Chapter 4 - A Hero & The Test (1/2) (Under Rework)

The soldier was in a void.

A cold, endless void.

He had been in this void for what felt like forever, ever since he fought in the war against the 3rd demon lord. The war he fought and died to stop the king's reign.

He had been floating around forever. He spent so long in this limbo, this darkness, that he had forgotten everything. His life, his backstory, his family, his friends, everything.

How? How has he not gone insane yet?

He looked down at the bow still in his hands.

Ok, maybe not everything. He had still remembered his training and his prowess with the bow. He also remembered training with another person, a woman—a female knight. He also remembered every battle he was in, every fight he fought. However, whenever he tried to remember her name, he came up drawing blanks. Even when trying to piece together her face, he didn't know. Maybe these memories helped him stay sane.

However, since she reappeared so much in his memories, all he knew was that she was someone dear to him, and he was special to her. were they in a relationship, or were they just friends till the end?

Although he couldn't remember her face, he remembered her armor & weapons. Her armor was unique, blue and black, using a combination of Harstone and Tegrese steel. She used a spear and shield, with her spear and shield being of nephillite origin, with all three powerful in repelling magic and projectiles, a perfect opposite to his bow. Maybe that's why they were so close; opposites attract.

And maybe that is why they spent nights together after training? He did not know what they did, only that they had spent several nights together. Huh. Memory works in weird ways.

Suddenly, he saw a bright glow, a flash of light that continued to grow bright. He attempted to swim towards it, grateful for the escape.

When he came to the edge where he could not swim anymore, he tried to pull himself up. He managed to pull himself out of the hellhole he had been in, where he was just left to drift endlessly, desperate to pull himself out in case it closed, leaving him stuck in this hell.

Pulling himself out, it took a second for his eyes to adjust, but the warmth washed over him immediately, contrary to the icy cold grip of death, holding him so long in the middle.

The warmth relaxed him, like a nice rain shower in the summertime. The relief washed over him as well, as he was free! Finally free from the hell called afterlife! Free to go and see how the world has changed!

Suddenly, a booming voice commanded him, and he immediately followed, still having the same loyalty as a soldier when he was still alive.

"Walk over and kneel, for I am your commander."

And so he did, kneeling to his commander, his savior from the endless dark hell.

After kneeling, he felt sucked into something, like how he did when he died. He still hadn't figured out how he died.

He panicked, as he didn't want to go back into the void after experiencing these joys, and shut his eyes. But he wasn't in the void like he predicted. Instead, he was right behind his commander, a knight in full black armor. Then, curious as to what he looked like, he looked down at his chest.

He looked down and screamed, but no one could hear him.

His entire body was covered in black armor, with a wisp of darkness that seemed to sap the light surrounding him hanging off his armor. When he shakily removed one of his gauntlets, he saw that he did not have a body, and he was just a cloud of blue mist controlling a suit of armor. Unable to handle the shock, he jammed the gauntlet back on, connecting it and regaining control of it. He tried to calm himself down, but he couldn't.

Suddenly, a whoosh of air blew him into one place, and suddenly he was standing next to soldiers who looked just like him, shadowy and all. It was like they were an army of darkness.

He wanted to try something and removed his gauntlet again, but instead of letting the mist float around, he concentrated it into a hand shape. Suddenly, he heard the ding he thought he would never hear again.

{Gained skill: manifest body part LVL 1}

{This skill allows you, a shadow soldier, an imprint of a past warrior, to manifest your body parts as if you were alive. However, be careful, as your armor protects you from external threats and is as strong as steel, but it doesn't make you invincible. Once you run out of HP, you get turned into your weapon until someone does a revival ritual, and you respawn in the nearest fort. If you take off your armor, your soul, the blue mist is vulnerable. When half of the mist is cut off from the centralized part, a bluish-whitish core, you permanently die and return to the void forever. If someone does this through your armor, it will auto-regenerate, but if they cut through your mist-unarmored, a part of you will die and will regenerate at a rate of 10% of the original damage a day. However, your stats increase by 10% when you take off your armor. Your armor can be taken off forcibly. If you die in your un-armored state but do not have more than half of your soul cut off, you become a corpse instead of turning into your weapon and will have to wait until someone does a revival ritual.}

Wait, a shadow soldier? He was a shadow soldier? He wasn't a religious man, but he would be fucked of the highest degree if the church got ahold of him, mainly because he looks like a knight of the devil, especially with the black armor.

He looked toward the commander, who looked like one of them, minus the yellow stripe running down one of his eyeholes, and a white skull painted on his back.

