"I will now talk about what I have planned for the future."
Earth. Yu IlHan spoke with a voice that was neither loud nor soft, to the ones who were looking at him including his mother and his son.
"As you can feel right now, the growth speed of Earth is very, tremendously, a little annoyingly…… fast."
Everyone nodded their heads. It hadn"t been long since Earth experienced its 3rd Great Cataclysm, but the concentration of mana on Earth was thicker than most worlds after the 4th Great Cataclysm.
And the concentration of mana was becoming thicker right now as well. From the moment the h.e.l.l dungeon, where all sorts of demons roamed about, was fused completely with Earth, its growth had accelerated even further. The 4th cla.s.s monsters which were once considered disaster-level, could now be seen frequently if you walked about.
"Originally, I tried to accelerate the growth speed of Earth. I wanted to give the privilege of returning to Earth for the people of Earth currently residing in other worlds. However, it worked a little too well, and from the current state of things……."
At this rate, Earth would enter the realm of higher worlds in a few years, and the seal on Earth will be lifted, allowing the people of Earth to come back, though, they would be wiped out by the horrifying monsters of Earth. This was the perfect situation of "too much is worse than too little".
So, he needed to tweak his plans slightly.
"There are two major things we have to do. First is to slow down the growth of Earth, and I think I can solve this to an extent with the artifact I designed and will create with the help of the mages here. I"m also going to activate the Hourgla.s.s of Eternity whenever possible."
"This is about slowing down the growth of an entire world, but you"re saying it like it"s no hard job, huh?"
"I accelerated the growth like without much difficulty so, it"s nothing new to me."
Yu IlHan wasn"t familiar with magic before, but right now, he had exceptional mages on his side with Kim YeSeul, Kang MiRae and Erta. Although it was annoying to talk to her, Helièna was also superb in her abilities. He had the confidence to succeed if it was with them.
"The second is to form and raise as much battle force as possible before Earth becomes a higher world. Only like that could we able to defend against any invaders. One of the forces is the Dragon"s Army and…… from now, I"m planning to go around various worlds connected to the people of Earth to procure allies."
"My dear, IlHan said he"ll actually look for allies of his own accord……!"
"Please don"t look at me like a child debuting at a playground!"
One of the biggest forces, Kim YeSeul, was quite difficult for Yu IlHan to act against. Yu IlHan retorted to the best of his abilities to his touched mother and continued speaking.
"Naturally, it will be impossible to visit all worlds that the people of Earth were scattered to. First, I"m planning to search the ones belonging to the Front Line Alliance first. Fortunately, that will become a lot easier thanks to Miss MiRae acquiring an ability to move across worlds.
"Does that mean-"
"Yes."
Kang MiRae"s expression immediately darkened as she had predicted what his answer was. However, Yu IlHan was merciless and continued speaking without any hesitation.
"I"m planning to split up the members. I will be on the Guardian fortress, and Miss MiRae will be on the Flying fortress. For concealment, Mir will also be on the Flying fortress, and as for the rest, you will be suitably split up between the two……"
When Yu IlHan said up to that point, a fierce battle of wits started. A war-like psychological warfare! As if to pour cold water on all of them, Yu IlHan took out a piece of paper.
"……fortresses as I"ve listed according to level and cla.s.s on this paper."
"……"
Yu IlHan won"t always be done in. Everyone looked at Yu IlHan as if they"ve been betrayed, but he did not allow for any objections or arguments.
Yu IlHan made all members that had reached 4th cla.s.s other than Helièna and Kim YeSeul onto Kang MiRae"s side, and he forcefully proceeded with it despite Liera"s strong protests.
"Please take care of any danger, Liera."
"Ugggggggh. I"m fine with everyone else but why are you taking that succubus!"
[Oh my, miss ex-angel is quite worried, eh?]
Helièna smirked at Liera when she protested. Her leisurely smile made Liera even more angry.
"Of course I am! Why do I go with Kang MiRae but you take that succbus!"
[Do I really have to put it into words? It"s obviously because my darling likes…….]
"It"s because the very existence of this thing is a bomb so only I can treat it with caution. And since Helièna and I are here, I can only put the majority of the rest with Miss MiRae."
