TLWD 43

Chapter : 43. Traces (2)

The six Lords who serve the Emperor—among them, the Beast Lord.

The Allied Forces referred to the Beast Lord as “Irreducible Complexity.”

Irreducible Complexity.

In simple terms, it referred to a living organism that could not be explained by biological evolution.

More simply put: a creature not shaped by nature, but created by an intelligent being with a clear purpose.

In other words, it meant “a lifeform born of intelligent design.”

There is a common misunderstanding about evolution:
That it has a goal—that it works toward “improvement.”

But that’s not true.
Not at all.

Evolution is merely the random emergence of various beings, among which only those that adapt to their environment survive and pass on their genes.

In other words, evolution does not have “purpose” or “will.”

No individual creature assesses its situation and chooses to evolve.

It’s just that some genes happened to be better suited to survival in certain environments.

In short, evolution is the result of natural selection by nature itself.

Then what if…

What if it were possible?

What if you could introduce purpose and will into evolution?
What if you could assess favorable survival conditions?

And what if there were an intelligent lifeform capable of selecting genetic traits with all of that in mind?

That would be a creature born of intelligent design—like the Beast Lord.

The Beast Lord was not born of nature, but rather created through intelligent design.

A lifeform with a clear objective in its evolution, endowed with intentional will, and optimized for survival through selective design.

In this sense, it wasn’t wrong to say the Beast Lord possessed the genetic material of nearly every living organism on the continent.

In that way, the Beast Lord could be likened to what Ian once called the Ultimate Lifeform.

But there was one critical difference.

Ian’s concept of the Ultimate Lifeform was a creature that had absorbed all possible natural traits: one that was born instantly, reproduced immediately, lived forever, had no predators, and possessed no biological weaknesses.

And such a creature did not need all the world’s genetic material.
Redundant, unnecessary, or useless genes would be a burden.

But the Beast Lord was different.

It did possess the genetic data of almost every living thing on the continent.

Moreover, the Beast Lord wasn’t simply a creature that held genes.
Rather, its body was a chaotic amalgamation of countless traits.

A grotesque being that seemed to be assembled from hundreds of monsters.
A twisted mass of thousands of animals and insects.
A chimeric creation forged from the fusion of tens of thousands of lifeforms.

A Chimera.

The Beast Lord was a chimera forged from all living creatures of this world.

That’s why—

It was the one Lord I wanted to Devour [S+] the most.

If it truly held the genes of nearly every creature on the continent, then Devouring [S+] it would provide me with an infinite range of genetic material.

I could create countless combination skills from it.

Just like how I extracted the dragon gene from Dragon Claw [A] to create Dragon’s Wrath [E].

But in my past life, I never managed to Devour [S+] the Beast Lord.

I couldn’t.

Not just the Beast Lord, but the other Lords as well—especially…

◆ The Player’s Will [EX] resists the Swallowing Darkness!

I couldn’t Devour [S+].

But now, things were different.

With Ian’s ability—Player’s Will [EX]—I now had a way to Devour [S+] the Beast Lord.

So I had to find it.

If the Beast Lord had been in the North, it must have left traces.

◆ Combination skill: Metabolic Overdrive [U] activated!

I began ascending the snowy mountain swiftly.

* * *

Finding the traces wasn’t easy.

The northern continent was vast.
There was no way I could search the entire region.

Still, I had a single location in mind that seemed suspicious.

The habitat of the Gelu Drake.

The summit of the snowy mountain.

The Gelu Drake, called the Lord of the Snowy Mountain, almost never descended from the summit.

It used its strong claws to dig through the snow and feed on moss and grass growing beneath the ice.

So when I’d hunted the monsters of this mountain before, I’d deliberately avoided the summit.

The Gelu Drake wasn’t aggressive, so long as its territory wasn’t disturbed.

I had planned to hunt it only when I met Ian.

But I did end up encountering the Gelu Drake—because it had descended the mountain.

At first, I thought it was due to a lack of prey.
That seemed like a reasonable assumption.

But—what if that wasn’t the reason?

What if it hadn’t come down by its own will?
What if it had been driven out?

With that suspicion, I scoured the summit.

It took a very long time to search the place.

I must have spent an entire day on it.

Fortunately, it wasn’t in vain.

At one of the peaks, I found a trace.

A massive scar gouged into the landscape—a sight of overwhelming devastation.

“This is…”

There, I found the torn corpse of the Gelu Drake.

Its body was brutally shredded and completely frozen.

It had clearly been dead for a long time.
Its heart had long since lost all life, hardened like ice.

Sadly, it was no longer viable for Devouring [S+].

I examined the body in detail.

The creature that had once ruled the snowy mountain now lay in ruins, blood frozen white over its massive frame.

Its once-impenetrable hide had been ripped in several places.

If a human did this, they would’ve had to be a knight who wielded aura.

But it wasn’t done with a blade.

The wounds had been made by razor-sharp claws and teeth.

It wasn’t a human.

And it wasn’t any monster native to this mountain either.

There were no monsters here capable of killing the Gelu Drake like this.

Frankly, there were few even across the entire continent who could.

I looked more closely.

The symbolic claws of the Gelu Drake—once feared and mighty—had been ripped out.

If this was just a hunt for food, that would’ve been unnecessary.

“This wasn’t a hunt born of hunger.”

This was punishment for defying the Legion.

Even in my past life, dragons never submitted to the Legion.

And the Gelu Drake, which carried the dragon’s gene—

There was no way such a proud creature would ever submit.

