Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 88

결사단 [Death Squad/Order of Determination]

“Ah… you must have suffered a lot.”

Eile felt a sense of solemnity wash over him.

There had been all sorts of speculation among users about why Roden, a promising ranker with great skill, had suddenly disappeared. To think it was due to military service.

‘Come to think of it, he was also a player of Korean nationality, just like myself.’

No wonder his impression seemed quite different compared to before. It was a story he couldn’t help but find both funny and sad.

“Eile, have you served in the military?”

“I already… How did you know I was Korean?”

“Come on, I can tell just by looking at you. And Koreans are good at virtual reality games. It’s a given for someone like Eile.”

“Ugh, please refrain from nationalistic pride.”

“Nationalistic pride? Such a vulgar word! How many Korean rankers were there in Armenia? Right now, both you and I are Korean, and I heard that Isthorn’s Imena and New World’s Ashilla were also Korean. At this point, it’s safe to say that Koreans are just good on average.”

Roden exclaimed passionately.

Eile scratched his head at that and subtly changed the subject.

“Well… putting that aside, Roden, your goal is to be a ranker again this time, right?”

“Of course.”

“It won’t be easy, though.”

“Of course, it won’t be easy. But I can catch up as much as I want. Competition has become more fierce compared to Armenia, and I’m a year late, so it’s very disadvantageous, but I can overcome that much. Eile, your goal is to be in the rankings, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah.”

At his words, Eile chuckled and nodded.

It was a goal that some might call absurd, but aiming for the rankings was… not a bad thing to say.

Roden stared intently at Eile’s chuckling face for a moment.

“But Eile, you’re surprisingly normal. When I only saw the videos, I thought you were completely crazy… I’m sorry. Anyway, I thought you were a unique person, and honestly, I was worried about how I would die after losing.”

Roden shuddered as he spoke.

It seemed like he was imagining being tied to a pillar and burned at the stake.

“As you know, it was unavoidable.”

“Haha, I understand.”

Roden, aware of the existence of divinity, had some understanding of the church and the system of believers, and he also knew that they were watching the users.

He could roughly guess the circumstances of Eile, who was part of the Light Church as an Inquisitor.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a message since clearing the Village of Destruction.’

Eile thought as he subtly searched his personal interface.

It had been quite a while since the Goddess’s message had appeared before Eile.

Eile had received extraordinary rewards from the sudden quest by defeating the minion of the demon species Benaron, but since then, he had not received any separate support from the Goddess.

‘Could it be because she needs to gather influence again?’

For the divinity of a Warlord to directly intervene in the world or grant something to a player, they had to expend that much influence.

It was easy to guess that Luga had consumed a considerable amount of influence by fighting against the demon of greed, Benaron, and commissioning quests with many rewards.

But that wasn’t all.

‘She couldn’t have exhausted all the influence the Goddess had with just that much.’

The divinities of the Warlords weren’t giving out quests or contribution points to believers because they had plenty of leeway.

The results of the believers’ actions, and the ripple effects of those results on the world, were the influence that the divinity received.

Eile, being an Apostle, was a different existence from ordinary believers, and even the same actions would be followed by greater ripple effects, which was why Luga made him an Apostle, even straining herself right after awakening.

It seemed like she had something planned or had circumstances.

Although Eile was her only Apostle, the range that Luga oversaw was the entire Warlord territory, and there were many places to pay attention to.

In fact, Eile was the only user who always had the divinity’s message floating on one side while playing.

Thump!

Reaching the end of the passage, they faced a door and pushed it without hesitation.

The thick door scraped the floor and slowly slid open, soon opening wide enough to see the other side.

“This is…….”

Eile’s eyes narrowed at the sight before him.

It was a familiar scene he had seen before.

A large room, an altar, and the floor was full of corpses.

It was the demon’s altar and its traces that he had seen in the Village of Destruction.

‘The same ritual was being performed…….’

It seemed that a ritual to summon a demon species was being prepared, and judging from the size of the altar, it seemed even larger in scale.

However, there were a few noticeable differences from before.

A black magic circle was spread widely across the floor, covering the entire room, and it was incomparably larger than the four magic circles that were there before.

Moreover, when he looked closely at the corpses lying on the floor, he realized that they were not sacrifices who had been dragged in, but fanatics who had been guarding this place.

“You… how did you get in here?”

A cold voice was heard from the altar.

When they reflexively looked up, there was a woman wearing a purple robe, holding a staff.

The mark of heresy was floating above her head.

“Ah, a rift must have formed because the outer magic circle was destroyed. Then you guys must be the lackeys of the Inquisitorial Office. This is even better.”

The woman slammed her staff on the floor once.

Then her body was slightly lifted from the floor, and she fluttered her robe as she came down from the altar.

“That guy seems to be the boss, let’s finish it quickly.”

