Guard Detachment

Brando turned his head aside, letting the bone frame brush past him. He had almost forgotten the skeleton in the meditation room, but he was no longer the same person. His hand pressed against the hilt of his sword—

A flash of sword light burst forth. A layer of glimmering white radiance appeared over Gleaming Thorn's blade, and half the skeleton's body had already been sent flying into the air. Brando glanced at the bones gradually turning to ash. Gleaming Thorn truly deserved to be called a sword born from light—it even came with a purification effect.

A speck of golden light shot into his chest—

Weapons with a purification effect dealt double damage to the undead. No wonder he had felt no resistance at all when his sword cleaved through that bone frame, as if a hot knife had sliced through butter.

A divine artifact.

That was Brando's only evaluation of the sword at that moment. Even if it was not a divine artifact, in an environment like this, it was not far off.

But he was more worried about Freya and Essen's safety. He immediately shoved aside the collapsed bone frame and ran outside. His Agility at Energy Level 2 finally erupted at full force. At this moment, even if he faced a world-class athlete from his original world, he probably would not be inferior in the slightest—in terms of balanced explosive power, he might even surpass them completely.

With the support of Gleaming Thorn and the Wind Queen Ring, his Strength, Constitution, and Agility had all surpassed Energy Level 2. If Brando appeared on Earth now, there would be only one explanation in the eyes of ordinary people—Superman, aside from the fact that he could not fly.

Brando retraced his path. The winding passage in the darkness no longer hindered him in the slightest. He leaped out from beyond the collapsed wall of the shrine, and the intense vitality radiating from him immediately attracted the attention of the undead wandering nearby. Two skeletons, one on either side, clicked as they staggered toward him. What awaited them, however, were two streaks of silver sword light.

Brando collected the two points of experience and immediately looked toward the pasture. His pupils shrank slightly—the area was clearly ablaze, and a sheet of fiery light had almost dyed half the night sky red.

Within his field of vision, more than a hundred skeletons were slowly encircling that direction. He understood that these low-level undead could never act on their own. This meant that the Lich behind them had already noticed something—

"Freya, Essen!" Brando's heart sank. Just as he was about to rush over, he heard a sharp, sinister voice from behind:

"There's a human over there. Kill him—!"

Brando turned around and saw a Lich at the end of the street directing six Skeleton Soldiers arranged in a line as they slowly pressed toward him.

The Lich raised the Bone Staff in its hand—

But Brando was faster. Charge Skill activated in an instant, and he closed the distance continuously like an exploding afterimage. "Stop him!" The Lich was startled and began shrieking hysterically.

The leading Skeleton Soldier raised its sword, but what greeted it was the young man's icy face. A sentence suddenly flashed through Brando's mind. It was so clear, as if it contained all the emotions of the body's original owner:

"You bastards of Madara, it's your turn to suffer now—"

He could not be bothered with technique. He simply struck the Skeleton Soldier's sword head-on with the Elven Treasure Sword. With a metallic clang that pierced the eardrums, the Skeleton Soldier's refined-steel longsword bent backward under the tremendous force, then snapped with a ringing crack.

Brando charged forward without pause. Behind him, the Skeleton Soldier, along with its entire skeleton and sword, had been split into four pieces. There was now nothing between him and the Lich.

The hideous undead stared blankly, its jaw gaping, a draft blowing through it. Only astonishment remained on its withered face.

"This sword is for Brando."

He spoke as the sword pierced into the Lich beneath its left ribs and emerged between the third ribs on its back. A ghostly radiance covered Gleaming Thorn's blade. Brando stared into the other's eye sockets, where green light burned, and said, "He swung the sword from front to back—

The Soul Fire in the Lich's eyes flickered once, then instantly dimmed. With a clang, the arm gripping the Bone Staff flew far away, then was burned into ash by Purifying Fire.

Three points of golden light rose from the night sky and merged into the young man's chest.

He turned around. Two Skeleton Soldiers had already closed in from either side. Brando raised his sword, and the first bone frame's arm immediately went flying. With another turn of the blade, its skull rolled away with a rumble. He shoved forward with the momentum, sending the skeleton that had already been laid to rest flying toward its companion.

That Skeleton Soldier immediately swung its sword to block. But its movement had only reached halfway when a brilliant streak of sword light followed through and split it forever in two. With a clatter, the metal armor rings worn by Madara's lowest-level undead soldier scattered across the ground like flowers raining from heaven.

Two points of golden light flashed and vanished.

Brando silently recited the Attributes panel. Ghostly data immediately appeared row after row across his retinas. He selected one option and thought, "Class and experience—"

A sheet of dark-green data appeared:

XP: 11 (Commoner Level 1: -, Militia Level 2, 6/10, Mercenary Level 1, 0/10)

He parried an attack from a Skeleton Soldier on one side with a backhanded sword stroke and thought, "Eleven points of experience. Raise Mercenary Level."

The data immediately changed:

XP: 0 (Commoner Level 1: -, Militia Level 2, 6/10, Mercenary Level 2, 11/30)

Brando raised his sword and used his strength to push the bone frame back. Then he glanced at his Attributes. His Strength and Constitution had each increased by 0.2 Energy Levels, while his Agility and Perception had each increased by 0.1 Energy Levels. The key, however, was the 25 points of skill experience. That alone was enough to make the Militia class lose its value entirely.

