Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 152

152. Relic (2)

[A sinful being, a blasphemer, has appeared!]

“This is…….”

The emergence of a monster born from a ritual.

The creature that appeared after devouring High Priest Melia was unlike any ordinary monster they had faced before.

[Bahamut’s high-ranking familiar, ‘Agria,’ has appeared!]

[‘The Covert Explorer’ is wary of the familiar’s intervention!]

[‘The Ruler of the Volcano’ urges you to eliminate him quickly!]

‘To summon a familiar in this situation…….’

Eile frowned at the unexpected turn of events.

In Warlord, ‘familiars’ are subordinates of deities, essentially extensions of the seven gods.

Naturally, while not as powerful as the gods themselves, they are higher beings with powers far beyond those of ordinary terrestrial entities.

Such a being had appeared directly before him.

‘Were they aiming for this from the start?’

Now he understood why they hadn’t retreated and continued the fight.

After the Blood Oath Guild joined, making their defeat almost certain, the forces outside were merely a distraction.

They had secured the sanctuary by striking Banan Fortress first, then conducted the ritual to manifest the familiar.

A high-ranking familiar of Bahamut could turn the tide of the situation in one fell swoop.

‘But summoning a high-ranking familiar requires significant influence… How?’

Even for a large order, summoning a high-ranking familiar was no easy feat.

Especially after Bahamut had triggered this world event, it was even less likely he could immediately follow up with such an action.

Thump!

The staggering monster crashed into a wall, shaking the ground.

Agria tried to move its newly acquired body, but the overall creaking sensation remained.

[The familiar’s power from the manifestation has not fully taken hold!]

[It is undergoing the process of settling into a mortal body. Agria’s power will increase over time.]

‘That’s somewhat fortunate…….’

Even though it appeared through a long ritual, it needed more time to unleash its full power.

Now, while it was still weak compared to its inherent strength,

He had to act before it grew much stronger.

「We must end this quickly.」

“I know!”

Simultaneously, the two stepped forward, closing the distance with the creature.

Normally, it was essential to understand the patterns before engaging in a full-scale raid.

But there was no time for that now.

Clang!

Agria swung its arm.

Its long claws scraped fiercely across the floor.

But the two instead moved further inside, breaking through and plunging their swords into its chest.

Stab!

Black blood gushed from the monster’s sides.

A clear hit on a vulnerable spot, not a defensive stance or a hardened area.

However, Agria’s health bar on the status screen didn’t decrease by even 1 percent.

Its total health pool was enormous.

Swish.

The black blood that poured down stained the blood Melia had scattered during the ritual, turning it black.

Then, Agria twisted its body violently, unleashing a shockwave in all directions.

Eile and Neshua, who were close by, were thrown in opposite directions.

Kkyaaaa!

The monster’s cry of pain echoed.

But to Eile’s ears, it sounded not like a simple monster’s roar, but like a human scream.

It was an unpleasant sound, as if Melia’s chanting and the monster’s voice were mixed in equal parts.

Drip.

Blood began to flow from the giant monster’s entire body.

Black blood poured from every inch of its skin, not just the wounds where they had stabbed it.

The pool of blood on the floor was completely blackened.

A fierce light emanated from Agria’s eyes as they flashed open.

‘Here it comes!’

Thud!

Spikes of blood shot out, intertwining in all directions.

The blood that had pooled on the floor took shape, densely covering the surroundings.

The attack’s range covered the entire underground space of the sanctuary.

The spikes, filling not only the room but also the corridors of the sanctuary leading outside, rained down densely, piercing everything they touched.

‘What kind of pattern is……!’

Eile barely managed to slip through a narrow gap between the spikes.

But it was impossible to avoid all the spikes covering the entire room, and he could only avoid fatal injuries.

[Remaining Health – 30.1%]

An attack he managed to evade by reacting as quickly as possible.

That single attack had depleted 70 percent of his total health.

Even this was only possible because he had barely found the best course of action to survive.

Neshua on the opposite side was in a similar situation.

‘Is this what a high-ranking familiar is…….’

Eile was sweating profusely.

The monster’s attack pattern, which it had just unleashed, was virtually unavoidable.

With its fast activation speed, powerful damage, and ridiculous range,

Unless one had reaction speeds comparable to a top-ranked player, there was no way to survive.

Clang!

At the same time, the sound of a bottle breaking was heard.

Fortunately, there was a slight delay while the spikes retracted, and Eile and Neshua quickly drank potions to recover.

There was no time to be amazed by their opponent.

Once again, the two kicked off the ground, dodging the monster’s long arms and claws, and thrust their attacks.

Perhaps because it was a special sanctuary, the terrain didn’t break, but the monster’s main body was in danger even if it was hit directly just once.

They had to be careful enough to avoid being killed by a single mistake.

But that didn’t mean they lost their boldness.

Although not many, their attack skills landed one after another, and the monster’s health gradually decreased.

Thud!

