Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 185

Kwaaaang!

A massive explosion erupted, sending flames bursting outwards.

As the smoke that had obscured the view dissipated, only the corpse of the rare beast, the Grim Bear, remained.

It had fallen victim to Fay’s trap and been blown to pieces.

Numerous sword wounds marked its body, but the final explosion proved fatal.

‘To think he’d calculated the trap locations!’

Fay, crouched in a tree, wore a look of dismay.

It turned out that his summon had been caught in the trap not by chance.

Everything had been orchestrated by Eile, and he had been outmaneuvered.

It would have been impossible to know the locations of all the traps laid in the forest, but he had managed to narrow down the ones he was certain of.

By constantly calculating the paths of the arrows and the points the summons avoided, he had accurately exploited the identified trap locations.

More than anything, the move just now wasn’t only meaningful in terms of subduing the summon using the traps.

‘Damn it, I lost him.’

The three consecutive explosion traps were triggered.

The thick smoke from the unexpected chain explosion caused him to lose track of Eile’s location.

Even now, with the smoke clearing, he couldn’t see where Eile had gone.

“Did he run away…? I’m going to get an earful for this.”

In this deep forest, it was practically his home ground.

If he were nearby, he would have been able to sense him, but now, there was no sign.

He must have already left the area.

Fay looked regretful as he tried to get up.

But at that moment, Eile appeared, easily shattering his expectations.

“No!”

“Behind…?”

Kwaaaang!

Eile’s sudden strike from behind.

The sword strike and holy fire swept through him along with the trees, and Fay tumbled across the ground.

Even for him, it was impossible to react to the sudden attack.

“Kuhk…”

Barely managing to stand, Fay spat out blood.

His health bar was flickering precariously, and he was on the verge of falling into a near-death state if the attack had landed any deeper.

“Ha… this is messed up.”

He couldn’t sense Eile’s presence at all as he disappeared and reappeared behind him.

For Fay, a hunter ranked player, it was a humiliating experience.

Moreover, judging by how quickly he reappeared, it didn’t seem like he had taken the time to drink an antidote.

This meant he was confident in finishing him off quickly.

‘He’s underestimating me…’

In a situation that seemed completely reversed from before, Fay quickly drew his bow.

The swiftly launched arrow split into five.

Kwajijik!

The five arrows with high destructive power twisted wildly, shattering the trees and rocks they encountered, displaying their might.

However, Eile dodged the arrows with ease.

Jjeoong!

Eile, who had quickly closed the distance, swung his sword fiercely.

Fay had no choice but to draw his dagger and take a defensive stance, constantly being pushed back.

Eile’s health was already at about 5 percent.

From now on, it was a battle against time, and he was trying to use the effects of the poison to drag it out.

Although close combat was difficult with both rare beasts lost, he still had many traps left.

‘What, what is this…?’

However, Fay, who directly faced Eile’s relentless attacks, couldn’t help but be flustered.

Eile’s movements, which effortlessly disarmed the traps that were being triggered everywhere and rushed in fiercely, were on a completely different level from before.

“Damn it, did he suddenly have some kind of awakening or something?”

“Maybe something like that.”

“What…?”

Jjeoong!

Eile, who swung his sword at the gap in an instant, deflected Fay’s dagger.

Until now, Eile had barely noticed the subtle changes in his synchronization rate.

But now that Overdrive was activated and his thoughts were accelerated, the story was completely different.

Now, every moment seemed somewhat slow to him, and since it even showed the scenes approaching Eile, who already had excellent reaction speed, the play had no choice but to be completely different.

‘T, this!’

Fay was taken aback by Eile’s approaching longsword.

Even a single attack was fatal, but in his current state, having lost his dagger, he couldn’t respond in time.

‘That’s…?’

The moment Fay faced Eile directly, his eyes widened.

As the synchronization rate increased, his changes began to be clearly revealed externally.

Eile’s eyes shimmered with golden light.

He couldn’t know what that meant.

But one thing was clear.

He was completely different from when they first met.

Kwak!

The longsword pierced Fay’s heart.

His movements stopped for a moment, and his health bar dwindled to 0.

“To lose even with this much level difference.”

Fay let out a hollow laugh in vain.

Among the top thousand in Warlord.

Having climbed to this position as a ‘Ranker,’ there were many cases where he had overwhelmed opponents by overcoming large level differences.

But he had never experienced the opposite.

Of course, he never imagined that he could lose to a rookie with a 40-level difference.

“Still… well, I don’t feel wronged.”

Thud!

Fay smiled weakly and collapsed on the spot.

* * *

[The effects of the antidote are taking effect!]

[You are out of the poisoned state!]

“Hoo.”

Eile, who quickly took the antidote, sighed in relief.

He was in a situation where he had little health left and was poisoned with deadly poison, but he managed to end the fight safely.

Of course, from a certain moment, there was no sense of crisis in the process after that.

