The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 254
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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 254. Immortal vs. Immortal (2)
Kai’s deep blue eyes snapped open.
A flash of azure light tore through the air, followed by a cascade of thunderbolts that engulfed the world.
By that moment, Kai’s blade was already extended forward.
A piercing, tearing sound.
The world twisted as if screaming.
The Queen retreated backward.
Kai did not pursue her.
In an instant, he moved to Iliana’s side and gently laid Seraphia, whom he had been cradling, onto the ground.
“I entrust her to you.”
Iliana nodded silently.
Kai turned his head.
His deep blue aura grew even more intense.
The Queen had resumed her attack stance at a short distance away.
With crimson wings fluttering and eyes gleaming, The Queen radiated the overwhelming pressure of a sovereign who had lived through countless eons.
The Queen’s hand swept through the empty air.
Each time, dozens of crimson projectiles materialized.
Iliana could discern their nature.
‘Magic Missile?’
The most fundamental offensive spell.
Its power was not particularly strong.
But if infused with tremendous mana, the story would be different.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!
Thousands of crimson Magic Missiles were unleashed.
A red barrage consumed her vision.
A single direct hit would shatter her entire body.
Yet Kai did not evade.
His deep blue aura condensed at the blade’s edge.
In response, crystalline formations of azure light wailed and vibrated all around him.
Shhhhwooosh!
The aura’s vibration and the crystal’s resonance harmonized.
From Kai’s blade tip, the aura erupted outward.
Simultaneously, the blood projectiles extinguished themselves and evaporated in mid-air.
Iliana’s eyes widened as if they might tear open.
“…!!!”
Of course, Iliana was not well-versed in swordsmanship.
But what Kai had just displayed—
It had clearly distorted the laws of the world.
Much like Mongma’s reality manipulation.
Yet Kai’s aura represented a more fundamental approach than Mongma’s.
Mongma’s reality manipulation deceives the world through the illusion of dreams.
It is a form of deception—making the nonexistent appear real, tricking the world into accepting a false premise.
But Kai was different.
No deception.
No distortion, no trickery.
He subjugated the world through sheer force of will.
Thus, whether the world accepted it or not was irrelevant.
He trampled its resistance, shattered its laws, and tore through its logic itself.
Kai charged forward directly.
The blue aura at his blade’s edge swelled dramatically.
The Queen prepared her defense.
Then, abruptly, she clenched her teeth.
She abandoned the defense and vanished into a torrent of crimson blood.
Pop!
She leaped across space itself, evading Kai’s strike.
The Queen had recognized it.
What manner of power Kai wielded.
In that fleeting instant, she understood that his attack could not be blocked by any conventional means.
Iliana’s fingers trembled.
“This… this can’t be real.”
That overwhelmingly dominant Queen being pushed back.
The shock was too great for Iliana to bear.
Yet the Queen did not yield entirely.
Around the Queen.
Crimson blood erupted violently.
Roooaaarrr!!
The blood swept across all directions.
Space itself turned scarlet.
The descending blood carried an ominous and terrible killing intent.
Kai’s eyes widened sharply.
Kai surely understood as well.
Just as the Queen had recognized Kai’s power, Kai had recognized the Queen’s.
Yet Kai neither retreated nor dodged.
He raised his blade and charged straight through.
Boom—!!
The blood shattered with the explosion.
Kai’s body was crushed to pieces as well.
He was pulverized beyond recognition.
…Yet he did not die.
That was what mattered.
Kai did not die.
From my crushed body, a deep blue aura surged forth, and my blood-soaked form was instantaneously reconstructed.
“You…!!”
The Queen’s eyes trembled visibly.
For a moment, it appeared as though The Queen was being pushed back by Kai.
But that was not the case.
Kai’s newly awakened power could not overwhelm The Queen.
The Queen knew this fact.
That is why she was engaging in a war of attrition.
Yielding what must be yielded, she hunched her body and waited for her opportunity.
Such was The Queen’s calculated strategy.
Iliana’s eyes gleamed as she rapidly analyzed the nature of the battle.
Kai and The Queen.
Neither of them could die.
Both had been ‘completely’ excluded from death.
But the methods differed.
Kai had excluded death by subjugating the world.
The Queen had excluded death by existing outside the world.
Therefore, Kai did not experience the world’s resistance.
The Queen, on the other hand, was experiencing the world’s resistance.
Only, The Queen was suppressing all that resistance. Even now, in this very moment, The Queen endured the world’s resistance while suppressing death itself.
