Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 220

220. To the Summit

After Apollyon’s plan was revealed, the remaining players in the city, including Aile, cleared paths to head towards the inner castle.

They had to destroy the Annihilation Magic Circle located within the inner castle in time. To do that, they had to defeat the demonic minions blocking their way.

KWA-KOO-KOO-KOONG!

“Nice!”

Loden shouted as Lia’s magic swept the front.

Since Lia had learned mainly high-firepower magic, it was meaningless for the demonic beasts, which were merely obstacles, to try to stop them with numbers alone.

“Let’s go quickly.”

“Yes.”

Aile, who was at the forefront, moved immediately.

They were moving to the meeting point where other Rankers scattered throughout the area had gathered.

They only knew the estimated time when the barrier would break.

Since they didn’t know when the Annihilation Magic the enemies were planning to use would be activated, they had to hurry as much as possible.

Fortunately, despite the demonic minions blocking their way, time wasn’t significantly delayed.

‘Above all, the variable has increased the possibility.’

KEEE-EEEK!

At that moment, a demonic beast suddenly burst out of the ground from behind.

The attacking purple demonic beast’s target was solely aimed at Lia.

Aile and Loden, who were going ahead, couldn’t react in time because it appeared from underground without a sound.

“Ugh……!”

SWOOSH!

At that moment, the body of the attacking demonic beast was split in half.

A few drops of blood splattered on Lia’s cheek.

Then, Lia, who had momentarily closed her eyes tightly, slowly opened them.

Alisa was standing in front of her, having split the demonic beast with a spear.

“That was dangerous.”

“Ah, Alisa-nim!” [Nim is a Korean honorific]

Lia’s eyes widened at her appearance.

“In times like that, you shouldn’t close your eyes…….”

“Uwaa! I missed you!”

“M-Me too.”

Lia ran and hugged Alisa tightly.

Then, Alisa sweated profusely and pulled her out of her arms.

It was good to share the joy of reunion, but there were still many things to be resolved.

“You’ve come!”

Loden and Aile also approached her.

Considering the city blocked by the barrier, it would have been normal to be surprised by Alisa’s sudden appearance.

However, they only felt happy and weren’t very surprised.

It was thanks to hearing about her entering the barrier just a few minutes in advance.

Moreover, it wasn’t just Alisa.

It was also conveyed to everyone that numerous Rankers from the Dawn and Nightmare Guilds had entered the city through the gap in the barrier that had temporarily formed.

Even Aile and his party had encountered friendly Rankers who weren’t affiliated with the Iron Cross several times on the streets.

And the four-person party that had been working together in this place was now complete.

“You really made it out of the Path of Roots safely against Lucan.”

“Aile-nim defeated Yuron. I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“Well, it wasn’t so much that I did it, but my colleague helped a lot. Thanks to that, I saved my skills…….”

“It’s heartwarming, but shall we have the praise session after the work is done?”

Loden, who had slipped in, said.

Then, Alisa, who chuckled, nodded.

“Let’s do that. Now, all that’s left is to recapture the city.”

Thanks to the large number of external Rankers who joined through the gap in the barrier, the situation had changed a lot.

The existence of Kruger and other top executives was still burdensome, but the difference in the number of Rankers had actually been reversed.

Even though an unexpected number had entered, it was still a matter of secretly infiltrating a city with heightened security, so there was a limit to how much more Apollyon could infiltrate.

It was even more so because they were taking care of not only Rankers skilled in infiltration but also unskilled members of the Executioners.

Thanks to that, the number and strength of the Rankers were now ahead of the allies.

Now, all that was left was to storm into the inner castle and neutralize them, and everything would be over.

Of course, it wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

“But the problem is that Apollyon is locking the gates. What should we do about this…….”

Alisa fell into deep thought.

After the barrier was half-destroyed, Apollyon’s Rankers were holed up inside the inner castle.

Since external Rankers had even entered the city, Apollyon would be determined to concentrate on defense to buy time.

Thanks to the Rankers who had entered, they had gained an advantage in terms of power, but it would take a long time to break through the defense.

The Iron Cross Guild was famous for taking great care of defense facilities.

In addition to upgrading the facilities such as outer walls and spiers to the highest level, the inner castle was also blocked by high walls and strong reinforced gates.

Since the scale was relatively small, it wouldn’t take as much time as an actual siege.

However, the time they had now was at most an hour.

If they were to engage in a full-scale battle while struggling to break through the gates, the Annihilation Magic Circle would be activated in the meantime, and everyone would be annihilated.

The current advantage in power became meaningless in the face of defense facilities.

“No, that part is okay. All the people moving towards the inner castle gates are just bait.”

However, Aile confidently answered even in this situation.

It was clear that to enter Belhaven’s inner castle, one had to go through the two gates on either side.

But that was just bait.

Since the owner of the city was the Iron Cross Guild, those who knew the structure of the fortress best were also the Iron Cross.

