Chapter 89

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Chapter 89 (89/227)

Chapter 89: Desperate Faith (2)

“Tch…!”

With negotiations broken, Ail swiftly drew his weapon.

For some reason, it seemed his lie was immediately uncovered.

“Hmm, what’s going on here?”

Roden, who hadn’t fully followed the recent exchange, also raised his spear.

However, Mute, who had been standing back, slammed her staff into the floor.

From the top of the altar that had been hidden until now, something began to slowly rise into view.

A large black orb of light—a familiar object indeed.

“Command Stone…?”

The mysterious stone guarded by the boss monster Gahar—the Command Stone.

Though its size had changed slightly, there was no doubt about it.

“So that’s why things have been reviving in a similar manner. Was the bandit group from Hard Rock Cave also your doing?”

“Bandits…? Ah, so you were after the Desperate Faith all along. No idea how you know this, but you’re gonna die here anyway.”

Sssshhh!

Black mist rose from the altar’s Command Stone.

These ominous dark energies soon spread throughout the room, wrapping around every corpse lying on the ground.

Then, the lifeless bodies of the fanatics started twitching one by one.

As they rose as undead, Eil and Roden quickly found themselves surrounded from all sides.

“Heheh, how do you like them? The ones guarding the altar. They think they’re elite or something, but let’s see how well they fight.”

With a mocking grin, Mute waved her hand and turned away.

And just like that, the undead surrounding them roared and charged forward.

“Damn…!”

Kagakang!

A fierce battle erupted against overwhelming numbers, with Eil and Roden swinging their weapons wildly while surrounded by the undead horde.

Meanwhile, Mute leisurely walked up to the altar.

She activated the massive magic circle drawn on the floor using her mana.

The black mists that had been spreading across the room began converging toward the center of the altar.

Guruguruguru!

The entire chamber violently shook.

The condensed energy now visibly emitted an even stronger magical aura.

“What are you doing…!”

“You really didn’t expect this move from the Church, did you? Sorry, but we saw it coming. Soon, the Inquisition’s lackeys will flood into the facility.”

‘How does she know this…?’

Eil furrowed his brow at Mute’s unexpected words.

The reason he had been given communication scrolls beforehand—to establish contact once he identified the true nature of the unknown magic circle within the dungeon—was precisely because…

Once the dangerous potential of the unidentified magic circle was understood, the Heresy Hunters waiting nearby would storm in to eradicate the Twilight Order.

According to the plan relayed by Executive Arileen, the hunters should be entering the dungeon about now—but somehow, a member of the Desperate Faith already knew this fact.

“Could this have been a trap all along?”

“Correct. That outer magic circle was just for show. Once the Church forces enter the underground dungeon, both they and these fanatics will end up as mindless crawling corpses.”

Pwaat!

Mute initiated the magic circle.

It was a massive annihilation spell—one of the forbidden magics.

Its range covered the entire dungeon, and anyone stepping inside, regardless of strength, would be wiped out completely.

Though it was an extremely difficult high-level spell, it had been set up using the immense power of countless souls gathered by the Twilight Order.

“Man, if I’d known you’d fall for it so easily, I might’ve just hung a turkey leg from the ceiling instead of preparing such elaborate traps.”

‘Damn… I need to stop this somehow!’

In the dire situation, Eil thought urgently.

If his church’s forces weakened, not only would the divine rank suffer, but Eil himself would eventually take a hit too.

He needed to prevent the activation of the giant magic circle before the Heresy Hunters arrived and fell into the trap.

“Lord Roden, we don’t have time! We need to clear a path to the altar!”

“Understood!”

Swish!

Roden cut down three fanatic enemies rushing at him simultaneously and advanced.

Eil also infused his longsword with Sacred Flame and mercilessly slashed through the foes.

The ‘Full Moon’ effect, which dealt extra damage to undead, proved effective once again.

The holy white flames consumed the unnatural creatures, reducing them to ashes.

But during this time, Mute continued calmly ascending the altar, steadily infusing it with mana.

‘There are too many of them.’

If the annihilation magic circle activated, there was no way Eil and Roden could survive either.

Given the limited time, the number of enemies they had to face was overwhelming.

Eil opened his inventory and pulled out a Holy Water flask.

Chingclang!

The glass bottle filled with holy water was hurled forcefully, shattering upon impact.

As the holy liquid spread across the ground, Eil kicked a flailing fanatic engulfed in Sacred Flame toward it, igniting the holy water.