Eile had successfully subdued Fay as he had envisioned.

[The effects of the healing potion are taking effect!]

[Health is instantly restored!]

Eile, who drank a healing potion to restore his health to the maximum, shifted his gaze slightly.

‘This can’t be a dream…’

He looked at Fay’s fallen corpse as if he couldn’t believe it.

He had really defeated a ‘Ranker’ of Warlord in a one-on-one fight.

It was something he had always dreamed of when he couldn’t even touch virtual reality due to his unique constitution, but when it came to reality, it felt numb.

‘Heh…’

But a faint smile was appearing on his lips without him even realizing it.

[‘The Secret Explorer’ expresses surprise!]

[‘The Mother of Life’ shakes her head, denying reality.]

[‘The Judge of Light, Ru,’ admires your amazing achievement!]

[‘The Ruler of the Volcano’ is happy to sponsor you!]

[Public Order Contribution +500]

[Public Order Contribution +2,500]

[Light Order Contribution +5,000]

.

.

.

The reactions of the gods who were watching him were explosive.

A groundbreaking match with a Ranker.

In addition, the gods were aware of the user’s synchronization rate and the Overdrive system, and they knew exactly what changes had occurred to Eile.

They couldn’t help but feel more than just surprise that he had defeated a Ranker.

‘Okay, that just now… should I try it again?’

Eile, recalling the battle just now, calmly closed his eyes.

He was like someone in a trance at that time.

He didn’t want to forget that feeling here.

With his eyes closed, he recalled the previous sensation and raised his concentration, gradually falling into the rising sensation.

Paah!

‘Amazing…’

Eile, who opened his eyes, looked around.

The scenes that seemed to have slowed down as he was completely immersed in the situation came into view.

His synchronization rate, which appeared in the system message that appeared, reached a whopping 105 percent.

It was less than a little while ago when it even exceeded 111 percent, but the result itself was successful.

‘My synchronization rate is this high… I didn’t even think about it.’

He looked at the high numbers written in the system message as if it were amazing.

Eile, who had not been able to directly hear the reason when there was a problem with the connection in the past, was simply amazed at his synchronization rate written now.

At this rate, it meant that he would have been at least in the 90 percent range even before raising his synchronization rate, so it was no different from the six guild leaders.

Of course, the maximum synchronization rate that he had raised to the fullest was far beyond comparison with them.

‘Then now this…’

Paat!

“Ugh…”

Eile, feeling his head spin for a moment, staggered and grabbed a tree.

At some point, his concentration suddenly broke, and the Overdrive state was released, followed by a slight headache.

That was because transcendental momentary concentration was needed to intentionally raise his synchronization rate.

Even for him, it was impossible to maintain this state for long.

‘Definitely… I can’t use it recklessly.’

Eile rubbed his head, which had a short headache.

It seemed definitely impossible to use it during large-scale wars or hunts that require long battles.

He felt the need to practice so that he could use it at any time in important moments.

But then he heard the voices of the pursuers who had been chasing him.

“I’m sure. I heard it from this side.”

“I found it. It’s this way!”

Apollyon’s pursuers seemed to have been chasing the series of explosions.

They were not regular guild members, but members of a subordinate guild.

“Ike…”

Eile, holding his breath, lowered his body.

There were only four or five of them, but it was obvious that more pursuers would soon be gathering from all directions.

Now that he had confirmed the intervention of individual Rankers.

It could become very troublesome if he ran into pursuers for no reason.

Seureuk!

Eile, who started moving without delay, disappeared beyond the bushes.

Meanwhile, Apollyon’s subordinate guild members who had reached the roadside discovered the corpses of the Earth Order believers who had been attacked.

“Damn it, this is nasty.”

“Judging from the traces… it seems like Eile came here himself?”

The guild members said as they examined the traces of the executed.

Judging from the fact that the eerie symbols of the Order of Light were painted in blood everywhere, it was highly likely that Eile was the culprit.

“Wait, come this way!”

A guild member shouted as he went down the road.

At his urgent voice, his colleagues hurriedly descended the slope.

And there they found a corpse.

“What…?”

“N, no way!”

Fay, the 989th-ranked hunter.

His corpse was lying there, covered in blood.

The guild members looked down at him with horrified eyes, unable to believe it even though they were seeing it directly.

“A Ranker was defeated by Eile? No way…”

“Hey, check that!”

The guild member hurriedly opened his screen, opened a window, and checked the list written inside.

And inside, Eile’s name, written clearly, was shining.

“Oh my god, it’s real…?”

* * *

A man burst into the room, kicking the door open.

A loud noise rang out in the Apollyon Guild’s office, something that would normally have earned him a scolding from his guild leader.

But not this time.

“Hey, Kruger! Did you hear the news?”

“Yeah.”

Kruger, who was already looking at the screen, smiled bitterly.

“This guy, he really caused a big accident.”

[934th place, Eile – Level 221]