The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 84

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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 84. The Law of Betrayal (2)
Iratum’s lower half lay crumpled on the ground.
The remaining lower body was engulfed in the lingering flames left behind by Dragon’s Wrath, burning fiercely.
‘His heart flew away.’
It was unfortunate, but… it was fine.
Far better than squandering the opportunity to eliminate Iratum by greedily attempting to use Predation.
Iratum was an extraordinarily powerful being.
One could tell simply by how he had overwhelmed Isolde.
Of course, Isolde’s state was far from normal due to transcending her vital force.
But considering the Iratum I witnessed in my past life….
‘Even in a normal state, things wouldn’t have been much different.’
Despite returning to the past, Iratum remained Iratum.
Had we fought him properly, even with Isolde and I exerting our full strength, we could not have won.
I couldn’t afford to botch things due to Predation’s greed.
Moreover, Iratum’s ability—Pact of the Abyss—offered no particular advantage even if I devoured it.
◆Pact of the Abyss [?]
: The covenant-bearer’s soul becomes connected to the negative dimension. Thereby, the covenant-bearer may freely utilize the energy of the negative dimension to employ ᚛⦸ϻäⓑℰ౦ҭΐ₵ as well as ԋȉ๓, ɏųҝⱪԫἓⅉҝ and Ꮹἁᶇցℌ₳, ⅾƌҝάԝໍռⱬҝ ίռѕἰḵ.
I couldn’t determine what that corrupted text meant.
What if I carelessly devoured it and became connected to the Abyss Lord?
I would have to endure the constant whispers emanating from the Abyss Lord.
Of course, with Player’s Will, my mind wouldn’t collapse, but it didn’t grant complete immunity either.
Eliminating Iratum was the best choice in every way.
As I organized my thoughts, that very moment arrived.
A peculiar gaze emanating from one direction.
When I turned my head, Isolde was gazing at me intently.
“….”
Her face and expression were hidden behind the ogre mask.
Yet it was obvious as day that her expression was cold and indifferent.
After all, Isolde rarely—if ever—displayed emotions.
But the emotion I detected through Weak Point Detection was surprise.
And concern…?
‘Ah.’
Now that I thought about it, both my arms were currently severed.
Fortunately (?), Isolde was aware of my Regeneration ability, so she didn’t seem particularly worried.
Rather, she seemed concerned that something might have gone wrong since I wasn’t using Regeneration.
‘So she could worry after all.’
I was discovering this for the first time because Isolde rarely expressed emotions.
Without Weak Point Detection, I would have never known in my entire life.
In any case.
There was no real problem, but Dragon’s Wrath was a skill that consumed all my calories.
In other words, I couldn’t use Regeneration [B+] until I replenished my calories.
So I pulled oil from my inventory.
“Could you pick up that oil canister that fell on the ground over there?”
“….”
“As you can see, my hands are in this condition right now.”
I flailed my arms, which had been completely severed below the elbows.
‘Still, my stamina increased enough that I could endure to some extent.’
My body had grown explosively in the Infinite Labyrinth and become far more resilient.
Damage that would have originally reached my shoulders now stopped at my elbows.
Of course.
“I’m sorry, but could you also feed me?”
Still, the fact remained that I was helpless on my own.
* * *
Red light staining the alleys.
A pleasure district where coarse laughter and lewd cries never ceased.
The Red Light District.
“Madam, Black Grasp has finally breached the Black Market’s defenses.”
Lyla, the madam of the Crimson Soiree, listened to her subordinates’ reports.
“The Vister Alliance’s forces are also advancing into the Black Market.”
“The Ashen Mask can’t respond properly because of the attackers causing chaos in the Black Market.”
“Madam, the situation is grave.”
“Shouldn’t we take action now?”
“If the Black Market falls to either the attackers or Black Grasp….”
The members of the Crimson Soiree voiced their concerns—
“No. The Crimson Soiree won’t move.”
Lyla’s resolve was unwavering.
Of course, as her subordinates said, it wasn’t good if the Black Market fell to some unknown attacker, Black Grasp, or anyone else—
“What gambler goes all-in with a hand they clearly can’t win with?”
“…Pardon?”
“Black Grasp is finished now.”
Lyla continued with a meaningful gleam in her eyes.
“Who among you has been with the Crimson Soiree the longest?”
“I’ve been here for about four years.”
“Hmm…, that’s quite impressive.”
Four years was indeed impressive.
Surviving four years in Violess, where murder and violence occurred almost daily, was no easy feat.
In that sense.
“I’ve been here for thirty-two years.”
Lyla had been here for thirty-two years.
“From a courtesan in the Red Light District to the madam of the Crimson Soiree.”
“….”
“When I was a courtesan, the Crimson Soiree didn’t exist in the Red Light District. Back then, it was called the Crimson Mask Gang.”
Lyla’s gaze drifted downward as if recalling the past.
“Elenora. She was the madam of the Crimson Mask Gang. She was truly beautiful. A noblewoman of Count Whitewolf’s House, though fallen from grace.”
“….”
“Dazzling beauty. Sharp intellect. Every gesture carried an inherent grace, you might say.”
“….”
“Ah, so that’s what nobility is. That’s when I understood—there exist humans born into a different world than us.”
“….”
“Her heart was as beautiful as her face. That’s why she pitied us. Those of us who spread our legs for men whose names and faces we’d never know.”
“….”
“She helped us find other paths. I learned weaving from her. The madam herself taught me so I could leave Violess and build a new life.”
“….”
“But the Black Market kept sending sex slaves. The madam wanted to break that vicious cycle, so she united all the Visters of Violess and waged war against the Black Market.”
And then.
