Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 227

Level Up Judge – Episode 227 (End)

227. Epilogue: Cara Mia Addio!

Kkyaaaaaaak!

The brightly burning pyre shone brilliantly.

The screams subsided, and the pyre left only black traces.

An overturned carriage and six corpses.

“Unfortunately, you picked the wrong opponent.”

Eil smiled as he retrieved his sword.

The ones sprawled there were all users who made a living out of PK (Player Killing) [Player Killing: In gaming, it refers to the act of players killing other players in a non-consensual manner].

They lured the carriage into this remote place by setting a fire in the forest, thinking they were clever.

But the problem was that they targeted Eil as their opponent.

A level 300 player and the official number one in the Warlord rankings.

In essence, they faced the worst possible enemy they could encounter.

Because he often covered half his face in areas with many users, they didn’t properly recognize Eil.

Of course, not recognizing him was their problem.

Eil placed not only the captured ones but also the dead corpses on the pyre without exception.

‘It was quiet for a couple of months, but it seems to be increasing again recently.’

As Eil and the followers of the Order of Light hunted so-called heretics, the number of criminals targeted decreased significantly for a while.

Being executed in all sorts of gruesome ways became a trend, so PK users had no choice but to be cautious.

But that was only temporary.

The number of users entering Warlord grew larger day by day, and the number of PK users looking for a quick buck also increased.

‘Well, the more there are, the more work the Order of Light gets, so it’s a good thing.’

[‘Luminary Judge, Lugh’ expresses deep trust in the Apostle!]

[Order of Light Contribution +800]

Lugh’s message appeared before Eil as he was collecting items.

It was an expression of the goddess’s trust, along with a considerable amount of sponsorship.

But at that moment, Eil’s expression darkened.

* * *

After the victory in Belhaven, the truth was revealed to everyone.

Not only the users but also all the NPCs [Non-Player Characters: Characters in a game controlled by the computer rather than a human player] in the kingdom learned of their misdeeds.

Having turned the entire kingdom into an enemy, no matter how strong one was, it was useless.

Warlord’s Apollyon Guild was disbanded, and only three of the six major guilds survived, including the Iron Cross.

Naturally, the subsequent power structure led to a three-way battle between those three guilds.

Although they fought together against Apollyon, there was no obligation to continue together afterward, and fierce competition for supremacy continued once again.

On the other hand, Eil, the one who defeated Kruger, maintained neutrality as the number one in the Warlord rankings and led the Order of Light.

It was only natural that many people gathered where Eil, the best player in Warlord, was.

Princess Seyia became queen, and the Order of Light was officially chosen as the kingdom’s state religion.

Thanks to that, the Order transformed into the largest power after the royal family, excluding the users’ guilds.

The king’s benefactor and the top-ranked player who defeated Alcyone.

In a way, Eil had the greatest influence on both users and NPCs.

In that position, Eil willingly played the role of balancing things out so that no specific guild would dominate the entire Warlord.

* * *

“……”

Woojin, who had been blankly stuffing food into his mouth, put down his utensils.

After the last battle a few months ago, he received the Holy Relic fragments from each guild as promised.

He collected all the fragments, including those held by the Nightmare Guild and those taken from Apollyon, and succeeded in gathering all the Holy Relics.

The collected fragments were made into one Holy Relic after a ritual.

The Holy Relic, having regained its original form, had a tremendous amount of influence on the deity and left Eil with enormous experience and rewards.

The rewards were beyond comparison to any other quest.

But that joy was short-lived, as the Goddess of Light suddenly disappeared from Warlord.

‘Why did that happen?’

Woojin frowned as he recalled what happened then.

It wasn’t just that she was away or that her interest in the Apostle had waned.

Her existence had completely disappeared from the system, and it had been the same for months now.

He couldn’t understand why she had suddenly disappeared.

After Lugh disappeared without a single word.

A new deity to replace her stood in that place under the name ‘Lugh.’

Thanks to the new goddess taking over all the existing tasks, there was no impact on the Order or any disruption to Woojin’s gameplay.

Everything was running normally in terms of the game system, moving the Order, and providing support.

But that wasn’t what was important to Woojin.

‘Why.’

After obtaining the number one ranking, everything had been going well.

But it was the worst time for him since he started Warlord.

For some reason, he couldn’t shake off the gloom whenever he thought of her.

‘I never spoke directly about what would happen after obtaining the Holy Relic. It was all just my speculation.’

After Lugh disappeared, one hypothesis kept nagging at him.

