You, I, Strangers 15

[I won't lose to something like Orochi when I've come all this way!] (Reta)

[Kruooooo!] (Orochi)

While the magic formation was still pulsating mana into Yu IlHan's body while emitting blinding light, Yu IlHan, who had given up on controlling the vast amount of mana, felt the clash between two strong thoughts and waited until the conclusion.

On one side was a thought that left Yu IlHan's control with the help of the magic formation, and on the other was a thought that became Yu IlHan's loyal underling after suitable negotiation and conversation.

It was quite a strange feeling that he couldn't do anything even though it was something happening within him.

He would have eaten popcorn if there was any, but it was unfortunate that there wasn't. Yu IlHan resolved that he should carry around popcorn in his Cross Bag just in case something like this happens again.

[Damned dragonkin! Yes. I will kill you first!] (Reta)

[Kyahaaaaak!]

The two thoughts really did clash quite hard.

Although they were referred to as 'thoughts', in reality, they were fragments of souls. As compensation for acquiring Death Collector which absorbed and stored life force, he ended up absorbing the soul fragments that came along with it from time to time.

That was akin to poison. The kind that would become his weapon if he used it well, but could devour him from the inside if he made a mistake.

When he absorbed the life force and thoughts of numerous monsters he killed through Death Collector after he became Rookie Reaper, there was once a time when all kinds of berserk screams and roars of monsters assaulted him.

Yu IlHan had won against them with just a shout, but in truth, it wasn't over with just that much. If it wasn't Yu IlHan who owned a psyche that had endured a thousand years alone, one would not be able to remain calm against the echoes of countless souls that resented him.

This was the compensation for acquiring the powers of a death god. Although he never had the opportunity to become aware of that as his mental defences were very formidable, The power of an exceptional thought known as Reta Kar'iha, and her actions succeeded in changing Yu IlHan's awareness.

Due to that, Yu IlHan concluded that he should establish rule over the other thoughts and thus, ruled over the Orochi. Only then could he be considered as having become a true death god.

[Kyaaaaak!] (Reta)

The battle ended as he had wished. Of course, it was the Orochi's victory as he had devoured the powers of numerous dragonkin.

In the first place, Reta could be considered to have failed the moment Yu IlHan considered that Reta would betray him.

[H-how can this be....!] (Reta)

[Kyahaaaa!] (Orochi)

The Orochi laughed in front of the enemy's defeat. Yu IlHan also laughed.

This was the moment when he truly felt that the words 'Yesterday's enemy are today's allies, and today's allies are tomorrow's enemies' were true.

[Wait, I... still!] (Reta)

Spoke Reta in a resentful voice.

Normally in situations like these, one would say 'Any last words?' or 'Hmph, I can't kill you so easily. You need to suffer a pain worse than death!' and such useless stuff before getting counterattacked into a crisis, but Yu IlHan declared curtly as if to break all those clichés.

"Kill her."

[Kyahu!] (Orochi)

The Orochi also replied curtly. Then, it bit Reta to death.

Reta was destroyed without being able to scream a single syllable.

At the same time Reta's soul completely disappeared within Yu IlHan's soul, The light from the magic formation installed over the continent disappeared in an instant before silence and darkness pervaded the world. Yu IlHan had completely regained control of his body.

[Soul Transfer magic has been cancelled. The mana piled up in the elven empire's magic formation expands the pool of mana. Your Magic increases permanently by 115.]

The magic was cancelled, but the overwhelming amount of mana that had flowed into his body in order to let Reta's soul gain control over Yu IlHan fused with Yu IlHan as an alternative option and ended up expanding Yu IlHan's pool of mana.

This was the moment when his magic stat, which was lower than all of his other stats, surpassed them all at once. His abnormal stats compared to the returnees who had well-rounded stats finally got on track! (T/N: Yeah, right, his stats are 100 or higher than those of his level…)

He had just acquired a good enhancement during the period where he was worried that his mana was lacking.

Yu IlHan felt the amplification of the highly pure mana in his body, and the expansion of his mana pool and got excited as he muttered.

"So stats can increase like this. I think I want to go through that twice more."

[Don't play around with your life, I won't let this happen again!... Anyway, it's good that it ended well.] (Erta)

But that wasn't the end.

[You have absorbed the powers remaining in the mutated soul of Reta Kar'iha. Your power to govern souls increases exceptionally.]

[You have learned the skill, Soul Enchant. You can bestow a soul in your possession into an artifact. There is no chance of failure, and you can bring out more power of the soul within the artifact as your skill level rises.]

Was it because the Orochi did not eat Reta? Reta's soul which had grown quite a lot was absorbed into himself and gave him a small final present.

