The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 122

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 122. A Battle Against Myself (1)
A frigid silence enveloped the space in an instant.
When the descending darkness finally receded completely.
First Prince Leon could regain his senses.
“Gasp…!”
The confusion that had turned his mind upside down ceased in a single moment.
Yet precisely because of that, he couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
First, there was the silver-haired woman blocking Leon’s path.
This woman with delicate, petal-like beauty was….
“Return my brother to me this instant!!”
Seraphia, the eldest daughter of House Whitewolf.
“How did you get here—”
Leon’s question hadn’t even finished forming.
“Stop spouting nonsense!!”
A sharp cry cut off Leon’s words.
As he turned his gaze, a woman with bewitching beauty stood in stark contrast to the delicate Seraphia.
That woman with her deep, alluring eyes was….
“Luseria?”
What in the world was happening here…?
“How dare you!!”
Luseria’s face twisted in fury.
In that instant, black clouds erupted from her body.
They were dense and ominous, as if despair and madness had been condensed into tangible form.
And then.
The darkness vanished.
“What…?”
A dumbfounded sound escaped Luseria’s lips.
Leon too opened his eyes wide, unable to comprehend.
A tremendous wave of freezing cold swept in from all directions.
Seraphia stood at its epicenter.
“Good heavens….”
Leon’s jaw dropped in astonishment.
He had heard the rumors, certainly.
Rumors that Seraphia had caused a disturbance in the Royal Palace.
Rumors that she had neutralized the Royal Knights in the process.
But he had assumed there was exaggeration involved.
A mere sixteen-year-old girl.
Could such a girl truly have neutralized the Royal Knights, the kingdom’s greatest military force?
He had naturally dismissed it as exaggeration.
But now, witnessing this with his own eyes, doubt crept in.
But I never imagined it would be downplayed rather than exaggerated.
I truly didn’t know.
With a sharp crack, the explosion of frigid air obliterated the darkness.
Luseria’s teeth ground together audibly.
She swept both hands ceaselessly, summoning darkness to rise.
Whoooosh!
Darkness burning like flame.
As if scorching the very space itself, the dark fire spread in all directions.
“Die!!”
Luseria thrust both hands forward.
In that instant.
Bitter frost enveloped Luseria.
The dark flames could not melt away the cold.
“…Ugh…!”
A groan escaped Luseria’s lips.
Blood poured indiscriminately from her nose, ears, and mouth before freezing solid.
Frost spreading from her fingertips inward.
“Kgh…!”
Luseria’s body froze in an instant, her blood vessels and cells tearing apart violently.
My opponent… is impossible to match.
As if we existed on entirely different levels.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaagh!!”
Luseria released a agonized scream.
* * *
Memoria stood lost in thought.
Yet as expected, uncertain, Memoria asked.
“Was there an ability I failed to obtain?”
“Who knows.”
I shrugged once.
Memoria’s eyes narrowed.
And then.
At precisely the same moment, we rushed toward each other.
Both of us extended our dragon claws[A] and struck.
In that instant.
Memoria’s entire musculature convulsed. Followed by abnormal joint articulation.
Mucus cells[B-].
Too late to counter. Then.
◆Activating skill, Assimilation[C+].◆
My form rapidly assimilated with the surrounding environment and vanished.
Memoria’s gaze wavered ever so slightly.
He had momentarily lost track of me.
But Memoria showed no sign of panic.
“Since I possess this ability as well—”
Memoria muttered in a low voice.
“I know how to counter it!”
Memoria’s joints moved unnaturally as both arms raked wildly in all directions.
Crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash—!!
…I couldn’t close the distance.
I could manage it if I used Dragon Skin [U], but…
‘The caloric expenditure is too high.’
This battle would be won by whoever created a ‘difference’ in efficiency.
Since I couldn’t use my Inventory, our caloric reserves were both limited and equal.
It came down to who could expend their calories more efficiently.
Whoever depleted their calories first would lose.
After a moment’s hesitation, I abandoned my attack.
I pulled my body backward.
The moment I deactivated Assimilation [C+], Memoria lunged forward as if he’d been waiting for it.
“There you are!”
Dragon Claws [A], now raised high, slashed toward me.
A swing devoid of any technique whatsoever.
Utterly monotonous.
But I understood.
