The Final Boss Has Returned — Episode 106
The dungeon raid was so easy I was practically yawning.
There was hardly any need for Yujin and me to step in; most of the monsters were handled by Nosferatu and Dice’s undead summons alone.
Since the EXP from the summons’ kills went to Yujin, who was in a party with me, we didn’t lose out.
Of course, once we reached the boss room, Yujin and I would have to put in some work, but that wasn’t the case right now.
The fact that the dungeon was only S-rank from the get-go was a mistake to begin with.
I could’ve cleared a dungeon of this caliber alone, summons in tow.
As the chat pointed out, it was overkill.
“Ah, asking when I got so close with Drakan-nim? We aren’t exactly close yet. Hahaha. Though I do want to get closer from here on out. But we won’t be fighting like before anymore.”
And Yujin was filling the audio nonstop, reading the chat and communicating with his viewers.
At this point, I couldn’t tell if this was a dungeon raid or just a chatting stream!
[Wow lol are we seriously watching an S-rank dungeon raid right now?]
[Cleared entirely by summons alone lol First time seeing a smurf stream like this lol]
[A new era of smurfing;]
[The poor monsters.......]
[Tbh having Yujin-nim step up in a lowbie dungeon like this is a waste of firepower;]
[Agreed~]
As the chat said, S-rank dungeons were actually quite difficult for ordinary users.
They were a level of difficulty that required ordinary max-level users to prepare thoroughly, and even rankers had to be slightly on edge.
Unfortunately, however, present here were the Vampire King Nosferatu, who possessed Over Ranker-grade power, and Dice, who wielded firepower on par with a High Ranker. Thanks to these two handling every single monster, the raid only looked easy.
But even that was coming to an end.
“Ah, we’ve arrived at the boss room.”
As Yujin said, we had now reached the boss room.
The stone gate leading to the boss room was truly massive, and though damaged, carvings whose shapes could still be made out were engraved upon it.
“Wait. Don’t open it yet.”
I stopped Nosferatu, who was about to open the stone gate, and examined the carvings engraved on it.
The shapes of the carvings on the gate were simple.
A ‘Gate’ appeared, and from within it tentacles spread, humans twisted in agony, and priests in vestments emerged from a temple to oppose it—all carved into the stone.
‘Just like the one in the Dark Elf Kingdom.’
I thought as I examined the carving.
The Dark Elf Kingdom!
I took note that the ‘Gate’ erected in their old capital was depicted in the carving.
Until now, there had been no records or legends of such tentacled monsters or otherworldly monstrosities invading Arde World.
The Great Cataclysm was called the Great Cataclysm because it was the first incident in which the dimensional barrier had collapsed.
‘In other words, this temple isn’t a temple of Arde, but a temple from another world.’
The theory that the field inside the dungeon gate might be not Arde but fragments of another destroyed world had already been proposed by other issue creators and NPC scholars in the game, so it wasn’t exactly a new story.
But what this carving implied was a new story.
The forces behind the Great Cataclysm!
Because carved into the gate was the story that they had invaded not just Arde World, but other worlds as well.
‘The scale might be bigger than I thought.’
Enemies invading other worlds!
I couldn’t even guess how massive the main story’s scale would become.
At this point, the scale of the previous game, which had been limited to a single world, looked downright shabby.
Anyway, I had gathered enough information worth acquiring. Now it was time to greet the boss.
“Nosferatu. Open the gate.”
“As you command.”
The moment Nosferatu stepped forward.
Yujin, who was beside me, moved.
“We’ve been indebted to you for the raid so far, so I’ll take the lead against the boss monster.”
Yujin spoke with a solemn expression!
A golden aura blazed upon his holy sword.
[Oh lol the dungeon raid finally begins lol]
[Ah lol right. This was a dungeon raid stream, wasn’t it lol I almost forgot;;]
[Everyone brace yourselves lol Yujin-nim’s entered ‘serious raid mode’ lol]
[That was kinda cool just now;;]
[Yujin-nim I’m dead~ lolol]
[Preemptive action beam for the boss monster’s soul]
Chat went wild at his handsome face reflected in the golden aura, and donations poured in endlessly!
I watched that scene and spoke.
“Do as you please.”
Since this dungeon raid hadn’t been in the plans anyway, I didn’t care what happened.
“Understood. Then I’ll open the boss room door now.”
Yujin said so and boldly opened the boss room door.
Boooom!
Beyond the opened stone gate, the boss room was completely different from the corridors and rooms of the temple up until now, which had been relatively clean despite the damage.
The interior of the incomparably massive boss room was shocking.
Purplish mucus membranes squelching like a swamp!
Disgusting mucus dripping from the ceiling!
Truly an incomparably filthy sight!
[What the heck is this place?]
[Well this is awkward]
[Why is the boss room interior like this lol]
[Ugh, mosaic this gross pic;;]
At that moment, even as the chatroom was reacting violently.
Rumble!
Along with a thunderous roar, something shot up from the bubbling swamp of mucus.
It was a tentacled monster so massive it looked grotesque.
Because it looked exactly like the one I had encountered at the center of the Dark Elf Kingdom, I knew its name well.
“So it’s the Unclean One.”
The Unclean One!
There couldn’t be a name more fitting for it.
[How dare insignificant mortals trespass upon my plant.]
The Unclean One’s ominous voice echoed throughout the boss room!
