Everyone Else is a Returnee

Several hours passed after Yu IlHan had to send off Na YuNa.

He saw that the skies were getting redder. It was not a natural sunset, but an unpleasant one as if it was colored using blood.

“Why aren’t they here?”

Muttered Yu IlHan while sighing. No matter how much he searched, there was not a single human being other than him on Earth right now.

Likewise, the only higher existence left on Earth, Liera also had to carefully select her words to console him.

[Perhaps they were sent along with their parents?]

“It would be good if that was the case, but who knows…..”

Yu IlHan thought that she was thinking too optimistically. Whoever was behind this, he did not think that this person would have enacted such mercy.

Children had no worlds they were connected to, but was still cursed by the formations. Just what happened of them? He felt stuffy just thinking about it.

“I don’t want to think this is true, but if those children are trapped in that dungeon that I was in……”

[I don’t even want to imagine.]

Yu IlHan didn’t care about other people dying from outside his reach, but he was no man of steel that only worried about himself facing this large scale disaster.

Of course, the one he was most worried about was none other than Yumir. It would have been good if he was the one to go to that dungeon, but would his son be able to endure when he hadn’t even grown fully as a dragon? Thinking about that, his lips felt dry.

“Mir had higher curse resistance too. To think even he could not endure it…..”

[Well, you have a high level of higher curse resistance, thanks to spending 2 years in hell, but Mir is not like that…… Calm down first. You know how strong Mir is.]

“I think I have to go to that dungeon.”

Nothing would be better if he could create a gate using the vortices that were appearing on Earth, but while going around the Earth, he did not meet even a single vortex.

Would the Earth make vortices in the future? Yu IlHan thought that the answer was no. Perhaps the appearance of the vortices after the 2nd Great Cataclysm was a part of the Earth’s growth process?

Earth could directly and indirectly acquire records of countless worlds through them, and as a result, it had grown fast enough to cause the 3rd Great Cataclysm to descend.

[And finishing the growth, it expelled all the humans. As if it doesn’t need them anymore.]

“Is that possible?”

[If it was any other world, it would have been impossible, but like what you said, it might be possible for the current Earth since it had absorbed a vast amount of records. It will reach a higher world by growing alone.]

Yu IlHan felt bitter after listening to that. Growing alone? Wasn’t that similar to what he was pursuing?

The biggest difference that unlike Yu IlHan, who had the talent to be alone in a large crow,d Earth had expelled all the others because it wanted to be alone. The scale was so big that he couldn’t even get angry.

Since the method to create a gate through vortices didn’t work, the only remaining method was Warp. He didn’t want to use this as it used too much resources, but right now, it was no time to care about that.

“…….Huh.”

But there was a problem with this as well.

He could not activate warp.

[Why?]

“I can’t leap into that dungeon.”

[It’s impossible even with your warp? How?]

“Although it’s very annoying to admit, it looks like I’m not in full understanding of that dungeon……”

Wasn’t this too much? He had basically lived there for 2 years and it was impossible? Yu Ilhan couldn’t believe it himself and tried activating Warp several times, but the result was the same.

No, strictly speaking, the places he could Warp to was only parts of Earth, places which had big traces of him.

Erta mentioned about how Yu IlHan was drawing sketches with his Warp when other higher existences were writing complex formulae, but she was wrong. For Yu IlHan to use Warp, he had to draw a hyper realistic picture, whether it was a portrait or a landscape!

Yu IlHan realized that and fell into half a panic. His final thread of savior was cut off.

“WHat do I do. Now I really can’t do anything even if Mir is there……”

[Get it together.]

Liera pulled on Yu IlHan’s hair.

[Mir will be fine. If the newborns are with him, then those kids will be safe too.]

“But what if he meets an enemy he can’t face……?”

[If you start thinking like that, there will be no end to it. Here, cheer up. The only one who can do anything about this situation is you, IlHan. Am I wrong?]

“……”

Yu IlHan raised his head. Her words were unchangingly clear and positive even in this chaotic mess, and made him a little cool-headed.

She was right. Now that he couldn’t find any traces of people of living people on Earth after going around several times, only he could do something about this situation.

[This time, it’s different from a thousand years ago. You must not only develop yourself, IlHan. You need to act proactively.]

“…….Right.”

He took a deep breath and gripped his fist. His irregular breathing regained its calm, and his pale face also became lively again. Now that he was aware that he couldn’t solve anything like this, he realized that it was no time to be in despair.

[Let’s move first. In the end, it was Earth that did this, right? Then what you must do is simple too.]

“Yes, you’re right.”

Now that he had completely regained his self-awareness, Yu IlHan immediately took out the Eight-tailed dragon spear and muttered.

“I only need to beat the crap out of Earth.”

[It’s so like you to reach such a conclusion…..]

