The Final Boss Has Returned
Chapter 147
“To successfully finish this raid, we need the cooperation of the other two forces.”
Drakan made up his mind.
He would pull the other two forces in using the drowning-man strategy.
If he succeeded in the raid as things stood, it would ultimately amount to letting the other two forces reap the benefits without lifting a finger, and Drakan simply couldn’t stand that fact.
It wasn’t for the childish reason of simply being a sore loser.
Eugene.
Defeating that bastard and standing at the pinnacle of Arde World was Drakan’s goal, so there was no way he would let some random bastards snatch away the entire work he had painstakingly built up until now.
So the others had to bleed too.
“As expected, you and I see eye to eye, Drakan-nim.”
Whether Drakan knew what he was thinking or not, Eugene broke into a bright smile the moment he heard Drakan’s words.
In complete contrast to Drakan, who had offered his opinion from a standpoint of extreme selfishness, Eugene held a thought of utter purity—that everyone had to work together to stop the world’s crisis!
‘As expected, Drakan-nim has completely changed from the past.’
Eugene thought with a smile.
Drakan.
He had undoubtedly completely broken away from his past self.
Eugene knew better than anyone else what the old Drakan had been like.
The Drakan of the previous work had been a monster born of egoism, one who pursued nothing but his own interests to the extreme.
If Drakan hadn’t truly changed, if his personality were the same as before, he never would have suggested bringing other forces into the raid.
Rather, he would clearly have suggested attacking the Hive Mind no matter what sacrifices had to be made.
But Drakan had suggested letting other forces participate, and this served as yet another small occasion for Eugene to confirm once more that Drakan had changed.
Of course, contrary to Eugene’s thoughts, Drakan’s true intention was that he couldn’t die alone, but there was no way Eugene could know what lay in his heart.
Thus, the moment the opinion of Eugene, born from pure goodwill and sincerity, and the opinion of Drakan, born from extreme selfishness, coincided by chance, the conclusion of the meeting was decided.
Now it was time to discuss the method.
“Then how do you plan to bring them in?”
The moment Eugene and Drakan’s opinions aligned, the first to open his mouth was Sword Emperor Argen.
For Argen, this situation was unpleasant.
He hadn’t been particularly happy about a big shot like Drakan muscling in on this raid to begin with, and now it seemed like other riffraff were going to force their way in as well.
High risk, high return!
The greater the danger, the greater the reward!
This was the absolute law that had governed Arde World from the previous work to the present day.
The dirtier and harder a quest’s process, the more a dungeon seemed impossible to conquer at first glance, the greater the rewards it gave upon successful conquest!
There wasn’t a single user who had played games a fair bit who didn’t know that law.
And if they could monopolize this quest, upon which the ‘Destruction of Arde World’ hung…
The return would be beyond imagination.
That was what Argen was thinking.
Therefore, Argen had reluctantly accepted Drakan, but he was skeptical about accepting any more forces beyond that.
Because splitting limited rewards with others was not what he wanted.
However, Argen didn’t strongly oppose it.
‘But it takes two to clap, and unless they’re pushovers, the chances are high they’ll refuse to join.’
The other two forces.
He thought it was unlikely Xiongmao E-Sports and Simseong Iron Stars would join.
They were weaklings who couldn’t handle high risk, high return, so it was clear they would only join if a lot was promised to them.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t move.
Especially since the fact that Simseong Iron Stars had a bone to pick with Jeil E&M, led by Drakan, was an open secret.
It was safe to say there was no chance that Simseong Iron Stars would join hands with Drakan.
‘There’s no way that Drakan would pay more than necessary to bring them in.’
Argen laughed inwardly.
The alliance negotiations suddenly came to mind.
Despite being at the negotiation table himself, Argen had no choice but to concede to every one of his unreasonable demands—not only demanding rights to myth-grade items, but even insisting on equal treatment.
Of course, if his demands had truly crossed the line, he would have broken off negotiations, but he had taken the maximum profit while hovering precariously along that line, making it impossible.
He was truly no different from a shameless bandit who would cut off your nose while staring you right in the face!
That was exactly what Drakan had looked like at the negotiation table.
But having that Drakan as an ally felt like gaining thousands of troops and horses.
‘Who would have thought the day would come when I’d trust Drakan.’
Argen smiled faintly at that thought.
Anyway, the problem of how to recruit them remained unsolved.
And likely would remain unsolved going forward.
At that very moment Argen was thinking that.
“That won’t be too difficult.”
The opposite of what Argen expected burst from Drakan’s lips.
Twitch.
Argen’s eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“Not difficult? What do you mean by that?”
“If we step forward and appeal to their goodwill, they’ll have no choice but to join our alliance voluntarily.”
The moment he heard those words, Argen’s stomach turned.
Drakan.
Because he realized the hidden meaning behind his words.
‘Is he planning to threaten them with public opinion?’
