The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 4

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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 4. Questions
Why? And how?
How is Seraphia standing before my eyes?
My thoughts spiraled onward, yet I could not reach their end.
A surging madness consumed my mind in an instant.
My consciousness flooded crimson, my vision burning with scarlet rage.
Memories of the past flickered through my mind.
My comrades in the Allied Forces, slaughtered mercilessly by my sister’s hand.
Seraphia, who had brutally massacred those who cried out for mercy.
That vile witch who, even in death, had claimed the left arm of the hero Ian.
Those terrible memories and emotions surged forth all at once, speaking to me.
-Kill her.
I surrendered myself to the explosive madness that erupted within me.
In an instant, my body lunged forward.
The soldiers around me had no time to react.
I seized Seraphia by the throat in a heartbeat.
“Gasp!”
Seraphia let out a strangled breath.
I tightened my grip, and her breathing cut off completely.
Seraphia’s feet lifted from the ground, thrashing wildly.
In Seraphia’s eyes fixed upon me burned a desperate plea for mercy.
…She was far too weak.
I could not see in her the Frost Lord who had mercilessly slaughtered my comrades and countless innocents.
The Seraphia struggling in my grip was not the Frost Lord.
She was not the vile witch who had taken the hero’s left arm even unto death.
She was small, fragile, and delicate beyond measure.
In my hands, there was only such a woman.
And so, there was only now.
“Choke…!”
I had to kill her now.
I had to kill her before she became the Frost Lord.
Just as I was about to twist the neck I held in my grasp—
-If I were to go back….
Suddenly, Ian’s voice reached my ears.
Whether it was a hallucination born from my madness-consumed mind, I could not say.
Yet it was the final words Ian had left me before his death.
Ian’s voice—weak and helpless, leaning against me as he died, his heart already gone.
-Sister… please… do not hate her so much….
Ian’s regret echoed in my ears like a phantom voice.
* * *
Adrian’s gaze was murderous, his eyes burning with lethal intent.
Those eyes held no warmth of a brother looking upon his sister.
Not a trace of familial affection remained in them.
Adrian’s eyes contained only a vicious, consuming rage directed at Seraphia.
‘Brother…’
I had known for some time.
That Adrian hated me enough to kill.
I had been adopted into the Whitewolf Estate five years ago.
And it was around that same time Adrian had begun his descent into gambling and debauchery.
My existence had ruined Adrian.
Believing everything was my fault, I studied and worked even harder for the family’s sake.
Day and night, I labored tirelessly, hoping to be of some use to the House and to Adrian.
Yet my efforts only drove a dagger deeper into Adrian’s heart.
When the patriarch passed away not long ago and his will was made public.
He had left everything of the House to me, not Adrian.
But I had no intention of honoring the will’s contents.
The household staff had pleaded with me, but my resolve was unshakeable.
Adrian was the true master of this House.
Yet before I could clear up the misunderstanding, Adrian abandoned the House.
And now.
“Because of you…!!”
Adrian’s voice thundered at me.
I felt the venom of his rage—the bitter conviction that I had stolen everything from him.
The face before me was no longer my brother’s, but that of a malevolent demon.
Crack!
The grip tightening around my neck grew steadily stronger.
The soldiers dared not approach, fearful of provoking Adrian further.
My vision blurred. Consciousness began to fade to black.
I could mount no resistance.
The scent of death was upon me—when it happened.
Whoosh.
Adrian’s grip weakened.
My suspended feet touched the ground, and my body crumpled lifelessly to the floor.
At last, my strangled breath returned, and I coughed violently.
“Hack…! Cough! Hack…!”
“My lord!”
The soldiers rushed forward, positioning themselves between me and Adrian.
With an ominous air, they drew their weapons with sharp metallic rings.
Each soldier brandished their blade toward Adrian.
They were prepared to fight him if necessary.
Seraphia gasped for breath, her voice trembling with urgency.
“Stop… stop it! Kellock! Please, stop!”
“But my lord—”
“I said stop!”
The soldiers flinched at Seraphia’s cry, their bodies tensing.
Yet they refused to lower their weapons.
