The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 300

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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 300. Wherever the Dwarves Make Their Home
T-Rex, who had opened the path toward ultimate evolution.
T-Rex’s form twisted violently.
Crack-crack-crack!
T-Rex’s bones shattered.
Arms, legs, and tail folded inward.
The bloated musculature receded, and the exoskeleton wrapped around itself.
Skin tissue curled inward in an instant, condensing into a single mass.
A colossal egg.
Yet it was no ordinary creature’s egg.
The quintessence of evolution, its origin unknowable.
An alien existence that defied every biological theory in existence, something whose precedence could not be defined—
The primordial form of evolution itself.
The Core of Evolution.
Just as when I had absorbed Fafnir’s essence, T-Rex was attempting to evolve once more.
But this time was different.
It was not absorption.
A redefinition—discarding everything that came before and being born anew in an entirely different manner.
A new lifeform was emerging, shedding the laws of the world of life itself and following only T-Rex’s own laws.
This evolution might very well be—
The Ultimate Lifeform.
The closest approach to that pinnacle—
Or perhaps an evolution that had already reached it.
‘I must destroy it.’
I had to destroy it at all costs.
Once the evolution completes, it’s over.
…No one, absolutely no one, could stop that.
I poured calories unreservedly into my legs.
And then—boom!
Dragon Impact [E] launched my body at supersonic speed.
The distance closed in an instant.
I drove the Monomolecular Blade [S] into the Core of Evolution.
Clang—!!
…It held.
The Monomolecular Blade [S] could not fully cleave the Core of Evolution.
Yet it still penetrated.
It simply did not split it apart.
I immediately followed with a second strike.
But—
T-Rex was not standing idle either.
Crackle, crackle, crackle—!!
Strange tentacles erupted from the core.
Tentacles resembling T-Rex’s tail writhed, probing the space around them.
Some of those tentacles lunged toward me.
And others shifted direction—.
Screech?
The disoriented Beast Legion members were swallowed one by one.
Screech—!!
Anguished wails—!!
The legion cried out in agony.
I evaded the tentacles while activating the hive consciousness.
“Scatter!”
The legion fled, dodging the tentacles.
…But not all could escape.
A considerable number of beasts were engulfed by the tentacles and sucked into the core.
Squelch, squelch.
A viscous membrane formed around the core.
It resembled residue left behind after the legion’s biological data had dissolved away.
Yet it was not waste.
It was raw material.
T-Rex was processing the absorbed biological resources of the legion to create new life.
Soon, larvae erupted from within the membrane.
Shriek, shriek, shriek!
The bizarre cries that echoed forth.
Their appearance was as if—.
‘T-Rex?’
They resembled T-Rex.
Though their bodies were far smaller.
Their exoskeletons were soft, bearing the marks of newborns.
Yet they were creatures that had inherited a portion of T-Rex’s very essence.
It was as though I were witnessing T-Rex’s juvenile form.
Piercing shrieks—!!
The larvae tore through the membrane in unison and burst forth.
All of them bore T-Rex’s likeness.
They appeared to be individuals created through T-Rex’s self-replication of genetic code.
And with that, my command… failed to reach them.
The hive consciousness could not connect with them.
The cloned T-Rexes rushed toward me, their hostility and murderous intent laid bare.
I immediately lowered my stance.
Thrusting my right hand forward at the first creature that charged directly at me, I pierced through its jaw.
Crack!
I reflexively twisted my elbows outward, driving them into the two creatures converging from both sides.
Thud! Thud thud!
‘They’re not nearly as strong as that.’
These clones were far weaker than T-Rex herself.
Strength, exoskeleton, reaction speed.
Everything fell markedly short.
Yet they weren’t pathetically weak either.
They weren’t at the level I could dispatch with Dragon Burst [E].
Or rather.
They weren’t at the level I could dispatch with Dragon Burst: Rapid [E].
I had to land precise, decisive blows to eliminate each one—
‘There are too many of them.’
Clone T-Rexes spawning endlessly.
For every one I felled, four or five more burst forth.
But in my past life, T-Rex possessed no such ability.
Which meant.
‘…A mutation.’
It seemed the Mutation [S+] had created a new genetic factor in response to the threat of overwhelming numbers.
Mutation [S+] crafted suitable genetic traits.
Selection Pressure [S+] maximized those genetic traits.
Thus T-Rex had evolved into something far more intricate and refined than in my previous life.
And now.
It was striving to evolve into an even more flawless organism.
“Hngh!”
I gritted my teeth and pushed my power to its limit.
There was no room for hesitation.
I had to destroy the core of that evolution.
The core of evolution was T-Rex.
And there were two ways to kill T-Rex.
1. Strike her with an attack she hasn’t yet adapted to, killing her instantly.
2. Kill her with an attack she cannot adapt to at all.
The second method—the Monomolecular Blade [S]—was blocked.
The first method—my physical stats and Rilselenium’s energy—she had already adapted to both.
‘Can Heavenly Dragon’s Wrath [M] truly be the finishing blow?’
