The Final Boss Has Returned - Chapter 132
The blue sky of Arde World!
High in the firmament, beyond the reach of even the clouds, where the sun shone directly overhead, what stood out most was undoubtedly the airship.
It was an airship so massive that calling it a moving fortress in the sky would be no exaggeration—a recreation of an ancient magitechnological civilization's legacy—and it was even equipped with a magic barrier.
Yet, at this very moment, something was attacking that airship.
“Screeeeech!”
A bizarre shriek tore through the heavens!
Attacking the airship as it sailed at a high altitude toward the floating city was none other than a wyvern.
Footage of a flock of wyverns, their scales sky-blue rather than the brown of those native to Arde World, assaulting the airship was immediately transmitted to the control room where Drakan was.
Drakan’s brow furrowed as he watched the external situation unfolding through the giant magic crystal ball.
‘Wyverns?’
The altitude he had already ascended to was far beyond the flight ceiling of ordinary wyverns.
And yet, wyverns?
Of course, they were monsters presumed to be a mutant or subspecies, distinguishable from normal wyverns by their sky-blue scales rather than the typical brown. But regardless, the fact that wyverns were here remained undeniable.
‘So the floating city isn’t far now.’
Drakan looked at the “Guide” in the center of the airship’s control room and thought.
The floating city, Voltaha!
The last time he had seen Voltaha in a cinematic, it was a nightmarish landscape swarming with monsters.
Given that, it would not be strange at all for a wyvern or two to have flown up from Voltaha Castle.
The stone fragment floating inside the Guide was still pointing in a single direction.
Drakan’s thoughts were brief.
No matter where those wyverns had come from, they clearly intended to shoot down the airship.
Then he had to respond accordingly.
“Open the gunports and deploy the wyvern unit.”
The moment Drakan’s order fell.
The airship’s sides opened and its cannons deployed, the rear hatch opened, and wyvern riders poured out.
And at their forefront was a red drake.
Flyingman.
It was his drake.
Flyingman, the strongest in the skies of Arde World, had chosen the expedition to the floating city instead of flying the skies of the Broken World, and as a result, he was here now.
Boom! The cannons installed on the airship spat fire.
Along with the roar, wyverns struck by the shells let out bizarre shrieks.
The wyvern unit led by Flyingman did not miss that opening.
[Screeeeech!]
In the battle mixed with bizarre shrieks and death cries, the victors were Drakan’s aerial forces.
Because the sky-blue wyverns were mutants no different from ordinary wyverns despite their appearance—simply a different color.
And so the brief commotion ended, and the voyage continued.
And just as Drakan had predicted, finally, far in the distance, a massive landmass floating in the sky began to come into view.
The floating city, Voltaha.
The final destination of the Legendary Quest had appeared at last.
The appearance of the floating city Voltaha was not much different from the floating islands depicted in countless fantasy media.
Though it had become ruins, the castle remained outwardly intact, as did the land surrounding it!
Looking at that perfect realization of a floating island, Drakan thought.
‘I can’t land rashly.’
Even if it was a floating island, an island was still an island! Considering how much care had to be taken when landing in enemy territory, attempting to land immediately with the airship would be foolish.
Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t regret giving up the First Discovery bonus.
But to take risks for a mere bonus—Drakan had already achieved far too many accomplishments for that.
‘Since I’m giving up the bonus anyway, transferring it to someone else might help improve my image.’
Drakan smiled, thinking that.
“Send out the advance party.”
So what Drakan chose was the advance party, to go ahead and scout the situation.
Having received Drakan’s order, Flyingman once again led the wyvern unit, leaping from the airship and heading straight for the floating city.
“Yes, this is the floating city. It’s really floating in the sky. I dropped out of the Broken World just to see this sight. Yes, am I sane? Of course I’m sane.”
Flyingman laughed into the broadcast with an excited voice.
[Screeeeech!]
As if sharing his mood, the Red Drake that Flyingman rode let out a cry.
The floating city.
At the fact that he was the one to set foot on that land he had so longed to see, Flyingman’s heart was soaring.
Even as he delivered his broadcast lines, Flyingman commanded the wyvern unit from time to time, scouting the surroundings.
“For now, there don’t appear to be any dangers in this area.”
Having finished scouting, Flyingman sent a whisper to Drakan, and Drakan’s reply came back immediately.
[Then we will land. Select a landing site and begin guidance.]
“Understood.”
Having received Drakan’s order, Flyingman immediately moved his drake and landed on a flat plain with a clear view of the floating city Voltaha.
It was to guide the landing.
The moment Flyingman set foot on the floating city Voltaha like that.
[You have discovered the floating city Voltaha.]
[First Discovery Bonus!]
[All stats increase by 46.]
[Floating City Voltaha]
[Voltaha Castle was the capital of the Jaksen Kingdom for a long age, and it was also the city where the Steel Tyrant Drakan, who usurped the throne of the Jaksen Kingdom, and the Ironblood Alliance dwelt for a long time.]
[Furthermore, Voltaha Castle is the historic place where the Steel Tyrant Drakan met his end at the hands of the Hero Yujin and the Revolutionary Army. Due to the influence of the Great Cataclysm that shook the entire world, it was torn from the continent and soared into the sky.]
[Before it became a floating city, the last witnessed sight of Voltaha Castle is said to have been a nightmarish landscape swarming with monsters that poured forth from rifts.]
