The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 179

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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 179. Breaking and Entering? (1)
Aucta From Afar—a presence existing in distant incomprehension.
An entity that dwells far beyond the reach of understanding.
The moment that name echoed through the Gathering Hall, the atmosphere froze solid.
“We’ve exceeded the boundaries of what we can control.”
Another Worshipper added to the first’s words.
“But the Presence cannot withdraw their hand now. They’re already occupied responding to matters related to that one.”
“Then perhaps we should appeal to them—”
“Impossible. Any matter concerning Vicarious can only be decided by the Presence themselves. It lies beyond our authority.”
“So we must continue advancing our plans alone?”
“We have no choice—”
CRASH!
“Avarus has vanished. Violess has crumbled. Obscura has collapsed, and even Iratum has been erased.”
“….”
“And that’s not all? The Battenberg Kingdom’s situation has spiraled! Luseria has been annihilated, the breeding grounds have fallen, and Blake has gone missing!”
“….”
“And now even the Ogre has been subjugated! With every plan in ruins, you expect us to continue on our own?!”
“Yet the Designated One did inherit the Count’s title, did they not?”
Another Worshipper interjected.
“More importantly, it was the Designated One who annihilated both Luseria and the Abyss Queen.”
“Exactly. Which means the Designated One’s power has awakened.”
“Luseria simply drew too much force and couldn’t suppress the Designated One’s rampage, suffering the consequences instead.”
In other words, the original objective had certainly been achieved.
“The plan hasn’t completely failed.”
Though more variables had emerged than anticipated, the situation wasn’t catastrophic—
“It hasn’t completely failed, but… I’m uncertain.”
“What do you mean?”
“Has the Designated One truly fallen into their embrace?”
“No being can escape that one’s power.”
“Are you suggesting the Designated One has somehow escaped their power?”
“Not exactly, but…”
The Worshipper merely gnawed at their nails, anxiety evident in every gesture.
Then, at that very moment.
“…You pathetic bastards.”
A coarse voice echoed from somewhere.
At the crude profanity, the Worshippers’ faces twisted in shock.
Then came footsteps.
Heavy, deliberate footfalls drew closer.
Soon a figure emerged from the darkness—
“You… you are…!!”
“…Blake?!”
The Worshippers’ eyes snapped wide open as if they’d made a pact to react in unison.
* * *
Camirus’s horn—a gift from Marzen.
To be precise, I’d simply received back what I’d sold to him—.
‘Now it makes sense.’
I’d wondered why Marzen accepted a 0% border tax so readily.
But there was a reason for everything.
It had been Marzen’s plan to evade the Information Bureau’s suspicion.
Then and now.
‘He’s not someone to underestimate.’
Though Marzen appeared to be dancing to my tune, he never lost his cold rationality and calculation, always making optimal decisions.
Of course.
‘He still hasn’t realized I’m Kim Fujiwara.’
But that didn’t change the fact that he remained in the palm of my hand.
In any case, he was the perfect candidate to plant as a proxy within The Empire.
‘Now Marzen just needs to avoid the Information Bureau’s suspicion….’
Even if things went wrong, it wouldn’t matter.
I would simply step back and observe from a distance.
In the worst-case scenario, I could always detonate the Raven Dung Merchant Company.
That said, I wasn’t hoping for failure.
The objective of this plan using the rune steel bait was straightforward.
Gather intelligence and assess The Empire’s situation to prepare for what comes next.
Locate Ian within The Empire and discuss future plans.
And hook the colossal whale that is The Emperor.
Or more precisely—.
‘I need to uncover The Emperor’s true purpose.’
Understanding The Emperor’s objective would make him a predictable entity.
In my past life, there were two primary ways to refer to The Emperor.
The Distant Presence.
The Overlord Beyond All.
But I never called him that.
Whenever I referred to The Emperor, I always said this instead.
The Madman of Slaughter.
Approximately nine years from now.
Rumors of The Emperor’s descent into madness would spread beyond the Imperial Palace walls.
But by then, the situation would already be irreversible.
The Emperor would have transcended tyranny and become a despot of pure chaos.
The Empire’s people would transform into a fanatical cult devoted to The Emperor.
