The Final Boss Has Returned – Episode 149
“Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok. I’ve heard that lofty name often. Though this is our first time meeting face-to-face.”
A conference hall overlooking the sprawling valley.
There, I smiled as I looked at Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok.
Beside me sat Yujin, Verda, the Sword Emperor Argen, Ignis, and Shin Ha-yeon.
They were the highest executives who had come out from our side to respond to the negotiations.
Of course, I would be the one conducting the talks.
This was something that not only Shin Ha-yeon and Ignis, but even Verda and Argen had all agreed upon.
They said I was the perfect candidate for the negotiations, and Verda even went so far as to say I was quite useful to have as an ally.
It was the very picture of bitter rivals forced into the same boat.
Either way, I looked at Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok.
Shin Jeong-hyeok.
The crown prince of the Simseong Group.
I had seen him plenty in photos and videos, but this was the first time facing him in person.
Shin Jeong-hyeok’s face hardened at my words.
“And is that Wu Qing over there?”
“It is.”
I looked at the man beside me.
Tao Emperor Wu Qing.
China’s sole Over Ranker, and an existence akin to an idol for countless Chinese users.
If one considered how an absurd number of Chinese users came and went at the direction of his single finger, it was no exaggeration to say he was a user who could execute human wave tactics with one finger.
His personal combat power as the Tao Emperor was formidable in its own right, but his true strength came from the Chinese users behind him, whose overwhelming numbers—so vast they couldn’t be counted—crushed quality with sheer quantity.
No matter how powerful a Ranker’s strength was in Arth Saga Second, the number of Chinese users possessed a latent force great enough to render even such Ranker strength meaningless.
An alliance between Vice Chairman Shin and Wu Qing.
Certainly dangerous, but that was all.
If the Aerial Mobile Fortress was completed, it would pose little threat to me.
The Aerial Mobile Fortress Volta—it was a final weapon with value befitting the name.
“So, how much did you find out before coming?”
I said with a smile, and they could not bring themselves to speak up readily.
They too had eyes and ears; they would know.
They would know how public opinion was turning at this very moment.
The users of today were pouring criticism merely upon the fact that Xuemao Esports and Simseong Iron Stars had attempted to “negotiate.”
Of course, Shin Ha-yeon and Verda had played their part by waging a public opinion war, but the decisive blow had been Yujin stepping forward to say, “A crisis has befallen Arth World.”
Foolish traitors who, rather than facing the crisis befalling Arth World, sought only to line their own pockets.
That was precisely the trap that Xuemao Esports and Simseong Iron Stars had walked into of their own accord.
“…….”
Maintaining my silence, I looked at Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok, who was struggling to keep his poker face, and Wu Qing, who was watching me with a composed expression from beside him, and spoke.
“I want to believe that you have come here for the great cause of protecting Arth World. Isn’t that right, Yujin?”
“Hm? Yes. That is correct. Please help us.”
At my prompting, Yujin looked at them and responded.
At Yujin’s words, Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok’s complexion began to change dramatically.
I looked at Wu Qing and Vice Chairman Shin and smiled.
“But if you still insist on demanding compensation, it is not as though we could not provide it……”
“I shall.”
Before I could even finish my words, Wu Qing opened his mouth first.
Tao Emperor Wu Qing.
A sharper man than I had expected.
Thinking as much, I spoke.
“What do you mean you shall?”
“For the great cause of protecting Arth World, I shall join the alliance.”
In response to my words, Wu Qing gave a concrete answer.
He wrapped it in diplomatic rhetoric, but condensed into one word, it was nothing short of unconditional surrender.
Then again, they had been in a no-win situation from the very beginning.
Had they brought up conditions here, public opinion would have driven them into the role of the most shameless villains under heaven—scum who weighed their own interests against the destruction of Arth World—and deteriorated beyond recovery.
‘So this is the power of public opinion.’
I thought as I looked at Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok, who was putting on a thoroughly humiliated expression.
The power of public opinion.
I had already experienced it bitterly in my previous run, but the position of being struck by it and the position of wielding it were slightly different.
Yujin.
That bastard had wielded this powerful force to force a one-sided deal on me.
It was a moment when my past self, who had been blindly obsessed with the short-term goal of completing the Tyrant Quest without caring about public opinion, felt infinitely foolish.
My past self had been so foolish and dull that falling victim to Yujin was only to be expected.
“What about Vice Chairman Shin?”
Having secured Wu Qing’s consent, I looked at the Vice Chairman.
The Vice Chairman kept his mouth shut, and the Black man beside him—Axe King Paul—spoke in his stead.
“Our boss will also stand with Wu Qing.”
Hearing those words, I smiled.
“I am truly grateful that you have all resolved to stand with me.”
And Yujin, who was beside me, spoke with a smile.
Resolve.
A word that sounded infinitely good.
And it was also the kind of word that innocent Yujin, who knew little of the world and pursued only ideals, would use.
Yujin would not know what Wu Qing, Vice Chairman Shin, and I were truly thinking right now.
Nor did he need to know.
Because in Arth World now, he was the Top Ranker, he was the law itself, and it was his world.
But someday soon, that would become the noose tightening around Yujin’s neck.
