Night alert horn.
Everyone was annoyed.
Nobody was scared yet.
Then the second horn blew.
Then the third.
That one means: this is real.
Sergeant broke-nose screamed from the yard:
"LIVE ATTACK! WALL POSITIONS! MOVE OR DIE!"
We ran half-armored, half-awake, fully confused.
I grabbed a spear, a shield, and whatever dignity I still had.
Didn't help.
By the time we reached the outer wall, the tree line was already moving.
Orcs.
Too many.
Not raiders.
War party.
Black armor. Big shields. Fast.
Someone near me whispered, "We're not ready."
He was correct for about three seconds.
Then arrows came in.
A guy two spots left of me took one in the throat and dropped without a sound.
First death.
Then more.
Screaming everywhere.
Commands everywhere.
Half the camp didn't even form ranks properly before the gate ram hit.
Boom.
Boom.
Third hit cracked it.
Sergeant shouted, "Hold line! HOLD—"
Gate blew open.
And then it was just chaos.
No formation.
No tactics.
Just bodies.
I stabbed at the first thing that came through.
Missed.
Second thrust hit armor.
Third one actually landed in a gap under an arm.
The orc roared and slammed his shield into me so hard I forgot my own name for a second.
I hit mud, rolled, got stepped on, got up again.
Around me: people dying fast.
Levy boys. Kids, basically.
Rin went down near the supply shed.
Toma dragged him up.
Arrow hit Toma in the back.
Both down.
I screamed something useless and charged forward like an idiot.
Got clipped across the face by an axe handle.
Saw stars.
Kept moving anyway.
At some point I realized I couldn't hear commands anymore.
Just metal. Screams. Fire.
I ended up near the collapsed side trench with six other levy boys.
Then four.
Then two.
Then just me.
I don't even know when it happened.
One minute I had a line.
Next minute I was alone in smoke and blood and broken wood.
I stumbled behind a smashed cart and waited to die.
Didn't die.
Instead, I heard the retreat horn.
Enemy pulled back as suddenly as they came.
No full occupation.
Just a strike.
Hit hard. Leave fast.
Like they were testing us.
I sat there shaking, covered in mud and blood that was maybe mine, maybe not.
Then white text flashed.
[Resilience +1]
I stared at it.
"Seriously?"
That's it???
Whole camp gets deleted and I get one resilience point like a loyalty stamp card?
I spat blood.
"Status."
Nothing.
"Full panel."
Nothing.
"Anything else?"
Nothing.
Then, after a long pause:
[Route: Survival]
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
Because of course.
Dawn came.
What was left of us got lined up in the yard.
If "lined up" means "standing, bleeding, missing friends."
Captain arrived with officers and a face like stone.
He read names of dead.
Too many.
Then he read charges.
"Desertion under live attack."
My name was on it.
I took one step forward.
"What? I didn't desert, I got cut off—"
"Silence."
I tried again.
A guard hit me in the stomach with a baton.
Couldn't breathe.
Captain didn't even look at me.
"Break in formation. Absent from assigned wall section. Desertion."
I wanted to scream.
Didn't matter.
Sentence: lashes.
Public.
To "restore discipline."
They tied me to the post.
First lash reopened old wounds.
Second made my knees shake.
By ten I was dizzy.
By twenty I was floating somewhere outside my body.
By thirty I was seeing white flashes.
By forty I was pretty sure I met god and he ignored me too.
Then:
[Resilience +1]
I almost blacked out laughing.
This system is psychotic.
After punishment, they threw me beside the barracks like broken gear.
I lay there face down in dirt and ash while camp workers dragged bodies past me.
That's when I saw it.
One dead orc was rolled over near the gate.
His armor was standard frontline gear.
But burned into the inside of his wrist, hidden under leather wraps, was a symbol.
Not clan mark.
Not military crest.
A circle.
Inside it, a split horn and a black flame.
I didn't recognize it.
Neither did the soldier next to me.
He looked once, then quickly covered it back up.
"Don't ask," he muttered.
Then he walked away.
I stared at the dirt.
Head ringing.
Back on fire.
Friends dead.
Charged as deserter when I stayed.
And now weird secret symbols on enemy bodies.
War was already bad.
Now it smelled wrong too.
I closed my eyes and whispered:
"System… what is that mark?"
Long silence.
Then one line:
[Insufficient clearance.]
Of course.
Of course.