Chapter 30

Level Up Heresy Inquisitor – Episode 30 (30/227)

Episode 30: Quest IN (7)

With a dull thud, Gahar wobbled and tilted.

Then he crashed forward, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The massive body covered in white flames now didn’t even twitch.

[Heresy has been punished!]

[Light Church Contribution +30]

[Faith Stat +1]

[Insanity Stat +1]

[Goddess’s Favor +0.13% (Current 52.51%)]

[An even stronger blessing of the Goddess rests upon you!]

[Some combat abilities have increased.]

[Level Up!]

[Title ‘One Who Overcame Limits’ obtained!]

“Huff!”

As system windows popped up one after another, Ail collapsed onto the spot.

Sweat poured down his drenched forehead.

Due to the unexpected physical resistance, the time it took to take down the boss had ridiculously increased, and maintaining concentration while dancing with death for that long wasn’t easy.

Even a slight mistake would’ve wiped out the quest and resulted in a massive death penalty, so there was no choice but to stay on high alert.

But precisely because it was so difficult, the sense of accomplishment hit harder.

Finding solutions in such harsh conditions and dramatically turning the situation around gave him a strong sense of achievement and excitement.

This must be why everyone gets hooked on Warode.

Just as he was thinking that, a sudden cold sensation snapped him out of it on his right cheek.

“You worked hard.”

Turning his head, he saw Lisa bowing brightly as she handed him a water bottle.

She too had sweat on her brow, though understandable considering how she’d been supporting from the back as a healer.

Whenever Ail at the front needed help during the fight, she’d step forward to draw Gahar’s attention, taking over the aggro so he could regroup.

And when the second pattern summoned corpse monsters multiple times, she didn’t just rely on protection but actively reduced their numbers herself.

Her performance far exceeded what you’d expect from an average healer.

Ail gratefully accepted the refreshing water.

After quenching his parched throat, his overheated body cooled down, and he calmly turned his gaze.

“Lisa-san.”

When Ail called, Lisa sitting next to him turned her head.

With the bottle still to her lips, her round eyes wide open, she made quite an impression.

“Honestly, wasn’t that pretty amazing just now?”

“Huh? Ahaha!”

Lisa reacted a beat late then burst out laughing.

She laughed so much Ail started feeling awkward for making the joke.

“Yeah, it was really impressive.”

Wiping away tears from laughing, Lisa nodded.

It wasn’t just empty praise – it actually happened.

Even veteran Rankers who were all style wouldn’t find it easy to handle situations like that so perfectly.

Having wrapped up the raid beyond expectations, a warm atmosphere filled the air.

While chatting and finishing their drinks, Lisa shifted her gaze and spoke.

“Still… this feels kind of anticlimactic, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, exactly. The rewards were way too good.”

Ail clicked his tongue while looking at the fallen Gahar.

He was definitely dead, faintly glowing ready for item loot.

But there was one crucial part missing for completing their quest.

The boss they fought was Gahar, not their target ‘Casano’.

The real target never showed up throughout the battle.

Looking around carefully, there was no passage or entrance leading anywhere else.

Considering the dungeon exploration outside was already complete, this must’ve been the end.

Sebera had confidently claimed the information was solid when giving them the quest, but apparently she was mistaken.

While it wasn’t common, getting quests that ended up being anticlimactic like this wasn’t unheard of either.

In fact, playing Warode practically guaranteed encountering this pattern at least once or twice.

Quests in Warode weren’t pre-designed by the system but emerged from AI interactions and various events, so occasional mistakes were natural.

In such cases, you usually either got smaller rewards than promised or it led into a follow-up quest.

“Probably leads into the next chain quest.”

“Yeah, probably. Given the circumstances, that seems more likely.”

Considering the quest giver’s personality and the nature of the request, it didn’t seem like it would just fizzle out here.

Of course, they couldn’t be sure until they returned to Queen’s Blonde.

The two stood up, looted Gahar’s items, and before officially distributing them, spread out the list.

Equipment, a decent amount of miscellaneous items, and gold.

“Unfortunately, no skillbook dropped.”

Ail lamented.

After defeating a boss monster, the most anticipated reward was usually obtaining a higher-tier skill from a dropped skillbook.

Since skill setup was crucial in Warode character development, this was only natural.

Just as he was about to feel slightly disappointed, Lisa pointed at the drops.

