The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 174

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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 174. Antinomy (1)
The insulting conduct of Kim Fujiwara Bloodhound.
To be honest, Marzen wasn’t entirely free from anger.
“You goblin phlegm of a man.”
How could one not be infuriated upon hearing such words?
Marzen simply prioritized reason over emotion.
That didn’t mean he was incapable of feeling.
Therefore, the urge to tear Kim Fujiwara apart right then and there surged to the very crown of my head, but….
‘Sigh….’
I suppressed it.
I understood the intent behind the insult well enough.
It was an attempt to scratch at my core and forcibly draw out my rage.
Reason tainted by anger becomes incapable of making sound judgments. Therefore, if I allowed myself to be swayed by emotion here, all initiative would slip into his hands.
Above all, I could never relinquish the rune steel of 18.1% purity.
It wasn’t I who held the blade’s hilt.
The thirsty man seeks the well.
“How discourteous.”
I responded with composure.
I forced down my emotions coldly—.
“Perhaps you’d like me to sprinkle manners on your salad?”
Somehow, this bastard wouldn’t even grant me the chance to swallow my rage.
“The discourteous one is you, an orc fool who tells someone to come and then just sits there scratching your head, isn’t it?”
This son of a—!
I closed both eyes.
I desperately tried to calm the roiling fury within.
But my eyebrows twisted uncontrollably regardless—.
“You’ve been sitting there like an earthworm crushed under a brick since earlier. So what exactly do you want?”
I drew a deep breath and opened my eyes.
…This state wouldn’t do.
I had to reclaim my shattered reason and restore my composure.
“Very well, let us reconvene later.”
“Who do you think you are?”
But this bastard, he really—.
“Can you handle the current situation?”
I spoke in a low voice, making no attempt to conceal my killing intent.
“Threats are made by those who hold the blade’s hilt.”
Yet this madman was beyond such reach.
Beyond lacking all sense of proportion, threats held no meaning before such deranged, pure madness.
“Not something a person like you—with the oral bacteria of a troll—would do.”
This dog—!
Marzen closed his eyes once more.
Whether mockery or provocation, those words scraped against Marzen’s nerves relentlessly, making it impossible to maintain his composure.
In that sense, he was curious.
Where in the world had this bastard learned such infuriating, utterly maddening drivel that turned one’s insides completely upside down just hearing it?
“And it seems you view me as a scarecrow who comes when you call and goes when you command.”
Marzen could only clench his teeth, struggling to suppress the roiling fury within.
“Did you perhaps think I came here to negotiate?”
“….”
“Don’t be mistaken. I came merely to offer you an opportunity. And you have only three choices.”
“….”
“Connect me with your superiors.”
“….”
“Abandon the Runesteel.”
“….”
“Or try to take it by force if you’re feeling brave.”
Marzen’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles cracked.
He suppressed his rage as much as possible.
But this arrogant, disrespectful existence that scraped at his very being—
“I don’t have much time, so decide quickly.”
Brazenly offering his face to be slapped—
“You fungus growing in Ogre’s armpit.”
Such an insult that demanded a beating to knock some sense into him!!
It was utterly unbearable.
Crunch!!
Marzen’s teeth ground together harshly.
Marzen’s reason, stained with rage.
There was no more restraint left.
Yet still, he did not completely release the thread of reason.
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
But if you know not your enemy, then in every battle you will surely be imperiled.
Marzen assessed and gauged his opponent with cold clarity.
Kim Fujiwara Bloodhound.
He had used spatial magic moments before.
Which meant he was a mage.
And mages were Marzen’s prey.
Now that he knew his enemy and knew himself, he need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
So you said to try taking it by force if I’m feeling brave? Fine.
Screeeee—!
Mana erupted from Marzen’s body.
But at that very moment.
Boom!!
The tremendous explosion shook Marzen’s vision.
And then it vanished.
Kim Fujiwara Bloodhound was nowhere to be seen.
A movement as though he had transcended space itself.
Marzen understood immediately.
‘Blink?’
Short-range spatial leap magic—Blink.
However, Blink generates a ripple of mana at the moment of teleportation.
If one could read that disturbance, they could predict when and where the attack would come.
Zing!
Marzen’s magic eye flared with light for an instant.
But then.
‘I can’t see anything…?’
Nothing appeared before my eyes.
Marzen hastily wove a shield spell using the mana that enveloped his body.
Protective barriers stacked upon one another in an instant.
Immediately after, a tremendous impact struck the shield.
Shatter!
…And it broke.
Far too easily.
“…!!”
Marzen’s eyes widened in shock.
