Chapter 153

Level Up Heretic Inquisitor – Chapter 153 (153/227)

Chapter 153: Sacred Artifact (3)

Zeeeng!

A powerful spear strike sent Ail flying.

The long spear, imbued with freezing cold, belonged to Agria, one of Bahamut’s upper-tier minions. As she swung it, extreme cold swept through its path, freezing everything in place.

Chh-jj-jack!

Ail rolled to avoid the freezing floor.

But Agria quickly closed the distance and relentlessly pursued him, delivering dozens of rapid spear thrusts.

Pwaaak!

The strong impact tilted Ail’s head back.

Taking advantage of his focus on the relentless spear attacks, she struck with a punch.

The unavoidable stun shook his mind.

But Ail immediately activated an abnormal status removal skill and leaped back.

After setting up continuous healing with the Light of Healing skill, he finally caught his breath.

There was no time to drink potions unless instantly usable skills were available.

Clang!

Sword met spear.

Even the white sacred flame blazing on Ail’s longsword recoiled from the intense cold clinging to the spear.

[‘Mother of Life’ expresses concern about the current situation.]

[‘Secret Investigator’ urges you to take a step back.]

Seeing Ail being mercilessly pushed back, the deities sent messages.

[‘Ruler of Volcanoes’ lets out an impatient breath of fire.]

[Common Contribution +1,000]

Particularly Lajagal, Bahamut’s arch-nemesis, was getting extremely worked up.

He even sponsored contribution points hoping Ail could somehow stop the creature.

But this wasn’t a situation that could be resolved so easily.

‘This is no joke…!’

Fighting directly against what he’d only heard about – a deity’s upper-tier minion – was truly life-threatening.

Especially since this was a humanoid minion rather than a monster.

The techniques used, the strategies for creating openings, even the psychological warfare felt like facing not a monster but one of the top-tier users.

The problem was that despite such advanced movements, the opponent’s stats were on par with a boss monster.

A disastrous combination for anyone trying to fight them.

‘I thought I could handle this at first…’

At the start of the battle, Ail had managed to successfully attack several times, reducing her HP by 9%.

This was because the manifested minion hadn’t fully regained her power upon appearing on land.

But as time passed, he could feel the opponent rapidly growing stronger.

It wasn’t just a feeling.

When checking the info window, she had been around level 100 when she first emerged from the monster’s belly.

Now Agria’s level had already surpassed 140.

With that came corresponding increases in all her specs.

At this rate, once she fully regains her strength, she’ll likely reach at least mid-200s.

If that happens, not only his life but also the overall battle outside would be endangered.

One user couldn’t possibly turn the tide of battle, but a monster like this could completely change the situation.

Pwaaak!

Ail tumbled backward after being kicked by a suddenly extended leg.

Trying to counter with a reversal technique, but it was effortlessly seen through.

‘Should I just give up…?’

Ail frowned as he hit the wall.

No matter how much he racked his brains, he couldn’t see any way to win.

An upper-tier minion of the seven deities was simply not an enemy that could be handled by a single player.

If only he’d stopped her before she became fully conscious or defeated the monster before she was expelled…

But those chances had long passed.

“Don’t think about running.”

Agria glared with dark eyes and extended her spear.

As if to relieve his worries, the only exit was firmly sealed off with thick ice.

To Bahamut, killing Eil, apostle of Lu, would be a great source of influence.

Especially since he kept interfering with Bahamut’s carefully laid plans – this was an opponent that absolutely couldn’t be allowed to escape.

“Shit…!”

Crack!

Sharp icicles shot from all directions.

Agria’s ability to freely use cold even at a distance was quite a headache.

Just as Ail narrowly avoided the attacks…

Whoosh!

Agria slid in and swung her spear widely.

The frost-covered blade approached in an instant, aiming for Ail’s neck.

But right then, the flow of time suddenly froze completely.

[A brilliant white light is enveloping the surrounding space!]

Flash!

“Could it be…”

Ail looked ahead at the sudden development.

Lu appeared in a dazzling light.

“Fighting while intervening is troublesome, but the situation isn’t good. There’s nothing to be done about it.”

“Miss Goddess?”

“The situation is urgent, so I’ll make this brief. It’s impossible for a single player to handle an upper-tier minion.”

“Surely you didn’t come just to say that?”

