Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 144

144. The Turbulent Continent (5)

[You have judged an apostate!]

[The stat bonus is doubled due to the effect of executing judgment.]

Whoosh!

The monster’s corpse, which had been hanging on the pyre and burning, completely crumbled to ashes.

Even after the appearance of the three divinities, Aile continued to hunt.

Regardless of the appearance of the divinities, the need for constant growth remained unchanged.

However, after their appearance, something had changed from before.

[‘The Ruler of the Volcano’ rejoices in the fiery baptism!]

The Ruler of the Volcano, Razagal.

He was the god of passion, fire, and destruction.

He was also the master of the ‘Order of Fire,’ the second-largest order in terms of the number of followers among the Warlord’s orders.

Although the Order of Light had been showing remarkable growth recently, increasing its size, it was still in third place in terms of the number of followers and had not yet surpassed them.

This was thanks to the fact that the favorability of Razagal’s followers was specialized in ‘attack power,’ which was something that would never be disliked.

‘The effects of the favorability of the followers of light are a bit better, but since the divinity is simple, there are no major penalties…’

It was the faith of Ru that evenly raised all combat stats, but the reason why users avoided it was because of the goddess’s crazy tendencies.

On the other hand, in the case of Razagal, the requirements were simple, befitting his third epithet of destruction, so there was no burden.

All that was required was to kill more than a certain number of living beings within a certain period, or to destroy items of a certain value or higher.

The number was counted simply by hunting monsters or wreaking havoc in dungeons, so it was a much lesser penalty compared to other orders.

[‘The Covert Explorer’ is interested in your skills.]

The next divinity to send a message was the Covert Explorer, Lennox.

He was the god of knowledge, sky, and void.

He was the god of the ‘Celestial Order,’ which was mostly composed of mage users.

As a divinity with the epithet of exploration, he had strengths in magic power and mana consumption, so mage users mainly flocked to him.

I had also seen his symbols in the facilities of the Covenant, which had dabbled in forbidden magic.

‘The divinities that have revealed themselves to me include Ru, for a total of four. The other three divinities have not yet appeared. But it’s safe to assume that they are all awake by now.’

Aile was certain that all seven divinities of Warlord had awakened.

The competition between the divinities, which had been dormant until now, had begun in earnest.

It was much earlier than the time originally set during development, but the situation had changed due to the appearance of Ru due to an error.

‘The system must have moved the situation.’

Warlord’s system, designed to be managed without external intervention, was not simply sloppy.

In theory, it was a perfect game where errors could not occur, but even if an error did occur, the system would act to prevent the balance from being completely broken.

Ru had been hiding as much as possible so that she would not be detected, but her efforts alone had limitations.

Various chain reactions were taking place in response to the early activity of the divinities.

‘Even so, why is everyone making such a fuss here?’

Aile looked at the messages with a somewhat bewildered expression.

The divinities who had noticed his existence continued to watch Aile and send messages.

When he showed off a great play while hunting, they admired him or showed a positive reaction, but when he made a mistake, they sneered.

They were watching him like viewers to relieve their boredom.

‘They should be looking at their own followers.’

From Aile’s point of view, he couldn’t understand, but from the divinity’s point of view, there were almost no restrictions when looking down on an ‘Apostle.’

They could look down on the world with a clear view without any consumption.

On the other hand, when looking down on the world through other routes, they had to consume a certain amount of influence or feel frustrated due to the blurry vision.

Naturally, even if they were divinities of other orders, their attention would be focused on Aile, who had a greater influence on the world and had enjoyable things to see.

[‘The Light Judge, Ru,’ encourages you!]

[She hopes that you will not be swayed by the appearance of other gods.]

This time, Ru sent a message.

Originally, it was difficult to receive even a single glance from the god, even if you were a devout follower of that god, but Aile was monopolizing the attention of all the gods.

This was thanks to Aile being the ‘First Apostle’ in Warlord.

Due to the nature of the Apostle, he was gathering and carrying the enormous influence of the divinities, so he was an interesting sight to see and a target of vigilance at the same time.

Ru wanted him not to be intimidated by the appearance of the divinities.

Of course, Aile, who had been trained in concept acting [acting according to a pre-determined role or persona] under Ru’s gaze, would never do that.

[‘The Mother of Life’ offers you a proposal.]

[She wants you to become the Apostle of the Earth. She promises enormous support and rewards that other gods cannot give.]

‘This is…?’

The first to make an open approach was Freya.

Her faction, the ‘Order of Earth,’ had the largest number of followers and boasted the wealthiest resources among the seven orders.

This was thanks to the effects of favorability specialized for production job users.

All that was required of the followers was to offer tributes on a regular basis.

As long as you had some economic power, it was the order faction that you could join most easily.

Thanks to the largest scale of the order, Freya’s influence was also the highest, and in fact, it was the faith that had been at the forefront of the seven orders.

