"What the hell is that!"
"It's raining golem fragments…..!"
"A drill! So cool!"
Yu IlHan's new weapon shocked not only the golem, but the others as well. He actually used the bone ammo as a screw? And equipped an 'electronic' driver?
Above all, he was grinding that giant golem in real-time!
[Kuwaaaaak!]
"Uoooooh!"
[So fast! He's already dug 5 meters!] (Liera)
[Frustrating... so frustrating!] (Erta)
Meanwhile, Yu IlHan had learned a new skill. He had entered a realm he hadn't in his one thousand years of solitude.
[You have acquired the skill, Excavation. All abilities related to excavation rise as the skill level rises, and the quality of the items excavated becomes higher as well.]
Never did he imagine there would come a day he'd learn such a skill!
"There really is no end to the path of labour."
[I'm actually starting to be scared now that he may try to master all possible paths of manual labour...] (Liera)
Liera retorted to Yu IlHan's honest remark. Yu IlHan wanted to retort to her about what she saw him as, but he wasn't one to talk, since he was literally grinding a golem, so he held back.
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 2.]
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 3.]
[The skill, Excavation...]
[The skill....]
The more he dug into the golem's body, the more the drill spun and scattered the metal fragments around as the Excavation skill level rose. No matter how skilled Yu IlHan was in labour, it was abnormal for a skill to rise so rapidly from level 1.
However, the 'target' of excavation right now, in terms of the excavation realm, could be considered to be the final boss, a golem made of archaic alloy metal! It was no wonder the proficiency increase was incomparable to swinging pickaxes to dig iron ore!
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 15.]
Originally, the skill had to rise even faster, but since the scattered fragments that comprised the golem's body were still controlled by the golem, Yu IlHan's excavation was, in fact, not successful at all.
Meaning, Yu IlHan was actually piling skill proficiency while trying and failing! It could be seen how amazing and horrifying an opponent this golem was.
[Guwooooooooh!]
While Yu IlHan was enjoying a two-birds-with-one-stone time of training skills and training skills, the golem felt a sense of crisis from its body being ground apart. Even when it tried to regenerate its body by picking the fragments back up, the puny humans beneath its feet were desperately preventing that, so it couldn't do so!
So, it ended up choosing the extreme choice. The enormous amount of records and mana it had piled up over a long period of time on this stone mountain! – Utilizing all of that, it had implemented a trump card attack that should have been impossible for it normally!
"Huh?"
Since Yu IlHan was focusing on drilling through the golem's body, the first one to notice the change was Na YuNa.
"The ruins are emitting some strange light!"
"Why would the ruins glow….. everyone back off!"
Kang MIRae shouted after her. After that, the entrance exploded with a 'boom!' and the white metals composing the corridor inside all shot up into the air! Na YuNa shouted with shiny eyes as soon as she saw that!
"It's a fusion!"
"Stop! Stop that!"
Shouted Kang Mirae while shooting a spear of lightning. A strong lightning, that was way above just 3rd class magic, struck on a portion of the white lumps of metal, but the mysterious metal didn't seem to be damaged at all.
"Haaap!"
The next batter was Yumir. As he had seen Kang MiRae's failure just now, he tried to blow them far away instead of destroying them, but the metal actually completely devoured the windstorm he had made. This was a dragon's magic, albeit 3rd class, we're talking about!
"*Cries*, dad!"
When he failed, he looked for his dad! Fortunately, at that time, Yu IlHan had also sensed the change in the stone mountain. Right now, only the metals making up the ruins were reacting, but in Yu IlHan's eyes, this golem's deeds wouldn't stop there.
From the minute vibrations on the ground, or the suspicious movement of mana, he was quite sure. In the worst-case scenario, the entire Stone Mountain may as well disintegrate and fuse into the golem's body!
"Ugh, I can't help it…..!"
Even while grumbling that he was about to be robbed of everything when he had just come here to learn magic engineering, he took out the next set of cards he had.