“Hold your tongue and listen. This sanctuary is a place to honor the old gods. It was also where the relics of their legacy rested.”

“Relics mean the legends…”

“Yes, correct. Though calling them fragments of the relic would be more accurate in this case.”

Nodding, Lu continued speaking.

It was a complicated story, but there wasn’t time to explain everything in detail given the current situation.

“Even just a fragment carries immense influence. One has already been used by her, but another fragment of the relic rests here. Find it. You should understand with just this much information.”

“But…”

“There was more going on here than expected. Bahamut must have planned this using the relic’s power. Eil, I trust you.”

Flash!

Before he could respond, she disappeared in a flash of light.

Time resumed its flow.

Clang!

Regaining his senses abruptly, Ail blocked Agria’s spear that had approached within inches.

As the weapons clashed, fierce sacred flames and frost scattered in both directions.

‘Damn, so that’s what happened…!’

Gritting his teeth, Ail deflected the spear to the side.

‘Relic.’

An incredible treasure symbolizing the ancient primordial god from ages past.

Unlike today’s sevenfold faith, it represented the true sole deity that existed back then.

What was supposed to be merely a legendary symbol in the background lore of Warode turned out to actually exist and play an important role even for today’s deities.

‘To pull off such a world event and summon an upper-tier minion… they used the relic’s power?’

But there were still questions remaining in what she had told him.

This was a small sanctuary.

No matter how you looked at it, the structure was simple – just a passage leading outside and this room.

There was nowhere else that could hide anything significant.

‘Unless…’

He suddenly remembered when space had warped and Nesha disappeared into some unknown place.

Even the original monster that chased after her seemed to follow.

‘It’s not like she flew off to the other side of the continent… there must be something inside here.’

Ail quickly scanned his surroundings.

Though most of the old decorations in the sanctum had been destroyed in the battle,

there was one section that remained inexplicably intact.

‘Maybe…?’

Changing direction, Ail rushed toward that particular wall.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Frowning, she loudly shouted and chased after him to block his way.

Normally she would have attacked his exposed back with cold magic, but strangely enough, she refrained from swinging her spear.

Considering how they had swept through the entire room without damaging this particular spot…

‘A passage leading to another space!’

Flash!

Ail slipped through the wall.

Just like when Nesha disappeared, the surroundings wavered and revealed an entirely different space.

A complex and expansive sanctum with passages extending in all directions.

Looking around, there were quite a number of Water Sect believers searching for another relic inside.

“I won’t let you escape!”

Agria immediately followed and swung her spear.

Ail dodged to the side, but the believers behind him were all frozen solid by the cold.

Koo-goo-goo!

Elsewhere, the sounds of Nesha fiercely battling the monster could be heard, so Ail started running in the opposite direction.

Ting!

He smashed countless bottles of holy water.

The spilled holy water soaked the floor and walls, and Ail ignited it by scraping his sword burning with sacred flames.

Whoosh!

The spreading flames grew uncontrollably.

Though Agria’s now level 150+ spear could freeze even flames, Ail pressed on, setting fires everywhere as he ran.

While the sacred flames wouldn’t harm Ail himself, they would affect others.

This should buy him enough time to find the item.

‘To defeat that girl, I need to find the relic. Hopefully Nesha doesn’t burn to death before then… probably.’

* * *

Zeeeng!

Agria’s even stronger spear.

Under the overwhelming weight of the force, Ail was thrown far back.

Simultaneously, she planted her spear into the ground.

Before the airborne Ail could regain his balance,

cold spread from her spear, freezing the entire floor.

Crack!

The cold firmly froze Ail’s legs.

No amount of strength could break free.

“This ends now.”

Lowering her spear, Agria slowly approached Ail.

Inside the large hall where Ail stood, the pursuing believers had blocked all possible escape routes.

With his legs frozen, there was no way for him to escape.

But a strange smile appeared on Ail’s lips.

“Close call, huh.”

“That’s…!”

The believers surrounding him showed looks of shock.

The radiant white gem held in Ail’s hand.

It was the relic they had been searching for all along.

Flash!

The relic emitted a brilliant light.

[A seventh fragment of the ancient relic has been discovered!]

[Through Apostle ‘Ail’, the deity ‘Judge of Light’ has gained tremendous influence!]

[Minion of the deity ‘Lu’ has descended!]