The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 3

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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 3. Return (2)
I had returned to the past.
Of course, it made no sense.
It was my own thought, yet utterly absurd.
But what if returning to the past was truly real?
Everything would be explicable.
The absence of scars from the battlefield.
Hands as pale and refined as a nobleman’s.
My level being 1.
All my stats reduced to zero.
If I was not the Predator of the Allied Forces but a wastrel of Count Whitewolf’s House, then every puzzle piece fell perfectly into place.
“No matter what, that still doesn’t—”
KROOOOAAAHHH!!!
The Ice Troll’s roar shattered my thoughts.
Perhaps it mistook my vacant stance for fear, for the Ice Troll approached with a predatory grin, as though closing in on already-captured prey.
I still didn’t fully understand what had happened, but…
‘Questions later.’
The Ice Troll before me came first.
The Ice Troll was no trivial monster.
Its regenerative power was formidable, and the raw destructive force emanating from that colossal frame was devastating.
A wastrel who had spent years drowning in gambling and debauchery could never defeat such a creature.
But…
Tap!
I kicked off the snowy ground of Snowy Mountain and lunged forward.
The Ice Troll hadn’t expected me to suddenly charge, thinking I was merely paralyzed by fear.
Kroa?!
The Ice Troll faltered in confusion.
The distance between us closed rapidly.
Even if I had returned to the past, my memories remained intact.
The experience of countless battlefields and crossing death’s threshold innumerable times stayed with me completely.
Whenever someone asked me who my teacher was, I gave the same answer.
My teacher was ‘the battlefield’ itself.
I hardened my hand into a blade.
The creature still hadn’t recovered from its shock.
The Ice Troll was a monster that reigned as predator in this Snowy Mountain.
Thus, it had never conceived that it might become prey.
I drove my hardened hand straight into the Ice Troll’s chest.
Thud!
Yet my strike failed to pierce the Ice Troll’s hide.
‘Damn!’
A mistake.
I am no longer the Predator of the Allied Forces.
All the abilities I gained through predation have vanished.
Moreover, my body is not the hardened physique from my days with the Allied Forces.
There is no steel-like frame forged through countless battlefields.
Now I possess only the body of a dissolute wastrel from Count Whitewolf’s House, squandered on gambling and debauchery.
With such a feeble form, I cannot tear out the Icetroll’s heart, nor even scratch its hide.
‘Damn it all.’
I swiftly withdrew my hand and swept across my waist.
My past self at least carried a thin rapier at my hip, pretending it was a self-defense weapon.
A typical ornamental blade wielded by a vain nobleman’s son.
It possessed virtually no practical combat value, yet it was still a blade.
Kwuaaaaaagh!!
The Icetroll’s roar struck my eardrums with brutal force.
At last composing itself, the Icetroll’s eyes locked onto me.
My mind races with crystalline clarity.
The instinct for survival pierces through my consciousness.
I cannot retreat now. I must see this through to the end.
I reversed my retreating steps and pressed forward once more.
Among two-legged monsters, the Ogre is undoubtedly called the supreme predator.
The Icetroll cannot compare to such a creature.
Yet it is still a ferocious monster worthy of being called a ‘predator.’
Such a monster now bares its hunger toward me.
That savage bloodlust.
The very gaze itself seethes with roiling violence.
I read the violence and murderous intent contained within that stare.
‘Now!’
Whoosh!
The Icetroll’s brutish fist barely grazed past my ribs.
Yes, it was indeed just a graze.
!!
Searing agony tears through my entire body, my senses ringing with white-hot pain.
My mouth falls open involuntarily, a silent scream tearing from my throat.
Extraordinary destructive force.
…Yet I endure. I must endure.
I grit my teeth hard.
I forcibly anchor my fading consciousness.
My eyes snap wide open with fierce determination.
Now it is my turn.
Honing my senses to a razor’s edge, I drive my blade toward the troll’s chest.
Thud!
My three swords pierced deep into the Ice Troll’s hide.
I had brought along swords with flashy designs or reasonably decent quality—relics from my past self.
Screech—!
The creature wailed in agony, thrashing its claws at me once more.
I opened my eyes wide, focusing intently on its movements.
If I got caught, I would die.
But I would not retreat.
I lowered my stance and evaded the sweeping claw, driving deeper inward while pouring more force into my grip on the three swords.
Squelch!
The three swords sank even deeper into the Ice Troll’s chest.
Yet it did not fall.
What could I expect from swords so ornately designed?
Besides, I had never expected to bring it down with a single strike.
‘Found it!’
Through the blade’s tip, I felt the Ice Troll’s pounding heart.
The troll’s unique ability—regeneration.
The core of that regenerative power lay in its blood.
If the heart was destroyed, it could not supply blood, and thus its regeneration would weaken considerably.
In other words, the heart was the troll’s weakness.
Screech—!!
The Ice Troll cried out in panic.
It thrashed its claws again to restrain me, but I pierced its heart first.
Splash!!!
The heart was punctured, and blood erupted like a fountain.
I quickly retreated, and the flailing Ice Troll’s claws instantly lost their strength, grasping at empty air.
The towering body swayed and collapsed, sending a small tremor through the ground.
◆You have defeated the Ice Troll!
◆You have obtained 120 combat experience!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
Messages flooded my vision.
Without thinking, my head tilted in confusion.
“It died from that?”
Honestly, I was bewildered.
Of course, the heart was the troll’s weakness.
But it shouldn’t have died from merely being pierced by three swords.
It would take a bastard sword brimming with aura, hacking away at the heart repeatedly, to kill it.
Much less an Ice Troll.
A mutated variant of a troll with regenerative capabilities pushed to their absolute limit.
