Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 164

164. Terror of the Swamp (2)

“Is it the same here too…”

Eile sighed softly as he stepped into the ruins.

He had come down to the lowest level, but even at this coordinate, there was no trace of the holy relic fragment.

Not only the fragment that could be directly discovered, but also no clues about a new Way Stone or holy relic were visible.

This meant another fruitless trip.

Seeing the followers of the Earth Church who had just come out of the ruins without any problems, he could easily guess this outcome.

‘This is really troublesome.’

That didn’t mean Eile’s disappointment disappeared.

It wasn’t just once or twice, but several times already.

It was getting hard to keep count, and he even began to doubt if there really was a holy relic in the south.

‘I didn’t think it would be easy to find, but I didn’t expect it to be this difficult. Considering it was found in the north, it’s unlikely that there are no holy relic fragments here. Or maybe I need to approach it in a completely different way…’

“Eile! We’ve come to catch you.”

A provocative voice came from behind.

Four users rushed into the room, having entered the ruins at some point.

“Who are they? They don’t seem to be affiliated with the church.”

The guild mark was clearly visible on their respective equipment.

Most followers of a specific church wouldn’t join a guild, but they all appeared to be members of the same guild.

“The Earth Church has put a bounty on your head.”

“A bounty? Ah, so that’s what it is.”

Eile chuckled.

“How much is the bounty?”

“25,000 gold.”

“That’s quite a bit…? Well, I guess it’s natural since I incurred the wrath of a god.”

He had already considered the possibility of a bounty being placed on him.

However, he was quite surprised by the higher-than-expected amount.

‘So, the opponents are a bounty hunter guild aiming for the money offered by the church, and there aren’t any particularly notable faces.’

When dealing with users who came specifically targeting him, rather than encountering him by chance, more caution was definitely needed.

It meant they had come after roughly estimating his countermeasures or power.

However, just like the pursuers from the Earth Church who had come and met a tragic end, there weren’t many who came with truly plausible countermeasures and power.

This was because very few had experience facing users with ranker-level skills directly.

They had never fought against opponents who could overturn the number of people, and they had only seen Eile in edited videos, so most of them couldn’t make objective judgments.

‘It’s the same this time too.’

They didn’t seem to be very high level, and there were only four of them.

There were no noticeable named players.

‘In that case…’

Once again, daily sustenance had come to him.

* * *

Below the burning corpse of the heretic tied to a tree and swaying.

Eile used the executed heretic’s corpse to create strange sculptures.

Thanks to the Execution skill, he could easily procure materials other than the corpse.

He was trying to create a signpost for later arrivals, but it was so badly damaged that it didn’t look like one.

In addition, the Light Church’s emblem was drawn largely on the floor with their bright red blood.

“Well… I’ll get better as I do it, right?”

Even he found it extremely bizarre.

But that was the feeling he was aiming for, so it didn’t matter.

This was one of the most crowded spots in the southern region, so leaving such traces would soon lead to an increase in the goddess’s influence.

[‘Light Judge, Ru’ applauds the artwork!]

[Light Church Contribution +100]

As expected, Ru seemed very satisfied and even sent support.

It was a crude and unpleasant object to anyone, but to her, it was more than just a work of art with profound meaning.

[‘Mother of Life’ grits her teeth and slams the floor.]

Freya showed a resentful reaction as the assassination failed again.

‘It’s definitely a headache…’

Frankly speaking, it wasn’t all bad for Eile.

At least his stats were definitely increasing since he had become her enemy.

Eile’s faith had reached 900, and his madness stat had also exceeded 650.

Other important stats such as contribution and favor were also continuously being supplied.

He had to be careful to be able to respond to attacks at any time, but that was an area he was originally confident in.

Of course, tracking in this swamp was quite troublesome.

[You have acquired an item!]

“It’s quite lucrative, as expected.”

Eile recovered all the items from the charred corpse.

Several expensive equipment items had dropped.

After that, he prioritized securing food and survival supplies.

Thanks to everyone rushing at him, he hardly had to worry about supplies, unlike other users.

‘Now, what about the holy relic…’

He had burned nine attackers who came to the coordinates, but his original mission to search for the holy relic fragment remained unchanged.

It was a frustrating situation with no progress.

‘It’s taken up a lot of time, and I might need to find a different method… Maybe I should change my thinking a bit.’

He had experienced this before when playing other games besides virtual reality.

There were times when quests were completely blocked and couldn’t be solved.