Roden lifted the spear he had lightly carried on his shoulder and aimed it at her.

But Eile, who had discovered something, quickly reached out and stopped him.

It wasn’t time to start the battle yet.

“That crest… a mage of the Dissolution Order?”

“How do you know that…….”

A strange light flickered in the woman’s surprised eyes.

The crescent moon crest clearly drawn on the robe.

As soon as Eile saw it, he could tell which organization she belonged to.

“Dissolution Order……? What’s that?”

Roden whispered next to him.

The fact that the name of another organization suddenly appeared at the altar of the fanatics was secondary, it was a name he had never heard before.

In fact, it was natural for Roden not to know.

Their identity was a secret society that had been thoroughly veiled until now.

Even Eile had struggled to obtain information that could not be bought with money on paid sites, exchanging it for a few other rare pieces of information.

However, he never imagined seeing the Dissolution Order in a place like this.

They were an organization secretly working to liberate and preserve magic that was strictly forbidden by the kingdom, continuing secret research and experiments. What was going on that they were involved with the Crimson Twilight Society, a group of demon worshippers?

“What’s a member of the Dissolution Order doing in a place like this? Surely you had nothing to do with the Twilight Society [Crimson Twilight Society]?”

“You certainly know about us. What’s your identity?”

“I asked first.”

“Heh heh, good. Interesting.”

The woman smiled at Eile’s answer.

She was about to deal with them right away, but she became interested in the uninvited guests who had appeared before her.

“Before we make a deal, can you tell me your name first?”

“Eile. What about you?”

“Mute.”

Mute, who took off the hood on her robe, revealed her face.

The fact that she, a member of a secret society, had shown her face so easily meant that she would never let them live, and the fact that she was trying to have a conversation like this was because she was sure that they would not be able to leave alive anyway.

“You asked why we’re with these crazy guys, right? I didn’t really want to either. Smelly… ignorant… morons who are so stupid that they bow down to demons. But I decided to cooperate with them for a while. Because we have a common enemy.”

“A common enemy?”

“Yes, the reason I came here is to destroy the Light Church.”

“What……? But you shouldn’t have had any major grudges against the church, so why are you plotting such a thing?”

Eile asked, half in doubt.

A mage who dabbles in forbidden magic in the shadows, and a fanatical inquisitor who hunts heretics.

It looked like a completely incompatible combination, but unlike that impression, the two were not very interested in each other.

In the first place, the Light Church’s criteria for heresy did not change depending on what kind of magic one dabbled in.

Whether they dabbled in forbidden magic or were too immersed in voodoo.

In the end, only those who committed injustice and evil were branded as heretics, and a zealous trial was carried out on them.

Rather, if they were to take revenge on the kingdom, which suppresses all forbidden magic regardless of the method and is eager to hunt them down, it would make sense, but suddenly destroying the church was an incomprehensible statement.

But she didn’t answer any more questions.

“That’s all for the answers. Now it’s my turn. I know that you came at the behest of the Inquisitorial Office. But I don’t know if you are inquisitors directly affiliated with the church.”

“Ew, not me!”

Roden shook his head, disgusted.

But Eile showed a sign of affirmation.

“I am an Inquisitor.”

“Really? Then does the Inquisitorial Office also know about the Dissolution Order?”

“No, I’m the only one who knows about your existence.”

Mute smiled, satisfied with Eile’s answer, and stepped back.

“How did you find out about our existence… I’ll have to ask about that in the next question, right? It’s your turn again.”

“I need to hear again why you’re trying to attack the church.”

“We have a grand plan to carry out our will right before our eyes. And your church is bound to be a hindrance there. We’re trying to get rid of a thorn in our side in advance.”

“Then that plan is…….”

“That’s too big of a question, isn’t it?”

Mute smiled with her eyes and grinned.

Eile didn’t expect her to answer such a big question, so he immediately brought up the next question.

“Well, okay. Then what are these corpses? They look like members of the Twilight Society no matter how I look at it.”

Eile scanned the corpses lying on the floor.

They couldn’t have died because of external intrusion in such a deep place where the entrance wasn’t even open.

“That’s… well, there was a bit of a difference of opinion. We gathered so many people’s souls, and all they do is throw them to the demons as food. We can achieve our goals much more effectively if we use them directly. So I took them. I also slightly modified the altar and revised the plan more clearly.”

“Betrayal…….”

“Maybe.”

She shrugged her shoulders.

Then she asked her question.

“I’ll continue with my question. You have to tell me how you found out about the Dissolution Order. For sure.”

“I first heard about it from an information broker in Askalon. A huge sum…….”

“That’s a lie.”

Mute frowned and sharply cut off his words.

The tone, which had suddenly turned cold, exuded a chill, and her expression also changed 180 degrees and hardened.

“The deal is over.”