The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 215

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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 215. The Death Lord
Six lords who served The Emperor.
The Death Lord.
The Allied Forces referred to The Death Lord by another name: [Event Collapse].
Event Collapse.
Here, “event” meant “information.”
The moment one crossed the boundary of death.
All information of existence was lost.
The vanishing point of existential definition—where nothing could ever be named again.
Death.
Yet something felt amiss.
No, a question arose.
“Can a spirit of death even exist?”
Spirits were beings born from human imagination.
A spirit of death was no different.
But death cannot be experienced.
There is no such thing as a life that has died.
One could only observe something dead and indirectly think, “So that is death.”
No living being has ever experienced death.
And.
Humans cannot imagine what they have not experienced.
“Isn’t a spirit of death a contradiction in existence itself?”
Iliana, as always.
She pierced straight to the heart of the matter.
“As you say, a spirit of death cannot exist.”
One could see this from the fact that no god of death existed among the divine arts deities.
There was only the “god of the Underworld.”
A god who guided the souls of the dead and maintained the order of the departed.
Not a god who commanded death itself.
Because humans who had not experienced death could not imagine it, they ultimately only established a god in the Underworld—the place where death dwells.
But.
“This place, Sylvandir Forest, can imagine death.”
“What? The forest can imagine death?”
Iliana tilted her head in confusion.
A concept still foreign to her.
Even with such a cheat-like insight, one cannot know what one has not experienced.
“This place is unlike an ordinary forest.”
Nature breathing with life—the totality of all living things.
Nature itself.
And death was part of nature.
“Nature is the only conscious entity capable of imagining death without having experienced it.”
“How is that even possible?”
Iliana tilted her head in confusion, asking the question.
“Even if we call it the will of nature, it’s not an intelligent being that thinks or possesses consciousness like humans do.”
“That’s true as well.”
“But then how can nature observe and imagine death?”
I had no words to explain this.
Sorcery is the power of imagination that defies the laws of reality.
Spirits themselves are products of collective belief from the very beginning.
“More importantly, everything was fine until now—so why is this happening all of a sudden?”
…That was a question I shared.
Death is part of nature.
In other words, it has always existed alongside nature.
So why has nature, which remained undisturbed until now, only now begun to perceive death?
There were several possibilities.
The most likely among them was undoubtedly the Emperor’s intervention.
‘But this flow is far too different from my past life.’
In my past life, the spirit of death.
In other words, the Death Lord emerged approximately nine years from now.
Around the time all the kingdoms and cities of the Continent vanished from the maps, the Death Lord revealed itself.
And it accelerated the Emperor’s indiscriminate slaughter in earnest.
As if it despised life itself.
Every living creature on this Continent—animals, plants, insects, vermin—was annihilated.
Thus the Continent transformed into a land of death where no life could be found.
The Allied Forces starved and gradually fell into ruin.
The food shortage was a problem even I couldn’t solve.
The one who solved that problem was the hero of the Allied Forces, the Spirit Summoner.
The Spirit Summoner breathed vitality and vigor into the Continent in opposition to the Death Lord.
Afterward, becoming the commander of Supply Command, they freed the Allied Forces entirely from food and supply concerns.
These are events that occur approximately nine years later.
But the Death Lord has awakened now?
The timeline was different from my past life—far too accelerated.
Perhaps that’s why.
‘It hasn’t fully awakened yet.’
The Death Lord had not fully awakened.
If it had, Sylvandir Forest should have already vanished long ago.
The Elves should have been annihilated long ago as well.
A lord of another tier entirely.
The Death Lord is beyond even my capacity to handle.
Throughout my entire past life, there was only one who could stand against a lord.
Only Ian could do it.
Therefore, I had to stop it at all costs.
The awakening of the Death Lord—I had to prevent it by any means necessary.
And perhaps that method lay at the destination of the hidden chain quest.
==[The Death Lord is loading]==
[Objective] – Investigate Valley of Kardun
[Reward] – ※Error※
[Failure] – ※Error※
It seemed to exist in Valley of Kardun.
* * *
Valley of Kardun.
An ancient valley where darkness and curse lay thickest, the sealed land where the Death Lord was imprisoned.
Yet it was not a place that could be found.
Because its very location existed within a ‘probabilistic domain’.
A sealed territory that existed nowhere on the Continent until certain conditions were met.
What Iratum had been investigating was merely decoding and materializing those ‘specific conditions’.
And the contents of those specific conditions were as follows.
====
1. Valley of Kardun orbits nature like a satellite circling it.
2. Valley of Kardun possesses no fixed location, and exists with the potential to manifest wherever nature exists.
3. Valley of Kardun maintains a fixed position only when observed.
4. However, Valley of Kardun cannot be observed.
※Physical approach is impossible.