Suddenly, he heard a ding, and a screen popped up in the corner of his eye.

{Commands: march to Bootcamp!}

Cocking his head to the side, he blinked several times. How was he supposed to know where to go? Squinting his eyes through the eyeholes, he saw a small arrow pointing behind him. Confused, he turned around to find a dotted, lined path toward the destination. Understanding what to do, he started to march with his fellow soldiers.

He wondered what the boot camp would be like and what is a boot camp.

______________________________________________________________________

{Sir, are you sure this is a good training regimen?}

"Yes, why?"

The soldiers he had summoned were put right to work, training. He had built an obstacle course full of practical skills you may need in war.

{C'mon, man, I know my abilities include tailoring a training regimen and course, but this is too much.}

"Pretty sure it's not."

He'd instructed TIM to build a course including all the skills they may need in the field, including but not limited to wall climbing, rappelling, climbing up a rope and sliding down, running, heavy lifting, rock climbing, navigating trapped areas, and many others.

However, one soldier caught his eye, one that used a bow. He worked harder than the others, and when some couldn't go on, he carried them through the task.

[You know, that one is special.]

He looked over at the board.

"Special? How?"

[not only is his mastery level higher than others, but he also has a unique title, sacrifice.]

"Sacrifice?"

[Sacrifice is when a soldier sacrificed themself to protect others in their past life. It's a sad way to die, as the people who die like this are kept between heaven and hell, a black void, forever.]

Andrew's eyes widened. This man, this soldier, sacrificed himself like a hero but was punished rather than rewarded?

[Even though they were punished for their sacrifice in the great in-between, they have a chance to be rewarded here. If they wish, you could uplift them to a hero.]

"A hero?"

[A hero is unique, a symbol of power, a symbol of leadership. They have several advantages over ordinary soldiers. They can lead others, slew enemies by the hundred in the heat of battle, manage castles, and even speak. However, they have one glaring weakness.]

"W-what?"

[If they are killed, instead of being reincarnated generally to the closest fortress, they turn into their weapon and have to wait for a ritual to be performed. If it is completed before two months have passed, they will reincarnate. If not, they will pass on, forever.]

Andrew tilted his head.

"well, that doesn't sound so bad, right?"

[It wouldn't be if it didn't require multiple parts of a different, and the ritual required different materials each time.]

Andrew sat silently for a while, with the tension so thick someone could cut it with a knife. Eventually, he spoke.

"How do I promote him?"

[Wait. you have to wait for him to complete the course, and see how he does-]

Suddenly, another screen popped up in front of him.

{1 soldier completed boot camp!}

{[Sacrifced] Archer: completed in [19 minutes, 35.91 seconds.]}

[...]

[Fine, you just have to bring him to me, and I'll take over your body and do the rest.]

"Sure!"

Andrew turned around and started walking towards the soldier until he fully processed what sam said and slowly turned around.

"Wait a minute... Taking over my body?"

[Yes, I have to for it to work, but since I'm not a ghost, you can push me out whenever you want. we already have all the materials, so I'm prepared to do it.]

"Very well then, as long as the ritual takes less than a day, I'll agree to it."

___________________________________________________________________

(??? archer's POV)

I had just finished helping the last of my comrades through the course when another objective appeared in the corner of my view.

[Go talk with the commander.]

Confused, I started walking to the room where the commander was in. As I walked, I took notice of the walls and how different they looked from when I was a knight. The walls back the with stone and wood, but now it looks like the entire castle is made solidly out of stone, and some parts I saw were reinforced with steel. As I walked down the hallway, I stopped in front of his door. Taking a deep breath, I tried to mentally prepare for anything he was going to say, then I opened the door and walked in.

What I saw confused me. The commander drew what looked like some sort of pentagram on the ground. When he turned around, he had some sort of paint mixture in his hands, and he motioned for me to kneel, which I did, with my eyes to the ground, and he dipped three of his fingers into the mixture.

I looked at him and closed my eyes, preparing for what may happen next. What happened next was... confusing, to say the least. He gently grabbed my chin and tilted it up. After getting a good look at my helmet, he dragged the three dipped fingers on my helmet from the top to my chin guard. Somehow, it stuck to me, contrary to just dripping off me. Suddenly, the sigil began to glow blue.

It got brighter and brighter until I had to shut my (eyes?) due to the blinding brightness.

Then, when I woke up, I wasn't in the commander's room; I was in what looked like a small outpost's stronghold.

Wait.

The outpost stronghold looks... familiar—the design of it.