Her words that she would give enormous support and rewards that other divinities could not give were not simply empty words to entice Aile.

[‘The Light Judge, Ru,’ expresses extreme displeasure!]

Before he could react, Ru revealed her animosity towards Freya by sending a new message.

Creating an Apostle required investing a huge amount of influence.

However, on the other hand, if you converted someone who was already an Apostle, you could easily steal them with very little influence.

It was natural for her to express strong displeasure at Freya’s proposal.

However, Freya did not listen to Ru’s reaction.

[‘The Mother of Life’ awaits your confirmation.]

‘A confident attitude. She must be thinking that I will definitely come since she is the largest order and has offered the promise of a divinity. But…’

Aile was well aware of the positions of each divinity he was currently in.

Originally, the system related to ‘Apostles’ was a late-game content that only appeared after users above level 500 appeared.

But now, the divinities had awakened too early, and as a result, they had started their activities without securing enough influence.

This meant that it was somewhat difficult to create a new Apostle.

Even Ru, at the time, had given Aile the qualifications of an Apostle by using almost all of the influence she had at the time.

If Aile had not performed better than expected, it would have been a very big loss for her.

Of course, the result was good from Ru’s point of view, but other divinities would not easily try such a gamble unless they had proven talent.

‘Besides, the competition between the divinities has begun now.’

Ru, who had awakened first, was able to make a big investment by looking at the future before the other divinities showed any movement.

However, the story was different for the divinities who had recently awakened.

If they forced themselves to create an Apostle now, they would not be able to respond to any active movements, including world events, even if other divinities showed them, due to their depleted influence.

They would prefer to entice Aile, who has the power of the Apostle, or move in other directions to increase their influence.

But.

“I refuse that offer.”

Aile shook his head.

[‘The Light Judge, Ru,’ is relieved by your choice!]

[‘The Ruler of the Volcano’ rejoices and mocks her!]

[‘The Mother of Life’ is greatly angered!]

[You have rejected the divinity’s polite offer! The vengeful Goddess of Death will be after your head!]

‘As expected…’

I had already expected the attitude that the proud Freya would show.

And Aile rejected her offer knowing that this would happen.

Since I was already serving the Order of Light and Ru and had become an Apostle, changing my faith in the middle was not a good choice.

It might be different for ordinary players, but Aile’s exclusive stats and skills that he had accumulated so far were not at an ordinary level.

Even if Freya promised full support, considering the position he had secured in the Order of Light and other factors, he had more to lose than to gain.

But one thing.

I don’t coldly reject her offer.

“However, I think I need a little time to think about it.”

[‘The Mother of Life’ pauses at your words.]

[Her anger that had covered the earth subsided in an instant.]

[‘The Covert Explorer’ reveals that your choice is unexpected.]

[‘The Ruler of the Volcano’ scratches his head awkwardly.]

As unexpected words followed, the divinities’ messages popped up.

But Ru’s message, which seemed like it would show a big reaction, did not appear.

Of course, that was only for a moment.

Tsutsutsutsu!

Noise covered the surroundings.

With an intense flash, the Goddess of Light appeared.

Flash!

As Ru waved her hand, the surrounding space distorted once, and the messages from the other divinities stopped appearing.

A space completely cut off from the outside.

Ru’s blazing eyes pierced Aile.

“You, I need an explanation?”

“Haha…”

* * *

After the problematic statement, Ru came to Aile in person, and it took quite a long time to clear up her deep misunderstanding.

“So, you were just planning to use the other divinities?”

“Yes, there’s no need to fight from the start.”

Aile replied simply.

Although everyone was a competitor, there was no need to get involved in a hostile relationship with other divinities from the start.

Just like he had been active without joining any guild, he could trade and use them among the divinities who wanted him.

“Ahem…”

Ru cleared her throat.

Her restless appearance had finally stabilized to some extent.

I felt like something had been reversed for a moment, and I thought that this was the importance of a competitor.

“Perhaps… you’re not planning to betray me after saying all this?”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“O-Of course I trust you. But…”

“You don’t have to worry. I have no intention of choosing another order now.”

“If that’s the case… thank you.”

Ru smiled in relief.

“Goddess, you shouldn’t bring in other Apostles later and abandon me?”

Ru only had Aile as her Apostle right now, but that wouldn’t be the case forever.

As a late-game content open to everyone, the number of Apostles in Warlord would gradually increase over time.

Of course, it would take a very long time for that to happen.

“T-There’s no way that would happen? What do you think of me…”

“Can I really believe you?”

“Of course! In the first place, there can’t be an Apostle like you.”

Ru, who had answered in a fit of anger because of Aile’s questioning, soon covered her head.

I felt like I had been completely caught up in the atmosphere.

“Haa, what is this… I’m going now!”

Flash!

With a white light, Ru’s figure disappeared.

The distorted space also returned to normal.