That was the apex of biological evolution—requiring no technique at all.
The Dragon Claws [A] tore through space as they raked.
Kaaaaang—!!
A tremendous impact rippled outward, and my body staggered several steps backward.
…What about Memoria?
He twisted in midair to regain his footing, raising the Dragon Claws [A] once more.
It was instantaneous.
Boom! My kick struck Memoria’s flank hard.
Crack! The Dragon Claws [A] tore into my calf.
Memoria was sent flying backward.
I didn’t pursue.
We both possessed Regeneration [B+].
But my caloric expenditure was greater.
…He was strong.
It was strange to admit it, but I was strong.
‘I can’t gain an advantage.’
I had assumed I would naturally hold the upper hand since Memoria lacked memories from his past life.
Countless battles across countless battlefields.
My experience as the Special Forces Duke Commander.
My combat prowess was built upon that very experience.
But was it merely a replication of bodily memory?
True to his nature as a Legion Commander of Another’s Another level, Memoria was keeping pace with the countless battles and combat instincts I had accumulated.
It wasn’t a perfect replication.
Yet Memoria transcended mere imitation—he was reconstructing it.
Even if his combat instincts weren’t flawless, he learned and applied them in our battle, refining them with increasing precision.
In other words, even the advantage I gained from experience had vanished.
More precisely, we had become equals.
The difference in Predation [S+] held no meaning.
‘Berserk…’
My Sanity points were insufficient.
I’d exhausted them all through various experiments.
But Memoria faced the same limitation.
Still, our conditions remained equal.
Therefore, the only variable worth mentioning was… Ian’s ability.
Memoria could not replicate Ian’s ability.
But he had replicated my body with Ian’s ability applied to it.
In the end, it was the same ability, the same stats.
He probably couldn’t replicate the Inventory either.
But again, it was meaningless.
I couldn’t use the Inventory either.
Within The Vanished Social Club, the Inventory does not respond.
A variable.
I needed to create a variable—something that would distinguish me from Memoria.
I had to forge one, even if by force.
But I had no clear method to create one—
It was at that very moment.
A variable emerged.
One I had never anticipated.
One Memoria could not replicate.
The single factor that could decide this battle—
The one and only variable.
It was neither ability, nor strength, nor experience—
◆Territory Quest, [Unemployment Crisis! Damn It! Restore Whitewolf Territory Immediately!] has been cleared!◆
◆Territory Quest, [Accept New Recruits!] has been cleared!◆
It was the ‘bonds’ I had cultivated all this time.
* * *
Whitewolf Territory, where bitter cold persisted throughout the seasons.
Yet the Town Square of the territory brimmed with vibrant activity.
Stalls lined the streets, displaying an orderly arrangement of various craft ornaments and woven goods.
Intricately crafted ceramics, of course.
Furs and winter garments were neatly organized with fine appearance.
Merchants from Frecce moved between them, conducting their business.
Having witnessed the Whitewolf Territory’s goods with their own eyes, they could not contain their admiration.
“Wow…! The quality is better than I expected, isn’t it?”
“Since you mentioned it was Adrian’s domain, I decided to come see for myself….”
“Say, what if we established a formal contract with our Merchant Guild?”
As I concluded new contracts with the merchants of Frecce, I launched the signal flare for the Whitewolf Territory’s revival.
In the meantime.
The Vister recruits completed their grueling training and officially began their duties.
They were assigned to various units and patrolled the outer regions of the Whitewolf Territory.
Maintaining order and safety in the Whitewolf Territory, they also protected the merchants traveling the trade routes.
A boundary line stretching along the snow-covered, rugged mountain range.
“Aaaahhh!!”
A child’s cry echoed out.
Above it, the shadow of a massive beast loomed—Alacron.
Alacron was about to pounce on the child.
In that very moment.
“Hey!”
A low, rough voice rang out.
A burly man with a fierce expression blocked the child’s path.
Sarpedon, once the patriarch of the Black Grasp.
Sarpedon’s axe slashed across Alacron’s face.
But Alacron did not simply endure the blow.
With bestial instinct, it raised its claws and tore deep into Sarpedon’s shoulder.
“Ugh!”
Crimson blood surged forth, and the pain of torn muscle made his vision swim.
…Alacron?
Sarpedon’s gaze shifted rapidly.
Alacron lay motionless on the ground.
