The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 255

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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 255. Winds of Upheaval (1)
A familiar ceiling and a landscape I knew well.
This was undoubtedly my room in Whitewolf Territory.
Fortunately, I had managed to return safely.
I immediately opened the window to inspect the state of Whitewolf Territory.
Whitewolf Territory was intact.
It didn’t appear that much time had passed either.
‘There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong.’
The problem was that the Calamity Quest remained uncompleted.
In other words.
A catastrophic situation was currently unfolding.
I immediately left my room.
A Maid happened to be passing by.
A familiar Maid.
Her name… I couldn’t recall it.
The Maid saw me.
At that same moment, her eyes widened in shock.
“Eh…? Eek?!?!”
She collapsed as if she’d seen a banshee.
“Y-you were alive all along?!?!”
From the Maid’s reaction, I could tell that my absence had not been brief.
But it didn’t seem to have been an eternity either.
I asked the Maid about the current situation.
* * *
After quickly grasping the situation, I headed straight to Whitewolf Territory 2.
I could see it.
A vast domain engulfed in a deep blue aura.
‘Image Realization?’
Image Realization.
The conceptual manifestation inherent to Unique Aura.
In other words, a sovereign domain that overlays one’s unique imagination upon reality itself.
It emerges when a single person’s inner self, will, and imagination distort the laws of the world—a transcendent state beyond the Master tier.
It is never easy to achieve.
Throughout the history of the Continent, it was not an unprecedented realm that had never been theoretically established.
Ian.
He had walked this path before.
In any case.
Within that domain, the user’s imagination becomes the very law of the world.
All existing natural and physical laws are rendered void.
Therefore, entering that domain was not difficult.
An intruder must bear the penalty of being bound by the Deployer’s laws.
There was no need to actively block entry into the domain.
I entered the domain without difficulty.
The moment I stepped inside.
‘What in the world…?’
I had never witnessed such carnage.
The Vister soldiers lay strewn about, drenched in blood.
All of them were unconscious.
Their injuries were catastrophic.
A soldier with a twisted, shattered arm.
A soldier whose leg had half-melted away.
A soldier clinging to life with a collapsed chest cavity.
…Not a single soldier remained unscathed.
It was utterly devastating.
Like a slaughterhouse made manifest.
The nightmares from my past life overlapped with the scene before me.
Never again. Never a second time.
That was the vow I had made regarding those nightmares.
The countless deaths I could only watch helplessly unfold.
Anguished screams stained with blood.
All of it seemed to be happening before my eyes once more.
My teeth clenched with a sharp crack.
My fists squeezed until they trembled.
The thread of reason nearly snapped—but ultimately held.
…Because they did not appear to be dead.
A faint but unmistakable thread of life persisted.
The spirits’ power was sustaining their lives.
I swept my gaze across the surroundings rapidly.
And there—Rielin and Broombar.
I could see them both collapsed, unconscious.
Though deep wounds marked their bodies, they clung to life, surrounded by the spirits’ aura.
Beside them lay Seraphia, half-dead.
Her head was matted entirely with blood.
Her hair, clotted like gore, had lost its silvery sheen.
Yet still she drew breath, barely.
…This was hell itself.
Not a single person remained unharmed.
Only two.
Far ahead, only Iliana and Kai still stood, gasping for breath.
“Ah, Adrian….”
“Indeed… they arrive with remarkable speed.”
Thud. Thud.
Iliana and Kai collapsed unconscious on the spot.
And at that very moment.
◆Calamity Quest [The Immortal Lord] cleared!!!
A Quest clear message materialized before my eyes—
◆Well now, it seems even Calamity Quests are clearing themselves these days?
The absurd message obscured my vision—
◆The greatest swindler in the history of The Continent!!
◆Standing ovation from all!!
◆Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
…The relentless messages erupted like fireworks in all directions.
* * *
The highest council chamber of Levent Kingdom.
“…What did you say?”
Chief Intelligence Officer Krvil’s voice cracked.
The documents he had been reading scattered as his trembling hands released them.
“S-say that again. Just now… what did you say?”
“Whitewolf Territory has achieved victory, sir.”
A report as devastating as a death sentence.
Krvil remained speechless for a long moment.
“What was the disparity in military strength?”
“Fifty thousand to five thousand, sir.”
“Five thousand on Whitewolf Territory’s side?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And yet they achieved victory? Overturning a tenfold difference in strength?”
“Indeed, sir.”
One of Krvil’s eyebrows twitched convulsively.
Beside such a shaken Krvil.
