Chapter 26

Level Up Heretic Judge – Episode 26 (26/227)

Episode 26: Quest In (3)

Pooook!

“Kehk!”

A thief who was walking unknowingly got stabbed in the side by Eil’s longsword.

And not content with just stabbing, Eil immediately used his shoulder to slam the guy into the wall, preventing any further action.

Of course, another thief standing nearby didn’t just stand idly by.

“You little bastard!”

The thief drew a dagger from his waist and swung it straight at Eil.

With Eil already pinning one thug against the wall, he had no way to dodge and was completely exposed to the attack.

But Alisa, hiding on the opposite side, rushed in and struck the thief hard on the head with her staff.

Paang!

The thief staggered for a moment under the impact.

Seizing this opportunity, Alisa forcefully pulled the staff across his neck from behind.

The strangled thief gagged and wildly thrashed about trying to break free.

But she wasn’t letting go easily, and while this was happening, Eil finished off the pinned thief and approached, driving his sword into the struggling thief’s stomach.

“Khheuugh…!”

The thief slid down and fell.

The first battle of this instance dungeon ended without much trouble, and Eil and Alisa looked at each other.

“Still the first opponent, but it was much easier than expected, huh?”

“Yeah, surprisingly simple compared to what we thought…”

But just as they were relaxing and chatting, the fallen thief started moving again.

Pooook!

The clearly dead thief’s corpse suddenly moved and drove his dagger into Eil’s ankle.

Caught completely off guard in an unguarded state, Eil had no way to avoid it.

Before he could even process the situation, a system message appeared.

[You have been poisoned!]

– Your health will gradually decrease at set intervals.

“What the hell…!”

Eil quickly stepped back and raised his sword.

But the other fallen thief lying behind him had also abruptly gotten up.

The thief swung his poison-coated dagger widely.

Klang!

Alisa’s staff blocked the dagger just in time as she stepped in front of Eil.

Their pale faces, bloodshot eyes, and vacant expressions made these thieves look like the zombies they had fought in the forbidden ruins.

Though the situation was incomprehensible, battle came first.

Whoosh! Slash!

Eil instantly spun around and severed the risen thief’s arm.

Dark blood sprayed from the severed limb, but the thief showed no sign of pain, not even blinking.

This complete lack of fear when being attacked…

Eil barely managed to shake off the persistent foe and delivered a final blow, severing the head.

This time, the body definitely stopped moving.

Eil then dispatched the one Alisa was holding onto, bisecting him cleanly. Once everything was settled, Alisa muttered as she looked down at the corpses.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before…”

While this quest seemed unusually challenging in various ways, the monsters felt surprisingly easy.

However, the supposedly dead ones revived and attacked, with their lives seemingly tougher than before, increasing the difficulty.

This kind of resurrection pattern was practically nonexistent within Warode.

They never imagined encountering such low-level instances.

‘So they really mean business with the rewards matching the challenge level, huh…’

Crackle.

The fallen thieves’ bodies crumbled into powder.

In the pile of dust, a white light flickered, indicating possible item looting.

– You have obtained an item!

[Black Magic Powder (Advanced)]

[36 Kron]

Acting on instinct, Eil looted the monster’s corpse and acquired the item.

Meanwhile, Alisa took care of the other thief’s corpse. Rather than pooling all the loot after combat and dividing it, they chose to split the bodies beforehand for faster progression.

The distribution had already been agreed upon as an even fifty-fifty split from last time, so there was no need to worry about specifics.

Most healers in parties might demand a higher share or at least request mana potion costs for continuous healing, but Alisa didn’t seem to have such greed.

“Did you get any special items?”

“No, nothing.”

When Eil asked, Alisa shook her head.

Sometimes dungeon monsters drop items absolutely necessary for progression, so it was worth checking.

“Should I heal you?”

“No, the poison from the dagger will just make my health drop again.”

“Is the poison effect still not gone?”

“Judging from the on-screen indicator, it seems to last about 30 seconds. It looks stackable too.”

