The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 24

—————

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

—————

Chapter 24. The New Master of the Snowy Mountain
Gelu Drake’s cervical vertebrae lay exposed through the wound Kai had carved open.
While piercing Gelu Drake’s hide with bare hands would have been difficult, tearing away the half-severed neck bones was well within the capabilities of a Strength stat of 22.
Crunch-crack-crack!!
The sound of bone splintering erupted literally. Gelu Drake was still resisting.
But Gelu Drake had already exhausted its strength.
Even having expended its final bastion—the Ice Breath—Gelu Drake’s resistance was utterly futile.
I continued applying force, tearing away the cervical vertebrae.
Only after the vertebrae connected to the neck were wrenched free along with the spinal column did Gelu Drake’s massive frame collapse to the ground.
Boom!
That colossal body buried itself in the snow of the Snowy Mountain, sending forth a tremendous tremor.
Almost simultaneously, translucent messages cascaded before my eyes.
◆You have defeated Gelu Drake!
◆You have acquired 8,180 combat experience!
◆Level up!
◆Level up!
◆Level up!
This signified Gelu Drake’s certain death.
“Haah…!!”
Only then could I release the tension from my body.
As the tension dissolved all at once, every muscle went limp.
Despite recovering my damaged body with Regeneration [B-], not a shred of energy remained.
I collapsed onto Gelu Drake’s corpse and examined the messages that had appeared.
But then…
The experience points were far from ordinary.
The monsters I had hunted thus far had never yielded experience exceeding 200.
Icetroll’s experience was 120.
Dermexus’s experience was 200.
Alacron and Lex’s experience were 100 and 80 respectively.
Yet Gelu Drake granted a staggering 8,180.
And that was from hunting merely a single creature.
This alone made it immediately clear that Gelu Drake was a monster I could never have hunted at my current level.
It was no accident that it was called the master of the Snowy Mountain.
I had truly come close to death this time.
As I caught my breath in a mixture of relief and joy, another translucent message appeared before my eyes.
◆You have cleared the Sudden Quest [You’re that strong?! Follow me to the Snowy Mountain!]!
◆You have acquired 16,500 quest experience!
◆Level up!
◆Level up!
◆Level up!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
Clearing the sudden Quest that had been generated upon encountering Gelu Drake allowed me to gain an enormous amount of levels.
Since checking each one individually was overwhelming, I immediately pulled up the “Player Information” window.
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Level] = 21
[HP] = 26
[MP] = 0
[Stats] = Strength: 22 Agility: 8 Endurance: 15 Mana: 1
[Experience] = 22.8%
【Additional Stats +8】
Over the past two weeks, sacrificing sleep and battling the cold while hunting had only netted me a +5 level increase.
Thus, my level before hunting Gelu Drake was 13.
Yet by subjugating a single Gelu Drake, I managed to gain +8 levels.
My current level is now 21.
Moreover, the reward from the sudden Quest was not merely experience points.
◆Goodness, what in the world!!!!!!!!
A message overflowing with excitement.
They streamed across my vision one after another.
◆You did not flee, but stood and fought to claim victory!!!
◆Against Gelu Drake, no less—the very master of the Snowy Mountain!!!
◆How wonderful!! How absolutely wonderful!!!
◆An Achievement so astounding it defies belief—leaping here, bounding there!
◆My jaw simply cannot help but drop!!!
◆As a reward, you are granted the Title – 【Master of the Snowy Mountain】!!!
‘A title?’
The title 【Master of the Snowy Mountain】 granted as a reward for the sudden Quest.
As if reading the question that had taken root in my mind, a translucent message streamed across my vision.
====
A [Title] is an honor bestowed upon [Players] who have achieved Achievements of seemingly impossible magnitude.
The acquisition difficulty of [Titles] varies wildly depending on the degree of impossibility, and some [Titles] possess effects that increase the [Player’s] stats and numerical values such as attack and defense power.
The lower the acquisition difficulty, the weaker the applied effect.
