Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 40

40. Manners Maketh Man (3)

Thud!

Velug, engulfed in flames, collapsed powerlessly onto the ground.

It was an elite monster known for being difficult, but at the end of the day, it was still a low-level monster with low standards.

It couldn’t withstand the worst compatibility and proper countermeasures.

“Not bad.”

Aeil said, looking down at Velug.

The creature’s health was almost depleted, unable to move a finger, but it wasn’t dead.

The sight of the slimy, blue creature convulsing on the ground was strangely grotesque, but Aeil found even that amusing.

This was a good warm-up before attacking the boss.

‘Now, shall I collect the rewards?’

Aeil set the long sword he was holding in both hands so that it touched the ground.

Then, he activated the ‘Sentence of Punishment’ skill, the reason he hadn’t completely ended Velug’s life.

The law book appeared with a white light.

The pages flipped rapidly and stopped at a certain point, and at the same time, the status window popped up.

[Chapter of Sentence of Punishment]

[Please select the punishment to be imposed on the sinner.]

This was the second use of the skill since last time.

Aeil immediately chose the punishment to be inflicted on Velug without hesitation.

[Burning at the stake has been sentenced!]

Thump!

A stake was erected where Aeil’s gesture pointed.

The wooden pillar for the execution of the sinner stood tall, and hay was piled high underneath to ignite the flames.

The same scene as when he used the skill in Queens Blonde.

All preparations were complete, so all that remained was execution.

Thud!

Aeil approached Velug without hesitation and grabbed its ankle.

Then, he dragged the creature to the stake and tied it to the pillar with ropes.

Velug bared its teeth and threatened Aeil, but in its helpless state, it was just ridiculous.

The skillfully tied rope pulled Velug taut and secured it.

Then, Aeil picked up the long sword he had temporarily placed on the ground for the task, and he lowered the sword with white flames attached to it to ignite the pyre.

Whoosh!

The rapidly spreading fierce flames engulfed Velug’s body.

“Kieeeeeek!”

Velug couldn’t close its mouth in the burning pain.

But that was only for a moment.

The creature, whose health was bottoming out, soon died, and it burned brightly as firewood in the pyre, completely limp.

It was dead, but it would take more time for the flames to burn both the pyre and the corpse before extinguishing.

[An Heretic has been judged!]

[The designated punishment has been successfully executed according to the ‘Sentence of Punishment.’ The stat bonus is doubled due to the skill’s effect.]

[Favor of the Goddess +0.21% (Currently 52.91%)]

[Contribution to the Order of Light +55]

[Faith stat +2]

[Madness stat +2]

[The Judge’s attack power is increased by 10% for 60 minutes due to the execution by fire.]

[You feel your faith deepen even further.]

[Faith stat +0.1]

[Madness stat +0.1]

“Hmm…?”

Aeil paused for a moment and carefully looked at the status windows that appeared.

He had clearly eliminated an enemy of the Order, a heretic, and the execution was completed without any problems, so he was able to receive the bonus from the ‘Sentence of Punishment’ skill.

However, apart from the phrase about eliminating the heretic that originally appeared, another phrase appeared, informing him that his Faith and Madness stats had increased.

‘What is this…?’

The phrase that appeared below the two items, informing him that his faith had deepened.

It was something that had never appeared before.

He began to wonder why it suddenly increased by 0.1 for no reason.

There was no way he would be given bonus stats for no reason; there had to be another reason.

“Wait…”

A hypothesis suddenly flashed through Aeil’s mind.

If you repeatedly perform actions that follow God, such as praying regularly or volunteering at the Order, your exclusive stats will increase little by little.

Of course, this was limited to players with jobs in the Order, but even if you had a different job that had nothing to do with it, it was no different to raise the exclusive stats granted through specific actions.

And the number 0.1 that suddenly appeared now gave him a very similar feeling.

‘Could it be…?’

Just as believers serve God through prayer and service, putting heretics on the stake and burning them to death was ultimately the same act of serving God.

No, rather, there would be no greater service to Ru, the goddess of light, justice, and madness.

Aeil tried to hide his excitement and began to plan in his head how to put it into action.

Of course, before taking action in earnest, he did not forget to loot the items dropped by Velug and the three users who were burning on the stake.

First of all, Velug, as its reputation suggested, did not give any useful items despite being an elite monster.

But on the other hand, quite a bit of equipment, potions, and gold came out of the users’ cold corpses that it had gifted him.

