Unfortunately, he was unable to acquire a thought-soul from the 5th-class werewolf. Mastering Death Collector didn't mean he could acquire the thought-soul of every existence he killed, so it wasn't particularly surprising.
Just that its remains were in much better shape compared to Mystic's.
"Wow, I gave it my blood and the hole in its heart is closing."
[Blood that can regenerate others' corpses? Master really isn't human, are you?] (Mystic)
[It won't come back to life and attack us or something, right...?]
Ignoring Mystic and Liera's retorts, Yu IlHan focused on restoring the remains to a perfect state. Just piecing the cross-sections together and dripping Yu IlHan's blood, which was full of rest energy, onto the wound before activating Transcendent regeneration did the job!
Although there was his blood to help the recovery, there was also the mana left in the dead body that reacted to his blood and restored the body to its best condition. Seeing that, Yu IlHan found it absurd. Just how much recovery ability did one need to do that? It looked like 'that guy' thought about this a lot after Mystic's vain death.
"It would have been hard if I couldn't kill it with a surprise attack."
[So, what are you going to do with that? Make it a zombie?]
"Something similar."
[What!? Really!?]
"But I can't do it now."
The reason, of course, was that there was no 5th-class magic stone on this thing. Yu IlHan checked on the state of the remains once again before putting it inside his inventory. No matter how active the mana was, it was still a corpse, so he could store it in his inventory.
"This is the start. Mystic, resume working once the repairs are finished."
[Got it.]
"I should take a bath since I sweated a lot."
[Let's go together!]
"Whatever."
However, Yu IlHan was still in his armour when he went inside the Giant Bucket. Liera pouted at that, but he pretended not to see her. This was a process to heighten his sync with the armour, and bathing like this had no drawbacks. In fact, he felt even better because of the resonance.
[You're really...]
"What?"
[.....Nothing.]
She said it was 'nothing,' but Liera still seemed to be unsatisfied. Yu IlHan snorted and fell into his thoughts.
If the first 5th class that appeared on Earth, Mystic, had many experimental characteristics, the second one moved in a way to prevent a situation similar to how she was killed. Covering up the weakness and bringing out better products one after another, almost as if Yu IlHan were being used as an experimental subject.
If 'that guy' still had the power to make 5th-class beings, in other words, tweak Earth in a way to his liking, then what would the next one be like? And the next? And the one after that?
'And finally....'
Would he come out himself? Yu IlHan laughed after thinking about that.
He would not stay passive like this. As loners didn't normally receive much stimulus from others, they were very sensitive to it. Since this guy had made Yu IlHan this annoyed and tired, he would make that guy pay the price.
The problem was the time. As of now, he didn't have the confidence to win against that guy, so he had to get his 4th class as soon as possible, but leaving aside whether that guy would be willing to wait until he became 4th class, he didn't even know how much time it would take in order to get his 4th class.
Yu IlHan himself had no problem. He was used to living alone, but he wasn't alone right now either. The problem was his relatives. He was worried about his father, his mother, Kang MiRae who went to Lanpas, and Na YuNa who stole his lips before running away, but above all...
'Mir is the one I'm most worried about.'
Not to mention the Rule skill, his senses as a Dragon rider were telling him that Mir was definitely safe. Although it was like that, he didn't know what he was doing or what kind of situation he was in, so he was worried.
In the past 2 years, he has been growing even faster than he did while trapped in an Abandoned World with Kang MiRae and Na YuNa. He had long since become 4th class. Perhaps, by counting levels alone, he was the highest among Yu IlHan's subordinates, even with Flemir included. This was despite the fact that his other subordinates were growing at abnormal speeds as well!
It was definitely good news that he was developing. However, growing fast meant that he was in an environment that was just as dangerous.
The path Yu IlHan had taken up to now was the same. A path where his life would be forfeit due to a moment's mistake. Yu IlHan was worried that Yumir would be adventurous, imitate his actions, and something would go wrong somewhere. If Liera knew what he was thinking, she would probably tell him to mind his own business!
"Fuu..."
Feeling the hot water wash his body beneath the armour, Yu IlHan leaned back on the Bucket and closed his eyes. Liera was grumbling on his side; Mystic was shouting as he moved the Flying fortress, and he could feel a resonance with Orochi. Hearing all of that, he thought of Yumir.
He should have grown since he's 4th class now. However, as he was still young, he wouldn't have become an adult. No, he wished that he wasn't an adult yet. At that time, Yu IlHan would be disappointed.
'I'll go looking for you soon. Please hold out until then, even if you have to do it alone.'
[IlHan, are you sleeping?]
"I'm not sleeping, so don't come near me."
[Tch, stingy.]
It was good that he wasn't alone, but perhaps she could give him more time to think about this… Yu IlHan sighed and pushed Liera's face away with his left hand.
One thing was sure: it was too early, whether to meet the guy behind all this or to find Yumir. He had to become a little stronger first. A little…. much. A lot, overwhelmingly strong. At least to the point he could become comfortable after getting rid of everyone and everything that annoyed him.
"And when would that be…..?"
However hard he tried to hold it, time would flow. The greedy Yu IlHan wished he could grab everything he wanted in that flow of time.