The newly arrived aide stood frozen, mouth half-open.
He understood all too well what a tenfold military disparity meant.
Lanchester, the legendary commander of The Continent.
The tactical manual he left behind became the foundation for all military strategy on The Continent today.
Among them, the most widely cited theory.
Lanchester’s Law of War.
-In melee combat, the difference in troop strength manifests as the square of combat power.
A tenfold difference in troops means a hundredfold difference in combat power.
From which derives another principle.
-When troop disparity exceeds threefold, tactical and geographical advantages become irrelevant.
There is no hero against overwhelming numbers.
A great army has no need for tactics.
Human wave assault itself was an overwhelming tactic that nullified all strategy.
This was precisely why the advantage of defense was limited to a threefold multiplier.
This theory had been proven by countless real-world examples.
No commander who took the field doubted this law.
But what?
Five thousand defeated fifty thousand?
No, they overwhelmed them?
“….”
Krvil clamped his mouth shut.
Yet his lips still trembled slightly.
After a long silence, Krvil finally spoke.
“How in the world?”
And then came the intelligence officer’s report.
“That is….”
The intelligence officer’s expression was somehow unsettling.
* * *
“That doesn’t make sense!?!?”
A sudden, booming cry rang out.
A shout as if an Ogre’s lungs had been boiled and consumed.
Every eye in the tavern turned toward the source.
A face flushed crimson with drink and eyes wide as saucers—wider even than the wine glass itself.
“Whitewolf Territory won?!”
A moment of silence fell.
Hands holding cups froze mid-motion.
Soon after, someone’s wine glass slipped from their grasp and shattered on the floor, breaking the silence.
“They won?! The Territory!!?”
“How is that even possible??”
The tavern descended into chaos.
No one believed it.
Some scoffed, saying it was absurd.
Others stood abruptly, demanding people stop spouting nonsense.
The rumor gained no credibility.
“How could that be possible? The power disparity was tenfold! Tenfold!”
“And they were all seasoned warriors too. Yet they lost?”
It was true that Whitewolf Territory was rising to prominence at the center of the Continent.
But military might was another matter entirely.
The limitations of being a frontier territory were unmistakable.
Everyone knew that when the power gap widened to tenfold, battle became impossible.
Even with the advantage of defense?
Three times is the limit.
“How on earth did they win??”
“Could it be… Adrian…?”
Adrian.
The hero who had averted disaster in Caravana, the one who faced the Death Knight alone—if it were Adrian, the story would be different—.
“Wasn’t he reported missing?”
Adrian was indeed missing.
That was precisely why the invaders had set their sights on Whitewolf Territory and launched their assault.
Therefore, it was reasonable to dismiss the rumor as false.
“…But something feels off about this.”
“What is?”
“The lords of the Western Region suddenly opened the Corridor Zone passage?”
“Really? Those stiff-necked western bastards?”
“Yeah, and apparently the lords of the Eastern Region have convened an Allied assembly.”
The political situation across The Continent had taken an ominous turn.
As if they were all prostrating themselves before Whitewolf Territory.
The coalition of lords from various nations was hastily reversing its stance—.
“So they really… won?”
The rumor swiftly gained credibility—.
“But how exactly did they win?!”
The tavern descended into chaos.
“Maybe the Territory had some incredible strategic weapon? Something on the level of state power, you know?”
“State power level? What’s that?”
“Like a secretly hidden Dwarven ultra-long-range magical cannon. Or perhaps a calamity-class elemental spirit king.”
As various theories piled upon one another, the rumor that had been merely a cudgel was swiftly forged into a legendary blade.
“Could the Territory actually be raising a dragon?”
“Does that even make sense?”
“Well, there are Dwarves in the Territory, aren’t there?”
“True enough—the bond between Dwarves and dragons is an ancient tradition.”
“Even in legends, it was always the Dwarves who catalogued and managed the treasures dragons hoarded.”
“Wasn’t the Dwarf Kingdom itself founded long ago in a cave where a dragon slumbered?”
People began adding their own flourishes, honing the blade of rumor ever sharper.
“Perhaps the World Tree had its roots stretching beneath the Territory’s soil.”
“The World Tree of the Elves, you mean?”
“Mana springs forth wherever the World Tree’s roots reach, doesn’t it? The Territory’s prosperity might not be mere chance.”
“They say a single root of the World Tree upholds the entire world.”
“If it extended beneath the Territory….”
“Then even an army of fifty thousand wouldn’t dare set foot there! It would be land protected by the World Tree itself!”
