Chapter 12: Picking Up Weapons

In the end, only three pirates remained. Wade stopped hiding and directly stood at the cellar’s stair entrance.  

The reason he pursued silent kills was only to avoid attracting other pirates. At this moment, that possibility no longer existed. There were no extra pirates around, so there was naturally no need to hide.  

Standing on high ground, he raised his longbow and shot arrows. A skilled archer occupying the high ground had the advantage, and as long as the arrows in his quiver lasted, he had enough confidence to face the enemies.  

The three pirates standing at the cellar entrance were like motionless targets to him, like small beasts trapped in a cage—weak, helpless, and utterly defenseless.  

Although they screamed a few terrified cries before dying, it did nothing to stop death from descending upon them.  

Wade fired three arrows in quick succession, easily finishing off the pirate squad, sending them off to reunite.  

Mia devoured the pirates’ souls just as expected, not missing a single one.  

She absorbed sixteen fresh souls, causing an even more obvious change in her. Originally, only her upper body was tangible, while her lower half was a vague mist, but now her tangible part extended a tiny bit.  

About the length of two fingernails, just a little bit—extremely slight.  

Sixteen souls apparently weren’t enough to satisfy her. Nobody knew how many souls she needed to fully solidify her body.  

It was also possible that she was feeding back too much to Wade. Every time she absorbed a soul, she transferred a portion to Wade. The skeleton originally had no direct ability to extract soul power, but through Mia, Wade indirectly received nourishment.  

For the undead, this was equivalent to a kind of growth-sustaining feeding.  

Wade clenched his palm. Compared to Mia’s visibly obvious growth, his own changes were quite inconspicuous, though better than nothing.  

Finally, he glanced once more at the cellar door and left the warehouse.  

He was a skeleton; there was no need to interact with the villagers.  

Humans were fragile but also very tenacious.  

The evil pirates were dead. Wade believed the villagers could handle whatever came next.  

After Wade left, the surroundings fell completely silent.  

Inside the cellar, feeling this deathly stillness, the Avery family held their breath, not daring to make a sound.  

They had been awakened by Bruce, their hunting dog. Normally, Bruce was very docile and never barked at night, but tonight he behaved abnormally, bursting into Avery’s bedroom.  

After getting up, Avery saw the firelight from the burning house.  

He guessed that Viking pirates had come. Every Tania villager had heard stories about Viking pirates, and Avery was no exception.  

Avery had never seen those devilish pirates with his own eyes, but realizing the danger, he immediately woke his family and hid in the cellar.  

On such a cold day, he simply couldn’t lead his family out of the village.  

The nearest town, Alvado, even in the thawing spring and summer, took a full three days to reach on foot. They couldn’t leave the village unprepared—that would be courting death.  

Avery decided that hiding was their only chance, hoping the pirates would not discover them.  

This was their only hope. Viking pirates never stayed long in one place. If luck was on their side, hiding in the cellar for a while would make the pirates leave on their own.  

He tried his best to erase all traces of himself and his family. He covered the cellar entrance with hay from the warehouse and placed his savings in an obvious spot, hoping the pirates would be satisfied after taking his property and wouldn’t thoroughly search the place.  

But Lady Luck did not favor the Avery family; the pirates still found the cellar entrance.  

Sounds of door smashing came from outside. Bruce barked wildly at the door. Avery’s daughter cried out. Avery could only join his father in moving the tundra fruit wine they had brewed all year, planning to sell in spring in Alvado, to block the door.  

They moved everything they could to block the door, but the poor wooden door kept splitting under the blows.  

Avery had never felt so powerless. He brewed wine with his own hands, married the woman he loved, and they had a lovely daughter. Through hard work, he supported his family.  

Before sunset, he had dinner with his family. To celebrate the upcoming New Year, his wife roasted lamb ribs, and they sliced sausages cured before the year, making smoked meat sandwiches with bread.  

Everyone was laughing and chatting, but everything suddenly changed.  

The pirates broke in. They burned the house and stole gold and silver. That wasn’t enough—they now tried to chop open the cellar door with sharp axes.  

Avery wished he had the power to kill those pirates. He would exchange his soul for that power, so his father wouldn’t go mad and point a knife at his wife and little daughter.  

“Listen, Avery, you haven’t experienced it; you don’t know how cruel the Viking pirates are!”  

“You wouldn’t want to see how they treat your wife and daughter!”  

“You don’t want your family to suffer that pain, absolutely not!”  

“I’m not crazy; I love my family just like you!”  

Avery had never known his father had such a wild side. In his memory, his father was just a silent, kind old man who raised him alone without complaints and rarely spoke.  

Avery begged his father tearfully to calm down. Looking at his wife and daughter, he hated his own helplessness for the first time.  

God, if I am guilty, please put only me on the stake.  

Avery prayed silently inside. He didn’t know what to do. He just felt weak in his limbs and his heart pounding violently, as if it would burst through his chest.  

