The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 210

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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 210. Journey into the Forest (2)
I crunched through the Calcatus, spines and all, swallowing them whole.
At this extraordinary sight, Iliana’s body went rigid as stone.
And in the next moment.
My body stiffened just the same.
“Adrian…?”
Iliana called out to me cautiously.
But there was no response.
More precisely, I seemed incapable of responding.
Thud.
Suddenly, I collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Adrian!!”
Iliana gasped in shock and rushed toward me.
Up close, she could see the truth.
I wasn’t breathing.
My respiratory muscles had been completely paralyzed.
The culprit was the Calcatus’s neurotoxin.
The creature’s spines carried poison within them.
A neurotoxin that rigidified muscle tissue—its potency rivaled that of tetrodotoxin.
Even minute quantities could paralyze peripheral nerves, inducing respiratory failure, and in severe cases, cardiac arrest.
An antidote?
There was none.
Even if one existed, there was no time to synthesize it now.
‘What… what do I do…! How…!’
Fortunately, my heart still beat.
My consciousness remained intact.
Only my ability to breathe had been paralyzed.
But if breathing ceased, even that wouldn’t last long.
Therefore, there was only one solution.
‘I must supply oxygen!’
I had to forcibly deliver oxygen to the brain and vital organs.
A few breaths wouldn’t suffice.
I had to maintain it until the paralysis of my respiratory muscles lifted.
At minimum, thirty minutes.
At most, several hours.
Throughout that time, I had to sustain my breathing continuously.
Iliana drew upon her mana.
She refined oxygen and converted it into an air current, then injected it directly into my lungs through a magic circle.
The moment her mana made contact with me.
Crackle—!
Brilliant sparks erupted.
“…Huh? What…?”
An unexpected collision of mana.
No, this wasn’t a ‘collision’ at all….
“Mana rejection response?”
Iliana’s eyes wavered.
And then she could recall that Adrian’s body possessed a half-demon nature.
In other words, magic wouldn’t work.
Not magic, but physical means.
That is, she had to deliver oxygen directly.
And the only solution that came to Iliana’s mind was—.
Mouth to mouth.
Lip to lip.
Pressing them together and breathing directly into him—.
“Eek!”
Iliana covered her mouth with both hands.
Her mind was utterly in chaos.
Because she would have to press her lips against Adrian’s and match them together!
And not for mere seconds.
Not for mere minutes.
But for at least several tens of minutes, or perhaps even hours…!!
‘Whaaaaaat?!!’
Her heart within her chest began screaming with an impossible rhythm.
* * *
The central administrative district of Count Whitewolf’s Castle.
Within the Administrative Office, where the vibrant vista of Whitewolf Territory was visible beyond the window panes.
The firelight dancing in the hearth cast its warmth upon Seraphia’s silvery locks.
“Hmm.”
Seraphia sat at the desk in the Administrative Office, calmly reviewing documents.
“So the peanut wine is being bottled at the distillery and initially loaded at the transport center.”
The approval document for peanut wine that Adlern had requested.
Unlike his playful demeanor, the content of the approval document was entirely serious.
“Fermentation risk during ambient temperature transport? Ah, so that’s why he requested an Ether Carriage equipped with low-temperature mana-shielding capabilities.”
Seraphia nodded and moved her gaze to the next item.
[…Acceptance of the Greenleaf Trading Company’s request for smooth supply of raw materials….]
“I see.”
[…Price adjustments will be determined through consultation after Adrian returns….]
Seraphia set down the document she had been reading.
Adrian, who had departed Whitewolf Territory alongside the guild master of the Greenleaf Trading Company.
“I wish I could have gone with him.”
My travels with Adrian.
Though it wasn’t really a vacation.
I wasn’t going for leisure.
As the approval document stated, I was going to help the Greenleaf Trading Company.
To ensure a steady supply of raw materials needed for peanut wine.
Not that I didn’t understand that—
“I wanted to travel with my brother again.”
…But regret was regret, regardless.
Seraphia had grown considerably closer to Adrian during the journey to the Capital.
Surely this expedition would have brought us even closer—
“There’s simply too much work to do.”
With the recent influx of settlers, I couldn’t possibly leave my post.
In Adrian’s words—
“Too much work is Crawlgar?”
Something like that.
Regardless.
“You said you’re heading to the Southern Region.”
And there, with Iliana, you’ll have a ‘special experience’….
“What kind of experience, I wonder.”
Whatever it was, anything involving Adrian felt wonderful.
It would be incredibly precious,
And such a thrilling experience, no matter what.
“It’s not like… that, right…?”
A stray thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Seraphia’s cheeks flushed a deep crimson.
“No, it wouldn’t be! Of course not! Absolutely not!”