Notification windows popped up chaotically before Flyingman’s eyes.
“Ah, the First Discovery message popped up.”
The moment Flyingman mentioned that, his chat window began to erupt.
[OMG, First Discovery?]
[First Discovery, for real?]
[Flyingman-nim?]
[Wasn’t he in the same expedition as Drakan?]
[Drakan gave this up?]
[???]
Flyingman’s chat window was beginning to be flooded with question marks!
Just as Drakan had predicted, the fact that he had yielded the First Discovery bonus for the floating city Voltaha to Flyingman immediately became a hot topic among the users.
Drakan!
No matter how much he tried to mind public opinion these days, he ultimately could not change his deeply rooted image of “Drakan is selfish.”
“Yes. Drakan-nim yielded it to me.”
At Flyingman’s words playing along with Drakan’s tune, the chat window began to stir, and soon turned into a complete mess.
[For real, Drakan yielded it after all, haha.]
[I can’t believe it even after seeing it, insane;;]
[Wasn’t Drakan actually a generous soul?]
[Our Drakan-nim has been a generous soul from the start, what are you on about;]
[Look at these trolls barging into Flyingman’s broadcast too; have you lost your minds? lol]
[Well, look who’s here lol. Isn’t flooding chats your specialty?]
[Please don’t fight here.]
“Now, now, everyone. That’s not what’s important right now. We have to land the airship.”
Saying so, Flyingman took out a firework-shaped flare from his inventory, lit it, and immediately shot it into the sky.
With a firework sound, a massive green flame burst in the sky.
It was the signal that landing at that spot was safe.
Seeing that signal, Drakan finally moved the airship and ordered the landing.
Rumble!
The airship hovering in the void began to move with a thunderous roar, and soon, with wind whipping about, the airship’s landing was complete.
Then the airship’s hatch opened and Drakan appeared, stepping onto the earth of the floating city.
[The quest ‘Floating City Voltaha’ has been completed.]
[All stats have increased by 234.]
The moment Drakan stepped onto the floating city.
A notification window appeared before his eyes.
Floating City Voltaha.
Because he had found the quest’s destination.
Drakan, who had descended from the airship with the expedition members and Sin Hayeon, arrived at the floating city and looked around.
Voltaha Castle.
Just as the description in the quest info window stated, a place of love and hate that had shared the Steel Tyrant Drakan’s beginning and end in the previous game.
Returning to that place after so long left him feeling strangely restless for no reason.
‘Other than floating in the sky, not much has changed.’
Drakan looked around at the scenery.
He knew more about Voltaha Castle than anyone.
Unlike the Second, where each race had predetermined starting points, in the previous game, starting points differed for every kingdom and city, and it was also possible to set a random starting point.
And the starting point Drakan had chosen when he began the previous game was Voltaha Castle. It was here that he had hunted rabbits and goblins and done quests since his beginner days, grown, formed a guild, usurped the throne, and unified the continent.
In the end, he had been defeated by Yujin and fallen, so saying it shared his beginning and end was no empty words, but the truth.
And the appearance of Voltaha Castle, which he had been with for so long, was not much different from the past.
If there was anything different, it was the sight of the castle collapsed from the Great Cataclysm.
“It really has been a while.”
Drakan smiled and looked around.
It was a single remark mixed with the emotion of having finally returned to this castle, intertwined with countless memories.
It felt exactly like returning to the starting point, just as described in the quest information.
At that moment, when Drakan was indulging in sentiment after so long.
In the air, a hazy darkness took on the form of a person, and soon a specter clad in black-tainted steel armor appeared before Drakan.
Drakan twitched his brow looking at the knight in steel armor that had appeared so suddenly.
Because he knew very well the armor that the unidentified knight was wearing.
That armor, which he could not forget even if he tried, was precisely the symbolic armor of the Steel Knights, the elite knight order that had served under the Ironblood Alliance.
“The Steel Knights?”
The moment Drakan uttered the words.
The translucent knight clad in steel armor knelt on the spot.
[Knight Captain Riberi greets my lord.]
Riberi, the Knight Captain of the Steel Knights!
The figure of Ribere—the strongest NPC knight of the Ironblood Alliance, one of the few NPCs who had reached maximum loyalty alongside the Witch Circe, and a warrior whose strength rivaled that of the Ten Greats, the previous game’s superpowers comparable to Over Rankers—flashed through Drakan’s mind.
And unlike Circe, whose fate had been unknown, Riberi’s final moments remained vividly in Drakan’s memory.
The end of the final battle, when the Revolutionary Army’s offensive had surged.
The sturdy walls of Voltaha Castle had been breached, they had lost the urban warfare, and finally, the Hero Yujin had charged into the Steel Palace—the center of the continent and the stronghold of the Ironblood Alliance—wielding the Holy Sword.
Riberi had died, stabbed by the Hero Yujin’s Holy Sword, before Drakan.
‘He should have died back then.’
The scene of Riberi dying was still vivid in Drakan’s mind.
Of course, judging by his appearance, he hardly seemed alive and well, but nevertheless, the simple fact that Riberi, who had died over a thousand years ago, had revealed himself before him was what mattered.
“It has been a long time, Riberi. What happened during all this time?”
The moment Drakan’s words ended, a video appeared in his vision.
It was a cinematic video he had grown accustomed to by now.