Even though the shield had been hastily erected, its layered structure had granted it considerable temporary defensive power.
…Yet it had shattered.
Far too easily.
Moreover, what had broken the shield wasn’t magic at all.
‘A fist?’
It was a fist.
Which meant he was an aura user—
Crash!
The violent impact cut off my thoughts.
My body tore through the wall and crashed into the rubble beyond.
“Cough—!”
Blood erupted from my mouth as I lay buried beneath the debris.
My legs trembled uncontrollably.
I clenched my teeth hard.
Blood seeped between my clenched teeth.
My internal organs… seemed damaged.
Had I not instinctively mitigated the impact, I would have died on the spot.
“Boss!!”
“Are you alright?!”
The organization members, sensing the commotion, rushed over in a flood.
Soon grasping the situation, their eyes widened.
They then shouted toward Kim Fujiwara beyond the shattered wall.
“How dare you—do you know where this is!”
“If you thought we’d go easy on you because of that face, oh, you’re sorely mistaken!”
“Still… we won’t kill you. That face would be a waste!”
The organization members drew their concealed weapons and surged forward with renewed momentum.
They were low-ranking members of the Trade Alliance.
But that wasn’t the reality.
They were special operatives forged through brutal training for various covert operations.
Negotiation, disruption, infiltration, assassination—
Each one possessed the capability to annihilate an entire small unit single-handedly.
“””Attack!!”””
The organization members charged in unison.
Yet they did not rush forward recklessly.
Synchronizing their movements, they slowly dominated the space as if unfurling a formation.
Even a Master’s knight would struggle to escape easily.
But Kim Fujiwara…
Whoosh—
With that sound, he vanished from sight in an instant.
A movement that seemed to tear through space itself, just like before.
Indeed, invisible to the eye.
So this too was Blink magic.
Zing—!
Marzen’s magic eye flared to life once more.
But then.
‘I can’t see him…?’
Again, nothing was visible.
Crash!!!
The organization members’ formation crumbled in an instant.
There was nothing particularly special about it.
Sheer force.
That alone shattered the entire formation.
‘What—!’
Marzen’s eyes flew wide open.
And for good reason—force is proportional to the cross-sectional area of muscle.
But muscle cross-section increases by the square while volume increases by the cube, so humans cannot exert thousands of times their body’s strength relative to their size.
Ants exert thousands of times their body’s strength precisely because their bodies are so small, after all.
Therefore, even if a mage employs a strength-enhancement spell like Strength, they cannot exert power that transcends the physical structure of the human body.
Because they have already “understood” that such a thing is fundamentally impossible.
‘But how…?’
Marzen’s mind flooded with questions.
Yet Marzen forcibly calmed his thoughts.
I must not be deceived by appearances.
Kim Fujiwara Bloodhound.
He is a mage.
Blink magic is one thing, but the most certain evidence is that he used subspace magic earlier.
Subspace is a “high-difficulty spell” that cannot be used without implementing the concepts of hyperspace and quantum tunneling.
Therefore, anyone capable of using subspace magic must possess superior intellect—someone who has “understood” that aura as a force cannot exist.
Thus, I arrive at the firm conclusion that this power must be part of magic.
“W-what kind of power…!”
“Gaaahhh!”
…Difficult as it is to believe, it is magic.
So I must not be swayed.
I need to judge the situation with cold rationality.
This power is not merely Strength, but rather the result of intricately combining multiple spells like Haste.
Therefore, I must analyze and dismantle each spell individually.
Kiiiiing—!
Marzen’s magic eye blazed, piercing through the flow of mana.
But then.
‘I cannot see it…?’
…Again, I saw nothing.
Kim Fujiwara’s movements and power showed no trace of mana fluctuation whatsoever.
‘He is not a mage…?’
Then that would mean he is a warrior who wields aura.
‘A warrior wielding aura while using subspace magic…?’
Arriving at such a conclusion.
‘What…?’
Marzen’s mind shattered.
…Such a thing cannot possibly exist.
If one uses subspace magic, they absolutely cannot use aura.
Mana and aura are an antinomy.
They are two contradictory propositions that cannot coexist.
Therefore, it is absolutely not the power of aura.
Yet it is not the power of mana either.
Then where in this world does a power that is neither mana nor aura exist?
The only usable energies of mana are mana and aura.
Holy power, shamanism, and all other forces are merely transformations derived from mana and aura.
Which means.
‘Surely… it’s not just raw physical strength?’
…That’s even more impossible.
There’s no way something like that could happen.
The man isn’t an Ogre, after all.
