The Monarch Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 347: Void Projection
Void Projection.
It was a 5-star skill that manifested one of the essences I had devoured.
A 5-star ability obtained from the demonic realm known as Dreamland that had appeared in Tunguska.
So far, the summons I had manifested were the primal beast Lexy and Ark.
“Heh heh. How long I’ve waited for this moment.”
By consuming the Forbidden Fruit, I had also obtained Black Wisdom, the power to unravel the secrets of the void.
That meant I could now grant additional abilities to the next phantom beast I manifested.
–But why are you coming all the way outside the island to use it?
“There are two reasons.”
First, I needed to restore the durability of the Shining Trapezohedron.
And second, to raise the capabilities of the next target I had in mind, I needed ‘materials.’
“The flesh and blood of monsters. In other words, I need corpses.”
–You speak of such gruesome things in such a calm tone.
“They’re half-baked creatures. There’s no reason to feel any sympathy.”
I had already decided which monster I would hunt.
Whoosh!
I spread my Dragon’s Wings and soared more than five kilometers into the sky.
While cutting through the wind and flying south, a pack of lizardmen came into view.
How could I see them from several kilometers away?
I had long since surpassed the limits of ordinary humans, so this much was only natural.
The open plains made them even easier to spot.
I folded my wings and dove straight down.
Just before slamming into the ground, I twisted midair and channeled power into my feet.
Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts – Third Form
Elephant’s Great Foot is activated.
At supersonic speed.
Gathering every ounce of strength.
The moment my soles touched the ground, I released my internal energy.
The ground shattered.
Guuuooooong!
An overwhelming surge of internal energy and physical force tore through the earth below.
The ground split outward from the point of impact, shattering into dozens, then hundreds of fragments.
A radius of about a hundred meters completely collapsed.
The lizardmen, who suddenly lost their footing, tumbled downward.
The remaining force that hadn’t been fully expended erupted from the cracks, ripping apart their fragile bodies.
–Excessive.
“Yeah. I agree.”
The lizardmen caught in the shockwave were unrecognizable as corpses.
And I hadn’t even gone all out.
To think that a technique from the early half of Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts could strike such a wide area.
It was proof of just how powerful the propulsion from flight using Dragon’s Wings truly was.
“K-Kerrr!”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I don’t feel like chasing after you.
So let’s end this here.
Hundred Hands is activated.
A hundred hands burst from the back of my hand and darted forward, chasing after the signs of life.
Slash!
A tragedy so horrific that those killed by the shockwave of Elephant’s Great Foot could be considered lucky.
The Shining Trapezohedron absorbs vitality.
Durability has increased.
The power of the void that swallowed even their screams.
The hands, which were essentially fragments of an Outer God, still smacked their lips greedily even after devouring hundreds of lizardmen.
“Stop stuffing your face and get back here.”
I clenched my fist.
Controlling them wasn’t easy unless I used Black Wisdom to illuminate them.
This time my goal had been restoring durability, so I had let them run wild, but…
I didn’t particularly enjoy the sensation of my arm moving on its own.
“Barely managed to fill it up.”
–Are you going to grant a physical body to the new subordinate you summon?
“Lexy isn’t in any hurry.”
There wasn’t really anything for her to do even if I summoned her in Siberia.
However.
The being I was about to summon this time would pair quite well with Ark.
Or so I hoped.
–I see. Enough stalling. Tell me what you intend to summon.
“The Eldritch Dragon.”
–I thought you would manifest that fellow named Rene.
“I thought about that uncle a lot too.”
I had been pondering it ever since the cooldown had about a month left.
No matter how much I thought about it, it just didn’t feel right.
When Rene Davis had been Devoured, his position had been that of a sapling of Harab Serapel.
Devour didn’t take future possibilities into account when consuming an essence.
Just look at the Dragon Soldier essence I had eaten during the tutorial.
