The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 380

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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 380. A Promise from That Day
Adrian’s breath was imperceptible.
He resembled a frozen corpse.
Seraphia approached cautiously.
He must have sensed her presence long ago.
Yet Adrian remained utterly motionless.
Without opening his eyes, he had buried himself within the frigid Snowy Mountain, surrendering to its embrace.
“Brother…?”
She called out, mustering her courage.
But no answer came.
What returned was not a response, but only silence—not even a wisp of warm breath visible.
Adrian had rejected every sound in the world.
His ears sealed shut, his lips sealed shut.
With his very heart locked away, he had imprisoned himself in some unreachable depths where no cry could ever reach him.
At least he was alive.
Yet she could not say he was truly living.
Seraphia knelt before him.
Her bare skin met the biting cold of the snow.
A chill that gnawed into her flesh.
Still, Seraphia brushed the snow aside with both hands and wrapped Adrian’s hand in her own.
…It was so cold.
Less like a human hand than a block of ice.
She lifted her gaze to examine Adrian’s face.
A face devoid of life.
Indistinguishable from that of the dead.
Emotions erased.
Will withered away.
All that remained visible in Adrian was endless despair.
“Brother.”
Seraphia called to Adrian quietly, then slowly opened her mouth.
“You had a close friend named Ian, didn’t you…?”
In that moment.
Adrian’s eyes opened.
Unfocused pupils.
Yet that gaze was directed toward Seraphia.
The deep, hollow stare wavered.
“How do you know that…?”
His voice emerged in fractured whispers.
Each breath shallow and labored.
Adrian’s unfocused pupils trembled ever so slightly.
Seraphia parted her parched lips.
“I saw it. My brother’s memories.”
Adrian’s eyes widened slightly.
But only for a moment.
The flicker of surprise faded away.
As if understanding the situation, Adrian nodded faintly and murmured to himself.
“…A Bond Skill, perhaps. Mental communion.”
Seraphia didn’t understand the meaning of those words.
Adrian didn’t seem inclined to explain either.
Or rather, his eyes held the look of someone for whom nothing mattered anymore.
An expression of profound resignation, as if he had released everything.
The bitter wind of the Frozen Peak swept through Adrian’s hair once more.
He remained motionless.
Alive, yet—
Not truly alive.
Seraphia understood what Adrian had become.
“I didn’t see everything. But I understand now. Why you’re here like this.”
The brighter the sunlight shines—
The deeper the darkness when it vanishes.
Because the brilliance of that light had been so radiant, the emptiness of losing it was all the more cruel. What Adrian felt now was not mere sorrow, but something far more devastating.
“But you must endure it regardless. If you stop here—”
“It’s meaningless.”
A single, brief word.
Seraphia found herself unable to continue.
Adrian’s voice held so little vitality.
It was parched, drained even of resignation itself.
“Nothing means anything anymore. Nothing… at all.”
The wind of the Frozen Peak howled low.
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“…Endure, you say?”
A silent laugh.
“For what purpose?”
His crimson eyes were hollow.
No anger, no resentment, no will remained.
Only the ashes of something that had burned and finally extinguished.
“Whether I endure, stand, or fall—nothing changes.”
Snow accumulated upon his face.
It did not melt.
His body heat could not warm it away.
“No. It’s not over yet—”
“No, it’s over.”
Adrian didn’t lift his head.
“No matter what you do, the outcome won’t change.”
“….”
“Struggle all you want. Endure or collapse—it makes no difference. There’s only one place we’re destined to reach.”
Adrian’s words carried an unshakeable certainty.
How to describe it.
It was the voice of someone who had glimpsed the future itself.
“Hope doesn’t exist. Possibility is nothing but torture.”
A future that would never change.
An ending no outstretched hand could ever touch.
Adrian spoke as though driving a nail through that very truth.
“…There are no heroes in this world.”
The snow intensified.
Cascading flakes obscured her vision.
Seraphia clenched her teeth.
“So you’ll just sit here like this?! You won’t do anything at all?!”
The wind lashed with vicious force.
“It’s not that you’re afraid, is it? You don’t lack courage, do you?”
