WKOC Chapter 18

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I once speculated why offering sacrifices to divine artifacts could exchange for the power of the God of Light.
Initially, I thought that [Judgment of Light] required life force. But after several sacrifices, I realized that wasn’t the case—what [Judgment of Light] truly needed wasn’t life force but souls.

After returning from the Forest of Green Leaves, Hilier officially succeeded to the position of Pope. It was then that we discovered just how many secrets the old Pope, Uriah, had hidden. It wasn’t just about the fall of the God of Light and the matter of sacrifices; it also included the truth about [Day of Miracles]—at the end of that battle, it was the elite of the Church of Light who sacrificed themselves to summon the God of Light’s true form. After the demons were sealed, their bodies remained on the battlefield in fighting postures, but their souls had vanished.

Souls—this is a realm that humans cannot touch, a realm belonging to the gods.
And also to the demons.
It turns out that gods and demons are of the same race.
—Luke dislikes demons because, just like how a lion doesn’t like another lion hunting in its territory.

I’m unsure if the Dark God has any limitations when devouring souls, but from those memories, I can tell that He prefers to consume souls tainted with negative emotions. My memories are still incomplete, just a few fragments, abruptly cut off in the rising flames. But it’s evident that I failed in my self-sacrifice and ended up being used by the Dark God, becoming a pawn that shakes the faith of the Church of Light.

Failing to die before [Day of Grace] was already bad enough; failing to be judged immediately after [Day of Grace] was even worse. The Dark God was right—Hilier wouldn’t give up on me easily, so I never succeeded in facing my intended demise. Not only did I force many people to make painful choices, but I also brought more negative emotions to the followers of the Light, making them prey for the Dark God…

The dragon suddenly soared upwards, its back almost perpendicular to the ground. Immersed in immense guilt, I didn’t react in time to what was happening, only instinctively gripping the railing. But Luke beside me didn’t move and was thrown backward, about to fall—

In a panic, I reached out, trying to grab him.
But at that moment, the dragon suddenly tilted sideways again, and my fingers brushed past Luke’s shoulder, instead grabbing… his cowlick on top of his head!

Me: “…”
Luke: “…”

The dragon rolled continuously in mid-air, and Luke, who I had grabbed by the cowlick, spun around in the air several times. I barely managed to regain my balance when the dragon dived again, pulling Luke to the railing. I didn’t dare look at his face, so embarrassed I stuttered, “Sorry, did… did I hurt you?”

Luke shook his head blankly. The cowlick on top of his head, despite my abuse, still stood straight, looking like it wasn’t at risk of falling off…
That’s a relief.

Guiltily, I shifted my gaze from that resilient cowlick and finally saw what had startled the dragon—unbeknownst to us, we had already reached our destination. Below us was Layton City. The rising morning sun cast a misty glow over the Dark Cathedral at the city’s center, and atop the highest spire, a figure stood silhouetted against the light, holding an enormous bow as tall as a person. Arrows imbued with lightning and shadows fired in rapid succession, forcing the dragon to dodge left and right in mid-air.

It was the Dark Saint, Asa.

The dragon is the fastest flying creature, and from the time Luke decided to set off until now, less than a day had passed. The only possibility was that someone had sent word to the Dark Cathedral through a teleportation array—if I hadn’t spent more time searching memories than expected, I should’ve made the dragon land in a concealed spot outside the city, then found a way to sneak into Layton City with Luke instead of crashing headfirst into the prepared forces of the Dark Church.

Now, we can only take things one step at a time.

I grabbed the reins, struggling to direct the dragon toward a forest outside the city.

