The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 70

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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 70. Spoils of War (2)
Truth be told.
I had never intended to devour Avarus with Predation[S+].
Unlike the Beast Legion Commander, Lycanthrope, Avarus was, after all, merely ‘human’.
Just a mad alchemist, nothing more.
The grotesquely twisted mass of flesh was merely the result of alchemy—not a mutation born from some ‘hereditary ability’.
Therefore, there was no ability I could obtain by devouring Avarus through Predation[S+].
It would only leave a foul taste in my mouth.
But the current Avarus was different.
Unlike in my previous life, he had consumed the ‘Infinite Elixir’.
And Avarus himself had confessed that the Infinite Elixir was crafted using the authority wielded by The Abyss Lord as its base ingredient.
By consuming it, Avarus had absorbed the authority of Infinity entirely into himself.
With that as his foundation, he had become capable of wielding the absurd barrier known as the Infinite Labyrinth.
Then.
If I devoured Avarus’s heart through Predation[S+], could I not obtain that ability as well?
Just as I had been able to devour the genetic factors of the Beast Lord from Lycanthrope, could I not devour the authority of The Abyss Lord from Avarus?
Acting on such thoughts, I devoured Avarus—
◆You have devoured the genetic factors of the individual designated ‘Z’thulonak’!
A message with a strange name appeared before my eyes—not Avarus.
Z’thulonak.
A peculiar name.
A naming convention used by no kingdom on The Continent.
In other words, a name I had never heard before.
Thus, as anticipation and confusion mingled within me, it was at that very moment—
【la’nak fhtagn ■■’nashack】
A voice suddenly whispered at the edge of my consciousness.
【Zhai, ng’gha tharan doey ‘yog-Sath】
A side effect of Predation[S+].
Yet a form of madness unlike any I had experienced before.
It was something whose meaning I could not comprehend at all.
【Azh ia’nak fhtagn ■■’nashak.】
I could discern that this was the voice of The Abyss Lord itself.
Which meant.
The ability I was currently devouring was the authority wielded by The Abyss Lord.
A power of another level entirely—something I would never have dared attempt in my previous life.
As it seeped into my body—
Shhhhhhhhh—!
All the colors and sounds of the world twisted and warped before my perception.
In confronting the existence from that unfathomable depth, my mind was instantly tainted—
◆Your Will[EX] resists the inexplicable terror of the unknown!
Slowly, yet inexorably, reason returned.
【Zhai’oth nog n’gha vulgtm ehye.】
But the whispers continued to reach my ears.
【Nglui l’ ah nafh Yog-shoggoth.】
They surged forward like endless waves, crashing against me without respite.
【wgah’nagl, r’luhhor shoggoth fhtagn.】
I could not comprehend their meaning or significance.
Yet these whispers carried messages of terror, despair, and madness—mere exposure to them shattered my consciousness.
The whispers grew ever more violent—
Fear coiled around me like tentacles extending from the depths of the Abyss itself.
My vision warped entirely. A dull, heavy pulsing filled my ears. Rough sand scraped against my skin. A bitter, nauseating taste of droplets coated my tongue.
Everything twisted and contorted.
The very reality of my five senses bent out of shape.
The world’s contours crumbled away—
【
Perhaps the reason people call me a hero is because I slew a god.
】
A strange vision unfolded before my eyes, drowning my reality beneath it.
* * *
A god.
An infinite being possessing omniscient and omnipotent power.
Yet this god bore no benevolence toward humanity.
It desired only chaos and annihilation.
Therefore, one could justly have called it a demon.
I survived countless brushes with death, each one narrowly escaped.
And at last, I cut down the god.
The god faded into oblivion. The people rejoiced.
Peace was reclaimed.
And yet.
A question gnawed at me.
…Why?
How did the god fall to my blade?
The god’s power is ‘infinite’.
Omniscient—knowing all things.
Omnipotent—capable of all things.
How could an infinite being, transcending imagination and comprehension, succumb to death at the hands of a finite creature like myself?
Death.
Does this concept transcend the god’s infinite power?
But can anything truly transcend infinity?
Infinity.
Infinity is infinity.
A state without limits, not merely something vast, but something that continues to expand and stretch endlessly.
Therefore, comparing the magnitude of infinity with infinity always yields the same result.
Let us assume there exists an Infinite Tavern with an infinite number of tables.
Now, what if an infinite number of guests were to arrive at this Infinite Tavern?
Could the Infinite Tavern accommodate an infinite number of guests?
Yes.
Because the number of tables is ‘infinite’.
Now, let us reduce the number of infinite tables by half.
Could the Infinite Tavern still accommodate an infinite number of guests?
Yes.
Because even when infinite tables are halved, the count remains ‘infinite’.
Now, let us reduce the number of tables to one-tenth.
Could the Infinite Tavern still accommodate an infinite number of guests?
Yes.
Because the number of tables is still ‘infinite’.
Even reducing tables to one-thousandth yields the same result.
Reducing to one-ten-thousandth still leaves infinity.
Continuing further—one-hundred-million, one-trillion, one-quadrillion, one-quintillion, one-sextillion, one-septillion, one-octillion, one-nonillion, one-decillion, one-undecillion, one-duodecillion—no matter how we reduce the table count, they remain infinite.
Infinite tables, no matter by what number they are reduced, ultimately remain ‘infinite’.
That is what infinity is.
Whatever infinity it may be, if it is infinite, its magnitude must necessarily be infinite.
