[Destroyer's Flying fortress]
[Rank – God]
[Durability – 13,565,777/13,565,777]
[User restrictions – Yu IlHan. Changes once owner is lost.]
[Options –
1. Recovers durability using the life force and mana from attackers.
2. Automatically attacks all beings that enter without permission from the owner.
3. Grows by absorbing records of various beings.
4. Fortress can fly. Sudden acceleration, sudden rise, sudden deceleration is possible.
5. The fortress and all items inside are treated as the owner's equipment. The ones in party with the owner can be treated like a member of the fortress and will receive protection.]
6. 20% increase in attack power and defense for all items within the fortress.
7. 30% increase in attack power and defense for all items within the fortress.]
[A battle-oriented mobile air fortress that a magic engineer of miracles had implemented using materials at the top of the chain in countless worlds. The fortress has grown by absorbing numerous records to become able to counteract against anything, and has acquired a new potential while changing form.]
[Oh my god, you actually made it!]
Whether it was before or after Liera became an angel, she did not see many god-ranked artifacts. The last one she saw was the Hourglass of Eternity that was given to Yu IlHan as a reward.
God ranked implied that the artifact had the power that rivalled recorded gods in the very least. And the Destroyer's Flying fortress, was at the top of the chain amongst all the few God-ranked artifacts Liera had seen.
7 options! And they were all absurd too!
[So it's actually possible...]
"I wanted to see what was above that but I guess that's just being greedy of me. This is fine. Thanks to this I..."
Originally, two options of the same properties would not appear on the same item.
However, the flying fortress, which should have ended with just six options, acquired an additional option thanks to the evolved 'Creator of Myths' title, and an enhanced version of the 6th option appeared on the 7th, and the result was that all weapons in the fortress now acquired a 50% increase in their powers.
"Do all god-ranked crafters acquire the 'Creator of Myths' title?"
[Didn't Erta explain? Titles are born with the records of the beings as the basis, so that is unlikely. Rather than that, to think even the title evolved in an extreme way….. so the words making up the title is important too.]
Liera muttered as though she didn't even know that it was possible for there to be a title that attached another option on an item.
Practically, Destroyer's Flying fortress could be said to be above God-ranked. The elements making up the fortress, such as the weapons, traps and other artifacts all had options of their own as well, so how cruel would the synergy be after them stacking on top of this?
[Ah, I think the barrier is going to break.]
"Prepare yourself, Liera. This will be the start."
The moment after Yu IlHan said that to Liera, the Hourglass of Eternity that lasted 2 months perfectly shattered.
[Kuwaaaaaaaaaahn!]
[Destroy, let's break that unsightly building!]
The monsters that were chased out before the two months that didn't last an instant, tried to invade while not knowing what had happened, but the Destroyer's Flying fortress that had activated did not easily let any one of them in.
First, an earthquake that shook and rumbled across the region made them retreat, and a tall outer wall rose on the outer perimeter of the flying fortress. The wall that had fatal electric current flowing through it instantly paralyzed all monsters in the area.
However, this was merely the beginning. The true power of the flying fortress only started now!
"Flying fortress, take off!"
[It makes me embarrassed so don't go shouting that so openly! And we're not even up yet!]
"I can't help it. There are much more monsters on the ground than in the air!"
That was why he had to move after cleaning up this area first. Immediately after he thought that, his masterpiece, the Hundred Eyes that he had poured his heart and blood into, finally activated.
[What are those mirrors?]
[They look ominous...!]
Twenty barrels absorbed the overflowing mana within the fortress, and all the absorbed mana was then imbued into all the destruction mirrors. The hundred mirrors were all charged with mana and started glowing. The scene was a sight to behold.
"It's starting."
After Yu IlHan quietly muttered, the hundred destruction mirrors, now that they fulfilled both the activation requirements, mana charging and finding enemies, all floated into the air at once. They were quiet, but fast.
[Wow, such a sight.]
"I… finally did it....!"
For the eyes of someone that didn't understand, this was just a beautiful sight, but to Liera and Yu IlHan who knew of the power behind, this was an overwhelming sight. However, the monsters unfortunately were not aware of this.
[There was nothing like that just a moment ago...!]
[It's definitely strange. But I do not care. If it is harder than before, then I only hit harder than before!]
The monsters did not care even though they realized that the outer walls and even the inside of the walls were completely different than just now, and still charged forward! However, the rewards for their courage was a beam.
As if there was a special orbital route around the manson, the destruction mirrors all started orbiting around, and started mercilessly shooting energy beams once they found a target!
[Critical Hit!]
[Critical Hit!]
[You have earned 45,696,019 experience.]
[You have earned 39,103,458 experience.]
Thanks to the newly added option that the completed fortress had, all non-organisms within the fortress counted as Yu IlHan's equipment.
What that meant that there was no need for Yu IlHan to monitor everything in his study, and automatically acquire all the experience that the fortress kills.
[You have earned 314,595,586...]
[You have...]
Yu IlHan felt strange since experience kept piling up without him having to flick a finger.
"Is this the feeling of a bug player using macro keys!?"
[No, this is at the level of a free server!]
While Hundred Eyes shot down the monsters, Yu IlHan waited for his turn to come and prepared himself with the Eight-tailed dragon spear in one hand.
However, his spear ended up not being used in battle. The monster horde that tried to assault Yu IlHan after the 3rd Great Cataclysm were all decimated in front of the flying fortress.
"So vain….."
[You were too fired up.]
"Fuu, so the strong are lonely beings….."
[You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?]
Yu IlHan bitterly put away the spear and checked his spoils. As if being a proof that Earth was insane, he had acquired more than 300 4th class magic stones just in this battle alone, and going over to the 3rd class ones, he was just tired of counting them all.
"I think this is more than what I gained from wiping out the dragons in Dareu."
[But it looks like all the monsters in Korea are dead. If you want to kill anymore, you would have to look for dungeons.]
"Dungeons huh."
Yu IlHan thought about dungeons for a second. In fact, he had some plans regarding those, but...
"Not yet."
[Not what yet?]
"You'll find out even if you don't want to later."
Liera felt very ominous but decided not to ask. She didn't want to feel bad right now. There should have been an Erta for comebacks here!
"Good, then I can go to another country!"
[In fact, you just want to try flying the fortress, don't you?]
"Yes! I want to fly it so bad!"
Yu IlHan really didn't hesitate in letting his desires leak out!
At the same time he replied to her, Yu IlHan focused with his eyes closed, and amazingly, at that time, faint light seem to leak from the region making up the flying fortress, including the mansion, before a barrier formed around the perimeter.
That was the basic shield that activated for the stability of flight, and was also a method to sever the connection between the land.
[So we only need to levitate now?]
"No, the root part still hasn't been separated yet. This is why, I prepared something else."
The moment he said that, the fortress trembled. Especially, the barrier itself caused large vibrations to completely sever the connection between the flying fortress and the earth!
[Whoa.]
This was also a result of Yu IlHan's artifact, but it was amazing that he had applied the power of vibrations not on an artifact, but on a crystallization of mana known as the barrier. Liera seemed to remember something while looking at the hyper vibrations on the barrier.
[This is from the vibration demon?]
"Although I couldn't implement it perfectly, but yes. I did use its body."
An unknown amount of time had passed since the barrier started causing vibrations. The surface of the ground, where the barrier met the ground, started cracking with a loud sound. That was the sound of freedom.
[Wow, the heavy fortress is being entirely lifted...!]
The flying fortress slowly floated into the air while shaking off the restraints of the ground. The adventurous heart of a young boy that was still alive to this day in Yu IlHan's heart, also started floating as well.
"It's floating. It's really floating."
[Don't you have to go to the study to control this?]
"Well, I did make a control room for it."
Feeling the renewed god-ranked artifact that was the fortress, Yu IlHan smiled and spoke.
"Since the entire fortress is being treated as my equipment, I think I can wield the fortress without me moving like when I'm using the Spear of Untraceable Trajectory."
[That option had such an absurd power besides gaining experience for yourself!?]
This was not god-ranked for nothing, and all of the options were not ordinary. Even the ordinary-sounding ones had absurd, extraordinary functions. Like how Yu IlHan could freely control the fortress with just the option that treated the fortress as his equipment!
The flying fortress detached itself from the ground completely in a while, and ascended through the air. Yu IlHan levitated the fortress high up without being urgent, and only after he spent around 5 minutes did he reach the height he wanted.
"Fufufu..."
Even though he already had an experience with flying with the Ruin Calling, stepping on the ground in the skies felt special. Yu IlHan muttered while looking down towards the ground in satisfaction.
"The humans look as if they're trash!"
[The only human on Earth right now is you!]
Of course, there was no reason to make such good weapons for his fortress if flight was all that he wanted. His first objective was an aerial fight. One that went against a large quantity of monsters!
From the moment the flying fortress flew up into the sky, it was emitting strong mana towards all directions. The mana emitted possessed at least 5 times as much power as the Traps of Destructions scattered on Earth. Yu IlHan did not doubt at all that that would attract the aerial monsters.
[You would simply be fooling around if you wanted to compete against the smiths of Heaven.]
"I've surpassed them a long time ago."
