Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 207

207. The Tumultuous Field (5)

“No way……”

The sudden shift in rankings came without any warning.

The rankings in Warlord, always a hot topic, were met with an enormous ripple effect.

The rankings of Apollion’s top executives, who had been evenly distributed within the top 20, soared rapidly.

The positions from 1st to 5th, which had always been held by the leaders of the Six Great Guilds, were now theirs.

Sir, the leader of the Iron Cross who had been chasing right behind Kruger, was pushed down to 6th place.

It wasn’t just them, either.

The affiliated high-ranking players had also been hiding their strength.

Currently, half of the top 100 ranked players, classified as high rankers, were plastered with the names of those belonging to Apollion.

There was little change in the rankings of those below that, but that alone was not enough to be thankful for.

Half of the 100 strongest rankers in Warlord belonged to Apollion.

It was an overwhelming gap that no one could help but doubt their eyes, and the shock that fact gave was enormous.

“This doesn’t make sense……”

Eile rubbed his head in disbelief.

[‘Mother of Life’ expresses strong doubt!]

[‘Secret Explorer’ is intrigued by the unexpected situation.]

[‘Ruler of the Volcano’ cannot hide his embarrassment.]

The gods themselves, who had not known this fact, showed great agitation.

No matter how divine they were, they couldn’t possibly know what was happening outside of Warlord.

The shock of the players who were now receiving this news without knowing anything must have been beyond words.

Articles would be pouring out from all over the world at an incredible rate.

[‘Light Judge, Ru’ watches with worried eyes.]

‘I expected them to be much stronger than the other Six Great Guilds, but I never imagined Isthorn’s strength would be this great.’

Isthorn, the first virtual reality game, was once the only game where all users had no choice but to gather.

However, it was Alkione who crushed all the guilds in that game and took them over completely.

It was only natural that they were strong, having completely dominated a game on the level of the current Warlord and swept up talent.

In addition, Alkione at the time made enormous profits by squeezing all the users of Isthorn.

Thanks to that, the conditions for Alkione’s internal rankers were the best in the industry.

It wasn’t for nothing that famous rankers were willing to enter and cooperate with the guild, even while being cursed by ordinary users.

“Without any explanation, and even closing the guild’s official website… Does that mean they’re not even thinking of hiding it from ordinary users anymore?”

More than anything else, even the guild that had remained in Isthorn for the sake of appearances suddenly ceased its activities.

It was a blatant move, as if they no longer needed any pretense.

And such blatant moves flowed into the ears of the users as well.

As rumors about Apollion and Alkione spread belatedly, users fell into great confusion.

The stories that were coming out now could not simply be dismissed as nonsense.

No matter what anyone said, the change in rankings that had been witnessed by everyone was an undeniable fact.

As there was no game to replace the current Warlord like in the days of Isthorn, the users’ fear grew even greater.

While some users were rebelling against the Apollion Guild, which had only had a good image until now, there were stories among the larger guilds that they should join Apollion as soon as possible.

“Even if ordinary users rebel, Apollion won’t care. After all, the main force of Warlord is the guilds. And those guilds have everything, including their livelihoods, riding on Warlord.”

Alisa, who had been walking ahead, stopped for a moment and said.

With the official rankings plastered with Apollion’s rankers, the guilds that couldn’t afford to take risks were likely to be intimidated and side with them.

Thanks to their long experience in Isthorn, they were also very skilled at exploiting people’s fears.

“In that case……”

At that moment, Eile, who had inadvertently shifted his gaze, met Alisa’s eyes.

Then he saw her expression, which he hadn’t been able to see because he had been following behind with the princess on his back.

Unlike usual, she couldn’t hide her complicated emotions.

“Eile-nim, and Roden-nim too. I knew that you had noticed something strange about me, but I also knew that you didn’t ask out of consideration. But if I hadn’t hesitated there… If I had told you a little earlier, this situation might not have happened. Maybe……”

“No.”

Eile cut her off.

“As long as this is Warlord and not Isthorn, old stories like that don’t matter. Alisa-nim saved the princess and pulled me up from the cliff in the underground dungeon, so we were able to get this far.”

Eile had been addicted to online games in the past.

He could laugh and talk without worrying about the fact that he had lost his parents early or how difficult his circumstances were, at least in the game.

And that would be the story for everyone, not just himself.

“In the end, it’s just a game, right? What if there are some secrets you can’t tell?”

Eile shrugged his shoulders and started walking again.

Then Alisa, who had been looking at Eile’s back for a moment, followed him.

“…Thank you.”

A small voice was heard.

Although it couldn’t be seen, he could tell that there was a faint smile on her lips.

Kwaroooong!

A huge explosion shook the passage.

Except for the very first entrance, they hadn’t set up any traps separately.

In other words, this time it was the sound of a fierce battle between users, not a trap.