In other words, The Queen wore shackles.
Yet she remained so formidable.
Befitting one who had lived through eons, she was also composed.
Extreme composure and overwhelming strength.
It was utterly unbelievable, yet Iliana could still discern The Queen’s weakness.
As long as The Queen existed in this world, she forever stood at death’s threshold.
Therefore, if one could harness the world’s power.
If one could suppress The Queen with that power alone.
Whoooosh—!
Iliana now clearly understood what she must do and what she could do.
* * *
Kai, whose entire body had been shattered to pieces.
Yet Kai rose to her feet unscathed.
The Queen suffered considerable shock, both mentally and physically.
The impact ruptured her internal organs.
Her hands twisted grotesquely.
Her senses dulled.
Yet they regenerated in an instant.
Her twisted hands returned to their proper place, and her dulled senses swiftly recovered.
A body completely restored.
Yet The Queen ground her teeth.
…I never anticipated the situation would unfold this way.
The first to be arranged.
My battle with Seraphia had unexpectedly laid bare The Queen’s depths.
The power of immortality is infinite.
But the power of bitter frost.
That was an infinitesimal force capable of neutralizing infinity itself.
And infinitesimal is the ultimate concept that converges all infinities toward zero.
In the end, infinitesimal and infinity.
It was a clash between limit and infinity.
0 x ∞
This value is indeterminate.
It depends on which is stronger—limit or infinity.
If the limit (0) is stronger, the value becomes 0.
If infinity (∞) is stronger, the value becomes ∞.
If limit and infinity are evenly matched, the value converges to a specific number.
This time, infinity prevailed.
The infinite force possessed by the power of immortality.
The limiting force possessed by the power of bitter frost.
The expansion speed of infinity was merely slightly faster than the convergence speed of bitter frost.
Thus the value became ∞.
The power of bitter frost was neutralized.
But will the same result occur next time?
Infinity is imperfect.
Because it has no end.
There exists a hypothetical end called Absolute Infinite, but that is merely a “conceptual abstraction.”
Completed infinity has never been realized and can never be realized.
In other words, infinity expands eternally but cannot achieve completion in itself.
At that juncture.
Infinity is fundamentally a force that harbors incompleteness.
But the limit is different.
Because zero—a completed concept—actually exists.
Though the question of “can one completely reach zero?” remains separate, an endpoint still exists.
The direction the limit pursues is unwavering.
Thus the limit can always develop by presupposing that tangible endpoint.
Therefore, though the limit may appear weaker than infinity at first glance, the limit is actually the more refined concept and the more perfected force.
And so, the one arranged first.
Should Seraphia’s power become even slightly more precise—
Then it would be The Queen’s infinity that would be trampled.
In that sense, Seraphia.
She was both a threat and an opportunity.
A threat that could trample upon my infinite power.
An opportunity to perfect my infinite power.
Within that crossroads, I sought to claim Seraphia.
But then.
…a variable emerged.
A fatal one at that.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The sound of flesh being torn filled the space.
And in that instant.
Whoosh.
Someone moved with a subtle sound.
A sound?
It was closer to a sensation than a sound.
The sensation of space’s axis warping.
Invisible and without presence.
‘It comes.’
By instinctive warning, I drew forth my blood mana.
And something erupted from the void, detonating against it.
Boom—ooooo—aaang!!
The roar fractured in stuttering bursts.
The trailing afterimage’s trajectory, following belatedly, tore through the air and struck me once more.
Boom-aaaaaang!!
The impact of collapsing space.
I was swept away.
Yet in that brief moment, I caught sight of the afterimage’s source.
A golden-haired handsome man—Kai.
An aura of dark-blue flames hurtled toward my throat.
I gritted my teeth and jerked my head back.
By a hair’s breadth, my throat was spared.
But the second aura that followed pierced into my abdomen.
Crack!
The impact bent my waist.
My body flew backward through the air.
Crash!
My hurled form shattered the ground.
I spat blood from my mouth.
“Damn it!”
A curse escaped unbidden.
How could this possibly be considered human swordsmanship, human martial prowess?
The Queen rose to her feet.
Her entire body was twisted and contorted.
Yet it was manageable.
Blood flowed anew, and flesh knitted itself back together.
But her condition was deteriorating.
In every conceivable way.
The magical essence of her blood was slowly hemorrhaging away.
Most critically, her mental fortitude was collapsing.
