WKOC Chapter 8

Unlike the Church of Light, which was dominated by humans, the Free Alliance’s strongholds were mostly in remote, uninhabited places, primarily consisting of camps. The non-human races had a natural affinity with the elements, so the style of their camps was related to the elemental powers their guardians wielded. The Free Alliance’s capital was in Greenleaf Forest, and most of the outposts nearby were occupied by elves. As a result, the camps bore the distinctive marks of natural magic. By the time we arrived, night had fallen. The treehouses woven from vines were suspended high in the giant trees, barely visible, with only the faint glow of bioluminescent plants hanging from the platforms, speckling the night sky with light.

Elves, with their inherent bond to nature, disliked fire, so the entire camp was shrouded in a dim glow. This posed no issue for the elves, given their excellent night vision, but for a human like me, it was difficult to even see the face of the person right next to me—especially once it started raining. The sound of rain masked the already light footsteps of the elves, leaving me feeling utterly helpless as I sat in the cage, like a blind and deaf person. It was a miserable feeling.

“Hey!” Cooper’s voice suddenly broke through the rain.

Since his last outburst, Cooper had refused to speak to me, retreating to the farthest corner of the cage. It took me a moment to locate his outline in the dark. “…What’s wrong?”

He didn’t respond.

I waited for a few moments, but when he didn’t speak again, I turned back and continued staring blankly at the rain outside.

—I don’t like rainy days. Even though the cage was covered by thick branches and leaves, keeping the rain out, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my entire model was getting soaked, inside and out. The dampness seeped into everything, mingling with the earthy smell of the forest, which reminded me a lot of the scent of blood. I suddenly thought of Selena. She had assassinated the Pope on a rainy night just like this…

A few minutes later, Cooper called out again, “Hey!”

I answered sluggishly, “…Yes?”

He didn’t respond right away. After a few seconds, he growled angrily, “Get over here!”

I obediently moved closer.

After a bit of shuffling, I felt a weight press against my shoulder, making me freeze in surprise.

Cooper let out a huff through his nose. “Keep making that face, and I’ll kill you!”

“…”

There wasn’t a mirror around, so I had no idea what kind of expression I was making that was angering him. I could only respond with silence.

He muttered a quiet curse, closed his eyes, and stopped looking at me, but he didn’t move away either. A faint warmth seeped through the layers of our clothing, like a small, furry animal nestled up against me. The warmth drove away the chill brought by the rain. I let out a breath and leaned back against the bars of the cage, listening to the rain in silence.

After about half an hour, Cooper had fallen asleep against my shoulder when someone finally remembered we were still trapped in the cage. I saw a small light approaching in the distance—it was… Luke.

—Why was the Savior here?!

He had changed out of his mismatched clothes and into a sharp, white uniform. Following behind him was a figure in a black robe with a hood pulled low. This Saint was floating in midair, focused on reading a scroll by the light of a jar filled with fireflies. There were also packages and two large leaves floating next to him, as if to shield him from the rain. The long sash attached to the Saint’s chest was being held by Luke, making it look like he was carrying around a very uniquely shaped balloon.

“…”

If I wasn’t mistaken, that Saint looked like an SR card… and not just any SR card, but the Pope of the Dark Church.

Luke didn’t seem to find anything odd about leading around a “Dark Pope balloon” and waved cheerfully at me from a distance.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of his character’s face or the way he was controlling it, but he always seemed a bit blank, his eyes a little vacant. When Luke finally reached me, I noticed that his outfit was the uniform given to players after joining the Church of Light. This meant he hadn’t defected to the Free Alliance…

I let out a sigh of relief, but I was still confused. “Why are you here?”

Luke casually tied the Saint’s sash to the cage and started rummaging through the floating packages. He answered while doing so, “The Pope said that since I haven’t been baptized yet, Greenleaf Forest wouldn’t reject me, so I could come save you.”

Ah, I see—he had picked up a quest.

—In the game’s lore, players who had already joined a faction would receive a debuff when entering the territory of another faction. Greenleaf Forest was under the control of the Free Alliance, so if members of the Church of Light entered the forest, all their stats would be reduced by 30%, unless their reputation with the other factions reached a certain level. The Church of Light had just been attacked, so it made sense that the baptism ceremony would be delayed in the chaos. This was probably a deliberate loophole left by the developers to prevent low-level players from being debuffed and struggling to even fight minor enemies on other maps.

So the quest was clear: he needed to raise his reputation with the other factions as much as possible before the debuff kicked in. As for rescuing me and Cooper, which would decrease his standing with the Free Alliance, that must have been an optional side quest.

I waited patiently for him to find the quest item—there’s no way the developers would give players an impossible mission. At his level, he probably couldn’t break the cage, so there had to be something to disable the natural magic—

Luke pulled out a camera from his bag.

“…”

Savior, are you sure you know what you’re doing?

Luke was currently level 20.

The Elven guards were level 40.

In other words, if he were caught, any Elven guard could shoot him dead with a single arrow.

Yet here he was, clutching his camera, his pale blue eyes showing no sign of fear, as he asked me, “Can I take a picture of you guys?”