Yu IlHan told her the cold and hard truth in place of Helièna"s teasing. Helièna pouted since she was treated like a ticking bomb.
[You should have just said you wanted to protect me. Darling really is embarra.s.sed.]
"Then we"ll depart like this. Oh, before that, communication devices."
Yu IlHan distributed new communication devices. Although it didn"t look that much different from before, the aura inside it provoked a few ex-angels.
"IlHan, this is……."
"The angel"s ring!?"
Just as Liera was about to say something, Erta shouted instead. Yu IlHan only gleefully smiled at the two shocked angels.
"I couldn"t find a better alternative to send intentions through dimensions. Thanks to that, we can call each other however and whenever we want even if we"re in different dimensions!"
"Yu IlHan, you should really learn what consideration is…… uuuu!"
"Hmmm, it does nag me a little, but I guess it"s fine since I can talk to IlHan even when we"re far apart……."
"No! I can"t accept this!"
Things were wrong since he started using dragon made equipment when he was with a dragon, Yumir. Liera thought "it"s fine since we"ve already come this far", but Erta still couldn"t accept it. Yu IlHan licked his lips and extended his hand towards Erta.
"Then you give it back."
"That"s……."
Erta pondered for a moment, but she still put the communication device in her bosom in the end. Reality always required one to look away even when you know something. This was such a moment. Yu IlHan laughed and cleared up the situation.
"Then we"ll depart immediately. I guess it should be better if Miss MiRae and the others check up on your own families first."
"Thank you for your consideration. We shall do that."
"You must at least give me a comm three times a day. Aside from that, please tell me whenever something arises as well. I"ll immediately go there."
"Understood."
"IlHan, I"ll kill you if you cheat on me! I"ll know with the blessing of the G.o.d of love!"
"Needless worry, you"re the only one for me."
The group split up. The reason he left the Flying fortress was of course because the gear was better in the Flying fortress, and also because Mystic could control it of her own accord even without him around. The Flying fortress is originally supposed to be under the control of the Flying fortress, but it also had the function to be operated by Yu IlHan if needed be, so there were no problems.
"Then where are you planning to go first, son?"
Seeing Kang MiRae and co. going over the gate on the Flying fortress, Kim YeSeul asked her son. Yu IlHan shrugged his shoulders and replied.
"I"m going to gather the people with the most responsibility I know of, at the same time being as strong as the elite guilds."
"As strong as the elite guilds? Even though you told all of us that you"d gather them first, the first target isn"t a guild?"
"Yeah, these guys are the only exceptions."
The people he was referring to was none other than the proud strong friends of Korea, Suppression! If they, who maintained their places to protect the citizens even while being treated poorly by the country, there was no need to doubt about their personalities.
The second criterion of his judgement was of course, battle capability, and until the moment the 3rd Great Cataclysm arrived, Suppression had levels and skills that didn"t lose out to any other 1st rate guilds, so there was no need to worry about that either. And most decisively,
"Suppression are relatively cohesive in regards to which troops they are from. So I only have to go around 14 worlds to collect them all."
["only" 14 worlds, huh? Ufufu.]
Helièna giggled when she heard Yu IlHan"s nonchalant words.
[It really is surprising. Until now, there was no lower existence that could leap through dimensions like that, you know? But somehow, TWO such miraculous beings were born in the small world known as Earth. How did that happen?]
He shrugged his shoulders and replied.
"Perhaps it was destined the moment humankind of Earth was scattered throughout other worlds."
[Fufu, it really is interesting to be with you, darling. I think it"s gonna be much more fun in the future too.]
"Hah, it will be sooo interesting, I know."
"Enjoying everything is a good thing, son. If you don"t get into danger because of it, that is."
[Oh my, you understand me, huh?]
The Heaven"s Army, the Army of Brilliant Light, the Destruction Demon Army, the Garden of Sunset - just thinking about them made him sick but "interesting"?
Of course, it was a good thing that he had made her, who can treat all that as "interesting", into an ally, but he would only make a loss if he was swept by her thoughts and emotions. This was also why he put Kim YeSeul into his group. As long as his mother was with him, he had the confidence to maintain his calm state.
