The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 83

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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 83. The Law of Betrayal (1)
The entity glaring at Isolde as if to kill her right then and there.
Isolde steadied her breathing with composure.
‘The mastermind….’
The entity pulling the strings behind Violess from the shadows.
Iratum, the head of the Dark Merchant Company.
The grotesque mask he wore concealed his face and expression entirely.
Yet Isolde could perceive the irritation twisting beneath that mask.
“As if I don’t have enough on my plate already!!”
An exasperation rooted in pure fury.
Whoooosh!
In an instant, crimson smoke erupted from Iratum’s entire body.
The billowing smoke swiftly enveloped him, swelling his frame to grotesque proportions.
Then, striding forth from the haze came a colossus towering well over four meters tall.
His entire body bulged with muscle as if ready to burst, and his massive hands were large enough to crush Isolde’s head in a single palm.
Tension coiled taut in the air.
Just as Isolde gripped her gauntlets, it happened.
Crash!
Iratum came hurtling forward.
The ground cratered and buckled beneath his leap.
It would be more accurate to say he was ‘launched’ rather than merely charging.
Boom!
Iratum’s fist collided with Isolde’s gauntlet.
The weight of Iratum transmitted through the gauntlet’s surface was crushing.
Isolde’s face hardened like stone beneath her mask.
‘He’s strong.’
So overwhelmingly strong that victory seemed impossible.
Isolde bit her lip hard.
The colossal fist of Iratum pressed against her gauntlet.
It bore down on her entirely, crushing her beneath its weight.
This was no opponent to measure carefully.
Certainly not one to fight while holding back.
Isolde poured sacred power into her gauntlets, wringing every ounce of it forth.
The sacred power condensed and roiled with intensity.
Golden sanctity erupted outward from the gauntlets’ center.
Sacred Fist Art. Valencian style.
Radiant Strike.
Boom!!
The fully unleashed Radiant Strike drove Iratum’s fist backward.
It was at that same moment that Iratum’s head tilted slightly to the left.
“I’ve been sensing something strange since a moment ago….”
His mouth suddenly swelled grotesquely large.
It twisted in a hideous, lopsided grin.
“So you were a worshipper of the Hollow?”
Iratum lifted one leg high and brought it crashing down against the earth.
Craaaaaash!
With that single blow, the ground split with a sickening crack, and soil erupted skyward.
My balance shattered in an instant.
I yanked my extended fist back and drove force into my opposite leg, widening the distance between us.
“Your judgment is quite sharp.”
Iratum laughed wildly, stretching both hands toward me.
The pressure felt like a colossal giant bearing down.
…There was no way to evade this.
Then.
I poured my sacred power without reservation into my gauntlets.
Simultaneously, I unleashed a barrage of consecutive punches—
Sacred Fist Art. Bianca Style.
Holy Purge Assault.
Boom boom boom boom crash!!
Sacred explosions detonated forward like artillery fire.
Yet Iratum did not dodge.
“Parlor tricks!”
Iratum roared, transforming his outstretched hands into fists, meeting every single one of my attacks head-on.
Thud thud thump! Thud thud thud thump!
Dozens of exchanges in mere fractions of a second.
The earth trembled from the impact and thunder.
Overwhelming speed and destructive force.
…I was being pushed back.
With each collision, the sound of bones cracking echoed from my body.
Muscles stretched to their limit ruptured repeatedly, only to regenerate again and again.
Crack crack! Crunch!
Pain that felt like my consciousness was being battered.
My awareness flickered and fractured.
…He was strong.
Absurdly, impossibly strong.
Even while using Sacred Transcendence, this was the result.
Of course, since I had already used it once, its power was somewhat diminished compared to the first time.
…But would it have mattered?
Even if I had been at full Sacred Transcendence, could I have matched Iratum’s current speed and strength?
“Ugh…!”
A moan escaped through my tightly clenched lips.
“So you were female?”
Iratum’s mocking voice rang in my ears.
“A worshipper of the Hollow, and female at that….”
Iratum’s gaze swept across my entire body.
Then his lips twisted into a cruel smile.
“You’re nothing but a plaything of the Hollow.”
Iratum’s momentum shifted violently.
In an instant, his massive fist filled my entire vision.
There was no technique mixed into it whatsoever.
Overwhelming power that needed no technique.
That alone was contained within it.
I arched my upper body sharply backward, evading the attack.
My vision tilted as I leaned back.
As Iratum’s fist grazed past overhead—
Violence.
I could confirm the identity of this Lawless City, Violess, and its ruler.
A deafening crack split the air!
The sound of tearing atmosphere erupted belatedly.
Tremendous wind pressure swept through, and my body spun like a top.
My vision whirled and blurred in turn.
My senses twisted and tangled.
I gritted my teeth and pressed both hands against the ground.
I rotated my body and lashed out with my feet like a whip, unleashing sacred power—
Sacred Fist Art. Malenia style.
Blossom Pulsus.
A rapid barrage of impacts erupted!
Sacred petals whirled like a tempest, caught in the rotation of my spinning body.
Yet none of them pierced through Iratum.
His skin was rough as stone.
It was genuinely as hard and tough as rock.
Both destructive power and physical durability far exceeded that of humans.
Iratum stood unmoved within the storm of sacred power, staring at me.
“Such pathetic strength, parasitic upon hollow faith.”
Iratum’s mocking words pierced through the sacred tempest.
In that moment.
A tremendous crash thundered out!!
The deafening sound shook my consciousness.
