The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 129

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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 129. The Pursuit (1)
As we exited the Underground Dungeon.
Leon and Captain Lucas were discussing the suspects in the case.
I subtly signaled to Leon.
Leon blinked briefly in response, then spoke naturally to Captain Lucas.
“…I understand. Then I’ll be on my way.”
“I’ll report to you as the investigation progresses.”
Captain Lucas swallowed sharply and continued.
“However, I won’t be filing a separate report on the scene itself.”
Captain Lucas glanced in my direction as he said this.
…He knew.
Yet he pretended not to.
After all, it was a Fairy Tale [C+] that had nearly been discovered by Luseria.
An incomplete ability because I hadn’t yet secured the full genetic factors.
Captain Lucas had noticed, and chose to turn a blind eye despite knowing.
He was indeed no fool.
Just as he had been in my previous life, and just as I knew him to be.
This made it all the more certain.
There was no possibility that Captain Lucas had betrayed the Royal Court or conspired with anyone.
Someone else had slipped past Captain Lucas’s watch to murder Queen Marceline, and the culprit was almost certainly The Darkness Lord.
The moment we turned the corner.
Leon asked immediately.
“Did you confirm it?”
“As Captain Lucas suggested, it doesn’t appear he took his own life.”
“So that’s how it is….”
“Who does Captain Lucas suspect as the culprit?”
“Captain Lucas has identified Walter as the prime suspect.”
Walter, Queen Marceline’s biological son and the Third Prince.
What motive would Walter have to murder Marceline?
“I suspect he wanted to destroy evidence related to treason.”
Murder to conceal evidence.
By murdering Queen Marceline, he would erase all evidence of his participation in the rebellion.
Even with Leon’s miraculous present-time ability [L], nothing could be extracted from the dead.
“I think I need to meet with Walter at least once.”
Leon murmured, turning his gaze away.
“Adrian, will you come with me?”
I shook my head.
Walter is not the culprit.
At least, he’s not the one who directly murdered the Queen.
But there was a possibility he was involved in the treason or had orchestrated it.
In other words, an investigation was necessary.
And given Leon’s current state, I could manage without him.
“I’ll move separately.”
“Then we’ll meet again later.”
Leon and I exchanged a brief glance before parting ways.
Then I paused.
“Your Majesty, just in case—please don’t dig too deeply into this.”
Marceline, murdered in the Underground Dungeon beneath the Royal Palace.
The culprit might still be somewhere within the Royal Palace.
If my suspicion was correct and the culprit was The Darkness Lord, he wouldn’t leave anyone tracking him unmolested.
“Your Majesty could be in danger.”
“…I understand. You be careful too.”
Leon nodded gravely, as if he’d sensed something as well.
* * *
After parting with Leon, I investigated the exterior of the Royal Palace.
But I couldn’t find any clues whatsoever.
I returned to the Royal Palace and organized my thoughts.
Based on the circumstances, it was highly likely that The Darkness Lord was the culprit in this incident.
Therefore, information about The Darkness Lord.
In other words, I needed to reconsider who The Darkness Lord was.
This was a line of thinking and reasoning I couldn’t normally pursue.
Because investigating who The Darkness Lord was would cause that information to be forgotten.
So until now, I’d been identifying The Darkness Lord by determining who he wasn’t and eliminating possibilities one by one.
But that was no longer the case.
The Successor’s Will.
I could now recall and contemplate who The Darkness Lord was.
I was able to organize the information about The Darkness Lord as follows.
1. The Darkness Lord is a tangible being that can be seen and touched.
2. The Darkness Lord is an entity with a self that thinks and acts independently.
3. The Darkness Lord is the mightiest of all Lords.
4. The Darkness Lord is not The Emperor.
This much was a compilation of existing information.
And the information revealed through The Vanished Social Club this time was—
5. The Darkness Lord is a created being.
Memoria, the Legion Commander of Darkness.
An information lifeform.
A Legion Commander receives a portion of the Lord’s authority.
In other words, The Darkness Lord wasn’t fundamentally different from Memoria.
By my conjecture, The Darkness Lord possessed the authority of oblivion, allowing him to consume the memories and souls of his true targets more perfectly and completely.
When I reasoned through this information.
If the Darkness Lord killed Queen Marceline, the reason was simple.
Information related to himself.
He feared that the identity of the being he had consumed would be revealed, exposing his own existence.
This meant that Queen Marceline possessed crucial information about the Darkness Lord.
Queen Marceline and the Darkness Lord.
There was something between them that must not be revealed….
‘Did he really need to kill her?’
Couldn’t he have simply erased her with his power of oblivion?
Yet Queen Marceline was murdered.
Therefore, if the culprit was the Darkness Lord, there were two possibilities.
Either he had exhausted his power hosting The Vanished Social Club.
Or there was something his power of oblivion could not erase.
After all, the Darkness Lord was not an unobservable entity.
He was merely an entity of observational indeterminacy, so the possibility that something existed beyond his power of oblivion was entirely plausible.
‘Hmm.’
Let me think about this further.
Queen Marceline had joined hands with Luseria.
In other words, the Dark Merchant Company.
Her purpose was to bring down Leon.
Queen Marceline sought to depose Leon and elevate her own biological child to the throne.
Lucas seized upon that point and designated the Third Prince Walter as the suspect in this incident.
‘…Wait.’
Something felt off.
‘Why was only Walter designated as a suspect?’
Queen Marceline had two biological children.
Walter was the Third Prince and the second of the two.
There was another—Marceline’s firstborn, the Second Prince.
The Second Prince was. The Second Prince was….
