The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 75: Lawless City (1) (Part 2)

After instantly grasping their positions, I immediately sprang into action.

First, the three directly ahead.
Perhaps they hadn’t realized what was happening yet.
They looked flustered.
Slipping into that opening, I ripped out the throat of the one on the far left.

Crunch!

One of them collapsed without even managing a scream.
As soon as I confirmed the kill, I spun around and slashed in a cross with Dragon’s Claw.

The other two were shredded like paper.

With the three in front down in the blink of an eye—

“Th-That bastard!”
“Kill him!”

The remaining ones revealed their true colors and drew their weapons.

Their posture as they pulled daggers from their cloaks—
The way they stabbed without hesitation—

These weren’t amateurs. They’d killed before.

I tilted my head slightly to dodge the incoming dagger, grabbed the guy’s arm, and pulled him toward me.

Driving my knee into his face as he was dragged in, I twisted at the waist and struck the enemy behind him with the same leg.

Thud!

There was no need to use Metabolic Overdrive.
No point wasting the calories.

That left just one.

“H-Hiiiek!”

The guy who had been waiting for an opportunity from the back.
I didn’t kill him—I slammed him into the ground instead.

Bam!

“You guys—Which Vister group are you from?”

Vister.

“Vi” as in violence.
“Ster” as in person.

A word that means “person of violence.”
In simple terms, gangsters.

And in this lawless city, there are countless Vister groups. In a place like this, where law and order have collapsed, violence becomes the ultimate power.

Those who impose their own rules through force—those are Visters.
That’s why uncountable Visters are born and wiped out again and again.

This is my turf, that’s your turf.
Every day is a battle for territory.

But even amidst such chaos, some Vister groups maintain overwhelming power—

Crimson Soiree of the red-light district.
Black Grasp of the gambling halls.

“I-I can’t tell y—!”

Crack!

“Gyaaaah!! B-Black Grasp! We’re from Black Grasp!!”

These guys were Visters from Black Grasp.
Not just some street-level thugs, as I’d initially thought.

But they weren’t the ones I was looking for.

The ones I was searching for—

“Where do I go to find the black market?”

The Ashen Mask of the black market. A Vister group under the Dark Merchant Group.

“Th-Theeer… That way—!”

Crack!

“Aaaaaaah! I-I was trying to tell youuuu—!”

The bastard glared at me with eyes full of injustice.
But honestly, I didn’t expect him to cooperate from the start.

“If you’re going to answer, then spit it out already. Don’t make it confusing.”
“U-Ugh…!”
“I said, don’t stall.”

Crack!

“YEEEAAAARGH!”
“So where exactly do I need to go?”
“J-Just around that alley, and…”

Afraid I’d snap his arm again, he explained the path in detail.
After hearing him out—

Smash!

I grabbed his face and slammed it straight into the ground.
His body went limp.
He wasn’t moving.

None of the ones I’d taken down earlier were, either.

…My first kill since returning to the past.

Lycanthropes weren’t human, and homunculi weren’t strictly human either. Same with Avarus.
So this could be considered my first true human kill.

But thanks to my memories and experience from the Special Unit, I remained composed.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was desensitized to killing.
Taking a life was still something I found unpleasant and emotionally burdensome.

However, not sparing someone who didn’t deserve to live was a different matter entirely.

The fact that these bastards had tried to kill a random passerby without hesitation proved the severity of their crimes. No doubt many innocent lives had already fallen at their hands.

As I stood up—

“H-He took down the Les goons that easily…”
“Unbelievable…!”
“Who is that guy…?”

People were staring at me, eyes wide with disbelief.
Judging by their expressions, it seemed like these Black Grasp members had been infamous even beyond their affiliation.

A hushed murmuring began to spread among the crowd.

Anywhere else, people would’ve screamed and fled, the city guard would’ve shown up, and chaos would’ve broken loose across the entire district—

But this was Baoless.

A lawless city where even the bare minimum of order no longer existed.

Black Market.

A place where goods that can’t be traded openly in regular markets are bought and sold in secret.

In Baoless’ black market, forbidden spellbooks and magical materials, cursed items,
illegal drugs and alchemy ingredients—
Even human slaves were sold.

These were the kind of goods that could turn you into an enemy of the entire continent if caught.
And since the suppliers bore all the risk, the prices were naturally high.

The Dark Merchant Group ran multiple such black markets, amassing immense wealth.

In other words, Baoless wasn’t the only place with a black market operated by the Dark Group.
But the one in Baoless was the largest.

Baoless—where no Monarch or Lord held absolute power.

There was no authority capable of stopping a black market, even if it operated openly.
So the black market in Baoless sat right in the city’s heart.

Still, anonymity was strictly enforced, and it was standard for all traders to cover their faces with masks or hoods.

‘I’ve got my mask on.’

I took a ring out of my inventory.

In the center was a Shadow Amethyst, which shimmered between purple and black depending on the light.

The ring didn’t look ordinary at all—and its name was:

◆ Covenant of the Abyss (심연의 맹약)

: This ring is attuned to a specific lifeform’s energy signature and has been designed to only be worn by a person with a matching mana pattern and genetic code.

It was a symbol marking one as a worshiper of corrupted souls.
As the description indicated, only a pre-designated individual could wear it.

I had obtained this from Avarus’s secret vault.
In other words, this ring served as Avarus’s personal identification.

Only Avarus could wear it—but thanks to my ability, Predation [S+]…

Predation [S+] didn’t just absorb a target’s abilities.
It absorbed the background that granted those abilities—their genetic information.

So after devouring both Avarus and Z’thulonak with Predation [S+], I now possessed their genetic data.

When I wore the ring—

Bzzzzzz—!

The Shadow Amethyst glowed a deep violet.
As if scanning for biometrics, the purple light swept over my body before fading away.

It had recognized the genetic data I absorbed through Predation [S+].

From this moment on, I was Avarus, worshiper of corrupted souls.
The Dark Merchant Group would believe that without question.

‘I’m going to strip this place down to the dust.’

Fixing my mask, I stepped into the black market.

Translatin_Otaku

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