Public opinion.
When united as one, a force more terrifying than anything else.
Now Drakan was trying to wield that force.
Appealing to their goodwill.
In truth, under normal circumstances, it was an absurd notion.
The world was not such an easy place that one would move for something like goodwill.
But in the current situation, it was different.
The Destruction of Arde World!
In the face of this enormous issue, the two who had seized the moral high ground were Drakan and Eugene.
By attacking the Valley of the Breeze to speed up the sluggish Phase 2 conquest, and even going so far as to build a forward base and erect the Grand Shrine on the Plateau of Genesis, players had naturally come to believe that Drakan and Eugene’s ultimate goal was the Hive Mind.
In such a situation, what if Eugene and Drakan publicly requested ‘help’ from them in front of all the regular users?
Though it was called a ‘request for help’, it was practically coercion.
Fifteen days.
Within that short time, if they refused a request for help sent publicly, the backlash of public opinion the two forces would receive would truly be beyond imagination.
It might even be that the two guilds perished before Arde World did.
“Drakan-nim is right. If we request help with a sincere heart, they too will surely open their hearts and stand united to fight for the great cause of protecting Arde World.”
Whether he knew what Argen was thinking or not, Eugene accepted Drakan’s words at face value with a pleased expression.
Appealing to goodwill!
That was precisely the method Eugene, who believed in human goodwill, had wanted most.
Arde World.
To protect this virtual world that was even called another world, they too would risk their characters’ lives to help them.
Eugene thought so.
‘To think such words would come from Drakan-nim’s mouth.’
Even so, Eugene was slightly surprised.
Drakan.
He didn’t doubt now that Drakan had turned over a new leaf.
He had clearly changed completely from his past self.
But even so, Eugene thought he had a personality closer to Berda than to Eugene himself.
A man who doubted first rather than believed.
That was Drakan.
But the current Drakan was different.
Like Eugene, he believed in human goodwill and had spoken first, saying that if they requested help purely, they would respond with sincerity.
‘Drakan-nim. You too have finally come to believe in human sincerity.’
Eugene smiled warmly.
If you believed in goodwill and showed sincerity, you could move anyone.
He felt proud that Drakan, once his enemy, agreed with that thought of his.
Receiving Eugene’s warm smile and sparkling gaze, Drakan clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘Seems he’s having another useless delusion.’
Thinking so, Drakan spoke to Eugene.
“Yeah. So let’s request help right now. With all our sincerity, of course.”
A smile hung on Drakan’s lips as he said that.
Drakan.
His drowning-man strategy had finally begun.
* * *
Broken World.
The joint base of Xiongmao E-Sports and Simseong Iron Stars.
A single voice rang out from the conference hall at its center.
“If we can’t conquer the Hive Mind in fifteen days, Arde World is destroyed. What a joke. Isn’t it?”
Vice Chairman Sin Jeong-hyeok.
Logged in through his in-game character, he spoke with a smile.
“Let’s leave the world’s crisis to those high and mighty gentlemen. We just need to watch the show and eat the rice cakes.”
The one who chimed in with him was none other than Blade Emperor Wujing, the leader of Xiongmao E-Sports.
Blade Emperor Wujing, who had the appearance of a neat-looking middle-aged man, sat with a single saber sheathed at his waist and looked around.
“Soon, our era will come.”
Wujing muttered, looking at the maps of Broken World and Arde World in the center of the table.
Our era.
That’s right.
They were waiting for their moment now.
None of those present were even considering the possibility that the Hive Mind conquest would fail and Arde World would truly be destroyed.
Five Eyes and Jeil E&M.
The two most powerful forces in Arde World, which had simultaneously been at each other’s throats, had joined hands. At that point, the Hive Mind conquest would end in success.
Only, they would have to spill a lot of blood in the process.
“Yes. Soon our era will come.”
Vice Chairman Sin looked at Blade Emperor Wujing and smiled.
Only after logging into the game did Vice Chairman Sin realize the boundless value of this game called Arde Saga Second.
Along with that, he could clearly understand why Sin Ha-yeon was so obsessed with getting Arde World into her hands.
‘To think she’d try to lap up such sweet honey alone, I can’t let that happen.’
Vice Chairman Sin smiled at that thought.
It had started as a game for simple revenge against Sin Ha-yeon, but what Vice Chairman Sin aimed for now was something greater.
The hegemony of Arde World.
Because he had realized that value upon starting the game.
‘Of course, I’ll have to coexist with those Chinese bastards for now, but the hegemony of Arde World is worth it.’
Thinking so, Vice Chairman Sin looked at Wujing, and Blade Emperor Wujing likewise looked at Vice Chairman Sin and smiled outwardly.
‘Who knows how long I’ll have to stick with these Korean bastards. But I need them for now.’
At that very moment when the two forces were dreaming different dreams in the same bed.
A video was quietly uploaded to Arde Live.