Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 101

101. The Best Defense (5)

Clang!

The hammer swung repeatedly, smashing into the walls and creating a deafening roar.

The hammer was chasing Aile, but it couldn’t reach him.

“You little rat!”

Sledge, enraged, swung his hammer wildly.

But Aile dodged and deflected his attacks. When a clear opening appeared, he counterattacked.

Unlike Sledge’s consistently missing attacks, Aile’s counterattacks, though infrequent, landed accurately.

Despite Aile initially allowing a surprise attack, as the battle progressed, Sledge’s health steadily decreased.

Tsutsutsutsu!

With surging magical power, a dark aura wrapped around his arm, and Sledge’s strength exploded once again.

As Aile had guessed, he was a mage who focused on physical enhancement magic.

However, due to the nature of forbidden magic, it had a much more powerful effect than ordinary physical enhancement magic, which generally wasn’t very efficient.

But that was it.

“Kuhuk……!”

Sledge staggered back, having been stabbed in the side with a spear.

For Aile, this was only his second one-on-one battle against a humanoid, but compared to Roden, whom he had faced before, it was nothing.

Sledge, who had already been designated as a heretic, was level 35.

Aile was overwhelming him with skill alone, without even using skills or items.

‘Still not enough.’

Jjeoeong!

The moment Sledge’s balance was broken due to an overly large movement, Aile struck his hammer head-on.

Sledge’s arm was momentarily forced back, and Aile, having created an opening, swung his longsword.

He could have cut deeper, but he didn’t.

Just enough to subdue him was sufficient.

Kudangtang!

Sledge, deeply cut, slammed his head into the ground.

“I, it can’t be…….”

Sledge, on the verge of death, muttered in disbelief.

He seemed quite desperate, but Aile, not caring at all, tied him up tightly with rope.

“You said it wouldn’t just be interrogation, right? You can look forward to it.”

“You bastard……!”

“Let’s gag him too.”

“Uuup!”

Aile gagged Sledge, who was showing signs of becoming noisy.

He was bulky and uncomfortable, but not enough to cause problems dragging him along the ground.

But then, something unexpected happened.

Shuiiiik!

Kwadeuk!

A thrown spear pierced Sledge’s head from behind.

Sledge, already low on health, had no way to resist and died instantly.

“Ah, no……!”

Aile grabbed him by the collar and shook him.

But that didn’t bring back someone whose health was completely depleted, and Sledge lay limp on the ground, bleeding out.

Unidentified people appeared from the direction the spear had come from, rushing in.

They had run from the direction of the dungeon entrance and quickly surrounded Aile.

Not monsters or NPCs [Non-player characters], but users.

Aile examined their equipment and took in the White Fang insignia drawn on various parts of their armor.

“White Fang……?”

“Don’t move from your spot.”

The guild members pressured him with threatening attitudes.

Their levels and equipment were incomparable to Aile’s, and there were a lot of them.

‘Damn it, what is this? They wouldn’t have gathered like this to catch a level 30 newbie…….’

Because of the guild members who had suddenly intruded, the Executioner he was supposed to capture had died.

He had lost an important clue related to the world quest, and he was dumbfounded by their sudden appearance, wondering how they had tracked him down.

More than anything else, it was difficult to understand why they had appeared in front of him.

There was no way that guild members with levels in the triple digits would all go hunting together in this level 40 hunting ground.

Moreover, if it was White Fang, it was the guild that Beken, who had been bothering him, kept mentioning.

He wondered if Beken, consumed with revenge, had enough influence and standing to move the White Fang guild members even during the conflict with Frostflame.

White Fang was a reasonably sized guild, and Aile, having seen all of Beken’s crazy antics, found it hard to believe.

‘Come to think of it…….’

After Aile uploaded his second video, the White Fang guild contacted him through his WarTube account and offered him a recruitment proposal.

But of course, he had a bad history with Beken, and since he had rejected the offer from the 12 Fortresses guild, he naturally ignored their offer.

‘Could it be related to that……?’

Aile gritted his teeth, his head tangled with frustration.

He was extremely angry that the Executioner he was trying to capture had died, but for now, he had to deal with the situation he was in.

“What’s going on all of a sudden? You wouldn’t have gathered like this just to catch a level 30 newbie…….”

“If you try anything, your head will fly off.”

A guild member with a stiff expression warned him, raising his sword.

Judging from the murderous atmosphere of the dozen or so guild members surrounding him, his neck would be pierced at any moment if he tried to escape carelessly.

Then, Godin, who had been walking slowly, stepped forward through the guild members.

‘The guild master himself came……?’

Aile, who already knew about Godin, the guild leader of White Fang, couldn’t hide his surprised expression.

It was surprising that the guild members had come like this, but the guild master himself had come all the way here.

At this point, it had gone beyond a scale that could be explained by Beken’s revenge.

“Aile, I know that you are the Inquisitor who defeated Roden. I contacted you separately, but there was no reply.”

Godin, who had brought up the story out of the blue, said.

As if he knew everything, he brought up not only the name he had never mentioned but also Aile’s identity.

“How……?”