While he himself was still holding onto the Death Driver, he called out something using the remote collection function of his inventory, onto the top of the golem's shoulders, which was...
"Death Ballista Quartet!"
[The names are quite generic.] (Liera)
[But do you really have to shout like that every time you take something out?] 1
[Do you not know, Erta, it's where his dreams lie in.] (Spiera)
Surrounding the massive hole Yu IlHan had made while digging, four huge ballistas appeared in the east, west, south, and north directions. They were loaded with cartridges containing up to 50 sharp blades.
Actually, from its appearance alone, it didn't look that much different from the installation-type ballista he had made before. 2, but he refused comparisons with those, as this 'did not need human hands to operate'.
"Hup! Eat some bone spears, you alien monster!"
Yu IlHan let go of the drill for a moment, and took out 4 3rd-class magic stones from his inventory and threw them fast. When the four magic stones emitted bright light in the air, the ballistas, now supplied with mana for activation, all started firing.
They first stuck themselves on the ground and adjusted their trajectory with squeaking sounds, before aiming at the metal fragments that tried to fuse to the golem's body.
The magic gunpowder and the Giant's Rubber Band he had made a lot of were used in those ballistas, so they had incomparable destructive power from before, and they were starting to smash into pieces the white metals that tried to regenerate the golem!
[Critical Hit!]
"What the hell is it now!"
"That looks painful."
"Mr. Yu IlHan. Did you really not learn any magic engineering…..?"
"We don't have any time to speak! Your Highness, the entire Stone Mountain is trembling!"
[Kuguguoooooooouuuuuuuh!]
The golem also noticed what was happening on its shoulders. The metal it called out to recover its body was exploding and raining down!
However, just that alone wasn't enough to extinguish its will. The mana in this area was already resonating with it. Accepting the will to become stronger and sturdier in order to defeat the invaders, the mana was given to the land to use.
[Kuoooooh!]
If it was impossible top-down, then it will just start from the bottom! The lands that the people were setting foot on arose as if they had a will of their own and fused into the golem's body. Naturally, earthquakes occurred, holes appeared everywhere, and people on the ground had to focus on saving themselves first rather than fighting.
At this moment, this golem was the ruler of the area!
[You're going to die trying to learn magic engineering!] (Liera)
[Ah, we're doomed. The ruins completely collapsed!] (Erta)
"It's alright. it will be fine if we do something about the golem!"
[Splendid, Yu IlHan. That's the spirit!] (Spiera)
[In my eyes, he just seems hopelessly optimistic, though!?] (Erta)
Yu IlHan gritted his teeth and put more strength into gripping the Death Driver. In any case, Yu IlHan was digging deeper into its body. If he drilled all the way to the bottom, then no matter how it tried to reinforce itself, it would fail to move!
"The ruins completely collapsed!"
"The collapsed ruins are all fusing with the golem!"
Regardless of whether the grounds were collapsing, or the fact that the body of the golem was getting larger as time passed, Yu IlHan only focused on drilling through the golem. He poured as much mana as he had and focused on the drill and on himself.
Labour was something that would rapidly increase in efficiency the moment the body and soul looked towards one direction! Like how Yu IlHan became one with the spear once before, and one with the sword, he became one with the drill and kept digging through the golem!
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 30. Efficiency related to all excavation increases, and you're now able to excavate magic metals that cannot be excavated by normal means.]
That was the moment of a miracle.
[Guhuk, Guwoooooaaaaah!]
The white metal fragments that still moved after being drilled by Yu IlHan, under the golem's control, all stopped moving!
Yes. Becoming able to excavate magic metals meant that the magic metals excavated by Yu IlHan were no longer under the golem's control. Of course, he had to spend a certain amount of mana in order to possess the magic metal, but right now, that was hardly a burden!
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 31.]
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 32.]
[The skill, Excavation,....]
[The skill...]
When the possession of the magic metals he couldn't acquire until now, all came over to Yu IlHan, the Excavation skill started rising rapidly again.