“…”

I responded with the standard NPC refusal line, “…I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

Maybe it was the glow from the bioluminescent plants, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that his eyes looked lighter than they had during the tutorial. Even his hair, which was originally a similar golden color to mine, now seemed closer to a pale blonde.

—Of course, it could be that he had changed his character’s appearance. After all, someone who splurged on a 168-yuan Saint skin right at launch wouldn’t hesitate to spend money changing their own hair color, too.

The little tuft of hair on top of Luke’s head swayed in the breeze as he stared at me with those wide, vacant eyes, stubbornly insisting, “Just one picture!”

“…” I gave in to the big spender. “…If you’d like.”

He gleefully raised his camera and snapped about a billion photos.

While he was engrossed in his photography, I couldn’t help but glance at the Dark Pope balloon tied to the cage—though I understood the randomness of the gacha system, it was still surreal to see the Savior of the Church of Light running around with the Dark Pope as his Saint…

—The Dark Pope’s class was Alchemist. A reclusive shut-in, he only appeared once a year on the Day of Eternal Silence. The rest of the time, he stayed holed up in his room, conducting research, leaving all church matters, aside from essential daily prayers, to the Dark Saint. That’s why he was only an SR card, while the Dark Saint was SSR.

To balance the factions, the Dark Church generally had stronger cards than the Church of Light. The Church of Light had the SSR Pope, the SR Saint, the SR Inquisitor, and me, the newly added SSR Knight Commander. Meanwhile, the Dark Church only had the SR Pope and the SSR Saint. Despite being an SR, the Dark Pope was level 100, just like Hilier, while the Dark Saint, Asa, had a special 【Divine Favor】 buff that boosted his level by an additional 10, making him the current highest level in the game at 110.

Of course, the original me had no connection to the power of the Saints. Saints started at level 1 and couldn’t exceed the player’s level.

However, different Saints offered different bonuses to players. For example, my Saint granted the Savior a defense boost, while the Dark Pope’s Saint gave players a stealth effect. As long as you didn’t touch anything, you could walk past hostile enemies without triggering combat, which was useful for stealth missions.

But I never expected Luke to use the Dark Pope’s Saint as a glorified storage rack.

The Dark Pope’s mage robes came with a permanent floating effect. In his introduction video, he was always shown floating, along with everything around him—whether it was his staff, alchemy materials, or even a wine bottle, they all floated alongside him, leaving his hands free to read scrolls—that was his whole character concept.

I watched with mixed feelings as the Dark Pope floated beside the cage, holding the lantern, packages, and umbrellas made of large leaves, all while thinking back to when my own Saint was summoned just to be used as a mirror. It seemed like the Savior had some fundamental misunderstandings about how to use Saints.

Once Luke had finally taken enough photos, distant commotion reached us, too loud to be drowned out by the rain—it was coming from the direction the Elves had gone after securing our cage.

I had a gut feeling that something had gone wrong over there.

Meanwhile, Luke had drawn a sword and was slowly hacking at the cage door.

The noise in the distance grew louder and more chaotic. I could faintly hear the sounds of monsters mixed in. I glanced at Luke, who was still focused on cutting through the cage, and couldn’t help but warn him, “You should go check what’s happening over there.”

“Why?” Luke asked, confused.

—Because monster attacks on the camp are clearly your main quest, not rescuing me and Cooper, which is just a side quest!

Luke followed my gaze toward the commotion, but then just as quickly returned to his task, cutting at the door. “But you two need help more. I’ll save you first and then help them.”

“…”

Once again, I had to wonder—was this Savior, who spent his time taking photos and doing side quests instead of following the main storyline, really alright?

The sounds of monsters roaring spread further, and the situation was clearly getting worse. I couldn’t wait any longer. I tore apart the vines binding my wrists and ankles and then turned to untie the ropes that had wrapped Cooper up like a cocoon. My movements startled him awake, and after a few confused glances around, he quickly locked onto the source of the chaos.

Compared to Luke, Cooper’s ability to focus on the main issue was a relief. I hurriedly briefed him, “Monsters are attacking the camp. You’re injured, so try to avoid fighting if possible. Focus on rescuing people first and find a safe place to—”

Before I could finish, Cooper interrupted me, “You could’ve untied the vines this whole time?!”

“…”

The Elves had been walking for three to four hours, and with nothing else to do, I had used my 1 attack stat to slowly wear down the vines. These vines weren’t as strong as Hilier’s magic, so by the time we arrived, I had not only freed myself but also worn down the ones binding Cooper. I had even weakened the vines holding the cage together…

I wasn’t sure how to explain my mindless behavior to Cooper, so I skipped over his question and continued, “—Find a safe place to gather the wounded and set up temporary defenses to minimize casualties. Can you do that, Cooper?”

Instead of answering, Cooper asked, “You want to save these pointy-eared freaks? Don’t forget, they’re the ones who tied you up!”

“…I can’t just let them die.”

