The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 86

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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 86. The Wrath of the Light Dragon
What is the most fundamental instinct that all living beings possess?
One might speak of hunger, the need for sleep, or sexual desire—yet these are merely desires necessary for ‘survival.’
Hunger and the need for sleep are primal survival instincts.
Sexual desire is the survival instinct to propagate one’s own genes.
Therefore, the most fundamental instinct of any living being is undoubtedly the ‘will to survive.’
Regarding this survival instinct, the Grand Mage once defined it thus:
—The nature of all living creatures is ‘selfishness, including kin altruism.’
For one’s own bloodline, one can sacrifice their life.
But for another individual who shares no blood relation?
One might offer compassion and aid, yet if such action demands one’s own life as the price, one will not extend that help to another creature.
—In other words, no living being would ever sacrifice their life for an individual genetically unrelated to them.
And yet.
—For some reason, we humans alone stake our very lives to protect others.
Strangers who share no blood, genetically foreign to us entirely.
An act that clearly defies the instincts of all living creatures.
—Why that is… I confess, I do not fully understand.
An anomalous phenomenon that arcane science cannot explain.
And arcane science is the study that interprets the laws and principles of this world.
Thus, this was a phenomenon that even the laws of this world could not account for.
Isolde was such a person.
Someone incomprehensible, inexplicable.
A Saint who would sacrifice herself to protect others, believing that to be the very reason for her existence.
A hero who endured loneliness and solitude in silence, never revealing her own suffering.
That is why I once loved her—
And also why I abandoned her—
“Now as before, she refuses to listen to reason!!”
A stubborn woman, impossibly difficult to reach.
Nothing had changed from my previous life.
That foolish conviction that tending to her own wellbeing could never save more lives or protect more people—that very blindness infuriated me.
Yet if I’m being honest.
I was no different.
I had no need to fight Crawlgar.
Violess would fall to Crawlgar’s rampage, and the hidden quest would complete itself naturally.
Afterward, my incomplete body would crumble with time, and Crawlgar would return to the Abyss.
There was no reason to draw Crawlgar’s attention.
All of Violess’s people would perish, but what of it?
They were utterly unrelated to me, after all.
Merely strangers, genetically foreign to me.
Yet the reason I deliberately prolonged the battle and faced Crawlgar was—
Well, I’m not entirely sure myself.
Truth be told, I don’t know either.
Perhaps.
I simply wonder if Ian would have acted differently.
Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces.
The Hero of the Continent, Ian.
People praised and revered Ian as a hero, yet not everyone shared that sentiment.
For people cherished something far more than the existence of a hero.
Watching a brilliant hero fail and fall from grace.
Savoring the sight of him meeting a miserable end.
No matter what Ian did or how he acted, people turned their backs and envied and resented him.
The ugly nature of humanity.
Was there truly a need to sacrifice oneself for such people?
But Ian.
-If I find the people of the Continent ugly, then I suppose I’m the hero of the ugly.
Yet you never stopped helping people until the very end.
To the point of seeming foolish, to the point of appearing like a pushover, you sacrificed yourself for them.
Every time you did, I found you frustrating and irritating, but—
On the other hand.
I admired you.
The way you embraced people’s faults rather than condemning or reproaching them.
The way you stood unwavering like an ancient tree rooted deep, even as you teetered on the precipice.
The way you always excelled and overcame everything.
But the truth was, you weren’t overcoming at all—
-Ian, you’re bleeding…!
-Adrian, the comrades are watching. So I must maintain my composure.
When I realized you were merely enduring.
When I understood that the Player’s Will [EX] didn’t actually grant perfect mental immunity.
When I finally grasped what burden you had been carrying on your shoulders all this time.
I truly admired you.
So much so that I couldn’t even dare to wish to become like you.
Kiiiiiiing—!!
A strange sound erupted from Crawlgar.
The patterns inscribed upon the skin blazed with crimson light as if alive, and in an instant they shattered the boundary between day and night—
Rageful Shockwave.
A technique where Crawlgar compresses and releases the energy of rage and destruction that has been absorbed and generated to an extreme degree.
The moment this shockwave manifests.
The wavelengths of light distort first.
The earth tears and ruptures, the air ignites with searing heat, and a radius spanning several kilometers is engulfed in explosive vibrations.
Thus, every object at the center of the shockwave shatters into dust.
The scorching heat and the explosion laden with berserk energy spread outward, inflicting instantaneous fatal wounds upon every living creature in its path.
A force of unparalleled brutality that transcended mere physical impact—one that incinerated the battlefield and obliterated everything in its vicinity.
Crawlgar had recognized it too: time was slipping away. With me present, there was no possibility of achieving their objective within the permitted window.