“So the Territory is a sacred ground blessed by the heavens?!”
Within the tale passed from mouth to mouth—.
The Whitewolf Territory became a legendary blade, wielded from mouth to mouth among the people.
* * *
The true horror of war lay not in the fighting itself.
Rather, it revealed itself after the screams had faded.
The recovery of the fallen.
The treatment of the wounded.
And alongside soothing the suffering of those who survived.
“When will all these damaged facilities be restored?”
The real war, one could say, was only beginning now.
Still, there was one thing.
Through the various functions of my “Management Mode,” I could assess the war’s damage at a glance.
“Let me see….”
Housing stability was reasonably sound.
Food reserves were abundant.
Public order and morale were quite stable.
“Overall, the damage isn’t severe.”
Of course, there was some damage.
The plunderers’ rampage had caused the most destruction.
The Ether Carriage routes were devastated.
Several infrastructure facilities were destroyed in cascade.
Nearly the entire territory was paralyzed.
“But the Dwarves are already working on repairs.”
Everything would be restored within days.
Facilities could be destroyed without much concern.
Things that were broken and damaged?
They could simply be fixed.
Therefore, what truly mattered was the loss of life—
“Fortunately, casualties were minimal.”
First, our response was swift.
I evacuated the territory’s residents into the castle quickly, so deaths were few and far between.
And second.
The follow-up measures were excellent.
“The Forest Wardens are Forest Wardens for a reason.”
In my past life, they had been the Supply Command’s rapid strike force.
Rapid strike forces primarily handled rear operations.
But when enemy special operations units infiltrated, they were the elite troops tasked with sweeping them out—conducting search, reconnaissance, and annihilation operations.
And now, reviewing the records.
“Their capabilities haven’t diminished one bit.”
The moment the plunderers infiltrated, they immediately cut off their escape routes.
And they fully exploited the environment and terrain.
They rapidly established an encirclement, then annihilated the raiders without mercy.
There was no compassion.
The slogan of the Supply Command.
[The force that fills the beginning and end of the battlefield]
It encompassed every duty and responsibility to protect the lifeline of supply.
Thanks to that, there were almost no casualties.
More precisely, there were almost no civilian casualties.
“Many Vister soldiers were injured, though.”
Still, thanks to proper first aid, their lives were not in serious jeopardy.
With the Elves’ spirit magic and regeneration potions, recovery posed no major issues.
“Broombar and Rielin are both safe, and Seraphia is….”
There was a problem.
Seraphia’s current condition was quite poor.
Reckless use of authority.
Seraphia should have been dying slowly…but.
“Now it’s not quite at that level anymore.”
Iliana’s cure.
Isolde’s divine power.
And thanks to Seraphia’s efforts in steadily raising her proficiency with authority in the gaps between.
“Now using authority no longer carries death in its wake.”
Though compared to The Frost Lord of old, she still had far to go.
“Kai and Iliana are fine too.”
However, they remained unconscious.
In that sense.
“What on earth happened in Whitewolf Territory 2?”
All the parties involved were knocked out cold.
Of course, there were suspicions.
“It seems to be The Immortal Lord.”
An entity that rendered three heroes combat-ineffective.
An entity capable of reducing Seraphia to such a state.
Moreover, there were not many entities capable of doing this to Kai, who had even manifested his mental realm.
“The quest title itself suggested as much.”
But that was something to investigate gradually.
In any case.
As if testifying to the ferocity of the battle, everyone bore wounds and fatigue, yet their conditions were manageable.
“…Thank goodness.”
It truly was a blessing.
Never again, never a second time.
The vow I had sworn—never to recreate that day’s nightmare—was being honored.
It was something I could never have accomplished alone.
But now, things were different.
Bonds from my past life and new connections forged in this one.
Their strength was filling the void within me.
In any case.
Now I finally had the leisure to verify something.
The rewards from the Calamity Quest, [The Immortal Lord].
“Let me see….”
First, there was the clear experience.
◆You have acquired 30,240,000 Quest Experience!
With the 5x amplification effect of the title 【Egoking’s Overlord】, I was able to gain approximately 30 million experience points.
My level rose by +5.
It wasn’t insignificant, but it felt somewhat underwhelming.
“Combat experience is better now.”
The absurdity of the special skill, Growth Accelerant [EX].
Receiving experience in the hundreds of millions at every turn made even Quest experience feel dull.
However.
This Calamity Quest’s rewards also contained a ‘new special skill’.
◆You have acquired the special skill, Transcendence Factor [EX]!
…A new special skill with an unusual rank from the very start.

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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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