Luke suddenly poked his head out from my embrace, looking behind me. I spared some attention to glance back, only to see Asa tearing off his cloak.
Blood-red hair flew in the wind, and the black mist entwined around him surged behind him. Asa bent slightly, then suddenly pushed off the rooftop—massive black wings unfurled from his back, lifting him into the sky. He gazed down at us from above, his left hand holding the bow steady, and his right hand slowly pulled back as if guiding an immense force—

I made a quick decision, grabbing Luke and leaping off the dragon’s back.
The sharp sound of something cutting through the air rapidly approached, defying logic as it curved mid-air. The black arrowhead rapidly expanded in my peripheral vision. With no way to dodge in mid-air, I could only pull out [Dawn] and reverse it to block behind me.
A massive force traveled through the sword to my wrist. I gritted my teeth, gripping the sword hilt tightly, and spun it with all my might. The arrow’s momentum was deflected at a slight angle, grazing my shoulder and flying past, exploding with a deafening bang not far away. The shockwave accelerated our fall. In the final moment, I only had time to force myself and Luke to switch positions before everything went black with the sound of a heavy impact.

“Ugh… cough…”

After five or six seconds, I regained the ability to breathe and gasped painfully. Sure enough, my health bar had dropped to 1 point. Fortunately, with me cushioning the fall, Luke wasn’t hurt. He slowly sat up, looked at Asa, who had already caught up above us, and then looked down at me.

It seemed like he just realized what had happened, casting a healing spell on me immediately. I could hear my bones clicking back into place, and soon, I could feel my limbs again. After taking a few breaths, I tried to move, gradually picking myself up from the ground. “Thank you.”

Luke ignored me, his dazed eyes fixed on Asa, who was slowly descending, and said, unusually angry, “You broke the contract!”

Asa’s bare feet touched the grass, and the wings behind him disappeared with a flutter, reforming into a mass of indescribable black mist. Tentacles extended from the mist, intertwining and making hollow sounds. “It was my human who hit your human, not me ‘personally,’ so it doesn’t count as breaking the contract.”

Leaning on his bow, Asa lazily chimed in, “Oh, this esteemed… hmm, Savior, my Lord is right. It was me who acted, so it doesn’t violate the agreement that ‘gods cannot actively harm humans’!” After saying that, he provocatively wiggled his finger, “If you want revenge, you can hit me, but then you’d be the one breaking the contract~”

The two of them were singing the same tune, and I could see Luke’s cowlick trembling with anger. He stubbornly insisted, “You took action!”

The Dark God impatiently waved a tentacle, “Idiot, why aren’t you fighting the demon lord instead of bothering me?”

“Fight you!” Luke immediately replied.

The Dark God: “…”

His tentacle retracted slightly, then extended again, and he let out a mocking laugh, “You still have the strength to fight me? You can’t even beat my follower right now!”

The thing I feared most happened—I couldn’t see the Dark God’s level, but I could see Luke’s. He was only level 40, indeed unable to defeat Asa. I quickly stepped in front of Luke, calculating how long I could hold them off and whether it would be enough time for Luke to tear open a teleportation scroll and escape safely.

Without saying a word, Luke summoned a Holy Spirit wearing a golden crown and a complex white robe—it was none other than Hilier. But he was limited by Luke’s level, also at level 40, and couldn’t possibly contend with Asa…

As I was thinking this, I saw Hilier’s Holy Spirit grip his staff with both hands and strike it down, declaring, “This is the domain of light.”

The staff lit up, and countless runes flowed from its tip into the ground, forming a circle of white light. A faction buff appeared over my head, and before I could see the specific values, Hilier’s Holy Spirit suddenly vanished, replaced by Cooper’s Holy Spirit. He kicked off the ground, charging forward like a white flash, his spear tip aimed directly at the Dark God.

The Dark God snorted, extending several tentacles that easily wrapped around the spear, halting Cooper’s charge.

With a flash of white light, Cooper disappeared, and a heavily armored figure appeared in his place. As soon as he appeared, my vision layered with another perspective. The Holy Spirit swung a greatsword, slicing through the tentacles with a spinning slash, then stabbed the greatsword into the ground with a low shout. A new defensive buff stacked on top of the faction buff, momentarily shaking off the tentacles wrapping around us. His figure vanished in an instant, replaced by a nimble green figure that took advantage of the gap to slip through the encirclement. Clasping both hands together, she let out a “hiya” sound.