“She vanished. In an instant.”
Lyla’s voice trembled for reasons she couldn’t quite name.
“Are you saying the Ashen Mask’s power is that formidable?”
“No.”
Lyla shook her head lightly.
“Do I look like I’d fear something like the Ashen Mask?”
“That wasn’t my intention, but….”
“The Ashen Mask is nothing. And the Black Market isn’t even ruled by the Ashen Mask.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Violess was once a land of mercenaries that even the kingdom couldn’t control. Then at some point, it became a city of criminals. What do you think the reason was?”
“That would be….”
“There’s someone hidden behind the Ashen Mask.”
Lyla’s crimson hair cascaded softly past her shoulders.
“An impossible monster who swept away mercenaries in an instant—something even the kingdom’s armies couldn’t accomplish.”
* * *
Oil fed to me by Isolde.
I gulped it down like a baby bird.
Isolde said nothing.
Hidden behind the ogre mask, her expression was invisible, so I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
Even Weakness Detection couldn’t penetrate her intentions—
‘It only works if there’s significant emotional turbulence to detect.’
It seemed the skill wasn’t omnipotent after all.
Perhaps it was simply because she was Isolde.
In any case.
With the replenished calories, I successfully regenerated both my severed arms.
But the calories were still insufficient.
Just as I was about to retrieve an oil canister from my inventory—
KRWAAAAAHHHHH—!!
A tremendous roar suddenly erupted.
* * *
A flame dragon illuminating Violess’s night sky in an instant.
The overwhelming spectacle left all the Visters awestruck, if only for a moment.
KRWAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!
The roar that erupted with such force it seemed to shake the very earth sent the Visters reeling like branches caught in a tempest, crashing to the ground.
The ear-splitting shockwave tore through the air, rippling across all of Violess, and the Visters were hurled to the pavement by its sheer force.
“AAAAHHHHH—!!”
One Vister clutched his ears, releasing a agonized scream.
Blood trickled from his ears—whether his eardrums had ruptured—and his body lost all balance, toppling backward.
The other Visters fared no better.
Visters sent flying, unable to withstand the shockwave.
Visters collapsing unconscious as if struck hard on the head.
Visters crashing against walls and floors, their bodies broken.
“AAAAHHHHH—!!”
“P-please, save me—!!”
In an instant, the scene descended into absolute chaos.
The surroundings had become a battlefield, as if an explosion had detonated.
All the buildings had been reduced to rubble, and the view suddenly opened up.
Thus, from the Black Market’s considerable distance away, toward the Ruins District, one could now discern something overwhelmingly massive.
The crimson haze slowly dissipated—
A colossal form exceeding forty meters in height.
Its skin possessed the texture of solid stone.
The muscles of its arms and legs were rough, as if boulders had been fused together.
Strange crimson-black patterns twisted across its skin’s surface, and its back bristled with several massive protrusions like tumors.
The sensation of gnarled ancient tree roots entangled together.
They moved rhythmically in sync with the monster’s tremendous motions.
Its half-opened eyes blazed with crimson light, burning fiercely—
“W-what in the world… is that….”
Sarpedon, the captain of the Black Grasp, had his face and expression consumed by terror and confusion.
His ears rang with a persistent, deafening hum.
His vision blurred, and his legs trembled from the impact, refusing to obey.
Looking around, every single Vister was suffering.
The Black Grasp, the Vister Alliance, even the Ashen Mask—not a single one was spared.
Some bleeding profusely.
Some collapsed on the ground.
This was merely the beginning.
All of this happened from a single roar.
And then.
The fallen Vister members began rising to their feet one by one.
Soon their eyes began to shift gradually—
“Die!!!”
One Vister screamed shrilly, swinging his weapon at the comrade beside him.
“I’ll paint you red with blood!!”
Following suit, other Vister members cried out and seized their weapons, turning them mercilessly upon the fellow Visters they had been fighting alongside moments before.
“Kill them! Kill them all!!”
“Krahahahaha, uahahahahaha!!”
They stabbed and struck at one another, their rage expressed instinctively and blindly.
Throughout Violess, the dull thud of blunt weapons striking skulls echoed, and sharp screams tore through the air as flesh was rent open.
Sarpedon’s thoughts crystallized into rigid stillness.
No thoughts came at all.
The lingering resonance of the roar still hung in the air.
A destructive force that swept away everything.
As Sarpedon’s consciousness snapped—
“If you wish to fight, then fight! If you wish to kill, then kill! This is the law of Violess!!”
The streets of Violess were instantly drenched in blood and chaos.
* * *
A sound like bones being crushed.
Isolde and I staggered.
I quickly steadied myself and cleared my vision—
Kwaaaaaaaaaa──!!
From the lower half of Iratum’s body lying on the ground, a crimson mist poured forth like a waterfall.
It clung to Iratum and began swelling his form.
His body grew endlessly larger.
Only when it reached a height of forty meters did the expansion cease.
“What in the world is that….”
Isolde had moved beyond surprise into sheer shock.
I felt the same.
Yet I was shocked for an entirely different reason than she was.
‘He’s alive?’
…That made no sense.
Because the translucent text stating that Iratum had died came to mind.
The text was sometimes unreliable.
But it never lied.
In other words, Iratum had experienced ‘certain death.’
‘Then how in the world…?’
I swallowed my confusion and activated Predator’s Instinct [S]—
==【Entity Information】==
Entity: Crawlgar
Classification: Chaos-Aligned Abyssal Ancient Divine Monstrosity
Gender: Androgyne
Age: ?????years
Characteristics: Born from Wrath[?]
“Damn it!”
I gnashed my teeth without thinking.

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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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