※Entry possible only through perceptual shift (how?)
====
…I had no idea what any of this meant.
I simply couldn’t comprehend it.
So I’d been ignoring it until now.
“Would you take a look at this?”
I showed Iliana the relevant information.
Iliana studied the content carefully, then offered an answer immediately.
“Are you saying this entire space called Valley of Kardun exhibits quantum properties?”
…Now she was speaking in riddles too.
“But quantum properties are only possible at the microscopic scale, aren’t they? How could they be extended to the macroscopic level?”
“Is there a way to find it?”
“This place called Valley of Kardun?”
“Yes.”
“Well…, if you look here first.”
Iliana pointed with her finger at the third item.
“It states that Valley of Kardun maintains a fixed position only when observed. Therefore, we must first conduct observation.”
Iliana pointed to item number four this time.
“The thing is, Valley of Kardun shows up as unobservable.”
“Then we can’t find it?”
“On the surface, it seems that way….”
Iliana fell into deep thought before asking.
“Could the person who wrote this have been a mage scholar?”
“That’s not the case.”
Iratum was The Worshipper chosen.
He was the commander of the Abyss Legion, wielding the power of the Dark Dimension—laws foreign to this Continent.
“Then was he someone with exceptional magical knowledge like Adrian?”
“That’s not it either.”
Of course, I myself wasn’t particularly knowledgeable in magical theory.
“Then perhaps the concept of observation here might be flawed.”
Iliana nodded once and continued.
“Usually, when we say observation, we think of the act of seeing with our eyes.”
“Isn’t that what it means?”
“In magical theory, observation carries a slightly different meaning.”
“How so?”
“Any method of obtaining information is considered observation.”
“…?”
“For example, even interaction with the surrounding environment counts as observation.”
“…??”
“Simply put, even if we don’t see something with our eyes, if air or light perceives it first, that also constitutes observation.”
It was anything but simple.
I couldn’t understand a single word of it.
Did Iliana really think that was easy to explain?
“So even if I don’t personally look inside a box with a cat, I can know whether the cat is dead or alive.”
“….”
“That level of observation where quantum properties collapse—we call that ‘quantum entanglement.'”
And with that, Iliana continued her explanation.
I truly understood none of it.
Fortunately for me.
My comprehension didn’t really matter.
“But there is one method that comes to mind based on this.”
True to form, Iliana.
She wasn’t called the hero of the Allied Forces, the [Wizard of Truth], for nothing.
“Based on Adrian’s explanation, if I form a hypothesis, it seems that Sylvandir Forest here is currently in a state of quantum entanglement with Valley of Kardun.”
“…?”
“It’s like the cat in the box.”
“…??”
“It’s easier to understand if you think of it as spaces of life and death overlapping,” Iliana explained.
Nothing about it was easy to understand.
Rather than understanding, my confusion only deepened.
Does Iliana actually find this easy to grasp?
But fortunately for me.
My understanding wasn’t particularly important this time.
“Therefore, if you become unobservable, it should be possible to enter Valley of Kardun.”
“…?”
“You need to maintain consciousness while becoming unmeasurable by the world itself.”
“…??”
“A state where you’re undetected by anything—air, light, nothing can perceive you.”
“…???”
“Simply put, you become a state of existing while not existing.”
That was anything but simple.
Yet this time, I grasped it somewhat.
Borrowing Ian’s words from my past life—
“You mean I need to create a paradox, like hot ice cream or cooked raw fish?”
“Oh! Exactly!”
Iliana clapped her hands together and exclaimed.
She gazed at me with those large eyes as if I were a genius.
In any case.
‘So that’s why.’
Now I finally understood.
Why Ian had done such a thing in my past life.
Back then, I’d thought him not merely absurd but utterly mad.
And for good reason—the method Ian employed to become hot ice cream was—
“What if you generated a black hole?”
An event horizon.
Crossing beyond it.
“Wh-wh-what?!?!”
Iliana shrieked in shock, nearly fainting.
Understandably so.
A black hole is a powerful spacetime singularity.
Beyond the boundary from which even light cannot escape lies a realm of mystery unobservable by any means.
“That’s impossible!!”
Creating a black hole artificially was in the realm of the impossible.
“Generating a black hole requires gravitational collapse on a celestial scale! Even destroying the entire Continent would barely suffice!”
I knew that.
Though I didn’t know it properly.
But I’d faced the same problem in my past life.
And Iliana had provided an answer to match.
“We’re not actually trying to create a real black hole.”
