The Final Boss Has Returned — Chapter 112
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[All stats have increased by 123.]
Level-up and stat-increase notifications popped up one after another following the quest completion alert!
[The effect of the item 'Compass of Fate' has ended.]
[The item 'Compass of Fate' is destroyed.]
Along with it, the Compass of Fate, its uses exhausted, dissolved into silvery dust and vanished.
[Is he seriously hiding his strength? LOL]
[Drakan hid the seal;]
[What the hell LOL, Drakan was a strength-hider?]
[What's with the Wolf King's name being Robo? LOL, he's not even a robot;;]
Of course, the chatroom was going crazy over him hiding his strength and whatnot, but that wasn't what was important right now.
Wolf King Robo!
Despite having the appearance of an old man, his muscles were bulging and veiny as he slowly rose from his seat.
"Has the Contractor come searching for us?"
"That's right."
I nodded and repeated the same line I had said during every race quest up until now.
"Join the Ancient Alliance and acknowledge me as your Apostle. Five of the six races have already joined. All except you Lycanthropes who flew over to this other world."
The Path of the Apostle!
The end of that quest felt as though it was finally flickering into view before my eyes.
At my words, the Wolf King hesitated, then bowed his head and spoke.
"I apologize, but this incompetent one lost the Moonlight Stone necklace, the symbol of the Wolf King... Having lost the symbol, I cannot join the Ancient Alliance immediately."
[Aww LOL, too bad LOLL]
[I thought I could start as a wolf beastman in another world, but I guess not. I wanna go to another world]
[Ugh, when are wolf beastmen being added; I'm getting dizzy; I want to be a beastman argh]
[Honestly, if we could get it for free here, it'd be a trash game fr]
[Trash game my ass, it's obviously a chain quest, LOL. Can't you see the setup? Players who learned the game from streams sure are something else, tsk tsk]
Just as the chat said, I had not expected the quest to be resolved here at all.
If anyone thought the quest would end right here, they clearly had no game sense whatsoever.
And considering the race quests I had done up until now, there was no way the quest would end here.
Anyway, this was the timing where I had to take out the quest item, if only to trigger the next chain quest.
"If it's the Moonlight Stone necklace, I have it."
I pulled out the 'Corrupted Moonlight Stone Necklace' from my inventory.
The necklace, eroded by purple mana, revealed itself beneath a sky thick with dark clouds.
Wolf King Robo looked at the corrupted necklace I had taken out and spoke in a trembling voice.
"This... it is the genuine article. To think the Contractor would have retrieved this item. However, the necklace has now been contaminated by enemy mana and has lost its value as a symbol. To properly use this necklace, purification is necessary."
"How is that purification done?"
"You must receive the energy of the Twin Moons rising in the night sky of Arde World. Therefore, it cannot be done here."
To my words, Wolf King Robo replied with a deeply troubled expression.
The Twin Moons was a term referring to the two moons that rose in the night sky of Arde World. However, this place was not Arde World but the other world, Broken World, so of course there were no Twin Moons, which meant the necklace could not be repaired.
"So in the end, to restore the necklace and join the Ancient Alliance, we have to return to Arde World."
"That is correct."
"How do we return?"
"For over ten years since falling here, our clan, including myself, has searched for a way to return to Arde World, and we have discovered one highly likely method."
"What is it?"
"It is activating the ruins of the Progenitors, located in this Last Forest, which has now become a blighted zone."
The Progenitor Ruins!
Finally, a truly useful keyword had popped out of the Wolf King's mouth.
"The ancient Progenitors of Broken World, who suffered the invasion of the Hive Mind, planned in their final days to migrate to another world, and they constructed massive ruins in this Last Forest, including a dimensional gate for the migration."
I listened intently to the Wolf King's words, and he continued his explanation.
"But the Hive Mind's forces were powerful, and the final ruins built by the Progenitors eventually fell into the clutches of the Hive Mind, transforming into their blighted zone... To return to Arde World, our clan and the Contractor's party must definitely seize those ruins."
[A quest has occurred.]
[Return to Arde World]
[Rank: Legendary]
—Long ago, the Progenitors of Broken World had no choice but to submit to Hive Mind, the Conqueror, despite their fierce resistance. But they found a way, and as a final resort, they constructed massive ruins to migrate to another world. However, the Hive Mind discovered the existence of those ruins, and the ruins were occupied by the Hive Mind's forces and fell into their clutches.
Due to the long-running contamination, the ruins were corrupted into a blighted zone. Through exploration and research on the Progenitors, Wolf King Robo finally discovered the existence of the last ruins and wishes to reclaim the ancient Progenitor ruins and return to his homeland, Arde World.
Defeat the forces of the Hive Mind, purify the last ruins of the Progenitors, and seize the dimensional gate.
The path back to Arde World will open.
[Quest Completion Condition]
[Purify the 'Last Ruins']
[Will you accept the quest?]
And finally, the quest revealed itself before my eyes.