Strength is proportional to muscle cross-sectional area, so with a human’s muscular structure, it’s absolutely impossible to exert such force.
‘Then what…?’
…What the hell is this, really?
Unable to explain the situation rationally, Marzen’s mind became a complete, chaotic mess.
* * *
“Grrgh, damn it!”
“I… I can’t hold it back anymore…!”
“Aaaahhh!!”
The organization members fell one by one.
Only a few remained now.
True to their reputation as elite Imperial Army soldiers, each one possessed considerable skill.
With them charging in formation, it took some time to subdue them all.
Above all, I was Kim Fujiwara Bloodhound right now.
I had to eliminate anything that could identify me as Adrian Whitewolf, so I couldn’t recklessly use Regeneration [B+] or Dragon’s Claw [A].
In other words, fighting by relying solely on brute strength made it difficult even for me.
That said, the elite soldiers weren’t a real threat.
My stats amplified by the Ogre’s Predation [S+] and Metabolic Rampage [U].
“M-Monster…!”
“Kyaaahhh!”
No matter how elite the Empire’s soldiers were, they couldn’t handle it.
The problem was Marzen.
More precisely, Marzen using magic while using the elite soldiers as a shield.
Mages are troublesome opponents in many ways.
And since Marzen was an officer of the Imperial Army, his level was far from low.
But fortunately.
Or rather, exactly as I intended.
While the elite soldiers bought time, Marzen didn’t step forward.
It was because I’d deliberately lowered his situational judgment with my earlier mad provocation.
Still, Marzen’s analytical ability was meticulous.
But precisely because it was so meticulous, he fell perfectly for the inventory I ‘deliberately’ showed him.
So I simply beat the drum and played the janggu.
“W-What… how is this even…?”
He was floundering alone in his own logical contradiction.
A half-dazed, vacant expression.
But I couldn’t afford to underestimate him.
Marzen is a rational and cold-blooded strategist and analyst.
He’s merely caught in momentary confusion right now.
Soon enough, he’ll compose himself and reorganize the situation.
Therefore, I needed to shatter Marzen’s rationality more decisively.
In the past, countless provocation battles waged against the Imperial Army.
A battlefield where mockery and ridicule that made one’s blood boil rained down endlessly.
I possessed those memories from back then.
But what about Marzen now?
He was a greenhorn with zero experience in such provocation tactics.
“You’ve been standing there looking terrified and vacant this whole time….”
No matter how rational and cold-blooded Marzen was, it was difficult to completely exclude emotion.
“All you know how to do is glare, but you don’t have the courage to actually step forward yourself, do you?”
Crack!!
Marzen’s fury erupted in an instant.
“How dare you…!!”
Rationality be damned—Marzen completely fell apart.
Boom boom boom boom—!
Marzen’s momentum shifted dramatically.
A wave of magical power burst forth, causing the surrounding air currents to ripple.
Marzen was a strategist and, simultaneously, a mage.
Moreover, a high-tier mage capable of wielding Polymorph.
Polymorph is a high-difficulty transmutation spell, and mages specialized in transmutation magic like alchemists are called “transmuters.”
In other words, Marzen was a transmuter.
And not all mages are transmuters.
However, all transmuters are mages.
Therefore, when facing a mage, there is one absolute rule that must be observed.
The first of these:
Never give a mage time.
◆Combination Skill ‘Metabolic Overdrive [U]’ activated!
◆Calorie consumption – 150,000 Kcal
◆All of the player’s stats increase by [+150%] for [1,500 seconds]!
I burned through 150,000 calories without hesitation.
Until just recently, this would have been not merely insane but impossible.
My caloric limit was 100,000 calories back then.
But not anymore.
With Ultra-Compressed Adipose Tissue [U], my currently available calories are approximately 330,000.
Even burning 150,000 calories from that—
◆Currently available calories: 183,000 Kcal
A full 180,000 calories remain.
Whoosh—!
Thus, 150,000 calories—an unprecedented surge of energy never before supplied to my body—awakened every cell within me.
Thump!!
My endocrine system flooded with hormones, racing wildly out of control.
My heart began to pound as though it might burst—like a heartbeat accelerator running at maximum capacity.
My agility stat skyrocketed to 624 in an instant.
My stamina stat surged to an astounding 950.
And my strength stat shattered the 1,000 threshold, reaching a staggering 1,130.
Even I felt an unfamiliar power surging through my entire being.
A force that transcended biological limits.
Immense strain bore down upon me, overwhelming my body—yet.
Crack!!
My body, evolved through Ogre Predation, endured every ounce of that burden.

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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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