Everyone Else is a Returnee

Yu IlHan and Liera hurriedly left the gate and returned to Earth. Spiera was waiting in front of the underwater dungeon gate.

[You should’ve heard from Erta, correct?] (Spiera)
[I’m like this because I heard it. Let’s hurry!] (Liera)
[Although it’s frustrating. There’s nothing we can do about it even if we hurry.] (Spiera)

It seems Spiera was coping with the situation more rationally than Liera due to the difference in experience. Although, her fists were clenched tight, showing that what was going on in her heart didn"t differ much from Liera!

[The gate has completely closed. There’s no method for the Heaven’s Army to contact that place as it is an Abandoned World. Now that think about it, there was a different intention behind the Destruction Demon Army’s and Army of Brilliant Light’s actions.] (Spiera)
[The reason they joined hands? That was in order kidnap our Mir!? Is it because he’s cute? I knew it was because he was too cute!] (Liera)

Liera shouted in a fit of rage. Yu IlHan smacked her on the head to calm her down.

“I heard that Mir entered in order to save Miss MiRae. If so, their objective should not have been him but her.”
[To be exact, it’s Na YuNa, who’s in the same clan as her. The woman who received the blessing of the G.o.ddess of Beauty.] (Spiera)
[Oh, that woman, I see…….] (Liera)

Liera’s eyes narrowed. Looking at that, Yu IlHan asked.

“What, you expected that to happen?”
[Um, yeah. I did think that she might become a target some day.] (Liera)

Liera shrugged as she spoke.

[And by everyone except Heaven’s Army.] (Liera)
“What, does that woman have the power to destroy a world or something?”
[No, that’s not it. She received the blessing of the G.o.ddess of beauty. That is enough of a reason for them to target her. It’s also the reason why Feyta stuck to her quite early on as well.] (Liera)
[Yes. If there"s anyone to aim for on Earth, it would"ve been that woman.] (Spiera)

Yu IlHan silently looked at the two angels and requested for more explanation. Perhaps due to having accepted the fact that they couldn’t rescue Mir, Liera explained with a sigh.

[……She’s the woman who was blessed by the G.o.ddess of Beauty. To add on, the head of the Army of Brilliant Light, Destruction Demon Army, and the Garden of Sunset, are all male.] (Liera)
“But, huh?”

He understood the situation to a certain point after hearing that, but he didn’t want to understand precisely because of that, when Liera declared.

[She would become even prettier once she becomes a higher existence, right? Perhaps she’d become unprecedentedly beautiful across all worlds. Although it’s annoying and frustrating, she’d probably become prettier than me.] (Liera)
[She’ll definitely become prettier than you, Liera. No, perhaps if it’s you, who received a not-inferior blessing……] (Spiera)
[Waaaaaaah! Shut up! Shut uuuuup!] (Liera) (PR: Blessing of the G.o.ddess of love <>
“So these guys are trying to……”

While the angels fought due to reasons unknown to Yu IlHan, he knocked on the door of truth with an empty voice.

“…..raise her up and eat her?”
[Uh, yeah….. Something like that.] (Liera)

Yu IlHan felt despair.

“Dammit, that’s the lowest-level problem I could think of in my head, I’m really surprised!”
[We also thought that it may become like that, but never did we think it would actually happen.] (Liera)
[I’m sorry, Yu IlHan. I’m sorry for making you listen to a story with a C rate plot……] (Spiera)

He couldn’t help but be annoyed after knowing that the head of the transcender groups put on a show just to kidnap a single woman when he had just saved Earth from crisis. And Mir was caught up in this too!

[We do not know how things played out for her to be in danger of being kidnapped. Even if we do find out, there’s nothing much we can do.] (Spiera)

Was it just him that felt Spiera’s words were too cold? Perhaps that was how angels fundamentally viewed humans. Yu IlHan was thinking that when Liera shouted.

