Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 214

214. The Final Battlefield (3)

[You have judged an apostate!]

[You have successfully executed the designated punishment according to ‘Sentence of Punishment.’ Stat bonuses are doubled due to the skill’s effect.]

[Goddess’s Favor +0.39% (Current 184.54%)]

[Light Church Contribution +85]

[Faith stat +2]

[Madness stat +2]

[The execution by hanging increases the Judge’s vitality by 10% for 60 minutes.]

A streetlamp on the tilted street.

Beneath it, a corpse with a noose swayed gently.

Apollyon’s ranker, Iid, was hanged and executed.

“Hoo.”

Eil sighed, a brief exhale of relief.

He had finally taken down a ranker in the 200s, but it hadn’t been easy.

The fight, which began inside the temple, had spilled out onto the streets, covering a considerable distance.

Even with Eil’s ranking now in the top 100, making him a high ranker, no opponent was a pushover from the moment they were ranked, regardless of their number. Every fight was a challenge.

Moreover, he had managed to conclude the battle while saving his last resort, making it even harder.

‘The fight was longer than I thought… but I can’t afford to be tired yet.’

Eil, catching his breath, swallowed a potion.

The health and mana, which had risen from below half to full, shone brightly.

Stronger rankers were likely still hiding in the city, and this wasn’t the time to rest.

[‘The Secret Explorer’ is sponsoring you!]

[‘The Ruler of the Volcano’ is sponsoring you!]

[‘The Tyrant of the River’ is sponsoring you!]

[Public Church Contribution +3,700]

[Public Church Contribution +5,000]

[Public Church Contribution +2,300]

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Rewards poured in as he eliminated enemy rankers.

Except for Freya, the goddess of the earth, all the deities watching were sponsoring him.

Even Bahamut, who had suffered greatly at his hands, sponsored him.

The Apollyon Guild, which betrayed the deities after shaking hands, was bound to feel even more displeasure than Eil, who had been hostile from the start.

But it wasn’t just about emotions.

If Apollyon seized the initiative while in league with the demons, their position as a deity could be jeopardized.

That was why Altariel had suddenly appeared before Eil just before this incident broke out.

[Quest completed!]

[Defeated Apollyon’s ‘Iid’ (1 / 1)]

[Achieved partial objective, rewards are given!]

[Goddess’s Favor +2.00% (Current 186.54%)]

[Light Church Contribution +8,500]

[Level up!]

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Ru had assigned quests targeting enemy rankers, and Eil received a reward for defeating one.

Given the situation, the individual rewards she offered were substantial.

Including what Altariel, the god of wind, had given and left behind, a considerable amount of contribution had accumulated.

‘There’s no need to save it in a situation like this.’

[‘45,000’ contribution points have been consumed!]

[The contributed contribution has been converted into Faith stat!]

Eil immediately converted all the contribution he had collected into Faith.

His Faith stat, already exceeding 1,000, increased significantly again.

He had already taken Iid’s items after his death, and after converting all the contribution, Eil immediately moved on.

‘I wondered why they were suddenly giving me these buffs in the middle of the city, but it wasn’t for nothing.’

Thanks to the ‘Wind Path’ buff from Altariel, his movement speed was quite fast.

Not only that.

[Razargal’s buff, ‘Will of Fire,’ is ongoing.]

[Attack power slightly increases!]

[Bahamut’s buff, ‘Water Circulation,’ is ongoing.]

[Health and mana recovery slightly increases.]

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The deities were consuming their influence to provide various buffs.

With Apollyon joining hands with the demons, the deities had no choice but to support Eil, an adversary and an apostle, whether they liked it or not.

Freya, proud as she was, seemed reluctant and remained silent. However, her future was also at stake, so she wouldn’t interfere, at least for now.

Kiyiik!

Looking down, he saw the demon’s minions continuing to emerge from the cracks.

The cracks that had appeared in the city showed no signs of disappearing.

It seemed they had used a huge number of victims, but he didn’t know how to stop it mid-process.

“Do you happen to know how to deal with that?”

“No, this is the first time demons have shown such a move.”

Ru, faintly materialized in Eil’s eyes, shook her head.

Even the most active demons had never shown such a large-scale movement.

The scale had changed drastically with the strongest force among the six major guilds involved as a collaborator.

Even if Ru knew a solution, she couldn’t tell him directly.

Due to the restrictions placed on her as a deity, she couldn’t know all the information, and even the information she knew had restrictions on providing important details.

