What is that young man doing?
Before it could react, a black object already grew larger and larger in its hazy undead vision, and with a crack, a hatchet was lodged into its forehead.
"...this is your final move. When you throw the sword, remember to keep your hand steady, your center of gravity low, and do not hesitate. You must align yourself straight with your target as much as possible..."
"...if your enemy is a skeleton, then your best targets are the joints between the shoulder blade and the arm, the root of the thigh, or the spine. Unless you are confident in decapitating it with one strike, its skull is not its greatest weakness..."
"Damn it—!"
Sophie watched the skeleton soldier lean back and couldn't help but curse internally. The 'throwing' technique in military swordsmanship was a profound skill, but for a senior warrior like him, it wasn't much of a problem—except when he threw that hatchet, Sophie suddenly remembered he was no longer that seasoned veteran.
In the game, with his strength, a throw like that would have split the skull directly into two. But now, it was like what Brand had learned during militia training. At most, it was only a minor hindrance—the hatchet embedded in the forehead had no real damage to the overall structure of a skeleton.
"Miss Roman, be careful!" Seeing the skeleton about to stand up again, he immediately pulled the stunned Miss Merchant behind him.
"Brand..." Miss Merchant was terrified.
"Don't worry, I'm here." Sophie said this, though he wasn't sure himself. Especially as he saw the dense crowd of skeleton soldiers planning to swarm in from behind.
In such a critical situation, he couldn't afford to think too much and glanced around for anything useful. But the skeleton was already about to stand up—what should he do? Just abandon it and watch it happen?
Sophie shook his head. He swore he had never put life and death aside like this—not even in those in-game experiences. He felt a blank void inside his mind, and there was only one chance. He had to fight, success or death!
He rushed forward, gritting his teeth, and grabbed the arm holding the sword. Almost instinctively, he yanked the skeleton backward with all his strength.
In moments of tension, people often unconsciously exert their full strength. The skeleton, losing balance, was powerless to resist, making a rattling noise as it fell backward, causing a chain reaction that made the surrounding skeleton soldiers stumble backward consecutively.
The momentum of Madara's undead spilling into the room was halted for just a moment, but that was all it took.
The young man couldn't help feeling dazed. He could hardly believe he had succeeded. This was reality. Was he actually that good-for-nothing gaming nerd?
Instinctively, he threw the burning torch from his other hand towards the corner where dry hay, leather goods, and firewood were already piled up as kindling.
Flames erupted instantly—
"Let's run, Brand!" Miss Merchant ran up from behind and grabbed his hand.
She felt she had never been this nervous before. She remembered when she first met the young man next door over a year ago. He seemed shy but very easy to talk to.
But today, this ordinary young man displayed extraordinary calmness and bravery. The kind of quality shown in the face of crisis—was this what Auntie always mumbled about being a 'reliable man'?
What a strange feeling—
The young girl couldn't help but have some unspeakable thoughts. She noticed her heart racing when she grabbed his wrist.
"Brand?"
Smoke was already filling the kitchen with its choking presence.
Sophie then shivered, snapping back to reality. Goodness, he had just set his grandfather's old house on fire. Brand was definitely in big trouble now—though he was currently Brand.
His mind was a mess, but amidst the chaos, Brand's memories predominated.
However, smoke soon brought a dry, low voice from behind, "Hurry up, soldiers of the dead. Put out the fire, drag that pest out. We only have one minute—"
This voice reminded the young man that he was still in danger and had to find a way to escape. Sophie knew that lower undead driven by Soul Fire were instinctively afraid of flames. It would be hard for the Corpse Witch to make its skeleton troops overcome this in a short time, so now it was his move.