Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 191

191. Holy War (5)

Apollyon, spurred by the unexpectedly serious emergency, dispatched mercenary guilds.

Most would join the Water and Earth Church, which were engaged in defensive battles, but elite mercenary groups would target inner strongholds for rear disruption rather than fighting on the front lines.

The guilds to watch out for in particular were Lunatic and Onyx.

‘The routes they’ll infiltrate have both been identified.’

Checking the map, Eile pointed out two routes.

The followers he had 미리 [preemptively] planted in various locations, anticipating their actions, diligently tracked the intruders’ movements.

Among them, Eile moved in advance to the location where the Onyx Guild would pass, aiming to suppress them.

They would certainly pass through these ruins.

‘They’re probably planning to strike the rear and hinder us, just like I did, but we can’t afford to waste time and give them a chance to reorganize. We need to push forward in one fell swoop.’

If a hole were to suddenly open up in the lower front line, which they hadn’t even considered, Apollyon would inevitably feel immense pressure while dealing with both guilds simultaneously.

If that happened, Nightmare and Dawn would surely be able to push back Apollyon.

Cerberus, who had unexpectedly joined forces with Apollyon, was also being pushed back by the Iron Cross, and at least in the current situation, there seemed to be no further problems.

‘But…’

It was too early to say that everything was going smoothly; there was still a nagging feeling.

This was because Apollyon’s executives had yet to show themselves.

Karin, Solus, and other high-rankers were rampaging on the battlefield, but Kruger and the other Apollyon executives, including even Dagoth, who had appeared right in front of Eile, were nowhere to be seen.

‘I just can’t understand it…’

Apollyon’s top-ranked members were the strongest among all guilds.

Six of the top 20 in the Warlord official rankings belonged to Apollyon, so there was no need to say more.

The public’s opinion that they were the closest to being the strongest guild and the good perception most users had of them were also thanks to this powerful ranker lineup.

But to not use such top-tier power in the war and instead let them idle was making those on the opposing side question things.

‘I can’t shake the feeling that those guys are holding hidden cards.’

“What are you worrying about so much?”

As Eile was racking his brain, a voice came from behind him.

Turning his head, he saw ‘Ru’ sitting on a rock.

However, she was in the form of a little girl, completely different from her usual beautiful and dignified appearance.

Dangling her legs, she held an ice cream in one hand.

‘…’

Starting with her appearance as a cat.

She seemed to be appearing in the lower world more frequently these days, but she seemed to be slowly giving up on maintaining her dignified image in front of him.

“Aren’t you coming out too often these days?”

“Even a god needs some amusement. Do you know how frustrating it is to be tied down to one place? It’s an unspeakable torment.”

Thanks to Eile handling things so well recently, Ru’s influence was also growing significantly.

With so much influence to spare, she was able to come out more often.

Although she couldn’t take her true form to conserve influence, she seemed inwardly pleased with just this much, though she tried to maintain a cold, expressionless face on the outside.

“Do the church members know about this form?”

“Of course they mustn’t. I can’t show this side of myself to the followers.”

“I’m a follower too, but why in front of me…?”

“That’s a different story. How long have we been together?”

“It’s only been a few months.”

“Quiet.”

Thump, thump!

At that moment, a small lizard fluttered onto Ru’s head.

It was Rajagal, the ruler of the volcanoes, the Fire Dragon.

If the followers of the Fire Church were to see this undignified form, they would be quite surprised.

Moreover, Rajagal couldn’t take his eyes off the ice cream Ru was holding.

Ru glanced at Rajagal and offered the ice cream as if doing him a favor.

“Rajagal, I’m giving this to you specially since you’re Bahamut’s rival.”

Chomp, chomp, chomp!

The lizard lunged and took a big bite.

“The destruction of all water and ice.”

Rajagal was destroying the ice cream while smacking his lips.

Eile stared blankly at the sight for a moment before bringing up a long-held question that suddenly came to mind.

“Goddess, isn’t it time you told me?”

“Told you what?”

“What happens when you collect all the sacred objects.”

“But… that’s still difficult.”

“A being called a god can’t even answer that one question. Ask me. If you make a contract with me, I’ll tell you everything.”

The red lizard, smacking his lips as if feeling tantalized, looked up at Eile.

At Rajagal’s words, Ru reacted irritably.

“It would be best if you kept quiet. This is a conversation between a contracted deity and an apostle; there’s no place for an interloper to interfere.”

Squeak.

