Chapter 5

### Act 4: The Darkness Spreads

Sophie's plan was as follows.

If her memory served her right, the captain of the Bouché guard at this time should be the famous veteran Marden, a veteran who, like Brando's grandfather, had experienced the November War.

Sophie knew this because in the game, this NPC would teach travelers the 'Scouting' skill.

However, the veteran was truly famous for a significant mistake he made as the local guard captain of Bouché during the First Black Rose War. He misjudged the intentions of the Madara army.

He thought they were just invading the border as usual, so he evacuated the villagers of Bouché from the start. He had a chance to counterattack and repel the vanguard of the undead army, then retreat safely.

Unfortunately, he missed this opportunity.

He should have become a hero of the kingdom, but instead, he took a dark path. For such a person, Sophie felt both admiration and curiosity.

She admired his later life, but was curious about how he discovered Madara's undead army so early. This was the only variable in the entire Goran-Elson region.

"Could it be because of me?" Sophie suddenly had an impossible thought.

But she quickly dismissed this absurd idea.

Now she had to change history and find a way to warn him. Fire, in military regulations, symbolizes warning and invasion. Sophie could only hope he was clear-headed enough—

The door rattled, and each second passed in a tense atmosphere.

"Brando, they're coming in!" Roman clutched the stone hammer, her brows furrowed as she stared at the kitchen door, afraid it would be knocked open at any moment.

Sophie had no time to think about it. If the skeleton soldiers rushed in, they were dead. But hearing Miss Roman's shout, he couldn't help but turn to look at the door:

The kitchen door creaked, with swords repeatedly stabbing and pulling out. Madara's swords were as bright as a beast's fangs. Something outside suddenly slammed into the door, causing a loud bang, and a layer of dust fell from the ceiling.

The wooden door groaned, and the crack widened—

"Calm down, calm down, just treat it like a game. Sophie, think about the quests you've experienced; this isn't anything special..."

He tried to breathe deeply to calm himself, wrapping a piece of oil-soaked cloth around a bundle of straw and firewood, then securing it with a rubber band. He was very familiar with this, as making a torch was a basic skill in the game, though it didn't even count as a basic craft.

This was a relatively well-equipped setup. He also knew how to make a torch that burned for only five minutes, remembering that in the underground tunnels of Nokan and Hain, he had used dry moss and shrubs to try it once.

But he didn't have much time. Soon, the door shook violently again, and the door frame creaked and broke, with lime splattering and falling.

"Brando—!" Roman felt her heart almost jump out of her throat, blinking her bright eyes.

"I'm here, don't worry, just hold on a bit longer." Sophie was already drenched in sweat. He sawed the iron rod on the flint several times, sparks flying, but the torch wouldn't light—

After all, reality and the game were different.

The skeleton soldiers' immense strength first made the door latch unable to hold, snapping with a crack. The wooden door tilted but didn't fully open.

A bare bone hand reached in from outside, trying to break the latch from the inside.

The young merchant was startled and immediately raised her hammer, but it only created a crack on the skeleton—Madara's skeleton soldiers felt no pain. It paused for a moment, then continued to pull the latch.

Roman was momentarily stunned, forgetting her hammer.

"Brando, Brando, what do we do..." she asked, a bit nervous.

At that moment, the fire finally lit up.

And the latch fell to the ground with a bang.

The door opened wide, and the skeleton soldiers with their swords pushed it open and stepped in. It turned its head, and the two red flames in its hollow eye sockets locked onto the two pale young people.

What was that young man doing?

Before it could react, a black object in its gray, lifeless vision grew larger and larger, and with a click, a machete embedded in its forehead.

"…This is your last move. When you throw the sword, remember to keep your hand steady, your center of gravity low, and don't hesitate. You and your target should be in a straight line as much as possible…"

"…If your enemy is a skeleton, your best target is the connection between the shoulder blade and the arm, the thigh, or the spine. Unless you are sure you can decapitate it in one hit, its skull is not its greatest weakness…"

"Damn—!"

Sophie watched the skeleton fall backward, cursing in her heart—throwing a sword in military swordsmanship was a sophisticated skill, but for a seasoned warrior like her, it wasn't a problem. However, as soon as she threw the machete, she suddenly remembered she wasn't that expert anymore.

In the game, with her strength, this machete would have split the skeleton's skull in two, but now, as Brando had learned in the militia training, it would only slightly impede the skeleton—embedding a machete in its forehead did no structural damage to the skeleton.

