The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 76: Lawless City (2) (Part 1)

As I stepped into the black market—

The ground and the stalls were packed with people trying to make a purchase, whispering in low voices as they conducted their trades.

And in the background, people—perhaps merchants, perhaps beasts—were moving things around.

Stalls. And people locked inside iron cages.

Each of them was shackled at the wrists and ankles, wearing nothing but ragged clothing.
Their faces were caked with grime, hair tangled beyond recognition. You couldn’t even tell their gender.

Among them were children.
Some looked no older than seven or eight.

Soon, high fences were erected around us, and figures that appeared to be beasts lined up in front of the cages.

“Come, come! This isn’t something you see every day!”

The slave dealer drew people’s attention, then grabbed the children’s chins one by one, lifting their faces to show them off.

“Pubescent girls to young ones who won’t even get pregnant! Now’s your chance to take them at a great price!”

My fist clenched tight with a loud crack.
A rage far beyond the madness of Predation surged within me, and for a moment, I completely lost my reason.

Had I not been looking for Ian—

◆ Player’s Will [EX] resists the surge of rage!! ◆

I would’ve ripped the heart out of that slaver’s chest.

…Not yet. It’s not time.
If I make a move now, it’ll all be for nothing.

I barely managed to suppress my fury, leaning heavily on Player’s Will [EX]—
And that’s when I noticed them.

A group of masked figures in gray, approaching me from the corner of my vision.

Their faces and expressions were hidden behind the masks, but the eyes peeking through were clearly focused—
On the ring wrapped around my index finger.

“Are you… a Devotee?”

They drew close and whispered.

I waited for Player’s Will [EX] to activate again before opening my mouth.

“…Yes.”

“Your name…?”

“Avarus.”

At that, the masked group flinched in alarm.

Avarus was a Devotee of Executor rank.
In the Holy Kingdom’s hierarchy, it would be equivalent to an “Archbishop.”

The ones standing before me now were Acata—
A title equivalent to an ordinary priest within the Holy Kingdom.

Just as the Holy Kingdom appends “-priest” to roles like senior priest, vice priest, and monastic priest,
Devotees of the Corrupted Soul also use the suffix “Acata,” denoting their class.

In short, high-ranking members are called Devotees,
While the rest are Acata.

Thus, those who achieve the rank of Devotee receive special titles—
And Avarus was one such high-ranking figure.

“Executor…?”

All of them stood far below Avarus in the hierarchy, like heaven and earth.
Still, the eyes behind their masks gleamed with suspicion.

As they should.
I looked nothing like Avarus right now.

Sure, I was wearing a mask, too.
But even without seeing my face, anyone could tell I wasn’t him.

Avarus’s original form was a grotesque mass of flesh and mechanical contraptions.
So why had I dared to call myself Avarus?

“Are you currently in Transmog form?”

Because of Transmog, the transformation magic Avarus uses.

Unlike mere polymorph spells that only change appearance,
Transmog is fundamentally different.

◆ Transmog

: A high-level spell of transformation and reconstruction.
The user perfectly mimics a designated target’s appearance, traits, abilities, and even mind.
Caution: Prolonged transformation may result in permanent changes.

Transmog is not just a transformation spell—
It’s a form of high-level alchemy that requires the target’s genetic data.

Among all the Devotees, only Avarus can wield Transmog.

And even I, without Predatory Instincts [S], wouldn’t be able to detect the difference.

Predatory Instincts [S] is a power held by none other than the Monarch of Beasts.

In other words, unless the Monarch of the Abyss himself showed up,
There’s no way anyone could tell the difference.

Still, they hadn’t dropped their suspicion.
Maybe they were just being thorough.

“Forgive the imposition, but… may we ask the True Name bestowed upon you by Him?”

The Acata in the gray mask asked me again.

“…Z’thulonak.”

Without hesitation, I spoke the name.

“…Our deepest apologies. This way, please.”

