Amber Sword

Chapter 64: Act 25: Minutes and Seconds

Brand followed her gaze and almost dropped the Azure Light Piercing, sword and scabbard together.

What’s going on here?

Among the jagged sharp stones crossing the bottom of the canyon, on one side there were beast-like creatures moving through them, tailing the Corpse Witch Cabka as it climbed up the rocks, creating waves like a Black Tide. On the other side, a slender figure was also struggling to climb up the rugged mountain path. She was carrying a huge package, with a sword hanging from it, and her long ponytail swayed with her leaps up and down the stone wall.

Frey?

Brand rubbed his eyes, almost thinking he had seen wrong. But if he could be mistaken, Romantic would not be. Miss Merchant looked tense—that was indeed Frey. But wasn’t she supposed to be heading to Dagger River Beach with Madden? How is she here? Brand couldn’t believe she would leave her Third Militia Squad behind.

"It’s Frey, Brand."

"I see her. Don’t make a sound, I’ll think of a way!"

"Brand, Frey will be caught. We have to help her, right?" Miss Merchant turned and asked, eager to try.

"No, Romantic. I don’t need your help. I’ll figure it out."

Unfortunately, he didn’t even dare to have a frantic heart at the moment. The situation was very delicate, but the key to changing it wasn’t in his hands but depended on whether Lord Marsha was in a good mood today. But, unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be good—

It was also full of crisis on the other side. Brand turned around to see the Corpse Witch would not hesitate to pull off its own shin bone, letting the Withered Beast that grabbed it slide back into the horde. Then it turned over, using its bone hands to support its body as it climbed the rocks. Its 1.7 Energy Level strength was enough to support its relatively light bone skeleton to run across the rugged rocks like flying—until Cabka’s last move upward made it pause.

Cabka raised its head, the faint green fire in its eye sockets reflecting the shocked and angry face of the human youngster above the rock. At first, it found the life wave somewhat familiar, but that didn’t matter to an Undead, as it had already raised its Bone Staff towards Brand.

Human scum, it thought.

Brand finally couldn’t care less. With a clang, he drew his treasured sword, the Azure Light Piercing shining brightly in the dark. He stabbed downward, piercing Cabka’s skull—there was a light cracking sound, and a golden flame shot out from a crack in the Corpse Witch’s forehead, burning in all directions.

"Ka—" Cabka’s voice was stuck in its throat, Brand’s sword was so fast that it couldn’t react before it felt its eternal life come to an end.

It thought it would become a Great Corpse Witch.

It used its remaining strength to fall back, but the young man grabbed its bone hand. Cabka was stunned, puzzled as to why the other was saving it. But it belonged to the Dragon of Calamity, how could it accept aid from a lowly human? Just as Cabka was in confusion, it saw the other deftly pull off the ring from its index finger.

"Damn! This human scum, a thief..."

Three experience points.

That was Cabka’s last thought as the Soul Fire in its eyes extinguished. Brand was surprised that the Corpse Witch had a pretty good ring—Spiderweb Ring, +0.2 Perception, with familiar patterns. He used to have one and had kept it as a memento.

Perception symbolizes a character’s ability to sense their dimensional location, perfecting their understanding of space and matter through hearing, smell, vision, touch, and taste. This was a crucial attribute in the game. Back in Brags, there was a low-level instance called ’Public Tomb,’ where players couldn’t use open fires and had to constantly avoid a predetermined Advanced Monster in the labyrinthine underground tunnels. Thus, high Perception and high Dexterity equipment once became highly sought after.

This ring was a gift from a friend, and the thought of it brought bittersweet memories. To gather a full set of 10Oz Perception gear, he nearly bankrupted himself, and even then, they didn’t clear the ’Public Tomb.’

Speaking of ’Public Tomb,’ he suddenly remembered the warrior item in that instance, the Courage Badge, which adds +2 levels to Military Swordsmanship. He slapped his forehead, almost forgetting it. He had spared no expense for that badge back then.