Yet her imagination continued spiraling in increasingly inappropriate directions.
The southern sun, a gentle breeze.
A crackling campfire. Time for just the two of them.
Eyes meeting by chance.
Then fingertips brushing together, almost unconsciously.
Iliana pulling away with an apologetic murmur.
Adrian hesitating for a moment before gently grasping her hand.
Iliana’s face reddening, yet she doesn’t resist.
The distance between them narrowing gradually, steadily, between the dancing flames—
“No, I can’t!!”
Seraphia shook her head vigorously, forcing the thoughts away.
Yet the imagination refused to stop.
Instead, it grew ever more vivid, until—
“Stop it! No more! That’s far enough!!”
But in Seraphia’s mind, Iliana and Adrian were slowly leaning toward each other.
* * *
In truth.
The situation wasn’t nearly as dire as it appeared.
I was indeed poisoned by Calcatus’s neurotoxin.
But I simply couldn’t breathe.
With Nutrient Synthesis [B], I could synthesize oxygen.
Had my caloric reserves been depleted, that would be another matter.
But my Ultra-Condensed Adipose Tissue [U] provided more than sufficient calories.
In other words, my body was receiving ample oxygen.
Iliana simply didn’t know that.
…Well, regardless.
‘I was far too careless.’
It was true that I hadn’t considered the toxin’s nature.
And it was fortunate that it was merely a neurotoxin that paralyzed the respiratory muscles.
Had it been hemotoxic, cumulative,
or non-degradable?
‘That would have been catastrophic.’
Regeneration [B+] could heal wounds, but it couldn’t purge toxins.
Moreover, my insensitivity to pain made me far more vulnerable to viruses and toxins.
Skin torn without sensation.
Blood vessels exposed through severed limbs.
It was practically rolling out a welcome mat for viruses and toxins.
Especially—it was the perfect condition for direct bloodstream infection.
‘Until now, there hadn’t been any real problems.’
The Northern Region had no venomous creatures.
Surviving in the cold left no evolutionary energy for developing toxins.
Using that energy to maintain body heat was far more advantageous for survival.
But the Southern Region was different.
‘If I’d acquired the Ogre’s abilities, this wouldn’t be an issue.’
The Ogre’s Enhanced Immune System [B-].
But unfortunately,
it was an ability I hadn’t obtained, along with the Organ Replication System [A].
Quite regrettable, but… it was manageable.
Now, while The Emperor hadn’t yet begun his full-scale activities.
Most rare monsters related to immunity still remained in the wild.
And so, at this moment.
A waterside shrouded in thick mist.
Rotting aquatic plants and mud tangled together, even sunlight pressed down damply here.
The Swampland.
Decayed branches floated across the water’s surface.
Even moss could not take root on the putrid shoreline.
From the black, viscous sludge teeming with bacteria and pathogens, bubbles rose alongside a nauseating stench.
A corrupted land where merely breathing its air felt like inviting infection.
Beneath the murky waters—as if bacteria itself had liquefied and pooled—something lay submerged.
It remained utterly motionless.
It resembled nothing more than a stone or a rotting branch.
In this corrupted wasteland, especially within those fetid waters, I could scarcely believe any living creature could exist.
Yet my senses—akin to ESP itself—insisted that it was alive.
The moment I activated my Predator’s Instinct [S], information materialized before my eyes.
==【Entity Information】==
Entity: Crocodilo
Classification: Monster-class, Dual-lunged Reptilia, Crocodilian
Gender: Male
Age: 21 years
Distinctive Trait: Omnidirectional Hyperimmunity [B+]
Crocodilo.
A mutated monster born from a crocodile.
An individual that had evolved around the crocodile’s exceptional “immunity” as its central pillar.
◆Omnidirectional Hyperimmunity [B+]
: Upon acquiring this skill, your immune cells undergo rapid proliferation, distributing extensively across [skin, mucous membranes, lymphatic system, and bodily fluids in their entirety].
Through this, you acquire [Immune Status] against [external pathogens, toxins, infections, poisoning] and other status abnormalities of [skill grade B+] or lower, and can utilize [Cytokine Rampage].
【This skill, when acquired as a passive, applies permanently.】
A passive skill granting immunity to all disease.
Its grade surpassed even the Ogre’s Enhanced Immune System [B-], which was called the perfect form of biological evolution.
‘So the Southern Region truly is the Southern Region.’
The Continent’s south, where countless lives intertwined and evolved.
While the north evolved in the direction of “environmental survival” through cold, the south evolved through “survival competition”—where creatures devoured one another.
Poisonous plants.
Fungi that induced infection.
Blood-sucking insects and the like.
Only individuals that consumed such threats and survived could pass their genes to the next generation.
