The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 77

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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 77. The Saint of the Allied Forces (1)
Adrian Whitewolf.
Isolde first learned of Adrian Whitewolf through rumors surrounding “monster meat.”
The genetic madness embedded within monsters.
Yet even Isolde’s holy power could not purge it.
Monsters were chaotic abominations that defied divine order, possessing an inherent resistance to holy power—the very force of the divine itself.
Even the mages who pursued the world’s truths acknowledged this principle.
It was no coincidence that it ranked among “Arcanis’s Twenty-Three Unsolved Theorems” among the scholarly circles.
To be precise, it had been classified as an “impossible” problem.
Consequently, suspicions about Adrian began to surface cautiously.
Could one of the Dark Merchant Company’s members have seized Adrian’s body?
Adrian’s recent dramatic shift in behavior only deepened such suspicions.
Yet she could not hastily conclude—until now.
Adrian appeared in the Lawless City.
The moment she detected him not only making contact with the Ashen Mask of the Black Market, but also engaging in covert conversations with its leadership—
Isolde’s suspicion crystallized into certainty.
Adrian was not Adrian.
The true Adrian Whitewolf was dead.
What inhabited that body was one of the Dark Merchant Company’s own.
Therefore, the distribution of monster meat was also the Dark Merchant Company’s scheme.
When rumors of monster meat spread across the entire Continent, they would plunge people into madness in an instant, bringing chaos to the land.
Thus, he must be killed.
But Adrian was a nobleman of the Battenberg Kingdom.
Moreover, he held the rank of “Count”—a high-ranking noble with intimate ties to the sovereign.
Though his body was seized by the Dark Merchant Company, proving it would not be simple.
If Adrian died, the Battenberg Kingdom would certainly not remain silent.
They would conduct a thorough investigation, and in that process, Isolde’s involvement could be exposed.
Isolde was a princess of the Holy Kingdom.
It was a grave matter that could escalate into a diplomatic crisis—but—
Violess was different.
Violess was a free city beyond the kingdom’s jurisdiction.
A no-go zone where even adventurers feared to tread.
A place where people died daily, yet no one cared—
A lawless city where the bare minimum of law and order had collapsed.
* * *
Four heroes who followed the hero Ian.
These four heroes were the Allied Forces’ greatest strength, and among them, Isolde was the woman known as “the Saint.”
Within the swirling veil of dust and haze—
Isolde’s figure gradually emerged.
Her legs, revealed first, were fitted with light greaves that extended to her ankles.
Her slender waist, now revealed, was cinched with a supple leather belt, while her delicate forearms were secured with protective guards that didn’t impede movement.
On both hands rested lightweight gauntlets.
Overall, she wore practical light armor that harmonized white and silver tones.
Across her face sat a mask shaped like a white deer.
Behind the mask, platinum-blonde hair was swept up high and bound tightly, yet even so, its silken strands remained visible, instantly captivating the eye.
Though her face lay hidden behind the mask—
==【Character Information】==
Name: Isolde Cordelia
Classification: Animalia, Mammalia, Hominidae, Human
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Traits: Perfect Muscle Control [A], Vessel of All Things [M]
The Character Information materialized before my eyes.
It confirmed with absolute certainty that the identity behind the mask was Isolde Cordelia.
“Why are you—”
I had barely begun when it happened.
Isolde lowered her body and launched herself at me.
Tap!
The sound reached my ears a beat too late as her leg whipped toward me like a lash.
I reflexively crossed both arms to block—
Isolde folded her attacking leg and drove it into the ground instead.
Her body sprang upward like a coiled spring. In mid-air, she twisted her waist and shifted her stance—
Shwing!
Her raised leg descended toward my head in a devastating strike.
Each movement flowed seamlessly into the next. The entire sequence took less than a second.
But my drastically elevated agility stat allowed me to react far faster than that.
I immediately pushed off the ground and evaded—
Crash!
The spot where I’d stood moments before shattered, earth erupting upward, fragments scattering in all directions and embedding themselves in the alley walls like shrapnel.
Had I reacted even slightly slower?
My head would have been crushed. No—it definitely would have been.
In other words, Isolde was trying to kill me right now.
Without question.
…But why?
Before I could pursue the thought, Isolde rushed at me again.
Her speed exceeded what even my heightened agility could easily counter.
She had exploited the moment of my confusion perfectly.
This is—
unavoidable.
