'....Huh, wait.'
Yu IlHan forgot about the pain from Echjar's curse and focused on what was happening inside him. Echjar's enormous mana, the curse he was controlling, as well as the mana of Falling down – numerous different types of mana were clashing against each other; somewhere within the frenzy, there was an aura that burned in bright white even amidst all of that.
A dragon's aura – he had felt this early on when he 'bathed' in the Giant Bucket. The special kind of flow that changed his mana from the foundation, little by little, could not be forgotten even if he wanted to.
However, right now it was reacting again when he tried to enhance Transcendent regeneration with Dragonic blood. Yu IlHan predicted that it was due to Echjar's mana that was being poured into him
[...Dragon? You, you harbour the aura of dragons!]
Echjar also realized that fact. Of course, Yu IlHan couldn't even respond right now. He was busy just thinking about which method to use with that aura to help him survive or go further, to control Echjar's mana.
However, the conclusion was simple. If the dragon's mana was reacting, then he just needed to create the same environment it reacted to before!
So, what Yu IlHan did was to summon the Giant Bucket in midair without any hesitation.
[Just what is an artifact that harbours the essence of dragons... what!?]
"There we go."
Then, he moved his body very slowly through the blood and sat himself down in the bucket. He even called out to Aegis to hold the bucket in midair.
"...IlHan, you."
Echjar's blood naturally enveloped the Giant Bucket as well, and although it was hard to make out, it was clear that Yu IlHan was bathing in it.
"..."
[...]
[...]
To think he'd start bathing when he could barely move thanks to the curse – seeing a completely unpredictable scene in front of them, both allies and enemies fell into silence. However, like a loner, Yu IlHan didn't mind others' gazes and focused on himself and the Bucket.
'I can do it. I can do it...!'
He activated Dragonic blood to forcibly change his own blood to more closely match a dragon's, and used it for Transcendent regeneration. While the blood in his body triggered a rejection of Echjar's blood, the Giant Bucket finally began to resonate with him!
[Just, what....!?]
Echjar, who had initially been full of rage at the one who had made him fall to a lower existence, questioned what he was doing rather than continuing to rage.
However, as long as the curse was active, he would have a hard time moving, and since he could not cancel it as he wished, he could only watch what Yu IlHan was doing.
"Kkhhhhhh, but this."
While the Giant Bucket and Yu IlHan's blood were synchronizing, the blood containing Echjar's curse raged, trying to dissolve Yu IlHan into nothing.
It would be best if the Giant Bucket could encroach on the dragon's blood as well, but the blood's owner was still alive! As if to resist the Giant Bucket's aura, it started to affect the Giant Bucket as well. Reddish black smoke was coming off various parts of the Giant Bucket.
[Master, even though the Giant Bucket is an artifact, his blood is too strong!]
"Right?"
Yu IlHan was also aware of that threat – his Giant Bucket may become unusable! That was why he took out whatever 5th-class magic stones there were in his inventory. – there were four of them. This should be enough!
"If that's so, I'll just upgrade the Giant Bucket right here and now!"
[Master's imagination always exceeds my imagination...]
[Kugh! My curse.... YOU!]
Now that things had come to this, he would stop at nothing. This fight was already no longer a fight between Echjar and Yu IlHan, but Yu IlHan against the very concept of dragons.
He smashed down with the 5th-class magic stones in his hand, making them clash against the Giant Bucket, and activated Mana crafting at level 99!
Golden mana colored the world. The mana that all the magic stones had emitted was sucked into the bucket, temporarily pushing Echjar's blood back as well.
[Th, this...!]
"What the hell is IlHan doing?"
[Just what kind of curse resistance allows him such free movement inside such a frightening curse…..?]
Yu IlHan's body resonated with the Giant Bucket and began to glow as well. He had to maintain Falling Down, resist the dragon's curse, and even focus on the upgrade process, so his head felt like it was about to explode, but he endured. Endured and focused his senses to their limits!
[Kuuugh.]
If his condition were normal, he would have poured more mana to drive Yu IlHan into further straits, but because he had to keep his body from collapsing from the rapid fall in league, he could not do so. It was quite the deadlock.
"Spiera, what can I do for IlHan...?"
[We cannot do anything, Liera. Just prevent Echjar from doing anything else.]
