The Brown Inquisitor unmounted his horse and tied it to a nearby tree. Then he put his arms behind his back and approached the three White Inquisitors, who were eating their rations while the black-haired young man was shackled to tree.
“Sir!” Even while eating, the White Inquisitors didn’t forget to greet their superior.
There was once a time when the White Inquisitors felt jealous of the Brown Inquisitors as their pay was much higher, but when they saw their combat power, they realized that they were their superiors for a reason.
“Mm.” The Brown Inquisitor nodded and walked over to the shackled player. He then pulled out a brown bounty poster and checked the sketched image. It wasn’t a perfect drawing, but it was good enough to see similarities.
“Ambrose, the prison escapee.” The Brown Inquisitor said, using his sharp eyes to study the features of the prisoner, “Because you murdered the prison guards and the warden, you won’t be sent back to Amaterasu.
“There is a special prison for scum like you. From there, escaping won’t be as easy, if possible.”
Ambrose raised his dull blue eyes and clicked his tongue before lowering his head again.
The Brown Inquisitor nodded to the dozen other White Inquisitors that walked from the dense forest and said, “Throw him on top of the horse; let’s take him back and use train for his transportation.”
“Yes, sir!” One of the White Inquisitors approached the young man and then reached his hand towards him.
At that moment, Ambrose shut his eyes and exhaled loudly. “Iiiiiiiiin… Ouuuuuuut!”
“Sir.” The White Inquisitor turned to his superior.
The Brown Inquisitor glanced at the young man before stopping the White Inquisitor from touching him.
“Let him. It’s better to show that his strength is useless, that way, he will think twice before doing anything else.”
The time suddenly stopped around the world. The Brown Inquisitor’s mouth was about to close, leaving a small enough hole to fit a small coin into his mouth. Everyone had stopped moving, even the clouds and the light itself.
A transparent figure flew out of Ambrose’s body, scanning the surroundings quickly.
‘I won’t be going anywhere!’ Ambrose shouted inwardly with bloodshot eyes. ‘My soul, find anything that can help me. Any escape route. It doesn’t matter how dangerous it is!’
His soul nodded and began looking around, but then suddenly, a transparent fist appeared in front of it, which punched it in the face, sending it flying through the air.
The soul coughed up transparent blood, looking like it was hurt!
‘Aaaaaaaaargh!’ Ambrose screamed inwardly. His veins bulged, and his eyes rolled backward as if he were being electrocuted.
For the first time during his playthrough, he felt actual pain!
[-100 HP!]
[HP: 60/310]
‘What the hell? Why did I feel pain? It hurt so much, like I was stuck by lightning!’ Horrified, Ambrose looked around, and to his shock, there was another transparent figure floating around.
The transparent figure looked exactly like the Brown Inquisitor, with every single feature similar, even its transparent robes.
“You are indeed a novice.” The soul of the Inquisitor said and faced Ambrose. “No one had clearly taught you anything about the world of souls.
“You think you are the only one able to enter this space? No, everyone who has opened their First Gate can enter this place if you open the “gate” to this place, like you just did.”
Following his words, over a dozen other transparent figures appeared all around the place. They all looked identical to the White Inquisitors.
‘Impossible!’ Ambrose appeared horrified and still dazed from the sudden pain. ‘That pain was nightmarish. Why did the game developers let that be? Or was this intended?’
The soul of the Inquisitor grabbed his soul by its face and shoved it right back to Ambrose’s body forcefully. Then the world started moving again, and all the souls returned to their rightful bodies.
“Agh!” Ambrose let out a groan of pain and shuddered in agony.
The White Inquisitor then grabbed Ambrose by his collar and dragged him towards the horse. He tossed him on top and then mounted the same horse while Ambrose lay flat on his stomach, very uncomfortably.
The White Inquisitor then kicked the horse into a gallop and was immediately followed by the Brown Inquisitor and the rest. They had already spent plenty of time chasing him down and were in a slight hurry to get their money.
…
The end of the Nether Forest was already in sight. The Brown and White Inquisitors looked stoic and silent as they neared their destination.
“Hmm?” A White Inquisitor, riding a white horse, noticed something shiny on the ground. It was too late, as the horse suddenly tripped on it, suddenly falling forward.
The White Inquisitor’s eyes shrank, and he quickly frontflipped before landing perfectly on the ground. The horse behind him died as its neck broke.
“Huh?” The Brown Inquisitor rode past the scene of the accident and shouted. “Everyone, stop!”
The horses neighed before slowing down until they were standing still.
“What happened?” The Brown Inquisitor rode next to the White Inquisitor, his gaze on the dead horse.
“I don’t know. This dumb thing suddenly tripped.” The White Inquisitor said and kicked the dead horse.
“Hmm.” The Brown Inquisitor frowned, looked back, and saw something shiny on the ground. It looked like a very thin but strong thread. 𝑜𝒱xt.𝗰𝑶𝕞
“What the—”
Swoosh—arrows flew from the forest and missed the Brown Inquisitor by an inch before stabbing through the White Inquisitor’s shoulder.
“Ugh!” The White Inquisitor grunted in pain and saw several other arrows fly towards him, but he quickly drew his sword and deflected them all. All the arrows were cut in half, a true testament to his perfect mastery of swordsmanship.
With a swift motion, he swung his sword and struck the arrow lodged in his shoulder.
“An ambush!” The Brown Inquisitor shouted and jumped off the horse while using it as a shield to block the arrows. The horses whimpered in pain as they were constantly killed by the rain of arrows.
‘What is happening?’ Ambrose couldn’t see what was happening, but the horse below him suddenly got frightened and threw him off its back. He crashed into the ground while the horses ran away, arrows flying over his head.
The Brown Inquisitor drew his brown-handled longsword and swung it around him like he was trying to mimic the movements of a whirlwind, easily deflecting all the incoming arrows.
He then moved his sword to a quickdraw stance and narrowed his eyes. “The Second Gate, Open!”
A brown-colored light seeped out of his hand and covered the longsword’s steel blade. The blade began to emit a low hum, vibrating with power. It looked like the blade was covered in brown fire.
“Separation of the Faithless!” The Brown Inquisitor shouted and slashed the sword across the air. A bright streak of light shot out from the blade, slicing through the trees. It didn’t stop as it continued cutting through the trees until it finally hit its mark.
A hundred meters away, blood spewed across the trees as several players got badly hurt, almost dying from a single strike.
The sinister-looking man, who bore a resemblance to a ghoul, paled before shouting. “Retreat!”
The skull-masked man sighed. “Fuck, what kind of monster is he?”
They turned around, grabbed their injured friends, and ran away deep into the forest.
“Sir, should we chase after them?” The injured White Inquisitor asked. He kind of wanted to get revenge for getting hit by an arrow.
“No, they are not important. No need to waste our time.” The Brown Inquisitor said and slowly sheathed his weapon.
“S-sir!” Suddenly, a White Inquisitor shouted.
“What?” The Brown Inquisitor snapped his head around, thinking that they were attacked from another side. However, he then saw the White Inquisitor point towards the ground.
All the White Inquisitors also looked towards him, and soon they all looked into the dense forest.
“Shit…” The Brown Inquisitor looked at the empty ground, with shoe marks leading to the densely packed forest. “He is on the move. Go after him!”
“Our horses ran off!” The White Inquisitor shouted.
“You have legs; use them!” The Brown Inquisitor shouted and ran into the dense forest. “Don’t let Ambrose escape; that is an order!”