Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 80

80. Madness to Madness (3)

“Whew, it’s sweltering today.”

Aeil wiped the sweat from his forehead as he pushed through the thicket.

He was walking through the dense jungle in the area where the abandoned temple was located, and he was suffering from the sudden rise in temperature.

Aeil took a swig from his canteen and poured water over his head to cool down.

Slicking back his soaked hair, Aeil unfolded the map.

The map, zoomed in to show the interior of the jungle area in detail, was marked with circles that Aeil had drawn in advance for each area.

‘Still, I don’t have much left.’

Aeil changed direction again and headed towards his marked destination.

Finding his way in such a dense jungle was not easy, but since his current location was marked on the map, Aeil, who had a good sense of direction, had no worries about getting lost.

New hunting ground, the abandoned temple.

It wasn’t just the temple itself.

This vast jungle area surrounding the central temple was also referred to as the abandoned temple area and hunting ground, and in fact, the entire area was teeming with Twilight Council fanatics trying to attack intruders.

Just like these guys.

“Die!”

The fanatics, weapons drawn, emerged from the bushes.

More than seven black-robed fanatics ambushed him from various places.

They were perfectly hidden, concealing their presence, so it was startling, but Aeil was not flustered.

It was a pattern he had already experienced dozens of times on the way here.

Crack!

The head of the fanatic who had rushed out first was split in half.

Even without using the Sacred Fire skill, he could take care of them in one hit depending on the hit area.

The Aslon Greatsword he had obtained from Ru was indeed a weapon of tremendous power, befitting its Heroic rank.

Meanwhile, a dagger grazed his waist, but Aeil leisurely grabbed the guy by the scruff of the neck and threw him at the fanatic who was running in from the other side.

Thud!

As the two men were tangled together, Aeil took care of the rest one by one.

Aeil’s level was 35, and the average level of the fanatics here was 34.

Now, ordinary monsters of the same level could no longer stop him, who was receiving high bonuses from the Piety and Madness stats.

“Kkeuaaak!”

The fight quickly ended as the last fanatic, with a sword stuck in his back, fell to the ground.

It was a one-sided result.

He easily subdued them all and intentionally captured five of them without killing them.

And the fate of those who survived was all the same.

After neatly tying ropes around their necks in their near-death state, he hung them from the trees.

Thud, the movements of the struggling fanatics soon stopped.

[You feel your faith deepening even further.]

[Piety stat +0.1]

[Madness stat +0.1]

‘It seems that execution methods that are often shown to people are more effective.’

Aeil thought as he looked at the message that appeared before his eyes.

He was always working on his stats while hunting ordinary monsters, and he felt that his stats increased faster when he was seen by many people.

In particular, after seeing his stats suddenly increase even when he was not doing related work, Aeil could vaguely realize that the traces he left behind after executing punishments also affected the stat increase.

As Executor Eileen had told him, if giving fear and awe to people was also the mission of the Inquisitor, then this phenomenon was fully explained.

‘Choosing the execution location well is also important.’

It seemed impossible to make such a fuss in the middle of the city, but it would be better to execute in a place where more people were walking around, even if it was the same hunting ground.

Of course, cremation was the best way to attract people’s attention at a glance, but he didn’t dare to cremate here because it was already too hot.

‘I’m almost there…….’

Aeil looked around and searched for the entrance.

The destination marked on the map was in this vicinity.

Most users active here were mainly wandering around the inside or outside of the temple, but Aeil’s purpose was not the temple but the underground secret facility.

Unless he was here to hunt, there was no reason to go in the direction others were going.

“Found it.”

Between two solid rocks hidden behind a thick tree, there was an entrance hidden in the gap.

It was just big enough for one person to pass through, and a small mark was drawn on the bottom of the tree.

It was exactly as Eileen had told him before the mission.

Aeil put aside his worries and threw himself into it without hesitation.

Inside the passage, there was a slippery slope leading down, and Aeil went down it while maintaining his balance.

Thud!

The inside of the hidden dungeon was quiet.

He had heard that there were a huge number of fanatics in the underground facility, but now there were only old facilities being illuminated by sparsely placed torches.

The passage Aeil had just entered was just one of the many secret entrances leading into the facility like an ant cave, so there were no sentries standing guard in front of the entrance.

‘Start recording.’

Aeil started recording as soon as he entered.

He needed the next video to upload to WarTube [in-game video sharing platform], and he was trying to get footage against the fanatics in this quest.

Since Aeil’s video uploads were done with a long-term plan in mind, it was far from enough to just end up with this level of one-off buzz to seriously use his fame to do something.

To achieve the level of meaningful effect he wanted, he had to continue to build his image by combining rapid growth and uploads.

It was only natural, since it was too much to expect something from the level he had just started.

‘I need to get a good video.’

He wasn’t uploading the entire recording, so there was no pressure because editing was involved, but it was important to extract usable sources for the video.

But he wasn’t too worried.

He was now in a state of raising his specs with new skills, weapons, and equipment, and he would be able to show an overwhelming appearance against monsters.