Countless vines burst from the ground, protecting her as she dodged the tentacles with agility, leaping into the air. Suddenly, she and the vines disappeared, replaced by a towering centaur. Raising a flaming lance, he descended with tremendous force, stamping heavily on the Dark God’s true form!

This series of maneuvers left me speechless with awe.

The Dark God was forced back by the Holy Spirit’s attack, seemingly angered. He suddenly expanded, merging several tentacles into one, slashing down toward the centaur. But just before the attack landed, my vision layered again. The Holy Spirit raised his greatsword in front of him, taking the blow head-on, sent flying backward. As he landed, he switched to the Light Saint. He quickly chanted a spell, white light swirling between his hands, turning into a stream of water that wrapped around him. Cheerfully, he said, “It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

My Holy Spirit reappeared, rapidly recovering to peak condition under continuous healing magic. He took a few steps forward, spinning and throwing the greatsword, pinning the raised tentacle to the ground. Both the Holy Spirit and the greatsword vanished in the next second, but that one second was enough for Cooper’s Holy Spirit to slip through the tentacles and deliver another thrust, driving the spear into the Dark God’s true form once more!

Compared to Luke’s clumsy control of his own body, his control over the Holy Spirits was on a completely different level. Several Holy Spirits switched continuously under Luke’s command, cooperating flawlessly, repeatedly breaking through and damaging the Dark God’s true form. Although I couldn’t tell how much damage they were doing, judging from the Dark God’s reaction, even if it wasn’t much, it was enough to make him struggle.

It wasn’t until this moment that Asa reacted. His expression tensed, and with a quick flick of his foot, he grabbed his bow. I made a snap decision, slashing my sword in front of me to interrupt his aim at Luke. He jumped back a few steps, still agile, but didn’t use the levitation spell I expected—suddenly, I realized Asa was an archer and didn’t actually know the mage’s levitation spell. His previous ability to fly must have relied on the black mist left by the Dark God on him, but now that mist had returned to the Dark God’s true form, severely reducing his evasion ability. And the open flat terrain didn’t favor archers, especially since we were too close.

As long as I could force him into close quarters, he couldn’t use his advantage as an archer to attack!

Asa clicked his tongue, abandoning the idea of putting distance between us and holding the bow horizontally. Whatever he did caused a series of blades to explode from the bow’s limbs. His crimson vertical pupils glowed faintly in the shadows, and his movements were like a dance, his body incredibly flexible. The massive bow spun in his hands, and if I were grazed by it, it could probably slice my hand clean off—I could withstand severe injuries, but if my model lost a part, it would be difficult to reattach it in a short time, so I had to change my strategy, focusing on defense.

“The Captain never ceases to surprise me…” Asa could even talk during the high-speed battle. “What weakened my Lord’s curse? This sword, or the so-called power of ‘will’?”

I didn’t have the extra energy to answer him—even with [Dawn]’s bonuses, my stats barely reached four digits, while Asa’s were several times higher. Even though he wasn’t using his strongest archery skills but close combat, it still took all my strength to hold him off.

Compared to me, Asa was much more relaxed. Though he couldn’t spare a hand to assist the Dark God, he could still taunt me: “It seems I overestimated your ability to learn from your mistakes, Captain. My Lord was kind enough to let you go, and yet here you are again… Do you miss the days of being locked in the dungeon?”

I dodged the bowstring aimed at my neck and was about to counterattack when a sound suddenly rang in my ears, shaking me to the point where I paused. Asa also faltered for a moment, and we both instinctively looked in the direction of the sound. It was only then that I realized the sound was the Dark God’s roar—

“What exactly do you want?!”

Luke stopped summoning the Holy Spirits and looked up, saying, “Give me back what’s mine.”

The Dark God sounded on the verge of collapse: “What did I take from you?!”

Luke raised his hand and pointed at me.

I was stunned.

“Give me back my knight commander,” Luke said calmly but firmly. “Or I’ll keep hitting you.”

