The Final Boss Has Returned — Episode 18
Shin Hayeon, who had been watching the change in my expression, formed an elegant smile.
I looked at her and spoke.
“First, I need an army.”
An army.
That was precisely what I desired most.
War!
To occupy Granada, the lawless harbor, I had to wage war.
And war was something utterly impossible with just me and six black mages.
To even make something worthy of being called a war, an army was absolutely necessary.
“Very well.”
Shin Hayeon answered my request with a smile in her eyes.
As she raised her hand, the bodyguard standing behind her respectfully placed a smartphone in her right hand.
Shin Hayeon lifted the smartphone and touched it to make a call.
“Come up to the 40th-floor conference room right now.”
The call was brief.
Not long after she finished a single word and hung up, the door to the conference room opened.
Appearing in the now-open doorway was a handsome man with dyed red hair and black sunglasses.
And I knew his true identity.
‘The Master of JDG!’
JDG.
Possessing the long official name Jeil Dragon Gaming, they were a super-giant guild ranked 6th in the comprehensive world guild rankings.
1st place was Yujin, that bastard’s Lightwing Guild, and from 2nd to 5th place, those guilds were allied with him. Considering that those five guilds were practically united under the ridiculous name “Five Eyes” and moved as one guild, it was no exaggeration to say that JDG was effectively the strongest guild in the human realm.
Moreover, that wasn’t the only reason JDG was famous.
Jeil E&M.
The fact that Jeil E&M, a major player in the domestic media market, had signed an exclusive contract with JDG was also well-known among users.
The reason the name “Jeil” was attached in front of Dragon Gaming, which was the original guild name, was precisely that.
In any case, while collecting information on Arth Saga Second over the past month, I had already stored information in my head about the super-giant guilds ranked within the top 10—the so-called Ten Great Guilds—and the leaders who commanded them.
The in-game nickname of this red-haired man before me was Ignis, and his real name was I Cheolhyeon!
The Guild Master of JDG, a former famous pro-gamer in other games, and in-game, a hidden-class Flame Sorcerer.
Externally in gaming, he was a famous named user known as an Over Ranker who wasn’t from the prequel but a new player who started the game from Second.
That’s right.
The man before me was exactly one of those transcendent powerhouses called Over Rankers, of which only twenty existed among the countless users in the vast Arth World.
In Second, the Over Ranker was a concept similar to the Ten Strongest of the prequel, which I had also belonged to.
It was merely a name given to a gathering of the n most powerful users; in the prequel, it was the Ten Strongest, and in Second, it became Over Ranker.
However, if there was a difference between the prequel’s Ten Strongest and Second’s Over Rankers, it was the criterion.
While there were of course other criteria like stats, levels had been absolute in the prequel, so lining up by level was all that mattered. Second was different.
In Arth Saga Second, after a character reached level 380, the amount of EXP required to level up became so great that leveling up became extremely difficult, so level 380 was effectively considered the max level. Thus, unlike the prequel, level could not be used as an absolute standard.
Because Second was like that, a new standard was naturally needed to measure a character’s specs—one that included variables other than level, such as titles, achievements, stats, items, inherited skills, and unique traits.
So what Miracle Entertainment, the operator of Arth Saga, released was exactly a character analysis site called the Combat Information Archive.
Any user playing Arth Saga Second could register their Arth Saga Second account information on the Combat Information Archive, and the service would analyze and synthesize all information possessed by that character to calculate a grade. That was the Combat Information Archive.
The grades given by the Combat Information Archive ranged from the lowest grade, FFF, to the highest grade, EX, which only Yujin possessed.
Thus, the world called Yujin, who received an EX grade on the Combat Information Archive, the Top Ranker, and the twenty users who received SSS grades, Over Rankers.
Of course, below that, SS grade was High Ranker, and S grade was simply Ranker, but anyway, what mattered now wasn’t that—it was the fact that Ignis before my eyes was exactly that famous Over Ranker.
The moment I saw his face, I instantly realized why Shin Hayeon had called Ignis to this place.
Shin Hayeon. Hearing my words that I needed an army, she was trying to provide me with the super-giant guild JDG under her company as that army.
