Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 110

110. The Essence of Hunting (3)

Thud!

Aeil leaped over the high wall and landed on the ground.

The center of the Dragon Tail Forest was largely occupied by the Lizardmen’s village, and Aeil was entering it unnoticed.

Aeil, avoiding the Lizardmen’s eyes as much as possible, ventured deep inside and unfolded a map in the shadows.

‘Not here either… Then the only place left is this one.’

Aeil, who had marked the map, pondered.

He had been going around the most suspicious places, considering the structure of the hunting grounds and the locations where the Lizardmen were placed.

However, he had not yet found any traces of the cult members, and now only one of the first expected areas remained.

‘I hope this is the right one.’

Perhaps because he had witnessed the *misery* of his fellow beings being murdered, the Lizardmen’s reactions were getting more and more intense.

Even though he was the one who had done it, it seemed better to finish quickly and get out. He didn’t want to go around the inner area again, checking the suspected locations.

The last point was located nearby.

Thud!

Aeil, avoiding the eyes of the guards, secretly entered what appeared to be an old Lizardman building.

“Who are you…?”

A mysterious figure in a shabby robe turned to look at Aeil.

With a rather old voice, he held a staff crookedly and wore a somewhat bizarre crow mask.

It was Thatcher, a heretical mage and a member of the cult.

“Did the kingdom send a tracker?”

“No.”

Whoosh!

White flames erupted on Aeil’s longsword.

Having seen the cult’s seal drawn on the robe, there was no need to be vague.

“Ah, an Inquisitor from the Order. Already causing trouble… This is why I’ve said many times that there’s no need to get involved with the fanatics of light so early…”

Thatcher clicked his tongue as if displeased.

The followers of Ru [likely a deity or religious figure in this world], all of whom were crazy fanatics, had a maniacal tenacity towards those branded as heretics. They were opponents that anyone would be reluctant to make enemies with.

That’s why the old man in front of him seemed to be against it.

But in the end, he was curious about why they had made an enemy while taking such risks.

“Why did you attack the Order?”

“Oh, you can even ask such questions before a fight? That’s unexpected. The ones I’ve seen so far have only been those whose heads are soaked in madness.”

“Well… it doesn’t matter if you don’t answer. I can find out myself.”

Aeil raised his sword.

He didn’t expect to hear anything right away anyway.

However, it was still a strange feeling to be treated like a madman even by villains who had dabbled in forbidden arts.

“How amusing. I didn’t want to waste mana already, but I can’t help it.”

Thud!

Thatcher’s staff slammed forcefully on the floor.

The magic that spread in all directions dyed the surrounding floor black, and a large black dog was summoned from within the magic-stained floor.

A terrifying appearance that seemed more like a creature from hell than an earthly being.

With a disgusting stench, the creature opened its mouth wide and charged straight at Aeil.

Aeil, reacting quickly, avoided the attack and checked the monster’s information.

‘Level 50… and an elite monster?’

Just by seeing him cast magic, he thought it would be a simple summon, but it was a high-level monster treated as an elite monster.

To summon an elite monster with just that much casting time, there was certainly no denying the efficiency of forbidden magic.

But rather, thanks to that, a clear mark of heresy was stamped on the head of that black summon.

Stab!

Aeil, avoiding another surging charge, simultaneously stabbed his sword into the monster’s leg.

It wasn’t fatal damage, but it was to grasp the monster’s approximate health and estimate it through the attack.

‘At this rate…’

Aeil activated the Reverse skill against the monster’s outstretched claws.

Immediately seizing the rear, Aeil raised his longsword as it was, and the unleashed flash completely tore apart the monster’s back.

Kuaaaack!

The monster was engulfed in flames and spewed black blood.

Aeil’s longsword, which fell on the monster’s head as it let out a painful roar, was once again deeply embedded.

[You have judged a heretic!]

[Favor of the Goddess +0.14% (currently 75.10%)]

[Light Order Contribution +30]

[Faith stat +1]

[Madness stat +1]

“Wh, what…!”

Thatcher’s voice, who was preparing the next spell, was filled with astonishment.

Despite being a high-level summon that could never be easily defeated, it fell without even giving him time to cast.

Thatcher hurriedly finished casting and summoned the next monsters one after another.

Like before, they were all elite-level monsters, and they charged at Aeil, following his orders.

But in the end, the result was the same for them as well.

They fell helplessly in front of Aeil, who used his skills in succession, and Thatcher’s complexion gradually turned pale.

Drrrrr!

Then, two golems clad in iron armor appeared as a last resort.

He had summoned summons with high defense to buy time.

But even that was not an adequate countermeasure against Aeil.

The high defense was offset by the equally high defense penetration effect, and rather, due to the large size and slow movement of the monsters, they were only unilaterally subjected to attacks.

