Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 39

39. Manners Maketh Man (2)

“Keeeeeek!”

A sharp scream pierced the ears.

Black wraiths, vaguely mimicking human forms, were rushing forward, and Aile swung his sword with all his might in front of them.

Whoosh!

Slicing through the torso of the foremost wraith, the white flames on the longsword engulfed them.

The wraiths, possessing both undead and dark attributes, suffered critical damage from Aile’s sword and flames imbued with fire and holy power.

Crack!

The place where Aile was busily hunting was Ingol Forest, a hunting ground for level 17 players.

A forest full of black light located on the border of Blanche Highlands.

Infested with rotting wraith monsters, this place was marked as a shunned hunting ground due to the monsters’ bizarre appearance.

Many expressed their dislike for the ghostly, eerie energy they exuded and their slimy texture.

However, that was just the opinion of many; not everyone felt that way.

For Aile, who was often told he had lost all sense of fear, it was not a concern at all; rather, it was a good thing.

Fewer competitors meant a more pleasant environment, and a pleasant hunting environment led to faster leveling.

Thwack!

Aile, having cut down the last wraith that charged at him, flung the limp body aside.

“Heh, they melt away so easily.”

Aile muttered, reveling in his damage.

Even before receiving the Inquisitor job, he knew it was the perfect class for taking down evil-aligned monsters.

With Ru’s Blessing, which boosted all combat-related stats, and the Madness stat exclusive to apostles, his hunting efficiency soared.

‘Oops, I accidentally came this far.’

Checking the map, Aile retraced his steps.

He had gotten carried away hunting monsters and strayed from his original hunting route.

He was currently focused on hunting, but his main goal was still the boss monster, Batora, and he needed to stick to the path that would lead him to encounter it first.

One might ask why he couldn’t just go and hunt since there was no one around, but Batora was an exception among the unpopular monsters that players avoided.

The reason was the list of items Batora dropped.

Defeating it often yielded excellent equipment items, making it popular enough for players to endure entering this hunting ground.

Unlike the neglected regular monsters, some players would come here just to hunt the boss multiple times and leave, leading to competition among players.

However, due to the nature of the boss being formed from the forest’s wraiths, Batora’s respawn time was about 3 hours after being defeated, which couldn’t keep up with player demand.

Therefore, it was a place where smooth hunting was usually possible, but also where conflicts between players often arose.

‘Indeed, I need to be careful.’

Aile continued to check his location while looking around.

In such a large hunting ground, the one who discovered and attacked the randomly spawning boss monster first usually claimed it.

In hunting grounds that were too small for such competition, or in the case of bosses competed for by guilds, the order was determined by drawing lots to prevent disputes, but this place was not one of them.

In other words, whoever found it first got it.

He could have waited to encounter the boss monster while hunting without a plan, but Aile already had data on Ingol Forest accumulated by other players.

Using it, he could calculate the likely locations and movement paths of the boss, and he was hunting while focusing on the places where he was most likely to encounter it.

‘By the way, the goddess hasn’t said anything yet.’

While moving to the next location, Aile suddenly thought of the Goddess of Light, Ru.

She hadn’t spoken to Aile once since he sent the message last time.

He wondered if she might give him a quest in the middle, like when he had a run-in with players in the Forbidden Ruins, but the goddess was still silent.

‘Is even sending a message a waste of her influence?’

He couldn’t blame her, considering she had poured all her influence into him when appointing him as an apostle.

Perhaps Ru’s influence would only accumulate again when her followers, including himself, became active again, and only then would she be able to intervene in this world more freely.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

A scream suddenly echoed from Aile’s right as he was walking.

There were no NPCs in Ingol Forest, and the wraith monsters couldn’t make such sounds, so it was clearly the sound of a player hunting.

Aile didn’t hesitate and immediately started running.

Even if he couldn’t guess what was happening, it was a priority to quickly assess the situation.

The boss he was waiting for might have appeared, or a dangerous variable like a malicious PK [Player Killer] player might have emerged.

Aile arrived at the place where the scream had been heard and pushed through the bushes.

Then, he stopped in his tracks upon witnessing the scene before him.

“This is…”

A party of three had been wiped out and lay fallen on the ground.

They were already cold corpses, beyond Aile’s help.

“Krrr…”

A wraith standing on top of the corpses growled lowly.

Unlike the other black wraiths, it was enveloped in bright blue light.

‘An elite monster.’

Aile quickly recognized its identity and raised his sword without panicking.