Yu IlHan's eyes glistened. Liera became scared after hearing that, as she remembered back to him mentioning the Traps of Destructions. No way, don't tell me – was her feelings, but, perhaps….. no, it shouldn't be.
While Liera was in deep thought, Yu IlHan shouted in cheers with a bright red face.
"God, after the skies it's the seas!"
[This can go underwater too!?]
"It has a barrier to keep out water, so sure….?"
Liera became speechless after hearing Yu IlHan say that as if it was obvious. She didn't know Yu IlHan even factored that in when making the barrier!
"A mobile fortress should be able to achieve aerial, terrestrial, and oceanic fights without much strain, no? Only then will I find some hidden dungeon on earth."
[...]
Yes, one had to give up a lot of things (mostly common sense) when facing this guy, but why did she even bother holding onto them.
Liera decided to smile without saying a word. Now, she had the confidence to not be surprised even if he said that it was possible to fight in outer space.
"Of course, outer space fights are possible too."
[WHAAAAAAAAT!?]
With Liera's 'confidence' instantly crumbled, the presence of monsters neared. The 'cannons' on the flying fortress revealed themselves, and Yu IlHan shouted with shiny eyes.
"Wipe them all out!"
Author's notes
Yu IlHan the optimist king.
Ground battles had a lot of limitations, no matter how wide of a plain the battleground is, there are a lot of monsters that cannot come due to obstacles like mountains, seas and cliffs.
Moreover, there were not many monsters that drilled through the ground, so all that he could fight were monsters with their feet on the ground. There was no need for Hundred Eyes to even act.
The air is different. Although the only monsters that can fight aerial battles were limited to those that could fly, any and every monster that felt the mana wave emitted by the fortress would try to come and join the fight. Their attacking directions weren't limited to just front, back, left and right, but up and down as well, so the battle area would expand by several fold!
Monsters were everywhere. Perhaps all the monsters that could fly were gathering in this area, as the sun was nearly blotted out. There were just that many monsters gathering towards a single target, the flying fortress.
[Though, usually, one would be in despa....kyaaaaaak!]
"We'll go even faster from now on."
Usually, it would consume a lot of mana to move an artifact this big, very fast. This was also why Yu IlHan had put his heart into making the engines to levitate and drive the flying fortress.
However, the 4th option enabled for sudden acceleration, sudden rise, and sudden lowering, and did not place a lot of pressure on the engine. The amazing fact about this option was that it did not take a lot of mana to do so!
"Sudden acceleration!"
When Yu IlHan willed it, the barrier enveloping the entire flying fortress activated again and vibrated. Like that, the fortress itself practically became a giant bullet and charged against all the monsters up front!
It was quite strange, whether it was seeing Yu IlHan ordering the flying fortress as if ordering Pok*mon to body slam, or whether it was seeing the flying fortress actually obeying his orders.
[The scale is way too big!]
"Go!"
[Kihik!]
[Kihiiiiii!]
[Something, is coming!]
The enormous size, weight, vibrations, on top of its speed, made it impossible for even the flying monsters to dodge.
Moreover, leaving aside whether they could dodge if the flying fortress was only just charging forward, it also emitted mana waves, as well as physical vibration waves, to make the movements of the monsters dull!
[Critical Hit!]
[Critical Hit!]
The moment the large swarm of aerial monsters and the flying fortress collided, countless 'critical hit's etched on Yu IlHan's eyes. However, he ignored all of them and ordered another sudden acceleration, and the majority of the monsters charging towards the fortress were smashed apart like bowling pins.
[...How many just died?]
To Liera who asked with a pale face, Yu IlHan replied nonchalantly.
"Around 30,000 in the two accelerations."
[Thirty thousand...]
If there was a disadvantage to physical attacks, it was that the range was limited unlike magic that could burn an entire region. No matter how large Pok*mons body-slammed, they couldn't attack more than several Pok*mons at once.
However, Yu IlHan ended up enlarging the body of the attacker to overcome those limits. The overwhelming surface area of the XXXXXXXL-sized cannonball had become a splendid weapon!
Liera thought that Yu IlHan perhaps made the flying fortress precisely in order to slam against everything.
[How long would it take until the monsters on Earth are wiped out...?]
The sudden acceleration didn't just end with twice. The continuous charge attacks got rid of most of the mobs, and after that, Yu IlHan activated Hundred Eyes to take care of the 4th class monsters that didn't die so easily.
"Activate Hundred Eyes!"
[Is there some kind of magic that amplifies their function if you shout it out loud?]
"No, but I feel better."
[How honest.]
Hundred Eyes, which were recharging mana obediently after their usage on the ground, received Yu IlHan's will and started moving again. However, their directions were different from last time. Their orbit was bigger, and they were also a lot further from each other.
[Huh? The orbit changed.]
"This should be the norm. The destruction mirrors do not need protection from the fortress. No, to be exact, it must not receive protection from the fortress."
Yu IlHan's original idea had two orbits for the Hundred Eyes. First was a small ellipse within the fortress, with the mansion as the center. This was the ground-battle mode.
This made it possible to protect the mansion, but made it difficult to attack outside the fortress.
And the second, was to orbit on the surface of the barrier that protected the fortress.
Destruction mirrors had the splendid ability to shoot mana stored in it, but their core abilities was to suck enemies' mana and reflect it back. However, inside the fortress, it was difficult to bring that ability out to its fullest. These things must grow outside while getting beaten up!
[Now that is really like a flying fortress.]
"It was like a flying fortress from the beginning though."
The scene of hundred gigantic mirrors orbiting around the fortress as though satellites around a planet, gave them a feeling like no other. Liera became slightly proud as this was something she couldn't see often even in Heaven.
However, would she able to hold on to those thoughts after seeing what happened next?
[He is there.]
[He's the one that mercilessly massacred our kin.]
The monsters that were able to dodge the charge with ease, and those that had high mana resistance, tried to invade the fortress after it became quiet, but the destruction mirrors on the surface of the barrier blocked their paths.
Naturally, the speed of these destruction mirrors weren't possible without support. The vibrating barrier was supporting their movements.
[Kihiiii!]
[Erase and destroy.]
These enraged-for-who-knows-what-reason monsters tried to destroy everything in their path. But that didn't mean that they didn't know of the dangers of the destruction mirrors, it was just that they wished to break whatever that blocked their paths and proceed forwards!
[Kuoooooooh!]
However, disaster struck them. The destruction mirrors sucked their health and mana in the moment of contact, and amplified it before reflecting it back as an energy beam. This time, the scale of this attack was a lot larger than when the fortress was on the ground!
"Go! Kill them all!"
[Wow...…]
Energy beams that resulted from the power focus of the destruction mirrors extend out from the sky to the ground and pierced everything in its path. A hundred such battles were occurring simultaneously so it seemed as if it was raining light from the sky.
It was a spectacular, but rather sad scene.
"How is it, a much better picture than on the ground, no?"
[How beautiful... Though, the results wouldn't be so…]
Muttered Liera. And she was correct indeed.
[Critical Hit!]
[Critical Hit!]
[Kihik!]
[I cannot see in front of me!]
[My eyes, my eyes!]
[Kuaaaak!]
Even the monsters in the hell dungeon he had been to wouldn't come out unscathed after being struck by these beams. There was no way these beginner-level 4th class monsters would be able to be intact after the beams even if they managed to dodge the charge of the flying fortress.
Screaming in pain was the same whether one was human or monster. In this wide stage known as the sky, a symphony of monster screams resounded.
[Kuaaaaaaah!]
[Higuh, Hguoooooooh!]
Blood, flesh and bones scattered everywhere. The lucky ones died instantly, but the unlucky ones had to roll around in pain after having lost the majority of their bodies. Although he'd have an easier time killing them off if this was on the ground, since the fortress was in the air, he couldn't do much about the falling monsters.
Fortunately, Hundred Eyes would stay active until the monster was killed or it ran out of mana, so it did not care about whether the monsters fell to the ground or shot up into the sky and just chased them until they met their end with its beams. To the monsters, this was no different from hell.
Though not as fast the charge of the fortress, an absurd amount of monsters were dying at an absurd rate. This was even more amazing considering that the majority of them were late-stage 3rd class, or beginner stage 4th class.
"Good, even the fastest aerial monsters cannot dodge so I can conclude that this will be useful against all lower existences."
[I think this will work against 5th classes too....?]
"I'm not so sure. It won't be that easy, but perhaps it's possible if they're tied down somehow."
However, it was true that this was at the level of apocalypse right in this place. There weren't a lot of opportunities to fight 5th class, and the growth of the flying fortress had not ended so it was well worth looking forward to.
Yu IlHan had checked enough that the Hundred Eyes were working properly, so he also unfolded Ruin Calling and flew up.
[You're going to move too?]
"The sky is different from the ground. Just the quantity of monsters are different. I should decrease them to save on mana consumption."
Of course, his objective was not only that. It was true that Yu IlHan had indeed made the fortress to take care of Earth alone, but if he left everything to the fortress, then he himself wouldn't have any growth.
If he did not have any growth, his skills would not develop, and his skills did not develop, then it would be impossible to acquire 4th class.