Agria’s spike pattern was activated again.

This time, the pattern was activated without warning, and Eile, who was a little closer, was exposed to even denser spikes.

“Kugh……!”

Eile, staggering back, steadied himself on the floor.

He had barely survived, but his health had been reduced to near-death.

‘The shield is completely useless.’

Eile tossed aside the tattered shield.

Even though it was a rare-grade shield with damage reduction options, it couldn’t withstand the monster’s spikes at all and was pierced through.

He threw away the potion bottle and activated the Healing Light skill to replenish his remaining health.

But they weren’t the only ones who could heal.

The bizarre monster gathered its arms as if praying, an action that didn’t suit its appearance.

Whirr!

As white light enveloped it, the wounds all over its body began to heal.

It was the monster’s healing pattern.

‘As expected of the Water Order……!’

Eile quickly swapped weapons.

The health he had painstakingly reduced was recovering, and he had to stop the pattern immediately.

Thwack!

The dagger he threw struck the monster’s chest accurately.

It was a fairly expensive piece of equipment with an unhealable option that Eile carried as a secondary weapon.

The white light that was being emitted was still there, but the wounds stopped healing, and the health recovery also stopped abruptly.

He hadn’t been investing in various secondary weapons for nothing.

It was to be able to respond flexibly to each situation like this.

“Neshua!”

Eile shouted, looking at the opposite side.

Neshua, who received his gaze, nodded.

In a situation as urgent as this, they couldn’t share their intentions in detail, but there was no need for lengthy explanations.

[Superior Judgment Spear Scroll – 167Lv]

[Superior Silence Spear Scroll – 163Lv]

Flash!

The two scrolls used simultaneously emitted light.

The opponent was a high-ranking familiar under Bahamut.

Even though it was weakened, that didn’t mean its inherent status disappeared.

It was an opponent that even superior scrolls wouldn’t deal significant damage to.

‘But it can provide a momentary binding!’

Clang!

The giant spears that flew from both sides pierced the monster’s body.

Agria’s movements were temporarily stopped by the spears that were lodged in an X shape.

Thud!

As the monster strained its body, cracks appeared on the giant spears, as if they would break at any moment.

But before the effects of the spears disappeared,

Eile slammed his sword into the ground and activated a skill.

Boom!

The Sword of Punishment that fell from above struck Agria.

Added to the various damage bonuses applied against heretics, it was poured onto a unique-grade divine magic.

The monster’s health bar decreased rapidly due to the massive damage.

And the remaining health of Agria was.

[Remaining Health – 81.1%]

“Ha… I guess I have to roll around a bit more…….”

Eile chuckled and kicked off the ground.

* * *

Whoosh!

Eile, pushed back by the shockwave, barely managed to maintain his balance and steadied himself on the floor.

But he had to throw himself away from the incoming spike pattern.

‘Whew, I did well this time.’

Eile expressed satisfaction with his health, which had only been reduced by half.

It was an extremely difficult pattern that couldn’t be memorized due to its irregular activation timing and attack method.

Even for them, a precarious tightrope walk continued in a situation where it wouldn’t be strange for them to die at any moment.

And the raid that had been going on like that was beginning to show some signs of reaching its end.

The monster’s health, which had seemed like it would never die, was now only 30 percent left.

Kkyaaaa!

The monster began to scream again.

Covering its head with its wounded arms, it began to rampage as if it had lost its mind.

It was a completely different behavior from what it had shown so far.

“Well… I didn’t think it would end easily.”

Eile raised his long sword and prepared for the signs of the next phase.

He had expected that something more would be revealed when its health was low.

But exactly what kind of phase would come was completely beyond his expectations.

Whirr!

“……!”

The space around where Neshua was standing was distorted.

Neshua, startled, kicked off the ground and tried to dodge, but it was impossible to escape from the space that had already begun to suck him in.

Flash!

Neshua disappeared completely without a trace.

“What…….”

Eile quickly checked the party window.

But Neshua’s health bar was still active, and there was no death mark.

In other words, the pattern had just sent him to another space somewhere.

This meant that Eile had to face the monster alone.

But unlike his expectation that it would now attack in earnest, the monster, which had stopped abruptly, began to vomit and spewed something out from within.

Thud!

A woman fell from the monster’s giant mouth.

At that moment, a spatial distortion occurred near the monster, just like what had happened to Neshua, and it suddenly disappeared somewhere as well.

‘Did it go to Neshua’s side?’

Thud!

The woman, steadying herself on the floor, staggered to her feet.

It was High Priest Melia, who had regained her appearance, not the beast that had lost its mind earlier.

But eerily, her eyes, which had been dyed pitch black, were telling him that she was not the original her.

“The First Apostle, the Sixth Executor, a pawn of Ru.”

She tilted her head and stared at Eile, slowly opening her mouth.

Strangely, a man’s and a woman’s voices mixed together at the same time.

“I will cut off your breath… so you can’t interfere anymore.”