‘I’ve endured the world’s resistance for far too long.’
The pressure of that resistance had accumulated relentlessly.
Now it was even beginning to suppress her immortal authority itself.
Kai, by contrast, suffered no such burden.
Though both wielded immortal power, the paths by which they had attained it differed fundamentally.
The Queen gnashed her teeth.
…It was humiliation.
That there existed an immortal being more formidable than herself, the Immortal Queen.
Yet this did not mean Kai was stronger than her.
A more perfected immortality was merely a different manifestation of immortality.
It did not determine superiority in raw power.
In truth, the Queen’s strength bore no relation to immortality itself.
Perfect understanding.
Her power was rooted in the rationality that pierced through and wielded truth itself.
Therefore, should she unlock the chains she had not yet fully severed, she held absolute conviction that she would transcend into an existence beyond anyone’s reach.
That very belief was the testament to her dominion across the ages of eternal life.
Kuaaaaaaaa—!!
Crimson wings of tremendous magnitude unfurled once more.
Surging torrents of blood tore through the air in all directions.
Kai was driven backward.
As expected.
The advantage in raw power lay with her.
If this continued to its conclusion, victory belonged to the Queen.
The Queen held this certainty—until that very moment.
Crack—!
A violent spark erupted.
The unfurled wings of blood wavered precariously.
‘This is….’
The world’s resistance.
The world’s power was violently repelling her.
But why?
The Queen’s head snapped around sharply.
There stood a small girl with an azure countenance.
Iliana was inscribing a blue magic circle into the empty air.
“You wench!!”
The Queen immediately scattered blades of blood.
Kai stepped forward to intercept them.
A dark blue luminous aura split The Queen’s field of vision.
Crash! Boom!
The blood blades lost their trajectory and shattered.
“How dare you!
The Queen’s eyes contorted with fury.
Crimson mana surged forth once more.
Veins bulged across her form.
Her wings trembled.
Yet Kai remained unflinching.
Flash—!
A blow like lightning descended upon her.
The Queen roared, amplifying her mana.
“Aaaaaaaah!!”
Crack!
Kai’s joints shattered under the immense strain.
The Queen reaffirmed her conviction once more.
The advantage in power was undeniable.
She was the stronger one.
Boom boom boom boom boom—!!
The blood mana roared and spiraled out of control.
The rampaging crimson mana attempted to forcibly warp the world—but could not.
Hum! Hummmm!
Countless magic circles densely inscribed the space surrounding The Queen.
The crimson mana halted.
Not by The Queen’s intention.
‘Could it be…?’
The Queen’s lips trembled.
Elakr la Ventri—Expel the roots of destruction.
…It did not work.
The Queen’s eyes widened in shock.
Hummmmmm…!!!
The light of the magic circles enveloping The Queen’s surroundings intensified.
The Queen recognized this magic circle instantly.
So she did not resist.
There was no point in resistance.
All The Queen could do was wait in silence for this magic circle to complete.
Bewilderment and resignation mingled in The Queen’s gaze as it turned toward one figure.
Iliana.
Blood streamed from every wound across her face.
‘She grasped the structure in that brief moment?’
…It was remarkable.
The Queen felt genuine admiration.
She had never imagined a human could possess such insight.
Today I experienced many emotions.
Tension, shock, wariness, surprise, astonishment, and.
“…I acknowledge it.”
A humiliating concession.
“That I have been defeated today.”
A bitter taste of defeat.
Azure light engulfed The Queen.
Uuuuuuuuuuung—!!
The light reached its crescendo, consuming and compressing her form entirely.
In that instant.
The Queen’s crimson eyes flashed with brilliance.
That gaze did not turn toward Kai.
Iliana.
As if to say she would not forget her, The Queen’s eyes burned like a final scar etched into memory.
“Do not think this is the end.”
Fwooooooooosh!
Azure light erupted with such brilliance the world itself seemed to resonate.
The Queen had vanished completely.
Utterly banished from this realm.
What remained was the eerie lingering presence she had carved into this place, and.
-I shall return without fail.
…Only The Queen’s final words, like a curse, echoed hollowly through the void.
* * *
Hidden Quest, success probability 0%.
I had returned to this place after clearing that quest.
This was where I had been before being dragged into the Valley of Kardun—.
‘My room?’
My room in the Whitewolf Territory.
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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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Zakkart@1313
I was really expecting him to save the day at the end. I’m actually pleased that his friends could handle things without him.