He was gaining so much experience through this massacre, but if he lost the chance for all of that experience to be applied to him, then how frustrating would that be! He had to train his skills against these weak ones before the stronger ones popped out.
"Huiyaaaaaaaah!"
When he leaped beyond the barrier of the flying fortress, the monsters that were being tossed around by Hundred Eyes all looked at him. This guy just left his safe haven! – they thought that this was their opportunity to kill Yu IlHan.
And that, was the worst possible decision they could make.
[It's him!]
[Foolish human giving up his own life!]
[Kill him! We will gain freedom once we kill him!]
They ran towards Yu IlHan faster than high schoolers coming out for physical education class.
Of course, many of them dropped out in the process due to Hundred Eyes, but despite that, their numbers were so overwhelming that even Hundred Eyes couldn't shoot all of them down. Really, it seemed like all of the aerial monsters on Earth were gathering in the sky above Korea.
"Fuu."
Yu IlHan leaped once more to go higher and laughed after seeing various monsters that charged towards him. Their incomprehensible hatred, as well as the strange and fast development of Earth, was all a blessing for him right now.
"Very well. Come on at once! I'll master these skills in a flash!"
[How about the blessing of the goddess of fire?]
"That makes me awkward so don't ask."
[Yes, sir.]
Yu IlHan shut Liera up instantly and gripped onto his Eight-tailed dragon spear. Although he thought about taking out Aegis, he found it too wasteful to use his sidekick…..Aegis, against that level of monsters.
Although others wouldn't believe this even if they saw, Earth was only in the initial stages of the 3rd Great Cataclysm. More drastic changes would arrive soon, and the number of 4th class monsters would increase as well. It would be fine if he took out Aegis at that time. Right now, it was time for him to train the skills with his own body.
"Well then."
He wrapped his body in Eternal Flame and created Blaze on top of it. Finally, he enhanced the mixed flames with Dragonic Blood, which he could use even now when he was far away from Yumir, then which a bright flame brighter than the sun covered his body.
[...Huh?]
Liera, who thought that Yu IlHan was using many flames at once to receive the blessing of the goddess of fire, but voiced her doubt regarding another matter.
[Why can't the monsters find you all of a sudden?]
"Fufu."
Yu IlHan smiled; his body still enwrapped in brilliant flames that even 4th class beings could not look directly upon.
"Being brighter than anyone else, and concealing oneself in front of everyone else. That, can be called the realm of concealment meisters."
[Ah, uh, yeah... okay. So there was such a realm…..?]
Since no monsters couldn't see him directly, his concealment skill automatically activated! The truth was always simple.
Liera thought that Yu IlHan's eyes were glistening unusually, but did not ask about it since she was a kind person.
"I'm going! You're all dead!"
The loner charged in the air while concealed, drawing a trail of bright fire. No monsters could find his figure, and that continued until all the monsters met their deaths in the air.
Truly a sad occurrence.
Author's notes
N/A
After Yumir saved tens of children from the threat of a monster, they followed him, calling him hero.
"I'm going this way."
"Hero!"
"Wait for me, hero!"
These children were born after the 1st Great Cataclysm, so they were at most three or four years old, but they were smarter than their age, and were bigger in size as well.
Not only did they speak well, they understood Yumir's words, and even followed him. Even if it was being baits to draw in monsters with their life on the line! They completely believed in him because Yumir had saved their lives once.
This was a very strange matter, but Yumir was born with the ability to speak, as he was a dragon, so he did not know what was strange with those humans, and just thought that it was convenient because they understood him.
The strange thing about the children wasn't limited to just that. They ate the poisonous and cursed food well, and although it was difficult to find out due to the environment they were in, they were becoming stronger at insane speeds.
And Yumir knew why they were becoming stronger. Party play? No way. To level up through contribution during hunts, the children were too weak. Yumir would be satisfied if they just didn't get in the way. The answer was much simpler than that.
"I level up when I eat meat!"
"I get strange skills too."
"I also level up if I eat dragon meat."
"Dragon! Hero is amazing!"
It wasn't so rare to level up by eating monster meat. At least, among monsters, that is. Growing through eating the meat of one's own kin was very natural.
However, these children were no monsters, nor were the monsters their own kin. Yumir pondered on that for quite awhile, but had to give up.
"Being strong is a good thing."
If mankind knew of this matter, they would get noisy, saying 'Humankind has evolved according to the harsh environments of the Earth', or 'This is proof that humans are becoming monsters!' or whatnot, but right now, they were scattered over many worlds.
As one that only worshipped power presently, Yumir just thought that it was a good thing that they were becoming stronger, so he continued feeding them the monster meat. And to do that, he had to kill the monsters.
And one day.
[You have learned the skill, Rule.]
"Huh?"
Just as he was putting some grilled monster meat into the last girl's mouth, some text appeared on Yumir's retina.
"Huh?"
"Hero?"
When Yumir stopped moving, the child looked at him in confusion. Although this girl was only a crawling newborn when Yumir first saved her, right now, she looked like she was 5 or 6 years old. There were differences in growth rate among the children, and currently, she was growing up the fastest.
"Hm."
Yumir, who read the text that appeared on his retina, remembered that his father, Yu IlHan, possessed the same skill. To Yumir, his father was the symbol of absolute power. He was happy that he became like him, even if it was a little.
"Who wants to be my underling?"
"Me!"
"Me too!"
The child right in front of him raised her hand in a flash. After that, the other children also raised their hands. However, as he had just acquired the skill, he could not take all of them. Yumir first decided to make the strongest 4 his underlings.
Of course, 'strongest' didn't even amount to level 20, but considering that they only ate what Yumir give them while following him (though, they did suffer quite a bit), this was an insane speed of growth.
"If you become stronger I'll make you my underlings."
"Yeah!"
"Exciting!"
The children that became his underlings were excited, and the ones that couldn't resolved themselves to become so in the future. But at that time, Yumir succeeded in finding new presences of humans again.
"Little children again."
"Close? Are they close?"
"Hero, you'll save them, right?"
Yumir looked back at the children he had saved and nodded seriously.
"More underlings are better."
"Let's go, now!"
"Be careful not to get in the way, you'll die if you aren't careful."
Although he could have raised their morale, but he killed their morale instead. However, the children obediently listened to him. They knew plenty of the gap in them and Yumir, as well as the gap between them and the monsters. Really, their thought processes were unbelievable for their age.
[Kguooooooh!]
"Eek!"
It seemed like the ones that felt the children wasn't only Yumir, as he could hear a monster roar in the distance. Their movement speeds were unbelievably fast so if he took any more time staying here, then it was likely that he would be met with a cruel scene.
"This won't do."
Since he had decided to save them, he thought that he couldn't miss them right in front of his eyes, and kicked off the ground and ran. The power of concealment, more natural to him than breathing, hid Mir from the world, and even deceived the laws of physics.
"Hhhhhhhhp!"
[Kihiaaaaaa!]
Another round of roars. The screams of the children was farther away. When Yumir judged that he wasn't too late, he put more power into his steps. The power of wind instantly amplified and pushed him forward!
[Kuhuuuuuu!]
"Hah!"
He had ran for an unknown amount of time, when he saw the back of a monster emitting frost from all over its body.
Yumir accelerated once again with wind without any hesitation. The distance between the monster's head and Yumir was instantly closed, but his concealment had not worn off yet.
"Hhp!"
Just before they collided, Yumir pushed his fist forward. The blood in his body raised the magic in his body and strengthened his fist to be even harder than his bones.
[Critical Hit!]
[Kahak!]
The monster instantly fell over due to that strike. Beyond that, Yumir could see the children of Earth hugging each other and shivering in fear. Unlike the first round of children, they were still in fear after looking at Yumir.
"He, suddenly appeared."
"Scary….."
It seemed like they feared everything they met since they wandered around by themselves for so long. Yumir became a little proud when he heard that he was scary, but since he had not completely defeated the enemy, he decided to thank them later.
Wrapping wind around his body, he concealed himself again. The demon was still rolling on the ground after the critical hit, so did not notice Yumir concealing himself. This, would bring about a more painful result for the demon!
[Critical Hit!]
[Kuhaaaaaak!]
Being surprise attacked, no ice or magic would help. Moreover, it wouldn't be so intact after being hit with a full strike from a dragon just before 4th class!
Now that Yumir had succeeded in his surprise attack, the more-than 50 levels gap between them no longer mattered. At least, that's what Yumir learned from Yu IlHan. Though, to be exact, he learned that all of his own accord despite not having many chance to learn from him at all.
[Kuoooooooh!]
"That hurts no? It will be easy if you give up. I'll make you rest easy soon."
"Hiiik, scary!"
Yumir looked down on the demon with two fatal wounds on its body and laughed. His smile was becoming more like Yu IlHans. The children shivered more after looking at that.
"Scary."
"So scary."
After Yumir cleaned up the monster, the children at that place couldn't even look at him properly, nor could they run away, so they just stood there shivering. Well, this was no surprise and in fact, was the norm since the person in front of them had just killed a frightening monster that was taller than 10m in height. This was fear, and admiration!
"Fufufufu."
Yumir became even more proud after thinking that, and the children who arrived late was in confusion before running towards the new children.