No matter how thoroughly the outside had investigated, other guilds couldn’t compare.

As a result, there was a passage in Belhaven’s inner castle that even Apollyon didn’t know about, and that was the key to this strategy.

* * *

KWAAK!

The two Apollyon guild members who were inspecting the basement fell at the same time.

Even they, members of the Six Great Guilds, fell without even being able to react to the fast and high-level attack.

The corpse that had its neck cut and fell was rolling around, and Cyr’s figure with a long sword appeared in the darkness.

“Come out now.”

As soon as she finished speaking, one side of the floor rattled and lifted.

Then, numerous Rankers poured out from inside.

Unlike the messy space, those who came out from inside were all famous figures who made a name for themselves in War Lord.

A lineup that was too flashy to be sneaking in.

It was a picture that would feel somewhat heterogeneous to ordinary users, but in terms of reputation, the opponent guarding the castle was the same.

“Hurry. The guys who died will definitely contact us soon.”

The two men who had just died were users, not NPCs [Non-Player Characters].

They would be immediately ejected into reality upon death, but they could still contact them in that state.

Large guilds naturally maintained a 24-hour contact network in reality for situations like this.

“Still, we’ve come this far, so half of it is a success.”

The entire infiltration team successfully entered without any problems through the secret passage.

Aile and all the party members were among them.

KOO-GOO-GOO-GOO!

Above, a considerable number of Rankers were hitting the front of the castle gate in a flashy manner to attract attention.

Now, they had to move quickly in this gap.

“Everyone must have memorized the location of the Annihilation Magic Circle that was delivered. Judging from the large-scale mana flow detected by mana detection, there are two locations. We will quickly break through before the enemies gather and build a defense line.”

Cyr’s instructions continued while everyone hadn’t come up yet.

The map containing the inner castle structure that the Iron Cross had was already delivered to all the Rankers.

The location of the Annihilation Magic Circle was read through the detection magic of some magician Rankers.

Top floor and first floor.

The magic circle was largely divided into two floors, and the plan was to attack the lower floor first.

It was not yet known whether it would be completely destroyed by destroying one side, so it was impossible to jump to conclusions.

Since it was a forbidden magic with little known information, specific information could not be known.

WHOOSH!

As more than two-thirds of the infiltration personnel came up, they began to act.

They immediately spread out to various parts of the inner castle, securing the interior and heading towards the first-floor magic circle.

CLANG!

“T-The enemy is attacking!”

The Apollyon Ranker, who barely blocked the attack of the thief that stretched out from the darkness, shouted.

It was too late to try to respond, but the basement floor had already been completely taken over.

Apollyon, who had been meticulous, had no choice but to be embarrassed when a large number of enemies appeared from completely unexpected places.

KWAAK!

Apollyon was quickly driven away, led by the guild leaders of each guild, and the guild members who were trying to respond calmly were quickly swept away.

However, unlike the basement, where there were few people, the resistance on the ground was fierce.

Many defense personnel were already gathered on the first floor to block the bait personnel hitting the castle gate.

Because they had conveyed the contact even while being attacked in the basement, those on the upper side could immediately gather and build a defense line.

‘We can’t waste time.’

KWAA-KOO-KOO-KOONG!

Magic poured out from both sides, and large-scale skills came and went.

In the meantime, Aile skillfully dug into the chaotic battlefield and headed towards the location where the magic circle was located.

His intention was to remove the most urgent Annihilation Magic Circle as quickly as possible.

However, news that overturned the battlefield in the midst of a fierce battle where neither side would give an inch was heard.

“It’s the executives!”

Just as Cyr and the guild leaders of the Six Great Guilds stepped forward and played an active role.

Apollyon also had those who could overturn the tide of the war just by their presence.

Silas, Lucan, and Dagos.

The current Rankers ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 5th appeared at the same time, cutting down enemies and attracting everyone’s attention.

They appeared and blocked the path to the magic circle.

CLANG!

“Where are you going?”

Silas, who had instantly stopped Aile who was digging in, blocked the way.

CRACK!

The tremendous power felt beyond the sword.

It was impossible for her to get rid of such an opponent on her own without fighting.

However, it was not he himself who blocked her next attack, which was aimed at Aile’s neck.

CLANG!

“Aile, go first!”

Cyr, who had intervened, received Silas’s sword.

The other executives were also confronted by Karin and Solos, the guild leaders of Nightmare and Dawn.

Thanks to that, a brief gap was created, and Aile raised his speed and quickly dug inside.

KWAAANG!

Aile kicked the door and entered the room.

As he had heard, there was an Annihilation Magic Circle exuding black magic, ready to be activated.

However, in front of it, there was a man with a large sword on his shoulder, guarding the magic circle alone.

The current 4th-ranked in the world of War Lord and Apollyon’s top executive, Ixion.

He slowly rose from his seat as he faced Aile.