‘Then I have to deal with the barrier first.’

He didn’t know how to deal with the cracks, and he didn’t have time to find out.

Removing the barrier trapping the entire city would solve many problems.

He could request support from the outside, and the tragedy inside would be widely known to outside NPCs [Non-Player Characters, characters controlled by the game], alerting them to the royal family’s strange orders.

If necessary, he could even safely extract the hidden princess from the city.

‘To do that, I have to catch all the heretic wizards maintaining this barrier somewhere.’

Even with forbidden magic, creating and maintaining such a huge barrier purely from the outside was impossible.

A large number of casters were hiding somewhere in the city, pouring out their magic power.

‘I don’t have to find them all. Even if a few of the pillars supporting this large magic disappear, it will collapse.’

Of course, they weren’t the only ones being hunted.

Apollyon’s rankers would be desperately searching for the princess Eil had hidden, aiming to capture her.

It was a race against time in this war-torn metropolis, with each side moving to capture the other’s core targets.

‘I have to contact them right away.’

Searching this vast city alone was impossible.

He needed the help of allies, including the Iron Cross.

* * *

The Iron Cross Guild, owners of the metropolis Belhaven, were frantically focused on defense.

The endless monsters and the hidden Apollyon’s rankers created a dire situation.

Even though they had accepted Eil’s request and replenished their internal forces, they were struggling.

However, they had a way to provide decisive help to Eil.

[A message has arrived!]

[The attached information has been delivered!]

A large map, automatically opening, unfolded before Eil’s eyes.

The map, filling his personal screen, detailed the structure of Belhaven.

‘Very good? It’s more than I expected.’

The numerous marks and memos on the map made him smile.

Eil had considerable high-level information about Belhaven.

But even so, he couldn’t have more information than the actual owners who had managed the city for nearly a year.

‘Then, among these, where would those guys be…….’

The reason Eil requested this information was simple.

He needed to find the location of the heretic wizards casting the barrier.

The marks and memos on the map indicated potential hiding places.

‘First of all, a secret area where people don’t frequent. Also, to draw a large-scale magic circle, a place with a certain size is needed. Above all, to stably maintain this barrier, magic circles must be placed at regular intervals.’

The Iron Cross had sent only the most suspicious locations in the vast city.

But that was still a large number.

He needed to narrow down the suspected locations, and Eil carefully considered all the variables.

After dividing the candidates, the remaining suspected locations were reduced to about twenty.

‘Among them, the most suspicious place is right here. It’s also the closest to my current location.’

Eil pointed to a place on the map.

Without hesitation, he ran towards that direction.

Defending and enduring the city was becoming impossible due to the constant influx of demon minions.

The attacks by Apollyon’s rankers, searching for the princess, were also a headache, with even top executives being spotted.

They had appeared with the intention of ending it here.

He had to break the barrier as quickly as possible before being attacked.

Kwaaaang!

A demon appeared next to Eil, who was running.

The giant’s eyes, a top-tier minion with huge horns and a level of 250, looked down at him.

‘He’s not a guy who will end quickly. It would be best to avoid him now……!’

Eil tried to escape into a side alley.

But the giant’s club pointed at him, and the surrounding space was sucked in and turned black.

Huuuuk!

“This……!”

Eil’s expression crumpled as he grasped the situation.

The space had completely changed.

It wasn’t just turning black; it had trapped the giant and Eil in a different dimension.

He wouldn’t be able to escape until he defeated the giant.

He had been caught off guard just as he was about to arrive.

Judging by his level and class, this wouldn’t be a quick fight.

If he was held back here for long, the war situation would worsen.

Seueuk!

The floor turned gray, and a new being appeared.

Eil panicked, thinking another monster had arrived.

But the figure of the Grim Reaper holding a scythe was familiar.

Freya’s lower-ranking familiar, ‘Harvester.’

The goddess’s familiar, temporarily descended, swung her scythe, cutting through the transformed space and creating a crack.

Cheucheucheut!

“This is……?”

[‘Mother of Life’ tells you to earn your keep!]

Freya’s message urged him.

Eil smiled and ran into the gap the Harvester had opened.

The demon minion roared and tried to stop him, but the Harvester stepped forward to face him.

Kwaaaang!

Leaving behind the explosion, Eil kicked open the door of an old building and entered.

After blasting the door of the closed basement with a baptism of fire, he faced dozens of wizards positioned around a magic circle.

“Okay, found one.”