The Final Boss Has Returned
Chapter 137
[Aerial Mobile Fortress Conversion]
—A large-scale project to remodel the underground foundation supporting the floating city of Voltaire and the Steel Palace at its center, transforming them into an all-weather aerial mobile fortress drifting through the sky.
The aerial mobile fortress is the pinnacle of magic engineering, serving as an airborne early warning aircraft capable of extensive reconnaissance and detection across the entire battlefield while floating through the air, as well as a military satellite and a mobile operations headquarters.
[Estimated Construction Time: 30 Days]
[Construction Cost]
[1,000,000,000 Gold]
[Mythic-rank Magic Stone or material item of equivalent grade]
[Legendary-rank Magic Stone or material item of equivalent grade ×10]
[Floating City Voltaire will become capable of aerial navigation.]
[Enemy detection and tracking within a 5,000 km radius possible]
[Equipped with top-grade mana barrier function]
[Destructive weapon 'Wrath of Steel' usable]
[Equipped with aerial battleship home port function and military wyvern airfield function]
The price of the aerial mobile fortress that I had just examined was a staggering one billion gold!
I flinched at the astronomical price, even higher than that of the dimensional gate said to be blessed by the gods.
'Did they make this thing to be cleared by me alone right now?'
That was exactly what I thought the moment I saw that information.
Class Advancement Quest.
Also known as an Awakening Quest, this quest was clearly designed with the premise that an individual user would clear it.
Of course, it was true that the difficulty of the Class Advancement Quest was determined by the rank of the tale from which one received their class advancement.
But wasn't this a bit too much?
My gaze turned toward Shin Ha-yeon.
Shin Ha-yeon smiled upon meeting my eyes.
Shin Ha-yeon.
If I hadn't been able to mobilize near-limitless funds thanks to her, it wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say that the possibility of me clearing this quest alone was close to zero.
'It's not at the level of the Overlord Quest, but I nearly ended up in a dangerous financial situation again.'
I recalled the Overlord Quest.
The terrifying memory of investing massive funds into that quest, only to be left with debt, and then boarding a deep-sea fishing vessel still made me shudder.
I would still wake up with a start from dreams of tuna fishing boats; that said it all.
Of course, it wasn't an enormous financial drain comparable to the Overlord Quest or the Continental Unification War, but the cost of constructing the aerial mobile fortress was still staggering.
One billion gold wasn't exactly a household dog's name.
If Shin Ha-yeon hadn't been around, I wouldn't have even dreamed of clearing this quest.
The funds I could mobilize were quite substantial.
Because I was the king of the Iron-Blooded Kingdom spanning the East and North, as well as the leader of the Dark Alliance formed by six allied races.
The budget I could wield while running a nation beyond just a guild was considerable, but whether for the alliance or the kingdom, the maintenance costs and various budgetary demands commensurate with their size were substantial, making it difficult to spend a staggering sum of one billion gold at once.
Of course, if I imposed all kinds of taxes like before, it wouldn't be impossible, but I had already decided not to take that path.
Because levying taxes just to complete a single mobile fortress right now would be the worst of blunders, toppling every tower I had built with such care; it would be penny-wise and pound-foolish, an incomparably foolish and stupid act of being blinded by immediate gains and abandoning the grand scheme.
I shook my head and blinked.
'Come to think of it, Yujin, that bastard also recently finished his Class Advancement Quest.'
Suddenly, the video of Yujin finishing his Class Advancement Quest, which I had watched while enduring a stomachache not long ago, came to mind.
The Apostle of the End.
It was a quest to annihilate the doomsday cult, a pseudo-religion serving the final boss of the previous work, and prevent the resurrection of the Apostle of the End.
The video capturing the scene where the entire Lightwing Guild mobilized to defeat the cult leader of the Doomsday Cult, who emanated gray chaos power, surpassed 100 million views instantly.
And at the end of that quest, Yujin was able to learn the ultimate skill, 'The Final Light.'
'The Final Light, what a terrifying skill.'
I narrowed my brow recalling The Final Light.
The Final Light!
A Mythic-rank skill possessed by Yujin, that ultimate skill on par with the Overlord's Sword was a super-grade wide-area attack.
It was a skill that ruthlessly rained light bombardment from the sky like my Steel Rain, but its defining characteristic was that it possessed a function to heal allies struck by the light.
'It really is an unfair skill.'
An all-weather, all-purpose skill that heals and attacks simultaneously!
I furrowed my features, recalling the horrific scene from the previous work where the army of the Iron-Blooded Alliance was erased like pencil marks the moment it was hit by The Final Light, while conversely, the Revolutionary Army that had been dying was revived upon being bathed in the light.
It was annoying enough that the bastard had regained The Final Light, but as a reward for completing the Class Advancement Quest, he had even obtained an Awakening Skill.
He revealed his Awakening Skill through the video.
Yujin's Awakening Skill that I saw then was 'Solar Manifestation.'
A type of summoning skill that manifested a sun composed of light over the battlefield, possessing both a passive effect that inflicted debuffs on enemies and buffs on allies, and an active effect that allowed attacks with rays called 'Solar Bombardment.'
'Avatar of Radiance, Hero's Strike, plus The Final Light, and finally Solar Manifestation.'
I ground my teeth as I recalled his ultimates and awakening abilities one by one.
Avatar of Radiance, which massively increased attack power, defense, and stats, while also showering allied forces with wide-area buffs.
And Hero's Strike, which further increased attack power proportionally to the number of allies fighting alongside him!
Yujin.
