You, I, Strangers 12

"Huff, huff..."

Yu IlHan panted and collapsed on the ground. The dragons' figures with wide-open mouths beyond the barrier were strangely funny.

[Yu IlHan, you aren't dead, right...?]

"Yeah, probably."

Yu IlHan turned his head to check whether his waist was snapped and spoke in a worried tone, before taking out a blood drink cheer pack and drinking it.

Transcendent Regeneration activated the moment his body acquired rest energy to heal the muscles that were ripped apart due to the aftereffects of the Superhuman Strength skill and rejoined his shoulder which was almost ripped apart by a dragon's claw.

Only after he checked that his ribs had no cracks did he let go of the blood drink from his mouth. A patient that looked like he was just about to leave the world recovered in moments.

"I drank all of that and only have 30 litres left now. That's a pain."

[It would be good if the dragons in your party noticed your crisis and came to help.] (Erta)

Erta seemed to expect external help, but Yu IlHan didn't expect it so much. Wasn't it all due to his ability that the Garden of Sunset allied with him?

But if the alliance held them back instead of helping them, then there was a possibility that they would just forget everything and give up on the plan.

"If you are conscious of the fact that you cannot believe anyone in the world, then you won't have to worry about getting backstabbed. Remember this, Erta."

[That's sad enlightenment...] (Erta)

Yu IlHan took out the anvil, the furnace, the hammer and various other blacksmithing tools before taking off his ragged armour.

"I should take Eternal Flame with me starting next time."

[That child won't go inside the Cross Bag.] (Erta)

Thinking that he should research on that matter later, he thought about what he could use to replace the flame, and he came up with Purple Flame from his Black bone giant spear.

It won't go off easily once he set a fire inside the furnace, and as it was aflame with a special attribute, its melting abilities were one of the best. Excluding the fact that it could not understand Yu IlHan's will unlike the Eternal Flame, and he had to focus quite a lot to compensate for that, it was a splendid choice.

Taking his top off, Yu IlHan was repairing the armour with what little Orochi bones and leather he had left, when Erta realized and spoke to him.

[Oh yeah, Reta couldn't enter again.] (Erta)

[Kroaaaaaaar!]

[....And the Orochi's here again?] (Erta)

"There's something I want to keep secret from her, heh!"

A secret, is he trying to make a present for her? – Erta's eyes sparked.

Wait, he was making a present for a formless shard of thought, but there was nothing for her! Although she caused him a lot of embarrassments until now, she should have helped out a lot since the time he came to Dareu, through the Angel's Support skill!

Even though she would realize that it was a misunderstanding if she thought a little more about it, the calm and rational Erta of the past had long since disappeared, and there was only the Poor Angel(2) who was going berserk with her newly-found emotions.

Regardless of the complaint that was blowing up in size infinitely, which stemmed from Erta's misunderstanding, Yu IlHan kept continuing to work. In this space where time had stopped, clear sounds of hammering endlessly rang out.

Even though he was having a life-and-death battle until moments ago, Yu IlHan was neither nervous nor hurried. He saw through the 2 months given to him, and paced himself in order to use that time fully.

This wasn't possible for just anyone. It was only possible for Yu IlHan, who had experienced the forgotten millennium on Earth. It wasn't a lie at all when Spiera said that Yu IlHan was fitting as the owner of the Hourglass of Eternity.

The armour was repaired soon, and the spear also became sharper than before. It was a little interesting to see that the spearhead was melting in the furnace even though it wasn't affected when he used the skill.

"Next is the shields…"

Yu IlHan poured out the damaged shields from his Cross Bag.

The 1000 shields of top quality, made from Orochi's hard bones and leather, had all become tatters without a single exception.

[....Do you think you can repair all that?] (Erta)

"I can't use the leather. As for the bones... Fortunately, they have metallic properties. I think I'll be able to use them again somehow if I melt them down."

Then, there was only one conclusion.

'That moment' had arrived.

The moment of dismantling!

