The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 219

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

Chapter 219. Paradox (1)
Crrrunch—!
Shredded remnants clumped together.
A different form than before.
From the start, it possessed no fixed shape.
That was why Weakness Hunting could not discern any weak points.
The Predator’s instinct was no different.
==【Entity Information】==
Entity: ※Error※
Classification: ※Error※
Gender: ※Error※
Age: ※Error※
Characteristics: ※Error※
All information was ※Error※.
It had no name.
Even “Observed Death” was merely a name I had given it.
It was not the true name.
Perhaps, like The Man, its existence had already vanished.
Kraaaaaack!
Tentacles lashed forward.
More precisely, grotesquely undulating forms tore through the fabric of space itself and poured forth.
There was nowhere to evade.
Then I would rend through and break past.
Kzzzzzzt!!
The tentacles that touched my Molecular Blade were shredded.
Twisted forms writhed and tumbled across the ground.
But death that could not die began crawling upward once more.
In many ways, it resembled the Death Legion Commander.
Of course, it was a different entity from the Death Legion Commander.
The Death Legion Commander was granted authority by the Death Lord.
But the Death Lord had not yet awakened.
Authority could not be granted.
Therefore, this was not the Death Legion Commander.
Yet this place was Death’s Sanctuary.
The place closest to death itself.
Merely existing here subjected one to profound influence from death.
And this was the Observed Deaths that had been distributed throughout the Sanctuary, fragments I had shattered down to the molecular level, now clumped together as one.
Without authority, yet the closest analog to death itself.
A mass of death.
From now on, I defined it as such.
Craaaaaaash—!!
The reshaped mass of death let out a piercing shriek.
Torn remnants clumped together indiscriminately.
…It was grotesque.
It was equally overwhelming.
‘Killing it is impossible.’
The mass of death was, quite literally, death itself congealed into a single entity.
And the power of death is infinite.
But my caloric reserves are not infinite.
Fortunately, the infinite inventory functioned normally, but the calories stored within it were finite.
Therefore, time was not my ally.
Yet simultaneously, it was.
“How much longer will this take?”
I shouted at The Man.
But his answer did not come.
Glancing back, I saw The Man’s eyes darting rapidly across the floating patterns suspended in the air.
His forehead was drenched with cold sweat.
It seemed to demand far more than ordinary concentration.
I made my decision swiftly.
‘I cannot use Predator.’
Rational judgment would be utterly stripped away.
If excessive aggression manifested, I might miss the mass of death’s response and inadvertently endanger The Man.
My objective is not the mass of death.
It is to buy time until The Man finds a way to interpret death itself.
Reaffirming my purpose, I lunged forward.
The mass of death twisted its form in response.
A thousand eyes fixed upon me.
Between gaping maws, seething black ichor erupted forth.
The volume of ichor expelled from any single mouth was not particularly great.
The problem was that the mass of death had mouths scattered all over its body.
Splurch, screeeech—!!
The ichor surged forward, filling my entire field of vision.
The ichor dissolved everything it touched.
I could have evaded it.
But I could not.
If I dodged, The Man would be drenched in that ichor instead.
I took another step forward without hesitation.
Splurch!
A scalding, damp sensation swept across my entire body.
As though death itself had engulfed me, my body began to stiffen and harden.
It’s poison.
Broad-spectrum Immune Surge [B+]—what about it?
…It didn’t react.
This isn’t natural toxin.
Then—
◆Activating Cytokine Rampage!
A flashing message blazed across my vision.
In that same instant, my entire immune system overheated. The mucus seeping through my wounds ignited all at once.
But my healthy cells burned away alongside it.
Every second, I took continuous damage equal to 5% of my current health.
“Ugh…!”
A groan escaped involuntarily.
Fortunately, the depleting health could be restored with Regeneration [B+], but—
‘The caloric expenditure is brutal.’
…I wouldn’t last long.
The Death Blob opened its maw again.
I couldn’t take another hit like that.
I made my decision.
◆Activating Transcendent Skill, Berserk [?].
◆Consuming 423 Sanity.
◆Berserk [?] is applied at rank [B+].
◆Activating Fusion Skill, Dragon Embodiment [E]!
An intense power surged from within my body.
My bones and muscles screamed as they twisted and contorted.
Blood roiled at the alien pulsation coursing through me.
I sprinted toward the Death Blob at full force.
Boom!
The shockwave erupting from my feet tore through the ground, launching my body forward.
The Death Blob reacted.
Instead of mucus, it spewed tentacles from its gaping maw.
Whoooosh—!!
Hundreds of tentacles crashed down upon me.
I reminded myself of my objective once more.
I couldn’t dodge.
I activated Monomolecular Blade [S] and shredded the incoming tentacles.
Crack! Slash!
Tentacles tore to ribbons.
…But I couldn’t block them all.
A tentacle I failed to intercept lashed across my back.
Boom!
However, the reflective damage from Dragon Humanification [E].
Boom!
The tentacle exploded backward.
And the damage absorption from Dragon Humanification [E].
◆2,211kcal has been accumulated.
With this, I could respond without needing Predator [M] even while taking hits.
I could even secure calories during combat.
Kwaaaaaaaaah─!!
The death mass shrieked and charged forward.
The surrounding space warped.
The shockwave emanating from the clustered death distorted spacetime itself.
There’s no way I can block that head-on.
But The Man stands directly in its path.
The death mass pursued me relentlessly, as if it knew I was attempting to interpret death itself.
‘I have no choice but to face it.’
There was no time for deliberation.
