The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 216

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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 216. Valley of Kardun (1)
A silence where not even a whisper of wind dared to blow.
No—a quietude so profound that even the wind itself had died.
Sound was gone, and with it, every other sensation: smell, warmth, all of it had perished alongside the silence.
The only sense that remained was sight.
Yet even that revealed no vegetation, no living thing at all.
Not a single trace of life was visible.
And because of that, not even the traces of death could be seen.
All that existed before my eyes was a colossal cliff face.
But then.
The moment I turned my gaze away.
…the cliff vanished.
That massive cliff simply ceased to exist in an instant.
And then.
The moment I blinked.
The vanished cliff reappeared as if it had never left, standing right where it had been.
That towering cliff face materialized before my eyes in a heartbeat.
A land of death where even sight itself had withered away.
‘…What kind of place is this?’
Notably, my Sanity stat hadn’t increased at all.
Which meant this wasn’t a hallucination or illusion.
‘Spatial awareness is meaningless here, then.’
Whatever I saw, heard, or felt in this place—
I couldn’t be certain any of it was real.
Yet I wasn’t at a loss.
I knew what I had to do.
‘How did Ian handle this?’
In my past life, Ian had entered the Valley of Kardun alone.
Afterward, Ian had explained in detail the process of how he found the Death Lord.
‘What did Ian say back then?’
-Inside is outside, and outside is inside. But it also looks like inside, and it also looks like outside. However, the outside entered the inside before me.
All I could recall was pure nonsense.
Everything I remembered was nothing but nonsense.
But now that I’d entered this place myself, well.
‘It wasn’t just nonsense after all.’
I was beginning to understand why he’d said such things.
I searched my memory for Ian’s words.
I filtered out the nonsense as best I could and extracted the useful information.
-Following some kind of trace, I found a Shrine.
Ian had said there were traces suggesting someone had visited the Valley of Kardun before him.
Following that trace, I was able to reach the Shrine.
But what came after that was….
-Turns out that trace was something you left behind, Adrian.
-What nonsense is that?
But now that I’ve actually entered the Valley of Kardun myself, well.
‘I have no idea what he’s talking about.’
…I still couldn’t understand it.
In any case.
It seemed I had to find the Shrine first.
But no matter where I looked, nothing resembled a Shrine.
Naturally, the trace Ian mentioned didn’t appear either.
However, there was a place where a Shrine might exist.
Inside that massive gorge.
‘I suppose I have no choice but to go and see.’
I stepped forward, keeping the gorge in my field of vision.
* * *
The interior of the gorge—how should I describe it.
It was so distorted that I couldn’t distinguish between reality and illusion.
Something that looked like a boulder vanished without a trace the moment I turned my eyes away.
But when I fixed my gaze on the empty space again.
As if nothing had happened, a stone monument engraved with black patterns rose up before me.
‘What is this, really.’
Even the path was the same.
The moment I lost sight of it, the path simply cut off.
‘How am I supposed to find the Shrine in a place like this.’
I paused my steps and retraced Ian’s words in my mind.
And right then.
Tap, tap.
Tap.
Footsteps echoed.
I thought they might be my own, but that was impossible.
I wasn’t moving an inch right now.
And strangely, the footsteps neither grew distant nor drew closer.
They maintained the same distance, the same rhythm.
As if begging me to look.
It felt like something was circling endlessly around me.
I sharpened my senses to their maximum.
‘Behind!’
I spun around reflexively.
And in that moment.
Kiiiieeeeeeek──!!
A grotesque shriek greeted me with violent intensity.
A face with rotting flesh hanging in tatters.
From the hollow eye sockets, dark coagulated matter dripped down—that was—.
==【Entity Information】==
Entity: Revenant
Classification: Supernatural Spirit-Class Undead-Order Zombie-Family
Gender: None
Age: Unknown
Characteristics: Recurring Malice
A Revenant.
An undead-type monster—or rather, not a monster at all.
Monsters were mutated flora and fauna, distinctly ‘living’ entities.
But Revenants were different.
As the zombie-family classification suggested, they were corpses.
Though they differed slightly from ordinary zombies, which moved unconsciously.
They only responded to external stimuli.
When the stimulus disappeared?
