[Really... how did I manage to kill this guy?]
"That's what I want to ask you. It really is horrible now that I look at him again. I'll be instantly crushed if I went against this guy head-on."
[Well, he was considerably strong even among the 7th class ones. If it was me, I couldn't have killed it one-on-one. It was only possible because Natière was there as well.]
Helièna was having a bloody fight with Liera until just a moment ago, but when Yu IlHan took out Kelatuke's body, she didn't lose the opportunity to appeal to him and flew towards him. She wanted him to pamper her, since it was thanks to her efforts that he had acquired this body.
"Yes, thanks. Thanks to you, I have another opportunity."
[Ufufu.]
In the past, he was affected by Helièna's charm and fought with the 8th wing of Brilliant Light, Natière, in vain and in the end, took his own life. However, the magic power remaining within the body was enormous, and the body had repaired itself; right now, it had completely recovered and made people wonder if he was really dead.
"For now I need to... dismantle this."
[You look more serious than ever before, master.... Sometimes, I envy your useless passion.]
"Don't say it's useless."
Yu IlHan raised the Eight-tailed dragon spear and put it on fire. This was the translucent flame that Yu IlHan could only use after receiving the blessing of the goddess of fire, and with the effects of all sorts of titles and skills as well!
The compressed flame that stayed at the tip of the spear was very faint, just enough to be visible, but the power it contained was frightening. Just this could be why Yu IlHan received the blessing of the goddess of fire.
[I can feel the energy of dragons as well.]
"This is Blaze enhanced by Dragonic blood, plus Orochi's flame, the purple flames, as well as the Eternal Flame put together."
[If the Heart of Fire that master possesses is added to this, I think you may be able to enhance it even further.]
"Let's talk about that after I finish this."
He held the spear by the shaft and drove the blade into Kelatuke's head. If he was alive, even that would have been hard, but right now he was unable to resist. The blade went in smoothly like it was cutting tofu. Yu IlHan raised it little by little while taking deep breaths. Blood scattered everywhere, but he caught it all using the container he had prepared beforehand.
"Good, I think this will work."
His spear speed increased. The gigantic, armoured shark, over a hundred meters long, revealed more and more of its inner flesh as Na YuNa shouted with joy.
"Mr. IlHan! I want shark's fin soup~!"
"If I boil soup with this guy's fins, it would be enough to feed all the people who entered the barrier."
"Dad, I'm hungry as well."
"Didn't you eat a lot of dragon meat!?"
"Shark meat looks tastier!"
Yu IlHan was dismantling Kelatuke to reinforce the Flying fortress, but the rest of his companions only wanted to eat shark meat.
In fact, shark meat was a good food ingredient, aside from the fact that it rotted pretty fast, but Kelatuke's meat had a lot of mana and would not rot even if left out for 100 years. Somehow, as a cook with level 100 Cooking, Yu IlHan also had the urge for shark sushi.
"... Well, I have no need for the flesh, so should we eat it?"
"So we're eating it...."
Yu IlHan cleanly separated all of its bones and the metallic armour, cutting the soft fins and flesh into chunks suitable for making sushi. He cut the fins into pieces to boil them into soup, cut the flesh into sashimi and thicker slices, and grilled and boiled it, etc… Looking at Yu IlHan cooking, Kang MiRae and Na YuNa somehow felt a sense of defeat.
"I still can't make doenjang-guk...."
"It's good that Mr. IlHan is cooking for us, but this somehow feels wrong. Is this really fine?"
"Dad, quickly! Quickly!"
Cooking also became faster when he got used to it. Yu IlHan used a mere three hours to cook enough shark to feed even the 8,000 children of the Dragon's Army. Since he used the Cradle of Miracles to cook, the toxicity was not that high either!
"...My."
"Kyaak, so delicious!"
Kang MiRae and Na YuNa felt awkward, but that all went away after tasting the shark meat, and they focused on cooking. The others were the same.
"Son, how did you get the fishy smell out?"
"A drop of breath works wonders against shark's smell!"
"It's Mom's loss."
Even Kim YeSeul admitted her defeat!
[Kelatuke didn't become 7th class to end up as a bowl of shark's fin soup....]
"Life would be no fun with a set destination."
[It should be more fun than becoming sushi at least... Ah, so delish. Darling really can do anything.]
Kelatuke's body was very large, and even after they had their fill, more than 95% of it remained. Yu IlHan cut the flesh into suitable pieces, stored it in his inventory, and finally started upgrading the Flying Fortress.
"Mystic, what do you think this fortress lacks as the main system?"
[Well, common sense?]
"Not the one that you lack, but what the fortress lacks."
[Materials?]
"It was my mistake to ask you. The answer is defensive power."
The Flying Fortress could cast a barrier over itself at the cost of mana. If it came down to it, the barrier also protected the fortress from the shock of smashing into places to attack. However, in Yu IlHan's mind, that was not enough when attacking higher existences. A barrier cast by mana could easily be ripped apart even by him as well!
"So, now I'm going to enhance the barrier with the metallic armour."
[Such an absurd thing again....]
To say it again, Kelatuke's body was ginormous. Of course, it was no problem to envelop the entire fortress with the armour he possessed.