"Let"s look for their big guy first then. I really hope he is still alive."
"Son, you"ve become strong."
"Yeah, though, I feel a little sad because I feel like I"m becoming numb to death."
Yu IlHan immediately activated Warp. His destination was the world Midora, where Colonel Yoon DaeHan and 39 of his subordinates were residing in. This was a world he looked for the first time, but as he had come into contact with the colonel several times, finding that world and recording it was not such a difficult thing.
"This word is a 2nd…… No, a 3rd?"
Estimated Yu IlHan when he arrived at Midora successfully, and saw the concentration of mana in the air. Since he had experienced so many worlds, this much was nothing much to him now.
"It really is a different world. Amazing."
"I"m sorry, mom. I don"t think we have the time to leisurely go around touring."
"But how are you planning to find them all when it"s not just one or two that we"re looking for?"
When Kim YeSeul asked in confusion, Yu IlHan raised a hand with a faint smile. Invisible magic power flowed out from his hand and came into contact with the world, when his Record skill activated and started reading the world.
"……Just now, what did you…"
[Oh my…… I think I"m falling for you all over again, darling.]
Kim YeSeul was surprised after seeing the absurd ability of the Record skill up close, and the Succubus Queen Helièna made a thick smile. Not so long after, Yu IlHan severed the flow of magic power from his hand and spoke.
"Found them all."
"Did you say you just found them all? All 40 of them?"
"5 of them died, but yeah. They are together as I predicted."
"……Amazing."
While Kim YeSeul renewed her evaluation of her son"s capabilities, Yu IlHan activated Warp again to the place where Colonel Yoon DaeHan was battling with his subordinates.
[Kroaaaaaaaaaar!]
"Don"t retreat. It"s aiming for that opening!"
"We can"t kill this. It"s impossible for us!"
"We can! The reason we"ve crawled into this forest is right in front of us. We can do it if we don"t give up!"
Battling a 4th cla.s.s giant snake of level 230, the soldiers shouted all sorts of things. At that place, there were other people than just the soldiers, but Yu IlHan could immediately recognize who belonged to Suppression; they were still using the artifacts that Yu IlHan made.
[What are you planning to do with those humans that are struggling against such a trash, darling?]
"You probably have a hard time believing, but they are within the top 0.0001% of Earth with their abilities."
[Oh my, can we really defend a higher world with those scrubs?]
"Hmph."
Yu IlHan snorted at her and took out a dragon bone spear.
"I"ll make them all into 4th cla.s.s before Earth becomes a higher world, so don"t worry."
Then, he threw it lightly without thinking much about it.
[Kuaaaaaaaaak!]
The thrown spear fell like a comet from the air and pinned the body of the snake onto the ground. When the snake struggled while scattering green blood everywhere, the ones that were prepared to receive an attack from it were all put at a loss.
"Where did this attack come from?"
"Ah, look at the sky! The sky!"
Even though Yu IlHan avoided hitting the vitals of the snake on purpose, the snake was put half to death. Anyway, it didn"t die instantly so the figure of the Guardian fortress was revealed, and the people doubted what they were seeing.
"Colonel Yoon DaeHan!"
Preparing to jump down from the Guardian fortress with his Ruin Calling open, Yu IlHan shouted.
"Come back with me to protect Earth!"
"No!"
The reply unexpectedly arrived quite soon. It seemed like Yoon DaeHan realized that the owner of the spear was Yu IlHan the moment he saw it on the snake.
But anyway, "no"? He wasn"t supposed to reject so easily. Just as when Yu IlHan tilted his head and was about to shout again, Yoon DaeHan shouted in a confident and strong voice towards the sky.
"I was promoted a little more while I was still on Earth!"
"Ah, I"m sorry."
This was the moment when "Major-General" Yoon DaeHan and his 35 subordinates joined the Earth defense force.
Needless to say, this was merely the beginning.
Author"s notes
Ranks are importantTranslator"s notes
I guess that makes $139 now (sponsor queue update)
Translator: Chamber
Proofreader: Koukouseidesu