The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 217
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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 217. Valley of Kardun (2)
An unidentified existence whose information displayed entirely as ※Error※.
Blake, presumed to be The Darkness Lord, had also been marked with ???.
But never before had everything been displayed as ※Error※ like this.
Could it be that Predator’s Instinct [S] malfunctioned due to the nature of this place?
…That wasn’t it.
The information about the Revenant and Draugr had displayed correctly earlier.
My abilities, including Predator’s Instinct [S], were functioning normally in this location.
‘Then the classification itself is an error.’
In other words, it wasn’t simply that information was blocked.
It meant the existence itself was being recognized as an ‘error.’
In other words, even Predator’s Instinct [S] couldn’t define this existence.
But Predator’s Instinct [S] is an authority possessed by the Beast Lord.
The totality of instinct and a priori knowledge inherent to all living creatures in this world.
Yet it couldn’t define this being—there was only one explanation.
‘This existence doesn’t belong to this world.’
I focused my senses to the maximum and observed more carefully.
Golden hair flowing straight down to the waist.
Violet eyes that seemed to hold emptiness itself.
Facial features as perfect as a sculpture.
The owner of an extraordinarily beautiful appearance, resembling an Elf.
‘But not an Elf.’
At least, they didn’t have the pointed ears characteristic of Elves.
To call them an Elf-like being would be…
Something felt profoundly alien about them.
At that moment, they seemed to notice me as well, their gaze turning toward me.
I sharpened my Dragon’s Claws [A] with precision.
I readied myself to activate Metabolic Overdrive [U] at any moment.
And then.
…Nothing happened?
They didn’t move, didn’t approach—just stood there blankly.
They also seemed deeply bewildered.
‘There doesn’t seem to be any hostility.’
But one could never be certain.
I approached cautiously without lowering my guard.
‘Male?’
I’d assumed they were female because of the long golden hair and delicate features.
I heightened my alertness further and asked them a question.
“Forgive me, but who are you?”
“…?”
The man tilted his head at my question.
It seemed less that he couldn’t hear my voice and more that he didn’t understand what I was saying.
“Vael Issen khar lomine?”
A clear, crystalline voice emerged from the man’s lips.
But it wasn’t a language I knew.
In other words, it wasn’t the common tongue of The Continent.
I couldn’t be certain, but it appeared to be a primitive form of language.
“…Can you understand what I’m saying?”
Suddenly, I understood the man’s words.
But the pronunciation still felt unfamiliar.
The meaning was also unclear.
In other words, it still wasn’t the common tongue of The Continent.
And yet the meaning came through distinctly.
As if comprehension and incomprehension—
Two realms coexisting simultaneously.
“Don’t be alarmed. I’m simply synchronizing my consciousness to convey the meaning.”
The man continued, as if to reassure me.
But I maintained my guard and pressed further.
“Who are you?”
“You mean my name?”
I nodded, and the man slowly opened his mouth.
“…I’ve lost my name.”
“You’ve lost your name?”
Not forgotten it?
“That’s correct. At some point, my name simply vanished.”
What kind of nonsense was this?
Not lost from memory, but the name itself had ceased to exist?
‘That makes no sense.’
Of course it didn’t make sense.
It was likely a ploy to conceal his true identity.
“May I ask who you are?”
“You won’t reveal your name, yet you ask for mine?”
“I wasn’t trying to force you.”
The man took a step back.
After a moment’s deliberation, I spoke.
“I am Lucius Aquilinus.”
“A fine name. In your language’s structure, it would mean something like ‘Heir of Light.'”
So that’s what it meant.
‘I thought Adlern had just made it up carelessly.’
Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
Well, anyway.
“I’ve told you my name, so now it’s your turn.”
“An exchange of information, then. Very well.”
The man nodded lightly.
“What would you like me to tell you?”
“What were you doing here?”
“Hmm.”
The man hesitated, his lips sealed.
It seemed he had no intention of revealing that either.
“Surely you haven’t forgotten what you were doing here?”
“No, that’s not it.”
The man waved his hand dismissively and continued.
“I was simply deliberating how best to explain it.”