For instance, a title like 【Well, Today My Luck Seems Quite Good】 granted to a [Player] who dies after being struck by lightning in the field is a simple honorary title with no special abilities.
[Players] can simultaneously acquire and possess multiple [Titles], but the effect application can only be selected and applied to one at a time.
====
I roughly understood the mechanism.
In that sense, the title 【Master of the Snowy Mountain】 that I had obtained this time.
==【Master of the Snowy Mountain】==
[Acquisition Condition] – Subjugate Gelu Drake.
[Effect 1] – Terrifies all monsters inhabiting the Snowy Mountain. Terrified monsters experience a -15% reduction in all stats.
[Effect 2] – Increases all of the player’s stats by +5.
The title’s effects were… absolutely incredible.
Especially [Effect 2], which was raising my stats by a total of 20.
In other words, a single title possessed an effect equivalent to gaining roughly ’20 levels’.
‘This is completely broken, isn’t it?’
The effect was so absurdly overpowered that the thought escaped naturally.
Quest hadn’t made a fuss over nothing.
Just as I was marveling at the effects of the 【Master of the Snowy Mountain】 title.
◆Affinity Quest [Don’t Misunderstand—This Alliance is One-Time Only] cleared!
A translucent message suddenly materialized before my eyes.
It was notification that Kai’s affinity quest—one I had never intended to complete—had been cleared.
◆Kai’s affinity toward you has dramatically increased!
◆Kai’s affinity toward you has entered [Anger] status!
◆A person in [Anger] status harbors negative emotions toward you.
◆That person will view all your words and actions unfavorably.
◆However, unless you take special action, their emotions will gradually subside over time, transitioning to [Conflict] status.
◆You have acquired 32,320 Quest Experience!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
As the messages scrolled past, I realized I’d gained far more experience than from hunting Gelu Drake alone.
‘What just happened?’
That was precisely when the question formed in my mind.
“What exactly did you do?”
Kai approached me with a meaningful expression on his face.
* * *
Kai’s mind was in tremendous turmoil.
Utter chaos—a complete and total maelstrom of confusion.
The cause was undoubtedly Adrian.
More specifically, it was Adrian, who had demonstrated combat prowess rivaling Gelu Drake.
The Adrian that Kai knew was on an entirely different level.
Of course, he had recognized that Adrian had changed somewhat based on his recent displays.
But that did not mean he could rival Gelu Drake.
Gelu Drake was a monster classified as ‘Unslayable’.
Avoiding its territory was the only viable strategy.
Even Kai, the ruler of the Northern Region, could only estimate a 30% chance of victory, yet Adrian had single-handedly restrained Gelu Drake.
And he had done it with his bare hands.
That’s… impossible.
Of course, unlike knights who wielded long weapons such as swords, there existed those called ‘martial artists’ who used their bodies themselves as weapons.
The combat prowess of martial artists was never inferior to that of knights.
Fundamentally, they were those who had professionally studied and trained in killing.
They were those who systematically researched and developed ways to end lives more efficiently, constantly striving to improve.
At first glance, Adrian’s combat style resembled that of such a martial artist.
But martial artists also wielded ‘aura’.
The human body that martial artists used.
It was simply not suited as a weapon.
That’s why the aura of martial artists developed with an emphasis on body enhancement.
Such a strengthened body could easily block an aura sword, and sometimes even shattered aura swords.
The martial techniques of a martial artist who reached the Master realm were comparable to an ogre.
Therefore, Adrian could not be called a martial artist.
Adrian could not handle aura.
His talent for mana itself approached zero.
Kai could assert this with certainty because he had witnessed it with his own two eyes.
Adrian had not used any aura or mana in his battle against Gelu Drake.
In other words, Adrian had confronted Gelu Drake with nothing but his pure physical body.
But that wasn’t all.
The real reason for Kai’s confusion lay elsewhere.
‘How did he block the Ice Breath…’
Adrian had blocked the Ice Breath single-handedly.