Its stats had been reduced due to the Tower’s restrictions, yet the System had still recognized the penalized corpse as a ‘Dragon Soldier’ and granted me the 5-star skill Primordial Dragon Heart.
“Conversely, if I manifest Rene Davis, he’ll probably only come out at the level of a sapling.”
–But can’t the subordinate created through Void Projection grow stronger?
“Even if a Qliphoth follower gets stronger, how strong could he possibly become?”
The current Rene Davis wasn’t even a Monarch.
He hadn’t even reached High Ranker.
Even if I projected and manifested his essence, there was no guarantee he would grow all the way to the Monarch level I remembered from my memories.
–A reasonable deduction.
“Then we should return to the main topic.”
Among all the essences I had Devoured so far, excluding the unmanageable fragments of ‘divinity,’ who was the most powerful being?
The limb of Qliphoth that we had raided in the DMZ.
The Eldritch Dragon.
“In terms of pure combat power, it’s a monster that surpasses even Ark.”
A half-baked dragon.
***
It was an undead dragon raised through various sorceries, curses, and necromancy using parts of a dragon’s body as a catalyst.
However.
It was still a powerful monster that the System had classified as a ‘dragon.’
And the Eldritch Dragon that the Qliphoth followers had completed before my regression had been far stronger.
The entire northern region of Gyeonggi Province had been reduced to ashes.
One of Korea’s Rankers—and the President of the Player Association—Kim Woosung had lost his life.
The culprit that had inflicted immeasurable damage and drastically reduced the fighting power of Korea’s players!
Now he was my subordinate.
Void Projection is activated.
Target: Eldritch Dragon essence.
Manifesting a Mythic-grade essence. 200 mana will be permanently consumed.
The original owner of the manifested essence is stronger than the user. Level and stats will be slightly reduced.
This skill cannot be used again for 180 days.
A long shadow stretched out.
Until now, it had manifested from a pitch-black shade, but…
Using Black Wisdom to interfere with the activation process added one more step to manifesting the original being.
The land that had been ruined by the aftermath of Elephant’s Great Foot.
The scattered lizardmen corpses lying everywhere were sucked into the shadow.
Crunch. Crack.
A similar sound to when I had used Hundred Hands echoed from all directions.
–So you offer the flesh and blood to raise the degree of manifestation.
“Yeah. Better than nothing. I substituted reptiles for a dragon race manifestation.”
It would have been better if I had something like a lesser drake or a wyvern, but gates that spawn dragon-type monsters are rare, so I had no choice.
The shadow that had devoured all the lizardmen corpses began to writhe violently.
It suddenly surged upward and started taking form.
『Kwaaaaaaaa!』
The dragon race I had created from the imaginary space.
A fifty-meter giant with glowing red eyes.
* * *
Insane specs.
In terms of pure stats, there were quite a few areas where it surpassed even me.
–To think you would call yourself weak.
If you excluded passive skills and unique ability bonuses, that is.
Nyx clicked her tongue.
–You’re acting spoiled again.
“I’m not acting spoiled.”
It was still a monster recognized as a dragon race.
The fact that my own specs were comparable to a monster in the dragon category was what was impressive.
–Still, its aura is weaker than when we encountered it before.
“Yeah. It’s an upper Master-grade monster.”
Even the Archlich Lord that had been strengthened by the intervention of the Goddess of Hell would have to yield a step to the Eldritch Dragon.
I should grant it some essences too, right?
Primordial Dragon Heart
–All stats increased by 20%.
Dragon Blood
–All stats increased by 10%.
The core elements that made up the Giant Divine Dragon’s Factor.
I granted every synergistic essence I had already Devoured to the Eldritch Dragon.
–Just stat increase options. How simple.
“Don’t you know that simple is best?”
Perhaps because they shared the common point of being dragon race, only the stat increase effect was applied without any other bonuses.
Its specs were already at a level where it would be hard to find a comparison at the same level.
If it gained an additional 30%, even I would have to go all out to face it, wouldn’t I?