“….”
“Meaningless. It’s over. Nothing will change. How convenient that sounds. What a pathetic excuse!”
“….”
“Just be honest about it. You’re terrified, and you want to erase Ian’s-!”
Seraphia clenched her fists and pushed forward relentlessly.
“You want to render Ian’s death completely meaningless!!”
In that instant.
Adrian lifted his head.
His contorted face was the very image of a malevolent spirit.
His eyes gleamed with murderous intent as he stared at Seraphia.
“You dare….”
It was less anger than an eruption.
“What gives you the right to speak of things you know nothing about!!!!!!!”
BOOM──!!
The accumulated snow around them scattered in all directions.
The falling snow whipped into a tempestuous gale.
“What do you know?! You?! Because of you!!”
Adrian’s voice tore from his throat like a wail.
His words came ragged and fractured.
“You, who know nothing of how Ian lived, what he was, what burden he carried!!”
His eyes burned crimson with madness, veins bulging with bloodshot fury.
“You dare speak of his death based on a mere fragment of memory? You dare judge him? You—a mere insect—dare to do so!!!!”
Snow erupted in a violent burst.
And Seraphia’s body froze solid.
…It was madness that defied all reason.
It transcended anything rationality could contain.
I was terrified beyond measure.
I wanted nothing more than to flee.
I could not bear to face that madness any longer.
I wanted to disappear into the raging blizzard and vanish far away.
But Seraphia clenched her teeth hard.
“Yes! I don’t know!!”
I met Adrian’s madness head-on.
“I don’t know what kind of life Ian lived, what burdens he carried!!”
“Then shut that mouth of yours—!”
“But I do know what kind of being he was!!”
Crack—!!
Seraphia struck Adrian across the face.
She struck him with enough force that her palm stung.
Adrian’s head snapped to the side.
And slowly, his head turned back.
Adrian’s eyes blazed with a murderous gleam.
Seraphia did not flinch.
I met that crazed gaze directly and cried out.
“He was your most precious friend!!”
For a moment, Adrian’s face went rigid.
Yet still, that expression of madness remained.
Seraphia continued to shout.
“He was an irreplaceable, precious friend!!”
“….”
“The most cherished, the most special, your entire world!!”
“….”
“And yet… you would abandon him like this…!!”
Seraphia’s voice trembled.
Emotions welled up from deep within my chest, and my eyes grew red with tears.
“Will you truly cast him aside…?”
Tears fell silently.
But whose tears were these?
The snow intensified.
Tears and snowflakes mingled as they traced down Seraphia’s cheeks.
Whose tears were these?
The tears streaming down were undoubtedly Seraphia’s, yet what they contained was not hers alone.
Within Adrian’s memories.
Beneath a crimson-stained evening sky.
Days when I laughed and fought alongside Ian, our hands clasped together.
Drawing blades for one another.
Shedding blood for one another.
Trusting and surrendering our backs without a word.
“The future that Ian left for my brother….”
All those radiant moments flowed through Seraphia’s tears.
“Does my brother intend to abandon it!!!!”
The cry echoed like a reverberating wail.
Adrian’s breath caught for a moment.
* * *
When was it?
The memory itself grows hazy.
‘Adrian, listen.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘….’
‘What is it?’
Ian gazed at me for a moment before speaking.
‘Adrian, what if—just what if.’
‘Yeah.’
‘I were to die in some unforeseen accident.’
‘What nonsense are you spouting, Ian.’
Ian laughed briefly.
Just for a moment.
With those characteristic languid eyes half-closed, Ian murmured.
‘Sometimes I think about it. That I could die too, you know.’
‘You, Ian?’
‘I’m not The Immortal Lord. As long as I’m human, I’ll die someday, won’t I?’
‘That’s natural death. Not an unforeseen accident.’
‘The world holds all manner of surprises.’
‘You’re saying there’s a possibility you’d die in an unforeseen accident?’
‘It could happen. Nature permits even a 0% possibility.’
‘What kind of nonsense is that?’
Thinking back on it now.
I didn’t understand the meaning then.
‘Anyway, if something like that were to happen, listen.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘….’