"He's the hero."
"He's our master."
"Hero? Master?"
However, there was no way young children would be able to explain things properly! In the end, the oldest (4 years old) who amazingly realized that this would bring about more confusion, said in a serious voice.
"We just need to listen to him!"
"Listen...."
"To him?"
"Then you can live!"
The children were still confused, but this seemed to be the clearest explanation the had heard. Confusion gradually died down, and their eyes looking at Yumir became lively again.
"I will listen to you."
"Please save me!"
"Okay!"
Yumir accepted them all without the slightest bit of hesitation! Now that the situation was cleared up, Yumir felt better, and took a piece of meat out from the monster for himself to eat, and distributed the rest to the others as he spoke.
"You guys eat too!"
"Yes!"
The children all ate the monster, and became stronger a little. Although this had never happened on Earth until now, nor should it happen, for the children here, none of that mattered.
"It's tasty after a while!"
"I got this level thing!"
"Uu, I was so hungry!"
What Yumir was curious about was how these children managed to survive and not die of starvation until he came to save them, but even the people in question did not seem to know.
'Their bodies are full of mana. They must have absorbed mana to survive.'
Judged Yumir after looking at the state of their bodies. And according to his knowledge, there was only one type of life form that could survive on mana alone.
'So they're monsters and not human after all?'
In fact, none of that would matter to him. What was important to him was to become stronger like his dad, just that alone. The children were no more than stepping stones for him. Of course, he would have to protect them and make them stronger in the process as well. Everything was what his dad once did!
"Well, then. If you ate then let's go. Now, you guys need to do what I say as well, okay?"
"Yes!"
"Un!"
Like that, Yumir's army numbered 78. However, the growth of the army had just started. There was no way only 78 had survived out of all the babies born over three years.
Of course, the overwhelmingly vast majority of them would have died. If they fell next to a monster, they would instantly meet their deaths, and even if they weren't so unlucky, if they did not acquire the power to turn mana into life energy, they died as well.
Only the ones with the most exceptional talent among the children endured until Yumir's rescue.
"Hero!"
"Follow the hero!"
1 year had passed. The army increased to around 5,800 people, and the ones with the fastest growth rate looked to be around 12 years of age. Half of them had reached 2nd class, and the four that became Yumir's subordinates the fastest was harboring around level 70. Such was their insane rate of growth.
And as for Yumir himself.
[There are guys over there too. It's bothersome so some of you get on my back and let's go.] (Yumir)
"I want to get on!"
"I want to get on the hero too!"
He was reborn as a splendid dragon of the 4th class.
Author's notes
Yumir's current situation.
I really think this guy should be the protagonist…
Next up is the 200th chapter! We'll have a small event!
Translator's notes
That 'event' is a character popularity poll…. should I do it? Nah, Yumir best child, Mother best girl.
A clearing on a mountain located in the empire of Palladia. In this place, where human presence was already spread thin, a barrier had been erected to keep people out and a secretive experiment was taking place.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
And round one of the experiment ended in failure.
"Kyaaak!"
"Electric Shield!"
An enormous explosion that happened instead of something else, assaulted two people, but the safety magic quickly activated and protected the two from it.
"Is it a failure this time too?"
"...That seems so."
Irma An Ill'ta, the first imperial princess...no, the person who had become empress since 3 months ago, asked in a nonchalant voice as Kang MiRae, the most trusted consultant of the empress and at the same time, the person who rose to the highest position among the people of Earth, replied while biting her lips.
"Don't you think the connection is completely severed?"
"It is the world I was born in. There's no way it was so easily severed. The connection is definitely there."
"But at least with our abilities, it isn't possible to reconnect it."
"..."
The experiment they were carrying out was none other than attempting to connect two worlds. In the past, anyone else would have snorted at the thought of it, but it was something that happened naturally until just a while ago on Earth.
"....Despite that."
Kang MiRae felt a little down after hearing Irma's words, but came to herself and replied.
"I can only continue working hard until it succeeds. Whether it is for the people here in Lanpas that want to go back to Earth, or for those people trapped in other worlds too."
"Why don't you just honestly say you want to see Mr. Yu IlHan?"
"Yes, I want to see him."
Kang MiRae's honestly put Irma at a loss for words. However, Kang MiRae only blushed a little, but did not have much of a change in her expression even as she continued speaking."
"I wanted to see him 365 days a year, so I cannot say I do not want to see him. It wasn't this bad even when I was separated with YuNa for 10 years."
"Uh, hey.... sorry. I mentioned it since you didn't look like you acknowledged that... fuu, how quickly times change."
"It's fine."
Kang MiRae giggled seeing Irma An Ill'ta's red face. Only she would be able to make the empress of an empire panic so much.
"The related skills are rising rapidly, so I believe that I'll be able to achieve results soon."
"…..Yes. I also wish for Earth to be reconnected to Lanpas, and other worlds too. I want to participate in your wedding after all."
"Wedding, you say..."
Kang MiRae seemed embarrassed after saying that word out loud, but still tapped her cheeks to come back to her usual self.
"There are many competent people around that person. Even if everything goes well, I cannot be assured."
"So MiRae, you are so militant about everything."
"Then I'll take my leave first. I should do the next experiment after I see some results in other things first."
Kang MiRae checked up on the barrier magic around the area, and picked up her luggage. Everything was battle-oriented in some way or another.
Ever since she was 'trapped' in Lanpas, she had been going around dungeons and magic ruins that were still considered the mysteries of this world in order to research a way to go back to Earth, and on the side, to raise her own abilities.
These dungeons were left uncleared for countless years, so their difficulty was unimaginable. However, Kang MiRae was the biggest genius Earth had given birth to (P/R ???!! Ilhan?). On top of her vicious attitude and the support from the imperial family, three whole ruins were newly excavated and conquered within just one year.
"You are going to go right away? Even though the ruins have just been excavated?"
The empress spoke while looking at her with worried eyes.
"Why don't you rest for a day? Magic ruins are not simple things, you may lose your life due to a moment of carelessness."
"I do feel quite threatened since its coming from the person who almost blew up an entire empire for a single ruin."
"That again, sheesh."
Thinking back to the incident that occurred in the ruins where the very essence of magic engineering was located, the two exchanged small smiles. At that time, it was no different from a disaster, but now, they were just good memories. The power of time was frightening.
"So it's been a year already..."
"It's 'only' been a year ....I do not plan to leave that as memories, nor do I intend to give up."
"And I thought you just regained your leisure, but whipping yourself again?"
"Then I'll take my leave."
With those words, Kang MiRae turned around. Unlike her lively voice, her feeble shoulders looked very shaky and made the empress sigh while looking at her back.
"Please don't die."
"I do not plan to. I still have people I need to meet."
Her own brother Kang HaJin, who made her able to breathe in the stuck up world of the higher society, and strict education. Her friend Na YuNa, who had been with her for her entire life whether it was in a good way or a bad way. And also...
'If it's that person, wouldn't he have achieved 4th class already? Isn't he hurt somewhere?.... Perhaps he gained another woman?'
Once she thought about Yu IlHan, there was no end. Even though she couldn't do anything even if she did so. She only took herself for a fool since even she couldn't stop it even if she knew about it.
Kang MiRae shook off the minor thoughts with a shake of her head, and walked forward, leaving the empress behind. Irma An Ill'ta made a bitter smile and left the scene of the failed experiment.
Meanwhile, two of the people that Kang MiRae thought of were currently…
"Ask for the maiden's hand in marriage?"
"Lady maiden has also completely become a citizen of our world. His Majesty the emperor does not wish to delay this any further. For the future of the two empires..."
"I hate that old fatty~!"
"O, old fatty!?"
…in a very difficult situation.
"How dare you insult the emperor of the great empire, His majesty Li Catriana!"
"Bleeeh to you!"
"Lady maiden!"
"Chase that fatty out too~! If you don't, I will. With Lady Leytna's holy power!"
"Uwaaaaaaaah!"
Na YuNa instantly rejected the envoy from the self-proclaimed empire of Li Catriana, that held power rivalling that of the holy empire of Elforce. And this was no small matter either, this person had brought news pertaining to marriage and the emperor who was in charge of half the continent!
Although they had momentarily made the envoy step back for now, the priests that supported her all grabbed onto her skirt and kneeled down with pale faces.
"Lady maiden, the opponent is an emperor!"
"They do not fear the power of Lady Leytna. What are you planning to do?"
"I'm not afraid of such a fatso either!"
Unlike her usual leisurely self, she was really enraged, and the priests retreated due to her forceful attitude, when she spoke in resolve.
"They'll wage war on us soon so get ready~."
"War!?"
The people shouted in shock, but Na YuNa calmly nodded.
"They were already all over the place, trying to come up with ways to swallow Elforce. If that guy married me, things would become easier, and if I reject, that guy would use that as an excuse to invade~."
"Don't you think he just fell for you...?"
"That doesn't even need to be considered. Whether it was me then Elforce, or Elforce then me, he wouldn't have cared."
Na YuNa's confidence was piercing the skies as always today.
"We were going to fight them anyway so get prepared. Perhaps they already have an army prepared so please evacuate the civilians first, and let's talk about the rest after I talk about this to Her Holiness.