“Hold on. This…”

“Hmm?”

Following her reaction, Ail closely examined the dropped items and froze in place.

No wonder – all three equipment items had the same modifier.

[Black Crystal Ring (Rare)]

[Black Crystal Earring (Rare)]

[Black Crystal Necklace (Rare)]

“Set items…?”

Ail muttered while looking down at the jewelry each embedded with black crystals.

Set items that provided special abilities or effects when wearing a certain number of matching pieces were often more efficient than regular items and more valuable.

‘That too at Rare grade set level?’

Checking the detailed specs, Ail’s jaw dropped.

All three items were Rare grade and came with options significantly increasing Strength stat, fitting their high rank.

Of course, the most important factor was something else.

The special effect exclusive to set items.

[3 Set Effect: Generates a defensive barrier that nullifies one attack of any type.]

“This is… probably…”

“Better to give it to one person rather than split.”

Lisa nodded in agreement.

The set effect was obviously excellent, and splitting it between two people would cut the utility in half.

Now the immediate issue was who should get it…

Encountering three Rare grade items at barely level 20.

Anyone would be tempted.

Even in a party where everyone got along well, it wouldn’t be surprising if knives came out over this.

“…”

Ail cautiously checked if Lisa was planning to betray him.

Though she was a healer, she had shown considerable skill during the party, and complacency was dangerous in any situation.

However, her reaction was completely different.

“Why don’t you take it, Ail?”

“Eh…?”

An ear-splitting statement.

Stunned, Ail repeated the question, and Lisa answered matter-of-factly.

“Things like this are usually taken by whoever needs them most, right? All three have Strength stat, so it’d be wasted on me.”

“But selling these items at the auction house would fetch quite a sum…”

“I’m not really interested in that… Oh, instead can I take the other items? Is that okay? Especially this monster’s parts might be useful for alchemy when disassembled.”

Ail momentarily lost for words.

Her calm attitude made him feel embarrassed for suspecting her.

Still, considering she also yielded during the previous PK equipment distribution, it was natural to wonder why.

While it was certainly appreciated, continuously yielding without any conditions like this was hard to understand unless there was some backstory.

‘Maybe she practices Buddhism…’

While Ail hesitated, Lisa had already placed the three jewelry pieces in his hand.

The rest of the looted equipment, miscellaneous items, and gold became hers.

Despite just two people clearing a tough boss raid, the remaining items still held considerable value.

But undoubtedly the best among them went to Ail.

Though it had a significant cooldown, being able to block one attack regardless of physical or magical type was top-tier even among Rare grade set effects.

Unable to resist the temptation, Ail quickly equipped the jewelry and could see the effect activating.

Since the defense barrier didn’t immediately appear, it seemed like you could deploy it manually during combat.

Kagak!

They began dismantling Gahar’s body.

Being composed of hard armor and bones, plus its large size, required both Ail and Lisa working together to process it.

As Lisa expected, bone powder usable in alchemy and metal fragments from the armor poured out, making her quite pleased as she collected them in her inventory.

What could’ve been a tricky distribution process finished smoothly, and they stood up.

However, there was one more thing to check before leaving the dungeon.

“Should we check?”

“Yeah, let’s investigate.”

Their gazes simultaneously focused on one spot.

The black stone placed in the center of the room.

Given how undead rose when touched by its dark energy and that Gahar was guarding it in the dungeon center, it clearly wasn’t ordinary.

Approaching cautiously, Ail lightly touched the black stone, which then cracked loudly with a zzjerj sound.

Several fragments flew out from inside.

– You have obtained an item!

[Command Stone Fragment (Quest) x4]

“Hmm…”

Ail handed half the fragments from the command stone to Lisa.

Examining the item revealed no details whatsoever.

“What is this?”

“Maybe… it’ll be used in the next quest chain?”

With no description, the fragment pieces looked like mere rock shards, making it hard to guess their function.

Just as they were carefully examining for clues…

KWADDDDEEK!

Cracks started forming on the floor with a loud noise.

“Eh, uh… did we accidentally trigger something?”

“Haha… probably not. They wouldn’t design it to work like that.”

“R-right…”

Both paled simultaneously and looked at each other.

Perhaps they shouldn’t have tampered with it.

Zzjerjerjer!

As the floor split apart, the room began collapsing.

“Aaaaah!”