From the sound of it, there were far more monsters attacking than the camp’s defenses could handle. Elves were few in number and typically operated in small teams of three to five. They excelled at offense but weren’t good at defense. If this continued, the Elves would be overwhelmed by the monsters, their defenses would collapse, and they’d be surrounded. At that point, it would be difficult to turn the tide of battle, and the main quest would likely fail, with catastrophic consequences. If this game world ended in a bad ending (BE), then everyone—Hilier, Cooper, Daniel, Selena…—would meet their end.

I couldn’t let that happen.

Cooper glared at me, then let out a mocking laugh. “The great Knight Commander, please, go ahead and uphold your chivalric ideals. As for me… heh, what gives you the right to command me, the Inquisitor?!” He spun around and punched the cage door. White flames erupted, shattering the cage into pieces. With his back to me, he raised his chin. “Knight Commander, how about we each do our job? You go ‘save the weak,’ and I’ll go ‘judge the guilty,’ and we won’t interfere with each other, alright?”

I froze. “…Judge the guilty?”

“Ha, there are plenty of guilty people here—like Selena. The Church has had a bounty on her for twenty years. I’m sure the Pope would be pleased if I brought back her head!”

“…”

I stared at his back, at a loss.

Why was Cooper angry again? Did I say something wrong?

He hadn’t been this difficult to communicate with before…

As we stood there in silence, a slow voice suddenly broke the tension. “I’ll go, then.”

Luke, still leisurely sheathing his sword, added, “You’re both injured. I’m not, so I can go help.”

I breathed a sigh of relief—it was much better for the Savior to go handle the main quest.

Cooper sneered at him. “You want to die, too?”

“I probably won’t… die?” Luke replied uncertainly as he grabbed the Dark Pope Saint’s sash. Then he nodded to himself, confirming, “Yeah!”

“…”

Cooper, clearly fed up, exploded with anger. “You’re both idiots!”

“I’m not an idiot,” Luke countered and then turned to ask the Dark Pope, “Right?”

The Saint didn’t even bother to look up from his scroll, dismissively replying, “Whatever. Sure. Fine.”

“See? He says I’m not an idiot.” Luke’s empty eyes blinked at us.

Cooper’s blue mana bar started to rise.

Panicking, I quickly grabbed Cooper’s ponytail to stop him from attacking the Savior and hastily nodded at Luke. “Alright, we’ll leave it to you.”

Luke nodded seriously. “Okay, leave it to me.” With that, he walked off, leading his balloon… I mean, his Saint, toward the direction of the monster attack.

Cooper wrenched his wrist free from my grip. “Let go!”

Even though I wouldn’t be knocked back, I couldn’t stop someone else from charging forward. He broke free of my hold easily but then didn’t move. Instead, he stared at me in shock. I was confused until he grabbed my wrist again, looking down at the dark red bandages. “Your hand…”

By now, I was used to the constant battle damage stickers plastered across my body. After all, with only 1 point of health, even the slightest bump caused damage far exceeding my health bar. Severe injuries layered on top of each other, and the bleeding effect triggered quickly.

Fortunately, this time it was only a single layer, so the duration wasn’t too long. I tried to reassure him. “It’s fine. It’ll heal in a little while.”

Cooper stared at my wrist for a moment, then looked at the bandages wrapped around my waist. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but suddenly, he clenched his fist and punched the spot where he had stabbed me before!

I gasped in pain, a moment too slow to grab his hand.

This was the second time he had directly attacked me, yet his name remained green, leaving me baffled. “You—”

“You didn’t dodge.” He cut off my question, glaring at the bandage now soaking with blood. “I didn’t even use any strength. Why are you hurt?”

“…”

You’re right. You didn’t use any strength, and the damage didn’t even hit triple digits. So is the fact that I’m injured my fault now?

“…You’ve become really weak.” Cooper concluded.

His scrutinizing gaze traveled over the bandages on my body, finally landing on my face. His heterochromatic eyes narrowed in the dark, as if he was suppressing something. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

I watched as his name flickered rapidly between red and green, the speed of the changes unnerving.

“Koo—”

“Alvin.” He interrupted me again, his voice fluctuating between fast and slow, his gaze darting everywhere as he started talking about unrelated things. “I haven’t killed any innocents… I’ve been training on time, eating on time, sleeping on time… I greet people politely, and I didn’t give the people I hate any nasty nicknames…”

As he spoke, his name hovered on green more often, and his emotions seemed to stabilize. But then his eyes landed back on the wound around my waist, and he muttered, “…You’re weaker than me now.”

With those words, Cooper’s name instantly turned red. He looked up at me, biting his lip as hard as he could, unable to stop the excited grin spreading across his face. His eyes gleamed with an unsettling brightness.

“Finally… finally…” He released his lip, a rough, fragmented laugh bubbling up from his throat. The laughter grew louder, and with it, white flames sparked in his eyes and hair, roaring to life!

The base of the cage shattered under the force of the explosion, tilting violently to one side. As I lost my balance and fell backward, a shadow lunged at me. Cooper’s hand clamped around my throat, slamming me into the mud.

“—I can finally kill you!!!”

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