Yu IlHan first mana-crafted each metallic scale to make it transparent, and installed scale shooters along the outer perimeter of the Flying fortress so it could naturally launch scales and cover the fortress when the barrier activated. It was a device that reacted to a certain type of mana, and it was a very delicately designed engine, but to the master of magic engineering, this kind of device was as easy as pie.
"Of course, it's also possible to just shoot the scales with the launcher, and it can also shoot out the scales from the barrier when the stress on the barrier is too high."
[That's not the end, right? There's no way you would stop at just there.]
Of course, there was one more part left. It was the enhancement of the barrier itself! If rotation was applied to the barrier, the armoured scales on top of it would spin like mad, like a drill, and once the Flying fortress charged forward in that state, it would literally grind apart anything on its path!
[That's not human!]
"Yes, I'll stop being human. No, I'll surpass all humans! Mystiiiiiiiic!"
[Stop being so lighthearted at such a serious moment!]
Yu IlHan had to consume a considerable amount of 5th-class magic stones for this process. As all the work was done through meticulous planning and design, with over-the-top materials, success was predestined! The most frightening drill across all universes emerged from it.
[Annihilator's Flying Fortress was complete.]
And it finally happened – the 'it' that Yu IlHan had been waiting for.
[Annihilator's Flying Fortress]
[Rank – Eternal]
[Durability – 100,000,000/100,000,000]
[User restrictions – Yu IlHan]
[Options –
1. Recovers durability by absorbing the mana and life force of nearby enemies.
2. Automatically shoots down all entrants without permission.
3. Grows by absorbing records of various beings.
4. Flight enabled. Sudden acceleration, sudden levitation, sudden falling enabled.
5. All items within the fortress as well as the fortress itself are treated like the user's equipped item. Those at the party with the fortress's user may receive protection from the fortress and be treated as its members.
6. 20% increase in defence power and attack power of all artifacts in the fortress.
7. 20% increase in defence power and attack power of all artifacts in the fortress.
8. Able to attack and defend using a special barrier.
9. Chances of miracles increase within the holy region.]
[A creation that surpassed technology, records, and miracles. It is not yet complete due to a single missing piece, but it will be completed soon.]
[You have created an Eternal-ranked creation. You have acquired the title, 'Surpasser'.]
"Hm?"
Finally, our dear Flying Fortress! Became a rank higher than God! Yu IlHan wanted to cry tears of joy.
However, the title he had acquired after making the Eternal-ranked treasure lingered in his mind. Surpasser? What did he surpass? What was the title's ability? There was nothing that he could understand about it.
[What is it, darling?]
"No, it's nothing."
Even if he wanted to explain it to the others, only he had acquired this title. They would not be able to understand.
Although it was slightly different from what he had expected, he had succeeded in upgrading the Flying Fortress, so he decided to leave it there.
However, Mystic grabbed him just as he was about to turn around.
[Master, I feel strange.]
"Why, is the common sense you didn't have about to appear or something?"
[I feel like I need to cough, but it's stifled! Uaaaaaaaaaah, so frustrating!]
Yu IlHan thought that the 'missing piece' was what made her frustrated. However, if he knew what it was, wouldn't he have completed it immediately? He shrugged his shoulders and asked.
"Should I tickle you or something?"
[No, what did you do to the fortress! I'm frustrated! I feel stifllllllled!]
Even after that, Mystic screamed about being stifled for quite a while, but there was nothing Yu IlHan could do. He asked Orochi to do something, but Orochi only sighed and replied like this.
[When a woman is frustrated and angry, it's best to just leave her alone rather than asking why. That's the best way to minimize damage.]
"Ooh, aren't you wise?"
[Master's an idiot! Orochi's even more of an idiot!]
When he told the others that the Flying Fortress was now of Eternal rank, they were confused at first, but then shocked that there was a rank above God at all. Even the most experienced one, Helièna, made an awkward expression.
[Eternal? It's the first time I've heard of that, darling. I've seen quite a few blacksmithing masters in my life... but even they couldn't make anything better than God-ranked.]
"Perhaps we're witnessing the birth of an item that had never existed since the conception of the Akashic Record."
[The first... perhaps. Fufu, I'm happy that I can spend this time with darling.]
"You aren't the only one here. I'm here as well, and IlHan is mine."
The upgrade of the Flying Fortress was finished successfully. Although he did spend all of Kelatuke's metallic armour, the results were good, so Yu IlHan was satisfied. Moreover.
"I'm glad that I didn't have to do the impossible-impossible. I still have his bones!"
[There's still something left....]
However, Kelatuke's bones had another use from the beginning. Yu IlHan piled them up on one side of the barrier and took out a portion of Echjar's bones on another. Then, he took out Echjar's DRAGON HEART and the Heart of Fire as well.
"From now on, don't approach this side."
He warned the others in a firm voice and took off everything, including the gauntlet made from Chaos Will's remains and the Infernal dragon's body. Orochi asked him.
[Do you think you can make it now, master?]
"Yes."
Yu IlHan nodded without hesitation, then took out an anvil and a hammer and drew a deep breath.
He had enough materials. He also had a clear objective: the Eternal rank.
Now, it was finally the time to complete his ideal armour.