Chapter 10

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Episode 10 (10/227)

Episode 10: Heretic Blasphemer (2)

“Is this it…”

Ail muttered as he arrived at his destination.

The hunting ground ‘Forbidden Ruins’, located a bit west of Duel, lived up to its name as a desolate ruin. The village, which looked like it once had many residents, was destroyed in every direction, with a messy and dark atmosphere overall.

Typically, low-level field hunting grounds would be crowded no matter where you went, but due to the nature of VR games, scary or depressing areas like this weren’t very popular. Especially when the monsters that appeared were grotesque undead.

“Eeeeaaargh…”

The ‘Forbidden Ruins’, which appeared to be just a ruined village on the surface, was essentially a mass graveyard filled with creepy zombies – a place most beginners avoided before getting used to Warode.

Even after Ail spent quite some time exploring the terrain, he only saw four or five other players total.

But what was a deterrent for others meant the area was wide open for him, allowing him to hunt without any problems.

Sure, the zombies looked gross, but for Ail, who could only manage nervous laughter while watching supposedly scary horror movies, they didn’t bother him at all.

They were just impressively well-rendered walking corpses to him.

“I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the layout… time to get ready.”

Having scouted an appropriate location, Ail moved around avoiding detection from the monsters, digging holes here and there in the hunting ground and burying items in them.

He’d already researched the zombies’ detection range beforehand, so he could move about undetected.

That said, what he was doing would be hard to understand from a conventional perspective, especially since this wasn’t really a place for level 5 players.

The ‘Forbidden Ruins’ was a hunting ground filled with level 15 zombies, known for being particularly troublesome, and generally avoided by anyone who wasn’t confident in their skills.

Moreover, Warode’s system applied a ‘Cower’ debuff to players whose levels were much lower than the monsters they were fighting, significantly reducing their stats. This made it nearly impossible for a mere level 5 player to establish themselves here.

And then there was the reason this hunting ground had such a bad reputation – the ugly zombies inflicted a ‘Terror’ debuff that drastically slowed movement speed, leaving low-level players with no choice but to endure it while fighting.

[Severe level disparity causes ‘Cower’ debuff!]

– Overwhelmed by powerful enemies, overall abilities are reduced.

[Multiple revolting monsters inflict ‘Terror’ debuff!]

– Body stiffens, movement speed greatly reduced.

As Ail stepped forward confidently, meeting the zombies’ gaze, status windows popped up in front of him.

But soon another window appeared, overriding the previous ones.

[Skill ‘Fanatical Martyr’ cancels all psychological status effects!]

[Cower debuff removed!]

[Terror debuff removed!]

No longer concerned about the zombies’ gazes, Ail began moving freely through the ruins.

Rather than fighting them, he ran around gathering the numerous zombies scattered throughout the ruins.

Like a scene from a zombie movie, a massive horde of zombies charged toward him, causing a user hunting on a nearby hill who happened to look in Ail’s direction to jump back in shock.

“N-no way! Is that guy trolling?”

Deliberately herding monsters to sweep up or kill other users along with them was behavior occasionally exhibited by certain twisted individuals, making them one of the types of players to watch out for in the field, almost as much as griefers.

But the man soon realized this wasn’t the case at all.

KWAH-AH-AH!

As a pursuing zombie stepped on the ground, it bulged upward violently, followed by a tremendous explosion.

The powerful blast swept away all nearby zombies, and shredded corpse parts rained down.

[Level Up!]

Dozens of zombies were wiped out instantly, raising Ail’s level.

It was as if a landmine had gone off – a sudden powerful explosion.

This was the power of the magic explosive gemstone obtained from the previous quest.

Normally, consumable attack items like these were terribly inefficient in terms of cost and effect, so no players used them for hunting.

Considering the economics of play for level 20 tier items, even using such expensive items to barely one-hit KO level 10 monsters in the same tier was practically unheard of, let alone actively utilizing such trash-tier items.

However, the quest Ail cleared yesterday requiring the ‘Power-filled Red Eye’ had an average completion level of 28, and since it required killing specific monsters to obtain rare drop items, the rewards were quite substantial.

In short, the 12 red gems he acquired were all above level 30 explosive consumables, easily annihilating level 15 zombies.

