The Final Boss Has Returned - Chapter 146
[A quest has been generated.]
[Construction of the Dark Grand Temple]
[Grade: Legend]
-The power of the Demon Palace has yet to reach the Primordial Plateau. The Hive Mind is not an opponent that can be faced without the power of a Transcendent. Construct the Dark Grand Temple and call forth the power of the Dark Demon God, and by extension, the Demon Palace, upon this land.
If you do so, the protection of the Dark Demon God shall be bestowed upon you, his Apostle of Darkness.
[This quest cannot be refused.]
[You have accepted the quest.]
I stood still, looking at the quest that had appeared before my eyes.
There was one crucial keyword in this quest, the Construction of the Dark Grand Temple.
That the Hive Mind was an opponent impossible to face without borrowing the power of a Transcendent!
‘A raid where we borrow the power of a Transcendent.’
I was immediately able to infer the nature of the Hive Mind raid from that.
A raid borrowing the power of a Transcendent.
It didn't exist yet in Second, but there had been several precedents in the previous game.
Of course, I hadn't done it; it was something Yujin had done.
Yujin.
That bastard had successfully completed several raids by borrowing the power of the Goddess of Light.
‘I thought there was a possibility, but I didn't think it would actually happen.’
At the very moment I was analyzing the quest like that.
"I received the quest. Have you received it as well, Drakan-nim?"
Yujin's voice reached my ears.
Yujin.
As expected, he had received the quest too.
If I was the contractor of the Dark Demon God, then he was the contractor of the Goddess of Light!
Since both of us were receiving the protection of the Demon Palace and the Pantheon respectively, he must have received the Pantheon's side of the quest.
"Yeah. It told me to build the Dark Grand Temple."
I answered Yujin honestly about the quest's contents.
Anyway, we were in a temporary alliance at least until the Hive Mind raid, and above all, it wasn't a quest with information worth hiding.
At my words, Yujin replied with a smile.
"I have a quest to build the Grand Temple of Light."
As I had expected, it seemed he had received the Pantheon's quest.
"It looks like you and I will have to work together to take down the Hive Mind, Drakan-nim."
Yujin said to me once more.
Cooperation.
It was certainly possible that things would go faster that way.
The Pantheon and the Demon Palace.
If the two Transcendent powers that had been at odds since the mythological age of the Arde World joined hands, the Hive Mind raid might end quickly as well.
"It seems I was fortunate to have formed an alliance with you, Drakan-nim."
Whether he knew I was thinking that or not, Yujin spoke with a disarming smile.
I nodded at Yujin's words.
"Yeah. It was a good decision."
Anyway, a raid on this scale wasn't something that either Yujin or I could freeload through.
Thinking so, I looked at the cloudy sky and the plateau spread out beneath it.
* * *
After the Primordial Plateau opened.
Drakan and Yujin began constructing their respective Grand Temples at their respective forward bases.
There was still time left until the Grand Temples were completed.
In the meantime, the Hive Mind didn't show any particularly large movements.
Of course, it sent troops to the bases to keep them in check, but it didn't show any movements beyond that.
The Grand Temples were being steadily constructed like that, but not all users participated in the temple construction.
The Primordial Plateau.
True to being a place that was the origin of extraterrestrial civilization and a holy land established by the former indigenous people of Broken World, a considerable number of ruins still remained on the plateau.
Of course, most of the ruins had been destroyed by the Hive Mind's invasion, but thanks to the sheer number of remaining ruins, countless users set out to explore them.
Even while this was happening, the Grand Temple construction proceeded steadily, and the moment the Grand Temples were finally completed on the plateau.
Rumble!
Along with the sound of thunder, pillars of white and black light descended from the heavily clouded sky upon each of the Grand Temples.
[The protection of the Demon Palace fully descends upon Broken World.]
[The protection of the Pantheon fully descends upon Broken World.]
The protections of the Pantheon and the Demon Palace!
It was the moment when the Transcendents of the Arde World finally exerted their full influence upon this other world.
[A quest has been generated.]
Along with that, a notification window appeared before every user in Broken World.
[Finale]
[Grade: Myth]
-Thanks to the valiant efforts of countless nameless heroes, the enemies have retreated, and the protections of the Pantheon and the Demon Palace have fully descended upon this other world, Broken World. Now only the final step remains to pursue the culprit behind the Great Upheaval. That is to slay the Hive Mind, the root cause of the Great Upheaval, at the center of the Primordial Plateau.
But the Hive Mind is no easy opponent. The Hive Mind is currently attempting to recall its expeditionary forces dispatched to numerous other worlds. If the Hive Mind's expeditionary forces from the other worlds return, the Arde World stands no chance of victory.
Slay the Hive Mind before the expeditionary forces return. The protections of the Pantheon and the Demon Palace shall protect you.
[Quest Completion Objective]
[Slay the Hive Mind]
[Time Limit: 15 days]
Slay the Hive Mind!