◆Transcendent Skill, Berserk [?] is activated.
◆109 Sanity is consumed.
◆Berserk [?] grade is applied as [B].
◆Ultra-Fusion Skill, Heartbeat Acceleration [E] is activated!
Thump!!
Blood flow surged explosively.
Not quite to the level of Hemolytic Torrent [L], but my muscles and nerves honed themselves to razor sharpness.
There was no room for hesitation.
I quickly assessed my remaining calories.
Leaving only a certain percentage in reserve, I poured the rest into my legs.
‘I’ll meet it head-on!’
◆Eruption Skill, Dragon Impact [E] is activated!!
Fwooooosh!!
My body shot forward in an instant, breaking the sound barrier.
Crackcrackcrackcrack!!
The distance to the death mass closed in a heartbeat.
And in that instant.
We collided.
Kwaaaaaaaaang─!!
The explosive impact tore through the spatial axis.
The death mass’s form twisted grotesquely.
Its formless arms scraped the ground as it crumbled.
And then.
“Kugh…!!”
My body was far from unscathed.
Had I not amplified my stats through Dragon Transformation and Accelerated Heartbeat, the impact—one that should have been instantly fatal—would have torn me to shreds.
I could barely move.
Then, in that moment.
“Found it!!”
The Man cried out.
The death mass seemed to hear that voice.
From its collapsed arm, tentacles surged forth once more.
I aimed at each tentacle with my fingers, then shot them down with Dragon Burst.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
“Begin now!!”
As I shouted, The Man immediately sprang into action.
He spread both hands wide, tracing something invisible in the air.
The death mass, sensing him, lunged in his direction.
I hurled myself forward without hesitation.
In that instant, the sound of bones cracking echoed.
Crack—!
Even with my Ultra-Reinforced Skeletal Structure granting +99% fracture resistance, the force of that collision exceeded even that limit.
But I could not stop.
Blocking the death mass’s path, I swung my Monomolecular Blade.
Slash! Slash! Slash!!
The death mass did not relent either.
Forcing itself forward, it unleashed tentacles and mucus all at once.
Gush!!
The mucus poured across my entire body.
The moment it touched my skin, death itself seemed to seep in, and my body stiffened.
I could not use Cytokine Rampage.
Cytokine Rampage also dispels all buff effects.
That would mean losing the effects of Dragon Transformation and Accelerated Heartbeat.
‘Endure. I must endure.’
I tore through the surging mass by sheer force of will.
The torn tissue fused back together instantly, maintaining its form.
The death mass’s pressure intensified.
My Monomolecular Blade trembled ever so slightly.
Seizing that opening, tentacles coiled around my wrist.
I squeezed with all my strength.
The tentacles wrapped around my wrist tore apart.
Mucus sprayed outward.
The mucus that touched my skin injected death into me.
But I endure. I must endure.
I forced my stiffening arms to move, swinging the monomolecular blade [S].
It was then.
A faint sense of wrongness marred my vision.
Like a star orbiting an infinite trajectory, a single point drifted at the edge of my sight.
Toward its center—.
space wept.
Time faltered.
All possibility held its breath, if only for a moment.
Empty eye sockets that dissected and analyzed the very fact of existence itself with surgical precision.
Hollow voids where eyes should have been.
An abyss of unknowable depth.
A frozen scream.
It was unmistakably a gaze.
No sensory organ was employed, yet I understood.
…The Death Lord was looking at me.
And with that, all information that had defined my existence crumbled—.
As I touched the vanishing point of existence itself, where I could no longer be called anything at all—.
◆※Error※ [Error] ????????
Even Mungu could not maintain his existence.
And.
The Man’s voice reached me.
“I… remember… now.”
The Man’s violet eyes, hollow and void, turned toward me.
But I could not see his face.
Crack——!!
Spacetime itself was torn asunder.
My entire field of vision warped like a crumpled tin can.
Light lost its direction and spun in place.
Sound was delayed, overlapping, repeating endlessly.
And.
“My ─ame is Yu─.”
The Man’s voice too was torn apart.
Words were severed, meaning could not be conveyed.
“People ─ call ─ the ─ Pioneer ─.”
Thus.
“The Harbinger of Infinity—.”
The Man’s words never reached me, and I was sucked away into the torn spacetime as if being expelled.
* * *
Within a colossal maelstrom of spacetime.
Whoooosh—!
Space rippled and wrinkled like a sound wave.
The surroundings transformed into an endless tunnel in an instant.
Beams of light stretched out from all directions.
My body was….
No, my consciousness was passing rapidly through that tunnel.
Colors of every hue flooded my vision.
Blue, red, violet, green, pale green.
Crimson, deep blue, tan, orange….
And when it became the color of blinding radiance—.
Pop—.
My vision burst open before my eyes.
My consciousness rebounded as if it had derailed from the tunnel’s trajectory.
Crash!
My consciousness….
No, my body was hurled violently into the ground.
“Ugh…!”
My lungs compressed, and my breath caught sharply.
A high-pitched ringing echoed in my ears.
My head spun as though it might shatter.
And I could understand.
‘I’ve…come back.’
I had returned to the reality where I originally belonged.
It seemed a time paradox had occurred, ejecting me from the Valley of Kardun.
The reason I had entered the Valley of Kardun.
It was because the Death Lord had awakened.
But if the Death Lord had been sealed?
Then I would have no reason to enter the Valley of Kardun.
And the consequence of my being in the Valley of Kardun would also be lost.
A causality that could not occur.
Because of that, the Valley of Kardun expelled me.
In other words, the Man had safely interpreted death as ‘circulation.’
And so, this place where I now find myself.
I caught my breath and looked around.
‘Sylvandir Forest?’
The land of the Elves—Sylvandir Forest.
But then.
“Why is this…?”
…This shouldn’t have happened.

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————