“That’s an order! Put those weapons down this instant!”
Only then did the soldiers reluctantly obey, lowering their arms.
Adrian observed the entire scene in silence.
Dozens of soldiers radiated their killing intent, yet Adrian remained unmoved.
For some reason, he felt like a different person from the Adrian she had known.
“I have one question.”
Adrian’s voice finally broke the silence.
“Why did you come looking for me?”
Adrian’s question—why had she sought him out after he abandoned the family?
Seraphia lowered her gaze slightly before answering.
“It’s only natural.”
“Natural? What’s natural about it?”
“…Because I was worried about you.”
“Worried?”
For the first time, Adrian’s perpetually expressionless face flickered with confusion.
Seraphia bit her lower lip as she spoke.
“You’re family.”
Adrian’s eyebrows twitched.
His eyes bore down upon Seraphia from above.
Within them burned an unmistakable contempt.
It was as though his gaze itself was speaking.
—I do not consider you my sister.
Adrian turned away slowly, his eyes cold and distant, and departed without another word.
* * *
If I truly had returned to the past, then in that previous timeline, I must have failed to meet Seraphia while fleeing from Icetroll.
Now, having defeated Icetroll, I was able to encounter her.
But none of that mattered now.
What mattered was one thing alone.
I had failed to kill Seraphia.
It was not out of some misplaced pity simply because she was my sister.
Nor was it from the complacency of not yet having become the Frost Lord.
And it certainly was not fear of the soldiers surrounding me.
To be more honest, it was not even because of Ian’s words.
It was not because of Ian’s pointless insistence that I not hate Seraphia so much.
That’s not to say I chose not to kill her.
I was unable to kill her.
Ironically, it was because of something Ian had said.
-Back then, was there truly no other way besides killing your sister? Did you really have to kill her? That’s what I regret the most.
More precisely, Ian’s regret.
Ian deeply regretted killing Seraphia.
He regretted it even more than when The Saint rejected him after his confession.
“Why would he leave behind words like that of all things.”
I never learned the reason why.
But it gave me enough hesitation to stop myself from twisting Seraphia’s neck.
If he regretted it more than when The Saint rejected his confession, there must have been a substantial reason for it.
“Could he have actually loved Seraphia?”
I doubted it, yet I couldn’t dismiss the possibility entirely.
The Ian I knew was certainly capable of such a thing.
A hero and a witch—a love that could never be.
No romance could be more poignant than this.
In any case, my failure to kill Seraphia stemmed from Ian’s regret.
But it wasn’t solely because of that.
I should have twisted Seraphia’s neck.
Ian’s regret certainly gave me pause, but I was consumed by the madness of predation.
Once seized by such madness, reason ceases to exist within me.
Had I been the same as fifteen years ago…
I would surely have twisted Seraphia’s neck without hesitation.
◆The Player’s Will [EX] resists the encroaching madness!
Just as I was about to twist Seraphia’s neck, a message suddenly flashed before me.
In that same instant, my mind cleared.
Reason gradually but surely returned, and the madness that had consumed me dissipated.
“The Player’s Will…”
As I murmured, my vision flashed, and a translucent message appeared.
==「Current Skills」==
◆Leveling Alone [EX]
: The Player gains experience to increase their level. Each level gained grants 1 stat point.
◆The Player’s Will [EX]
: The Player becomes immune to all effects exceeding their mental fortitude (curses, illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, suggestions, etc.).
◆Predation [S+]
: Devour the heart of a living being to absorb its abilities and convert them into skills. However, mental fortitude is consumed in the process.
◆Regeneration [C+]
: Consume accumulated nutrients within the body to restore damaged flesh. The type and quantity of nutrients consumed varies depending on the damaged body part and severity of injury.
【Absorbing additional genetic factors will enhance this ability.】
This displayed the abilities I currently possessed.
I still don’t understand the mechanism behind these semi-transparent notifications.
But one thing is certain: Predation [S+] is my ability. And Regeneration [C+] is an ability I obtained by devouring the Icetroll through Predation [S+].
