Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 16

Apostle (3)

“What should I do…”

Aeil muttered, hidden behind a rock.

He was dodging arrows and slowly approaching the building where the archer was.

However, the Tragoul was rampaging, and the distance from the initial building had increased considerably, making the terrain very unfavorable for him, who specialized in close combat.

Even if he ran that distance diligently, he would likely be hit and lose his stamina and focus while constantly dodging the arrows flying at him.

Furthermore, even if he arrived safely, if all the other users were in cahoots [working together], Aeil, with his dwindling stamina, would inevitably be defeated.

Thinking coldly and rationally, running away was the safer choice.

However, he couldn’t just leave those guys alone and run away.

“Those guys are already learning to do bad things…”

Aeil chewed on his lip.

He had to teach those ignorant, low-level PKers [Player Killers] a lesson about what happens when they randomly engage in PK [Player Killing].

That was the only way to prevent innocent secondary victims from appearing, so he couldn’t ignore the guys who backstabbed him and leave.

Of course, that was just Aeil’s self-justification.

In reality, he just wanted to beat the guy who suddenly stuck an arrow in his shoulder until he was a pulp.

Besides, if he ran away like this, he would have to hand over the boss monster’s loot that he had worked so hard to obtain to those guys.

Aeil had gained confidence in his skills after taking down the Tragoul alone.

He didn’t think everyone in the building would conspire to attack him, and he thought he could somehow win against the remaining few with his superior skills.

However, there was one strange thing right now.

‘Why aren’t any arrows flying…?’

Aeil was wary of the building, thinking that the archer guy was trying to launch an obvious timed attack, but he hadn’t attacked for far too long.

It was too much time to just be faking.

Suspicious, Aeil started running straight ahead with all his might, and even then, no arrows came flying.

‘They couldn’t have run away in that situation… something must have happened.’

Aeil had a smirk on his face.

* * *

“Die!”

A man with a fierce aura shouted, swinging his dagger.

However, his sword, aimed at Alisa’s neck, cut through the air.

Alisa lightly dodged the attack with a slight movement and struck the man’s head with the long staff she was holding.

“Kuh-heok!”

The man, who had already been hit in the head several times in a row, couldn’t come to his senses and stepped back.

The archer who had shot Aeil with an arrow pulled out his secondary weapon, a dagger, to resist, but no matter how hard he tried to attack, his weapon couldn’t reach.

“Damn it, how…!”

It was humiliating.

He had never heard anyone say he was bad at the game, but he was being miserably toyed with by an opponent whose level and equipment weren’t much different from his own.

And if it was just that, he would have cleanly admitted the difference in skill, but the biggest problem was that the opponent was a healer with no decent attack skills.

The poor fight he was putting up against a healer doubled the mental damage he was taking.

Even though archers weren’t a class that specialized in close combat, he couldn’t believe that he was losing a one-on-one duel to a healer who should be in a party providing support.

Moreover, even the users who were watching from the side started whispering.

“Wow, is this for real? I’ve never seen an archer get beaten up by a healer before.”

“If I take a video and upload it, I think I can make some money, right?”

“Shut your mou…!”

Paak!

Alisa’s staff flew in once again while he was distracted, and the archer fell backward, crashing to the floor.

Putting aside the overwhelming sense of humiliation, his full health had already dropped below 40 percent.

He was about to be beaten to death by a healer’s staff, so the man hurriedly took out a potion from his inventory and tried to drink it.

Of course, unless he was an idiot, the opponent wouldn’t just watch him do that in close range.

The strongly swung staff struck the man’s hand, and the potion bottle rolled across the floor.

“Kuh-heuek… Who the hell are you? Are you in the same party as that guy from before?”

“No. I just met him today.”

“Then why are you interfering! They said they’d give me items!”

“Even so, there shouldn’t be unprovoked PK [Player Killing]…”

“Eee…! Just shut up!”

The man with the dagger rushed in.

He felt like he would explode from frustration if he kept talking, so he tried to settle things, whether he lived or died, and as expected, this attack also only found empty space.

Whirlick, Paak!

The archer couldn’t control his momentum and was thrown out by Alisa’s staff, which struck the back of his head as she spun around.

Koo-oong!