But who was the Second Prince?
Now that I think about it….
‘I’ve never once seen the Second Prince.’
I had encountered the Third Prince Walter immediately upon arriving at the Royal Palace.
But I had never encountered the Second Prince even once. I hadn’t seen him during the Cult’s proceedings either.
Even among the nobility, there had been no mention of the Second Prince.
I only knew of the Second Prince’s ‘existence’.
I couldn’t recall his name.
I retraced my memories, trying to recall the Second Prince’s name.
Yet it still wouldn’t come to me.
And at that very moment.
“You’ve stirred up quite the spectacle.”
Someone brushed past me, muttering under their breath.
A profile visible from the corner of my eye.
It was a face I knew.
What was their name again?
Perhaps… Perhaps-.
‘Perhaps…?’
The name wouldn’t come to mind.
As if it had been erased from my memory.
I stopped in my tracks. Slowly turning my head, I activated the predator’s instinct[S]-.
Only then could I understand.
…It was not Queen Marceline.
Queen Marceline was merely a puppet.
The one who lurked in darkness and manipulated the Kingdom-.
The one who orchestrated the Kingdom’s politics and sought to seize all true power-.
The one who fractured the Kingdom, invited The Empire’s intervention, and ultimately brought about its collapse-.
==【Character Information】==
Name : Blake Battenberg
Classification : Animalia, Mammalia, Hominidae, Human
Gender : Male
Age : 19 years old
Characteristics : ?? ??[?], ???[?]
Second Prince Blake Battenberg.
He was the one-.
“That’s enough.”
* * *
Adrian stopped abruptly, like a broken machine.
His unfocused eyes wandered, sinking into the void.
Blake confirmed the sight and turned to walk away again.
One step, two steps.
And just as I took the third step, it happened.
“Who gave you permission?”
Adrian’s voice suddenly pierced the air.
This time, Blake’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
Slowly turning my gaze, Adrian was staring at Blake.
His crimson eyes, as if drenched in blood.
Yet within them, focus was unmistakably present-.
Adrian was acutely aware of Blake’s existence.
* * *
◆The Successor’s Will[EX] resists the Authority of Oblivion!!
◆1,562 Sanity points have accumulated.
Glowing text flashed before my eyes.
My consciousness, which had been plummeting into the void, snapped back into focus.
Before me, Blake Battenberg turned slowly to face me.
A face and features unmarred by any flaw.
Ash-grey hair seeping in like mist.
Black eyes that seemed to swallow light itself, merged with darkness.
“How—”
Blake’s question hadn’t even finished forming.
Killing intent without a shred of hesitation.
It pierced straight through me.
‘Danger!’
I hurled myself forward without delay.
At that very moment—Crack!
Ash-laden spikes erupted from the ground, instantly engulfing the spot where I had been standing.
I quickly shifted my gaze.
Blake immediately swept his hands, drawing forth the mist.
Rumble!
Mist-infused mana surged from Blake’s body. He lifted both hands upward in a sweeping motion.
A sense of wrongness permeated the entire space.
…This opponent was not one to measure lightly.
◆Transcendent Skill, Berserk [?] is activated.
Berserk [?] consumes all Sanity points.
But the battle with Memoria.
Since he had perfectly replicated my abilities, fighting Memoria was essentially fighting myself.
From that battle, I could learn.
That Berserk [?] could be stacked for repeated use, and that Fusion Skills could be applied simultaneously.
And from The Vanished Social Club, I was able to confirm the required Sanity points for each grade of Berserk [?].
Therefore, if I could intentionally control the Sanity points being consumed—
◆Current Sanity points: 4,586.
◆334 Sanity points consumed.
◆Berserk [?] grade applied as [B].
As expected, my control was still insufficient.
I consumed far more than the 100 Sanity points required for Berserk [B-].
Yet I was able to control the consumption rate.
◆Fusion Skill, Accelerated Heartbeat [E] is activated!
Thump!!
My entire body surged with violent intensity.
Blood flow exploded exponentially, muscles and nerves becoming acutely heightened.
But this was not the end.
◆Current Sanity points: 4,252.
◆Consuming 1,023 Sanity.
◆Berserk Rampage [?] is applied at rank [B+].
◆Activating Fusion Skill, Draconification [E]!
An intense power surged through my body like boiling magma.
Bones and muscles twisted in silent agony, alien pulses set my blood ablaze, and my senses expanded beyond their limits.
And I barely managed to reach it.
The 3,200 Sanity required for Berserk Rampage [A].
◆Current Sanity: 3,229.
◆Consuming 3,229 Sanity.
◆Berserk Rampage [?] is applied at rank [A].
◆Activating Transcendent Skill, Hyper Regeneration [A]!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
My bones fractured as a massive protrusion erupted below my elbow.
A blade-like bone, honed to razor sharpness.
Bone Blade.
Memoria had reinforced the cutting edge of his Bone Blade with novel materials using Nutrient Creation [A-].
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do the same.
My Sanity was completely depleted.
But it didn’t matter.
I utilized the basic skill, Nutrient Synthesis [B].
I finished the cutting edge of my Bone Blade with ‘keratin’.
This allowed my Bone Blade to benefit from the Single-Molecule Blade [S] effect.
By severing molecular-level bonding structures, it ignores durability and defense by 100%, delivering direct damage—an absurdly broken effect.
Furthermore, Draconification [E] converts 1% of reduced damage into Energy (Kcal).
This meant I could sustain my caloric intake during combat.
“I’m not sure if your brother told you—”
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash—!!
“—but I don’t acknowledge you as a prince.”

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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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