[What’s more important than that is Mir! I’ll see to Erta if she doesn’t bring back Mir safely!] (Liera)
[The world Erta headed to is an Abandoned World. We have to worry about her safety as well.] (Spiera)

Worry began to cloud Ilhan"s heart.
Didn’t he know about Abandoned Worlds well? Leaving aside Kiroa, where the wolfkin lived, what if that world had a force that equalled to half, no, a quarter of Dareu? Moreover, they wouldn’t be able to escape easily if this was the joint scheme of Destruction Demon Army and Army of Brilliant Light!

“I think I should head to the scene first. I need to get information from the people there!”
[Yu IlHan, I understand your worries. However, there’s something we must do before that.] (Spiera)

What Spiera pointed to was the gate that Liera and Yu IlHan just exited from. The black vortex that still connected Ferata with Earth, was emitting ominous light under the water.

“Yeah, we need to destroy that.”

Since he had destroyed the very foundations of the empire, he would never have to meet Ferateans again once he destroyed the gate. Perhaps he’d meet them again in the Battle of Compet.i.tion, but since their schemes had failed, he only needed to crush them again.

The gate dissipated soon with the combined attack from Yu IlHan, Liera, and Spiera. The three of them, who had now completely dissolved the crisis, rushed out from the atlantic and headed to New York.

[It’s there! It looks like quite the mess at a glance!]

While quickly skipping past the unknown streets of New York, Liera shouted while pointing with her hand. When Yu IlHan followed her hand, he could really see tens of skysc.r.a.pers collapsed like a domino.

[I can see humans as well. Well, it’s not like they can rest easy just because the gate had closed…… huh?] (Spiera)

Spiera tilted her head. Yu IlHan also realized the reason a little after her. The gate shrunk into a single large ashen-colored spherical ball. There was a group of monsters that were facing against the humans.

It was none other than the wolfkin under Ericia. Since Ericia entered the gate after Mir, it was no wonder that the wolfkin were protecting that place.

“There we go.”

Yu IlHan landed on that place that was a battlefield not long before, without hesitation. When he showed himself after dispelling his concealment, the people that protected that place shrunk to the side.

“He’s here.”
“It really is him. Sheesh, he shows up as suddenly as ever.”
“Just what was he doing until now?”
“Quiet, he might know something. Perhaps he might do something about this situation.”

Without caring what the people were whispering about, he headed towards the wolfkin. The strongest wolf in that place left the group and approached Yu IlHan, before turning into humanoid. This guy had received the blessing of the moon.

“I greet Yu IlHan-nim. I’m Layutinu.”
“Ah, yeah.”

The wolfkin greeted formally. Yu IlHan nodded and went straight to topic.

“So, tell me how they entered the gate like sausages.”
“Fuu.”

Hearing Yu IlHan’s words, Layutinu started off by sighing. Perhaps it was just him, but it seemed that all the wolves were sighing as well. The sighs were filled with rage.

The story that started off like that was quite short and spectacular.

The battle against the Abandoned World was advantageous for the humans side from the very beginning.
The elite thousand wolves with the 4th cla.s.s Flemir in the head, and the elves clad in legend ranked equipments, and a genius in magic and concealment despite being 2nd cla.s.s, Mir, all became a great help, but above all, the install-style weapons that Yu IlHan had given Kang MiRae through Erta, had all s.h.i.+ned.

The Front Line Alliance, with Lightning G.o.d clan as the center, synchronized their rhythms, and lead the flow of battle, while the 3rd cla.s.s monsters that poured out from the Abandoned World were wiped out one after the other, and the morale of the human side broke through the max. They overwhelmed the battle with almost no casualties at all.

It didn’t take long for the monster forces to become even more insane. It was probably because there was a traitor among the angels on this side, that told the other side about the situation. It seemed that the rush became insane as if all the strongest monsters from that worlds was gathered and pushed through the gate.

The humans first panicked due to the sudden increase in monster forces, but they still resisted calmly. At this point, Yu IlHan’s install-style weapons showed  their true might. All weapons including ballistas and harpoons, had an emergency self-destruction function!