It was a quest that anyone could see was the final quest of Phase 2.
The users who saw that quest were all shocked.
They weren't shocked that they had to slay the Hive Mind.
The objective of a myth-grade quest being the Hive Mind, and the fact that the Hive Mind was the boss of Phase 2, was already widely known.
What surprised the users was the quest completion objective.
Slay the Hive Mind within 15 days!
Considering that the time marked in the quest was based on game time rather than real time, it was like saying they had to attempt the Hive Mind raid and successfully finish it within less than a week.
Considering the immense amount of preparation needed to succeed in a raid, this was a timeframe that went beyond tight and approached impossible.
[15 days? Is this for real? LOL]
[What happens if we pass the time limit?]
[Dude, didn't you even read the quest? It says we're doomed LOL]
[It means if all the Hive Mind expeditionary forces return from the other worlds, everyone’s screwed. Yep]
[Wow LOL they can run the game like this? LOL]
[Explosive ending, crazy;;]
Moreover, another point that shocked the users was the return of the expeditionary forces mentioned in the quest contents.
The Arde World stands no chance of victory.
People were shocked by that expression, which appeared for the first time across both the previous game and Second.
Monsters that had threatened the world had existed in the previous game as well, so it wasn't such a rare concept, but it was the first time such a despair-filled sentence had appeared outright in the quest information window description, saying 'if you can't stop it, there is no chance of victory.'
[Would be hilarious if the game actually gets ruined like this LOL]
[No way it actually gets ruined, right?]
['No way' is exactly what gets people killed]
Ordinary users began debating among themselves over the quest contents.
Some took it seriously, and others were curious if it would really end with an explosive ending.
On the other hand, the high-ranking players were different.
For them, for whom the game had become their livelihood, the fact that if they failed to slay the Hive Mind within 15 days, the game world might be destroyed, was truly no different from a bolt from the blue.
The Primordial Plateau.
At the forward base of the alliance between Drakan and Yujin located there, an emergency meeting was already convened the moment the quest window appeared.
Silence flowed in the meeting room where high-ranking executives from both Five Eyes and Jeil E&M had gathered.
Among them, the first to open his mouth was none other than Drakan.
"I didn't see this coming."
He didn't see this coming.
That's right.
Even for Drakan, who had weathered every battle imaginable, this situation was far beyond prediction.
This kind of quest was something that didn't make sense even by common sense.
Arde Saga Second, combined with Arde Live, was already a goose that laid golden eggs.
Even if they left it alone without any content updates, the users would create their own content and enjoy it, and on top of that, countless people were watching Arde Live even while skipping ads.
Now Arde Live had grown more influential than TV, to the point of being called the forerunner of new media.
In such a situation, a sudden world destruction trigger?
This was truly unexpected.
Arde Saga Second was no longer just a game, and if they truly failed the quest and the expeditionary forces returned to destroy the Arde World, the aftermath would clearly be immeasurable compared to just a single game failing.
"Drakan-nim is right."
Yujin nodded in agreement with Drakan's words.
Yujin had also spent an immeasurable amount of time in the Arde World, no less than Drakan, and had experience leading the main story after Drakan's departure in the previous game, and even defeating the final boss, the Apostle of the End, to see the previous game's ending.
But even with his experience, the phrase 'stand no chance of victory' written in this quest was something he had seen for the first time.
"Within 15 days."
Drakan muttered while looking at Yujin nodding.
Time limit: 15 days.
In real time, they had to subjugate the Hive Mind within just 5 days.
That was the meaning of the quest given to them now.
"We're not in a position to be picky."
Drakan continued.
As he said, they were not in a position to be picky now.
By the book, they should steadily scout for information, analyze their forces, and devise all strategies before attempting it, but if they did things by the book now, they would clearly exceed the time limit.
"Would a raid be possible with just our forces?"
Yujin said to Drakan.
Was a raid possible with the forces gathered here?
Drakan couldn't answer that readily.
Of course, it wasn't that they couldn't do it.
The forces gathered in this place right now were probably undoubtedly the strongest across both the previous game and Second.
Like in the previous game, if they aimed solely for a clear, it was possible.
‘But if we do that, there will definitely be massive casualties.’
But the problem was after the clear.
They would have to accept massive casualties.
Of course, because this was an unprecedented crisis of the world's destruction, people could endure a certain amount of casualties, but what mattered was that the power of his own faction would be reduced.
If things continued like this, Simseong Iron Stars and Xiongmao E-Sports, who had sat idle and preserved their forces intact, would reap the spoils and become the final victors.
And Drakan absolutely could not tolerate that sight.
If they were going to die, they had to die together; he could never do something that benefited others.
Rather than cooking porridge only to feed it to a dog, wouldn't overturning the bowl be far better?
Having thought that far, Drakan shook his head and spoke.
"No, our forces are insufficient."
He couldn't die alone.
Thinking so, Drakan slowly continued to speak.