If the freedom that Altariel spoke of was not liberation from restrictions but ‘annihilation.’

If she realized that she could not escape the fate of being game data in the end, and broke free from the cycle through an extreme choice.

All the reasons why she had been trying to hide the truth made sense.

If he had known about that fact in advance, he would never have cooperated with Lugh in collecting the Holy Relics.

“What’s wrong?”

Hyunsung, who was sitting next to him, asked.

It was the first time in a while that the four of them had met outside the game, and everyone was happily chatting.

But right now, Woojin’s expression didn’t look good at all.

The other colleagues sitting across from him were also looking at him with worried eyes at the sudden change in his demeanor during the meal.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Woojin waved his hand and tried to smile.

He thought he had become accustomed to controlling his appearance since he started acting as the Mad Inquisitor, but he couldn’t control his expression whenever he thought about that.

Eil, Rhoden, Alisa, Lia.

The four players gathered in this place have been active together since the last battle.

And that was as the best small strike team in Warlord.

They cleared all sorts of difficult raids with the minimum number of people, and even broke new records, becoming the strongest party.

Lia, who was only clumsy at first, had long since become a high-ranker within the top 50.

“You sometimes do that even during hunting, are you not feeling well?”

“No, I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

“I’m glad to hear that… Oh, Eil’s face is on the news!”

Just in time, the news on the screen that Lia pointed to was about them.

It was a story about capturing the highest-level field boss in the north.

Eil’s image burning the boss’s corpse was even shown on the screen, and the group chuckled as they watched.

They couldn’t make too much noise in case the other people in the restaurant recognized them.

Paat!

As the topic of the news changed, this time, the content about AI flowed out.

It was also a story about Warlord’s development company.

The development company had been saying that they would actively apply the perfect artificial intelligence 탑재된 [equipped] in virtual reality to reality.

But it turned out that a lot of research had already been 진행되고 [in progress] since before the game’s release, and the announcement a few days ago was that the technology itself was already at a level where it could be put to practical use, but social review and preparation were needed.

A somewhat excessive ambition to make them not just simple auxiliary tools but even members of society.

It was quite a shock to the people who heard the news.

Of course, there were also words that it was just the development company’s media play to expand its position into other fields.

But whether it was an exaggeration or not, the advancing world was always looking beyond imagination as always.

“I’ve felt it before, but the world seems to be changing too fast. It didn’t seem like this when I was young.”

“It’s true that it suddenly got faster at some point.”

Hyunsung nodded in agreement.

“If it’s really perfect AI, how would you distinguish it from a person? They say that even the body and 사고 [thought process] can be the same. If there’s blood flowing and emotions like they’re talking about there……”

“Well. Is there a need to distinguish them?”

“Ex, but that’s a bit……”

The two women had a conversation.

Even though they were used to facing countless NPCs in the game, the story was different if it was applied to reality.

Most people couldn’t adapt easily.

But even with such chatter from his colleagues, Woojin was once again blankly looking out the window.

People were aimlessly going back and forth between the streets and lights that were covered in white with heavy snow.

“……?”

Woojin was captivated by someone he saw in the crowd.

He saw a familiar face walking down the street below.

Deureureuk!

Surprised, Woojin suddenly stood up from his seat.

“Hyung? You said you were… okay?”

“Sorry, I have an urgent matter!”

“What’s suddenly……”

Woojin grabbed the coat hanging on the chair and hurriedly went outside.

He couldn’t even hear Hyunsung’s voice asking what was going on from behind.

He ran down the stairs and came out onto the street, desperately chasing the direction the person he had just seen was heading.

The clothes were different from usual, but he could tell who she was.

A street where snow was pouring down.

When he turned his gaze, he found a long-haired blonde woman wearing a coat.

Woojin ran to her in an instant and grabbed her arm on the street.

“……!”

The woman’s expression was surprised.

She, who was once one of the seven deities of Warlord, was clearly breathing in front of him, 내뱉으며 [exhaling] a white breath.

The two looked at each other silently for a moment, and she slowly opened her mouth.

“Sorry, I couldn’t tell you in advance……”

“No, it’s okay.”

Woojin raised his hand and wiped Lugh’s tearful eyes.

Then she blushed as if she was embarrassed and lowered her head.

It was unexpected but beautiful.

“You know, if… if I could come outside, there were so many things I wanted to do. But it didn’t work out well. There’s so much I don’t know about this world. I think I need someone to teach me… Would you help me?”

“Of course, as much as you want.”

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Her hand, which they held together, was warmer than anyone else’s.

-The End-