Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 60

The Corpse Pit (4)

Swaaaaaa!

The water that had filled the entire Corpse Pit drained away all at once, and Aile slowly descended to the bottom.

The Amaranth pursuers had all drowned and become cold corpses, and even the corpse mermen swarming inside the cave were swept away and disappeared.

There was plenty of time before they would respawn, and he didn’t have to worry about being disturbed by monsters while leaving.

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have acquired the title ‘High-Level Slaughterer’!]

[You have acquired the title ‘Strong-Weak-Strong’!]

[The effect of the item ‘Underwater Gem’ has disappeared!]

…

Numerous interface windows popped up, filling his vision, and Aile read and cleared them one by one, organizing the screen.

First, thanks to the experience gained from this incident, he leveled up by 2, reaching level 28.

Although it was a tiny amount, it was still judged that he had dealt damage to them with the trap he had set, so it was counted as his kill.

You might think that it was too little compared to the level difference, but in War Lord, to prevent system abuse, even if there is a large level difference between players, it was not structured to allow explosive level ups at once.

Aile was already getting the most he could get at his current level.

[You have eliminated a number of heretics!]

[Goddess’s Favor +0.51% (Currently 56.07%)]

[Light Church Contribution +115]

[Faith stat +3]

[Madness stat +3]

Of course, since their main job was killing users, the mark of heresy was clearly stamped on their heads, so he could get additional stat bonuses normally without using heresy skills separately.

[The goddess, impressed by your wit, has sent a donation.]

[You overturned an overwhelming disadvantage and left a strong impression.]

[Light Church Contribution +600]

In addition, Luga, impressed by Aile’s performance this time, sent a donation.

It was a considerable reward, enough to easily make up for the contribution points he had spent for this, and it could be said that it exceeded mere satisfaction.

Currently holding 1,325 contribution points.

Combined with the contribution points he had steadily accumulated, it was quite a lot.

There was no immediate use for it, but it was desirable to have more means to improvise when urgent situations arose, like now.

“Found it!”

Aile, who had been guarding the entrance to the Corpse Pit, found the body of a member of the Amaranth Guild and ran to it.

He was worried that it might have been swept away by the current, but it was lying not far from the entrance.

A faint light was shining from the corpse, indicating that looting was possible.

The bodies of Tullen and Lucas, who had been floating in the boss room, had been collected in advance and their items had been taken. He collected this Amaranth member’s items as well and put them all together.

Then, he organized his inventory and checked the gains from this harvest.

‘As expected… it’s no joke?’

About 5 pieces of high-level equipment that they were directly wearing dropped, and the gold that came with it was also a considerable amount.

Since they were all users who focused on PVP [Player versus Player, combat between players], they didn’t carry a lot of money to avoid risks, but even so, it was an amount that Aile’s level couldn’t even dream of.

Including other items such as high-end potions, the harvest this time jumped up significantly.

‘I can’t use them directly because of the level restrictions, but if I sell the equipment, I can get at least 4,000 gold.’

As expected, the most profitable items were the equipment they were wearing.

Just considering each piece of equipment, it was worth a considerable amount of actual cash, and it was like hitting the jackpot in a life-or-death situation.

“Hoo…….”

Aile took a slow, deep breath and calmed his trembling arms.

He survived the fierce battle, the plan he had devised worked perfectly, and he sent three veterans above level 100 straight out of the game.

On top of that, the loot was a huge hit, so he couldn’t help but feel a surge of elation.

However, Aile suppressed the joy that was about to burst out and continued walking.

Although he had won this time, the real important thing was what came next.

The Amaranth Guild would not give up after just one death; they would likely rush in to make up for it.

However, their principle is that if the target is one person, one team is in charge until the end. Considering that the team members who have already taken the case have to revive and track the location from the beginning, he has earned at least two days.

The immediate threat has been neutralized.

Now, he had to use this time to come up with a more fundamental solution.

‘This plan worked out well by luck, but I should give up the expectation that they will be careless again after being hit hard once. Above all, fighting alone against Amaranth, which has hundreds of guild members, is suicide. I have to make them give up the request first so I can survive.’

For Amaranth to voluntarily give up the request they received from the client…

It was never a common occurrence, but it wasn’t impossible either.