Whenever that happened, a shift in perspective was needed.

As Eile paused for a moment to think, something flashed through his mind.

‘That’s right, come to think of it, the height isn’t specified.’

The coordinates given to the Way Stone only recorded the X and Y coordinates.

Coordinates that could mark a point when viewed on a flat map.

However, the Z-axis coordinate indicating the height was not specified separately.

‘Then maybe it’s below that…?’

The most likely candidate was underground.

Users, including Eile, had already thoroughly examined a few meters below the coordinates.

But if it was much further down than that, the story would be different.

Just from Eile’s experience alone, there was a precedent in the Eltries region, so it wasn’t an impossible story.

However, compared to the few stories hinting at the underground world of Eltries in the Esmair region, there was no mention in any legends or myths that there was an underground world in the southern region.

‘But that’s the story of the surface… If it’s Eltries, there might be some clues.’

Eile quickly brought up the messenger window.

* * *

Caw-caw-!

A large crow flew across the sky.

The creature gently landed on Eile’s arm and handed him a letter from Eltries.

‘It arrived sooner than I thought.’

Eile had asked the gnomes of Eltries to investigate this matter.

Then, the gnomes, who had searched through almost all the archives in the underground, hurriedly sent him a reply after completing the investigation.

Whirr!

Eile unfolded the long letter, and a faint smile spread across his lips as he read the contents.

His prediction was correct.

An old legend that another underground world existed far away from Eltries in the south and east.

It was definitely referring to the underground of the southern and eastern outlands.

It was just a legend that had been passed down, and there was no mention of its connection to the holy relic, so it wasn’t at the stage where he could think of anything for sure.

However, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the holy relic fragment was there.

In a situation where progress was frustratingly blocked, the atmosphere changed at once just by receiving such a clue.

‘Then the problem is how to get there…’

Eile continued to read the contents and quickly turned the letter to the next page.

At the deepest bottom of the Lake of Eternity, there was an entrance to another world.

The phrase that the gnomes had obtained by searching through ancient documents was written there.

‘If it’s the Lake of Eternity…!’

Fortunately, it was a name he knew.

The southern swamp was so vast that it was still full of undiscovered areas.

However, he had seen the name Lake of Eternity among the map information he had taken from the user who had attacked him earlier.

‘Fortunately, it’s not far from here!’

Eile immediately moved his feet.

* * *

“The deepest bottom, you say…”

Eile muttered as he looked into the lake.

He had arrived at the Lake of Eternity following the story in the legend, but he faced a lake that was wider and deeper than he had expected.

He couldn’t guess from the outside, so he had no choice but to go in and find it himself.

“Then…”

Eile took out a shimmering potion bottle from his inventory.

A special underwater breathing potion sent by Alisa.

It was made with rare ingredients to have a longer duration, and if he drank it, he could last a long time underwater without breathing.

[The effect of the Underwater Breathing Potion is applied!]

As Eile drank all the potion, the duration of the underwater breathing potion began to decrease on one side of the screen.

‘Let’s hurry.’

Eile swam into the lake.

He had to find the deepest bottom among them, and considering the size of the lake, he had to move diligently.

However, once he entered, the lake was much deeper than it looked from the outside.

‘Crazy… Even after coming inside, I can’t see the bottom in the center.’

It was so deep that a dark darkness had settled in the central part.

It was a sight that would make most people tremble and run outside, but Eile, who had experienced even worse when he was trapped in the access device, went there without hesitation.

Eile went down to a place where light was gradually not reaching.

Whoo-oong!

At that time, a surprisingly huge underwater monster swept over his head.

A monster with a hideous appearance that seemed to live in the deep sea.

It was a level 300 field boss monster that could be seen in the information window, but fortunately, it didn’t attack him.

Eile, who was holding his breath, sweated profusely.

‘I hope this isn’t a complete waste of effort.’

Swish.

He had now entered a place where no light reached at all.

It was slightly different from real water, so the light disappeared quickly compared to the depth, but even considering that, it was evidence that he had come very deep.

But still, there was no sign of reaching the bottom.

‘I have no choice.’

Eile, who had made a decision, drew his longsword.

The sacred fire appeared on the longsword.

Thanks to the sacred fire that was fine even underwater, Eile’s vision was brightened, and he could see the brightly lit surroundings.

The appearance of huge underwater monsters that he didn’t even know were nearby.

Of course, the bottom was still not visible.

‘Ha… Will I be able to get out alive?’