Therefore, if death is infinite, then God and Death—
These two infinities must be equal in magnitude.
…Yet the result was not so.
Death’s infinity surpassed God’s infinity.
The infinity of the concept of death consumed the infinity of the being called God.
Death’s infinity… was greater.
This meant.
That even between infinities that expand endlessly, there exists a logic of greater and lesser?
I did not believe it.
I could not believe it.
Yet remarkably.
I was able to prove that size comparison between infinities is possible.
The proof was simple.
Infinity + infinity = infinity.
Then what is ‘infinity – infinity’?
If every infinity must necessarily be equal in magnitude, then that value should be ‘0’.
Yet it was not.
That value is indeterminate.
In other words, it was ‘indeterminate’.
When subtracting two infinities, the result varied depending on what properties each infinity possessed.
To put it another way.
Different infinities existed.
An infinity greater than infinity itself had existed.
…A question arose.
During my battle with the god, I experienced time itself warping.
A single day flowing like years, a single moment feeling like eternity—within that distorted time, was this conclusion I’ve reached truly the final one?
Or was it merely one part of an endlessly repeating cycle?
Infinity and infinity.
If the magnitudes of two infinities endlessly expanding could be compared, what was the most absolute infinity?
One thing was certain.
The infinity of the god that fell to my hand was not the ultimate infinity.
And the fact that infinities could be compared in magnitude.
That perhaps meant that certain infinities could be ‘counted’.
…But to count infinity?
Infinity wasn’t a number—it was merely an endlessly expanding state.
…I wanted to know.
The end of the concept of infinity.
The terminus within a concept that possessed no end. The contradiction.
The truth of this world.
* * *
Adrian suddenly swallowed a chunk of flesh.
Of course, the chunk of flesh was literally a monster called a Flesh Mass, but it had once been a human named Avarus.
“…!!”
Kai’s face and expression twisted into a sickly pallor, draining of all color.
The brief trust and faith he’d begun to place in Adrian shattered in an instant.
Crunch, crunch.
Wouldn’t it be stranger if one’s conviction didn’t break upon witnessing that?
How could anyone even conceive of consuming such a grotesque mass of flesh?
Adrian no longer appeared remotely human.
Yet somehow, affection born of familiarity had taken root.
Or perhaps he’d simply grown accustomed to it.
Or perhaps Kai himself had gone mad alongside him.
‘…He’s always been like this, hasn’t he.’
The thought that this was simply Adrian began to make sense, bit by bit.
In an instant, Adrian had devoured the entire mass of flesh, chewing and swallowing.
Even after 241 days of continuous consumption, how did it all fit inside his body?
As he swallowed that very question.
“Ugh!”
Adrian’s body suddenly swayed.
It seemed the taste was truly unbearable.
In the Infinite Labyrinth, he’d consumed tentacles like “moldy dregs” and broths “boiled from foul-smelling marshes” without complaint, yet this—
“Ugh…!”
What could taste so vile that Adrian would contort his expression like that?
The thought had barely crossed my mind when—
Adrian collapsed to his knees with a heavy thud?
“Ha…! Ha…!”
Adrian gasped in ragged, labored breaths.
His face had turned deathly pale.
His eyes were wide with terror.
It was not the anguish of one suffering from the taste of flesh.
It was as though some invisible dread had seized Adrian’s very consciousness.
“Adrian?”
I called out, but he didn’t respond.
“Are you all right?”
I rushed toward him immediately—
And saw his eyes consumed by violet light.
A purple aura radiating from the center outward.
It completely engulfed his irises, and a deep, frigid energy suffused them—an aura that seemed to contain infinite emptiness and endless abyss—
Adrian was losing consciousness.
Like when the patterns had consumed him in the Infinite Labyrinth.
…No, something far worse than that.
“Snap out of it!”
I seized Adrian’s body and shook him violently, but it was useless.
His breathing grew shallower—
And then it stopped, as though it would never resume.
Adrian’s eyes remained open, but no life lingered within them.
His hands fell away from his head, dropping limply to the ground, and his body collapsed as if every tendon had been severed.
Upon the cold floor.
…Adrian’s body no longer moved.
My heart sank.
The situation was far too sudden.
My mind couldn’t keep pace.
How much time had passed?
…I didn’t know.
All color had drained from my face.
Only my blue eyes trembled ceaselessly, darting left and right—
And then—
“Gasp…!!”
Adrian drew in a sharp breath, his body convulsing like a fish thrashing upon the shore.
* * *
◆Your Will [EX] resists an inexplicable, unknowable terror!
A translucent message flickered before my eyes.
In that same instant, my consciousness—which had been submerged in the depths of the Abyss—was violently dragged back to the surface.
“Gasp…!!”
Only then did my suffocated breath break free, and air flooded back into my lungs.
The darkness that had consumed my entire vision was torn away like fabric—
The illusion that had shrouded my reality receded like a tide—
And the madness, vast as the Abyss itself, vanished in an instant.
Yet the terror, despair, and endless chaos that had ravaged my mind would not release their grip so easily.
“Cough…!”
Bitter blood spilled from between my lips.
An overwhelming exhaustion left me powerless, unable to muster even the faintest strength.
As I gasped for breath and barely managed to steady myself—
◆You have acquired the Concept Skill ‘Infinite [M]’!
Another translucent message materialized before my eyes, and my consciousness snapped into sharp focus.

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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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