Every time the door shook, his heart thumped fiercely in response.  

He felt as if a sharp axe was splitting his ribs, ready to tear him apart.  

However, the smashing suddenly stopped.  

His mad father put down the knife. Bruce, unusually, tucked his tail and whimpered in a corner.  

Before everything quieted down, Avery heard screams.  

What exactly was happening outside the door?  

Avery pressed his ear against the door, listening.  

Such silence—silent enough to be terrifying, yet somehow calming.  

“Father…” Avery looked at the bearded man with bloodshot eyes full of red veins.  

“Step aside, Avery.”  

His father came to the door, picked up a wine barrel, and peered through the cracks carved by the axe.  

Avery was uneasy, standing behind his father, as if he was a small child again, helpless and relying on the man in front to protect him.  

“How is it, Father?” Avery asked.  

He patted his father’s shoulder, but his father stood dumbfounded, unresponsive.  

Anxious to know what his father saw, Avery squeezed to the front and looked through the door gap, his pupils shrinking.  

What met his eyes were sharp Viking helmets, arrows lodged in the pirates’ eyes, and burning pine resin torches dropping to the ground. The firelight illuminated blood stains around the bodies.  

The Viking pirates outside the door were already dead.  

After observing for a while longer, there was no movement outside.  

“Listen, Avery, we have to go out and see.”  

His father no longer shouted. His voice was hoarse but regained its usual calm.  

“But Father…”  

Avery wanted to say more but stopped when he looked into his father’s eyes.  

“I understand, Father. Let’s go out and see.”  

They moved the wine barrel aside and stepped outside.  

His father bent down and examined the bodies.  

He pulled the arrow out from the pirate’s eye and studied it carefully. He was so calm facing the corpses, completely different from before.  

“Incredible archery… It’s like the arrow was placed right into the pirate’s eye…”  

A look of amazement appeared on his father’s face.  

He stood up and picked up a pirate’s axe.  

“Avery, take this.”  

The heavy axe—fortunately, Avery had developed good strength through daily work and could wield it.  

Holding the weapon, with his father leading, he felt courage in his heart.  

He led his wife, daughter, and dog upstairs. Inside the warehouse lay two pirate corpses. Avery’s father, with a weathered face, took the pirate’s longbow and slung the quiver over his back.  

This old man looked at the longbow as if it were an old friend.  

At first, his hands trembled a bit, but after glancing at the pirate body at his feet, he firmly gripped the bow’s arm.  

“Father, who killed these pirates?” Avery couldn’t help asking.  

“A respectable hunter,” his father said. “He saved our family’s lives.”  

“What should we do? Run away?” Avery asked.  

“No, child.” His father shook his head and raised the longbow, moving with practiced ease. “We should pick up our weapons and defend our home.”  

“You wait here. I’ll check next door. Lisa and her daughter might still be alive. If you hear me call your name, don’t worry about me. Take Emily and Aya and run to the place without firelight immediately.”  

Avery looked back at his wife and daughter, nodded, and tightened his grip on the sharp axe.  

“I understand, Father.”  

His father took a torch and stepped into the snowy night.  

Avery watched the figure disappear, his heart still shadowed by darkness, but compared to the cellar, he felt more calm and empowered.  

Only one thought filled his mind: if a pirate appeared, he would chop off his head with this axe!  

No unexpected events occurred. Soon, a firelight appeared in front of Avery.  

His father led a group back to the warehouse. They were Avery’s neighbors—two mothers with children, a few men and teenagers, all familiar faces.  

“Lisa, it’s good to see you again.”  

Avery’s wife embraced the neighbors. Tears welled in Lisa’s eyes.  

Lisa said, “It must be that hunter. He saved me and my child. He’s a hero.”  

Lisa shared her experience. Her husband was killed by the pirates. She was almost assaulted but was saved by a hunter.  

“He wore our village’s hunter attire,” Lisa said. “He killed the pirates in that alley over there. I saw his longbow. It must be him. He saved you, Avery.”  

Lisa said the hunter broke open the door lock and found a warm room for her and her child.  

“May the goddess bless our hero,” Lisa sincerely made the sign of the cross on her chest.  

At that moment, Avery’s father shouted loudly.  

“Listen, young ones, the disaster is not over!”  

“Tanians are not cowards. If anyone invades our home, we must pick up weapons and drive them out! Let them see our might!”  

All eyes gathered on Avery’s father’s face. The men exchanged looks and silently took up weapons.  

They were orderly. People who had not gotten along well put aside small conflicts.  

They took the pirates’ longswords. Those with hunting experience took longbows and crossbows.  

Even teenagers took up pitchforks and rakes.  

The women refused to be outdone. They tied up long hair and tore off skirts that hindered movement.  

If anyone was injured, they bandaged the wounded.  

Everyone united, no longer fearing the howling cold wind of the night.