Zombies simply stood motionless.
But Revenants were different.
They thought, judged, and moved of their own volition toward their purpose.
And that purpose was—.
◆Recurring Malice
: Endlessly repeating the name of the one who murdered them in life, amplifying their hatred.
Hatred.
In other words, vengeance.
Kyaaaaaaah──!!
The Revenant shrieked toward me.
Endless malice poured from its gaping maw.
No matter how much it thought and judged, it remained a corpse.
Without intellect.
Utterly brainless, in crude terms.
Thus it couldn’t distinguish who actually killed it.
So it simply—.
Kyararararak!!
Became a powerful undead that spewed blind malice at every living thing.
Faster than zombies.
More relentless than specters.
Louder than wraiths.
The most troublesome undead within the Death Legion—and yet.
Crack!
It was an undead that could be handled easily with dragon claws.
The Revenant’s body was torn to shreds in an instant.
Though its form was condensed from obsessive will, making its defense formidable, the dragon claws shredded it in a heartbeat.
In other words.
‘Skills are applying properly.’
◆You have defeated the Revenant!
◆You have acquired 56,000 combat experience points.
The system message appeared correctly as well.
As befitted a powerful undead, the experience was substantial.
Even excluding the growth acceleration factor, 560 combat experience points.
‘No wonder the Death Lord used this so frequently.’
In other words, the possibility that the Death Lord was in the Valley of Kardun was nearly certain.
I turned my body again to search for the Shrine.
Right then.
Kiiieeeeeek─!!
A grotesque shriek suddenly pierced the air.
I turned around.
The Revenant I’d just defeated was standing up?
Did it not die because it’s undead?
‘That can’t be right.’
Revenants are a type of zombie.
Once their bodies are destroyed, they can no longer move.
To borrow Iliana’s words—
—the basis of their existence vanishes, and they return to death.
In other words, the Revenant was dead.
Besides, I’d definitely gained the experience points.
Yet here the Revenant stood, greeting me as though nothing had happened.
‘Is it because of this place’s nature?’
◆Valley of Kardun.
: A rift in the world where death is conceived, a graveyard of probability where all measurements scatter into indeterminate possibilities. Here, observation and perception, life and death, what will happen and what has happened overlap and coexist simultaneously.
The Valley of Kardun, where all possibilities overlap.
Here, everything scatters into indeterminate possibilities.
The dead Revenant.
The living Revenant.
Both contradictory states could exist at the same time.
‘…Is that right?’
Honestly, I wasn’t sure.
I would have asked Iliana if she were here, but she couldn’t enter this place.
But then again.
Regardless of what happened.
I swiftly dispatched the resurrected Revenant with Dragon Burst[E].
Boom—!
The explosion released in a straight line pierced through the Revenant’s skull with precision.
◆Entity eliminated: Revenant!
◆You have acquired 56,000 combat experience points.
And then the message appeared.
“It’s giving me experience again?”
Wait, could this possibly be…?
With a vague suspicion, I closed my eyes.
I shut down my senses and severed all observation.
And when I opened my eyes again—.
Screeeeeech—!!
The Revenant I had just dealt with greeted me again with tremendous vigor.
It charged at me, swinging its arms.
It seemed delighted to see me as well.
In any case, it became clear.
In this place, even death is not fixed.
Thus, this place where all infinite possibilities expand into reality is—.
“Experience points are being duplicated.”
An absolutely insane experience farming location.
* * *
How long had I been hunting(?).
It seemed I had defeated at least over 10,000 creatures.
Whether I had eliminated all possibilities in the living state.
Or whether only the possibilities of the dead state were manifesting.
“Nothing else is appearing.”
The Revenant no longer resurrected(?).
No matter how many times I closed and opened my eyes, only the possibility of death remained, and it showed no signs of rising again.
It seemed all possibilities had been exhausted.
Just as I was swallowing my disappointment—.
Suddenly, a foul stench rushed toward me.
A miasmic reek that seeped even beyond the veil of consciousness.
‘Could this be…’
I hastily turned my gaze, and sure enough.
A form seeping in like smoke materialized.
That thing, resembling a corpse long rotted in water—.
