(Translation change: thoughts -> thought-souls, cuz 'thoughts' sometimes doesn't cut it)
"The auction will start soon, please remain silent."
Central plaza, a charming elf in tight black suit was speaking into the microphone. As that elf was using an artifact from Heaven, the hundreds of people gathered in the plaza could understand what he said in their own respective languages.
"I repeat. The auction will start soon, so please be seated. Those whose items haven't been appraised yet should have it done as soon as possible."
The honey-sweet and spring-calm voice spread out to all the people in the plaza through modern technology.
Perhaps due to that, everyone listened well. Well, in fact, they were all enchanted by the absolute beauty of the elves.
"Is it the legendary elves? My god, to think I'd see an elf with my own eyes."
"To think he'd treat those noble elves as mere servants... and such a beautiful one too."
"There were elves on Earth? Looks like it will get dangerous once this gets into the ears of elf hunters. Don't we need to do something about it?"
They were treated as 'mankind' in Dareu, but multiversally, elves seemed like they were a pretty rare race.
In truth, most of the races here were human, and although there were variations of them, such as being 2.5m tall, or less than 140cm tall, or had a small horn, or had three legs, there were no elves to be seen.
"As expected of Pate, you are the most elf-like amongst the four of us."
"But Pate is a man though…"
The other elves were also acting as support in the auction like Pate, in their suits as well. Just that, due to a fair, and objective vote amongst them, they came to the conclusion that Pate had the prettiest face, and he was chosen as the head.
"No matter how pretty he is, he's still a man. Why do those human men have slack jaws right now?"
Mirey, who was a female warrior, but was decorated with tight blouse and a short skirt to emphasize her healthy curves for today, tilted her head. The shield warrior, and the most muscled of the four, Jirl, solved her doubts while laughing.
"Mirey, do you care whether the fish you eat are male or female?"
"But fish are fish though. They just need to be tasty."
"That's it! Regardless of gender, if they're tasty, it's all.... ugh!"
The lightning-fast jab from the female thief, Phiria, knocked Jirl over at that time. Her eyes had turned scary.
"Shut up, Jirl. I don't care about you getting into dire straits due to your absurd words, but if it influences His Majesty..."
"Okay, I get it so put your dagger away!"
"Thanks for the work, Phiria."
"Nah, it was easy since there was less rejection than I thought."
She had just finished handing out auction coins, by appraising the items that the participants brought.
The master-level smith, Yu IlHan, would see through the value of an item he saw for the first time with absolute accuracy, then he would set a price for it. Ericia would hand the coins out, while Phiria would support that process.
Although she thought that some may not accept the price and try to rampage, there were unexpectedly none of such occurrences.
That was because, first, Yu IlHan's appraisal was ridiculously on the mark, second, he told them that they were welcome to not trade if they did not want to, and just take them back. Yu IlHan now vaguely grasped on how to wield his absolute authority.
"Fu, His Majesty is so cool for overwhelming those crowd."
While Phiria fell into another delusion, Mirey asked.
"If it's only possible to buy items with the supplied coins, is anyone able to afford a legend-ranked artifact?"
"If so, then they wouldn't be sold in the first place. But it looks like a history of an entire world is quite impressive. There were precious metals that were unheard of, and there was even one person who brought a box full of 200 4th class magic stones.
"Whoa? 200? That's amazing! Even we only got about 20 after cleaning up an entire world."
In fact, it wasn't that surprising. Humans growing up to 4th class was very difficult, yes, but 4th class monsters appeared quite often in worlds after the 3rd Great Cataclysm.
Although hundreds, and thousands of people would die in the process of hunting such monsters, they would eventually end up getting hunted, and despite the low probability, magic stones would appear as well.
Unless they could process that magic stone, those magic stones would forever sleep in the treasury of those in power. Fast forward hundreds of years and 200 4th class magic stones wasn't unacceptable.
"A single coin is a 4th class magic stone's worth. It's nothing to get surprised about."
"So that means only those who can trade in 4th class magic stones are allowed to participate in this auction…?"
"That's really amazing...."
The elves once again bathed in enlightenment after realizing how great their 'emperor' was.
Well, yes, they did admire him before, like how he made legend ranked weapons like it was nothing, and even bestowed an epic-ranked bow to Pate, but somehow, they considered legend-ranked items as 'natural' from some time onwards... but seeing the scale of the people who gathered here to buy such things, they newly felt his 'greatness'.
"I'm Kang MiRae, in charge of the auction. I'll immediately start from the first item."
"It's starting. Everyone prepare."
"Okay."
"Roger that."
The presenter was Kang MiRae. although there was an idea to bring a professional auctioneer, they came to a decision that Kang MiRae, who was already quite famous on Earth, and had a clear distinction of power to boot, was better. The neatly decorated elves also helped out.
Of course, the crafter of the items, Yu IlHan, wasn't present. For him, auctioning was impossible even if he died and came back to life, and as he knew that well, he volunteered as the security.
Pate steered the cart onto the stage. On top of the red cloth was a pair of gloves covered in thousands of small, red scales.
"The first item is a set of battle gloves, made of three different types of leather from 3rd class monsters, and dragonkin scales. Rank is unique, attack power is 4,100. The auction will start from 1 coin."
"1 coin."
"2 coins."
"3 coins."
The first item was, in a sense, an appetizer. Although the attack power was higher than the official Vanguard items, they were still of unique rank.
Since the price rose despite all of that, it could be seen how cheap Yu IlHan had sold his crafts to the people of Earth.
"Sold at 7 coins. Then, we'll go over to the next item straight away."
The people of Earth, who could participate without any items corresponding to a 4th class magic stone's worth, were flabbergasted after seeing how the gloves were auctioned off at 7 coins.
"Insane!"
"Did that just get sold for 7 4th class magic stones just now? There are no 4th class magic stones at all on Earth right now...."
Whether they were here in person, or was watching through a TV, or other forms of media, the global attention was focused on the auction in the central plaza in the Gangnam trade center right now.
When they saw the broadcast about how a unique ranked artifact was sold for a price corresponding to 7 entire 4th class magic stones, they were almost knocked out.
"Sold." (Kang MiRae)
The second item, a unique ranked full plate armor, was even more expensive at 11 coins. Everyone who watched that scene, gulped.
"That's fucking insane!"
"So it's really the powers gathered here. And they're prepared for all of this…..!"
"Looks like Vanguard will take all the magic stones over all worlds at this rate. It wouldn't be strange if he made a country!"
As the auction progressed to the 3rd and 4th items, the final price kept getting higher. Despite knowing that the latter items would be better in quality, the people could not help but bid because the items shown were too good.
"So Vanguard is collecting wealth in real-time."
"How would the Korean government think? Wouldn't they scheme to take taxes off him?"
"I wish they did. He'd leave Korea that way. I'll definitely make him our citizen."
"Sold." (Kang MiRae)
There were a total of 30 items. 28 of them were bid off instantly, and at that moment, Vanguard had gathered a total of 841 coins.
No one was surprised anymore. The people of other worlds were happy to acquire such exceptional items, and Yu IlHan slowly prepared to go out while looking at the magic stones and metals that would become his soon, in satisfaction.
Then, Kang MiRae took a short, deep, breath.
"Pate."
"I'm going."
Pate, who introduced the first item, drove the cart again. On top of it was a single longsword. With an extremely sharp blue-tinted blade, a luxurious design that went along the entire length of the weapon was immaculate and undoubtedly impressive.
"That looks like it's on a completely different level."
"Who's the one that crafted such a thing? I felt a chill run through my neck just by looking at the edge of that sword."
The majority of the people of Earth only thought of it as a pretty sword, but the people from other worlds, who were comprised of at least 3rd class beings or above, immediately realized that the sword was not ordinary.
"This item."
Kang MiRae took another deep breath before speaking.
"is a longsword crafted by sharpening the bones of a 4th class monster with the ability to freeze the land. It was mana crafted with the original monster's magic stone, successfully transferring the original ability of the monster and its attack power is 5,500."
"What?"
All the participants whispered to each other after finding out a mere longsword had an attack power of 5,500. What was even more amazing was that it even had a special ability! What that meant was that...
"It's a legend ranked item. This will start from 100 c-"
"Now!"
"Hah!"
The moment the word 'legend' escaped Kang MiRae's mouth, there were some people who, hidden at the very back of the stage, jumped onto the stage, They were hiding their presences using artifacts!
What more, was that they scattered magic smoke by throwing more artifacts along with their appearance. They were really prepared for this ambush.
"Heh!"
Pate and the other elves, whose senses wouldn't be affected by mere magic smoke, attacked the perpetrators with weapons hidden on their bodies, but they were already prepared for it. They had considered human sacrifices and made them block the elves with a wall of flesh!
Meanwhile, one of the attackers, extended his hand, and grabbed at the item!
"Kergh!"
Then froze on the spot, never to move again.
"This side is clear."
"This side is clear as well."
"Can't I kill these things?"
"Although His Majesty will take care of everything, we do need to some of them as evidence."
Not long after each of the elves completely suppressed the attackers, the smoke dissipated. and the participants, who prepared for a potential battle, felt odd after seeing the perpetrators on the ground, and a frozen man grabbing the sword.
"It shouldn't be some low-levels that attacked… To think they'd capture them so fast."
"So they aren't just pretty flowers."
Although unintentional, this served as an opportunity to let the others know that Vanguard had fighting power as well. Of course, there would still be some idiots who would aim for Vanguard's items.
"Fuu."
Kang MiRae checked that there were no more attackers around, and let the elves move back, before continuing her explanation while pointing towards the ice statue, which was once a man.
"As you can see, it also has an ability to freeze anyone who does not have permission to touch it from the master."
"Pfft."
"What, so this was all planned out beforehand? Quite the foolish show there."
Seeing how she explained like this was all a performance, some of them even laughed. However, the next moment, their smiles froze – Kang MiRae smashed the statue into smithereens with her staff.
"Hup." 1
Of course, as a result, what was once a man, shattered and fell onto the ground.
"Whoa?"
"She killed him…..!"
If this was a rigged game, no one would have been killed. The people finally realized the faint fury on Kang MiRae's face. They were all overwhelmed by the strange aura she gave off, and turned silent.
"The auction will start from 100 coins."