However, Yu IlHan ignored all the level-up notices on his retina and did what he had to do now, which was putting all the stationary magic metals into his inventory. Before the golem started doing anything else with it!
"Huh."
"Somehow it feels like the golem's pressure is being reduced….. is it just me?"
Nope.
Well, the golem's body was increasing faster than Yu IlHan could dig, but that was all just boulders making up the stone mountain. The core power behind the golem, the magic metal, was entering Yu IlHan's inventory in real-time!
[Guwoh, Guwoooooooooh!]
The golem roared as if to say that it was unacceptable to be excavated by a human while alive. At that moment, sharp spikes protrude from the wall of the hole that Yu IlHan had dug through with the Death Driver and the bone screw!
"Kergh!?"
[Yu IlHan!] (Erta)
[It can change the form inside its body as well!?] (Liera)
Shouted Erta and Liera in shock. Yu IlHan avoided injury as he had called out Aegis as soon as he sensed a change in mana, but the golem focused on shape shifting its insides, and pulled out tens, hundreds, thousands of spikes!
Not only that, slowly, very slowly, but surely, the hole Yu IlHan had dug was shrinking as well. Since Yu IlHan had put all the pieces of metal making up the body into his inventory, this wasn't regeneration. It was just compressing the body like mad while making up the outer parts with just boulders!
Yu IlHan did not let go of the Death Driver even after confirming that the hole was shrinking, but he couldn't help but sweat cold sweat as hundreds of metal spikes hit Aegis.
"I think I saw a similar scene in Saw...!"
[Kyaaaak! Don't mention such a scary movie!] (Liera)3
No matter how good the defence was on Aegis, he couldn't guarantee that they could hold out forever. Yu IlHan checked while blocking the spikes that appeared from below him.
"How much further do I need to dig until I reach the ground?"
[You are almost all the way through the magic metal parts. No matter how it tries to form its body using boulders from the mountain, in the end, the reason it can move its body was because it is made of magic metals, so if you can sever that, you can kill it. The problem is that...] (Erta)
[Is that we'll get swallowed up before that happens. Yu IlHan, we need to escape this place first.] (Spiera)
"No." Yu IlHan interjected.
"There's no solution if we attack from the outside. We need to finish it from the inside. So... Let's use the final card."
He sighed a little. Had he mastered excavation, he wouldn't have needed to undertake such risks!
Yu IlHan boldly put away the Death Driver into his inventory. The golem roared in victory after noticing that the drill had stopped, but Yu IlHan hadn't died yet!
He covered his entire body with Aegis and took a deep breath.
"I really didn't want to use this."
[Uuuh, that sounds very suspicious.] (Liera)
[Yu IlHan, no matter how high your fire attribute resistance is, that's just….] (Erta)
'It's alright. Probably."
The most important thing has started now. While the bone screw was still holding out inside the golem! Yu IlHan's eyes glistened mysteriously.
Even now, the inside of the golem's body was shrinking little by little. If the bone screw were ejected, then it would immediately try to fill the gap. Yu IlHan planned to plant a bomb before that gap was filled – using the swap technique he had practiced so much. Collecting and releasing at the same time!
"Fuu."
If he didn't do it precisely, then Yu IlHan's life would be in danger as well. Although he had fire attribute resistance, he had no explosion resistance. So he had to prevent himself from being hit by the explosion, no matter what.
He stared at the bone screw, and at one moment, he blinked. Immediately after that, the bone screw disappeared, and the golem shrank that part and filled the gap. It really was a blink of an eye – a moment that seemed like no one could do anything about it.
Even as the hole was shrinking towards him, Yu IlHan was smiling.
====
[Yu IlHan, now....?] (Erta)
[Now!] (Liera)
"Yes, now!"
While Erta was unsure, Liera was, and Yu IlHan agreed while crouching in a fetal position. At that moment, a grand explosion occurred!
[Kuwaaaaaaaaah!]
"Uaaaaaaah!"