Then, I realized it. It was one of the outposts in the north, designed to hold off the hounds of nature's wrath in the frozen forests, right before the defense broke, and all but one outpost failed to hold off the hordes of monsters.

I was stationed at the fortress of Habin-Lian at that time, Holding off a massive army of wights at the Gate, nicknamed because of the gigantic ravine, splitting the rocky, snowy terrain of Lian, and the tundra plains of Habin. I managed to stop the horde, but I died covering my troop's retreat.

I got off of the chair & desk he had woken up in and looked around. There was a bow and a quiver of arrows near me, A small lantern hanging near the door, as well as a small bed & a window. I flopped onto the bed and looked outside the window to the outpost. Soldiers were milling around, but they looked like shadow soldiers instead of normal human soldiers. However, he couldn't make that much out since the sun was starting to creep below the horizon, and the moon wasn't in the sky yet.

I sighed and stood up, grabbing the bow and tossing the quiver on my back. Opening the door, I grabbed the lantern and started walking down the open hall, passing several soldiers and Paladins with different weapons, and looking out at the soldiers milling outside, with some cutting logs and others loading up swill and alcohol into barrels, and a few repairing the walls/sharpening their weapons.

Suddenly, as he was about to exit the hall into the courtyard, a screen popped up in front of him. Surprised, he stepped back and fell on his back. Rubbing his head and groaning, he looked at what the screen said.

{The Hero's Test: Leadership and Mettle}

{This is your test to become a Hero, a special unit in the Shadow Captain's army. You must face a battle that happened in your past life (That you may or may not have partaken in) and complete the objectives to get the reward. You immediately get several rewards to help you with your test when you accept to partake in it. Almost every reward is special, exclusively just for you.}

{Objectives:}

{Main Objective: Survive, and hold off the monster horde until daybreak.}

{Main Objective: 40 soldiers must survive. Current numbers: 800/40}

{Optional Objective: light monsters on fire. 0/20 monsters lit on fire.}

{Optional Objective: Do not let a white walker deal higher than 300 HP of damage to you in an attack.}

{Optional Objective: Do not let the outpost get destroyed.}

{Rewards: Hero title, +5K HP, Hidden ability: ???? and ???, Hidden title: ????, Increase in stats, Your name, 20 gold coins.}

{Immediate rewards: Ability to speak, skill Command Troops, Craft Special Arrows.}

{Penalties: Cannot retake the test for 1 [year]}

{Do you wish to start the test?}

{Notice: all immediate rewards are lost if you fail this test. you will only get them back once you reattempt the test.}

{(Yes)} {(No)}

His hand hovered over the screen, taking a moment to decide. Eventually, his hand slowly moved toward the (yes) button, and he pressed it.

Suddenly, time resumed, and the objectives instantly shrunk into a smaller but still readable list and moved to the top left of his vision.

Confused, he shook his head as if he was trying to get rid of the memory of what just happened. Then I remembered what it said and one of the immediate rewards.

"Ability to speak."

He hadn't spoken for a long time. A long, long time. I don't even know how to speak, much less understand what he said. I tried to say something, but it felt unnatural, like something that wasn't meant to be or wasn't supposed to do. Then, he remembered a common word spoken among soldiers the night before a battle.

"Sta... Status."

{Name: ???}

{Species: Shadow Soldier}

{Class: Shadow Archer}

{Title(s): Knight, The selfless one.}

{Level 201}

{HP: 3k/3k}

{MP: 500/500}

{STR: 12}

{INT: 29}

{DEX:230+19}

{DEF: 13+5}

{SPD: 66+4}

{Stat points: ???}

{Magic Type: None}

{Total Monster Kill Count: 305,139}

{Skills: Longbow mastery MAX LVL, Hunting mastery LVL 12, Survival mastery LVL 3, Throwing daggers LVL 15, Hidden stat, DEX.}

I chuckled. The ones back in the third war were way simpler, just showing your stats and name. Which brought up a question, if I was back in the 3rd war, why didn't it show the old one instead of the new one? I put that thought aside as a soldier approached me. Setting my lamp on a barrel, he claimed that he had something I needed to see. Taking a torch and lighting it, I started walking with him towards the northern wall facing the forest. After walking up the stairs, I looked out onto the woods, with the night covering what was in it. Then, I waved my torch to get a better view.

Wights, as far as the light could reach, were slowly walking towards the walls, with their rotten flesh hanging off the bone and their slow, creaky jaws that moved up and down as if they were hanging on a hinge, with blueish bones showing and-

No.

These couldn't be wights. But the other alternative...

No, it wasn't possible. Even so...

He tossed the torch down to the (wights?) and saw a glint of metal, an ax.