◆Activating Combination Skill ‘Dragon’s Skin [U]’!
The text materialized before my eyes almost simultaneously.
Crash—!
My entire body convulsed violently, as though struck by an earthquake.
I can say this without a shred of exaggeration.
It felt like I’d been bludgeoned by an ogre.
“Ugh—!”
Still, the impact was survivable because my dragon skin[U] reduced damage by [-90%].
Had I taken the full brunt?
My entire body would have shattered to dust.
Yet this…
Is it even plausible?
But Isolde, the hero of the Allied Forces.
If she was the woman I knew, then it was entirely plausible.
◆Perfect Muscle Control[A]
: Upon acquiring this skill, you gain the ability to control muscles with extraordinary precision at the fiber level.
Through this, you can perform highly intricate movements, granting a baseline correction of [+6,550%] to flexibility and balance.
Furthermore, by optimizing muscular force in all bodily movements, your base Strength stat receives a [+4,350%] correction, and your base Stamina stat receives a [+5,400%] correction.
【This skill is permanently applied upon acquisition as a passive skill.】
An outright broken ability at first glance.
And an extraordinarily coveted one at that.
You could tell just from the rank.
One tier higher than Kai’s Selective Muscle Memory[A-].
In that sense, the dragon’s innate ability is ranked [A].
In other words, Isolde’s talent for physical mastery rivals that of a dragon.
Of course, dragons possessed countless other talents beyond physical mastery, so one couldn’t compare based on that alone.
Still, when it came to physical mastery talent, Isolde was on par with dragons.
‘Ah, so that’s it.’
This was the reason Isolde could wield such terrifying martial prowess.
No wonder even Ian found her unbearable.
In other words.
‘She’s still a monster…!’
Isolde was a monster, then and now.
Such a monster… no, the reason Isolde sought to kill me.
She must be laboring under some misunderstanding.
And the misunderstanding Isolde would likely harbor in this situation—
“If you think I’m a member of the Dark Merchant Company—!”
Crash!
…Communication was impossible.
More precisely, she refused to believe me.
The Dark Merchant Company—that is, the Fallen Soul Worshippers—use forbidden magic to perfectly control their targets.
Wasn’t Avarus himself proof of that?
Just as Iratum hadn’t seen through my true identity, neither had Isolde Cordelia.
Therefore, Isolde Cordelia didn’t believe me to be Adrian Whitewolf.
It was only natural that she wouldn’t trust anything I said.
So then, there was only one way forward.
I sharpened the dragon’s claws on my hands into lethal points.
And just as I swung them toward Isolde Cordelia, who charged at me again—
The predator’s instinct.
It warned me.
‘Danger!’
I withdrew the dragon’s claws mid-swing and dragged my feet backward.
Then came a tremendous whoosh—!
Isolde Cordelia’s fist grazed my cheek, accompanied by a terrifying gust of wind.
Even though it merely grazed me, my eardrums rang painfully.
The shockwave made my head ring with a sharp whine—! My vision wavered.
…A counterattack was impossible.
I hastily created distance and steadied my vision—
From a greater distance away, Isolde Cordelia pulled both her fists back to her chest.
‘Divine Martial Fist?’
Divine Martial Fist.
The martial art that made Isolde Cordelia a hero of the Allied Forces.
Its power wasn’t merely destructive—it was catastrophic.
In fact, Ian himself had evaluated Divine Martial Fist by saying—
—I should be the one learning it instead.
Isolde Cordelia swallowed her ragged breath.
Then, a golden aura swirled around her.
Divine Power.
If Divine Martial Fist made Isolde Cordelia a hero of the Allied Forces, then Divine Power was the force that granted her the identity of The Saint.
And that was because Divine Power wasn’t magic.
Some called it holy magic, but that was strictly incorrect.
Divine Power wasn’t a force derived from mana—it was a force transformed from aura.
And aura was an absurd power that dragged forth things that were nothing but imagination and manifested them into reality.
Divine Power, being a form of aura, similarly manifested imaginary things into reality as its result.
The imagination that Divine Power brought forth was—
God.
A supernatural, superhuman imagination that existed beyond cognition, finally manifested into reality.
Whether God actually existed was irrelevant.
Humanity’s fervent belief possessed a power that transcended ontological argument.
And aura, after all, was nothing but [individual] imagination.
Therefore, the abilities manifested through aura differed for each person.
