The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 160

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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 160. Adrian vs Kai (1)
In the heart of the Frost Trial Grounds.
Adrian and Kai stood facing each other across a distance.
There was no one else around them.
All training had been cancelled today due to the festival atmosphere sweeping through the Whitewolf Territory.
Adrian and Kai.
Only the two of them occupied the center of the empty trial grounds.
“Let me say this one more time.”
Adrian spoke to me with a cautionary tone.
“I don’t know much about swords. The techniques I use are merely ‘my own way,’ nothing more.”
“….”
“Observing, understanding, and learning from them—that’s entirely up to you, Kai. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
Kai nodded gravely and gripped the wooden training sword in his hand.
This was a friendly sparring match where Kai would receive instruction.
They couldn’t use live blades—or so he thought.
“Kai, use your real sword.”
“But—”
“You and I both. We don’t die that easily anyway, do we?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Kai set down the wooden training sword and drew the blade from his waist.
The instant he did, Adrian’s eyes transformed.
It was merely a change in his gaze.
Yet he seemed like an entirely different person.
No—like an entirely different being altogether.
Whoosh!
In a single moment, a sharp sound tore through the air.
Adrian, who had been directly in front of me, vanished.
To the right? No, to the left?
Neither.
Then—
‘Behind!’
Crash!!
A tremendous impact. The stone floor beneath my feet shattered into fragments that scattered into the air.
Had my reaction been even slightly slower… I would have taken the full brunt of it.
“Ugh…!”
Kai was driven backward.
Both arms trembled. Adrian didn’t budge an inch.
He was pinning Kai’s aura blade with his sharpened nails.
…Tremendous strength.
Strength that defied imagination as something human could possess.
And generally, the opening moves of a duel begin with taking the measure of one’s opponent.
Distance, reaction speed, combat style—and so forth.
It is done to understand the adversary.
But Adrian was different.
There was no hint of him attempting to gauge anything.
The preliminary phase of testing Kai was omitted entirely.
From the very first moment, a perfectly executed killing blow aimed at death itself.
“Only when your life hangs in the balance does the same repetition accumulate into different experience.”
Kai clenched his teeth.
…This was real combat.
Not training that merely resembled real combat.
This fight, this instruction—it operated on an entirely different level.
Of this one thing, I was certain.
“By the way, I won’t be using a monomolecular blade.”
…Kill or be killed.
* * *
The Dwarf’s cry that Adrian and Kai were fighting.
Seraphia, Iliana, and Isolde rushed frantically toward the Frost Trial Grounds.
And they could see it.
“Brother! Sir Kai!”
Two men locked in combat as if intent on murdering one another.
Boom!!
A tremendous explosion erupted, and dust clouds momentarily obscured their vision. Isolde drew upon her aura to locate the two figures.
But she soon realized there was no need.
Within the hazy veil of dust and smoke.
Crimson radiance and azure brilliance blazed simultaneously, hurtling toward each other.
Boom!
An explosion tore forth. There was no metallic ring.
Each of those strikes was a killing blow.
The weight of wounds they inflicted upon one another differed, and a single mistake would lead to fatal consequences.
Crash! Boom!
Each time Adrian and Kai collided, fierce explosions erupted without pause.
“Why are the two of you—!”
Seraphia’s face instantly contorted with alarm.
It was only natural.
Those two were genuinely attempting to kill one another.
Seraphia trembled.
“We have to stop them!”
Seraphia lunged forward.
Isolde stepped in to block her path.
“You can’t get any closer.”
In that instant.
Kai’s blade swept across all directions. The azure aura erupting from within carried a tyrannical force, tearing through the surrounding space completely.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!!
Adrian did not evade.
Pushing my body directly into the tempest of aura—
I glided through the empty air as though swimming through it.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!
Joint articulation no human could achieve.
I responded. To every thrust, slash, overhead strike, and barrage from Kai, I countered each one in turn.
—Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!
Explosions tangled together. Isolde opened her mouth with a rigid expression.
“It’s dangerous.”
Stepping into that maelstrom would be no different than choosing death.
To be honest, even Isolde had no confidence she could intervene there.
“Don’t do it…!”
Seraphia cried out, her voice trembling.
“You could die…!”
That was true.
Adrian and Kai.
The two of them were fighting with the resolve to die here. Each blow was exchanged with life as the stakes.
Yet I could not understand the reason they fought so desperately.
This was no formal duel between nobles observing propriety.
It was neither a comparison of skill nor a test of who was stronger.
Only slaughter.
A battle to kill one another.
“What is happening?!”