"I want to dismantle the 3rd class ones too."

[Please hold back!] (Erta)

The number of 3rd class monsters he had hunted since he came to Dareu numbered over 35 thousand. It was a wonder that the Cross Bag was still holding out!

Although they were smaller than 4th class beings, as every one of them was a monster with over several meters of height, if he dismantled them all, the time limit for the barrier would be finished without him being able to do anything substantial.

"Yes, let's do that after we go back to Earth. The clans that would buy the higher equipment next season just became lucky."

[It seems you need to make a higher tier than higher equipment. Equipment made from dragonkin would be different in some ways.] (Erta)

Yu IlHan grumbled along with Erta before starting to dismantle the 4th class dragons. He equipped sharp dragon bone knives in both of his hands, and did a sword dance as parts of the dragon's corpse came out of the Cross Bag!

It was over quite quickly when he was dismantling the Orochi, but now that he had to dismantle over 900 dragons, the sword dance continued for several hours without rest.

Yu IlHan wielded the knives in both of his hands with his peak-level focus, while taking out the corpses from the Cross Bag at the same time, and the dragon corpses came out in a grand fashion but were ground, in a matter of minutes, into fine pieces that seemed suitable for display within the British Museum. Below that, a bucket made of special material was placed to hold the dragon's blood.

It was truly a grotesque scene, but how could it look so cool with Yu IlHan in the center? – Erta watched the scene dumbfoundedly.

The dismantling finished and Yu IlHan was left with 18 4th class magic stones.

"1/5 is bullshit. It's more like 1/50."

[But dragons have a possibility of having a Dragon HEART!] (Erta)

"Yes, but I got none."

[That's true.] (Erta)

Even though he had taken out the hearts of those dragons carefully each time, none looked like a Dragon HEART.

Damn, it's a heart but it isn't a HEART.

[Dragon HEARTs are written with capitals, and normal hearts aren't. You can just think of it as a proper noun.] (Erta)

"Thanks for the easy-to-understand info, Ertawagon."

Closing his short-lived, but grand dream of a Dragon HEART, Yu IlHan threw the separated dragon bones into the Purple Flame burning inside the furnace. Looking at it now, it seemed that he had to make another furnace first from dragon bones as the current one looked like it would melt at any moment.

[Yu IlHan, what do we do with all these hearts?] (Erta)

"Just gather them on one side. I might be able to make something from it."

[Now you're ordering an angel around…] (Erta)

Even while grumbling, Erta gathered the hearts in one place. Since the huge bucket that stored the dragon's blood was around 70% filled, she just threw them all in there. Seeing the red and hideous hearts floating in the black sea of blood was quite a shocking experience.

[It's my first time seeing so many dragon hearts in one place. Well, it wasn't that I met dragons often even when I was a 4th class.] (Erta)

Before she became an angel, it was not an easy thing for her to hunt a dragon either. She was a mage, and had high attack power but had feeble defence and had to endure a long chant.

In regards to that, Yu IlHan could just be said as amazing. Although it was true that he was under the support of frightening equipment and the skill known as Angel's Support, from his current rate of growth, it wouldn't be long until he surpassed Erta's power when she was a lower existence.

More beings gained the potential for infinite growth thanks to the contact with the Akashic Records than there were grains of sand on the beach, but very rarely do those people reach the realm of higher existences. As such, no matter how great of a hero one may be, it was difficult to say if that person would become a higher existence or not.

However, what about Yu IlHan? Wouldn't he become a higher existence like it was nothing?

[If you gain the possibility of a higher existence... Will, you really come to us?] (Erta)

As she knew that Yu IlHan wouldn't be aware even if lightning struck right next to him due to him working, Erta muttered out loud while looking at Yu IlHan. It seemed he hadn't heard her as he kept hammering away.

Time flowed past.

Yu IlHan made 3000 new shields using the overflowing dragon bones and leather.

They were all at least of unique rank, and 5 of them luckily became legend rank, obtaining incomparable defence power compared to the others.