Moreover, this was a hidden dungeon that was not yet known to users.

Judging from the mention of the magic circle he heard when he received the quest, the contents seemed unusual, and there seemed to be enough elements to attract people’s curiosity.

‘Well, the video is a secondary problem. I need to hurry.’

Aeil glanced at the time and hurried away.

It wasn’t the time to be worrying about the quality of the video.

This huge facility located in the basement of the temple was a hidden dungeon, but it was not an instance dungeon [a dungeon that creates a separate copy for each party].

Since there were no restrictions on entry, even if Aeil was the first to enter the dungeon, anyone could freely enter and exit afterwards.

Perhaps they had already discovered the dungeon.

It had been a week since the restricted area was lifted and users flocked to it, and there were more than one or two entrances, so he could not rule out the possibility that other users were inside.

If so, Aeil’s plan could be disrupted.

They could ruin the magic circle, which was the quest objective, or provoke the fanatics and create variables, which could lead to the failure of the quest.

For now, the best strategy was to finish the quest as quickly as possible without wasting time.

Aeil hid in the shadows where the light of the torch did not reach.

* * *

“How is it?”

“They just passed by.”

“Hoo…….”

The party members hiding behind the corner breathed a sigh of relief at the words of the rogue who used the detection skill.

Their party, who had accidentally discovered the underground facility of the abandoned temple the day before, began exploring the interior and were still continuing their exploration.

Even though five users with decent power had gathered, they could not easily break through the path due to the considerable number of fanatic groups.

“This is the first time I’ve seen so many humanoid monsters. The size of the dungeon doesn’t seem normal either.”

“It’s a good thing for us. It’s a dungeon full of demon worshippers, not other guys. It’s impossible for such a dungeon to have nothing… There must be something? Like an artifact given by a demon.”

“That’s right. If an item with Benaron’s name as a modifier comes out, it will be at least a Heroic to Unique grade item [high-ranking item tiers], and our gold worries will disappear for the time being.”

Some of the party members started laughing at the pleasant thought.

As usual, it was time for someone to tell them not to get too excited, but this place was unusual no matter who looked at it.

It was a hidden dungeon in a newly opened area, and the scale and background setting were good.

It was a place that smelled of rare items at first glance.

If they succeeded in clearing it for the first time, it was as good as a jackpot.

“The problem is that it seems like we’re not the only ones who think that way.”

“Yeah, it’s too early to be optimistic. We’ve already confirmed four parties? One of them was wiped out, so it means there are some thugs mixed in.”

“Definitely… we need to be careful.”

They were not the only ones who discovered the underground dungeon.

Several parties were inside and exploring, and they were even aware of each other’s existence.

They were competing to be the first to see the end of this hidden dungeon.

“The users here are all competitors. Everyone should be prepared for PK [Player Killing].”

“Okay, I get it, so let’s move quickly. We don’t know when the fanatics we passed by earlier will come back.”

The party members, who had quickly come to their senses at the rogue’s urging, hurriedly began to move.

They passed through the long hall in front of the corner and moved to the room across the street.

They quickly closed the door in case the fanatics found them, and took out a small lamp to search the dark room.

Paat!

The lamp, which had its brightness lowered on purpose, lit up, and a faint light illuminated the room.

The party members, who had not let their guard down in case there were monsters inside, immediately noticed that someone was in the room.

A user holding a sword.

Blood was dripping from the weapon, and four corpses were lying haphazardly at his feet.

“Who… who are you!”

“Wait, those people…….”

A party member pointed to the corpses.

The four dead people were all players, not fanatics, and they were even a four-person party that had encountered them once.

“They were taken down by one person?”

“What kind of trick is this……!”

The horrified party members raised their weapons, hostile to the man.

In the midst of the brutal atmosphere, the man, who was standing in front of five people, just shrugged his shoulders.

“I didn’t start the fight first.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. How can you kill four people alone unless you suddenly stabbed them in the back? Make excuses outside the game!”

Kaang!

One of the party members, who had kicked off the ground and rushed in, delivered a heavy blow.

But the man, who gently held the sword, slipped the attack and sent him flying to the other side.

“Keueuk……!”

The party member, who had rolled on the floor, gritted his teeth and stood up, and the other party members also took a stance to rush in all at once.

He was cornered, surrounded by himself in the room.

“5 people… If it’s 5 to 1, it’ll be more manageable than before.”

The man spun his sword as if he was having fun.

The healer in the rear, who felt something strange, hesitated for a moment, and then he could properly see his face illuminated by the faint light of the lamp.

A face that looked familiar from somewhere. No, it was a face that no one could not know beyond him.

If his memory was not wrong, the opponent was…….

“W-wait! Everyone stop!”

The healer shouted, realizing that something was wrong.

But it was too late.

The party members were already rushing towards him, and the man looked down at the small stone in his hand and continued to speak.

“You started the fight?”

Crack!

The lamp was smashed and darkness swallowed the room.