There was a month and a half left until the barrier made by the Hourglass broke. Yu IlHan did everything within his power to prepare for war. With 'Everything in his power' referring to spending all of his piled-up materials to create items – from personal equipment to disposable weapons and munitions used in war!
He upgraded all the equipment his party members had, made backup weapons, and added additional equipment to the already-terrifying Flying Fortress and the Guardian Fortress, long before he had time to check his own skills and stats.
[Yu IlHan(Human?)]
[Main Class – Hell Bringer Lv 299]
[Sub Class – N/A, Dragon Rider, Dimensional Traveller]
[Title – Pancosmic Loner, Untouchable, One hit for me; one hit for you, Creator of Myths, Not two hits, nor three hits but one hit, A thousand in one hit, Dragon slayer, Dragon's ally, The Quickest, Hero of Fire, The Frog that leaped out of the well, Blessing of the god of smithing, blessing of the goddess of fire, Surpasser, Creator]
[Strength – 827 Agility – 766 Health – 635 Magic – 1,238]
[Active skills – Falling Down(Deathgod, Soul enchant, Blaze, Death collector, Transcendent regeneration, Extreme poison resistance, higher curse resistance) Lv43, Mana crafting Lv Max, God Force(Superhuman strength, Critical hit) Lv79, Rule Lv Max, Dragonic blood Lv96, Warp(Leap) Lv58, Dimensional ruler Lv69]
[Passive skills – Dragon-man resonance Lv87, Dismantling Lv Max, Blacksmithing Lv Max, Record(Language) Lv82, Magic engineering Lv Max, Excavation Lv Max, Spear of Untraceable Trajectory(Spear mastery) Lv98, Great Cosmos-severing Spear(Spear Mastery, Physical combat mastery, Blunt weapon mastery, Sword mastery, Whip mastery) Lv86, Absolute accuracy(Throwing, Shooting) Lv Max, Cooking Lv Max, Unshakeable heart Lv Max, Dimensional adaptation Lv59, Fleet command Lv 66]
The first thing his eyes saw was the subclass – at first, Yu IlHan had the subclass 'Angel's Partner', but as the contracts with all his previously partnered angels were cancelled, he lost the subclass's qualifications. And it took another half-year for the class to completely disappear.
There was a time he thought that he would be able to acquire a new subclass once that one disappeared, but it seemed like not everything went his way. The Akashic Record had kept its silence on that matter.
This didn't happen often, so no one could advise him, and in the end, Yu IlHan had to leave the subclass blank for the time being. This wasn't something he could solve on his own. He could only wait for another opportunity to arrive.
"But my skills really grew a lot."
He had used the Hourglass of Eternity ten times before that, so the time he spent inside it would be about 15 years. Breaking that up, he spent 30% of his time soaking in the Cradle of Miracles and trained with the Great Cosmos-severing Spear for the remainder, so his Great Cosmos-severing Spear had now reached level 85. The growth of his other skills wasn't that far behind either.
It wasn't only that. In the process of awakening his dragon powers, his stats rose uniformly, and the more he got used to manipulating fire, the higher his magic stat rose as well, so now he would be on par with 6th-class beings based on pure stats alone.
Yu IlHan thought he might no longer be able to call himself human after checking his status. Though this was nothing new. Even his face, which reflected light off the armour's shiny surface, bore no trace of his previous self.
At that moment, he became scared.
Is it really me that is in this place? Perhaps it was someone else, not me? Am I just
dozing off and dreaming inside a classroom in university, and nobody has noticed me? Such absurd thoughts arose rapidly, making Yu IlHan's mind a mess.
"Liera."
"Yes, IlHan."
His lover, who had watched over him ever since they first met, replied naturally as if she knew that he would speak to her. Liera's gentle, calm eyes calmed Yu IlHan's raging emotions. He lost his strength in his shoulders and asked in a truly stupid voice.
"...In your eyes, have I changed a lot?"
"Well, it would be a lie if I said that you didn't?"
Liera made a bitter smile. She saw through his intentions when he asked that.
Liera, too, had several occasions when she was like this. When she realized that she had reached the peak of a world, when she became an angel under the guidance of Heaven, when she fell in love, when she became a high angel, and when she returned to a lower existence and stood by Yu IlHan's side – all of these moments were times when she couldn't believe her own existence and doubted her experiences.
Yu IlHan licked his lips.
"Liera, I...."
"I know what you're worried about. But IlHan, you don't need to worry."
"Why?"
"Changing ... is the biggest proof that you're alive. And in that you will discover that only you can be you."
Those were words that Liera could say only after observing numerous people over the course of her lifetime and overcoming her own limitations to become a higher being. When Yu IlHan became silent, she added with a smile.
"And I loved the you before the change, I still love you after the change, and my feeling will remain the same for the you of the future. Isn't that enough?"
"...No, it is enough."
Yu IlHan thought that it was quite underhanded for her to suddenly speak like that, but it was also the truth as it resonated with the feelings in his heart.
She wasn't blessed by the god of love for nothing. Even as he grumbled, he opened his arms and hugged her tightly.
"Thanks, Liera."
"It's me who's thankful. You'd be surprised to know how much appreciation I feel towards you."
