Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 62

운칠기삼 (Luck is 70%, Skill is 30%) (2)

“What is it… a roe deer?”

“It’s too rotten to be of any use.”

Eil shrugged in front of the roe deer’s corpse, which was swarming with flies.

In Warlord, it was easy to spot wild animals anywhere, except inside cities or towns.

Even if they weren’t monsters living directly in hunting grounds, animals from the surrounding areas were often found.

However, unless food was scarce or leather items were needed, hunting wasn’t something that most players, especially non-production users, paid much attention to.

But Furion suddenly knelt down in front of the roe deer’s corpse and stroked the wound, marked by ghoul’s teeth.

“It looks like it was attacked by a monster. How pitiful.”

Furion bowed his head and offered a silent prayer for a moment.

His words and actions were truly out of the blue.

You could think of him as someone with rich sensibilities or a unique disposition, but any player of Warlord would know exactly why he was doing that.

“No, save your exclusive stats for solo play.”

Danlam frowned, as if he couldn’t bear to watch Furion’s sudden nature-loving act, and protested.

Job-exclusive stats, or the fifth stat, were a key part of character development.

Just as Eil’s Faith stat slowly increased each time he offered a prayer, the same was true for other players.

Job-exclusive stats increased when specific actions related to the job were repeated or conditions were met, enhancing the efficiency of job-exclusive skills.

This was also why there were so many roleplayers in Warlord; they were optimizing their stat growth.

For Druids, stats were accumulated through combat or communion with nature, and Furion had just done the latter to raise his stats.

“Solo play? White Knights may only need to party up and fight to raise theirs, but Druids always have to do this.”

White Knights also had exclusive stats.

They possessed the ‘Chivalry’ stat, which increased when they took attacks on behalf of party members, blocked them, or sacrificed themselves for others in moments of crisis.

However, among Warlord’s many exclusive stats, it was one that didn’t require much specific attention and could be easily increased through combat alone.

However, Danlam did not accept his explanation.

“Combat is the main source of income for Druids too. How much does that even raise it? There are more people who raise it through combat alone, aren’t there?”

“Hey, don’t fight…….”

Eil, feeling awkward, intervened and tried to mediate.

The last thing he wanted was for a crack to suddenly form in a party that was doing well.

But Danlam raised his voice once more.

“You shouldn’t be a nuisance to each other when partying. Are you going to stop and feel sorry every time a tree branch is broken on the road?”

“Ah, okay, okay. I can refrain, can’t I? It can’t be helped.”

Fortunately, Furion gave up and backed down first.

It felt like they had ended it appropriately, cutting it off before a fight started between party members.

Since various people gathered for the first time, unexpected friction or problems could arise.

In such situations, mutual consideration was more important than anything else to find common ground and move on.

“Okay. Let’s focus and go again.”

“Over there……!”

Danlam raised his hand and pointed behind Eil.

Whether they had heard the sound of their argument, four ghouls were running towards them.

Given their habit of moving in groups of four or five, this was actually the more common case, and it was within the range they had expected before departure.

However, few wouldn’t be nervous in the face of a group of high-level monsters rushing in with a truly gruesome momentum.

[You are in the ‘Weakened’ state due to a debuff!]

The weakening effect caused by the severe level difference occurred again, lowering the overall stats of the party members, and Eil shouted at Danlam, who was momentarily stunned.

“Danlam, please draw aggro!”

“Ah… I understand!”

Danlam, snapping out of it, raised his shield and stepped forward.

Even for a professional tanker, it was impossible to handle four high-level monsters alone, and Eil stood at the front line with him.

Koo-oong!

The battle began in earnest as they collided with the fiercely rushing ghouls.

Unlike Danlam, Eil didn’t take the hit head-on but slightly turned his body to avoid it, and swung his longsword at the ghoul that slid past.

He was in the party as a swordsman right now, and because he was hiding his identity, he wasn’t using the Inquisitor’s exclusive skills, including Holy Fire, so he couldn’t deal as much damage as he normally could.

However, since the opponent was an undead monster, it had already been branded with the Mark of the Heretic [a debuff that increases damage taken from holy attacks], and Eil had the advantage of being able to ignore the weakening debuff, unlike the other party members.

Moreover, the combat stats raised by Affection and Madness were not negligible.

Eil’s sword, calmly and skillfully employed, continuously cut through the ghoul’s flesh and bones, causing black blood to spill out.

Poohk!

The longsword pierced the ghoul’s face, deeply stabbing its head.

Then, it couldn’t even scream and writhed before collapsing to the floor.

Except for a small wound on his left arm, Eil’s body was fine, and the displayed HP was showing a figure exceeding 90 percent.

A clean fight that was hard to believe was a battle between a level 50 monster and a level 27 user.

But things weren’t going smoothly on the other side.

While Eil was dealing with one ghoul, Danlam, the tanker, was at the front, gathering the aggro [drawing the enemy’s attention] of three ghouls.

However, Danlam couldn’t come to his senses at all due to the movements of the undead, which were surprisingly agile.

While he was focused on defense, one of the ghouls changed its target midway.

It turned its attention to Furion, who was retreating and casting a spell.