He had finally acquired a method to use Death Collector! Although it only applied to the fragmented souls and not the life forces!

"That's quite good just as Orochi grew up. Wait a little more. I'll give you your action time."

[Kroaaaaaar!] (Orochi)

Perhaps because it had acquired power thanks to Yu IlHan, the Orochi's answer was filled with vitality.

Thinking back, the deal between the Orochi and Yu IlHan was quite simple as well – the Orochi had only got on right away when Yu IlHan told it that it would eventually escape from the situation where it could only roar, and rampage around while being strengthened continuously by the thoughts and life forces he had acquired.

It was a shameless deal possible only for Yu IlHan, as he knew the dragonkin's greed for power! People of Earth referred to this as 'slave contract' but Yu IlHan' couldn't care less.

Of course, there was another reason why the Orochi could only accept this deal. There was no way Reta Kar'iha would have let it stay 'alive' when she took over Yu IlHan's body. So it was a win-win scenario anyway!

[Is it because Reta Kar'iha regained quite a lot of her powers when she was alive? Or was it the power of magic that strengthened her soul? I really didn't think that you'd get a skill.] (Erta)

"Oh, yeah. Now that I think about it…"

Hearing Erta's words, Yu IlHan remembered something as he flicked his finger. At that moment, a part of the magic formation under Yu IlHan's feet momentarily let out a faint light.

Erta blinked her eyes several times when she saw that.

[Yu IlHan, don't tell me you…?] (Erta)

"Yup. I think it's recognizing me as the master."

Although he could only use this in Dareu, that was enough, as he still had more than 200 dragons to fight against.

And every single one of them was stronger than the Orochi!

For Reta Kar'iha, it was an ambitious betrayal to find her new life, as a result, Yu IlHan gained a lot of things indescribable with just words. The definition of a death god, the power of the Orochi, magic, and even new possibilities and skills!

At this point, he even got suspicious whether Reta had sacrificed herself to help Yu IlHan.

"Thanks, Reta. You were a real bitch, but I will save Dareu! With the power you gave me! How is it, I'm quite loyal, no?"

[How can you sound so evil when you're doing something good…?] (Erta)

Although he had acquired many things, this wasn't the end. The main point hadn't even started.

Why did Reta bring her true colours out? Wasn't it because Yu IlHan had achieved all the conditions for the class advancement? Yes. Yu IlHan could now advance into 3rd class!

Yu IlHan's heart pounded more than ever before. More so than when he had created Black bone giant spear or Aegis. He was happier now than when he acquired 115 magic stats AND a skill related to souls thanks to Reta.

Perhaps it was because he was finally rewarded for his efforts.

[Will you advance into Blazing Reaper?]

"Of course."

Yu IlHan nodded.

At that moment, the world exploded.

~The End~

[You have become a Blazing Reaper. The effect of concealment increases by 20%. Attack power and critical hit rate increase by 40% when attacking an enemy in surprise. Attack power increases by 30% when fighting against lifeforms. Fire attribute resistance and fire attribute attack power increases by 20%.]

[All death god-category skill growth speed accelerates.]

[Absorbing the piled-up records. You have become level 134. +50 Strength, +50 Agility, +35 Health, +40 Magic.]

[You have learned the active skill, Blaze. The skill, Blaze, processes the collected life force into mana to make superheat boiling in the depths of hell. At the current skill level, 1, you can momentarily bestow the superheat into a weapon.]

[The abilities of the subclass, Angel's Partner, increases. You can contract an additional angel.]

[You can acquire another sub-class.]

[Yu IlHan]

[Human]

[Main – Blazing Reaper 134]

[Sub – Angel's Partner, Selectable]

[Title – Pancosmic Loner (Concealment becomes passive) and 7 others]

[Strength – 296 Agility – 295 Health – 249 Magic – 332]

[Active skills – Deathgod Lv 25, Mana Crafting Lv 43, Soul Enchant Lv 1, Blaze Lv 1, Superhuman Strength Lv 42, Leap Lv 42]

[Passive skills – Physical Combat Lv Max, Blunt Weapon Mastery Lv Max, Sword Mastery Lv Max, Dismantling Lv Max, Blacksmithing Lv Max, Language Lv Max, Spear of Untraceable Trajectory Lv 13, Absolute Accuracy Lv 9, Transcendent Regeneration Lv 41, Cooking Lv 49, Critical hit Lv 41, Extreme Poison Resistance Lv 39, Death Collector Lv 38, Higher Curse Resistance Lv 18]

Putting aside acquiring the power of a Blazing Reaper, Yu IlHan never expected that his level would increase by 35 at once and had to clench his teeth due to the sudden change in his physical body.