Hearing that voice, I spoke to Yujin.
“Hey, Yujin.”
“Yes, Drakan-nim.”
“Didn’t you say you’d take the lead against the boss earlier?”
“Yes, I did.”
At my words, Yujin nodded innocently, and I smiled and pointed at the Unclean One.
“Go wreck it.”
“Understood.”
At my words, Yujin nodded obediently, then kicked off the ground and soared into the air.
“Wings of Light.”
When Yujin used the skill, a brilliant pair of wings composed of golden light sprouted from his back.
Wings of Light!
That skill, which looked anything but ordinary at a glance, was—if my memory served me right—a veritable all-purpose buff that granted constant attack power, defense, stats, HP recovery, MP recovery, amplification of light-attribute skill power, and even flight. And it was a ‘normal skill.’
That’s right.
A buff with such terrifying power wasn’t even his ‘Ultimate Skill,’ but merely a ‘normal skill’!
‘What a dirty, broken class.’
No matter how I looked at it, his class was too broken.
People say if you’re jealous, just go change to a Hidden Class, but I hardly see a difference.
Of course, in my one-on-one record against him, I was slightly ahead, but that didn’t mean fighting Yujin was easy.
Yujin!
His physical specs were tremendous enough to rival mine, and my fights against him in the previous game had always been neck and neck.
I hadn’t been a Hidden Class, but I had monopolized various hidden pieces and first achievements from the start of the game, collecting all sorts of Legendary-grade skills.
In the end, I had even obtained a Myth-grade skill, which was the only reason I could go toe-to-toe with him; because in the previous game, the other strong players—those arrogant bastards who called themselves the Ten Strongest—had all been miserably beaten by Yujin.
Yujin.
One way or another, he was the human who had defeated me once, and apart from my desire for revenge, I never underestimated his skills.
Anyway, I knew very well that the Wings of Light were merely the beginning.
[Wh-what in the world are you! How does a mere mortal possess such power!]
But even though Yujin hadn’t even started yet, the Unclean One seemed crushed by the terrifying fighting spirit emanating from his body and began to speak weakly.
[Look at the boss mob freaking out lolol]
[Go! Yujin-mon! Wings of Light!]
[Grrrr! I can’t take it!!]
[No but the chemistry is insane lol]
[If this is how it is, why didn’t you two collab sooner? What have you been doing until now? lol]
[Abso. lute. ly. No. Collab.]
[Hey, all you guys who called this a snoozefest because they weren’t raiding, come out lolol]
[So broken!!]
As the Unclean One let out a groan, the chat began to go wild again.
Regardless, Yujin, who had soared into the air on his Wings of Light, raised his sword flickering with golden aura and unleashed a skill directly at the Unclean One’s filthy mass of flesh.
“Divine Strike!”
Divine Strike!
Yujin’s main skill, similar to my Berserk Sword, had finally revealed its form in the boss room.
Crash!
The golden aura blast fired from Yujin’s holy sword struck the Unclean One true to its name, a ‘strike’.
[Kuaaaaaaack!!]
Along with it, a terrifying roar echoed.
That’s right.
It wasn’t even an Ultimate Skill—just a main skill—yet the Unclean One’s massive body was crushed and mangled as if it had been hit by a bombardment.
I watched that sight with a cold, level head.
That was a top ranker for you.
The power possessed by the only EX-grade user in the Combat Information Archive.
And he was also an opponent I would have to defeat someday.
I objectively compared my past self when I had used the Rune of Regression to the current Yujin in my head, and reached a conclusion.
‘If that’s the level... It’s worth a shot!’
He would be a bit tricky to deal with, but at my prime, he was an opponent I could face.
I couldn’t guarantee victory, but I was confident I wouldn’t lose, confident I could fight him to a draw.
But that wasn’t enough.
Destructive power overwhelming enough to dominate that strength!
Such power was necessary.
Public opinion mattered, but my own personal strength was important as well.
I knew very well that no one listens to the voice of the powerless.
Anyway, I already knew of a few ways to obtain such power.
‘The Class Transfer Quest—what matters is what Awakening skill comes out of it.’
Class Transfer Quest!
Completing the quest given at level 380, the so-called max level, rewarded one with the Awakening skill!
If I obtained that Awakening skill, rather than fighting to a draw with him, I might be able to gain the upper hand in combat.
‘If not, I could borrow the Demon God’s power.’
The Dark Demon God!
Leader of the Demon Subjugation Hall, enemy of the Pantheon, nemesis of the Goddess of Light!
If I successfully completed the Oracle Quest, rebuilt the Dark Empire, and ascended to the position of the Apostle of Darkness, the Dark Demon God would undoubtedly grant me such power.
Anyway, once the Great Cataclysm story was resolved, the war between darkness and light, which had been in a cold war until now, would surely reignite. As the vanguard of darkness, the Demon God would have no choice but to support me if he wanted to win the fight.
In that moment, as I was reviewing various scenarios.
[Kuk! You wretched mortals! Come forth! My minions! Come out and slaughter every last one of those arrogant mortals!]
Having taken several hits of Divine Strike, purplish mana began to rise from the Unclean One’s body.
And I knew that situation very well.
‘So it’s moving to the next phase.’
Phase transition!
That’s right. The Unclean One, embarrassingly enough, had activated its next phase immediately after taking just a few hits of Divine Strike from Yujin.