“Is it truly Adrian and Kai—?”
Those who had followed rushed into the Frost Trial Grounds.
“What… what is that…?”
“Good heavens…!”
And they too were struck with horror at the sight of the two fighting.
* * *
The crushing, overwhelming force of Adrian’s power.
…There was no way to resist it.
Beyond my oppressed vision.
Adrian’s crimson eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
Adrian is trying to kill me.
Absolutely certain of it.
I realize it once more.
…Kill or be killed!
I drew upon my aura. Adrian moved first. He withdrew the claws that had been pressing down.
…I wouldn’t let this slip away.
Kai twisted his waist urgently and swung his blade.
Shing—!
The vividly formed aura blade tore through space in an instant.
Boom—!
But what erupted was a deafening roar.
An aura blade that could slice steel like tofu. Yet it failed to sever Adrian’s claws.
…It defied all logic. But I wasn’t panicked. This was already a known fact.
Kai’s stance lowered.
From below, he probed for Adrian’s openings.
And….
He didn’t swing the blade. Rather, he ‘couldn’t’ swing it.
It wasn’t that openings were invisible.
Frankly, they were riddled with gaps.
Adrian might have deliberately exposed those openings, but that didn’t mean they were beyond exploiting.
Yet… my body wouldn’t move.
An indescribable sense of oppression.
As if containing all the ferocity of this world, that oppressive force crushed down upon Kai’s body.
My breathing quickened.
Sweat beaded at the fingertips gripping the blade, and my muscles grew rigid.
A feeling kept rising that this was something I couldn’t overcome.
Was it momentum?
No, it seemed to be more than that alone.
This sensation felt strangely familiar.
…Ah yes, I remembered.
I had felt this oppression before.
The Ogre.
The apex predator of the Surface.
A savage monster that rendered every terrestrial being beneath the heavens into ‘prey’.
This oppression now was exactly what I had felt when facing the Ogre.
The positions reversed in an instant.
Kai, who had been probing for openings, instead exposed his own vulnerabilities.
There was no escape.
It unfolded exactly as Kai had anticipated.
Crash!
The explosive impact shook Kai’s body. Fortunately, I managed to defend.
But—.
‘The damage…!’
It transcended imagination.
Words… words simply failed me.
This wasn’t a block with my sword. It was more accurate to say I’d been struck along with my blade.
My vision shook for an instant.
My insides churned as if violently shaken.
I barely suppressed the blood surging up my throat.
…For now, I’m fine.
The ability I gained upon stepping into the Master’s realm—Immortal.
However, Immortal wasn’t a regenerative healing ability like recovery magic.
It merely ensured that injuries wouldn’t be fatal.
I could only sustain my life force as a byproduct of eternal existence.
Both my arms holding the sword trembled uncontrollably.
…An ominous premonition kept surfacing.
A dark foreboding that I might die here.
Kai gripped his sword firmly, forcing away the ominous feeling. It was true that I felt overwhelmed. But that didn’t mean I would surrender.
I wouldn’t surrender.
I recalled the image of defeating Adrian.
Imagine it. Imagine defeating Adrian right here, right now.
Kai drove his oppressed spirit forward with all his will.
* * *
Boom!
The collision between Adrian and Kai exploded, scattering in all directions.
From the center of the explosion, Adrian extended his left hand forward.
Crash—!
An explosion released in a straight line from his outstretched palm. It tore through space itself, engulfing Kai in a flash. It was at that very moment that Kai’s sword descended from above.
Boom-crack!
The two forces collided, and lightning erupted between them.
“That… that is….”
“Is that… human?”
Could that truly be called human?
It didn’t look like a human battle at all.
“Sergeant? What… what can you see?”
“Roughly… something?”
Is that really true?”
“I can’t see anything at all.”
“Honestly, I have no idea either, you bastards.”
Everyone gathered here shared the same thought.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Adrian truly fight.”
Of course, they knew.
They knew Adrian was strong.
But I only knew of it vaguely through stories.
Tales of how he single-handedly repelled an entire monster legion.
Tales of how he toppled a colossal beast in Violess.
Tales of how he beat down the vice-commander of the Royal Knights.
Tales of how he fought an Ogre and emerged victorious.
Impressive, certainly.
Yet somehow distant.
It felt like hearing the heroic exploits of a legendary warrior from a fairy tale—unreal, almost mythical.
But the battle unfolding before my eyes now.
That fight spoke volumes.
…The difference in level was absolute.
They were operating in entirely different dimensions.
Adrian.
What he truly was began to etch itself indelibly into the minds of all who witnessed.
