The Final Boss Has Returned
Chapter 152
"Lord Drakan."
A voice cautiously calling out to him reached the ears of Drakan, who had been smiling as he recalled his grand scheme of betrayal.
Drakan turned his head to look toward the source of the voice.
Drakan.
The one who had called him was none other than Yujin.
"An item has dropped from the Hive Mind's corpse."
At Yujin's words, Drakan came to his senses with a start.
Drakan.
The reason he had participated in this damned raid.
It was precisely to obtain a Mythic-grade material item—the key item needed to complete the Aerial Mobile Fortress.
Of course, if his predictions held true—and considering the incomparably horrific difficulty of the Hive Mind raid—a Mythic-grade material item should have dropped without question. Still, because there was always that one-in-a-million chance, Drakan couldn't help but feel nervous.
Drakan's gaze turned toward the spot where the massive heart had been just moments ago.
There, shimmering items were making their presence known.
Items that looked anything but ordinary at a glance!
"Check loot."
Drakan looked upon the sight and immediately opened the loot list window.
And finally, Drakan was able to find the item he so desperately wanted from among them.
[Essence of the Hive Mind]
[Grade: Mythic]
[Durability: Infinite]
[Classification: Material]
——A sphere formed from the convergence of powerful essence left behind by the Conquering Monarch, the Hive Mind, who had risen to the verge of a Transcendent's realm. It contains a fragment of the powerful Unified Will that the Hive Mind possessed in life.
[Item Effects]
[All Stats +600]
[Skill Power +100%]
[Complete Immunity to Mental-type Skills]
[Debuff Resistance +100%]
[Mana Regeneration +500%]
[Mana Recovery Speed +300%]
[This item's effects are applied simply by possessing it in your inventory.]
[Can be processed into equipment.]
Looking at the Essence of the Hive Mind, which—befitting a Mythic-grade item—possessed truly spine-chilling effects despite still being merely a material, Drakan steadied his pounding heart internally.
'The effects are beyond what I imagined.'
Mythic-grade items were something that even Drakan, who had experienced virtually everything there was to experience in the previous game, had rarely laid eyes on in person.
That was because the saying that it was a grade impossible to obtain even with money was no mere boast.
'These are stats that would make me reluctant to use it for a quest.'
That was the extent of the value Drakan assigned to the item effects of the 'Essence of the Hive Mind.'
They were tremendous effects—so tremendous that they seemed a waste to invest in the Victory Quest.
The stat increases were impressive in their own right, but the option that simultaneously boosted mana recovery speed and regeneration was nothing short of astounding.
With options of this caliber, one would have no worries about running out of mana simply by possessing it.
However, the most important options on the Essence of the Hive Mind were complete immunity to mental-type skills and the 100% increase to debuff resistance.
The appearance of these two options together meant that the moment one possessed this item, they would be completely free from CC effects such as stuns, blindness, slows, and binds.
Considering how tremendous the importance of CC was in actual combat—hardly something that needed mentioning—this was virtually no different from securing overwhelming competitive advantage and forcing one-sided damage trades in combat, whether in PvP or PvE.
More important than anything else was the fact that the Essence of the Hive Mind was, ultimately, a material item.
'Given that processing a material item into equipment further improves its options, if I were to make equipment out of this….'
If the unprocessed raw stone possessed options of this caliber, the options of the finished equipment would clearly transcend imagination itself.
Of course, just as the effects of a Mythic-grade material item were tremendous, in order to fully draw out the performance of such an item, one had to find an item producer with matching crafting skills.
If one were to carelessly entrust the essence to a blacksmith or enchanter with low crafting skill proficiency, they could end up in a situation worse than if they had simply manufactured the equipment themselves.
This was true not only for Mythic-grade items but for Legendary-grade material items as well.
High-grade material items had specific production-class users or NPCs who were capable of handling them.
Therefore, for ordinary users who couldn't find such master artisans or expert-grade craftsmen, even if they obtained a Legendary-grade material item, it was more profitable to sell it for money.
Of course, that was the case for Legendary-grade items; Mythic-grade was somewhat different.
Mythic-grade items would clearly demonstrate performance well worth the effort of going through the trouble and investing enormous costs to process them into equipment.
Moreover, since Drakan also possessed a force known as Jeil E&M, unlike ordinary users, he had no need to struggle with recruiting master artisans.
Of course, the Aerial Mobile Fortress Volta that could be built with this item was a superweapon with peerless performance, one with overwhelming potential that could completely overturn the war paradigm of Ard World, but the value of the Mythic-grade material item was just as enormous.
So how could he not feel it was a waste!
'But I don't have a choice.'
Drakan smacked his lips.
Drakan.
He was the type who, given the chance, would catch both rabbits and boil them into rabbit stew, but this time, he had no choice to catch both rabbits.
Victory Quest!
In order to rise to the same EX rank as Yujin, he absolutely had to complete that quest, so the choice given to Drakan was effectively only one.
