The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 19: Pursuit (Part 1)

The northern part of the continent was divided into three regions: the Frozen Wastes, the Snowfields, and the Snowy Mountains.

Among them, the Frozen Wastes, being closest to the central lands, had a relatively milder climate. Coniferous forests and other similar vegetation could still grow there.

But relatively mild was still far from warm.

The average temperature hovered around -4 to -5 degrees Celsius. And once the harsh season arrived, it dropped even further—down to -15 degrees on average.

And that harsh season had just begun.

Spending a night outdoors meant freezing to death. Food was hard to come by, and even water was a challenge.

In the North, simply surviving was a constant battle.

Which was why—
“I’ll go right away with the soldiers to search for my brother.”

They needed to find Adrian as soon as possible.

Serapia pulled her thick fur coat tightly around her.
Even then, the cold that pierced through was bone-chilling—deadly.

Each time the chill hit her, a dark foreboding grew in her chest.

It had already been two weeks since Adrian went missing.

In this freezing cold, surviving two weeks was unthinkable. Especially without any gear—there was no way he could still be alive.

“Sir Kai, please search for my brother with the soldiers.”

“……”

Kai remained silent.
His lips were pressed into a thin line, his expression clouded with hesitation.
He looked like he wanted to say something.

Eventually, he spoke.

“…I don’t understand why we have to find Lord Adrian.”

From Kai’s perspective, Adrian disappearing on his own was the best possible outcome.
There was no need—and no reason—to look for him.

Kai said what he truly felt.
And Serapia replied with a single word:

“Family.”

It’s the bond formed the moment you’re born into the world.
A bond that can be healing.

But also a bond you can never sever.
A bond that hurts the ones closest to you.

When people that close hurt each other, the wounds they leave are deeper than any other.
It’s a sickness called family.

And when that sickness festers—it must be treated.

That’s why the former Count cast Adrian out.
He had severed the blood ties of parent and child without hesitation.

But Serapia and Adrian weren’t even related by blood.

Even so—
“Even if it were you, Sir Kai… I would’ve done the same.”

And it was the same for Kai and Serapia.
They, too, were not bound by blood.

“But we’re family.”

Family.

“…Understood.”

Kai nodded.
But that didn’t mean he accepted Adrian.

It was merely his loyalty—his chivalry.
And that loyalty, that knightly devotion, belonged to one person only.

Serapia.
And Serapia alone.

“I’ll search the Snowy Mountains.”
“Then I’ll search the Snowfields and the Frozen Wastes.”

Serapia gave him a small, grateful smile.
Then, wasting no time, she quickly turned to leave.

With each step she took, her silver hair swayed from side to side.
Kai watched her for a moment, then began to walk in the opposite direction.

The cold of the Snowy Mountains seeped through the metal armor.

Kai protected his body with Aura as he trudged up the snowy slopes with the soldiers.

How long had they been climbing?
They had reached the midsection of the mountain when it happened.

“There! Something’s there!”

At the soldier’s shout, Kai turned his head. Something was half-buried in the snow.

They rushed over and dug it out—revealing a massive corpse, over four meters tall.

“It’s the corpse of an Alacron.”

A monster native to the Snowy Mountains—Alacron.

From the state of the frozen corpse, at least a day had passed.

But the condition of the body was odd.
Its flesh had been torn apart violently, as if something had eaten it.

“No wonder the mountain’s been quiet lately.”
“Looks like the monsters are fighting over territory.”

The soldiers reached a conclusion quickly.
They assumed this was the result of monsters battling each other.

And to be fair, the gnawed flesh did look like the work of a predator.

And who could do something like this?
Only a monster.

No human would ever eat monster flesh.

“It doesn’t seem like Lord Adrian is in the Snowy Mountains.”

A reasonable deduction, all things considered.

But Kai thought differently.

He carefully examined the Alacron’s body.

The bite marks on the flesh—
They didn’t look like a monster’s.

Rather than fangs, the marks resembled human teeth.
And on some parts, the cuts were clean, as if sliced with a blade.

Kai quickly arrived at a conclusion.

‘He ate another monster…’

This was Adrian’s leftover.

The soldiers would never imagine that Adrian could eat a monster.
It was unthinkable.

Even if you were starving, eating monster flesh would drive you insane.
It was practically suicide.

That was a long-standing rule and common sense across the continent.

But Kai knew better.

…Because he had seen it.

He had seen Adrian rip out and devour Demexus’ heart.
He had seen it with his own eyes.

It wasn’t a hallucination.
It was real.

At the time, Adrian had gone mad for a moment—but soon regained control.
Back then, Kai couldn’t understand how.

But now… it made sense.

‘He’s finally been consumed by the madness.’

Adrian had succumbed to the frenzy.
It was inevitable—a destined outcome.

Come to think of it, Adrian had disappeared not long after consuming Demexus’s heart.

‘So that’s why…’

Kai immediately understood why Adrian hadn’t shown up for two weeks.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t appeared.

He couldn’t appear.

Once consumed by madness, Adrian was no longer human.

Even now, Adrian was likely wandering the Snowy Mountains, having lost his sanity.
Slaughtering the monsters of the mountain.
Ripping them apart and feeding on their flesh, endlessly accumulating madness.

Translatin_Otaku

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