Pa-ba-bak!

The ghoul, kicking off the ground with all its might, aimed for Furion.

In the meantime, his attack magic, which had finished casting, stretched out towards it, but even after being hit directly by the magic, the ghoul only staggered for a moment and didn’t completely fall.

The damage was definitely done, but it was impossible to finish it off.

Kieeeeek!

“You little…!”

As the ghoul rushed in with even more ferocious momentum, Furion slammed the staff he was holding hard against the floor.

Then, several strands of roots sprouted from the ground and wrapped around the ghoul, lifting it up.

The Druid’s exclusive skill, ‘Living Roots,’ which bound the opponent for a certain period of time.

The ghoul, instantly captured, struggled but couldn’t escape.

“How dare you, you 잡몹 [jabmob – weak, insignificant monster]… Keuhuk!”

Chwaaaak!

Another ghoul suddenly appeared and swung its long claws, and Furion, who was defenseless against it, fell backward.

He succeeded in holding one ghoul with magic, but in the meantime, one of the ghouls that Danlam was holding broke away and aimed for Furion.

Allowing one attack, the magic-specialized Druid with a weak constitution was on the verge of death.

The main tanker in charge of the front was at a loss, not knowing what to do between the escaped monster and the monster he was currently in charge of, and overall, the party members couldn’t hide their flustered expressions.

Furion, who was knocked down by the approaching monster, retreated hesitantly.

However, the ghoul’s next move was quick.

The monster’s claws, which would finish him off, were instantly approaching his neck.

“Eueuk!”

Furion sensed his death and curled up his body with his arms raised.

But at that very moment.

Hwa-reur-reuk!

What filled Furion’s vision was not the monster’s grasp but pure white flames.

Holy Fire, following the trajectory of Eil’s straightly swung longsword, burned the evil undead monster, and the ghoul screamed and bounced away.

Holy Fire, which combined holy and fire attributes, inflicted powerful damage combined with the Mark of the Heretic effect.

Kieeeeek!

In the meantime, the ghoul whose restraint had been released from the roots aimed for Eil’s back.

But Eil, noticing him and quickly turning around, used the skill Reverse Assault at the exact timing, instead seizing the monster’s rear.

Momentarily accelerated movement.

Eil’s longsword, swung twice, deeply cut the ghoul’s back, and the ghoul engulfed in flames fell powerlessly to the ground.

That’s how its health reached the bottom and its life was cut off.

“Wait, is that perhaps a rare-grade skill… no, more than that, what was that white flame just now……?”

Furion, belatedly regaining his senses, blankly looked up at Eil and said.

The rare skill Reverse Assault was quite well-known among melee class exclusive skills, and he could recognize its identity.

It was very rare for a user in their early 20s to already possess a rare-grade skill.

But more questionable than that was the identity of the white flame.

As far as he knew, there was no skill among the ‘Swordsman’ job’s skills that created a white flame on the sword’s blade.

From Furion’s perspective, who didn’t have extensive knowledge of Warlord’s jobs and skills, he couldn’t gauge Eil’s true class.

“Koo-roo-reureuk!”

“Ah! It’s coming that way!”

This time, the ghoul that had been arguing with Danlam in the back broke away from him and rushed towards Eil.

But that wasn’t all.

Even the ghoul that had been hit and flown away had already risen, and both of their aggro was directed at Eil.

A situation where monsters were rushing in from both sides at the same time.

Eil shifted his gaze back and forth, gauging their health.

As calmly and leisurely as possible.

And the moment the two monsters came right in front of him, he activated the skill.

Reverse Assault used once again.

And Flash Cut.

Eil instantly turned behind the monster rushing in from the front, and at the moment the two ghouls overlapped, a powerful sword strike and flame swept forward.

Kwagwagwagwa!

‘Oh my god…….’

Danlam and Furion, who witnessed the scene right in front of them, were stunned and froze in place.

Such powerful damage and effect.

They could easily tell that it wasn’t a normal skill, even if they didn’t know exactly what skill he had used.

Moreover, it wasn’t easy to defeat even one monster when they faced them, but Eil had cut down several with his own strength alone without any special care.

“Ke-reuk Ke-reu-reuk…….”

The ghouls, cut by the sword and swept away by the white flames, fell to the floor and couldn’t move.

One of them had completely lost its life, but the ghoul in the back had a faint breath left.

The ghoul that had been arguing with Danlam had only been tied up and hadn’t received much damage itself, so Eil’s Flash Cut skill couldn’t cut off its breath in one go.

But there was nothing it could do in a situation where it was already in a near-death state.

Eil dragged his longsword across the floor and approached it.

And he unfolded the codex he had summoned in his left hand through the skill.

“Sentence of punishment, the appropriate punishment is beheading.”

Pa-ahk!

The longsword that had been raised high was instantly slammed down.

The ghoul’s neck, which had been writhing as if in a last struggle, was cleanly cut off, and bright red blood splattered on Furion’s face, who was lying nearby.

Along with the warm sensation, a dark red stream of blood flowed down his cheek, and he opened his mouth in a trembling voice.

“I, Inquisitor…….”