The sword was sold for 214 coins. The most common weapon, and with exceptional abilities. If the participants had any more wealth, it probably would have been sold for an even higher price.
Then the final moment came.
"Next is the final item. It's a necklace created by mixing tens of different types of mana-reactive jewels, and 4th class black dragon's tooth. It accelerates mana recovery speed and magic incantation speed, raises the scale of the magic, and has the ability to create protective shields by reacting to the crisis afflicting the user. The rank is legend. This will also begin from 100 coins."
"Dragon!? 110 coins!"
"Oh my god, just what dragon did they kill and from which world!? 135 coins!"
The necklace, which any mage would sell his soul to acquire, was sold at an even higher price for 350 coins. The one who acquired it was of course, Irma An Ill'ta, the first imperial princess of Palladia empire from the world of Lanpas, who came herself!
"That necklace is now mine! I can do whatever I want with it!"
She rejoiced and jumped around the moment the necklace was auctioned to her, and the other participants, who missed the artifact that would represent that world once acquired, could only clap in bitterness. Although they wanted to cause a mess since the auction didn't go as they planned, any such thoughts were vanquished once they thought about the attacker that was shattered to smithereens right in front of their eyes.
The auction ended like that. The ones who successfully bid stood up to get their items, and the ones who didn't, stood up to trade back their coins, when the realized one more thing.
"Kyak!"
"Co, corpses!"
The attackers weren't just those that assaulted the stage. The ones who schemed to attack, in fact, planned to cover the entire venue!
How they knew that, was because there was a mountain of thousands of people who all died due to an attack 'that pierced their hearts' on one side of the plaza. As if it was a show.
"How can this..."
"We didn't even know there was a battle outside."
"That's obvious. This is no battle, but a one-sided massacre. They were all killed in a single strike."
What was more amazing was that they were all 3rd class beings, and one was even 4th class! They should have hunted exotic monsters with this kind of force, but justice was hammered upon them while they tried to acquire profit for no work!
However, Yu IlHan, who was the sole perpetrator behind that scene, was moving in order to give the items to the bidders, without a single drop of blood on him. In his head, various thought-souls, that came with lifeforce of various people, were crying loud.
"Orochi."
Said Yu IlHan as if humming.
"Begin."
[I can eat them once I am done, right?]
"Of course. Oh, there's a 4th class one too! You'll be having a feast today."
[Hmph.]
Orochi snorted at Yu IlHan's words, and began interrogating the thought-souls. His interrogation techniques were developing by the day, so Yu IlHan moved in light steps without any worries.
The attackers did not take Earth lightly, and attacked after a meticulous planning. They failed despite that, and they were severely punished. And from this moment onwards, 'they' would be in an even more sorry state.
Whether 'they' be the country that didn't manage their gates properly, or the world that planned this attack, and any people of Earth that helped out!
'I need to make it so that they won't even dare to think of such things again.'
Yu IlHan's eyes turned sharp for a moment, but calmed down immediately after. In front of him were the treasures that had become his!
Author's notes
Although it's quite easy to forget because of the higher existences, the elves are one of the most beautiful beings in this novel. only people at the level of Na YuNa would be a match.
The power of time is frightening. Just 1 4th class magic stone per year means 300 in 300 years!
….And then there's Yu IlHan who collected more than twice that amount in a single day!
Translator's notes
(To early readers) Only one chapter today
Daww, Kang MiRae's acting so cute.
Special thanks to Matthias S for two sponsored chapters!
Thanks to the interrogations by the special agent Orochi, the circumstances behind the scheme were revealed in due time. The ones behind this was the country 'Tsnoer' from the world 'Mishta' which had experienced its 3rd Great Cataclysm and the citizens of The Netherlands who had opened the transport gate there.
The Netherlands had no strong people to speak of, and was out of everyone's attention. Naturally, they could not participate in the two meetings that traded Vanguard's advanced weapons.
But at some point in time, the head of the clan alliance in Netherlands miraculously reached level 85, and somehow opened a gate before scheming to steal all the items in the Vanguard auction by persuading the king of the mercenary country, Tsoner. Their conditions were to split the loot in a ratio of 8 to 2.
They probably felt that The Netherlands would no longer have any future at the rate its citizens were levelling. That was probably why they thought of such things.
Moreover, the one that helped them was the king of the mercenary country, who had experienced all sorts of battles and a 4th class thief to boot. They probably thought that there was no way they could fail.
Of course, they were all massacred by Yu IlHan, and failed in executing their plans.
"I can understand why people may think that Vanguard's advanced weapons trade is unjust and unfair, and that people may hate it. It is in fact, unjust. The choice I made, was to help strengthen the strong people even more."
[Yes.] (Liera)
"I can understand why they might become restless; and I can also understand that they had to become stronger at any cost. This can't be helped as humans."
Any human had the 'right' to struggle for survival – he truly did think so.
However, he also thought that they had to bear the consequences of their struggle by themselves.
[It sometimes scares me that IlHan thinks like that, you're scarily cool!] (Liera)
[This woman's already done for. The god of love poured poison onto her brain.] (Spiera)
[Yu IlHan's thought process is now becoming like that of a higher existences'. I don't know whether to feel happy or sad about this.] (Erta)
The time Orochi spent extracting information was not even 20 minutes after the auction. The Netherlands would have never dreamed that Yu IlHan would have found out the culprits like this, and as such, there was no need for him to hurry.
Slowly, but surely. That was the trick to not failing.
So, he first finished all the auction related trades.
"To think we'd really acquire this sword….. Vanguard, I'll remember it. I'll definitely not make you regret selling this to me. I'll bring some presents next time."
"I've come to take back my items. Shit...!"
"Give me my necklace! My necklace! Ah, MiRae, hi!"
"I'll check 350 coins worth of items."
"So stiff."
Yu IlHan couldn't care less about the happiness and despair of those who either got or didn't get the items, as he traded the items with the coins. This was also finished quickly with Kang MiRae and Ericia's support.
"Finished!"
"Wow, so much."
Kang MiRae was flabbergasted after seeing the items remaining in Yu IlHan's possession after the auction.
"That's amazing. Mr. IlHan. Really, amazing."
"That's true. I didn't know I'd get so much out of it."
With a single auction, he acquired nearly 700 4th class magic stones, as well as metalworking materials he could use in the future. Although he did expect things to become like this to a certain extent, it still was an amazing amount.
"So many 4th class magic stones..."
"Master, what are you going to do now?"
"First, I'll need to swap out all the artifacts.
Until now, he needed to scringe and save on the 4th class magic stones he acquired, but now that he had so many it would no longer be the same. Whether it was weapons, armor, or even accessories!
Yu IlHan could stamp out uniques and legends with just 3rd class materials and magic stones. With this many 4th class magic stones, he had the confidence to decorate himself with legendary equipment in every possible slot.
And with these magic stones, which would obviously have enough left over.... yes Yu IlHan spoke to Kang MiRae, who had an even deeper expression than him, while looking at the profits.
"You helped me out a lot this time. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have sold the items so efficiently, or could have made such a large profit. Thanks a lot."
"Not at all! As I said before, it is thanks to you that a lot of chaos died down and the people became safer….. It was all possible because you listened to my opinion and helped me."
Answered Kang MiRae in shyness. She felt like she could fly into the air right now, but she was forcing herself to think that it was a sense of satisfaction from doing her job 120%.
And Yu IlHan's unexpected blow struck her heart.
"No, it was very good since the annoying matters were reduced thanks to you. Since things became like this, I'll make a new accessory, what would you like?"
"Sorry!?"
An accessory, by Yu IlHan himself? Kang MiRae looked at the thin, white fingers on her hand, and abruptly raised her head. There was also her cheeks, to which tomatoes would acknowledge as 'Unni!' 1
"It, it's really fine! I've already received so much, if I receive any more, I wouldn't be able to raise my head anymore..."
"Yap."
Kang MiRae was waving both of her hands in refusal, when a woman appeared from her back and grabbed those hands.
"Kyak."
"Huh."
Just as when both Kang MiRae and Yu IlHan were blinking their eyes in surprise, the culprit extended Kang MiRae's hand in front of Yu IlHan's eyes, while saying –
"A ring would be nice. A ring that matches MiRae's white and pretty fingers."
"Oh, definitely, she has such beautiful... huh? You two know each other?"
"....Your Highness."
Kang MiRae, who finally figured out who the culprit was, sighed and pushed her hand away.
"You've seen her before, but I'll introduce her again. This is the first imperial princess of the great empire of Palladia in the world I was sent tot."
"I'm Irma An Ill'ta. Let's be friends from now on! And please call me by my name from now on."
she spoke in fluent English, while extending her hand towards Yu IlHan. Yu IlHan also replied in fluent English.
"I'm Yu IlHan. I don't have any intentions on being friends with you so please never call me by my name only."
"Aren't you a strong enemy!?! How are you so similar to MiRae in this respect? Wait, are you two close because you're like that?"
"Your Highness, please get off me."
Irma An Ill'ta was a fair-looking lady with blond hair, that looked like she had never touched a drop of water in her life. Moreover, her two round eyes looked pure when said positively, and idiotic when put badly.
Seeing how such a person was screaming 'kya kya' while clinging to Kang MiRae, Yu IlHan couldn't help but smile as she rather resembled Na YuNa. Why was Kang MiRae so popular with such women.
Just as when he was thinking that, the imperial princess threw a sharp question.
"The one who killed the ones outside was you, Mr. Yu IlHan, wasn't it? Even though I look like this, I'm skilled enough in magic to read such traces!"
"I have no intentions on hiding it. On Earth, only I am capable of such a feat, so I can't even hide it anyway. Did you come here to ask about that?"
"No, it's not that... but why is your face turning rotten like that so suddenly?"
Was it that unpleasant to talk with her!? – The imperial princess was slightly shocked on the inside, but the reason why Yu IlHan's expression turned rotten was because he had found the figure of Na YuNa who was running over here with a bright smile on her face.
Her chest made pendicular movements whenever she moved around violently, putting Yu IlHan's heart in a difficult position, but what was even more difficult was her existence itself.
'There's nothing more frightening than two Na YuNas in the same place.' 2
She clung to him so much nowadays even without this, saying that it was unfair that he only hung out with MiRae. Yu IlHan hated her, whether it was her four-dimensional actions, speech, and mysterious wishes, as well as her childish actions.