Seeing no further movement, it appeared the last strike had been a fatal blow.
…It was difficult, but the training had borne fruit.
Sarpedon breathed heavily and roughly.
“Damn… this hurts like hell.”
Sarpedon pressed his hand against his torn shoulder.
Pressing down on the gushing wound, he looked down at the child crouched on the ground.
“Kid, get up if you can.”
At that, the child’s body went rigid.
The child’s eyes gazing at Sarpedon were filled with terror.
“Why are you trembling so much?”
“Ah, are you… Vister, sir?”
…So that was it.
Sarpedon smiled bitterly.
Well, I was accustomed to such treatment.
It had always been this way.
Sarpedon, the Ark of the Black Grasp.
Fear and contempt had always followed me.
Now I trained as a soldier of Whitewolf Territory, but my origin remained Vister—a criminal, after all.
In other words, a criminal.
I was born in the Lawless City.
And I had stained my hands with far too much blood before becoming the master of the Gambling District.
How many people had I betrayed and deceived?
How many screams had I turned away from?
I had struggled to survive in Violess, but…
…I had become too tainted.
An indelible stain remained.
Thus, people do not change.
They cannot change.
No matter how hard they try to walk a new path.
No matter how hard they try to live a different life.
The stain of transgression never fades; it merely follows me like a brand.
‘What right do I have to be a soldier?’
It did not suit me.
My place was in that filthy cesspool.
“That’s right, little one. This man is worse than any monster.”
Beyond my torn shoulder.
Today, dirty blood dripped through my fingers.
It was at that moment.
“…Don’t say that.”
The child’s lips trembled.
A voice barely above a whisper.
Yet it reached my ears with perfect clarity.
“You… saved me.”
The child’s trembling hand grasped the hem of my garment.
The child was clearly terrified.
But they did not turn away, calling me ominous or unlucky.
“You’re not bad. You’re not a bad person at all.”
Somehow.
The child’s clear eyes were fixed upon me.
There was no contempt in that gaze, no fear.
Only the act of seeing Sarpedon as he truly was—
“He’s a good man… something bad just happened to him.”
Sarpedon’s eyes trembled.
In that moment.
“Sergeant!!”
“Are you alright!?!”
Other soldiers from afar came rushing over in panic.
But Sarpedon stood frozen like a statue, unable to move.
“Sergeant…?”
…
“Huh? Sergeant, you’re not… crying, are you?”
Sarpedon’s broad shoulders trembled.
“No, I’m not crying….”
“My shoulders are pretty torn up, but—”
“Come on, you’ve taken hundreds of stab wounds to the gut. Why would you cry over something like this?”
“I’m not crying!! I’m not!!”
Sarpedon turned his head frantically, wiping his eyes roughly with the back of his hand.
“I’m not crying!! I’m not!!”
But his voice grew increasingly unsteady.
His face was now streaked with tears and snot.
Sarpedon rubbed his ruined face furiously as he thought.
“I said I’m not crying, you damn bastard!!”
He was truly, genuinely grateful that he had become a soldier of Whitewolf Territory.
And he made another vow.
To Whitewolf Territory, which had accepted him—
To Adrian, who had given him a chance at a new life—
“Kuhehehehe…!!!”
He would devote all his remaining loyalty to them.
* * *
A Territory Quest suddenly cleared.
Even in this bounded space, my abilities—including Level Up [EX]—functioned normally.
That meant I could receive experience points from the Quest clear as expected.
However, I had no idea why the Quest suddenly cleared.
It was a variable I hadn’t anticipated at all.
But both Quest rewards were “massive experience points”.
◆You have acquired 10,597,800 Quest experience points!◆
◆You have acquired 10,412,500 Quest experience points!◆
◆Level increased! x24◆
I jumped +24 levels in a single instant.
And this is a stat that Memoria could not replicate.
Moreover, it is Ian’s ability that Memoria cannot replicate—
the bonds I have built.
With this.
◆Combination Skill ‘Metabolic Overdrive [U]’ is activated!
◆Caloric Consumption – 50,000Kcal
◆For [500 seconds], all of the player’s stats increase by [+50%]!
Additional stats and amplified abilities.
The gap between myself and Memoria had widened considerably.
“I’ve always been curious about this.”
What would happen if I devoured myself with Predation [S+]?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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