Then he realized that these weren't just simple wights; they were something else.

White Walkers.

The one thing he did fear to battle, for what would await you was a fate worse than death.

Wights couldn't turn you into one of them, and they weren't smart enough to use tools or anything to help them.

That was not with white walkers.

If you turned into a White Walker, you are forced to walk the cold, neverending winter, and your soul could not be put at peace until your body is destroyed and buried. They could use tools, they could freeze you if they touched you on your bare skin, and above all, they were just horrifying to look upon. The only peace of mind people living in the northern regions had was that they could not open doors and could only live in the snowy areas of the north.

His hands shaking, he lowered his bow and took long breaths, trying to calm himself down. Then, he heard what he wanted least to hear.

The thumping of their bony fists against the wooden walls of the outpost.

He had to think quickly. Leaping off the wall, he went over to one of the 5 barrels near him and opened it.

Lamp Oil. Good. He dipped several of his arrows in it and then continued to check the rest, which too had oil in them.

He looked at the new skill, {Command soldiers.} Well, it couldn't hurt to try it, right?

"Command soldiers!"

Nothing happened.

He sighed. He hoped that it could've helped him, but no matter. He was about to order some of the troops running to and fro from inside the compound, but something in the corner of his vision caught his eye.

{Time left for preparation: [5 minutes, 30 seconds]}

{Time left for preparation: [5 minutes, 29 seconds]}

{Time left for preparation: [5 minutes, 28 seconds]}

It's counting down, he thought. That must be the time until they breakthrough. "1st armored knight platoon ready, for action, sir!" He looked behind him and saw thirty knights standing at attention. Suddenly, his vision lit up, and suddenly, the timer paused, and a list of options appeared in front of him.

{Defend the stronghold}

{Defend the north wall}

{Defend the south wall}

{Defend the east wall}

{Defend the west wall}

{Reinforce position}

Then, one of the choices on the bottom caught his eye.

{Reinforce position}

Curious, he tapped on it. What could be the worst that could happen? Time unfroze, and the soldiers immediately went to building traps and wooden barricades. As his head started to construct a plan, he smiled. He knew exactly what to do.

______________________________________________________

The defenses were readied. The small group of combat engineers had built several "Surprises" for the wights, and all of his troops were in position. As he looked down upon the formation of troops around the small wooden stronghold and the archers on the roof with him, he sighed and looked at the timer.

{Time left for preparation: [18 seconds]}

He walked over to the quivers and tossed five in his inventory. He noticed in one of the quivers the arrows were shining in something. The archers must've dunked them in lamp oil, he thought.

{Time left for preparation: [13 seconds]}

"Sir, What're you doing?" One of the archers asked him as he lept off the platform and gracefully landed on the snow. He looked around. There were several buildings blocking the archer's view. The soldiers had been spread out around the compound. He had all sides covered. The north side, the east side, the west side, the so-

{Time left for preparation: [8 seconds]}

He stopped. He had forgotten to order any soldiers to the south side. He had no one covering the back flank, and it was already too late. He was doomed to fail the test.

{Time left for preparation: [6 seconds]}

No.

No, he reminded himself, he still had one soldier.

{Time left for preparation: [5 seconds]}

And that soldier was him. He stared out upon the open expanse. To buildings to force them into a chokepoint, no booby trap to set.

{Time left for preparation: [4 seconds]}

He drew his bow and notched an oil-treated arrow. He grabbed a nearby lamp and lit it on fire.

{Time left for preparation: [3 seconds]}

With next to no time left, he prayed that he would pass the test and that he may defeat whatever enemy came through the walls.

{Time left for preparation: [2 seconds]}

He lit the tip on the lamp's flame and aimed it upwards.

{Time left for preparation: [1 seconds]}

He held, waiting for the wights to break through the wall. He heard explosions on the three other sides and the roar of soldiers engaging in combat. The only problem was the southern wall was still standing. Maybe the White Walkers had spared this side of attacks? No, something was wrong. A chill slowly went down his spine. Something was wrong, very wrong. Then, all of a sudden, the wall crumbled like a stack of twigs blown over in the wind. He saw a shape in the fog outside the rubble of the wall, and he froze in fear. He let his arrow fly, and the flame was immediately extinguished when it entered the mist.

No. No, no, no, no. The one monster he was unsure if he could beat, the one monster that he would rather face a thousand white walkers alone than take on solo. A staff made out of bone and wicker emerged from the fog, soon followed by the hand made out of bone that gripped it. This was going to be a long fight, he thought, as a health bar appeared at the top of his vision.