So, Yu IlHan decided to ditch whatever 'slowly, but surely' he had in his mind, and decided to leave this place right now.
"I have something I need to look into, so I'll take my leave first. Ericia, I'll be back soon, so clean up and rest. Oh, Miss MiRae, I'll make the ring soon so please wait a little.
"Sorry!? R, ring? No, I-!"
While Kang MiRae was at a loss of what to say in panic, Yu IlHan extended his Ruin Calling.
"Oh my, how cool. Just what is this..."
"Hup!"
The moment Irma An Ill'ta blinked her eyes in surprise due to encountering such a weirdly shaped pair of wings, Yu IlHan jumped on the spot and disappeared. He had leaped several kilometers into the air in a blink of an eye!"
"Wao!"
Na YuNa, who arrived a step late, exclaimed in her usual banter.
"He ran away because he's embarrassed to see me, didn't he? How cute!"
"...That's one optimistic view you have there."
Kang MiRae, who finally regained her calm now that Yu IlHan was gone, lightly pushed the imperial princess away, and straightened her clothes. However, her expression contained a slight satisfaction. It was cute how she was straightening her sleeves without showing it.
"You need to thank me, no?"
The imperial princess, who would never such an expression, spoke in a teasing tone. Kang MiRae snorted with a hmph, and replied as if nothing had happened.
"If it's not a ring for the ring finger, there's no meaning in it."
"Oh? You already thought that far?"
"Uh!"
Kang MiRae's cheeks instantly reddened like a volcano about to erupt. She took a severe blow this time.
"What are you two talking about?"
Asked Na YuNa in a naïve voice. Kang MiRae refused to speak, and the imperial princess whistled, and Ericia, who watched the process throughout the entire time, snorted.
In Ericia's view, not to mention Kang MiRae, all three women in this place were not worthy of Yu IlHan.
No, in the first place, it was funny how Kang MiRae thought of Yu IlHan as a potential lover. There was such a large disparity in strength, and she couldn't understand why human tradition brought morals, society and whatnot to place everyone on the same level.
What about the wolfkin Ericia? After the complete defeat whether it was in simple fighting power, or strategy, Yu IlHan was a target of idolization and servitude. She would follow whatever he orders her to do, and he would give her a reward if she satisfied him.
Although it would be thankful if he bestowed a blessing to Ericia for the future of wolfkin, she would never ask for one herself. That was natural.
So, she had to do what he ordered her to do, to the best of her abilities.
"I'm going to clean up here and go. What are you going to do?" (Ericia)
"I have something to consult Mr. IlHan about, so I'm going to wait. I'll help out while I wait, Ericia." (MiRae)
The two capable women immediately found work and began. Na YuNa and the imperial princess who were left out, looked at each other for a moment before closing their mouths. Although they were introduced to each other through Kang MiRae, they weren't close yet.
But at that time, the imperial princess shouted in realization.
"Oh yeah. I had something to talk to him about! Magic engineering!"
"Why are you bringing that up only now!"
Kang MiRae, who was incinerating the documents on the desk with lightning abruptly turned her head and shouted. A strand of lightning escaped her and made the imperial princess flinch.
"It was fun teasing MiRae, so….. I'll wait here too." (Irma)
"I also came here to talk to him, so I'll wait here too." (YuNa)
"Then please work hard while you wait. There's a lot to clean up." (Ericia)
Ericia Declared. The imperial princess, and Na YuNa, who hated physical labor, both took a step back, but Ericia lifted them up by the neck in no time with an even brighter smile.
She was a wolf, and she would never let go of a prey once captured.
"Please present your respect to master in action. So, work."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, ma'am."
While the wolf was making a princess and a holy maiden work, Yu IlHan was flying towards the Netherlands. Even New York took only 17 minutes, so Netherlands took an even shorter time.
[What are you going to do? Kill all of them?] (Erta)
"The clan alliance? Nah."
Yu IlHan laughed as he shook his head.
"Although it angers me that they attacked the auction venue, the current situation is a lot different to Ferata. Even if I kill all of them, only the innocent people living in Netherlands would suffer due to the lack of a shield."
[Then what are you going to do there?] (Liera)
"To steal."
[...To steal?] (Liera)
Yu IlHan soon arrived at his destination. The gate that the Head of the clan alliance of Netherlands, opened in secret, leading to Tsoner of Mishta!
That place was strictly guarded by the members of the clan alliance, but no matter how many people there were, it was impossible to catch Yu IlHan in concealment. Yu IlHan smiled and posed himself.
"Yu IlHan, departs!"
[You really don't get tired, do you!] (Erta)
He immediately ran into the gate. Just as when he let his body relax into the strange sensation he would never get used to, the scenery in front of his eyes became different.
Unlike Earth just before, there was a gloomy ash-grey sky. It was raining slightly, so he immediately realized that he was really transported to another world.
At that time, a voice, not belonging to the people of Earth, flowed into his ears along with the rain sounds.
"When is His Majesty coming back?"
"He was already so strong, but if he gets his hands on such a weapon... I look forward to it."
"Hey, stop talking."
An even more number of people were guarding the gate, and it looks like they couldn't help it since it was their King that had went through.
"That's one strict guard."
[It looks like it was done in secret.] (Erta)
What good was having guards, when they couldn't even see a single Yu IlHan. Yu IlHan waved at them while exiting that place.
The place the gate was placed, was inside a giant castle made for warfare. This castle was like a symbol of the mercenary country where the king took care of what little administrative affairs there were.
"And there's also a secret treasure vault too."
[How did you know that?] (Liera)
"Our proud Orochi found that out."
[Krrrrrrr. That's nothing.] (Orochi)
Ignoring Orochi, Yu IlHan quickly found his way to the treasure vault, and entered after breaking through the front door. Although he made a loud noise, there was no concern. Unless he attacked someone and failed to kill them, his concealment would not wear off!
"Wao."
The treasure vault was full of glittering precious metals. Not only that, there was also a large amount of precious metals unique to this world, which made Yu IlHan nod in satisfaction.
"Was this some thief country and not a mercenary country?"
[Well, there's not much difference between the two. Oh, that necklace looks pretty.] (Erta)
[IlHan, I want that crystal ring over theeere!] (Liera)
"Yeah, yeah."
With this much, they could have taken a unique rank without difficulties even if legend rank was pushing it a little. Well, human greed always brought doom upon them.
Well, since Yu IlHan had made a huge profit thanks to it all was good. He transported everything inside the vault into his inventory. Remote collection's action time! Concealment and remote collection. Now that was the ideal thief skill set.
"Good, I'm done."
[I thought I was looking at disappearance magic and not remote collection.] (Liera)
What was just as important as quiet infiltration and quick work, in the line of thievery, was quick retreat. Unlike the poor skills of the thieves that infiltrated the auction venue, Yu IlHan perfectly robbed the entire place, and left that place while still in concealment, until he reached the gate.
"Well then."
Checking the figures of the warriors waiting outside the gate without even knowing what happened inside the castle, Yu IlHan stepped half into the gate, before throwing the Tsoner kings's head that had been in his inventory.
The head flew quite far and smashed into the castle walls with a 'splat', and the people immediately found out the identity of the person whom the head belonged to.
"Th, His Majesty the King has…"
"His Majesty died!?"
"Just what… Who could kill him when he reached the 4th class....!"
"No, this must be a fake. This is a fake!"
Now, from now was the real deal – Yu IlHan thought while jumping into the gate without hesitation.
A portion of them would come over to The Netherlands in rage, and at that time, Yu IlHan would be able to decide on his further actions according to the reactions of the clan alliance.
He would probably have no choice but to kill someone. If it was possible, it would be good if as little blood was shed as possible, but now that the pimple was popped, he had to squeeze out all the stuff! Yu IlHan thought that this was the most foolproof method.
"Oh, well then. Should I confiscate the mass-supplied weapons in Netherlands first?"
[I don't even get who's the bad guy now.] (Erta)
The people of Tsoner reacted more violently than Yu IlHan had thought – all the forces guarding the gate, as well as the military inside the castle invaded Earth!
Netherlands panicked, and the clan alliance panicked even more. They didn't know why those people were reacting so violently, but there was no one to explain. Like that, everyone was sucked into chaos.
The Netherlands incident only calmed down after 11 hours passed.
The actions of Netherlands, the clan alliance, as well as Tsoner, became known to everyone in the world, and after that, gates connecting to Mishta no longer opened on Earth.
Vanguard had confiscated all of the weapons sold to the Netherlands, and declared that they would have no further interactions with the country and its main clans, resulting in many people residing in Netherlands seeking asylum in other countries.
Moreover, since the clan alliance, the core faction that protected the country, was doomed, Netherlands soon failed to hold up its functions as a country and met its downfall.
A completely intact country falling into the depths of history, while trying to scheme against Vanguard, became a frightening warning to the other countries on Earth. They realized that anyone would be f*cked up if they tried to touch Vanguard.
That was the moment when the order of the world was clearly engraved into everyone.
Author's notes
"I'm tired of killing people now….. I'll kill countries instead!"
A premonition of a new quest (3)
Translator's notes
Sorry to the readers in Netherlands if this offended you in any way.
And man, that was a long chapter.
1/6 chapters
1. i.e. redder than a tomato
2. Maybe three Na YuNas…
Around two days time was taken for Yu IlHan to: 1. confiscate the mass-supplied Vanguard gear, 2. finish up the battle between Tsoner and Netherlands, and 3. Checking that the gate was completely closed. It had taken more time than he had expected.
When he came back Korea after cleaning things up, all traces regarding the auction in the central plaza was gone. Of course, this included the attackers that died there.
It hadn't even been 3 days, but the people were walking around in liveliness as if nothing of the sort had happened at all, while embracing the joy of inter-versal trade.
[Humanity really is amazing.] (Spiera)
[But they won't be able to forget it. It should have become a plenty of a warning to the others.] (Erta)
Yu IlHan succeeded in spotting Kang MiRae and Irma An Ill'ta in the overflowing crowd.
"Ah, they're still here."