[IlHan, why do you start off by making everything explode once it’s an emergency?] (Liera)
“Layutinu, continue.”

Explosions everywhere and ma.s.s extinction of monsters! Ericia formed the group of wolves like a spear, and charged whenever the monsters looked weaker. This was only possible for Ericia, who held ultimate control over the wolves.

Thanks to the humans knowing that they were Yu IlHan’s underlings, and cooperating with them, they could somehow resist against a super wave of over 50 thousand 3rd cla.s.s monsters alone.

“They held out against 50 thousand 3rd cla.s.ses? The humans did grow up quite quick.”
“They would have failed if not for the control of Ericia-nim and Flemir’s powers. Oh, Yu IlHan-nim’s weapons included.”

However, it was true that the human side’s forces did rise quite fast. Yu IlHan felt the effect of himself and Vanguard on Earth anew. However, it was then the wolf sighed.

“At that moment, Yumir-nim cast magic.”
“Huh? Why does Mir appear here?”
“The reason behind the ma.s.sive monster wave was not to wipe out the humans, but to cause chaos. What they tried to do in that chaos, was to kidnap Na YuNa.”

A 4th cla.s.s monster that trained in concealment to the extreme, tried to kidnap Na YuNa. However, Yumir, who saw through the concealment before it had succeeded, had cast magic to prevent it, and when its figure appeared, Kang MiRae, who was fighting nearby, had realized its presence instantly and charged towards it.

The problem started here.

The 4th cla.s.s monster failed in kidnapping Na YuNa due to Yumir. However, at that point, Na YuNa and Kang MiRae were already being swayed by the monsters. They ended up falling into the gate.

However, Yumir grabbed onto Kang MiRae’s sleeves and entered with her before anyone could say anything, and Ericia, who noticed that, told that to everyone. A few of the super elite wolves, including Flemir, threw their bodies into the gate, and the elves followed in. Erta, who noticed that a little after, also rushed into the gate.

“Erta-nim’s last words were ‘Tch, I can’t help it’.”
[That sounds as if Erta died!] (Liera)

Screamed Liera, but currently, she was hiding her presence against lower existences other than Yu IlHan. There was no way the wolf would hear her.

[So Erta’s fault was big for not seeing to Mir properly.] (Spiera)
[And so? What about the gate? Why did it close?] (Liera)

When Yu IlHan asked about that, the wolf gritted its teeth while it spoke.

“I’m sure that their target was Na YuNa from the beginning. After they were swept into the gate, the gate suddenly started decreasing in size. The allied angels panicked and gathered towards the gate, but the situation was already out of their hands. One of them said it was as if the world was completely closing itself.
[The world is completely closing itself? Like the Earth before the Great Cataclysm? How is that even possible?] (Liera)

Asked Liera. However, who would know the answer to something that even she, a 6th cla.s.s, doesn’t know the answer to? The group fell silent, and Yu IlHan sighed while muttering.

“Dammit. Angels are of no help after all……”
[Oh yeah, what about Feyta? What happened to her?] (Liera)
[Didn’t I say it? She was the traitor. Although I do not know whether she was one from the beginning or she had turned into one mid way, it seemed Erta had killed her.] (Spiera)
[Aha, I knew she was useless!] (Liera)
“Angels are of no help after all!”

That was the end of the explanation. Even while panicking, the humans first hunted all of the monsters that were freed on Earth, and Yu IlHan had arrived when that had ended.

“This is driving me insane.”

Although he did think that it would become slightly dangerous, never did he think that Yumir, who was so strong, would enter an Abandoned World on his own accord. Although Yu IlHan himself had also done it, he knew how dangerous it was precisely because he had.

He felt thankful for Ericia. It was thanks to her that Yumir’s reinforcements went over. If it wasn’t for her, Yu IlHan would have been more worried right now. Well, he was plenty worried right now too.
And Erta, he couldn’t forgive her. She would pay for it once she comes back. And as such, he wished for her to safely come back.

Yu IlHan absent mindedly looked at the ashen colored ball of magic power that remained in place of the gate, and spoke.