Even the last flicker of doubt in their eyes vanished.

*
*

Following the Acata in the gray masks, we arrived—

At a tent hidden deep within the black market.
It wasn’t sealed with a magic barrier, but if you weren’t careful, you’d miss it entirely.

As I waited inside—

Someone entered the tent.

Their mask was torn wide around the eyes,
Red-black streaks radiating outward from the holes, giving the impression of rage and madness spilling from their gaze.

‘Who is that…?’

I had Avarus’s genetic data,
But not his memories.

So I didn’t know who this figure was—
But thanks to Predatory Instincts [S], I could understand enough.

====
Name: Iratum
Classification: Mammalia, Homo sapiens
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Trait: Abyssal Bond [??]

I knew this one.
Iratum, the Destroyer of Wrath.

He was one of the Devotees of the Corrupted Soul,
A Revelator—a rank even higher than Avarus.

“Revelator,” meaning one who reveals,
Was equivalent to a “Cardinal” in the Holy Kingdom’s terms.

In short, a top executive of the Dark Merchant Guild.

Iratum outranked Avarus.
Which also meant… he knew more than Avarus.

In that sense, this thing called the Pact of the Abyss…

◆ Abyssal Bond
: The soul of the bound individual becomes linked to the Negative Dimension. This bond allows the user to freely harness the energy of the Negative Dimension, enabling the use of powers such as ᚛⦸ϻäⓑℰ౦ҭΐ₵, ԋȉ๓, ɏųҝⱪԫἓⅉҝ, Ꮹἁᶇցℌ₳, and ⅾƌҝάԝໍռⱬҝ ίռѕἰḵ.

Negative Dimension.
According to the Archmage from the Allied Forces—

—It can be considered a dimension governed by laws and energies opposite to those of the normal world.

A realm built upon uncertainty, composed of Void, Chaos, and Abyss.

I didn’t completely understand it either—

—But it helped to think of it as a dimension that doesn’t exist in this world.

And whenever the Archmage spoke of the Negative Dimension, there was always one being he would mention.

The Monarch of the Abyss.

The Archmage once described the Monarch of the Abyss as the very Lord of the Negative Dimension.
As such, he was unable to explain anything related to the Monarch of the Abyss.

Even the miracles of the Saint, the spirits summoned by the Spirit Master, and the weapons forged by the master blacksmith were all useless in front of the Monarch of the Abyss.

An inexplicable, unknown fear.
The Allied Forces could only define the Monarch of the Abyss in those terms.

So naturally, it made sense that I, too, couldn’t understand it—

‘Is it because I devoured Avarus?’

The genetic information I obtained from devouring both Avarus and Z’thulonak with [Predation S+].
Because of that, I felt like I could somewhat comprehend it.

However, due to the incompleteness of [Predation S+], the data wasn’t fully intact—some parts of the text were corrupted.

“I feel this every time, but I still can’t make any sense of it.”

A voice suddenly spoke.
As I dismissed the floating window, Iratum had somehow approached me, standing right in front of me.

His blood-red eyes glimmered from behind the mask.
There was a flicker of suspicion in them—but it quickly faded.

“So, why the sudden visit?”

Iratum gave a nod, urging me to get to the point.

Strict anonymity was a rule of both the black market and the dark merchant guilds, as well as the worshippers of corrupted souls.
Neither I nor Iratum removed our masks.

“I’ve come to acquire more materials for homunculi.”

Iratum’s mask twitched at that.

“You’re already out?”
“Certain circumstances arose.”
“Circumstances?”

I calmly explained the previous incident.

Namely, the attack on Viscount Benneron’s territory from the House of Whitewolf.
Naturally, I didn’t tell it exactly as it happened.
I changed the instigator from myself to Kai, and twisted the outcome to say that Avarus emerged victorious.

“I activated Infinite Silence and somehow subdued the situation, but I lost all my battle-type homunculi in the process.”
“Hmm…”

Translatin_Otaku

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