Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 74

74. Light and Shadow (5)

As most players know, there are seven divinities in Warlord.

However, the ‘divinities’ mentioned here only refer to transcendent entities that are officially recognized by everyone.

Beings from a dimension above mortal beings on the ground.

There are more transcendent beings actually existing within the continent than that, with the Eight Demons of Warlord being representative examples.

And of course, there were inevitably those who followed them down the wrong path.

“The Crimson Twilight Society.”

Aeil muttered, examining the corpse.

The unidentified man who suddenly attacked was felled by Aeil’s hand, revealing the emblem imprinted on his black robe.

The emblem of the Demon of Greed, ‘Venaron.’

It was the mark used by the Crimson Twilight Society, a demon-worshipping cult.

Followers of Venaron, one of the evil Eight Demons, they were a fairly well-known cult among players.

They committed all sorts of atrocities throughout the continent and were enemies of all seven divinities and their orders, maintaining an extremely poor relationship with the Order of Light to which Aeil belonged.

‘I never thought I’d get involved with them like this.’

Aeil raised his head again.

A grand altar stood imposingly, surrounded by scattered human corpses.

Clear bloodstains were splattered everywhere, vividly remaining as evidence of the massacre.

It was a clear sign of human sacrifice.

Judging from the lingering smell of blood and the recent traces, it seemed they had been dragging outsiders from beyond the village, in addition to the villagers who had been here, to use as sacrifices until recently.

[‘Lu, the Judge of Light,’ is angered by the horrific scene!]

As the Goddess of Justice, Lu naturally could not tolerate such acts.

Of course, the Order of Light was second to none when it came to cruelty against heretics, but the big difference here was the target.

Venaron’s followers mostly captured and sacrificed civilians who had no connection to them, and the priests of the Order of Light, engrossed in their own justice, would be horrified just to see them.

“Why did you believe in guys like this?”

Aeil asked Neshua, who was examining the altar with an intrigued look.

Players weren’t restricted by factions when accepting quests, but accepting requests from shady forces like this would naturally increase the chances of getting backstabbed.

However, Neshua silently shook his head.

Meaning he didn’t receive the request from the Crimson Twilight Society.

‘Well, even if it’s not the Order of Light, they’re pretty much a common enemy to all the orders. There’s no way a follower of Hin would be with them. And from the Twilight Society’s point of view, there’s no reason to bother the High Elves and provoke them. So, someone who borrowed the Twilight Society’s power…’

It could be a partnership with a common goal, or just a simple transaction.

Of course, the most certain thing was to ask the person involved directly, but Neshua didn’t seem willing to reveal who he received the request from.

Even though there was a high probability of being betrayed, he wasn’t 100 percent sure yet from his point of view, and he seemed to want to resolve it himself even if it was a betrayal.

Maybe he had a separate contract to prevent disclosure.

[Additional bounty adjustments have been made to the quest objective.]

‘Additional rewards… I like it?’

A faint smile appeared on Aeil’s lips as he checked the message.

The fact that they had an extremely poor relationship with each other also meant that they would welcome the other’s destruction even more.

The goddess, who had been watching silently, suddenly added additional rewards to the quest in the same context.

‘If I do well, I might be able to establish a relationship with the Order.’

Creak!

At that moment, hidden doors on all sides opened, and heretics poured out from within.

Judging by the fact that they were all wearing black robes with the same emblem, they were all fanatics of the Twilight Society.

“Kill them! Don’t let them escape!”

The old man shouted, pointing at Aeil and Neshua.

Then, the fanatics on all sides began to climb the altar towards them, who were investigating on top of the altar.

The sight of the fanatics rushing in like a horde of zombies with bloodshot eyes was truly like those possessed by madness.

“Is this the third challenge?”

Aeil nudged Neshua with his elbow.

“What do you want to do? Front? Or back?”

「Back」

“Okay.”

* * *

“Keuheok… !”

The old man who was running away was stabbed in the back with a dagger.

The old man fell to the ground, and Neshua, who followed, came and retrieved the dagger, finishing him off.

They had successfully broken through to the third basement level after slaughtering all the fanatics who were rushing in from all sides.

The old man, who seemed to be in charge of this place, kept calling in the fanatics inside the facility and using them as shields to run away, so it took quite a while to catch him.

However, Aeil and Neshua had eliminated everyone who blocked their path without leaving a single one behind, so there was no way to run away anymore.

