The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 191

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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 191. Searching in Darkness (1)
The words of Elowin, the Deputy Director, who classified Whitewolf Territory as a danger level of 10 or higher.
The danger level classification was a systematized index created by the Empire’s Information Bureau to categorize potential threats and establish response strategies.
Combat prowess exerted the greatest influence on the measurement criteria.
However, combat ability alone did not determine everything.
Growth potential. Influence.
The scale of one’s followers, and so forth.
Danger levels were measured by considering multiple complex factors.
Thus, individuals with no fundamental ability or minimal influence were classified as levels 1 to 2.
Most citizens and non-combatant classes fell into this category.
From level 3 onward were beings who possessed a certain degree of combat prowess or potential.
They were not considered major threats, but were judged to have the possibility of acting as variables under specific conditions.
Beyond that, as the level increased, danger escalated exponentially.
Thus, level 10 was deemed the Information Bureau’s limit of measurable capacity.
Such level 10 was granted only to legendary figures recorded in history or to certain phenomena.
And to classify something as danger level 10 ‘or higher’.
This was a classification that referred to something the Information Bureau explicitly marked as ‘incalculable’.
It could be a person, or a place.
Or it could be a phenomenon.
Regardless, because danger could not be quantified within the existing system, it was classified as ‘Irregular’.
Accordingly, ‘Exceed’ classifications from level 11 to 14 were established, and to date, only 6 cases have been assigned this classification.
Most notably, the Great Sage who made mana usable thousands of years ago.
The first mage, Arcanis Rilsein.
He first recreated the phenomenon of magic and transformed the Continent’s paradigm, and the Information Bureau recorded him as danger level 12.
In other words, to receive an Exceed classification, one had to be capable of overturning the order and civilization of the entire Continent.
This was why only 6 cases had received the Exceed classification.
Yet now they were proposing to place Whitewolf Territory on that seventh list?
Of course, it had not yet been added to the seventh list.
But the mere fact of conducting an investigation under that assumption was sufficiently unprecedented.
“Which Special Operations Bureau agents are currently available for deployment?”
The Aide swallowed hard.
Mobilizing the Special Operations Bureau meant, in other words, that ‘that presence from afar’ was taking notice of the matter.
“M-most of them are occupied handling matters related to ‘that one’, so available personnel are limited.”
“Surely not all of them have been deployed?”
“That is true, but we are also managing the aftermath of the Caravana incident….”
“What about Marzen?”
“He is currently undertaking an investigation in the Valley of Kardun. It is expected to require at least 100 days before his return.”
“What about Rocel Denain?”
“He is deployed in the sealed zone of Igarem Kingdom.”
“What about Kalam Hiod?”
“I was dispatched to the Eastern Mountains to investigate the aberrant creature.”
“An aberrant creature?”
“Based on the intelligence gathered thus far… we’ve determined there’s a high probability it’s a dragon.”
Elowin’s eyes grew cold and distant.
* * *
After concluding my conversation with Marzen.
I made my way toward a secluded alleyway.
“Phew…!”
…I was far more exhausted than I’d anticipated.
Even though Marzen had submitted to me, he was no pushover.
Maintaining constant vigilance over every word and expression had drained me mentally far more than expected.
And even accounting for that, I was deeply fatigued.
The side effects of Predator had fully recovered, yet exhaustion seeped from the depths of my body.
Somehow, my condition felt different from before.
I steadied my breathing and checked my 「Player Information」.
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] = The Continent’s Mightiest Predator
[Level] = 163
[HP] = 33,100
[MP] = -2,160
[Sanity] = 583/ℵ0
[Stats] = Strength: 394 Agility: 221(+29) Endurance: 319(+42) Mana: -21.6(x-1.2)
[Experience] = 88.9%
【Additional Stats +42】
The first thing that caught my eye was the remarkable +42 additional stat points.
In other words, I’d leveled up 42 times.
It was the result of my privilege skill, Growth Accelerant [EX], combined with automatically cleared Quests stacking together.