Iratum’s fist was suddenly pressed against my abdomen.
My body curved sharply as I flew through the air.
The impact forced my mouth agape, and crimson blood cascaded from within in torrential waves.
…I couldn’t even react.
Would I have been able to respond if I possessed complete transcendence of my power?
…I don’t know. I can’t be certain.
Crash!
Isolde’s body slammed disgracefully against the ground.
* * *
An unusually dark night in Violess.
The sky above Violess was stained black by darkness itself, casting not even the faintest moonlight—
“Stop them!! By any means necessary, stop them!!”
Violess was ablaze with chaos and fierce combat.
“Kill anyone who interferes! Destroy every enemy that stands in our way!”
“The Black Market belongs to us!!”
Vister’s forces rampaged across all of Violess.
They clashed everywhere, vying for dominance of the Black Market, while those wearing the Ashen Mask desperately held them back.
A precarious balance of power.
Blood sprayed from all directions, screams and shouts intermingling.
A muscular man with a stern expression charged into the heart of the battle.
“The true master of Violess is none other than Lord Sarpedon!!”
Sarpedon, the leader of the Black Grasp.
As he swung his cudgel, the alley walls shattered instantly, and explosive force erupted forth.
“Damn it! The defensive barrier is breached!!”
“Reinforcements!! Request reinforcements!!”
As cracks formed in the barrier, the Ashen Mask’s forces filled the gaps—
“Go! Advance!!”
“Sweep them all away!!”
The Black Grasp’s forces, clad in black gloves, surged forward in a torrent.
The black gloves, as if enchanted with powerful magic, displayed overwhelming steel-like strength, crushing the Ashen Mask’s forces.
Crude curses flew freely, screams and shouts filling the air.
Kiiiiiing—!!
It was then that a piercing sound tore through the air between them.
Coming from very far away, it resembled the roar of a colossal beast.
“What is that…?”
“That sound just now…?”
The Vister forces froze momentarily.
As if bound by an unspoken pact, the clashing blades between them began to tremble.
The reason was unknown.
Yet for some reason, I couldn’t move my body.
Whoosh, whoooosh—!!
Immediately after, a massive inferno erupted, consuming the very air itself.
The surging flames tore through the sinister darkness of Violess, finally revealing its true form.
“A dragon…?”
* * *
Isolde lay crumpled pathetically against the ground.
The impact ravaged her entire body, and blood poured from between her tightly clenched lips.
“Cough…!”
I had to get up, somehow.
But my body refused to obey.
“He’s not strong enough to cause such a commotion… Tsk.”
Iratum approached with a click of his tongue.
With each step his massive frame took, a thunderous vibration rippled through the ground.
An overwhelming pressure.
Isolde’s body was crushed beneath it.
“Could he have had an accomplice?”
The hand Isolde had planted on the ground trembled uncontrollably.
Her legs grew weaker with each passing moment.
Her mind grew hazy, her vision narrowing steadily.
The terror of standing before that colossal being gradually shattered Isolde’s reason.
‘No more…’
Finally, Isolde’s legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground.
And in that very moment.
Iratum’s footsteps, which had been advancing toward Isolde, came to an abrupt halt.
Iratum too was pinned down by something, unable to move his body.
But what could possibly exert such overwhelming pressure—enough to crush even Iratum?
Isolde’s confused mind suddenly flooded with questions.
And as if answering those very questions.
Kiiiiiiing—!!
A strange, piercing sound that seemed to tear the air itself jolted Isolde’s fading consciousness awake.
Followed by a voice coming from behind Iratum.
“Not an accomplice—”
It was Adrian.
Isolde managed to lift her gaze.
Upon confirming the source of that voice and the origin of the overwhelming pressure crushing Iratum—
‘What in the world…’
She realized something was profoundly wrong.
What her eyes perceived was not Adrian.
What her skin felt was not Adrian either.
‘That is…’
A dragon—the supreme being that reigns over all existence.
For some reason, what Isolde saw, felt, and perceived was not Adrian, but a dragon.
A dragon sculpted from roaring flames.
The flame dragon coiled its massive body across Adrian’s outstretched arms.
But then its wild eyes blazed with ferocity—
Its enormous, savage maw tore open with a sickening crack—
“I am the instigator, you bastard.”
Roooaaaaaaaaarrrrr—!!
As the dragon achieved its terrible liberation, it swallowed Iratum whole in a single, devastating motion.
* * *
Dragon’s Wrath [E]—cast while Isolde drew attention and bought me precious seconds.
By exploiting Iratum’s carelessness perfectly, I landed a direct, devastating blow.
The power of Dragon’s Wrath [E] was nothing to scoff at.
Potent enough to wound even a lord.
Iratum’s upper body was completely obliterated by the direct hit.
His frame, which had towered at four meters, now measured less than two—
‘He twisted his body to evade in that split second.’
But having seized the perfect opening, he couldn’t dodge completely.
And once struck directly, Iratum could never have survived.
Sure enough, his lower half, severed from his upper body, lost all strength and collapsed—
◆Iratum has been defeated!
◆You have acquired 557,506 combat experience!
◆Your level has increased!
◆Your level has increased!
The message confirming Iratum’s definitive death materialized before my eyes.
Experience gained: approximately 550,000.
Considering that Lycanthrope had yielded roughly 100,000 experience, this was an astronomical amount.
“The first law of betrayal: the deeper the trust, the sharper the backstab.”
The final diversion operation had been a resounding success.

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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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