The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 364

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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 364. The Laws of Nature
Ultima Veritas.
Ian’s swordsmanship.
Composed of six fundamental sword forms, each containing the essence of six martial disciplines.
I learned it directly from Ian.
That’s why I could be certain.
What Blake had just unleashed was Ultima Veritas.
I couldn’t fathom why.
But just as Memoria had imitated me, Blake was imitating Ian.
“This is the power that changes the world!!”
Blake raised Ahimsa Yuda overhead.
Colossal force converged into the blade.
Mountain Pressure Strike.
Ian’s swordsmanship infused with the essence of Heaviness.
Crash!!
…I managed to block it.
But that was all.
“Ugh…!”
My arms trembled with numbness as the impact burrowed deep into my bones.
The essence of Heaviness.
It wasn’t merely about channeling strength.
It was a directional force that pulled everything into existence, crushed it, and trampled it underfoot.
Simply standing within its trajectory.
Felt like facing a mountain—the pressure bore down on my entire body.
Boom!!
…His power had grown stronger.
Blake’s mana no longer carried ashen undertones.
Pitch-black darkness.
As if unrefined malice had taken physical form.
I understood immediately.
‘Mana Overdrive!’
Ian’s technique—causing the aura within one’s body to run rampant to maximize physical capabilities.
Its effect surpassed even Dragon Blood Explosion.
No, it was overwhelmingly superior.
‘Danger!’
I activated Fluid Evasion.
An evasion technique infused with the essence of Fluidity.
I slipped past the Mountain Pressure Strike.
In doing so, I seized an opening for a counterattack.
Blake didn’t respond and simply stepped back several paces.
Kwaaaaaaaaaah──!!
Blake was engulfed in pitch-black darkness.
His eyes, now completely darkened, were no longer those of a human being.
I used my predator’s instinct to examine Blake’s information.
==【Character Information】==
Name: Blake Battenberg
Classification: Animalia, Mammalia, Hominidae, Human
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Traits: Contempt for the Weak[L], Future Vision[T]
…It wasn’t there.
Blake possessed neither the ability nor the authority to wield Ian’s swordsmanship.
Just one thing.
Future Vision[T]—something that hadn’t been visible before—
Kwakwakwakwakwa!
The landscape around Blake was torn to shreds.
Then a blade strike that raked across the entire space descended upon me.
‘Steadfast!’
One of Ian’s sword techniques.
A swordsmanship that maximized the essence of Stiffness.
…I couldn’t block that.
I immediately threw myself out of the way.
Blake followed instantly.
A movement as if he had predicted my actions beforehand.
‘Lumen Pax?’
No, it was different.
It resembled the prediction mechanism of Lumen Pax.
But the fundamental structure was different.
◆Future Vision[T]
: The user can perceive the process by which the future is formed. Through this, they can observe and intervene in real-time with events and existences that occur within the continuous progression of time.
It wasn’t merely predicting the future.
How that future is constructed.
Understanding that.
And intervening in the very process itself to draw out the optimal outcome.
In short, it was the ability to design the future.
…Now I could finally understand.
The strongest of lords.
Another level beyond another.
…I could now truly comprehend it.
The existence of observational indeterminacy
(The Being of Observational Uncertainty)
Why The Darkness Lord came to be called by such a title.
* * *
Adrian slipped away like a loach through mud.
But it mattered not.
In the end.
It was merely one of the futures Blake had foreseen.
And the futures Blake could perceive were infinite.
Moreover, Blake could select which futures to manifest.
A future where Adrian extended his left hand to counterattack.
A future where he bent his knees to lower his center of gravity.
A future where he twisted his flank to evade, then unleashed his bizarre ability.
Blake perceived every possibility.
Confirmed how each outcome would conclude.
Then pulled only the most advantageous future into reality.
Thus, everything Adrian did.
Attack, defense, response.
All of it fell within the flow Blake had orchestrated.
No matter what he attempted, he remained in Blake’s palm.
He would believe himself to be choosing of his own volition.
But in truth, it was merely the scenario Blake had written.
And that scenario’s conclusion was Adrian’s death.
It drew ever closer now.
No path to escape, no gap to break through.
Every possibility was sealed.
There existed no future in this place where Adrian survived.
“You die here today.”
Blake’s sentence.
Ahimsa Yuda tore through Adrian’s heart.
Splurt!
Erupting blood fountained into the void.
And Blake’s body staggered.
“…?”
Blake could not comprehend what had just transpired.
A searing agony that shredded his mind in an instant.
When his gaze fell downward, Blake’s chest lay torn open in a long gash.
A critical wound—his heart had nearly been rent asunder.
‘How is this possible…?’
This was a future he had not foreseen.