When Na YuNa stood up from the seat, Kang HaJin, her guardian knight also followed her up. The priests could only see them out absentmindedly. However, that was just for a moment, and they started talking to each other with sighs.
"I guess it can't be helped."
"We need to follow the lady's orders. Moreover, I also didn't like that emperor so much."
"I also wanted to see the scene of Lady maiden kicking that pig's ass. We'll wage the most beautiful war under the name of the goddess Leytna.
"Well, then. Let's start a war."
Since the maiden had decided, their intentions did not matter and this war was inevitable. If so, they could only accept their fate and start a war. Na YuNa's current authority over Elforce was just that much.
Like that, the war between the two strongest countries of Breya, was set in stone.
"YuNa, will it be alright?"
Meanwhile, Kang HaJin asked Na YuNa in a worried voice as she walked in the hallway with her high heels clicking on the ground.
"I'm not alright."
"...."
However, Kang HaJin panicked since he didn't think that he would get an answer like that, when Na YuNa vented her frustration on the ground.
"That shameless fatso. It makes me angry just thinking about it."
"There were a lot of men who tried to approach you that way in the past too. Moreover, this was the emperor of another country we're talking about. Couldn't you have declined more nicely?"
"But they're preparing for war anyway. Unless I accept the marriage, we would have to fight anyway so there is no need to 'politely decline'. "
True, there was no need to do that. However even in the situation where she didn't need to do all that, Na YuNa put on a mask. Perhaps it was a sort of a self-defense mechanism to not show her inner self, but that made a lot of other people misunderstand.
"Well, if we did as you said, we might have delayed the war."
"You know it too."
And so, she didn't do that.
"However, to do that, I would have had to meet that fatso at least once, and that guy may have schemed something. In the first place, I'm a woman with an owner. there's no way I'd give room for any other men."
"....You changed a lot too thanks to Sir IlHan."
"But Mr. IlHan doesn't like lies."
"Really, a sinful guy."
"You said it. He left me here for such a long time."
Na YuNa nodded at Kang HaJin's words. Then, she giggled after looking at Kang HaJin.
"Are you jealous~?"
"Nah. I'm relieved that you finally found a proper partner... though, it does pain me that you chose Sir IlHan out of all people out there."
Well, Yu IlHan was a capable man alright. However, his sister, who looked like she'd have nothing to do with love for her entire life and her friend had been smitten by him. Even though he didn't believe in fate until now, he had no choice but to do so now.
However, as if she knew everything he was thinking, Na YuNa laughed at him.
"MiRae won't be able to seduce him anyway~. But before that, what are you worried about when both our families seem like they're up in the air?"
"Before I'm a member of my family, I only wish for my sister to do well with the person she likes, as her brother."
"Even if you say that, I won't give him to her~."
Na YuNa stopped there and sighed.
"Giving him or whatnot. We can only talk about that when he is here."
"And you did something when he was with you? I heard you were together until the 3rd Great Cataclysm..."
"Fuu."
After a small sigh, she kicked Kang HaJin's shin with her heels. Her strike enhanced with holy power that became stronger by the day, contained the power to make a paladin kneel.
"Kergh!"."
"I'll go meet Her Holiness so wait here~! Think about what you did wrong!"
"She did, something alright….. Kergh!"
***
Meanwhile, the man who was left alone on Earth while countless other people were fighting their battles in countless different worlds, was…
[Kuaaaaaaaaah!]
[Kihiiiiiiiih!]
[Kuho, Humaaaaaaaaaaaaan!]
[What are doing by making dungeons explode in succession like that! Kyaaak, Overflow, it's an Overflow!}
"Overflow! Great, prepare to fire!"
[Kyaaaaak!]
…not stopping at weeding out the very roots of the monsters on Earth even after one year, and was currently occupied with making dungeons explode.
Author's notes
This is the 200th chapter. Although there is still a long path left, the number 200 makes me proud for some reason. Thanks for being with me until now, and please take care of me in the future.
This chapter is quite similar to the last one. I've shown you the figures of Kang MiRae and Na YuNa, who are second most important people after the main character, in a single chapter. Even though I know that many of you want to see IlHan and is disappointed, I can't afford to leave this out... so I'll promise. Next chapter will be about IlHan alone.
I talked about an event. It's nothing complex. I'll have a popularity poll to celebrate chapter 200. Please write just ONE 'favorite character' on the comments. I'll be thankful if you write the reason, but it will be fine if you don't mention that.
(Stuff about voting rules and time)
(Stuff about announcing results)
When Yu IlHan cleaned the first round of aerial monsters of Earth using the flying fortress, Earth had finally found a glimpse of the clear sky without a speck of monsters after the Great Cataclysm. This happened merely 4 days after the flying fortress took to the air.
"Though, from the look of things, it would go back to usual after one week at most."
[Let's not talk about something so power-draining when you just achieved something incredible.]
"Why? It's much better for monsters to be re-supplied periodically rather than having them disappear all of a sudden."
[I get that killing monsters is same as grilling meat to you…]
Of course, as the flying fortress was treated as Yu IlHan's equipment, if he didn't want to meet monsters, he should just put concealment on it and fly around the sky, but he did not do that. There was the flying fortress and there were monsters. What reason was there to hesitate?
"Then let's go over to another country. Let's start from Japan, which is the closest, and do a trip around the world."
[That's nostalgic. Last time, we went to China first.]
"There were limitations in the means of transport back then, but now-"
[Ah, I get it. I get it so you don't have to explain the A to Z on the flying fortress.]
Just as Yu IlHan was about to lecture Liera about his masterpiece for 3 hours straight, she stopped him. So, Yu IlHan skipped the basic explanation and went onto explaining about the specific details of the plan.
"Then after I am sure that I've cleaned up all the countries, then I'll start cleaning up the seas. After cleaning up the whole Earth like that….."
[You're going to start training alone?]
"Training can be done by hunting monsters. At that time, aerial monsters will start spawning again. And after I clean them up, quite a lot of monsters would have appeared on the ground….."
[...]
Liera thought hard after hearing that. Perhaps Yu IlHan's words to replace the 7 billion humanity was no joke but a conclusion after meticulous calculation!
And his plan really did go successfully.
The flying fortress was designed to counteract against any type of situation, so even if the monsters spawning on Earth were freaks that are born 4th class, the flying fortress played around with hundreds of them simultaneously.
[You have...]
[You have...]
[You have...]
Wherever the flying fortress went, Yu IlHan ruled. Whether it was the skies, lands, or seas, nothing could stop his advance.
The Hundred Eyes recharged their energy using the mana from the monsters they killed, and those that could endure even that was done away with Yu IlHan's surprise attack. Yu IlHan didn't like this so much.
"They're too weak compared to the ones in hell dungeon."
[So you're already used to the horrible nature of those things…..]
"Hm, I wonder if there won't be any natural-born 5th classes?"
[I said that you need to be in a faction to become a higher existence. You really don't listen.]
Of course, Liera thought that it was very probable for a natural birth of a 5th class to happen if it was Earth, but didn't say that out loud. She was afraid of her thoughts being found out by him.
And while she was not saying anything, Yu IlHan had ended up coming up with a horrifying plan.
"This won't do. I think I need to reduce the output of Hundred Eyes to train my skills."
[Turn it off!? Are you crazy?]
"Not completely. To reduce the consumption of mana, I have a power-saving mode that utilizes only 20 of them and block only the most fatal attacks."
[Power saving mode!? ... Well, yeah. It can be charged and even has a vibration mode. There's no way it does not have a power-saving mode. Urrgh…..]
Liera was at the realm of emptiness that had given up everything. Even if she wasn't an angel, perhaps another path for her would have opened for her as a higher existence.
[Kuhaaaaaaah!]
[The mana disappeared! The damn mirrors are gone!]
[Everyone charge! Let's rip apart the hated human and dry his corpse out!]
When the movements of Hundred Eyes became a little dull, the monsters all charged forward as if they had waited for that moment. No matter how smart monsters were, they were still monsters! The other weapons installed around the fortress finally gained their turn, and Yu IlHan could also train his skills to his heart's content while rampaging around.
"Give me thought-souls!"
[Kyaoooooh!]
The skill he had to master to become 4th class were: Deathgod, Blaze, Soul enchant, Death collector, Transcendent regeneration, Extreme poison resistance, and Higher curse resistance; a total of 7.
Adding the blessing of the goddess of fire, he would be able to finally advance to Hell Bringer, but that wasn't something he could do anything about, so leaving that aside, he decided to master what he had first. Of course, the target of training was Earth itself. It was a larger scale than anyone could try!
However, it wasn't only Yu IlHan that tried his best.
[Give me more thought-souls. To defeat those damned freak demons inside master's consciousness, I need to become stronger!]
"Yes, yes. Eat all of them! If you achieved 177 losses out of 177 battles today, it's your victory if you gain even one victory tomorrow, Orochi!"
[Ugh, how the hell do you know how many times I've lost!]
Of the characteristics of Yu IlHan's class, Soul enchant and Death collector, which belonged to the Deathgod skills were harder to level up than most others, but with his loyal thought-soul Orochi, it was not that hard.