–I don’t sense any sincerity in those words.
“Ah. You caught me.”
With Dragon Form and Dragon Transformation, it would be more than enough.
Choosing the Eldritch Dragon as my Void Projection target had been the correct decision.
Hehehe.
Shall we move on to the next task?
Black Wisdom is activated.
Everything is difficult the first time.
The second time is easy.
An eerie light poured out from the Shining Trapezohedron.
A physical body has been granted to the entity manifested through Void Projection — the Eldritch Dragon.
The Eldritch Dragon has become an independent being that is not bound to you.
All stats have increased by 20%.
It can be freely summoned and dismissed, and the master-servant relationship is maintained.
However, once destroyed, it cannot be regenerated.
187 durability has been consumed from the Shining Trapezohedron.
Whoa.
That was close.
The Shining Trapezohedron’s durability was now at 6.
It had consumed even more than when I had manifested Ark.
***
“That really was a close call.”
–Are you deliberately keeping the numbers low so you can enjoy the thrill of almost failing?
“I don’t have a hobby like that.”
Whew.
My heart had dropped at the durability consumption, but I had successfully separated it.
“Eldritch Dragon. How do you feel?”
『F… Feel?』
“You can already speak?”
『Learning… words.』
Oh ho.
Was it collecting and absorbing information in real time to develop?
Dragons really were different.
Come to think of it, the Eldritch Dragon at the time I had Devoured it had only just been born.
It hadn’t had any time to learn anything.
“Who am I?”
『Master. Must… serve.』
It seemed to have a good grasp of distinguishing friend from foe, so that was fine.
–Its already high stats have received additional bonuses.
“There probably isn’t a single player on Earth who could fight the Eldritch Dragon one-on-one.”
–Excluding you?
“Obviously.”
It was now an independent entity with high growth potential.
Its current specs were also insanely high.
It had gained the weakness of being unable to be resummoned once destroyed, but…
Since I could simply dismiss it at the appropriate time and send it back, it wasn’t a big problem.
『Great… Master.』
It even picked up an honorific in that short amount of time?
『Please… give me… a name.』
“Is a name that important?”
『My… existence. Definition. How… I am called. Decides.』
A name that defines one’s existence.
I understood.
Without thinking too hard, I immediately spoke the first thing that came to mind.
“Nidhogg.”
The evil dragon that hid in the shadow of the World Tree and gnawed at its roots.
Was there any name more fitting for a dragon created from the reverse world?
Whooooosh!
The moment I spoke the name.
A powerful wind swirled around the Eldritch Dragon.
The eyes that had burned like flames calmed and stabilized.
『A most excellent name.』
The stuttering speech was gone. A deep, clear voice now echoed in my ears.
Its language development had progressed so much that it was hard to adjust.
“You’re okay, right?”
『My mind has never been clearer. Master may set aside his worries.』
How could I not worry when its entire character had completely changed?
The Eldritch Dragon slowly lowered its head to meet my eye level.
“Doesn’t that look uncomfortable?”
『How could I look down upon my Master?』
Oh.
***
To think that despite being a dragon race, it wouldn’t display its characteristic arrogance.
I’m genuinely impressed.
『Please give me your command at once.』
“Huh?”
『You have witnessed a trial that even you cannot handle. Is that not why you called me?』
That’s not it.
You were literally born less than an hour ago.
It looked like its body was itching for a fight.
Perfect timing.
There seemed to be quite a few monsters in Siberia that, like the troll shamans, didn’t appear in the Tower.
“Then let’s go hunting.”
『Hunting? Leave such trivial tasks to others.』
This guy.
Now that it stopped stuttering, it went straight into chuunibyou mode.
I lightly raised my right hand.
Bam!
『Ughhh.』
I gave it a solid flick to the forehead.
It had lowered its head to match my eye level, making it easy to hit.
“That’s enough nonsense.”
I need to gather some essences anyway.
Let’s test out your performance while we’re at it.