Focusing on the control of his mana for Mana crafting on the Giant Bucket, while fighting against the curse that tried to dissolve his skin, blood vessels, nerves, muscles and even bones, was something that even higher existences would shudder at the thought of it – he had endured through an unknown amount of time while in that state.
[Kugh!?]
"I did it!"
Now, the golden mana that glowed as if to fill the world with light even dawned on Yu IlHan's vision!
After the flash, an enormous amount of mana was absorbed into the Giant Bucket at once. The magic stones in his hands had long since disappeared; all the mana they contained was used to upgrade the Giant Bucket.
[Cradle of Miracles was completed.]
A single line of text etched itself onto Yu IlHan's retina. There was no need to read the follow-up texts – Yu IlHan had a complete understanding of this artifact. The only important thing was that this artifact, born during the most dangerous times of Yu IlHan, was of the God rank.
"Good."
Yu IlHan acknowledged that it was his fault for trying to win against an enemy so easily. That was why, and precisely because of that.
"This is the final round."
The Cradle of Miracles and Yu IlHan: their resonance deepened over time. Even the Infernal dragon's body, which had not shown its light until now, participated in the resonance.
The lump of Echjar's blood that tried to dissolve the Cradle of Miracles, the Infernal dragon body, and Yu IlHan's body clearly halted this time. Immediately after that, a slight tinge of gold emerged from the depths of the curses' reddish-black blood.
Ehcjar finally realized what Yu IlHan was doing.
[...? Nonsensical. Don't tell me you, a mere lower existence, are trying to take over the control of my mana?]
"We won't know if we don't try, no..."
Yu IlHan realized that the blood that had seeped into the spaces behind his eyeballs had disappeared, and that his transcendent regeneration had restored his eyesight as well.
The battlefield he had to rely on his other senses to perceive finally came into view.
"IlHan!"
[Yu IlHan...truly amazing!]
Liera and Spiera shouted in joy when they saw Yu IlHan's 'revival' after they were at a loss for what to do from the moment Yu IlHan attacked the dragon. They could also see the gigantic dragon roaring in the air connected to Yu IlHan via a path of blood.
Although the dragon still retained its form, his mana control was tremendous; the longer Yu IlHan held out against the curse, the worse his state became. Really, it was a curse that would not end unless one side died.
"Seeing as you can't even control your own mana, I think the outcome is obvious!"
[You immediately used my line…]
Disregarding Spiera's grumbles, Yu IlHan accelerated the resonance between himself and the Cradle of Miracles. As the intervals between the resonances became shorter, the dragon's blood also thumped in a manner similar to a heartbeat, and reacted to it. Eventually, the moment Yu IlHan had been waiting for had arrived. The cursed blood began to be purified!
[This, cannot...!?]
Echjar voiced out in shock. No one in his long lifespan had erased his curse by resisting it head-on!
No, it wasn't just that. From the moment the blood was cleansed of the curse, it emitted golden light, resonated with the Cradle of Miracles, and began flowing back to Yu IlHan.
It was a fundamentally different flow compared to when the curse was trying to destroy Yu IlHan's body. The blood, containing life force and mana, had regenerated the wounds Yu IlHan had and was transforming his mana!
"See?"
Yu IlHan felt his internal mana resonating with Echjar's blood, intermixing. It wasn't that he didn't feel resistance or rejection, but as Transcendent regeneration recovered his body, his blood was also being changed to suit him. Echjar voiced his shock.
[Th, this cannot be. I, the King of Dragons, cannot lose to a puny human! There's no way I'd fall to being a foothold for a mere human's growth!]
"I feel like I've grasped the path I should walk on in the future. So I'll say a word of thanks – thanks."
[You have absorbed a portion of the blood and mana of the Dragon of Despair, Echjar, through the Cradle of Miracles. Magic permanently increases by 235. The body has commenced evolving, but the results are minute and do not show on the outside.]
Yu IlHan eventually stood up from the Cradle of Miracles and stored it back into his inventory. His body movements were very light, and he was full of vitality.
Right now, who is it that cannot move due to the curse? Yu IlHan's mana was steadily being amplified as he absorbed the golden blood, but Echjar's blood was being drained while he was unable to move. Of course, that would also stop the moment his mana was depleted!
[I, the 13th Battalion Commander of the Destruction Demon Army, Lord Echjar…..!]