A wind of blood and slaughter would sweep across The Continent.
Countless kingdoms burned. Surrender was not accepted.
One year.
That was the time it took for every kingdom and city on The Continent to vanish from the maps.
I had always wondered.
Why?
Why was The Emperor committing such indiscriminate slaughter?
Historically, a ruler’s massacres always have a reason.
To place the entire Continent beneath my feet and rule it!
To subjugate all and seize absolute power!
If The Emperor’s purpose were such, a question arose.
To wield power, after all.
Shouldn’t one keep people alive?
Kill those who resist, yes—but shouldn’t those who surrender and obey be spared?
What meaning would there be in him alone reigning as Emperor over an empty Continent?
If The Emperor’s absolute power were built upon the graves of the dead, wouldn’t that be less dominion and more self-destruction transcending madness itself?
Unfortunately, The Emperor never answered my questions.
He simply killed everyone.
Moreover, The Emperor’s slaughter was not limited to the Allied Forces and humanity as a species.
As if he despised life itself, The Emperor annihilated every living creature on this Continent—animals, plants, insects, vermin—all of it.
Why?
Simply because he was mad, as the saying goes?
Then there was no need to understand.
The attempt to comprehend a madman was itself meaningless.
‘Yet I couldn’t simply conclude he was mad.’
The Emperor did not commit truly ‘indiscriminate’ slaughter.
If there was need, he kept them alive.
If there was no need, he killed them.
Survival was guaranteed not by obedience, but solely by The Emperor’s own necessity.
In other words, there was some ‘purpose’ behind this ‘necessity.’
But what that was… I could not discover.
As the Special Forces Duke Commander, I conducted countless operations—assassination, infiltration, espionage, torture—and penetrated deep into The Empire’s intelligence network.
Through this, I grasped The Empire’s systems and structure.
Moreover, the forces and abilities of the other Lords, excluding The Darkness Lord.
I was able to discern most information worthy of being called classified.
But not The Emperor.
I could not even approach him.
Interrogating captured Imperial Army officers yielded the same result.
Even those called the heads of The Empire did not know The Emperor’s purpose.
The Lords distributed their powers to their legion commanders.
But The Emperor did not.
He had not shared his power and authority with the Imperial Army.
He had merely “raised” them out of necessity.
It was the same now that I had returned to the past.
Therefore, there was only one method.
‘I must enter the Imperial Palace directly and find out for myself.’
That’s why Marzen’s role was crucial.
I would elevate Marzen to the upper echelons of The Empire, secure access rights to the Imperial Palace, and then enter it myself.
Confronting The Emperor’s true nature there and uncovering his purpose—that was the core of this plan derived from the Runesteel bait.
‘I’ve already set the board.’
Soon, Marzen would report to the Distribution Bureau that his negotiations with Kim Fujiwara regarding Runesteel had succeeded.
After that, it would take some time to evade the Information Bureau’s suspicion and so forth.
After all, The Empire’s Information Bureau was no fool.
They were meticulous to the point of obsession.
No flimsy excuse would escape their scrutiny.
To gain the trust of such an Information Bureau?
The situation had to be designed with precision.
Still, Marzen would handle it on his own.
‘For now, I’ll wait.’
I returned to my original appearance.
Then I turned my steps toward the inn where I had been staying.
It was at that very moment.
◆A sudden Quest has begun.
A message suddenly flashed before my eyes.
‘A sudden Quest?’
Could something have happened to Marzen?
As doubt arose, the Quest details appeared before me.
==[We heard that other territory was raided, so we went to see. But it turned out to be our territory?!]==
[Objective] – Drive out the attackers from Whitewolf Territory
[Reward] – Massive Experience Points
[Failure] – ???
“…?”
My head tilted involuntarily in confusion.
The reward was certainly “Massive Experience Points.”
A most welcome Quest.
But somehow, the Quest’s content….
‘Attackers on Whitewolf Territory?’
Moreover, the Quest had been forcibly accepted.
In other words, it could be interpreted to mean that someone was currently attacking Whitewolf Territory.
But who?
…That question only lasted a moment.
◆Sudden Quest, [I went to see the neighboring territory being plundered. But it turned out to be our territory?!] has been cleared!