[Why isn't that woman going back? Don't tell me she has ulterior motives for IlHan...] (Liera)
[There's no way that all women in the world like Yu IlHan. Please calm down, since a cool man in your eyes may not be the same for others.] (Spiera)
It wasn't just Kang MiRae and Irma An Ill'ta. Ericia, Na YuNa, the elves, and even Yumir were with them, and were attracting attention from everywhere, so it would be strange if he couldn't find them instead!
"Dad!"
"Yes, yes. I'm back."
At the same time Yu IlHan lightly landed next to them and folded his wings, Yumir, who noticed his presence, jumped up into his embrace. Just as when Yu IlHan was hugging Yumir, Kang MiRae, who was watching asked him with narrowed eyes.
"I thought you said 'I'll be back soon' and you've destroyed an entire country, eh?"
"I wanted to do it as peacefully as possible."
So, I've scattered a country instead of killing people. Although it was unknown what change of heart he had after going to Ferata, it seems he had evolved in the worst way possible.
"Peacefully, you say.... haha."
Kang MiRae could only make a bitter smile at his reply. On the other hand, Irma An Ill'ta and Na YuNa greeted him with bright smile.
"We were waiting, Mr. Yu IlHan."
"Hi!"
Yu IlHan also replied in a small voice.
"Hello, and goodbye."
"Wao!"
Then, he turned around to lead his subordinates back to his house. Na YuNa desperately grabbed onto his sleeves.
"I have a request for you! Go with me to Breya~!"
Breya referred to the other world Na YuNa had been to. It was a world where various religious influences were very large, and because of that, Na YuNa got a lot of special treatment there.
Yu IlHan replied with a kind smile.
"Please look elsewhere."
"The reward is the highest-quality holy stones, though?"
At that moment, Yu IlHan's body was inflicted with a stun.
Holy stones referred to the minerals that have the power of gods in them. Yu IlHan also had an experience of processing the god of beauty's holy stones to make Na YuNa and Kang HaJin's weapons.
Although he once pondered deeply on how holy power from gods that were a collection of records were realized, and how they could be imbued into a mineral. Right now, he had come to a vague conclusion that even the holy power was a record that people made as a group.
And holy stones had an enormous mana concentration, in any case. It was absurd. That meant, that the performance was guaranteed no matter what he made. If he made weapons with that along with the metals he gained through this auction...
He turned around and asked carefully.
"...Can I even use them? I'm probably one of the furthest people away from the word 'beauty'."
"If I bestow a holy blessing, you can use it! Even though I look like this, I'm a holy maiden!"
Declared Na YuNa confidently. Her attitude seemed like Yu IlHan had already accepted her request! Yu IlHan was frustrated that he had to go along with her, but it was also true that it was too seductive of a reward to refuse it based on his emotions.
"Then let's hear it."
"Yay!"
"Wait, I wish you'd listen to me first before you listen to her."
This time, it was Irma An Ill'ta. She pushed Na YuNa smoothly away from Yu IlHan, because Na YuNa was clinging to him, and took out a few thick books from her pockets and gave them to Yu IlHan.
"But first, here are some magic engineering texts. This is the original text which has a tremendous value both historically and literarily, containing the fruits of the researchers during the magic kingdom days. So you must return it back to us 'sometime'."
"Aha."
When he gave a glance towards Kang MiRae while putting the book into his inventory, she nodded with a slight difficulty. This felt quite suspicious – he thought, when the imperial princess continued speaking.
"But in fact, this is not the complete version."
"How is it not? Is there some restriction that forbids you from taking them out?"
"If you say that, what I just gave you now is also forbidden from being taken out. I took it on the princess's rights."
She took a sigh before continuing.
"Although there were a lot of ups and downs for us to stand up again using the name 'Palladia' after the magic kingdom of Ill'ta fell, we've succeeded in restoring most of the magic texts. But there are some which were unlucky to be not included in the 'restored' texts..."
"And you mean to say that magic engineering is one of them."
"Yes! Magic engineering, due to its characteristics, is the easiest to learn if learned along with metalworking. However, after the magic kingdom fell, there were no talents in that area, so neither research nor technology was passed down properly."
"However."
Kang MiRae intercepted.
"It seems there is a ruin with traces of magic engineering. The imperial princess coincidentally found one while researching into materials to give you, Mr. IlHan, and excavated it. So perhaps, there might be texts that may enable you to deepen your magic engineering knowledge."
"Wao!"
She found a ruin and even excavated it in just a few days, she was one capable princess alright! Just as Yu IlHan was exclaiming, the imperial princess took the baton again. However, her expression wasn't so good.
"The problem starts here. No one amongst us are capable of entering those ruins. It was a place full of walls with unknown characters. We can't just destroy it either. Even though we can feel a flow of magic, we have no method of doing to it..."
"So that's it."
That was why she said it wasn't the complete version. They could have said that the job was done with just the text she gave her now, but it seems like she was an honest person, like Kang MiRae.
However, the imperial princess's words hadn't ended yet.
"However, I came to the thought that if it was you, Mr Yu IlHan, who can make such exceptional artifacts, you may be able to do something about it."
"Hm, yeah. well, probably."
Indeed, Yu IlHan also thought that he maybe able to do something about it. Not only did he have the language skill, enabling him to comprehend any kind of text, he also thought himself to be more capable than anyone in regards to handling artifacts.
"So, Mr. Yu IlHan. Come with me to Lanpas."
"Wuh."
So, he should have expected for such an offer, but as he had no experience being invited by someone else, he was slightly taken aback. At that moment, Na YuNa shouted instead of Yu IlHan.
"Mr. IlHan will go to Breya first!"
"Our empire is also waiting for him. He's a savior that traded such an artifact with us."
Despite the fact that the person in question, Yu IlHan, didn't say anything, Na YuNa and Irma An Ill'ta started having a staring contest. It looked like they were having a competition to take him to their world first. Kang MiRae only let out a sigh as she stood between the two.
[IlHan's so popular now.] (Liera)
[Isn't it good? He's going to visit another world, not to invade it, but for another objective. We can think of it as a gift from the 2nd Great Cataclysm.] (Spiera)
"That sounds like the gift has a lot of strings attached to it…"
The 2nd Great Cataclysm brought about a big change, that made Yu IlHan visit another world peacefully, when all he did before the 2nd Great Cataclysm, was to destroy worlds.
He would be able to observe how other people lived in other worlds, and it would become a good experience for him as well... but would the situation proceed so optimistically like this? Yu IlHan thought that it was not possible.
"Whenever something good happens, something much worse happens later. Like how when school finished early, and you come back home in joy only to find out that it's cleaning day, and have to help out; or how you apply for a slightly higher uni than your grades when you got a good test result than you had expected, only to repeat a year."
[You're making me worried because that sounds so realistic!] (Erta)
Of course, that was because it was his actual experience. Yu IlHan sighed while looking at the imperial princess and Na YuNa, before smacking Na YuNa on the forehead, because he couldn't do that to the imperial princess. The staring contest ended with Na YuNa's defeat.
"Ouch."
"So, did you open a gate going to Breya?"
"No, not yet!"
She shouted, as if all that staring contest until now was nothing. Yu IlHan made a bright smile and turned around after smacking her once again on the forehead.
"Well, then. Let's go to Lanpas."
"Wao, Solomon!"
Na YuNa acknowledged her defeat. Yu IlHan was seeing through her quite well! Looking at the dejected Na YuNa, Kang MiRae laughed before speaking.
"Na YuNa, you stay here and make a gate to Breya."
"Even if you didn't say so, there was a dungeon extermination order, so a few clans are waiting. Gate connecting to Breya will be handled by HaJin-oppa!"
"Oh, there was him."
Although the big battle immediately after the Great Cataclysm had ended, it was still true that the number of monsters in each of the dungeons were rapidly rising, so the clans gathered their strength to exterminate them.
Although this was experienced in the battles after the Great Cataclysm, the most probable place to connect gates to other worlds were places with a lot of monsters, and where most of them were killed. Naturally, dungeons were the number 1 candidate.
A few vortices formed while the alliance clans exterminated dungeons, and if someone wished to open a gate, they would set on an order, and take turns to open the gates after a suitable process.
And now, it was the Lightning God's sub-master, Kang HaJin's turn to open a gate to Breya! Of course, the guild master, and the core member, the priestess, would not be present!
So, there was no problem even with Na YuNa tagging along. Kang MiRae pondered for a moment, but came to a conclusion fast, as she judged that Na YuNa being with her and Yu IlHan was the safest instead of by her brother's side.
"Okay, then. Let's leave that to him and go."
"Yay!"
"...Sir Kang HaJin is quite pitiful."
Like that, The first imperial princess of the empire of Palladia, Irma An Ill'ta, Kang Mirae, and Na YuNa, travelled to another world. Other than them, there was Yumir, who didn't want to be apart from Yu IlHan.
"Kill some monsters until I'm back."
"Yes, we'll do our best!"
It wouldn't be the end of the world for Yu IlHan to take all of his subordinates, but it wasn't like he was going there to destroy the world like he did last time, and was just going to visit a ruin, so they wouldn't be of help even if they went anyway.
Moreover, the level gap between Yu IlHan and his subordinates widened again just as they had began to catch up a little due to the Bittersweet Persona destroying the vortices, it was time for them to level up a little through hunting.
"Earth looks like it will do fine for a while with the other clans, so you can go over to Dareu to help the elves, or to Kiroa to help the wolfkin, or do whatever you want."
"Understood!"
As soon as Yu IlHan's words ended, Ericia and Mirey did a rock-paper-scissors, and Mirey won with scissors. Yu IlHan, who saw them off as they went to Dareu, finally prepared to depart.
"So, where's the gate?"
"It's close, it's in Gangnam."
Yu IlHan thought that she had one tremendous influence. As long as the gate was connected, wouldn't the imperial princess be able to find her way to the trade center even while on a stroll?"
Although, he did make a gate connecting to Dareu in his own house as well!
[We didn't know it was possible for the elves to create gates too. They're not like the people of Earth who are connected to other worlds, and just tagged along with IlHan.] (Liera)
[Perhaps it's not much different since the people on Earth are opening gates to the world they 'belong to' while on Earth. What's strange is Yu IlHan, who opened a gate where that perverted vibration demon came from.] (Erta)
"Shut up."
Only 10 minutes were taken with the limousine Kang MiRae had called. The ones guarding the gate weren't the members of the Lightning God clan but the people under the Kang family. As soon as the company arrived, they bowed their heads.