The feeling of his physical body being dragged onto the same level as his experience, suddenly increased the tier of his soul and didn't feel that good. To compare, it felt like his body was being spun around after being forced into a washing machine.

[Are you alright, Yu IlHan? That absurd class advancement mission…] (Erta)

"My insides are churning...!"

He felt as if his arm muscles were puffing up. Not just the muscles, even his blood boiled while acquiring a trait that belonged to a higher dimension, his skin cracked and regenerated, his bones were twisting, while expanding and contracting slightly before fixing itself and became sturdier.

If he focused, then he could feel the minute changes, but that only made his suffering more painful so Yu IlHan wished the change would be over quickly while closing his eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, his pain subsided as the change was completed. Yu IlHan opened his eyes slightly and heaved out a deep breath.

"Fuuuuuu."

[Good, You came to yourself before it was too late.] (Erta)

"How long did I take?"

[About 3 minutes. But you need to hurry. Yu IlHan, you should know why, right?] (Erta)

"Yup."

He wished to just sleep after rolling around on the floor for a while, but the situation wasn't so good.

A large number of dragons should know that there was a big battle between Yu IlHan and the other dragons, but as soon as the battle ended, the magic formation installed over the continent flashed and emitted mana.

Now, there would be no dragons that did not know of the connection between Yu IlHan and the formation. They should have realized that something serious had happened here, and would be running here at full speed to check.

"So, I need to wait here, and kill them as they come."

[How cool.] (Erta)

Normally, people would select the 'Run' command without any hesitation for their safety, but Yu IlHan didn't fit in with them

His mental fatigue was considerable, but it wasn't for just one or two days that he lived with it. And at the same time, after undergoing 35 level ups, at least his health and magic recovered so Yu IlHan would welcome them any time.

He had yet to collect the ballistas and the harpoons. Phrasing in another way, he could use it again when this place became a battlefield!

The problem was time. Due to the unexpected wave of pain, his already lacking time was even more lacking to the point that he had to reduce time for his jokes.

'I wanted to acquire a sub-class too. Well, not everything goes according to plan.'

He thought about whether there was a similar class to God's Hammer within his subclasses, and whether acquiring it would allow him to repair his equipments once more before the battle began, but all his expectations were for naught.

However, there was something else which Yu IlHan was even more angry about.

It was that even though he, who had been suffering due to the lack of an active skill, had finally(!) acquired an active skill, Blaze, which he looked forward to so much, it seemed that he had to try out its power in real battle.

He didn't even know how much mana or life force it used up, and how much a certain amount would last him, and how powerful it is, so wasn't this pitiful!?

[I said this before, but you haven't acquired a proper active skill beginning with your 1st class, it is very probable that the power was compressed into this single skill. You, know what I'm talking about, right?] (Erta)

"So it's super-powerful?"

[Although, it might come with a super-powerful mana consumption!] (Erta)

He was too busy to retort Erta. Yu IlHan hurriedly patched up the ballistas to the best of his ability, and loaded each one of them with 15 dragon bone arrows, re-embedding the pillars into the ground, sharpening the harpoons, and preparing his Black bone giant spear in order to use it at a moment's notice.

"Well, then... Ah shit."

[Did you think that they would wait?]

Nobody would have blamed them even if they were late, but as soon as he had finished, he could see enormous creatures over the horizon.

[Kruaaaaa!]

It was clearly an enemy and not one of Yu IlHan's allied dragons. And a strong enemy over level 220. Yu IlHan slightly adjusted the angle of one ballista.

[Krrrrrr, he was definitely here...?]

The dragon really was fitting of its level, as it was absurdly fast. The moment after it appeared on the horizon, it was now close enough for Yu IlHan to see each of its scales. Yu IlHan's ballista was aiming at its eye without the slightest shaking.

One horrifying fact was, that this giant ballista that Yu IlHan was holding was affected by his concealment to hide its presence completely from the dragon.

"Well, then. Prepare…."

Imbuing his resentment towards dragons, Yu IlHan shot the ballista with all his power.

"….And shoot!"

[Critical Hit!]

[Kgyaaaaak!]

The dragon screamed. All dragonkin would suffer equally in front of the 15 continuous shots from the giant ballista! The dragons that appeared after that also had to suffer due to the ballistas and the harpoons.

Yu IlHan, who had finished his 3rd class advancement, and was waiting to acquire his subclass, was waiting for the battle to quickly end while killing off the dragons and dragonkin that were flying to the uninhabited island.

However, his small wish did not come true. Because, as the battle became more intense, all dragonkin remaining in Dareu rushed over to this island to bring a start to an unprecedentedly chaotic fight.