All of the Dark God’s tentacles exploded, flailing wildly: “Do you really think these annoying things can hurt me?!”

Luke thought for a moment, then rephrased: “Give him back, or I’ll keep bothering you.”

The Dark God: “…”

Luke emphasized: “I won’t go fight the demon lord, I’ll just keep bothering you.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” The Dark God let out a string of incoherent screams.

The shadow swelled, almost blotting out the rising sun, and the forest was engulfed in the massive shadow cast by the tentacles. And in this pitch-black darkness, Luke became the only source of light. Every strand of his hair glowed, and his pupils and skin seemed almost translucent. That light was gentle, and compared to the endless darkness, it was just a small cluster, barely enough to illuminate a few meters.

He walked toward me, and a glowing hand stretched out in front of me. I heard a hollow yet gentle voice say to me, “Sword.”

I reversed the sword’s hilt, placing [Dawn] into His palm.

Another light appeared beside Luke. It was a middle-aged man with a weathered gaze, dressed in simple robes, and wearing crude sandals made of hemp rope. His face was kind, and unlike the stiff expressions of ordinary Holy Spirits, he nodded at me and smiled.

I recognized him. Everyone in the Church of Light recognized him. This was clearly the Church of Light’s first Pope and also the first commander of the Holy Knights, Abel.

Luke handed [Dawn] to him, and Abel naturally reached out to take it. Brilliant white flames ignited where he gripped the hilt, instantly spreading across the entire blade. He twirled the sword, raised his head to look at the solidified shadow, and walked forward with the sword as if it were the most ordinary thing.

In the places beyond the light, there seemed to be countless tentacles. With each step he took, Abel swung the longsword, and the white sword light formed an unbroken sheet, allowing nothing to obstruct his path. He was headed for a specific direction, and finally, he stopped—every bit of light gathered on the sword, and with a smooth swing, he left a straight line of white light in my vision.

I suddenly heard a sharp screech.

The darkness began to tremble violently. In the faint morning light that filtered through, I saw countless layers of tentacles. Abel’s Holy Spirit dissipated, but [Dawn] remained embedded in place, like a toothpick stuck in the tentacles—so inconspicuous.

Yet this light still pierced through the darkness.

The massive tentacles retracted, reforming into the Dark God at the sword’s tip. He furiously pounded the ground around Him but seemed unable to do anything about the sword stuck in His body. Enraged, He flew several circles in the air before letting out a roar and charging at us.

I instinctively moved to shield Luke, preparing to draw my sword, but then I remembered that my hands were empty!

There was no time to react—a tentacle suddenly pierced my chest, deftly twisting and wrapping around something inside me, then forcefully yanking it out—

I was shocked to see a black horn-like spike being pulled from my body, coiled in the tentacle’s grip!

It’s hard to describe how that felt, like a drowning person suddenly surfacing and finally breathing in a long-missed breath of air. The surging power that had been suppressed flooded through my body in an instant, reaching every limb and bone. I saw my level shoot up from 1 to 100 in the blink of an eye, then soar to level 110 under the [God’s Blessing] buff, with every stat rapidly climbing so fast I couldn’t keep track. All the wounds Asa’s bow had carved into my body healed swiftly as my health skyrocketed, and by the time everything finally settled, my status panel nearly blinded me.

“There, I’ve returned it!” The Dark God’s voice, furious with embarrassment, echoed belatedly. “Don’t bother me again!”

Luke hummed contentedly and waved his hand.

[Dawn] detached from the tentacle, floated to me, and gently hovered in front of me. I reached out to grasp the hilt, the familiar white flames flowing through the sword, making it shine brightly.

I looked up ahead—

Asa had retreated to at least thirty meters away!
Even farther than the Dark God!

Me: “…”

I turned to look at Luke beside me. The glowing cowlick on his head was happily swaying back and forth.

“…Thank you.”

“Mm.” Luke nodded, his eyes, which were growing paler, scanned me up and down before giving an order, “Let’s go. Now we can fight the demon lord.”

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