The Final Boss Has Returned — Episode 143
The Alliance of Simseong Iron Stars and Xiongmao Esports!
News of the alliance between the two powers set the internet ablaze, and naturally, it reached Drakan’s ears as well.
Right before the Valley of Origin.
The Dark Alliance’s forward base.
Having received the report of the two guilds’ alliance at the headquarters located at the heart of a brand-new base—construction on which had begun immediately beside the Five Eyes forward base following the establishment of the alliance and had only just been completed—Drakan smiled.
“So they’ve joined forces.”
“That is correct.”
“Vice Chairman Shin is certainly pulling out all the stops.”
“They say he’s started playing the game this time, so it seems he’s making his move in earnest.”
To Drakan’s words, Sin Hayeon replied in a calm voice.
“This might get a bit troublesome.”
The fellow who had only been footing the bills from behind the scenes had personally started playing the game.
Even so, Drakan was not greatly worried.
Because it was something he had already anticipated.
Xiongmao Esports and Simseong Iron Stars.
It was clear that their goal, much like his own, was a bid for hegemony; therefore, there was no one who would wish more fervently than they for Five Eyes to squander its own strength on a solo raid.
But since he had intervened and ruined their scheme, the only option left to them was to join forces.
No one knew what would happen in the distant future, but for the present, it would have been stranger still had they not joined hands while a common goal existed.
‘But do I really need to worry about it?’
Drakan thought to himself.
Simseong Iron Stars and Xiongmao Esports.
Their alliance appeared quite threatening on the surface.
But in Drakan’s view, even if the two joined forces, they could not threaten his side right now, for he was allied with Five Eyes.
Five Eyes.
The power they had built up in Arde was immense.
And even if they declared war once everything was said and done, it did not matter, for Drakan was confident he would win regardless.
“But if we can clean them up with this opportunity, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Recalling Voltaha, the aerial mobile fortress that would fall into his hands once the war was over, Drakan smiled.
If he could get his hands on an aerial mobile fortress mighty enough to truly deserve the name ‘ultimate weapon,’ then regardless of the enemy’s strength, the war could be ended in his victory.
Such was the might of Voltaha.
So much so that he even began to wish they would attack first.
In any case, Simseong Iron Stars, led by Vice Chairman Shin, was a potential enemy gunning for his throat, and such adversaries needed to be eliminated in advance for a clean finish.
Watching Drakan, Sin Hayeon smiled.
Xiongmao Esports was not a force to be taken lightly.
Led by Wu Jing, the Blade Emperor, China’s sole Over Ranker user, and backed by the Xiongmao Group, China’s largest conglomerate, the Xiongmao Esports guild was not merely a guild—it was essentially the guild representing China itself.
If the strength of Xiongmao Esports—enjoying the boundless support of Chinese users who flocked endlessly thanks to China’s population—were combined with that of Simseong Iron Stars, they would be evaluated as a match for Drakan’s Dark Alliance.
China.
Their massive population, now approaching 1.8 billion, provided manpower that could not be ignored as a fighting force.
Even now, countless rookie users from China were heading west.
Yet despite that, Drakan did not waver in the slightest.
That was so like him; thinking that she had chosen well, Sin Hayeon took his hand.
“I will handle dealing with them for now.”
Sin Hayeon whispered into Drakan’s ear.
A clash between massive powers on the scale of the Eight Great Guilds did not occur only in Arde.
In the real world, checks from the enemy could come at any time.
Especially since the opposing forces were backed by powerful conglomerates in the real world, the risk of such interference was that much higher.
And Sin Hayeon intended to mobilize the power of Jeil Group on that outer battlefield to oppose them.
“So please focus on the Phase Clear for now.”
Phase Clear!
Hearing those words, Drakan smiled.
The Valley of Origin.
The entrance leading to the Primordial Plateau.
Now, it was time to raid that place.
* * *
The Valley of Origin!
Covered head to toe in sticky mucus, repulsive tentacles, and living structures that turned one’s stomach just to look at, this place was the sole gateway to the Primordial Plateau, where the Hive Mind dwelled.
Therefore, the Hive Mind had thoroughly sealed off the Valley of Origin.
[My children. Block those repulsive otherworldly invaders. Soon, the expeditionary forces that departed for another world shall return.]
The Hive Mind’s great will was conveyed to every entity defending the Valley of Origin.
Indeed.
The reason Arde’s users had been able to push through Broken World so quickly was precisely because Broken World—their main stronghold, so to speak—had been empty.
The main army of the Hive Mind, which had conquered countless worlds, reducing them to ashes and ruin, was truly of a staggering scale!
If they returned, those otherworldly invaders would surely be defeated.
However, recalling the expeditionary forces currently deployed across dimensions required even the Hive Mind—a great will in its own right—to expend considerable power.
Should the Valley of Origin be breached and the otherworldly army advance under such circumstances, the future would be impossible to guarantee.
Thus, the Hive Mind concentrated the majority of its forces in the Valley of Origin.