“Hmm… troublesome weapon they’ve got there.”

“Definitely, we should proceed carefully. Let’s take it slow.”

After finishing their conversation, they ventured deeper into the cave.

All the while, they kept checking their surroundings to ensure no more bandits were approaching.

If several of those resurrection-capable foes attacked together, even they would struggle.

Thus, they moved cautiously, using terrain and cover as needed, soon encountering more bandits.

Eil hid behind one of their crudely built structures and observed them.

Even amateur parties would usually fail to hide properly and get spotted, but through their hunting coordination, they both knew such worries were unnecessary.

‘This time there are four of them…’

While calculating mentally, he quickly estimated the situation.

Four opponents.

Unlike the dungeon goblins, these bandits were monsters around the same level as them, presenting quite a challenge in Warode where hunting was notoriously difficult.

They had two options.

To defeat all of them or sneak past quietly.

Since they had already agreed on this matter, there was no need for deliberation.

“We’re going in.”

After gauging the distance, Eil suddenly dashed forward.

His sweeping longsword cleaved the foremost bandit in half.

Startled by the ambush, the others fumbled to draw their weapons while the slashed bandit screamed in agony.

Swoosh!

Almost simultaneously, Eil drew the dagger tucked at his lower back.

His longsword had vanished, and in the blink of an eye, having swapped weapons, Eil plunged the dagger deep into the throat of the attacked bandit, delivering the finishing blow.

Equipment Swap.

Using various additional options or effects attached to different items, players switch out weapons or armor during combat.

While the range and conditions vary between games, among skilled gamers, this is considered basic know-how.

However, virtual reality games generally have very high difficulty for equipment swapping, often hindering concentration and becoming a combat distraction for minor benefits.

It’s hard to imagine juggling inventory management or weapon changes while physically wielding weapons in actual combat beyond a monitor.

And this applied equally to Warode, where most users didn’t bother with such methods.

For combat purposes, basic gear was standard, and while swapping offered slight advantages, most rankers aside from a few exceptions didn’t prefer this style.

It was mostly flashy play; considering the disruption to combat flow and focus, it lacked substance.

Yet Eil executed the entire process smoothly.

He swiftly stowed the longsword in his inventory while simultaneously drawing the dagger, maintaining perfect combat momentum.

Penetrating deep into the fray, he swung the dagger, successfully wounding all four bandits.

[Special Effect ‘Curse’ Activated!]

– Slows enemy movement and increases damage taken by 5%.

The effect of Eil’s rare weapon, the ‘Wailing Dagger’.

Applying debuffs beforehand makes fighting multiple enemies much easier.

Especially since these monsters resurrect once after death.

“Uuuurgh!”

Sure enough, one of the dead bandits rose again.

However, the debuff remained even after resurrection, visibly slowing his movements.

The revived foe was handled by Alisa waiting in the rear while Eil faced the charging bandits.

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound rang out as Eil deflected an attack, driving the dagger straight into the bandit’s heart.

Without retrieving the embedded dagger, Eil spun around.

In an instant, manipulating the system interface, a longsword poofed into his hand, and with a powerful swing, another bandit was sent flying.

The previously fallen bandits took some time to rise again, giving Eil the chance to finish off the last remaining one.

Now only the two-phase monsters resurrected from death remained.

But he wouldn’t let all of them get up unscathed.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

Eil began hacking at the body of the bandit he had just felled.

The unconscious body offered no resistance nor screams of pain.

However, the damage continued to accumulate, and before it could rise again, it crumbled into powder.

‘…So it works?’

Trying it out just in case, it seemed attacking the fallen bodies before resurrection dealt damage.

“With this, things might get slightly easier…”

Pow!

“Uuugh!”

On Alisa’s side, one of the resurrected bandits was thrown backward.

The fallen foe likewise turned to powder, leaving only two of the original four bandits remaining.

Making eye contact with Alisa turning his way, Eil gave a slight smile and raised his sword.

‘Let’s clean up first.’