Though as a repeatable quest, the experience reward was rather small, it was enough to level up Ail, who had just reached level 4.

[Title ‘Explosives Expert’ obtained!]

[Title ‘One Hit Wipeout’ obtained!]

[Multi-kill Bonus Experience +25%]

Several system messages popped up from eliminating over twenty monsters in one hit, but there was no time to check each one.

After all, these minor titles were no match for the ‘Chosen Difficult Path’ title, and there were still plenty of monsters left to herd, so he had to keep running.

“UUUUUUUUUUUUGH!”

Despite seeing their comrades explode, the zombies, with their low intelligence, continued to pursue him.

Though their tattered corpses moved surprisingly fast, frustrating many players, Ail, completely immune to the ‘Terror’ speed debuff, managed to narrowly avoid being caught despite his lower level.

BOOM! KWAH-AH-AH!

Just as Ail lightly leaped over a wall and landed on the other side, another explosion occurred behind him, scattering the zombies.

Seeing the yellow experience bar steadily rising, Ail grinned and started running again.

BOOOOOM!

The previously calm ruins were now echoing with multiple explosions.

* * *

On the roof of a half-destroyed building within the ruins…

Ail sat comfortably in front of a burning campfire.

Though zombies swarmed below, his position was safely outside their aggro range.

“It’s a shame I couldn’t properly collect items… but I definitely came out ahead.”

Leaning against the railing, Ail muttered to himself.

Using consumable items to slaughter large numbers of monsters inevitably meant missing out on thorough looting.

He was currently roasting rabbit meat gathered from the previous hunting ground, as no edible ingredients could be obtained from undead zombies.

While rotten meat could technically be acquired, it provided negligible satiety and would cause food poisoning, severely hindering hunting.

Ail’s current level was 9.

Raising four levels in such a short time would normally be impossible, but there were a few ways to quickly level up during these early stages, similar to what Ail had just done, with a bit of luck involved.

After devouring the skewered meat, Ail took a sip of cold water from his canteen and glanced at the remaining items in his inventory.

“There’s not much left.”

Out of the original 12 explosive gems, he’d used 8 during hunting, including all the magic explosive gems.

Only 4 holy explosive gems remained in his inventory, which he needed to conserve carefully for his next plan.

With that, Ail stood up, vaulted over the railing, and jumped down into the zombie-infested area below.

“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!”

The zombie wandering beneath the building immediately charged at Ail upon spotting him.

Its grotesquely wide mouth revealed sharp teeth aimed at him.

But its attacks consistently missed Ail, while wounds began appearing on its own body instead.

SWISH!

Ail’s longsword pierced through the zombie’s neck, and the already weakened zombie collapsed from the fatal blow.

Despite being a level 9 player versus a level 15 monster, the level-based intimidation effect had no impact on Ail, and the remaining stat gap was easily compensated by his skill.

[Level Up!]

[Reached Level 10! Basic class skill activated. Please select a skill to learn.]

[‘Blade of Hatred’ skill learned.]

– All attacks against heretics deal 25% increased damage.

Upon reaching level 10 from level 5, Ail was able to choose a new basic skill, and he immediately selected one.

Contrary to the typical choice of the superior ‘Sacred Flame’, Ail’s selection was the one usually chosen last.

But he didn’t show any signs of hesitation.

A new system message also appeared beside him.

[At level 10, skill acquisition limit has increased. You can now learn a new skill. (0/1)]

With the level increase, not only did basic class skills become available, but the skill acquisition limit also expanded.

Since the number of skills that could be possessed increased by one every ten levels, this was the first time the limit had expanded.

However, since he hadn’t obtained any skill books yet, he couldn’t fill the new slot immediately.

Skill books could typically be obtained through hunting, quest rewards, or purchased through various channels, and if the player had faith, they could also be bought through contribution points at their affiliated church.

That said, direct player-to-player trading was strictly prohibited whether through the auction house or personal transactions.

Skills could only be obtained directly by the player through whatever means, and since NPC-sold skill books maxed out at rare grade, there were limits to simply throwing money at higher-grade skills.

This was where the saying “character development is also a skill” in Warode originated.

“Definitely this direction…”

Recalling the surrounding geography he’d checked earlier, Ail began moving.

It was time to go acquire his first skill.