Even if they were not directly affiliated with a special guild, there were targets that Amaranth would never touch.

This included players who are related to the ‘Six Great Guilds’, a huge force that dominates the entire War Lord, or who have performed special quests for the NPC [Non-Player Character, a character controlled by the game] force ‘Royal Family’ of Askalon.

‘The Six Great Guilds are out of the question for me, who has nothing yet, so the only thing left is the second method.’

Beginner users who are not interested in the world or detailed geographical circumstances sometimes overlook it, but all areas where players are active, except for the terrible outback outside the central area, are all within the ‘Kingdom’ area.

There is only one kingdom in War Lord, and therefore only one royal family.

You might think that they don’t have as much power as you think because the player guilds that occupy the territories actually manage and rule the territories, but nominally, they were the target to which all guilds that were ‘entrusted’ with the territories pledged allegiance.

It was appropriate to see it as a position like the imperial family of the Murim [martial arts world], which only took a small amount of taxes from the territory’s income and did not interfere with guild wars or territory dominance.

However, that didn’t mean that they had no presence or influence among the players.

They periodically provided large-scale quests such as royal trade or subjugation requests to users, and had an important position in both combat and life. There were also equipment, potions, material items, and exclusive skill books that could only be purchased when the relationship with the royal family was above a certain level.

As the official owner of the kingdom, they had the most powerful force among the NPC forces in War Lord, and their influence extended throughout the area, regardless of region, so even the giant guilds did not treat them carelessly.

‘Besides, criminal guilds should be especially careful about things related to the royal family.’

The reason why criminal guilds, who would take a seat regardless of the region, including the outback, as long as it made money, would not even go near the royal capital, which they would covet the most, is simple.

If they accidentally interfered with the royal family’s affairs, they could be subject to strong sanctions throughout the kingdom.

In general, if a problem arises with surrounding forces that is difficult to handle, they tend to move to another area, but if a problem arises with the royal family, the owner of the entire kingdom, it is impossible to get over it that way.

In fact, some mercenary guilds unknowingly killed a user who was carrying out an important quest for the royal family, and the entire guild was heavily damaged by a high bounty or even collapsed.

This was also the reason why Amaranth did not touch users related to the royal family.

Among the criminal guilds, Amaranth, which has an extremely cautious disposition, did not even touch things that could have such risk factors.

This was also the reason why Amaranth was the only one that survived for a long time and established a one-strong system while many prestigious mercenary guilds that had moved from other games to War Lord did not last long and collapsed.

And Aile had to aim for this.

The moment he became involved with the royal family, Amaranth would cleanly let go of him.

‘But the problem is that getting involved with the royal family is not an easy task.’

As a powerful force that influences the entire War Lord, they gave many high-quality quests to players, and naturally, excellent rewards followed.

There was no one who didn’t covet the relationship with such a royal family, and many other users were trying to somehow establish a relationship with them.

In fact, around the royal capital, you could find users who were working hard to raise their relationship by suffering hardships.

However, the reality was that most of them were frustrated and gave up without even starting.

Users who were merely wandering vagabonds could not possibly enter the royal palace, and nobles from powerful families would not be their conversational partners.

Unless they were lucky enough to get a special quest, there was no way to start a relationship. Even though it had been over a year since War Lord was released, only a very small number of users had interacted with the royal family, and most of them were users who were involved in quests related to the royal family by chance without even expecting it.

‘But it’s not an impossible story.’

As of last week, an item that allows you to start quests related to the royal family without any limit on the number of people has appeared.

The item called ‘Torn Royal Family Seal’ began to drop from monsters in several specific hunting grounds, and if you collect a total of 15 and succeed in restoring it, it becomes a quest item called ‘Royal Family Seal’.

This fact has become quite a hot topic among users, and many people are trying it by searching for hunting grounds.

However, there was a tricky condition.

First of all, the seal only comes from monsters that are at least 20 levels higher than the player who went hunting.

No matter how much you hunt ordinary monsters, a 20-level difference is a very burdensome figure, so many users are dying while trying to hunt.

However, Aile, who receives combat buffs from both Madness and Favor stats, could give it a try.

‘I’m worried that the item drop rate is very low, but… I have no choice but to try.’