"Guard it well."
"Yes! Please take care, lady!"
"Please take care, Sir Yu IlHan!"
Yu IlHan felt slightly strange that they were being overly respectful to him as well, but passed it off as it being because he was her friends, as he passed over the gate.
The imperial palace of Palladia, was awaiting him.
Author's notes
A monumental moment! Going to another world peacefully!
Magic engineering, we're going to meet you now!
Translator's notes
2/6 chapters!
Sponsored by Matthias S Man you're da best (He's sponsored 4 now)
4 more coming later.
P.S You guys drained me of my stockpile. Good going there.
[Although I did expect a certain level of power, but this world sure has a higher league than most others. It's probably one of the top worlds that have been through the 3rd Great Cataclysm.] (Liera)
Was Liera's comment as they entered the truly enormous imperial castle. Yu IlHan agreed with her. Although Ferata, just before their 3rd Great Cataclysm, had also possessed 5 4th class people in one empire, Lanpas was in a different league.
"Fufu, so you feel it."
Said Irma An Ill'ta with pride, as she was the imperial princess of the empire of Palladia.
"The forces in our empire is tremendous. We even have three 4th classes, when others would consider themselves lucky if they have one."
"Your Highness, is it fine to tell him that?"
"What good is hiding it? If it's him, he would have felt their presences even without me telling him."
"Three huh. That's amazing."
Vaguely answered Yu IlHan to the imperial princess who acted very proud.
However, what Yu IlHan wasn't surprised at, was not that. Well, it was no surprise since in regards to militaristic power, even Ferata was better than Palladia.
"And there are more than one hundred of those who are at the doorstep of 4th class, but have not been able to step through it due to lack of opportunities and records."
Yes. What Yu IlHan was surprised at, was the fact that experts on magic, in a stable empire, numbered overwhelmingly higher compared to that of Ferata's!
[If there are few geniuses in Ferata, then there are many talents here.] (Spiera)
[However, they will die unless they reach the 4th class. How unfortunate. I think I can sympathize since I too had a time when I was stuck at the doorstep to becoming a higher existence for a long time.] (Spiera)
[Oh, really? I never felt such a thing.] (Liera)
[Hooh, are you picking a fight with me?] (Spiera)
Such was the beginning of the 5th Angel War. Despite the battle on top of his head, Yu IlHan leisurely followed the imperial princess and Kang MiRae while guessing how many wars they would have in total.
Yumir's eyes were shining in Yu IlHan's arms, as he looked at the gigantic imperial castle, and Na YuNa walked in a graceful way, unlike her usual self. YuNa walking quietly was beyond beautiful, to the point that he accepted the reason why the god of beauty had bestowed a blessing on her.
And since that figure nagged on his mind more and more, he asked.
"Why are you so quiet, its unlike you?"
"Whenever I'm at a place I'm unfamiliar with, I need to be quiet."
She said as if speaking the obvious.
"I'm too pretty so wherever I go, people will aim for me. So I need to stick to a person I can trust."
"Damn you and your first world problems."
"But it's the truth, so I can't help it~."
How could she spout out such first world problems like that so naturally? Yu IlHan was shocked, but had to accept it after noticing that the maids, mages, and knights alike that they passed by on the hallway had focused their glances on her.
Yu IlHan was natural with her since he was too used to the beauty of the angels around him, but in fact, her beauty had enough power to make everyone ignore the first imperial princess that was with her.
So, the imperial princess became slightly upset.
"...Hey, you. Cover your face with a mask or something."
"That's the last resort~. It's fine to expose my face where people don't come at me like they're mad. And there's a splendid knight beside me too!"
"I only protect myself."
"Wao!"
Yu IlHan's loner-ness wouldn't be shaken with Na YuNa's beauty alone! This was no exception to the next challenger, the imperial princess.
"Mr. Yu IlHan. I'll prepare a banquet tonight, so rest easily for today, and let's go there tomorrow."
"No, I'll go there immediately if you tell me the location."
"Still, the imperial family has prepared a welcome fea-"
"I'll finish before that. I'll go by myself so tell me the location."
"...Fuu."
The imperial princess let out a laugh after feeling Yu IlHan's firm will.
Fortunately, she had met with a lot of strange people in her life until now. Interestingly, all of those with exceptional abilities had a weird point about them. She thought to herself that Yu IlHan was one of those people.
"Then let's delay the banquet until after. And since we can't send you alone….. can you wait 20 minutes for us to get prepared?"
"That's fine."
After the imperial princess left to prepare, Yu IlHan, Na YuNa, and Yumir waited in the room where Kang MiRae stayed in the imperial castle. Although he couldn't imagine what Kang MiRae did in order to acquire a room inside the castle, Yu IlHan didn't ask.
"There might be a battle in the ruins. There were a lot of such devices during the magic kingdom era."
"Although I did suspect things to be like that, it really is?"
"That's like an RPG!"
"You wouldn't think so leisurely after confronting those trap. Testing the door openers or whatever they say – aren't they all meaningless if the entrants die...?"
Seems like Kang MiRae had a history with ruins. Yu IlHan stroked Yumir who was nibbling on a cookie in his arms, before thinking of something and took out a bag of cookies from his inventory to hand over to Kang MiRae.
"If a battle occurs, eat one, and just one."
"Is this cookie made by you? And what do you mean in battle…..?"
Kang MiRae accepted the cookie while tilting her head, and turned stiff after checking the information on it.
"Mr. IlHan. This is...?"
"You probably guessed it, but it's not for sale."
"What is it? What is it?"
Na YuNa, who received the bag of cookies from Kang MiRae also stiffened very soon. However, she exclaimed soon after.
"Wow, this looks very expensive!"
"It's not for sale. To anyone."
Kang MiRae, who guessed the meaning behind those words, took the bag of cookies back from Na YuNa and put it inside her chest pocket. When Na YuNa nagged about wanting to eat one, Kang MiRae gave her a smack instead of a cookie.
Not long after, the imperial princess, who was riddled with all sorts of earrings, rings, tiara, and bracelets, and looked like she was preparing for a ritual, appeared. She shouted courageously.
"Well, then. Let's go!"
"I thought there was a restriction on the number of accessories you can equip?"
"I have a subclass that allows me to increase the number of equippable artifacts!"
Now that was a meaningless subclass for anyone other than a princess of a huge empire!
Yu IlHan knew of the infinite potential of subclasses as he himself had the Angel's Partner, and Dragon Rider subclass, but he could only admit defeat in front of the princess's subclass. He also wanted that class.
[You do know that just because you want to get one doesn't mean you will, right? Like how you acquired the Angel's Partner and Dragon Rider are special cases.] (Liera)
"Of course. So, first, let me try making accessory-type artifacts for the next few months."
[Yup, you aren't listening at all.] (Liera)
While Yu IlHan was deciding in his heart, what subclass to earn for his next class, the imperial princess's words came to a climax.
"We've prepared an airship so let's go immediately?"
"....Miss MiRae. Is this empire really wealthy?"
"Yes."
Kang MiRae immediately nodded and explained further.
"I thought all worlds were like this, but it looks like they aren't."
"I want to get on the airship!"
"Everyone, hurry up!"
The airship prepared in the flight zone in one corner of the imperial castle, wasn't as big as he had expected, but it had a tremendously sturdy and beautiful outer appearance.
"That's amazing. You've mana crafted the magic stone itself."
Yu IlHan exclaimed while checking the various artifacts installed according to their roles in various parts of the airship. When mana crafting on a magic stone, it had a higher probability of transferring the power contained in the magic stone, and it also enabled the magic stone to emit mana more stably.
If there was a drawback, it was that there was an extremely high possibility of the functions of the completed artifact being restricted, and the conclusion was that more magic stones had to be wasted in making an artifact that had the same function! Yu IlHan felt deplored after seeing many 4th class magic stones embedded in various places throughout the airship.
"Fuuu..."
[Ah, IlHan is in a silent rage!] (Liera)
[The soul of a meister is crying…..] (Erta)
"Amazing, isn't it?"
The imperial princess acted proud without knowing what he was thinking. Yu IlHan decided to not speak about how he could make a better item than this with just two 4th class magic stones, as he seated himself.
However, unlike Yu IlHan, Yumir was very excited.
"Dad, are we going to fly in the skies with this?"
"Yes. Although, it's much slower than me."
"Dad is amazing."
Even though she wanted to retort, she couldn't say anything since she saw Yu IlHan using Ruin Calling to fly just 3 days ago. Irma An Ill'ta activated the airship after feeling a little down.
The magic engine activated to levitate the airship, and immediately after that, another engine activated to push the airship forward. The speed gradually increased over time, but the inside of the airship was quiet and comfortable as if they were on the ground. Only, the pilot was busy activating and controlling many artifacts at once.
"How is it?"
After the airship completely took off, the imperial princess looked back at the group with shiny eyes.
Kang MiRae kept quiet as she had experience riding in these before, and Yu IlHan did think that it was quite unexpected since it was more comfortable and wider than an aeroplane, but didn't say anything.
Yumir was looking at the outside scenery in joy, and only Na YuNa replied with a bright smile.
"It's a lot worse than an aeroplane!"
"Wut!"
"Don't compare it to the first class seats!"
The atmosphere became cold in an instant. The imperial princess stared at Na YuNa, but the person in question only nonchalantly smiled. Yu IlHan decided to play with the kind and cute Yumir rather than meeting eyes with those idiots.
The airship arrived at the destination in exactly one hour. It was a location in the middle of a huge stone mountain, completely outside the city, and from the fact that there were traces of big explosions nearby, it seemed like they had used magic in the excavation process.
A truly humongous and grand monument was rolling on the ground, and nearby was the entrance to the ruins. He thought that that monument may have been blocking the entrance to the ruins.
In any case, the entrance to the ruins had opened. A path entirely made of pure, white metal, could be seen connecting to the central regions of the stone mountain. Although it was unknown how deep it was, it was incalculable to the eyes from the outside.
"Your Highness!"
"Yes. Some of you come here and guard the airship."
The knights and mages protecting the entrance to the ruins immediately ran over after noticing that the airship had landed. The imperial princess naturally gave them orders, and guided the group to the ruins.
"You need to enter here. We had a hard time cleaning out that monument."
