Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 221

“Can we win?”

“Of course.”

Eil nodded at the voice he heard.

Though invisible to others, Ru was watching him with worried eyes from beside him.

Even from the position of a deity who could only watch, there was a lot at stake.

Especially for Ru, who was bound to Eil by a contract.

“Who are you talking to all of a sudden?”

Ixion, an executive of Apollyon facing him, asked.

Even if he was talking to a deity, to those watching, it would only look like he was muttering to himself.

“You don’t need to know.”

Eil replied curtly.

‘They wouldn’t be seeing each other for long, and he didn’t care what kind of look he was getting.’

Eil subtly turned his gaze to look behind him.

Though he could hear the sounds of fierce fighting from outside, none of his guild members were rushing in to help him.

The reason was simple.

From Apollyon’s perspective, they probably thought that with Executive Ixion in the room, Eil would be dealt with easily.

No one would bet on Eil’s victory against the current rank 4 player.

That was true not only for his enemies but also for his comrades.

‘But I haven’t been just playing around all this time.’

Whoosh!

Eil, holding his longsword, immediately dashed forward.

He was already pressed for time, so he couldn’t afford to hesitate.

However, Eil wasn’t just targeting the opponent in front of him.

The key was the Annihilation Magic Circle located behind him.

Clang!

But Ixion, moving in an instant, easily blocked Eil’s path.

“You didn’t think that would work, did you?”

Ixion tilted his head and said.

Eil darted his eyes around, but it seemed the path was completely blocked just by Ixion standing there.

As he said, it was unreasonable to expect luck in a battle of this level.

It wasn’t like they were dealing with some random nobody; being careless in such an important situation would be incredibly foolish.

In fact, it was something you shouldn’t expect when facing a ranked player.

“I was wondering why you didn’t immediately run out of the room when you saw me. I trust you didn’t rush in here with just this in mind.”

“You talk too much!”

Whoosh!

Eil swung his sword mightily.

Ixion, with a light movement, quickly stepped back to avoid it.

“Well, fine. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Clang!

Raising his hand, Ixion lowered his helmet’s visor.

His face was completely covered, and he was now clad in armor from head to toe.

A black armor set with sharp-looking lines.

It was a set of equipment that had never been revealed in War Lord [presumably the name of the game they are in].

It was also the equipment Ixion had switched to when he showed his true skills and revealed his real ranking.

Of course, its effects were unknown.

However, it was certain that it had better specs than his previous equipment.

Clang!

Ixion, who had rushed in with a charge skill, immediately brought down an attack.

Eil dodged to the side, but the spot where he had swung his greatsword was deeply dented.

A trace created by just a normal attack without any skills involved.

Even if he wasn’t as extreme as Rhoden, he had invested quite a bit in passive skills.

Ixion actively used the charge skill, unique to the knight class with its short cooldown, to pressure Eil.

As he relentlessly pushed forward.

A small gap appeared in Eil’s defense, and black light emerged from Ixion’s greatsword as he seized the opportunity.

A hero-grade attack skill, Earth Split.

Clang!

The greatsword scraped the ground, extending a sword strike.

The earth split, and a massive shockwave flew out, reaching right in front of Eil in an instant.

However, Eil deployed a barrier through the ‘Shield of Protection’ skill and perfectly defended against the attack.

Even though he had skipped the casting, thanks to his high Faith stat, negating a skill was easy.

More than anything, there was a reason why the pure defense skill, Shield of Protection, had a Unique grade.

“Huh?”

Ixion was taken aback by how easily it was blocked.

To the Inquisitor, divine magic was only meant to be a supplementary means.

He never expected that he would block his attack head-on with just a support skill.

This was thanks to the existence of the ‘Zeal of the Seeker’ skill, which allowed him to wield divine magic even better than a professional priest.

‘A gap……!’

Ixion seemed to think he had caught Eil for sure at that moment, making too big of a movement.

At least, retreating backward to evade the attack was the normal response from the opponent’s perspective.

However, to create that difference, Eil didn’t take a single step back and took the skill head-on.

He had to seize this without missing it.

Whoosh!

Using a pre-prepared motion, Eil extended his sword.

On the other hand, Ixion was just now bringing his greatsword to the front.

He was trying to block it without taking any damage.

However, Eil used the Reverse Play skill to spin around Ixion and instantly penetrate his rear.

With a slight acceleration as a side effect of the skill, the longsword aimed for his neck.

Clang!

But Ixion immediately turned his body and reacted.

“I can’t underestimate this.”

Bam!

The longsword aimed at his neck was blocked powerlessly, and Eil was kicked by Ixion’s extended foot, sliding backward.

As expected, it was too naive to expect that the Reverse Play skill alone would work against a top-level ranked player.

‘Still, to block it in that state earlier…….’

