WKOC Chapter 24

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The moment I engaged with the demons, I realized that their levels were much higher than I had anticipated.

In my original plan, the best-case scenario was to lead an elite squad to penetrate deep into the battlefield, slaying high-level demons to relieve pressure on the rear. However, the reality was far from ideal. The number and level of demons far exceeded expectations. The ballista barrage had not caused as much damage as we had hoped, and the warhorses quickly fell, slowing our charge as more and more demons surged toward us. Soon, we found ourselves locked in a stalemate.

We had advanced far beyond the other squads, surrounded by demons level 60 and above. While I still had the strength to push forward, I couldn’t risk dragging the others into danger by advancing alone. For now, we held our position, defending a makeshift stronghold and waiting for reinforcements.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Beken to arrive with reinforcements, following our original plan. He led a shield squad, their large, person-sized shields forming an impenetrable wall. Like a sturdy turtle shell, they advanced slowly but steadily toward our position. Soon, we joined forces. The shields opened up, allowing the exhausted knights to fall back and regroup, while the knights who had conserved their strength inside the formation moved to the front, continuing to cut down demons.

Beken was a stout, short man whose height only reached my chest, but the shield he carried was taller than me by two heads. He swung his massive shield, cleaving a demon in half, then charged forward with his shield, sending several demons flying. The knights behind him quickly moved in to finish them off, and they alternated their attacks, carving out a path through the battlefield.

As Beken led the way, he found time to shout to the others, “Where’s the captain? Did he run off again?!”

“The captain would never run away!” The young knight he asked glared at him angrily.

“He doesn’t run away!” Beken snarled as he smashed another demon with his shield. “He runs forward!”

The young knight replied, “Well, that’s true…”

I: “…”

I had to put my plan to scout the demon lord on hold. I cleared my throat, “Beken, I’m still here.”

Beken glanced back at me as the other shield knights passed him to continue clearing the path. He grumbled, “Good… Be careful!”

With a roar, he hurled his massive shield, embedding it into the ground beside me to block a demon attacking a knight from behind. Then, Beken turned and grabbed me by the waist armor. Before I could react, he lifted me up and plopped me down in front of him.

“Captain, you’re up!”

I: “?!”

The demon attacks were relentless, so I didn’t have time to question his odd behavior. I quickly fended off two approaching demons and yanked a nearby young knight away from danger before the demon could bite off his arm.

The young knight snapped out of his daze, slaying the demon and shouting angrily, “Captain Beken! The captain isn’t supposed to be used like this!”

“He’s better than a shield!” Beken retorted.

I: “…”

Finally understanding what was happening, I swatted him on the head in frustration, “You—never mind… Just don’t throw me!”

“I won’t!”

With one hand still gripping my waist armor, Beken charged forward with complete confidence, leaving me no choice but to cover him while he retrieved his shield. Even then, he refused to let go of my armor.

Frustrated, I asked, “What are you doing now?”

Beken simply replied, “I’m afraid you’ll run off!”

“…”

Of course, he couldn’t keep holding onto me on the battlefield, so he soon let go and leaped into action, slamming his shield into a demon trying to ambush us. I heard a sharp screech as the demon was sent tumbling several meters away, crashing into others. Beken was about to pursue when I suddenly noticed a red shadow above us. I yanked him back just in time as a massive red tendril smashed down in front of us, creating a crimson line on the ground.

We had entered the demon lord’s attack range.

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The crimson tendrils coiled above us, like giant serpents poised to strike. I heard Beken shout something, but his voice was drowned out by the demons’ screeches. Several tendrils whipped down simultaneously, sending Beken flying despite his attempt to block the attack. The others quickly dodged, minimizing casualties, but the formation was broken. Demons took advantage of the disruption, and it became difficult to regroup.

I swung my sword at one of the tendrils, feeling it sink into a tough, gelatinous substance. The white flames on my blade lessened the resistance, allowing me to cut through it. The severed tendril twitched on the ground before dissolving into red mist, which then clung to the surrounding demons. Their health bars now showed a buff similar to the [God’s Blessing] effect.

This was bad.

“Everyone, fall back! Retreat out of its attack range!”

The knights obeyed, retreating quickly. I couldn’t risk severing more tendrils, so I used my unmovable bug to block the incoming strikes, buying time for the others to escape.

I could feel the force of the tendrils increasing with each hit. What started as manageable strikes soon required my full strength to withstand. It felt like standing against a relentless tidal wave, each strike threatening to shatter me like a rock against the waves.

Beken, having recovered, charged back toward me.

I shouted a warning, “Don’t come any closer!”

Through the tendrils, I could feel that the demon lord was far beyond anything we could handle. I was barely managing to hold the tendrils at bay, and this was not sustainable. Moreover… I glanced down at my feet, which were slowly being pushed back despite the deep grooves they were carving into the ground.

—This was the first time my bug, which made me unmovable, had failed.

If even I couldn’t hold my ground against it…

Just as I was about to warn him again, I saw a red shadow dart toward me—

With a roar, Beken leaped past me and slammed his shield into the ground, blocking the tendril between us.

With a heavy thud, the shield trembled but held. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, the tendril recoiled slightly. My body moved faster than my thoughts—I lunged forward to push Beken aside but was half a second too late. The tendril shot forward, piercing through the shield and Beken’s abdomen.

His face was frozen in shock.

My sword cleaved through another tendril as blood and mist sprayed together, indistinguishable from one another. The demons around us, now shrouded in red mist, all turned their eyes toward me, claws snapping as they lunged.

I grabbed Beken by the shoulder and, with my sword in one hand, fended off the demons while dragging him back. He gripped my wrist tightly, gritting his teeth, “Captain—”

“Hang on.”