It seems like Yu IlHan's predictions were on the mark. It was amazing how there were traces of burns and craters all around the monument, but the monument itself had no scratches at all.
Yu IlHan approached it. There were incomprehensible archaic characters everywhere and after reading them for a moment, he asked the princess.
"Did you not think that there was another way to open the ruins?"
"We did try, but there was no other method."
"So that's why you used such a stupid method."
"Stupid!? Even I don't want to use magic against such a sturdy stone! I brought 2 4th class mages to do it!"
Yu IlHan was talking about how stupid it was to remove the monument with raw strength, but it seems like the princess had misunderstood.
'This person has both a sharp side and a stupid side. I don't want to get caught up with her in the future, if possible.' – thought he, as expected of a loner, while extending his hand to the monument.
"What are you going to do to the monument?"
"I'm going to open the entrance."
"Huh? But I've already opened the... so that's it. I did not actually open it, correct?"
"Yes."
The imperial princess had understood correctly this time. Yu IlHan made the group back off with a wave of his hand without much words. An incomprehensible language to anyone in that place, came out from his mouth.
"(Welcome to this place, O, strange one.)"
"Huh? What did you just say?"
"Don't tell me he's reading the archaic text on the monument!? How can a person from Earth like Mr. Yu IlHan read the archaic language of this world....?"
He ignored the reactions of everyone present as he read on. The more he read, the more light the monument started emitting, and accordingly, mana started boiling within the ruins.
"(The devotion of the juniors willing to continue and research the meaning of magic engineering...)"
"Amazing, the ruins are reacting! I knew it was right to have brought him here!"
"Although Mr. IlHan was already amazing, never did I know that he had the ability read archaic languages..."
Yu IlHan was now reading the last sentence on the monument.
"(I leave behind here, the essence of magic engineering that I've dedicated my life to researching. I wish for the junior to see the ends of magic engineering, which I was not able to catch even the slightest glimpse of, due to the lack of my ability.)"
The monument glowed in blue. Following that, the path made of white metal, started trembling and the light intensified. The high-level mana crafting technique had leapt beyond time and started breathing again!
Yu IlHan explained to MiRae and company.
"It seems like it wasn't activated properly since it has been such a long time since the ruins were made, but it looks like reading the text on the monument was a trigger to activate all the magic engines again. It did take a little of my mana in the process.... in any case, the ruins will be active now."
"So now we can acquire everything inside the ruins!"
Shouted the imperial princess in emotion. However, immediately after that, an explosion with a 'boom!" could be heard at the summit of the stone mountain.
It was fortunate that the ruins hadn't collapsed, but the explosions did not stop there and gave a bad feeling to all those present.
"No, it 'was' like that originally, but the situation is slightly different now."
When everyone's gazes were on the summit of the mountain, Yu IlHan refuted her comment. However, as the group was being shocked while seeing a gigantic… 'something' raising its 'body', they didn't listen to him.
"Miss Ill'ta brought two mages here and fired off magic like mad."
"But nothing happened at that time, though?"
"Like I said, the ruins will act normally 'now'."
Nonchalantly replied Yu IlHan as he warmed up his body. He was preparing for battle.
"Although it's a little late, now that it's functioning properly, it's trying to 'exterminate the invaders'."
[To think it will do a timed attack, nice going!] (Liera)
[Please be a little more nervous. No matter how you look at it, it's a colossal monster over level 250!] (Erta)
Kang MiRae took out the bag of cookies from her chest pocket, and threw one in her mouth, and gave one to Na YuNa and Yumir each. Na YuNa became happy from the cookie even in this situation.
"Mr. IlHan, marry me after defeating that thing!"
[Guoooooooooooh!]
Replied the colossal monster on the mountain instead of Yu IlHan. Na YuNa grumbled.
"I didn't ask you!"
"Nah, it's fine. I have the same opinion."
"You're too much! At least reply to me in Korean!"
"Fine, I refuse."
"Wao!"
"And please buff me."
"Wao! And I hate myself for buffing him so obediently!"
[Attack power and defense increases by 30% for 20 minutes. When ambushed, a shield will appear to protect you, and all attacks will have an additional effect from the god of beauty, Leytna's power.]
Yu IlHan expanded his Ruin Calling as soon as he received Na YuNa's buff full of 'love' and 'devotion'. After letting Yumir go, he also took out a magic stuffed cookies, and threw it in his mouth.
"Uiiiik! Who would've known that such a monster existed in the magic engineering ruin!"
"Mir, don't approach it and attack from long range, okay?"
"Got it!"
While the imperial princess gathered the knights and mages that protected the entrance to the ruins with a crying face, Yu IlHan instructed Yumir as he flew into the air with a leap.
At that place, was 'it'. 'It' being, a ludicrously large monster that made him think it would be possible to have a 100m dash on top of its back.
[Kuoooooooh!]
The monster that had grown after eating a tremendous amount of mana during the long years of hibernation – the giant golem; born from the essence of the magic engineering era's top technology – let out a deafening roar!
Author's notes
I'm the King of Chosun…. wait, that's not it (T/N: I'm not sure what part of this chapter this is referring to, nor the reference itself)
Readers that scroll down as soon as people like Na YuNa shows up… please be rest assured. In chapters like those, I write more content to compensate! This quantity of this chapter is overflowing again! Hahahahahahahahaha T_T
Man of steel will, Yu IlHan.
There's no way this would end peacefully.
Time for the secret weapon.
While the golem did not notice Yu IlHan in concealment and roared, Liera asked him in a defeated voice.
[IlHan, that looks like it's no small fry what are you going to do?] (Liera)
"I'm also thinking about it."
Although it was currently only roaring and doing nothing else, it would start acting soon; and by 'acting', it was highly probable that it would aim for the illegal trespassers, Irma An Ill'ta as well as the mages she had brought here before.
'Meaning, that it will rampage till it reaches the imperial capital where the 4th class mages are residing in.'
At this rate, there would be a blood party. Trying to enter a ruin would destroy an entire empire.
There should be a better line of defense than that of Ferata's, but he couldn't just watch it as it walked over there and destroyed everything. Yu IlHan took out a pile bunker first, and checked with the angels.
"It's the first time I'm facing a golem, but how do I go about it? In fantasy novels, there are things like cores, that will stop the golem once destroyed or removed. Also, I've seen cases where people made a new golem out of it."
[Well, the Metal Hearts you've hunted before indeed had a nucleus. However…..] (Erta)
[Golems are magic life forms. Moreover, that thing is an 'artificial' life form at the peak of magic engineering technology to bring out the power containing within an object to the best efficiency. Think about it like this – if you made it, would you make a weak point for others to destroy?] (Liera)
"Nope."
[You just need to smash it. What are you hesitating for?] (Spiera)
Pushing Erta and Liera, who were talking in a roundabout way, aside, Spiera gave him the answer. Yu IlHan ended up laughing.
"So, I need to 'smash in pieces', that… thing that's over 100 meters tall and made of silver metal that even I, blessed by the god of smithing, cannot recognize?"
[Yes, just split it in half or something.] (Spiera)
"Now that sounds sooo interesting!"
Yu IlHan's vision became dark thinking that he now had no choice but to take the suffering route. If there was anything good, it was that he was still in concealment and was able to attack the golem in surprise and inflict additional damage.
However, just as when he was preparing the pile bunker, he thought of something.
"Wait, does that thing count as 'life'?"
[If artificial life forms counted as life, then the creator would be God, not man, duh.] (Liera)
Damn, the advantage he had as a Deathgod in battle had disappeared! Like this, Na YuNa's buff just ended up filling that gap.
Well, it wasn't so bad, since it said his attacks would contain the power of the goddess of beauty... Yu IlHan grumbled as he checked the information on the pile bunker in his hands.
"It's fortunate that the option I applied to help out in the fight with the perverted vibration demon is of help."
[David's Stone Thrower]
[Rank – Epic]
[Attack Power –
1st stage : 2,100
2nd stage : 3,200
3rd stage : 4,500
4th stage : 5,800
6th stage : 9,800(Consumes 1,000 maximum durability)
7th stage : 12,500(Consumes 10,000 maximum durability)
[Durability – 15,780/15,780]1
[Options –
1. 40% increase in power when facing an enemy twice as large as the user. 50% decrease in power when enemy is less than that size.
2. Additional 30% increase in power when facing an enemy 10 times as large as the user.
3. Additional 50% increase in power when facing an enemy 100 times as large as the user.
4. 50% increase in fire attribute damage of the projectile.
5. Possible to recover the maximum durability by consuming magic stones.]
[A masterwork made by the best smith, designed with a flash of insight and meticulous construction, using two kinds of driving force. It contains the pure wish of the crafter to make those taller than him, kneel before him, and will grow the more gigantic enemies are defeated.
A masterpiece made with recovering durability in mind, from the previous experience of single-time use strong weapons. However, the drawback is that it is very hard to load, and may fail to load properly even after drawing strength from the user's time as a baby, sucking on the mother's breasts, from the previous life.]
He didn't know that he would have to show his trump card here. And, this was against a monster that was worse than the perverted vibration demon!
[Kuwoooooooh!]
[IlHan, it looks like it's about to move! It's trembling!] (Liera)
Now, he had to attack. If he didn't start by dealing a massive damage, they would lose any chances of defeating it here.
However, Yu IlHan was conflicted. That was because the pile bunker was currently loaded to the 6th stage. Well, he thought that the 6th stage would be enough against the perverted vibration demon, and recovering 10,000 max durability would make him consume well over 100 3rd class magic stones.
"No matter how I think about it, 6th stage doesn't seem enough..."
He wished that since it was big, it was sky-scraping big. But unfortunately, its height was around 120 meters.
Although that was plenty jaw-slackingly big... the 3rd option attached on the pile bunker, '100 times as large' only referred to height!
"I wish that I was a 120cm midget!"
[Even dwarves are bigger than that, so calm down, Yu IlHan!] (Spiera)
Yu IlHan came to a judgement quickly. He had to inflict a big strike with a surprise attack, but 6th stage power was not enough. Even though the magic stones to recover the durability was a little wasteful, he now had to be bold and go with a 7th stage attack.
[Guwoooooooh!]
On the other hand, the titan started moving slowly after roaring once more. The group with the imperial princess, who had formed a defensive line and started chanting offensive magic, seemed to be scared stiff by the moving titan that exceeded the realm of their imaginations.