“It’s much closer than before. Let’s hurry. We can’t afford to be caught in a place like this.”

* * *

Kwaddeudeuk!

One side of the wall was torn off completely.

The man who had been thrown out by the great impact flapped his clothes and regained his balance.

Solos, the leader of the Six Great Guilds, Dawn, the world’s 3rd ranked player and Warlord’s strongest fighter, had to give up his position as the number one fighter due to the sudden change in rankings.

To the man standing in front of him, that is.

“Still, you’re holding out quite well. I thought it would be over quickly. So you guys were hiding some of your strength too, huh?”

Lukan, who smirked, approached leisurely.

He was an early member of Alkione and a top executive of Apollion, who pushed Solos down to 7th place and is currently ranked 3rd.

“Hoo……”

Solos caught his breath and glared at Lukan.

The situation was not good.

His remaining health was only 14 percent.

On the other hand, the opponent’s health was still more than half full.

He hadn’t even managed to get the opponent to reveal all his cards yet, and at this rate, there was no chance of winning.

‘I never thought it would be this bad. I was only planning on buying time for the princess to escape… But even that’s not working.’

Solos frowned slightly and raised his fist.

Then he immediately activated a skill.

Kwaroooong!

A huge explosion occurred as he slammed his fist down.

Lukan had no choice but to take a defensive stance against the explosion that filled the passage and stretched forward.

In the meantime, Solos quickly fled into the passage next to him.

“If I chase after him… I’ll lose.”

Lukan, who had offset the explosion, clenched and unclenched his fist as if he was disappointed.

No matter how strong he was, he couldn’t help but covet the head of one of the Six Great Guild Leaders.

But even if Solos was alive or dead, it was no longer an important issue in this situation.

If he were to chase him to the end, he could catch him, but it would take a considerable amount of time to completely finish off Solos, as he was not an easy opponent.

But the current mission was to cut off the princess’s breath.

It was a much more important task than the head of one of the Six Great Guild Leaders.

“Still, I was lucky enough to find the princess’s location while fighting.”

Lukan’s lips twisted as he clenched his fist tightly.

Unique-grade skill, ‘Vibration Detection’.

It was a powerful passive skill that detected the presence of users in the vicinity, and could be felt through walls or even with eyes closed.

And just as he was fighting Solos.

The presence of three people felt from down below came within range.

“Shall we go?”

Koo-oong!

Lukan, who had cast a skill, broke through the floor in succession.

As it was a passage with tangled roots and stems, it was impossible for it to withstand his fist, no matter how strong it was.

Kwaroooong!

The ceiling shattered and debris poured down.

And finally, the faces he had been told about in advance were standing in the place he had arrived.

“Found you.”

“Lukan……!”

Eile stepped back at the sudden appearance of the uninvited guest.

And not just any pursuer, but a top executive of Apollion.

Eile urgently looked for a way to overcome this situation, but he was at a loss as to how to escape against the monster ranked 3rd.

But then Alisa, as if she had expected his appearance, stepped forward without panicking.

“Eile-nim, go first.”

“Pardon?”

“If we waste time here, it’s over. I’ll buy you time, so take the princess and get out of here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous……!”

Eile, who doubted his ears for a moment, naturally protested against her words.

He would rather hand over the princess and buy time himself.

It was absurd to leave a healer with insufficient combat ability alone.

“There’s no time to argue. The most important thing right now is the princess’s life. If we get caught here, we’ll just get a penalty and be done with it, but if we lose the princess, everything will be over.”

“Even so, that’s……”

“And more than anything… I have a way to get out of here. I don’t lie anymore.”

“……”

Eile was momentarily speechless at Alisa’s firm intention.

But soon her urging gaze reached him, and Eile had no choice but to turn around with the princess on his back.

He had no choice but to believe her words now.

“I heard you were in Warlord… I never thought you’d do something like this. It’s been a while, Alena.”

“Shouldn’t you start chasing the princess soon? I need to knock you down quickly if I want to get out of here too.”

Jjeo-jeong!

Alisa, who had opened her inventory, took out a new weapon.

Level 220 magic spear, ‘Cold Lament’.

Magic spears were basically hybrid weapons with both physical and magical abilities, so they were said to be ambiguous in both areas, but this unique-grade item was different.

Pa-a-at!

Various buff magics were activated, and light swirled around Alisa’s body.

“Don’t tell me you’re serious about trying to fight me?”

“This is not the time to joke around.”

“Ha… Hey, I know your skills well. But even so, you’re just a healer. And with your poor specs that haven’t even entered the rankings, nothing will change no matter how hard you try. It’s like you’re ignoring me.”

“Is that so?”

Tsutsutsut!

Alisa’s eyes fluttered with a golden light as she raised her spear.

[System Overload, entering Overdrive state!]

[Current assimilation rate – 157%]