The Emperor had rounded them all up and turned them into potions.
Against an Ice Troll, a sword adorned with nothing but superficial elegance was no better than a toothpick.
I’d need to punch dozens of holes through it just to have a chance at killing the thing—so what was I doing?
“It must have been a weakened specimen.”
That certainly seemed to be the case.
Looking at it now, the creature was visibly emaciated.
It appeared to be an individual that hadn’t eaten in nearly a month.
Since the core of its regenerative power lay in its blood, the creature’s regenerative capacity fluctuated based on its nutritional state.
Compared to other monsters, starvation was particularly lethal to an Ice Troll.
“That explains it.”
The blow that had grazed me was something I could have endured.
Had I encountered a healthy specimen, I would have faced considerable suffering.
Most likely, I would have been the one to die.
This was nothing short of extraordinary luck.
“Come to think of it, my past self encountered this Ice Troll as well.”
And I survived.
More precisely, I managed to escape.
The fact that even with my poor physical condition I could flee from this Ice Troll meant it definitely wasn’t a healthy specimen.
Still, an Ice Troll was an Ice Troll.
As the tension drained from me, the area where the creature had grazed me began to throb with excruciating pain.
“I think I’ve lost a few ribs—ugh!”
When I probed with my fingertips, a sharp, grinding pain shot through me.
It was merely a glancing blow, yet I was in this state.
Had this been the body of someone hardened as a Predator of the Allied Forces, such a thing would have been unthinkable.
But the body that Count Whitewolf’s House’s reckless heir possessed was far too fragile.
In this condition, even moving my body or breathing was difficult.
◆Tutorial Quest [What on earth is happening?!] has been cleared!
◆As a reward, [Inventory] has been unlocked!
◆You have acquired 200 Quest Experience!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
◆You did not flee from the Ice Troll—you stood and fought, claiming victory!
◆Remarkable! Truly remarkable!!
◆As an additional reward, [Stat +1] has been granted!
Messages cascaded across my entire field of vision.
Judging from the notifications about level-ups and stat increases, something had changed in the [Player Information] I’d seen earlier.
But I could check that later.
For now, tending to my body took priority.
“I need medical attention immediately….”
The landscape of Snowy Mountain was, no matter how I looked at it, hardly an environment conducive to healing.
Which meant there was only one option.
“So the Ice Troll’s regenerative ability is something I couldn’t devour before.”
Devouring.
The Ice Troll was a monster that inhabited my homeland, yet I had never managed to devour its abilities.
Part of it was because I had awakened to my devouring power late, and by the time I understood what it could do, The Emperor had already driven the Ice Trolls to extinction.
“The Ice Troll’s regenerative ability, then….”
I carefully extracted the heart from the fallen Ice Troll.
Befitting its massive frame, the heart was nearly the size of my own head.
Still warm to the touch, it bore testament to its recent death.
“Hah…!”
I took a deep breath and brought the heart to my lips.
Crunch.
The tough muscle of the heart was crushed, and thump!
My own heart began to race violently.
As if invisible hands were strangling my throat, my breath caught, and the world turned crimson.
My reason drowned in scarlet, my consciousness fragmenting and slipping away.
…A side effect of devouring.
My devouring ability came with several ‘constraints’ and ‘side effects’.
The primary ‘constraint’ was that I could not gain abilities from a heart that had completely lost its life force.
In other words, I had to consume a ‘living heart’ ‘directly’ to obtain its power.
Eating the heart of a corpse offered no such workaround.
But that was merely a constraint, after all.
It was difficult to call it a true weakness.
Which was why the most fatal flaw of devouring could be called its ‘side effect’.
Using the devouring ability engulfed me in ‘madness’.
My reason vanished in an instant, leaving me no different from a monster.
Unfortunately, even The Saint’s miracles could not eliminate the side effects of devouring.
As a result, I could not use the devouring ability recklessly.
Later, with Ian’s help, I gained some measure of control, but infinite growth remained impossible.
And even returning to the past, the side effects persisted.
I had only grown younger; I was not a different person, so it was only natural.
I was not ignorant of this.
But right now, I had no choice.
An environment where treatment was not feasible.
To restore my shattered ribs, this was the only method available.
Besides, to refrain from devouring the Ice Troll’s regenerative ability when it lay before me would be foolish.
Saaaa-!
A blood-red haze crept through my mind, spreading like tendrils of fog.
Soon, very soon, I would lose my reason.
And I would become no different from a monster.
It was fortunate that there were no people nearby.
That was precisely when it happened.
-There are footprints leading here!
A sudden, thunderous cry pierced the air.
I turned my head to see armed soldiers trudging through the snow toward me.
“He’s here! We found Adrian!”
At the soldier’s words, the area erupted into commotion.
Someone from behind the ranks of soldiers suddenly rushed forward with urgency.
Hair the color of moonlight itself, ethereal and luminous silver.
Her silver locks cascaded past her shoulders, dancing gracefully in the blizzard’s embrace.
Her skin was as pure and white as fresh snow blanketing Snowy Mountain.
Her eyes, large and brilliant as rubies, and her face, etched with subtle shadows, only magnified her breathtaking beauty.
Eyelashes delicately raised.
Lips as crimson as a ripe apple.
This woman of pristine, flower-petal beauty was—
“Brother!”
My sister, Seraphia.
“You’re safe!”
Seraphia cried out, her face a mixture of relief and joy.
But I felt nothing of the sort.
Not the slightest bit of joy.
Seraphia. The Frost Lord.
The Allied Forces’ greatest enemy.
The witch who took the hero Ian’s left arm.
Thump!
My heart thundered violently as predatory madness erupted explosively within me.

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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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