– Acquired item!

[Key to the Exit (Quest)]

‘This time, it’s an item to head to the next place… Judging by the fact that it says exit, was this the last scenario? Or maybe there’s still a boss fight left.’

Aeil thought, checking the looted item.

Whether this was the end or something more remained, it seemed certain that they were approaching the end of the dungeon.

However, the third basement level where they were located was the last floor connected by stairs, and there was no exit to be seen anywhere.

They had chased the fleeing old follower all the way down here, so there was no structure they had missed, which meant that there was a high possibility that an exit existed in the vicinity they had passed so far.

Aeil pondered alone for a moment, but when a definite answer didn’t come to mind, he turned around and asked Neshua.

“Did you see any place that looked like an exit while coming here?”

「A blocked passage in the corner of the second floor」

After a moment of hesitation to recall, Neshua remembered one place that he suspected was an exit and scribbled the letters.

“Ah, that could be it.”

Aeil nodded in agreement, recalling the place.

[The third scenario has been completed!]

[Partial experience has been acquired!]

The third scenario was completed, and now all that remained was to find the exit.

But right then.

Gugugung!

The ceiling rumbled loudly and debris fell, and an ominous vibration was transmitted through the ground.

[The final scenario has begun!]

[The altar has been destroyed, revealing another threat. Escape from ‘Malagos,’ the minion of greed, and safely exit the dungeon!]

[Time remaining until the dungeon collapses ’00:17:59′]

“What…?”

Aeil, startled, looked at the message window.

Before he could even encounter the blasphemer that the goddess had given him a quest to find, a quest appeared to escape without being caught within the time limit.

Moreover, the time given until the dungeon collapsed was 18 minutes.

He had to shake off Venaron’s minion and escape the dungeon within that time.

Kwaang!

One side of the ceiling collapsed with a strong explosion, and a huge giant appeared through it.

A grotesque demon-type monster with protruding fangs and reddish skin.

The guy was carrying a large club that filled his hand.

[The existence of sin, the blasphemer, has been discovered!]

[You have encountered ‘Malagos,’ a blasphemer who is an evil demon’s servant and desecrates the teachings. Make sure they pay for their sins!]

[A large penalty will be given if the mission fails!]

‘Damn it, I should have known…’

Unfortunately, the target to escape in the dungeon scenario was a sworn enemy that the Order of Light should never turn its back on.

It was truly the worst-case scenario.

Since he had received Lu’s quest to eliminate the blasphemer in the dungeon, if he turned his back and ran away, the favor stat that he had managed to raise to over 58 percent would evaporate greatly.

However, recklessly fighting him was also reckless.

Judging from the content of the scenario, which was to escape rather than attack the boss, it meant that he was an enemy that was difficult to handle with ordinary power.

Moreover, with a time limit of 18 minutes, Aeil was in a difficult situation in many ways.

But.

‘You never know until you try.’

No matter how one-sided the dungeon scenario was, there was no enemy in Warlord that you had to lose to unconditionally.

The enemy’s level visible in the information window was 35.

He couldn’t find out the detailed stats of how strong he was, but at least he was an enemy near the level range of the dungeon.

If a monster with an overwhelming level had appeared from the start, Aeil’s attack, which was only level 31, would not have dealt any damage even if he died and came back to life, but that was not the case.

“Go out first. I’ll take care of that guy and follow you…”

「That’s not the scenario!」

Neshua grabbed Aeil’s shoulder and held out the parchment in front of his eyes.

Hastily scribbled letters and a frowned expression as if he couldn’t understand the situation.

It was a natural reaction.

In a scenario where you have to run away, he was going to fight the boss, and Aeil would have reacted the same way if he were in the opposite position.

쿵쿵쿵!

But even in the meantime, the monster was approaching quickly, and there was no time to explain in detail.

Moreover, he had even less conscience to drag someone into this low-probability fight.

[Attack power has temporarily increased!]

[Defense power has temporarily increased!]

[Speed has temporarily increased!]

[Maximum health has temporarily increased!]

[Regeneration speed has temporarily increased!]

[Shock resistance has temporarily increased!]

.

.

.

Clang!

The bottles containing various potions fell to the floor, and Aeil, who had finished doping, lightly wiped his mouth and opened his mouth.

“Go quickly. I’m going to take all the rewards for myself.”