What had Iliana said back then?
-We should be able to artificially induce a controlled phase collapse, creating an observation-blocking state similar to a black hole.
“Ah…?!”
Iliana’s eyes widened as if she’d grasped something.
To my eyes, it looked like I was conversing with a future version of Iliana, but regardless.
“B-but still! That would require an enormous amount of energy!”
Iliana cried out, collecting her thoughts.
“Inducing phase collapse requires far more energy than the Arcanoheart!”
This was the same problem I’d faced in my previous life.
And it was a problem Ian had solved.
By shattering spacetime itself with absurd power.
It was truly absurd power.
The Radiant Dragon’s Wrath[L]?
Not even close.
Now it was potent enough to inflict fatal wounds even on a Lord, but it simply wouldn’t suffice.
I needed power so overwhelming it could shatter the very laws of spacetime itself.
Therefore, only one thing could accomplish it.
This alone.
Crackle—!
Anti-Mana.
The power to negate, invert, or deny mana.
And through mana and anti-mana colliding with each other—.
“C-could it be through pair annihilation…?!”
Pair Annihilation.
It was an energy equivalent to one thousand times that of mana nuclear fusion.
“Can you assist me?”
Iliana’s blue eyes transcended shock and filled with dread.
* * *
Iliana swallowed hard.
And for good reason—an artificial black hole!
Of course, it wasn’t a true black hole.
But it would be an unobservable space nonetheless.
“W-when the pair annihilation reaction occurs….”
Iliana’s voice trembled involuntarily.
“I-I’ll channel the energy to a single point.”
As that energy concentrates, spacetime begins to tear.
And through that, all reference points collapse.
Direction, distance, mass, time, and so forth.
The laws that govern the world itself were being nullified.
“So I should leap inside when it ruptures?”
“Yes. While enduring the energy that erupts.”
That was why Iliana could not go.
Only Adrian.
He alone was meant to venture into the realm beyond observation.
“The spacetime collapse won’t last long.”
“How long, precisely?”
“Approximately 0.4 to 0.5 seconds.”
“Tighter than I anticipated.”
“I can’t sustain it for long, and if I do, the backlash will be catastrophic.”
Iliana continued, her face taut with tension.
“When you’re ready, please let me know.”
“I am ready.”
Iliana carefully drew forth her mana.
A shimmering azure light danced at her fingertips.
The concentrated mana trembled delicately.
“Then… I’m going!”
Iliana released her mana slowly.
As Adrian reached out in response—
Crack!
A violent spark erupted in the empty air.
Mana and antimana collided and annihilated each other.
Normally, Adrian’s unique power suppressed any explosion from the annihilation reaction.
But not this time.
Adrian deliberately induced the annihilation reaction.
Thus, mass defect would occur momentarily, and all that mass would convert entirely into energy.
Roooooaaaaaarrr!!
A colossal wave erupted.
Light bent and sound was sucked away.
Massless energies began raging wildly.
Iliana swiftly drew forth her mana.
Gritting her teeth, she channeled the energy toward a single point.
Screeeeeech!!
“Ughhhh!!”
…It was energy that defied comprehension.
It was a force utterly beyond any category of explanation.
“Haaaaaaaa!!”
Iliana wrung out every last drop of mana she possessed, channeling the energy forward.
As the energy gradually converged toward the center—
Craaaaaaaaaash──!!
The fabric of spacetime began to tear asunder.
Gravity twisted, and all creation collapsed.
The forest landscape warped grotesquely.
The earth crumbled to dust.
The sky pressed downward.
Every direction converged inward alone.
And as absolute darkness formed—a void from which even light could not escape—
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack──!
All observable values began to collapse.
Up, down, forward, back.
The very concept of direction vanished, and existence and non-existence blurred together.
The walls of distorted spacetime.
Every concept froze in place.
This world had surrendered observation itself—
Poof──!!
Everything reverted to nothingness and disappeared.
The spacetime rift vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed at all.
And.
“Adrian…?”
Adrian too had vanished without a trace.
* * *
Dim threads of light drifted through the void like wandering spirits.
There was neither sun nor moon in the sky.
Only darkness that slowly devoured the light remained.
The Abyss of paradox where existence and non-existence denied each other yet coexisted.
Because none could imagine or observe death itself.
Death had imagined itself and inserted this world into reality.
◆Valley of Kardun
: A rift in the world where death was conceived, a cemetery of probability where all measurements scatter into uncertain possibilities. Here, observation and perception, life and death, what will happen and what has happened overlap and coexist.
The land of death where the Death Lord is sealed.
It was the Valley of Kardun.

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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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