Each person’s thoughts and imagination differ, and thus the power of an aura varies according to the beliefs one holds.
Holy power, however, was different.
The divine—an eternal and immutable existence—is universal to all.
Collective faith. Therefore, holy power does not draw from individual imagination, but from the power of [collective] imagination.
That remarkable power transcends the absurd and renders even the ‘impossible’ possible.
From healing on a small scale to purification, blessing, prophecy, and even resurrection.
All of this is the power of the divine!
As part of such collective faith.
Thus, mages do not define holy power as magical energy.
Faith that manifests miracles.
Faith in the power of the divine.
Therefore, the Grand Mage of the Allied Forces defines holy power as—
-Holy power is truly the ultimate form of aura.
But Isolde Cordelia—
goes further still.
◆Omni Vessel [M]
: The user’s [physical vessel] and [spiritual vessel] can accept all [energy] and [concepts] in the world.
The accepted power is not mere accumulation but [fuses] with the user’s essence. Through this, even contradictory concepts can coexist within the user [without contradiction].
However, there is a risk of willpower collapse, and a risk of self-destruction in the process of obtaining essence and concepts.
She can perfectly contain such power of faith.
A being that holds the possibility of becoming divine within a human body.
That is the woman now seeking to kill me.
Isolde Cordelia.
Commander of the Holy Command—
and simultaneously a hero of the Allied Forces—
the Saint who possesses the most powerful holy power throughout the entire history of the Continent.
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack—!
Golden holy power swirling around Isolde Cordelia as its center.
A torrential surge of overwhelming force.
The walls of the alley explode entirely.
That power, akin to a natural disaster, could never be called human.
Holy power is the ultimate aura.
Isolde Cordelia is the embodiment of such holy power.
One must never underestimate her merely because her appearance is that of a woman.
Her perfectly balanced physique.
It is undoubtedly that of a woman.
But the power dwelling within is decidedly otherwise.
Just as I could grow muscle beyond human limits through Regeneration [B+], Isolde Cordelia too possesses this capability.
Strictly speaking, Isolde Cordelia far surpasses me.
An absurd talent: Perfect Muscle Manipulation [A].
Holy Power—an absurd force beyond comprehension.
Isolde’s body, tempered through this power, was itself a ‘biological weapon’.
This was precisely why Isolde wielded no weapons, relying instead on martial arts.
A single strike.
One blow from the Holy Fist would tear my entire body asunder and send me flying.
But—
‘Still immature.’
The Holy Fist’s power fell short of its former glory.
Compared to Isolde during her time with the Allied Forces, it was pathetically diminished.
The Holy Fist’s technique remained unchanged, but the one wielding it was not the same.
Just as I was no longer the Predator of the Allied Forces, Isolde was no longer the Saint of the Allied Forces.
Countless battles across countless battlefields.
Such experience could never be dismissed.
That immaturity—
I had a chance.
Forgetting to breathe, I lunged forward.
Isolde did not evade.
She clenched both fists, meeting my dragon’s claws head-on.
Gauntlets wreathed in Holy Power.
The destructive force contained within was terrifying, but my dragon’s claws were no less formidable.
Crack—!
I tore through the resistance of her Holy Power.
Isolde’s body was driven backward in an instant, and beyond her white deer mask, her topaz-like eyes became visible.
She was unmistakably the same Isolde as in my past life.
Eyes that revealed no emotion whatsoever, just as they had been before.
Yet through Weak Point Detection, I sensed her ‘wavering’.
I quickly lowered my stance and drove inward toward her.
An opening in her torso, detected through Weak Point Detection.
My dragon’s claws tore into her right armpit.
But Isolde’s left fist, swung at an unknown moment, was already pressed against my ribs.
Thus, my tearing into her armpit and her shattering my ribs occurred nearly simultaneously.
Boom!
The tremendous impact sent my body hurtling through the air—
Crash, crash, bang!
Only after demolishing the alley walls multiple times could I finally come to a halt.
Frantically, I used Regeneration to mend my shattered ribs.
And as my vision cleared—
Isolde was already rushing toward me at tremendous speed.
Her torn armpit had completely healed as if nothing had happened.
The overwhelming recovery granted by Holy Power.
I knew it, of course—what they commonly call mirror therapy.
Why Lycanthrope and Avarus had been so horrified by my Regeneration [B+] ability.
‘Damn.’
…Now, I’m beginning to understand it, at least a little.

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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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