The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 64: Mystery of Nothingness (1) (Part 1)

Pitch-black darkness swallowed the entire space.

The utter blackness blocked out even the slightest visibility—not even a hand in front of one’s face could be seen.

From every direction came eerie, unidentifiable sounds.
The floor beneath them felt soft and squishy, evoking an instinctive sense of revulsion.

Just then—

“Are you alright?”

Kai’s voice came from one side.
But while the direction of the sound could be guessed, his figure remained entirely unseen.

“I’m fine. What about you?”
“I’m not seriously hurt, but…”

With Kai’s reply, silence settled between us.
We both understood we needed time to adapt to the darkness.

The squelching sounds around us grew louder, and the grotesque beat of a heart pulsed up from the soles of our feet.

How long did we wait like that?

No matter how much time passed, there was no sign our vision would recover.

Even when I brought my palm right up to my face—I couldn’t see a thing.
I couldn’t even tell if my eyes were open or closed.

This level of darkness only meant one thing.
It signified that there was no light at all in this space.

Thankfully, I had prepared in advance. I reached into my inventory to retrieve a Luminous Stone.

◆Error: Inventory is not responding.

But for some reason… the inventory wasn’t responding?

At that very moment—

Fsshh—!

A blue light burst out from one side, illuminating our surroundings in a flash.
The bluish Aura gathered on Kai’s sword.
It extended outward, slowly pushing back the pitch-black darkness.

Only then could we finally see what this place looked like—

The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of grotesque lumps of flesh.
Every surface was sealed shut with swollen muscle and clumps of sticky, glistening fat.

When Kai brought his sword closer to the wall, slowly writhing veins revealed themselves.

Twisted blood vessels writhed grotesquely, carrying dark crimson blood.
Around them, a thick, slimy secretion oozed out, like moist, clammy skin.

“What… is this…?”

Kai’s expression, lit by the blue Aura, was filled with confusion.
Anyone could see this wasn’t a normal place.

‘No way…’

I sharpened Dragon’s Claw and slashed at the wall—

SCREEEEEECH!!

A hair-raising shriek erupted from within the wall.
And within the torn section… were misplaced limbs—hands, legs—and a twisted face, all entangled together.

Then, a mass that resembled an eyeball wriggled into view—

Heehee.

A lipless mouth bared its teeth in a silent grin.
Then schlick—the torn flesh twisted and sealed itself once more, restoring the wall.

“What was that just now?”
“…No idea.”

I never wanted to see something like that again.
If this wasn’t the work of a depraved cultist of corrupted souls, then I didn’t know what was.

Still, this confirmed that the effect of Dragon’s Claw was functioning properly.

‘The ability of Predation is working as it should.’

I called up my [Player Info] as well.

== [Player Info] ==

[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] = Ruler of the North
[Level] = Level 53
[HP] = 2,550
[MP] = 0
[Stats] = Strength: 33 / Agility: 60.95 (+7.95) / Endurance: 24.15 (+3.15) / Mana: 6
[EXP] = 55.8%

The information window appeared normally.

Which meant that Ian’s abilities—Solo Leveling [EX] and Player’s Will [EX]—were both functioning as intended.

However, the effect of the title was not being applied.

This meant the +15% to all stats was no longer in effect.
Only the boosts from Promote Metabolism [B+], affecting Agility and Endurance, remained active.

Which could only mean one thing—this place was not part of the North.

But just before this, I had been in Viscount Benneron’s territory.
And Benneron’s domain was located deep within the northern frostlands.

It should’ve been a place where the title was active—but for some reason, its effect had disappeared.

◆Error: Inventory is not responding.

‘Even the inventory’s not responding…’

I double-checked, but it was the same.
And based on what I’d learned previously about the inventory:

[Inventory is a sub-dimensional space used to store the player’s items.]

Inventory was categorized as a “subspace.”
The fact that it wasn’t responding meant this place existed in a different dimension entirely, separate from reality.

Which meant—

“This must be a barrier space.”
“A… barrier, you say?”

Kai asked again, sounding incredulous.
He clearly couldn’t accept that this grotesque mass of flesh was a “barrier.”
Frankly, neither could I.

‘This is a barrier?’

I’d never seen one like this before.
A barrier usually refers to a zone that restricts certain actions—not an entirely different dimension like this.

More importantly, Avarus had never used such a barrier before.
In my previous life, he had only used something called Infinite Silence.

I had thoroughly investigated Avarus back when I was with the Special Task Force.
There was no record of him being capable of using a barrier like this.

Which meant—

‘Could it be that elixir that formed this barrier?’

The strange elixir Avarus detonated in the end…
That was the only difference from my past life—the only variable.

At any rate, this was clearly a barrier space created by Avarus.

And to dismantle it, the first step was to identify what kind of barrier it was.

I activated Predatory Instincts [S], and information about the current barrier surfaced.

◆ Mystery of Nothingness (?)

: The current ⬚⬙⌺ is a [⨳⨊▧▩]. ⦓⧆⬒⧍ is a ⧳⌿[⨀⦜⦏] ⟇⟡⧄ and ⦵⧉⩂ ⬒⌖⧃, ⦵⦷⟢ with [⦘⦍⦷] and ⩍⟞ ⩎⩓⦕. ⧋⦓⟑ ⧸[⧒⧑⧘⧷⩆] triggers ⩕⧪, while ⦶⧀ ⦿⦤ ⦳⟨⩊⦸ results in [⟐⦼⦟⦖⦽] becoming ⩏⧯ ⟛⦰⦔⟄.

(Unreadable—system corruption or interference detected.)