They wanted to stay like that for quite a while, but sharp gazes started falling upon them, so they had to separate before long. The barrier would collapse at any second. This was not the time to be flirting.
"Liera-unni, so sneaky. I also want to know what Mr. IlHan was like before~."
"You wouldn't have realized IlHan's true worth."
"I kinda want to kill you now, Liera. Can't you at least take it somewhere else where I'm not there?"
"IlHan hugged me first; how could I refuse?"
"Eek, eeeeeek...!"
Liera teased Na YuNa and the flustered Erta and boasted. There should be a problem with Yu IlHan, who found such a lovely side of her as well. He gave a small smile and clapped lightly to draw everyone's attention to him.
"We'll depart as soon as the barrier breaks. I've supplied everyone with their personal equipment, so I won't say anything much. ...Our objective is to screw everyone else other than ourselves. We'll grow in the process as well."
"That's one amazing objective...."
[Darling has to become the Fifth God. He has to have at least that much daring. Yup, so cool.]
At that moment, the barrier broke. However, Yu IlHan didn't leave with them right away. The three clan masters he had invited to the barrier before, as they could resist the effects of the magic on Earth, also had the abilities to fight against higher existences if they were equipped with Yu IlHan's equipment.
He first decided to ask them for their opinions. And then...
"We'll go with you, of course. Thanks for calling us, mister unique."
"I'll follow as well."
"If it is Lord Yu IlHan's wish!"
Although it wasn't like he didn't expect this, quite a lot of the clan masters wished to go with him. They had stepped up even though they knew their opponents were higher existences, so he couldn't consider them weak. Yu IlHan met their stiff expressions with a nod as he spoke.
"Everyone, get on board the Flying Fortress. We'll depart immediately."
The next place he went to was none other than Dareu. Mirfa, who had waited for him all this time, met him with a blossoming smile.
"Your Majesty!"
However, Yu IlHan coldly ordered her, like a merciless street cleaner, to put flower petals into the trash.
"Gather the strongest thousand of the 4th-class elves and wolfkin and get them to the Guardian fortress. Mirfa, you come this time. Jirl, Mirey, and Paté will now go to the Guardian fortress and command the elves along with Mirfa. Ericia, you also command the wolfkin in the Guardian fortress."
"...Understood!"
"Yes!"
"Yes, master!"
Perhaps they had anticipated this, but the elves and wolfkin picked the thousand members in the blink of an eye and lined up in the Guardian fortress with rapid movements. Yu IlHan felt slightly awkward even while supplying them with new equipment. Was it the mastered Rule skill that affected this?
"Then are we going to invade the higher worlds now?"
Liera asked with quite an excited expression. Yu IlHan firmly shook his head.
"We need to get our trump card before that."
[Ah, that.]
Orochi, who had trained for 15 years with his new body and had gone beyond adaptation to develop his own body, shook his head as he muttered like a human. Only Orochi knew the identity of this 'trump card' here.
At that moment, Yu IlHan spoke with a groan.
"Good, I'm done."
"When!?"
Even though Yu IlHan was staying still? Everyone was shocked, but Yu IlHan made an excuse with an evil smirk.
"Oh, it's a little special weapon."
"It would be even worse if he's saying it's a little special! Uu, I'm glad that we're the ones invading...."
[Master, don't break me with it, okay?]
"...Just what the hell do you guys think I am?"
[...Can I choose not to answer?]
With that, all preparations were done. Before Yu IlHan activated Warp on both the Flying Fortress and the Guardian Fortress, he checked with Helièna once again.
"What was the condition to steal a world again?"
[You need to drive out all other higher existences in that world and erase all of their traces.]
"That's not something anyone could do."
This was about taking over an entire world, so it would be bad if anyone could do it. However, Yu IlHan possessed the abilities of a Dimensional Traveller, and they were truly suited for taking over worlds.
"The leaders of each faction should possess a similar or even better ability than the one I have. However, there is something that makes the situation more advantageous for me."
"That you're cool?"
"That you're handsome!?"
Yu IlHan was afraid of himself for having become used to such useless flattery and replied.
"No, it's that I do field work unlike those high and mighty heavy-asses."
He knew exactly where his strengths lay! Of course, this meant that, in other worlds, Yu IlHan was just completely reckless, but he wouldn't care about that for now!
"Let's go. I like fairness, so I want to start from the Garden of Sunset and alternate between each faction."
[Is the reason you're starting with the Garden of Sunset because you don't like them?]
"No, it's because they look like the easiest."
Until now, he hadn't crossed the final line. In fact, he had also recovered his relationship with the Heaven's Army to some extent.
However, what he was about to do now was strictly attacking first, and with that, he would not be able to avoid conflict and battle with other factions.
Not only that, he had to point his spear at those that didn't have any malicious or hostile intentions towards him, just because they were in the same faction. It would be a lie to say that he didn't feel a sense of dread about that, but....
"If you wish for me to dance on a stage that you guys created."
Yu IlHan activated Warp. The number of higher existences Yu IlHan had experienced until now was literally 'numerous', and creating gates to the higher worlds they once resided in from the records they had was an easy thing to do.
"I'll gladly take on the role of a villain."
The skill activated.
The figures of the Flying Fortress and the Guardian Fortress disappeared as if they were never there in the first place.