The golem roared, but the one who actually wanted to scream was Yu IlHan. The effect of the explosion was so large that, Yu IlHan's body sprung upwards due to the impact! He only endured while putting his faith into Aegis and his armour. Also…..
"Damn, this thing still isn't dead! Then..."
[You really are going to do that? Do you have to do it?] (Liera)
"I don't know anymore!"
Yu IlHan took out his Eight-tailed dragon spear, and activated purple flames, enhanced it with the Eternal Flame, and activated the Dragonic blood-enhanced Blaze.
[Are you really going to do it?] (Liera)
[You'll really die!] (Erta)
"If I die.... please blast my the (D:) drive on my laptop to smithereens without asking!"
An absurdly high temperature appeared on the spear, and Yu IlHan struck beneath his foot with it.
"Uooooh!" (This is MC)
BOOOOOOM! An explosion incomparable to the one just now occurred! The once-exploded magic gunpowder on various parts of its body (scattered due to the first explosion) was affected by Blaze and caused a secondary explosion!
[Kuooooooh!]
The true might of the bomb only started now. The magic gunpowder scattered deep inside its body amplified the already volatile energy of Blaze to the extreme and instantly melted its body into a pool of magma. That which melted the golem's body also tried to melt Yu IlHan as well.
No matter how high Yu IlHan's fire attribute resistance was, it was impossible to endure without a single scratch amidst all that. In the pain that made him feel like his guts were melting, he gulped on Breath like mad and endured. He actually found it quite endurable after a while.
"Hey, it's actually pretty warm once you get used to it…"
[Even a higher existence like me is feeling hot! What was that!?] (Spiera)
[IlHan, come to yourself! You must not sleep!] (Liera)
[I can understand your worry for him, but that's a death flag for the snowy mountains!] (Erta)
How long had he endured in that state? The moment Yu IlHan decided to take out a new cheer pack, the surroundings turned silent as if everything was a lie. Until just now, his ears were almost numb from the golem's roars, the churning of the insides, and the trembling from everywhere, but now they had all disappeared.
Immediately after that, the text that signified his victory was etched onto his retina.
[You have earned 488,910,776,003 experience.]
[You have become level 162. 2 Strength, 2 Agility, 2 Health, 2 Magic increases.]
[You have earned the record of Lv 270 Keshna Golem.]
"Urgh."
And at that moment, an enormous quantity of information flowed into Yu IlHan's head. To exaggerate a little, it was similar to the time he received the blessing from the god of smithing.
Yu IlHan didn't imagine that such a thing would happen, but the golem named 'Keshna Golem' had absorbed the records of the ruins in the process of fusing everything into its body, and with Yu IlHan defeating the Keshna Golem, all the records had flowed into Yu IlHan's brain now!
No… well, to be exact, this was precisely what those ancestors intended!
"This fucker! This is no trap, but something that would activate either way!"
[Sheesh, there really are some lunatics out there. Do you think humanity dies out in places because of psychos like this one…? (Liera)
Of course, it wasn't like the magic engineering researchers had intentions to destroy the empire with a golem levelling 270. The problem was the golem they had created!
Keshna. This magic metal possessed incredible mana absorbability, tensile strength and was counted as one of the highest-tier metals, but other than that, if it was processed through a special means, it became possible for it to absorb the records from another object and preserve them in its entirety.
That was why the ancestors created a golem from it, intending for it to absorb the records and enable the successors to defeat it and absorb all of those records!
..... That was the original intention, but the record absorbability of the Keshna Golem was beyond their imaginations. It would have been good if it had just ended with absorbing the magic engineering-related records, but while it was waiting in the darkness, it had rapidly grown stronger by absorbing all sorts of other records!
Contrary to the ancestors' intentions for a successor to find the place soon, it was left alone for countless years, and the golem, which became stronger through absorbing records alone for a long period of time, had actually broken through to the 4th class, and reached level 270!
And, as intended, it lifted its body in order to defeat the invaders. Result being the scene that had just taken place.
