The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 218

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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 218. Death’s Sanctuary
Death’s Sanctuary where The Death Lord was sealed.
I ventured deeper, passing through the observed deaths.
Then bizarre architecture? Phenomena?
Things that defied definition unfolded before me.
Within a structure where ceiling and walls were inverted, corridors shifted their form depending on observation state.
Walls I thought were dead ends transformed into passages when I wasn’t looking.
Doors that had been on my left—when I turned my gaze—
Were now positioned on my right.
I descended stairs only to find myself ascending them again.
Such bizarre phenomena unfolded every single second—
Screeeeeeeech—!!
The observed deaths rushed at me relentlessly.
They were even more grotesque than those I’d seen at the entrance.
Heads sprouted from their flanks.
Eyes emerged from their limbs.
Some had mouths grafted onto their palms, shrieking from them.
‘They’re shaped however they please.’
And they wouldn’t die.
Even when I severed molecular bonds with my Monomolecular Blade [S].
‘They don’t even grant experience.’
They were simply creatures devoid of existential meaning.
The only method left was to tear them apart at the molecular level so they couldn’t reassemble.
Even that was temporary.
It wasn’t true annihilation.
But the man stared at me with an expression of utter shock.
“H-how are you doing that to beings frozen in death like this…?”
Somehow, he was looking at me as though I were a monster far worse than the observed deaths.
“Since they exist outside the causality of death, no physical laws apply to them.”
Now that I thought about it.
My Weakness Hunting [M] revealed no weaknesses in them.
Even my Predator’s Instinct [S] couldn’t extract meaningful information.
“Lucius… what exactly are you?”
The man asked with a terrified expression.
But he asked “what” rather than “who.”
“I’m human.”
Technically, a primordial human.
In any case.
To describe this sanctuary in a single phrase—
—it was a place where the laws of physics had gone on strike.
‘Now I understand why Ian said such nonsense.’
What a cursed place this was.
* * *
I continued deeper into the Sanctuary alongside the man.
Fortunately, as we approached the inner sanctum, the laws of physics that had gone on strike gradually returned to work.
And so we reached the heart of the Sanctuary.
This was not a space.
How should I describe it?
-A space that doesn’t even trust its own body?
That was exactly the feeling.
There was no ceiling, no ground, no walls.
Yet my feet stood upon solid earth.
There was light, but no shadow.
There was color, but I couldn’t discern what color it was.
I was thinking how such a place could possibly exist, when—
“This place is… extremely dangerous.”
The man suddenly muttered with a grave expression.
“Here, death can be directly interpreted.”
…What in the world was he talking about?
No wonder he resembled Iliana.
Every word from his mouth was a headache waiting to happen.
Still, it seemed this was where the Death Lord was sealed.
“Interpreted, you say?”
“Death possesses two possibilities simultaneously.”
Cycle and finality.
Contradictory, yet existing at once.
“And the observation of a conscious being can fix death into a single possibility.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Cycle and finality. It means one can determine death to bear only one of these natures.”
Therefore.
“If someone with malicious intent were to arbitrarily interpret death in this place and then force that interpretation upon nature, what would happen?”
Death would walk only the path of finality.
And thus all life would lose its end.
“Nature’s cycle would cease, and all death would converge into irreversible annihilation.”
I could understand it somewhat now.
Why the Sylvandir Forest had stopped its cycle.
Why this place.
Why this valley.
“This place must be sealed.”
It had to remain a forbidden realm that no one could ever find.
“It seems no one else has found this place besides us.”
Fortunately, death remained in an uninterpreted state.
In other words, the Death Lord had not yet awakened—
“…?”
Had he never awakened at all?
That couldn’t be possible…?
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
…This situation made no sense.
Sylvandir Forest was dying.
That was undoubtedly a consequence of the Death Lord’s awakening.
Therefore, I had entered the Valley of Kardun to prevent the Death Lord from fully awakening.
Yet the Death Lord had never awakened in the first place? That was…?
‘Then why was Sylvandir Forest dying?’
Had I misjudged?
Had the Death Lord never awakened at all?
Was there another cause for Sylvandir Forest’s decline?
‘…No.’
I shook my head.
There weren’t many things capable of afflicting Sylvandir Forest.
And the fact that the Valley of Kardun overlapped with Sylvandir Forest necessarily connected to the Death Lord—that much I could conclude.
Yet the Death Lord himself remained unawakened.
‘What on earth…??’
My mind was a complete mess.
No matter how I retraced the situation, nothing made sense.
“Are you alright?”
The man asked with concern in his voice.
I lifted my head.
This man of unknown identity.
Everything about him was uncertain.
Perhaps he had a direct connection to this situation.
‘But….’
This man was definitely of Iliana’s faction.
In other words, he was the only being capable of interpreting the current phenomenon.
I deliberated long and hard.
And after prolonged consideration—
“…Could you listen to my story?”
I told the man about my situation.
* * *
I omitted what needed omitting and concealed what needed concealing.
And so the rather long story continued.
The man closed his eyes calmly and pondered for a long while.
Then he opened his mouth quietly.
“Hearing your story, Lucius… I think I understand now.”
“Understand what, exactly?”
“Why I lost my name.”
The man nodded briefly and continued speaking.
“Perhaps I am not entirely alive.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“As you know, Lucius, this place is a space where all possibilities overlap.”
And among those possibilities—
“Time is included as well.”
“…?”
“Simply put, past, present, and future are layered upon one another. And it seems I am living in a time period further in the past than you, Lucius.”
The man nodded as if he finally understood.