Death collector grew the more he acquired thought-souls and raised them, and Soul enchant gave him experience whenever he forced a strong thought-soul to submit and enchanted it.
Seeing Orochi trying its best without even him needing to urge him, these two skills looked like they would be mastered soon without having to worry too much about them.
There were no problems with the Deathgod skill, an advanced version of Concealment, or the Blaze skill, which emphasized his trait as a Blazing Reaper, as they would grow if he used them a lot.
Although skill levels became harder to increase through training the more it rose, the enemies he was facing off against were 4th class, they were all 1 class above him! There was no way his skill proficiencies would not rise when facing against such enemies.
Of course, compared to the freak demons in the hell dungeon, the level of monsters on Earth were on a much lower level. However, the monsters of Earth propagated at speeds that rivalled cockroaches so they could cover that gap with numbers.
Transcendent regeneration? That was the easiest to level up. Ever since Earth came to this state, there came monsters that had even more monstrous regenerative capabilities than trolls, and Yu IlHan could resupply his rest energy by making new-bloodrink from their blood.
Now that he was at a situation where he could use that skill infinitely, the only thing left was getting hurt in order to recover, and this could easily be countered by using the master-level Superhuman strength.
"Hhp, Hhhhhhhp."
Seeing Yu IlHan actually carrying out such an absurd plan, Liera muttered in shock.
[Would there be anyone who would use Superhuman strength in order to get hurt? Oh, wait. There are no humans with such a skillset in the first place.]
"Hhp!"
To mention it again, the skill Superhuman Strength was originally not something a human could learn! This was a skill that the angels could acquire after scraping out the records of the monsters absorbed into Yu IlHan's body, as Yu IlHan's records, achievement and actions on Earth were too amazing.
It was insane that he had mastered such a skill, but Yu IlHan was utilizing the maximum capabilities of the skill to destroy not only his bones but his internal organs as well, only to regenerate them instantly with the Transcendent regeneration skill. He was undergoing such an insane training method!
"Hhp... But even so, it's good since my abilities are increasing real time. Whew, I can swing around tens of thousands of tons!"
[You might blow the mansion away! ....And doesn't it hurt?]
"It hurts like hell. Do you have to ask?"
Said Yu IlHan seriously. Well, even in Liera's eyes he looked to be in pain. Yu IlHan wouldn't usually sweat much, but right now, he was sweating blood all over his body.
Moreover, when she listened closely there were faint crunching sounds amidst of the roars of the monsters and Yu IlHan's own shouts. Liera shivered just thinking about the source of that sound.
[...And you're enduring that? Experiencing muscles being torn and bones breaking at every single moment?]
"If I don't feel pain here, then I'll feel even more pain later so I need to endure. Physical pain that does not lead to death can be endured, it is nothing compared to psychological pain."
[Sheesh, that's why I'm saying you're not human. Although, I like you because of that!]
"I also like myself because of that! Hhp!"
The pain of loneliness, the pain of being unable to protect, the pain of having to let go despite the scene right in front of his eyes. Yu IlHan shall not face such pains again. And to do that, he needed to suffer pain right now.
Of course, the fruits of such intense labour were sweet. With his muscles enhanced beyond the extreme all the time, he was now able to do things that ordinary lower existences wouldn't even dare trying!
"Huaaaaaaap!"
[...Little Giant should have been quite a sight to look at.]
Muttered Liera while looking at Yu IlHan swinging the hammer. Well, that was no wonder, since this 'hammer' was a city-destroyer-grade that had a 20m diameter head, and a 30m long handle. It was destroying all the monsters at the front through sheer muscular power alone.
Of course, nothing remained in the aftermath of the hammer.
"I'm done cleaning!"
[This is not a house we're talking about!]
"Damned things. They're coming at me like middle schoolers to the cafeteria at lunch."
[So IlHan also had such a cute time?]
"Of course, I was reading a book in the classroom while no one was there. Thinking about how a girl tried to sit on top of me thinking that I really wasn't there, is quite a good memory if I think about it now."
[....]
Seeing monsters flood into the blank area he had just created, Yu IlHan gripped on the handle of the hammer and started spinning it around by inserting enormous amount of strength into his arms. With the spinning of the hammer becoming faster, with him as the axis, the monsters were ripped apart just from the wave alone!
[Kihi!?]
[Kuaaaaaaak!]
He was using the floating Aegis as the foothold to spin endlessly! With Blaze added on top of that, a storm of fire appeared in the region. Whether they jumped into the fire, or get hit by the spinning hammer, they would be able to see hell.
What was scary was the Aegis was was moving the storm of fire according to his will!
"Let's go, Hell Tornado!"
[Crap name!]
The hammer he was swinging around right now was none other than the Thunderhammer. After he had mastered the Superhuman strength skill, he switched out the materials to increase the weight and size by 10 times in order to use his increased strength! Of course, the hammer was reborn as an epic-rank weapon.
[The skill, Deathgod...]
[The skill, Blaze….]
[The skill, Transcendent regeneration...]
The more Yu IlHan rampaged on the stage known as the flying fortress, the more he realized the limits of the abilities and values of his skills and utilized them, the faster his skills rose in level. Accordingly, the master-realm of many skills that he estimated would take several years to master, were nearing mastery as of this moment.
However, not all of his skill training was smooth.
[You have earned 3,124,335,618 experience.]
[You have earned the record of Lv 233 Wicked Kraken.]
"God dammit."
Yu IlHan just killed an enormous kraken of over 300m in height, and erased all the kraken-ink that covered its body using Blaze, following which he cussed.
"This guy's poison is too weak too."
[The curse was at a pitiful level too. Strangely, monsters around here have weaker poison and curses compared to their power levels. It's as if they were all sucked into somewhere.]
"So it's that guy."
Muttered Yu IlHan in resentment. In fact, Yu IlHan also knew without having Liera tell him about it.
There was no need to discuss this. The dungeon he was trapped in the past for 2 years! The master of that place had put all the poisonous and curseful monsters in there. Definitely.
"Did you really have to take everything?"
[Though, that guy wouldn't have done that to tease you either.]
"I don't care about the truth! What's important is that this is the fault of that bastard son of a bitch.'
[Yup, I knew you'd say that.]
While Liera was sighing, Yu IlHan abruptly raised his head, his eyes glistening.
"Now that it came to this, I can only use the final method."
[....That sounds VERY ominous.]
Muttered Liera. However, Yu IlHan ignored her and unfolded Ruin Calling to leap out of the water. The place he was heading to was none other than the flying fortress. His answer lay there.
His battle had just begun.
Author's notes
It somehow looks like IlHan is on holiday.
We're in the middle of a popularity poll. If you have not voted. (blah blah blah)
Translator's notes
Hey people!
We're onto the 201st chapter already! Yay!
[IlHan, what are you doing right now?]
Liera asked in a kind voice. Yu IlHan replied in a bright voice, while pouring a sticky black liquid in the Giant Bucket.
"I'm filling my bath!"
[I know that you're using the Giant Bucket to replace your baths nowadays. And it definitely does feel good, and it does feel like the internal mana is stimulated…..]
"So you know!"
Yu IlHan made a blinding smile. Meeting someone that liked the same thing as you was a happy thing. Yu IlHan was no exception, and he felt happy. He was also happy that he could give a nice bath to Liera. Of course, he wished she'd refrain from coming in together, completely nude.
[Hih...]
Yu IlHan's smile was a heart-thumping attack for Liera who liked him. Liera momentarily forgot what she was about to say and stared at him, before coming back to herself and raising her voice.
[B, but why are you filling the bath with the blood of the perverted vibration demon!]
"To be exact, it's mixed with dragon blood at a 3:7 ratio, and had undergone simple mana crafting with 4th class magic stone powder."
[Same thing! No, wait, when he hell did you learn to mana craft on blood? The poison and curse would be enhanced!]
Yu IlHan sighed and replied.
"That's what I wanted."
[You might really be in danger at this rate…..?]
"I can't help it though, there are no monsters that have potent poison and curses left!"
[And so you 'can't help' but bathe in curse and poison!? Are you crazy!?]
"It's fine. I already did the calculations."
The Giant Bucket reacts sensitively to dragon materials. That was why he mixed dragon blood with the vibration demon's blood. And in reality, the blood and the Giant Bucket was resonating, so at this rate, the poison would disappear sometime and give birth to a completely new material.
The reason he mana crafted was also to make the poison and curse last longer without dissipating. To him who was absorbing the majority of the magic engineering knowledge, this bloodbath was finished under his meticulous calculations.
Yu IlHan was sure that there would be no problems. If there were any, it would be the pain due to the curse and the poison, but this was something he had to endure in order to train skills, so that didn't matter.
[Wouldn't your skin turn green or something?]
"Enough of your worries."
Yu IlHan ignored Liera's worries and took off all his clothes. This time, Liera didn't mention anything about bathing together and just watched him.
"Good."
Before he took a bath, he checked the defense system of the fortress and renewed the settings to endure even if a higher existence attacked. Then he entered the blood bath without hesitation.
"Wao."
[You alright? Are you ok!?]