And then there was…
‘As expected, my base stats have decreased.’
Irreversible physiological damage to my nervous system, musculoskeletal system, endocrine system, and cardiovascular system.
In other words, the side effects of Dragon Blood Torrent had permanently reduced my Strength, Agility, and Endurance by 12% across the board.
Still, the reduced stats could be raised again through physical training.
‘At least my mana didn’t decrease.’
Mana could only be increased through leveling up stat points.
Loss of mana meant loss of ‘levels’.
It was equivalent to losing accumulated experience.
Fortunately, since mana received no amplification effects whatsoever, it also received no reduction effects.
‘I nearly wasted all those level-ups.’
…It was truly a blessing beyond measure.
I exhaled in relief and invested all +42 additional stat points into mana.
Thus, my mana stat reached 72.
My semi-mana value stood at 7,200—still insufficient to use against a Lord.
However, I had reached a level where I could neutralize anything below Master rank in a single stroke.
And I had even grown to a point where I could create meaningful variables against Legion Commanders.
‘I’m definitely on the right trajectory now.’
My growth curve was steeper than in my previous life—a different dimension entirely.
I dismissed the 「Player Information」.
And to gather my wits as well.
I chewed over the information I’d extracted from Marzen.
‘So the attack on Caravana had nothing to do with The Empire.’
As expected, it was Blake’s unilateral scheme.
But that didn’t mean The Empire wasn’t involved at all.
‘The Empire is protecting Blake.’
Unfortunately, pinpointing Blake’s location right now was difficult.
The most realistic approach was to place Marzen in a higher position, then extract information from him.
It wouldn’t be easy.
But the Special Operations Bureau had moved unintentionally.
Therefore, if I pulled off this runesteel transaction successfully, I might be able to push Marzen all the way beyond the walls of the Imperial Palace.
‘Things are going better than I expected.’
My plans were progressing faster than my predictions.
A very positive sign.
Yet on the other hand, there was one regrettable aspect.
Namely, the reason I had to let Blake slip away.
‘The Forgotten One, they said.’
The Forgotten One.
That’s what the System had indicated.
Of course, the System was occasionally—.
◆I sense the aura of Clear from all directions…!!
…No, though it hasn’t been in its right mind lately, it doesn’t lie.
The Forgotten One.
I had no memory of it.
But the very word “forgotten” suggested a high probability that it was a Legion Commander of Darkness.
‘It was strong.’
Befitting a Legion Commander of Darkness.
Even stronger than Memoria.
I could tell just from the combat experience.
Excluding the special skill and the amplification ratio of the growth accelerant [EX], it had 790,000 experience points.
Memoria had 540,000.
The difference in experience was stark.
Of course, experience level wasn’t necessarily an indicator of strength.
But based on direct combat experience—
‘It was similar to Crawlgar.’
Crawlgar, the Legion Commander of the Abyss I’d encountered in Violess.
Though in an incomplete state, Crawlgar had been powerful enough to obliterate Violess, and the Forgotten One possessed combat prowess equal to that of Crawlgar.
Truly befitting a Legion Commander of Darkness—
‘But stronger than Blake.’
The problem was that it was stronger than Blake, the Darkness Lord himself.
Of course, the Darkness Lord was a being that was ‘created’.
Therefore, its current combat strength could be inferior.
But a Lord weaker than a Legion Commander?
And one called the mightiest of Lords at that?
An anomaly beyond anomalies, surpassing even the Frost Lord.
The Emperor’s greatest trump card, against which even Ian couldn’t resist?
…Something was fundamentally wrong.
The possibilities that could explain this narrowed down to several.
The first among them.
‘What if I’ve been believing false information from the start….’
The possibility that the Darkness Lord never existed in the first place.
‘…No, that’s not it.’
But this possibility was extremely low.
The authority of Oblivion, which erases memories and information, was real, and the Darkness Lord’s existence was equally concrete.
Only the fact that a Legion Commander was stronger than a Lord was strange.
