The Final Boss Has Returned
Episode 156
After finishing my three-day, two-night trip to Shanghai, I returned to Korea.
The very first thing I did upon returning was log into the game.
[Welcome to Arde World, User.]
My vision shifted along with the dry notification window.
The scenery of Snow Castle, where I had last logged out, appeared before my eyes.
Having logged into Arde World, I immediately headed to the Forest of Demons in the Southern Great Forest.
It was to meet Kirke, the 'Last Loyal Subject.'
The Forest of Demons.
The witch's hut standing amidst the still unpleasant atmosphere and bizarre demons exuded a strange aura.
"Welcome, My Lord."
I accepted Kirke's greeting and sat in the seat she had prepared.
Slurp.
Kirke brought out fragrant tea.
[You have consumed Mandrake Tea.]
[Magic power temporarily increases by 20%.]
A buff notification appeared before my eyes the moment I drank the tea!
I dismissed the notification and looked at Kirke as I spoke.
"Kirke."
"Yes, My Lord."
Kirke waited for my command with a face that looked no different from the previous game or now.
Looking at Kirke like that, I placed something on the table.
[Fragment of the Hive Mind's Heart]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Classification: Material]
—A part of the Hive Mind's heart. The Hive Mind's heart is one of the sources of the immense authority possessed by the Hive Mind, and even in its fragmented state, the Fragment of the Hive Mind's Heart still holds a shard of the authority of the Conquering Lord, Hive Mind.
[You feel the fragment of immense mental strength left by the Conquering Lord.]
[Can be used as a material for item crafting.]
It was the legendary-grade material item, the 'Fragment of the Hive Mind's Heart,' taking the form of a gleaming blood-red jewel that I had received as a reward for completing the Broken World quest.
"This is... I feel immense power from this jewel."
This was the first thing Kirke said while looking at the Fragment of the Hive Mind's Heart boasting its blood-red radiance.
I handed the Fragment of the Hive Mind's Heart to Kirke and spoke.
"If it's an item of this caliber, can it break the Binding of the Forest of Demons placed on you?"
The Binding of the Forest of Demons!
That's right.
The witch Kirke had assimilated herself with the Forest of Demons in order to transcend the thousand-year gap between the previous game and Second.
Therefore, she was in a situation where she couldn't leave the Forest of Demons by even a single step.
But I needed Kirke.
Because if she, possessing strength at least on the Over Ranker class level, could break free from her constraints and join me, it would mean our forces would be further strengthened.
"Are you... bestowing this upon me?"
Kirke asked back with a slightly surprised expression at my question.
"Yes."
I nodded at Kirke's words.
Legendary-grade material items could be obtained as long as one had money anyway, and I had no use for it right now.
The moment I completed the quest for total victory, I was already almost certain that I would ascend to EX-grade.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to demand the absurd price of a mythic-grade material item.
And if I reached EX-grade, it would be safe to say that I was almost complete in terms of military power.
Moreover, I absolutely lacked forces.
Eugene.
With him and Five Eyes being essentially one body now, I had no way of handling him alone.
So I had to increase my forces even a little, and to do so, I could easily sacrifice legendary-grade material items.
"Thank you, My Lord."
Kirke bowed her head at my words and continued speaking in a moved voice, as if truly grateful.
"If it's the immense power dwelling in this item... I can break the binding."
"That's a relief."
"And if the binding is broken, just like back then a thousand years ago, I will be able to assist Your Lordship by your side."
Kirke carefully reached out with a trembling voice and took the Fragment of the Hive Mind's Heart.
Her eyes were filled with loyalty.
Well, numerically her loyalty was at 100, so it would be stranger if it weren't.
I smiled watching that sight.
And not long after.
[The Witch of the Forest of Demons has been freed from her binding.]
I could confirm through the notification window that Kirke had been freed from her binding.
It was a historic moment in which another Over Ranker-class force joined me.
* * *
Seocho-dong Sinsung Town.
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's office.
A guest had arrived in Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's office, which was always busy with work even on normal days.
It was Wu Jing, China's Over Ranker, who had flown in from Shanghai, China.
"What did you want to see me about in reality?"
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok, seated in his chair, looked at Wu Jing.
Daoist Wu Jing.
Meeting him in person, he looked no different from his appearance in the game.
If one had to point out a difference, it would be that he was wearing a neat suit instead of game equipment.
Wu Jing made a serious expression at Vice Chairman Shin's question.
Today marked exactly one week since the secret meeting with Jeil Group had ended.
It was time to leak the false information about the airborne mobile fortress as agreed.
"I've come because important intelligence came in."
Important intelligence.
At those words, Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's eyebrows twitched.
The alliance between Simseong Iron Stars and Xiongmao E-Sports born from Broken World was still ongoing.
Broken World.
It would be no exaggeration to say that other world in Phase 2 had divided Arde World into three great factions.
The existing hegemonic forces led by Eugene and Five Eyes!
And Drakan opposing them, and Jeil E&M, and the Dark Alliance!