Elite monsters, also known as mutants or mini-bosses, were much stronger than regular monsters but were not treated as bosses.

They rarely appeared in each hunting ground and were treated as mini-bosses. They usually had a similar appearance to the monsters that appeared in the hunting ground and charged alongside them, mixed in with the regular monsters.

In other words, unlike boss monsters that could be easily recognized and guarded against in advance, these were different, and it was a perfect encounter to die from bad luck if one wasn’t careful.

Judging from the appearance of the black wraiths scattered around the players, it seemed that this party had managed to take down the regular monsters but had been caught off guard by the elite monster.

[The ‘Belug’s Wave’ spreads in all directions!]

[You are afflicted with the debuff, ‘Atrophy’!]

[You are afflicted with the debuff, ‘Severe Atrophy’!]

Belug, the elite monster of Ingol Forest.

Its existence was the biggest reason why Ingol Forest was a shunned hunting ground.

As you could see from the debuffs, it was a tricky opponent in many ways.

It had a 20 percent resistance to physical attacks, the only one in this hunting ground, and it also had noticeable speed and annoying patterns.

Of course, it was not comparable to the tremendous physical resistance that Gahar possessed, but just having resistance at this level was annoying, and it was impossible to fight in original condition due to the constant application of the severe atrophy debuff.

If one were unlucky enough to encounter it while fighting a boss monster, it was almost impossible to avoid annihilation.

Aile was grateful that he had encountered it now.

‘But the real problem lies elsewhere.’

Above all, the biggest problem in dealing with it was the incredibly stingy rewards.

The experience gained was noticeably less than the difficultly, and the same was true for items.

No matter how many times one caught Belug, it wouldn’t drop a proper reward unless one was extremely lucky.

Among the players in this area, it was openly treated as a nuisance that came out to ruin boss raids.

But Aile was different from them.

He was so happy to welcome the elite monster that had appeared before him that he wanted to spread his arms wide.

The reason was simple.

First, he was starting from a much more advantageous position than other players.

[The status abnormality effect is nullified by the effect of the skill, ‘Fanatical Martyr’!]

[The debuff, ‘Atrophy’ has been removed!]

[The debuff, ‘Severe Atrophy’ has been removed!]

And second, an excellent stat provider had come to him.

[The effect of the skill, ‘Heretic Designation’ is activated!]

[The passive, ‘Blade of Hatred’ is activated!]

[All damage against heretics is increased by 25%!]

The mark of heresy that appeared above Belug’s head.

Originally, it was only applicable to boss monsters, and most elite monsters were not marked with the sign of heresy, but Aile, with the status of ‘Apostle,’ could designate even elite monsters as heretics.

In other words, he could raise his exclusive stats by catching it, just like catching other boss monsters.

Clang!

The claws swung by the blue wraith narrowly grazed past, leaving intense marks on the pillar, scattering bark.

Aile tried to pierce the gap in that moment, but the wraith’s body twitched and writhed, and the direction it was facing changed in an instant.

As a result, Aile’s longsword, which was aiming for its side, was easily blocked, and the wraith continued to extend its arms, applying pressure.

Erratic and quick consecutive attacks.

But Aile calmly retreated, deflecting Belug’s attacks.

And at the same time, he activated the Reverse skill.

Aile, who turned around in an instant, stretched out his sword with all his might and struck the wraith’s back.

Thwack!

Aile’s longsword, which was stuck in the wraith’s back, poked out on the other side.

“Kieeeeek!”

The wraith, engulfed in white flames, thrashed and twisted its body.

It had about 20 percent resistance to physical attacks, but it was a direct hit, and the holy fire imbued in the sword was not affected by the resistance.

In addition, it received additional damage according to the imbued attribute, and continuous burn damage from the fire on its body was a bonus.

The time the ‘burn’ status lasted due to the holy fire was only 5 seconds.

It was certainly not a long time to be fatal to an elite monster.

The flames that burned its skin once subsided over time, but even so, its health was still plentiful.

However, as soon as the flames subsided, Aile’s attack hit it again, and the burn status continued once more.

“Kieeeek!”

The smell of rotting flesh burning stung his nose.

Belug, engulfed in flames again, burst into anger and wildly swung its burning arms, but Aile stepped back and distanced himself.

He put Belug in a burn state, but he didn’t actively stick close to fight.

This was because the activation condition of its special pattern was to stay close to it for a long time.

If there was a tricky pattern, he just wouldn’t activate it. Now, all that was left was to slowly cook it.