The Final Boss Has Returned - Chapter 140
"Understood."
A smile still hung at the corner of Yujin's lips as he replied to Drakan's whisper.
"Yujin, is something going on?"
Sharp asked upon seeing Yujin like that.
It was because he was curious as to why a smile that seemed genuinely happy was hanging on Yujin's face, when he had been wearing nothing but a rather unpleasant expression throughout the entire meeting.
This was not just Sharp's thought alone.
Even Argen, the Sword Emperor, who had been standing in opposition to Yujin until now, reacted sensitively to the change in Yujin's expression.
After all, it was because the final decision-making authority in this place lay with Yujin.
Top Ranker, Hero Yujin.
There was no user present who could go against his will, as he held the hegemony of Arde World.
It was merely because Yujin was not a tyrant who pushed his own opinion through to the end like Drakan, but rather a figure who respected the opinions of others, that Argen had been able to present opposing opinions without hesitation.
"I've received contact."
"From whom?"
Argen asked at Yujin's words.
Just what user could have contacted Yujin?
The other three forces currently entrenched in Broken World were effectively refusing to cooperate with Five Eyes.
And yet, contact in such a situation?
Moreover, seeing that it had been delivered via whisper, there was no doubt that it was a user who shared a certain level of closeness with Yujin.
"It's Lord Drakan."
At Yujin's following words, Argen's expression stiffened slightly.
'What scheme is he up to?'
Steel Monarch Drakan.
The user known to be the only one who remained in Arde World to carry out the Victory Quest while all high-level users and ranker users were heading to Broken World.
Why on earth had he contacted Yujin in Broken World now of all times?
Even after learning the identity of the user who had made contact, Argen fell into confusion.
He was not the only one surprised to hear the news.
'Drakan? Why did he contact him?'
Berda.
She, who served as the brain of the Lightwing Guild, also fell into confusion.
Drakan.
The very fact that he had suddenly contacted Yujin to say he would cooperate was enough to surprise her.
But unlike Argen, who was still mired in confusion, Berda quickly organized her thoughts.
Anyway, it was a fact that he had made contact.
Then she had to guess why exactly he had come forward offering to cooperate.
'Helping without any price... The possibility isn't zero, but......'
The possibility of Drakan helping without any price was slim, but it did exist.
Because Berda knew all too well that what Drakan desperately wanted right now was public opinion among the users.
If the Drakan of the past was an extreme egoist who would stop at nothing for his own gain, the current Drakan could be called a shrewd politician who knew how to abandon even his own interests to obtain public opinion.
'He might want some other price.'
But the probability of him truly helping without any price was low.
By offering to cooperate, the initiative had passed to Drakan's side.
For Yujin, who wanted to minimize user casualties and ensure their safety, he would have no choice but to accept Drakan's demands to a reasonable extent.
And Drakan was not a man to let such a good opportunity slip by.
Then what price would he demand?
When her thoughts reached that point, Berda shook her head.
It was because she couldn't even guess what price Drakan would demand.
He might want tangible items, or intangible benefits.
The current Drakan was a man beyond the scope of Berda's predictions.
"Drakan, what did that man say?"
Amidst a strange silence mixed with confusion, Sharp was the first to open his mouth.
Yujin smiled at Sharp's question and said,
"He says he'll lend us his strength, so let's negotiate."
Hearing Yujin's words, it felt like lightning struck inside Berda's head.
Negotiation.
The existence of these two words was practically the annihilation of the assumption that Drakan would help without any price.
If he were helping without a price, there would be no need to bring up the word "negotiation."
He could have just said he would help.
But the fact that he deliberately brought up negotiation meant that he had a price he wanted from this side.
'What on earth?'
Since entering Second, there had been more than one or two times that Berda had tried to pressure Drakan.
But each time, Drakan had gone beyond her expectations and turned the pressure back on her.
From the Northern War to the Twilight Stone negotiations!
It was no exaggeration to say that Berda's strategies against Drakan since entering Second had been a string of total defeats.
"Anyway, since Lord Drakan has proposed a negotiation, I think it would be best for me to attend the bargaining table for now. What do you all think?"
Even as this was happening, Yujin spoke in an excited voice to the Over Rankers of Five Eyes seated at the table, including himself.
And there was no user present who could voice opposition to such a Yujin.
Even Argen, who had opposed most loudly, maintained silence at Yujin's words.
Because the justification for opposition had disappeared.
Argen's justification for advocating a solo clear was that there were no forces willing to cooperate; now that a force had come forward offering to cooperate, to insist on further opposition was crossing the line.
"Very well. Let's do that."
Therefore, the only answer Argen could give was a single word of approval.
As the other users followed suit in agreeing with his words, the Five Eyes meeting concluded just like that.