Even Kai, the chief knight of House Whitewolf.
Even a prodigious swordmaster who had reached the pinnacle at merely twenty-one years of age could not contend with this.
Blade and claw.
In the instant their trajectories crossed.
Blood sprayed.
Adrian’s claws raked a long, deep gash across Kai’s chest.
“Gah—!”
Kai’s body was hurled backward. Adrian seized the opening without hesitation.
Crunch—!
A sickening sound of tearing flesh erupted.
Kai’s entire right arm was torn clean away.
Blood dripped steadily from Kai’s form.
…It was gone.
One arm simply vanished.
Only the ragged, torn flesh remained, soaked in blood and clinging wetly to what was left.
“Kai!”
Seraphia’s scream tore through the air.
Terror and shock ravaged her mind mercilessly.
And for good reason—unlike Adrian, Kai could not regenerate from such wounds.
Once an arm was torn away like that…, it was over.
“Why…! Why—!!”
Her voice trembled with tears as she turned her gaze toward Adrian.
And in that very moment.
“Not yet…, not yet.”
…A truly extraordinary phenomenon unfolded before Seraphia’s eyes.
* * *
Kai’s body swayed as though it might crumble at any moment.
Kai’s dependent immortality [E] lacked an ability like my regeneration [B+].
Therefore, the fight could have been considered over the moment one of his arms was torn away….
“Not yet…, not yet.”
Kai raised his sword again.
His eyes, unwavering as a single point, had not lost their fighting spirit.
And so, Kai’s severed arm twitched for a brief moment.
From the blood-soaked severed surface, flesh writhed and twisted as blood vessels began to coagulate and bind together.
I understood what was happening.
…During the fight, Kai had learned and mimicked my regeneration [B+].
And in this very moment.
Kai had finally made it his own.
Therefore, while it appeared similar to regeneration [B+] on the surface, it possessed distinct conceptual and functional differences.
My regeneration [B+] is based on tissue regeneration through cellular division.
In other words, it consumes nutrients to ‘heal’ the damaged area.
You could say it’s an extreme extension of how wounds naturally recover.
But Kai was different.
Not the concept of healing, but restoration to its original state.
It was the concept of ‘reconstructing’ the damaged area by consuming aura.
Form, structure, condition—everything.
Restoring it to exactly its original appearance.
Reconstruction.
Thud-thud-thud—!
Kai’s severed arm flew back in an instant and adhered to the wound site.
The flesh pieces knitted together messily, reassembling into its original form perfectly.
“Hiiieeeek!!”
“What in the—!!”
The expressions of all the onlookers were painted with shock.
Their eyes widened in disbelief, and several covered their mouths.
“His arm… reattached?”
“Really, it actually reattached?”
The flesh, tendons, and even bone joints interlocked perfectly.
It was reconstructed flawlessly, as though time itself were being rewound.
“Entropy is reversing?!?!”
Iliana’s cry of astonishment rang out.
Her blue eyes were wide open.
They were colored not merely by shock, but by something closer to ‘fear’.
It was only natural.
“Once energy has scattered into disorder, it can never gather again!!”
From Iliana’s perspective, this was something that should never occur.
Above all, the fact that such a thing is possible—.
“It means even death itself can be reversed!!”
Iliana’s body began to tremble.
By the laws of arcane magic, such a thing should be impossible.
Yet there exists no law in this world without phenomena to manifest it.
When a phenomenon contradicts the established laws, it does not suggest the phenomenon is flawed—rather, it reveals the laws themselves were incomplete.
In that sense, I understood.
That power transforms mere imagination into undeniable reality—.
The absurd force called aura.
The preposterous ability known as immortality.
Drawing from these two foundations, Kai studied and mimicked my Regeneration [B+], crafting the impossible ability called Reconstruction.
As expected.
“Even in the same repetition, the experience gained differs when one stakes their life on it, doesn’t it?”
And that—.
“Applies to me as well, Kai.”
In this battle, it is not only Kai who accumulates experience.
Crackle—!!
A spark erupts in an instant.
The flesh Kai had been regenerating tore apart and collapsed in sections.
“W-What, Anti-Mana?!?!”
Anti-Mana—the power to devour mana [S+].
Just as my Regeneration [B+] requires energy in the form of calories, Kai’s Reconstruction likewise demands aura energy to function.
And aura is, after all, mana transformed into a usable form of energy.
In other words, I could neutralize the immortal aura fueling Kai’s Reconstruction.
“W-What in the world are you two fighting about?!?!”
Iliana’s shock transcended fear itself, descending into despair.

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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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