And so they had thrown down their final gambit.
In other words, the moment that berserk shockwave erupted, everything would be finished.
Violess would perish without question, and neither Isolde nor I would be spared.
Therefore, I should have evacuated immediately—
◆Composite Skill ‘Dragon Rage Explosion [E]’ activated!
But I did not.
‘I would meet it head-on.’
I had to neutralize that berserk shockwave.
I knew it.
What I was attempting was madness itself.
The berserk shockwave I had witnessed in my previous life possessed not merely overwhelming but transcendent power, and attempting to neutralize it was not merely foolish but utterly absurd.
Yet Crawlgar’s current state was unstable.
It was not as it had been in my past life.
If I could seize that precise instant when Crawlgar’s wrathful energy condensed and erupted, inducing a collision…
There existed a possibility.
I could meet it.
No—I absolutely had to meet it.
And the power that Dragon Rage [E] possessed varied according to caloric expenditure.
◆Remaining Calories: 31,450 Kcal
‘This is insufficient.’
This quantity of calories would be wholly inadequate.
Even burning through one hundred thousand calories would be barely enough, if at all.
Yet there was no time to consume calories or deliberate further.
Therefore.
I had to transcend my limits.
The Predator of my previous life—
My own boundaries.
◆Skill ‘Nutrient Synthesis [B]’ utilized to produce [hydrogen], [oxygen], [acetylene], [vinylacetylene], [ethylene oxide], [hydrazine], [nitrous oxide]…
Elements and compounds that trigger exothermic and explosive reactions.
I then detonated these specific reactions using Metabolic Runaway [U].
The remaining calories burned away rapidly, while the synthesized explosive substances within my body proliferated uncontrollably and dispersed throughout me.
They spread across my entire form, accompanied by intense heat and energy.
Thus far, the mechanism mirrored Dragon Rage [E].
I concentrated the dispersing energy into my right arm.
Badadadadadada—!!
The condensed energy then began to roil as if detonating.
Energy that should have dispersed throughout my body instead concentrated in a single location, causing the simultaneously generated energy explosions to compress.
The compressed energy synergized with itself, layering and repeating in cascading explosions—
“Gaaahhhhh!!!”
The searing agony consuming my entire body threatened to shatter my consciousness.
But… I would not block the pain.
I could not block it.
To concentrate the diffusing energy into a single point, I had to sharpen my senses to their absolute limit.
My right arm blazed crimson-hot.
The energy roiling and churning within it, ready to detonate at any moment, was beyond all estimation.
With compression of this magnitude, my body should have been obliterated.
My right arm should have burst apart long ago—
But 241 days of training in the Infinite Labyrinth.
The dramatically elevated stats of my physique and strength.
Craaaaaackle!!!
These allowed me to endure the compressed explosive energy.
No—to withstand it.
“Gaaaaaahhhhh…!!!”
Pain that burrowed into the marrow of my bones.
Anguish as though time itself had frozen.
My consciousness crumbled beneath a torment that felt like my very existence was being denied—
◆Against the soul-rending agony, the Player’s Will[EX] resists!!
—Endure.
I must endure.
◆Against the endless burning pain, the Player’s Will[EX] resists!!
—I’m enduring this, Adrian.
I must push through.
“Uuuuuaaaaahhhhhhh!!!”
I roared, wringing every ounce of strength into my legs.
I kicked off the ground and launched skyward—
Bounding across the shattered rubble of the devastated ruins—
Until I finally halted in the high void, looking down upon Crawlgar—
◆The combination skill, Dragon’s Wrath[E] evolves!!
A semi-transparent message materialized before my eyes—
◆Wrath of The Frenzied Dragon[L]
: Upon activation, the Player concentrates all accumulated [Calories] into a single point without dispersal, thereby [Compressing] the simultaneously occurring energy explosions.
The compressed energy undergoes [Synergistic Reaction], generating layered and repeating [Chain Explosions].
The damage dealt by Dragon’s Wrath[E] increases [5-fold], and the central explosion inflicts [8-fold] damage.
【This skill is an evolved skill derived from Dragon’s Wrath[E].】
The moment I comprehended this—
◆Activating the evolved skill, ‘Wrath of The Frenzied Dragon[L]’!!
My fist, containing all my energy, had already reached its destination.
* * *
Isolde’s mind froze solid, as if time itself had ceased its flow.
A fleeting illusion that the world had ground to a halt.
Kiiiiiiiiing—!!
The concentrated fury compressed within the monster’s colossal frame finally surpassed saturation, fracturing reality itself.
And thus, at last.
Crwaaaaaaaaaagh—!!!
A devastating shockwave erupted outward.