"On that day, mankind received a grim reminder.... Uuuuugh! Mommy!"
[I… wanted to say that too!] (Liera)
"Uuuuuuugh! Grandma!"
Yu IlHan was speaking nonsense with his mouth, but his two hands were busy loading the pile bunker to the 7th stage.
He had to deploy Superhuman strength, and twist the bone ammo with all his power! By 7th stage, the structure of the giant's rubber band enveloping the ammo had also turned complex, so he not only needed strength, but technique as well. That made it even more shitty.
"Ughuuughuk! Great grandmaaaaaaaa!"
[Don't make strange moans!] (Erta)
[He's at great grandma already...] (Liera)
"Kyak!"
"Whoa, that's big!"
"Your Highness, this happened because of you, not him."
"Although I don't have any intentions on denying my responsibility, but do you really have to say that now when it looks like we'd all die!? You sure care for your hubby!"
When the golem's advance speed became faster, the group fell into panic.
Yu IlHan did his best to load before it was too late. He deployed Superhuman strength to beyond its limits, and kicked it off by another notch by regenerating the horribly ripping muscles that couldn't endure the load, with Transcendent regeneration!
[The skill, Superhuman strength, has become level 75!]
[The skill, Transcendent regeneration, has become level 61!]
Now, he didn't even have any spare piece of mind to read the skill level up notifications. Yu IlHan focused all of his attention on the bone ammo that was gradually pushed to the inside while spinning ever so slightly.
"Huuuuuuuuup, great-great-great-great-grandpaaaaaaaa!"
And at one moment, the 7th stage was loaded with a clack! The moment he noticed that he had succeeded in loading, he deployed Ruin Calling to launch shockwaves behind his back and rush forward. The other people were in a mess right now.
"The titan's coming! The titaaaaan!"
"Leaving aside succeeding technology, this ancestor wants to destroy the empire instead! Gigantic Thunder!"
"Oh, we're doomed. The empire is doomed!"
Even Kang MiRae's most powerful attack while being buffed by Na YuNa, only ended up taking a single toe. In fact, that was already a shocking power, but the enemy was too strong this time.
[Kuguooooooooh!]
The titan turned stiff for a moment, before raising its leg to step forward…..
"Uoooooooh!" (This is MC)
...unsuccessfully, that is, because Yu IlHan had flown on top of its head and struck with the pile bunker, right on top of its head!
At that moment, the Eternal Flame stimulated the stored magic gunpowder inside the ammo to cause a giant explosion, and at the same time the ammo was shot out, covered in fire, the 7th stage Giant's Rubber Band loosened in an instant to add another layer of driving force!
[Kuaaaaah!]
[Critical Hit!]
Without exaggeration, it sounded like the skies were collapsing. Just the sound from the explosion from the Eternal Flame was already so overwhelming, but the snapping of the rubber band as well as the noise at the moment of collision with its head was even more booming!
The vibration from the shockwave at that moment was also enormous, causing everyone in that area to lose their balance momentarily.
"It's dad!"
"Whoa, that golem was so easily….."
The results from depleting 10,000 of the maximum durability of the pile bunker, was, as expected, quite devastating. the golem's head measuring 3 meters in diameter was instantly obliterated, and the projectile proceeded even further to embed itself deep in the body!
What's more was that the tip of the projectile was still burning, so the golem was constantly taking damage.
[Kuwooooooooh! Kuhaaaaah!]
The golem roared without being able to come to itself. Did it feel pain despite being an artificial life form? Even if it didn't, it was definite that it reacted sensitively to the loss of its body parts.
"Phew... Kergh!?"
The moment Yu IlHan put the pile bunker, which did its job splendidly, into his inventory, the scraps of metal that were scattered around after the explosion, all rushed up into the skies, before shooting towards the shoulder of the golem, i.e. where he was standing right now.
He immediately equipped Ruin Calling on his front to shoot shockwaves to knock them down, and his face turned stiff.
"Don't tell me it's trying to stitch itself back on!?"
[Although that's quite a frightening imagination, but yeah. It looks like you're on the mark.] (Liera)
[Cheers to Yu IlHan's amazing perception.] (Erta)
[I don't know who it is, but it looks like this person had learned magic engineering properly. Rejoice, Yu IlHan. It looks like the materials you will get to see will be quite amazing!] (Spiera)
"That makes me tearfully happy dammit!"
These damned angels always got along each other at times like this! Yu IlHan, who wanted to cry, shouted.
"Mir!"
"Uh, yeah!"
"Scatter these damned fragments!"
"Got it!"
Yumir, who had initially been unable to act in front of the gigantic golem, finally found his job. After receiving a buff from Na YuNa, he used wind magic to blow away the fragments that tried to fly back into the golem's body.
Kang MiRae also found her role. Although it was scary to approach the gigantic golem, compared to Yu IlHan on top of its body, she had it easy.
Her eyes glistening, she wrapped her two arms in lightning. She would thoroughly melt and burn the fragments to prevent the golem from recovering!
"Haaap!"
"Hey, let's do that too! We can do at least that, right?"
"But if the golem takes a single step forward, we...."
"Forward!"
"Understood!
An order from the imperial princess was heavier than their lives! The mages all started chanting, and the knights charged forward. Unless they destroyed every single golem fragment, or died, they would never regain peace of mind again.
"Fuuu, now that's less interference."
Yu IlHan noticed that the number of golem fragments flying towards him had decreased thanks to the others' actions, and heaved a sigh of relief.
He could now finally proceed to the next stage!
"Death Driverrrrrr!"
[That's quite a naming sense.] (Erta)
When Yu IlHan took out another weapon from the inventory, Erta interjected blandly. However, this wasn't named by Yu IlHan but by the Akashic Record, so there was no helping it. He snorted with a hmph and equipped it.
That was a weapon, comprised of two parts, with a thick and long handle, and had two blades intersecting as if a cross shaped driver, which made it look a little funny.
[Powerful and Bright Wind Death Driver]
[Rank – Legend]
[Attack Power – 5,200]
[Durability – 9,700/9,700]
[Options-
1. Possible to spin the blade rapidly by consuming mana and durability. attack power and piercing power increases by 40% when doing so.
2. 40% increase in fire attribute attack power.
3. 60% increase in spinning power.]
[A weapon that generates an absurd amount of rotational force by using mana and the Giant's Rubber Band. It consumes durability rapidly, but can generate a proportional amount of attack power. However, in fact, this is merely a tool to use other weapons in a stronger way.]
If someone saw this, they would ask if it wasn't just a massive electric cross shaped driver. And Yu IlHan would not deny it.
And coincidentally, there was a conveniently placed 'screw' embedded here as well. Yu IlHan's gaze looked downwards.
There, embedded in the body of the golem, was a bone screw that conveniently had a cross etched on it, and looked very convenient to spin with a driver.
[You're a genius.] (Liera)
"No, I'm not a genius."
Yu IlHan stabbed with the Death Driver, down with all his might – Clack! With such a sound, the bone screw inside the golem's body, and the Death Driver was perfectly combined.
[G, Guwoooooooh!]
Perhaps it instinctively felt crisis dooming upon it, as it started rampaging while roaring like mad. However, Yu IlHan had long since mastered the art of standing still on top of a rampaging monster!
"I'M ME!! Yu IlHan the Digger!" 2
[You're no digger!] (Liera)
Yu IlHan, who ignored minor remarks, firmly gripped on the handle of the Death Driver, and poured mana into it – all of it, including the portion that had grown with him eating a magic stuffed cookie!
[Ku, Kuuoooooooh!]
When the Death Driver started spinning with a resounding sound, the bone screw connected to it naturally started spinning as well. As Yu IlHan had made spirals blades on the bone screw like an actual screw, in the process of making the pile bunker, once it started to move, the golem's body started being ground apart.
"Uooooh!"
The golem's body was harder than any of the bones of creatures he had faced off against until now, but right now, not only was the bone screw deeply embedded, it was weakening the surroundings by emitting fire. The bone screw that emitted fire while spinning at insane speeds, pierced through the golem at a faster rate over time.
[Kuwuahhhhhhhh!]
"My drill, is one that will pierce the heavens!"
Yu IlHan thought while grinding the body of a golem that was over level 250.
That it was worth it to create this item, just to say that line.
Author's notes
On that day, mankind received a grim reminder – the lines said by humans when seeing a titan of enormous size. It's splendid, with despair and a sense of defeat contained in those words. (Attack on Titan reference)
My drill is one that will pierce the heavens! – A line from the main character, Simon, 4of the passion animation, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
It's the giant electric driver!
Translator's notes
4/6 chapters! These two were sponsored by Fullmetalj4cket! Big thanks to him! Two more coming up later!
1. So using 7th stage once would make the durability go to X/5,780
2. Gurren Lagann ref.
"What the hell is that!"
"It's raining golem fragments…..!"
"A drill! So cool!"
Yu IlHan's new weapon shocked not only the golem, but the others as well. He actually used the bone ammo as a screw? And equipped an 'electronic' driver?
Above all, he was grinding that giant golem real-time!
[Kuwaaaaak!]
"Uoooooh!"
[So fast! He's already dug 5 meters already!?] (Liera)
[Frustrating... so frustrating!] (Erta)
Meanwhile, Yu IlHan had ended up learning a new skill. He had entered a realm he hadn't in his one thousand years of solitude.
[You have acquired the skill, Excavation. All abilities related to excavation rises as the skill level rises, and the quality of the items excavated becomes higher as well.]
Never did he imagine there would come a day he'd learn such a skill!
"There really is no end to the path of labour."
[I'm actually starting to be scared now that he may try to master all possible paths of manual labour...] (Liera)
Liera retorted to Yu IlHan's honest remark. Yu IlHan wanted to retort to her about what she saw him as, but he wasn't one to talk, since he was literally grinding a golem, so he held back.
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 2.]
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 3.]
[The skill, Excavation...]
[The skill....]
The more he dug into the golem's body, and the more the drill spun and scattered the metal fragments around as the Excavation skill level rose. No matter how skilled Yu IlHan was in labour, it was abnormal for a skill to rise so rapidly from level 1.