"Miss Roman, be careful!" Seeing the skeleton about to stand up again, she quickly pulled the merchant girl behind her.

"Brando…" The merchant girl was terrified.

"Don't worry, I'm here." Sophie said this, but in her heart, she was unsure, especially seeing the dense crowd of skeleton soldiers about to rush in.

In such a dire situation, she had no choice but to look around. There was nothing useful. But the skeleton was about to stand up. What to do? Just give up?

Sophie shook her head. She swore she had never been so indifferent to life and death before—of course, the experiences in the game didn't count. She felt a blank in her heart, determined to fight, to succeed or die!

She rushed forward, gritting her teeth, grabbing the skeleton's sword arm, and almost instinctively, she pushed the skeleton backward.

People often use all their strength subconsciously in tense moments, and the skeleton, losing its balance, had no power to resist. It made a creaking sound as it fell backward, causing the skeleton soldiers behind it to retreat.

The momentum of Madara's undead entering the room paused, just for a moment, but that was enough.

The young woman was overwhelmed with a sense of disbelief, almost not daring to believe she had succeeded. This was reality, and she was just a game otaku, right?

She subconsciously threw the torch in her other hand toward the dry straw, leather, and firewood piled in the corner.

The flames rose—

"Let's run, Brando!" The merchant girl ran up from behind, grabbing his hand.

She felt she had never been so nervous in her life. She remembered the first time she saw the young man next door, over a year ago, finding him shy and easy to talk to.

But today, that ordinary young man showed extraordinary calm and bravery. This kind of demeanor in a crisis, was this what her aunt mumbled about as a 'reliable man'?

What a strange feeling—

The young woman couldn't help but have some indescribable thoughts. She noticed her heart pounding when she grabbed his wrist.

"Brando?"

Smoke had already spread, and the kitchen was filled with choking smoke.

Sophie snapped back to reality. By the grace of Martha, she had burned her grandfather's old house, and Brando would surely be in trouble—though now she was Brando.

Her mind was a mess, but Brando's memories took over.

But soon, a dry, low voice came from the smoke: "Faster, undead soldiers. Put out the fire, find the bug, we only have one minute—"

This voice reminded the young woman that she was still in danger and needed to find a way to escape. However, Sophie knew that lower-level undead driven by the soul fire instinctively feared fire, and it would be difficult for the necromancer to make his skeleton subordinates overcome this fear in a short time, so now it was her turn.

But fire was a double-edged sword, and she had to act quickly.

"Miss Roman, follow me." Sophie casually pulled down a sausage from the ceiling and led the merchant girl toward the back door. This wasn't because she was hungry; in 'Amber Sword,' players had almost formed a subconscious habit of stockpiling basic food before fleeing.

The fire was getting bigger, the surroundings were engulfed in flames, smoke was everywhere, and the temperature was rising rapidly. But Sophie quickly found the small door for delivering food in her memory—she pushed it, but it was locked.

Sophie coughed, and the merchant girl behind her was already coughing badly. She calmed herself and felt around, quickly finding the metal latch. She was about to open it but hesitated.

She remembered something else.

...

"Freyja!"

Perhaps for the residents of the Elson-Goran mountains, the stars of April and the night sky of May were not much different. But from the end of May, the temperature began to rise. Looking down from the gentle slopes of the Yosun Mountains, the area had been a sea of red and white flowers since early summer. In peaceful times, this was the most tranquil and peaceful countryside in all of Eruin, but for centuries it had been ravaged by war.

The girl looked up, the summer night sky was as clear as crystal—west to east, a bright light band ran through the entire night sky, passing through many constellations from various myths and legends.

She was standing at the village entrance, looking up at the other side of the mountain. Freyja was worried, especially after the loud noise earlier. Hadn't there been reports of undead activity in the area recently? Was it...

Hearing the shout, she turned around and was surprised to see a young boy with a childish face running out of the village, panting heavily as he ran to her side.

"What's wrong, little Phineas, what happened?" The girl's voice was soft and clear.

"Did you hear that noise?"

"Yes, that's why I came out to check," her gaze drifted back to the slope, "I'm really worried about Roman. Her aunt went to the nearby town... I heard it's not safe recently, I asked her to stay at my house for a few days, but she didn't agree."