A quest with very simple content: if you conquer the ruins, you can return to Arde World!
But the forces of the Hive Mind occupying the ruins were by no means easy, so just because the content was simple didn't mean the difficulty was simple.
But that hardly mattered to me now.
"Those ruins? I'll take them."
[You have accepted the quest.]
"Thank you."
After accepting the quest and receiving the Wolf King's thanks, I looked at the handsome man standing blankly behind me watching the scene—Yujin—and spoke.
"You might already know, but I've received a quest."
"I was listening to the explanation from behind, so I believe I know the general contents of the quest."
"Good to hear you understand."
"Please share the quest with me. I will help you."
Sure enough, without being told to, Yujin stepped up and volunteered himself—as befitting the universally acknowledged first-class pushover—asking to share the quest before I'd even finished talking.
[As expected of our Yujin-nim's class; the mercy to even help that bastard Drakan's quest! This is why we worship the Church of Infinite Yujin]
[You sure like mercy LOL. Isn't your Yujin just leeching off our Drakan-nim's quest? You Yujin stans really lost your conscience somewhere, tsk tsk]
[What? Is this a fight?]
[Yujin stans and Heuku making a colosseum over something pointless again LOL. The actual people involved get along fine, so why are they always fighting??]
[Someone just win already (popcorn)]
I looked at the chat window burning up over the quest share topic and shared my quest with Yujin.
Since I was going to use him anyway, it was better to share the quest, and above all, since this entire situation was being broadcast live, I needed to show some degree of compromise for the sake of public opinion.
"Thank you for sharing the quest, Drakan-nim."
The moment Yujin received the shared quest from me, he bowed his head and politely greeted me, and I, receiving his greeting, returned a thank-you I didn't mean out of courtesy and smiled.
"I should be the one thanking you for offering to help first."
As Yujin and I exchanged thanks, the chat window was flooded with comments about how heartwarming it was, and I spoke with a smile still on my lips.
"Well then, it's been quite some time, so I'll log out first."
Since I'd received the quest, it was now time to log out and discuss the quest-related matters with people from Jeil E&M, including my dedicated support team, in reality.
[Ah, is the stream finally ending now?]
[It was fun LOL]
[Looking at the time, we've gone over 10 hours of nonstop streaming;]
[Time flew by LOL what the heck give me back my time;]
[Honestly this stream was all-time legendary level, agreed? Y agreed~]
[Real talk, I freaked out when he flew to another world;;]
[It was an informative time to see that Yujin and Drakan have such good chemistry.]
[Collab call next time too?]
[Since we're in another world right now, if this continues, the next stream is a forced collab too LOL]
When I mentioned logging out, the viewers in the chatroom also gradually shifted to a mood of wrapping up the stream.
Anyway, since the connection time that should have ended after just running a dungeon had undeniably stretched longer than necessary after crossing over to another world, I needed some time to step out into reality and catch my breath.
Right at that moment when I brought up those words out of courtesy and was about to end the game.
"Drakan-nim."
Yujin called out to me.
"What is it?"
Was there anything else left to say between him and me?
While I was racking my brain like that, Yujin spoke to me.
"Before logging out, I... have a favor to ask."
"What kind of favor?"
At my words, Yujin hesitated for a moment, then soon spoke in a cautious voice.
"Would it be alright if I sent you a friend request?"
I waited wondering what he was going to say since he was beating around the bush for no reason, and it turned out to be a friend request!
[OMG friend request;;]
[Wow, is this real?]
[Breaking news. Yujin... friend request to Drakan.......]
[I want to get a friend request from Yujin-nim too ㅠㅠ]
After checking the chat window shaking with that remark, I let out a hollow laugh.
'So the day has come when I receive a friend request from Yujin, that bastard, after all these years!'
Yujin!
We had fought to the death in the past, and even now he was my target for revenge, so the fact that the day had come when I received a friend request from him filled me with fresh, boundless emotion.
Of course, to achieve the 'Lightwing Guild's Division' that I wanted, I needed to gain Yujin's trust, and I had already expected that if I gained his trust, the day would come when I'd receive a friend request.
Especially since I was the one who had listened to Yujin's troubles.
But separate from what I had expected, being trusted by a sworn mortal enemy, and even receiving a friend request, was truly an unprecedented experience.
Of course, that didn't mean it was bad.
No, rather, it was a good thing.
After all, it meant that trust had built up in me to the point of sending a friend request, and that trust would become the foothold for revenge later on too.
"I don't really care, so do what you want—apply or not, it's up to you."
"Understood. Then I shall send the request."
Yujin smiled and spoke at my answer, and soon a friend request notification appeared before my eyes.
['Yujin' has sent you a friend request.]
[Will you accept 'Yujin's friend request?]
And the answer to the notification window's question was already decided.
"I accept."
[You have accepted 'Yujin's friend request.]
I looked at the final message that appeared, smiled, and logged out right there.
Yujin!
It was an incomparably delightful day, knowing that I had taken yet another step closer on the path of revenge against him.