Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 162

162. The Owner of the North (6)

Undead swarmed from all directions within the tomb.

Their numbers were considerable, and among them were resurrected magicians from the Celestial Church who had once been users.

A combination that could prove quite troublesome.

However, it wasn’t too difficult.

Dealing with the undead was very familiar to him.

Fortunately, he wasn’t alone; he was with the Iron Cross guild members and Neshua, and Eile actively used holy power to blast them away.

But the biggest problem was Freya’s retinue.

Her two ‘Reapers’ who appeared were on a different level.

Even though they were lower-ranked subordinates among the retinue, they were still overwhelmingly challenging for Eile to handle in his current state.

Kwaaaang!

The Reaper, flung away by Sir, was embedded in the wall.

The wall, with cracks spreading in all directions, completely collapsed.

Kugugung!

Sir’s battle concluded with rising dust.

‘As expected, he’s amazing…’

To think he could single-handedly defeat two members of the retinue.

The 2nd rank in Warlord wasn’t something one could obtain for free.

Turning his gaze, Eile unleashed the hero-grade skill, Baptism of Fire, upon the undead swarming from the hallway.

The corpses were incinerated and crumbled by the holy fire pouring forward.

Only the crackling sound of flames remained, and the monsters’ cries were no longer heard.

“Hoo… I guess this is somehow over.”

Eile sighed in relief as the room fell silent.

The floor was messily littered with burned and severed corpses, but at least there were no more moving creatures.

‘To think she would suddenly do something like this.’

This action by Freya was an unexpected move for him as well.

Even if she had annihilated the users here, there were no followers of hers nearby, so she couldn’t have recovered the holy relic fragments for herself.

It was merely an event triggered by a deity to punish Eile.

It was an intervention possible only because Freya possessed the largest power and abundant influence.

Most deities wouldn’t have wasted their influence on a single user like this.

‘Well… thanks to the sudden monster wave, I leveled up though…’

[‘Mother of Life’ expresses her hatred for the detestable fraudsters!]

[‘The Judge of Light, Ru’ casts a pathetic gaze.]

The two goddesses were vehemently denouncing each other.

Especially after the intervention of her retinue, which she had invested influence in, failed to resolve the situation, Freya poured curses upon Eile and Ru.

[‘The Ruler of the Volcano’ bursts into laughter.]

[‘The Secret Seeker’ feels deep interest in the mortal who has slain the retinue.]

Of course, the other deities were merely watching the amusing spectacle to relieve their boredom, popping popcorn.

In particular, the Secret Seeker, Lenox, seemed quite impressed by Sir’s performance in slaying two members of the retinue.

“Retinue… so the monsters that suddenly appeared were also due to the intervention of a deity? Looks like I did something to displease them,” Sir said, approaching.

Having checked the opponent’s status window during the battle, she could easily tell that the Reaper was different from ordinary monsters.

The grayish name was unique to the deities’ retinue.

She already had that much information.

“Well, it just happened…”

“It’s a competitive system, so it’s only natural. Then won’t this cause problems for your future activities?”

“No, it won’t.”

Eile stated firmly.

No matter how much influence a deity had, they couldn’t apply such direct intervention indefinitely.

Freya’s actions were a heat-of-the-moment decision when she briefly lost her reason; such intervention wasn’t a normal occurrence.

Since there were no other incidents involved and no merit to be gained, she wouldn’t show such intervention again.

‘Of course, if it’s even slightly related to the Earth Church incident, she’ll try to intervene and devour me somehow. It’s better to move quickly.’

As expected, the road ahead didn’t seem easy.

Eile, putting away his weapon, hurried to prepare to leave the tomb.

Taking items was good, but for now, the most important thing was to safely recover the holy relic fragment he had obtained with difficulty from the Iron Cross.

As Eile prepared to leave, Neshua, who had let out a deep sigh, also prepared to follow him.

Although their next destinations weren’t the same, they had agreed to stay together until they left the northern region.

But then, Sir abruptly grabbed him.

“Wait. Neshua, there’s something else I want to ask of you.”

「Why should I listen to you?」

“Aren’t you curious about the effects of the holy relic? What happens when all the fragments are gathered?”

At her words, Neshua’s eyes widened.

* * *

[You have recovered the fourth fragment of the ancient holy relic!]

[You have gathered one of the four core fragments that make up the holy relic.]

[The deity, ‘Judge of Light,’ has acquired a massive amount of influence.]

[Favor of the Goddess +9.31% (currently 134.85%).]

[Light Church Contribution +40,000]

[You have gained a large amount of experience!]

[Your level has increased!]

Eile was able to safely cross the harsh north again and enter the inner part of the continent.