The boy looked up at her, eyes wide—

The girl's light brown hair was tied into a long ponytail at the back, accentuating her heroic posture. She wore a tight-fitting gray and white leather armor, with a thick cotton shirt underneath, and a sleeve badge on her left shoulder—painted in black, it was an abstract pine leaf.

She also had a short sword at her waist, a medieval Western European short sword, with a flame emblem on the iron disk of the sword guard.

If Sophie were here, she would immediately recognize the girl's attire—Bouché's militia. The black pine was the most common tree species in the Elson-Goran mountains and the emblem of Bouché's local forces.

However, the guard was well-equipped and had battle robes, while only the local militia wore this gray and white leather armor made from the fur of gray-maned cattle.

In Eruin, every young person in the region received militia training, usually starting at the age of fourteen, from October to March each year, until they were nineteen. Trained young people and even adults could serve as militia in peacetime and become the most important reserve troops in wartime. Therefore, since the Thunder Year, militia training had become one of the most important military measures in Eruin.

"That boy doesn't live there, I heard he was a militiaman in Braggs." The boy asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Pfft, city people aren't trustworthy," the girl pulled her long ponytail back, frowning, "That's why I'm worried about him!"

"You're being prejudiced, big sister Freyja."

"What do you know... forget it," the girl turned her head and scolded, "Alright, what's the matter, boys shouldn't be so talkative, you know!"

Little Phineas shrank his shoulders, "Do you know, Captain Marden has already ordered the guard to assemble!"

Freyja's bright eyes flashed with surprise, "Captain Marden? How do you know?"

"Bryson told me," Little Phineas blinked, "I was coming out when he was already on his horse, heading to the guard."

"Do you know what happened?"

"No." The boy shook his head.

The girl turned her head, looking worriedly at the direction of the slope. In the darkness, she could vaguely see the outline of the manor.

"Call everyone, we're going too."

"Freyja, it's so late, Aunt Syl will kill us!" The boy's eyes widened, incredulously asking, "Let's wait for news tomorrow?"

"Such a coward!" The girl couldn't help but glare at him, but she knew he was right, remembering her aunt's authority—she was the captain of the Bouché militia, but she wouldn't dare act rashly.

"You're no different..." The boy muttered, but saw the girl turn around and give him a serious shushing gesture.

"Freyja?"

"Shh—" The girl tilted her head, making a 'listen' gesture. In the darkness, a faint whistling sound was clearly heard.

"What's that sound?"

The whistling sound was getting closer, overhead, and moving fast.

The girl's face changed. She looked up, trying to avoid it, but it was too late. A black shadow suddenly dove from the sky, piercing her shoulder, making her scream and fall backward.

"Big sister—!"

"Run, Phineas, run!" The ponytailed girl shouted in pain.

Arrows rained down.

...

Sophie stopped.

"What's wrong, Brando... cough, cough?" The future young merchant felt something was off and couldn't help but ask.

Sophie didn't answer, remembering something.

When Madara launched the surprise attack in the game, it couldn't avoid the players. Players wouldn't act like NPCs, waking up with the sun and sleeping with the moon. In fact, many of them were nocturnal creatures.

She remembered that when Madara took action, she also encountered player interference in other places—players like her. But most of Madara's actions were successful.

Why?

Yes, she finally remembered such an era, when the ancient country of Eruin was on the verge of decline, and its neighboring country was entering a turbulent era.

A time of rising stars...

Sophie couldn't help but sigh. In this era, Madara not only produced legendary generals who would later be famous throughout the continent, but also benefited from the military reforms seven years earlier (368 years, the Black Rose Reforms)—these reforms laid a solid foundation, and the steady stream of excellent apprentices they produced supported the country's war capabilities from the bottom up.

And this strength would be demonstrated in this war.

In the First Black Rose War, the strong execution and judgment of the Madara army were enough to make everyone take notice, but unfortunately, the world did not truly become vigilant until Eruin's fall.

Indeed.

That dark nation was rising and would soon reach its peak.

"Those guys are not ordinary."

As a long-time rival, Sophie had a deep impression of Madara's outstanding mid-to-lower-level officers. Their shrewdness was only clear to those who had fought with them for a long time—

Sophie's hand was on the cold latch, her heart growing colder. The moment she closed the door, they should have already launched an attack on Bouché—there was no time for her to alert the village, even if it was just a possibility.

And there might be Madara's skeleton soldiers behind this door.

What to do?