Thus, the second possibility that followed.
‘What if the Forgotten One isn’t the Legion Commander of Darkness?’
In other words, the possibility that the Forgotten One is a ‘Deathknight’.
A rumor spreading across the Continent, a hypothesis many believed in…but.
‘This also seems unreasonable.’
Because the Forgotten One was far too strong.
Of course, a Deathknight is a top-tier undead.
It’s true they possess strength called catastrophic, transcending mere disaster.
But not enough to stand against me in a Dragon Blood Torrent state.
Such a Deathknight doesn’t exist in my memory, nor in history.
Thus, the third possibility that emerges.
‘What if the Death Lord intervened?’
A Deathknight touched by the Death Lord.
Then its combat strength would far exceed what it possessed in life—
‘…No, that’s not it.’
Because the Death Lord is currently sealed in the Valley of Kardun.
The Valley of Kardun.
An ancient valley where darkness and curses lay thickest.
According to the information I’d gleaned from Iratum back in Violess, The Emperor still hadn’t found the Valley of Kardun.
Of course, considerable time had passed since Violess.
By now, there was a possibility The Emperor had discovered the Valley of Kardun.
‘…No, that’s not it.’
The Valley of Kardun couldn’t be found in its current state.
Its very location existed within a ‘probabilistic domain.’
A sealed territory that didn’t exist anywhere on The Continent until specific conditions were met.
What Iratum had been investigating was merely decoding and materializing those ‘specific conditions.’
In other words, The Emperor couldn’t find the Valley of Kardun right now.
Therefore, the possibility of The Forgotten One being a Death Knight and commander of the Death Legion was ruled out.
So the fourth possibility that followed was—.
‘The Abyss Lord.’
The evidence for this was that I couldn’t see information even with Predator’s Instinct [S].
And what can’t be grasped by Predator’s Instinct [S] are only beings that don’t belong to this world.
This meant the avatar controlled by The Abyss Lord—Vicarious.
There was a possibility it was Vicarious, whose identity I couldn’t discern even in my past life—.
‘…But that’s not it either.’
This too was unreasonable.
Because I’d devoured Avarus and Crawlgar with Predation [S+], allowing me to read information about the Dark Dimension to some extent.
Therefore, considering all these possibilities.
‘It must be The Darkness Lord after all.’
But to call it a commander of The Darkness Lord’s legion—?
That too was unreasonable.
It was far too powerful for a legion commander.
‘Come to think of it, Leon said something about that.’
Leon’s present-time vision [L] when he sensed Blake in the Capital.
At the time, Leon had said—.
-Blake was Blake. But to my eyes, it seemed as though something entirely different was borrowing his body to exist.
-….
-Like a puppet acting out the role of Blake… is how I’d describe it.
-A puppet?
-Yes. It seemed as though he was consciously acting out the role of Blake.
Based on Leon’s testimony—.
The Forgotten One had awakened within Blake’s body.
The Darkness Lord was a ‘created being.’
Synthesizing all these matters—.
‘Is it some authority Blake hasn’t yet absorbed?’
A fragment of authority not yet integrated.
In other words, when Blake faced the crisis of death during the process of becoming The Darkness Lord, the fragment of authority separated and stood against me.
‘This means….’
I could finally comprehend The Forgotten One’s strength.
It was a fragment of power that had broken away from the mightiest of lords.
Moreover, it explained why The Forgotten One had awakened within Blake’s body.
‘I’m not entirely certain yet….’
But if everything were true?
‘Blake would have suffered a permanent loss.’
The Forgotten One, a fragment of power, had been annihilated in my grasp.
Experience points had even flowed in.
In other words, it was a definitive destruction.
With this, Blake could never grow into a complete Darkness Lord.
At minimum, growth to the level of his previous life had become impossible—
‘There won’t be anything more.’
…When we meet again next time, it will be Blake’s end.
* * *
Deputy Director Elowin, her gaze turned glacial and composed.