Liera asked the moment he exclaimed as he entered. Yu IlHan wordlessly shook his head and submerged his body in it.
"Hhm, hmmmmmmmmm."
[Are you really fine? Really?]
Yu IlHan honestly spoke his opinion.
"I feel like I'm melting."
[Like, literally and not just feeling!? That means you are not fine!]
"I don't think I'll need to train Transcendent regeneration anymore."
[That's completely serious! Get out right now!]
However, Yu IlHan shook off Liera who was pulling on him and buried himself deeper inside the bucket. Receiving serious damage meant that it was also a suitable environment to raise his resistance to higher curse and extreme poison.
And in reality too, the moment Yu IlHan stepped into the bath, the two skills were stimulated and he could feel it grow very slowly, but surely, into a higher dimension. Of course, that wouldn't lead to a skill level up immediately, but he estimated that he would be able to master these two skills in this bath.
"And Transcendent regeneration grows to boot."
[Uu, that seems painful.]
The liquid glowed on its own in resonance with the Giant Bucket and assaulted Yu IlHan. Thanks to the dragon blood in Yu IlHan's body that reacted to it, his body absorbed all of the poison without much resistance, and the effects were amplified.
However, he recovered all the injuries by transcendent regeneration, ignoring all pain and stimulus. His naturally-generated rest energy couldn't keep up, and he had to hold a Breath cheerpack on his mouth from some time.
"Wine is best consumed while in a bath."
[Is it a private romance to drink Breath instead of bloodrink in the bath?]
"No, I thought there might be some synergy since Breath is made of dragon blood."
[I knew it! Aaah, even your body started glowing faintly!]
Yu IlHan didn't hesitate to use his body to experiment!
Liera screamed, seeing the bloody water and Yu IlHan glow in the same light, but Yu IlHan himself was very calm. If he felt like a salmon going upstream, right now, he felt like a smooth-sailing boat.
'But that doesn't mean that Extreme poison resistance and Higher curse resistance is not rising. This feels strange.'
The pain of his body feeling like it was melting was also temporary. Yu IlHan soon felt like he was floating along with the feeling like he was completely free.
An unknown amount of time passed, when a new change occurred. It was a change that Yu IlHan didn't expect at all, much less watch for.
'This, is quite…..'
Giant Bucket, created with the hearts of dragons, bathwater made of dragon blood and demonic blood, the Breath he was drinking, and finally the dragon blood within his body.
While all those elements were interacting with each other inside Yu IlHan, he could feel a small aura that he did not notice until now, peeking its head out.
'What could this be? An aura that appeared from my contract with Mir?'
The pain due to poison and curse no longer mattered. Yu IlHan closed his eyes and focused on chasing that small power that arose in the small area.
Yu IlHan had found that power only at this level. Right now, he couldn't even follow its shadows, but the resonance of the energy inside the Giant Bucket was helping him. The more the resonance intensified, the more his body glowed.
[IlHan, IlHan?]
"I'm here."
[It makes me worried if you close your eyes so suddenly.]
"...It's fine. It looks like it's successful."
It was a completely different feeling than when he used the Giant Bucket as a simple bath. What word could best describe this? Awakening? No, to say that, there was a too long path ahead. He instinctively felt that this wasn't a power that a mere 4th class could acquire.
"Then a higher existence?"
[I said that's not an easy matter.]
"Yup, I felt it now too."
[Huh?]
Liera tilted her head at the incomprehensible words, but Yu IlHan did not answer her. He only tried to raise the resonance further by drinking another sip of Breath.
[IlHan, your training for Extreme poison resistance and Higher curse resistance is going well, right?]
"Yeah, although that's just the side effects."
[Side effects? Then what's your objective for going in there!? You aren't turning into something like the perverted demon, right? Right? Please tell me!]
While Liera misunderstood more, Yu IlHan only buried his body in the bucket. He thought that he may have to bathe in this blood even if he finished training the two skills, and smiled at the thought. Liera shouted while watching.
[What is that suspicious smile? I'll cry if you turn strange!]
"Please take care of me when I turn into a slime."
[You're so bad!]
And one year passed from then on.
Yu IlHan trained all sorts of skills during that time, killed the monsters on Earth with the flying fortress, bathed his body in blood full of poison and curse, and blew away all the monsters that grew like bamboo after a rain with his beams.
Since he killed all the monsters that walked around on Earth without even sleeping, it would be strange if his skills didn't rise. Extreme poison resistance, Higher curse resistance, and Transcendent regeneration was mastered long ago, and the other skills, such as Deathgod, were asymptotically nearing mastery as well.
The problem was, as he had expected, the blessing of the goddess of fire. He blew away monsters flashily using Blaze whenever he fought, but it didn't seem like the blessing would come anytime soon.
To Yu IlHan, who didn't know the specific requirements to receive the blessing, he could just use his flames in the most various ways possible, and indeed, he tried all sorts of artifacts and traps and covered them with Eternal Flame using his full knowledge of his magic engineering, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't see the slightest signs of the criterion fulfilling. Really, a frustrating matter.
"What happened when I received the blessing of the god of smithing?"
[Sorry, I don't know either.]
"Yup, I don't know either."
Do recorded gods really not exist? Perhaps they just give blessings to those they take interest in, without any particular conditions at all?
As Yu IlHan had confidence to come last if there was a competition of gaining interests from other people, if that statement was true, he was planning to give up on 4th class and find a new path.
[I think the firepower of the flames had already gone beyond the extreme. What's the problem?]
There was Blaze, which was at level 99 and was nearing mastery, as well as Eternal Flame and Dragonic blood that could enhance the firepower. If that didn't work, then what else needed to be done?
Yu IlHan even wanted to learn fire magic somehow, even though he had no ties to magic itself, but unfortunately, the one by his side was not Erta but Liera.
Yu IlHan narrowed his eyes at Liera. Although he did only think of her has mental support, she really didn't help out in other areas. At this rate, even Orochi, who was just a thought-soul would be of more help than her.
But Liera noticed his gaze and pouted.
[What do those eyes mean? You were thinking of something rude, weren't you?]
"No, I was thinking that you were very pretty."
[Really?]
Liera's expression brightened. Yu IlHan felt like he would be purified facing her flawless smile, so he hurriedly turned his gaze away to the lands below the flying fortress. It wasn't just to avoid her gaze, but to find monsters as well.
The blessing of the goddess of fire was a grand objective, and monster hunting was everyday life. If he tried doing whatever he had to do, then he would arrive at the objective some day. Yu IlHan believed in that, and always acted in accordance to that. Now was no different.
[Eheheh.]
"Yes, yes."
Handling Liera that clung to him, Yu IlHan looked below when he noticed something.
"The speed is decreasing."
[What speed?]
"The speed at which monsters appear."
[Isn't that a good thing? You get less pressure.]
"It's not. I still have plenty of skills to raise."
Liera sighed lightly after hearing his words. Well, what could she do when Yu IlHan was running a marathon at sprinting speeds? She only watched over him from the side.
[I don't think anything bad will come out of slowing down... *Sigh*. So, what are you going to do?]
"There are dungeons. Although I didn't touch them until now because I was busy clearing out the monsters outside, the ones that lived for one year inside dungeons wouldn't be so easy."
[And so, you are entering them? What about the flying fortress then?]
"It would be bad if I can't use something I made, so…."
[So?]
At this point, Liera should have noticed. That Yu IlHan was going to do something she had not expected, yet again.
Yu IlHan spoke.
"Liera, have you ever heard of the word 'backdoor'?"
Author's notes
Although this would be explained next chapter, backdoors usually refer to snippets of code for the program developer to access the program more easily. There is no need for user identification, so it's great for all sorts of intrusion on privacy as well as criminal uses. Even nowadays, there are suspicious that some operating systems or programs may have backdoors.
Liera titled her head. Yu IlHan momentarily couldn't breathe after looking at her beautiful face, but as always, he hypnotized himself to think that 'Liera is a sister-like being' and continued speaking.
"Backdoors refer to program codes that the developer put in in order to access an operating system or an application more easily. Let's say that there's a backdoor on my computer. Although I would usually have to input a password in order to access my account, the developer can access my account without any identification, and even remotely too. It literally is a 'back door'."
[That's a thing bad guys use!]
"You're right. Although it's not really made for evil purposes, the concept is like that."
[...But why does that word come up here?]
"Well, then. Think about why I would have mentioned such a word at this time."
Liera colored in doubt. Yu IlHan gave her a little time for her to realize it herself, and his expectations were not betrayed as her face colored in shock.
[You, don't tell me...!]
"It's exactly that."
[You scammer!]
"It's quite satisfying to hear that from the original scammer."
What was there to hide? Yes. During the 2nd Great Cataclysm, Yu IlHan had tinkered with all the Traps of Destructions that were to be scattered on Earth!
However, what was more amazing was not that he tinkered with them, but the fact that none of the higher existences realized that.
Liera only found it absurd that she and the other angels were completely fooled by him, but Yu IlHan only proudly explained, without knowing what she felt.
"I put a little more effort since I don't know when and where something weird would happen. You guys didn't know when I mixed dragon tongue and ancient elven language."
[That's no different from the methods that the fallen angels used!]