Rajagal quietly shrunk back at Ru’s fierce killing intent.

As she said, there was a stronger bond between a contracted apostle and a deity.

Unless Eile changed his mind, Ru had priority.

If she used a little influence, she could drive Rajagal out of this place.

Not wanting to end his amusement in the lower world here, Rajagal chose to remain silent.

“It doesn’t seem like you can’t tell me because of system restrictions… is there something you want to hide?”

“There are difficult circumstances, so I can’t help it. But don’t worry too much. It will definitely benefit both you and me. I’ll tell you everything when the time comes.”

Ru, who had finished speaking confidently, jumped off the rock she was sitting on.

“It’s about time to prepare for battle, isn’t it? This opponent isn’t someone to be taken lightly.”

“I’m well aware. They’re the enemy I chose.”

Between the Lunatic and Onyx Guilds infiltrating the rear.

It was none other than he himself who had chosen the path where Onyx was approaching.

An enemy that included a ‘ranker’ with a slightly higher ranking.

It might be a burden for him to take on as the one who had to face them, but Eile didn’t hesitate at all.

“It would be less risky to take on a ranker in the same 900s, but is there a reason you didn’t choose that option?”

“I’m trying to test my skills. I can’t just keep playing around on the periphery forever.”

“Hmm.”

Ru, with a faint smile at his words, stared intently at Eile.

It was a gaze mixed with strange emotions, and before Eile could notice anything strange, she opened her mouth first.

“You must win.”

“Well… I have to.”

He picked up the longsword he had leaned against the rock and stood up.

The time to move had already come.

* * *

The guild members of the mercenary guild Onyx were passing through a ruined area.

It was once a bustling mid-sized trading hub, but it had been completely devastated by this war.

It was so damaged that it was hard to recognize its original form, and it had even been erased from the map.

It wasn’t the work of Apollyon, who had once seized a stronghold by attacking the Griffin Guild, the original owners.

“There are a lot of guys who role-play during war, but this is on a different level from anything I’ve seen so far.”

“Yeah… I know.”

Even mercenaries who had been going back and forth to battlefields and seeing all sorts of nasty sights couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

The stronghold, completely destroyed by the Light Church, had been burned to the ground, leaving not a single blade of grass.

Traces of charred corpses and terrifying execution stands were scattered everywhere.

“Let’s pass through quickly. There’s no good in staying in a place like this for long.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The group nodded at their leader Kelz’s words.

The Onyx guild members who had infiltrated the rear area were divided into five groups of 20, hiding themselves.

The ones here were just one of those groups.

Since their main operation was to infiltrate enemy lines and strike strongholds, having a large number of people would only burden their movements.

Of course, as the number of personnel was dispersed, it could become difficult if they encountered a large number of enemies.

Just as they were trying to speed up and get out of the ruins.

Swish, swish, swish!

Sharp throwing daggers flew in.

The guild members quickly hid or deflected them with their weapons, but a couple of them who couldn’t react in time were hit by the daggers.

However, the members of Onyx were all elites who were not easily defeated.

They had only suffered a loss of health, and no one had been killed by this much.

“Could they have read our movements?”

Thud.

As expected, inquisitors from the Light Church appeared above the ruins.

The inquisitors, who had already been waiting for them, jumped down from the buildings and attacked the guild members.

A fierce battle suddenly broke out in the quiet ruins.

Clang!

“Eile…?”

Kelz recognized Eile, who had clashed swords with him.

Of course, Eile, who had come prepared, was the same.

‘Onyx’s Kelz…’

Kelz was a ranker at 741st place, and it goes without saying that he was a very famous named player.

He was the strongest enemy among the mercenary guilds that had been deployed as reinforcements to the lower front lines this time.

741st place and 934th place.

Clearly, from an objective point of view, there was a significant gap of almost 200 places that could not be ignored.

‘It’s a bit of a leap, but… it has to be this much to test my skills.’

Clang!

Eile, who had been pushed back by Kelz’s power, slid back.

He possessed tremendous power, befitting his high level, which was approaching 270.

Above all, he was a ‘Predator’ ranker of the swordsman class.

As the leader of a war-specialized mercenary guild, he was a very powerful class in single-target PVP [Player versus Player combat].

If he let his guard down even for a moment, it could be game over.

“There’s no room to have a probing battle.”

Tsutsutsut!

Eile’s eye color changed, turning golden.

[Current Synchronization Rate 109.61%]

[Entering Overdrive state!]