If Earth played on large scale, he could only reply back with the same! If he destroyed everything he saw, he would be able to find a single dungeon alright! If his eyes couldn’t find it, then he’d drill a hole to find it!

After finding the dungeon, he’d enter to find Yumir, as well as the others children that may be with him, and destroy anything and everything that he considered enemy. Right now, he decided to not think about the possibility that Yumir was not there.

Yes. After that…….

Yu IlHan tilted his head and looked at Liera. He grumbled all the time about how the angels weren’t of help, but at times like these, he could only trust in his Guardian angel.

“Then what…..? Is there, really a way?”

[……It’s not that there isn’t. You just need to make Earth into a higher world. Then, the Earth would naturally become open to all and become a war zone, but in any case, the people of Earth would be able to come back to their homeland. They would be given a choice, to come back to Earth, or to live on in that world.]

And somehow, Liera had a clear answer this time. The word that Yu IlHan told her to not throw baits about, higher world. Funnily, that was the only word he could rely on right now.

“That’s easy. I literally just have to break everything.”

[……I’m sorry. It’s actually not that easy, IlHan. Well, with your ability, you’d be able to counteract no matter what happens on Earth, but the problem is the period of time that is taken for Earth to evolve into a higher world. The birth of higher worlds require much, much more time and luck than the birth of a higher existence……]

The evolution of a world speeds up due to various elements such as the development of mankind, birth and deaths of monsters, as well as the quantity of mana the world harbors.

Until now, Earth had fulfilled more than enough of those requirements, and had an incomparable growth speed compared to others, but now, humanity was out of the calculation.

Despite that, Earth would be able to evolve plenty fast, but now that the crucial element of mankind was gone, it was natural that it wouldn’t be as fast.

To higher existences the concept of time did not mean much to them, so it would be of no problem even if Earth’s growth was delayed. That was why they could do such things.

However, to Yu IlHan and the other humans, it was a very big problem. Not to mention the other people who had could live for tens, or even perhaps hundreds of years, even Yu IlHan was a mere human, despite living for a long time. Unless he became a higher existence, he would eventually die.

[They are probably wishing for that to happen. After humanity goes extinct in other worlds, they would approach leisurely, and stick their flags on this free territory known as Earth. Considering that this is a plan from those disgusting seeds of the Army of Brilliant Light and the Destruction Demon Army, it’s simultaneously a perfect plan…… and we were completely done in by it, unfortunately.]

“No, it’s fine.”

However, Yu IlHan denied her words. It was unbelievable to think that he was panic-stricken just a moment ago.

“I will make it fine.”

[How……?]

“I’ll just do it alone. Like how I did until now, it will be so in the future.”

[…….]

Did Yu IlHan ever rely on other people? In decisive moment he himself was the only one he could trust in.

Evolution would be delayed since mankind was not here? Die of old age? If so, if Yu IlHan could cover for the billions of people, then there would be no delays in the evolution. Simple answer.

[……I always think this at times like these, but I’m quite scared that you might actually end up achieving that.]

“It’s not that I might end up achieving something. I will.”

He had always walked, endured, and achieved everything, alone.

So, he would be able to do it this time as well. Nothing had changed. Nothing.

Thinking until there, Yu IlHan realized something and smacked his own head.

“No, Liera. You were always by my side. I was about to forget that again.”

[Yes, don’t forget that. I will always be by your side. This was decided from a thousand years ago.]

Replied Liera while blushing. Unlike a thousand years ago, right now, any communication with Heaven was severed so she couldn’t even contact them. They were completely isolated, but despite that, she did not feel anything. It had been too long since Yu IlHan had become the biggest priority in her life.

“Then now.”

Yu IlHan looked at his surroundings. In fact, this was no time to leisurely wait in one spot. Earth was changing real-time due to the 3rd Great Cataclysm.

Intact grounds suddenly sank or shot up, continents moved, causing enormous earthquakes, violent whirlpools appeared in the middle of the sea and made giant bridges of whirling pillars of water, while some parts of the sky was generating dungeons of its own by creating magical space. This was an even more violent change than the 4th Great Cataclysm in Dareu.

Yu IlHan boldly spoke in the middle of that, while extending his Ruin Calling.

“Let’s go back to the mansion first.”

[Yeah. Nothing would change even if we hurry, so let’s think about it after a night’s rest. …… You will let me sleep next to you, right?]

Liera was hitting up on him now that Yu IlHan had regained his calm. Although she was suppressing it due to the situation, she was very bothered by Na YuNa’s kiss. So, she was trying to make up like this.

“No, I won’t be sleeping.”

Yu IlHan shook his head.

“For the next two months, I have something I have to work vigorously on.”

[…..IlHan, don’t tell me you.]

“Yes.”

Answered Yu IlHan.

“I’m going to make a flying fortress.”

Author’s notes

IlHan’s mentality is indestructible

The protagonist finally fights! No, wait, he was fighting all this time, wasn’t he?