The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 91: The Stirring Continent (2) (Part 1)

A Hidden Quest appeared before my eyes.

…What the hell? I was left speechless.

All I could think was: This is insane.

I waved my hand to scatter the floating message.

Of course, I had no intention of accepting it.
The quest had been force-accepted—but whether I actually did it or not was still up to me.

As if reading that firm resolve of mine…

==[I Will Steal Her]==

[Objective] – Land a kiss on Isolde!
[Reward] – Isolde’s disposition will change
[Failure] – No penalty

The Hidden Quest message reappeared, but this time the reward had changed.

Apparently, the earlier version was just part of the system’s melodrama.

‘It really feels like this thing has a will of its own.’

At this point, I could pretty much assume it.

I still didn’t know how the quest system actually worked,
but I was sure now—there’s some kind of “entity” assigning them.

Anyway.

‘Still not doing it.’

Even with the new reward, I didn’t have the slightest intention of completing the quest.
The problem wasn’t the [Reward]. It was the [Objective].

Am I supposed to be out of my mind?

What, act crazy and try to complete it just to get EXP?
Ridiculous. Hidden Quests don’t even reward EXP.

I waved my hand again, scattering the message once more.

Yet the message kept popping back into my vision like a damn mosquito.

I kept swatting it away as I walked toward the gathering point—
where all the Visters of Baoless, including the Black Grasp vister, had assembled.

* * *

What was once the main square of Baoless—

Was now filled with thousands of lowlifes, all gathered together.
Each held different banners and weapons, murmuring anxiously.

Through them, one man slowly stepped forward.

Black hair. Red eyes.

…But something felt strange.

There wasn’t a single sound coming from him.

His footsteps were slow.
But it was as if even sound couldn’t catch up—his entire presence was silent.

The wind blew, ruffling the long black coat he wore,
and even then, there was no sound.
It looked like the man was cloaked in silence itself.

He stepped up onto the highest platform in front of the crowd.

As he slowly scanned them with his gaze, the murmuring crowd went silent—instantly.

“From now on, you will follow me. We’ll begin again, somewhere new.”

His voice carried across the square with ease, overwhelming the crowd.
There was weight—pressure—in every word.

“If anyone’s got a problem with that, step forward now.”

No one did.

But murmurs returned, growing louder as Visters looked around at each other.

Then, one voice cautiously spoke up:

“Umm… Boss?”
“What.”
“Do we really have a reason to follow this guy?”
“Yeah, why follow someone whose name we don’t even know?”
“He’s got that creepy jet-black hair. Bad omen.”

That’s when things started to erupt—grumbling turned to shouting.

Complaints spread like an infection.
It felt like a riot could break out any moment.

And yet, the Black Grasp’s Ark, Sarpedon, just looked bored.

“So what?”
“…Huh?”
“So what do you wanna do, huh? Rebel or something?”
“Shouldn’t we at least try to fight ba—”
“Hey.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Are you fucking stupid?”
“…What?”
“Isn’t there a parasite in your gut telling you to shut up?”
“What are you talking about—?”
“If you wanna live, shut your damn mouth, you dumb bastard.”

SMAACK—!!

“You dumbass! You saw what happened to Layla from the Crimson Banquet when she stood up to him, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“And she wasn’t alone. There were hundreds of Visters with her. What happened to them?”

They all died.
It didn’t even take three minutes.

Actually—less than that.

Sure, there were thousands of Visters gathered here.
They had the numbers. But Sarpedon knew better.

A bunch of trolls might manage to bring down an ogre.
But no matter how many trolls you gather, they’ll never kill a dragon.

“Or did you forget who killed that giant beast? Even a damn goldfish would remember that, dumbass.”
“Of course I remember, but…”
“You remember, and you’re still talking like that?”
“I mean… wouldn’t it be better to just follow the hot chick—”

SMAACK—!!

“Oh, you little shit! So that’s what this is about?!”

WHACK!

“You’re letting your dick do the thinking now?!”

THWACK!

“Your poor mother tried her whole life to find one redeeming quality in you!”

WHAM! SMACK!

“And this is what her son ends up saying? ‘Can’t we just follow the pretty girl?’”
“Gahh! Oww! Please, stop hitting me!!”
“Stop?! Stop?! You deserve to DIE, you bastard!!”

CRACK—!!

“That ‘pretty girl’ Layla tried to follow? SHE WAS TRYING TO KILL ALL OF US!”

BAM!!

“That man SAVED us! He TOOK US IN! How do you not get that, you thick-headed freak?!”

SMASH SMASH SMASH!!

“Boss! You’re going to kill him!”
“That’s the damn point! If I don’t kill him, we’re ALL gonna die!”
“S-Sir!”

Eventually, after repeated pleading, Sarpedon calmed down.
He panted heavily, veins bulging with rage.

“If your skull isn’t filled with noodles, shut the hell up and do whatever that man tells us to. Got it?”
“…Yes.”

And so, the Visters of Baoless obeyed.
No more defiance. No more noise.

Only silence.

* * *

A sudden commotion.

It grew, swelling into full-blown chaos.
But I didn’t step in.

‘Looks like Sarpedon broke their spirit for me.’

Honestly, I had originally planned to kill off most of the Visters here.

They were thugs—always brawling, still clinging to their criminal instincts.

Taking those guys to a County? Ridiculous.

If I wanted to retrain and reform them into a proper force,
I had to “break” them—possibly even purge them.

Let’s be clear: “taking them in” didn’t mean forgiveness.
It just meant giving them a chance to change.

Anyone who crossed the line, like the Crimson Banquet…
Or tried to challenge me?

I planned to kill them on the spot.

But maybe because of the title effect—〈King of the Underworld〉,
which boosts the success rate of negotiation, intimidation, and persuasion by [+250%]—

—DIE!! DIE, YOU BRAINLESS IDIOT!!
—G-Guhhh!!

They were already crawling at my feet.

‘Guess we can depart immediately.’

Looked like I could take them straight to the County and start training them.

* * *

The rumor that Baoless, the lawless city, had vanished—

What began in Caravana spread rapidly across the entire continent.

“The Saint herself resolved the situation…”
“Now I understand why she’s hailed as the greatest Saint in history!”
“Long live the Saint!”
“Long live the Holy Kingdom!”

Now, no matter where you went on the continent,
you would hear endless praise for Saint Isolde and the Holy Kingdom.

But no one, anywhere…

The name Adrian was not mentioned—.