The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 332

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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 332. Animals Do Not Betray (1)
Werebeasts swarmed densely before my eyes.
Yet they posed no threat.
They showed no intention of attacking me.
Like the Beast Legion I had brought from Feractrum, they regarded me as the Beast Lord.
‘Were these specimens The Emperor had been producing separately?’
Werebeasts and the Beast Legion.
These two were both similar and different entities.
The transformation factor extracted from Lycanthrope—Were.
Based on that foundation, The Emperor conducted experiments to create the Werebeasts.
The Emperor then subjugated these Werebeasts to T-Rex, the Beast Lord.
T-Rex redesigned the Werebeasts in her own manner.
T-Rex possessed exceptional skill in bioengineering and molecular biology.
Thus, T-Rex evolved them by focusing on the Werebeasts’ optimized abilities and maximizing their advantages.
Eventually, a single unified system emerged.
Bound together by hive consciousness—that was the birth of the Beast Legion.
The Emperor created the Werebeasts.
T-Rex advanced the Werebeasts.
This was how I could summarize it.
Therefore, even though T-Rex, the Beast Lord, had vanished, the Werebeasts still existed.
In the Imperial Palace Underground Laboratory.
Or.
In secret zones throughout The Empire.
Research on Werebeasts continued, and their production never ceased.
And now.
The Werebeasts before my eyes were such specimens.
Refined bioengineering weapons within The Empire—.
‘Did they respond to the hive consciousness?’
They were the Beast Legion, enslaved to hive consciousness.
More precisely, specimens destined to become the Beast Legion.
It seemed they had gathered in response to the hive consciousness—.
‘But I never activated the hive consciousness.’
I didn’t even know how to activate it.
I tilted my head and spoke.
“How did you all know I was here and find me?”
Crawk! Ooooh! Kwaang!
“You sensed my presence?”
Kiiiii! Kuruu! Kyaralak!
“Ah, so you felt the strengthened aura that arose as my physical stats increased.”
Or perhaps.
The aura of the Perfect Organism [UL] had been released unconsciously.
‘…Is that right?’
Honestly, I had no idea.
First of all, I couldn’t understand how I was able to comprehend their speech in the first place.
Perhaps that’s why, in one corner of my vision.
Kai stood frozen.
His face was vacant, his expression hollow.
“…?????”
It was hardly an expression at all.
It was as though every absurdity in this world had been crammed into a single visage.
But he must have already witnessed me commanding the Beast Legion through Feractrum—.
‘Ah, Kai wasn’t there.’
Now that I thought about it, Kai hadn’t been present at that time.
Only Rielin and Broombar.
And a handful of Dwarves.
In other words, for Kai, this truly was every absurdity in the world compressed into a single spectacle.
“…???????????”
His mind must have short-circuited.
Yet Kai was the first to rush toward me.
That was somewhat unexpected.
I thought things would still be awkward between us because of the matter involving his brother.
Even if those memories were fabricated, they were real to him.
And what about me?
Without any real explanation, I simply said, “Yeah, get some rest,” and moved on.
In a way, that was cowardly.
No, I was just a bad person.
Honestly, calling myself a scoundrel wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Yet Kai was the first to come running to me.
What conclusion had he reached on his own?
Or perhaps—
“????????????????”
…his mind had simply malfunctioned.
Well, in any case.
That wasn’t what mattered right now.
I turned my gaze away from Kai.
Croak! Ooooh! Kwaaang!
Kiii! Kuruu! Kyaralak!
‘What am I supposed to do with all of them?’
This was truly a vexing situation.
* * *
A sudden massive invasion struck the Whitewolf Territory.
Chaos erupted across the land, engulfing everything.
People fled in panic, scattering in all directions.
The Guard Corps immediately mobilized into combat readiness.
Alarms wailed from every direction, and massive siege weapons stood prepared for deployment.
And yet.
No battle ever came.
Not a single casualty.
No lives were lost.
Everyone stood bewildered, tilting their heads in confusion.
“What happened? How did this occur?”
“How did it end? Who stopped it?”
“Well, you see…”
A soldier scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he answered.
“It was controlled.”