And that would be the moment of his death.
"But I won't let that happen."
It wasn't that Yu IlHan had a change of heart and decided to join the Destruction Demon Army. It's just that he could not bear to watch the dragon's body falling in league anymore. He didn't even know when he could meet and beat another 7th class!
"It should still have a value as a 7th class remains. It's fine. If it's now, it will be fine…..!"
[YOU, YU ILHAAAAAAAAAAN!]
Echjar roared at Yu IlHan in rage as he finally realized that Yu IlHan had only seen him as equipment until the very end!
However, Yu IlHan completely ignored his roar, pushed all the mana enhanced by the dragon's blood into the tip of his Eight-tailed dragon spear, and called the flames within the domain of Falling Down to one place.
Right now, there was no need to bind that gigantic thing with the soulflame chains. He had bound himself up like a present.
[Is that the power that Yu IlHan had acquired…..?]
"IlHan....!"
As long as the curse connected the two, neither Liera nor Spiera could interfere. Spiera, who had her stage stolen midway, looked at the scene absentmindedly, and Liera gripped her spear just in case.
However, Liera's turn would not arrive. With the Eight-tailed dragon spear, which raised his attack against dragonkin by 120%, if he could not kill the half-dead dragon, his title as a dragon Slayer would be called into question.
[Stop!] Echjar shouted hurriedly. It was a voice that pleaded for life.
[Do you know what it means to kill me!?]
"I've heard that around a billion times from your underlings, so don't worry."
Once again, he thought of the trajectory that Spiera had drawn. The amazing trajectory that allowed her to inflict a wound on a 7th class as a 6th class.
He still didn't have the confidence to recreate that. He thought that those clothes weren't a fit for him.
"But if it's something else!"
[Kuoooooooooh!]
He drove his spear forward with a step. Right now, the things he could do were enough to kill the enemy.
Although the things he could imbue into his spear were the sharpness of the sword and the speed of the whip – just those two- there were ten of the same strikes that struck out simultaneously!
[Critical Hit!]
The text that told the fatal strike covered Yu IlHan's retina. Once, from those ten strikes.
From the moment he gave up on learning the Great Cosmos-severing Spear, he ironically gained a hint on the path he could walk.
[The skill Spear of Untraceable Trajectory has reached level 98!]
[You, shall definitely...!]
Echjar, who was still conscious after his head was bisected, muttered with the last bit of willpower.
[You, sh....!]
The contents that came afterwards were the same – The Destruction Demon Army shall not let you go, the other Commanders won't go down so easily, and other things like that! Yu IlHan nodded as if to say it was unnecessary to warn him.
"I'll take care of everything. Leave everything to me and go on your way."
[I don't think that's something you should say to someone you killed...]
Spiera retorted, but Yu IlHan did not respond. The moment Echjar died, an absurd amount of experience came in thanks to his holding out so long, even though he should have fallen to a lower existence long ago, and, according to that, he had to focus on receiving it all.
[You have earned experience.]
[You have earned the record for Lv502 (539) Echjar.]
[The ability of the title, Untouchable, becomes stronger. All abilities will increase by 15% every league the opponent is higher than you.]
[You have become level 299. 6 Strength, 4 Agility, 3 Health, 7 Magic gained.]
[You cannot become level 300 without becoming 5th class. All experience earned beforehand will be calculated after you have acquired 5th class.]
Well, then!
Yu IlHan calmed down his excited heart and focused on his retina. The path he had walked so far was already so hard, but what was necessary to become 5th class? Come at me! I'll take you all on! – were his feelings right now.
"...Huh?"
However, when nothing appeared no matter how long he had waited, Yu IlHan suspected that the Akashic Record was broken or something.
"What the hell? What is this?"
[What is it, Yu IlHan? Is his curse still remaining?]
"IlHan, are you alright!?"
The angel and the former angel flew over to him in fear. Yu IlHan replied with an awkward voice.
"There's no guide to earning 5th class?"
"Oh, that."
Liera smiled brightly as she replied, as if she were worried for nothing.
"Because there is no such thing in the first place."
"Wh, at....?"
If Erta was here, if Erta, who acquired the dao in explaining things simply thanks to Yu IlHan, was here! – she would have said this.
That from 5th class onwards, it was no longer multiple choice.