Chapter 56

Level Up Heretic Judge – Episode 56 (56/227)

Episode 56: Amaranth (3)

KWAANG!

Eil, who kicked the manhole cover with his foot, tumbled out and rolled outside.

After letting go of the ankle he had been gripping tightly, blood started gushing out.

“Hah… I thought things were going way too smoothly.”

Eil snapped the arrow embedded in his ankle with a grunt.

Ever since entering the street, mysterious users had been tailing him. Eil had noticed their presence from the start and was pretending to be calm while looking for a chance to escape.

Fortunately, he managed to slip away at just the right moment; otherwise, he would’ve been dead without any chance to move.

“Shit, this is what? The umpteenth arrow already. I feel like I’m about to die for real…”

Eil grabbed his ringing head and pulled out a recovery potion to drink.

Even though he deliberately weaved through the crowd, he didn’t expect to get hit by an arrow at the last second.

The arrow almost grazed his ankle, but his remaining HP was down to around 1.6%.

If it had hit any other part of his body, he would’ve died instantly with no recourse.

Judging from the damage dealt, the attacker was at least a three-digit level user.

While most normal users would’ve collapsed on the ground unable to move a finger by now, Eil wasn’t easily brought to near-death status.

Unlike most status effects that are forcibly applied by the system, each monster and user has different thresholds for reaching critical condition.

It’s theoretically not impossible for a player to completely ignore critical condition based on their mental strength.

Though, there hasn’t been such a user yet.

“At least I can consider myself alive for now.”

With his HP fully restored, Eil let out a sigh of relief.

The place where he landed after jumping down was an old sewer located beneath the city.

An ancient sewer used only hundreds of years ago, its existence known to very few people nowadays.

This was true not only for NPCs but also among users.

Despite its wide area, it had no monsters and wasn’t even marked on the city’s detailed map, making it a hidden street.

The initial discoverers of this place mostly kept it secret from others, so it remained largely unknown to regular users.

By now, the bounty hunters likely being chased by the guards wouldn’t have found this place below.

Even if they came down here looking for him, without a hand-drawn map by a user, they’d inevitably get lost due to its complex structure.

“I never expected it to be useful like this.”

Very few people knew about the existence of the underground sewer, but Eil proudly counted himself as one of them.

As a top-tier user on the information-sharing site, Eil exchanged many pieces of information with a trusted member named ‘LoTuS’ based on mutual trust, including the knowledge of the underground sewer.

PFFT!

Eil activated an interface showing the internal map of the sewer while searching for a way forward.

Among the many connected passages, there were exits leading far away from the city.

Calmly moving forward, Eil began to organize his thoughts.

“To already be facing opponents like these…”

Naturally, this attack wasn’t going to be their last, and even if he successfully escaped here, it wouldn’t solve the problem.

Although Eil had noticed their presence early on, he hadn’t been able to see their guild mark due to the distance.

However, judging from their actions, he could make some educated guesses about their identity.

Firstly, judging from the equipment they wore and the damage dealt to his ankle, they weren’t average-level users.

Moreover, despite being surrounded by three high-level users, they waited quite patiently for a long time.

Considering they were inside a major city, there weren’t many bounty hunter guilds in Warode that could show such patience.

“It’s Amaranth… It must’ve been requested by that guy Beken, huh.”

It seemed pretty certain that it was the Amaranth guild, and the person who could’ve put a bounty on him was likely that guy.

Not only did Eil burn him at the stake, but he also stole a quest item of considerable value, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

However, for a mere 20-level user to request Amaranth, it seemed like he either had great connections or quite a lot of money.

“This is somewhat troublesome…”

Eil didn’t know how many times Beken asked to kill him, but judging from that guy’s persistent personality back then, it probably wasn’t just once or twice. If he gave in to all those requests straightforwardly, all the smooth plans he’d made so far would take a huge hit.

Not to mention, if he kept dying repeatedly, it would take ages just to catch up to the levels of other leading users, and the opportunity he seized as Lu’s apostle would become meaningless.

Sure, he could hide in the White Forest guarded by elves or the powerful boundary-protected Spirit Forest, but he couldn’t stay hidden forever.

Moreover, if Beken, who possessed the quest item “Feather of Emergency,” mentioned the White Forest, there was a possibility that those guys might be waiting around there to prevent his escape.

