The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 185

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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 185. Overwhelming (1)
Levantis, the mayor of Caravana.
“Everyone move to the Northern Wall, now!!”
Levantis swiftly evacuated the people.
There was no time to comfort a weeping child.
No leisure to support each injured person one by one.
I couldn’t waste the precious time Adrian was buying with his sacrifice.
Every step faster.
Every person pushed further away.
“Move quickly!!”
Levantis, his body battered and broken, shoved people forward from the rear of the column.
In that moment.
BOOM!!
A tremendous crash echoing from within the mist.
The ground trembled lightly as the air itself seemed to tear with the sound.
CRASH!!
Something slammed into the earth not far away.
Dread surged through Levantis’s chest.
The thought that the figure just driven into the ground was Adrian made his heart plummet.
Levantis froze in place.
Suppressing the anxiety, he slowly turned his head toward where the sound had come from.
And as feared.
Someone was writhing, embedded in the ground.
Whether from agony, their mouth hung open in a silent scream, their entire body trembling uncontrollably.
Blood was smeared across their face.
Their body was covered in blood and dust, unrecognizable.
But then.
“Gray hair…?”
It was different.
The figure embedded in the ground had gray hair, not black.
Ash-colored hair, to be precise.
In other words, the man writhing on the ground was not Adrian.
SHHHHHHH—!
The ashen mist slowly dispersed.
The veil of fog that had engulfed the entire city began to fade—.
Thud. Thud.
A black silhouette emerged through the dissipating mist.
Levantis recognized it immediately.
That black silhouette was unmistakably Adrian.
But.
“Adrian…?”
Something was different.
His appearance hadn’t changed.
But the atmosphere, perhaps.
Or maybe his presence.
He didn’t look like Adrian at all.
Thud. Thud.
Adrian’s footsteps crushed the entire space beneath them.
With each step drawing closer, an indescribable pressure radiated across all of Caravana’s urban sprawl.
The entire city of Caravana… was being crushed beneath a single person.
In that instant.
“Gaaaaaahhhhh!!”
A scream tore from the gray-haired intruder.
The reason was unclear.
But it seemed Adrian had done something.
Yet what exactly had he done?
What was happening?
“…”
“…”
No one’s eyes could perceive it.
Adrian had seized the intruder and was now piercing through his heart.
“Let go…!!”
The intruder thrashed in desperation, resisting.
His arms flailed wildly like a petulant child throwing a tantrum.
Yet the intruder’s gaze burned with venom.
But the emotion dwelling within it was…
Fear.
“Aaaahhhhh!!”
The intruder unleashed a desperate howl.
Mist rose from the surroundings, transforming into the shape of spikes.
“Die!!!”
Dozens of misty spikes cascaded down upon Adrian.
Adrian didn’t move.
He stood motionless, still tearing at the intruder’s heart.
The razor-sharp mist spikes finally rained down upon him.
“No, this can’t be!!”
“Kyaaahhhhh!!”
People screamed.
They squeezed their eyes shut against the gruesome sight about to unfold and turned away.
But then.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-thud-!
…It didn’t pierce through.
Not a single spike managed to even scratch Adrian.
Everyone’s eyes widened at the sight no one had anticipated.
“What, what is this…!!”
The fear etched on the assailant’s face transformed into pure terror.
“What in the world is that…!!”
“Good heavens…!!”
Levantis and the crowd’s eyes were filled with shock.
* * *
Adrian stood unmoved even as the surging mist’s mana crashed against him.
“How, how is this possible…!!”
Blake couldn’t comprehend it.
No, he couldn’t believe it.
Adrian was clearly under the oppression of divine authority.
Meanwhile, Blake was blessed by divine authority.
Therefore, Blake held superiority over Adrian in every aspect. He had to.
And yet.
‘Am I… going to die? Here?’
The thought finally reached that conclusion.
…No, that can’t be right.
That makes no sense.
It was something that could never happen, should never happen.
Blake’s eyes snapped wide open with desperate determination.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!!”
He seized his scattering consciousness with a roar.
Swallowing the searing pain, he swung Ahimsa Yuda with all his might.