T-Rex’s adaptation.
It was fundamentally different from mere resistance or defense.
The instant a strike landed, that data was already learned, and within mere seconds her very structure transformed.
And T-Rex had now adapted to Rilselenium’s energy.
‘This won’t work.’
Even the Celestial Dragon’s wrath won’t suffice.
There was a reason T-Rex retreated to the core of evolution during our battle.
The calculation was complete.
The conviction was absolute.
A calculation and conviction that even if I wagered everything right now, I could never harm T-Rex.
The arrogance and pride of a Dragon.
Yet not without foundation.
…There was no way.
Then.
I had to forge a way.
Methods one and two.
If both approaches were neutralized, I needed to create a “third solution”—one that shattered the boundary itself.
I rapidly retraced the memories of my past life.
Ian and the Beast Lord.
But back then, T-Rex didn’t possess the mutation.
The Beast Lord had already met death before Fafnir awakened.
Fafnir awakened after The Emperor began his full activities, and it was when The Death Lord was in the midst of his own.
Before that, T-Rex had already fallen to Ian.
In other words, in my past life, T-Rex never absorbed Fafnir’s essence.
Therefore, what I had to defeat now wasn’t the Beast Lord.
Nor was it T-Rex.
It was evolution itself—the ultimate life form.
‘I have to surpass that Ian from back then.’
…Could I?
I ground my teeth together.
‘This is the only possibility.’
I had to act now.
What I needed in this moment wasn’t caution.
Recklessness.
I had to succeed even at the cost of pushing beyond my limits.
Even if I had to burn myself to ash!
“Rielin! Broombar!!”
I cried out as I retreated sharply backward.
“Buy me time!!”
Without hesitation, Rielin surged forward.
…For some reason, only Rielin.
Broombar didn’t move.
He stood rooted in place, his lips clenched.
I didn’t look back.
There was no time.
I ignited all the energy coursing through my body.
Whoooooosh!!
Flames erupted across my entire form.
I focused my mind.
As my sense of sight was completely severed, my other senses honed themselves to razor-sharp precision.
I concentrated once more, recalling the teachings.
The end of a path one can never reach.
A perfect wall that forbids even understanding itself—despair incarnate.
-Adrian, the world of time we ordinarily traverse is one.
…Ian’s teachings.
The world of time where all natural phenomena and the myriad things of existence are perceived with perfect clarity—one (1).
This unit of time is divided into ten fragments, becoming the time of a tenth.
That divides again into ten pieces, becoming the time of a hundredth.
That divides once more into ten fragments, becoming the time of a thousandth.
0.001 seconds—a thousandth.
This thousandth of time divides again into ten fragments, becoming the time of ten-thousandth.
Which divides into the time of a hundred-thousandth.
Which divides into the time of a millionth.
Continuing through ten-millionths, hundred-millionths, billionths, ten-billionths, hundred-billionths, trillionths—
Until reaching the time of ambiguity itself.
0.0000000000001 seconds.
A time of such profound vagueness that even the world’s laws cannot be perceived with clarity.
When that time divides again into ten fragments, it becomes an instant.
When divided into a hundred fragments from there, it becomes a flash.
And finally, when divided into a thousand fragments, one reaches the ultimate extreme of time itself—
A Moment.
-The ultimate speed of Ultima Veritas is contained within this ‘Moment’ of time.
Ian’s ultimate speed compressed everything into this Moment.
‘Can I do it?’
With the energy I possess now?
At my current level?
…I have no certainty.
No, it seemed I likely could not.
But I must try.
I absolutely must succeed.
As I opened my eyes, all existence became vividly perceived within my razor-honed senses.
The evolutionary nucleus striving to be reborn as the ultimate life form.
The clones of T-Rex descending upon me.
Rielin desperately holding them back.
And Broombar, standing motionless.
All of this flowed within the span of a single moment.
I honed that sensation, that perception of the instant, to its absolute limit.
And I burned every ounce of energy I possessed.
Whoosh, roooaaarrr!!
Scorching flames erupted across my entire body.
My veins blazed like a furnace.
My nerves crackled like lightning.
Thus I wrung out every last drop of energy to fracture the moment itself.
…Yet.
“Gaaahhh─!!”
My consciousness reeled.
My senses shattered and my body fractured.
…It wasn’t enough.
And I fell short.
With the energy I currently possessed, my very essence lacked the power to breach that temporal wall.
Yet I do not stop.
I transcend it.
I surpass my limits.
I must burn everything within me to touch the realm of the instant.
There.
I will detonate my entire being in a single breath.
Like a thunderbolt that pierces and cleaves the world itself!!
* * *
Broombar understood.
What that colossal egg was gestating.
And thus every resistance unfolding before his eyes was merely a fragment destined to be swallowed by the vast current of evolution.
Adrian was burning every ounce of his energy in opposition.
But Broombar could perceive it.
More precisely, he could imagine it.
Hyper Phantasia.
In other words, transcendent imagination.