He drew in a breath.

All right. He now had Strength at Energy Level 2.3, Agility at Energy Level 2.1, Constitution at Energy Level 2.2, and Absolute Strength at 8.0. He had completely surpassed the players' initial attributes and begun advancing toward first-level Strength.

At this moment, Brando's heart suddenly became utterly calm. He looked at the three Skeleton Soldiers before him as if they were nothing but air.

Yes, he had returned. At last—

Ten minutes were enough for the smoke of battle to disperse. From the end of the street came the sound of approaching hooves—two horses.

Two young riders came riding side by side along the main street. They reined in their horses and looked around, astonished at the debris of bones covering the ground. For a moment, they could not say a word.

"Zeta, did you see that?"

"Only one person. Could he be from the Ridenburg Guard Detachment?"

"There's a Lich over there. Martha above! Zeta, can you take on four by yourself?"

"No, I can't. This is a veteran." The somewhat thin young man on horseback silently surveyed the surroundings. An expression of disbelief gradually appeared on his face. "Lyons, there are six Skeleton Soldiers here—"

Everything around them fell silent.

"Seven?"

"Seven."

"We have to report this to the deputy captain. What do you think it is? Regular troops? Or a wandering knight?" The young man named Lyons turned around on horseback and stared at his companion.

"I can't tell, Lyons, but I agree with you."

By the time Brando reached the pasture, it had already fallen into a sea of flames. The fiercely burning buildings formed a bright backdrop, while the occasional sound of structures collapsing came from nearby—but he did not see the scene he had expected, with the Undead Army pursuing Freya and Essen.

Instead, he saw many newly awakened skeletons fleeing in panic through the raging sea of fire. The bright flames were practically natural enemies to these lower-level undead, making their feeble Soul Fires tremble beneath the intense light, almost purifying them into piles of ash.

This was not blue fire. In the game, Madara's army only used cold Soul Fire. Brando immediately realized that the flames had not been started by the undead. Could it have been Freya and Essen? He shook his head. He did not believe those two people could be so decisive.

He sharply turned his head toward one direction and happened to see a squad of Skeleton Soldiers chasing after something. He narrowed his eyes and clearly saw a layer of flickering black light covering the bone frames—Dark Corruption. Was there a Lich nearby?

Brando immediately drew his sword, and a ghostly radiance appeared over Gleaming Thorn's blade. As he walked toward that direction, several reckless low-level skeletons brushed past him—our protagonist soon gained another 7 points of experience.

But before the young man could get closer, a tremendous crash suddenly came from beyond the bend ahead. Countless bone fragments and metal armor rings flew in all directions, accompanied by two or three skeletons being hurled high into the air and landing in the nearby sea of fire.

Brando was startled—

This was first-level Strength (3 Oz~20 Oz). He immediately realized it. Who was behind the sea of fire? Humans? Ridenburg's regular army? But historically, they had not appeared here.

He instinctively assumed a defensive stance and raised his head. Right then, he saw a squad of knights galloping out from behind the sea of fire. They were like a flood, sweeping out of the flames in an instant. The lead rider immediately turned toward him and raised his longsword. The riders behind him simultaneously tugged on their reins, and the entire group came to a halt.

"Who are you?" the rider asked coldly. From his voice, he sounded like a young man. But the other party immediately froze. With the light behind him, Brando could not see his expression, yet he could sense that the man recognized him. No—instead, he recognized the original Brando.

Then he heard the riders behind him whispering:

"I bet he's a Militia."

"I know him."

"But you guessed correctly. He's only a Militia."

Brando frowned slightly. As his eyes gradually adapted to the intense light, he finally saw these people's uniforms. Blue-backed woolen tunics, dragon-scale cuirasses, gleaming white-iron helmets and cavalry sabers, as well as shoulder badges with a silver-white background marked by a black Pine Leaf—

Buchi's Guard Detachment.

"Brando, what are you doing here?" Only then did the lead rider ask in a condescending tone.

"I have the same question." Brando dug the man's name out of his memory: Bresen. Like him, he was also from Brags Castle. Because of his outstanding performance during Militia training, he had been selected for the Guard Detachment, then sent to the Buchi border for training...

Of course, that was only the surface of the matter. No matter how outstanding Bresen was, he could never surpass Brando, who had ranked first in swordsmanship in their class. But once a local official's father spoke up, the rest of the story naturally became much smoother.

Brando knew about the enmity between the two men. Of course, it could hardly be called enmity. At most, they simply looked down on each other.

Sure enough, Bresen immediately said, "Militia, as the deputy captain of Buchi's Guard Detachment, I order you to report to me at once—why are you here?"

A burst of muffled laughter immediately arose from the group of knights. They all knew that Bresen merely wanted to make things difficult for this fellow townsman of his. As for the report, it was nothing more than an excuse.

Brando raised his head—

(PS: As promised, three updates. Am I awesome or what?

Also, thank you to dBlade, Blood Cicada, Lionhead, sjwgyyb0, Blue Knight-Lyons, Lan Gurisa, lntec, huan12387, Piracy Vanguard, Book Friend 080903091433371, Holy Dragon Marshal Mu Rufeng, A Heart of Laziness, Mimi Meow, and Undead Magic Apprentice for your generous rewards. Some of you have been old friends supporting me since Canaan, while others are new friends I've met through Amber. I'd like to thank you all for your support.