In other words, the ancestral researchers wanted to make a 'golem that can act as a device to transfer all of the records in its entirety', but ended up creating a 'golem that infinitely becomes stronger'. This was a result more absurd than inventing Post-its while trying to develop adhesives!
"And this must be their karma."
The angels who heard Yu IlHan's short explanation could only smile bitterly. They decided to stop at the conclusion that mana crafters, whether new or old, were all psychos.
[So, how are you going to get out, IlHan?] (Liera)
"Oh, this is all mine now."
Replied Yu IlHan while avoiding the still uncooled magma. He swung his Eight-tailed dragon spear to procure a place to stand, and without much difficulty, he put away the golem, to be exact, the parts that were only composed of the magic metal.
One moment, and the space was empty. Yu IlHan took out spears from his inventory and made his way out.
Beyond the traces of the stone mountain, which looked like a disaster had struck, his group was waiting for him.
"Dad!"
"Mr. IlHan!"
"So cool... It will be perfect if there were the white letters 'END' at the bottom left of the background~!"
First, I'll smack Na YuNa on the forehead – he decided, as he walked towards them.
Well, there was something else he had decided on.
He wouldn't even look in the direction of Lanpas from today onwards!
***
"I'm extremely sorry! I was planning to repay you for the necklace, but to think I'd ended up causing an inconvenience…..!"
"It's alright. I've got the experience and the magic metal as well."
The imperial princess couldn't lift her head in front of him. Yu IlHan didn't bother mentioning the fact that the golem would have activated either way. The opponent was being humble, so he didn't find a need to relieve her burden at all.
Well, he did express his thanks, saying that he had acquired plenty of materials related to magic engineering.
"Oh, and I won't be going to that banquet either. I want to go back quickly."
"But you've suffered so much. Why don't you rest for a day here-"
"If you really want, then please give me the food that will appear at the banquet."
Said Yu IlHan while taking out a L*ck&L*ck box.
"I hate people, not the food."
"Put it... here? The food?"
"If you can, pack an assortment into it."
The imperial princess couldn't possibly say no and accepted the box with a strange expression. Then, she looked towards Kang MiRae for help. Kang MiRae noticed that and said as well.
"We'll wait for you to come back, so please be on your way."
"Traitor!"
The imperial princess walked in the hallway while stomping on the ground. Yu IlHan smiled at that and asked Kang MiRae.
"I'll borrow the bath, though. My body's a mess right now."
"Yes, this way."
"I wanna bathe with daddy too!"
"Then me too, with Mr. IlHan~... ouchouchouchouchouch!"
Na YuNa's attempt to go with them was for naught. Thanks to Kang MiRae's consideration, Yu IlHan and Yumir could enjoy a luxurious and leisurely bath.
Of course, he had also set up a luxurious bath in the Bittersweet Persona, but it did lose out when compared to the one in the imperial castle. Yu IlHan entered the bath with Yumir and stretched his body, while trying to find any points to learn from the bath facilities of the imperial castle.
"Dad, wasn't it scary?"
These were Yumir's words while he scraped Yu IlHan's back with a soft towel. Yu IlHan thought about what he was referring to and realized that it was the battle a while ago.
Scary, huh. It looks like Yumir had felt a sense of fear facing the overwhelming size of the golem. Well, it was no wonder, since the golem did indeed have an overwhelming size and an overwhelming strength to go with it.
If he did not have the magic gunpowder or the Death Driver, Yu IlHan would have had to put much more effort into defeating it. Although he didn't think he would lose.
So, it was natural for Yumir, who was both young and still weak, to get scared. Perhaps Yu IlHan was a bad parent for forgetting that he was only three years old now…
"You don't have to worry about the big-sized guys. Dad won easily, didn't I?"
"Was it easy?"
Yumir's voice turned serious, so Yu IlHan pondered seriously as well. Of course, the conclusion was the same.
"Yup, it was easy."