The archer, who fell from the building and crashed to the floor, died instantly and was forcibly logged out with a penalty.

“What is this…”

Aeil, who had approached the building while they were fighting, stared blankly at the man’s corpse.

He knew something had happened when the arrows suddenly stopped flying, but he never imagined that the archer who had been shooting arrows at him would become a corpse and fall right in front of him.

“There’s no way the users would be that conscientious…”

Aeil tilted his head, wondering what had happened upstairs.

Then, without delay, he went up to the building where the users were gathered.

On the roof of the old building were six users standing awkwardly, and a woman scratching her head.

There was a strange atmosphere, and an awkward air hung heavily.

Aeil first approached Alisa and asked about the situation, and after hearing the details, he thanked her.

He never imagined that she would not only try to dissuade them verbally but would also step in and kill the PKer [Player Killer].

Moreover, no one here would have expected that a healer, of all classes, would step in and resolve the situation.

Sometimes, incidents like this, where the tables were turned, happened, but that was usually because the opponent with the advantage was a complete newbie, or the woman in front of him was a really skilled player.

It wasn’t clear yet whether it was the former or the latter.

“Ah…! Then, were you the one who gave me the healing skill back then, Alisa? Thank you. It was really dangerous, but I was able to catch him thanks to you.”

“No, I only came at the end and healed once. I was watching from afar, and Aeil, you were amazing doing a solo raid.”

Alisa said, impressed.

It wasn’t just a polite greeting, but her genuine admiration.

At that time, the other users who were standing awkwardly next to her cautiously chimed in.

“Then we’ll go back to hunting. We’re sorry for misunderstanding you as being rude at first.”

“I’m glad you’re okay without being attacked by PKers [Player Killers].”

“I know, right.”

Even though Aeil, the victim, had heard all the facts from Alisa, the other users kept their mouths shut about trying to stand by and came out with brazen faces.

Was it okay because they didn’t directly help with the PK [Player Killing]?

Seeing that some of them had been rolling their eyes and twitching their hands since earlier, it seemed like they were thinking of going all the way if he strongly questioned them.

The opponents were as many as six people.

It wasn’t just ordinary monsters, but that many users, so Aeil couldn’t take it lightly either.

It’s best to avoid unnecessary friction in the early stages when you have to keep growing.

Those guys might have unexpected connections or guilds behind them, and if they held a grudge, they could hire assassins.

They might not have enough money now that they were only level 15, but there were more than enough cases of people spending real money to commission assassinations.

There was virtually no barrier to exchanging real-world capital and War Lord game money, and spending money was a common occurrence for both full-time and casual gamers.

That was one of the reasons why War Lord’s market was able to grow to this size.

‘Well, there’s no point in causing friction… it’s better to just let it go smoothly…’

Just as Aeil was about to step back, a system message appeared in front of him.

[‘Light’s Judge, Ru,’ expresses strong displeasure with the thugs.]

[You have been given a sudden quest!]

[Kill all six users (0/6)]

[Reward for success: Church Contribution +300, Faith stat +2.2]

Chiing!

A sinister mark of heresy was stamped on the users’ heads.

It seemed that the goddess didn’t like that they were picking on her apostle, Aeil.

It seemed like their attitude after causing the accident also added points to it.

“…I have no choice.”

Aeil smiled and drew his sword.

“Alisa, can you heal me right now?”

“Ah… yes, yes. Of course.”

Alisa nodded and raised her staff to cast a healing spell on Aeil.

She even cast one instant healing spell, which instantly filled his health, and the remaining unfilled portion slowly began to fill with the continuous healing magic that was immediately cast.

She didn’t add any other words, and seeing her subtly stepping back before the battle broke out, she seemed to be quite quick-witted, unlike users in the beginner level range.

“What… what is it?”

“Are you trying to start something now?”

The flustered users took out their weapons all at once.

However, Aeil just snorted and lightly gripped his weapon, answering.

“It seems… our goddess likes cider [a sweet and sometimes alcoholic drink, used here metaphorically to mean ‘retribution’ or ‘justice’].”

[You have encountered heretics!]

[Passive, ‘Blade of Hatred,’ is activated!]

[All damage against heretics is increased by 25%!]