It was something even Kai found impossible.
Kai had managed to block avalanches on the Snowy Mountain.
But he had no confidence in blocking Ice Breath.
Even if he pushed the aura he possessed to its absolute limit, it would be impossible.
Yet Adrian blocked the Ice Breath without using any aura whatsoever.
“What exactly is he.”
What on earth was Adrian’s true identity.
He was far too different from the Adrian that Kai knew.
It was as if… he had become a different person entirely.
Especially Adrian’s command to pull the soldiers back.
Adrian was not using the soldiers as sacrificial pawns—he had volunteered himself as the sacrifice instead.
Crack!
I had thought he threw Kai as bait and fled, but that wasn’t it either.
Crunch!
Even in a situation where lives hung in the balance, Adrian did not flee.
It was difficult to admit.
…Our movements clicked into place perfectly.
Without speaking, we grasped exactly what the other wanted.
Crunch, crackle!
As if we were partners who had entrusted our backs to each other for decades.
Fighting alongside Adrian against Gelu Drake, Kai felt an inexplicable exhilaration.
Snap!
Perhaps that was why I had come to acknowledge it, even if only slightly.
Crack!
Adrian was no longer merely the wastrel of Count Whitewolf’s House—I had come to acknowledge Adrian as a person, however marginally.
Crack! Crackle!
“…?”
Kai’s head tilted involuntarily.
The swirling thoughts that had been consuming him came to an abrupt halt.
Crackle!
That grotesque sound that had been echoing since earlier.
As Kai slowly raised his gaze, Adrian was nowhere to be seen.
Adrian had been right before his eyes just moments ago.
Could he have shot skyward?
Of course not.
Then had he sunk into the ground?
Of course that either—
Crack! Crackle!
…it was somewhat accurate.
The grotesque sound that echoed once more was coming from Gelu Drake.
And each time the sound rang out, Gelu Drake convulsed.
Gelu Drake was not alive.
Gelu Drake had met certain death.
Which meant—
“Surely not….”
The color drained from Kai’s face and expression.
Just as the thought of “surely not” was ravaging his mind—
Crunch.
From within Gelu Drake’s body, ‘that sound’ echoed faintly yet distinctly.
* * *
Kai called out to me and stood there vacantly.
Kai’s gaze was lowered slightly, his expression as if he were mulling something over.
It seemed he had something to say to me.
I had no idea what he wanted to say, but regardless of what it was, I had no time to listen to such things.
Gelu Drake’s corpse cooling rapidly.
From a heart completely devoid of life force, I could extract no genetic material whatsoever.
I had already wasted considerable time confirming the Quest reward.
If I delayed any further, I might not be able to extract any genetic material at all.
How could I just throw away a Gelu Drake I hunted with such effort?
So I didn’t pay any attention to whatever Kai was spouting.
I had no interest in it whatsoever.
Unfortunately, my sword couldn’t cut through Gelu Drake’s hide.
A simple blade without aura infused into it couldn’t even leave a scratch.
I had no choice but to dig through the severed neck.
I had to enter Gelu Drake’s body myself and find its heart to extract it.
Crack, crunch!
A creature spanning a full ten meters.
It took quite some time just to reach the heart.
Still, as if proving it hadn’t been dead long, Gelu Drake’s insides were remarkably warm.
I barely managed to burrow my way to the chest where the heart lay.
After all the twists and turns, I finally found the heart.
Fortunately.
‘It’s still in good condition.’
The heart’s vitality hadn’t completely extinguished. Thanks to desperately preserving it, its condition remained excellent.
I brought Gelu Drake’s heart to my mouth without hesitation.
And then, crunch!
The moment I crushed the heart with my teeth.
◆Kai’s favorability toward you has plummeted sharply!!
Suddenly, Kai’s favorability toward me crashed into the abyss.
◆Kai’s favorability toward you has entered the [Disgust] state!
◆A person in the [Disgust] state dislikes and despises you!
◆The [Disgust] state does not display active aggression toward you, but merely shows passive rejection—a reluctance to be near you.
Well, this keeps flip-flopping.
‘But at least it’s not hatred?’
◆Well, that’s fortunate!!!

—————

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

—————