A Quest suddenly cleared?
True to its name as a Sudden Quest, it cleared abruptly.
Was it a glitch?
Though it’s hard to say that….
◆You have obtained 15,627,240 Quest Experience!
The reward came through without a doubt.
A staggering 15 million experience points.
Befitting such a massive amount of experience, it was considerable.
The level I gained from it was….
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
A whopping +4 levels.
◆Ah, what kind of fraud did you pull this time?!
The message was indignant out of nowhere.
But.
“…What?”
I was equally bewildered this time.
* * *
Blake suddenly arrived at the Gathering Hall.
The Worshipper and his followers learned the full details of the incident at the Royal Social Society from Blake.
And thus, the truth they discovered.
The Arranged One.
In other words, Seraphia was not bound by his authority.
But.
“That is… impossible.”
It was unbelievable.
No matter how much of an Arranged One she might be, she cannot escape his authority.
Whitewolf Territory is located at the northernmost point of the Continent and is classified as a ‘survival threshold zone’ where humans can inhabit.
In other words, it lay beyond the public eye, making information gathering severely restricted.
Thus.
The Worshipper and his followers headed directly to Whitewolf Territory.
Whitewolf Territory, situated in the midst of an endless expanse of snowy plains.
Behind the territory, snow-covered hills and mountain ranges surrounded it as if wearing white caps.
The Castle Wall, built to withstand the bitter cold, was thick and towering.
But.
“What is that…?”
The state of the Castle Wall was not normal.
The outer walls had been smoothly reinforced with freshly laid stone blocks.
Massive mana lamps and watchtowers were installed on both sides.
Soldiers with rigid discipline stood firm in the watchtowers, vigilantly surveying all directions.
“Huh…?”
The Worshippers’ heads tilted in unison.
And for good reason—Whitewolf Territory was nothing like this.
A decaying, shabby, crumbling domain.
No, it was less a territory than a ruin barely worthy of the name.
Yet beyond the castle wall lay several villages.
“What… what is that?”
Something felt distinctly off about the villages’ appearance.
Neatly arranged houses and dwellings with warm steam rising from their chimneys.
This was no impoverished territory lacking everything.
The barren land and harsh climate remained unchanged.
It was undoubtedly a region at the edge of survival.
Yet the landscape within rivaled not just a thriving city, but the capital of the kingdom itself.
Was this the capital of Battenberg Kingdom?
There had been no reports of relocation.
“…What is this?”
“Blake never mentioned anything like this.”
“How are we supposed to break through that…?”
All The Worshippers wore blank expressions—precisely at that moment.
“Huh…?!”
A voice called out from one direction.
Turning to look, there stood a girl with hair nearly blue and eyes of azure.
“Who are you…?”
The Blue Girl tilted her head curiously.
“I haven’t seen you around the territory before…”
The Worshippers’ expressions hardened.
How could she know everyone’s face when the territory’s population was so small?
…There was no way around this.
They couldn’t slip past unnoticed.
One of The Worshippers extended his hand forward.
Shhhhhhh—!
Darkness bloomed from his fingertips.
The darkness spread like a spider’s web, crawling across the snow-covered plain.
The girl was instantly consumed by pitch-black darkness and vanished.
The Worshipper glanced around briefly, then muttered in a low voice.
“…Something is wrong with the territory’s situation.”
“What do we do now?”
“There’s no choice. I’ll have to infiltrate Count’s Castle and verify Seraphia directly—.”
“What are you trying to do to my friend!”
Flinch!
The Worshippers all trembled in unison.
As they spun around together, the Blue Girl who had just been swallowed by darkness was glaring at them with unmistakable fury.
“What…?”
Crackle!
Blue electricity scattered in all directions.
“Everyone, get behind me—!”
Boom! Crash!
The Worshipper who had been blocking was sent flying backward.
The two Worshippers on either side had their faces filled with confusion.
“”What?!””
What on earth was that just now?
Bewildered gazes naturally turned forward.
The Blue Girl, wrapped in swirling mana.
“I won’t forgive anyone who hurts my precious friend!”
Boom boom boom boom!
The raging mana tore through the darkness completely.
“Wait, hold on—!”
…This kind of development was never supposed to happen.

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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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