"But here's a situation where I'd need it, no?"
[Eeeek.]
Liera had a lot to say, but she couldn't say anything.
He was right. Earth, in the end, had fallen into a situation the Heaven's Army could not predict, and if Yu IlHan had installed backdoors or whatever on the Traps of Destructions and if it helped out in this situation, then she could only accept it.
"I need to dig my own hole in order to survive."
[Ugh, why is the Heaven's Army so useless...! However, if they were capable, then IlHan would have a hard time since he wouldn't be able to make backdoors, but wait, if we were capable, then there doesn't need to be such situations in the first place…..]
Yu IlHan left Liera to her endless cycle of bad thoughts, and lowered the altitude of the flying fortress. To use the backdoor, there was a need for him to get closer to the ground.
[Krrk?]
[Kuhooh!]
When the flying fortress showed itself below the cloud level, the monsters that noticed the gigantic shadow all looked up at the fortress.
However, Yu IlHan didn't even care about the wingless monsters. If there was a lot of them, then he would have gone to battle after landing the fortress, but there was too little of them right now! What he was looking for was dungeons that could solve the insufficient monsters problem on Earth right now.
"Oh, there's one there."
Yu IlHan's eyes glistened. Not far from the flying fortress, a vortex specific to dungeons could be seen. Moreover, a minute aura felt from the core regions of the dungeon was proving that that was Yu IlHan's own doing.
[Huh? But IlHan.]
Liera, who escaped the endless cycle, raised her head. She realized that she forgot about the most important thing.
[And so? What is the utility of this backdoor?]
"I couldn't add that many. Well, I can see what kind of monsters are inside in what numbers."
[That's good! Even I don't know the contents of the dungeons on Earth. That's just like navigation! So it's not that much different from what we informed you until now.]
Liera's expression brightened. It looked like she could accept that much. Yu IlHan giggled, thinking about how she was so honest and almost unable to lie.
But what could he do? That was just the foundations required to implement the 'most important utility' of the backdoor.
Yu IlHan added while giggling.
"And a function to make dungeons explode."
[....Huh?]
"I said there is a function to make dungeons explode."
Yu IlHan knew what Liera was feeling like, so he explained in kind. She, stared at him in a daze after hearing that, before shouting with glaring eyes.
[Why did you put such a function in it!]
"Although there's a lot. I could use it as a threat when the people of other countries are trying to threaten the ones close to me."
[That's just terrorism!]
Liera was angry at the fact that Yu IlHan had made a function that could potentially harm civilians. However, he only shrugged his shoulders.
"Even I don't want to harm civilians. It's just a backup method. Carrying it out is a big problem. But you know it as well, don't you? Think about the position that Vanguard holds. If I don't have such a card in my hands, it would have been worrying."
[That's... true.]
Even before the 2nd Great Cataclysm, the value of Vanguard was incomparable to all others. If the ones with authority and power had malicious intents, then they could have extended their hands to his friends and family, even if they couldn't do that to himself.
And in truth, no big problems occurred thanks to the cooperation with Kang MiRae going smoothly, but Yu IlHan couldn't be criticized for making backdoors just in case. Liera knew that, so she could only sigh.
"And also."
Just as when Liera accepted the situation a little, Yu IlHan added.
"If I use this, I can fight against a large amount of monsters at once. It's also advantageous for me to bring them out here instead of me going in."
[Sheesh, your scale is too big to be measured using a scale at all.]
Of course, Yu IlHan wasn't going to mention anything about the backdoor at all if he didn't need to. If it came to the worst, he was going to take the role to clean all the dungeons while going around the world.
However, the people of Earth endured the 2nd Great Cataclysm even without him interfering. No, with the gates to other worlds opening, all of the situation developed at a speed beyond his imaginations, and stabilized as well.
Even he himself, who had prepared everything in advance, was busily working in another place, so there was no need to use such a thing. However, just as everything seemed to reach the end, the 3rd Great Cataclysm occurred and flipped everything over. Although, just speaking of the result, it was a good outcome for him.
[And so? What are you going to do now?]
"Make dungeons explode, of course."
[So you mean to say, since there are too few monsters on the land, you want to supplement them using the monsters inside the dungeon?]
"Exactly."
Yu IlHan's willpower was like steel. He was no newborn baby and knew of the dangers of making dungeons explode. Liera gave up trying to persuade him.
[Gosh, I don't care anymore. Do whatever you want.]
"In fact, you don't have to tell me, I was already going to do it!"
The moment the flying fortress skipped past above a dungeon gate, Yu IlHan called out a small artifact he made using a 2nd class magic stone, and dropped it on top of the gate.
The magic stone dropped rapidly and landed on the gate, and without exaggeration, the gate exploded with a 'boom' in the very next moment!
[Kihaaaaa!]
[Freedom! I'm free!]
[Kill humans! Let's earn records!]
[Kill, kill!]
In an instant, a monster army numbering a hundred thousand rushed out into the region. As this was a dungeon that was maintained from the 2nd Great Cataclysm, over 70% of them were merely 3nd class, but Yu IlHan did not care. They would grow into 4rd classes soon. The current Earth was just that insane.
Yu IlHan realized something and stopped thinking about the insane growth of the monsters.
"Perhaps the people of Earth may not be able to survive even they came back."
[That's a coincidence. I was also thinking that. But right now, I don't think you are in a position to care about other people.]
"That's true. Let's move a little quicker!"
[That's not what I meant, idiooooot!]
Yu IlHan, who made a dungeon explode quickly drove the flying fortress to make other dungeons explode as well. What was even more of a headache was that the monsters from the dungeons that Yu IlHan had freed also had the power to make other dungeons explode!
[Hey, this is completely a dungeon wave! To think you'd cause an artificial dungeon wave... This is usually a disaster that's at the top of the food chain in terms of disasters for a world!]
"Good, fill the Earth with monsters!"
[You are scary when you act like a villain like that so stop it!]
Liera didn't lack this, but Erta was better at retorts. – Yu IlHan thought about that and licked his lips. He didn't want to show that he missed Erta so he wordlessly sped up the flying fortress.
The world was wide, and there are plenty of dungeons. Yu IlHan's Traps of Destructions had the function to propagate the backdoors to other Traps of Destructions as well, so right now, the only dungeon Yu IlHan couldn't make explode was the hellish dungeon that he had escaped before.
[What about the aerial dungeons or the oceanic dungeons?]
"I need to open all of them too. The fortress is prepared for battle whenever and wherever the battle may be."
[Uaaaah, it's not like the Traps of Destructions are completely destroyed just because a dungeon was opened, but if that happens, an Overflow will happen....!]
"That's exactly what I want!"
The flying fortress was not as fast as Yu IlHan with his Ruin Calling, but the maintainability and the stability of the flight was incredibly high when considering fortress of its magnitude.
On top of it, Yu IlHan was throwing artifacts like he was tossing toys, and whenever the the fortress passed by a dungeon, they were hit by these artifacts and freed tons of monsters as if a chick was being born from an egg.
[It's an Overflow, an Overflow!]
"Oh, there's a dungeon in that airspace there too."
Once he had planned the collapse of the dungeons, Yu IlHan didn't know when to stop. Since many monsters were popping out at once, the monsters that didn't usually fight each other had tense atmospheres, and when the mana current was twisted, the record of monsters were fused with each other to give birth to a freakish new monster. This was none other than the signs of an Overflow.
"Wow, 4th class monsters are being made real-time..."
[Even if you say it like chicks are being born from eggs, it's a horrible sight!]
Yu IlHan smiled in satisfaction, seeing the Earth coloring in chaos like the initial stages of the 3rd Great Cataclysm, before asking Liera who looked like she had given up on everything again.
"How is it, Earth's growth will be accelerated, right?"
[If, and only if, the enormous amount of mana possessed by the monsters return to Earth and form a cycle.]
"Aha, that's my field of specialty right there."
He replied confidently and extended his hand to grab the Eight-tailed dragon spear. When Yu IlHan swung it like a conductor would in an orchestra, Hundred Eyes, which had been on standby mode all started activating.
A hundred destruction mirrors that rose up into the air one after the other. And a frightening amount of mana gathered around them – The weapon that would call an equal fear and despair to all, aimed at the ground.
[Kiiiii?]
[It's still bright, but I see the moon.]
[There are a lot of moons. They're shining brightly.]
[There's a human up there. We need to kill!]
Yu IlHan had destroyed so many dungeons in that short time, that the number of monsters bearing drawn to the flying fortress and gathering in the area easily numbered over a million! There were quite a few 4th class beings that were just born as well, which made Yu IlHan smile.
"Well, then."
He raised the Eight-tailed dragon spear on his hand and swung it while shouting.
"Fire!"
Rays of light numbering one hundred connected the sky and the ground in straight lines. The unlucky monsters in their paths were all burnt to black ash.
The monsters roared at the unpredicted and sudden disaster, but the retribution of light continued until all the monsters in the region died, and until all the monsters beyond the region died.
It took a mere 3 months from the time all the dungeons on Earth were freed, to the time they were all decimated by Yu IlHan.
Author's notes
With this, the timeline is equal. Of course, the chapter will still go on.