Every skill that bastard possessed was anything but easy to deal with.
Most of his ultimates were buff skills, but Yujin's stats and combat endurance after receiving all those stacked buffs were beyond imagination.
No matter how much you hit him, he wouldn't die; literally like a zombie or a cockroach!
That was Yujin's combat style.
If he simply relied on stats, I wouldn't have struggled so much when facing him in the previous work.
Moreover, that bastard possessed troublesome, cheat-level skills that made him stronger the more allies he had, while also granting wide-area buffs to surrounding allies.
'I need the Overlord's Sword.'
The conclusion was the Overlord's Sword.
A top-tier attack skill in Arde World that could ignore his overwhelming combat endurance and amplified stats to inflict damage!
That was the skill I needed.
Of course, the yet-unknown Awakening Skill I would obtain upon completing the Class Advancement Quest was also something I needed.
Awakening Skill.
Though I couldn't know its contents, since it was the reward for a quest with astronomical costs and extreme difficulty that couldn't be cleared alone, the probability was high that at least a skill on par with that bastard Yujin's 'Solar Manifestation' would come out.
And to obtain those two skills, I needed to complete the construction of the aerial mobile fortress, which was the quest objective specified in the quest information window.
'Still, one of its functions is definitely tempting. It'll be worth the money.'
I smiled as I looked at the aerial mobile fortress's specs.
Because if I floated an aerial fortress with detection capabilities reaching a 5,000 km radius above the battlefield, it would be no different from turning on a maphack in war.
And that wasn't all?
A mobile fortress moving at an altitude enemies couldn't shoot down, and aerial battleships operating with it as their home port, would truly be enough to make my army the ruler of the skies.
Air supremacy!
There was no need to explain further how important controlling the skies was in warfare.
Of course, it was impossible to finish a war with an air force alone, and the final decisive battle was indeed fought by ground troops, but that didn't mean the power of an air force in war could be underestimated.
Anyway, the aerial mobile fortress, truly all-purpose from reconnaissance to attack, was a strategic asset embodying overwhelming over-technology enough to dominate the skies of Arde World, where wyverns were pretty much the extent of aerial capabilities.
"Shin Ha-yeon."
"Yes, Lord Drakan."
When I called her name, Shin Ha-yeon hurried up the stairs and gently caressed my hand resting on the armrest.
"Is something the matter? You look displeased."
At her words dripping with worry, I adjusted my status window settings and showed her the aerial mobile fortress's specs and required costs.
"To finish the Class Advancement Quest, I need this."
The required cost was so enormous that even I, who wouldn't bat an eyelid at considerable expenses, was shocked!
Yet upon seeing that cost, the smile etched on Shin Ha-yeon's lips didn't waver in the slightest.
"I can prepare everything except one item."
"Let me guess, the Mythic-rank Magic Stone."
She could prepare everything except one!
To Shin Ha-yeon, who said so with no change in expression and still a smiling face, I replied thus:
"Yes, that's right."
Shin Ha-yeon nodded in affirmation at my words.
Mythic-rank Magic Stone.
That's right.
This was the most problematic part among the consumption costs.
Legendary-rank material items or one billion gold would surely be easy for Shin Ha-yeon, who possessed chaebol-level wealth, to obtain, if not for me.
Because while living with Shin Ha-yeon, I had continuously felt firsthand just how extraordinary the wealth possessed by chaebols was, to the point ordinary people couldn't even dare to imagine it.
But unlike Legendary-rank items, which could still be obtained if you had money, Mythic-rank items weren't things you could acquire simply by having money.
There were no fools putting Mythic-rank items up for auction in the first place, and there wasn't even a precedent of a Mythic-rank item appearing at auction.
Because in Arde World, the highest rank of Mythic, whether skills or items, could only be obtained as rewards from lengthy chain quests or by defeating powerful boss monsters.
"A Mythic-rank item."
I furrowed my brows.
Mythic-rank items weren't exactly stones rolling around on the street; where in the world was I supposed to get one?
As I thought that while looking at the quest window, a quest entered my field of vision.
[Arde World's Counterattack]
[Rank: Mythic]
It was a Mythic-rank quest called Arde World's Counterattack, whose final objective was the subjugation of the Hive Mind.
'If it's the Hive Mind, it's definitely a monster that has risen to the level of a semi-Transcendent, right?'
Hive Mind.
One of the Four Rulers of Gehenna, the true culprit behind the Great Cataclysm, and the true mastermind.
As the final boss of Phase 2, it was surely a monstrous boss monster that possessed power equal to or greater than the Immortal King, having reached the realm of a semi-Transcendent.
'If I catch the Hive Mind, a Mythic-rank material item might drop.'
And if I slew such a being, a Mythic-rank material item might drop.
My thoughts reaching that point, I rose from my seat.
"Shin Ha-yeon."
"Yes, Lord Drakan."
"For now, gather some information on Mythic-rank quests for me."
"Understood."
I ordered Shin Ha-yeon to gather information on Mythic-rank quests.
Because even though the Hive Mind's existence was known, I had to prepare for every eventuality.
Because while the starting point of a Mythic-rank quest couldn't be found so easily, it was better to move than to do nothing.
Moreover, with the intelligence capabilities of Jeil E&M, which boasted of being the best in the industry, they might really be able to find it.
"And then?"
Shin Ha-yeon whispered to me.
I looked at her and spoke.
"We're going to Broken World."
Hive Mind.
It was time to kill it and end Phase 2, even for the sake of clearing the Class Advancement Quest.