‘Understood. I won’t tease you anymore.’
But Ian remained silent, pouting for a while.
The evening sky stained crimson.
A cool breeze swept between us.
‘When that time comes, will you be able to lead the Allied Forces?’
‘…What? Me?’
‘Yes.’
‘But Leon exists. Wouldn’t Leon be better at leading the Allied Forces than me?’
‘True. But Leon isn’t equipped to stand directly on the battlefield.’
‘Hmm.’
‘In the decisive moment, what’s needed is ultimately force.’
‘Then wouldn’t Iliana or Isolde be better? They’re both far stronger than me.’
Ian fell silent for a moment.
The wind passed once more.
‘Being strong and having people willing to follow you are two different things.’
Ian’s words came slowly.
‘Isolde is too distant. She tries to shoulder and resolve everything alone.’
‘Hmm.’
‘And Iliana is unstable. Her heart wavers too often.’
‘What about Rielin?’
‘Rielin tries to save everyone. She refuses to sacrifice anyone, so she can’t issue rational orders.’
‘What about Broombar?’
‘He’s too rigid. Sometimes you need to know when to retreat and give up, but Broombar can’t do that.’
Ian gazed at me quietly.
I couldn’t understand why Ian would choose me.
‘…So it’s me?’
Special Task Force under the Allied Forces Command.
Special Forces Duke Commander.
I was merely a shadow.
A shadow that carried out all the dirty missions and operations that couldn’t be done officially, ensuring that the brilliant star called Ian never faded.
You trust and follow someone like me?
People would entrust their backs to me?
‘I’m not suited for such a role.’
‘No. Adrian, there’s no one more suited than you.’
Ian spoke.
‘Because you understand the world’s darkness, you would also know where to shine the light.’
Perhaps there exists no being more truthful than a shadow.
In the sunlight, people follow whatever actions are taken boldly.
But in the darkness, they don’t even glance at what’s done in secret before it vanishes.
‘If I’m the existence that gives people hope, Adrian, you’re the existence that gives people trust.’
Ian wrapped his arms around my shoulders as he spoke.
‘I want you to lead them. Even if I’m not there.’
‘What do you mean….’
‘Just, thinking about the what-ifs.’
When was that?
‘Can you promise me?’
‘I really don’t want to—gaaaah!’
‘You’ll break my shoulder if I don’t promise?’
‘You bastard— Agh! Aaaaagh!!’
Already submerged in the passage of time.
The memory had grown hazy and faded away.
‘Alright, alright! I promise! Just stop, I promise, I promiseeeeeee!’
…It was a promise from some distant day.
* * *
My cheek, struck by Seraphia’s slap.
…It stung.
No, actually it didn’t sting at all.
Seraphia had swung with all her might, but her strength couldn’t even scratch the defense of a Perfect Being.
Yet that sensation lingered unnaturally long.
As if set ablaze.
Something burned my cheek with intense heat.
I lifted my gaze.
Seraphia stood before me.
Now that I looked, her condition was dire.
Disheveled hair.
Trembling breath.
Wounds covered her wrists and arms everywhere.
Her exposed thighs between the torn dress were drenched in blood.
Even here on this frozen Snowy Mountain, her skin had turned a deathly pale blue from exposure.
In such a state, Seraphia stood before me.
But I… couldn’t stand.
I know.
The power Ian had attained. Ian’s realm.
The only thing The Emperor had ever feared.
Ian’s overwhelming might standing at that pinnacle.
I had experienced it.
And so I could understand.
I am still lacking compared to Ian.
I will never reach Ian’s level.
I fall short. Hopelessly.
I cannot stop The Emperor.
Without Ian, no one can stop The Emperor.
And now.
Ian is nowhere on The Continent.
So… it was a mystery.
…I couldn’t comprehend it.
==[Find the Hero!]==
[Description] – Find the Hero
[Reward] – ???
[Failure] – The End of The Continent
Main Quest, [Find the Hero!].
Why hasn’t this Quest ended in failure?
…I don’t know.
But one thing was certain.
In this very moment.
Crack!!
I must not become a friend Ian would be ashamed of.

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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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