“You had a problem with my brother, right? It’s a simple matter.”

The start of this incident was Aile’s new video becoming a bigger topic.

Even Beken, who was insensitive to Warlord-related issues, belatedly checked his video.

And he realized that the crazy Inquisitor in the Ingold Forest video from the past was Aile, who had killed him.

No matter how clueless Beken was, he couldn’t not know, given that the equipment, timing, and location were all the same.

And Beken, who would never miss this opportunity, ran straight to his brother.

When he poured out his story, Godin, thinking he was trying to make another unreasonable demand, initially doubted it, saying it was nonsense.

But when Beken’s colleagues who were with him at the time started to chime in with their testimonies, the situation changed.

“I thought it was nonsense, but it turns out you really were the guy who clashed with my brother.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“If we have just a few definite clues, it’s easy to find out your identity in Warlord. The Inquisitor class itself isn’t common either.”

‘Damn it, I knew things were going too well lately.’

Aile cursed inwardly, finding no way out.

He thought that Beken was an unsettling factor, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything for the time being due to the confrontation between the two guilds and the mercenary guild withdrawing.

He never imagined that things would turn out like this.

“Since it was his fault in this conflict, I won’t hold you accountable for the clash. I’ll keep your face and name a secret, so you can continue to operate while keeping your identity hidden.”

“Really? Then why did you bother coming all the way here to tell me that?”

Aile retorted sarcastically to Godin’s words.

There was no way they had tracked him down all the way here just to say something like that.

It was impossible not to notice that those guys had other intentions unless you were a newborn baby.

Then Godin looked to the side and nodded, and one of the guild members who had been waiting approached and handed Aile a piece of paper.

Aile frowned and looked down at the document after receiving it.

He wondered what the paper was, but it turned out to be a contract with the guild, filled with terms and conditions.

“You haven’t belonged to a guild yet, have you? I know that normal guild activities are difficult because of the Order. That’s why we’re proposing a cooperative relationship. We’ll guarantee you as much personal activity as you want, and we’ve set the conditions, including salary, without any shortcomings. And if you just sign it willingly, we won’t have to unnecessarily make each other’s faces red.”

“…….”

Words filled with subtle pressure.

The purpose of the guys who had come all the way here was revealed.

It was a matter that Aile had not anticipated, to get him into their hands.

Aile might not be an immediate asset yet, but they intended to raise the guild’s reputation by using his fame as a promising rookie and named player who was emerging.

Of course, contracts through coercion had no legal effect, whether in reality or in the game.

There was no way Godin didn’t know that.

But he was using the fact that Aile was low-level and had no affiliation to kill him as soon as he tried to leave the guild.

Signing the contract was just a formality, and the essence was clearly a proposal made only through coercion.

But even in this situation, Aile couldn’t help but laugh at his actions.

“Did you really think you could keep me tied to the guild with that method?”

“What?”

“You’ve been playing guild leader in Warlord, and it looks like your senses have dulled a lot. You were a ranker in Clan War, after all.”

“You knew about me……?”

Godin frowned at the unexpected story.

Before coming to Warlord, he was a ranker in a minor game called ‘Clan War’.

The level of rankers was relatively lower than in the three major games, including East Horn, and other major games, as the scale was smaller.

But that didn’t mean that the title of ‘ranker’ disappeared somewhere.

No matter the size, a skilled player in one game was never easy to deal with.

“It looks like you’ve been away from the field for a while? You’ve only been comfortably going to dungeons and raids where you’ve laid down guild members.”

“I know you’re skilled, but don’t be arrogant more than necessary. No matter how much you suppressed Roden, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re a low-level player who isn’t even level 40.”

[‘Light’s Arbiter, Lugh,’ hopes he punches him in the face!]

Lugh, unable to bear the frustration, sent a message.

Aile, who had been doing well, was suddenly being disturbed like this, so she must have been quite annoyed.

But she had already used a lot of influence, and the Order was focusing all its efforts on the Twilight Church, so there was no way to help.

In other words, Aile had no choice but to solve this problem himself.

“You guys messed with the wrong person.”

“Really? What can you do in this situation?”

“You’ll see.”

Chiiiik!

Aile tore up the contract in front of them as if to show off.

Then the enraged guild members raised their weapons, but before they could even rush in, Aile closed his eyes tightly.

Paah!

“Kkeuaaak!”

“T, this……!”

A strong flash of light spread in all directions, and the guild members who had seen the flash with their bare eyes staggered, covering their eyes.

It was the effect of the magic scroll that had suddenly appeared in Aile’s hand.

They had been somewhat careless, but it happened so suddenly that they couldn’t react.

There was usually some preliminary action required to take something out of the inventory, but Aile didn’t have any of that just now.

‘Damn it! This is a complete loss.’

Aile, who had taken the opportunity to escape out of the dungeon, bit his lip.

The contribution points he had spent to purchase the scroll were completely wasted, and even the original purpose of trying to find out information through this pursuit had been nullified.

More than anything else, it wasn’t just a persistent recruitment offer, but they dared to use such tricks and threats.

‘I’m definitely not letting this go.’

Aile gritted his teeth.