However, the 'target' of excavation right now, in terms of the excavation realm, could be considered to be the final boss, a golem made of archaic alloy metal! It was no wonder the proficiency increase was incomparable to swinging pickaxes to dig iron ore!
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 15.]
Originally, the skill had to rise even faster, but since the scattered fragments that comprised the golem's body was still controlled by the golem, Yu IlHan's excavation was in fact, actually not successful at all.
Meaning, Yu IlHan was actually piling skill proficiency while trying and failing! It could be seen how amazing and horrifying of an opponent this golem was.
[Guwooooooooh!]
While Yu IlHan was enjoying a two-birds-with-one-stone time of training skills and training skills, the golem felt a sense of crisis from its body being ground apart. Even when it tried to regenerate its body by picking the fragments back up, the puny humans beneath its feet was desperately preventing that, so it couldn't do so!
So, it ended up choosing the extreme choice. The enormous amount of records and mana it had piled up over a long period of time on this stone mountain! – utilizing all of that, it had implemented a trump card attack that should have been impossible for it normally!
"Huh?"
Since Yu IlHan was focusing on drilling through the golem's body, the first one to notice the change was Na YuNa.
"The ruins is emitting some strange light!"
"Why would the ruins glow….. everyone back off!"
Kang MIRae shouted after her. After that, the entrance exploded with a 'boom!' and the white metals composing the corridor inside all shot up into the air! Na YuNa shouted with shiny eyes as soon as she saw that!
"It's a fusion!"
"Stop! Stop that!"
Shouted Kang MIrae while shooting a spear of lightning. a strong lightning, that was way above just 3rd class magic, struck on a portion of the white lumps of metal, but the mysterious metal didn't seem to be damaged at all.
"Haaap!"
The next batter was Yumir. As he had seen Kang MiRae's failure just now, he tried to blow them far away instead of destroying them, but the metal actually completely devoured the windstorm he had made. This was dragon's magic, albeit 3rd class, we're talking about!
"*Cries*, dad!"
When he failed, he looked for his dad! Fortunately, at that time, Yu IlHan had also sensed the change in the stone mountain. Right now, only the metals making up the ruins were reacting, but in Yu IlHan's eyes, this golem's deeds wouldn't stop there.
From the minute vibrations on the ground, or the suspicious movement of mana, he was quite sure. In the worst case scenario, the entire stone mountain may as well disintegrate and fuse into the golem's body!
"Ugh, I can't help it…..!"
Even while grumbling that he was about to be robbed of everything when he had just come here to learn magic engineering, he took out the next set of cards he had.
While he himself was still holding onto the Death Driver, he called out something using the remote collection function of his inventory, onto the top of the golem's shoulders, which was...
"Death Ballista Quartet!"
[The names are quite generic.] (Liera)
[But do you really have to shout like that every time you take something out?] 1
[Do you not know, Erta, it's where his dreams lie in.] (Spiera)
Surrounding the massive hole Yu IlHan had made while digging, four huge ballistas appeared in the east, west, south, and north directions. They were loaded with cartridges containing a maximum of 50 loadable sharp blades.
Actually, from its appearance alone, it didn't look that much different to the installation-type ballista he had made before. 2, but he refused comparisons with those as this 'did not need human hands to operate'.
"Hup! Eat some bone spears you alien monster!"
Yu IlHan let go of the drill for a moment, and took out 4 3rd class magic stones from his inventory and threw them fast. When the four magic stones emitted bright light in the air, the ballistas, now supplied with mana for activation, all started firing.
They first stuck themselves on the ground and adjusted their trajectory with squeaking sounds, before aiming at the metal fragments that tried to fuse to the golem body.
The magic gunpowder and the Giant's Rubber Band he had made a lot of, was used in those ballistas, so they had incomparable destructive power from before, and they were starting to smash into pieces, the white metals that tried to regenerate the golem!
[Critical Hit!]
"What the hell is it now!"
"That looks painful."
"Mr. Yu IlHan. Did you really not learn any magic engineering…..?"
"We don't have any time to speak! Your Highness, the entire stone mountain is trembling!"
[Kuguguoooooooouuuuuuuh!]
The golem also noticed what was happening on its shoulders. The metals it called out to recover its body was exploding and raining down!
However, just that alone wasn't enough to extinguish its will. The mana in this area was already resonating with it. Accepting the will to become stronger and sturdier in order to defeat the invaders, the mana was giving the land for it to use.
[Kuoooooh!]
If it was impossible top-down, then it will just start from the bottom! The lands that the people were setting foot on, arose as if it had a will of its own, and fused into the golem's body. Naturally, earthquakes occurred, and holes appeared everywhere, and the people on the ground had to focus on saving themselves first rather than battle.
At this moment, this golem was the ruler of the area!
[You're going to die trying to learn magic engineering!] (Liera)
[Ah, we're doomed. The ruins completely collapsed.!] (Erta)
"It's alright. it will be fine if we do something about the golem!"
[Splendid, Yu IlHan. That's the spirit!] (Spiera)
[In my eyes, he just seems hopelessly optimistic, though!?] (Erta)
Yu IlHan gritted his teeth, and put more strength into gripping the Death Driver. In any case, Yu IlHan was digging deeper into its body. If he drilled all the way to the bottom, then no matter how it tried to reinforce itself, it would fail to move!
"The ruins completely collapsed!"
"The collapsed ruins is all fusing with the golem!"
Regardless of whether the grounds were collapsing, or the fact that the body of the golem was getting larger as time passed, Yu IlHan only focused on drilling through the golem. He poured as much mana he as he had, and focused on the drill and on himself.
Labour was something that would rapidly increase in efficiency the moment the body and soul looked towards one direction! Like how Yu IlHan became one with the spear once before, and one with the sword, he became one with the drill and kept digging through the golem!
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 30. Efficiency related to all excavation increases, and you're now able to excavate magic metals that cannot be excavated by normal means.]
That was the moment of miracle.
[Guhuk, Guwoooooaaaaah!]
The white metal fragments, that still moved after being drilled by Yu IlHan, under the golem's control, all stopped moving!
Yes. Becoming able to excavate magic metals, meant that the magic metals excavated by Yu IlHan were no longer under the golem's control. Of course, he had to spend a certain amount of mana in order to possess the magic metal, but right now, that was hardly a burden!
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 31.]
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 32.]
[The skill, Excavation,....]
[The skill...]
When the possession of the magic metals he couldn't acquire until now, all came over to Yu IlHan, the Excavation skill started rising rapidly again.
However, Yu IlHan ignored all the levelup notices on his retina, and did what he had to do now – which was, putting all the stationary magic metals into his inventory. Before the golem started doing anything else with it!
"Huh."
"Somehow it feels like the golem's pressure is being reduced….. is it just me?"
Nope.
Well, the golem's body was increasing faster than Yu IlHan could dig, but that was all just boulders making up the stone mountain. The core power behind the golem, the magic metal, was entering Yu IlHan's inventory real-time!
[Guwoh, Guwoooooooooh!]
The golem roared as if to say that it was unacceptable to be excavated by a human while alive. At that moment, sharp spikes protrude out from the wall of the hole that Yu IlHan had dug through with the Death Driver and the bone screw!
"Kergh!?"
[Yu IlHan!] (Erta)
[It can change the form inside its body as well!?] (Liera)
Shouted Erta and Liera in shock. Yu IlHan avoided injury as he had called out Aegis as soon as he sensed a change in mana, but the golem focused on shape shifting its insides, and pulled out tens, hundreds, thousands of spikes!
Not only that, slowly, very slowly, but surely, the hole Yu IlHan had dug was shrinking as well. Since Yu IlHan had put all the pieces of metal making up the body into his inventory, this wasn't regeneration. It was just compressing the body like mad while making up the outer parts with just boulders!
Yu IlHan did not let go of the Death Driver even after confirming that the hole was shrinking, but he couldn't help but sweat cold sweat as hundreds of metal spikes hit Aegis.
"I think I saw a similar scene in Saw...!"
[Kyaaaak! Don't mention such a scary movie!] (Liera)3
No matter how good the defense was on Aegis, he couldn't guarantee that the could hold out forever. Yu IlHan checked while blocking the spikes that appeared from below him.
"How much further do I need to dig until I reach the ground?"
[You are almost all the way through the magic metal parts. No matter how it tries to form its body using boulders from the mountain, in the end, the reason it can move its body was because it is made of magic metals, so if you can sever that, you can kill it. The problem is that...] (Erta)
[Is that we'll get swallowed up before that happens. Yu IlHan, we need to escape this place first.] (Spiera)
"No."
Yu IlHan interjected Spiera.
"There's no solution if we attack from the outside. We need to finish it from the inside. So... Let's use the final card."
He sighed a little. Had he mastered excavation, he wouldn't have needed to undertake such risks!
Yu IlHan boldly put away the Death Driver into his inventory. The golem roared in victory after noticing that the drill had stopped, but Yu IlHan hadn't died yet!
He covered his entire body with Aegis, and took a deep breath.
"I really didn't want to use this."
[Uuuh, that sounds very suspicious.] (Liera)
[Yu IlHan, no matter how high your fire attribute resistance is, that's just….] (Erta)
'It's alright. Probably."
The most important thing started now. While the bone screw was still holding out inside the golem! Yu IlHan's eyes glistened mysteriously.
Even now, the inside of the golem's body was shrinking little by little. If the bone screw was ejected, then it would immediately try to fill the gap.Yu IlHan planned to plant a bomb before that gap was filled – using the swap technique he had practiced so much. Collecting and releasing at the same time!
"Fuu."
If he didn't do it precisely, then Yu IlHan's life would be in danger as well. Although he had fire attribute resistance, he had no explosion resistance. So he had to prevent himself from being hit by the explosion no matter what.
He stared at the bone screw, and at one moment, he blinked. Immediately after that, the bone screw disappeared, and the golem shrunk that part and filled the gap. It really was a blink of an eye – a moment that seemed like no one could do anything about it.
Even as the hole was shrinking towards him, Yu IlHan was smiling.
Author's notes
Spiera understands what dreams are.
What does Yu IlHan's smile mean!? (T/N: Ain't that obvious)
Translator's notes
Try replacing 'digger' with 'monarch' and see what you get (chapter title)
Special thanks to Daniel P!
1. I think this is doraemon reference.
2. used in Ferata
3. I have not watched the Saw series…