Darkness erupted from Ahimsa Yuda’s blade.
The darkness took the form of a sword edge, tearing through space as it poured toward Adrian.
And perhaps this couldn’t be blocked.
Adrian quickly evaded the strike.
In other words, Ahimsa Yuda’s power still held superiority over Adrian.
…There was still a chance of victory.
At that very moment.
Boom!
Blake’s body lurched with the sound of a rubber ball bursting.
A beat later, merciless pain crashed over him.
Blake’s consciousness flickered and went dark.
When he regained awareness, his body was already flying through the air.
Only then could Blake understand.
…I’d been hit by something.
But when exactly…?
No—with what?
My pupils trembled.
My body froze.
My thoughts came to a halt.
Countless ideas flickered through my mind only to vanish like dust.
Crash! Crash!
Space-shattering impacts hammered my consciousness in succession.
A torrential downpour of strikes rained down faster than I could defend against them.
Screech!!
A pain as though my organs were twisting severed my awareness once more.
My body soared through the air again with a whoosh.
Again… I didn’t see it.
I saw nothing at all.
I couldn’t comprehend anything.
And so I had no idea how to respond anymore…
‘The power of oblivion—!’
I cut off the thought.
That wouldn’t work.
The power of oblivion doesn’t affect Adrian.
Adrian instead absorbs the power of oblivion and repurposes it as his own strength.
I don’t understand how that’s even possible.
Honestly, I still couldn’t believe it.
But I’d confirmed it clearly with my own eyes.
So I had to think of another method.
But then…
…what else do I have?
Even the power dwelling within Ahimsayuda could only hold its ground against Adrian.
But this… doesn’t make sense, does it?
Everything went wrong from this point onward.
…This couldn’t be happening.
My power was never meant to be this way.
It was a force that overwhelms opponents—not merely a force that endures.
So what is this strength he possesses…?
…It’s absurd.
It’s strange. It makes no sense. This shouldn’t be possible.
How could something ‘like that’ exist in this world?
Crash, crash, crash, crash!!
My body skipped across the ground like a stone on water, again and again, before slamming into the outer wall of some unnamed building.
Blake could now understand.
My power merely granted qualification.
Only the bare minimum qualification to fight Adrian. And qualification was merely qualification, nothing more.
Possessing the bare minimum qualification did not mean I could ever defeat Adrian.
Thud.
Blake came to this realization far too late.
* * *
My body was driven into the building’s outer wall.
Drenched in blood, I seemed to be barely holding on.
Thud.
Then I collapsed limply to the ground, utterly motionless.
I appeared dead.
But I was not dead.
Above all else, the absence of a notification confirming my defeat was irrefutable proof.
Yet I was merely alive.
I was in a state of complete combat incapacity.
Unconscious, as good as dead.
With all my power exhausted, there was no possibility of escape as there had been before.
“Haah…! Haah…!”
I released the tension and exhaled ragged breaths.
I desperately clung to my fragmenting consciousness.
“Ugh…!”
Sudden vertigo sent my body reeling.
My vision blurred and I nearly lost consciousness for a moment.
Hemolytic Torrent—a skill that forcibly metabolizes all bioenergetic resources within the body.
In other words, it was a skill that burned away all energy necessary for sustaining life.
The blood in my veins boiled like steam.
Every cell blazed as all tissue was set aflame.
Muscle fibers and nerves tore simultaneously, then regenerated, over and over.
Through this, I gained transcendent power—but.
“Kugh—!”
…my entire body felt as though it would tear apart.
The Ogre’s ability was certainly not sealed.
All the foundations of the Weak’s Contempt had already been shattered.
Therefore, the skill seal and the [-75%] stat reduction effect had all vanished.
Thus, my current stats were….
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] = The Surface’s Apex Predator.
[Level] = Level 121
[HP] = 352,500
[MP] = -2,160
[Sanity] = 3,797/ℵ0
[Attributes] = Strength: 5,364(+4,917) Agility: 2,616(+2,398) Endurance: 3,912(+3,586) Mana: -21.6(x-1.2)
[Experience] = 3.4%
It was beyond comprehension.