So they gave up on taming it—and instead, butchered it.

“The Gelu Drake I encountered must’ve been one that escaped from here.”

And judging by the 20-meter-long corpse, the one I’d fought before must have been a juvenile.

I kept inspecting the body.

The head was badly mangled.
Most of its teeth were broken.
Its jaw had been split wide open.
Its eyes, still faintly yellow, stared lifelessly into nothing.

The pride of the snowy mountain lay in disgrace.

And at last—

I figured out who did this.

It was the Beast Lord—and yet not the Beast Lord.

“The Beast Legion’s General…”

A General who served the Beast Lord.

In my past life, I had worked as a commander in the Special Ops Division and collected data on all the Lords and their Generals.

Their profiles were all burned into my mind.

And from those memories, I could say with certainty:

“This was the work of the Beast Legion’s General.”

“Was the Beast Legion’s General active in the North?”

I hadn’t been in the North at the time, so I didn’t know for sure.

But considering Seraphia hadn’t yet awakened as the Lord of Frost, it was plausible.

Anyway—

“The Beast Legion’s General, huh…”

The Emperor had appointed six individuals with the title of “Lord.”

Similarly, those Lords appointed their strongest subordinates as Generals.

One such example: Kai, the General of Frost.
He was a knight chosen by Seraphia, the Lord of Frost.

Generals didn’t serve the Emperor directly. They served their Lords.

But since the Lords served the Emperor, the result was the same.

Those who served the Emperor directly were called the Imperial Legion’s Generals.

Regardless of title, these Generals were the front-line horrors who crushed the Allied Forces in war.

Their power was a nightmare to the Allied Forces.

Each General was handpicked by a Lord and granted a share of their divine power.

That’s why I couldn’t Devour [S+] the Beast Legion’s General in my past life either.

They carried part of the Lord’s power and essence.

Which means—

“I can still obtain the Beast Lord’s genetic material.”

Even through the General, I could Devour [S+] and extract the Beast Lord’s genes.

In that sense, this was actually a stroke of luck.

“Fighting the Beast Lord would’ve been rough anyway.”

I talked big, but honestly, I was nervous.
My odds of winning weren’t great, and I was more likely to be hunted than the other way around—even with Dragon’s Wrath [E].

But if it’s the General…

“Now that’s something I can actually take on.”

Seriously, this one was doable.

Though that didn’t mean I could let my guard down.

While weaker than the Lords, Generals were still beings on another level.

Just look at Kai—the Frost General.

“Let’s see…”

I immediately checked my Player Info tab.

== [Player Info] ==

[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] = Lord of the Snowy Mountain
[Level] = 29
[HP] = 2,515
[MP] = 0
[Stats] = Strength: 33 (+5) | Agility: 32.2 (+9.2) | Stamina: 24.15 (+8.15) | Mana: 6 (+5)
[XP] = 77.2%

<Bonus Stat +1>

The +1 level came from XP gained by hunting the monster legions.
I was now level 29, but something felt off.

“My Agility and Stamina stats went up?”

And in weird amounts too—like 9.2 and 8.15.
If I removed the title bonus from “Lord of the Snowy Mountain,” that meant Agility rose by 4.2 and Stamina by 3.15.

I’d earned +4 Strength from combat training before the fight.

But I didn’t recall gaining boosts to Agility or Stamina.

“Why…? Oh, right—it’s because of that.”

I found the reason quickly.

◆ Promote Metabolism [C+]

When acquired, enhances the player’s endocrine system and drastically increases metabolic rate. Strength is reduced by [-0%], while Agility and Stamina are increased by [+15%].

• Strength penalty removed.

• Converted from [On/Off] skill to [Passive].

<As a passive skill, it is now permanently active.>

The skill had evolved to [B] grade and became fully passive.

Meaning I was always benefiting from it now.

“Though the burst amplification is gone…”

I still had Metabolic Overdrive [U], so it didn’t matter.

The stat boosts were lower, but the passive bonus was worth it.

“So now I get +1.15 per Agility point?”

I invested my bonus stat point into Agility.
The stat rose from 32.2 to 33.35.

This applied to Stamina too, meaning my stamina training was now 15% more effective.

“Not bad.”

No—this was broken.

The higher the stats, the more exponentially effective they became.

Though right now, the boost was still relatively small.

“Hmm…”

I weighed my current combat power as objectively as possible.

The Beast Legion’s General.

If it was the one I suspected…

“I can’t do this alone.”

Looks like it was time to release the hounds.

* * *

RUMBLE!

The heavy wooden gates of Baekjak Fortress thundered open.

The fortress had once been buried in ice and snow,
but much of it had melted thanks to Dragon’s Wrath [E].

Still, it must have snowed while I was away.

Snow covered the gate and walls once more.

As the gate fully opened, the first to greet me was Kai.

Long blond hair like sunlit silk.
Silver armor that ignored the cold.
Eyes like polished blue opals.
A sharp jawline.

Kai looked like a noble wolf of the snowy mountain.

‘Why does he look so fine?’

…Too fine, actually.

I was the one who told him to rest.

And it had only been about a day since I left to scout the mountain.

I expected him to have recovered a bit—but not this much.

He’d been completely wrecked before—on the verge of collapse.

Now, as he approached, there wasn’t a scratch on him.

‘How…?’

I stared carefully at him.

And soon, I sensed a certain power radiating from him.

It felt like the miracles of a saint…

‘Regeneration…?’

It resembled my own skill: Regeneration [B+].