“Amaranth does handle jobs thoroughly, so they probably calculated even if they miss me here. Man, I encountered a really burdensome opponent right from the start.”

It wasn’t a guild of users similar to himself in low levels, and they operated across the entire Warode world with a large number of members.

There was no way he could face them directly.

Bounty hunter guilds certainly weren’t charitable organizations that sent appropriate sparring partners to help users level up, so there was no way they’d send someone of a similar level.

Even though Amaranth’s bounty hunters boasted a level comparable to mid-sized guilds despite being a bounty hunter guild whose members generally tend to have lower levels due to the nature of their work, it was safe to assume that even the weakest of them was well over 130 levels.

“While Warode emphasizes skill, there needs to be a reasonable gap.”

Eil sighed softly, feeling overwhelmed.

At this level difference, no matter how overwhelming one side’s skills might be, the sheer stat gap would make the fight impossible to establish.

For Eil, who was merely level 26, this was clearly an insurmountable task.

DING!

A system message appeared.

Since this was a major incident concerning Eil, the goddess who had been watching everything also reacted.

[‘Light Judge Lu’ is watching with sparkling eyes, thrilled.]

[She is expecting to see how you will solve this problem.]

“…”

Eil stared blankly at the message window for a moment.

Though she claims to manage and coordinate global events within Warode, she seems bored out of her mind.

Last time too, she was gleefully munching popcorn whenever there was something entertaining to watch.

“But this isn’t exactly a leisurely situation right now…”

Apparently, due to the impression he’s given so far, she seems to have overly optimistic expectations that he’ll handle this issue effortlessly.

Of course, solving problems impressively would mean more rewards from the deity, which would be desirable.

But currently, Eil had neither helpful contacts nor any affiliation.

This meant he had to resolve the matter entirely on his own.

Strictly speaking, Eil was technically affiliated with the Light Church, but unfortunately, the churches in Warode were extremely flexible organizations.

Especially from the players’ perspective, they neither initiated requests nor demanded specific roles, and conversely, players couldn’t rely on church support either.

Had he gradually contributed to the Light Church with simple tasks beforehand, things might’ve been different, but Eil had focused solely on boosting his stats, so apart from the beginning, he had no interaction with the church.

“Maybe revealing myself as an apostle could get some help from the church… But that carries much greater risks.”

Anything said to NPCs eventually spreads to other users.

At the very least, he absolutely needed to keep his role as an apostle a strict secret.

“In that case, there’s only one way to move the church.”

If the goddess ‘Lu’, who was communicating with him now, directly gave instructions to the church, she could definitely make them act.

If the divine will descended and orders were given to them, regardless of previous contributions, the church would willingly do everything in their power to assist him.

Particularly the deeply faithful Light Church would hesitantly jump into flames en masse at a single word from Lu.

“But Lady Goddess won’t help me, will she?”

Eil casually moved his gaze while speaking.

[‘Light Judge Lu’ nods her head.]

The will of the deity naturally caused significant interference throughout the continent, consuming enormous influence in the process.

It simply didn’t make sense for Lu to directly intervene just to eliminate a few assassins and save one believer.

“The only user I can contact right now is Lady Lisa, but asking for help from that side is unreasonable. This is where the drawbacks of solo play become painfully obvious.”

This was precisely the situation Eil feared the most.

Because Warode offers immense freedom, belonging to a guild becomes even more crucial for users.

Having people and affiliations to protect oneself was essential, which is why most users grouped together in guilds while engaging in activities.

The reason why the Light Church was one of the most avoided factions, despite offering significant combat advantages, wasn’t coincidental.

The social penalty it imposed made it difficult to join even regular guilds, a disadvantage that was hard to grasp unless experienced firsthand.

“If the ones targeting me were just an average guild, I could deal with them appropriately… But damn, why specifically them?”

Most bounty hunter guilds would accept reverse bounties if offered more money, but Amaranth was different.

They carried their reputation from the previous generation’s virtual reality game ‘NeverQuest’ and were renowned for their expertise and reliability.

Without ties to influential large guilds, once targeted by Amaranth, it was tough to escape unscathed.

“At least a 100-level gap, numerically disadvantaged, not an opponent who can be easily tricked, and no place to ask for help. What kind of strategy should I use to shake them off and survive in this situation…?”