“Liera, please do something.”
[I can’t do anything.] (Liera)
“If you can open the gate, I’ll do everything I can.”
[……Okay, I’ll try. But please keep your promise.] (Liera)

Liera gulped and took out a spear from her embrace. Spiera calmed her down by chopping on her head with her hand.

[There’s nothing you can do. You will only drain strength.] (Spiera)
[But IlHan said!] (Liera)
[It is impossible. If there is any possibilities, it is exiting from inside that world.] (Spiera)

Exiting from inside that world? In a world where both the Destruction Demon Army and the Army of Brilliant Light, are influencing? Mir, by himself? Yu IlHan smiled bitterly.

A sense of powerlessness a.s.saulted his body. He had just cleaned up Ferata, but now it came to this…
He shouldn’t have sent them after all. If he made them wait for him in the house, then this wouldn’t have happened. It was Yu IlHan’s fault for sending them to such a dangerous place. He had misjudged the risks.

And when he came to that conclusion, his mentality that held out well even in Ferata, had cracked. Although Yu IlHan could become stronger endlessly against crisis and danger unto himself, thinking about how he lost his important ones due to his misjudgement, the force had instantly broke through the limits of his spirit.

His mouth automatically muttered powerless words.

“Whoa… this doesn’t make sense…….”

Spiera and Liera barely held him from collapsing on the spot. This would be fine at his house, but right now, the clan masters of various clans were looking at him. There would be nothing good by showing his weak side.

[IlHan, let’s make the wolves wait here, and have some sleep at home. I’m also very worried about Mir, but I’m worried about you even more. You really pushed yourself today, didn’t you? So let’s rest first. Let’s think about it after that, okay?] (Liera)
[That is right, Yu IlHan. I’ll watch over this place, so go rest with Liera.] (Spiera)

Yu IlHan barely held on. Looking around, everyone was looking at him. The situation looked very messy. The war had ended prematurely. And they were all waiting for the one to end it all.

“This place will be guarded by the wolves.”

Yu IlHan spoke in a powerless voice.

“Even if the gate opens again, I’ll guard this place myself. So, the battle had ended. Please go home. Prepare for the 2nd Great Cataclysm.”

The people all sighed. Even though Yu IlHan was no ruler above them, they all believed in Yu IlHan’s words. Like this, the short, but violent battle, had ended and the people of Earth that protected Earth, dispersed after paying their respects to others.

Even Michael Smithson of Metal Knights obediently lead his clan back home, and Yu IlHan was quite emotional to see that he was worried about Kang MiRae even on his way back. It was perhaps more correct to say that he had felt a sense of sympathy, since they were in the same situation.

[Yu IlHan, rest well. Leave the rest to me, and these weak wolves.] (Spiera)
“Do you want me to leave it to you or not?”

Yu IlHan laughed at Spiera’s words, and whispered to Layutinu to take care of this place. Layutinu seriously nodded and returned to wolf form.

That was the last. Yu IlHan headed back to Korea with Liera’s hand in his, and he took care of his equipment and washed himself, before falling asleep.
However, the moment he completely fell asleep, greentext started explosively appearing on his retina as it had waited for him to sleep.

[Yumir has become level 100. Yumir evolves into Immature Bl****d dragon.] 1
[The power of Dragon-man resonance becomes stronger due to the contractor, Yumir’s, growth, and it becomes possible to activate Dragonic Blood!]
[The skill, Rule, has become level 23 due to growth of subordinates!]
[The skill, Rule, has become level 25 due to growth of subordinates!]
[The skill, Rule, has become level 28 due to growth of subordinates!]

That, was an array of miracles that can never happen continuously, but unfortunately, Yu IlHan was asleep, and could not see those messages.

However, fortunately for him, this storm of records was merely the beginning of true growth. Although, only Yumir and co. knew what was happening in that Abandoned World!

Author"s notes

Translator"s notes

Translator: Chamber
Proofreader: Koukouseidesu