A future Blake had not designed.
Something felt off.
Something was definitely wrong.
Blake peered into the future once more.
‘…I can’t see it?’
The future had become invisible.
It was as dark as The Abyss.
Blake clutched his head.
“Ugh!”
His thoughts tangled into chaos.
The possibilities could no longer extend forward.
The countless streams of future that had branched endlessly began converging toward a single point.
‘This is…’
The present.
Blake lifted his gaze.
And he could see it.
Leon.
He was staring directly at Blake.
A brilliant golden light rippled from the pendant hanging around Leon’s neck.
“Surely not…”
Blake could perceive the entire truth.
* * *
Leon’s eyes glowed with radiant light.
I could understand it now.
The ability of Present Sight [L].
Through it, Future Sight [T] could not escape the present.
The timeline had been locked in place.
Neither past nor future.
Present Sight [L], which perceives only this singular moment, had seized Future Sight [T].
Legend [L] rank—two tiers below Transcendence [T].
Yet by borrowing the power of the Yong’anseok pendant, he had transcended that limitation.
But the price was far from negligible.
“Krrrraaaaahhhhh…!!!”
Blood tears poured from Leon’s eyes.
His nose began to bleed.
Crimson blood trickled from his tightly clenched lips.
…He could not bear it.
Blake’s authority clearly exceeded what Leon could withstand.
His mind shattered, his optic nerves tore.
His brain boiled.
“Aaaaagggghhhhh…!!!”
Leon’s body and mind were collapsing simultaneously.
Without even a scream escaping his lips.
His entire frame convulsed and trembled.
Yet Leon refused to surrender.
Only his ability to seize the present moment could keep Blake imprisoned.
And Blake knew this truth as well.
“How dare you!!”
Blake swung Ahimsayuda with devastating force.
Pitch-black darkness swept forth like a tempest.
Sovereign Burst.
Ian’s swordsmanship elevated to the pinnacle of Mastery.
I lunged forward.
Unfurling the genetic blueprint of the Perfect Organism [UL], I unleashed its defensive biological abilities without restraint.
“Grraahhh…!!”
…Yet still, I could not block it completely.
Kwaaaaaang!
The defensive biomembrane was torn to shreds.
Fragments and shockwaves burst through.
Some of them hurtled toward Leon.
At that very moment.
Someone stepped in front of Leon.
Lucas.
He unfurled a sword barrier, blocking the cascading fragments and shockwaves.
Kwakwakwakwabang!!
Tremendous impacts hammered against the barrier.
The surface of the barrier warped.
Cracks spiderwebbed across it.
It seemed it would be torn asunder by the overwhelming force in moments.
“I will hold this line…!!!”
Lucas endured.
His ability—Indomitable [E].
A Master-tier ability that reduces all damage by [-60%].
“You wretched bastards!!!”
Blake’s eyes blazed with madness.
Lucas coughed blood.
But he protected Leon to the very end.
In doing so, he created an opening for me.
“Go now…!!!!!!!!!!!”
A miraculous gap opened in that fleeting instant.
I restructured the form of the Perfect Organism [UL].
Pure offense.
I extracted only the genetic traits optimized for that singular purpose and charged toward Blake.
“Blake, you said nature follows the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest.”
Crash!
The blow detonated.
Blake’s body rocketed backward.
I didn’t stop. I kept running.
And as I did, I spoke.
“Ogres are vastly superior to goblins. Yet what is the reality?”
Goblins flourish across the entire Continent.
But Ogres teeter on the brink of extinction.
“Do you know why?”
I unleashed a relentless barrage of punches toward Blake.
Boom, crash! Boom-boom-crash!
The explosions cascaded in chain reactions, engulfing everything around us.
“Because nature does not follow the law of the jungle.”
It’s a common misconception.
People see only what’s immediately before their eyes.
They watch Ogres devour goblins.
They remember only the weak fleeing.
And they mistake it for nature’s absolute law.
But it isn’t.
Nature follows a different law.
Survival of the adapted.
Those who adapt survive.
“Nature follows this law of adaptation—the survival of the fit.”
I kept every explosion under my control.
And in that instant.
Boom!
The force of the explosions detonating simultaneously tore through space itself.
Blake unfurled darkness to defend.
I didn’t relent.
Crash!!
A second explosion overlapped and erupted.
Blake’s darkness twisted and fractured.
I continued speaking.
“All living things die.”
Their lifespans differ, but everything eventually perishes.
And when viewed across the entirety of nature.
The differences in lifespan between species hold little significance.
Three hundred years of a turtle’s life.
A single day of a mayfly’s existence.
From nature’s perspective?
It matters not.
The length of one’s life is irrelevant.
“What matters is whether that life’s genes pass to the next generation.”