Whoosh!

The potency of the holy fire intensified dramatically.

The raging flames swept through the undead within range, and realizing its effectiveness, Eil threw the remaining holy water flasks while carving a path forward.

After depleting all the holy water from his inventory, the number of monsters attacking them noticeably decreased.

This was thanks to the flames obstructing their paths or the undead struggling to extinguish the fire on their bodies, causing them to collide with each other.

“Hmm… Not bad.”

Mute paused midway up the altar and looked down.

Eil and Roden had already begun climbing the steps of the altar, cutting through the fanatics.

At this, she raised her staff and reactivated the Command Stone.

Tsstststsht!

Once more, black mist flowed downward from the altar.

But this time, instead of heading to the floor…

The dark energy seeped into the animal corpses sacrificed at various points on the altar.

The eyes of beast-shaped monsters snapped open, roaring ferociously as they rose, their forms now larger than before.

“They’re coming!”

Kuung!

The nearest colossal tiger leaped at Eil and Roden, smashing the ground where they stood.

Both reacted quickly and dodged safely, but that wasn’t the end.

Mute, positioned halfway up the altar, unleashed a barrage of gray magical spears aimed at them.

Eil hastily activated his shield in his off-hand to block the assault, though the impact was stronger than expected, gradually draining his stamina.

Kagakang!

While Roden deflected the magical spears with his spear, he immediately thrust its shaft into the gaping mouth of the charging tiger targeting him.

Checking the reduced health bar of the beast via the info window…

“Ugh, what kind of difficulty is this…?”

He had hoped the creature would drop after two or three hits, but unfortunately, the tiger’s health was far from depleted.

Considering the awakened beast-type monsters weren’t just one or two, the situation was becoming quite troublesome.

To make matters worse, Mute, true to her forbidden magic-wielding mage reputation, continuously spammed devastating spells without any casting delay.

Kwawawang!

Explosions rocked the chamber as spells rained down, forcing Eil and Roden to narrowly evade while battling the rampaging beasts.

Even a decent party would’ve been wiped out multiple times by now.

“This terrain is absolutely terrible!”

With time constraints and unfavorable terrain, resolving the situation smoothly was proving impossible.

Advancing cautiously or rushing forward were equally difficult options.

Some variable needed to be introduced.

‘There’s no choice but to use it…’

Having made his decision, Eil immediately manipulated the interface.

[Apostle Exclusive: ‘Contribution Point Store’ has opened!]

[As an Apostle, regional restrictions do not apply!]

[Purchase complete!]

[Low-grade Teleportation Scroll]

[2,500 Contribution Points consumed.]

Despite controlling the system window purely through glances and thoughts, the process of opening the screen and purchasing the desired item took mere moments.

‘I’ll bear the cost…!’

The magic contained in the scroll chosen by Eil was a short-range Blink.

Spatial magic typically required significant resources proportional to its utility, but Eil didn’t hesitate.

Too much was at stake right now.

“What… is that?”

Roden stared in surprise when he saw the scroll appear in Eil’s hand accompanied by a flash of light.

However, he quickly understood the situation.

Taking it upon himself to buy time, he stepped forward to draw the attention of the beasts and even deflected a magical spear aimed at Eil’s head with his spear.

Even though it was only a brief moment, it was enough.

Chrrr!

Eil placed his hand on the unfurled scroll.

Setting the coordinates with his gaze, he infused the scroll with mana.

Paaat!

In a burst of bright light, Eil vanished.

Then, with a chilling sound, blood splattered onto the floor.

Fwook!

“Guuh…?”

Mute gasped weakly as her heart was pierced.

Appearing right before her, Eil instantly drove his sword through her chest, catching the mage completely off guard.

Eil quickly checked her health, and the rapidly depleting life gauge hit zero percent.

Her body crumpled, declared dead.

‘So it’s over…? Feels a bit too easy though.’

Although humanoid monsters or NPCs generally had less health compared to other races, it still felt like it ended too quickly.

But right then…

Mute’s hand suddenly grabbed the blade piercing her.

Before Eil could react to the sudden movement, she leaned in close enough for their faces to almost touch and whispered into his ear,

“That hurts… You know it’s not my specialty to trade blows like this.”

Mute smiled faintly, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

A clearly fatal situation…

Stunned, Eil rechecked her health.

To his shock, the life gauge that had bottomed out was now refilling.

“H-How…?”

Tsstsst!

Huge amounts of mana gathered in her staff.

“I won’t… die.”