In addition, he meticulously scraped together the corpses of the ordinary thought entities [monsters] that the users had caught, so a smile naturally appeared on his face as the items kept coming out.

Until now, the users were full of complaints that it was not worth catching Velug with so much difficulty, but Aeil was able to get a proper share of various additional stats, contribution points, items, and money.

“Kieek…”

A faint cry came from behind.

Just at the right timing, another thought entity appeared, and Aeil raised his sword and immediately tracked them down.

There were four or five monsters gathered beyond the bushes, but it wasn’t a big problem.

Aeil immediately jumped out and slashed them all, and the thought entities swept away by the white flames buried their heads in the ground.

Whirly!

Ropes suddenly stretched out from Aeil’s hand in front of them.

It was created using the additional effect of the Sentence of Punishment skill.

He was worried about what to do if it didn’t activate because there were no heretics around, but fortunately, it seemed that creating tools or building execution grounds didn’t matter at all.

If it could be activated at any time, the story became much easier.

‘It’s a bit uncomfortable… but it’s not the time to be picky.’

Aeil approached the fallen thought entities.

Then, he dragged one of them and carefully tied a rope around its neck.

He was planning to deal with them quickly while they were still twitching slightly.

Fortunately, there were suitable trees scattered around, and he tied the rope to a sturdy branch and secured it.

The corpses of the thought entities were hanging like that.

It was a hanging for monsters.

However, ordinary monsters could not be designated as heretics, and they were not creatures that had been given punishment and judged by the skill, so of course there was no stat increase, and neither contribution nor favor increased.

Clearly, these were actions that seemed like a waste of time without any use.

But Aeil did not stop those actions.

Even after hanging all the fallen thought entities, Aeil continued to hunt monsters and hang their necks.

The sight of the limp corpses of monsters hanging all over the dense trees.

Combined with the appearance of the dark forest, which was already shaded and had little light, it was like a scene from a horror movie.

When Aeil, who had been moving non-stop, had hung more than a hundred of them, a system window that he had been eagerly waiting for finally popped up in front of his eyes.

[You feel your faith deepen even further.]

[Faith stat +0.1]

[Madness stat +0.1]

“Oh…!”

Aeil exclaimed and widened his eyes.

As expected, it was true that he could gradually increase his Faith and Madness stats by executing punishment on hostile monsters.

There was no known case related to this, but this was ultimately counted as an act of serving God.

Considering that the Madness stat also increased, it was more efficient in terms of time than praying or engaging in proselytizing activities targeting people.

‘There was no such story among the users belonging to the Order of Light… Is it related to the position of Apostle? Or maybe it’s a condition that requires having the Sentence of Punishment skill.’

It was a discovery that had never been revealed in the information Aeil had.

Aeil was the only user with the title of Apostle at this point, and unless he was a developer, he couldn’t accurately guess the exact reason.

‘Well… anyway, what’s important now is that stats can be increased in this way.’

Aeil smiled and picked up the sword he had stuck in the ground.

Now that he had to wait patiently for the boss monster to respawn, it was great news that a way to increase stats while hunting ordinary monsters had appeared.

It required a lot of repetitive work, and it wasn’t as efficient as hunting monsters or users with the mark of an heretic, but raising the sixth stat, Madness, together was worth it.

Smack!

He dragged the corpse of a fallen monster, locked it in an iron cage, and displayed it in a high place, and those who had their heads cut off during battle were lined up in a visible place to be beheaded.

Then, occasionally, he would pour poison into the mouths of those who were exhausted and unable to move, or he would beat them with his fists without weapons to cut off their last breath, or he would put them on the stake and burn them in the sacred fire as he had done before.

These were the actions he was taking in the hope that executing various punishments would please the goddess and increase his stats faster.

“Damn it, anyone who sees this would think I’m a complete madman…….”

Aeil shook his head, feeling a moment of self-doubt at his appearance.

He would be pointed at by users who witnessed this scene, and he would have nothing to say even if he was PKed [Player Killed] because they felt bad.

If he saw a crazy user doing this, he would have hated it and avoided it.

But he couldn’t help it.

He couldn’t give up on the act of giving valuable bonus stats in any way.

‘But this…….’

Aeil, feeling a strange sense of crisis, stared at the scene he had created for a moment.

It wasn’t because he was worried about being caught by other users or being ostracized because his name was revealed.

The reason he was feeling a sense of crisis now was because of the emotions he felt inside.

‘This… it’s kind of fun to do.’