I smiled thinking as much.
I could see the end of Phase 2 approaching.
* * *
The moment Xuemao Esports and Simseong Iron Stars joined, the greatest user force in history—surpassing even the revolutionary army of the past—was born.
All users of Arth World had finally united under a single banner.
Though it was merely a temporary alliance, the word “destruction of Arth World” had made such a thing possible.
Even now, countless users were crossing dimensional gates and heading toward the Primordial Highlands to fight the Hive Mind.
The place where so many users were gathering was the Domain of Conquest.
The heart of enemy territory, where the Hive Mind had established itself.
[You have discovered the Domain of Conquest.]
[Domain of Conquest]
– The Domain of Conquest is the heart of the Conquest Army where the Hive Mind dwells, and the domain governed by the Great Unifying Will. The Great Unifying Will, the Hive Mind, can command countless monsters as if they were its own limbs, and exercise powerful attacks anywhere and anytime in the domain through its mental force.
[If you slay the Hive Mind, the Domain of Conquest will also disappear.]
[First Discovery Bonus!]
[All stats increase by 323.]
Drakan dismissed the first-discovery message floating before his eyes.
This first discovery too was thanks to Yujin.
He had readily yielded it.
In Drakan’s field of vision, far in the distance, he saw a biological structure with a massive brain attached to it.
That was the Hive Mind.
The Lord of Conquest, the instigator of the Great Upheaval, and the boss of Phase 2.
‘Hive Mind.’
Information on the Hive Mind had been accumulated more than expected.
From records found in alien ruins left by the Precursors to information obtained by capturing the Hive Mind’s servants, including the Alpha Minds, when all of it was combined, the Hive Mind was truly a monster beyond measure.
The Undying King, the most powerful monster known in Arth World.
The Hive Mind possessed power equal to, or perhaps even greater than, that Undying King.
The Unifying Will that commanded countless lifeforms.
By exercising even a fragment of that will’s power, the Hive Mind could manifest tremendous authority upon the land.
[The Hive Mind gazes upon the invaders.]
[The Hive Mind manifests Mental Storm.]
Mental Storm!
A wide-area debuff skill possessed by the Hive Mind!
It was a powerful wide-area skill that utilized the Great Unifying Will’s tremendous mental force to lower stats, as well as inflict various debuffs such as stun, confusion, and blindness.
The many users who had entered the Domain of Conquest, including Drakan, all faltered at once.
But in that instant.
Light descended from the heavens.
[The protection of the Dark Demon God guards you.]
[The power of Mental Storm is greatly reduced.]
[Resistance successful!]
[Stats have not decreased.]
Dark Demon God!
And the Goddess of Light!
The Transcendents of the Hall of Myriad Gods and the Demon Conquest Hall had protected them from Mental Storm.
Drakan smiled at the sight.
The Hive Mind, on the other hand, was bewildered.
Otherworldly Transcendents.
It had never dreamed that they would step forward personally to block the attack.
The Hive Mind was a powerful monster of a caliber to occupy the seat above the Lord of Conquest, but even so, it was on a different level from true Transcendents and could not face them head-on.
Transcendents.
To face them, his superior, the leader of Gehenna, the Overlord, had to come.
But the Overlord was not in a state where he could emerge now.
The Overlord, leader of Gehenna.
He was recuperating at the center of Gehenna World to recover from wounds sustained in the Great War of antiquity.
He would awaken someday, but he could not awaken right now.
Of course, if it borrowed the hands of other Lords, it might be able to stop the Transcendents’ interference, but the Hive Mind had no intention of borrowing other Lords’ aid.
The Four Lords of Gehenna were subordinates of the same Overlord, but they were in a competitive relationship closer to enemies than allies.
With the Overlord asleep now, there was no one to bind the Four Lords together.
[I cannot fall like this.]
The Hive Mind’s great will thundered.
It cannot fall like this.
Authority dwelled in those words.
The servants who had inherited the Hive Mind’s indomitable will burst forth from the ground and rampaged.
An uncountable number of diverse monsters appeared and rampaged, but the users were not particularly agitated by the sudden appearance of the monsters.
The vanguard, including Drakan, consisted of veteran users whose power was at least that of Rankers, having already experienced every battle imaginable—land, sea, and air.
No user so inexperienced as to panic at a surprise attack was present.
The users dealt with the monsters skillfully, and the Hive Mind looked at such enemies and thought:
[If interference does not work, I have no choice but to exercise physical force.]
Mental interference didn’t work!
Then what remained was the exercise of physical force.
Mental Storm was merely one of the countless skills the Hive Mind possessed.
There were still plenty of means to defeat these otherworldly invaders.
And above all, if it could only buy time, this war would be its victory.
If only the return of the numerous expeditionary forces dispatched to outer dimensions could be secured, it could wipe out the handful of otherworldly invaders here in one fell swoop.
[This is my world. Disappear, otherworldly invaders!]
The Hive Mind’s mighty will resounded throughout the entire Domain of Conquest.
With it, the dark clouds hanging in the sky began to churn violently.
[Judgment of Will.]
Judgment of Will.
The Hive Mind’s Great Will transformed into physical force akin to lightning and rained down upon the earth like spear blades.