“…Controlled?”
Skeptical gazes turned toward the soldier in unison.
The soldier shrugged, clearly uncertain himself.
“We haven’t received detailed information either. All we know is that Adrian did something.”
A moment of silence fell.
And within that silence, relief spread through the crowd.
Adrian.
If he had done something, then surely the situation was resolved.
Though the people had witnessed nothing and heard little, that single name alone was enough to bring them peace.
And so.
The incident seemed to pass as nothing more than a minor disturbance.
Until the beasts lined in formation came into view.
Thud! Boom!
Thud! Crack!
Thud! Rumble!
Thud! Roar!
Beasts marching in unison, striking the ground with their forelimbs.
They did not rampage.
They did not tear at one another.
Like well-trained soldiers, they maintained razor-sharp discipline and order.
Bewilderment seized the people more than fear.
“What… what is this?”
“What is that… what exactly is it??”
Pure, unadulterated bewilderment.
A scene utterly beyond comprehension, defying all reason.
“What???”
“What the—?????”
People’s minds began to malfunction one by one.
No, that couldn’t possibly be happening!
“Am I dreaming right now… or not?”
“Wait, did anyone else see that tail keeping the beat?”
“That’s really a Beast, right? It has to be, doesn’t it…?”
The rumors spread rapidly.
Shock and astonishment spread even faster.
* * *
Imperial Central Intelligence Agency.
Beneath a room bathed in faint magical light.
“All the escaped Werebeast Forces gathered in Whitewolf Territory?”
Elowin, the director of the Information Bureau, furrowed her brow.
Soon, her Aide cautiously opened her mouth.
“Y-yes, ma’am. There were no significant armed conflicts, and there were no casualties reported.”
“That means….”
“The Werebeast Forces appear to have submitted voluntarily.”
The Aide finished speaking and squeezed her eyes shut.
She dreaded the fury about to burst from Elowin.
And for good reason—the resources poured into producing the Werebeast Forces were staggering.
Countless studies and experiments.
Innumerable failures and discards.
When considering the manpower, gold, and materials invested, the figure was astronomical.
All of that achievement had been stolen away.
How could one not be furious?
The Aide swallowed hard.
She waited for a response with her shoulders hunched.
And then.
“…Actually, this worked out well.”
Elowin spoke calmly.
The Aide’s eyes, which had been squeezed shut, snapped open.
What had she just said…?
“W-worked out well, ma’am?”
“Yes.”
Elowin nodded and continued.
“The Werebeast Forces were designed to receive commands from higher-ranking administrators.”
A hive mind.
The subordinate entities bound to the hive mind possessed no individual consciousness.
They lacked the ability to think for themselves.
They lack the free will to act of their own accord.
That is why they are not permitted even to question orders from above, let alone voice objections.
An absolute hierarchy of command.
“Right now, the Werebeast Forces merely follow Adrian’s commands.”
The reason remained unknown to me.
How had he come to seize control of the Werebeast Forces?
That aspect defied clear interpretation in the present moment.
But.
“It is not impossible to wrest that control from him again.”
What if I claimed dominion over the Werebeast Forces through a power greater than Adrian’s?
“In an instant, every beast in the Whitewolf Territory would bare its fangs.”
And so.
The Whitewolf Territory would suffer an irreversible blow and collapse.
* * *
The Quarantine Zone within the territory.
Beyond the iron fence hastily erected near the Barracks.
The beasts settled in with docile composure.
There were no savage or ferocious beasts.
Ears folded back, claws retracted.
Only enormous creatures blinking their eyes in tranquil stillness.
Even the sporadic cries that escaped bore a gentle quality.
Kee-kook….
Kyoo-wook….
Kee-yung….
They resembled nothing so much as domesticated animals.
The seamlessly erected iron fence looked less like a protective barrier than a menagerie enclosure.
Perhaps that was why.
“What am I supposed to do with these creatures now?”
I found myself quite perplexed.
First, their numbers were simply overwhelming.
The Werebeast Forces that had escaped from The Empire.
The Werebeast Forces originally confined in the Quarantine Zone.
When I combined them all together.
