The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 49: Monarch of Frost (Part 1)

Craah—! Kee—Chuu—! Araaah—! Kieee—!

A cacophony of unintelligible noise rang in her ears, impossible to comprehend through her hazy consciousness.
A tremor that rattled her entire body.
Serapia was confused, like she was dreaming.

At first faint, the noise gradually became clearer. And it didn’t take long for her to realize—it was the roars and shrieks of monsters.

Serapia’s body and mind still felt heavy, groggy.
But the frigid air of the Snowy Mountains rapidly shook her back to her senses.

And the warmth radiating from the body she was leaning against restored her awareness in an instant.

Serapia’s eyes snapped open.
She quickly realized she was being carried on someone’s back.

A broad, solid, and sturdy back.

‘Sir Kai…?’

Kai was carrying Serapia as he fought through the horde of monsters.
With each step he took, the snowy ground thundered beneath him.
His breath came in ragged gasps, misting in the cold as steaming white puffs.

The snowy landscape was painted crimson with blood.
Countless monster corpses piled up into a grotesque new mountain.

And from afar, another battle echoed.

Serapia turned her gaze in the direction of the sound.

There, Adrian was fiercely engaged with a Lycanthrope.
A black wolf-man.
Two beasts clashing in a vicious brawl—biting, slashing, tearing.

The thundering booms that had echoed for a while now were caused by their brutal collisions.

Kai moved quickly, and Serapia’s view spun.
When her vision settled again, the Lycanthrope looked worn out.

Its movements were slowing, and Adrian’s strikes were landing deeper and more frequently.

Then came the moment the Lycanthrope’s eyes wavered with fear.
Suddenly, it turned and bolted—flinging its massive body downhill, desperately fleeing.

“Uh……?”

Adrian’s voice rose in confusion.
Serapia couldn’t see his face from here, but she could tell.
Adrian was caught off guard.

At this rate… the Lycanthrope would escape.

She had to use her power. It was the only way to stop it.
But the courage wouldn’t come.

Serapia bit her lower lip hard.

What was she hesitating for?
What was she afraid of?
She’d passed out like a fool, been nothing but a burden.

Crushed by the Lycanthrope’s overwhelming bloodlust, she’d been paralyzed—unable to act.

And now again… was she going to do nothing?

She was scared. Terrified.
She wanted to run away, to hide.

But surely Adrian and Kai were scared too.
Surely, even they felt fear fighting the Lycanthrope.

When Kai was caught by the beast, he must’ve wanted to flee.
When Adrian faced it head-on, he must’ve wanted to hide.

Yet they didn’t run.
They didn’t back down. They fought.

Now it was Serapia’s turn to fight.

They couldn’t let the Lycanthrope get away.
The leader of the monster horde—if they let it live, it would return to threaten the County again, stronger and more prepared.

Next time, Adrian and Kai alone wouldn’t be able to stop it.
Even if the County soldiers sacrificed themselves, it wouldn’t be enough.

Everyone would die.

So she had to do it.
No matter the cost.
Even if that cost… was death.

The usually ruby-like glint of Serapia’s red eyes—

Was no longer there.

Now they had turned pure white—cold and sharp as ice.
Cruel and unyielding.

Fiiiiiiing—!

A strange sound rang out as streaks of frost unfurled across Serapia’s entire body.
Kai, who was carrying her, jolted in surprise.
He quickly moved to restrain her—but froze mid-motion.

Because he hadn’t been granted permission.

No one had.

No one here had been granted permission to move.

The spreading streaks of frost gathered in one place and rose.
A shimmer of pure white hovered in the air, and frost rapidly blanketed the ground.

And all life froze where it stood.

Not just Kai and me, but the entire monster horde scattered across the Snowy Mountains.
Even the fleeing Lycanthrope stopped cold in its tracks.

This… was what it meant to be a Monarch.

One of the six beings acknowledged—not for their cruelty or carnage, but by the Emperor himself.
A being on an entirely different level, incomparable to mere Commanders.

A world engulfed in ice.

Not a single sound remained.
Absolute silence devoured everything.
The air froze, so heavy and cold it choked the lungs.

Even the wind brushing over the snow crystallized and stopped.
From every direction, the frost of winter bloomed like flowers—petals of ice.

One of the six Monarchs who served the Emperor.
The greatest enemy of the Allied Forces.
The witch who took Hero Ian’s left arm.

And in my mind, the nightmares of my past life came flooding back.

Terrible screams. Agonized cries.
The helplessness of having to watch it all unfold.

My vision blurred, my head dizzy, but the faces appeared clearly, one by one.

“Help me…”
“I don’t want to die…”
“It hurts too much…”

Some were buried alive in ice.
Others had their limbs torn apart, blood spraying as they died.

All I could do… was watch.

Crunch, crackle! Crack! Crack-crack!

Just like now—my entire body frozen, unable to move.
Paralyzed by fear and horror, powerless and pathetic, as people—my comrades, my agents—were slaughtered.

And even now, I couldn’t do a thing.

All I could do was tremble in the face of the overwhelming, otherworldly terror brought by the Monarch of Frost.

◆ Player’s Will [EX] resists unfathomable fear!
◆ Player’s Will [EX] resists an unidentifiable nightmare!
◆ Player’s Will [EX] resists indescribable dread!
…

Even as Player’s Will [EX] resisted again and again—it was no use.

The terror of that day, the nightmare of that day, the fear of the Monarch of Frost—continued to surge and ensnare me.

Ian’s ability, Player’s Will [EX], does not grant total immunity.

It only provides resistance to effects that exceed my mental endurance.

In other words, if my mind breaks under the pressure, only then does Player’s Will [EX] activate.

All it does is stop my mind from collapsing instantly.

Which means—

Ian was the same.

Even Ian could only endure up to the limit of his mental strength.

Translatin_Otaku

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