Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 168

168. Duel (1)

Whoosh!

White holy fire blazed on Eile’s sword.

Simultaneously, the mark of the heretic appeared above Grom’s head.

[Heretic designated!]

“This works out. I have no choice but to try.”

Eile gripped his sword tightly.

His opponent was a named player at the level of a semi-ranker.

A top-tier player who could easily join one of Warlord’s top six guilds.

He might be a challenging opponent, but he was perfect for gauging his own rapidly growing position and level.

Uwoooo!

The corpses surrounding Eile moved in unison.

Humans and monsters, or grotesque mixtures of the two.

All sorts of undead, each with its own appearance, reached out their arms.

Slash!

He instantly cut down those approaching him.

The attribute of holy fire, a divine magic, was a natural enemy of the undead.

Every time Eile swung his longsword, severed corpses fell away.

Moreover, the afterimages and heat of the flames remained in the sword’s path, preventing the undead from approaching recklessly.

Creak!

However, despite the corpses he cut down, the undead multiplied even faster.

It was impossible to keep up with the summoning speed of a high-level necromancer who had prepared a large number of corpses in advance.

But that didn’t mean he could just pour skills onto the undead.

In battles above a certain level, there was no room to allow each other to drink potions, and Eile’s mana was limited.

Wasting skills on these mobs was forbidden.

‘In such cases, there are two standard solutions: reduce the number of summons while waiting for their mana to run out, or target the caster.’

Two options came to Eile’s mind.

However, Grom had significantly reduced his mana consumption thanks to the corpses he had prepared in advance, and it was unlikely that he would run out of mana just by manipulating corpses.

Furthermore, there were the accessories and armor he was wearing.

Both were hero-grade equipment sets with mana regeneration options.

High-level equipment around level 250 was easily recognizable because the number and range of options were limited.

‘Then I have to aim for the main body…!’

He couldn’t keep fighting them forever.

Eile chose to subdue the caster directly.

Whoosh!

The hero-grade skill, Baptism of Fire, was activated.

The intense holy fire emanating from the longsword incinerated the corpses.

As Eile’s main area-of-effect skill with a wide range, the undead blocking the path disappeared in an instant.

One side of the encirclement was left defenselessly open.

“What… !”

Grom, who had been leisurely casting spells, was also surprised by the unexpected variable.

It was rare for a melee character to have an area-of-effect skill of this magnitude.

But before he could prepare a response.

The longsword raised high fell towards Grom.

Thanks to Eile’s movement, which had already gained speed and was instantly right in front of him, he couldn’t even react properly.

“It’s over!”

“Heh.”

The corners of Grom’s mouth slightly lifted.

The bewilderment that had been on his face was gone without a trace.

Rather, Eile’s gaze, which had instinctively sensed something, turned, and he could see an ominous black light seeping out from under his feet.

‘Magic circle…!’

Kwaaaang!

A huge explosion erupted from the ground.

Eile, who was caught in the explosion, was thrown back and crashed into a tree.

‘Damn it…!’

Eile, spitting out blood, quickly checked the ground.

He thought he had caught the necromancer, who was vulnerable in close combat, off guard, but he had been completely caught in his trick.

He had deliberately pretended to be flustered, and when Eile approached, the trap magic circle secretly drawn on the floor was activated.

His health was reduced by about 30 percent in an instant.

Moreover, the effect of the magic circle was not limited to that.

[A painful wound has been left due to a wicked curse!]

[All healing effects are blocked for 15 minutes!]

A magic circle containing a curse.

All of Eile’s potions and healing skills were sealed.

“I heard that you have healing abilities.”

“Corpses and trap magic circles… you’ve prepared a lot.”

“I don’t do things like being careless. No matter how much the level difference is or what the known power is, there’s always a reason for a high bounty.”

Grom gave a confident smile.

“You thought it would be worth a try because there’s a difference in compatibility? But if you know how to deal with it, compatibility isn’t everything. I’ve been catching monks and paladins to death, though the Inquisitor is the first time.”

He slowly raised his staff.

“As a Warlord senior… I’ll give the rookie a good experience.”

Swish!

A wave of black magic spread from the slammed staff.

The already uneven swampy ground was dyed black and rotted.

Hero-grade skill, Land of Decay.

It was a field-type magic that reduced the movement speed and defense of all enemies within range.

It was a skill that made it impossible to fight while dodging appropriately due to its wide range, and the standard way to deal with it was to leave the area and then fight.

‘But there’s no way that’s possible…’

Eile looked around and quickly came to a conclusion.

Unfortunately, Grom wasn’t so careless as to easily let go of prey once he had caught it.

The retreat was virtually blocked by the undead that had already risen around him.

‘There’s no suitable terrain to run away outright… and I don’t know where else the trap magic circles might be.’

