The Final Boss Has Returned, Episode 126
[Welcome to Arde Saga Second, User.]
My vision shifted along with the notification window.
The place where I had logged out was none other than Snow Castle!
It was the capital of both the Dark Alliance and the Iron-Blood Kingdom, as well as the starting base for human users belonging to the Dark Alliance—a city that had grown so massive that its population now rivaled, if not surpassed, any of the major cities in the Central region.
I took in the panoramic view of Snow Castle and immediately headed for the Dark Council.
The Dark Council, the very building symbolizing the Dark Alliance!
Entering the Hall of Darkness within, I immediately placed my hand atop the black crystal sphere in the center of the vast hall.
[Would you like to use the Dark Council's remote conference function?]
“I will.”
The moment I spoke, translucent system windows rose before my eyes in quick succession.
[Please select the Dark Council Archon you wish to summon.]
[Khalid, Leader of the Black Ring Society]
[Nereus, Merfolk King]
[The Immortal King]
[Idun, Dark Elf Queen]
[Botan, Great Chieftain of the Orcs]
[Nosferatu, Vampire King]
[Robo, Wolf King]
[Carlton, Archbishop of the Dark Sect]
From the list of Dark Council Archons displayed on the translucent window, I immediately selected the Dark Elf Queen.
Because she was precisely the one I had business with right now.
[Would you like to summon Idun, the Dark Elf Queen?]
“Yes.”
[Connecting to Idun, the Dark Elf Queen.]
Not long after the notification window appeared, a projection materialized in the air of a dark elf with striking silver hair.
I had connected with Idun, the Dark Elf Queen.
[You called, Overlord.]
“I have something to ask.”
[Please speak.]
“Have you ever heard the legend of the witch in the Great Forest?”
Idun fell silent for a moment, as if recalling a memory upon hearing my words, before soon continuing her answer.
[I believe I have heard of it in passing. It is a tale of a witch who committed a great sin over a thousand years ago and fled into the Great Forest.]
“Where is that?”
[The legends do not describe the exact location in detail. Do you need to find that witch?]
“Yes.”
[Understood. I shall dispatch my subordinates to investigate the legend of the witch. I shall report the results to you once they come in.]
Idun answered me courteously, and I smiled.
This was exactly what power was for.
Of course, the Great Forest was an ultra-large field so vast that it could easily encompass four or five average kingdoms, but the Dark Elves were natives who had lived in that very forest for over two thousand years.
If they, who could come and go through the Great Forest as if it were their own home, set their minds to scouring it, they would surely track down the whereabouts of the witch known as the 'Last Loyalist' in no time!
The original intent of the quest was probably to enter the Great Forest and search for a needle in a haystack, so to speak.
Smiling at the thought of coasting through the first step of the quest, I said.
“Very well. Then let us move to the second agenda.”
[Please speak.]
“Are there any other forces in the Great Forest besides your people?”
[Aside from a few small-scale human native tribes and monsters that live in groups, there are none.]
The smile lingering at my lips deepened upon hearing Idun's words.
What she had said was information I had already obtained through my dedicated support team, but there was still much that was uncertain regarding the Great Forest.
That was because the Great Forest was, to that extent, an unknown land.
However, as natives of the Great Forest, and with their chieftain speaking directly, there was no need to doubt the reliability of this information.
“Then that is good. Distribute quests related to exploration and conquest of the Great Forest to the Outsiders. Devour the entire forest. If necessary, you may request aid from the other allied races. I permit it.”
[Does that mean... you are ordering the unification of the Great Forest?]
Idun asked back, having properly understood my words.
Unification of the Great Forest!
That was precisely the second order I was giving to the Dark Elf Kingdom.
The Great Forest was a vast expanse, a field teeming with monsters, but it was also an adventure hub filled with high-level hunting grounds, unexplored regions, and undiscovered dungeons.
Therefore, it was surely considered a key vested interest by Simseong Iron Stars—newly born from the union of the Iron Axe and Shooting Star guilds, which dominated the south, united at the hands of Sin Jeong-hyeok—but I was thinking of making a serious move on this place.
“Yes. Exactly that.”
[Unification is in fact fully possible with our current capabilities if we invest enough time, but there is also the possibility of conflict with the Outsider powers of the south.]
“They won't be able to stop us. If need be, I'll step in myself.”
I answered Idun thus.
The 'Outsider powers' she spoke of likely referred to Simseong Iron Stars, but they couldn't block my path anyway.
Because it would be their loss.
Of course, since the Great Forest falling entirely into our grasp would also be their loss, they must feel as though they are caught in a no-win situation.
[Understood.]
Idun acquiesced to my words, and having achieved my purpose, I ended the call.
Having finished giving all the preliminary groundwork orders, what remained now was the conquest of the Eastern Colony.
* * *
Eugene!
After he and Five Eyes announced their conquest plan following Drakan's Northern Colony conquest, Xiongmao e-Sports of the west and Simseong Iron Stars of the south, who had been cautiously watching one another, also rushed to announce their colony conquest plans as if they couldn't afford to lose.
Of course, both guilds avoided dates that overlapped with Eugene's.
This was because they knew all too well that the hype Eugene commanded was at the highest level in the world of Arde.
Xiongmao e-Sports set their date for the day after Eugene's conquest date, and Simseong Iron Stars set theirs for the day before, leaving the Eastern users completely out in the cold.
