sure enough, she soon heard the figure outside say, “Alright, go quickly. I sense that there are living beings in that house. Be thorough; I've been suspicious that they might have already discovered our plans—”

It was over. Once the necromancer realized that Brando's 'body' was missing, he would take immediate action. Sophie's mind raced. She immediately thought of the door behind the kitchen, but Elson-Golan was a natural pasture, and there was no place to hide nearby.

There was a small forest at the foot of the hill, but there was still a hundred-meter stretch of open ground to cross. What to do?

“Brando?” The young lady merchant looked at her with a questioning gaze.

“Follow me.” Sophie gritted her teeth, taking one step at a time.

She opened the door and saw a necromancer and two skeleton soldiers entering from outside. The necromancer in the woven robe immediately noticed her and Roman—this undead quickly raised its bone staff, but Sophie reacted faster—she raised her right hand, pointing the ring on her finger at the other: “Oss!”

She could only pray that the ring still worked—

Fortunately, Sophie immediately felt the ring warm up, and the air in front of her seemed to suddenly expand, followed by a loud 'crash.'

It was like a hurricane sweeping through, and the necromancer, along with the two skeleton soldiers and the front door of the house, exploded into pieces. Wood chips, stone fragments, and bone shards scattered in the air, like countless butterflies dancing and falling from the sky.

In the instant of the explosion, five golden points of light flew out from the broken bodies of the necromancer and the skeleton soldiers, quickly merging into Sophie's chest. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and even she didn't notice.

However, after the blast, a large, outward-radiating pattern was left on the ground.

Everything was silent, and Sophie was stunned. In the game, a wind bolt caused 30 points of air damage, easily killing low-level necromancers and skeleton soldiers, but the effect wasn't this dramatic.

A large hole appeared in the front door of the old house, which was her grandfather's property, but Sophie didn't have time to think about the consequences. She immediately realized she needed to escape.

“Brando, you're a wizard!” Roman exclaimed in surprise behind her.

“No, I'll explain later.” She took a deep breath, grabbed the other, and rushed downstairs. The kitchen was on the first floor, and she had to reach it before the others reacted.

“Wait, Brando, I can't keep up...!”

“Be careful, we're going downstairs!”

“Ahh!”

The sudden explosion made the skeletons outside turn their heads, but lacking intelligence, they only reacted instinctively to the sound. They remained in place, passively waiting for the necromancer's orders.

The necromancer's green phosphorescent eyes flickered, and he immediately raised his bone staff, a spark appearing at the tip.

“Don't use fire, you fool!” The black-robed necromancer pressed down the other's bone staff, gritting his teeth. The previous explosion had likely already caught the attention of the people in Buchi, and using fire now would only alert the villagers.

He immediately pointed to the house, “Soldiers, capture those two!”

With a 'whoosh,' the skeleton soldiers drew their long swords and rushed into the house.

By this time, Sophie had already rushed down the stairs. She saw the skeletons flooding in, the countless red points of light in the darkness, and couldn't help but feel a chill. But she wasn't a veteran player of over a hundred levels, and her ring was still recharging. She had no choice but to face it head-on.

If she was caught by these skeletons, she would likely be chopped into pieces...

“Misfortune never comes alone.” Sophie couldn't help but feel a sense of helplessness.

The pain in her chest was intense, but she managed to reach the kitchen before the skeleton soldiers, quickly closing the door behind her. She didn't have time to catch her breath when several swords immediately pierced through the door.

Fortunately, she reacted quickly, or she would have been pinned to the door.

“Close call!” Sophie's heart was pounding. She looked around; the kitchen had an exit on the other side, but she knew she couldn't leave like this—she needed to find a way to alert the people in Buchi. Only then could she save herself.

Also, fire could block low-level undead.

“Brando?” The young lady merchant bent over, panting, and couldn't help but look up at her. She had never seen Brando act so decisively and bravely, and she was greatly surprised.

“Miss Roman, guard the door.” Sophie didn't have time to explain; she needed to act quickly.

“Me?” Roman blinked.

“Yes, give me a moment.”

“What are you going to do?” The young lady merchant asked curiously.

“I need to find a way to alert the people in the village. This is Madara's undead army, and we must warn the others.” Sophie tried to stay calm, searching for flint as she answered.

Where did she put that thing?

“Okay, I'll do it.” Roman immediately went to stand between Sophie and the door.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.” The young lady merchant raised her stone hammer, matter-of-factly: “I'll do my best; I'm going to be a great merchant in the future!”

Sophie stopped, looked at her, and couldn't help but nod.

“You will, Miss Roman.”

“Thank you, Brando.”

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