Yu IlHan had already prepared a lot to fight against large enemies, and had coincidentally met one that just fit that criteria. Naturally, there was no other outcome than victory, and so, he won.
Well, yes, he did panic when the enemy used an attack he didn't predict, but in any case, they were all attacks against which he had put up countermeasures. It wouldn't have been so easy if his Excavation skill hadn't risen at the decisive moment, but in any case, it was quite an easy battle.
"Then what is hard to you, Dad?"
"Higher existence."
Yu IlHan immediately replied.
"If it's the others, I feel like I can face them with my techniques, artifacts or wits, but I still can't find a solution against higher existences. I feel like I can do it once I am 4th class, but for now, it's still impossible. No matter how stealthily I move, it will be meaningless if I cannot penetrate their skins."
"So that's it. Dad is strong after all. Your standards are completely different from others."
Yumir nodded, but his voice was trembling as if slightly frustrated. Yu IlHan could feel more pressure on his back.
"I wanted to help dad, but I was sad because I couldn't do anything."
"You helped out plenty."
"No, it's not that."
His abilities rose just by fighting together, and he also inflicted a fatal strike with Dragonic blood, so he couldn't say that Yumir wasn't of help. However, Yumir didn't seem to be satisfied with just that. As expected of a dragon.
"I want to become stronger. I want to fight a lot and eat a lot."
"Yes."
"And I'll become a dragon that suits you, Dad."
"Yes, you will be able to."
In fact, Yumir was plenty strong right now, but Yu IlHan thought that it was not a bad thing to give a positive stimulus to the child. And also...
"Now that I have my hands on magic engineering knowledge, I'll make a present for you, Mir. However, I'll only give it to you once I see that you're growing fast."
"Really!?"
A suitable reward would help his desire! Yu IlHan could feel that the mana in Yumir's body was thumping, in a positive way. Yu IlHan felt better since he thought that he had taken a step forward as a father.
[I wanna bathe too! With Mir~~~!] (Na YuNa)
[...come, here, and sit down.] (Kang MiRae)
[Hiik!] (Na YuNa)
At that moment, faint voices could be heard. It looks like the people out there didn't think that it would be audible inside the bath, but Yu IlHan's senses were already beyond those of a 3rd class. Mir was the same. The father and son looked at each other and laughed.
When the father and son exited the bath, the imperial princess was waiting outside. Her expression of achievement was quite impressive.
"Here, I've put in every single one of them! By me! For Mr. Yu IlHan only!"
"Splendid!"
Yu IlHan took back the L*ck&L*ck box from her. However, the imperial princess also handed him a jewel that was emitting violet light.
"This is?"
"It's an item that was found when we first went to the magic engineering ruins. Mana can be felt from it, but we can't do anything about it, so I'll give it to you."
Yu IlHan accepted the jewel. He also checked its information, but for now, he had the same conclusion as the imperial princess. This was an item that was already processed once, and its uses were incomprehensible right now. Perhaps he would understand after he made all the magic engineering knowledge his.
"Our empire wants to be on friendly terms with you in the future. I implore you to please remember this."
"...Got it."
He didn't expect this, but it looks like she still had a sense of guilt.
Well, it was no wonder, since, although such things were everyday life for Yu IlHan, for her, it was a disaster that would only have a chance of happening once every few hundred years. It was natural that she thought that Yu IlHan had a bad first impression of the empire.
"It really is all right. If anything, I profited since I levelled up."
"Even so…"
"Then let's do it this way. This jewel is my compensation. Oh, and when you enter a newly found ruin, please be careful. It looks like the magic kingdom had quite a lot of psychopaths."
"Yes, sir."
[As if he's not a psychopath…..]
[Shh.]
Although they had to do something completely different from what he had expected here, Yu IlHan, Yumir, Na YuNa, and Kang MiRae could safely return to Earth. They had harvested more than they had expected to!
And the next day, he set off for Breya after repairing his equipment.
Time to acquire a new source of metal and holy stones.