The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 78: The Saintess of the Allied Forces (2) (Part 1)

Isolde came shooting toward me at a terrifying speed.

The torn underarm had completely healed, but her clothes hadn’t.
Her smooth underarm skin was completely exposed.

And yet, Isolde, that girl…

Kiiiiing—!

…she didn’t care one bit about that.
Well, of course. Isolde isn’t the type to shrink in embarrassment. Not that she lacks shame—
She simply knows exactly what matters more.

There’s a reason she’s the greatest force of the allied army and the commander of the Papal Palace.

The surging holy power calmed. Condensed holy power—
It covered Isolde’s gauntlets and erupted into tremendous force.

Divine Martial Fist. Valencia-style.
Radiant Strike.

I knew that skill.
Created long ago by the Saint of Valencia, it’s a technique that gathers holy power into one’s fist to deliver a powerful blow.

The key to that technique lies in detonating the compressed holy power.
If you try to dodge?

You might get caught in an even larger blast radius.
So you must not dodge it.
…You have to block it before it explodes.

You have to block it.

◆ Using Compound Skill: Dragon’s Skin [U] ◆

Kwaaaang!

Blood surged from between my clenched teeth.
Thankfully, I blocked it before the holy power exploded.

Because of that, Isolde’s arm muscles, which unleashed Divine Martial Fist, were completely ruptured.
Her arm dangled limply.

It revealed her lack of mastery over the Divine Martial Fist.

…Now’s my chance!

As I swung Dragon’s Claw [A], Isolde instantly flipped backward and retreated through the air.
It was a shame, but I didn’t pursue.

Instead, I used the opening to pull out an oil canister from my inventory.
As soon as she landed, Isolde’s ruptured arm regenerated.

And the moment she saw me gulping down the oil I’d taken out—

She charged at me again without hesitation.

‘Damn it.’

I threw the half-empty canister aside.

‘A battle of attrition puts me at a disadvantage.’

Because my calories are limited.

Sure, my Infinite Inventory overflowed with oil,
but I didn’t have the luxury to consume it mid-fight.

Isolde would never just stand by and let that happen.
I could maybe find openings and sneak in a few gulps, but not enough to sustain me.

Bang! Boom!

The calories I could replenish were nothing compared to how fast I was burning through them.
Even just blocking Isolde’s attacks—

◆ Using Skill: Regeneration [B+] ◆
◆ Consumes a large amount of nutrients to regenerate damaged body parts ◆

Chunks of calories were draining away.
And once they were completely depleted, Regeneration [B+] would become impossible.

Of course, the same applied to Isolde.

Her recovery would also halt if she ran out of holy power.
The problem was that Isolde’s holy power was virtually infinite.

The source of Isolde’s holy power—
Was the belief and devotion of the citizens of the Holy Kingdom.

To them, Saintess Isolde was the “Representative of God.”

Her ability, Omni Vessel [M], allowed her to contain all the faith and hope of those people.

Its grade? Mythic [M].
Considering how broken Infinite [M] is, it’s no surprise that this ability is utterly busted.

Crack!

A sharp sound rang from every muscle in my body.
My muscles hadn’t fully regenerated with [B+] Regeneration.

Isolde’s attack had inflicted injuries that outpaced my healing.

Each of her strikes could be a killing blow.
She unleashed those attacks on me without a hint of hesitation.

But that didn’t mean Isolde was just some brute with strength.

Her movements were too fast for the eye to track.
Even so, my extremely heightened agility and near ESP-level senses let me narrowly evade her blows—

‘But I can’t just keep dodging.’

I had to subdue her.
…Could I do it?

‘Don’t be scared.’

I shoved away the doubt.
I was strong enough.

In my past life, I couldn’t even come close to her. But that was the past.

Thanks to Ian’s ability, Solo Leveling [EX], I had grown tremendously.

No matter how strong Isolde was, she couldn’t compare to Ian.
Even the Isolde of the allied forces, far stronger than she is now, couldn’t surpass Ian.

In fact, she could barely even reach his toes.

I hadn’t even touched Ian’s toes yet—
But…

‘Not anymore.’

It wasn’t just because I now had Ian’s ability.

My own power: Predation [S+].
An ability I couldn’t properly use in my past life.

Now, I could control and wield that ability perfectly.

At one point, Ian told me:

“I can never become like you.”

That he could never be like me.
That not even a dragon could be like me.

“Adrian, you are the final apex of all living beings.”

The Ultimate Predator.

“Only your ability, Predation, can reach that final peak.”

The Ultimate Lifeform.

“How could a human or even a dragon compare to the ‘Ultimate Lifeform’?”

Even though I never reached that summit, contrary to Ian’s expectations—
Even though I couldn’t overcome the limits of being just a hunter—

◆ Using Compound Skill: Metabolic Overdrive [U] ◆
◆ Calorie Consumption – 50,000 Kcal ◆
◆ All player stats increase by [+50%] for [500 seconds] ◆

Now, the true instincts of the Predator had fully awakened.

* * *

When Isolde faced Adrian—

More precisely, when she faced the high-ranking officer of the Dark Merchant Group who looked like Adrian—

‘Something’s wrong.’

She couldn’t shake the sense of unease.

First of all—
Adrian’s recovery speed was alarming.

He didn’t seem to be using any elixirs or potions.
Not even those—he was using oil…?

Isolde’s gaze dropped for a moment.

The liquid spilled across the floor.
It was clearly oil.
Black, used oil at that.

Adrian was gulping it down and instantly healing his wounds.

Or rather than healing—regenerating.

It rivaled even holy power regeneration.

Yet Adrian wasn’t using any holy power.

That strange, unidentified energy…
It made Isolde even more certain that Adrian belonged to the Dark Merchant Group.

But secondly—

‘He knows Divine Martial Fist.’

Adrian somehow knew Divine Martial Fist.

He didn’t just know the name—he understood the technique and its mechanics.

That didn’t make any sense.
Divine Martial Fist was created by successive Saints of the Holy Kingdom to fight against the darkness.

A martial art designed to channel holy power in close combat.
Each form was named after its creator.

Over generations, it had been refined—
Across 213 generations, perfected over thousands of years.

In short, no one except Saints or Saintesses should know, let alone use, Divine Martial Fist.

So that means—

Could Adrian possibly be… a Saint?

Translatin_Otaku

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