Broombar could perfectly imagine every concept, phenomenon, and substance that existed—even the laws governing them.
Based on this, he could grasp the information of concepts and materials with greater precision and refinement.
Striking a hammer within one’s mind.
Actually forging iron in a blacksmith’s forge.
There was no difference between the two.
And so he could perceive it.
…It cannot be done.
…It is impossible.
Adrian’s power was undoubtedly miraculous, yet that colossal life transcended even that miracle.
Even if Adrian poured every ounce of his energy into it, it would change nothing.
Even if divine wrath itself descended upon us, it would change nothing.
It would only slow T-Rex’s evolution for a moment.
That’s why I couldn’t move.
There was no point.
Like this.
Feractrum is finished.
Feractrum’s destruction cannot be prevented.
The history, traditions, and will of the Dwarves—harder than steel itself—crumble before that overwhelming evolution.
I could see Rielin resisting.
But it was meaningless.
“Kyaaah─!!”
Rielin’s blood soaked the ground.
Becoming nourishment for other lives within it.
Even Rielin’s communion with nature had become a sacrifice to evolution, leaving her in such a helpless state.
…There is no meaning to resistance.
Today.
Feractrum falls.
And the land of the Dwarves, Feractrum.
Feractrum was far more than merely the Dwarves’ homeland.
The Dwarves are a race bound to the earth.
Feractrum was the Dwarves’ history—the Dwarves themselves.
Thus, Feractrum’s destruction was the collapse of an entire civilization, the annihilation of a people’s very soul being torn from its roots.
And so, today.
The Dwarves lose their land.
They lose their name.
And in the end, they will lose their very existence.
Broombar’s head bowed downward.
“What are you doing!!”
Rielin’s voice reached me.
Rielin was still fighting to the end.
She had not lost hope.
But Broombar had.
He quietly accepted the reality that was to come.
The fate of Feractrum—the pride of the Dwarves, the race of steel and flame—crumbling in this very moment.
“Listen to me!!”
Rielin shouted.
“Keeper of the Dark Elven lands!!!”
Not a Dwarf, but a Dark Elf.
Not a clan leader, but a keeper of the land.
Rielin was calling Broombar by that name.
“The homeland where we Elves dwell is Sylvandir Forest!!”
Sylvandir Forest.
The ancestral home of the Elves.
Yet now, a chapter of Elven history lost to time.
Still, Rielin’s voice did not waver in the slightest.
“But Sylvandir Forest does not merely mean the land!!”
Rielin spoke.
“Wherever our Elves make their home!!”
Whatever that place may be.
“That is Sylvandir Forest!!”
And so she declared.
The Forest Guardian, Rielin.
To the Land Guardian, Broombar.
“Where is the Feractrum where you Dark Elves make your home!!!!!”
Feractrum is not merely land, she said.
Even if the fortress built of mountains and stone and metal crumbles now.
Even if the history your ancestors built over thousands and tens of thousands of years collapses today.
As long as the Dwarves endure.
As long as the Dwarves grip their hammers.
Feractrum shall never fall.
Though it may be humble for now.
Though the flames die and the metal grows cold.
If the Dwarves who will kindle the forge’s eternal flame across generations yet live.
Then that is the very heart of Feractrum.
The Immortal history of the Dwarves.
“It is not over yet!!! So do not surrender!!”
The Forest Guardian of the Elves, Rielin.
To the Land Guardian of the Dark Elves, Broombar.
“You are a stubborn one who knows not the meaning of surrender!!!”
…She awakened him.
Broombar felt as though something had struck his head with tremendous force.
A dazed mind.
Why, he wondered.
A childish fairy tale surfaced in his thoughts.
The foolish Dwarf.
The history of Feractrum, which had marched toward ruin by the Dragon Fafnir.
…Was it the same then?
Was that foolish Dwarf no different?
Did he harbor the same thoughts as Broombar, watching Feractrum crumble…?
What could he have possibly been thinking?
What was in his heart?
At the very least.
He would not have succumbed to despair like Broombar.
He would have grasped that hammer.
Amid the ruins of Feractrum reduced to ash, he would have cried out and struggled to preserve even a single spark of flame.
And so the tale was passed down.
And so the legend endures in memory.
“I am…..”
And so.
Imperfect though I may be.
Not great, perhaps.
The Dwarves have survived to this very day.
“I am….”
Feractrum.
The hallowed ground built up across countless generations by the swing of hammers.
A history forged in fire and metal.
This land is undoubtedly.
Both the past and present of the Dwarves.
But the future of the Dwarves need not be bound to this land alone.
The future of the Dwarves is not determined by land.
But by the Dwarves themselves.
Wherever these two hands that grip the hammer.
Wherever these sturdy two legs.
Stand at this very moment.
That place becomes the future of the Dwarves.
And.
“I am….”
No matter what trials may come.
No matter what despair may arise.
To grasp that hammer and uphold and continue the future of the Dwarves is—.
“I am Broombar!!!!!!!!”
Broombar, the earthkeeper.
The weight contained in that name.

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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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