Thus, across tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years.
Omnidirectional Hyperimmunity [B+]—the culmination of countless eons of evolution.
‘No wonder it could survive submerged in that corrupted water.’
It was truly the ultimate fruit of biological evolution.
◆You have defeated Crocodilo!
◆You have acquired 38,000 combat experience points!
◆3 Sanity points have accumulated.
* * *
After days of hunting Corcodilo, I had finally obtained Broad-Spectrum Immune Enhancement [B+] in its entirety.
Thanks to this, I could fully acquire the broad-spectrum immunity.
However, there was one disappointing limitation—
‘There’s a grade restriction.’
I was immune only to pathogens and toxins of [B+] grade and below.
Anything [A-] grade and above offered no immunity.
But this wasn’t a major problem.
From [A-] grade onward, those pathogens belonged to the dragon’s domain—a threshold beyond what nature itself permitted.
‘Since nature doesn’t produce pathogens of [A-] grade or higher.’
I was effectively immune to every natural disease.
However, pathogens that don’t exist in nature—
For instance, artificially synthesized toxins or engineered pathogens—
Those of [A-] grade and above could certainly exist.
‘The Emperor had created them before.’
But even that wasn’t a major problem.
To be precise, the ‘special skill’ of Broad-Spectrum Immune Enhancement [B+] handled it without issue.
◆Cytokine Storm
: When this skill is activated, it consumes 10,000 Kcal to operate the immune response at [maximum output]. By [forcibly eliminating all cells], it removes [all buffs and debuffs] applied to the player.
During skill activation, the player takes damage equal to [5% of current HP] every second.
Cytokine Storm—it doesn’t distinguish between normal cells and pathogens.
In simpler terms, my immune system classifies all my cells as ‘suspected infection targets’ and then incinerates them wholesale.
Since normal cells are incinerated alongside the pathogens, ‘buff’ effects are also removed.
And while there’s a massive side effect of losing 5% HP every second—
‘I can recover through regeneration.’
Therefore, I was now completely immune to any infection, disease, or curse whatsoever.
The Ultimate Lifeform.
I had taken one step closer to the apex of all living beings.
* * *
Allerion, the guild master of the Greenleaf Trading Company.
Allerion glanced back over his shoulder.
Adrian and Iliana were quietly following behind him.
However—
My danger-sensing instinct remained silent.
Even as I guided these two ‘humans’ into Sylvandir Forest, it refused to issue any warnings.
In fact, it was the opposite.
Whenever I considered sending Adrian back—
Only then did my danger-sensing instinct issue a powerful warning.
As if not guiding Adrian would be the greater danger.
‘So the title “Saint of Caravana” isn’t a lie, then.’
At the very least, he didn’t seem to be a human who would bring harm to the elves.
But thinking about how he chewed through Kalkatus with its spines intact?
Allerion touched the back of his neck, a chill running down his spine.
It felt as though invisible spines from Kalkatus were piercing his throat.
‘What kind of person is he, really.’
Wait—was he even human to begin with?
What race had such dining habits?
Kalkatus was a monster.
And monsters were not meant to be eaten.
It was basic common sense.
Only monsters could consume other monsters.
Which meant Adrian was a monster.
…Did that even make sense?
‘I’ve heard he developed monster meat as food.’
But even so, this was extreme.
He’d even been poisoned while eating it.
If not for that woman Iliana’s emergency treatment, he would have—
Adrian would have been—by now.
At that moment.
A chill brushed across the back of my neck.
…My danger sense was activating.
My danger sense was screaming a powerful warning.
And at the same time—
Adrian grabbed Allerion by the back of his neck and yanked him backward.
* * *
My current senses were no different from ESP.
In other words, by hyperactivating my sensory nerves, I could pierce through terrain and locate my opponent’s position.
The reason this was possible was the Ogre’s ability: Hypersensory Motor Control [A-].
But I wasn’t relying solely on Hypersensory Motor Control [A-].
Therefore, the unpleasant vibration that didn’t harmonize with the forest’s sounds.
Something was approaching us.
And at tremendous speed.
‘Where is it?’
Hypersensory Motor Control [A-] couldn’t pinpoint its location.
But my senses were registering it clearly nonetheless.
‘This is…’
Vibration Detection [B-].
In other words, underground.
I grabbed Allerion by the back of his neck and pulled him back.
I wrapped my arm around Iliana’s waist and dragged her with me.
“Whoa!”
“Kyah!?”
Allerion and Iliana were dragged along, each crying out in alarm.
I tucked them both under my arms and drove myself into the ground.
In that instant.
KABOOOOOM!!
A massive explosion tore the earth where we’d been standing to shreds.

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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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