“…?”
“I was afraid you might think me strange.”
The man’s gaze lowered for a moment.
Then he spoke with utmost care.
“I was conducting research on death.”
“Are you a necromancer?”
“That’s precisely the misunderstanding I feared.”
The man laughed briefly, as if he’d expected this.
“I’m not trying to command death or summon it.”
“….”
“I’m merely curious about how the phenomenon of death manifests within this world. The mechanism of it.”
I was beginning to understand.
There was a scent to it, so to speak.
This man.
He was of the same ilk as Iliana.
“Death is truly mysterious. It exists, yet cannot be explained.”
“….”
“All living things experience death. Yet no living thing truly knows death. Therefore, death exists beyond the realm of perception.”
“….”
“So then, how does this world accept death?”
“….”
“And why couldn’t even gods, those eternal and immortal beings, escape death?”
I was certain now.
This man was the type who analyzed reality under the guise of understanding.
The same species as Iliana, so to speak.
“Pursuing such curiosities and investigations, I eventually found myself arriving at this place.”
“The Valley of Kardun?”
I asked without thinking.
The man’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“So you call this place Valley of Kardun.”
“Do you refer to it by a different name?”
“No. There’s no proper name for it.”
The man shrugged once.
“From now on, I’ll call this place Valley of Kardun as well.”
Then the man gave a small laugh, bowing his head slightly.
…Something felt subtly off.
I sensed no deception or wariness from him.
Yet there was something uncanny about him, as if he wore a mask.
And a strange sense of déjà vu, as if I’d seen him before.
I maintained my caution and asked.
“How did you enter this place?”
Valley of Kardun was not a space one could enter carelessly.
I myself had barely managed to cross the event horizon by creating an artificial black hole.
Even that was only possible because Valley of Kardun was in a state of quantum entanglement with Sylvandir Forest.
It was a feat made possible by such circumstances.
This was not a place one could stumble into by chance.
“Isn’t it my turn to ask a question?”
“…Go ahead.”
“How did you enter this place, Lucius?”
As I thought.
This man was unsettling for some reason.
After a moment of deliberation, I spoke honestly.
There was nothing worth hiding, and besides, I didn’t truly understand it myself.
“That means…”
The man mulled over my explanation before asking back.
“You created a temporary state of observation blockade by utilizing the event horizon?”
“That’s correct.”
“Remarkable! What an ingenious idea!”
The man’s eyes widened in admiration and surprise.
Of course, it wasn’t my doing.
In my previous life, it was the work of Iliana and Ian.
A collaboration between the two of them, but regardless.
“Now it’s my turn to ask. How did you enter this place?”
“I utilized the complex structure of multiple pendulum systems.”
“…?”
“I expanded the observation pathways infinitely, creating a state virtually indistinguishable from being unobservable.”
It became clear once more.
This man.
He was just like Iliana.
“Opposites attract, after all.”
“I see.”
I shouldn’t have asked.
I’d have to ask Iliana about this again later.
“So, have you discovered anything about death?”
“It’s my turn to ask a question now.”
The man stared directly at me.
“Well, I suppose I can yield on the order. You seem to have more questions than I do.”
The man chuckled lightly and continued.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t discovered anything particularly concrete about death.
“….”
“Since I’m a living being, I cannot perceive death itself.”
However.
“I have learned something about this place—the Valley of Kardun, that is.”
“Would you share it with me?”
“Of course.”
The man nodded readily.
His love of explanation was certainly identical to Iliana’s.
“Have you ever heard a story like this?”
[Destruction is merely a transformation of form, no different from change. Death too must be such, and the afterlife would be a silent world without the transformation called death.]
“Ah, I don’t mean this place is the afterlife.”
The man waved his hand as if to dispel the misunderstanding.
“This place is closest to death, but it is not the afterlife.”
“Then….”
“Death means transformation. Therefore, this place closest to death undergoes extreme transformations in all things—”
The man glanced around before continuing.
“Yet it possesses the characteristic of being fixed through observation.”
When you look away, it vanishes.
When you look again, it reappears.
It seemed he was describing the strange phenomenon I had experienced earlier.