The impact tore through the atmosphere, outpacing sound itself.
As the boundary between sky and earth crumbled, vision warped and twisted.
Everything that existed began to shatter.
…It was over.
Isolde perceived this truth before anyone else could.
Crack—!
The sacred barrier shattered without resistance.
An immense pressure bore down upon her.
Isolde’s feet lifted from the ground, her body suspended in the void.
In that moment.
From within the collapsed boundary of sky and earth.
Roooooooaaaagh—!!!
A colossal dragon wrought of flame unleashed its roar.
With each sweep of its wings, embers cascaded through the air—as if fragments of the sun itself were falling.
The dragon’s two eyes burned with savage intensity.
Upon meeting that gaze.
The Frenzied Dragon.
A single word crystallized in Isolde’s consciousness.
The Frenzied Dragon raged with unbridled fury.
Emotion churned within it, moments away from detonation.
Blazing torrents of wrath and hatred consumed all directions.
…Yet something felt strange.
Warmth. Inexplicably, comfort.
Like gentle sunlight embracing our frozen bodies through a long winter’s night.
The Frenzied Dragon’s massive form hurtled directly toward the devastating shockwave, fury and rage colliding head-on.
───────!!
Sound itself tore asunder.
Light and impact. Heat and fury.
All things intermingled, engulfing the entire world.
The sky shrieked.
The earth cracked and split, its moisture evaporating in an instant.
As the world’s contours collapsed, everything crumbled into ruin.
But Isolde could see it.
The fury’s energy blazing within the radiant dragon’s flames.
…The radiant dragon’s wrath was devouring the rampant rage.
The chaos that had been swirling gradually subsided.
The twisted sky and earth slowly reclaimed their proper forms.
The crumbling landscape finally returned to its place—
SCREEEEEEEEEEEE—!!!
All of Violess could witness the radiant dragon’s blazing wrath.
The burning radiant dragon’s wrath bared its sharp fangs of hatred toward the colossal evil threatening Violess.
CRUNCH—!
The radiant dragon’s massive jaws savagely tore into the monster’s neck, and its teeth instantly ripped through the creature’s skin.
SHRIEEEEEEEEE—!!!
The monster writhed, attempting to shake off the radiant dragon.
The radiant dragon only clamped down more relentlessly on the creature’s neck.
WHOOOOSH—!!
The radiant dragon’s flames erupted with even greater intensity.
The radiant dragon climbed across the monster’s body and began incinerating it entirely.
The monster thrashed in agony, slamming the ground—
BOOM—!!
The landscape shattered from that tremendous impact—
SCREEEEEEEE—!!
Yet the radiant dragon instead raked its sharp talons across the monster’s body. The claws tore through the creature’s skin in an instant.
Flames burrowed into the wounds and consumed them.
Then the radiant dragon bit deep into the monster’s throat.
The monster couldn’t even scream before being swallowed by the inferno—
THUD—!!
Finally, the monster’s colossal body collapsed to the ground.
The radiant dragon trampled upon the creature’s corpse.
The flames still raged, scorching the surrounding earth—
SCREEEEEEEEEEEE—!!
The radiant dragon’s roaring wrath.
It made abundantly clear who reigned supreme over all things.
* * *
SCREEEEEEEEEEEE—!!
When the radiant dragon’s wrath incinerating the landscape echoed forth—
“Huh… what…?”
“What did I…?”
Sarpedon and the other Visters could awaken from their minds consumed by rage.
And they could also see it.
The colossal monster and the radiant dragon wreathed in flames.
I could see the fierce battle between the two entities with perfect clarity.
It was a mythical clash worthy of legend itself.
And at last, the colossal monstrosity that had threatened Violess fell before the radiant dragon—
From the raging inferno in the distance, a single man emerged.
His appearance was utterly wretched.
His entire body was charred black, and his breathing came in ragged gasps.
His right arm was nowhere to be seen—lost to the abyss of battle.
He swayed without a shred of strength remaining.
Even a child could have bested him in that moment.
And yet.
…One could not approach him.
One dared not draw near.
Though he appeared ready to collapse at any instant.
But his very presence, his very existence, emanated an oppressive aura as if he commanded The Continent itself.
The supreme sovereign reigning over all things—
Or perhaps something that transcended even that.
The vast city of Violess was crushed beneath the weight of a single man.
As he slowly turned his gaze to sweep across Violess—
Thud.
Sarpedon was the first to kneel.
And then, thud by thud.
The Vister began to kneel one by one.
Like a plague spreading, every Vister across all of Violess knelt before him.
They could sense it instinctively.
They could feel it in their very bones.
“We behold the Sovereign of Violess!!”
True absolute authority had been born in Violess.

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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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