He wouldn't have thought so much if they were all unique, but now that he came out with 5 legend rank ones, Yu IlHan became severely conflicted.

"It would be good if I group up the legend and leave them on one side."

[It would be difficult even for you to differentiate between the shields in your Cross Bag, right?] (Erta)

He really wanted to retort to her, but frustratingly, she was right.

Other than the fact that they were of legendary rank, the outer appearance of those shields didn't look that different from the unique ranked ones. Even though he became used to the remote collection function of the Cross Bag, it was difficult for him to pick out the 5 legend ones amongst 1000 shields that were identical to each other.

Then what should he do? Normally, people use money when they encounter problems that they cannot solve by themselves. With that, most of them are solved. Yu IlHan also came to know of that method quite recently. Using money when necessary brings miracles!

As such, Yu IlHan took out a 4th class magic stone.

[Yu IlHan!?] (Erta)

"That's one small step for me, one giant leap for shield-kind!"

[NASA will hunt you down!] (Erta)

All the shields had undergone mana crafting once with 3rd class magic stones. He even cut out the heads of the 3rd class dragons for the magic stones without dismantling them.

Since they had undergone mana crafting, there might not be any changes even if he imbued the power of magic stones.

However, Yu IlHan wanted to believe in the legend rank. If it was the shields that had acquired legend rank within the same conditions as the other shields, he believed that they would be able to endure a 4th class magic stone!

[If you're trying to tie 5 of them into one by mana crafting, you're doing something similar to when you made the armour and the robe, no?] (Erta)

"Oh yeah. Now that I think about it, I went through the pains of attaching those options onto the armour and the robe, but I never even used them."

That couldn't be helped. 3rd class ones were usually over with a single hit, and 4th class ones wouldn't be damaged with just that. In any case, the experience from last time helped so it was fine!

Yu IlHan layered the 5 legend rank shields neatly, and placed one hand on top of them while grabbing on the 4th class magic stone which was emitting a frightening but brilliant light.

He closed his eyes to focus and wished dearly while activating mana crafting.

"Please let me be able to use those 5 shields together!"

At that moment, a blinding light flashed. As Yu IlHan wished for a miracle, it happened.

The 5 artifacts all emitted light and were being completed into a single artifact!

[Aegis]

[Rank – Legend]

[Defense – 7,200]

[Options –

35% increase in defence

Nullifies critical strikes at a certain probability

Reflects a portion of physical and magical damage when hit at a certain probability.

Can move according to the user's will with the use of mana]

[Durability – 13,500/13,500]

[A single artifact comprised of 5 legend rank shields. The crafter that had a deep comprehension of each of the artifacts succeeded in tying the 5 shields into one with the combination of his exceptional mana crafting ability and the pure magic stone. If this artifact accompanies the owner and gains records and achievements, then it may perhaps advance to the next stage.]

"Huh..."

Due to the unexpected gain, Yu IlHan was at a loss. Erta was at an even more of a loss.

[There's a limit for pigs flying! This is almost Heavenly Cloud Gathering Sword-tier!] (Erta)

"4th class magic stones sure are amazing!"

With a slightly off opinion, Yu IlHan tried inserting mana into Aegis to lift them into the air.

As expected, the simple-looking 4th option was more than he had expected.

The 5 shields could be formed into a flower-like form to make a huge defensive layer, and maybe layered into a single sturdy shield, and could even be spun around Yu IlHan to protect him from all sides. There were many uses to it.

Of course, he would be able to recreate that phenomenon to a certain point with his Cross Bag, but since they were moving real-time according to Yu IlHan's will, it would be a huge difference in actual battle.

Thinking that he had earned an extra life, Yu IlHan stored the Aegis into his Cross Bag. He couldn't use such a piece of life-saving equipment so early on. As he had planned, he would use them in the final fight.

Whenever miracles occurred, they occurred coincidentally in unexpected places. This was the moment where one of the artifacts that would represent him, was born.