And after arriving at Eltris’s temple located beneath Esmair, he safely recovered the core fragment and placed it in front of the goddess’s statue.

At that moment, he was given an enormous reward that exceeded expectations.

‘It’s definitely not an ordinary item.’

Just considering the experience he received, he leveled up a whopping 5 times at once.

It was really difficult to receive this much experience from completing a single mission.

Contribution, favor, the goddess’s influence, and other rewards were on a different level from any quest he had received so far.

It felt like all the hardships in the north were flying away at once.

[You have donated ‘90,000’ contribution points to the Church of Light.]

[Your faith increases by ‘180’.]

Eile used the contribution he gained from recovering the holy relic to raise his faith stat.

He was able to raise a whopping 180 stats at once, including the contribution he had accumulated so far.

Of course, he used up almost all of his accumulated contribution because of that, but he didn’t forget to leave a little extra.

“Brother, you have accomplished a very great thing,” said Executor Eileen, who had been watching him from the side.

Having heard the news and come directly, she was looking at Eile’s achievement with great pride.

“The holy relic is a symbol of a righteous god. You have already recovered it for the third time, a thing that only existed in legends, so the goddess will be very pleased.”

“But we can’t be relieved yet.”

“That’s right. There are still many fragments hidden throughout the continent. The movements of other heretics are also gradually becoming more active, and external forces seeking the holy relic are constantly searching throughout the continent.”

Even among users who didn’t know about this holy relic, word of mouth was spreading, and competition was intensifying.

Fortunately, users and NPCs of the Church of Light were also actively searching for the holy relic fragments within the continent.

But the most important thing was the remote areas where the remaining core fragments of the holy relic would be located.

Excluding the north, which was discovered this time, the waystones with coordinates were appearing simultaneously in the west, south, and east.

Seeing that, it seemed almost certain that the holy relic fragments were hidden there.

As it was an important task, Eile had to step up again this time.

‘But there’s definitely a problem.’

The north was already being pioneered by the Iron Cross, one of the six major guilds, and some helpful information was known.

But the remaining remote areas were really no different from completely abandoned lands.

With the exception of a small number of high-level explorer users, most places were not even visited, so most of the areas didn’t even have properly revealed information about what kind of monsters appeared.

It was natural that information about the hidden holy relic was still unknown.

If he had to choose one place where the most clues were known on various information sites over time.

“I will go to the south.”

* * *

Griffin Guild.

It was one of the six major guilds that wielded great power, mainly in the northeastern region of the kingdom.

Lewin, the world’s 6th-ranked top ranker, was the guild leader, and it was very popular because it had many named players across all games, along with its unique and flashy costumes.

This was possible because it was not a prestigious guild that had been around since a specific game, but a guild that started for the first time in Warlord and rapidly grew in size.

They were also members of the Six Great Guilds, and had previously received information about the World Quest from Eile.

As they tried to overthrow their entire guild and replace it with another force, they were tracking down and capturing all the forces on the prince’s side, including the Knights of the Black Cross.

It was impossible for the Knights of the Black Cross and other forces dragged in from the outside to handle the Six Great Guilds.

Because of this, the Knights of the Black Cross were unable to use their strength within the Griffin Guild’s territory and were having all their conspiracies thwarted.

But recently, a peculiar point was discovered.

Their movements began to become active again, and only the Griffin side of the region showed such movements.

Then, the trackers in charge of the Griffin’s sub-guilds stepped up to chase after them.

“Is it this cave…”

“We came in chasing the traces of contamination, so it must be certain. Anyway, those rat bastards are just annoying.”

The trackers, consisting of two parties, entered inside.

From the outside, it was simply a dark cave, but upon entering, they could find a suspicious light.

“Good, I found it!”

“Wipe them out!”

What caught their eyes were the Knights of the Black Cross members wearing robes.

The heretical mages, including Mute, were doing something suspicious again with the spirit stone in the middle, and they drew their weapons to capture them all.

“To think you’d find this place already, you’re so fast.”

Mute of the Knights of the Black Cross smiled and turned around.

Although they were sub-guilds that made up the lower ranks, they belonged to the Griffin Guild, one of the Six Great Guilds.

They could never be taken lightly, as mediocre guilds could not even present their business cards.

The current difference in power was also the absolute advantage of the trackers.

But it wasn’t just the Knights of the Black Cross members who were here.

Kaaang!

The masked men who suddenly appeared intervened, blocking the trackers.

Those wearing black masks so that their faces could not be recognized.

“Were there other guys hiding?”

“The result is the same anyway!”

The guild members’ weapons were wielded threateningly, and a battle broke out between the invading masked men and the trackers.