I dodged another tendril, glancing at Beken’s rapidly depleting health bar. My heart sank.

His face was pale as he struggled to speak, “I… I can’t hold on…”

“…Just a little longer.”

Was it my imagination, or had the tendrils’ attacks weakened? In contrast, the white flames on my sword burned brighter, briefly forcing the tendrils to retreat. Taking advantage of the moment, I dragged Beken out of the demon lord’s attack range. The crimson tendrils recoiled and retreated, while the knights around us blocked the demons’ advance. Finally, I had a moment to check on Beken—his health bar was down to its last sliver, and his pupils were beginning to dilate.

The knight supporting him quickly assessed the wound and shook his head at me.

“…”

Beken saw the knight’s gesture and let go of his wound. His expression was calm, his empty black eyes gazing up at the sky, obscured by red mist, before turning to me. With a bloodstained hand, he gently patted the back of my hand, his lips moving silently: “Praise be to the Light—”

Praise be to the Light God.

It meant he was offering his soul to Him.

Before the battle, Selina had told me that both demon lords and gods could only devour souls that had left the body. In other words, if the demon lord wanted to consume someone’s soul, they had to kill them first. But humans could voluntarily offer their souls to gods while still alive, just as I had once done. This was the only way to prevent the demon lord from devouring the souls of the fallen on the battlefield.

To prevent it from growing stronger with each battle, I had instructed all the warriors to do this before they died…

I held Beken’s hand and looked into his eyes, speaking slowly, “Your soul will return to the Light God’s divine kingdom, where you will find eternal rest.”

…No, they wouldn’t find rest.

This was a lie I had told myself.

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“Wait!”

A white figure rushed toward us, glowing hands pressing against Beken’s wound. Strings of green healing numbers burst out as the healing magic took effect, covering the torn flesh. The wound that had been so terrible quickly began to heal, and his health bar slowly climbed back up, barely holding on at the critical edge.

But it hadn’t reached zero.

Daniel gasped for breath, sweat covering his face.

I couldn’t even feel relieved, my heart skipping a beat instead. “What are you doing here?!” He should have been in the rear, treating the wounded!

He panted heavily, trying to form words, “Asa… Asa… sent me… to… help…”

Asa?!

As if responding to his words, several dark arrows crackling with lightning descended from the sky, exploding among the demons around us, giving the knights a moment to regroup. I looked up and saw a black figure standing on the highest cliff, overlooking the entire battlefield. From his vantage point, he could see our critical situation, and only he could provide support from such a distance.

But wasn’t he standing a little too far away…?

Another arrow shot from his direction, exploding into a green smoke signal above us—our crisis had passed. The battlefield was too chaotic for orders to be transmitted quickly, so signals were sent through fireworks and horns. I turned back to Daniel, noticing his pale face.

“Are you hurt?!”

Daniel shook his head, using his staff to try to stand, but failed. He bit his lip in frustration, looking at me for help, “My legs… went weak…”

For a child on his first battlefield, to have the courage to leave the rear and come to the front lines, he was already brave enough. I patted his shoulder, encouraging him, “Daniel, you did well.”

He stared in horror at the blood dripping down my arm, along with a small piece of organ tissue.

I suddenly remembered that I was covered in Beken’s blood and quickly pulled my hand back, “Sorry, I—”

Daniel turned his head and vomited.

I: “…”

Meanwhile, Beken, having caught his breath, struggled to sit up. He touched his now-healed abdomen and suddenly clapped Daniel on the back, “Good kid!”

Daniel nearly fell face-first into his own vomit.

I quickly grabbed the back of his collar.

“I’m fine… ugh…” Daniel waved his hand, still retching.

Beken laughed heartily, “You did better than our dear pope on his first battlefield—at least you didn’t throw up on the captain!”

I: “…”

The battlefield wasn’t the place for reminiscing. After confirming that both of them were okay, I rotated back to the front lines, replacing the exhausted knights. I surveyed the battlefield—while the demons were generally high-level, our numbers gave us the advantage. The other vanguard squads had managed to establish footholds, gradually advancing their positions. Slowly but surely, the rear guard was pushing the front line toward those footholds, and about a third of the battlefield was now marked with white flags.

A firework exploded near the canyon entrance, signaling that Cooper had successfully cleared the demons in the passage.

The battle was going well, but…

I turned my gaze to the massive red creature ahead of us. The demon lord’s upper half extended countless tendrils, while its lower half remained encased in white stone, limiting its movement and attack range to about a hundred meters. However, I could see the stone crumbling away faster and faster. In just a few minutes, its attack range had already increased by nearly ten meters.

“…Everyone, continue to retreat. Focus on clearing the demons, and be aware of the tendrils’ attack range. Don’t attack recklessly.” I ordered the knights to blow the horns and pass the message. I then selected a dozen warriors who were level 70 and above. “You will come with me to test the demon lord’s abilities.”

The orders were quickly carried out.

Just as I was about to depart, Daniel squeezed his way over. His face was covered in dust and sweat, looking disheveled, but his tear-streaked golden eyes shone brightly like the morning sun. He looked at each of us in turn, planting his staff firmly on the ground, and solemnly declared, “This is the domain of light.”

A white halo spread out, and everyone was granted the [Faith] buff. The ever-present screeches of the demons seemed muffled, no longer grating on the nerves, and the fatigue that weighed us down lifted. The others visibly relaxed. I looked at Daniel’s face, bathed in white light—his expression was just as resolute as Hilier’s.

Though his breathing was still unsteady, Daniel forced a smile and said confidently, “We will win!”

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