But I did not.
I understood nothing at all.
“How does that relate to losing your name?”
“In the time period where you live, Lucius, I do not exist.”
What?
“As I said, I exist in a time period further in the past than you. From my perspective, you are a being of the future.”
“….”
“I am still alive in my own time period—”
“….”
“But in your time period, I am already gone.”
“….”
“As you, a future existence from my perspective, observe me, my future possibilities have been completely erased.”
“….”
“Therefore, even now in the past, I cannot maintain my own name.”
In other words—
“Are you saying I caused your death?”
“No. My loss of name is merely the result of your observation. That observation did not bring me to a state of death.”
…I still didn’t understand at all.
First of all, past, present, and future coexist?
I questioned whether such a thing was even possible.
But if everything he said were true?
The reason the man’s information displayed as ※Error※ earlier.
It seemed to be because he was already dead in my time.
In other words, a person who does not exist.
Which meant this place was—
“Are you saying I’ve come to the past?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“How is that even possible?”
“This place is a space where all possibilities overlap.”
Even so, that doesn’t make sense.
Coming to the past—how could such a thing be feasible?
…But then again, could I really complain?
I had already experienced it.
I had regressed into the past, spanning a full fifteen years.
Perhaps because I had once reversed time, the temporal axis had become distorted.
This could have been the reason.
Why I had come to the Valley of Kardun of the past, not the present.
-Following the traces, I found a certain Sanctuary. But it turned out those traces were left by you, Adrian.
That was why Ian had discovered my traces in the Valley of Kardun.
In other words, I now exist in a timeline further ahead than Ian.
“Then there’s no way to prevent the Death Le—. No, prevent death from awakening here?”
“Unfortunately, death that has already been interpreted as an ending cannot be undone.”
In my timeline, someone had already interpreted death as an ending.
The result of such an interpretation could not be reversed.
“However, fortunately, this is a timeline where death has not yet been interpreted.”
The Valley of Kardun of the past.
Therefore, if I interpret death as a cycle here first—
“In Lucius’s timeline, death will become unable to be interpreted as an ending.”
Because this point on the timeline came first.
And death that has already been interpreted cannot be undone.
Therefore, the future.
That is, no malicious actor in my timeline would be able to awaken the Death Lord.
“Then how should death be interpreted?”
Unfortunately, Ian had not known that method.
When Ian came, the Death Lord was already completely awakened.
Ian fought the Death Lord here and sealed it away.
“I’ll need to find a way, but….”
The man paused in thought before continuing.
“You must not interpret death, Lucius.”
“…?”
“As I mentioned, you are a being from the future. And the reason you came here is because ‘death has awakened.'”
However.
“If you interpret death as a cycle here, death will not awaken in your timeline.”
And if that happens.
“You will lose the ’cause’ for coming to this place.”
The Death Lord had not awakened.
Therefore, I had no reason to enter the Valley of Kardun, and I would not enter.
“Thus, the ‘result’ that Lucius created would also be lost.”
The result of my interpreting death as a cycle would vanish as well.
A Time Paradox.
A contradiction arose—like traveling to the past before one’s grandparents were born and murdering one’s grandfather, only to cease existing.
“Then….”
“I must be the one to interpret it.”
The man continued calmly.
“If I interpret death as a cycle here, then in Lucius’s timeline, death will never awaken.”
Similarly, I would have no reason to come to this place.
Thus, the cause for me to enter the Valley of Kardun would be lost—the same as before.
“But the result of my interpretation would still remain.”
This man’s presence in the Valley of Kardun was not a consequence born from my actions.
Thus, the Time Paradox would not occur.
Death would continue to exist as a cycle in my timeline, and the Death Lord would be sealed.
A more fundamental solution.
Currently, five lords served The Emperor, excluding the Frost Lord.
Reducing them to four lords would greatly weaken The Emperor’s maximum combat strength—the optimal strategy.
There was only one problem.
Whether I could trust this man—
That was when it happened.
Screeeeeech—!!
A horrific wail erupted from behind.
The observed deaths I had not killed before, could not kill.
They were clustering together and surging forward.
I extended my dragon’s claws razor-sharp.
“How long will the interpretation take?”
If the Death Lord awakened, we would all die anyway.
I could not stop the Death Lord now.
Whether this way or that, if death was certain, I had to wager everything on the possibility that remained.
“The interpretation itself won’t take long. But finding the method to interpret—”
“I will buy you time.”
I dashed forward.
Screeeeeech—!!
The tangled mass shrieked.
Wailing faces and severed limbs were layered upon one another in every direction.
It was as if the remnants trapped in the moment of death were overlapping each other, existing as one.
I extended my left hand forward.
◆Activating Derived Skill, Dragon Burst!
Boom!!
An explosion released in a straight line as my palms burst open.
The compressed energy struck the tangled mass of flesh dead-on along its linear trajectory.
The spreading shockwave tore through the body.
Black ichor and bone fragments scattered in all directions.
Roooaaarrrrgh─!!
The severed faces roared in unison.
The rampaging mass of flesh.
I drew closer and seized one of the wailing faces.
“Silence.”
◆Modified Skill, Dragon Burst: Rapid [E] activated!
Kaboom!!
Indiscriminate explosions poured forth, shattering and tearing the tangled flesh into fragments.
And yet.
….it did not die.
The shattered body quickly reformed its shape and rose again.
Death that could not die.
That was the nature of observed death.
And so in a certain sense, it was both the guardian of this Sanctuary and—.
Roooaaarrrrgh─!!
…the commander of the Death Legion.

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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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