However, ‘Lone Leveling [EX]’ and ‘Player’s Will [EX]’ were not abilities I possessed.
During my time as a Predator in the Allied Forces, I absorbed many abilities through Predation, but I have no memory of absorbing such abilities.
Which means there’s only one answer.
“Ian.”
These are Ian’s abilities.
I consumed Ian’s heart.
I wasn’t certain whether Lone Leveling [EX] was Ian’s ability. But I could be absolutely sure that ‘Player’s Will [EX]’ was Ian’s ability.
“Could it be that Ian was able to confront the Abyss Lord because of this….”
Six Lords who served the Emperor.
Among the six Lords, the Abyss Lord was called [An Inexplicable Unknown Terror] within the Allied Forces.
True to its name, it was indescribable.
And therefore, countermeasures were impossible.
Not the Saint’s miracles, nor the Grand Mage’s magic.
Not the Spirit Summoner’s spirits, nor the Blacksmith’s artifacts.
Nothing was effective against the [Inexplicable Unknown Terror] that the Abyss Lord displayed.
But Ian was different.
Ian did not falter even before the [Inexplicable Unknown Terror] that the Abyss Lord displayed.
Only Ian could stand against the Abyss Lord, and Ian ultimately succeeded in annihilating it.
So I could be certain.
“It’s Ian’s ability.”
Player’s Will [EX] is Ian’s ability.
Similarly, Lone Leveling [EX] is also Ian’s ability.
I absorbed such abilities of Ian’s through Predation.
I didn’t know Ian’s abilities.
But Ian knew my Predation ability.
Ian knew that I could obtain a target’s abilities by devouring the heart of a living creature.
Therefore, Ian’s final words to me.
-If you manage to return….
This meant Ian knew that I would return to the past.
Which means.
“Did Ian have an ability to return to the past?”
I reached this conclusion.
* * *
The Grand Mage, hero of the Allied Forces, would often say this whenever he discovered an inexplicable phenomenon.
-When all impossibilities are excluded, whatever possibility remains, however unbelievable it may be, must necessarily be the truth.
A truly fitting statement from a mage.
And it was a statement that precisely pierced through my current situation.
“A return to the past, then.”
What nonsense is this? I find myself thinking.
Yet every circumstance pointed to the truth of it all.
My body growing younger—I could dismiss that as some explanation.
The Emperor’s secret experiment.
Something like that, perhaps.
“The Frost Lord is alive,” I murmur.
But Seraphia is alive.
Even with the Emperor’s power, the dead cannot be resurrected. Undead existed, certainly, but that was a concept far removed from true resurrection.
If resurrection were possible, he would have revived the other Lords destroyed by Ian first.
And if he were to revive her, why would he restore her as “Seraphia” rather than as “The Frost Lord”?
There is no room for further doubt.
I have unmistakably returned to the past.
Denying my return to the past is utterly meaningless.
From this moment forward, I must shift the direction of my thoughts.
“Did only I return?”
Have I truly returned to the past alone?
That cannot be, for returning to the past is not my ability.
It is Ian’s ability.
Which means there is a considerable possibility that Ian returned with me.
My thoughts had reached this point when it happened.
◆A Main Quest has arrived.
“A Main Quest?”
Even as confusion seized me, text cascaded before my eyes.
====
You, who suddenly awakened in the Northern Snowfield!
Contrary to expectations that you would panic—wait, what?
You remained remarkably composed!
You calmly defeated the Icetroll, and calmly perceived the situation!
And the result is—drumroll!
You realize you have returned to the past!
Praise! Endless praise!
You are absolutely incredible!
But do not grow conceited!
The fundamental questions remain unanswered!
If Ian possessed the ability to return to the past, was this truly the only instance?
Could Ian’s returns to the past have occurred countless times?
Why did Ian entrust you with his heart?
Or was entrusting his heart to you truly only this once?
Your head throbs already!
Questions upon questions! Mystery upon mystery!
Fortunately, there exists a being who knows all these truths!
Now then, with your keen insight, surely you understand what must be done?
You must find the Hero, somewhere on the Continent!
====
◆Main Quest [Find the Hero!] has begun.

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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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