That is the essence of evolution.
Boom! Crash!
A cascade of explosions continued relentlessly.
Blake could not respond.
The future timeline [T] had been seized by the present timeline [L].
The power to design the future could not surpass the force that commands the present.
It was a variable even the future timeline [T] had not foreseen.
“Thus, nature permits every possibility with astonishing generosity.”
Truly absurd.
Pointless.
Impossible to realize.
Nature even permits the possibility that a conscious mind might suddenly appear in empty space with a pop.
“Therefore, the diversity of the natural environment is virtually infinite.”
To survive in such a world, life adopts countless survival strategies.
Some drastically suppress their metabolism.
Others parasitize different organisms.
Still others produce numerous offspring.
Swift as a cheetah.
Mighty as an Ogre.
“How each life adapts to its environment differs for every creature.”
Yet whether strong or weak.
Whether swift or slow.
None of it truly matters.
Only adaptation and survival matter.
If a creature lives but a single day yet leaves offspring behind?
That is a successful strategy.
Conversely, if a creature lives three hundred years without producing descendants?
Then it has been eliminated.
And humanity.
We, a weak and arrogant species, chose our survival strategy.
“Communal living.”
Individual humans were frail, but our communities were strong.
When we lacked ability, we sought help from others.
When others fell short, someone else stepped in to aid them.
A single meal.
A set of clothes.
The light that illuminates the night.
We could enjoy these things only because someone made them possible for us.
“Blake, that someone you call the weak.”
Even if they were weaker than me.
They could do what I could not.
I could not defeat T-Rex.
Without Broombar.
I could not have become a Perfect Lifeform [UL].
Without Rielin.
Even after becoming a Perfect Lifeform [UL], it was the same.
I could not have killed The Immortal Lord.
Without Iliana.
I could not have shaken off Aurec and the Special Operations Bureau agents.
Without Kai.
And I could not have stopped Blake’s Future Sight [T].
Without Leon.
Without Lucas, who protects Leon.
“I would have died here.”
A Perfect Lifeform [UL] is also weak.
Against Future Sight [T].
Against Ian’s swordsmanship.
A weakling unable to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.
Everyone would be the same.
When placed in unforeseen circumstances.
If left alone in the Northern Snowfield, no one could survive by themselves.
Then.
In our natural state, we are all weak.
When such weaklings.
—Ughhhhhh…!!
—Hold on, Your Highness…!
Come together with other weaklings.
—All Royal Guard! Do not retreat!
—Protect the people to the very end!!
To protect yet another weakling.
“That was the ‘survival strategy’ that allowed our humanity to build this brilliant civilization.”
Merely wrapped in the names of morality and ethics.
Altruism and justice too.
In the end, they were strategies for survival.
Humanity has survived this long by adopting such survival strategies.
“Why do we protect the weak? It’s simple.”
Because we never know when they might become the strong in the face of nature’s infinite possibilities.
An easily fattened constitution is troublesome, certainly.
Just as those prone to obesity become advantageous in times of scarcity.
In primitive times, the physically strong and powerful led humanity.
But in modern times, the physically weak yet intellectually gifted lead the world.
Those with disabilities.
Those with frail bodies.
Those prone to illness.
Even if they appear weak now.
In certain circumstances, that very weakness.
becomes adaptability, becomes the key to survival.
What dinosaur ever imagined their era would end overnight?
Who would have believed such absurdity as a meteor collision?
Yet who could have predicted that mammals—the weakest link in the ecosystem—would survive and dominate The Continent?
Nature always works this way.
Beyond prediction, beyond convention.
Nature permits even a 0% possibility.
“The survival of the weak itself becomes humanity’s survival strategy.”
That is why the strength of the powerful exists not to dominate, but to protect the weak.
It is not some hollow virtue dressed in morality and ethics.
It is humanity’s survival strategy.
Grounded in nature’s law of survival of the fittest.
“You are the one who should be eliminated, Blake.”
You who reject diversity and cling only to strength.
You who speak of nature.
Yet fail to understand it.
“You are the one halting humanity’s evolution—.”
Crack!
Before I could finish, my hand pierced through Blake’s chest.
Blake’s knees buckled.
His eyes wavered, unfocused.
His lips trembled soundlessly.
His fingers grasped at empty air.
“Blake, you are the one who deserves to be eliminated.”
I did not tear out his heart immediately.
I wanted to hear what Blake might say in his final moments.
But in the end.
“….”
Blake couldn’t utter a single word of rebuttal.
His sense of justice, utterly shattered.
Thus, I am the law of nature itself.
Following humanity’s ancient survival strategy.
Squelch!
I tore Blake’s heart from his chest without hesitation.

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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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