She remained silent for some time.
There was no suitable intelligence source for investigating Whitewolf Territory.
Even a simple investigation had been assigned a danger level of 10 or higher, making it impossible to dispatch ordinary operatives.
If they were captured?
Imperial secrets could be revealed.
There was a risk that the Empire’s strategies and internal confidential information would be exposed in return.
This was why Elowin’s concerns deepened inevitably.
And it was also why the Aide cautiously opened his mouth, gauging Elowin’s expression.
“If I may be so bold, would it be acceptable if I recommended someone?”
“…Who?”
“An individual who graduated top of this training class—”
The Aide set a document on the desk.
==[SPECIAL TRAINING PROJECT REPORT]==
[Name]: Kalek Veloan
[Grade]: 7th Grade
[Characteristics]: Ranked 1st across all fields—combat, infiltration, penetration
[Remarks]: Priority assignment target for Special Operations Bureau
The Special Training Project.
A classified operation that abducted and kidnapped talented children from across The Continent, then created special operatives through drugs, brainwashing, and magical enhancement from infancy.
After surviving over a decade of such training, operatives typically reached 5th Grade.
Even by top-of-class standards, they rarely exceeded 6th Grade—
“…7th Grade? A graduate?”
Of course, he fell short of the qualifications for the Special Operations Bureau.
But that was only because the Special Operations Bureau was a gathering place of monsters.
According to the Information Bureau’s standards, Grade 7 operatives were classified as elite agents.
“That is correct. In the mock combat evaluation, they reportedly held the advantage even against two of our Information Bureau operatives.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Elowin’s eyes flickered with a momentary gleam of interest.
* * *
As I collected myself and organized my thoughts.
My footsteps had somehow already carried me to City Hall.
The plaza in front of the building was still teeming with people.
“No, I’m telling you, I just came to deliver a gift and leave!”
“Hey, get in line! We were here first!”
“Just one word! If I could hear the Young Lord’s voice even once, I could die without regret…!”
All of that chaotic throng had gathered to meet me.
It was because of the rumors the Empire had spread to redirect people’s attention and interest toward me.
The Saint of Caravana.
That was what people now called me.
I heard that even the Holy Kingdom had acknowledged that title—.
‘So that’s why.’
The scripture had been causing such a commotion since earlier—.
◆What?! A commotion?!
◆You don’t even remember how you pulled off that con?!
—that was the reason.
Well, regardless.
“Why are you all doing this….”
“Why don’t you just go to Whitewolf Territory instead of staying here….”
The City Hall staff were pleading as if they might weep.
But the people wouldn’t budge an inch.
“You’re telling us to go to Whitewolf Territory right now?!”
Instead, a cry erupted from among the crowd.
“Do you know what happened to everyone who went there?!”
“That’s right! If you go to Whitewolf Territory now, there’s no guarantee you’ll come back alive!”
…What did you say?
My mind snapped to attention in an instant.
It seemed something had happened in the Territory….
‘Could the Empire have already moved?’
Unease crept through me, creeping and spreading.
Of course, the Territory currently had the heroes of the Allied Forces.
So it should have been something I could overlook—.
‘The Special Operations Bureau has made its move.’
No matter how heroic they were, facing the Special Operations Bureau was difficult.
It wasn’t a matter of raw power—it was a difference in methodology.
The Empire’s Special Operations Bureau specialized in infiltration, manipulation, disruption, and assassination.
Above all, the Special Operations Bureau was a direct agency of The Emperor.
In other words, there was a possibility that The Emperor himself had taken direct action.
The combined forces of the heroes and Whitewolf Territory alone… would struggle to respond.
‘Damn it.’
A chill ran through me.
This was no time to hesitate.
◆Combination Skill ‘Metabolic Overdrive [U]’ activated!
◆Calorie Consumption – 332,000Kcal
◆For [3,320 seconds], all of the player’s stats increase by [+332%]!
I bolted from Caravana at full speed, heading toward Whitewolf Territory.

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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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