Eil, frowning, stared at Ixion.

His big movement just now was an act that would have been a fatal mistake in a duel between typical ranked players.

However, he reacted nonchalantly even in that situation.

‘Is this the skill of a top-tier ranked player?’

Eil knew Ixion’s play style well.

A large greatsword and a full plate armor with a helmet pressed down.

With superior stats backing him up, he had strong damage and stability, and above all, he had fast movements that didn’t match his appearance. He was like the ideal of all knight classes.

However, above all, his characteristic was that he stacked high-grade passives to give a very large bonus to his greatsword proficiency.

Thanks to that, Ixion could use the large greatsword as freely and flexibly as a one-handed sword.

Clang!

“Ugh……!”

Even when Eil stuck close and induced close combat, Ixion willingly accepted it without showing any signs of avoiding it.

While using a long-reach greatsword, he even took the initiative in the fight against Eil, who also used daggers.

‘He’s much stronger than what I’ve heard and seen. I guess there’s a reason why he climbed up the rankings.’

Since Ixion hadn’t revealed his true skills in War Lord until now, he was showing movements that were clearly different from when he was analyzed in videos.

Even when he was being analyzed through videos, his skill was felt, but now he was even stronger.

Ixion compensated for the speed disadvantage of heavy armor, which was inevitably inferior to light armor, with just quick judgment.

He anticipated and moved in advance from the moment he tried to take a preliminary action for the next movement.

He truly lived up to his rank as the 4th highest-ranked player.

‘But…….’

Eil’s words to Ru before the fight weren’t just empty words.

‘What is it……?’

Ixion’s brow furrowed at the strange feeling he was getting.

He was pushing him as if he would knock him down at any moment, but unlike what he had initially expected, Eil was clearly reacting to his attacks and continuing the fight.

Of course, it was still undeniable that he was in the dominant position.

However, Eil’s movements, which seemed to be gradually catching up, continued to give him an unpleasant feeling.

‘This strange sense of incongruity… Could it be what Alena was talking about?’

The synchronization rate control that only two people in the history of all games and the Alkione Guild had ever used.

His vague premonition was not wrong.

Eil’s synchronization rate, which had already entered Overdrive and reached 159 percent, was still slowly rising.

Eil’s skills had changed so much that they couldn’t be compared to before.

Eil had steadily raised the upper limit of his synchronization rate by continuing to fight against numerous skilled players and ranked players, including Yuron, the leader of the Six Great Guilds.

“This bastard……!”

Ixion frowned and activated a skill he had been saving.

He never thought he would use it against someone who wasn’t even the leader of the Six Great Guilds, but he decided not to give him any more time to end this unpleasant premonition.

Whoosh!

‘He’s finally bringing it out.’

Eil reacted to the opponent’s movements.

Black smoke billowed from Ixion’s body, and it was clear that it was a buff skill, not an attack skill.

Ixion’s Unique-grade main skill, which was already widely known, had been activated.

A powerful personal buff skill that greatly increased all stats.

He knew that he would have saved it because of its long cooldown of 2 hours.

Clang!

In a situation where Ixion had narrowed the distance in an instant and was approaching menacingly.

Eil immediately activated a skill and countered.

He had a ‘Legendary-grade’ buff skill that was even more powerful than the Unique-grade buff that Ixion had brought out.

[‘Goddess’s Blessing’ skill has been activated!]

[All stats increased by 18% !]

[Cooldown time of all skills decreased!]

[Casting time of all divine magic is removed!]

[Time remaining ‘12:00’]

.

.

.

Tap!

At the same time as the messages that popped up briefly flashed by, Eil immediately put his hands together and prayed.

Whoosh!

Clang!

Eil’s skill, which fell in an instant, struck Ixion.

A giant sword of light fell, breaking through the ceiling of the upper floor, and the surrounding area was completely devastated.

“Ugh…….”

But the victory was not yet decided.

Ixion reacted in that short moment and deployed a knight-class defense skill.

However, even that barrier could not withstand the power of ‘Judgment’ and was shattered to pieces.

This was the difference created by the two buff skills.

The simple increase in stats was inferior to Ixion, but the additional effects were beyond comparison.

A powerful effect that allows all divine magic to be used instantly.

There was no way to block the effect of Punishment, a Unique-grade attack divine magic that was dropped with maximum power, skipping the casting process.

“Haha…….”

Ixion let out a hollow laugh.

Blood trickled down his forehead from the first effective hit he had taken.

“Alena’s eyes are as sharp as ever. Even though he’s a synchronization rate user, I never thought he would have grown this much already.”

The look in his eyes as he looked at Eil had already changed.

It was the first time he had seen a player with this much talent since his Alkione days, and he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

And that’s why he could bring out his Legendary-grade skill without any regrets.