The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 24: The New Master of the Snowy Mountains (Part 1)

Kai had already sliced deep into the neck of the Ice Drake, exposing its spine.

It was hard to pierce the Ice Drake’s hide with bare hands, but with a Strength stat of 22, tearing apart the half-shattered neck bone was well within reach.

Crunch—!!

The literal sound of bone breaking rang out. The Ice Drake tried to resist.

But the beast was already at its limit.

Even after using its ultimate move, Ice Breath, it had nothing left to fight back.

I tightened my grip and yanked the neck bone.

Eventually, even the spine connected to it ripped free, and the Ice Drake finally toppled to the ground.

Thud!

Its massive body sank into the snowy ground of the mountain, sending a tremor through the earth.

And right then, translucent messages appeared in front of my eyes.

◆ You have defeated [Ice Drake]!
◆ Gained 8,180 Combat EXP!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!

That confirmed the Ice Drake’s death beyond a doubt.

“Haaa…!!”

Only then could I finally relax my body. As the tension left me all at once, my limbs went limp.

Even though I had recovered my damaged body with the [Regeneration B-] ability, I was completely drained.

I collapsed backward on top of the Ice Drake’s corpse and checked the floating messages.

Then…

The EXP looked… absurd.

Until now, the monsters I’d hunted barely gave over 200 EXP.

The Ice Troll gave 120.
Demexus gave 200.
Alacron and Rex gave 100 and 80 respectively.

But this thing?

Ice Drake alone gave 8,180.

And that was from just a single kill.

It made one thing clear—this was a monster I should not have been able to hunt at my current level.

There was a reason it was called the Master of the Snowy Mountains.

I really almost died this time.

While I gasped for breath, caught between relief and joy, another message popped up.

◆ Sudden Quest [“You think you’re that strong?! Follow me to the Snowy Mountains!”] has been cleared!
◆ Gained 16,500 Quest EXP!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!

Clearing the sudden quest triggered by encountering the Ice Drake gave me a huge EXP boost.

There were too many messages to check individually, so I immediately opened my [Player Info].

== [Player Info] ==
[Name] Adrian Whitewolf
[Level] 21
[HP] 26
[MP] 0
[Stats] STR: 22 / AGI: 8 / VIT: 15 / MANA: 1
[EXP] 22.8%
<Bonus Stat Points: +8>

Over the past two weeks, I barely managed to reach Level 13 by skipping sleep and fighting in the cold.

But hunting just one Ice Drake gave me 8 levels.

Now I was Level 21.

And the rewards from the sudden quest weren’t just EXP.

◆ Oh my goodness!!!!!!!

A flurry of dramatic messages popped up in front of me.

◆ You didn’t run—you fought and claimed victory!!!
◆ And against none other than the Ice Drake, Master of the Snowy Mountains!!!
◆ Oh dear!! Oh my!!!
◆ A feat so incredible it’s shaking the system!!!
◆ My jaw is literally on the floor!!!
◆ You’ve earned the Title: Master Of the Snowy Mountain!!!

A title?

Apparently, the sudden quest reward included a title—. As I was wondering what it meant, a system message answered as if reading my mind.

====
[Title]
A title is an honor granted to a [Player] who accomplishes an otherwise impossible feat.
The difficulty of obtaining a title varies, and some provide stat boosts such as ATK or DEF.
The lower the difficulty, the weaker the bonus.
For example, a title like given to a [Player] who got struck by lightning in the field and died carries no real effect.
Players can own multiple titles but may only activate one at a time.

Okay, I get the general idea.

Now for the title I just earned:

== ==
[Condition] Defeat Ice Drake.
[Effect 1] Causes all monsters in the Snowy Mountains to be terrified. Terrified monsters suffer a -15% stat reduction.
[Effect 2] Increases all of the player’s stats by +5.

This… was busted.

[Effect 2] alone boosted my stats by 20 points total.

In other words, a single title had an impact equivalent to twenty levels.

‘Isn’t this completely broken?’

Even I couldn’t help but mutter that out loud.

No wonder the system freaked out earlier.

And just as I was admiring the effects of the title…

◆ Favorability Quest [Don’t Get It Twisted, This Alliance Is Just This Once] has been cleared!

Another message popped up out of nowhere.

It was from Kai’s favorability quest—one I wasn’t even planning to clear.

◆ Kai’s favorability toward you has greatly increased!
◆ Kai’s favorability status is now [Anger]!
◆ A character in [Anger] holds negative feelings toward you.
◆ They find your words and actions disagreeable.
◆ However, unless provoked further, their emotions will gradually settle into [Conflict].
◆ Gained 32,320 Quest EXP!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!
◆ Level Up!

One message after another, more than I’d even seen after killing the Ice Drake.

‘What the hell is happening now?’

And then, as if in response to my confusion…

“What the hell is going on?”

Kai approached with a very serious look on his face.

(T/N: POV change)

The reason was, without a doubt—Adrian.
It was all because of Adrian, who had demonstrated the strength to stand against the Ice Drake.

He was on a completely different level from the Adrian Kai once knew.

Of course, Kai was already aware that Adrian had changed somewhat based on what he’d shown in the past.
But that didn’t mean he was capable of confronting the Ice Drake.

The Ice Drake was a monster officially classified as “Unsubjugatable.”
The only known method of dealing with it was to avoid its territory altogether.

Even Kai himself had estimated only a 30% chance of victory against this northern ruler—
Yet Adrian had managed to hold the Ice Drake down by himself.

With his bare hands, no less.

That… should’ve been impossible.

Of course, there were those known as “Martial Artists,” who, unlike knights that used long weapons like swords, turned their own bodies into deadly weapons.

Their combat prowess was by no means inferior to that of knights.

They were specialists who had trained and studied the most efficient ways to kill—systematically developing and refining their techniques over time.

Translatin_Otaku

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