Next, he summoned hundreds of corpses crawling on the ground from under the earth, but they were all annihilated and disappeared by Aeil’s Fire Baptism skill.

“Th, this can’t be…”

“Can’t you summon any more now?”

Aeil, who leisurely swallowed a mana potion, asked.

And that question hit the nail on the head.

Because it was a summon through forbidden magic, the efficiency was good, but the number of possible summons was limited, and no more summons were possible.

“Too bad. I was going to earn some more stats.”

Smack!

“Cough…!”

Thatcher, who was attacked in an instant, slammed his head on the floor and collapsed.

Thatcher fell into a near-death state and couldn’t move, and the situation ended as soon as Aeil made up his mind.

He had only been considerate of trying to get more stats and contribution by continuing to summon summons designated as heretics.

‘That was a little dangerous just now. As expected, summoners have low health.’

Thatcher was on the verge of death from the previous blow, and if he had attacked without turning off the Holy Fire, he would have died.

He couldn’t afford to miss the sure catch this time either.

Aeil hurriedly gagged his mouth and tied him up with a rope.

“Are there any other clues somewhere…?”

Aeil, turning his head, checked the room that had become a mess.

It seemed to be Thatcher’s room, which he used as a laboratory, and Aeil carefully checked the room in case there were any clues.

‘Wait, this is…?’

Aeil, who found something under the cluttered bookshelf, picked it up.

It was the royal seal with someone’s signature.

[You have discovered a key quest item!]

[A linked quest related to the quest item will be automatically initiated!]

[A large amount of experience will be given!]

[You have leveled up!]

“What…?”

Aeil looked at the messages with a bewildered expression.

A large amount of experience suddenly granted.

He had caught several elite monsters earlier, but to give enough experience to level up just by finding an item, it was hardly possible.

Even an additional linked quest that he had not accepted was automatically granted.

‘What is this…’

Squeak! Squeak!

But then, angry cries were heard from outside.

The Lizardmen, who had heard the loud battle sounds, began to gather from all directions.

‘I need to get out of here for now.’

Aeil slung the limp Thatcher over his shoulder and left the room.

He had already planned an escape route.

Now it was time to step further into the grand scheme of the world quest.

* * *

“Thank you for your hard work. To prevent any unfortunate events, our temple will be responsible for escorting the prisoner to the Inquisitorial Prison under strict guard.”

“Thank you, Priest. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Aeil, bowing his head, stepped back from his seat.

Aeil, who had escaped from Dragon Tail Forest, headed straight to Ru’s Temple.

He had handed over the captured cult member to the temple managed by the Order of Light.

It was too far for Aeil to drag the prisoner directly to the Inquisitorial Prison near Rockport.

Therefore, he entrusted the escort to the nearest Temple of Light, and the Inquisitorial Prison would handle getting information out of him more reliably than anyone else.

Even if he couldn’t be sure what the outcome would be, if the Inquisitorial Prison failed to extract information, the result would be the same even if he or someone else had taken charge.

With some time left until the escort and interrogation were over, Aeil paused for a moment and fell into thought.

‘I’ve reached level 50, but the problem is the skills.’

Currently, one slot in Aeil’s newly activated skill window was left vacant.

The skill books Aeil had previously possessed were one purple and two red, certainly not a lacking level.

However, in the Warlord’s skill book system, where luck clearly had to be on his side, there could be no such thing as ‘enough,’ and he had failed to acquire a useful skill despite using all three skill books.

A rare skill did come out in the middle, but it was just a plain single-target attack with decent performance, and he had no choice but to give up learning it because its role overlapped with Flash.

As expected, one of the disadvantages was that securing high-level skill books could be a problem if he only hunted in one place.

‘What am I going to do with this now…’

After all, the most typical way to obtain skill books was through quests or against boss monsters.

But he didn’t want to delay his growth by doing repetitive tasks just for skill books.

‘I should start by organizing my items and then think about it.’

Aeil first moved his steps to the city’s auction house.

It was a place he had to visit at least once every time he came to a base area, unless there was something special, to register acquired items and receive sales proceeds from previously listed items.

Just as Aeil entered a sparsely populated alleyway, a pair of men and women wearing cloaks and hoods were approaching from across the street.

‘Wait a minute…’

An atmosphere that seemed somehow unusual.

His senses reacted with an alarm, and Aeil, who immediately turned his direction, tried to get out of the alley.

“W, wait a moment!”

The woman, shouting at Aeil, hurriedly took off her hood.

Hair containing a clear blue light flowed down, and Aeil, who reflexively turned his gaze, was able to see her exposed face.

A face he already knew well… no, a face he couldn’t possibly not know.

Seia, of the royal family that dominates the entire Warlord, and the only princess of the royal bloodline, appeared in front of Aeil.