“Strangely, this place permits such a structure. It is not a place where death occurs, but rather where death is ‘interpreted.'”
“….”
“And this phenomenon becomes more pronounced the closer you approach the Abyss of the valley—Death’s Sanctuary.”
…Death’s Sanctuary?
“You mean this place?”
“No. This is a realm where death dwells, but it has not reached the essence.”
“…?”
“Simply put, you can think of this as the ‘entrance to the Sanctuary.'”
“Ah.”
I nodded briefly, and the man continued.
“I believe that if we venture toward the center of the Sanctuary, we may be able to reach the very essence of death itself….”
“Is there a problem?”
“Would you like to see for yourself?”
The man moved forward, gesturing for me to follow.
* * *
With each step I took, ground materialized beneath my feet.
And when I looked away, it vanished.
It was less a path than a gap that materialized temporarily based on observation.
“There it is.”
The man stopped and pointed to one side.
When I turned my gaze, I saw monsters crowding a narrow passage?
Undead?
Or should I call them wraiths?
Grotesque black forms writhed and churned in a seething mass.
“They are observed deaths.”
Observed deaths?
I tilted my head in confusion, and the man elaborated.
“It’s not the precise name. It’s merely an expression I’ve coined.”
At that very moment.
One of the forms lifted its head.
The black shell cracked with a sharp sound, and something darker than darkness itself seeped from within.
And it began to writhe and churn once more, just like the black form before it.
“As you can see, they are neither dead nor alive.”
“….”
“Possibilities left suspended between life and death, unable to be determined as either one.”
“….”
“Death is merely the interpretation imposed upon them. Their true essence remains elsewhere.”
“….”
“So the moment someone observes them, they react like this.”
I couldn’t comprehend what he was saying at all.
But the crux of the matter was simple.
“We cannot reach the center of the Sanctuary without passing through them.”
These observed deaths or whatever they were blocked the way forward.
‘Hmm.’
I organized the situation in my mind.
First.
‘The Death Lord is definitely sealed at the center of this Sanctuary.’
And this man.
‘I still don’t have any concrete information about its true nature.’
It was an existence I hadn’t even heard about from Ian.
Even my predator’s instinct [S] could only perceive it as ※Error※.
‘It’s unsettling, though.’
It was the only existence that knew how to reach the heart of the Sanctuary.
‘For now, I’ll cooperate.’
Having reached my conclusion, I stepped forward.
“Why not just eliminate it?”
“That would be the simplest approach, but…”
The man shook his head quietly and continued.
“It’s not that easy—”
That was when the man got that far.
◆Modified Skill, Dragon Burst: Rapid [E] activated!!
Kiiiiing—!
Boom boom boom boom boom crash!!
Indiscriminate explosions erupted from my body.
The space ahead was engulfed in crimson light alongside the explosive energy.
The observed death entities were torn apart in an instant.
“What—!!”
The man cried out with wide eyes.
But he quickly regained his composure and shouted.
“It’s still useless! Their form only collapses temporarily!”
It certainly seemed to be a different existence from the specter I’d seen before.
Just as the term “observed death” suggested—death itself incarnate.
Therefore, it couldn’t die again, but…
Boom boom boom boom boom crash!
I didn’t stop.
Instead, I poured in even more calories, unleashing an even more violent explosion.
Boom boom crash—!!
Boom boom boom boom crash!!
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom—!!
The omnidirectional barrage could only cease when my calories were nearly depleted.
Only then did the landscape before me come into view.
It was utterly devastated.
The blackened, twisted forms melted into the ground, writhing.
They weren’t dead.
They were simply in an extremely severe state of form collapse.
Grrrraaaaahhh…
Uuugghhh…
The twisted shapes and black vapor-like outlines couldn’t easily coalesce.
In other words, it seemed it would take quite some time before the form could be fully restored.
“We should leave quickly while we have this chance.”
I quickened my pace, urging myself forward.
But I felt no footsteps following behind me.
I glanced back over my shoulder.
“Ah, wait… what is this??”
The man stood motionless in that spot, as though his soul had been drained from his body.
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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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