With my final attributes amplified by a [x12 multiplier], what else could I expect?
I was literally recording a temporary ‘transcendent state’.
And it was literally ‘temporary’.
Once the duration of Dragonblood Eruption[L] ended, these attributes would vanish.
Yet the power output from this transcendent state was something even the complete form of biological evolution couldn’t withstand.
If I hadn’t possessed the Ogre’s ability.
Or if it had been sealed.
My entire body would have been torn to shreds instantly.
Therefore, since the battle had ended, I wanted to stop Dragonblood Eruption[L], but….
◆Error: Combustible bioenergy remains.
◆Bioenergy remaining: 61.5%
◆Dragonblood Eruption[L] cannot be stopped until all bioenergy is depleted.
I couldn’t stop it of my own volition.
It would continue until every bioenergetic resource within my body was completely consumed through ‘forced metabolism’.
“Haah…!”
I forced myself to catch my breath and steadied my body.
And right then.
◆Calamity Quest, [Sorry, I Drew Aggro to Raid the Main Base] cleared!
The notification that the Calamity Quest had been cleared appeared.
This made sense—the clear condition for the Calamity Quest was to ‘suppress’ the disaster that had befallen Caravana.
With Blake subdued as the source of the calamity, the clear condition was achieved.
Which meant.
A flood of exaggerated messages was about to bombard me relentlessly.
◆Is this really happening?!?!?!
I braced myself mentally.
My condition was compromised by Dragonblood Eruption[L].
I couldn’t afford to lose focus to the messages’ theatrics.
‘Hm!’
The moment I swallowed my breath, the messages began their barrage.
◆Was that fight for real?!
◆It was a clash between the strongest beings in the entire world!
◆Wow, is that really you, you reckless fool?!
◆The scoundrel who used to harass women is now facing an absolute powerhouse head-on to protect them?!
…I wondered if this system had learned Dragonblood Eruption[L] as well.
I’m so moved that tears are streaming down my face!!
Every single fight strikes right at my heart!
As the past flashes before my eyes, it’s all so genuine!
My chest swells with such grandeur!!
…Wait, I hadn’t learned Dragon Blood Torrent[L].
I’d been hit by Dragon Blood Torrent[L].
And above all, Blake was recklessly destroying the city!
While you blocked it all, drenched in blood!
“Even if my body shatters and my mind tears to pieces, I will absolutely protect these people!!” And then you rise again in that moment!
…When did I ever say that?
I never said anything like that.
I’m getting all choked up!?
Only someone who’s known you from the very beginning could feel emotions like that!
…But you don’t know about my reckless days either, so what.
I only learned about Munggu after returning to the past.
In other words, Munggu never witnessed my reckless days.
But in my previous life, Munggu must have been with Ian, so he could have known about my time with the Allied Forces.
Thinking about how you’ve been watching over me all this time since the old days!
It seemed he was talking about having watched me since my time with the Allied Forces.
It’s truly so moving!!
I’m completely in tears!!
My heart is absolutely bursting!!
It’s incredibly sad!!
All those beautiful memories are coming back!!
…His excitement was reaching nearly delirious levels.
In any case, I had to acknowledge his enthusiasm.
Well, in any event.
◆You have obtained 3,560,000 Quest Experience!!
I barely managed to keep my composure and successfully obtained the Quest clear experience.
3.56 million—a substantial amount of experience.
But there was no level-up message.
The required experience was becoming increasingly insane as I progressed.
I could newly appreciate just how precious a massive amount of experience was as a reward.
Still, the reward for this disaster Quest wasn’t a massive amount of experience.
◆A new 【Perk】 has been unlocked!!
Perks.
In the general sense, a perk referred to a very, very ‘special benefit’ that couldn’t be obtained through official channels.
A prime example was the ‘Honored Saint’ that Isolde had given me, which qualified as a perk.
Extralegal rights that disregarded law and order.
Or perhaps, fraudulent benefits that violated the rules.
I called such things privileges—.
◆You have acquired the Special Perk Skill, Growth Acceleration Factor [EX].
…A Special Perk with a grade that was anything but ordinary.

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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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