Meanwhile, the one he was most worried about, Yumir, was now actually educating the children.
"Now!"
"Fuaah!"
"Hhp! Haap!"
In front of him were thousands of children emitting flames. From palms, from mouths, from heads, from feet, from fists, from mid-air – there was a lot of media, but they were all flames. They were all very strong, considering the children's ages!
"No, it's still too weak."
However, Yumir's standards were very high. The children who became dejected at his words complained to him.
"But we can't be strong like the hero!"
"But we can't kill those monsters for all our lives at this rate?"
"We can't kill that monster no matter what!"
Yumir wanted the children to become stronger faster, but they were hitting realistic limits and suffering. What was interesting was that no matter how they said it was impossible, their limitations were heightened as they ate the blood and flesh of these demons, acquiring the potential to become stronger yet again.
And in truth, some of these children succeeded in making stronger flames.
"Ah, I did it."
"It works. It works now, so you need to throw those stronger ones."
"I can't do that!"
However, Yumir only grew stricter over time. The children also tried to catch up to him by following his guidance, and although they were much slower than Yumir's expectations, they were still growing.
"Next are the electric-wielding kids."
"Hero, call us the Thunder Knights!"
"No, because it's childish."
"Hing!"
Perhaps the environment affected them; after two years of eating demons, they could wield mana associated with lightning, wind, ice, fire, vibration, and other special attributes. The fact that they acquired abilities that they didn't have when they were 2nd class meant that they were now 3rd class.
No matter how effective childhood education was, some people should have realized that something was strange after seeing kids as young as 3 years old, and a maximum of 6 years old at over level 100, but those 'some people' didn't exist here, and of course, Yumir and the other children did not care about that either.
"Yes, yes, then. Thunder Knights, ugh, why do I have to be the one that's embarrassed?"
"Yes! 2,300 people, at your command!"
"You have a lot more members than the other teams, so your first objective is to kill the vibrating monster by attacking with lightning all at once."
"That's impossible!"
Yumir divided the children by their attributes and again by their personalities or characteristics to move them more efficiently. No matter how weak they were, launching thousands of similar attacks against a single target would be devastating.
The children trained under Yumir could deal a significant strike to the demons right now. That was because Yumir, a dragon referred to as the lord of mana, was controlling their mana to enhance their powers.
Yumir, who originally had the ability to control others' mana but was born under the loner Yu IlHan, could finally find a path to become stronger as a dragon by leading the children.
Yumir wished for the children to be able to kill one of the demons on their own later, and the children couldn't even imagine a situation where they had to fight one without Yumir around.
"We don't know until when this situation will continue, so you need to become stronger."
"Uu, hero is too stiff."
"Stiffer than the monsters."
The youngest one among the army of children was about two years and two months old, and on the outside, that child looked like a ten-year-old. Their vocabulary was still very weak, but that was still absurd considering their age. Really, they were developing into an army of superhumans, as in the term 'newtypes'.
"Hero!"
After Yumir finished checking the Thunder Knights' growth and distributing the blood and flesh of the lightning-wielding demon, a scout from far away came up and stood in front of him. This was a child who wielded wind.
The children who came to wield wind like Yumir could receive his teachings directly and had greater destructive power and speed than the others.
"Four monsters!"
"Four of them? Uhmmmmmm, that's a lot."
As time passed, there were changes in the demons' action patterns. Until now, they weren't bothered to group up if Yumir and the children didn't cause a fuss, but now that they were being massacred repeatedly, they refrained from individual action and now acted in groups!
"That's too much, don't we have to run away?"
"With this many people? That's impossible even for the hero."
"But..."
"There's a lot, but this may be a good opportunity."
Said Yumir suddenly. The children instinctively understood what his words meant and looked at him.
"We fight."
"Hero, but..."
"We fight."
Repeated Yumir. After becoming 4th class, Yumir now looked like a 15-year-old boy, and one so beautiful that anyone would turn back to look at him once they met him on the street. The army of children was something like Yumir's fan club, so they couldn't really refuse when he smiled so honestly.
"You can do it like? I'll let you run away if it seems like you'll die."
"Hero, that means you'll make us fight if it looks like we'll survive, right?"
"Yup."
Declared Yumir. The children sighed, but they couldn't help it. They were not playing around right now, but were competing for survival, and in this competition, Yumir's judgment was correct.
"Let's minimize the casualties. Let's all survive if possible."
"Guys, pack up the tools!"
They didn't only eat the flesh of the demons during the past years. Among the children, some had potential as blacksmiths, and although they had to go through countless trials and errors, with super-high-grade materials and an overflowing supply of 4th-class magic stones, they could make decent equipment.
The children were equipped with odd-looking but sturdy-as-hell armour and twisted, sharp-as-hell weapons, and lined up by army. In the past two years, the total number of children who survived thanks to Yumir was 9,300. As they had gathered at a speed unfit for their ages, they even emanated a pressuring aura.
"Good, then."
The commander of the army, Yumir, turned towards the front. On his fist was the gauntlet that Yu IlHan had made, glowing as ever.
"Let's depart."
This was the second time the hell dungeon faced the brink of obliteration, after being obliterated by Yu IlHan years earlier.