“The numbers easily surpass Legion strength.”
The Quarantine Zone was on the verge of bursting at the seams.
“It seems research continued steadily even after I destroyed the core breeding lineage.”
In other words, The Emperor had not ceased.
Despite the absence of visible activity.
Despite remaining cloistered in the Imperial Palace without showing his face even once.
He had been secretly manufacturing Werebeast Forces and ceaselessly preparing for invasion of The Continent.
“And all that effort by The Emperor has fallen right into my hands.”
It was as if I had seized an entire legion of The Emperor’s forces outright.
I had essentially gained ten thousand soldiers without lifting a finger.
This was fundamentally different from my previous life.
A dramatic reversal that shook the very foundation of the battlefield itself…but.
“This isn’t something I can simply celebrate.”
First of all.
There was a practical problem.
Each and every Werebeast here was a bioengineered weapon.
“The amount they consume in a single day must be astronomical.”
The maintenance costs would be staggering.
Beyond that, there was housing, sanitation, management, and more.
All of it required specialized facilities.
The Whitewolf Territory simply lacked the infrastructure to accommodate this many Werebeasts.
“I could solve it with the money overflowing in my inventory, certainly.”
Fortunately, in this world, there was almost nothing that money couldn’t solve.
But not quite nothing.
There remained one critical problem that money could not resolve.
“Ultimately, they’re controlled by a hive mind, which makes them dangerous.”
The fatal weakness of a hive mind.
It was that anyone who could become a superior entity within the hive mind could command the entire legion.
It was the same as how I had seized command of the legion from T-Rex.
As I had taken it.
Someone else could take it too.
Therefore, if someone were to understand the structure of the hive mind and succeed in mimicking or implementing it?
“They would bare their fangs immediately.”
The hive mind is absolute.
When the ruler changes, all members transition with them.
“Of course, becoming a superior entity to my dominion would be difficult….”
Perfect Being [UL].
The genetic factors of T-Rex compressed within it.
In other words, I possessed the supreme command authority that had been the subject of the primordial hive mind.
That was why the Werebeasts had come to me even as they fled The Empire—.
“T-Rex’s hive mind was never completed.”
Ironically, it was because I had destroyed the core cultivation lineage.
An incomplete hive mind.
Thanks to that, I was able to neutralize the legion even before T-Rex.
And if I could do it.
Someone else could do it too.
It would never be easy, but the possibility was far from nonexistent.
“Because The Emperor exists.”
To reiterate: The Emperor created the Werebeast Forces.
Which meant the Legion’s control could be manipulated again at any moment.
“…What am I supposed to do with them?”
This was genuinely vexing.
Accepting them outright posed a danger.
Ignoring them entirely was even worse.
And culling them all?
“That doesn’t sit right with me.”
The Beast Legion was extraordinarily powerful.
Now, with war against The Empire drawing ever closer.
There was no way to secure a force of this magnitude in such a short timeframe.
“…And they’re pitiful, really.”
Strictly speaking, they were victims too.
Creations born from The Emperor’s atrocities.
Exploited and discarded biological weapons.
They had merely lived as commanded.
Look at them now.
Chirp, chirp….
Screech….
Whimper….
They crouched obediently within the iron fence.
Without orders, they did not move.
Yet their eyes burned with unconditional loyalty toward me.
If I commanded them to die?
They would perish without hesitation.
But that very quality made them a time bomb—unpredictable, liable to detonate at any moment.
“Hmm.”
No matter which path I considered, a clean resolution eluded me.
And yet, ultimately.
This was a decision only I could make.
Whether to accept the Beast Legion.
Or to eliminate them.
“Ugh.”
I deliberated.
Beyond mere deliberation—I agonized.
After that prolonged struggle, I reached my decision.
“I will erase their hive mind.”
A third path entirely—one I would forge myself.
* * *
Count Whitewolf’s Castle.
The Administrative Office situated at its heart.
Seraphia sat quietly before her desk.
More precisely, she was immersed in profound silence, a single approval document laid before her.
The title was brief and concise.
【Werebeast Higher Education Project】
“…???”
Seraphia’s mind momentarily short-circuited.

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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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