Alvin finally snapped out of it, stumbling as he rushed toward the torture rack.
On the rack, Herwin struggled to raise his head. His dry Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he forced a wry, painful smile.
“...My friend. Seeing you still breathing, those two punches I took from Colin weren't in vain after all.”
Alvin frantically fumbled with the chains, his voice trembling.
“Is Colin alright?”
“Don't worry, he's fine.”
With those few short words, Alvin finally let out a sigh of relief.
He lowered his head and continued to claw at the inquisitor's clasp, but his fingers were shaking so violently that he couldn't release it.
Luo Jiuge walked over, pressing the edge of her sword against the chain. “Should I chop it?”
Herwin whispered, “No need. The core of the clasp was tampered with by that woman. Right now, it looks like it's still restraining me, but it's not actually locked.”
He took a deep breath, his muscles bulging, and with a violent jerk of his right arm, the inquisitor's clasp cracked open with a sharp clack.
Looking at the shattered clasp on the floor and then at Herwin's thick, muscular arm, Luo Jiuge was completely dumbfounded.
“Since you could break free yourself, why were you just hanging here so obediently and taking the torture? Is this some kind of performance art?”
Supporting himself against Alvin, Herwin stood up straight. He flipped his palm to reveal an inconspicuous small, transparent potion bottle, waving it in front of Luo Jiuge.
“The woman who sneaked in with me left this behind before she was taken away. Although it's just the most basic recovery potion, I couldn't be sure if there was something else in it.”
Herwin let out a bitter laugh, a veteran's calm and steadiness flashing in his eyes. “I couldn't tell what kind of scheme she was running. I was worried that if I escaped prematurely, I'd fall into a deeper trap, so I decided to stay on the rack, watch, and wait for things to develop outside.”
He paused, looking helplessly at Luo Jiuge. “But I didn't expect things to turn out like this. It certainly surprised me.”
Luo Jiuge stared at the ordinary recovery potion bottle, listening to the inside information Herwin disclosed. Her brain spun a few gears before she finally, belatedly, connected the dots.
“That woman? You mean the one disguised as a monk, wearing a grey robe? You two sneaked in together?!”
“Yes.” He paused, then looked at Luo Jiuge with suspicion. “Are you the person she came to rescue?”
“Huh?”
Luo Jiuge froze completely, her thoughts tangling into a chaotic mess.
What in the world was going on?
The more she heard, the more confused she became. Who was rescuing whom?
Isolde's cold face automatically surfaced in her mind.
At that moment, her overactive imagination completed a closed loop:
That girl accepted a rescue quest and accidentally triggered a hidden infiltration quest.
So she was running both quests simultaneously. She tampered with the lock core beforehand and even secretly left behind her own precious recovery potion, all so this man could free himself when she was too busy to help.
She was just one person, unable to handle both sides at once. When she happened to run into me—her "high-tier compatriot"—in the Lamp-Lighting Room, she put on a cold, selfish act of not wanting to team up. But in reality, she deliberately used a "hidden quest" to hand over the rescue route and the key NPCs to me.
The more Luo Jiuge thought about it, the more she felt she had figured it out.
This wasn't some tsundere act!
This was clearly an angel who carried the weight of the world and silently sacrificed everything behind the scenes!
To protect me from being targeted by the Holy Court, she'd rather walk into the most dangerous minefield herself to draw their fire. She even gave away her life-saving potion, letting me have all the experience and hidden rewards, and even maximized the room for error in this rescue.
Luo Jiuge's expression shifted from blank confusion to utter shock, finally settling into a solemn, almost tragic determination.
She pinched herself hard in her mind:
Luo Jiuge, oh Luo Jiuge, she is so generous, kind, and noble. You absolutely cannot let her down! Even if you have to risk half your life on this hidden side quest, you must clear it perfectly and never let your compatriot's good intentions go to waste!
On the other side, Alvin was quickly exchanging information with Herwin.
Herwin frowned and asked, “Where did that woman go after she came in?”