The alliance of Xiongmao E-Sports and Simseong Iron Stars that belonged to none of them!
These three factions maintained a delicate balance while keeping each other in check.
Of course, thinking logically, the rational choice would be the alliance strategy where the remaining forces all united against the overwhelming military power of Eugene and Five Eyes, but Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's wounded pride could never tolerate an alliance strategy.
That was how the current structure had come about.
"Intelligence secretly extracted from Buyuseong. Information about the weapon that Drakan is building."
Wu Jing said so and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok.
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok accepted the information Wu Jing offered, and soon his face inevitably hardened.
"An airborne mobile fortress?"
The airborne mobile fortress, Voltaha!
Of course, precise specifications were not written in order to dispel Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's doubts, and only approximate information had been recorded.
That was because if overly precise information was written, he might suspect it was false intelligence.
But even that rough information was enough to fluster Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok.
The appearance of an airborne mobile fortress that was both a moving airship mothership and carried weapons of mass destruction of unknown identity, moving at high altitudes unreachable by wyverns, was practically the same as saying he would have to completely hand over air supremacy in war to the enemy.
Of course, with the appearance of airships, the top brass of each faction had recognized their military value and tried to recruit magitech engineer users to construct airships, and while an extremely small number had succeeded in construction, it still didn't look like airships could stand against an airborne mobile fortress.
Anyway, handing over air supremacy to the enemy in war meant defeat.
Of course, the true victory of war was decided in ground battles, but that didn't mean the importance of aerial combat could be ignored.
"It's still incomplete. But if this is completed, we have no chance of winning."
Wu Jing feigned a serious expression as he said this to Vice Chairman Shin.
If the airborne mobile fortress is completed, there's no chance of victory!
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok was already intuitively aware of that fact.
"How about carrying out sabotage?"
But Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok barely spat that out while suppressing his surging emotions.
Sabotage.
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's proposal was to obstruct the construction of the airborne mobile fortress through irregular warfare and terrorist activities rather than full-scale war.
Wu Jing shook his head at Vice Chairman Shin's proposal.
"I oppose that. First of all, Buyuseong is entirely in Drakan's grip, so attempting it is a challenge from the start. Extracting this information was barely accomplished, and moreover, sabotage would essentially be handing the enemy justification to open hostilities."
Of course, Wu Jing's true intention was to instigate war between Simseong and Drakan as agreed in the secret meeting with Drakan, but his words weren't wrong.
Buyuseong was Drakan's sole territory, a remote island in the sky with no way to infiltrate except by airship.
Infiltrating such a Buyuseong without a trace to carry out sabotage was nearly impossible.
Even if they somehow succeeded, it would rather give Drakan a good justification to open hostilities.
Of course, even if Drakan opened hostilities while citing justification, this side could simply deny it, but comparing public support for Simseong, Xiongmao, and Drakan, Drakan was overwhelmingly higher.
Drakan.
Because he had invested effort in public opinion over the years, users supported Drakan second only to Eugene.
Therefore, if Drakan waged war while naming Xiongmao and Simseong as the culprits, the users would believe it regardless of whether this side denied it.
Not only because Drakan said so, but because by process of elimination it was either Eugene or the Xiongmao-Simseong side, and all users in Arde World knew that Eugene would not engage in such cowardly behind-the-scenes scheming.
Thus, sabotage was the worst possible move.
"Then are you saying we should just sit here and take it?"
Irritation was embedded in Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's voice.
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok already understood the hidden meaning in Wu Jing's words.
That sabotage was nearly impossible, and even if it yielded results, it wouldn't mean much.
The moment he recognized that fact, irritation welled up in Vice Chairman Shin.
Did that mean he had to sit here and watch the airborne mobile fortress be completed?
That did not suit Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok's temperament.
Wu Jing laughed inwardly seeing Vice Chairman Shin's irritation.
The big fish had finally taken the bait.
Thinking so, Wu Jing began to smoothly move his tongue to fulfill his mission: instigating war.
"According to the obtained information, there's still quite a lot of time until the weapon is completed. Moreover, Drakan, that bastard, still doesn't know that information about this weapon has leaked to us."
"Then?"
As Vice Chairman Shin's eyebrows twitched, Wu Jing spoke with a smile.
"If we launch a preemptive strike before the airborne mobile fortress is completed, and then take down Drakan, not only can we eliminate him, but his airborne mobile fortress might become ours too."
Hearing Wu Jing's words, Vice Chairman Shin leaned back and laughed boisterously.
Wu Jing's proposal was sweet.
If they launched a preemptive strike on Drakan before the airborne mobile fortress was completed and killed him!
Removing the great obstacle called Drakan, and putting the airborne mobile fortress with its tremendous power into his own hands—Wu Jing's words sounded like the best alternative in this situation.
Airborne mobile fortress!
The thought that if he could get that mighty weapon into his hands, he might even be able to aim for Eugene's position after eliminating Drakan came to Vice Chairman Shin, who immediately stood up from his seat and spoke with a smile.
"Let's do as you say."