All that remained now was the negotiation with Drakan.
* * *
[I will accept the negotiation. Lord Drakan. The location and time shall be according to your will.]
Drakan smiled upon hearing Yujin's reply.
Because the big fish called Yujin had finally been caught in the net he had cast.
"Yujin has accepted the negotiation."
At Drakan's words, Sin Ha-yeon smiled, and Ignis wordlessly went to his seat and sat down.
"The initiative is on our side. We should be able to demand a reasonable price from them within limits."
"Can we demand a price other than the Mythic-grade material item?"
The moment Drakan finished speaking, Ignis asked.
Since Ignis was Drakan's closest confidant, he already knew what the quest completion conditions were.
Mythic-grade material item!
The fact that Drakan would obtain the rights to that item—necessary to complete the aerial mobile fortress Voltar—through this quest was something Ignis could guess even without Drakan telling him.
Of course, it was questionable whether they truly possessed a Mythic-grade material item, but it was true that the probability of a Mythic-grade material item appearing upon successfully raiding the Hive Mind was quite high.
"Yes. But we shouldn't ask for more tangible compensation like items."
"We have plenty of items on our side too. Unless it's Mythic-grade, there's no need to insist on getting them. And if we demand Mythic-grade items, the negotiations are highly likely to fall through."
The moment Drakan finished speaking, Sin Ha-yeon said quietly.
As she said, Jeil E&M had no shortage of items.
It was the result of Sin Ha-yeon, who had desired the hegemony of Arde World, having collected Legendary-grade items since long ago.
Of course, there were no Mythic-grade items, but since the other side didn't have any either, except for the equipment of Lightwing Guild members, it was basically the same.
Moreover, if they asked for Mythic-grade items—in other words, the equipment they were using—the negotiations would likely fall through.
No matter how much we hold the upper hand, demanding their liver and gallbladder is no different from saying we don't want to negotiate.
Asking for a future Mythic-grade material item was, after all, asking for an item they did not currently possess; it was virtually the same as asking for the 'rights' to it, so there was a high chance of acceptance. But demanding that they hand over Mythic-grade items they currently possessed was an excessive demand.
Securing the maximum benefit without letting the negotiations fall through.
That was precisely the objective Drakan had set for the negotiation with Yujin.
"If this negotiation falls through, the solo-clear faction within Five Eyes will likely gain strength."
A matter-of-fact statement flowed from Ignis's mouth.
The fact that Five Eyes was currently divided internally into two opinions was practically an open secret.
They were the solo-clear faction and the cooperative-clear faction; the only reason they hadn't done anything until now was because Yujin belonged to the cooperative-clear faction. Had that not been the case, they would have clearly chosen to clear with solo forces.
Therefore, this negotiation could be said to be a sort of watershed moment.
'They possess more than enough capacity to finish this phase with a solo clear.'
Drakan recalled Five Eyes's combat power.
Though he had caught up considerably, Five Eyes still possessed enough power to finish Phase 2 on their own.
There was no telling how long this strange lull would last, but if it couldn't be stopped, it was better to use them to gain profit.
Five Eyes.
The power Yujin possessed still existed high in the heavens above, despite having run without rest.
The gap of two years' time; the snowballing effect brought about by the hegemony yielded through the World Revolution was just that tremendous.
Drakan smiled.
Anyway, he could not let the enemy make the choice of a solo clear.
"What sort of intangible price will you demand?"
Ignis's question came to Drakan.
An intangible price.
Ignis was curious as to what price he would demand.
Drakan smiled at those words and answered,
"Not a one-time alliance for the Valley of Origin conquest, but an alliance that continues through the Hive Mind conquest as well. And they must acknowledge our side as an equal and distribute the share equally as well. That is the condition I will present."
The smile hanging at Drakan's lips deepened when he finished speaking.
"Will they accept that condition?"
Ignis asked carefully upon hearing Drakan's answer.
As Ignis said, Drakan's condition could be seen as an absurd one.
The difference in actual military power held by Five Eyes and Jeil E&M was still firmly in place.
In a situation where Five Eyes possessed overwhelming power beyond compare, asking to be guaranteed an equal position and share was truly no different from highway robbery from the opponent's perspective.
"Of course. For Yujin, that man values fairness above all. He can't refuse."
But Drakan answered Ignis immediately.
Yujin.
Drakan was one of the people in this world who knew him better than anyone else.
And Drakan well knew what values such a Yujin held most dear.
Fairness.
That was one of the values Yujin cherished most, and Drakan intended to exploit that gap.
If it was Yujin, who valued fairness more than anyone else, he would have no choice but to accept their proposal like a pushover.
Drakan smiled, thinking so.
Yujin, the pushover who gives without hesitation.
Now, it was time to go meet him.