Well aware that excessive greed was a shortcut to disaster, Drakan let go of his lingering attachment to the item.
"Now, it is time for item distribution."
While Drakan was lost in various thoughts regarding the effects of the Essence of the Hive Mind,
Argen snapped his fingers, drawing the attention of those around him.
Along with that, the chat window erupted.
[It's loot time lmaooo]
[Item distro let's goooo!]
[No but fr what items dropped I'm dying to know;]
[It's the phase final boss loot so it's gotta be endgame tier right?]
The Hive Mind!
Since these were the spoils dropped by the colossal final boss of Phase 2, the public's attention was inevitably concentrated on them.
Argen glanced over the chat window's reactions as he spoke.
"Let's have Lady Yujin, who took first place, choose her items first."
The loot distribution method for this Hive Mind raid attack squad had already been agreed upon beforehand: differential distribution according to contribution.
Naturally, those with higher contribution had the right to choose loot first, and depending on their share, the right to choose more items.
Having heard Argen's words, Yujin spoke calmly.
"As I promised Lord Drakan previously, I shall yield my turn and 5% of my share to him."
But in stark contrast to her calm tone, the contents were not just groundbreaking but shocking.
Yielding her turn was not enough—she was transferring her share as well!
At Yujin's words, generous to a fault, the chat window began to erupt.
[Damn, look at how merciful Lady Yujin is;]
[Yujin showing mercy even to an old enemy...... you are a textbook on morality.......]
[Yujin's hypocrisy is disgusting;]
[For real, pretending to be nice is nauseating;]
[This isn't being nice, she's a pushover, a pushover]
[You happy watching your cult leader get treated like a pushover?]
[Hey, how is this a good deed; she said they promised beforehand. A hundred percent a deal between the two of them lol]
[So this was what the negotiations between Drakan and Yujin were about last time?]
[Anyway, the Yujin Church kids are impossible to talk to, everything is thanks to Yujin-nim lol total fanatics;]
The opposition between the Infinite Yujin Church praising Yujin's good deed and the detractors mocking her as a pushover!
However, the chat window was not filled only with users at both extremes. Among those closer to neutral, some focused on Yujin's words "previous promise" and speculated that there had been some kind of deal between the two, while others connected the words to previous negotiations and promises.
'Drakan, so this is what you obtained from those negotiations?'
'He was aiming for this from the start.'
And upon hearing Yujin's words, the gazes of Blade Emperor Ujing, Axe King Paul, and Assassin King Leira turned toward the two of them—Yujin and Drakan.
Drakan.
The fact that he had negotiated with Yujin over the conquest of the Siwon Valley was already well-known.
But there were very few users who knew what kind of price had been exchanged in the negotiation.
And now, the three of them had finally realized the price that had been exchanged at the negotiation table.
Distribution priority and contribution share transfer.
This was precisely the right that Drakan had secured from Yujin.
Since ascending to the position of an Over Ranker required not merely gaming skill but political acumen as well, it was only natural that they had noticed this fact.
Of course, Drakan also realized that the three had caught on to the 'price' of the negotiation, but to him, it was nothing particularly worth worrying about.
In any case, ignoring the three's gazes and looking at the chat, a translucent notification window appeared before Drakan's eyes.
[User 'Yujin' is attempting to transfer 5% contribution share and loot distribution priority to you.]
[Will you accept the transfer?]
Watching the formal procedure that confirmed once more whether he would accept the item distribution as Yujin had stated, Drakan spoke in a flat voice.
"I accept."
[You have received 5% contribution share from user 'Yujin'.]
[You have received loot distribution priority from user 'Yujin'.]
The moment he received the loot distribution priority, Drakan immediately touched the 'Essence of the Hive Mind' in the loot list.
[Will you acquire the Essence of the Hive Mind by consuming 10% contribution share?]
The Essence of the Hive Mind, which consumed a whopping 10% contribution share befitting a Mythic-grade item!
Drakan looked at the notification window and spoke without hesitation.
"I acquire it."
[You have acquired the Essence of the Hive Mind.]
[Please check your inventory.]
After checking the message, Drakan opened his inventory and took out the Essence of the Hive Mind.
The moment it left his inventory, the Essence of the Hive Mind emitted a dazzling five-colored light and floated into the air.
At the appearance of the Essence of the Hive Mind, which took the form of an orb as if created by a mage, the chat room began to stir.
[Is this the first Hive Mind loot unboxing?]
[Wow, the effect is insane;;]
[What the hell kind of item is this?]
[It looks like a material item?]
[Isn't it equipment?]
[An accessory?]
[Anyone can see it's a material item, what are you all talking about?]
[Lolol a self-proclaimed expert has appeared lolol]
[Your headcanon's gone wild, huh?]
The users were frenzied over the first loot unboxing of the Hive Mind raid.
Because it was an item that looked anything but ordinary, even if they didn't know what it was.
Drakan smiled as he observed the users' reactions.
Finally, the time had come at last to go and finish the Victory Quest.