[No but, why is there seriously no one for the East?]
[JDG was there but they went north~]
[Drakan abandoned the East? lol]
[The Eastern Hellgate opening is insane.]
[Lawless Port is safe. Come to Lawless Port.]
[Think we gotta leave the East;]
[What are Drakan and JDG doing;]
[Drakan shot up in fame and went north, so why's nobody looking for him lol]
[Look at the black bulls getting abandoned after sucking up to Drakan lol; for real that X-rakan with his toxic personality, you should've sucked up to him in moderation lolol]
[Karma, for real, lolol]
The East was in a state of chaos right now.
The colony had fallen right on top of the capital of the Gasan Kingdom in the East, causing the kingdom to collapse, and to make matters worse, monstrous beasts were pouring out of the colony and roaming the entire East every single day.
At first, Eastern users had rejoiced that there were more mobs to hunt, but as the number of monstrous beasts increased exponentially, they had begun avoiding the fields.
In this situation, the local lord NPCs who should have been repelling the monstrous beasts in the fields were desperately busy defending their own territories from the beasts' onslaught.
The safest region in the East was Lawless Port, which was backed by the Black Ring Society and the Pirate Archipelago behind it, and could regularly trade with the North for supplies; that about said it all.
In that situation, Eastern users were either fleeing the East, setting up in Lawless Port, or directing their growing displeasure toward Drakan and JDG, who had established themselves in the East only to leave for the North.
Just as public opinion in the East was churning ominously.
A livestream turned on without any prior notice on Drakan's official channel.
As soon as Drakan's livestream began—the Drakan who had become the representative user of an entire faction called the Dark Alliance—countless people began flooding in.
[How fare you, my black bull friends.]
Drakan, starting the stream with the now-familiar line of "my black bull friends," immediately got to the main point.
[I will cut straight to the chase. The Dark Alliance, including myself and JDG, is currently preparing an eastern expedition. Though I am in the North now, I have not forgotten the East.]
Eastern conquest!
The moment Drakan broached the main topic, public opinion in the chat window flipped in an instant.
[Light Rakan]
[I believed in you, Drakan-nimㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[For real, where did everyone go who was saying God Rakan had a toxic personality until yesterday? lol]
[They must've joined the Infinite Eugene Church, for real]
[Those Eugene bastards got caught sowing discord, didn't they? Pathetic, right?]
[Wow, finally;;]
[As expected, Drakan-nim is the only one who cares about the East.......]
[But isn't that the same time slot as Eugene a week later?]
[Of course, if you're a black bull, you gotta watch Drakan-nim's stream zz]
Drakan!
He had finally declared the conquest of the Eastern Colony!
The wave of discontent that had been rising to the surface vanished in an instant, led by Drakan's fandom, the black bulls, and the chat window became a relay of praise for Drakan.
And among them were chats that seemed worried about Drakan boldly choosing the same time slot as Eugene.
That was only natural, in a way.
Eugene and Five Eyes were undeniably forces holding hegemony over the world of Arde, and it was an undeniable fact that their hype was immense.
Of course, it wasn't that Drakan, his dedicated support team, and Sin Ha-yeon were stupid enough to set the conquest date without considering such variables.
Drakan spoke while looking at the messages worried about him.
[Are you worried because it's the same time slot as Eugene? Why worry about that? If you're an Alliance user, wouldn't you naturally watch the Eastern conquest?]
Dark Alliance!
Stoking faction pride!
Eugene might be a top ranker, but at the end of the day, he was the representative user of the Coalition.
Then wouldn't it be better for him, the representative user of the Alliance, to match the time slot and light a fire under faction pride!
That was precisely Drakan's scheme.
[Lolololol]
[Drakan-nim is right~]
[Wow, Drakan-nim is responding to the black bulls' chats again after so long;;]
[Isn't he actually a tsundere?]
[Tell the Coalition cowards to go watch Yujin's stream lol]
[If you're an Alliance user, please watch Drakan's stream]
[For the Alliance!]
[For real, aren't the kids watching Yujin's stream Coalition spies?]
Drakan looked at the chats flooding by in real-time and laughed inwardly.
He had received reports that users with faction pride had exploded in number after the Northern Colony conquest, but this was the first time he had witnessed the reaction with his own eyes.
[The Eastern Colony conquest will proceed as a two-pronged offensive. The Eastern Army, centered around JDG and Ignis arriving from the North via transport ship with Lawless Port as the hub, and the Western Army, led by me personally at the head of the Dark Alliance army.]
Drakan continued to relay the strategy he had prepared in advance through the stream.
[Those in the East who wish to join the conquest, gather at Lawless Port. JDG, Ignis, and the Black Ring Society will take the lead.]
Lawless Port!
Drakan planned to use Lawless Port as the base for Eastern users, forming the Eastern and Western Armies to pressure the Eastern Colony from both sides.
No matter how weak the Eastern forces were said to be compared to all other regions in the world of Arde right now, if Eastern users rallied together, they would surely become a force to be reckoned with—even a rotten herring is still a fish, as they say.
And if the Black Ring Society of Lawless Port and JDG, who had best preserved their strength in the East, were added to the mix, they could be reborn as a sufficiently powerful force—that was Drakan's calculation.
[Then let us meet at the Eastern Colony.]
With those final words, Drakan ended the stream, but the bait he had left behind swept across the entire internet like a tidal wave.