Alvin shook his head. “We parted ways after the Lamp-Lighting Room. She told me to follow this swordsman to rescue you.”
Herwin then turned his gaze toward Luo Jiuge, who was currently deeply moved by her own assumptions.
Feeling their stares, Luo Jiuge immediately straightened her back. She even subconsciously raised her hand to smooth out her slightly messy bangs, speaking with solemn earnestness:
“That's right. She gave me a quest to bring him to the Discipline Office to rescue you.”
Herwin caught the key word. “A quest?”
Luo Jiuge nodded, her tone dead serious. “A hidden quest.”
Herwin didn't understand what a "hidden quest" meant, but he understood the first half of her sentence.
The mysterious woman had indeed come here to rescue people.
At least for now, their interests aligned.
Originally, Luo Jiuge had sneaked into this godforsaken place purely to loot a few high-grade chests and strike it rich.
But at the thought of her compatriot's patient, noble "entrustment," she forced down her greedy urges.
She could loot chests anytime.
But if she missed a hidden side quest that could connect her with a top-tier player, she might never get another chance.
Besides, if she could escort these two core northern NPCs out alive, the faction rewards later on would probably be much sweeter than a chest or two.
Having successfully convinced herself, even the painful sting of giving up on looting dulled significantly.
She rested her hand on her sword hilt and whispered, “Now that we've found him... should we head out first?”
By now, the inner courtyard of Grey Dove Monastery was already in complete chaos.
When several monks on shift duty dragged out the corpses from the Lamp-Lighting Room, the commanding inner courtyard Knight Captain's face paled instantly.
“There might be more than one intruder!”
“Lock down the Quiet Bone Prayer Room!”
As those final words echoed down the corridor, Isolde was standing in the shadow of a holy statue.
She looked down at the silver pass in her hand, the corners of her lips curling slightly.
The chaos was spreading faster than she had anticipated.
Luo Jiuge was indeed very useful.
Whether she was doing it willingly or had been coerced, she had already drawn most of the attention away.
Isolde held the holy lantern in her hand, its wick flickering with a pale flame.
The flame emitted a faint, sweet fragrance.
At the thought of this thing being fueled by unicorn remains and living human hearts, her stomach couldn't help but churn in disgust.
Churning or not, as long as it was a useful tool, she would never let squeamishness get in the way of using it.
Along the way, she used the excuse of “discovering a heretic's corpse in the baptismal chamber” to divert several groups of hurried knights.
This left the outer defenses of the prayer room practically in shambles, with only two Holy Court knights still guarding the entrance to the underground stone steps at the very bottom.
These two were clearly far more composed than the small fry outside. Weak purifying runes shimmered across their heavy full-plate armor, and their bright silver spears crossed, blocking the only passage.
“Halt.” Isolde stopped at just the right distance.
The knight on the left stared coldly at her through the slit of his visor.
“The Quiet Bone Prayer Room is under maximum security lockdown. No one may enter without the permission of Lord Silver-Robed Inquisitor.”
Isolde didn't waste words. She simply raised the holy lantern and flashed the silver pass.
“The Lamp-Lighting Room has been bathed in blood by heretics, and some holy lanterns have been damaged.” Mimicking the urgent tone of those fanatical zealots, she spoke rapidly, “By order of the Lord Silver-Robed Inquisitor, I am to immediately count the lanterns in the prayer room. We must not let the Holy Radiance be extinguished.”
Hearing “attack on the Lamp-Lighting Room” and “damaged holy lanterns,” the two elite knights visibly tensed up.
Isolde knew she had made the right gamble.
The more strictly hierarchical a place was, the less anyone dared to casually question the orders of their superiors.
But the guards stationed at this door were clearly no pushovers.
The knight on the left took half a step forward, warily reaching out an armored gauntlet.
“Hand over your pass for verification.”
Isolde bowed slightly, submissively handing over the silver pass.
The knight took it and lowered his head to inspect it.
In the next instant, Isolde raised her holy lantern and cast 【Purifying Light】 right in their faces, letting it explode violently in front of the two knights.
Rate on N.U.