“You called for me, Executive Shin.”
“Yes. You came quickly. I like that you’re so prompt. Ignis.”
“Is there something you need?”
“It’s because our Lord Drakan says he needs an army.”
Unlike when she addressed me, Shin Hayeon spoke to Ignis with a cold voice, her face devoid of deference or the slightest smile.
“You JDG lot need to earn your keep for once.”
“Understood, Executive.”
The conversation didn’t stray far from my expectations.
She had truly called the Master, an Over Ranker, to this place just to use the super-giant guild JDG as backup for my quest.
Ignis, who had finished bowing respectfully to Shin Hayeon, stood before me.
“Pleased to meet you, Lord Drakan.”
He extended his right hand to me with a rather polite attitude.
It was a request for a handshake.
I grasped his right hand and quietly stared at him.
Flame King Ignis, Master of JDG!
A famous pro-gamer in other games, and having seized the position of Over Ranker and become the master of a massive guild as a new player who started from Second rather than the prequel, the world’s assessment was that his pride was no joke.
Put nicely, he had strong pride; put badly, it was no different from calling him arrogant.
However, my first impression of him in person was stronger in the sense that he was observing etiquette rather than being arrogant.
Such a polite demeanor couldn’t be his original personality, so it was clear he was acting this way because of the pressure from Shin Hayeon, who was smiling behind him.
“The pleasure is mine.”
After briefly exchanging greetings with Ignis and taking my seat, I looked at the team leader, who was wiping the beads of cold sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief, and spoke.
“It looks like everyone’s mostly here, so proceed with the briefing.”
“Yes, Lord Drakan.”
At my words, the team leader took a deep breath, looked around, and pressed the wireless remote.
“The objective of the quest Lord Drakan has currently received is to occupy the lawless harbor. And as everyone here knows, the lawless harbor is a city where the Ranker Zack is the lord, and Zack is a member of the Pirate Alliance, the faction of Pirate King Drake.”
“Zack.”
Information about him came out in the team leader’s briefing.
Of course, Zack had been a Ranker in the prequel, so he was a user who existed in my memory as well.
“A guy who ran solo in the prequel, committing all sorts of pathetic civilian-massacre PKs, barely scraping into the lowest seat of the Rankers—he’s really made it big!”
Zack was a user who took civilian slaughter and PK as his pleasure.
He mainly acted alone, wandering here and there in the Arth World, PKing users lower level than him for fun, looting items, and committing all sorts of pathetic acts.
Despite that, his skills were quite good, so he had occupied the lowest rung among Rankers.
Well, later on, he messed with one of our guild members, so I personally blacklisted him and hunted him down with an infinite extermination order, but…
Anyway, perhaps he learned a lesson from getting beaten up while running solo in the prequel; it seemed he had joined a massive faction called the Pirate Alliance that would serve as his shield in Second.
“The Pirate Alliance to which Zack belongs is a faction headed by Pirate King Drake, a powerful faction that virtually dominates the eastern seas and coastline. The Pirate Alliance controls all major trade routes in the eastern seas, demands enormous passage fees from trade ships passing through, and of course carries out pillage—the pirate’s main profession—without hesitation. Not only that, their forces have exploded in growth over the past year, and their tyranny has worsened, so anyone in the eastern seas and coast who resists the Pirate Alliance’s rule is unconditionally killed. Therefore, the grievances of users currently active in the eastern seas are running high.”
“In a situation like this, what is Yujin doing?”
After listening to the team leader’s explanation to the end, I asked.
Pirate King, Pirate Alliance.
I had a rough idea of what kind of bastards they were.
Roughly speaking, a group that controls and dominates the seas, extorts trade ships, and beats down anyone who opposes them, user or NPC alike—a rampaging group utterly faithful to the main profession of being pirates!
That was the true nature of the Pirate Alliance.
But here, a question arose in my head.
Yujin, a guy who claims to protect the justice of the Arth World—why on earth was he leaving these villains alone?
With his personality, he would have rushed to deal with those villains long ago, so I was curious why he hadn’t.
My question was only natural.
As if he had been waiting for that question I threw, the team leader adjusted his glasses and began to answer calmly.