Thanks to the existence of the trap magic circles that Grom had prepared, he couldn’t move carelessly now.

Since it was a trap activated by magic, it was impossible to visually identify its location until he was directly caught in it.

Unless he had a separate detection skill, Eile had no such skill at all.

‘Of course, I can sense a safe spot.’

Trap-type magic circles, which are treated as installation items, do not distinguish between friend and foe.

It would work the same way even if Grom or his summoned undead stepped on the magic circle.

In other words, the locations where the undead and Grom were standing were safe.

Whoosh!

While cutting down the rushing undead, Eile constantly turned his gaze and kept all their movements in his eyes.

He was engraving the safe spots from the magic circles in his head one by one.

“Ick, you were watching that?”

Grom, noticing Eile’s movements, quickly raised his staff.

He was memorizing the safe zones while dealing with the undead rushing in from all directions.

He couldn’t give him such an opening.

Thump!

Suddenly, the bodies of the undead began to swell.

The bodies of the guys getting bigger like balloons.

And only the guys who were closest to Eile were showing such a sight, and Eile, noticing the sign, threw himself.

Kwagwagwang!

The corpses exploded violently.

The floor was dented by the huge explosion, and pieces of torn corpses fell like rain.

“Tch…”

Eile, who was slightly caught in the explosion, shook off his scorched arm with a displeased expression.

He quickly pulled his body out, but he took damage because he missed the timing slightly.

‘He’s using annoying skills as I’ve heard.’

Even with the same job, play styles varied greatly depending on the composition of the skills chosen.

Among them, the skill composition chosen by Grom, a necromancer, was the so-called ‘explosion necromancer’.

Unlike ordinary necromancers, it was another attack option that inflicted damage by exploding corpses.

“Amazing that you avoided that? It must be difficult to catch the timing when you face it for the first time.”

Grom admired Eile’s movements.

The half-beat fast timing of the corpse explosion was notoriously impossible to deal with from the perspective of someone facing it for the first time.

Even Eile, who had a great reaction speed, was able to avoid Grom’s corpse explosion because he had been thinking about it in advance.

‘As expected, he’s a troublesome opponent as I’ve heard…’

Eile also had a lot of information about the battle method of Grom, a named player, in advance.

Corpse explosion series were all high-cost skills with high mana consumption, which further increased the burden on necromancers, who basically needed a lot of mana.

That’s why Grom was wearing two sets of high-grade mana regeneration [equipment].

A method that can’t even be tried with low capital.

‘As expected, I shouldn’t drag it out for long. I have to narrow the distance somehow.’

Corpse explosion was definitely a very tricky skill, but it wasn’t without its weaknesses in addition to mana consumption.

Since it was an explosion, the caster himself was also caught in it.

In other words, if you approach the caster closely, the corpse explosion is blocked.

He had to dig into Grom in the back and finish it for sure.

Flash!

Eile, recalling the safe zones without magic circles, ran towards Grom, stepping only on those spots.

His figure was closing the distance, cutting down corpses with a terrifying momentum.

“Where to… !”

The corpse of a monster blocking Eile’s path swelled greatly.

A sign of a strong explosion.

It was useless to cut it down, and it was already too late to avoid it.

What Eile activated in that situation was the skill ‘Reverse Play’.

Eile, who had dug into the back of the guy in an instant, jumped, kicking the back of the swollen monster with all his might.

The guy was knocked out in the opposite direction, and Eile got a foothold.

Kwang!

A huge explosion occurred behind him.

In the meantime, Eile, who had approached right in front of Grom, swung his sword with all his might.

Clang!

The longsword that had dug in met the bone armor that appeared on his body.

It was a defensive skill that absorbed a considerable amount of damage once.

But that was what he had expected.

Additional damage to heretics, 40 percent defense penetration from passives, and hero-grade skill ‘Illumination’.

It was enough to break the bone armor and cut Grom.

Kwwaaa!

“Cough…”

Grom, who had been thrown out for a while, fell to the floor.

Eile rushed to take this opportunity to finish him off.

But then Grom, who had been lying down, quickly cast a spell.

Kwagwagwang!

The corpses he had buried in the floor in advance exploded in succession, and Eile had no choice but to step back.

‘I couldn’t finish it.’

Eile licked his lips as if he was disappointed.

Since healing was blocked, it was best to finish it as short as possible, and it was a pity that he couldn’t finish it this time.

“Phew, I almost had a big problem.”

Grom, who stood up, gave a hearty laugh.

But soon his sharp eyes scanned Eile.

He had heard that he was a rookie with amazing skills, but he had not expected him to fight so well.

‘A guy with almost no experience can do this much. He’s a prodigy. I can’t help it.’

Having decided something, he fluttered his red robe and took out an item.

“I didn’t think I’d have to use this… well, it’s worth 100,000 gold anyway. It won’t be a loss.”