Thanks to that, an incalculable number of troops were now gathered in the Valley of Origin.
“Utterly brutal.”
Drakan muttered lightly upon seeing the sight.
Yujin.
It was a sight that vividly demonstrated why he had sought to form an alliance with Drakan—an enemy force so enormous that even Five Eyes, the strongest power in Arde, would have to be prepared to bleed.
Furthermore, as it was a valley, the terrain was unfavorable to their side.
“But now that Drakan-nim is here, I am at ease.”
Yujin stood at Drakan’s side.
He wore a genuinely bright smile.
Drakan.
His joining them did not signify a mere alliance.
The Dark Alliance!
Another massive faction that split Arde in half alongside the Holy Alliance!
It was as if the users and might of that entire faction had come along with him.
Indeed, a constellation of powerhouses from the Dark Alliance—including Ignis, the Great Orc Chieftain Botan, and the Arch Lich—were already gathering at the entrance to the Valley of Origin.
Of course, the Holy Alliance’s elite troops—such as the Empire’s armies including Five Eyes, the Holy Kingdom’s Paladin Order and Priest Order, the Empire’s Grand General, and the Commander of the Paladin Order—had also already reached the valley entrance.
With flags of every color fluttering and countless users and NPCs swarming in, the scene truly resembled something out of a war film.
Seeing that expression, Drakan turned his head and gazed at the valley with a blank face.
‘A sight where the greatest military forces in Arde’s history are all concentrated in one place.’
Such was Drakan’s impression.
It was the greatest assembly of mighty forces in one place since the war between the Revolutionary Army and the Guild Alliance of old.
“Turn on the stream.”
“Please host it on Drakan-nim’s channel this time as well.”
No sooner had Drakan spoken than Yujin replied.
It was a gesture of consideration: since Drakan’s subscriber count was higher than his own, Yujin would host the stream on Drakan’s channel.
Drakan smiled at Yujin’s words.
‘As expected, a pushover.’
Confirming his pushover nature once again even in such trivial matters, Drakan started the stream.
The raid date had already been made public online, so the moment the stream began, countless people began entering the chat.
[Drha. It means hi to Drakan-nim.]
[Is it finally a collab today?]
[For real, he’s gonna add another legend to the list lol]
[Wow, wtf is that? How many people even gathered there?]
[Reminds me of the World Revolution…]
[Boomer.]
[World Revolution was a revolution from when? What a boomer.]
[These punks… back in my day~!]
Endless messages flooding in and donations exploding nonstop the moment the stream started!
Watching that scene, Drakan smiled.
Countless people were focusing on this very moment through Arde Live and the game broadcasting stations.
‘A guarantee of equal standing is not as simple a matter as he thinks.’
A promise to guarantee equal standing for one another.
The condition that Drakan had presented next to the Mythic-grade material item was not something he had brought up simply for personal gain.
‘That he and I stand in the same position. That his counterpart is me. It is about making the world recognize that fact.’
That Drakan was none other than Yujin’s rival—the only user who had risen to the same rank as him!
It was a condition Drakan had put forward to imprint that fact upon the users.
Yujin, unaware of this scheme, had accepted the proposal without a second thought, thinking that equal treatment was only natural. But the moment he accepted, he had fallen into a trap.
[Damn, the alliance troops look sick lol. A man’s gotta have an alliance, after all~]
[What are you talking about? Can’t you see the Coalition’s overwhelming strength? The Coalition is the best;]
[Yujin-nim seems really nice. He did two collabs with Drakan;;]
[What are you talking about? Our Drakan-nim is the generous one. Lol He actually gave someone like Yujin a collab lol]
[Welcome, suckers. lol As if you guys could’ve even attempted the valley raid without Yujin-nim lol]
[Yujin fanboys, aren’t you getting it backwards? lol You guys wouldn’t even be able to dip your toes in the valley without Drakan-nim lol]
Alliance and Coalition.
In a world already split into two, the position of representative user for a faction known as the Dark Alliance was by no means a light one.
Furthermore, Drakan was the sole rival who had blocked Yujin’s path in the past, and the top ranker who had dominated Arde in the era before Yujin!
With the weight of Drakan’s past name value and the feats he had accomplished in the present, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place: having formed an alliance as an equal, Drakan could finally stand on the same line as Yujin in this very moment.
Of course, in terms of actual power, Yujin still held overwhelming superiority, but at the very least, the users’ perception had clearly shifted.
People loved a dramatic story.
A fierce story where a challenger of similar level existed, ceaselessly repeating cycles of rivalry and cooperation, was more popular than one of a figure always loftily reigning at the top.
And Drakan possessed more than enough capability to take on the role of the ‘challenger’ in this story.
‘Wait for me at the top, Yujin.’
Drakan looked at Yujin, who was greeting the viewers with a bright, carefree smile.
The summit.
That mountain peak, which had been hidden above the clouds and invisible to the eye when he first started the game, had finally descended to a height where it could be seen with the naked eye.