==【Entity Information】==
Entity: Draugr
Classification: Supernatural Spirit-rank Undead-class Miasmic-type
Gender: None
Age: Unknown
Characteristic: Soul Sedimentation
Draugr.
A monster born when the corpse of the dead is submerged….
No, it was an undead.
Like the Revenant, it was one of the core forces that comprised the Death Legion.
Classification: Wraith-type.
In other words, a spiritual-class monster like the Banshee.
No, it was an undead.
But its attack method was quite physical.
For instance, like this.
Crunch!!
First, it crushes me with the weight of its spectral form.
It suppresses my consciousness until my vision darkens, attacking in a way that crushes both mind and body alike.
Ugh?
But if that doesn’t work well.
Squelch!
It clings to my skin and begins draining my blood.
Gah?!?!
And if even that fails.
◆Soul Sedimentation
: Sinks the target deep into darkness within their consciousness, inflicting mental confusion and madness effects.
It forces its way through the cracks in my consciousness.
Slowly eroding my mind to collapse my sense of self…but.
◆Soul Sedimentation is resisted by the Successor’s Will [EX]!!
I was immune to any form of mental attack.
◆3 Sanity points have accumulated.
◆4 Sanity points have accumulated.
◆1 Sanity point has accumulated.
◆2 Sanity points have accumulated.
.
.
.
“I can just keep this one on me and farm away.”
Sweet Sanity point farming.
What one might call ‘Sanity sap’.
* * *
After carrying the Draugr around (?) for some time.
◆You have defeated the individual Draugr!
◆You have acquired 45,000 combat experience points.
…The Draug couldn’t endure and destroyed itself.
Unfortunately, it didn’t resurrect like a Revenant(?).
I closed and opened my eyes repeatedly just in case, but as expected.
“Nothing’s appearing.”
It seemed that overlapping possibilities weren’t occurring indiscriminately.
Still, I was able to accumulate a considerable amount of Sanity.
“My current stats are….”
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] = The Surface’s Strongest Predator
[Level] = 214
[HP] = 38,200
[MP] = -8,640
[Sanity] = 5,621/ℵ0
[Stats] = Strength: 435 Agility: 264 Endurance: 382 Mana: -86.4(x-1.2)
[Experience] = 21.5%
【Additional Stats + 37】
Revenant farming(?) resulted in +37 levels.
Draug sap(?) yielded approximately 5,000 Sanity.
Thanks to this, I was able to surpass level 200 and proceed with research on the Ultra-Regeneration Potion.
“I’ll invest all additional stats into mana.”
With this, my mana stat reached a staggering -133.2.
The amount of mana consumption also skyrocketed to -13,320.
“At this rate, I could even neutralize Iliana’s magic.”
Of course, not all of it.
Maybe one or two spells?
That much seemed possible.
While not a perfect counter, it was enough to create a momentary opening.
“Now I can definitely threaten the Death Lord.”
Six Death Lords called Another Level.
Now there were five.
That impossibly high wall I thought I could never reach—my fingertips had finally touched it.
“Excellent.”
I clenched my fist and dispersed the 「Player Information」.
“I see Ian’s abilities are functioning normally too.”
The Predator’s Instinct [S] and my other skills were also operating without issue.
◆You retrieve oil from your inventory.
The inventory was functioning normally as well.
In other words, this place wasn’t a space like the Barrier Space.
“So that’s why my Sanity stat wasn’t accumulating for nothing.”
After organizing my thoughts, I replenished my calories with oil from my inventory.
And just as I was about to turn my gaze elsewhere.
Suddenly.
Completely out of nowhere.
“…A Shrine?”
A structure that resembled a Shrine materialized before my eyes.
I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of place this was.
“Well, this works out.”
I moved toward the Shrine.
Up close, it certainly looked like a Shrine.
But I couldn’t be certain if it was the ‘Shrine of Death’.
As I drew closer—.
‘A person?’
…Someone was standing in front of the Shrine.
It wasn’t something merely resembling a person.
It was unmistakably a person.
I immediately activated Predator’s Instinct [S].
Then information flooded my vision.
==【Character Information】==
Name: ※Error※
Classification: ※Error※
Gender: ※Error※
Age: ※Error※
Characteristics: ※Error※
…In that instant, tension coiled taut.

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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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